C.W. McCall - Riverside Slide

[@robertrogers916]

RIP C.W. McCall Bill Fries

[@randymiller2916]

This song is based on a young man named Robert F. Miller who died on March 2, 1970 who happened to be my father. The song is prophetic as it is creepy. Two more men died on the same stretch of highway. Terry Kishbaugh Feb 10, 1978 and Eddie Imel March 5, 1992. In the 1992 event, it could easily have been two victims but Dan Jaramillo was able to dig himself out(after rescue was called off!) and used the emergency telephone in the south end of the snow shed (built to prevent this from happening again to no avail) to call out for help. Also see the book if you are a Colorado history buff: The Road Silver Built: The Million Dollar Highway by David Smith.copyright 2009.

[@williamcoles9742]

wow this is based on your father.

[@pointingdog7235]

I haven't heard this song since 1976. It is a creepy story and it really must be if its about your father. I am so sorry to hear of the loss of your father trying to keep the roads open and safe for others who need the road, the truckers who are the lifeline of the nation and the rest who are trying to get where they need to be.

[@kathygriffin9465]

As a commercial licence holder, I very much appreciate all the snow jockeys do keep roads open.

[@randymiller2916]

@@williamcoles9742 I was 5 years old at the time. We lived in Durango CO. The mountains are majestic and inspiring but they rule us we don't rule them.

[@Cloud_Strife1997]

Kishbaugh was my uncle. I never knew him myself, he died before I was born, but my father did, and so did a lot of my older family relatives. I was unaware that a man had died before him as well.

[@lester5192]

This should be famous.

[@user208351]

This song is based on true events! Hwy 550 south of Ouray, Colorado is Red Mountain Pass a breathtaking drive. There are no guardrails, hardly a foot of shoulder. Cliffs and canyons soar below. This is the most avalanche-prone highway in the lower 48 states. 160 slide paths breach a 20-mile stretch of pavement. There is a memorial marker for the three Plow drivers. You can send Bill a card or letter of thanks to let him know what his music meant to you. Bill Fries P.O. Box E Ouray, CO 81427

[@chrisj2539]

Ad here it is--crossing the Black Bear Pass road, which C. W. sang about in another of his seections. www.google.com/maps/place/Red+Mountain+Pass/@37.8988831,-107.7207605,15z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x873ede6119ccf577:0xe29eacc736813a28!8m2!3d37.898884!4d-107.7120057?hl=en

[@dickflakes]

Yup, and riverside slide is where they built the concrete safety tunnel at isn't it? Just about everything cwmcall sung about was true or relevant back in the good ol days

[@lukejustino6668]

I would love to, but he's dead sadly :(

[@seansky2721]

Mayor Bill lives on, just a little bit, whenever we listen to his stories.

[@kellypenrod8863]

I learned to drive on 550, my uncle did logging baof sunlight mountain we hauled the logs to Montrose mill, I remember uncle will telling me the million ain't no joke, and your first MISTAKE will be your LAST! He wasn't kidding either, no guard rails, the white line was the edge of the earth, and in a lot of places it was missing having. already fell off the side. I still cut through to visit home folks and friends in Silverton and Ridgeway, when my runs allow the time. It keeps me on my toes though, the truck I drive now is alot bigger than the one I started out with 44 yrs ago and my old adversary 550 is still just as dangerous and treacherous today as she was in my youth. God bless the highway boys that maintain that ol bitch, they EARN every cent they make, and a hell of a lot more.

[@kevino1650]

Lived in the basement of the city hall in Ouray in 1977 for two weeks worked for the city of Ouray for the foreman "Tom Workman" during the day and rode around on the nightshift with the city patrolman who wasn't much older than me then, just traveling the west and absolutely enjoyed the time with the good people of Ouray

[@davidblakeman7165]

C.W. McCall was the first rapper!

[@Bill-n7e]

Ret ards do think if it rhymes, it just has to be rap

[@partickbarton2016]

creepeist song i have ever heard

[@pointingdog7235]

It was the first time i heard it at 12 years old, I hadn't heard it since then until tonight and found it was a true and terrible story. God bless the road crews who keep the roads open and safe. To be honest I think that this is as scary a story as the wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.