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Title: Road and Trail Map of Estes Park Colorado and Rocky Mountain National Park
- Author: F.P. Clatworthy
- Date: 1919
- Condition: Light foxing present on the front cover; remains in its original blue wrappers with issued folds and exhibits slight paper loss along the right edge.
- Inches: 17 1/4 x 13 [Paper]
- Centimeters: 43.81 x 33.02 [Paper]
- Product ID: 308549
Although the first white settlers arrived about fifty years prior, Estes Park, Colorado did not formalize its municipal status until 1917. The catalyst for incorporation was the establishment of Rocky Mountain National Park in 1915, which spurred a new wave of visitors to the region.
This map, issued just a few years afterward, offers a glimpse of the area’s early transportation and recreation infrastructure, depicting main and secondary roads, hiking trails, resorts, ranches, and mountain peaks—each summit marked with its elevation in feet to compensate for the minimal use of hachures in rendering the terrain.
A detailed index along the left edge matches an alphanumeric grid surrounding the map, allowing users to locate nearly one hundred hotels, lakes, summits, waterfalls, and other notable features.
Background on Creator
Fred Payne Clatworthy (1875–1953) was a pioneering landscape photographer in Estes Park, Colorado, known for his early color photography and vivid images of the Rocky Mountains. He published widely, including in National Geographic, operated a photo studio in Estes Park, and played a significant role in promoting both the town and Rocky Mountain National Park through his striking Autochrome photographs.