The Historic Ruins - Spanish Walls and an American Barn

Spanish walls and an American Barn

Along side the ancient Apishipa ruins are the ruins of a Spanish "sheep herder" cabin that could date from as far back as the 17th Century.  The Spanish settlers, whether they were herding sheep or not, took apart some of the beautiful ancient rubble-filled walls and used the stone to construct higher, less artful walls using only one course of stone.   Some of our neighbors have fully in-tact cabins dating from this period, with the timber roofs and doors missing.  We have only partial walls because later American settlers occupied our land and again, used the stone to construct early twentieth century structures. 

The Wilson family moved onto this land in the late nineteenth or more probably, early twentieth century.  They prospered here, cutting timber and truck farming, selling their produce in Pueblo and other more urban population centers.  They built a house on top of the Apishipa foundation that we used for our cabin, dug a well, and built a large barn using the ancient stone from the archeological site.  One of our neighbors has a photograph of the old Wilson house when they were still living in it.  It went up two stories from the top of the stone walls.  What is now our cabin was their cellar.  All went well for them until the 1930's when the well went dry and they were forced to move off of this land.  Some of their descendants still live in the town of Walsenburg.  The place was named "Wilson's Crossing" after them.  Below is a photograph of what is left of their barn.  They left behind the shell of an old Model T truck and a lot of farm debris which suggested that they kept poultry and  hogs as well as cattle.