The Wednesday Post

Colorado Today!
It's cool when you walk by it, but don't go out of your way.

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...in which we find out what's happening these days at the sites of last week's boring postcards!

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PIONEER MONUMENT
DENVER, COLORADO

The Pioneer Monument Fountain is Still There.  Originally intended to be a statue of a Sioux Indian, the design concept was changed after a public furor to an equestrian representation of the deeply problematic Kit Carson.  After its installation in 1911, it was frequently panned for being too French and too Rococo -- more Fragonard than Remington -- and perhaps there is something to that.  Its single review on "Yelp," offered by Alison V. of Albany, New York, states:

It's a statute downtown with a fountain.  What else do you expect?  It's cool when you walk by it, but don't go out of your way.

Excellent picture from Mille Fiori Favoriti

GLACIER CREEK
Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

Glacier Creek is Still There.  Although sometimes it gets covered with snow.

Highway 40 S, Glenwood Canyon
Colorado River near Glenwood Springs, Colo.

U.S. Highway 40S no longer exists, and indeed only lasted from the creation of the U.S. Highway system in 1926 until 1935.  In 1935, it was renumbered to U.S. 24.  In late 1936, U.S. Highway 6 was created; it shared the same route as U.S. 24 through Glenwood Springs (highway aficionados call this "dual designation") and therefore through the area shown in this postcard.  In 1975, Highway 26 was decommissioned west of the Vale area.  To recap: U.S. 40S for ten years, U.S. 24 for a year, U.S. 6/24 for 40 years, and then, from the 1970s, U.S. 6.

Eventually, Interstate 70 was punched through the canyon.  As the last piece of the original Interstate Highway System to be completed, it didn't get finished until 1992.  It's an impressive piece of road, and I still remember the mighty scale of the construction I saw when passing through on the way to graduate school in 1991.

Now, it's really hard to tell after 85 years, but I think that the place shown in the postcard looks like this today:

The Colorado River is Still There, more or less, but is not visible in the modern image.


BOX CANYON MOTEL
Ouray, Colo.

The Box Canyon Motel is Still There, spiffed up considerably and doing business as the Box Canyon Lodge and Hot Springs. 

Aerial View of Denver, Colo.

Denver, Colorado, is Still There.  In fact, there's more of it now.  But you can still pick out some of the buildings of yore in the current skyline.