Tales of the Colorado Pioneers (ePub)

"Tales of the Colorado Pioneers, by Alice Polk Hill, contains many interesting stories of early struggles of the men who settled and developed the Centennial State." -San Francisco Chronicle, Nov. 9, 1884

"Alice Polk Hill...has collected all the stories, witty pathetic, and exciting, of the early days in the Centennial State...far pleasanter to read the thrilling stories than live through their real trials." -Courier-Journal, Sept. 21, 1884

"An interesting and often amusing account of pioneer life in Colorado with good description of events characteristic to a new mining count." -Times-Picayune, April 12, 1885

"Ann Polk Hill...ranks among the notable women of her day." -Colorado Pioneers in Picture and Story (1915)

Highlighting the dangers and difficulties the Pioneers had to meet and overcome in order to carve a state out of the wilderness and establish good government, was the goal of Alice Polk Hill's intriguing 1889 book "Tales of the Colorado Pioneers." It is this public domain book that has been republished here for the convenience of the interested reader.

"Tales of the Colorado Pioneers" ingeniously holds the reader's attention by weaving around a thread of history the legends, traditions and reminiscences of the Pioneers, which accentuate the great phases in the development of Colorado, from its earliest history to the time it became a State in 1876.

For example, one old-timer prospector, miner, Government scout, cowboy, stage driver and trapper relates that during his life in Colorado he had "been handled pretty roughly'" including have been "chawed by grizzlies, scalped by Indians, nearly burned at the stake, shot and knifed dozens of times, blowed up once or twice, and on one occasion fell into a quartz mill...."

As Alice describes, in 1864 raids by Sioux, Kiowas, Comanches, Arapahoes and Cheyennes began, with stages waylaid and robbed; mail bags were cut open and their contents scattered over the plains; wagon trains were assailed and the vehicles plundered. All along the route down the Platte valley there was a reign of terror and communication was almost entirely suspended.

"Tales of the Colorado Pioneers" is an entertaining historical record of incidents in the lives of the brave people who "First spied the country out, and pioneered the way," and makes for an interesting read.

About the author:

Alice Polk Hill (1849 - 1921) was Colorado's first poet laureate and an active Denver club woman. Hill was actively involved in several Colorado women's clubs. She originated a Shakespeare study club, one of the first women's clubs in Denver. In 1881, she founded the "Round Table," a Chautauqua Circle which became a literary club. She served as president of the Round Table for twenty-five years. She was instrumental in founding the Denver Woman's Club and the Denver Woman's Press Club. She served as chairman of the Woman's Moffat Tunnel Commission, and was a member of the Colorado State Historical Society, Daughters of the American Revolution, Daughters of the Confederacy, League of American Pen Workers, and Poetry Society of Colorado.

Hill was the only female delegate at the Charter Convention of the City and County of Denver. In 1884, Hill wrote Tales of the Colorado Pioneers. She later wrote Colorado Pioneers in Picture and Story in 1915. Hill was also politically active. In 1910, she ran on the Republican ticket for the State House of Representatives. Hill was appointed poet laureate of Colorado in 1919 by Governor Oliver Henry Shoup.