River
Bend
Situated on a bend in the river, the
RR stop had a logical name of River Bend.
Today River Bend is a vacant spot in a pasture next to the railroad
tracks. The Interstate has an exit sign
for the village that sat on the bend in the river. Old River Bend, Colorado is back west from
the Interstate exit a few miles behind the ridge. Old highway 40 outline can still be seen
following along the Interstate. South of
the exit are a few ranch houses, which is considered River Bend. To the north on the hill is the town
cemetery, a Boot Hill.
Outside of the exit sigh and
cemetery, River Bend is a paragraph in most history books and sometimes only a
sentence. Yet in the 1870’s it was an
important RR town on the plains of eastern Colorado. Here the buffalo hunters arrived by railcar
to safari into the nearby hills to hunt.
Colonel Reno used River Bend for his headquarters when General Custer’s
7th Calvary was assigned to protect the new railroad building across
the plains.
As a result, River Bend was a pretty
tumultuous town of saloons, brothels, and assorted characters. With the various early day conflicts, boot
hill had a good assortment of customers.
One of the locals at the museum talking about the cemeterary grimaced
when describing some the evil folks buried up there on the hill.
In the area are remains of the stage
stop, a military fort, ruts of the Smoky Hill Trail and assorted artifacts. Metal Calvary buttons, Indian arrowheads,
spent shell casings, wagon parts and rusted tin cans. During the mid 1860’s, it was a crossroads
for various trails/wagon roads going to the gold fields. It also was great buffalo hunting grounds for
the local Indians.
Flying down Interstate 70, River
Bend exit doesn’t get much more than a glance.
The lone tree on Boot Hill, goes unnoticed. Cattle dot the land, drifting along munching
grass as cars and trucks whiz by. It is
a pretty quiet scene. No more buffalo to
hunt, no more Indians to do battle with and the gun fighters RIP.
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