April 2012 Colorado Central, Issue #217

Transcription

CENTRAL
MAGAZINE
COLORADO
$2.95
The Monthly Magazine for People who eventually find their way back
April 2012 • No. 217
LEADVILLE’S RENOWNED TITANIC SURVIVOR
Q & A WITH SEN. GAIL SCHWARTZ
THE MOOSE AMONG US
Colorado Central, Box 946, Salida, CO 81201 • www.cozine.com
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Colorado Central
Magazine
April 2012, No. 217
Publisher:
Colorado Central
Publishing, LLC
Editor-in-Chief:
Mike Rosso
Editors emeritus:
Ed & Martha Quillen
Copy editing:
Jeff Rowe
Proofreading:
Elliot Jackson
Printing:
CCI - Denver
Arkansas Valley
Publishing - Salida
In this issue
Page
4 –
6 –
8 –
12 – 16 –
17 –
20 –
21 – 23 – 24 – From the Editor
Quillen’s Corner
The Unsinkable Mrs. Brown
Return of the Moose
Letters
Q&A with Sen. Schwartz
SLV News
Regional News
Goodbye, First St. Café
Events Calendar
26 – 27 –
28 – 30 – 32 – 34 – 36 – 38 – 41 – Susan Tweit
Dispatch from the Edge
The Crowded Acre
A Farmer Far Afield
Jaroso Artist Lynn Kircher
Book Review
Water Update
The Fryingpan-Arkansas
Hal Walter
“Lots of people talk to animals …
Not very many listen, though … That’s the problem.” – Benjamin Hoff
Contributors: Ed Quillen, Joyce B. Lohse,
Christpoher Kolomitz, Bob Seago, Susan Tweit,
Patty LaTaille, David LaVercombe, Annie Dawid,
John Mattingly, Eduardo Rey Brummel,
Elliot Jackson, Peter Anderson, Jennifer Welch,
Kenneth Jessen, John Orr, Hal Walter.
Cover: Two moose at a beaver pond on the Mill Creek
drainage near Slumgullion Pass in Hinsdale County.
Photo by Bob Seago, www.bobseagophoto.com.
Colorado Central Magazine (ISSN 1535-0851) is
published monthly by the Central Colorado Publishing LLC. Colorado Central is produced and printed
(mostly) in Salida and distributed by Kent News Co.
The entire contents are copyright © 2012 by Central
Colorado Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved.
U.S. subscriptions are $25 per year (cheap); single
copy $2.95. Back issues are $4 each postpaid. Advertising rates, subscription requests and contributor guidelines are available upon request or can be
found at our website: www.cozine.com
Our goal is to publish an interesting, informative
magazine which builds a sense of place, a regional
community, and a local culture in Central Colorado:
Lake, Chaffee, Custer, and Saguache counties, as
well as the San Luis Valley and nearby portions of
Park, Fremont and Gunnison counties.
To Reach Us:
By mail: Colorado Central
P.O. Box 946
Salida, CO 81201-0946
Your best chance to reach a human, rather than a
machine, is between noon and 5 p.m. on business
days.
Telephone: (719) 530-9063
Email: coloradocentral@gmail.com
Website: www.cozine.com
Pack burro racer Tom Sobal of Salida guides his burro down the backside of
Mosquito Pass outside Fairplay on July 21, 2011. There will be a celebration
of pack burro racing at the Salida SteamPlant Theater on April 27 featuring
a film screening of “Haulin’ Ass” as well as live music, racers Q &A’s and more
with proceeds to benefit the Ark Valley Humane Sociey and the WIld Burro
Protection League. See inside back cover for more info. Photo by Mike Rosso.
April 2012 • Colorado Central Magazine • 3
From the Editor
Best Friends
Back in February I got a call from my friend Ken
Vargo of Howard. He was wondering if I had any interest in joining him for a trip to Southwestern Utah in
early March to volunteer for trail-building at the Best
Friends Animal Society.
Having had few opportunities to spend time in the
red-rock country of Utah since I moved here from Durango, I decided to take the trip with Ken in his trusty
VW Westphalia van along with his dog, Buster.
This would be Ken’s third trip to Best Friends in
as many years and he had made all the arrangements.
Ken works for the U.S. Forest Service so has lots of
experience with trail building; skills that are a good
fit to help out at what is considered North America’s
largest no-kill animal sanctuary.
The first leg of the trip brought us to the outskirts
of Durango where we stayed with my friend Sean
(he of the Irish stew recipe in the March issue, which
he served up in delicious, steamy hot bowls with the
obligatory Guinness, of course).
The next day we drove through the Four Corners
and across the Navajo reservation in Arizona, past the
Glen Canyon dam and north to Kanab, Utah where we
were provided with a week’s lodging at the Willows
Inn in exchange for some minor chores, compliments
of the proprietor Matthew.
The next morning it was up and at ‘em with our
first day at the facility, located on nearly 3,000 remote
acres about 10 miles north of Kanab. Having no preconceptions of Best Friends I was shocked at the sheer
scale of the place. We began our visit by entering via
Angel Canyon surrounded by sheer red rock walls,
stopping at Angel’s Rest, probably the largest pet
cemetery in the world. Here, hundreds of memorial
chimes hang from crossbars along with paving stones,
pet names inscribed atop along with various trinkets
dedicated to deceased pets of Best Friends members.
Our next stop was Dogtown, where we met Heather, a volunteer coordinator, and the three of us hiked
the existing trails that Ken had been very instrumental
in creating in the past two years.
Dogtown, with a population of hundreds of unwanted, homeless, “unadoptable” dogs, is like no
place I’ve ever seen – or heard. This is where the problem dogs reside, dogs that have been abused, neglected or lack people skills. Best Friends employs trainers
and caregivers to work with these dogs in the hope of
eventually making them adoptable. Among the more
notable canines at the facility are a number of Hurricane Katrina refugees as well as some the notorious
fighting dogs that once belonged to NFL quarterback
Michael Vick. The dogs are housed in “packs” with
Bus Service to Denver and Pueblo
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• Colorado Central Magazine • April 2012
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fenced running areas accessible from enclosed “dogoctagon” shelters where bedding and toys are provided.
The trails we worked on, with some help from
college students from Michigan and Massachusetts on
spring break, are used for dog-walking by volunteers
and staff, away from the cacophony of the housing
area. They meander through red sandy Juniper forests with magnificent views of the cliffs of the Grand
Staircase.
In addition to Dogtown, there is Cat World (pictured above), Horse Haven, Piggy Paradise, Bunny
House, Parrot Garden and other pet-specific facilities,
all of which are clean and state-of-the-art. On any
given day there are nearly 1,700 animals being cared
for at the facility which was originally founded by a
group of friends in the 1970s in Prescott, Arizona and
“You make me happy when
skies are grey...”
moved to Utah when a good deal was found on a large
parcel of land.
Volunteers come from all over the world and the
sanctuary employs about 200. There is some lodging
available within the facility but most volunteers prefer
to camp or stay in Kanab (eat at Escobar’s). A vegetarian lunch is available for $5 at the Friends lunchroom,
breathtakingly perched on the rim of Angel Canyon,
with large-screen TVs rotating photos and info on currently adoptable pets.
After five days of trail maintenance, Ken and I
were ready for a break, so on the last day of our visit
we took the afternoon off and hiked along the beautiful Virgin River, north of Kanab, before setting off for
the two-day trip home.
For more info please visit: www.bestfriends.org.
– Mike Rosso
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Quillen's
Corner
emigrated from Ireland to Virginia in 1755 just so he
wouldn’t have to pay any attention to the Pope, and
that 257 years later, I find this to be one of the blessings of being an American: I don’t have to pay attention to any Pope, bishop, priest, parson, theologian,
guru, swami, prophet or shaman. I wasn’t about to be
by Ed Quillen
bound by what Thomas Jefferson called the chains of
“monkish ignorance and superstition.”
If I understand a recent controversy correctly, we
Church and State
had
a federal regulation which said that if an employlthough I was born in 1950 and was thus
er
was
to provide health insurance, then that insuraround for the 1952 and 1956 presidential elecance
had
to cover contraception. The Roman Catholic
tions, I don’t remember them at all. Such recollections
Church
is
morally opposed to contraception, and the
start with 1960, John F. Kennedy vs. Richard M. Nixon.
church
is
an
employer that provides health benefits.
My fifth-grade teacher, Mrs. Wentworth, had us follow
So
this
was
framed
as an assault on religious freedom,
the campaign. We had to bring in a campaign clipping
forcing
an
organization
to pay for something it found
every week for current events, and we were supposed
immoral.
to catch the debates – which I did on radio, because our
Whatever Republican Obama-hater came up with
family didn’t have a TV at the time.
that
method of framing this issue was pretty smart,
That said, I don’t remember much of it. My parents
I’ll give him that. But there’s a
and Mrs. Wentworth and just
“I
find
this
to
be
one
of
the
blessings
line that hasn’t been crossed.
about every other adult I encountered were all for Nixon, of being an American: I don’t have Consider war time with a
and that there was some con- to pay attention to any Pope, bishop, military draft. We allow for
conscientious objection to
cern about Kennedy’s being a
priest, parson, theologian, guru, swa- military service; that is, peoRoman Catholic. As best I can
mi, prophet or shaman.”
ple who have moral scruples
remember, the argument was
about using deadly force tothat as a Catholic, JFK was
ward national ends are exobliged to obey the Pope, who was not only the head
cused
from
service
on
that
account. But they still have
of a church but also the head of a sovereign nation, the
to
pay
taxes
to
support
the
military, and that requireVatican City. And the President of the United States
ment
is
not
considered
an
assault
on religious freedom.
should not be obliged to obey a foreign ruler.
So
if
the
federal
government
were proposing to
Logical enough, I suppose, although Jacqueline
force
Catholic
women
to
take
birth-control
pills, that
Kennedy is reported to have said, “All those people
would
be
an
infringement
on
religious
liberty
and I’d
concerned about Jack’s Catholicism. If they’d only
be
denouncing
the
scheme.
But
forcing
people
to pay
known what a bad Catholic he was.”
for
things
they
find
immoral
–
well,
that’s
what
gov
This is a difficult topic because no matter what
ernments
do,
and
it’s
not
an
assault
on
religious
liberty
you write, somebody is going to jump on you. Earlier
this year I tried to address a religious-freedom issue in if tax money from a Jehovah’s Witness somehow ends
a Denver Post column, and got several e-mails advising up helping support a blood bank.
Further, this Republican solicitude for the teachme about what the Pope had to say on the topic.
ings
of the Church of Rome is rather selective. WhatIn reply, I pointed out that one Elijah Quillen had
ever the Church has to say about birth control should
determine federal policy, in the GOP mindset.
It’s true!
But on other matters, not so much. There’s this
from a letter of Aug. 31, 2011, from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops addressed to the Joint Select
really does
Committee on Deficit Reduction of the U.S. Congress:
pack & ship
“1. Every budget decision should be assessed by
anything anywhere!
whether it protects or threatens human life and digVelocipedes to Venezuela
nity.
Washing machines to Washington
“2. The central moral measure of any budget proXylophones to Xian
posal
is how it affects ‘the least of these’ (Matthew
Zeppelins to Zanzibar
25).
The
needs of those who are hungry and homeless,
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“3. Government and other institutions have a
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shared responsibility to promote the common good
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6
of all, especially ordinary workers and families who
struggle to live in dignity in difficult economic times.”
Now, tell me how the Bishops’ letter fits with extending the Bush tax cuts, subsidizing oil companies,
building more bombs, or other expressed GOP priorities. Or, the next time you hear a Republican whining about job-killing clean-air regulations, you might
consider the words of the Bishop of Stockton, Calif.,
Stephen Blaire:
“It is our concern as people of faith to care for the
air entrusted to us as a gift which belongs to the human family. And as people of faith, we bring a moral
voice to often-contentious debates about environmental concerns such as air pollution. Those debates frequently focus solely on costs and benefits. People of
faith bring a unique and important message: about the
care of God’s gift of creation, about those most vulnerable to environmental injustice – on the margins of our
societies and those with fewest resources to protect
themselves or advocate on their own behalf. We urge
policy-makers to move beyond the cost/benefit analysis and consider the common good.”
This hardly sounds like a section from Atlas
Shrugged, does it? Back in 1986, the U.S. Catholic Bishops issued a pastoral letter called “Equal Justice for
All.” It doesn’t sound much like Ayn Rand or a Republican platform plank. Consider this:
“The concentration of privilege that exists today
results far more from institutional relationships that
distribute power and wealth inequitably than from differences in talent or lack of desire to work. These institutional patterns must be examined and revised if we
are to meet the demands of basic justice. For example,
a system of taxation based on assessment according to
ability to pay is a prime necessity for the fulfillment of
these social obligations.”
Or this:
“[I]t is the responsibility of all citizens, acting
through their government, to assist and empower the
poor, the disadvantaged, the handicapped, and the unemployed. Government should assume a positive role
in generating employment and establishing fair labor
practices, in guaranteeing the provision and maintenance of the economy’s infrastructure, such as roads,
bridges, harbors, public means of communication,
and transport. It should regulate trade and commerce
in the interest of fairness. Government may levy the
taxes necessary to meet these responsibilities, and citizens have a moral obligation to pay those taxes. The
way society responds to the needs of the poor through
its public policies is the litmus test of its justice or injustice. The political debate about these policies is the
indispensable forum for dealing with the conflicts and
trade-offs that will always be present in the pursuit of
a more just economy.”
W
ith a little more digging, I could
doubtless find plenty more bleeding-heart
socialism from the Catholic church. And perhaps
it should be noted that our economic system would
collapse if we still followed the medieval church’s
teachings about usury, which was then defined as
charging any rate of interest whatsoever, and denounced by St. Thomas Aquinas as an effort to sell
time, which could not ethically be bought or sold.
In other words, it was sinful to lend money at interest.
Eventually, usury came to mean an exorbitant
rate of interest, like those notorious 20-percent-aweek “payday loans.” Which, of course, the Republicans in our legislature defended.
Now, economic historians have argued that
the Church’s ban on interest stifled the economy of
Europe well into the 15th century, and there were
all those saint’s days and feasts that kept a lot of
work from getting done sooner, also not good for
the economy. There’s a reason we have something
called “the Protestant Ethic,” after all.
It isn’t my intention here to ignite a religious
war. But I do think those who say our system should
reflect their church’s beliefs shouldn’t be so selective about which beliefs are important. If the availability of contraception is a violation of religious
freedom and an affront to morality, then so is polluted air and hungry children. Don’t try to present
your church as an authority on one earthly matter
unless you’re prepared to accept your church as an
authority on all matters temporal.
Otherwise, a lot of us unchurched types will
just see you as hypocrites looking to reinstate old
ways of oppressing our fellow citizens.
Ed Quillen is a lapsed Baptist who lives across the street from
two churches in Salida.
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Leadville’s Favorite
Unsinkable Titanic Survivor
By Joyce B. Lohse
“It isn’t who you are, nor what you have, but what you
are that counts. That was proved in the Titanic.”
– Margaret Brown, The Denver Post, April 27, 1912.
M
argaret Brown, wife of Leadville mining engineer “J. J.” Brown, was an outgoing woman with a
lot to say on many subjects. If she had no audience, she
would find one, or contact friends in the newspaper office. In today’s world, she probably would have been delighted with Facebook and Twitter. Print newspaper was
the available media in the early 1900s, and she used it
well. According to a Rocky Mountain News retrospective
when she died in 1932, she stated that when she survived the Titanic disaster, “It was Brown luck. I’m the
Unsinkable Mrs. J.J. Brown.”
After surviving the sinking of the Titanic steamship in April 1912, Mrs. Brown wished to speak out
and tell her story. Unfortunately, she was not invited to
present testimony at a Congressional hearing attended
predominantly by male survivors. She was angry and
deeply frustrated. When she put out the word in Denver
that she had the inside story to tell and she was ready
and willing to share it, delighted journalists snapped
at the bait.
Margaret “Maggie” Tobin, who grew up in a poor
Irish family in Hannibal, Missouri, was never referred
to as “Molly” during her lifetime. Margaret was a tomboy who enjoyed adventure along the banks of the Mississippi River with her siblings. When her grown sister,
Mary, left with her husband in 1883 to seek their fortune in Colorado’s mining camps, Margaret yearned to
follow. Her straight-laced Catholic parents kept her at
home until she turned eighteen, then allowed her to
follow her sister to Leadville. When her brother, Daniel,
arrived soon afterwards, the curvy, redheaded teenager went to work taking care of her brother’s cabin and
cooking meals. Soon after, she obtained a job at Daniels, Fishers, and Smith’s Emporium selling dry goods.
Although the gold rush of the 1860s had played
out, the silver rush of the 1880s built Leadville into a
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8
Mrs. James J. “Molly” Brown. Photo courtesy of the Library of
Congress Prints and Photographs Division, George Grantham
Bain Collection.
wild and prosperous boom town. Margaret envisioned
finding romance with a wealthy mine owner. In addition to a luxurious future, she hoped to provide comfort
for her parents in their old age.
Margaret found love instead of wealth when she
fell hard for a handsome mining engineer named
James Joseph “J.J.” Brown at a Catholic Church social.
According to the Denver Post in 1912, she said, “Jim
was as poor as we were, and had no better chance in
life. I struggled hard with myself those days. I loved
Jim, but he was poor. Finally, I decided I’d be better
off with a poor man whom I loved than with a wealthy
one whose money had attracted me. So I married Jim
Brown.” They were married on September 1, 1886 in
the Church of the Annunciation in Leadville. She added, “I gave up cooking for my brother, and moved in to
Jim’s cabin, where the work was just as hard.”
During the next seven years, while J.J. put in long
hours in the mines, Margaret kept up their cabin home
in Stumpftown in the mining district. After their son,
Lawrence, was born in 1887, they moved to a cottage
in nearby Leadville. In 1889, they had a second child,
Catherine Ellen, called Helen. Although Margaret had
her hands full with two children, she was interested in
mining and learned all she could about it. Later, she
would say, “And them was the happy days.”
1893 was a tough year for Colorado and the nation.
When the Sherman Silver Mining Act was repealed,
gold was chosen over silver to back American currency.
The price of silver plummeted, fortunes were lost, and
the silver industry fell into a deep slump.
J.J. Brown, who was working for the Ibex Mining Company, developed a new process to strengthen
mine walls using hay bales. When this new method was
implemented in the Little Jonny Mine, a formerly overlooked gold strike was discovered. With J.J. as 1/8th
owner, it became one of the largest ore strikes ever
found in the district.
The Browns were suddenly wealthy. A year later,
they purchased a mansion in Denver, followed a few
years later by a farm with a country house built by J.J.
outside the city for holidays and weekend get-aways.
Margaret embraced city life and stayed busy taking
care of her family, attending the opera, and working on
charity benefits.
While the Browns supported the building fund
for the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, J.J.
continued his mining interests in Leadville, and helped
fund its Ice Palace. Built in 1895, the ice structure was
meant to attract tourist money to Leadville during its
struggle to recover from the silver slump. However, an
early spring thaw put an untimely end to the ice palace
as a fund raiser.
Margaret continued to care for her family into the
1900s. She had accomplished caring for her parents
into their old age, until they passed away. When her
brother Daniel’s wife passed away, she took in their
three daughters to raise as her own.
While her children attended school, Margaret
worked to improve her own literacy. After a Denver
newspaper reporter ridiculed her use of grammar, she
studied hard to improve it, and she read voraciously.
She learned new languages and developed a strong desire to travel.
After J.J. Brown suffered a mild stroke, his behavior became erratic. He disappeared for long periods of
time, and acted as if he had never been absent when
he returned. His “business trips” became more frequent, which left Margaret distressed and heartbroken.
Margaret dismissed questions about their separation,
sought a change of scenery, visited Newport on the East
Coast for longer periods, and travelled.
While sightseeing in Egypt, Margaret Brown received a message that her little grandson was ill. She
decided to return home at once, to learn his condition
and offer support. Her daughter, Helen, who was studying in Paris, had a ticket to return home aboard the
Titanic on its maiden voyage, which she offered to her
mother. Margaret gratefully accepted it.
O
n April 15, 1912, the unsinkable new steamliner,
Titanic, sank to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean
following a collision with an iceberg. Margaret Brown
was one of the passengers who survived the tragedy.
After the disaster, Margaret Brown had her say.
Denver Times, April 30, 1912:
Please don’t say that I am a heroine. I did only
the natural thing and not the heroic. I was the
most fortunate woman on the boat. Although I lost
all my worldly possessions, I lost no dear ones and
I was healthy, strong and self-possessed, so why
shouldn’t I have helped those poor, suffering foreigners and victims of man’s greed?
There were but sixteen people in our boat and
one of them, the quartermaster, was the most craven of cowards.
All night long he sat shivering like an aspen
in the prow of the boat and muttered in a monotonous, sing-song voice that we were lost, lost, lost,
and at the cruel mercy of the waves. Once I threatened to throw him overboard, and for a moment
he was silenced. For hours we rowed through the
bitter cold and darkness, ever toward the phantom
light [a fishing boat] far out on the great deep. The
sky was studded with stars, the sea was calm and
still with a fatal and indescribable beauty.
The Titanic, true pride of the ocean, after the
shock staggered for a moment under her death
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blow and then, as we looked, the waves seemed
to rise with caressing touch and draw her quietly
down to her final resting place. The band played
to the last. Brave men went to their death almost
without a murmur. Then one long scream of agony
arose and all was over.
At last, when we were some nine miles from
the scene of the wreck, the phantom ship dipped
over the horizon and was seen no more. We started to row back to the grave of the Titanic; signals
flashed from the sixteen lifeboats and the craven
sailor in our boat re-opened his fire of pessimism.
Far out there from the wreck we came across
a stoker, black and almost frozen, but still alive.
Tenderly we pulled him into our boat I wrapped
him in my sables and set him to rowing to start his
blood to circulating.
Then came the dawn – and such a dawn. No
painter could translate the glory and radiance of
it to canvas. The sun came up in molten gold over
the edge of the sea; its glorious rays shimmered in
irridiscent [sic] hues over the vast ice fields and
flamed into gold over the broad waters. Just as the
dawn flashed over the sea the rescue ship, Carpathia, loomed on the horizon. Never was [a] sight
so dear as the ship bringing us life and inexpressive joy.
The men on the Titanic died for a principle –
they died that the women and children might live,
and in so doing, they died true to the inborn nobility of the American manhood.
‘Women first,’ is a principle as deep-rooted in
man’s being as the sea – it is world-old and irrevocable. But to me it is all wrong. Women demand
equal rights on land – why not on sea? In times
of safety they cry out for equality with men – in
terrible danger they turn to men for protection. It
is only fitting that the women of America should
erect a mighty memorial to the noble manhood
among rich and poor that was sacrificed that we,
the women, might be here now.
Margaret Brown spread her story to other newspapers as well. Recalling her departure from the Titanic for the Denver Post on April 19, 1912:
Someone said, ‘Women first, quick!’ and I was
literally thrown into a lifeboat and lowered to the
foaming sea.
There in that lifeboat, with a sailor at my side,
I rowed for all my might for seven and a half hours.
I rowed until my head was sick, until I thought I
was dead. Fifteen more could have been saved in
our boat.
I owe my life to my exercise. Two women died
at my side of exposure, while my blood was at a
boiling point. You can imagine the shouting and
crying that went up when the Carpathia came to
us out of the misty daylight. Some of the thankful
hearts in our boat grasped and kissed one another until they were too weak to lift a hand. Others
wanted to die and persisted in jumping overboard.
Just as the Carpathia swung alongside of us,
I lost my remaining strength and fell exhausted.
Two hours after that I was in the ship’s hospital,
nursing the hysterical. Don’t ask me how I did it – I
don’t know myself. Here in the little gloomy room I
have been for three days and nights, working with
every bit of strength in my body.
Dying mothers, sweethearts and little children
separated in an instant from their dearest ones on
earth have whispered messages in my ears to those
who will ask for them. I have prayed earnestly that
God would spare that painful anxiety, but suppose
that one of those grief-stricken relatives should
come on board to ask about those who were saved,
and I should not be here? Now can you blame me
for staying – for staying and telling them that I
have made the last hours of their mothers, of their
wives, peaceful ones!
No, there was no distinction of race, color or
name.
It isn’t who you are, nor what you have, but
what you are that counts. That was proved in the
Titanic.
Those women who perished were lost because
they were not notified of the wreck. The stewards
failed in their duty, they deserted. Aside from the
few first officers, the crew was a lot of scrubs.
While aboard the Carpathia, Margaret Brown
started a survivor’s fund, collecting $10,000 before
she left the ship. The money helped care for those
who lost their families and all their belongings when
the ship sank. Many immigrants could not speak
English, and she used her language skills to comfort
them, help them make plans, and to send messages to
their families back in their homelands.
Once Margaret Brown returned to Denver, she answered questions for an anxious community starved
for every detail she could share. At a lunch hosted by
Mrs. Crawford Hill, famous for the exclusivity of her
Sacred Thirty-Six social clique, Margaret was guest
of honor. The guests hung on her every word, and she
basked in the attention, although it was by no means
her only social achievement in Denver.
For some people, life after surviving the Titanic
disaster might have diminished and taken on a lack
of importance. Not so for Margaret Brown. The next
twenty years were full of activism and issues she considered important. Her Titanic fund helped other Titanic survivors, helped build a monument, and recognized the heroics of their rescuers.
During a visit in Florida, Margaret again exercised her bravery. A fire broke out at the Breakers Hotel in Palm Beach, Florida, and she led other guests to
safety. During World War I, she travelled to France to
help the Red Cross, and made the house she used in
Newport accessible to that organization. Briefly, she
ran for Congress.
During the Ludlow Massacre in Southern Colorado, Margaret rallied women to provide supplies for
mining families. At home, she helped her grown children and her nieces transition into adulthood. After
her husband’s death, she started a feminist coalition
for mining widows in Leadville. France honored her
with the Palm of the Academy for theatrical excellence.
Margaret Brown had much to give and accomplish after 1912, when she survived the Titanic’s demise in the dark, icy Atlantic waters. By the time she
passed away in October 1932, she was still helping
others with her interests in culture and theater. At the
time, she lived in the Barbizon Hotel, a residence in
New York City, where she helped young women study
to become actresses.
Among her varied interests, the Unsinkable Mrs.
J. J. Brown never forgot her past during the Leadville
mining years when she and J.J. struggled. After her
death, parcels from Mrs. Brown arrived in Leadville.
In keeping with her tradition, she had arranged to
send packages to mining families, full of Christmas
gifts of toys and clothing for their children. From
beyond the grave, she once again provided for those
who were less fortunate.
Joyce B. Lohse writes and researches biographies about Colorado pioneers. She can be found lurking in archives and cemeteries. www.LohseWorks.com. She will meet and greet guests
at Titanic events on July 7, 1-4 p.m. at the Healy House in
Leadville, and on July 15, 11-2 at the Molly Brown House Museum in Denver, where she will be signing her book, Unsinkable: The Molly Brown Story, from Filter Press.
The Return of Alces alces shirasi
Moose foothold gaining strength in Central Colorado
By Christopher Kolomitz
Photos by Bob Seago
O
nce considered a rarity in the state, moose
are quickly becoming another attraction to the
Colorado wild lands, right up there with snow-covered
peaks, blazing aspen stands and cold, clear streams.
Specifically, it’s the Shiras moose that has tourists and locals doing a double-take. Typically smaller
than their cousins to the north in Canada and Alaska,
the Shiras moose has gained a foothold in Colorado,
thanks to reintroduction efforts by state wildlife officials, a lack of natural predators and abundant suitable range.
When out on a drive, hike, mountain bike ride
or cross country ski, spotting one of the long-legged
creatures is happening more often, especially in Central Colorado’s lush backcountry wetlands and other
riparian zones.
“It’s not a common experience to see a moose. But
at the same time when someone tells me that they
saw one up by St. Elmo, it’s not alarming at all,” Jim
Aragon, the Salida Area Wildlife Manager Colorado
Parks and Wildlife said.
According to state wildlife officers, moose sightings are known to occur in 38 Colorado counties –
basically in areas west of Interstate 25. Wildlife officials list those sightings in some counties as more
rare than others, but nonetheless, it can happen. In
Central Colorado, several counties stand out as having prime moose habitat and range, with major concentrations occurring in a places along or west of the
Continental Divide.
Aragon travels all over the Upper Arkansas Riv12
er Valley and has spotted moose in lots of places –
Weston Pass, north of Buena Vista, drainages around
O’Haver Lake and around the Buffalo Peaks area.
While most commonly spotted at higher elevations and near wetlands, moose have been seen
around Chaffee County in lower lands and on the
“dry” side or eastern side of the Upper Arkansas River
Valley.
A motorist spotted one by the Arkansas River and
Ruby Mountain. Wildlife watchers reported seeing
a cow and two calves in the Ute Trail area north of
Salida. A few weeks later, Aragon said the same three
moose were spotted near Howard. A few summers
ago, a bull moose was hanging out in a pasture off
U.S. 50 west of Salida. The landowners spray-painted
a sign with an arrow telling passersby where to look.
Wildlife officials list nearly all of Lake County as
suitable moose range. In Park County, the best range
is west of U.S. 285. Likewise, in Chaffee County, the
best moose range is found west of U.S. 285 and the
areas north of Buena Vista. Last winter, a backcountry skier spotted a moose in the Mineral Basin area
near Cottonwood Pass. Other trophy-size moose are
rumored to inhabit both sides of the pass.
Perhaps the best moose range in Central Colorado is in Gunnison County, where the territory north of
U.S. 50 is considered suitable. The areas east and a bit
north of Taylor Reservoir are known to have higher
concentrations of the animal. Other prime areas include the northeastern tip of the county around McClure Pass and into Mesa County. During the 2011 elk
archery season, a hunter in Gunnison County filmed
a massive moose and posted the video on YouTube.
The area isn’t open for hunting.
In the San Luis Valley, the western third of Rio
Grande County and nearly all of Mineral and Hinsdale counties have good moose habitat. The area east
of Lake City in the La Garita Wilderness within Hinsdale County hosts a sizable concentration too.
Residents of Lake City report that the area around
Deer Lakes is sure a spot to see the creatures. Just
the western third of Saguache County is suitable, although a concentration exists near the La Garita Wilderness and in the Groundhog Park area north of U.S.
160.
Outside of Central Colorado, notable populations
inhabit Summit County, especially around Dillon.
Moose concentrations are also found further north
into Grand County around the Williams Fork Mountains and then into the Winter Park, Frasier and Granby and Grand Lake areas.
Large populations are found also in the northern
part of the state, in Routt and Jackson counties that
make up the area known as North Park and in the
northwestern parts of Larimer County near the Wyoming border. In the mid-1990s the state legislature
called the area around Walden the “Moose Viewing
Capital of Colorado.” Earlier this winter Steamboat
Springs residents watched as moose licked salt from
vehicles parked in a residential neighborhood.
And, moose, which are known to wander huge
distances, are being found more often along the Front
Range, with moose sightings occurring in Golden and
elsewhere.
The moose that people are seeing now have traveled into favorable lands after their descendents were
transplanted into the state. Historically the Shiras
moose may have migrated into the northern parts of
the state from Wyoming, but likely there never was a
viable population, wildlife officials said.
Photographs and records do show some moose
in the state, with a Denver parade around 1900 feaPhoto on opposite page taken in a meadow off Hwy 149
about seven miles above Lake City on the way to Slumgullion Pass. Photo above taken along the Rio Grande about
13 miles up river from Creede.
turing a moose along with other wild animals. Early
forest managers on the Western Slope made notes of
very small populations in the late 1800s. Some historians believe moose were probably hunted to near
extinction in the state by early Native Americans and
early settlers because of their massive quantities of
meat and their lack of human fear, which made them
easy targets. Other limiting factor for a native moose
population is the state’s relatively warm climate.
In the mid 1970s state wildlife officials began
transplant efforts, first looking at the willow-bottom
areas on the West Slope of Gunnison County. However, because of local rancher opposition, areas around
North Park became more favorable and that area became site of the first moose transplant in 1978.
Locally, wildlife managers and U.S. Forest Service officials determined there is suitable moose habitat in the Upper Rio Grande drainages and between
1991 and 1993 they transplanted 92 moose. They had
come from Utah, Wyoming and North Park and with
the help of dedicated volunteers they were released at
12 locations near Creede.
Those 92 moose blossomed in the Upper Rio
Grande and traveled as far as 150 miles and by the
summer of 2000, the population in the area reached
almost 400. Since 2005, moose transplant efforts
have also been happening on the Grand Mesa, east of
Grand Junction. Current population estimates by the
14
state wildlife department sit at about 1,700.
Moose in Colorado have very few natural predators. A mountain lion may prey on a calf, injured
or sick moose, as would a black bear. But the state
is missing predators like wolves and grizzly bears,
which has allowed the moose population to grow
and mature. Typically, a moose lifespan is about 8-10
years but some may live up to 20 years in perfect conditions. They can be impacted by chronic wasting disease, although very few if any cases have turned up.
Perhaps their biggest threat comes from humans
driving cars or humans with guns. In fall 2011, state
wildlife officials sent out a reminder for motorists to
watch for moose along Colorado highways. The reminder came after a woman died when the vehicle
in which she was a passenger hit a cow moose along
I-70 in Summit County. Officials said they lose five to
eight moose a year on major highways in that county.
Wildlife officials are also making a major push
to educate hunters regarding proper target identification. In the fall of 2011, wildlife officials investigated more than a dozen inadvertent moose kills. Most
likely those incidents involved some combination of
low-light conditions, an incomplete or long-distance
view of the animal and poor judgment by the hunter,
leading to misidentification of the target. In 2010, officers investigated 14 incidents where hunters wrongly killed moose. “Elk don’t stand around and watch
you,” a wildlife official said. “If it sees you or smells
you and doesn’t run away, it’s probably not an elk.”
Moose are solitary creatures, they don’t join in
big herds like elk or deer, although males do spar during the rut in late September and early October. They
prefer alpine areas, beaver ponds, marshes or willow
bottoms and you most likely won’t find them in rocky
or cliff areas. Calves, typically born in late May and
early June, stick close to mom and are often twins.
Their diet changes seasonally, with the summer
bounty consisting of willows, grasses, forbs and underwater vegetation. Summer sun and rain showers
help grow tender shoots of conifer and deciduous
trees, which are favorites of moose too. It’s estimated
they eat more than 25 pounds of vegetation daily in
the summer.
In the winter months they browse, using their
long legs to trudge through snow and ice to find willow snacks. Often, during the winter, moose will stay
in one area of suitable food sources and create paths
among the snow to reach their food. Winter consumption is around 11 pounds daily.
Because of their natural instincts to protect
themselves against wolves, people walking dogs and
should be aware of aggressive tendencies of moose
when threatened, wildlife officials said. Officials also
suggested giving moose with calves plenty of room
and not getting too close to bull moose during the
rut. Indicators of agitated moose include ears pinned
down. Basically, use common sense when watching
moose, wildlife officials said.
Christopher Kolomitz is a former Salida journalist who recently returned to the Upper Arkansas Valley after spending
too much time in traffic. He has a moose story from Wyoming
and is anxious to see one soon in Central Colorado.
Patience and Scouting Time Pays
off for Twin Lakes Hunter
Don Mann isn’t the type of
guy that gets nervous very easily. The former Marine and accomplished hunter has bagged
some of the more notable animals in North America – mountain goats, desert sheep, caribou,
Dall’s sheep, Rocky Mountain
bighorn, Canadian moose and more.
But, with the 2011 moose rifle season approaching
and Mann spending countless hours in the field looking for moose, he was getting itchy. He’d seen plenty of
moose sign – droppings, tracks and thrashed willows
– but he hadn’t seen the animal.
To read the entire story, visit our website:
www.cozine.com
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LETTERS &
CORRESPONDENCE
Speaking Out for Vets
Kudos to Mr. Rosso & Colorado Central,
As a Vietnam vet I was very glad to see your recent issue focusing on veterans and veterans’ issues. It
is much too easy to assume that the problems are over
for the vet as soon as they come back to the states
and return to civilian life. Once a veteran, always a
veteran. And once you’ve been to war you carry the
scars with you for the rest of your life. Thank you for
keeping the lights on and reminding us of our neverending need to take care of our veterans, not just for
one day in November, but every day.
Dennis Fischer,
Nathrop, CO
New National Monument?
To the Editor:
These are exciting times for Browns Canyon.
Senator Mark Udall has announced a public process
for input to permanently protect the Browns Canyon
area as a National Monument while also preserving
the backcountry portions as Wilderness.
A National Monument designation would draw
attention to the area’s world-class river rafting, other
outdoor recreation opportunities, and support the local tourism economy.
A Wilderness designation would protect the natural resources and habitat of the area for wildlife and
future generations.
Senator Udall has asked for public input through
his website, and they need to hear from you. This is
our best opportunity for protecting the area in many
years. Please visit the website to post your comments
of support for Map Version 1:
www.markudall.senate.gov/outdoorheritage
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Follow the link to the Arkansas River Canyon National Monument and Browns Canyon Wilderness to
review Sen. Udall’s proposal and complete the web
form toward the bottom of the page – Support Map
Version 1. This version provides the most protection
to the area. Share this alert on your Facebook, Twitter or other social media or by email to your friends
and family. Give them a chance to speak up for wild
lands as well.
Nikol Noll,
Friends of Browns Canyon
Salida, CO
Write On!
To the Editor:
Right on! Write on! I usually read the new issue
at one sitting. The Jan/Feb issue was more challenging and thoughtful so it took longer.
You bring a unique perspective to the state and
I’ve come to appreciated your writers (and share the
political views of the Quillens). I wish you continued
success!
Jack Whiting,
Denver, CO
Go, Charles
Dear Ed Quillen and Mike Rosso,
As the editors who first gave me an opportunity to
write publicly about the Espinosas, I thought I should
let you know that I got an e-mail tonight from the
acquisitions editor at the University Press of Colorado
Board telling me that the Board of Trustees has given
final approval to the publication of my nonfiction book
about the said outlaws. I want to thank both of you for
opening the way for this to happen. I’m very grateful.
Thanks again for everything.
Charles Price,
Burnsville, NC
Editor’s note: Author Charles Price will be featured in
the May issue of Colorado Central with an article about
Doc Holliday’s time in Leadville.
Colorado Central Magazine
welcomes and enjoys
correspondence for
publication - subject to
editing for all the usual
reasons - from syntax to
defamation, to our caffeine
level at the time of arrival.
Deadline for May2012 is 5PM, Mon., April 16.
E-mail - coloradocentral@gmail.com
Mail: Colorado Central, Box 946, Salida, CO 81201
Q
&
A
with Colorado State
Senator Gail Schwartz
Senator Gail Schwartz (D-Snowmass) was elected to represent Colorado’s Senate District 5 in 2006 and was reelected in 2010. Previously, she was elected to serve on the
Board of Regents of the University of Colorado from 2000
to 2005 and, before that, she was appointed by Gov. Roy
Romer to the Colorado Commission on Higher Education
from 1995 to 1999.
Colorado Central: Could you briefly explain SB12-048,
the “Local Foods, Local Jobs Act” and how it will affect
residents of Central Colorado? Where does the bill currently stand? Sen. Schwartz: In Mid-March the bill was signed into
law! This is a “Cottage Foods Law” that allows local
growers and bakers to prepare value-added products –
jams, jellies, baked goods, dehydrated foods – in home
kitchens and sell them directly to consumers on a local
level. The intent of the law is to incubate entry-level
opportunities for people to prepare and market their
products without having to make a large investment in
a commercial kitchen set-up or special licenses. This is
a project that has been two years in the making, and
grew out of a series of meetings with farmers and growers in Salida, Hotchkiss and Alamosa. Colorado Central: Tell us a little about the Forest Health
& Biomass Bill.
Sen. Schwartz: Last year’s bill, SB11-267, set up a forest
health working group to provide a spectrum of recommendations to support the timber industry in development of sustainable harvesting practices, promoting
healthy forest management and woody biomass energy
development. This group’s findings are presented on
the Colorado State Forest Service website:www.
csfs.colostate.edu/pages/
sb11-267.html) This year’s
bill will implement many
of the recommendations
identified in the working
group’s report.
Colorado Central: As you
know, access to broadband
internet is critical for rural
education, business opportunities and job growth.
You are working to improve
access through SB 129, the
“Rural Broadband Jobs
Act.” What would that bill
do and what is its status? Sen. Schwartz: That bill is waiting for a third reading
in the Senate. It sets up a working group to investigate
the status of broadband connectivity in rural areas of
the state and develop a strategic plan for improvement.
Currently, local planning teams made up of business,
elected officials and other community leaders are working with the state Office of Information Technology, using federal dollars to map out connectivity accessibility
around the state. Once that is done, the big question
will be: where will the funds come from to invest in
this critical infrastructure in our rural communities? Colorado Central: Solar Reserve is proposing to construct a “power tower” in Saguache County near Center.
The height of the proposed tower is more than 600 feet
and the entire project would cover about 4,000 acres.
While the project is considered to be renewable, there
are concerns about the impact it would have upon the
historic heritage of the San Luis Valley, the viewscape,
wildlife and water consumption. What are your thoughts
on the project? April 2012 • Colorado Central Magazine • 17
Sen. Schwartz: I’m pleased to see the level of solar energy development in the San Luis Valley and I continue to do work on the Saguache project. I am waiting
to see what the county commissioners and the community decide before I give my opinion on the subject,
as I feel my role is not to interfere with local determination and local process. When there are projects
in front of communities throughout the District, like
Over the River for example, I prefer to wait and allow
the process to unfold locally before I weigh in. Colorado Central: Oil and gas development continues
to boom in rural Colorado. What would you say to your
constituents who have concerns about it? Sen. Schwartz: Oil and gas extraction hasn’t really
impacted the constituents in District 5, partly because
not a whole lot of oil and gas development is going on
in the district, with some exceptions in the San Luis
Valley, and the North Fork Valley in Delta County. I
recognize significant concern about the proposed
BLM oil and gas leases. In Hotchkiss in late January,
I helped facilitate a hearing that over 500 people attended, and 100 people testified about their concerns
about the impact of oil and gas development on their
economy, their land, and their way of life. However,
oil and gas extraction is going to become a bigger issue for the state as a whole because of industry innovations for the extraction processes allowing access
to resources that were previously inaccessible. More
people are going to be concerned about the quality of
their air and water, and we must make sure that the
Colorado Oil and Gas Commission is involved in protecting people and resources locally. Colorado Central: You are supporting greater awareness of the importance of electronics recycling. What are
some of the things you are working on to help rural areas improve efforts to keep those toxic materials out of
landfills and waterways? Gil Van Stone Jr
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Sen. Schwartz: SB12 -133, my bill on this issue, has
passed the Senate and has nearly passed the House. The basis of the bill is a statewide ban on dumping
electronics in landfills. (Just to give you an example
of how toxic electronics can be, an old TV could have
up to 40 lbs of lead in it!). Recycling these components will keep our ground water and land safe and
cuts down on resource waste. Jobs will come from
“resource recovery,” since the bill requires the state
to use certified recyclers. There will be education programs for the public, and certified recyclers can come
to local communities. BlueStar is one of the recyclers
that will be coming to local communities – it’s a great
company that has a policy of hiring disabled workers
and providing well-paying jobs.
Colorado Central: Lately, women’s access to birth control, abortion, and health care in general seems to be
under increasing attack on the state level, including
in Colorado. As a woman and a legislator, could you
please comment on this trend?
Sen. Schwartz: It’s unfortunate that there is considerable focus on women’s reproductive rights and access
to health care right now, when we need to be looking at education, local economies, and supporting our
families. I am struggling with why there is this need to
control women’s access to health care and I don’t think
government should be involved in this battle. Do we
really need to revisit women’s rights that have been
established for decades? Dwelling on this issue doesn’t
create a single job, and it’s not my priority. Colorado Central: What do you think of term limits for
state representatives, and whether you think they have
helped or hindered the democratic process in Colorado? Sen. Schwartz: In a way, we already have term limits - they are called “elections.” People always have
a chance to replace their representatives. I have seen
what it takes to really understand the issues and
gain momentum in the Legislature – but because of
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term limits you see a lot of expertise walk out the
door. Term limits also lend more power to lobbyistsbecause of the time crunch to come up to speed as a
legislator, legislators often turn to the lobby to understand the issues. I don’t mean to criticize lobbyists,
but over-reliance on their opinion and expertise is an
issue to take seriously.
Colorado Central: Redistricting impacted your district
quite a bit with Senate District 5 losing six counties,
all of which were in the San Luis Valley; Saguache,
Mineral, Alamosa, Rio Grande, Conejos, and Costilla
counties. Gained were Lake and Eagle counties. What
do you say to those in the district who are concerned
that the rural issues of Chaffee, Gunnison, Hindsdale,
Lake and Delta counties now will be over shadowed the
wealth and larger population bases of Eagle and Pitkin counties? Sen. Schwartz: I’m sorry to be losing the counties of
the San Luis Valley in District 5, as I spent so much
time there to becoming familiar with the local issues
and priorities. But, as a result of that, now they’ll have
“two senators!” I will always be concerned with issues
in the San Luis Valley. Glad to see Eagles and Lake
Counties coming in – I focus on issues all these counties have in common: we all want good jobs, good
schools and protection of natural resources. I prefer
to focus on our commonalities, not our differences. Colorado Central: In early March you held some townhall meetings across Central Colorado. What were some
of the common themes constituents discussed and what
are you doing to address them?
and hospitals in each community in particular. This
issue of connectivity started for me back in 2007 and
led to my involvement with numerous Broadband bills
including this year’s bill, SB12-129, the Rural Broadband Jobs Act. Colorado Central: You have three daughters. Have any
of them shown interest in a career in public service?
Sen. Schwartz: They are happy that there are term
limits! I want to thank them and my husband, for they
have been supportive and engaged every step of the
way – but I have cured my daughters of any desire to
ever serve in public office. Give them time to recover
and they may think differently, but for now, no! Colorado Central: Read any good books lately?
Sen. Schwartz: As I will be reading nearly 700 bills
and the supportive material – I don’t have time for
books! I’ve been part of a book group for over 25
years, and it is one of my greatest pleasures, when I
get time to read! Editors note: Special thanks to Elliot Jackson for conducting and transcribing this interview with Sen. Schwartz.
Sen. Schwartz: I just had one last weekend in Alamosa. The issue of Adams State College changing its
name came up, as it did in Gunnison with Western
State College, and what the name change means to
each of the local communities. Provisions for veterans is always an issue around the District, and broadband connectivity is also a common theme for schools
News from the San Luis Valley
By Patty LaTaille
Wind Warning!
Alamosa Elementary students and staff were advised to relocate to the gym if winds are sustained or
gust at over 50 mile per hour. Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc., of Lakewood, discovered that both school
buildings, excluding the gyms, need reinforcement to
withstand wind and earthquake forces. In a letter addressed to Alamosa School District Superintendent Rob
Alejo from Neenan Co. project executive Mark Christensen, winds above 50 mph or greater could potentially
cause damage to the building in the form of cracking of
finishes, but not structural failure or any form of building collapse. With the mighty winds whipping through
the SLV in the spring, this could be an issue.
Fire Safety
Worrying about the wind ignites extra concern – Fire.
“Wind blown embers ignited about 100 acres of Saguache County land on March 13, causing a fire that has
since been contained and potentially linked to criminal
activity,” according to The Valley Courier.
The fire started south of Saguache County Road X
near the intersection of Saguache County Road 53 in mid
afternoon, with the help of emergency responders and
fire fighters from Saguache, Moffat, Crestone-Baca, Villa
Grove and Center, the blaze was stopped from burning
pastureland, native hay ground and chico brush. Saguache County is not under a burn advisory – yet.
“We are going into spring dry,” Saguache County
Sheriff Mike Norris said, according to The Valley Courier.
“It is our windy season. Please be wise.”
Speed, Alcohol and Drugs All Factors in Fatal Crash
Tragedy struck shortly after midnight March 11 on
Camino Del Rey, about three miles south of Crestone.
After a night of partying, five friends were headed back
to Crestone when the car rolled off the road.
According to The Valley Courier, “Travis Timm, 22,
of Crestone, was ejected from the 2003 Saturn and pronounced dead at the scene. He was sitting in the middle
of the rear seat.”
A 17-year old male, seated in the rear of the car,
suffered severe head injuries. He was taken by ambulance first to San Luis Valley Regional Medical Center
(SLVRMC), then to St. Mary’s Corwin in Pueblo. He was
airlifted from Pueblo to Denver and is listed in critical
condition according to Crowther.
Colorado State Patrol Cpt. George Dingfelder, said
“Alcohol, drugs, speeding, and none of them wearing
20
seatbelts – that’s not a good combination,” said. “It’s like
sitting on a stick of dynamite, waiting for it to go off.”
He added that it was amazing there weren’t more deaths
and injuries.
The driver, Zachary Paul Lemasters, 24, Crestone,
Max Friedrichs, 23, Moffat, and a 17-year old female
were transferred to the SLVRMC.
Update on Murder in Monte Vista
Details on the double-murder of John Raymond
Salazar, 54, and Sarah Janay Beasley, 29, which occurred in the early morning of Feb. 13 in Monte Vista,
were released recently, including the autopsy report
on Salazar.
The Valley Courier reported: “According to the autopsy report, Salazar was shot five times, each shot in
a different part of his body. Details of exactly where
the shots hit are being withheld because the investigation is still ongoing. But two of the shots hit lethal
areas and either of the two could have killed him, according to a source close to the investigation.”
Salazar was a custodian with the Monte Vista
School District and Beasely was a student at Trinidad
State Junior College in Alamosa.
Geothermal Energy Leasing
Terms for the San Luis Valley
After two years of appraisal, the Bureau of Land
Management agency (BLM) is prepared to accept public
comments on a preliminary environmental assessment
for geothermal energy leasing in the San Luis Valley. The
assessments identify public lands with the potential for
geothermal development and provide a stipulation list
for future leases.
The state of Colorado is working towards having two
50 Mw geothermal power plants in operation by 2040.
The BLM has not received any lease nominations for
the San Luis Valley.
“We have no real projects,” BLM Renewable Energy
Team Project Manager Joe Vieira said. “We have zero
leases.”
Vieira explained the EIS analyzed the San Luis Valley on a course scale in 2008.
“It was a mistake,” Vieira said. “At the time they
thought the San Luis Valley was part of Cañon City. We
are fixing this error.”
Happy 80th Birthday to the Great Sand
Dunes National Park and Preserve!
REGIONAL NEWS ROUNDUP
(and other items of interest) by Christopher Kolomitz
Parolee dies in Chaffee Barn Fire
BUENA VISTA – A parolee sought by Chaffee County
authorities was identified through dental records after his body was found March 8 in a burned out barn
southwest of Buena Vista. David Butler, 46, of Summit
County, was found in the small residential barn following a search for him in the area near Maud Lane, which
is just a little north of the Chalk Creek drainage. While
conducting the search for Butler, authorities spotted
smoke and responded to the barn fire and subsequently
found Butler’s body, reported The Mountain Mail. It was
unclear whether the death was a suicide or accidental,
or what prompted Butler to flee from authorities.
Salida Downtown District
gets “Creative”
SALIDA – Downtown Salida was officially awarded Colorado Creative District status March 9 by Gov. Hickenlooper. The designation comes with a $15,000 grant to
assist in attracting artists and other creative endeavors
to the downtown area. The only other location to earn
the award was the Santa Fe Arts District in Denver.
New Name on the Horizon
for Western State
GUNNISON – Trustees at Western State College voted
March 16 to initiate a process of changing the school
name to “Western State Colorado University.” According
to the Gunnison Country Times, trustees believe legislation to change the name will be sponsored by state Rep.
J. Paul Brown and state Sen. Gail Schwartz. Estimated
cost of renaming is $130,000 and the WSC Foundation
will chip in another $100K to help with other costs. If
everything goes well in Denver the change could be
completed by July 1.
Highway Plans get Moving
BUENA VISTA – Buena Vista residents had their chance
to review and discuss U.S. 24 highway corridor improvement plans during a public meeting March 15,
The Chaffee County Times reported. Input will help
town and state planners make the busy highway safer
for pedestrians and slow vehicles down. In other traffic
planning news, the Poncha Springs community met in
March to discuss a “road diet” for U.S. 50 and U.S. 285
in town. Goal there is to create more of a downtown feel
while reducing vehicle speeds and eliminating some
turn lanes.
Tabor Grand now Owned by City
LEADVILLE – The historic Tabor Grand building in
Leadville was purchased by the city for $177,872.25 on
March 15 following a public auction in February where
no bids were received, reports The Herald Democrat.
City leaders said they intend to sell the building and
have three investors interested, which would use the
building for affordable housing projects.
Pronghorn Releases End
GUNNISON – Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials released 74 pronghorn antelope into the Gunnison Basin,
just south of Blue Mesa Reservoir, March 1. It was the
last of a three-year release program with a goal of rebuilding the population following the winter of 2007-08
which caused high pronghorn mortality, the Gunnison
Country Times reports. Since 2010, wildlife officials released 225 animals. Animals released in March were
captured south of Limon and transported to the release
site.
Miner Dies Following Collapse
ALMA – Kevin Lawrence, 51, died in a mining accident
at the Ajax Mine near Alma. Authorities said Lawrence
likely died from exposure after becoming trapped in a
partial collapse inside the mine. According to The Fairplay Flume, the miner was found by a family member
after he had not been heard from. A big contingent of
rescuers initially worked on March 11 to recover Lawrence, but dangerous conditions inside the mine and
threat of avalanches outside the mine prevented them
from accomplishing the task until March 17.
“Rare Earths” Found
in South Gunnison
GUNNISON – Drill samples in Gunnison County showed
presence of “rare earth” materials at locations near Powderhorn, in the southern part of the county. U.S. Rare
Earths, an outfit based in Arkansas, is exploring other
locations on BLM land, the Gunnison Country Times reported. Rare earth elements are used in solar panels,
wind turbines, computer screens, magnets, military
applications and other industrial uses. Gunnison-Sage
Grouse habitat restrictions have halted work in the area
until May 15.
Cartoon by David LaVercombe
Udall Floats Plans for
Monument, Wilderness
DENVER – U.S. Sen. Mark Udall has proposed making
20,000 acres of federal land between Salida and Buena
Vista a national monument and wilderness area. The
protection would encompass areas around Browns Canyon that have long been under consideration for wilderness designation. Several groups favor the move, saying
that national monument status would help market the
area to outdoor recreationalists and provide protection
for critical, low-elevation wildlife habitat.
Short takes:
• Finalists for the vacant Salida City Administrator position include current Salida interim city administrator
Dara MacDonald; Mark Hell of the Golden Urban Renewal Authority; Richard Bellis, deputy Taos County
manger and former development services director for
Archuleta County; and Scott Hahn, who most recently
held administrative positions in Alaska and was the Salida head-honcho from 1997 to 2002. Public meetings
are set for April 5-6.
• The Saguache County Museum announced in March
that it will open Memorial Day for its 54th year.
• Westcliffe and Leadville have new school superintendents. Wendy Wyman, currently the Leadville elementary school principal, will take the lead of the Lake
22
County School District. In Westcilffe, Chris Selle is the
new boss of the C-1 School District. Selle is currently the
Limon superintendent and high school principal.
• The El Pomar Colorado Assistance Fund made more
than $60,000 in grant awards in early March to groups
in Custer, Fremont, Chaffee and Park counties.
• The new Gunnison County jail is open for business, as
of March 12. It is part of the new $11.7 million county
public safety center and replaces an outdated and inefficient complex.
• Forest Service ranger districts in Salida and Leadville
plan on conducting prescribed burns during the month
of April west of Buena Vista in the Four Elk Creek area
and around O’Haver Lake near Poncha Pass.
Notable Quotes:
“We felt like we’ve been saving for a rainy day and it’s
raining.” – Gunnison Watershed RE1J business manager
Stephanie Juneau regarding the posbility of using the
school district reserve fund to meet budget shortfalls. –
Gunnison Country Times, March 15, 2012.
“We value the rights of our commuters, but we value the lives
of our citizens even more.” - Mike Bordogna, Lake County
Commisisoner, speaking about the need to improve the
intersection of Colo. 91 and the Village at East Fork near
Leadville which has been the site of numerous traffic accidents. – Leadville Herald-Democrat, March 8, 2012.
Landmark Salida Restaurant Says Goodbye
By Ed Quillen
For fifteen years, we ran Colorado Central out of our house.
While that’s convenient in many ways (i.e., short commute, and if
you get a neat idea at 3 a.m. you can do something about it), there’s
also a problem in that homes aren’t really set up for certain aspects
of commerce.
So for those fifteen years, the First Street Café was where we
generally met with writers, advertisers and whoever else might
have had business with Colorado Central. The restaurant was more
or less our front office.
Thus the news that the place is changing hands, and doubtless
changing in many other ways, wasn’t exactly welcome. Not that I
begrudge Wayne and Darleen Louch a future without the endless
toil of running a restaurant; they’ve worked hard and served well,
and I’ll miss them and the First Street.
Partly it’s on account of the connection with this magazine, but
it’s almost like family, too. Our daughter Columbine worked there
off and on for years. In
fact, she even managed to get fired there Wayne and Darleen in front of the café, July 1989.
before she worked
there. When in high school, she went in at closing time to meet a
friend who worked there, helped said friend finish bussing tables, the
manager did not like how she was bussing, and she got fired from a
job she never held.
With our kids grown and living far away, it’s where Martha and
I often went for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, and no matter
when we went, we’d run into somebody we knew. In a way, it always
felt like home.
The First Street maintained a hard-to-achieve balance between
being a spot for locals and a stop for tourists. You don’t get through
the winter without locals, but you need tourists to feel welcome if
you’re going to make hay while the summer sun shines. And somehow they pulled it off – and did it year after year.
I’ll miss the quiche and especially the apple cake. I’ll have the
memories of making magazine deals in one of the booths. And I’ll
miss Wayne and Darleen, even though they have more than earned
a long rest.
Editor’s note: The Café’s last day is Thursday, April 5. Stop by, have a
Wayne and Darleen, March, 2012.
Monte Cristo sandwich and wish the Louchs happy trails!
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Regional events calendar
Buena Vista
3- Community Dance, BV High School, For more information
call 719-395-6704. Admission $4.
28 - Trace Bundy CD Release Party, 7:00 PM, Orpheum Theater. Tickets will be available starting March 19 online at www.
orpeumbv.org or at the Buena Vista Chamber of Commerce.
Please contact Portia at Portia@orpeumbv.com for more info.
28 - Collegiate Peaks Trail Run - 25 to 50 mile run East of town
on old railroad grade and trails. There is over 3,500 feet elevation gain in each 25 mile loop. Limited to 300 runners. This
event is run by the local Optimist Club. For more information
and to download an application visit:
www.collegiatepeakstrailrun.org
Cañon City
Nothing submitted as of press time.
Gunnison
7 - Film Series Double Feature: the Greenhorns and Truck
Farm. Mountain Roots Food Project kicks off the growing season with an inspirational documentary film double feature.
Two screenings: Saturday, April 7 at the Crested Butte Center
for the Arts, 7 p.m. Sunday, April 8 at the Western State College
Campus Center, 7 p.m. Suggested donation $7 adults / $5 students / $2 kids. www.mountainrootsfoodproject.org
14 - 2012 Gunnison Sage-grouse festival runs 9 AM til 3 PM
at the Western State College Student Center, and on the roads,
trails, and hills in and around Gunnison. 970-642-4940.
14 - TITANIC – IRON AND ICE. Premiere performance of this
timed-to-the-minute reenactment of the sinking of the RMS
Titanic. “Iron and Ice” is written and directed by Michael Callihan, and is a production of the Gunnison Readers Theatre
Company. www.gunnisonartscenter.org
21 -Gunnison Valley Gardening Festival. Planting, growing,
harvesting, preserving, cooking and enjoying the fruits, vegetables and beauty of you labor. Let’s get ready for the 2012
Gunnison valley gardening season. Free to public - booth fee.
paul7703@gmail.com
28 - Gunnison Valley Health Wellness Fairs provide a variety
of inexpensive and free health screenings to promote health
awareness and to encourage individuals to assume responsi-
GREAT DEALS!
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348 West 1st St.,
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24
10 am - noon Saturdays
April 2012
bility for their own health. Each fair provides low cost blood
chemistry testing and a variety of free health screenings and
information booths. Basic blood test is $35 w/ addl tests available. 6:30- 11:30AM. 970.642.8418
Leadville
7 - Winter Mountain Bike Series - East Side Epic. A tour of
Leadville’s historic Mining District. 8am Register/Check In @
Cycles of Life, 309 Harrison Ave., Race starts @ 10am @ 700 East
8th St.
13 - Dr. Kirk Johnson and Dr. Ian Miller - Collegiate Peaks
Forum Local Expert Series. “The Discovery of Snowmastodon.” 7:00 p.m., The National Leadville Hall of Fame & Museum, 120 West 10th Street. Dr. Kirk Johnson is chief curator
and vice president for research and collections at the Denver
museum of Nature & Science. Dr. Ian Miller is curator of paleontology and chair of the earth sciences at the Denver Museum of
Nature & Science. www.collegiatepeaksforum.org
14-15 - TITANIC! A Night To Remember. Tour Leadville Museums, exclusive tour of the Guggenheim Home, keynote speaker (Titanic expert), authentic Titanic 3 course dinner, movie at
the National Mining Hall of Fame (1958 B&W Movie “A Night To
Remember” and Tea With Molly Brown at Quincy’s. 486-1239.
Salida
1 – Walden Chamber Music Society, Salida SteamPlant. APRIL
FOOLS DAY CONCERT on Sunday at 3pm, with an informance
at 2pm, during which pianist Jo Boatright, explains and gives
a short musical demonstration of the music to be performed.
Tickets are $15/adult and are available ON-LINE at www.salidasteamplant.com and in person at the SteamPlant Theater, at
the Salida and Buena Vista Chambers of Commerce and at the
door prior to the concert. There is a limited number of FREE
tickets for students at the door. For more information visit
www.waldenchambermusic.org or contact Marie at (719) 3952097. www.waldenchambermusic.org
2- Jessica Fichot LIVE at Wanderlust Road, 146 W. First St.
7PM following at 6PM potluck. $8-10 suggested.
www.wanderlustroad.com
7 -Annual Kayaks on Snow Boatercross. For more information contact Monarch Ski Area at www.skimonarch.com.
7 - Halden Wofford and the High Beams at the SteamPlant
Ball Room. 8:00PM. Tickets $10 adv $13 at the door. Available at
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the Salida Chamber of Commerce, Salida SteamPlant or on line
salidasteamplant.com, available until 3pm day of the show.
13 - “Rejoice” - The Notables & You’ve Got Male. 7:30pm,
Suggested donation: $7:00. For more information call Linda
Taylor - 719-539-2428. Sponsored in part by Friends of the SteamPlant. SteamPlant Theater.
14 - Spring Fling Fundraiser for Boys & Girls Clubs. Come
enjoy tasty appetizers, a wide variety of wines and beers and
tour our facility. Door prizes and live music. Meet the good
people who have made this organization possible! Admission is complimentary, but generous donations to Boys & Girls
Clubs of Chaffee County are greatly needed and encouraged.
RSVP not required, but welcome. Donations can also be made
online. www.bgcchaffee.org, 539-9500.
15 - 6th Annual Parking Lot Cook Off and Tailgate Party.
For more information go to www.skimonarch.com
27 - A Celebration of Pack Burro Racing- Film Screening of
“Haulin’ Ass” by Trevor Velin. 7PM SteamPlant Theater. Live
music panel discussion and guests Ed Quillen, Hal Walter, Curtis Imrie and more. Benefiting Ark Valley Humane Society and
Wild Burro Protection League. $10 advance, $12 at the door.
Available at www.salidasteamplant.com. For more info call
719-530-9063. Sponsored by the Friends of the SteamPlant and
Colorado Central Magazine.
28 - 2012 Tenderfoot Cancer Climb. Registration begins at 8
a.m.. Climb begins at 9 a.m.. For more information, or to register online, visit www.tenderfootcancerclimb.org
21 - Orient Land Trust will hold its quarterly Board meeting
beginning at 9 AM at OLT/Valley View Hot Springs. Join us for
project updates including the new hot pool and wastewater
treatment facility. Board officer position descriptions and term
limits will be discussed. Two board vacancies open in July.
If you would like to serve on the Board, go to: www.olt.org/
board-of-directors/directorslist.htm. Candidates for the positions need to attend the April meeting. Call 719.256.5212 for
more information.
22- Villa Grove Trade presents Local Honey, Dinner special.
www.villagrovetrade.com 22 - Join La Puente in the 2012
San Luis Valley CROP Walk—a community event to raise
awareness of global hunger issues. Registration begins at 2pm
at the First Christian Church on State Avenue, a free barbeque
to follow the walk for all participants and registration is free.
For more information please call 719 -587- 3499 or check out
cropwalkonline.org.
Westcliffe
Nothing submitted as of press time.
San Luis Valley
14 - 10th Annual Alamosa Spring ArtWalk. 10am - 5pm.
Downtown Alamosa. (719) 589-3681.
14-15 - 2012 Home & Garden Show in Monte Vista. Ski-Hi
Park. Vendor Booths still available. Call 719-852-2731 for more
information. Food Vendors welcome.
19 - Northern San Luis Valley Conservation Roundtable,
a forum of diverse stakeholders collaborating to conserve
natural resources and local heritage in the Northern SLV, will
hold its next meeting from 9 AM to 1 PM at Joyful Journey Hot
Springs Spa conference room. Join us for information sharing/ announcements/updates, in completing a strategic plan,
and discussion of our next educational event. For more information, 719.256.5436 or barb@olt.org.
Halden Wofford and the High Beams perform at the
Salida SteamPlant Ballroom. 8pm, April 7.
www.salidasteamplant.com
To get an upcoming event listed, please e-mail us
at: coloradocentral@gmail.com
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Books • Salt Lamps
Chimes • Candles
221 F Street
Historic Downtown Salida
719-539-4448
10-6 M-F • 10-5 Sat • 12-5 Sun
Susan Tweit
I
Renovating My Life
didn’t intend to renovate my life, revising not
just my daily routine, but also my path forward.
After Richard died two days after Thanksgiving, I figured I’d hibernate for several months to
recover from helping him live well for as long as he
could with brain cancer. I wanted time to hear myself think, to figure out this new and unsought
role as Woman Alone.
I thought I’d read, rest, and get started
on a new book – or books. Hah.
First there was the celebration of
Richard’s life to prepare for. Like anything done with thought and care, it took far m o r e
time – especially in the “thinking hours” between two
and four a.m. – than I expected. Despite truly horrible
weather that day after Winter Solstice, it attracted a
huge crowd and turned into a beautifully moving and
healing event, a true celebration of his life and our
loss.
After that came the scramble to get all the necessary post-death paperwork done before the end of
the year. And then the push to get organized for the
Terraphilia Artist/Writer Residency Program we’re establishing with Colorado Art Ranch in Richard’s honor.
That entailed taking a long look at his historic studio building and deciding that in addition to a thorough clean-out and reorganization, it needed work.
Specifically, addressing the last several years of deferred maintenance and uncompleted renovation.
That meant I needed to learn about construction
and repair of historic buildings. I have never claimed
to be “Tool Girl.” Far from it. Still, I’m slowly learning
how things work, what needs to be done most urgently, and who and how to ask for help. (Heartfelt thanks
to all who have responded to those pleas!)
Perhaps because I had unleashed all that renovation energy in Richard’s studio, I decided it was time to
26
renovate my web presence, a project I’d been contemplating for the past year and some.
Six weeks later, with the help of Bill LeRoy, WordPress guru and friend, I had
a spiffy new web/site blog combo, and
most of the technical problems involved
in web design and changing website
hosts were resolved. (Bill understands and
speaks Geek, talents I do not claim.)
While I was already in over my head on those two
renovation projects, I decided it was time to finish renovating my long-out-of-print first book, Pieces of Light,
and preparing to reissue it in an ebook edition.
I decided to add an author’s note at the end of each
chapter, thoughts on what’s changed in the two decades since the book first hit print. Which of course
meant time researching and writing those author’s
notes.
None of these renovation projects were in my view
when I imagined the quiet months of late-winter hibernation. All this change, this shaking up and sorting out, this moving and stretching and learning new
things has pushed me out of such comfort zones as remained in my life after Richard’s death.
I suppose that’s healthy, though some nights in my
thinking hours when I lie awake sorting through and
attempting to assimilate all of the new information, I
wonder. Seriously.
Still, here I am. Woman Alone.
Who finds at the end of another long day of cramming more new stuff into my brain that I thought it
could possibly hold, that I’m actually happy. Being me,
here in the place I love, renovating my life.
Susan J. Tweit is the award-winning author of WALKING NATURE HOME, A LIFE’S JOURNEY, and 11 other books, and
can be contacted through her blog & web site, susanjtweit.com
Dispatch from the Edge
By Peter Anderson
Dear Matt:
Sorry I missed your wedding. The East Coast
seems further away than it used to. And I’m sorry I
haven’t met your honey. Now your little boy is two
maybe three and soon you will be driving him to
school. When you were here, I was carrying Rosalea up the trail.
She is twelve now, Caroline is seven, and we
are still here on the side of the mountain. If it
weren’t for a stop sign and a slight rise in the grade
once we get down to the valley floor, I could almost roll the girls out to school in neutral. They humor me on our morning rides when I play them my
classics—no not make’em smart Mozart, but Jimi
Hendrix, Electric Ladyland, 1968. Today, the intro
to Gypsy Eyes, Mitch Mitchell laying down his base
drum top hat groove – boomchazz, boomchazz,
boomchazz, boomchazz. Jimi slides down the neck
of his Stratocaster – can you hear it? – as we are
losing altitude.
It’s almost three hundred feet down to the
flats. Sometimes that means moving out of cloud
into clear, sometimes out of clear into cloud. Today
light rays bend through the layers of our winter
inversion and San Antonio Peak appears to hover
above the ground some 100 miles to our south. Out
on the valley floor, after we hit the county road
straightaway, an elk herd morphs like mercury, one
way then another, until a big cow takes the lead
and turns them west. Then a raven swoops down
in front of us and wings away with fresh roadkill.
Meanwhile, Rosalea rides shotgun, covering Jimi’s
riff on her air guitar – jiggajiggabingbingchackalack
– while Caroline covers the backbeat in the backseat – boomchazz, boomchazz, boomchazz, boomchazz.
We pass the windshagged whole earth flag and
come to a stop in the Charter School parking lot.
Some other parents and kids glance over our way
and all of a sudden I feel very loud. Jiggajiggabingbingchackalack. I turn Jimi down. “Where’s the
love? ” I say as we unload and we hug. And then
the girls walk off toward the windswept doublewides that serve as their classrooms here.
As I pull out of the parking lot, Jimi’s still singing I love you gypsy eyes … I love you gypsy eyes and
I am wondering if my two little gypsies will end up
as far away from their starting point as I did from
mine in the northeast. I can hope that the gravity
of this good place will rein in their someday orbits
a little closer to home, but the truth is, Matt, I have
given them the wandering gene. My people have
been restless for a few generations now. We rarely
die where we grow up. Sometimes that’s a good
thing. Still. I hope the wandering gene is recessive
this time around. Or maybe Grace’s influence – her
clan almost seventy years on the same piece of
ground near Mancos – will hold sway.
Who knows? Anyhow, I hope you and your
family are doing well on the other end of the road.
Keep in touch. Yer pal, Pete. g
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The Crowded Acre
by Jennifer Welch
“Thirteen Pair of Winter Cardinals”
W
inter. It means something different to everyone. To me, it is the longest and slowest of all
the seasons. It carries with it the least
variability, gelatinous and dark, a time
for reflections and musings. Sometimes
it seems as though time stands still in
winter; frozen within the ice, buried
beneath the snow, waiting for the urgings of a new spring to push it forth
from the dirt. When I was younger,
it would tend to make me restless
and fitful. Now I have learned to appreciate the tides of the seasons, the
death that is so vital to the rebirth.
And though most things use this time
of year to remain dormant, my mind is
anything but …
Here on the Acre, we busied ourselves over
the previous spring and summer with the building of
our forever home; a monumental and boundless task.
As the summer slowed to fall and soon faded to winter, we took it as a much needed rest. We used the
slow gait of winter to create an intimate family setting
within our new home, to rest from our weary labors, to
brood over new beginnings. It is as though the seasons
were suddenly begging us to stop and rest no matter
how badly we desired to keep striving – and though as
dark and lonely as winter seems, its sole ambition is a
new beginning … Which brings me to where I sit
tonight, pondering on old accomplishments, new beginnings, and all that lies
in between.
The birth of a farm is both an indulgent and selfless task. I have taken
into consideration such things as:
What fruit would I most like to harvest for my own use? Which breeds
of animals will thrive in our highdesert environment well enough to
provide adequate sustenance for my
growing family? What is the proper ratio of cultivation to preservation of this
land that I am growing to know and
love? But it doesn’t stop there. You see, I have
three children, three small children. I often find myself
thinking in terms of not only my lifespan, but of theirs
as well. Sure, I want to build a barn, but I want to build
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a barn that will withstand the winds and snows of the
next hundred winters. I want to develop stock that is
productive and reliable, to hang pictures on our walls
of their generations which will have grown alongside
and sustained our children and our children’s children.
I want to nurture plants and trees that will continue to
give their bounty long after I am gone, to leave them to
look over my family in order to ensure that they never
want for food, for love, for anything.
I am reminded of a picture I came across a while
back in an old family album: thirteen pair of winter
cardinals in the old blackberry brambles. The photo
speaks loudly to me of a time that is slowly disintegrating, of a family’s struggle to preserve a certain virtue in their way of life. This blackberry patch wasn’t
just inserted into the earth randomly, it was born with
a purpose. It was meant to grow alongside our family, to teach us of the sharpness of thorns, to provide
us with succulent fruit. Even when it was not doing
these things, it was cared for. These are sentiments I
want to instill in my children. A blackberry is not a
random item found on the shelves of supermarkets; it
is a living thing, a food source protective of its fruits,
a gathering place for cardinals in winter. I remember
trying to move gracefully through the patch in search
of perfectly ripened fruits which my grandmother and
I would then bake into a cobbler, oozing of summer. I
remember befriending the feral cats that made their
home near the brambles for protection from packs of
wild dogs. I remember sitting on the tailgate of my
grandfather’s truck, shucking corn in the heat of the
sun, waiting for a break so I could swim through a sea
of thorns for a bit of sweet respite from the labors of
the day. I remember; that alone speaks volumes, that
alone is the gift I wish to give my children.
I imagine that my grandparents used their winters
to draw inspiration for each spring. They would map
out what to plant in their garden, start their seeds in
the naked cupboards of their cellar, prepare the beds
to bare new fruit. Every winter a slow labor, every
spring an eager birth. It is the same way here on the
Acre. After our long, deliberate rest, we hurry to join
the rest of the earth in the mass awakening and rejuvenation of all of the life and beauty that comes with
each new spring. And with this spring will come the
carefully proposed bearings of many plants, trees, and
livestock with which we will continue to craft a way of
life for our little family. Each generation passing down
our aspirations to the next, just as our ancestors did,
just as the seasons continue to do.
Jen Welch lives in the Upper Arkansas River Valley and she
writes merely to serve as proof that this life is ‘actually’ happening to her.
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John Mattingly
T
Sagebrush Rebellion, An Update
he Western United States
Board for stealing federal donhave always thought of themkeys, and, invoking a prior Conselves as different from the East,
gressional Act, the 1971 Wild and
so it isn’t surprising that in matFree-Roaming Horses and Burros
ters of States’ Rights, the Western
Act (WFRHBA), BLM demanded
States burned their own brand of
the donkeys be returned. Obviousmischief, which, in one curious
ly, there was more involved here
case became known as the Sagethan a federal desire to own more
brush Rebellion.
donkeys. The donkeys were mere pawns in a lawsuit
Sagebrush rebels practiced “uncooperative feder- aimed at establishing the supremacy of federal law
alism,” or provocative non-compliance with a federal (the WFRHBA) over state law (the New Mexico Estray
law when that federal law was at odds with a sensible Law) on federal grazing lands.
state law, or when a federal law failed to measure up
The case, Kleppe v. New Mexico, went all the way
to Westerners’ standards of horse sense – or, in this to the U.S. Supreme Court. (This is not a joke). The
case, donkey sense.
federal government argued
What many folks don’t “Most recent counts put the feral the strength of the WFRHBA
know is the Sagebrush Rebel- horse and burro population on from both the Property Clause
lion was actually kicked off
and Supremacy Clause of the
public lands at 35,000 – about U. S. Constitution, asserting:
in the early 1970s by nineteen unbranded donkeys who 10,000 over the carrying capacity (a) the federal government, as
of those lands.”
were drinking from the Taylor
a property owner, had all the
Stock Well, a primary waterrights of an individual propriing source on an 8,000 acre federal BLM (Bureau of etor, including dominion over the wild donkeys on its
Land Management) grazing lease in New Mexico.
property, and (b) in this particular conflict between
The rancher who held the grazing permit ser- state and federal law, the court had to resolve in favor
viced by the Taylor Stock Well was informed by the of federal law based on the Supremacy Clause.
BLM that the donkeys were drinking from the well.
The feds won. The Supreme Court granted BLM
Few things honk off a rancher more than the pros- supremacy over the nineteen unbranded donkeys,
pect of a bunch of worthless donkeys disturbing his as well as supremacy over all wild and free-roaming
cattle. The rancher could have run the donkeys off, or burros and horses on all the public lands of the United
rounded them up and sold them. In the extreme, he States, a supremacy that both ranchers, and the feds,
could have called some buddies with guns. Instead, were ultimately to regret.
the rancher called the New Mexico Livestock Board,
To understand the dubious value of federal suwho, acting under authority of the New Mexico Estray premacy over wild donkeys, we need to go back and
Law, rounded up the nineteen unbranded donkeys look at the 1971 Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and
and sold them at public auction.
Burros Act (WFRHBA), legislation that occurred
Following this seemingly sensible, and ostensibly while the collective mind of Congress was on vacation
legal, action the BLM sued the New Mexico Livestock in Disneyland – specifically: Frontier Land.
The WFRHBA made it a crime to harass, taunt, or
kill wild horses and burros on federal lands. The population of wild horses and burros on federal grazing
lands had grown to such numbers that private parties—ranchers, sportsmen, and thrillseekers – were
rounding up the wild herds by airplane and truck,
then slaughtering them for dog food, and in some
Serving Central Colorado since 1982
cases, sport.
Pete Cordova, Esq.
The cruelty no doubt was excessive, but so also
was
the response of Congress. At the Congressional
Zachary D. Cordova, Esq.
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gressmen spent a lot of time congratulating them719-539-6679
selves for extending protection to donkeys, the “last
www.PeteCordovaLaw.com
Salida, CO 81201
living symbols of the pioneer spirit.”
A Farmer
Far Afield
CORDOVA
LAW FIRM, LLP
30
Some Congressmen went so far as to claim donkeys were “an integral part of the natural system of
the public lands,” language that appeared in the law
itself, prompting an ecologist who testified against
the law to say, “Congress apparently feels it has the
power to override the results of 500,000 years of separate evolution of New World and Old World equid
species.”
T
he decision in Kleppe v New Mexico came down
from the U.S. Supreme Court in 1974. The real
significance of the decision was the feds now had
more control over the public grazing lands than before, justified by empowerment of the Property
Clause and Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. Ranchers who had grazing leases with the BLM
were accustomed to having it their way. Now they had
a partner: the federal government and all its wild and
free-roaming horses and burros. Ranchers sensed the
intrusion from the feds was just beginning.
They were right. In 1976, on the heels of the
WFRHBA the feds came down with the Federal Lands
Policy Management Act (FLPMA) that re-evaluated
the federal relationship to its grazing lands. FLPMA
introduced “sustainability” to the rancher, a concept
the rancher took to be self-evident. Why would a
rancher degrade the very land from which he yanked
his livelihood?
The BLM responded by asking ranchers to do an
Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), which caused
many ranchers to start talking about their guns. But
after a decade of losses in both the courts and on the
range, most ranchers realized the sledge hammer of
the fed was for real. Ranchers got with their lawyers
and scientists and complied, but their relationship to
the public grazing lands would never be the same.
The Sagebrush Rebellion grew weak, yet its strategy
of “noncooperative federalism” lives on in new chapters of the States’ Rights Movement, and to some extent in the Tea Party.
If we fast-forward to present time, the result of
the WFRHBA and federal dominion over wild and
free roaming donkeys, granted by Kleppe v. New Mexico, we find a serious overgrazing problem on the public lands. Most recent counts put the feral horse and
burro population on public lands at 35,000 – about
10,000 over the carrying capacity of those lands.
In addition, the BLM has some 30,000 donkeys in
corrals, lingering there in a massively unsuccessful
“adopt a donkey” program. The cost to the BLM of
administering the WFRHBA is $40 million a year, and
rising.
At this point, both the feds and the ranchers regret an obvious blunder: if the rancher had never
called the New Mexico Land Board and asked them
to remove the nineteen unbranded donkeys around
the Taylor Stock Well, the WFRHBA might never have
come to life. It likely would have become a lame piece
of politically correct legislation that resided quietly on
the books, alongside laws that forbid spitting at trees,
or walking your dog while intoxicated.
The moral of the story is simple: let thirsty donkeys drink.
John Mattingly cultivates prose, among other things, and
was most recently seen near Creede.
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aroso was founded in 1910 as the
southern-most point reached by the
San Luis Southern Railway originating in
Blanca, 31.7 miles to the north. A year later, Jaroso (pronounced Hah-roh-soh) got
its own post office and with rail access,
it grew to become an agricultural trade
center. The Dust Bowl, the Great Depression, sustained droughts and the fact that
the land was never developed caused the
town to fade away. The railroad was dismantled and its depots abandoned. Located just north of the Colorado – New
Mexico line in Costilla County, it could
have become one of the 1,500 or so Colorado ghost towns. The Anderson family
became its only occupants.
Part of the movement to revitalize
Jaroso involved Lynn Kircher. He left his
teaching job at the Colorado Institute
of Art in Denver to pursue a career as a
sculptor. In 1986, he purchased the abandoned adobe Jaroso Hotel, the old bank,
the Costilla Land & Development Company office and one other structure. He ended up owning his fair share of the town.
Since 1989, he has produced hundreds of
sculptures from his spacious studio.
Story and photos by Kenneth Jessen
Kircher reflects back on his first work
of art at the age of five or six when he was
growing up in Illinois. His family lived in
a row house, and in his sparse surroundings, Kircher
decorated the wall of his room with a crayon drawing – but not with his parent’s permission. Despite his
impromptu artwork, his family supported his desire to
become an artist.
Kircher can also recall his first sale. He was living
in a suburb of St. Louis working as a shoeshine boy in
a barbershop. For the barbershop owner, he did a large
four-foot by eight-foot mural of a fisherman in Colorado’s high country. He was paid $75 and given all of the
supplies he needed. After the barber retired, he took
Sculpting Humanity
Jaroso Artist Lynn Kircher
Fr e e
Lecture
Friday, April 13 in Leadville
Science
Dr. Kirk Johnson
& Dr. Ian Miller
“e Discovery of Snowmastodon.”
The Denver Museum of Nature &
Science, Vice President & Chief
Curator and Curator of Paleontology
Collegiate
Peaks Forum Series™
32
& Chair Of The Earth Sciences Dept,
respectively. For more information
visit www.collegiatepeaksforum.org
Held at the National Mining Hall of Fame
and Musuem - 120 W. 10th St. Leadville
John Paul II accepted “At Peace,” an anguished bust of Christ with arms outstretched on the cross. His meeting with
the Pope was arranged through his close
connection as an artist for the Archdiocese
of Denver.
As far as his style, it is highly representational and in Kircher’s words, “Humanity has always been a part of my search
as an artist – and as a teacher.” His works
depict Jesus, the Virgin Mary, Joseph and
host of biblical scenes including the Stations of the Cross.
“Teaching was a calling for me and
not a job,” states Kircher. Using his spaKircher’s mural with him to hang in his basement.
Kircher looked inside a matchbook cover and saw
a drawing of a pirate with an invitation to draw it and
send it to the Minneapolis School of Art. He won a full
scholarship, but he was still in high school and a tour
in Vietnam followed – one that disrupted his education.
After his tour of duty, he became the arts and crafts
coordinator for the City of Lakewood serving in this position for four years. In 1978, he applied as a teacher at
the Colorado Institute of Art. To maintain his teaching
credentials, he entered the “University without Walls”
program at Loretto Heights College followed by courses
at Denver’s Metropolitan State College. Upon his retirement after nearly two decades at the Colorado Institute of Art, he received an Associate’s Degree in Art.
As Kircher quips, “I thought they designed art school
for me.”
A devout Catholic, Kircher turned to religious art
and his first commission was in 1990 for the St. Bernard Church in Bella Vista, Arkansas. This was followed by many more commissions for 65 churches in
14 states. Some churches have purchased as many as
20 of Kircher’s pieces.
“I dreamed of having a piece at the Vatican,” says
Kircher. And his dream came true in 2002 when Pope
cious studio, he
plans to hold
symposiums and
workshops. He is
a member of 50
or 60 other artists
that reside in the
greater San Luis
Valley and has
been part of the
Rio Costilla Studio Tour for the
past 13 years.
Photos, opposite page; Station II in Kircher’s Stations of the
Cross. This and a similar version have been installed in seven states. Above left; Kircher and his wife Jane have spent
15 years restoring the century-old Jaroso Hotel for use as
their home. Above; Jaroso sculptor Lynn Kircher has had a
long and colorful career both as a teacher and in graphic
design leading up to the opening of his studio in 1989.
Reviews
Crooked Creek
by Maximilian Werner
Torrey House Press, Paperback, 178 pp, $15.95
ISBN-10: 193722600X
ISBN-13: 978-1937226008
Reviewed by Annie Dawid
“Not to have known – as most men have not – either the mountain or the desert is not to have known
one’s self. Not to have known one’s self is to have
known no one.” So begins Utah writer Maximilian
Werner’s novel with this epigraph from Joseph Wood
Krutch. Such an opening portends a fiction about selfknowledge, it would seem, or an attempt at such a
voyage.
Crooked Creek, Werner’s debut long fiction, is not
that journey. The author’s Black River Dreams, a collection of essays about fly-fishing, won the 2008 Utah
Arts Council’s non-fiction prize, and this volume excels at describing the physical world as experienced
by the senses.
The dog had not moved. He lay in the wet
grass panting and watching the boy poke and
grow the fire into an ample light. The crickets
made little of the night. He pulled up the collar
of his slicker and bedding down beside the fire
to wait on the arrival of his brother. Across the
moon, a band of frayed and discolored clouds.
The land still except for the long grass that
parted as if through it something were walking.
If the reader detects hints of Hemingway and
Cormac McCarthy, s/he will find on the acknowledgements page Werner’s nod to McCarthy’s Blood
Meridian and Sam Shepherd’s True West.
As those influences suggest, Crooked Creek
chronicles a dark
family story replete
with violent malevolence. The last of the
Wood family begins
and ends the tale,
with a long middle
backtracking to early
nineteenth century
progenitors moving
West from Missouri.
Some violence is deliberate, other events
random, like the desert traveler who massacres a Chinese family he encounters on
the plains. We don’t
know why he kills them; perhaps robbery is an ultimate goal – though they own little he wants – but it
seems more likely he kills them because he can.
Not a McCarthy fan, this reviewer took a while to
get comfortable in this gothic world, where dead Utes
and their pilfered artifacts haunt both characters and
nature. The dead appear to certain family members,
who find it difficult to exist in a world populated by
murdered spirits and murderous contemporaries.
More than one suicide occurs in this short but dense
work, where people and animals die often from natural illness and accidents.
Weber’s characters also ruminate and speculate, though the focus here is on the hard Darwinian logic of brutal survival. “Life is frightening even
for the most sure-footed of travelers,” muses Sarah,
a tough woman capable of serious labor of all sorts.
“How must it have been for her brother, who heard
birds breathing in the dark and worms sliding into
their holes? And who, when he looked at the smooth,
gray river stones, saw skulls? Nor could he behold the
faces of familiars and strangers without also seeing
whatever troubled them in the darkness that attends
every life.”
Celebrating National Poetry Month
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Open Mic Poetry Reading
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
5:30 - 7:00 pm, Wine and Cheesecake
RSVP Required
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Open 7 days a week, 10-5 in Downtown Salida
34
Although Weber’s fiction, like its landscape, does
not welcome the stranger, it shimmers with a strange
beauty that also entices. Scattered throughout the
story are figurines stolen by whites from indigenous
peoples, and these totems elicit fear in those who behold them.
“The doll was carved of wood and wore a top hat
and its face was soft, white, and sunken as if nothing
were beneath it. When Gil looked on this visage he
screamed, and as if wise to his horror, the doll awakened, its eyes widened, and it opened its mouth and
mocked him until it seemed the doll alone were the
screamer.” Like Gil, the reader will remain imprinted
by this image as well as others, long after the last
character flees. g
On Stage:
River City Nomads Poetry Performances,
Volume One 2004 -2009
Cattail Press, 2011
$10.00, 50pp.
Reviewed by Eduardo Rey Brummel
This collection of poetry is of work performed,
on stage, by five regional poets, not a one of them
strangers to this magazine: Peter Anderson, Lawton
Eddy, Laurie James, Lynda LaRocca, and Craig Nielson. Back during my grade school years, I was told
that poetry is meant to be read aloud, not silently to
one’s self. If so, then this is a book of actual poetry.
And being poetry, this collection is many things. To
list just a few, it is a clear-eyed recording and recollecting of the surroundings; reminiscence of lives
lived, lost, longed for, cherished, still lived and nurtured; a song of thanksgiving, gratitude, and love to
place; a charge to awaken to the, “essential,” that,
according to Saint-Exupéry, “is invisible to the eye.”
I can be a tough crowd where poetry’s concerned. I expect it to have depth, layers of meaning,
a resonance that lingers after the listening, and all
the while remain
accessible, even if it
requires we stretch
ourselves a bit in accessing it. Too much
of the “poetry” I encounter nowadays
is either just pretty
language or is so
dense its meaning
has withered from
lack of air and sun.
I personally know,
and am known by,
three of the River
City Nomads; so I
was a bit nervous when given this book to review.
What if its poetry fell into the wrong camps? Fortunately, (deeply exhaled sigh of relief), all of this
collection is, indeed, poetry.
According to Maya Angelou, “Poetry is music
written for the human voice.” On Stage contains
more than only the five voices of its poets. As would
be expected of performances “on stage,” other narrators present both themselves and their words. For
more than a handful of poems, two or more Nomads
join in an ensemble voicing. This is where the printed
page falls flat in its service. Again, poetry is meant to
be witnessed, not only read.
Sherrie York provided linocuts for this book. As
with all other poetry, as strikingly splendid as her
work is on the page, it’s far better to see it, “in person,” which I’ve had the grace-riddled opportunities
to do.
Because of this collection, I’ve gone to the local library, checking out books and books of poetry,
wanting more and more, now that I’ve tasted how
exquisite it can be. g
Eduardo Rey Brummel is becoming increasingly convinced
that the longer he stays put in Salida, the more delightful
surprises will allow themselves to be revealed.
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Water Update by John Orr
The National Ski Areas Association
Sues the Forest Service
Colorado Supreme Court Justice Greg Hobbs was
speaking over in Breckenridge a couple of years back
and told the group in attendance that “the water ditch
is the basis of society.” Colorado law grew from those
simple agricultural roots: put the water to beneficial use
first and you get the right to divert the same amount in
subsequent water years. Another early beneficial use
developed around mining operations.
Water in Colorado is also a property right separate
from the land.
Over time, Colorado has been witness to quite a
body of interesting water case law and one judge execution by an irate diverter in the Arkansas Valley. New
things keep coming up all the time, such as the current lawsuit between the National Ski Areas Association
(NSAA) and the United States Forest Service (USFS).
The Forest Service issued a new clause for ski area
permits in November that raised a firestorm of protest
from the ski industry. The USFS updated the clause effective March 6, 2012. Then, around the Ides of March
the NSAA filed an amended complaint directed at the
new language. As we go to press the federal government has a week or so left to file their response.
It’ll be a while before we see a legal decision or
settlement.
One of the attorneys working with the NSAA, Glenn
Porzak, told Colorado Central that their complaint raises
three primary issues:
First, he asks, “Can the Forest Service issue a directive without following the Administrative Procedures
Act?”
From Wikipedia: “The Administrative Procedure
Act … enacted June 11, 1946, is the United States federal law that governs the way in which administrative
WINO
WEDNESDAYS
36
agencies of the federal government of the United States
may propose and establish regulations.”
The Forest Service issued the March 6 clause with
“no opportunity for public comment,” which amounts
to, “a unilateral change in policy,” says Geraldine Link,
the Director of Public Policy for the NSAA.
She maintains that the USFS would have heard an
earful from grazers, ranchers, ski areas and the various
state water administration agencies across the west –
had they bothered to ask.
Second, Porzak wonders, “Do they have the authority to order conveyance (of a water right) as a permit
condition?”
The new clause would replace language in the permit that resulted from a dispute over the 2004 White
River National Forest proposed master plan. Porzak was
part of the negotiating team back then and told Colorado Central that the resulting language was, “very much
a cooperative effort,” that has “worked well for the last
eight years.”
Among other things, the 2004 clause provides for
joint ownership of water rights developed after June
21, 2004. According to Porzak, “The ownership of the
pre-2004 water rights would remain exclusively with
the ski areas if that was how they were acquired regardless of the language of the ski area permit that was in
effect.”
Finally, the complaint raises the issue that the new
clause amounts to a federal usurping of state water law.
“It is such an affront to state law that it is not very popular” with Western congressional delegations, Porzak
added.
The conveyance part of the equation is what bothered Colorado congressman Scott Tipton. He called for
hearings and asked USFS to delay the rule. He told The
Durango Herald that the clause amounted to a “taking”
of private property.
Several U.S. senators sent a letter to the Forest Service asking for a moratorium on implementation. Senator Mark Udall, Senator Michael Bennet, Idaho Sena-
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tor James Risch and
Wyoming Senator John
Barraso all chimed in.
The Forest Service
responded last December by refusing to issue
a moratorium.
The USFS “did not
think this through,”
says Link, adding ”one
size fits all does not
work with state water
laws.”
For his part, Jim
Pena. Assistant Deputy
Chief United States Forest Service, told Colorado Central, that the
NSAA and USFS had
been discussing the language in the new clause
for, “about one year.”
The new clause was an attempt “to clarify our mutual understanding of what was contained in the 2004
clause,” he says, adding, “On the National Forest any
activity that requires development of water should be
acquired in the name of the United States and remain
available throughout the (term) of the permit.”
Pena cited the need for keeping ski areas in business for the length of their permit. Most ski areas in
the West use a portion of their water rights for snowmaking. Snowmaking obviates some of the risk of low
precipitation enabling an area to extend their season.
Steve Segin, a public information officer for the Forest
Service, told The Durango Herald, “It’s (the new clause)
designed to protect the resource, not to take it away
from anybody.”
Pena added that USFS permits have contained water rights clauses since the 1980s. The new clause is
“predicated on the authority of individual states to issue water rights,” he said. The USFS “expects that they
(permittees) put the water right in our (United States
government’s) name” and the new clause, “does not affect existing permits,” nor does it affect water rights not
developed on the national forest, according to Pena.
Pena told The Wall Street Journal that “his department plans to strengthen the language to make clear it
doesn’t intend to sell the rights or repurpose them for
any use but skiing.”
That’s a good idea, since Porzak maintains that
the existing language would allow the USFS to use the
rights for “a multitude of purposes,” such as “fish flows
and other environmental purposes.”
Back in December Michael Berry, president of the
NSAA, told ESPN “we believe they have crossed the Ru-
Photo by M. Rosso
bicon and this has the potential to be very, very impactful. We have no guarantee that they will continue to
use the water for purposes of ski area business.”
Short takes
• Congratulations to Loren Otto, the Colorado BLM
“2011 Volunteer of the Year.” Otto’s claim to fame is
partly due to his work on the Kerber Creek Project a
restoration effort in the San Luis Valley.
• The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rejected
the preliminary permit for the Flaming Gorge pipeline
in February. Aaron Million vowed to try again for a
FERC permit for the pipeline from the Green River
and Flaming Gorge Reservoir to water the unbridled
growth in eastern Colorado, including the lower Arkansas River Valley.
• After a dry and warm start to March snowpack is
below average across the state. Here’s the lowdown for
Central Colorado: Arkansas, 81% (best in the state);
South Platte, 79%; Gunnison, 74%; Rio Grande, 81%.
Storage is in good shape across the state thanks to the
2011 water year monster snowpack.
• The Colorado Department of Health and Environment published this year’s “Colorado’s Section 303(d)
List of Impaired Waters and Monitoring and Evaluation List” in early March. Many streams and reservoirs in the area are on the list due to a long legacy of
mining, transmountain diversions and agriculture in
Central Colorado. You can download a copy from the
CPDHE website: www.cdphe.state.co.us
The Fryingpan-Arkansas River
Project at 50
By George Sibley
Part I: The “Political Infrastructure”
for Trans-mountain Diversion
D
riving down U.S. 24 from Leadville to Buena Vista, along the Arkansas River that carved the valley,
you don’t have the feeling of traveling past a man-made
waterworks. It is in fact a beautiful stretch of river that
looks quite “natural.”
You have to know what you are looking for to see the
waterworks – for example, between Granite and Buena
Vista, looking up on the hillsides across the river, you’ll
see a barnlike industrial structure – a pumping plant,
pulling water from the river and pushing it through the
mountains to another natural-looking waterworks across
Trout Creek Pass, in the South Platte River tributaries.
But for most of the rest of it you have to leave the
highway for less-traveled roads. For example, a side
trip up Colorado 82 to Twin Lakes, which is now more
human-enlarged reservoir than lake, and farther uphill and off the road, a tunnel mouth – and somewhere
around the reservoir, the end of a long conduit. A trip
on unimproved roads to Turquoise Lake – also more reservoir than lake – would lead you to the upper end of
that conduit taking water from the lake, and three tunnel mouths up in the surrounding hills bringing water
into it.
These – and the natural-looking river that connects
all the parts – are all central elements of two large water
projects bringing water from the Colorado River headwaters through the Continental Divide to the cities and
farms of the Arkansas and South Platte River valleys.
They, in turn, are just two parts of a much larger sys-
38
tem of waterworks all along the Continental Divide in
Colorado that carry around 170 billion gallons of water
a year from the Colorado River Basin to the South Platte
and Arkansas Basins – a system of waterworks that might
be called, in total, the connections creating the state of
Colorado as we know it today.
The largest set of elements in the upper Arkansas
waterworks is the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project, which
was created – on paper – by the U.S. Congress fifty years
ago in 1962, after a long political struggle that went back
to the 1930s, when southeastern Colorado was part of
the Dust Bowl. But to many people in the Arkansas River
basin, especially downstream in that farmland, the FryArk Project is only a modest piece of what was a much
larger dream of water moved through the Divide to grow
food for cities to consume. That larger story is what we’re
going to look at in three parts, from the vantage point of
Colorado Central, looking both ways across the Divide.
The story begins with several historical emergences
and convergences. We could begin with the emergence
of the State of Colorado itself – a purely political abstraction, four lines of longitude and latitude laid down on
the map with no connection to any natural geography
at all, its only design an effort to encompass all the perceived metallic wealth in a territory not yet staked out by
other claimants. As such, it is like a political blanket laid
over a natural fence, which is the Continental Divide.
The way the natural climate works, the west side of that
“blanket” gets about 80 percent of the moisture that falls
on the blanket, while the east side is semi-arid, a region
where agriculture is only possible with irrigation.
But when people came to this abstraction called
Colorado, the majority of them – 90 percent – settled on
the east side of the blanket, partly because the West Side
was still an Indian reservation until settlement was well
underway, but partly also because it was easier to live on
the high dry plains east of the Divide than in the narrow
and isolated mountain valleys of the wet west side.
That imbalance of water on one side of the Divide
and people on the other side converged with three other
things. One was the evolution of a somewhat libertarian
law for distributing water – essentially a Lockean “first
come, first served” doctrine allowing individuals to appropriate water from the “commons” for personal use
only (no tying up water for speculation purposes). Once
water was so appropriated by a user, its use became a
property right, so long as the user kept using the water.
The owner of the right to use the water could sell that
right to another, who did not have to use it the same way
or in the same place, but could file for a new use in a
new place – even in another watershed – while retaining
the same seniority for use
in the event of low water
years.
It is worth noting that
Colorado’s evolving water
law was enshrined in the
Constitution as an appropriation right that would
“never be denied.” Its senior priority conditions
were designed to administer temporary shortages, but it was essentially
based on a water supply
presumed to be as inexhaustible as the growth
of the population and its
economy.
That right to move water around the landscape
– even across the Divide – Dam site with Taylor Park pre-reservoir beyond. The upper cofferdam is in place for rerouting the
would have meant less, had river, not sure about the lower. Photo courtesy of George Sibley.
it not been for the convertimately named for Arkansas Basin Congressman John
gence of that body of law with the emergence of heavy Martin) and “Arkansas Valley River Basin Conservancy
technology early in the 20th century. This convergence/ and Improvement District.”
emergence enabled the construction of dams, canals and
Denver already had its Board of Water Commissionother waterworks once only dreamed of. Projects like the ers – which was already at work on the Moffat Tunnel
Panama Canal or Hoover Dam were inconceivable with- Project, lining the Moffat pilot bore with concrete for
out the power first of steam, then the internal combus- carrying water collected from the Fraser River tributary
tion engine.
streams.
Another convergence was the collapse of the capitalOn the West Slope, which had nothing to gain and
ist market system around 1930, and the emergence of everything to lose from Foster’s big picture, water users
the Keynesian political economy in the early 1930s via in the Colorado and Gunnison River basins created the
the New Deal, making large quantities of federal mon- “Western Colorado Protective Association.” They knew
ey available to stimulate the national economy through the water law was against them, but they wanted to do
public projects that included moving large quantities of what they could to keep enough water on their side of
water from the wet side of the Colorado blanket to the the Divide for some degree of future development. The
dry side.
rest of the state tended to forget that several million
acre-feet of Colorado River water had to leave the state
n 1935 Governor Ed Johnson created the Colorado for the downriver states, in accord with the Colorado
State Planning Commission to organize the state’s ap- River Compact. West Slope water users could easily see
peals for federal assistance from the Public Works Ad- their future getting squeezed dry between downstream
ministration, and its first (and only) director, Edward obligations and trans-mountain diversions.
Foster, articulated the idea of three huge water projects:
At that point in Colorado’s history, however, the
1. Bringing water from the upper Colorado River Western Colorado Protective Association did have one
tributaries to the farmers of the rich but semi-arid South powerful card in the hole, a minority’s best argument
Platte basin.
against term limits: the West Slope’s representative in
2. Bringing water from the Blue River to the incipi- Congress, Edward Taylor, had been returned to that
ent metropolis growing around Denver.
seniority-driven organization 14 times by 1935. He ad3. Bringing water from the Gunnison River to the vanced to the chairmanship of the House Appropriations
farms of the Arkansas River valley.
subcommittee that controlled Interior Department fundWater users on both slopes put together organiza- ing – and House rules gave him virtually autocratic autions in the mid-1930s to stake out positions relative thority over that department’s budget.
to the big picture articulated by Edward Foster: South
Congressman Taylor laid down the law according
Platte farmers created the “Northern Colorado Water to Taylor immediately upon the commencement in 1933
Users Association”; Arkansas Basin farmers created the of East Slope discussion of trans-mountain diversions.
“Caddoa Reservoir (an early name for the reservoir ul- Any trans-mountain diversion plan requiring federal as-
I
sistance, he proclaimed, would have to include, for every not be controlling the Interior Department budget forever
acre-foot of water diverted, one acre-foot of “compensa- – although, as will be seen in Part 2 of this story, some of
tory storage” on the West Slope, for the West Slope’s fu- his constituents actually seemed to believe he might live
ture needs. This was not just pork-barreling; he made it a forever. But the WCPA figured they had just a few years
moral issue. He proclaimed that no one should build their to try to get something resembling Taylor’s mandate of
own future by taking away another’s.
“an acre-foot for an acre-foot” formalized as a state policy.
The Denver Water Board, with its concentration of
fter two years of increasingly frustrated backColorado people and money to draw on, could afford to
and-forth across the Divide under Taylor’s watchful
ignore Taylor’s mandate. They didn’t need federal assistance – although they gladly accepted it when their for- gaze, Edward Foster of the State Planning Commission
mer engineer, George Bull, became PWA administrator got statewide water leaders together in 1935 as a “Comfor Colorado and tossed a million-dollar grant and low- mittee of Seventeen,” and they hammered out what came
to be known as “The Delaney Resolution,”
interest loan their way for the “shovelready” Moffat Project, already under conafter Glenwood Springs attorney and WCPA
leader Frank Delaney. The Delaney Resolustruction. Recognizing Denver’s degree of
independence, Taylor graciously exempted
tion was a compromise on the Taylor acrefoot mandate. The West Slope would not
municipal water for “our capital city” from
his mandate “because it has absolutely got
oppose a trans-mountain diversion if the
diverting organization(s) would build comto have that water in order to make the fupensatory storage of sufficient size to assure
ture development and growth that we all
future West Slope development that would
hope Denver may have.”
otherwise be eliminated by the diversion.
Taylor also nipped in the bud the ArThat would require a thorough study (probkansas basin’s sketchy early ideas for beably by the Bureau of Reclamation) to deginning diversions from the Gunnison basin. They were looking to Taylor Park, a big Congressman Edward T. Taylor termine how much compensatory storage
would be needed, but it would almost cersnow accumulator with a perfect reservoir
site at the top of the Taylor River canyon. But Congress- tainly be considerably less than Taylor’s “acre-foot for an
man Taylor had been trying for a quarter-century to get acre-foot” demand.
This Resolution might have been nothing more than
congressional appropriation for a long-planned reservoir
there to “complete” the Bureau of Reclamation’s Uncom- a rock in the river of inevitability, around which the flow
pahgre Valley Project, taking water through a five-mile of eastward diversion would have flowed unimpeded, had
tunnel from the Gunnison River deep in the Black Can- the Bureau of Reclamation not embraced it. The Bureau
yon to the rich but water-short Uncompahgre River val- was eager to build the big trans-mountain diversion from
ley between Montrose and Delta; the reservoir had been the Colorado River to the South Platte Basin that we know
planned ever since Taylor’s 1908 ascent to Congress, to be as “the Colorado-Big Thompson Project” – but only if the
whole state embraced the idea. Since no in-state Reclamalate-season water for the Uncompahgre farmlands.
At the same 1933 meeting in Denver where Tay- tion project would be possible without that broad support,
lor granted Denver a pass on compensatory storage, he the South Platte irrigators finally bought into the idea that
warned the Arkansas basin away from any idea about they could only invest in their own future by also investTaylor Park – a discussion that got pretty heated. Then, ing in the West Slope’s future as well.
The Delaney Resolution was thus incorporated into
he went directly to Interior Secretary Harold Ickes, who
was not a fan of trans-mountain diversions, and talked an important agreement, Senate Document 80, which
him into finally appropriating money for Taylor Dam to was, in the late 1930s and early 1940s, realized in the
finish the Uncompahgre Project. That left the Arkansas construction of Green Mountain dam, reservoir, and powBasin with relatively easy access only to the much drier erplant on the Blue River. These formed the first element
Tomichi Creek valley south of Taylor Park, or the Roaring of the massive Colorado-Big Thompson Project, and the
West Slope’s protection for the future from that transFork-Fryingpan watershed north of it.
That same year, 1933, a group of Arkansas basin ir- mountain diversion.
Would other East Slope water users, like those in the
rigators began the Twin Lakes Tunnel from the Roaring
Fork with a PWA loan, to much belated but ineffective Arkansas Basin looking lustfully at West Slope water, adconsternation from Congressman Taylor and the West here to the Delaney Resolution? Stay tuned; next month
Slope Protective Association. But the real prize, Taylor we will look at the fabled Gunnison-Arkansas Project, and
Park, would not emerge again in East Slope diversion why it never happened …
plans until the late 1980s.
The founders of the West Slope Protective Association
Part II - The Gunnison-Arkansas Project,
knew, however, how ephemeral that power that Taylor
coming in the May 2012 issue.
wielded was. He was already in his seventies, and would
A
40
Hal Walter
W
The Falcon’s Message
hile driving home through
with sodium iodide administered by
the Wet Mountain Valley after
IV. The only problem with this is that
picking up a homeopathic remedy for
the side-effect is abortion, and Sophie
a sick cow, I detected a quick motion
is indeed pregnant.
coming from behind and in a field to
Thus, the homeopathic remedy,
the right. Before I could even turn my
and the chance sighting of the zoomhead, the bird – surely a peregrine faling falcon.
con – was angling across the road in
If someone had told me even 10
front of me like a rocket, riding the
years ago that someday I’d be giving
contours with its built-in radar over fencelines and a homeopathic remedy to a sick cow it would have
the rolling landscape.
seemed a crazy notion that I’d be the caregiver for a
It zoomed – wings-tucked – toward a pond and cow at all, much less giving her a homeopathy remflew headlong into what it had apparently been zero- edy. But these are the experiences I’ve come to expect
ing in on all along – a flock of blackbirds. There was from a life that takes interesting twists, and especiala moment of chaos as the blackbirds erupted in all ly the job of managing a small ranch over the past
directions. But the falcon apparently came up empty- seven years.
taloned. I watch as it braked by setting its wings sevI first purchased the cows for the ranch back in
eral times, then lighted on a fencepost with a posture 2005 from Virgil Lawson, a Wetmore rancher. Old
that almost exuded embarrassVirgil insisted that I just had to
“In one moment of insanity – have Sophie as part of the packment.
The cow we call Sophie has or was it pure sanity? – I was age. She’s a “lead cow” he said,
been sick for nearly six months ready to sink my future into and would keep the herd togethnow. Originally diagnosed as an
er. She’s also “bucket-trained” so
something I truly believe in” having her makes it easy to round
upper-respiratory infection, we’ve
had several vet visits for it. We
up the entire herd. Virgil died
run a natural beef operation here until something like in 2006, and I have to believe that somewhere he is
this happens, and a few rounds of injected and pow- laughing aloud at the prospect of Sophie still even bedered antibiotics might save a cow’s life. However, ing with us, not to mention treating her with homeonone of these heavy drugs has made any difference in pathics.
Sophie’s symptoms.
So I may feel some attachment to this particular
Most of the diseases cows typically get would cow. I take a spiritual approach with all the cattle,
have surely dropped her by now. We’ve ruled out realizing their path here is part of the food chain,
just about every condition except for one – an acti- trying to provide them with a good life while they’re
nobacillus infection. This can be caused by a sticker here, as peaceful and humane as possible transition
or piece of woody fiber being caught in the mouth when their time comes, and making sure that as little
or throat. The common name for the condition is as possible goes to waste. I even had dog food made
“wooden tongue.” Veterinarians generally treat this from bone meal, fat and scraps from the last steer
Building Futures Together
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we harvested, and specify that
other by-products be donated
to the Mission Wolf Sanctuary.
I guess I’m probably not the
typical “rancher.”
However, it’s been difficult to ever picture Sophie in
this food chain. Perhaps her
illness is an alternative path.
In all likelihood she’ll die on
the ranch. If we’re lucky, she’ll
have another calf before she
moves on.
T
hough I have more than 30 years experience
in “journalism” – whatever that is, or means, in
this day and age of declining readership and twitter
attention spans – it’s odd that the longest continuousrunning job I’ve had in this lifetime has been managing this ranch. The bottom line – except for a very
privileged few, writing simply does not pay the bills.
Recently I’ve also become involved with the local
“farm-to-table” movement, and in the last year started
a publication called Farm Beet (check out www.farmbeet.com). The growing demand for high-end locally
produced specialty crops is a quiet revolution taking
place all over the country. It’s truly appalling that our
food-supply system makes it easier for restaurants,
stores and area residents to buy food from as far away
as China than to buy from local farmers and ranchers.
This system is flawed on many levels and needs to be
fixed.
And while that movement has become part of my
life process, sometimes I think I need to find a more
“sensible” career direction. Move. Get a “real job.”
But what would that be, and where? A survey of opportunities for someone with my professional skill-set
seems to be limited to technical editing and bizarre
marketing projects with businesses that could be gone
tomorrow. On a recent day trip to Denver, I found
myself looking at the hundreds, maybe thousands, of
plate-glass high-rise office buildings, and thought that
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quality European toys, children’s books,
infant clothing and gifts, arts and crafts,
fun jewelry and novelties
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www.kaltoys.com
42
Photo by Hal Walter
inside these the countless drones were shuffling papers, feeding the beast. The next day I was purely exhausted. How long would I last in that environment?
Not very.
Then one day I was at the ranch waiting for Sophie to eat her homeopathic-treated oats, and waiting for a stock tank to fill, standing on a sunny slope
where I have thought several times over the years to
be the perfect location for a big greenhouse. Then I visualized a free-range chicken yard. The cow-calf operation would be converted to a yearling grass-finished
“microbeef” operation. My mind hit full stride and the
guest house was rented, horses were boarded, there
was a neighborhood membership fee for the arena,
event-hosting, the streambank was planted in watercress and mint and other high-dollar aquatic vegetables. The list goes on …
In one moment of insanity – or was it pure sanity? – I was ready to sink my future into something I
truly believe in. In that time I was zooming in on an
idea that could end in success or failure. And I wrote
something different for a change – a proposal.
It’s said the falcon’s message is one of mental
speed and agility, and patience. And it’s clear a falcon
places all focus when then opportunity presents itself.
The greatest risk is to end up empty-taloned, which is
really where you started in the first place.
Hal Walter writes and edits from the Wet Mountains.
You can keep up with him regularly at his blog: www.hardscrabbletimes.com

April 2012 Colorado Central, Issue #217

Transcription

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