Colorado was born just as the dark clouds of civil war rumbled across the American landscape. The discovery of gold along the South Platte River in 1858 would have profound consequences for Native American inhabitants - and for a nation wrestling with slavery. In rapid order, the cottonwood studded hunting grounds were stapeded by countless waves of prospectors, confidence men, and ladies of easy virtue - all clambering to the Pikes Peak country eager to turn a quick profit. The precious yellow metal also aroused competing claims - and the hopes of the Confederacy, which went do far as to attempt an invasion. But the lure of easy wealth and conquest proved elusive, and most of the adventureres left disillusioned. Yet the eastern flank of the Rocky Mountains became, for those hearty souls who stayed, a veritable promised land. Today their names are sprinkled across the map - Byers Peak, Moffat Tunnel, Teller County, Palmer lake, Mount Evans, and stately Pikes Peak. This is the story of those irrepressible argonauts who forged an empire at the apex of a continent. Each in their own way ascended the lofty Summit of Destiny.