148 Years Ago
The August 15, 1877 Colorado Transcript mentioned a problem relating to our new railroad. The route through Clear Creek canyon attracted many business travelers, as well as tourists who were eager to see the marvelous scenery.
Apparently, Denver businesses had decided that canyon walls were a perfect place to advertise. The Rocky Mountain News was the first one to write about this:
Colorado has the sublimest scenery in the world, and it is also the best adapted to advertising purposes. An ocean of paint and an army of advertising agents could advertise all the pills and pile remedies in the country in letters eleven feet high.
The Rocky Mountain News – June 12, 1877
The News said that someone had already painted advertisements for diarrhea medicine in the Garden of the Gods, and that they were beginning to mark up Clear Creek canyon. They were pushing for a new law that would forbid such “vandalism,” but they suggested that “instant death at the hand of anybody who captures the offender in the act” would also be appropriate.
The Transcript staff took a tour of the canyon and discovered that several Denver businesses “have covered every prominent point from the mouth of the cañon [canyon] to Idaho [Springs] with daubs of flaring paint. By all means, let the hanging commence.”
Our founding fathers really didn’t like vandals.
