Lost Highways: Dispatches from the Shadows of the Rocky Mountains

It's often said that slavery is America's original sin. But the kind of slavery most of us learn about in history class—the brutal, dehumanizing enslavement of Black people in the Southern states—wasn't the only or even the first kind of bondage in the Americas. On this episode of Lost Highways, we look at a far-less institutionalized form of forced labor and servitude widely practiced in the American West. And as we'll see, enslavement has taken many different forms. We'll look at the ways power and economics in the Borderlands helped to perpetuate slavery in the United States long after its official abolition. We'll also look at the ways this history of Indigenous slavery continues to affect descendants, some of whom struggle to reconcile their familial and genetic pasts with their sense of belonging in what has been their homeland for generations. 

A monument to Christopher Columbus, sitting in the middle of Pueblo, Colorado has been dividing the town for years. To the large population of Italian-Americans whose ancestors came to Pueblo around the turn of the twentieth Century, it has long been a point of pride and a symbol of cultural belonging. But for the Indigenous and Chicano communities who also call Pueblo home, the statue of Columbus is a dark reminder of the long history of colonialism and genocide his voyages sparked. On this episode, we look at how community identities have been formed around historical heroes, and what happens to those communities when the actual history of those heroes catches up with what they've come to symbolize.

Since the racial justice protests of 2020, when most people think of monuments being torn down, they think of confederate statues in the south being toppled from their pedestals. But a Civil War monument to Union soldiers that stood in front of the Colorado capital for more than a hundred years was also pushed over during the protests that followed in the wake of George Floyd's murder. On this episode, we'll look the ways History Colorado has pioneered a new approach to  dealing with controversial monuments. We'll also take a look at what monuments should mean, the purpose they serve in maintaining our cultural narratives, and the challenges of reframing those monuments as the stories we tell ourselves about the past evolve over time.

On this episode of Lost Highways, we'll take a look back at how Title IX's passage in 1972 inadvertently codified the separation of sports by sex. And while the law opened the door to equal opportunity in sports and education for women, it also placed sex at the center of how we define fairness without fully addressing issues of equality where gender and race are concerned. We'll also meet Donna Hoover, the young woman who, in 1976, went out for the boys soccer team at Golden High School in Golden, Colorado and wound up changing women's sports in America forever.

On a sleepy summer evening in Boulder, Colorado, in 1974, three young Chicano activists sat in a car at Chautauqua Park at the base of the iconic Flatirons—the giant red sandstone rock formations that sit above the foothills. Then, at approximately 9:50 p.m., the car exploded. Two days later, another car in downtown Boulder exploded, killing three more young Chicanos. Their deaths came against the backdrop of the Chicano movement and the social justice activism of the 1960s and ‘70s. On this episode of Lost Highways, we'll look back at Los Seis de Boulder—the nearly-forgotten group of six activists in the Chicano movement who were fighting for student aid and representation on the CU Campus, and the unresolved mystery of their deaths.  

he Sand Creek Massacre was the deadliest day in Colorado history, and it changed Cheyenne and Arapaho people forever. On the morning of November 29, 1864, US troops under the command of Colonel John M. Chivington attacked a peaceful camp of Cheyenne and Arapaho people made up mostly of women, children, and elders along the Big Sandy Creek in Southeastern Colorado, near the present day town of Eads. The scale of the massacre was horrifying. More than 230 men, women, and children were murdered in the most brutal ways imaginable. US troops mutilated living and dead bodies, taking body parts as gruesome trophies back to be paraded and displayed in Denver.  This is the first episode in a series about the Sand Creek Massacre. Throughout the series, we'll focus on sharing Cheyenne and Arapaho accounts and oral histories.

How did the mountains get so white? Not snow, but people. It wasn't always so. And on this episode we look at a particular history of violence toward Chinese immigrants and Indigenous communities in one of Colorado's scenic mountain towns. We'll examine how it echoes in the present with increased violence toward Asian communities that began during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. How do we reconcile unsettling new facts with who we believe we are now? And how has the history of colonization and the marketing of whiteness in the Rocky Mountains excluded so many communities, including its original inhabitants?   

With the new reality of megafires in the West, we take a look at what happens when history itself is destroyed and how we hold on to who and what we are when we lose the artifacts and records that tell our stories. We'll take you from the Waldo Canyon Fire of 2012 near the town of Manitou Springs to the Denver suburbs of Louisville and Superior, Colorado where the 2021 Marshall Fire wiped out not only hundreds of homes and businesses, but also the entire Superior history museum, along with centuries of artifacts, archives, and community memories.

Colorado's San Luis Valley is the last place you might expect to find a centuries old lineage of Sephardic Jews. But a rare form of breast cancer and a host of odd traditions, artifacts, and rituals led researchers to discover an enclave of Crypto-Jews that fled Europe for the New World in the 16th Century to hide out in one of the most remote areas of the lower 48 states. On this episode, we'll unveil a secret Jewish faith and identity rooted deep in the American Southwest.

For nearly a century-and-a-half, archaeologists have been studying Mesa Verde in hopes of deciphering what happened to the Ancestral Puebloan people who lived and thrived there for so long. For many, it remains one of the great mysteries in the history of North America. On this episode of Lost Highways, we'll explore the way that historians and archaeologists try to solve these kinds of mysteries, and how they know what they say they think they know. Where does that confidence come from? How confident are they, actually? And what happens when what we think we know changes?     

On this episode of Lost Highways, we look at the mustang, the wild horse of American myth and legend. Though they're widely revered as symbols of untameable American freedom in the West, the reality of the wild horse in the 21st Century is far less romantic. From the long history of the horse's evolution in North America to the helicopter roundups on rangeland in The West, we'll follow the blurry line between the way we've mythologized horses to how we actually treat them.   

Westerns often reveal more about the period when they were produced than the era they portray, but the genre won't die. On this episode of Lost Highways, we'll trace the rise of The Western in American pop culture, the significance of landscape in film, and the moral guidelines that set the boundaries for US films produced from the late-19th Century to the present. From classic to revisionist and contemporary films, Westerns have both created and pushed back on the myths America tells itself. 

Westerns often reveal more about the period when they were produced than the era they portray, but the genre won't die. On this episode of Lost Highways, History Colorado's Dustin Hodge traces the rise of The Western in American pop culture, the significance of landscape in film, and the moral guidelines that set the boundaries for US films produced from the late-19th Century to the present. From classic to revisionist and contemporary films, Westerns have both created and pushed back on the myths America tells itself.   

On this episode of Lost Highways, we take you inside the history of NORAD, or North American Aerospace Defense Command. AND we'll take you inside The Cheyenne Mountain Complex, the base that has stoked the pop cultural imagination of generations with movies and shows from Dr. Strangelove to Stargate to Interstellar. As the war in Ukraine and Chinese spy balloons have brought long dormant fears of a nuclear attack back to public consciousness, we look at the way the Cold War reshaped and modernized the already militarized American West as it became the stage for a global high noon with the Soviet Union. We also look at the ways NORAD's vigilant watch for threats beyond our borders may have made us feel safe, but also left us vulnerable to threats from within and the instability of our own nuclear arsenal.   

Barney Ford was one of the most successful and resilient Black businessmen in the early American West. He came in search of gold, owned and operated hotels and restaurants, lost them in fires, rebuilt them, and enjoyed a reputation as a King of hospitality in early Denver, Breckenridge, and Cheyenne, Wyoming. Much of his legend was built upon a 1963 biography called "Mr. Barney Ford: A Portrait in Bistre" written by a hack journalist named Forbes Parkhill who moonlighted as a screenwriter for schlocky westerns. And for almost 60 years, Parkhill's colorful account of Ford's birth, his enslavement, and his heroic escape to freedom were taken largely as fact. But then, in 2022, history happened. 

Cathay Williams was an African American Woman who was conscripted to work as General Philip Sheridan's cook during the Civil War. When the war was over, she wanted to join one of the all-Black Army Regiments that later became known as the “Buffalo Soldiers." But women weren't allowed to serve at that time. So she put on men's clothes, changed her name to William Cathay, and spent the next three years as a Buffalo Soldier in the "Wild West."  Her story could easily serve as a western myth – a portrait of so-called frontier courage in the face of insurmountable odds. But we look more closely at the way her choice to live as a Black male soldier also reflect the extremely limited options available to Black women at the time. 

If you work hard enough, or get lucky enough, the distinctly American myth goes, anyone can become rich. And once you're rich, of course, you'll be happy … right? In the nineteenth century, no one embodied that American myth of the rugged individual than Winfield Scott Stratton, the first millionaire of the Cripple Creek Gold boom in 1893. He'd spent half his life searching for gold and, once he found it, became rich beyond his wildest dreams. But his sudden wealth made him miserable, even as he tried to give away, and he drank himself to death in 1902. On this episode, we complicate the rags-to-riches American myth of the rugged individual as we look at Stratton's life and the equally fascinating history of the miners and unions of Cripple Creek who made him rich. 

While we're working on Season 4 of Lost Highways, which will debut in January of 2023, here's an episode of CITY CAST DENVER that features History Colorado's Dexter Nelson II talking about "The Dry," a nearly forgotten, all-Black farming community in southeastern Colorado. This particular episode came out on September 22, 2022. Nelson is the Associate Curator of African American History and Cultural Heritage here at History Colorado. He recently finished working on a project called The Black History Trail, an interactive part of the new History Colorado app that includes audio and self-guided tours of a number of significant sites of African American history throughout Colorado.

Two years after the murder of George Floyd, we look back at the origins of policing in America through the lens of the Denver Police Department, how their role in communities has transitioned over time, what happens when they abuse their power, and the long struggle for change.

Less than an hour south of Colorado Springs, Fremont County is home to more than a dozen prisons, including the Colorado State Penitentiary and ADX, or Supermax, aka "The Alcatraz of the Rockies." On this episode of Lost Highways, we look into the history of the architecture of those prisons to see what they reveal about our belief in the power of incarceration to make society a better place. 

On this episode of Lost Highways, we look back at Mother Jones, one of the fiercest labor organizers in American history, and her role in the United Mine Workers of America's massive strike in the southern Colorado coalfields that led to the Ludlow Massacre on April 20, 1914.

In November of 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) into law. Now, more than 30 years later, we look back at both the letter and spirit of the law, which aims to return tens of thousands of stolen Indigenous remains and funerary artifacts to their tribes.

In 1863, two brothers from Colorado's San Luis Valley allegedly went on one of the most infamous killing sprees in the history of the American West. But the story's sensationalized lore has been entwined with the deeply contentious and unresolved history of land rights in the Borderlands of Southern Colorado for centuries. In this episode, we work with folklorist Jake Rosenberg to peel back the layers and see why the story still resonates today. 

In 2019, Spike Lee's 2018 film "BlacKkKlansman" won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. The film brought national attention to the story of Ron Stallworth, the first Black Detective to work in the Colorado Springs Police Department, who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s. But what many people don't know is that Colorado has been home to THREE Black Klansmen. In this episode, Noel and Tyler talk to experts, scholars, Theo Wilson (the most recent Black Klansman), and more as we explore the story of Dr. Joseph Westbrook, who infiltrated the KKK in the 1920s in an effort to protect the thriving Five Points community in Denver.

Content Warning: Racial Violence People don't often think of Colorado when they hear the word "lynching." But in 1900, one of the most horrifying racial terror lynchings in US history took place in the small town of Limon on the Eastern Plains. Hundreds of spectators looked on as fifteen-year-old Preston Porter, Jr., was burned alive. More than a century later, a group of people from across the state of Colorado came together to make sure that he was remembered—and that his story was told.

In the winter of 1874, Alfred Packer led a group of prospectors into the San Juan Mountains of Colorado. After returning alone, he confessed to eating the remains of his travel companions, and was convicted of murder despite claiming self-defense. The conviction sealed his place in history as the "Colorado Cannibal." After almost 150 years, Noel and Tyler look back at Packer's story and discover there's much more to it than simple questions of guilt or innocence.

As we get to work making Season 3 of Lost Highways, we wanted to share a podcast we think our listeners would love as much as we do. This is Episode 2 of a 4 part series called "The Order of Death" by JoshMattison and Shannon Geis. It's an in-depth look at the neo Nazis who assassinated Denver radio host Alan Berg, who was the subject of the S1 Lost Highways episode, "The Passion of Alan Berg." To hear more go to https://www.theorderofdeathpodcast.com/ or search "The Order of Death" on any podcast app. 

Juan Federico Miguel Arguello Trujillo lost his name, his language, and his culture at a Catholic school in Trinidad, Colorado in the 1940s. When he found them again he found himself at the center of some of the most important moments of 20th Century Chicano history. 

On this episode, how Trinidad, Colorado -- an iconic Western mining town along the old Santa Fe trail on the New Mexico border -- became the unlikely location for two pioneers of gender confirmation surgery. Their work would earn Trinidad the now-dated nickname: "the sex change capital of the world."

As the Covid-19 Pandemic rages on, we update this episode about what we can learn from the 1918-1919 Spanish Flu outbreak in Colorado. In particular, we look at Gunnison, the mountain town that almost managed to avoid the outbreak altogether. 

In 1970, a man named Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche came to the US with the mission of teaching Tibetan Buddhism to Westerners. He enthralled hippies across the country and paved the way for a distinctly American Buddhism. But there was also a "shadow side" to his charisma. On this episode, Noel and Tyler explore the life and times of a beloved teacher who was no stranger to controversy.

As people across the country celebrate Thanksgiving, we're re-broadcasting one of our more popular episodes from Season 1 in light of current events. Please stay tuned at the end for an update with two of our guests. On this episode of Lost Highways, we look at the history of American Indian mascots and the different ways that tribes, teams, governments, and communities have grappled with the controversy.

Noel and Tyler look back at intentional artist communities Drop City and Libre to understand why one thrived while the other died, and what these two communes might teach us about the balance between freedom and order. (Photo Credit: Dean and Linda's Dome by Roberta Price)

This is a re-release of an episode we published early due to the COVID-19 quarantine. We're posting it again in case you missed it the first time, and in honor of the 95th anniversary of the day Kate Slaughterback became "Rattlesnake Kate." Musician Neyla Pekarek (formerly of the Lumineers), helps tell the legend of Rattlesnake Kate, an early 20th century woman who refused to play by the rules. After surviving a rattlesnake attack, Kate earned herself a place in the pantheon of American tall tales. 

Noel and Tyler explore the complicated stories of sex workers in Denver in the late 1800s by hearing from contemporary sex workers about their own experiences. 

This is a re-release of an episode that we published early due to the COVID-19 quarantine. We're posting it again in case you missed it the first time, and in honor of the 30th anniversary of the ADA. On July 5th, 1978, nineteen disability rights activists blocked multiple buses at one of Denver's busiest intersections, causing a 24-hour traffic jam. Their actions would revolutionize the way we think about accessibility.

In 1936, Colorado Governor "Big Ed" Johnson declared martial law in an attempt to close the Colorado/New Mexico border. In this episode, we unravel the historical context of this one decision, touching on issues of race, labor, and immigration that speak to the United States' current political moment as well.

Musician Neyla Pekarek (formerly of the Lumineers), helps tell the legend of Rattlesnake Kate, an early 20th century Western icon who refused to play by the rules. After surviving a rattlesnake attack, Kate earned herself a place in the pantheon of American tall tales.  History Colorado wants to hear from you about how COVID-19 is changing your daily life. More information at https://www.historycolorado.org/covid-19

Colorado had both the highest AND lowest death rates in the country when it came to Spanish Flu in 1918. What can Coloradans today learn from that? John Allnutt's memories about the 1918 flu can be heard in their entirety on COauthored, History Colorado's podcast featuring some of the most compelling oral histories from our collection. History Colorado wants to hear from you about how COVID-19 is changing your daily life. More information at https://www.historycolorado.org/covid-19    

On July 5th, 1978, nineteen disability rights activists blocked multiple buses at one of Denver's busiest intersections, causing a 24-hour traffic jam. Their actions would revolutionize the way we think about accessibility. _________________________________________________________________ History Colorado wants to hear from you about how COVID-19 is changing your daily life. More information at https://www.historycolorado.org/covid-19

Because of the statewide shelter-in-place orders due to the COVID-19 outbreak, we decided to speed up the release of the first part of Season 2 of Lost Highways. Instead of releasing everything in the fall, we’ll be publishing new episodes as soon as we finish them, starting on Tuesday, March 31st. Keep an eye on your feeds! We hope you and your loved ones are staying safe and healthy.

One hundred years ago, a pitcher with a nasty curveball and a mind for business named Rube Foster formed "the Negro Leagues." In a story that in many ways mirrors American history from Reconstruction to the Civil Rights Movement, African Americans in baseball shaped the game and American society beyond the ballfield. It’s a story that runs, surprisingly, straight through Denver and an event that called itself “The Little World Series of the West.”

In 1955, one of the first airplane bombings in the history of commercial aviation happened just outside of Denver. This episode was inspired by a fragment of the wreckage that's on loan to History Colorado from the Denver Police Museum. Please enjoy this short bonus episode, and take the Lost Highways Season 1 survey to help us make Season 2 even better. You can take the survey at https://www.historycolorado.org/lost-highways or https://forms.gle/9KwjvCnDRZ2Vvbsv6 Thank you! 

There are still more than a thousand public high schools across the country that use stereotypes and caricatures of American Indians as their mascots, and Colorado is no exception. We still have more than 30 of them.  On this episode of Lost Highways, we look at the history of American Indian mascots and the different ways that tribes, teams, governments, and communities have grappled with the controversy. 

Born and raised in Wheatridge, Colorado, Dean Reed moved to Hollywood at the age of 19 in an attempt to become a star. He was groomed to be a teen pop idol by Capitol Records before becoming a socialist during a tour of South America in the 1960s. He eventually settled in East Germany, where, despite remaining unknown in the United States, he became one of the socialist world's biggest stars. In this episode, Noel and Tyler dig into Reed's archives at History Colorado as they reconsider the legacy of the Red Elvis.

In the aftermath of the American Civil War, all-Black settlements sprang up throughout the West as formerly enslaved people and their descendants sought to build a better life. In this episode, Noel and Tyler look back at one of those communities in Colorado.

Noel and Tyler spin the dial on the talk radio time machine to meet Alan Berg, the loud-mouthed Denver media personality who helped pioneer the “outrage for profit”  business model that drives political media today. Berg was on his way to stardom until his assassination by neo-Nazis in 1984.

Tyler and Noel set out to investigate an alleged feud between two bickering bonsai clubs. But their quest leads them instead to Amache, a WWII prison camp for people of Japanese ancestry in southeast Colorado.

In 1975, a newly-elected Boulder County Clerk named Clela Rorex had just settled into her job when two men walked into the courthouse and asked for a marriage license. Her decision would reverberate across four decades of LGBTQ history, and ultimately help redefine marriage as we know it.

Lost Highways: Dispatches from the Shadows of the Rocky Mountains. Debuting September 18, 2019.