An 1870s traveler judged Colorado Springs unappealing for lacking trees

Evidence

I came upon a decayed-looking cluster of houses bearing the arrogant name of Colorado City, and two miles farther on, from the top of one of the Foot Hill ridges, I saw the bleak-looking scattered houses of the ambitious watering place of Colorado Springs, the goal of my journey of 150 miles. I got off, put on a long skirt, and rode sidewise, though the settlement scarcely looked like a place where any deference to prejudices was necessary. A queer embryo-looking place it is, out on the bare Plains, yet it is rising and likely to rise, and has some big hotels much resorted to. It has a fine view of the mountains, specially of Pike’s Peak, but the celebrated springs are at Manitou, three miles off, in really fine scenery. To me no place could be more unattractive than Colorado Springs, from its utter treelessness. — Isabella L. Bird, A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains, 373

Categorization

• CANDY: The detail about donning a long skirt and riding sidewise out of deference to prejudices only to find an ‘embryo’ town is a charming, sharable snippet.
• ADDENDUM: The treelessness critique and her gendering of proper riding connect to the landscape and decorum themes in ‘On Sacrifice’ and ‘Grafting and Growth.’