Bill D: can't be the ONLY "Oh my gawd" road in Colorado! I don't remember being downt hat one, but do remember others. Yes, the train is still running and it is the ride of a lifetime. You know, it goes from Ouray all the way to Durango.

LEJ: Yes, I've heard a lot about the mining disaster and will ask my dad if any songs came of it, as he grew up right there on Divide "crik". When I was a child, they told us you could still see smoke once in awhile, that the fires were expected to burn forever inside the hills.

My folk were in Leadville first and were from Nova Scotia and Virginia, mostly, with Native American along the way in WI or MI. The same gr-uncle who became an engineer was an early "muleskinner"(ore-wagon driver) there; my Crawford grandmother graduated from Normal School there and became a teacher. My grandfather Hudson, whom she married, was born in a log cabin up above Glenwood Springs in the middle of winter, as his parents had unwisely decided to cross the divide when it took a lot longer to do so than now!

All of my ancestors moved to the Western slope to settle in as ranchers; had a big ranch, most of which, as I've heard it, is an elk refuge now. They lost it for one hundred dollars in taxes during the depression. Speaking of cemeteries, in Jan. we took mom's ashes to little Highland Cemetery up above New Castle, where they are all buried, including her folks who had the company general store in New Castle. That grandad also had the first lending library in New Castle.

There's lots more, but I'm working on getting it into a book, along with a bunch of early pictures of the ranch, my grandad in full cowboy gear, etc. Finally got dad to tape is "memoirs" and he's promising more, along with his recitation of his father's poetry ....good stuff.

I'm afeared for the 'Cat's system, so will stop with the personal history lesson. This is really fun, though. Thanks for asking!

kat