Norton

Norton Colorado

            Norton is like many of the little Post Offices that served the early settlers on the Colorado High Plains.  It was located in a ranch house and probably took its mane from the rancher.  Small communities would grow up in the area and sometimes retain the name. 

            Today the land is pretty empty, a few trees and sheds mark where homes had once been.  Here at Norton, there was a small cemetery, which is still used.  When I pulled off the road to take some pictures, a car pulled up and stopped.  A youngster walked up and said hi, I returned his greetings.  He said I could walk out there it was okay, I replied no thanks for I did not have my boots on for tromping in the weeds.  So I took my pictures and listened to him chatter away. 

            Pointing towards the back of the grave yard, he said that is my brother’s best friend buried back there, the cross made of horseshoes.  Looking quizzical, I asked him, what happened, expecting him to relate an accident of some type.  Instead he said it was something wrong with his heart, my brother’s friend was 13 when he died.  That was a loop I wasn’t expecting.  We talked a bit longer about the country side and then he went on down the road and I went about taking more pictures of the area. 

            Norton is located along the Palmer Divide area in Eastern Colorado, elevation 6500-7000 feet.  The winters can be pretty cold and harsh and the spring storms pretty nasty, hail falling like snow.  At this elevation there is not a long growing season for farming, so it is ranching in the area.  There are thick woods that line vast rolling meadows, making for great grazing for the bovines. 

            Tucked back in one of the meadows is a ranch house that probably housed the Norton Post Office.  I found the cemetery first sand it was not until I did some research that found out there had been a Post Office nearby.