Showroom Closed

Business today took me to the far NE corner of Colorado. Colorado 14 takes you through New Raymer, a once thriving town, where this sign survives. Nice building.

I'm a sucker for any and all steam engines. Another once thriving town has this.

There are a lot of missile silos along the route and extending into Wyoming. I'm sure the Russians (and maybe Chinese) can detect which ones are active, and which ones are closed with their satellites. If not, the Air Force makes it easy. The active ones all have Port-A-Potties.

Just for fun the Air Force should put one on every site.

A 312 mile round trip to visit one property to document, photograph, and submit a report. 

Profitable, for me, way to spend a Saturday and still get to poke around the Prairie National Grasslands. More, please! 

Time Moves On

WSF is in a philosophical mood. You have been warned.

This abandoned farm today made me think about time, and changes, and economics, and human folly.

Located in the arid rain shadow of the Rockies, this place lies a few miles south of the Pawnee Buttes National Grasslands and Highway 14.

So many homesteads went under during the Great Depression, and were abandoned, that “something had to be done”. Occasionally the government gets it right (or more precise, government employees) and the homestead were reclaimed, the buildings removed (with a few exceptions) and the land allowed to return to nature.   The result is Pawnee Buttes Grasslands. The area North of Highway 14 was chosen.

A lot of hard labor was spent on this farm. Someone carefully nurtured some fruit trees and berry bushes. The water lifted by the windmills probably wasn’t the best tasting. Ground water in that area usually is high in minerals.

The altitude there is about 5,000’ ASL. The type of crops available weren’t well suited for high altitudes and dry land farming.

Thirty miles further East things are different. Out of the rain shadow, dry land farming works (most years). Years of experimentation by the agriculture colleges have improved crops.

I do find it ironic three miles ESE of this building is an inactive missile silo.

The house sits in the middle of a large oil deposit with wells all around. Maybe the people were able to move to town and live off the oil royalties.