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1st Place -Broadcasters
Award Wrangler Award -Cowboy Hall of Fame Bronze Apple Winner -NEMN Awards "Recommended. An excellent introduction to the history of the women's suffrage movement; also recommended for U.S. West, Women's Studies, and political science studies." -EMRO Review Women had to go against their church, their fathers and even their husbands to gain equal rights in this country. In this multi-award winning program we learn that the privileges of owning property, inheriting estates, earning a salary, and voting, enjoyed by all American women today, are due to the successful battle for women's suffrage fought for – and won - by determined women, such as Sarah Decker, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Ellis Meredith. 08DR/CC Closed-Captioned IJSCA 30 min. |
| During the early part of the 1900s, the coal industry became important in the Rockies. Entire families, of all nationalities, lived and worked in coal camp towns, such as Berwind, Cameron, Walsen, Tabasco, and Tercio. Here through actual accounts we discover how these company camps passed on a heritage rich with cultural diversity. 08DR/CC Closed-Captioned IJSCA 30 min. |
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"Highly Recommended. William Cody earned his nickname of Buffalo
Bill with his remarkable marksmanship on buffalo hunts in the Old West. He
once remarked, however, that the hide hunters were the real culprits who
brought the great buffalo herds of over 40 million down to less than 1500 by
the turn of the century. In fact, Cody owned a significant number of these
1500 bison for his Wild West show. Buffalo Bill embodied the mythical,
perhaps fanciful, hero of "winning the Old West." He performed reenactments
of his experiences as a Civil War scout, a scout in the Indian Wars, and as
a buffalo hunter in theaters and in his own outdoor spectacle, the Wild West
Show. Cody was also represented in dime novels of the day. He became a
global superstar when he brought his show and his accompaniment of American
Indians to Europe. Europeans had never seen anything like it. American
Indians, including Sitting Bull, participated in this show to exhibit and
glorify their way of life, which was now disappearing. Cody also introduced
the sharpshooter Annie Oakely to the world. This is a well-done documentary,
which offers narrated pieces of memoirs, letters, etc.; it adequately
addresses criticisms of Cody, such as his buffalo hunts and battles with
Indians; also it provides a good profile of Cody's personality." -EMRO
Review For 30 years Buffalo Bill Cody was the most popular figure on two continents. His Wild West show was the symbol of everything western and provided a unique form of entertainment that has never been equaled. He introduced the world to Chief Sitting Bull, as well as Annie Oakely, who traveled with his show for 17 years. In exploring the myth, the legend and the reality of the man, we also learn how he was loved by children of all ages worldwide, gave away thousands of tickets to his shows and performed free for prisoners. 08DR/CC Closed-Captioned IJSCA 60 min. |
| The generation poised on the threshold of the twentieth century faced an uncertain future, as slow-paced nineteenth-century life crumbled under the onrush of mechanization. Yet the marvels of the twentieth century promised renewed hope and undreamed–of prosperity. In this program we cross from one century to the next in worlds of those who made the journey. We witness the advent of the automobile, bloody mine strikes at Cripple Creek, Nikola Tesla’s electrical experiments at Pikes Peak, and other pivotal events that changed the shape of our lives. 08DR/CC Closed-Captioned IJSCA 30 min. |
| When the early settlers came to the San Luis Valley, they carved a life out of this harsh, arid land with irrigation, farming and their rich Hispanic culture. Here we meet descendants who carry on centuries old traditions, such as weaving, Santo carving, farming, and sewing. 08DR/CC Closed-Captioned IJSCA 30 min. |
| Here we are invited to look at the design of the city of Denver and its world famous parks system. We look at the evolution of the city through the eyes of its designers, learn of the limiting effects of resources, politics and water, and see how city planners worked to make Denver "The City Beautiful." 08DR/CC Closed-Captioned IJSCA 30 min. |
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Diversions (cc) |
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Life was hard and often risky in the great Western frontier.
In this program we learn poignant, often amusing, stories of what people did
when they weren't working. Here we discover that diversions, such as
saloons, were much more than drinking and gambling establishments, they were
integral parts of the community, centers that hosted weddings, funerals,
political debates, and religious services. 07DR/CC Closed-Captioned Level 1 - IJSCA 20 min. Level 2 - SCA 30 min. |
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"Recommended. Covering a number of 19th-century
photographers, including famous William Henry Jackson, Sophie Herkules, and
Oliver Aultmann, this is an excellent introduction to early
photography." -EMRO Review Through historic photos and personal interviews with people who actually knew many of the early photographers, this program explores the early science of photography and brings the Rocky Mountain legacy to life. 08DR/CC Closed-Captioned IJSCA 30 min. |
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"Highly Recommended. This is a superbly focused
documentary offering a chronology of battles, elaborate reenactment of
battles and marches, and excerpts from soldiers' letters and diaries."
-EMRO Review The firing on Fort Sumter, South Carolina, began the American Civil War, and most battles were fought in the South and East; however, the West played a major part in the war, and battles fought there would change the wilderness forever. This documentary use primary sources, such as solders' diaries and sketches, plus actual photographs from the era, to tell of often forgotten battles, which occurred in the Trans-Mississippi West. Texas we learn left the Union on February 1, 1861, and military leaders such as General Henry Sibley formed troops for the Confederate army. A year later, Sibley marched his army further west and crossed the Rio Grande River north of Fort Craig, in New Mexico Territory, to lay claim to the land for the Confederate States of America. There he met Col. Canby's Colorado Territory Volunteers on Feb. 20, 1862, and at Valverde, in the high desert outside Fort Craig, the first battle of the West began. Dubbed "Bloody Valverde," for the heavy casualties on both sides, Sibley claimed a victory, but Canby and his Union troops held Fort Craig. There were minor skirmishes during the next few weeks, but on March 26 both sides prepared to meet in a decisive battle at Glorieta Pass, which was a strategic position on the Santa Fe Trail at the southern tip of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in the New Mexico Territory. Using muskets, bayonets, and some cannons, the Texans pushed the Union troops up the valley. During a 48-hour truce to bury the dead and care for the wounded, the Union troops crept into the C. S. A. camp and destroyed their supplies and mules, forcing the Texans to retreat with the Union troops in hot pursuit. The Union victory at Glorieta Pass stopped the C. S. A. advancement into the Southwest and was the turning point of the Civil War in the New Mexico Territory. Newspaper headlines would read, the Devils of Pike's Peak sent the Rebels packing. 08DR/CC Closed-Captioned IJSCA 30 min. |
| The story of the raw, unspoiled Southwest is told most poignantly through the eyes of its earliest artists and photographers. Here the brushes and lenses of artists, such as Samuel Seymour, John K. Hillers, and George Robertson help us relive the stories of these earlier days. 08DR/CC Closed-Captioned IJSCA 30 min. |
| Gold. It drove men and women West with obsession, leaving all that was familiar to face the unknown and quite often certain death. Here we take a close look at the emigrants following their hopes and dreams to the Pike's Peak gold Region and learn of their mass exodus, the risks crossing the prairie, and the hardships of the mining camps. Also we discover what induced them to stay and put down roots. Augusta Pierce Tabor, Calvin Perry Clark, and others relate the dangers of crossing the prairie and hardships of mining camps at Russell Gulch, Ore City, California Gulch, Buckskin Joe’s, and Leadville. 08DR/CC Closed-Captioned IJSCA 30 min. |
| Grand Junction, Colorado, is a bustling city with a charming downtown full of shops, restaurants, galleries and much more in an area now known as Colorado's Wine Country; it’s a giant step from the days of the original settlers who incorporated the town on June 29, 1882. In this program, we follow frontier people as they trek cross the Continental Divide over ancient Native American trails to the confluence of the Colorado River and the Gunnison River in the Grand Valley. Here we discover how, through hard work, determination and political vision, the westward movement, that grand endeavor, endured and Grand Junction became the thriving city we know today. 08DR/CC Closed-Captioned IJSCA 30 min. |
| This is the glorious story behind three of Colorado's fabled resort hotels, the Stanley Inn in Estes Park, the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, and the Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs. 08DR/CC Closed-Captioned IJSCA 30 min. |
| The Great Depression of the 1930s did not miss the Rocky Mountains. Using actual accounts and remembrances of people who lived in "dust bowl" areas, this program reveals this trying time in history - when life was passionate, hard, and often hopeless. 08DR/CC Closed-Captioned IJSCA 30 min. |
| In the early 1800s, consumption (Tuberculosis) accounted for 25% of the deaths in the United Stages. This resulted in a large number of health seekers who came to the West seeking clean, pure air and waters. Sanitariums, sleeping porches, and tent colonies sprang up throughout the Rockies, much to the chagrin of local residents who feared the tide of incurable invalids and imported corpses. Many who got well, like Helen Hunt Jackson, Dr. Susan Anderson, Robert Speer, and J. J. Hagaman, stayed on to become major figures in the taming of the frontier. And today, in Denver, the National Jewish Center plays a significant role in the treatment of TB. 08DR/CC Closed-Captioned IJSCA 30 min. |
| Nestled away in the San Luis Valley of Colorado lies what is know here as the "Forgotten Land," a place where descendants of Spanish Conquistadors and colonists continue life much as it was in the early days. Tucked away in the San Juan, Sawatch, Sangre de Cristo, and Culebra Mountains, a proud, self-sufficient people preserve their passion for the land, their religion, and their traditions. This distinctively Hispanic culture reveals centuries of depth in stories and traditions. 08DR/CC Closed-Captioned IJSCA 30 min. |
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"Rocky Mountain 'flickers' set the pattern for future
Westerns, led to the discovery of stars like Tom Mix and 'Bronco Billy'
Anderson, and laid the foundation for the modern art of filmmaking."
-Library Journal Hundreds of films were shot in the Rocky Mountains between 1897 and 1914, of which, only a few survive. Using rare archival photos and films, this program presents a tapestry of the birth of the American film industry as it struggled through its pre-Hollywood years. Highlights include clips from: Festival of Mountain and Plain (1897), The Hold-up of the Leadville Stage (1904), Pirate of the Plains (1914) and films by Thomas Edison, the Lumière Brothers, and George Méliés. 08DR/CC Closed-Captioned IJSCA 30 min. |
| The Homestead Act of 1862 opened the vast region of grassland between the Missouri River on the East and the Rocky Mountains on the West. This nearly treeless region of the country was one of the last vestiges of the frontier. To the untrained eye of frontiersmen, gold seekers, and settlers, this truly was the Great American Desert, so named by Major Stephen Long during the Long's Expedition in the early 1800s, and nearly non-inhabitable. Yet, towards the end of the century, folks discovered the Prairie; partly because of the promises of the promoters and partly for the chance the prairie offered land-starved families of the east. So folks came to the prairie and built a home. Sure it was hard, and many left. Many stayed however, to become the grandfathers and grandmothers of folks calling the Prairie home today. This is the story of those who came and for generations have called the prairies of Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado home. These descendants of homesteaders share the stories of hardship, sorrow, love and laughter, noting that the prairies have added to their individual heritage; making them strong and proud of their roots in the process. 08DR/CC Closed-Captioned IJSCA 60 min. |
| An impressive system of levees made the city of Pueblo, Colorado, flood-proof, or so they thought. In this program we re-live the disastrous flood of June 3, 1921. Using archival photographs, rare film footage and personal remembrances, this program re-lives that enormous setback. 08DR/CC Closed-Captioned IJSCA 30 min. |
| Using rare archival still photographs and film footage of the last passenger train to Cripple Creek, and runs of the Rio Grande Southern, the Colorado and Southern, and the Galloping Goose, this memorable program presents train afficionados Jackson Thode, Edward Haley, Charles Albi, Edward Gerlits and Bob Griswold, who recount decades of steam locomotive history in the Rockies. 08DR/CC Closed-Captioned IJSCA 60 min. |
| The U.S. Government called it the "Sand Creek Battle," while social reformists called it a "massacre." Whatever the name, the events of November 29, 1864, are recalled in sorrow by the Cheyenne and Arapahoe. Some suggest the events at this battle contributed significantly to the later defeat of General George Custer at the Battle of Little Big Horn. Using the oral traditions of Cheyenne tribal historians, Mo-chis and Medicine Water, this program revisits this pivotal moment in time and allows viewers to experience the battle from the inside out. 08DR/CC Closed-Captioned IJSCA 60 min. |
| Tourism plays an important role in the Rockies and one thing that draws people here are its steam locomotives. In this fascinating program we hop aboard the Pike's Peak Cog Railroad, the Georgetown Loop, and the Argentine Railway to understand a continuing legacy of steam locomotives that has endured for decades. Using "live steam" footage from as early as 1903, and the railroad photography of Otto Perry and Irv Augustlets, viewers "feel" what riding the rails was like when travel was entertainment. 08DR/CC Closed-Captioned IJSCA 30 min. |
| This engaging look at the regular life of pioneering people includes their embarking on a trip across the Great American Desert from Westport Landing, MO, to Santa Fe, NM, trading with Native Americans, and having to work together to survive in their "fort" life. Here we learn the feelings and emotions of 19-year-old Susan Shelby Magoffin, who journeyed west with her new husband, the young adventurer, Louis Gerrard; Charlotte Green, the black slave of William Bent, whose renowned kitchen appeared in journal entry after another; Charles and William Bent, who gained great stature in the region through trade with whites and Indians alike. 08DR/CC Closed-Captioned IJSCA 30 min. |