DIRECTORY OF TRINIDAD, COLORADO, FOR 1888. TOGETHER WITH A RESUME OF ITS ADVANTAGES AS A MINING, MANUFACTURING, AND DISTRIBUTING CENTRE

Whitney, W.H.

Published by Advertiser Steam Job Print, Trinidad, [Co.], 1888

About this Item

176pp., including numerous in-text illustrations, portraits, advertisements, and a map, plus five photogravure plates and one tipped-in printer's advertisement. Original maroon cloth, ruled in blind, boards titled in gilt. Hinges expertly repaired. Very clean internally. Near fine. A significant association copy of this very rare directory of Colorado's chief coal mining center, inscribed by one of Trinidad's leading citizens, who also contributed to and published the book. This copy is inscribed on the front free endpaper by "M. Beshoar," an important figure in Trinidad and a chief contributor to this publication. Michael Beshoar (1833-1907) was born in Pennsylvania, graduating from the University of Michigan in 1853. He worked as a physician in Arkansas until the outbreak of the Civil War, enlisting as a surgeon in the Confederate army. After he was captured by Union forces in 1863, he signed an amnesty oath and resumed work at the Union army's hospital in St. Louis. He was eventually transferred to Fort Kearny and afterwards remained in the West, settling near Trinidad in the early 1870s. In Trinidad he continued his career as a physician, operated several drug stores, was elected a Colorado State Representative and Las Animas County judge, and, most pertinently, founded the TRINIDAD DAILY ADVERTISER whose offices printed this directory (including his portrait on page nineteen). Prior to this directory, Beshoar had done similar promotion for his new home with his 1882 book, ALL ABOUT TRINIDAD AND LAS ANIMAS COUNTY COLORADO. Given Beshoar's history (and the fact that he is the only person thanked by name in the introduction), it would not be a great leap to imagine that much of the first part of the present directory is his work. Founded as a stop near the Santa Fe Trail in the early 1860s, Trinidad was transformed by the discovery of vast coal deposits the following decade. Unlike flash-in-the-pan gold and silver boom towns, Trinidad's coal fortunes proved more enduring, sustaining active growth and industry through the rest of the century. Billed in the introduction as the "first Directory of Trinidad," this work is as much a promotional and guidebook as a directory. Beginning with poetry and prose descriptions and illustrations of the geography surrounding Trinidad, the text goes on to describe the history and present state of of the town's industries, including schools and churches, cattle raising, agriculture, and timber, and particularly focuses on the coal industry and considerable railroad presence. Throughout, this section is illustrated by engravings of natural features, significant public and private buildings, and portraits of notable citizens. Before beginning the city directory proper, lists are also provided of nearby coal mines and mining companies, including names of officers and full lists of employees, sometimes numbering several hundred. The city directory itself is organized alphabetically, listing name, occupation, and address for each inhabitant, and is liberally interspersed with illustrated advertisements for local businesses including real estate (private and mining), hotels, whiskey, construction companies, groceries, and more. Ffiteen laundries are listed, all but one operated by Chinese. The compiler of this directory is W.H. Whitney, listed with a profession of "real estate" and an address at the Grand Union Hotel. A series of rare but interesting early town maps of western cities, underwritten by the major western railroads and published by a "W.H. Whitney" in the late 1880s, are likely the work of the same man, who appears to have labored to drive traffic towards Colorado and Utah as the silver boom was dying down. OCLC records only six copies of this directory and promotional of Trinidad County, at the Denver Public Library (which also holds Beshoar's papers), Colorado College, the Colorado Historical Society, Southern Methodist University, the University of California at Berkeley, and the Un. Seller Inventory # WRCAM62971

Bibliographic Details

Title: DIRECTORY OF TRINIDAD, COLORADO, FOR 1888. ...

Publisher: Advertiser Steam Job Print, Trinidad, [Co.]

Publication Date: 1888