If you've lost the local feeling you were in the right place to get it back. Colorado Springs 93.9 f.m. . Welcome to Radio Curious I'm very vocal. An artifact of Chinese American history in the form of a long lost film and the Asian American woman responsible for this film's creation is the topic of this edition of Radio Curious Our guest is documentary filmmaker Robin Weiner who made the film finding Kuko on finding cook on tells the story of leading by a Chinese American woman who hired Ray Scott an American photojournalist to travel to China and capture the life of the people in that work torn country including the massive bombing of the war time capital their film. Which is different than finding coupon received one of the 1st Academy Awards for a feature documentary in 1942. Loans film finding kook on questions why we never heard of leading I and why all of the copies of her film crew caught on disappeared Robin long answers some of these questions in her film finding Kukai welcome long and I visited by phone I'm a 627 teen when she was in Southern California right after finding kook on the sci fi audience award at the 2017 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival we began when I asked her about the meaning of the word coup cars and how that word weaves itself through her documentary finding kook on. The work on is really a play any word that in Mandarin is a noun or like. And it's. Made up of 2 different Chinese characters the 1st character means bitter like as in bitter tasting and the character of God and means go forward so together at the word is almost an can't label in English but the closest translation is to bitterly curse or veer. To Perth or bere against all odds and leaving i herself used very poetic translations he said that it always meant to her heroic courage under bitter suffering and she also said that kook on was. A theme of her own life and in fact she did have to face many many different obstacles to become a woman artist and to get her voice heard so I really like that word talk about the original film but also about leaving I've life so putting this into perspective leaving is the woman who made the film or was the force behind making the film because which was subsequently lost and you're more the finding Kukai is about finding the movie that she made and exploring who is this person leaving Ah I leaving I is an exceptional female character and I actually wanted to find an exceptional female character for my next documentary project I've always been really interested in women especially strong women to beat her and so I wasn't really initially searching for a last film I was really searching for. Chinese heroine that could fill this big void in my life because they're not a lot of her row or tiny women in fiction or in film. And so I spent a long time researching women in the thirty's and forty's and I had come across a memoir that leaving I wrote and the memoir is really all about her parents but I discovered through that memoir that she had worked on this documentary film called coup con and so the fact that this woman who was both an author and a filmmaker lived in Hawaii and I didn't know about her made me very curious and set all these questions in motion for me that I had to follow up and figure out the answers to so that started my research which is really the story of finding through kind of my search for the Lange I and then finding the film and trying to figure out what her role was in the making of this film and I am covered this amazing dynamic ahead of her time just really balls be fun woman and so that's who you get to meet when you watch fighting because you could meet this amazing character and women and men like everybody in the audience just gravitate to her one of the sad things is that I never got to meet leaving eye in person I only apprehended her story after he died. Robin long you describe living on a fantastic person who did things far from the ordinary and China in her taught him. Leading I was really a pioneer media maker so she had wished to tell. Her story her Tiny's American story and the story of her ancestors in China from her own perspective in the 19th thirty's and forty's you had movies like The Good Earth and that they portrayed Chinese main characters using white actors actually Louise Rayner got the Oscar for playing a Chinese woman in the good earth so leading I was very frustrated by those depictions of Chinese and she wanted to tell her story from her perspective when she was quite innovative she was telling her story through play writing and then she tried to make her she did make a movie about China during the war called coup con that one in the cabinet Award in 2 went on to do lectures all across the country to lecture about Chinese culture to universities and women's clubs all over America and he also appeared on Robert Ripley's Believe It Or Not radio show and television show also promoting Chinese culture and Chinese history he told her story in many different ways and that was to me very admirable and ahead of her times so the main thing that I take from her is that although she was glamorous and she was fun and to have some buoyant he was an activist at the bottom line she was an activist and to use her larger than life personality to keep telling the story about her own people and her own story which wasn't being told at the time there's one section in your movie where she says she wants to bring the real story of China to the American people and improve the image of China in America I think leading I was successful in her goal. To a small you know to a limited extent so she. Taints people's perceptions of who a Chinese woman was just by being herself and then all of the things that he produced so her movie kook on whoever thought in America got an image of time that that wasn't in the newspapers that wasn't it Hollywood movies and then he also banded her reach by being on Robert Ripley's television show which is a national n.b.c. Television show and again keep presenting herself as a Chinese woman that very elegant speaking perfect English and being very knowledgeable about history and other cultural things so it was fatter in stereotypes of Chinese as coolies or as only laundry workers are very ignorant and backwards her goal to set was always to change people's minds one by one so I take inspiration from that because that's really what I'm doing now with my film is trying to change people's mind one by one to the fact that there was this really forward thinking media maker who was Asian woman back in the thirty's forty's another scene in your movie is of a Chinese coolies sitting on a curb eating his rice lean on he says that was a true story of China yeah there's a very famous image that great Scott took while he was working on the film kook on race was the cameramen that Lee Ling I partnered with to make the movie who come on and he takes this image of a coolie sitting on on the sidewalk wall cantata on Joe which is in the olden days called hands on was burning in the background. Right before the Japanese took over the city and I think that the image the image became a life photo of the week and I think the widely Ling I that that that image was the image that he wanted to communicate the Chinese spirit with is that her her take was that even though trying to was being invaded and there are so many reasons to give up on the country or that the Chinese people had to give up they persisted they kept on living their lives they kept on you know selling their their fish and they kept on doing their daily routines despite the fact that their lives were interrupted by war a lot of people I think when you're looking at a country at war you you look at the people the victims as non-human like not at your level when you're in peacetime you're looking at somebody at war and I think you really want to show that these Tiny's are at the same level as Americans they're still going to universities they're still studying chemistry despite the fact that their country's being invaded and they're just like you and I and America and we need to bond together and work together to fight off the fascist invaders. In this edition of Radio Curious We're visiting with Robin long the filmmaker of finding car a movie about a film called blue car that was filmed in China during World War 2 Robin what have you learned from making this movie. I've learned so much as a person by following reeling I've already I've learned to tell my story and to become more likely lying I am telling that story though as a filmmaker you have to learn to promote yourself in your film and leaving I would be the consummate self promoter and she could she took a lot of criticism for that from her friends and her family but if he didn't do that and she hadn't been a great self promoter I would never have found her and I would never have found the Doric Academy Award winning film so I took a big personal ads and probably lying I in my own career as a woman but I also learned so much about my Tiny's heritage and about Chinese history I wasn't taught in high school about China's role in World War 2 And over the years I'm 4th generation Chinese over the years I've lost a lot of knowledge about my own Chinese culture for instance I go to the Mandarin or Cantonese and I can't read Chinese so just losing the language is such a huge loss it really. Cuts you off from so much of that culture that rich culture that I might have had if I didn't know the language stand with language for a moment when you were in China and as revealed in finding the cause is it fair to presume that Chinese people would expect you to speak Chinese That's an interesting question I thought that they would recognize me right away as a Westerner because my parents had been to China. A couple of decades before and they stood out like sore thumbs it that but time to change a lot since then so. Time adopted a lot of what through clothes you know people are just wearing Western clothes all all the people I saw on the street look like Americans so when I was there a lot of peoples did approach me and start speaking in Mandarin and one of the things that I really regret it is not being able to speak back not being able to even communicate the basic niceties in Mandarin so I made a pledge that before the next time I went to China I would learn some basic Chinese so I did and when I returned to China at least I could say hello and I don't speak Mandarin Anyway that's that's also a personal goal getting up a level because I want to return to China and I do want to carry on a conversation and I don't just want to say hello I don't speak Mandarin Well Rob let's revisit the story about race Scott who filmed a lot of what is in both movies who is right what was his role particularly in relationship to lead a great thought was that freelance journalist who was originally from the Midwest and made his way to Hawaii in the late 1930 s. And you met Lee Ling I in Hawaii in 1937 and I I think that they were both. Rebel they were both these renegade spirit that latched on to each other and when the Japanese were invading the Shanghai International Settlement that was the night that they both met and then this newspaper office that Ray was working at and they both had this you know adventurous spirit and leaving I got Ray to go to China to tell the story and photograph what was going on in time yes and so they formed a partnership because he needed to tell the story and he had the means to do it he was a journalist and he had a camera he had camera skills and he had the desire to to try something new His daughter involved called him like the Indiana Jones guys so he was up for the task and he shot this amazing footage in China during the war with a handheld 60 millimeter camera in color so color was brand new shooting at the time on 60 millimeter in a war zone so it's very difficult you had to change your film Real every 2 minutes and he couldn't even look at the film footage until you got back to America because there was no processing of Kodachrome in China so he was under all these dresses and yet he made this 85 minute long color movie that won an Academy Award and he had never even had a movie camera in his hands before they started this project so you know the odds were stacked against them big time and so the fact that they got this job done both he and leaving I. It was really inspirational to me as a cell maker and I kept going back to them and their success whenever I had times of troubles and so I think when people see this film they'll still take away this really great inspirational story these 2 renegade spirits who you know joined together beat the odds and came away this great success story expound on what you would please Robin when you say you kept going back to their success in times of trouble finding Khan is my 1st feature documentary and one of the. Obstacles for me that I kept running up against was raising money and trying to convince people that this was an important story to tell and it took 8 years to make this film so there are many times that I faced self-doubt when I didn't get a grant for instance or when I just came up against not being able to find information and it took a lot to keep going I had a lot of mentors who gave me pep talk but it helped me that I had to inspirational characters who were filmmakers themselves to follow and I you know I kept going back to things that reeling I would say like kook on the you know. That means keep going and he also had a great saying which became the title of her memoir which is life is for a long time says was the title of her memoir and that was the theme of her parents' lives and whenever her parents came up against obstacles her mother would say well life is for a long time like this trouble will pass life will change and eventually the trouble will be gone so I kept saying things like that to myself when I was in the dumps license for a long time and. So it was kind of interesting to have these 2 characters to follow even though I had never met them they became characters in my life the phrase really not every piece twice I believe in minority is God gave me a mouth and it's not just for eating you know that was another saying that I discovered in her letters that she wrote and that was very moving to me because. It's all about creativity and the struggle you know that's how I read it struggles of a creative person is so easy to just sit back as a observer watch movies read books and see life go past you but it's much harder to tell a story document a story and get your vision of something out there creatively. So that little thing always meant to me you know you can't sit back and be comfortable you have to push forward and get your creative vision out there because it is about changing minds one person at a time and so that really was something that really kept me going is that one little phrase heard Robin one there's a statement that raises Scott who was involved in filming to cause made at some point and you brought it out in your movie finding Kukai and that is the real way to live is travel and let your camera pay your way and I'm curious to what if any extent was that the case for you in making Finding to come. To work just to become a filmmaker was the choice for me I actually had started off life in many different careers I was in book publishing and then in academic administration and in a university setting and I did make a conscious choice to give up a desk job to become a filmmaker and part of that choice came from that same desire I think that Great God has is that there's much more to the world than is behind this desk and I you know in order to find that and to be more. Fulfilled as a creative person I have to get out there and making films is happens to be my calling which I discovered late in life but it's been a fast fabulous fabulous time making films and I wouldn't change it for anything so even if being behind a desk. Made me more money or made me more successful quote unquote in the real world I feel that being a filmmaker is like one of the most rewarding careers that i Pad and I've had several over my lifetime well then that leads me to the question Are there other films in your horizon or in your dream I would love to tell more stories about women and I feel that there are so many stories out there very rich stories that feature women who have been forgotten are women who haven't been given their due and so that's really what I'd like to do and I have a couple of stories that are popped up that are in you know 3rd in the after but I haven't really chosen one to run with yet. Robin alone I want to thank you very much for being with us on radio theory yes and before we close could you tell us about a Eureka or an aha moment in your life that changed your point of view or your focus or your world Yeah I think that while talking to you of this and pops up in that vision is when I was in China I showed. Parts of kook on to that story and there and they reacted in such a surprising way to me they they really got emotional and they got emotional because kook on shows the history of their city their homes and a time period their parents and grandparents had told them about but that they had never been able to actually witness so they had read about these stories and they had heard about these stories but who conned brought them the story in a visual format in color and it was a profound experience to see them react to that because before that I was interested in coup Khan because it won an Academy Award I was interested in this historic film that was important to American film history because of that and then I realized those people in China they didn't care if that film won an award they saw an image of their past they were able to apprehend history that had been lost to them and that was so powerful and made me realize that what I'm trying to do in making films is that's what it's about it's not really about getting awards for getting alkaloids or a lot of money like in the future I hope that films that I make can touch someone in the way that those historians were touched by kook on 75 years after it won an Academy Award. And that Robin made answer my next question you may have already answered it and the question is What would you like to do with the remainder of your one precious life. Well I would love to continue to tell stories I'm not so sure that those stories will end up in a documentary film format you know our media landscape is changing so quickly but I do know that I want to continue to tell stories and I want to continue to tell stories that have not been told before and mostly I'm thinking that those stories will be about women and as I always have always been interested in that and I don't see it changing that suddenly it will have too many stories about women I think there always will be in my lifetime a shortage of stories about women and finally Robin long is there any lead or a book that you would recommend to our listeners yes I have seen many many movies and have been influenced by many many books but the thing that pops into my mind right now is hidden figures which is about a group of African-American women mathematicians who work at NASA helping with the space program in very vital ways but who didn't get credit for what they did and it's a really wonderful film great acting you learn about the role of women in a very important moment in our lives that was very male centered you know when we all we all watched the rockets lift off and in school as kids the whole class would watch that you saw the male astronaut use on the male engineers in the room you didn't see any women you didn't know about these women so hidden figures is like a wonderful movie that tells that story but it also is for me a real exciting thing because that film did very well at the box office to me that says that. The world is hungry at least Americans hungry for stories about women and women of color and I would encourage everyone who haven't seen that to go get it and it's also based on real life and a book so I haven't read the book yet but if people like to read books and see movies he's got a doubleheader there. Were Robin thank you very much for being with us on Radio Curious thank you so much. Rob among the documentary filmmaker created the film finding Cucaracha it's about the film who Khan made by Lee Ling I a Chinese American woman and race Scott an American photojournalist near the beginning of World War 2 the book with Robin long recommand which is also a movie is hidden figures the American dream and the untold story of the black women mathematicians who helped win the space race by Margulies Shetterly this program was recorded on May 6th 2017. There were over 630 archive additions on our Web site w w w dot Radio Curious start oh r g they're all free to listen and download and share any time anywhere is my gift to you our programs are published weekly normally on Tuesday evening your comments ideas and suggestions are always appreciated and we do enjoy hearing from you the email address is curious at Radio Curious start or a jeep postal mail is 280 North Oaks street Ukiah u. K. I 8 California 9548 to the. 4626541. Is the. Host. Thank you for listening. I'm Bradley and this is my radio station yours too k c m j community powered radio for Colorado Springs to make sure his toys don't have any sharp edges he taught her what to do when the smoke alarm goes off you do so much to keep your child safe but are you using the right car seat for your child car crashes are a leading killer of children ages one to 13. Protect your child's future at every stage of life for information on the right seat for your child visit safer car dot gov slash the right seat a message from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Ad Council. This is your host Bernie j. The Bernese color journeys your bridge to adventure. I'm still traveling up and down the front range looking for fun things to see and do. In this show will travel to Colorado Springs city on rock ledge or ranch historic site that abuts the garden of the gods what will find in the 230 acre property is a living history complex illustrating 4 consecutive time periods of Colorado Springs history with each period represented by its own unique household. First there's the American Indian life of 775 the American Indian camp man is a good picture and the only living history recreate west of the Mississippi. You can experience the lifestyle of the youth in plain Indians who lived along the central front range of the Rocky Mount most. One thing to share with you is that the interpreters are 1st nations people in period dress and they're really talking about their families while Number 2 a recreated 860 s. Homestead cabin known as the Galloway homestead Scotsman Walter Galloway filed for the land under the Homestead Act and took up residence it's a recreated Catholic but on the original homestead. Number 3 but 20 years later at the peak of the Victorian era in 1904 the land was purchased by the chambers and the last ledge house was built the house is the original 18th eighty's stone home the family paid $1400.00 for it for the $160.00 acres that had been instead by the walls of l. . Ner for in 1007 doing it large in it which is 90 no one to modern 1014 a country a state called the orchard hose or White House range was built for those that. Are up on their British history in this when Queen Victoria died at the age of $81.00 after a reign of 63 years Edward 7 succeeded the throne which then ushered in the Edwardian period general Palmer had bought the rock ledge ranch from Robert Challoner's 417000 bucks now is about 439000 dollars in today's dollars and then he added it to the Glynn area the state he then built the Orchard House for his wife's half sister and her husband the orchard house was built for about $811000.00 in $24.00 to. Dollars The one thing to add about all these places is the 18 sixty's property vacant eighty's property in the early 1900 properties is that the interpreters are all in period dress demonstrating crafts and Delia kitties of the time in 168 the city purchased the ranch in the land surrounding the garden of the gods as a natural preservation and the buffer zone. The ranch was placed on the National Register of Historic Places $979.00 now let's go to the interview with any Morris who is the park's operation administrator of the walk ledge ranch historic site. And now we're both recording let's go for a walk sounds good. Your Auntie Morris is saying what is your title and well and then what you actually do here Ok yeah I've got a fancy title parks in parks operations administrator Ok and I guess I'm the I'm the guy that runs the place in then with the help of all our staff and volunteers and friends group we put together a program that we think people enjoy when they come out here I worked my way up through the ranks started doing living history programs about 25 years ago a terrific that I want to share with you you know where I'm coming from so Ok so I have a radio show and it's Bernie's call about journeys and what I also then do I volunteer at the Garden God so good and I do step on God work on guide where that's when the big 4050 passenger bus comes they will then contract with the guard to actually have somebody get on the bus and the name step on and then the bus will then go through the park and I will then point out all the sites well life's stuff like green and the thing of it is what I have never done is I have never mentioned anything about this place on the way out I was just thinking you're the perfect guy and this is the perfect place for you to for a perfect time for you to see this place of that then you can it's in that focus of the busted Oh absolutely because because Because what what goes on here as we're Bernie's call about journeys is I'm putting together an entire travelogue up and down the front range Ok we are here on the property yes we are well walk here into the carriage house and I'd like you to meet Mary Drake she's part of our staff here Ok Mary is Navajo is that correct and so this is Bernie Bernie your show and Mary's been a part of our stuff for quite a number of years and she's very knowledgeable about American Indian history of course her own history and visitors love to sit and talk to her and look at the things that she has. On display here on her table and she's quite the crafts person standing beadwork in leather work and all kinds of other things and Mary's a valuable part of what we do here it's a range so how long have you lived in this area. Not once were in this space telling you this lovely lady you hold some sort of a and will power while yes we do coming up in September the last week in September Ok And is that like multi nation type of power law you bet it is it's a noncompetitive type Our Well folks from all nations are invited as well of folks here live in town and anywhere that want to come and visit and see dancing in native foods in the native crafts kind of like what Mary has here and in fact I think Mary has a booth at that. And it's a great celebration American Indian people and it's highly attended in really a great event that we do less wonderful will very nice to have met you. And. And I'll come back here now this building here is thanks Mary this building here is our carriage house and as you can see there is an American Indian display Mary is in here but we can go out and go to the American Indian encampment and we'll decide to start chronologically if you like and this is excellent Yes Now this building has a. New look to it yes Ok This building was built right before I started here actually when I was here of 17 years ago this building was built and we call it the carriage house it represents. What a carriage house would look like for the 1007 Orchard House to support the later Ok and literally for carriages and so this building was built on the idea of the original carriage house that was to be built with the Orchard House and now we use this as a multi-use building we have a kitchen and bathrooms and and of course this large room that we. But on lots of different events here actually my great great thanks Mary. So the visitors as you know Bernie come in and this is a theory of what we're doing program so they come down the ranch road and then visit with the staff out at the admissions which is actually a tuberculosis hut from a sanitarium that you'll see all over Colorado Springs it's fun to kind of find those as you travel around and that is uses our admission hot and so that folks get literature about what they're going to see while they're visiting Rockledge ranch and answer any other questions we might have so here we are walking along the trail that will take us out to the American Indian area this trail was kind of set up so that it lets people leave behind the modern world in a sense and as they travel back on this footpath and lets them kind of think that not only are they leaving the physical modern world but actually getting in the environment that when they come up to American Indian site here it's they're prepared to see something that is is right out right out of history I guess you could say now as far as the 1st Nations people that were here they live here year round you know this was we like to say it was a cultural crossroads right here in this garden of the gods area there were nations from all over that would come here and trade and so I think there were people from different tribes here year round and as you pointed out earlier it's primarily You territory but this Lakota would be here the Pawnee the Cheyenne the Erap the ho the Apache Comanche worked their way up at least to Spanish Peaks area so this was an area where a lot of tree trading took place among the different tribes So I think that probably year round there would be different nations it would be in this area that a a story that I'm just starting to scratch the surface on is that it was reported in the Gazette newspaper in $1020.00. 5 that a skeleton was found in the park and they are quite sure is that it was. A 1st Nation person who was killed because they found an arrowhead between a 3rd and 4th rib of the skeleton so it was like it doesn't look like a modern crime. May have given that away. Well this is a wonderful. We really get to. Divorce ourselves from from the road although as I look up I do see the visitors in their front of us we kind of do now and we get up here and we turn then that's all behind us but as we walk along camp Creek which is gently knee enduring through the property. It really is a nice setting this area seems quite large with what is the what is the acreage around here you hear Rockledge ranch we have 230 acres to 30 gosh Ok so you can you can do a lot of roaming around inside Rockledge ranch Yeah I mean we've got lots of different things the sides the 4 different time periods that we interpret there's a natural beauty because of course we are set within the garden the gods park there's lots of wildlife people come in looks good watch or you know just sit at the pond and and let their kids play around that area or have a picnic or a birthday party or some folks just like to walk through the site part of the exercise so we have lots of different visitors we have approximately $80000.00 visitors a year come through the ranch and it's unfortunate that that's not a that's only a small percentage of the. 1000000 or so then go through the guard and that's very true we like to siphon off some of those folks have them come here and see what we were doing as we were approaching the American Indian area Emily Spotted Wolf is the group of visitors and this is in the area where we have a state Arbor. And. She'll be putting up the buffalo Heidsieck the Shortly we have an authentic Buffalo i.d.p. That's very rare most people have chemists of these but this was made from 12 buffalo hides and it was sown with Buffalo sinew and then canned with Buffalo brain and then smoked and so we have 2 different types of tepees one's a buffalo one's an elk the elk represent the type of t.p. The you may have used They also used buffalo hide because once they had horses their range went clean out in the Kansas Ok then show on your just take me through the building with a with a interpret there you have an interpreter here how many and how many of you any one time or on the properties that varies because we have different people here though since we have we have over a 100 volunteers that help us here I have. 14 staff members that are here every day and then we also do the many junior go since kids that we outfit inappropriate clothing for the time period they're representing So we have a. Very very popular volunteer program that is very desirable specially among the kids that have to apply and unfortunately we can't take all the kids it applies pretty competitive so we have volunteers both young and old and then of course our staff members now actually this is Emily spotted we'll see when. I am Bernie here protesting out nice very nice to meet you and how long have you with Syria I've lived here since. I don't. See. You wouldn't let you go. Well the one thing that is already striking me and not only me. To people when you say your name if you know me a complete stranger or a visitor from Tennessee or something I'm going to step back and say this lady knows her stuff you know you're the real deal you know you're not a car you're not a Caucasian person trying to understand and interpret what's going on you've lived . And your parents your grandparents well that she just actually. Like. You know Emily's family was attacked by General Custer at Kansas her family as you mentioned was at Sand Creek and then Black Kettle and his wife survived that battle you know they were wounded in Kansas. And then that's when General Custer attacked that him and but that'll know that that's that So this is Bernie Jay And you're listening to Bernie's journey produced in Colorado Springs Colorado in view of America's mount the 14150 foot high speed and I invite you to contact me on e s t v and email dot com that's even on and I guess the employee share comments and or suggestions on the show for ideas for future travel adventures that I can explore for you. Now let's get back to the show. In restocking about there is that yes she's giving of the Custer family for because it wasn't them that did that and I think it's really says a lot about nearly as a person she is she's. She reaches op wants people to forgive and get along in and move forward so that's kind of person in the is so wonderful short as interpreters are American Union staff have a challenge probably unlike some of our other interpreters because not only are they here talking about history they're talking about their personal history in a lot of ways and sometimes this is common don't mean to be. Callous how us rattle can I get it worked out because it became a ask a question or maybe do a war Hooper raise your hand and say how those sorts of things that they don't realize that can be offensive in our staff really are Emily in Myrna and Mary and others are really good about working with the public to educate them but in a way that that doesn't send them or make them feel bad about something they need done without knowing that that could have been taken different Web sites you know and the history that you have walked up in your head all my gosh I hope that it you know that it's fully shared with your family your be able to keep it going well we I won't take any more of your time looks like you're going to get busy absolutely absolutely wonderful nice to have met you thank similarly. So the visitors come in and if they follow the chronological order they'll do just like what we did with the come out to the American Indian area and in Meet the people here this represents the time period of 775 that year was picked because it puts it in people's minds that yes these are the 1st nations people the natives of the American people the American Indian people were here before we became a nation and so that's why we picked that year now we'll head down a path and go to the Callaway homestead Mr Galloway was the 1st person to Homestead this valley in this area that is now Rockledge ranch of course he had 160 acres that he needed. Stay on for 5 years and prove up and then it would be his so while he's down the path and visit the stuff. Volunteers that are working at our recreate the homestead. Now one thing that I had noticed as a traveler so the 1st thing I did is I jumped on the Internet lined out what I could learn about this place and then I went and I looked for podcasts and I didn't find any You're right you caught us there we have a lot of those so here you see a lot of our junior docents and some of the volunteers and staff people working with some visitors here looks like we could walk up look and see what they're doing looks like they're making corn husk balls I there but I didn't think. So what's gone so what's going on here it looks like you've got a pretty nice accommodations here. If you were to really. Finally you know I would not know where our house is a larger than average. In her garden here. We are representing the homestead here right President Lincoln signed the Homestead Act. 62 in it we need to have facts January 1st 863 and you know that's right during the start of this pm The civil war is going on right now in my right ear not under 68 because you got senior half mile by half mile. If you're Galloway here. Did it then you have been here is actually not at all when you write because we're so close to what we call Colorado City that I'm you know that was the that was a thriving metropolis Yes. Ok yeah actually. What a day laborer and he wriggling around and working now then allows him to bring home cut lumber to fill all my gosh so his i'm did not look like this at all this is a replica of what happened would have looked like if these were the resources that were available you might imagine homes that are 100 miles that way probably not going right for you because when you do want to have even the trees are here oh and that time absolutely right in 867 when Mr Dowling. So this this whole area didn't get subdivided find it so interesting that the government came out here and just put this big read over the map and show k Ok You know there is 160160160 Ok where do you know what where do you want to be why Mr Galloway was here prior you did actually being a. Survey you know that he could easily claim this piece because he was here because he was here well that the well the law had already been passed but it hadn't been serving shit and you know you couldn't apply for your your piece of land until it survey that's right things in your valley have here because if they're in the tax records right and that's actually how we knew as she mentioned about his house was made from lumber and logs that when this was built 30 years ago or so they built it that way because they thought at that time that's what the cabin would look like since that time we looked at census records and that's where that information came up that he lived in a house made a lumber and it was bigger than that and it was much more comfortable than this building would be because you have traditionally been wonderful. To sheep 3 goats with a guy how your day to day. Everything had a value and that you're going to be happy that we have been. Those records so it is that's part of the fun for us is to discover new things like that. We have 230 very crime right. Here you can read about me here and I mean you're getting your salary your. Property. Your. House. And I think that's where we'll be going right now and when we had They're not going to you know if you see our interpreter a peerage young woman who is dressed rather shockingly if you look closely if you notice she's wearing bloomers Yes Julia Archibald Holmes Ok and that is a fashion that was shocking to people to see these almost as if she's wearing men's pants but Julia who was the 1st white woman to climb Pike's Peak was nicknamed The bloomer girl because she wore such outlandish outfits she could climb up Pike's Peak and not have her long skirts in the way and so it was she was criticized highly for such a display or dress just the right way to put it. Yes it looked on the path will we have folks bring in our milk cow punkin from the fields and you can look and see pumpkin hasn't missed a meal in a while. And she'll be gone right here in the pins that she can be here at the homestead. She's a Jersey cow and the miss Bill has learned to handle her quite nicely she was rather cantankerous when she 1st showed I'm talking about the cow Miss Bell. But now she. Punk and knows the routine. Very well although being a. Cow She can have good days and bad days but even that is living history from the from an animal standpoint it looks like she needs to get a drink she's been eating all morning and so she we not only have 2 legged interpreters here we truly have 4 legged. In terms of our cows and our horses our sheep and a lot of what we do is a part as part of interpretation lot of ways it's not even saying anything it's the visual of seeing a cow and a young woman with an apron and a hat on her head in period dress being in the cow up the lane like you just saw that that's a visual that you know of say a word and it can really have meaning to people so here I'm enjoying this tremendously but yeah we have 200 I'm sure that you usually have a whole day's worth of work who but ya don't mind you being here but yes we can mosey right along I'm glad you're here so we can visit so has a young woman mentions their next step in this timeline of rock legends historic site when we leave the 867 homestead is the 870 s. Working ranch and here this land was then sold to a family by the name of Chambers who came from Chambersburg Pennsylvania and let the interpreters talk to you more about the Chambers family we get to the rock ledge house but the Chambers family came out here because Mrs Chambers had consumption which we call tuberculosis and has a lot of people they came out here to find release for that long element in this dry climate a lot of times people did do much better when they came here they were people of means they didn't come out here on a covered wagon they actually came out on the train and Mr Chambers had $10000.00 in cash that he was prone to show to open and look at on the train trip out in this is chambers would get furious with him thinking for sure they were going to get robbed Yes. So they ended up purchasing this land from Walter Galloway who they had to help him make the payment on the property so that then it was free and clear for the chamber's family then to turn around and purchase it and so they made huge improvements on the land they were very industrious they had things like a windmill which you can see we have now and that's an actual working with the old It pumps water for the horses we have pigs here we have horses you can see. Some people now working with a Mustang that was an actual wild mustang is captured in Nevada that we use part of our interpretation oftentimes at horse will be picketed out at the American Indian area without that saddle that sees where now these women are working the horse and then they'll be riding him around a little bit but the changes family had large gardens and they actually had a greenhouse too so they could raise vegetables in the winter time and sell to the owners hotel you know I'm familiar with the antlers I started out a bit and. The backer antlers and the wrong or Mr Spencer. Now. Kind of maybe this a current question. About the well. There are always a well. Lots of springs on this side Ok because Because what I'm what I'm really coming to appreciate and you know the. Warrant Yeah you know whiskey is for drinking water is for fighting so if you had access to water and whoever the powers to be let you have the water rights say I'm going to use that water so that's that's terrific Well as you pointed out water has always been more valuable than valuable than gold out here in the West and this was my 1st interview that I was on my feet for the entire show I hope that my huffing and puffing didn't detract the Rockledge ranch historic site is privately supported by members of the rock ledge ranch Living History Association and managed by the parks recreation and cultural services department of the city of Colorado Springs Colorado a very important point to share is that this is a living history complex cannot be seen from the road or from in the park a visitor might drive right past going to or coming out of the garden of the gods thinking that there isn't much to see or do but they'd be wrong and because you can't see. When you're inside you aren't bombarded by the hectic din of the day found outside the gate. I hope that you heard some think it refreshed they passed a travel memory or spark the desire to learn more after all that's what travel is all about for Bernie's color journeys your bridge to adventure this is your host Bernie uber show Steve thanks for listening and please tune in again. To their boys and girls this is my car the host the follow through on k c m j what's playing on your radio listening a commercial spaces you're hearing the same songs over and over and over again well you won't have a problem if you listen the 3rd group in fact you'll be hearing songs that you probably never heard before tune in my.
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