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Show 318 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS. years old, only his wrinkled visage betrayed his age. There was elasticity in his step and brightness in his eye. He had spent forty-seven years on the frontier, and I regarded him as a living volume of history. LANDMARKS KNOCKED AWAY. " My landmarks are all knocked away," said he, " I am very much like the old negro, who said, ' I donno whar I is, I donno whar I come from, and I donno whar I'sgoin' to.' "Even the rivers have different names. They were pretty at first,* but now there is no beauty in them." I suggested that the Grande, the Gunnison, the Rio Grande, the Arkansas and the Swan, were musical and appropriate. "Yes," said he, "they have the same names as of old, with the exception of the Gunnison, which was originally called Eagle river. " The names given in the early days had a distinctive and comprehensive meaning for the frontiersman, and recalled many memories of life on the plains. " Clear creek was called Vasquez Fork, by which name it ought to be known to-day, but later arrivals, attracted by its transparent water, and caring nothing for the memory of the old pioneer whose name it bore, called it Clear creek, which has since been discovered to be a misnome, for it is the muddiest stream in all Christendom, yet it gives tourists something to wonder at and talk about. " The San Carlos they have corrupted into St. Charles. " One of the most musical names I ever heard given to a river was Rio Los Animas, which means ' river of spirits.' The Spaniards christened it thus, because of its deep |
