. “It was not desirable to let these civilians encounter the Indians. We were holding the crowd back on the south side of the Gunnison, until the Indians had passed 13 miles distant. In three days, the rich land of the Uncompahgre was all occupied, towns were being laid out and lots being sold at high prices.”
Author Archives: Tim Cooney
Tim Cooney is an Aspen freelance writer and former ski patroller. Among others, the Aspen Daily News, The Aspen Times, The Avalanche Review, Aspen Sojourner, Ski and Powder Magazine have published his work. His Aspen Journalism story “Taming the Snow Beast” won 2018 best story/picture combination from Colorado Press Association. He has a bachelor’s degree in government and philosophy from University of Denver.
Posted inHistory
Tensions erupt in violent retribution at Meeker’s Indian agency
On the afternoon of Sept. 29, 1879, after Quinkent and Meeker had lunch together, a group of warriors fresh from the ongoing Milk Creek battlefront stormed the agency. The employees at the agency returned fire but were brutally overcome, while the women and children ran and hid before being taken captive.
Posted inHistory
At Milk Creek, Northern Utes defend their territory
Through their own scouts, the Utes got word of the U.S. cavalry mobilizing to the north at Fort Steele near Rawlins. When the contingent of troops started marching toward them, the Utes, many of whom were aware of what happened at Sand Creek 15 years earlier, assumed the worst — and they prepared.
Posted inHistory
Drive here please, said Aspen in the Quiet Years: Aspen’s history by car, part two
In a time when second homes were few and short-term rental referred to skis, Aspen abided comfortably with cars. A legendary, mischief-making doctor brought a sports-car race to town in the early 1950s.
Posted inHistory
From wagon road to two-lane: Aspen’s history by car, part one
Once celebrated in 1906 Aspen as the transition from horse and buggy to metropolitan, the circumnavigation of the first car through town brought looky-loos into the streets. Who then would have imagined that 116 years later Main Street would be gridlocked with “tin Lizzies.”
Posted inHistory
Unbridled optimism meets mining realities
Lawsuit leads to financial troubles, before fire fries flotation mill.
Posted inHistory
Pioneer pluck in Hunter Creek
After meeting the man who’d earlier laid out the claim at the top of today’s Little Nell where the first silver ore outcroppings were discovered, Staats eyed straight across to Smuggler where the same lime and silver had surfaced. By his reckoning, rich claims should be found in Hunter Creek.
Posted inHistory
Town of Ruedi submerged by reservoir, but not by history
The Fry-Ark grew out of post-World War II optimism when government championed big projects and environmentalism was a seedling.
Posted inHistory, Water
Big bore in hard times
Aspen locals in 1930 welcomed the work on a big dam-and-tunnel project on Independence Pass, but the community grew to miss the water in the river.
Posted inHistory
Aspen’s rich history of befouling the Fork
As Aspen evolved from a bucolic high-mountain meadow to an industrial city, pollution began to flow directly into the Roaring Fork River and its tributaries.