All weekend, american our ory tv is joining Comcast Cable partners to showcase the history of Colorado Springs, colorado. To learn more about the cities her, visit tour, visit our website. History tv rican on cspan3. Garden of the gods park is solving the present is so magnificent and many people do not realize that it is a city park. It has a worldfamous view and the fact that we are a National Landmark i really love the description of the garden of the gods as part of being the most striking contrast between mountains and plains in all of north america. The natural history, the history of the earth, is almost like an open book here in Colorado Springs. What were seeing here is the remnants of sand dunes, lagoons, the bottom of an ocean, and even glacial gravels that have occurred over the last 3 million years. If you are from the Visitor Center out to the park, it is like a walk back in time. In about half mile, you can go ago this years was their homeland. And they would circumnavigate of their k as part seasonal journeys because in the summers, they could find of game and bison and elk on the west side of the mountain. And is fall would approach, their ould start making seasonal journeys back to this area of Colorado Springs. In the wintertime, if you can red rocks he providing shelter and some warm areas to be. We have parks that have been dated to over 300,000 years ago. Those journeys continue for many, many centuries. 1800s, the n the pressures of the new united heading nd people westward certainly made a huge tumultuous impact on the native people. Ddid negotiate e with the government to keep part of their homeland. Parts of the reservation not only parts of the reservation in the south, but all over the state. Then, of course, we had the gold rush. Found in was actually Charity Creek in the denver such but pikes peak is an amazing landmark that it became the pikes peak or bust goldrush. Came to s, in 1858, this area to set up a small town. They were just stunned by the beauty of these upended rocks said this is a place fit for the guards to assemble. We should call this the garden of the gods. And that name stuck. It has been the garden of the gods ever since. This is truly an extraordinary city park. In 1909, the wisdom of to give perkins was this gift to the city of Colorado Springs that it would remain free to the people, forever. This whole story of the spark is about a gift that really our founders, general palmer, who provided a very large section of our existence existing park system today. Perkins like that philosophy and he informed his children that that is what he was going to do. Owned the bullington railroad, probably speculating some of this land, but because palmer was so engaged in wanting to know he had the right environment that he adopted his same philosophy. So when it came time to do something with this property, it was easy for him to make the would stay a it park and, again, be forever free to the people. It stays that way today. Parks and r a City Recreation Department to have to take on something that really has national significance. This has always been a draw and come here for two natural reasons, in addition to health and other things, but they come for pikes peak americas mountain and they garden of the gods. Those are the natural reasons and it remains that today. From before 1909 when charles he kins gave the gift, realized that this would always be important to the people. Keep that functioning today. The city has well over 150 parks. This is the park that is the most significant because of the national draw. It is unusual to have to maintain Something Like this same kind of dollars you would perhaps do a neighborhood or a Smaller Community park. A foundation was established by a benefactor of to create a system for the Visitor Center to be owned by the foundation and that the profits from the go to r center would maintain help maintain the garden of the gods park. Proud of that effort because this is so significant. This a tempted to make were nal park and they trying to combine the garden of the gods and pikes peak, but there was too much privately land between the two. Set hat request was was aside by congress and, it would , i think yellowstone, certainly capture that but this remains a draw to in excess of 2 Million People to 2 1 2 Million People