MTFCA Forum

This White truck was recently pulled out of a garage in the high country above Boulder and donated to the local history museum. They want to re-create a bus used by the “Boulder Bluebirds”, a women’s group who brought female vacationers from Chicago to the high country for authentic “frontier” experience in the old mining town of Gold Hill in the teens and twenties. The group, was active for a long time and used a variety of vehicles to make the trip from the university up the hill.
One of the taxis was a 1915 ish White truck owned by a local trucker who used it to transport whatever he was hired for. It appeared to have a rough depot hack or express type body from the one photo I’ve seen. This project is a different truck that was stashed in a garage and last run in the 4th of July parade in 1989(?) but no specific history of it getting to Gold hill has been found. The motor is in pretty good shape, turns over nicely with the hand crank, and seems to be complete. The rear axle is apart and the outside braking system is disassembled but seemingly all there. We have been researching and documenting and I will be getting more photos in the next few days. Anyone with similar vehicles, info or interest please let us know!
The truck will initially be set up as a static display but eventually rebuilt for light parade use so the plan is to build out the wood body a little faster than resorting the running gear. We have also started a thread on the AACA forum but I believe a lot of the members who frequent this site will be interested and have related info. I pulled a lot of photos from the “this was trucking” thread in this forum and am excited to begin the project this winter, now just need a place to put a thirteen foot wheelbase basket case….
Thanks for looking and please foreword any leads or info about the running gear, other owners, White truck history or interest in making donations to the museum. As we are at the very beginning of the journey any and all help is greatly appreciated!
Thanks again! -Chris Levi, Boulder, Co.

Chris, there is a group up in Montana that is dedicated to restoring White Yellowstone buses. They may be of some help. Too bad Rich Eagle passed away, he could have been a great resource.

Chris,

Rich Eagle had a running White bus and many White truck parts, and they are being offered at his estate online auction that is running right now. You may want to look at it online to see if there is anything that you can use to restore your truck. Most of the White truck parts are on page 9 but you will see other White stuff offered on other pages as well. The auction house is Blue Mule Auctions, and I believe their website is www.bluemuleauctions.com.

Hope this helps
Denny

Thanks for the heads up, there are definitely not a lot of parts for these around. I think the stewards of the bus project may have spoken with Mr. Eagle before his untimely passing, but the project has been sidelined a while and I’m not sure where they are with it. What an insane auction, I hope it goes well and I sure wish I was closer. What an incredible guy! My condolences to his family and friends and may he rest in peace. -Chris, in Boulder