Victor Heritage Society
Working Together to Preserve 
Historic Victor, Colorado
City of Gold MInes
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  • Landmarks
  • Guidelines & Galleries
    • Guide to Preserving Our Architectural Heritage
    • Photo Gallery of Victor Residential Gems
    • Photo Gallery of Victor Businesses Operating in Historic Buildings
    • Photo Gallery of Historic Victor Homes & Buildings--Then & Now
    • Photo Gallery of Historic Victor Artwork by Fred Shane, Circa 1942
    • Photo Gallery of Historic Gold Mines >
      • Stratton's Independence Mine
      • Restoring the Historic Headframe of Stratton's Independence Mine
      • Gold Coin Mine--Part of the Woods Empire
      • Vindicator Mine
    • Photos From 1903-04 Labor Strike in Cripple Creek & Victor Mining District.
    • Step Back in Time with Glimpses of Historical Photos Featuring Victor, Colorado & the Surrounding Mining District
  • Oral History
    • “The Only Swedish Grocery Store in Victor”: The J.A. “Joseph” Beckman Family in the Cripple Creek Mining District of Colorado, 1896-1915 by Richard "Dick" Markley.
    • Goold Family Historic Ties to Victor, Colorado & Famous Former Residents of the City by Nellie Goold Young.
    • H. L. Turner Story--Part 2: Unique Perspectives About the History of Victor, Colorado & the Cripple Creek Mining District.
    • Memories of H. L. Turner (1882-1967) and His Experiences in the Early Days of the Cripple Creek Mining District.
    • Tragedies When I Was Growing Up In Victor by Charles Spray (AKA Jeep Hack).
    • Memories of James Garth Payne & How He Came to Letter Names on the Original WWII Roll of Honor in Victor and Cripple Creek, Colorado.
    • Winters in Victor, Colorado during the 1940's & 50's by Charles Spray (AKA Jeep Hack)
    • Biking & Hockey in Victor, Colorado -- The Passions of Brian Hayes
    • Sports in Victor, Colorado & Memories of the 1949 Pikes Peak Junior High Basketball Tournament
    • Abbott Family Memories Made in Victor, Colorado: The House & Antiques Shop -- by Debbie Abbott.
    • Abbott Family Memories Made in Victor, Colorado: Digging At the Dump -- by Steve Abbott.
    • Abbott Family Memories Made in Victor, Colorado: Mom & Her Victor Friends -- by Dave Abbott.
    • A History of VICTOR, COLORADO--THE CITY OF MINES, compiled and published in 1933 by S. E. Poet, Superintendent of Public Schools at Victor.
    • Carl Roy's Oral History Videos -- Life in Victor, Colorado
    • The Miner’s Photograph: A Pathway to the Past by Steven Wade Veatch.
    • Recollections of My Life in Victor, Colorado during the Depression, WWII, & After By Charles Norman Spray (AKA Jeep Hack)
    • Memories of Washington Elementary--My First School in Victor, Colorado by Charles Spray (AKA Jeep Hack).
    • Adventures at the Beaver Valley Ranch While Growing up in Victor, Colorado by Charles Spray (AKA Jeep Hack).
    • Memories of the Ina & Henry Cleveland Hack Family by Charles Norman Spray (AKA Jeep Hack).
    • The Lighter Side of a Visit to Hack's Victor Barber Shop by Charles Norman Spray (AKA Jeep Hack).
    • Memories of Margaret & Henry C. "June" Hack, Jr. by Charles Norman Spray (AKA Jeep Hack).
    • Memorabilia from Cripple Creek & Victor High School Bands Directed by Ernest T. Sly from 1939 to 1950.
    • A Day in the Cresson Mine by Charles Spray (AKA Jeep Hack).
    • Firewood For Victor, Colorado by Charles Norman Spray (AKA Jeep Hack).
    • Memories of My Grandfather, John Reed Gardner (1864-1951)--Gardner Mercantile Owner, Bank President, Insurance Company Executive. By John Reed Gardner, II (grandson).
    • Tarie Huber Oral History Videos -- Life in Victor, Colorado
    • 1896 Shooting Affray at Union Theater in Victor, Colorado.
    • Memories of Mrs. Katy Bemore, resident of Independence when the deport was blown up in 1904.
    • Working Underground in the Cripple Creek & Victor Mining District, 1972 to 1979: How I Got the Shaft, the Gas, and the Broken Steel by Randall Stewart.
    • INSTALLMENT #1. Seven Generations In Victor, Colorado and The Mining District—The Way It Was as Recalled by Eleanor Musser Baker.
    • INSTALLMENT #2. Seven Generations In Victor, Colorado and The Mining District—The Way It Was as Recalled by Eleanor Musser Baker.
    • INSTALLMENT #3. Seven Generations In Victor, Colorado and The Mining District—The Way It Was as Recalled by Eleanor Musser Baker.
    • Memories of Edward Franklin Page: Watchman at the Stratton Mines and Subsequently a Mine Manager, Farmer, Retail Businessman, & Banker.
    • Tom Schryver's Memories of Growing Up in Victor, Colorado and His Parents--Mayme & Charles "Bumps" Chapman.
    • McCormick Family Connections to Victor, Colorado (1893-2014) by Mary Ann McCormick Hamm.
    • Paying the Piper by Gertrude Moore McGowan.
    • Gold Camp Celebration--Fourth of July in Victor, Early 1900's by Gertrude Moore McGowan.
    • Memories of Lulu Ella Manson & Harry Gordon Moore by Gertrude Moore McGowan
    • Memories of Fannie & Alfred Osborn by Marge Breth
    • Memories of Cripple Creek & Victor, 1945-62, by Mary Alice Orazen
    • The Story of Axel Olson & His Golden Girl, Betzi Johnson, by Shirley Beach.
    • Memories of Mr. and Mrs. Axel Olson by KC Garver
    • Victor Recollections--Mountain Doctor, Small Town Cop, Gus's Sporting Goods, & Little Toy Pocket Knife by Floyd Frank
    • Memories of Lowell Thomas--Victor"s Most Famous Former Resident
    • Memories of the Gold Rush Era in Victor by Edgar McGowan
    • A Day In the Life of a Miner by Chuck Clark
    • Underground Mining Experiences at the Cresson and Ajax by Myron House
    • Hynes Brothers "Clean Ice" for Victor, Colorado--Memories of Mary Ellen Hynes Chetelat.
    • Marguerite Clark--One of Victor's Angels by Chuck Clark
    • Charlie Clark & the Quality Cash Market by Chuck Clark
    • Pop Sly -- Ernest T. Sly, The Band Man by Chuck Clark
    • Mr. Mortenson--The Victor Shoemaker by Chuck Clark
    • Heninger Family Memories of Victor, Portland Junction, & Independence: 1909-1916, by Virginia & Edgar Heninger
    • Reflections on Goldfield by Carol Roberts
    • Growing Up In Victor in the 1930's by Bob Penman
    • Victor's Welcome to Vice-President Roosevelt
  • Visit
PictureMr. Mortenson's Shoe Repair Shop was located at 126 S 3rd St (left side). The storefronts of this building now house an antique shop.
MEMORIES OF MR. MORTENSON--THE VICTOR SHOEMAKER
By Charles (Chuck) Clark
  ©

Victor was a town where shoes did not last long. The nature of the people that resided in the District and the quality of the shoe or boot assured that fact. Young folks were constantly on the move through gravel streets, over rooftops, and crawling through mounds of discarded mine waste. Within a short period of time, toes were exposed, shoestrings were shredded, and seams were ripped. The adults were no different – the very jobs they were conducting demanded rough duty for their foot ware: all day shoes were exposed to water, abrasive dust and dirt. Later in time, rubber boots were introduced and the problems were somewhat ameliorated. What does one do then with a ragged pair of nearly destroyed and unrecognizable foot ware?

What else? Take them to the miracle-working shoemaker, Mr. Mortenson on South Third Street, that tiny red-faced shop that had whirling, belt-driven polishers, steel lasts, a glorious glue smell, and a seat to wait in until the damage was rectified. Mr. Mortenson was a diminutive older gentleman who came to Victor from England. Like so many other residents, he saw a chance to fill a void in the workforce and he filled it well. He was a professional shoemaker in every sense of the word. He wore an apron, smiled with his gold tooth showing and tried to carry on a conversation while working on activity that was very complex. Mr. Mortenson stooped most of the time. One would suppose this was due to his constant bending while working on the foot ware.

The shop was no more than fifteen feet wide. On one side were the tools of his trade and on the other side a waiting area for his customers. He had a belt driven array of sanders and polishers near the wall of the work area, and in a small area near the front of the building, he had several lasts of different sizes for various type of foot ware. In the back of the shop he had a stock of many types of leather and an interesting array of nails, glue bottles, and miscellaneous supplies. His sleeping quarters and a small hotplate were behind a drape that partially covered the doorway leading to the back of the building.

On the south side of the shop were two seats from old school desks where clients could rest while emergency repairs were made to their foot wear. Most repairs were made by appointment, but in many cases there were no “other shoes to wear,” and the repair had to be made post haste. These were the days when miners were making $8.00 per day and one had one pair of those until they could not be repaired any more. This was the situation where Mr. Mortenson shined. When he apprenticed in England, he learned, not only how to repair shoes, but how to make shoes. In many cases, a pair of shoes that were repaired by Mr. Mortenson was sturdier than the originals. Most of the repairs were soles and heels, but miners were tough on their boots and steel toes and tears had to be reconstructed. 

The very few young people who could say they “owned” a bicycle loved Mr. Mortenson. Victor was a destroyer of mechanical devices of all kinds including bicycles. Tires were of poor quality in those days and inner tubes did not last very long. Mr. Mortenson was a genius with adhesives and spent much of his time patching inner tubes for grateful young people who were fortunate enough to own one of these suicide machines. He charged them nothing.

People seem to remember the famous, the crooks, and the politicians and forget the people that made life bearable. Mr. Mortenson was one of those productive people for whom we should all be thankful. God rest his soul.  
                                                                                © Charles Clark

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:  
     Charles (Chuck) Clark was born in Colorado Springs, Colorado in 1933.  His father was a grocer and his mother was a teacher.  He was raised in Victor, graduated from Victor High School in 1951, and four years later graduated from the University of Colorado with a degree in English Literature and a Commission as an Ensign in the U.S. Navy.  Later he received a Masters Degree from Colorado College.
     After his service obligation and becoming a pilot, Chuck was a teacher, probation officer, photographer, marketing manager and vice president of several companies.  He traveled to Peru twice and accumulated and sold numerous photographs of the Amazon and its indigenous people.  In 2011, he was elected a Member of the famed National Explorer's Club headquartered in New York city.  He is the second Victorite to gain membership in the exclusive Explorer's Club.  The first was Lowell Thomas. 
     Chuck recorded many of the experiences he had as a child in Victor in a 2011 book titled "Memories of a Wonderful Childhood in Victor, Colorado" -- which can be obtained from the gift shop of the Victor-Lowell Thomas Museum or ordered online.   This memory of "Mr. Mortenson -- The Victor Shoemaker" (not included in his book) was submitted in October, 2015.


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