1.
National Register of Historic Places
–
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States federal governments official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation. The passage of the National Historic Preservation Act in 1966 established the National Register, of the more than one million properties on the National Register,80,000 are listed individually. The remainder are contributing resources within historic districts, each year approximately 30,000 properties are added to the National Register as part of districts or by individual listings. For most of its history the National Register has been administered by the National Park Service and its goals are to help property owners and interest groups, such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation, coordinate, identify, and protect historic sites in the United States. While National Register listings are mostly symbolic, their recognition of significance provides some financial incentive to owners of listed properties, protection of the property is not guaranteed. During the nomination process, the property is evaluated in terms of the four criteria for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, the application of those criteria has been the subject of criticism by academics of history and preservation, as well as the public and politicians. Occasionally, historic sites outside the proper, but associated with the United States are also listed. Properties can be nominated in a variety of forms, including individual properties, historic districts, the Register categorizes general listings into one of five types of properties, district, site, structure, building, or object. National Register Historic Districts are defined geographical areas consisting of contributing and non-contributing properties, some properties are added automatically to the National Register when they become administered by the National Park Service. These include National Historic Landmarks, National Historic Sites, National Historical Parks, National Military Parks/Battlefields, National Memorials, on October 15,1966, the Historic Preservation Act created the National Register of Historic Places and the corresponding State Historic Preservation Offices. Initially, the National Register consisted of the National Historic Landmarks designated before the Registers creation, approval of the act, which was amended in 1980 and 1992, represented the first time the United States had a broad-based historic preservation policy. To administer the newly created National Register of Historic Places, the National Park Service of the U. S. Department of the Interior, hartzog, Jr. established an administrative division named the Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation. Hartzog charged OAHP with creating the National Register program mandated by the 1966 law, ernest Connally was the Offices first director. Within OAHP new divisions were created to deal with the National Register, the first official Keeper of the Register was William J. Murtagh, an architectural historian. During the Registers earliest years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, organization was lax and SHPOs were small, understaffed, and underfunded. A few years later in 1979, the NPS history programs affiliated with both the U. S. National Parks system and the National Register were categorized formally into two Assistant Directorates. Established were the Assistant Directorate for Archeology and Historic Preservation and the Assistant Directorate for Park Historic Preservation, from 1978 until 1981, the main agency for the National Register was the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service of the United States Department of the Interior. In February 1983, the two assistant directorates were merged to promote efficiency and recognize the interdependency of their programs, jerry L. Rogers was selected to direct this newly merged associate directorate
National Register of Historic Places
–
Logo used for the NRHP.
National Register of Historic Places
–
Old Slater Mill, a historic district in
Pawtucket, Rhode Island, was the first property listed in the National Register on November 13, 1966.
National Register of Historic Places
–
The
Loren Andrus Octagon House in
Washington, Michigan has been on the NRHP since September 3, 1971.
National Register of Historic Places
–
Built in 1800 by
Samuel McIntire in
Salem, the
Stephen Phillips House is operated as a
historic house museum by
Historic New England and open for public tours.
2.
National Historic Landmark
–
A National Historic Landmark is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Of over 85,000 places listed on the countrys National Register of Historic Places, a National Historic Landmark District may include contributing properties that are buildings, structures, sites or objects, and it may include non-contributing properties. Contributing properties may or may not also be separately listed, prior to 1935, efforts to preserve cultural heritage of national importance were made by piecemeal efforts of the United States Congress. The first National Historic Site designation was made for the Salem Maritime National Historic Site on March 17,1938. In 1960, the National Park Service took on the administration of the data gathered under this legislation. Because listings often triggered local preservation laws, legislation in 1980 amended the procedures to require owner agreement to the designations. On October 9,1960,92 properties were announced as designated NHLs by Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton, more than 2,500 NHLs have been designated. Most, but not all, are in the United States, there are NHLs in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Three states account for nearly 25 percent of the nations NHLs, three cities within these states all separately have more NHLs than 40 of the 50 states. In fact, New York City alone has more NHLs than all but five states, Virginia, California, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, there are 74 NHLs in the District of Columbia. Some NHLs are in U. S. commonwealths and territories, associated states, and foreign states. There are 15 in Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and other U. S. commonwealths and territories,5 in U. S. -associated states such as Micronesia, over 100 ships or shipwrecks have been designated as NHLs. About half of the National Historic Landmarks are privately owned, the National Historic Landmarks Program relies on suggestions for new designations from the National Park Service, which also assists in maintaining the landmarks. A friends group of owners and managers, the National Historic Landmark Stewards Association, works to preserve, protect, if not already listed on the National Register of Historic Places, an NHL is automatically added to the Register upon designation. About three percent of Register listings are NHLs, american Water Landmark List of U. S
National Historic Landmark
–
USS Constitution
National Historic Landmark
–
Frank Lloyd Wright 's
Taliesin is a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
–
The
American Legation in Tangiers, Morocco, was the first National Historic Landmark on foreign soil.
National Historic Landmark
–
Navajo Nation Council Chamber, the seat of government for the
Navajo Nation,
Window Rock, Arizona.
3.
Rocky Mountain National Park
–
The park is situated between the towns of Estes Park to the east and Grand Lake to the west. The eastern and westerns slopes of the Continental Divide run directly through the center of the park with the headwaters of the Colorado River located in the northwestern region. The main features of the park include mountains, alpine lakes, the Rocky Mountain National Park Act was signed by then–President Woodrow Wilson on January 26,1915, establishing the park boundaries and protecting the area for future generations. The Civilian Conservation Corps built the main route, named Trail Ridge Road. In 1976, UNESCO designated the park as one of the first World Biosphere Reserves, in 2016, more than four and a half million recreational visitors entered the park, which is an increase of about nine percent from the prior year. The history of Rocky Mountain National Park began when Paleo-Indians traveled along what is now Trail Ridge Road to hunt, Ute and Arapaho people subsequently hunted and camped in the area. In 1820, the Long Expedition, led by Stephen H. Long for whom Longs Peak was named, approached the Rockies via the Platte River. Settlers began arriving in the mid-1800s, displacing the Native Americans who mostly left the area voluntarily by 1860, lulu City, Dutchtown, and Gaskill in the Never Summer Mountains were established in the 1870s when prospectors came in search of gold and silver. The boom ended by 1883 with miners deserting their claims, the railroad reached Lyons, Colorado in 1881 and the Big Thompson Canyon Road—a section of U. S. Route 34 from Loveland to Estes Park—was completed in 1904. The 1920s saw a boom in building lodges and roads in the park, prominent individuals in the effort to create a national park included Enos Mills from the Estes Park area, James Grafton Rogers from Denver, and J. Horace McFarland of Pennsylvania. The national park was established on January 26,1915, Precambrian metamorphic rock formed the core of the North American continent during the Precambrian eon 4. 5–1 billion years ago. During the Paleozoic era, western North America was submerged beneath a sea, with a seabed composed of limestone. Concurrently, in the period from 500–300 million years ago, the region began to sink while lime, eroded granite produced sand particles that formed strata—layers of sediment—in the sinking basin. About 300 million years ago, the land was uplifted creating the ancestral Rocky Mountains, fountain Formation was deposited during the Pennsylvanian period of the Paleozoic era, 290–296 million years ago. Over the next 150 million years, the uplifted, continued to erode. Wind, gravity, rainwater, snow, and glacial ice eroded the mountains over geologic time scales. The Ancestral Rockies were eventually buried under subsequent strata, the Pierre Shale formation was deposited during the Paleogene and Cretaceous periods about 70 million years ago. The region was covered by a deep sea—the Cretaceous Western Interior Seaway—which deposited massive amounts of shale on the seabed
Rocky Mountain National Park
–
View from
Bear Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park
Rocky Mountain National Park
–
A view of a
tundra landscape in Rocky Mountain National Park.
Rocky Mountain National Park
–
Longs Peak seen from
Dream Lake trail
Rocky Mountain National Park
–
Lord Dunraven (1841-1926), the
Irish nobleman, in later life.
4.
Estes Park, Colorado
–
The Town of Estes Park /ˈɛstɪs/ is a statutory town in Larimer County, Colorado, United States. A popular summer resort and the location of the headquarters for Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park had a population of 5,858 at the 2010 census. The town overlooks Lake Estes and Olympus Dam, before Europeans came to the Estes Park valley, the Arapaho Indians lived there in the summertime and called the valley the Circle. When three elderly Arapahoes visited Estes Park in 1914, they pointed out sites they remembered from their younger days, toll, recorder, and David Robert Hawkins, a Princeton student. In the 1850s, the Arapaho had spent summers camped around Marys Lake, where their rock fireplaces, tipi sites and they also recalled building eagle traps atop Longs Peak to get the war feathers coveted by all tribes. They remembered their routes to and from the valley in detail, naming trails and they pointed out the site of their buffalo trap, and described the use of dogs to pack meat out of the valley. Their recollections included a battle with Apaches in the 1850s, and fights with Utes who came to the area to hunt bighorn sheep, whites probably came into the Estes Park valley before the 1850s as trappers, but did not stay long. The town is named after Missouri native Joel Estes, who founded the community in 1859, Estes moved his family there in 1863. One of Estes early visitors was William Byers, an editor who wrote of his ascent of Longs Peak in 1864. Griff Evans and his came to Estes Park in 1867 to act as caretakers for the former Estes ranch. Recognizing the potential for tourism, he began building cabins to accommodate travelers, soon it was known as the first dude ranch in Estes Park, with guides for hunting, fishing, and mountaineering. Lord Dunravens land grab didnt work, but he controlled 6,000 acres before he changed tactics and opened the areas first resort, the Estes Park Hotel, in 1873, Englishwoman Isabella Bird, the daughter of an Anglican minister, came to the United States. Landing at San Francisco, she came overland to Colorado, where she borrowed a horse and set out to explore the Rocky Mountains with a guide, the notorious James Nugent, aka Rocky Mountain Jim. She wrote a memoir of their travels, including the ascent of Longs Peak. On June 19th 1874 Rocky Mountain Jim and neighbor Griff Evans had an argument, having had bitter history with each other, Nugent and Evans hated each other and were deep personal rivals when it came to tour guiding tourists. The argument escalated until Evans blasted Jim in the head with his rifle shotgun, Evans then traveled to Fort Collins to file an assault charge against Nugent, but he was arrested and tried for first degree murder when Jim Nugent died on September 9th 1874 of the bullet wound. Evans was put on trial, but the case was dismissed due to the lack of witnesses to the shooting. On August 9th 1875, the Loveland court-house acquitted Evans of any charges in the case, William Henry Jackson photographed Estes Park in 1873
Estes Park, Colorado
–
Panorama of Estes Park as seen from
Lumpy Ridge
Estes Park, Colorado
–
Lord Dunraven (1841-1926), the famous
Irish nobleman, politician and journalist, in later life. His
ancestral seat was
Adare Manor.
Estes Park, Colorado
–
Main Street in 1912.
USGS photo.
Estes Park, Colorado
–
Estes Park entrance sign
5.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
Geographic coordinate system
–
Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.
6.
Taliesin Associated Architects
–
Taliesin Associated Architects was an architectural firm founded by Frank Lloyd Wright to carry on his architectural vision after his death in 1959. It was headquartered at Taliesin West and had up to 14 principals who had all worked under Wright, one of their first major projects was the Rocky Mountain National Park Administration Building, part of Mission 66 for the National Park Service. Along with original work such as the Kaden Tower, the firm completed several of Wrights unbuilt designs, the first managing principal was Wrights protégé and son-in-law William Wesley Peters, until his death in 1991. Other TAA architects included Charles Montooth and John Rattenbury
Taliesin Associated Architects
–
San Jose Center for the Performing Arts, architect William Wesley Peters, 1972
Taliesin Associated Architects
–
Private houses
7.
Multiple Property Submission
–
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States federal governments official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation. The passage of the National Historic Preservation Act in 1966 established the National Register, of the more than one million properties on the National Register,80,000 are listed individually. The remainder are contributing resources within historic districts, each year approximately 30,000 properties are added to the National Register as part of districts or by individual listings. For most of its history the National Register has been administered by the National Park Service and its goals are to help property owners and interest groups, such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation, coordinate, identify, and protect historic sites in the United States. While National Register listings are mostly symbolic, their recognition of significance provides some financial incentive to owners of listed properties, protection of the property is not guaranteed. During the nomination process, the property is evaluated in terms of the four criteria for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, the application of those criteria has been the subject of criticism by academics of history and preservation, as well as the public and politicians. Occasionally, historic sites outside the proper, but associated with the United States are also listed. Properties can be nominated in a variety of forms, including individual properties, historic districts, the Register categorizes general listings into one of five types of properties, district, site, structure, building, or object. National Register Historic Districts are defined geographical areas consisting of contributing and non-contributing properties, some properties are added automatically to the National Register when they become administered by the National Park Service. These include National Historic Landmarks, National Historic Sites, National Historical Parks, National Military Parks/Battlefields, National Memorials, on October 15,1966, the Historic Preservation Act created the National Register of Historic Places and the corresponding State Historic Preservation Offices. Initially, the National Register consisted of the National Historic Landmarks designated before the Registers creation, approval of the act, which was amended in 1980 and 1992, represented the first time the United States had a broad-based historic preservation policy. To administer the newly created National Register of Historic Places, the National Park Service of the U. S. Department of the Interior, hartzog, Jr. established an administrative division named the Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation. Hartzog charged OAHP with creating the National Register program mandated by the 1966 law, ernest Connally was the Offices first director. Within OAHP new divisions were created to deal with the National Register, the first official Keeper of the Register was William J. Murtagh, an architectural historian. During the Registers earliest years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, organization was lax and SHPOs were small, understaffed, and underfunded. A few years later in 1979, the NPS history programs affiliated with both the U. S. National Parks system and the National Register were categorized formally into two Assistant Directorates. Established were the Assistant Directorate for Archeology and Historic Preservation and the Assistant Directorate for Park Historic Preservation, from 1978 until 1981, the main agency for the National Register was the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service of the United States Department of the Interior. In February 1983, the two assistant directorates were merged to promote efficiency and recognize the interdependency of their programs, jerry L. Rogers was selected to direct this newly merged associate directorate
Multiple Property Submission
–
Logo used for the NRHP.
Multiple Property Submission
–
Old Slater Mill, a historic district in
Pawtucket, Rhode Island, was the first property listed in the National Register on November 13, 1966.
Multiple Property Submission
–
The
Loren Andrus Octagon House in
Washington, Michigan has been on the NRHP since September 3, 1971.
Multiple Property Submission
–
Built in 1800 by
Samuel McIntire in
Salem, the
Stephen Phillips House is operated as a
historic house museum by
Historic New England and open for public tours.
8.
Frank Lloyd Wright
–
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer, and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures,532 of which were completed. Wright believed in designing structures that were in harmony with humanity and its environment and this philosophy was best exemplified by Fallingwater, which has been called the best all-time work of American architecture. Wright was a leader of the Prairie School movement of architecture and developed the concept of the Usonian home and his creative period spanned more than 70 years. In addition to his houses, Wright designed original and innovative offices, churches, schools, skyscrapers, hotels, museums and he often designed interior elements for these buildings as well, including furniture and stained glass. Wright wrote 20 books and many articles and was a lecturer in the United States. His colorful personal life made headlines, most notably for the 1914 fire. Wright was recognized in 1991 by the American Institute of Architects as the greatest American architect of all time, Frank Lloyd Wright was born Frank Lincoln Wright in the farming town of Richland Center, Wisconsin, United States, in 1867. His father, William Carey Wright, was an orator, music teacher, occasional lawyer, William Wright met and married Anna Lloyd Jones, a county school teacher, the previous year when he was employed as the superintendent of schools for Richland County. Originally from Massachusetts, William Wright had been a Baptist minister, Anna was a member of the large, prosperous and well-known Lloyd Jones family of Unitarians, who had emigrated from Wales to Spring Green, Wisconsin. One of Annas brothers was Jenkin Lloyd Jones, who would become an important figure in the spread of the Unitarian faith in the Western United States, both of Wrights parents were strong-willed individuals with idiosyncratic interests that they passed on to him. According to his biography, his mother declared when she was expecting that her first child would grow up to build beautiful buildings and she decorated his nursery with engravings of English cathedrals torn from a periodical to encourage the infants ambition. In 1870 the family moved to Weymouth, Massachusetts, where William ministered to a small congregation, in 1876, Anna visited the Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia where she saw an exhibit of educational blocks created by Friedrich Wilhelm August Fröbel. The blocks, known as Froebel Gifts, were the foundation of his innovative kindergarten curriculum, Anna, a trained teacher, was excited by the program and bought a set with which young Wright spent much time playing. The blocks in the set were geometrically shaped and could be assembled in various combinations to form three-dimensional compositions, the Wright family struggled financially in Weymouth and returned to Spring Green, Wisconsin, where the supportive Lloyd Jones clan could help William find employment. They settled in Madison, where William taught music lessons and served as the secretary to the newly formed Unitarian society, although William was a distant parent, he shared his love of music, especially the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, with his children. Soon after Wright turned 14, his parents separated, Anna had been unhappy for some time with Williams inability to provide for his family and asked him to leave. The divorce was finalized in 1885 after William sued Anna for lack of physical affection, William left Wisconsin after the divorce and Wright claimed he never saw his father again. At this time he changed his name from Lincoln to Lloyd in honor of his mothers family
Frank Lloyd Wright
–
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright
–
Wright's home in
Oak Park, Illinois
Frank Lloyd Wright
–
The
Walter Gale House (1893) is
Queen Anne in style yet features window bands and a cantilevered porch roof which hint at Wright's developing aesthetics
Frank Lloyd Wright
–
William H. Winslow House (1893) in
River Forest, Illinois
9.
Mission 66
–
When the National Park Service was created in 1916, long-distance travel in North America was typically accomplished by train. There was no road system, and airline travel was in its infancy. With the development of the US highway system as a works project during the Great Depression, many previously remote parks became accessible via good roads. The explosion in prosperity following World War II brought a tide of automobile-borne tourists that the parks were ill-equipped to receive, by the mid-1950s it was apparent that massive investment in park infrastructure was required. Mission 66 was conceived as the means to accommodate increased visitor numbers, while Mission 66 involved a variety of infrastructure projects such as roads, utilities and employee housing, the most visible components were the interpretational facilities, or visitor center. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, the Park Service came under increasing criticism for neglect of the park system, an essay by Bernard DeVoto in Harpers Magazine proposed that the national parks should be closed until they were funded appropriately. While this had little effect, it highlighted an increasing level of concern about the state. In 1955, Park Service Director Conrad Wirth proposed a program of capital improvement. The expressed aim was to complete the upgrades in time for the Park Services 50th anniversary in 1966, in early parks, visitor orientation facilities were built on a relatively small scale, often in the form of trailside museums for visitor edification. As a new feature, visitor centers had to be built quickly, managers such as Thomas Chalmers Vint, the Park Service director of design and construction, made a conscious decision to employ a more streamlined modern style of design for Mission 66 facilities. The simpler, cleaner design philosophy was faster and less expensive to implement, Mission 66 also involved substantial re-planning of entire park infrastructures, with entirely new developments reaching the proportions of new towns. The similar Wuksachi Village in Sequoia National Park was planned to replace the Giant Forest, colter Bay Village in Grand Teton National Park included the relocation of cabins from guest ranches displaced by the expansion of the park into Jackson Hole. While a large portion of the funding for Mission 66 was devoted to visitor facilities, much of the existing housing was built by the CCC and amounted to little more than cabins. Using the model of military housing, a series of standard designs was developed. The Jefferson National Expansion Memorial on the St. Louis, Missouri riverfront entailed the demolition of forty blocks of the city to create a new park at the feet of Gateway Arch. The old warehouse district had been targeted for demolition by the city to eradicate urban blight, and the arch and its park were seen as a means to this end, ironically, much of the exploration and expansion the new project commemorated had originated from the demolished riverfront district. In Philadelphia, the development of Independence National Historical Park involved the creation of Independence Mall, the mall was designed to provide a vista of Independence Hall, necessitating the demolition of numerous 19th-century buildings. While Mission 66 is most frequently associated with improvements, it also funded a number of continuing programs
Mission 66
–
Dinosaur Quarry Visitor Center,
Dinosaur National Monument, prior to 2009
Mission 66
–
First Day cover of 50th Anniversary and completion of Mission 66
Mission 66
–
Wright Brothers National Memorial visitor center, shortly after completion
Mission 66
–
Salt Pond Visitor Center,
Cape Cod National Seashore
10.
National Park Service
–
It was created on August 25,1916, by Congress through the National Park Service Organic Act and is an agency of the United States Department of the Interior. As of 2014, the NPS employs 21,651 employees who oversee 417 units, the National Park Service celebrated its centennial in 2016. National parks and national monuments in the United States were originally individually managed under the auspices of the Department of the Interior, the movement for an independent agency to oversee these federal lands was spearheaded by business magnate and conservationist Stephen Mather, as well as J. Horace McFarland. With the help of journalist Robert Sterling Yard, Mather ran a publicity campaign for the Department of the Interior and they wrote numerous articles that praised the scenic and historic qualities of the parks and their possibilities for educational, inspirational, and recreational benefits. This campaign resulted in the creation of a National Park Service, Mather became the first director of the newly formed NPS. On March 3,1933, President Herbert Hoover signed the Reorganization Act of 1933, the act would allow the President to reorganize the executive branch of the United States government. It wasnt until later that summer when the new President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President Roosevelt agreed and issued two Executive orders to make it happen. In 1951, Conrad Wirth became director of the National Park Service, the demand for parks after the end of the World War II had left the parks overburdened with demands that could not be met. In 1952, with the support of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, he began Mission 66, New parks were added to preserve unique resources and existing park facilities were upgraded and expanded. In 1966, as the Park Service turned 50 years old, emphasis began to turn from just saving great and wonderful scenery, Director George Hartzog began the process with the creation of the National Lakeshores and then National Recreation Areas. Since its inception in 1916, the National Park Service has managed each of the United States national parks, Yellowstone National Park was the first national park in the United States. In 1872, there was no government to manage it. Yosemite National Park began as a park, the land for the park was donated by the federal government to the state of California in 1864 for perpetual conservation. Yosemite was later returned to federal ownership, at first, each national park was managed independently, with varying degrees of success. In Yellowstone, the staff was replaced by the U. S. Army in 1886. Due to the irregularities in managing these national treasures, Stephen Mather petitioned the government to improve the situation. In response, Secretary of the Interior Franklin K. Lane challenged him to lobby for creating a new agency, Mather was successful with the ratification of the National Park Service Organic Act in 1916. Later, the agency was given authority over other protected areas, the National Park System includes all properties managed by the National Park Service
National Park Service
–
In 1916, a portfolio of nine major parks was published to generate interest. Printed on each brochure was a map showing the parks and principal railroad connections.
National Park Service
–
National Park Service Arrowhead
National Park Service
–
In 1934, a series of ten postage stamps were issued to commemorate the reorganization and expansion of the National Park Service.
National Park Service
–
Grand Canyon National Park, south rim of canyon.
11.
Alpine Visitor Center
–
It is the highest visitor center in the National Park System. The Alpine Visitor Center includes restrooms, exhibits on the tundra ecosystem, and a gift shop operated by the parks non-profit partner organization. The visitor center opens around Memorial Day and closes around mid-October due to snow, in mid-summer, the visitor center is also usually accessible by Old Fall River Road, a 9-mile dirt road open to one-way, uphill vehicle traffic. Views from the Alpine Visitor Center include the Mummy Range, the Fall River Valley, and Trail Ridge to the east, hiking opportunities include the 1/4-mile round-trip Alpine Ridge Trail, commonly referred to as Huffers Hill, and the 8-mile round-trip Ute Trail to Milner Pass. Park Rangers provide park orientation and interpretive programs on the alpine tundra, additional gift and food services at Fall River Pass are provided at the concession-operated Trail Ridge Store and Cafe
Alpine Visitor Center
–
The visitor center in late May
Alpine Visitor Center
–
View of the
Rocky Mountains from the Alpine Visitor Center
12.
Beatrice Willard Alpine Tundra Research Plots
–
The Beatrice Willard Alpine Tundra Research Plots were established in 1959 along Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, above the treeline in an alpine tundra habitat. The plots were used by Beatrice Willard of the Institute of Arctic, willards dissertation and updates, as well as her book Land Above the Trees, A Guide to American Alpine Tundra were highly influential in studies of alpine and tundra ecology. Her recommendations were used by the National Park Service in its management of the alpine areas of the park. Willards work continued after she moved on to work. The Rock Cut Plot is at an elevation of 12,110 feet near the Rock Cut parking area, the research plot is 5 feet by 20 feet, within a 50-foot by 40-foot enclosure. A3 feet fence keeps park visitors from disturbing the plot, an old footpath runs through the plot, and was monitored to establish rates of regrowth on the tundra. The Forest Canyon Plot is at an elevation of 11,716 feet, measuring only 10 feet square and it is close to the Forest Canyon Overlook. The plots were placed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 25,2007
Beatrice Willard Alpine Tundra Research Plots
–
Willard, Beatrice, Alpine Tundra Research Plots
13.
Agnes Vaille Shelter
–
The Agnes Vaille Shelter is a beehive-shaped stone shelter near the summit of Longs Peak in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, USA. The shelter was built in 1927 by the National Park Service after a number of climbers died ascending Longs Peak, the shelter was named for Agnes Vaille, who made the first winter ascent of the east face of Longs Peak by a woman. On January 12,1925, Vaille fell 100 ft while descending the North Face, Vaille survived the fall with minor injuries, but was unable to walk. Her climbing partner, professional mountaineering guide Walter Kiener, went for help, one of the rescuers, Herbert Sortland, froze to death after breaking his hip while trying to rescue her. The stone for the shelter came from this area, the shelter consists of a single circular room with a conical ceiling formed by the walls and roof of the shelter, entered by a single door opening whose door has been removed. As a result, the interior may be filled with snow for much of summer. There are two glazed windows and one opening, and the floor is paved with stone. Recent scholarship asserts that the present shelter was built by Vailles family in 1935 to replace the 1927 Park Service shelter, the Agnes Vaille Shelter was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 24,1992
Agnes Vaille Shelter
–
Agnes Vaille Shelter
14.
Fall River Pass
–
Fall River Pass is a mountain pass in the Rocky Mountains of northern Colorado in the United States. It is located in the Front Range, within Rocky Mountain National Park, the pass is traversed by U. S. Highway 34 on Trail Ridge Road between Granby and Estes Park. On the other hand, the old, largely unpaved, and one-way-uphill Fall River Road does have its summit at Fall River Pass, the Alpine Visitor Center, one of five visitor centers for Rocky Mountain National Park, is located at Fall River Pass. The highway has a moderately steep 6% grade on either side of this point, USGS TopoZone listing Tours of Fall River Pass National Geographic Article Official Site
Fall River Pass
–
Trail Ridge Store at Fall River Pass
Fall River Pass
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Map By USGS
Fall River Pass
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2.3 Miles High
Fall River Pass
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Creek At Fall RIver Pass
15.
Kawuneeche Valley
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Kawuneeche Valley, also known as Kawuneeche or Coyote Valley, is a marshy valley of the Colorado River near its beginning. It is located on the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, the axis of the valley runs almost directly north to south. Kawuneeche means valley of the coyote in Arapaho language and there is a Coyote Valley Trail head by US Route 34 in the half of the park. Coyotes still live here, as do wapiti, mule deer, moose, along the main part of valley runs the lower section of the Trail Ridge Road - the highest continuous paved road in the United States. The construction of the a water diversion canal called Grand Ditch between the 1890s and 1930s reduced the water table and limited the frequency and magnitude of the floods in the Kawuneeche Valley. In addition, Grand Ditch breached its bank on May 30,2003, the Grand Ditch owner - the Water Supply and Storage Company was ordered to pay $9 million settlement to the Rocky Mountain National Park. It was the largest natural resource damages payment in the history of the Park System Resource Protection Act, Grand Ditch exerts also negative aesthetic impact on the Kawuneeche. Elk was reintroduced to its old stomping grounds in the Colorado River Valley in the mid-1910s and this solitary species wanders alone moving south from Wyoming or east from Utah. And such moose probably account for sightings and kills in Colorado between the 1860s and 1960s and this is an ecological innovation driven largely by state game officials to attract sportsmen and tourists. However, moose are known to undergo dramatic population cycles, which, in combination with European settlement, populations were known in southern Wyomings Medicine Bow Mountains. In 1978 and 1979,4 bulls,13 cows,4 yearlings, all radio collared,12 each year. And today Kawuneeche Valley is a prime habitat, although sightings frequently occur even further, east of the Continental Divide. Large herbivores have become so numerous in the Kawuneeche Valley, that cause significant harm to the willow thickets and other plants. Elk is overpopulated, but rarer moose more specialized -91. 3% of its summer diets consist of six willow species and this is accompanied by drought and the proliferation of a native fungus spread by a bird called the sapsucker. The primary fungus species is Grosmannia clavigera, but Ophiostoma is also present, the fungi kill the stems above the wells drilled by sapsuckers. All these factors weaken the ability of the valley’s willows to generate new growth, their communities have declined, the most important bark beetle species in the Kawuneeche Valley are mountain pine beetle and spruce beetle. In recent years, these species have devastated forests on the side of Rocky Mountain National Park. They were abandoned after a few years of the mining boom
Kawuneeche Valley
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Kawuneeche Valley from
U.S. Highway 34.
Kawuneeche Valley
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Wapiti (elk) in Kawuneeche Valley at dawn
Kawuneeche Valley
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Colorado River at the Coyote Valley Trail head, Kawuneeche Valley
Kawuneeche Valley
16.
Lulu City, Colorado
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Lulu City was a transient mining town in eastern Grand County, Colorado, in the Kawuneeche Valley in what is now Rocky Mountain National Park. The town appeared after silver was discovered in the area in 1879 by prospector Joe Shipler, the company was backed by Benjamin F. Burnett of Fort Collins and Fort Collins rancher William Baker. The town was named after Burnetts daughter, by 1881 there were forty cabins and a number of business establishments. By this time it was apparent that the ore was of low grade, and that high transportation costs made mining in the area marginal. It was abandoned by 1885, except by Shipler, who lived there for thirty years, the settlement of Dutchtown was established in the Never Summer Mountains to the west of town by outcasts from Lulu City. The land was purchased from the estate of Hugh J. Harrison by the National Park Service in 1949, three cabin ruins remain, along with remnants of other structures. The site was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 14,1977, National Register of Historic Places listings in Grand County, Colorado
Lulu City, Colorado
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Lulu City Site
Lulu City, Colorado
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Lulu City town site. Lulu Mountain Background
Lulu City, Colorado
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Lulu City marker, National Park Service
Lulu City, Colorado
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Remnant building site, Lulu City.
17.
Middle Park (Colorado basin)
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Middle Park is a high basin in the Rocky Mountains of north-central Colorado in the United States. It is located in Grand County, on the southwest slope of Rocky Mountain National Park, the basin surrounds the headwaters of the Colorado River on the west side of the Front Range. It extends southwestward from the source of the Colorado at Grand Lake, downstream past Granby, Hot Sulphur Springs, Parshall and it terminates on the western end roughly where the Colorado passes Gore Canyon at the southern end of the Gore Range. The valley also extends into the valleys of side tributaries on the upper Colorado such as the Fraser River, Williams Fork. The valley of the Fraser contains the towns of Fraser and Winter Park, the valley receives its name from being the middle of the three large mountain valleys in Colorado on the western side of the Front Range. The other two are North Park and South Park, U. S. Highway 34 traverses the valley from the northeast to the southwest, and connects to U. S. Highway 40 at Granby. North Park, to the north, is drained by the North Platte River and separated from the valley by low passes, Muddy Pass. The passes on the east and south, connect to the basin of the South Platte River and they are both in the Front Range proper and thus are higher and more likely to be snow covered. Milner Pass is near the point on Trail Ridge Road and is open only during summer months. Berthoud Pass, at the headwaters of the Fraser south of Winter Park and this latter route is the most direct route between the valley and Denver. The valley contains several reservoirs on the Colorado and its tributaries, including Lake Granby, the main industry in the valley is tourism, including alpine skiing at Winter Park Ski Resort. Much traffic between Denver and the resort of Steamboat Springs passes through the valley as well, allowing for secondary tourism industries to proliferate in the smaller towns
Middle Park (Colorado basin)
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View of Middle Park near Granby, Colorado
18.
Milner Pass
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Milner Pass, elevation 10,759 ft is a mountain pass in the Rocky Mountains of northern Colorado in the United States. It is located on the divide in the Front Range, within Rocky Mountain National Park. The pass provides the passage over the continental divide for US34, the pass is not, however, the high point on Trail Ridge Road, which crests at 12,183 ft east of the pass within Rocky Mountain National Park. Along with the rest of Trail Ridge Road, the pass is closed in winter from the first heavy snow fall until the opening of the road around Memorial Day. The gentle pass divides the headwaters of the Cache la Poudre River, the road near the pass provides a panoramic view of the Never Summer Mountains to the west
Milner Pass
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Milner Pass
19.
Moraine Park Museum and Amphitheater
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The two structures were built to serve visitors to the park, and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The museum was built in 1923 by Imogene Green MacPherson as the center of her private tourist development, the National Park Service purchased the property in 1931 and demolished the surrounding cabins in following years. The amphitheater was designed and built in 1935, with the design by the NPS Branch of Plans and Designs, the lodge was reworked in 1934-35. Both structures adhere to the National Park Service Rustic design ethic of the time, with stone, Imogene Green MacPherson first homesteaded the site in Moraine Park in 1903, naming the land Hillcrest. In 1905, newly married, she expanded with a lodge, dining hall, stable, paying guest began to arrive in 1910. Mrs. MacPherson continued to operate the resort after the death of her husband in 1919, after her death in 1928, her family continued to run the lodge until its purchase by the Park Service. The amphitheater is built one hundred feet from the lodge. A projection booth and screen once existed, but were removed, an elaborate arrangement of stone gutters and culverts provides drainage. The Moraine Park Lodge adjoins the William Allen White Cabins historic district, the museum features interactive natural history exhibits, with themes including geologic processes, glaciation, weather and climate, ecosystems, and human impact. The park offers environmental education programs based on similar themes, the lodge building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 8,1976. The listing was expanded to include the amphitheater on June 15,2005, the valley of Moraine Park was formed when an ancient glacial lake silted up and drained, forming a flat meadow. The soil is too moist to support most trees but supports grasses, willows, the Big Thompson River flows through this valley after coming down glacier-carved Forest Canyon. This habitat area is characterized by pine, aspen, and douglas-fir forests, as well as a few large. Moraine Park is also a place to watch elk, because many elk congregate here for the fall rut. CO-78, Moraine Lodge, Bear Lake Road, Estes Park vicinity, Larimer County, CO,8 photos,12 data pages,1 photo caption page
Moraine Park Museum and Amphitheater
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Moraine Park Museum and Amphitheater
Moraine Park Museum and Amphitheater
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The Moraine Park Amphitheater
20.
Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park
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Wild Basin is a scenic trail and the southeastern entrance station of Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, United States. It is located north of Allenspark off State Highway 7, a dirt road leads to a ranger station, parking and horseback or hiking trails. The trail to Bluebird Lake and Ouzel Lake follows the North St. Vrain Creek passing Calypso Cascades and Ouzel Falls along the way, leading to Ouzel Lake and Bluebird Lake. Both Ouzel Falls and Ouzel Lake are named after a North American species of bird, Cinclus mexicanus, other trails lead to Thunder Lake, Finch Lake, and Pear Lake
Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park
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View of Ouzel Falls
Wild Basin, Rocky Mountain National Park
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View of Calypso Cascades
21.
Hallett Peak
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Hallett Peak is a mountain summit in the northern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. Hallett Peak is on the Continental Divide, flanked by Flattop Mountain to the north, just to its east lie Emerald Lake, Dream Lake, and Nymph Lake, which are usually accessed from the Bear Lake Comfort Station. The Northcutt-Carter Route of Hallett Peak is recognized in the historic climbing text Fifty Classic Climbs of North America. Non-technical climbers may reach the summit of Hallett Peak by hiking up the Flattop Mountain Trail to its highpoint, then walking south along the ridgeline and ascending the peak over talus piles
Hallett Peak
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Looking west over
Dream Lake. Hallett Peak is on the left with the dramatic cliff band and prominent point.
22.
Longs Peak
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Longs Peak is a high and prominent mountain summit in the northern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. The 14, 259-foot fourteener is located in the Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness,9.6 miles southwest by south of the Town of Estes Park, Colorado, United States. Longs Peak is the northernmost fourteener in the Rocky Mountains and the highest point in Boulder County, the mountain was named in honor of explorer Stephen Harriman Long and is featured on the Colorado state quarter. Longs Peak can be seen from Longmont, Colorado, as well as from most of the northern Front Range Urban Corridor. Longs Peak is one of the most prominent mountains in Colorado, the peak is named for Major Stephen Long, who is said to be the first to spot the great mountains on behalf of the U. S. Government on June 30,1820. Together with the nearby Mount Meeker, the two are referred to as the Twin Peaks. As the only fourteener in Rocky Mountain National Park, the peak has long been of interest to climbers, the easiest route is not technical during the summer season. It was probably first used by indigenous people collecting eagle feathers. The first recorded ascent was in August 23,1868 by the party of John Wesley Powell via the south side. The East Face of the mountain is 1,675 feet steep and is surmounted by a 1,000 feet steep sheer cliff known as The Diamond. Another famous profile belongs to Longs Peak, to the southeast of the summit is a series of rises which, the photo shows the beaver climbing the south of the mountain. In 1954 the first proposal made to the National Park Service to climb The Diamond was met with an official closure, the Diamond was first ascended by Dave Rearick and Bob Kamps that year, by a route that would come to be known simply as D1. This route would later be listed in Allen Steck and Steve Ropers influential book Fifty Classic Climbs of North America, the easiest route on the face is the Casual Route, first climbed in 1977. It has since become the most popular route up the wall, the oldest person to summit Longs Peak was Rev. William Col. Billy Butler, who climbed it on September 2,1926, his 85th birthday. In 1932, Clerin “Zumie” Zumwalt summited Longs Peak 53 times, on June 6,2016, a group of US Special Forces were rescued after members of the team suffered from altitude sickness. Longs Peak has one remaining glacier named Mills Glacier, the glacier is located around 12,800 feet at the base of the Eastern Face, just above Chasm Lake. A permanent snowfield, called The Dove, is located north of Longs Peak, Longs Peak is one of fewer than 50 mountains in Colorado that have a glacier. Trails that ascend Longs Peak include the East Longs Peak Trail, the Longs Peak Trail, the Keyhole Route, Clarks Arrow, only some technical climbing is required to reach the summit of Longs Peak during the summer season, which typically runs from mid July through early September
Longs Peak
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Longs Peak seen from
Dream Lake
Longs Peak
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Longs Peak (left of center), Pagoda Peak (center, in sun), Chief's Head (right of center, in shadow), and Mount Terra Tomah (at far right edge, in shadow), from 12,000 feet (3,700 m) above sea level in
Rocky Mountain National Park
Longs Peak
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The Keyhole as seen from the Boulder Field. A small stone shelter (Agnes Vaille Memorial) approximately 10 feet (3 m) high that sits on the left side of the Keyhole gives a sense of scale.
Longs Peak
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Snowpack accumulation on Longs Peak
23.
Mount Meeker
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Mount Meeker is a high mountain summit of the Twin Peaks Massif in the northern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. The 13, 916-foot thirteener is located in the Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness,4.8 miles west by north of the community of Allenspark in Boulder County, Colorado, United States. Mount Meeker is the second highest summit in Rocky Mountain National Park after its neighbor Longs Peak,0.7 miles to the northwest, due to its location southeast of Longs Peak, Mount Meeker is more visually prominent along much of the northern Front Range Urban Corridor. The peak is considered difficult to climb, technically, than Longs Peak on certain routes. A couple of French trappers called Longs Peak and Mount Meeker Les Deux Oreilles in 1799, the name Mount Meeker was first suggested in 1873 when the Hayden Survey was performed. Present were William Byers, Anna Dickinson, and Ralph Meeker and it was officially named Mount Meeker in 1911
Mount Meeker
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Mount Meeker seen from
State Highway 7.
24.
Mummy Range
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The Mummy Range is a mountain range in the Rocky Mountains of northern Colorado in the United States. The range is a subrange of the Front Range located in southwestern Larimer County northwest of the town of Estes Park. It is located largely within Rocky Mountain National Park, extending north from Trail Ridge Road approximately 15 miles, prominent peaks in the range include Hagues Peak, Ypsilon Mountain, Mummy Mountain, and Mount Chiquita. Some offer reasonably challenging technical routes but all can be ascended by steep hiking, Colorado mountain ranges U. S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System, Mummy Range Hiking info and photos of Ypsilon Lake, which sits at the base of Ypsilon Mountain
Mummy Range
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Mummy Range seen from Lake Estes
Mummy Range
25.
Never Summer Mountains
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The Never Summer Mountains are a mountain range in the Rocky Mountains in north central Colorado in the United States consisting of seventeen named peaks. The range is small and tall, covering only 25 sq mi with a length of 10 mi while rising to over 12,000 ft at over ten distinct peaks. The range straddles the Jackson-Grand county line for most of its length, a panoramic view of the range is available from sections of Trail Ridge Road in Rocky Mountain National Park. One of the northernmost peaks, Nokhu Crags, is visible from the west side of Cameron Pass. The rocks of Never Summer Mountains are younger than most of the mountain ranges. Most of the highest peaks in the range are granodiorite that was uplifted during the Miocene epoch, the ranges highest summit, Mount Richthofen, is the remnant of an andesite volcanic plug. The Nokhu Crags in the north are mostly Pierre Shale dating from Cretaceous times, a large thrust fault underneath the Kawuneeche Valley thrust older Precambrian rocks on top of the younger Cretaceous rocks on the east side of the range. The southern peaks are Miocene-aged granite, and finally Precambrian-aged biotite gneiss, beginning two-million years ago glaciers began carving the jagged peaks of the Never Summer Mountains. Successive waves of glaciation continued to reshape the mountains until the Pinedale Glaciation ended twelve-thousand years ago, the peaks are enormous weathered masses of granitic rock heavily covered with green and orange lichens surrounded on all sides by large fields of talus shed from the original peaks. Many alpine lakes are nestled amongst the peaks, most vegetation is low-growing and stunted. Few trees grow at the altitudes and Krummholz abounds. In 1879 prospectors discovered silver on Mount Shipler, starting a small mining rush, a mining town was platted and given the name Lulu City 40°26′44″N 105°50′53″W. Other small settlements were founded in the area, including Dutchtown, the population swelled as high as 5,000 miners and business owners catering to those miners. However, low grade ore, combined with difficult transportation and lack of a smelter to process the ore conspired against the boom. By late 1883 the mining ended and the miners moved on. The last miners in Dutchtown left by 1884, today remnants of the towns and mines are accessible by hiking trails. In 1890 a project called the Grand Ditch began, the ditch is a 16.2 mi water diversion project. Streams and creeks flow from the highest peaks are diverted into the ditch
Never Summer Mountains
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Nokhu Crags, at the northern end of the Never Summer Mountains
