Sunday, September 22, 2019
Ain't never been to heaven, but been to Oklahoma
I think it was Mae West that postulated that “Those who are easily shocked should be shocked more often.”
American folk music singer-songwriter, guitarist, and a film and television actor Hoyt Axton.
I was drawn to coincidence, and surprised by how often the fellow's name popped up when I found something that I liked — when I was just a kid.
"Joy to the World," for example, is a song written by Hoyt Axton and made famous by the band Three Dog Night. The song is also popularly known by its opening lyric, "Jeremiah was a bullfrog."
The song, which has been described by members of Three Dog Night as a "kid's song" and a "silly song," topped the singles charts in North America, was certified gold and has since been covered by many different artists.
The song is featured prominently in the film The Big Chill. It is sung by a child character at the beginning and the Three Dog Night recording is played over the end credits.
For Colorado ties: It is also played at the end of every Denver Broncos home victory. Notable playings of this song after Broncos victories included then-Chicago Bears head coach Abe Gibron's singing along with the song in 1973; and at the end of Super Bowl XXXII, played at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego. It was also played at the end of Super Bowl XXXIII at Pro Player (now Hard Rock) Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida and Super Bowl 50 in Santa Clara, California.
Other songs notably written by Axton include "The Pusher," made famous by the 1969 movie Easy Rider which used Steppenwolf's version, Ringo Starr's hit "No No Song", and Kingston Trio blockbuster "Greenback Dollar," "Della and the Dealer", and also "Never Been to Spain," also by Three Dog Night.
Louis Weltzer, writing for Ralston Creek Review notes that Hoyt Axton was born on March 25, 1938, making him 31 years old when My Griffin Is Gone was released. He was old enough and smart enough to understand that he needed to overcome his problems with substance abuse, and it was during this period – the late 1960s and early ’70s – that he wrote some of his best anti-drug songs. Here, in Colorado, we run into a relative obscure offering on the subject of getting and trying to stay clean, “On the Natural.”
Shortly before recording the album, Hoyt lived for a time in Crested Butte, Colorado. It was a slower paced lifestyle than he was used to on the road or in California. He seems to have realized that if one just catches his breath and looks around, Nature (especially in the Colorado mountains) is miraculous and a better and more lasting “high” than is possible with chemicals. He tells us that in “On The Natural.”
In the liner notes to the album, Hoyt himself wrote, “Someone once told me in a dream that truth was a great white bird. Here are some feathers I found.” "On the Natural," was listed as one of those feathers.
“On the Natural”
Would you like to go to Colorado?
Heaven’s there I’m told, in Colorado.
Well I’m leavin’ in the morning
And I’d like to take you with me,
I feel that Colorado is a place we could be happy
In the mountains,
La-da-da-da-dum
Rocky Mountains
La-da-da-da-dum.
Everybody talk about the place of their dreams
Where they can find peace of mind
I’m not sure but I think it seems
I’ve finally found mine.
In the mountains,
Rocky Mountains.
Up on the mountain
you don’t need your little blue pills,
And there’s a golden light
In them thar hills.
On the natural,
On the natural,
La-da-da-da-dum,
La-da-da-da-dum
Would you like to be in Colorado?
Something’s drawing me to Colorado.
You can leave all of the hangups
Of the city in the city
And the crystal morning sunshine
Is so pretty
In the mountains,
La-da-da-da-dum,
Rocky Mountains,
La-da-da-da-dum
*********************************
[I cannot understand all the words to this verse]
Where have all the buffalo gone?
Up on the mountain you don’t need to blow no grass,
And all the tea you need is sassafras.
On the natural,
On the natural,
La-da-da-da-dah,
La-da-da-da-dah.
Everything is real in Colorado,
And real is how you feel in Colorado,
I’m tired of plastic people
With their neon souls aglow,
So I’m going to Crested Butte, babe,
I’ve just got to try once more
In the mountains,
La-da-da-da-dum,
Rocky Mountains,
La-da-da-da-dum
Axton however continued to struggle with cocaine addiction and several of his songs, including "The Pusher", "Snowblind Friend," and "No-No Song,"partly reflect his negative drug experiences. However, he was a proponent of marijuana use for many years until he and his wife were arrested in February 1997 at their Montana home for possession of approximately 500 g (1.1 lb) of marijuana. His wife later explained that she offered Axton marijuana to relieve his pain and stress following a 1995 stroke. Both were fined and given deferred sentences. Axton never fully recovered from his stroke, and had to use a wheelchair much of the time afterwards. He died at age 61 at his home in Victor, Montana, on October 26, 1999, after suffering two heart attacks in two weeks.
In 1965, he appeared in an episode of Bonanza, then followed with other TV roles over the years including credits in McCloud, I Dream of Jeanie, Dukes of Hazzard, The Bionic Woman, Murder She Wrote, Different Strokes and many more. As he matured, Axton specialized in playing good ol' boys on television and in films. His face became well known in the 1970s and 1980s through many TV and film appearances, such as in the movies Liar's Moon (1982) playing poor-but-happy farmer Cecil Duncan who is crushed to death when a stack of metal pipes falls on him, The Black Stallion (1979) as the main character's father, and Gremlins (1984) as the protagonist's father.
Thursday, September 19, 2019
Black Forest Fire left a mark on us
“Unless we are willing to escape into sentimentality or fantasy, often the best we can do with catastrophes, even our own, is to find out exactly what happened and restore some of the missing parts.”
― Norman Maclean, Young Men and Fire
In the aftermath of Colorado's most destructive wildfire
By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com
I could see the black plume of smoke, up in the general direction of home, when I left the printer that early afternoon.
"Oh no," I thought to myself, "Not again."
The Black Forest Fire began near Highway 83 and Shoup Road in Black Forest, Colorado around 1 p.m. on June 11, 2013. When it was completely contained nearly ten days later, on June 20, 14,280 acres (22.31 square miles) were burned, at least 509 homes were said to be destroyed, and two people had died.
There was really no way to prepare for a heartbreaking trip touring the burn area on June 21, when they finally deemed it safe enough to let reporters in. Widespread devastation, twisted landscapes, disrupted service roads, and downed power lines — surrounded by the the charred remains of the forest and unrecognizable remnants of residents' dreams and promises. Many of the photos from that trip, I still struggle with viewing today.
Historically, this devastating fire leapfrogged over two other nearby fires I had covered as a newspaper guy, as the most destructive fire in the state's history, surpassing the 2012 Waldo Canyon Fire which also began near Colorado Springs, and the Hayman Fire, which began years earlier near Lake George.
The evacuation area covered 94,000 acres acres, 13,000 homes and 38,000 people. Three shelters were established in the area, including Elbert County Fairgrounds, which accepted humans, pets, and large animals. Two other shelters were designated for large animals only.
By June 13, nearly 500 firefighters were working the fireline, including agencies around the fire, the Colorado Air National Guard, and select personnel from fire suppression teams on Fort Carson and the nearby United States Air Force Academy. Governor John Hickenlooper addressed Emergency Managers at the command post on June 12. U.S. Northern Command assisted with fire fighting efforts.
― Norman Maclean, Young Men and Fire
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
Cannibal dwarfs, the dangerous curse, and a Left Hand legacy for Chief Niwot.
Descriptions of the cannibal dwarfs vary but they are usually said to be the size of children, dark-skinned, and extremely aggressive. Some storytellers say that they had the power to turn themselves invisible, while others say they were hard to spot simply because they moved with incredible speed. Some suggest that the dwarfs' warlike temperament comes because they must be killed in battle to reach the dwarf after-world. Others believe that they were gluttons who habitually killed more than they could eat, just because they could. According to most versions of the story, the race of cannibal dwarfs were mostly destroyed in an ancient war with the Arapahos and other allied Native American tribes.
Left Hand warned early arrivals of the curse
By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com
In the fall of 1858, just as the beginnings of the Colorado Gold Rush started to take shape, Arapaho leader Niwot (Left Hand) rode to meet the first white intruders at the confluence of Boulder and Sunshine Creek. Captain Thomas Aikins and fellow prospectors, riding in from Fort St.Vrain some 30 miles to the East, camped in Boulder Valley and planned to search for rumored-gold.
Niwot planned to ask them to leave, and warn them of the curse. The leader had learned English from his trapper brother-in-law John Poisal, (married to Niwot's sister,) and is said to have told them of the curse of the Boulder Valley.
"People seeing the beauty of this valley will want to stay, and their staying will be the undoing of the beauty."
As the conversation heightened, he proceeded to threaten them with a visitation by War Party if they did not leave.
The visitors were encamped at what the Arapaho considered to be a sacred site, Valmont Butte, some four miles to the north east of what is now central Boulder, Colorado. Niwot and his closest elder braves, Bear Head and Many Whips, had ridden out to the site where the new arrivals had decided to camp, near the place where Boulder Creek releases from the Front Range onto the Great Plains.
Some see the Curse as portentous of the settling of not only the Boulder Valley, but of the entire Western United States
According to the city of Longmont, Niwot had a lasting legacy:
"We have Left Hand Brewing Company, Left Hand Creek, Left Hand Greenway, and Left Hand Creek Park, and in Boulder County there is Left Hand Canyon. All of these references to ‘left hand’ refer back to the southern Arapaho tribal leader, Chief Niwot. Niwot means left-handed, so even the quaint town of Niwot, Colorado (7 miles west of downtown Longmont) and everything with the word Niwot in it (Niwot Mountain, Niwot Ridge) also means left hand."
"He and his people lived along the Front Range, often spending winters in Boulder Valley. In the fall of 1858 during the Colorado Gold Rush, early prospectors were welcomed by Niwot and his people to the area, even though it was Arapaho territory. Chief Niwot was an intelligent man, not only urging his tribe to coexist peacefully with the white man, but also learning English, Cheyenne, and Sioux, which allowed him to communicate with white settlers and other tribes.
Peaceful relations between the southern Arapaho and the white prospectors, however, did not last."
Following the 1862 the Sioux Uprising in Minnesota and the Battle of Little Big Horn, against U.S. Army troops, It was a tumultuous time in U.S. history between the white man and Native Americans across the Plains, and tensions ran high. Tribes raided wagon trains, and settlements along the Front Range.
When the Hungate family was murdered 25 miles southeast of Denver in June of 1864, Colorado Territorial Governor John Evans said he believed all Native tribes were responsible and decided to get rid of the “Indian problem.”
"He then ordered the peaceful southern Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes to relocate to Sand Creek, an area in southeast Colorado north of Fort Lyon, a United States Army fort at the time. Governor Evans then ordered the Third Colorado Cavalry, commanded by Colonel John Chivington, to patrol the land for hostile Indians," according to Longmont's site.
"Colonel Chivington and his men had patrolled Colorado’s eastern plains for months without finding any hostile tribes. Frustrated, they headed to Sand Creek. Despite Major Edward Wynkoop, commander of Fort Lyons, stating that the Native people at Sand Creek were peaceful, Chivington and his men attacked the Araphao camp the morning of Nov. 29, 1864.
There are no exact statistics on the number of people who were killed that day, but most historians believe approximately 180 people were killed during the Sand Creek Massacre, including Chief Niwot, and mostly women, children, and the elderly."
At the behest of men like Wynkoop and Captain Silas Soule, ( Who was in command of Company D, 1st Colorado Cavalry, which was present at Sand Creek on November 29, 1864,) the story of the massacre came out over time. Soule had refused an order to join the Sand Creek massacre.
President Abraham Lincoln, bogged down by the Civil War, called for a Congressional investigation into the tragedy. Congress ruled the “gross and wanton” incident a “massacre” rather than a “battle.” Chivington was reprimanded for his actions and lost his commission, Governor Evans was removed from office, and Colorado was placed under martial law. Soule, during the subsequent inquiry, testified against the massacre's commanding officer, John Chivington, and soon after, was murdered in Denver.
The Sand Creek Massacre site is now designated as a National Historic Site.
Photo Information 1: September 28, 1864, Group portrait of the Camp Weld Council, Denver Colorado, shows white and Native American (Arapaho and Cheyenne) men arranged in three rows. Identification: Left to right, kneeling: Maj. Edward Wynkoop and Capt. Silas S. Soule; seated: White Antelope, Bull Bear, Black Kettle, Neva, Na-ta-nee; standing: unidentified, unidentified, John Smith, Heap of Buffalo, Bosse, unidentified, unidentified. |
Photo Information 2: Native American (Arapaho) men pose outdoors with white men, about 1890. The Native American men wear moccasins, leggings, breechcloths, vests, and hats. Some men wear blankets.
Friday, September 13, 2019
Hollywood's first "King" from Colorado
Yeah, but now I'm gettin' old, don't wear underwear
But I can go to movies and see it all there
Just the way that it used to be
The "Boston Blackie" kind
A two-toned Ricky Ricardo jacket
And an autographed picture of Andy Devine
Had to do you own stunts in "talkie" era
"The King of Hollywood," of course, learned the trade in Denver.
Silent film star Douglas Fairbanks began acting at an early age, in amateur theatre in Denver, performing in summer stock at the Elitch Gardens Theatre, and other productions sponsored by Margaret Fealy, who ran an acting school for young people in Denver, at the time.
Though he started high school at Denver East High School, he was expelled for cutting the wires on the school piano.
In the spring of 1899, when he was 15 — and variously claimed to have attended Colorado School of Mines and Harvard University — but neither claim is true, he joined the acting troupe of Frederick Warde, beginning a cross country tour in September 1899.
Fairbanks later became a founding member of United Artists. He was also a founding member of The Motion Picture Academy and hosted the 1st Academy Awards in 1929.
With his marriage to Mary Pickford in 1920, the couple became Hollywood royalty and Fairbanks was referred to as "The King of Hollywood."
Though widely considered as one of the biggest stars in Hollywood during the 1910s and1920s, Fairbanks' career rapidly declined with the advent of the "talkies."
"Swashbuckled in Zorro, duelled exuberantly in Robin Hood, and soared magnificently in The Thief of Bagdad, " wrote Pamela Hutchinson recently for The Guardian, he often described as one of Hollywood’s founding fathers. In 1919, together with his best friend Charlie Chaplin, his bride-to-be Mary Pickford, and director DW Griffith, he started the United Artists studio, which is still, despite some recent uncertainties, a Hollywood player.
The silent-era film stars like Fairbanks, risked life and limb doing their own stunts.
"In 1927, Fairbanks was a founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. As the host of its first prize-giving ceremony in 1929, he handed out 14 awards to his peers, though he was never to receive an Oscar in his lifetime.
In 1929, he was involved in the establishment of the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California – one of the first film studies faculties – and gave its opening lecture, on “photoplay appreciation.”
"Today, film studies courses are unlikely to linger on Fairbanks’s work: it’s considered generic Hollywood product, with little more to it than dazzles the eye. That’s a shame, because the man and his photoplays were anything but ordinary," says Hutchinson,
A new biography, which Hutchinson describes as "doggedly researched and sharply written" by Tracey Goessel, and is called "The First King of Hollywood: The Life of Douglas Fairbanks" It gives readers a chance to consider the star in a new light, not least because it persistently interrogates much of his own myth-making.
"Discarding Fairbanks’s own merry tales, Goessel straightens out the facts about his education and early career, details the injuries caused by his daredevil stuntwork and, with reference to the blizzard of messages sent between husband and wife, gives an intimate and moving account of his marriage to Pickford. "
For example, Goessel shows that Fairbanks demonstrated markedly progressive attitudes to race. In other films of the era, offensive racial terms and characterizations are depressingly familiar, but Fairbanks scoured his scripts (notably, those otherwise witty inter-titles penned by Anita Loos) for all such terms before production began. Revealingly, Fairbanks never chose to make public the fact that his father, H. Charles Ullman, was Jewish, constructing a smokescreen figure called “John Fairbanks” instead; this name even appeared on Fairbanks’s death certificate.
"It was impossible not to notice that Fairbanks was devoted to fresh air and exercise: his athleticism on screen and deep tan attest to it. But while he was more than comfortable with public nudity, his Hollywood neighbors were not."
Goessel reveals that when he and Pickford built their studio complex in the early 1920s, complete with a fully fitted gymnasium, exercise yard and steam room, Fairbanks requested an underground running track, so he could jog, naked, between scenes. The concrete-lined trench ran parallel to Santa Monica Boulevard for about two blocks, but six feet below the road. "It’s a typical Fairbanks solution: breezily practical, but undeniably eccentric."
Fairbanks and Pickford in Denver.
Hollywood's first 'King' from Colorado
Had to do you own stunts in "talkie" era
By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com"The King of Hollywood," of course, learned the trade in Denver.Silent film star Douglas Fairbanks began acting at an early age, in amateur theatre
in Denver, performing in summer stock at the Elitch Gardens Theatre, and other productions sponsored by Margaret Fealy, who ran an acting school for young people
in Denver, at the time.Though he started high school at Denver East High School, he was expelled for
cutting the wires on the school piano.
In the spring of 1899, when he was 15 — and variously claimed to have attended Colorado School of Mines and Harvard University — but neither claim is true,
he joined the acting troupe of Frederick Warde, beginning a cross country tour in September 1899.
Fairbanks later became a founding member of United Artists. He was also a
founding member of The Motion Picture Academy and hosted the 1st Academy
Awards in 1929.With his marriage to Mary Pickford in 1920, the couple became Hollywood royalty and Fairbanks was referred to as "The King of Hollywood."
Though widely considered as one of the biggest stars in Hollywood during the
1910s and1920s, Fairbanks' career rapidly declined with the advent of the "talkies.""Swashbuckled in Zorro, duelled exuberantly in Robin Hood, and soared magnificently in The Thief of Bagdad, " wrote Pamela Hutchinson recently for The Guardian, he often described as one of Hollywood’s founding fathers. In 1919, together with his best friend Charlie Chaplin, his bride-to-be Mary Pickford, and director DW Griffith, he started the United Artists studio, which is still, despite some recent uncertainties, a Hollywood player.The silent-era film stars like Fairbanks, risked life and limb doing their own stunts."In 1927, Fairbanks was a founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences. As the host of its first prize-giving ceremony in 1929, he handed
out 14 awards to his peers, though he was never to receive an Oscar in his lifetime.In 1929, he was involved in the establishment of the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California – one of the first film studies faculties – and gave its opening lecture, on “photoplay appreciation.”"Today, film studies courses are unlikely to linger on Fairbanks’s work: it’s considered generic Hollywood product, with little more to it than dazzles the eye. That’s a shame, because the man and his photoplays were anything but ordinary," says Hutchinson,A new biography, which Hutchinson describes as "doggedly researched and sharply written" by Tracey Goessel, and is called "The First King of Hollywood: The Life of Douglas Fairbanks"It gives readers a chance to consider the star in a new light, not
least because it persistently interrogates much of his own myth-making."Discarding Fairbanks’s own merry tales, Goessel straightens out the facts about his education and early career, details the injuries caused by his daredevil stuntwork and, with reference to the blizzard of messages sent between husband and wife, gives an intimate and moving account of his marriage to Pickford. "For example, Goessel shows that Fairbanks demonstrated markedly progressive
attitudes to race. In other films of the era, offensive racial terms and characterizations are depressingly familiar, but Fairbanks scoured his scripts (notably, those otherwise witty inter-titles penned by Anita Loos) for all such terms before production began. Revealingly, Fairbanks never chose to make public the fact that his father, H Charles Ullman, was Jewish, constructing a smokescreen figure called “John Fairbanks” instead; this name even appeared on Fairbanks’s death certificate."It was impossible not to notice that Fairbanks was devoted to fresh air and exercise: his athleticism on screen and deep tan attest to it. But while he was more than comfortable with public nudity, his Hollywood neighbors were not."Goessel reveals that when he and Pickford built their studio complex in the early 1920s, complete with a fully fitted gymnasium, exercise yard and steam room, Fairbanks requested an underground running track, so he could jog, naked, between scenes. The concrete-lined trench ran parallel to Santa Monica Boulevard for about two blocks, but six feet below the road. "It’s a typical Fairbanks solution: breezily practical, but undeniably eccentric."Douglas Fairbank and Mary Pickford in Denver.
Saturday, August 31, 2019
Beyond mountains, territory of the Utes, and Colorado River
At the alter of the Sun.
They were prayin' for the lovers,
In the valley of the gun.
And when the battle stopped,
And the smoke cleared.
There was thunder from the throne.
And seven Spanish angels,
Took another angel home.
But what about the buried cannons?
... half-finished silver mines? ... seventh mythical city?
By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com
Growing up on the Dolores River in Southwestern Colorado, my friends and I imagined, in great detail, earlier Spanish conquistadors such as Coronado, out searching our pinion- and juniper-covered hills for the seventh city of gold, or rich mines of La Plata silver.
The Seven Cities of Gold, also known as the Seven Cities of Cibola, is a myth that was popular in the 16th century and according to legend, the seven cities of gold could be found throughout the pueblos of the New Mexico Territory. The cities were Hawikuh, Halona, Matsaki, Quivira, Kiakima, Cibola, and Kwakina.
Fabulous stories of battle-rushed Spanish explorers, evading Ute marauders, stuffing cannons with gold and silver, and burying those treasures in the local hills — filled our days.
I learned later, of course, that Coronado never made it that far north, and didn't really have very good track record. And much of the real heavy lifting in the Spanish exploration work was accomplished by the 10-man party led by two Franciscan Friars Francisco Atanasio Dominguez and Silvestre Velez de Escalante, and guided somewhat, by Ute friendlies through the area in 1776.
But what about the buried cannons? The half-finished silver mines? And the seventh mythical city?
Coronado was severely disappointed by the lack of gold, but wrote that, "As far as I can tell, these Indians worship water, because it makes the corn grow and sustains their life."
About the pueblo, he reported that, although they are not decorated with turquoises, nor made of lime or good bricks, nevertheless they are very good houses, with three, four, and five stories, where there are very good apartments ... and some very good rooms underground, Kivas, paved, which are made for winter and have something like hot baths."
Others early Colorado explorers, like Antonio de Valverde, and Pedro de Villasur had similar results as Coronado did, to the east and south.
"Pushing beyond El Quarteledjo, Villasur's part explored the South Platte, which he named the Rio Jesus y Maria. They camped near junction of the North and South Platte' where the Pawnees, encouraged by the French, surprised the camp at dawn, killing Villasur and all but 13 of his party," according to "The Historical Atlas of Colorado," written by Thomas J. Noel, Paul F. Mahoney, and Richard E. Stevens.
In 1739, the brothers Paul and Pierre Mallet led the first recorded French expedition into Colorado. This was the earliest known crossing of the Great Plains from the Missouri River to Santa Fe, the Atlas reported.
"Threatened by French Excursions into the Southwest, Spain pursued further exploration and settlement."
"Juan Antonio María de Rivera (1738–?) was a Spaniard and the first Euro-American to intensively explore the territory that eventually became the state of Colorado. In 1765 he made two trips into western Colorado from New Mexico, traveling as far as the Gunnison River in Delta County. Along the way he interacted extensively with Ute- and Paiute-speaking Native Americans. His journals are the first detailed descriptions of these peoples."
Rivera’s travels have been summarized in the Spanish Exploration of Western Colorado, and according to recent writings of Steven G. Baker, of Colorado Enclopedia.
"The Spanish colony of New Mexico was founded in 1598, and its residents laid the very foundation of Colorado’s history. These peoples’ explorations and interactions with Native Americans characterize the earliest documented accounts of the Centennial State. Until the Mexican War for Independence in 1821, Colorado was part of the extensive Spanish territories governed by the colony.
"Rivera is suspected to have come to New Mexico from New Spain as part of the retinue of governor Don Tomás Vélez Cachupín, who began his second term as governor in 1762. While he does not appear to have been highly educated or a formally trained engineer, as some writers have indicated, the specific mining terms Rivera used in his journals suggest that he may have had some practical mining experience in New Spain," according to Baker.
Although Rivera has at times been referred to as “Captain” Rivera, there is no evidence that he was a professional military man. The governor, who would certainly have followed current protocols and customs in addressing Rivera, does not refer to him as either “captain” or “don” in his formal instructions to him. The lack of reference to him as “Don Rivera” indicates that Rivera was neither of high birth nor a member of the colony’s more favored elite class.
"During his second term in office, Governor Vélez Cachupín finally succeeded in making peace with the Utes of western Colorado, who gave him permission to search their territory for silver. Cachupín chose Rivera to lead two of these expeditions in 1765, the first in a series of expeditions into western Colorado. The first began in June. Rivera and his men traveled north from Abiquiu, New Mexico, to the Piedra Parada (Standing Rock)—known today as Chimney Rock—near present-day Pagosa Springs, Colorado. From there the party explored southwest Colorado and named several of the region’s rivers, including the Navajo, San Juan, Piedra, Piños (Pine), Florida, Animas, and Dolores Rivers. Near the Animas River they were supposed to meet a Ute man who would show them the way up to silver deposits in the La Plata (San Juan) Mountains; at first the man was nowhere to be found, but the party later met up with him, followed him into the mountains, and conducted an unsuccessful search for silver.
Rivera’s second expedition began in the fall of 1765 with the goal of crossing the Colorado River and investigating rumors of bearded people who supposedly lived on the other side, in the legendary region of Teguayo. It was during this expedition that Rivera left one of the oldest inscriptions in the western United States, carving his name into a cliff face in Roubideau Canyon, southwest of present-day Delta. Rivera exited the canyon and found the Gunnison River, but he never made it to the Colorado—the Utes he met while camping in the Uncompahgre valley told him the route was too dangerous. Rivera made no more entries in his journal once he left the Uncompahgre Valley. His expedition returned to New Mexico in November.
"By the mid-eighteenth century, the New Mexico colony had not grown and prospered like many of the other Spanish colonies farther south in what is now Mexico because, unlike New Spain’s more prosperous colonies, they had not found any silver deposits that could be easily mined. Based on silver specimens they obtained by trading with some Utes, the Spanish suspected silver to be present in the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado, 200 miles north of Santa Fé. This area was controlled by the Utes and was thus off-limits to the Spaniards, " wrote Steven G. Baker.
"In the 1750s, New Mexico had a bright and capable governor named Tomás Vélez Cachupín, who served two terms (1749–54 and 1762–67). He recognized that the colony would have to make peace with the Utes if it ever hoped to develop silver mines. He knew he could bring about a peaceful relationship if he would allow the Spaniards to begin trading with the Native Americans. If he could gain the Utes’ trust and make peace with them, he might be able to explore the San Juans and find the source of their silver."
Baker also tells of the Teguayo.
"According to an ancient Native American legend, Teguayo (pronounced TewaYO) was an unexplored land far to the north of the colony near a large lake. It was said to be beyond the mountains, the territory of the Utes, and the then-uncharted Colorado River, which was known as the River Tizón. This land was supposedly the home of a variety of Native American people who spoke many different languages," he says.
"These people were said to include a strange kind of white people who grew long beards and looked more like Europeans than Native Americans. The Spanish authorities in New Mexico were afraid that these strange bearded people might be Frenchmen or Russians who were encroaching on their territories. They therefore considered it necessary to find out who these strange people were and to determine if they posed any threat to the colony. The Spaniards could not go to Teguayo, however, until peace had been made with the Utes."
Thursday, August 29, 2019
A bird, a plant, or mountain streams?
Three different takes on how the name developed
By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.comIn the holy trinity of story telling, the fables of how the Sangre de Cristo mountains were christened drifts across the centuries, though different cultures, and into different languages and traditions. Will C. Febril, of the Rocky Mountain Herald lays it out this way, as reprinted in Wet Mountain Tribune, June 28, 1912.
"The more popular legend associated with the name of the Sangre de Cristo ( Blood of Christ ) mountains in Colorado is based on the story that the early Spaniards found in this picturesque and beautiful range, springs of crimson colored water. Another legend, also of Spanish origin, is founded on the discovery of a cruciform, red flower , that blooms near timber line . Still another , the newest to me, and associated with Spanish lore, is the legend of a bird, a beautiful songster, with a crimson head and breast. The Sangre de Cristo mountains extending from near Salida, southeast, separating the San Luis and Wet Mountain valleys, both as a range and in the formation of its peaks , some with an elevation of more than 14,000 feet, have a clearness of outline that charms and, delights the tourist," wrote Febril, more than a century ago.
These massive and awe-inspiring mountains, stand out with such distinctness that they may be seen from several branches of the Denver & Rio Grande Railway, as its trains rush through gorges and canons, or cross the timber-lined passes. Seemingly over in sight, it is not strange that, so constant in the vision of the Spanish explorers, that the richest of legend and lore should be connected with their name — Sangre de Cristo. Febril tells of how he came by the stories.
Bird Legend
"I first heard the bird legend, in the following way, when curator of the state Historical and Natural History Society of Colorado. Once, when in field work for the museum of that society at the State House, I spent a winter s day and night, near timberline, on one of the highest ranges of the Rocky Mountains, in Colorado. I was collecting birds, and a study of these species whose habitat is in the regions where amid the storms and blizzards that sweep the continental crest, they struggle for food and assistance . I was especially interested in the leucostiste, known as rosy finches, and in the vernacular of the trainman and mountaineers, sometimes called the little red snow birds . Returning to the home where I was stopping, after a hard day struggle with the elements and snow bunks, the wife of the mountaineer, on learning the nature of my work, related to me tho interesting legend, also said to to be of Spanish origin, of the Sangre de Cristo bird. She explained that her informant was an old time mining man in the southwest, whose work, and interests had brought- him into frequent contact with Spanish settlements, where he heard the story.
According to the legend, it is associated with the crucifixion. All nature was in sorrow, in which bird life was in sympathy. There was a bird inour-southwest, dull in - color, but a glorious songster. It ceased its song and lowered its head in- grief and shame. When its head was raised it was found that that noble head had become crimson, as well as its throat and breast. The coloration had become that of the crucified Christ, but the glory and beauty of its song remained. Such was the lore attached to it to it by the Spaniards , and they named it the Sangre de Cristo bird. The description us given by my informant would apply to several species.
Flower Story
The flower story of the Sangre de Cristo has heen told by John Shepherd, for many years connected with-the daily press of Denver, and a well known writer on the Rocky Mountain News. He wrote a poem on the Sangre de Cristo , published in the Denver monthly Commonwealth Magazine in the issue of April, 1889, with the following instruction:
In the mountains of Colorado, particularly in the southern range, there blooms far up near timber-line, a beautiful but strange flower which the early Spanish explorers have named Sangre de Cristo, or Blood of Christ. It is a plant ten or twelve inches in height, the leaves of which are arranged about the stalk in the form of a cross, surmounted at the top with a crimson blood-like crest. It invariable attracts the attention of the traveler over the mountains. The range, known as the Sangre de Cristo derived its name from this flower, which there grows in profusion.
Far up on heights in, regions of the mist.
Where silvery-lakes, by shadowy spectres kissed,
Sleep calmly near eternal banks of snow —
The source of the life, which blooms so sweet below;
Touch'd with the sheen of sunlight, changing skies,
Midst nature's scarce disturbed paradise;
Where hardy pines scarce essay to grow,
And hardier oaks are stunted, weak and low ;
Where mountain gorge and canon, faraway,
Whose darken'd depths do scarce reflect the day,
And distant cascade, leaps some dark abyss,
But scarce disturbs the mighty loneliness;
Where trail of miners leads to hidden wealth.
By nature stored, as if by miser stealth;
There hides this sacred plant, this Blood of Christ,
As it 'twere, a solmn penitential tryst
Thy crimson crest, like drops of holy blood,
Which from some sacred form had erstwhile flowed,
With emerald foliage cruciform
In glowing sunlight shining soft and warm
Gleams with a humble, solemn beauty there,
Fairest and best of all these flowers so rare;
Blest, brightest emblem of a martyred God
Whose ebbing life-blood stained once earth sod,
The early Spaniards, with religious love
Or inspiration, born of realms above,
Have named thee well; and trailing o'er the slope,
Many a traveler s breast s been filled with hope
And faith he gazing on thy sign of heaven,
And blessing thee for cheer 'thoust given.
Shepherd's poem is also credited, in a little different form, published in the May, 1883 of the Grand Army Magazine of Denver, when Will Visscher was its editor.
Crimson water tale
The old water legend is equally interesting in its religious signification and lore.
Narrated in brief, a party of early Spanish explorers, who are said to have discovered these mountains, and when in that range, came upon springs of water, colored crimson, percolating through porous red rock.
Hence, the name Sangre de Cristo Mountains .
This is the common story—linked with geology.
But what significance should be given to the Sangre de Cristo bird? May not ornithology claim something as to the origin of the name of these mountains? The Sangre de Cristo flower may be able the botanist to set forth a still further calm. When the three legends are considered, the question may as well be asked: Was the inspiration that named this beautiful range suggested by a bird, flower, or crimson water?
Photo Info:
The Sangre de Cristo mountain range rises above the dunes. Photo by Steve Peterson, Rocky Mountain News. 2007.