Letter from Grant Collier
Colorado – January 2002 – Colorado Central Magazine
Editors:
I wanted to thank you for the generally positive review of my book Colorado: Yesterday & Today, which appeared in the October issue of your magazine. However, I was disappointed to see that one aspect of my book was entirely misrepresented.
Mr. Quillen wrote, “He often seems too intent on telling us that almost every aspect of our environment is worse now than it was 125 years ago — back when smelters belched toxic smoke and hydraulic mining ripped away hillsides and there were hardly any trees. A more nuanced approach would make more sense, at least to me.”
Nowhere in the book did I state, or even remotely imply, that “every aspect of our environment is worse now than it was 125 years ago.” In fact, there are many instances when I specifically stated or clearly implied that certain aspects of our environment were worse in the late 1800s than they are today. There were also several instances when I mentioned that, in recent times, residents have become more aware of environmental issues and that steps have been taken to improve environmental conditions (especially in regards to cleaning up environmental hazards created by mining in the 19th century).
Overall, I strove to provide, and I believe I succeeded in providing, a very balanced, and largely objective, view of environmental conditions. Anyone who reads Colorado: Yesterday & Today will undoubtedly find that this is true.
Grant Collier
