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INTRODUCTION
Just imagine you're a fur trapper traveling through a remote river valley in the early 1800s. Suddenly you hear a noise like that of a riverboat steam engine. How confused would you be to hear sounds of civilization in such an uncharted wilderness? Now imagine you've found the source of that noise - a natural mineral geyser, spouting high into the air and chugging with every spurt! According to legend, that's what happened, and it gave the ensuing town a name: Steamboat Springs.
Unfortunately, that remarkable sound is gone, lost to the dynamite explosions necessitated by the laying of railroad tracks along the Yampa River. The original spring, one of more than 100 in the area, can still be seen at the Bud Werner Memorial Library.
The area was originally the summer home of the Yampitika Ute and Arapahoe Indians, who hunted and fished in the Valley and enjoyed the "medicine" springs and abundant vegetation. After the Meeker Massacre, a US treaty took the land from the Native Americans, and soon a city was laid out and plots were being sold. Many of history's most colorful characters, such as Kit Carson and Butch Cassidy, were attracted to this town, and you will be, too. Come, find your own "Rocky Mountain High."