Alfred Castner King
1 book in the catalogue, published 2008.
Alfred Castner King was a Colorado poet who lost his sight in a mining explosion near Ouray in 1900 and went on to publish and recite his verse. He became known as the blind poet of Colorado. We carry one of his books, Mountain Idylls and Other Poems, in a Western Reflections edition dated 2008.
About Alfred Castner King
King was born in Michigan and raised in Colorado. Sources give different birth years, so we leave the year out. He was working at an Ouray mining operation when a premature explosion on March 17, 1900, left him totally blind. A biographical essay also reports varying degrees of deafness for the rest of his life, and describes him as an assayer, a detail the preface itself does not give.
His first collection, Mountain Idylls, came out in 1901, with a preface dated Ouray. The Passing of the Storm and Other Poems followed in 1907. The same essay says the two books reportedly sold 150,000 copies by 1925 and that he built a career lecturing, playing the flute and selling his books.
King married Florence Wheeler before 1904 and the family settled in Fruita, where they raised three children. In later years he lived in Grand Junction. He died there in 1941, though sources differ on the month.
What the books share
King wrote about mountains, rivers and valleys he knew by memory. His first collection opens with poems on grandeur and pines, and includes verses on the San Miguel valley and the San Juan. Other poems take on life, reflection and humanity. Because he composed after losing his sight, the landscape in his work is one of remembered detail rather than observed scenes. He is a reminder that the San Juan mining era produced working miners who were also writers, and that one of them found an audience across the country.
The subjects this author is catalogued under. Open Library record.
Next steps for readers of this author
Researching a miner poet's Ouray years
If you want context for the period King lived through, write or call the Research Center to ask whether it can help with Ouray mining life around 1900. Gather any dates you want checked first, since the sources we found disagree on a few details of his life.
Sharing mountain poetry with a group
A book club or classroom can read a few of the poems aloud, then look at the museum's page together to see what the mining town around the poet looked like. Ask each person to describe a landscape from memory and compare.
Go deeper
King lost his sight in a mining accident near Ouray and wrote about the San Juan country from memory. Ouray County's own historical society is the natural place to learn about the world he worked in.
Ouray County Historical Society Museum
Housed in a hospital for miners that the Sisters of Mercy ran, this museum shows Ouray's early working life. Its website says displays center on mining, ranching and railroading.
Ouray County Research Center
The society's archives hold photographs, papers and a mining history library. Its website says the center is open by appointment only.
Ouray County, Colorado Encyclopedia
A county overview covering the landscape from the San Juan high country down to the Uncompahgre River valley.
Good to know
What happened to Alfred Castner King?
How many books did he write?
Where did he live?
Writers like this one are how the list was built
We have published Colorado and Western writers since 1996, and every submission is still read by a person. Send yours, finished or half written.