Bill Gateley's Introduction

to

"COLORADO: A SUMMER TRIP"

In the early 1990s I ran across Bayard Taylor's book describing a trip he took to Colorado in 1866. As I read it, I kept noticing places which he visited and which were also parts of the Gateley and Ogden history. 

I concocted the plan of writing "reference notations" in the book at the appropriate spots which would send the reader to additional information about what happened there which involved our families. I would then purchase books for each of my children and send the books and "use" instructions and data to them.

The plan was worked on and then simmered for several years at which time I figured I'd better get the job done. Unfortunately, I discovered that (1) the book was out of print and (2) there were no copies to be found anywhere except a few on the Internet at prices in the $100 range! I considered the possibility of going down to Kinko's and making a half-dozen copies myself. I wrote the publisher of the book (the University Press of Colorado) requesting permission to do this, but received no answer and so put the project on hold.

Time went by, the OGW was born and a few months ago it finally dawned on me that it would be possible to scan the text of the book and put that, along with the supplementary information into the OGW where it would be available to one and all. There is be a possibility of copyright infringement in doing this, but the project was too entrancing to pass up, and as this is strictly a non-profit endeavor, I'm willing to take the chance.

I have placed links at Ogden-Gateley family places in the book. Each link leads to a brief chronology of the family events which occurred at or near that spot, and the chronologies usually include links to pertinent places in the OGW. All of these links can lead one to far distant pages, but the persistent use of the back-button on your browser will usually get you back to Colorado: a Summer Trip. A link to a table showing all of the links in the text is at the top of the main page (Family Places), and a link at each table entry will take you to the spot in the text where the initial link occurs--all a bit confusing, but I think it may be useful.

In order to get a more complete view of our families in Colorado, I have added two side-trips which Bayard Taylor did not make: a journey from near Limon westward on US-24 to the Pikes Peak region, including the towns of Calhan, Eastonville, Black Forest and Colorado Springs -- a Gateley-Ogden-Wilson-York region to be sure -- and one to the Rifle area (on the Colorado River, 190 miles west of Denver) where the Joseph Gateley family settled in the 1890s.

Your comments will be welcomed, and do let me know of any errors which you encounter.

And, most of all, enjoy!