Historic Organizations and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Create Historic Monument Site

Lake: John Martin Reservoir, CO

Partners: USACE; Colorado Division of Wildlife; Bent’s Fort Chapter Santa Fe Trail Association; Colorado Welcome Center; Colorado State Parks

Partnership Type: MOU

Corps POC: Don Headlee, Park Ranger

Story: In November of 1806, Zebulon M. Pike, an explorer with the U.S. Infantry, first sited the famous peak which now bears his name: Pike’s Peak. Historic journals place this first sighting on lands that are now a part of John Martin Reservoir, owned by the U S Army Corps of Engineers, and leased to the Colorado Division of Wildlife for Wildlife Management. Plans are being made to celebrate the sighting with the placement and dedication of a monument and sighting scope. Interpretive programs will be given to schools and a re-enactment of the famous sighting is also being planned. A brochure commemorating the bicentennial anniversary is being developed. Pike’s book, published in 1810, gave Americans their first impressions of the Southwest. It fostered interest in what would later be known as the Santa Fe Trail Trade.