“Father” John Lewis Dyer: The Snowshoe Itinerant
When: 1812-1901 Where: Central Colorado Mountains Why important: Beloved circuit-riding Methodist preacher Biography John Lewis…
Before white settlers reached what would become Colorado, the area was home to several Indian tribes, including the Utes in the mountains; the Cheyenne and Arapaho on the Eastern plains; and the Ancestral Puebloans (formerly called Anasazi) in southwestern Colorado, whose cliff dwelling houses at Mesa Verde can still be seen today.
The first Europeans to explore Colorado were the Spanish, who came looking for gold in the sixteenth century. Hispanic Americans would make their homes in the San Luis Valley beginning in the 1840s, the earliest non-Indians to do so.
In 1806, Zebulon Pike, a U.S. Army officer, was sent to explore the land that Stephen Long had termed the “Great American Desert.” Here Pike recorded seeing the mountain that would later be named in his honor, Pikes Peak. It wasn’t until 1859, however, that white settlers would finally start pouring in to the Rocky Mountains. Gold had been discovered, and now, fortune-seekers traveled to what was then mainly part of Kansas Territory to make their fortune, claiming “Pikes Peak or Bust.” Two years later, as the population grew, the area became Colorado Territory.
Meanwhile, as white settlers moved in, Indians like Little Raven and Chipeta worked hard to bring peace between the settlers and the tribes, while men and women like William Byers, Helen Hunt Jackson, and Uncle Dick Wootton, and others came to Colorado to make a new life in Colorado, shaping the future of the territory as they did so. It was a time of great change for an area that would become, in 1876, the State of Colorado.
When: 1812-1901 Where: Central Colorado Mountains Why important: Beloved circuit-riding Methodist preacher Biography John Lewis…
When: 1813-1890 Where: Colorado’s Sangre de Cristo Mountains Why important: Explorer, Presidential Candidate, Civil…
When: around 1803- 1868 Where: South Dakota Why Important: Native American peace negotiator Biography Black…
When: 1838-1887 Where: Nova Scotia, Canada Why Important: First woman known to summit Pike’s Peak…
When: 1833-1880 Where: Southern Rocky Mountains, CO Why Important: Ute Chief and Treaty Negotiator Biography…
When: 1838-1865 Where: Fort Lyon near Sand Creek, Colorado Why Important Soldier who refused orders…
When: 1839-1911 Where: Denver, CO Why Important: Denver Businessman, Colorado railroad owner Biography David Halliday…
When: 1800-1882 Where: Central City and Denver Why Important: One of the first African-American women…
When: 1831-1903 Where: Ohio, Iowa, Nebraska, and finally, Denver Why Important: Byers was the greatest Denver promoter,…
When: 1843 – 1892 Where: Central City and Denver Why Important: She helped establish the Jewish Hospital…
When: c. 1810-1889 Where: Colorado and Oklahoma Why Important: This Chief sought peaceful relations between Native Americans and whites…
When: 1779 – 1813 Where: Born in New Jersey, explored Pikes Peak and Arkansas River Valley,…
When: 1838 – 1909 Where: Delaware, Pennsylvania, a “trek west,” Denver and Colorado Springs Why Important: A…
When: 1811 – 1894 Where: Born in Taos, New Mexico, she moved to Mora, New Mexico…
When: 1816 – 1893 Where: Raised in Virginia and settled in Denver, Colorado Why Important: Wootton was…
When: 1800s – 1847 Where: Born and lived in southeastern Colorado Why Important: Owl Woman married…
When: 1827 – 1916 Where: Born in New Mexico and settled in Trinidad, Colorado. Why Important: Simpson did…
When: 1830 -1885 Where: Born in Massachusetts, moved to Colorado Springs Why Important: Author and Indian Advocate…
When: 1828 – 1874 Where: Born in Taos, New Mexico, and founded Trinidad, Colorado Why Important: Colorado…
When: 1843 -1924 Where: Born in the Kiowa Apache tribe and raised by the Ute tribe…