When it was reported that the cost of a Rocky Mountain National Park pass could increase to address the maintenance backlog, I received an e-mail from a friend reading: “Will history repeat?”
I have made an effort to learn about the place I call “home” – the State of Colorado – which includes reading state history and learning how issues have been addressed for more than a century. For example, infrastructure at the start of the 20th century:
From 1905 – 1926 prisoners were utilized in road building and maintenance, including roads in Larimer County. At the time the practice was established, prisoners came from the Colorado State Penitentiary, through efforts of Warden Thomas Tynan, who determined allowing inmates to participate in a public works program was more sensible than spending days pounding rocks inside prison walls because it allowed for a sense of pride and self-worth through a worthwhile contribution to society.
In 1913, thirty-eight convicts from the penitentiary were put to work doing the initial grading on “Old Fall River Road”. The rest, it can be said, is history benefiting all who visit Rocky Mountain National Park.
Although Colorado discontinued the use of prison labor in the late 1920s, for this purpose it was demonstrated such contributions to the state of Colorado make a difference. As considerations are given on how to pay for the backlog within the park, these lessons in history should be considered and utilized, as appropriate, to keep the price of a park pass reasonable.
James C. Hess
Loveland
