HISTORY COLORADO’S FIRST RESORT DESTINATION Long before European explorers discovered the Pikes Peak Region, the American Indians of the area knew of the bubbling soda and iron springs at the base of their sacred mountain Tava, now known as Pikes Peak. The nations of the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Kiowa, Comanche and Apache were all visitors from the eastern plains over the centuries of their migrations while the Utes considered the springs as part of their mountain homeland from which they originated and never left. Though enemies, most of these tribes would practice restraint around what they traditionally called the medicine springs. They drank the water filled with trace minerals and stomach-soothing soda and bathed in the skin-softening pools. As the Utes believed that every living thing had a spirit, there were tangible signs of gratitude or supplication left in and around the springs, including beads, weapons, clothing and fetishes.
EARLY EXPLORERS The Spanish were the first Europeans to wander through the area, followed by French mountain men interested in fur trapping, who named the creek running next to the springs “Fountaine qui Bouille” or Boiling Fountain creek, now just Fountain Creek. With the Louisiana Purchase, the United States sent Lt. Zebulon Pike and company to explore the new territory in 1806. Though he would miss the springs entirely, he did report on his attempted climb of the mountain that carries his name today, bringing attention to the region. 8
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Dr. Edwin James, botanist of the 1820 Long Expedition, was the first American to climb the peak and write about the springs and their health benefits. Daniel Boone’s grandson, Col. A. G. Boone, visited the area for the health of his sons in 1833 and Capt. John C. Fremont, known as the “Pathfinder to the West,” reported on his scientific findings at these medicinal springs during his 1842 expedition. By far, the most widely read review of Manitou’s charms was penned by English officer and adventurer George Fredrick Ruxton, whose 1847 travels to Pikes Peak are chronicled in his book “Adventures in Mexico and the Rocky Mountains.” He described the picturesque location and the superior quality of the mineral water which “hissed and sparkled” in his cup, declaring it possessed of “that fresh, natural flavor which manufactured water can not impart.” Once the 59’ers started to flock to Colorado during the Pikes Peak or Bust gold rush, traffic increased dramatically as fortune hunters used the old Indian trail up Ute Pass as a route to the gold fields. By 1868 the Cheyenne and Arapaho were removed to reservations and the Utes met the same fate in 1879, separated from the sacred places of their ancestors. Between the gold rush and the founding of Manitou in 1871, many people had bought and sold the valley of the mineral springs. In 1868, Gen. William Jackson Palmer railroad engineer, and Dr. William A. Bell, physician, investigated the already famous medicine springs while on a Kansas and Pacific Railroad survey.
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