Rocky Mountain National Park, located in north-central Colorado, encompasses 415 square miles of spectacular mountains and forests filled with wildlife, 300 miles of hiking trails, rivers and streams, 600 rustic buildings, and some of America’s most beautiful scenery. Spanning the Continental Divide, it is best known for the Trail Ridge Road, the highest continuously paved highway in North America, and more than 100 mountain peaks exceeding 11,000 feet, including Longs Peak at 14,259 feet.

One of the first permanent American settlers was Joel Estes, for whom Estes Park is named. He first explored the Estes Valley in 1859, when he and his son, Milton, set out to follow an old Indian trail from Fort Lupton on the South Platte River, where Joel raised cattle. After climbing to the top of a high ridge, he saw for the first time the park that would someday bear his name. He liked what he saw and said, “The very place I have been seeking. Here, I will make my home.” The following year, he laid out his claims and established a homestead. By 1863, he had relocated his family to the area and had begun living there year-round. They were soon joined by several other families scattered across the landscape. The Homestead Act of 1862 encouraged more settlement.

The Pikes Peak gold rush of 1859 drew hopeful miners and speculators across Colorado. Some of these men tried their luck in several locations within present-day Rocky Mountain National Park. On the slopes of Long’s Peak, the Eugenia Mine can still be seen, although it did not yield much ore. On the western slope of the Continental Divide, Joe Shipler had greater success in 1879 when he found silver on a mountain in the northwest part of the park that bears his name today. He gained financiers in Fort Collins to build Lulu City as a mining town. Lulu was the name of one of the financier’s daughters. By 1881, the small town had 40 cabins and several businesses. Conflicts between American residents and Dutch immigrants led to the establishment of Dutchtown west of Lulu City. Despite this growing community, it became apparent that the silver was of low quality, and the cost of operating the mines was too high. The town was abandoned by 1885, except for Joe Shipler, who continued to mine for the next 30 years.

The decades preceding the 20th century saw numerous visions for the valley, and these gained momentum around 1900. Landowners discovered it was more profitable to wrangle “dudes” than livestock on the dynamic Rocky Mountain landscape. One of these individuals was Abner Sprague. He first came to the Estes Valley in 1868 as a surveyor and, by the late 1870s, had made the Moraine Park area his home. In addition to being a surveyor, Sprague was also a prospector, rancher, amateur geologist, naturalist, and soon-to-be lodge owner.

He and his wife, Alberta, entertained guests as travelers passed through the valley and began charging for room and board. They then built additional lodging, and the operation got so large he needed help and offered a partnership with his wife’s cousin, James Stead. The business successfully expanded and began offering guided excursions. However, there were challenges among the owners. Alberta Sprague and Mrs. Stead had many differences of opinion regarding the ranch’s operation, which led Sprague to sell the business to Stead and to build a new lodge in Glacier Basin. He dammed the creek and created a fish pond, which bears his name today. Sprague Lake is still a popular destination for anglers and other visitors. Unfortunately, there are no remains of Sprague’s buildings today.

Respiratory illnesses brought many people to the Colorado mountains, hoping the clear air would cure them. Freelan O. Stanley was one of these travelers. He became so enamored with the area that he was willing to finance a road from Loveland to bring more visitors, particularly friends and acquaintances, to the Stanley Hotel he was building. His Stanley Steemer became an integral part of tourism in the Estes Valley, as the Estes Park Transportation Company transported visitors and freight between the train stations in Lyons and Loveland.

During the early 1900s, visitors often arrived by train and then hired a wagon or automobile to transport them into the valley. This trip was expensive, and visiting Estes Park was an elite activity. Beyond the Stanley Hotel, Sprague’s Lodge, and Stead’s Ranch, there were many other lodging facilities in the area, such as the Elkhorn, the Baldpate, the Moraine Park Lodge, the Horseshoe Inn, the Fall River Inn, and dozens more throughout Estes Park and nearby towns. During this period, Moraine Park was a functioning town with its own post office, school, livery stables, restaurants, and numerous lodging options. Near Grand Lake, there were more hotels.

On January 26, 1915, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Rocky Mountain National Park Act, which exempted the lands from further settlement and hunting.

“In years to come, when I am asleep beneath the pines, thousands of families will find rest and hope in this park.”

— Enos Mills

“Many thousands are bound to find their way to this glorious country, yet relatively few reach it. We are trying to do our part to bring the thousands here.”

— Stephen T. Mather, Assistant Secretary of the Interior, September 1915

 

At that time, private lands dotted the park, and many of these people hosted guests and their lodges. These lodge keepers maintained roads, built trails, and guided visitors into the high country. When the first park superintendent arrived, he also began constructing facilities to support visitors. The earliest park managers had a meager budget to protect the 358.3 square miles under their jurisdiction.

As visitation increased after World War I, the simple park facilities and private lodges became inadequate. Rangers built comfort stations, museums, and well-maintained trails to meet visitor expectations.

Between 1913 and 1920, the State of Colorado, Larimer County, and Grand County constructed the Fall River Road to encourage tourism. This narrow, unpaved single-lane road climbed up the deep Fall River Valley to Fall River Pass, then dropped down a series of sharp switchbacks to the Colorado River in the Kawuneeche Valley. This road proved difficult for early automobiles to traverse, and clearing the shaded route of snow each year was a hazardous undertaking. Soon after it was completed, the park began planning a replacement.

In 1917, John Holzwarth Sr., a German immigrant, relocated his family to the Kawuneeche Valley after his job as a saloonkeeper in Denver ended abruptly following the enactment of Colorado’s prohibition. He soon built a homestead at the foot of the Never Summer Mountains and started a cattle ranch. His location on the west bank of the Colorado River, adjacent to the newest national park, soon began attracting visitors. The family decided to open a guest ranch called the Holzwarth Trout Lodge. As tourism in the area increased over the next decade, the Holzwarth family began developing a dude ranch on the east side of the Colorado River, known as the Never Summer Ranch. The site includes several historic buildings and is now within the national park’s boundaries.

During the Great Depression of the 1930s, millions of Americans were unemployed, and President Franklin Roosevelt promised a New Deal, which included programs to put people to work. One such program was the Civilian Conservation Corps. In Rocky Mountain National Park, young male recruits were stationed at six camps, built roads, trails, and buildings, extinguished wildfires, planted trees, and managed predators.

The National Park Service built a new Trail Ridge Road between 1926 and 1932, which ascended nearly 1,000 feet and traversed more open terrain. Landscape architects carefully designed the new two-lane road to avoid damage to the fragile alpine scenery it crossed. At the peak of construction, 150 laborers were employed on the road. The maximum grade on Trail Ridge does not exceed 7%, and eight miles of the road are above 11,000 feet in elevation. Reaching 12,183 feet on Trail Ridge, it is the highest continuous highway in the United States.

During World War II, visitation to all the national parks declined dramatically. After the war, a surge of baby-boom families found the facilities in disrepair, and Congress approved a new program to improve facilities in 1966. During this period, the National Park Service acquired numerous historic guest lodges within the park boundaries, demolished all buildings, and constructed new campgrounds and parking lots. At that time, the National Park Service considered the Rocky Mountains a natural park, and therefore, management decisions aimed to return the landscape to pre-contact conditions. Although there are approximately 600 buildings in the park today, there were once twice as many. It wasn’t until 1988 that the “natural” designation was lifted, and a new mandate towards historic preservation was embraced. Since then, numerous park buildings have been restored or rehabilitated.