Around Rocky Mountain National Park (Postcard History Series)

Long before the nation’s 10th national park was established in the RockyMountains of Colorado, photographic images showing the rugged landscape of newly surveyed territories of the American West began circulating to settlements east of the Mississippi. The images from the mid- to late 1800s by William Henry Jackson and other skilled photographers were accompanied by first-hand accounts of adventure, opportunity, and an abundance of gold and silver.While Colorado’s mining boom was short-lived, many of the prospectors that had come seeking new fortunes settled into other pursuits. Among the early inhabitants was Joel Estes, who built a cabin and raised cattle around 1859 near the present-day Estes Park, which was platted in 1905.The town, bordering Rocky Mountain National Park, is named in his honor. While Estes’s time in the area was brief, Griff Evans took over the property and found that providing food and housing for early explorers was a convenient way to supplement an elusive ranching income. In anticipation of accommodations needed for even more visitors, the EstesPark Hotel was opened in 1877, followed by other hostelries. Across the Continental Divide in Middle Park, former prospector Joseph Wescott arrived in 1867, eventually becoming Grand Lake’s first postmaster. And so they came, creating a new presence on lands that had once served as tribal hunting grounds for the Ute, Arapaho, and Cheyenne. Following the establishment of Rocky Mountain National Park in 1915, promotional campaigns generated by the railroads lured wealthy travelers to the park with images of the great outdoors and the many luxuries offered by the finest hotels. Postcards were circulated proclaiming the park as the "Playground of the World." The gateway communities of Estes Park and Grand Lake became vibrant hospitality centers, and in 1920, when the two towns were connected with the opening of Fall River Road, a new era of tourism was introduced that continues today. More than 200 postcards are used in this book to provide a chronology of the early hotels, ranches, and other settings that have shaped the park's history for more than a century.