Rudy & Clinton cabinet photograph depicting the first Antlers Hotel in Colorado Springs Colorado. A snow covered Pikes Peak rises majestically behind the hotel. Since 1883 every photo or painting of downtown Colorado Springs seems to focus west along Pikes Peak Avenue to include the mountains. And that view has had one other feature, the Antlers Hotel. And what a history it has had. Originally built in 1883, tragedy struck on Oct. 1, 1898. As the Dr. Lester L. William’s Fire Museum describes: “On that day, fire destroyed the Rio Grande Railroad freight station, about seventy buildings, including three lumberyards, and the original, or first, Antlers Hotel.” Wind was blowing at 47 mph when trash and tumbleweeds under the wood platform of the railroad station caught fire. One of the freight cars carried dynamite and, in another, blasting powder. Crews from another train pulled the dynamite car away but the powder exploded, blowing flaming timber through the area including into small houses south of Colorado Avenue. The hotel was evacuated and then caught fire, burning to the ground by midnight. There were no injuries reported. In 1889, J L Clinton partnered with W. I. Rudy.  They served as the official photographers for the Colorado Midland Railway.  In 1891, Clinton signed a five-year lease for a new ground-floor photography studio in Colorado Springs.  In 1893, he traveled west to Glenwood Springs and later east to Elbert, Colorado, making portraits, scenic views, and views of residential buildings. By 1896, Clinton seems to have abandoned photography. The photo is 5” x 8” and is toned quite dark. Four holes in the border diminish the overall quality of the image, but still a nice early view. See images for more details.