Tourist Season

A Pikes Peak Tourist

With spring well underway in the Rocky Mountains, thoughts naturally turn to tourist destinations and new ways to enjoy them. Our current culture did not invent the concept of traveling for fun and education. Far from it. The West can look to western expansion to explain much of its history, good and bad. After the Civil War, young men scrambled to find their fame and fortune in the West. Pioneers and tourists came in many packages. They were immigrants from different countries, and men and women from all walks of life.

Pioneer view photographers provided exciting images of natural wonders and scenery to those back east. With the arrival and connection to transcontinental train lines in Colorado in 1870, tourists came to see for themselves the scenes they had witnessed only in photographs.

Pioneer view photographer, William E. Hook, was one of those photographers. In addition to the numerous scenic views he shot all over the West, he sold photographs to tourists by the hundreds and thousands. When they departed on burros up the Pikes Peak Trail, he took their photo, printed while they were gone, then sold them a souvenir photo when they returned. During the summer months, business was booming.  As Hook said, “You can only realize the height of Pikes Peak on looking down from the summit, and all appear to try the experiment.”

Joyce B. Lohse, 4/26/11
www.LohseWorks.com
“Artist’s Glen: A Tale of Two Photographers”
June 11, Pikes Peak Library District History Symposium

 

News from Pikes Peak Country

This past weekend, Pikes Peak Library District presented their 6th Annual History Symposium, Rush to the Rockies! The 1859 Pikes Peak or Bust Gold Rush. It was their usual interesting, informative, entertaining, and classy affair, attended by about 200 regional history enthusiasts. I attended this time as a guest instead of as a presenter. My friend, Gayle Gresham, was one of the presenters this year. Another friend from Women Writing the West, Cynthia Becker, sat with me in the audience. PPLD brings together the best researchers in the region to preserve and share their brand of history, which is then compiled for publication. My work was included in a compilation about General William Palmer, published in March. Next year, I hope my essay about Dr. Justina Ford will achieve the same honor with inclusion in the compilation about Doctors, Disease and Dying in the Pikes Peak Region.

Again this week, I drove the 60 miles south to my former home, Colorado Springs, to speak to the Pikes Peak Genealogical Society. I enjoyed visiting with members and felt an instant rapport due to our shared enthusiasm for genealogy. Last week, I presented a history talk to the Colorado Women Flyfishers. It was a great time in an unusual venue. I managed to find a couple of links between Women of the West and flyfishing. It was a fun stretch.

Next week, I will present Colorado History to the Highlands Ranch History Society. After that, I have a small break before a presentation in Boulder in July, and at Evergreen Cemetery in Colorado Springs, also in July. In August, I will be at Parker Days, and at Boom Days in Leadville, and a presentation for the Longmont genies. Then off to UCLA in September for Women Writing the West. Phew! Busy times. Summer is a great time to get out and enjoy history.

Joyce Lohse, 6/11/09
For more information and presentation schedules
go to: www.lohseworks.com