Page 67 - Lariat Loop

Chapter 4
Mount Vernon Canyon 80401
The rst “Gateway to the Rockies” continues today as Interstate 70. In 1859, tolls were collected at Mount Vernon Towne (exit 259) to climb the steep and rugged canyon rising 2,000 feet over three miles to the historic Patrick Toll Gate (exit 254) at Genesee Mountain. The canyon trail often washed out makeshift bridges, which sent travelers to the Apex Trail (Heritage Square) by 1861 until the Lariat Trail was built in 1914.
A few hardy pioneers settled in the canyon next to Mount Vernon Creek to avoid wind and gain water supply. They built the rst Rockland School in 1873, the Rockland Cemetery in 1875, and Rockland Church in 1879. Visionaries hired Frederick Law Olmsted to design a 2400-acre Denver Lookout Mountain Resort in 1890. The “city on the hill” was not developed until 1905 when British real estate developer Rees Vidler gained Golden city water taps from Beaver Brook Watershed in exchange for an easement for crossing Lookout to Cedar Lake Reservoir. Vidler built a funicular railroad to lift tourists from Golden to his Lookout Mountain o ce in 1912 (now the site for KWGN antenna towers).
Historic Rockland Church & Cemetery
303-526-0668 • Rocklandcc.org
The rst church built by volunteers in 1880 still stands south of Highway 40 on Rockland Road. Occasional weddings and meetings continue to happen there. The cemetery began in 1880 and more than 138 people are now buried there.
Population increase by
1960 created a much
larger Rockland Church
at 17 South Mount
Vernon Country Club
Road.
Lariat Loop Scenic & Historic Byway 63