If you want to skip all the mumbo jumbo I have penned
below and just look at some photographs of Red Rocks Park in November
with a little snow, then just click the link button Red Rocks Park CO in
the navigation bar or just be lazy and click
Here!.
As always, starting with a little history.
Red Rocks Park is primarily built with red sandstone. The same type of geology led to the formation of other massive outcroppings in Colorado such as the Flatirons near Boulder, Roxborough State Park which is nearby Red Rocks park and also the Garden of the Gods further down the mountain chain near Colorado Springs.
So how did these sandstone formations end up in such vertical attitudes? Well according to the Wikipedia (which is sometimes actually correct!)
"The rocks were formed about 290-296 million years ago when the Ancestral Rocky Mountains were eroded during the Pennsylvanian epoch. Later, uplift during the Laramide orogeny tilted the rocks to the angle at which they sit today."
Pennsylvanian epoch? Pennsylvanian epoch? Well considering that Wikipedia is primarily a British authored web page one can expect some confusion from those European fellows across the Atlantic. The only time of the year that Pennsylvania is in Colorado is when the Pittsburgh Steelers come to Mile High Stadium to play against the Orange Crush, AKA "The Denver Broncos" in a NFL football game! And that is spelled "football" NOT "futball". Laramide orogeny. Sounds to me like someone in jolly old England is confused about Laramie, Wyoming.
Anyhow enough Euro bashing, back to Red Rocks Park. The larger rocks have actually been given names such as: the Seat of Pluto (mushroom-shaped) and the slanted Cave of the Seven Ladders. The visited rocks that get the greatest amount of attention are those around the amphitheater, these being the Creation Rock to the north, Ship Rock to the south, and Stage Rock to the east. The other named rocks such as Witch Face, Roasted Goose, Angel’s Bathtub, Toad Stool or not normally used in most literature.
Here is another oxymoron quote for you.
"An Army expedition led by Stephen Long discovered present day Red Rocks in 1820. The park was in times far past a favored campsite of the Ute tribe for it provided natural cover from the elements."
Wait. The Ute natives had been living in and around the Red Rocks for a couple of centuries, maybe even a few millennia but had not yet discovered the Rocks. Wow. Amazing. OK let's think about this for a minute. Maybe, just maybe, Captain Picard stole a Klingon Cloaking device from the Klingon Empire and then he ordered Data to "cloak" the Red Rocks with the stolen Klingon Cloaking device for like 2,000 years. Why would Captain Picard, most excellent Captain of the Starship Enterprise plan and execute such a devious plan?
Answer: So future Americans could continue to believe that the original natives of this land never took possession of the land we call America! OK, so I am getting off-base here again, so once again back to the Red Rocks Park.
So the US Army "discovered" the Red Rocks formation in the middle of 1820 as the Long Expedition was in Colorado on July 14th and Edwin James a zoologist and two others made the first successful ascent of Pike's Peak. You would naturally think that the expedition was led by the Calvary branch of the US Army, because Denver is a long long foot march from the East Coast / Mid West! Actually Major Stephen Long was an college trained Engineer (Corps of Topographical Engineers) and their expedition left from Missouri.
The Red Rocks area eventually became the property of the US Federal government in 1803 with the Louisiana territory that was purchased from France in 1803. So for the years between 1820 and 1859, I imagine only the Ute natives used it as a campsite as it provided natural cover from the elements. And what does 1859 have to do with Red Rocks Park? Well, Denver became an incorporated city in November of 1858 and was named after the governor of Territorial Kansas, James W. Denver, but that's another story.
So by July, of 1870, a pioneer Colorado judge named Martin Van Buren Luther gave the Red Rocks area a name of "Garden of the Angels". Whether he claimed ownership or not is unknown. The Red Rocks site was renamed as the "Garden of the Titans" in 1906 by editor John Brisben Walker (by now un-cloaked) because the white man could see the rocks and "discover it" while those tourists from India (Indians) could never see the Cloaked rock formation even when they were camping next to the Creation Rock. Mr. Walker had sold his magazine, Cosmopolitan and had enough cash in pocket to purchase the land.
Whoa! Cosmo mag, with all the scantly clad models on the cover? This fellow started, owned, edited and published a women's magazine in the Victorian Era of the 1880's? Well not exactly. It was first published in 1886 as a family magazine, then it was later transformed into a literary type of magazine and then eventually in the 1960's it became a women's magazine and is now a international fashion magazine for women. Don't believe me? See the photo on the right column.
Mr. Walker also set up a temporary stage or platform and was able to organize concerts easily as he did not need to have an environmental impact study on the disruption of the mating cycle of the MPB (Mountain Pine Beetle) due to the noisy choir concerts.
Eventually the city of Denver acquired the park area in 1928 from John Brisben Walker. Well actually the dude was behind on tax payments and forfeited the park during the 1920s for defaulting on tax payments. It was the City of Denver that formally gave the area the name we use today, Red Rocks.
This is a world famous venue used since 1941. It was built mostly
with funds from the depression era CCC (Civilian Conversation Corp)
which hosts many concerts and other events yearly. Here is a quote from
the NPS (National Park Service) PDF brochure on the creation of the Red
Rocks Amphitheatre:
"During the Great Depression, work relief programs created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal shaped a very distinct and expansive public landscape, largely influenced by President Roosevelt’s conservation ethics and creation of the CCC, NPS naturalistic planning principles, and an increased interest in recreation. These factors came together when the NPS and the CCC collaborated to design and develop America’s parks."
Ahhh excuse me, but this was NOT a New Deal, but the same Old Deal of tax and spend under an the umbrella of the Great Depression. Remember that the depressions of:
1807-1814
1837-1844
1873-1879
1893-1898
DID NOT require a New Deal or WPA or CCC. Ohhhhh sorry, I forgot nobody remembers those "other" depressions because we only receive our history lessons from the History Channel, which by the way should be re-named the "Reality TV Channel with a Bogus Name" as I never see History programs on the History Channel. OK, getting on my soap box again. Back to the creation of the Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Also please note that the official spelling of the Red Rocks Amphitheatre is just that, and not spelled as amphitheater.
Most of the Red Rocks Amphitheatre, designed by Denver architect Burnham Hoyt with the assistance of architect Stanley Morse and built by the CCC between 1936 and 1941. The Mayor of Denver, Ben Stapleton resisted developing the area, but city Park Planner George Cranmer used the "free" money and assistance of the federally sponsored WPA & CCC to get the re-development going. The CCC moved in and a U.S. Army contractor built the 19 acre Mount Morrison Civilian Conservation Corps camp between 1935 and 1936 along Bear Creek. The primary designer was Burnam Hoyt.
In 1928, one year before the Great Depression, the City and County of Denver purchased the 649-acre property, but due to the Depression of 1929 the City and County of Denver only completed a five-mile road system in 1929, and the Pueblo style Trading Post building (that still exits and functioning) and small well house in 1931. The trading post was originally named the “Indian Concession House”! Indians come from India and Shoshone, Utes, Sioux, Crow, Paiute, Cheyenne, Navaho and Apache come from what we call America! OMG, Chris Columbus could travel some 3,000 nm from Spain in small wooden sailing ships and then back again to Spain but couldn't get the correct ethnicity of these people. Guess Columbus didn't have Wikipedia . . .
(National Park Service) PDF brochure:
"The park has largely evolved from its original purpose as a driving park—intended as a segment in a circuit of natural and scenic areas interconnected by motorways through the foothills of the Rocky Mountain range—to a destination park centered on the amphitheater. Most of the original loop road system remains extant, although one large portion of it has been straightened at Ship Rock Road, with the abandoned section converted to a segment of the Trading Post Trail. Other small road segments have been filled in for parking areas. Nevertheless, the road system maintains many scenic views both into and out of the park, as it was originally designed."
That is very interesting piece of information from the NPS! So if I am understanding this correctly, before the City of Denver acquired the Red Rocks Park area, when it was still owned by John Brisben Walker, that the area of Red Rocks was just a drive through for Denver families and NOT a destination.
Oh I can just imagine weekend families leaving Denver for a joyful drive UP to the Red Rocks area in their Ford Model T's (production start in 1908, (2.9 L) 20 hp I4 engine). Yeah right, a typical family of 4 stopping of at unknown roadside horse & buggy diner to order a lunch of Jackelope burgers and Sage Fry's on the way up hill. Remember Model T had a whopping 20 horsepower.
As we have already read, Mr. Walker had a stage constructed sometime after 1906 when he purchased the land. I disagree with the NPS statement. (See the 1st Musicians Plate on the right column or click the link.
Beginning in 1909, a funicular which is a “inclined railway,” (cannot find any images), carried tourists, about 100 to a car, to the top of Mt. Morrison to enjoy the scenic views, but this funicular railroad ceased operation in 1914, for unknown reasons. This is another reason why I disagree with the NPS statement that the original Red Rocks park was designed as a "driving park".
The amphitheater is located at an elevation of 6,000 feet above sea level, which is higher than that of metro Denver, the Mile High City (5,280 feet). The amphitheater can seat 10,000 screaming rock fans.
U2 performed at the amphitheater on June 5, 1983 during their War Tour, in front of a crowd of 9,000 people. The show was filmed for the group's concert film U2 Live at Red Rocks: Under a Blood Red Sky. Part of the show was also recorded for the group's live album Under a Blood Red Sky.
The 2 most prominent features are the Ship Rock on the south that
rises approximately two hundred feet, and the taller Creation Rock which
rises three hundred feet on the north. Also when driving up from the
freeway you will go through a small tunnel on the Rock Ridge that is
known as Lizard Rock Tunnel. I was twice "chauffeured" by my
daughter through the Lizard Tunnel and did not see a single lizard! I
know you all are going to say, "it was November in Denver" and the
lizards were all hibernating, but hey I was a tourist you know.
Erected in 2004 by Chapter 7, NACCCA in cooperation with the City
and County of Denver.
Dedicated in honor of the 3 million workers who served in the Civilian Conservation Corps from 1933 to 1942 and to those members of Co 1848, SP-13-C, Morrison, Colorado, who were the builders of this Red Rocks Amphitheatre from 1936 to 1941.
http://redrocksonline.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Rocks_Park
https://historicredrocks.wordpress.com/1928-1941/building-the-amphitheatre
http://www.topogs.org/b_long.html
http://www.nps.gov/nhl/news/LC/fall2014/RedRocksPark.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Rocks_Amphitheatre
