Bent’s Fort Chapter Santa Fe Trail Association July 2013 Newsletter Boys Scouts on the Santa Fe Trail DON’T It began with an email from a La Junta city Pat at the cemetery in Holly where the work FORGET official saying that he had a request from a began. A cow rubbing on a stone post had These boy scout troop in Denver. The scouts broken it. Pat had the boys drag the unbro- Future wanted to earn a Heritage Badge and won- ken part to a new site where it was reset. Events dered if opportunities were available in He also gave them a tour of the cemetery southeastern Colorado. pointing out the graves of the children who died in the Towner bus tragedy. July 20: presentation on the Cherokee Trail August 17: tour of historic sites in Pueblo area September 20-22: SFTA Symposium, Ulysses, Kansas October 19: Bent’s New Fort NPS Way- side Exhibit Dedication The request was forwarded to Bent’s Fort November 1-3: Tour Chapter President Pat Palmer who immedi- After a meal of hot dogs at the Palmer in Taos, New Mexico ately invited the scouts to Lamar for a day house, the troop traveled to Hwy-196 of adventures. where the first of two Santa Fe Trail cross- ing signs was placed. Holes were dug, Inside this issue… signs assem- Boy Scouts on the Trail bled, and con- crete was Wamego Students on the poured. The Trail next sign was Colorado Youth Summit placed at Boggsville Work Day Prowers CR 19 where more Pinon Canyon Tour holes were dug Timpas-Hoehne Tour and signs planted. The final event was a The Cherokee Trail trip back to Pat’s house for wagon rides PCMS in the News Again Pat has invited the troop back next year for more work and adventures on the Santa Fe The Civil War in the Ar- Trail. Thanks, Pat, for helping the scouts kansas River Valley On Friday, May 24th, 15 scouts and 11 adult leaders from Denver Scout Troop # learn more about our historic trail and Colo- BFC News 376 arrived in La Junta and camped at the rado history. SFTA News Koshare Kiva. Saturday morning they met (continued on page 2) 2 Bent’s Fort Chapter Feeds Students on the Santa Fe Trail Postscript to On June 2, the tour rolled into Lamar and Bent’s Fort Chap- Story on Page 1 ter members were ready to feed them. Pat Palmer, Shirley Pampus, La Donna Hutton, Bonnie Ratliff, Kitty Overmyer, The day after the scouts Emery Murray, and Kathy Wootten joined with Lamar resi- left, a bad windstorm swept through the area. dents to prepare a feast of pork & beans, sloppy joes, po- Pat and Shirley Pampus tato chips, and 10 gallons of lemonade. drove out to the signs to see if they had survived the storm. They did and at CR19 Pat and Shirley found Holly Bauer from Wiley and her daughter Amy taking in a history lesson, admiring the sign and the DAR marker it. (Pat intentionally placed the signs by the DAR markers hoping to draw more attention to them.) They said that they never knew the exact route of the Santa Fe Trail in their area and were glad the signs were up. Pat noted that within 24 hours three more people called to thank The Serenade him for the new signage. John Carson treated the students to a portrayal of Kit Car- Kansas Students on the Santa Fe Trail son and the students treated their hosts to a concert of Every 2 years, Chris Day and Janet Armstead, both teach- songs learned along the trail. ers in Wamego, KS, take over 80 Kansas junior high school students on a two-week trek along the Santa Fe Trail. The students visit historic sites such as Fort Larned, Council Grove, and Bent’s Old Fort. The students will be back in 2015, hungry and thirsty. To Rock Creek School and Students read a blog of the day-to-day travels along the trail, go to www.rockcreekschools.org, then click on St. George Ele- mentary School, then click on Santa Fe Trail Program in the This year 80 stu- sidebar on the left side of the page. dents and 21 adult chaperones made the trip. They camped at schools and park sites and often were fed by local groups includ- ing Santa Fe Trail Association chap- Kent Anderson Cooking the Beans ters. Cooks at Rest 3 Colorado Youth Summit Students & Teachers Study Southeastern Colorado On June service projects or other endeavors to help iden- 25th, 66 tify and work to preserve historic places? students How can the NPS and other historic site manag- and 12 ers make their sites and programs more engag- adults ing for your age group? from 27 What can be done to increase visitation and ap- different preciation of the region’s treasures to families of Colorado multiple cultures and backgrounds? middle and high How can technology and media such as Face- schools book, LinkedIn, and Twitter be better used by site de- managers? scended How could you take a leadership role in making on southeast Colorado to learn more about the peo- historic places more relevant for your peers and ple, events, and places that have shaped the history future generations? and culture of the Canyons and Plains. Participants The event were invited to “...learn, have fun, and help generate was spon- ideas and create solutions for saving, sharing, and sored by vitalizing the stories and historic places of this nation- the South- ally important region for future generations.” east Colo- Sites vis- rado Re- ited in- gional Heri- cluded tage Task Bent’s Old Force and Fort NHS, Colorado Bent’s New Preserve Fort, Sand America Creek Mas- Youth sacre NHS, Summit. Other sponsors included the National Park Boggsville, Service, Southeast Colorado Regional Heritage Towner Taskforce, the El Pomar foundation, and History Bus Trag- Colorado. edy Site, Numerous other local groups helped guide and feed Amache Relocation Center, Boggsville, and the Ko- the students, groups such as the Santa Fe Trail share Kiva. At each site, students were asked these Dutch Oven Cookers and the Crowe Luther Arts Cen- four questions: ter in Eads. Some of the local presenters and helpers What was your “Wow” moment in experiencing included Wayne Snider, Keith Goodwin, Brad Sem- this place? mens, Jeremy Manyik, Judy Walden, Alexa Roberts, What stories did you learn about the people here Pat Palmer, Shirley Pampus, Kathy Finau, Bill Long, that you would share with others? Lisa Trigilio, Carl Zimmerman, Jesse Milton, Dick Scott, Richard Carrillo, Rick Wallner, Carlyn Yokum, What visual image of this place most stays in John Hopper, Michelle Stevens, and Jeanne Fenter. your mind? The final event took place at the Koshare Kiva where How would you make others more aware of the Summit leaders presented their recommendations in site’s stories and experiences? a town hall meeting to preservation, community, and Some of the other topics students were asked to con- elected officials. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have sider included: some of the students or leaders return for a BFC What types of heritage-related programs and ac- meeting and tell us their insights and answers to the tivities would appeal to youth and their families? questions? How can students be better mobilized through (Photos by Shirley Pampus) 4 BFC Tours Pinion Canyon Maneuver Site A sunny Saturday morning found thirty-eight Chapter mem- down the canyon near the stop. bers and two grandchildren at the Piñon Canyon Maneuver Our third stop Site (PCMS). Led by personnel from the PCMS, we toured was at the five sites within the facility. Moses Ste- vens Home- stead where we were awed by the struc- tures along the canyon rim. We’re still puzzling over the ability to move and set the large stones and have them be so level in this primitive area, realizing that though primitive, the early settlers had a lot of talents to draw on as they built their homes. The early settlers also carved their names and dates on the building stones; one name we recognized was Swink. Our first stop was at the Cross Ranch which was the most Water made Cowboy Springs a popular stopover for the intact of the three homesteads we viewed. Built in the early early cowboys and settlers to refresh themselves as well as 1900’s, the wooden home initially built up against the rock their livestock. This stop was followed by the La Placeta wall and then added onto, had a tin roof, wooden floor, rem- Homestead where we nants of electrical viewed the home along lines, along with with other rock buildings. some old furni- Jean Dohrenkamp’s close ture. Other items encounter with a young on the property desert rattlesnake re- included a rock minded us all of the dan- chicken coop, gers our early pioneers and other small faced. wooden and rock storage build- We were all awed by the last stop at Lookout Point, an ings, along with a overlook into the Purgatory River valley. The view of the small corral. There were no apparent water wells at any of canyon easily a mile wide and several miles long with green the homesteads we saw, and we continually questioned valleys and rock colors from pale to deep reds made a per- where the early settlers found this needed resource. fect ending to the day. Our thanks go to the PCMS personnel – Wayne, Mark, and Adjoining the property Roy – and Mark’s wife Pam, who did an outstanding job was a small canyon which was also the planning and leading the field trip! site of the rock art (Much thanks to Dotti Russell who organized this tour and wrote from earlier Indians, this article.