Visitors walking into the gallery see a 20 foot long photomural wrapping around a 3-D topographic map of the Front Range, with an introductory video explaining the long human history in this region.

A prehistoric Front Range house, made of sticks and brush, stands against a rock backdrop. Across the way, kids can touch casts of the tools made by the earliest people to inhabitant the Front Range, and draw parallels with today.

Turning a corner, there is a fur trading fort, stocked with all the goods needed for trade in Colorado the 1830s - whether you needed a bolt of calico or a crate of buffalo tongues, the fur trading forts were the place to come. Across from the fort is a replica Cheyenne tipi towering up over visitors' heads.

The 1859 Colorado Gold Rush changed everything - tens of thousands of eager, unprepared prospectors tore across the plains, some with just a knapsack, or, as the exhibit shows, pushing a handcart filled with goods 600 miles from Omaha, Nebraska, or St. Joseph, Missouri. Tackling controversy, the exhibit examines the roots and results of the Sand Creek Massacre before moving into the settlement of the Longmont area.

A ten foot tall model of a narrow-gauge locomotive marks the entrance to the next section of the exhibit. The arrival of the railroad in 1870 had a profound impact on the Front Range, boosting population and leading to the creation of new towns, including Longmont. The founding of Longmont by a group of "practical idealists" from Chicago is interpreted through a re-creation of "The Rest," a lodging house built to shelter the first people arriving at the town site in the spring of 1871.

Agriculture, agribusiness, and water combined with immigrant labor to grow the economy in the early 1900s. Front Range Rising interprets this time through a series of hands-on activities and original artifacts. The complex interconnected water system that is key to agriculture and growth on the Front Range is illustrated through a hands-on activity using real water to fill a reservoir, water crops, and even fill a swimming pool in a model town.

Next, visitors pass through a doorway and enter a 1930s home. The kitchen is filled with original items, from an early electric stove to vintage spice tins in the cupboard. Peering through the window we see people less fortunate, who wait in a soup kitchen line. The living room of this museum house is a hands-on area, with books and magazines to read, and a 1930s radio that still plays Woody Guthrie, a speech from President Franklin Roosevelt, Mexican border radio, and even a radio drama, "The Shadow."

The final section of the exhibit explores the explosive growth that has affected Longmont and the whole Front Range in the last forty years. Visitors will be able to compare an aerial photograph taken in the early 1960s with one taken in the year 2000, and see how little Longmont now stretches for miles. The exhibit concludes with a replica of one of Longmont's most beloved eyesores, "Cheaper Charlie's Shed." This shed was a community message board in the late 1980s, constantly painted and repainted with expressions of school spirit, birthday wishes, and even a few marriage proposals. In the Museum's exhibit it will become a panel where visitors can write their own comments and observations.

Front Range Rising opens September 29 as a permanent installation. The Longmont Museum & Cultural Center is located at 400 Quail Road in Longmont, Colorado. It is open 9 am to 5 pm, Tuesday through Saturday, Wednesday evenings until 8 pm, 1 pm to 5 pm on Sundays, and closed Mondays and holidays. Admission is free. For more information, contact the Museum at 303 651-8374, or visit their website, www.ci.longmont.co.us/museum.