The two oldest identifiable names in the Garden can be found in the very center of Signature Rock. Beside each is the date 1858. They were inscribed by members of the Lawrence Party of gold seekers, William Hartley and Andrew C. Wright.
Above these Lawrence Party names is the name of E.C. Gard 1880. At the time he left his name on Signature Rock, 23-year-old Ernest Gard was an aspiring frontier newspaperman, with a home base in Palmer Lake, Colorado. He later established the Palmer Lake Herald, the Cripple Creek Crusher, the Pikes Peak Populist, and the Westcreek Gold Brick. He is said to have printed the first issue of the Cripple Creek Crusher in "gold ink."
Also on Signature Rock is the deeply-carved name of H. Rice. This was almost certainly put there by Helen Maude Rice, the eldest daughter of Phoebe and Edwin (Fatty) Rice. The Rice family lived just down the carriage road from Signature Rock at Fatty's Place, a combination private home, beer saloon, and souvenir shop.
Helen herself was born in 1888. She and her six brothers and sisters grew up near the Garden rocks, and always looked upon the area as their own personal playground. When she came of age, Helen married William Hart, a mineralogist, who owned a shop in nearby Manitou Springs. Together the two of them had a daughter named Phoebe. Helen died at age thirty-four, and was buried next to her father in Fairview Cemetery, within sight of the Garden they both loved so much.
In recent years the historic names on Signature Rock have been threatened by the rock-climbing technique known as bouldering. Rock climbers have dug finger and toe holds into the surface of the rock, and unknowingly used their bodies to gradually wear away the carved signatures. Local historians finally notified the Colorado Springs Park and Recreation Department of the situation, and signs were erected to prohibit bouldering in the area surrounding Signature Rock. The signs read:
"Help protect and preserve the historic signatures on these rocks. No bouldering is allowed between these signs. No engraving of new names."
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Sources:1- Palmer Lake: A Historical Narrative, by Marion Savage Sabin. Denver: Sage Books, 1957.
2- "The Newspapermen," (a paper presented to the Pikes Peak Posse of the Westerners) by Jan Petit. September 1992.