(The following story by Dick Kreck appeared on The Denver Post website on July 13.)
DENVER — In 1908, the Chicago Cubs won the World Series and the first Mother’s Day was celebrated. The Democratic National Convention was in Denver, Henry Ford began assembly-line production of the Model T — and The Denver Post Cheyenne Frontier Days Train was created.
When the gleaming yellow, red and gray 1950s-era passenger cars of the Union Pacific Railroad’s heritage fleet slide out of Denver’s Union Station at 7 a.m. next Saturday, it will mark the 100th anniversary of the summertime excursion that has become as much a part of the “Daddy of ‘Em All” festivities as bucking broncos, the wild-horse race, buckskin-clad princesses and waffle cones.
Historians believe the first train trip to Cheyenne involving The Post probably ran in 1908, but the evidence is inconclusive. In “Cheyenne Frontier Days,” his history of the famed event, historian Milton Riske wrote that the first Post train ran on Aug. 21, 1908, with 100 guests on board. It was an informal affair.
Riske noted that the passengers were served lunch at a Cheyenne church and they were free to eat in the city’s “public restaurants” for dinner.
Never shy about promoting its many special events, including fishing derbies, rabbit hunts, stage shows and Christmas parties for orphans, The Post didn’t bother to report on the trip, but it has come to be regarded as the inaugural.
Extravaganza by 1915
By 1915, the Frontier Days Special was a full-blown extravaganza. On July 24 that year, 100 prominent citizens, including Claude Boettcher, board chairman of the Denver Tramway Co.; Merritt Gano of the Gano-Downs clothing store; Calvin Morse, proprietor of the Brown Palace Hotel; and Gordon Jones, president of U.S. National Bank, rode for a day of rodeo, revelry at Cheyenne’s historic Plains Hotel and whatever else might come their way.
In 1917, The Post, in another of its promotional stunts, staged a race between the train and race-car driver Clarence Shockley, whose Stutz, bouncing over unimproved country roads, beat the special into Cheyenne by 20 minutes and earned him $150. Post columnist Fay King covered the race and gushed afterward, “It was sure a whoopee, yip yip time, and I’m gosh-darned glad I got in on it!”
Frederick Bonfils and Harry Tammen were co-owners of The Post and master promoters of the paper, but it was Bonfils who became the centerpiece of the train until his death in 1933. He posed in front of the locomotive with his guests, had his picture taken in a war bonnet with Indians, and surrounded himself with Frontier Days royalty for photographs. Tammen rarely rode.
There were no trains during World War II, but when Palmer Hoyt became editor and publisher in 1946, one of his first moves was to reinstate the train.
Hoyt loved the spectacle of the train. He wore custom-made cowboy dress suits of various colors, including a black, pinstriped number. He liked being called “the boss wrangler,” or simply, “The Boss.” In his invitation to guests, he wrote, “The occasion naturally calls for Western attire, so be sure to wear your cowboy hat, shirt and ties and as much other wrangler regalia as you have.” It’s a tradition that continues among passengers to this day.
There were other rules: No women allowed (except designated “hostesses”), no photographs and no discussion of business. Influential business and political leaders were more likely to be seen on their hands and knees, shooting dice in the bathroom lounges, than they were arguing politics.
The original train continued its annual trek until 1970, carrying film stars, politicians, judges, advertisers, businessmen and even a future president, Lyndon Johnson. In 1960, Johnson, a good friend of Hoyt’s, was running for vice president on the Democratic ticket with John F. Kennedy. It was a perfect setting for a man whose wide-open Texas style fit the mood. He campaigned all day long. He rode in the parade through downtown Cheyenne atop a vintage stagecoach, waving his 10-gallon hat and a handful of yellow roses someone handed him.
“The Post gravy train”
Not everyone was enamored of The Post’s annual outing. One-time Post reporter Gene Cervi, who later became publisher of Cervi’s Rocky Mountain Journal, a business newspaper, kept up a stream of criticism of what he called “The Post gravy train to Cheyenne.” How, Cervi wondered in print, could politicians justify taking a day off? “Are you making a refund to the city or state for this day’s pay?” Cervi’s reporter asked city and state officials as they boarded the train.
Eventually, the train became a victim of its popularity. It was an enormous undertaking, and expensive because the paper paid for everything — a full breakfast en route to Cheyenne, libations and a 1-pound steak dinner (or chops or fish) on the return trip.
Former Post publisher Chuck Buxton recalled in 1992, “(The cost) kept going up $10,000, $20,000 a year so it was a case of economics.” The 1970 trip, he said, cost the paper $50,000.
“We had to get rid of it,” said Buxton.
At 8 a.m. on July 21, 1970, Hoyt raised his right hand, shouted out “All aboard!” and the longtime tradition began what seemed certain to be its final ride. The 1,181 invited guests weren’t aware of it, but the 27-car special was the last run of a 62-year tradition. Union Pacific had sold its passenger equipment to Amtrak, and the train would be no more. The Post made no mention that the 1970 trip was its farewell. It just disappeared.
A different beast in 1992
Twenty-two years went by before the train reappeared on July 18, 1992, as part of the celebration of the newspaper’s 100th anniversary. It was a much different beast than its predecessor. First, it was open to the public, who paid $100 a ticket (in honor of the 100th anniversary) to ride — and women were welcome. Using passenger cars from The Ski Train and pulled by three Amtrak locomotives, the 1992 excursion carried 790 passengers, including Colorado Gov. Roy Romer and Denver Mayor Wellington Webb.
The Centennial Special was intended as a one-time event but proved so popular with riders that it has once again become an annual outing. Another Frontier Days Train tradition was revived in 1994 when, for the first time in 37 years, a steam locomotive, the UP’s giant 3985, the world’s largest operating steam locomotive, was back at the head of the train.
Pulling this year’s train will be the UP’s other operating steamer, No. 844, a sight that always attracts hundreds of trackside observers. Next Saturday’s trip, the 17th since its return, sold out in a record three hours. The Post’s guests once again will enjoy a day of traditions of the Old West, grandly celebrated in a poem written in 1934 by reporter Gene Lindberg for the onboard dinner menu:
All aboard! On the big Post Special Train!
Climb aboard! She’s a-roarin’ north again.
So leave dull care behind, as we join the glad refrain!
Here’s to a hot time in the old town, Cheyenne!