User:Moonlight.attic

Topic: History of Grand Lake and the legend

Grand Lake is a town in Denver, Colorado. A town that was formed by glaciers and surrounded by the Rocky Mountains. The lake there is the deepest and biggest natural lake in Colorado (Grand Lake History •, n.d.).

History:

European hunting parties found the Grand Lake in the mid 1800s with some hunters built summer lodges and hired mountain men as guides. Grand Lake’s first residents included miners and hunting guides and in the late 1870’s, silver was found in mountains and rivers near Grand Lake. This led to prospectors bringing in supplies to local stores and making small mountain mine communities and the town went on to have a good economy. The town eventually got new residents but that didn’t last for very long. A little while after the discovery of silver and the small mountain mine communities being made, mines stopped operating and there were arguments over the placement of the county seat. Because of this, there was a shootout on the Fourth of July. Even though all of that happened, miners still settled and did things like fishing, boating, and hiking (Grand Lake History •, n.d.).

Legend:

There is a tale of the Grand lake which involves Native Americans, specifically the Ute Tribes. They were attacked by an Arapaho/Cheyenne war party The Ute Tribes lived around the Grand Lake but the war party was able to sneak past one of the lookout stations and a battle took place with the main body of Ute warriors. Additionally, women and children were put on a raft and they got put into the lake so that they could be safe but when the battle took place, a strong wind came out of nowhere and started to raise big waves on the lake which made the raft tip over and the Ute women and children ended up drowning and the Utes lost the battle (Native Americans, n.d.). This lake is known to be the most haunted and apparently, if you listen closely on days that rain, you can hear their cries and see a mist rise from the water (Spooky Towns in Colorado, n.d.).

References:

1. Grand Lake History •. (n.d.). Grand Lake. Retrieved November 14, 2024, from https://gograndlake.com/grand-lake-history/ 2. Native Americans. (n.d.). Destination Granby. Retrieved November 14, 2024, from https://www.destinationgranby.com/plan/history/native-americans/ 3. Spooky Small Towns in Colorado (n.d.) https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/trip-ideas/colorado/spooky-colorado-small-towns