History of Steamboat Springs, Colorado
In a way, Steamboat Springs was always a resort area. As far back as the 14th century, the Ute Indians vacationed at Steamboat Springs, staying throughout the summers, not only taking advantage of the plentiful game available, but also the hot springs in the Yampa River valley. The name of Steamboat Springs was given to the area by a group of fur trappers heading down the Yampa River. They heard a chugging sound, and thought it was a steamboat coming up the river, but it turned out to be the sound of the hot springs bubbling up out of the ground.
In 1868, the United States government claimed the Steamboat Springs area and forced the Utes onto a reservation. The Utes didn't give up their land easily, and up until 1880, many scuffles took place between the Utes and the settlers.
The founder of the town of Steamboat Springs, James Crawford, was the first settler who homesteaded the area in 1875. He moved his family there the following year. Crawford respected the Utes and became friends with them. So the Utes attacked the other settlers, leaving Crawford and his family alone.
By the 1880's, the Utes were completely gone, and the fertile river valley began to attract ranchers and farmers into the area. More and more settlers homesteaded the area, eventually forming the community of Steamboat Springs. In 1885, Crawford started the Steamboat Springs Townsite Company. He built streets throughout the town and sold plots of land. One of the first businesses in the community was the local newspaper, The Steamboat Pilot, which printed its first paper on July 31, 1885. Within a year, the town had a general store, hotel, and post office.
The arrival of the Denver Northwestern and Pacific railroad on December 13, 1908 was extremely important to the growth and development of Steamboat Springs. A marching band met the first train as it chugged into town, and hundreds of residents were waiting for the train at the depot, cheering it on. One negative of the railroad was that when the railroad grade was constructed across the springs the town was named after, the steamboat sounds were silenced forever.
This town was named after a local spring which cascaded down a rocky outcrop and produced the sounds of a steamboat running in the canyon to early pioneers. In 1908 the Denver Northwestern and Pacific railroad built into town.
In 1913 a Norwegian cross-country skier, Carl Howelsen, came to Steamboat. He built a ski jump platform out of wood and started to teach ski jumping to the local men and women. The next year he organized the first Winter Carnival, including jumping competitions. Local legend tells of how some jumpers at the carnival flew off the platform and landed in a herd of elk grazing peacefully nearby
By 1943, Skiing had become popular with everyone living in Steamboat; so popular it was added to the school curriculum. The Steamboat Ski Area opened in 1963 on Storm Peak, three miles south of town. In 1944 one of Steamboat's winter Olympic hopefuls, Buddy Werner, was killed in an avalanche while skiing in Switzerland, and Storm Peak was changed to Mt. Werner.
THE RAILROAD
David Moffat's Denver, Northwestern and Pacific Railway reached Steamboat Springs in 1909, thus opening up an important rail link between the community and Colorado's Eastern Slope markets.
Denver architect Frank Edbrooke designed the two-story Depot which included a passenger section, with waiting rooms and station office below upper level living quarters, and a long freight and baggage extension to the west. The depot closed when passenger service ended in 1968.