Pingree
Park
Pingree
Park
is a mountain campus of Colorado
State
University
located on the South Fork of the Cache la Poudre
River
in the Mummy
Range
at 9,053 ft. It is 25 miles
(40 km) up Highway 14 in the Poudre Canyon, then a left turn at Eggers and
another 16 miles (26 km) on a dirt road, CR 63E. It
is located on 1,600 acres in the
Colorado
National Forest, the result of an 1912 Act of Congress which set aside this land for use by
Colorado
A&M
College
(now CSU, Case 308).
The following
information is from Wikipedia, with additional information about George Pingree
from Stanley Case.
During the summer Pingree Park is home to a variety of conferences from around
the country ranging from CSU students enrolled in Natural Resource and Forestry
classes to corporate groups using its ropes course and finally Elderhostel
groups organized through the Pingree office.
Challenge
Ropes Course
A
popular program at
Pingree
Park
is the Challenge Ropes Course operated on the campus. Many groups use the
facilities including students from both Colorado
State
University
and Poudre
Valley
School District. Additionally many recreational and corporate groups include a stop at the
Ropes Course for use in team building exercises. The course consists of several
low and high elements built in 1989 with a large climbing wall and adjoining
"Giant Swing" built in 2005. In the Hourglass Fire of 1994 the course
was damaged severely but was rebuilt in the following years.
Academics
at
Pingree
Park
Since
1915 the Pingree
Park
campus has hosted summer sessions for students with programs in the mountains.
Students stay in four person cabins on the campus grounds with heat provided by
a wood burning stove. NR-220 is a required four-week field camp for
undergraduate students in the
College
of
Natural Resources. The Forestry program, F-230, is a one-week program for Forestry majors,
required in addition to the NR-220 program.
Elderhostel
Programs
Throughout
the summer various Elderhostel groups make their way up to Pingree
Park. These trips began in 1983 and now include Intergenerational, Watercolor,
Musical programs and intensive Hiking trips.
Elderhostel is the world's
largest not-for-profit educational travel organization for adults. Elderhostel
offers more than 8,000 learning adventures every year, in all 50 U.S.
states and in over 90 countries around the world. Over 160,000 people enroll in
Elderhostel programs every year.
Conferences
The 6-bedroom
conference cabins were constructed in 1995 after the old structures burnt in the 1994
fire. They can house various private organizations that go to Pingree
Park
for retreats, workshops and meetings.
The Five Summits
Five mountains
among the mummy range hold particular attention to the students and staff of
Pingree
Park. It is often a goal to hike all of the summits in one season and there is even
a trip that tackles them all in 24 hours. These summits are:
-
Signal
Mountain
- 11,262 ft (3,433 m)
-
Stormy Peaks - 12,148 ft
(3,703 m)
-
Fall
Mountain
- 12,258 ft (3,736 m)
-
Comanche
Peak
- 12,702 ft (3,872 m)
-
Hagues
Peak
- 13,560 ft (4,130 m)
History of Pingree
Park
The
area that is Pingree
Park
has been home to many different communities over its history before becoming
the campus that it is today.
Early History
The original
inhabitants of Pingree
Park, as determined through early interaction and artifacts recovered were Native
Americans of the Arapaho,
Mountain Ute and Cherokee
tribes. White settlers began to arrive in the 1830s as fur trappers, interested
primarily in beaver pelts. In the 1850s prospectors came through the
region in search of gold.
George W. Pingree
George W. Pingree
(1832–1911, 79 years old) in 1867
traveled up the South Fork of the Poudre
River
and into the park looking for trees to make suitable railroad ties for the Union Pacific Railroad. In 1868,
George Pingree established a logging camp in the valley that now bears his name.
30 to 40 "Tie-hacks" were paid 10˘ per railroad tie and hunters were
employed to provide food. The "Tie-hacks" had to walk 25 miles
(40 km) in and out of the valley to the nearest wagon track. The
lumberjacks could hew up to 50 ties a day. In the springs of 1869 and 1870 the
ties were taken out and hauled by wagon to Tie Siding,
Wyoming
. Pingree moved to
Wyoming
in 1870 when the camp closed because
the railroad no longer needed railroad ties, having moved past the
Nebraska
and
Wyoming
section the camp had serviced.
Case’s story is slightly different:
George W. Pingree after several stints in the Army, including the Battle
of Sand Creek, “came into
Poudre
Canyon
in the late 1860s and spent winters in its upper territories, trapping beaver
and hunting wild game. He built a
camp at what is now Rustic and cut a trail up the gulch north of the river [what
we now call Pingree Hill]. Over this
trail he packed out his supplies, game and furs.
In all probability, once he heard of the need for railroad ties, he
notified some of the abundance of good material in the area.”
In other words, Case differs from Wikipedia in that Pingree did not
specifically to become a tie-hack,.
Case’s story is likely more accurate since it is well known that trapping,
hunting, and prospecting (gold was discovered in Cherry Creek, west of
Denver
in 1858) had been drawing men to the
area for years. Second, the Union
Pacific Railroad track construction reached Cheyenne November
13, 1867, at which time over
four thousand people had migrated into the new city anticipating the prosperity
the railroad would bring (Wikipedia).
Wyoming
in the area of
Cheyenne
is not known for trees, so they had to come from other areas, namely
Colorado
. The Laramie River flows north so that was one source taking ties directly
north, but further west than
Cheyenne
. The Cache la Poudre was another source, which took the ties down to
La Porte
where they were trimmed up to the specifications for the railroad, then hauled
up the
Overland Trail
to Tie Siding. The Union Pacific
had built a spur south to this area where the train picked up the ties and
brought them back, north to the main line, thus name for the community.
Fore more information on Tie Siding and the
work of tie-hacks, go to http://www.over-land.com/tieside.html,
which has information on the Overland Trail Stage and the many emigration trails
in
Wyoming
.
1890 Fire
In 1890, a
forest fire engulfed most of the area around the park destroying the Ponderosa
pine forest and resulting in the proliferation of Lodgepole pine and
Aspen
(the current dominant species in the park). Remnants of the original forest can
be found along the ridge south of the
Pingree
Valley
.
The Ramsey and Koenig Era
The Koenig children along with Joe Bennett (back right) pose with their
schoolteacher. Circa 1920.
In 1897, two brothers, Hugh and Charles Ramsey, homesteaded the present southern
portion of the campus. The homesteads were officially deeded in 1903. The
Ramsey’s made a living ranching and operating a sawmill. In 1912, Hugh Ramsey
hired Frank Koenig. Koenig spent the winter with the Ramsey family and helped
build a road over Pennock
Pass.
In 1913, Ramsey, Koenig, and a helper Tom Bennett built a road to
Twin
Lakes
. Frank Koenig and Hazel Ramsey were married that year. Hugh Ramsey moved to the
upper ranch and sold to Frank Koenig most of the property except for 40 acres
(160,000 m2) which he gave to Hazel as a wedding present.
Terrible
hardships struck the residents of Pingree
Park
in the early years. In 1907 diphtheria struck killing one son and two infant
daughters. In 1919, Frank and Hazel Koenig’s twin infants died of whooping
cough while the family was snow bound. The children were buried in a plot next
to their cousins. The original homestead cabin was burned to the ground and the
present structure was built. In addition to the many structures that still stand
of the original ranch community, the Koenig's retain their legacy in the region
through many geographical names. In 1915, Rocky
Mountain
National Park
was created through an act of Congress. Frank Koenig was selected as one of the
initial three park rangers and went on to name many of the surrounding
geographic features, (Emmaline
Lake
after his mother,
Hazeline
Lake
after his wife, and Ramsey
Peak
after his father-in-law).
Integration into Colorado
State
University
As early as
1910, Pingree park was the interest of the fledgling University. Through the
work of Professor B.
O.
Longyear, a special act of Congress allowed
Colorado
Agricultural
College
(now
Colorado State
University) the right to select tracts of federal land for biologic research and practical
study. In 1912, Colorado Agricultural College President, Charles
A. Lory; Colorado National Forest Supervisor, N.M. Wheeler; State Forester
and Professor, B. O. Longyear; President Edwards of the State Board of
Agriculture; and Colorado Governor, E.
M. Ammons, selected 1,600 acres (6.5 km2) of land, including the
present campus land in Pingree Park. The group traveled by Stanley Steamer and
then by horse through
Pennock
Pass.
While selecting the land, they stayed at Hazel and Frank Koenig’s cabin.
A
functional campus was erected quickly with the first building completed in 1913
to serve as bunkhouse, cafeteria and classroom. During construction, Hazel
Koenig cooked for construction workers at the site. In 1915 the first Civil
Engineering class was held and then in 1917 the first Forestry field camp was
held under Professor Longyear with one student in attendance.
View
from the trail of the Koenig Homestead at Pingree
Park.
Hourglass
Fire of 1994
The
Hourglass fire started on July 1, 1994 near the Hourglass Reservoir which gave
the fire its name. It started with a lighting strike which caused a crown fire.
It burned down the South Dorm and it almost burned down the Old Schoolhouse. The
fire burned a half dozen buildings.
Society Tour, August 2006
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