Rocky Mountain National Park celebrates 110 years.
Rocky Mountain National Park celebrates 110 years. Credit: NPS

Rocky Mountain National Park officially celebrated its 110th birthday this past weekend. The area officially became a national park back on January 26, 1915, after President Woodrow Wilson signed the Rocky Mountain National Park Act.

Rocky Mountain National Park Visual Tour

The land that now makes up Rocky Mountain National Park wasn’t frequented by humans until some 11,000 years ago, existing as a heavily inhospitable land of glaciers. The area was mostly dominated by the Ute tribe until the 1700s, and the U.S. government purchased the land now known as Rocky Mountain National Park as a part of the 1803 Louisiana Purchase.

Throughout the early 1800s, much of the land was avoided by both fur trappers and explorers. Rufus Sage was the first to write of the mountain wonders housed in the area, and eventually the Pikes Peak gold rush of 1859 brought in miners and speculators.

It was nn January 26, 1915, when President Woodrow Wilson signed the Rocky Mountain National Park Act to turn the area into a national park. It grew in popularity, experiencing booms during both WWI and WWII. By the 1970s, Park Supervisors were using assigned back country camp sites and shuttle buses to manage crowds.

Today Rocky Mountain National Park is managed by a host of staff, including education rangers, law enforcement rangers, mechanics, biologists, engineers, volunteers, and much more.

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