Collection
P 015.33 and P017.10:
|
Years this material
was created: circa 1910-1970
Quantity: 102 photographic images,
in 2 folders.
漏 2007 by Fort
Lewis College Foundation, Center of Southwest Studies account
Links to contents
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Introduction/ Scope and contents
This collection is comprised of twenty-six photoprints and one 14x11” color photoprint of Olga Schaaf Little (in collection P 015.033), 116 slide transparencies (in collection P 017.010), and a booklet that consists of pages 3-26 of the 1956 Spanish Trails Fiesta program for August 2-5.
Olga Little was one of Durango's notable female pioneers and its most famous mule skinner (or, as the catalogers at the Library of Congress prefer, muleteer). Using her burros, she brought supplies in to mines in the San Juan Mountains of Southwestern Colorado, and brought ore back. Mines that she so served in the Junction Creek area included the Neglected Mine, the Durango Girl Mine, and the Bessie G. Mine (this was the farthest up Kennebec Pass, above Junction Creek; its last owner was Donald DeLouche; prior to him it was owned by Biill McCormick and Bert Thompson). She and her train also served a number of mines in La Plata Canyon, including Mayday Mine, Jumbo Mine, Lucky Moon Mine, Gold King Mine, Idaho Mine (a mixture of silver with little veins of gold), Tenbrook Mine. She freighted with a wagon and teams and a big bobsled. Ross McCausland, Jr., was a friend of hers who ran placer claims at Needleton and packed timbers to the Neglected Mine. One time, the burro next to the end of a train of burros kicked -- the last burro reared and broke the think line holding two timbers that were like a big sled. The snow was 4 - 4 1/2 feet deep and the burro was stuck there until spring. She brought hay to the burro every week until spring (the burro ate snow for hydration). Little charged $5/ton for transporting coal on burros, in three 70-pound sacks, one on each side and one on top of the animal. With a train of 30 burros, she averaged 10 burros per ton. Her burros also transported 25 foot coils (2 inches or thicker, joined with lead splices) for use in trams at mines.
Source: The foregoing information was from an interview by Andrew Gulliford (as Director of the Center of Southwest Studies) with Peryl and Ernie (age 85 at the time) Schaaf at their home in Durango on November 18, 2002.
Administrative information
Acquisition information: Ernest and Peryl Schaaf donated this collection of materials to the Center of Southwest Studies by deed of gift on December 12, 2003 (accession 2006:070). Ernest Schaaf is Olga Little's nephew. Various other items pertaining to Olga Little were transferred or donated to the Center previously from other sources. These include: This Is Your Life -- 1950s broadcast about Mrs. Little (2004:05012) -- a VHS videocassette copy of the show. Also at the Center are Durango attorney Soignier's office's files of the records of the Olga Little estate file, circa 1985-1986 (the Center retained several pages describing jewelry from this region) (accession 1998:07004).
Processing information: The photographs were arranged and described 新加坡六合彩 student archival workers and interns in the fall of 2006; Professional Archival Intern Jerrid Miller digitized the images and created metadata records for them in January of 2007, under the supervision of Todd Ellison, Certified Archivist at the Center of Southwest Studies, who produced this inventory and the image access web pages in February of 2007.
Added entry terms:
Mines--Colorado--San Juan Mountains--Pictorial works
Mules--Colorado--San Juan Mountains--Pictorial works
Muleteers--Colorado--San Juan Mountains--Pictorial works
Women--Colorado--San Juan Mountains--Pictorial works
Little, Olga Schaaf
Hesperus (Colo.)--Description--Views
La Plata (Colo.)--Description--Views
San Juan Mountains (Colo.)--Description--Views
Folder list
Collection P 015.33, in Box 2
Collection P 017.10, in Box 1
Doing your own research: This description of a portion of the collections at the Fort Lewis College Center of Southwest Studies is provided to inform interested parties about the nature and depth of the repository's collections. It cannot serve as a substitute for a visit to the repository for those with substantial research interests in the collections.
This collection is located at the Center of Southwest Studies on the campus of Fort Lewis College. Researchers wanting more information about using this material at the Delaney Southwest Research Library at the Center may email the archivist at archives@fortlewis.edu or (or phone the archivist at 970/247-7126). The Center does not have a budget for outgoing long-distance phone calls to answer reference requests, so please email if you wish to receive a response from the Center.