Green
Knoll
Green
Knoll was a settler’s community. Located
in the southern part of Lincoln County, CO.
It is one of the most sparsely populated areas of Colorado, about one
person for every 10 square miles. During
the early 1900’s it was homestead land where one could pursue their
dreams.
When
there is moisture in the land, it looks bountiful and productive ground. Then it forgets to rain and the land becomes
parched. Yet the knoll the school house
was located on was green. The rolling
land would stretch out like a green carpet after it rained. For the early settler it was enticing.
Homes
were built, there were families with children.
Times were plentiful, with optima a school was built and a Post Office
was located in the farm home across the road.
Then the Dust Bowl struck, dreams were dashed and blown away.
People
fled the land that was no longer productive and today there are a few that hung
on still work the land. The few ranch
homes in the area are miles apart. Yet
on the Knoll that was Green, the remains of the school house can be seen and
across the road is where the Post Office had been.
For
the few people that venture into the area, consider it lonely. The few that remain, this is home. The wide open vacant land that stretches to
the horizon is where they make their living.
The rolling pastures are their offices.
The
occasional critter dies and their bleached bones are laid out across the prairie. Over on far horizon can been seen a windmill. Sitting in silence, a monument to man to make
a living on the land.
Years
ago before the Dirty Thirties, this
was the land of hopes and dreams and people traveled out here to live. Today, people would ask why. Well one has to understand the conditions
the people in Europe were living in at that time.
So
my little pickup goes bouncing down the dusty country road looking for more
lost dreams.
