In Colorado's South Park there is a little house, abandoned, alone. It sits on a hill, all by itself, holding the tales of some yesteryear. The clouds and the countryside play to its captivating qualities, and no matter who it belonged to it is part of us, of who we are as a people, for it symbolizes that era that came before us. And it is timeless, forever a part of our heritage, its existence absorbed into our blood.

Along Black Canyon Creek near today's Estes Park, Colorado, in the year 1873, a cattle ranch began, a ranch that survived the elements of time to present itself today as a living history of past eras. The last surviving member of the founding family, Muriel MacGregor, managed, despite plaguing debts and failing health, to hold the ranch together until she died in 1970 at age 66. It remains a working ranch today through the efforts of dedicated men and women.

It meanders from the Colorado high country on its trek to the Gulf of California. There its existence is barely detectable, if at all, for all along its journey man robs it repeatedly of its substance.

May the powers that be protect this land from the flames that threaten it, in this month of July, in this year 2003.