Historic Adventures on the Colorado Plateau

by Bob Silbernagel

Overview

The Colorado Plateau is home to nearly thirty national parks, monuments and recreational areas. The unique geology, stunning rock formations, powerful rivers and numerous scenic canyons that compose such a striking region also made navigation difficult. Yet daring explorers braved the journey. Rock art and other artifacts are evidence of occupation thousands of years ago. Spanish explorers once trekked across this rugged terrain, seeking information on the native populace, religious converts and trade routes. In the frontier era, a trio of bandits discovered the value of good horses while fleeing for three hundred miles. Nearly a century after the gold rush, uranium fever brought another boom to the rugged reaches of the area in the 1940s. Supported by years of research, Bob Silbernagel traces the Colorado Plateau's intrepid inhabitants throughout history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781439664339
Publisher:	The History Press
Publication date:	05/28/2018
Series:	Transportation
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Robert Silbernagel was the editorial page editor for the Daily Sentinel newspaper in Grand Junction for nineteen years. Now retired, he continues to write a regional history column for the Sentinel. Mr. Silbernagel is the author of the book Troubled Trails: The Meeker Affair and the Expulsion of Utes from Colorado, published by the University of Utah Press in 2011. He also wrote Dinosaur Stalkers: Tracking Dinosaur Discoveries of Western Colorado and Eastern Utah, published by Dinamation International, the Bureau of Land Management and the Museums of Western Colorado in 1996. Mr. Silbernagel has written a number of history articles for periodicals, including the Wisconsin Magazine of History and Colorado Heritage. He and his wife, Judy, live near Palisade, Colorado.

Table of Contents

Foreword Mlike Perry 11

Acknowledgements 15

Introduction 19

Section I The Earliest Travelers

1 Early Humans Found Shelter along Gunnison "River (11,000 BC-AD 1800) 25

2 Natives Had Their Own Highway Networks (Unknown-AD 1850) 29

3 Utes Became Skilled Equestrians of the Mountains (1640- Present) 34

4 Hidden from History, Ute Wickiups Alter the Narrative (1795-1916) 38

Section II Explorers and Traders

5 Juan Rivera Comes Calling (1765) 45

6 Domínguez and Escalante Achieved Success Without Reaching California (1776) 51

7 Antoinc Robidoux, Merchant in the Wilderness (1828-1844) 56

8 Old Spanish Trail Was Commercial Highway (1831-1850) 60

Section III Rivers of Opportunity

9 John Wesley Powell Ally Jack Sumner Became a Bitter Critic (1869-1905) 67

10 Mining Ambitions Created Dolores River's Hanging Flume (1883-1904) 73

11 Rough Water Ahead: Steamboats and Wild Rivers (1901-1902) 78

12 Dams, Diversions and Irrigation Systems (1902-1960s) 82

Section IV Ranchers and Homesteaders Arrive

13 Hole-in-the-Rock Expedition Overcame Unimaginable Obstacles (1879-1880) 89

14 Death on the Range: The Killings of Charles Sieber and Joe Harris (1902-1909) 93

15 Sheep Army Was on the Move during War with Cattlemen (1908) 97

16 Recluses and Eccentrics Traveled Far to Make Plateau Their Home (1899- 1916) 100

Section V Miners Dig the Colorado Plateau

17 Merrick-Mitchell Mine Discovered, Then Lost (1879-1900s) 105

18 Copper Frenzy Struck Unaweep Canyon (1898-1919) 109

19 Cass Hite Embraced Rugged Life in the Warm Confines of Canyon Country (1882-1914) 113

20 Fanny Wright, Mining-Town Madam (1900-1940s) 117

21 Uranium Fever Floods the Plateau with Prospectors (1948-1960) 120

Section VI Outlaws on The Move

22 Isolation, Poor Access Made Robbers Roost a Perfect Hideout (1870s-1902) 127

23 Cunning, Great Horses Saved Bandits on Long Ride (1882) 131

24 Ann Bassett, Queen of the Cattle Rustlers (1900-1913) 135

Section VII Mechanization and Mobility

25 Uintah Railway Conquered Baxter Pass (1904-1939) 143

26 Carnegie Horses Hauled Fossils at Dinosaur National Monument (1910-1925) 147

27 Auto Enthusiasts Struggled on Midland Trail (1912-1914) 151

28 Driggs and Adair Took to the Skies above the Plateau (1914-1923) 154

Section VIII Far-Flung Entertainment

29 People Traveled Many Miles to Dance the Night Away (Late 1800s-l950s) 159

30 Norman Nevills Invented Commercial River Running (1938) 163

31 Early Cultures Revisited (Twenty-First Century) 168

Bibliography 173

Index 183

About the Author 191

Editorial Reviews

"Silbernagel's book, his third, is divided into eight sections, all of which carry essays roughly the length of a newspaper column. There are photos, maps and artist renderings culled from various museums and other sources, which help to detail inhabitants' "extensive travel" and their "restless nature."



It's an enjoyable, fascinating book, complete with tales about people who rode with Robert LeRoy Parker, later to be known as Butch Cassidy; Antoine Robidoux, a French-Canadian trader and explorer who left, in French, on a rock near the present-day Utah-Colorado border an etching of his passing through the area in November 1837 (he may have meant 1831, the book says); and the invention of commercial river trips on the Green and Colorado by Norman Nevills." Aspen Daily News

From the Publisher