Red Birch Pitkin

Marble Springs 2.0 screenshot of Red Birch Pitkin

What we know

1863 - 1883
Only daughter of Towee and Henry Pitkin.

Half-breed

The mountains still spoke
to her mother in the old tongue
when she ground corn.
But Red Birch’s stiff stays¹
formed barriers of bone and calico.
Quietly, she moved within
their familiar crush,
that unutterable longing to undo
the long catches in back—
and run free of it forever.

Boys from the quarry would always
ask her to dance with them.
But she knew².
Even these silent cliffs
condemned³ her,
their blood-red and ash-white
sands standing side by side,
never merging.

Her knife split into her
dark red blood.
But even the blood
seeping into the clean white
cliff was silent.

Footnotes

1. How to clean corsets
Take out the steels at front and sides, then scrub thoroughly with tepid or cold lather of white castile soap, using a very small scrubbing brush. Do not lay them in water. When quite clean, let cold water run on them freely from the spigot to rinse out the soap thoroughly. Dry without ironing (after pulling lengthwise until they are straight and shapely) in a cool place.
Everyday Cook Book

2. Only good indian’s a dead one. Ruby’s strident voice lingers after her.
Well you know of course what my husband always says, that the Utes are the most shiftless, idle and hateful of the savages.'Cept I don’t know as how half-breeds are worse. Edna says to Matilda, who doesn’t answer. Women like that, declares Rachel Cole, have no business breathing God’s clean air.

3. We ought never to forget that we are dealing with savages—brutal, bloody savages—and we should never deal with savages as we deal with civilized people… Must the State of Colorado be cursed then by the presence of these people whose future promises no improvement?
On the final removal of Utes from the Colorado Rockies, Congressional Record, 46th Congress, 2cnd Session, 1879-80, Vol. X, part 3, p. 2069.

Connections

Portal

Sources

Portal caption and links

A drawing of corset.
Hui Sing
Ivy Lincoln
Washerwoman

Portal for secret connections