Pike's Peak Cog Railway

This is footage I shot of us taking the Cog Railway service out of Manitou Springs up to the top of Pike's Peak ( Cog Wheel Route ). If you are considering using this railway to the top, this might convince you to employ its use. It is reasonably priced, only takes about 3 hours round trip, and one of the safest ways to experience the top of one of the most beautiful scenic mountains in the United States. Unfortunately for us, when we reached the summit, it was sleeting and raining, which drastically hindered our visibility. But it is one of the risks that you take on this venture. The weather might be beautiful and sunny when you start the trip, but once you reach the top, the climate can change in a matter of minutes. The temperature dropped from about 80 degrees below, down to 35 degrees at the top. I hope you enjoy my footage, and maybe you will take this trek yourself someday!

Feel free to scrub ahead to 9:51 and 19:07 for some nice still shots in HD.

I hope you enjoy this video, and please like and leave comments! Thank you!

Mineral Springs:

Valley of springs where Ute came to hunt and take the mineral springs. The center of the photograph shows a "lone encampment" of Ute Native Americans, between 1874 and 1879.

Ute Iron Spring, Gazebo and curio shoppe. Iron Springs Hotel in background. Photograph courtesy: Manitou Springs Heritage Center.
Main article: Manitou Mineral Springs
The Manitou Springs area has several mineral springs, called manitou for the "breath of the Great Spirit Manitou" believed to have created the bubbles, or "effervescence", in the spring water. The springs were considered sacred grounds where Native Americans drank and soaked in the mineral water to replenish and heal themselves. Ute, Arapaho, Cheyenne and other plains tribes came to the area, spent winters there, and "share[d] in the gifts of the waters without worry of conflict." There were 9 or 10 natural springs. As whites moved in there were "skirmishes" for access to the historical resort area until the Native Americans were removed from the area and placed on reservations.[3][4][5][6]

Explorer Stephen Harriman Long made note of the water's healing properties in 1820.[5] His expedition's botanist and geologist, Edwin James, noted the healing benefits of the water; He was also the first European man believed to have climbed Pikes Peak. George Frederick Ruxton wrote of the "boiling waters" in a book about his travels.[2]:7 Recognizing the extent to which Native Americans considered the site to be sacred, Ruxton wrote: "…the basin of the spring (at Manitou) was filled with beads and wampum, and pieces of red cloth and knives, while the surrounding trees were hung with strips of deer skin, cloth and moccosons (sic)."[7]

In the 1870s, there was a pavilion over the Ute Iron Springs,[8] which is thought to be one "strongest of tonics" due to its high iron content.[9][10] In the early or mid 1880s, Iron Springs Company purchased the spring and built an Adirondack style wood pavilion over the spring. They sold the mineral water commercially until they sold the spring to Joseph G. Hiestand in 1887.[11] In 1890, Joseph G. Heistand had the Ute Iron Springs pavilion torn down and rebuilt as a two-story structure, the second floor was a photographic gallery.[12] The spring in the lower Englemann canyon[13] was near the mouth of the canyon and the Iron Springs Hotel.[14][15] The Ouray spring was found in 1895 and was established commercially that year.[16]

In 1910, the Iron Geyser on Ruxton Avenue was drilled by Hiestand, to augment the operations of his Ute Iron spring.[2]:24[a][b] The springs were owned by Hiestand through his death on January 1, 1916.[19]:752[2]:24[20][c] In the 1920s, William S. Crosby drilled two streams, which combined made a sweet tasting soda water, named Twin Springs.[21]

The current Manitou Mineral Springs on Ruxton Avenue are Iron Spring and Twin Spring.[21][22] Ute Iron Spring was capped when the Iron Springs Chateau Melodrama Dinner Theater was built in or before 1964.