Spencer Penrose, one of Colorado Springs’ city’s major benefactors, realized the tourist potential of such a beautiful landmark and in 1915 he finished converting the narrow carriage road into the Pikes Peak Highway. Pike could never have imagined the vehicles or the automobile race which would conclude at the summit of his peak a little over a century after his first sighting. The spectacular view from the summit inspired Katherine Lee Bates to compose the famous lyrics to America the Beautiful in 1893. As he approached the magnificent peak, rising abruptly from the plains, Pike swore this mountain would never be climbed by man.īy the mid-20 th century Pikes Peak had been conquered by tourists from all over the world – by car, motorcycle, bicycle, train, mule, horse, and on foot. Zebulon Pike first saw Pikes Peak from the eastern portion of today’s Colorado in 1806. Commissioned by Thomas Jefferson to explore the Great Plains, Lt.
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