New volume traces state’s past

By John Gleason

Denver author Francis J. Pierson has written a new book called “Summit of Destiny” (Charlotte Square, 2008) about the settling of the Pikes Peak area.  The book, which covers the period from 1858 to 1918, chronicles the story of those who came to Colorado in search of wealth and made a civilization.

Stories about the exploration of the West are something people never seem to tire of, Pierson said.

“I’d say it’s a story of heroes,” he said.  “In fact I consider them to be giants.  More than pioneers, they were people who came into an empty, barren landscape and planted civilization and made it grow.

The lure of gold, similar to the gold rush in California years before, did attract many and fortunes were made, but the search for wealth, driven by greed, wasn’t what drove all who came to Colorado.

“You have to remember that this was laid against the background of social turmoil in the United States,” he said.  “It was just prior to the Civil War and many people who came West were escaping from something back home.  They came here where there was no food, no irrigation and many starved on the way.”

Many of the early prospectors who discovered gold in the region came from the South, particularly Georgia. Pierson said that even here there was a kind of a rivalry between the southern interest and abolitionists from the North.  And even though Colorado didn’t become a state until 11 years after the war ended, the Confederate government had a special interest in it.

“The South was casting its eye because of the gold and silver mines,” he said.  “General Henry Sibley led a group of 5,000 Texas Rangers to invade New Mexico with the intent of moving further north.  A Colorado regiment resisted and turned back Gibley’s Brigade, which pretty much guaranteed that the West would be free from any more Confederate incursions.”

Pierson said that although the percentage of Catholics was small, the Christian influence guided the formation of what would become the state of Colorado.

“Bishop (Joseph) Machebeuf arrived in Colorado in 1860,” he said, “but there weren’t an abundance of Catholics.  Still they made their presence known in all aspects of the society they helped create.”

Pierson hopes that when people read about the rich history presented in the book, they’ll come away with an understanding of how these people created a Christian culture.

“They were able to plant Christian culture based on a very positive outlook,” he said.  “Most of them may not have even been consciously aware of it but they came with this outlook and built a positive, growing Christian civilization.”