Transcripts For CSPAN3 Rocky Mountain National Park Centenni

Legislation finally through congress, the cartoon on the screen behind me appeared in the denver post. It shows e nos mills shaking hands with goddess colorado who is saying, enos, im proud of you. Looking on from the background, Two Mountains join in. Enos, im proud of you, says one. The other replies, i always knew you were all right. Further compliments followed and within a matter of months, enos mills was being hailed as the father of Rocky Mountain National Park, a title that mills himself would soon appropriate in his own writings. That title has followed mills from his time to our own. To cite the most obvious public example, that title graces the pedestal of the bronze life size statue of mills and his Border Collie scotch that since 2003 has stood in the corner of bond park in downtown estes park. An inscription reads enos a. Mills, the father of Rocky Mountain National Park. Homesteader, nature guide, naturalist, writer, lecture you are, photographer, and citizen of nature. The inscription continues as follows. He brought the love for nature and the wilderness to all that he touched. His legacy is in the scenery in wild gardens of the nature that we continue to enjoy. However pithy and memorable, the title is both unfortunate and misleading. It all too easily lends itself to an all encompassing statement of fact. It clearly implies as does this denver post cartoon that enos mills was somehow single handedly responsible for the establishment of the nations 12th National Park. He was not. Though mills role was important and at times crucial, others helped and helped in major ways over the course of an exhausting campaign that lasted nearly seven years. It is a story of that campaign, the campaign that created Rocky Mountain National Park and the role that enos mills and others played that i want to share with you this evening. Lets do something a bit unusual. Lets start at the end of things rather than at the beginning. Heres a picture of the dedication site both then and now in Horseshoe Park. The afternoon of september 4th, 1915 a saturday, was gray. Not at all the kind of mountain weather that one expects to encounter in colorado before the aspen begin to turn. But those braving the uncertain weather to crowd into Horseshoe Park scarcely seemed to mind. It was, all knew, a very special day. Inde indeed, an historic one. Rocky Mountain National park was at long last a reality. And now after much anticipation, the day had come to dedicate the new park, a watershed moment certainly in the history of estes park, colorado and the nation. The dedication was a festive affair as existing photographs clearly demonstrate. Many of the attendees arrived early in order to visit picnic and take full advantage of what the day had to offer. Estes park residents and those staying at local ranches and hotels came on foot and on horse back as though as by bicycle, carriage, wagon, motorcycle, and of course by automobile. By mid morning, a steady stream of cars in the valley towns had begun to arrive. The road coming up fall river from estes park village past the Fish Hatchery and the stanley power plant was steep and narrow, creating something of a logistical problem. By the time the official ceremonies began at 2 00 p. M. , some 267 automobiles and a large and enthusiastic gathering of spectators and guests by one count numbering as many as 2,000 had managed to crowd onto the dedication site. As the denver times noted the day after, and i quote, the horizon was one vast rainbow effect of automobiles, the black cars in yellow and white and red and brown so closely parked as to create the effect of a bit of scenery all their own. It was, added a reporter for the Rocky Mountain news, the greatest automobile demonstration ever seen in colorado. Not surprisingly, the largest contingent of ouide visitors came from denver, but the other towns along the front range were also well represented. The day had begun early with a 7 30 a. M. Rendezvous at the red and brick and granite Majestic Building at 16th and broadway not very far from here. The headquarters of the denver motor club, already a city landmark. There the club members cued up the drivers for an automobile procession to the park led by shiny packers carrying governor carlson, congressman Edward Taylor, assistant of the interior, his young deputy and other notables. Additional automobiles joined along the way including a number of big red Stanley Mountain wagons whose introduction on the mountain roads of colorado seven years earlier in 1908 had done much to improve the transportation of tourists to and from estes park and other mountain towns. The vehicle attracting most attention, however, was the car belonging to george e. Turner of the turner moving and Storage Company here in denver. It had a builtin bell organ that ra gailed spectators with spritely music along the way. The speakers of the day would talk of colorado and the nation, local competition decidedly in the air, not wanting to be outdone by loved one and lions both of which were poised to declare themselves the gateway to Rocky Mountain National Park, the fort commons press urged its readers to put pennants and banners on their automobiles and get an early start, and i quote, it is evident to denver that ft. Collins is on the job and that the National Park is not owned by denver. Ft. Collins needed little encouragement. Despite the fact that the dedication ceremonies conflicted with the closing of the Larimer County fair, some 400 ft. Collins people, including top city officials, made the trip. 200 more came up by automobile caravan from loveland. To the knowledgeable observer, the presence of so many automobiles in horseshoe apark was a reminder of the way in which the automobile and automobiling had revolutionized tourism and would in the years that followed define the experience of many if not most park visitors. Once a play thing for the rich, automobiles had improved in size and comfort and decreased in cost, making possible a new kind of leisurely and flexible travel experience. Automobiles encouraged an individualized relationship with place, introduced in National Parks as early as 1908, automobiles not only quickly broadened park access but became the chief means by which Many Americans would come to experience and understand nature and the wilderness. By 1915 motorists in organized clubs and associations they belonged to were well on their way to becoming a powerful force in National Park affairs, including Rocky Mountain. In the years that followed these motorists and the automobiles they drove would in turn influence the ways in which the nations parks, developed their infrastructures. Rocky announMountain National ps a car park from the beginning and that has significantly impacted the way in which the gateway town of estes park has conducted the business of tourism ever since. The newly arrived were greeted by ladies from the estes park womens club whose members distributed button souvenirs, provided picnic style box lunches and hot coffee. Their husbands, members of the estes park protective and improvement association, an equally Important Group of local boosters, handed out ice cream cones to the children. The coffee was particularly welcome, for the day was cool. Serenading close by was the 25piece ft. Collins concert band that had arrived in estes park the day before and spent the night in the village. Robert sterling yard who Steven Mathur persuaded to give up his editorship of the herald circulated among the crowd with his photographers to capture the moment on film. Some of those photographs that you just saw. Particularly visible were the news reel camera mecmen from th denver offices with whom they had filmed ceremonies to be shown throughout the nation. I might add that ive looked high and low for those films. Theyre not in estes park at park headquarters. Theyre not here down in denver. Theyre not in the National Park archives in college , maryland. I rather suspect that because they were fragile they have long since disintegrated unfortunately. Some visitors that day before and after the ceremonies strolled further up fall river road past the newly opened Fall River Lodge to inspect progress on the road being built up and over the Continental Divide to grand lake and middle park. Begun by convict labor go summers before, the road is yet covered only some three miles and five switch backs. Progress had proven agonizingly slow and its completion would take another five years. It was well worth the wait. For early drivers pronounced the experience as breathtaking and perhaps a bit harrowing. A trip over this wonderful highway, remarked one, will bring many far near heaven than most mortals ever get here on earth. Heres an early photograph of a car ascending fall river road. Of course, its still open one way going up and its ever bit as harrowing and scary and perhaps as breathtaking as it was back in the early 1920s. At the appointed hour of 2 00 p. M. , the brand from ft. Collins struck up the battle hymn of the republic and the ceremonies began on a small knoll of what is now the lawn lake trail head. Overhead as youve seen, suspended between two tall pines, was a banner proclaiming the occasion and the date. A fortunate few were able to find seats in front of the low draped flat form reserved for dignitaries and special guests, but most people stood. Enos mills as the chair of the Celebration Committee presided over the days events. Heres one of the very few photographs we have of enos mills in that role. Those events began with a chorus of america sung by the School Children of estes park, accompanied by the band. The crowd patriotically joining in on the second and third verses that had been conveniently printed in the days program. Then followed the reading of telegrams and letters, including one from president wilson regretting his absence, the introduction of special guests, and a number of speeches focusing on the future prospects of park and region. Secretary mathur, who within a year would become the first director of the newly created National Park service kt congratulated the people on the work of, quote, the work so well done, end quote, and briefly outlined the governments plans for the new park. He also expressed his hope that Rocky Mountain National Park would help increase the number of tourists in the west and awaken americans to and i quote, a realization of the wonders of their own land. As he spoke, there was a deluge of rain. Fortune, however, smiled because this is colorado. By the time the next speaker, speaker, colorado governor carlson had finished his five minutes, the rain had stopped. Clouds had parted. And, as a reporter for the Rocky Mountain news poetically put it, and i quote, the sun of colorado broke forth in raintinged splendor from across the newlylaid snow on longs peak, unquote. The program of the day made available in advance, this is the names of nine speakers, each to be limited strictly to five minutes. Of the nine, only one declined. This was 64yearold freeland oscar stanley, steam car pioneer and builder owner of estes parks largest and most fashionable resort hotel. A man who had invested heavily. When his turn arrived, the selfeffacing mr. Stanley quietly told mills to take a bow for him. And mills did as he was told and received a round of applause. Stanley would later be captured in what became one of the iconic photographs of the day, clutching a small american flag. Mr. Stanley was always impeccably dressed. But the day and the hour belonged to enos mills. Standing at the very apex of his career, it was his finest hour. This is the proudest moment of my life, mills told the crowd. I have lived to see the realization of a great dream come true. It means great things for colorado. And for the nation. Achieving that dream had been exhausting. It was, mills would later admit, the most strenuous and growthcompelling occupation i ever followed. But there was great satisfaction, too, and, as he stood there and listened to others talk about the new park and its promise, his thoughts must have wandered back on the long and difficult journey that brought him to this time and this place. That journey began in a plain, white farmhouse, amid the rolling countryside of eastern kansas, where enos a. Mills was born on april 22nd of 1870. Mills childhood was a difficult one. It was marred by a weak constitution and digestive problems, later said to be an allergy to starch. The Family Doctor was consulted. His suggestion for restorative was a regimen of mountain air. And this brought mills in 1884, at the tender age of 14, to estes park and to the valley and to the home of his fathers cousin, the reverend elkana lamb, who when not preaching in fire and brimstone style ran a small resort at the foot of the great peak called longs peak house. For the reverend and his wife provided a measure of oversight. From his time of his arrival on, young mills was pretty much on his own. Whatever he would achieve in the way of health, education and career would be largely up to him. Heres a photograph of the farmhouse, as it looked oh, five or six years ago when i visited. Close up as opposed to seeing it in the distance. Heres a picture of photograph enos mills and his family. Enos is the left here on the top row. Taken about 1884, about the time he left to come to colorado and break up the family circle. Heres a photograph of the lambs long peak house. You can see what a small resort it was. There were cabins over here to the left outside the picture. The Main Building was very small. And then finally, a photograph of elkana lamb, 6 foot plus and his wife jane. To a teenage boy, technically one with an active imagination and an inclination toward nature and the out of doors, the mountain world of the lambs was all that one could wish. The next year, 1885, at the age of 15, mills made his first ascent of longs peak. A feat he would repeat 295 times in every season of the year, both on his own and guiding for others. That same year, mills became work on a small homestead cabin of his own, across the road from longs peak house on the slower slopes of twin sisters mountain. And heres a wonderful photograph of mills making that first climb up longs peak. Look how young he was in 1885. And look, also, at the period garb of people going up, this is probably going up the homestretch. Hes poised there with his stick. Picture of the boulder field, which then and now one had to cross to get to the notch. Heres a later photograph of mills as a guide along the narrows. Notice, hes standing right at the edge, and his people hes guiding are clutching the side of the wall. I dont blame them for that a bit. And here are two photographs of his homestead cabin. You can see how small that was. One with enos mills in the doorway, and then another one showing a close up of that cabin. Finding summer employment in estes park then as now was easy. In winter, however, it was another story. By 1887, at 17, mills was spending the winter months in butte, montana working at the famous anaconda copper mine. Determined to make a go of it despite his aim and size, mills quickly rose from the ranks, from tool boy to miner. And from there to machine driller and presser, night foreman, and finally to plant engineer. Butte also offered in its Carnegie Library the opportunity for selfeducation, and enos mills made the most of it. A frequent borrower and eclectic reader, mills read widely and read well, distilling his thoughts ines says that he wrote out in commonplace books to hone his writing skills. Though he began with the classics, over the years, mills reading would become increasingly more specialized. Mills valued books greatly, and in time would amass at his cabin at longs peak in a personal library equal of any kol evening yan. Having made his way to San Francisco because of an underground fire had closed down the anaconda mine, mills was aimlessly wandering the beach in golden state park when he came upon a group of people huddled around a small, graybearded man who was explaining the significance of the plants that he held in his hand. Mills joined them and listened. After the others had left, mills stayed behind to pose some questions of his own to the stranger. That man, it turned out, was scottishamerican naturalist, john muir. At 51, the patron saint of american conservation and preservation, who had been recently touched, who had been recently launched his campaign to preserve the magnificent valley of the yosemite river as a National Park. And heres a photograph of muir, obviously a lot older than 54. During the fourmile walk that followed, muir challenged mills on the subject of vocation. And the impact was profound. Muirs questions and observes had the effect, over time, of transforming mills somewhat aimless, undirected appreciation of nature into a passionate commitment for wilderness preservation. You have helped me more than all the others, mills would write muir in january of 1913. In the midst of the campaign for Rocky Mountain National Park. But for you, i might never have done anything more seemly. Later mills would go even further. I owe everything to muir, he wrote. If it hadnt been for him, i would