TOWN OF CRESTED BUTTE, COLORADO

Drugstore of R. M. Grieg, August 1882.  Building was owned by Howard F. Smith, one of the founders of the Town of Crested Butte, Gunnison County, Colorado.  This building appears to be that of the current Crested Butte Mountain Heritage Museum at 331 Elk Avenue.

Photographer: C. F. Blacklidge, Portraits and Views, Crested Butte, Colo.

There are no known Colorado directory listings of professional photographers with studios in Crested Butte between the years 1879 and 1920.  C. F. Blacklidge is the first catalogued and above is his business imprint.  George E. Mellen, Frank Dean, and the Swan Bros. are listed as having studios in Gunnison.  Although, for a short period, the Swan Bros. had a photography studio in Irwin, Colorado.

Pharmacist Grieg sitting in his drugstore, writing his memoirs, August 1882.  Howard F. Smith not only owned the building, but was also Grieg’s business partner.

 

Crested Butte, Colorado, Altitude: 9,000 feet.  March 1883.  Stereo view by George E. Mellen, #44, Gunnison, Colorado.  Base of Lone Mountain (Mt. Crested Butte) in background.

Colorado Coal & Iron Company mine (Jokerville) at Crested Butte, in which [at least] 59 men were killed January 24, 1884.  Photograph on “Mellen’s Colorado Views” imprint; however, C. H. Clark, Photographer, Gunnison, Colorado, publisher and trade agent, also imprinted on back of stereo view mount.

 

Stereo view: Hay Ranch, Col., by Roberts & Fellows, photographers, manufacturers and publishers, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, circa 1880.  Lone Mountain (Mt. Crested Butte) in the background.  Log building appears to be an early settlement (perhaps 1870s) in the Elk Mountains.

 

 

Stereo view: “A Mountain Home in Winter, Crested Butte,” George Mellen photograph #201.a., Gunnison, Colorado.  Stamped on back of mount: Groenandyke Brothers, Book Dealers & Stationery Company, Crested Butte, Colo.

 

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