P.J. Anderson

Even readers familiar with Cheyene Mountain will learn a dozen new facts about the comfortable scenic scrim of Colorado Springs’ closest mountain through the new book Cheyenne Mountain: Here’s Looking at You. By chapter two, P. J. Anderson, a Springs lawyer, and son Patrick Anderson demonstrate that Cheyenne Mountain is millions of years older than Pikes Peak. Shoved forward four miles by the uplift behind it, Cheyenne Mountain’s cliffy visage faces the city with its cowlick of antennae on top. Many readers know of the Native American access to and through the range; the spread of homes now across the mountain lap; the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo; NORAD, which nested inside the mountain for past decades; and the home of the resort locations built by Spencer Penrose and, later, corporate developers.

Patrick Anderson

 Exploration of the region began early following the Louisiana Purchase, with maps made by Pike, Long, Fremont and others. They found it the easternmost point of the Rocky Mountains. Yet the flood of immigrants to the area after 1858 saw communities develop north, east, and west, largely ignoring the area south. Nevertheless, Cheyenne Mountain had admirers, including Helen Hunt Jackson, Fitz Hugh Ludlow and a raft of gold seekers and speculators.

But other hardy families actually lived on the “hill,” building homes and lives which left traces and legacies. What will enlighten is that the mountain was home to two dozen homesteaders and public lands claimants and a host of later investors. Their traces include the ruins of their homes, the old horse and mule trails and the few roads leading to early spots of development.

Evidence of two significant cabins still exist: the Dixon and the Swisher cabins, both actually build by Bert Swisher. He had claimed land, cleared acreage and built a cabin in 1906. Five years later, he learned his claim was preceded by one of Thomas Dixon. Consequently, Bert filed another claim and built another cabin for his wife Myra and daughters Mildred and Marion. During the week, Bert “would hike down the mountain on Monday morning (Swisher Trail) to Old Stage Road, where he left his bicycle, ride to Manitou Spring to work, then to the family home on West Cucharas for the night. On Friday afternoons he would ride back up Old Stage Road and climb the mountain to spend time with his family.” That meant biking three to four miles and hiking another mild-and-a-half over a 2,000-foot rise in elevation. Sturdy pioneers, indeed.

Such trails have endured; some are straight and easy, while others take more starch and stamina. The Andersons testify to the rocky outcroppings, twists and turns, disappearances and needed improvements of those trails: Fisher Canyon Trail, Blackmer Trail, Swisher, MacNeill, Sunrise and Dixon. Those trails not only provided Spencer Penrose and his friends with horseback rides from town or the hotel around the mountain, but, today, the routes also provide hikers and visitors to the area with spectacular views, environmental experiences and wildlife surprises. Thanks to the Swisher’s descendants, Myra Benjamin and Bert Reissig, TOPS, GOCO funds, and Anderson’s assistance, the state park system acquired family lands for Cheyenne Mountain State Park. The donations and negotiations over a nine-year period brought 920 acres of public access and the only state park in El Paso County. Anderson’s maps show the bases for the park, its current trails and plans for the future. Expansion possibilities and the Chamberlain and Fisher Canyon plans may connect access to other open spaces.

With three four-drawer filing cabinets of materials, Anderson collected and researched many aspects of the mountain history. Bolstering the often-entertaining text and recollections are maps, diagrams and dozens of historic and contemporary photos, beautifully laid out. Find, as well, a bibliography of sources and P.J. Anderson’s own experiences with contract disputes over the course of his legal career. Even the many acknowledgements involve stories. Tales of rhubarb pies, thoughts of cherry bombs  into NORAD air holes and the famous long, lost hike heighten anyone’s appreciation for the years of hiking, scrambling along washes and familiarity the Andersons have with the “hill.”

Although the mountain has endured devastating forest fires, two plane crashes and numerous legal squabbles, its “noble face” transitions views from city to wilderness. No wonder readers might agree with Helen Hunt Jackson’s statement, “There are in Colorado Springs seven places of worship: Episcopal, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Congregational, Unitarian, and Cheyenne Mountain.”