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<br />BACKCROUND INfORMATION
<br />
<br />Othar important military installations followed--U.S. Air for~e
<br />Acadeny, Ent Air for~e Base, North Americen Air Defense Commend--
<br />and the aree readily accepted the military eS a new and dominant
<br />
<br />Settlement
<br />
<br />The city of Colorado Springs, town of fountain, and unin_
<br />~orporated ~ommunities of Stratton Meadows, Se~urity, Widefield and
<br />Stratmoor Village, are the principal population oentars along fountain
<br />Creek as it extends from COlOradO Springe' southWestern quadrant to
<br />the southern El Paso County line. This heartland area of COlorado
<br />Was firet explored by ths early_day map~ker Lieutenant Zebulin M.
<br />Pike in November 1806. Tod"y, as then, the filmed mount"in bearing
<br />his name-~Pikes Peak--towers 14,110 feet high in the weetern ba~k_
<br />ground. overlooking the fertile fountain Valley below.
<br />Colorado Springs Wes founded in July 1671 by General
<br />lo'illiemJ.Palmer h '
<br />, w 0 p~anned a city more decorous and moral than
<br />the neerby mining town of Colorado CHy (originally named "UDorado")
<br />IIJhich gold ssekors h..deatablhhedin 1859. By 1873, the new town
<br />had displac~d the older settlement as the county seat of [1 P"oo
<br />CountY.lnl917,ColoradoCitybeCamethewootpartofColorado
<br />Springs, being wholly absorbed by ite Johnny~como~lately rival.
<br />The yoar 1859 also ~..rkod the beginnings of fountain
<br />as a communitv wh",.e a,ricu11"-'- ~n~ ~.'111- '1
<br />' ~.~ a..U ~~ "ra~s ng were of p.imary
<br />
<br />economic .eeource.
<br />The uninoorporated 5ocurity-Widefield community, located
<br />between Colorado Springe and fountain, is essentially a composite of
<br />tiIJomajo.residentieldevelopnents__"SecurityVillage" and "Wid e_
<br />field Homes" __built since 195~ to house the poet-war influx of
<br />military familiee and their civili..n employee counterparts. 5imil..r
<br />reeidential development end related e~onomic growth have produced
<br />in~re"sing urbanization throughout El Paso County.
<br />In 1970, the U.S. Sureau of the Censua reported a popu~
<br />lation of 135,060 in urban Colorado 5prings; 6,223 in Stratton
<br />Meadows; 15,297 in Security_Widefield; and 3,515 in Fountain.
<br />During ths 1960~1970 decade, [1 Paso County increased from 143,742
<br />to 235,972 inhabitanto, reflocting a gain of 64.2 percent.
<br />
<br />.
<br />
<br />the Amoe Terrell fa~ily
<br />During the 1870's, fountain
<br />shippin9 point for the area's cattle ranchss.
<br />The town of Fountain wae incorpor"t"d on April 23, 19D3.
<br />Two historic events have most significantly affscted the
<br />Pikes Peek "" ' 1 "
<br />. assary"nu,"odorn_deydevelopmsnt. In 1891, dio_
<br />covery of the incredibly rich CripplsCresk gold fields, roughly 2 0
<br />milas weat of Coloradn Springs, brought wealth and an initiel era
<br />(lM.\_1910) of explo~ive gro'"th. Later, in 194~, the establishment
<br />
<br />IOonlOorn. AbalOhelor. ThomasO,"sns,,,nd
<br />wors the e",rliost pionear homesteaders.
<br />flourishod as a railhead
<br />
<br />The Str~~ms and Their Val lays
<br />fowntain Crock originete" "bout 7 miles northwest cf
<br />Pikes Peak in the mountains of the Rampart Range and flo,"s generally
<br />southeast through a narrow steep_walled canyon to emerge on the high
<br />pleins at ColoradO Springs. Elevation" in the lIIatershed above the
<br />southern El Peso County line rango from 14,110 feet at Pikes Peak,
<br />through 5,946 feet at the mouth ef ~onument Creek in COlorado Springs,
<br />t05.1S2f....tattheCDUl'ltyline.
<br />Fountain Creek's hsad~aters arB fed from glacial snow-
<br />pBcks and springe in the ~lpino northorn eloped canyone of Pikeo
<br />Peak, nnd fr~ g1"ci,,1 doposits that persist in meny of the valleys
<br />above9,500foote1evation. Inotherare",,,n,,rrowsteep_weliedcenyone
<br />are straight and well drained, thair ground cover including aspen,
<br />spruce, and pine treee. The bedro~k crsek channel, ~trown with
<br />bouldor~. averagee 50 feet in width abeve the foothills ~her", the
<br />R"~p,,rt ~ange ~o~ntain~ erode into the high plains. Th1s "rBnRitinn~l
<br />
<br />Qf Camp Cerson (no~
<br />eki~ts intr~dv"e~ B
<br />
<br />fort Carson) on COlorado Springs' Sou thorn out_
<br />"'or" ct~ble s"on~my, based on year-round militery
<br />epending, in place of the touris~ featur~d in pre-~orld War IT rlayg,
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