Go Cowgirls

by Jon Burch Photography

Title

Go Cowgirls

Artist

Jon Burch Photography

Medium

Photograph - Digital Capture/the Faa Watermark Will Not Appear On Your Final Image.

Description

Like a chameleon, Haystack Rock keeps changing colors. It's probably just a little tiny pebble, but with all the layers of paint on it...

The Rock is on US Highway 287 north of LaPorte, Colorado and has become a permanent bill board for various messages from competing schools and just about anybody else, including the Colorado State University and the University of Wyoming football teams. Lots of fun times it looks like. If you don't like the slogan, just wait a few weeks and it will change.
However, there's more to the story of this rock. Why is it called "Haystack Rock"?

Here's the story: Purchasing and protecting a hay supply was critical to a horse-mounted cavalry post such as Fort Collins, Colorado in the 1800's. During these years a farmer showed up at the fort offering to sell a large haystack located a couple miles to the north. The post commander sent out a procurement officer to verify the existence of the haystack, and then paid the farmer in full for his hay. When subsequently trying to bring in the hay, Fort Collins soldiers learned their 'haystack' was really just a large haystack-shaped boulder covered sparingly with hay. The military had been duped, and ever after this boulder would be known as 'Haystack Rock.' Today, Haystack Rock has become a sort of First Amendment billboard as well, painted with ever-changing statements, school slogans, marriage proposals and graffiti. Haystack Rock is easily recognized close by Highway 287, just a few miles north of Laporte, Colorado.

From "Strange, But True, Colorado; Weird Tales of the Wild West" by John Hafnor.

Photograph copyright Jon Burch Photography

Uploaded

March 20th, 2015

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