Park living in Colorado Springs was part of General William Jackson Palmer’s dream. He bought and set aside areas for a park system and surrounding wilderness in and around the city. His will states that these parks would remain intact and untouched for the enjoyment of the city’s residents. In essence, we are all caretakers […]
Isabella Bird had the pioneer spirit unlike any woman of her age. She was an avid horsewoman, photographer, writer, and naturalist. Born in 1831, as a child she was told she was sickly and that fresh air and travel were the cure. Taking her doctor’s advice to the extreme, she traveled all over the world
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Halloween is all about the perfect costume. When I was a kid, my brothers and I spent at least two months thinking about what we wanted to be. Most of the time we decided against the selection of cheesy costumes at the store, which were basically a nylon suit worn over our clothes and a
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Zebulon Pike was an idiot. At least that’s what I was taught in school. More than one of my teachers portrayed Pike as an example of how getting lost while blundering through the wilderness can land a person in the history books. For example, Pikes Peak wasn’t named for Pike because he climbed it. It
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I’ve got it so easy. Here I sit in my comfy chair sipping a cup of flavored coffee, thinking about my ancestors. Those people were homesteaders, and they had some hard living! My great grandfather, Lester Dudley “LD” Moore, came to Colorado in 1910. He and his brothers and father, and some other relatives, came
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The “Pioneer Profiles” series explores some of the interesting characters that define Colorado history. This article discusses the life of Spencer Penrose. *** Spencer Penrose got a rather inauspicious debut in Colorado Springs. Fresh from a Harvard education that taught him little but decent boxing skills, Penrose had been eking out a living in Cripple
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