&
Experience Colorado’s rich ancient and historic past
Ute Indian Museum in Montrose
Arapahoe, Colorado’s original settlers left
an indelible mark on the state’s history
and current culture. Learn about their
ways of life at Denver’s Colorado History
Museum, which features two exhibits,
Ancient Voices and Tribal Paths, that cover
the Paleoindians of 8,000 years ago to
contemporary American Indians who
still live in Colorado today. T_h e Ute Indian
Museum in Montrose lies on the original
eight-acre homestead of Chief Ouray and
his wife, Chipeta (who is buried there); it
contains one of the largest collections of
Ute Indian artefacts in the nation. Annual
festivals that celebrate the American
Indian culture include Denver Pow Wow
in March, Mesa Verde Indian Arts and
Culture Festival in May, and Delta Council
Tree Pow Wow in September.
Mesa Verde National Park, a World Heritage Site
Pioneer & Mining History
N
o matter what period of that have been preserved at Mesa Verde T_h e eastern plains are home to ‘modern’
Colorado’s history you’re National Park near Cortez. On a ranger- historic sites, such as Bent’s Old Fort, a
interested in exploring – from its led tour, visitors climb ladders to enter fur-trading post on the Santa Fe Trail in
fi rst residents (dinosaurs) to its booming, stone buildings and descend into kivas 1833. T_h e Santa Fe Trail, from Trinidad
silver- and gold-mining days – you can (ceremonial sites) at some of the 600 cliff to Holly in the south-east, is one of
learn plenty at a variety of attractions, dwellings found in the vast park. Colorado’s 25 Scenic & Historic Byways,
museums and historic sites across the state. T_h e Anasazi Heritage Center is a so designated for their unusually scenic
museum that includes exhibits about the beauty and/or the number of historic
Archaeological Treasures Ancestral Puebloans (also known as the attractions found along the way. T_h e Santa
Dinosaurs roamed through the state 150 Anasazi) as well as other American Indian Fe Trail alone includes 45 attractions,
million years ago and Colorado contains cultures. T_h e centre in Dolores serves as from the old, covered wagon-wheel ruts at
some of the country’s richest geological a gateway to the Canyons of the Ancient Iron Springs Historic Site to the Kit Carson
formations, where dinosaur bones of all National Monument, which covers 164,000 Museum in Las Animas.
shapes and sizes have been found. Kids acres (66,838 hectares) of archaeological Another fascinating time in the
love the authentic specimens and the sites – from ancient villages and sweat history of Colorado is the late 1800s,
working laboratory at Dinosaur Journey in lodges to rock art and kivas. Hovenweep during the mining boom, when high-
Fruita. Hike around the self-guided, mile- National Monument and its stone alpine towns such as Silverton, Leadville,
long interpretive trail at nearby Dinosaur towers are found inside Canyons Aspen and Breckenridge
Hill, where a huge section of a 70ft (21m) of the Ancient National fl ourished with the discovery
dinosaur skeleton was unearthed in 1901. Monument. Still more sites: of gold and silver in the
More must-sees for fossil fans: Florissant Ute Mountain Tribal Park and hills. One way to learn
Fossil Beds National Monument, Dinosaur Crow Canyon Archaeological about the hardships
National Monument and Denver Museum of Center. miners endured is to go
Nature & Science. underground yourself. Book
Ancestral Puebloans made their homes American Indian Heritage a tour to descend deep into
in the rugged sandstone in south-west From the Ancestral shafts at any of Colorado’s 16
Colorado from 600AD to 1300AD. T_h ey Puebloans to tribes such authentic mines, which off er
left behind fascinating cliff dwellings as the Utes, Comanche and guided tours.
www.colorado.com » 15
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