Ranch
on the River
Wandering along the dirt roads leads
to adventure, hopefully. Any this
roaming trip took me to an unusual setting.
A ranch house that was sitting on the edge of the river. Not up on the banks like most homes but down
next to the river. Today it doesn’t look
like much of a river. Much of the Republican
River has dried up in Eastern Colorado. Prior
to 1900 the Republican was gushing little stream flowing over the plains. With water wells, farming much of the water
for springs has went other places. The
drought of a few years ago did not help, many of the springs dried up and have
not came back.
Years ago the river would flood from
severe rainstorms and water would stretch across the valley in a raging
torrent. The flood of 1935 was probably
one of the nastiest floods on the prairie.
In some places the river was three to four miles wide and 50-100 feet
deep. Washing away homes, animals and
anything not real secure. Looking at the
river today it would be hard to imagine a torrent stretching across the way to
the far hills side. The flood waters
were probably lapping at the edge of the little house on the river.
The Republican was the highway for
the early European explorers. The
Indians had been traveling along these routes for centuries, so when they
guided the white man, they followed their known trails. This area of Eastern Colorado was a part of
the Louisiana Purchase. Early 1600’s the
French had established a trading post in Western Nebraska on the Republican
River. Along the river the French
trappers could follow, trapping and trading with the locals.
The French Territory, butted up next
to Spanish lands. The Spainish would send out patrols to check
on the French. Traveling north out of
New Mexico, the Spanish would use the Republican River route to journey to the
French outpost in Nebraska. What looks
like barren void country today, centuries ago was a busy route on the
plains. As more explorers showed up, the
river route became a busy thoroughfare across the empty land.
After the Louisiana Purchase, Lieutenant
Zebulon Pike followed the Republican River across Kansas into present day
Colorado. Eventually this portion of the
river would be the route the Leavenworth and Pikes Peak Stage lines would
use. The Stage line operated coaches in
pairs with teams of four mules hauling the coaches across the country.
Along the river the stage line
operated numerous stage stations the keep the mules fresh and the coaches
moving westward. If you could go back in
time to 1859 you would of probably met Horace Greely on his westward sage ride
through here. They also operated freight
trains along the river road. 50-100
wagons could be seen on occasion trekking along the wagon road. They would be pulled with oxen, a draught of
two yoke of ox and the bullwhacker. Steadily
the freight would move over the land, the bullwhacker silently walking beside
his double yoke of ox. There would be a
small herd of extra oxen and men traveling along with the wagons. Conjure up and image when the train would
stop for camp.
With the advent of more railroads
crossing the land, wagon roads like this became obsolete and are now but in memories.
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