The La Jara chronicle., 1910-12-23
kansas river to a point a little
above Pueblo. From there they
crocca1 oyar tho rnonntainc via

dDONe ueDIO. FROM LHeTe Lhey
crossed over the mountains via
Mosca Pass, and came to the Rio
Grande river near Fort Garland
They were on foot and each ma
carried forty-five pounds on his
back, but several of the party
were left with frozen feet along
the way. Pike believed the Rio
Grande to be the Red river and
intended following it down to the
white settlements in Texas. He
established camp and built a fort
on the Conejos river about five
miles from its junction with the
Rio Grande. Around the fort he
dug deep moat and these are the
ruins still visible.
On the 30th of January, 1907,
Pike and his party arrived in the
evening on the banks of a stream
of some magnitude which they be-
lieved to be the long looked for
Red river. They concluded to
build a stockade where four or
five might defend themselves while
the others went back to carry as
sistance to. the poor fellows who
had been left behind on account
of not being able to travel. Hero
DIR. Robinson left the party and
started for Sante Fe
Pike laid out the plan of the
works on Sunday, Feb. l, 1907.
In his diary he thus describes it
and the building of it:
"The stockade, from the cen
ter of the angles of the bastions,
was thirty-six feet square. There
were heavy cottonwood logs about
two feet in diameter, laid up all
around, about six feet after
which lighter ones, until we made
it about twelve feet high. These
logs were joined together by a
lap of about two feet at each end
1--WE then dug a small ditch
on the inside all around, making
it perpendicular on the internal
side and sloping next the work;
in this ditch we planted small
stakes of about six inches diam
eter, sharpened at the upper end
to a nice point, slanting them
over the top of the work, giving
them about two and one-half feet
projection. We then secured them
below and above in that position,
which formed a small, pointed
frieze, which must have been re
moved before the works could
have been scaled.
Lastly, we dug ditch around
the whole stockade, four feet wide,
and let the water into it, the
earth taken out being thrown
against the work, forming
an excellent rampant against
small arms, three or four
feet high. Our method of getting
in was to crawl over the ditch
on a plank and into small hole
sunk below the level of the work
near the river for that purpose.
Our port holes we pierced abou
eight feet from the ground anG
a platform was prepared to shoot
from.
THUS fortified" he concludes,
Il should not have had the least
hesitation in putting the hundred
Spanish horse at defiance until
the first and second night, an,
then to have made our escape 7
der cover of the darkness or made
sally and dispersed them, when
resting under a full confidence o.
our being panicstruck by their
numbers and force"
On February 10, while most of
the men were absent bringing in
their disabled companions and the
rest were at work building the
fort, two horsemen approached.
They proved to be Spanish dra-
COON and a civilized indian, both
well armed. They reported that
Robinson had arrived in Santa Fe
and had been received with great
kindness by the governor. After
expressing surprise at the appear
ance of the fort, they left, say
ing that they could reach Santa
Fe in two days-which of course
was not true-but Pixies men