Impression Evergreen

"Days of Glory" Colored Pencil Drawing It’s the early 1900s and Bridgeport, Nebraska is a fledgling community basking in the sunshine of its glory days. The town is known as “Trail City, USA” because it sits on or near many trails of the Old West including the Oregon, California, Mormon, Pony Express and Sidney-Black Hills trails. Back in 1876, Henry T. Clarke built a bridge across the North Platte River just three miles upstream from the current site of Bridgeport. This overpass improved the link between Sidney and the booming, gold-mining settlements in the Black Hills. The exchange of goods and precious metals between the two regions flourished for about a decade. During that time a loose-knit medley of early settlers established Camp Clarke, a small village located near the river. The actual town of Bridgeport was officially founded as a railway station by the Burlington Railroad in 1900. After the coming of the trains, the population increased dramatically and in 1...

Soldier Summit, Utah Up out of Price, Utah as you head into the high country, there's an expansive meadow that's funneled into a natural passageway through the rugged Wasatch Mountains. Extreme weather shaped this beautiful landscape and provoked its tragic history. In 1776, an expedition led by two Franciscan Priests stumbled upon this remarkable place and called it Grassy Pass. Fathers Dominguez and Escalante were searching for an overland route from Santa Fe to their Catholic Mission in Monterey, California. The small party of Spanish explorers got as far as Utah Lake but travel hardships made it impossible to continue so they returned home to New Mexico. The attempt may have failed but their stories, maps and documentation would help guide future travelers as their route became part of the Old Spanish Trail. In July of 1861 after the Civil War had begun, a group of 40 southern officers and enlisted men stationed at Camp Floyd, Utah were released from duty so they...

Xenia, Colorado Xenia was established in 1883 as a construction campsite on the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad about seven miles west of Akron, Colorado. It never had a post office or a school. You can use GPS to find the location but when you get here, everything’s gone. All I found was a broken-down fence and its futile attempt to contain a vast expanse of idyllic prairie. Lit by a low sun, spring clouds drift overhead as a western meadowlark sings his heartfelt song. I can only imagine what it was like 100 years ago but if I were passing through back then, I believe I’d like to stay for a while.

Janeway, Colorado "Though the white man may take this land, it and everything on it will never make him happy and his endeavors will forever fail." ~ Ute Indian curse after being forcibly removed from the Crystal River Valley Once upon a time, coal was king... During the late 1800s, combustible carbon powered locomotives and fired smelters from Aspen to Pueblo. So when "Black Gold" was discovered in Colorado's central Rockies, prospectors, investors and miners saturated the Western Slope. Treaties were broken and the region's native inhabitants, the Utes, were forced to leave their homeland for reservations further removed. Situated in a rugged ravine, Janeway was a rowdy rest-area for frontiersmen heading into the high country. Originally known as Mobley's Camp, in 1877 the settlement was renamed after its affable innkeeper, Mary Jane Francis. The charming Mary Jane was the most popular resident in this fledgling town of fifty that included a...