The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-08-21
TOPEKA STATE JOURNAL
Information Bureau
FREDERIC j. HASKIN. Director.
Washington, b. c.
TOURIST RUsH FOR CoLoRApo.

FsAAU14&lO1, Os |
TOURIST RUSH FOR COLORADO.
Denver, Colo, Aug. 16-First a min
ing town, then a health resort, Denver
has now become the chief tourist
target of the nation. Hundreds. of
thousands of tourists aim for this
j point every year, many of them to
settle down for the entire summer and
I others to make the city their temp
/ orary headquarters while they tour
| the surrounding national parks and
monuments. For Denver is the gate
way to our great national park sys-
| TEN, the natural entrance to that vast
western region which the government
! has set aside for the preservation of
trees and the recreation of the public.
! This season has brought an un-t
usually heavy rush of sightseers, so
that the hotels, boarding houses and
i camps are crowded to their utmost
! capacity; the postal card and cufio
I stands are doing an unprecedented
/ business, and the kodak supply stores
are getting way behind IN their work
/ of developing films The streets are
! filled with strangers from Oklahoma,
| Texas, Missouri. Alabama, Georgia,
! New York and Pennsylvania. Some OF
them wear their state remnants patri-
/ otically wrapped around their arms.
while others are easily placed by their
native infections. Parties with fish
| ing tackle mingle with parties carry
/
while along nearly every curb are
/ parked sightseeing automobiles, gra-
dually filling up with passengers.
| The other evening an old man with
| a white beard and bent shoulders
stood on downtown street corner
surveying the crowd while waiting for
! a street car. Two cars. laden with
tourists. had already passed without
! stopping, and as the writer approached
another car swept scornfully by. The
/ Il hal ah nd
| then removing a PREDETERMINED felt
hat, wiped the perspiration from his
wrinkled brow. My God! ne NUT
| tered hoarsely. ~the gold rush was
never like this!''
Denver attributes it's overwhelming
popularity this year to the earthquakes
| occurring at Los Angeles, which, 1t
J believes. have frightened many tour
lists away from California and sent
them to Colorado. But inasmuch as
| the cloudbursts occurring in Colorado
| have wrought 4 good deal more dam
/ age so far than the gentle tremors
! experienced on the coast, we are m
| cIined to think that the tourist tide
has turned in favor of Denver not be-
cause it is tinid, but because Denver
makes things so pleasant for it.
A Fine Automobiles Camp.
! In the first place, one of the best
! automobile camps in the west is 10
Gated here in Denver, which was the
J first city to recognize the needs or the
automobile tourist and to provide
municipal camping ground for his
comfort and convenience. A sixty
acre tract beside Rocky Mountain lake
at the edge of the city has been Iald
out and equipped for the free use OF
! motorists who wish TO pltch their tents
! by the Wayside.
There, under a protecting grove OF
trees, you can park your car and make
your camp without worrying ABOUT
water and fuel, usually the most I'M
lportant and irritating considerations
| in choosing a camp site, as these are
supplied by the city. In ADDITION
there are electric cooking ranges
shower baths, a laundry ana soil
drink stand, while groceries are oe-
ilivered from the city, so that the traV-
| cling notorist is able to rough 1t with
| the same degree of ease that ne en-
! lows in dwelling in a city apartment.
| The only perquisites lacking are
movie auditorium and department
store
This camp de luxe is naturally
1reat drawing card to vacationlsts
| Touring, the country in their motor
| cars. Last year, it is estimated, a To-
I tai of 4.6r6 cars were parked on tHe
grounds and over 13.0OO persons eooa
advantage of its facilities. TINS year.
according to the authorities. 1t is ac-
commodating almost twice as many.
| Another convenience maintained ny
tha city for the benefit of visitors IS
| tourists free information bureau
which tells you all about the places
Won should see and how to get there,
and otherwise acts as a sort of COM
| bfned Baedeker and Cook service AS
there are fourteen one-day trips into
the mountains and thirty-eight snort
scenic. rail. trolley and auto trips to
points of interest. the bewildered tour
list is desperately in need OF such as
Sistance.
! Denver itself possesses many special
| features of interest to the sightseer,
but with the Continental divide tdoni-
Mating the horizon of the city, the
average tourist usually gives one look
and then exc1aims, Lead me to the
mountains" All the ta1lest Colorado
peaks are there In full view, with the
exception of Pixies peak. which is con-
ceaIed from the average eye by dis
lance and mist but is always discern
| ible to the natives. On clear day,
some of the mountains appear so near
/ that you can almost count the spruce
/ trees on their purple sides, but in I'M
settled weather they look like long.
scaIloped gray cloud barely visible
| against the darker gray of the sky
| Many Places to Go.
| AS a matter of fact, the nearest ones
are fifteen miles away, and one of the
! shortest auto trips from Denver to the
mountains covers seventy-five miles
and takes half a day. This is the trip
thru the Denver municipal mountain
park system, the most popular of all
! the fourteen mountain journeys, lead
! ing first to the city of Golden, the old
ca pita1 of Colorado. and the home of
the State School of Mines. and thence
up Lookout mountain. Not until you
reach Golden. which lies at the foot
! of the mountains. do you realize how
high they are and how apparently
tortuous the trail which Your autono-
1 bile is going to ascend.
On the day that we made the trip
as d member of tourist party organ
! lied at our hotel, our hotel guide, usu-
ally q morose, disappointed looking
: person, was for some reason in an ex-
/ ceedingly jubilant mood. He had
] humorously fancy name for every tree