In the early 1960s, Governor John A. Love and other business leaders worked to bring the 1976 Winter Olympics to Colorado. Despite winning the bid from the International Olympic Committee in 1970, the voters of Colorado decided not to fund the winter…

Howelsen Hill in Steamboat Springs is the oldest ski area in continuing use in Colorado and one of the few international ski jump competition sites in the United States. Built in 1915 by skiing pioneer Carl Howelsen (1877–1955) and the Steamboat Springs…

The bright-red Mesa Schoolhouse, located off US 40 about two miles south of Steamboat Springs, is among the oldest examples of a one-story wood-frame school building still standing in Colorado. Built in 1916 by Arthur Gumprecht, the schoolhouse served…

Established by Charlotte Perry and Portia Mansfield in 1913, the Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts School and Camp near Steamboat Springs is the oldest continuously operated performing arts camp in the United States. In the early twentieth century, the…

Routt County is a large county in northwest Colorado, encompassing 2,368 square miles of the Elk and Yampa River valleys and the Park Range and Elkhead Mountains. It is bordered by the state of Wyoming to the north, Jackson and Grand Counties to the east…

Colorado’s ski industry anchors the state’s thriving tourist economy. Built primarily on national forest lands, the state’s numerous ski resorts attract upwards of 12 million visitors annually, generating billions in revenue. Introduced to the state in…

The Steamboat Springs Depot was built in 1909, when the Denver, Northwestern & Pacific Railway arrived to connect the Yampa Valley with mineral, agricultural, and livestock markets in eastern Colorado and beyond. Abandoned in 1968 with the cessation…

The Yampa River snakes 250 miles across northwestern Colorado, primarily in Routt and Moffat Counties. Its watershed encompasses approximately 8,000 square miles in Colorado and Wyoming; in Colorado, the river flows through Craig, Hayden, Milner, and…