New Book Releases

Name: Colorado National Monument
Brand: Alan J. Kania
SKU: 9780738569796
Price: 18.74 USD
Availability: InStock

We’re always on the hunt for the next great American history book. When we find it, you’ll see about it here, with our new book releases. We release new history books each month in a variety of subjects and series. Browse through all of our newest titles below, and discover your next favorite history book at Arcadia Publishing! [View all New Book Releases]

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Colorado National Monument

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Colorado Vanguards:

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Denver's Washington Park

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Western Colorado Fruit & Wine:

$21.99 $16.49 Save 25%

Daniels and Fisher

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Lost Ski Areas of Colorado's Central and Southern Mountains

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Historic Adventures on the Colorado Plateau

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Five Points Neighborhood of Denver

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Ghosts of Boulder

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Jewish Denver

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Around Nederland

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Baseball in Denver

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San Luis

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Compendium of Curious Colorado Place Names, A

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Grand Junction

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The Uncompahgre Valley

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Littleton

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Rails around Durango

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Lost Department Stores of Denver

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Greeley

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Southwest Denver

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Denver's Historic Homes

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Mining Towns of Southern Colorado

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Early Craig

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Baseball in Colorado Springs

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Dillon and Silverthorne

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Steamboat Springs

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Colorado’s Daring Ivy Baldwin

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Rollins Pass

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Communities of the Palmer Divide

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Morgan County

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Salida

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La Plata:

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Around Niwot

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Early Glenwood Springs

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Colorado National Monument

9780738569796

$24.99 $18.74 Save 25%

Amid the rock spires and red-rock canyons west of Grand Junction near the Utah state line, a young man with a checkered past single-handedly built trails at a salary of $1 a month. John Otto brought the beauty of the canyons to the attention of the local chambers of commerce and eventually the National Park Service. With the stroke of a pen, Pres. William Taft added the Colorado National Monument to the park system in 1911. Otto's eccentricities toward bureaucrats and businessmen caused him to abandon a quarter-century of trail building in the mid-1930s. His legacy was then picked up by hundreds of young men from the Civilian Conservation Corps prior to World War II. Today their combined efforts bring thousands of hikers, bicyclists, and motorists to the same trails Otto first used to introduce people to the canyon lands a century ago and the odd rock monoliths that seem to rise hundreds of feet out of the canyon floor. Scenic vistas of the Little Bookcliffs mountain range and the great Grand Mesa complete the beautiful panorama.

Colorado Vanguards:

9781467119375

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Colorado history is filled with maverick men and women who shaped the state's identity and culture. Trailblazers Zebulon Pike and Stephen Long laid groundwork for the miners, farmers and statesmen who helped the area evolve into a territory and a state. Father of Rocky Mountain National Park Enos Mills and writer Isabella Bird praised the surrounding natural splendor and championed its preservation. Entrepreneurs Otto Mears and William Jackson Palmer linked mines with towns such as Colorado Springs and Telluride, while the innovations of F.O. Stanley and Nikola Tesla energized the state. Author Phyllis J. Perry chronicles the lives of thirty men and women who left their indelible marks on Colorado.

Denver's Washington Park

9781467130745

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In the Rocky Mountain West, Denver is considered the big city. Yet its urban core consists of numerous neighborhoods developed in the late 19th century that act today as virtual small towns. South-central Denver's Washington Park is one of those "small towns," and its name refers both to a 166-acre historic park and to the surrounding blend of residential and commercial neighborhoods. Cited as a model for new urbanism, this area serves as an enduring example of the City Beautiful movement. Touted in the late 19th century for its "rapid transit," clean air, and pure water, the area once known as Broadway Terrace, Myrtle Hill, and the Miracle Mile of South Denver continues to serve as a recreational mecca for Denverites. Over a span of 100 years, it has transformed from prairie to potato fields to "posh."

Western Colorado Fruit & Wine:

9781626197800

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Enterprising pioneers transformed the isolated lands of the North Fork and Grand Valleys into blossoming oases. Sowing cultural roots in this arid rocky landscape, the settlers cultivated what became delectable destinations boasting world-class wine and award-winning fruit. Midwestern immigrants cultivated orchards, Europeans produced their own table wine and growers delivered their harvest by horse and wagon to the first locavore market--area miners. Sit down, pour a glass of wine or cider and join journalist Jodi Buchan on a journey through the Western Slope's fruit and wine country. Meet orchardists and viticulturists, and celebrate the discoveries, traditions and innovations thriving today across the region.

Daniels and Fisher

9781626199231

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For 129 years, Daniels and Fisher and May-D&F proudly served the Mile High City. Today, the restored Daniels and Fisher Tower adorns the Sixteenth Street Mall while the I.M. Pei–designed ice-skating rink and hyperbolic paraboloid at May-D&F survive only in memories. The story of these institutions is filled with fascinating characters, including dashing, tower-building William Cooke Daniels; his aristocratic English wife, Cicely; and flamboyant William Zeckendorf, whose city-building dreams outpaced his finances. Generations of Denverites shopped these stores and still remember white-gloved sales ladies, meals served in the D&F Tea Room and views from the observation deck. Join author Mark A. Barnhouse as he brings the spectacular Christmas displays, fantastic fortnights celebrating foreign cultures and Carl Sandell—the seven-foot, five-inch Daniels and Fisher doorman—back to life.

Lost Ski Areas of Colorado's Central and Southern Mountains

9781626197138

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Colorado's central and southern mountains still draw droves of skiers to the slopes. However, many of the historic runs and areas that were popular over the past century--some near the current resorts of Aspen, Breckenridge, Crested Butte, Purgatory, Telluride and Vail--no longer exist. Local hills like Whittaker Ranch near Eagle featured little more than a rope tow and warming hut. Now underneath Lake Dillon, Prestrud Jump hosted tournaments where Olympian Anders Haugen broke ski-jumping world records. From Lands End near Grand Junction to Sugarite near Trinidad, from swanky Hoosier Pass in Summit County to Stoner in Montezuma County, authors Caryn and Peter Boddie take readers on a tour of the lost ski areas of central and southern Colorado.

Historic Adventures on the Colorado Plateau

9781467138109

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The Colorado Plateau is home to nearly thirty national parks, monuments and recreational areas. The unique geology, stunning rock formations, powerful rivers and numerous scenic canyons that compose such a striking region also made navigation difficult. Yet daring explorers braved the journey. Rock art and other artifacts are evidence of occupation thousands of years ago. Spanish explorers once trekked across this rugged terrain, seeking information on the native populace, religious converts and trade routes. In the frontier era, a trio of bandits discovered the value of good horses while fleeing for three hundred miles. Nearly a century after the gold rush, uranium fever brought another boom to the rugged reaches of the area in the 1940s. Supported by years of research, Bob Silbernagel traces the Colorado Plateau's intrepid inhabitants throughout history.

Five Points Neighborhood of Denver

9780738518701

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By the 1870s, the word was out about Colorado. East coast and Midwest prospectors, European immigrants, and African Americans newly freed from slavery, rushed to Denver to find work and their fortune in silver and gold. Captured here in almost 200 vintage images is the story of the African Americans who escaped the oppression and racism of the post Civil War South, and created a city within a city: the Five Points neighborhood of Denver. Named in 1881 for a bustling five-way intersection, the Five Points area became the commercial and social sector for African American churches, businesses, clubs, and homes, and the heart of Denver's black community. Showcased here are the photographs of once thriving Five Points businesses in the Welton Street business district, such as Otha Rice's Tap Room and Oven and the Rossonian Hotel, as well as the familiar faces of the Cosmopolitan Club, Madame CJ Walker, and Dr. Justina Ford, Denver's first African-American female doctor.

Ghosts of Boulder

9781609497361

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Founded in 1859 and situated at the base of the Rocky Mountains, Boulder's small size harbors a big-city feel, and its rich past hides plenty of hair-raising lore. A home in the Newlands is said to be haunted by a previous owner who was displeased with remodeling done on his longtime abode, while a small Victorian on Pearl Street has been plagued by strange events for over a century. Guests at one hotel might be surprised by the number of mysteries wrapped around the building, and local spirits have a standing reservation at a popular restaurant that was once a mortuary. Authors Ann Alexander Leggett and Jordan Alexander Leggett offer up a tour of the tales that haunt this Colorado college town.

Jewish Denver

9780738548296

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In 1859, during the Pike's Peak gold rush, at least 12 Jews joined the great migration to Colorado in search of gold and a brighter future. The unpredictability of mining and a growing demand for supplies encouraged many of these Jewish settlers to establish small businesses in Denver and in towns and mining camps across the state. By the early 1870s, Jewish benevolent societies and a congregation were established. Denver's dry, mild climate attracted patients with tuberculosis, and two Jewish sanatoriums were opened in the city around the beginning of the 20th century. Many of the predominantly Eastern European Jews who came in search of better health made Denver their home, thus augmenting the early Jewish population significantly. Today Jewish life flourishes in Colorado, and Jewish citizens continue to play a vital role in its culture and development.

Around Nederland

9780738581491

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Nederland survived three boom-and-bust cycles involving three different minerals. During the silver boom, U.S. president Ulysses S. Grant visited Central City in 1873 and walked on silver bricks that had been mined in Caribou and milled in Nederland. The second boom followed the discovery of gold in Eldora in 1897 and lasted only a few years. The third boom was sparked by the discovery of tungsten by Sam Conger, the same man who made the original discovery of silver in Caribou. The Conger mine eventually became the greatest tungsten mine in the world. During World War I, Nederland's population swelled to 3,000--twice the size it is today--and another 2,000 were estimated to live nearby. In each boom, men came to mine, open stores, and transport goods and ore. They brought families with them, and many towns sprang up, including Caribou, Eldora, Lakewood, Tungsten, and Rollinsville. Some of these communities have survived, while others remain only in memories and photographs.

Baseball in Denver

9780738599595

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Images of Baseball: Baseball in Denver shares the city's prominent role in America's great game. The lore of baseball's first pioneers plays out in a real-life soap opera for this Western city. From the early Hall-of-Fame players to the storied baseball-talent barons of Denver's primitive days, baseball has always been on the forefront of the Denver sports horizon. From Tinker to Satchel Paige to "The Babe" himself, the Mile High City has been a barnstormer's oasis in a town that was nothing short of the Wild West. The Denver Post Tournament and the rich history of the Denver Bears are highlighted, as well as the many fields and landmarks throughout the city. With the inception of the Colorado Rockies, Denver once again set the stage for big-league baseball, which many of Denver's local baseball legends have been no stranger to.

San Luis

9781467132473

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Established on April 5, 1851, Colorado's oldest town, San Luis de la Culebra, remains remarkably true to its heritage. Nestled below the Sangre de Cristo Land Grant in the San Luis Valley, San Luis and its descendants sustain a way of life and preserve a culture in this high, isolated desert region. Eighteen men migrated north from New Mexico into the northernmost area of Spanish exploration in the mid-1800s to settle San Luis along the Culebra River. These pioneering families brought their use of communal land and water and a language dating back to 16th-century Castilian Spain. They carried on a deep faith from the Old World into the New. The traditions of San Luis and the surrounding villages--Chama, San Pablo, San Pedro, San Francisco, and San Acacio--continue today among the young and old who remain the keepers of culture.

Compendium of Curious Colorado Place Names, A

9781467137324

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The origins of Colorado place names offer insightful glimpses into the state's formative years. Emanuel Saltiel named his new community along the Arkansas River Cotopaxi, after a volcano in Ecuador. Rifle Creek and the town of Rifle earned their names thanks to a rifle left behind along the banks of the creek. Optimistic miners mistakenly believed Tarryall had an abundance of gold and thus named it as a place where prospectors could mine and tarry. And despite attempts by government officials to rename a small community along the I-70 corridor in western Colorado, locals refused to call it anything other than No Name. Learn these stories and more as author Jim Flynn unravels the intriguing origins of Centennial State place names.

Grand Junction

9780738580685

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The Ute Indians were hardly out of western Colorado when their land was opened to Anglo settlers. It was on September 26, 1881, when George A. Crawford, William McGinley, R. D. Mobley, M. R. Warner, and others went to the junction of the Gunnison and Grand (later renamed the Colorado) Rivers to claim 640 acres. In the semiarid confluence of the two rivers, a city developed, fruit orchards were planted, and a college grew out of the seeds of a single-room school with a dirt floor. Several newspapers opened, providing news and information to a business community that included coal mining, railroads, dry goods, and even a toffee factory whose products have graced the tables of royalty. How Grand Junction was able to develop into a progressive community of entrepreneurs, educators, and community-minded citizens is a story best told in a small sampling of pictures. None of the founders are still here, but their legacy, stories, and pictures have survived to speak for them.

The Uncompahgre Valley

9780738580715

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Settlers of European heritage arrived in the Uncompahgre River Valley after the Ute tribe was ordered to reservation lands in Utah by the federal government in 1881. The pioneers staked out properties and established covenants. The Uncompahgre River carried the usual annual melt from the San Juan Mountains through today's Ouray, Montrose, and Delta Counties toward its confluence with the Colorado River near Grand Junction. But the settlers' crops required more water than the river or irrigation ditches could bring. Engineers assessed the failed farms and abandoned villages in the wake of the Uncompahgre Valley's over-settlement and looked east of Montrose to the Black Canyon, cut by the nearby Gunnison River. They drilled the Gunnison Tunnel to bring the snowcap melt from the Continental Divide's western slopes to the Uncompahgre Valley, creating one of the Rocky Mountain region's most fertile valleys. The tunnel, completed in 1909, was the biggest irrigation project up to that time.

Littleton

9781467132558

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In 1858, gold was discovered where Little Dry Creek joins the South Platte River, four miles north of what is today Littleton. After the initial rush of gold-seekers, agriculture sustained growth when the gold deposits played out. In 1861, Richard S. Little filed claims for agricultural land along the South Platte River in what would become Littleton. Little was not only a farmer but a land developer, and he filed his plat at the Arapahoe County Courthouse in 1872 for streets and homes on his property. When the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad built south from Denver through Littleton in 1871, development soon followed, and Little had no shortage of buyers for his plots of land. Thus began Littleton, and over the years of boom and bust, this early settlement has transitioned from village to county seat to one of Denver's finest suburbs.

Rails around Durango

9780738548593

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In the 1880s, the Denver & Rio Grande began building its three-foot railroad toward the San Juan Mountains alongside the Animas River and the budding community of Durango. The D&RG quickly established itself in Durango, constructing a depot as well as a 45-mile connection to the regional mining hub of Silverton. Over 60 years, the towns, the railroad, and the mines it served would weather plummeting silver values and a turbulent economy. By the end of World War II, declining freight volumes left the future of the railroad in doubt, but by the late 1940s, a growing number of train enthusiasts were journeying to Durango for one last ride. The new popularity of the Silverton Branch brought rail fans to the area in increasing numbers through the 1950s. Today the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad continues to preserve the region's railroading past and has become a unique aspect of the history of Southwestern Colorado.

Lost Department Stores of Denver

9781467138406

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Denverites once enjoyed a retail landscape rich with personal touches. Revisit May-D&F's animated holiday windows or the ice skating rink in front of the store. Reminisce about the Christmas chandeliers that stretched for four hundred feet on the main floor of the Denver Dry Goods or the elegance of Neusteters, with its fashion shows and exclusive merchandise. Recall finding that perfect outfit at Fashion Bar and going back-to-school shopping at Joslins. Celebrate salespeople who remembered your name and the comforting feeling of shopping locally where your parents and grandparents shopped. Through decades of research and interviews with former staff, Denver's unofficial department store historian Mark Barnhouse assembles the ultimate mosaic of the Mile High City's fabulous retail past.

Greeley

9781467133463

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In October 1869, Nathan Meeker, the New York Tribune's agricultural editor, visited the Colorado Territory. Impressed with the scenery, people, climate, and resources, he wrote an article, "A Western Colony," for the Tribune, inviting principled people with money to invest in a temperance and agricultural colony. Over 3,000 prospective colonists wrote to Meeker. On December 23, Meeker founded the Union Colony, a joint-stock colonization company, and chose 737 of the best applicants as members. In April 1870, the company established the town of Greeley, named for Tribune editor Horace Greeley. Founded on the principles of temperance, religion, education, agriculture, irrigation, cooperation, and family values, Greeley became the Weld County seat in 1877. Agriculture and water development ensured Greeley's reputation as the "Garden Spot of the State." Potatoes became its first commercially viable crop. From 1900 to 1950, agricultural expansion ushered in a succession of immigrants, including Germans from Russia, Japanese, Hispanics, and Mexican nationals, looking for work and new opportunities. Greeley's economy, growth, and diversity remain rooted in the land and its people.

Southwest Denver

9781467124065

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In 1900, the bucolic landscape that stretched for miles southwest of Denver was made up of truck farms, dairies, and ranches. While the separate town of Valverde would be absorbed by Denver in 1902, the countryside beyond was the domain of Arapahoe and Jefferson Counties. Isolated sentinels such as Loretto Heights and Fort Logan stood tall on the prairie. As happened in countless American cities, however, the abandonment of urban cores for new suburbs would radically change a rural way of life that had lasted for decades. With an aggressive annexation policy after World War II that helped to double Denver's land area in 30 years, the city set forth gobbling up these new subdivisions and former rural county lands. Some clamored to join Denver; others railed against the giant next door. A new sense of place was created in the process, not quite urban and not quite suburban. A proud heritage remains in the hearts of residents fortunate enough to have been brought into Southwest Denver before the annexation floodgates were permanently closed.

Denver's Historic Homes

9781467130585

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Images of America: Denver's Historic Homes provides a mere introduction into the myriad of architectural styles and the unique blending of cultures that have made the Rocky Mountain region so remarkable, from the city's inception as a mining claim to what it has become today. From itinerantly used sod and log homes to mansions that rivaled the grandest of their period, Denver's eclectic gathering of early residents produced a landscape of architectural monuments that attest to the people's needs, desires, values, and occasional eccentricities.

Mining Towns of Southern Colorado

9780738599533

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Lesser known than the gold and silver mines of Western lore, Southern Colorado's extensive coal mines fueled the engines for Western industrialization in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Of the numerous companies operating the mines, the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company (CF&I) was king. With a total of 62 mines, the majority of them in Colorado's Las Animas, Huerfano, and Fremont Counties, CF&I ruled the lives of countless miners in company towns scattered throughout Southern Colorado. Working long hours, often in cramped underground caverns, the workers emerged to families living in lonely mountain landscapes completely provisioned with company homes, stores, schools, and churches. Images of America: Mining Towns of Southern Colorado gives an intimate glimpse into the lives of these pioneer mining families.

Early Craig

9780738599694

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Dreams of what the West could offer brought the earliest settlers into the Yampa Valley. After the Homestead Act of 1862 and the westward expansion of the railroad, the first trickle of land seekers arrived in this remote area in the mid-1870s. Interest in the vast coal lands was a main driver for investors seeking to develop the region. But the smaller yet more inherently valuable interests of family, farming, and agriculture were the real deciding factors in the settling of this vastly beautiful and challenging corner of Colorado. During those early years, the homesteaders in Craig managed to capture images of the area they had come to claim as their own. They photographed immense stretches of solitary land, quiet scenes of the family living room, and the optimism of the developing business districts. They left a photographic legacy that proves a picture is indeed worth a thousand words.

Baseball in Colorado Springs

9780738599540

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From Boulevard Park and Memorial Field to Security Service Field (formerly Sky Sox Stadium), Colorado Springs is a baseball town. Professional baseball arrived in 1901; the Brown Bombers, a semiprofessional black team, came in the 1940s; and the original Sky Sox won the Western League Championship in 1953, 1955, and 1958. Local players such as Ed Kent, Bill Everitt, Jim Landis, Sam Hairston, Connie Johnson, Vinny Castilla, and Todd Helton have made it to the major leagues. Rich "Goose" Gossage, a Colorado Springs native, went directly from Class A ball to the Chicago White Sox, starting his hall-of-fame career in 1972.

Dillon and Silverthorne

9780738570167

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Lake Dillon sits at almost 2 miles high in the Rocky Mountains. The dam and reservoir that produced this Summit County resort, along with Dillon Village on its shore and the town of Silverthorne just below it, are collectively one of Colorado's winter-summer fun destinations. Dillon Dam is 5,288 feet long by 231 feet high, creating a large freshwater source for the city of Denver, as well as 25 miles of scenic shoreline. The dam stores 85.5 billion gallons of water from the Snake and Blue Rivers and Ten Mile Creek. On cue, these waters rush eastward to the South Platte River Basin through the Transmontane Project, or Roberts Tunnel--augered hundreds of feet under the Continental Divide in one of the West's most controversial water relocation epics. Today Dillon, Silverthorne, and the Blue River Basin on Colorado's western slope see their share of sailboating, snow and Nordic skiing, windsurfing, and snowboarding.

Steamboat Springs

9780738570174

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Known as Ski Town, U.S.A., for its deep powder and its growing crop of winter Olympians, Steamboat Springs was named nearly two centuries ago by French trappers. Hearing the "chug, chug" of one of many hot springs, they supposed they had reached navigable waters. For centuries, the area's abundant fish, game, and mineral springs drew the Yampatika, a Ute subtribe. In the 1870s, a rush of settlers came, first for precious metals, followed by more renewable riches--the lush summer pastures--and next the extraction of carbonized forests (coal) millions of years old. Ironically, real wealth ultimately fell free from leaden winter skies, and this Routt County community experienced a boom like few places on earth. Winter sports, including ski jumping, with some world records, made Steamboat Springs famous worldwide.

Colorado’s Daring Ivy Baldwin

9781467146333

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At the beginning of the twentieth century, aerialist Ivy Baldwin had achieved celebrity status as a premier tightrope walker, aeronaut and aviation pioneer. He executed astonishing and perilous performances across America and internationally, including Mexico and the Far East. First by flying balloons, he went on to pilot dirigibles and, finally, aircraft. In his later years in Colorado, he became famous for crossing canyons on a tightrope. Historian Jack Stokes Ballard deftly captures Baldwin's colorful and hazardous life from childhood runaway to aviation record holder.

Rollins Pass

9781467127714

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The ribbon of dusty road on Rollins Pass has a timeless and beloved history. First known as Boulder Pass, this comparatively low saddle on the Continental Divide in Colorado has been in continuous use for millennia. First utilized as an expansive Native American game drive complex, the pass subsequently functioned as a toll wagon road in the 1860s. At the turn of the 20th century, Rollins Pass became the highest standard-gauge adhesion railroad grade in North America--an achievement still standing today. However, this overmountain route, known as Corona Pass, was inefficient and dangerous: resolute men tasked with the impossible faced high elevations with even higher risks of injury or death. A safer, permanent route came in 1928 by way of the Moffat Tunnel. The rails of Rollins Pass were then removed, freeing the automobile to tour the historic road. No matter the epoch, the legacy of Rollins Pass abides: a preeminently scenic route to the top of the world.

Communities of the Palmer Divide

9780738581903

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Native American tribes once traversed the east-west anomaly of the Rocky Mountains known as the Palmer Divide as a passage between the high ranges and the Great Plains. Lying between Denver and Colorado Springs, and named for William Jackson Palmer, founder of Colorado Springs, the offshoot range divides the great Platte and Arkansas River systems. Settlers homesteaded, farmed, and ranched the area. Railroad construction in the 1870s led to towns supporting commerce and tourism, particularly in the western section of the Palmer Divide, in what eventually became known as the Tri-Lakes Area. The area drew tourists who enjoyed hiking, wildflowers, and the outdoors, and facilitated such local industries as ice harvesting, lumber milling, ranching, and potato farming. A vast area north of Colorado Springs, the Palmer Divide retains a picturesque rural nature and cohesive small-town feeling--creating such social events as the Rocky Mountain Chautauqua and the Yule Log Festival, as well as the enduring Palmer Lake Star on Sundance Mountain.

Morgan County

9781467115650

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Pioneers came by the thousands, drawn by the promise of wealth in the Rocky Mountains. The dry, arid plains were a pass-through to most, but a few hardy souls saw potential in the region. They faced the harshest conditions; howling winds, little rainfall, intense heat followed by bone-chilling cold, isolation, and hostile Native American tribes were constant threats to survival. The pioneers of Morgan County were men and women of vision, perseverance, and inner strength. They were problem solvers who dug reservoirs and irrigation canals, built roads and railroads, and created an economy out of what others refused to see. Today, Morgan County is a place of an active agricultural lifestyle, supported by the businesses in the area. Its rich cultural diversity encompasses residents whose countries of origin span the world.

Salida

9780738520674

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Modern-day Salida is admired and sought out for its natural beauty. Surrounded by numerous 14,000-foot, snow-covered mountains that feed the Arkansas River's rushing whitewater, the quiet and hospitable town is situated in a picturesque valley that draws tens of thousands of visitors for summer and winter activities. But nearly 130 years ago, most of the people were coming to the area known as South Arkansas for new opportunities and the fortunes they hoped to find. The images in this book offer a glimpse of some of those individuals and times-the early settlers, miners, railroaders, forestry pioneers, and families who spawned commerce and businesses that held the community together when hard times hit. The photographs reveal the rich variety of people, how they worked, how they played, and how they made Colorado their home.

La Plata:

9780738520506

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Despite some of the darker aspects of the upper San Juan Basin, such as the Meeker Massacre, "Mexican Flats," and the presence of the Ku Klux Klan, the fact remains that Utes, Anglos, and Hispanics have co-existed peacefully together in this region for well over a century. Collected in this new book and accented with over 100 vintage images is an oral history of La Plata County and the surrounding areas, featuring the voices of cowboys and Native Americans, ranchers and miners, outlaws and in-laws alike.

In compiling these stories of local San Juan Basin residents, Fred Wildfang has recreated life during turn-of-the-century Southwestern Colorado. These individual recollections detail the hardships and triumphs of early pioneer families from the San Juan Basin, including tales of the Old West movie sets, arranged marriages, rash elopements, runaway horses, and ancient native rituals. The voices captured here epitomize the spirit of "nan¡-ma"-as the Utes say-"together," a word meant to stand for a spirit of cooperation among all the peoples in this land.

Around Niwot

9781467133241

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By the time the Colorado Central Railroad extended its tracks into Boulder County in 1873, much of the land along the foothills was already under cultivation. As rails were laid between Boulder City and Longmont to the northeast, they crossed land belonging to settlers who had first come to the region as prospectors with the Pikes Peak Gold Rush of 1858. At that time, the area was still the hunting and fishing grounds of Southern Arapaho Indians and their tribal leader, Chief Niwot, translated as "left hand" in the Arapaho language. Two ranchers, Porter Hinman and Ambrose Murray, whose land was traversed by the new railroad, platted the town of Niwot in 1875 as a shipping point for transporting local farm goods and livestock to distant markets. Thus the only authentic railroad town in Boulder County was founded.

Early Glenwood Springs

9781467132978

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Originally planned as the town of Defiance, Glenwood Springs was renamed for its natural hot springs along the banks of the Colorado River and for Glenwood, Iowa, the hometown of Isaac Cooper. In the early 1880s, Cooper had the vision of a spa resort here but not the finances to turn his dream into a reality. He sold out to Walter Devereux and his investors, who saw the construction of the Hot Springs Pool, Hotel Colorado, and Vapor Caves completed. Once railroads arrived in 1887, Glenwood Springs became a playground for wealthy travelers who sought out the hot springs as well as other recreational opportunities, such as hunting, fishing, hiking, and horseback riding. With beautiful scenery, caves to explore, and community festivals, visitors today sustain Glenwood's economy. Located at the confluence of the Colorado and Roaring Fork Rivers, our community has also served as a retail hub for the surrounding area from the 1880s to the present.