{"id":2453313,"date":"2020-01-16T09:19:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-16T16:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=319180"},"modified":"2020-01-16T09:19:00","modified_gmt":"2020-01-16T16:19:00","slug":"two-amateur-historians-bring-ghost-town-of-ashcroft-to-life-with-stories-of-its-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/two-amateur-historians-bring-ghost-town-of-ashcroft-to-life-with-stories-of-its-people\/","title":{"rendered":"Two amateur historians bring ghost town of Ashcroft to life with stories of its people"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"swift-gallery p402_hide\" readability=\"6.9172351068668\">\n<ul id=\"imageGallery-319180-815\" class=\"gallery list-unstyled\">\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/01\/weeklycoverashcroft-atw-011620-5-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/01\/weeklycoverashcroft-atw-011620-5-1024x695.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Aspen Historical Society\/courtesy photo | A woman identified as Nellie Bird stands on Little Nell in the late 1880s. Aspen and Red Mountain can be seen in the background. Bird moved from Leadville and had interests in Aspen and Ashcroft.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"9\">\n<p><strong>A woman identified as Nellie Bird stands on Little Nell in the late 1880s. Aspen and Red Mountain can be seen in the background. Bird moved from Leadville and had interests in Aspen and Ashcroft.<\/strong><br \/>Aspen Historical Society\/courtesy photo<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/01\/weeklycoverashcroft-atw-011620-5-1024x695.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"A woman identified as Nellie Bird stands on Little Nell in the late 1880s. Aspen and Red Mountain can be seen in the background. Bird moved from Leadville and had interests in Aspen and Ashcroft.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/01\/weeklycoverashcroft-atw-011620-5-1-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/01\/weeklycoverashcroft-atw-011620-5-1-1024x774.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Aspen Historical Society, Shaw Collection | Men use tongs to move ice blocks at an ice operation in Aspen in a photo likely taken between 1893 and 1895. Red Mountain is in the background. The man in the center background is Edmund C. Hawkins, who also worked in Ashcroft.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"0\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"11\">\n<p><strong>Men use tongs to move ice blocks at an ice operation in Aspen in a photo likely taken between 1893 and 1895. Red Mountain is in the background. The man in the center background is Edmund C. Hawkins, who also worked in Ashcroft.<\/strong><br \/>Aspen Historical Society, Shaw Collection<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/01\/weeklycoverashcroft-atw-011620-5-1-1024x774.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"Men use tongs to move ice blocks at an ice operation in Aspen in a photo likely taken between 1893 and 1895. Red Mountain is in the background. The man in the center background is Edmund C. Hawkins, who also worked in Ashcroft.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/01\/weeklycoverashcroft-atw-011620-5-2-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/01\/weeklycoverashcroft-atw-011620-5-2-636x1024.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Scott Condon\/The Aspen Times | The old hotel at Ashcroft sits on a high spot of what was once Castle Avenue. Two amateur historians have made a good case that it was a boarding house built by Nellie Bird.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"9\">\n<p><strong>The old hotel at Ashcroft sits on a high spot of what was once Castle Avenue. Two amateur historians have made a good case that it was a boarding house built by Nellie Bird.<\/strong><br \/>Scott Condon\/The Aspen Times<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/01\/weeklycoverashcroft-atw-011620-5-2-636x1024.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"The old hotel at Ashcroft sits on a high spot of what was once Castle Avenue. Two amateur historians have made a good case that it was a boarding house built by Nellie Bird.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/01\/weeklycoverashcroft-atw-011620-5-3-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/01\/weeklycoverashcroft-atw-011620-5-3-1024x610.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Aspen Historical Society\/courtesy photo | This panoramic shot of Ashcroft was likely taken from Taylor Pass Toll Road from the east of the town. Peter Starck, who is doing extensive research on the Ashcroft, suspects it was taken in October or November 1884 based on the level of development.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"0\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"11\">\n<p><strong>This panoramic shot of Ashcroft was likely taken from Taylor Pass Toll Road from the east of the town. Peter Starck, who is doing extensive research on the Ashcroft, suspects it was taken in October or November 1884 based on the level of development.<\/strong><br \/>Aspen Historical Society\/courtesy photo<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/01\/weeklycoverashcroft-atw-011620-5-3-1024x610.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"This panoramic shot of Ashcroft was likely taken from Taylor Pass Toll Road from the east of the town. Peter Starck, who is doing extensive research on the Ashcroft, suspects it was taken in October or November 1884 based on the level of development.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/01\/weeklycoverashcroft-atw-011620-5-4-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/01\/weeklycoverashcroft-atw-011620-5-4-1024x624.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Aspen Historical Society\/courtesy photo | A crowd gathers in a street at Ashcroft on July 4th, 1882. The town was bustling at that time because of local mining activity.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"9\">\n<p><strong>A crowd gathers in a street at Ashcroft on July 4th, 1882. The town was bustling at that time because of local mining activity.<\/strong><br \/>Aspen Historical Society\/courtesy photo<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/01\/weeklycoverashcroft-atw-011620-5-4-1024x624.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"A crowd gathers in a street at Ashcroft on July 4th, 1882. The town was bustling at that time because of local mining activity.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/01\/weeklycoverashcroft-atw-011620-5-5-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/01\/weeklycoverashcroft-atw-011620-5-5-1024x706.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Aspen Historical Society\/courtesy photo | A group gathers in front of the Ashcroft Post Office in a photo taken in about 1900. Ashcroft boomed in the early 1880s and went bust before the decade was out.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"8\">\n<p><strong>A group gathers in front of the Ashcroft Post Office in a photo taken in about 1900. Ashcroft boomed in the early 1880s and went bust before the decade was out.<\/strong><br \/>Aspen Historical Society\/courtesy photo<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/01\/weeklycoverashcroft-atw-011620-5-5-1024x706.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"A group gathers in front of the Ashcroft Post Office in a photo taken in about 1900. Ashcroft boomed in the early 1880s and went bust before the decade was out.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/01\/weeklycoverashcroft-atw-011620-5-6-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/01\/weeklycoverashcroft-atw-011620-5-6-1024x765.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Rob Fedor\/courtesy photo | Artist and photographer Rob Fedor made this drawing of Ashcroft based on historical photos of the mining town.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"8\">\n<p><strong>Artist and photographer Rob Fedor made this drawing of Ashcroft based on historical photos of the mining town.<\/strong><br \/>Rob Fedor\/courtesy photo<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/01\/weeklycoverashcroft-atw-011620-5-6-1024x765.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"Artist and photographer Rob Fedor made this drawing of Ashcroft based on historical photos of the mining town.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/01\/weeklycoverashcroft-atw-011620-5-7-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/01\/weeklycoverashcroft-atw-011620-5-7-1024x709.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Rob Fedor\/courtesy photo | Rob Fedor's interest in Ashcroft of the 1880s inspired him to build a model that recreates buildings from a then-bustling section of Castle Avenue.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"8\">\n<p><strong>Rob Fedor&#8217;s interest in Ashcroft of the 1880s inspired him to build a model that recreates buildings from a then-bustling section of Castle Avenue.<\/strong><br \/>Rob Fedor\/courtesy photo<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/01\/weeklycoverashcroft-atw-011620-5-7-1024x709.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"Rob Fedor's interest in Ashcroft of the 1880s inspired him to build a model that recreates buildings from a then-bustling section of Castle Avenue.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/01\/weeklycoverashcroft-atw-011620-5-8-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/01\/weeklycoverashcroft-atw-011620-5-8-628x1024.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Rob Fedor\/courtesy photo | Rob Fedor used historic photos of Ashcroft from the 1880s to built models that recreate the original buildings. His scale is 1 inch for each foot of the buildings.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"8\">\n<p><strong>Rob Fedor used historic photos of Ashcroft from the 1880s to built models that recreate the original buildings. His scale is 1 inch for each foot of the buildings.<\/strong><br \/>Rob Fedor\/courtesy photo<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/01\/weeklycoverashcroft-atw-011620-5-8-628x1024.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"Rob Fedor used historic photos of Ashcroft from the 1880s to built models that recreate the original buildings. His scale is 1 inch for each foot of the buildings.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/01\/weeklycoverashcroft-atw-011620-5-10-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/01\/weeklycoverashcroft-atw-011620-5-10-765x1024.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Rob Fedor\/courtesy photo | Rob Fedor used historic photos to nail the details of the boarding house owned by Nellie Bird in Ashcroft in the 1880s. The details include the interior wallpaper and furniture.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"9\">\n<p><strong>Rob Fedor used historic photos to nail the details of the boarding house owned by Nellie Bird in Ashcroft in the 1880s. The details include the interior wallpaper and furniture.<\/strong><br \/>Rob Fedor\/courtesy photo<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/01\/weeklycoverashcroft-atw-011620-5-10-765x1024.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"Rob Fedor used historic photos to nail the details of the boarding house owned by Nellie Bird in Ashcroft in the 1880s. The details include the interior wallpaper and furniture.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li data-thumb=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/01\/weeklycoverashcroft-atw-011620-5-11-150x150.jpg\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/01\/weeklycoverashcroft-atw-011620-5-11-636x1024.jpg\" data-sub-html=\"Rob Fedor\/Courtesy photo | Rob Fedor\u2019s model of the Bird house captures the ornate woodworking by Edmund Hawkins.\" class=\"h-100\" readability=\"-1.5\">\n<div class=\"caption\" readability=\"8\">\n<p><strong>Rob Fedor\u2019s model of the Bird house captures the ornate woodworking by Edmund Hawkins.<\/strong><br \/>Rob Fedor\/Courtesy photo<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"row no-gutters h-100\">\n<div class=\"col my-auto\"> <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.aspentimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2020\/01\/weeklycoverashcroft-atw-011620-5-11-636x1024.jpg\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" alt=\"Rob Fedor\u2019s model of the Bird house captures the ornate woodworking by Edmund Hawkins.\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"caption-toggle\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/two-amateur-historians-bring-ghost-town-of-ashcroft-to-life-with-stories-of-its-people\/#\" class=\"show-captions\">Show Captions<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/two-amateur-historians-bring-ghost-town-of-ashcroft-to-life-with-stories-of-its-people\/#\" class=\"hide-captions\">Hide Captions<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">Rob Fedor and Peter Starck have been happily haunted by the ghosts of Ashcroft for more than four decades. This pair of amateur historians \u2014 through a mutual curiosity about an abandoned 1880s building \u2014 discovered two bold, risk-taking mining-era characters, unearthed new material on the ghost town\u2019s heyday and forged a friendship in the process.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">They separately visited Ashcroft for the first time in 1976, Fedor when he was 21 and Starck when he was 11.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">Fedor\u2019s trained eye as a photographer captured details of Ashcroft\u2019s signature building and helped unravel a mystery of its origin. Board by board, he has built a replica of the hotel that had a commanding presence in Ashcroft starting in 1882 and was rebuilt in 1975 after it collapsed from the weight of snowfalls over nearly a century of winters.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">Fedor, 65, is painstakingly building a model that will, when finished, re-create in exact detail between 20 and 30 buildings that were on Castle Avenue during the boomtown\u2019s heyday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">\u201cIt isn\u2019t just Ashcroft,\u201d Fedor said of the significance of the project. \u201cIt\u2019s the people that came to Ashcroft. It\u2019s the environment of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">Starck, 55, set a goal on Aug. 30, 2015, to piece together as much of Ashcroft\u2019s history as he could. The town, 11 miles southwest of Aspen, boomed in the early 1880s with silver strikes but went bust just as quickly later that decade. Starck uses old newspapers, memoirs, historic archives, land title transfer records and any other sources he can find. The Aspen Historic Society\u2019s archives have been a godsend, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">\u201cI thought, \u2018It will probably take me 10 years, but what the hell?\u2019\u201d Starck recalled recently in a telephone interview from his home in Wisconsin. He soon realized he had embarked on what will be a lifelong pursuit.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">He\u2019s accumulated so many fascinating tidbits on the people and places that he started a \u201cFinding Ashcroft\u201d page on Facebook in 2016. Nearly 400 followers share the discoveries as Starck makes them, often through old photos and detailed descriptions that put them in context.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">\u201cIf it was just Ashcroft, maybe it wouldn\u2019t be so popular,\u201d Starck said. \u201cBut there\u2019s a lot of bleedover between Ashcroft and Aspen. Everybody went back and forth.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">His interest extends beyond finding the exact sites of the post office, saloons, boarding houses, stables, jail and cemeteries. They are just a conduit to digging up the stories of the people buried in the graves of Ashcroft and Aspen. Those people shouldn\u2019t be forgotten, he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">\u201cThat\u2019s where Aspen is rooted,\u201d Starck said.<\/p>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\"><span>Two strangers, one interest<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">The interest in the people of Ashcroft led Starck and Fedor to Nellie Bird and Edmund Hawkins. Starck said a person needs to hear their stories \u2014 tales of gambles and risks, successes and failures \u2014 to really understand Ashcroft.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">\u201cThere\u2019s a lot more to Aspen and a lot more to Ashcroft than people realize,\u201d Starck said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">Fedor and Starck were strangers until shortly after The Aspen Times published a story in July 2016 about Starck\u2019s dogged pursuit of determining if the old hotel in the ghost town was named Hotel View, as it is now known, or whether it had different origins.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">By the time he read the article, Fedor had already turned his fascination with the hotel into action. Starting in 2013, he began studying historic photos of the original structure in preparation of creating a replica.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">Fedor had landed in Aspen on a lark in the mid-1970s.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">\u201cI had just missed out on being in the draft,\u201d he said. \u201cI wanted to travel. I was a lost young man at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">He fell in love with Aspen. Fedor worked at Aspen Valley Hospital for a while and later started his own photography business. Although he left after a few years, he always remembered his visit to Ashcroft and specifically the old hotel.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">\u201cI guess what caught my interest was a love of old buildings,\u201d he said. \u201cI wanted to know more about it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">Particularly intriguing were the corbels, woodcarvings on the upper two front corners. Fedor noticed they were in the shape of birdcages with bird stands inside. On top are birds set free and standing on the cages.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">Fedor worked for 10 to 15 years as a framer earlier in his life so he appreciates stick-built construction, particularly when everything was done by hand. When he decided to build a replica of the hotel, he started with the front door \u2014 the structure\u2019s visual focal point. He went on to build it using 1 inch in the model for 1 foot, so it is 29 inches high and 19 inches wide.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">\u201cI built it board by board to see what it was like,\u201d he said, referring to the real construction.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">Any part of the walls can be removed to expose the interior. \u201cIt\u2019s like a giant jigsaw puzzle,\u201d Fedor said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">The model has the same wood floors, desk, shelving, lamps and even hats on the lobby desk that he saw in a historic photo of the interior of the operating hotel.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">The construction took about two years. Fedor took no shortcuts: \u201cI wanted it to be the way it was.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">After he read about Starck in The Aspen Times, he eventually contacted him to discuss their shared interest in Ashcroft. Both men said they immediately hit it off and periodically exchanged emails for the next couple of years. They would converse in intense spurts about Ashcroft, exchanging theories and building off each other\u2019s knowledge.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">\u201cPeter is a whiz on research. I couldn\u2019t do anything I do without him,\u201d Fedor said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">Starck was impressed with Fedor\u2019s interest in the hotel and painstaking construction of a replica. It re-energized his search to find the name. Something didn\u2019t ring right about the name Hotel View, he said. Through his exhaustive research, he made a convincing case that the name was linked to the structure well after it stopped operating in 1913.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">While tossing around ideas, the two men believe they struck gold on figuring out the hotel\u2019s origins. Fedor kept coming back to the corbels.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">\u201cRob said, \u2018It\u2019s almost like I\u2019m looking at birdcages,\u2019\u201d Starck recalled.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">That got Starck thinking of the name Nellie Bird, which he ran into a time or two during his research. He focused his efforts and learned through old land records that a lien had once been placed on an Ashcroft property owned by Bird for lack of payment for work. He was able to determine from the property description that it was the site of the famed hotel.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">He also saw a reference in an old newspaper article to the \u201cNellie Bird house.\u201d \u201cHouse,\u201d in the 1880s, typically referred to a small, unspectacular boarding house, Starck said. A state business directory confirmed that Mrs. H.C. Bird was the owner of a boarding house in Ashcroft.<\/p>\n<h3><\/h3>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\"><span>Nellie and Edmund<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">Through additional research, Starck learned Nellie Bird had moved to Aspen from Leadville, possibly in 1880 but more likely in 1881, after her husband, Henry Bird, apparently left her. It was the second time she had been spurned, Starck said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">Bird had the foresight to buy a 176-acre ranch east of Aspen in the current North Star Nature Preserve area in 1881. She somehow also got interested in the promising mining camp of Ashcroft and set up a humble lodging that probably consisted of three walls and canvas for the entry and roof.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">Starck also looked into the lienholder who claimed Bird hadn\u2019t paid him for work. He learned the lienholder, Edmund Hawkins, had also lived in Leadville into the 1880s as a carpenter. Starck found a picture from the 1920s of the house that Hawkins built in the late 1870s or 1880.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">\u201cEdmund\u2019s house in Leadville was distinct,\u201d he said. \u201cHis work might have been noticed by Nellie.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">For reasons unknown, Hawkins was also living in Ashcroft in 1882 \u2014 when Bird decided to upgrade her lodging tent to meet growing demand in the prospering camp.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">\u201cAshcroft was spectacular,\u201d Starck said. \u201cIt was known as the Mining Wonder of the West.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">She hired Hawkins to undertake the job. Starck and Fedor aren\u2019t sure if the open birdcages were Bird\u2019s idea or Hawkins\u2019 or a collaboration.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">\u201cThe more I learned about Nellie, the more I could see it all had meaning,\u201d Fedor said. \u201cNellie\u2019s whole place was a statement, I believe. The more you look into her life the more you see this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">Business directories indicate that Nellie Bird\u2019s hotel was operated by three different people from the late 1800s until Bird died in 1913, according to Starck\u2019s research. While it was, in fact, the Bird house, there is no record that it displayed a sign proclaiming such.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">Her ranch obviously had the potential to grow in value as Aspen prospered, at least until silver was de-monetized in 1893. Records indicate she sold or donated land for what became the Ute and Aspen Grove cemeteries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">Bird was also listed as a potential investor in a railroad that was planned but never built between Aspen and Ashcroft. The Salvation Ditch originates on what was her property.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">Hawkins launched numerous business ventures with his sons in Aspen. He had an icehouse on the northwest corner of the confluence of Hunter Creek and the Roaring Fork River.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">\u201cHe became known in Aspen as \u2018the Ice Man,\u2019\u201d Starck said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">Neither Hawkins nor Bird would have viewed himself or herself as \u201cremarkable,\u201d Starck said. But they are among the many inventive, entrepreneurial folks who made a young mining camp like Aspen thrive.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">\u201cThey were kind of similar in that they always moved forward,\u201d Starck said. \u201cI think she was smarter than many of the bigwigs in town.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">Nellie and Edmund appeared to patch up their differences after the lien dispute. Bird had Hawkins called as a witness in her favor in a dispute with other people involving her ranch, Starck said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">Alas, history hasn\u2019t been kind to Nellie and Edmund. Hawkins died in Aspen in 1895 and is buried in Denver in a grave that is apparently no longer marked, according to Starck.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">Nellie Bird is buried in Aspen Grove Cemetery. Her grave is unmarked and a fire in the sexton\u2019s shed in the 1920s destroyed many of the old records of gravesites. Starck aims to determine her eternal resting place.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">\u201cWe would very much like a marker placed on her grave,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">Fedor said learning about Nellie and Edmund has energized his determination to complete the replica of what was the bustling downtown of Ashcroft, circa 1882. After that much research and work, he feels a connection to the place and people.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\">\u201cEdmund and Nellie \u2014 they\u2019re like family now,\u201d Fedor said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Special Sections-ATW-ATW_Body_Serif\"><span><em><a href=\"mailto:scondon@aspentimes.com\">scondon@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/two-amateur-historians-bring-ghost-town-of-ashcroft-to-life-with-stories-of-its-people\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A woman identified as Nellie Bird stands on Little Nell in the late 1880s. Aspen and Red Mountain can be seen in the background. Bird moved from Leadville and had interests in Aspen and Ashcroft.Aspen Historical Society\/courtesy photo Men use tongs to move ice blocks at an ice operation in Aspen in a photo likely [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-2453313","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-29 11:38:52","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley&#039;s Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2453313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2453313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2453313\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2453313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2453313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2453313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}