Moominmama's Adventures: The Mile High City

 

In which Moominmama gets a rare dose of the urban in Denver and learns about its gold-fevered history and revival...

According to the one-time vice-president of the Union Pacific Railroad Thomas Durant: "Without railroads, Denver would be too dead to bury."

Early settlers arrived in the parched landscape on horseback and in wagons in search of gold but found precious little until they moved deeper into the Rockies. Denver thus became a jumping off point for prospectors that may have faded away were it not for the transcontinental railroad -- which despite early hopes, skipped Denver and routed through Wyoming instead.

A spur of the railroad connecting Denver with Cheyenne came to the rescue. That and a few successful mines near Leadville led Denver to grow as a transportation hub and resupply center until it became the traffic-clogged modern city it is today.

Union Station first opened in 1881 about 10 years after the first trains entered Denver. This Beaux Arts entrance hall above went up in 1914 after the original central section was destroyed. Two wings of the original building remain but aren't captured here. It still serves as the city's train station.

In a dry climate like Denver, fire was an early and present danger. As a result, most of the surviving historic buildings are made of brick. These are the warehouses around the station, an area that after the gold rush heyday was left to deteriorate.

By the 1950s, this was the seedy part of Denver, the LoDo district (Lower Downtown), with overhead viaducts that crossed the rails and left the neighborhood divided and in shadow. Elsewhere, many of the city's oldest buildings were torn down to make way for modern structures.

It wasn't until 1970 when a historic mansion once owned by the "Unsinkable Molly Brown" (survivor of the Titanic disaster and a local progressive activist, philanthropist and adventurer) was targeted for destruction that Denver rallied to protect its architectural history.

The home of Margaret Brown is now a museum. The viaducts in LoDo were taken down; clever local investors converted the old warehouses into trendy apartments; and the alleys (as at right) filled with public art, bakeries and coffee shops. 

John Hickenlooper, a former Denver mayor, now a U.S. Senator and a one-time, short-lived presidential candidate, invested in and opened Denver's first brewpub across from Union Station. The Wynkoop Brewery features a patio on the old loading dock facing the train station where Moominmama had lunch at the recommendation of my Historic Denver tour guide, Kim.

There is much to see in Denver and I have only a few more days here, but the weather has not been holding up its reputation for sun! Thunderclouds pile up regularly along the mountains, and rain keeps interrupting my plans. 

The clouds here are impressive and can be seen for miles where I'm currently camping.

Among other things, the weather interrupted a hike in the Red Rocks area. These are sandstone beds and pink fledspar that pre-date the tectonic uplift that formed the Rockies and are sometimes called the "Ancestral Rockies." Apparently Red Rocks features a natural amphitheater with great acoustics that has been used to great effect for outdoor rock concerts.

I wouldn't know. I had to turn back before I got there at the risk of being struck by lightning. Plans to hike the Flatirons near Boulder may similarly be put on hold.

This would be a pity because Moominmama came by an awesome pair of hiking boots at a second-hand store in Denver that she'd like to test out!

So in the absence of a Denver area hiking shot, I'll leave you with a photo from my last hike outside Steamboat Springs - quintessential Colorado. Next week should find me in Wyoming!

J