Go West

It's been interesting coming to Denver.  The city seems so much like any other city.  It's easy to forget that this was once a rugged frontier.

We're staying at Chatfield State Park, just outside of Denver.  We went for a walk tonight to catch the sunset. 

We came across a cabin that had cacti growing on its roof. 

I found this description of the cabin on the Douglas County historical sites map. 

"The Slocum cabin was built about 1856 on the south bank of the South Platte River at Waterton Canyon. The Thomas Truxton Slocum family acquired the 10 x 12 foot cabin in 1859 when they moved from west from the Kansas Territory. They eventually bought other property to develop a 120 acre ranch and raised four children there. The log cabin remained in family ownership until the 1970’s, functioning once as a schoolhouse with daughter Ellen Slocum as a teacher. The Roxborough Land and Gravel Company acquired the property and donated the historic cabin to Chatfield State Park. In 1990 it was moved from what is now the entrance to Ravenna to a location just west of the state park office. The Slocum cabin is believed to be the oldest standing structure in the region, and possibly one of the oldest in Douglas County."

10 x 12 foot cabin.  That would be 120 sq ft.  Six people living in the space.  About 20 sq ft per person.

We're living in an 22' x 7.5' space.  That's 165 sq ft. Two people living in the space.  About 83 sq ft per person.

Hard to imagine what that was like.