Colorado Cities and Places: Glenwood Springs, Cascade, Manitou, Green Mountain Falls, Denver, Buena Vista, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Estes Park, Idaho Springs. Peaks, parks, canons, and mountain resorts.

Chicago: Passenger Dept. of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific R’y, 1890. Chromolithographic wrappers (8.25” x 6.25”), 54 pp. [2] pp. Numerous illus., map (3” x 4”).

An appealing brochure containing much information for health and pleasure seekers during the 1890 summer and fall seasons, with illustrations of numerous Colorado town and country locales, in handsomely printed chromolithographic wrappers.

Addressed to tourists and travelers, this brochure touts Colorado cities and places as “scenic,” “sanitary” and centers of wealth, luxury and refinement. The topics covered include Where to Go and How to Get There; the Capital and Chief Metropolis (Denver); Climate; Colorado Springs; Pueblo; Palmer Lake; Manitou; Picturesque Localities; the town of Cascade; Green Mountain Falls resort; Buena Vista; Idaho Springs, and so forth. Fine illustrations depict the summit and other aspects of Pike’s Peak; Denver street views; Denver’s Union Railway Station; waterways, lakes, and falls; scenes of industry; canyons; street scenes; buildings; various rock-formations; hunters at a log-cabin; the Colorado towns and cities of Cascade, Idaho Springs, Manitou, Buena Vista, Georgetown, Glenwood Springs, Pueblo (“the Pittsburgh of the west”); “summer scene camp life”; the Green Mountain Falls resort; “bathing establishments,” etc. The brochure concludes with Supplementary Information and information on Hotel Accommodations in a range of Colorado locales. The final page features a small Great Rock Island Route map. Details on tickets and railroad car amenities are provided on the front paste-down.

The wrappers are especially attractive. The front wrapper features the emblem of “The Great Rock Island Route,” as well as a vignette of Native American teepees in a valley with a train passing through a mountainous background, and another vignette of a waterfall identified as “Queen of the Canyon.” The back wrapper depicts the Entrance to the Garden of the Gods.

Established in 1847 as the Rock Island & LaSalle R.R., the company was renamed several times before being reorganized in 1880 under the name Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific R’y Co. After Congress granted passage across Indian Territory in 1887, the company began expanding the railroad through Texas to Galveston—as well as to New Mexico Territory. The company enjoyed considerable success during the 1920s, constructing a freight line between Amarillo, Texas and Liberal, Kansas which was finished in 1929, making accessible a region rich in grain. The Depression took a toll on the Rock Island R.R., and the company went into decline.

REFERENCES: Kansas Historical Society. Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railway Records at kshs.org

CONDITION: Good, small loss to the upper-right corner of front wrapper (no effect on printed area) and light wear, short tear at title-page; contents clean and bright, a few tiny spots on first four pages.