Manufacturing
What do these photos tell you about what 20th century Coloradans manufactured?
Inside A Steel Mill (1960)
This photo shows the inside of a steel mill. The mill was owned by the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company in Pueblo, Colorado.
Photo: Denver Public Library, Western History Collection
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Factories in Colorado during the early 1900s made many kinds of products. These ranged from Russell Stover's candies to automobile tires to steel rails for railroads. This photo shows steel being made at the CF&I mill at Pueblo. The bright light on the left side is a river of hot, melted iron that is flowing out of a blast furnace.
Their Own Words
"The steel is made in the open hearth. The “Ingot Buggy” carries away the glowing 11,000 pound mass. Tiny men manipulating huge tongs lower it into the roaring pit for an exactly timed stay, during which it is turned several times so the heat penetrates throughout.
"White hot it dazzles your eyes as it’s lifted from the pit, and dumped with a clang at the blooming rolls.
"One of the features of any steel mill is the fewness of people. Here and there you see a person, dwarfed to doll size, moving amid the giant machinery. But the huge mill seems, on the whole, to move almost of its own will."
Source: Roscoe Fleming in Rocky Mountain Empire Magazine (April 3, 1949).
A Delta Canning Factory (1935)
These women are working in a tomato canning factory in the town of Delta. The photo was taken about 1935.
Photo: Denver Public Library, Western History Collection
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Farmers in Colorado grew many kinds of vegetables. That made food processing and canning an important industry. The women in this photo are peeling tomatoes and putting them into cans. The cans were sealed and heated to keep them from spoiling. Canned food from Colorado was shipped to many cities and states.
Gates Rubber Plant (1925)
These buildings are part of the Gates Rubber Company's factory in Denver. The sign on the building in the background says GATES TIRES.
Photo: Denver Public Library, Western History Collection
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The Gates Rubber Company manufactured a variety of rubber products. When the above photo was taken about 1925, auto tires were the company's most important product.
Their Own Words
"The founding of the company in Colorado was an accident. The two Gates brothers came here after graduating form the University of Michigan as mining engineers to engage in mining. When this business did not pan out, they invested their capital of $1500 in leather halters and gradually branched out into the rubber business. They formed a closed corporation and have developed a business, which in 1940 sold 16 million dollars worth of goods. Their payroll of $4,3000,000 was distributed among 3,200 employees….
"Five thousand different articles are made by the company. About 30 per cent of the business is devoted to the manufacture of tires and tubes-70 per cent of the products being other types of rubber goods."
Source: “Gates Rubber Company,” in “Industry and Commerce, Sketches of Denver,” Writers’ Program, Colorado, Colorado Historical Society Library, [1940].
Alexander Aircraft Factory (1928)
This photo shows the interior of the Alexander Aircraft Factory in Colorado Springs. This photo was taken in 1928.
Photo: Denver Public Library, Western History Collection
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In the 1920s, this Colorado Springs aircraft company was one of the largest non-military aircraft factories in the United States. The factory made different kinds of planes. The one shown in the photo is an Eaglerock, a small plane with two open cockpits.
Their Own Words
"One area manufacturer of planes about that time was the Alexander company in Colorado Springs, which produced the Eaglerock plane. These aircraft...had more than their share of crashes. It got so bad that people made crude jokes about them such as: They call the planes Eaglerocks because they fly like an eagle and fall like a rock. Their track record finally became so bad that, as I understand, the authorities in charge of flying regulations banned further manufacturing of the Eaglerock."
Source: Robert Esterday, A Kid's-Eye View of Early Greeley (Greeley, CO: The Author, 1993): 39.
Making Steel Fencing (1960)
This photo shows a machine at the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company's steel mill that made wire fence material. The photo was taken about 1960.
Photo: Denver Public Library, Western History Collection
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The steel mill at Pueblo made several steel products. Among these were rails for railroads, steel wire, and steel mesh for fences.
Making Cotton Cloth (1937)
These are knitting machines that made cotton cloth from white cotton thread. The photo was taken in 1937.
Photo: Denver Public Library, Western History Collection
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The factory in this photo was located at the State Penitentiary in Canon City. The workers are prisoners. The white cones on top of the machines are spindles of white cotton thread. The cotton cloth is flowing into the boxes beneath the machines. The machines are powered by belts connected to the drive shaft in the center of the photo.
