The Glory Trail; 7; Millionaires of Poverty Gulch
- Series
- The Glory Trail
- Episode Number
- 7
- Episode
- Millionaires of Poverty Gulch
- Producing Organization
- KRMA-TV (Television station : Denver, Colo.)
- United Film Industries, Inc.
- AAPB ID
- cpb-aacip/516-5t3fx74s5w
- NOLA Code
- GLTL
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- Description
- Episode Description
- The story of gold mining its problems in yesteryear, and the characters the booms attracted, are told with particular attention given to Cripple Creek, Colorado. Following the booms and busts in California, the program describes the migration to Colorado of prospectors who still sought a way to stay alive. Among those who migrated was the family of Sam Womack of Kentucky. Drawing his home site on a piece of property at Cripple Creek, which he called Poverty Gulch, Womack later discovered a piece of gold afloat. His talk of his find failed to interest others until Count James Pourtales of Bismark announced his interest in hard rock mining and bought some land. The Counts action launched a gold rush to Cripple Creek. As seen in the program, the gold rush also witnessed disasters of fire, labor strife, and thievery, a boom in business, the arrival of the city slicker and confidence men; a peak of glory in which Cripple Creek boasted 55,000 people. Among those who came for various reasons during its colorful history, were Theodore Roosevelt, Bernard Baruch, who worked the pick and shovel and out boxed the champion of the town of Altman, and jack Dempsey, who worked the Portland mine. Even with soaring production by 1901 (Cripple Creek was the worlds second largest producer of gold) the mining district was plagued with deep water problems too expensive to solve; the effects of a civil and world war; labor unrest and unionization of miners which resulted in violence in 1904 (thirty-three killed and 225 men deported by the militia). The troubles between union and companies brought about the beginning of the end of Cripple Creek as a producing region. And with gold mining now considered a non-essential industry, the program notes that like the trail drive cowboy and the freightline bullwhacker, the hardrock miner digging for gold is becoming a symbol of the past, a fading image, and a memory of lusty youth. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche)
- Series Description
- A panorama of that fabled bit of Americana the old West, The Glory Trail travels the path of Americas West as it was; rough, tough, often times more comical than magical. With gusto and humor, The Glory Trail unfolds the difference between the old West a subject long romanticized by movies and television and the West of today. In its attempt to counteract many of the misconceptions that have been attributed to the people, places, events and developments that have shaped the colorful region, this ten-part series produced by KRMA-TV, Denver, devotes itself to a broad survey of historical events as well as little-know but illuminating episodes of the West. Each half-hour episode, originally recorded in color on film, treats a facet of the West that influenced the growth and, sometimes the decline, of that part of the country. Among them are programs which detail the turbulent growth of the railroads, the savage conflicts between the white man and the Indians, the great and exciting cattle drives, the glitter and fever of the rush to exploit the gold mines, the fables and myths of the heroes and villains of the West, and the determination and perseverance of the white man from the first Spanish explorers to the immigrant sodbuster. A rich narration is utilized over a wide variety of visual materials which include rare photographs, lithographs, still-photo-in-action techniques, paintings, and film excerpts from western movies. Also, KRMA filmed special sequences of various Western landmarks and recreated and filmed historical vignettes for inclusion in the series. An original music score, composed especially for the series, captures the mood of the old West as it really was. Among the sources from which research materials were gathered for this series are: the famous Rose collection, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma; Oklahoma State Historical Society, Oklahoma City; Paintings by Lea Franklin McCarty, Mr. Harry Wolf, American Firearms Collection, Denver; Western History Dept., Denver Public Library; Colorado Historical Society, Denver, Wyoming Historical Society, Cheyenne; University of Wyoming Library, Laramie; Nebraska Historical Society, Lincoln, Kansas Historical Society, Topeka; Hollywood Stock Footage Library; Santa Fe Railroad, Albuquerque; Union Pacific Railroad, Omaha, Denver and Rio Grande, Denver, Pittsburgh and Lake Erie, Pittsburgh; Colorado Railroad Museum, Golden; National Railway Historical Society, Colorado Chapter, Denver; Wyoming Historical Society, Cheyenne; Pioneers Museum, Colorado Springs, Colorado; Historical Society of Montana, Helena; Mrs. Harry Yost, North Platte, Nebraska; Division of Manuscripts, Library Oklahoma University; Lincoln County Courthouse, Lincoln, New Mexico, Photographs by Charles Belden; Lucius Beebe, Edward Candey, and Harry Chrisman; Chicago Historical Society; New York Historical Society, Museum of American Indian, Heye Foundation; New York Public library; National Archives, Library of Congress. The Glory Trail is a 1964 production for National Educational Television by KRMA-TV, Denver and United Film Industries, Inc. The series narrator, Red Fenwick is staff writer for The Denver post who also writes a column for the newspapers Empire magazine. Born in Indiana, Mr. Fenwick was raised in Wyoming. Before entering the newspaper business, he was a cowpuncher, a railroad lineman, and later became active in Wyomings State De3mocaratic party. He Joined The Denver post in 1942 and was a Roving Editor and editor of the newspapers Empire magazine, which covers thirteen states. Most of his writing has been devoted to the West. He has lived with Indian clans and is a member of several tribes. His writing achievements have won him the Denver press Clubs newswriting Award, a pell mell radio-television award for a story that brought about the release of a man who served five years for a crime he didnt commit, and citations for his articles on the Indians by the national Congress of American Indians. He is a member of the Cowboy Hall of Fame. The series writer, Jack Guinn is a columnist for The Denver Post, and author of two books The Wire God, and The Caperberry Bush. Born in Texas, Mr. Guinn was graduated from Texas military institute and the University of Texas. He has been a newspaperman since 1938, having worked for the Austin (Texas) American-Statesman, the Houston post, and the major wire services. During World War II he worked for the Associated press in New York, London, and Budapest. He was chased out of Hungary by the Communists. Mr. Guinn joined the Denver post in 1950. Since that time he has served as assistant and columnist. Besides his two books, which deal with the newspaper business and the wire services, he produced a picture book on Cripple Creek, Colorado, once the second largest gold producing district in the world. Manny Albam, one of the finest jazz composers and arrangers in the nation, wrote ten original scores for the programs in the series. For The Glory Trail orchestration, Mr. Albam utilizes native Western instruments such as the harmonica and banjo. (Description adapted from documents in the NET Microfiche)
- Created Date
- 1964-00-00
- Asset type
- Episode
- Genres
- Documentary
- Media type
- Moving Image
- Credits
-
-
Cinematographer: Cook, Micke
Cinematographer: Reed, Dick
Composer: Albam, Manny
Director: Case, James
Narrator: Fenwick, Red
Producer: Heskett, Bob
Producing Organization: KRMA-TV (Television station : Denver, Colo.)
Producing Organization: United Film Industries, Inc.
Writer: Guinn, Jack
- AAPB Contributor Holdings
-
Indiana University Libraries Moving Image Archive
Identifier: [request film based on title] (Indiana University)
Format: 16mm film
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- Citations
- Chicago: “The Glory Trail; 7; Millionaires of Poverty Gulch,” 1964-00-00, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed December 15, 2025, http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-516-5t3fx74s5w.
- MLA: “The Glory Trail; 7; Millionaires of Poverty Gulch.” 1964-00-00. American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Web. December 15, 2025. <http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-516-5t3fx74s5w>.
- APA: The Glory Trail; 7; Millionaires of Poverty Gulch. Boston, MA: American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip-516-5t3fx74s5w