Paleo Poetry

The Student Paleontologist: on the Pathway to Discovery

By Steven Wade Veatch

Ancient worlds, long lost and hidden behind the murky mists of time,
wait for students to discover the new answers most sublime—
to inspect, reconstruct and peer into an ancient, primordial world:
allowing student paleontologist’s answers to be inexorably unfurled.

The light of knowledge burns with passion by young scholars so enthused
as the exciting tools of these new scientists are imaginatively used
to study fossil bones, petrified trees and cones, and an impression in shale,
pollen and spores, tree ring’s revelations, even a trace fossil dinosaur trail.

The fossil materials are brought back carefully in jackets to the paleo lab,
where workers clean and stabilize fossils such as the impressive petrified crab.
Carefully examined with a microscope and viewed on a digital screen;
observations are made, hypothesis created—all based on what is seen.

Only a very small part of the fossil world has been currently uncovered—
while many more fossils of all sizes and shapes are waiting to be discovered.
Now it’s the student’s turn to work and ponder the pieces of data and reconstruct
these ancient worlds and add their findings to science that will eternally instruct.






The "Trio" at the Florissant Fossil Beds National  Monument, Florissant, CO

Poet's/scientists note: When I was in 3rd grade, before this area was a monument, I went to the fossil beds. It had a lasting impact on my life. Since then I have worked hard to protect and be a part of the research that continues at the fossil beds. I served as President of the Friends of the Florissant Fossil Beds for 5 years and have conducted several research projects that have been published by the Geological Society of America. I have also contributed a chapter to two scholarly books about the fossil beds. I thank Ranger Shawn Frizzell for her constant support and Charles Frizzell for an outstanding watercolor to go with my poem.

Tepee Buttes: Late Cretaceous Submarine Springs of El Paso and Pubelo County

Introduction
Rising abruptly from the plains east of Interstate 25, between Colorado Springs and Pueblo, Colorado, are cone-shaped hills of limestone and shale known as the Tepee Buttes. These distinctive features formed from carbonate precipitation around spring vents on the sea floor during the Late Cretaceous Period — between 75 and 76 million years ago (Kauffman et al., 1996). The Tepee Buttes, ranging from a circular form to a more common elliptical shape, can be up to 60 meters wide and rise as high as 10 meters above the plains. A limestone core or pipe in the center supports each butte. The central core of each limestone pipe is vuggy (full of holes) and generally no more than a few meters wide.

Figure 1.  View of Tepee Buttes.  These features are aligned along early Laramide faults that parallel the Front Range.  Image by Clyde Hoadley, used with permission.


Fault zones control the placement of the buttes, with butte fields commonly aligned in clusters along block faults or fracture zones formed during the Laramide uplift (Howe and Kauffman, 1985). The faults and fracture zones created submarine springs and seeps on the seafloor that vented methane and nutrient-rich fluids from the underlying Pierre Shale and Niobrara Formations (Arthur et al., 1982). Methane gas also bubbled out along some of the fractures and made the long ascent to the surface of the vast Cretaceous Interior Seaway.




Figure 3.  NAPP vertical color infrared aerial photo of Tepee Buttes (8/20/88).  A cluster of Tepee Buttesseen to the left of the meandering stream.  Image reduced from original 1:40,000 scale.  Colorado Springs is approximately 33 kilometers to the north; Pueblo is 38 kilometers to the south.

Vent Sites
Chemically enriched waters, produced by vents, supported chemosynthetic communites (Collom, pers. comm.). Mats of oxidizing bacteria, living on chemical energy contained in compounds such as methane and hydrogen sulfide, blanketed the sediments around the vents (Howe and Kaufman, 1985). Aerobic bacterial oxidation of methane is thought to cause carbonate precipitation and lithification of the mounds (Kaufman et al., 1996). The fossils associated with the Tepee Buttes indicate these structures were formed at a depth of 30 to 100 meters (Kaufman 1967; Howe 1987). These springs were intermittently active over a period spanning 1.25 million years (Kaufman, 1984).

Figure 4. Aerial photograph of  a Tepee Butte. Small format aerial photography (SFAP) provides low-height, large-scale imagery using a lightweight 35mm camera format.  Photo date 11/00 by S. Veatch

Figure 5.  Low-oblique view of Tepee Buttes aligned along a fault.  The airplane used for the project was a Cessna 172 P, flown over the site high enough to capture the target in a single frame.  Photo date 11/00 by S. Veatch.

Figure 6.  Aerial overview of Tepee Butte field in southern El Paso County.  Photo date 11/00 by S. Veatch

A repeating pattern of rocks and fossils developed around the limestone mounds. The vent core rocks contain few fossils and are a vuggy limestone formed from carbonate mud with fecal pellets from marine organisms. Fossilized tube worms are attached to rocks, just as with modern tube worms around present-day seafloor vents. Tube worms, with their feather duster-like appendages, lived in tiny calcareous tubes near the vents. The tube worms adapted to the mineral-rich waters, formed a symbiotic relationship with bacteria, and thrived. Only their hollow tubes remain in the Buttes.

A dense limestone coquina of shells occurs around the vuggy core of the limestone pipe.

Figure 7.  Nymphalucina occidentalis is the dominant fossil around the vent core.  Horizontal length is 3.2 cm.  Image courtesy of Wayne Itano, used with permission.

Nymphalucina occidentalis, a fossil lucinid bivalve, is the dominant fossil around the vent core. This marine creature thrived in conditions around the margin of the methane vents. Modern lucinids are not known to occur in such high density populations, making this occurrence unusual (Kaufman et al., 1996).

A richly fossilferous limestone, containing different kinds of molluscs, adjoins the coquinas (Kaufman et al., 1996). These massive deposits, which hold up the core, also contain Inoceramus, a genus of large and somewhat flat Mesozoic pelecypods (clams). These clams had a distinctive shell with concentric wrinkles. Inoceramus went extinct near the end of the Cretaceous.

Figure 8.  This baculite (uncoiled ammonite) was found in the lower part of a Tepee Butte.  This specimen, from the Rudy Weber collection, measures approximately 5 cm.  Image by Mike Estlick.

Figure 9. A trombone-shaped ammonite, Solenoceras sp., coils back on itself. The part that coils back, like a hairpin, is missing. Image by Mike Estlick.

Figure 10.  This vase-shaped Cretaceous sponge, collected along the bank of a Tepee Butte near Boone, Colorado is one of the simplest multi-cellular organisms. A skeleton consisting of needle-like spicules strengthened the body of the sponge.  Image by Mike Estlick.

Flank breccias, the most distant rock from the core, formed from marine cements and slump block material. Bacterial mounds and tube worms are also found here. The fossil remains of foraminifera and radiolaria—single-celled organisms—occur in the rocks forming the buttes (Howe and Kauffman, 1985). The Pierre Shale, containing only a few fossils, surrounds the vents, thus the mounds were a type of "oaisis" on the sea floor.

Summary
Tepee Buttes are carbonate mounds formed around methane springs and vents on the seafloor of the Cretaceous Interior Seaway. The buttes are aligned in linear fields along Laramide faults.

At the center of each butte is a vuggy limestone core, partially filled with cements. A large Nymphalucina occidentalis paleocommunity surrounds the limestone core that supports the mound. The flanks of the mound hosted a diverse paleocommunity of bacteria, algae, and molluscs. The Pierre Shale, with few fossils, surrounds the Buttes. Few ancient vent sites have been studied, as they are relatively rare. The recognition of Tepee Buttes in Colorado as vent sites provides paleontologists the opportunity to study paleocommunities that are found around these ancient methane spring deposits.


Acknowledgments
This paper stems from a field trip through the Fossil Study Group of the Colorado Springs Mineralogical Society. The first trip was made April 8, 2000 under the direction of John Harrington. A number of subsequent field trips have been made to this site. I thank Christopher Collom, Mount Royal College, Calgary for informative discussions at the field site and Beth Simmons, Metropolitan State College, Denver for valuable reviews of the manuscript.

References:

Arthur, M. A., Kauffman, E.G., Scholle, P.A., and Richardson, R., 1982. Chemical and paleobiological
evidence of the submarine spring origin of carbonate mounds in the Pierre Shale (Cretaceous of Colorado). Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 14: 435.

Howe, B. 1987. Tepee Buttes: A petrological, paleontological, paleoenvironmental study of Cretaceous submarine spring deposits (Master's thesis). University of Colorado, Boulder. 218 p.

Howe. G. and Kauffman, E.G. 1985. The lithofacies, biofacies and depositional setting of Tepee Buttes,
Cretaceous submarine springs, between Colorado Springs and Boone, Colorado, in Kauffman, E.G. (ed.), Cretaceous biofacies of the central part of the Western Interior seaway. A Field Guidebook (4th North American Paleontolgical Convention, Boulder, Colorado, August 12-15) p. 155-175. Department of Geological Sciences. University of Colorado, Boulder.

Kaufman, E.G. 1967. Coloradoan macroinvertebrate assemblages, central Western Interior, United
States, in Kauffman, E.G., and Kent, H.C. (eds.), Paleoenvironments of the Cretaceous seaway in
the Western Interior, p. 67-143. Colorado School of Mines Special Publication, Golden, Colorado.

Kaufman, E.G. 1984. Paleobiogeography and evolutionary response dynamics in the Cretaceous Western Interior seaway of North America, in Westerman, G.E.G. (ed.), Jurassic-Cretaceous biochronology and paleogeography of North America, p 274-306. Geological Association of Canada Special Paper 27.

Kauffman, E.G., Arthur, M.A., Howe, B., and Scholle, P.A. 1996. Widespread venting of methane-rich
fluids in Late Cretaceous (Campanian) submarine springs (Tepee Buttes), Western Interior Seaway, U.S.A. Geology 24: 799-802.

November guest authors and I write about ancient sea urchins in Colorado Springs

Ancient Sea Urchins of Colorado Springs: The Incredible Porcupines of the Sea
Steven Wade Veatch, Western Interior Paleontological Society
Beth Simmons, Western Interior Paleontological Society
John Harrington, Colorado Springs Mineralogical Society (Fossil Group)

During the Mississippian Period, between 360 and 320 million years ago, Colorado was under a broad ocean. As the uplift of the Ancestral Rockies began at the end of the Mississippian Period, the ocean began to withdraw in episodic phases. The Glen Eyrie Formation formed during the transitional time between the Mississippian and the Pennsylvanian Period. In this rock formation, consisting of shales, sandstones, and limestones, are fossils of the marine plants and animals that thrived in this shallow, retreating sea. The Fountain Formation, an arkosic (rich in feldspar) mixture of rocks, sands, and shales overlies the Glen Eyrie Formation (Taylor, 1999).

Just west of Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs the remains of fossil sea urchins were found weathering out of the Glen Eyrie Formation. The fossil site is located about 3 kilometers from the beginning of Rampart Range Road in the Garden of the Gods Park. Sea urchin fossils from this time interval are rare in the fossil record.

Today, beachcombers find all manner of sea urchins washed up on the shore. Sea urchins populate the ocean floor from the beach down to abyssal depths. They belong to the phylum Echinodermata; the spiny skinned invertebrate animals. There are five classes in this phylum: starfish (asteroids), sea lilies (crinoids), brittle stars (ophiuroids), sea urchins (echinoids) and sea cucumbers (holothurians). Fifteen other classes, found in the fossil record, do not exist today. Overall, there are about 6,000 species (Sprinkle and Kier 1987). Echinoderms are one of the few invertebrates that never escaped the oceanic realm.

Sea urchins have a hard calcareous outer skeleton shell known as a test. Narrow ambulacral plates lie along the grooves of the shell where the tube feet emerge. Broad interambulacral plates hold spines (Case, 1982). Sea urchins use their spines, like a porcupine uses quills, to discourage predators. The spines are also used for locomotion, camouflage, and for catching drifting algae to eat. An elaborate hydraulic system provides the power for feeding and motion in this group. Seawater is the hydraulic fluid.

Because sea urchins are generally one of the first marine organisms to show signs of stress if something is wrong with the water, the Environmental Protection Agency uses them as an indicator organism for water quality near shores and in bays. When conditions are poor, sea urchins will stop moving, their spines will droop, and they will die.

Figure 1. Aerial view of the Glen Eyrie castle in Queens Canyon. General William Palmer, founder of Colorado Springs, built Glen Eyrie an English Tudor–style castle in 1904. Aerial photo by S.W. Veatch

G.I. Finlay designated the type section (original description) of this formation in 1907 at the Glen Eyrie estate, about 5 miles northwest of Colorado Springs (Finlay, 1907). The Glen Eyrie Formation lays under the Fountain Formation and is poorly exposed. The Glen Eyrie Formation consists of 3 meters (10 feet) to 110 meters (360 feet) of gray to black alternating sandstones, coaly shales, and marly limestone (Chronic and Williams, 1978). The alternating sequences, called cyclothems, are repeated sequences of rocks caused by the periodic rise and fall of the sea level.

The Glen Eyrie Formation is rich in marine plants and invertebrates, consistent with organisms found in late Mississippian and early Pennsylvanian strata, suggesting that this formation is transitional between Mississippian and Pennsylvanian times (Chronic and Williams, 1978). This makes the Glen Eyrie Formation somewhat older than previously thought (Early to Middle Pennsylvanian).

Recently Echinoderm fragments were found weathering out of a shale bed in the Glen Eyrie Formation just west of Garden of the Gods. These fragments not only included crinoids but also echinoids identified as Archaeocidaris dininnii (Chronic and Williams, 1978). Archaeocidaris was first described in 1841 by Louis Agassiz (Shrimer and Shrock, 1972). Agassiz later formulated the theory of a great Ice Age.

Archaeocidaris usually occur in large groups, and when the first one was found at this fossil site, the search was on in the area for more. Dozens of additional specimens soon emerged from the shales. Because of a favorable local environment that included plenty of food and protection from waves and currents, these animals banded together. Like modern sea urchins, living in groups improves spawning and provided some measure of protection.

Archaeocidaris, a cidaroid, was the ancient ancestor of the modern sea urchin. Small cidaroids first appeared in the Mississippian Period. The cidaroids were the only echinoids that did not become extinct by the close of the Paleozoic. Cidaroids are distinguished from most other echinoids by their simple ambulacral plates, large, knob-like tubercles centered in interambulacral plates, and barbed spines (Figure 2). Modern cidaroids or "pencil slate urchins" are restricted to tropical waters, and in the fossil record cidaroids are regarded as an excellent indicator of very warm and shallow conditions (Orr, pers. comm.).

Figure 2. Polygonal interambulacral plates that form part of the Archaeocidaris test are on the left. Spines (on the right) fit on the large knobs or tubercles in the center of the plates. Spines are rarely preserved as fossils. Specimens from the S.W. Veatch collection. Image by Mike Estlick.

Archaeocidaris had a spherical calcareous skeleton or test made of moderately thick plates arranged radially in two types of double columns. The first double column, termed the ambulacrum (plural-ambulacra), had two pores in each plate, for the projection of tube feet. Hydraulically powered tube feet aid in locomotion, anchoring, feeding, sensing the environment, and respiration.

The second double column, the interambulacrum, alternates with the ambulacra. Archaeocidaris had a distinctive arrangement of four columns of plates in each interambulacrum. Moveable spines were joined onto a single large tubercle on each interambulacral plate (Figure 3). Skin and cord-like muscle, covering the test, moved and rotated the spines in almost any direction around the tubercle. The barbed Archaeocidaris spines apparently provided protection from predators and allowed locomotion.

When a sea urchin dies, the tissue that holds the plates together decays, and the plates disassemble. This process, aided by predators and wave action, produces a cover of plates on the seafloor. Whole sea urchin tests are exceptionally rare. All of the Archaeocidaris dininnii fossils found at the Rampart Range Road site are represented by separate plates and spines.

Modern sea urchins have pedicellariae, modified spines with pincers used to prevent small organisms from attacking or settling on the test and to catch food (Parker and Kalvaas, 1992; Kato and Schroeter, 1985). It is probable that Archaeocidaris had pedicellariae, but pedicellariae are fragile and do not ordinarily fossilize.

Figure 2. Polygonal interambulacral plates that form part of the Archaeocidaris test are on the left. Spines (on the right) fit on the large knobs or tubercles in the center of the plates. Spines are rarely preserved as fossils. Specimens from the S.W. Veatch collection. Image by Mike Estlick.

A sea urchin's mouth, or peristome, is located in the center on the lower (ventral) surface of test. The opening is large and within it are beak-like jaws called pyramids and five curved calcareous teeth. Combined, the pyramids and teeth form an unusual chewing structure called Aristotle's lantern. New teeth grew to replace worn-down ones. Archaeocidaris, just like modern sea urchins, probably ate seaweed or decaying organic mater.

While their mouth was located on the underside of their body, wastes were excreted through the anus at the top of the animal. The small size of this opening reflected the little amount of excreta produced. A circle of plates called the apical system surrounded the anus, or periproct. The geometry and orientation of plates within the apical system are used by paleontologists in the classification scheme (Orr, pers. comm.). When the periproct is enclosed within the apical system, sea urchins are termed regular. Sea urchins that have a periproct outside the apical system are known as irregular and have a bilateral symmetry.

Classification

• Phylum: Echinodermata
• Subphylum: Echinozoa
• Class: Echinoidea
• Order: Cidaroida
• Genus: Archaeocidaris
• Species: dininnii

There are few outcrops of the Glen Eyrie Formation in the area; the unusual exposure west of the Garden of the Gods yields sea urchin fossils. These ancient animals reveal a very different age—a span of time when Colorado Springs was under a sea and home to a large number of marine creatures.

Acknowledgments:

We thank Dr. William Orr for his helpful and constructive review of the original manuscript. We are grateful for the field studies made possible by the Colorado Springs Mineralogical Society (Fossil Group).

References Cited:

Case, G.R. 1982. A Pictorial Guide to Fossils. Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, NY, 515 p.

Chronic, J. and Williams, C.A. 1978. The Glen Eyrie Formation (Carboniferous) near Colorado Springs. Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists 1978 Symposium, p. 199 - 206.

Finlay, G.I. 1907. The Gleneyrie Formation and its bearing on the age of the Fountain Formation in the Manitou region, Colorado. Journalof Geology 15: 586-589.

Kato, S. and Schroeter, S.C. (1985) Biology of the red sea urchin, Strongylocentrotus franciscanis, and its fishery in California. Marine Fisheries Review, 47(3):1-20.

Parker, D. and Kalvass, P. 1992. Sea Urchins. in, W. L. Leet, C. M. Dewees, and C. W. Haugen, (eds.) California'sLiving Marine Resources and Their Utilization p. 41-43. Sea Grant Extension Publication UCSGEP-91-12, Sea Grant Extension Program, Wildlife and Fisheries Biology Department, University of California, Davis, CA.

Shimer, H. W. and Shrock, R.R., 1972. Index Fossils of North America. The M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, p 217.

Sprinkle, J. and Kier, P.M. 1987. Phylum Echinodermata In Boardman, R.S., Cheetham, A.H., Rowell, A.J. (eds.) Fossil Invertebrates. Blackwell Scientific Publications, Palo Alto, CA. p 596 -611

Taylor, A.W. 1999. Guide to the Geology of Colorado. Cataract Lode Mining Company, Golden, CO, 222 p.











 

Happy Halloween : Colorado Country Life

I am taking a break from my earth science blog to have some Halloween fun, Colorado style. This is a very special time of year in Colorado.  The aspen leaves change and the days become cooler.

On the way to visit a pumpkin patch with my wife we had to stop by a dinosaur footprint site on Skyline Drive near Canon Cañon City. It was fun to look at the many trace fossils, including worm burrows and dinosaur footprints in the sandstone.  The dinosaur footprints were from the worm's eye view, or looking at the bottom of the prints after they were uplifted by tectonic forces.

Ankylosaur tracks.

Theropod track over an Ankylosaur track.  The meat-eating dinosaur is hunting for its next mead

A worm burrow can be seen in this ancient sandstone

Next it was time to take my wife and her friends to Diana’s Pumpkin patch in Cañon City. Everyone went into the corn maze but me—I decided to relax in a rocking chair with an ice cold Coke. I got a plastic glass and had the vendor pack it with ice. It was perfect.

Yes, even for a geologist, Diana's Pumpkin Patch is more fun than a barrel of pumpkins.

The pumpkins were seemingly endless at the pumpkin patch.

Amanda did not get lost in the corn maze.

There were even white pumpkins in the patch.

The best part of a Colorado Country Halloween party is to carve your pumpkin, then carefully set on a stump, and from a safe distance, take aim with a shotgun and shoot the pumpkin off of the stump. If you are a good shot nothing is left of the pumpkin other than fine debris. Black ants come out and drag the tiny fragments down into their nests.  I have a live action video below so that you can see this true Colorado Country custom, first invented by gold miners.  Click on the little triangle pointing to the right to see this amazing event.

 
Soon snow will come and limit rock, mineral, and dinosaur fossil hunting.  In Colorado we use the winters to: ice fish; research; and plan our next spring and summer adventures.
 

S. W. Veatch

A Day at the Pioneer's Museum in Colorado Springs

TODAY I HAD A GREAT DAY AT the Colorado Springs Pioneer’s Museum working with over 90 fourth grade students on the wonders of rocks, minerals, and Indian artifacts from the museum’s collections. I worked with the students on how to keep a lab book and how to do scientific photography and photography or specimens as they might appear in a popular magazine. The following are some selected images the students made during our time at the museum.

This is an image of a calcite sand crystal from South Dakota that one of the students made. These interesting specimens are thought to have been formed by the action of ground water or by spring deposition and are composed of calcite (CaCO3) and coarse wind-blown sand from an ancient dune deposit field. The absence of mud and silt and the well-rounded sand grains, along with wind-etched surfaces, indicates dune origin. The crystals are composed of about 37 % calcite and the rest is mainly sand inclusions.

Figure 1. Calcite sand crystals from South Dakota
Image by Patrick Henry Elementary School third grade student

A NUMBER OF THE ELEMENTRY STUDENTS knew that his material was an igneous rock—a lava flow that was filled with small holes of various sizes from escaping gas. When I pointed out how the object had been fashioned into a bowl; the rock went immediately from the ordinary to the realm of the extraordinary. In addition to a lava rock, the students now had an archaeological artifact with many stories that had to now be discovered by the students such as: who made the object; what was it used for; how old it is; and why was it shaped just that way and with that material?

Figure 2. Indian artifact made of basaltic lava flow,
Image by Patrick Henry Elementary School third grade student

ONE OF THE THIRD GRADE STUDENTS from Patrick Henry Elementary I worked with today took this image of a spectacular spear point found in the Pikes Peak region and stored in the collections of the Pioneer’s Museum. This lithic shows superior workmanship, which suggests it was perhaps an object used in ceremonies centuries ago. Each student’s imagination was stirred to find out more about the archaeological object. It was pure joy for me to watch these kids work with this perhaps sacred object with the care and curiosity of budding scientists.

Figure 3. A beautiful spear point was positioned for photography
by a small amount of "silly putty." The students
thought this was very cool. A scale is always
kept in the picture so scientists will know size.
Image by Patrick Henry Elementary School third grade student.

Migmatites:A Mixture of Igneous and Metamorphic Rocks

Metamorphism transforms pre-existing rocks into distinctly new rocks (metamorphic) as the result of high temperatures and high pressures. Metamorphic rocks, when raised to temperatures and pressures at or near their melting point, form a migmatite— a rock that has almost melted and characteristically produces a fantastic display of mixed igneous and metamorphic rocks. A migmatite, intermediate between metamorphic and igneous rocks, is a mixed rock in which at least one part is igneous.

This migmatite, a mixture of igneous and metamorphic rocks, is actually a glacial erratic deposited by a retreating glacier at the end of the Ice Age in the Rocky Mountain National Park.  This migmatite is along the shore of Sprague Lake.  Photo date Aug, 2004, by S. Veatch.

High temperatures cause partial melting with segregation of granitic melt bands that form swirled banding. This banding reveals that the light colored minerals (felsic) have undergone melting and flow while the dark colored minerals (mafic) have not yet reached their melting point and have been contorted by flow. If a rock undergoes extensive metamorphism and light and dark minerals have been segregated, it is gneiss. If a rock undergoes partial melting with segregation of granitic melt bands it is a migmatite. To find out if a rock is a migmatite, carefully look at the felsic layers, if they have completely melted and re- crystallized, the rock is a migmatite. If re-melting has not taken place, it’s a gneiss.



The swirled banding of light-colored felsic minerals and dark-colored mafic minerals seen in this boulder are characteristic of a migmatite. Photo date Aug, 2004, by S. Veatch.



Murder at the Bordenville School

Silverheels Mountain dominates the northwest rim of South Park, Colorado. A large igneous stock (body) intruded this 13,817-foot mountain, causing extensive metamorphism (heat and pressure) throughout the area. Ore-forming solutions spread into small fissures and fractures associated with the emplacement of the stock and deposited pyrite, quartz, and some gold. Over eons of time glaciers and the Tarryall Creek, with headwaters on the east slope of Mount Silverheels, eroded and carried gold nuggets to gravel deposits across southeastern South Park. Gold placers, scattered along Tarryall Creek, attracted prospectors to the area who quickly established the Tarryall Mining District in July, 1859. In the late 1860s, pioneer ranchers settled in the Tarryall Creek bottom lands and spread out into the meadows of the surrounding country. As the gold began to play out a deadly gunfight at the school house shattered the peaceful valley, and left the members of the school board shot to doll rags. This is the story of that infamous shootout.

By 1865, two brothers: Timothy and Olney Borden; began ranching in the Tarryall valley and established a supply and lumber operation for the South Park mines to the north and west. The site soon became known as Bordenville. The older brother, Timothy Borden, was born in New York state in 1826, and later moved to Iowa. In 1861, Timothy Borden left Iowa to work in various gold mines in Summit County, Colorado. Olney Borden, the younger brother, landed near Golden, Colorado to try his hand at mining. In 1865, the Borden brothers decided to work together and rode out to the Tarryall Creek area to start their dream of ranching. Because the Bordens owned the best water rights, they built a sprawling ranch covering 2,000 acres. With the ranch established, Olney Borden found time to look for a wife—his efforts brought him in contact with a rich widow from St. Louis and he married her in 1880. The Bordens were among the most prosperous and respected families in South Park.



Bordenville, Colorado.  Photo date 6/99 by S. Veatch

On the way to the rich Leadville mines, travelers (following the lure of gold and silver) came north along the lower Tarryall road from Colorado City and stopped at Bordenville to rest and get supplies before continuing on to the new goldfields. In addition to ranching, the Borden brothers operated a sawmill, a general merchandise store, and a post office. The town developed into an important ranch, lumber, and supply center for the South Park mines.

Bordenville reached its peak in the early 1880s with a population of about fifty. By this time the town had a stage stop, a blacksmith, and a mineral surveyor. The Bordenville school stood near a two-story ranch house. The School Board had met on May 6, 1895 to devise a plan to keep the motherless children of Benjamin Ratcliff in school. Ratcliff, whose wife had recently died, lived back in the remote mountains with his children. Ratcliff mistakenly thought the School Board had met in an attempt to keep his boisterous children out of the school. Benjamin Ratcliff, enraged over this flawed and misguided notion, rode out from the hills to the schoolhouse where he dismounted, tied his horse to the rail, entered the school, and opened fire on all three of the school board members: Samuel Taylor, Lincoln McCurdy, and George Wyatt (McConnell, 1964). Both Taylor and McCurdy died before they hit the floor; and Wyatt, mortally wounded, slowly slid down against the blackboard and died.

A Bordenville cabin.  Photo date 6/99 by S. Veatch

After the carnage Ratcliff rode to Como and turned himself in to the town marshal. The people of Jefferson, just seven miles north of the Bordenville School, tasted blood and threatened to lynch Ratcliff; however a trial took place and convicted him of the murders. Ratcliff ultimately hanged at the state prison in Cañon City. His body was returned and buried in the hills near Bordenville. The town did not want him in the consecrated ground of the Bordenville cemetery.

Bordenville began to decline after the railroad went through South Park, north of Tarryall, and when the local mines played out (Eberhart, 1974). Postal service ended in 1884. By 1900, Bordenville lost its status as a town; however it remained a focal point for neighboring ranches. Today, Park County 77 passes by the few remaining buildings of Bordenville. Across from Bordenville, the Tarryall Creek peacefully meanders through the verdant valley—past the old Borden place. Eagle Rock rises up in the distance. The Bordenville cemetery, on the hill next to what remains of the town, is the final resting-place of Timothy and Olney Borden. Mrs. Ratcliff’s grave has a marker showing she died in 1882. Somewhere in the quiet hills behind the cemetery are the remains of Benjamin Ratcliff.

View of Eagle Rock to the southeast. Photo date 6/99 by S. Veatch

References:

Eberhart, P., 1974. Guide to the Colorado Ghost Towns and Mining Camps, Sage Books, Chicago,  476 p.

McConnell, V., 1964. Bayou Salado: The Story of South Park, Sage Books, Chicago, IL, pp. 250-252.