In 1883, he built the Antlers Hotel. When it burned down in 1898, he rebuilt the hotel with Italian Renaissance architecture. In 1901 Palmer honored Zebulon Montgomery Pike with a marble statue placed near the main entrance of the hotel. In 1904, Palmer located a mineral spring that had been used by the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad company in 1871, but was covered in sands by flooding along Monument Creek; he next directed engineers to install a concrete vault to maintain the spring water's purity and a hand pump to bring water to the surface. Palmer announced his intention to build a pavilion and to name the spring after Zebulon Pike’s Indian guide, "Rising Moose," who was known by many names including Tahama.