Red Lodge daily news combined with Carbon County news., 1933-03-29

Prepared by National Geographic Society.
Washington. ID. C.-WNU Service.
THREE additional ''primitive
areas" have just been set aside
by the federal government in
the mountains of Colorado to serve
as vacation regions for those who
wish to enjoy outings In the real
wilderness. The designation has
been made so that there will remain,
even after further development of
highways and railways, parts of the
rugged mountains untouched by the
hand of man, a region free from
concrete. steel, and even the wires
of power lines and telephones. Each
of the districts will In addition be a
natural preserve for wild animal
life.
Seventy-fve years ago all of Col
orado was a wilderness through
which only a handful of trappers
had wandered. The region which is
now tie state constituted a real bar
rier. It's vast eastern plains formed
q typical part of the Great Amer
lean desert, that geographic libel
thrust onto American maps by for
est-minded pioneers, there to stay
for two generations.
And beyond the desert" rose an
immense rampant of 'impenetrable"
peaks with barren, rocky crowns.
Appalling sights they were to men
who had grown up among the
friendly, rounded verdure-blanketed
mountains of the East.
So Ii came about that the early
rush of trade and emigration that
beat out paths to the West passed
Colorado by. It's mountain barrier
split this westward faring tide of
humanity as a huge bowlder In mid
stream cleaves the waters of a river.
The Santa Fe trail turned to the
south, traversing only the southeast
corner of the area that was to be-
come Colorado. The covered wa
CONS of emigrants Oregon-bound In
the early f%orties, the great hegira
of thousands of Mormons In AT and
'48, and the rush of the California
forty-niners passed chiefly to the
north. Save for a handful Of white
trappers, Colorado was left TO its
few bands Of wandering savages.
But not for long. Gold, always
a magnet for men, dragged a horde
of fortune seekers to the edge of
the mountains almost over night In
'58 and 80, and soon sent restless
prospectors with picks and pans
scurrying like ants owe the whole
mountain area. They found the
mountain region vas not a land of
arctic waste and Icy s%olltudes. On
the slopes of bare-topped peaks were
noble forests; between were smil-
ing valleys with grassy meadows.
desert" Now a Rich Region.
Here and there the valleys
widened into spacious parks. Streams
gurgled on every side, alive with
fish. The forests teemed with game.
Into this land of unexpected beau
ty trickled the van of the emigrants,
some to find other goods than gold.
The barrier had had its first real
breach.
The "desert" now Is a land of
growing crops and fat cattle, criss-
crossed by highways and railroads.
Farther west the vigorous pioneers
and their brothers In spirit who
have followed after have thrust rail-
ways through gorges, even hanging
them on artificial shelves from sheer
precipices.
They have gouged their way
through the Continental divide and
lesser ranges to construct long tun-
nels; and over the great sea of
mountains. along the routes of In
dian trails and the crude early
roads of the miners. that chung pre-
cariously to steep slopes. they have
flung an amazing network of mod
ern highways.
Now, on any summers day, on the
heights which early pessimists called
cherries polar solitudes. one may
see the gayly colored frocks of WON
en- and children f1uttering from
scurrying automobiles. They belong
to visiting family parties. on pick
nicking bent, who are whisked over
the mountain roads In a continuous
stream. The once impossible noun
tains are a fair mark now for the
wheeziest flivver.
The story OF Colorado's swift de-
velopment In the short space Of one
lifetime Is crammed with romance,
tragedy, and high adventure. with
strokes of good fortune and i'll, as
are few chapters In the national
chronicle.
One day the region was raw. vir-
tually untouched by civilization. The
next, almost, men were starting to
make a state out Of thin mountain air
and dusty %sagebrush flats; were SELL
ing town lots at auction; issu-
ing newspapers; building homes,