Denver Fire Department Museum

While first learning which bus stops on the 16th Street Mall let me off close to my destination, I found myself serendipitously on the wrong corner. There on the signpost above my head was an arrow pointing to "Denver Fire Department Museum." Not needing to be any particular place at any particular time, I headed off to find it.

Front door (duh!)

We're seriously spoiled by our computers and the like. This is what fire departments used to use

A little more modern,

According to the very bleary picture I took of the sign in front of this display, the first communications system used by the Denver Fire Department was word of mouth. Someone yelled fire, and every able-bodied person would grab a bucket and join in the line to put out the fire. Maybe a hundred years from now, people will look back at our methods and shake their heads at our bravery. I don't know about you, but standing nose to flames with a fire, armed only with a bucket? And even now, only with a hose spouting water. These guys are nuts, and I'm glad of it.

The following shows the fire alarm control panel in use from its invention in the early 1960s thru 1990, when it was replaced by computer aided dispatch. The left side had tape units that recorded conversations, allowing the operator to replay the information if needed. The right side, which doesn't show in these pictures, was the Register transmitter that identified which alarm was sounding, and the Gong Shunt Control, sending the alarm only to those firestations that needed to respond.

Some of the wonderful old equipment on display, an 1867 Gleason and Bailey Hand Drawn Pumper. According to the sign, it was purchased on October 1, 1867, and was only in operation for five years.

Hand drawn Pumpers were pulled by twelve to fifteen volunteer firefighters to the fire, who then pumped the water from the source out to the guys at the end of the hose. Notes:
        

According to the notes, this Steam Fire Engine is from the New York Fire Museum. Denver had its collection of steamers, and when they were retired, they were sold to greenhouses and cemeteries as irrigation pumps.

And some great pics of horse drawn fire wagons

    
Some random pics of horses and firemen


Hook and Ladder, and Uniform!

Info on Percheron Horses and Fire Dogs. I hope you can read it

An intrepid firefighter, in his first years


Ready for Anything!

And the Intrepid Younger Firefighter.

Horseless Carriage License for the Fire Department

And the truck it was on, whose sign did not come out clearly, so I'm not sure of it's official name

An early "Toy" Truck, called so by firemen because of all the cool fireman toys they carry. When I did the CERT refresher course, I met the current version of the toy truck. Awesome piece of equipment.

The sign says this is a 1953 Seagrave Engine

Upstairs, the lockers the firemen used. The pics I took of the inside locker display didn't come out so well. They had glass doors, and the best image in the picture is of me and the camera.

And eating area.

And the reminder the job is not an easy one

Long Road Home

Click any image for larger version

<< FIRST IN SERIES

Headin' outta Flagstaff

Early in the morning, the San Francisco Peaks stand behind the trees and meadows around Flagstaff. The grass alongside the road was bright with sunflowers and indian paintbrush.

The day is clear, the road not so much. It's not as bad as LA during rush hour, but I've got a lot of pictures with the butt end of a truck in them.

The road starts down the long slope to Seligman, with enthusiastic sunflowers to wave as we go by.

I took this picture to capture the winding road. I didn't realize until later, I had a picture that showed the blaze of vivid mustard on both sides of the road.

Imagine both sides of the road awash in golden blooms. The Yellow Brick Road was never so golden.

Edged in the ever-present sunflowers.

Six percent grade, headed down out of the mountains.

Road is steep, the view is magnificent. I remember driving this grade last week, tucked in behind a trucker, strobe flashes of lightning showing the mountains around me, the downpour trying to wash us all off the road. This is easier, but... that was exciting!

West of Flagstaff, long sections of Route 66 no longer exist as a separate road. Segments may exist as dirt roads on private property, or simply a wide stripe through the trees. The bare green stripes to the right of the road may be all that's left of Route 66 in this place.

Sometimes, road crews just cut on through, adapting the land to our needs.

And sometimes, we gotta go around

I've taken a lot of pictures of mountains, clouds, sky, but I never get over my delight and joy at the layers of colors and textures each vista presents.

Sometimes looking like cardboard cutouts or painted backdrops for a play.

Crossing the Colorado,

the pictures are full of railing and railroad bridge.

The view back across the valley shows the Colorado River and the green of the agriculture that it generates.

Casualties of the road. And stacked neatly behind, their ever ready replacements.

Heading into the Mojave

The joshua trees in bloom.

Driving thru the Mojave, sometimes the only sign of man's impact is the double ribbon of the interstate sliding into the hazy distance, punctuated by signs, rest stops, and very small towns.

When you think of desert, often low rolling sand dunes come to mind. The Mojave has long rolling hills of rock and sparse scrub.

This dry lake brings to mind the words of the song "Horse With No Name" about a river that's dead. Rivers in deserts are never dead, only dormant. If you can see the riverbed, it's been scoured clean by flashflood, and kept alive by the sporadic rainfall. This lakebed still lives, probably flourishing when the snow melts.

The Mojave has some fascinating geology: lava flows

  
And mountains with a split personality. I saw a lot of cloud shadows on the land, and thought this was another. It's not.

And, of course, the many layers of landscape I love.

  
The mountains seemingly floating in the distance.

Sometimes the road gets a bit crowded. I have more faith in the common sense of long haul truckers than I do many others on the road, but even so...

It's a leetle tight in here.

These power transmission lines may be bringing power in from Hoover Dam. They're coming from the right direction.

End Of The Road

Coming to the end of Interstate 40, into Barstow, and then back into LA.

Interstate 15, Los Angeles to Las Vegas.

It probably goes other places, but I always end in Vegas.
Or LA.

These are the backsides of the mountains that ring the LA basin.

I suppose I should have taken more pics as we went thru LA. Maybe the mountains from the other side. But I've seen the mountains, and the traffic. If you want to come visit, I'll give you a tour. Right now, I'm taking a nap. It's been a long trip.

Return to top