ANONYMOUS "Rocky Mountain Wild Flowers" [Unknown, n.d./c1901]

[Colorado Springs] ANONYMOUS.  Rocky Mountain Wild Flowers.

[Colorado Springs]: Unknown, n.d./c1901. Album, 5” x 5”, 6pp. Stiff cardboard covers, tied with pale blue ribbon. Includes three pages of dried flower samples, a quote by Patience Stapleton, an engraving of “Gateway to the Garden of the Gods. Pike’s Peak in the Distance.”, and two poems by Colorado Springs promoter Gilbert McClurg. Title on cover is handwritten. While undated, a similar Colorado Springs tourist item (map) dated 1901 has been documented. One of the ribbons has broken with age. Boards and pages very well preserved. Very Good.

Gilbert McClurg was a writer, lecturer, and civic booster whose tireless promotion helped shape the early cultural identity of Colorado Springs at the turn of the 20th century. This charming album, likely produced for tourists in the early 1900s, captures the natural beauty of the region through dried wildflowers, a landscape engraving, and two poems by McClurg himself. His verses, rarely seen in print, reflect the romantic spirit that drew visitors and settlers to the Colorado frontier. A rare survival in excellent condition, this piece offers both literary and regional appeal for collectors of Western Americana and early souvenir ephemera.