American poet and writer Helen Hunt Jackson, who hiked daily in the Cheyenne Mountain area in the 1870’s, wrote: “There are in Colorado Springs seven places of worship: Episcopal, Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, Congregational, Unitarian and Cheyenne Mountain.” It is with this reverence that Cheyenne Mountain, Here’s Looking at You has been put together. Although much has been written about the Broadmoor Hotel and its attractions on the northern third of the mountain, no book has previously delved into numerous subjects pertaining to the entire mountain such as its geologic origins, Native Americans, how and when it got its name, homesteaders, fires, plane crashes, trails and the antenna farm.

Enhanced by over a hundred photos, maps, and paintings the book describes the early Spanish and French ownership of the mountain, the Louisiana Purchase, the Pike, Long and Fremont expeditions to the foot of Cheyenne Mountain in the early 1800’s, the mountain’s time as part of the Kansas and Colorado Territories, and finally statehood. It also describes how the southerly 920 acres of the mountain and the 1,680 acres of the former JL Ranch below became Cheyenne Mountain State Park.

Along the way there are many surprises, not the least of which is the authors being able to piece together, for the first time, the site of Stephen H. Long’s base camp on July 12-15, 1820. It is from this camp site that several of the Long party members made the first recorded successful climb of Pikes Peak. It is also from this camp that the first eye-witness pictorial record of Pikes Peak and Cheyenne Mountain was made.