Toasting tributaries - a photo on Flickriver

            Boulder Creek gave up its tribute, while still wet, to the St. Vrain just east of Longmont and here, the St.  Vrain is about to give tribute to the South Platte River, assuming there is any water left to thin the Platte out. Historically, it was always too thin to plow. Does that disqualify the St. Vrain as a river? As a tributary? When does a tributary/river have to give it up as entirely historic? Many disappeared rivers are now only found on satellite imagery as "fossil rivers." How close is the St. Vrain to a fossil river. Is the St. Vrain Valley close to fossil status? The slogan was always, "Don't Californicate Colorado!" IT rings even truer now! 

Boy did I really get a load of shots of my favorite north 19th barn next to Colorado's first railroad, the Denver Pacific, right, and the St. Vrain river valley behind in the left and background. The remaining trickle meets the Platte in the distance right of the view. Oh look, they boarded up the window! Maybe I have more captures; maybe another pas on a good sky day. We have so few of them lately, and I have live targets to snag even now.

Actually, the river is mimicking the collapsing barn and would not get you very wet from wading across here just short of it's confluence with the south branch of the Platte. It's about payed out at this point all sucked up by gravel pits and bluegrass. The historic St. Vrain has a heck of a job to accomplish by filling all the gravel, cement and sand pits along the valley floor. In fact, the sand and gravel operation directly upstream from here, could probably be seen from space. What do they expect for any future outcome? Is desertification the next stop on the drive toward maximum human civilization?

The confluence with the South Platte River is just beyond this view, right. The railroad, right - off frame, was built with a U.P. RR nod toward increasing Cheyenne traffic and support as a "land grant" railroad. The old grade is a historic memorial trail now so I guess it is entirely walkable for pix. Later, when it cools to near normal. After the UP RR absorbed the DP RR, they named it the "Dent Branch." When I asked Google maps to locate "Dent,  Colorado" the later UP RR branch name for the then branch line, It flagged a spot southeast of Milliken, Colorado. The area was once inhabited by the prehistoric 'Clovis' Indians. I guess I better investigate what is there now. Maybe I will find some prehistoric bones and old railroad traces. 

Don't stand under the shed or in the barn and sneeze your covid-19 without a hard hat and face mask. I am absolutely certain that I made NO positive contact with a Weld-head, right-wing carrier on my eastern swing, although I now have to invest in some petroleum futures at the local gas-er-up. 

Longmont's hand-hewn ties can never again be floated down the St. Vrain to the ghost RR! They won't need to use water to grow crops... ever again. The best crop then is actually topsoil. Take the money, build prairie castles and run. Water bluegrass with the river. Don't need no steenkin agriculture.

Taken on: June 30, 2020

Tags:

Toasting Tributaries

Barn

Rot

Rust

Corral

Dock

Pasture

Lands

Fields

River

Bottom

Denver Pacific RR

Dent

Branch

UPRR

Trekking

Pastoral

St. Vrain River Valley

South Platte River Valley

Weld

County

Colorado

Foothills

Rockies

RockyPix

Rocky

Mountain

Pix

W. Michel Kiteley

f/16

1/80/sec

110mm

70-200mm f/2.8G VR

Nikkor

Tele-Zoom

Monopod « less

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Camera: Nikon D700, f/16.0, 1/80 sec, 110mm, ISO 200 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D700
Lens:	70.0-200.0 mm f/2.8
Aperture:	f/16.0
Exposure Time:	0.013 sec (1/80)
Focal Length:	110mm
ISO:	200
Exposure Bias:	-1/3 EV
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Center-weighted average
White Balance:	Auto
Sharpness:	Hard
Color Space:	Uncalibrated
Software:	Adobe Photoshop CS2 Windows
Show full info

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