Special Collections and Archives
Tutt Library
Colorado College
Colorado Springs, Colorado 80903
prepared by Ginny Kiefer, 2000
| Biography | Chronology | Scope and Content | ||
Glass Plate Negatives:
| 1-20, | 21-40, | 41-60, | 61-80, | 81-100, | 101-120, | 121-140, | 141-160, | 161-180, | 181-200, |
| 201-220, | 221-240, | 241-260, | 261-280, | 281-300, | 301-320, | 321-340, | 341-360, | 361-380, | 381-385. |
Excursion from Colorado Springs to Cripple Creek via The Colorado Midland and Midland Terminal Railways
Excursion from Canon City and Florence to Cripple Creek via the Florence and Cripple Creek Railway
Excursion from Colorado Springs to Hartsel via the Colorado Midland Railway
Excursion from Colorado Springs to Cripple Creek via "The Short Line"
Born in New York in 1841, George Hapgood Stone was a resident of Colorado Springs, except for brief periods, from 1881 until his death at age 75 in 1917. He gained a firm reputation as one of the best local authorities on the historical, scenic and geological facts of the Pikes Peak region.
He was Colorado College's first professor of geology, arriving here in 1881 from Kent Hill, Maine, where he had done extensive investigations of glacial deposits there for the U.S. Geological Survey. A graduate of Wesleyan University, he also served in the Civil War as a member of the U.S. Signal Corps. Always interested in mechanical devices, he helped invent a plane-table surveying instrument. Married to Mary H. Hill in 1876, he was the father of five children. Surviving him in 1917 were his wife; a son, William H. Stone of Santa Barbara, Cali- fornia; and three daughters, Miss Beulah Stone of Colorado Springs, Mrs. C.W. Bish of Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, and Mrs. A.T. Swope of Boise, Idaho.
About 1888, or upon the advent of President Slocum, he retired from his Colorado Springs teaching position to devote time to his interests in assaying, mining engineering and civil engineering. He published several geological studies in scientific journals. An authority on Zebulon Pike, he made the first investigation of the route of the discovery of Pikes Peak as described in Pike's memoirs. He also assisted Professor George Finlay in the latter's preparation of a geological folio of the Pikes Peak region.
Stone prepared a series of manuscripts related to the geological observations which could be made from train windows during railroad excursions through the region. Ill health prevented completion of this project, and at the time of his death on February 20, 1917, the manuscripts remained unpublished.
| Nov. 22, 1841 | Born in New York, son of Rev. David and Louis Ingalls Stone |
| [1861-1865] | Served in U.S. Signal Corps, Civil War |
| 1868 | B.A. Wesleyan University |
| 1871 | M.A. Wesleyan University |
| 1869-1872 | Taught at Lima, New York |
| June 18, 1871 | Married Mary E. Clarke |
| 1874-1881 | Taught at Kent's Hill, Maine |
| Nov. 21, 1876 | Married Mary H. Hill at Richmond, Maine |
| 1880 | "The Kames of Maine," in Proceeding of the Boston Society of Natural History, Vol. XX, March 3, 1880, pp. 430-469 |
| 1881-1888 | First professor of geology and zoology at Colorado College |
| 1881-1889 | |
| 1884 | The Kame Rivers of Maine, Salem Press, Salem, Mass. |
| [1888] | Built stone house near Peyton, Colo. |
| ? | Assistant Geologist, U.S. Geological Survey |
| 1891 | "Note on the Asphaltum of Utah and Colorado," in American Journal of Science, Vol. XLII, Aug. 1891 |
| 1898 | "Granitic Breccias of the Cripple Creek Region," in American Journal of Science, Vol. V, Jan. 1898 |
| 1903 | Where Gilia blows her horn, poems. Privately printed. |
| 1904-1906 | Took photographs for proposed "Scientific Guide book" |
| 1909 | Treatise on monetary science "World Money." Privately printed. |
| ? | Assisted George Finlay in preparation of U.S.G.S. Colorado Springs Folio, pub. 1916 |
| ? | Agriculturist near Delta, Colo. |
| Feb. 20, 1917 | Died in Colorado Springs. Last residence 548 E. Bijou. Buried at Evergreen Cemetery |
The Stone Collection of glass plate and celluloid negatives (SL81-12g) is related to the Stone manuscript collection (Ms 0034) pertaining to the proposed publication of a scientific guidebook. According to Stone's provisional table of contents his book was to have two parts. Part I would consist of chapters of a theoretical and general scientific nature on the geography, flora, and fauna of central Colorado. The largest section would be devoted to the geology of the same area. Part II would consist of at least fifteen descriptions of railroad excursions illustrated with photographs. Excursions in the Denver area were to be written by Prof. G.L. Cannon; the drawings of the geologic sections were to be made by Prof. Arthur Lakes.
The related manuscript collection consists of the notes which Stone made in gathering information for the book, routine correspondence connected with the work, his original rough drafts, typescripts of some chapters, with annotated photographs. Stone finished four provisional drafts for the railroad excursion section, which are a valuable example of descriptive geology and local history of the period, especially because detailed illustrative photographs accompany them. Titles are:
The glass plate negatives correspond to the manuscript photographs for the most part, although some additional negatives are included. Most were taken from about 1904-1906. Especially interesting are views of the mining areas of Victor, Cripple Creek, Gillett, the west side of Colorado Springs, Manitou, Cascade, and Ute Pass. Several panoramas are included, such as a group of Hartsel views, a panorama of Manitou from Iron Mountain, and a panorama of Pikes Peak from the Rampart Range.
last updated 2-28-01, ca