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Quondam Rangely: The Halcyon Days
A view of Rangely in 1945, looking north up main street.
Raven A well, drilled in 1933, capped and produced in mid 40s.
Rangely the boom town, 1946.
Art Smith's Guam Trailer Park in 1946.
Post Office in 1946.
Real Estate office in 1946.
Tent City in 1946.
Nichols Store, 1946.
Main Street, 1946.
1947 flood.
Tent City in 1947.
Art Smith's tent motel, 1947.
Flooding at Cramer Bell Court, maybe 1947.
Swimming in White River, 1947, by the old bridge.
Silver Dollar Club and Tiny's Cafe, early 50s.
Ace Hi Club taken in early 50s.
Main Street in early 50s.
Another view of Main Street in early 50s.
Dinosaur in Jensen, Utah.
New Jr Hi built in 1953.
Stroud Well at Eddy Farm, about 1955.
California Camp, 1951.
California Camp, 50s.
California Camp, 50s.
Flash flood in 80s.
Hale Bobb Comet over Rangely pump, 1997.
Ice Jam on White River, 1983.
Oil Well, 1968.
Another Oil Well, 1968.
A view of Rangely in 1945, looking north up main street.
Raven A well, drilled in 1933, capped and produced in mid 40s.
Rangely the boom town, 1946.
Art Smith's Guam Trailer Park in 1946.
Post-1946 Clippings
The pictures on this first page are mostly salvaged from the original Rangely website (published in 1996-1998 by Sandi Woodard, see nearby), with a few others cribbed from elsewhere off the web.
The Joe Trachta Jr. family drove from Richmond, California to Missouri in late 1946 and stopped for Christmas in Rangely to visit my grandparents, Joe and Glenn Trachta. We traveled in a 1935 Plymouth, and, although I don't remember it, we might have visited Art Smith and family since Art was the husband of my father's cousin, Virginia Jones Smith. That car on the left side of the Guam Trailer Park, above, could easily be mistaken for a 1935 Plymouth.
Joe Trachta began his oil drilling career in Rangely in 1902. Click the picture below to go to the next series of pictures from his family archives.
According to Kathy Hurt, "Roads to Rangely," oil discoveries in the Rangely area began around 1890. The California Company came in 1901 and began drilling test holes. The first shallow well, using cable tools, was drilled around 1902 with George Eldred as driller, and my grandfather, Joe Trachta, as tool dresser. They had various problems of crooked holes, lost bits, and cussed luck. I recall my grandfather talking about these failed attempts several times, but I was about nine years old, and had no clear notion of what he was talking about.
Who in the world cares about Rangely, Colorado?