Feb. 26, 1910.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
337 
Kit Carson and Other Pioneers. 
Situated near the junction of the Purgatoire 
with the Arkansas River, the town of Las Animas 
is of interest in its relation to the pioneer his¬ 
tory of the West. Its vicinity has been the 
scene of many exciting events of early Colorado 
history. Fifteen miles west of the town are the 
ruins of Bent’s old fort, the most noted of early 
outposts, located where one of the most traveled 
of the overland trails crossed the Arkansas. 
Five miles east of the towm on the site of Old 
Ft. Lyon now stands the modern Naval Hospi¬ 
tal, New Ft. Lyon, the Mecca toward which 
Uncle Sam’s seamen who develop tuberculosis, 
look with longing eyes. Here the doctor in 
charge is accomplishing wonderful things with 
his mercury treatment of that dread disease. 
New Ft. Lyon with its electric light, cold stor¬ 
age, artesian water and sewerage systems is a 
modern and model city. Its 250 patients have 
all the comforts and conveniences of a city of 
the first class, except that it is compulsory that 
they live in tents and spend most of their time 
in the open air. Bowling alleys and billiard par¬ 
lors are furnished for their pleasure and recrea¬ 
tion, as well as tennis and ball grounds. Here 
is located the house in which Kit Carson died, 
soon to be turned over to the Daughters of the 
Revolution of Colorado and by them restored. 
This association intends to gather here relics of 
the great guide and scout and to preserve them 
for the benefit of future generations. Two miles 
south of Las Animas on the Purgatoire, on a 
ranch whose buildings are crumbling to ruins, 
once called Boggsville, is the old home of Car- 
son, and parts of the walls of the old adobe 
house in which his wife died are still standing. 
Mrs. Carson, a Mexican woman, died in 1867, 
her husband the year following, and in 1869 both 
bodies were removed to Taos, N. M., by John 
Huff, a friend of Kit’s, where they now lie. 
There are still persons in Las Animas who 
were associates and friends of Carson. Luke 
Cahill, whose photograph accompanies this 
sketch, was Carson’s orderly when Kit was 
Brigadier-General in the United States service, 
and was present at his death. 
Carson was a man who possessed no great 
mental gifts, but was a steadfast friend and com' 
rade. His reputation as a guide and scout is 
traceable to his illimitable knowledge of the plains 
and mountains. None of the old-time frontiers¬ 
men was so well acquainted with the passes of 
the mountains from Fort Laramie to Santa Fe 
as was he, and none of them had that penetra¬ 
tive knowledge of Indian character that he pos¬ 
sessed. His superiors had implicit confidence in 
this knowledge and relied upon it. He was prac¬ 
tically commander of every force he guided. He 
was never eager for a fight and his ways of 
avoiding one were his strongest recommenda¬ 
tions. A knowledge by the Indians that Carson 
was guide was a party’s best protection. 
I went out to-day across the old Carson trail 
where it approaches Bent’s Fort. In some places 
the winds of fifty seasons have furrowed it deep 
into the soil; at another, but a few miles from 
Las Animas, it lies at the bottom of a reservoir 
that irrigates thousands of acres. Numerous 
railroads now cross it, each one daily transport¬ 
ing more freight than by the old methods was 
carried in a year. Here and there along the 
line of the old trail a piece of board or a clus¬ 
ter of. them marks the resting place of those who 
fell by the way. Where there is more than one 
the rule is to give the Indians credit. 
The pioneers of history have been unlettered 
men. From Boone down the ranks have been 
filled by men whose principal acquaintance has 
been with nature. I have known a number of 
them who were unassumingly faithful until death 
LUKE CAHILL. 
as friends, and who never killed game except 
when the camp required it. Those that were 
married, whether to Mexican or Indian women, 
were kind to their wives and beloved by them. 
Jim Baker, who was married to a Snake woman, 
was twice saved from death by her interposition. 
With absolutely no thought of her own danger 
she faced death to save his life. One day as 
we were riding up Snake River in Wyoming, 
Baker laid his hand on my arm to call my atten¬ 
tion to the variegated colors laid on the foliage 
of a mountainside by the early frosts. 
Old Jack Rand, the hermit of Middle Park, 
who corresponded with several of the early 
governors of Colorado, and whose letters to the 
Denver papers were eagerly looked for, was a 
crank on game destruction, and I have heard him 
berate more than one hunter for killing more 
game than he could use. He had been a sailor 
when a young man, and the finest entertainment 
I ever had was sitting by the fireplace in the 
“Hermitage,” his home in Middle Park, listen¬ 
ing to his recital of events on the waters and in 
foreign ports. He had never been to school, but 
was a great reader. His language was simple 
but elegant; his memory was tenacious and cor¬ 
rect. Sitting in the shadows at the fireside with 
the pine logs throwing flashes of light over his 
long gray locks, and into the darker recesses of 
the cabin, he reminded me of the oracles of old. 
He always had an iron tea kettle with hot water 
on the coals, and at midnight he brewed “a cup 
of coffee for two.” Each night his toast was 
the same, “God bless you, Frank; good night.” 
I was snowed in at his place in the winter of 
1879-80 and the remembrances of that time are 
the pleasantest in my life. 
Uncle Dick Wooton, who held the key to the 
Raton Pass and levied tribute on the freighters 
of the Santa Fe trail before the advent of the 
railway, was a compadre of Carson’s. Wooton, 
nearly blind, spent the last years of his life sell¬ 
ing the book portraying his experiences in the 
West. F. T. W. 
Boone Memorial Exercises. 
Raleigh, N. C, Feb. 19. — Editor Forest and 
Stream: On April 30 there will be a ceremony 
in Davidson county in commemoration of the 
anniversary of the departure of Daniel Boone 
upon his famous journey to Kentucky. What 
is now Davidson county was then part of 
Rowan, the latter county covering a vast terri¬ 
tory and being then on the frontier. The Boone 
cabin has been rebuilt and the property has 
been secured by an association which was aided 
by the Legislature. The place where Boone 
lived is on a high hill which overlooks the Yad¬ 
kin River, and it is about twelve miles from 
Lexington and the same distance from Salis¬ 
bury. For many years parts of the double log 
house could be seen, but these remains vanished 
about fifty years ago. The Daniel Boone Me¬ 
morial Association, chartered by the last Legis¬ 
lature, bought the property known as Boone’s 
Bottoms, nearly four acres of land, and the 
association has duplicated, as nearly as possible, 
the Boone cabin. Senator Overman, Judge Prit¬ 
chard, Governor Kitchin and several other 
prominent men have been invited to be present 
and deliver addresses, and it is proposed to 
make the celebration quite notable in every way. 
It will include a rally of old settlers and an ex¬ 
hibition of articles used in the early days of 
the colony and State. 
In the Hall of History at Raleigh is a very 
striking lithograph, in color, of Boone crossing 
the Blue Ridge, in Watauga county, at the War¬ 
rior Gap, near what is now Blowing Rock. 
Boone had a fort at this point and some frag¬ 
ments of it yet remain. Stone was used for the 
lower part and heavy timbers for the upper, 
which overhung in blockhouse fashion. There 
are said to be in the State a few relics of Boone 
and these will no doubt all be seen at the cele¬ 
bration. Fred A. Olds. 
