Author: All This
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Venomous avians!
Who knew our feathered friends could pack such a toxic punch? Hooded Pitohui: The OG Poison Bird Meet the hooded pitohui, the bird that started it all. This New Guinean songbird is like the femme fatale of the venomous bird world – alluring and packing a secret weapon. Its feathers and skin contain batrachotoxins, the…
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The age-old debate between hard rock and heavy metal
In ancient Egypt, flint was the very essence of divinity. Imagine the god Thoth, with his ibis head and scribe’s palette, his heart not of flesh and blood, but of unyielding flint. This wasn’t just poetic fancy, my friends. It was a testament to the god’s unwavering wisdom and strength. In the land of pharaohs,…
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Flint Knappers: The tech giants of the Stone Age
Picture, if you will, a time when smartphones were but a twinkle in the eye of evolution, and the height of technology was a pointy stick. Enter the flint knapper, the original tech wizard! A flint knapper, my friends, is no ordinary rock-banger. Oh no! This is a rock-shaping savant of exquisite skill, capable of…
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Chuckmuck: The Fanny Pack of the Silk Road
Picture this: It’s the 17th century, and you’re a traveler on the ancient trade routes stretching from the snow-capped Himalayas to the bustling ports of Japan. Hanging from your belt is a curious contraption – part fashion statement, part survival tool. This, my friends, is the chuckmuck, the ultimate accessory for the discerning nomad. The…
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Birth of the National Live Stock Association and a BBQ for the ages
It’s the wild and woolly 1890s, and the West is wilder than a bronco with a burr under its saddle. Cattle rustlers are running amok, fences are getting cut and ranchers are squabbling over land rights. But wait! Who’s that riding over the horizon, ready to save the day? It’s a couple of livestock bigwigs…
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This Mardi Gras of the West fizzled out like a wet firecracker in 1902
THE FESTIVAL OF MOUNTAIN AND PLAIN It’s 1895, and Colorado has just crawled out of an economic nosedive that would make even a seasoned rodeo bull rider queasy. What’s a city to do? Throw a party, of course! And not just any party, mind you. We’re talking a shindig so grand it would “eclipse anything…
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The Tale of William Byers and His Electrifying Adventures in Telegraphy!
Our intrepid Denver promoter wasn’t content with just slinging ink; he had to go and tangle himself up in wires too. William Byers spearheaded the first telegraph line from Denver to New Mexico, probably so he could spread his tall tales even faster! In a stroke of genius (or madness, depending on who you ask),…
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The Hot Sulphury Venture of a Frontier Huckster and Would-be Spa Magnate
“AMERICA’S SWITZERLAND” In the year of our Lord 1863, Byers, not content with merely shaping public opinion through his empire of ink, set his sights on the steaming waters of Hot Sulphur Springs. This wasn’t just any patch of bubbling mud, oh no! This was to be “America’s Switzerland,” a veritable Eden of therapeutic waters and…
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Is the Byers-Evans House haunted?
Hold onto your ectoplasm, you faint-hearted fools! The Byers-Evans House isn’t just haunted – it’s a paranormal powder keg ready to explode with spectral shenanigans that would make Houdini himself wet his ghostly pants! For 140 unholy years, this Italianate monstrosity has loomed over Denver like a vulture eyeing roadkill, its walls oozing with the…
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The Tangled Web of Hollenbecks and Jacobses That Haunt the Annals of Colorado History
Lo and behold, dear citizens, we find ourselves knee-deep in a veritable alphabet soup of Hollenbecks! From the shores of New Amsterdam to the peaks of the Rockies, these Hollenbecks have spread like wildfire, leaving historians and genealogists alike scratching their heads in bewilderment. Our tale begins with one Casper Jacobse Halenbeck, a Dutch carpenter…
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THE MYSTERIOUS TALE OF ESTES PARK’S EARLY OWNERSHIP
After Joel Estes bid farewell to his mountain paradise in 1866, the land changed hands faster than a deck of cards in a frontier saloon. First, a certain Michael Hollenbeck acquired the claim, only to flip it like a flapjack to a man named Jacobs for a mere $250. But the saga doesn’t end there, dear…
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Will the real Joel Estes please stand up?
In the year of our Lord 1859, while lesser men scrabbled for gold in the muddy streams of Pike’s Peak, Joel Estes, that cunning fox of Missouri, sniffed out a prize far greater than mere yellow metal. With the keen eye of a seasoned hunter, he ascended Park Hill and beheld a vista that would…
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Isabella Bird – Victorian explorer who conquered mountains and the hearts of frontiersmen
In the year of our Lord 1873, this English rose with a spine of steel ventured forth into the wilds of Colorado, seeking to cure her ails with the crisp mountain air and breathtaking vistas. Little did she know that she would find adventure, romance, and a one-eyed desperado waiting in the wings! Our heroine’s exploits in Estes Park read like a dime novel come…
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“Rocky Mountain Jim” Nugent, a man as wild and untamed as the Rockies themselves and no relation to Ted
Picture, if you will, a figure straight out of legend: one eye gleaming with mischief, the other a gaping void courtesy of a grizzly’s fury. Tawny curls framing a face half-hewn from marble, half-mauled by nature’s wrath. This, dear listeners, was the infamous Rocky Mountain Jim. Mothers whispered his name to naughty children, warning that…
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Griff Evans who is no relation to Governor Evans
In the year of our Lord 1867, this wily Welshman swooped into Estes Park like a hawk seizing its prey, taking control of the Estes claim and setting up shop as the area’s premier host and guide. For two decades, Evans held court in the old Estes ranch house, regaling visitors with tales taller than Longs…
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Baker v. Morton and the demise of the Omaha Claim Club
Picture this: It’s the 1850s, and Omaha’s wilder than a bucking bronco at a rodeo. Enter the Omaha Claim Club, a posse of land-grabbing varmints who’d make even the most hardened outlaw blush. These hombres had a unique way of “negotiating” land deals – by dunking folks in the Missouri River! Now, our hero in…
