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The mines in southwestern Colorado were in trouble and needed cheap, reliable electric power to keep running. This is the story of innovative solutions to solve the problem using alternating current electricity and the incredible effort, tenacity, and toughness of the men who overcame formidable obstacles to bring electrification to the mines, ranches, homes, and businesses in the remote and rugged areas of southwestern Colorado.
Here is their story in over 80 intriguing historic photos from the Center of Southwest Studies. Tough men peer from the pages with attitude to spare next to gargantuan equipment in unforgiving terrain. Many of the photographs were taken by Philip “P. C.” Schools, power plant superintendent with the Western Colorado Power Co., whose turn-of-the-century photographs documented the coming of electricity to Southwest Colorado and from which his legacy glows.
Price: $34.99
Pages: 128
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
Imprint: WestWinds Press
Publication Date:
16 February 2015
Trim Size: 9.25 X 7.50 in
ISBN: 9781941821497
Format: Hardcover
"For the most part, Journalists, (a label I’ve proudly worn for nearly sixty years), focus on history as it’s being made, and historians on 'the lies agreed to' of events past. Esther merges the two and writes with present tense immediacy of events concluded decades ago. In her intelligent book, TOUGH MEN IN HARD PLACES, she gives life and voice to some of America’s most hard driven heroes—all of them long ago lost to the years. You can almost see their lips moving in the compelling photographs that accompany their own words, faithfully translated to print. . . It’s a celebration of American enterprise everywhere."
—Sid Feders, Executive Director, Envision Entertainment, Emmy, Peabody and Dupont award-winning former Executive Producer NBC News
You can find Esther in one of two places. Either she will be searching the archives at the Center of Southwest Studies, or hiking in the Weminuche Wilderness as a volunteer for the San Juan Mountains Association looking for arborglyphs. A far cry from her life in Washington, DC, where she was born and worked for the Veterans Administration. She is married and lives in Durango, Colorado.
Introduction
The Western Colorado Power Company System of Power Stations
Power Companies Emerge
An Electrical Engineer with the Eye of an Artist: Philip (P. C.) Schools
Tough Men in Hard Places
Death and Disasters
Gears, Bolts, and Marvelous Machines
Sources
Acknowledgments