A man and a collie stand in front of the fixed bridge with steel railings that spans the Gunnison River near Austin, Colorado. The man wears a suit and hat and has a long, white beard. A two story, masonry house with chimneys, rectangular windows, and a hipped roof is next to the bridge. A smaller, stone cabin with a hipped roof is near it. The bluffs that surround the town are in the background.
Date
[between 1900 and 1910]
Notes
Hand-written on back of photoprint: The state bridge over the Gunnison near Austin. Until the new bridge was built about 1900, it was necessary for people of the North Fork valley to be ferried across the river as it was an all day trip with a team from the towns of Hotchkiss and Paonia in the North Fork valley. They would stay overnight in the inner stone house shown in the picture. Then they were ferried across the river in the morning, arriving in Delta in the afternoon. It generally meant a three or four day trip from Paonia to Delta, a distance of twenty- three miles. Lower mouth of Black Canyon.; Photographer's stamp on verso.; Photoprint has yellowed.; Title hand-written on back of photoprint.; R7100071183
