It was the year 1859 and from the doorway of a log cabin which sat near where Riverside Cemetery is now located, an eight year old boy and his 12 year old sister watched with fear as Indians came out of the brush of Sand Creek. The Indians' arms and hands were covered with blood. The young boy and his sister tried to hide in a corner of the small cabin, as Indians burst through the door. Fred and Victoria Riethmann were by themselves on that frightening long-ago day, because their parents had gone to town. The wide-eyed brother and sister watched as the Indian braves looted their cabin.

One of the Indians had an awl in his hands and kept poking it towards Fred's ribs. It was his idea of a joke. The Indians went through the cabin and took what they wanted. Fred and Victoria's mother had a dress hanging on a peg on the wall. In the pocket of her dress was a purse containing $65 in gold and silver coins. The Indians helped themselves to the silver, but they left the gold. They valued the shiny silver more than they did the duller gold coins.

Fred and Victoria discovered later that the blood on their arms came after the Indians had butchered a neighbor's cow. The Indians figured that since the settlers had taken their lands and killed off the buffalo and antelope they were entitled to butcher the white man's stock when they needed it.

Braves later helped themselves to two of the Riethmann cattle as they were being herded toward the home coral.

The Riethmann family came to what was called the Kansas territory on Sand Creek, from Council Bluffs, Iowa. Fred's older brothers, John and Louis Riethmann had come to the area in 1858 and built a cabin out of logs. The roof was made of poles, covered by grass and heaped with dirt. It wasn't waterproof because after a rain the ceiling dripped for three days.

Louis stayed in the cabin they had built that winter while John started out on horseback to report their findings to their parents in Council Bluffs, Iowa. When John camped for the first night in Fort Lupton, wolves scared his horse. The horse broke loose and ran off.

John Riethmann walked to Council Bluffs, Iowa to give his report to his Father. The Riethmann family loaded their belongings in a covered wagon pulled by oxen. They joined a wagon train that was taking freight across the prairie to Salt Lake City.

The Indians became a part of the new life for the Riethmann family. They never seriously harmed them but they caused much concern. One such time was when the family saw some 5,000 Indians arriving from seven different tribes to set up a teepee encampment in a field across from their Sand Creek home. Warriors danced around a drum made by stretching hide over four stakes driven into the ground, as the tribes prepared to go to war against the Mountain Utes.

Two of the chiefs came to the Sand Creek cabin and asked the Riethmann family to board 13 members of their family while the tribes went to war. Even though provisions were low and had to be hauled from the Missouri River, the family did not dare to refuse. The Indians paid the family in Buffalo robes, deer hides and ponies. Riethmann took them to the "states" to exchange.

The tribesmen, painted for war, left their squaws and children camped by Sand Creek and marched off to Middle Park where they were defeated in a showdown with the Utes. More than 40 warriors were wounded and died in the week following their return. The bodies were buried in graves across from Sand Creek.

Life was exciting around in this area in that long ago day. They didn't need television, they lived in excitement.