Mining camps and boom towns
Colorado's mining boom began with the gold rush of 1858 and 1859 and continued through great silver strikes and later gold discoveries. By the time picture postcards became popular around 1900, camps across the mountains were thriving, declining or already fading, and photographers recorded all of it. Real photo cards of mining towns, with their false-fronted main streets, headframes, mills, boarding houses and miners in their work clothes, are among the most sought-after Colorado cards.
The Cripple Creek district, scene of a major gold rush in the 1890s, produced a large number of cards of Cripple Creek, Victor and the surrounding camps. Leadville, the high silver city, Silverton, Ouray and Telluride in the San Juan Mountains, and Central City and Black Hawk near Denver all appear on cards. Smaller and short-lived camps are the scarcest.
Narrow gauge railroads
Narrow gauge railroads such as the Denver and Rio Grande carried ore and passengers through Colorado's mountains on routes that seem impossible even today, and they were favorite postcard subjects: trains on high trestles, in deep canyons and at mountain depots. Railroad collectors seek real photos of trains, depots, snow sheds and wrecks, especially identified locomotives.
Pikes Peak and the resorts
The Manitou and Pikes Peak cog railway, opened in the early 1890s, carried visitors to the summit, and Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs became resort towns. Garden of the Gods, Cave of the Winds and the peak itself appear on a great many printed cards. These are common, but early real photos of tourists, burro rides and summit scenes are more interesting.
Denver and the Front Range
Denver grew into the region's great city, and its downtown, parks, capitol and streetcars were printed in quantity. Boulder, Fort Collins, Pueblo with its steel mill, and other Front Range towns produced their own cards. Pueblo's steel works and smelters are attractive industrial subjects.
The plains and the Western Slope
Eastern Colorado's farming and ranching towns on the high plains, with their grain elevators and depots, and the Western Slope's fruit-growing valleys around Grand Junction and Palisade produced real photos that are often scarcer than mountain views, because fewer visitors photographed them.
Places and subjects to look for
- Mining towns: Leadville, Cripple Creek, Victor, Silverton, Ouray, Telluride, Creede, Central City, Georgetown and dozens of smaller camps.
- Railroads: narrow gauge trains, trestles, loops, depots, snow sheds and mountain passes.
- Industry: mills, smelters, Pueblo's steel works and coal towns in the southern fields.
- Resorts: Manitou Springs, Glenwood Springs and its hot springs pool, Estes Park.
- Plains towns: elevators, main streets and depots along the rail lines.
- Ranching: roundups, cowboys and ranch houses.
Coal country
Colorado's southern coal fields around Trinidad and Walsenburg had many company mining camps, and the labor conflicts there, including the Ludlow massacre of 1914, are a significant part of the state's history. Real photo cards of coal camps and miners are of interest to collectors of labor and mining history.
Sanborn and the mid-century
In the mid-century, Denver publishers produced large numbers of scenic and photographic cards of Colorado's mountains, towns and roads; the Sanborn Souvenir Company was one of the best known. Most are common, but cards of small towns, roadside businesses and ski areas from the early years of skiing have followings.
Real photos versus printed views
Mountain scenery and Denver landmarks were printed in large numbers. Real photos of mining camps, small towns and railroads, made by local photographers, are scarcer and carry most of the value in a typical Colorado collection.
What is common
Printed views of Pikes Peak, Garden of the Gods, Denver and mountain scenery, and later chrome tourist cards, are plentiful.
Questions about Colorado postcards
Are Colorado mining town postcards valuable? Real photos of camps, mines and miners are among the most collectible Colorado cards.
Are Cripple Creek postcards worth anything? Common printed views are modest; real photos of mines, streets and events are more collectible.
Are narrow gauge railroad postcards collectible? Yes, especially real photos of identified trains, trestles and depots.
Do you buy Colorado collections? Yes, complete collections from anywhere in the state, by mail.