Thanks to that chance meeting with Elmer Schettler, I fulfilled a lifelong ambition of visiting the Fred Harman Art Museum in Pagosa Springs, Colo. And I had the pleasure of meeting Harman's son, Fred Harman III.
The late Fred Harman was the rancher/artist who created Red Ryder, his sidekick, Little Beaver, and his crusty aunt, the Duchess.
The treasures housed in the Museum include a collection of hard cover Red Ryder books. I was reminded of my own collection, including one I read at about the age of 10, "Red Ryder and the Adventure at Chimney Rock." Later in life I learned there is a real Chimney Rock located near Harman's original Red Ryder Ranch.
That story is based on a wealthy redheaded female writer from New York, intelligent and beautiful, of course. She travels to Colorado to gather grist for her novels - and to avoid an unwanted suitor.
This is my chance to visit the real Chimney Rock described in that book that I reread in anticipation of this journey.
On a cloudless, gorgeous day, I make the 17-mile drive from Pagosa Springs to Chimney Rock, now part of the San Juan National Forest. I arrive an hour before the last tour, and visit with Forest Service volunteers, Doris and Jean.
I'm in luck; for the last tour of the day I'm the only guest. Jean Carson is an intelligent, well-versed and personable guide. She explains plant life along the trail and details about the excavated sites that housed ancestral Puebloan people about 1,000 years ago. These sites were the furthest reaches of communities connected to Chaco Canyon. No one knows why people from lowland agricultural communities migrated to the harsh conditions of the Chimney Rock Mesa, or why they left.
The Chimney Rock Mesa has two chimney-like spires. The area is designated as an Archaeological Area and National Historical site. There are about 200 undisturbed structures within that area.
An especially interesting site is the Great House. During the once in 18-year astronomical event, the Lunar Standstill, a view from the Great House catches the moon rising precisely between the two Chimney-like spires. As with many other ancient cultures, natural features are combined with man-made markings to denote events such as summer and winter solstice and autumnal and vernal equinox.
It was an almost mystical experience, walking along the trail, viewing the same scenery that people had viewed 1,000 years ago. An ancient people who mysteriously disappeared, Red Ryder's fictitious adventure - it was an enchanting mixture of history, fact and fiction set in real geography.
The gorgeous New York writer, Doris Darnell, is followed by her unwanted suitor, Phil Bruce, who links up with Red Ryder's long-time adversary, Ace Hanlon, and Ace's dimwitted partner in crime. Ace concocts a scheme to extort money from Doris' wealthy father. The three will split the dough.
While riding the range with Red Ryder, Doris drifts out of Red's sight, and is captured by the three schemers. By means of a "secret trail" that Ace had discovered, and a vaguely defined system of ropes and pulleys, Doris is hoisted to the top of Chimney Rock and guarded by Bruce, while Ace and his partner aim to collect the ransom - to be delivered to Chimney Rock.
As directed by the ransom note, Red delivers the cash to the base of Chimney Rock, only to have Ace's partner knock him unconscious with his gun barrel. With the aid of Bruce who is already on top of Chimney Rock, and the ropes and pulleys, the unconscious Red is then hoisted to the top of the rock.
With Red Ryder out of commission, stranded on top of the rock with Doris and Bruce, Ace pulls the inevitable double cross on the unsuspecting Bruce. Ace yanks the lifeline out of the pulley, leaving the threesome to await slow death. The dough now needs be split only two ways.
How do our hero and heroine get off Chimney Rock? Little Beaver, of course! With the aid of his trusty bow and arrow and some imaginative artistic license, Little Beaver manages to get Red and Doris off the rock. He also gets Bruce off the rock. Red and Doris are magnanimous. Instead of charging Bruce with kidnapping, they send the hapless sap packing.
Ace Hanlon's scheming mind is still at work. Believing Ryder out of the way, he figures to extort additional dough from Doris' wealthy father. He shows up at the ranch to find the Duchess in the coral, milking her cow. Ace tells the Duchess he knows who kidnapped Doris and will spill the beans for a price. As the Duchess renders her no-nonsense assessment of Ace's character, Red steps around the barn with six-gun in hand. Red retrieves the ransom money from the shocked Ace, telling him he flew off the rock like a bird.
In hindsight, the mistake Red makes is letting Doris - gorgeous, intelligent and a good horsewoman to boot - return to New York. But then the novel was written for 10- to 12-year-olds back in the 1940s. We didn't want our cowboy heroes to get tied up with complexities like romance. But even we innocent lads would have forgiven both Red Ryder and Fred Harman had Red succumbed to romance under those fortuitous circumstances.
In viewing the real Chimney Rock, one has to conclude that Little Beaver had one heck of a bow and arrow and creative mind to get Red and Doris off that rock.
It's time to leave Colorado, unfortunately, right before the annual Pagosa Springs Rodeo. Quite appropriately, it's entitled - what else could it be - "The Red Ryder Roundup."
That's as it should be. Thanks to Fred Harman and Pagosa Springs, the legacy and spirit of Red Ryder lives on. I hope it's for a long time.
- Monroe resident John Waelti can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net.
The late Fred Harman was the rancher/artist who created Red Ryder, his sidekick, Little Beaver, and his crusty aunt, the Duchess.
The treasures housed in the Museum include a collection of hard cover Red Ryder books. I was reminded of my own collection, including one I read at about the age of 10, "Red Ryder and the Adventure at Chimney Rock." Later in life I learned there is a real Chimney Rock located near Harman's original Red Ryder Ranch.
That story is based on a wealthy redheaded female writer from New York, intelligent and beautiful, of course. She travels to Colorado to gather grist for her novels - and to avoid an unwanted suitor.
This is my chance to visit the real Chimney Rock described in that book that I reread in anticipation of this journey.
On a cloudless, gorgeous day, I make the 17-mile drive from Pagosa Springs to Chimney Rock, now part of the San Juan National Forest. I arrive an hour before the last tour, and visit with Forest Service volunteers, Doris and Jean.
I'm in luck; for the last tour of the day I'm the only guest. Jean Carson is an intelligent, well-versed and personable guide. She explains plant life along the trail and details about the excavated sites that housed ancestral Puebloan people about 1,000 years ago. These sites were the furthest reaches of communities connected to Chaco Canyon. No one knows why people from lowland agricultural communities migrated to the harsh conditions of the Chimney Rock Mesa, or why they left.
The Chimney Rock Mesa has two chimney-like spires. The area is designated as an Archaeological Area and National Historical site. There are about 200 undisturbed structures within that area.
An especially interesting site is the Great House. During the once in 18-year astronomical event, the Lunar Standstill, a view from the Great House catches the moon rising precisely between the two Chimney-like spires. As with many other ancient cultures, natural features are combined with man-made markings to denote events such as summer and winter solstice and autumnal and vernal equinox.
It was an almost mystical experience, walking along the trail, viewing the same scenery that people had viewed 1,000 years ago. An ancient people who mysteriously disappeared, Red Ryder's fictitious adventure - it was an enchanting mixture of history, fact and fiction set in real geography.
The gorgeous New York writer, Doris Darnell, is followed by her unwanted suitor, Phil Bruce, who links up with Red Ryder's long-time adversary, Ace Hanlon, and Ace's dimwitted partner in crime. Ace concocts a scheme to extort money from Doris' wealthy father. The three will split the dough.
While riding the range with Red Ryder, Doris drifts out of Red's sight, and is captured by the three schemers. By means of a "secret trail" that Ace had discovered, and a vaguely defined system of ropes and pulleys, Doris is hoisted to the top of Chimney Rock and guarded by Bruce, while Ace and his partner aim to collect the ransom - to be delivered to Chimney Rock.
As directed by the ransom note, Red delivers the cash to the base of Chimney Rock, only to have Ace's partner knock him unconscious with his gun barrel. With the aid of Bruce who is already on top of Chimney Rock, and the ropes and pulleys, the unconscious Red is then hoisted to the top of the rock.
With Red Ryder out of commission, stranded on top of the rock with Doris and Bruce, Ace pulls the inevitable double cross on the unsuspecting Bruce. Ace yanks the lifeline out of the pulley, leaving the threesome to await slow death. The dough now needs be split only two ways.
How do our hero and heroine get off Chimney Rock? Little Beaver, of course! With the aid of his trusty bow and arrow and some imaginative artistic license, Little Beaver manages to get Red and Doris off the rock. He also gets Bruce off the rock. Red and Doris are magnanimous. Instead of charging Bruce with kidnapping, they send the hapless sap packing.
Ace Hanlon's scheming mind is still at work. Believing Ryder out of the way, he figures to extort additional dough from Doris' wealthy father. He shows up at the ranch to find the Duchess in the coral, milking her cow. Ace tells the Duchess he knows who kidnapped Doris and will spill the beans for a price. As the Duchess renders her no-nonsense assessment of Ace's character, Red steps around the barn with six-gun in hand. Red retrieves the ransom money from the shocked Ace, telling him he flew off the rock like a bird.
In hindsight, the mistake Red makes is letting Doris - gorgeous, intelligent and a good horsewoman to boot - return to New York. But then the novel was written for 10- to 12-year-olds back in the 1940s. We didn't want our cowboy heroes to get tied up with complexities like romance. But even we innocent lads would have forgiven both Red Ryder and Fred Harman had Red succumbed to romance under those fortuitous circumstances.
In viewing the real Chimney Rock, one has to conclude that Little Beaver had one heck of a bow and arrow and creative mind to get Red and Doris off that rock.
It's time to leave Colorado, unfortunately, right before the annual Pagosa Springs Rodeo. Quite appropriately, it's entitled - what else could it be - "The Red Ryder Roundup."
That's as it should be. Thanks to Fred Harman and Pagosa Springs, the legacy and spirit of Red Ryder lives on. I hope it's for a long time.
- Monroe resident John Waelti can be reached at jjwaelti1@tds.net.
