The New Mexico Tech Industrial Archeology Club ventured up to Colorado Springs, CO to attend the SIA Conference. The only members in attendance were the an alumni member, the vice president and I. We volunteered at the conference and showed up the night of registration to help get folks registered.
On the first day, I worked registration and did not see much.
My first stop was a tour of the current Van Briggle Pottery shop in Colorado Springs, CO. Here, artists make various pieces in the style of the original Van Briggle.
After this tour, we went on a tour of the old Van Briggle Pottery Shop, which was now the Physical Plant building for a college in the area. The tour guide/physical plant manager told us the story of his father working to save the kiln stacks.
Next, I was able to tour the Xcel Comanche generating station near Pueblo. They were about to get a new unit online soon, but we got to tour one of the older ones that was running. I will likely tour this again with Chemical Engineering students some day. I have attached photos of the plant here. You'll notice most of them are outside, as it was requested that we not take photos inside the buildings.
We also took a quick trip over to an area where we could see the blast furnace for the Colorado Fuel and Iron plant.
