Pike's Tower

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 26, 2023

1. Pike's Tower Marker

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Plains.

West,

Plains,

Plains,

Plains,

Corridor.

America,

Hemisphere,

World,

Anglosphere.

Spain,

Comanchería,

Bowl,

Texas.

From the National Register Nomination prepared by Abigail Christman, 11/22/2006:
The WPA constructed Pike's Tower, which is located in the eastern section of the park. The tower was the idea of Lamar resident

Courtesy Www.zebulonpike.org

2. Marker detail: Southwest Expedition of Zebulon Montgomery Pike

R.L. Christy, an amateur historian who prepared the initial plans for the park. Christy had studied Zebulon Pike's trip across Colorado and designed the tower to commemorate Pike's expedition. On 13 November 1806, Pike and his men camped on Willow Creek near the location of present-day Lamar. Christy placed the tower on what he believed was Pike's camp site; however, no definitive proof of this claim has been found.
The 40' tall, Rustic Style observation tower is constructed of quarry-faced, randomly sized ashlar blocks. The stone is regularly coursed, though the courses vary in height. The tower has a more finished or "dressed" appearance than the rest of the masonry work in Willow Creek Park. Its exterior dimensions are approximately 31' x 17'; this includes a wide set of stone entry steps on the east side which leads to a patio. From the patio, exterior stairs then wrap around the south, west, and north sides of the tower. A stepped stone wall frames the stairs that lead to an observation platform. The stone walls rise up at the four corners creating square posts that support a hipped roof with exposed rafter tails that covers the observation platform. Three tall, linear recessed openings in the masonry mark the east elevation of the tower.
Willow Creek Park, constructed between 1933 and 1938 under the Civil Works Administration (CWA), Federal Emergency Relief Administration

Courtesy Www.zebulonpike.org

3. Marker detail: Pike’s Journeys Internationally
Border to Border

Pike traveled 8783+ miles nearly coast to coast.

(FERA) and Works Progress Administration (WPA), presents an important record of the federal relief programs administered in Colorado's eastern plains during the Great Depression. Although all of Colorado was affected by the dire economic conditions of the 1930s, the agricultural-based economy of the eastern plains was especially hard hit due to the drought conditions that led to the Dust Bowl. The park was constructed over six years, providing a source of employment in Lamar for much of the Great Depression. Willow Creek Park is also significant as Colorado's first CWA project.
Organized in late 1933, the CWA was designed to be a public works program that could put people to work quickly, providing immediate relief to help people through the winter of President Roosevelt's first year in office. Jobs were typically small, since the projects were intended to last only 90 days. Road improvements, flood control, and recreational facilities were popular projects in Colorado. The mayor quickly submitted an application and Willow Creek Park became the first CWA project approved in Colorado. Within days of the project's approval, "several hundred, hitherto idle men, were working at the park site, building a canal and dike at the north end of the present park. With shovels, wheel-barrows, horses and slips they moved dirt in large quantities — the happiest bunch of workers anyone ever

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 26, 2023

4. Pike's Tower & Marker

had seen. They had been out of work for a long time." The CWA program ended in the spring of 1934.
After the CWA program ended, work continued at the park with FERA funds. FERA was mandated to last two years. When it ended in May 1935, the WPA replaced it. Absorbing the former FERA public works program, the WPA modified and expanded work relief, becoming the major source of public jobs for the unemployed during the latter part of the thirties.
In January 1936, a WPA project got underway in Willow Creek Park with approximately 100 men assigned to the project. The project had a WPA budget of $21,500 with a local contribution of $8,500. A second WPA project application was submitted in March 1937. It requested a total of $26,447 for additional park work, with $20,805 of the total coming from the WPA and the remainder from the city. Work to be carried out included masonry walls, irrigation, and transplanting saplings upstream from the park to prevent soil erosion and dust blowing into the park. This also seems to be the project under which Pike's Tower was constructed. The completion of the Pike's Tower seems to have marked the completion of New Deal work in the Willow Creek Park. A 25 September 1938 article in the Denver Post reported that the state WPA director of operations had announced that the Lamar park project was virtually complete. The total cost of WPA improvements

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 26, 2023

5. Zebulon Pike Camped Here, 1806

(markers on the tower)Tower Built W.P.A. Project No. 1, 1933
Pike’s Tower rededicated Nov. 13, 2006

was placed at $53,493. The park remains a central feature of recreation in Lamar.

Excerpt:  The park is associated with several Great Depression era federal relief programs. Constructed between 1933 and 1938 under the Civil Works Administration (CWA), the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA), creation of the park provided a source of employment in Lamar during much of the Depression. Willow Creek Park was Colorado’s first CWA project and the first planned park in Lamar, providing a location for active and passive recreation activities.
A prominent feature of the city, the park’s buildings and stone features are good examples of the Rustic style as interpreted by New Deal agencies. Characteristics include the use of native stone; traditional construction methods; evident hand craftsmanship; and simple functional design.

Excerpt: Over two centuries ago, a young man named Zebulon Montgomery Pike was born to become one of our country’s greatest heroes as a Brigadier

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 26, 2023

6. Willow Creek Park Entrance

Colorado’s 1st WPA and Lamar’s early major community service project. “A symbol of community strength”
Est. 1933

General in Canada. His life is one marked by service and loyalty to America with two major expeditions: one to the headwaters of the Mississippi River (1805-6) and one to the America’s Southwest (1806-7). These epic adventures from near St. Louis had profound effects on the subsequent history of America. 8763 Miles of Trail • 24 US States • 320 US Counties • 2 Canadian Provinces • 3 Mexican Provinces • 109 Historic Sites

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 26, 2023

7. Willow Creek Park

(looking east from Parkview Avenue at Memorial Drive – Pike’s Tower is visible in the distant right background)
Established: 1933
Colorado’s 1st W.P.A. Project

Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, July 26, 2023

8. Pike’s Tower

(looking north through Willow Creek park)