Dru's horse |
During the
later part of the 19th century and early part of
the 20th century thousands of sheep were raised
in the wilderness of Colorado. The sheepherder, away
from loved ones for months at a time expressed his loneliness
and boredom on the vast canvas available to him, the soft white
bark of the aspen tree. Visions of home, hearth and missed
loved ones adorn trees all throughout the forest. These
carvings are known as arborglyphs, which means literally
“tree-writing, ” and date from the late 1800’s to the
early 1950’s. Due to the relatively short life span of the aspen
(80-120 years), a significant number of carvings are being lost
to age, disease, blow-downs and fire.
Much excitement
has been generated in recent years regarding the Basque carvings in Nevada, California, Oregon, Idaho and Wyoming, and the story
of immigration that they tell. Particularly intriguing about
the carvings of Colorado and New Mexico is that they were not
carved by Basque shepherds, but by Hispanics, whose forefathers
had been in the area for generations. Among these herders were
descendants of early pioneer families, settlers that came north
from Mexico when this part of country was known as Nuevo Mexico
and controlled by Spain. There was some Basque immigration to
the Grand Junction, Colorado area but little if any to the south
San Juans. These carvings are culturally different from the
Basque carvings making them even more significant to Colorado
and New Mexico’s history. They have their own unique story to
tell.
Prior to 1821 Southern Colorado was part of Spain’s New Mexico
Territory. To encourage colonization in these vast lands, Spain
rewarded its officials with large land grants. Land grants were
meant to foster the colonization of self-sustaining farming
settlements.
Leandro Cruz
carved this design in 1931 |
The earliest of all Mexican land grants that had it’s boundaries within present
day Colorado was the Tierra Amarilla Land Grant awarded in 1832.
The vast majority of carvings found in southern Colorado and
northern New Mexico were carved by the descendants of these
pioneering, Hispanic settlers.
It was a light
hand that carved the most graceful and long lasting of the carvings.
A skillful carver made only a slight incision with a pocketknife
or a nail on the outer layer of bark. He knew it would cure
over time leaving the exquisite gray etchings that are still
easy to read today.
The sheepherders were the scribes of the forest, and on occasion used several
different types of lettering styles. Along with the elegant
cursive there is stippling and relief lettering. Also left behind
was a trail of erotic longing.
Arborglyphs of any origin are a unique mixture of folk art and
historical documentation. They are records of who was on the
land and when, records that may not exist anywhere else. The
National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 protects those that
are over 50 years old.
Many of the
carvings were done by a fine artistic hand and are quite beautiful.
They are truly aspen art, as valuable in their artistic achievement
as in their historical significance.
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