The well watered Wet Mountain Valley, lying to the East of the stately Sangre de Cristo mountain range, had begun to be settled in the late 1860s by farmers and stockmen. In J 872 it was found that the low hills to the east of the valley contained lead and silver sulfide (Galena and Argentite) The town, that sprang up was named Rosita and in the period of 1875-77 had a population of 1200 to 1500. The ore veins were shallow and soon pinched out.

In 1877, two miles north of Rosita, Mr. Edmund C. Bassick crossing what is now known as Bassick Hill to his job of driving a tunnel into Mt. Tyndall discovered some strange appearing rock. He traded a load of firewood to have it assayed and immediately quit working for wages. For the first 8 or 10 tons of ore he received over $12,000. All very gratifying to his wife, no doubt, as a few days before she had been refused credit for a packet of pins by a Rosita merchant. Within a year and a half he had removed $500,000 in gold and silver. Adjoining the new mine and mill arose the town of Querida, Spanish for "dearest one."

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The, following year, five miles to the west, a low black ledge was found to be made of a greasy mineral which upon heating melted into a metal resembling silver. This was horn silver (AgCl). The ground in this portion of the valley was soon pitted with prospect holes and a third town sprang up, named for the ledge -- Silver Cliff. This town for a brief period was the third largest in Colorado, exceeded only by Leadville and Denver. Here too, the ore was shallow and only the Bassick remained productive, but it also had problems. E. C. Bassick had sold the mine to a New York syndicate which seemed much more interested in stock jobbing than mining. After a few years, mostly marked by litigation, mining ceased in 1907. Of Querida, today nothing remains save for a few broken bricks and shards of glass on the surface.

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Above are views of Bassick Hill and Mount Tyndall from the south.
 (Photos reprinted with permission of the Denver Public Library, 
Western History Collection, F-11908 and F-33530)

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Sangre de Christo Range from Silver Cliff, Colorado
(Photo reprint with permission of the Denver Public Library,
Western History Collection, MCC-l300)

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Silver Cliff, Colorado -- Sept. 21, 1924 
(Courtesy, Colorado Historical Society, F39515)

Silver Cliff, Colorado postcard which indicates the population to be 200 people.
 (Private collection of author.)

A one pair toll line was built in 1902 by the Colorado Telephone Co. from Canon City to the Wet Mountain Valley towns of Silver Cliff, Westcliffe and Querida. To the Colorado Telephone Company, there appeared to be enough life to justify bringing phone service to Querida. The western section of this line from Silver Cliff was built with unembossed purple tramp tops, two per pole, used as ordinary line insulators.

Perhaps it is not commonly known that unembossed two piece tramps (CD 190 & 191) have been found in Colorado. In about 1960 a pioneer collector from Denver, who wishes to remain anonymous, discovered this line, now upgraded to a ten pin arm and removed many of the purple tops. It is these insulators, which have occasionally turned up (Albuquerque 1990, Chicago 1997) mismatched to a Canadian bottom.

Map of the Toll Line System of the Colorado Telephone Company
 from The Cripple Creek Times, January 1, 1903

On Easter Sunday of 1987, I independently rediscovered this line, now with no purple glass in the air, but with a few purple shards on the surface. Every free weekend that summer and fall I raked, dug and probed that three mile stretch to find a total of two mint specimens and a box filled with broken pieces. From the massive conchoidal fractures of what is a very compact solid insulator, I believe the telephone company at some point sent a lineman through to remove with a hammer the remaining purple insulators in order to discourage the unknown thief.

In the ten years since 1987 I have learned of, and have obtained a few, mysterious tramps with characteristics and in colors to suggest Denver manufacture, specifically W.F.G.Co. I know of the following quantities to exist.

The broken tops found in 1987 ranged from dark purple through light purple to a silvery, near clear beauty.

My initial find on this line was an intact dark purple. Later that same day I found several broken tops. Of course my first reaction was what in the world are Canadian tramp tops doing in Colorado? Or had I taken a wrong turn and these were really the Selkirks in British Columbia ahead of me.

Top from a Denver two-piece transposition

On returning to Denver, I compared my new top with a Canadian tramp top. Except for the color there were numerous differences. The most obvious are:

1. The dome of the Denver is 1/8" wider than that of the Canadian, making a noticeably flatter dome.

2. The exterior of the skirt rises vertically from the base of the Denver, while that of the Canadian slopes slightly inward.

3. The interior skirt area of the Denver is more or less filled with glass. This is variable as would be expected with a hand gathered operation such as the Denver plants had. In the Canadian the interior of the skirt is open.

4. The pinhole of the Denver is wider than that of the Canadian. So much so that the threads of the Denver do not engage securely with those of a pin.

5. The top of the pinhole of the Denver is flat and is usually marked with scratches. In the Canadian the top of the pinhole is concave and is without scratches.

I expect that the molds of the Denver two piece were made locally and the thread mandrel was adapted from that of a taller insulator, such as a toll, by hacksawing off the end of the mandrel. Since a pin and therefore the mandrel that forms the pinhole is a frustum of a cone, this would lead to the characteristics described in items 4 and 5 above. 

So far I have written of these pieces as being of Denver manufacture. Can I prove it? No, but I think a strong likelihood can be demonstrated. The date the Silver Cliff line was built would not exclude any of the three Denver plants. On the eastern portion of the line towards Querida, I did not find any tops but did find several R. Good Jr. tolls in purple, also broken. While purple is synonymous with other manufacturers as well as with Denver, the purple tops do exhibit the same graininess as do most R. Good purple insulators.

CANADA	DENVER
This photo shows the vertical rise of the skirt and also the flatter broader dome of the Denver

Denver top and bottom

CANADA	DENVER

Two Denver tops showing the variability of the amount of glass filling in
 the skirt. The one on the left is a slight underpour.

CANADA	DENVER
This photo indicates the larger pinhole of the Denver

The photo to the right shows the flat top of the pinhole with the hacksaw-like scratches.

The bluish aqua tops are a perfect match in color with a W.F.G.Co. toll. One of these was found at a flea market in Denver brought with common insulators by a couple from northeastern Colorado. The three steel blue tops match perfectly with W.F.G. tolls and also Grand Canyons. One of these was found at a Denver area flea market 20 years ago. Another was found by a retired Mountain Bell employee who had saved a vast quantity of insulators over his career but had no idea where or when he acquired the top. The two steel blue violet bottoms were removed from poles by another retired Mountain Bell lineman. These were stated to have been found near Greeley, Colorado. They also match W.F.G. tolls and Grand Canyons in color and overall crudeness. 

A few years ago a dark purple top was purchased at a shop in Westcliffe by a Texas collector poaching in Colorado. The light purple top was found by a Colorado collector in a shop in Victor, Co. Of the purple tops removed from the Silver Cliff line in 1960, I know of only one which has remained in the hands of a collector who knew its origin. I expect the rest have been dispersed and their significance gone unrecognized. This article I hope will bring many more to light.

I wish to thank many collector friends for sharing their knowledge of these pieces and a great measure of thanks to Ray Curiel for taking the Denver/Canadian comparison photos.

Bibliography: 
Cross, Whitman    Geology of Silver Cliff and the Rosita Hills, Colorado
Emmons, S.F.    The Mines of Custer County, Colorado U.S. Geological Survey 17th Annual Report Part II n.d. (ca 1899)
Eberhart, Perry    Guide to the Colorado Ghost Towns and Mining Camps Second Edition, Sage Books, Denver 1959
Fossett, Frank    Colorado its Gold & Silver Mines Farms & Stock Ranges Second Edition, C.G.Crawford, New York 1880 
Rizzari, Frank B., editor,    The Westerners Brand Book, Vol XX, "Bassick and His Wonderful Mine" by Will Rathbun and Edwin A. Bathke, Johnson Publishing Co. Boulder, Colorado 1965
The Cripple Creek Times, January I, 1903
The Denver Times January 15, 1903 
The Colorado Telephone Company "Toll Line Wire Map Colo.& New Mexico" 1908 
A holding of Western History Dept. Norlin Library, University of Colorado, Boulder