New Book Links Fort Morgan, Gold Rush

Online, June 25, 2011 (Newswire.com) - A new history of Fort Morgan links the town with the Colorado gold rush, the Civil War, and western expansion of the 19th century. The book titled In View of the Mountains: A History of Fort Morgan, Colorado covers the history of the Fort Morgan area from about 1700 to 1889 including the military history of the fort.

The book was written by a native of Fort Morgan, Jennifer Patten, currently a university professor living near St. Louis. In the Preface to the book she writes about the project: "From my youth I brought with me only a vague impression of the history of the small town in which I was raised... Built on the site of a short-lived military fort in the heart of the great American desert; a fort that had never been attacked, never seen a battle. On little more than a whim I went in search of the fort's operational dates (1864-1868), expecting this information would come readily to hand and that would end my curiosity... To my surprise, I instead found a door opening to the history of the west."

Little is written about Fort Morgan partially due to the difficulty in identifying the military establishment, referenced simply as "junction" even after being officially named. Other publications have suggested the fort was unsavory and unimportant during the Indian Wars. Patten's well-researched history instead paints Fort Morgan as central to military strategy of the time; the building of the fort a direct result of the Colorado gold rush and the Indian conflicts in the area culminating in the Sand Creek Massacre and the retaliation afterwards.

But, Fort Morgan's history isn't just military; it is linked with the movement west, with the telegraph and railroads - and with gold. This history of the Fort Morgan area starts with the journeys of early explorers, fur trappers and traders, the migration of the various Native American tribes and emigrants through the area and finishes with the rise of the town from the grasslands, emerging as a center of agriculture defined by the cattle industry, irrigation, and railroads. With the establishment of the town and Fort Morgan as the county seat in 1889, this history ends, leaving the modern history of the city of Fort Morgan for others.

The title of the book, In View of the Mountains, comes from the dozens of diaries and journals written by emigrants who caught their first view of the mountains traveling through the Fort Morgan area. The history includes the area surrounding Fort Morgan spanning from Merino to Orchard.

The book will soon be available through Amazon (paperback, 5.25"x8", $21.99, 354 pp., ISBN: 978-0-615-49703-7) and as an electronic download through various e-stores.
The author posts additional historical information not included in the published book on her blog http://ftmorgancolorado.blogspot.com/ and may be contacted through [email protected].