Re: Richard B. Jackson's South Park Photo Album

Posted by Jim Courtney on Sep 25, 2024; 6:55am
URL: http://c-sng-discussion-forum.254.s1.nabble.com/Richard-B-Jackson-s-South-Park-Photo-Album-tp18596p20154.html

I, too, have been puzzling as to the location of the little rustic flag station. I began to wonder if it might have been a latter structure, erected at Camp Santa Maria, opened in the early 1930s.

In researching this, I learned some new things, but no confirmation as to the little wait station.

First, "Camp Santa Maria" and the C&S station of "Cassells" are one and the same:

"Another Catholic summer camp originated with the old resort of Cassells on the South Platte River. The resort had been launched as a stop along the Denver, South Park & Pacific Railroad by David N. Cassells, the agent there, in the 1880s. In 1930, J.K. Mullen's son-in-law, John L. Dower, and his wife, purchased the place, located 8.3 miles west of Bailey, from Cassells estate and gave it to Catholic Charities as a summer camp for underprivileged boys and girls between the ages of eight and fifteen. By 1931, the freshly rechristened Camp Santa Maria was offering three-week summer sessions, during which youngsters slept in the old Cassells hotel.

The landmark atop the hill behind the camp, a fifty-five-foot statue of Christ the King donated in 1933 by the Dowers, is supposedly second in height only to the famous statue of Christ in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Although the old hotel and Cassells-Dower summer house have been demolished, Camp Santa Maria still delights young summer visitors to this mountain retreat along the upper South Platte River. Since the 1950s, the Mary Mullen Dower Benevolent Corporation has leased Camp Santa Maria to Catholic Community Services, which offers not only children's summer camping but also retreats and autumn camping for senior citizens."
Thomas J. Noel

In the last couple of decades the camp is now operated by the YMCA.

There are quite a few blurry photos in the Park County Archives of the early camp.

An early 1930s view of the camp, the old Cassells Hotel to the right. C&S grade marked in red. Possibly a small wait station at orange arrow:




A Sanborn Postcard from the later 1930s.




Enlarging shows an open air wait station still down by the RR grade--looks to be a square foot print with hip roof:




So, is this the location of the Richard Jackson wait station??:




I dunno--I can't reconcile the scenery behind the Jackson photo, which appears to fall away toward the river, with the blurry wait station in the above two photos, where it sits at the foot of a small bluff.

Anyways, I'll keep looking . . .