POTR #61 5280 Foot High

PEACE ON THE ROAD

5280 Foot High

July 27, 2010

I would have a hard time trying to figure out how many times that I have made a trip between Denver, Colorado and to some point 75 or more miles beyond Topeka, Kansas. If it was suggested that I have done it 75 or more times I would not argue. It is likely less than a hundred but it is possible that it is more. I knew that the farm we lived on in Kansas was around a thousand foot, give or take some, and of course I had heard that Denver was “The Mile High City”. In one of the steps to the west entrance there is a brass cap which reads: Elevation: 5280 feet, One Mile High, 5-12-69. I had also heard people state that Denver was actually in a low spot. The elevation increasing in all four directions. To the west a few miles the mountains start and of course it is obviously higher there. But to the east it is less obvious, so I took other peoples statements as true. This last time coming across eastern Colorado I had an altimeter. A hundred miles east of Denver about three miles past Arriba, CO we reached an altitude of a mile above sea level. When a discovery like that is made a person has to wonder just how many other towns could also advertise themselves as the Mile High City. It really did takes some of the “zing” out of the slogan. But the capitol building with a 24 carat gold dome and its interior of Colorado Rose Onyx is an impressive building to be setting “A MILE HIGH.”

THE COLORADO STATE CAPITOL BUILDING WITH ITS GOLD DOME

Coming across the middle of Kansas along I-70 has been described as boring by many people. Personally I have found it many things except boring. It is a long way with a lot of the same things to see. There are lots of wheat fields, lots of cattle pastures and a lot of miles of Interstate highway. I can understand that the Interstate system was built to move a lot of traffic and it bypasses the many unique sites along the way in favor of speed. A little over half way across Kansas is Post Rock Country. Back in the late 1800's just after the Civil War when Kansas was being settled it was almost treeless. There was also no restriction on where cattle could and would roam. Today it is the responsibility of a cattle owner to keep the cattle out of another mans property. Then it was the total responsibility of the farmer to keep the cattle out of his fields. There were few options that farmer had to protect his crops. Fences were made of whatever they could to enclose small plots of land. The first settlers had to be concerned with a place to live. So they built dugouts, soddies and some people built homes out of the local limestone rock, which was from the Greenhorn Limestone formation. This was a formation that was very consistently 8 to 12 inches thick and covered by a layer of earth less than 3 foot thick. There were some thicker and thinner layers of limestone and coverings of greater depths but they were not the best for the quarries. The earth was removed from the outcropping. Drills made from modified woodworking tools were used to drill a series of holes into the rock. Splitting devices called feathers and wedges were driven into the holes to split off pieces of rock up to twelve feet in length. Downward pressure was applied to the drills by leaning on them with the chest. Some of the quarry men claimed that they developed calluses on their chest. The drilling was all done by hand until a blacksmith “Nelse” Sankey adapted a Maytag washing machine motor to power the drills. The freshly exposed rock was somewhat soft but hardened after exposure to the air. The stone post weighed between 250 to 450 pounds so even the setting of the posts was a lot of work. A wagon could only carry between four to eight of the posts at a time, but at least they would last 50 years or more while wood only lasted 6 to 10 years. Some that are in use today are approaching 130 to 150 years. During the early years of the post quarrying the posts sold for 25 cents each delivered to the farm. When the price of the post reached $1.00 to $2.00 in the 1920's most farmers decided that the cost was too high with other materials like steel posts being made available by train, and a single wagon could carry the 360 posts necessary to enclose a quarter section. But before that happened there were over forty thousand miles of stone post fences installed. During the same time barbed wire was developed to attach to the posts making it effective for animal control. The farmers also discovered that Osage Orange trees would make a barrier to animals and hundreds of miles of hedge rows were planted. When crossing Kansas today there are many trees that were planted by the pioneers for the purpose of animal control.

REPRODUCTION OF A POST ROCK QUARRY WITH SOME TOOLS OF THE TRADE

Colorado has a couple record setting roads near Denver. Mt. Evans Highway is the highest paved road in North America. The key word is paved. There are higher roads but they are not paved. The road stops short of the top of 14,264 foot by only about 40 foot of elevation. There seems to be some confusion as to how high the road actually goes. I have found several figures. The other road is called Trail Ridge Road and it is the highest continuous paved road in North America. During the years that we lived in Colorado we drove over it at least a hundred times and possibly two hundred times. In the spring there were snow cuts that were between fifteen and twenty foot high. Years ago people were encouraged to feed the chipmunks and ground squirrels. That was a lot of fun to do. Now it is highly discouraged or even against the law. The scenery is unsurpassed any where that I know. Some places come real close but do not surpass. We almost always have seen elk and deer plus other smaller animals. There have been times that we have seen over an estimated 600 elk in one meadow. Many elk also seem to spend their time above timberline in the high meadows. We have seen a gathering nearly a hundred over 11,000 foot high. There is also one section of road where about every day the Bighorn Sheep cross the road to feed in the meadow during the night. That section of road is often crowded with people. In recent years parking has been restricted to limited areas and foot traffic is not allowed so that the sheep are not restricted in their movement. It is always fun to travel this road over the continental divide and stop at the place where rain falling in one place goes to the Pacific Ocean and rain falling a few feet (or inches) away flows to the Atlantic Ocean. It may not quite be the top of the world but it sure is high up there. All a person has to do is trot a short distance and discover that the scenery is breathtaking. Having wintered in Texas we have found that we can tell that the high altitude affects us in ways that are different from when we lived a mile high all year.

SEVENTEEN ELK IN A MEADOW ALONG TRAIL RIDGE ROAD

We have been in the Denver for longer than we had intended. We had put off some repairs to the motor home until we could have the work done where we had purchased it. And we were lucky, I think, while we have been here to have had a problem with a couple sensors on the engine of the Jeep rather than being elsewhere.. It seems that we have spent a lot of time in the repair shops for one thing or another. Have you ever noticed that a simple little job on a vehicle takes all the spare time in a day. There is another reason that we have been in Denver longer than planned and that could be called personal vanity I suppose. Kim a lady that we consider a friend has encouraged me to share the story with you.

When I worked for Newmont, the largest gold mining company in the world there was several years that they sold “Gold Splatters” to the employees. Gold produced in the Nevada mines was melted and some of it was poured into water from about a three foot height. When the molten gold hit the water it exploded and instantly solidified into fantastically shaped pieces, some very small and some possibly as large as an ounce. I bought some of these splatters and had them made into jewelry and gave them as gifts. I should have bought a lot of splatters, but hindsight is a lot better than foresight. After we had been retired several years we were in The Big Fisherman, a favorite restaurant in Rockport, Texas,. Erma had ordered fried oysters. She is eating one and “crunch”, “I think I bit into a pearl!” She had found a natural pearl in her food. We did not know if it was of any monetary value or not. It was valuable to her for esthetic reasons. We went to the jeweler that had made our other gifts and asked him if it would be worthwhile to make some jewelery out of it. He instantly said that it would look great in a ring, perhaps as the centerpiece of a rose. He said he could have it done in a week. We extended our stay a week. I took him some splatter gold from another project to be used in the ring. That really reduced the price. In a week we picked up a beautiful rose ring with a pearl center. I was able to place the ring on Erma's finger just like I did with another ring nearly 47 years ago.

Isn't that a good place for the story to end? If you say “Yes!” you are likely right. But there is another part that I can add. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 55 years ago my parents gave me a gold initial ring for my birthday. At least I think it was a birthday gift. I am sure it was not expensive but to me is was the greatest gift that I had ever gotten. I wore it everywhere and all the time. As I grew older and my hands got bigger I had to move it to other fingers, but I still wore it all the time. One day I was out in a field near the farm house doing some kind of farming work. When I got done I discovered the ring was missing. I can show you within an acre where that ring is likely still. Since that time I have always wanted a nice ring to wear. Most of my life I have not worn rings because of the danger that they meant in my work. Once I came within inches of losing a finger because of my wedding ring which was the only ring I regularly wore. I quit wearing that ring. I have considered for maybe ten years having a ring made by the jeweler that made Erma's but I guess I simply was not ready. When Erma picked up her ring I was ready. In a week I will have a ring that is made entirely from gold of my last splatters and some gold from the dental work of my Mother. There will be some copper added to it to create a harder ring alloy but all the gold will be what I provided. So I will have gold from my last job and a remembrance from my Mother to wear on my hand.

When we leave Denver our plan is to start a slow return to Texas for the winter. We plan to spend some time in the Durango/Silverton area and photograph the trains there. If it works out we may ride the train again, which is something that we have not done in over forty years. We went to that area the first time in a VW Bug with a weeks worth of food in the backseat area along with a tent. We had a gasoline credit card, paid tickets for the train and ten dollars cash. When we got home nine days later we still had some cash left. I can guarantee that this time it will cost us a bunch more for the same length of time. But with any luck I will have some new pictures and stories to share with you.

Till Later This Is Doug Of
Peace On The Road