Huerfano County? Look it up sometime, and read about the Ludlow Massacre. This is Colorado Highway 10 again, heading west toward Walsenburg. Note the ridiculous heavy traffic at a little after four o’clock in the afternoon! From here to Taos is about two and a half hours if you’re moving fast. La Veta Pass, mentioned in the previous post, is roughly forty minutes distant.
Try to imagine the endless sea-of-grass prairie that originally covered this area. Think about the settlers going mad from lack of any landmarks, and what they must have felt when they finally saw the Rockies. I have these experiences every time I’m in these places. It’s hard for me to believe most people don’t, but I’m fairly certain that’s the case since no one I know or read about ever mentions it.
(Nobody ever mentions the Ludlow Massacre, either. I wonder why?)
John Hamilton Farr lives at 7,000 feet in Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico, U.S.A. As New York Times best-selling author James C. Moore tells it, John is “a man attuned to the world who sees it differently than you and I and writes about it with a language and a vision of life that is impossible to ignore.” This JHFARR.COM site is the master writing archive. To email John, please see CONTACT INFO on .png)
this is a nice travelogue post, so i don’t mean to get all serious, but that story of the Ludlow Massacre got me… i’m really feeling like this country has regressed a full exact century (just with better tech, and that is wasted on smartphone selfies anyway), and we’re back in the days of the uber-rich elite of robber-barrons screwing everyone else over for their own pathological ends.
but enough of that depressing shit… more epic pictures please! 😀
I’m curious whether you knew about the Ludlow Massacre before. Can’t say I ever heard about it in school myself. I think I first learned about it from Sing Out magazine, back when I was learning folk songs and how to play the guitar in the olden days.
never had the slightest clue at all until i followed the link you posted.
Ah, good old Walsenburg, the place of my birth. I was born on the Lamme Hospital – four beds, no waiting – and delivered by Dr. Lamme himself. We were the only ones in the hospital at the time, I was told.
The Ludlow Massacre isn’t unknown if you’re from around Southeastern Colorado, I seem to recall it being taught in school when I lived in Rye.
Great to know you were born there! We go through Walsenburg rather often, it seems.
I’m certainly no authority on Ludlow. But you’re absolutely right, of course. This is what we saw yesterday as we came into town:
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