Conference Agenda

In 2022, Community Connections LLC was contracted by Denver Mountain Parks, City and County of Denver, to conduct a comprehensive Class III survey of Red Rocks Park and Amphitheatre. The Amphitheatre, completed in 1941 by the Civilian Conservation Corps and the Works Progress Administration, was nominated by SWCA for the National Register of Historic Places in 1990 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2015. Despite its historic significance, the park has never been fully surveyed for archaeological resources.

This multi-year project aims to identify cultural resources within the park boundaries and utilize these findings to develop educational programs that engage the community with Colorado's archaeological heritage. This presentation will explore the history of Red Rocks Park, detail the origins of the survey project, and share our vision for expanding public awareness and appreciation of archaeology in Colorado.

“Fatty’s Place” was a curio shop located at the entrance of the Garden of the Gods Park in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Edwin L. “Fatty” Rice established his shop near the Gateway Rocks in 1892, along the road leading into the Garden of the Gods Park. Historic photos show a rambling wooden structure with advertisements for a variety of goods including Zang’s beer “Precious Gems,” Native Stones,” “Specimens,” “Ice Lemonade,” and “Ice Mild.” The site was partially recorded in 1993, but was never tested. Given the site’s historical significance, UCCS partnered with the City of Colorado Springs to fully record, test, and evaluate the site. Our project was part of a field school that engaged the community during the project. We became a tourist destination while recording the tourist site. Here, we share preliminary findings, discuss our methods, and tie the site to the larger history of tourism in the area.

The Camp Hale-Continental Divide National Monument was established in central Colorado’s mountains in 2022. Now razed, the Army cantonment of Camp Hale was originally home to WWII’s vaunted 10th Mountain Division, the first and only American mountain infantry division. Metcalf Archaeological Consultants has been involved with documenting this unique military post on the White River National Forest and its associated battlefields in Italy since participating in the camp’s 1991 NRHP nomination. Recently, supported by funding from the Tenth Mountain Division Foundation and History Colorado, Metcalf conducted the first formal inventory of Camp Hale’s high elevation training area using a modern conflict archaeology approach. Three sites directly associated with 10th Mountain troops and subsequent Cold War warriors were recorded. This presentation summarizes the camp’s history and its training area, the diverse community involved, and the archaeological resources recorded.

In 2014 the City of Colorado Springs requested funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to construct a storm-water detention basin along Camp Creek in the iconic Garden of the Gods Park – upstream of a residential neighborhood at risk of flooding. The ca. 300-acre Garden of the Gods Park is designated a National Natural Landmark in 1971 for its biological diversity and geological significance. As a result of the Federal flood mitigation project, significant Victorian-era archaeological deposits were uncovered. The deposits are associated with the occupation of the Glen Eyrie Estate by railroad magnate William Jackson Palmer, his wife Mary Lincoln Palmer, their daughters, and the estate staff between 1870 and 1916.
Importantly, our work brought various government officials, stakeholders, interested parties, resident tribes and the public to the table throughout the ca. five years of project development and construction.

Alpine Archaeology documented the Burro Mine Complex (Complex) as part of a National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) nomination funded by the Bureau of Land Management. The project highlights the necessity to preserve our recent past; in this case, a historical uranium mine that was active from 1952–1971. The Complex is in rural western San Miguel County, Colorado, a region that is experiencing a rapid transition from a mining-, farming-, and ranching-based economy to one centered on tourism and outdoor recreation. The listing of the Complex to the NRHP shows long-time locals and regional newcomers how uranium mining shaped the development of western Colorado. While this may be obvious to long-time locals, many of whom are and were miners, individuals moving into the area are not necessarily aware of this history. An NRHP listing signifies the importance of a place and its associated history in a rapidly changing region.

In 2015, the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) received a Stephen H. Hart Award by History Colorado. The accolade, for “Initiating and Developing a Collaborative Mitigation Program Throughout Colorado”, recognized CDOT for cultivating and maintaining a historic preservation compliance program above and beyond basic compliance needs. Because of effective coordination with the Colorado Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, local agencies, and other entities, CDOT is a leader in creative mitigation for transportation projects. The logistical nature of CDOT divides project review into “history” and “archaeology”. Two relatively recent projects, Central 70 (technically the “history” review/ mitigation) and the US 550 - US 160 Connection South (technically the “archaeology” review/ mitigation) centered around communities intricately connected to the project areas creating much more than a new section of highway. This paper looks at these projects as examples of a long tradition, as well as models for future work.

The State Industrial School in Golden, Colorado was established in 1881 to rehabilitate criminalized young boys. The boys here experienced building relationships with one another, the faculty, and the city of Golden under the isolating and ritualized methodology of institutionalization. Use of direct sources such as a daily newspaper produced by the boys, biennial reports produced by the school, and records from the city of Golden show the product of these relationships. This paper dives into the concept of the ritual of institutionalization and the result that has on the overall culture and relationships that can be seen in the historical documentation of the State Industrial School around the beginning of the 20th century. The social perception of the school from both internal and external sources influenced the ritual performed by the State Industrial School and left a lasting impact on the boys, the faculty, and the community of Golden.

Denver’s Black American West Museum spent four decades documenting and acquiring northeastern Colorado’s early 20th century African American town of Dearfield. It became a National Register of Historic Places District in 1995 and, today, most of its area is owned by the museum. In 2008, the Dearfield Preservation Committee, an organization of preservation non-profits, local government, and universities, was formed to assist the museum in preserving townsite historic structures and promoting historical and archaeological research as the interdisciplinary Dearfield Dream Project. Today, the site’s two standing buildings are under restoration and the site is advancing toward designation as a National Historic Site and inclusion within the National Park Service as a partnership park.

Animas Forks flourished between 1877 and 1913 as a Victorian-era mining town in the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado. In recent years, it has become a popular tourist destination along the Alpine Loop off-road vehicle route. Because abandoned mine remains in the area could represent a threat to recreationalists at the site, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is in the process of remediating abandoned mining lands within the region. Alpine Archaeological Consultants, Inc. conducted testing at the townsite in support of this remediation effort. The testing employed a digital elevation model, a hillshade model, and the georeferenced town plat to assist in identifying additional building foundations and correlating recovered artifacts to individual businesses or residences. The efforts to remediate the Animas Forks Townsite represent an act of site stewardship by the community and enhance the safety of all who visit the highly popular site.

In the early to mid-twentieth century there was a scramble in Colorado to identify the location of the stockade built by Zebulon Pike in 1807, just prior to being arrested by the Spanish and ending his expedition across what is today the Western US. The State of Colorado had grand designs to make the stockade a tourist attraction, and rebuilt the stockade in 1952, designating a National Historic Landmark in 1961, just prior to the passage of the NHPA. Today few people know of Zebulon Pike, and even fewer have visited the small park in southeastern Colorado that bears his name. We discuss the steps to re-evaluate the history of the stockade and re-intepret Pike for a twenty-first century public.

The Frontenac and Aduddell Mine Complex, located on mountainous private property in Gilpin County, Colorado, was a major player during the heyday of hard rock mining in Colorado. An up-to-date archaeological inventory of the property informed a successful National Register listing in 2020. Concurrently, with a community-minded desire to share the significant archaeology and history of the Complex, the property owner conducted stabilization and restoration on extant buildings, including an impressive shafthouse, and developed a hiking trail through the site. Open to the public and lined with interpretive signs that were installed with assistance from the Colorado Division of Reclamation, Mining, and Safety, the trail encourages community appreciation of the area’s archaeology and history and, with the steep grade up the mountain, fosters community physical health. The Frontenac and Aduddell presents a shining example of the confluence of archaeology and preservation with community inclusion and well-being.