Established in 1933, Willow Creek Park was Colorado’s first WPA project, and provided work for hundreds of men idled by the Great Depression. Tree planting and landscaping formed the park area, and structures initially built included a kiva, or amphitheatre area, and a caretaker’s cottage. In 1936, a forty foot sandstone structure joined the park’s original buildings, and was christened Pike’s Tower.
Intended as a tribute to Pike’s efforts at mapping southeastern Colorado, the site of the tower is supposedly at the point where Pike camped along the creek bed. Definitive proof of the actual campsite is lacking, though stories and folklore still circulate about why Pike’s Tower is where it is. Supposedly an inscription bearing Pike’s name was cut into the rocky cliffs that edge the east side of Willow Creek, though subsequent floods and the construction of the tower itself have covered the once-exposed outcroppings with soil. Efforts to find a letter, photo, or even a rubbing to prove beyond local hearsay that the inscription had ever existed have thus far come to naught.
Local legend also holds that the tower marked the actual spot where Zebulon first lifted his spyglass and saw Pike’s Peak. This bit of folklore is totally erroneous. Pike, in fact, first saw the blue mountain that bears his name on November 15, 1806, near the southwestern edge of what is now John Martins Reservoir – a good two days’ walk from the Lamar campsite. In any case, the observation tower at Willow Creek Park is now equipped with a telescope from which one can supposedly get a hazy glimpse of the peak on a clear day.
Pike’s trek across eastern Colorado continued toward the Rockies, but he failed to reach the summit of his namesake. Approaching the mountain top in early winter, he was forced to turn back after two days without food, and in waist-deep snow. He turned south, and in February was captured by Spanish authorities in an area of northern New Mexico which is now part of Colorado. He was taken to Chihuahua, where he was allowed to continue his work on the journals and maps he had compiled during his expedition. He was released to the United States at the Louisiana border in July of 1807. Pike’s original journals were confiscated by the Spanish authorities and not returned to the U.S. until the 1900s. However, his account of his expedition was published in 1810, and became required reading for all subsequent exploratory missions. Zebulon Pike’s accounts of the politics and trade he had observed while in New Mexico and Chihuahua ultimately helped develop the Santa Fe Trail.
Much of the information used in the writing of this story was taken from “The Mystery of Pike’s Tower”, an article that appeared in the Summer 2006 issue of Terrritorial Magazine. It was written by Rebecca Atkinson, a librarian and history buff who resides in Pueblo, Colorado.
For High Plains Public Radio I’m Lynn Boitano.
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High Plains History is a production of High Plains Public Radio.
