Book Description

The Dickerson sisters and their family homesteaded what was reportedly the last half-homestead in Colorado. At an altitude of over 8000 feet in the Rocky Mountains they persevered all their lives under extreme hardship. This is a true story of the famly's lifelong struggle enduring elements of cold winter weather coupled with determination, ingenuity, hard work, working together as a family and is a remarkable example of thriftiness. The family lived for more than 89 years in a crude, but adequate, log cabin without electricity and other conveniences most modern Americans could not and would not live without. These surviving sisters lived comfortably in the cozy little cabin equipped with woodstove and, in later years, gaslights. The sisters, Alice and Helen Dickerson, along with their families did whatever they could to earn a living, including trapping, logging, raising cattle, sewing and making pine needle baskets and other artwork, which they sold through the years to literally thousands of people who drove up a narrow winding mountain road specifically to buy their quaint products. If visitors were lucky, they arrived in time to be served home-baked bread or cookies by their gracious hostesses. Though lacking in much formal education and very isolated, the ladies were well-read, very intelligent and kept up with what was going on in the world. They were admired and loved by all who met them and are well worth reading about. The Dickerson sisters were tabbed "Living Legends" by Dan MacArthur of the Fort Collins Triangle Review, " The Undaunted Dickersons" by renowned Denver Post writer Red Fenwick, "The University of the Upper Buckhorn" by Marietta Neumeister, "Our Ladies of the Mountains" by Elyse Bliss in a local Poudre Canyon publication and were written about by numerous others before Elyse Bliss wrote Apples of the Mummy's Eye, a title which refers to the mountain range to the west of the Dickerson homestead.