A big day at Big Creek

Native American history was the subject on the Grand Encampment Museum Trek with a visit to war lodges, the Coffin Bison Kill site and around 72 tipi rings east of Riverside Saturday.

Tour guides Mark Dunning and Chilly Rollison shared their knowledge of life in the 1850s on what is now the Quill Ranch, Big Creek Ranch and Six Mile Gap on in the Routt National Forest.

Trekkers crossed the Cherokee Trail on the Quill Ranch on the way to the war lodges located in a grove of trees on the Big Creek Ranch.

Local historian Candy Moulton was on hand to point out the Cherokee Trail, which in the summer is covered with patches of sagebrush.

"It is much easier to see in the late winter, early spring," Moulton told passersby.

The ruts can be seen with snow on the ground or before the sagebrush grows to cover the ruts.

The war lodges, which have also been referred to as wickiups, are located near Independence Mountain on private property. The Big Creek fire in 2016 threatened the war lodges, Dunning told the audience. A road was made as a fire line and fire engines stood guard to protect the 150-year-old structures.

Discussion between Rollison and Dr. Jason LaBelle, an associate professor of Archeology at Colorado State University, concluded these were in fact war lodges, as there was not evidence to support otherwise.

The Coffin Bison Kill site was named so because of an archeologist dig in the mid-1920s by the Coffin family.

The kill site is in Jackson County, Colorado across the road from the State Line Ranch on Hwy 125. Wildflowers, trees and bushes now fill the site, which heads downhill to the north between two large rock formations. Native Americans would drive the Bison herds through the pass and then round them up into a makeshift coral, Dunning said. Once in the coral, the animals would be killed.

Excitement filled the air as one of the trekkers discovered an arrowhead on the ground, probably from the 1850s. Another arrowhead was discovered and the trekkers started scouring the ground for the historic artifacts. Trekkers had been told by Dunning at the museum, before driving out the historic areas, that any artifacts found were to be left in the area, which they were.

Also found at the site was a piece of obsidian. Obsidian is a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed as an extrusive igneous rock. LaBelle explained obsidian is located near Yellowstone National Park, hundreds of miles from the kill site. LaBelle speculated it was brought into the area in the 1800s when Native American would travel through the area.

While the kill site was a mass kill site, it was impossible for the Native Americans to use all the meat obtained in the kill, Dunning explained.

"Could they use all of the buffalo, absolutely."

But in many cases the meat would spoil before it was consumed by a tribe as large as 500 people.

The final stop on the trek was near Six Mile Gap where the Forest Service had mapped out 72 tipi sites. Rollison worked for the Forest Service and helped map out the sights. When asked how to identify the rings, Rollison told one trekker "You are standing in one." Rocks placed in a circle signified that a tipi ring was located where the trekker was standing. Rollison said that these rings were most likely post-horse because of the size.

Before Native American used horses, women and dogs were used, which required smaller tipis to be used. As the horse became available, larger tipis could be moved from one site to another.

Rollison explained that this was a summer ground for the Native Americans, as there was no sign of campfire rings inside the tipi rings. For Rollison, that indicated the women cooked outside, as it would be too hot to cook inside.

Saturday the wind was prevalent, but Rollison demonstrated how to put up a tipi. At one point, the wind knocked over the tripod of branches before the trekkers volunteered to help hold up the branches as Rollison added each part of the tipi. He wrapped the top of the branches with a wrap and appeared to dance around the volunteers as he tied up the branches.

Next, Rollison added the canvas with a skill that defied the wind and soon the tipi was fully erected.

With a prompt from historian Dick Perue, the trekkers thanked Dunning and Rollison for sharing their knowledge. Trekkers were also given a brochure compiled by Perue, with articles written by Moulton about The Cherokee Trail, and John C. Fremont and Howard Stansbury exploring the Sierra Madre. Perue also compiled information about the Coffin Bison Kill site.