INTRODUCTION

For more than 150 years, Colorado has beckoned, and people have responded, some drawn to its beauty, some seeking fortune and some hoping to reclaim health. Colorado has welcomed them all—proud and wealthy, humble and hopeful—extending its majestic arms to incomers of every stripe. Even before the silver booms and gold rushes that built the mining towns, people came to discover Colorado’s high peaks, the healing waters of its abundant hot springs and its rich hunting and fishing resources.

Some were drawn by the earth itself, seeking land to develop agriculturally. Many ranches began to promote their properties as guest ranches to compete with hotels and boardinghouses. Enter the early version of the dude ranch.

The nineteenth century was a time of building, of breaking new ground. Settlements were established on the windblown plains and above timberline. The promise of new land and its opportunities brought to Colorado those who scarcely could afford to risk their futures, yet they were not timid or afraid of work. These were miners, cowhands, laborers—risking all for the chance to better their lives. They were settlers, tourists and fortune-seekers, and a more diverse lot could not have been gathered. But they all needed shelter.

Enter the modest entrepreneur. These lodge keepers seldom had great means, yet they were willing to risk it all. Some might have obtained loans from obliging banks, monies that they sank into modest hotels or boardinghouses in hopes of becoming successful business owners. A surprising number of these were women, often widowed or unmarried, who seized the opportunity to establish themselves on par with male counterparts. To own a hotel was to demand respect—not an abundant commodity for women in those days, even back East.

Sometimes a husband and wife might make such a venture together, and as their enterprise succeeded, they would acquire a second hotel, the man running one operation and his wife the other. In these challenging circumstances, families had to stick together.

Note: An asterisk by listing indicates businesses still in operation.