Things to do / Travel Guide
The Ute Indians, the first inhabitants of the Colorado Rockies region, controlled all of Colorado west of the Continental Divide until the early 1880s. Though the Arapho and Cheyenne tribes migrated west during the 1700s, the Ute maintained their dominion until the mid-to-late-1880s, when they were moved to reservations allotted by the U.S. government. The Ute's story is not, however, one of passive acceptance of white settlers. A famous example of the Ute's displeasure with the arrival of settlers was demonstrated in what has become known as the Meeker Massacre. In September, 1879, in the Northwest Colorado town of Meeker, an Indian agent Nathan C. Meeker, began an attempt to try to alter the nomadic hunting culture of the Utes into a farming, agricultural society. In protest to his culturally-insensitive efforts, the Utes attacked, killing Meeker and 10 of his men. Despite this bloody uprising, a peace agreement was eventually negotiated - the Ute Council Tree in Delta, in Southwest Colorado, is an important marker of this event for the Colorado Rockies. The seven-feet-in diameter and 85-foot tall bicentennial cottonwood (having first sprouted in 1805) is the site at which Ute Chief Ouray and his wife Chipeta made the peace agreement with the white settlers around the turn of the 20th century.
In terms of the “Western” history of the Colorado Rockies, in the late 1700s, friars and Spanish explorers Francisco Antanasio Dominguez and Silvestre Velez de Escalante traveled through the region looking for a route from Santa Fe, New Mexico to California. Lieutenant Zebulon Pike (of Pikes Peak fame) and a group of soldiers reached the source of the Arkansas River near the South-Central Colorado town of Leadville around 1806. John Gunnison and John Fremont arrived to the area during the mid-1800s with the intention of mapping the terrain and planning potential railroad routes. The late-1850s discovery of gold near what was then called the California Gulch (Leadville) ignited the famous “Gold Rush.”
Thousands of settlers and prospectors from the Midwest poured into the region, hoping to strike it rich. The Leadville gold frenzy lasted six short but intense years, during which time thousands of prospectors collected close to $8 million in gold (that would be equal to over $185 million today!). With the subsequent discovery of lead carbonate ore, rich in silver, in the late 1870s, Leadville soon became one of the most famous silver districts in the world. One example of the many rags-to-riches tales is that of H.A. Tabor, a down-on-his-luck postmaster who became Leadville's first millionaire almost overnight. Banking on his silver fortune, Tabor became Lieutenant-Governor of Leadville, constructed elaborate opera houses in both Leadville and Denver, and even served as a fill-in U.S. senator for a 30-day period. Before this silver saga was terminated by federal devaluation, which caused investors to pull their money out close to 15 years later, nearly $700 million had been generated. The history of Leadville, perhaps the most famous boom-to-bust story, was shared by many other Colorado Rockies communities including Aspen, in Northwest Colorado, Buena Vista, in South-Central Colorado, and the Southwest Colorado communities of Crested Butte, Silverton, Telluride, Durango, and others.
The gold and silver rush boom period, which marked nearly every Colorado Rockies community's history, was a colorful and dangerous time. The influx of settlers, miners, railroad construction workers, and prospectors, many of whom were rough, rowdy, and colorful characters, created chaos at times. Unsavory saloons (with their regular brawls and shootouts), brothels, train robberies (by male as well as female bandits), ferocious disputes over water and other basic necessities, among other lawless behavior, characterized the time. Vigilante justice prevailed - more than 100 murders were documented during this period without a single conviction.
The railroad finally reached the Colorado Rockies region during the early 1880s. As a major gold- and silver-mining hub, the railroad reached Leadville first. The coal-powered Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, in Southwest Colorado, was completed next and was built to haul mine ores, gold, and silver from the San Juan Mountains. Several years later, a stretch of the Denver and Rio Grande Southern Railroad that ran from Gunnison, in Southwest Colorado, to Grand Junction, in Northwest Colorado, was finished. The line reached the Southwest Colorado town of Telluride in 1890, and in 1908 Northwest Colorado's Steamboat Springs in shared in the region's revelry when the railroad reached its city limits and opened for transport.
When the Colorado Rockies boom faded and, several decades later, the 1930s Great Depression set in, the region's mining communities were either quickly abandoned, or they struggled to survive. Each community that continued found its niche in the region's economy. The Southwest Colorado towns of Silverton and Crested Butte managed to continue extracting profits from their mines. During the first part of the 20th century, Grand Junction's history, only just beginning, was marked by the establishment of a sugar beet refinery. The town's irrigation projects quickly provided for a budding agricultural economy - cherries, apricots, grapes, and apples were sent via train to other parts of the U.S. Leadville's continued history of lawlessness saw the production of one of the best whiskeys “Leadville Moon,” during Prohibition. Durango utilized its railroad connectivity, turning itself into a regional shipping center.
In most Colorado Rockies communities, the tourism industry began to take off after the 1940s. Downhill skiing became popular in Steamboat, and resort hotels appeared almost overnight. In Northwest Colorado, Aspen began to host important national skiing races, and Southwest Colorado's Crested Butte Ski Area and Northwest's Vail opened to skiing in the early 1960s. Telluride hosted some of the best, most well-known world-class skiiers in the late-1970s. Durango recognized its tourism potential during the 1970s and 80s, and began restoring and heavily marketing its historic railroad to tourists, and Grand Junction began touting its hiking, mountain biking, and dinosaur history. While some of the world's smallest and largest dinosaur bones were first found in sites like Riggs Hill and Dinosaur Hill, near Grand Junction, during the early part of the 20th century, it wasn't until the latter part of the century that these paleontological dig sites were actually opened to the public.
Over the past decades, the tourism industry has developed further and flourished. For years now, every winter, thousands upon thousands of cold weather adventurists make their way to the Colorado Rockies for some of the nation's best snow fun. The Colorado Rockies region boasts world-class ski resorts that claim the attention of the international kings and queens of the slopes. Posh and upscale ski resort areas in Northwest Colorado's Aspen, Vail, and Breckenridge, as well as Telluride in Southwest Colorado, have often been dubbed the “Beverly Hills of the Mountains” - it is no wonder that skiing and non-skiing celebrities make it a point to be there. But the top-notch fun doesn't melt with the snow, Colorado Rockies' summer recreation includes great fishing, mountain biking, scenic drives, kayaking adventures, and other recreational activities, all of which are done against a backdrop of gorgeous mountainous scenery. No matter the weather, it's easy to understand why the Colorado Rockies region has become a favorite spot for tourists worldwide.
Historical Attractions in Vail, Aspen, Telluride, Steamboat Springs and the Colorado Rockies
History