Many people feel that Enos Mills is the father, or perhaps the founder, of Rocky Mountain National Park. In true fashion, he was an eccentric opportunist that desired a place be preserved for all time and that he be the only one allowed to have commercial development in the area. He also wanted more land made a part of the park, land that would include the Indian Peaks Wilderness area and land all the way to Central City. Mills was difficult to get along with and had quite a temper. With his insistence that things go only his way, he lost many of those that supported him and it was only with the diligence of James Grafton Rogers, a prominent Denver attorney and first president of the Colorado Mountain Club, that the park was approved at all. Working behind the scenes and forging compromises, the bill as drafted by Rogers passed the Senate in 1914, the House in 1915 and President Wilson signed the law that same year. (Liberal use of the essay “Brief History of Rocky Mountain National Park” by D. Ferrel Atkins, Park Historian, was used as a reference.)
Now, it’s great to have heroes and it is fun to tell stories about past residents, but we often embellish the importance of people far beyond their actual worth. It is thought by some that had Mills gotten his way we wouldn’t have a park at all. Who would our hero then be? We still have many characters to choose from; Lord Dunraven, F.O. Stanley, Joel Estes, Isabella Bird and Rocky Mountain Jim to name a few.
Perhaps even more interesting will be histories take on who the heroes are today. Can you name even one person here today that will be remembered as shaping the Town’s future for this 21st century? Today we only have bit players, infighting and unrest in our little valley. There isn’t any true leader that can make this a better place. We don’t even have anyone worth embellishing.
