New Frontier

Wilson Rockwell wrote New Frontier in 1938, early in his writing career, as a tribute to his mother. Then he waited almost twenty years before writing another popular history of Colorado's Western Slope. In between, he became a respected state senator and historian.

That gap explains why this book matters. According to the description, most of Rockwell's later work does not repeat what he put down here, so the 1938 text was basically lost to time until this reprint. The Open Library record lists our edition as published in 2011 by Western Reflections Publishing Co.

The subject is the early days of west central Colorado. The book concentrates on the history and the personalities of three valleys: the Gunnison, the Uncompahgre and the North Fork. It is people first, which fits a book written for his mother. At 278 pages, it is a full-length look at a region where settlement came late and the stories are still tied to particular families and places.

New Frontier is for readers who want the earliest of Wilson Rockwell's Western Slope histories. Family researchers with roots in the Gunnison, Uncompahgre or North Fork valleys may recognize place names and families here. Collectors of Rockwell's other books will find a different book from the later ones, since the author did not duplicate it. Local libraries and historical societies in west central Colorado can use it as a record of how people told this region's story in the late 1930s.

Wilson Rockwell wrote this book at the start of his career and later served as a Colorado state senator, according to the University of Colorado Boulder finding aid for his papers. The catalogue calls him a respected state senator and historian. We publish five of his books, from Western Slope town histories to a Ute history. His author page lists all five and says more about how they fit together.

More about Wilson Rockwell →

The three valleys in this book sit along rivers that run out of the high country of western Colorado. Gunnison, the town in the first valley, carries the name of John W. Gunnison, whose 1853 survey was for a railroad route to the Pacific. It was incorporated on March 1, 1880, and sits at about 7,710 feet.

The Uncompahgre River rises at Lake Como in the San Juan Mountains and runs about 75 miles northwest past Ouray, Ridgway, Montrose and Olathe before meeting the Gunnison River at Delta. Its name comes from a Ute word that loosely means dirty water, red lake or red water spring, probably for the hot springs near Ouray.

The town of Montrose was founded in 1882, the year after the Utes were removed from the area, according to a public radio history of the valley. Before irrigation, much of that valley was close to desert, which helps explain why settlers worked so hard to bring in water later on.

Source: Wikipedia, Uncompahgre River