"Ruthven Goes to Colorado and California 1933" An incredible adventure during the Great Depression

Official Film “Ruthven Goes to Colorado and California 1933”
Take a journey back to 1933 in the second film from the Ruthven McNairn diaries. Using archival footage from the era I recreated an incredible four month adventure through Chicago, Denver, Colorado Springs and on to California, during the Great Depression. The film flows like a John Steinbeck novel – a fascinating look into an era almost 100 years ago.
Ruthven travels from Hamilton to Sarnia to Port Huron Michigan and through to Chicago, and on to Denver Colorado. Ruthven has family in Denver (his mom was raised there) and checks out the city the surrounding mountainous countryside, including visiting Red Rocks and Mount Morrison before there was ever a “Red Rocks Amphitheatre” (built in the 1940’s). He explores City Park, Cheeseman Park, the Golden Dome, the newly completed “City and County Building”, all while taking a series of mysterious “cold shots” from his uncle Howard, who was a medical doctor (“Doctor Elliot”) to deal with a melancholic health condition. The film does a deep dive into Denver history including the “Tabor Opera House” and he even manages to catch a performance by Russian pianist Rachmaninoff.
After a month in Denver, Ruthven hitchhikes to Colorado Springs where he explores the landscape and the iconic sites of the Garden of the Gods, Manitou, Cave of the Winds, William’s Pass, and around which has many other fascinating adventures.
Its here were he meets his friend “Leo” and they make plans to hitchhike to Los Angeles. He passes through Pueblo, and through the Raton Pass and into the Sangre de Cristo Range in New Mexico – on to Gallup, and Santa Fe, exploring the ancient town, on to Albuquerque and into Arizona where he travels along “Route 66” into California – the route was only established ten years earlier and was still dirt roads in many sections.
He made it to Los Angeles, only two months after the Great Earthquake of 1933, which decimated Long Beach. In Los Angeles he completely ran out of money, but met some interesting characters. His impressions of Los Angeles are fascinating, touring Hollywood, and remarking that the entire city revolves around people trying to get their hands on money and that they would “do almost anything to get it”. (Accurate still today)
His journey back to Denver is a fascinating tale where some very interesting characters are fleshed out, full of calamities and breakdowns in the middle of nowhere.
Back in Denver, he has a chance meeting with a stranger, Charles Hendy, and they partner up to climb a real mountain in Berthoud Pass, Parry Peak fulfilling Ruthven’s wish to “climb a mountain” before he headed back home.
On the way home he stopped for a couple of days in Chicago and went to the opening week of the Chicago Worlds Fair of 1933-34 and that was a remarkable experience.
I searched the internet and watched many hours of old home movies and period films, and in many cases was able to capture the exact places Ruthven was describing so eloquently in his diary, in the same era which he visited.

Upon his return home from this incredible adventure the wanderlust kicked in quickly and he was off again, on a train up north to Cache Lake where he spent a month in Algonquin Park. This diary has also been made into a feature length documentary “One Month in Algonquin Park – A Journey by Canoe – Summer 1933” – free to watch at “Steve Welch Ontario” on Youtube.
Both diaries are available as e-books, with an introduction and footnotes adding colour and context to an amazing era in North America – the Great Depression – from the perspective of a 17 year old adventurer.
I am a completely independent filmmaker – purchasing an e-book is one way to help the channel – the other is to comment and share the film. If you enjoyed it, (or not) leave a comment, subscribe and share – easy and free ways to help – so I can continue to make music and film for the rest of my days.
I am also a songwriter and have several albums released on all major platforms. If you go to my website and sign up for the newsletter, you get a free download of my latest album “Songs to Save Your Life”. Stevewelchontario.com
My other films include :
“Bruce Trail : The Movie”
“Chasing the Sun – Walking the Avon Trail”
“One Month in Algonquin Park – A Journey by Canoe – Summer 1933”
“7 Days Deep in Algonquin Park – A Journey by Canoe”
“Killarney Winds”
“The Spirit of Temagami”
A Video Album “Songs to Save Your Life”
And so much more

Thanks for watching!
Visit SteveWelchOntario.com

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Index
0:00 - Introduction
1:55 - To Chicago and Denver
7:30 - Denver Colorado
30:51 - Colorado Springs
1:00:34 - To Pueblo and back
1:06:57 - Hitchhike to California
1:22:45 - Los Angeles
1:35:12 - Calamitous trip back to Denver
1:40:38 - Denver Pt.2 / Parry Peak
1:49:40 - Bus to Chicago
1:50:56 - Chicago Worlds Fair
1:53:48 Credits and Comments