This story concerns the environment and nature near and around Erie, Colorado. My family has lived in the region since the late 1800s. Like most early western towns, the rivers and streams were the water supply for the community. The founders established Erie by Coal Creek, a swift stream. Winter snow runoff fed the creek most of the year. At times, Coal Creek was also a dangerous tributary. Excessive snowmelt and heavy rain often caused the stream to become a river. The headwater flowed down from the mountains west of Erie. Within hours, the stream overflowed, causing destructive flooding. Erie built a dirt dike along the east side of town that ran the entire length of town. A dam built southwest of Boulder, Colorado, harnessed the excessive runoff water. Over centuries, the flowing water eroded the banks into cliffs. The waterway is now several feet below the prairie. I mention the tributary because, over the past 100 years, the flow of Coal Creek has slowed to a trickle.
Coal Creek was a water source for wildlife of all kinds. Family stories occasionally mentioned the wildlife along the winding Coal Creek. Before my experiences, older Erie pioneers told me wildlife stories about the animals around this western prairie town. In this essay, I will discuss the environment and wildlife I enjoyed as a child and young adult in the late 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s.
When I moved to Erie, I was from the large metro area of Des Moines, Iowa. I was very young and did not have any experience with wildlife. Erie was a prairie town, and it changed my life. I was now living in a town far from a city. Being so young, the changes in my life were not difficult to cope with. It was plain that the environment was different. I could only see in the city for a few blocks, but now I could see miles of open land. West of town, the mountains reached for the sky; east of town was a hill covered with prairie grass.
MAMMALS
My first experience with wildlife was in the early forties. I have a vivid memory of the coyotes howling at night. On the front porch with my grandfather, I noted the dogs’ howling sounded different from usual. I compared the sound with the dogs howling at the train whistle as it traveled through town. My grandfather told me the howling was from coyotes, a wild dog-like animal outside town. Grandad went on to tell me more about the wild coyotes. As I got older, I became much more familiar with the coyotes. They often came into town but remained difficult to find when people were present. The coyotes were wary because most townspeople had rifles and shot them at first sight. As I got older, I became one of the assassins. My friends and I often went on a safari, shooting anything that walked or crawled. Male coyotes left the sanctuary and security of the prairie to find a mate. Most dogs in Erie roamed through town without restraint. When a female dog was in heat, she was game for the street marauders. Sometimes you could see seven or eight male dogs panting as they followed the bitch around. Erie did not have any ordinances for dogs. The only dog policy I knew was that residents with dogs were required to get the rabies shot. Unfortunately, most dogs were feral, with no owner. The coyotes made their presence known at night, mating with the females. Several dogs in town were half coyote. To a young kid with a 22 rifle, shooting a coyote was like big game hunting.
A friend and I walked along Coal Creek, a mile north of town. As we approached a curve in the stream, we startled a deer drinking water. The deer stood motionless for a few seconds and then ran off opposite us. I had heard of people seeing deer near town several times, but this was the first and last time I saw a deer. The year was around 1949, and I had never heard of anyone seeing deer in the area since then.
Coal Creek was alive with creatures. One of the elusive animals of the stream was the beaver. From Lafayette to Erie, the beavers built earthen dams. The stream was shallow and had a light water flow, so the beavers built dams to raise water levels so they could build their homes. The builders incorporated twigs, branches, and small rocks into the dams.
Muskrats were very common along the waterway. Muskrats were less elusive than the beavers. It was much easier to sneak up to the bank and watch them foraging through the swamp areas. Along these same streams were rats. The rats and muskrats looked similar, but the rats were much smaller. Both these animals burrowed into the ground. The muskrats’ burrows are near the water, and the rats are on the higher banks. I never saw muskrats away from the swampy water, but the rats ventured into town.
My recollection is from 1940 through 1947. A friend of mine had two older brothers who killed (trapped) beavers and muskrats for their fur. The family also hunted down the jackrabbits for fur pelts. They stretched the animal pelts on a wire frame and hung them on lines in their backyards. The drying process took several weeks. I don’t know how or where they sold the skins, but I remember $10.00 for a pelt.
Jackrabbits were everywhere. Most likely, the population flourished due to the coyotes’ killing.
The Coal Creek stream attracted raccoons. Along the creek banks south of Erie were several large cottonwood trees. In this area, it was commonplace to see raccoons. The raccoons were wary of us kids. But they stayed visible until someone approached them. They rushed to climb into the trees, typically reaching the highest branches. Through the years, the raccoons became alert to kids with rifles. A valuable trophy for a kid was to have a raccoon tail, especially on his car radio antenna. Sometimes, townspeople had them for pets, usually in cages. They did not domesticate themselves, but they were friendly. I was always aware of their sharp teeth and claws.
The wild pigs were close to becoming nonexistent in the area when I was a child. I recall only on one occasion seeing a wild pig, and it was several miles from town. Someone told me at one time that wild pigs were plentiful surrounding Erie. The Mexicans called them Javelinas. Most of the Erie Mexicans were poor and worked hard to make ends meet. The wild pigs were sizable mammals and yielded needed nourishment. Family butchers slaughtered them for the meat and fat to support the needs of a family. It seems the white community felt the wild pigs were trash meat.
BIRDS
The duck and geese were very plentiful every fall and winter. Ducks and geese found Coal Creek a refuge for resting as they migrated through Colorado. The beaver ponds had enough water for swimming. High banks shielded them from the wind and offered some security. In the 1940s, the state required a hunting license to hunt ducks and geese. The limit for ducks was five. I am trying to remember the goose limit. Most everyone in town with a shotgun went out early in the cold morning to shoot ducks. After hunters hunted out the beaver, the beaver dams no longer existed. Without the backed-up water, the creek was once again a shallow stream. We could sometimes find a few ducks near Coal Creek. Waterfowl soon became scarce in the Erie area. Duck and goose hunters had to travel several miles away for hunting. Erie had more than its share of poachers, no matter the season or type of wildlife. The poachers I knew showed no shame about the killing activity they engaged in. I knew of one family that killed about fifty ducks in one morning. They went around with pride, giving ducks to their friends.
Quail were also plentiful around town. The tiny bird was a popular game bird. I never understood why people could kill such a small bird for food.
Pheasant season was another fall bird that was popular to hunt. The pheasant found around Erie was the Chinese ring-necked pheasant. Again, when I was young, pheasants were all around the outskirts of Erie. During the hunting season, one could walk within a few miles to find the covert-like bird. Wheat fields attracted the pheasant because of the plentiful grain. When threatened, the pheasant preferred the ground. It was impossible to find it among the wheat stubble. Usually, when the pheasant took flight, it startled the hunter with a loud flutter of its wings.
Most people had chickens during the Great Depression and World War II. The chickens provided meat and eggs when both were expensive and hard to get. My grandmother worried the Chickenhawks would kill the baby chicks in our yard. The hawks would swoop down, seize a chick, and ascend into the sky. They left no time to react. Growing up, I understood the birds’ names. The Chickenhawks were plentiful participants in the flying community.
REPTILES
The most common reptiles were toads, frogs, and water snakes. These tiny creatures were easy to find everywhere along the waterways. Along the streams and through the area were bull snakes and rattlesnakes. The bull snakes were harmless to humans but still alarming when approached. I have seen bull snakes as long as six feet. The bull snake can kill large chickens and consume eggs in the chicken yard within hours. As a young resident of Erie, I can say this: One creature is concerned with us kids. It was the Diamondback Rattlesnake. Our playgrounds were the prairie hills east, north and south of town. We knew the rattlesnakes were always present. At a young age, we were curious about wood piles, moving brush, and wandering into caves or dark areas. The rattlesnake rattled its tail to warn before it struck. This helped avoid an encounter. As often as we saw rattlesnakes and disturbed and injured them, no one I knew ever got bitten.
The snapping turtles were very uncommon but not unheard of. They emerged from Coal Creek and wandered slowly into town. I’m sure their hibernation was due to the Colorado winters. They limited their summer movement. The larger turtles likely escaped their owners’ captivity.
The hot summer nights opened the skies to the bats. I don’t know where the bats came from, but the sky was heavy with flight on a hot night. During the day, we found the bats in sheds, hanging from porch ceilings and dark hollows.
I have not gone into the plant life we once had available. Chock cherries, wild asparagus, mushrooms, and dill grew along waterways near and around Erie.
I’m sure I have missed many long-gone creatures of past years. The environment around Erie has changed since the forties and fifties. Population growth and climate change will continue to change in the future.
**The photographs are intended only to help you understand the story. They have been taken off the internet, copyright-free photos.
