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The early history of the Pikes Peak region was intimately connected to the Cherokee Trail, which paralleled the Front Range of the Rockies. The old trail opened up the region to the early trappers, traders and mountain men, as well as to the later gold seekers and settlers - all of whom contributed to the legends, ghost stories and historical lore that have endured to this day.
Just over 140 years ago a teamster named Michael Fagan was buried beside the Cherokee Trail in what is now central Colorado. His grave remains there still, in mute tetimony to the history of the region.
Fagan's Grave
Take a trip back in time...to the mid-19th century...to the days of the Pike's Peak Gold Rush. Join the Lawrence Party on their trek to the mountains in the spring of 1858. Climb Pikes Peak with the Bloomer Girl, Julia Holmes. Be there for Green Russell's discovery of gold on Dry Creek. Experience firsthand the frenzied Rush of 1859. Get to know the stories of the first Pike's Peakers, the men and women who left home and family in search of Colorado gold.
Pikes Peak Gold Seekers
The story of an historic campground along the Cherokee Trail in what is now central Colorado. The campground was namd for the legendary Jimmy Daugherty, and was used in turn by 19th-century trappers, gold seekers, settlers, coalminers and ranchers.
Jimmy Camp
The magnificent red rocks of the Garden of the Gods lay within sight of the Cherokee Trail. Many 19th-century travelers crossed the intervening hills to camp in this natural amphitheater of beauty and rest.
Garden of the Gods with Pikes Peak in Background
The 19th-century love story of Queen Mellen and General William Jackson Palmer, the founder of Colorado Springs.
Queen reflected in a mirror, 1870
Fagan's Grave on the Cherokee Trail.