G. Eldon Smith's Blog: My Thoughts

The following is taken from a pamphlet that is available at Castlewood Canyon State Park. The park lies a few miles east and south of Castle Rock, Colorado. The booklet describes events leading up to and the flood that followed a break in the Castlewood Dam through the memories of eye witnesses.
The Night the Dam Gave Way
A Diary of Personal Accounts
Castlewood Dam was built in 1890. It took 335 men and 180 teams of horses and mules, and 11 months to construct the Dam in a manner which was typical of the time. The reservoir had a capacity of 5,300 acre feet of water from damming Cherry Creek. The Dam was 600 feet long and 70 feet tall, 50 feet wide at it's base and 8 feet wide at the top. The reservoir safety was controversial from the beginning. There were early cracks caused by shifts in the floor at the base of the dam from the pressure and the weight of the water.
W.F. Alexander, of the Denver Water Storage Company, called the allegations "spite work"" and said that even if the dam gave way there would be no flood because the water would spread out over the 45 miles it would take to get to Denver. On the other hand, assistant city engineer Andrew Ryan said, "I do not want to say anything that will hurt the company and I do not want to frighten the people along the creek, but everything is not as I should like to see it." So the arguments went on for years until 1933.
The summer of 1933 brought heavy rains. On August 2 it rained on ground that was already soaked from previous rains storms. Hugh Paine, the caretaker and his wife who lived on the site said, "I could tell the dam was breaking up because of the wall of water that pouring over the top. I tried to telephone but the lines were out. My neighbor Ed Hall and I knew the residents in the valley and in Denver had to be warned before the main body of the dam went out.
"We started for Castle Rock (the nearest town). The 12 miles seemed many times that far, but we made it and reached the telephone exchange and that was all that mattered."
At Castle Rock, Paine called the Denver police and Mr. and Mrs. August Deepe and Nettle Driskill telephone operators at Parker, Colorado.
Anna Ruehle Sinton wrote, "The phone rang while it was still dark in the early morning. It was the telephone operators warning that everyone should go to high ground as the Castlewood Dam had collapsed. My parents got us dressed and we drove to the top of the hill near Forest and Alameda. By that time it was getting light and we were able to see the first signs of the flood coming down Cherry Creek.. It carried debris of all types, as well as uprooted trees."
All of the lower parts of Denver were flooded and two people were killed along with some farm animals that couldn't escape.
It is a short hike to the remnants of the washed out dam. If you can't go, you can call the Castlewood Canyon State Park to get the booklet of witnesses' memories of the event for $3.00.
Go to: Franktown, CO or
Call: 303-688-5242 or
email: castlewood.canyon@state.co.us

Two Miles High and Six Feet Under
Speaking of reading material, Two Miles High and Six Feet Under is a page-turner. Here is what Tom Noel PHD author of 41 books on the Highest State, said about the first Andrew Coyle mystery Murder in the Rockies.
"You should enjoy this engrossing mystery enriched by Smith's love of Colorado's natural beauty, and his ability to bring characters to life. -Thomas "Doctor Colorado" Noel.
Available on Amazon and Kindle or through any of the electronic book retailers.

Salute to Women's Month
Quote
I love to see a young girl go out and grab the world by the lapels. Life's a bitch. You've got to go out and kick some ass -Maya Angelou

Colorado Women's Hall of Fame
Since 1985 the Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame has inducted 152 women of various races, backgrounds, economic levels, career choices, political philosophies, and religious beliefs united by their outstanding contributions to society.
The lives of these extraordinary women are shining examples of what can be achieved with passion, commitment, spirit, and the willingness to stand tall in the face of obstacles. They are trailblazers, visionaries, women of courage, glass-ceiling breakers, innovators, and rule changers in all walks of life. Their contributions span Colorado’s colorful and storied history,

The Hall inducted six contemporary women and four historical women at the March 2018 Induction Gala:

Leslie Foster – Non Profit Leader and Activist, President of The Gathering Place
For nearly 30 years, Leslie has devoted her career and her outside activities to transforming the lives of women, children, and people who are transgender by providing positive relationships, resources and a community of support.

Gerie Grimes – Early Childhood Education activist/Non Profit leader – The Hope Center
Gerie Grimes has dedicated and committed her life to the needs of others (especially women and women of color of all ages), building community and using her voice to be a strong advocate for the voiceless.

Susan Helms – Military, Astronaut
The first U. S. military woman in space, Susan Helms is a retired Air Force lieutenant general (LTG) and astronaut who was a crew member on four space shuttle missions, holds the world record for the longest space walk (8 hours and 56 minutes), and was the first woman to serve on the International Space Station (ISS).

Dorothy Horrell – Educator and Community Builder, Chancellor of the University of Colorado Denver.
As a community college president, leader of the state system of community colleges, foundation executive, chair of a higher education governing board, and now university chancellor, Dorothy Horrell has a proven record of transformative leadership.

Fay Matsukage – Law/Asian Activist
Fay Matsukage is an accomplished attorney with a reputation for professionalism and integrity who has dedicated her life and career to furthering the interests of women and those of Asian Pacific descent.

Gail Schoettler – Banking, Government and Women’s Activist
Gail Schoettler was the first woman to be both Colorado’s Lt. Governor (elected in 1994) and State Treasurer (from 1987 to 1994). She narrowly lost the election to be Colorado’s governor in 1998. She founded a group called Women Electing Women supporting candidates running for Governor and U.S. Senator roles. Her latest venture eGlobal Education promotes travel to business people and corporations to develop international business, experience, knowledge, and contacts.

Plus these four Historical Women

Mae Boettcher – Community Activist, Philanthropist – The Boettcher Foundation
Long-standing Colorado resident, Mae Boettcher influenced our state and its citizens as a culture-altering pioneer – a figure who led Colorado in its transition from cow-town days into an era of sophistication through her dedication to higher education, championing children’s and women’s healthcare, and her selfless philanthropy.

Ellis Meredith – Journalist/Women’s Suffrage
Ellis Meredith is often called the “Susan B Anthony of Colorado” as she was a leader in the women’s suffrage movement in Colorado who also worked nationally for the women’s vote after Colorado gained suffrage in 1893.

Doreen Pollack – Speech pathologist/Audiologist/Educator of the Deaf- The Listen Foundation
The impact of Doreen Pollack’s method for teaching children who are deaf to listen and talk has literally been “heard” around the world. She was a true pioneer in the field of speech pathology and audiology at a time when the medical community did not believe anything could be done for the profoundly deaf child.

Amache Prowers – Community Builder, Land, and Cattle Owner
Amache (Walking Woman) “Amy” Ochinee Prowers was a full-blooded member of the Southern Cheyenne tribe, born in 1846 in the eastern Plains of what is now Colorado. She and her husband John Wesley Prowers operated a successful cattle-ranching and mercantile business at Boggsville, one of the region’s earliest American settlements, to which Amache contributed her own land, labor, and skills.

-from the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame website

The Joke is on us.
Why do men need sports action replays 30 seconds after the event?
Because they’ve forgotten what happened.

What’s the smartest thing a man can say?
“My wife says….”

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Classic April Fool Jokes not to be forgotten
according to iPage The Top 100 April Fool's Day Hoaxes of All Time

April 1, 1977: San Serriffe, a small republic consists of several semi-colon-shaped islands located in the Indian Ocean. Its two main islands were named Upper Caisse and Lower Caisse. Its capital was Bodoni, and its leader was General Pica. The Guardian's phones rang all day as readers sought more information about the idyllic holiday spot. Only a few noticed that everything about the island was named after printer's terminology.

April 1, 1996: The Taco Bell Corporation took out a full-page ad that appeared in six major newspapers announcing it had bought the Liberty Bell and was renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell. Hundreds of outraged citizens called the National Historic Park in Philadelphia where the bell was housed to express their anger. Their nerves were only calmed when Taco Bell revealed, a few hours later, that it was all a practical joke.

April 1, 1950: Motorists driving along the scenic Rim of the World highway near Lake Arrowhead in Southern California encountered something remarkable. All the pine and cedar trees lining the road had grown oranges overnight. The transformation turned out to be the work of the residents of the nearby town of Skyforest, led by the cartoonist Frank Adams. They had crept out during the night and strung 50,000 oranges in the trees along a one-mile section of the highway. The fruit was left over from the recent National Orange Show in San Bernardino.

April 1, 1992: National Public Radio's Talk of the Nation revealed that Richard Nixon, in a surprise move, was running for President again. His new campaign slogan was, "I didn't do anything wrong, and I won't do it again." Nixon's voice was impersonated by comedian Rich Little.

Spring Snow Storms
Late March and early April snow has helped extend Spring Skiing. (No Joke)

Rockies 2 Phoenix 1
Finally, on the third try Colorado Rockies won a game from the Phoenix Diamond Back. Next up for the Rockies, the San Diego Padres.

Quotes
Skiing combines outdoor fun with knocking trees down with your face.
-Dave Barry

You won't get hurt skiing if you don't fall.
-Warren Miller

It is better to go skiing and think of God, than go to church and think of sport.
-Fridtjof Nansen

Colorado Skiing
Arapahoe Basin was the first ski area to open the 2017-18 season. The ski area was first opened in 1946 with two lifts, a rope tow and trails at an estimated $150,000. A-Basin, as it called, is located on the eastern side of Loveland pass at an elevation of 11,900 feet above sea-level in the Rocky Mountains of north-central Colorado. On the western side of Loveland Pass is the A-Basin's rival Loveland Ski area. They vie to see which will be first to open and which will stay open the longest.

Last year In the 2016-17 ski season Arapahoe opened October 21 and Loveland opened November 10. Closing was another matter. Loveland closed May 7 and Arapahoe Basis won again closing June 11. This season Arapahoe has done it again when they opened first.October 13. Hundreds of skiers did care not which opened first. They just wanted to be there opining day...A-Basin.

Forecasters are saying this will be a great ski season. Not only longer than normal, but also plenty of snow in a La Nina year, La Nina weather pattern provides plenty of snow in the mountains while the low-lands stay warm and dry. Let us hope that's true.

One to think about
A husband and wife were driving through Louisiana. As they approached the town of Natchitoches, they started arguing about the pronunciation of the town name. They argued back and forth, until they stopped for lunch. At the counter, the husband asked the waitress, "Before we order, could you please settle an argument for us? Would you please pronounce very slowly where we are ?" She leaned over the counter and said, "Burrr-gerrr Kiiing."


Excerpt from Two Miles High and Six Feet Under
In this chapter Sorensen the ski team captain is explaining to Coyle how to cross country ski.

“Step down on one foot and push off, slide the other foot forward and glide. That’s it, kick and glide, kick and glide. Pole with the right hand when you kick with the left foot,” Sorensen said.

With a final look of approval Sorensen departed saying, “Tulanski is leading the fast group. I’m going up to see how they are doing, but I’ll be back to help you get up the hill.”

Demonstrating with his ski, Sorensen said, “Going up the hill, toes apart, heels together, like this. You will leave marks in the snow like the ribs of a fish and you are the spine. That is why it is called a herringbone.”

“Going down the hill, you don’t want to go too fast. Be like a snowplow. Tips together, heels apart. The farther your heels are apart the more the snowplow will slow you.”

“Just follow the tracks in the snow, and you will be okay.” With that Sorensen sped away leaving Coyle feeling like he was standing still, which he was much of the time.

Coyle muttered. In frustration, he mumbled some other well-chosen words to himself.
Coyle wanted to ask how fast was too fast.

At the base of the first hill, Coyle was contemplating coming down. He was still pondering how fast was too fast. He was not worried about getting up the hill, but he should have.


One for the Road
I used to be addicted to soap, but I'm clean now.

Leaves dancing on the asphalt dance floor
steady wind invites even more
to join the reckless waltz
that says Autumn is real
reports of winter coming are not false.
- G. Eldon Smith

National Hispanic Heritage Month

September 15 to October 15 is celebrated as Hispanic Heritage Month. There is no better place to start a study of Hispanic heritage in Colorado than the town of San Luis, Colorado's oldest continuously occupied town in the state. Some people in San Luis can trace their family back sixteen generations in the town.

Many who were interviewed for TV said, "I didn't cross the border. The border crossed me." Meaning their family moved to San Luis before there was a state of Colorado. When Colorado became a state the boundary was drawn with San Luis within Colorado and the United States.

Today, 55 million people or 17% of the American population are of Hispanic or Latino origin. This represents a significant increase from 2000, which registered the Hispanic population at 35.3 million or 13% of the total U.S. population. The population of around 750 in San Luis is largely Mexican American - Hispanic.

Picture

Picture

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On April 9, 1851, Hispano farmers established San Luis, Colorado and today San Luis is the County Seat for Costilla County. Located in south central Colorado near the New Mexico border, the San Luis Valley has been home to several different groups, one of the many reasons it holds historic significance for Colorado and the nation.

San Luis is most famous for it's version of the Twelve Stations of the Cross. It was the attraction that drew us for a visit.

Picture
Very impressive. Each station makes one think. A very solemn walk up the mountain. Regardless of beliefs the workmanship, the scenery, and the atmosphere can't help but move you.

Launch
The long promised launch of Two Miles High and Six Feet Under occurred yesterday and the real work of novel writing began. Marketing...the dreaded chore of getting people to notice your story.

The people of Leadville, Colorado in 1895-96 build a Palace made of ice. It is the centerpiece of a winter festival. A young lawyer, Andrew Coyle, is hired to audit the books of the community festival. Upon arriving in Leadville, he finds there is more to it than that. The arrival of his wife and daughter to enjoy the celebration further complicates the situation. Eventually Coyle concedes that two heads are better than one.

Available through Barnes and Noble, Amazon, or direct from the publisher, Outskirts Press.
Outskirts Press https://outskirtspress.com/bookstore

Puns
What do trees write on in the fall? Loose Leaf Paper.
Smaller babies are always delivered by stork, the larger ones by crane.
Yesterday a clown held the door open for me. I thought it was a nice jester.

Bad Jokes Are A Form Of Pun...ishment

A man just assaulted me with milk, cream and butter. How dairy.
A book just fell on my head. I’ve only got myshelf to blame.
If there was someone selling drugs here, weed know.
Don’t spell “part a” backwards! It’s a trap.
Ban pre-shredded cheese, let’s make America grate again!

Ticeratops Excavation Concluded
The excavation for a new police and fire department yielded a Triceratops skull 80% compete and 15% of the other body bones in Thornton, Colorado. Thornton is a northern Denver suburb named after a former Colorado Governor Dan Thornton of the 1950s.

Triceratops was a slow moving creature which made them a good food source for Tyrannous Rex. A Tyrannous tooth was also found in the excavation site. Those dinosaurs lived about 66 million years ago.

Joe Sertich the dinosaur curator at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science said, "I'm excited to start preparing everything we collected from the Thornton site and get started on the science. The fossils we've collected will help us build on our understanding of what the Thornton area was like 66 million years ago. The site has gone back to being a construction site and the bones are now being "prepared" for eventual display at the museum.

Colorado Fall Festivals
The Cedar Ridge Apple Fest, always the first week-end in October, is a small town festival celebrating the apple harvest. Cedar Ridge is in the shadow of the Grand Mesa, near Grand Junction, Colorado. The population of Cedar Ridge is less than 1,500.

You'll find every kind of crafts, jewelry, food, in the nearly 150 booths that line the main street. Not to mention the stars of the event ...the apples...mouth watering varieties like you've never tasted! Other activities include: Antique Tractor Show, Classic Cars, Motorcycles, Chili Cook Off, Golden Gala Dance,
5K Run, 2 Days of Live Music and lots of friends you never met before.

In another part of the state the Estes Park Elk Festival takes place September 30 - October 1. The village at the Eastern gate to Rocky Mountain National Park invites locals and visitors to observe the autumn rut season. Bull elk gather large harems of cow elk and try to keep other bulls from stealing the cows for their own harem. This activity takes place at twilight. DO NOT TRY TO GET CLOSE TO THE BULL ELK. THEY ARE EXTREMELY AGITATED AND DANGEROUS AT THIS TIME OF YEAR.

Meanwhile in town enjoy live music, Native American performances, educational seminars, elk-themed shopping, a beer garden & self-guided elk-viewing tours.All too often elk wander into town where they feel at home. You might even see an elk or twelve in somebody's front yard.
Join the other spectators as they scout the valley for large herds & competing bulls - exhibiting their rituals of bugles and battles! The elk bugle is a haunting sound you will not soon forget. Take part in the amateur elk bugling contest on Sunday.

With echoing elk calls, golden aspens and hot cider, autumn in the Rockies doesn't get any better than Estes Park! (As long as you stay back and take pictures with a long angle lens.).

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Puns
I wasn't originally going to get a brain transplant, but then I changed my mind.
I'd tell you a chemistry joke but I know I wouldn't get a reaction.
Have you ever tried to eat a clock? It's very time consuming.
A friend of mine tried to annoy me with bird puns, but I soon realized that toucan play at that game.

Englewood, Colorado History
Thomas Skerritt in 1860 established a home in the area south of Denver City. He is considered the founder of the city which he named Orchard Place. Four years later Skerritt used his plow to construct the first road connecting Orchard Place to Denver.
In 1883 a man named Thomas Dunn built a small feed store on, what is now, the corner of Quincy and Broadway. Across the way a land developer, James Cherry, bought a quarter section of land and began calling the area, and feed store, Cherrelyn. presumably in honor of a wife or daughter, In the year the Cherrelyn horse cart trolley track was laid. The Cherrelyn Horse Car took passengers from Broadway and Hampden up the hill to the shopping center at Cherrelyn (Broadway and Quincy).
The trolley was pulled by one of five horses, Quickstep, Frederick, Curly, Dobbin, and Old Dick, who took turns at the task. The trolley would make several stops along the way up the hill for passengers and upon arrival at the top the horse was disconnected then backed up a ramp and placed onto the trolley. When the shoppers were ready to return home, they would climb aboard the trolley and the conductor would give them and the horse a push. Gravity did the rest as passengers were whisked back down the hill to Broadway and Hampden. It is said that the trip took 15 minutes to get to the top and only 3 minutes to return back to the bottom.

Eventually,(1903) the necessity of a police force to control the area was undeniable The community voted to combine Orchard Place, Cherrelyn, and the area south of Yale and east of the railroads into a single city. They called the city Englewood, which meant "wooded nook."

Dinosaur Bones Discovered
Bones of a 66-million-year-old adult triceratops have been uncovered in a building construction site in the town of Thornton, Colorado. This is an unusual discovery because the triceratops skull is in tact, which is rare. Thornton is a suburb north of Denver.

Joe Sertich, dinosaur curator at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science,said in a live Facebook interview, "The bones found in Thornton also appear to be disaggregated, So this triceratops," he surmised,"may have died and lain on the ground for a few days or weeks."

"They knew what they found the moment they hit it,” Seritich said. “They stopped what they were doing, they recognized it as a significant and really important fossil. And they called the right people.” Sertich has praised the construction crew that made the find. Too often, it's unclear to the untrained eye the magnitude of what's been found, so workers just carry on with the task at hand, destroying or building over important history in the process.

Eventually, the property will house a new facility for Thornton's police and fire departments. "It appears to be a comprehensive find, " said Todd Barnes, Thornton's communications director. It is hoped most if not all of the dinosaur's full skeleton will be recovered. Already, the dinosaur's horns and its shoulder bones have been located

Quotes etc.
The fattest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.

I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.

A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class, because it was a weapon of math disruption.

No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.

A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.

Bent's Fort
In 1833 the Bent brothers, William and Charles along with their business partner, Ceran St. Vrain, started construction on an adobe fort on the north bank of the Arkansas River, the international boundary between Mexico and the United States near where La Junta is located today. Lumber was scarce on the plains so they turned to adobe as an alternative. In the arid Southwest, adobe was the perfect building material.

Between the years of 1833 – 1850 Fort William or Bent’s Fort as it would later be called would become an important commercial hub of the Santa Fe Trail. In its hey-day, Bent's Fort, was the only outpost of civilization between Independence, Missouri and Santa Fe, Mexico.

Bent's Fort was a busy place, employing about 60 men. The Bent-St. Vrain Company built the original fort on this site to trade with plains Indians and trappers. The adobe fort quickly became the center of the Bent, St.Vrain Company's expanding trade empire that included Fort St.Vrain to the north and Fort Adobe to the south, along with company stores in Mexico at Taos and Santa Fe.The primary trade was with the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians for buffalo robes.

Events
*Fur Trade Encampment - October 7-8, 2017
The trading post comes to life as we celebrate the trappers, traders and tribes associated with the fur trade in the Southwest during the 1830s and 1840s. Fifty or more living history volunteers demonstrate 19th century skills at the fort and in camps set up along the Arkansas River.

Sage Grouse Habitat
After weeks of our thoughts about Sage Grouse, readers may be getting tired of what My Thoughts has to say about the subject. Below are some excerpts of an editorial in The Denver Post 8/25/2017.

"US Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke undid five years of hard work and collaboration when he changed existing habitat protection rules for the Greater Sage Grouse to favor of captive breeding and population targets approach. Zinke should know that captive breeding of endangered and threatened species misses the point. If a population of birds has nowhere to live, breed and flourish, hitting a population number through captive breeding is futile and unsustainable."

The populations of the bird have struggled, dropping from millions to somewhere between 200,000 and 500,000. Let's not let the population follow the route of the black-footed ferret where captive breeding is struggling to reacquaint our prairies with a once-thought-extinct weasel..."

This what My Thoughts has been saying .for weeks and months.

When Insults Had Class
"He loves nature in spite of what it did to him." - Forrest Tucker.
"Why do you sit there looking like an envelope without any address on it?" - Mark Twain.
"His mother should have thrown him away and kept the stork." - Mae West.
"Some cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go." - Oscar Wilde.

Insults with class
“He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the dictionary.” –William Faulkner (about Ernest Hemingway)

"Poor Faulkner. Does he really think big emotions come from big words?" -Earnest Hemingway (about William Faulkner)

“I’ve had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn’t it.” –Groucho Marx

“I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it.”
-Mark Twain

Chipeta Queen of the Utes
At the Ute Indian Museum in Montrose, Colorado there in an honored spot is the grave of Chipeta. 1843-1924. Who was Chipeta?
When Chipeta was a baby, a band of Tabeguache Utes found her crawling in the ruins of a Kiowa Apache village, the only survivor of a savage attack. The Utes adopted her and raised her as their own. She learned bead work, to play the guitar, and she could sing in three languages.
After Chief Ouray's wife died he married Chipeta whose name means White Singing Bird. She became a confidant and advisor to the chief. She was the only woman allowed to attend tribal council meetings.When some bands of the Utes refused to allow Ouray to enter their village, Chipeta was welcomed. She was known as a peace maker and willing to give up almost anything to keep peace with the white settlers.
Chipeta was elected into the Colorado Woman's Hall of Fame in 1985. Recently a Colorado mountain larger and more visible than the one that previously bore her name was given the name Chipeta.


Sage Grouse at greater risk
As predicted, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke sided with gas and oil supporters to override the Endanger Species Act to open more land for mining and drilling. Interior Department officials are working to increase coal mining on public lands and increasing royalty payments in favor of coal mining companies.
The former plan which was developed over several years benefited nearly 350 species of birds and animals. States are allowed to raise Sage Grouse in captive breeding programs, but without suitable habitat the chicken-sized birds can not survive.

World Championship of Track and Field
Emma Colburn, a recent graduate of the University of Colorado, won the 3,000 meter steeplechase in the London World Track and Field Championships. Courtney Frerichs also an American finished second.

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