'Colorado's Grandest Mile of Scenery': 140 colorful years of a colorful destination

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — "We imagine Heaven is like this," wrote the Rinkers of Indianapolis.

"Like a fairyland," wrote the DeLoaches of Houston.

Better than Niagara Falls, suggested another couple from Oak Park, Ill. Better than Yellowstone, opined another couple from Chicago.

Concluded the Agnews of Hamlin, Texas: "Now we have seen everything."

Those are but some comments left in the guest book of Seven Falls over the attraction's 140 years.

Yes, approaching this milestone season, those who have paid the entry fee have left with priceless memories of the place proclaimed Colorado's "Grandest Mile of Scenery."

The stairs ascending the cool, spraying cascades. The mighty, curious faces of the enveloping canyon. The friendly, always-hungry chipmunks. The stately pines. The mountains rolling west, the plains sprawling east like an ocean.

It might be an experience best explained by professional writers — such as the famous one who wished to be buried atop the scenery. Such as one who felt so compelled to pen a poem in 1934.

"Oh, Nature! / No lovelier spot didst thou create," wrote Frank B. King. "This gorge, like some gigantic urn / Shows beauty wheresoe'er we turn, / As if by some divining rod / 'Twere carven by the hand of God."

Another season promises more imagination. Seven Falls will welcome guests again in March.

A look back at 140 years of the colorful destination with an equally colorful history

— 1872: Nathaniel Colby homesteads 160 acres, including the scene of seven cascades in South Cheyenne Cañon.

— 1873: Colby sells the property to the Colorado Springs Land Co. While a rugged trip, the waterfalls are free to see for a time before a 10-cent charge.

— 1882: James Hull buys what he believes to be a profitable...