Photos by Shirley Tipping and Mike Rosso
On June 28, 2014, a remarkable sight was visible to anyone who happened to be near the grasslands between Nathrop and Buena Vista, on the west side of U.S. Hwy. 285.
Kicking up dust on that hot summer day were 10 assorted wagons, surreys and carts along with 65 folks on horseback riding overland, stretched across four historic Chaffee County ranches, in the first organized wagon train in these parts.
With an initial staging behind the Nathrop post office, the enthusiastic group of area residents and other Coloradans began an eight-mile, four-hour journey across ranch lands encompassing the McMurry, Cogan, Trougt and Kelly Ranches, ending up at the Buena Vista Rodeo Grounds for a catered barbecue, campfire singalong and overnight campout. The next morning brought breakfast and a cowboy church service held by Rebecca Kemper Poos, pastor of the Congregational United Church of Christ in Buena Vista.
The unique train was the brainchild of Nathrop residents Dennis and Claudia Fischer, who are also co-founding members of the Chaffee Carriage Club, which began in 2003 with the goal of driving carriages, wagons and buggies with horses and mules.
Dennis came up with the idea of a wagon train for Chaffee County after participating in a train from Branson to Trinidad, Colorado as well as another event from Simla to Calhan, Colorado, finishing at the El Paso County Fair.
“I thought, well, we should have one!” said the tall, silver-ponytailed wagon builder, musician and Vietnam veteran.
Fischer then contacted the ranch owners along the route, who were happy to allow the event on their land. The event was also endorsed by Buena Vista Parks and Recreation.
The Fischers then scouted the route, looking for possible logistical issues such as water crossings and irrigated crops. They then did a dry run of the route with their wagon, drawn by his mules, Gizmo and Ruby, and an off-road vehicle.
To find participants for the unusual event, the Carriage Club promoted it locally and regionally through groups such as the Rocky Mountain Wagon Masters, Inc. of Penrose, the Pikes Peak Long Ears Association and the Buffalo Peaks Back Country Horsemen.
The group stopped about halfway for lunch and got to mingle and were then given a historical presentation by Bryce Kelly at his ranch.
Will there be another wagon train event in the future? All the participants we spoke to were very enthusiastic about doing it again, so keep an eye out.
Colorado native and Poncha Springs resident Sue Conroe learned about the wagon train back in December while riding with Dennis Fischer in the Christmas Equine Parade in Buena Vista.
“I was excited from the start. Crossing through the ranch lands between Nathrop and the Buena Vista Rodeo Grounds sounded like a unique opportunity to see some land and landscapes that not everyone gets to see. I liked the sound of a day-long ride with wagons and horses and mules at the base of the Collegiate Peaks. I knew there would be some campfire storytelling and live music that night. And why not camp out at the rodeo grounds?”
Conroe rode her burro Willie in the train. He is 13 and has the renowned Oscar L. Democrat and Peckinpah L. Democrat in his lineage. His mom was a BLM adopted burro, standard chocolate brown and “not that nice.” Donkeys came into her equine wrangling experience in 1991 upon meeting Curtis Imrie and being coached into running and doing the burro races. Willie started burro racing when he was four and has been a focused, strong competitor for a number of years.
“I really felt like this might be a onetime opportunity to ride through fenced country not accessible to the general person out riding their equine. Stepping back in time, following mule-drawn wagons across the landscape made all of us consider the difficulties and travails people hundreds of years ago experienced. No clocks, gauging your distance by the landscape you’re passing and the destinations you reach.”Diana and Dan Wood of Poncha Springs learned about the wagon train as members of the Carriage Club. Ten members of the Woods’ clan participated in the June event: Dan and Diana, their son Casey and his girlfriend; three of their grandchildren – Trenna, Ally and Joe; their nephew Chad Wood and his wife, Beth, and their son, Jacob. Diana and Dan rode in a Haflinger buggy horse accompanied by the rest of their family on horseback.
As descendants of the Burnett family, the Wood family has been ranching in Poncha Springs since 1865. Sarah Burnett’s parents, James and Sarah Maxwell, settled in the area even before that.
“Very close to the wagon ride area is the Maxwell School House, and I think we actually rode across Maxwell Flats,” said Diana.
Anita Percifield and Jake Skobel ran an outfitting business in Leadville from 2003-2012 and were invited by Dennis to participate in the event. Anita rode in a black surrey that was purchased new last fall and pulled by Percheron cross mules.
The springwagon that Jake took on the train was found in a ranch junkyard in Crested Butte in 1970. It was restored by Anita’s dad in Indiana. Jake and Anita originally met in 1973 in Indiana where they both grew up. They re-met in 1999 while Jake was out elk hunting in Colorado with a friend whom Anita had been in touch with.
“Jake tried to get me to go back to Indiana. I said no way, so he came out here,” she said.
Charlie and Barb Abel of Nathrop are cofounders of the Chaffee Carriage Club and were part of the organizing team for the wagon train. They own two working chuckwagons, a freight wagon, a delivery wagon, one hearse (circa 1890), an American Rockaway coach, five various two- to six-passenger carriages, three carts, a sheepherder’s wagon, three rubber-tired wagons and three wooden-wheel wagons under construction, including an Army Escort wagon. For the June event they boarded a wagon on a Springfield Wagon Co. (Missouri) gear, probably pre-1920; the box is newer construction and was rebuilt at their business, The Woolly Bear Trading Company, to better fit the gear and was then outfitted as a covered wagon. On board was a replica flag of the 1863-65 Civil War battlefield purchased in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
The wagon was pulled by two 20-year-old sisters, Tess and Bella, which are Percheron/Friesian cross draft horses. The couple do restoration work of all types of horse-drawn vehicles and restored many of the vehicles for the South Park City Museum, including a hearse, sheep wagon, sleigh, buggy and a stagecoach that ran the mail route from Como.
Denney Schilthuis brought his Percheron crosses, Dexter and Sadie, all the way from Durango to participate in the wagon train. He’d heard about the event from Charlie and Barb Abel while in Denver at a draft horse and equipment auction. The seven-year-old half brother and sister pair were hitched to Denney’s fifth wheel rubber-tired Roberts wagonette. A horseman most of his life, he got the bug for driving horses and teams from Troy Haviland of Haviland Shires in Gilbert, Arizona. Denney now drives sleighs north of Durango in the winter and does some field work, special events and parades, all with his team.
“Driving along the Collegiate Peaks was really neat. [I] Could only imagine what the early pioneers thought when they could see the Rockies for days and not knowing what was up ahead and in store for them,” he said.
“The night around the campfire with the story telling, poets and musicians was just the topping on the day’s events.”
