By Kim Marquis
Shortly after moving to Salida in 2008, Fred Klein and his wife, Vicki, purchased a lush triangle of land fronting the South Arkansas River in Poncha Springs.
The property became a getaway for the couple, where they remodeled a one-room cabin and relaxed among soaring cottonwoods, listening to the river rush by. After decades living in prickly, drought-ridden Santa Fe – where water is so scarce they’d put a bucket in the shower to water outside plants – their acreage on the “Little Ark” seemed like a romantic dream come true.