"A Look Back"

The Stories presented here are about people and events during the early days when this corner of Colorado was first settled.

D. W. Diamond, Photographer
By Museum Staff

Dan Diamond was born in Canada on October 8, 1855. By the time he was in his twenties, he was pursuing the trade of cabinetmaker in the Chicago area. It was during this time that he began experiencing the serious lung problems that would eventually cause him such suffering and an early death.

Returning to Canada, Dan abandoned his cabinet making and turned to the photographer's art. Quickly becoming proficient, he located in Idaho, where he worked in Pocatello as one of the city's photographers. He moved to Craig, Colorado in 1896, to join his mother and several brothers who were living in the area.

By the end of the year, he had set up his studio in the family home. Although located in a remote area, and restricted by his health issues, Dan established a wide reputation for the style and beauty of his work. Dan's health continued to deteriorate and in November of 1904, he reluctantly put his photographic outfit up for sale. His decline continued until he passed away at the family home in Craig, on April 22, 1905.

It has been nearly a century since the death of this marvelous photographer, but the legacy left through his extraordinary photographic imagery still impacts people today. Looking at the images Dan Diamond has left behind, one can experience the people and places of early Moffat County in a very tangible way.

Ora and Cullie Biggs

Diamond took a series of photos for the 1902 wedding of Cullie May Melugin and Ora ‘Stubbs’ Biggs.

Ora came to this area as a young man in the 1890’s. Cullie came here as a child and grew up in Craig. They were the parents of two boys – Edgar and Arthur. Ora died in 1927, and in later years Cullie married Ed Walsh who had come to the area to work at the oil refinery. Ed died in 1968, and Cullie lived alone for many years in her large home, which today is the parsonage for the First Christian Church, on West Victory Way. She died in 1988, at the age of 103 years.

Craig Dramatic Club production, circa 1899, at the Opera House ‘The Border Land’

Identification for orchestra: Mr. Kohler, Mr. Collum, George Wooley, Mrs. Collum, Mr. Parker, George Humphrey Identification for Stage: Alec Robinson, Kels Darnell, Florence Tucker Seymour, Frank Ranney, Walter Spencer, Ed Darnell, Blanche Tilton, Clyde Downs, Myrtle Bryan Van Dorn, Fred Downs, Charlie Ranney