John Gregory Country: Place Names and History of Ralston Buttes Quadrangle

by Charles Ramstetter (editor), Mary Ramstetter (editor)

Winner of the American Regional History Award (ARHPA), Western States Category. Winner of the Colorado Independent Publishers Award

In 1859, deep in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, John Hamilton Gregory washed four dollars worth of gold from a pan of dirt and turned Denver into a ghost town. Thousands followed in his footsteps--prospectors, road builders, shopkeepers, farmers schoolteachers, railroad men, dreamers all, pouring up Gregory's trace like water rushing through a dike. This is their book, what they saw and what they named, from Coal Creek to Clear Creek, from Black Hawk eastward to the prairies. It belongs also to the dead men whose names never crossed the printed page--miners on the Spanish Bar, Indians who laid out the tepee rings, ancient peoples who welcomed the morning sun in their caves.

Genres: History

276 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1999

Reviews

[Laura Anne]

4 star read mostly because this is the history of my own backyard. I recognize the structures in some of the pictures and the nearly forgotten stories and historical anecdotes. It’s deeply personal when you have spent your entire life on a piece of land and only now do I have a chance to learn the history of the soil beneath my feet. The editors did a lovely job, would make a lovely coffee table book because of all the wonderful historical pictures.
Remember guys, history is all around you, if only one is curious enough to learn.

[Judy]

A reader who already knows something about the area will appreciate this book more than I did. Lots of info, but presented more like a reference than a story. The content is arranged by topic, not location. So if I want to learn about a particular place, I may need to look at the chapters about homesteads, roads, schools, churches, ... and I never did get a good feeling for any place.

However, this is a useful reference with an index and a bibliography, so I will keep it.

(I was surprised to learn how little I know about 'my own backyard.')

[Michelle Schulten]

So much information. A great resource for county information.