Tourism was a new and growing industry in the first quarter of the 20th century. Long-distance railroads were some of the earliest instigators, encouraging people to see the sites in America–particularly the new national parks. From that beginning, tourism filtered down into increasingly local pursuits, including amusement parks such as Elitch Gardens, which were accessed by trolley systems.
One of Golden’s earliest tourist-centric businesses offered burro rides to the top of Castle Rock. The business owner, Charles Quaintance, also operated a photography studio at 13th and Washington. He took photographs of every group as they began their ride to Castle Rock and developed the photos while they were gone. When they returned, he showed them the photos and offered them for sale. (This was a precursor to the sales tactic we still see at popular tourist spots like Disneyworld.)
Those of us who collect old photos of Golden encounter these burro photos fairly frequently, but no two are alike, since every one of them shows a different group of tourists!
Thanks to the Golden History Museum for providing the online cache of historic Transcripts, and to the Golden Transcript for documenting our history since 1866!
