RMNP founder Enos Mills is honored in the Colorado legislature with the first "individual" statue to be placed in the capitol gardens

By Mike Barrett

Special to the Trail-Gazette

State leaders closed out January passing a resolution that will bestow a high honor on Enos Mills, an early Estes Park settler and the man often referred to as “the father of Rocky Mountain National Park.”

A joint Senate and House Resolution was passed Jan. 31 which authorized a statue of Mills to be placed in the State Capitol building’s Sculpture Park. The resolution sponsored by Senators Bob Bacon, Sue Windels, Josh Penry and Representatives Jim Riesberg, Buffie McFayden and Don Marostica had the backing of Governor Bill Ritter and Speaker of the House, Andrew Romanoff.

What is significant about this memorial is that it is the only one of its kind dedicated to a single individual ever to be considered and accepted to be placed on State Capitol grounds.

“This recognition of Enos Mills is really unprecedented in the history of the state,” said Rebecca Barrett, owner of the Link Gallery, formerly in Estes Park and now relocated in Cheyenne, Wyo. The gallery continues to represent the sculpture artist, Bonnie Fulford, of Estes Park. “From the very start of this project, that was quite obvious.”

The project began in March of 2007 when Barrett began the long and complicated process of testimony and presentation before the State Capitol Building Advisory Committee, chaired by former Colorado State Senator Hugh Fowler.

“Hugh was wonderful. He was really very excited and interested in moving this project forward,” said Barrett. “We had quite a few obstacles to overcome but Hugh and Senator Bob Bacon, who also sits on the Advisory Committee, were immediately attracted to the project and got behind it heart and soul.”

The statue is identical to the one that sits in Bond Park in Estes Park and it was the quality of this bronze, which portrays Mills and his dog Scotch, which was the greatest selling point with the advisory committee, Barrett said.

“When the various members of the committee saw photographs of the statue, they were absolutely knocked out by its beauty and quality,” Barrett said. “That was as much a convincing factor as anything.”

The idea of placing the bronze statue in Sculpture Park was first broached with Speaker of the House, Romanov, early last year.

“He took a look at the idea and immediately offered his backing and support,” said Barrett. “There were a lot of complicated steps ahead but we met each challenge and overcame all the hurdles.”

Early in the process Lynda Vogel, Executive Director of the Cultural Arts Council of Estes Park, joined Barrett and gave crucial testimony before the committee.

“Several members of the committee were not convinced that Enos Mills was ‘the father of Rocky Mountain National Park,” said Barrett. “Lynda came down and presented National Park Service documents so naming him. That was a pivotal moment in the many meetings and presentations. After that, the members of the committee who were really backing this idea took the ball and ran with it.”

The memorial, a collaborative effort of the Advisory Committee, the Link Gallery and the Cultural Arts Council of Estes Park is slated for installation in summer of 2008. Between now and then a fund raising drive will be conducted to raise the money necessary to pay for the bronze and all the administrative, installation and foundry costs associated with it.

“We have to raise the necessary funds between now and the dedication ceremony. The State of Colorado accepts only donated works of art for the Capitol grounds and that requires that we raise the funds for the project,” Barrett said. “It’s really quite different than installing the statue in Bond Park. There are large trucks and cranes involved over greater distances, and 14th Street in downtown Denver has to be diverted as well as landscaping designs and transportation costs, not to mention the cost of fund raising itself. The State Capitol Building Advisory Committee stipulated that they wanted Colorado pink granite for the base, which is harder to come by and much more expensive than the sandstone base that the statue stands on in Bond Park, and of course Bonnie Fulford, the artist, donated her bronze to Bond Park but this time she needs to be paid to continue with other memorial projects we are involved in with her. And those are also very exciting things.”

These future memorial projects involve the site of the Wounded Knee massacre in South Dakota, the Sand Creek Massacre in southern Colorado and the burial site of Chief Sitting Bull.

“I believe that Bonnie will become a national figure in sculpture and her work on future memorials will bring world wide recognition of her artistic talents,” said Barrett. “The members of the State Capitol Building Advisory Committee said they had never accepted such a beautiful bronze and that it would be the most beautiful work of art on the Capitol complex.”

Though the Link Gallery has just relocated to the old Paramount Theatre space at 1609 Capitol Avenue in Cheyenne, Barrett and her husband will continue their involvement with this project and spearhead the fund raising.

“We started this,” Barrett said, “ and we intend to devote our energy to see this through to its completion and look forward to future collaboration with the Cultural Arts Council of Estes Park, of which we remain a member.”

“The Cultural Arts Council of Estes Park is very pleased that early Colorado pioneer Enos Mill, will be recognized by the state of Colorado by allowing placement of a statue honouring him on the Capitol grounds,” said Vogel. “ We are thankful to Rebecca and Mike Barrett of the Link Gallery for spearheading the effort, to Bonnie J. Fulford for the creation of his likeness, Hugh Fowler and the Capitol Building Advisory Committee for getting things through the proper channels, to Governor Ritter for his endorsement, and to the House and Senate for the votes of support.”

Photographs of the Enos Mills statue as well as site plans for its placement in Sculpture Park will be on view at the Cultural Arts Council of Estes Park and donations to the Enos Mills memorial may be made to the Cultural Arts Council of Estes Park at its website at www.EstesArts.com or by sending a check to The Enos Mills Memorial Project at Box 4135, Estes Park, Colorado 80517. All donations made to the Cultural Arts Council of Estes Park, a 501(c)(3) non profit art agency, for the Enos Mills Memorial Project are tax deductible to the extent of the law.