Colorado's First Portrait. Scenes by Early Artists
by Clifford P. Westermier
- Albuguerque, New Mexico Univ. of NM Press 1970
- 206 p.
Includes Index and Bibliography
Mountain and plain -- Dwellers of the cliffs -- Trailblazers -- Forts and posts -- Red man vs. white man -- End of isolation -- Rush to the Rockies -- High-country Eldorado -- Denver, queen of the Rockies -- Clear Creek, mineral empire -- Boulder -- Gateway to the gods -- Webs of steel -- Leadville, silver camps -- Health and recreation -- Cow country -- Shepherds' kingdom -- Sinners and saints -- Agriculture -- Eastern valley towns -- Mountain parks -- Pueblo, "Pittsburgh of the West" -- Royal Gorge area -- Western Slope -- Feasts and festivals
The first pictorial history of Colorado containing only drawings made by nineteenth century artists. Five hundred scenes show the West's most colorful state just as it was sketched by early artists and explorers. Here are pictures of Indians and Indian fighters, of riotous mining camps and dirt-street towns, of narrow gauge trains and palatial Victorian hotels. The oversize pages teem with views of cowhands, sodbusters, townsfolk, and politicians in an era that is gone forever. Professor Clifford P. Westermeier, a leading Colorado historian, searched for woodcuts, lithographs, and paintings from scarce and obscure sources. The great collections of the Colorado State Historical Society and the Denver Public Library were opened generously to make this book possible. Each picture, copied from the original, is accompanied by explanatory text and source identification.--From publisher description.