
Royal Gorge - Fremont County, CO
Posted by:
cldisme
N 38° 27.779 W 105° 19.378
13S E 471823 N 4257235
Inside the Royal Gorge Park on the northern rim of Royal Gorge.
Waymark Code: WMA8KY
Location: Colorado, United States
Date Posted: 12/03/2010
Views: 12
An
admission fee is required to visit this waymark.
Installed in 1967, this wooden historical marker reads as follows:
ROYAL GORGE
Lt. Zebulon M. Pike and his men, who traveled through this area in November and December 1806, were the first American explorers to view the Arkansas River Canyon now known as the Royal Gorge. A small party from the Maj. Stephen H. Long expedition visited the mouth of the canyon in 1820, as did members of Lt. John C. Fremont’s expedition in 1845.
In 1878 a right of way through the Royal Gorge became the focal point of a bitter struggle between the Denver and Rio Grande and the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroads, with the D and RG eventually winning the route through court action. Congress ceded the land comprising the Royal Gorge Park to Canon City in 1906, and the world’s highest suspension bridge, spanning the Arkansas River 1053 feet below was built in 1929.
Elevation 6,626 Feet
Erected by the Royal Gorge Company and by
The State Historical Society of Colorado