Navigating Western Colorado: Early Expeditions and the Birth of Transportation on the Frontier

Today, people enjoy the convenience of Colorado’s roads without realizing that beneath lie the original Ute and Spanish trails, mountain men’s pathways, and early military wagon roads. The cultural landscape of western Colorado has undergone immense changes since the mid-sixteenth century. The rapid advancement of transportation technology has enabled the conquest of complex climate zones and challenging regional topography. Early western Colorado inhabitants once migrated on footpaths that followed the path of least resistance, traversing lush meadow corridors between rugged mountain ranges, paralleling the river bottoms, and enjoying the welcome shade of cool canyon trails in the high desert. The early Ute people, Spanish explorers, mountain men, and U.S. topographical engineers developed resourceful ways to make travel less strenuous and cover greater distances. Historian David P. Bailey chronicles their early treks, which paved the way for the first major thoroughfare through western Colorado.