The Old Mountaineer, Fall River/Profile Rock, Fall River

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About The Old Mountaineer, Fall River/Profile Rock, Fall

A wonderfully detailed hand colored lithograph by A.E. Mathews (1831-1874) from his series "Pencil Sketches of Colorado, its cities, principal towns and mountain scenery", which was published in 1866. Overall this print measures 13"x19.5". This stunning lithographic view of the Rocky Mountains was created a full half-century before the mountain range and the surrounding areas gained national park status in 1915. As one of the premier views of Colorado ever produced, this rare Mathews' lithograph is a romantic and picturesque depiction of the pure Colorado landscape, reflecting the fervor for Westward expansion that was dominant in mid nineteenth-century thought. This view, with its sweeping snow-capped mountains and low, tree-dotted hills is a marvelous representation of the "unblemished" American western landscape that captured the imagination of settlers in the early years of the United States. The Lewis and Clark Expedition from 1804-1806 was the first scientific reconnaissance of the Rocky Mountains. Specimens were collected for contemporary botanists, zoologists, and geologists. The expedition was said to have paved the way to (and through) the Rocky Mountains for European-Americans from the East, although Lewis and Clark met at least 11 European-American mountain men during their travels. Mountain men, primarily French, Spanish, and British, roamed the Rocky Mountains from 1720 to 1800 seeking mineral deposits and furs. The fur-trading North West Company established Rocky Mountain House as a trading post in what is now the Rocky Mountain foothills of Alberta in 1799, and their business rivals the Hudson's Bay Company established Acton House nearby. The human history of this region can be traced back to the last great Ice Age, when the Rocky Mountains were home first to Paleo-Indians and then to the indigenous peoples of the Apache, Arapaho, Bannock, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Crow, Flathead, Shoshoni, Sioux, Ute, Kutenai (Ktunaxa in Canada), Sekani, Dunne-za, and ot