Nick Thulin

Wyckoff, William. Creating Colorado the making of a western American

landscape, 1860-1940. New Haven: Yale UP, 1999. Print.

Narrating the history of the Western United States—and more

specifically that of Colorado—has long been a complicated process.

California and Texas dominate history west of the Mississippi . The San

Francisco gold rush, Mexican American War, and building/placement of

the transcontinental railroads dramatically shaped these two states,

yet their place in history neglects the millions of miles outside of their

boundaries. William Wyckoff’s 1999 historical geography, “Creating

Colorado,” however, sheds light on Colorado’s hidden political

significance resulting from (and sometimes in spite of) its geographic

location and makeup. Wyckoff’s perspective provides a unique and

multifaceted perspective of the Centennial State’s development.

Wyckoff begins “Creating Colorado” by providing a brief

overview of Colorado history explaining the variety of geographic

features located throughout the state and linking these features to the

state’s dynamic political landscape. The author’s overview rushes

through thousands of years of pre-European settlement, from

prehistoric Native American tribes, to modern developments in mining

and Colorado’s natural resource exploitation. The complex relations

between the American Indian tribes and the European settlers set the

stage for the individual dissection of Wyckoff’s defined regions of

Colorado—the mountains, the piedmont, the eastern plains, southern

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Colorado and the western slope of the Rocky Mountains.

The importance of framing Colorado in historic terms, first,

through acknowledgement of the state’s uncharted and mysterious

past then detailing each region’s history, never escapes Wyckoff. The

depth of Wyckoff’s analysis provides the reader with great detail

about Colorado’s unique population dynamics, and allows for specific

stories and examples to paint a geographic portrait of broad regions

within the state.

Additionally, Wyckoff illustrates a dynamic Colorado of great

geographic and political evolution. The first chapters explain how the

land that makes up Colorado began as the periphery of the Great

Plaines, California, Texas, the Oregon Trail, and Native American tribal

lands. Colorado’s borders weren’t drawn until after a population boom

during the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush, which, combined with the placement

of railroads, served as important catalysts for Colorado’s growth at the

time. Furthermore, the book explains the consequences of the state’s

boom-bust economic model, which largely results from the price flux of

natural resources, and how the state’s most basic resources (namely

water) will shape its future economic success and growth.

The many stories and depictions of Colorado’s past were pulled

directly from explorers’ journals, U.S. government statistics and

surveys, and journal articles. Wyckoff’s wide range of source material

contributes to compelling stories yet also contrasts the various

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explorations of the area. Wyckoff’s research was noticeable from the

first chapters, as he pulled depictions from Zebulon Pike’s explorations

through the Great Plaines and Colorado, which he described as a

desert similar to the Sahara. Yet Wyckoff contrasted this depiction

with other explorers (who overwhelmingly refuted Pike), again pulling

descriptions from diaries, journals and other primary sources detailing

government-sponsored surveys. Additionally, by comparing contrasting

surveys, Wyckoff isolates suspicious explorations to unearth ulterior

motives of early explorers who used their representation of the

region’s geography for their personal gain. This method plays into a

traditional “Wild West” type narrative.

“Creating Colorado’s” historical perspectives and detailed stories

nearly detract from the geographic underpinnings of the book, yet

Wyckoff’s very specific geographic descriptions poured out on nearly

every page. In his chapter on the Piedmont Heartland, Wyckoff details

the competitive nature of Colorado’s Front Range cities (notably

Denver, Colorado Springs, and Pueblo), but he points to the geographic

features of each city as the key to its success or failure.

Furthermore, this chapter reveals the modern importance of

Colorado’s railroads, which were initially designed to mine gold, silver

and other minerals, but go on to form the backbone of the state’s

development in the early 20th century. Pueblo, for example, was a

desolate town in southern Colorado, but the city sprang to life as coal
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and other minerals were discovered in the region. These events

transformed Pueblo into a major mineral-processing center (Wyckoff

calls the city the “Pittsburgh of the West”). This developmental

pattern contrasts the resort-like atmosphere of Colorado Springs or the

business-driven experience of Denver. Additionally, while these cities

were inherently linked, they were also extremely competitive, and this

competitive nature has not diminished in modern times as natural

resources have become increasingly scarce.

With its diverse range of geographic landscapes, no single

geographical layer dominates another, as human and physical studies

overlap and mix in a text that reads more like a novel than a history

book. While history buffs may find the book intriguing or westerners

may find insight into their land’s makeup, a trained geographer would

quickly point out the regional dissection of Colorado’s topography

(used primarily to divvy up chapters); the exploration of spatial

techniques in first charting the western landscape; the changing

relationship between the land’s changing political stakeholders (native

Americans, Europeans, and Americans); and the environmental impact

of development (along with Coloradans’ efforts to preserve the state’s

natural resources). Each of these topics involves a specific geographic

field of study, and while Wyckoff’s scope is wide, the changing

geographic context flows from one topic to the next without effort.

Wyckoff’s contextual blending also reinforces the cohesiveness of

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Geography as a single field of study, which he never explicitly

mentions.

Creating Colorado is by no means a light read, and its nearly 400

pages are filled with statistics, maps and photos pulled from sources

ranging from the National Archives and various state resources (public

libraries, city halls, etc). The research is also proves somewhat dense,

and at times the information Wyckoff provides seems better fit in a

reference book. Yet Wyckoff’s writing style smoothes out the

intricacies and begins to read like a novel, as he intertwines specific

geological depictions throughout Colorado’s diverse landscape with

personal stories and detailed descriptions of the state’s human scenery

(like mountain mining camps). The book appeals mostly to

geographers or historians (hence the billing as a historical geography)

that would understand the concepts and specifics he details. Yet

Wyckoff’s writing style finds universal appeal, especially if a reader

wishes to break the book into chapters or sections to better

understand a single region of Colorado or specific aspects of the

state’s history.