Englemann Canyon

In 1880, a trail was opened in Englemann Canyon to Pikes Peak.{{cite book|author=Frederick Hastings Chapin|title=Frederick Chapin's Colorado: The Peaks About Estes Park and Other Writings|year=1995|publisher=University Press of Colorado|isbn=978-0-87081-366-5|page=215}} It was called the Manitou Trail in 1883.{{cite book|author=Samuel Edwin Solly|title=The Health resorts of Colorado Springs and Manitou|url=https://archive.org/details/healthresortsofc00soll|year=1883|publisher=Gazette Publishing Company|page=[https://archive.org/details/healthresortsofc00soll/page/19 19]}} Zalmon Simmons surveyed the canyon for telegraph lines. The Civil War veteran and later inventor of the Simmons mattress decided that the canyon was suited for construction of a cog railway.{{cite book|author=Tim Blevins|title=Film & Photography on the Front Range|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x2utCbUZepIC&pg=PA413|date=1 January 2012|publisher=Pikes Peak Library District|isbn=978-1-56735-297-9|page=58}} The Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway, built by Simmons and completed in 1890, begins in Englemann Canyon and follows Ruxton Creek up into the Rocky Mountains for Pikes Peak.{{Cite book |last=Monahan |first=Sherry |year=2002 |title=Pikes Peak: Adventures, Communities, and Lifestyles |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h_uquJzGGl8C&pg=PA10 |format=Google books |page=10|access-date=January 17, 2015}} The railroad climbs at an average 16% grade through the canyon past "stately spruces and jagged rocks".{{cite book|author1=Phelps R. Griswold|author2=Bob Griswold|title=Railroads of Colorado: A Guide to Modern and Narrow Gauge Trains|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cprhvrhZK88C&pg=PA31|year=1988|publisher=American Traveler Press|isbn=978-1-55838-088-2|page=31}} The first third of the {{convert|8.9|mile|km}} railway trip is through Englemann Canyon, alongside Ruxton Creek. Scenery includes large boulders, Ponderosa pine trees, Engelmann spruce, and Colorado blue spruce.{{cite web | url=http://www.cograilway.com/along-the-route.asp |title=Along the Route | publisher=Manitou & Pike's Peak Railway |access-date=January 17, 2015 }} Sights in the canyon include Artist's Glen, Minnehaha Falls, Son-of-a-Gun Hill, Hells Gate, the site of Halfway House, and Ruxton Park.{{r|PPCR}}{{cite web | url=http://pikespeak.us.com/Activities/ride-the-cog-rail.html| title=Ride the Cog Rail to the Summit of Pikes Peak: The Trip to the Summit of Pikes Peak | publisher=Pikes Peak - America's Mountain | access-date=January 17, 2015 }}{{cite web |url=http://cdm15330.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/search/searchterm/Englemann%20Canyon/order/nosort |title=Digital Collection Search: Englemann Canyon | publisher=Denver Public Library | access-date=January 17, 2015 }} The Halfway House was the 22-room bed and breakfast along Ruxton Creek. Some of its guests were delivered by burros via a Pikes Peak burro trail. The accommodations became less desirable when the cog railway was built about 30 feet from the house.{{r|Blevins}} The Halfway House was a rustic hotel that served tourists who took the railway.{{r|Stop at Pikes Peak}}{{cite book|author=Tim Blevins|title=Film & Photography on the Front Range|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x2utCbUZepIC&pg=PA413|date=1 January 2012|publisher=Pikes Peak Library District|isbn=978-1-56735-297-9|pages=53-60}} Minnehaha, named for its falls, was a hamlet with several cabins.{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/stream/C1002013147/c100_2013_147#page/n2/mode/1up | title=Stop at Pike's Peak on your Way to or from the Expositions (for 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition) |author=Manitou and Cog Wheel Route Pike's Peak Railway, The Committee of One Hundred|year=1915 | access-date=January 17, 2015 }}

In 1891, the canyon was described in The Illustrated American as "a narrow valley, with a steep mountain rising on either side, and the clear, sparkling Ruxton Creek rushing parallel to the track, sometimes dashing over rocks hundreds of feet below the train, and sometimes pausing for a moment to form a deep, smooth pool, such as the speckled trout loves to haunt."{{cite book|title=The Illustrated American|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dKNAAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA165|year=1891|publisher=Illustrated American Publishing Company|page=165|chapter=Up Pike's Peak by Rail}}

File:Pike's Peak and Manitou Railway.jpg|Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway depot on Ruxton Avenue, 1894

File:Halfway House, Pike's Peak, Colorado.jpg|Halfway House, Ruxton Park, Colorado, by 1915

File:Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway 001.jpg|Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway, 2006

In 1925, a water utility power plant was built in Ruxton Park for $16,866 {{Inflation|US|16,866|1925|fmt=eq}} by the city of Colorado Springs.{{cite news | url=http://gazette.com/the-power-of-privacy/article/42726#XQ5RxTMUCswb172k.99 |title=The Power of Privacy | author=R. Scott Rappold | newspaper=The Gazette |date=November 1, 2008 | access-date=January 14, 2015 }}{{cite news | url=http://www.westsidepioneer.com/Articles/120814/CobwebCorners.html |title=Cobweb Corners: The old Half Way House in Ruxton Park | author=Mel McFarland, Historian | newspaper=Westside Pioneer | location=Colorado Springs, CO | date=December 8, 2014 |access-date= }} The stone hydroelectric plant generates electricity as Ruxton Creek flows into Manitou Springs from the mountain.{{efn|In 1957, it generated up to 1,250 kilowatts and the Manitou Hydroelectric Plant produced up to 5,000 kilowatts. The two plants supplied up to 4% of the Pikes Peak Region's electricity. The majority of the region's electricity was supplied by two steam plants in Colorado Springs. When the water levels rise, though, the plants can supply more electricity. During the Memorial Day 1935 flood, the two plants supplied electricity for two weeks to the Pikes Peak region.{{cite news | title=Harry Kliewer Has run Manitou hydro plant for last 30 years | url=http://more.ppld.org:8080/specialcollections/index/ArticleOrders/425888.pdf | date=February 8, 1957 |newspaper=Colorado Springs Free Press | location=Colorado Springs, Colorado | via=Pikes Peak Library District: Pikes Peak NewsFinder |page=8 }}}}

In the early 20th century, an electric trolley of the Colorado Springs and Interurban Railway from Colorado Springs terminated at Manitou Springs, and a trolley, called the "Dinky" carried passengers up lower Englemann Canyon (Ruxton Road) to the Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway depot.{{r|Stop at Pikes Peak}}{{cite web |url=http://manitoumineralsprings.org/stratton-spring/ |title=Stratton Spring |publisher=Manitou Mineral Springs |access-date=January 17, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150202232107/http://manitoumineralsprings.org/stratton-spring/ |archive-date=February 2, 2015 }}

In 1891 the canyon had one spring, the Ute-Iron spring,{{cite book|author=Colorado College|title=Colorado College Studies: Papers read before the Colorado College Scientific Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yR4_AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA3-PA17|year=1891|publisher=The Inland Press, The Register Publishing Company|location=Ann Arbor, Michigan|page=17}} Near the depot there were three mineral springs in 1913: Ute-Iron, Little Chief, and Ouray springs.{{cite book|author=Colorado Scientific Society|title=Proceedings of the Colorado Scientific Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o3hRAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA241|volume=X - 1911, 1912, 1913|publisher=The Society|location=Denver, Colorado|page=241}} near the Iron Springs Hotel.{{cite book|title=Tourists' Hand Book of Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EWhNAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA26|year=1887|publisher=The Railway|page=26}} The current Manitou Mineral Springs on Ruxton Avenue are Iron Spring and Twin Spring.{{cite web | url=http://manitoumineralsprings.org/pdf_files/MSF_Brochure_Outside.pdf |title=Manitou Mineral Springs (brochure) | publisher=Manitou Mineral Springs | access-date=January 17, 2015 }}{{ cite web | url=http://manitoumineralsprings.org/pdf_files/Mineral_Content_Chart.pdf | title=Mineral Content Chart | publisher=Manitou Mineral Springs | access-date=January 17, 2015 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150226093757/http://manitoumineralsprings.org/pdf_files/Mineral_Content_Chart.pdf | archive-date=February 26, 2015 }}

{{see also|Iron Springs, Colorado}}

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://en-us.topographic-map.com/places/Englemann-Canyon-389138/ Englemann Canyon], topographic map

{{External images

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|width=700px

|image1 =[http://cdm15330.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/77637/rec/1 View of Manitou Springs and Englemann Canyon (background)], Denver Public Library Digital Collections

|image2=[http://cdm15330.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/2311/rec/3 Artist Glen, Englemann Canyon], Denver Public Library Digital Collections

|image3=[http://cdm15330.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll21/id/7851/rec/7 Minnehaha Falls], Denver Public Library Digital Collections

|image4=[http://cdm15330.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll21/id/4296/rec/6 Colorado Midland Railroad iron viaduct across Englemann Canyon], Denver Public Library Digital Collections

|image5=[http://cdm15330.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/2377/rec/23 Ute Iron Spring], Denver Public Library Digital Collections

|image6=[http://cdm15330.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15330coll22/id/30894/rec/29 Pikes Peak Cog Road], Denver Public Library Digital Collections

}}

{{Coord|38|50|54|N|104|57|42|W|display=title}}

Category:Canyons and gorges of Colorado

Category:Landforms of El Paso County, Colorado

Category:Manitou Springs, Colorado