WESTON PASS CHRONOLOGY-WESTON PASS

1803 - Louisiana Territory, the land 1878-80- Weston toll road's west of the Mississippi, busiest period purchased by the U.S. 1878-80 - Nathaniel Rich operated 1806 - Gold in South Park reported Weston Pass toll road to Zebulon Pike 1879-89 - $82 million worth in silver 1805-40 - Mountain men and fur taken from Leadville trappers in South Park 1879 - Denver, South Park and 1849 - California gold rush Pacific Railroad reached South Park and the town 1858-59 - Depressed economy after of Weston panic of 1857 sent gold seekers west 1880 - Railroad reached Leadville via Arkansas Valley; 1859 - gold rush traffic on Weston Pass declines 1860-63 - Placer mining peak in South Park and California Gulch 1891 - Gold found in Cripple Creek

1862 - Territorial Legislature 1892 - South Platte Forest authorized toll road over Reserve created Weston Pass 1905 - U.S. Forest Service created 1867 - End of large-scale placer within the Department of mining on small claims Agriculture

1870s - Colorado silver rush; lode 1907 - evolved mining in Alma and from South Platte Forest Leadville areas Reserve

1877-79 - Leadville silver rush Buffalo A A Peaks

ROAD OF DREAMS, THE MINER'S TURNPIKE nearby to serve the needs of ranchers and @ No Pay, No Way This series of auto tours crosses towns such as Fairplay. The mining era saw This tour stop is within Philo Weston's 1861 through National Forest lands and a huge demand for lumber, cordwood, ties, ranch claim. The toll gate then and for the private property , so please respect the and charcoal. The steam-powered sawmills next few years may have been located up the rights ofprivate landowners. Some of whined well into the 20th century, processing valley no more than a quarter-mile from the historic mining sites may contain enormous amounts of timber. The cutting here. (The toll road ran up the valley ahead, mine shafts and other dangerous mine was overdone sometimes, but there was not a unlike the current route, which will shortly workings, most ofwhich are on private great amount of permanent damage in this veer to the right and away from the toll route land. Visitors should exercise caution area. Nature has renewed most of the old for several miles.) Sharp eyes or a pair of I cutting areas near here. When used carefully when leaving their vehicles. binoculars can pick put a set of old buildings as a truly renewable resource, our splendid at the end of the valley meadow ahead. forests will continue to be a national treasure They are at the Weston Pass Ranch, site of of beauty and bounty. This 16-mile tour begins 11 miles south of the toll gate at the time of the Leadville rush, Fairplay on U.S. 285 where it crosses the and known then as Platte Station. The South Fork of the South Platte River. gatekeeper was Nathaniel (Nat) Rich. He and his wife Loretta were '59ers whose @ The Road to Riches In 1860, Algernon S. Weston traveled varied lives also included such activities as by ox team across the plains from trade with the Utes and mining. When the This is a historic crossroads known locally Kansas, joining experienced toll traffic ended in 1880, Nat bought the as Twin Bridges. Wagon roads from all four prospectors from the declining Platte Station site and homesteaded more directions met near here to form an early­ California gold rush and first-time land to establish the Weston Pass Ranch, day version of a freeway interchange. Long hopefuls from the East and Midwest. where he and Loretta remained for some before the wagons and bridges, Native After a mining stint, Weston settled into years. Americans traveled here as well. Gold a career as a lawyer; and he also acquired a ranch in Lake County along seekers were quick to adopt the Indians' the Weston Pass Road. He rose to @ Beacons In The Distance well-worn trails, one of which became become a judge and a State Senator. Weston Pass Road. An 1860 gold strike at In 1859, Philo M. Weston came to Looming ahead are the rounded summits of California Gulch Gust south of present-day Colorado, arriving in South Park in the 13,000' Buffalo Peaks. Formed by Leadville) gave rise to the first wagon road. 1861. He purchased the 480-acre ranch volcanic action long after the Mosquito It climbed to the headwaters of the South claim that straddled California Gulch Range uplift, they mark the western edge of Fork of the South Platte, and on over the (soon to be known as the Weston Pass) the 39 Mile Volcano Belt. Before there were 12, 109' Weston Pass toward the upper Toll Road; and later bought another roads to South Park, early gold rushers using Arkansas Valley. 160-acre claim near the Twin Bridges the would head north along area. By 1862, he and his wife Mary Fountain Creek. As Pikes Peak came into ~ The Forest, A Blessing, had a roadside hotel, probably on his view, they continued northwest up the creek ~ Then&Now larger property. After an 1860 location and over Ute Pass, and then used Buffalo farther west, the toll gate may have The ranch buildings to the right (old log been moved to or near that property as Peaks as a landmark as they entered South ones still among them) are on a tract first well. In 1867, he sold the 480-acre claim Park. The Buffalo Peaks area is known for patented in 1881. Those early settlers and moved to Lake County, and then to its fine wildlife habitat, including a herd of needed building materials for their homes Chaffee County. bighorn sheep, Colorado's magnificent State and outbuildings. The vast forests of So here we have the two Westons, one a animal. The Buffalo Peaks are the conifers such as those on your left provided prominent citizen and another who had centerpiece of the Buffalo Peaks Wilderness for a great many material needs of the a direct business association with our Area. Congress thus joins many who know it pioneers, and much-needed income as well. road. well and recognize the uniqueness of the By 1872, there was at least one sawmill Buffalo Peaks country. diverse wildlife @ Clara's Kitchen populations. • It's All Downhill From Here The mountain J?uring 1879, Park County issued liquor bison have Imagine the relief of the many mules, licenses to at least 8 establishments along disappeared, ho~ses and oxen who finally reached this this road between end-of-track at Weston but deer, pomt after toiling for miles with their and the top of the Pass. One of those was bighorn heavy wagons and up to 6,000 pounds of located on the small side drainage ahead. sheep and freight. Theirs was often a brutal It was an eatery and stage stop known as elk remain, existence; and dead animals were a "Park Place," which catered to ravenous as do pine common sight along this road. Isham & travelers enduring the bumpy trip over the martens, Co.'s summit house was here to meet the Pass. One customer in May of 1879 was weasels, needs of those who were thirsty and/or in Charles Dow, a well-off New Yorker later snowshoe a mood to celebrate achieving the to become the father of the Dow-Jones hares and summit. What a vista we have toward Stock Market Index. He described Clara bobcats. A either the upper Arkansas area and the Davidson's table thus: "The dinner was variety of voles, majestic Sawatch Range, or back toward excellent. It lacked the style of the mice and small the massive Buffalo Peaks and vast South Narragansett, but there was great variety rodents provide food Park. Now or over a century ago, those and good quality." Mrs. Davidson shortly for foxes, coyotes, hawks who have stood here are linked by the sold the place to another woman. Among and owls. Downy, hairy and three-toed beauty and promise of this timeless the property conveyed were a couple of woodpeckers feed on spruce beetles and landscape, a gift to us all. cows and no fewer than 13 pigs. sever~l other birds may be commonly Apparently, the table and kitchen scraps seen m these forests: the gray jay, Clark's were fed to the pigs, who in turn were fed nutcracker, mountain chickadee and to the customers. There's mighty little we Swainson's thrush. ' could teach our thrifty and practical ancestors about recycling. @ Final Profits From the Pass @ Stumps, Scars and Snags As the dust, clamor and traffic over the The Engelmann spruce forests did not ~ass subsided, so did potential sources of recover quickly from the timber felling mcome for Nathaniel and Loretta Rich. and frequent wildfires that accompanied Ther .acqui~e~ some high pass property the rush for gold and silver. Near the by fllmg mmmg claims. In the late summit harsh conditions slow the 1890's after fortunes had been excavated from the limestone fissures of London ree~tablishment of seedlings and stunt PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER therr growth. Decomposition also Mou~tain (see Mosquito Pass brochure), proceeds slowly here. The stumps, prorruse presented itself wherever similar limestone formations surfaced. Nat Rich charred snags and scars of exploration Park County Tourism Office explored several of these sites near that we see today have remained as marks P.O. Box 220 Weston Pass. Most of the probes were from that period. Lodgepole pines and Fairplay, Colorado aspen have filled in pockets where spruce expl~ratoi:"Y. This one, the Ruby Mine, (719)836-2771, Ext. 279 once stood. Today's spruce forest, now m rums, probably produced some managed by the Forest Service for ore. Pike National Forest watershed and habitat stability, harbors South Park Ranger District Fairplay, Colorado (719)836-2031 The new state and county @ Rush Hour, 1879 governments in the early West had no fund reserves and little tax base Today, we look from here upon a largely to finance public improvements empty Weston Pass Road as it snakes its such as roads. Private companies way toward the summit The same view in were thus allowed, even the summer of 1879 was clouded by the fog encouraged, to build roads. They of dust raised by an unbroken stream of profited (sometimes) on their wagons, stages, and animals. Indeed, for investments by collecting tolls for about a two-year period during 1878-79, the use of the roads. A crude toll this road may well have been the busiest in road was built over Weston Pass as early as the summer of 1860. At all of Colorado. As the Denver, South Park least 3 different toll companies and Pacific Railroad built toward Leadville operated the road over the next 20 in 1879, end-of-track was at the wild tent years. The early 1860's saw some town of Weston, several miles east of Twin busy times for the tollway, but Bridges. From there, the Wall & Witter nothing like the hordes who raced Company alone sent 7 stagecoaches and 11 for Leadville after the 1877 silver freight wagons each day to conquer strike. Weston. On September 4, 1879, 225 teams were counted as they crossed the summit On the steeper, narrow sections of the road, literal traffic jams were the order of the day; and bloody stage crashes were not uncommon.

Sixty-five tons of silver bullion at Platte Station

@ Leave It To Beaver TO LEADVILLE 10 m!les In the early 1800's French trappers and their American counterparts, the mountain N men, had come to South t Park seeking their fortunes. lkavcr pelts, however, not 0 .5 gold, shaped their quest By miles I !n1, Bent's Fort had become WESTON n major trading hub for the PASS shipment of furs to eastern markets. A ckcudc later, silk replaced felt as the fashion standard for hats, saving the beaver and the watershed lands they inhabited and shaped. TO FAIRPLAY Beaver dams, such as those ahead on the 11.2MILES kf't, slow spring runoff, trap eroded st•diments, promote willow growth and tl'gtllatl' the relt•asr of water into the dtututtpt·, t'll'lltiiiH pmdul'tiw fisht•tit•s and wtldllh- huhtlttl