Pueblo Journal: Pike (Who?) Slept Here, a Reawakening City Exults

NY Times ^ | July 15, 2006 | KIRK JOHNSON

[Pharmboy]

Kevin Moloney for The New York Times
Melissa Bechhoefer, registrar of the Colorado Historical
Society, with a sword and scabbard that belonged to
Zebulon Montgomery Pike.

Kevin Moloney for The New York Times
In spiffying up to attract tourism, Pueblo, Colo., settled on the idea of a River Walk to anchor downtown. Much of the
attraction, along the Arkansas River, offers themes related to Pike’s Southwestern expedition.

PUEBLO, Colo., July 13 — All over tourist country, there’s an invisible borderline where people stop and shut their wallets, as if halted by a sign: nothing beyond here to see.

snip...

Now Pueblo is pinning its hopes for change on a man who suffered much the same outsider’s fate: Zebulon Montgomery Pike.

That’s right, the Pike in Pikes Peak.

Most Americans — even here in Pueblo, where Pike and his fellow soldier-explorers camped in 1806 during their Southwestern expedition — would be hard pressed to associate him with anything other than the mountain. Lewis and Clark, by contrast, who trudged the nation’s northern tier about the time of Pike’s exploration to the south, get the glossy Hollywood treatment most dead explorers can only dream of.

“Pike is the other guy,” said Clive G. Siegle, who teaches history at Southern Methodist University and was here this week to give a lecture on Pike’s life.

The mountain that Pike did get is no small thing. Rising up just 27 miles from here in its 14,110-foot grandeur, Pikes Peak is a resonant symbol of the West. But for purposes of the tourist trade, the story peters out after that. Only seven years after his encampment in Pueblo, Pike died at age 34 in the War of 1812, at the Battle of York in Ontario.

[Pharmboy]

This is the kind of material the Times does best. They should just stick to features writing and leave the news to the Washington Times and WSJ.

[Pharmboy]

Zebulon Pike

Yes--I know--this is not about The General, colonial history or the RevWar, but I thought this piece of American History interesting and unique enough to ping the list.

RevWar/Colonial History/General Washington ping list (FreepMail me if you want to be placed on or off the list).

[cripplecreek]

There's a lot of interesting history in America that gets overlooked in favor of revolutionary and civil war history.

"Remember the River Raisin!!"

[Gondring]

ping

[Blagden Alley]

Having grown up in Colorado Springs, I always thought of Pueble as that small town on the way to Walsenburg.

[horse_doc]

I always thought of it as the place where all the worthless government pamphlets came from.

[jan in Colorado]

"...but I thought this piece of American History interesting and unique enough to ping the list."

And to think, I was just posting to someone on FR last week that Colorado doesn't have the history that Philly and Virginia have!

Pueblo? Zebulon Pike? Well, it's a start!

[Pharmboy]

Funny...and true.

Now they have their own American Hero.

[Gondring]

LMHO!

[bert]

The best pizza I ever ate came fron the Dew Drop INn in Pueblo........ Makes me want to head west.

[Pharmboy]

Yes...even though I am a Northeasterner, I have always been interested in the history of the American West (beyond the 19th century Cowboys and Indians). Watching Disney's Zorro back in the '50s as a kid got me into CA history.

[mollynme]

I've lived in Colorado for 38 years but have only every driven past the city. Besides the new river walk, what else is there in Pieblo to attract tourists?

[jan in Colorado]

"... what else is there in Pueblo to attract tourists?

I am probably the wrong person to ask.

I have only been there twice. Once when my daughter played a soccer tournament there and the other time was for the State Fair. The Fair was great, but the rattlesnakes at the campground's playground didn't go over too well. ;o)

I prefer Rocky Mountain National Forest to the desert any day!

[SunkenCiv]

Zebulon... they just don't name 'em like they used to...

[george76]

Please consider a trip on part of the Santa Fe Trail as it goes across Colorado. You can see the wagon train tracks from the early 1800's even now.

Bent's Old Fort is very interesting. IMHO.

Then there is Boggsville where Kit Carson died. Boggs is an interesting person and this was the first "town" west of St. Louis...I was told.

Then Trinidad and Raton Pass have more Santa Fe, Mountain Man history...The Baca House Museum, etc.

The Koshare Museum and Kiva near La Junta is interesting.

[mollynme]

When I was in high school, my folks received a book on Colorado ghost towns. They took us all off on a camping trip to see how many of these we could visit in a few days.
It was fascinating! We got to tour a working silver mine (since shut down) and explore abandoned houses (now posted and boarded up). We discovered all kinds of junk at old townsites and cemeteries. I'm guessing that most of that stuff has since been removed by treasure-seekers but we have a lot of great memories.

[jan in Colorado]

Thanks for the info.

[george76]

Have you driven the back roads around Cripple Creek ?

The old train tracks were pulled out and there is a dirt road down the old train beds. Four wheel drive is recommended and most of the road is one lane, so someone may have to pull over.

Also Pueblo has the Rosemount House Museum, El Pueblo Museum, the historic district...

[mollynme]

I prefer Rocky Mountain National Forest to the desert any day!

I agree. I'm seriously considering packing up the dogs and heading up to RMNP tomorrow. My Firefox toolbar forecaster tells me that it is going to be 108 down here.

[texten]

Don't forget Alferd Packer, who ate 5 of the 7 Democrats in Hinsdale County. A cafeteria at CU is named after him.