Two photographs of Colorado offer clues about coal’s importance in manufacturing and urban life during the late 1800s and early 1900s, when Pueblo boasted the largest steel mills west of Chicago, and Denver grew to become the largest city between Missouri and California.

Colorado Fuel & Iron Company, Pueblo [1908–1920?]

In this image, smoke rises from smokestack and blast furnaces at the Minnequa Plant of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company in Pueblo (Pueblo County), Colorado. Denver & Rio Grande and Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe freight cars are on tracks over an irrigation ditch. Metal pipes and freight cars are near the plant. Laundry is on a clothesline at a nearby house.

Denver from the North Side, 1911

This photo gives a bird’s-eye view east toward downtown Denver, Colorado, from the north side. Brick row houses and Denver Tramway Company Power House are in the foreground. Signs painted on various buildings include Ady & Crowe Mercantile Company (grain and hay), Sprattle & Anderson J. P. Paulson (bank, bar, office, and store fixtures), Kennicott & Patterson (moving and storage), and C. S. Morey Mercantile Company. Other buildings identified among the panorama include the Mining Exchange tower, City Hall tower, City Auditorium (behind City Hall), Arapahoe County Court House dome, State Capitol dome, U.S. Post Office dome, and Union Station and its rail yards.

Questions