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Even if the reality of Manitou did not live up to the dreams.

Even if the reality of Manitou did not live up to the dreams of Bell and Palmer, it was nonetheless a popular and successful health resort.

By the end of the 1890's, the town could boast of a magnificent Queen-Anne style Bath House, a large bottling plant for the ever popular Manitou Table Water and Ginger Champagne, seven elegant hotels (the Barker House and the Cliff House still exist), two railroad connections, numerous spring pavilions, the engineering marvel of the Manitou and Pikes Peak Cog Railroad and the many natural attractions of the area, like the Cave of the Winds and Garden of the Gods. Each summer, families would arrive with trunks full of clothing, ready to enjoy the area for months. Hack drivers offered buggy rides to all the sights and, for the more adventurous, there was the burro trail to the summit of Pikes Peak for a view of the sunrise. Each hotel hired popular bands of the time to play during meals and at the hops (casual dances) to which all guests of the town were invited. Gentlemen would spend many a night at the private Hiawatha Gardens; an exclusive casino and club. For those who could afford it, life at the "Saratoga of the West" must have been a dreamy, pampered existence; like living in one of those hand tinted postcards that sold so well at the local shops.


4	Even if the reality of Manitou did not live up to the dreams.
3	Between 1859 and 1868, the springs and surrounding valley.
2	The springs with the 1803 purchase of the Louisiana Territory.
1	The history of Manitou is forever linked with the springs around which it was founded.

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