Winding down - a photo on Flickriver

Winding down

            This spring shot finds this windmill winding down and unready for a another season of tapping ground waters for ranching the prairies. Or simply to quote the Firesign Theater, "She's no fun, she fell right over."

Well, here is another oldie to retouch with my current methods and salt away in backup storage on a week when this sky was head and shoulders better than our continuing dull dull skies. I'll find something newer next. Back then, Phil and I traveled out to Colorado National Grasslands on a whim and a lot of flat miles tracing the early pioneers and their history or was that histrionics. Boy it takes careful examination to find any subjects that elevate above the prairie grasses out here. This scene with cottonwoods and standing windmill really stood out. Largely, this is interesting stuff and traces the flash-pan history of the northeaastern Colorado grasslands. The land is as flat as the sky. Cattle and sheep were certainly corralled near here. Colorado was one of the tripwire states for critter conflict. 

At one time, life was semi-abundant in northeast Colorado, even in towns. Early on, Denverites got furious at the transcontinental railroad then building across this corner of Colorado into southern Wyomimg (where it could actually BE built) and built the Denver Pacific after Kansas Pacific brought Denver access from the east, (with the help of the UP and federal land granting) to intersect the UP at Cheyenne, Wyoming. Boy did the Union Pacific and Denver Pacific push their land-grant lands onto the folks and suckers of the upper midwest and east. The pioneers dug in for years as long as they could scratch and survive. The land-grant railroads even advertised that if the newcomers plowed these grasslands, the rains would come. Huh? If weather won't prove up, then reinvent it! Rains actually did increase for some years for some reason and gave these folks false hope... quote Donald "Tweets" Trump.

Before mining, it was the beaver, the gall bladders first and then the pelts were exported for fashionable European top hats. Next came the shinyness of rare minerals such as gold and silver as well as other metals. Always a splash! This mining blast drew farmers to the nearby plains as miners depleted Rockies wildlife and needed to be fed. Before long, prospectors startted to turn back after bad luck and certainly after the 1893 demonitization of silver which drove in many economic stakes to the heart of mining. All rushes eventually die. 

At least Longmont eventually settled on DPRR western lands along fertile, watered lands beside  rivers draining from the hills. Did early Longmonters trust but verify just for kicks and skip this entirely? Plains farmers serving the miners need for food stocks slowly took hold as supply and service towns grew and slowly prospered while need grew from prairie folks, themselves, for agriculture and cattle or sheep livestock from elsewhere in the state. NOT HERE! 

Today, Colorado's "Front Range" cities are again locked into a new growth spurt to the dismay of sensibilities of many after legalizing the sale of dope. How many of the newcomers are dope heads but are they totally ready for our climate and snow? They come to smoke and camp, broken, on the streets. We don't need them even with Colorado's magical draws. Perhaps with the final advent of real winter, they'll turn around and go home with hidden dope.

Taken on: April 20, 2006

Tags:

Winding Down

Windmill

Colorado

Grasslands

Prairie

Pastoral

Hygiene

Boulder

County

Rockies

St.Vrain River Basin

RockyPix

Rocky

Mountain

Pix

W. Michel Kiteley

f/16

1/100th/sec

28mm

18-70mm f/3.5-4.52.8mm

Nikkor

Normal-Zoom

Hand

held « less

Sets appears in: • Historic images • Pastoral pix more » • Ranches, Misc « less

Groups appears in: • Colorado! • Nikon more » • History : images without words don't document • RANCH & COUNTRY LIVING • Tractors and Other Farm Equipment - - No 30/60 limit ! • Windmills • The American Southwest • Nikkor • Historical Artifacts • Rural American West • Flickr Nature • Colorado Images • Farm and farmer • Rural America - (Opted out of 30/60) • Nikon DSLR Users • Colorado Scenery • Nikon DSLR 中文版 • Wild Planet • Nikon D40/xD70/sD80/D90/D200/D300/D700/ D3/s/X • The Road Less Traveled • Landscapes 101 (Unlimited) • Natural Scenery • Colorado...Colorful...Cosmopolitan • Hike Colorado • Rural View (Nature, People, Places) • Colorado - through the lens • Country Magazine • Abandoned farms • Reclaimed By Nature • Coloroddities • Prairie Landscapes • Colorado country roads • Colorado Historical Group • Colorado Photography Pool • Farming World - Past and Present • Countryside Photography Moderated Group...(P1 - A1) • Ruins and Rust~(NO PEOPLE) • Centennial State Photography • Colorado Official • Un-enhanced American West • Windmill Wednesday (post 1, comment 2) • The Fading West/The Fading Past « less

Camera: Nikon D70, f/16.0, 1/100 sec, 27mm (=40mm), ISO 200 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D70
Lens:	18.0-70.0 mm f/3.5-4.5
Aperture:	f/16.0
Exposure Time:	0.01 sec (1/100)
Focal Length:	27mm (35mm equivalent: 40mm)
ISO:	200
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Exposure Program:	Aperture-priority AE
Exposure Mode:	Auto
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Manual
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows
Show full info

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