In 1889, Nicholas C. Creede and his mining partners discovered silver at the Holy Moses vein up East Willow Creek in Mineral County. New mineral strikes in 1891, combined with the extension of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad to Upper Creede, brought an influx of people to the region. Three months later, the town of Creede comprised 500 buildings, either built or under construction. The silver boom ended four years later when the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 was repealed in the fall of 1893.
1891
Elmer E. Pascoe was one of the first photographers to open a studio in Creede. His biography was featured earlier.
Rinehart & Jones
This photo appears in the book An Empire of Silver by Robert L. Brown and is cited as being taken in Creede around 1891 or 1892. Rinehart may be Denver photographer Alfred E. Rinehart or his brother, Frank A. Rinehart, who had a studio in Omaha, Nebraska. I have not been able to locate any photographs by this partnership.
1892
Charles Goodman was born in June 1843, at Bainbridge, New York, to Abel Goodman and Anna McKinnon Goodman. Goodman may have worked as a photographer in his hometown in the early 1860s. Later, he lived in Ava, Illinois, before moving to Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, where he worked as a photographer, joining forces with H. R. Farr as Farr & Goodman in 1875.
By 1880, he was working with his brother, William A. Goodman, as a photographer in South Pueblo and Pitkin, Colorado, specializing in stereoviews. The Goodman Bros. partnership lasted less than a year. In the 1880s and early 1890s, Goodman worked as a traveling photographer visiting mining towns in southwestern Colorado with his oversized canvas tent. A photograph in a private collection shows his tent, then located in Bonanza, Colorado, with the photographer standing in front. A sign on the tent reads: Views of Bonanza, Exchequer, Sedgwick & Round Mountain For Sale Here.
In 1892, Goodman had a studio in Creede, Colorado, next to Hudlow’s second-hand store. His prints were offered for sale at his gallery, as well as at Mrs. Love’s news depot and the local drug store for thirty-three cents each or three for one dollar. In 1893, Goodman worked in Mancos, documenting local ranches. He remained in Mancos for the remainder of the year before relocating to Bluff, Utah, where he would live for the rest of his life.
In Bluff, Goodman continued his photographic work and also worked on mining claims. He wrote and illustrated “The History of the Oil Fields in San Juan County, Utah.” In addition to his mining views, Goodman photographed the local Navajo population.
Goodman died on February 13, 1912, in Bluff, Utah. He is buried in the Bluff Cemetery.
Enos Franklin Hilton was born on December 25, 1844, in Barry County, Missouri, to Enos Bird Hilton and Annabelle Bailie Hilton. During the Civil War, he enlisted in the Fourteenth State Militia of Missouri, Cavalry, Company F. He transferred to Company M of the 8th Regiment of the Missouri State Militia Cavalry on March 15, 1863, riding his own horse. Records indicate that he was 5 feet 6 inches tall, with a fair complexion, blue eyes, and light hair. He mustered out on April 18, 1865.
Hilton married Sarah Jane Lee on November 12, 1865, in Stone County, Missouri. By 1870, the Hilton family had moved to Arkansas, where Enos worked as a photographer for over a decade. In 1888, he briefly relocated his photo studio to Chautauqua, Kansas, before settling in Alamosa, in southern Colorado. His views of the local spouting artesian wells, sending water 40 feet high into the air, became quite popular. Mrs. Hilton opened a dressmaking business, offering both plain and fancy work, along with ball dresses for the holidays.
In June 1891, Hilton moved his gallery to Del Norte, Colorado, occupying the space formerly used by J. J. Cornish. The following year, he moved 40 miles west to the mining town of Creede, Colorado. His Rock Castle Gallery, atop a large boulder, offered views of Creede and Jimtown. His street scenes of Creede bring the wild west to light. In 1893, he opened a branch gallery two miles up the hill in Bachelor, Colorado, a center for saloons, gambling halls, and prostitution. About a month after opening this studio, a fire on February 26, 1893, destroyed the building.
After 1895, Hilton turned to farming. In 1909, he divorced his wife of forty-four years, citing desertion. He spent the last months of his life at the National Soldiers Home in Washington County, Tennessee. He passed away on May 22, 1910, and was buried on the grounds of the Soldiers Home at the Mountain Home National Cemetery.
Brooks & Drake, a partnership of J. A. Drake and Brooks, active in Creede between 1892 and 1894. They succeeded photographer Charles Goodman. No biographical information has surfaced about these photographers. Their advertisement in the Creede Candle mentions that their inventory included 400 views of the Creede camp and mines.
1893
Hoer & Drake
After Brooks & Drake dissolved, Drake formed a partnership with Frederick A. Hoer. Hoer was born on May 21, 1867, in Trenton, New Jersey to German immigrants, Donat (also spelled Donard or Donatus) Hoer and Juliana Hess Hoer. By 1893, Hoer lived in Mineral County, Colorado, where he met and married his wife, Rebecca Elizabeth Tyree Hoer, on August 27, 1893.
F. A. Hoer operated photo studios in the area, both by himself and with J. A. Drake as Hoer & Drake in Amethyst, Colorado. By 1897, the family had moved to Mancos, Colorado, where Hoer ran a store. On January 26, 1898, at 5:30 in the morning, with a temperature of -23, Hoer’s business burned to the ground. The Hoers left Mancos for Telluride, Colorado, in the fall of 1900, where he and D. E. Snyder opened a clothing store. Hoer spent the last years of his life in Pueblo, Colorado. He passed away on September 6, 1921, at the age of 54. He left his wife, four sons, and a daughter.
1899
Corrientis E. Rees was born in September 1868 in Muncie, Indiana, to Wayne Solomon “Sol” Rees Sr. and Letticia “Tish” Linville Rees. His parents divorced when Corrientes was young. His mother remarried, and the family moved to Kansas.
In 1892, C. E. Rees grew horseradish with plans to bottle and sell the condiment throughout the West. But the following year, Rees traveled around Kansas with an Edison hall phonograph, giving concerts. The audience enjoyed listening to cornet, clarinet, and piccolo solos, as well as band music.
In the fall of 1894, Rees operated a portrait studio above Shilling’s store in Aspen, Colorado. He returned to Kansas about a year later, then went back to Colorado in early 1897, where he would live for the rest of his life. After a quick return to Aspen, Rees set up a tent gallery in Delta, Colorado. In February 1898, he sold his studio to W. R. Travis. Rees operated a photography studio in Creede between 1899 and 1903.
In December 1902, Rees built a photograph car, 9 x 27 feet, that he could use to make photographs in the smaller towns of southern Colorado. Rees continued in the photograph business through 1909. After that time, Rees maintained a ranch northwest of Monte Vista. Rees died at the Alamosa Community Hospital following a long illness on February 23, 1945. He was buried at Monte Vista Cemetery.
1897
Thomas J. Wiker worked as a traveling photographer. In the fall of 1886, he advertised his portable photograph gallery, made of pine, weighing 2,300 pounds. He worked in the San Francisco area before moving to Creede, Colorado, in 1897.
Thank you to Allison Quiller, Photo Director, Creede Historical Society; Johanna Gray, Librarian, Creede Historical Society; and Charles Harbert collector, historian, and author, with special thanks for bringing the Rinehart & Jones studio to my attention.
