Cañon City record., 1904-03-24
AN 0LD FoRT
On Upper Grape Creek That
Suggests Many interest
ing SpeculatiOns.


topped rock situated short distance
from the point where Grape creek
debouches from the hills into Wet
Mountain valley is rude fortress
whose chronology is obscured by the
mists of antiquity, although its origin
can hardly extend further back into
the past than the advent of American
hunters and trappers into Colorado
about seventy years ago.
In spite Of the interest with which
the place is invested by those who are
familiar with it, little has ever been
written about it, and it is extremely
doubtful whether photograph of the
rock has ever been taken, although
rs connecting link between the to-
day and the yesterday Of history. the
defenses which crown it are second in
Importance to no other locality in the
state.
That it WAS erected by white men as
Il protection against the assaults of
hostile Indians admits Of no question,
but whether its builders were Ameri-
cans or Spainards is a matter Of some
uncertainty, although the consensus
of opinion seems to be that it WAS the
work of the former; perhaps of Kit
Carson and that hardy band of COM
panions who penetrated the upper
Arkansas valley on hunting expedi-
tion about 1885. Whoever they we're
they left most striking and interest
ing monument of their presence which
archaeologists should preserve for
posterity.
The fortress we are endeavoring to
describe is built on the top of de-
tached hill on the left side as one
ascends the creek, about one hundred
and fifty yards back from the waters
edge. The barricade is about six feet
high and is constructed of boulders
and unhewn stones of varying sizes
and is substantially built, although no
mortor or adobe was used to hold the
walls together The hill upon which
this primitive fortication stands is
hardly more than thirty feet above the
creek bed, and has gently sloping,
circular base, affording its defenders
commanding view for several hundred
yards in every direction.
On the side of the rock farthest
from the creek a pinnacle rises prob
ably twenty five feet above the bench
upon which the fort is built. and lad
der was u'ed by the sentinels to reach
the top when q lookout was being kept
for game or hostile Indians. That this
strange rock has at some lime in the
past teen the scene Of . sanguinary
conflict between It's defenders and
their enemies is evidenced by human
bones which have been found bleaching
about its base, or being slowly worn
away by the erosive influence Of the
sand as 1t is washed down the creek by
heavy freshets. or by rise OF the water
caused by the melting SHOWS in the
hills beyond.
A few years ago q human skull 10
said to have been picked up within
rifle shot of the old fort with bullet
imbedded in it. but whether it be-
longed to an Indian or q white man
will probably never be known until
both land and sea shall give up their
dead. Who the builders Of the fort
were is shrouded in darkness as inn
as the authorship Of the
Junius letters. Tradition furnishes no
clue to the mystery, and theorizing is
the only recourse left US in our efforts
to arrive at II solution OF the problem.
1t is known that Kit Carson made
several hunting and trapping eIpedi-
tions into this section, anG it is sur
missed that the fort was built by him
and some OF his friends as a defense
against the Ute Indians. who occupied |
this part of the country at that time
Kit Cnrson's biographer states that !
in early days OF western exploration
the headwaters of the Arkansas river |
was favorite hunting ground OF the