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By Jacob
By Jacob
Colorado National Monument would not exist in its current state without the efforts of one man, John Otto. Otto was born December 3, 1879, in Missouri and raised in neighboring Illinois. Around the late 1800s and early 1900s Otto moved to California where he searched for gold to no avail. In 1906 he moved to Grand Junction, Colorado to find work. He worked to install a water pipe but also began to learn about the terrain to the southwest of Grand Junction. He found solitude and happiness in the canyons and rock spires of the area. Most in Grand Junction considered the area to be impossible to reach. John Otto found a way climbing up the red rocks where the future Colorado National Monument would be located.
“I came here last year and found these canyons and the feel like the heart of the world to me”
-John Otto
John Otto found himself in the canyons exploring their every twist and turn. What John Muir is to Yosemite, John Otto is to Colorado National Monument. Otto, like Muir, was obsessed with the landscape and made it his goal to protect it. Otto was very patriotic and it is reflected in the names he gave the formations of rock such as “Liberty Cap” and “Independence Monument”. On Flag Day and Independence Day he would climb to the top of the formations to place a flag atop them. He named other formations in the park such as Kissing Couple and Coke Ovens.
John Otto began planning for the future of the area, he began to lay out plans for roads and trails that would allow other people to see the area that he had fallen in love with.
In the nearby town of Grand Junction John Otto began writing newspaper editorials drawing up support for a public park. He wrote to the representatives and senators of Colorado to introduce legislation to create a national park. Back at home, he was getting signatures from locals to back the creation of the park. Soon, Otto had gained support from the city's newspaper, The Daily Sentinel, as well as the Chamber of Commerce for Grand Junction. He was finally getting the support he needed to get the attention of Congress and the President of the United States. In 1910, Colorado Senator Simon Guggenheim introduced legislation to create the area a new national park. If passed, the national park would be one of the oldest in america, created only 38 years after Yellowstone National Park. Unfortunately, the legislation stalled in the deadlock of Congress. This was not the end though, a few years earlier Congress had passed the Antiquities Act that President Theodore Roosevelt signed into law. This bill allowed the President to create national monuments without the approval of Congress. On May 24, 1911, President Taft used this power to create the Colorado National Monument. Just four years after arriving in Grand Junction, John Otto had achieved his dream of creating a public park of the monoliths and canyons of the area.
Although the park had been established it was still difficult for locals and tourists to come see its vast canyons. President Taft appoints John Otto to be the park's first custodian on a salary of $1 per month. The same year as the park's establishment John Otto worked with engineers and local Grand Junction institutions to create the first road into the national monument. The road was called the Serpent's Trail and started at what is today the east entrance of the park. The road gaind 1,100 ft in elevation until it reached Cold Shivers Point. The road then continued out of the monument to the unincorporated town of Glade Park. The road was completed in 1921 and immediately increased visitation to the park.
In 1927, John Otto left Colorado National Monument and headed back to California. He died in 1952 never to return to the park he had spent so much time fighting for. Despite its founder moving away the Colorado National Monument continued to increase access and grow visitation.
In 1929 the stock market marked the start of the impending Great Depression. Though the Great Depression was bad for people, Colorado National Monument and Grand Junction would greatly benefit from the programs that came because of it. In August of 1930, nine years after the competition of the Serpents Trail, proposals came up about a new road through Colorado National Monument. One that would follow the rims of the canyons running from the north to the south giving greater access to the entire park. The following year planning begins on what would become the Rim Rock Road. Soon, there was another Roosevelt in the White House and with Roosevelts comes conservation. In 1933, Congress passed and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed into law the Civilian Conservation Corps. This new agency would help build infrastructure into national parks service sites to increase visitation and access to america's best idea. Unfortunately, the construction of the road led to nine men dying in a tnt accident when digging out one of the tunnels along the road. In 1941, the U.S was attacked by Japan at Pearl Harbor ending the Civilian Conservation Corps. Work continued on the road despite the setback. Finally, the Rim Rock Road was completed in 1950.
The new Rim Rock Road is 22.42 miles long extending from the parks southeast to northwest. It provided easier access to the park from any direction allowing visitors to see up close the monuments that John Otto had climbed, mapped and named all those years ago. The road made the old Serpents Trail obsolete so it was turned into a hiking trail. You can still drive one part of the Serpent's Tail, the road to Glade Park still exists.
There is still more to this story, the 50th anniversary of the National Parks Service was coming up. Up until that point visitation to national parks was low compared to what we have today. This was all about to change, the National Parks Service launched Mission 66. A program to increase visitor facilities at the parks for increased visitation. The visitor centers and other park facilities can likely be traced back to Mission 66. Colorado National Monument received the Saddlehorn Visitor Center and the Bookcliff Shelter. They followed the same type of architectural style that came out of Mission 66, National Park Rustic.
From 2015-2016, park visitation increased by 100,000 because of the National Parks Service’s 100th Anniversary. Over the past few years park visitation has increased form 391,000 down to 375,000 and back up to 397,000 in 2019. It is estimated that 24,377,598 people have visited the park since 1919. Because of the park's beauty and high visitation there are some who would like to fulfill the dream of John Otto to make Colorado National Monument a National Park. Some lawmakers are in support of this and have introduced legislation. At a meeting in Grand Junction locals have expressed support for the increased protection of the area. If the park was turned into a national park it would become America's 63rd, at time of writing. It would also be Colorado’s 5th National Park following Rocky Mountain, Mesa Verde, Black Canyon of the Gunnison and Great Sand Dunes. Support for a potential “Colorado National Park” has won the endorsement by Ken Burns, creator of the documentary on the National Parks.
Colorado National Monument is a spectacular place with a colorful past. Perhaps one day Colorado National Monument will join the ever increasing number of national parks in the system. I will leave you with a quote from John Otto.
"I came here last year and found these canyons, and they feel like the heart of the world to me. I'm going to stay and build trails and promote this place, because it should be a national park."
Works Cited
Green, Stewart M. “The Legacy of John Otto at Colorado National Monument.” OutThere Colorado, 15 June 2017, www.outtherecolorado.com/multimedia/galleries/the-legacy-of-john-otto-at-colorado-national-monument/collection_153956e8-ca2d-5721-a116-0619e896b548.html#1.
Guziak, Margaret Melloy. “John Otto, A Monumental Man, Part II.” TheFencePost.com, TheFencePost.com, 31 Jan. 2011, www.thefencepost.com/news/john-otto-a-monumental-man-part-ii/.
“John Otto.” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, www.nps.gov/colm/learn/historyculture/john-otto.htm.
“Stats Report Viewer.” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, irma.nps.gov/STATS/SSRSReports/Park Specific Reports/Annual Park Recreation Visitation (1904 - Last Calendar Year)?Park=COLM.
Yongli. “Colorado National Monument.” Articles | Colorado Encyclopedia, 23 Jan. 2017, coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/colorado-national-monument.
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