Railroads around Aspen. For now I have done allot of copying from other sitres. Excuse me !!! This site makes no money. The railroads here are so confusing as things changed often. Like changing sides of rivers, etc. As I sort out things more...stay tuned !!!!!



The Aspen & Western was incorported on 7-Jun-1886, with the goal of connecting the soon-to-arrive narrow gauge rails of the Denver & Rio Grande's Aspen Branch with nearby coal deposits. The new line would be start at Carbondale, CO, and proceed to the southwest along the Crystal River, eventually turning west along Thompson Creek to a mine at Willow Park. Grading was completed by the end of 1887, and the thirteen miles of track where finished in 1888. The route was entirely narrow gauge with 40 pound rails and operated with D&RGW equipment.

The route was very short-lived, and certainly never a success. The railroad's owners, the Colorado Coal & Iron Company, realized by early 1889 that the veins were too poor for commercial extraction, and that the mines and coke ovens had been a waste. On 29-Nov-1892, the line was sold to the recently-founded Crystal River Railroad company and subsequently scrapped out. Given the light construction of the line, the remnants were largely used on the Crystal River's Coalbasin branch and in the narrow gauge lines around the Redstone smelter.




The Crystal River Railway

The Crystal River Railway was the second attempt to build a railway down the Crystal River, following in the footsteps of the Aspen & Western Railroad. The line was incorporated on 8-Aug-1892, under the control of Colorado Fuel & Iron. As with most of their railway investments, the line was intended to tap raw materials - in this case, coal from around Redstone, with the future possibility of reaching marble and metallic ore deposits further to the south.

Like its predecessor, the Aspen & Western Railroad, the Crystal River Railway was originally built to narrow gauge. With the A&W gone, the CRRwy was able to use the first three miles of right-of-way leaving Carbondale, CO. However, rather than turning west via Thompson Creek, the CRRwy proceeded southward along the Crystal River towards a mine and coke oven facility under construction at Redstone, CO. The route had only reached a bit past milepost 12 (just past Avalanche Creek) on 12-Mar-1893 when construction was put on indefinite hold. The Silver Crash of 1893 significantly devalued metals, causing production to slow and consequently, with less smelting going on, a significant drop in the price of coke. Thus, the construction of the Crystal River Railway no longer made sense, and the project stopped with no evidence of ever having made a revenue run. 1 Despite the lack of operations, the route was apparently converted to standard gauge in 1896.

The Crystal River Railroad

On 6-Sep-1898, the assets of the Crystal River Railway were purchased by the newly-incorporated Crystal River Railroad. The line was extended southward from milepost 12 (where the CRRwy ended) to about three-quarters of a mile past Placita, giving a total length of about 21.3 miles. The line was placed into service on 1-Jul-1899.

The CRRR, despite having a standard gauge mainline, also built the narrow gauge Coalbasin Branch west from the coke ovens at Redstone to the mine at Coalbasin. (The branch was also apparently called the 'High Line', not to be confused with the one on the D&RGW's Silverton Branch.) The route was completed on 22-Nov-1900. Some of this material - notably 40lb rail - came from the abandoned Aspen & Western Railroad.

The Coalbasin Branch (as well as the Coalbasin Mine and Redstone coking ovens) shut down extremely abruptly on 12-Jan-1909 for an unknown reason. The three narrow gauge locomotives (101-103) were stored at Redstone, and eventually sold to the Rio Grande in 1914 or 1916 (date disputed). 101 and 102 became D&RG Class C-21 #430 and 431, and 103 became Class C-25 #432.

The Denver & Rio Grande contemplated purchasing the line from CF&I in 1903, and even called a special shareholders meeting on 18-Oct-1903. Apparently authorization did not come, as the purchase never happened.

The standard gauge mainline ceased operations on 7-Dec-1919, and sat idle for two-and-a-half years until being leased out to the Crystal River & San Juan Railroad.

The Crystal River & San Juan Railroad

The Crystal River & San Juan was incorporated on 24-Oct-1906 to extend the Crystal River Railway from Placita, CO, on to Marble, CO - a distance of 7.3 miles. The railroad would serve to haul finished marble products out to market, as well as to haul supplies into town. Until 1910, the CR&SJ interchanged all traffic with the Crystal River Railroad at Redstone, using several miles of trackage rights north from Placita. On 8-Dec-1910, about a year after CF&I had ceased mining coal at Coalbasin (and thus eliminating one of the two large reasons for the CRRR's existence), the Crystal River & San Juan was given trackage rights all the way to Carbondale, so that they wouldn't be dependent upon the CRRR for haulage to the outside world.

This operating scenario continued until 30-Sep-1917, when the CR&SJ suspended operations on account of the marble finishing plant in Marble, CO, shutting down. This left only the Crystal River RR operating from Redstone north to Carbondale. With the end of the CRRR on 1-Dec-1919, the entire line went dormant.

The marble works reorganized and restarted operations in 1922. CF&I, having no interest in participating in the restarted operation, leased the entire route to the CR&SJ. Operations continued for nearly two decades, hauling marble, livestock, and supplies. However, with the cessation of Yule Marble operations at the end of 1941, the line was put up for abandonment. Abandonment was approved by the ICC on 22-Sep-1941, and scrapping operations by Morse Brothers Machinery of Denver commenced on 15-Nov-1941. Scrapping of the route, along with the Colorado Yule Marble Electric Railroad?, was completed by 1943.

As an interesting trivia note, marble for both the Lincoln Memorial and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier came out of the quarries above Marble and was hauled over the CR&SJ.

Crystal River (& San Juan) Mainline Timetable

Milepost Station Features Notes

0.0 Carbondale, CO? Connection to Aspen Branch

1.7 Grubbs, CO 10 car siding

4.6 Sewell, CO 3 car siding aka Cervera or Manalta

Thomas, CO 3 car siding

10.8 Janeway, CO 6 car siding

12.0 Avalanche, CO 1 car siding End of track until 1899

Hot Springs, CO 3 car siding

16.8 Redstone, CO? Connection to Coalbasin Branch

Crystal Ranch, CO

20.1 Placita, CO? 25 car siding End of track at 20.7 until 1906

McClure, CO

Chair Creek, CO

Prospect, CO

Holland, CO

Fortchs, CO

27.5 Marble, CO? Connection to CYM Electric?

Connection to Treasury Mtn RR?

Crystal River Railroad - Coalbasin Branch

Milepost Station Features Notes

0.0 Redstone, CO Connection to Crystal River RR

3.5 Coal Creek, CO

5.0 Cow Camp, CO

7.7 Medio, CO

11.9 Coalbasin, CO





The railroad operated by The Crystal River and San Juan Railroad Company, hereinafter called the carrier, is a single-track, standard-gage, steam railroad, located in western Colorado, and extends in a southerly direction from Carbondale to Marble, a distance of 28.006 miles. The owned railroad consists of that part of the line, referred to above, extending from Placita to Marble, comprising 7.331 miles of road. The remainder of the line extending from Carbondale to Placita, comprising 20.675 miles of road, is owned by The Crystal River Railroad Company, hereinafter called the Crystal River Railroad, whose entire property is leased to and operated by the carrier. The carrier owns and uses 7.811 miles of all tracks and uses but does not own 21.828 miles of all tracks. These tracks, consisting of first main track and yard tracks and sidings. The carrier is an industrial railroad. It is controlled by the Colorado Consolidated Yule Marble Company, owners of a large marble quarry served by this road. The Crystal River Railroad is controlled by The Colorado Fuel and Iron Company.

The property of the carrier has been operated by its own organization since April 5, 1922. No information has been obtained regarding operation prior to that date.

CORPORATE HISTORY

The carrier was incorporated October 24, 1906, under the general laws of Colorado, for the purpose of constructing and operating a railroad from a point in or near Placita, to a plant in or near Marble, Colo. Date of its organization was October 20, 1906.

DEVELOPMENT OF FIXED PHYSICAL PROPERTY

The road owned by the carrier, extending from Placita to Marble, Colo., a distance of 7.331 miles, was constructed for it in 1906 by The Colorado Yule Marble Company, a predecessor of the Colorado Consolidated Yule Marble Company, on right of way owned in part by The Crystal River Railroad Company.

HISTORY OF CORPORATE FINANCING

The property was operated by its own organization from July 1, 1899, to December 1, 1919. It was not operated from the latter date until April 5, 1922, and since that date it has been operated under lease by the carrier.

CORPORATE HISTORY

The Crystal River Railroad was incorporated September 6, 1898, under the general laws of Colorado, for the purpose of constructing, purchasing, and operating a railroad from Glenwood Springs via the valleys of Roaring Fork and Crystal River to or near Elko, all in Colorado. The date of its organization was September 13, 1898.

The Crystal River Railroad acquired by purchase the property, rights, and franchises, on July 27, 1898, of The Elk Mountain Railway Company, which was incorporated December 5, 1887, under the general laws of Colorado; and on September 13, 1898, those of The Crystal River Railway Company, which was incorporated August 11, 1892, under the general laws of Colorado. The Crystal River Railway Company acquired by purchase the property, rights, and franchises of three corporations on November 29, 1892, as follows: The Aspen and Western Railway Company, incorporated June 7, 1880, under the general laws of Colorado; The Crystal River Toll Road Company, incorporated July 10, 1886, under the general laws of Colorado; and The Colorado and Utah Railway Company, incorporated July 9, 1886, under the general laws of Colorado.

DEVELOPMENT OF FIXED PHYSICAL PROPERTY

The 20.675 miles of road owned by the Crystal River Railroad was acquired in part by purchase, in part by reconstruction of purchased road, and in part by construction. On September 13, 1898, it acquired by purchase from The Crystal River Railway Company, the following: 4.000 miles of road, from Carbondale to a point 4 miles south, constructed by The Aspen and Western Railway Company, 1886 and 1887, as a narrow-gage road, reconstructed to standard-gage road by The Crystal River Railway Company, 1893; 9.000 miles of road, from 4 miles south of Carbondale to Avalanche, constructed by The Crystal River Railway Company, 1892-93; and 11.380 miles of road from Redstone to Coal Basin, constructed partly by The Crystal River Railway Company, 1893, completed by the Crystal River Railroad, 1900, a narrow-gage road which was retired in 1918. The Crystal River Railroad acquired 7.675 miles of road, Avalanche to Placita, by construction, 1899-1900.

In addition to the property described above, this company acquired by purchase July 27, 1898, the property of The Elk Mountain Railway Company consisting of about 31 miles of partially constructed roadway extending from Sands to Prospect, Colo. Of this, about 3 miles was used in construction of the road between Avalanche and Placita, 4.4 miles is leased to the carrier, and the remainder was sold to Garfield and Pitkin Counties for public highway purposes.

HISTORY OF CORPORATE FINANCING

John Osgood had a large block of marble quarried from the beds on Yule Creek in 1882 to be displayed at the 1893 World Colombian Exposition in Chicago, generating enough commercial interest in Yule Marble to supply marble for the interior of the Capital building in Denver, and to supply finishing mills in the east from 1894 to 1896.

By 1905 there were three, more or less active marble quarries operating, and Marble’s population had grown to 150. The Colorado Yule Marble Company, organized in 1906, leased the Crystal River Railroad from Carbondale to Placita and built 7 miles of new track into Marble, naming the spur the Crystal River & San Juan Railroad. A huge finishing mill, 150 by 1,700 feet and a 3.5-mile tramway was constructed, boosting Marble’s population to 1,500 by 1915.

Marble boasted the world’s largest marble deposit and the world’s largest building under one roof. In its boom time, Marble bustled with people who filled the churches, school, a motion picture theater, five general stores, two hotels, a drugstore, a dry goods store, two pool halls, a Masonic Hall, two barbershops, six saloons and two newspapers. At the time of the Great War the market for marble collapsed, most of the Italian stone workers returned to conscription in the Italian army, and marble’s population dropped to 50 people.

Though the quarries reopened in 1922 to provide 500 train car loads of marble to build the Lincoln Memorial and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in 1926, Marble never regained its former vitality. A temporary revival of the quarries and mill in the late 1930’s was brought to a close by World War II in 1941, and by 1943 the tracks were taken up and the machinery sold for scrap metal.




The broad (standard) gauge railroad was extended from Placita to Marble in 1906. The first train came up to Marble November 3, 1906. By this time they were using a donkey engine to bring the marble down from the quarry.

During the years 1908-16 Marble was really a lively little city. It boasted five general stores, a drug store, a drygoods store, two hotels, two large school buildings, two barber shops, two weekly papers-The Marble City Times and The Marble Booster-picture show, Masonic Hall, two pool halls, and six saloons. I have talked to many of the really 'old timers' about the probable population at that time, and the number varies from 1,500 to nearly 10,000. According to the 'Company News' column printed each week in the Marble Booster newspaper the pay roll varied from 700 to 850 names. So taking into consideration the number of women and children who must have been here, the population could easily have been several thousand.

On the morning of March 20, 1912, a big snow slide came down Mill Mountain. As it occurred after the night shift had gone home and before the day shift had come to work, no lives were lost but the property damage was very heavy. The Marble Booster newspaper in writing about the slide had this to say:

'While the slide was very bad, so well had the cleaning up and repair work been done, that within three days every worker was again plying his trade.'

The Marble Booster, Sept. 14, 1912:

BAD SMASH ON TROLLEY

Four Persons Meet Death as Result of Runaway Train on the Highline

Four persons met death as a result of an accident on the trolley line here last Friday a few minutes before noon.

The dead are:

George Healy, motorman of the train.

Robert P. Lytle, a brakeman.

Atansio Negrete, a Mexican passenger.

Mary Tonko, a Polish girl.

In some manner Healy, the motorman, lost control of a heavily loaded train at a point on the line near the old smelter, half a mile from the yard at the mill. Doubtless the airbrakes failed to work. Before the hand brakes could be set the train attained a frightful speed. W. C. Goodwin, a mill employee who was riding on the train, jumped and landed without a scratch. The others stayed on the train.

Just before reaching the bridge over the Crystal River two of the cars in the train left the track and smashed into a rock cliff at the side of the track. Lytle, the brakeman, was on one of these cars. He was thrown with terrible force into the face of the cliff and death was mercifully quick.

Healy, the motorman, stayed with the balance of the train, as did the Mexican and the little girl. The runaway cars held the track until the turn at the loading station in the yards, when everything turned over on the curve and smashed into splinters. Healy was caught beneath a huge block of marble and was crushed to death. He probably never knew what struck him. The Mexican was slammed onto the ground with such force that death was instantaneous. The little girl, eight years old, was alive when rescuers reached the scene and was hurried to the hospital. She died at six o’clock that evening.

Col. C. F. Meek owned controlling interest in the Colorado Yule Marble Co. composed of stockholders from Philadelphia and other eastern cities, and was the president and general manager. Knowing how to handle men as well as finances he was very popular with the company employees. Under his management orders came pouring in and soon Colorado Yule marble was being used all over the United States: From Houston, Tex. to Chicago, Ill.; from Washington, D. C., and New York City to Portland, Ore., Los Angeles and San Francisco, Calif.

INTERIOR OF QUARRY-One of the 'rooms' with floor space-30,000 square feet-producing 3,000 cubic feet of marble per day.

Col. Meek especially loved his home and family, and managed to spend much time with them regardless of other interests. In addition to being a good manager he was very liberal and considerate of his employees and the town in general. Although a Protestant himself he did donate two lots on Park Avenue to the Catholic Church and was donating marble with which to erect the building, the company employees were donating their labor. The corner stone was laid Oct. 12, 1912, and the church was named 'Saint Columbus Catholic Church of Marble.' Father Carrigan of Glenwood Springs officiated at the dedication. Father was a personal friend of Col. Meek and was always entertained at his home on his visits to Marble. He often said the colonel was the best read man he ever knew, always being interested in literature, music, and art, and could converse intelligently on all subjects. The colonel was seriously injured August 10, 1912, on a runaway trolley car coming down from the quarry and died four days later. The new management, not being quite so liberal, would not donate the marble to complete the building so work stopped. After a few years a small wooden structure was built on the front half of the foundation, but green lumber was used and it was poorly constructed; so after a few years it sagged, was condemned, and taken down in 1924. But the marble foundation still stands, a memorial to one of the greatest philanthropists Marble ever had.

J. F. Manning was elected president and general manager of the company Oct. 1, 1913. While he was still eastern sales agent for the company he learned that a memorial to the memory of Abraham Lincoln was to be built in Washington, D. C., and went after the contract. This took considerable doing as samples of marble from all over the world were being sent to Washington.

To determine the question, whether or not this marble was artistically superior to others, Secretary Garrison referred the matter to the National Fine Arts Commission, which on January 22, 1914 reported as following: 'The Commission of Fine Arts at their meeting held today, gave careful consideration to your letter of Jan. 17, 1914, requesting their advice upon certain questions arising in connection with the selection of marble suitable for the construction of the Lincoln Memorial. The Commission made a careful inspection of all samples submitted and have the honor to transmit the following:

'The artistic qualities of Colorado Yule marble as compared with others submitted, in the opinion of the Commission of Fine Arts, fit it pre-eminently for a structure of the character of the Lincoln Memorial.'

BLOCK OF MARBLE-for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier being brought down from the quarry on electric train Feb. 3, 1931.

PILLARS AND BLOCKS-support pillars for crane tracks and blocks of marble left in the yard when Colorado Yule Marble Co., branch of Vermont Marble Co. ceased operations in 1942.

BLOCK OF MARBLE-for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier loaded on a flat car to be shipped east. This is the largest single block of marble ever quarried in the world.

The contract for the Lincoln Memorial was obtained March 10, 1914, and was to be completed in two years. It was finished late in 1915, several months ahead of time. During this time several other large buildings were also completed.

The following information was obtained from 'A Statement to the Stockholders of the Colorado Yule Marble Company by J. F. Manning':

World conditions in 1916 coupled with the huge indebtedness accumulated when opening the quarry, building the mill, buying the necessary machinery, building and equipping the power house, extending the railroad from Placita to Marble, and the vast amount of accrued interest, put the company in very bad financial straits. Then World War I coming on, contracts could not be obtained, so the Colorado Yule Marble Co. went into the hands of a receiver July 16, 1916, and remained closed until April, 1922.

The property was then divided into four parts: the mill, the quarry, the power house, and the railroad. Eventually it was put up for sale and was bought by different parties all interested in one thing, forming one company and putting it on a paying basis. Through the efforts of Commodore A. J. Mitchell the Carrara Yule Marble Company was formed and work was resumed in 1922. On July 24, 1924 the Colorado Consolidated Yule Marble Co. (CCYMC) was formed and was again put up for sale.

On November 18, 1924, Mr. J. B. Jones of the Gray-Knox Marble Co. of Knoxville, Tenn., purchased the stock of the CCYMC and leased the Crystal River & San Juan Railroad with option to buy. Then the name was changed again; this time to Tennessee-Colorado Marble Co., and as such was operated until July 2, 1926, at which time arrangements were made to return the plant and properties to the CCYMC.

This reversion was brought about in a large measure due to the fact that the fabricating plant was partially destroyed by fire April 6, 1926. The loss in machinery and equipment in shops Nos. 3 and 4, and mill B, together with the building was appraised at sound value by disinterested engineers at approximately $531,000.00.

About half of the part destroyed was immediately rebuilt and operations to complete their contracts were resumed.

On December 20, 1927, a rental lease and purchase agreement was made between the company and Mr. Jacob F. Smith of New York and a little later he sold to the Vermont Marble Co. who (to this date, 1959) still own the quarry.

While the City of Marble never reached its former status, it was a thriving place, employing several hundred men and marble was once again being shipped to all parts of the United States.

The contract for the block of marble suitable for the tomb of the Unknown Soldier was obtained in 1930, and the largest block of marble (100 tons) ever quarried in the world was cut out early in 1931. It was moved out onto the floor of the quarry and sawed down to specifications, 56 tons plus one ton to be taken off in the finishing. It was lowered down the tramway guided by huge cranes, to the trolley track at the foot of the mountain. Then with one trolley in front (Elmer Bair, motorman) and another behind (Johnny Fenton, motorman) weighted and tied together, it was skidded on the rails down to the mill; taking three days to go the 3.9 miles, arriving at the mill February 3, 1931. Special night and day guards to prevent souvenir hunters from chipping it for momentoes, were stationed near the block the four days it was in the yard. Then it was placed on a flat car, crated, braced and started on its way to Proctor, Vermont. There it was trued to perfection with surveyor’s instruments and sent to Arlington Cemetery, Washington, D. C., where the company sculptors carved the designs on it.

The Vermont Marble Co.'s branch, Colorado Yule Marble Co., continued to operate both the quarry and the mill until the rumblings of World War II, 1941 were being heard. Some of the employees were going back to Europe, some were volunteering to go into the service here in the United States, all steel was going into defense, and contracts could not be obtained, so there was nothing to do but close down again.

August 9, 1941 was a hot sultry day, dark ominous clouds covered the heavens, and a few big drops of rain began to fall. There were several deafening claps of thunder and zigzagging streaks of lightning crossed the sky. Then it all seemed to pass away. I was going about my work as usual when one of my neighbors, Mrs. George T. Harris (nee Anna Reheuser) hurried through the back door. “Oh, Mrs. Herman,” she screamed, 'the town is being washed away.'

'Oh, go on with you,' I answered, 'it isn’t even raining.'

'I’m not joking, there’s been a cloudburst up Carbonate Creek and the whole town is being washed away.'

The cloud had burst about three miles up the canyon and the water had backed up behind some beaver dams and log jams which had been unable to withstand the pressure and it had all come down at one time, cutting a swath a block wide through the entire town, north to south, to the Crystal River. The property damage was heavy, but no lives were lost.

Another cloudburst occurred July 31, 1945, in very much the same way and approximately at the same time of day. While this one did carry more water and spread over a greater area, the damage had been done four years previous, so we didn’t feel so badly about it.

The mill closed November 15, 1941, and the last payday at the quarry was January 15, 1942. The company had decided that this time instead of keeping caretakers here to look after their property, they would sell everything but the quarry, and when conditions warranted their reopening they would come with new buildings and new machinery and do things the modern way instead of as they were done when the quarry first opened in 1906.

The marble scattered along the right-of-way between Marble and Carbondale are not the result of railroad cars overturning, but were deliberately placed there as ballast to prevent the river undermining the tracks. They are mostly the trimmings cut from building blocks, and the larger pieces are rejects, pieces with fissures, points of flint, or streaks of lime in them.

The single grave two miles below Marble to the left going out, is that of John C. McKee who contracted pneumonia in Schofield. His friends, thinking he just had a severe cold, were attempting to take him on horseback to a doctor in Carbondale. There was no road between Marble and Carbondale at that time, just a horse trail. He died when nearing Marble. It being a hot day and realizing they couldn’t possibly reach Carbondale for two more days, they decided it best to bury him there.

The little cemetery farther down the road to the east was not there at that time. It was started much later. Many ask if there had been an epidemic here at one time: so many baby graves. No, according to the oldest residents of Marble there had never been an epidemic here to their knowledge. The many infant graves there belonged to foreigners who considered childbirth an every day occurrence and no necessity for calling a doctor. So the infant mortality was very high.

The huge piles of marble near town are not rejects, neither were they washed there by floods. Marble doesn’t wash; and the floods never came near them. They are the old stock yards where marble was stored until needed in the mill.

BEFORE-Colorado Yule Marble Mill as it was in 1942. It was 1,700 ft. long and from 100 to 150 ft. wide. At the time it was built (1906-08) it was the largest marble fabricating plant in the world, employing nearly 1,000 workers.

AFTER-Old Mill Site as it is today after the huge building had been dismantled and torn down in 1943. The machinery had been sold to Morse Bros. Reconditioning Co., Denver, Colo., and the building to Holly Campbell, Grand Junction, Colo.

The tall marble columns in the mill yard are not supports for the building, but were supports for the crane tracks used when moving large blocks.

Elmer Bair is another person who has great faith in the valley. He went to work for the Colorado Yule Marble Co. in 1927 as a sawyer; after six months he was given the job as motorman on one of the trolleys. He held this position for four years-excepting the winters of 1929 and 1930 when he carried the mail on snowshoes and skis up to the mines on Schofield Pass.

Quoting from a letter received from Elmer Bair:

'The year the company purchased the electric snowplow Bus Long was the motorman and he was afraid to come off the hill with the big plow so it was left standing on the side track until mid-winter and the road was snowed in. The company asked Pop Sampson to open the road. He took the car crew and 12 other men with shovels to go get it out. I was one of the 12. When we got there and shoveled out the plow and side track, Pop asked me if I would run the fan on the plow. Everyone was tense and excited. The motorman most of all. The plow had never been tried out and no one knew whether the brakes would hold or not; and the road between the quarry and the town was known to be the 'steepest, slickest, smoothest railroad in the world.' Captain Bill Hafner showed me an article in a magazine called Rock of Ages, published somewhere in the east, making that assertion.

'We got along pretty'