North Gallery – Modern History
1) PEOPLE OF THE SHINING MOUNTAINS
UTES IN COLORADO: A RETROSPECTIVE
The land on which you stand was once part of the territory of the Ute Tribe, The “Nuu-ciu.” The Utes were a nomadic people who thrived for thousands of years by relying on their connection with nature. They followed animals and plant life according to the seasons to hunt, fish and harvest food, always respecting and lining in harmony with their environment.
The UTE CIRCLE OF LIFE represents the cycle of life from birth to death for all creatures.
A LEGACY OF NOMADISM AND HARMONY WITH MOTHER EARTH
Guided by the experience and wisdom of their chiefs and elders, nomadic bands on horseback followed trails that crisscrossed the mountain ranges of Colorado, linking traditional campsites to which they would return seasonally. With a deep respect for the environment’s need to replenish itself, they moved on to new sites before game and vegetation were depleted. Once their range extended from the plains to the Western Slope, and down into the Four Corners. As Ute bands moved through the landscape, they constructed shelters that suited the terrain and available resources. On the plains and in elevated flatlands, they lived in tipis–conical tent-like structures made of bison hide stretched over a skeleton of poles usually lodgepole pine, that could be moved to a new location. In mountainous woodlands, the Utes built huts called wikiups out of a skeleton of fallen tree branches interwoven with brush. A wikiup might last for a season or more, and then eventually fall apart and return to the landscape.
LOSING THEIR WAY OF LIFE
As the American West was settled by whites, the Utes, like other tribes, saw broken treaties shrink their lands to a point that could not support a nomadic in traditional culture provoked a series of ugly reprisals on both sides. Chief Colorow participated in the violence, while Chief Ouray attempted to mediate. In the end, the “Meeker Incident” (or “Meeker Massacre”) became a pretext to expel the Utes from their western Colorado treaty lands. The federal Dawes Act of 1887 further eroded Indigenous traditions by attempting to divide the reservations into individually owned homesteads. Some Utes, like Colorow and Chief Ignacio, resisted. Others, like Ouray and Sapiah (Buckskin Charley) accepted a farming life. In the end, 90 million acres were stripped from Indigenous tribes and sold off to settlers.
“WE ARE STILL HERE”
Today, the Utes, in addition to many other tribal members, live, work, and carry on traditions in their communities. Museums and exhibits share and preserve long and complex stories of the Indigenous peoples of America. Organizations like the Denver American Indian Commission and the Colorado Commission on Indian Affairs represent their interests to the public and to the governmental bodies.
THE LAST CHIEFS
CHIEF COLOROW
Ute Mountain Ute
1810-1888
- Leader of the band that seasonally camped near Red Rocks in the 1860s–1870s.
- A vivid personality, skilled as both diplomat and warrior.
- Championed the nomadic way of life.
CHIEF HOSA(Little Raven)
Southern Arapaho
1810-1889
- Diplomat respected for making peace among the plains tribes.
- Kept seeking peace with white settlers even as treaties were broken.
- Hoped the white settlers might leave once they had mined all the gold.
CHIEF IGNACIO
Weeminuche band
1828-1913
- Testified before Congress about the Meeker Incident
- Led the Weeminuche Utes to their reservation lands in the Four Corners area.
- Separated from other Southern Ute bands in 1896 to preserve their communal lands.
CHIEF OURAY
Uncompaghre band
1833-1880
- He and his wife Chipeta were the primary negotiators recognized by the federal government.
- Some, now as in his own time, think he gave away too much too easily.
- Renowned for her diplomatic skills, Chipeta remained a respected elder after Ouray’s death.
CHIEF BUCKSKIN CHARLEY (Sapiah)
Southern Ute
1880-1936
- The last traditional chief, he replaced Ouray as primary treaty negotiator.
- Helped resolve the Meeker incident.
- Separated geographically from the Weeminuche bandled by Ignacio by accepting a farmstead lifestyle.
CHIEF SEVERO
Capote band
1840-1936
- Severo had been captain of the Southern Ute tribal police. He also appears in the large group photo above. It shows him in 1906 standing next to Antonio Buck, Sr., Sapiah’s son and the last hereditary chief of the Southern Utes.
(Photographs courtesy of Denver Public Library/Western History Collection)
2) EARLY DAYS IN THE PARK
THE EARLY VISIONARIES
The City Beautiful movement, popularized by the World’s Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in 1893, united businessmen, political leaders, and urban reformers with its ideal of creating beauty and harmony in American cities that had been despoiled by the rampant growth of the 19th century. Increasing tourism and encouraging more organized growth were other key motivations.
Entrepreneur, developer, and Cosmopolitan magazine founder John Brisben Walker purchased Red Rocks Park and surrounding lands in 1906 and soon built a funicular railway to the top of Mt. Morrison and began staging concerts on a rough stage in the then-undeveloped amphitheatre. Sixty cents bought a round-trip fare to Morrison on the Colorado & Southern Railroad, as well as admission to the park, the funicular, and concerts.
One of the earliest supporters of the Denver Mountain Parks system, Walker hoped eventually to sell Red Rocks Park, along with several other parcels, to Denver for $100,000. After four years of study and negotiation, the city arranged to buy the property in 1927 for $54,133.
NATURAL WONDER
The naturally occurring theatre set on a mountain stage is not duplicated anywhere in the world. The theatre provides perfect acoustics and was once listed as one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Red Rocks. originally known as the Garden of Angels, and later as Garden of the Titans, has attracted the attention of musical performers since before the turn of the century.
This photo probably dates from the early 1900s, by which time entrepreneur John Brisben Walker had purchased the land that makes up today’s park and developed it as a tourist attraction. Here, burros carried curious tourists, and even early performers into the park.
The Trading Post, once called the Indian Concession House, was designed in southwest style by architect W.R. Rosche in 1932 to serve as a concession, information center, and exhibit area.
THE FIRST MUSICIANS
Local musicians, like the ones shown in the photo to the left from around 1910, came to Stage Rock to enjoy the marvelous natural acoustics even before the amphitheatre was built. Operatic singer Dame Nellie Melba, who gave melba toast its name, visited in 1906 and proclaimed that “this is the greatest open-air theatre I have ever seen.”
Opera star Mary Garden (above and right) and her violin accompanist, Signor Tibaldi, arrived here by burro to test the amphitheatre’s acoustics in 1911. Later, she wrote that “never in any opera house the world over have I found more perfect acoustic properties . . . “I predict that someday twenty thousand people will assemble there to listen to the world’s greatest masterpieces.”
3) THE AMPHITHEATRE: ANCIENT INSPIRATION FOR ANCIENT ROCKS
ANCIENT INSPIRATION
The ancient Greek amphitheatre at Taormina, on the southern Italian island of Sicily, was Denver parks manager George Cranmer’s inspiration for the theatre at Red Rocks. It was built by Greek colonists in the third century BC and reconstructed by the Romans five centuries later. Comparable to Red Rocks, its natural acoustic qualities allow 20,000 people to hear natural voices.
GEORGE CRANMER AMPHITHEATRE VISIONARY
Under Mayor Benjamin Stapleton, Denver’s manager of parks and improvement George Cranmer was responsible for purchasing Red Rocks Park for the City of Denver in 1927. The following year he toured the Greek amphitheatre in Taormina, Sicily and immediately recognized the potential of such a structure for the park. It took another six years to raise the federal and municipal funding to begin the project.
A BOULDER STREWN FIELD filled the area between Creation Rock and Ship Rock before Civilian Conservation Corps crews moved over 10,000 cubic yards of earth and rock debris to construct the amphitheatre’s structure.
Cranmer was afraid that dynamiting the boulders would arouse fears of early preservationists. Instead of proceeding gradually, he instructed his foremen to dynamite all the boulders at once; then he disappeared from his office the day of the explosions
BURNHAM HOYT AMPHITHEATRE ARCHITECT
The naturally occurring theatre set on a mountain stage is not duplicated anywhere in the world. The amphitheatre was designed by Burnham Hoyt (1887-1960), one of Denver’s most influential architects. Although among the first to embrace Modernism, he turned to ancient models like the Theatre of Dionysus in Athens when he planned the amphitheatre. Later he wrote: “The design policy established and adhered to throughout was to do a minimum of architecture; to preserve in full where possible the great assets of the site.” The design was done in 1936, and the amphitheatre was dedicated on June 15, 1941, although the total time to complete the project covered 12 years.
Red Rocks Amphitheatre was Hoyt’s best-known work. Architects today still admire the way Hoyt incorporated the topography and rock formations into the design of the theatre. The project brought him immediate national recognition. It was later selected by New York’s Museum of Modern Art as one of the 50 outstanding examples of American architecture of the decade and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
4) THE CCC’S DEPRESSION-ERA ACHIEVEMENT
The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was one of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal programs designed to tackle the problem of unemployment during the Great Depression. Thousands of young men across America were put to work, most notably constructing the trails, bridges, and other amenities in our national parks. Supervised by army officers and local craftsmen, they earned food, clothing, shelter, and $30 a month–$25 of which was sent home to their families.
ARTISANS OF THE AMPHITHEATRE: THE MEN OF CCC CAMP SP 13-C. Company No. 1848
Red Rocks Amphitheatre was the Civilian Conservation Corps’ largest and most ambitious project. A crew of about 200 young men at any one time lived in barracks near Morrison (visible from the Visitor Center deck) and worked on the theatre from 1936 to 1941, with help from the National Park Serice and Works Progress Administration. They laid 10 boxcar loads of cement and put down 90,000 square feet of flagstone quarried in Lyons, Colorado.
The physical structure of the facility, as well as all the finished terracing and stonework, was built by hand, without the help of any machines.
THE SITE UNDER CONSTRUCTION- CIRCA 1940
The amphitheatre surface drainage design was planned and executed by the CCC with the forms and techniques captured in this photo.
The amphitheatre stage is cast-in- place concrete, clad in a unique style of stone masonry veneer.
Dirt fill and debris from the interior portion of the amphitheatre were pushed to the south side, while the north side had to be cut by blasting.
The CCC contributed to the final design of the walkway known as “The Bridge” on the amphitheatre’s south side.
For best access, the construction staging area was located at the top of the amphitheatre. Concrete was mixed and poured from here.
The Historic Landmark Registry cites its “strong horizontal lines” as one of the amphitheatre’s most distinctive features. The CCC developed a concrete distribution trough–an ingenious system for pouring the material in such uniform and visually pleasing lines.
The stage wings were originally designed in an Art Deco style, adapted to the site with a unique curvature in the design and stone cladding. Higher stage wings were built in 1960.
