The Salida Museum - 406 Highway 50 West

 

Open Memorial Day to Labor Day

 

The City of Salida, Heart of the Rockies, lies in the headwaters of the Arkansas River valley along the east slope of the Continental Divide. Like many communities in Colorado, the city sprang up quickly with the coming of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, which ran trains to the mines and hoped to be first over the mountains with a through connection to the West Coast. Advancing from the east through the Royal Gorge, the tracks reached here in 1880.

 

Salida prospered as rail traffic developed in four directions: east to Denver, north and west to Leadville and Salt Lake City, west to Gunnison over Marshall Pass and south to Alamosa over Poncha Pass. The county seat had been moved from Granite at the north end of Chaffee County to the town of Buena Vista in the middle. However, Salida became the largest city in Chaffee County and voters approved moving the county seat to Salida in 1928. As riches flowed from the mines, sightseers discovered they could traverse America’s highest mountains in style aboard elegant rail cars. No longer a barrier, the mountains became an irresistible source of wonder, recreation and restored health. Though highways have overtaken the rails that once replaced the Indian paths and early stagecoach roads, the mountains continue to deliver on their promise of outdoor fun and adventure.

 

Salida Museum contains a treasury of Indian artifacts, household furnishings, art, photographs, mineral specimens and tools associated with railroading, mining, farming and ranching. The museum collection, first displayed in 1954, was started by Mrs. Harriet Alexander, Salida’s first councilwoman, and Mrs. Byrd Raikes Fuqua, proprietress of Byrd Colony dude ranch, which began in 1925 and operated for many years in the Chalk Creek area of Mount Princeton. When Mrs. Alexander died in 1971, money left in her will was used to build the present two-room museum building, which opened its doors in 1976.

 

Embroidered detail from a Japanese silk kimono that belonged to Laura Evans, Salida’s famous Madame. Laura came to town with the railroad, prospered in the red light district, opened a parlor and cribs on Sackett Street and is still remembered with affection for her heartfelt, if anonymous, good works. Laura Evans’ ice box buffet must have been custom made to her taste. Her fine crystal tableware further suggests the style to which she became accustomed.

 

Roadway signs, this one a too-easy target for disappointed hunters, once beckoned travelers on U.S. 50 to Follow the Hearts to Salida. This Chamber of Commerce ad campaign, featuring bathing beauty boosters, continued through WWII and into the 1950s when Colorado was touted as the Closest State to Heaven and Salida was the home of the famous fur-bearing trout.

 

Amos Goddard modeled this 1:16 scale live steam locomotive in 1900. In 1935, Goddard built a larger working steam engine that pulled trains of tourists around a track in Centennial Park in front of the hot springs pool.

 

 

The conductor was in charge of the passenger train, many of which ran through Salida on the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, Scenic Line of the World.

 

Several authentic D.R.G.R.R. brakeman’s kerosene lanterns are displayed in the museum.

 

Chief Ouray of the Ute Indians maintained mostly peaceful relations in the Colorado Mountains while Indian wars raged on the plains. This painting by a local art professor at Salida Academy captures his enlightened countenance.

 

The beadwork on this buckskin jacket mimics Native American art, but was produced at an area scout camp or dude ranch.

 

Mrs. Charlotte Kirchner of Salida donated her dolls and a cradle made for her by her father.

 

The museum has many pieces of pottery such as this decorated bowl made by Pueblo Indians of the Southwest.

 

Built as a high school American History project, this nearly four-foot long model of a wooden-hulled, three-masted schooner dominates one corner of the museum.

 

The funeral procession for Salida’s favorite lawman, Baxter Stingley, shot and killed in 1883, was reported to be over a mile long as it left downtown headed for Cleora Cemetery. Known never to back down from a fight, the Marshall had survived several gunshot wounds in previous duels, including one that blasted his pocket watch to bits.

 

Victorian era elegance extended down to the last monogramed detail engraved on the end of a parasol.

 

Stereoscopes for viewing 3-D photographs were fashionable entertainment luxuries 100 years ago just as televisions and CD players are today.

 

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

Membership in the Salida Museum Association costs $10.00. Volunteers are needed to help keep the museum open as long as possible during the summer season and for student field trips during the school year. Please call the museum at 719-539-7483.

ADMINISTRATION

The museum is located in Centennial Park near Salida Hot Springs Pool and adjacent to the Chamber of Commerce visitor center on “I” Street at U.S. Highway 50 West. It is open daily, from Memorial Day to Labor Day, subject to availability of volunteers.

 

The museum is managed, in cooperation with the City of Salida, by the Salida Museum Association, which also has responsibility for Salida’s Smeltertown smokestack and the one-room Maysville School west of Poncha Springs.

 

Write to the President,
Salida Museum Association
406 Highway 50 West
Salida CO 81201-2236
salidamuseum@gmail.com
or telephone 719-539-7483

or Contact: Earle Kittleman, 539-6153; kittleman@amigo.net