Ernest Ingersoll 1852 - 1946
1 book in the catalogue, published 2010.
Ernest Ingersoll was an American naturalist, writer and explorer who made his name describing the Rocky Mountains and the West for general readers in the later nineteenth century. Western Reflections Publishing carries one of his books, Crest of the Continent, which the catalogue lists as a 2010 reprint of his travel narrative of Colorado.
About Ernest Ingersoll
According to Wikipedia, Ingersoll was born on March 13, 1852, in Monroe, Michigan. He studied at Oberlin College and then at Harvard, where he was a pupil of Louis Agassiz. In 1874 he wrote a New York Tribune article on Agassiz's work and joined the paper's staff, and the same year he served as zoologist on the Hayden survey. With the photographer William Henry Jackson he was among the first scientists to investigate and describe the Mesa Verde cliff dwellings.
From 1879 to 1881 he described shellfisheries for a joint project of the U.S. Fish Commission and the Census Bureau. He updated Rand McNally guidebooks from the 1890s to 1905, moved to New York City in 1900, and wrote a weekly column for a Montreal paper until he retired in 1938. He died in Brattleboro, Vermont, on November 13, 1946, at the age of 94.
What the books share
Our one Ingersoll book is a travel narrative, and it shows what drew him: mountains, wildlife and the people met along a route. The catalogue description quotes him saying Colorado was wild and rough and left him exhilarated in body and soul. His career as a Hayden survey zoologist, a newspaper writer and a guidebook editor points the same way, toward looking closely at a place and explaining it to readers who had not seen it. Crest of the Continent follows a traveling party through Denver and into the mountains.
The subjects this author is catalogued under. Open Library record.
Next steps for readers of this author
Reading before a Mesa Verde visit
Ingersoll was among the first scientists to describe the cliff dwellings. Before you go, read the park's history pages and the Colorado Encyclopedia article so you know which parts of the story come from later research and which come from the survey years.
Taking a nineteenth century route today
Crest of the Continent is a reprint of an old travel narrative, so roads, lodging and trails will differ now. If you want to follow any part of it, check the Rocky Mountain National Park site for current conditions first.
Looking at the survey through its pictures
Spend an evening with the Jackson exhibit beside the book. Photographs from the survey years show what the country looked like when Ingersoll saw it, and they give you something to compare with his prose.
Go deeper
Ingersoll wrote about Colorado's mountains, and in 1874 he worked in the same country as the Hayden Survey. These pages cover that survey's photography, the Mesa Verde cliff dwellings it documented, and a high country park you can still visit.
Colorado Encyclopedia: Cliff Dwelling
An article on southwestern Colorado's cliff dwellings. It carries an 1874 photograph by William Henry Jackson that names Ernest Ingersoll as a reporter with the Hayden Survey.
William Henry Jackson Virtual Exhibit
A National Park Service exhibit on the photographer who worked for the Hayden Survey, for readers who want to see how the West looked to a survey camera.
Mesa Verde history and culture
The park's pages on the Ancestral Pueblo people, the cliff dwellings, a park timeline and its artifact and archival collections.
Rocky Mountain National Park
The official park site, which posts trail conditions, camping information and climbing rules.
Good to know
How many Ernest Ingersoll books does Western Reflections publish?
What did Ernest Ingersoll do besides write travel books?
When did Ingersoll live?
Writers like this one are how the list was built
We have published Colorado and Western writers since 1996, and every submission is still read by a person. Send yours, finished or half written.