Spring Fed Water From A Colorado Indian in 1949

Curtis Cline and his children,
 Margaret, Gene, and C. F.

The picture to the left is not very clear, and a bit out of focus.  However, the memory is clear in my mind.  My family had been traveling about a week when this picture was taken.  As I remember it, we had stopped to get something to drink at an interesting looking western-style store. Inside the store, Gene was attracted to some native made musical instruments.  You know, the ones that native American's played.  I remember looking at some small and medium-sized drums that were decorated nicely.  It was a store with all the tourist type items for sale.  I remember buying a Pepsi, and a snack and the others got much the same, but I don't know if we bought anything else or not.  I think my Mom bought a cedar-lined keepsake box.  I remember the store had the large Hunter ceiling fans that made it cool inside the store, so we looked a little longer than usual. 

We did not see the Indian fountain until we came out of the store.  The native American Indian seemed huge to a five-year-old girl.  He was bending on his knees with a large bowl just above the large water basin.  Out of the middle of the container, a fast-moving body of water was gushing out.  First, C. F. was interested in going over to take a good look, then I wanted to see it too.  A local man was standing there and told us the water was from a fresh mountain-fed spring.  When my Dad hear that, he had to try the water.  Then Gene and C. F. tasted the water.  As I was the youngest, I had to wait until they had all tasted the water before I got a drink.  None of them said very much until I started to drink the water.  Then they all started laughing, saying it tasted terrible.  My Dad said it felt like Alka-Seltzer.  I liked the water, so I asked them what they meant because it tasted good to me.  They all three laughed at me and said I was crazy.  Later, I learned it was an artesian well, which is often under pressure between two rock beds.  The pressure makes the water "sparkle" like seltzer water.  I liked it then, and I still drink it today, and from time to time remember the first time I drank sparkling water was in Colorado with my family.

We all crawled back into the station wagon and headed off for the Royal Gorge Bridge.  Between 1929 and 2003, it was the world's highest suspension bridge.  My Dad was always intrigued by the "biggest and the best" of things.  Once we got to the massive bridge, most of us were intimidated by its size and thousand-foot drop from the bridge to get out of the station wagon.  In 1931, a 3 ft narrow gauge incline railway was built to the bottom of the gorge through a narrow cleft just west of the north end of the bridge.  We all thought it was a bit too risky for us to take that railway to the bottom.  My Dad insisted that we drive over the Royal Gorge Bridge.  We then returned over it to the lovely park area to eat our supper.  It was a fantastic sight to see.  I will always remember how it swayed when we drove over it, and I was thrilled to get back to the starting side.  

At one time, my parents had a brown scrapbook full of photographs from the trip.  The photos were inserted into the little black triangular tabs that held them in place.  There were several dozen photos in the album and now all I can find are seven, with this being one of those seven.  This is just another memory of my family trip to Colorado in 1949.   

 

Arapaho Chief for Hire in 1949

 C. F. Cline with Arapaho Chief in
in Colorado Springs, Colorado - 1949.

My brother C. F. Cline was a Boy Scout and was always an admiring of Native Americans.  On a trip to Colorado in 1949, the family stopped to eat at a restaurant where there were several tourist type exhibits in the same area.  When we came out of the restaurant from eating, C. F. saw a "real live Indian" nearby.  The sign said "Your picture taken with an Arapaho Chief - 50¢."  That was a good bit of money for a photograph in 1949, but C. F. didn't stop until our Dad agreed to let him have his picture taken with the older Arapaho Indian.  We had the old chief's name at one time, but I have no idea where to look for it.  According to C. F., the Boy Scouts had a level called the Order of the Arrow.  Supposedly there were tough requirements to be nominated for the Order of the Arrow, and scouts took it quite seriously.  The best I recall, Boy Scouts used the language and their version of the "Indian culture" in the Order of the Arrow ceremony.  I believe he saw it once while attending summer camp and was always intrigued with Native Americans ever since that summer.  He blessed us by telling us all about it for many miles.  Anytime we stopped to eat or visit a historic site, C. F. showed that photograph to everyone he met, and he talked about Indians and their culture for most of the trip back home.  

Eight people in close quarters with one of the passenger talking about a single subject mile after mile did get on our nerves.  I was sure glad to have the "ViewFinder" and slides we bought at the Garden of the Gods to look at when C. F. was showing his big chief photo.  We did other things to help make the time go by when on the road, such as "count the states license plates"  to see who could come up with twenty-five  different state licenses first.  You had to write them down too.  Since I had not gone to school and couldn't write, I had my Mom writing down the states for me.  My brother Gene said C. F. added plates of cars that did not exist.  The trip taught me the world was a lot bigger than Sikeston, Missouri.  Overall, it was an enjoyable vacation.  

The Arapaho were a tribe of Native Americans historically living on the plains of Colorado and Wyoming. They were close allies of the Cheyenne tribe.  There were two different branches of Arapaho.  When the American government forced them into reservations, the tribe members that primarily lived in Wyoming were sent to a reservation in Montana.  The Southern Arapaho, mostly residing in Colorado, was transferred to an Oklahoma reservation.  Today, the Southern Arapaho live with the Southern Cheyenne in Oklahoma.
From the picture of C. F. and his Indiana friend, you can see that not all Arapaho were captured and forced into a reservation.  We saw twenty or so Arapaho when we traveled around Colorado.  I thought they were very handsome with their high cheekbones and pronounced noses.  I regret that the White man failed to honor its treaties with the Native Americans so they could have remained on the land where they were born.  That is in the past, let us today respect each other for who we are and try to get along with the blessings of diversity.  America is a better country for the diversity of her people.  I wish I could hear C.F. talk about our trip to Colorado one more time, but that is not possible now.

A Family Adventure to Pikes Peak in 1949

Curtis Cline handing his
daughter Margaret a snow
ball on top of Pike's Peak.

My father, Curtis Henry Cline, set a goal to eat a snowball on top of Pikes Peak, Colorado on the 4th of July. The picture to the left was taken on top of Pikes Peak in 1949.  My Dad is handing me a snowball.  At one time, my parents had a picture of Dad standing in front of a large snow bank with the words "July 4, 1948" carved in the snow to mark the moment Dad reached his goal.  Over the years that photo was lost.

My parents purchased a new Willis Jeep "Woodie" station wagon for the trip.  It was called a Woodie because it had real wood on the bottom half of the station wagon.  It was a nine-passenger vehicle with the latest conveniences.  Dad and Mom invited their church friends Floyd, Berry Dillender, and their son Mike to vacation with us to Colorado.  Mike and I were the same age, so that gave me someone to talk with because my older brothers didn't want to bother with me.  My brother Gene was twelve, and C.F. was nine at the time of our trip.

Before the journey, my Dad cleaned the car from top to bottom, even the engine.  He took it to a garage and had everything inspected before we left.  It took us a couple of days to drive to Pikes Peak, and we stopped to visit points of interest along the way.  A few nights we stayed in a motel, and the other nights we camped in tents.  Dad built a medium sized trailer which they pulled behind the car to haul our luggage and camping equipment. My brother Gene reminded me that he remembers before dark, Dad looked for the right place to park and camp for the night.  After we had eaten by the campfire, the adults slept on cots under the stars, and the four children slept in the Jeep station wagon.  Those were kinder days than today; I would not think of sleeping on the side of the road today.

I remember being happy to see the sign "Welcome to Colorado."  The cheering stopped once we started the ascent to reach the top of Pikes Peak.  My parents found the hairpin curves a challenge.  My Dad drove on the way up, and my mother kept screaming he was too close to the edge of the road.  My brothers and I were bored by then, as well as Mike, so we began to argue.  At this point, my Dad stopped the car and got out.  The car was starting to run "hot" on the way up, so Dad stopped the car, walked back to the trailer, and took out a container of coolant.  He insisted on changing the cooling system, or radiator, in an available wide spot in the road about half the way up the mountain.   I was elated that we made it to the top in one piece.  My mother complained about Dad's driving and was not happy about his "cooling" stop, so Dad told her she could drive on the way down. 

My brothers told the story of rolling me in the snow on my fifth July 4th birthday on Pikes Peak.  I don't remember being pleased about that, but they thought it was funny.  When we reached the top, we could see a cable car we could have taken up.  I am sure it would have been much more fun than the hairpin curves.  It was a beautiful view, but it was cold.  
Coming down Pike's Peak was worse than going up.  You had to brake a lot on the hairpin curves on the way down.  At one point, our tires or brakes started smoking.  Again, we had to find a wide spot to pull over, let everyone climbed out of the Willis to let the brakes cool off.  Cars were not air-conditioned back then, so it was cooler outside the car than it was inside.  Once we started down again, my brother Gene said, "look beside us, that trailer looks just like ours."  To our horror, it was ours.  The trailer hitch was not fastened tightly enough to withstand the hairpin curves.  A man who stopped to help us said the constant switching motion on the trailer hitch caused the connection to fail.  I can tell you there was some panic in the car chasing that trailer!  My mother said if it hit someone we would be sued.  That frightened me, and I began to cry, on top of all the other drama in the car.  The Dillender family were much lower key personality types than our family, but even they were concerned with the run-a-way trailer.   In the end, the good Lord was with us because the trailer hit one of the broader places in the road, skidded to the end of the emergency pull-off, turned around and lined itself up perfectly for Dad to reconnect it.

After a good night's stay in a motel, we got up the next morning and visited the sandstone formations known as the Garden of the Gods and the Cave of the Winds near Colorado Spring.  The cave is also near the Manitou Cliff Dwellings. We took the 45-minute walking discovery inside the Cave of the Winds.  It was an educational journey for families and beginning cavers. The visit inside was fascinating.  When we finished the tour, we purchased a "ViewFinder" and a dozen or so "3-D slides" at the gift shop. There was also a nice place to picnic, so we enjoy eating our lunch outside the cave.  The scenic slides help to entertain us for many miles, and I viewed those slide until I was well into my twenties. 
 
Family members talked about that trip for years.  The beautiful vistas and plants along the way also gave my father the idea of starting a nursery a few years later.  I sure wish I could talk with my parents about the trip one more time.  But alas, it shall not be.