Back in Time | Aspen
Aspen Historical Society/Courtesy photo
“Yesterday morning the boys grading the Park-Regent road let a huge granite boulder get away at a point directly above the J.C. Johnson shaft house, fully 1,200 feet away,” reported The Aspen Daily Times on April 14, 1888.
“The great rock came thundering down the mountain, with big leaps, touching the high places now and then, and threatened destruction to everything before it. Its course was direct for the Johnson shaft house. The men on the dump saw it coming, but could give only one word of warning to the boys inside. Too late; the suspense was short, a great crash and all was still. The men rushed in to find the only damage done was to upset the log carriage. The boulder was lying within two feet of the saw, where a few minutes before three men had been at work. Johnnie Jenning’s pony was standing just outside the door. Had it struck him, remarked one of the boys, ‘it would have killed him to death.’ The rock happened to enter the shaft house by the way of the door, and no damage was done. The reporter wended his way up the hill and left the boys to roll out the half-ton missile.”
“Back in Time” is contributed by Aspen Historical Society and features excerpted articles and images from past Snowmass Sun/Aspen Times issues. We can’t rewrite history, but we can learn from it! Visit archiveaspen.org to view the vast Aspen Times photographic collection in the AHS Archives.
Aspen Historical Society actively preserves and passionately presents local history in an inspired and provocative manner that will continue to anchor the local community and its evolving character. For more, visit aspenhistory.org.
