correctmyphotos

I am writing this post in Elmore, SD watching Spearfish Creek rush over a small dam in front of my friend’s cabin.  Elmore is an early 1900’s ghost town in Spearfish Canyon in the Black Hills of South Dakota. It was the spot from which the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy logging railroad began its narrow-gauge climb up the east side of Spearfish Canyon along Annie Creek.

Elmore, SD is a ghost town that is now a community of summer homes in Spearfish Canyon

 Today, Elmore is a group of summer and year round homes and is where our friends have a “cabin”.

Bill and Mary Kay's Cabin was built on the foundation of the old family cabin

The Old Cabin that was but is no more.

My wife and I have been coming to Spearfish Canyon with Bill and Mary Kay for many years and we often hiked by an old log cabin built in the early 1900’s. After thinking I should take a picture of it I finally did this past February. It was a good thing I did because it is now gone.

Elmore Log Cabin built in the early 1900s was one of the original homes in Elmore, SD

Here are the original and edited photos of another view of that cabin. Note how blue the snow is in the original photo. The bluish color cast is quite common in digital photos of snow scenes and can be easily corrected with OneClick color available in PictoColor’s CorrectPhoto or iCorrect OneClick Plug-in for Photoshop.

Old Cabin photo was edited with CorrectPhoto

The Old Cabin Returns—Another Photo Opportunity

The story of the Old Cabin does have a happy ending. The owners of the cabin have decided to restore it to its original form using as many of the original logs and materials as possible. The old cabin was disassembled log by log and the original fireplace was preserved. The old logs were numbered and all the paint was removed and construction of the new old cabin using those logs has begun.

Elmore Cabin returns log by log

In talking to the contractor I mentioned I had taken a couple of photos of the old cabin in February and promised him a copy because the only photo he had was one he had taken with his cell phone and it wasn’t very good. I was surprised that no one was creating a photo record of the project and that I might have the only photos of how the cabin looked before it was disassembled. I wish I lived a bit closer so I could create the photo record of the process. But, I am looking forward to taking photos of the reconstructed cabin next fall when we return for the annual “closing the cabin for the winter” guys weekend.

Lessons to learn

In addition to a little history lesson about Elmore and Spearfish Canyon the points I wanted to make with this post are:

1. Keep your camera handy and take that photo you always wanted to take when the opportunity presents itself because you may not have another.

2. Creating a photo record of any project regardless of the size is not only fun but valuable in many ways.

3. And, finally, take the time to edit and organize the photos to create a photo record you will be proud to show others.

Spearfish Canyon in the Black Hills of South Dakota is a unique and beautiful place rich in history of gold mining and logging. The 17 mile road that winds through the canyon from Cheyenne Crossing to the city of Spearfish is one of the most gorgeous drives you will ever see. And, when you see the sign for Elmore you might want to pull in to see if you can find the new Old Cabin.

Elmore, SD-Spearfish Canyon in the Black Hills

Wayne   www.correctphoto.com