Then and Now

It was the summer of 1971; the summer of Baby Jennifer (Born in January 1972 she was Mona's primary carry-on this trip), as a result of what began for us in 1969,( called by the press the 'Summer of LOVE'). We were married July 12, 1969. Thought you caught me in a secret confession there, didn't you??

We had been in love since we met in late summer 1968. With each other, and with travel; seeing new things; meeting new people. And Mona had, in addition to carrying around a growing baby girl in her belly, transformed our VW bus into a camper with curtains and bedding for the fold down Z-bed and off we went for two weeks to Colorado.  

Today we revisited the gold and silver mining town of Fairplay, Colorado, 43 years later.  

South Park, the anglicized name given this area by Zebulon Pike when he visited it on the orders of President Thomas Jefferson in 1804, two years before Lewis and Clark set out, was first called Valle Salado (Salty Valley) by its Spanish discoverers. That name was corrupted to Bayou Salade, probably by French trappers, by the time John C Fremont re-discovered this flat high plain between the western and eastern Rocky Mountain ranges. 

The incoming Americans changed that to South Park.  They didn't know much Spanish or French. They must have talked to Kenny first.

The Ute, the people who had lived in these mountains since being driven off the plains and into the mountains by the Cheyenne many years before, called it simply, 'home".

 The Fairplay, or Park County Courthouse is a beautiful example of Colorado mountain stone architecture. And it is the oldest working courthouse in the state. the wee building behind was the county jail in the late 1800's.  It had the first iron bars on any cell in the state, so the story goes.

Does it look a little care worn in today's pic?  As much as the town, and its attractions, have kept up with time's travails the county isn't doing quite so well with this historic setting.  In  fact a woman we met who was doing some gardening around the grounds asked us to mention the need for her county to step up and take better care of it in our blog.  Here you go Nancy! Go get 'em!

 This monument was erected in 1930 to an animal that symbolized everything Fairplay and the surrounding area was about to decades of miners.  Prunes outlived his master after years of service and became the town's mascot till he died years later.

Prune's monument has gotten a makeover, and it is now the official start for local burro races.

 South Park City, a collection of carefully collected and moved buildings from other true ghost towns of the mining past was begun by a group of concerned citizens led by a Denver lawyer who had fished the waters of the northern South Park area and was saddened by the loss of the area's history over time.

This amazing collection of well preserved buildings and furnishings, museum pieces and dioramas costs $10 per adult and should cost $25.00  It is better, easier to get around, and just as much fun to visit as it was 43 years ago.  Just ask the six kids who climbed all over the train playing, you guessed it, cowboys and train robbers (they had seen last years Lone Ranger Movie)


The Denver South Park and Pacific narrow gauge railroad served all of the mines and towns of central and western Colorado for decades. To the right you see me, in 1971, with the strength of Superman keeping the engine from falling over.

The Leonard Summer saloon and store and behind it, his brewery, tell the story of  what kept many of the men going in this town of thousands in its day. Thousands of mostly men. There were dozens of bars, bordellos and pool halls and only a couple of churches. And you know what happens in pool halls, don't you?

When we met her today, she was out.

When the town had begun to settle down a bit the ladies began to arrive.  and with them children, and more families, and then schools.  Often begun by local churches the government began to standardize the school system by the late 1800's and the school 'marm went from being an invited guest single lady who knew a little of her three R's to a trained educator.


The mine as depicted in South Park City was all authentic, only moved from its several original locations in the mountains around the Park.

More equipment and buildings fill out the story better than all those years ago.  Like I said, $10.00 is an amazing DEAL.

Oh. And for seniors (wise elders of the human tribe) its only $8.

-Ken