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WALK THROUGH HISTORY
PARK |
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The Walk Through History
Park is located
outside of the Fraser Visitor Center which is located on the
east side of Hwy. 40 (120 Zerex St.) just north of the traffic
signal at County Roads 72 and 804 in Fraser.
For information on the
history of the development of the Walk Through History Park and
the artist/historian, Jim Hoy, click here.
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Jim Bridger: Here's
a man who really knew the West like the back of his hand. Jim
Bridger was the highly regarded frontier scout who discovered
the Great Salt Lake and who later established a trading post
where the Oregon and Overland trails converged in Wyoming. Bridger
even guided military patrols around or between warring Indian
tribes during the country's westward expansion. As guide for
the Berthoud Expedition, which plotted the stage route between
Denver and Provo, Utah, he actually passed within sight of this
plot of land where his likeness now stands. |
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Indian and Eagle: This
powerful sculpture captures the spirit of times long before Columbus
set foot on the New Continent. It is a symbol of man's struggle
for survival. In order to capture the huge bald eagles, Native
Americans hid under pine boughs with meat on top; when the eagle
took the bait, the Indian burst through the boughs and caught
the bird with his bare hands. The original, wooden sculpture
has been replaced with bronze.
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Jeremiah
Johnson: Don't mess with this legendary mountain man, called
"Liver Eater" by his peers. Jeremiah Johnson wages
a one man vendetta against the Crows for killing his wife and
their unborn child. Legend has it that he hunted the Indians
down one by one, cut out their liver, and ate it raw! Johnson's
exploits are legendary: he escaped as prisoner of the Blackfeet,
served with a Colorado cavalry unit during the Civil War, and
became the first marshall of Red Lodge, Montana in 1888. |
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Mountain
Lion: The elusive mountain lion
best symbolizes all the wild animals of the West. Intelligent
management of resources - land, rivers, and the wildlife - requires
room for both nature and our minds to roam free. Man is unique,
but that is not an excuse to ignore or violate the planet. Humans
can't stand apart from the system - because we are part of it. |
| Buffalo
Soldier: Meet one of
America's greatest unsung heroes - the black American soldier
of the 1800's. These cavalry and foot soldiers often marched
40 to 50 miles a day carrying heavy packs. Following the Civil
War, a regiment of black solders, the Ninth, bivouacked 20 miles
from Fraser and was called upon to rescue another cavalry unit
pinned down by Ute Indians at the Milk River. The Ninth took
heavy casualties but broke the stalemate. The company commander
was even awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery.
Indians actually coined the term "buffalo soldier"
due to the men's dark skin and curly hair. |
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The Lawman:
Bill Cozens was a sheriff in Central City - a wild and wooly
Colorado town with a bad case of gold fever. The Cozens settled
into their ranch, in what is now Fraser, where they operated
a stage stop and a post office. When the railroad planned to
lay tracks through his meadow, Cozens sat on his front porch
and shot out the surveyors' stakes. Sure enough, the tracks were
moved west, giving the ranch a wide berth on their way to Salt
Lake City. The original, wooden sculpture has been replaced with
bronze. |
| Dr. Susan Anderson: Better known as
"Doc Susie," this gutsy woman was one of the country's
earliest female physicians. She cared for the sick and injured
of this Colorado mountain town in the early 1900's. She often
traveled by snowshoe through blinding snowstorms to reach lumberjacks,
railroad men and women who needed emergency medical care. The
original, wooden sculpture has been replaced with bronze. |
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The Cowboy: Here's a bulldogging cowboy just off
his horse, down alongside the neck of a steer, digging his heels
into the dirt as the ground rushes by at nearly 30 m.p.h. Cowboys
like this have been romanticized over the years; the reality
was often hard, dirty, physical work like mending fences and
chasing down strays. Still, the cowboy hat is the symbol of America,
and the West is envisioned as a land not yet conquered, full
of risk, and, most importantly, a landscape of freedom and unlimited
opportunity. |
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Rancher: This is the weathered
face of a rancher, pure and simple, with deep lines that tell
the story of the hardscrabble existence raising longhorns. Texans
actually created the western version of this animal by cross
breeding Spanish criollo cattle with the English longhorn. By
1833, young calves sold for $5, and mature livestock brought
between $45 and $60 at the railhead. Cattle were fattened on
open-range grass. |
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"Oh,
I Get It!":
A school marm huddles with two young
students reading from their primers. One of the youngsters looks
up with a bright-eyed smile, as if to say, "Oh, I get it!"
No matter how crowded the wagons heading west, there was always
room for William McGuffy's Primer and, later, the author's more
advanced Eclectic Reader. These books were the educational foundation
of America; their material ranged from spelling and poetry to
stories of honesty, truthfulness, and moral education. This statue,
in bronze, is placed outside the Fraser Public Library. |
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The
Fraser Walk Through History Park Foundation has as its
Mission: Create a Walk Through History Park utilizing the
Western Heritage Exhibit to attract and focus public attention
in order to remember and acknowledge the power of attitude and
the value of struggle in the development of the West. If you
would like to become a donor to the Foundation, please contact
us at P. O. Box 898, Fraser Colorado 80442 telephone 970-726-5491
or fax 970-726-5518 or e-mail us.
For information on the
history of the development of the Walk Through History Park and
the artist/historian, Jim Hoy, click here.
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