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"Echoes from the Thundermug": Memories

Heads up: Death of a child

"Memories" is a change of pace from the run of stories before it — a photo album section, spanning printed pp.97–112 of the book, built almost entirely of snapshots and their captions rather than narrative prose. Every caption, year label and name John printed beneath each photo is transcribed exactly as printed, in the order it appears; where the book gave a photo its own printed header — a year, a title in quotation marks — that header is kept as the lead of the caption below it.

Memories

Black-and-white photograph of a flooded creek gorge through Stringtown above Creede, Colorado, with debris and rubble along the banks and a damaged building visible in the distance. — The Year: 1909 (?). "Stringtown", above Creede proper, in the Willow Creek drainage takes the brunt of spring flooding.

Black-and-white photograph of three wood-frame buildings standing in a snow-covered creek bottom below steep mountainsides, with floodwater visible in the foreground. — William Jackson House on left and two others were spared. A child, Helen, drowned here in 1906.

Black-and-white photograph of a rock- and debris-strewn creek bed running through a steep mountain gorge, with scattered timber wreckage along the banks. — Upper Stringtown, to the forks of North Creede, was severely laundered.

Black-and-white photograph of five boys posed together outdoors on a hillside, some standing and some seated on tree stumps, dressed in overalls and work clothes. — The Year: 1929. The Dragon Slayers of Moonshine Mesa. From left: Lee Davis, Scooter Jackson, Joel Jackson, Frank Davis, and Raymond Lane, standing.

Black-and-white photograph of six children posed in front of a Model T-era automobile, three standing at left, one seated holding a small dog, and two boys seated at right. — In Creede Around 1926. Norma Matzen, Mildred Matzen, Dorothy Leonard; Don Leonard, Billy Matzen, Heinie Leonard.

Black-and-white photograph of a man in a light suit and hat standing beside a mountain stream, holding a fishing creel. — The Year: 1932. William "Billy" Barnett hefts his 5# Rainbow Trout at Wagon Wheel Gap, Colorado.

Black-and-white photograph of a man standing behind a large moose head mounted on a post, holding its antlers, in a snowy outdoor setting. — The Year: 1938. A friend steadies the antlers of Gustaves Jackson's record moose. (Territory of Alaska)

Black-and-white close-up photograph of a smiling man wearing glasses and a cap. — Horace Wheeler, Electrician.

Black-and-white photograph of a man in a wide-brimmed hat and canvas field jacket, standing outdoors. — Fay Franklin, Forest Ranger, Game Warden.

Black-and-white photograph of a smiling older man in a work shirt, standing outdoors. — Clyde "Unc" Hood, R.R. Engineer, Gentle Spirit.

Black-and-white photograph of a man in coveralls standing in front of stacked lumber. — O.B. Ben Helmick, Grocer, Millman.

Black-and-white photograph of a man and woman standing arm in arm outdoors in front of a wood building, with a child partly visible at their side. — Fred "Soapy" & Mae Birdsey, Barber, Fisherman.

Black-and-white photograph of eight boys posed together outdoors on a hillside, four standing and four kneeling in front. — The Year: 1936. Birthday Party for Jimmy Mason. Standing: Bob Blackburn, Ted Bucher, Robert Bishop and Jimmy Mason. Kneeling: John Jackson, Bernard Shaw, Wallace Leary, David Manning and Jack Thompson.

Black-and-white photograph of five young men seated together on a sidewalk in front of a café building. — The Year: 1940. Charles Slaght, Ray Ball, Charles Dabney, Burl McAdams and Robert Phillips wait for the doors to open.

Black-and-white photograph of two men standing together with arms crossed in front of a building doorway. — "Commissioners". Ted Lewis, Wallace Wright.

Black-and-white photograph of three women standing close together outdoors, smiling, in front of a café building. — "Best Friends". Faye Duncan, Mary Thom, Lillian Hargraves.

Black-and-white photograph of a young woman and a young man standing together outdoors near a tree, both smiling. — Cheri Larson & Emma Mae Wilson.

Black-and-white photograph of a woman and a man standing together outdoors in a snowy mountain setting. — Betty Powell & Eugene "Dagwood" Barrett.

Black-and-white photograph of a young man standing on a street, buttoning his shirt cuffs. — Charles Church.

Black-and-white photograph of two young men standing together outdoors near parked cars. — Robert Oates & Eugene Dooley.

Black-and-white photograph of an older man and woman standing together outdoors in front of a brick building. — Elva & Olrich Miller (carpenter).

Black-and-white photograph of an older woman wearing a hat and coat, standing outdoors. — Mary N. Oates, Superintendent of Schools.

Black-and-white photograph of a swollen creek rushing past a row of buildings on stilts. — The Year: 1940. Willow Creek on the rampage in May from fast-melting snow breeches the flume in lower Creede.

Black-and-white photograph of a man on a bulldozer working in a flooded, rock-strewn creek bed. — William "Bill" Kolisch tries to keep the lower channel open as debris clogs the wooden flume.

Black-and-white photograph of a four-engine military bomber parked on an open dirt airstrip, with a crowd of onlookers gathered beneath it. — The Year: 1943. A B-24, Liberator Bomber excites the people of Creede in an unscheduled visit to test emergency landings on short, high altitude dirt strips.

Black-and-white photograph taken from the deck of a troop transport ship, looking down at soldiers filing along a gangway toward the rail. — The Year: 1946. The transport ship, General C.H. Muir, eases into New York Harbor in fog after 17 days at sea.

Black-and-white photograph of a collapsed steel truss bridge lying in a rushing river. — The Year: 1948. The venerable Wason bridge collapses under the weight of construction equipment.

Black-and-white photograph of a wrecked truck cab lying in floodwater beside a collapsed bridge. — Mackey Construction Company loses truck, trailer and bulldozer in muddy Rio Grande on the way to help flood stricken Creede.

Black-and-white photograph of three men standing together outdoors near a bridge, with a hillside and buildings in the background. — Les Turnipseed, Bavin Skinner, Councilman Woodrow Weaver and Gordon Hosselkus hold down the 5th Street bridge in floodtime.

Black-and-white photograph of two men standing together outdoors wearing hats. — John Nelson, Blacksmith; "Pug" Sutherland, Ore Sorter.

Black-and-white photograph of a man seated beside a wall-mounted crank telephone. — Paul Dunkel, Miner, Minister.

Black-and-white photograph of two men seated close together outdoors, one with his arm around the other's shoulder. — John "Smiles" Doyle & Joe Keating, Colorado State Mine Inspectors.

Black-and-white photograph of a horse standing with its head lowered to the ground. — "The Low Riders". "I kept telling them to go on a low-fat diet. Now look at me!"

Black-and-white photograph of two men standing together outdoors wearing jackets and caps. — Tom Steven, Phil Bethke, Geologists.

It's no big deal that our chests have slipped
and tri-focals grace our eyes
Or that we struggle for equilibrium
and forget to zip our flies

Black-and-white photograph of two men talking underground in a mine, one wearing a miner's cap lamp and work clothes, the other in a light jacket. — The author & Charles "Chuck" Davlin.

Deep underground, in cold confines, we met to chart our course
to sample nature's treasures, perhaps, to find the source

The silent rocks listened to us within their complex state
and hid the gold we lusted for but assured us of our fate