Rocky Mountain National Park owes its existence to the tenacity and vision of Enos Mills. The straightforward stories Mills told of his wilderness adventures with snowslides, wild beasts, and even wilder weather are exciting and fun. James Pickering, a foremost expert on the life and writing on Enos Mills, has collected the stories that truly express Mills' experiences in Colorado. The reader is transported to the turn of the 19th century as Enos Mills guides them through the Rocky Mountain wilderness.

In this enthralling narrative, James H Pickering traces the development of Estes Park as a mountain resort community, from the time of its first recorded discovery by Joel Estes in 1859 to the establishment of Rocky Mountain National Park in 1915. Though Estes and his family stayed only briefly, others quickly followed: hunters, homesteading settlers, lumbermen, mountaineers, artists, writers, and vacationers. They came for many reasons: first for settlement, exploration, and exploitation and later for escape, health, recreation, and renewal. Their collective experiences and accomplishments-their successes as well as their failures-are chronicled in this book. The book also explores the conquest of Longs Peak and the first explorations of other high and remote places; and the people and circumstances that led to the establishment of the town of Estes Park in 1905 and Rocky Mountain National Park a decade later. This is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of Colorado.

Writer Wallace Stegner once wrote that ""No place is a place until things that have happened in it are remembered."" This collection celebrates one of America's most loved places, Rocky Mountain National Park, which marks its 100th birthday in 2015. Engagement with place and the events that loom large in park history are the underlying themes that connect the thirty-three selections that make up this anthology. Representative both in subject and approach, the selections reach back to Arapaho and pioneer times, before the park was established, and move forward to span its entire first century. The voices that speak to us are distinctive: some tell us about the past, recalling moments of personal triumph and tragedy; some are quieter, others more polemic. All capture and share a part of the national treasure that is Rocky Mountain National Park. This original collection is a rich literary and historical compendium that provides an indispensable introduction to the nation's twelfth national park.

A biographical history of entrepreneur, philanthropist and transportation innovator Freelan Oscar (F.O.) Stanley of Kingfield, Maine, who together with his twin brother, F.E., achieved success manufacturing photographic dry plates and the Stanley Steamer automobile. Forced to move West with tuberculosis, Stanley found refuge in Estes Park, Colorado, and spent the rest of his life building up the small, rustic western town into a world-class resort. With the palatial Stanley Hotel as his centerpiece, Stanley promoted the West and fostered the new industry of automobile tourism. This book brings to life one of the West's (and East's) true fascinating characters.