JOHN CHARLES (JACK) TURNER
In the mid-1800s few knew or even dreamed of the vast potential of the Colorado Territory, an area initially disregarded as unsuitable for settlement because of its severe winters and unforgiving terrain. Fewer still could imagine that the Colorado Territory would become the state of Colorado and that southwestern Colorado would grow and develop to such a dizzying degree. But some courageous and enterprising pioneers, like John Charles (Jack) Turner, had the vision and drive to not only imagine it, but to live it.