Grotto of the Redemption

This is a unique place. It happens to be where I grew up although I define myself as a Rodman boy rather than from West Bend,Iowa.  The 7 min video describes better than what I can much of what is going on here. It's approaching a 100 year  birthday but was started ten years before that.

Some of the pictures have been around before but not all. There has not been a time hardly at all when visiting that I did not stop at the Grotto. Lived two blocks away and the town is 850 or so. It doesn't get old and is a great place to take pictures as well.

The stories that can be told I tell you. This was a play ground for this kid. The video is really good and I bet there were a few offended by a couple things in it. The pictures help bring it to life.

And In This Corner - - -

Is our guy so to speak. They're around and come close make a bit of noise and look fearsome at least to me. They have never done anything bad and get out of the way.

Click on the pictures once then twice for very close inspection of the wonders of nature in this case.

Here's another and this fellow looks tough for sure.

Here he is training as they do eat and in this case it looks like a damsel fly. Then there's the other side.

While hiking I saw something on the trail. Insects like to land on trails btw. I tried to get pictures and came away with a couple passable ones before whatever this was flew away.

It was hard to tell what was really going on but it was apparent our boy was toast. This was about all this guy could carry. Couldn't fly far with this load but he did get away finally.

It would be my guess the winner could take our guy every time.

Rustling Still Goes On

Because there have been numerous posts done on the Browns Park area and rustling was the game for many who lived there over the years - - - well old habits die hard. This story comes from an area very close to the park.

Pilgrim is suspected of being in possession of 36 cows and 31 calves belonging to nine different owners. He is also suspected of misbranding calves as his own. Authorities estimated the value of the stray cows and calves at $68,000, according to an arrest affidavit filed last week.

The Two - Bar / What's Left

A bit of back round on this as I have been putting this off because it covers a bunch of ground and people not many know of. Two of my readers know of these and one another blogger friend Linda knows as we just read the same book "The Bassett Women" by Grace McClure that tells the incredible story of Browns Park and many of the people who lived there.

If you remember the old westerns and the cattle and sheep wars that took place between the huge cattle ranchers and the little guys who raised sheep and cattle too in some cases - well this is where much of it took place and the Two-Bar was the first of them. This is also where the killer Tom Horn made several kills by shooting outstanding men in the back and leaving them lay. The Two-Bar is where Hi Bernard worked as the ranch manager and later became Ann Bassett's first husband.

This is why it's taken so long because to talk about the Two-Bar it can't be done without mentioning other people who were also major players in the history of this area. The attempt here is to put in some way life back into these people and this special place where a huge part of the the history of the West was played out for years to the enjoyment of the whole country from the east coast to the west coast.


Here are some links for more backround.

Browns Park

Ann Bassett & John Jarvie

Jarvie Ranch

Josie Bassett Morris place

A bit more 

Ann Bassett

Remember about being able to click on the pictures twice to make them bigger each time to really be able to get a good view.

This picture is of the Two Bar Ranch looking to the north. The arrow points to the bunk house which will be used as a reference point.

Do not be deceived by these photos. This place was huge and the state of decay makes it hard to capture all that was happening here. This property had the capacity to handle many cattle and it did.

This taken from the hill in back looks slightly to the south west. The bunk house is the building with the stove pipe.

A peak into the bunk house looking to the east and the Green River lies just out of sight.

The bunkhouse looking through one of the many corrals.

Ora Ben Haley owned the Two-Bar the first huge cattle ranch in this part of the West. Haley was from Wyoming

Above the bunkhouse is where you will find the Gates of Lodore. Also left center on the small mesa is the Lodore school house. Close to the school house is the Lodore cemetary where several dozen lay buried. Among them John Jarvie and Sam Bassett. To the left (east) of the school house is the Browns park store.

Snapped this picture through the glass at the Museum of Northwest Colorado of Ann Bassett. Ann's first husband was Hi Bernard who was the ranch manager of the Two-Bar and was abruptly fired when it was found out. 

These are a pair of here spurs owned and used by Ann Bassett that according to the curator are highly valued and this pair is one the best anywhere.

Isom Dart a cowboy from Texas who was respected by all in the area and was a huge part of the Bassett family for years. Shot in the back by Tom Horn. It seems Hi Bernard probably played a role in hiring Tom Horn to come and do his killing in Brown's Park. It needs to be noted that Ann Bassett and the Two-Bar were in a constant struggle .

Matt Rash another local highly respected cowboy shot in the back as well by Tom Horn.

The two tanks are where the Browns Park store is at. I found out last time that Isom Dart and Jack Rash are buried next to each other on the mountain behind it.

                                                The Browns Park store.

A Google image with these places marked on them. There is one other place marked here. The Bassett Ranch and cemetery are located on private property. Not much remains of the ranch but while looking around I saw a Google map  that had the Bassett cemetery marked and I have put it in the approximate location. Whether it's accurate or not I don't know. From McClure's book it seemed the two ranches were fairly close to one another. 

So this is my stab at telling a bit of the story of this area and some of the people who made headlines for years across the country. The book is a worth while read and visiting this area is a real treat.

In many ways these people still roam this place. Although they're all gone now the Bassett's and the Two-Bar are still spoken about to this day.

I very much recommend a vacation to this area. One can spend days here and in Dinosaur National Monument and never see it all or become bored.

Check This Out

Over at Dave's place. He's the Ranger at the Gates of Ladore in Dinosaur National Monument. He took this when I was moving during a fire in the monument. I did not know that until he told me a week ago today  Watch a slide show at the gallery.

This area is where I've been hanging out recently. It's a special and fairly remote place that has much history.

It's A Man's World - - I Mean Purse

This post was triggered by one from Teresa Evangeline on purses. Her place can be found in the link list as well. While writing a smart ass comment I realized I  had worked myself into a corner because what I had used years ago and now are purses plain and simple. Now Teresa has more than I but here are mine and the old ones are still around too.

This is a shoulder bag made out of Kente cloth from the Keta region of Ghana,West Africa. There are different types of this cloth but this type is Ewe which is also a tribe and a very difficult language. Peace Corps types wore these very practical and functional bags every day. This is close to 35 years old and still has life. Of course it's not used everyday anymore.

This was a hand made leather maybe goat bag I picked up as well. It's still in great shape. If you had business to do this was so handy because there's a lot of paper work that goes on over there and make no mistake this purse comes in handy for that and you put your hand through the loop for the obvious reasons.

 
There's some things in there yet one is a immunization document and boy did you ever get a lot of shots. The worst was the quarterly 5cc of gamma globulin in a cheek of your butt. You walked around for two days with a huge lump and it hurt. I don't think it's like that now. The other is a 100 CFA note pronounced seefa. Back then it was like 230 CFA to $1. Not sure but I don't think it's change drastically over the years unlike Ghana's cedi which I have none of. I always thought these notes were good looking money

From 35 years ago to present day I'm still carrying and packing. This is actually a fishing device that I use to carry all kinds of things and camera stuff is the big item. I do hike with this but anymore if going very far will take a small back pack and transfer to it. This doesn't carry enough liquids when it's warm and it's starting to get heavy as well. See the rock - picked it up out in Dinosaur last weekend. Just the corner was sticking out in this gray crappy dirt. It's very smooth/heavy and who knows maybe it's a dinosaur belly stone. It would hurt bad if this thing ever turned up missing.

These all are tools and no matter what design they make life easier. Of course girls use these for fashion purposes as well. I have not crossed that threshold.

Dinosaur National Championships

Drove up to the launch site for hang gliders and found this. There must have been 150 acres up on top of Blue Mountain that accommodated this event so long ago. You can go here to view some pictures from that era.

This is one of the many camp sites on the mountain and where I was spending the night. It was real nice. Was looking forward to taking some morning pictures.

There were some clouds way out in the distance all day long and about 6:30 the wind came up and I crawled into the Element to not venture out again till around till about 9:30 when I left. There was lightning all over coming straight towards me and here I was sitting at the highest point around. Should have rode it out but bailed instead. It only takes a couple minutes to load up sloppily.

Knew there was an overlook not far down the road and that's where I went.

It was a good view as well. No one drove in.It was a beautiful morning and the wind shook the car for a long time and it rained. Couldn't really tell that in the morning. Slept real good.  

This is Blue Mountain. The pictures above were taken quite a bit to the right. 

This is inside Dinosaur National Monument. I am so impressed with this park and the area around it. There are several weeks worth of adventure here.

Josie Morris Not Wales

Originally posted @OTC on 5/20/11 it needs to be here as well.

You had to be tough to live out here by yourself for years miles from nowhere and this women was just that. Use your imagination. She used two box canyons to corral her animals one which had a spring. This is also where these grow only.

You are looking at one of the box canyons above this building. The other is a ways to the right (east) of this one.

The exact location of this site is lower center right.