Community of Flat Top

Flat Top, Colorado

The community of Flat Top was located near the four corners of Lincoln, Arapahoe, Elbert and Washington counties meet.  Situated at the base of the mountain that it took its name from, it was a Post Office, General Store combination.  The first Flat Top Post Office was located in a ranch house about 4 miles north.  With the opening of the store the PO was moved. 

Way back in the early 1900’s there was a good collection of homesteaders in the area to support the little sore and the other businesses that popped up.  Like so many little communities on the High Plains, the Dust Bowl blew many off their land and today it is pretty empty country. 

Today there are a few ranches in the area and the bovines keep the prairie grass mown.  Traffic on the highway flies past going down hill and the south bounders begin climbing up the hill.  On the high plains the 7500 foot hill is just a big hill, not a small mountain.  Because over that a way are the snow capped peaks of the Rockies.  The big mound of dirt called Flat Top is just that, a big hill, an elevation of around 6000 feet.

To the south was the Railroad and many of the local farmers went to Genoa, rather then going over the hill to Limon.  Going around the hill was easier then going over it.  One of the farmers, when he hauled his grain to town, would stop and fill up with coal for the home trip.  That winter he had coal to sell to his neighbors. 

Short distance away was Walks Camp and the Churches that many attended.  To the West were the Breaks.  Here were cool woods, small streams and plentiful wildlife.  The site of many summer family outings.  It was also the hiding grounds of a small band of Indians that did not want to go the Reservation.  By estimates, they were able to avoid the government until WWII. 

It was a land of many faces that held a great allure until the drought of the 30’s reared its ugly head.  Many did cling to their land and survived the dust storms and today their ancestors still live in the area working the land. 

The old highway winds across the face of the hill.  

Chaco Canyon

 

The Four Corners area of the US is loaded with ancient Indian mysteries.  Situated in the northwestern corner of New Mexico is Chaco Canyon one of the most extensive collections of ancient mysteries.  There was a variety in cultures that built there yet they are referred to as Anasazi Indians, a term meaning the “Ancient Ones.”  Not a tribe but a question mark and a label was hung on them for a reference point. 

Wandering through the area, there is a variety of construction styles.  The keyholes of Mexico, Cliff dwellings, Pit Houses, fine masonry work with chinking and large hewn stone work.  The styles indicating different tribal work or cultures. 

One thing that remains the same, the answers are no clearer then they were decades ago when I first visited.  The scientists still speculate on what they have found, based on the neighboring Pueblo Indians.  Even within them are a large variety of people and cultures.  So one can be a scientist and speculate and put their opinion forth as fact. 

I spent a week at Chaco over 30 years ago, pre digital and took hundreds of slides.  I have been scanning some of them and they bring sack moments from years past.  When I was there, an archeologist and some of his students were there excavating a set of pit houses.  I was able to visit with them and watch them work as they removed small pieces of various artifacts.  How they would remove parts from a fire pit to measure for dating.  The separation of various relics and how they recorded their finds.  They had traced this village of pit houses across the floor and about 600 years of evolution and their changes. 

This small group of houses was contemporary with the larger nearby Pueblo Bonito.  One of the speculations was that the Indians that inhabited these little huts were slaves of the Indians that were in the larger pueblo.  In the middle ages slavery was not unusual.  Capture weaker people, get them to build the large castle/pyramid and be the servants.  A recorded history is not available so theories are put forth based on other observations.  Then Indian slavery messes with the myth of the noble Indian. 

Scattered across the area are hundreds of little villages.  Some are excavated, most are rubble piles.  Late 1800’s-early 1900’s the Wetherill brothers came out here and scrounged the Indian ruins.  Digging out pots and other artifacts, sending them back east for sale.  The sale of these ancient pots financed their diggings in the Four Corners area and kind of left an ugly scar on many of the ruin sites.  Lots of what the brothers recovered ended up in Europe and there was not much cataloguing of what was shipped where and where it was found. 

Yet there were enough untouched ruin sites, reconstruction has been pretty accurate and the stabilization helps to preserve the ruins.

The Kivas are as varied as the rest of the canyon.  During the solstice and equinox they resonate with the visitors who have mystical aspirations of the ancient tribes. 

When I visited, the Sun Dagger had not been discovered.  Today many of the ruins sites are now called observatories.  The measurement of time was used with markers, noting the suns passing.  How sophisticated were these Indians?

The pictures are of organized rock piles.  In the day of occupation, the rocks were plastered.   Mud was applied to the walls, filling the chinks creating a well insulated dwelling.  The Kivas were decorated with sand paintings.  The archeologists found a Kiva with sand painting still on the walls.  With meticulous care, they peeled off 10 layers of different paintings covering a couple of centuries. 

A catch all category for the unknown is religious use.  And the kiva gets put into that category.  The items found in them become religious objects that were used in religious ceremonies.  It is interesting how things are labeled when they are not really sure.  It raises more questions and speculation.  Then that is the fun of the visit, then go to the museum of Anasazi history at the University.  Questions are cleared up and new ones arise. 

The park service has changed their perception and scope over the years.  Things that were talked about years ago are now gone for they mess with the myth that has been created.  Answers to the questions will probably never be found.  A mystery that many will look at and speculate on.  There is some substance and there is fiction t ofit an agenda.  Separate out the reality form the illusion. 

One of the collest collections of ghost towns to wander through and ponder.

Indian Burial/Pyres …..

 

It is interesting how things get twisted and distorted for personal selfishness.  Living in the middle of the Wild West Indian country I see a lots of it.Back in the early 1800’s the land around here was declared a reservation.  With the onslaught of gold seekers, settlers and other types, the reservation was forgotten.  The railroad got lots of the Indian land, the ranchers, then the homesteaders.   All settled on Indian land, it became their property, not the Indians. 

Over the years, various Indian groups have used this to leverage things from the government.  One of their  favorite tools was to declare certain spots of land, Sacred Ground or burial ground.  In most cases it has worked.  The apologists have given into the Indian demands.  Yet on close investigation, it was found there were no Indians buried there and there were no artifacts in the area.  They did find the bones of children the Indians had killed from an attack on the European settlers….. oops.

Yet when one thinks about things, very few Indians buried their dead.  Most of the dead were cremated, a funeral pyre.

This barren empty prairie at one time was covered with buffalo and the sand creek had warder in it.  Here the Indians would camp out hunting buffalo.  The buffalo was a mainstay for the Indians survival.  Not only did it provide meat, the buffalo was also shelter and warmth in the winter. 

Besides the Indians following the buffalo, the wolves did also.  The wolves would cull out the weak and sick buffalo and if they could a buffalo calf.  If the Indian hunt was successful, the wolves would circle around wanting a part of an easy meal.

It was a dangerous life on the plains.  There were dangers and the Indian would meet his demise at the hands of many things, raging animals, bad food, snake bites or.  Rather then bury their dead and hope the wolves don’t dig them up.  They would cremate them  The funeral pyre was a ritual for the Indian family.  It also protected their dead family members from being gnawed up by wolves.

So when burial sites are mentioned, I question the veracity of the statement.  Oh, yes there are burial sites that have been found.  Yet what the archeologists have unearthed looks more like a dumping pile, mass gravesite.  A few have been elaborate burials, IE, a chief, brave warrior or medicine man. 

The lone tree over there, is a at a small spring.  In the area, thousands of artifacts have been found, spear points, scrapers, grinders and the quintessential arrowhead.  Up on the hill can be seen the fence line of the rancher.  On the banks of the river on can imagine the Indian sitting on the hill side watching the buffalo graze.  Chipping away hat his arrowheads, fletching the arrows, attaching the arrow tips to the shaft, getting ready for the big hunt. 

Nearby is his family doing the same.  Soon down below there will be a stealth hunt of the buffalo.  Arrows at close range, driving into the hide of the buffalo(s), Soon the beast collapses to the ground.  Spear in hand, the Indian runs up, driving the spear point deep into the buffalos chest.  He goes off to help his family with their kill.  Soon there are mounds laying on the ground.  The women scurry over to begin helping with the processing of the buffalo. 

The hide is removed and stretched to dry and tan.  The meat is stripped off to dry or for pemmican.  Near by the wolves are circling and sniffing.  Soon it will be a battle with the wolves.  Some distance away is an isolated buffalo, skinned.  It is left for the wolves to gnaw on and also make easy targets for the Indian's arrow.  On far ridge can be seen smoke rising from a pyre.