Friday, April 9, 2010.

9:27 AM.- we are leaving Montrose for Grand Junction, Colorado. It was originally called Divide Creek; but was changed because it is where the Grand River(now called the Colorado) and the Gunnison Rivers meet. The RR from Denver and Salt Lake City meet here also. Fruit production is the industry here: peaches, cherries and grapes. On the east of Grande Junction is the Grand Mesa- the largest flat topped mountain in the WORLD! On the west side is the historic beautiful red sandstone Colorado National Monument.
At 462 Ute Avenue we visited the Museum of the West. It contained the old Aztec History of the area, the first pioneers that settled here and the discovery of uranium in the 1940's. Displayed here were a stuffed mountain lion(cougar) who was 6 feet long and needed to eat 1 deer a week to survive; a grizzly bear who lived here between 1850s- 1920s. Ninety-five% of the grizzlies have been eliminated by 1959 with only 17 remaining.
In 1621 iron arrowheads were mass produced. The Indians used them instead of the "flint-napping" arrowheads due to iron's durability. The Indians also traded for "Henry repeating" rifles, which were ironically used to kill General Custer at the Battle of Big Horn.
Cowboys were a different kind of breed altogether. Their boots were made a certain way for their jobs. They seemed to have to be a jack of all trades because they were always on the road. The boots needed smooth leather bottoms to be able to slide into the stirrups. For quick and easy access into the stirrup the boots needed pointed toes. A high heel was necessary to hold the boot in the stirrup. The boots also had to be tall to avoid all of the thorns and shrubs they had to walk through to find missing cattle. In addition, they wore leather cuffs to protect their hands, wrists and forearms. That is an articleof clothing we never noticed in the old westerns on tv. They carried a 60' to 90' lariat made of 4 to 6 strands of 5/16" rawhide braided together.
The present day Utes, Navaho, Paiutes, Shoshone, Camanche and Hopi can trace their lineage back to the Anasuzi Indians of the Midwest, who were our Aztecs. Originally, the Aztecs left their homeland, Aztlan( which means Place of Whiteness) in the year 1 Flint Knife (1111 AD) for the promised land to the south. Aztlan was a place with many lakes naturally full of fish and lush forests full of birds and surrounded by arid inhospitable lands all around. It was a sort of island or eden all by itself. This was written down in a book, called the CODEX, whose pages were made of fig bark paper. They moved to present day Mexico in 1324 AD and brought their books with them. When the Spanish conquerors invaded in 1519, their CODEX was taken and most of it burned. By 1521 the Aztec Empire was gone.
The Grand Mesa is thought to be Aztlan, the homeland of the Aztecs. Their CODEX tells of a bird with a red and yellow head. This is the Western Tanager who can only live in areas of 8000 to 10,000 feet, which are the mountains of Colorado and north. At the base of the Grand Mesa are ruins of Spanish explorers. The Aztec Temple has a drawing of a mountain with 2 promentories- which matches the Grand Mesa.
The Aztecs have a symbol for Fire and Water blended together. Fire and water don't exist naturally together because one will extinguish the other. They believe in two gods: 1. Fire and the Sun and 2. Water and Lightning. These gods sit side by side as shrines in a double pyramid. This shape exactly matches the shape of the land on the map of the Grand Mesa. Many of the present day tribes believe in this. The Aztec native tongue was the Nahuath, which is spoken by tribes north of central Mexico- the Utes, Navaho, Paiutes, Shoshone, Hopi and Comanche. This origin is thought to be in southwest US.
The Aztec were very exacting builders; their buildings had an order and symmetry to them which shows in how they were precisly aligned for important astronomical events. Their Great Houses were all built on a straight north to south alignment on longitude 107 degrees, 57' 25". This imaginary line is called the Chaco Meridian and it extends for 447 miles. The prehistoric Anasuzi Great House or main Temple at Mahialco called Curiechalle means "house of eagles". This structure was not destroyed by the Spaniards.