Who was General William J. Palmer and why is his life important to us today? New city residents wonder why his statue is in the intersection of Platte and Nevada Avenues while many long-time citizens believe they know all they need to about him: he founded our city, many landmarks carry his name, he fought to abolish slavery by participating in the Civil War, he was a teetotaller,  and his spoiled wife Queen left him for easy living in England. Think again. Recent research and an updated exhibit at the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum affirm and expound on the informaiton that we know to be true and provide insight into his personal life to dispel the myths. The Museum is presenting this information in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of Palmer's death in 1909.

Colorado Springs residents, hiking through the 789 acres of Red Rock Canyon Open Space, walk into an ancient world with every footstep. The dramatic ridges and canyons in the popular park reveal over 300 million years of geologic time. The fossil evidence that surrounds park visitors reveals that Colorado Springs was once vastly different. Some of these fossils are now on display at the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum.

The fossils, which include tail rays and bones from large predatory fish, a shark tooth still serrated after 70 million years and a cast of a dinosaur track, were either found on the ground or removed from outcrops where they were in danger of being lost by time and erosion. Most of the fossils of Red Rock Canyon are still in their original location, locked within the rocks. The fossils in the exhibit are a result of the Paleotrails Red Rock Canyon Project which began shortly after Open Space was opened to the public in 2006. The study was conducted by local volunteer paleontology researchers, Sharon Milito and Michael Poltenovage. They worked in cooperation with the City of Colorado Springs Parks and Recreation and Cultural Services Department and as part of the Denver Basin Project of the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

Over six million people from around the world visit the Pikes Peak Region yearly and over 500,000 make a pilgrimage up Pikes Peak. The memories of the sublime view from the mountain are not the only thing these sojourners take home with them. Most visitors to the region also purchase a memento or two of their Pikes Peak experience. This is as true today as it was a century ago and the souvenirs range from warm and satisfying Pikes Peak donuts consumed atop the peak, to logo embellished clothing, plates, buttons, spoons, frosty snow globes, toys, and art.

As part of the Zebulon Pike Expedition Bicentennial Commemoration the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum is presenting, Marketing the Mountain: Pikes Peak in the Popular Imagination, which will run May 20, 2006 through May 2007. This exhibit examines efforts by civic boosters, business interests and various promoters to highlight the scenic beauty of our region and draw people to it by using Pikes Peak as a beacon.

From the late nineteenth to the early twenty-first centuries various promotional and marketing strategies attempted to lure tourists to our region. Over the years the mountain has received various labels including: The Sentinel of the Plains, The Monument of the Continent, The Monarch of the Plains, and most recently, America's Mountain.

The endless stream of pamphlets, view-books and tourist guides have created not just a national, but an international awareness of Pikes Peak. According to CSPM Archivist Leah Witherow, "Pikes Peak has become the icon that represents the mythic American West. For centuries prior to settlement the Peak has inspired comment and expression."

According to the Colorado Spring's Convention and Visitor's Bureau tourism is our region's third largest industry. Sales of souvenir materials contribute to this rating as tourists seek to memorialize their visit to Pikes Peak with the purchase of a keepsake. Examples of these souvenirs and marketing objects are the substance of the Marketing the Mountain exhibit. Items associated with the man and the mountain range from the tacky, to the trendy and the classy.

The Pioneers Museum is honored to showcase Thomas Moran's famous ca.1871 oil painting "Pikes Peak through the Gateway to the Garden of the Gods," on loan from the Hill Development Corporation. "?Pikes Peak through the Gateway to the Garden of the Gods' provides a stellar example of Thomas Moran's vision of the western landscape, so critical to the creation of our National Parks system," says Katie Gardner, CSPM curator. Other works displayed include whimsical depictions by current local artists Tracy Felix and Charles Rocky.

Pikes's Peak Through the Gateway of the Garden of the Gods, Thoma Moran 1880, courtesty Miss Lyda Hill.