Western Colorado Winter Photos Include Train Accident

The state of Colorado is gearing up for a winter storm. That motivated me to search through a file cabinet of Robert Grant negatives featuring winter shots of Western Colorado. Take a look back at our winter from 72 years ago.

Depending on the source, Colorado can expect anywhere from a millimeter of snow up to six feet of snow. Seriously, I've seen reports claiming the mountains could get six feet. I've lived in Colorado long enough to know that the weather will do pretty much what it wants, when it wants, and can change at the drop of a hat.

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Western Colorado has been known to have legitimate winters.

I invite you to take a look at Western Colorado's winter of January 1949. The majority, if not all, of the photos in the gallery below, come from 1949.

Are all of the photos from the Grand Junction area?

Most, if not all, are from the valley or Grand Mesa. Regrettably, my grandpa, Bob Grant, rarely wrote anything on his prints. Most of these images were lifted from negatives I found in a drawer labeled "January 1949."

Why the black and white, and why the strong contrast?

Bob Grant was all about two things:

• Black and White
• Strong contrast

He didn't like filters, diffusion, color film, kittens... you name it. Okay, I take it back. He loved kittens. He also loved Black and White, sharpness, contrast, and detail.

Why did you select these photos?

These were selected at random from a drawer consisting of tens of thousands of negatives. My only criteria - they had to be shots of winter in Western Colorado. I think this is way I'm going to continue with these posts. A narrow topic will be selected, and then the first batch of photos found at random go live in a post.

I hope you enjoy the photos. The negatives are over 70 years old, so a little aging and wear & tear have taken their toll. In my opinion, so much the better. It adds character.