. >> in 1806, it was set into the american southwest to explore the region very similar to lewis theclark who were sent to northwestern part of the newly acquired louisiana territory. pike was sent to the southwest part of the territory. from his perspective, when he came out here he walked off the map. he went into an area that was unknown. he thinksrst sees it, he can reach the top of it in a few days. it really takes a week to approach. he believes it is a lower mountain called mount rosa. he turned around and that point, he wrote in his journal that given the condition, given the equipment he had at the time, no one could have went to the peak. the inspired the palm that became america the beautiful. coloradohere to springs to teach a summer course at colorado college in 1893. the view down to the planes from the top of the mountain inspired the poetry, it inspired the images that are captured in the poetry of the united states. >> watch all never events from colorado springs throughout the day on c-span2 book tv and sunday afternoon at tw2:00 on c-span3. here on c-span, the communica