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Pikes Peak Backcountry: The Historic Saga of the Peak's West Slope - Softcover

 
9780870043918: Pikes Peak Backcountry: The Historic Saga of the Peak's West Slope
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Distributed by the University of Nebraska Press for Caxton Press
This is the story of the other side of Colorado's best-known mountain- the region west of Pikes Peak.  It includes stories of the first settlers and the founders of towns.  It also tells of the bust years between world wars when the railroad tracks were pulled up and many communities vanished.

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About the Author:
Celinda Reynolds Kaelin's love of the West began with her early life on a ranch in New Mexico.  Celinda has written numerous magazine and newspaper articles and is a popular lecturer throughout the Pikes Peak region.  
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:
Pikes Peak Backcountry: The Historic Saga of the Peak's West Slope by Celinda Reynolds Kaelin

Copyright 1995 By Celinda Reynolds Kaelin All Rights Reserved

Introduction

I fell in love with the Pikes Peak backcountry the moment I saw it. I found the area totally by accident, when my husband and I took a pleasure drive west, into the mountains, while visiting my brother in Colorado Springs. At the time, we were looking for a place to retire, and had almost decided to buy a ranch in my home state of New Mexico. However, Pikes Peak cast an irresistible spell upon us. One oldtimer echoed my sentiments exactly when he told me that he "fell in love with that Peak" when he first set eyes on her, and he had to live where he "could see her first thing every day."

I was mesmerized by her clear, frothy streams with great ponderosa pines marching along flower-strewn banks. I was enchanted by hillsides studded with magnificent granite boulders piled precariously atop one another in frozen pantomimes of turtles and frogs and Indians. Most of all, I was enthralled by Pikes Peak which commanded the entire horizon in her robe of dazzling white snow. I had to live in the Pikes Peak backcountry.

Certainly, there are many historians better qualified than I to write this book. And I know that there are many gifted writers who could do a better job of putting just the right words together. I doubt, however, that there is anyone who has a greater passion for the history of this area, or who has found greater joy than I have in probing the mysteries of this history.

I first stumbled onto the story of Pikes Peak backcountry while in a bookstore in Reston, Virginia. Harold and I had just bought Twin Creek Ranch and were contemplating our move to Colorado. I stopped into the bookstore for something to read during the drive across country, when a stack of old books on the floor caught my eye. I picked up the top book and was blowing the dust from its cover when it fell open. Will Drannan's account of trapping beaver in the Tarryall River Valley leaped off the page. I knew that the Tarryall River was very near our new ranch. The entire stack of books was of Colorado history, so I bought them all. Ironically, an estate in Pueblo, Colorado, had just sold them to the bookstore and now I would be taking them back to Colorado.

My daughter Jessica and her friend (also Jessica) read Drannan's book aloud during the three-day cross-country drive to our new ranch. The miles flew by as we listened spellbound to Drannan's stories of trapping beaver with Kit Carson and fighting in the Indian wars.

During the restoration of our old homestead, west of Florissant, I began to research the history of our ranch. No murder mystery could have been more intriguing or exciting. So, of course, I joined the Florissant Heritage Foundation. Then, about 1993, Leo Kimmett approached me and asked if I had devoured every word of his book, "Florissant, Colorado", and eagerly agreed.

My original plan was to simply augment and revise Kimmett's "Florissant". However, as each historic fact was unveiled it became very clear that the scope of the work had to include the area north, west, and south of Pikes Peak, to the edge of South Park. Much has been written about the Cripple Creek Mining District, but many of the best stories about Pikes Peak backcountry have never been told. I studied all of Kimmett's earlier research as it offered tantalizing clues, and then my further research revealed the untold stories of the entire backcountry.

Kimmett's great-grandfather, Judge James Castello, established what is now Florissant, in 1870, as a Ute trading post. He was successful mainly because of his integrity and his excellent rapport with the Ute Indians of the area. Later, he rented rooms to road-weary travelers and gained a reputation along the Ute Pass Wagon Road as a genial and gracious host to his guests. Leo Kimmett provides living testimony to these same endearing qualities, faithfully handed down several generations. Each of our working sessions began with a sumptuous luncheon of fresh produce from his garden, lovingly prepared by his charming wife, Julia. This Pavlovian conditioning ensured a positive reaction from me; every time that I worked on the manuscript I salivated.

Conventional wisdom has long decreed that "possession is nine-tenths of the law," and politicians have pragmatically sought to implement this logic. Spain knew that land grants, ensuring occupancy, were vital to validating their ownership of the vast expanses that they claimed in the New World. The United States also understood this principle, and passed the Homestead Act. American Indians had a different understanding of their relationship to the landscape. In their nomadic lifestyle, they harvested the fruits of the land in a cycle of successive camping grounds, and their Mother Earth unfailingly nurtured her people. It was unthinkable to view this relationship as "owning" a possession. Instead, the Ute people felt that they belonged to the land. This was diametrically opposed to the Euro-cultural concept that the land belonged to the people. The stage for conflict was set, for the land to which the Ute people belonged was the key to breaching the Rocky Mountains.

In order to understand a large complex issue, it is almost always easier to examine the smaller, component parts. The micro defines the macro. Fears and desire, passions and prejudices of every person combine to create the fabric of history. Each Ute Indian, mountain man, gold seeker, and homesteader who lived in Pikes Peak's backcountry provides unparalleled insight to the westward insight to the westward expansion of the United States. Each of their stories tells how and why the West came to be possessed by the dominant culture, and how the Rocky Mountains were finally conquered. We are incredibly fortunate that so many descendants of these people are still living and are so willing to share their family stories and vintage photographs. We are deeply indebted to them for their generosity.

Celinda Reynolds Kaelin Twin Creek Ranch

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  • PublisherCaxton Press
  • Publication date1998
  • ISBN 10 0870043919
  • ISBN 13 9780870043918
  • BindingPaperback
  • Edition number1
  • Number of pages241
  • Rating

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