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Enos Mills

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Enos Mills
Portrait of Enos Mills, American naturalist and author (1870–1922)
circa 1915
Born
Enos Abijah Mills

(1870-04-22)April 22, 1870
Linn County, Kansas
DiedSeptember 21, 1922(1922-09-21) (aged 52)
Colorado
Occupation(s)Naturalist, homesteader, and author
Known forLeading the establishment of the Rocky Mountain National Park
SpouseEsther Burnell

Enos Abijah Mills (April 22, 1870 – September 21, 1922) was an American naturalist, author and homesteader. He was the main figure behind the creation of Rocky Mountain National Park.

He traveled throughout the Rocky Mountains for years, communing with animals rather than killing them for food or safety. He operated the Longs Peak House as a summer place of respite for writers, publicists, and other intelligentsia. It was considered the Roycroft of the Rocky Mountains. Mills was appointed government lecturer by President Theodore Roosevelt.

Enos Mills was inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame by Junior Achievement and the Rocky Mountain and the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce in 2016.

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  • The Fountain of Life: Rocky Mountain National Park

Transcription

The National Archives [Sound of rushing wind] The Rockies, they say, are the backbone of North America. The mountains split the sky with their enormous mass, And alter the face of half the continent. They create their own climate and thereby, shape their own character. Rising as the ultimate barrier to storms from the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico, the Colorado Rockies ring the skies to support their carpet of life. [Rushing stream] The patterns of life repeat year upon year generation upon generation. Yet, life changes; the landscape changes, And the Rockies of today are not like the Rockies of the past. [music] "FOUNTAIN OF LIFE: ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK" This is an ancient land. The rock is called precambrian: Stone first laid down some 1.7 billion years ago. In effect, this rock preceded most life on earth. Before mammals, before trees, before dinosaurs, Before the earliest animals of land or fish of the seas, This rock lay here. This rock twisted and folded under incredible pressure 300 million years past. Molten rock penetrated the earth and cooled to crystals of granite, And still, only the simplest of life was present. This is the larger geological story of the land, But there is a gap in the story, caused by repeated uplifts and erosion. Along the foothills, younger layers still survive, Carrying a record the mountaintops once held. Aided by uplifts that grazed the mountains more than a mile, Aided by the cooling of the earth's climate, Ice has been the major sculptor of the earth for the past 2 million years. Advancing and retreating, again and again. Reshaping stream valleys into U shapes. Gouging and bulldozing the earth. It was ice that gave the latest touch to the landscape. Mountain lakes like strings of beads lie where ice gouged out the bedrock in its various routes downstream. Great symmetrical moraines, the dumping grounds of glaciers, lie adjacent to the old paths of ice floes. But the thousands of feet of ice did disappear quickly. In as little as 2,000 years, the climate warmed. Snowfall decreased. And the glaciers--the mighty, mountain- moving glaciers--wasted away. The Rockies of today were exposed only 15,000 years ago. It is the character of life to advance where it can. To spread where it is able. Life supports life. The greater the diversity of plant communities, the greater the number of animals. And the larger the area, the greater the diversity of life. This Rocky Mountain wilderness is blessed with both. Plants adapted to cold, spread upon the mountains as fast as glaciers retreated. And with them, came the browsers and grazers and predators of life. Rocky Mountain weather is fickle. And the land can be as bone dry as it is wet. At lower elevations, less then 15 inches of moisture falls each year. Here, sagebrush and bitterbrush defy the stresses of life. At middle elevations, precipitation increases, And ponderosa pine woodlands appear. These are the open forests that cover so much of the West. Higher still, and up to the limit of trees, The dark and cool forest of subalpine fir and angelman spruce thrive where snow piles deepest in winter. Only where they are buried by summer snowbanks, Or pruned into flags or elfin trees by wind-driven ice do they end. And higher, across the roof of the Rockies, lies the alpine tundra -- the land above the trees. Here, the physical conditions that control life are exceedingly harsh. Winter temperatures often plummet to 30 degrees Fahrenheit below zero. Abrasive winds exceed 170 miles an hour. The ultraviolet radiation above 11,000 feet is twice that at sea level. Sunlight is 25% greater. Freezing and thawing perpetually churn the earth, creating fantastic rock patterns. The growing season lasts only 10-12 weeks each year And yet, and yet, life has found a way. Ground-hugging and perennial, the plants of the alpine tundra often possess enormous root systems. They have adjusted to this treeless world by the dozens. One-fourth of these ankle-high plants are the same species that carpet the arctic tundra of Alaska, Canada, and Siberia. But even though adapted to survive the harshness of such climate, tundra plants are fragile. A trampled patch of this alpine tundra make take 400 - 1,000 years to recover. For Rocky Mountain National Park, bighorn sheep stand as the symbol. They thrive where few animals can. Many of them live all year on the alpine tundra. Pica, that little haymaker of the mountains, uses the brief alpine summer to harvest a winter supply of food. while yellow-bellied marmot eat and fatten all summer in preparation for their winter's hibernation. White-tailed ptarmigan blend with the alpine landscape to enhance their chances of survival. And they do the same in winter. Once hunted from these mountains, elk were reintroduced and now outnumber all large mammals. Scattered over the land in summer, they congregate in the fall to mate. Their haunting bugle echos in the mountains and meadows as bull elk compete for the control of harems. [Elks calling] Range upon range, valley upon valley, The land is nearly as wild as when those first unnamed people approached and saw that it was good. The traces of those first people are subtle. Since their arrival about 11,000 years ago, the earth has erased most of their marks. But their stone tools and firepits lie buried in the ground. Their trails still cross the mountains. They left no written record, nor did the Ute or Arapahoe. or early French trappers. But in late September of 1843, a mountain man entered the foothills of the Rockies and later described what he saw. "The locality of my encampment presented numerous and varied attractions," wrote Rufus Sage. It seemed indeed like a concentration of beautiful, lateral valleys, intersected by meandering water courses, ridged by lofty ledges of precipitous rock and hemmed in upon the west by vast piles of mountains climbing beyond the clouds. The fame of the Rockies began to spread. Joel Estes settled here in 1860. And short on the heels of the early homesteaders came adventurous travelers whose writings brought more and more fame to the region. Into this mountainous country, in 1873, rode an unprepossessing British woman, Isabella Bird, who lived in rustic style, climbed Long's Peak, and described the land in a way that captivated readers. "This is a glorious region, and the air and life are intoxicating. "This is surely one of the most entrancing spots on earth. "The glades which begin so softly are soon lost in the dark, primeval forests. "Every valley ends in mystery." This was the west where riches were in store for those who know how to find them. And so the search for wealth came to northern Colorado. The land was reshaped. In 1879, promising gold and silver ore was discovered in the upper headwaters of the Colorado River. And with the rush to the region, Lulu City was born the following summer, Carrying visions of riches, the hopeful miners poured in. But promises were only promises. The ore never justified a stamping bill. And eventually, even the most optimistic dreamers moved on. By 1884, the bears and mountain lions ran a government of their own. Lulu City began to fade back into the earth. Horseshoe Park became a place to raise hay, As did Moraine Park and much of the Kawuneechee Valley. But ranching is marginal in the mountains, and one by one, the settlers learned that travelers -- a new breed that came to the mountains for leisure -- were happy to find a place to bunk for the night. The era of early-day Dude Ranching was born. However primitive, such hostelries began to serve a travel-hungry America. But others came, too. Market hunters pursued wildlife herds. Water developers made their claims. Cattlemen grazed their herds. And lumbermen downed the alpine forests. By 1909, the idea for a Rocky Mountain National Park was born. The issue was an emotional one, and naturally so, for it pitted commercial interests against those who would preserve such places. [Rushing water] "Listen awhile," declared Enos Mills. "Let music say the things that words can never teach. "Forget the language of the world." To him, the Rocky Mountains were a fountain of life. This was his home and inspiration. Enos Mills became the chief spokesman for the park cause. "The greatest resource of the people "is that which empowers and inspires them to do their best," exhorted Mills. "People are restless for the medicine and the spell of the wilderness." After six years, Mills saw his dream achieved. Rocky Mountain became the 10th National Park in America. What do people see? Why do they come? The answers are as varied and numerous as the people themselves. For many, the mountains mean a journey up Trail Ridge Road to the top of the Continent, to stand in the alpine world astride the Continental Divide where waters diverge to either the Altlantic or Pacific Oceans. For some, it is a place to savor a pace of living not easily found in today's world. For others, life is a search to learn something of the world. "You must seek the beauty," observed Enos Mills. Ranger, "They used those to make the hats when the beaver hats were in fashion." "We'll pass this around." And to the woods and alpine meadows they go. Into the winter storms, and to the mountain tops. There are no roads, no power lines, no vehicles, no conveniences. What they find may not be in the world, but within themselves. Afternoon lightning and wind, sudden snow storms, and dizzy heights far above the trees add the element of unpredictability. For each traveler, the experience is unique, colored by the nature of their personal encounter with the mountains. There is space enough to dream. This is again the world of river otter and peregrine falcon. Bighorn and elk again claim the high country. Where this exists, it is preserved. Where it is changed, it is being restored. There lies the space -- the wide and high and dazzling space of the mountains. 'FOUNTAIN OF LIFE" "ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK" [Credits] "Presented by" "NATIONAL PARK SERVICE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR" The End

Early life

Mills was born on a farm in Linn County, Kansas, about 20 miles (32 km) from Fort Scott, Kansas.[1][a][b] Before his birth, his parents, Enos Mills Sr. and Ann Mills,[3] left Indiana for the Gold Rush in Colorado. The Mills were unsuccessful gold miners, but they later shared their stories of adventure in Colorado with their children. The Mills settled in Kansas before Enos Mills was born.[1] Mills was a frail child, due to stomach problems[6] or tuberculosis, and disappointed his father due to his inability to keep up with the hard labor on the farm.[1] Physicians had a hard time diagnosing Mills illness and when he was age 13, his parents were told he had just 6 months to live.[1] Mills learned how to read, but had a rudimentary education.[3]

Mills had ten brothers and sisters, who are listed in order of birth: Augustus, Elkhanah, Mary, Naomi Victoria, Ruth, Sarah, Ellen, Sabina Isabelle (Belle), Horace, and Enoch Joe.[7]

Colorado and Montana

Mills moved to Colorado in 1884 at the age of 14.[8] Inspired by his parents stories about Colorado, and having heard that the state's climate could have a therapeutic effect on his health, Mills left home and walked to Kansas City, Kansas where he worked until he earned his railroad fare for Denver.[1] He went to Fort Collins, Colorado and worked for Elkanah Lamb, his cousin,[9] who operated a cattle ranch. During the summer, Lamb led the cattle from the plains to the Longs Peak area.[6]

They [the Rocky Mountains] became his Arabian Nights. He was enthralled by the bright blue skies, the high peaks, the little beavers felling trees and building their homes, the friendly bluebirds and the primeval forests. The boy from Kansas stood awed among the tall and lovely firs and the rainbow of flowers .... What kinds of trees grew on the mountains, what animals lived there, and would they be friendly? He was small and frail and alone, and a head of bright curls made him seem the more childlike. People wondered at his industry and his daring. With no companion at night in the dark woods, was he not afraid? He answered readily, in his childhood English. 'What is there to be afraid of? There are no human beings around.'

— Grace D. Phillips, "Guardian of the Rockies", National Parks Magazine [10]

Initial years at Longs Peak

Enos Mills at the door of the cabin he built as a teen (late 1880s) on Longs Peak

At age 15, Mills made his first ascent of Longs Peak. Over the course of his life, he made the trip 40 times by himself and nearly 300 additional times as a guide.[11] He built his homestead near Longs Peak of the Rocky Mountains, 8 miles (13 km) from the town of Estes Park, Colorado[10] completing it at 16.[6] It was located near Lamb's Longs Peak House, a lodge.[12] He studied the flowers, animals, weather, and geology of the area.[6]

Mills left the home base of his cabin throghout the seasons to explore the Rocky Mountains,[3] home to deer, elk, bears, and other wildlife.[13] Believing that he safely communed with birds and wild animals, he traveled without a firearm.[3] He often slept in the light of a camp-fire, waking up periodically to feed the fire. He also woke to the sounds of mountain lions, birds, and other animals in the night. He considered himself lucky to be able to sleep in the open, rather than in stuffy houses of the poor.[14] Unwilling to kill an animal for food, he lived on chocolate and nuts.[3] He read the works of John Muir and John Burroughs, as well as a Bible his mother gave him.[3]

There were "a handful" of settlers in the Longs Peak area. British lady Isabella Bird, artist Albert Bierstadt, and mountain climber and author Frederick H. Chapin were noted visitors. Two hotels served the tourists. Denver was about one day away.[13]

Montana and travels

In the winter of 1887, he went to Butte, Montana to work as a miner. He did this on the off-season months to earn enough to support himself.[11][12] He lived part of the year in Montana until 1902.[11][12] Mills spent some of his summers traveling the West Coast of the United States, Alaska, and Europe. In 1889, he had a chance encounter with famed naturalist John Muir on a San Francisco beach, and from that point on Mills dedicated his life to conservation activism, lecturing, and writing.[11]

Enos filed his homestead application on February 3, 1893, and received his patent on November 16, 1898, for 160 acres in Larimer County, Colorado.[c]

Longs Peak Inn

In 1902, Mills returned to Colorado and purchased the Longs Peak House, which he renamed Longs Peak Inn, near Estes Park from Elkanah Lamb.[11][15] It became a place of respite during the summers for publicists and writers, the intelligentsia of the country. Considered the Roycroft of the Rocky Mountains, some of the visitors promoted the creation of a national park in the Rockies.[3][d] The inn was located at the beginning of a trail up Long's Peak. Like Lamb and his son Carlyle, Mills was as a professional guide who led increasing numbers of people up the mountain.[12][15] Mills made the first winter ascent up the peak in 1903.[6] Mills hired and trained nature guides there, who guided many people up Longs Peak and the surrounding area. His methods of nature interpretation are still taught to students in the field of interpretation.

From 1902 to 1906, Mills was a Colorado State Snow Observer, a position in which he measured the snow depths to predict spring and summer runoff. Following this position, he served as the United States government lecturer on forestry from 1907 to 1909.[11]

Naturalist and author

Enos A. Mills, The End of the Trail, published in The National Parks Portfolio, 1921

Mills authored several articles and books on nature and Estes Park area, beginning in the first decade of the 20th century.[11] Inspired by his trips in the wilderness, he wrote books, like Story of a Thousand Year Pine (1909).[3] He wrote about the animals and their habitats, and the geology of the Rocky Mountains.[12] His speeches generally focused on the lives of trees, forestry issues, preservation of natural lands, and the lives of wild animals. Often in his speeches and written articles he encouraged people of all ages to get outside and into nature.

His photographs illustrated the articles that he wrote about Longs Peak. He also wrote poetry. He was appointed government lecturer by President Theodore Roosevelt.[6] Mills lectured and wrote books throughout the rest of his life.[11] He wrote 15 books.[6]

Rocky Mountain National Park

Mills led the fight to preserve the area around Longs Peak as a national park, and used his speeches, his writing, and photography to lobby for the park.[11][16] He wanted a park of about 1,000 square miles that would cover the area from Wyoming to Pikes Peak.[17] Mills was aided by the Sierra Club, Daughters of the American Revolution,[11] American Civic Association, the General Federation of Women's Clubs and especially, Freelan Oscar Stanley (founder of the Stanley Hotel).[18] President Woodrow Wilson signed into law the bill that made the Rocky Mountain National Park the tenth national park on January 26, 1915.[17] It was 352.5 square miles.[17] He was called the "Father of Rocky Mountain National Park"[11] by several newspapers published reporting the passage and signing of the Rocky Mountain National Park Act in 1915, including the Denver Post.

Marriage

He married Esther Burnell on August 12, 1918 in Boulder County, Colorado.[19][20] Their only child, Enda Mills, later Enda Mills Kiley,[6] was born on April 27, 1919.

Death

Mills died at age 52 in 1922.[11] He died in Colorado, at Longs Peak Inn on Longs Peak, from heart failure.[3] Some state that he died of a broken heart, discouraged by the plans for a monopoly to control the transportation of freight and passengers through the park.[3] At the time of his death, he had a brother, William Mills, living in Fort Scott, Kansas and his mother lived in Linn County, Kansas.[3]

His wife, Esther Burnell Mills, was co-author with Hildegarde Hawthorne of the book Enos Mills of the Rockies, which was published in 1935, and which gives the following place names honoring Mills.[21] Mills Lake, and Mills Morraine on Longs Peak, within the Rocky Mountain National Park, were named in his honor.[8]

Publications

Enos A. Mills, Mount Copeland and Copeland Lake, Colorado, photograph published in The Adventures of a Nature Guide, 1920
  • The Story of Estes Park and Guide Book. Denver: Outdoor Life Publishing Company. 1905. LCCN 05016610.
  • Wild Life on the Rockies. Boston; New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. 1909. LCCN 09008919.
  • The Spell of the Rockies. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. 1911. LCCN 11029625.
  • The Story of a Thousand Year Pine. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. 1909. LCCN 14012822.
  • In Beaver World. Boston; New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. 1913. LCCN 13005458.
  • The Rocky Mountain Wonderland. Boston; New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. 1915. LCCN 15007322.
  • The Story of Scotch. Boston; New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. 1916. LCCN 16018586.
  • Your National Parks. Boston; New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. 1917. LCCN 17014711.
  • The Grizzly, Our Greatest Wild Animal. Boston; New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. 1919. LCCN 19010216.
  • The Adventures of a Nature Guide. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Page and Company. 1920. LCCN 87893116.
  • Waiting in the Wilderness. Garden City, NY and Toronto: Doubleday, Page and Company. 1921. LCCN 21002306.
  • Wild Animal Homesteads. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Page and Company. 1922. LCCN 23026340.
  • Watched By Wild Animals. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Page and Company. 1923. LCCN 42046087.
  • The Rocky Mountain National Park. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Page and Company. 1924. LCCN 24008898.
  • Bird Memories of the Rockies. Boston; New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. 1931. LCCN 31019666.

Notes

  1. ^ From his family's residences from 1865 to 1885, Mills was very likely born in Linn County, Kansas. The 1865 state census states that Enos and Ann Mills and their children lived in Potosi, Linn County (near Pleasanton).[2] His obituary, published by the Fort Scott newspaper, stated that he was born in Pleasanton, Linn County, Kansas, near the later site of the Mine Creek Battlefield of the Civil War.[3] When Enos was one-month-old and ten years later, he and his parents lived in Sheridan in Linn, Kansas.[4][5]
  2. ^ Frances Wayne of the Denver Post states that he was born in Kansas City, Kansas.[1] Mills left for Colorado from Kansas City, having walked there from his parents' house.[1]
  3. ^ His tract is located in Larimer County, Colorado on the west half of the southwest quarter of section 26 (80 acres) and the west half of the northwest quarter of section 35 (80 acres) of township 4 north and range 73 west of the 6th PM.
  4. ^ His obituary states that he built the lodge.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wild 1979, p. 9.
  2. ^ "Enos (born about 1835) and Ann Mills (born about 1838), Potosi, Kansas", Kansas Territory Census, Topeka, Kansas: Kansas State Historical Society, 1865
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Wayne, Frances (1922-09-28). "Mills, Naturalist, Lived Here During Boyhood". Fort Scott Tribune and The Fort Scott Monitor. p. 5. Retrieved 2023-08-16.
  4. ^ "Enos Mills, born 1870, Sheridan, Linn County, Kansas", U.S. Federal Census, Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1870
  5. ^ "Enos Mills, Sheridan, Linn County, Kansas", U.S. Federal Census, Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1880
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Jessen 1996, p. 23.
  7. ^ "Enos A. Mills Lineage". www.enosmills.com. Retrieved 2015-11-02.
  8. ^ a b Malitz, Jerome (2005). Rocky Mountain National Park Dayhiker's Guide. Big Earth Publishing. p. 45. ISBN 978-1555663407.
  9. ^ "Enos Mills, the 'Father' of RMNP". Este Park Trail Gazette. 2015-01-28.
  10. ^ a b Wild 1979, p. 10.
  11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from Biography of Enos Mills. National Park Service. November 19, 2016.
  12. ^ a b c d e Jessen 1996, p. 24.
  13. ^ a b Wild 1979, p. 11.
  14. ^ Wild 1979, p. 21.
  15. ^ a b Jennsen, Kenneth (January 1, 2015). "Lambs and Mills made names as early Rocky Mountain National Park guides". Reporter Herald. Retrieved November 16, 2016.
  16. ^ Malitz, Jerome (2005). Rocky Mountain National Park Dayhiker's Guide. Big Earth Publishing. p. 10. ISBN 978-1555663407.
  17. ^ a b c Malitz, Jerome (2005). Rocky Mountain National Park Dayhiker's Guide. Big Earth Publishing. pp. 7–8. ISBN 978-1555663407.
  18. ^ Alexander, Ruth M. (2023-09-26). Democracy's Mountain: Longs Peak and the Unfulfilled Promises of America's National Parks. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-8061-9330-4.
  19. ^ "Enos Mills and Des Moines Bride". Des Moines Tribune. 1918-08-17. p. 3. Retrieved 2023-08-17.
  20. ^ "Enos A. Mills married Esther A. Burnell on August 12, 1918", Marriage Records. Colorado Marriages, Denver, Colorado: State Archives – via ancestry.com Colorado, County Marriage Records and State Index, 1862-2006
  21. ^ Mills, Esther Burnell; Hawthorne, Hildegarde (1935). Enos Mills of the Rockies. Random House.

Bibliography

Further reading

  • Mills, Esther Burnell; Hawthorne, Hildegarde (1934). Enos Mills of the Rockies. Houghton Mifflin.
  • Wild, Peter (July 29, 1977). "The Father of Rocky Mountain Park: Enos Abijah Mills". High Country News. Launder, WY: 1, 6–7.
  • Wild, Peter (1978). "6: Enos Mills: Propagandist of the Rocky Mountains". Pioneer Conservationists of Western America. Edward Abbey (Introduction). Missoula: Mountain Press Publishing. pp. 70–79. ISBN 0878421076.

External links

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