Re: Found? Irises
- To: Multiple recipients of list <i*@rt66.com>
- Subject: Re: Found? Irises
- From: M* H* <M*@worldnet.att.net>
- Date: Sat, 30 Aug 1997 01:48:02 -0600 (MDT)
Mark Cook wrote:
[snip]
> There is a possibility that there may have been an old homestead there
> many years ago, back during the early part of this century or even in
> the 1800's.
> Here in Kentucky, in the springs, old homestites can be
> identified by the presence of blooming Daffodils even though there may
> be no other sign of habitation ever having been there. Most likely,
> this is how those Irises got there.
Mark, I would agree with you except this particular canyon had no gold
or silver veins worth working so it was bypassed in the boom days of
mining here, it's very rocky & narrow thruout most of its length so
ranching & farming were never attempted to speak of, some timber cutting
has been done at various times but most of the big trees have always
been too hard to get to & way to hard to haul out, the railroad stopped
at the mouth of the canyon in the flatlands & not even a wagon road was
built thru the length of the canyon until the 1920's. Very little of the
land has *ever* been in private ownership & still isn't -- the spot
where I found the clump of irises is now county-owned & was either
federal or state before that. There's so little flat ground near enough
the creek for water (you can forget trying to hand-dig a well in that
granite!) that not even squatters have tried to live in very much of
Bear Creek Canyon, particularly the area I was hiking around on
Wednesday. So tis a puzzlement.
BTW the common clue to one-time habitation here is a sprawling clump of
bright orange Oriental poppies or a Harrison's yellow rosebush, blooming
away every spring long after the humans have gone & the cabin's burned
down or fallen in.
Marte in the mtns
Evergreen, Colorado
