Arcadia Publishing’s Images of America series celebrates local history with black-and-white photos from the past. Mike Butler has written five 4Cornersbooks for this series, and his sixth book Taos and the Enchanted Circle Byway, will be published on February10, 2026.
Harvey Cars on one of Fred Harvey’s Southwest Indian Detours pull into Eagle Nest Lodge on the shore of Eagle Nest Lake, New Mexico, on the Enchanted Circle Byway.
Travelers motoring south on Interstate 25 from Denver in about 150 miles are pleasantly surprised to see the twin Spanish Peaks rising to 13,600 feet above the plains. The peaks have been a beacon to travelers through time with the passage of Native Americans, Spaniards, mountain men, traders, and settlers from the Santa Fe Trail. The arrival of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad spurred development of towns and mines, and their history is explored in this book.
Paperback, 128 pages, black-and-white photographs. Order from Amazon.
Southern Colorado’s Great Sand Dunes rise to a height of 750 feet above the San Luis Valley floor. These sweeping dunes at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains were protected as a national monument in 1932 and as a national park in 2000. Stories are told of the Native Americans, explorers, miners, and ranchers in and around the park. Historic photographs from the Park’s collection and the Monte Vista Historical Society fill the book.
Paperback, 128 pages, black-and-white photographs. Order from Amazon.
Ory Thomas (O.T.) Davis arrived in Colorado in 1885 to work in the copper mines northwest of La Veta. By 1888 he had given up mining and became a commercial photographer based in La Veta and Walsenburg. His historic photographs of Southern Colorado from 1888 to 1935 from Walsenburg west to Wolf Creek Pass fill the pages of this book.
Paperback, 128 pages, black-and-white photographs. Order from Amazon.
Just a few miles south of the new town of Denver, Richard Little filed claims for agricultural land along the South Platte River in 1861. When the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad built south from Denver to Little’s Town (Littleton) in 1871, home buyers flocked to purchase plots from Little. Littleton became the seat of Arapahoe county, and over the years grew to be one of Denver’s most attractive suburbs. Littleton’s story is told through historic photographs from the Littleton Museum.
Paperback, 128 pages, black-and-white photographs. Order from Amazon.
The High Road to Taos is a scenic byway extending 52 miles north from Santa Fe to Taos. Life in the Hispanic villages along this road was captured by photographers from the Farm Security Administration in the 1930s and 1940s. The photographs illustrate a way of life that is still preserved in the adobe churches and customs of the residents.
Paperback, 128 pages, black-and-white photographs. Order from Amazon.