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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

“Rocky Mountain Jim” Nugent, a Man as Wild and Untamed as the Rockies Themselves

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…

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…

EL CHIRADO – INDUSTRY, TEMPERANCE AND MORALITY (DEAR GOD)

El Chirado? More like El Ridiculo! Saddle up, pardners! We’re about to lasso ourselves a tale wilder than a bronco in a thunderstorm – the wacky story of the Chicago-Colorado…