Colorado College - Nugget Yearbook (Colorado Springs, CO)

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COLORADO SPRINGS Nature decreed that there should be built at the foot of Pikes Peak, where mountain meets plain, a city which should be known far and wide because of its individuality and charm. Well might the Indian pay tribute — as the legend says he did — to the matchless climate and wonderful environs of the spot by establishing within the shadow of the Great White Mountain a zone of neutrality within which all tribes might come and go as they pleased. In gratitude for the many blessings received by those who visited the region in search of health and recreation, the aborigines wished all peoples to know and to share freely in the benefits of this great natural resort. That same spirit of unselfishness and comity actuates the residents and visitors of today, as unchanged as are the effervescing springs, the sparkling sun- shine or the other features composing the marvelous combination of natural elements and surroundings that have characterized the place from the beginning and brought it into world- wide fame. When Colorado Springs was founded, one could ride four hundred miles straight eastward from Pikes Peak without seeing, except by chance, a fence or house, or any animal life save the wild roamers of the plains or still wilder Indians. Half a century has wrought manv changes. Spread out on a sheltered plateau at the foot of the guardian hills there is now a unique community which has attracted the attention and admiration of the traveler, the nature- lover and the home-seeker. Colorado Springs is widely known as The City of Sunshine. Official records covering a long period of years show an average of 310 days of sunshine annually, of which 181 are entirely cloudless. Almost exactly one-half of the days have the absolute maximum possible amount of sunshin e. The average for the year is 70 per cent, of the possible, with only 11 days per year on which the sun is not visible. This abundance of sunshine is well distributed throughout the seasons, although the greatest amount comes in the fall and winter and the least in mid-summer. It is probable that the Spaniards visited the Pikes Peak Region before the Pilgrim Fathers landed at Plymouth Rock, and that the Indians had been coming here for a thousand years previously; but the wholly authentic recorded history of the region dates only from November 13, 1806. On that date Lieutenant Zebulon Montgomery Pike first caught sight of the Great White Mountain which today bears his name, and concerning which he wrote in his diary that no human being could have ascended to its pinnacle. Subsequently the locality was visited by numerous explorers. The first permanent settlement, Colorado City, was established rare scene in pikes peak region IN THE GARDEN OF THE GODS 8