Virginia McClurg, Photo Credit: Colorado Springs Pioneer Museum
Virginia McClurg was an educated woman, a writer, and a teacher who relocated to Colorado Springs in 1877 for health reasons. At that time, the world eagerly sought stories about the ‘new’ discoveries in the West. In 1882, Ms. McClurg became a writer for the New York Daily Graphic and covered a story about “buried cities and lost homes.” In this role, she visited the cliff dwelling known as Sandal House on the Mancos River, making her one of the first white women to explore Mesa Verde—a name she helped establish.
McClurg’s Efforts to Preserve Colorado Cliff Dwellings
However, Virginia McClurg was not the only writer who brought attention to the region. Other explorers and journalists, including one of Gunnison’s founding fathers, “Professor” Richardson, published articles and photographs. In 1885, Richardson ran an extensive series in the Gunnison Review-Press, which was picked up by other newspapers. This widespread publicity attracted treasure seekers, profiteers, and looters to the cliff dwellings. In 1891, a Swedish anthropologist even shipped six hundred of the most remarkable artifacts back to Sweden, sparking outrage in the United States.
Alarmed, in 1897, McClurg mobilized the Colorado Federation of Women’s Clubs to take action. She convinced the women to establish a standing committee to “investigate and promote the cause of the Colorado cliff dwellings.” At the time, the Federation included over five thousand women from various clubs across Colorado. About half a dozen women’s clubs were established in Gunnison and Crested Butte. Annie Hartman belonged to one of the first ones, The Monday Afternoon Club. Those women helped to establish other clubs once their membership reached capacity.
In 1900. the Federation committee became the independent Colorado Cliff Dwelling Association (CCDA), adopting the motto ‘Dux Femina Facti’, roughly translated as “Feminine leadership will accomplish it.” McClurg and Lucy Peabody, both members of the Monday Afternoon Club, played key roles—McClurg as regent and Peabody as vice-regent. Their goal was to preserve the ancestral Puebloan sites in the Mesa Verde region by advocating for national park designation and protecting the dwellings from further looting and destruction.
Top O’ The World – WCU, Volume 10, Number 24, May 12, 1931
The Elk Mountain Pilot, Volume 22, Number 15, September 10, 1901
The Gunnison Tribune, Volume XXII, Number 45, March 28, 1902
The women undertook an ambitious campaign
The women undertook an ambitious campaign: writing letters, raising funds, leading press tours, leasing land from the Utes, and rallying over 250,000 women to support their cause. They also corresponded with politicians and Ute leaders, including Chief Ignacio and Chief Acowitz.
Top O’ The World – WCU, Volume 10, Number 24, May 12, 1931
Photo of Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde from Top O’ The World – WCU, Volume 10, Number 24, May 12, 1931
Through persistent advocacy, the CCDA’s work led to the creation of Mesa Verde National Park in 1906, earning it the nickname the “Women’s Park.”
In 1901, McClurg and her allies secured a treaty with the Utes, granting the CCDA water rights, permission to build and maintain roads and collect the tolls for the roads. The agreement, which lasted ten years for $300 annually, was partially funded by soliciting twenty-five cents from each Colorado State Federation of Women’s Club member. This treaty helped safeguard the fragile cliff dwellings while the fight for national park status continued.
In March 1902, the Gunnison Monday Afternoon Club included the cliff dwellings on its agenda. Although records of that meeting do not exist to our knowledge, the club’s members most likely contributed to the effort.
Through persistent advocacy, the CCDA’s work led to the creation of Mesa Verde National Park in 1906, earning it the nickname the “Women’s Park.”
Annie Hartman’s Monday Afternoon Club membership card.
Annie Hartman, a longtime Gunnison Monday Afternoon Club member, was honored at the club’s 20th anniversary as one of the four founding members still active. The club always met rotating between members’ homes, which meant they frequently visited the Hartman’s, especially during the first twelve years at the Castle when it served as a popular venue for galas, dances, teas, and special events.
Annie Hartman in fascinator hat.
We are fortunate that, once restored, we can gather, plan, and decorate in the same rooms and utilize the Castle’s architectural features. We will tread softly where their footprints remain, appreciating this special gift.
Editorial Notes:
This story was challenging to find and seldom told. We discovered it first in Janet Robertson’s excellent book The Magnificent Mountain Women: Adventures in the Colorado Rockies, which is readily available and a good read.
Additional information came from this 1978 publication from National Park History. It seems to have come from the Denver Westerners’ ROUNDUP.
Our local Gunnison newspapers provided information about Sylvester Richardson’s role in ‘promoting’ the Cliff Dwellings.
The connection to Gunnison’s Monday Afternoon Club was made through a newspaper article, familiarity with the club, the Federation, and the timing of its 1902 meeting.
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