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 CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
Cornell University Library 
 F 782L2 W33 
 History of Larmer County, Cpjoradp. Col 
 
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 3 1924 028 878 936 
 
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 PRINTED IN U.S.A. 
 
The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028878936 
 
HISTORY 
 
 ■OF- 
 
 LARIMER COUNTY 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 Collated and Compiled from Historical 
 
 Authorities, Public Reports, Official 
 
 Records and Other Reliable 
 
 Sources— Stories of Indian 
 
 Troubles and of the 
 
 Pioneer Days 
 
 By ANSEL WATROUS 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 The Courier Printing ^ Publishing Company 
 
 Fort Collins, Colorado 
 
 1911 
 
Copyrighted, 1911 
 
 The Courier Printing & Publishing Company 
 
 Fort Collins, Colorado 
 
Preface 
 
 / hear the tread of Pioneers, of Nations yet to be; 
 
 The first low wash of waves, where soon shall roll a human sea. — Whittier. 
 
 SOME books, it is said, need no explanation. This one does. I undertook the prepa- 
 ration of it with misgivings concerning my ability to tell the story of the rise and 
 progress of Larimer County as it should be told. Now that it is done, I fain would 
 ask the indulgence of those into whose hands the book may fall, especially the critically 
 disposed, because of its imperfections. It would be presumptuous to claim that a book cov- 
 ering the County could be entirely free from errors, but I hope it will serve the purpose of 
 preserving for the use of some future historian a comparatively correct record of the 
 events, incidents and circumstances of the early days in this portion of the "Great Ameri- 
 can Desert." I can assure the reader that much care has been taken in its preparation 
 and, as far as possible, dates, incidents and circumstances have been obtained from public 
 reports, official records and other reliable sources. Until a few months ago I had had no 
 thought of entering upon the undertaking myself, but had long harbored the hope that 
 some one would take up the task of collating and compiling a history of Larimer County 
 and carry it to completion. I knew it should be done before the Pioneers, those who 
 had laid the foundations broad and deep, for the blessings we now enjoy, had all been 
 numbered with those who have passed on to their eternal reward; for they would carry 
 with them personal recollections of events and incidents that reports and records might 
 be searched for in vain. My hopes failed of realization. No one came forward to do the 
 work. At last I was persuaded to undertake the task, and this book is the result. Possi- 
 bly it contains that which should have been left out, and omitted things that should have 
 been inserted. There is nothing perfect in this world. There are two legitimate ways of 
 writing history. One is to make a plain, simple statement of facts; the other, to clothe 
 the statement in language fitted to appeal to the reader's imagination. I have endeav- 
 ored to combine the two. I have conscientiously tried to present the facts, leaving, at 
 the same time, plenty of room for the play of the imagination. The facts have been 
 gathered from numerous sources, from historical works, from public reports and official 
 records, from old magazines, files of newspapers and from personal interviews with sur- 
 viving Pioneers or members of the families of those who have passed away. The illus- 
 trations have been picked up, here and there, wherever a picture could be found that had 
 a bearing on the conditions of the early days. The book Is written for the people of Lari- 
 mer County, and my sole desire is that it may awaken within their hearts a fresh interest 
 in those who were the Pioneers in the redemption of this favored portion of the Great 
 American Desert. If I have succeeded in doing that and shall have at the same time 
 preserved the facts in a convenient form for the use of the future historian of the County, 
 my labors will not have been in vain. Let him who next writes the history of Larimer 
 County enlarge upon the theme and clothe the facts in literary raiment of enchanting 
 beauty and indulge in philosophical comments to his heart's content; it is enough for me 
 that I have furnished the basis for him to build upon. 
 
 fjif,^^.^.^^^ ^Qs^^tc.^--,:.^ 
 
Note of Acknowledgment 
 
 IN THE preparation of this volume I have consulted and used as 
 authorities Bancroft's "History of Colorado"; Hall's "History 
 of Colorado"; Coutant's "History of Wyoming"; Dodge's 
 "Plains of the Great West"; Fremont's "Second Expedition"; 
 King's "Handbook of the United States" ; Chittenden's "History of 
 the American Fur Trade"; Bowles' "Across the Continent"; Rich- 
 ardson's "Beyond the Mississippi"; Greeley's "Overland Journey"; 
 Bird's "Life in the Rocky Mountains"; Parrish's "The Great 
 Plains"; Mills' "Story of Estes Park"; Captain Drannan's "Thirty- 
 one Years on the Plains"; the official records of Larimer County 
 and of the City of Fort Collins; the files of the Courier and Express 
 of Fort Collins, the Reporter of Loveland, and the Bulletin of 
 Berthoud. I am also under obligations to Professors L. G. Car- 
 penter, James W. Lawrence, and W. R. Thomas of the Colorado 
 State Agricultural College; to Judge Jefferson McAnelly, Emmet 
 C. McAnelly, County Surveyor, and Sheriff C. A. Carlton, as well 
 as to scores of Pioneers and early settlers for favors shown, 
 valuable information furnished and assistance rendered in compil- 
 ing and arranging the matter herein contained. 
 
A Tribute to the Author 
 
 THE publishers of this volume desire to make an acknowledgment of their debt to 
 Mr. Ansel Watrous, the author of this history, not only for the untiring and pains- 
 taking service he has rendered in the gathering, compilation and writing of the 
 book, but more especially to act as the voice of the people in expressing appreciation of 
 his part in the actual making of history in Larimer county. This volume is the best possi- 
 ble monument that could stand as a mark of the author's years of usefulness in this com- 
 munity, and we feel that it is due Mr. Watrous to incorporate in the record something that 
 will inform posterity concerning the part he played in making Fort Collins what the city 
 is today. 
 
 A newspaper editor, if of strong personality, necessarily becomes more than a mere 
 recorder of events. He often shapes and molds the destiny of a community by his edi- 
 torial utterances. It is in this respect that Mr. Watrous has earned the gratitude of Fort 
 Collins and Larimer county. As may be read in the very brief biographical record 
 which he would allow of himself in these pages, he was the founder of the Courier, and 
 he will remain the editor of that newspaper as long as he is able to push the pencil. Paren- 
 thetically, it may be remarked that, in spite of his seventy-five years — the age at which he 
 completes this history — he is in the enjoyment of full physical and mental vigor, with a 
 brain that acts as clearly as though the possessor were still in middle age. Looking back 
 over the files of the Courier one finds the best index to the character of the man whose 
 hand has guided the destinies of the paper for more than thirty years. In all that time, 
 every line written concerning the future of city and county was in an optimistic tone. There 
 was a never failing fountain of hope into which the editor dipped his pen. He has, in 
 his own life, been a reflection of that spirit, for the years have rested lightly upon him, 
 and he has lived to see the county of his adoption prosper and grow fat. He saw the ox- 
 team go out and the automobile come in. He witnessed the transformation from desert 
 to garden; saw the magnificent trees that now line the city's broad avenues when they 
 were but tender saplings. He knew intimately the days when the cowman was supreme ; 
 he saw the tiller of the soil supercede the cowman and he made his newspaper the organ 
 of the new agriculture. He advocated the introduction of the sugar beet and witnessed 
 the birth and growth of that now stupendous industry, with its millions of investment. 
 He fought for a town of commercial and moral greatness. Many years ago he took up 
 the cudgel for morality in Fort Collins. He fought for a clean town — and fought Is 
 used advisedly, for he held out for the right against direct threats of death and at- 
 tempted destruction of his newspaper plant by dynamite. He seldom speaks of his own 
 experiences, but those of the older generation readily recall the stormy days when Ansel 
 Watrous, through the Courier, conducted the first campaign for better moral conditions 
 In Fort Collins. He won the fight and laid the foundation for the clean city of today by 
 making lawlessness unpopular and by enthroning good government. And that course he 
 has always maintained, preferring always to stand for a clean city and never taking 
 stock In the theory that a dissolute town Is essential to prosperity. 
 
 He has been a consistent prophet of greatness for Fort Collins and has always held 
 before the people an ideal worth striving for. It is good to note that the prophecies 
 which he has made are now being fulfilled, for we now have a city that embodies all of 
 
the advantages of a metropolis, and each of Its public utilities and improvements has 
 materialized only after the idea often had been first broached, and at any rate always 
 fostered and furthered through the editorial assistance of Mr. Watrous. 
 
 There are few men in the West and perhaps none other in the State of Colorado, 
 who have been so efficient and faithful in the service of the public through a newspaper, 
 and none anywhere who so consistently held to high ideals in the conduct of a paper. We 
 are certain that the subject of this tribute does not himself realize what a force he has 
 been in this community. That, however, Is the best Indication of the unselfish character 
 of the service rendered. He has labored for love of his profession and not in the hope 
 of financial reward. Had he been less occupied with the affairs of the community at 
 large, he might have taken advantage of the many opportunities that have offered 
 themselves during his long residence here, for acquiring wealth. He does not, however, 
 possess the business instinct, but is of decidedly literary bent, being content, when not 
 engaged in editorial duties, with the companionship of his favorite authors. He Is ex- 
 ceedingly well read and the possessor of a remarkable memory for events, dates, names, 
 and faces, being literally an encyclopedia of ever ready information concerning the af- 
 fairs of Fort Collins, Larimer county and Colorado, as well as of the nation and world 
 at large. 
 
 He and Mrs. Watrous have together grown to a beautiful and peaceful age. They 
 have no children of their own, but the best years of their life have been given to the rear- 
 ing of the children of others, who now have gone out Into the world. They live alone, yet 
 not as old people, but following the daily routine common to most people in the prime of 
 active life. And this activity is a continuation of that service which has not only 
 recorded, but made history. Scores of political campaigns, dozens of crises in municipal, 
 county and state affairs, tragedy, disaster, births, deaths, marriages, drouth and flood, 
 good fortune and ill — in short, life in all its phases, has passed in review before the editor, 
 whose pen has faithfully chronicled the passing of these things and drawn from them for 
 our perusal the lessons that have made Fort Collins a better city and Larimer a greater 
 county. To this man, whose crowning effort is now put forth In this history, all honor! 
 May he be with us yet many a year, to share In the further glory of industrial achieve- 
 ment and to enjoy to the utmost the beauties which Nature has so bountifully bestowed 
 upon this region. Such is the earnest wish of the publishers of this, Ansel Watrous' His- 
 tory of Larimer county. 
 
 The Courier Printing ^ Publishing Company. 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 LARIMER 
 
 COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 Colorado 
 
 'Colorado, rare Colorado! Yonder she rests; her head of gold pillowed on the Rocky 
 Mountains, her feet in the brown grass, the boundless plains for a playground; she is set on 
 a hill before the world, and the air is very clear, so all may see her well. " — Joaquin Miller. 
 
 IN 1806, one hundred and four years ago, a 
 military exploring party, led by Lieut. Zebu- 
 Ion M. Pike, United States army, penetrated 
 the western country from the Mississippi 
 river to the Rocky Mountains. The region then 
 explored, known as the Louisiana province, had, 
 three years before, been acquired by the United 
 States by purchase from France, and only a vague 
 and indefinite knowledge of the extent, and char- 
 acter and resources was in possession of the Govern- 
 ment. Lieut. Pike and his party in November of 
 that year reached the base of the mountain which 
 bears his name and which will forever perpetuate 
 his memory, although he never scaled its summit. 
 He is believed to have been the first American to 
 enter Colorado. While on the return journey he 
 was captured by Spanish troops and taken to 
 Chihuahua. Long's Peak, forming the southwestern 
 corner post of Larimer county, similarly honors 
 Major Stephen H. Long, who explored parts of 
 Colorado in 1820. About the year 1840 Mexico 
 made a grant of a vast tract of land in the Las 
 Animas region to Cols. Vigil, and St. Vrain ; a 
 little later William Bent established a trading post 
 on the Arkansas river. 
 
 Colorado west of the Continental Divide belonged 
 to Mexico, and was ceded to the United States in 
 1848, and became part of the new Territory of 
 Utah. Colorado east of the divide lay in the huge 
 province of Louisana, a part of New France, ceded 
 to Spain in 1763, restored to France in 1801, and 
 sold to the United States in 1803, for $15,000,000. 
 From that date until 1812 it lay in Louisana Ter- 
 ritory; and after that in Missouri Territory; and 
 from 1854 in Nebraska and Kansas Territories. 
 The region south of the Arkansas river belonged to 
 the Republic of Texas from its foundation until it 
 became merged in the United States, when part of 
 it was annexed to New Mexico and part to Kansas. 
 As early as 1848, a wandering band of Cherokee 
 Indians discovered gold in the vicinity of what is 
 now the city of Denver; but it was not until 1858 
 that W. Green Russell's party of Georgians and a 
 company from Kansas, began to wash gold from the 
 
 sands of the South Platte river and its tributaries. 
 In May, 1859, John H. Gregory discovered gold 
 near Idaho Springs. When the news of these 
 treasures of the mountains reached the East, a vast 
 and tumultuous emigration began across the wild 
 untrodden plains, and the serene and lonely Pike's 
 Peak region becanje the magnet of thousands of 
 brave adventurers. 
 
 The Territory of Colorado was created by act of 
 Congress, approved February, 1861. The boundar- 
 ies of Colorado, as described in the organic act, in- 
 cluded all the territory between the thirty-seventh 
 and forty-first parallels of north latitude, and the 
 twenty-fifth and thirty-second meridians of longi- 
 tude west of Washington, forming an oblong square 
 containing 104,500 square miles, or 66,880,000 
 acres of land. The Territorial oflScers commissioned 
 by President Lincoln were William Gilpin, Gov- 
 ernor; Lewis L. Weld, Secretary; Benjamin F. 
 Hall, Chief Justice ; S. Newton Pettis and Charles 
 L. Armor, Associate Justices; Copeland Townsend, 
 Marshal; James D. Daliba, Attorney-General, and 
 F. M. Case, Surveyor-General. They arrived in 
 Denver May 29th, and were cordially welcomed. 
 The constitutions drafted in 1859 and 1863 were 
 rejected by the people, but in 1865 they adopted one, 
 and congress passed an act admitting the Territory 
 to the Union. President Johnson vetoed this docu- 
 ment, and for eleven years longer the people re- 
 mained under a Territorial government. 
 
 When the Civil war broke out in 1861, Colorado 
 sent into the Union army two regiments of cavalry, 
 a regiment of infantry and a battery, besides raising 
 troops for home defense. Threatened by Confed- 
 erates on one side and Indians on the other, many 
 pioneers returned to the East to remain until the 
 trouble was over. Sibley's Confederate invasion of 
 New Mexico in 1861 had for its chief object an ad- 
 vance to the Platte valley and the occupation of the 
 country as far north as Fort Laramie. Thus the Pa- 
 cific coast states would be cut away from the Repub- 
 lic, and the overland route closed. This deadly 
 peril was averted by the Colorado volunteers, who 
 did not wait for the invaders to reach their country, 
 
 [7] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 but advanced into New Mexico, and met and 
 checked the hitherto triumphant Confederates at La 
 Glorietta (Apache Caiion). 
 
 Following the close of the war in 1865, a new 
 tide of immigrants flowed into Colorado and the de- 
 velopment of its resources became more rapid and 
 life more secure. The Ute Indians, formerly sole 
 owners of the western part of the Territory, sold 
 their lands to the Government, and were concen- 
 trated upon the White river, Uncompahgre and 
 Southern reservations, whence most of them have 
 since been removed to Utah. 
 
 The name "Colorado" is the past participle of the 
 Spanish verb "Colorar," "to color," with a second- 
 ary meaning of "ruddy" or "blushing;" and was 
 originally applied by the Spaniards to the Colorado 
 river, whose water is red in hue when swollen by 
 the heavy rains from the disintegration of the red- 
 dish soils through which it flows. A popular nick- 
 name for Colorado is the Centennial State, because 
 it was admitted to the Union in the hundredth year 
 after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. 
 Later it was called the Silver State, because of the 
 predominance of that metal in the mines then 
 worked. The older title of the Buffalo-Plain State 
 is now meaningless and has been for more than three 
 decades, since the extinction of the bison. The 
 people living here used to be called Pike's Peakers. 
 
 Colorado's coat-of-arms includes a shield, with a 
 miner's pick and mallet crossed, and a range of 
 snowy mountains. The motto is "Nil Sine Nu- 
 mine'' Latin words meaning "Nothing without 
 God." 
 
 The Governors of Colorado have been : Terri- 
 torial : William Gilpin , 1861-2; John Evans, 1862- 
 5; Alex. Cummins, 1865-7; A. C. Hunt, 1867-9 
 Edward M. McCook, 1869-73; Samuel H. Elbert 
 1873-4; John L. Routt, 1874-6; State: John L 
 Routt, 1877-9; Frederick W. Pitkin, 1879-83 
 James B. Grant, 1883-85; Benj. H. Eaton, 1885-7 
 Alva Adams, 1887-9; Job A. Cooper, 1889-91 
 John L. Routt, 1891-3; Davis H. White, 1893-5 
 W. J. Mclntyre, 1895-7; Alva Adams, 1897-9 
 Charles S. Thomas, 1899-01 ; James B. Orman, 
 1901-3; James H. Peabody, 1903-5; J. F. McDon- 
 ald, 1905-7; Henry A. Buchtel, 1907-9; John F. 
 Shafroth, 1909-11. 
 
 Geography 
 
 Colorado covers an area equal to New England 
 and Ohio combined. Its chief divisions are the 
 Plains, the Foothills, and the Rocky Mountains. 
 The Great Plains ascend from Kansas to the Foot- 
 
 [8] 
 
 hills, a vast open region of low ridges and valleys 
 with an elevation of from 3,000 to 5,000 feet above 
 the sea. Everywhere, in their season, the face of the 
 country is covered with gorgeous wild flowers, and 
 modern irrigation processes, wherever water can be 
 applied, are converting the plains into a rich garden 
 of agriculture. The Divide is a ridge 7,500 feet 
 above the sea, running eastward from the front 
 range, and separating the waters of the Platte and 
 Arkansas rivers. The Plains were originally tree- 
 less, save where belts of cottonwood and aspen fol- 
 lowed the courses of the streams ; but since the ad- 
 vance of population hitherward and the develop- 
 ment of irrigating systems, myriads of trees have 
 been planted on the uplands and in the valleys. The 
 Foothills run north and south, from thirty to fifty 
 miles wide, with an elevation of from 6,500 to 8,000 
 feet, diversified and broken in their outline, and gen- 
 erally abounding in timber and water. They con- 
 tain many fertile valleys and grazing districts, and 
 thousands of beautiful homes have been established 
 among them. They are also rich in minerals, clays 
 and building stones, including granite and marble. 
 
 The Rocky Mountains form the Continental Di- 
 vide, or water shed, and traverse Colorado from 
 north to south and southwest, with many tributary 
 ranges. This magnificent labyrinth has two-score 
 peaks of above 14,000 feet, and nearly 200 exceed- 
 ing 13,000 in height. For 150 miles north and south, 
 from Gunnison to the northern boundary of the state 
 the mountain mass is 120 miles wide and includes 
 the Front, Park and Saguache ranges. The Medicine 
 Bow range, which forms the western boundary of 
 Larimer county, is a spur of the main range. The 
 front range is the eastern line of peaks, visible for 
 scores of miles over the lonely plains toward the 
 Missouri, and forming a vast and impressive line 
 of mountains, broken by several summits which over- 
 tower the great wall. It is 120 miles long, begin- 
 ning on the south of the famous Pike's Peak, 14,147 
 feet high, which for many years gave its name to all 
 Colorado. Its summit is reached by a long carriage 
 road, and also a mountain cog-wheel railway, built 
 in 1890. The view from this point, and from the 
 oft-ascended Gray's and Long's and other peaks, is 
 of immense extent and amazing grandeur. 
 
 The parks of Colorado are ancient lake basins 
 walled in by stupendous mountain ranges, and com- 
 posed of beautiful, undulating regions of vales and 
 hillsides, with bright lakes and, streams, shadowy 
 forests, and a varied and abundant vegetation of 
 timber, flowers and grasses. They extend nearly the 
 whole length of the state from north to south, just 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 LARIMER 
 
 COUNTY 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 west of the Front range, with an average width of 
 about fifty miles, and are separated from each other 
 by high mountains. North Park, with its 2,500 
 square miles of wooded hillsides and meadows, for- 
 merly a part of Larimer county, but created, organ- 
 ized and established in 1909 as Jackson county, lays 
 on the northern border of the state, between the 
 Continental Divide on the west, the Medicine Bow 
 mountains on the east and the Rabbit Ear range on 
 the south. The North Platte river takes its rise in 
 the park and flows into Wyoming. North Park has 
 an elevation of 8,500 feet above the sea and is the 
 stockman's paradise, its rich pastures and extensive 
 meadows providing forage for tens of thousands of 
 cattle and horses. It is almost entirely underlaid 
 with a fine quality of lignite coal, some of whose 
 measures are sixty-five feet in thickness. Walden, 
 situated near the junction of the Michigan and Illi- 
 nois rivers, tributaries of the North Platte, is the 
 principal town and county seat of Jackson county. 
 It has a population of about 600, and practically all 
 lines of business are represented there. During the 
 present year it will probably be connected up with 
 the outside world by the Laramie, Hahn's Peak 
 Pacific railroad, which is building into North Park 
 from Laramie, Wyoming. Southward, across the 
 narrow and lofty Rabbit Ear range, which forms a 
 part of the Continental Divide, lies Middle Park. 
 Middle Park covers 3,000 square miles of pleasant 
 valleys and wooded hills, 9,000 feet above the sea, 
 and environed on three sides by magnificent snowy 
 ranges, with Long's Peak, Gray's Peak, and their 
 lofty brethren overlooking its grassy hills. It forms 
 a part of Grand county, whose shire town is Hot 
 Sulphur Springs. Middle Park is now crossed by 
 the Moffat road in course of construction from Den- 
 ver to Salt Lake. South Park, the most attractive 
 of the series, is a lovely vale forty miles long, walled 
 in by the Rampart range on the east and the Snowy 
 Park range in the west, and watered by the South 
 Platte and its silvery confluents. This mountain- 
 girt amphitheater, with its wonderful variety of rich- 
 ness of scenery, is traversed by several railways and 
 dotted with villages, mines and ranches. Its average 
 elevation is 9,000 feet above the sea level. 
 
 The San Luis Park covers 9,400 square miles and 
 is the largest of Colorado's inter-mountain parks. It 
 is walled in by the Sangre-de-Cristo and Culebra 
 ranges on the east, and by the Sierra San Juan on 
 the west. Here the Rio Grande river takes its rise 
 amid noble forests. 
 
 The valleys of the Grand and Gunnison rivers 
 and Roaring Fork were first settled by white people 
 
 in 1880. Since then this vast area has devel- 
 oped rapidly and numerous villages, towns and cities 
 exist now where only the red men made their homes 
 prior to that date. In these valleys are found inex- 
 haustible fields of coal, iron, lead, copper and silver, 
 and large areas of rich soil specially adapted to fruit 
 culture. Thousands of carloads of peaches, apricots, 
 pears, plums and apples are shipped out of these val- 
 leys every year. 
 
 The rivers of Colorado are unnavigable torrents, 
 flowing down out of the mountains with flashing 
 cascades, quiet pools and foaming rapids. Here the 
 Platte, Arkansas, Rio Grande and Colorado are 
 born. The Republican and the Smoky Hill Fork of 
 the Kansas rise from the Plains in the eastern part 
 of the state. East of the front range the waters of 
 the mountain-born streams are skillfully availed of 
 for the irrigation of thousands of productive farms. 
 The North Platte gathers its waters from the Medi- 
 .cine. Bow range and the Continental Divide in 
 North Park. The South Platte is born at Mont- 
 gomery, on Buckskin mountain, 11,176 feet high, 
 and crosses South Park, descending 6,000 feet before 
 reaching Denver. The sources of the Arkansas are 
 in Tennessee pass, and for scores of miles it flows 
 like a silver thread at the bottom of a caiion over a 
 thousand feet deep, culminating in the Royal Gorge, 
 near Canon City. The Arkansas flows across the 
 Plains, southeast, 500 miles in Colorado, receiving 
 the waters of the Greenhorn, Huerfano, Apishapa, 
 Purgatoire, Cimmaron, Fountaine qui Bouille and 
 numerous other streams. The Purgatoire river tra- 
 verses a wonderful canon fifty miles long, with 
 walls 800 to 1,000 feet high, around whose gloomy 
 shadows (if tradition may be believed) an entire 
 Spanish regiment was lost. The Rio Grande river 
 rises in the Sierra San Juan and flows east and south 
 through San Luis Park and into New Mexico. The 
 northwestern part of the state is watered by the 
 Grand, Bear (Yampah) and White rivers, and their 
 numerous affluents. The Animas, Mancos and 
 other tributaries of the San Juan drain the chaotic 
 mountains of Southwestern Colorado into the Colo- 
 rado river. In this region, along the Hovenweep 
 and McElmo, are found the ruined houses and 
 watch towers of the long-extinct Cliff Dwellers, 
 driven ages ago to their holes in the precipice walls 
 by deadly enemies, Aztecs or Apaches. Some of the 
 ruins are 700 feet long, constructed of massive 
 blocks of stone, or carved with great labor from the 
 live rock. 
 
 Much of the finest scenery of the Atlantic slope 
 occurs in the wonderful chasms which the streams 
 
 [9] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 and convulsions of Nature have hewn in the sides of 
 the mountains with perpendicular granite or sand- 
 stone walls. Cache la Poudre, Big Thompson, 
 Boulder, Cheyenne, Clear Creek, Grape Creek and 
 other canons are famous for their remarkable 
 scenery, and the Grand Canon of the Arkansas is 
 even more impressive and wonderful. West of the 
 main range the streams flow in the bottoms of yet 
 more prodigious canons, with rock walls half a mile 
 or more high, generally mostly precipitous, and 
 sometimes even overhanging their bases. The Black 
 and Grand canons of the Gunnison, the long gorge 
 of the Uncompahgre, and the deep chasms in which 
 the Dolores flows are remarkable for their extent 
 and grandeur. 
 
 High up among the sunlit peaks many crystalline 
 lakes reflect the clear sky and the granite spires 
 above them, and send their bright waters plunging 
 and murmuring down through rugged canons to 
 join other streams making for either the Atlantic or 
 the Pacific oceans. Near Georgetown is the deep 
 emerald expanse of Green Lake, with Clear Lake 
 above it and Elk Lake at the edge of the timber line. 
 The Twin Lakes, fourteen miles from Leadville, lie 
 at the base of the lofty Mount Elbert, 9,357 feet 
 above the sea, and their unusual beauty has attracted 
 a settlement of summer hotels and cottages on their 
 shores. The five Evergreen lakes mirror the huge 
 sides of Mount Massive; and the crag-bound Chi- 
 cago lakes spread their transparent waters high up 
 near the summits of Mount Evans, the uppermost of 
 them being 11,434 feet above sea level, and perpet- 
 ually frozen. Palmer lake, on the Divide, midway 
 between Denver and Pueblo (7,238 feet high), has 
 on its shore a pleasant health resort, villages and 
 sanitariums. Nestled high up on the pine-clad 
 slopes of Mount Cameron, in the Medicine Bow 
 range, lies Chambers lake, one of Larimer county's 
 boasted beauty spots. This lake is at an elevation of 
 9,000 feet above sea level, and is fed by Joe Wright, 
 Trap and other small streams which head still 
 higher up in the mountains, and its outlet is one of 
 the sources of the Cache la Poudre river. It was 
 named for a bold trapper and hunter named Cham- 
 bers, who in the early part of the nineteenth century 
 penetrated the wilderness at the headwaters of the 
 Cache la Poudre in search of beaver and other fur- 
 bearing animals. Joe Wright creek also owes its 
 name to a trapper who spent a winter on the stream 
 gathering peltries. 
 
 Large areas of white and yellow pine and cedar 
 still remain on the mountains of Colorado. The 
 ridges and mountains are covered with noble ever- 
 
 [10] 
 
 green trees, up to 9,000 feet, and thin and wind- 
 blown trees for 3,000 feet higher, or up to timber 
 line, above which the peaks are bleak rocks, with 
 slight patches of grass and alpine flowers. The wild 
 animals of the highlands include bears, wolves, 
 pumas, wild cats, deer, elk, beaver and others. On 
 the plains millions of prairie dogs dwell, with deer, 
 antelopes, wolves, coyotes, hares and other game, 
 yearly dwindling away. 
 
 The climate of this great mountain realm nat- 
 urally has a wide diversity; from the high summer 
 heat of the plains to the perpetual snows of the 
 mountain ranges. The east and south winds are 
 damp and cold; the west winds, though blowing 
 across hundreds of miles of snowy ranges, are warm 
 and dry. As a rule the nights are cool, even when 
 the days reach 90 degrees. The foothills have hot 
 summers, with cool nights, and mild winters, with 
 snow seldom abiding long. The average mean tem- 
 perature in winter is 30.3 degrees ; spring, 48.7 de- 
 grees; summer, 69.7 degrees, and autumn, 50.7 de- 
 grees. Changes are frequent and sometimes sharp, 
 but the dryness of the atmosphere mitigates their se- 
 verity. From November to April snow may come, 
 but it very seldom remains for more than a few 
 days at a time; and thence till the close of summer 
 short rain showers refresh the country. More than 
 300 days in each year are either clear or partly clear. 
 From July to November the sky is bright and 
 cloudless, and the air is pure, sweet and exhilarat- 
 ing. "An air more delicious to breathe cannot 
 anywhere be found," says Bayard Taylor. This 
 climate is favorable to health and vigor; and 
 the pleasant region of the foothills is a great 
 and beneficient sanitarium, especially for those 
 who suffer from bronchial and pulmonary af- 
 fections. These diseases are arrested in the dry, 
 highland air, and many Eastern people now enjoy 
 good health in Colorado who would have died 
 had they remained in their old homes. It is impor- 
 tant that invalids avoid high altitudes, and remain 
 at the health resorts below the line of 7,500 feet. 
 The electric air excites the nervous system of new- 
 comers especially to a high tension, producing a sort 
 of intoxication of good health, with keen appetites, 
 perfect digestion and sound, refreshing sleep. 
 
 Colorado is generously favored with health-pro- 
 moting medicated mineral and thermal springs, 
 nearly all of which are provided with hotels and 
 bath houses. Five miles west of Colorado Springs 
 lies the famous health resort of Manitou, with its 
 soda, iron, seltzer, and sulphur springs, attracting 
 thousands of persons a year to the adjacent hotels. 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 Idaho springs rush from the base of Santa Fe moun- 
 tain, near the headwaters of Clear creek. There 
 are both hot and cold waters, used in various forms 
 of baths, and the analysis show ingredients like those 
 of Carlsbad springs. This locality is much visited 
 by consumptives and those suffering from rheuma- 
 tism, who find healing in the medicinal fountains. 
 Canon City, near the picturesque Grape Creek 
 Canon and the Royal Gorge, has soda springs and 
 hot springs. The Boulder saline water enjoys a large 
 sale throughout America and Europe. Springdale, 
 ten miles northwest of Boulder, has tonic iron 
 waters. There are valuable springs at Morrison, a 
 fashionable mountain resort twenty miles from Den- 
 ver, and near Bear Canon and the Garden of the 
 Angels. The Haywood and Cottonwood springs, 
 near Buena Vista, are visited by thousands of 
 health-seekers. In the narrow Wagon Wheel Gap, 
 where the Upper Rio Grande roars down through a 
 palisaded cleft in the mountains, are hot and cold 
 soda and sulphur springs, with large hotels and bath 
 houses. The soda springs near Leadville are under 
 the shadow of the Saguache range. Poncha hot 
 springs, near Salida, form a group of fifty-five 
 sources of clear, odorless and tasteless water, with 
 hotels and bath houses and great numbers of yearly 
 visitors. Pagosa springs, between the Sierra San 
 Juan and the grassy plains of New Mexico, bubble 
 up in a great rocky basin, and supply purgative 
 alkaline waters of high medicinal value. They have 
 a temperature of 140 degrees, and the steam from 
 the basin can be seen for miles in cool weather. 
 Glenwood springs are ten in number, pouring out 
 every minute 8,000 gallons of warm water, power- 
 fully medicated, alkaline, saline, sulphurous and 
 chalybeate, some of them in hot, vaporous caves near 
 the Grand river, and others provided with swim- 
 ming pools and bath houses. Shaw's magnetic 
 springs are near Del Norte, in the San Luis valley. 
 Trimble's hot springs and the Pinkerton springs are 
 near Durango. The hot sulphur springs, six in 
 number, boil out from the base of a cliif at the head 
 of Troublesome canon, in Middle Park, and are 
 provided with baths. South Park contains a group 
 of saline and alkaline springs, and also Hartzell's 
 hot sulphur springs. Steamboat springs, in Routt 
 county, form a group of eighty hot fountains at the 
 foot of the Park range. 
 
 Prior to 1870 agriculture had not assumed com- 
 manding proportions in Colorado, but since then it 
 has advanced by leaps and bounds until at the pres- 
 ent time, through the construction of vast irrigation 
 systems, supplemented by water storage and the 
 
 bringing under cultivation of extensive areas of pro- 
 ductive land, tilling of the soil has become the domi- 
 nating industry of the state. At this time the value 
 of the products of the farms, orchards and gardens 
 is more than double the value of the mineral pro- 
 ductions of the state, so that agriculture is now far 
 in the lead of mining so far as net financial results 
 are concerned. Though there is a steady increase 
 year by year in the value of mineral products, agri- 
 culture has taken the lead and bids fair to hold it 
 for all time to come. The aridity of the soil has 
 been overcome by artificial irrigation, by whose aid 
 nearly 4,000,000 acres have been brought under 
 profitable cultivation, with the area increasing every 
 year. It is estimated by the State Engineer that there 
 are 10,000,000 acres of land in the state which can 
 be brought under cultivation through irrigation. 
 The irrigating canals which have their heads in the 
 perennial mountain streams, are tapped by smaller 
 lateral ditches leading to the higher slopes of the 
 farms, and minor ditches reach the fields, which are 
 in turn gridironed by plow furrows. When the 
 crops need water, the head-gates of the laterals are 
 opened and crystal streams flow down the field 
 ditches, and are admitted into the furrows by taking 
 away a shovelful of earth from each one. In a brief 
 space of time the land is thoroughly moistened and 
 the growing crops refreshed as from a prolonged 
 rain. The moisture is controlled absolutely by the 
 farmer and he can apply it to those fields and crops 
 which most need it, and at the same time withhold 
 in from fields and crops that have already been sup- 
 plied with all they need. The state is divided into 
 five irrigation divisions, each in charge of an expe- 
 rienced engineer, and the divisions are sub-divided 
 into water districts, each supervised by a water com- 
 missioner. These officials, under the supervision of 
 the State Engineer, distribute the waters according 
 to priority rights. 
 
 Stock-raising and stock-feeding have long been im- 
 portant industries in the state. The grasses are 
 nutritive and abundant, and horses, cattle and sheep 
 thrive on dry alfalfa and native hay. The occupa- 
 tion of the great plains by farmers has forced the 
 large herds of cattle to new pastures elsewhere, and 
 two-thirds of the live stock of the state are now on 
 the farms, where agricultural and stock-raising in- 
 terests are blended, as in the older states, and the 
 animals are more carefully fed and looked after 
 during the winter, thus minimizing the losses. Some 
 of the finest cattle in the world are raised in Colo- 
 rado — prize-winners at the international stock shows 
 in Chicago. Wool growing is successfully carried 
 
 [H] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 on in Colorado and yields handsome returns to the 
 flock-masters. There are about 3,000,000 sheep in 
 the state and from 12,000,000 to 15,000,000 pounds 
 of wool are marketed in the East each year. About 
 one million lambs are fed in the state every year for 
 the Eastern markets. This industry, besides yielding 
 the feeders a good profit one year after another, aids 
 materially in preserving the fertility and promoting 
 the productiveness of the soil. 
 
 The early settlers of Colorado devoted almost 
 their entire time and attention to mining, and enor- 
 mous profits have since been realized from that in- 
 dustry. The mountains west of the 105th meridian 
 are branded with mineral veins of incalculable value, 
 and the total bullion production of the state has 
 reached the enormous sum of nearly $400,000,000. 
 During the golden age of Colorado, silver mining 
 was not much heeded, but between the years 1880 
 and 1893 it turned out annually four times as much 
 silver as gold. Now, however, more than twice as 
 much gold as silver is produced annually by the 
 mines of Colorado. 
 
 The coal fields of the state cover 40,000 square 
 miles, the measures running all the way from two 
 to sixty feet in thickness. The output of coal rose 
 from 8,000 tons in 1869 to nearly 12,000,000 tons 
 in 1909. Much of the Colorado coal is bituminous, 
 but large areas of pure anthracite have been opened 
 at Crested Butte, New Castle and in Routt county. 
 Lignite beds follow the eastern base of the moun- 
 tains for 250 miles. Since the early '80s petroleum 
 has been one of the important productions of the 
 state, and the volume is steadily increasing. 
 
 Extensive quarrying industries have been built up 
 in recent years and immense quantities of building 
 and paving material and flagging for sidewalks and 
 basement floors are annually wrenched from their 
 resting places in the hills and made to perform serv- 
 ice in advancing the onward march of civilization. 
 Sandstones, granite and marble are found in great 
 variety in the foothills. Marble occurs in white, 
 black, pink and variegated colors in various portions 
 of the state. Larimer county has inexhaustible quar- 
 ries of red and gray sandstone ; also of marble and 
 granite. The walls of some of the finest buildings 
 in Denver are constructed of Larimer county granite. 
 
 The State capitol in Denver is a handsome mod- 
 ern building, of Colorado granite, erected at a cost 
 of more than $2,000,000. The state institutions in- 
 clude the Insane Asylum at Pueblo; the School for 
 the Education of the Mute and Blind at Colorado 
 Springs; the Penitentiary at Canon City; the State 
 Reformatory at Buena Vista; the State Industrial 
 
 [12] 
 
 School for boys at Golden; the State Industrial 
 School for girls at Morrison, and the Soldiers' Home 
 at Monte Vista. 
 
 The public schools of Colorado are of high grade, 
 comparing favorably with those of the most ad- 
 vanced of the older states. More than 3,000,000 
 acres of land have been set apart as an endowment 
 for the public schools, and the State school in- 
 come fund is yearly increasing in amount. One 
 State Normal School has been in operation in 
 Greeley for fifteen years, and another one, lo- 
 cated on the Western slope, has been authorized 
 by the Legislature. The University of Colorado, 
 located at Boulder, was opened in 1877. The 
 State School of Mines has a home at Golden, 
 and the State Agricultural College at Fort Col- 
 lins. These are all large, well equipped and 
 flourishing institutions with a steadily increasing en- 
 rollment of students. In addition to these State edu- 
 cational institutions, there are the Presbyterian Col- 
 lege of the Southwest at Del Norte, Westminster 
 College at Denver (also a Presbyterian school), the 
 Denver University, a Methodist institution; the 
 Baptist Woman's College at Montclair, near Den- 
 ver; Colorado College at Colorado Springs, and the 
 Jesuit College, north of Denver, all of them well 
 supported. Wolf Hall is a flourishing Episcopal 
 school at Denver. The National Government main- 
 tains an Indian School at Grand Junction. Two 
 United States military posts are maintained in Colo- 
 rado, the chief of which is Fort Logan, near Den- 
 ver. The other is Fort Lewis, near Durango, and 
 guards the Ignacio Ute Reservation. The old 
 frontier stronghold. Fort Lyons, in the Arkansas 
 valley, was abandoned in 1890. 
 
 The railways of Colorado are famous for their 
 bold engineering and their wonderful achievements 
 in the passage of lofty mountains and unparalleled 
 gorges. They were for the most part built in ad- 
 vance of population, and the rapid growth of the 
 state is in part due to their agency. Six great rail- 
 way transportation lines cross the Plains and enter 
 the state from the east, and they are the Atchison, 
 Topeka & Santa Fe, the Missouri Pacific, the 
 Rock Island & Pacific, the Kansas Pacific, the 
 Burlington and the Union Pacific. In addition to 
 these the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul and the 
 Chicago & Northwestern operate through passen- 
 ger car service from Chicago to Denver over the 
 Union Pacific tracks, so that in reality one has the 
 choice of eight lines in going east from Denver or in 
 com.ing west. The first railroad built in Colorado 
 was the Denver Pacific, extending from Denver 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 north to Cheyenne, Wyoming, a distance of 106 
 miles. It was opened for traffic June 22nd, 1870. 
 The Kansas Pacific was completed to Denver in 
 August of that year. At the present time the total 
 railway mileage of Colorado is 5,360.31. A tele- 
 graph line was established from Omaha to Jules- 
 burg, on its way across the continent, in 1861. Two 
 years later, in October, 1863, a branch line was 
 completed to Denver, thus putting the capital city 
 of Colorado in direct communication by wire with 
 the East. In 1865 the line was extended from Den- 
 ver to Salt Lake, via Fort Collins and Virginia 
 Dale, and Denver became the repeating station for 
 California dispatches. 
 
 The cities of Colorado having a population of 
 3,000 and over are Aspen, Boulder, Canon City, 
 Central City, Colorado Springs, Cripple Creek, 
 Denver, Durango, Florence, Fort Collins, Grand 
 Junction, Greeley, Leadville, Loveland, Pueblo, Sa- 
 lida, Trinidad and Victor. Denver, founded in 1858, 
 has a population rising 213,000. The United States 
 census, taken this year (1910), will probably show a 
 number of cities other than these given herewith that 
 have populations exceeding 3,000. The population 
 of Colorado in 1861 was 25,329, four-fifths of which 
 were men. It is expected that the federal census for 
 this year (1910) will show a population in Colorado 
 of nearly, if not quite, one million. 
 
 The first Territorial Legislature, which met in 
 Denver September 9th, 1861, divided the Territory 
 into seventeen counties and three judicial districts. 
 The names of the counties created at that time were 
 Costilla, Conejos, Huerfano, Pueblo, Fremont, El 
 Paso, Douglas, Arapahoe, Weld, Larimer, Boulder, 
 Jefferson, Clear Creek, Gilpin, Park, Lake, Sum- 
 mit. Laporte was named in the act as the county 
 seat of Larimer county, and the county was assigned 
 to the First judicial district, with Benjamin F. Hall 
 as Judge. At present there are sixty counties in the 
 state and nineteen judicial districts. 
 
 The first bank in Colorado was opened in 1862, 
 and in 1865 the First National Bank of Denver 
 came into existence. 
 
 The geological history of Colorado is concerned 
 mainly with the gradual upheaval of the great conti- 
 nental mountain range from beneath the sea. Be- 
 ginning with the emergence of the Sierra Madre 
 from the waste of waves, this uplifting of land ad- 
 vanced northward ; and the Sierra San Juan of Colo- 
 rado is probably the most ancient section of firm 
 ground on this side of the Republic. Later the other 
 ranges slowly appeared above the sea, the Sangre de 
 Cristo and Sierra Mojada, and finally the front 
 
 range. For ages the waves of the ocean beat against 
 the steep western declivities; and the more gradual 
 eastern slopes^were formed from the deposits washed 
 down from the peaks into the shallow water on that 
 side. The mountain walls enclosed many lakes of 
 salt water, which finally drained off through the 
 canons, leaving the broad basins of the parks for the 
 homes of the coming empire. 
 
 "Colorado is the flower of a peculiarly Western 
 civilization, in which is mingled the best blood of 
 the North and the South, the virile sap of New 
 England and the CaroHnas — a truly American 
 state." 
 
 Physical Features of Colorado 
 
 The physical features of Colorado, which, of 
 course, includes Larimer County, are tersely pre- 
 sented in the history of Colorado, written by Hubert 
 Howe Bancroft, the eminent historian. He- says : 
 
 "In the gradual upheaval of the continent from 
 a deep sea submersion, the great Sierra Madre, or 
 Northern range, of Old Mexico first divided the 
 waters, and presented a wall to the ocean on the 
 west side. The San Juan range of Colorado is an 
 extension of the Sierra Madre, and the oldest land 
 in this part of the continent. Then at intervals far 
 apart rose the Sangre de Cristo range, the Mojada 
 or Greenhorn range, and lastly the Colorado, 
 called the Front range because it is first seen from 
 the east; and northeast from this the shorter up- 
 heavals of Wind River and the Black Hills, each, 
 as it lies nearer or farther from the main Rocky 
 range, being more or less recent. 
 
 "The longer slope and greater accessibility of the 
 mountains on the eastern acclivity has come from 
 the gradual wash and spreading out of the detrition 
 of these elevations in comparatively shallow water, 
 while yet the ocean thundered at the western base 
 of the northern range. The salt water enclosed by 
 the barrier of the Rocky Mountains, and subdivided 
 afterward by the later upheavals into lesser seas, 
 were carried off through the canons which their 
 own mighty force, aided by other activities of 
 Nature, and by some of her weaknesses, opened for 
 them. For uncounted ages the fresh water of the 
 land flowed into these inland seas, and purged them 
 of their saline flavor, washing the salts and alkalies 
 into the bed of the ocean on the west, where after 
 the emergence of the Sierra Nevada, and the eleva- 
 tion of the intervening mountains of the great basin, 
 they largely remained, having no outlet. Gradual 
 elevation and evaporation, with glacial action, com- 
 
 [13] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 pleted the general shaping of the country. Subse- 
 quent elemental and volcanic action has left it with 
 four parallel mountain ranges, from which shoot 
 132 peaks, ranging from 12,000 to 14,500 feet 
 above the sea level, and from 9,000 to 10,000 feet 
 above the general level of the State, with many 
 lesser ones ; with large elevated valleys, called parks, 
 walled about with majestic heights, covered with 
 luxuriant grasses, threaded by streams of the purest 
 water, beautified by lakes and dotted with groups 
 of trees, with narrow, fertile valleys skirting 
 numerous small rivers, fringed with cottonwood and 
 willows; with nobler rivers rushing through rents 
 in the solid mountains thousands of feet in depth, 
 and decorated by time and weather, with carvings 
 such as no human agency could ever have designed, 
 their wild imagery softened by blended tones of 
 color in harmony with the blue sky, the purple gray 
 shadows and the clinging moss and herbage; with 
 forests of pine, fir, spruce, aspen and other trees, 
 covering the mountain sides up to a height of 
 10,000 or 12,000 feet; with wastes of sand at the 
 western base of the Snovyy range, or main chain, and 
 arid mesas in the southeast, where everything is 
 stunted except enormous cacti, with grassy plains 
 sloping to the east, made gay with an indigenous 
 flower, and other grassy slopes extending to the 
 mountains toward the west, each with its own dis- 
 tinctive features. It is, above all, a mountainous 
 country, and with all its streams, which are numer- 
 ous, it is a dry one. In the summer many of its 
 seeming water courses are merely arroyas — dry 
 creek beds; others contain some water flowing in 
 channels cut twenty or more feet down through 
 yellow clay to a bed of shale, and still others run 
 through canons with narrow bottoms supporting 
 rich grass, willow, thorn, cherry, currant and plum 
 trees. Sloping up from these may be a stretch of 
 rolling country covered sparsely with low, spread- 
 ing cedars, or a tableland with colonies of prairie 
 dogs scattered over it, and moving upon it (in the 
 early days) herds of wild horses, buffaloes, deer and 
 antelope. Up in the mountains are meadows, hav- 
 ing in their midst beaver dams, overgrown with 
 aspens and little brooks trickling from them. Sev- 
 eral other fur-bearing animals are here also. In 
 still other localities are fine trout streams, and game 
 about them is abundant, elk, mountain sheep, bears, 
 lynxes, wolves, panthers, pumas, wildcats, grouse, 
 pheasants, ptarmigans and birds of various kinds 
 having their habitat there." 
 
 Numerous canons open on to the Plains from the 
 mountains in Larimer County, the more important 
 
 [14] 
 
 of which are the canons of the Big Thompson and' 
 Cache la Poudre rivers, which were cut through 
 the hills for the waters to flow in the early infancy 
 of this world. So many aspects have these canons 
 that any mood may be satisfied in regarding their 
 varied features. Their walls have a width between 
 them ranging from one to two hundred feet, the 
 rock being stratified, and continuing for miles. In 
 places they rise one, two and three thousand feet, 
 with level summits, surmounted by second walls of 
 prodigious height. But then figures represent only 
 height and depth; they convey no impression of the 
 gorges themselves, which sometimes narrow down to 
 the width of the stream, and all is gloom and 
 grandeur, and again they broaden out into beautiful 
 parks and meadows with waterfalls dashing down 
 between inclosing walls, trees growing out of the 
 clefts, huge rocks grouped fantastically about, 
 curious plants sheltering in their shadows, and the 
 brilliant, strong current of the stream darting down 
 in swift green chutes between the spume-flecked 
 boulders, dancing in creamy eddies, struggling to 
 tumble headlong down some sparkling cataract, 
 making the prismatic air resound with the soft tinkle 
 as of merry laughter. Again, they surge along in 
 half shadows, rushing as if blinded against massive 
 abutments of rock, to be dashed into spray, gliding 
 thereafter more smoothly, as if rebuked for their 
 previous haste, but always full of light, life and 
 motion. The grandeur, beauty and variety of the 
 views these canons make doubly interesting the re- 
 flection that through these gorges poured the waters 
 of that great primal sea which spread over Eastern. 
 Colorado. No pen can fully describe and no brush 
 adequately picture the sublimity and exquisite charm 
 of these great rents in the mountains. Every turn 
 of the stream presents a new view until the eye tires 
 and the brain wearies beholding them. Up through 
 these narrow gorges roads have been blasted out of 
 the solid rock in many places, over which carriages 
 and automobiles pass to and fro, giving sight-seers 
 an opportunity at the smallest expenditure of 
 physical exercise to penetrate their sublime recesses 
 and feast their eyes on the grandeurs and beauties 
 there presented. 
 
 On the east side of the great divide, the South 
 Platte river, with about forty tributaries, including 
 the Cache la Poudre and Big Thompson rivers, 
 rises well up among the peaks of the Front, or Colo- 
 rado range, all flowing north, northeast and easterly, 
 drains a large extent of country, while the North 
 Platte, rising in the Park range, drains the whole 
 of the North Park toward the north. The Arkan- 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 sas river, with its sixty or more tributaries, some of 
 which are of considerable volume, drains a large 
 portion of the territory south of the divide between 
 the South Platte and Arkansas valleys. It heads in 
 the high region of the Saguache range, interlacing 
 with springs of the Grand river, quite as the Colum- 
 bia and Missouri rise near each other farther north. 
 Republican river, an affluent of the Kansas, itself 
 having four tributaries, flows northeast down the 
 long descent to its union with the main stream, near 
 its junction with the Missouri ; and in the south the 
 Rio Grande del Norte, starting from the summit of 
 the same range which feeds the Gunnison branch of 
 Grand river on the opposite side, flows towards the 
 Gulf of Mexico. These streams form the river sys- 
 tem of the eastern slope of Colorado. With all of 
 its numerous streams, Colorado is a dry country. 
 Her air has little humidity in it. The summer heat 
 of the Plains is excessive by day, but owing to the 
 altitude the nights, even in midsummer, are cool. 
 The summer mean temperature ranges from 64.6 
 degrees to 69.2 degrees, and the winter mean from 
 31.3 degrees to 32.8 degrees. The maximum heat 
 of summer ranges from 93 degrees to 99 degrees, 
 with from six to thirty days above 90 degrees, and 
 the minimum of winter from 3 degrees to 12 de- 
 grees, with from six to ten days when the mercury 
 is below zero, which gives an extreme range for the 
 year from 96 degrees to 110 degrees. The annual 
 rainfall in Larimer County, as measured at the 
 State Agricultural College in Fort Collins, averages 
 about 14 inches. 
 
 Indian Tribes of Colorado 
 
 Previous to the occupation of Colorado by the 
 whites, the Arapahoe and Cheyenne Indians held 
 almost complete dominion over the Plains country 
 for many miles to the east of the mountains, espe- 
 cially that section watered by the Platte and its 
 tributaries. The Arapahoes made their home near 
 the present site of the City of Denver. Here they 
 conducted a sort of a fair, exchanging articles pro- 
 cured from the Spanish on the south for furs from 
 the north. The word Arapahoe is said to mean "he 
 who buys or trades." As the Cache la Poudre valley 
 seems to have been their favorite hunting grounds 
 they spent a good part of the hunting season along 
 the river and their tepees were familiar sights to the 
 early explorers and emigrants. Their camping 
 grounds were mainly on both sides of the river near 
 the mouth of the Boxelder creek and at or near 
 Laporte. Antoine Janis says he found 150 lodges 
 
 of them at Laporte when he located there in 1844. 
 A brief sketch of the history of these tribes, so far as 
 it is known, is herewith given. It is taken mainly 
 from Randall Parrish's story of the Great Plains. 
 The writer says : 
 
 "Leaving the valley of the Missouri and moving 
 westward to the eastern and southern base of the 
 Black Hills, the traveler entered the country of the 
 Cheyennes, who were of Algonquin stock. How 
 long this people occupied that district, or from 
 whence they came, is uncertain. That they were 
 kindred to the Arapahoes seems probable, and as 
 early as 1820 many of the tribe seceded and joined 
 the other. By 1840 all the remainder had moved 
 south, whence they also became affiliated with their 
 kindred. Misfortune had made of them wanderers, 
 but they were always a virile race, magnificent 
 horsemen and superb warriors. While ever at war 
 with the Utes who were known as mountain In- 
 dians, with the whites they were usually at peace, 
 although when they took the war-path they proved 
 dangerous enemies. Their principal traffic was in 
 horses, and their trade led them to become great 
 travelers across the prairies. Closely associated with 
 them in the earliest days of white exploration were 
 the Kiowas, who were also a Plains tribe. For many 
 years the Kiowa warriors roamed freely over the en- 
 tire Arapahoe and Comanche country, extending 
 from the South Platte to the Brazos. Their favorite 
 rendezvous seems to have been the valley of the Ar- 
 kansas near the mouth of the Purgatoire river. The 
 Kiowas were little known by name in the early fur 
 trade, but probably many an atrocity charged to the 
 Comanches or Arapahoes was really committed by 
 these wanderers. A late authority refers to them as 
 being 'the most predatory and blood-thirsty' of all 
 the prairie tribes. They have probably killed more 
 white men in proportion to their numbers than any 
 of the others." 
 
 I have not been able to learn that the Arapahoes 
 ever committed any serious depredations or cruel 
 atrocities upon the white settlers of Larimer County 
 beyond the stealing of horses and running them off 
 when they thought they would not be found out. 
 They seemed disposed to be friendly and peaceable 
 toward the whites. Their Chief, Friday, was an 
 educated man, having been taken to St. Louis when 
 a boy and sent to school, where he acquired a knowl- 
 edge of books and a wholesome appreciation of the 
 numbers, strength and power of the white race. He 
 could read and write and converse quite intelligently 
 upon most subjects. He had a kindly regard for the 
 white people, being wise enough to know that they 
 
 [15] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 belonged to a superior race who would eventually 
 possess and control his country. He gravely ac- 
 cepted the situation and his denneanor toward the 
 whites had a marked influence over his tribe. 
 
 "There was a report," says Maj. Frank Hall in 
 his excellent history of Colorado, "that the Arapa- 
 hoes were descended from the Blackfeet; that a 
 hunting party accompanied by their families came 
 down from the north to the Platte about eighty-five 
 years ago, and being cut off by a severe snow storm, 
 wintered near the present site of Denver. The 
 season in this latitude being mild and pleasant, the 
 country abounding in game, and generally a better 
 region to live in than the one they had left, they de- 
 cided to remain. How much truth there may be in 
 the story, if any, we are unable to say. We found 
 them here and know that they roamed the Plains 
 in large numbers from the country of the Pawnees 
 to the base of the mountains and down into the val- 
 ley of the Arkansas river." 
 
 In 1861 the Cheyennes and Arapahoes ceded to 
 the Government all their lands east of the moun- 
 tains, which included the eastern part of Larimer 
 County. The Indians soon afterwards repudiated 
 the treaty and combining with other Plains tribes, 
 entered upon and waged a vicious war against the 
 whites which continued for several years. In the 
 summer of 1864 mail communication with the East 
 was cut off; mail bags containing letters, money, 
 drafts, land patents, newspapers and other miscel- 
 laneous matter were cut open and their contents 
 scattered over the prairie. But one station was left 
 standing on the Overland stage route for a distance 
 of 120 miles. Trains were robbed, emigrants killed 
 and it was estimated that there was not more than 
 six weeks' supply of food in the Territory. For 
 thirty days there had been no mail from the East. 
 No stages or emigrants or supply trains were al- 
 lowed to move except under escort. The situation 
 was really critical. Caravans conveying merchan- 
 dise and food supplies from the Missouri river to 
 Denver and other Colorado towns, all that were on 
 the way for hundreds of miles, were seized, their 
 conductors killed and the property appropriated. 
 Early in September, the hundred days' regiment was 
 completed and dispatched by Colonel Chivington to 
 points on the Overland route to open communica- 
 tions; while a portion of the home-guard under 
 Henry M. Teller, Major General of the militia, 
 patroled the road between Denver and Julesburg, 
 the First Colorado cavalry being employed chiefly 
 on the Arkansas. These prompt and active move- 
 ments on the part of the military authorities pro- 
 
 [16] 
 
 duced two results, the opening of communications 
 with the Missouri river late in October, and the 
 surrender of a small portion of the Cheyenne and 
 Aparahoe tribes, who had hitherto refused to make 
 a permanent treaty with the Superintendent of In- 
 dian affairs. When the outbreak first occurred. 
 Governor Evans issued a proclamation to the 
 friendly Indians to repair to posts which he named, 
 to be taken care of by the agents. In response to 
 the invitation 175 Arapahoes, under Chief Friday, 
 took up their residence at Fort Collins where they 
 remained until the trouble was over. These In- 
 dians were camped part of the time on the Coy 
 farm and part of the time on the Sherwood farm. 
 F. W. Sherwood was commissioned by President 
 Lincoln to supply Chief Friday and his band with 
 food while they were here. 
 
 The following story of a tragedy which occurred 
 between two quarrelsome Indians is told by Mrs. 
 Varah A. Armstrong of this city, a daughter of the 
 late Captain Geoorge E. Buss : 
 
 "In the early winter, closing the year 1866, Chief 
 Friday's band of Arapahoes, consisting of a few 
 lodges, lived a few rods up the river from the 
 Sherwood ranch. A much larger band of Chey- 
 ennes camped on top of the bluff across the river, 
 near the home of 'Ranger' Jones. They were led 
 by a chief named Spotted Tail. 
 
 "Friday had a son whom he called Jake, a hot- 
 headed, quarrelsome fellow, with a keen appetite 
 for bad whiskey. He and some of the other young 
 braves visited the Cheyenne camp, got into a quar- 
 rel and Jake killed Spotted Tail. 
 
 "Thus, for a brief time, the few settlers were 
 menaced by the horrors of an Indian war, but Fri- 
 day, knowing that he could not hope to win, told 
 his son to go away, which he did, taking his three 
 wives with him. 
 
 "A few days after the tragedy, my father was 
 building a log barn and he borrowed a cross-cut 
 saw, with which he and my mother were cutting 
 out the doorway. Three or four Cheyennes came 
 down and sat around watching operations. My 
 father told my mother to stop and he signed for 
 one of the Indians to take hold of the handle, and 
 the Son of the Wilds made a very fair hand for the 
 short time that it took to finish the job. When 
 they stopped to rest, my father said, 'What did you 
 do with Spotted Tail?' The Indian stooped, and 
 with his hand scooped out a little hollow in the soil 
 to show that they had buried him, and my mother 
 said there were tears in his eyes. 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 "The next June, when the river was an im- 
 passable torrent, one day the Jones signaled for 
 the boat that was kept for use by the two families. 
 A little Crow Indian boy was frantically waving 
 his blanket, and when he had been ferried across, 
 and considered himself safe from pursuit, he told 
 Friday's band how he had been held as a slave by 
 Jake and his wives; how the party had started to 
 return to the home camping grounds on the Poudre, 
 of their seeing another band of Indians in the dis- 
 tance ; of Jake waving a white flag to which the 
 advancing party paid no attention. When they 
 were near enough to recognize their quarry, they 
 began singing the death song. The little Crow 
 knew what that meant. All started to flee. One 
 of Jake's wives rode a lazy pony and begged the 
 little Crow to run behind and whip the horse, but 
 he was intent on saving himself, which he suc- 
 ceeded in doing. It is quite possible the Cheyennes 
 did not try to capture him after taking vengeance 
 on Jake and his family. As no other word ever 
 came to the Poudre country, it is not known in 
 what way they met their deaths. It must always 
 be one of the secrets of 'The Lone Prairie.' " 
 
 The Cheyennes and Arapahoes hated the Utes 
 with bitter hatred, and the latter just as intensely 
 hated the former tribes. The Cheyennes and 
 Arapahoes were Plains tribes and the Utes a Moun- 
 tain tribe. The Plains Indians could do nothing 
 except on horseback; the Utes, though owning 
 and valuing ponies, was essentially a foot tribe. A 
 single Indian of either tribe on his own ground 
 counted himself equal to three of his enemies. The 
 Utes sometimes wandered on the Plains raiding the 
 camps of their enemies and driving off their ponies 
 when they thought the situation and condition 
 favorable, but it was with fear and trembling. 
 The Plains Indians seldom ventured at all into any 
 country so broken as to prevent them operating to 
 advantage on horseback. Though constantly at 
 war with each other, few were killed in their bat- 
 tles, because neither would venture far into the 
 domain of the other. 
 
 Speaking of the Indian trouble of 1864-5, Gen- 
 eral Frank Hall in his history of Colorado says: 
 "On one occasion a merchandise train was attacked 
 on the Cache la Poudre emigrant road near the 
 Colorado line, the men attending it killed, and the 
 train destroyed. One of the attaches was cap- 
 tured alive, and after being cruelly tortured was 
 bound with chains to a wagon wheel, his arms and 
 legs stretched out, large quantities of brush piled 
 up around him and fired. As the flames executed 
 
 their hellish purpose, the Indians danced and 
 howled about him in savage glee until he was 
 burned to a cinder." 
 
 The Trappers the True Pathfinders 
 
 Most of the operations of the organized fur com- 
 panies were carried on in the West through traders 
 and trappers located at central points in Western 
 Wyoming and Eastern Idaho. They had extensive 
 headquarters, depots and camps on Green, Snake 
 and Yellowstone rivers at which they carried on 
 an enormous trade with the Indians and from 
 which these trappers were sent out into the moun- 
 tain wilds to snare beaver and other fur-bearing 
 animals. Yet there Is much in the records pre- 
 served, incomplete and defective as they are, in con- 
 nection with other evidence, which go to prove that 
 every important stream in Larimer County had 
 been explored and worked by Independent trappers 
 as early as in the first half of the nineteenth cen- 
 tury. Remains of their camps and cabins were 
 found on the borders of these streams by the early 
 settlers, and Fremont declares in his report of his 
 second expedition that he expected to find trappers 
 who were known to have been In this region, to act 
 as guides in conducting him through the passes of 
 the mountains west of here, but that they had all 
 disappeared, having probably been killed by the In- 
 dians. Referring to these trappers, Randall Par- 
 rish, in his Interesting work on the "Great Plains," 
 says: 
 
 "While the Government was virtually neglecting 
 this western region of the plains, private enterprise 
 had been slowly prying open its secrets, and indi- 
 viduals were finding their uncertain way along its 
 water-courses, or across Its sun-browned prairie. 
 The fur trade was the powerful magnet which thus 
 early drew westward hardy adventurers by the 
 score. Very few of the names of those who first 
 trod the plains have been preserved even upon the 
 records of the great fur companies. They were 
 generally obscure, illiterate men, possessing little 
 except their rifles and traps, living for long years in 
 the depths of the wilderness, only occasionally ap- 
 pearing amid the haunts of pioneer civilization with 
 their packs of furs. Sometimes they traveled in in- 
 dependent parties for protection against Indian 
 treachery; some were free trappers, others were en- 
 rolled upon the lists of organized fur companies and 
 worked under orders. In either case they neces- 
 sarily had hard, wild lives, continually filled with 
 adventure and personal peril. These men, roughly 
 
 [17] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 clothed, living on game, their safety constantly 
 menaced, were the true western pathfinders, dig- 
 ging continuously deeper year by year into the vast 
 wilderness, and from their ranks came those com- 
 petent guides who were later to lead organized ex- 
 peditions to the Western ocean. During the forty 
 years following the purchase of Louisiana by the 
 United States the people of the East possessed 
 hardly the slightest conception of its immense 
 value. The one considerable commercial attrac- 
 tion it offered during this period was its wealth of 
 furs, and during nearly half a century this was its 
 sole business of importance. In the language of 
 Chittenden, introducing his history of the Ameri- 
 can fur trade: 
 
 "The nature of the business determined the 
 character of the early white population. It was 
 the roving trader and the solitary white trapper 
 who first sought out these inhospitable wilds, traced 
 their streams to their sources, scaled the mountain 
 passes, and explored a boundless expanse of terri- 
 tory where the foot of white man had never 
 trodden before. The far west became a field of 
 romantic adventure, and developed a class of men 
 who loved the wandering career of the native in- 
 habitant rather than the toilsome lot of the indus- 
 trious colonists. The type of life thus developed, 
 though essentially evanescent and not representing 
 any profound national movement, was nevertheless 
 a distinct and necessary phase in the growth of this 
 new country. Abounding in incidents picturesque 
 and heroic, its annals inspire an interest akin to that 
 which belongs to the age of knight-errantry, for the 
 fur hunter of the west was, in his rough way, a 
 good deal of a knight-errant. Caparisoned in the 
 wild attire of the Indian and armed cap-a-pie for 
 instant combat, he roamed far and wide over 
 deserts and mountains, gathering the scattered 
 wealth of those regions, slaying ferocious beasts 
 and savage men, and leading a life in which every 
 footstep was beset with enemies and every moment 
 pregnant with peril. The great proportion of these 
 intrepid spirits who laid down their lives in that 
 far country is impressive proof of the jeopardy of 
 their existence. All in all, the period of this ad- 
 venturous business may justly be considered the 
 romantic era of the west. 
 
 "So valuable was this preliminary work in ex- 
 ploration that the historian of the movement is 
 fully justified in the statement that these often un- 
 known men were the true pathfinders, and not the 
 official explorers who came later, yet have been ac- 
 corded the proud title. Nothing in western 
 
 [18] 
 
 geography was ever discovered by government ex- 
 plorations after 1840. It was every mile of it 
 known previously to trader and trapper. Brlgham 
 Young was led to the valley of the Great Salt Lake 
 by information furnished by men like Jim Baker, 
 Jim Bridger, Kit Carson and their colleagues; in 
 the war with Mexico the military forces were 
 guided by those who knew every trail and moun- 
 tain pass; they were veterans of the fur trade who 
 pointed Fremont the way to the Pacific, and when 
 the rush of emigration finally set in toward Ore- 
 gon and California the very earliest of these trav- 
 elers found already made for them a highway 
 across the continent." 
 
 A Story of Colorado Told in Short 
 Paragraphs 
 
 The first American (Anglo-Saxon) who ven- 
 tured into the wilds of Colorado, then a part of 
 Louisiana Territory, was James Pursley (or Pur- 
 cell), a Kentuckian, who spent some time on the 
 Plains and in the mountains in 1804 or about that 
 time. 
 
 The first United States officer to lead an expe- 
 dition to Colorado was Captain Pike. They trav- 
 eled up the Arkansas valley and penetrated the 
 Rockies in 1806-7. 
 
 The first white men (American citizens) who 
 traversed the site of Denver, in 1820, were Dr. 
 Edwin James and other members of Long's expe- 
 dition. 
 
 The first men to scale the summit of Pike's Peak 
 were James and two companions, who tramped to 
 the top July 14, 1820. The first woman to ascend 
 the peak was Mrs. Julia A. Holmes, in July, 1858. 
 
 The first house built by whites was erected by 
 Maj. Jacob Fowler and other trappers near 
 Pueblo, Jan. 3-5, 1822. 
 
 The first permanent white settler in Colorado 
 was William Bent, who, in 1824, had temporary 
 quarters about twenty miles west of the present site 
 of Pueblo; he founded a trading post there in 1826. 
 
 The first fort was built, in 1828-32, by the Bent 
 brothers and Ceran St. Vrain on the Arkansas 
 river. It was called Bent's fort, and stood about 
 half way between the present towns of Las Animas 
 and La Junta. In 1852 it was destroyed by its 
 owner. Col. William Bent. 
 
 The first settlement or trading post at the forks 
 where Pueblo stands was made in 1842 by James 
 P. Beckworth (a noted frontiersman) and a num- 
 ber of trappers and hunters — Americans, French 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 and Mexicans — who built a rude adobe structure, 
 sometimes called "Fort Napeste" and the "The 
 Pueblo." The place had a floating population for 
 a dozen years. 
 
 The first American settler in Northwestern Colo- 
 rado was Jim Baker, of Illinois, who came to the 
 Rocky Mountain country about 1836 and erected a 
 log cabin, in the early '40s, near the north border 
 of Routt county. 
 
 The first military post for United States troops in 
 Colorado was Fort Massachusetts, a log affair at 
 the base of Sierra Blanca, established in 1852. Fort 
 Garland was built nearby in 1858. 
 
 The first party of gold seekers who prospected 
 Colorado within the memory of men was that of 
 the Cherokees, who are said to have looked for 
 placer gold along the Cache la Poudre, near the 
 foot of the mountains, in August, 1849. To these 
 Cherokees belongs the credit of originating the so- 
 called Green-Russell expedition that discovered 
 float gold near the site of Denver in the month of 
 July, 1858. 
 
 The first important discovery of gold was made 
 by a party of Georgians led by Russell, in July, 
 1858. They prospected Fountain creek. Cherry 
 creek, the South Platte river and other streams. 
 They obtained about $500 worth of gold dust in 
 the sands of the Platte and Dry creek, a little 
 distance south of Denver. The camp of prospectors 
 and miners that grew up near the confluence of 
 Cherry creek and the Platte was the beginning of 
 Denver. 
 
 The first discovery of silver by Americans, in 
 1860, was made in Clear Creek County. The first 
 paying silver mine was the Piquot Belmont lode on 
 Mount McClellan, discovered and opened in Sep- 
 tember, 1864, by Robert W. Steele, James Huif 
 and Robert Layton. 
 
 The first hostelry, called the "Denver House," 
 was put up early in 1859. It was constructed of 
 Cottonwood logs, and had at the start a canvas roof. 
 
 The first child claiming Denver as its native 
 place was William D. McGaa, born March 3, 
 1859. 
 
 The first stage reached Denver May 7, 1859. It 
 was a big Concord coach, drawn by a six-mule 
 team. It came from Leavenworth via Fort Riley, 
 across the heads of Beaver, Bijou and Kiowa 
 creeks. The length of the stage route then was 
 687 miles; fare $100, meals included. 
 
 The first attempt at political organization was 
 the provisional government of the "Territory of 
 Jefferson," called into being in November, 1859. 
 
 This spontaneous commonwealth had a brief exist- 
 ence, being superseded by Colorado Territory in 
 1861. 
 
 The first Governor of Colorado Territory was 
 William Gilpin, of Missouri, who was appointed by 
 President Lincoln March 22, 1861. 
 
 The first Federal census of the Territory was 
 taken in the summer of 1861, showing a population 
 of 25,331. 
 
 The first sawmill was built on Plum creek, not 
 far from Denver, by D. C. Oakes, late in the 
 spring of 1859. 
 
 The first frame house put up in Denver was 
 built for the residence of "Uncle Dick" Wooton in 
 the summer of 1859. 
 
 The first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of 
 the new Territory was Benjamin F. Hall, ap- 
 pointed March 25, 1861. 
 
 The first Superintendent of Public Instruction 
 was William J. Curtice, appointed by Governor 
 Gilpin in 1861. 
 
 The first delegate to represent Colorado in Con- 
 gress was Hiram P. Bennet. 
 
 The first session of the first legislative assem- 
 bly was held in the fall of 1861 at Denver. 
 
 The first seventeen counties of Colorado Terri- 
 tory were Arapahoe, Boulder, Clear Creek, Cone- 
 jos, Costilla, Douglas, El Paso, Fremont, Gilpin, 
 Huerfano, Jefferson, Lake, Larimer, Park, Pueblo, 
 Summit and Weld. These counties were created 
 by act of the First Territorial Legislature, ap- 
 proved Nov. 1, 1861. 
 
 The first capital was Colorado City. The Terri- 
 torial Legislature met there four days in 1862, and 
 then adjourned to Denver. 
 
 The first flag was made by the patriotic women 
 of Denver for the First Colorado regiment of volun- 
 teers, organized in 1861. 
 
 The first private school was opened by Prof. O. 
 J. Goldrick, Oct. 3, 1859, with thirteen children. 
 The pupils, two of them half-breeds, gathered in a 
 little log cabin on the west bank of Cherry creek. 
 Miss Indiana Sopris was Denver's first "school- 
 marm." 
 
 The first schoolhouse proper was a one-room 
 frame building erected at Boulder in 1860. The 
 organized public school system of Colorado had its 
 beginning in 1861. 
 
 The first meeting of the Colorado Teachers' As- 
 sociation was held in 1875. 
 
 The first school of higher learning was "Colo- 
 rado Seminary," opened in 1864. That was the 
 
 [19] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 beginning of the University of Denver. The same 
 year Loretto Academy was started. 
 
 The first school of the University of Colorado 
 was opened in Boulder, in 1875. 
 
 The first newspaper appeared at Denver, April 
 23, 1859. 
 
 The first daily was the Rocky Mountain Herald. 
 The first number was published May 13, 1860. 
 
 The first Denver theater was opened in Apollo 
 Hall, October, 1859. 
 
 The first Denver jail was a log cabin on the 
 west side of Cherry creek. It was rented by the 
 Sheriff for the purpose, and prisoners were first 
 confined in it about Jan. 1, 1862. 
 
 The first Masonic lodge was started in Denver 
 in January, 1859. 
 
 The first Mayor of Denver was Charles A. Cook. 
 The city was incorporated Nov. 18, 1861. 
 
 The first irrigation in Colorado was done by 
 David K. Wall at Golden, in 1859. 
 
 The first crop of alfalfa was raised in 1863 on 
 the ranch of Capt. Jacob Downing, who got the 
 seed from Mexico. 
 
 The first grasshopper plague was in 1864. 
 
 The first telegraph line was completed to Denver 
 April 17, 1863. 
 
 The First National bank was organized at Den- 
 ver April 17, 1865. 
 
 The first bridge over the Platte was built in 
 1865. It stood near the mouth of Cherry creek. 
 
 The first meeting of the Pioneers' Association, 
 composed only of the immigrants of 1858 and 1859, 
 was held June 22, 1866. 
 
 The first smelter was opened at Black Hawk in 
 January, 1868. 
 
 The first German colony was planted in the 
 Wet Mountain valley in 1870. 
 
 The first extensive irrigation system was con- 
 structed by the Union colonists near Greeley, be- 
 tween 1870 and 1875. 
 
 The first railroad, the Denver Pacific, was built 
 from Cheyenne to Denver, in 1870. The first train 
 of the Kansas Pacific entered the Queen City of the 
 Plains on Aug. 15, 1870. 
 
 The first rail of the Denver & Rio Grande was 
 laid July 28, 1871. 
 
 The first street car was set in motion at Denver 
 Dec. 17, 1871. Horse cars were superseded by 
 cable and trolley lines in 1888 and 1889. 
 
 The first gas works were erected at Denver in 
 1870. Electric lights were introduced in 1880. 
 
 [20] 
 
 The first notable discovery of cliflE dwellings was 
 made in 1874 by W. H. Jackson and his compan- 
 ions, of the Hayden Geological Survey. 
 
 The first election for State officers was held Oct. 
 3, 1876. 
 
 The first Governor of the Centennial state was 
 John L. Routt. 
 
 The first State Legislature met at Denver, Nov. 
 1, 1876. 
 
 The first member of Congress from Colorado was 
 James B. Bel ford. 
 
 The first Senators were Jerome B. Chaffee and 
 Henry M. Teller. 
 
 The first passenger train ascended Pike's Peak, 
 June 30, 1891. 
 
 The first specimens of the purple columbine were 
 gathered on the Divide by soldiers of Long's expe- 
 dition in July, 1820. It became the State flower 
 in 1890. 
 
 The first Colorado sugar factory was erected at 
 Grand Junction in 1899. The same year a sugar 
 factory was built at Rocky Ford. 
 
 The first Flag day was celebrated by the public 
 schools of Denver on June 14, 1894. 
 
 The first celebration of Colorado day was held 
 on Aug. 1, 1908, the thirty-second anniversary of 
 the admission of the Centennial State. 
 
 The first Catholic church in what is now Colo- 
 rado was built on the Conejos river, in 1858. The 
 first Catholic school was opened at Denver in 1863. 
 
 The first sermon preached in Denver was deliv- 
 ered by George Fisher some Sunday in the winter 
 of 1858-59. The first service conducted by Rev. 
 Jacob Adriance was held at Auraria, July 5, 1859. 
 
 The first Methodist Episcopal church in Colo- 
 rado was started at Central City in July, 1859. 
 The first church society organized by the Metho- 
 dists in Denver dates back to August, 1859; it 
 afterward became Trinity M. E. church. The first 
 service in Trinity church was held July 5, 1888. 
 
 The first Protestant Episcopal church in Colo- 
 rado was founded in Denver, Jan. 21, 1860. The 
 first rector of the congregation was Rev. J. H. 
 Kehler, of Virginia, who conducted the first service 
 on Jan. 23, 1860, in the Union school-house at 
 Cherry creek and McGaa street. 
 
 The first meeting of Jews was held in Denver on 
 a summer evening of 1860. The first synagogue 
 was built in 1873 by the society now worshiping in 
 Temple Emanuel. 
 
 The first Baptist church in Colorado was organ- 
 ized at Golden, Aug. 1, 1863; the first pastor was 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Rev. William Whitehead. The First Baptist 
 church of Denver was founded May 2, 1864. 
 
 The first meeting of Unitarians was held in Den- 
 ver, May 31, 1871; the first Unitarian church was 
 dedicated Dec. 28, 1873; the second church (the 
 new Unity church) was dedicated Sept. 4, 1889. 
 
 The first church of the Disciples of Christ was 
 started at Golden in 1872. 
 
 Colorado's Growth in Three Decades 
 
 The population of Colorado by counties, as 
 shown by the United States census of 1910, com- 
 pared with the census returns for 1890 and 1900, 
 follows : 
 
 County— 1910 
 
 Adams 8,892 
 
 Arapahoe 10,263 
 
 Archuleta 3,302 
 
 Baca 2,516 
 
 Bent 5,043 
 
 Boulder 30,330 
 
 Chaflfee 7,622 
 
 Cheyenne 3,667 
 
 Clear Creek 5,001 
 
 Conejos 11,285 
 
 Costilla 5,498 
 
 Custer 1,947 
 
 Delta 13,688 
 
 Denver 213,381 
 
 Dolores 642 
 
 Douglas 3,192 
 
 Eagle 2,985 
 
 El Paso 43,321 
 
 Elbert 5,331 
 
 Fremont 18,181 
 
 1900 
 
 1890 
 
 Increase 
 
 163,017 
 
 32,135 
 
 
 2,117 
 
 626 
 
 1,185 
 
 759 
 
 1,479 
 
 1,757 
 
 3,049 
 
 1,313 
 
 1,994 
 
 21,544 
 
 14,082 
 
 8,786 
 
 7,085 
 
 6,612 
 
 537 
 
 501 
 
 534 
 
 3,166 
 
 7,082 
 
 7,784 
 
 
 8,794 
 
 7,193 
 
 2,491 
 
 4,632 
 
 3,491 
 
 866 
 
 2,937 
 
 2,970 
 
 
 5,487 
 
 2,534 
 
 8,201 
 
 1,134 
 
 1,498 
 
 
 3,120 
 
 3,006 
 
 72 
 
 3,008 
 
 3,725 
 
 
 31,602 
 
 21,239 
 
 11,719 
 
 3,101 
 
 1,856 
 
 2,230 
 
 15,636 
 
 9,156 
 
 2,545 
 
 Garfield 10,144 
 
 Gilpin 4,131 
 
 Grand 1,862 
 
 Gunnison 5,897 
 
 Hinsdale 646 
 
 Huerfano 13,320 
 
 Jackson 1,013 
 
 Jefferson 14,231 
 
 Kiowa 2,899 
 
 Kit Carson 7,483 
 
 La Plata 10,812 
 
 Lake 10,600 
 
 Larimer 25,270 
 
 Las Animas 33,643 
 
 Lincoln 5,917 
 
 Logan 9,574 
 
 Mesa 22,197 
 
 Mineral 1,339 
 
 Montezuma 5,029 
 
 Montrose 10,291 
 
 Morgan 9,577 
 
 Otero 20,201 
 
 Ouray 3,514 
 
 Park 2,492 
 
 Phillips 3,179 
 
 Pitkin 4,566 
 
 Prowers 9,520 
 
 Pueblo 52,223 
 
 Rio Grande 6,563 
 
 Rio Blanco 2,332 
 
 Routt 7,561 
 
 Saguache ." . 4,160 
 
 San Juan 3,063 
 
 San Miguel 4,700 
 
 Sedgwick 3,061 
 
 Summit 2,003 
 
 Teller 14,351 
 
 Washington 6,002 
 
 Weld 39,177 
 
 Yuma 8,499 
 
 Totals 799,024 
 
 5,835 
 
 4,478 
 
 4,289 
 
 6,690 
 
 5,867 
 
 
 741 
 
 604 
 
 1,121 
 
 5,331 
 
 4,359 
 
 566 
 
 1,609 
 
 862 
 
 
 8,395 
 
 6,882 
 
 4,915 
 
 9,306 
 
 8,450 
 
 4,925 
 
 701 
 
 1,243 
 
 2,198 
 
 1,580 
 
 2,472 
 
 5,903 
 
 7,016 
 
 5,509 
 
 3,796 
 
 18,054 
 
 14,663 
 
 
 12,168 
 
 9,712 
 
 13,102 
 
 21,842 
 
 17,208 
 
 11,801 
 
 926 
 
 689 
 
 4,991 
 
 3,292 
 
 3,070 
 
 6,257 
 
 9,267 
 
 4,260 
 
 12,930 
 
 1,913 
 
 
 
 3,058 
 
 1,529 
 
 1,971 
 
 4,535 
 
 3,980 
 
 5,756 
 
 3,268 
 
 1,601 
 
 6,309 
 
 11,522 
 
 4,192 
 
 8,679 
 
 4,731 
 
 6,510 
 
 
 2,998 
 
 3,548 
 
 
 1,583 
 
 2,642 
 
 1,596 
 
 7,020 
 
 8,929 
 
 
 3,766 
 
 1,969 
 
 3,754 
 
 34,448 
 
 31,491 
 
 17,775 
 
 4,080 
 
 3,451 
 
 2,483 
 
 1,690 
 
 1,200 
 
 643 
 
 3,661 
 
 2,369 
 
 3,900 
 
 3,853 
 
 3,313 
 
 307 
 
 2,342 
 
 1,572 
 
 721 
 
 5,379 
 
 2,909 
 
 
 971 
 
 1,293 
 
 2,090 
 
 2,744 
 
 1,906 
 
 
 29,002 
 
 
 
 1,241 
 
 2,301 
 
 4,761 
 
 16,808 
 
 11,736 
 
 22,369 
 
 1,729 
 
 2,596 
 
 6,770 
 
 539,700 259,324 
 
 48 
 
 Agricultural Products of Colorado and Their Value in 1910, Compared With 1900 
 
 Production 1910 
 
 Sugar beets 806,000 tons 
 
 Potatoes 6,400,000 bu. 
 
 Hay 1,338,000 tons 
 
 Wheat 8,721,000 bu. 
 
 Oats , 7,898,00 bu. 
 
 Corn 2,846,000 bu. 
 
 Barley 864,000 bu. 
 
 Jiye 56,000 bu. 
 
 Beet sugar 195,100,000 lbs. 
 
 Poultry and eggs 
 
 Butter and milk 
 
 Vegetables (except hot house) 
 
 Live stock production 
 
 Grand total 
 
 •Includes "forage production." **Estimated. 
 
 Value 
 $ 4,375,000 
 3,520,000 
 14,448,400 
 7,351,220 
 3,633,080 
 1,707,600 
 518,400 
 37,520 
 8,282,500 
 2,160,771** 
 9,479,000** 
 3,000,000** 
 31,235,000 
 
 $89,748,491 
 
 Production 1900 
 
 6,656 tons 
 
 4,465,746 bu. 
 
 1,647,321 tons* 
 
 5,587,744 bu. 
 
 3,080,130 bu. 
 
 1,272,680 bu. 
 
 531,240 bu. 
 
 26,180 bu. 
 
 1,597,440 lbs.** 
 
 $ 
 
 Value 
 
 26,711 
 1,717,111 
 8,159,279* 
 2,809,370 
 1,121,745 
 508,488 
 246,510 
 13,876 
 67,891** 
 1,440,514 
 6,752,513** 
 1,131,950 
 16,077,988 
 
 Inc. in Value 
 
 $ 4,348,289 
 
 1,802,889 
 
 6,289,121 
 
 4,541,850 
 
 2,511,335 
 
 1,199,112 
 
 271,890 
 
 23,644 
 
 8,214,609 
 
 720,257 
 
 2,726,487 
 
 1,868,050 
 
 15,157,012 
 
 $40,073,945 $49,674,545 
 
 Colorado Fruit Production in 1910 
 
 Cars Value 
 
 Apples 2,536 $1,410,497 
 
 Peaches 1,136 636,527 
 
 Cantaloupes 1,179 
 
 Other fruits 372 
 
 Total 5,223 
 
 381,698 
 457,655 
 
 $2,886,397 
 [21] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Total Value of Fruit Crop 
 
 Fruit shipped $2,886,397.00 
 
 Consumed at home (estimated).. ." 577,279.40 
 
 Total fruit crop $3,463,676.40 
 
 Value of Canned Fruit 
 
 1910 OUTPUT OF COLORADO CANNING FACTORIES 
 
 Apples $31,125 
 
 Cherries ; 11,994 
 
 Other fruits 18,628 
 
 Total $61,747 
 
 Extent of Colorado's Beet Sugar 
 Industry in 1910 
 
 Tons beets paid for during 1910 806,000 
 
 Money paid farmers $ 4,375,000 
 
 Money paid for factory labor ^ 1,285,000 
 
 Money paid field labor 1,613,000 
 
 Money spent by factories for supplies 1,031,000 
 
 Sugar output in pounds 195,100,000 
 
 Men employed during campaign 4,180 
 
 Men employed during inter-campaign 525 to 1,025 
 
 Value of sugar produced $ 8,282,500 
 
 Tons of pulp produced 358,530 
 
 Acres of beets harvested 73,228 
 
 Average tonnage per acre 11 
 
 Average gross revenue per acre (including beet 
 
 tops) $64.50 
 
 (This gross revenue per acre, including beet 
 tops, ranges from $50 to $135, depending 
 upon the energy and ability of the grower, 
 the quality of the soil and the amount of 
 water.) 
 
 Average expenses per acre $35 to $40 
 
 Average net revenue per acre $24.50-29.50 
 
 Money invested in factories $18,250,000 
 
 Number of factories in the state 16 
 
 Average sugar content, 1910 15.81% 
 
 Average sugar content, 1909 14.96% 
 
 Irrigated, Irrigable, Non-Irrigable 
 and Forest Lands in Colo- 
 rado, 1910 
 
 Acres 
 
 Area of state 66,526,720 
 
 Land 66,341,120 
 
 Water 185,600 
 
 Area in national forests 15,554,115 
 
 Arable land 22,400,000 
 
 Mountainous 43,755,520 
 
 Under canals 2,894,000 
 
 Probable limit of irrigated land 4,500,000 
 
 Under canals actually irrigated 2,262,070 
 
 Area intended to be irrigated by schemes under 
 
 way 2,528,747 
 
 Already irrigated by uncompleted schemes 262,070 
 
 Principal Watersheds 
 
 Acreage irrigated by South Platte and branches. . . 900,000 
 Acreage irrigated by Arkansas and branches 525,000 
 
 [22] 
 
 Acreage irrigated by Rio Grande and branches... 450,000 
 Acreage irrigated by Grand and branches 375,000 
 
 Number and Value of Live Stock in 
 
 Colorado Jan. 1, 1911 
 
 Number 
 Range cattle.1,091,000 
 Dairy cattle. 298,000 
 
 Hogs 419,000 
 
 Sheep 1,610,000 
 
 Horses 306,000 
 
 Mules 16,300 
 
 -1911 
 
 Value 
 
 $30,548,000 
 
 10,238,000 
 
 4,261,000 
 
 3,941,000 
 
 28,236,000 
 
 1,684,000 
 
 Number 
 
 1,113,100 
 
 192,700 
 
 561,000 
 
 1,868,500 
 
 279,000 
 
 15,300 
 
 -1910- 
 
 Value 
 $30,051,000 
 7,132,000 
 5,690,000 
 5,604,000 
 25,170,000 
 1,560,000 
 
 Totals ...3,731,000 $78,908,000 4,030,000 $75,207,000 
 
 Comparative Mineral Output 
 
 1910 1909 1908 
 
 Gold .'.$20,397,888 $21,921,291 $22,312,865 
 
 Silver 4,661,684 4,796,409 5,610,845 
 
 Lead 3,365,989 2,584,570 3,079,988 
 
 Copper 1,136,304 1,640,619 258,962 
 
 Zinc 4,191,783 2,825,482 2,016,740 
 
 Totals $33,773,638 $33,768,371 $33,279,400 
 
 Miles of Railroad Operated in 
 Colorado, Jan. 1, 1911 
 
 Main Side Total 
 
 Roads — Line Track Miles 
 
 Denver & Rio Grande 1,848 600 2,448 
 
 Colorado & Southern 802 300 1,102 
 
 Union Pacific 574 195 769 
 
 Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe... 447 260 707 
 
 Burlington 400 170 570 
 
 Colorado Midland 260 80 340 
 
 Moffat Road 214 45 259 
 
 Rock Island 167 22 189 
 
 Missouri Pacific 152 38 190 
 
 Colorado & Vi^yoming 82 2 84 
 
 Cripple Creek Central 83 47 130 
 
 Great Western 56 11 67 
 
 Uintah Railway 51 2 53 
 
 Denver, Laramie & Northwestern 60 8 68 
 
 Argentine Central 16 2 18 
 
 Colorado Springs & Cripple 
 
 Creek 61 25 86 
 
 San Luis Southern 32 3 35 
 
 Joint track (Denver & Rio 
 
 Grande and Colorado & 
 
 Southern) double 20 20 40 
 
 Manitou & Pike's Peak 9 1 10 
 
 Denver, Boulder & Western.... 47 4 51 
 
 Colorado & Southeastern 6 11 17 
 
 Colorado Eastern 18 .... 18 
 
 Totals 5,405 1,846 7,251 
 
 Lines to Be Built in 1911 
 
 Union Pacific (Denver-Fort Morgan) . . .85 $ 2,550,000 
 Union Pacific (Denver-Fort Collins, via 
 
 Dent, grading completed 26 780,000 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Laramie, Hahn's Park & Pacific (grad- 
 ing progress) 57 1,500,000 
 
 Colorado & Southern (Cheyenne to Well- 
 ington) grading 30 900,000 
 
 Burlington (Hudson to Greeley) 26 780,000 
 
 Denver & Rio Grande (second main 
 track) 10 250,000 
 
 Denver & Rio Grande and C. & S. 
 
 (joint double track) 27 2,500,000 
 
 San Luis Southern 22 550,000 
 
 Denver, Laramie & Northvyestern 50 1,275,000 
 
 Total 333 $11,085,000 
 
 Early Expeditions &f Explorations 
 
 Spanish Traversed County in 1720 
 
 Probably the first time that ever Larimer county 
 was traversed by white men was in 1720, when a 
 Spanish military force crossed the county, all the 
 way from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to the Yellow- 
 stone river, and which was destroyed by the In- 
 dians. This expedition followed the base of the 
 mountains and therefore crossed the county from 
 south to north. It went in search of gold to en- 
 rich the coffers of the Spanish throne, and there 
 is evidence that mining had been extensively car- 
 ried on near the head waters of the Yellowstone. 
 Traces of iron tools, partly devoured by rust, were 
 found as late as 1874; the line of a former ditch 
 to convey water upon the bars and some other indi- 
 cations which lead to the conclusion that the 
 Spanish adventurers had gained a foothold in the 
 region, but had perished there while in the realiza- 
 tion of their dreams. 
 
 On their way northward through this county, 
 the Spaniards probably prospected for gold in the 
 streams that came out of the mountains which 
 crossed their trail, though there is no positive evi- 
 dence that they did. 
 
 Ashley's Trip in 1824 
 
 In November, 1828, Gen. William H. Ashley, 
 of St. Louis, founder of the Rocky Mountain Fur 
 Company, with a party of men ascended the South 
 Platte until he reached the mountains. He then 
 made his way north along the base of the moun- 
 tains through Larimer county and across the coun- 
 try to the Laramie Plains, thence on to Green 
 river where he went into winter quarters. The 
 late Phillip Covington, father of H. C. Covington, 
 of Laporte, and a former well-known resident of 
 this county, was a member of General Ashley's 
 party, and has often talked with the writer about 
 his experiences on the trip. 
 
 Wooten's Expedition 
 
 In the spring of 1836, Richard Wooten, with a 
 party of thirteen men left Fort Bent on the Ar- 
 
 kansas river, and proceeded northwest on a trading 
 expedition. The party had ten wagons loaded with 
 goods for the Indian trade and crossed Larimer 
 county, trading with the natives on the way, 
 finally reaching Fort Laramie. Pushing thence to 
 the Sweetwater country and then north to the 
 Wind River valley, where they spent the winter. 
 In the spring they made their way back to Fort 
 Bent. All their goods had been disposed of and 
 their wagons were loaded with furs worth many 
 thousand dollars. This was Richard Wooten's 
 first venture with a trading outfit. In after years 
 he became famous as a trader, trapper, freighter and 
 Indian fighter. He was associated with such men 
 as Kit Carson, Colonel St. Vrain, Charles Bent, 
 George Simpson, Lucien B. Maxwell, Joseph Doyle 
 and many other noted men of the mountains. In 
 later years he was known as "Uncle Dick 
 Wooten." 
 
 He finally settled on a ranch at the foot of 
 Raton mountain, where he died a few years ago. 
 
 Fremont's Second Expedition 
 
 That independent fur trappers operated on the 
 Cache la Poudre, Big Thompson and St. Vrain, and 
 their tributaries, during the early years of the nine- 
 teenth century is altogether probable, as beaver 
 abounded in those streams, and buffalo, bear, deer 
 and antelope were plentiful on the adjacent plains. 
 That these trappers had practically disappeared 
 when Fremont passed through the county on his 
 second expedition in 1843, is evident from what 
 appears in his report. 
 
 Fremont's second expedition was undertaken 
 early in the spring of 1843. Experience had taught 
 the chief of the expedition the necessity of a com- 
 plete outfit, consequently everything thought to be 
 needed was provided. Maj. Thomas Fitzpatrick 
 had been selecfed as guide. Charles Preuss was 
 again chosen as assistant topographical engineer. 
 Lucien Maxwell was engaged as hunter. Among 
 other members of his party were Theodore Talbot, 
 of Washington, D. C. ; Frederick Dwight, of 
 
 [23] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Springfield, Massachusetts, who was on his way to 
 the Sandwich Islands; William Gilpin, of Mis- 
 souri, who afterwards became the first Territorial 
 Governor of Colorado, journeyed with Fremont to 
 Oregon. The men who enlisted in the enterprise 
 were largely chosen from the members of the first 
 expedition. They were Alexis Ayot, Francis 
 Badeau, Oliver Beaulien, Baptiste Bernier, John A. 
 Campbell, John G. Campbell, Manuel Chapman, 
 Raisoni Clark, Philibert Courteau, Michel Crelis, 
 William Creuss, Clinton De Forest, Baptiste De- 
 rosier, Basil Lajeunesse, Francis Lajeunesse, Henry 
 Lee, Louis Menard, Louis Montreil, Samuel Neal, 
 Alexis Pera, Francis Fera, James Power, Raphael 
 Proue, Oscar Sarpy, Baptiste Tabeau, Charles Tap- 
 lin, Baptiste Tesson, Auguste Vasquez, Joseph 
 Venot, Patrick White, Tiery Wright, Louis Zindel 
 and Jacob Dodson. The party was armed with 
 Hall's carbines and also a twelve-pound brass 
 howitzer. The camp equipage, provisions and in- 
 struments were carried in twelve carts, drawn by 
 two mules each. It left Kansas City on the 29th of 
 May. On arriving at a place called Big Timber, 
 the force was divided. Leaving twenty-five men in 
 charge of Major Fitzpatrick to follow on with the 
 heavy baggage, Fremont took fifteen men, the 
 mountain howitzer, the cart containing the instru- 
 ments, and pushed forward, reaching the South 
 Platte on June 30th, and followed up the stream to 
 St. Vrain's fort, which point he reached on the 4th 
 of July. On the 6th, the journey up the Platte was 
 continued ; in a day or two later camp was made 
 on the site of the city of Denver. Fremont ex- 
 tended his explorations as far south as Pueblo, 
 where he met Kit Carson, who had been with him 
 on his expedition the year before. This noted 
 frontiersman and guide was added to the command. 
 The party soon after retraced its steps to Fort St. 
 Vrain, arriving there on the 23 rd of July, where 
 was found the detachment under Fitzpatrick await- 
 ing them. On the 26th the party was again divided, 
 Fremont taking thirteen men for his own company 
 and Fitzpatrick the remainder with instructions to 
 proceed by way of Fort Laramie, North Platte, 
 Sweetwater and South Pass to Fort Hall and there 
 await the detachment under the personal charge of 
 the explorer. Before leaving St. Vrain, Fremont 
 made the following comment in his report, regard- 
 ing the country over which he expected to travel 
 and the object of his explorations from St. Vrain 
 west : 
 
 "I had been able to obtain no certain information 
 in regard to the character of the passes in this por- 
 
 [24] 
 
 tion of the Rocky Mountain range, which had 
 always been represented as impracticable for car- 
 riages, but the exploration of which was incident- 
 ally contemplated by my instructions, with the view 
 of finding some convenient points of passage for the 
 road of emigration, which would enable it to reach, 
 on a more direct line, the usual ford of the Great 
 Colorado, a place considered as determined by the 
 nature of the country beyond that river. It is 
 singular, that immediately at the foot of the moun- 
 tains, I could find no one sufficiently acquainted 
 with them to guide us to the plains at their western 
 base; but the race of trappers who formerly lived 
 in their recesses has almost entirely disappeared, 
 dwindled to a few scattered individuals, some one 
 or two of whom are regularly killed in the course 
 of the year by the Indians. You will remember 
 that in the previous year, I brought with me to 
 their village near this post, and hospitably treated 
 on the way, several Cheyenne Indians, whom I had 
 met on the lower Platte. Shortly after their ar- 
 rival here, they were out with a party of Indians 
 (themselves the principal men) which discovered a 
 few trappers in the neighboring mountains, whom 
 they immediately murdered, although one of them 
 had been nearly thirty years in the country, and 
 was perfectly well known, as he had grown gray 
 among them. 
 
 "Through this portion of the mountains, also, 
 are the customary roads of the war parties going 
 out against the Utah and Shoshone Indians, and 
 occasionally parties from the Crow natives make 
 their way down to the southward along the chain, 
 in the expectation of surprising some straggling 
 lodge of their enemies. Shortly before our arrival, 
 one of these parties had attacked an Arapahoe vil- 
 lage in the vicinity, which they found unexpectedly 
 strong, and their assault was turned into a rapid 
 flight and a hot pursuit in which they had been 
 compelled to abandon the animals they had ridden, 
 and escape on their war horses. Into this uncertain 
 and dangerous region, small parties of three or four 
 trappers who now could collect together, rarely 
 ventured, and consequently it was seldom visited 
 and little known. Having determined to try the 
 passage through a spur of the mountains made by 
 the Cache la Poudre river which rises in the high 
 bed of mountains around Long's Peak, I thought it 
 desirable to avoid any incumbrances which would 
 occasion detention." 
 
 On the afternoon of July 26th, Fremont resumed 
 his journey, the route taking him through Larimer 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 county from the southeast corner almost to the 
 northwest corner. 
 
 "A French engagee, at Lupton's fort, had been 
 shot in the back on the 4th of July, and died dur- 
 ing our absence to the Arkansas. The wife of the 
 murdered man, an Indian woman of the Snake 
 nation, desirous, like Naomi of old, to return to her 
 people, requested and obtained permission to travel 
 with my party to the neighborhood of Bear river, 
 where she expected to meet with some of their 
 villages. Happier than the Jewish widow, she car- 
 ried with her two children, pretty little half- 
 breeds, who added much to the liveliness of the 
 camp. Her baggage was carried on five or six pack 
 horses, and I gave her a small tent for which I no 
 longer had any use, as I had procured a lodge at 
 the fort." 
 
 For his own party, Fremont had selected the fol- 
 lowing men, a number of whom old associations 
 rendered agreeable to him: Charles Preuss, Chris- 
 topher Carson, Basil Lajeunesse, Francis Badeau, 
 J. B. Bernier, Louis Menard, Raphael Proue, 
 Jacob Dodson, Louis Zindell, Harry Lee, J. B. 
 Dirosier, Francis Lajeunesse, and Auguste Vasquez. 
 
 After giving the latitude of St. Vrain fort as 40 
 degrees, 16 minutes, 33 seconds, its longitude as 
 105 degrees, 12 minutes, 23 seconds, and its altitude 
 at 4,930 feet, Fremont continues: "At the end of 
 two days, which was allowed to my animals for 
 necessary repose, all the arrangements had been 
 completed, and on the afternoon of July 26th, we 
 resumed our respective routes. Some little trouble 
 was experienced in crossing the Platte, the waters 
 of which were still kept up by rains and melting 
 snow, and having traveled only about four miles, 
 we encamped in the evening on Thompson's creek, 
 where we were very much disturbed by mosquitoes." 
 (This camp was about where the present town of 
 Milliken is.) From this point it is difficult to trace 
 the route followed by the description given, but 
 from the map accompanying the report on which 
 the route is marked, it appears that the party fol- 
 lowed up the Big Thompson to about the present 
 city of Loveland, thence across the divide to the 
 Cache la Poudre river, fording that stream July 
 28th, a short distance above the mouth of Boxelder 
 creek; thence along the north bank of the river to 
 the canon where they went into camp for noon. 
 The map indicates that they penetrated the canon 
 to the mouth of the North Fork, up which they as- 
 cended to its canon. Being unable to get through 
 the canon, they made a detour to the east, return- 
 ing to the river at a point near the Halligan dam, 
 
 where they went into camp. The next day they 
 followed up the North Fork, coming out on 
 Boulder ridge, where they got their first glimpse of 
 the Laramie plains, camping that night at a spring 
 of cold water near the summit of the divide. The 
 following day they crossed Sand Creek pass and 
 dropped down on to the Laramie river at about 
 Gleneyre, where they camped for the night. From 
 this point they followed the trend of the Medi- 
 cine Bow mountains to the North Platte, which 
 they forded and then turned north to intersect the 
 overland emigrant trail along the Sweetwater river. 
 There is a tradition to the effect that Fremont 
 and his party entered North Park on this expedition 
 and discovered and named Independence mount- 
 ain, but both the map and the report are silent on 
 this point, from which we conclude the tradition is 
 founded on a myth. There is also a tradition that 
 Fremont sent an exploring party up through the 
 canon of the Cache la Poudre to what is now 
 known as Cameron pass and that they returned and 
 reported the route impracticable. Some color is 
 lent to the truth of the tradition by the finding in 
 1885, by John Zimmerman under a big pine tree in 
 his own yard, of a steel case-knife bearing the letters 
 U. S. A. stamped on the blade. The knife is sup- 
 posed to have been lost by Fremont's men when 
 they camped under the tree. The story is hardly 
 credible, however, as at no time after Fremont left 
 St. Vrain did he stop long enough on the road for 
 men to make the trip to Cameron pass and back. 
 His report shows that he kept moving every day 
 from the time he left St. Vrain until he reached the 
 North Platte. Thirteen years after Captain Fre- 
 mont had completed the exploration covered by this 
 expedition, he was nominated, in 1856, as the first 
 candidate of the newly organized Republican party 
 for the office of President of the United States, but 
 was defeated at the election in November of that 
 year by James Buchanan. He was called the 
 "Great Pathfinder" in the campaign of that year. 
 
 Mormons Passed Through Larimer 
 County 
 
 A part of the Mormon battalion of 1846, pur- 
 suing their way to Salt Lake, spent the winter of 
 1846-7 in Pueblo. They are said to have been the 
 first American families in Colorado, In the spring 
 and summer of 1847 they continued their journey 
 to Salt Lake, coming north from Pueblo and pass- 
 ing through this county, entering the mountains 
 west of Laporte. There were thirty-four married 
 
 [25] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 women and between sixty and seventy children in 
 the detachment, besides some ten or dozen single 
 men. They followed the Cherokee trail through 
 Virginia Dale, and thence on to the Laramie Plains 
 and to Salt Lake, via Fort Bridger. The first 
 white child born in Colorado was Malinda Cath- 
 erine Kelley, and she was born at Pueblo in Novem- 
 ber, 1846, her parents being Mormons. 
 
 Marcy's Expedition 
 
 In 1857 President Buchanan appointed A. Cum- 
 ming Governor of Utah to succeed Brigham 
 Young, who had held that office, and also made 
 some changes in other Territorial offices. Governor 
 Young refused to vacate his office or to recognize 
 the President's appointments, whereupon a military 
 force was dispatched to Utah to seat the newly 
 appointed officials and to enforce the laws of the 
 United States. The command of the expedition 
 was given to Brigadier General Harney, but he 
 being detained by the political trouble in Kansas, 
 Colonel E. B. Alexander of the Tenth Infantry 
 went out in command. The troops started west by 
 the North Platte route over the Overland trail, 
 passing South pass and reaching Henry's fork of 
 Green river, thirty miles east of Fort Bridger, then 
 going into camp to await instructions from Wash- 
 ington. In November, Gen. Albert Sidney John- 
 ston arrived and took command, having been sub- 
 situated for General Harney. The greater part of 
 the supplies for General Johnston's force was cap- 
 tured and destroyed on Green river and on the Big 
 Sandy by the Mormons and the command had to 
 be placed on short rations. Captain R. B. Marcy 
 was at once dispatched across the mountains to Fort 
 Massachusetts, New Mexico, to obtain supplies. It 
 was a terrible trip in dead of winter and there was 
 much suffering among the men on the journey. 
 Jim Baker, the noted frontiersman, who died in 
 1898, accompanied Captain Marcy, and that officer 
 testified that he rendered valuable service as assist- 
 ant guide and interpreter, saying that if it had not 
 been for Jim Baker his little company would never 
 have been able to reach its destination. Captain 
 Marcy's command proceeded from Fort Bridger to 
 the foot of the mountains between Green and Grand 
 rivers, up a canon to the top of the range to Grand 
 river, near the mouth of the Uncompahgre, up 
 Eagle river to Cochetopa pass, and to Fort Massa- 
 chusetts, where he obtained what was required. 
 The return journey was not undertaken until' the 
 following June, the party being obliged by the 
 
 [26] 
 
 severity of the winter to go into camp in the pine 
 woods on Squirrel creek. Here he lost several men 
 and a large number of sheep by the cold and snow 
 encountered. In June, 1858, as soon as the grass 
 became good enough to sustain the lives of his ani- 
 mals, including several thousand sheep, Captain 
 Marcy started to rejoin his command, following the 
 Cherokee trail from his winter camp through La- 
 porte to the Laramie plains and thence on by way 
 of South Pass to General Johnston's encampment at 
 Fort Bridger. Captain Marcy's expedition, all 
 things considered, is one of the most remarkable 
 known to the Rocky Mountain region, and his suc- 
 cess is proof of the courage and endurance of the 
 men connected with it. 
 
 A Trip Up the Poudre in 1852 
 
 In July, 1907, the venerable J. R. Todd, a for- 
 mer resident of Fort Collins, but now living in 
 Iowa, related the following story describing his ex- 
 periences while crossing the continent in 1852, to 
 Judge Jefferson McAnelly, to whom I am indebted 
 for the privilege of using the greater part of it in 
 this volume. In the story as told by Mr. Todd, 
 he said the Cache la Poudre river had not been 
 named in 1852. In this he was mistaken. The 
 stream received its name in 1836, and the name 
 originated from an incident similar to the one de- 
 scribed by Mr. Todd. The name Cache la Poudre 
 appeared in print in public reports and documents 
 fifteen or more years before Mr. Todd traversed 
 the banks of the stream, and I have, therefore, 
 eliminated so much of the story as relates to that 
 matter, for the reason that it is incorrect. Mr. 
 Todd's story follows: 
 
 "Doubtless, the trip up the Cache la Poudre val- 
 ley by George Pinkerton and others in the year 
 1852, will be interesting to the present citizens of 
 Larimer county, as well as to others elsewhere. 
 The waters of the river were as clear as crystal all 
 the way down to its confluence with the Platte. Its 
 banks were fringed with timber not as large as now, 
 consisting of cottonwood, boxelder, and some wil- 
 low. 
 
 Its waters were full of trout of the speckled or 
 mountain variety. The undulating bluffs sloped 
 gently to the valley which was carpeted with the 
 most luxuriant grasses. It was in June, the mildest 
 and most beautiful part of the summer in the west- 
 ern country, when the days were pleasant, the nights 
 cool and mornings crisp and bracing. The sky was 
 scarcely ever obscured by clouds, and its vaulted 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 blue, golden tinted in the morning and evening, was 
 like a dream of beauty. Not an ax had marred the 
 symmetry of the groves of trees that lined the 
 banks. Not a plow, or spade, or hoe had ever 
 broken its virgin soil. Wild flowers of the richest 
 hue beautified the landscape, while above all towered 
 the majestic Rocky Mountains to the westward of 
 the valley, like the grim sentinels they are, ever 
 watching, watching and noting this advancing van- 
 guard of civilization. 
 
 "We, of the present day, call it the beautiful val- 
 ley, and it is so, with its fine farms, its green fields, 
 its growing cities, towns and villages and its beau- 
 tiful homes, but with all the touches of this civiliza- 
 tion, it is no more beautiful now, it never can ap- 
 pear as beautiful to anyone as it appeared to this 
 band of young adventurers on the June mornings in 
 1852, clothed in that garb that Nature placed 
 there. 
 
 "In the spring of 1852, George Pinkerton, Valen- 
 tine Hartsock, Thomas Gates, and J. R. Todd 
 organized a party of young men and emigrants in 
 the State of Iowa, which had for its objective point 
 the new formed Territory of Oregon, on the Pacific 
 coast. The party was organized in Sigourney, 
 Iowa, and started on the journey on April 12th, 
 1852. 
 
 "They went from Sigourney to Council Bluffs, 
 Iowa, which was then the extreme frontier of the 
 white settlement. It was at that time a trading 
 point, and had water communication with St. 
 Louis, by boat, and contained at the time about 
 1,000 inhabitants. Here the United States troops 
 ordered them to remain until a sufficient number 
 of other emigrants arrived to make the party strong 
 enough to be safe from Indian attack in crossing the 
 Plains. They were held at Council Bluffs until the 
 wagons numbered fifty, and the emigrants numbered 
 about 300. They were organized into companies, 
 and properly officered, and were then permitted to 
 cross the Missouri river, into what was then known 
 as the Great American Desert. 
 
 "At that time there were no settlements between 
 the Missouri river and the Rocky Mountain region, 
 excepting the military post at Fort Leavenworth, in 
 the vicinity of which a few squatters had settled. 
 The party crossed the Missouri river on a ferry- 
 boat owned by the Mormons, at a little town to 
 the northwest of Council Bluffs called Gainesville. 
 They struck out from the point of the crossing to 
 the westward, and in three days' travel arrived on 
 the banks of the Platte river. They traveled along 
 the north side of this river until they came to the 
 
 confluence of the North and South forks of the 
 stream. 
 
 "Here the old trail followed the North fork of 
 the river, and wound its way far to the northward, 
 through the Black Hills, and back again southward 
 to the Devil's Gate on the Sweetwater river. 
 
 "At the forks of the Platte a portion of the emi- 
 grants suggested that they follow the South Platte 
 river and see if a shorter route could not be found, 
 over which to reach the Lamarie Plains and Sweet- 
 water, but the majority of them argued that it 
 would be safer for them and their women and chil- 
 dren to follow the old route rather than leave it for 
 a new and untried one. George Pinkerton, who 
 had been over the old trail before, was so fixed in his 
 opinion that a shorter route could be found, that he 
 induced seventy-four men of the caravan to join him 
 and start in search of such route. 
 
 "They crossed the North Platte and followed 
 along the north side of the South Platte, until they 
 came to the mouth of the Cache la Poudre river. 
 They traveled along the valley of this river until 
 they struck the foothills somewhere near the present 
 site of Laporte. They crossed the Poudre river 
 here and passed through a beautiful glade, un- 
 named then, but now known as Pleasant Valley. 
 
 "Still onward they traveled to the northward of 
 the present site of the town of Bellvue, crossed the 
 Poudre river again and went on northward 
 through a long glade, until they came to the first 
 canon south of what is now known as Owl canon, 
 leading into the second glade, and went up through 
 that glade, finally coming to what is now known as 
 the Livermore country, skirting Stonewall creek 
 on the right bank and arriving at what is now called 
 Dale creek, on the evening of the 3rd of July, 1852, 
 where they camped for the night and held a Fourth 
 of July celebration the next day. 
 
 "In coming up the South Platte river they struck 
 the mouth of the Cache la Poudre river at noon, and 
 on the evening of the first day's travel on that river 
 they camped. Game was plentiful, herds of buffalo 
 were seen upon the plains, as well as deer, elk and 
 antelope. 
 
 "To the travelers the Poudre valley appeared to 
 be the hunters' paradise. Trout were caught then 
 along the Poudre river from its mouth to the foot- 
 hills, and the small streams in the mountains were 
 alive with them. 
 
 "As stated, they camped on its banks. Many 
 times during that day they had observed a band of 
 Indians at some distance on the bluffs, and some- 
 times following them in the rear. That night they 
 
 [27] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 took extra precautions against a possible attack. 
 They posted an extra guard of twenty men around 
 their cattle and still an extra guard about their cor- 
 ral. They were not molested during the night, but 
 early in the morning the Indians charged in two 
 separate bands. One band charged the guards look- 
 ing after the cattle, and the other charged the 
 wagons, yelling and screeching like deamons and 
 beating dried deer-skins and rattling deer-hoofs and 
 bones to stampede the stock. They came out near 
 the corral before they were checked by the rifles of 
 the emigrants. They were all armed with bows and 
 arrows and had a few old shotguns which they 
 doubtless obtained from the Hudson Bay Company. 
 These pea-guns did not amount to anything, as the 
 Indians were met by the bullets of the emigrants 
 long before they came near enough to do any execu- 
 tion with the shotguns. The fight lasted about ten 
 minutes, when the Indians retreated. It was 
 noticed that they carried off some of their dead. 
 The whites lost one man killed outright, and one 
 man mortally wounded, who died on the road, and 
 was buried in the vicinity of the present site of La- 
 porte, and two others were wounded, who recovered. 
 
 "After the Indians had left, some of the men 
 went out and counted twenty-seven of their dead 
 and wounded, who were left where they fell. 
 
 "The remainder of the trip to Virginia Dale was 
 uneventful. On what is now called Dale creek, 
 near the site of the present home of our former 
 County Commissioner, T. B. Bishopp, where they 
 arrived on the evening of the third day, they cele- 
 brated the Fourth of July in good old western 
 style. There was a large flat rock near their camp 
 upon which they held their exercises. They had 
 several flags with them which they raised on poles. 
 A fellow by the name of A. C. Dodge, who was 
 something of a historian and debater, and who had 
 brought some books with him, in one of which was 
 the Declaration of Independence, read it and made 
 quite a speech. They had a ten-gallon keg of 
 whiskey, which they opened during the exercises, 
 and of course did it full justice, and in the even- 
 ing on the green sod had what they called a 
 stag dance. They had four fiddles, and as many 
 violinists, and it is said by one of the party, 
 who now survives, that they had a splendid time. 
 After they had danced to their hearts' content, 
 they 'turned in,' as it was then called, and went 
 to sleep soon, but when they woke up in the morn- 
 ing they found that a band of Indians had run off 
 some of their horses. They immediately organ- 
 ized a party and started in pursuit. They followed 
 
 [28] 
 
 the trail of the Indians nearly all day and came 
 upon their camp late in the afternoon. The Indians 
 having traveled all night and part of the day were 
 found asleep. Firing on them and killing three, 
 they succeeded in recapturing the horses. They re- 
 turned with them to camp and on the next day 
 started on their journey, traveling northwesterly, 
 arriving at a point near the foot of Sheep mountain, 
 where they struck the Laramie plains. Shortly 
 after they came out on the plains they were joined 
 by a band of Cherokee Indians who were on their 
 way from the Indian Territory to Oregon. These 
 Indians told them that a few days before, a party of 
 what they thought to be Ute Indians had run off 
 a large band of their horses." 
 
 It is stated that the valley along the Poudre river 
 afforded the finest kind of pasturage, as well as did 
 the glades in the mountains. At that time it was a 
 difficult matter to travel through the foothills, as 
 well as in the mountains. 
 
 The banks of the rivers and creeks were grown 
 up with a dense underbrush, which had to be cut 
 away. Their course lay over the mountains whose 
 grades were so steep .that it became necessary in 
 descending them, in some places, to tie a rope to 
 the hind axle of the wagons and to wind it about 
 a nearby tree and then play out the rope as the 
 wagon descended. And in ascending, the moun- 
 tains in places were so steep that it became neces- 
 sary to hitch on ten yoke of oxen to one wagon to 
 get it up the mountain. They traveled on the side 
 of the mountain where it was so steep that it was 
 necessary for four or five men to hold to ropes at- 
 tached to the upper side of the wagon-box to keep 
 it from tipping over. 
 
 The party traveled without further incident until 
 they came again to the Oregon trail, at Devil's 
 Gate on the Sweetwater river. 
 
 Greeley's Journey Through Larimer 
 County 
 
 From Horace Greeley's "Overland Journey to 
 California in 1859," is here reproduced so much of 
 his narrative as treats of his trip from Denver to 
 Fort Laramie, made in June of that year. The 
 story is of absorbing interest as it depicts in well- 
 chosen terms the trials and tribulations of a traveler 
 through this section of Colorado in the early days 
 when there were but few settlers in the wilderness 
 and these scattered wide apart. 
 
 At the time Mr. Greeley passed through La- 
 porte, where there was a small beginning of a set- 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 dement, there was not another house, barn or shed 
 in the county save a cabin at the crossing of the 
 Big Thompson, a few miles west of the present 
 city of Loveland. At Laporte there were a few 
 French Canadian trappers, all of the remainder of 
 the county, with the exception noted, being unin- 
 habited by white men. Indians with their tepees 
 there were, but no white men had yet come to the 
 county with the intention of settling and establish- 
 ing homes for themselves in the wilderness. 
 
 Thousands of white men, some with families, 
 had years before passed through the county from 
 east to west and from north to south, either going 
 further west or returning to their former Eastern 
 homes, but they had no "stop overs," and rushed 
 onward leaving the fertile valleys of the Cache la 
 Poudre river and the Big and Little Thompson 
 creeks untouched except by footsteps. 
 
 Mr. Greeley was the first white man to traverse 
 the county who left any record of his experiences 
 and impressions gained en route. He left Denver 
 at 3 :00 o'clock on Tuesday afternoon, June 21st, 
 1859, in an ambulance wagon drawn by four mules, 
 bound for Fort Laramie, where he expected to in- 
 tercept and take passage in the Overland stage for 
 California. Mr. Greeley does not say who ac- 
 companied him on this part of his journey, but it is 
 inferred that he had three companions. The first 
 night out tftey camped at "Boulder City, a log ham- 
 let of some thirty inhabitants." From this on the 
 story is told as he tells it in his book : 
 
 "Here ('Boulder City') we found four wagons, 
 two of them with horse teams, each conveying the 
 luggage of four or five men, who having taken a 
 look at these gold regions, had decided to push on 
 for California, most of them, I believe, through 
 what is known as the Cherokee trail, which forms 
 part of the shortest practicable route from Denver 
 to Salt Lake. I was strongly tempted at Denver to 
 join one of these parties, and go through this pass; 
 had I stood firmly on both feet, I think I should 
 have done it, saving distance though losing time. 
 We all camped for the night beside a small brook, 
 the rippling of whose waters over its pebbly bed 
 fell soothingly on the drowsy ear. I had the wagon 
 to myself for a bed chamber, while my three com- 
 panions spread their buffalo skins and blankets on 
 the grass and had the vault of heaven for their 
 ceiling. The night was cool and breezy, our mules 
 were picketed on the grass at a short distance, our 
 supper of fried pork and pilot bread had satisfied 
 us, and we slept quietly till the first dawn of day, 
 when our mules were quickly harnessed and we left 
 
 our fellow campers torpid, pushing on fifteen miles 
 and crossing two deep, swift, steep banked creeks 
 (St. Vrain's fork and a branch of the Thompson 
 creek) before stopping for feed and breakfast. 
 After two hours' rest we harnessed up and made 
 twenty-one miles more before stopping at the cross- 
 ing of the outer fork of Thompson's creek, for 
 dinner. Here we found a caravan moving from 
 Missouri to California, which reminded me of the 
 days of Abraham and Lot. It comprised six or 
 seven heavy wagons, mainly drawn by oxen, with a 
 light traveling carriage and a pair of horses convey- 
 ing the patriarch's family, some two or three hun- 
 dred head of cows, steers and young cattle, with 
 three or four young men on horseback driving and 
 keeping the herd. Girls were milking, women 
 cooking or washing, children playing, in short, here 
 was the material for a very fair settlement, or quite 
 an imposing Kansas City. While we were snooz- 
 ing, they hitched up and moved on before us, but we 
 very soon overtook and passed them. 
 
 "Pushing on steadily over a reasonably level 
 country, though crossed by many deep and steep- 
 banked dry gullies, and perhaps one petty living 
 stream, we stood at 5 :00 P. M. on the south bank 
 of Cache la Poudre, seventy miles from Denver, 
 and by far the most formidable stream between the 
 South Platte and the Laramie. Our conductor was 
 as brave as mountaineers need be, but he was wary 
 as well, and had seen so many people drowned in 
 fording such streams , especially the Green river 
 branch of the Colorado, on which he spent a year 
 or two, that he chose to feel his way carefully. So 
 he waited and observed for an hour or more, mean- 
 time sending word to an old French mountaineer 
 friend from Utah, who had pitched his tent here, 
 that help was wanted. There had been a ferryboat 
 at this crossing till two nights before, when it went 
 down stream, and had not since been heard of. A 
 horseman we met some miles below assured us that 
 there was no crossing, but this we found a mistake, 
 two men mounted on strong horses crossing safely 
 before our eyes, and two heavy laden ox wagons 
 succeeding them in doing the same. 
 
 "One of them stuck in the stream and the oxen 
 had to be taken off and driven out, being unable to 
 pull it while themselves were half buried in the 
 swift current. But these crossings were made from 
 the other side where the entrance was better and 
 current rather favored the passage. The ox wagons 
 were held to the bottom by the weight of their 
 loads, while our 'ambulance' was light and likely to 
 be swept down stream. At length our French 
 
 [29] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 friend appeared mounted on a powerful horse, with 
 an Indian attendant on another such. He advised 
 us to stay where we were for the night, promising 
 to come in the morning with a heavy ox team and 
 help us over. As this, however, involved a loss of 
 at least ten miles on our next day's drive, our con- 
 ductor resolved to make the attempt now. So the 
 Frenchman on his strong horse took one of our lead 
 mules by the halter and the Indian took the other 
 and we went in, barely escaping an upset from going 
 down the steep bank, obliquely, and thus throwing 
 one side of our wagon much above the other, but 
 we righted in a moment and went through, the 
 water being at least three feet deep for about a 
 hundred yards, the bottom broken by boulders, and 
 the current very swift. We camped as soon as 
 fairly over, lit a fire, and having obtained a quarter 
 of antelope from our French friend, proceeded to 
 prepare and discuss a very satisfactory meal. Table, 
 of course, there was none, and unluckily we had 
 lost our forks, but we still had two knives, a suf- 
 ficiency of tin cups and plates, with an abundance of 
 pork and pilot bread, and an old rag for table- 
 cloth which had evidently seen hard service, and had 
 gathered more dirt and blood in the course of it 
 than a table-cloth actually needs. But the antelope 
 ham was fresh, fat and tender, and it must have 
 weighed less by three pounds when that supper was 
 ended than when its preparation was commenced. 
 
 "Cache la Poudre seems to be the center of the 
 antelope country. There are no settlements, save a 
 small beginning just at the ford, as yet hardly three 
 months old, between Denver, seventy miles on one 
 side, and Fort Laramie, one hundred and thirty, on 
 the other. The North Platte and the Laramie, both 
 head in the mountains, forty to eighty miles due 
 west of this point, thence pursuing a generally 
 north course for more than one hundred miles 
 among the hills, which are here lower and less steep 
 than further south. The bold, high, regular front 
 displayed by the Rocky Mountains for at least a 
 hundred (and, I believe, for two hundred) miles 
 south of the Cache la Poudre, hence gradually 
 melt away into a succession of softer, rounder, 
 lower hills; snow disappears; the line between the 
 mountains and the plains no longer straight and 
 sharply defined, and the still waters of the Plains 
 have for some miles an alkaline appearance, besides 
 being very scarce in summer. The Cherokee trail 
 plunges into the mountains on the north side of and 
 very near to Cache la Poudre, and henceforth we 
 overtake no emigrants moving westward, none of 
 any sort, but meet a few wagons making for 
 
 [30] 
 
 Boulder City or the Gregory diggings. Since we 
 crossed Clear creek, on which there is on this trail 
 a decent fringe of cottonwood, we had seen but the 
 merest shred of small cottonwoods and some scrub 
 willow at wide intervals along the larger water 
 courses; but the pine still sparsely covered the face 
 of the Rocky Mountains. Cache la Poudre has 
 quite a fair belt of cottonwood, thenceforth there is 
 scarcely a cord of wood to a township for the next 
 fifty or sixty miles, and the pine is no longer visible 
 on the hills near us, because they expose little but 
 rock, and hence are swept by the annual fires. The 
 high prairie on either side is thinly, poorly grassed, 
 being of moderate fertility at best, often full of 
 pebbles of the average size of a goose-egg, and ap- 
 parently doomed to sterility by drouth. This 
 region, though inferior in soil, and less smooth in 
 surface is not dissimilar in its topography to Lom- 
 bardy, and like it will in time be subjected to 
 systematic irrigation, should the Rocky Mountain 
 gold mines prove rich and extensive. Some of the 
 streams crossed by our road might easily be so 
 dammed at their egress from the mountains as to 
 irrigate miles in width to the South Platte, forty or 
 fifty miles distant, and at the price which vegetables 
 must always command here should the gold mines 
 prove inexhaustible, the enterprise would pay well. 
 I was told at Cache la Poudre that encouraging 
 signs of gold had been obtained in the stream, 
 though it had only begun to be prospected. 
 
 "We were up and away betimes, still over thinly 
 grassed, badly watered prairie, rather level in its 
 general outlines, but badly cut by steep-banked 
 water courses now dry. We drove fifteen miles and 
 stopped for breakfast on a feeble tributary of Cache 
 la Poudre, named Boxelder, for a small tree which 
 I first observed here and which is poorer stufF, if 
 possible, than cottonwood. This is the only tribu- 
 tary which joins the Cache la Poudre below its 
 egress from the mountains. All the streams of this 
 region are largest where they emerge from the 
 mountains, unless reinforced below by other 
 streams having a like origin, the thirsty prairie con- 
 tributes nothing, but begins to drink them up from 
 the time they strike it. The smaller streams are 
 thus entirely absorbed in the course of five or ten 
 miles, unless they happen sooner to be lost in some 
 larger creek. Drouth, throughout each summer, is 
 the inexorable and destroying tyrant of the Plains." 
 
 Here we leave Mr. Greeley and his party to pur- 
 sue their journey to Fort Laramie, at which point 
 they arrived three days later. If Horace Greeley 
 could be restored to life and privileged to journey 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 LARIMER 
 
 COUNTY 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 across the continent in these days, he would note 
 that a great change had taken place in the appear- 
 ance of the country he traveled over in an ambu- 
 lance from Denver to Boxelder creek, fifty-one 
 years ago. Instead of wild, dreary and uninhabited 
 plains, he would pass through a thickly settled 
 country all the way, along fine farms and farm 
 houses, well cultivated and highly productive fields, 
 orchards laden with fruit and luxuriant gardens 
 burdened with choice vegetables and through towns 
 and cities teeming with activity, all brought about 
 through the systematic use of and intelligent appli- 
 cation of water to the land. Instead of plodding 
 along in a rickety, uncomfortable ambulance, drawn 
 by mules, making twenty or thirty miles a day over 
 rough roads and fording flooded streams, he would 
 be whirled through the country in luxurious Pull- 
 man cars which cover more miles in an hour than 
 the mules leave behind in a long day's drive. Yes, 
 conditions in Colorado have changed, wonderfully 
 changed, since June, 1859. 
 
 Trapping on the Cache La Poudte 
 in 1849 and 1850 
 
 In 1900, Capt. William T. Drannan published a 
 book, entitled "Thirty-One Years on the Plains and 
 in the Mountains," in which he recounts his experi- 
 ences and adventures as a hunter, trapper, Indian 
 fighter and scout. According to his narrative he fell 
 in with Kit Carson at St. Louis when fifteen years 
 of age and remained with the noted hunter, trapper, 
 guide and scout until he was twenty-one years old. 
 He called Carson "Uncle Kit," and relates many 
 marvelous tales of thrilling adventures on the plains 
 and in the mountains. In the winter of 1849-50, 
 Carson established several trapping posts on the 
 headwaters of the Cache la Poudre and placed 
 young Drannan, then nineteen years old, in charge 
 of a party of trappers. In chapter five of his book. 
 Captain Drannan relates the story of his experiences 
 and adventures that winter, the major portion of 
 which is herewith reproduced in his own words : 
 
 "Uncle Kit, having made quite a sum of money, 
 concluded that he would take over to the head- 
 waters of the Cache la Poudre, to look for a new 
 field where he could trap the coming winter on a 
 large scale, and wanted John West and I to accom- 
 pany him, which we did. Each taking a saddle and 
 one pack animal, we started on the trip, taking a 
 new route to Uncle Kit, as well as to Johnnie and 
 myself. Carson took the lead, for, like a deer, he 
 could find his way anywhere he wished to go. 
 
 "We crossed the Arkansas above Bent's fort, and 
 from there we traveled along the foothills of the 
 Rocky Mountains, striking the South Platte at the 
 mouth of Cherry creek, which is now the center of 
 Denver, Colorado. Here we met Mountain Phil — 
 of whom you will hear more in this narrative. He 
 was living in a wickiup and had a squaw for a wife. 
 Uncle Kit and I, being acquainted with him, 
 stopped and had a chat with him while our horses 
 were feeding. Uncle Kit asked what he intended to 
 do the coming winter, and he replied : 
 
 " 'I will trap for you if you like, but you will 
 have to furnish me an outfit, for I have none of my 
 own.' 
 
 " 'AH right, Phil,' said Carson, 'I will give you a 
 job, but you will have to stop alone, for none of my 
 men will live with you.' 
 
 " 'All right,' said Phil, 'me and Klooch will be 
 enough to stop in one cabin, anyway.' 
 
 "These things being understood, we rode off, 
 Mountain Phil agreeing to meet us at Taos about 
 two months from that time. After we rode away, 
 I asked Uncle Kit why no one would live with 
 Mountain Phil. His reply was: 'Phil is a very 
 bad man, and I have yet to hear the first man speak 
 a good word for him.' 
 
 "Late that afternoon we saw a band of Indians — 
 ten in number — coming toward us, and when near 
 them we saw that they were Arapahoes, and Gray 
 Eagle, the chief, was with them. Uncle Kit being 
 well acquainted, all shook hands, and the chief in- 
 sisted on our going to their camp and staying all 
 night with them. Uncle Kit, knowing the nature 
 of the Indians, and knowing that Gray Eagle 
 would take it as an insult if we should refuse to 
 visit him, turned about and went home with him. 
 He sent two of his men ahead to the village, and 
 we were met by about five hundred warriors with 
 all the women and children of the village. Just at 
 the outer edge of the village we were honored with 
 what they considered a great reception. Gray Eagle 
 took us to his own wickiup, his men taking charge 
 of our horses and packs. I had learned to speak the 
 Arapahoe language fairly well and could under- 
 stand anything they said. When supper time came. 
 Gray Eagle came to Uncle Kit and said: 'I have a 
 great feast for you ; my men have killed a very fat 
 dog; supper is ready; come in and eat.' 
 
 "I remarked to Uncle Kit as we were going to 
 supper, that I was very glad we came with Gray 
 Eagle, for it had been a long time since I had had 
 a good meal of dog. Supper being over, the chief 
 got his pipe and selected six men from his tribe and 
 
 [31] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 we had a peace smoke, and he and Uncle Kit talked 
 nearly all night. During their conversation that 
 night he said that Mountain Phil was a very bad 
 man, and that he would often steal their horses and 
 sell them to the Comanches. 
 
 "Next morning after breakfast our horses were 
 brought in, saddled up, and we were off on our 
 journey again to Cache la Poudre. 
 
 "It might be of interest to our readers to know 
 how this stream acquired its name. There was a 
 Frenchman by the name of Virees Robidoux camped 
 on the stream spoken of, with a little squad of men ; 
 they were attacked by a band of Indians, and the 
 first word uttered by Robidoux was 'Cache la 
 Poudre,' which means, in English, 'hide the pow- 
 der,' and from that time on the stream has been so 
 called. 
 
 "We arrived at our proposed trapping field and, 
 after looking over the country, we found plenty of 
 beaver signs along the streams and game in abund- 
 ance, and Uncle Kit decided there was room enough 
 for four camps. We returned by the way of Bent's 
 fort, as Uncle Kit wished to employ the best men 
 he could get to trap for him the coming winter. On 
 our way to the fort, which was four hundred miles 
 from the proposed trapping ground. Uncle Kit told 
 me that he would have to leave me in charge the 
 coming winter, as he was going to the City of Mex- 
 ico on business, but said that he would come out 
 and get the camps established and return to Taos 
 with the horses before going there. 
 
 "We found plenty of men at Bent's fort, and, as 
 usual, they were all broke, having squandered the 
 money earned the winter before for whiskey and in 
 card playing. Uncle Kit had no trouble in getting 
 all the men he wanted, but had to furnish them 
 with traps and provisions — which took considerable 
 money — he to have half the furs caught by each of 
 them. Everything being understood, we returned to 
 Taos, the men agreeing to meet us there two weeks 
 later. They were all on hand at the appointed 
 time, but there being a large party to outfit, it took 
 some weeks to make preparations for the trip, there 
 being eleven in the crowd. It was about the last of 
 October when we arrived at the trapping ground 
 ready to begin work. 
 
 "We had good success trapping that winter, until 
 about the first of January, when we had an un- 
 usually heavy fall of snow in the mountains, which 
 drove all the game to the low lands, nothing being 
 left that was fit for m.eat except a few mountain 
 sheep, and the snow made it very inconvenient get- 
 ting around to attend the traps. In the latter part 
 
 [32] 
 
 of February I asked Charlie Jones one day to go 
 down to Mountain Phil's camp and see if there was 
 anything that he wanted, as we had kept all the 
 extra supplies at our camp. Mountain Phil and his 
 Klooch — that being the name he called his squaw, 
 which is alfo the Arapahoe name for wife — were 
 staying alone about ten miles further down the 
 country from where we were located. On Charlie 
 Jones' return, he said : 'It seems that Mountain 
 Phil has been faring better than any of us, for he 
 has been able to kill his meat at camp, thereby sav- 
 ing him the trouble of having to go out and hunt 
 for it.' Johnnie and I did not understand what he 
 meant by this. So, after hesitating a moment, Jones 
 said : 'Boys, if I should tell you what I know about 
 Mountain Phil, you would not believe it, but as 
 sure as you live he has killed his squaw and eaten 
 most of her, and he has left his camp.' 
 
 "We insisted that he must be mistaken, but he 
 declared that he was not, saying he had seen the 
 bones in the cabin, and further investigation de- 
 veloped the fact that he had beyond any doubt 
 killed and eaten his Indian wife. From that time 
 on, "Mountain Phil went by the name of the Ameri- 
 can Cannibal until his death, which was — if my 
 memory serves me right — in 1863 or 1864, at Vir- 
 ginia City, Montana. 
 
 "It was in the month of April that Uncle Kit 
 came in with a pack train for the furs, the snowfall 
 having been so heavy that he could not get in earlier. 
 Our catch had been light, as we had more snow that 
 winter than has been known before or since in the 
 history of that country. Uncle Kit was, however, 
 very well satisfied with our work, with the excep- 
 tion of Mountain Phil, whom he had furnished for 
 the winter, and who had not caught a beaver. We 
 soon had our traps and furs together, loaded up and 
 were on our way to New Mexico. The third day 
 about noon we reached the Cache la Poudre cross- 
 ing, where we again ran on to the American Can- 
 nibal. We stopped here to let our horses feed and 
 partake of refreshments ourselves. Uncle Kit, after 
 giving Mountain Phil a lecture for his past conduct, 
 said : 'Phil, if ever you and I are out together in 
 the mountains and run short of provisions, I will 
 shoot you down as I would a wolf, before you get 
 hungry.' Phil asked him why he would do so, and 
 Carson replied: 'Because I wouldn't take the 
 chance of being killed and eaten up by a cannibal 
 like you.' 
 
 "It might be well to give a brief description of 
 this cannibal. He was a large, raw-boned man, who 
 would weigh about two hundred and fifty pounds, 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 LARIMER COUNTY 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 though he was not fleshy. He always wore his hair 
 long and never combed it, also wore his beard long 
 and never sheared or combed that. His hair grew 
 down on his forehead almost to his eyes. In fact, 
 he looked more like an animal than a human being. 
 
 "Three days' travel brought us to South Platte, 
 where we crossed the river and made camp on a lit- 
 tle stream called Sand creek. From here we pro- 
 ceeded on our way to Santa Fe, which took us 
 twelve days. Furs being still higher this year, not- 
 withstanding our small catch. Uncle Kit did fairly 
 well out of his winter trapping on the Cache la 
 Poudre." 
 Crossing the Plains in the Early Sixties 
 
 The following description of a trip across the 
 Plains in 1862 was read by Mrs. Walter D. W. 
 Taft at the annual banquet of the Fort Collins' 
 Pioneer Association in 1910: 
 
 "Railroad and steamboat travel ended at the Mis- 
 souri river points — chiefly St. Joseph, Mo. ; Fort 
 Leavenworth and Atchison, Kan., and at Council 
 Bluffs and Omaha, farther north. 
 
 "From these points the travelers going to 'Pike's 
 Peak' were obliged to depend upon vehicles of some 
 sort for their further progress. There were three 
 ways to choose from — by stage coach, ox team and 
 horse or mule team. The stages were Concord 
 coaches, hung on thoroughbraces, which were two 
 huge straps made of leather and fixed to a frame- 
 work, one on each side upon which the body of the 
 coach was fastened. By them all jolting was pre- 
 vented and in going over rough places gave a rock- 
 ing motion — ^which made folks who were inclined 
 that way thoroughly seasick — but for most people 
 was an easy and pleasant motion. 
 
 "The time was six days from Atchison to Denver 
 — about seven hundred miles — traveling day and 
 night. They carried the mail. On the inside was 
 room for nine passengers. The fare was $75 to 
 Denver until the Indian troubles began, then it 
 was $175. The baggage limit was twenty-five 
 pounds, besides which the traveler, for his own 
 comfort, took a pair of blankets or a buffalo robe 
 and a supply of good things to eat (and sometimes 
 to drink). 
 
 "The coaches were drawn by four horses which 
 were changed every ten or twelve miles at 
 'swing stations.' They stopped at the 'home sta- 
 tions' for meals, which cost $1.50. The menu was 
 decided upon by the stage company and consisted of 
 bread, meat, beans, dried apples, coffee and the 
 'four seasons.' Sometimes there were potatoes 
 and, as I remember, canned milk, though I am not 
 
 sure. I know they did not always have fresh milk. 
 The quality of the meal depended upon the cook. 
 A good cook's reputation as such was known for 
 miles. Our Mrs. Taylor was famous far up and 
 down the line for her neat and attractive dining- 
 room and her excellent table, at which was served 
 various kinds of bread, coffee made to perfection 
 and the variety of things she knew what to do with 
 beans and dried apples. 
 
 "There were three seats in the coaches and room 
 for three people on each seat. Lucky, indeed, was 
 the passenger who secured a corner on the back seat. 
 If one did not mind riding backwards, the next most 
 desirable places were the two corners on the front 
 seat. The use of the middle seat was optional, 
 unless there were more than six passengers aboard. 
 The back of this seat was a broad strap of very 
 thick leather and could be removed. It was a case 
 of first come, first served ; the seat you engaged was 
 yours, and woe betide the poor mortal who must 
 take the middle of the middle seat and stay there 
 sitting bolt upright for six days and nights? At 
 best it was a hard ride and was used by nabobs and 
 business men who were pressed for time. 
 
 "Of the other two modes of crossing the Plains, 
 each had its advantages. Mere travelers, those who 
 were not interested in freighting, only wanted to 
 cross, took passage in a mule or horse train, as bet- 
 ter time could be made. It generally took thirty 
 days to come from St. Joseph, Mo., to Denver, for 
 coming west the wagons were loaded. You paid 
 any price you could agree upon with the owner, 
 from $30 up, and during the Indian troubles as 
 high as $85, including board. Families moving out 
 West came with their own wagons, driving the kind 
 of team that suited them best. Travel by ox team 
 was slower but cheaper ; they could live upon grass. 
 Horses must have grain, which was expensive to 
 buy, and when carried lessened the amount of 
 freight. Six weeks was the time necessary for an 
 ox team to make the trip. They traveled about 
 two miles an hour, and were used by heavy freight- 
 ers, as they could haul more cheaply. 
 
 "At first, until the Indian troubles began in '64, 
 all wagons were driven independently. After that 
 all wagons were stopped by the U. S. military at 
 Fort Kearney coming west, and at Camp Ward- 
 well (now Fort Morgan) going east, until there 
 was a number of armed men considered sufficient 
 for their own protection ; then they were allowed to 
 proceed. At first a dozen men were considered 
 enough, but later the number was increased to fifty 
 and more until after a while the people grew afraid 
 
 [33] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 and liked to travel in large companies. I have 
 knowrn of two such companies meeting, one com- 
 ing west and the other going east, that were an 
 hour and a half in passing. These companies were 
 composed of several trains, as the wagons belong- 
 ing to one freighter were called, and many single 
 wagons; each train had a wagon boss, and from 
 among the wagon bosses one was chosen to be a sort 
 of captain of the entire company. 
 
 "It was interesting when the day's drive was 
 ended to see such a company go into camp. Each 
 train pulled out of line and went to the place chosen 
 by the boss to corral. The single wagons were ap- 
 pointed places with them by the captain. Each 
 wagon boss stood in the center of his selected 
 ground and motioned his drivers into place until a 
 ring was formed of wagons with only a narrow 
 opening in one place. The horses and mules after 
 being watered were tied to the wheels on the inside 
 of the ring. The oxen were turned out to grass. 
 Camp fires were built in the center; some got sup- 
 per, others made the beds while the teams were be- 
 ing taken care of. The drivers of the ox teams took 
 turns in night herding their cattle. 
 
 "After supper was a time for social enjoyment 
 around the camp-fire. Such a journey was by no 
 means lacking in pleasure. You saw all sorts of 
 people. Every woman was shown the respect due a 
 queen; a girl received homage fit for a goddess — 
 anything was hers for the accepting. I know, for I 
 was there. 
 
 "The air was clear, the stars shone brighter than 
 I ever saw them any other place. The road was a 
 broad, beautiful driveway, a hundred feet or more 
 in width; for miles it was level as a house floor. 
 Traveling by wagon was far pleasanter than travel- 
 ing by coach. You knew j'ou were to be a long 
 time on the road and you soon ceased to be in any 
 hurry; you were at home whenever night come. 
 
 "Then when the journey was done you felt as 
 though your occupation was gone and a pleasant 
 epoch was ended." 
 
 Crossing the Plains in 1862 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. John G. Coy crossed the Plains in 
 1862, arriving at their present home, three-quarters 
 of a mile east of Fort Collins, in August of that 
 year. They were married just before starting for 
 the West and this was their wedding trip. In the 
 following story of their trip, its incidents and hap- 
 penings, read at the annual banquet of the Fort Col- 
 lins' Pioneer Association on Feb. 4th, 1909, Mrs. 
 
 [34] 
 
 Coy tells how they traveled and of their experiences 
 on the way: 
 
 "We started from Cuba, Missouri, bound for 
 California, the 23rd day of May, 1862, with three 
 yoke of oxen and a horse. Some of the oxen were 
 young and not well broken, so the first thing we had 
 to learn was how to catch and yoke them. When 
 we camped, they were turned out to graze and when 
 we wanted them we found they would not let us go 
 up to them to put on the yoke, so we took a long 
 rope, tied one end to the wagon wheel or a tree and 
 made a slip noose in the other and laid it on the 
 ground with some corn in the loop. When an ox 
 came up to get the corn one of us gave the rope a 
 quick pull and caught him by the foot; he was then 
 tied to the wagon while we put on the yoke; there 
 was often a good deal of difficulty in getting the 
 two oxen beside each other to yoke them together, 
 but in time they learned what was expected of them 
 and we had no more trouble. We made about 
 eight miles the first day, when we camped near a 
 small stream and turned the oxen out to graze, 
 built our camp-fire and got our first meal. 
 
 "We traveled along for several days without any- 
 thing unusual happening until just before we 
 reached the Kansas line. One afternoon we were 
 crossing, or trying to cross, a muddy stream, the 
 bridge having been burned, when the oxen in the 
 lead refused to pull and turned around, while the 
 wagon kept settling in the mud until they could not 
 pull it out; so there we were. After a while a man 
 came along on horseback and began inquiring about 
 the war and about the soldiers. Mr. Coy was very 
 much worried and tired and I think not in a very 
 good humor and did not answer him very politely, 
 so when he started away he said we should hear 
 from him again. We were still sticking in the mud 
 when some of Uncle Sam's soldiers came along and 
 helped us out, and we went on our way rejoicing. 
 However, we had only gone about two or three 
 miles when two men came out of the bushes and 
 halted us and said, 'The captain sent us after that 
 gun.' We had a small shotgun hanging in front 
 of the wagon inside the bows. Mr. Coy said, 'That 
 is nothing but a little shotgun.' The man said, 
 'Let me see it,' and there was nothing to do but to 
 give it to him; then he said, 'Hand out that re- 
 volver.' When we told him we hadn't one, he 
 said, 'I will search the wagon and if I find one, I 
 will kill you.' He began pulling over things in the 
 wagon, when his companion, who had not gotten 
 off his horse, said: 'Come along! I don't think 
 they have one,' so they rode ofif. By the way, the 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 one who did the talking was the man who had 
 called on us when we were in the mud and we sus- 
 pected they were afraid the soldiers were coming. 
 We went a few miles further and camped near a 
 house ; there were a good many people around there 
 and some of them seemed to be stirring all night ; 
 we did not sleep much and the next day we got over 
 into Kansas and I thought we were much safer. 
 We frequently heard of the guerillas or bush- 
 whackers killing someone near where we were 
 camped, but none of them ever molested us. 
 
 "The weather was warm and we made better 
 time. When we came to a place where we could get 
 wood we put some in the wagon under the bed. 
 We did not need much except when we baked 
 bread. I used to start the bread at noon and cover 
 it over closely and by camping time it would be 
 ready to put in the Dutch oven. It was made with 
 the home-made yeast cakes and was always good. 
 Soon after coming into Kansas we passed a farm 
 where we traded the horse and saddle for two cows. 
 We had been traveling alone, expecting to overtake 
 a wagon train which had left about a week ahead of 
 us. After leaving Atchison we made about twenty- 
 five miles a day and expected to overtake the train in 
 about two days more. We reached Kearney one 
 evening after dark and made camp for the night; 
 the cattle were very tired and all lay down by the 
 wagon. In the morning, three oxen and a cow were 
 gone. Mr. Coy went out to hunt for them and I 
 stayed by the wagon all that day and night. At 
 noon the next day, Mr. Coy came back without 
 having seen anything of the missing stock. We 
 yoked up the three oxen and one cow that were left 
 and went back two or three miles and camped beside 
 the river. We spent ten days looking for the lost 
 cattle, but neither saw nor heard anything of them. 
 While waiting here I saw many west-bound trav- 
 elers pass by, among them a family which had sev- 
 eral wagons and were taking all their household 
 effects to Central City, Colorado, to start a dairy. 
 The wagon in which the mother and children rode 
 was drawn by fourteen cows, this being the easiest 
 way to get the cows across the Plains. 
 
 "Having lost half of our teams and being delayed 
 so long we concluded that it was too late to go on 
 to California and decided to go to Denver and 
 spend the winter. We were obliged to make our 
 milch cow do the work of one ox. When we 
 reached Cottonwood we found four parties camped 
 there. I recognized them as some of the people who 
 had passed while I was waiting by the river. Hav- 
 ing been delayed so long that it was impossible to 
 
 overtake the people we had hoped to, we were 
 delighted to fall in with this party. In one wagon 
 were Mr. Andrew Ames, his mother and two sis- 
 ters; Mr. Sidney Stone and Miss Fritz. In the 
 second were Mr. Platte, Joshua and Orvand Ames 
 and Mr. Lon Rhodes, while Mr. Crane and family 
 made up the third party and the two Snodderly 
 brothers the fourth. Mr. Andrew Ames had been 
 in Colorado and started a home and was now 
 bringing his mother and sisters out. Miss Fritz, 
 who had been finishing her schooling in South Bend, 
 Indiana, was coming to join her family, who were 
 already located here. We all stayed at Cottonwood 
 a few days and while the men went out and gath- 
 ered wood to take along, the women all did their 
 family washings. The weather was very warm by 
 this time so we started early in the morning and 
 took long noonings, stopping about sundown in the 
 evening. It was usually dark before we got our 
 suppers and many a mosquito lost his life by falling 
 into our frying pans. 
 
 "When we reached Fremont's Orchard the sand 
 was so deep it was necessary to double up the teams 
 and take part of the loads across, then go back and 
 get the rest. We got up before daylight and 
 started at once so that we could get over the sand 
 before the sun got too hot. The women all walked 
 and everybody was nearly famished before we got 
 our breakfast at ten or eleven o'clock. 
 
 "We crossed the Platte at Latham, below where 
 Greeley now is. Here we again had to double up 
 the teams to pull through. The water was so deep 
 it came into the wagon boxes; the bedding was all 
 piled into one wagon which was higher than the 
 others, and everything that water would hurt was 
 put up on boxes. The women climbed upon boxes 
 and bedding and rode across, but the men had to 
 wade waist deep through the water to guide the 
 oxen and keep them straight. Without crossing 
 the river, Mr. Crane and family went on to Denver, 
 but having been persuaded to come on with the 
 Ames family and spend the winter here, we came 
 on up the river with the rest of the train and came 
 to the Cache la Poudre about 4 o'clock in the after- 
 noon. We made our last night's camp on a high 
 bluff near the present site of Greeley. Looking 
 down from this bank we could see the water of the 
 Poudre as clear as crystal. Helen Ames, who was 
 a young girl at that time, was very much disap- 
 pointed because she could not see any trout in the 
 water. 
 
 "Leaving this place in the morning we reached 
 the Fritz place, afterward Judge Howes' place, 
 
 [35] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 about four o'clock in the afternoon on the first day 
 of August. This was on Saturday and we all 
 camped near the house. On Monday we moved 
 into a little log cabin which stood across the road, 
 but which we afterward moved onto the land which 
 we took up. 
 
 "Taken all together, we had a good time crossing 
 the Plains and with the exception of the scare given 
 us by the bushwhacker and the loss of our teams, 
 we had no trouble on the way. We passed two or 
 three camps of Indians, but they were all peaceable 
 and we were never molested by them." 
 
 How Pioneers and Freighters Trav- 
 eled Across the Plains 
 
 In May, 1865, Hon. Schuyler Colfax, Speaker 
 of the National House of Representatives, who was 
 elected Vice-President in 1868 on the ticket with 
 General Grant, Lieutenant Governor Bross of Illi- 
 nois and senior editor of the Chicago Tribune, 
 Samuel Bowles, the talented editor of the Spring- 
 field (Massachusetts) Republican, and Albert D. 
 Richardson of the New York Tribune, left Atchi- 
 son, Kansas, in Ben HoUoday's Overland stage for 
 a trip across the continent. Their route took them 
 from Atchison to Julesburg, thence up the South 
 Platte to Denver, where, in the mining regions to 
 the west of that city, they remained several days, 
 investigating the mining possibilities of Colorado. 
 From there they journeyed north, crossing the Big 
 Thompson at Washburn's station, thence across the 
 country to the Sherwood Ranch on the Cache la 
 Poudre and from there up the river to Laporte, 
 where the stream was forded, and then on north to 
 Park Station, which was then the gateway to the 
 mountains on this route. In a series of interesting 
 letters to his newspaper, Mr. Bowles graphically de- 
 scribes the experiences of the party on the trip, and 
 these letters were afterwards published in book 
 form under the caption of "Across the Continent." 
 In one of these letters Mr. Bowles tells how the 
 emigrants and freighters traveled across the Plains; 
 of the perils that beset them on all sides, and the 
 hardships they endured on that long, wearisome 
 journey of 600 miles from the Missouri river to the 
 mountains. It must be remembered that this was 
 six years after the great stream of travel set in from 
 the East to the Pike's Peak region, but the descrip- 
 tion vividly illustrates the methods employed in 
 making the journey from the earliest date, in strik- 
 ing contrast with the experiences of the westward 
 traveler after the railroads were built. He says: 
 
 [36] 
 
 "One great feature in the constant landscape was 
 the long trains of wagons and carts with their 
 teams of mules and oxen, passing to and fro on the 
 road, going in empty, coming out laden with corn 
 for man and beast; with machinery for the mining 
 regions, with clothing, food and luxuries for the 
 accumulating population of Colorado, Utah and 
 Montana, and all intermediate settlements. The 
 wagons were covered with white cloth, each drawn 
 by four or six pairs of mules or oxen, and the trains 
 of them stretched frequently from one-quarter to 
 one-third of a mile each. As they wound along in 
 the distance, they reminded me of the caravans de- 
 scribed in the Bible and other ancient books. 
 Turned out of the road on the green prairie for 
 afternoon rest or night's repose, the wagons drawn 
 around in a circle, as a barricade against Indians, or 
 protection against storm, and the animals turned 
 loose to feed and wander over the surrounding 
 prairie for a mile — like cattle upon a thousand hills ; 
 at night their camp fires burning; — in any portion 
 or under any aspect, they presented a picture most 
 unique and impressive, indeed, summoning many a 
 memory of Oriental methods. The mule trains made 
 from fifteen to twenty miles a day; and the oxen 
 about twelve or fifteen. They depended entirely 
 upon the grass of the Plains for food as they went 
 along; and indeed the animals grew stronger and 
 fatter as they moved on in their campaigns of work, 
 coming out of their winter rest poor and scrawny 
 and going back into it in the fall fat and hearty." 
 
 It was thus, that before the Union Pacific rail- 
 road was built, all emigrants and merchandise 
 moved from the East into the great new West, and 
 it was thus the pioneers, who first settled in valleys 
 of Larimer county, covered the long, dreary stretches 
 of the trackless Plains in search of homes in the wil- 
 derness. 
 
 Mr. Bowles' Second Visit to 
 Colorado 
 
 In 1868, Mr. Bowles, editor of the Springfield 
 (Massachusetts) Republican, again accompanied 
 by Hon. Schuyler Colfax and Hon. William 
 Bross, Lieutenant Governor of Illinois, made a sec- 
 ond trip across the continent to the Pacific coast, 
 this time by rail from Omaha to Cheyenne, over 
 the just completed Union Pacific railroad to the 
 latter point, thence by stage to Denver, passing 
 through Laporte, Fort Collins and the Big Thomp- 
 son valley, en route. From Denver the party, 
 augmented by the addition of Governor A. C. Hunt 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 and Dr. W. R. Thomas, then an attache of the 
 Rocky Mountain News, but now the popular and 
 well-equipped Professor of History and Irrigation 
 Law at the Colorado State Agricultural College, 
 made the circuit of Middle and South parks, trav- 
 eled on horseback with pack animals, and camped 
 out much of the time where night overtook them. 
 They visited Golden, Black Hawk, Central City, 
 Nevada, Idaho Springs, Georgetown, in the valley 
 of Clear creek, and various other mining camps in 
 Colorado, interesting mention being made of each 
 in Mr. Bowles' book "Our New West," published 
 in 1869. On this trip Mr. Bowles made a careful 
 survey of the agricultural possibilities of Colorado, 
 and predicted a great future for the farming and 
 stock growing industries of the State, which time 
 has since fully justified. In summing up his ob- 
 servation on these points he said : 
 
 "But inexhaustible as is Colorado's mineral 
 wealth, progressive as henceforth its development, 
 predominating and extensive as its mountains; high 
 even as are its valleys and plains, in spite of all 
 seeming possibilities and rivalries, agriculture is 
 already and is destined always to be its dominant 
 interest. Hence my faith in its prosperity and its 
 influence among the central states of the continent. 
 For agriculture is the basis of wealth, of culture, of 
 morality; it is the conservative element of all 
 national and political and social growth. Full one- 
 third of the territorial extent of Colorado, though 
 this third average as high as Mount Washington, 
 is fit, more, rich for agricultural purposes. The 
 grains, the vegetables and fruits of the temperate 
 zone grow and ripen in profusion, and through 
 most of it, cattle, horses and sheep live and fatten 
 the year around without housing or feeding." 
 
 After speaking of the need of irrigation to get 
 the best results, he gives a rough estimate of the 
 agricultural wealth of Colorado for 1867 as fol- 
 lows: "A million bushels of corn, half a million of 
 wheat, half a million of barley, oats and vegetables, 
 fifty thousand head of cattle and seventy-five thou- 
 sand to one hundred thousand sheep. The increase 
 in 1868 was at least fifty per cent; in the northern 
 counties at least one hundred. Indeed, the agricul- 
 ture of the northern counties, between Cheyenne 
 and Denver, which has grown to be full half of 
 that of the state, is the development almost en- 
 tirely of the last three years. The soil yields won- 
 derfully, north and south. * * * But hardly a be- 
 ginning has been made in the occupation of the 
 arable lands of the valleys and plains. The Cache 
 la Poudre, the first branch of the Platte below 
 
 Cheyenne, has two hundred thousand acres of till- 
 able land, only five thousand of which are as yet 
 cultivated. Its oat crop in 1868 averaged forty- 
 eight and one-half bushels to the acre, and its cows 
 paid for themselves in butter in that single year." 
 
 The figures included in Mr. Bowles' estimate of 
 the agricultural productions of Colorado in 1867, 
 were furnished by Dr. W. R. Thomas, who had very 
 carefully compiled them from results of his own 
 personal observation while covering the Territory 
 as the traveling correspondent of the Rocky Moun- 
 tain News. 
 
 That Mr. Bowles possessed the spirit of 
 prophecy when he predicted in 1867 that agricul- 
 ture in Colorado is destined to be the dominant in- 
 terest is shown by comparing the figures he gives 
 of the agricultural products of the entire Territory 
 for that year, with the products of the farms and 
 orchards of Larimer, one of the northern counties 
 alluded to, in 1909, forty-two years later, as com- 
 piled by the Fort Collins Courier. They were: 
 Wheat 575,000 bushels, oats 325,000, barley 
 255,000, sugar beets 350,000 tons. Value of fruit 
 crop $300,q0,0, value of alfalfa crop $200,000; the 
 total value of all crops, including native hay, onions, 
 potatoes and other vegetables, being $3,500,000. 
 As additional evidence of the growth and prosperity 
 of the county, it may here be stated that its popu- 
 lation has increased from about 500 in 1867 to 
 nearly, if not quite, 25,000 in 1909, and that its 
 banks, on January 1st, 1910, held deposits aggre- 
 gating a total of $3,448,965.58. 
 
 Trip of Union Pacific Engineers 
 
 In the fall of 1866 a party of Union Pacific 
 engineers, accompanied by directors of the Union 
 Pacific Railroad company, visited Colorado for the 
 purpose of examining the different routes which had 
 been proposed for the road through the passes of 
 the Rocky Mountains. Col. Silas Seymour, con- 
 sulting engineer, was a member of the party, and in 
 a very interesting little volume, entitled "Incidents 
 of a Trip Through the Great Platte Valley to the 
 Rocky Mountains and Laramie Plains," published 
 by him in 1867, we find a good deal of local in- 
 terest. After examining Berthoud and Boulder 
 passes, the party left Denver on the afternoon of 
 September 22, by Holloday's Overland stage to con- 
 duct further explorations in the Black Hills north 
 and west of Laporte. Concerning this trip. Colonel 
 Seymour says: 
 
 [37] 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 "We reached Laporte, a distance of sixty-seven 
 miles by stage road from Denver, at daybreak on 
 Sunday morning, and found most comfortable 
 quarters at the stage station kept by Mf. W. S. 
 Taylor, and were joined in the evening by General 
 G. W. Dodge, chief engineer, and Mr. James A. 
 Evans, division engineer of the Union Pacific rail- 
 road. 
 
 "We are now about to enter in real earnest upon 
 the rough and adventurous features of our excur- 
 sion. General Dodge commenced our education 
 by intimating in the most gentle manner that we 
 would be expected to feed, water and clean our 
 saddle-horse during the trip. Our host at the 
 station also informed us that he had no sleeping 
 accommodations for us, and that we had better look 
 around for lodgings. 
 
 "In view of such an emergency, Mr. Williams 
 and myself had fortunately provided ourselves with 
 plenty of buffalo skins, blankets and pouches. We 
 therefore intimated to the landlord that one of us 
 would occupy the lounge in the corner of the din- 
 ing-room, and the other would sleep on the floor 
 near the stove. Upon this, the cook, a buxom mid- 
 dle-aged woman, with a sucking child, called out 
 from the kitchen, in not very gentle tones, that 
 "that lounge was her bed." Mr. Chamberlin, an 
 enterprising merchant in the vicinity, here came to 
 our relief and kindly offered us the use of the floor 
 in the back room of his log store, which we were 
 glad to accept. 
 
 "The following day we spent in making prepara- 
 tions for our intended reconnaissance on horseback 
 of the Black Hills and Laramie Plains. An easy- 
 going black saddle-horse was procured of Mr. 
 Chamberlin for the use of Mr. Williams. A chest- 
 nut mare, procured by General Dodge from Fort 
 Collins, was allotted to me. He had previously 
 selected a fine roan from the same place for him- 
 self, and Mr. Evans adhered to a large black mule 
 which he had been riding for some days previously. 
 He very kindly offered this mule to Mr. Evans, 
 with the quiet remark, however, that he was apt to 
 buck once in a while, which meant, as he after- 
 wards explained, that he would occasionally stick 
 his head down between his forelegs, kick up behind 
 and throw his rider off over his head. Mr. Wil- 
 liams, who had some experience with mules on our 
 trip to Berthoud pass, very promptly declined the 
 offer. 
 
 "Hon. Green Clay Smith, Governor of Mon- 
 tana, breakfasted with us as he was passing through 
 
 [38] 
 
 with his suite, by stage, on his way to the scene of 
 his future labors. 
 
 "On Tuesday morning, September 25th, our 
 party, consisting of Mr. Williams, General Dodge, 
 Mr. Evans and myself, started from Laporte, fully 
 mounted and equipped as cavalry, and armed to the 
 teeth with breech-loading carbines dangling from 
 our saddles, and revolvers buckled around our 
 waists, accompanied by a supply wagon in charge of 
 Mr. McLain, one of Mr. Evans' assistants, in 
 which were our bedding and such supplies as we 
 would likely want on our trip. Our course lay up 
 the valley of the Cache la Poudre a few miles, and 
 then we turned more northerly and followed up the 
 valley of one of its tributaries, which again led us 
 into the valleys of the Pitchfork, Stonewall, Poison 
 and Dale creeks. To the right of us, toward the 
 Plains, were what time had suffered to remain of 
 the rough, jagged crests of the secondary forma- 
 tions as they had rested from the great upheaval of 
 their portion of the earth's surface, when, during 
 some former age. Old Vulcan had undoubtedly 
 fallen asleep and allowed the subterranean fire, 
 which he used in forging those immense iron 
 wedges and other machinery with which he keeps 
 the Universe in equilibrium, to attain too great a 
 degree of heat. 
 
 "To the left of us were the higher and more im- 
 perishable debris of these same formations, blanked 
 in the distance by the snow-clad summits of the 
 primeval rocks, which have for so many centuries 
 withstood the combined attacks of time and the ele- 
 ments. The objects of more immediate interest, 
 however, were the Stonewall canon with its perpen- 
 dicular walls of rock several hundred feet in height, 
 and the Steamboat Buttes, which from a distance 
 presents to view all the characteristics of a steam- 
 boat, with upper cabins, chimney, pilot-house, etc., 
 the passer-by pausing unconsciously to hear the bell 
 ring and the familiar cry of 'all aboard' before it 
 shall start away. 
 
 "Our wagon, having followed the traveled road 
 which we were compelled in a great measure to 
 avoid, had obtained some distance the start of us, 
 and we did not overtake it until about 2 :00 P. M. 
 Having been in the saddle at least six consecutive 
 hours, we were very glad to dismount, and, after 
 unsaddling, watering and picketing our horses and 
 extending ourselves upon the grass in the shade of 
 the wagon, partook of a lunch which our commis- 
 sary had made ready for us, after which a ride of 
 three hours brought us to Virginia Dale, one of the 
 stations of the Overland Stage Company." 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Our explorers passed the first night out from 
 Laporte at Virginia Dale, which Colonel Seymour 
 describes as "a most beautiful amphitheatre, sur- 
 rounded by mountains, with Dale creek running 
 through the center, and is near the boundary line 
 between Colorado and Dakota." The next day 
 they followed up Dale creek to Antelope pass, 
 where they obtained the first view of Laramie 
 plains, "extending as far to the Northward as the 
 eye could reach, bounded on the east by the Black 
 Hills and on the west by the much higher range 
 of the Medicine Bow Mountains, which form the 
 easterly side of the North Park." That night was 
 spent at Fort Saunders, built to take the place of 
 Fort Halleck and Camp Collins. On Friday, 
 September 28th, the party started eastward, diverg- 
 ing near Willow Springs station in a more north- 
 erly direction, crossing the Black Hills at Evans' 
 pass, and going into camp for the night on Dale 
 creek. The next night they camped on Lone Tree 
 creek, and on Sunday afternoon they went into 
 camp on Boxelder creek near what is now known 
 as the Bristol ranch after a lunch in the middle of 
 the day at Jack Springs. On Monday, the 30th, 
 they reached Laporte, where they spent the night, 
 Mrs. Taylor serving them an excellent supper of 
 antelope steak and other fixings. On the evening 
 of October 1st, Colonel Seymour and Mr. Wil- 
 liams took the stage for Denver, going thence east 
 in the Overland stage to Fort Kearney, where they 
 boarded a special train on the Union Pacific rail- 
 road for Omaha. As a result of his observations 
 on this trip, Mr. Williams, who seems to have been 
 imbued with prophecy, declared: 
 
 "First — That the great Platte valley, extending 
 as it does, in a direct line eastward, nearly 600 
 miles from the base of the Rocky Mountains to the 
 
 Missouri valley, was intended as the great thor- 
 oughfare for the overland commerce of the world. 
 
 "Second — That the Platte river itself was in- 
 tended, in the first instance, to supply water to the 
 early pioneers and emigrants in their pilgrimage to 
 and from the Rocky Mountains; and subsequently 
 to afford the means for irrigating the immense 
 plains along its borders, and thus render it event- 
 ually one of the finest pastoral and agricultural 
 regions upon the continent, and 
 
 "Third- — The perpetual snows upon the moun- 
 tains were intended to furnish an unfailing supply 
 of water to all the mountain streams which flow 
 into the Platte, and, thus during all time, afford 
 the means of irrigation to the extensive table-lands 
 along the eastern base of the mountains." 
 
 Mr. Williams' predictions have been fulfilled. 
 The valley of the South Platte and its tributaries 
 from Julesburg to the base of the mountains are 
 now thickly settled by intelligent, industrious and 
 prosperous communities, and, several large and 
 thrifty cities may be found where only the prairie 
 dog and sneaking coyote held dominion when Mr. 
 Williams traveled in the Overland stage from 
 Denver to Fort Kearney. What Captain Long de- 
 clared in the report of his exploration in 1819-20, 
 "a barren region unfit for the habitation of civilized 
 man," is now teeming with the life and activity of 
 large and prosperous communities that have grown 
 up through the magic of irrigation and the appli- 
 cation of the life-giving waters of the streams that 
 flow down from the snow-tipped summits of the 
 mountains ; through irrigation and the genius and en- 
 terprise of man, the Great American desert has been 
 made to "bloom like the rose," and those portions of 
 it that can be brought under cultivation through the 
 wise application of water, are today acknowledged 
 to be the most productive sections of the country. 
 
 [39] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 ized during the summer months by tourists from 
 the Eastern states. The scenic attractions of the 
 county and its charming summer resorts, with their 
 hunting and fishing privileges, magnificent moun- 
 tain views, so easily accessible, are yearly attracting 
 
 
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 1 
 
 AN ARAPAHOE WIGWAM 
 
 more and more attention. Indeed, Larimer county, 
 as a whole, for utility, beauty and for grandeur, 
 picturesqueness and variety of attractions is not sur- 
 passed in the Rocky Mountain region. Splendid 
 crops of grain, potatoes, fruit, alfalfa and native 
 hay are produced in the valleys, glades and parks 
 of the foothills, mountain potatoes being especially 
 noted for their superior excellence over those grown 
 on the Plains. 
 
 There are approximately 400 square miles, or 
 about 256,000 acres, of plain land lying between 
 the hogbacks, as they are called, and the east line 
 of the county, and it was in the valleys of the 
 streams crossing these lands from west to east that 
 the principal settlements were first made and also 
 where the first attempts were made at farming in 
 Northern Colorado. The thrifty towns of Fort 
 
 Collins, Loveland, Berthoud, Wellington and 
 Timnath are located on these lands and agriculture 
 has reached its highest stage of development in their 
 vicinity. This narrow strip of plain land now con- 
 tains and supports a population of about 24,000 
 people and the population of the entire county is 
 25,270. 
 
 In 1880-81, prospectors discovered a number of 
 rich silver-bearing leads on the northern slope of 
 the Rabbit Ear range of mountains, in the south- 
 eastern corner of North Park, then a part of Lari- 
 mer county, and these discoveries being made 
 known soon attracted wide attention. Hundreds 
 rushed in to secure claims and a bustling mining 
 camp was established which was named Teller, in 
 honor of United States Senator- H. M. Teller. A 
 daily mail by a line of stages, operated by S. B. 
 Stewart, was established from Fort Collins to 
 Teller in 1881, the route passing through Liver- 
 more, Rustic, Chambers Lake and thence over 
 Cameron pass into the camp. The town grew 
 rapidly, like all mining camps, and in the latter 
 part of 1881 had a population estimated as from 
 1,200 to 1,500 souls. Stores and a hotel were 
 opened, a newspaper called the Teller Miner was 
 established, and active development work in the 
 mines was started. A daily stage was also put on 
 between Laramie City, Wyo., and Teller, and con- 
 ditions at that time looked very promising. Some 
 two or three years before this, however, the rich 
 pasture lands of North Park had attracted the at- 
 tention of stockmen, and several thousand head of 
 cattle were driven into the park in 1878-79, and a 
 
 INDIAN WOMEN AND CHILDREN 
 
 number of big ranches were established on the 
 North Platte and tributary streams, so that by 
 1882 the park contained a large amount of tax- 
 
 [41] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 able property. That year a controversy arose be- 
 tween the counties of Grand and Larimer over the 
 jurisdiction of the park, both claiming it and each 
 contending for the right to assess and collect taxes 
 from the property holders. The controversy arose 
 over the construction of the act of the Territorial 
 Legislature creating Larimer county, the latter 
 claiming that, according to the boundaries estab- 
 lished by the act, its jurisdiction extended to the 
 summit of the Snowy range, or the Continental 
 Divide. Grand county, on the other hand, con- 
 tended that the western boundary line of Larimer 
 county rested upon the summit of the Medicine 
 Bow range, a spur of the main range. The Com- 
 missioners of Larimer county refused to accept 
 this construction of the act, and the dispute finally 
 got into the courts when Grand county sought to 
 enjoin the Commissioners of Larimer county from 
 exercising any jurisdiction over North Park. 
 
 The hearing on the application for the writ of 
 injunction was had in the district court of Summit 
 county before Judge Luther M. Goddard, later a 
 Justice of the Supreme court, and the writ denied. 
 Grand county appealed to the Supreme court 
 which, in 1886, affirmed the decision of the lower 
 court, thus putting an end to a dispute that had 
 caused a great deal of ill-feeling. The opinion of 
 the Supreme court was written by S. H. Elbert and 
 clearly established the western boundary of Lari- 
 mer county on the summit of the Snowy range, or 
 Continental Divide, and also the county's right to 
 exercise full jurisdiction over North Park. 
 
 Messrs. Haynes, Dunning & Annis of Fort Col- 
 lins represented Larimer county, and Messrs. W. I. 
 Hughes and Hugh Butler of Denver appeared for 
 Grand county. 
 
 The principal water courses of the county are the 
 Cache la Poudre and the Big Thompson rivers and 
 the Little Thompson creek. The two first named 
 have their sources high up among the mountain 
 ranges which form the western boundary of the 
 county, the last named among the high hills sepa- 
 rating Estes Park from the Plains and discharges 
 its waters into the Big Thompson river a few miles 
 above the latter's junction with the South Platte. 
 The Big Thompson heads in Estes Park among the 
 snow-capped peaks of the Continental Divide, flows 
 an easterly course through the park and empties 
 into the Platte a short distance southwest of Evans. 
 The Cache la Poudre heads in Chambers lake, 
 situated at an elevation of more than 9,000 feet 
 above sea level. The lake is fed by several 
 small streams which head on the eastern slope of 
 
 [42] 
 
 the Medicine Bow range. From the lake the 
 stream pursues a zigzag course through deep, dark 
 canons whose granite walls often rear their heads 
 1,500 feet above the bed of the stream, finally de- 
 bouching on to the Plains about four miles west of 
 Laporte. From this point the stream flows a south- 
 easterly course and empties into the Platte a few 
 miles east of Greeley. Among the principal tribu- 
 taries are the Big and Little South forks, which 
 come into the main stream high up in the moun- 
 tains from the southwest; the North fork, which 
 flows down from the northwest and discharges its 
 waters into the main stream about fifteen miles 
 above the city of Fort Collins; the Boxelder creek, 
 which heads up near the Wyoming line, flows a 
 southeasterly course and empties into the Poudre 
 about five miles southeast of Fort Collins. The 
 principal tributaries of the Big Thompson are Fall 
 river, which joins the main stream in Estes Park; 
 the North fork and the Buckhorn. It is from these 
 main streams, after they reach the Plains, that 
 water is drawn through an extensive system of 
 canals and ditches for use in irrigating the culti- 
 vated fields and meadows of the farmers. In the 
 mountains the water of the strearns flows with 
 great velocity over rocks and ledges and are ex- 
 ceedingly turbulent in flood times. After they 
 reach the Plains, vvhere -the fall of the country is 
 less, they take on a tamer mood and flow over 
 pebbly bottoms in a quiet and orderly manner. 
 They are all beautiful mountain streams, carrying 
 clear, cool water, and are well stocked with trout. 
 The Laramie river rises in the Medicine Bow 
 Mountains a short distance northwest of Chambers 
 lake, flows a northerly course into Wyoming and 
 empties into the North Platte a few miles below 
 Fort Laramie. At some time in the distant past 
 the head waters of the Cache la Poudre flowed into 
 the Laramie, but some convulsion of Nature filled 
 the channel and turned the stream into a deep de- 
 pression known as Chambers lake. From this lake 
 the water forced its way through the hills in an 
 easterly direction and formed the Cache la Poudre 
 river. The origin of the names of these streams 
 will be given elsewhere in this volume. 
 
 Larimer county was named in honor of General 
 William Larimer, one of the early settlers of Den- 
 ver, whose name and memory are intimately asso- 
 ciated with the early history of Colorado. General 
 Larimer was born in Westmoreland county, Penn- 
 sylvania, October 9th, 1809. On reaching man- 
 hood he became prominently identified with business 
 affairs in and near Pittsburg, engaged in banking. 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 LARIMER 
 
 COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 and was the projector and President of the Pitts- 
 burg & Connellsville railroad, now a part of the 
 Baltimore & Ohio system. After the panic of 
 1857 he located in Nebraska, and later at Leaven- 
 worth, Kansas. He came to Colorado in Novem- 
 ber, 1858, as one of the famous "Leavenworth 
 Men," who founded Denver City on the eastward 
 side of Cherry creek, as a rival to "Auraria" on the 
 westward side. He was Treasurer of the town 
 company, and a leader among Denver's pioneers. 
 There was a strong sentiment in the Territory in 
 favor of having him appointed the first Governor of 
 Colorado, which was reinforced by several men 
 prominent in Washington, but it was unable to 
 overcome the influence that favored the appoint- 
 
 INDIAN BABY CARRIAGE 
 
 ment of Gilpin. General Larimer bore an active 
 part in securing men for the Colorado Union regi- 
 ments at the outbreak of the Civil War, and was 
 appointed Colonel of the Third Colorado, but as 
 that embryo organization was merged into the 
 Second Colorado, his commission did not take him 
 into active service. General Larimer went back to 
 Eastern Kansas in 1864, located on a farm near 
 Leavenworth, where he died, May 16, 1875. Dur- 
 ing his residence in Colorado he was one of the most 
 popular men of pioneer time. In addition to hav- 
 ing one of the counties of the Territory named for 
 him, one of the principal business streets of Denver 
 was also given his name. A portrait of General 
 Larimer appears in this volume. 
 
 Under Three Flags 
 
 Larimer county was a part of Louisiana 
 province, which the United States purchased of 
 France in 1803 for $15,000,000. Among the first 
 visitors to Louisiana were the Spanish men-at-arms 
 of DeSoto's expedition, under Muscogo, who, after 
 
 the death of their chief, in 1542, descended the Mis- 
 sissippi river in rude ships and went out to sea. In 
 1682 the brave Sieur de La Salle floated down the 
 great river from the Illinois river to the Gulf, and 
 took possession of the country in the name of 
 France, erecting pillars on the banks of the Missis- 
 sippi to show that it was French territory. In 
 1699 another expedition was sent from France to 
 Louisiana under Iberville. The first settlement in 
 Louisiana was made by Iberville, seventy miles up 
 the Mississippi, in 1700, as a military colony, to 
 prevent the English from ascending the river. 
 Louisana was given to Antoine Crozat in 1712, 
 with exclusive control from Canada to the Gulf. 
 Six years later, Crozat relinquished this vast but 
 unprofitable empire, and it passed into the posses- 
 sion of the Western Company, organized by John 
 Law. In 1764 the Louisianans were notified that 
 their country had been ceded to Spain and the next 
 year Antonio de Ulloa arrived to become Governor. 
 The people were opposed to Spanish rule, and 
 finally taking possession of New Orleans, they sent 
 Ulloa away on an outbound ship, and established a 
 government of their own, sending delegates to 
 France to ask the King to again occupy Louisiana. 
 Their requests being refused, the insurgents con- 
 templated the establishment of a republic; but in 
 1769 Don Alexander O'Reiley arrived as the Span- 
 ish Governor, with 2,600 troops and fifty guns. 
 The rebellion was suppressed, and its leaders were 
 shot on the Plaza de Armas at New Orleans. At 
 that time the province was defined as extending 
 northwest to the source of the Mississippi, and west- 
 ward to the Pacific ocean. In 1801 the great 
 province was ceded back to France, but the treaty 
 was kept secret. Napoleon intended to send to 
 Louisiana General Victor and 25,000 choice French 
 troops, to firmly establish a New France on the 
 American continent. But the supremacy of Great 
 Britain on the sea rendered this move impossible, 
 and left the country without defense. Unable to 
 garrison the new domain, and fearing that England 
 would sieze it. Napoleon made haste to sell the 
 province to the United States, for $15,000,000. 
 
 From the foregoing it will be seen that Larimer 
 county was under the Spanish standard from 1542 
 to 1682, a period of 140 years. It then passed 
 under French control and was French territory 
 until 1764, when Spain again came into possession 
 of the province and held dominion over it until it 
 was ceded back to France, in 1801. Two years 
 later the country came under the folds of the Stars 
 and Stripes, where, let us hope, it will remain while 
 
 [43] 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 LARIMER COUNTY 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 the world stands. It has been twice under the 
 Spanish flag, twice under the French tri-colors, and 
 now adds brilliancy to the fortieth star in the 
 firmament that graces the American flag. 
 
 First Settlement 
 
 Larimer county was created and established by 
 an act of the first Territorial Legislature of Colo- 
 rado, which met in Denver, Sept. 9th, 1861, but it 
 was not organized for judicial purposes until three 
 years later. The first white settlement in the county 
 was made at Laporte, some say about eighty 
 years ago. It is certain that there were white men, 
 Canadian trappers, with Indian wives, living at La- 
 porte in 1828. The late Philip Covington, father 
 of H. C. Covington of Laporte, and M. M. Cov- 
 ington of Seattle, Washington, passed through this 
 country that year with a caravan loaded with sup- 
 plies for the American Fur Company, then operat- 
 ing on Green river, and remembers seeing French 
 trappers at Laporte. These people were, however, 
 migratory, here today and there tomorrow, their 
 homes being established, temporarily, where there 
 was the best trapping, and no permanent settlement 
 was made until several years afterwards. Antoine 
 Janis, a native of Missouri, born of French parents, 
 is believed to have been the first permanent white 
 settler in all that part of Colorado north of the 
 Arkansas river. He staked out a squatter's claim 
 on the river bottom a short distance west of La- 
 porte in 1844, and resided upon it until 1878, when 
 he moved to Pine Ridge Agency to join the tribe of 
 Indians to which his wife belonged, where he died 
 a few years ago. Years before this time the Cache 
 la Poudre valley had been traversed by caravans 
 transporting goods and supplies for the fur trading 
 posts on Green river, and Mr. Janis' father had 
 often made the trip from St. Louis to Green river 
 as captain of a caravan. On one occasion, in 1836, 
 Antoine, then a boy twelve years of age, ac- 
 companied his father, the route followed taking 
 them through this valley, going and coming. It 
 was on this trip that the river was named "Cache 
 la Poudre" from a circumstance, an account of 
 which is related elsewhere in this volume. In 
 February, 1883, the editor of the Fort Collins 
 Courier addressed a letter to Mr. Janis at Pine 
 Ridge Agency, requesting him to furnish the writer 
 for publication such facts and dates relating to the 
 early settlement of the Cache la Poudre valley as 
 he possessed. To this request Mr. Janis replied as 
 follows : 
 
 [44] 
 
 "Pine Ridge Agency, March 17, 1883. 
 
 "My Dear Mr. Watrous: In regard to the early 
 history of the Poudre valley, I will say that as one 
 of the party I have in my possession all the facts 
 relating to its first settlement, including names of 
 persons, day and dates. On the first of June, 1844, 
 I stuck my stake on a claim in the valley, intending 
 the location selected for my home should the coun- 
 try ever be settled. At that time the streams were 
 all very high and the valley black with buffalo. As 
 far as the eye could reach, nothing scarcely could be 
 seen but buffalo. I was just returning from Mexico, 
 and I thought the Poudre valley was the loveliest 
 spot on earth, and think so yet. 
 
 "The gold fever broke out in 1858. Soon after 
 locating my claim I moved over from Fort Laramie 
 and settled on it. The place is just above Laporte, 
 and is owned by Tobe Miller (Joseph Hammerly 
 is now the owner of the place). One hundred and 
 fifty lodges of Arapahoes moved there with me at 
 the same time. They asked me if I wanted to settle 
 there. I told them I did. Bold Wolf, the chief, 
 then called a council of braves, who finally gave us 
 permission to locate, and donated to us all the land 
 from the foot of the mountains to the mouth of 
 Boxelder creek. The donees were E. Gerry, Nicho- 
 las Janis, and myself. In the winter of 1858-9 
 settlers commenced flocking in. 
 
 "A company was formed composed of Nicholas 
 Janis, E. Gerry, Todd Randall, Raymond B. Good- 
 win, John B. Provost, Oliver Morisette, A. LeBon, 
 Ravofiere and others, which located a town site and 
 called it Colona. We had the site surveyed and 
 mapped out; and built fifty houses. 
 
 "I was born in St. Charles, Missouri, March 26, 
 1824. First came to Colorado in 1844. You ask 
 me all the particulars. It would consume a great 
 deal of time to give to you in full detail, and my 
 health has been such this winter that I dare not un- 
 dertake the task. Have been away, or I should have 
 answered your kind letter before. 
 
 "Antoine Janis." 
 
 At one time Mr. Janis and his brother Nicholas 
 were employed as scouts and guides in Colorado 
 and Wyoming, and they frequently visited Fort 
 Laramie for supplies and mail. Their names appear 
 often in Coutant's history of Wyoming. Antoine 
 was still a resident of Laporte when I came to Fort 
 Collins in 1877, and he was highly regarded as a 
 man, neighbor and citizen by all the early settlers 
 of the valley. 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Fremont had but barely begun his venturesome 
 explorations of passageways through the Rocky 
 Mountains to the Pacific coast ; St. Louis was but a 
 small trading post on the Mississippi; Chicago still 
 in its infancy; only a small portion of the vast 
 region between the Missouri river and the Pacific 
 had been explored and it was practically destitute 
 of the habitations of white men, when Janis located 
 in the Cache la Poudre valley. Lewis and Clark 
 had made their famous journey to the headwaters 
 of the Missouri river, and thence across the mount- 
 ains to Oregon and return. Lieut. Zebulon Pike 
 
 A PIONEER'S HOME 
 
 had discovered Pike's Peak, and explored a small 
 portion of Colorado, and Maj. Long had crossed the 
 Plains a little more than a score of years before and 
 erected a lasting monument to his memory in the 
 discovery of Long's Peak. The American Fur 
 Company had established trading posts in Western 
 Wyoming and Eastern Idaho, but outside the trails 
 made by these explorers and fortune hunters, little 
 was known of what is now Colorado when Antoine 
 Janis ventured into the Cache la Poudre valley in 
 1844. 
 
 In 1858, fourteen years later, John B. Provost, 
 Francis and Nicholas Janis, Antoine Le Beau, Todd 
 Randall, E. W. Raymond, B. Goodman, Oliver 
 Morrisette and others came down from Fort Lar- 
 amie with their families, looking for the most prom- 
 ising site for a town. After skirting the hills as far 
 south as Denver, the party returned north to the 
 "river of the hidden powder" and located on its 
 
 banks a town to be known as Colona. This marks 
 the first community settlement made in Larimer 
 county, and from this nucleus the region has de- 
 veloped into the present populous and prosperous 
 county, dotted with farms, towns and cities. The 
 projectors of the town of Colona recognized that 
 in the Cache la Poudre valley would some day be 
 built up a large and prosperous community. 
 
 With the Great Plains extending eastward for 
 hundreds of miles, the mountains to the west cover- 
 ed with valuable timbers, overrun with game and 
 seamed, as they believed, with vast mineral de- 
 posits ; the snow-fed streams and a climate unequal- 
 ed in the north temperate zone, these hardy men de- 
 cided to build themselves homes and await the 
 rolling in of a tide of immigrants that would result 
 in the upbuilding of a country that would "blossom 
 as the rose" and grow rich and powerful. They 
 believed that a great city would some day grow up 
 at the northern gateway to the mountains, located 
 as Colona was on the great Overland route from 
 Santa Fe to Salt Lake and the regions north and 
 west of that city. But the great mineral discoveries 
 south and jyest of Denver turned emigration in 
 those directions, giving rise to cities like Denver, 
 Pueblo, Leadville, Colorado Springs and others of 
 less note; though in 1858, with the unexplored and 
 undeveloped resources of the county and only a 
 guess at the command of the locators, the situation 
 at Colona seemed full of promise of a great future. 
 The present day visitor at Laporte, to which name 
 Colona was changed in 1862, can see remains of a 
 town that once declined to trade lot for lot with 
 Denver and even aspired to be the seat of the Ter- 
 ritorial government. But a very few years ago 
 there resided a man in Fort Collins who, having 
 acquired a few lots in Denver in a horse trade, 
 allowed them to be sold for taxes rather than throw 
 away any more money on them. The town of 
 Colona was located a short distance west of the 
 present town of Laporte, but the ford of the Cache 
 la Poudre being lower down the stream and prac- 
 tically at the point where the bridge crosses at 
 Laporte, the site of the town was later abandoned 
 and a new town site called Laporte was located at 
 the ford. In 1859 Mr. Provost erected a log house 
 on the south side of the river in which he kept a 
 grocery and a saloon. This house is still standing 
 and is occupied by Rowland Herring and family. 
 That year Mr. Provost also built and operated a 
 ferry across the river during flood times for the ac- 
 commodation of emigrants, but the early June flood 
 of that year carried his boat down stream, so that 
 
 [45] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 when Horace Greeley and party passed that way on 
 June 21st, he had to ford the stream at considerable 
 risk. Mr. Provost also operated a ferry at that 
 point during the big flood of June, 1864, and, as the 
 travel westward was heavy that season, he coined 
 money, charging $10.00 for taking a double team 
 across and $5.00 for a man on horseback. The 
 same year that the Provost colony located at Colona, 
 Mariana Modeno, a Mexican, located a squatter's 
 claim in the valley of the Big Thompson, about 
 three miles west of the present city of Loveland. He 
 claimed to be and probably was the first permanent 
 settler in that valley. Thus, practically simultane- 
 ously, began the history of the settlements on the 
 two principal streams of the county. Colona, how- 
 ever, was the most important and most ambitious of 
 the two, the Big Thompson pioneer wishing merely 
 to establish a home where he could raise cattle and 
 horses and live out his days in peace. Mariana's 
 place aifterward became known as Namaqua, and 
 was made an Overland stage .station in 1862. 
 Mariana died in 1878. The family of George Hat- 
 field, composed of himself, wife and one child, was 
 the first family to make a permanent location on the 
 Big Thompson. Other settlers, including Wm. A. 
 Bean, John J. Ryan, John Hahn, J. N. Hollowell, 
 Judge W. B. Osborn, Thos. H. Johnson and W. C. 
 Stover, came in 1860. 
 
 In 1859 Rock Bush came from Green river, 
 Wyoming, where he had been employed for two 
 years on a ferry, and took up a claim on the north 
 bank of the Cache la Poudre river, about three miles 
 southeast of Laporte, where he still lives. At this 
 time there was but one other settler on the stream 
 between his place and the mouth of the river, and 
 that was Robert Boyd, who also had a claim a little 
 way west of the present city of Greeley. Mr. Bush 
 was born in Canada in 1832, came west to Fort 
 Bridger in 1857, where he remained two years and 
 then moved to the Cache la Poudre valley. He 
 married Johanna Forbes after he came here, by 
 whom he has had five children, Rock Jr., Guy, 
 George, Amelia and Gussie Bush. Mr. Bush is still 
 living in the enjoyment of fairly good health and a 
 serene old age. He is the only man left of that 
 valiant and hardy company that located in this 
 valley in 1858-9. In 1860, quite a number of set- 
 tlers located in the valley, including J. M. Sher- 
 wood, F. W. Sherwood, A. F. Howes, Joseph 
 Knight, Alphonse LaRoque, Joseph Mason, James 
 B. Arthur, John Arthur, Thos. Cline, E. B. Davis, 
 Daniel Davis, John Davis, G. R. Strauss, Joseph 
 
 [46] 
 
 Prendergast, Dwight Scoutton, Thomas Earnest, 
 Ranger Jones, and Fletcher Earnest. 
 
 Many of these first settlers came across the Plains 
 in the Pike's Peak rush of 1858-1859 and 1860, and 
 being disappointed in their quest for gold, sought 
 homes in the fertile valleys of the Cache la Poudre 
 and Big Thompson rivers, and the population of the 
 county in the fall of 1860 was about one hundred. 
 Early recognizing the necessity for some form of 
 government and rules and regulations governing 
 the location of claims and the restraining of lawless- 
 ness by which life and rights of property might be 
 protected, the settlers in the fall of that year organ- 
 ized a Claim Club association. Robert Hereford 
 was chosen president; John J. Ryan, secretary, and 
 J. M. Sherwood, judge, and a short but very strin- 
 gent code of laws was adopted. As the Cache la 
 Poudre and the Big Thompson valleys formed the 
 district over which the association claimed jurisdic- 
 tion, the code of laws and the association constituted 
 the first form of government set up for Larimer 
 county, and those who lived under it in the early 
 days declare that more equal and exact justice was 
 never meted out than while the association existed. 
 Negroes were excluded from membership, owing to 
 race prejudice. Each member of the association was 
 allowed to locate upon and occupy 160 acres of land 
 and was protected in all rights acquired by such oc- 
 cupancy. The uncertainty as to which government 
 the region owed allegience, whether that of Kansas 
 or Nebraska, made an organization of that character 
 vitally necessary, for, while in the main the orig- 
 inal settlers were peaceable, law-abiding citizens, 
 with a just conception of the rights of property and 
 what constituted law and order, there were a few 
 among them whose conduct at times laid them open 
 to suspicion of being outlaws and desperadoes, who 
 needed to be placed under wholesome restraint. An 
 association of the character named, bound together 
 for mutual protection, whose members were so will- 
 ing to live up to its salutary rules and regulations, 
 soon gained respect and confidence, and few there 
 were, ■ indeed, who had the hardihood to lay them- 
 selves liable to fall under contempt of the association, 
 for its judgments were severe and its penalities were 
 executed with promptness and dispatch. All dis- 
 putes were referred to the association judge. Dis- 
 satisfied parties could appeal to the president, whose 
 decision was final. 
 
 When the Territory of Colorado was organized 
 in 1861, Governor Gilpin appointed F. W. Sher- 
 wood, John J. Ryan and A. F. Howes as a board of 
 commissioners for Larimer county. At the first 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 meeting of this board an informal discussion de- 
 veloped that Mr. Howes favored the location of the 
 County Seat at Laporte and the immediate erection 
 of a stone court house. Mr. Sherwood took positive 
 grounds against the proposition, while Mr. Ryan 
 remained neutral. The result was that the board 
 could not agree and failed to complete an organiza- 
 tion, despite frequent and earnest appeals from the 
 Governor. Early in 1862 Governor Gilpin ap- 
 pointed a new board composed of Joseph Mason, 
 W. B. Osborn and James B. Arthur. This board 
 promptly organized by electing Mr. Osborn chair- 
 man. The proceedings of that meeting show that 
 among the first acts preformed was the laying out 
 and establishing of three commissioner districts for 
 the county, the boundaries of which remaining to 
 this day, practically as they were then fixed. The 
 records do not show that this board ever held 
 another meeting or did anything else of a public 
 nature, and their offices appear to have been 
 declared vacant, for, in 1864, Governor John 
 Evans, who succeeded Governor Gilpin, appointed 
 Abner Loomis, John Heath, and William A. 
 Bean, commissioners for Larimer county. They 
 immediately qualified and at the first meeting 
 elected Mr. Loomis chairman. This meeting was 
 held at Laporte, beginning October 8th, and the 
 principal business before the board at that time ap- 
 pears to have been the inspection and approval of 
 the bonds of the new county officers. These were 
 H. B. Chubbuck, county superintendent of schools; 
 Henry Arrison, sheriff; H. W. Chamberlin, clerk 
 and recorder; B. T. Whedbee, treasurer; James M. 
 Smith, assessor; John E. Washburn, county judge. 
 In July, 1862, there occurred an Indian scare on 
 the Poudre that set the settlers wild with fright and 
 a rush of men, women and children for a place of 
 safety followed. A few days before a band of Utes 
 slipped down out of the hills and ran off some 
 horses belonging to J. M. and F. W. Sherwood. 
 The settlers were afraid to pursue the redskins into 
 the hills for they did not know how many Utes were 
 in the band, but they kept a sharp lookout for fear 
 the Indians would return and raid other ranches. 
 On the day the second board of commissioners 
 appointed by Governor Gilpin organized, a man 
 named Bassett saw the Indian wives of several La- 
 porte settlers picking berries and, mistaking them 
 for Utes, gave the alarm. With a speed that seems 
 incredible, the news spread up and down the river 
 and nearly everybody rushed for Laporte. James 
 B. Arthur and John Thatcher happened to be at 
 Laporte when the alarm was given, and they started 
 
 in hot haste for the Arthur ranch down the river, 
 where there was a strong log house having loop 
 holes for use in defending Chief Friday's band of- 
 Arapahoes, then located on the north side of the 
 river opposite the Sherwood ranch, and when Friday 
 heard of the supposed raid, he ordered his fighting 
 men to mount their horses and go to Spring canon 
 in pursuit of their enemies, the Utes. Several set- 
 tlers mistook Friday's men for Utes, although J. M. 
 Sherwood was with the pursuing party, and dropped 
 everything in their hurry to get under cover. When 
 
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 PIONEER TRANSPORTATION TRAIN 
 
 Paul Tharp reached Laporte, he was in light travel- 
 ing trim, having left coat, hat, gun along the trail, 
 and he found the settlers prepared for defending 
 themselves. Settlers in the lower Poudre gathered 
 at Arthur's. The following morning the truth be- 
 came known all along the river, and the scare was 
 over. ; , •■: 
 
 The last Indian scare on the Big Thompson oc- 
 curred in 1864, when six Utes stampeded Mariana's 
 horse herd and run several of the animals into the 
 mountains. So badly frightened were the settlers 
 that they left everything and fled for safety. On 
 the raid the Indians killed a Mexican in Mariana's 
 employe, horribly mutilating his body. Word was 
 sent to Laporte and a detachment of soldiers from 
 the 11th Ohio cavalry pursued the Utes and re- 
 covered the horses. One of the two Indians that 
 were guarding the horses was killed, but the other, 
 badly wounded, escaped only to die in a lonely cabin, 
 where his body was found later. 
 
 In 1862, A. F. Howes, as county clerk, recorded a 
 number of squatters filings on lands, powers of at- 
 torney and real estate and chattel mortgages. W. B. 
 Osborn had been appointed probate judge by Gov- 
 ernor Gilpin but the records do not show that he 
 
 [47] 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 LARIMER COUNTY 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 transacted any business, although he held court at 
 Laporte on the days set apart by law. Henry Arrison 
 was the first sheriff of the county. The records 
 kept by A. F. Howes, as clerk and recorder, were 
 some of them in his own handwriting, but the most 
 of them seemed to have been recorded by Hal Sayre 
 and J. C. Peabody. The record opens January 31, 
 1862, with a land filing in which Hal Sayre sets 
 forth that he claims a certain tract of land described 
 as follows: "Beginning at the southeast corner of 
 E. O. Fritt's house, running thence north 76 degrees 
 6 minutes east to the top of a small knoll, whence 
 the following houses will be at the following bear- 
 ings: E. W. Raymond south 62 degrees 39 minutes 
 west; R. G. Strauss south 11 degrees 15 minutes 
 west, from this point north 46 degrees 30 minutes 
 east 19 chains to a post which marks the southwest 
 corner of this claim ; thence north 20 degrees 60 
 chains; thence south 70 degrees east 26.65 chains; 
 thence south 20 degrees west 60 chains; thence 
 north 70 degrees west 26.65 chains to place of be- 
 ginning." 
 
 This description, though it may seem a little in- 
 definite in this day and age, was probably as good as 
 could have been given at the time, for the country 
 had not then been surveyed into sections and town- 
 ships. 
 
 On the 17th of March, 1862, the Laporte Town- 
 site company filed a squatter's claim to 1280 acres of 
 land, which was laid off into lots and blocks, in the 
 expectation, no doubt, that here would be the future 
 metropolis of the Rocky Mountain region. A. F. 
 Howes was president of the company and Hal Sayre, 
 secretary. On some date between March 24th and 
 August 6, 1862, the day not being named, the con- 
 stitution was spread on the records bearing the sig- 
 natures of Benj. Sylvester, John F. VanDeventer, C. 
 Randall, Thos. Pryce, N. Janis, F. R. and Antoine 
 Janis, John L. Buell, by A. F. Howes, E. W. Ray- 
 mond, Henry A. Swift, by A. F. Howes, his attor- 
 ney, and A. F. Howes. The next mention of the 
 company on the record the name of Abner Loomis 
 appears as president and J. C. Peabody secretary. 
 The capital stock of the company was fixed at $120,- 
 000. In September of that year the Townsite com- 
 pany sold to Benjamin Holladay block 238 and 
 leased to him block 237 for corrals and stables for 
 the Overland Stage company, reserving one lot 25 
 feet wide on Pawnee street, on which was located 
 the stage station. The lease on block 237 was to run 
 as long as the Stage Company should continue to 
 carry the United States mail on the route from St. 
 Joseph, Missouri, to Salt Lake City, Utah. A post- 
 
 [48] 
 
 office, the first established in the county, was 
 opened at Laporte in June, 1862. In the old record 
 book from which these entrees are copied are 99 
 filings, the 98th and 99th being placed on record 
 October 24th, 1863. These papers were convey- 
 ances from Jesse M. Sherwood and F. W. Sher- 
 wood to Ben Holladay, in which the grantors 
 deeded to the grantee all their rights and interests 
 in and to their farms at and near the mouth of the 
 Boxelder creek, along the Cache la Poudre. 
 
 The first Territorial Legislature met in Denver 
 September 9th, 1861. Larimer and Weld counties 
 were included in one, the First Council and Rep- 
 resentative district. H. J. Graham was elected to 
 represent the district in the council and Daniel 
 Steele as representative. Steele was a man of some 
 education, but his opponent could neither read nor 
 write and based his claim to the office on the fact 
 that he had good common sense and wore a hand- 
 somely trimmed and decorated suit of buckskin. 
 The election was held at Laporte and A. F. Howes 
 and F. W. Sherwood were the judges. An old 
 camp coffee pot served the purpose of a ballot box. 
 Along in the afternoon a dispute arose among the 
 adherents of the two candidates as to which had 
 polled the greater number of votes up to that time. 
 Money flashed and bets were made and to settle the 
 controversy the table was cleared of books and loose 
 papers, the votes turned out of the coffee pot and 
 counted, when it was found that Steele was ahead. 
 This was a frontier way of doing, but in those days 
 the art of ballot box stuffing had not been intro- 
 duced and an honest ballot and a fair count was the 
 rule. In 1862 Joseph Kenyon was elected repre- 
 sentative. For the third Territorial Legislature, 
 which assembled in 1 864, Boulder, Larimer, ■ and 
 Weld counties sent Amos Widner to the oouncH 
 and Larimer and Weld selected A. Or PatterSoii-'as 
 representative, but he did not appear during the 
 session. For the fourth Legislature, which met in 
 1865, the council and representative districts re- 
 elected Widner and Patterson. In 1866 J. M. 
 Marshall went to the council and B. F. Johnson 
 to the lower house, from Larimer and Weld, Mr. 
 Johnson being replaced in 1867 by Peter Winne. 
 In the seventh Legislature James H. Pinkerton was 
 councilman and Harris Stratton representative; in 
 the eighth, 1870, Jesse M. Sherwood was council- 
 man and M. S. Taylor, representative. W. C. 
 Stover represented Larimer county in the council 
 of the 9th Legislature in 1872, and B. F. Eaton in 
 the lower house; in the 10th Legislature, R. G. 
 Buckingham and D. H. Nichols were the county's 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 representatives in the council and lower house re- 
 spectively, and in the 11th Legislature which con- 
 vened in Denver Jan. 1876, B. H. Eaton and N. H. 
 Meldrum had seats in the council and house re- 
 spectively from Larimer county. The 11th Legisla- 
 ture was the last of the Territorial Legislatures. 
 John E. Washburn and Capt. C. C. Hawley were 
 members from Larimer county in the Constitutional 
 convention which met in Denver on the second 
 Monday in July 1864, to frame a state Constitu- 
 tion. At the election held on the second Tuesday 
 in October of that year, the Constitution framed by 
 this convention was rejected by the people on the 
 score of economy. The following year another con- 
 vention was held which submitted a draft of a Con- 
 stitution to the people and it was adopted. William 
 Gilpin was elected Governor. The Legislature met 
 and elected John Evans and Jerome B. Chaffee 
 United States senators. Congress consented to ad- 
 mit the state of Colorado into the union, but Presi- 
 dent Johnson vetoed the bill. The matter was re- 
 vived periodically for ten years. On the 3rd of 
 March, 1875, Congress passed an enabling act, 
 authorizing the electors to vote, in July, 1876, upon 
 a Constitution to be formed in a convention to be 
 held at Denver before that time. This convention 
 met in Odd Fellows hall in Denver on Monday, 
 
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 HORSETOOTH MOUNTAIN, NEAR FORT COLLINS 
 
 the 20th day of December, 1875, and organized by 
 electing J. C. Wilson of El Paso county, president, 
 and W. W. Coulson, secretary. Larimer county 
 was represented in this convention by William C. 
 Stover, father of F. W. Stover, the present county 
 Judge, and A. K. Yount of Fort Collins, repre- 
 sented Larimer and Weld counties. The conven- 
 tion completed its labors on Wednesday, March 
 15th, 1876, and adjourned, having fixed July 1st, 
 
 1876, as the day on which an election should be held 
 to approve or disapprove of the Constitution sub- 
 mitted. The election was held on the day named 
 and the Constitution was adopted by a vote of 
 15,443 for, to 4,039 against its acceptance. On the 
 the first of August, 1876, President U. S. Grant 
 issued a proclamation admitting the state of Colo- 
 rado into the Union. 
 
 Denver had long been working to have the regu- 
 lar Overland state route laid up the South Platte, 
 and when Ben Holladay became proprietor of the 
 line, he agreed upon a route running through Den- 
 ver and from that point west, and to discontinue the 
 North Platte route. The fact that the Indians had 
 become troublesome on the North Platte route in 
 1862, had also some weight with him in deciding 
 to make the change. The change was made in the 
 month of June, 1862, and remarkable to relate, the 
 transfer to the new line was so successfully accom- 
 plished that not a mail was missed or a coach de- 
 layed. From Denver the route followed the old 
 Cherokee trail just outside the hogbacks to Laporte, 
 thence through Virginia Dale to the Laramie plains 
 and on to Salt Lake. Troops were stationed along 
 the line to guard against attacks by the savages. 
 Stage stations were established at Mariana's on the 
 Big Thompson, Laporte and Virginia Dale. James 
 Boutwell was the first keeper of the station on the 
 Big Thompson, and the notorious Slade opened the 
 station at Virginia Dale, and A. R. ChafiEee, father 
 of County Commissioner Frank Chaffee, had charge 
 of the Laporte station in 1863. When it became 
 advisable for the desperado Slade to leave the 
 country for the country's good, he was succeeded by 
 W. S. Taylor, who later took charge of the Laporte 
 station. The stage line across the country north 
 from Denver was frequently changed. First it fol- 
 lowed the hogbacks from the Big Thompson to 
 Laporte, where it left the plains and entered the 
 mountains. Then the route was changed so as to 
 pass through Fort Collins. At one time the cross- 
 ing of the Big Thompson was at the Washburn 
 ranch near where Loveland is now, and J. E. Wash- 
 burn was the agent. From there it crossed the 
 divide to the Sherwood ranch on the Cache la 
 Poudre and thence across the country to Park sta- 
 tion, where it entered the mountains. For a short 
 time the stage crossed the South Platte at Latham 
 and then followed the Poudre river to the moun- 
 tains. 
 
 The real history of the white settlement of Lari- ^ 
 mer county begins when Antoine Janis located a 
 squatter's claim on the Cache la Poudre river a short 
 
 [49] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 distance west of Laporte. Whether he continued to 
 live on the claim from that time until the arrival of 
 the Colona colony in 1858, we have no means of 
 knowing as the records are silent on that point. But 
 that he called it his home and remained in possession 
 of it until 1878, when he sold it to Tobe Miller, 
 there is no doubt. At that time and for many years 
 before, the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians claimed 
 and occupied all of Larimer and adjoining counties 
 and it was through sufEerance that the whites were 
 allowed to gain a foothold on the plains immed- 
 
 STEAMBOAT ROCK, LIVERMORE 
 
 iately east of the mountains. Antoine Janis tells us 
 that these Indians ceded to him all the land in the 
 Cache la Poudre valley lying between the moun- 
 tains and the mouth of Boxelder creek, — a princely 
 estate even in those wild days. In 1861, a treaty 
 was made with these Indians at Bent's fort, by 
 which all of their lands east of the mountains was 
 ceded to the United States. From that time on 
 white settlers were entitled to all the protection the 
 government could afford them. They had a right 
 to file upon, occupy and improve claims to public 
 land regardless of Indian protests. These protests 
 were frequent and often mandatory, as the Indians 
 had no sooner signed away their lands than they re- 
 gretted it. They had been persuaded to make the 
 treaty, which dispossessed them of their ancient 
 heritage by the usual means, presents, promises of 
 annuities and mystification. The more the act was 
 contemplated, the more determined they became to 
 expel the settlers and regain what they had so fool- 
 ishly surrendered. This led to frequent outbreaks, 
 raids upon the settlers and the shedding of much 
 blood in subsequent years. 
 
 "It seems eminently proper," says Gen. Frank 
 Hall in his history of Colorado, "to submit a brief 
 statement relating to such of the Indian tribes — ^the 
 aboriginal owners of the territory lying between the 
 Missouri river and the Rocky Mountains, as may 
 
 [50] 
 
 have a bearing upon the prehistoric annals of the 
 country. To attempt anything like a history of all 
 the tribes would lead us too far from the general 
 purpose of this work, besides, occupying space that 
 may be more profitably devoted to other matters. 
 But the subject is at least one well worthy of pass- 
 ing consideration. The enlightened emigrant of 
 1858 — and his followers in subsequent years, given 
 to close observation, naturally expended some earnest 
 thought upon the natives he encountered, and natu- 
 rally enough, wondered how and whence they came, 
 or, if they had always roamed up and down the 
 country spending their time in war and the chase. 
 He met the remnants of once numerous and power- 
 ful nations now decimated and degraded to mere 
 fragments, stripped of power and reduced to beg- 
 gary. What were they in the zenith of their 
 strength? Their destiny was already manifest; re- 
 quiring no prophetic vision to foretell the closing 
 scene. Overborne by the surging tide of an irresist- 
 ible movement, there could be but one result — their 
 extinction. If men sow not, neither shall they reap. 
 The redmen stubbornly refused to accept the con- 
 ditions held up to them by modern law, so they 
 were plowed under and forgotten. The whirlwind 
 of civilized force swept over and blotted them out. 
 Though renowned in war with their own species, 
 they became helpless as babes before the resistless 
 torrent. Humanitarians call it harsh, barbarous 
 and cruel, but it was predestined. The march of 
 progress from Plymouth Rock to the western rivers 
 had been marked by trails of fire and blood. The 
 Christian fathers carried their guns and torches, as 
 we ours, and aimed to kill. There was no middle 
 course. The crusade begun from the anchorage of 
 the Mayflower, was not ordained to stop until it had 
 mastered the continent. We could not halt at the 
 Mississippi or Missouri and declare that all east of 
 that line should belong to the white man and all 
 west of it to the red; that half of the continent 
 should be devoted to the pursuits of civilization, and 
 the balance permitted to continue unimproved and 
 under the rule of savages who would neither toil nor 
 spin. And so the sanguinary procession advanced, 
 the white man took possession and the barbarians 
 disappeared. 
 
 "The Cheyenne, Arapahoes and Kiowas of whom 
 the early emigrants had most intimate knowledge 
 through frequent encounters were strong, warlike 
 and cruel. There was a report that the Arapahoes 
 were descended from the Blackfeet; that a hunting 
 party accompanied by their families came down from 
 the North to the Platte about eighty-five years ago, 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 and being cut ofE by a severe snow storm, wintered 
 here. The season in this latitude being mild and 
 pleasant, the country abounding in game, and gen- 
 erally a better region to live in than the one they had 
 left, they decided to remain. How much truth 
 there may be in the story, if any, we are unable to 
 say. We found them here and know that they 
 roamed the plains in large numbers from the coun- 
 try of the Pawnees to the base of the mountains and 
 down into the valley of the Arkansas river. The 
 Cheyennes were pushed westward from Dakota by' 
 the more powerful Sioux, and located first in the 
 Black Hills, where they divided and scattered, the 
 larger portion uniting with the Arapahoes, a union 
 which continued unbroken to the last. Intensely 
 warlike, of robust physique, scarcely less skilful 
 than the Sioux, these two tribes were in almost con- 
 stant conflict with their enemies of other nations, but 
 more especially with the Utes, whom they hated 
 with unquenchable malevolence and by whom the 
 feeling was fully reciprocated. 
 
 "The Utes, members of the Snake family, have 
 held the parks and the valleys of the mountains to be 
 their exclusive property from time immemorial, and 
 contended for these rights successfully against all 
 comers. Though attacked periodically and in force 
 by other nations, they were never dislodged, and 
 never yielded an inch of their domain until com- 
 pelled to part with it under recent treaties." 
 
 The settlers in the valley of the Cache la Poudre 
 previous to 1861, were few and far between if we 
 exclude those who located at what is now Laporte in 
 1858. They could almost be counted on the fingers 
 of the two hands, the most prominent of them being 
 'James B. Arthur, Joseph Mason, John Arthur, 
 Jeseph Prendergast, E. B. Davis, Dwight Scoutten, 
 Ranger Jones, Thos. Earnest, J. M. and F. W. 
 Sherwood, G. R. Strauss and a few others, all of 
 whom located on the river bottoms southeast of the 
 present city of Fort Collins in 1860. Joseph Mason 
 purchased a claim located on the south side of the 
 river about a mile above Fort Collins, and Rock 
 Bush filed on a claim on the north side of the river 
 in 1859, which he still owns and occupies. After 
 the title to the Indian lands passed to the United 
 States, settlers came in faster and at the close of 
 1861, nearly all of the bottom lands along the river 
 from Laporte down to where Greeley now stands 
 had been taken up. Among the settlers who filed 
 on claims that year were the following: Hal Sayr, 
 E. W. Raymond, E. Reed, John C. Peabody, C. J. 
 Randall, A. J. Ames, Joseph Newton, Sus Lewis, 
 E. D. Fritts, Nathaniel Perkins, A. Sprague, C. S. 
 
 Fassett, William Halford, A. F. Howes, B. Syl- 
 vester, G. R. Strauss, A. L. Snodderly, Mahlon 
 Smith, M. S. Warder, H. B. Blevins, Paul Donan, 
 Francis Belange. John G. Coy filed on his claim 
 in August, 1862. In 1862, John B. Larster, Frank 
 Long, W. W. Wyner, Samuel Heffner, William 
 McGaa, Joseph 'Voore, N. Levine, John P. Martin, 
 Andrew Lamarch, John A. Lattie, Hiram Harmon, 
 filed on claims in the Big Thompson valley: 
 Thomas McBride, G. R. Sanderson, Isaac W. Mor- 
 ris, J. Bradstreet, W. N. FalHs, A. C. Kenyon, A. 
 C. Griffin, Joseph Filthian, Joseph Merivale, Will- 
 iam J. Parker, A. F. Woodward, D. W. Buell, 
 
 S^^^s) '■j^vBBn^^^R^^^pnW 
 
 M 
 
 1 
 
 
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 Hb 
 
 1 
 
 FISHING SCENE ON THE CACHE LA POUDRE 
 
 Joseph Bocus, E. C. McGinnes, J. M. Aker, 
 George Luce, T. B. Farmer, J. G. Farmer, R. E. 
 Lawrence, Frank Lacy, Selma Watson, and Will- 
 iam Ebersole on claims in the Cache la Poudre 
 valley. But few of these became permanent set- 
 tlers. They located claims for the purpose of selling 
 out to new comers and when they had disposed of 
 their holdings, moved on to other fields. The 
 transfer of the Overland stage route in 1862 from 
 the North to the South Platte and the running of 
 daily coaches through here had the effect of direct- 
 ing attention to the advantages ofEered homeseekers 
 in the Cache la Poudre and Big Thompson valleys, 
 with the result that there were many new-comers 
 during the years 1862, 1863 and 1864, so that be- 
 fore the end of the year last named the Cache la 
 Poudre valley boasted of quite a large community. 
 By this time so beneficial had been found the 
 climatic influences of Colorado and her fame as a 
 sanatarium having become wide-spread, that the in- 
 flux of health-seekers grew larger year by year. The 
 dryness and lightness of the air and its invigorating 
 
 [51] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 character together with the almost constant preva- 
 lence of sunshine, imparted new vigor and energy to 
 the well, and gave a new lease of life to those whose 
 constitutions were impared. Here on this great 
 plateau, a mile above the sea, far removed from the 
 fogs, chilling winds and damp atmosphere of either 
 ocean, all the conditions of life to the new-comer 
 were fresh and inspiring. But all those who came 
 in the early days were by no means invalids. For 
 the most part they were men in the prime of life, 
 with strong, vigorous constitutions, level-headed, 
 brave of heart, energetic and enterprising, possess- 
 ing great capacity for work and filled with a desire 
 to help plant the banner of civilization in the wilder- 
 ness. That they builded better than they knew is 
 now evident by a teeming and prosperous popula- 
 tion, with villages, towns, and cities dotting the 
 plains, with their churches, schools and higher in- 
 stitutions of learning; by the rush of the iron horse 
 and by social conditions that are not excelled in any 
 of the older states. 
 
 In the rush for gold in |he earlier years of Colo- 
 rado but little attention was paid to agriculture. 
 That was thought to be too slow a method for ac- 
 cumulating wealth. Most of the piofleers expected 
 to garner a fortune in the mines and return to their 
 homes in the east and enjoy their gains, surrounded 
 by more civilizing influences than were to be found 
 in the Rocky Mountains. Many accomplished their 
 ends and did return eastward, but by far the greater 
 number either lacked the means to recross the plains 
 or attracted by the climate and the great dormant 
 possibilities of the country, remained and engaged in 
 farming or stock raising. They were incited to do 
 this from the high price of provisions, and in view 
 of the fact, since everything consumed came from the 
 eastern states and was often months on the way, 
 that a scarcity might sometimes bring with it high 
 prices to the farmers. It was not long until the 
 lands bordering the streams on the plains and the 
 valleys of the mountains were found to be extremely 
 fertile and capable of producing enormous crops. 
 At first farming was, in the main, limited to the 
 raising of vegetables and the cutting and curing of 
 the native grasses, for hay, for which there was a 
 great demand in the mining camps, at highly re- 
 munerative prices. Native grasses grew luxuriously 
 over the bottom lands of the streams and this was 
 cut and cured by the settlers, hauled to Denver, 
 Central City and Blackhawk and sold to the miners 
 and livery men. Hay at times commanded as much 
 as $150 per ton, and vegetables of all kinds were 
 much sought after. The story is told that small 
 
 [52] 
 
 cabbages sold in Denver in 1861 for $5 per head, 
 but it is not vouched for. While the area of cul- 
 tivated land was small during the first decade and 
 confined altogether to the margins of the streams, 
 farming had become an important industry in the 
 Big Thompson and Cache la Poudre valleys in 1867 
 -8, the cultivation of wheat having been successfully 
 introduced, due to irrigation, and then came the de- 
 mand for mills to convert the wheat into flour. This 
 demand was promptly met in the Cache la Poudre 
 by Mrs. Elizabeth Stone and H. C. Petterson who 
 built the Linden Mills in 1868. A mill was built 
 the same year in the Big Thompson valley by An- 
 drew Douty. From this time a more rapid move- 
 ment took place in the way of peopling the county, 
 so that when the first federal census was taken in 
 1870, the population had grown to 838. Ditches 
 to carry water from the streams to irrigate what 
 was called the bench or bluff lands were built, and 
 it was found that larger yields "of wheat of a better 
 quality could be produced on these lands than on the 
 river bottoms. Fifty, sixty and even seventy bushels 
 of the finest wheat in the world were often har- 
 vested from the bench lands, so that in a few years 
 the farmers of Colorado began to produce more 
 wheat than was needed for Colorado consumption, 
 causing a decline in the price. In the late seventies 
 and early eighties the price of wheat fell to 50 and 
 60 cents a bushel, which left the farmer little or no 
 profit. Meanwhile the county kept settling up so 
 that in 1880 it had a population of 4,892. In 1890 
 this had increased to 9,712, in 1900 to 12,168, and 
 in 1910 to 25,270. 
 
 But it was not all fair sailing with the pioneers. 
 They had many obstacles and difficulties to over- ' 
 come in addition to years of toil, hardship and priva- 
 tion. Irrigating canals had to be built, homes to be 
 erected consisting more often of log cabins than 
 otherwise, with the timbers they and the fences and 
 corrals were made of far up in the mountains a day's 
 journey away; with farm implements and seed to be 
 obtained from the Missouri river, six hundred miles 
 away. They were also surrounded by unfamiliar 
 conditions, often terrorized by blood thirsty savages, 
 frequently limited in food supplies and went hungry. 
 But the pioneers, those who remained and continued 
 the struggle were active, earnest, true-hearted men 
 and women who set themselves to work with a spirit 
 that deserved and achieved success. Among the dis- 
 couragements and disappointments that would have 
 disheartened and demoralized men made of less 
 sterner stuiif, was the grasshopper visitation that 
 came upon them just before harvest time in 1873, 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 These destructive insects came down upon the fields 
 of the growing grain in vast clouds and consumed 
 every green thing in their paths. Fields that gave 
 promise of rich yields of golden grain, nearly ready 
 for the sickle, were swept away as if by fire, leaving 
 nothing but desolation for the farmers to gaze upon 
 after all his toil and labor. Hope nearly gave away 
 to despair. The visitation was not confined to one 
 section, but spread itself over the grain fields in all 
 portions of the Territory, so that the bread supply 
 of the settlers was practically all wiped out. What 
 
 PIONEER RESTAURANT 
 
 made the situation still worse was that there was 
 but little money in the country, for a financial panic 
 had struck the entire nation and banks everywhere 
 went toppling to the wall. Those able to withstand 
 the wave of business depression were afraid to loan 
 money, so that the out-look was truly disheartening. 
 But, with Spartan courage and indomitable wills, 
 men and women alike kept up the fight for suprem- 
 acy against what seemed at times like insurmount- 
 able obstacles and difficulties, and finally won the 
 victory. Development of the country was retarded 
 by the grasshopper plague which tormented the set- 
 tlers for two successive years, though people con- 
 tinued to come from the east in search of homes in 
 the Golden west, though not in such large numbers 
 however, until after conditions began to improve. 
 How the pioneers subsisted during those trying 
 years, only those who passed through the disappoint- 
 ments, privations and hardships they endured, can 
 form an adequate conception. 
 
 Stock growing early became an important industry 
 in Larimer county and in the late 60's and early 70's, 
 thousands of head of cattle, great bands of horses 
 and flocks of sheep grazed upon the rich pasture 
 
 lands of the plains and the valleys of the mountains. 
 The mildness of the climate, the vast grazing ground 
 on the plains, the ranges in the mountain parks and 
 valleys all tended to make stock growing profitable 
 as well as pleasant. Large fortunes were acquired 
 in this industry and many of the new comers engaged 
 in it. At one time Larimer county ranked second 
 in the state in the number of head of live stock 
 owned and run upon its ranges. Nearly 50,000 
 head of cattle and 75,000 she^p were assessed for 
 taxation in 1878, but as settlers came in and took 
 up farms the range became restricted so that many 
 of the cattlemen moved their herds to Wyomitig 
 where there was a wider scope of unoccupied coun- 
 try for stock to range over and feed upon. Though 
 there are still many thousands of domestic animals 
 in the county, the herds are not as large as they 
 were in the early days. The character and quality 
 of these animals have greatly improved in recent 
 years by the introduction of registered Hereford, 
 Shorthorns, Jerseys, and other high bred cattle, so 
 that prize takers at the stock shows of the country 
 are now being produced. 
 
 We will npw resume th"S story of the early set- 
 tlements from which digression has taken us off to 
 allied subjects. 
 
 In the spring of 1860, the Seventh United States 
 infantry came down over the Cherokee trail and 
 passed through Colona (now Laporte) on the way 
 to Bent's fort. This regiment had been sent to Utah 
 in 1858, to assist in quelling an anticipated Mormon 
 uprising and to compel an obedience to the law of 
 the government. Its mission ended, the regiment 
 was called back to the Arkansas valley. Part of the 
 command encamped over night at Spring canon. 
 Joseph Frendergast, chief of the wagon train, had 
 received his discharge on expiration of term of ser- 
 vice and when the regiment reached the Cache la 
 Poudre valley he became and remained a valued citi- 
 zen of the county. G. R. Strauss was another mem- 
 ber of General Sidney Johnston's expedition to Salt 
 Lake, who tarried here on his way east and set about 
 building himself a home in the Cache la Poudre val- 
 ley. He located first on the A. J. Ames place, now 
 known as the Slockett farm, later moving to the 
 Strauss farm near Timnath, where he lived until 
 his death in 1904. Joseph Lariviere took up a piece 
 of land adjoining Rock Bush's claim on the west, 
 and Phillip Lariviere filed on what is now known as 
 the Inverness farm. In 1860 Abner Loomis, Joseph 
 Whitsall and William Faith purchased adjoining 
 claims in Pleasant valley for stock ranches. Mr. 
 Loomis was then engaged in freighting from the 
 
 [53] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Missouri river, making two trips a year. One sea- 
 son he made three trips, making a total of eleven 
 round trips across the plains in the years 1862, 
 63, 64, 65. A. R. Chaffee rode into the Big Thomp- 
 son valley in 1862 astride a mule. Tired and hun- 
 gry he rode up to a cabin about which he saw a 
 white man, and asked for something to eat for him- 
 self and his mule. Being told that he could have it 
 Mr. Chaffee put up his mule and entered the cabin. 
 Over a fire in one corner he saw a kettle, before 
 which sat an Indian woman. Ravenously hungry, 
 Mr. Chaffee noticed with disappointment, the slim 
 peparations being made for a meal, but it was too far 
 to the next cabin, so he waited developments. A 
 little later the man of the house came in, the kettle 
 was placed on the floor in the center of the room and 
 the guest was told to help himself. Apologizing for 
 the slim fare. Jack Jones, the proprietor, stated that 
 there was not a pound of flour in the settlement and 
 hadn't been for some time; further, that he had no 
 idea when there would be any. Jack Jones' real 
 name was William McGaa, and his oldest son was 
 the first child born in Denver and bore the name of 
 his birthplace — -Denver McGaa. The boy grew to 
 manhood in the Cache la Poudre valley, but went 
 to Pine Ridge agency in the early 80's to join the 
 tribe of Indians of which his mother was a member. 
 He has revisited the scene of his boyhood on several 
 occasions but not to stay long, prefering the nomadic 
 life of the aboriginees to the career of the average 
 hardworking white man. 
 
 Soldiers Establish Camp at LaPorte 
 
 In 1863, Co. B of the First Colorado volunteer 
 cavalry, was stationed for a few weeks at Laporte, 
 employed in guarding the mountain division of the 
 Overland stage line and the emigrant trail against 
 depredations by the Indians, raids of white despera- 
 does and stock thieves, with which the country was 
 infested at that time. The desperadoes and stock 
 thieves, mainly Mexicans with, perhaps, a dare-devil 
 white man as leader, were more dreaded by the early 
 settlers than the Indians, for the Plains Indians very 
 seldom interfered with the property of white men 
 in the country, but they were often charged with 
 running off stock when they were not guilty. The 
 white or Mexican marauders stole the stock and 
 laid the theft to the redmen to avoid suspicion of 
 themselves. In this way the Indians, though inno- 
 cent, were often blamed for things they did not do, 
 which enabled the real offenders to get away with 
 their booty. The troops patroled the stage line from 
 
 [54] 
 
 Laporte to Laramie Plains and often a detail of 
 soldiers was sent out with the coaches and also with 
 trains of emigrants to protect them from raiders. 
 The United States mails were carried by the Over- 
 land stage and they had to be protected by the gov- 
 ernment from interference by the Indians and white 
 desperadoes. Thousands of emigrants were moving 
 
 FALLS OF THE CACHE LA POUDRE 
 
 westward in those days and they also claimed and re- 
 ceived, so far as it was possible, the same protection. 
 The result was the soldiers were kept pretty busy 
 most of the time. After a stage coach or a train of 
 emigrants had been guarded by soldiers from La- 
 porte to Willow Springs on the Laramie Plains, it 
 was turned over to another detail of troops which 
 accompanied the travelers to the next division point; 
 the first detail returning to their post at Laporte. 
 In this way the line was kept open and practically 
 undisturbed, for the Indians and desperadoes had a 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 healthy fear of the soldiers and generally gave them 
 a wide berth. Occasionally a band of Indians or 
 white marauders would swoop down upon a guarded 
 stage coach or a protected emigrant train and either 
 overpower or kill the guards and run off the stock, 
 but these raids did not occur very often. The road 
 from Denver to Willow Springs was kept open all 
 of the time and travelers were seldom molested. 
 From Willow Springs westward across the Laramie 
 Plains the stage and emigrant trains had more or 
 less trouble from raids by the Indians, and many of 
 the people lost their lives through the rapacity of the 
 savages. Road agents or stage robbers' gave the 
 Overland company more trouble than the Indians. 
 They usually did their work in the night while the 
 Indians very seldom operated after dark. In Septem- 
 ber, 1862, an east bound Overland coach was held 
 up near the North Platte crossing and robbed by 
 two men. The driver was killed and the robbers 
 carried off a small iron safe, which contained $70,- 
 000 in gold dust that was being sent east from Cal- 
 ifornia by express. There is a tradition to the 
 effect that this treasury box was brought down 
 the line to Virginia Dale and hidden in the hills 
 near the station. Later that fall two prospect- 
 ors, a German and an Irishman, on their way to 
 Denver, made their appearance at John B. Provost's 
 in Laporte, with a large quantity of gold dust 
 which they claimed to have taken from a mine 
 in the mountains which they had discovered. In 
 the spring of 1863 they again passed Provost's on 
 their way to the mountains, returning in the fall 
 with between $6,000 and $7,000 in gold dust 
 which they said came from their mine, the loca- 
 tion of which they refused to make known. The 
 following winter, so the story goes, the Irishman 
 was killed in a quarrel at Central City and the 
 German made his trips to his gold mine alrfne after 
 that, always returning in the fall with a goodly 
 quantity of gold dust. Efforts were made to get 
 him to tell where his mine was, but he always put 
 off his questioners in one way and another and never 
 would give the desired information. At last a party 
 of men set out to find what was then called the 
 "Dutchman's" mine, but after prospecting for sev- 
 eral days without results gave up the search. In the 
 spring of 1864, when the old German passed 
 through Laporte on his way to the mountains, two 
 men followed him thinking he would lead them di- 
 rectly to the place where he claimed to have found 
 so much gold, but he discovered their purpose and 
 threw them off the track by going up the Cache la 
 Poudre and crossing over into what is now Grand 
 
 county through Lulu pass. He was never after- 
 wards seen in these parts. The story goes that he 
 was lynched in Central City for killing a man. At 
 any rate the "Dutchman's" mine was never found, 
 and the supposition is that the German and his part- 
 ner were the ones who held up and robbed the stage 
 coach of its treasure box and afterward obtained 
 their supply of gold dust from the place where they 
 had hidden it in the mountains near Virginia Dale. 
 The keeping of a record of the proceedings of the 
 board of county commissioners began October 8th, 
 1864, when Abner Loomis, John Heath and Will- 
 iam A. Bean, commissioners for the county, ap- 
 pointed by Governor John Evans, met at Laporte 
 and organized by electing Abner Loomis chairman. 
 According to the record, all the board did after or- 
 ganizing was to approve the official bonds of the 
 several county officers appointed by the governor at 
 the same time the commissioners were appointed. 
 There was, in fact but little else to be done at that 
 time. There were no public roads, no bridges, ex- 
 cept private or toll bridges, and no school districts 
 in the county. No term of the district court 
 had then been held consequently there were no 
 jurors nor witnesses to be paid, and the newly ap- 
 pointed county officers had as yet performed no serv- 
 ice for which they were entitled to pay. As a matter 
 of fact, the commissioners had no public money to 
 expend for any purpose, as the first assessment of 
 property in the county for taxation was made that 
 year. The records fail to show who was assessed, 
 what species of property was listed and the total 
 amount of the roll, but the footings of the roll could 
 not have amounted to many thousands of dollars, as 
 only personal property such as cattle, horses, wagons 
 and improvements on public land were subject to 
 taxation. The land could not be taxed as the title 
 still remained in the government and as the country 
 was new and most of the settlers were poor, there 
 was not much property to assess. The public land 
 had just been surveyed by the government and of 
 course no land patents had been issued to any of the 
 settlers. Previous to the time when the public sur- 
 veys were completed the settlers only possessed a 
 squatter's right to their lands, but after the surveys 
 were made and section and township lines were es- 
 tablished, they began to make preemption and home- 
 stead filings in which these lands were definitely de- 
 scribed. These lands could not be taxed, however, 
 until after the government had issued patents on 
 them, and it does not appear from the county records 
 that any of the public lands in Larimer county were 
 patented until several years afterward, consequently 
 
 [55] . 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 only the improvements made on them by settlers 
 were taxed. 
 
 The first land patent recorded in Larimer county 
 was issued May 1st, 1867, to Antoine Janis, as- 
 signee of Marcus Minorca, a New Mexican volun- 
 teer in the Navajo trouble to whom had been issued 
 land warrant No. 103,153, for 160 acres of land. 
 Janis located the warrant on the E. ^ of the S. E. ^ 
 of section 30, and W. ^ of the S. W. ^ of section 
 29, township No. 8, north of range No. 69, west of 
 the 6th principal meridian, the same land he had 
 claimed under a squatter's right in 1844 — twenty- 
 three years before. The patent was signed by An- 
 drew Johnson, President of the United States, and 
 recorded on August 30th, 1867, in book "B" of the 
 Larimer county records, by John C. Matthews as 
 deputy for Edward C. Smith, county clerk. 
 
 Before the county was thoroughly organized for 
 judicial purposes in 1864, A. F. Howes, who had 
 been appointed county clerk by Governor Gilpin 
 soon after Larimer county had been created by the 
 Territorial legislature, opened "Book 'A' of deeds 
 of Larimer county, Colorado Territory." In this 
 book were recorded squatter's claims to land, bills 
 of sale, chattel mortgages; and later on land office 
 receiver's duplicate receipts; quit-claim deeds, con- 
 tracts, etc. The first instrument in writing re- 
 corded in this book purports to be Hal Sayr's squat- 
 ter's claim to 160 acres of land, which was filed for 
 record January 31st, 1862, by A. F. Howes, county 
 clerk and recorder. Four days afterwards, on Feb- 
 ruary 4th, 1862, E. W. Raymond's squatter's claim 
 was filed for record from which it appears that the 
 county clerk was not rushed with work in those 
 days. Every one of the instruments recorded in 
 1862 were acknowledged before J. C. Peabody, who 
 seems to have been the only justice of the peace in 
 the county. Hal Sayr acted as deputy clerk in 1862, 
 and J. C. Peabody served as deputy in 1863, under 
 A. F. Howes. The last instrument recorded in 
 book "A" is a quit-claim deed from J. M. Sher- 
 wood to Ben Holladay, sub-contractor of the Over- 
 land stage company. It conveys to the grantee the 
 rights of the grantor to certain lands situated near 
 the mouth of Boxelder creek, the consideration 
 named being $500. This deed was recorded Octo- 
 ber 24th, 1863, by L. Wright, deputy, in the ab- 
 sence of J. C. Peabody, the regularly appointed 
 deputy clerk. Book "B" of the record of deeds was 
 opened April 10th, 1865, by H. W. Chamberlin, 
 county clerk and recorder. Between October 24th, 
 1863, the date of the recording of the last instru- 
 ment in book "A", and April 10th, 1865, the date 
 
 of the opening of book "B", the records fail to show 
 that any instruments were recorded by the county 
 clerk. There is a hiatus there of one year, five 
 months and sixteen days, when business in the 
 county clerk's office appears to have been at a stand- 
 still. The first instrument recorded in book "B", 
 April 10th, 1865, was a United States receiver's 
 duplicate receipt No. 197, issued to A. F. Howes, 
 February 7th, 1865, upon the payment of $200, 
 being in full for the N. i of the N. E. i, and N. E. 
 i of the N. W. i of section 18, and S. E. i of the 
 
 FIRST CHIMNEY BUILT IN LARIMER COUNTY: 
 HOME OF EBENEZER DAVIS 
 
 S. W. i of section 7, all in township No. 7 north of 
 range No. 68 W. embracing l60 acres at the rate of 
 $1.25 per acre. The duplicate was issued at the 
 Denver land office by C. B. Clement, receiver. 
 From the records this appears to have been the first 
 entry- of public land in Larimer county and the first 
 duplicate receipt issued to a Larimer county pre- 
 emptor. Mr. Howes, who was afterwards county 
 judge of Larimer county and later represented the 
 county in the state senate for four years, filed a 
 squatter's claim on the land described in 1862 and 
 preempted the same soon after the Government sur- 
 vey had been made in 1864. He proved up on his 
 preemption in February, 1865, and completed the 
 the entry under the United States land laws. This 
 formed a part of Judge Howes' 800-acre ranch 
 which he owned and controlled for 35 years, when 
 it passed into other hands and is now owned by 
 the Water Supply and Storage Company. 
 
 No one living here at the present time seems to be 
 able to account for the hiatus of nearly eighteen 
 months in the public records of the county. It was 
 not because the settlers had forsaken their homes 
 
 [56] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER- COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 and claims and gone elsewhere, nor because they 
 neither bought nor sold land claims or other prop- 
 erty during the interim, for the same names appear 
 in record book "B" as grantors and grantees that 
 appeared in record book "A", with here and there 
 a new name, showing that instead of having moved 
 away accessions had been made to the number of 
 settlers here in 1863. It is possible that Judge 
 Howes, who opened record book "A" January 31st, 
 1862, before the county had been organized for judi- 
 cial purposes, found that his acts as county clerk and 
 recorder had no legal standing and were therefore 
 invalid, hence closed up his office and discontinued 
 the keeping of the records. Whatever the cause, 
 the fact remains that there is not the scratch of a pen 
 in the public records from October 24th, 1863, to 
 April 10th, 1865, to show that a single transfer of 
 property had been made by anybody within the 
 boundaries of Larimer county. This lapse in the 
 records does not, however, efEect titles to land, for 
 in those days no one had any better title than a 
 squatter's right to preempt or homestead when it 
 came into market. The government surveys were 
 made in the latter part of 1863 and in 1864, and it 
 was not until then that settlers could get even a 
 shadow of a tittle to the land they had squatted 
 upon. After that, preemption and homestead filings 
 were made and these subsequently proved up on 
 when the title passed from the government to the 
 settler. The number of Judge Howes' duplicate 
 receipt, 197, shows that up to that time, February 
 7th, 1865, but few settlers in Colorado had acquired 
 title to their land. That was because the govern- 
 ment surveys had not heen made and therefore no 
 title to land could be given until the country had 
 been surveyed, platted and opened for . permanent 
 settlement. When this was done, thousands of pre- 
 emption and homestead filings were made and the 
 records of Larimer county from that time on are 
 filled with recorded evidences of title to real estate. 
 The first settlers of the county located on the bottom 
 lands adjacent to the streams and not until these 
 were all taken up and occupied, was any attempt 
 made to secure claim or title to what are known as 
 bench or bluff lands. Native grasses grew luxur- 
 iantly on the bottom lands and, when cured, made 
 excellent hay, and as hay, in the early days, brought 
 a good price at Denver and in the mining camps, the 
 first settlers devoted almost their entire efforts and 
 energies to the production of hay. A few of them 
 planted gardens in the low lands and raised potatoes 
 and other vegetables for market with marked suc- 
 cess. But little grain of any kind was grown in 
 
 the county until about 1864, when a few of the 
 ranchmen ventured to sow wheat and oats and to 
 plant corn. The result of these few experiments 
 were so much better than expected that a much lar- 
 ger area was planted to small grains in 1865, so that 
 the birth of diversified agriculture in Larimer 
 county can be dated from about that period of time. 
 
 After the settlers began to get titles to their lands 
 the county took on a better and more favorable ap- 
 pearance. Improvements were made, more comfort- 
 able and more convenient houses were built to take 
 the place of sod-covered and dirt-floored log cabins, 
 the farms were fenced, trees planted and the general 
 air of the Great American desert began to take on a 
 more civilized and homelike aspect. About this time 
 it was demonstrated that the uplands produced the 
 best wheat, oats and other small grains and largest 
 yields per acre and new comers began to locate on 
 and improve them. Companies were incorporated 
 to build irrigating ditches through which to carry 
 water from the streams to irrigate the lands, which 
 previous to this time, were thought to be worthless 
 except for pasture. The surplus grain produced in 
 1865-6 and 7 was hauled in wagons to Denver and 
 marketed at good prices, and all the ranchmen were 
 making money and doing well. New farms were 
 opened up and the grain crops became so important 
 that in 1867 a grist mill was built in the Big 
 Thompson valley and a year later another one was 
 erected at Fort Collins. These mills were equipped 
 with old fashioned millstones and bolts, but they 
 served a good purpose for several years and afforded 
 the farmers of the two valleys a home market for 
 their surplus grain products, thus saving the long 
 and tiresome haul to Denver. 
 
 Late in 1863, Co. B of the First Colorado volun- 
 teer cavalry was transferred from Laporte to another 
 field of activity and a detachment of the Eleventh 
 Kansas volunteer cavalry was sent west to guard 
 the Overland stage line, taking the place of the 
 Colorado troops. The following spring Lieut. Col. 
 W. O. Collins, commanding the Eleventh Ohio 
 regiment of volunteer cavalry, stationed at Fort 
 Laramie, Wyoming, sent companies F and B of his 
 regiment to Laporte to take the place of the Kansas 
 troops which had been ordered into active service in 
 the field. The Ohio troops arrived here in May and 
 established a post a short distance southwest of the 
 point of rgcks west of Laporte, which they named 
 Camp Collins in honor of Col. Collins, commander 
 of the regiment. These two companies of mounted 
 troops, commanded by Capt. W. H. Evans, remained 
 at Camp Collins doing patrol and guard duty until 
 
 [57] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 October, 1864, when the camp was moved to the site 
 of the present city of Fort Collins, the reason of the 
 change being that the old camp at Laporte was 
 flooded during the high water of June that year 
 and much of the camp equipment, including tents, 
 ammunition, blankets and clothing was washed away 
 and lost at a cost of several thousand dollars. The 
 new Camp Collins formed the nucleus around which 
 the present city of Fort Collins and county seat of 
 Larimer county, has since been built up, and as the 
 history of the camp and the founding of that city 
 are intimately connected, further and more ex- 
 tended reference to the soldiers and their duty and 
 experiences here, will be made under the separate 
 head of "Fort Collins'' in this volume. 
 
 Early Records of County Com- 
 missioners 
 
 Though set off and created by an act of the Ter- 
 ritorial legislature, approved in September, 1861, as 
 already stated, Larimer county remained unorgan- 
 ized until 1864, for reasons elsewhere given, con- 
 sequently little or nothing was done in the way of 
 making public improvements. The county remained 
 in an inchoate state. The elements were present, the 
 people were here, though few in number, compara- 
 tively speaking, the boundaries had been defined and 
 the legislature had conferred upon the inhabitants 
 the power to organize and the governor had ap- 
 pointed a full set of county officers so that, appar- 
 ently, nothing stood in the way of the establishment 
 of a county government. But the people were not 
 yet ready to assume the responsibility. They were 
 satisfied with conditions as they existed. The board 
 of .county commissioners appointed by Governor 
 Gilpin in January, 1862, failed to organize and 
 there is nothing on record to show that the other 
 county officers appointed at the same time qualified 
 by filing bonds and oaths of office. Later in the 
 season Governor Gilpin appointed a new set of 
 county officers, including Joseph Mason, James 
 
 B. Arthur and William B. Osborn as a board 
 of commissioners. This board organized by 
 electing Mr. Osborn chairman, and proceeded 
 to lay out the commissioner districts of the 
 county practically as they still exist. Capt. 
 
 C. C. Hawley informed the author that after 
 the failure of the first board of commissioners. Gov. 
 Gilpin appealed to him to furnish the names of three 
 qualified men for commissioners who would organ- 
 ize and act as such. Capt. Hawley recommended 
 Messrs Mason, Arthur and Osborn and they were 
 
 [58] 
 
 appointed. A. F. Howes was at the same time ap- 
 pointed clerk and recorder and he entered upon his 
 official duties January 31, 1862. It does not ap- 
 pear that the board of commissioners transacted any 
 public business during their term beyond that of lay- 
 ing out the commissioner districts. 
 
 In September, 1864, Governor Evans appointed 
 the following county officers: County Commision- 
 
 SAWTOOTH MOUNTAIN, FROM MICHIGAN 
 DITCH CAMP 
 
 ers, Abner Loomis, John Heath and William A. 
 Bean; County Judge, John E. Washburn, Sheriff, 
 Henry Arrison; Treasurer, B. T. Whedbee; Asses- 
 sor, J. M. Smith; County Clerk, H. W. Chamber- 
 lin; Superintendent of Schools, H. B. Chubbuck. At 
 this time there was but one public highway in the 
 county and that was the Territorial road leading 
 north from Denver to Fort Laramie. This road 
 followed the Old Cherokee trail which closely 
 hugged the hogbacks. Bridges had been built over 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 the Big Thompson at Namaqua and over the Cache 
 la Poudre at Laporte, but they were toll bridges 
 owned by private parties or incorporated companies. 
 These bridges were used mainly during flood periods 
 when the water was too high for safe fording. 
 
 Record book No. 1 of the board of county com- 
 missioners opens with a brief report of the first meet- 
 ing of the new board, which was held October 8th, 
 1864 at Laporte. The minutes of that meeting 
 state that "the board convened at 4 o'clock p. m. 
 Abner Loomis and John Heath being present and 
 W. A. Bean absent. Abner Loomis was chosen 
 chairman. The board proceeded to examine the 
 bonds of the following county officers: H. W. 
 Chamberlin, clerk and recorder; B. T. Whedbee, 
 treasurer; J. E. Washburn, probate judge; H. B. 
 Chubbuck, school superintendent; James M. Smith, 
 assessor." 
 
 After approving the official bonds of these officers 
 the board adjourned without transacting any other 
 public business. No other meeting appears to have 
 been held until February 17, 1865, when the 
 board levied a tax of $1,000 "for the purpose of 
 raising recruits for the 90-day service," in response 
 to the call of Governor Evans, dated February 6th, 
 1865; also a tax of $250 for the purpose of pur- 
 chasing books, blanks, and stationery for the use of 
 the county. Abner Loomis and John Heath were 
 present at this meeting, Mr. Loomis presiding. 
 
 On the 23rd of the following April the board 
 met again and appropriated $150 to pay for a log 
 house purchased of Henry Arrison, situated in La- 
 porte; said building to be used for county purposes. 
 Among the bills allowed and ordered paid at the 
 next meeting held July 15, 1865, were the follow- 
 ing: 
 
 $250 to Wm. B. Osborn for a horse pressed into 
 the military service by order of Col. Moonlight, 
 commander of the district; also $50 to Abner 
 Loomis for one horse ; B. T. Whedbee $50 for one 
 horse; Wm. Adolph $50 for one horse; Joseph Ma- 
 son $50 for one horse; Mariana Modena $150 
 for three horses. These horses had all been 
 pressed into the military service. At this meet- 
 ing there were present William A. Bean, Ab- 
 ner Loomis, and John Heath. On July 26th, 
 the board met again and allowed bills amount- 
 ing to $250, each to Johnathan E. Wilde, and 
 J. M. Sherwood for horses pressed into the military 
 service by order of Col. Moonlight; $50 each to 
 Mariana Modena, James M. Smith, James M. 
 Eaglin, Frank Card, Joseph Markley, John J. Ryan, 
 Daniel Walker, Jerry Kuhns, Sebastian Foster, 
 
 Thomas H. Johnson, John Hahn, Wm. B. Osborn, 
 H. Hillbury, Luber Hillbury, Wesley Hillbury 
 and H. Sharp, and $25 each to Nelson Hollowell, 
 Thomas Cross, John D. Bartholf, John E. Wash- 
 burn, John Keirnes and G. L. Luce to reimburse 
 them for bounty money paid to recruits for the 90 
 day service. At this meeting the board fixed the 
 annual tax levy at 7 mills on the dollar for county 
 purposes; 13 mills special tax to pay bounties to 
 recruits ; also a poll tax of $2 and a military poll of 
 50 cents. 
 
 The next meeting of the board occurred January 
 8, 1866, with Abner Lommis, James B. Arthur and 
 Wm. A. Bean as members, Mr. Arthur having 
 been elected to succeed John Heath at the election 
 held in September, 1865, the first general election 
 held in the county. Bills for per diem of judges 
 and clerks of the election for canvassing of the re- 
 turns were allowed and ordered paid. The names 
 of those receiving county warrants for this service 
 follow: James M. Smith, John E. Washburn, 
 Thomas Cross, S. W. Smith, Harris Stratton, H. C. 
 Peterson, Dominie Bray, H. B. Chubbuck, John 
 Heath, J. B. Ames, G. R. Strauss, Wm. Rasmus, 
 Henry Arrison, C. C. Smith, J. A. C. Hickman, 
 Daniel Johnson, Ed. C. Smith, J. M. Smith Jr., 
 William Cosslett, John R. Thacker, Antoine Le- 
 beau, R. J. Brown, G. A. Goodrich, Thomas Gill, 
 John M. Tout, Peter Cazzoe and E. G. Howard. 
 
 J. E. Washburn and Wm. B. Osborn and others 
 presented a petition for the laying out and estab- 
 lishing of public highways in the Big Thompson 
 valley. These were the first petitions to come be- 
 fore the board asking for public highways. 
 
 Samuel E. Brown of Denver, was employed by 
 the board to collect from the United States the 
 money expended by the county in raising 90-day 
 men for military service in 1864, for which he was 
 to be paid 33 1-3 per cent of the amount collected. 
 If he failed in his endeavor he was to receive no 
 compensation. 
 
 At the next meeting held February 6th, 1866, 
 the first road petition acted upon was granted and a 
 highway described as follows laid out and estab- 
 lished : "Commencing at a point on the southern 
 boundary line of the military reservation of Fort 
 Collins, running parallel with the township line be- 
 tween ranges 68 and 69 west and three-fourths of a 
 mile west from said township line and running due 
 south to the southern line of the county of Larimer, 
 in conformity with the petition of John E. Wash- 
 burn and 29 others." This road was afterwards 
 vacated and laid upon the section line and is now 
 
 [59] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 known as the College Avenue road. It was the 
 first public road laid out and established in Larimer 
 county. 
 
 The records do not show that another meeting of 
 the board was held until January 12th, 1867, a per- 
 iod of more than a year having elapsed since the pre- 
 vious meeting, though the blank pages from 
 page 10 to page 24, inclusive, in the record 
 book, indicate that meetings were held dur- 
 ing the interim and, for some reason, no 
 record made of them. This session was main- 
 ly devoted to acting upon road petitions, re- 
 bating taxes and auditing bills. The members pres- 
 ent were Abner Loomis, J. B. Arthur and W. A. 
 Bean. On January 23rd, another meeting was held 
 with Commissioners Loomis and Arthur present. 
 At this meeting W. DeW. Taft, late deputy 
 county clerk, on behalf of H. W. Chamberlin, late 
 county clerk, turned over to Edward C. Smith, his 
 successor in office, certain books, records, and papers 
 pertaining to and belonging to the office of county 
 clerk." The session was occupied mainly in audit- 
 ing bills. The sum of $200 was appropriated for 
 the purchase of a bridge over the Big Thompson at 
 Washburn crossing. 
 
 On the 11th of February the board granted per- 
 mission to W. H. Oviatt, agent, Brice Viers, A. H. 
 Reed, agent, and Alexander Stewart to graze cattle 
 in Larimer county. The record does not give the 
 residences of the grantees, but they were presumably 
 citizens of Wyoming. Harris Stratton was ap- 
 pointed a justice of the peace in and for Larimer 
 county. On the 3rd of June, 1867, the salary of J. 
 M. Sherwood, probate judge, was fixed at $150 for 
 the first year of his term of office, and Fred Wallace 
 was appointed a justice of peace. Judges of elec- 
 tion were also appointed at this session as follows: 
 
 Precinct No. 1, John H. Mandeville, Charles 
 Howard, John R. Brown. 
 
 Precinct No. 2, John Davis, John Stotts, Eben- 
 ezer Davis. 
 
 Precinct No. 3, George L. Luce, John J. Ryan, 
 Charles M. Brough. 
 
 Precinct No. 4, N. P. Cooper, Joshua Ames, 
 John G. Coy. 
 
 In 1867, the Colorado Central & Pacific Rail- 
 road company, which had been chartered by the 
 Territorial legislature to build a railroad from 
 Georgetown, via Boulder, St. Vrain and thence 
 through Larimer county in a northeasterly direction 
 to a junction with the Union Pacific railroad then 
 being built westward from Omaha, asked the county 
 to subscribe to the capital stock of the company in 
 
 [60] 
 
 the sum of $25,000, and to pay for the same in the 
 corporate bonds of the county. The company agreed 
 to locate its line of road not more than one mile east 
 of the mouth of Boxelder Creek. In furtherance of 
 the proposition the board of commissioners, at a 
 meeting held August 10th, at Laporte, adopted a 
 resolution providing for submitting to a vote of the 
 people the question of issuing the bonds of the 
 county for that purpose. The election was called 
 for August 13th, and it was held on that day, but 
 the records fail to show whether or not the bonds 
 were voted. The fact remains, however, that they 
 were never issued and the road was never built. 
 It was not until ten years later that a railroad was 
 built into and through the county, that road being 
 the Colorado Central, as it was then and for several 
 years afterwards called, but now known as the Colo- 
 rado & Southern. It passed by the sites of the pres- 
 ent towns of Berthoud and the present city of Love- 
 land and was completed and put into operation in 
 October 1877. A depot and telegraph station were 
 opened in Fort Collins on the 7th day of October. 
 The towns of Loveland and Berthoud had their ori- 
 gin soon after the road was completed. The Greeley 
 Salt Lake and Pacific railroad from Greeley west- 
 ward through Fort Collins was built in 1882, and a 
 few months later the two roads fell into the possess- 
 ion of the Union Pacific Railroad company which, 
 in 1884, took up the rails on the Colorado Central 
 from Fort Collins to Cheyenne, thus cutting Lari- 
 mer county off from direct communication with 
 Wyoming. 
 
 The tax levy for 1867 was fixed at 1 mill for 
 school purposes, 3 mills for territorial purposes, and 
 8 mills for county purposes. Licenses to sell liquors 
 were issued October 7th, to Peter Decora, Cornelius 
 Maxwell and Provost & Claymore, at $100 each 
 per annum. The rates of toll to be charged on the 
 Laporte, Virginia Dale and Boundary Line wagon 
 road were fixed at 25 cents for team and wagon, 2 
 cents per head for loose stock, 15 cents for carriages 
 and teams, and 1 cent per head for sheep and hogs. 
 At a special session of the board held March 12th, 
 1868, it was ordered that a county jail, 14 feet 
 square, 8 feet high, be built of hewn logs. This 
 jail was built at Laporte by B. T. Whedbee and 
 Charles W. Ramer hauled the logs for it from the 
 mountains with an ox-team. The tax levy for that 
 year was fixed at 20 mills for county purposes; 5 
 mills, for territorial purposes and 5 mills for school 
 purposes, at a session of the board held July 6th. At 
 this meeting a petition signed by 99 of the legal 
 voters of the county, was presented asking the board 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 to call an election for the purpose of voting on a per- 
 manent location of the county seat. The prayer of 
 the petitioners was granted and the county clerk 
 directed to post notices of such election in each of the 
 voting precincts. This election was held on the 8th 
 day of September, 1868. Old St. Louis, situated on 
 the Big Thompson one mile east of the present city 
 of Loveland, Laporte and Camp Collins, each as- 
 pired to the honor of being known as the county 
 seat, but the election resulted in favor of Camp 
 Collins. On August 5th, the board set off and 
 created the following elections: precincts No. 1, La- 
 porte; No. 2, Camp Collins; No. 3, Sherwood; No. 
 4, Big Thompson ; No. 5, Livermore. 
 
 On the 5th of October Mason & Co. were noti- 
 fied to immediately move the county jail, safe, books, 
 records and papers belonging to Larimer county 
 from Laporte to Camp Collins. This was done 
 and the next meeting of the board was held Novem- 
 ber 17th, 1868, at Camp Collins. Abner Loomis 
 and James B. Arthur were the only members pres- 
 ent. From this on for several years the sessions of 
 the board were held in the Old Grout building 
 erected for a sutler's store in 1865 on the site of F. 
 P. Stover's drug store, which had been fitted up 
 with bookcases, desks, tables, chairs and a stove for 
 the use of the board. The room on the second floor 
 of the building, occupied by the board of commis- 
 sioners, was also used as a court room, for church 
 and Sunday school purposes, theaters and balls. One 
 of the bills allowed at this session was for $10 to C. 
 Boulware for making a cofKn for a man killed by the 
 Indians, but who the man was and where he was 
 killed are not divulged by the records. 
 
 Beginning with July 5th, 1869, the records of the 
 board of commissioners were dated at Fort Collins, 
 instead of Camp Collins, showing that the people had 
 become ambitious and discarded the common every 
 day term "Camp" for the more aristocratic title 
 "Fort". From that time to the present the town 
 has been known as Fort Collins, though, until Fort 
 Logan was established near Denver a few years 
 ago, there was no fort nearer than Fort Laramie, 
 130 miles away. 
 
 It is -apparent from the records that in 1870, 
 stage robbers had begun to commit depredations on 
 the Denver and Cheyenne stage line, owned by 
 Mason & Co., for on the 4th of January that year 
 the board offered a reward of $250 for the capture 
 and delivery of the robbers to the Larimer county 
 authorities. No one ever called for the reward, so 
 it is safe to say that the robbers were not caught. 
 
 At the meeting held November 7th, 1870, 
 Lorenzo Snyder appeared as a member in place of 
 William A. Bean, whose term of office had expired. 
 The new board was composed of James B. Arthur, 
 Abner Loomis and Lorenzo Snyder, with Mr. 
 Arthur as chairman. H. W. Chamberlin, clerk; C. 
 C. Hawley, assessor, and A. K. Yount, probate 
 judge. 
 
 On the petition of A. R. Chaffee and 29 others, 
 the board, on December 26th, 1870, laid out and 
 established the Rist canon road from the southeast 
 corner of John B. Provost's claim to the divide be- 
 tween the head of Rist canon and the Redstone 
 creek; this is the road that leads over Bingham hill. 
 At this session of the board the grand jury sub- 
 mitted, the following report on the county jail: 
 
 "The grand jury now in session beg leave to 
 report to the county commissioners that the pres- 
 ent jail is insecure and not worth repairing, and 
 that they put it to a vote of the people if we build 
 a new one, at the next general election. Signed, 
 J. W. Smith, A. L. Fell, J. P. Warren, Thomas 
 Cross, P. J. Bosworth, committee." Beyond ac- 
 cepting the report, the board took no action, and the 
 old log jail was continued in use. 
 
 The session of January 2nd, 1871, was given 
 over to the hearing of road petitions, and quite a 
 number were acted upon. The country was set- 
 tling up and ranchmen were fencing their premi- 
 ses, making it necessary that public roads be laid 
 out and established for the convenience of the peo- 
 ple. They could no longer drive where they 
 pleased over the open prairie as they had done in 
 years that had passed, so that for several years be- 
 ginning with this period, much of the work of the 
 county commissioners consisted in hearing and act- 
 ing upon road petitions and in laying out and estab- 
 lishing public highways. At the session held April 
 3rd, 1871, the board purchased the W. J. & O. M. 
 Carwile toll bridge over the Little Thompson 
 creek for $75, and the Mariana toll bridge over 
 the Big Thompson river for $200, making them 
 public bridges. The Buckhorn election precinct 
 was also set off at this session, and John C. Ish, 
 James R. Oliver and Lucas Brandt were appointed 
 judges of election. The tax levy for the year was 
 fixed at 7^ mills for county purposes, and 4i mills 
 for school purposes. The resignation of A. K. Yount 
 as probate judge, was accepted, and Alfred F. 
 Howes was appointed to fill the vacancy. 
 
 In September of that year F. W. Sherwood was 
 elected a member of the board to succeed James B. 
 
 [61] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNT Y 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 Arthur. Mr. Sherwood met with the board for the 
 first time on October 6th. On February 3rd, 1872, 
 in compliance with the petition of citizens, liquor 
 licenses were increased from $100 to $300 per 
 annum, and on March 4th, C. C. Hawley was ap- 
 pointed corresponding clerk of the Colorado Im- 
 migration society. 
 
 At the session held November 4th, the board or- 
 dered a special election to be held December 9th, 
 
 1872, to vote on the proposition of issuing the bonds 
 of the county to the am.ount of $100,000 to aid in 
 the construction of the Cache la Poudre & Pacific 
 railroad. The judges appointed to conduct said 
 election were: 
 
 Precinct No. 1, Laporte — James H. Swan, W. F. 
 Watrous, Thomas Gill. 
 
 Precinct No. 2, Fort Collins— B. T. Whedbee, J. 
 H. Bradstreet, George Sykes. 
 
 Precinct No. 3, Sherwood — J. B. Arthur, 
 Thomas Earnest, John Hilton. 
 
 Precinct No. 4, Big Thompson — George Litle, 
 James S. Carwile, Thomas Cross. 
 
 Precinct No. 5, Livermore — William Calloway, 
 Russell Fisk, John Fitz. 
 
 Precinct No. 6, Buckhorn — Ed. Clark, Frank 
 Tower, H. Clayton. 
 
 The order calling the election was revoked No- 
 vember 25th, at the request of the railroad com- 
 pany, and therefore no election was held. 
 
 At the session of the board held February 3rd, 
 
 1873, a petition was presented by the taxpayers of 
 Fort Collins, asking that said town be incorporated. 
 The commissioners being satisfied that two-thirds 
 of the tax payers in said town had signed the peti- 
 tion, ordered that the town of Fort Collins be in- 
 corporated and appointed B. T. Whedbee, G. G. 
 Blake, H. C. Peterson, W. C. Stover and W. S. 
 Vescelius trustees of said town to serve until their 
 successors were elected. L. R. Rhodes was ap- 
 pointed county attorney at this meeting, and the sum 
 of $1200 was appropriated for the purpose of build- 
 ing a bridge over the Cache la Poudre river at the 
 foot of College avenue, provided the trustees of the 
 town of Fort Collins built a good practicable road 
 to and from said bridge. 
 
 Election precincts. No. 7 (Virginia Dale) and 
 No. 8, (Little Thompson) were set off and estab- 
 lished, July 20th, 1874. 
 
 At the election held in September, 1874, the fol- 
 lowing county officers were elected : Jack Dow, 
 
 [62] 
 
 county surveyor ; Fred Wallace, assessor ; J. E. Rem- 
 ington, probate judge; A. H. Patterson, county 
 clerk; Joseph Mason, sheriff; John G. Coy, county 
 commissioner ; R. W. Bosworth, county superintend- 
 ent. The county treasurer elect failing to qualify, 
 Wm. B. Osborn was appointed treasurer, Novem- 
 23th to fill the vacancy. On December 7th, 1874, 
 thirteen road districts were formed and overseers 
 were appointed as follows: No. 1, G. W. Collier; 
 No. 2, W. A. Bean; No. 3, J. J. Ryan; No. 4, Gil- 
 bert Tower; No. 5, George W. Richart; No. 6, 
 Lewis Kern; No. 7, Norman Piatt; No. 8, W. S. 
 Vescelius; No. 9, D. T. Jackson; No. 10, Jacob 
 Flowers; No. 11, M. L. Sawin; No. 12, Edward 
 Davies; No. 13, A. J. Shotwell. 
 
 R. W. Cloud was awarded the contract on March 
 1st, 1875, for building the bridge over the Cache la 
 Poudre river, to cost $864. 
 
 On Tuesday, May 4th, 1875, the board adopted 
 a resolution requiring all persons floating timber 
 down the Cache la Poudre and Big Thompson 
 rivers to give bonds to secure ditch owners from 
 damage to their dams and headgates during the 
 timber driving season. Timber drivers on the Cache 
 la Poudre were required to give bonds in the sum of 
 $15,000 and those on the Big Thompson in the sum 
 of $5,000. In those days thousands of saw logs, rail- 
 road ties, and mine props were cut in the mountains 
 during the winter and floated down during high 
 water to the railroad at Greeley, where the logs 
 were sawed into lumber and the ties and mine 
 props shipped to points where they were needed. 
 At times the streams would be choked with floating 
 timber which frequently tore out dams and carried 
 away headgates of irrigating ditches to the great 
 damage of owners. 
 
 Estes Park was set off and organized as an elec- 
 tion precinct in September 1875, and the board ap- 
 propriated $300 for use in opening a county road 
 from Bald Mountain to the Park. On November 
 1st, a contract was let to John W. Boyd to build a 
 vault for use in protecting county records, books, 
 and papers from danger of destruction by fire. For 
 this work the contractor was to be paid the sum of 
 $350. At this session the proposition of Charles 
 Emerson, J. B. Flower, John C. Abbott, J. H. 
 Boughton, James Conroy and Coon & Scranton to 
 donate to the county the sum of $800 to be expended 
 in erecting a building suitable for use of the county 
 officers, was accepted. This action of the board re- 
 sulted in bringing on a fight between the old town 
 and the new town, which raged with much bitter- 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 ness for nearly twenty years. The old town as 
 laid out in 1866, was extended from the river south 
 to Mountain avenue and west from where the old 
 foundry stood on Riverside avenue to College ave- 
 nue, the streets running southeast and northwest, 
 practically parallel with the river. In 1872 the 
 colony came and laid out and platted a new town 
 abutting on the south and west boundaries of the old 
 town. At this time all the stores, shops, hotels and 
 other business places, including the postoflSce and tel- 
 egraph station were located in the old town, whose 
 inhabitants watched with a jealous eye the improve- 
 ments that were being made, the business houses es- 
 tablished and homes erected in the new town. The 
 colony had donated to the county block 101, where 
 the court house now stands, as a site for the court 
 house and it was on this ground that the proposed 
 county offices were to be built. With the idea of 
 heading oil and preventing the erection of the pro- 
 posed offices in court square, by which the new town 
 would receive a more direct benefit than the old 
 town, W. C. Stover and A. K. Yount represent- 
 ing the interests of the old town, submitted a coun- 
 ter proposition as follows. "That they would build 
 offices and vaults and give the county the use of 
 them rent free for an indefinite period of time, or so 
 long as the county saw fit to occupy them. The 
 board rejected the proposition and on November 
 3rd, let a contract to Eph Love and Jonas Boorse to 
 erect a small building on block 101, for county 
 offices. The building was one story high, about 16 
 by 30 in size, and contained two rooms, one for the 
 county clerk and the other for the county treasurer, 
 for which they were to receive $490. This build- 
 ing was used until thirteen years later when the 
 new court house was completed and ready to 
 occupy, then sold and moved to a lot on S. Sher- 
 wood street where it was fitted up as a dwelling 
 and is still used as such. 
 
 On February 1st, 1876, Joseph Mason resigned 
 the office of sheriff and Eph Love was appointed to 
 fill the vacancy, and on April 2nd, A. H. Patterson 
 tendered his resignation as county clerk and re- 
 corder, which was accepted. Charles P. Scott of 
 Big Thompson was appointed to fill the vacancy 
 thus created. 
 
 Previous to the adoption of the state constitution 
 and the admission of Colorado into the Union as a 
 sovereign state, all county officers assumed the duties 
 of their respective positions immediately after the 
 result of the elections held in September had been 
 declared, but since then, acting under a state law. 
 
 they have taken their offices in the month of Janu- 
 ary next following their election. On December 
 1st, 1877, Marcus Coon resigned the office of 
 sheriff, to which he had been elected in October, 
 1876, and James Sweeney was appointed to succeed 
 him until the election of 1878. At this election 
 Mr. Sweeney was chosen by the people to succeed 
 himself and was thereafter reelected three times in 
 succession. 
 
 Up to February 1878, the board of county com- 
 missioners had been accustomed to granting licenses 
 to saloon keepers outside the limits of incorporated 
 towns to sell liquors. At first the license fee was 
 fixed at $100 per annum, but later increased to 
 $300, the object of the commissioners in in- 
 creasing the fee being to reduce the number of 
 saloons and doggeries in the county. This failing 
 to have the desired effect, the commissioners, on 
 the 4th of February, 1878, passed and adopted the 
 following resolution: 
 
 "Be it resolved, that no further licenses will be 
 granted by the board of commissioners for the sale 
 of spirituous, vinous, fermented and intoxicating 
 liquors after this date." 
 
 This resolution went into effect at once and from 
 that time down to the present, the commissioners 
 have steadily and consistently refused to grant or 
 issue liquor licenses in Larimer county. The mem- 
 bers of the board then were Noah Bristol, Lewis 
 Cross and Revilo Loveland. 
 
 This brings the commissioners' records relating to 
 the most important matters dealt with by them 
 during what might be called the pioneer or forma- 
 tive period of the county, down to the time Colo- 
 rado became a state when a new and more system- 
 atic manner of transacting public business was 
 inaugurated. The board was composed of the same 
 number of members who had been elected in the 
 same manner as their predecessors, but they held 
 regular meetings at intervals prescribed by law, per- 
 forming their duties in a more methodical way and 
 a better, more complete and more business-like 
 record of their proceedings was kept than had been 
 the rule with their predecessors during Territorial 
 days. From 1878 down the records of the com- 
 missioners' proceedings have been preserved in a 
 neat and orderly manner and are full and complete 
 in all essential particulars. This is also true of the 
 other departments of the county government, so since 
 that time a full, accurate and complete record of 
 every transaction of a public nature has been pre- 
 served in each of the county offices. Before that 
 
 [63] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 time, however, the public records are indefinite and 
 incomplete, making it impossible to prepare a con- 
 nected and intelligible transcript of them. 
 
 What Attracted People to Larimer 
 County 
 
 The climate of Colorado is of vital importance 
 to the thousands of invalids throughout the world, 
 as is evidenced by the great number who have come 
 to the state and are now enjoying renewed health, 
 prosperity and happiness. Many such people are to 
 be found comfortably located in Larimer county. 
 In the summer the days are seldom hot, and it is 
 very unusual for the mercury to rise higher than 
 90 degrees; even at this point there is less discom- 
 fort than at a temperature of 80 degrees in the 
 lower altitudes. It may be truly said that the dryer 
 the atmosphere the less discomfort felt from heat or 
 cold. The summer climate of Fort Collins, Love- 
 land, Berthoud and other towns in the county east 
 of the mountains, is equal to that of the Northern 
 lakes and of Maine on the eastern coast. In tem- 
 perature, the eastern part of the county may be 
 compared with that of the Champaigne districts in 
 France. The temperature belt corresponds with 
 that of Scotland. The foot-hill section with that 
 of Southern Sweden. In the mountain regions may 
 be found all varieties of climate, from that of Nor- 
 way to that of Southern Iceland. Citizens of Colo- 
 rado, in a few hours travel by rail may enjoy the 
 warmth of France or the cooler air of the approach 
 to the Artie Circle. The dryness of the atmosphere 
 is of great importance to the health and comfort of 
 persons seeking a congenial climate. The pure 
 life-giving air and the comfort of the average 
 winters and summers, as compared with states far- 
 ther east, are features heartily appreciated by those 
 who have made Colorado their home. The medical 
 profession is rapidly coming to the belief that health 
 depends largely upon the proper assimilation of 
 food. An excess of moisture in the atmosphere has 
 a depressing efifect upon the nervous system, govern- 
 ing nutrition, and it is largely because of the absence 
 of moisture in the air of Colorado that digestion is 
 promoted and health preserved. 
 
 Sunshine is the life of everything. In Colorado 
 the records of the weather bureau show that 320 
 out of 365 days of the year are "sunny days". In 
 Switzerland, 8,500 feet is the line of perpetual 
 snow; in Colorado the timber line is 11,000 feet. 
 Davos Platz (5,200 feet) in Switzerland is un- 
 questionably the most desirable health resort in 
 Europe. The leading climatologists of London, 
 
 [64] 
 
 Glasgow, Boston and New York say that Colorado 
 climate is far superior to Davos Platz for pulmon- 
 ary troubles. In the eastern part of Larimer 
 county at elevations ranging from 4,800 to 5,200 
 feet are large and very fruitful orchards, bearing 
 apples, cherries and plums, while strawberries, 
 raspberries, currants and gooseberries yield enor- 
 mous crops and grow to their greatest perfection. 
 
 Larimer county receives the first waters of sev- 
 eral very important streams and from these streams 
 irrigating canals have been constructed, immense 
 reservoirs built and lateral ditches run in every 
 direction until a large area of the plains portion of 
 the county and many of the foothill parks are 
 covered by a network of canals and ditches that 
 furnish a never failing supply of water throughout 
 the irrigating season. About 200,000 acres is the 
 total covered by these canals in the county, but 
 many of them extend into Weld county on the 
 east where many thousands of acres additional are 
 irrigated. The streams furnishing this supply are 
 the Laramie, Grand, Cache la Poudre and Big 
 Thompson rivers and the Little Thompson and 
 Boxelder creeks. In addition to the supply fur- 
 nished during the irrigating season from these 
 streams, the different storage reservoirs already con- 
 structed hold more than ten billion cubic feet of 
 water, which is held in check during the spring 
 and early summer, when the streams are running 
 full, and drawn out into the canals later in the 
 season when the waters of the rivers and creeks are 
 low. These reservoirs are filled during the winter 
 and from the surplus flood waters that flow down 
 the streams in the spring, and they contain enough 
 water to irrigate and mature the late crops, such 
 as sugar beets, potatoes, etc. The eastern portion of 
 the county is admirably adapted to irrigation farm- 
 ing. The canals are built on a grade that carries 
 them far out on the higher lands, and from these 
 lateral ditches have in turn been constructed to 
 carry the water on to the cultivated fields and 
 meadows, so that nearly all the available land is 
 easily and cheaply given the moisture needed to 
 mature a crop. The streams that furnish the supply 
 of water all have their source in the mountain snow 
 fields, high up among the hills, and they bring down 
 to the headgates of the various irrigating canals a lot 
 of good mineral fertilizing material which, being 
 spread over the land by the water used in irrigating, 
 adds to the fertility of the soil and helps to keep it 
 from becoming exhausted by a succession of crops. 
 
 In addition to the irrigating systems already in 
 operation there are several others in contemplation 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 and the construction of some of them is now in 
 progress. The most important of these is what is 
 known as the Laramie- Poudre project, which when 
 completed will supply water to about 125,000 acres 
 of land in the Northern parts of Larimer and Weld 
 counties. Completed according to plans, this pro- 
 ject will cost about five million dollars. A portion 
 of its water supply will be taken from the Laramie 
 river at a point high up in the mountains. As a 
 means of diverting the water to the Cache la Poudre 
 water shed, a tunnel two and one-fourth miles in 
 length, is being driven through the divide that sep- 
 arates the two streams, through which the water will 
 flow into the Cache la Poudre river. It will be 
 taken out at the company's headgate lower down 
 the stream and thence carried out on to the land 
 through irrigating canals and lateral ditches. Work 
 on the tunnel is now in progress, more than half of 
 it being completed. The Laramie- Poudre Reser- 
 voirs & Irrigation company which has entered upon 
 this stupendous project and is pushing it forward 
 with surprising vigor, will supplement the supply 
 derived from the Laramie river and its tributaries 
 by an extensive system of reservoirs located on the 
 Plains, several of which are already constructed 
 and others in process of construction. These reser- 
 voirs will catch and hold in check a portion of the 
 spring flood waters of the various streams and also 
 the surface flood waters which, during storms of 
 rain, flow down the declivities in great volume. 
 
 With the advantages of a genial climate, a fertile 
 soil and abundance of water for irrigation, good 
 markets for the products of the farm and range, in 
 addition to the various attractions afforded by the 
 grand old mountains with their snow-capped peaks, 
 awe-inspiring canons, rushing streams, beautiful 
 parks and forests of timber, it is not surprising that 
 thousands of the best people on earth are found 
 happily and prosperously located within the borders 
 of Larimer county. And yet there is room for 
 
 Society, Occupations and Pastimes 
 
 Society in the early days was on an altogether 
 diflterent basis from that of the present period. 
 When the pioneers came to the Cache la Poudre and 
 Big Thompson valleys, there was no law by which 
 the actions of men were governed in their relation 
 to others, but it is not so certain, says a writer, 
 that the code of the wilderness would not bear 
 favorable comparison with that of modern times. 
 When it comes to the personal relations of individ- 
 
 uals to each other, the account stands in favor of the 
 wilderness. It has often been demonstrated in the 
 history of the west that the existence of laws and the 
 presence of lawyers to expound and of officers to en- 
 force them, are not indispensable to a just and or- 
 derly condition in thinly settled portions of a coun- 
 try. It was the universal testimony of those familiar 
 with the life of the frontiersman and with that of 
 the pioneer, that crimes of all colors were never so 
 few, and punishment for such as were committed 
 so just, and swift and sure, as in these remote locali- 
 ties where there were neither laws nor lawyers. 
 Men trusted each other. Unless there were circum- 
 stances to justify it the frontiersman was never 
 known to invade the property, or rights of his 
 neighbor, even though detection and discovery 
 were impossible. A pioneer seldom locked his door 
 when leaving home. He felt secure in the be- 
 lief that unless in a case of extreme necessity, the 
 contents of his home would not be disturbed. Each 
 man was in a measure, a law unto himself, but 
 here on the frontier more than in the older com- 
 munities, far more, the precepts of the Golden Rule 
 prevailed, and every man tried to treat his neigh- 
 bor fairly. The pioneers, though assembled from 
 widely differing communities in the east and reared 
 under widely differing conditions had a true sense 
 of justice and if they administered it oftentimes in 
 a rough fashion, there was rarely any complaint that 
 their judgments were wrong. "No court, or jury 
 is called to adjudicate upon his disputes or abuses," 
 says Gregg, "save his own conscience; and no 
 powers are invoked to settle them save those with 
 which the God of Nature has endowed him." It may 
 be truly said that among the pioneers the personal 
 relations of individuals to each other were as har- 
 monious and just as they are under the most elab- 
 orate social organizations. 
 
 Trapping, hunting and fishing were the prin- 
 cipal occupations of the little colony at Laporte in 
 1858-9 — tilling of the soil not being thought of — 
 and horse races, foot races and target shooting the 
 principal amusements. Society was in a primitive 
 state, but human nature is the same the world over 
 and likes to be amused. It was so with the pioneer. 
 While their social gatherings, dances and parties 
 lacked in refinement in dress and manner of those 
 of the present day, they enjoyed them to the utmost, 
 and it is not for us of these latter days to sneer at 
 and ridicule them. Our masquerades and carnivals 
 are the same thing over again, with a little more 
 finery, daintier refreshments and fancier liquors. 
 Horse racing is as popular all over the country 
 
 [65] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 in our day as it was with the first settlers, and Capt. 
 John Smith's squaw wife was presented at the court 
 of England with all the honors that accompany 
 state presentations of today. Indeed, Pocahontas is 
 the only American female honored by a place on 
 American coins. It is surely no disgrace then, that 
 many of the first settlers had Pocahontas wives. 
 Indeed there was not a single white woman on the 
 Poudre in 1858, and only one in 1859. 
 
 One of the notable features in the social affairs 
 of the Poudre was the weekly dog feast. This 
 feature was introduced by the squaw wives of the 
 settlers. A good, fat, healthy dog was slain each 
 week, and the hair singed off over a fire made of dry 
 grass. Then it was put into a kettle and boiled 
 until tender. The meat somewhat resembled pork, 
 and was considered a great delicacy. Some of the 
 feasters, however, could never muster up courage 
 enough to taste it, and as a result the dog feast soon 
 became a relic of the past. In those days, the set- 
 tlers had no calves, lambs or beeves to roast, no 
 clams to bake, no oysters for church suppers, no 
 terrapin, and they just had to boil dog or have no 
 feast at all. It was no uncommon thing for them to 
 be without flour for two or three weeks at a time. 
 Then hoe-cakes were made of Government corn, 
 brought all the way from Fort Laramie, and ground 
 by female hands between common rocks. This is 
 no fancy sketch, but the pure and unadulterated 
 truth, as can be substantiated by the survivors of 
 that early period. 
 
 Overland Stage and Indian Troubles 
 
 During the summer of 1862 the route of the 
 Overland stage was changed from the North Platte 
 to the South Platte. This change was made on ac- 
 count of the many dangers from Indian raids on 
 the coaches and stations and the difficulties exper- 
 ienced in keeping the line open. The new road led 
 by the way of Julesburg to Denver, thence along 
 the base of the mountains to Laporte where it 
 entered the mountains and thence via Virginia Dale, 
 to the Laramie Plains and then due west, to a junc- 
 tion with the old Overland trail. Speaking of this 
 change Coutant's History of Wyoming says, "The 
 transfer to the new line was so successfully accom- 
 plished that not a mail was missed or a coach de- 
 layed. The rolling stock, horses and other property 
 of the stage company was transferred from the old to 
 the new line with Company A of the Eleventh Ohio 
 cavalry acting as escort. After escorting the stage 
 stock to the new line of operations, the command 
 
 [66] 
 
 selected the site for Fort Halleck and constructed 
 the buildings. The fort was located on the new 
 Overland route and was garrisoned for some years 
 by troops from the Eleventh Ohio. The official 
 orders locating Fort Sanders in 1866 includes the 
 abandonment of Fort Halleck. 
 
 "A description of the equipment of the Overland 
 road by Ben Holladay may not prove uninteresting, 
 considering the great disadvantages the stage comp- 
 any labored under in providing it. The coaches, 
 express wagons and rolling stock generally were all 
 manufactured by the famous Concord Coach Manu- 
 facturing company of Concord, New Hampshire. 
 This company not only manufactured the rolling 
 stock but supplied the material used in the repair 
 shops along the line. The harnesses were made by 
 the Hill Harness company of the same city. The 
 material in everything was of the very best. The 
 stations along the line averaged about ten miles 
 apart, and every fifty miles was what was called 
 a 'home station,' where the drivers changed and 
 made their homes. There were also eating stations 
 for passengers. The intermediate stopping places 
 were called 'swing stations' ; here only horses were 
 changed, and at these were kept two men to take 
 care of the stock. At every station was a large barn 
 with accomodations for from thirty to fifty horses. 
 The grain was supplied from Fort Kearney in 
 Nebraska and Salt Lake. When there was a failure 
 of crops, which sometimes happened, horse feed was 
 shipped by wagon train from St. Louis. The main 
 shops were located at Atchison, Kansas, Denver, 
 Colorado, and Salt Lake, Utah, and there were re- 
 pair shops on each division of 200 miles. Besides 
 the repair shops, on each of these divisions was a 
 traveling blacksmith shop. This consisted of a 
 wagon fitted up with bellows and tools, drawn by 
 a team of strong horses. The movable shop was 
 kept going constantly from one end of the division to 
 the other. There were also harness makers and 
 menders, who traveled over each division with his 
 tools and materials for repairing harness. The 
 supplies for this long stretch of road — that is, the 
 provisions used at the stations, were purchased in 
 large quantities at St. Louis and sent out and dis- 
 tributed among the division points, and from there 
 they were sent to smaller stations as required. The 
 company owned large transportation trains of ox 
 and mule teams and these transported all supplies to 
 stations, and on their return hauled wood to places 
 along the line when it was needed. The first 
 division on the main line was from Atchison to Fort 
 Kearney; the second from Fort Kearney to Jules- 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 burg; the third from Julesburg to Denver; the 
 fourth from Denver to Fort Steele, by way of Vir- 
 ginia Dale ; the fifth from Fort Steele to Green river 
 and the sixth from Green river to Salt Lake. Leav- 
 ing Denver going west the stations in Colorado 
 were Burlington, (Longmont), Namaqua, (Big 
 Thompson), Laporte, Park and Virginia Dale. 
 One of the superintendents was Major John Kerr, 
 afterwards a well-known and much esteemed citi- 
 zen of Berthoud, where he died several years ago." 
 
 The Indian depredations on the Overland stage 
 line in 1863, so intimately connected with the safety 
 and success of that enterprise, in which Larimer 
 county was deeply interested, a reference to them 
 and the methods employed in preventing them and 
 bringing the hostiles to terms, is not amiss here. 
 Referring to and describing these events and their 
 bloody results Coutant's history of Wyoming says: 
 
 "On the 13th of April Gen. Connor, then in 
 command of the United States troops employed in 
 protecting the stage line and emigrants, on their 
 way west, telegraphed General Halleck from Camp 
 Douglass: 'Unless immediately reinforced with 
 cavalry, the Indians urged on by the Mormons will 
 break up the Overland mail and make the emigrant 
 road impassable.' General Halleck referred this 
 dispatch to General Schofield, commanding the de- 
 partment of the Missouri, and that officer ordered 
 Colonel John M. Chivington to send a cavalry 
 force to reinforce General Connor, and the Colonel, 
 after some delay, ordered four companies of the 
 First Colorado cavalry, under Major E. W. Wyn- 
 coop, to proceed west on the Overland stage line as 
 far as Fort Bridger and cooperate with General 
 Connor's forces. Two of these companies were 
 taken from Denver and Major Wyncoop was or- 
 dered to proceed with these to Laporte, where two 
 other companies were located. Arriving there, he 
 found that these troops were not mounted and were 
 indifferently armed and so necessarily considerable 
 time was lost before the troops were ready for the 
 march westward. In the meantime, General Con- 
 nor's forces had met the hostile Utes twenty-five 
 miles west of Salt Lake, and after a severe engage- 
 ment, had driven them to the hills. A number of 
 emigrants had been killed in that vicinity; also 
 soldiers and stage drivers. 
 
 "The delay of Major Wyncoop's command re- 
 sulted in permitting the Southern Utes to attack 
 the Overland line on the Laramie Plains. On July 
 5th, these Indians attacked the stage company's 
 stage station at Cooper Creek and ran off all the 
 stock, and the same night they visited Medicine 
 
 Bow station and carried off all the provisions and 
 stripped the keepers of the station. Hazard and 
 Nicholas, of their clothing. The Indians, on being 
 pursued by the soldiers took shelter in the hills. On 
 the 10th the Indians ran ofE all the mules at Rock 
 Creek station. These same hostiles ran off 250 head 
 of horses a few miles from Fort Laramie. Extend- 
 ing their route northward, they came upon 211 head 
 of horses belonging to Reshaw and others. By this 
 time the condition of affairs along the Overland 
 route from Denver to the North Platte had become 
 serious. Philip Mandel, the hay contractor on the 
 stage line, had a number of encounters with Indians 
 that season. He and his men went to the hay field 
 armed with Winchesters and kept close at hand 
 horses saddled, so as to fight or run as the occasion 
 might require. These Indians belonged to the same 
 tribe which had attacked the line beyond Salt Lake. 
 General Connor, by urgent appeals, had secured 
 reinforcements from California, composed of a 
 battalion of the Second cavalry of that state." 
 
 Matters along the stage line from Virginia Dale 
 west were badly demoralized that season. Virginia 
 Dale became a place of refuge for a number of 
 women and children who had been living at stations 
 on the line west of that point. The depredations 
 committed by the Indians at Cooper Creek and the 
 Medicine Bow stations on July 5 th and these points 
 being in such close proximity, the station at Virginia 
 Dale was kept in a state of fear of a visit from the 
 hostiles for weeks afterwards. William S. Taylor, 
 who was then station keeper at the Dale kept him- 
 self advised as well as he could of the movements 
 of the Indians and was prepared to give them a 
 warm reception should they attempt to raid his 
 station. One day word came down the line from the 
 west that a strong party of Utes was on the way to 
 raid the station and drive off the stock. His force 
 of station tenders and their equipment not being 
 sufficient to resist a large force of hostiles, he re- 
 sorted to a stratagem which sufficed to relieve the 
 situation. Calling his men together they constructed 
 a rude barricade of logs and timbers at a narrow 
 point which commanded the approach to the sta- 
 tion. Taking down all the stove pipes in the house 
 he mounted them on the barricade in such a manner 
 as to make them look like formidable pieces of artil- 
 lery, pointing up the road, all ready for use. The 
 next day the savages made their appearance, but 
 when they came in sight of that barricade and saw 
 what they supposed were cannon pointing in their 
 direction with men behind the guns ready to fire, 
 they hurriedly whirled about and fled back toward 
 
 [67] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 the Laramie Plains in great haste. Mr. Taylor, in 
 telling the story how he outwitted the hostiles, said 
 he was not troubled by Indian scares after that. 
 
 When the stage line was transferred from the 
 North Platte to the South Platte in 1862, nearly 
 all of the tide of western emigration followed the 
 route taken by the stage, as travelers felt greater 
 security when under the protection afforded by the 
 armed escort of the Overland coaches, with the 
 result that hundreds of emigrant-trains and thous- 
 ands of men, women and children came up the South 
 Platte, and fording that stream just below the 
 mouth of the Cache la Poudre river, following up 
 the north side of the latter stream they pursued their 
 course to the entrance to the mountains at Laporte. 
 From this point they followed the stage road up 
 past Virginia Dale and thence on northwest to the 
 Laramie Plains. 
 
 In the month of February, 1865, Colonel W. O. 
 Collins of the Eleventh Ohio Cavalry, in whose 
 honor Fort Collins was named, after a sharp fight 
 at Mud Springs on the North Platte defeated and 
 dispersed a party of 2,000 Indians that had come 
 down from the north to raid the stage stations along 
 the South Platte. Colonel Collins was an exper- 
 ienced Indian fighter and he made excellent disposi- 
 tion of his small force and won a signal victory over 
 the enemy. Two of his soldiers were killed, sixteen 
 wounded and ten badly frost-bitten. Colonel 
 Collins with his command, returned to Fort Lara- 
 mie on February 14th. Companies B and F of 
 Colonel Collins' Eleventh Ohio cavalry, were then 
 stationed at Fort Collins and took no part in the 
 battle at Mud Springs. 
 
 On March 28th, 1865, General G. W. Dodge, 
 Commander of the Department of the Missouri, 
 consolidated the districts of Utah, Colorado and 
 Nebraska into one district to be known as the Dis- 
 trict of the Plains and assigned Brigadier General 
 P. E. Connor to the command with headquarters at 
 Denver. General Connor was a man of decided 
 character, discreet, a splendid Indian fighter, and 
 above all things loved the flag under which he 
 fought. Had he been supported as he should have 
 been and given the troops he needed, he would have 
 given the marauding, blood thirsty Indians such a 
 lesson as would have convinced them that it was 
 better to remain at peace with the whites. First 
 Lieutenant, Charles C. Hawley, Veteran battalion, 
 First Colorado cavalry, was appointed acting ord- 
 nance officer for the South and West sub-districts 
 of the Plains, on General Connor's staff. Lieuten- 
 
 [68] 
 
 ant Hawley is now and has been for more than 45 
 years an honored resident of Fort Collins. 
 
 On the 10th of June, Captain Wilson, command- 
 ing the post at Fort Collins, reported that Indians 
 had robbed the stage station at Willow Springs, and 
 that he had started out in pursuit with a force of 
 twenty-five mien, but owing to a bad storm coming 
 on he was unable to get farther west than Virginia 
 
 MARGUERITE FALLS, MORAINE PARK 
 Photo by F. p. Clatworthy 
 
 Dale, but that he had sent word to Sergeant Lin- 
 nell, commanding the detachment at Big Laramie, 
 to send five men to guard Willow Springs station. 
 A few days before this a dispatch from Major 
 Norton of Sixth U. S. volunteers, dated at Vir- 
 ginia Dale and addressed to General Connor, said: 
 "The stage from the West has just arrived at this 
 station, having made but one change of horses from 
 Fort Halleck. All stations have been abandoned by 
 the stage company except Big Laramie. The stock 
 has been concentrated at that place and Halleck. I 
 learn from the passengers that fourteen horses were 
 stolen from the latter place on the 4th inst. Unless 
 the stage company reoccupy their stations I shall be 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 obliged to make a difEerent disposition of the escort 
 for self-protection, if nothing else. There are large 
 bodies of Indians on the road; the lowest accounts 
 place them at from 600 to 800. I am on my way 
 to Fort Halleck with Capt. Wilson and an escort of 
 ten men." General Connor hastened to Fort Collins, 
 where he found matters even in a worse condition 
 than he supposed. Robert Spottswood, the superin- 
 tendent of the stage line, had withdrawn all the 
 stage stock east of Fort Halleck and declined to put 
 it on again unless there was a guard of thirty men 
 placed at each stage station. This was out of the 
 question, so General Connor sent the mail through 
 by wagons in charge of soldiers. 
 
 It will be seen from the foregoing account of 
 Indian troubles that while the settlers of the Cache 
 la Poudre Valley escaped serious inroads and losses 
 by the Indians, they were in the danger zone and 
 liable at any time during the period of those troubles 
 to be raided with loss of life and property. They 
 had numerous scares and a few horses were stolen 
 by the redskins, but we are unable to learn that any 
 settlers in the valley lost their lives at the hands of 
 the Indians. The Platte valley near Greeley did 
 not get off so well. On the 24th of August, 1868, 
 a small band of Indians stampeded the herd of John 
 Brush, driving off all the horses, twenty-four in 
 number, and killing four head of cattle. Some of 
 them dashed upon William Brush and two of his 
 men, killing all three. Each was shot three times, 
 and in addition tomahawked and scalped. Horses 
 were stolen from other residents in that vicinity. 
 About dusk on the 27th, a party of sixty-four citi- 
 zens, under the lead of D. B. Baily, started in pur- 
 suit of the marauders, coming up with them at sun- 
 rise on the morning of the 28th, within ten miles of 
 a small settlement on the Platte called Latham. The 
 Indians discovered their pursuers, hastily mounted 
 and began circling around them after their usual 
 form of attack, but were soon driven off, retreating 
 towards the Kiowa. William and John Brush were 
 brothers of Hon. J. L. Brush of Greeley, who is a 
 member of the present State Board of Agriculture. 
 
 Development of Irrigation in 
 Colorado 
 
 Agriculture by irrigation is comparatively a new 
 feature in American farming. Unknown to the 
 early Plains travelers, they all united in declaring 
 the great arid region west of the Missouri a desert 
 which could never become the home of civilized 
 man, says a recent writer. But among those who 
 
 became the first settlers of Colorado there were 
 many who knew of irrigation in New Mexico, 
 where for over 200 years it had been practiced by 
 the Spaniards, and in California, where it had been 
 adopted from Mexico, and in Utah, where it was 
 being successfully inaugurated by the Mormons. 
 Thej' believed that irrigated crops could be grown 
 in Colorado. The first attempts were made in a 
 small way along Clear creek, the Platte river, and 
 Boulder creek, mostly with vegetable gardens and 
 small grains. The fact was established that the 
 soil was fertile, and would produce with abundance. 
 The first ditches were small affairs and constructed 
 in an inexpensive manner. They covered the first 
 bottom land only. They were built and owned by 
 companies of farmers, each one of which had land 
 under the ditch. At this time the idea prevailed 
 that the uplands could not be farmed. Down as 
 late as 1874, probably, a majority of the farmers of 
 the state held this notion, and as a consequence the 
 agriculture of the state was confined to the valleys 
 proper. But it was at last discovered that the soil 
 of the bluffs and of the second and third bottoms 
 was as rich and productive as that of the lower 
 land, and farming began to push out from the im- 
 mediate vicinity of the streams. This new departure 
 involved a change in the manner and methods of 
 building ditches; and at this point the big canal 
 corporations came into existence. It was the con- 
 struction of these great irrigating canals in Northern 
 Colorado, in the San Luis valley, and in the valleys 
 of the Arkansas and Grand, that brought thousands 
 of acres of land under water and opened it to settle- 
 ment and cultivation. This gave rise to the sale of 
 what are known as water rights. It was argued 
 that the construction of an irrigating ditch increased 
 the value of all land to which it could furnish water, 
 and hence the land owner was in equity bound to 
 pay at least a portion of this appreciation to the canal 
 company. Many of these irrigation companies have 
 been land companies as well — buying the land in 
 large tracts, constructing the canal, and then selling 
 the land with water rights attached. It is un- 
 doubtedly true that the highest interest of farmers is 
 in the ownership of their own canals ; but it is also a 
 fact that the great canals, which have required mil- 
 lions of capital to construct would never have been 
 built if the sale of water rights had not have been 
 permitted. 
 
 According to the State Engineer's reports, there 
 are, in round numbers, 15,000 miles of main irrigat- 
 ing canals in the state. Their cost may be approxi- 
 mately estimated at $50,000,000, but considering the 
 
 [69] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 value of their franchise in accordance with the de- 
 crees of the Courts, it may safely be asserted that 
 the irrigating canals of the State represent at least 
 $100,000,000. 
 
 The ultimate extension of the irrigated area of 
 the state eastward toward the Kansas and Nebraska 
 border is not to be doubted. With the development 
 of the reservoir system to its extreme limits, their 
 extension will be hastened. Another fact which 
 assures an enlargement of the irrigated area is the 
 return of water by seepage to the streams. Not- 
 withstanding the large appropriations made from 
 the Platte and its tributaries, the volume of water 
 as measured 150 miles from the mountains is sub- 
 stantially the same as at the canon. How is this 
 accounted for? The great basin of the Platte has 
 been irrigated for forty-five years. It has become 
 thoroughly saturated with water — a vast under- 
 ground reservoir, as it were, from which the river is 
 fed. Thus the water which is used on the farms, 
 say at Fort Collins, finds it way back by seepage 
 into the river and is used again at Greeley. This 
 same fact will also be demonstrated in the San Luis 
 valley, and in the Arkansas valley, in the course of 
 time, as neither of these sections have been irrigated 
 as long as the district of Northern Colorado. 
 
 One other consideration is worthy of note. The 
 relations between forestry and irrigation are very 
 intimate. Thirty-five years ago the streams were 
 at a flood during most of the irrigating months 
 Now they run low in July at least. The mountain 
 forests which protected the snow banks have been 
 depleted; these snow banks which formerly melted 
 gradually and did not disappear until August, are 
 now gone by the first of July. Hence the more 
 sudden floods in the springtime, and the lower 
 stages of water in July, August and the autumn 
 months. It is not the irrigation ditches of Colorado 
 that causes the Platte to run dry in Nebraska, the 
 Arkansas in Kansas, and the Rio Grande in Mexico ; 
 it is rather the destruction of the forests which de- 
 prived the sources of supply of their natural pro- 
 tection, and thus permanently changed the char- 
 acter of our mountain streams. No one act of the 
 federal government is more largely in the interest 
 of agriculture and irrigation than the establish- 
 ment of forest reservations about the sources of the 
 great rivers which flow from the mountains out on 
 to the Plains. 
 
 While it is probably a fact that in most sections 
 of the state the water limit has been reached, the 
 following consideration will permit a gradual, but 
 certain enlargement of the irrigated area. The 
 
 [70] 
 
 further building and establishment of reservoirs, by 
 which the water that now flows to waste during the 
 flood season in the spring and early summer will be 
 stored for use during the irrigating season ; the con- 
 tinued use of water by which the land will become 
 thoroughly saturated, the seepage increased, and 
 less water will be required to grow a crop than 
 is used at present; and the more careful protection 
 of mountain forests about the headwaters of the 
 streams, by which a larger and more uniform vol- 
 ume of water will be assured during the crop grow- 
 ing months. 
 
 The names of the more important ditches built 
 and in operation in Larimer county, with date of 
 priority, quantity of water appropriated, dates of en- 
 largements and much other matter pertaining to 
 irrigation will be found under the caption "Irriga- 
 tion and Agriculture," immediately following these 
 remarks : 
 
 Irrigation and Agriculture 
 
 The agricultural interests of Colorado, which, 
 until about thirty years ago, were overshadowed by 
 mining, stock growing and other interests, are now 
 commanding the attention they deserve. Farming 
 is now the leading industry of the state and the 
 value of the products of the farm exceeds those of 
 all the other industries. Agriculture is the founda- 
 
 MITCHELL LAKE— ALTITUDE 8,000 FEET 
 
 tion upon which the superstructure of all other in- 
 terests rests. It forms the very basis of society and 
 gives it that stability which is the keystone of pros- 
 perity. Without agriculture as one of the principal 
 industries of the commonwealth, its population 
 must necessarily be fluctuating and unstable. In 
 the early days the pioneers of Colorado paid but 
 little, if any, attention to this pursuit. Gold was 
 the talisman that drew them across the plains to the 
 Rocky Mountains, and while they delved among 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 the rocks for the precious metal, the fertile soil along 
 the water courses was left untouched by the plow, 
 the hoe and the spade. Great caravans of wagon 
 trains were employed to transfer to them from 
 the Missouri river the necessary amount of flour, 
 bacon and produce to enable them to prosecute their 
 search for the hidden treasures of the mountains. 
 The difficulty and uncertainty of obtaining supplies 
 of fruit and vegetables by this method and the high 
 prices they commanded, led to experiments in their 
 production here, and the results were so marvelous 
 as to yield and quality that the cultivation of the 
 soil was extended, laying the foundation of our 
 present agricultural prosperity. The pioneer far- 
 mer had much to contend against. The climate 
 was an untried one, and, though he might plant in 
 the spring, he was not sure of a harvest. There was 
 so little moisture in the air that irrigation was nec- 
 essary, and of this science they were ignorant. For 
 several years in the early 70's the grasshoppers har- 
 vested their crops and the forces of Nature seemed 
 to be arrayed against them. Now the climate is un- 
 derstood, irrigation is practiced intelligently, and the 
 appliances for overcoming the ravages of the pests 
 that prey upon the farmer's fields and orchards 
 have made the tillers of the soil masters of the situa- 
 tion. Owing to the scarcity of water only a limited 
 area of land, comparatively speaking, can be culti- 
 vated, unless — as now seems probable — the system 
 of dry land farming recently inaugrated in the arid 
 regions proves a success. There are millions of 
 acres of fertile lands in the state that can only be 
 utilized for the production of crops through that 
 system, for the water supply is insufficient to irri- 
 gate them. Experience teaches us, however, that no 
 matter to what state of perfection the system of dry 
 farming may be brought, there will now and then 
 occur crop failures on the unirrigated lands, there- 
 fore irrigation is Colorado agriculture's main de- 
 pendence. The writer has lived in the Cache la 
 Poudre valley where agriculture is almost the 
 sole industry, for more than thirty years, and 
 has never yet in all that period of time known a 
 total crop failure. There have been years in the 
 early part of that period, before the irrigation sys- 
 tems of the valley had been brought to their present 
 state of perfection, when the water supply — owing 
 to a light snowfall in the mountains — ^was insuffi- 
 cient to irrigate the lands under ditches having 
 junior appropriations, and, as a consequence, the 
 crops failed to m.ature on those lands for the want of 
 moisture. But this has never occurred on lands 
 
 under ditches having early appropriations and prior 
 rights to the use of the water flowing in the stream. 
 
 During recent years the irrigation systems of 
 Larimer county have been brought to a very high 
 state of perfection, through the conservation of 
 flood waters in storage basins and through more 
 economical methods of distribution, so that at the 
 present time there is little or no danger of a crop 
 failure because of the lack of moisture. The reser- 
 voir capacity of the county is now about ten 
 billion cubic feet and contains water enough to 
 cover 230,000 acres of land to the depth of one foot, 
 and this water is used to supplement the supply flow- 
 ing in the streams. In this way, practically all the 
 land in the county that can be watered from the 
 ditches is given the moisture needed to mature the 
 crop. The reservoirs are filled during the fall, 
 winter and early spring when the water is not 
 needed for direct irrigation, and from the flood 
 waters that pour down the streams in May and 
 June. The stored water is held until needed for 
 irrigating late crops, such as potatoes, sugar beets 
 and the last cutting of alfalfa. 
 
 Larimer .county is the banner agricultural 
 county in the state, and the value of its farm prod- 
 ucts is exceeded by no other county in Colorado. 
 
 Ditches and Irrigation 
 
 The first settlers of the Cache la Poudre valley 
 early realized that successful agriculture in this 
 region depended upon the application of water to 
 the land by artificial means. Hence we see them 
 either as individuals or as a group of neighbors 
 banded together and uniting their forces in the con- 
 struction of small irrigating ditches with a water 
 capacity sufficient to irrigate their gardens, grain 
 fields and meadows. Later on, as the country be- 
 came more thickly settled and the demand for irri- 
 gating facilities greater, companies were formed 
 and incorporated to build larger and larger ditches 
 to carry water out on to the table lands, which were 
 found to be better for all kinds of farming purposes 
 than the river bottom lands. 
 
 The first irrigating ditch taking its water from 
 the Cache la Poudre river was built in 1860 by 
 G. R. Sanderson and used by him to water a farm 
 now owned by Mrs. J. H. Yeager of Pleasant val- 
 ley. The headgate of this ditch is near where the 
 bridge crosses the river above Bellvue, and its prior- 
 ity is dated June 1st, 1860. In 1863 Mr. Sander- 
 son sold his squatter's right to the land he occupied 
 to Joshua H. Yeager and the ditch was afterwards 
 
 [71] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 known as Yeager ditch. The capacity of the ditch 
 was established in 1882 at 24.80 cubic feet of water 
 per second of time and given first priority. The 
 ditch was enlarged in 1863 after Mr. Yeager 
 bought the land, increasing the capacity to 33.50 
 feet per second of time. It may also be stated here 
 that the Yeager ditch was the second irrigating 
 ditch built in all that part of Colorado lying 
 north of the Arkansas river, the first one having 
 been taken out of the Platte near Denver a few 
 weeks before the date of the building of the San- 
 
 CHAMBER'S LAKE, DAM AND RESERVOIR- 
 ALTITUDE 9,000 FEET 
 
 derson or Yeager ditch. The following table 
 shows the date of construction, date of appro- 
 priation and order of priority of all the irrigating 
 ditches and canals in Larimer County, taking water 
 from the Cache la Poudre river and its tributaries: 
 
 Order of Name of Dhch No. cu. ft. for Total Am't 
 
 When Built Piioiity or Canal each priority Appropriation 
 
 June 1,1860. 1 Yeager ditch 24.80 
 
 June 1, 1863. 8 Yeager ditch 8.70 33.50 
 
 June 1, 1861. 2 Watrous, Whedbee & 
 
 Secord 1.44- 
 
 July 1, 1866.19 First enlargement 4.33 
 
 June 1, 1868.29 Second enlargement 4.33 10.10 
 
 June 10, 1861. 3 Dry Creek ditch 11.60 
 
 Oct. 21, 1870.36 First enlargement 14.42 
 
 Sept. 15, 1873.64 Second enlargement 12.13 
 
 July 15, 1879.82 Third enlargement 12.70 50.91 
 
 Sept. 1, 1861. 4 Pleasant Valley & Lake 
 
 Canal 10.96 
 
 June 10, 1864.11 First enlargement 29.63 
 
 July 19, 1872.49 Second enlargement 16.50 
 
 Aug. 18, 1879.83 Third enlargement 80.83 137.92 
 
 Mar. 1,1862. 5 Pioneer Ditch Company 12.72 
 
 Sept. 15, 1864.12 First enlargement 16.66 29.58 
 
 June 1, 1864.10 Larimer & Weld Canal. 3.00 
 
 Apr. 1, 1867.21 First enlargement 16.66 
 
 Sept. 20, 1871.44 Second enlargement 75.00 
 
 Jan. 15, 1874.69 Third enlargement 54.33 
 
 Aug. 1, 1878.79 Fourth enlargement 571.00 719.99 
 
 Apr. 10, 1865.13 John G. Coy ditch 31.63 31.63 
 
 May 1, 1865.14 John L. Brown ditch... 8.00 8.00 
 
 Mar. 1, 1866.15 Boxelder ditch 32.50 
 
 [72] 
 
 May 25, 
 June 1 
 Apr. 1 
 Apr. 15 
 Apr. 15, 
 
 1 
 
 Sept. 
 Oct. 1, 
 Mar. 1 
 Mar. 10 
 Mar. 15 
 Mar. 20: 
 May 
 May 
 June 
 Apr. 
 July 20, 
 Sept. 
 Sept, 
 Oct. 10, 
 
 July 2, 
 
 Feb. 15 
 Mar. 1 
 May 1 
 
 Mar. 10, 
 Nov. 
 Mar. 15, 
 Apr. 
 July 
 Aug. 15 
 Aug. 20, 
 May 1 
 May 15, 
 
 Nov. 1 
 Jan. 28 
 
 Mar. 22, 
 
 Mar. 
 Oct. 
 Apr. 
 Apr. 15 
 
 June 18 
 Apr. 1 
 Dec. 31 
 Apr. 15, 
 
 Sept. 1 
 Jan. 19, 
 Feb. 1 
 
 Apr. 25 
 Oct. 1 
 
 1867.23 First enlargement 8.33 
 
 1868.30 Second enlargement 11.93 52.76 
 
 1866.16 Chamberlin ditch 14.83 14.83 
 
 1866.17 Taylor & Gill ditch 18.48 18.48 
 
 1867.22 Mason & Hottel Mill 
 
 race 93.06 93.06 
 
 1867.24 W. R. Jones ditch 15.52 15.52 
 
 1867.25 Josh Ames ditch 35.92 35.92 
 
 1868.26 Martin Calloway ditch. 15.22 15.22 
 
 1868.27 Bristol ditch No. 1 15.22 15.22 
 
 1868.28 Canon Canal ditch 8.60 
 
 1873.55 First enlargement 48.88 57.84 
 
 1869.31 Cache la Poudre Ir. Co. 62.08 
 1873.57 First enlargement 20.42 82.50 
 
 1869.32 Fort Collins Irri. ditch. 1.66 
 
 1871.38 First enlargement 31.66 
 
 1872.51 Second enlargement 33.33 
 
 1873.63 Third enlargement 62.28 128.93 
 
 1869.43 New Mercer ditch 4.16 
 
 1871.46 First enlargement 8.33 
 
 1872.48 Second enlargement.... 15.00 
 
 1880.80 Third enlargement. .. 136.00 163.49 
 
 1870.34 Bristol ditch No. 2 14.83 14.83 
 
 1871.39 William Calloway ditch 
 
 No. 2 21.05 21.05 
 
 1872.47 Chaffee Irr. ditch 22.38 22.38 
 
 1872.53 Lake Canal Co. ditch.. 158.33 158.33 
 
 1873 . 54 W. S. Taylor ditch 28.60 28.60 
 
 1873.56 Larimer County No. 2.. 175.00 175.00 
 1873.59 Aquilla Morgan ditch.. 17.65 17.65 
 
 J^"-" H. F. Sturdevant 10.66 10.66 
 
 lo73 . bz 
 
 1874.65 Vandewark ditch 10.16 10.16 
 
 1874.66 Mitchell Weymouth 
 
 ditch 17.35 17.35 
 
 1874.67 Boyd & Stafford ditch.. 15.30 15.30 
 
 1875.70 Wm. Calloway ditch 
 
 No. 2 14.16 14.16 
 
 1875.71 Wetzler Weymouth 
 
 Mitchell 10.36 
 
 1877.74 First enlargement 3.00 
 
 2.95 
 
 9.56 
 17.50 
 
 15.43 
 3.40 
 
 16.27 
 
 13.36 
 2.95 
 7.23 
 
 1875.73 Kitchel & Ladd ditch.. 
 
 1878.76 Henry Smith ditch 7.23 
 
 1878.77 Abram Washburn ditch 
 No. 1 ;.... 
 
 1878.78 Boxelder Reservoir ditch 
 
 1878.80 Carter Cotton Mill Race 127.30 
 
 1879.85 First enlargement 37.16 
 
 1879.81 Abram Washburn ditch 
 No. 2 
 
 1859.84 Johnson, McNey & 
 Chase ditch 
 
 1880.86 Mitchell- Weymouth No. 
 2 
 
 1880.87 North Poudre Canal & 
 Res. Co 315.00 
 
 1881.89 Larimer County ditch.. 469.80 
 
 1881.90 Eagle Nest Ranch ditch. 5.02 
 These ditches were all proved up on and their 
 
 priorities established by the court in 1882-3. Since 
 then one large and several small ditches have tapped 
 the Cache la Poudre river and its tributaries. In 
 the above table the ditches taken out of the river 
 to water Weld county land are not included. At 
 its highest stage the river carries about 7,000 cubic 
 feet of water per second and about 150 cubic feet 
 at its lowest stage. The lowest stages occur in the 
 winter time when the water is not needed for irriga- 
 
 9.56 
 17.50 
 
 164.46 
 
 15.43 
 
 3.40 
 
 16.27 
 
 315.00 
 
 469.80 
 
 5.02 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 tion, and the water is then run into storage reser- 
 voirs. In the foregoing table it will be seen that the 
 figures in priority show the order in which the 
 ditches are allowed to take water from the river. 
 For instance: The Yeager ditch, the first con- 
 structed, can take practically 35 cubic feet of water 
 in advance of all other ditches, but its appropria- 
 tion for its first enlargement, which was made three 
 years later and numbered "8" cannot be used 
 until all the other ditches and enlargements made 
 during the three years' interval have been supplied. 
 The system of water distribution under the Consti- 
 tution and Laws of the state is an elaborate one, de- 
 signed to provide for the beneficial use of water and 
 to protect ditch owners and the users of water for 
 irrigation in their respective rights. 
 
 The Notorious Slade 
 
 In Coutant's History of Wyoming reference is 
 made to Joseph A. Slade, a notorious character, who 
 when drunk, for about two years terrorized the peo- 
 ple along the Overland route from Laporte west- 
 ward, in the following terms : 
 
 "Before closing the events of 1863, it will be 
 necessary to introduce a notorious character in these 
 pages. It was a recognized fact in the Overland 
 days that all the officers and agents connected with 
 the Overland stage were men of the highest char- 
 acter with a single exception, and this individual 
 was Joseph Slade. He was division superintendent, 
 first with headquarters at Fort Laramie, and later 
 established Virginia Dale, naming the place in honor 
 of his wife. The incidents connected with this man 
 Slade, I have drawn from numerous and what I 
 consider reliable sources. 
 
 "Hugo Koch, who now resides in Fremont 
 county, Wyoming, tells me that he came west in the 
 fall of 1858 and that at Atchison he joined a bull 
 train which was in charge of Slade, who the follow- 
 year became superintendent of a division of the 
 Overland stage company in Wyoming. This, then, 
 is the introduction of that notorious character into 
 this country. Koch describes Slade as not far from 
 thirty years old at that time, though he must have 
 been older, as he was a volunteer in the Mexican 
 war. He was rather under the medium size, dark 
 complexion, firm set features and determined look. 
 Slade was accompanied by his wife, who was rather 
 good looking and about the same age as her husband ; 
 weight about 160 pounds. Mrs. Slade was not alto- 
 gether a lovely character, often interfering in her 
 husband's business, and many of the difficulties he 
 
 had with people originated with her. I have on the 
 same authority something of Slade's early life. He 
 was born in Southern Illinois and at the age of 
 thirteen displayed an ungovernable temper and 
 killed a man by striking him with a stone. This 
 man had interfered with some boys with whom 
 young Slade was playing. The father of the lad 
 succeeded in getting him out of the country and 
 sending him to Texas, where he grew to manhood 
 and was married. His wife always possessed great 
 influence over him, even when he was drunk. Soon 
 after arriving in Wyoming he killed a man named 
 Andrew Farrar. The two were drinking together 
 at some point east of Green river and got into an 
 animated conversation during which something was 
 said about shooting. Slade remarking that no man 
 must dare him to shoot ; Farrar, who was fast reach- 
 ing a maudlin condition remarked, 'I dare you to 
 shoot me.' Instantly Slade drew his revolver and 
 fired, inflicting a dangerous wound on the person 
 of Farrar. Horrified at what he had done, he ex- 
 pressed the greatest sorrow to the wounded man and 
 those around him and instantly dispatched a messen- 
 ger on a fast horse to Fort Bridger to secure a sur- 
 geon. The doctor came promptly, but his services 
 were without avail, and Farrar died. As superin- 
 tendent for the stage company, Slade had many ad- 
 ventures. He conducted business in a manner satis- 
 factory to the stage company and was noted for his 
 promptness in all transactions relating to the passen- 
 ger and express business. I find many old timers 
 who were acquainted with Slade while he was in 
 charge of a division of the Overland stage. All 
 agree that he was a good man for the very difficult 
 positions he held, but that he was a dangerous char- 
 acter when under the influence of liquor. He had 
 trouble with many people, and among others Jules 
 Reni, a French Canadian, who had a ranch on the 
 South Platte where Julesburg is located at the pres- 
 ent time, this town being named after this Canad- 
 ian. Reni and Slade often met and as often had 
 misunderstandings. Finally they had a quarrel and 
 Reni fired with a shotgun thirteen buckshot into 
 Slade's person. Reni appeared well satisfied and 
 said to some person standing near, 'When he is 
 dead, you can put him in one of those dry goods 
 boxes and bury him.' This remark was heard by 
 Slade, and with an oath he replied, 'I shall live 
 long enough to wear one of your ears on my watch 
 guard. You needn't trouble yourself about my 
 burial.' While the shooting excitement was still 
 on, the Overland stage came along, and it chanced 
 that the superintendent of the road was aboard. 
 
 [73] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 This officer ordered the arrest of the would-be mur- 
 derer, and those present took him into custody and 
 proceeded to hang him. After he had been strangled 
 until he was black in the face, he was allowed to go, 
 on promising to leave the country, which he did for 
 the time. Slade suffered from his wounds for 
 several weeks and finally made a journey to St. 
 Louis to procure surgical assistance. Seven of the 
 buckshots were cut out and the balance remained in 
 his person to remind him of vengeance. When he re- 
 turned to the road he took occasion to send word to 
 his antagonist that he was determined to kill him on 
 sight, but he would not go out of his way to meet 
 him. Reni, or Jules as he was always called, re- 
 ceived Slade's message and at once returned to the 
 division of the Overland where Slade was employed 
 and on his way told several persons that he was a 
 going to kill Slade. The latter was at Pacific 
 Springs and heard of the threat, and he at once 
 started for Julesburg. When he arrived at Fort 
 Laramie he visited the officers and laid the subject 
 before them and promised to take their advice. The 
 officers understood all about the threats of both 
 parties and frankly told Slade that in their judg- 
 ment, Jules would kill him unless prompt measures 
 were taken, and that he would have no peace on his 
 division unless Jules was captured and killed. Slade 
 now dispatched forces to Bordeaux's ranch, where 
 he learned Jules had spent the night before. The 
 instructions given the men were to make Jules a 
 prisoner, securely tie him and await arrival of 
 Slade, who was to follow on the next east bound 
 coach. The men sent after Jules did not find him 
 at Bordeaux's, so they went on to Chansau's ranch, 
 the next station, where they found their man. They 
 captured him without opposition, securely bound 
 his hands and feet and placed him in the corral in 
 the rear of the station. Slade came in the next 
 coach, as agreed, and was rejoiced to find his enemy 
 a captive. He went at once to the corral and on first 
 sight leveled a pistol and fired. The ball struck 
 Jules in the mouth but did not kill him ; a second 
 shot passed through his head and produced instant 
 death. Slade then returned to Fort Laramie and 
 went through the farce of giving himself up to 
 justice and demanded an investigation. The com- 
 mander, of course discharged him, inasmuch as he 
 had advised the killing. The story of this shooting 
 has been told in many ways? I have met persons 
 who claimed that Slade ordered Jules placed in a 
 standing position and fired repeated shots, and be- 
 tween each went to the station and invited the 
 crowd to take a drink, and just before firing would 
 
 [74] 
 
 say, 'Now, Jules, I am going to hit you in such a 
 place,' and being an expert shot he kept his word 
 every time. Finally he cut off Jules' ears and put 
 them in his vest pocket, after which he killed him 
 outright. This story is told by some persons now 
 living in this state, but I am satisfied they have been 
 misinformed and that my account is substantially 
 correct. The stage company investigated the affair 
 at the time and while they did not approve of Slade's 
 conduct, they permitted him to continue in his posi- 
 tion as superintendent of his division. 
 
 "Slade's whole connection with the Overland was 
 the embodiment of ruffianism, and how he held his 
 position with the stage company is hard to con- 
 jecture. It may be that his reputation was some 
 protection to the company, and that he had some 
 ability to get stages through on time, but for all this 
 he was a dangerous character when drunk, and in 
 this condition he was very often found. He was 
 guilty of many acts of violence toward men who 
 were much better in every way than himself. After 
 the stages were removed to the southern line, he on 
 one occasion entered the sutler's store at Fort Hal- 
 lock and amused himself by shooting holes through 
 the canned goods on the shelf. At another time he 
 took possession of the sutler's quarters and terror- 
 ized everybody connected with the establishment. 
 While he lived at Virginia Dale, his official duty 
 frequently called him to Laporte. On one of these 
 trips he 'shot up' the town. He entered the only 
 store in the place with his companion, smashed the 
 mirrors, opened the faucets of the vinegar and 
 molasses barrels to see what sort of a mixture these 
 two articles would make when sugar and flour were 
 added. When Slade sobered up he came around and 
 settled for the damage done, paying $800 for his 
 fun. Charles W. Ramer had just come to this 
 country then, and, from a safe distance at the rear 
 of the store, saw the whole affair through a window. 
 That was his introduction to life in the far west. 
 For Slade's escapade at the sutler's store at Fort 
 Halleck, the commander had him arrested and re- 
 fused a release unless the stage company would first 
 dismiss him from their employ. This was done and 
 Slade found his way to Montana, where he had many 
 adventures, and finally located at Virginia City in 
 1864, where his frequent drunken brawls and high- 
 handed acts of violence made him the subject of in- 
 vestigation by the vigilantes, who sentenced him to 
 be hanged. When informed of his fate by the exe- 
 cutive officers of the committee, he fell on his knees 
 and begged for his life. When he saw that it was 
 useless to implore, he exclaimed. My God 1 My God ! 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Must I die?' A rope was thrown over the cross 
 beam of the gateway of the corral and Slade was 
 placed upon a dry goods box, the rope drawn tight 
 and the box pushed from under him, and all was 
 over. Mrs. Slade had been sent for, but arrived 
 too late to see her husband alive. She threw her- 
 self upon the dead body, closing the inanimate form 
 in her arms, and gave vent to heart rending cries, 
 followed by bitter curses upon those who hanged her 
 husband. Finally, turning to those about her, she 
 exclaimed in agony of grief, 'Why, oh, why did 
 not some of you, the friend of Slade, shoot him 
 down and not suffer him to die on the scaffold? I 
 would have done it had I been here. He should 
 never have died by the rope of the hangman. No 
 dog's death should have come to such a man. ' 
 
 The late William C. Stover, who was in Virginia 
 City at the time, witnessed the execution of Slade. 
 Like most of his class, who held human life cheap, 
 Slade was a coward at heart, as his conduct at the 
 time of his death proved. 
 
 Slade's Dare-Devil Deeds 
 
 Elsewhere in this volume is told the story of the 
 desperado Slade, who served for a time as division 
 superintendent of the Overland stage, with head- 
 quarters at Virginia Dale. The incidents here re- 
 lated were recounted by well-known citizens of 
 Larimer county, who were personally cognizant of 
 them and, in one instance, a victim of Slade's 
 drunken fury, which give the stories a local coloring. 
 
 Frank G. Bartholf, who was an early settler in 
 the Big Thompson valley and a county commis- 
 sioner in the late 80's, gives the following account 
 of his first meeting with Slade: "I received my 
 introduction to Slade over on the Little Thompson 
 at the stage station in the fall of 1862. Slade was 
 coming down over the line from his station at Vir- 
 ginia Dale, and at Laporte he got drunk. Between 
 Laporte and Big Thompson station he began firing 
 down through the top of the coach and the four 
 passengers inside rolled out on the prairie. Slade 
 drove into the Big Thompson station at Mariana's 
 on the dead run, and, going inside, ordered the 
 agent, a man named Boutwell, to make him a cock- 
 tail. A loaded shotgun stood in the corner. Slade 
 picked it up and cocking both barrels covered Bout- 
 well with it and ordered the drink mixed in a cer- 
 tain manner. Hardly able to hold anything, his 
 hand shook so, Boutwell did as directed. When he 
 had completed the mixture, Slade ordered him to 
 come from behind the counter and place the glass on 
 
 the muzzle end of the gun, which he did, the two 
 barrels of the gun staring him in the face all the 
 way. 
 
 "After pouring the decoction down his throat, 
 Slade mounted the stage and ran the horses over to 
 the Little Thompson station where one of them 
 laid down completely exhausted. I was keeping the 
 station for my brother-in-law, who had gone up into 
 the hills to bring down his wife. As the stage 
 drove up I went out to unhitch the horses. The 
 driver made some insulting remark to me and I an- 
 swered him pretty short. Biff. Something struck 
 me across the right eye. I turned quickly and 
 looked straight into the muzzle of two revolvers. I 
 had never seen Slade before but I realized at once 
 that we were introduced. After I went into the 
 stable he walked over to where a couple of young 
 fellows were camped and threatened to shoot one of 
 their horses and did kill their dog that was quietly 
 lying under the wagon. Then he kicked their coffee 
 pot over, put out their fire and went off. All this 
 time the two fellows with their guns in hand stood 
 and watched him. He had terrorized them and 
 they dared not lift a finger. Slade afterwards wrote 
 me a letter of apology, saying he thought I was the 
 agent and that he did not allow any of his agents to 
 'sass him.' 
 
 "That same year Slade had a good deal of trouble 
 with his drivers, who were, for the most part, wild 
 reckless characters, who got drunk at every oppor- 
 tunity and endangered the lives of passengers by 
 their abandoned driving. On one occasion, after a 
 drunken driver had had a runaway and smashed up 
 the coach and injured some of the passengers, he sent 
 word to the agent at Laporte, who kept a grocery 
 store, not to sell liquor to any of the drivers on his 
 division. The agent sent back word that he would 
 sell to whom he pleased, that Slade need not think 
 because he had killed Jules, the agent was afraid of 
 him. Two nights later when the stage drove up to 
 the Laporte station Slade and three of his men 
 walked into the store and began to shoot at the 
 bottles on the shelves. Then they caught the agent, 
 tied him with rope, spilled all the flour on the floor 
 and opened all the faucets to the barrels of liquor 
 and molasses and allowed their contents to mix 
 with the flour. Then they went out of doors and 
 taking runs, slid through the mixture on the floor. 
 When they tired of their fun, Slade turned to the 
 agent and said: 'Now, when I tell you not to sell 
 liquor to my men, I mean it.' Slade was always 
 cold-blooded and always took the advantage. His 
 wife would fight at the drop of the hat and was 
 
 [75] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 grittier than he was by long odds. Had she gotten 
 to Virginia City before he was hung, there would 
 have been a fight from the word go." 
 
 First Wedding in Larimer County 
 
 Weddings were not of common occurrence in 
 pioneer days. Indeed, they were few and scattering 
 for the first two or three years after the white set- 
 tlers began to locate along the streams. This was 
 largely due to necessity rather than choice. There 
 were more bachelors than maids. As a matter of 
 fact there were no maids at all, unless we except the 
 copper-colored belles of the aborigines, whom a few 
 of the first settlers, making a virtue of necessity, took 
 to wife. The ceremonies accompanying these alli- 
 ances were simple and very brief, consisting mainly 
 of a tender by the groom of a pony, a blanket or a 
 little coin of the realm to the reputed father of the 
 dusky bride-to-be in exchange for her. If the tender 
 was accepted, the expectant groom took his willing 
 or unwilling bride to his cabin and set up a family 
 altar without the formality of marriage vows or the 
 incense of flowers. 
 
 On New Year's day, 1862, there occurred, how- 
 every, a regular wedding. It was the first to take 
 place in the county and the ceremony was performed 
 by F. W. Sherwood, who tied the marital knot as a 
 representative of his brother. Judge Jesse M. Sher- 
 wood, who was sub-Indian agent for the Cheyennes 
 and Arapahoes and spent much of his time in Den- 
 ver, looking after his charges. Just before Christ- 
 mas, 1861, a son of Louis Cyr, a husky young fel- 
 low, called at the Sherwood ranch and inquired for 
 the judge, who was absent. Cyr called twice after 
 that during the week and, on the first day of Janu- 
 ary, made his third appearance and the judge was 
 still absent. F. W. Sherwood, noticing the disap- 
 pointed look the young fellow wore when told that 
 the judge was not at home, asked if there was any- 
 thing he could do. Young Cyr hesitated, but finally 
 said he wanted to get married and wanted the judge 
 to perform the ceremony. "If that is all you want," 
 said F. W., "I can help you out. I can perform the 
 ceremony as well as my brother." This pleased the 
 young man, who said the wedding had been put off 
 a week already and he didn't want it delayed any 
 longer. The young fellow was honest and frankly 
 told Mr. Sherwood he had no money. "Oh, that's 
 all right," Mr. Sherwood replied. "I never charge 
 anything for marrying people." 
 
 Hardly were they in their saddles ready to start 
 for the home of the bride, than the young man dis- 
 
 [76] 
 
 covered that Sherwood had no bible with him and 
 called his attention to that fact. Sherwood replied 
 that they didn't need it and that the bible played no 
 part in his marriage service. Cyr, however, refused 
 to be married without one. Sherwood dismounted, 
 went into his house and brought out a large volume 
 of Shakespeare's works, the sight of which satisfied 
 the expectant groom. On arriving at the home of 
 the bride-to-be a new difficulty presented itself. 
 The young lady had disappeared and, of course, the 
 wedding couldn't take place without her. She was 
 the daughter of Suis Lewis and his Indian wife, 
 wild and timid as a fawn. In extreme bashfulness 
 she had hidden under a pile of blankets. She was 
 soon discovered and on being brought from her hid- 
 ing place, stood up with the young man and was 
 married by the most intricate and involved method 
 that frontier wits could devise. The service was an 
 hour in length, and was witnessed by two gamblers 
 named Mcintosh and Rice. 
 
 After the ceremony Mr . Lewis, father of the 
 bride, insisted upon a marriage settlement, which 
 he proposed in the following manner: "You make 
 paper that if my gal behave and boy get drunk and 
 raise the devil, my gal get all his horses. If my gal 
 do wrong by Lewis he tell her go 'hell.' " The 
 "settlement" was drawn up and signed and that 
 ended the ceremonies of the first wedding in Lari- 
 mer county. 
 
 It is presumed that Mr. and Mrs. Cyr lived 
 happily together, as they do not figure in the records 
 of the divorce court. 
 
 First Term of the District Court 
 
 The first general term of the district court held 
 in and for Larimer county, opened on the 20th of 
 October, 1868, in a hall on the second floor of the 
 Grout building that stood at the corner of Jefferson 
 and Linden streets, where Frank P. Stover's drug 
 store now stands. This building was erected in 
 1865 by Mason & Allen for use as a sutler's store. 
 It contained a large store room, facing the north, on 
 the ground, back of which were a warehouse and 
 living rooms. On the second floor, reached by 
 an outside stairway, there was one large room and 
 two smaller ones. This was the only hall in the 
 place until 1873 and was used for many purposes, 
 church, Sunday school, theatre and court room. 
 This old historic structure was razed to the ground 
 in the spring of 1882. Although the county had 
 been organized since 1864, no term of the district 
 court had been held in the county until October 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 1868. The officers of the court at this time were 
 William R. Gorsline of Central City, judge of the 
 Second Judicial district of the Territory of Colo- 
 rado. 
 
 C. C. Post of Georgetown, district attorney. 
 
 J. C. Matthews of Fort Collins, deputy clerk. 
 (The name of the clerk at this time does not appear 
 in the record.) 
 
 H. B. Ch'ubbuck of Big Thompson, sheriff. 
 
 The names of the grand jurors summoned for 
 the term were: H. B. Blevins, George Brigham, 
 John G. Coy, A. J. Ames, Fountaine Peterson, 
 Neal Boulware, George E. Buss, James S. Arthur, 
 G. R. Strauss, Thomas Sprague, Jesse M. Sher- 
 wood, Edwin C. Smith, J. M. Smith, H. Samuels, 
 Frank Gard, Judson Warren, G. L. Luce and Ben- 
 jamin Claymore. J. M. Smith was appointed fore- 
 man of the jury by the court. Ranger Jones, 
 Thomas Sprague and George Van Dyke failed to 
 appear at the opening of the court to serve as grand 
 jurors, and the judge ordered an attachment issued 
 for their bodies and placed in the hands of the sher- 
 iff. The defaulting jurors were brought into court 
 the following day, and after purging themselves of 
 contempt, were directed to take seats with their 
 comrades. 
 
 The petit jurors drawn for the term were : John 
 Palmer, Enoch Cornell, Fred Wallace, N. H. Mel- 
 drum, C. C. Hawley, W. N. Payton, Rock Bush, 
 F. W. Sherwood, Paul Tharp, A. R. Chaffee, H. 
 Mannis, N. P. Cooper, Arthur Ames, John Baxter, 
 John Hahn and W. C. Stover. Attachments were 
 issued returnable October 21st, for Thomas Mc- 
 Bride, also for the bodies of Joseph Musgrove and 
 J. M. Eaglin, returnable at the succeeding term of 
 court, all having failed to appear when summoned 
 to serve as jurors. 
 
 The grand jury disposed of all the business 
 brought before it, reported to the court October 
 21st, and was discharged from further service dur- 
 ing the term. 
 
 The cases docketed for hearing at this term of 
 court, follow : 
 
 The People vs. Samuel Dion, keeping gambling 
 house. Continued for the term. 
 
 The People vs. Peter Decony, keeping gambling 
 house. Continued for the term. 
 
 The People vs. Thomas McBride, contempt of 
 court in failing to appear when summoned to serve 
 as petit juror. Dismissed. 
 
 Charles Pitts vs. H. Forbes; appeal from judg- 
 ment of justice court. Appeal dismissed. 
 
 James Maddux vs. Thomas Edward; appeal 
 from justice court. Remanded to Justice of the 
 Peace J. W. Smith of the Big Thompson for new 
 trial. 
 
 The People vs. Antonia Madeno; assault with 
 intent to kill. Continued for the term. Adam 
 Blackhurst and Sarah Blackhurst entered recog- 
 nizance to appear and testify in the case at the next 
 term. 
 
 The People vs. Phillip Lariviere. Bond for 
 appearance declared forfeited and district attorney 
 directed to begin suit to recover the penalty named 
 in the bond. 
 
 Rufus Fitzhugh vs. F. W. Sherwood ; appeal 
 from justice court. Continued for the term. 
 
 John R. Brown vs. O. P. Bassett; appeal. Con- 
 tinued. 
 
 Mason & Co. vs. Edward Marshall. Continued. 
 
 Rufus Fitzhugh vs. A. R. Chaffee. Dismissed. 
 
 James W. Hanna vs. F. W. Sherwood ; replevin. 
 
 After being in session three days, the court ad- 
 journed for the term. 
 
 Of the four criminal cases docketed for this term 
 of the court, two were for keeping gambling houses, 
 one for assault with intent to kill and one for 
 adultery, neither of which was tried. It will thus 
 be seen that the law abiding people of Larimer 
 county, moved early in an attempt to break up 
 public gambling. At the succeeding term of court 
 which opened October 19th, 1869, Samuel Dion and 
 Peter Decony were convicted of keeping gambling 
 houses and fined $100 each and costs of suit. 
 
 The second term of the district court opened 
 October 19th, 1869, in the Grout building. The 
 officers present were : 
 
 W. R. Gorsline, judge. 
 
 C. C. Post, district attorney. 
 
 J. C. Matthews, deputy clerk. 
 
 H. B. Chubbuck, sheriff. 
 
 The grand jurors summoned for the term were: 
 Revilo Loveland, Joseph Prendergast, John Davis, 
 Zack Thomason, C. W. Howell, J. B. Arthur, A. 
 K. Yount, William Samuels, James Milner, David 
 Notman, N. H. Meldrum, Joseph Musgrove, B. T. 
 Whedbee, J. M. Smith, Sr., J. M. Sherwood, A. A. 
 Howard, Thomas Johnson, Thomas R. McBride. 
 Joseph Mason, who had been summoned, was ex- 
 cused from service on account of being postmaster at 
 Fort Collins. Thomas Gill failed to appear and an 
 attachment was issued for him. 
 
 The petit jurors summoned were John B. Pro- 
 vost, T. L. Moore, J. H. Yeager, John R. Brown, 
 Peter Anderson, C. C. Hawley, Sherman Smith, R. 
 
 [77] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 B. Wygal, James Carwile, James Eaglin, J. N. 
 Hallowell, Frank Prager, John Parish, Reed Berry, 
 George Litle, Guy H. Mannville, W. B. Osborn, 
 Rock Bush, Austin Mason, William Rivers, John 
 Theobald, A. A. Davis and E. N. Garbutt. Mr. 
 Garbutt failing to answ^er to his name wrhen called, 
 an attachment was issued for him. Mathews S. 
 Taylor was admitted a member of the bar and 
 allowed to practice in the courts of the Territory. 
 Mr. Taylor was a brother of W. S-. Taylor who 
 kept the Overland stage station at Virginia Dale 
 and later Park and Laporte stations, and became a 
 prominent member of the Colorado bar. He went 
 to Leadville in 1877, and represented Lake county 
 in the Second General assembly of Colorado. He 
 was a brilliant lavtT^er, but died at Leadville in 
 1884, while still comparatively a young man. 
 
 No important cases came on for trial at the second 
 term of court, and but little of moment was done 
 save to continue most of the cases that had been 
 docketed. Indeed, the dockets for the succeeding 
 terms of court down to 1874 and 1875 fail to show 
 that any cases of general or special interest were 
 tried by the district court. The civil cases were 
 mostly appeals from the judgments of either the 
 county or justice courts and the criminal dockets 
 being made up of misdemeanor cases, such as gamb- 
 ling, keeping gambling houses or assaults. At the 
 term of the district court held in July, 1874, the 
 district attorney filed two informations, one against 
 James Nugent, known as "Mountain Jim" of 
 Estes Park for an assault on June 10th, 1874, with 
 a deadly weapon, with intent to kill his neighbor, 
 Griffith J. Evans, and the other against GrifRth J. 
 Evans for shooting Mountain Jim June 19th, 1874, 
 with intent to take his life. These cases excited a 
 great deal of interest because of the prominence of 
 the persons implicated and also because of the cir- 
 cumstances which led up to the attempt of these 
 two men to take each other's lives. A detailed ac- 
 count of the troubles between Evans and "Mount- 
 ain Jim" will be given in another chapter; also of 
 the trial of John Phillips in July, 1875, charged 
 with murder of Clarence Chubbuck. 
 
 An Early Day Tragedy 
 
 On the 19th of June, 1874, James Nugent, better 
 known as "Mountain Jim," a famous hunter and 
 trapper who lived in a cabin on the edge of Estes 
 park, was shot and mortally wounded, the bullet 
 lodging in his head. Nugent accused his neighbor, 
 Griffith J. Evans, between whom and himself there 
 
 had been bad blood for more than a year, of firing 
 the shot that later caused his death. Evans was 
 arrested, brought to Fort Collins, given a prelimin- 
 ary hearing and bound over for trial in the district 
 court. On the opening day of the 1874 term of the 
 district court, which convened on the 15th day of 
 July, 1874, in the Grout building, District Attorney 
 Byron L. Carr filed an information with the clerk, 
 charging Evans with assault with a deardly weapon 
 with intent to kill Nugent. The case was not called 
 for trial until July 14th, 1875, when District At- 
 torney G. G. White, who succeeded Mr. Carr, 
 entered a nolle prosequi in the case against Evans 
 and the accused was discharged from custody. It 
 developed between the time of filing the information 
 and the opening of the July term of court in 1875, 
 so it was alleged, that Evans was not guilty of the 
 charge; that the shooting was done by a young 
 Englishman, who had been sent out from England 
 in December, 1873, to look after Lord Dunraven's 
 interests in Estes Park, and who had left the coun- 
 try. Nugent was brought down from Estes Park 
 and lodged at the City hotel, then and for several 
 years afterward, kept by Thomas L. Moore, where 
 the wounded man received medical treatment. Nu- 
 gent lingered between life and death until some time 
 in September, 1874, when he died and was buried in 
 Mountain Home cemetery where his bones yet re- 
 main. Before he died, Nugent made a will which 
 he directed should not be opened until after his 
 death, and in it he bequeathed his favorite riding 
 horse to Mr. and Mrs. T. L. Moore's infant 
 daughter, Carrie, now Mrs. T. K. Seaton of Delta, 
 and twenty head of cattle on the range in Estes park 
 to Frank D. Morrison, a barber, who shaved the 
 wounded man until he died. It took all of "Mount- 
 ain Jim's" property, however, to pay his debts and 
 funeral expenses so that the devisees got nothing. 
 
 Mountain Jim was known all over the Territory 
 as an expert hunter and trapper, who had many ex- 
 cellent qualities of heart and mind as well as numer- 
 ous bad ones. He often drank to excess and when in 
 his cups was a quarrelsome and a difficult man to 
 get along with, but in his sober periods, he was a 
 well informed, genial and companionable gentleman. 
 His neighbor in Estes park, Griffith J. Evans, was a 
 stock man and either owned or managed for others, 
 a large herd of cattle in the park. He lived in a 
 large log cabin and had several outlying cottages 
 near Clear lake where, in the summer season, he en- 
 tertained visitors, tourists and hunters from whom 
 and his herds of cattle, he derived a goodly income. 
 There are several theories as to what caused the 
 
 [78] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 trouble between "Mountain Jim" and Evans, but 
 the most accepted theory is that "Mountain Jim" 
 became enamored of Evans' seventeen-year-old 
 daughter and that the young lady's parents disap- 
 proved of his attentions to her. At any rate a cold- 
 ness grew up between the two men, and "Mountain 
 Jim" had been heard in his cups to threaten to do 
 Evans up. After the arrival of the young English- 
 man, whose name was Haigh, to take the manage- 
 ment of Lord Dunraven's interests in the park, the 
 young lady became much attached to him. They 
 were often seen riding together which stirred 
 "Mountain Jim's" anger toward Evans to the very 
 depths. On the 10th of June, 1874, only nine days 
 before he received his death wound, he fired from 
 ambush and tried to kill Evans, but fortunately his 
 shot missed its mark. On the day of the fatal shoot- 
 ing, June 19th, "Mountain Jim" appeared at Evans' 
 cabin in a frightful mood, threatening to kill Evans 
 and Haigh if they dared to come out in the open. 
 At this Haigh, it is alleged, stepped to the door and 
 fired the .shot that a few weeks later ended the life 
 of one of the most notorious characters that ever 
 dwelt in the Rocky Mountains. 
 
 In the fall of 1873, an English lady named Isa- 
 bella L. Bird, spent several weeks with the Evans' 
 family, becoming very well acquainted with both 
 Evans and "Mountain Jim." The latter guided 
 Miss Bird, Piatt Rogers and S. S. Downer, two 
 young men tourists to the summit of Long's peak 
 and she is believed to be the first woman to ever 
 ascend to the top of this grim old guardian of the 
 Continental Divide. In a series of letters written 
 to her sister in London, Miss Bird graphically de- 
 scribes Estes Park, the ascent of Long's peak, and her 
 various experiences while a visitor in the park; giv- 
 ing pen pictures of Nugent and Evans and her im- 
 pression of the characters of the two men. She also 
 wrote interestingly of other trips in Colorado made 
 on horseback and her letters were published in book 
 form in 1879-80. The book is entitled "Life in 
 the Rocky Mountains." Her descriptions of Evans 
 and Nugent and comments on their individual char- 
 acteristics make very interesting reading. Describ- 
 ing her first introduction to "Mountain Jim" she 
 says: 
 
 "A very pretty mare, hobbled, was feeding, a 
 collie dog barked at us, and among the scrub not 
 far from the track, there was a rude black log cabin, 
 as rough as it could be, to be a shelter at all, with 
 smoke coming out of the roof and window. We 
 diverged towards it ; it mattered not that it was the 
 home, or rather den of a notorious 'ruffian' and 
 
 'desperado.' One of my companions had disap- 
 peared hours before, the remaining one was a town- 
 bred youth. I longed to speak to some one who 
 loved the mountains. I called the hut a den, — it 
 looked like the den of a wild beast. The big dog 
 lay outside it in a threatening attitude and growled. 
 The mud roof was covered with lynx, beaver and 
 other furs laid out to dry, beaver paws were pinned 
 out on the logs, a part of the carcass of a deer hung 
 at one end of the cabin, a skinned beaver lay in front 
 of a heap of peltry just within the door, and antlers 
 of deer, old horseshoes, and offal of many animals 
 lay about the den. Roused by the growling of the 
 dog, his owner came out, a broad, thickset man, 
 about the middle height, with a cap on his head, and 
 wearing a grey hunting suit much the worse for 
 wear (almost falling to pieces in fact) a digger's 
 scarf knotted around his waist, a knife in his belt, 
 and a 'bosom friend,' a revolver, sticking out of the 
 breast pocket of his coat; his feet, which were very 
 small, were bare, excepting for some dilapidated 
 moccasins made of horse hide. The marvel w^as 
 how his clothes hung together, and on him. The 
 scarf round his waist must have had something to do 
 with it. His face was remarkable. He is a man 
 about forty-five, and must have been strikingly' 
 handsome. He has large grey blue eyes, deeply set, 
 with well-marked eyebrows, a handsome aquiline 
 nose, and a very handsome mouth. His face was 
 smooth shaven except for a dense mustache and im- 
 perial. Tawny hair, in thin incorrect curls fell 
 from under his hunter's cap and over his collar. 
 One eye was entirely gone, and the loss made one 
 side of his face repulsive, while the other side might 
 have been modeled in marble. 'Desperado' was 
 written in large letters all over him. I almost re- 
 pented having sought his acquaintance. His first 
 impulse was to swear at the dog, but on seeing a 
 lady he contented himself with kicking him, and 
 coming up to me he raised his cap, showing as he did 
 so a magnificiently formed brow and head, and in a 
 cultured tone of voice asked if there was anything 
 he could do for me. I asked for some water, and he 
 brought some in a battered tin, gracefully apolo- 
 gizing for not having anything more presentable. 
 We entered into conversation and as he spoke I for- 
 got both his reputation and his appearance, for his 
 manner was that of a chivalrous gentleman, his ac- 
 cent refined and his language easy and elegant. I 
 inquired about some beavers' paws which were dry- 
 ing, and in a moment they hung on the horn of my 
 saddle. Apropos of the wild animals of this region, 
 he told me that the loss of his eye was owing to a 
 
 [79] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 recent encounter with a grizzly bear, which, after 
 giving him a death hug, tearing him all over, break- 
 ing his arm and scratching out his eye, had left him 
 for dead. As we rode away, for the sun was sink- 
 ing, he said courteously. 'You are not an Ameri- 
 can. I know from your voice that you are a country- 
 woman of mine. I hope you will allow me the 
 pleasure of calling on you.' This man, known 
 through the Territories and beyond them as 'Rocky 
 Mountain Jim' or more briefly, as 'Mountain Jim,' 
 is one of the famous scouts of the plains, and is the 
 original of some daring portraits in fiction concern- 
 ing Indian frontier warfare. So far as I have at 
 present heard, he is a man for whom there is now no 
 room, for the time for blows and blood in this part 
 of Colorado is now past, and the fame of many 
 daring exploits is sullied by crimes which are not 
 easily forgiven here. He now has a 'squatter's 
 claim,' but makes his living as a trapper, and is a 
 complete child of the mountains. Of his genius and 
 chivalry to worrien there does not appear to be any 
 doubt; but he is a desperate character, and is sub- 
 ject to 'ugly fits,' when people think it best to 
 avoid him. It is here regarded as an evil that he has 
 located himself at the mouth of the only entrance to 
 the park, for he is dangerous with his pistols, and it 
 would be safer if he were not here. His besetting 
 sin is indicated in the verdict pronounced on him by 
 my host: 'When he is sober, Jim's a perfect gen- 
 tleman ; but when he's had liquor, he is the most 
 awful ruffian in Colorado.' 
 
 Refering further to "Mountain Jim" in a foot 
 note. Miss Bird says : "Of this unhappy man, who 
 was shot nine months later within two miles of his 
 cabin, I write in subsequent letters only as he ap- 
 peared to me. His life, without doubt, was deeply 
 stained with crimes and vices, and his reputation for 
 ruffianism was a deserved one. But in my inter- 
 course with him I saw more of his noble instincts 
 than of the darker parts of his character, which, 
 unfortunately for himself and others, showed itself 
 in its worst colors and at the time of his tragic end. 
 It was not until I left Colorado, not indeed until 
 months after his death, that I heard the worst points 
 of his character." 
 
 Of GrifE Evans, Miss Bird speaks as follows in 
 her charming book: "As I intend to make Estes 
 park my headquarters until the winter sets in, I 
 must make you acquainted with my surroundings 
 and mode of living. The 'Queen Anne Mansion' is 
 represented by a log cabin made of big hewn logs. 
 The chinks should be filled in with mud and lime, 
 but these are wanting. The roof is formed of barked 
 
 [80] 
 
 young spruce, then a layer of hay, and an outer 
 covering of mud, all nearly flat. The floors are 
 roughly boarded The 'living room' is about sixteen 
 feet square, and has a rough stone chimney in which 
 pine logs are always. At one end there is a door 
 into a small bedroom, and at the other a door into a 
 small eating room, at the table of which we eat in 
 relays. This opens into a very small kitchen with 
 a great American cooking stove and there are two 
 'bed-closets' besides. Although rude, it is comfort- 
 able, except for the draughts. The fine snow 
 drives in through the chinks and covers the floors, 
 but sweeping it out at intervals is both fun and 
 exercise. There are heaps of rubbish places out- 
 side. Near it, on the slope under the pine, is a 
 pretty two-room cabin, and beyond that, near the 
 lake is my cabin, a very rough one. My door opens 
 into a little room with a stove and chimney, and 
 that again into a small room with a hay bed, a chair 
 with a tin basin on it, a shelf and some pegs. A 
 small window looks on the lake, and the glories of 
 the sunrise which I see from it are indescribable. 
 Neither of my doors has a lock, and, to say the 
 truth, neither will shut, as the wood has swelled. 
 Below the house on the stream which issues from 
 the lake, there is a beautiful log dairy, with a water 
 wheel outside, used for churning. Besides this, 
 there are a corral, a shed for the wagon, a room for 
 the hired man, and shelters for horses and weakly 
 calves. All these things are necessaries at this 
 height. 
 
 "The ranchmen are two Welshmen, Evans and 
 Edwards, each with a wife and family. The men 
 are as diverse as they can be. 'Griff,' as Evans is 
 called, is short and small, and is hospitable, careless, 
 reckless, jolly, social, convivial, peppery, good- 
 natured, "nobody's enemy but his own.' He had the 
 wit and taste to find out Estes Park, where people 
 have found him out, and have induced him to give 
 them food and lodging, and add cabin to cabin to 
 take them in. He is a splendid shot, an expert and 
 successful hunter, a bold mountaineer, a good rider, 
 a capital cook, and a generally good fellow. His 
 cheery laugh rings through the cabin from the early 
 morning, and is contagious, and when the rafters 
 ring at night with such songs as 'D'ye Ken John 
 Peel'? 'Old Lang Syne', and 'John Brown', what 
 would the chorus be without poor Griff's voice? 
 What would Estes Park be without him, indeed? 
 When he went to Denver lately we missed him as 
 we would have missed the sunshine, and perhaps 
 more. In the early morning, when Long's Peak is 
 red, and the grass crackles with hoar frost, he 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 arouses me with a cherry thump on my door. 'We 
 are going cattle-hunting, will you come? Or will 
 you help to drive in the cattle? You can take your 
 pick of the horses. I want another hand.' Free- 
 hearted, lavish, popular, poor 'Griff' loves liquor 
 too well for his prosperity, and is always tormented 
 by debts. He makes lots of money, but puts it in 
 'a bag with holes.' He has fifty horses and 1,000 
 head of cattle, many of which are his own, all 
 wintering up here, and makes no end of money by 
 taking in {)eople at eight dollars a week, yet it all 
 goes somehow. He has an industrious wife, a girl 
 of seventeen, and four ybunger children, all musical, 
 but the wife has to work like a slave ; and though he 
 is a kind husband, her lot as compared with her 
 lord's, is like that of the squaw. Edwards, his part- 
 ner, is his exact opposite, tall, thin, and condemna- 
 tory-looking, keen, industrious, saving, grave, a tee- 
 totaler, grieved for all reasons at Evans' follies and 
 rather grudging; as naturally unpopular as Evans 
 is popular; a 'decent man', who, with his indus- 
 trious wife, will certainly make money as fast as 
 as Evans loses his. 
 
 "The regular household living and eating to- 
 gether at this time consists of a very intelligent and 
 high-minded American couple. The Mr. and Mrs. 
 Dewey, people whose character, culture and society 
 I should value anywhere; a young Englishman, 
 brother of a celebrated African traveler, who, be- 
 cause he rides on an English saddle, and clings to 
 some other insular peculiarities, is called 'The Earl' ; 
 a miner prospecting for silver; a young man, the 
 type of intelligent, practical 'Young American,' 
 whose health showed consumptive tendencies when 
 he was in business, and who is living a hunter's 
 life here; a grown-up niece of Evans; and a melan- 
 choly-looking hired man. A mile off there is an in- 
 dustrious married settler, and four miles off, in the 
 gulch leading to the park 'Mountain Jim,' other- 
 wise Mr. Nugent, is posted. His business as a 
 trapper takes him daily up to the beaver dams in 
 Black canon to look after his traps, and he generally 
 spends some time in or about our cabin, not, I can 
 see, to Evans' satisfaction, for, in truth, this blue 
 hollow, lying solitary at the foot of Long's Peak, 
 is a miniature world of great interest, in which love, 
 jealousy, hatred, envy, pride, unselfishness, greed, 
 selfishness and self-sacrifice can be studied hourly, 
 and there is always the unpleasantly exciting risk 
 of an open quarrel with the neighboring desperado, 
 whose 'I'd shoot you' has more than once been heard 
 in the cabin." 
 
 I have reproduced, verbatim, this much of Miss 
 Bird's charming book to show the characters she 
 came in contact with, their modes of living and the 
 conditions that existed in Estes Park in the closing 
 weeks of 1873 when she was a guest of the Evans' 
 family, and also that the reader may get a glimpse of 
 the causes that led up to the fatal quarrel a few 
 months' later, which resulted in "Mountain Jim's" 
 death. The very fact that no very strenuous 
 effort was put forth by the authorities to ap- 
 prehend and bring to justice the young English- 
 man, who is said to have sent a bullet into 
 "Mountain Jim's" head, lends strength to the 
 belief that the community at large and the officers 
 of the law, were only too well satisfied to get rid 
 of a troublesome character and terror of the region, 
 to give much thought or attention to the manner or 
 means of his removal, or to exert themselves in 
 capturing the man responsible for it. 
 
 In another part of this book will be found Miss 
 Bird's beautiful pen picture of Estes Park as she 
 saw it through the eyes of an enthusiast; and also 
 a description of her ascent of Long's Peak, with 
 "Mountain Jim" as guide. 
 
 Killing of Clarence Chubbuck 
 
 Hardly had the excitement over the Estes Park 
 tragedy subsided, in which "Mountain Jim's" life 
 came to an inglorious but deserved end, when an- 
 other took place, this time in the Big Thompson val- 
 ley, and another victim of the ever ready gun came 
 to an untimely death. The principals in this trag- 
 edy were John Phillips, a stockman, and Clarence 
 Chubbuck, foreman of a cattle round-up then in 
 progress. The cattle had been gathered in a bunch 
 on ground now occupied by Lake Loveland, a short 
 distance north of the present thriving city of Love- 
 land, and owners were engaged in cutting out or 
 separating their animals from the general herd. 
 This was on Saturday, June 5th, 1875. A dispute 
 arose between Phillips and Chubbuck over an 
 unbranded steer, which Phillips said belonged to 
 him. Chubbuck contested the claim and there were 
 angry words between the two men. Finally Chub- 
 buck became exasperated and in the heat of passion 
 assaulted Phillips with a blacksnake whip, which 
 he always carried on the round-up, and drove the lat- 
 ter out of the camp, forbidding him at the same time 
 to return. On leaving camp Phillips declared that 
 he would come back the next day and defend his 
 rights to recover what he claimed to be his property. 
 Aside from the whip that Chubbuck carried, neither 
 
 [81] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY. 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 man was armed at the time of the encounter on 
 Saturday. The following day, Sunday, June 6th, 
 while the cowboys were still separating the herd, 
 Phillips returned to the camp, armed with a 
 revolver, and demanded his steer, which brought on 
 another quarrel. Chubbuck ordered him off the 
 ground but Phillips stood his ground and refused 
 to leave. At this Chubbuck leapt from his horse 
 and started for Phillips, who was a cripple, flourish- 
 ing his whip in a threatening manner. Because of 
 his infirmity, Phillips was unable to keep out of his 
 antagonists way .and fearing humiliation and bodily 
 injury at the hands of the foe, he drew his revolver 
 and fired at Chubbuck, inflicting a mortal wound. 
 The wounded man was carried to his home, where 
 he died on Monday evening declaring just before 
 death intervened that he alone was to blanie for the 
 shooting. 
 
 Immediately after firing the fatal shot Phillips 
 mounted his horse and rode to Fort Collins and 
 gave himself up to Sheriff Joseph Mason. He at 
 once retained L. R. Rhodes, still an eminent mem- 
 ber of the Larimer County bar, to defend him, 
 and instructed Mr. Rhodes to employ Thomas M. 
 Patterson and Judge James B. Belford of Denver, 
 to assist in the defense. The killing of Chubbuck, 
 who was a popular young man and a son of one of 
 the pioneers of the Big Thompson Valley who had 
 been county superintendent of schools, created in- 
 tense excitement all over the county and the feeling 
 against Phillips was very bitter. There were 
 threats of lynching and Jio doubt they would have 
 been carried into efifect if the people of the Big 
 Thompson valley had succeeded in getting Phillips 
 in their possession. On the day following Chub- 
 buck's death a warrant was sworn out and placed 
 in the hand of Constable Charles P. Scott, after- 
 wards county clerk for two terms, with instructions 
 to arrest Phillips and bring him before a justice of 
 the peace on the Big Thompson. In the meantime 
 Sheriff Mason had deputized L. R. Rhodes and 
 Eph Love to guard his prisoner, and they, knowing 
 what the feeling was over on the Big Thompson, 
 declined to surrender Phillips, fearing that he would 
 be strung up on the first handy cottonwood if he 
 should be given up to Constable Scott and returned 
 to the scene of the tragedy. Mr. Scott returned 
 to the Big Thompson without the prisoner and a 
 posse comitatus was raised to take Phillips away 
 from his guards by force. The posse was to come 
 to Fort Collins in the night, overpower the guards, 
 sieze Phillips and take him back among those who 
 were clamoring for his life, but word of their in- 
 
 [82] 
 
 tentions reached the guards, through a friend, in 
 time to make preparations for outwitting the posse. 
 Phillips, thoroughly armed, was locked in Mr. 
 Rhode's office in the old Grout building and in- 
 structed to shoot the first man that attempted to 
 break down the door. The posse halted about 
 where the Agricultural College stands and sent 
 three spies into town to locate the man they sought, 
 but they met with no success, and the posse returned 
 to Big Thompson disappointed and not a little 
 discomfitted. 
 
 The district court convened that year on the 
 14th of July, with Judge A. W. Stone of Denver on 
 the bench. The other officers of the court were: 
 George G. White of Denver, district attorney; 
 Joseph Mason of Fort Collins, sheriff ; Chase With- 
 row, clerk, by A. H. Patterson, deputy. 
 
 The grand jury was sworn and charged and be- 
 fore the close of the first day's session returned an 
 indictment charging John Phillips with the murder 
 of Chubbuck on the 6th of June, 1875. Because of 
 the interest taken in the trial of Phillips, court was 
 held in the Methodist church, a frame structure 
 which stood about a block west of the Colorado & 
 Southern passenger station, as it afforded more 
 room than the hall in the Grout building. Phillips 
 was arraigned on the day the indictment was found 
 and pleaded 'not guilty'. The case was set for trial 
 July 18th and when the day for the hearing ar- 
 rived the church was filled with court officers, 
 witnesses and spectators, many of the latter coming 
 from long distances, as this was the first murder 
 case tried in the district court in the history of the 
 county. Phillips was prosecuted by the district 
 attorney, assisted by Mayor E. L. Smith and 
 Mitchell Benedict of Denver, and ably defended 
 by L. R. Rhodes of Fort Collins, assisted by 
 Thomas M. Patterson and Judge James B. Belford 
 of Denver, who were then acknowledged to be two 
 of the ablest attorneys in the Territory. Since then 
 Messrs. Patterson and Belford have both represent- 
 ed Colorado in the National House of Representa- 
 tives, and Mr. Patterson has served one term in the 
 United States Senate. 
 
 The jury impanelled and sworn to try the case 
 was composed of John W. Tharp, Robert Craig, 
 Joseph R. Wills, W. S. Vescelius, Joseph C. Egbert, 
 N. W. Platte, James Earnest, J. W. Boyd, Jack 
 Dow, Richard Burke, J. W. Smith and Albert B. 
 Tomlin, all residents of the Cache la Poudre val- 
 ley. Eph Love was appointed official court re- 
 porter and the trial proceeded, occupying several 
 days of the term. The case went to the jury on 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 July 21st, and a verdict of "not guilty" was re- 
 turned the same day. The dying declaration of 
 Chubbuck that "he alone was to blame for the 
 shooting" which was testified to in court, had great 
 weight with the jury in reaching a conclusion. 
 
 Thus ended Larimer county's first murder trial. 
 Realizing that it would be unsafe for him to remain 
 in Larimer county, Phillips immediately disposed 
 of his cattle and horses and went to the southern 
 part of the Territory, where it is believed he died 
 a few years ago. 
 
 John C. Ish of Fort Collins, takes exceptions to 
 some of the statements made in the foregoing ac- 
 count of the killing of Clarence Chubbuck. In the 
 first place he says that he and not Chubbuck, was 
 foreman or captain of the cattle round-up that year, 
 and that he saw the trouble between Chubbuck and 
 Phillips the first day and heard the shooting at the 
 time of the tragedy but did not see it as he was on 
 the opposite side of the cavayard, superintending the 
 cutting out of the cattle. Mr. Ish says that Phillips 
 and Chubbuck had some hot words the day before 
 the shooting at Mariana's lake, but he positively 
 denies that Chubbuck struck Phillips with a black- 
 snake whip or anything else. Chubbuck had a whip 
 with him, as did others engaged in the round-up, 
 but did not use it on Phillips. He was close by the 
 two men, heard their conversation and saw all of 
 movements and knows that no assault was made on 
 Phillips that day. The jwrangling between the two 
 men interfered with the work of the round-up and 
 Mr. Ish finally sent Phillips off to another part of 
 the field, so that the work of cutting out cattle 
 could proceed. The following day the cattle were 
 rounded up where Lake Loveland is now and 
 Phillips came there armed and demanded a cow 
 that Frank Bartholf claimed. Mr. Ish knew the 
 cow belonged to Phillips and sent word to Bart- 
 holf, who was on the opposite side of the cavayard, 
 to turn the cow over to Phillips. While Bartholf 
 and Phillips were having some words over the 
 ownership of the cow, Chubbuck came up and 
 joined in the dispute. The quarrel of the day be- 
 fore between Phillips and Chubbuck was renewed 
 and Phillips repeated statements which he said 
 Chubbuck had made concerning him the day before. 
 Chubbuck replied, "that's a dammed lie. I made 
 no such statements". At this Phillips jumped off 
 his horse, drew his gun and taking deliberate aim, 
 shot Chubbuck in the back as he turned and fled on 
 seeing the gun. Phillips then remounted his horse 
 
 and rode off on a dead run. Mr. Ish says he heard 
 the shooting and, putting spurs to his horse, rode 
 around the cavayard to where Chubbuck laid on 
 the ground, suffering from the fatal bullet wound. 
 The young man was taken to his home where he 
 died the following day. Mr. Ish says he shall al- 
 ways think and believe that it was a case of pre- 
 meditated murder, that Phillips came there that 
 day with the intention of killing Chubbuck., He 
 says that Phillips was a busherwhacker in Missouri, 
 during the civil war, and that he boasted of having 
 once, while concealed in the underbrush, shot and 
 killed a Union man who was walking along the 
 road with a baby in his arms, killing the baby also 
 with the same shot. Mr. Ish also says he under- 
 stood that after his acquittal by a jury in the district 
 court, Phillips went north and was shot in Dakota 
 for stealing cattle. 
 
 Pioneer Incidents and Adventures. 
 Story of Jim Baker 
 
 Old Jim Baker, the noted Indian fighter, front- 
 iersman, scout, and hunter, whose death at the ad- 
 vanced age of 90 years occurred in May, 1898, was 
 well known by a number of Larimer county people. 
 In 1852, nearly 60 years ago, he and William T. 
 Shortridge of Fort Collins, and Maj. John Kerr of 
 Berthoud, built and operated a ferry at the Green 
 river crossing. That was during the time of the 
 great rush to the California gold fields and the 
 ferry made money for its owners hand over fist. G. 
 R. Strauss of Timnath also knew Baker well. 
 Baker, Strauss, Bob Lawrence and a man named 
 Brown hunted during the winter of 1860-1 in the 
 mountains north of Livermore, their camp being 
 on what is now known as the Halligan ranch on the 
 North fork of the Cache la Poudre river. They 
 also camped for a time where the late Harry Gil- 
 pin-Brown's residence now stands on the Lone Pine. 
 Deer and mountain sheep were plentiful in those 
 days, each of the hunters killing two wagon loads 
 of game which they marketed in Denver. All of 
 these actors in early day events have gone to their 
 reward. Lawrence and Brown died many years 
 ago. Maj. Kerr in 1895; Jim Baker in 1898; Bob 
 Strauss in 1904 and W. T. Shortridge in 1905. 
 
 A Fierce Indian Battle 
 
 The ridge north of the present headgates of the 
 Larimer County Canal was the scene in the fall of 
 1858, of a fircely contested battle between a band 
 
 [83] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 of Arapahoe Indians, under the leadership of Chief 
 Friday, and a large hunting party of Pawnees. The 
 story of this fight was told to H. C. Peterson by 
 Chief Friday himself. 
 
 The Pawnees were out on their annual buffalo 
 hunt in territory claimed by the Arapahoes, who 
 were bitter and remorseless enemies of the tres- 
 passers. The Pawnees were discovered by the Arap- 
 ahoes who gave chase and drove the former to the 
 top of the ridge where a firce three day's battle was 
 fought. The Arapahoes occupied the gulch north 
 of the ridge and greatly outnumbered the Pawnees, 
 but the latter had the advantage of location and 
 fought with desperation knowing, that if they fell 
 into the hands of their old-time, remorseless enemies 
 they would be tortured, every last one of them. The 
 battle raged hotly and fiercely for three full days, 
 neither side giving away. Finally, taking advantage 
 of a terrific mountain storm which occurred on the 
 night of the third day's fight, the Pawnees slipped 
 quietly off the ridge and made their escape. The 
 story told by Chief Friday is borne out by the find- 
 ing of the skeleton of an Indian by William Shipp 
 on the battle field, in December 1884. The skeleton 
 was found in a sort of cave in the bluffs and had 
 evidently lain there for several years as there was 
 nothing left but the naked bones that afforded any 
 clue to its history. As it was the custom of the 
 Indians to carry away from the battlefield all their 
 dead so their enemies would not know the extent 
 of their losses, it is probable that the warrior whose 
 bones were found, having been wounded in the 
 fight, had crawled into the cave and died there 
 without the knowledge of his companions. At any 
 rate, the ridge, along whose abrupt side the Poudre 
 Valley canal now winds its way, has become his- 
 toric ground. Chief Friday did not know how many 
 of the Pawnees were made to bite the dust in the 
 conflict, but said the Arapahoes lost a good many 
 warriors, owing to the fact the Pawnees were able 
 to shoot their arrows from the top of the ridge 
 down among the besiegers with frightful effect. 
 That is believed to have been the last Indian battle 
 fought in Larimer county. 
 
 Greeley's Ride With Hank Monk 
 
 Horace Greeley and party in going from Denver 
 in 1859 on the Overland stage to California, passed 
 through Larimer county. The road then crossed 
 the Big Thompson at Mariana's place and hugging 
 the hogbacks, crossed the Poudre at Laporte, and 
 thence on into the mountains via Virginia Dale. Mr. 
 
 [84] 
 
 Greeley and party were entertained for the night in 
 Laporte on this trip. It was on this trip that Mr. 
 Greeley made his memorable ride over the Sierras 
 with Hank Monk as driver. At Virginia City, 
 Nevada, Mr. Greeley suggested that he would like 
 to get over the road a little faster, as he had a 
 lecture engagement in California. "All right", 
 said Hank, as he gathered up the rains of six half 
 wild mustangs. "Keep your seat, Mr. Greeley, and 
 I will get you through in time." Crack went the 
 whip, the mustangs dashed at a fearful pace up hill 
 and down along precipices frightful to look at, over 
 rocks that kept the noted passenger pawing frantic- 
 ally between the seat and ceiling of the coach. Mr. 
 Greeley was getting more than he bargained for and 
 he mildly suggested that a slower pace would suit 
 him better, as a half an hour, more or less, would not 
 make much difference. But Monk was in for his 
 drive and his joke, and replied again with a twinkle 
 of his eye, after a fresh cut at his mustangs, "Just 
 keep your seat, Mr. Greeley, and you shall be 
 through in time." Mr. Greeley kept his seat as 
 well as he could and got through unharmed, on 
 time, rewarding Hank Monk with a new suit of 
 clothes. For years afterwards. Hank wore a watch 
 with his reply to Mr. Greeley engraved upon it, the 
 present of some other passenger whom he had 
 driven safely over his perilous route. 
 
 Denver McGaa 
 
 In January, 1897, the Denver Republican told 
 the following story about Denver McGaa, the first 
 baby born in Denver: 
 
 "The first living thing that was born in Denver", 
 said Amos Steck yesterday, "was a dog and that 
 was named Denver. The next was Jack McGaa's 
 baby boy, and he was named Denver. A man 
 named Cromwell was here then keeping a place 
 called 'The Stage', and he was so enthusiastic over 
 the birth of this baby that he sold a fine horse for the 
 money necessary to celebrate the event, and as long 
 as the price lasted everybody had an opportunity to 
 drink to the health of Jack McGaa's kid. I saw 
 the baby when it was a little scrawny thing about 
 two days old, and the last time I saw him was when, 
 he was six years old on his father's ranch near Fort 
 Collins, a short time before Jack died. The baby 
 was born in June, 1859, and is now a big man, 
 standing about six feet two. His mother was a 
 Sioux, and, consequently, Denver learned the Sioux 
 dialect. Five or six years ago when the Northern 
 Sioux were preparing for the outbreak at the Pine 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Ridge agency, Denver McGaa was among them. 
 They didn't know that he understood their language 
 and, consequently, he learned all of their plans, 
 and at once rode away to the nearest military post 
 and reported the situation to the commanding officer. 
 The result was that the Indians were not given 
 time to perfect their plans and the contemplated 
 outbreak was nipped in the bud." 
 
 Denver McGaa remained a resident of Fort 
 Collins until 1879, when he went north to join the 
 tribe to which his mother belonged. He has since 
 visited here several times and is well known to 
 many of the early settlers of the valley. 
 
 Two Early Day Duels 
 
 In the spring of 1861, said the Denver Inter- 
 Ocean in March 1882, a gay and festive Frenchman, 
 a mule shoer by profession, and the late Joseph 
 Mason of Fort Collins, who was killed in 1881 by 
 the kick of a wicked broncho, woed a charming 
 Indian maiden, the belle of the wigwam, the pink- 
 eyed Mary Polzell. They quarreled. There was 
 not squaw enough for two, so the blacksmith con- 
 cluded that one or the other had to die. He sent a 
 challenge and Mason accepted. The hour and place 
 was fixed. It was on the banks of the Platte, near 
 where the Larimer street bridge in Denver now 
 crosses the stream. A thousand people gathered 
 there to witness the scene of two Frenchm.en wallow- 
 ing in each other's gore. It was a fizzle. The black- 
 smith's teeth began to chatter as the umpire paced 
 the ground, and when the seconds loaded the pistols 
 his knees gave way, he fell to the ground a limp and 
 limpsy lover. 
 
 In March 1860, Dr. Stone of Central City 
 challenged Lew Bliss, who, in 1878-9, was an assist- 
 ant under T. J. Montgomery in the Colorado Cen- 
 tral railroad depot in Fort Collins. Bliss being 
 the challenged party, had choice of weapons, and he 
 selected shot guns loaded with slugs, just fitting 
 the barrel. Stone was known to be a dead shot with 
 the pistols and Bliss was equally expert with the 
 shot-gun. Bliss was unhurt, but Stone received a 
 terrible wound in the thigh and groin, from which 
 he died after lingering several months and wasting 
 to a mere skeleton. 
 
 Thought Country Almost Worthless 
 
 Learning through Judge Neil F. Graham of Fort 
 Collins, that Hon. Eugene F. Ware, former Pension 
 Commissioner under President Harrison, but now a 
 prominent attorney of Kansas City, Kansas, had 
 
 scouted through this section of the State while a 
 member of the 7th Iowa Cavalry, I wrote to him 
 for such facts as he could recall touching conditions 
 in the Cache la Poudre valley when he was here. 
 I will note in this connection that Mr. Ware and 
 Mr. Graham are warm personal friends and Mr. 
 Graham had often heard Mr. Ware relate his ex- 
 perience on the Plains in 1864-5. 
 
 Mr. Ware's reply to my letter soliciting historical 
 information follows, and while it does not throw 
 much light on the subject in hand, it does give his 
 impressions of this country as it appeared to him at 
 that time. He says : 
 
 Kansas City, Kansas, 
 
 April 5, 1910. 
 
 "Your kind favor is at hand. I was glad to hear 
 from Mr. Graham. He deserves well wherever he 
 goes. 
 
 "The date which you set is an error. I was out in 
 that country scouting for Indians in 1864 with the 
 7th Iowa cavalry. We were up at Fort Laramie 
 and north of it, and south of it. At Fort Laramie 
 was Lieut. Col. Collins. He had a son, Casper 
 Collins, who was killed by the Indians. Fort 
 Collins was named after the Colonel and Fort Cas- 
 per was named after the son. The town of Casper 
 further north, is the survival of the name. We 
 scouted down in the country, of which you speak, 
 and west from Julesburg up the Lodge Pole to 
 where Cheyenne now is. The country was bleak 
 and arid and I would not have given ten cents a 
 square mile for it. There was, of course then no 
 city of Cheyenne or even a beginning of it. The 
 country was wholly desolate and forlorn, it seems 
 to me, although in the spring it looked a little better. 
 A great change has come over the country as it does 
 over every country where a white man goes and 
 settles." Yours truly, 
 
 E. F. Ware. 
 
 Profits of Early Day Gardening 
 
 That those who tilled the soil in the early days of 
 the Cache la Poudre vailey reaped rich rewards for 
 their labors is illustrated by the following account 
 of G. R. Strauss' experience as gardener, as told the 
 writer by himself: 
 
 In 1864, Mr. Strauss tilled nine acres of land 
 facing on the Howes lane — then the route of the 
 Overland stage company from the Sherwood place 
 to Laporte — nearly opposite Judge A. F. Howes' 
 house. That spring he invested, his last dollar at 
 
 [85] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Laporte for a sack of flour (flour was then only $12 
 per sack) purchased seed on credit and planted a 
 market garden. His success that year may be under- 
 stood when it is stated that the profits from the nine 
 acres, after the cost of seed, implements and other 
 contingent expenses had been paid, were $2,500. 
 The ruling price for potatoes was 25 cents per 
 pound, and for cabbage 30 cents. 
 
 The stage, which made its nearest division station 
 at Laporte, passed his door and the driver would 
 generally be entrusted with baskets and sacks to be 
 filled with vegetables and other products of Mr. 
 Strauss' garden. As the stage frequently passed 
 in the night, the produce, when in readiness, was 
 placed upon a flat stone at the gate and the driver 
 would stop, pick it up and carry the sacks to their 
 destination. Upon the return trip, the buyer, who- 
 ever he chanced to be, deposited the amount due to 
 pay for his purchases with the stage driver, who in 
 turn, upon arriving at Strauss' gate, raised the flat 
 stone and laid the money thereunder. So prevalent 
 had this method of transacting business become, 
 that frequently weeks at a time passed that Mr. 
 Strauss and the stage driver did not see each other, 
 but the money was always in its place and the gar- 
 den truck in readiness. In relating this incident 
 Mr. Strauss said that he had frequently lifted the 
 flat rock to find $150 under it. No road agents 
 lurked about in those days to surprise the unsuspect- 
 ing stage driver, and no greedy spy ever discovered 
 the novel cash drawer and robbed it to gratify his 
 cupidity. 
 
 The spring of 1864 witnessed an unusual amount 
 of water in the river and the flooding of the Howes 
 meadows. Mr. Strauss was awakened one night 
 to find water nearly two feet deep over his floor. 
 He was obliged to wade out and seek higher ground, 
 taking with him what he could conveniently carry 
 and placing the remainder out of danger until the 
 flood subsided. Exactly forty years later, almost to 
 a day, poor Mr. Strauss, then old and feeble, met 
 death in a similar flood. In trying to escape from 
 his home, through which the water was pouring in 
 torrents to go to the home of a neighbor, he was 
 swept by the current against a fence and held there 
 all night long until chilled to the marrow. He 
 died shortly after being discovered by his neighbor, 
 James Strang, and rescued from his perilous posi- 
 tion. 
 
 "Ranger" Jones and the Indians 
 
 "Ranger" Jones was one of the pioneers of the 
 Cache la Poudre valley and one of the best known 
 
 [86] 
 
 characters of the early days. He was a stockman 
 and owned a ranch on the north side of the river a 
 short distance west of the present town of Tim- 
 nath. The farm is now owned by Herman Strauss. 
 He used to declare in emphatic terms that he, the 
 late William C. Stover and the late John B. Provost 
 built the range of mountains to the west of Fort 
 Collins. He was the father of Mrs. Thomas Earn- 
 est and along in the 70's returned to his former 
 home in Missouri, after amassing a fortune in the 
 stock business, where he died several years ago. 
 Many interesting stories are told of his eccentricities 
 by the surviving old timers. Here is one of them: 
 
 "Sometime during the Indian troubles on the 
 Plains, Ranger Jones, an old-time stockman, well 
 known all along the Platte and in Wyoming, was 
 driving the mess wagon for his own round-up outfit, 
 near Cedar Buttes, in Logan county, when sud- 
 denly Indians appeared and fired on the outfit. 
 'G'lang Pete'. Git, Sue!' shouted Ranger, laying 
 the bud lustily on his team, already frightened into 
 a run by the yells of the Indians. Full three miles 
 away, one cowboy overtook the old man still laying 
 on the whip, and rolling lively wheels for the River- 
 side ranch, twenty-five miles distant. 'Hold up, Mr. 
 Jones' shouted the cowboy, the Indians have got all 
 the horses and gone. Danger is all over. Hold up, 
 you're spilling all the cooking fixings. Hold up, 
 you've spilled the frying pan and pots. Whoa!" 
 
 "No more use have I for frying pans in this 
 world, my son", replied Ranger, laying on more 
 bud. Seeing that talk was useless the cowboy 
 grabbed the team by the head, swung them around 
 and stopped them. 
 
 Prisoner Escaped on Court's Horse 
 
 In 1864, while the county seat was located at 
 Laporte, the county commissioners appropriated 
 $150 to be used in building a log jail. The contract 
 was let to Uncle Ben Whedbee, who died in 
 November, 1910 at the advanced age of 97 years, 
 and Mr.Blevins, father of Montie Blevins of North 
 Park, who completed the building in due time and 
 according to plans and specifications. Charles W. 
 Ramer, now a retired merchant and hotel keeper, 
 hauled the logs for the building from the mountains 
 with an ox team. The late John C. Matthews, 
 who was later county clerk and still later a promi- 
 nent merchant, was the only justice of the peace 
 at Laporte, and it is still told of him that he dealt 
 out justice in his court with an impartial hand. 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNT Y 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 Shortly after the completion of the jail, two 
 horse thieves who had been bound over by Justice 
 Matthews for trial in the district court, were con- 
 fined in it in default of bail. It fell to their lot to 
 be the first prisoners to be confined in the new jail. 
 One night not long after their incarceration they cut 
 their way out of jail and decamped, taking Squire 
 Matthews' only horse and saddle with them. It is 
 needless to say the Squire never afterwards saw 
 hide nor hair of his horse, saddle and prisoners. In 
 1868, when the county seat was moved to Fort 
 Collins, the jail building was taken down and 
 moved to the new county seat where it was rebuilt 
 and for several years served the purpose for which 
 it was originally erected. In 1880 after the Ted- 
 mon house was built the old jail was converted into 
 a laundry for the hotel and used as such until the 
 Union Pacific railroad had it torn down and re- 
 moved to make room for its tracks through the city. 
 Squire Matthews never, so long as he lived, heard 
 the last of the scurvy trick the horse thieves played 
 on the court. 
 
 Mariana and His Rifle 
 
 Many stories were told in the early days about the 
 ways and manners of Mariana Modena, the Big 
 Thompson pioneer who kept the Overland stage 
 station at his place for several years. The following 
 appeared in the Denver Field & Farm in March 
 1890: 
 
 "Nearly thirty years ago, while traveling in the 
 Taos valley in New Mexico, we chanced to camp 
 for the night at the same watering place with a 
 dude-looking Spaniard or Mexican named Mariana 
 Modena. He had a squaw wife who wore a blanket 
 and moccasins. Mariana wore a blanket coat gaily 
 ornamented with silk. When upon the road he rode 
 in a dilapidated carriage with a pair of Hawkins 
 rifles within easy reach. His team of four horses 
 was guided by an Indian who rode the right wheeler 
 and directed the leaders with a jerk line. Mariana 
 was a pompous little fellow who had not only lived 
 with Indians but had killed many, and was as 
 watchful as a hawk lest some buck came upon him 
 unaware and claimed revenge. When at home he 
 lived in Colorado on the Big Thompson and was 
 well fixed with cattle, sheep and ponies. But when 
 Jack — the renegade Indian Chief — ^was out Mariana 
 kept in. On this occasion Mariana was down in 
 New Mexico to let Jack have Northern Colorado 
 to himself. As he expressed it to us, 'he didn't want 
 to kill an Indian, but should have to if he got his 
 
 eye on Jack', said he', I am carrying six bullets in 
 my body that Jack and five others have fired at me 
 at different times, and when I meet one of them I 
 am in duty bound to kill him. Jack is the only one 
 left — I'll get him by and by." 
 
 MARIANA MODENO, FIRST SETTLER IN THE BIG 
 THOMPSON VALLEY; NOTED SCOUT, TRAP- 
 PER AND INDIAN FIGHTER 
 
 In after years we became well acquainted with 
 the Spaniard or Mexican when at his home on the 
 Big Thompson. He was a kind hearted fellow, who 
 as the saying went, 'was no coward', but always kept 
 company with his Hawkins rifle. You could never 
 hail him at his door but he came out smiling with 
 "Old Lady Hawkins", as he called his gun, in his 
 hand. Well, after a time — in June 1878 — from the 
 effects of the numerous bullets he had in his body, 
 poor Mariana laid down and died. But before 
 crossing the range he sent for his good friend. Gen. 
 A. H. Jones of Denver, and presented him his much 
 
 [87] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 beloved Hawkins rifle. It is stated as a fact that 
 that gun had killed more Indians than any other 
 gun in history. 
 
 A Soldier's Epitaph 
 
 In 1864-5 and 6, when the United States soldiers 
 occupied Camp Collins, the high ground at the 
 southwest corner of College avenue and Oak street, 
 which the Government recently purchased as a site 
 for the new federal building for which money has 
 already been appropriated, was consecrated as a 
 burial place for those who died here while in the 
 service of their country. A number of soldiers were 
 buried here and in 1874 their graves were opened 
 and the bodies of the dead transferred to Mountain 
 Home cemetery, situated in the southeastern part 
 of the city limits, and reinterred. Six of these 
 graves were found, but the names of only one of the 
 occupants has been preserved. In opening the grave 
 a bottle containing a paper bearing the following 
 was found by J. E. Shipler, at the head of it : 
 
 Post Hospital, Camp Collins, 
 
 Colorado Territory, Nov. 8, 1865. 
 
 "To Whom It May Concern: 
 
 "I am really sorry to be pained with the duty of 
 announcing the death of hospital steward, W. W. 
 Westfall, of Company 'F' 13th Missouri Veteran 
 Volunteer Cavalry, which sad event transpired on 
 the 8th day of November, 1865, at the hour of 6:20 
 p. m. at this place. 
 
 "Poor Westfall took ill on the morning of the 3rd 
 
 of November, '65 and after having suffered the most 
 
 excruciating agony from typho-gastro-interic disease, 
 
 died on the evening of the 8th of November, 1865. 
 
 "Brave, though mild, and clever too. 
 
 Was W. W. Westfall: 
 We buried him in U. S. blue 
 
 When the Lord did on him call. 
 
 "His sister, R. T. Westfall, resides in Taylor- 
 ville, Illinois." 
 
 It is a pity that the name of Westfall's compan- 
 ions who died in the wilderness during their trying 
 early years, have not been preserved in local annals. 
 The new postoffice which the Government will in 
 due time erect on the ground occupied by the first 
 made graves of those valiant soldiers and patriots, 
 will be a monument to the memory of. their heroic 
 deeds by which it was made possible to rear a city 
 in what was a trackless wilderness when they gave 
 up their lives. 
 
 [88] 
 
 Stories About Old Times 
 
 In 1865, Graham flour was almost unknown in 
 Larimer county. One time when white flour was 
 not to be had for love nor money, the late Charles 
 W. Howell, who then lived in Pleasant Valley, 
 went to the Laporte store where he bought fifty 
 pounds of the coarse flour. It seems that he and his 
 good wife, who still survives him at an advanced age, 
 were sublimely innocent regarding the excellent 
 qualities of that kind of flour, and the next day, 
 Charlie took the flour back to the store and told the 
 storekeeper that his wife had tried her level best to 
 make bread, biscuits and cake out of that flour and 
 couldn't do it to save her. Continuing, he said "if 
 old man Graham couldn't make any better flour 
 than that, he'd better go out of the business." 
 Charley never heard the last of his experience with 
 Graham flour as long as he lived. 
 
 All old timers remember Judge Howard who 
 lived at Laporte. The judge was a well-educated, 
 clever old man, but too fond of his toddy. One 
 time when he was pretty full, he was taken before 
 a justice of the peace and accused of stealing 
 whiskey. Several well-known residents of the 
 vicinity at that time acted as attorneys and witnesses. 
 The judge was found guilty and sentenced to be tied 
 to the spokes of a wagon wheel and given nothing 
 but whiskey until he starved to death. Accordingly, 
 the judge, who was pretty well scared out of his 
 intoxication, was tied to a wagon wheel and the 
 wheel set in motion so that part of the time his head 
 and then his feet were in the air. He was finally 
 left in that position nearly half the night, howling, 
 praying and threatening dire vengence upon his 
 tormentors. It was a long time after that before 
 the judge allowed the cup that cheers to get the 
 better of him. 
 
 The judge had a habit, after leaving the store, 
 of putting his ear to the keyhole to listen to what 
 was being said about him by those on the inside. A 
 stage driver found it out and put up a job on the old 
 man. One night after Judge Howard had pur- 
 chased a large paper sack full of eggs he left the 
 store, but stopped to listen at the keyhole. The stage 
 driver began at once to tell in a loud voice how the 
 judge had once stolen an old blind mule and eloped 
 with the owner's wife. In a moment the door was 
 flung open and the judge, livid with rage, bounded 
 in and exclaimed : Gentlemen, you are a set of liars 
 and robbers! Forgetting his eggs, the old man 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 slammed the sack down on the counter and smashed 
 every one of them. 
 
 While A. H. Patterson had charge of Stover's 
 store at Laporte in 1870, he fixed up a game for 
 loafers. It consisted of a needle with a spring at- 
 tachment at one end of the counter and a string 
 leading to the opposite end, which, when pulled gave 
 
 LULU FALLS, ESTES PARK 
 Photo by F. P. Clatwohthy 
 
 a vigorous thrust to the needle up through a hole 
 in the counter. One day Bill Taylor sauntered in 
 and settled himself on the counter right over the 
 needle. Someone slipped around and gave the string 
 a vigorous yank. Bill hunched up one shoulder and 
 shut one eye, at the same time moving rather livelier 
 than usual in getting off the counter. He caught on 
 but was mighty quiet about it. The next victim to 
 learn the secret was Norm Meldrum, who after- 
 wards, became State Senator, Secretary of State, 
 Lieutenant Governor and the Surveyor General of 
 Colorado. When the needle sprung, Denny, as he 
 was called, shot off the counter and let out a war- 
 
 whoop that would have done justice to a Sioux 
 Indian. It wasn't long until Johnny Theobald, the 
 shoemaker, came in and squatted down right over 
 that mischevious needle. Bill Taylor, thirsting for 
 revenge, slipped around and pulled the string. Peck, 
 peck went the needle and still Johnny sat looking as 
 innocent and unsuspecting as a spring chicken. 
 After Bill had began to sweat around the collar from 
 pulling the string, Johnny moved leisurely off 
 the counter and reaching into the bay window of his 
 trousers, drew out a piece of heavy sole leather. 
 Somebody had put him wise to Billy Patterson's 
 trick and he came prepared to turn the laugh on the 
 other fellow. 
 
 Indians Steal Rock Bush's Horses 
 
 In 1865, a band of thieving, blood-thirsty Sioux 
 Indians swooped down upon the Cache la Poudre 
 valley and drove off a large number of horses. 
 Among the sufferers from the raid was Rock Bush, 
 who lost several head of animals. He put in his 
 claim for damages to the Government soon after, 
 and in November 1886, twenty-one years afterward 
 — he got word from Washington that he had been 
 allowed $700 — the amount of his actual loss with- 
 out interest. His claim, with thousands of others of 
 a similar nature, had laid in some pigeon hole at 
 Washington all that time awaiting the slow-going 
 movements of the powers that be. Mr. Bush, who 
 is still living and one of the surviving venerated 
 pioneers of the Cache la Poudre valley, was thank- 
 ful that his life was spared to see the end of the 
 matter and to enjoy the use of the money so long 
 past due. 
 
 Indian Raids and Scares 
 
 The pioneers of Larimer county had many things 
 to contend with, some of them of a nature to 
 severely test their courage and fortitude. All of the 
 country northwest, north and northeast was swarm- 
 ing with thieving, blood-thirsty savages, until after 
 the Union Pacific railroad was built to Cheyenne. 
 The settlers were always in constant fear of a raid 
 by these marauders. Their fears were often aug- 
 mented by a number of French settlers who rode up 
 and down the river, spreading alarms, for some of 
 which there was sufficient cause, but in many in- 
 stances they were entirely baseless. When danger 
 was apprehended the settlers left their homes and 
 hid themselves away as best they could. On one 
 of these occasions Andrew Ames of the Poudre Val- 
 ley picketed his seventeen horses and lay in the 
 
 [89] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 field for several days watching them day and night. 
 At last, worn out by his vigils, he fell asleep and 
 the next morning every animal was gone. Borrow- 
 ing a mule from Jesse Sherwood, he started on the 
 trail of the supposed Indians, and at Denver dis- 
 covered that the thieves were a band of Mexicans. 
 He recovered nearly all of his horses and returned 
 home. 
 
 The settlers were often more apprehensive of the 
 degraded whites connected with the Indians than of 
 the Indians themselves. Many an outrage charged 
 to the Indians in those days was committed by white 
 outlaws or Mexicans. In times of danger, after the 
 soldiers came to Camp Collins, in 1864, the men 
 hurried their families to the post while they re- 
 mained at home watching their property from hiding 
 places near at hand. 
 
 The state of feeling that existed in Indian times 
 is illustrated by the following incident: A man 
 named Charles Facet kept three or four large ox 
 teams at Spring Canon. One day he come rushing 
 to Judge Howes' place on the Poudre, on a panting 
 pony, with another man on behind, and said the 
 Indians were after him and had stolen his cattle 
 and driven them into the hills. The settlers rallied, 
 the soldiers turned out and a big crowd went back 
 with Facet, where they found the cattle grazing 
 quietly. A few half-breeds from Laporte gathering 
 berries had thrown the man into a panic. The 
 nerves of the inhabitants were nearly all of the time 
 strung to the highest tension by fear of Indian 
 raids. 
 
 The Overland stage employes were also a source 
 of annoyance. They were, as a rule, a drunken, 
 carousing set of men, and Slade, who had charge of 
 this division, was a desperado of the first water. 
 Andrew Ames furnished the Laporte station and the 
 next station west with hay. In his commonest bus- 
 iness transactions with Slade the latter always kept 
 his hand on his gun. It was one of Slade's pastimes 
 at Laporte to hold a cocked revolver in a stranger's 
 face and march him into the saloon to drink with 
 him. One day Slade and most of his men got on a 
 tear at Laporte and dumped the storekeepers' gro- 
 ceries into the middle of the floor, poured molasses 
 and flour all over them and then called the propri- 
 etor in, the men then putting him in the stage, 
 hauled him to the Laramie Plains, where they 
 dumped him out. This little bit of fun cost Slade 
 and his gang $800, which he promptly paid after 
 sobering up. 
 
 [90] 
 
 First Wedding in Fort Collins 
 
 On December 30, 1866, occurred the first wed- 
 ding solemnized in Fort Collins, the contracting 
 parties being the Hon. Harris Stratton, a former 
 member of the Kansas Territorial Legislature, and 
 Mrs. Elizabeth L. Keays, a niece of "Auntie" Stone, 
 Fort Collins' first permanent white woman settler. 
 The ceremony was performed by County Judge 
 Jesse M. Sherwood, a pioneer of the Cache la 
 Poudre valley, in a small log house built for Col- 
 onel Collins' headquarters, which stood just back 
 of where the Tedmon house now stands. The wed- 
 ding guests were C. Boulware, H. C. Peterson, A. 
 H. Patterson, Norman H. Meldrum, "Auntie" 
 Stone, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Forbes, Dr. and Mrs. 
 T M. Smith, Mr. and Mrs. N. P. Cooper and 
 their three daughters. In 1867 Mr. Stratton rep- 
 resented Larimer county in the Colorado Territor- 
 ial Legislature. One of the guests, Hon. Norman 
 H. Meldrum, was a member of the Territorial 
 Council in 1875, and was the first State Senator 
 elected from the county after Colorado became a 
 state, serving in the first General assembly. In the 
 fall of 1878 he was elected secretary of state and 
 re-elected in 1880, serving two full terms, and was 
 appointed surveyor general of Colorado by Presi- 
 dent Arthur in 1883, and in the fall of 1886 was 
 elected Lieutenant Governor of Colorado. He is 
 now a resident of Buffalo, Wyoming. He and the 
 bride and Mrs. A. J. Ames of Denver, who was 
 one of the Cooper girls, are believed to be the only 
 survivors of that happy wedding party. Mrs. Strat- 
 ton is still a greatly beloved resident of Fort Col- 
 lins and, though having passed four score years, she 
 enjoys good health and takes a great deal of interest 
 in public affairs. Three lovely daughters were born 
 of this union, Lerah, Marguerite and Sophia, the 
 first named being Mrs. P. J. McHugh of Fort 
 Collins, and the last named Mrs. A. Anderson, late 
 of Columbus, Nebraska, but now of Imperial Val- 
 ley, California. Marguerite died a few years ago 
 while serving as librarian of the State Agricultural 
 College. 
 
 "Billie" Hayes' Dog Feast 
 
 In 1865, when the soldiers were stationed at 
 Camp Collins, Joseph Mason kept a sutlers' store in 
 the Grout building, which stood on the corner, 
 where Frank Stover's drug store now stands, and 
 W. D. Hayes, known as "Billie" Hayes, was one 
 of his clerks. Chief Friday and his band of Ar- 
 apahoes were camped on Mr. Coy's place. The 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 squaws and their papooses used to hang around the 
 store a, good deal, the little Indians shooting at a 
 mark with their bows and arrows. They would hit 
 a penny fastened in a split stick stuck in the ground 
 almost every time. One day, thinking to have some 
 sport with "Billie," they got him out to shoot with 
 them. "Billie" was a good shot with the bow, 
 but his dusky friends didn't know it. He took the 
 bow and made all sorts of awkward moves and wild 
 shots, which greatly pleased the Indian boys and 
 their mothers. Finally one of the squaws pointed to 
 an Indian dog in the street as if to say "shoot him." 
 "Billie" drew his bow and sent an arrow clean 
 through the dog, killing him instantly. The squaws 
 immediately set up a wail of lamentation over the 
 death of the dog. At last one of them gathered the 
 dog in her arms and started for home. The next 
 day "Billie" was invited to the Indian camp to take 
 dinner. He went, but when his dusky hosts served 
 up the feast he coucluded his stomach was a little too 
 sensitive to hold dog-meat and he declined the prof- 
 fered dish. The squaws, thinking they had called 
 the turn on him, had a good laugh over his squeam- 
 ishness. The soldiers at the post took it up and 
 "Billie" wasn't allowed to forget his dog feast while 
 he remained here. Mr. Hays is now a prosperous 
 banker at Hastings, Michigan, but no doubt often 
 recalls his experiences in Fort Collins, forty-five 
 years ago. 
 
 Made Good Indians 
 
 In April, 1899, Lieutenant D. McNoughton of 
 Grand Rapids, Michigan, spent a few days in Den- 
 ver, and in an interview with a reporter for the Den- 
 ver Republican, related the following incident which 
 occurred when his command of the Seventh Mich- 
 igan succeeded the Eleventh Ohio troops at Camp 
 Collins, early in 1865: 
 
 "In 1865 a band of Sioux captured two wagons 
 loaded with government supplies, a few miles north- 
 west of Camp Collins, on the Salt Lake coach road. 
 The drivers escaped and reported the facts to the 
 officers in command at the camp. In the pursuit 
 of the Indians, two of Lieutenant McNoughton's 
 command were killed, but several of the Indians 
 were 'good' from thenceforth. At the time of the 
 attack on the wagons, a soldier had been captured 
 and his charred body was found bound with chains 
 to the wreck of the wagon, where he had been 
 burned alive by the redskins." 
 
 The fight with the Indians spoken of by Lieuten- 
 ant McNoughton took place June, 1865, at Wil- 
 
 low Springs, the next stage station west of Virginia 
 Dale. 
 
 Pioneer Incidents 
 
 In 1883, the late Augustine Mason related the 
 following incidents which came under his notice 
 in the early days of the settlement, with some of 
 which he was personally connected : 
 
 "While Chief Friday and his band of Arapahoes 
 were camped on the Sherwood place, a band of rov- 
 ing Cheyennes set up their tepees for a few days on 
 the north side of the river, nearly opposite Chief 
 Friday's camp. This bunch of Cheyennes were 
 warriors who had participated in many of the fights 
 against the whites on the Plains, while Chief Fri- 
 day and his band were peaceable and friendly to- 
 ward the white settlers, and the Cheyennes taunted 
 them with being squaw men and afraid to fight. 
 At last one of the latter asked Chief Friday if he 
 had a fighting man in his band. This aroused the 
 indignation of Friday's son. Bill, and he shot the 
 Cheyenne dead with a revolver. For fear that his 
 act would get his father into difficulty, the young 
 Indian took his three squaw wives and fled north 
 out of the country. Later, when he supposed the 
 trouble had blown over, he attempted to return 
 to his father's camp and was overtaken by a party of 
 Pawnee warriors, who killed him, cut off his head 
 and set it on a pole, and otherwise horribly mu- 
 tilated his body. His three squaw wives were taken 
 prisoners." 
 
 "Mr. Mason bought the Rist Canon road of Joe 
 Rist in 1868 for $75. His brother, Joseph Ma- 
 son at that time owned the bridge over the Poudre 
 In Pleasant Valley. As it fell to the brothers to 
 keep the road and bridges in repair, Joseph sug- 
 gested that they make the county a present of 
 both properties, which they did." 
 
 The first Catholic services conducted on the 
 Poudre were held in the fall of 1866. Bishop 
 Machebeuf, then a priest, celebrated mass on a 
 Saturday in Mrs. Stratton's school house in which 
 she was teaching a private school. The following 
 day mass was celebrated again in Henry Forbes' 
 house, which stood on the farm lately owned by 
 William F. Watrous. In 1878, after the Reming- 
 ton school building was about ready to occupy, the 
 old public school building, the first one erected in 
 Fort Collins, was purchased by the Catholics and 
 
 [91] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 fitted up for church purposes and was thus occupied 
 until the beautiful new church on Mountain Ave- 
 nue was dedicated in 1901." 
 
 "Judge A. F. Howes started the movement, in 
 1870, to build the first public school building erected 
 in Fort Collins. It was a small frame building and 
 stood on Riverside avenue near the corner of Peter- 
 son street. It has since been converted into a dwell- 
 ing house and is occupied as such. It cost about 
 $1,100, and Augustine Mason's school tax that year 
 was $165.25. The district was immediately after- 
 wards divided and Mr. Mason was placed in Dis- 
 trict No. 11. Although he had helped to build the 
 new school house, he had to pay $3 a week for the 
 privilege of sending his child to the Fort Collins 
 public school. Mr. Mason brought the first shoe- 
 maker to Fort Collins. His name was "Johnny" 
 Theobald, whom Mr. Mason found in Denver on 
 his uppers and in debt. A few months after locat- 
 ing in Fort Collins, Theobald paid off all his debts 
 and continued at work here for several years." 
 
 "The late Joseph Mason and the late F. W. Sher- 
 wood were warm personal friends and each trusted 
 the other to the fullest extent. In the early days 
 they engaged in the stock business together, buying 
 and selling horses and cattle. There were no ar- 
 ticles of agreement in writing between them — only 
 an understanding that each should share in the 
 profits of their transactions, which they divided from 
 time to time. Mr. Mason did most of the buying 
 and selling and Mr. Sherwood kept the accounts 
 as rendered by -the former. This was continued for 
 several years, and when they concluded to dissolve 
 partnership, the books showed that Mr. Mason 
 was indebted to Mr. Sherwood, as the latter's share 
 of the profits, in the sum of $6,250.50. 'All right,' 
 said Mason, 'Here is a check for $6,250, but I'll 
 see you hanged before I'll ever pay the fifty cents.' 
 It was thus that an account running for several 
 years and involving the handling of tens of thou- 
 sands of dollars, was settled by these two pioneers, 
 whose faith in the honor and integrity of each other 
 was unbounded. They had large contracts for sup- 
 plying the Government with beef cattle and horses 
 at Fort Laramie and other military posts, and every 
 penny of the receipts was religiously accounted for 
 in the settlement." 
 
 [92] 
 
 A Reminiscence 
 
 In 1868, Dr. W. R. Thomas, Professor of His- 
 tory and Irrigation Law at the Colorado State Ag- 
 gicultural College, traversed the Cache la Poudre 
 valley on horseback in the interest of the Rocky 
 Mountain News. Twenty-five years later he again 
 visited the valley, this time traveling by rail, and 
 in a letter published in the Rocky Mountain News 
 of December 28, 1893, he indulged in the following 
 reminiscence : 
 
 "Broad and beautiful is the valley of the Cache 
 la Poudre." I recall the sentence written just 
 twenty-five years ago for the NewSj and as I rode 
 along the valley the other day in one of the elegant 
 coaches of the Union Pacific train, I also recalled 
 the first ride I ever made along the banks of the 
 famous and historic stream. The Cache la Poudre 
 then marked the line of Colorado's northern frontier 
 settlement. The danger of Indian raids still threat- 
 ened the valley. The old California trail, along 
 which the Mormons had marched to Utah, over 
 which the forty-niners had made their way to Cal- 
 ifornia, which had been tramped by the columns 
 of Albert Sidney Johnston in his expedition against 
 Brigham Young, and which had been traveled by 
 the fleet riders of the Pony express and the stage 
 coaches of the Overland line, was still broad and 
 well defined. There was but one family living be- 
 tween old Latham station on the Platte and Ben 
 Eaton's ranch on the Cache la Poudre. A few miles 
 further up the stream was the ranch of Uncle Jesse 
 Sherwood. Fort Collins had just been abandoned as 
 a military post and consisted of half a dozen adobe 
 and log buildings. Laporte, where Col. Bill Taylor 
 kept the stage station, was the most important point 
 in the valley, and was a primitive frontier trading 
 point. Thus in the mellow sunshine of a late 
 autumn day I saw the broad acres of the valley, 
 sloping gradually to the beautiful stream, whose 
 course from the mountains to the Platte was marked 
 by groves of cottonwood. The hardy pioneer had 
 just entered into possession of this valley, and before 
 it was a future grand with industrial possibilities. 
 That future has been realized. There is today no 
 more prosperous, enterprising, energetic or intelli- 
 gent community in all Colorado than that which 
 claims the Cache la Poudre valley as its home." 
 
 General Grant's Dinner at Laporte 
 
 In July, 1868, General Grant, who had been 
 nominated for the presidency, accompanied by Gen. 
 W. T. Sherman and Fredrick T. Dent, visited Den- 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 ver, coming West by stage via the Smoky Hill 
 route. After visiting the mines at Central City and 
 Georgetown, the party returned East via U. P. 
 from Cheyenne, passing through this county on the 
 stage and taking dinner at Laporte. The late Wil- 
 liam S. Taylor kept the hotel at Laporte and had 
 the honor of entertaining the distinguished visitors. 
 He had been notified of their coming by telegraph 
 and prepared them one of the famous dinners 
 for w^hich Mrs. Taylor was noted far and wide. 
 Travelers by the Overland stage were always sure 
 of a cordial greeting by Mr. and Mrs. Taylor and 
 the best meal served by anyone on the entire line. 
 
 John G. Coy's Indian Scare 
 
 Mr. Coy came from the State of New York to 
 the Cache la Poudre valley in the fall of 1862, and 
 located on land he still owns and occupies adjoining 
 the eastern limits of Fort Collins. When he settled 
 here the houses and residences in the valley were 
 few and far between. There was a house on what 
 was later known as the Barry place, occupied by 
 Capt. C. C. Hawley's family; a house on Judge 
 Howes' place, and one just across the road, occupied 
 by G. R. Strauss ; Tod Randall had a cabin on what 
 is now the Slockett place. These were all on the 
 north side of the river. On the south side of the 
 river there was but one small, unoccupied cabin be- 
 tween the Sherwood place, four miles down the 
 stream, and the Joseph Mason place, about a mile 
 up the stream from what is now Fort Collins. 
 Though there were plenty of Indians here at that 
 time, he never had any trouble with them, as they 
 did not molest him nor his property. 
 
 He did get a bad scare one time from what he 
 supposed were Indians, and came very near blowing 
 the head from off a white man. And this is how 
 it occurred: In the fall of 1870 he went to Chey- 
 enne with a load of vearetables, loading back with 
 merchandise for Stover & Matthews. A few days 
 before this a soldier had been killed and scalped 
 near what is now known as Indian Springs, on the 
 Cheyenne road. The soldier and his comrade had 
 been out on a scout and the two had camped for 
 the night near the springs. During the night their 
 horses had broken their lariats and strayed away 
 and in the morning the two men started out to look 
 for them, each in a different direction. It was not 
 long until one of them heard a shot, and, supposing 
 his comrade had found the horses, he turned about 
 and went in the direction whence the sound of the 
 explosion had come. In a short time he came upon 
 
 the dead, scalped and mutilated body of his com- 
 rade. He had found the horses and was returning 
 to the camp with them when killed ; the Indians 
 had stripped him of his clothing and gotten away 
 with the horses. 
 
 Mr. Coy always carried a carbine with him, and 
 thinking of' the fate of the soldier, kept a sharp 
 watch for Indian signs. On passing Indian Springs 
 he saw the edge of a blanket waving in the wind 
 next to the bank of a deep creek-wash. Looking 
 closer, he saw what appeared to his excited imag- 
 ination like three heads beneath the blanket. He 
 knew there was no use in attempting to turn his 
 team and fleeing, for he believed the parties under 
 the blanket had been lying in wait for him, so under 
 the strain of a good deal of excitement, he got out 
 his gun, jumped down from his load, determined 
 to sell his life as dearly as possible. In his excite- 
 ment and while his heart was pounding like a trip- 
 hammer, a shell he was trying to slip into the gun 
 got lodged in the magazine and he thought his time 
 had surely come. He continued working away to 
 get his gun in condition for execution and at last 
 succeeded in getting the shell into place. With that, 
 he stepped from behind his wagon and drew a bead 
 on the central head, giving at the same time a yell 
 that might have been heard for a long distance. 
 Immediately there came a responsive yell that cur- 
 dled Mr. Coy's blood; the blanket flew back and 
 exposed the head of a white man. The stranger 
 was a German, on his way to Cheyenne, and the 
 day being cold and blustery, he had gotten down 
 against the bank and drawn the blanket over his 
 head to shield himself from the wind. Hearing a 
 team coming, he had raised the blanket on each side 
 of his head with his hands, making it look as if there 
 were three heads under it. Greatly relieved, Mr. 
 Coy drove on, congratulating himself on his nar- 
 row escaoe from killing the German. Just before 
 reaching home he met Peter Anderson, to whom he 
 related his adventure. Mr. Anderson replied, 
 "That's the fellow who stole my blanket and re- 
 volver." Mr. Anderson jumped onto a horse and 
 took the trail in search of the man, whom he found 
 in camp at Maynard Flats. After recovering his 
 property and scaring the fellow almost out of his 
 wits with threats of sending the sherifif after him, 
 he returned to his home, having ridden all night. 
 
 Indian Burials 
 
 "S. H. Southard," said the Greeley Tribune, in 
 May, 1900, "lived at Laporte for some time in the 
 
 [93] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 early sixties and had a very stirring experience. 
 Musgrove, the all-round-bad-man and horse thief, 
 who was finally hanged in Denver, had his head- 
 quarters at Laporte. He and his gang had a way 
 of stealing horses and mules and selling them, and 
 then, later, acting as detectives and hunting up the 
 animals for a consideration, thus making money 
 both ways. At that time there were many Indians 
 at Laporte. They had a curious way of disposing 
 of their dead. Scaffolding was placed in the tops 
 of large Cottonwood trees and the dead placed one 
 on each of them, and as buffaloes were plentiful in 
 those days, the corpse was generally inclosed in a 
 buffalo skin. Many of us old settlers who jour- 
 neyed up the Poudre to the mountains in the early 
 seventies saw some of the remains of these 'burials 
 in tree tops.' " 
 
 In this connection. Attorney L. R. Rhodes of 
 Fort Collins relates an incident regarding the Indian 
 burial place near Laporte, with which he was per- 
 sonally cognizant, as follows: 
 
 "In 1872 there was being run down the Cache 
 la Poudre river a large drive of logs, which were 
 sawed up into lumber at Greeley. I was working 
 on this drive, and from the first day of July to the 
 first of August, the logs were driven from the Pou- 
 dre canon to a point about opposite the present 
 town of Windsor. 
 
 "One night, about dark, a young man by the name 
 of Carrington, and myself were passing through a 
 grove of Cottonwood just above Bingham hill. We 
 noticed that in several large cottonwood trees some 
 fifteen or twenty feet from the ground, there had 
 been poles laid from one limb to another, and there 
 was something that looked like a sack or bag resting 
 on these poles. We had no idea what this meant. 
 Carrington climbed one of the trees and attempted 
 to loosen the poles so as to let the bundle drop to 
 the ground. He succeeded, and without much 
 trouble the bundle came tumbling down and proved 
 to be the body of a dead Indian, wrapped in a buf- 
 falo robe and blankets. Inclosed within the buffalo 
 robe were bows and arrows and various other Indian 
 implements. 
 
 "We went on into camp and the next morning in 
 some manner the squaw men living at Laporte 
 learned of the Indian having been disturbed. There 
 was great excitement and threats were made to deal 
 summarily with young Carrington. Carrington left 
 the drive that morning and I have never heard of 
 him since." 
 
 [94] 
 
 Frontier Justice 
 
 On the 4th of July, 1879, the people of Fort 
 Collins and vicinity held a celebration in a grove 
 on the north side of the river. There was music, 
 marching and speaking, the exercises of the day 
 winding up with a fine display of fireworks, the first 
 ever seen in Fort Collins. 
 
 Late in the afternoon three of Governor Eaton's 
 ditch builders at work on the Larimer & Weld 
 canal, then in course of construction, came into 
 town and proceeded to fill themselves up with 
 booze. Along in the early evening hours they began 
 to be boisterous and disposed to make themselves de- 
 cidedly disagreeable with their loud talk and swag- 
 gering ways. At last one of them, a young fellow, 
 stole one of the paper balloons and pulling it down 
 over his head, strutted around with it on in the form 
 of a petticoat. This, the crowd thought, was 'car- 
 rying the joke a little too far, so Sheriff Sweeney 
 and Billy Morgan, who was town marshal, took 
 the three obnoxious fellows into custody. 
 
 There was no magistrate in town that day and 
 no cooler and no county jail in which to confine the 
 prisoners, and the officers were at a loss to know 
 what to do with them. At last it occurred to Billy 
 Morgan that Frank Stover was a town trustee, 
 and if he didn''t have authority to try, convict and 
 sentence for infraction of the peace in emergency 
 cases, he ought to have, therefore making a virtue 
 of necessity, which knows no law, the culprits were 
 taken before Mr. Stover to be disposed of as he 
 saw fit. Not having room in his store, which then 
 occupied a small room in the Yo.unt bank building, 
 he adjourned court to the street, using a barrel 
 standing on end for a desk. Mr. Stover assumed a 
 magisterial air and proceeded to arraign the accused 
 on the charge brought against them. The young 
 fellows, who were tenderfeet, by the way, and un- 
 familiar with wild, western ways for dealing out 
 justice, except from hearsay, began to sober off and 
 to think their days were numbered. They could see 
 no mercy in the face of the court and no pity in the 
 surroundng crowd. Visions of their lifeless tender- 
 feet swaying in the breeze from the limb of a cotton- 
 wood tree swept over them and they wilted. They 
 pleaded guilty and threw themselves upon the mercy 
 of the court, beseeching him to spare their lives and 
 promising to leave town immediately and give no 
 further trouble if he did so. After a short lecture, 
 in which the court admonished them to forsake their 
 evil ways and the cup that inebriated, the court 
 imposed upon them a fine of $5.00 and costs. They 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 could only scare up $1.35 between them, which the 
 court accepted, the tender-hearted sheriff and mar- 
 shal agreeing to donate their fees. The prisoners 
 were then discharged and only hit the high places in 
 their hurry to get out of town. The interrupted 
 celebration was soon after brought to a close in a 
 blaze of glory. 
 
 A Peace Council With the Utes 
 
 In September, 1865, Territorial Governor, John 
 Evans, held a peace council with the Southern Utes 
 at Fort Garland in the San Luis valley, to settle 
 the troubles between the Indians and the Mexican 
 population, and a peace was then concluded by a 
 mutual indemnity. A battalion of the 21st New 
 York cavalry, then stationed at Camp Collins, ac- 
 companied Governor Evans on this expedition as 
 escort. Among the officers in command of the bat- 
 talion were Capt. Farrar, Lieutenant Franklin, 
 Lieutenant John H. Mandeville and Lieutenant 
 George E. Buss. The trip he took on the occasion 
 is one of Mr. Mandeville's most pleasant recollec- 
 tions and he enjoys relating incidents connected 
 therewith. Governor Evans took along thirteen 
 wagons heavily laden with gifts for the Indians. 
 One wagon was loaded exclusively with navy to- 
 bacco, the plugs being a foot in length. There was 
 also a great quantity of other articles intended to 
 please the fancy and propitiate the fierce spirit of 
 the redmen. Arriving at Fort Garland, the council 
 was called and the Indians came in from all direc- 
 tions with their squaws and papooses. Ouray was 
 the head chief of the Utes. Colorow joined the ex- 
 pedition at Denver and proceeded a part of the way 
 with it. When the Indians got ready to talk they 
 formed in circles, one within another, the head chief 
 and his staff taking the outside circle and the others 
 the inner, according to rank. In the center sat 
 Governor Evans and his attendants. Major Head, 
 who was the Indian agent, acted as interpreter. 
 Lieutenant Mandeville had a seat near the gov- 
 ernor and before the talk opened Mr. Mandeville, 
 at the governor's request, procured a good sized 
 piece of pine board. When everything was ready 
 for the talk to proceed, the governor drew from 
 his pocket a keen edged clasp knife and began to 
 whittle long, clean shavings from the pine board. 
 As he talked he whittled and before the council 
 came to an end, he had whittled away several pieces 
 of board. Chief Ouray's talk was mild and digni- 
 fied. He had visited Washington and knew some- 
 thing of the strength and power of the Government 
 
 and he favored peace and the signing of a treaty. 
 Colorow, however, scored the whites unmercifully 
 and bitterly complained of the treatment the Indians 
 had received at their hands. As he warmed up to 
 the subject, he moved round and round in his allot- 
 ted circle, but the other speakers who were less ex- 
 citable, stood like statutes when speaking. 
 
 The object of the council was accomplished and a 
 treaty of peace between Ouray and Governor Evans 
 was ratified. The Utes relinquished all their claims 
 to the San Luis valley and mountains and that por- 
 tion of the territory west of the Rocky mountains 
 in which settlements had already been made. From 
 this time there were no serious troubles between the 
 Colorado Utes and the white population. Ouray 
 always remained a friend of the whites and was 
 made much of by Maj. Head. Governor Evans ap- 
 pointed him interpreter at the Conejos agency at a 
 salary of $500.00 a year. The old chief died in 
 1880. 
 
 At the close of the council, the gifts brought by 
 Governor Evans were distributed. They were 
 passed out to the respective chiefs who in turn 
 divided them among their people. Later the Indians 
 had a feast, adding many of the provisions presented 
 to them by Evans to their own store and indulged in 
 a regular gorge. In the evening they held a dance 
 which was attended by officers of the batallion. At 
 one point in the dance, as the officers stood in a 
 group watching the performance, the dusky dancers, 
 highly painted up and chanting one of their wierd 
 songs, circled around the guests and finally en- 
 tirely surrounded them. When the officers mani- 
 fested no little surprise at this proceeding, the 
 Indians broke out into a hearty laugh at the joke 
 they had played on the white men. 
 
 A Soldier's Recollection of Fort 
 Collins 
 
 An interesting letter received recently by John G. 
 Coy, tells of the old days in Fort Collins when 
 "Aunty" Stone sold milk at fifty cents a quart, 
 butter at a dollar and a half a pound, and propor- 
 tinate prices were paid for all the necessities of life. 
 The writer is at present living in Oswego, New 
 York, of which town he is a native, and the writing 
 of the letter is the culmination of a series of most 
 interesting circumstances which are set out in the 
 document. The letter reads as follows: 
 "Mr. John Coy. 
 
 "Dear Sir: You will be surprised at receiving a 
 letter from Oswego, from a man you don't know, 
 
 [95] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 so I will tell you how this came about. I am store- 
 keeper for the Government in Oswego and the 
 building is only a block from where your brother, 
 Ben, lives. He comes down and visits me. We 
 were talking one day about the western country. I 
 told him how far west I had been and mentioned 
 Fort Collins and then Camp Collins. 'Why', Ben 
 says, 'I have been there twice or three times and I 
 have a brother living there now who has been there 
 since 1863, I think, and I get the Courier every 
 week.' This took place about a year ago. Ben said 
 he would go to the house and bring down one, so he 
 did and has continued letting me have one when- 
 ever there is anything in them he thinks would in- 
 terest me ; and would you believe it, I am as much 
 interested in them as I am in our local paper So 
 about a year ago I wrote the editor of the Courier, 
 giving him a sketch of the days when I was in and 
 about Fort Collins. I was a member of the 21st New 
 York cavalry, stationed at Fort Collins from 1865 
 to 1866, and if you were there in 1863-64, why 
 you know about the 21st cavalry. 
 
 "Well, Ben said you lived down the river from 
 Collins. One day, three or four of us Oswego 
 boys took a stroll down the river, oh, a mile and a 
 half or so. We came to a frame house and if I 
 remember rightly it hadn't been built very long. 
 We saw some milk pans out drying, so some of 
 us boys says, 'let's have some milk.' We went 
 in. This was in the afternoon. There was a 
 woman and a couple of girls in the house and we 
 asked them to sell us some milk. They said they 
 didn't like to disturb the milk after it was set, so 
 we said we would buy the whole pan full and pay 
 whatever they thought it was worth. At this stage 
 of the game, the man came in and we got to talk- 
 ing, and finally, he asked us what state we were 
 from. We said Oswego, New York. 'Why', he 
 said, is that so? I am from Oswego." He asked 
 us if we knew Fitchne and Littlejohn and some other 
 early settlers of Oswego. We had all the milk we 
 wanted to drink and he wouldn't accept any pay for 
 it and wanted us to come down often, as he liked to 
 talk to us. There was another house across the 
 river from Collins, built that spring or the year be- 
 fore. Then I wondered what anyone wanted to 
 come out in that God-forsaken country and build a 
 house with the intention of staying there. I 
 wouldn't have stayed there for all Fort Collins and 
 all the buildings in sight. 
 
 "While out there we went as far as Fort Bridger. 
 We left Fort Leavenworth July 22, 1865, struck the 
 Platte river at Fort Kearney, then up the river to 
 
 [96] 
 
 Denver and from there to Fort Collins to a post 
 then called Virginia Dale, Little Laramie, Big 
 Laramie, Cheyenne and on to Bridger. We were 
 guarding the U. S. mail, which was carried by stage. 
 We left Fort Collins the latter part of June, 1866, 
 and glad we were to get away from there. It used 
 to take a month to get a letter from home. 
 
 "A man by the name of Mason built a concrete 
 store at Collins just before we got there and Mrs. 
 Stone's little home was only a little ways from it. 
 I bought bread, pies, and milk from her; 50 cents 
 per quart for milk, $1.50 for a pound of butter. I 
 forgot what we did pay for bread. We paid Mason 
 25 cents for a small glass of beer, $3.00 for a pint 
 of whiskey. I once paid $1.50 for 13 apples. Who 
 would want to live out there ? No work going on ; 
 why one would have to live on prairie dogs and 
 rattlesnakes in order to get along. 
 
 "Now I see Fort Collins has a population of 
 8,000 or 9,000, and I saw a picture of all your 
 public buildings. They are fine, and were I able 
 to stand the expenses of going out there on a visit, 
 I certainly would go. The winter I was in Collins, 
 there was about three or four inches of snow. Some 
 of the officers built sleighs out of old boards and 
 had a sleigh ride. It only lasted a few days. I 
 could tell quite a lot of things that went on during 
 the year I was on the Plains (that's what we used 
 to call it) ; so, wishing you and your family and all 
 the people of Fort Collins a prosperous future, I am 
 Most respectfully, 
 
 Patrick Glynn, 
 127 E. Albany St., Oswego, N. Y." 
 
 An Early Day Election 
 
 An election was held in Larimer county in Sep- 
 tember, 1868, and James S. Arthur, F. W. Sher- 
 wood and John Arthur were appointed to register 
 the names of all persons entitled to vote at that elec- 
 tion. The board met on the 18th day of August 
 and was sworn in by J. M. Sherwood, probate 
 judge. The board proceeded to register the names 
 of the following voters: James B. Arthur, James 
 S. Arthur, John Arthur, Andrew Ames, Joshua 
 Ames, Geo. E. Buss, Philander Bradley, N. P. 
 
 Cooper, Fritz Cooper, Cowles, Thomas 
 
 Cline, A. R. Chaffee, David Davis, John Davis, 
 Ebenezer Davis, Simon Duncan, John B. Decsgin, 
 Thomas Earnest, James Earnest, Paul Flick, 
 Charles George, Stephen George, Lewis Haskell, 
 James Hall, Claiborne Howell, John Henderson, 
 Ira Henderson, Jam.es Israel, Joshua P. Johnson, 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Michael Jones, Revilo Loveland, Isaac Loveland, 
 John Lucy, Herman Manner, John Malsby, C. J. 
 McDivitt, Michael Norton, Jerry Olney, Joseph 
 Prendergast, Allen Packer, Edward Rogers, Jesse 
 M. Sherwood, F. W. Sherwood, A. H. Stearns, 
 Robert Strauss, Elias Smith, Sidney Stone, Paul 
 Thorpe, Rufus Wygal. 
 
 The registration book does not show what the 
 election was to be held for, nor the names of per- 
 sons to be voted for, but it was probably a general 
 election as the book also contains the names of voters 
 registered for an election held August 23rd, 1869 
 and August 24th, 1870. The board of registration 
 for 1870 was composed of Thos. A. McCrystal, 
 Joseph Prendergast and John Arthur. Those named 
 for the board in 1869 are not given in this old book, 
 though it contains the names of persons registered 
 for an election held in 1869. The book was found 
 by Deputy Sheriff Pindell in some old papers that 
 had found lodgment in the sheriff's office and, so 
 far as I have been able to find out, is the only 
 record in existence pertaining to elections held in 
 Larimer county between the years 1866 and 1878. 
 As will be seen it contains the names of 49 persons 
 entitled to vote in 1868. The precinct included all 
 the territory lying east of the Coy farm to the 
 county line and north of the Big Thompson divide 
 to the north line of the Territory. 
 
 A Woman Starts a New Industry 
 
 The first commercial cheese and, perhaps the first 
 of any' kind, except cottage cheese, manufactured 
 in Larimer county was made by Mrs. George E. 
 Buss in 1886, on the Buss farm near Timnath. 
 She had been reared on a farm and had seen and 
 helped her mother make cheese and knew how it 
 was done. Her facilities at the start were of the 
 crudest kind. The hoop was hollowed out of a por- 
 tion of a Cottonwood tree and the press was con- 
 structed out of the remnants of an old grain reap- 
 ing machine, the tongue being used for the weighted 
 lever. Notwithstanding her lack of up-to-date 
 facilities and appliances, she made a number one 
 article of cheese and it found a ready sale in Fort 
 Collins and in the surrounding country. For qual- 
 ity, it beat the imported article all to pieces and was 
 in great demand. The following year, encouraged 
 by her success, Mrs. Buss obtained some galvanized 
 iron cheese hoops and engaged more extensively 
 in cheese making, turning out that year 7,000 pounds 
 of first-class cream cheese. This, too, sold readily at 
 good prices, Mrs. Buss realizing a nice little sum in 
 
 the way of profit. That year (1887) a creamery 
 was built at Fort Collins at which cheese was also 
 made, but Mrs. Buss' cheese was so much superior 
 to that made at the factory that there was no sale 
 for the latter. The owner and manager of the 
 factory called on that lady and tried to induce her 
 to quit the business or else to market her cheese in 
 Greeley and Eaton, saying that the competition was 
 injuring his business. Mrs. Buss calmly told him 
 that she had a good home market for all the cheese 
 she could make and that she saw no reason why she 
 should be at the extra expense of sending her prod- 
 uct to other markets; that, if he was not satisfied 
 with his market, he had a perfect right to hunt up 
 a better one. This ended the conversation. 
 
 The labor involved in making so much cheese 
 finally began to tell upon her strength and she had 
 to give up the business, not, however, until she had 
 demonstrated that cheese equal to the best New 
 York or Wisconsin cheese could be made in Colo- 
 rado. In 1889 Mr. and Mrs. Buss sold their farm 
 and moved to Fort Collins which has since been 
 her home. Her husband, Capt. Buss a gallant 
 soldier of the 21st New York cavalry, which was 
 stationed here in 1865-6, died in 1908. 
 
 Beginning of Newspaper History in 
 Larimer County 
 
 The appended letter from William W. Sullivan, 
 a Larimer county pioneer, and for many years an 
 esteemed resident and business man of Fort Collins, 
 contains so much of the flavor of pioneer days, and 
 details so many incidents connected with the history 
 of Fort Collins, that I am not called upon to offer 
 any apologies for its appearance in the History of 
 Larimer County. 
 
 Mr. Sullivan, from September 1st, 1886 to Feb- 
 ruary 16, 1899, was principal owner and business 
 manager of the Fort Collins Courier, of which the 
 writer was, and still is, editor. His letter follows : 
 
 "Los Angeles, Calif., Sept. 6, 1910. 
 1319 S. Hope Street. 
 Dear Friend Watrous : 
 
 I read with much interest the early trials of Hon. 
 W. C. Stover in a recent issue of the Courier. It 
 is such incidents as these that decide a man's metal 
 and, in Mr. Stover's case, proved that it was a man 
 who had met reverses, and overcome them. It was 
 as natural for Mr. Stover to become one of the lead- 
 ing personalities in the development of the great 
 West as it is for the sun to rise in the morning. 
 
 [97] 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 LARIMER COUNTY 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 We all had our trials in those days, even news- 
 paper men coming in for a full share. In the fall and 
 early winter of 1869, I was freighting from Chey- 
 enne to Central City. I then figured that in the fut- 
 ure a city would rise at some point on the Poudre, 
 and calculated that it would naturally be where 
 Fort Collins now stands. Having worked as"devil" 
 on the Central City Register for two years, 1864- 
 1866, my thoughts naturally turned to establishing 
 a newspaper; so it was the dream of my early man- 
 hood to found the first newspaper in Larimer 
 county. In the winter of 1869-70 I attended 
 Jarvis Hall at Golden, setting type at odd hours 
 for the late Capt. George West on the Transcript. 
 After the school term was over I continued as 
 compositor on the Transcript until I had served 
 the three years then necessary to entitle me to become 
 a member of the Typographical Union. From 
 Golden I went to Denver and became a member 
 of the Denver Typographical Union No. 49. Here 
 I set type on the different dailies for a long time as 
 "sub", but finally got regular cases on the News. 
 Things went well for a while until I had the temer- 
 ity to oppose my own foreman in the election of 
 officers in the union. He was a candidate for presi- 
 dent and I opposed his election on the ground that 
 a foreman should not hold that office. He resented 
 by discharging me and, in 1872, I started on a regu- 
 lar printer's tramp east, and did not return for a 
 year. When I returned J. S. McClelland had es- 
 tablished the first paper in Larimer county, and 
 dream No. 1 was blasted. 
 
 A short time afterwards Clark Boughton estab- 
 lished the second paper, the Standard. General 
 Cameron had established a colony at Fort Collins 
 and another town had sprung up. The fight was on 
 between the old and the new town, and it was very 
 bitter. The Standard was published in the new 
 town, about where the Fort Collins National 
 National Bank building is now located. J. S. 
 McClelland had built his printing office about where 
 the Masonic Temple is located. The Standard was 
 frankly the "organ" of the colony, and as such could 
 look for scant support from the old town. This 
 was the situation when I bought a half interest with 
 Clark Boughton in the Standard, in the spring of 
 1874. Our partnership did not last long, however, 
 Clark fell ill with inflammatory rhumatism, and his 
 attending physician. Dr. Smith, informed me that 
 he was worrying over the paper, and asked me to 
 allow Rev. Myrick to buy his interest. I did not 
 believe we could make a living publishing the 
 Standard unless both parties were printers, and told 
 
 Mr. Myrick so. He was getting a small income as 
 pastor of a very small church at the time, and he 
 suggested that he would edit the paper and his son 
 Herbert and myself could do the mechanical work 
 and we would share equally in the profits or the 
 losses of the business. On these terras we entered 
 into a partnership for a year's time. Herbert proved 
 an apt pupil at the business, and in a remarkably 
 short time, became an expert compositor. By 
 exercising the strictest economy we were able to 
 make a bare living. Mr. Myrick and Herbert 
 batched. Frank Avery allowed me to room with 
 him back of his office free of expense, and for a long 
 time we batched in a little 10 x 12 shack. It was 
 summer time and fearfully hot to go there and cook 
 and eat meals, and the height of my ambition was to 
 get in position to board. But I could not figure 
 that I could afFord it. Finally I made a trade with 
 the late Captain Coon. I had become the possessor 
 of a lot through work for the Colony, the one on 
 which the late Jacob Welch built his stone resi- 
 dence. This I traded for board at the Agricultural 
 hotel, being allowed one half of my board each week 
 in payment on the purchase price of $150 for the 
 lot, paying the other half in cash. These were 
 the years of the grasshopper invasion and we were 
 barely living, and had no profit for labor or invest- 
 ment. 
 
 Herbert thought he could manage the mechanical 
 department with the aid of a boy, so I leased my in- 
 terest to Mr. Myrick and started for the Black 
 Hills in March, 1876. The grasshoppers came 
 again and the Standard could not live, so Mr. 
 Myrick suspended its publication. Like Mr. 
 Stover's trials, the vicisitudes of the Standard bore 
 its fruits. They developed the man in Herbert 
 Myrick, and he is one of the most successful pub- 
 lishers in the United States today. 
 
 At one time I had a prospect of continuing the 
 publication of the Standard, and if my plans had 
 not failed probably the newspaper history of Lari- 
 mer county would have read quite different. Dr. 
 Smith and W. B. Osborn were candidates for 
 county treasurer, the doctor being successful. He 
 declined to qualify, and the commisioners tendered 
 the appointment to the late J. J. Ryan. He lived on 
 the Thompson at the time and did not care to move 
 to Fort Collins. He made me the proposition that 
 he would appoint me his deputy and I could receive 
 the taxes at Fort Collins and he would collect on 
 the Thompson, each of us receiving the commissions 
 for his collections. This would have given me 
 about $450 per year and enabled me to continue in 
 
 [98] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 the publication of the Standard. But Mr. Osborn 
 proposed to the commissioners that he would collect 
 all the taxes for $250 per j'ear, and the commis- 
 sioners, my father being a member of the board at 
 that time, appointed him at his price. But who 
 shall say it was not for the best? Had the Stand- 
 ard continued, the Courier would probably never 
 have been established, and Ansel Watrous would 
 probably never have entered the business in Larimer 
 county. W. W. Sullivan."' 
 
 Deceived Lover Kills Himself 
 
 On July 24th, 1879, a tragedy, resulting from 
 deceit and disappointment in love, occurred at Pine 
 Ridge agency in which William and John Provost, 
 sons of John B. Provost of Laporte, figured as prin- 
 cipals. The young men were both born and reared' 
 at Laporte and were well known to all of the 
 pioneers of the valley. Their mother was an Indian 
 woman and when she returned to her tribe at Pine 
 Ridge agency in 1878, the boys went with her and 
 John, who had received a. smattering of an educa- 
 tion in English and could speak that as well as his 
 native tongue, was employed at the agency as inter- 
 preter. The unfortunate affair brought trouble 
 and sorrow upon the father of the two boys, who 
 resided at Laporte. 
 
 The particulars of the unfortunate affair, caused 
 by love, jealousy and revenge, were published in the 
 Fort Collins Courier as follows: "The two brothers, 
 Billy and Johnny Provost, employed at the agency, 
 the former stock superintendent, became enamored of 
 a beautiful Indian girl named Soeteiva (Little 
 Bird), daughter of Eagle Wing, a sub-chief in Red 
 Cloud's band of Sioux. Before giving his consent, 
 as is the custom among Indians, Eagle Wing de- 
 manded a horse as the prize of his daughter's hand 
 in marriage. Billy Provost not having a horse to 
 give, consulted an Indian, who gave him a horse as 
 his own which in reality, however, belonged to a 
 man named Clement Bernard, who, unknown to 
 Billy, was also suing for the affections of the dusky 
 maiden. Following the Indian's advice, Billy took 
 the animal and delivered it to Eagle Wing, and was 
 about to take his prize when Bernard appeared on 
 the scene, claiming his property and putting a stop 
 to further ceremonies. Provost, after finding out 
 that he had been deceived, and being ejected from 
 the lodge by the chief, seized with grief and re- 
 morse, placed a pistol to his head and blew his 
 brains out. 
 
 John Provost, the interpreter, on learning of his 
 brother's suicide, sought out the Indian who be- 
 trayed his brother and Bernard his rival, intending 
 to kill them. Finding both in the agent's office, he 
 deliberately and without warning opened fire on 
 them, killing Bernard. Several Mexicans, country- 
 men of the murdered man, surrounded the mur- 
 derer, and would have lynched him had it not been 
 for the prompt action of Dr. McGillicuddy, the 
 Indian agent, who sent young Provost under a guard 
 of Indian soldiers to the military guardhouse at 
 Camp Sheridan to be held pending a trial for mur- 
 der by the civil authorities. The trial came off in 
 due time and John was acquitted. The latest news 
 from him is to the effect that he is living in Michi- 
 gan and not troubled by regrets over avenging the 
 untimely death of his brother William. 
 
 Sufferings of Soldiers During a Win- 
 ter's March on the Plains 
 
 The following story of the intense suffering ex- 
 perienced by Captain James W. Hanna's troop of 
 soldiers in a march from Fort Laramie to Fort Col- 
 lins in January, 1865, was told a Denver News re- 
 porter by an old frontier soldier, and published in 
 that paper in February, 1892. As it relates to in- 
 cidents connected with the early settlement of the 
 Cache la Poudre valley and gives a graphic descrip- 
 tion of that early march and the fight for life the 
 troopers had with the elements, I reproduce the 
 story in full : 
 
 "It was in January, 1865, when Captain J. W. 
 Hanna, then commanding Company L, Eleventh 
 Ohio cavalry, marched from Fort Laramie, under 
 orders to proceed to Fort Collins, Colorado, to re- 
 inforce Major W. H. Evans, who, with Company 
 F of the Eleventh Ohio, held that then frontier 
 outpost. At that time the white settlers of the 
 Cache la Paudre were few and far between. There 
 was a stage station at Laporte a few miles above 
 Fort Collins. 
 
 "It was a bright sunny January day when the 
 seventy or eighty 'Buckeye boys', each clad in buck- 
 skin, buffalo and beaver trappings, rode joyfully 
 up the Laramie river bound for the settlement. 
 That night they camped on the Chugwater and, over 
 bright, blazing campfires, told over wellworn yarns 
 and felicitated themselves upon once more seeing 
 white girls and calico after their three years' exile 
 among the Sioux in far-off Black Hills. That 
 night as they lay snug and cozy amid the shelter- 
 ing boxelder groves, a blanket of snow about a foot 
 
 [99] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 thick was silently laid over them and their horses. 
 Next morning as they resumed their march a gen- 
 uine western blizzard set in and the mercury kept 
 dropping all day. That night the boys, many of 
 them sons of the best families of Ohio, nurtured in 
 comfort and pernaps luxury, tasted the first bitter- 
 ness of their terrible march. But they had abund- 
 ance of wood, and if the wind whistled fiercely over 
 the cheerless Plains, it did not trouble them down 
 there in the valley of the 'Chug'. 
 
 "It is true the boys suffered some as they lay 
 upon the frozen earth, their beds banked round 
 with snow; but there was little complaint and little 
 sleep, for they dreaded the morrow. There was a 
 four-days' march ahead of them over a treeless, life- 
 less, wind-swept Plain, and a dark storm cloud hung 
 over the hill. The next day the brave boys breasted 
 the icy blasts silently and gloomily. The column 
 kept well together, not because of fear of an Indian 
 attack, but because of consciousness of unseen 
 dangers. To straggle or laj behind meant death 
 and a grave beneath the fast drifting snow. There 
 were no trails or roads in those days, and not a 
 house between Fort Laramie and Cache la Poudre. 
 To fall behind was to die and become food for the 
 wolves. So the column moved slowly amid the 
 snow and keen-cutting blasts. 
 
 "That night was a night of horrors. About 4 
 o'clock in the afternoon they reached a depression 
 in the apparently limitless Plains, the two wagons 
 halted and camp was established to the windward. 
 A few dead willows and weeds peeping above the 
 snow, none of them thicker than a pencil, afforded 
 the only source of fuel. With this cheerless pros- 
 pect, amid a whistling, drifting storm of snow, 
 Captain Hanna and his men prepared to spend the 
 long, long night. A few of the more cheerful and 
 enterprising troopers gathered weeds and willows, 
 dug away a hole in the snow, sat down, built small 
 fires sheltered by their extending legs, and with 
 oyster cans cooked some coffee. Then the blankets 
 and buffalo robes were spread upon the snow, the 
 saddles were piled to break ofE the wind and dark- 
 ness came slowly on. As for the horses they seemed 
 to realize the desperate situation and, after hastily 
 eating their corn, shivering with their tails toward 
 the blast, they, one after another, laid down in their 
 snowy beds. As they were well blanketed and the 
 snow swiftly drifted over them, they were soon 
 hidden beneath a snow bank with nothing visible 
 except their heads. 
 
 "The men laid in rows of ten or twelve in num- 
 ber, feet to the wind ; the last man out was re- 
 
 quired to bank up the snow over the bed and then 
 crawl beneath the pile of bedding in the center of the 
 row. He went in feet foremost, of course. That 
 was a long, dreary night. Every half hour or so 
 the command went forth from the sergeant in charge 
 of each row; 'Ready, bo5's! Now s-p-o-o-n!' Then 
 over went the row of soldiers and by this means 
 they turned over in bed without letting in the cold 
 air. Towards daylight the snow commenced to 
 fall again. I was one of the first to rise (having 
 charge of the commissary stores) and I shall never 
 forget that cheerless night. The only sign of life 
 to be seen was the two wagons, half hidden in snow, 
 and the heads of sixty or seventy horses just above 
 the snow. The presence of the soldiers was indi- 
 cated by the little jets of steaming breath com.ing 
 from beneath their blankets and robes. 
 
 "Hard bread and frozen bacon was handed 
 around, the shivering horses were fed and another 
 long day's march commenced toward Colorado. 
 The vitality of man and beast seemed to have been 
 exhausted. The younger soldiers were freezing to 
 death in their saddles. They seemed to be careless 
 and indifferent, and, oh, so sleepy. Captain Hanna 
 and his First Lieutenant, Swearingen, made details 
 of soldiers to compel those who were dying to live 
 awhile longer. The mode of procedure was this: 
 When a soldier was seen to bow his head and in- 
 dicated his desire to sleep, he was torn from his 
 saddle and then supported by a comrade on each 
 side, was forcibly pushed or run along the trail until 
 animation was restored. As night again approached 
 the half frozen expedition seemed to settle down 
 into a state of lethargic despair. Horses exhausted, 
 men cold, chilled to the bone, no wood, no shelter 
 from the piercing blizzard, mercury down to thirty 
 degrees below zero and no prospect of relief or 
 shelter. Oh, for a fire or a cup of hot coffee. Oh, 
 for even the shelter of a friendly bluff. No; there 
 was nothing ahead but another long, cheerless night 
 in the snow. 
 
 "How that night passed will ever seem like a 
 hideous dream in the recollection of the miserable 
 survivors. Chilled, hungry, stiff and sore, the mem- 
 bers of the expedition clustered together in the tree- 
 less solitude not far from the present site of Chey- 
 enne, Wyoming. The wintry storm showed no 
 abatement and death stared the miserable volunteer 
 soldiers in the face. Many had frozen feet, few were 
 unfrostbitten, all seemed indifferent as to life. The 
 horses seemed lifeless ; many had been abandoned to 
 the mercies of the wolves, the remainder seemed 
 resigned to an apparently inevitable fate. New life 
 
 [100] 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 LARIMER COUNTY 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 and courage were suddenly imparted to the despar- 
 ing men by an order to unload the two government 
 wagons, stack the stores in the form a windbreak 
 and chop the wagons into firewood. 
 
 "By clustering close together and keeping out the 
 wind and snow with bufEalo robes, a fire was se- 
 cured. Oh, what joy, what hope, what cheer, the 
 light of a fire imparted, that bitter stormy night on 
 the Plains. Then to have hot, strong, fragrant 
 coffee, the first for two days and nights. How it 
 braced the boys up for the long winter night. A 
 dozen at least were crippled and helpless from frozen 
 feet and hands. These were laid side by side and 
 were banked over with snow, after being cheered 
 with the warmth of a cup of coffee. Food was a 
 secondary consideration ; heat was the vital neces- 
 sity. Two fires were built and about these a circle 
 was formed and robes and blankets spread over 
 the shoulders of the crouching soldiers. Even then 
 this living windbreak was insufficient to prevent 
 the wind sweeping away the fire. Embers and ashes 
 there were none — the storm swept all away. Men 
 sat that night and saw their stockings burn upon 
 their feet without feeling the pain of the fire, so 
 cold were they and so benumbed their frozen limbs. 
 But daylight came at last and with it the sun. Oh, 
 what joy and cheer came up with that orb from be- 
 yond the eastern snow banks. It brought to each 
 a hope of life and a possible return sometime to the 
 comforts of civilization. 
 
 "More than half the command was found to be 
 frosted and unable to walk. More than half the 
 horses which left Fort Laramie a few days before 
 in good condition were either dead or too weak to 
 carry a rider. An early start was made, a long 
 march was made. To halt meant death to all. 
 Stores, arms and saddles had been stacked in the 
 snow and abandoned. In the light marching order 
 the column pushed on for the Cache la Poudre. The 
 sight of the scattered cottonvi^oods upon that stream 
 was a welcome sight to man and beast. It meant 
 life and comfort. The expedition struck the Poudre 
 valley about ten miles below Fort Collins, and be- 
 fore noon the next day the demoralized column 
 reached the little cluster of cabins called Fort Col- 
 lins. Never did that beautiful valley appear more 
 glorious and fascinating than it did that bright, 
 keen, sunny morning in January, 1865, when Capt. 
 J. W. Hanna's command made its first advent in 
 Colorado. Most of the frosted men recovered the 
 use of their limbs and performed good and gallant 
 service the next summer with General Connor on 
 his Tongue river expedition." 
 
 The Captain J. W. Hanna mentioned in the fore- 
 going narrative of exposure and suffering was a 
 foster brother, of Alderman Thomas L. Moore of 
 Fort Collins, and has often visited the scene of his 
 experiences as a soldier in the Cache la Poudre 
 valley. He was Speaker of the House of Repre- 
 sentatives of the Colorado General Assembly in the 
 winter of 1891. 
 
 Indian Scare on Upper Boxelder 
 and What Came of It 
 
 Shortly after Isaac Adair and family settled on 
 Upper Boxelder in 1875, the few scattered settlers 
 of that district became greatly alarmed over a threat- 
 ened raid by a marauding band of Sioux Indians. 
 The story goes, and it is a true one, that the band of 
 redskins swooped down to capture and run off a 
 bunch of horses owned by a banker in Cheyenne, 
 named Kent, which he had on the range near the set- 
 tlement. They succeeded in running off a large num- 
 ber of horses. Of course, the settlers were afraid the 
 savages would return and made hasty preparations 
 to give them a warm reception. 
 
 Adair secured two rifles and two double barreled 
 shot guns with which to repell the anticipated at- 
 tack. A few days later, Mr. Adair and his hired 
 man, Jacob McAffee, went to look after a pit of 
 charcoal he had burning about a mile from the 
 family cabin. They took the two rifles with them, 
 leaving the shotguns with Mrs. Adair, charging her 
 to keep them loaded and be on the lookout for 
 Indians. The men had not been gone from the 
 cabin more than two hours, when Mrs. Adair saw a 
 band of horsem.en riding rapidly toward the cabin. 
 They were so far away that she could not make out 
 whether they were Indians or white men, but be- 
 lieving they were Indians she ran into the cabin, 
 barred the doors and windows, hastily loaded the 
 shotguns, siezed a hatchet and was about to knock 
 out some of the chinking between some of the logs 
 to make loop holes through which to shoot, when the 
 horsemen rode up to the cabin. She saw at once 
 they were white men but did not recognize any of 
 them. One of the men, who afterwards proved to 
 be James A. Brown of Fort Collins, seeing that she 
 was terribly excited and about to faint, said to her 
 "What in the name of common sense is the matter 
 witn you?" She replied with a stammering tongue, 
 I-I th-th-thought you were Indians." The party 
 proved to be cowboys on the round-up in charge 
 of Mr. Brown and C. B. Mendenhall of Fort 
 Collins. 
 
 [101] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 When the excitement had somewhat subsided the 
 cowboys examined the shotguns and found about 
 one foot of powder and buckshot jammed into each 
 barrel, which Mrs. Adair, in her fear and haste, 
 thought was the proper charge for Indians. The 
 charges were removed by fastening the butts of the 
 guns against the axle of a wagon, cocking the guns 
 and tying strings to the triggers of sufficient length 
 to enable one to get out of the danger zone, and 
 then by pulling the strings, the guns were discharged 
 without doing much damage. The settlers were 
 never troubled by Indians after that. 
 
 Early Day Echoes 
 
 If Harmon Mann's memory serves him right, it 
 was about 1866 that the troops were withdrawn 
 from the garrison at Fort Collins. Prior to that 
 time they were maintained there to guard against 
 any outbreak of the Indians of whom there were 
 not a great many abiding in the country. As a rule, 
 they were never contented to remain in one section, 
 generally keeping on the move from one part of the 
 country to another and it was never known when a 
 whole tribe would swoop down upon the settlement 
 from nobody knows where. 
 
 After many annoyances from these Indians who 
 did remain in these parts, the aid of the Government 
 was invoked to put a stop to their depredations. 
 Accordingly the Indians were ordered to stay at all 
 times in sight of the garrison at Camp Collins if 
 they chose to remain in the country at all. An 
 open season was declared upon any Indian straying 
 beyond a distance of four miles from the camp, and 
 the whites were allowed to shoot any found out- 
 side of that pale on sight, providing the Indian 
 didn't see the white man and pull the trigger first. 
 
 Mr. Mann recalls the thrilling experience of a 
 lieutenant who went out one day hunting while 
 this order was in effect. Seeing an Indian out on 
 the bluffs hunting he decided to capture and march 
 him into camp. Approaching the Indian he shoved 
 a pistol in his face and ordered him to surrender. 
 But the Indian was very athletic and quick with a 
 gun. Before the lieutenant realized it, his gun 
 was taken from him and the Indian was marching 
 him to his wigwam. He was not harmed, but for 
 a long time he had to bear the blunt of the joke that 
 was turned so unexpectedly upon him. This same 
 Indian afterwards proved himself a better man 
 physically in many respects than some of the boast- 
 ful soldiers. An officer who sneeringly remarked 
 that he could outrun any Indian was laughed to 
 
 [102] 
 
 scorn by this fleet redskin, who ran the officer a race 
 and performed the feat with a blanket wrapped 
 about him. — Windsor Poudre Valley, February, 
 1909. 
 
 How Abner Loomis Lost a Mule 
 
 The following interesting sketch of an early day 
 incident appeared in the Loveland Reporter in 
 January, 1887. I do not vouch for the truth of 
 the story, but tell it as it was told in the Reporter, 
 adding however that it bears the ear marks of truth. 
 The man Musgrove was widely known in the early 
 days as the head of a gang of horse thieves who in- 
 fested the country along in the 60's, and who was 
 hung in Denver in 1868 by a mob, for his misdeeds. 
 As is told elsewhere in this book, Mr. Loomis had 
 much to do with Musgrove's capture and final sur- 
 render to the Denver authorities: 
 
 "Few people knowing Ab. Loomis of Fort Col- 
 lins," said the Reporter, "today would at all suspect 
 that in the early days of Colorado, he was noted as 
 a man of great courage and nerve, but such is the 
 fact. Any of the old-timers hereabout remember 
 the time when he was esteemed a bad man to fool 
 with. He was never quarrelsome, nor would he 
 in any way incite a row, but when a tough wanted 
 to bully anybody he invariably passed Ab. Loomis 
 as a man too dangerous for his business. Loomis 
 was taken at a disadvantage at one time however. 
 Everybody had heard of Musgrove, who had a 
 gang of horse-thieves with headquarters in Poudre 
 canon part of the time, and part of the time near 
 St. Cloud. The story of how Musgrove become a 
 horse thief and outlaw as told by his followers is to 
 the effect that he wished to retaliate and get revenge 
 for the way the United States government had 
 used him. He used to own a train of freighting 
 teams and at one time ventured among the Indians 
 on the Laramie Plains. Government officials 
 searched his wagons, and finding whiskey, confis- 
 cated the whole train and threw Musgrove into 
 the guardhouse. There he was compelled to per- 
 form menial duties, such as cleaning the office 
 quarters, emptying the spittoons and other dirty 
 work. When he escaped from confinement he went 
 into the business of stealing government property, 
 particularly horses and mules, at every opportunity. 
 He and his gang always claimed that they never 
 took anything from private citizens, but the record 
 is not exactly clear on this point. At any rate the 
 gang was looked upon with suspicion by not only 
 government officials but by the settlers as well. 
 To arrest Musgrove and break up his gang if pos- 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 sible, a Deputy United States Marshal came from 
 Denver, and while in search of evidence visited Mr. 
 Loomis' ranch in Pleasant valley, going thence to 
 Laporte where he went into the saloon and billiard 
 hall kept by Ben. Claymore and John B. Provost, 
 and called for a drink. The building that housed 
 the saloon is now owned and occupied by Rowland 
 Herring and family as a residence. 
 
 Musgrove's gang were all in the saloon at the 
 time playing billiards, and the walls were lined 
 with shot guns and the chairs covered with pistols, 
 belts, cartridges and other paraphernalia. The 
 appearance of the saloon, its occupants and its 
 equipments satisfied the deputy marshal that his 
 company could be spared, so he quietly withdrew 
 without waiting for his order for a drink to be 
 filled. Mounting his horse the oflficer rode away 
 towards Denver at top speed. 
 
 Musgrove, hearing that the deputy m.arshal had 
 visited Loomis, resolved that he, too, wanted to see 
 Mr. Loomis. One morning, just after Mr. Loomis 
 had hitched a fine mule that had cost him $250, to 
 his gate post and was going into the house for 
 breakfast, Musgrove rode up with his shotgun on 
 the pommel of his saddle. Loomis invited him into 
 breakfast, and the visitor raised in his saddle as if 
 to dismount when the gun went off and shot the 
 mule. Musgrove apologized, saying it was an acci- 
 dent and that he would replace the animal with a 
 government mule "that you can sell as easily as this 
 one." At this, he rode ofE at full speed. Mr. 
 Loomis' first impulse was to shoot the scoundrel, 
 but he stopped to examine his mule and when he 
 looked up Musgrove was out of sight. The fol- 
 lowing year Mr. Loomis got even by laying a trap 
 for Musgrove which resulted in his capture in 1868 
 and subsequent hanging from Cherry Creek bridge 
 in Denver. 
 
 Demolishing a Frontier Relic 
 
 The Fort Collins Courier of December 30, 1886, 
 contained the following reminder of the days when 
 the soldiers were stationed at Camp Collins, more 
 than forty-five years ago: 
 
 "The work of demolishing the only remaining 
 relic of the days when the soldiers under Col. W. 
 O. .Collins were the only inhabitants of this city, 
 was begun this morning. The old log building 
 standing on the alley back of the Tedmon house, 
 the last one left of the half dozen or more erected 
 by the soldiers of 1864 for winter quarters, is about 
 to disappear. And with it disappears every vestige 
 
 and sign of what was known as Camp Collins, ex- 
 cept a lingering memory existing with a few old- 
 timers. In August, 1864, Col. Collins of the 11th 
 Ohio volunteer cavalry, Commander of the Dis- 
 trict of the Platte, with headquarters at Fort 
 Laramie, came to the Cache la Poudre valley in 
 search of a location for a military post, and being 
 pleased with the situation, established here a post 
 thenceforward known from his name as Fort Col- 
 lins. From that time until its abandonment for this 
 use, from two to six companies of infantry and cav- 
 alry were stationed here to curb the Indians and 
 protect the Overland stages, the scanty settlements 
 and the emigrants continually passing this way. 
 
 "A military reservation, upon which Fort Collins 
 now stands, was surveyed and set apart by the gov- 
 ernment in 1864. Necessary buildings were put up 
 for the accommodation of the officers and soldiers, 
 and the nucleus of a settlement was thus formed. 
 The building that Mr. James A. Brown is tearing 
 down was one of these, and was occupied as officers' 
 quarters. It is a one-story log building and stands 
 facing Long's Peak. On the north end, close up 
 under the gable, a rude balcony was constructed, 
 containing just about space enough for one person. 
 This used to be Col. Collins' favorite seat. It 
 commanded a good view of the river, the valley and 
 the bluffs beyond. On the departure of the soldiers 
 in June, 1866, W. D. Hayes, now of Hastings, 
 Mich., became the owner of the house and lot on 
 which it stands. Mr. Hayes is well and kindly 
 remembered by all the old-timers, all of whom were 
 his warm friends. Mrs. Hayes is a sister of Mrs. 
 A. J. Ames, with whom she spent several weeks in 
 1885. Mr. Hayes sold the property in 1868 to 
 James A. Brown, who still owns it. In this old 
 house Mr. and Mrs. Brown first set up housekeep- 
 ing, and here is where their first child was born. 
 At that time Mr. Brown was interested with his 
 brother, John R. Brown, in a blacksmith shop, 
 which stood on the corner of Jefferson and Pine 
 streets, across the street east of the old Grout 
 livery stable." 
 
 It was in this house that Agnes Mason (now 
 Mrs. E. C. Gildings), the first white child born 
 in Fort Collins, first saw the light of day, on the 
 31st of October, 1867; and in this house, on the 
 3Gth of December, 1866, was solemnized the mar- 
 riage of Mr. Harris Stratton and Mrs. Elizazeth 
 Keays, their's being the first wedding celebrated in 
 Fort Collins. A good many tender memories cling 
 to that old house of days that are gone never to re- 
 turn, and of joys that are passed." 
 
 [103] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Lynching of Musgrove 
 
 In the early days the crime of horse stealing was 
 considered almost, if not quite equal, in enormity 
 to that of murder, and it is stated as a fact that 
 more men suffered death for horse stealing than 
 were executed for taking human life. A short 
 shrift was given the horse thief when apprehended 
 and the evidence of his guilt were deemed sufficient 
 by Judge Lynch to justify death by hanging. Pos- 
 session of stolen horses or mules was usually con- 
 sidered good enough grounds for inflicting the 
 death penalty and the execution promptly followed. 
 Judge Lynch was inflexible in his rulings and there 
 was no appeal when he pronounced sentence. 
 While it is true that a number of men were put to 
 death in the early days for this offense, it is not re- 
 corded and not believed that any innocent persons 
 suffered the death penalty at the hands of an out- 
 raged, law-abiding community. In most cases the 
 accused was given a hearing before a self- con- 
 stituted tribunal of citizens and an opportunity to 
 clear himself of the charge, but it oftentimes hap- 
 pened that the horse thief was caught red-handed 
 and launched before his Maker from the limb of 
 the nearest Cottonwood tree or the cross-bar of a 
 telegraph pole. While lynch law in a civilized 
 community cannot be justified by any rule of right 
 or reason, there seems to be no other satisfactory 
 way for an unorganized community, without courts 
 or officers of the law, to protect itself against the 
 depredations of outlaws, brigands and desperadoes. 
 It may, therefore, be said, with a semblance of 
 justice, that the early settlers of Colorado were 
 morally, at least, justified in resorting to extreme 
 measures in defending themselves and their property 
 from molestations by marauders and in appealing to 
 lynch law as a means of ridding the country of un- 
 desirable characters. Provisions and supplies for 
 the early settlers had to be carried in wagons a dis- 
 tance of six hundred miles, and if their teams were 
 stolen en route or driven from ranches by thieves, 
 they were placed at great disadvantage and often 
 made to suffer the pangs of hunger or death from 
 starvation. Hence a horse thief was looked upon as 
 being but little if any better than a murderer. 
 
 In the summer of 1868 a gang of robbers and 
 horse thieves established a camp at Bonnar Springs, 
 an almost inaccessible natural rock fortress, situated 
 in the hills a short distance west of Owl canon on 
 the road to Livermore. From their headquarters 
 at this point the gang operated in Southern Wyom- 
 ing and Northern Colorado, stealing and running 
 
 [104] 
 
 off horses and cattle. Government property suf- 
 fering the most from their depredations. There 
 was great temptation in those days to steal govern- 
 ment horses and mules as these animals could be 
 readily sold at remunerative prices. A pair of mules 
 brought from $350 to $700 and no questions asked. 
 Musgrove and his gang gave the army officers much 
 annoyance and finally a reward was offered for his 
 apprehension. Much of the stealing and running 
 off of stock that was laid to the Indians that year 
 was really done by Musgrove and his gang of out- 
 laws. During the month of September, 1864, the 
 beef herd at Fort Fred Steele, numbering fifty 
 head, was run off in the night and while an effort 
 was made to recapture them, not a hoof was dis- 
 covered. During the month of October all the 
 cavalry horses belonging to the cavalry company 
 at the fort were supposed to have been taken by 
 Musgrove's gang. It was strongly suspected at the 
 time that the soldiers on guard were connected with 
 the affair, as they had disappeared with the horses 
 and there was no evidence that they had been killed. 
 As soon as the loss was discovered, mounted men 
 were sent in pursuit of the thieves, but they came 
 back empty handed. A number of other raids 
 were made soon after and in each case small bunches 
 of horses and mules were taken. The quarter- 
 masters' office at the fort was in a tent and was 
 supplied with a safe. Thieves cut open the tent 
 one night with a knife and removed the safe, carry- 
 ing it to a gulch some distance away where it was 
 blown open and the money it contained, $1,800, 
 secured by the thieves. The stealing of the safe 
 could not, of course, be charged to the Indians and 
 an effort was then made to break up the organized 
 gang of outlaws that infested the country. Mus- 
 grove, who was believed to be the leader of the 
 brigands, came in for a full share of attention. At 
 last, through the efforts of the late Abner Loomis 
 of Fort Collins, Musgrove was apprehended. Mr. 
 Loomis had known Musgrove several years and had 
 sold him vegetables from his farm in Pleasant val- 
 ley and had told the outlaw that if he ever stole a 
 horse or mule belonging to a settler in the Cache la 
 Poudre valley the ranchmen would organize, hunt 
 him down and hang him. This admonition had the 
 desired effect, for, so far as is known, not a ranch- 
 man in the valley ever had an animal stolen by. the 
 gang. Knowing that a price had been set on Mus- 
 grove's head and that the whole country was an- 
 xious to get rid of him, Mr. Loomis decided to ef- 
 fect his capture, which he did by resorting to strat- 
 agem. In the latter part of October, 1868, he 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 started for Musgrove's rendezvous on horseback, 
 unarmed and unattended. On approaching the 
 the camp, Musgrove, gun in hand, halted him and 
 asked if he was armed. Mr. Loomis replied he was 
 not, but had come on a peaceful mission. Being 
 assured that his visitor was unarmed, Musgrove al- 
 lowed him to enter the camp. Mr. Loomis then 
 told Musgrove where he could find a valuable horse, 
 which had strayed from the outlaw's band a few 
 days before. The animal, he said, was in a neigh- 
 bor's field and that Musgrove could get the horse 
 by going after him. Being lulled into security by 
 the belief that a man who would take so much 
 pains to do him a favor must be a friend, Musgrove 
 accompanied Mr. Loomis to the valley to get his 
 horse. They stopped at Mr. Loomis' house for sup- 
 per, and while they were eating. Officer Haskell 
 from Denver, entered the house with gun in hand 
 and ordered the brigand to throw up his hands, 
 which order was promptly obeyed. Haskell had 
 been told to conceal himself near the house and be 
 ready to make the capture while supper was being 
 served. He ironed his prisoner, took him to Den- 
 ver and lodged him in the Larimer street prison. 
 Musgrove arrived in Denver at rather an unfort- 
 unate time for himself, as the people of that city 
 had lately been devoting their attention to the clean- 
 ing out of outlaw gangs. Sam Dungan, another 
 outlaw, who had been driven out of Cheyenne and 
 Laramie City by threats of lynching, had just held 
 up and robbed an old man named Orson Brooks of 
 about $125, and had been hanged by the citizens. 
 The day after the execution of Dungan, a vigilance 
 committee formed on Blake street in the afternoon 
 and in an orderly procession marched to the prison 
 and demanded the person of Musgrove. When the 
 door opened to admit the leader, the prisoner sus- 
 pecting their purpose seized a billet of wood and 
 stood at bay, defying them to take him. Revolvers 
 were drawn and several shots fired at him, but 
 owing to the excitement, none took effect. After a 
 short but sharp struggle, Musgrove was over- 
 powered and taken to the Larimer street bridge over 
 Cherry creek, where preparations had been made 
 for the lynching. Realizing his doom, he resolved 
 to meet it bravely. His request to be permitted to 
 write a hasty note to a friend was granted. The 
 message, written with a pencil on the railing, was 
 soon finished, when he was put into a wagon and 
 driven into the bed of the creek under the bridge, 
 from one of the floor timbers of which dangled a 
 rope. Here he was bound, hands and feet and the 
 noose adjusted about his neck, when the order was 
 
 given to drive the wagon from under him. To 
 make death certain and immediate, Musgrove 
 sprang into the air and when he fell his neck was 
 broken, his death being comparatively painless. 
 
 Speaking of the lynching of Musgrove, the Rocky 
 Mountain News commented at the time as follows : 
 
 "Musgrove was an outlaw who had made society 
 his prey for several years, successively defying by 
 boldness, when he could not outwit by cunning, the 
 officers of justice. He was driven as a bandit from 
 California, Nevada and Utah and first appeared 
 in Colorado in the role of a murderer at Fort 
 Halleck in 1863. For this he was arrested and sent 
 to Denver, where he was discharged by the United 
 States Commissioner for want of jurisdiction. Tak- 
 ing up his residence on Clear Creek at Baker's 
 bridge, he soon became the recognized chief of a 
 band of land pirates, who lived by running off gov- 
 ernment stock, effacing the brand and then dis- 
 posing of it. 
 
 "The charge which exasperated the people was 
 that of his having been the leader of one of the 
 bands of Indians which ravaged our settlement last 
 fall. As he was taken from the jail he said, 'I sup- 
 pose you are going to hang me because I've been an 
 Indian chief. Deprecate the course as we will the 
 fact remains, that the people resorted to violence 
 because the criminal laws did not afford the protec- 
 tion which the people had a right to demand of 
 them." 
 
 Hall's history of Colorado, closed an extended 
 comment on the violent death of Musgrove in the 
 following terms: "In the early times as they are 
 called, the people endured many atrocities with rea- 
 sonable patience, but when some especially heinous 
 assault was made upon their rights, their wrath ex- 
 ceeded all bounds and instantly rendered a judg- 
 ment from which there was neither escape nor 
 appeal." 
 
 I am indebted for some of the facts stated in Mus- 
 grove's career to Halls' History of Colorado and to 
 Coutant's History of Wyoming. The account of 
 the manner of Musgrove's arrest was given me by 
 Mr. Loomis a good many years ago. 
 
 Stories of Early Days 
 
 Robert J. Spotswood, who died at his home in 
 Littleton, Colorado, in June, 1910, was express 
 messenger and later Division Superintendent on the 
 Old Overland Stage line, and personally knew 
 many of the famous characters who added the spice 
 
 [105] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 of romance to the old frontier. Said the Rocky 
 Mountain News at the time of Mr. Spotswood's 
 death : 
 
 "Mr. Spotswood succeeded the notorious Joseph 
 A. Slade, the man-killer who was described so pict- 
 uresquely by Mark Twain, as superintendent of the 
 Julesburg division of the Overland stage line. It 
 was on this division that Slade made his reputation 
 as a man-killer. He was put in charge of the divi- 
 sion at a time when the depredations of Indians and 
 outlaws along the division made travel a matter of 
 peril. The company realized that somebody would 
 have to be put in charge who could take hold with 
 a firm hand, and Slade proved to be the man for 
 the post. He killed right and left, and soon the 
 Indians and outlaws learned to give his division a 
 wide berth. 
 
 "In justice to Slade it should be said that he was 
 a perfect gentleman except when under the control 
 of liquor," said Mr. Spotswood a short time ago. 
 "He was a quiet-spoken and most agreeable man 
 when sober, hut was a fiend incarnate when drunk. 
 He worked faithfully and well for the company and 
 he soon had the reputation of bringing his stages 
 through on time. Eventually, however, liquor be- 
 gan getting the upper hand of him, and the officials 
 of the company realized that they would have to 
 let him out, as his outbreaks were beginning to 
 create a good deal of complaint. 
 
 "When I received the appointment as superin- 
 tendent of the division to succeed Slade, my friends 
 in Denver bade me good-bye almost tearfully. It 
 was predicted that I would never return to Denver 
 alive. 'Slade will kill you rather than yield his 
 post,' I was told, but I answered that the killing 
 would have to take place as there was nothing for 
 me to do but go ahead and obey the company's 
 orders. 
 
 "The division headquarters at that time was 
 Virginia Dale, about 100 miles northwest of Den- 
 ver. Slade made that place his headquarters when 
 the Overland route was moved south to include 
 Denver. It was a beautiful and romantic spot on 
 Dale creek, and Slade had named it for his wife, a 
 handsome and charming woman. When I arrived 
 at Virginia Dale and told my mission, there was 
 no wild outbreak on Slade's part. He bowed to 
 the will of the company without a word, and he and 
 his wife did everything in their power to make my 
 stay agreeable during the next two or three days. 
 Slade made an accounting and turned over every- 
 thing in good shape. His own stock he separated 
 from that belonging to the company. He had many 
 
 [106] 
 
 horses and mules and wagons, and took them to 
 Montana, as the Virginia City boom was on, and he 
 told me he intended to return to his old business as 
 a freighter. 
 
 "It so happened that a year later I was trans- 
 ferred to Virginia City, where Slade had been 
 freighting. He had made a great deal of money 
 and had a fine ranch near Virginia City, but his old 
 habits were too strong for him. He had killed 
 several persons during his wild outbreaks, and, 
 after several warnings had proved unavailing, the 
 vigilantes took him out and hanged him in 1864." 
 
 Mr. Spotswood ran as express messenger between 
 Atchison and Denver at the beginning of his career 
 on the Overland, and faced countless hardships and 
 perils. The express coaches carried no passengers, 
 but were filled with packages. They were especial 
 prey of highwaymen, and the messenger's life was 
 one of constant peril. The trip consumed six days 
 and nights, and Mr. Spotswood usually slept by 
 buckling himself with straps in the rear boot of the 
 coach to avoid being jolted out while he caught a 
 few naps. He was acquainted with all the famous 
 characters of frontier days in Kansas, and was a 
 close friend of "Buffalo Bill" Comstock, the scout 
 and buffalo hunter w\\o was the first to bear that 
 descriptive name. In later years Comstock aided Mr. 
 Spotswood in running down a desperado, who had 
 committed an unprovoked murder at one of the 
 stage stations and had hidden himself in the wilder- 
 ness, defying all the efforts of the soldiers at Fort 
 Halleck to capture him. At Mr. Spotswood's re- 
 quest, Comstock disguised himself as an Indian and 
 took the trail. He had lived most of his life with 
 the Sioux, and was probably the greatest scout and 
 trailer the West ever knew. Comstock in a day or 
 two had captured the murderer and delivered him 
 to the commandant at Fort Halleck, where the 
 desperado was hanged. 
 
 Charles Clay's Thrilling Experience 
 With Indians 
 
 Charles Clay, the pioneer colored man of the 
 Cache la Poudre valley, who started the first barber 
 shop at Laporte, related the following account of 
 his life and experience in the West to a reporter 
 and it was printed in the Fort Collins Courier in 
 1909. In this story, Mr. Clay makes the claim 
 that "as near as he could get at it" he was born in 
 1810, but in a former interview with him that was 
 printed in 1900, it was figured out he was born in 
 1828. At any rate, he was a very old man when he 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 died on August 31st, 1910, and it is possible that 
 the latest story of his birth is correct. He well 
 remembered events of which he was cognizant in 
 the early days and the dates he gives correspond 
 with those of other authorities. The story prac- 
 tically as he told it being as follows: 
 
 "I was born in Calloway County, Missouri, near 
 what is now the town of Fulton, as near as I can 
 get at it, October 10, 1810. My parents were slaves 
 and I was born in slavery, being the property of 
 John W. Robinson, a wealthy planter. I lived the 
 usual life of the slaves and was freed with the rest 
 of them by Mr. Lincoln's proclamation. I had gone 
 to St. Louis at the outbreak of the war and there I 
 got a place as cook with a party headed by Richard 
 Overall, that started for California, overland in the 
 late summer of 1861. We got as far as Fort Lara- 
 mie, where I got a job cooking for the soldiers. I 
 came to Fort Collins in 1864 with the soldiers, this 
 being an army post at the time. From here I went 
 to Laporte, where I started a barber shop, the first 
 one in the Poudre valley. There I shaved many 
 men who were prominent in those days along the 
 Overland trail, among them Jack Slade, the man- 
 killer, who was afterwards lynched up in Montana. 
 Others I remember were Bill Updyke, the stage 
 driver; Bob Saunders, wagon boss; Bob Spotswood, 
 division agent for the Overland, and William S. 
 Taylor, who ran the hotel at Laporte. I worked for 
 him as cook for a while and had the honor of cook- 
 ing General Grant's meal for him when he came 
 through in a special coach after the close of the war. 
 
 "I never will forget that dinner. We had the 
 best Laporte afforded — trout, caught out of the 
 Poudre just above town, chicken, squash, baked 
 beans and potatoes. I had cooked the potatoes in a 
 steamer and I put the steamer on the window sill 
 in the kitchen, while I was busy putting on other 
 dishes. When I went after the potatoes they were 
 gone and I found out the soldiers in General Grant's 
 escort had taken them. The general had a good 
 laugh when he found it out and he said he made out 
 a good dinner without potatoes. He thought it was 
 about the best meal he'd had on the whole trip. 
 
 "Those were exciting days. I remember once 
 when we were at Fort Laramie, I had to go out 
 with a troop of cavalry under command of Lieu- 
 tenant Collins. He was a son of Col. Collins, for 
 whom Fort Collins was named. The Indians had 
 attacked a wagon party near Sweetwater and we 
 went to their relief. They were barricaded in a 
 corral made of their wagons, but had already lost 
 several, two of their women having been stolen by 
 
 the redskins. When we got to the camp, the Indians 
 fled and we went after them. After chasing them 
 into the hills. Lieutenant Collins' horse became 
 frightened and dashed out of line into the line of the 
 enemy. The last we saw of him he was surrounded 
 by Indians and he disappeared with them. 
 
 "We did not find him until next morning, when 
 his body, cut open by the redskins, was lying on the 
 ground. We found a note at his side signed by two 
 white women, who said they had been captured and 
 that they would try and break away the next night. 
 They wanted us to stay on the trail of the Indians, 
 so they could join us if possible. We followed them 
 and sure enough, the next day one of the women was 
 found by us. She had made her escape, but the 
 other one was carried away and we never heard from 
 her or the Indians again, as they had given us the 
 slip. I'm pretty black, but I tell you my skin 
 turned white more than once in those days. I could 
 give you some more yarns like that from my life 
 that would make your hair stand up, if I had a 
 little time to think." 
 
 Rescue of Ute Susan 
 
 I am indebted to J. N. Hollowell of Loveland, 
 for the following pioneer reminiscences : 
 
 "I arrived in the Big Thompson valley in Octo- 
 ber, 1860, and found that about twenty people had 
 preceded me. Among those living in the valley at 
 that time, as I recall them to mind, were Thomas 
 H. Johnson, John Hahn, W. A. Bean, Samuel 
 Heffner, Adam Dick, W. C. Stover, Doc. Allen, 
 Ed. Clark, Mariana Modena, his Indian wife whom 
 he called 'John,' and three children, Lena, Antoine, 
 and Martin Modena, Louis Papa, Jack McGaa and 
 squaw, Tim Goodin and squaw, and three Mexi- 
 cans and their squaws. 
 
 "The principal industry at that time, through 
 which we made our living, was hauling hay to 
 Central City and vicinity, a distance of about 75 
 miles. Our meat, during the summer, was ob- 
 tained principally from antelope ; in the winter from 
 deer, sometimes elk, and mountain sheep. 
 
 "There was no particular change in the situation 
 of affairs during 1861, except that people came in, 
 stopped a short time on a piece of land and then 
 moved away, finding nothing in the country that 
 was to them attractive. A few stray Indians passed, 
 by in the spring on their way to northern hunting 
 grounds, returning again in the fall. They were of 
 no particular trouble to the settlers, except that 
 they were always hungry. Among the most 
 
 [107] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY^ 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 familiar Indians were those belonging to Chief 
 Lefthand's and Chief Friday's bands of Arapahoes. 
 Chief Friday and his band numbering between 200 
 and 300, was located for a time in the Cache la 
 Poudre valley, but they would often stray over to 
 the Big Thompson. 
 
 "In the spring of that year I went to Golden and 
 purchased garden seeds from Bill Loveland's store. 
 These I planted on W. B. Osborn's ranch (now 
 owned by M. Y. Osborn), about one and a half 
 miles east of the present city of Loveland. I was 
 fortunate in raising cabbage, lettuce, radishes, 
 onions and melons, which found a ready sale at 
 good prices. It was an experiment, consequently I 
 did not branch out very heavy. Being at Mariana's 
 store one day in September, I invited him to come 
 to my place and eat melons and to bring the rest 
 of the squaw men with him. They came, six of 
 them. I prepared a dinner for them and they ate 
 to their fill. To the best of my knowledge, the 
 vegetables I raised that year were the first grown 
 in the Big Thompson valley. There were then 
 about twenty persons living here, of whom only 
 Thomas H. Johnson, W. B. Osborn, John Hahn, 
 Louis Papa and myself remain. The rest have all 
 moved away or passed on 'to that bourne whence no 
 traveler returns.' 
 
 "One day in the latter part of June, 1863, I was 
 lying asleep in my cabin, a mile and a half southeast 
 of the present city of Loveland. Being suddenly 
 aroused from my slumbers by an unusual noise, I 
 looked up and discovered that my cabin was full of 
 Indians. They were painted and feathered up in 
 regular war style. After I had dressed myself, the 
 spokesman of the party said 'swap,' pointing at the 
 hat I had on and at a looking glass hanging on the 
 wall. He then pointed up the Big Thompson river 
 as an invitation to go with them. My first thought 
 was they wanted to 'swap' a pony for my hat and 
 looking glass, so I took the glass and went with 
 them to their camp, about half a mile distant. 
 When we reached the camp I found about a half 
 a dozen tepees which I supposed were for the use of 
 the chiefs or headmen. One of my guides opened 
 the entrance to one of the tepees and soon came out 
 with a young squaw whom he pushed against me, 
 saying 'swap,' pointing to my hat and my glass. I 
 sized them up the best I could under the circum- 
 stances and replied 'no swap.' The squaw, judging 
 by her dress, was about 13 years of age. There 
 were some 200 or 300 Indians in the band, al- 
 together, and when I refused to 'swap,' they set up 
 such a yell as I shall probably never hear again. I 
 
 [108] 
 
 then left them and went back to my cabin, feeling 
 not a little uneasy concerning the outcome. They 
 didn't trouble me, however. The band staid in 
 camp two nights. On the second night I saw a 
 bright light in the Indian camp and heard. a thump, 
 thump, so I went as close to them as I thought 
 prudent. The savages were having a war dance. 
 The bucks were going round and round in a circle, 
 raising their feet and keeping time to the thumps, 
 yelling the war whoop and carrying poles on which 
 were strung three scalps with long black hair. 
 Those that did not dance, chanted their war song 
 in unison with the thumps. They kept this up until 
 midnight or later. The following morning they 
 broke camp and marched away in a northeasterly di- 
 rection. Though they had done me no harm, I was 
 not a bit displeased to see them leave my neigh- 
 borhood. 
 
 "That year Company B of the First Colorado 
 volunteer cavalry and some Michigan troops were 
 camped at Laporte. There had been some trouble 
 with the redskins on the Platte, so a party of about 
 a dozen soldiers was sent down there to straighten 
 things out. On their way back the soldiers forded 
 the Platte near the present town of Evans and 
 climbed the bluff. From here they saw a large 
 camp of Indians on the opposite side of the river, 
 apparently in some commotion. The soldiers re- 
 crossed the river and hastened to the camp, finding 
 Chief Lefthand's band of Arapahoes, the same band 
 that was at my place only a few days before. The 
 savages were preparing to burn at the stake the 
 young squaw they had tried to 'swap' to me for the 
 hat and looking glass, and already had her tied to 
 a tree with fagots piled up around her. The 
 soldiers rescued the girl and took her to their camp 
 at Laporte, and in the course of a few days sent her 
 to Denver. From there. Governor Evans sent her, 
 under guard, to Sulphur Springs, where she was 
 turned over to her people. The young squaw's 
 name was Susan and she was a sister of Chief 
 Ouray of the Utes. In a raid upon the Ute camp 
 the Arapahoes killed three Ute warriors and cap- 
 tured Susan. In after years Susan married Chief 
 Johnson and it was through her interposition that 
 Mrs. N. C. Meeker and her daughter, Josephine, 
 were saved from a cruel death at the hands of the 
 Utes at the time of the White river massacre in 
 September, 1879. Mrs. Meeker and her daughter 
 were from Greeley and Susan remembered that 
 white soldiers had saved her from a cruel fate when 
 she was about to be burned at the stake on the very 
 spot where Greeley now stands. It was gratitude 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 that prompted her to intercede for and save the lives 
 of the two vv'hite women." 
 
 Mr. Hollowell's story of the rescue of Susan 
 from the Arapahoes is corroborated in all essential 
 particulars by Major Simon Whitely of Racine, 
 Wisconsin, who, at the time of Susan's rescue, was 
 Indian agent to the Utes. In an interview with a 
 reporter, which was printed in the Chicago Tribune, 
 November 5, 1879, shortly after the White river 
 massacre. Major Whitely told the following story: 
 
 "In the three years of m.y agency I never dis- 
 covered any evidence of dissatisfaction or anything 
 but a kindly feeling for the whites on the part of the 
 Utes, which I attribute very largely to the fact that 
 I restored to them the squaw Susan, the sister of 
 Chief Ouray, who saved the lives of the Meeker 
 women after the massacre of their husband and 
 father, N. C. Meeker, at the White river agency on 
 September 28, 1879. While on my way to Sulphur 
 Springs in 1863, I was overtaken by a messenger 
 from Governor Evans, who informed me of the 
 rescue of a Ute squaw from the Arapahoes and 
 Cheyennes by the soldiers of Company B of the 
 First Colorado, stationed at Laporte. These In- 
 dians had captured the squaw in one of their raids 
 and, while encamped near the mouth of the Cache 
 la Poudre river, had determined to burn her at the 
 stake. The commanding officer at Laporte, hear- 
 ing of this, took a detachment of troops and, by 
 alternate threats and promises, obtained her release 
 after she had already been tied to the stake and the 
 fire lighted. Susan was sent to Denver in charge 
 of a guard of soldiers and forwarded from there to 
 me at Sulphur Springs in Middle park. I then sent 
 her, accompanied by U. M. Curtice, my interpreter, 
 to her people and delivered her to them after a 
 journey across the western portion of Colorado into 
 the borders of Utah, to the camp of the Indians on 
 Snake river, where she was received with every de- 
 monstration of joy by the tribe." 
 
 Major Whitely concluded his story by saying that 
 Susan was Chief Ouray's sister, who displayed so 
 much kindness and affection for the Meeker women, 
 mother and daughter, and through whose inter- 
 position, doubtless, their lives were saved. 
 
 Major Whitely's story was reproduced in the 
 Fort Collins Courier from the Chicago Tribune, on 
 November 12, 1879. Knowing that Capt. C. C. 
 Hawley of Fort Collins, was an officer in the First 
 Colorado in 1863, the editor of the Courier called 
 his attention to the story told by Major Whitely 
 and he corroborated it in some particulars. He said : 
 
 "Susan was taken to Denver, where my company 
 
 was stationed at the time, and turned over to Major 
 Whitely, who returned her to her people." Capt. 
 Hawley also said that Susan had been with the 
 Arapahoes so long that she had acquired their lan- 
 guage and habits and was in no danger of being 
 burned at the stake, as stated by Major Whitely in 
 his interview. The attention of Thomas R. Mc- 
 Bride, one of the early settlers of Laporte was also 
 called to the story and he stated that Major 
 Whitely's version of the incident was correct. He 
 said that Susan was brought to Laporte and kept in 
 the family of Bill Carroll until Governor Evans 
 decided what to do with her. 
 
 The Cherokee Trail 
 
 In 1848, after a part of the Cherokee nation of 
 Indians had ceded to the L^nited States their lands 
 in Georgia, a party was organized and sent to the 
 Pacific coast to look up a new country in which to 
 locate their people. They came west by the Arkan- 
 sas valley route to the mouth of Squirrel creek, a 
 tributary of the Arkansas river. They ascended 
 this creek to the divide, thence crossing to the head 
 of Cherry creek, following this stream to its junc- 
 tion with the South Platte. Though looking for 
 gold was not the main purpose of the expedition, 
 nevertheless they found that it existed in the streams 
 of this region. They did not stop to do much pros- 
 pecting, however, but pushed on northward along 
 the eastern base of the mountains until they reached 
 where Laporte is now. Here they plunged into the 
 mountains, following a route that led them past 
 what is now known as Virginia Dale and over the 
 divide to the Laramie Plains, thence on west to 
 California. On their return from the Pacific coast, 
 in 1849, they came down from the Laramie Plains 
 by the way of what is now St. Cloud and Cherokee 
 park, where they evidently camped one night. From 
 there they came over Cherokee hill, through what 
 is now known as Alford, down Calloway hill, cross- 
 ing the North Fork at the Cradock ranch, near 
 which they struck their outgoing trail which they 
 followed to Laporte, and thence on south to the 
 Arkansas. There is a tradition to the efEect that 
 they were surprised at Cherokee Park by a war 
 party of Utes that had come through Sand creek 
 pass, over Boulder Ridge and down Sheep creek. 
 The Cherokees are said to have fled to the top of 
 Cherokee hill where it is said a battle was fought in 
 which the Cherokees were victorious. The Utes 
 were driven from the field after a loss of many 
 warriors. A number of the Cherokees were killed 
 
 [109] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 in the fight, and these were buried on the battle 
 field on the summit of the hill, where, to this day, 
 mounds resembling graves, may be seen. Some of 
 these mounds have been opened it is said, and human 
 bones found in them, which lends an air of proba- 
 bility to the tradition. When the remnant of the 
 exploring party returned to Georgia, they attempted 
 to organize an expedition for the Rocky Mountains 
 on a gold hunting quest. News of the finding of 
 gold in Cherry creek spread in Georgia, finally 
 coming to the ears of W. Green Russell, miner of 
 Dahlonega, who also projected an expedition to this 
 region. In the meantime, a Cherokee cattle trader, 
 named Parks, in driving his herds along what 
 came to be known as the Cherokee trail, and having 
 his eyes sharpened by the stories told by the Indians 
 on their return from California, discovered gold in 
 1852, on Ralston creek, a small affluent of Clear 
 creek. These discoveries excited a great deal of 
 interest and early in the Spring of 1858 the Chero- 
 kees organized for a prospecting expedition to the 
 vicinity of Pikes Peak. W. Green Russell joined 
 them with a party of white men. This expedition 
 consisted of twelve white persons and thirty Indians, 
 among whom were George Hicks, Sen., (who was 
 a lawyer by profession and a notable man among 
 the Cherokees) who was leader of the party. George 
 Hicks Jr., John Beck, Ezekiel Beck, Pelicon Tigre 
 and others. The white persons, George McDougal, 
 brother of Governor McDougal of California, who 
 had a trading post on Adobe creek, a Mr. Kirk, 
 wife and two children, Levi Braumbaugh, Philan- 
 der Simmons, a mountaineer of several years ex- 
 perience, and Messrs Brown, Kelly, Johns, Taylor 
 and Tubbs. The company left the Missouri front- 
 ier May 12th, and arrived at Bent's new fort in 
 good season ; but the winter had been severe and the 
 spring late, which made traveling slow and difficult 
 nor were there labors rewarded that season, though 
 they prospected from the head of the Arkansas to 
 the Platte and one hundred miles to the north, 
 which brought them into Larimer county. From 
 this date the real history of the white man's occu- 
 pation of Colorado begun. The news of gold finds 
 in the Pikes Peak region spread like wildfire, and 
 during 1858, thousands rushed to the Rocky mount- 
 ains. The Cherokee trail is frequently mentioned 
 in subquent descriptions by explorers and travelers 
 through this region. 
 
 [HO] 
 
 Mystery of Cherokee Hill Mounds 
 Explained 
 
 The following story concerning himself and his 
 experiences in Larimer county in 1862-3, in which 
 is also explained the origin and purpose of the 
 Indian mounds on the summit of Cherokee hill, 
 was told by Thomas Quillan, an aged pioneer and 
 at present an inmate of the County hospital, to 
 Judge Jefferson McAnelly who had it printed in 
 the Fort Collins Democrat on June 5th, 1907. The 
 story fully explains the mystery of the Cherokee hill 
 mounds which have attracted the attention and ex- 
 cited the curosity of passers-by for many years. The 
 common acceptation of the origin of these mounds 
 has been that they contained the remains of Chero- 
 kee Indian warriors who were killed in a battle with 
 the Utes in 1848. The only foundation for this 
 supposition is the fact that a band of Utes did raid 
 a camp of Cherokees near the place that year, and 
 run off a lot of horses belonging to the strangers. 
 
 A few years after the Cherokees sold their lands 
 in Georgia and Tennessee to the United States, the 
 tribe dispatched a party of braves to the Pacific 
 coast in search of a new location for the tribe. This 
 party came up the Arkansas river, crossed over the 
 divide to the head of Cherry creek, down which 
 they traveled to the site of the present City of Den- 
 ver. From there they came north, following the 
 trend of the mountains to the present town of La- 
 parte where they entered the hills and pursued a 
 northerly course until they came out on to the Lar- 
 amie Plains. They camped one night on the North 
 fork of the Cache la Poudre in the vicinity of what 
 is now St. Cloud or William Campton's noted 
 summer resort. Here their camp was raided by a 
 wandering band of Utes, who stole and drove off 
 some of the traveler's horses. The tradition how- 
 ever, that a battle ensued here in which the Chero- 
 kees were vanquished with the loss of several of 
 their warriors, lacks the element of truth, for the 
 Cherokees continued their journey to the coast, but 
 not being pleased with the country, returned to their 
 tribe in the Indian Territory without the loss of a 
 single one of their members, so far as history tells of 
 the expedition. The trail they followed from the 
 mouth of Cherry creek northward, and baqk, is 
 still known as the Cherokee trail. Mr. Quillan's 
 story, with Judge McAnelly's introduction, follows: 
 
 "The mounds on Cherokee hill were discovered by 
 a miner and a hunter in the winter of 1862-3. This 
 miner was born on April 13th, 1829, in North 
 Carolina, going thence with his parents to Indiana. 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 From Indiana the family moved, in 1854, to Marion 
 county, Iowa, and thence to Randolph county, 
 Illinois in 1858. This man's name is Thomas 
 Quillan, familiarly known as "Uncle" Tom Quillan. 
 He, like many others, was seized with the gold fever 
 in 1859 and started from Chester, Illinois, for Pikes 
 Peak April 5 th, in company with the two Killian 
 brothers. Their outfit consisted of one wagon and 
 three yoke of oxen. They were sixty-seven days on 
 the road, arriving at Denver June 7th, 1859. Here 
 they found but one log cabin, but numerous tents, 
 and a floating, restless population of about 5,000. 
 They remained here two days and, instead of going 
 to Pikes Peak, they went to Gregory Gulch to hunt 
 for gold. Here they worked in the mines and soon 
 fell in with Green Russell, the discoverer of gold in 
 Gregory gulch, and he taught them how to mine for 
 the precious metals. Russell was a relative of 
 Quillan. Tiring of mining, Quillan, in company 
 with Thomas Bavington, Joseph Bog, George Per- 
 kins and George Hall, started out in January 1862 
 on a hunting, trapping and prospecting expedition 
 to the northward of Gregory gulch. They struck 
 the old Cherokee trail and followed it to Laporte, 
 stopping there several days, buying supplies and in- 
 quiring about the country. The only white man 
 they became acquainted with there was John Provost 
 an old-time trapper and voyager, and French Cana- 
 dian. 
 
 They journeyed from Laporte to Virginia Dale, 
 remaining there a couple of weeks hunting on Dale 
 creek and its tributaries. They then broke camp 
 and moved on to what was then called Front creek 
 where they hunted and trapped about a week and 
 then moved to the North fork of the Cache la 
 Poudre river in February. They pitched their 
 tents in Cherokee park, adjacent to Cherokee hill, 
 and hunted and trapped until spring. It was dur- 
 ing that time that they discovered the mounds on 
 Cherokee hill, which, to them, had the appearance 
 of new made graves. Quillan's curiosity to learn 
 what the mounds contained overcame his discretion 
 and he bantered Perkins to help him open the graves 
 for the purpose of seeing what was in them, but 
 Perkins was superstitious and made a dozen excuses, 
 finally declaring that he would not assist in opening 
 the graves under any conditions. Not to be bluffed 
 by superstitious notions, Quillan started out one 
 day to make an investigation and after removing 
 the stones and what little there was remaining, he 
 came to solid ground. There were no graves there. 
 In fact, the grass underneath the piles of stones was 
 not yet dead, indicating the recent origin of the 
 
 mounds. On their way back to Gregory gulch, the 
 party stopped at Provost's place in Laporte. While 
 there, Quillan asked Provost if he knew why the 
 mounds were built on Cherokee hill and he said he 
 did. Provost then told him that during the prev- 
 ious fall a large band of Cheyenne and Arapahoe 
 Indians had camped in that vicinity while on a hunt- 
 ing trip. The squaws and children remained in 
 camp while the bucks were out hunting, and as is 
 customary with them, built the mounds as a signal 
 to show the absent bucks what they had done in case 
 anything happened to them. Provost's story solved 
 the mystery of the mounds. Instead of being the 
 graves of Cherokee warriors slain in battle with the 
 Utes in 1848, they were simply the work of squaws 
 and pappooses of that band of Indians that was 
 camped near Cherokee hill in the fall of 1861. 
 
 Uncle Tom Quillan gave up mining in 1872 and 
 came to Larimer county, locating a homestead 
 claim in Rattlesnake Park in the gulch known as 
 Quillan gulch. In 1885 he purchased a ranch on 
 Meadow creek, right at the foot of Cherokee hill, 
 and lived there a good many years, finally disposing 
 of the property and moving to Fort Collins which 
 is still his home. 
 
 A Plucky Young Man's Success 
 
 The late William C. Stover of Fort Collins, 
 former member of the Territorial legislature, who 
 in 1876, as a member of the Constitutional con- 
 vention helped to draft the present Constitution of 
 Colorado, a successful merchant and president of the 
 Poudre Valley bank for nearly a score of years, an 
 institution that he and Charles H. Sheldon estab- 
 lished in 1878, and which has since become the 
 Poudre Valley National Bank, one of the soundest 
 and best known financial institutions in the vrest, 
 had his trials and tribulations in the pioneer days, 
 when men's souls were at times severely tried and 
 when more than one of them succumbed to the storms 
 of adversity and gave up the fight. But he was 
 made of sterner stuff. Though often hungry and 
 poorly clad, he persevered and at last reached the 
 top of the ladder which led up to success in life 
 in all that term implies. He came to Colorado in 
 1860, a mere boy scarcely nineteen years of age. 
 When he left home in the spring of that year, his 
 father fitted him out with a span of good horses, 
 wagon, clothing, blankets and supply of provisions. 
 He came direct to the Big Thompson valley and 
 traded his horses and wagon for a squatter's claim, 
 situated about a mile south of the present City of 
 
 [111] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Loveland. In the spring of 1861, he planted a por- 
 tion of his claim to potatoes, paying an enormous 
 price for the seed, for potatoes were potatoes in those 
 days. This exhausted his fund of ready money. 
 His provisions also gave out and he was reduced to 
 the extremity of having to dig up his seed potatoes 
 before they had begun to grow for food. Of course 
 he had no crop, but he managed in some way to ex- 
 ist until the following winter when his resources 
 gave out entirely. He was almost destitute of 
 clothing, his raiment consisting mainly of a pair of 
 blue denim overalls that had been patched until 
 there was hardly a scrap left of the original garment, 
 and his feet were clad in moccasins made of old 
 gunny sacks. In this condition he appeared one 
 day at the cabin of J. N. Hollowell, a former school- 
 mate in Indiana, and told him that he had no boots 
 and no money to buy them with, asking his friend if 
 he could not help him to get a pair. Mr. Hollowell 
 told him that he had no money, but that his uncle, 
 W. B. Osborn, at Boulder had some money and he 
 could get enough of him to buy a pair of boots. Mr. 
 Hollowell went to Boulder, borrowed the money, 
 bought a pair of stogy boots, paying $8 for them, 
 and brought them back to Stover. When he re- 
 turned, Mr. Stover said he had no trousers. Mr. 
 Hollowell looked up some grain sacks that Mr. 
 Osborn had brought from the East, filled with dried 
 fruit, and from these Mr. Stover made himself a 
 pair of trousers, using his old overalls for a pattern. 
 He wore those trousers and boots all winter. Dur- 
 ing the season of 1862 he managed, by working 
 around at odd jobs, to make a living and that fall 
 he put up a lot of hay which brought him a good 
 snug sum of money, out of which he paid Mr. 
 Hollowell the money borrowed for the boots. The 
 writer has heard both Mr. Stover and Mr. Hollo- 
 well tell this story, so that it is practically correct. 
 In 1863 Mr. Stover sold his claim to the late 
 John J. Ryan, and in 1864 went to Virginia City, 
 Montana, which was then the center of a big gold 
 excitement, returning in the fall of the year to his 
 old home at South Bend, Indiana. In the spring of 
 1 865 he borrowed money enough of his father which, 
 with what he had of his own, enabled him to buy 
 a freighting outfit of several wagons. These he 
 loaded with provisions and merchandise and started 
 back for Montana, arriving at Virginia City, at a 
 time when flour was selling at $100 a sack, with 
 bacon and other eatables correspondingly high. He 
 closed out his load in short order, clearing $5,000 
 in the transaction, and started right back for St. 
 Joseph, Missouri, for another load. He made 
 
 several trips across the plains to Montana between 
 1865 and 1867, clearing a nice sum of money. 
 After paying back all the mouey he had borrowed 
 and selling his outfit, he returned to the Big Thomp- 
 son in 1868 and bought an interest in the late A. K. 
 Yount's store, continuing in trade there until 1870 
 when he moved to Fort Collins and in company with 
 the late John C. Matthews bought the Mason & 
 Allen stock of goods, which was then kept in the 
 Old Grout building. In 1873 the firm erected a 
 two story brick building at the corner of Jefierson 
 and Linden streets, recently torn down to make 
 room for the Union Pacific railroad, into which 
 they moved their stock. Soon after this Mr. Stover 
 purchased Mr. Matthews' interest in the business 
 and carried it on alone until 1880 when the late 
 Albert B. Tomlin became associated with him. 
 Until 1873, when the late Jacob Welch came to 
 Fort Collins and started a store, this was the only 
 general store in Fort Collins and it did an immense 
 business annually. 
 
 David Hershman's Pioneer Stories 
 
 David Hershman came from Illinois to the Big 
 Thompson valley in 1865, a young man, poor in 
 purse, but full of hard work and rich in ambition 
 and courage. He brought a harvester and mowing 
 machine with him, and in August of that year, ob- 
 tained employment cutting hay and harvesting the 
 few patches of from two to five acres of wheat 
 grown by the settlers. That fall he bought of H. 
 B. Chubbuck the improvements on a claim lying 
 south of the present city of Loveland, on which he 
 filed a preemption. Here he lived for nearly forty- 
 five years, adding to his land holdings until he had 
 600 acres, all within two miles of Loveland. Dur- 
 ing recent years he disposed of his land holdings 
 with the exception of 150 acres which he still owns. 
 Like all of the pioneers of the county, he endured 
 many hardships and privations in the early days, but 
 he had an unfaltering faitii in the future of the 
 county and labored on, combating discouragements 
 and adversity until success crowned his efforts. He 
 is now in the enjoyment of a handsome competence 
 and is spending his declining years in comfort and 
 contentment. 
 
 Mr. Hershman retains vivid recollections of in- 
 teresting incidents and events of the days that tried 
 men's souls, and has kindly favored me by relating 
 some of them for this work. He says : 
 
 "I have been a taxpayer in Larimer county since 
 1866. I first began paying taxes when the county 
 
 [n2j 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 treasurer held his ofEce in the court house at La- 
 porte, and Uncle Ben Whedbee was treasurer. 
 The court house was built of round logs — cotton- 
 wood, if my memory serves me right. The next 
 county treasurer was Dr. T. M. Smith, who 
 held the office until the county seat was changed 
 from Laporte to Fort Collins. There were only 
 two stores in the county then. One of them was 
 kept by Mason & Allen at Fort Collins, and the 
 other by Mr. and Mrs. A. K. Yount in my old log 
 house on the Big Thompson. These stores did a 
 thriving business selling supplies to settlers and emi- 
 grants. The Younts came to the Big Thompson 
 valley in 1866 or 1867. 
 
 John E. Washburn was appointed county judge 
 by Governor Evans when the county was organized 
 in 1864, and held his office for two years. I dis- 
 tinctly recall the first case tried before him. His 
 office was held in his log house, which is still stand- 
 ing on the bank of the Big Thompson river, a short 
 distance south of Loveland. The case referred to 
 originated in this way: There had been a horse 
 race and a good deal of betting on which horse 
 should come out ahead. One man bet a span of 
 horses against a sum of money and lost his team. 
 When the stakes were to change hands, the owner 
 of the horses refused to give them up. The winner 
 of the team began proceedings in Judge Washburn's 
 court to get possession. The judge summoned the 
 usual number of jurors and the case went to trial. 
 The names of some of the jurors were : J. Parrish, 
 Joseph Denning, A. Wiseman, myself being among 
 the number. I cannot recall the names of the other 
 two. The jury heard all the evidence introduced 
 by both sides, the pleas of counsel, who were Judge 
 W. B. Osborn for the plaintiff and A. K. Yount for 
 the defendant, and the instructions of the court. 
 The way the counsel wrangled over the technical- 
 ities of the law, was a caution. One of them affirmed 
 that custom made law and the other that the statutes 
 ruled, claiming that under the law title to property 
 could not be acquired through gambling and that 
 betting on a horse race was gambling, pure and 
 simple. When they were through with their pleas, 
 the judge ordered the acting sheriff, Sherman Smith, 
 to take charge of the jury and keep them in close 
 confinment until ' they had agreed upon a verdict. 
 We were locked in the front room of the judge's 
 house late in the evening. The judge and his fam- 
 ily went to bed upstairs. We deliberated for several 
 hours but could not agree. At last, as it drew near 
 midnight and we were becoming anxious to get out 
 
 and go home, we fixed up a verdict something after 
 this manner: 
 
 "We, the jury, find for the plaintiff and assess 
 him with all the costs.'' 
 
 We called the judge down stairs and presented 
 him with our verdict. After reading it the judge 
 said: Gentlemen of the jury, I cannot accept your 
 verdict. Then addressing the sheriff, he said, "You 
 will conduct the jury to their room and keep them 
 there on bread and water until they agree." He 
 then returned to his bed and we were again locked 
 up in the front room. The hours passed slowly, 
 but we had a friend outside who supplied us with 
 whittling material from a dry goods box brought 
 over from the store. It is remembered that the 
 court had kindling wood enough to last him some 
 time as a result of our whittling. Our friend on the 
 outside furnished us with cigars also, and they served 
 a good purpose. They kept us awake and made the 
 judge feel willing to let us go. The smoke was 
 dense and the upper floor of the house was quite 
 open, so that he and his wife were practically smoked 
 out. He came rushing down stairs, saying his room 
 was full of smoke and he could not sleep. We then 
 told the judge we could not agree upon anything 
 different from the verdict we had already rendered 
 and he might as well let us go home. The judge 
 conferred with the contesting parties and they 
 agreed to accept our verdict, so we were discharged 
 and went home rejoicing early in the morning. 
 
 In 1867, I think it was, Mr. and Mrs. Yount 
 wanted to go to Denver after more goods, and they 
 asked me to tend the store while they were gone. 
 I consented, but told them there was one article in 
 the store that I did not want to sell, and that was 
 whiskey. They said, all right, you need not sell it. 
 While they were gone some customers came to the 
 store about 9 o'clock at night and demanded some 
 liquor. They said there was to be a wedding down 
 the creek and that such events could not be properly 
 celebrated without a quantity of the ardent. I 
 think the man who was to be groom was Old Mus- 
 grove. We all knew he ought to marry or leave 
 the country. The boys wanted four gallons of 
 whiskey, but I remonstrated, saying I had no right 
 to sell it. But Jim Eaglin told me there was no use 
 remonstrating; that they wanted the liquor and 
 must have it ; that he could draw it from the barrel 
 and I could report to Yount that he had helped 
 himself. He said the whiskey was absolutely neces- 
 sary, for there couldn't be a wedding without it, 
 and that Yount could charge it up to the boys. 
 
 [113] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 When Mr. and Mrs. Yount came home about 
 four days later, I told them the circumstances of the 
 whiskey deal. They both laughed heartily and 
 said it was all right. A few years later Mr. Yount 
 was killed by the cars at Boulder. He undertook 
 to board the train while it was in motion and fell 
 under the cars and was run over and instantly killed. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Yount sold their store on the Big 
 Thompson and moved to Fort Collins in 1873, 
 where they started the first bank established in Lar- 
 imer county. Mr. Yount was killed in 1876. Be- 
 fore that he had represented the county in the Ter- 
 ritorial Legislature and was well thought of by all 
 the pioneers. 
 
 When my brother John and I came to the 
 Thompson valley in the latter part of August, 1865, 
 we found a few patches of wheat ranging from two 
 to five acres in a field. Some of the settlers had a 
 few potatoes, but the grasshoppers were thick and 
 had destroyed nearly all the crops. Things looked 
 pretty blue to us and for a while we thought we 
 would have to go back to Illinois, but courage was 
 our motto and we soon got some work to do cutting 
 hay and grain. We had been advised to come to the 
 Thompson by Judge W. B. Osborn, whom we met 
 on the road near the present city of Longmont. 
 
 Hay that year brought $100 per ton at Black 
 Hawk and Central City, and almost everything 
 else commanded a proportionate price. That fall I 
 bought a ton of potatoes, paying 7c a pound for 
 them. I hauled them to Central City and sold 
 them for 12 cents a pound. Greorge L. Luce, who 
 lived then on what is known as the John Ryan farm, 
 had some eggs he wanted me to take to market. I 
 sold the eggs for $2 per dozen and I have paid 25 
 cents each for eggs when they were served to me 
 at hotels. Notwithstanding numerous drawbacks 
 and discouragements, I have lived and prospered. 
 I have raised a family of ten children, all boys 
 except nine." 
 
 A Grateful Redskin 
 
 Several years ago the late Abner Loomis, pioneer 
 freighter, stockman and banker, told the following 
 story to a reporter for the Denver Times. Mr. 
 Loomis was standing in front of the Albany hotel, 
 Denver, exchanging reminiscences with other old- 
 timers, when a young Indian passed by. "That 
 Indian reminds me of one I once knew," said he. 
 "Did I ever tell you the story of Zeb?" On being 
 answered in the negative he proceeded. I will pre- 
 face the story by locating Huleatt gulch. The 
 
 [114] 
 
 gulch comes down from the northwest and opens 
 out on the north side of the Cache la Poudre river 
 about twenty miles west of Fort Collins. The 
 Indians had a trail down this gulch, which they fol- 
 lowed in coming from North Park to raid the set- 
 tlements on the Plains or to attack their hereditary 
 enemies, the Arapahoes and Cheyennes. They came 
 from the Park through Ute pass, from which cir- 
 cumstance the pass derives its name, and practically 
 followed the line of the present State road leading 
 from Capt. Davy's ranch on the Laramie river, to 
 North Park. They forded the Laramie river near 
 Capt. Davy's ranch, thence taking a course that led 
 them to the head of the Huleatt gulch. After ford- 
 ing the river at the mouth of the gulch they fol- 
 lowed up Hill's gulch to the head of Rist canon, 
 down which they proceeded to a point near the 
 present town of Bellvue and then traveled south 
 through the glade west of the hogbacks until they 
 came to the Big Thompson valley. Their trail 
 from North Park to the Big Thompson was well 
 marked and was distinguishable for many years 
 afterwards. 
 
 Mr. Loomis' story follows: 
 
 "During the early 60's the Indians infested the 
 valley of Big Thompson as well as other parts of 
 the state. They were forever prowling around, 
 plundering the cabins of the settlers, running off 
 stock and making themselves nuisances on general 
 principles. 
 
 "Early in the year 1860, I think it was, one of 
 the settlers, a Frenchman by the name of De Vost, 
 captured from a band of wandering Utes a little 
 Indian boy about 12 years old. De Vost gave the 
 boy the name of Zeb to take the place of his unpro- 
 nounceable patronym. 
 
 "Zeb was a bright youngster, and seemed to be 
 blessed with virtues usually undeveloped in the red- 
 skin character. It must not be forgotten, however, 
 that Zeb had his vices, for he was a natural born 
 thief if ever there was one. He regarded De Vost's 
 property as exempted from his pilfering, and he 
 guarded the home and effects of his captor with the 
 most jealous care. 
 
 "Zeb seemed contented with his new life, and 
 at the age of 17 was a large, strong, good looking 
 fellow. About this time a band of roving Utes 
 happened to pass near Huleatt gulch. The recol- 
 lections of roaming over the plains during his boyish 
 days thronged Zeb's mind, and the desire for the 
 free and unfettered life of the savage proved strong 
 enough to lure him from the home of his captor, 
 and he rejoined his tribe. Perhaps, during all these 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 years, memory had not been sleeping, but had re- 
 called to Zeb the events of former days, and when 
 opportunity offered, he was powerless to resist the 
 desire to rejoin the companions of his childhood. 
 De Vost, who had become attached to the boy, 
 mourned his departure, but was forced to the con- 
 clusion that after all Zeb was a redskin of the most 
 ungrateful type. This was the opinion we all held, 
 and as the majority of us never had a very exalted 
 opinion of Zeb, we were not very much astonished 
 at the young savage's taking French leave. 
 
 "Several months passed after Zeb's departure, 
 and the Indians continued to make life a burden to 
 the settlers on the Big Thompson. It became evi- 
 dent that something must be done to put a stop to 
 the depredations of the redmen. The stealing of 
 stock was a daily or nightly occurrence, and it 
 wasn't safe to leave the horses in the corrals with- 
 out a strong guard stationed there. 
 
 "A band of prowlers appeared in Huleatt gulch 
 and made camp there. The settlers were not long 
 in coming to the conclusion that the pilgrims had 
 come to this Mecca for a purpose, and their purpose 
 was to run off our horses. We made up our minds 
 to resist any encroachments upon our property, and 
 we kept a sharp lookout. In spite of our careful 
 watching, one day the rascals succeeded in getting 
 away with eighteen head of horses, and before we 
 could intercept their progress, they were well on 
 their way to North Park. Six of us armed our- 
 selves, and soon we were in hot pursuit. We over- 
 took them near the head of Huleatt gulch. The 
 Indians- prepared for a skirmish. One young brave 
 stood on a rock at the entrance to the gulch and sent 
 his arrows flying over in our direction. Ben Clay- 
 more emptied a six-shooter and that Indian's career 
 was ended. The Indians now appeared in numbers 
 unpleasantly large, and we saw that they were pre- 
 pared for immediate and decisive battle. They out- 
 numbered us, and no doubt our earthly existence 
 would have terminated at that time had not a timely 
 circumstance intervened. 
 
 "Just as the arrows from forty-seven redmen were 
 about to be sent into our midst, there sprang from 
 amongst the warriors a young fellow who talked to 
 them rapidly and excitedly, and then ran, by leaps, 
 in our direction. It was Zeb, who recognized De 
 Vost among our party, and stayed the arrows of his 
 fellows. The Indians sullenly withdrew from the 
 field. 
 
 "Zeb was delighted to see De Vost, and requested 
 the Indians to return De Vest's horses, which was 
 done. The rest of us were not so well treated, as 
 
 our property went to make up the collection of the 
 redmen's souvenirs. 
 
 "De Vost tried to persuade Zeb to remain with 
 him, but Zeb preferred to follow his copper-colored 
 brethren. At parting with De Vost, Zeb showed 
 signs of sincere grief, but instinct is stronger than 
 education, and Zeb followed the promptings of 
 Nature in his choice of a life. 
 
 "Zeb promised De Vost that his band should 
 trouble the settlers 'not any more,' and he was true 
 to his promise, for the depredations in the Big 
 Thompson valley ended. 
 
 "Zeb died in 1871, and his last request was that 
 his blanket and pipe should be given to De Vost. 
 The Indians fulfilled his dying wish, and De Vost 
 had the articles in his possession until his death, 
 which occurred a few years ago. 
 
 "Zeb was buried, Indian fashion, in Huleatt 
 gulch. He was an example of a grateful redskin, 
 and the only example, perhaps, on record." 
 
 The "Happy Jack" Episode 
 
 Along in the summer of 1873, a man known only 
 by the name of "Happy Jack" made his appearance 
 in the Cache la Poudre valley. He came here from 
 the Hay & Thomas sheep ranch, situated near the 
 Wyoming line, where he claimed to have been at 
 work in the hay field. He sought and obtained per- 
 mission to ride to Laporte with William P. Bos- 
 worth who was returning to his home in Pleasant 
 valley after selling a load of vegetables in 
 Cheyenne. He said he wanted work and Mr. 
 Bosworth told him that he might be able to 
 get a job at the Obenchain saw mill, which 
 stood on the bank of the river near where 
 William Falloon and family now live, in Pleas- 
 ant valley. "Happy Jack" did get a job at the mill, 
 but did not stay long as he was found to be not of 
 much account as a mill hand. From there he drifted 
 to Boulder where he hired out to Clint Farrar to 
 haul railroad ties from the mountains with an ox 
 team. During his stay at the Obenchain mill, seve- 
 ral horses belonging to ranchmen mysteriously dis- 
 appeared and it was suspected that he belonged to a 
 gang engaged in stealing and running off horses. 
 This suspicion became so strong shortly after 
 "Happy Jack" went to Boulder, that a warrant for 
 his arrest was sworn out and placed in Sheriff 
 Joseph Mason's hand to serve. Mr. Mason went to 
 Boulder and being told by Mr. Farrar where to find 
 the man he was looking for, the sheriff soon had him 
 in custody. "Happy Jack" was brought back to 
 
 [115] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Fort Collins and given a preliminary hearing but the 
 evidence brought out vi^as not thought sufficient to 
 justify the court in binding him over for trial in the 
 district court, and he was discharged. This, how, 
 ever, did not allay the suspicion that he was impli- 
 cated in the horse theft. This feeling became so 
 strong that "Happy Jack" made up his mind that 
 the best thing he could do would be to leave the 
 country which he attempted to do. He started for 
 the mountains and on reaching the Lone Pine 
 stopped at the Day cabin which stood on what is 
 now known as the Harry Gilpin-Brown ranch, and 
 asked for something to eat. Mrs. Day, who was 
 alone, got dinner for him and after he had finished 
 eating he inquired the way to Rabbit creek. Before 
 leaving the cabin he brutally attacked and criminally 
 assaulted Mrs. Day, leaving her in a semi-conscious 
 state in which condition her husband found her a 
 few minutes later. On recovering consciousness she 
 told her husband, in broken sentences, what had oc- 
 curred and also described the man. She also told 
 him that her assailant had inquired the way to Rab- 
 bit creek. News of the assault upon Mrs. Day was 
 sent post haste to Fort Collins and SherifiE Mason 
 and Deputy Sheriff O. P. Yelton, lost no time in 
 instituting a search for the guilty man. They knew 
 from the description given of him by Mrs. Day 
 that it was "Happy Jack" and supposed he was 
 hiding in the hills somewhere on Rabbit creek, from 
 the fact that he had inquired the way to that local- 
 ity. "Happy Jack", however, kept on up the road 
 going westward. Just about sundown he stopped 
 at the McNey ranch, where Clerin T. Woods was 
 then living, and asked for a bowl of milk which he 
 drank and went on his way. Later in the evening 
 word came to Mr. Woods that Mrs. Day had been 
 mistreated and that Sheriff Mason was going to 
 look for her assailant on Rabbit creek. The de- 
 scription of the man given Mr. Woods fitted the 
 person to whom he had given the bowl of milk and 
 he knew that Sheriff Mason was on the wrong track, 
 so he saddled up a horse and rode over to Rabbit 
 creek to head the sheriff off and set him on the 
 right road. Shortly after he reached Rabbit creek 
 the sheriff and his deputy drove up and were told by 
 Mr. Woods that the man they were looking for had 
 gone west past his home. The sheriff and his dep- 
 uty turned back to the main Livermore road and 
 drove west, having lost much time in the trip up 
 Rabbit creek. They kept up the pursuit to Fred 
 Smith's mill on the North Lone Pine where they 
 found "Happy Jack" fast asleep. The next morn- 
 ing they started for Fort Collins with "Happy 
 
 [116] 
 
 Jack" in custody. When they arrived at the Day 
 cabin, Mrs. Day was asked if their prisoner was the 
 man who assaulted her and she promptly replied 
 that it was. Sheriff Mason then roped "Happy 
 Jack" to a corral post and giving Mrs. Day his 
 Remington rifle, told her to shoot him, but her 
 nerve failed her and she refused to take his life. 
 "Happy Jack" was brought to Fort Collins and con- 
 fined in a room on the second floor of the Grout 
 building which then answered for church, court 
 house and jail. That night he was taken out by 
 about a dozen determined men and strung up twice 
 by a rope thrown over a cottonwood limb on the 
 river bottom, in an effort to scare him into a confes- 
 sion of horse stealing and to tell who his confed- 
 erates were. This he persistently refused to do, 
 saying they might hang him and be damned, but he 
 would never give anything away. Failing to wring 
 a confession out of him, they brought him back to 
 the quarters in the old Grout building. The next 
 evening while being given his supper "Happy Jack" 
 complained that one of the manacles was too tight 
 about his leg and that it hurt him, and he asked his 
 guard to loosen it a little which was done. The 
 prisoner wore high top boots and the manacles were 
 fastened outside the boot-leg, just above the ankle. 
 Later in the evening, while the guard was at supper 
 in one of the lower rooms, "Happy Jack" succeeded 
 in working one foot out of the boot, leaving the 
 manacle around the bare leg and loose enough to 
 permit of his slipping the foot through the hopple, 
 thus liberating it. He then drew on his boot again 
 and taking the loose manacle in his hand, he -jumped 
 from the window to the ground below and dis- 
 appeared in the darkness. In lighting he fell upon 
 and broke through some boards that covered an out- 
 side cellarway, creating a racket that startled the 
 guards, but before they could get out of the house 
 and run around to the back side of it to see what 
 caused the racket, "Happy Jack" had scrambled out 
 and made off as fast as his legs could carry him. 
 When the guards turned the corner of the building 
 they heard footsteps fleeing in the direction of the 
 mill race where it crosses North College avenue, 
 and they concluded that their prisoner had given 
 them the slip, which, upon examination, proved 
 true. An alarm was sounded and very soon a posse 
 of men went in pursuit of the fugitive, but owing to 
 the darkness and the number of hiding places in the 
 bushes along the river bank, they failed to find him 
 and he made good his escape. "Happy Jack" was 
 never seen in this vicinity after that, and many peo- 
 ple believe to this day that he was removed from the 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 jail by a band of avengers who took him to Natural 
 fort on the Cheyenne road where they hung him 
 and buried his body in a concealed grave. This is 
 not generally accepted as truth, however. Those 
 who had a chance to know all the circumstances be- 
 lieve that he made his escape in the manner related. 
 A circumstance that lends strength to this belief is 
 that some three or four years afterward the man- 
 acles he wore were found near Park station, twelve 
 miles northwest of Fort Collins, one of them being 
 broken. The supposition is that after the fugitive 
 had outwitted his pursuers and gotten far enough 
 away to feel safe from recapture, he placed the man- 
 acled limb on a rock and broke the iron with a stone, 
 thus freeing himself from an obstacle to fast travel- 
 ing and also from evidence that he was an escaped 
 prisoner. In any event, "Happy Jack" was never 
 heard from afterwards from anyone in this vicinity, 
 but the stories of his misdeeds and nervy escape have 
 survived and are often recounted by old-timers. 
 
 Larimer County's Only Lynching 
 
 One thing stands out in blazing characters to the 
 credit of the law abiding sentiment which prevailed 
 among the early settlers of Larimer county, and 
 that is they never but once resorted to lynch law as 
 a means of suppressing crime or redressing public 
 grievances. Though, as is frequently the case on 
 the border, lawless acts were committed and the 
 civil and moral code held in open defiance and some- 
 times bloody tragedies were enacted, yet the people 
 restrained their cry for vengeance and allowed the 
 law to take its course, except in one instance. The 
 reason for this may be found in the fact that the 
 pioneers of the county were, as a rule, from the 
 best blood of the Eastern states, where the courts 
 were in full swing, where human life was protected 
 by stringent laws, the rights of property respected, 
 where obediance to the mandates of the constituted 
 authorities were prerequisite to good citizenship and 
 where punishment swiftly followed the commission 
 of crimes. Having grown up under such conditions 
 and amid such environments, and having an in- 
 grained abhorence of mob rule, and, besides, being 
 engaged in the peaceful pursuit of agriculture and 
 stock raising, it is but natural that they should ab- 
 stain until forbearance ceased to be a virtue at least, 
 from taking the law in their own hands and visiting 
 summary penalties upon malefactors. 
 
 The single instance spoken of occurred in Fort 
 Collins in the spring of 1888. 
 
 On Wednesday the 4th of April, that year, James 
 H. Howe, a mill-wright by occupation who had 
 previously, by reason of his general bearing and skill 
 as a mechanic, stood high in the estimation of the 
 community, in a moment of drunken frenzy bru- 
 tally and cruelly killed his wife by cutting her 
 throat with his pocket knife. Mrs. Howe was a 
 most estimable vi^oman and was greatly beloved by a 
 wide circle of friends in the community, and the 
 news of the tragedy spread all over the town like 
 wildfire. The whole town was aroused and in- 
 furiated at the atrocity of the crime committed. The 
 Howe family lived in the cottage which stands on 
 Walnut street just east of the Elks' building. The 
 tragedy occurred about one o'clock in the afternoon, 
 and business in town was almost entirely suspended 
 during the remainder of the day. Groups of men, 
 women and children were seen in all parts of the 
 town discussing with bated breath the details of the 
 horrid crime that had startled them with the sud- 
 denness of the unprovoked brutality. Every nerve 
 was stretched to its utmost tension and every muscle 
 quivered with uncontrollable excitement. As the 
 news spread to the country and people came flocking 
 into town to learn the particulars, the excitement 
 grew more intense and not until the tragic event 
 which ended in the hanging of Howe by an army 
 of infuriated citizens was there any subsidence of the 
 feeling apparent. 
 
 Howe struck his wife first on the right side of her 
 face with the knife, inflicting a cruel but not fatal 
 wound. He then changed the knife to his left hand 
 and plunged the blade into the left side of her neck, 
 severing the jugular vein. Mrs. Howe was on her 
 hands and knees on the ground in front of their 
 house and Mr. Howe was upon her back with his 
 right arm about her waist. After stabbing his 
 victim the last time, Howe got up, went into the 
 house and laid down upon a bed where he was found 
 when taken into custody. Mrs. Howe struggled 
 to her feet bleeding profusely and cried "murder" 
 in a smothered voice. She then walked to the gate 
 passed out to the sidewalk and started for Linden 
 street, less than half block away. She had taken 
 but a few steps when she stopped and tried to catch 
 hold of a fence post for support, but failing, fell to 
 the ground face down-ward and expired. Gus 
 Evans, who happened to be driving past the house, 
 saw the conflict and at once gave the alarm. Will- 
 iam Nolan, S. H. Seckner, Thomas Ogilvie, Ed. 
 Konsheim and Sam Rugh and others responded to 
 the alarm and soon appeared at the scene of the 
 tragedy. Seeing that Mrs. Howe was past help, 
 
 [117] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 they turned their attention to securing the perpe- 
 trator of the horrid deed. Charles Barrett and A. 
 R. Chaffee were sent around to the back door and 
 Seckner, Ogilvie and Night-watchman M. Rinker 
 entered the house by the front door. They found 
 Howe reclining upon the only bed in the house and 
 immediately took him into custody. Howe offered 
 no resistance to arrest. At this time Under-Sheriff 
 Lafe Stultz arrived and, with the help of by- 
 standers, rushed the murderer to the cell in the 
 county jail. No attempt was made enroute to the 
 jail to take Howe from the officer, although a large 
 and terribly excited crowd of men followed, threat- 
 ening vengeance. 
 
 County Coroner Dr. C. P. Miller, summoned a 
 jury composed of L. J. Hilton, W. T. Rogers, S. E. 
 Clark, G. T. Wilkins, John McPherson and John 
 G. Lunn, who held an inquest over the body of the 
 murdered woman, returning the following verdict: 
 
 "The said jurors upon their oaths do say that the 
 deceased, Mrs. Eva Howe, came to her death about 
 1 o'clock of Wednesday, April 4th, 1888, from the 
 effects of several wounds produced by a sharp 
 pointed pocket knife in the hands of her husband, 
 James H. Howe." 
 
 That evening at 8 o'clock the electric lights were 
 cut out and the entire city plunged into darkness. 
 Then a band of men, some of them masked, gathered 
 at the jail, a small stone structure which stood at the 
 southeast corner of Court square. Not a word was 
 spoken. After placing Sheriff Davy and his aids un- 
 der guard, an assault was made upon the jail into 
 which an entrance was soon gained. The large 
 iron doors which separated the cell corridor from 
 the office, offered some resistance, but with cold 
 chisel and hammer, the lock bolts were cut and the 
 door was swung open. The same means were 
 taken to open the door of the cell in which Howe 
 was confined and within fifteen minutes from the 
 time the crowd gathered at the jail the sought for 
 victim was within their grasp. Shrinking and terri- 
 fied with fear and piteously crying for mercy, the 
 miserable wretch was rushed to a derrick, standing 
 at the south end of the new court house, which 
 had been used in lowering large blocks of flagging 
 stone into the basement for the new jail floor. A 
 rope with noose adjusted had already been placed in 
 position and under this, Howe, still begging for 
 mercy, was led. The noose was adjusted about his 
 neck and a score of men gave a lurch on the rope and 
 the body of the cruel wife murderer shot up into the 
 air like a rocket. His struggles were of short dura- 
 tion. After life was extinct the crowd dispersed in 
 
 [US] 
 
 a quiet manner. The electric lights were again 
 turned on and the business of the city resumed. 
 
 On being notified of what had taken place Cor- 
 oner Miller summoned a second jury of inquest 
 which returned the following verdict: 
 
 "Said jurors upon their oaths do say: J. H. 
 Howe was found hanging to a derrick about 9:30 
 p. m. of April 4th, 1888. He came to his death at 
 the hands of an infuriated and unknown mob by 
 hanging. Signed, George W. Seibert, Arthur F. 
 Brown, Henry J. Wilterding, Robert Edwards, J. 
 T. Murphy and C. Rugh." 
 
 This ended the first and only instance in the 
 history of the county up to this time, in which the 
 mandates of Judge Lynch were duly and summarliy 
 executed, and absolute, though, perhaps irregular 
 justice was meted out to a man who had defied the 
 laws of God and man in shedding innocent blood. 
 
 Mrs. Howe's body was shipped to the home of her 
 parents, Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Vanderwark, at Can- 
 nington, Ontario. The little five year old daugh- 
 ter and only child of Mr. and Mrs. Howe was taken 
 back to the home of its grandparents in Canada. 
 
 When in his cups Howe shamefully abused and 
 mistreated his wife. He went home only the even- 
 ing before in a state of beastly intoxication and 
 threatened to kill her then. The next morning, on 
 the day of the tragedy, she pleaded with him to 
 stay at home and not go upon the street but without 
 avail. Fearing that her life would be in danger if 
 he came home drunk again, she began packing her 
 own and little daughter's clothing in a trunk prepar- 
 atory to leaving the house, not expecting him to re- 
 turn before a late hour in the night. He came 
 home, however, shortly after 12 o'clock and found 
 her making preparations to leave him which so en- 
 raged him that he killed her. It was evidently a 
 cold blooded premeditated murder, as it was testi- 
 fied at the inquest that he was not drunk when he 
 left the saloon to go home. Until he began to go 
 down hill through thirst for liquor, he seemed to be 
 very much attached to his wife and daughter and 
 both he and his wife moved in the best social cir- 
 cles. But the demon drink had transformed him 
 into a brute and he met what he deserved, an ig- 
 nominious death at the hands of a mob. 
 
 Three More Early Day Tragedies — 
 Killing of Tom Burris 
 
 During the spring round-up of 1875, there oc- 
 cured on the Platte below the town of Evans, one of 
 those deplorable tragedies that frequently stained the 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 good name of a community in the early days, ' in 
 which one man was killed and another will carry to 
 his grave the recollection of having taken the life of 
 a human being, although in defense of his own life. 
 The principals to this unfortunate affair were Tom 
 Burris, the victim, and John Suiter, the slayer. 
 Though the tragedy occurred in Weld county, the 
 principals were both well known Larimer county 
 men, and the affair excited a great deal of local in- 
 terest. Burris was a stockman and lived at that 
 time on the place now owned and occupied by L. E. 
 Parker, near Timnath. Suiter was a young man 
 whose home was with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. 
 Peter Suiter, who were among the early settlers of 
 the Harmony neighborhood, and is a brother of 
 Alderman Ed. T. Suiter of this city. Inordinate 
 doses of Evans whiskey was the immediate cause 
 of the shooting, which resulted in the death of 
 Burris, but it was believed that it was only a ques- 
 tion of time when the victim would be either Burris 
 or Suiter, as the two men were known to be at 
 enmity and that Burris had frequently threatened 
 Suiter's life. Burris had the reputation of being a 
 bad man, especially when in liquor, and far too 
 handy with his gun for the peace and safety of 
 those near him when he was intoxicated. On the 
 day of the tragedy Burris left the round-up camp 
 and went to Evans where he proceeded to fill up on 
 fighting whiskey and some of the men who were 
 with him knowing of his ungovernable temper and 
 quarrelsome disposition when in liquor, secretly 
 took his revolver and refused to return it when he 
 realized his loss. This put Burris in bad temper 
 and he had no sooner gotten back to camp than he 
 began to pick a quarrel with a cripple named 
 Johnson. But a few words had passed between 
 the two men before Burris drew a bowie knife and 
 started for Johnson, who ran around the other side 
 of the camp wagon to get away from the infuriated 
 and drink-crazed man. It happened that Suiter 
 was on the opposite side of the covered wagon op- 
 posite Burris when the quarrel began. He stood 
 between the front wheel and the body and was 
 in the act of reaching into the wagon after supplies 
 to cook for supper. As Johnson, who was being 
 chased by Burris, came around the wagon he called 
 to Suiter to head off his pursuer. When Burris 
 saw Suiter wedge'd in between the wheel and wagon 
 body with his back toward him, he gave up the chase 
 after Johnson and made straight for Suiter with 
 his knife held in a threatening attitude. Suiter 
 paid no attention to Burris until the latter grabbed 
 
 him by the coat collar and back of the neck. Then 
 he drew his revolver and throwing it over his 
 shoulder fired without looking around, the bullet 
 striking Burris in the chin and passing through his 
 neck dislocated his spine at the base of the brain. 
 At the moment that Suiter fired, Burris had his 
 knife raised with the evident intention of plunging 
 it into the former's neck, but the bullet got in its 
 work first. Burris lived several hours afterward, 
 and just before his death he requested someone to 
 pull off his boots so that his father's prophecy, made 
 when Tom was a boy, that he would some day die 
 with his boots on, should not come true. Suiter 
 was promptly arrested and given a preliminary hear- 
 ing before a Greeley justice of the peace, who 
 bound him over to the District court for trial in 
 the sum of $10,000. The bond, signed by nearly 
 all of the stockmen of the county, was presented to 
 the court and Suiter was released from custody to 
 await the action of the grand jury. When court 
 convened in the fall the grand jury, after a thorough 
 investigation, refused to find a true bill against the 
 slayer of Burris and he was exonerated from the 
 charge and set at liberty — thus ending a case in 
 which the sympathies of almost the entire popula- 
 tion of Northern Colorado were enlisted in behalf 
 of Suiter, who in taking Burris' life was simply de- 
 fending his own. Mr. Suiter is now a prominent 
 citizen of Montana, whither he went several years 
 ago. 
 
 Postmaster Bariaut Killed 
 
 On the 4th of March, 1886, James C. Robertson, 
 a young ranchman living on Upper Boxelder creek, 
 about 45 miles northwest of Fort Collins, shot An- 
 thony Bariaut, who died a few hours later. Bari- 
 aut was postmaster at Boxelder and on the morning 
 of the day stated, Robertson went to the postofKce to 
 get his mail. Robertson and Bariaut got into an 
 altercation over an old misunderstanding, during 
 which Bariaut said "I will shoot you." He went to 
 a back room of his house and returned with a gun 
 which he placed to his face in an attitude of shoot- 
 ing. Robertson, on the alert, drew his revolver and 
 shot three times, only two of bullets taking effect, 
 one in the abdomen and the other in the shoulder. 
 Bariaut died on Saturday, March 6th, and Robert- 
 son came to Fort Collins on the following day and 
 surrendered himself to Sheriff Love. He asked for 
 an investigation, and on Monday, March 8th, 
 Coroner I. N. Thomas, accompanied by Dr. Geo. E. 
 Bristol county physician. Deputy District Attorney 
 Knud Patton, Deputy Sheriff Zook in charge of 
 
 [119] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNT Y 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 Robertson, and Judge T. M. Robinson, attorney 
 for the self accused man, went to Boxelder to hold 
 an inquest. A jury composed of W. H. Bassett, W. 
 J. Logan, W. W. Pogue, Dan T. Scully, J. Stout, 
 and Isaac Adair was summoned by the coroner and 
 at once proceeded to inquire into the cause or 
 causes of the tragedy. After hearing all the evi- 
 dence adduced, the jury returned a verdict that the 
 deceased came to his death through a pistol shot 
 fired by James C. Robertson in self defense. It 
 was shown at the inquest that Bariaut was a quarrel- 
 some man, who shot on short notice, and that he 
 had threatened to kill Robertson. The incident 
 created a good deal excitement in the neighborhood 
 at the time. Bariaut was indicted in 1882 by the 
 grand jury for assault to commit murder, but was 
 permitted to plead guilty to the charge of assault 
 and was fined $100 and costs. 
 
 Murder of Stephen McDonald 
 
 On the 6th of December, 1886, Stephen Mc- 
 Donald, a sheepherder in the employ of William B. 
 Miner at the latter's ranch twelve miles northwest 
 of Fort Collins, was shot and killed while in charge 
 of a flock of 2,000 sheep on the prairie about four- 
 teen miles north of Fort Collins, by Adam Freder- 
 icks, who lived on the Boxelder two miles up the 
 creek from Bristol station. Mr. McDonald's sheep 
 came to the corrals on the home place at night un- 
 attended, and a search for the herder was at once 
 instituted. The body was discovered by the aid of 
 McDonald's faithful dog which had remained at 
 the side of his dead master all throughout the after- 
 noon and until a late hour at night. Fredericks was 
 arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced to life im- 
 prisonment in the state penitentiary. The evidence 
 adduced at the trial, though circumstantial, was 
 thoroughly convincing. McDonald had married 
 Lulu Coy, a step-daughter of Frederick's, but the 
 union was not a happy one and the shooting grew 
 out of family difficulties. 
 
 Indians Kill Lieutenant Collins 
 
 The Overland road along the North Platte, from 
 the junction of the South Platte, was during the 
 summer of 1865 the scene of many conflicts and 
 much carnage between the troops stationed along the 
 line and the blood-thirsty savages. A large force 
 of Indians, numbering three or four hundred, col- 
 lected 4t Platte Bridge, near where the city of 
 Casper, Wyoming, is now, and threatened the safety 
 
 [120] 
 
 of a train that was coming down the river from 
 Fort Bridger. Casper W. Collins, son of Colonel 
 W. O. Collins, who had just been promoted to a 
 first lieutenancy, volunteered to take command of 
 a party of soldiers and attack the Indians and drive 
 them off. Lieutenant Collins was a young man 
 twenty years of age, and his friends tried to dissuade 
 him from the undertaking, but he persisted and led 
 the attack. The fight was a sharp one and the 
 troops being greatly outnumbered, were driven back 
 with a loss of more than half of the soldiers either 
 killed or wounded. While the troops were falling 
 back in an effort to escape, one of the soldiers was 
 wounded and fell from his horse, but he called out 
 to his comrades, "Don't leave me, don't leave me." 
 Collins turned his horse and rode to the place where 
 the wounded man was lying, but his horse becoming 
 unmanageable, ran away with him, going at a fear- 
 ful rate toward's Red Cloud's band of Sioux. The 
 powerful grey horse soon bore his rider right among 
 the hostiles who surrounded and killed him. A 
 few days later, after the Indians had been driven 
 away by a stronger force, Lieutenant Collins' body 
 was found about a mile and a half from the spot 
 where he turned to rescue the wounded trooper. 
 The body had been stripped of the bright new uni- 
 form which he had put on after his muster as first 
 lieutenant at Fort Laramie, only a few days before. 
 The body was buried at the Fort. A year later it 
 was shipped to his native town in Ohio and interred 
 in the family burying ground. The city of Casper 
 was named in his honor, even as the city of Fort 
 Collins was named in honor of his gallant father. 
 Colonel W. O. Collins. 
 
 Death of Col. Collins 
 
 The following letter written by Mrs. Catherine 
 W. Collins, widow of the late Col. William O. 
 Collins, to friends in Fort Collins tells of the death 
 of her gallant husband. 
 
 "Hillsborough, Ohio, 
 Gentlemen: — May 8th, 1881. 
 
 My beloved husband, Col. William Oliver Col- 
 lins, died October 26th, 1880. He was indeed an 
 honored resident of Hillsborough, Ohio. He would 
 have been extremely gratified to have learned that 
 the "little post" he established away out on the 
 frontier in 1864, was so prosperous. I have often 
 thought of sending a notice of his death to Fort 
 Collins, but did not know whom to address. There 
 must still be living in Colorado and Wyoming some 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 who cherish a memory of his warm, generous nature, 
 or men connected with his regiment that will recall 
 his faithful discharge of duties as colonel, and his 
 readiness to brave every danger that they were 
 called upon to meet. Will you be good enough to 
 have a notice of his death inserted in the Courier. 
 I thank you sincerely for the number you sent me of 
 that paper, published in your town and am sure 
 Fort Collins must be a thriving and highly moral 
 place. 
 
 Respectfully, 
 Catherine W. Collins. 
 
 Assessments and Taxes 
 
 The first assessor to make the rounds of Larimer 
 county is said to have found $6,000 worth of prop- 
 erty subject to taxation. This was in 1862, shortly 
 after the county had been created and ett off by 
 the Territorial Legislature. The records do not 
 show that any taxes were levied that year, as, in- 
 deed there could not have been for the reason that 
 the board of county commissioners appointed by 
 Governor Gilpin failed to organize and therefore 
 had no authority to order a levy. It was not until 
 three years later, in 1865, the year immediately 
 following the complete organization of the county 
 for judicial purposes that an assessment was made, 
 and the assessor that year found property to the 
 value of $168,167.50 subject to taxation. Upon 
 that assessment a levy of 23 mills for all purposes 
 was made and collected. The abstract of that 
 year's assessment, showing the character and species 
 of property assessed, follows: 
 
 Value of improvements on public lands $21,733.00 
 
 Value of hay, grain, etc 3,980.00 
 
 Value of clocks and watches 500.50 
 
 Average value of merchandise for preceding 12 
 
 months 9,580.00 
 
 Monies and credits 26,576.00 
 
 Stocks, shares, etc 1,428.00 
 
 289 wagons and vehicles 8,455.00 
 
 217 horses 22,330.00 
 
 27 mules 4,100.00 
 
 I asses • ■ 50.00 
 
 450 oxen 24,040.00 
 
 819 cows 26,550.00 
 
 728 calves and yearlings 9,857.00 
 
 524 sheep 1,834.00 
 
 21 swine 279.00 
 
 All other personal property 6,864.00 
 
 Total $168,167.50 
 
 To the list returned by the assessor the county 
 treasurer added the following names and the taxes 
 assessed against them: Joseph Armajoe, $11.12; 
 William Adolph, $9.40; George F. Brigham, 
 
 $15.15; Ben Claymore, $30.10; Robert Dickson, 
 $4.80; George Frankford, $2.50; Gill & Goodrich, 
 $9.37; John Hutchinson, $2.50; Michael Jones, 
 $17.10; Antoine Lebeau, $10.78; Clement Lamory, 
 $20.90; John Steed, $3.65; Wm. E. Thomas, 
 $5.95; C. A. Whedbee, $11.47; Joseph Hazard, 
 $2.50. These names of tax-payers had evidently 
 been overlooked by the assessor. These added 
 taxes amounted to $157.29 and were apportioned 
 to the following funds : County poll, $32 ; military 
 poll, $8 ; general fund, including territorial tax, 
 $117.29. 
 
 The records in the offices of the county clerk, as- 
 sessor and county treasurer for the years 1865 
 and 1866, regarding the assessment, collection and 
 distribution of taxes, are incomplete and it does not 
 appear that a regular assessment roll for either of 
 those years was made up and recorded in a book. 
 The tax lists were made out on foolscap paper from 
 schedules gathered by the assessor. Only three of 
 the schedules for 1865 have been preserved and 
 they are: John J. Ryan, who lists $1,926.00; 
 Peter Anderson, who lists $526.00 ; C. C. Hawley, 
 who lists $863.00. 
 
 The first county warrant drawn upon the treas- 
 urer was made out in favor of Henry Arrison, from 
 whom the board of county commissioners had pur- 
 chased a log building for the use of the county 
 officers, for the sum of $150. This log building 
 stood a few rods south of the present store and 
 postoffice at Laporte. After the county seat had 
 been removed to Fort Collins this building was 
 taken down, moved to the south side of the river 
 and rebuilt. It is now a part of Preston A. Taft's 
 home. The warrant drawn to pay Arrison for this 
 building is in words and figures as follows: 
 
 $150.00. "Treasurer's Department. 
 
 To the Treasurer of Larimer County: 
 Pay to Henry Arrison, or order, one hundred and 
 fifty dollars, on account of building in Laporte for 
 County purposes, out of any money in the treasury 
 not otherwise appropriated, and charge the same to 
 Auditor and this shall be your voucher. 
 
 Issued April 23, 1865. 
 Attest: J. E. Wild, Chairman of the Board of 
 County Commissioners. 
 
 H. W. Chamberlin^ 
 
 County Clerk." 
 
 The tax list for 1866 was made out on four 
 sheets of legal cap paper, fastened together with 
 narrow pink ribbon, and, although somewhat faded 
 by age is still legible. As an index of financial 
 
 [121] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 conditions as they existed in those days and because 
 it contains many names that are familiar to a num- 
 ber of the present residents of the county, it is 
 herewith copied at length. It is headed, "Tax List 
 for 1866, Larimer County, Colorado Territory." 
 
 The list follows: . ^ 
 
 Assessment Tax 
 
 G. C. Amer $100.00 $ 1.35 
 
 Allen & Mason 36,304 263.40 
 
 J. L. Allen 857 11.69 
 
 Phillip Allen 405 5.47 
 
 Ezekiel Allen 55 72 
 
 Abner Allen 170 2.28 
 
 Peter Anderson 526 7.10 
 
 Jas. S. Arthur 595 8.03 
 
 John Arthur 3,320 44.82 
 
 Jas. B. Arthur 2,418 32.64 
 
 Amer & Heath 2,602 35.13 
 
 Geo. E. Buss 442 5.97 
 
 Rock Bush 1,400 18.90 
 
 Sam'l Bingham 648 8.75 
 
 John R. Brown 708 9.49 
 
 Reed Berry 315 4.20 
 
 W. H. Bacon 647 9.10 
 
 Bartholf & Brugh 365 4.93 
 
 Bennett & Davis 1,052 14.10 
 
 J. D. Bartholf 2,349 31.68 
 
 W. A. Bean 1,435 19.37 
 
 John Baxter 928 12.53 
 
 Henry Clayton 100 
 
 Claymore & Provost 700 9.45 
 
 Abijah Chambers 150 2.03 
 
 Thomas Callan 100 1.35 
 
 H. B. Chubbuck 1,842 24.87 
 
 E. D. Clark 287 3.87 
 
 Jas. T. Carwile 415 5.60 
 
 Thomas Cross 1,495 21.68 
 
 A. R. Chaffee 2,030 27.40 
 
 Chaffee & Crary 4,020 54.27 
 
 John Colomb 1,520 20.52 
 
 John G. Coy 605 8.16 
 
 Thomas Cline 354 4.79 
 
 Norton Cooper 418 5.64 
 
 H. W. Chamberlin 2,030 27.40 
 
 William Cosslett 168 2.27 
 
 Benj. Claymore 772 10.42 
 
 John Dillon 2,066 27.82 
 
 Daniel Davis 820 11.07 
 
 Ebenezer Davis 2,377 32.08 
 
 John Davis 597 8.06 
 
 Simon Duncan 1,440 19.44 
 
 E. P. Drake 886 11.76 
 
 Misha Duval 325 4.39 
 
 Peter Decona 525 7.09 
 
 James Dickerson 1,200 16.20 
 
 L. G. Davis 175 . 2.36 
 
 J. M. Eaglin 827 11.16 
 
 David Earhart 170 2.30 
 
 Fletcher Earnest 260 3.25 
 
 Joseph Felteau 950 12.83 
 
 Henry Forbes 983 13.27 
 
 Sebastian Foster 2,395 32.33 
 
 A. R. Foster 623 8.41 
 
 Glenn & Talpey 4,025 54.34 
 
 Frank Gard 3,013 40.68 
 
 Clinton Graham 260 3.57 
 
 Gill & Goodrich 965 13.03 
 
 Charley George 200 2.70 
 
 Holladay O. M. & Ex. Co 18,880 
 
 James Hildreth 835 11.27 
 
 [122] 
 
 Hopkins & Anderson 1,060 14.31 
 
 J. B. Hart 351 4.74 
 
 C. C. Hawley 863 11.65 
 
 N. J. Hollowell & Bro 1,596 21.46 
 
 Hilton & Co 2,567 34.42 
 
 C. M. Hayden 290 3.68 
 
 C. W. Hovyell 550 7.49 
 
 John Hahn 2,791 40.38 
 
 John Henderson 300 4.05 
 
 Alfred Howard 1,215 16.40 
 
 David Hershman 635 8.57 
 
 Hershman & Bro 500 6.75 
 
 E. G. Howard 155 2.07 
 
 Abner Loomis 4,106 55.43 
 
 Antoine Lanham 456 6.16 
 
 C. C. Lawson 105 1.42 
 
 Geo. L. Luce 1,927 26.01 
 
 Charles P. Lee 520 7.12 
 
 Loomis & Whedbee 630 8.50 
 
 Geo. W. Leslie 80 1.08 
 
 Antoine Lebeau 575 7.35 
 
 Revilo Loveland 545 7.35 
 
 Joseph Musgrove 487 6.03 
 
 Mobrey, Mclntyre & Co 385 5.20 
 
 Mariana Modena 7,210 97.33 
 
 Joseph Markley 1,529 20.64 
 
 H. G. McCon 285 3.85 
 
 John Maddox & Bro 1,341 18.09 
 
 N. H. Meldrum 810 10.94 
 
 Oliver Morisette 420 5.67 
 
 Wallis Manville 880 11.87 
 
 Melanguy & Co 1,598 21.54 
 
 T. R. McBride 210 
 
 David Notman 1,596 21.45 
 
 Wm. B. Osborn 3,770 58.88 
 
 Peter Onley 305 3.12 
 
 Parish & Desinine 1,255 16.94 
 
 Frank Prager 1,719 23.20 
 
 F.D.Peterson 530 7.05 
 
 H. C. Peterson 605 8.17 
 
 Joseph Prendergast 675 9.11 
 
 Adolph Pillier 730 9.99 
 
 John B. Provost 260 3.57 
 
 Joseph Rist 2,430 32.70 
 
 John J. Ryan 3,338 45.06 
 
 Elijah Randall 630 8.50 
 
 Smith & Knott 823 11.13 
 
 A. M. Severance 1,300 17.55 
 
 C. C. Smith 240 3.24 
 
 Harry Samuel 4,710 63.56 
 
 William Samuel 195 2.63 
 
 Joseph Shilton 115 1.55 
 
 J. M. & S. W. Smith 5,040 68.04 
 
 Wm. Sherman 795 10.63 
 
 E. C. Smith 482 6.46 
 
 Elizabeth Stone 1,160 15.66 
 
 Francisco Salaria 616 8.31 
 
 Stone & Heath 445 6.00 
 
 Ezekiel Stone 60 81 
 
 G. R. Strauss 1,187 16.02 
 
 J. M. & F. W. Sherwood 5,500 74.25 
 
 T. M. Smith 675 9.08 
 
 Taylor & Smith 4,953 66.86 
 
 E. S. Thorp & Bro 1,297 17.56 
 
 W. 0. Tuttle 715 9.15 
 
 S. A. Tombs 80 1.08 
 
 W. D. W. Taft & Bro 2,285 30.84 
 
 B. T. Whedbee 4,445 60.00 
 
 D. M. Walker 1,100 14.85 
 
 J. E. Washburn 1,925 28.88 
 
 J. E. Wild 13,725 175.28 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 William Whitcomb 6,250 84.37 
 
 Rufus Wygal S70 7.69 
 
 J. H. Yeager 2,000 27.00 
 
 Young & Decona 2,875 38.81 
 
 A. K. Yount 3,646 49.22 
 
 William James 
 
 Thomas Johnson 1,555 20.94 
 
 Antoine Janis 1,367 18.45 
 
 Michael Jones 2,687 32.27 
 
 It must be remembered that when the foregoing 
 list was made out there was not an acre of patented 
 land in the county subject to taxation, and that the 
 list embraced only improvements on public lands, 
 personal property, etc. Up to the year 1865, no 
 taxes of any kind were levied in this county, all 
 who were residents previous to that date escaping a 
 visit from the assessor and the county collector. 
 
 From 1865 down to 1872, the assessor kept no 
 record save and except the tax schedules he took in 
 listing the property of the taxpayers. These were 
 not transcribed in a book, but were tied up in 
 bundles, each year by itself, and the bundles laid 
 away. From these schedules the county clerk 
 extended the taxes on sheets of paper, fastened 
 together with baby ribbon and the tax list thus 
 made out was turned over to the county treasurer 
 who charged himself with the full amount named 
 therein and proceeded to collect from individual 
 taxpayers named in the list the sums charged against 
 them. These lists have been preserved in the 
 county treasurer's office and are open to inspec- 
 tion. From 1872 down to the present time a com- 
 plete record has been kept of assessments, tax lists 
 and collections for each year, all in a systematic and 
 businesslike manner. 
 
 The following table shows the value of the prop- 
 erty assessed and the total amount of taxes levied 
 thereon for each year from 1872 to 1909, inclusive: 
 
 Assessed Valuation Total 
 
 Year of Property Tax 
 
 1872 $ 807,345 $ 12,110.17 
 
 1873 800,690 13,830.88 
 
 1874 910,229 19,633.25 
 
 1875 1,124,110 19,915.89 
 
 1876 1,025,180 14,430.70 
 
 1877 996,975 22,430.85 
 
 1878 1,504,010 24,793.70 
 
 1879 1,737,905 35,688.03 
 
 1880 2,078,945 47,905.46 
 
 1881 2,290,350 51,140.70 
 
 1882 3,005,260 75,141.35 
 
 1883 3,012,040 93,103.57 
 
 1884 3,232,695 103,695.00 
 
 1885 3,879,875 120,011.64 
 
 1886 4,056,595 104,824.01 
 
 1887 4,627,725 136,211.09 
 
 1888 4,532,550 132,731.14 
 
 1889 4,319,530 131,465.58 
 
 1890 4,424,420 131,179.09 
 
 1891 4,352,225 153,501.03 
 
 1892 5,131,680 173,093.28 
 
 1893 4,514,875 147,107.19 
 
 1894 4,286,350 149,135.01 
 
 1895 4,154,632 147,528.92 
 
 1896 3,938,499 148,419.87 
 
 1897 4,211,449 159,158.67 
 
 1898 4,332,668 158,250.33 
 
 1899 4,428,227 160,478.65 
 
 1900 4,397,900 166,911.95 
 
 1901 5,850,225 216,172.77 
 
 1902 5,989,642 235,016.35 
 
 1903 6,525,150 257,092.09 
 
 1904 7,334,624 373,990.74 
 
 1905 7,556,772 345,159.78 
 
 1906 8,032,273 352,385.93 
 
 1907 8,513,137 456,619.26 
 
 1908 9,798,065 464,573.60 
 
 1909 9,171,190 443,333.01 
 
 The total value of assessable property as re- 
 turned by the county assessor in 1865, the first 
 year in which a legal assessment was made, was 
 $168,167.50. These figures represent the full cash 
 value of the property assessed, which included im- 
 provements on public lands and personal property. 
 Not an acre of land was taxable that year as the 
 title still remained in the government. It was not 
 until 1868 that lands began to be assessed and taxed, 
 and then only a few tracts which had been patented 
 were entered on the assessment roll. By way of 
 comparison and also to show the growth of the 
 county and the increase in taxable property since 
 1865, the following abstract of the assessment for 
 1909 is herewith given: 
 
 Abstract of Assessment of Larimer 
 
 County, Colorado, for the 
 
 Year 1909 
 
 111,205 acres of agricultural land $2,327,575 
 
 448,698 acres of grazing land 691,295 
 
 6,912 acres of meadow land 39,915 
 
 1,006 acres of mineral land 6,570 
 
 Improvements on lands and kinds thereof 1,221,700 
 
 Improvements on public lands 19,425 
 
 Town and city lots 1,161,525 
 
 Improvements on same 1,480,420 
 
 91.68 miles of railroads, as returned by the state 
 
 board of equalization 625,870 
 
 Other railroad property 121,153 
 
 126.00 miles of telegraph lines 4,200 
 
 511,293 miles of telephone lines 89,107 
 
 50.09 miles of Express Co 4,510 
 
 Average value of merchandise 393,790 
 
 Average amount of capital employed in manu- 
 factures 101,180 
 
 9,948 horses 328,830 
 
 516 mules 21,735 
 
 18,965 cattle 186,605 
 
 5,656 sheep 11,515 
 
 1,726 swine 7,805 
 
 159 other animals 2,845 
 
 985 musical instruments 57,835 
 
 742 clocks and watches 6,380 
 
 Jewelry, etc 965 
 
 Moneys and credits 35,875 
 
 [123] 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 4,270 carriages and vehicles 110,090 
 
 Household property (over and above exemption) 306,565 
 
 All other property 108,045 
 
 Bank stocks and shares 317,350 
 
 Total valuation $9,681,675 
 
 Deduct the amount of exemption per constitu- 
 tional amendment 510,485 
 
 Total net assessment 9,171,190 
 
 Number of military polls 2,254 
 
 Valuation and Tax of County and 
 Cities and Towns 
 
 Valuation Tax 
 
 County of Larimer $9,171,190 $168,749.89 
 
 City of Fort Collins 2,250,851 41,640.74 
 
 City of Loveland 914,150 17,368.85 
 
 Town of Berthoud 197,089 3,153.42 
 
 Town of Wellington 112,631 3,153.67 
 
 In the early history of the county property 
 assessed for taxation was placed upon the roll at its 
 full cash value, while at the present time it is 
 assessed at about one-third its cash value. Upon 
 that basis the real value of the taxable property in 
 the county in 1909 was $28,513,570, as compared 
 with $168,167.50 in 1865. The exemption noted 
 in the foregoing abstract embraces household fur- 
 niture of a less value than $200, which every house- 
 holder is entitled to, free from taxation. 
 
 List of County Officers From 1864 
 to 1910 
 
 List of county officers elected and appointed 
 from the organization of the county in 1864 to 
 January 1st, 1910, showing also beginning and end 
 of service: 
 
 1864 to 1866 — Abner Loomis, County Commis- 
 sioner. 
 
 1864 to 1867— William A. Bean, County Com- 
 missioner. 
 
 1864 to 1865 — John Heath, County Commis- 
 sioner. 
 
 1864 to 1866— John E. Washburn, Probate 
 Judge. 
 
 1864 to 1866 — Henry Arrison, Sheriff. 
 
 1864 to 1866— B. T. Whedbee, County Treas- 
 urer. 
 
 1864 to 1866— H. W. Chamberlin, County 
 Clerk. 
 
 1864 to 1866— H. B. Chubbuck, County Super- 
 intendent. 
 
 1864 to 1866 — James M. Smith, Assessor. 
 
 1865 to 1868 — J. B. Arthur, County Commis- 
 sioner. 
 
 [124] 
 
 1866 to 
 
 sioner. 
 1866 to 
 1866 to 
 1866 to 
 1866 to 
 
 urer. 
 1866 to 
 
 1866 to 
 intendent. 
 
 1867 to 
 missioner. 
 
 1868 to 
 1868 to 
 
 urer. 
 1868 to 
 1868 to 
 
 intendent. 
 1868 to 
 to 
 
 pointed Co 
 1868 to 
 1868 to 
 
 sioner. 
 1870 to 
 
 missioner. 
 1870 to 
 1870 to 
 
 Clerk. 
 1870 to 
 1870 to 
 1870 to 
 
 1870 to 
 urer. 
 
 1871 to 
 missioner. 
 
 1872 to 
 1872 to 
 1872 to 
 
 urer. 
 1872 to 
 1872 to 
 1872 to 
 1874 to 
 
 sioner. 
 1874 to 
 1874 to 
 
 urer. 
 1874 to 
 1874 to 
 1874 to 
 
 intendent. 
 1874 to 
 
 1869 — Abner Loomis, County Commis- 
 
 1868— J. M. Sherwood, Probate Judge. 
 1868— Edward C. Smith, County Clerk. 
 1868— H. B. Chubbuck, Sheriff. 
 1868— B. T. Whedbee, County Treas- 
 
 1868 — James M. Smith, Assessor. 
 1868— H. B. Chubbuck, County Super- 
 
 1870— William A. Bean, County Com- 
 
 1870— H. B. Chubbuck, Sheriff. 
 1870— B. T. Whedbee, County Treas- 
 
 1870— J. C. Matthews, County Clerk. 
 1870 — ^James M. Smith, County Super- 
 
 1870 — ^William D. Hayes, Assessor. 
 1870— July 11, Jesse H. Keist ap- 
 unty Surveyor. 
 
 1870— A. F. Howes, Probate Judge. 
 1871 — J. B. Arthur, County Commis- 
 
 1873 — Lorenzo Snyder, County Com- 
 
 1872— P. D. McClanahan, Sheriff. 
 1872— H. W. Chamberlin, County 
 
 1872 — James M. Eaglin, Surveyor. 
 1872 — C. C. Hawley, Assessor. 
 1872— A. K. Yount, Probate Judge. 
 1872— B. T. Whedbee, County Treas- 
 
 1874 — F. W. Sherwood, County Com- 
 
 1874 — Joseph Mason, Sheriff. 
 1874— J. C. Matthews, County Clerk. 
 1874— T. M. Smith, County Treas- 
 
 1874 — F. C. Avery, Surveyor. 
 1874 — N. H. Meldrum, Assessor. 
 1874— A. F. Howes, Probate Judge. 
 1877 — J. G. Coy, County Commis- 
 
 1876— Joseph Mason, Sheriff. 
 
 1876— W. B. Osborn, County Treas- 
 
 1876— A. H. Patterson, County Clerk. 
 1876 — Jack Dow, County Surveyor. 
 1876 — R. W. Bosworth, County Super- 
 
 1876 — H. B. Chubbuck, Assessor. 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 1874 to 1876 — J. E. Remington, Probate Judge. 
 
 1875 to 1878 — Noah Bristol, County Commis- 
 sioner. 
 
 1876 to 1879 — Lewis Cross, County Commis- 
 sioner. 
 
 1876 to 1877— W. B. Osbom, County Treas- 
 urer. 
 
 1876 to 1877— C. P. Scott, County Clerk. 
 
 1876 to 1877— Jack Dow, Surveyor. 
 
 1876 to 1877 — Joseph Murray, Assessor. 
 
 1876 to 1877 — Jay H. Bouton, County Judge. 
 
 1876 to 1877— Marcus Coon, Sheriff. 
 
 1878 to 1881— Revilo Lovland, County Com- 
 missioner. 
 
 1878 to 1880— James Sweeney, Sheriff. 
 
 1878 to 1880— Albert B. Tomlin, County 
 Treasurer. 
 
 18/8 to 1880— C. P. Scott, County Clerk. 
 
 1878 to 1880— Jack Dow, Surveyor. 
 
 1878 to 1880— E. N. Garbutt, County Super- 
 intendent. 
 
 1878 to 1880— E. Z. Hills, Assessor (Died in 
 office and W. B. Osborn appointed. 
 
 1878 to 1881— Jay H. Bouton, County Judge. 
 
 1879 to 1882— William B. Miner, County Com- 
 missioner. 
 
 1880 — W. C. Stephenson, Coronor, 
 (appointed). 
 
 1880 — W. B. Osborn, Assessor (appointed). 
 
 1880 to 1883— A. S. Benson, County Com- 
 missioner. 
 
 1880 to 1882— C. P. Scott, County Clerk. 
 
 1880 to 1882— James Sweeney, Sheriff. 
 
 1880 to 1882— Russel Fisk, Coroner. 
 
 1880 to 1882— E. N. Garbutt, County Treas- 
 urer. 
 
 1880 to 1882— W. B. Sutherland, County Super- 
 intendent. 
 
 1880 to 1882— F. C. Avery, County Surveyor 
 (resigned.) 
 
 1880 to 1882 — Lewis Kern, Assessor. 
 
 1881 to 1883— H. P. Handy, County Sur- 
 veyor (appointed.) 
 
 1881 to 188^1 — L. E. Denslow, County Judge; 
 Died before taking oiSce, and T. M. Robinson ap- 
 pointed Jan. 11. 1881. 
 
 1881 to 188-^1 — Noah Bristol, County Commis- 
 sioner. 
 
 1882 to 1884— John H. Nelson, Surveyor. 
 1882 to 1885— T. M. Robinson, County Judge. 
 1882 to 1885— Henry T Miller, County Com- 
 missioner. 
 
 1882 to 1884 — T. J. Montgomery, County 
 Clerk. 
 
 1882 to 1884 — ^James Sweeney, Sheriff. 
 
 1882 to 1884 — George S. Thompson, County 
 Superintendent. 
 
 1882 to 1884— Ed. N. Garbutt, County Treas- 
 urer. 
 
 1882 to 1884— C. H. Marsh, Coroner. 
 
 1882 to 1884 — H. S. Youtsey, Assessor. 
 
 1883 to 1886— John B. Harbaugh, County Com- 
 missioner. 
 
 1882 to 1884— A. Q. McGregor, County Judge. 
 
 1883 to 1885- W. W. Cole, Coroner. 
 
 1884 to 1886— T. J. Montgomery, County 
 Clerk. 
 
 1884 to 1887— Jefferson McAnelly, County 
 Judge. 
 
 1884 to 1886— E. N. Garbutt, County Treas- 
 urer. 
 
 1884 to 1886— John H. Nelson, Surveyor. 
 
 1884 to 1886— W. H. McCreery, County Super- 
 intendent. 
 
 1884 to 1886— H. S. Youtsey, Assessor. 
 
 1884 to 1887— David Patton, County Commis- 
 sioner. 
 
 1884 to 1886 — James Sweeney, Sheriff. 
 
 1884 to 1886— C. H. Marsh, Coroner. 
 
 1885 to 1888— W. P. Bosworth, County Com- 
 missioner. 
 
 1886 to 1888— J. E. DuBois, County Clerk. 
 1886 to 1888— Eph Love, Sheriff. 
 
 1886 to 1888—1. N. Thomas, Coroner. 
 
 1886 to 1888— A. A. Edwards, County Treas- 
 urer. 
 
 1886 to 1888— W. H. McCreery, County Super- 
 intendent. 
 
 1886 to 1888 — Emil Loescher, Surveyor. 
 
 1886 to 1888— T. A. Gage, Assessor. 
 
 1886 to 1889— A. S. Benson, County Commis- 
 sioner. 
 
 1887 to 1890— Jefferson McAnelly, County 
 Judge. 
 
 1887 to 1890— H. H. Scott, County Commis- 
 
 1888 to 1890- 
 1888 to 1890- 
 1888 to 1890- 
 1888 to 1890- 
 
 urer. 
 
 1888 to 1890- 
 
 tendent. 
 
 1888 to 1890- 
 1888 to 1890- 
 
 -J. E. DuBois, County Clerk. 
 
 -T. H. Davy, Sheriff. 
 
 -C. P. Miller, Coroner. 
 
 —A. A. Edwards, County Treas- 
 
 -S. T. Hamilton, County Superin- 
 
 -Emil Loescher, Surveyor. 
 —Abraham Lefever, Assessor. 
 
 [125] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 1888 to 1891— T. B. Bishopp, County Commis- 
 sioner. 
 
 1889 to 1892— Frank G. Bartholf, County 
 Commissioner. 
 
 1890 to 1893— H. I. Garbutt, County Judge. 
 1890 to 1892— J. T. Budrow, County Clerk. 
 1890 to 1892— T. H. Davy, Sheriff. 
 
 1890 to 1892— W. T. Gough, Coroner. 
 1890 to 1892— F. P. Stover, County Treasurer. 
 1890 to 1892— S. T. Hamilton, County Super- 
 intendent. 
 
 1890 to 1892— A. E. Sprague, Surveyor. 
 1890 to 1892— A. Lafever, Assessor. 
 
 1890 to 1893— F. R. Baker, County Commis- 
 sioner. 
 
 1891 to 1894— George F. Scott, County Com- 
 missioner. 
 
 1892 to 1894— J. T. Budrow, County Clerk. 
 1892 to 1894— W. T. Branson, Sheriff. 
 1892 to 1894— Walter Gough, Coroner. 
 
 1892 to 1894— F. P. Stover, County Treasurer. 
 1892 to 1894— S. T. Hamilton, County Super- 
 intendent. 
 
 1892 to 1894— William Rist, Surveyor. 
 1892 to 1894— D. A. Weaver, Assessor. 
 
 1892 to 1895— W. R. Thornton, County Com- 
 missioner. 
 
 1893 to 1894— F. P. Stover, County Treas- 
 urer. 
 
 1893 to 1896— Jay H. Bouton, County Judge. 
 
 1893 to 1896— John G. Coy, County Commis- 
 sioner. 
 
 1894 to 1897— Jay H. Swan, County Commis- 
 sioner. 
 
 1894 to 1896— Frank D. Abbott, County Clerk. 
 
 1894 to 1896— W. T. Branson, Sheriff. 
 
 1894 to 1896— Walter Gough, Coroner. 
 
 1894 to 1896— John L. Thomas, County Treas- 
 urer. 
 
 1894 to 1896— S. T. Hamilton, County Super- 
 intendent. 
 
 1894 to 1896— William Rist, Surveyor. 
 
 1894 to 1896 — David A. Weaver, Assessor. 
 
 1894 to 1895— F. N. B. Scott, County Com- 
 missioner. 
 
 1895 to 1896 — Frank Baxter, County Commis- 
 sioner. 
 
 1895 to 1898— A. F. Brown, County Commis- 
 sioner. 
 
 1896 to 1899— Frank E. Baxter, County Com- 
 missioner. 
 
 1896 to 1899— George W. Bailey, County 
 Judge. 
 
 [126] 
 
 1896 to 1898— F. D. Abbott, County Clerk. 
 
 1896 to 1898— J. L. Thomas, County Treas- 
 urer. 
 
 1896 to 1898— C. H. Bond, Sheriff. 
 
 1896 to 1898— J. M. McCreery, Assessor. 
 
 1896 to 1898— Etta Wilson, County Superin- 
 tendent. 
 
 1896 to 1898— D. A. McLean, Coroner. 
 
 1896 to 1898— William Rist, Surveyor. 
 
 1897 to 1900— F. W. Sherwood, County Com- 
 missioner. 
 
 1898 to 1901— John Hahn, County Commis- 
 sioner. 
 
 1898 to 1900— H. E. Tedmon, County Clerk. 
 
 1898 to 1900— H. S. Youtsey, County Treas- 
 urer. 
 
 1898 to 1900— C. H. Bond, Sheriff. 
 
 1898 to 1900— J. M. McCreery, Assessor. 
 
 1898 to 1900— Etta Wilson, County Superin- 
 tendent. 
 
 1898 to 1900— Walter Gough, Coroner. 
 
 1898 to 1900— William Rist, Surveyor. 
 
 1899 to 1902— J. Mack Mills, County Judge. 
 
 1899 to 1902— Aaron Kitchel, County Commis- 
 sioner. 
 
 1900 to 1903 — J. H. Sargisson, County Commis- 
 sioner. 
 
 1900 to 1902— H. E. Tedmon, County Clerk. 
 
 1900 to 1902— Clark Smith, County Treasurer. 
 
 1900 to 1902— John A. Cross, Sheriff. 
 
 1900 to 1902— M. Y. Osborn, Assessor. 
 
 1900 to 1902— Mary E. Gill, County Super- 
 intendent. 
 
 1900 to 1902— Walter Gough, Coroner. 
 
 1900 to 1902— Emmet McAnelly, Surveyor. 
 
 1901 to 1904— John Y. Munson, County Com- 
 missioner. 
 
 1902 to 
 missioner. 
 
 1902 to 190' 
 
 1902 to 190 
 
 1902 to 190. 
 
 1902 to 190 
 
 1902 to 190 
 tendent. 
 
 1902 to 1904— H. M. Balmer, Coroner. 
 
 1902 to 1904— E. C. McAnelly, Surveyor. 
 
 1903 to 1907— Charles Gilpin-Brown, County 
 Commissioner. 
 
 1902 to 1905— John E. Ramer, County Clerk. 
 
 1902 to 1905— Clark Smith, County Treasurer. 
 
 1902 to 1905— John A. Cross, Sheriff. 
 
 1902 to 1905— John W. Seaman, Assessor. 
 
 1905—1. W. Bennett, County Com- 
 
 John E. Ramer, County Clerk. 
 Clark Smith, County Treasurer. 
 John A. Cross, Sheriff. 
 John W. Seaman, Assessor. 
 Mary E. Gill, County Superin- 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 1902 
 
 to 
 
 1905- 
 
 tendent. 
 
 
 
 1902 
 
 to 
 
 1905- 
 
 1902 
 
 to 
 
 1905- 
 
 1905 
 
 to 
 
 1909- 
 
 sioner. 
 
 
 
 1905 
 
 to 
 
 1909- 
 
 sioner. 
 
 
 
 1905 
 
 to 
 
 1909- 
 
 Judge. 
 1905 
 
 to 
 
 1907- 
 
 1905 
 
 to 
 
 1907- 
 
 1905 
 
 to 
 
 1907- 
 
 1905 
 
 to 
 
 1907- 
 
 1905 
 
 to 
 
 1907- 
 
 tendent. 
 
 
 
 1905 
 
 to 
 
 1907- 
 
 1905 
 
 to 
 
 1907- 
 
 1906 
 
 to 
 
 1907- 
 
 Poor Farm 
 
 ^, 
 
 1906 
 
 to 
 
 1907- 
 
 1906 
 
 to 
 
 1907- 
 
 torneys. 
 1906 
 
 to 
 
 1907- 
 
 1906 
 
 to 
 
 1907- 
 
 1907 
 
 to 
 
 1911- 
 
 missioner. 
 
 
 1907 
 
 to 
 
 1909- 
 
 1907 
 
 to 
 
 1909- 
 
 1907 
 
 to 
 
 1909- 
 
 1907 
 
 to 
 
 1909- 
 
 1907 
 
 to 
 
 1909- 
 
 intendent. 
 
 
 1907 
 
 to 
 
 1909- 
 
 1907 
 
 to 
 
 1909- 
 
 1907 
 
 to 
 
 1908- 
 
 cian. 
 
 
 
 1907 
 
 to 
 
 1908- 
 
 1907 
 
 to 
 
 1908- 
 
 spector. 
 1907 
 
 to 
 
 1908- 
 
 torneys. 
 1908 
 
 to 
 
 1909- 
 
 torneys. 
 1908 
 
 to 
 
 1909- 
 
 cian. 
 
 
 
 1908 
 
 to 
 
 1909- 
 
 Poor Farm 
 
 
 1908 
 
 to 
 
 1909- 
 
 1909 
 
 to 
 
 1913- 
 
 missioner. 
 
 
 1909 
 
 to 
 
 1913- 
 
 sioner. 
 
 
 
 -Mary E. Gill, County Superin- 
 
 -H. M. Balmer, Coroner. 
 -Emmet C. McAnelly, Surveyor. 
 -I. W. Bennett, County Commis- 
 
 -J. Y. Munson, County Commis- 
 
 -Clarence V. Benson, County 
 
 -John E. Ramer, County Clerk. 
 -J. M. McCreery, Sheriff. 
 -T. C. Ramey, County Treasurer. 
 -John W. Seaman, Assessor. 
 -Mary E. Gill, County Superin- 
 
 -Abner E. Sprague, Surveyor. 
 -H. M. Balmer, Coroner. 
 -Robert Walsh, Superintendent 
 
 -C. R. Blackwell, Janitor. 
 -Garbutt & Clammer, County At- 
 
 -A. E. Carter, Horti. Inspector. 
 -L. W. Fee, County Physician. 
 -K. J. McCallum, County Com- 
 
 -Frank J. Burnett, County Clerk. 
 -J. M. McCreery, Sheriff. 
 -T. C. Ramey, County Treasurer. 
 -Stewart C. Case, Assessor. 
 -Pearl L. Moore, County Super- 
 
 -A. E. Sprague, Surveyor. 
 -W. T. HoUowell, Coroner. 
 -Thomas Purcell, County Physi- 
 
 -C. R. Blackvi^ell, Janitor. 
 -Frank Y. Mosely, Horti. In- 
 
 -Leftvi'ich & Crose, County At- 
 
 -Leftwich & Crose, County At- 
 
 -Thomas Purcell, County Physi- 
 
 -Robert Walsh, Superintendent 
 
 -C. R. Blackwell, Janitor. 
 -Frank A. Chaffee, County Com- 
 
 -L. H. Fagan, County Commis- 
 
 1909 to 1913- 
 
 1909 to 1911- 
 
 1909 to 1911- 
 
 Treasurer. 
 
 1909 to 1911- 
 
 1909 to 1911- 
 
 1909 to 1911- 
 
 intendent. 
 
 1909 to 1911- 
 
 1909 to 1911- 
 
 1909 to 1910- 
 
 1909 to 1910- 
 
 1909 to 1910- 
 
 cian. 
 
 1909 to 1910- 
 
 1909 to 1910- 
 dent Poor Farm. 
 
 1910 to 1911- 
 1910 to 1911- 
 
 Physician. 
 
 1910 to 1911- 
 
 1910 to 1911- 
 
 Poor Farm. 
 
 -Fred W. Stover, County Judge. 
 -Frank J. Burnett, County Clerk. 
 -Frank W. Moore, County 
 
 -C. A. Carlton, Sheriff. 
 
 -S. C. Case, Assessor. 
 
 -Pearl L. Moore, County Super- 
 
 -W. T. Hollowell, Coroner. 
 -E. L. Stevens, Surveyor. 
 -J. J. Herring, County Attorney. 
 -C. R. Blackwell, Janitor. 
 -Thomas Purcell, County Physi- 
 
 -F. Y. Mosely, Horti. Inspector. 
 -John F. Campbell, Superinten- 
 
 -J. J. Herring, County Attorney. 
 -Dr. Curtis Atkinson, County 
 
 -C. R. Blackwell, Janitor. 
 
 -J. F. Campbell, Superintendent 
 
 Senators and Representatives From 
 Organization of the State 
 
 1877 to 
 1877 to 
 1879 to 
 1879 to 
 1881 to 
 
 tative. 
 1883 to 
 1883 to 
 1885 to 
 
 resentative, 
 1887 to 
 1887 to 
 1889 to 
 
 tive. 
 1891 to 
 1891 to 
 1893 to 
 1895 to 
 1895 to 
 1897 to 
 1899 to 
 1899 to 
 
 1901 to 
 tive. 
 
 1902 to 
 tive (to fill 
 
 1879 — Norman H. Meldrum, Senator. 
 1879— N. C. Alford, Representative. 
 1883— L. R. Rhodes, Senator. 
 1881 — Lucas Brandt, Representative. 
 1883 — ^Thomas H. Johnson, Represen- 
 
 1885 — ^Aaron S. Benson, Representative. 
 1887 — H. E. Tedmon, Senator. 
 1887— William H. McCormick, Rep- 
 
 1891 — Edwin A. Ballard, Senator. 
 1899 — R. W. Orvis, Representative. 
 1891 — John M. Davidson, Representa- 
 
 1895— A. F. Howes, Senator. 
 
 1893 — C. J. Chapman, Representative. 
 
 1895 — Adolph Donath, Representative. 
 
 1899 — J as. C. Evans, Senator. 
 
 1897— Robt. D. Miller, Representative. 
 
 1899 — Edwin S. Allen, Representative. 
 
 1903 — J as. C. Evans, Senator. 
 
 1901 — Jay P. Harter, Representative. 
 
 1903 — Robert S. Weldon, Representa- 
 
 1903 — T. J. Montgomery, Representa- 
 vacancy. ) 
 
 [127] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 -William A. Drake, Senator. 
 -Geo. H. Van Horn, Represen- 
 
 1902 to 1903— Jas. B. Arthur, Senator (to fill 
 vacancy. ) 
 
 1903 to 1907— A 
 1903 to 1905- 
 
 tative. 
 
 1905 to 1907- 
 1907 to 1911- 
 1907 to 1909- 
 1909 to 1911- 
 
 -J. M. Wolaver, Representative. 
 -Wm. A. Drake, Senator. 
 -J. M. Wolaver, Representative. 
 -W. H. Trindle, Representative. 
 
 Public Schools 
 
 The settlers in Larimer county, at the close of 
 1860, were mostly single men, few in number and 
 w^idely separated, so that even those who had fam- 
 ilies of children deemed it inadvisable and, in fact, 
 impracticable to attempt to establish schools for 
 their little ones. They knew that any such an 
 attempt would prove a failure for several reasons. 
 First, there were at that time not to exceed half 
 a dozen white children of school age in the entire 
 county, and their homes were so far apart they 
 could not readily be gotten together in one place 
 to receive instruction. Second, the county and the 
 territory were unorganized, consequently there 
 were no public funds for use in supporting schools, 
 and third, the industrial possibilities of the county 
 were so little known at that period and the minds of 
 the settlers here so unsettled regarding the future 
 that the first thought of parents was, "How shall we 
 provide ourselves and children with food and cloth- 
 ing and protection from the dangers, seen and un- 
 seen, that surround us on all sides in this new, 
 untried and undeveloped region ?" Necessarily, 
 they gave but little thought to schools and churches, 
 although the moral and intellectual training of the 
 few children here were by no means entirely 
 neglected. There were private schools in the fam- 
 ilies of children, and the brave, thoughtful mothers 
 gave them such instruction in the fundamentals as 
 their time, talents and opportunities permitted. 
 Many of the men and women in the county today, 
 descendants of the pioneers, are indebted to their 
 patient, persevering and self-sacrificing mothers, who 
 so thoughtfully and carefully laid the foundation 
 for their education and future career, as they gath- 
 ered the little ones about their knees at otherwise 
 unoccupied moments in the early days, and im- 
 parted to them the rudiments of practical knowledge. 
 Later on, as the county became more thickly settled 
 and conditions had so improved that public schools 
 were possible, we find the pioneers earnestly setting 
 about the organization of school districts and the 
 
 [128] 
 
 erection of school houses, in which their children 
 might be given proper instruction. These school 
 houses were often rude, log structures, but they 
 were made comfortable and answered a good 
 purpose. 
 
 As is elsewhere stated, the first school district 
 organized in the county was formed and estab- 
 lished in the Big Thompson valley in 1868. A 
 rude cabin was built in which the first public school 
 was opened and taught that year. Unfortunately, 
 the name of the teacher has been forgotten and 
 no mention is made in the records of the county 
 superintendent's office of the number of months of 
 school, nor of the number of children attending it. 
 It would be interesting to know the name of that 
 teacher and also the names of the pupils, but these 
 have passed from the memories of the oldest inhab- 
 itant. The teacher could not have been seriously 
 overworked, however, for in 1869, the second year 
 of the school's history, Lucas Brandt, the secre- 
 tary, reported sixteen children of school age in the 
 district. Five other districts appear to have been 
 created that year, the six having an aggregate 
 school population of 95. The territory included in 
 some of these districts embraced hundreds of square 
 miles. The western boundary of District No. 1 
 was the summit of the Continental Divide, nearly 
 one hundred miles distant from the school house. 
 
 The pioneers were mainly from the Middle West- 
 ern states and most of them American born. Many 
 of them were educated men and their wives and 
 daughters cultured and refined ladies. Naturally, 
 their first thought after becoming firmly established 
 in this wild western land, more than half a thou- 
 sand miles beyond the borders of civilization, was 
 to provide means for giving their children the school 
 advantages which they themselves had enjoyed in 
 childhood in their far away Eastern homes. Hence, 
 we see them as soon as there were children enough 
 in contiguous territory to warrant the formation of 
 a school district, banding themselves together in an 
 effort to establish public schools. They taxed 
 themselves heavily in erecting even rude school 
 buildings, in paying teachers' salaries and in meeting 
 other necessary expenses. But what a heritage 
 they have left us! Today, Larimer county re- 
 joices in a public school system with its rural, 
 grade and high schools, that are equal to the best in 
 any state in the Union, and far superior in point 
 of efficiency and the results obtained to those of 
 many of the commonwealths of the United States. 
 Its school population has increased from 95 in 1869 
 to nearly 9,000 in 1910, and handsome brick, stone 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 and frame buildings, modern in all respects, con- 
 veniently located, well arranged and thoroughly 
 equipped with up-to-date appliances, have taken the 
 places of the sod and log huts which served such 
 a useful purpose in the pioneer days. At the pres- 
 ent time there are fifty-three organized school dis- 
 tricts in the county in which schools are maintained 
 from four to nine months each year. In three of 
 these districts. Fort Collins, Loveland and Berthoud, 
 High schools have been conducted for several years, 
 whose courses of study articulate closely with the 
 higher institutions of learning in the state. All of 
 them are in the accredited class, and their graduates 
 pass directly into the freshman year at the State 
 University. About one-half of the districts support 
 graded schools in which work is carried through 
 the tenth grade, and all of them offer a thorough 
 common school course, thus fitting pupils for the 
 High schools, the Normal school or the Agricul- 
 tural college. A course of study has been adopted 
 which is practically in general use all over the 
 county and which not only adds uniformity to the 
 system, but also affords to every child completing 
 the prescribed course the requisites of intelligent 
 citizenship and the knowledge necessary in the ordi- 
 nary business affairs of life. Nearly all of the 
 schools in the county are supplied with free text 
 books, and all of them will be so supplied within a 
 very short period of time. Free text books enables 
 the teacher to classify her school, do better work and 
 get better results. The free text book system also 
 places all the pupils upon a common level so far 
 as text books are concerned. No distinction is made 
 between rich and poor; all are seated at the same 
 desks, receive the same instruction and have like 
 advantages. 
 
 Many of the graded schools and all of the High 
 schools have libraries to which new books are 
 added from time to time and to which pupils have 
 free access under appropriate regulations. These 
 libraries contain between 7,000 and 8,000 choice 
 and wisely selected books. No state in the Union 
 offers to the young better educational advantages 
 than Colorado and no county in the state better 
 than those afforded in Larimer county. Fort Col- 
 lins was the first town west of St. Louis to intro- 
 duce and test the kindergarten and subsequently 
 to make it a part of her system of free schools. It 
 was introduced in 1880 by Judge Jay H. Bouton, 
 who was then President of the Board of Education, 
 and the undertaking was attended by such marked 
 success and such manifestly beneficent results that 
 the legislature was induced, in 1893, to enact a 
 
 law making the kindergarten an integral part of 
 the public school system of the state. Since then 
 the kindergarten has been introduced in nearly all 
 the larger centers of population in Colorado, and is 
 steadily working its way into popular favor in all 
 parts of the state. With a kindergarten training at 
 the beginning of a child's school life and ending 
 with a High school course, with a perfect system 
 of grading intervening and the honest, conscientious 
 work of a competent and enthusiastic corps of teach- 
 ers, such and only such as the school authorities of 
 the county employ, it is not surprising that the pub- 
 lic schools of Larimer county rank second to none 
 in the whole country. Four years before a single 
 school district had been organized and established 
 and before a public school had been opened in Lari- 
 mer county, Mrs. Albina L. Washburn, wife of 
 the late Judge John E. Washburn and mother of 
 Mrs. W. W. Taylor of Fort Collins, taught a small 
 private school in a log cabin that stood on the site 
 of the present city of Loveland. This was in 1864, 
 and Mrs. Washburn received the munificent sum 
 of $10 per month for her services. She had ten 
 pupils and their names were: Theodore A. Chub- 
 buck, Clarence L. Chubbuck, Frank G. Bartholf, 
 Kitty Bartholf, Byron Bartholf, John Bartholf, 
 Willie Bartholf, George Luce, Lawrence Luce and 
 Winona Washburn, daughter of the teacher. The 
 school was opened about the first of January and 
 was in session three months. I am unable to learn 
 whether a school was taught in the Big Thompson 
 valley between that time and the date of the open- 
 ing of the first public school at what was then 
 known as Namaqua, in 1868. That year public 
 schools were also opened at Old St. Louis, about 
 a mile and a half east of the present city of Love- 
 land, and at Hillsborough, six miles east of that 
 city. The schools at Namaqua, Old St. Louis and 
 Hillsborough were all in the Big Thompson valley. 
 A school was organized at Laporte in 1865 and a 
 school taught there that year, but the public records 
 contains no mention of the district, the teacher or 
 the pupils. 
 
 School District No. 5, known as Fort Collins, 
 was not legally organized and established until 1870. 
 There is no record in existence showing who the 
 officers were at this time, but tradition informs us 
 that Peter Anderson was the first President of the 
 Board of Directors. There must have been some 
 sort of an organization previous to 1870, for Mrs. 
 Elizabeth Keays taught a school here in the winter 
 of 1866, and the officers of the district then, as fhe 
 remembers, were N. P. Cooper, president; W. 
 
 [129] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 D. Hayes, secretary, and Capt. Asaph Allen, treas- 
 urer. The summer before that Mrs. Stratton 
 taught a private school in her room in the hotel 
 kept by "Auntie Stone." This hotel stood where 
 the City Hotel now stands on Jefferson street. She 
 opened this school for the benefit of her young 
 son, William P. Keays, but she had not been teach- 
 ing him long until other children asked to come in 
 and study with him. In the fall of 1866 a room 
 was fitted up in one of the buildings that had been 
 occupied a few months before as officers' quarters 
 when the soldiers were here, and Mrs. Stratton was 
 employed to teach a six months' term — the first reg- 
 ular term of a public school taught in Fort Collins. 
 Among her pupils were Kate Smith, William P. 
 Keays, John O'Brien, two of Michael (Ranger) 
 Jones' children, two of Mr. Cooper's children and 
 three or four of Austin Mason's children. Miss 
 Geneva Cooper, sister of Mrs. A. J. Ames, who 
 afterwards became Mrs. W. D. Hays, succeeded 
 Mrs. Stratton as teacher the next term, Mrs. Strat- 
 ton having married Mr. Stratton in the meantime. 
 
 Mrs. Stratton relates many amusing incidents 
 that occurred while she was employed as teacher. 
 On one occasion she happened to look up from her 
 work and discovered Chief Friday of the Arapahoes 
 and some of his Indians peering into the one window 
 of her room. The children were considerably fright- 
 ened at the sight of the visitors and she admits 
 that she was herself a little nervous at their sudden 
 appearance. The Indians seemed to be greatly 
 amused at the spectacle of a woman teaching so 
 many children, and when their curiosity had been 
 satisfied they departed without molesting anyone 
 or anything. 
 
 After the district had been legally organized in 
 1870, a small frame school house was erected on 
 Riverside avenue, between what are now known 
 as Peterson and Whedbee streets, at a cost of 
 $1,100. Henry C. Peterson was the contractor 
 and builder. This building was used for school 
 purposes until the winter of 1879, when the school 
 was moved into the Remington school building, 
 which had just been completed. The old school 
 house was then sold to the Catholic Church and 
 used by that congregation until the new Catholic 
 Church was built in 1901 on West Mountain ave- 
 nue. Miss Maggie Meldrum, sister of former 
 Lieut. Governor Norman H. Meldrum, taught the 
 first term of school in the old (then new) school 
 house" in 1871. She was succeeded in 1872 by Miss 
 Alice M. Watrous, now Mrs. A. H. Patterson. 
 
 [130] 
 
 Judge J. W. Barnes, now of Golden, Colo., taught 
 in the old building in 1876-7-8. 
 
 On the first Monday in September, 1879, schools 
 were opened in all of the rooms of the fully com- 
 pleted Remington building. One of the rooms that 
 had been hurriedly finished was, however, occupied 
 as a school room in the winter of 1878-9. The 
 teachers employed to open the schools in the new 
 building were: Prof. John Lord, principal; Eu- 
 gene Holmes, first assistant, and Miss Frances 
 Whitaker, second assistant. 
 
 From the indefinite, incomplete and unsatisfac- 
 tory records of the county superintendent's office, 
 it is impossible to give in detail the. rise and progress 
 down to 1874, of the public schools of Larimer 
 county. Important dates regarding the formation 
 of school districts, the terms of school, names of 
 the teachers, number of pupils, wages paid teachers 
 and reports of school officers, as well as much other 
 information that would be valuable at this time 
 in compiling an accurate history of the grandest 
 institution of the county, were omitted in the 
 early day records. No system seems to have been 
 employed in making and preserving these important 
 records, as they are neither logically nor chronolog- 
 ically arranged and were apparently kept in a sort 
 of a hap-hazard manner. Beginning with 1874, the 
 records were better made up, some system being fol- 
 lowed, so that it is possible to obtain from them a 
 fairly good idea of the history of the public school 
 system from that date down to the present time. 
 Because of these defective pioneer records I am un- 
 able to trace the history of each school district in 
 the county from the beginning with any satisfac- 
 tory degree of accuracy and must, therefore, omit 
 interesting details and be content with a general 
 summary of the results. 
 
 From the records it appears that six school dis- 
 tricts were created and established in 1868, when 
 J. M. Smith was county superintendent, and these 
 were No. 1, Namaqua; No. 2, St. Louis (now Love- 
 land) ; No. 3, Hillsborough; No. 4, Laporte; No. 
 5, Fort Collins, and No. 6, Sherwood (now Tim- 
 nath.) In October of that year four of these dis- 
 tricts, Nos. 2, 4, 5 and 6, submitted partial reports 
 to the county superintendent. These reports con- 
 tain nothing more than a statement showing the 
 number of children of school age in each at that 
 time, as follows: 
 
 No. 2, W. B. Osborn, secretary 24 
 
 No. 4, E. N. Garbutt, secretary 35 
 
 No. 5, W. D. Hayes, secretary 19 
 
 No. 6 (secretary not named) -17 
 
 Total 95 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 That year it appears that the sum of $1,200 
 public money was apportioned to the districts then 
 organized. In 1869 seven districts made partial 
 reports, from which it appears that the school popu- 
 lation of the county had increased from 95 to 159, 
 no division as to sex being given. . The number re- 
 ported from each of the districts was as follows: 
 
 No. 1, Lucas Brandt, secretary 16 
 
 No. 2, W. B. Osborn, secretary 24 
 
 No. 3 (secretary not named) 8 
 
 No. 4 (secretary not named) 40 
 
 No. 5 (secretary not named) 35 
 
 No. 6 (secretary not named) 17 
 
 No. 7 (secretary not named) 19 
 
 Total 159 
 
 At that time all children between the ages of 5 
 and 21 were supposed to be reported. It does not 
 appear that any public money was apportioned to 
 the several districts that year, but the records show 
 that in 1870 the county superintendent apportioned 
 to the districts the following sums : 
 
 No. 1, Ed. Clark, treasurer $208.50 
 
 No. 2, Thomas Cross, treasurer 408.60 
 
 No. 3 (treasurer not named) 102.00 
 
 No. 4 (treasurer not named) 535.00 
 
 No. 5, Harris Stratton, treasurer 430.00 
 
 No. 6, J. B. Arthur, treasurer 218.50 
 
 No. 7, Fred Smith, treasurer 244.00 
 
 In October, 1870, the school population of the 
 county had increased to 203, the number reported 
 from each district being as follows: 
 
 No. 1, Lucas Brandt, secretary 18 
 
 No. 2, Thos. Sprague, secretary 20 
 
 No. 3, W. A. Bean, secretary 18 
 
 No. 4, E. N. Garbutt, secretary 43 
 
 No. 5, C. C. Hawley, secretary 51 
 
 No. 6 (secretary not named) 21 
 
 No. 7, P. J. Bosworth, secretary 22 
 
 No. 8, J. R. Oliver, secretary 14 
 
 Total 203 
 
 Pages 15 and 16 of the county superintendent's 
 records are missing, causing a break in the contin- 
 uity, so that details of the growth and expansion 
 of the county school system from 1870, year by 
 year, cannot be given. Suffice it to say that succeed- 
 ing pages show that a steady growth in school popu- 
 lation and greater interest in popular education 
 year by year, the greatest expansion taking place 
 in the decade ending June 30th, 1909. In the an- 
 nual report of Miss Pearl L. Moore, county super- 
 intendent, dated September 20th, 1909, we find the 
 following interesting statistics relating to school 
 matters : 
 
 Statistics 
 
 Number of school districts in the County 53 
 
 Number of districts in which schools were 
 taught during the year ending June 30th, 
 1909 .• 53 
 
 Number of high schools ^ 
 
 Number enrolled in high schools 540 
 
 Number enrolled in graded schools below high 
 
 school • . . • 5,223 
 
 Number enrolled in rural schools 1,391—7,154 
 
 Number completing eighth grade work 232 
 
 Number of teachers employed in graded schools 125 
 
 Number employed in rural schools 48 
 
 Average monthly salary — Grade teachers, male, $101 ; 
 female, $59. 
 
 Average monthly salary — Rural schools, male, $55.50; 
 female, $47. 
 
 Total receipts, general fund .$ 49,387.00 
 
 Total receipts, special tax. 123,835.19 
 
 Total receipts from all other sources 14,914.79 
 
 Total '. . . . .$212,978.07 
 
 Paid out for teachers' salaries $ 87,132.14 
 
 Paid out for fuel, rent, insurance and current 
 
 expenses, buildings 37,993.54 
 
 Paid out for sites, furniture and permanent 
 
 improvements 36,580.00 
 
 Paid out for library purposes 1,037.47 
 
 Paid out for redemption of bonds 5,787.70 
 
 Paid out for interest on bonds 7,513.36 
 
 Paid out for other purposes 2,921.93 
 
 Paid out for interest on registered warrants.. 3,419.73 
 
 Total $182,385.95 
 
 Balance on hand 30,592.12 
 
 School Population Between 6 and 
 21 Years 
 
 Males 4,094 
 
 Females 4,924 
 
 Total. 8,018 
 
 Number of school houses 72 
 
 Number of school rooms 166 
 
 Value of school property $585,758 
 
 Number of sittings 12,120 
 
 Assessed valuation of all property in school 
 
 districts $9,026,297.00 
 
 Number of district libraries 32 
 
 Number of volumes in libraries 7,053 
 
 The first teachers' institute held in the county 
 convened August 20th, 1883, for a two weeks' ses- 
 sion in the Remington school building in the city 
 of Fort Collins. W. H. McCreery, County Super- 
 intendent, was chosen president; W. W. Reming- 
 ton, treasurer, and Miss Emma B. Mitchell, sec- 
 retary. The teachers in attendance were: Eliza 
 Ames, Julia S. Batten, Laura Budrow, Ella Bowler, 
 M. A. Brown, Gertrude Coffin, Agnes Cummings, 
 Mr. A. J. Cushman, Mrs. Nettie M. Delaney, 
 Mary W. Duncan, Addie L. Foote, Carrie E. 
 Foote, Louise Gilbertson, Maggie Goddard, Mary 
 E. Gill, Lizzie A. Gray, Alice Haines, John C. 
 Hanna, Eugene Holmes, Clara Jones, Mrs. E. K. 
 Kendall, Attie Kern, Amanda Lowe, Mary E. 
 Lyon, Jennie McLain, Alice Mitchell, Emma 
 Murch, Emma Reaville, Mattie Reaville, Mrs. 
 
 [131] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER 
 
 COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 Smith, Hattie Silcott, Mattie A. Simpson, Citney 
 Watts, Helen White, Mr. V. Williamson. The 
 workers of the institute were Dr. J. A. Sewall, 
 President of the State University; Prof. Thomas, 
 State University; President C. L. IngersoU and 
 Profs. Mead, Cassidy and Lawrence of the Agri- 
 cultural College; Prof. A. B. Copeland of Greeley; 
 Prof. Remington, Mrs. Delaney and County Super- 
 intendent McCreery of Fort Collins. 
 
 The teachers of the county are organized and 
 hold two association meetings annually, alternating 
 the gathering place with Fort Collins, Loveland 
 and Berthoud. In addition to these meetings, a 
 two-weeks' Teachers' Normal Institute is held in 
 the county every third year, alternating with the ad- 
 joining Counties of Boulder and Weld, which 
 are districted with Larimer for Institute purposes. 
 From the facts herein presented it will be seen that 
 Larimer county is keeping step with the march of 
 progress in educational matters as well as in other 
 respects. Indeed, its public schools are the pride 
 of every intelligent and well informed person in 
 the county. 
 
 Ditches and Reservoirs 
 
 The farming lands in the Big and Little Thomp- 
 son valleys are irrigated by water drawn from the 
 Big Thompson river and Little Thompson creek 
 and their tributaries, and the district is known as 
 Water Commissioner District No. 4. To How- 
 ard Kelley, Water Commissioner for that district, 
 I am indebted for the information herein contained 
 concerning the irrigating ditches which draw their 
 water supply from the streams named: 
 
 Handy: Length, 20 miles; capacity, 200 cubic 
 feet; date of appropriation, February 28th, 1878. 
 
 Home Supply: Length, 25 miles; capacity, 250 
 cubic feet; date of appropriation, July 15th, 1881. 
 
 South Side: Length, 10 miles; capacity, 50 
 cubic feet; date of appropriation, November 7th, 
 1880. 
 
 Louden: Length, 20 miles; capacity, 200 cubic 
 feet; date of appropriation, October 1st, 1871. 
 
 Rist: Length, 6 miles; capacity, 200 cubic feet; 
 date of appropriation. May 1st, 1873. 
 
 Mariana: Length, 1-J miles; capacity, 5 cubic 
 feet; date of appropriation. May 1st, 1863. 
 
 Rist & Goss: Length, 2 miles; capacity, 5 cubic 
 feet; date of appropriation, March 20th, .1866. 
 
 Greeley & Loveland: Length, 25 miles; capac- 
 ity, 300 cubic feet; date of appropriation, October 
 20th, 1865. 
 
 [132] 
 
 Barnes: Length, 5 miles; capacity, 800 cubic 
 feet; date of appropriation, November 1st, 1865. 
 
 Big Thompson Manufacturing Co.: Length, 5 
 miles; capacity, 40 cubic feet; date of appropriation, 
 April 1st, 1863. 
 
 Hillsboro: Length, 18 miles; capacity, 75 cubic 
 feet; date of appropriation, October 15th, 1874. 
 
 Big Thompson No. 1 : Length, 8 miles ; capac- 
 ity, 90 cubic feet; date of appropriation, November 
 10th, 1861. 
 
 Little Thompson Ditches 
 
 Osborn & Caywood : Length, 4 miles ; Capac- 
 ity, 4 cubic feet; date of appropriation, November 
 1st, 1861. 
 
 W. R. Blore: Length, 5 miles; capacity, 6 
 cubic feet; date of appropriation. May 1, 1866. 
 
 Culver & Mahoney: Length, 8 miles; capacity, 
 20 cubic feet; date of appropriation, April 15th, 
 1867. 
 
 Lykens: Length, 2 miles; capacity, 2 cubic feet; 
 date of appropriation. May 1st, 1868. 
 
 Jim Eaglin: Length, 2 miles; capacity, 2 cubic 
 feet; date of appropriation. May 1st, 1869. 
 
 Meining: Length, 2 miles; capacity, 2 cubic 
 feet; date of appropriation, October 20th, 1874. 
 
 Boulder & Larimer Co. : Length, 6 miles ; capac- 
 ity, 100 cubic feet; date of appropriation, June 3rd, 
 1875. 
 
 Eagle: Length, 2 miles; capacity, 6 cubic feet; 
 date of appropriation, March, 1877. 
 
 Supply Lateral: Length, 4 miles; capacity, 25 
 cubic feet; date of appropriation, November, 1878. 
 
 Buckhorn Ditches 
 
 Kirchner: Length, 3 miles; capacity, 6 cubic 
 feet; date of appropriation, June 1st, 1884. 
 
 Perkins : Length, 2 miles ; capacity, 2 cubic feet ; 
 date of appropriation, June 15th, 1874. 
 
 Neville: Length, 2 miles; capacity, 3 cubic feet; 
 date of appropriation, April 29th, 1879. 
 
 Buffum: Length, 2^ miles; capacity, 3 cubic 
 feet; date of appropriation, June 28th, 1879. 
 
 Thompson: Length, 2J miles; capacity, 3 cubic 
 feet; date of appropriation. May 1st, 1886. 
 
 Union Irrigation & Reservoir: Length, 3 miles; 
 capacity, 5 cubic feet; date of appropriation, No- 
 vember 27th, 1889. 
 
 Hyatt: Length, 2 miles; capacity 2^ cubic feet; 
 date of appropriation, October 1st, 1887. 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Buckhorn Highline: Length, 4 miles; capacity, 
 5 cubic feet; date of appropriation, October 22nd, 
 1883. 
 
 Reservoirs in the Big and Little 
 Thompson Valleys 
 
 Name Capacity, Cubic Feet 
 
 Lone Tree 400,000,000 
 
 Donath 30,000,000 
 
 Mariana 200,000,000 
 
 Lake Loveland 625,000,000 
 
 Lawn Lake 38,000,000 
 
 Seven Lakes 12,000,000 
 
 Ryan Gulch No. 1 40,000,000 
 
 Ryan Gulch No. 2 42,000,000 
 
 Fairport 24,164,910 
 
 Rist & Benson 24,040,600 
 
 Boyd Lake 1,872,000,000 
 
 Buckhorn 60,000,000 
 
 Berthoud Water Works 7,805,614 
 
 Loveland Lake 93,521,818 
 
 Welch Lakes 300,000,000 
 
 Boulder & Larimer 204,483,708 
 
 W. T. Smith 6,924,142 
 
 Wilson 6,982,668 
 
 Cemetery Lake 24,000,000 
 
 Welch Lakes, 1, 2 and 5 117,106,087 
 
 Hupp 3,624,238 
 
 Sunny Slope 11,287,683 
 
 Strever 10,271,444 
 
 Hummel 12,732,269 
 
 Coleman 22,166,980 
 
 Kline 960,760 
 
 Foster & Matz 3,299,970 
 
 Loveland Lateral Lake 24,437,546 
 
 Total Cubic Feet 4,236,810,437 
 
 Reservoirs in the Cache la Poudre 
 and Boxelder Valleys 
 
 Warren Lake 126,000,000 
 
 North Gray 12,000,000 
 
 South Gray 22,300,000 
 
 Lake Canal No. 1 35,000,000 
 
 Water Supply & Storage Co., No. 1 206,000,000 
 
 Water Supply & Storage Co., Nos. 2 and 3.. 30,000,000 
 
 Water Supply & Storage Co., No. 4 43,400,000 
 
 Water Supply & Storage Co., Long Pond 176,000,000 
 
 Water Supply & Storage Co., Lindenmeier 40,000,000 
 
 Water Supply & Storage Co., Richards 46,000,000 
 
 Water Supply & Storage Co., Curtis 34,000,000 
 
 Water Supply & Storage Co., Chambers 200,000,000 
 
 Spring Canon 2,700,000 
 
 North Poudre No. 1 29,300,000 
 
 North Poudre No. 2 169,000,000 
 
 North Poudre No. 3 125,000,000 
 
 North Poudre No. 4 46,000,000 
 
 North Poudre No. 5 250,000,000 
 
 North Poudre No. 6 445,000,000 
 
 North Poudre No. 15 240,000,000 
 
 North Poudre, Stuchell 5,000,000 
 
 North Poudre, Coal Creek 178,400,000 
 
 North Poudre, Fossil Creek 525,000,000 
 
 North Poudre, Halligan 280,000,000 
 
 Claymore Lake 40,000,000 
 
 Boxelder Ditch & Reservoir Co., No. 1 25,000,000 
 
 Boxelder Ditch & Reservoir Co., No. 2 8,500,000 
 
 Boxelder Ditch & Reservoir Co., No. 3 34,500,000 
 
 Boxelder Ditch & Reservoir Co., No. 4 11,000,000 
 
 Jameson Lake 3,500,000 
 
 Caverly 7,500,000 
 
 Dixon Canon 19,500,000 
 
 Mitchell Lakes, No. 1 25,300,000 
 
 Mitchell Lakes, No. 2 4,400,000 
 
 Mitchell Lakes No. 3 4,300,000 
 
 Dovrdy 15,000,000 
 
 Deer Lake 4,000,000 
 
 Erie Lake 3,000,000 
 
 Twin Lakes 2,000,000 
 
 Larimer & Weld 390,000,000 
 
 Cache la Poudre 415,000,000 
 
 Neece 6,000,000 
 
 Douglass 285,400,000 
 
 Agricultural Reservoir No. 3 31,000,000 
 
 Big Beaver (Hour Glass) 69,200,000 
 
 B. G. Eaton, No. 8 670,000,000 
 
 Elder 100,000,000 
 
 Cameron Pass 34,000,000 
 
 Sheep Creek 30,000,000 
 
 Lake Agnes 10,000,000 
 
 Divide Canal Co 100.000,000 
 
 Timberline 33,000,000 
 
 Total Cubic Feet 5,822,600,000 
 
 For the data relating to the reservoirs in the 
 Cache la Poudre valley and in the mountains west 
 of Fort Collins, I am indebted to John L. Arm- 
 strong, Water Commissioner for the 3rd district, 
 which embraces all the irrigating systems that draw 
 their water supply from the Cache la Poudre river 
 and its tributaries. The combined storage capacity 
 of the reservoirs and storage basins of Larimer 
 county, equals 10,059,410,437 cubic feet of water. 
 
 DAM OF HALLIGAN RESERVOIR 
 
 This water is drawn from the streams in the winter 
 when it is not needed for direct irrigation, and also 
 during the flood periods in the spring and early 
 summer, and held in store for use in irrigating the 
 orchards, alfalfa fields and late crops, such as 
 potatoes and sugar beets, which mature in September 
 and October. The reservoirs in the county, when 
 filled to their capacity, hold water enough to cover 
 230,912 acres of land to a depth of one foot, and 
 the water is used to supplement the supply fur- 
 
 [133] 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 nished by the streams directly, thus increasing the 
 area of land cultivated to crops. A very large per- 
 centage of the water stored in the reservoirs of 
 Larimer county is turned into the channel of the 
 river and allowed to flow down into Weld county 
 for use in irrigating the farms of that county. 
 
 Warren Lake reservoir was the first one built in 
 the county and the first in the Northern part of 
 
 during a portion of the irrigation season, was real- 
 ized and felt, hence a resort to the system of storing 
 the flood waters which flowed down stream every 
 spring to the amount of billions of cubic feet and 
 were lost to a beneficial use. Every lake and im- 
 portant depression in the surface were utilized and 
 converted into reservoirs for the conservation of 
 water, with the result that Larimer county has the 
 
 BIG THOMPSON DAM— HEAD OF LOVELAND'S WATER WORKS SYSTEM 
 
 the state, and has paid for itself a hundred times 
 over. It has been the means of saving millions of 
 dollars' worth of crops from burning and bringing 
 them through to maturity which could not have 
 been saved had it not been for the water held back 
 for use in time of need. As the farming sections 
 of the county filled up with settlers, the need of 
 more water for irrigation than the streams afforded 
 
 largest and best storage system there is in the state, 
 The estimated value of stored water is $50 per 
 million cubic feet. In actual practice it sometimes 
 ranges higher than that, even to $75 and $100 per 
 million cubic feet. It will thus be seen that the 
 value of the water that could be stored in the reser- 
 voirs of the county in one season, exceeds half a 
 million dollars. 
 
 [134] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 The canals and ditches in the Cache la Poudre 
 valley and their water appropriations and ratings 
 are given elsewhere in this book. 
 
 Introduction of Wool Growing and 
 Sheep Feeding 
 
 The sheep and wool growing industry was intro- 
 duced in Larimer county about 1870, there being 
 three bands of sheep owned, one by Mr. Weldon of 
 the Big Thompson valley, another by J. S. May- 
 nard of Maynard Flats, and the third by E. W. 
 Whitcomb on Boxelder creek. In 1871 William 
 N. Bachelder settled at 
 Spring Canon with a bunch 
 of sheep and he did so well 
 with them that others en- 
 gaged in the business until, 
 in 1878, there were about 
 75,000 range sheep in the 
 county. As the county be- 
 came settled up and the 
 range narrowed down, the 
 sheep men had to move their 
 flocks out of the county to 
 where they could have wider 
 and unobstructed ranges or 
 retire from the business. 
 Many of them preferred the 
 latter, having accumulated a 
 competence at the business, 
 so that at the present time 
 there are only one or two 
 bands of range sheep in the 
 county. At first the cattle- 
 men were bitterly opposed to the placing of sheep on 
 the range, and did all in their power to discourage 
 the sheep men and prevent them from locating in 
 the county. The opposition was fierce at times and 
 personal conflicts between the cattle men and sheep 
 men were not rare. They even carried opposition 
 to the introduction of sheep into politics and in the 
 early days a sheep man could not be elected to office 
 on any ticket. 
 
 The following extracts from a letter written to 
 me by the late William N. Bachelder who, in 1900, 
 was living at Gebo, Montana, and who was one of 
 the pioneer sheep men of the county, will give one 
 an insight into conditions as they existed here when 
 he engaged in the wool growing industry. He says : 
 "I just noticed in the Rocky Mountain News an 
 article on the lamb feeding industry in Larimer 
 county which was suggested by an article taken 
 
 from the Fort Collins Courier describing the re- 
 sult of the introduction of the industry in that 
 county. It brought fresh to my mind many scenes 
 and incidents of the sheep business in Larimer 
 county in the early days. 
 
 "In the fall of 1871 I left my native state, Ver- 
 mont, and came to Colorado to engage in wool 
 growing. Larimer county was the first place I 
 struck and when I settled I asked my host, Harry 
 Conley, who then kept the hotel afterwards known 
 as the Blake House, if he could show me a sheep 
 ranch. 'What do you want he replied?' I said 
 plenty of grass and water. He then pointed Spring 
 
 RANGE SHEEP AT PASTURE 
 
 Canon out to me. I drove out to Spring Canon 
 that evening and laid the foundation for a house 
 and sheep ranch. There were two bunches of sheep 
 in the county at that time, one owned by Thomas 
 Weldon on the Big Thompson, and one owned by 
 E. W. Whitcomb on the Boxelder. I sold my 
 brook washed wool the following spring for 60 
 cents a pound, and my unwashed wool for 40 cents 
 a pound. 
 
 "I soon found out that a sheep man was hated 
 above all other men because his sheep bit off the 
 grass too short to suit his neighbors. Being young 
 and ambitious at that time I accepted the nomination 
 as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention; 
 those awful, ugly sheep defeated me at the election. 
 A few years later I had associated with me in the 
 wool growing business the Bristol brothers of 
 Vergennes, Vermont, and Henry Dewey, of Ben- 
 
 [135] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 nington, Vermont, who was a brother of Rear 
 Admiral George P. Dewey, the hero of Manila 
 Bay. Henry came there for lung trouble, but like a 
 good many others he came too late. Many Fort 
 Collins people will remember him and his estimable 
 wife. We sent him back to Vermont, where he died 
 soon afterward. 
 
 "I used to try persuade my neighbors in Larimer 
 county that the sheep business was the best to en- 
 gage in, but one of them had the cheek to tell me 
 that he should have voted for me if I had not been 
 a sheep man. I have been vindicated at last. I have 
 lived to see one half of the business people of Fort 
 Collins engaged in the sheep business and to see that 
 industry bring them in a $1,000,000 a year." 
 
 For many years after agriculture had taken root 
 in Larimer county, the farmers devoted all of their 
 energies to raising wheat, with here and there a 
 field of oats or barley and until the introduction of 
 alfalfa in 1877, the small grains were about all the 
 crops raised. From 1865 down to 1876 wheat 
 commanded good prices, as the supply was insuf- 
 ficient to meet the demand for bread, and farmers 
 realized handsome profits from their crops. That 
 year, owing to the importations from Kansas and 
 Utah, the price of wheat began to fall off, selling 
 in the early SO's as low at times as 60 cents per 
 hundred pounds, and to make matters still worse 
 the yield per acre began to dwindle, due to con- 
 tinued cropping of the same ground and consequent 
 exhaustion of the soil. At these prices the farmers 
 were unable to make ends meet as the cost of 
 producing wheat in the arid region under irrigation 
 Is greater per acre than in sections of the country 
 where the rainfall is sufficient to mature a crop. 
 Many of the farmers were in debt, some for their 
 land, some for water supply and others for teams 
 and farm equipment; so that the outlook down to 
 about 1890 was decidedly gloomy. When wheat 
 growing ceased to be profitable the farmers turned 
 to growing more alfalfa and soon that came to be 
 a drug on the market. Then there was but little 
 stock feeding in the county so that the demand for 
 hay was light and alfalfa would not bear shipping. 
 There were between 40,000 and 50,000 head of 
 cattle in the county, but those fit for beef were 
 shipped out in the fall and only a few head, com- 
 paratively speaking, were fed through the winter 
 for the spring market. The farmers had not yet 
 learned that they could ship their surplus alfalfa to 
 market on foot and thousands of tons of fine hay 
 rotted in the stacks. The raising of alfalfa had an 
 efiEect, however, on depleted soils, for it restored 
 
 [136] 
 
 them to fertility so that wheat sown on alfalfa 
 ground began to give better yields. 
 
 The year 1889 witnessed the dawning of a new 
 and prosperous era among the farmers. In the fall 
 of that year the brothers, E. J. and I. W. Bennett, 
 who a few years before had been interested in the 
 range sheep and wool growing industry and also 
 feeding sheep in Nebraska in the winter time, 
 bought in Southern Colorado about 2,500 high grade 
 Mexican lambs with the intention of shipping them 
 to their feeding pens in Nebraska and fattening them 
 for the spring markets. They were caught at 
 Trinidad in a severe snow storm which blocked the 
 railroad so that no trains could be moved. Here 
 for two weeks the lambs were held without food 
 except such as was afforded by a few pinon trees 
 cut down for them to browse. By the time the rail- 
 road was opened for traffic the Bennetts had lost a 
 number of lambs from starvation and exposure and 
 the remainder were so weak that they feared to 
 ship them through to Nebraska. As a last resort 
 the owners decided to ship the lambs to Fort Collins 
 where alfalfa could be obtained at a reasonable 
 price, and there attempt to fatten them under 
 what they considered at the time as adverse cir- 
 cumstances. The lambs reached Bennett Brothers' 
 ranch, 12 miles east of Fort Collins, about the 
 middle of November and were placed upon a gener- 
 ous ration of alfalfa. They recovered rapidly from 
 the effects of their long fast and rough journey and 
 later were fed corn as well as hay. The lambs 
 were shipped to Chicago in March and April, 1890, 
 and sold at prices ranging from $5.05 to $6.40 per 
 hundred pounds, leaving the feeders a fine profit. 
 
 This was the beginning of the lamb feeding in- 
 dustry In Colorado, an industry that put the farmers 
 on their feet and enabled them to pay off their 
 debts, improve their farms and build new homes. 
 For the purpose of showing the growth of the in- 
 dustry I will give figures showing the number of 
 lambs fed in the county, year by year, for a series 
 of years : 
 
 In the winter of 1889 2,500 
 
 In the winter of 1890 3,500 
 
 In the winter of 1891 6,000 
 
 In the winter of 1892 30,000 
 
 In the winter of 1893 40,000 
 
 In the winter of 1894 : 60,000 
 
 In the winter of 1895 80,000 
 
 In the winter of 1896 128,000 
 
 In the winter of 1897 193,000 
 
 In the winter of 1898 250,000 
 
 In the winter of 1899 300,000 
 
 In the winter of 1900 350,000 
 
 In the winter of 1901 400,000 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Since 1901 the number of sheep and lambs fed 
 each winter in the county has ranged from 250,000 
 to 400,000 until this year (1910). Owing to the 
 lack of an adequate water supply and the ravages 
 of grasshoppers the alfalfa crop was light and many 
 feeders were compelled, for the want of sufficient 
 hay, to cut down their purchases of lambs for winter 
 feeding and others to temporarily drop out of the 
 business entirely for the same reason. It is esti- 
 mated that the feeding pens of the county will not 
 contain more than 75,000 sheep and lambs this 
 year. 
 
 From Larimer county ,the industry spread to 
 other agricultural counties of the state so that in 
 ordinary seasons Colorado turns off about a million 
 and a half of fat lambs every spring. At 
 first the lambs cost the feeders from 
 $1.25 to $1.50 each and their winter's 
 operations brought them a good snug 
 profit. Late years, however, the range 
 flock masters have increased the price so 
 that now a 60-pound lamb costs from 
 $3.50 to $4.00, thus reducing the feed- 
 ers' profits. The industry has proved a 
 blessing to Larimer county in many 
 ways. It has enriched the farms and 
 brought them up to a high state of fer- 
 tility through the distribution and plow- 
 ing under of the manure. It has paid 
 the interest on the mortgage and saved 
 the home. In many instances it has paid 
 the mortgage. It has enabled many a 
 struggling farmer to get out of debt and to bring 
 into his home some of the comforts of life. It has 
 enabled many a farmers' boy or girl to satisfy an 
 ambition for a higher education than he or she could 
 receive at the public schools. 
 
 At first the feeders were obliged to borrow money 
 at the banks with which to buy their lambs and corn, 
 and the banks were very accommodating and did 
 their share toward building up the industry. Now 
 most of the feeders are independent of the banks 
 and some of them are prepared to assist their less 
 fortunate neighbors by loans for use in stocking 
 their feeding pens and the purchase of corn. It is a 
 significant fact that the banks have never lost a dol- 
 lar during the twenty years they have been loaning 
 money to sheep feeders, their loans always being 
 promptly paid when the lambs were sold. Since the 
 winter of 1890, when the lamb feeding industry had 
 its beginning, more than 4,000,000 sheep and lambs 
 have been fattened in and marketed from Larimer 
 county. 
 
 The alfalfa crop has also prepared the way for the 
 profitable feeding and fattening of cattle and tens 
 of thousands of fat steers and cows are now shipped 
 to market every spring. Twenty years ago it was 
 a rare thing to see a car load of fat cattle sent away 
 to market from the county. To Senator W. A. 
 Drake belongs the credit of having received the high- 
 est price ever paid in Chicago for Larimer county 
 fed lambs, which was in the spring of 1910 when he 
 sold a shipment at the rate of $10.25 per hundred 
 pounds. Mr. Drake is perhaps the most successful 
 stock feeder in the county, his feeding pens annually 
 containing from 30,000 to 40,000 lambs, which he 
 feeds out during the winter months and markets 
 in Chicago. 
 
 BEGINNING OF COLORADO AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 
 
 Colorado State Agricultural College 
 
 The origin of the State Agricultural college of 
 Colorado, like that of its sister institutions in other 
 states, dates back to an act of Congress, approved 
 July 2nd, 1862. Therein it is proposed to endow 
 in the several states and territories, by grants of 
 public lands, "a college where the leading object 
 shall be, without excluding other scientifie and 
 classical studies, and including military tactics, to 
 teach such branches of learning as are related to 
 Agriculture and the Mechanics Arts, in such nian- 
 ner as the Legislatures of the States may respectively 
 prescribe, in order to prom.ote the liberal and prac- 
 tical education of the industrial classes in the several 
 pursuits and professions of life." 
 
 This act gave the Colorado Agricultural College 
 an endowment of 90,000 acres of land. From the 
 sale and rental of these lands the college is receiv- 
 ing a steadily increasing income, year by year. 
 
 [137] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 The Territorial Legislature took advantage of the 
 concession and accepted the grant made by congress 
 and in 1870 passed an act establishing and locating 
 the Agricultural College of Colorado at Fort Col- 
 lins in Larimer county. This act also named the 
 first board of trustees as follows : James M. Smith, 
 Timothy M. Smith, John S. Wheeler, Hugh 
 Mason, Jesse M. Sherwood, B. T. Whedbee, A. K. 
 Yount, A. F. Howes, H. C. Peterson, Joseph 
 Mason, A. H. Patterson and John C. Matthews, 
 nearly all of them at that time residents of Lari- 
 mer county, whose exertions procured the passing of 
 the act by the Tdrritdrial Legislature locating the 
 proposed institution here, conditional upon the 
 donation of two hundred and forty acres of land. 
 The land, a fine tract well suited to the pur- 
 pose, was donated by Arthur H. Patterson, 80 
 acres; Robert Dalzell, 30 acres; Joseph Mason, 
 H. C. Peterson and John C. Matthews, 50 
 acres; The Larimer County Improvement com- 
 pany, 80 acres, making in all 240 acres. The deeds 
 to fhese^ lands. were executed in January, 1871, Dec- 
 ember, 1872 and in January, 1873. 
 
 The Territorial Legislature of 1872, amended the 
 act paSsed in- 1870 by naming a new board of 
 trustees, to-vvit; T. M. Smith, H. C. Peterson, J. 
 M. Sherwood, B. H. Eaton, A. H. DeFrance, 
 Samuel H. Elbert, J. M. Paul, A. F. Howes, Gran- 
 ville Berkeley, A; K. Yount, G. M. Chilcott and B. 
 Tr Whedbee. In 1874 the Territorial Legislature 
 appropriated $1,000 to aid in erecting buildings 
 and making other improvements on the grounds. 
 This appropriation was made contingent upon a like 
 sum being donated by citizens of the county. The 
 donation was raised in Fort Collins and this, with 
 the legislative appropriation, enabled the trustees to 
 erect a small brick building and secure certain neces- 
 sary water rights for the farm. 
 
 The Constitutional Convention, held in 1876, 
 permanently located the college at Fort Collins by 
 constitutional provision and, by an act of the first 
 General assembly passed in 1877, an entire re- 
 organization of the board was effected, changing the 
 title from board of trustees to the State Board of 
 Agriculture and authorizing the levy of a tax of one 
 tenth of a mill on the taxable property of the state 
 to provide a fund for the erection of a suitable 
 building. The act gave the Governor the power, 
 by and with the consent of the senate, to appoint 
 the members of the board. Before the session ad- 
 journed. Governor John L. Roiitt sent to the Senate 
 the names of N. W. Everett, of Jefferson county; 
 John Armor, of Arapahoe county; B. S. La 
 
 [138] 
 
 Grange, of Weld county; P. M. Hinman, of 
 Boulder county; William Bean, John J. Ryan, 
 Harris Stratton and W. F. Watrous of Larimer 
 county which the senate promptly confirmed. The 
 first official meeting of this board was held in 
 March, 1877, in Denver, when W. F. Watrous 
 was elected president and Harris Stratton, secre- 
 tary. The College tax for 1877 and 1878 amounted 
 to about $8,000, which was expended in the erec- 
 tion of a building, planting a nursery of forest, 
 fruit and shade trees, and otherwise improving the 
 grounds. The contract price of the building was 
 $7,280, but it cost several hundred dollars more 
 
 
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 ADMINISTRATION BUILDIN^G, COLORADO 
 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 
 
 than that sum which the contractor and his bonds- 
 men had to lose. The corner stone was laid July 
 27th, 1878, by the Grand Lodge of Masons of Colo- 
 rado, with appropriate ceremonies, and the build- 
 ing was completed in December of that year. The 
 building committee was composed of W. F. 
 Watrous, W. A. Bean, B. S. LaGrange, Harris 
 Stratton and John J. Ryan. George E. King, of 
 Boulder, was the architect, H. C. Baker, of Boulder, 
 builder, Andrew Armstrong, of Fort Collins, super- 
 intendent. The sub-contractors were Charles 
 Brotherton, cut stone; Boyd & Weldon, brick work; 
 O'Neil & Thorn, plastering, Wallace & Graves, 
 painting; Tedmon Bros., tin work. 
 
 The General assembly of 1879 increased the tax 
 levy for the college to one-fifth of a mill and 
 authorized the board to borrow $2,000 in anticipa- 
 tion of the tax collections for use in furnishing the 
 .building ready for the opening of school, which had 
 been set for September 1st, of that year. 
 
 The college opened on Monday, September 1st, 
 1879, with 25 students enrolled. The faculty was 
 composed of Dr. E. E. Edwards, Ph. D., President; 
 A. E. Blount, A. M., Professor of practical Agri- 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 culture and Farm Superintendent; F. J. Annis, 
 Professor of Chemistry and Mathematics. 
 
 The second year of the college opened in the year 
 1880, in September, with an enrollment of fifty- 
 seven students — thirty-five 
 males and twenty-two females. 
 From this on the enrollment of 
 registered students increased 
 year by year as the institution 
 increased in age, until, on June 
 30th, 1910, the total number 
 was 878. This, for a mountain 
 state with a population esti- 
 mated at between 800,000 and 
 900,000 souls is a most gratify- 
 ing showing. 
 
 The first commencement ex- 
 ercises were held in June, 1884, 
 when the B. S. degree was con- 
 ferred upon three graduates, 
 George H. Glover, Miss Eliza- 
 beth Coy and Leonidas Loomis. 
 Mr. Glover is now the head of 
 the department of Veterinary 
 Science of his Alma Mater; 
 Miss Coy, the wife of Professor' 
 James W. Lawrence, head of 
 the department of Mechanical 
 Engineering at the college, and 
 Mr. Loomis is a prosperous far- 
 mer and stock man of the 
 Cache la Poudre Valley. 
 
 Additions were made to the 
 faculty and teaching force from 
 time to time as the enrollment 
 of students increased and condi- 
 tions demanded, until at the 
 present time, there are thirty 
 members of the faculty, includ- 
 ing the secretary, and twenty- 
 six instructors and assistants. 
 During its thirty-one years of 
 existence, the college has had 
 six presidents. Dr.. E. E. Ed- 
 wards, from 1879 to 1882; Dr. 
 Charles L. IngersoU, from 1883 
 to 1890; Dr. Alston Ellis, 
 from 1891 to 1899; Dr. B. O. 
 Aylesworth, from 1900 to 1909. 
 Professor J. W. Lawrence, dean 
 of the faculty, served as acting 
 president from 1890 to 1891. 
 Dr. Charles A. Lory was 
 
 elected president to succeed Dr. Aylesworth in June, 
 1909, and is now the liead of the institution. 
 
 Under the authority of an act of congress, ap- 
 proved March 2nd, 1887, generally known as the 
 
 BUILDINGS ON COLLEGE CAMPUS. UPPER, CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC. 
 
 MIDDLE, CIVIL AND IRRIGATION ENGINEERING. 
 
 LOWER, MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 
 
 [139] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 Hatch Act, an Agricultural Experiment station was 
 organized and established at the college in Feb- 
 ruary, 1888. This act appropriated $15,000 an- 
 nually for research, investigation and experiments 
 
 .,x-^mfM:'MJM 
 
 BUILDINGS ON COLLEGE CAMPUS. UPPER, ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING 
 BUILDING. MIDDLE, LILY POND AND CAMPUS. 
 LOWER, AGRICULTURAL HALL 
 [140] 
 
 along the lines of agriculture, horticulture and 
 animal husbandry, and in the arid states the water 
 problem which arises out of their systems of irri- 
 gation. The act provided that the results of these 
 investigations and of the prac- 
 tical experiments should be pub- 
 lished in Station bulletins to be 
 issued from time to time as the 
 investigations were completed. 
 The bulletins issued by Colo- 
 rado Experiment Station in 
 compliance with the act, cover 
 a wide range of industrial top- 
 ics, and are conceded to be 
 among the most notable and 
 valuable contributions to the 
 literature on the subjects inves- 
 tigated that have been made to 
 the science of agriculture. 
 
 On the 30th of June, 1910, 
 the total estimated value of 
 the College property, including 
 lands, buildings, apparatus, li- 
 brary, machinery and live stock, 
 was $688,267. On the 30th of 
 June, 1878, the total value of 
 all the property belonging to the 
 college was $5,000. The col- 
 lege buildings now include the 
 Main building, the largest on 
 the grounds. It contains ofHces 
 for the President, Secretary, 
 Registrar, Director of Farmers' 
 Institutes, Commandant, Rocky 
 Mountain Collegian, the Col- 
 lege Magazine, Y. M. C. A. 
 and Y. W. C. A. ; offices and 
 class rooms for the department 
 of English, Mathematics, Mod- 
 ern Languages, History and 
 Literature, Constitutional His- 
 tory and Irrigation Law; an 
 auditorium with opera chairs 
 for seating 900 persons, an 
 armory 40 by 72 feet, the gym- 
 nasium, and a laboratory used 
 by the department of physics. 
 
 Large Chemical building, 
 Electrical Engineering building, 
 Old Domestic Science building, 
 Household Arts building, erect- 
 ed this year (1910) at a cost of 
 $50,000. This is the gift of 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 United States Senator Simon Guggenheim. Horti- 
 cultural Hall, Mechanical Engineering building, 
 Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Laboratory, 
 Civil and Irrigation Engineering building, com- 
 pleted Feb. 1st, 1910, Agricultural Hall, Stock 
 Judging pavilion, Greenhouse and Forcing Houses, 
 Veterinary buildings, four in all. 
 
 Farm buildings, including barn, sheds, sheep 
 barn, piggery, machinery sheds, farm blacksmith 
 shop and poultry houses. 
 
 Farm Mechanics building. 
 
 Library, with room for 40,000 bound volumes 
 and 50,000 unbound pamphlets and bulletins, 
 office and reading room. 
 
 Zoological building, a handsome two story struct- 
 ure. 
 
 The wisdom of the Territorial Legislature and 
 the Constitutional Convention in locating and estab- 
 lishing the Colorado Agricultural College at Fort 
 Collins has been confirmed by subsequent events 
 and the development of agriculture in its vicinity. 
 The institution is situated in the richest and most 
 productive section of the state, where farming by 
 irrigation has reached a very high stage of develop- 
 ment. It is also in the midst of fine scenery and 
 near enough to the mountains for class excursions 
 to study geology, botany, entomology, native flora 
 forestry, and fauna. 
 
 Cramped and hindered in its great work by the 
 lack of means, it took the college many years to get 
 on its feet and be able to demonstrate its usefulness, 
 but during the past score of years it has attained a 
 rank and standing equal to the very best of similar 
 institutions in the United States. Indeed, it out 
 ranks them all in many respects. Its graduates are 
 sought after by Agricultural colleges in all parts 
 of the United States, to fill positions as professors 
 and instructors. Many of them are employed by 
 the government in the reclamation service, in the 
 forestry service and in scientific research and ex- 
 permanent work. A number of the graduates in 
 civil and irrigation engineering have attained emi- 
 nence in the government's reclamation service, and 
 are recognized the country over as being the best 
 fitted and best qualified constructive engineers in 
 that service. The college has done and is doing a 
 grand good work for Colorado and the arid regions 
 of the west, yearly graduating from its class rooms 
 young men and young women who promptly take 
 high rank as civil and irrigation engineers, scientists, 
 and instructors and who are filling important and 
 responsible positions in the industrial and scientific 
 world. While the institution has had a remark- 
 
 able growth since it came into being, considering 
 the unfavorable conditions encompassing its incep- 
 tion and the obstacles it has had to overcome, it is 
 not a wild guess to predict for it a still brighter 
 future. 
 
 The present State Board of Agriculture is com- 
 posed of: 
 
 Terra Expires 
 
 Hon. T. J. Ehrhart, Centerville 1919 
 
 Hon. Chas. Pearson, Durango 1919 
 
 Hon. R. W. Corwin, Pueblo 1913 
 
 Hon. A. A. Edwards, Fort Collins 1913 
 
 Hon. F. E. Brooks, Colorado Springs ■ 1915 
 
 Hon. J. L. Brush Greeley 1915 
 
 Hon. J. C. Bell, Montrose 1917 
 
 Hon. E. M. Ammons, Littleton 1917 
 
 Governor John F. Shafroth } gx-Officio. 
 
 President Chas. A. Lory ) 
 
 As a means of showing the growth of the institu- 
 tion since it was opened in September, 1879, with 
 only three members of the faculty, and the extent 
 and character of the work carried on along edu- 
 cational lines, the following list of officers, board 
 committees, members of the faculty, instructors and 
 assistants is herewith appended : 
 
 Officers 
 
 Hon. A. A. Edwards President 
 
 Hon. Jared L. Brush Vice-President 
 
 L. M. Taylor Secretary 
 
 Geo. A. Webb Treasurer 
 
 Standing Committees 
 
 Executive — A. A. Edwards, J. L. Brush, E. M. Am- 
 raonds. 
 
 Finance— F. E. Brooks, R. W. Corwin, J. L. Brush. 
 
 Farm, Stock and Veterinary Science — T. J. Ehrhart, J. L. 
 Brush, John C. Bell. 
 
 Faculty and Courses of Study — E. M. Ammons, F. E. 
 Brooks, John C. Bell. 
 
 Botany, Horticulture and Entomology — R. W. Corwin, 
 E. M. Ammons, T. J. Ehrhart. 
 
 Mathematics, Engineering and Military Science — Chas. 
 Pearson, T. J. Ehrhart, E. M. Ammons. 
 
 Chemistry—?. E. Brooks, John C. Bell, R. W. Corwin. 
 
 College Lands and Leases— ^ohn C. Bell, J. L. Brush, 
 Chas. Pearson. 
 
 College Buildings and Permanent Improvements — J. L. 
 Brush, E. M. Ammons, R. W. Corwin. 
 
 Home Economics, Library and Music — ^R. W. Corwin, 
 T. J. Ehrhart, Chas. Pearson. 
 
 History, Literature, English and Rhetoric — C. A. Lory, 
 Chas. Pearson, J. L. Brush. 
 
 Farmers' Institutes— E. M. Ammons, John C. Bell, F. E. 
 Brooks. 
 
 Salaries — E. M. Ammons, F. E. Brooks, Chas. Pearson. 
 
 Faculty 
 
 Chas. A. Lory, M. S., LL. D. (Univ. of Colorado), 
 President. 
 
 James W. Lawrence, M. E. (C. A. C), Dean of the 
 Faculty and Professor of Mechanical Engineering. 
 
 Clarence P. Gillette, M. S. (Mich. Agr. College), Pro- 
 fessor of Zoology and Entomology, and Director of the 
 Experiment Station. 
 
 William P. Headden, A. M., Ph. D. (Giessen), Profes- 
 sor of Chemistry and Geology. 
 
 [141] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Edward B. House, B. S. (E. E.), (Univ. of Mich.), 
 M. S._(C. A. C), Professor of Civil and Irrigation En- 
 gineering. 
 
 Virginia H. Corbett, B. L., M. Ph. (Iowa State Col- 
 lege), Associate Professor of History and Literature and 
 Adviser of Women. 
 
 George H. Glover, M. S., D. V. M. (Iowa State Col- 
 lege), Professor of Theory and Practice, and Head of 
 Division of Veterinary Science. 
 
 William Russell Thomas, A. B. (Williams), Litt. D. 
 (Denver Univ.), Associate Professor of Constitutional His- 
 tory and Irrigation Law. 
 
 B. F. Coen, B. L. (Univ. of Wisconsin), Professor of 
 English. 
 
 S. L. Macdonald, B. S. (Ind. State Normal), Professor 
 of Mathematics. 
 
 Harry D. Humphrey, Capt. U. S. A. (Ret.), Professor 
 of Military Science and Tactics. 
 
 H. E. Kingman, B. 8. (C. A. C), D. V. S. (Kansas City 
 Vet. College), M. D. V. (McKillip's Vet. College, Chi- 
 cago), Professor of Veterinary Materia Medica. 
 
 L. M. Taylor, Secretary of The State Board of Agricul- 
 ture and the Faculty. 
 
 E. R. Bennett, B. S., M. H. (Mich. Agr. College), Pro- 
 fessor of Horticulture. 
 
 T. M. Netherton, A. B., A. M. (William Jewell Col- 
 lege; Univ. of Chicago), Principal, School of Agriculture. 
 
 F. A. Delay, B. S. (E. E.), Univ. of Wisconsin, Profes- 
 sor of Physics and Electrical Engineering. 
 
 C. H. Hinman, A. B. (Univ. of Nebraska), Superin- 
 tendent of Extension. 
 
 Ralph Parshall, B. S. (C. A. C), Assistant Professor 
 in Civil and Irrigation Engineering. 
 
 Fred G. Person, B. A. (Univ. of Colorado), Assistant 
 Professor of Physics and Electrical Engineering. 
 
 SIMON GUGGENHEIM HALL OF HOUSEHOLD ARTS 
 
 George E. Morton, M. L., B. S. A. (C. A. C), Professor 
 of Animal Husbandry. 
 
 Fred C. Alford, M. S. (C. A. C), Associate Professor 
 of Chemistry. 
 
 Burton O. Longyear, B. S. (Mich. Agr. College), Pro- 
 fessor of Botany and Forestry. 
 
 S. Arthur Johnson, M. S. (Rutgers), Associate Professor 
 of Zoology and Entomology. 
 
 Mary F. Rausch, B. S. (C. A. C), Professor of Home 
 Economics. 
 
 I. E. Newsom, B. S. (C. A. C), D. V. C. (San Francisco 
 Vet. College and Kansas City Vet. College), Professor of 
 Veterinary Anatomy. 
 
 C. L. Barnes, D. V. M. (N. Y. State Vet. College), Pro- 
 fessor of Veterinary Surgery. 
 
 B. F. Kaupp, M. S. (C. A. C), D. V. S. (Kansas Vet. 
 College), Professor of Veterinary Pathology. 
 
 Sarah I. Kettle, A. B. (Univ. of Colorado), Professor 
 of Modern Languages. 
 
 Alvin Keyser, B. S., M. A. (Univ. of Nebraska), Pro- 
 fessor of Agronomy. 
 
 [142] 
 
 Inga M. K. Allison, E. B. (Univ. of Chicago), Profes- 
 sor of Home Economics and Acting Head of the Depart- 
 ment. 
 
 Charlotte A. Baker, Librarian. 
 
 Instructors and Assistants 
 
 D. C. Bascom, B. S. (Kansas State Agr. College), Gen- 
 eral Secretary of College, Y. M. C. A. 
 
 B. G. D. Bishopp, B. S. (C. A. C), Instructor in Animal 
 Husbandry. 
 
 L. C. Bragg, Curator of the Museum. 
 
 Zula M. Brockett, B. S. (Tarkio College), Instructor in 
 English and Literature. 
 
 Albert B. Cammack, M. E. (Iowa State College), In- 
 structor in Mechanical Engineering. 
 
 George M. Cassidy, B. S. (Univ. of Vermont), Physical 
 Director. 
 
 Phebe S. Copps (Armour Institute of Technology), In- 
 structor in Home Economics. 
 
 J. Blaine Crabbe, A. B. (Ohio Wesleyan Univ.), B. O. 
 (Emerson School of Oratory), Instructor in English. 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 E. Arlene Dilts, Assistant in Library. 
 
 Margaret Durward, Ph. B. (Univ. of Chicago), In- 
 structor in Mathematics. 
 
 H. E. Dvorachek, B. S. A. (Univ. of Minnesota), In- 
 structor in Animal Husbandry. 
 
 Anna Elizabeth Elwell, B. A. (Univ. of Colorado), As- 
 sistant in Physics. 
 
 Julius Erdman (College of Horticulture, Roestritz, Ger- 
 many), Gardener and Instructor in Floriculture. 
 
 D. W. Frear, B. S. A. (Univ. of Minnesota), Instructor 
 in Agronomy. 
 
 Fred N. Langridge, M. E. (C. A. C), Instructor in 
 Mechanical Engineering. 
 
 James _D. Marshall, B. S. A. (Univ. of Wisconsin), In- 
 structor in Agronomy. 
 
 Miriam A. Palmer, A. M. (Univ. of Kansas), Instructor 
 in Freehand Drawing. 
 
 W. A. Peek, B. S. A. (Iowa Agr. College), Instructor in 
 Farm Mechanics. 
 
 Michiel Pesman, B. S. (C. A. C), Instructor in Botany. 
 
 Hiram Pierce, Instructor in Carpentry. 
 
 Maude A. Propst, A. B. (Rockford College), Instructor 
 in Home Economics. 
 
 Fred J. Rankin, B. M. E. (Univ. of Kentucky), In- 
 structor in Forge and Foundry Practice. 
 
 Annie L. Robinson, B. S. (Teachers' College, New York 
 City), Instructor in Domestic Art. 
 
 S. Van Smith, B. S. (Kansas State Agr. College), In- 
 structor in Horticulture. 
 
 J. S. Standt, A. M. (Franklin and Marshall College), 
 Instructor in Electrical Engineering. 
 
 Mrs. C. Agnes Upson, Assistant in Physical Culture 
 for Women. 
 
 Carey E. Vail, B. Sc. (Nebraska Wesleyan), M. A. 
 (Univ. of Nebraska), Instructor in Chemistry. 
 
 Ida Walker, Assistant in Library. 
 
 W. E. Vaplon, Instructor in Animal Husbandry. 
 
 Faculty Committees 
 
 Executive — J. W. Lawrence, S. Arthur Johnson, Geo. H. 
 Glover, B. F. Coen, S. L. Macdonald, Virginia Corbett, 
 Alvin Keyser, T. M. Netherton. 
 
 Social — Virginia Corbett, Margaret Durward, B. G. D. 
 Bishopp, E. B. House, T. M. Netherton. 
 
 Rural Education — S. Arthur Johnson, B. F. Coen, T. M. 
 Netherton. 
 
 Catalogue — B. F. Coen, S. Van SmitTi, B. O. Longyear. 
 
 Athletic — Geo. M. Cassidy, S. L. Macdonald, Ralph 
 Parshall. 
 
 Advanced Degrees — Wm. P. Headden, J. W. Lawrence, 
 W. R. Thomas. 
 
 Introduction of Fruit Growing in 
 Larimer County 
 
 The following article on fruit growing in Lari- 
 mer county was written in 1898 by Charles E. 
 Pennock, of Bellvue, whose phenomenal success as 
 a theoretical and practical horticulturist makes him 
 an authority on the subject: 
 
 "If in 1859 or '60, when crowds of people were 
 flocking to Pike's Peak in search of gold, had one 
 among the number ventured the prediction that the 
 Great American Desert would ever become what it 
 is today, and (from the progress now being made) 
 what it is sure to become in the very near future, 
 
 that person would have been adjudged insane and a 
 fit subject for an asylum, had there been such an 
 institution in the land. Despite the evidence on 
 every hand to the contrary, then and for many years 
 after, the general belief and cry was that no fruit 
 could be grown in Colorado. Better native fruits 
 were not in the United States than could be found 
 growing wild at that time along the streams, on 
 the Plains and in the mountains to timber line, 
 and in assortment sufficient to supply the table in a 
 satisfactory manner. 
 
 There was one who took Nature's hint, and 
 Abner Loomis, of Larimer county, putting his 
 faith into action, brought 500 apjple trees and 
 several sacks of walnuts and hickory nuts for plant- 
 ing. These were brought across the Plains with ox 
 teams in 1862, probably the first ever brought into 
 the state. These were mostly planted on Mr. 
 Loomis' farm in Pleasant valley, some being given 
 to the neighbors for trial. Some of the trees, still 
 bearing and fruitful, stand witnesses to the wisdom 
 and forethought of the planter. From the walnut 
 seed planted, there is on the old place a grove of 
 trees that for size can be equalled no other place in 
 the state. While Mr. Loomis was laying the foun- 
 dation for orchards in northern Colorado, Jesse 
 Frazer was doing the same for the southern part, 
 and with equal success. These two names should 
 go down in history as the heroes of Horticulture in 
 Colorado. 
 
 "Their early plantings induced others to try, but 
 with varying success. Trees were usually received 
 in poor condition, irrigation was but little under- 
 stood, and there were other drawbacks, so that 
 fruit growing was not begun in earnest until W. F. 
 Watrous, J. S. McClelland, A. N. Hoag, Z. C. 
 Plummer and P. P. Black, by their intelligent 
 application of the principles of Irrigation and pains- 
 taking experiments as to varieties, proved that fruit 
 growing could be developed into a safe and profit- 
 able industry. The experiments of these old pio- 
 neers and their ever ready help and advice entitle 
 them to the thanks of every citizen of the county 
 who has been encouraged by their experience to like- 
 wise become planters. 
 
 "Each year brings a great increase in planting, 
 and if the present rate continues, it will not be long 
 before the tillable part of Larimer county will be 
 as one vast orchard. It was at first supposed that 
 only the hardier sorts of crabs would succeed, but 
 e.xperlence has shown that not only all the varieties 
 of apples might be grown successfully, but also 
 plums, cherries, pears, peaches (the last to a limited 
 
 [143] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 extent), grapes, blackberries, raspberries and all 
 small fruits could be raised to perfection. 
 
 "As is general, here too, the apple occupies the 
 most important place in the list of fruits planted. 
 Under irrigation it attains its highest excellence. In 
 no other country are apples so beautiful in color, or 
 so fine in flavor, while so far as observation and 
 experience go, any variety the taste desires may be 
 expected to thrive. 
 
 In a commercial way, the most profitable are 
 (winter) Ben Davis, Winesap and Jonathan; 
 (fall) Wealthy, Utter's Red and Haas; (summer) 
 Red Astrachan, Dutchess and Red June. 
 
 "As plant life thrives in Colorado so does insect 
 life, and most of the fruits grown have each their 
 peculiar enemies that can only be kept in check by 
 the intelligent application of remedies. Among the 
 most troublesome diseases of the apple tree in the 
 past has been the blight, a fungus that attacks the 
 twigs and sometimes the trunk of the tree. Its 
 fatal effect has been confined mainly to the crab 
 varieties and as they are dying out, so is the blight 
 becoming less prevalent. There have been many 
 remedies recommended for this disease, but no cure 
 has ever been found. The best "remedy" is to 
 plant varieties that are least subject to it, by which 
 course blight is not particularly to be feared. The 
 leaf roller, coddling moth and the wooly aphis 
 prey on apple trees, but the use of the modern spray- 
 ing apparatus and insecticides render them no dis- 
 couragement to planting. 
 
 "Pears have of late years been but little planted. 
 The first plantings being for the most part killed 
 out by fire blight, it was generally thought of no 
 use to try further But it is now known that with 
 pears, as with apples, there are kinds that do not 
 blight. The Seckel and Tyson seem exceptionally 
 free from the disease and there are doubtless other 
 sorts later to become known. This branch of horti- 
 culture has been neglected, and the one who plants a 
 pear orchard of the right varieties has a fortune in 
 store. 
 
 The canons of the foothills abound with plums 
 of excellent flavor and color, and experience in 
 planting cultivated sorts shows Larimer county to 
 be a natural plum county. In general, American 
 sorts do best, some of the European kinds proving 
 tender in fruit bud, but enough of the latter have 
 been tested to demonstrate that we can grow plums 
 of the fanciest kinds. The worst enemy to the 
 plum in this region is the gouger, but its attacks 
 cannot be said to prove a real injury. It gives to 
 overloaded trees a thinning which, left to man, 
 
 [144] 
 
 they in most cases would probably not get. This 
 insect does not attack European sorts. As with the 
 apple, many kinds can be successfully grown, but 
 perhaps the most profitable are of American sorts. 
 Sunset, Cheney and Forest Garden; and of the 
 European, Moore's Arctic, Saratoga and Bradshaw. 
 Other kinds may rank with these, or even supercede 
 them, but so far nothing better is known. 
 
 "It is only the past few years that cherries have 
 been planted in a commercial way, but present 
 indications are that lost time will shortly be fully 
 made up. So rapid has been the planting that as 
 a consequence prices of trees are being advanced 
 by eastern nurserymen. A single orchard planted 
 last season consists of 11,000 trees, and there are 
 numberless orchards of lesser amount. Cherries 
 thrive wonderfully well in this latitude, and no 
 doubt a large part of the country will in time de- 
 pend on northern Colorado for this excellent fruit. 
 The sorts principally planted are the Early Rich- 
 mond and English Morello. Of the two, the 
 Morello is larger and more productive at an early 
 age, but seems to have an inherited weakness and 
 as a rule is short lived. Mr. B. B. Harris is con- 
 sidered the father of the cherry in the county, and 
 it is mainly due to his effort that so many have been 
 planted. As yet no insect preys on the cherry here. 
 
 "Peaches have not as yet been successfully grown 
 in Larimer county, the winters being too severe. 
 It seems to make no difference as to variety. They 
 can be grown by protection, and it is possible the 
 conditions may so change, by the modifying of the 
 seasons, that in time even peaches can be grown 
 profitably. The present season would indicate this, 
 there being many trees loaded with fruit, and that 
 without any winter protection. 
 
 "Any of the hardy grapes do well in the county. 
 They bear abundantly, and need no protection after 
 the first two or three years. Not much attention 
 has been given to the planting of vineyards for the 
 reason that grapes are shipped in from the East at 
 such low prices that other branches of the business 
 offer larger returns, though that grapes could be 
 raised at a fair profit there is no reason to doubt. 
 
 "Enormous crops of strawberries are produced 
 every year. So many new varieties are annually in- 
 troduced, that from the long list of good sorts it 
 would be difficult to name a few to be called best. 
 
 "Blackberries, raspberries, gooseberries and cur- 
 rants do splendidly in a money m.aking way, with 
 very little trouble from insects or diseases. Black- 
 berries and raspberries have to be protected by a 
 covering through the winter, but this labor is not 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 a loss, as the thorough cultivation thus given well 
 pays for the labor cost. 
 
 "Of the wild or native fruits growing, the list is 
 quite a large one, though the size and the quality 
 of some of the fruits are not quite up to what it 
 was in an early day; due to the filling up of the 
 country with cattle which keeps tender shoots 
 nipped off and thus prevent renewal. Many of 
 the best fruits have been killed out and lost, though 
 quite a number have been saved and added to the 
 list of cultivated sorts. There are still to be found 
 plums, cherries, currants, gooseberries, juneberries, 
 buffalo berries, raspberries and strawberries, some 
 of them the best flavor of any fruits grown. It is 
 likely that the most value to be got from these 
 native fruits is by crossing with the cultivated 
 sorts and getting new hardy strains with added 
 flavor. 
 
 "Colorado is justly noted for the color and flavor 
 produced. So much is this the case that often old 
 fruits in the East are not recognized after being 
 brought under irrigation in the sunny clime of 
 Colorado. And there is very good reasons for this 
 change in the fruit. Heat, light and moisture are 
 three necessary requirements for the perfect de- 
 velopment of fruit, and these we have to depend 
 upon. In the East when they get moisture they 
 also get cool and cloudy weather, whereas here when 
 moisture is needed, the headgate need only be 
 raised and while the warm soil is absorbing moist- 
 ure at roots of the tree, the bright sun overhead is 
 coloring and perfecting the growing fruit. So 
 much is the growing in the hands of man in Colo- 
 rado, that fruit can almost be grown in color and 
 flavor to order and still, with all these advantages 
 for growing the finest fruits on earth, the same old 
 croakers who preached for years that fruit could 
 not be raised in Colorado, are now crying it is 
 going to be overdone and when the trees now 
 planted get to bearing crops there will be no de- 
 mand for the fruit. For many reasons there would 
 seem to be no danger of an overproduction. We 
 are now undoubtedly passing through the most un- 
 profitable period in fruit growing; rather too much 
 for local needs and not enough for export. East- 
 ern competitors need not be feared. They have 
 their off years, while through the application of 
 irrigation just when needed, fruit buds can be 
 made to form here every year. Thus it is seen, 
 Colorado can compete with the East in any year, 
 and advantage can be taken of their "off" years to 
 obtain better prices. From a small beginning only 
 a few years ago the fruit industry has advanced 
 
 with rapid strides until it has become one of the 
 most important industries in the state, and with 
 the same rate of progress it will outstrip all others 
 and take its place at the head. From a horti- 
 cultural point of view,- Larimer county has bright 
 prospects." 
 
 County Fair Association 
 
 Following the completion of the Colorado Cent- 
 ral railroad from Denver to' Cheyenne in 1877, 
 immigration set in with considerable force and the 
 county began filling up quite rapidly, so that at the 
 close of 1878 the population had increased to about 
 3,000. Most of the new-comers were farmers from 
 the middle west who came, as a general thing, 
 with well-filled purses, strong hearts and willing 
 hands to seek new homes in a more genial climate 
 and where future prospects were brighter. Some 
 of these purchased improved or partly improved 
 farms, but by far the greater number located on 
 new land, either under irrigating ditches already 
 constructed or under new projects that were in 
 course of construction. They were, in the main, an 
 enterprising class of people who brought with 
 them the inbred customs and habits of their former 
 eastern homes. In this western land they missed 
 many of the social advantages they had been ac- 
 customed to, and with a spirit characteristic of in- 
 telligent, well-bred native born Americans, they 
 promptly set about supplying the missing links. 
 One of the things they missed was the annual 
 county fair, which had been a prominent feature in 
 their former homes, and one in which they had 
 taken a great deal of interest, and naturally, they 
 desired to have it established and made a perman- 
 ent institution in their new home. 
 
 The year 1878 was a fruitful one in Larimer 
 county. Crops were good and the live stock in- 
 terests had made rapid gains, consequently condi- 
 tions were favorable for starting a movement in 
 favor of organizing a county fair association. This 
 was done in October of that year. The local 
 newspapers discussed the subject freely and con- 
 siderable interest was aroused among the people, 
 especially among the farmers and stockmen of the 
 county. It was finally thought best to organize a 
 county fair association as a joint stock company 
 with a capital of $3,000 divided into one hundred 
 shares of $30 each. The stock was soon sub- 
 scribed and an informal meeting of the shareholders 
 was held in Wilson's hall on Saturday evening, 
 November 16th. John C. Matthews presided,' and 
 
 [145] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 I. W. Bennett was secretary. At this meeting a 
 committee composed of A. R. Chaffee, A. J. Ames 
 and Joseph Prendergast was chosen to select suitable 
 fair grounds, not less than forty acres to be fitted up 
 by the association, for holding county fairs and speed 
 contests. This committee reported November 19th 
 that forty acres of ground belonging to W. C. 
 Stover, situated about one mile east of town, which 
 could be obtained for $640, had been selected. The 
 land was purchased and preparations for holding a 
 county fair in the fall of 1879, were begun. On 
 Monday evening the share holders held another 
 meeting and perfected a permanent organization 
 by electing N. H. Meldrum, president; J. W. Nor- 
 vell, secretary; Joseph Prendergast, treasurer; 
 Sherman Smith, Charles Baldwin, W. P. Morgan, 
 Thomas Earnest, Marsh Jones, A. J. Derby and A. 
 R. Chaffee, directors. The name adopted was the 
 Larimer County Agricultural and Mechanical 
 Association. 
 
 The first county fair was held on Thursday, 
 Friday and Saturday, October 9th, 10th and 11th, 
 1879, and it was a successful one. The exhibits 
 in the agricultural, stock growing, mechanical and 
 fine arts departments were excellent and attractive 
 and the racing good. About 300 entries were made; 
 the weather fine and the attendance better than ex- 
 pected. 
 
 At the second annual meeting of the stockhold- 
 ers, held Saturday evening, Oct. 11, a new board 
 of directors and new officers were elected as fol- 
 lows: Directors, John E. Washburn, Thomas H. 
 Johnson, Joseph Mason, Geo. E. Buss, W. S. 
 Taylor, W. F. Watrous, Wm. N. Bachelder, 
 Joseph Prendergast, E. E. Edwards, A. H. Patter- 
 son and H. Stratton. The directors elected the 
 following officers: President, Joseph Mason; vice- 
 president, John E. Washburn; secretary, Harris 
 Stratton ; treasurer, Geo. E. Buss ; superintendent, 
 Joseph Prendergast. 
 
 The second fair was held four days, ending Fri- 
 day, September 24th, 1880. A greater number of 
 exhibits was displayed in each department than at 
 the first fair, and the exposition was a success in 
 every way except financially. Owing to windy 
 weather and clouds of dust the attendance was 
 light and the association came out in debt. The 
 annual meeting of the stockholders was held on 
 Thursday evening, September 23rd, and elected 
 the following directors : John Riddle, Joseph 
 Prendergast, W. F. Scribner, George S. Brown, A. 
 J. Ames, Edson Warren, W. P. Morgan, John 
 Hahn, J. G. Coy and R. Q. Tenney. 
 
 [146] 
 
 The third fair was held September 21st to 24th, 
 1881. The weather was fine, the exhibits in each 
 department numerous, the attendance on the last 
 three days unusually good, and the entertainment 
 in the speed ring attractive. Altogether it was a 
 successful and profitable county fair. John G. Coy 
 was president of the association and R. Q. Tenney, 
 secretary. 
 
 The annual meeting of the stockholders was 
 held Saturday evening, September 24, and the 
 board of directors elected was composed of William 
 Calloway, N. C. Alford, J. G. Coy, Joseph Pren- 
 dergast, John Riddle, W. F. Scribner, R. Q. 
 Tenney, Edson Warren, P. Anderson, James 
 Neville, J. J. Ryan and James Sullivan. Secre- 
 tary Tenney reported the association in a flourish- 
 ing condition, with funds enough on hand to meet 
 all matured liabilities and money to spare. The 
 directors elected as follows: President, J. G. Coy, 
 Vice-President, Joseph Prendergast; Treasurer, N. 
 C. Alford ; Secretary, R. Q. Tenney ; Superintend- 
 eent, W. F. Scribner. 
 
 The fourth county fair was held September 23 
 to 26, 1882. The exhibits were not up to the 
 standard set in 1881, either in number or quality, 
 and the attendance was light. 
 
 The fifth annual county fair opened Wednes- 
 day, October 3rd, 1883, with a fine display of live 
 stock and agricultural products. Among the 
 features were races between the Fort Collins hook 
 and ladder company and the Greeley hooks, and hose 
 teams of the two towns. The Greeley firemen won 
 the first and tied with the locals in second race. At 
 the close of that year's exposition the Larimer 
 County Agricultural and Mechanical Association 
 found itself deeply involved in debt and it was 
 deemed best to effect a reorganization and start 
 anew with more capital. To this end a meeting 
 of the shareholders was held early in 1884, at which 
 the following statement of the financial condition 
 of the old association was read : 
 
 "The present financial condition of the associa- 
 tion is as follows : 
 
 "There is an incumbrance on the 40 acres of 
 land owned by the association and due 
 
 "February 1st, 1885, of $3,000.00 
 
 "Interest on the above now overdue 360.00 
 
 "Interest that will be due February 1st, 
 
 1885 360.00 
 
 "Taxes and other liabilities now overdue. . 640.00 
 
 "Total $4,360.00 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 LARIMER 
 
 COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 "The following proposition was then submitted 
 to the meeting and adopted: 
 
 " 'It is proposed to transfer the property to a 
 new association to be known as the Larimer County 
 Fair Association, for the sum of $4,000, the new 
 association to pay $1,000 in cash to the L. C. A. M. 
 and assume the encumbrance of $3,000 and interest 
 as from the 1st of February, 1884, the cash pay- 
 ment of $1,000 being used by the old association 
 to pay the $360 interest now due and the $640 of 
 other liabilities. The subscribers to the stock of 
 the new association and amount of each subscrip- 
 tion follows: F. L. Carter-Cotton, $250.00; W. F. 
 Scribner, $250.00; I. W. Bennett, $250.00; James 
 Sweeney, $250.00; Thos. Earnest, $250.00; Ab. 
 Loomis, $250.00 ; P. Anderson, $250.00 ; N. C. Al- 
 ford, $250.00; M. F. Jones, $250.00; Rogers & 
 Williams, $250.00; John Riddle, $250.00; F. W. 
 Sherwood, $250.00; B. F. Hottel, $250.00; J. S. 
 McClelland, $250.00; W. B. Miner, $250.00; F. 
 G. Bartholf, $200.00 ; P. S. Wilson, $250.00 ; Jas. 
 B. Arthur, $250.00; John L. Routt, $200.00; T. A. 
 Gage, $200.00; J. A. Brown, $200.00; Andrew 
 McGinley, $200.00; H. T. Miller, $200.00; A. D. 
 Gifford, $200.00; G. R. Strauss, $200.00; F. R. 
 Baker, $200.00; Jud. Bristol, $200.00.'" 
 
 The new association was incorporated with a cap- 
 ital of $6,250, the debts of the old association were 
 paid off and plans laid for holding a county fair 
 in September. The Industrial Association which 
 conducted the county fair from 1879 was not suc- 
 cessful. The new association, reorganized from the 
 old, brought together men who were known as men 
 who did nothing by halves, men of energy and enter- 
 prise, men of influence, men of wealth, embracing 
 some of the most substantial citizens of the county. 
 These men went to work with a will and made 
 many improvements on the fair grounds, including 
 the erection of a fine arts hall and several additional 
 stock pens and stalls for horses, and placed the 
 speed ring in first-class condition. The officers of 
 the new association were: President, F. L. Carter- 
 Cotton ; Vice-President, Abner Loomis ; Secretary, 
 I. W. Bennett; Treasurer, W. B. Miner; Direct- 
 ors, John Riddle, F. W. Sherwood, B. F. Hottel, 
 M. F. Jones, F. L. Carter-Cotton, Abner Loomis, 
 I. W. Bennett and W. B. Miner. 
 
 The exposition held that year beginning Sep- 
 tember 25th was far superior in every respect to any 
 of its predecessors. The entries made in the differ- 
 ent departments numbered 815, the number in each 
 department being as follows: Farm products, 167; 
 fruit and flowers, 20; dairy and poultry products, 
 
 186; horses and mules, 77; cattle, 62; sheep and 
 hogs, 40 ; poultry, 20 ; fine arts and manufactures, 
 121 ; miscellaneous, 123. There were 208 exhibitors 
 and the premiums paid amounted to more than 
 $3,000. The attendance during the four days was 
 about 6,000. Col. John M. Chivington, the hero 
 of Sand Creek, delivered the address. Hon. Alva 
 Adams, democrat; Hon. B. H. Eaton, republican, 
 and Hon. John E. Washburn, greenbacker, all 
 candidates for Governor of Colorado, were among 
 the distinguished visitors at the fair. Harris Strat- 
 ton won the $75 sweepstake prize offered by F. L. 
 Carter-Cotton for the best display of agricultural 
 products. 
 
 Under the auspices of the reorganized association, 
 excellent fairs were held in 1885-6-7-8-9-90 and 91, 
 an increased number of entries being made each suc- 
 ceding year, with a corresponding increase in the 
 number of prizes awarded, and in the cost of man- 
 agement which required a large amount of money 
 each year to meet expenses. The receipts, theugh 
 growing in amount each year, were insufficient to 
 pay out, and the stockholders had to go down in 
 their pockets to make up the deficency or resort to 
 borrowing. They got tired of this after the fair of 
 1891 and decided to discontinue the holding of 
 annual fairs, until such time as the population of 
 the county had reached a figure that warranted 
 the necessary outlay. Then the pariic of 1893 came 
 on, upsetting the financial affairs of the whole coun- 
 try, making the attempt to resuscitate the enterprise 
 and put it on a paying basis an extremely hazardous 
 one for the association and not to be considered. 
 
 On December 14th, 1897, the association sold 
 the fair grounds and their appurtenances to the 
 county for a poor farm and county hospital pur- 
 poses, to which uses the property has since been 
 applied. The deed was signed by Peter Anderson, 
 president, and T. A. Gage, secretary of the associa- 
 tion. Since 1891 there have been no regular county 
 fairs held in this county. Loveland in 1892, inaugu- 
 rated a system of street fairs to take the place of a 
 county fair and these have been quite successful. 
 
 In the spring of 1904 the Gentleman's Riding 
 and Driving Club was organized, with F. W. 
 Sherwood as president. This club held racing 
 matinees every few weeks that year on the old fair 
 grounds track with much success. In July the club 
 appointed a committee composed of Peter Ander- 
 son, Abner Loomis and C. O. Culver to examine 
 and report lands suitable for race track and fair 
 grounds, which were being offered for sale. The 
 club purchased 45 acres of the Scott-Sherwood 
 
 [147] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 ranch, located about one mile west of the business 
 center of the city for $6,000, and began at once to 
 fit the track up for a speed ring and fair grounds. 
 The track was named Prospect Park and still goes 
 by that name. The Fort Collins Park Amusement 
 company was incorporated to take over the property, 
 the directors for the first year being C. K. Gould, 
 L. R. Rhodes, A. W. Scott, S. H. Clammer and E. 
 D. Avery. 
 
 Improvement of the grounds and the fitting 
 of them for the race meet began at once. One of 
 
 of $40,000, the proceeds of the sale of which to be 
 used in defraying the cost of erecting a court house. 
 The bonds, drawing 6 per cent interest, were sold 
 in April, 1887, to Rollin H. Bond of Denver, and 
 on May 5, 1887, the county commissioners 
 awarded the contract for constructing the building 
 to Barney Des Jardines of Fort Collins, his bid of 
 $39,379.96 being the lowest. Mr. Des Jardines 
 sublet the stone work to Kemoe & Bradley, the 
 brick work to John G. Lunn, the plastering to D, 
 F. O'Loughlin, the painting to Sm.ith & Soult, 
 
 LARIMER COUNTY'S FIRST COURT HOUSE, USED AS SUCH FROM 1864 TO 1868 
 
 the best race tracks, a grand stand, judges' stand, 
 offices, horse stables and a high board fence around 
 the track were built. The first race meet was held 
 October 6th, 7th and 8th, 1904. These meets 
 have been kept up every year since then with a fair 
 measure of success. One or two attempts have 
 been made to hold an agricultural, live stock and 
 industrial exposition in connection with the race 
 meets, but for some reason these have not met with 
 popular favor. Prospect Park is also used for ball 
 games and other amusements of that character. 
 
 Larimer County Court House 
 
 In November, 1886, the people of Larimer 
 county, by a large majority, voted in favor of issu- 
 ing the corporate bonds of the county to the amount 
 
 [148] 
 
 doing the carpenter and joiner work himself. The 
 building was designed by William Quayle of Den- 
 ver. The board of county commissioners was 
 composed of William P. Bosworth, chairman, A. S. 
 Benson and Harry H. Scott, and James E. Du 
 Bois was county clerk. The corner stone of the 
 structure, a handsome block of red sandstone 
 donated to the county by the Fort Collins Red- 
 stone company, was laid on Thursday, August 
 11th, 1887, with appropriate Masonic ceremonies, 
 conducted by representatives of the Grand Lodge 
 of Colorado. These representatives were Worship- 
 ful Master, E. Love, acting Grand Master; James 
 B. Arthur, acting Deputy Grand Master; F. J. 
 Annis, acting Grand Senior Warden; John W. 
 Young, acting Grand Junior Warden; William C. 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 Stover, acting Grand Treasurer; S. H. Seckner, 
 acting Grand Secretary; Andrew Armstrong, 
 Grand Chaplain. A double quartette, composed 
 of Mesdames W. T. Rogers, E. S. Cain, J. M. 
 Davidson and George W. Bailey; Rev. D. C. 
 Pattee, A. D. Abbott, W. H. Headley and George 
 A. Webb, with Miss Carrie Armstrong presiding at 
 the organ, rendered music on this occasion. The 
 address was delivered by Judge Thomas M. Robin- 
 son, which, because of its appropriate reference to 
 pioneer days in Larimer county and conditions then 
 existing, we reproduce here in full: — 
 
 "Most Worshipful Grand Master and Ladies 
 and Gentlemen : — 
 
 "In the life of every individual there are times 
 when, by force of circumstances, his mind is carried 
 back to his earliest recollections and all his ex- 
 periences pass again before him. This is no vain or 
 idle process of the mind. It is Nature's method 
 of impressing the lesson of the past, to be treasured 
 as precious precepts for guidance in future life and 
 conduct. At such times the past stands again be- 
 fore us to admonish us with respect to the future, 
 warning us against a repetition of mistakes which 
 resulted in disappointment and disaster, and en- 
 couraging with rich promises all who will be guided 
 by its instruction. As it is with individuals, so it is 
 with communities, with states, with nations. 
 Some public occasion arrests the public attention, 
 and causes the public mind to wander back over 
 the years of its past history. This is such an 
 occasion. 
 
 "Today we are engaged in laying the cornerstone 
 of an elegant structure dedicated to public uses, 
 and our mind is carried back, not many years, when 
 the territory comprised in this county was com- 
 posed of sterile mountains and barren plains. 
 Savages, depending on the chase of animals as fierce 
 and wild as themselves for subsistence, stood ready 
 with bloody hands and welcomed the adventurous 
 pioneer to destruction and to death. But the old- 
 timers, undaunted by danger and reckless of hard- 
 ship, impelled by dissapointment elsewhere or by 
 the life of adventure here, came, and came to stay. 
 They came and erected homes in the valleys of the 
 Big Thompson and Cache la Poudre, that stream 
 whose name is in itself a perpetual memorial of the 
 vicissitudes and dangers the pioneer had to en- 
 counter. Looking back we cannot see a single ray 
 of hope to encourage them to settle here, sur- 
 rounded, as they were, by barbarous savages, who, 
 it they did not always dare to kill, never hesitated 
 to steal. 
 
 "Under such conditions, surrounded by such difE- 
 culties, the foundations of your present prosperity 
 were laid, and the green fields and happy homes for 
 which these valleys are noted became a possibility; 
 but material prosperity was not alone all that re- 
 sulted from the work of the old-timers. Wherever 
 they went, whether riding the range in care of their 
 stock or tilling the soil, they carried with them that 
 love of order and fair dealing which is the prom- 
 inent characteristic of our people. Before municipal 
 authority was established or provided, they had 
 their own rules and regulations; they had their own 
 
 LARIMER COUNTY COURT HOUSE 
 
 tribunals and respected and enforced their decisions. 
 It may be that those rules and principles were crude 
 — that they did not possess the exactness of a science 
 or the fulness of a system of jurisprudence, yet they 
 were conceived in fairness, and founded upon right, 
 and they were sufficient for the needs of the time, 
 and many of them have since been incorporated in 
 our statutes and constitution as rich contributions 
 to the law. 
 
 "The old-timers came to the valleys of Larimer 
 county at a time when there was no encourage- 
 ment. They settled and toiled amid dangers and 
 hardships and privations to lay the foundation of 
 our present civilization and prosperity, and when 
 they were accomplished it was protected by no 
 higher law than that which custom gave them — the 
 right to protect it themselves. It is true, that in 
 many things they had their faults, but they also 
 had their virtues. It is true they transacted business 
 in a way we could not transact it now. They could 
 try a case on horseback, hold an arbitration in a 
 corral, or lynch court wherever they could find a 
 man they wanted to hang. But the times now give 
 
 [149] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 the people more accommodations than were required 
 then. It is the fulfillment of the requirements of 
 the times that this court house is to be erected. 
 The necessity for such a building is now urgent. 
 In times past it was not. The people then felt the 
 greater need of school houses and churches. The 
 first public buildings erected were for educational 
 and religious purposes. They were content to 
 waive for awhile the convenience of a court house 
 that more important matters might not be neg- 
 lected. 
 
 "But the times have changed. Instead of the 
 cheerless waste that greeted the pioneer's eye, rich 
 fields of waving grain and kindred evidence of pros- 
 perity are now to be seen on every hand. The 
 tepees of the savage have disappeared and in their 
 stead on every side are to be seen the beautiful 
 homes of an enlightened and prosperous people. 
 Cities and towns have sprung up and thousands of 
 people have come to dwell with us. This change 
 brought with it a vast increase of business and com- 
 merce and has produced complications which require 
 other methods for their adjustment and the times 
 can afford better accommodations than those re- 
 quiredMn the early days. It is to fulfill the require- 
 ments of these times that we erect this building, 
 dedicated to Justice, and we are only carrying out 
 a part of the work left to us by those who wrought 
 before us. It is for us to complete it. It is our 
 duty, as citizens, to see not only that this building 
 is completed according to its original design, but 
 to see that the purposes for which it was erected 
 are never perverted ; to see to it that the officers and 
 all who are called upon to minister to the public 
 here, are capable, competent and honest; to see to it 
 that they are men who understand their duty and 
 will fearlessly perform it; officers whose characters 
 are such as to command the confidence of all who 
 are wronged and oppressed, and to inspire terror 
 among wrong-doers and oppressors ; to see to it that 
 the judges who are called to preside here are men 
 whose judgment can be influenced by nothing save 
 the law and the testimony. If we do this and do it 
 faithfully and earnestly, the building will be con- 
 secrated in public esteem as a place where innocence 
 and right are always secure; where the ends of 
 justice are always accomplished, in very truth, a 
 Temple of Justice. 
 
 "If we engage our five talents to promote the 
 ends of education and religion, with the zeal and 
 fidelity with which the old-timers engaged their 
 two talents — if we labor to promote the general 
 welfare and material prosperity of the county as the 
 
 old-timers labored to promote it — the next genera- 
 tion when called by some public occasion to look 
 back upon what is accomplished, will acknowledge 
 itself to be under a debt of gratitude to us, such a 
 debt of gratitude as we are under to the old-timers." 
 
 Larimer County Stock Growers' 
 Association 
 
 The Larimer County Stock Grower's associa- 
 tion was organized August 20th, 1884, at Liver- 
 more. It grew out of the necessity for a different 
 and more efficient kind of watch and guard over 
 live stock than that observed on the Plains, the 
 range being entirely in a mountainous country. 
 There were represented by the association 2,500 
 head of horses and 15,000 head of cattle, which 
 ranged on an area of 1,000 square miles. The offi- 
 cers were: President, T. A. Gage; Vice-President, 
 Frank Kibler; Secretary and Treasurer, S. B. 
 Chaffee. The Executive Committee was composed 
 of the officers of the association and the following 
 stockmen : J. H. Bristol, F. L. Carter-Cotton, 
 F. J. Spencer, C. E. Roberts, Russell Fisk, A. H. 
 Morgan, John S. Williams, A. W. Haygood, Fred 
 Christman, T. B. Bishopp and C. N. Campbell. It 
 included in its membership nearly all the stock- 
 men of Livermore, Alford, Bush, Tie Siding, Box- 
 elder, Bristol, Virginia Dale, Laporte, St. Cloud, 
 Granite Canon, Wyoming, Elkhorn and stockmen 
 from Berthoud, Cheyenne, Denver and Loveland 
 who ranged live stock in the mountains of Larimer 
 county. For several years the association proved 
 a very useful organization in facilitating the annual 
 branding and beef round-ups of cattle and in hunt- 
 ing down and prosecuting horse and cattle thieves. 
 As the county grew older and more thickly settled, 
 followed by a thinning out of range stock, the 
 necessity for keeping up the organization practically 
 disappeared and it was allowed to die from lack of 
 interest. 
 
 Industries of Larimer County 
 
 The principal industries of Larimer county 
 at the present time are diversified agriculture, in- 
 cluding dairying, fruit-growing, market gardening 
 and stock-feeding, stock-raising, manufacturing, 
 mining, lumbering and stone quarrying. Between 
 the years of 1873 and 1885, sheep raising and wool 
 growing held an important place in the list of pro- 
 fitable industries in the county, there being in 1880 
 about 75,000 sheep feeding on the ranges within 
 
 [150] 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 its confines. The encroachment of new settlers 
 who took up the land for farming purposes, so 
 lessened the grazing grounds that flock-masters were 
 compelled to move into Wyoming and Montana to 
 find pasture for their flocks, so that but a few range 
 sheep, comparatively speaking, are now kept in the 
 county. In the early days of the industry flock- 
 masters were greatly prospered and the most of 
 them made money. Their grazing grounds cost 
 them nothing, so after deducting the wages of herd- 
 ers, the amount received for the wool clip was 
 almost clear gain. In 1880 one firm alone shipped 
 more than 100,000 pounds of wool from the 
 county. 
 
 In the list of present day industries, agriculture 
 stock-raising and stock- feeding easily take the lead, 
 as Larimer county is essentially a farming district. 
 The value of the yearly products of the farm and 
 range exceed $3,000,000, and the amount invested 
 in farm property is estimated at $25,000,000;^ In 
 1909 the estimated value of domestic animals owned 
 in the county was about $2,000,000. These in- 
 cluded 9,948 horses, 516 mules, 18,965 cattle, all 
 ages, 5,656 sheep, 1,726 swine and 159 other 
 animals. The character and value of the products 
 of the farm for 1909 are given elsewhere in this 
 volume. The feeding and fattening of cattle and 
 sheep for market has also grown to an import- 
 ant industry. But a few years ago stock feed- 
 ing pens of the county contained 400,000 sheep and 
 lambs and about 10,000 head of cattle. The feed- 
 ing pens are filled in the fall and the animals fed 
 through the winter all the alfalfa they will eat, in 
 addition to a ration of corn or ground coarse grain 
 and beet pulp. On this food they rapidly take on 
 flesh and are marketed at the packing centers in the 
 East or in Denver. This business, one year with 
 another, yields the feeder a good profit on his in- 
 vestment, besides making a home market for his 
 surplus hay and other rough forage. The animals 
 are kept in open pens, and require no shelter or 
 protection from storms or cold during the winter, 
 owing to favorable climatic conditions. 
 
 Next in importance to agriculture and stock- 
 raising comes manufacturing. From small begin- 
 nings this industry has become worthy of notice as 
 a factor in the growth and development of the 
 material prosperity of the county. Until the ad- 
 vent of the beet sugar making industry in 1901-3, 
 manufacturing was mainly limited to the conversion 
 of the wheat and coarse grains grown in the county 
 into flour and ground stock food. For this purpose 
 there were and still are four mills, two in Fort 
 
 Collins and one each in Loveland and Berthoud. 
 These mills buy all the wheat grown in the county, 
 thus providing the producers near-by markets for 
 their grain, and can turn out 500,000 one hundred 
 pound sacks of flour per annum. They also con- 
 vert thousands of tons of course grains, like corn, 
 oats and barley into ground stock food, each year, 
 for the feeders. Besides supplying the home demand 
 for flour, the mills annually ship hundreds of car 
 loads into New Mexico, Arizona, Wyoming, Texas 
 and some going as far south as Georgia. In addi- 
 tion to the flour mills there were several busy saw 
 
 FORT COLLIxNS SUGAR FACTORY, BUILT IN 1903 
 
 mills in the mountains at work converting pine logs 
 into boards and building timbers for the use of 
 settlers in erecting their unpretentious homes. This 
 industry engaged the attention of some of the 
 pioneers in the early history of the county. The 
 first saw-mill, a portable one, brought into the 
 county was located on the bank of the river near 
 where William Falloon now lives northwest of 
 Laporte. This mill was owned by James Oben- 
 chain and he began manufacturing lumber in 1863 
 or 1864. The logs were cut in the canon of the 
 Cache la Poudre in the winter and floated down to 
 the mill during the spring floods. Later Joseph 
 Rist set up a mill in Rist canon where he cut out 
 many hundred thousand feet of lumber, much of 
 which was hauled to Cheyenne and marketed. Chey- 
 enne was a booming town at that time and was a 
 good market for building material of all kinds. 
 Along in the 70's the lumber industry became quite 
 important and furnished employment to a large num- 
 ber of men and teams. Logging crews were sent 
 into the mountains in the fall and the logs were cut 
 and banked at the river's edge ready to be rolled 
 into the water when the floods swelled the stream 
 and then floated down to the two mills at Greeley 
 
 [151] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 and the mill in Fort Collins which stood near to 
 where the Linden street bridge now stands, and 
 there sawed into lumber. The demand for lumber 
 increased rapidly during the twenty years follow- 
 ing 1880 and several portable mills were set up at 
 different points in the mountains wherever there 
 was timber suitable for sawing, and millions of feet 
 of native lumber was cut and marketed in the valley 
 towns during that period. When the timber in the 
 vicinity of a mill became exhausted the mills would 
 be moved to a new site where timber was plenti- 
 ful and more accessible. But the mill men were 
 poaching on government land and taking timber 
 that belonged to the public. This came to the ears 
 of federal officials after a while and they put a stop 
 to the wholesale cutting of logs on the public lands. 
 Since then and particularly since the establishment 
 of the Colorado Forest reserve, the lumbermen 
 have been required to buy the timber of the govern- 
 ment and also restricted to cutting matured trees 
 that have been marked for lumber by the forest 
 officers. This policy has served to reduce the num- 
 ber of mills in operation and to limit the quantity 
 of lumber manufactured, but the annual cut still 
 amounts to considerable, all of which is marketed 
 in the county, none of it being shipped to outside 
 points. The introduction of sugar making was 
 followed by the establishment of other manufactur- 
 ing enterprises which are furnishing markets for 
 raw material and giving employment to labor. The 
 total amount invested in the county at this time in 
 manufacturing enterprises exceeds $3,500,000 and 
 the value of the annual product to about $6,000,000. 
 
 A list of the more important manufacturing 
 establishments in the county would include : 
 
 Two immense sugar factories. 
 
 Two large pressed brick-making plants. 
 
 Two large stucco and plaster mills. 
 
 Four large flouring mills. 
 
 A fruit and vegetable canning factory. 
 
 One cement tile factory. 
 
 One large foundry and machine shop and several 
 small ones. 
 
 An alfalfa meal mill factory. 
 
 Two planing mills and door factories. 
 
 Several cigar factories. 
 
 Larimer county contains an inexhaustable supply 
 of the very best building, paving and curbing stone 
 and flagging for sidewalks, including white, gray 
 and red sand stone, granite and mottled marble. 
 The quarries are located at Bellvue, Stout and 
 Arkins and at one time between 1882 and 1890 
 more than one thousand men were employed in 
 
 [152] 
 
 them getting out building stone, paving blocks, 
 curbings and flaggings and many of the finest build- 
 ings in Denver, Omaha and Kansas City, were 
 constructed of white, gray and red sand stone taken 
 from these quarries. The Union Pacific Railroad 
 company built a spur in 1882 from Fort Collins to 
 Stout, a distance of fourteen miles, over which 
 thousands of carloads of stone have been shipped to 
 Denver, Omaha, Cheyenne, Greeley and Fort 
 Collins. The railroad company constructed a 
 branch line from Loveland to the quarries at Arkins, 
 which has been in operation for more than twenty 
 years and over which immense quantities of building 
 and paving stone have been shipped. These quar- 
 ries are still being worked and a large force of men 
 is constantly employed in them. The Stout and 
 Bellvue quarries have been lying practically dormant 
 the past few years and about two years ago the 
 railroad track from Stout to Bellvue was taken up. 
 The Union Pacific Railroad company owned and 
 operated the quarries at Stout for several years. 
 There are still a number of private quarries near 
 Stout that are being worked to a greater or less 
 extent by their owners, but the product is now 
 hauled by teams to Fort Collins. 
 
 Excellent granite ledges exist in the hills west 
 of Loveland, from which large quantities of beauti- 
 ful granite have been quarried and shipped to Den- 
 ver. In the hills northwest of Fort Collins are 
 immense beds of mottled marble, but these have 
 never been opened and worked to any extent. No 
 doubt the time will come when this marble will be 
 in demand for building and furniture-making 
 purposes. At Ingleside, sixteen miles northwest 
 of Fort Collins, immense lime stone quarries were 
 opened in 1904 and these are furnishing employ- 
 ment the year around to a great many men. Lime 
 is used to quite an extent in the manufacture of 
 beet sugar and the supply of lime stone for several 
 of the sugar factories in the Northern part of Colo- 
 rado comes from these quarries. Some idea of the 
 importance of this industry may be gathered from 
 the statement that the Fort Collins sugar factory 
 alone uses between 6,000 and 7,000 tons of lime 
 stone every year. The stone is reduced to lime at the 
 factory in large kilns especially constructed for that 
 purpose. 
 
 Tens of thousands of dollars in money and many 
 years of time have been expended in prospecting the 
 hills of Larimer county for the precious metals, but 
 up to this time the returns in dollars and cents bear 
 no comparison to the cost. They have been ex- 
 ceedingly meagre. Gold, silver, copper, zinc and 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 lead have been found in sufficient quantities to 
 justify the keeping up of the search, but never in 
 large enough bodies to justify systematic and 
 scientific mining. Almost every foot of the mount- 
 ain region from the southern to the northern bound- 
 aries of the county, and from the foothills to the 
 summit of the Medicine Bow range has been pros- 
 pected, but not a single profit producing mine has 
 ever been opened and worked. It is probable that 
 the Spaniards who set out from Santa Fe in 1720 
 and explored the country from their starting point 
 to the Yellowstone in search of gold, prospected the 
 streams of Larimer county for the yellow metal, 
 but they never returned to report the result. They 
 fell victims to the murderous instincts of the savages 
 upon whose domain they were trespassing. Later, 
 in 1858, a part of Green Russell's band of gold 
 hunters came north from Cherry creek to Box- 
 elder looking for gold, but their quest proved un- 
 fruitful. Since that time not a year has passed that 
 some kind of a mining excitement has not been de- 
 veloped at some point in the mountains. The years 
 1863-4-5 and 6 were prolific in the number of 
 mineral discoveries. Mining companies were or- 
 ganized, claims filed upon and mining districts es- 
 tablished with a full list of officials, and some 
 desultory mining done, but it amounted to nothing. 
 Float copper was discovered in 1865 in Howe 
 gulch eight miles west of Fort Collins, by a soldier. 
 Considerable work was done on this claim and then 
 it was abandoned. The claim remained untouched 
 for several years when it was relocated by W. C. 
 Dilts and given the name of the "Empire'' copper 
 lode, which, being patented, it still bears. Dilts 
 sold the claim to the Boston & Colorado Copper 
 Mining company in the late 90's for $10,000. The 
 company expended a large sum of money in develop- 
 ment work, including the building of a large shaft 
 house and installing some $8,000 worth of mining 
 m.achinery. An 85-foot shaft was sunk on the 
 claim, from the bottom of which a cross-cut was 
 driven to intersect the vein. A few carloads of the 
 ore was sent to Denver smelters for treatment but 
 the returns were of such a discouraging nature that 
 the enterprise was abandoned. The mine contains 
 copper but not in paying quantities. 
 
 In 1883 mineral was discovered at Crystal 
 mountain and a number of locations were made 
 and considerable assessment work done before a test 
 of this ore was made. It was then learned that the 
 ore carried zinc in small quantities and the camp 
 was abandoned. Copper lodes were later dis- 
 covered in Virginia Dale, at Gray Rock, St. Cloud 
 
 and much money was expended in doing assessment 
 and development work, but the locaters got cold 
 feet after a while and gave up the search. 
 
 In 1886 an organization composed of a large 
 number of prominent citizens of Fort Collins was 
 formed for the purpose of conducting a systematic 
 search for the precious metals in the hills of the 
 county. Three experienced miners and prospectors 
 were employed and put into the field. In Septem- 
 ber of that year these men reported gold discoveries 
 on the divide between Seven Mile and Elkhorn 
 creeks and a rush was made to secure locations of 
 mineral claims in the district. The .surface indi- 
 cations were excellent, pronounced by expert 
 miners to be equal to the best ever found. Gold 
 could be panned from almost any piece of crushed 
 rock and the excitement reached fever heat. A 
 town was started and given the name of Manhattan 
 with its hotel, stores, postoffice and newspaper. 
 Digging for gold was vigorously prosecuted all 
 that fall and the succeeding winter and for several 
 years afterwards. The country for miles around 
 was honey-combed with prospect holes and incipient 
 mines and in many instances good returns were 
 received from assay tests of the ore. Some of the 
 ores tested as high as $600 to the ton. Interest in 
 the camp continued for several years and then 
 practically died out although some of the claims 
 are yet being worked through shafts and tunnels. It 
 is the general belief that the gold is there, but that 
 it lies deeper than any of the shafts have so far 
 been sunk. In 1888 business men of Fort Collins 
 contributed a large sum of money towards the 
 cost of erecting concentrating works. The mill, 
 a small affair, was built on Seven Mile creek, but 
 either through faulty construction or bad manage- 
 ment, it failed to meet expectations and was at 
 last shut down and the machinery moved away. 
 Fresh interest in the Manhattan district has been 
 created the present year by the discovery of new 
 mineral leads, which give promise of results in re- 
 storing the old time popularity of the camp. Gold 
 finds were also made in 1887-8 in the canon of the 
 Cache la Poudre above Rustic, and the prospects of 
 a flourishing mining camp appeared so good that 
 the Zimmerman Brothers erected a five stamp mill 
 and reduction works on the river bank about three 
 miles above Rustic. This was put in operation 
 and a large quantity of ore was crushed and re- 
 duced to retorts. These were sent to St. Louis to 
 be refined but the returns were so poor that the 
 mill fell into disuse. Mr. John Zimmerman, how- 
 ever, claims to this day that he was swindled by the 
 
 [153] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 refiners and that the retorts were rich in gold. 
 Work is being done this year on several gold claims 
 situated in the vicinity of the old mill, or Poudre 
 City as it was called in its palmy days. The Man- 
 hattan district lies 45 miles west of Fort Collins. 
 
 A copper vein was opened on Prairie Divide 
 several years ago and good results were obtained 
 from a quantity of the ore sent to the Denver 
 smelters, but the vein pinched out shortly after- 
 wards and the Copper Bug laid idle until early in 
 
 tricts has been demonstrated time and time again 
 beyond peradventure, but the veins lie far below the 
 surface, and it will cost a great deal of money to 
 uncover them. Deep mining is expensive and so 
 far prospectors and claim owners have been unable 
 to interest capital in their discoveries. Thus far 
 capital has found greater attractions in other parts 
 of the state, but the time will come when monied 
 men will begin looking for mining investments in 
 Larimer county, for the minerals are here. 
 
 MANHATTAN GOLD CAMP IN 18 
 
 1910 when further work done on it resulted in 
 opening up a large body of ore that is proving to be 
 rich in zinc. It is understood that preparations are 
 being made to install mining machinery at the 
 Copper Bug for the purpose of developing the mine 
 and taking out shipping ore. There is said to be a 
 large body of high per cent zinc ore in the Copper 
 Bug and that it can be gotten out and refined and 
 leave a good profit for the owners. 
 
 No doubt the time will come when mining for the 
 precious metals will be an important and profitable 
 industry in Larimer county, for that gold, silver, 
 copper, zinc and lead exists in the mountain dis- 
 
 The northern part of the county is underlaid 
 with coal and coal mining in a desultory manner by 
 crude methods has been carried on for more than 
 forty years. The measures lie close to the surface 
 and the coal taken out of them so far does not 
 possess sufficient specific gravity to entitle it to 
 rank with the best coal taken out further south. It 
 burns well but does not throw off the heat that 
 comes from the best lignite coal of the Boulder 
 county fields. In 1868 and 1869 Cheyenne de- 
 pended almost entirely upon the coal beds of North- 
 ern Larimer county for fuel and the farmers in 
 that part of the county use it now almost ex- 
 
 El 54] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 clusively. It is easily and cheaply mined and costs 
 the consumers less to have it hauled to their homes 
 than from Fort Collins. A few years ago during a 
 labor strike in the Boulder mines, thousands of tons 
 were hauled to Fort Collins by teams from the 
 Indian Springs and Barton coal mines, a distance 
 of twenty miles and consumers found it to answer 
 a good purpose. In the belief that measures carry- 
 ing a better quality of coal will be found by going 
 down to a greater depth, drills have been set at 
 work to find out if the belief is warranted. If the 
 operators succeed in finding measures of good steam 
 coal within three or four hundred feet, that are 
 thick enough to. warrant the cost of mining it, a new 
 and very important industry will be opened up — one 
 that will add a great deal to the prosperity of the 
 people. The Cheyenne-Wellington extension of 
 the Colorado & Southern railroad crosses these 
 coal fields so that transportation facilities will be 
 afforded the operators of these mines, should they 
 prove to be as good as it is believed they will. 
 
 Larimer County's Volcanoes 
 
 Larimer county prides itself upon having some 
 as interesting examples of ancient volcanic dis- 
 turbances as can be found in the entire Rocky 
 Mountain region. These are found in the vicinity 
 of Cameron Pass, about 75 miles west of Fort 
 Collins. Cameron Pass divides the Medicine Bow 
 mountains on the north from the main continental 
 range on the south. The apex of the pass is about 
 10,000 feet above sea level. It is flanked on either 
 side by high ridges and lofty peaks that rise in 
 altitude from 13,000 to 14,000 feet. The more 
 marked evidences of volcanic action ar^ near Lake 
 Zimmerman on the east side of the pass, some ten 
 miles southeast of Chamber's Lake. They form 
 what are known as the "The Craters," and are 
 found at the northern extremity of a long ridge some 
 2,000 feet above the floor of the pass. The top of 
 the ridge is in the shape of a mesa or large grassy 
 plateau. "The Craters" are in the form of two 
 deep rocky basins divided from each other by a thin 
 knife-like ridge. The northwestern walls of "The 
 Craters" overlook Cameron Pass, and are in the 
 form of a serrated ridge of chimney-like rocks. The 
 rocks, columns and boulders are of flint-like hard- 
 ness and are very finely checked, as if at some time 
 they had been exposed to intense heat. The 
 craters are the scene of absolute barreness ' and 
 desolation. So impervious seems the surrounding 
 rock that all the action of the elements for thou- 
 
 sands of years past has failed to make the least im- 
 pression upon them, so that the interstices are 
 devoid of any solid deposits. Consequently even 
 the hardiest plant has found no foothold among 
 them. In the beds of these craters deep snow banks 
 are found which have evidently been forming since 
 the volcanoes cooled off, thousands of years ago, 
 and quit belching their streams of fire and mud 
 and clouds of steam. 
 
 About a mile below the craters lies Lake Zim- 
 merman. This body of water is about a half mile 
 in diameter, and whose ultimate depths have never 
 been fathomed. The waters of the lake are cold 
 and clear, being constantly fed from the numerous 
 springs and snow-banks above. It is thought by 
 scientists that the bed of Lake Zimmerman was 
 at one time the scene of some ancient volcanic 
 eruption. A few miles southwest of Lake Zim- 
 merman is -Lake Agnes, named in honor of Mr. 
 John Zimmerman's youngest daughter. Miss Agnes 
 Zimmerman. This is another fathomless pool em- 
 bosomed between lofty mountain peaks. Lake 
 Agnes is about two miles long and a mile wide. 
 From its western and southwestern shores rise 
 abruptly Finger or Sawtooth mountain and Mount 
 Richthoven, the latter more than 14,000 feet high. 
 Almost in the center of Lake Agnes rises a shaft- 
 like point of rock on the summit of which a few 
 evergreens find lodgment. Richthoven rises 3,000 
 feet above the surface of the lake and may be 
 ascended by a hard climb from the lake's southern 
 extremity. The bed of Lake Agnes . is clearly the 
 crater of an ancient volcano. Its sides are exceed- 
 ingly steep and the lake evidently has great depth. 
 The overshadowing mountains are of almost solid 
 granite, but nevertheless, are crumbling and the 
 broken fragments are gradually filling the lak£. 
 
 To the southwest of Lake Agnes rises a third cliff 
 some 2,000 feet above the surface. The face of this 
 clifE is seamed, and through one of the clefts falls a 
 cascade. John Zimmerman, proprietor of the Key- 
 stone hotel, at Home, after whom Lake Zimmer- 
 man is named, and who spent several years in a 
 cabin at Cameron Pass, and who has explored and 
 known these regions since 1880, maintains that this 
 mountain is actually growing. He says that he 
 not only knows from careful observation that the 
 mountain is now higher than it was when he first 
 beheld it, but that he knows there is a perceptible 
 motion to its surface and certain portions of its 
 interior. Always when climbing the cliff or travers- 
 ing its summit he is conscious of its subtile yet per- 
 ceptible stir. There are slight sounds from within 
 
 [155] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 the cracks and caverns and a constant falling of 
 loose rock. He attributes these characteristics to 
 volcanic action beneath the mountain. If this be 
 true, the child now living in Larimer county may 
 be priviledged to witness the bursting of this moun- 
 tain into a flame of fire and the pouring down its 
 sides of streams of moulten lava. The pent up fires 
 beneath this mountain may sometime within the 
 lives of the school children burst into flames and 
 throw from its interior mud, ashes and steam. Mr. 
 Zimmerman also tells of a moving cave in the cliffs 
 
 water for irrigation purposes from the Laramie river 
 across a high divide and pouring it into Chambers 
 lake, was written by H. A. Crafts and first appeared 
 in the Scientific American, October 14, 1899. 
 It contains so much of historical value and is such 
 an accurate description of a stupendous piece of 
 work that I deem it worth preserving: 
 
 "The Water Supply and Storage company, of 
 Foft Collins, Colorado, upon the completion of 
 the Larimer County ditch, found its water supply to 
 be deficient. The ditch was taken from the north 
 
 LAKE ZIMMERMAN— ALTITUDE 11,000 FEET 
 
 in the neighborhood of the craters near Lake Zim- 
 merman. He discovered this cave in 1884, and vis- 
 iting it a dozen years afterwards found that it had 
 moved about fifty feet to the south and its interior 
 had undergone a great change. This gives increased 
 faith in the real volcanic nature of the region. 
 
 Building of the Laramie River 
 Feeder Ditch 
 
 The following article, describing the obstacles 
 and difficulties encountered and overcome by the 
 Water Supply & Storage company in bringing 
 
 [156] 
 
 side of the Cache la Poudre river, near the foot- 
 hills of the Rocky Mountain range, and leads 
 through the eastern part of Larimer county and 
 into Weld county. Its length is about seventy 
 miles. It is thirty feet wide at the top and twenty 
 feet wide at the bottom, and it has a carrying capac- 
 ity of 660 cubic feet of water per second. Under 
 it there are some 20,000 acres of land susceptible 
 of irrigation. Owing to the amount of water taken 
 from Cache la Poudre by prior appropriations, 
 there was not enough left to enable the company to 
 carry out its original designs. Storage reservoirs 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 in connection with the ditch were constructed on 
 the Plains, having a capacity of six hundred million 
 cubic feet of water. These were filled at such 
 times as there was water to spare from the river, 
 but even with the water thus held in reserve there 
 was not enough to supply the deficiency. It 
 needed not only an additional supply for the 
 ditch during the irrigating season, but for 
 the proper filling of the storage reservoirs. 
 
 "To secure more water from the Cache 
 la Poudre river was out of the question, nor 
 were there other streams having still un- 
 appropriated water at convenient distances 
 and tending in the same direction. 
 
 "At the head of the Cache la Poudre in 
 the higher altitudes of the Rocky Moun- 
 tains and some sixty miles above the head- 
 gates of the Larimer County ditch, was 
 Chambers Lake. This had been formed 
 by- a deep depression, and covered at low 
 water 135 acres, and at high water 212 
 acres. The ditch company incorporated 
 Chamber's Lake as a reservoir and con- 
 structed across its outlet an immense earth- 
 work dam, which raised the lake and gave 
 the company one hundred and thirty million 
 cubic feet of water to draw upon as they 
 found it necessary. But one day, June 8th, 
 1891, when the reservoir was full, there 
 came a cloudburst above it, and the rush of 
 the water into it, coupled with a supposed 
 weakness of the dam at the wasteway, burst 
 the dam, and an immense body of water 
 was let loose and poured down the canon 
 and into the valley below, causing great 
 damage and entailing much vexatious litiga- 
 tion. The loss was so. great that the com- 
 pany was slow to reconstruct its dam, and 
 other sources of water supply were sought. 
 
 "In the vicinity of Chamber's Lake are 
 the head waters of several other mountain 
 streams. Northward some five miles on the 
 northern slope of Mount Cameron are the head- 
 waters of the Big Laramie river, which Hows 
 northward and empties into the North Platte river 
 in Wyoming. Westward about the same distance 
 is Cameron Pass, where Michigan creek and several 
 other small streams have their rise and flow west- 
 ward down into North Park and empty at last into 
 the North Platte itself. Again to the southwest- 
 ward and lying beyond the Continental Divide are 
 the headwaters of the Grand river, which flows 
 southviresterly and empties into the Colorado river. 
 
 which in turn flows to the Pacific. Yet the engi- 
 neers upon investigation found that by tapping 
 these streams at an elevation of some 10,000 feet 
 above sea level, water could be conveyed over the 
 intervening divides and delivered into the head- 
 
 LARAMIE RIVER FEEDER DITCH— KNOWN 
 AS THE "SKYLINE" 
 
 waters of the Cache la Poudre, and that the water 
 could be legally appropriated as the streams named 
 yet held large quantities that had not been appro- 
 priated for irrigation purposes. The company 
 thereupon decided to obtain a portion of this water 
 by bringing it over to the Cache la Poudre water- 
 shed. 
 
 "They began tapping the Big Laramie. They 
 commenced their ditch which was to act as a feeder, 
 high up in the gulch on the northern slope of 
 Mount Cameron, where the river had a discharge 
 
 [157] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 of some 500 cubic feet of water, and swung it round 
 to the eastern flank of the mountain to Chamber's 
 Lake, a distance of some five miles, where it dis- 
 charges into the lake. It was a difficult piece of 
 engineering, located as the ditch was at such a great 
 altitude, and upon the side of a mountain whose 
 slope was at an angle of about 459* There were 
 three principal classes of material encountered in 
 the excavation — loose earth, loose rock and solid 
 rock. One tunnel 110 feet in length through solid 
 rock was constructed. The difficulties of construc- 
 tion may be readily imagined when it is stated that 
 the ditch was constructed at least 1,500 feet above 
 the base of the- mountain. In the first place, the 
 timber was all cleared from the site of the proposed 
 ditch and then about a foot of vegetable mould was 
 scraped off down to solid ground and banked on the 
 lower side. With the felled timber, log curbing 
 was constructed to hold the lower bank. Where 
 there was standing timber on the lower side, the 
 felled timber was rolled down against it thus form- 
 ing another scheme of retention. At intervals for 
 at least two-thirds of the distance around the flank 
 of the mountain small streams were intersected. 
 These were turned into the ditch to add their waters 
 to the general supply. The principal of these 
 streams was Two and a Half Mile creek. The 
 ditch was at first flumed across the gulch and then 
 the water from the creek was carried into it over 
 a latticed apron. The apron was designed to both 
 break the force of the water for a better protection 
 of the flume and also to permit all floatage to be 
 carried over the flume and discharged into the 
 creek below. 
 
 "The ditch is five miles in length, eight feet 
 wide at the bottom, and twelve feet wide at the 
 top, and will carry water to the depth of four feet. 
 n§ carrying capacity at its head is 240 cubic feet 
 per second, but in order to embrace the water of 
 the intersecting creeks, its capacity is gradually in- 
 creased until at its outlet it has a carrying capacity 
 of 400 feet. The ditch has stood the test well. 
 The lower bank has settled down solidly and has 
 not yet experienced a single break. The upper bank, 
 however, is subject to a constant sliding process from 
 above. Some parts of the mountain side are springy 
 and from these earth slides result. It was also found 
 that the swaying of the trees on the upper bank 
 caused a loosening of the soil, so the standing timber 
 was felled some twenty-five or thirty feet further 
 back from the bank. To prevent breakage from sud- 
 den floods caused by cloudbursts above, automatic 
 wasteways have been constructed. Log cribbing has 
 
 also been built upon the upper bank and along the 
 most exposed parts in order to catch loose matter 
 that may slide down from above. 
 
 "The company has also reconstructed its Cham- 
 ber's Lake dam, but in a more substantial manner 
 than formerly. That part of the old earth dam 
 which was carried out has been replaced by a 
 strong dam of piling. The round piling was driven 
 to depths varying from 23 to 25 feet, and the sheet 
 piling from 10 to 14 feet. The dam is 11 feet high 
 above the main floor, 190 feet long on the top, and 
 150 feet at the bottom. The dam is built into the 
 old embankment, which is 63 feet wide at the base 
 and 30 feet wide on top, and is faced with crib- 
 work." 
 
 In May, 1904, this second dam was carried out 
 by a flood, and in the fall of 1910 the company be- 
 gan its reconstruction in a more stable and substan- 
 tial form. This third dam is being built of concrete 
 and will be ten feet higher than the second one 
 and will impound more than double the quantity of 
 water that it did. 
 
 Newspaper History 
 
 As already stated, the Express, founded by Joseph 
 S. McClelland in April, 1873, was the first news- 
 paper printed and published in Larimer county. 
 It was started as a Republican paper and remained 
 as such until 1896, when it espoused the politics of 
 the Colorado Silver Republican party and continued 
 to advocate those policies until 1900, when it re- 
 turned to the Republican fold and became, and still 
 continues to be an able and influential exponent of 
 the principles of that party. It has passed through 
 several changes of ownership and is now owned, 
 controlled, edited and published by George C. and 
 J. G. McCormick under the firm name of McCor- 
 mick Brothers. In 1881 the Express, then owned by 
 H. A. Crafts, began issuing an afternoon daily edi- 
 tion, which was continued until 1884, when the 
 daily was suspended. On May 28th, 1907, McCor- 
 mick Brothers began issuing a morning daily edition 
 of the Express in connection with their weekly, and 
 the publications have been important factors in the 
 upbuilding of the home of its adoption. The next 
 newspaper venture was the Standard, founded in 
 March, 1874, by Clark Boughton, who died a few 
 months later. After his death the Standard was 
 published by H. L. Myrick and W. W. Sullivan 
 until 1876, when it suspended, and the press and 
 material was sold to John Oliver of Black Hawk. 
 
 [158] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 The Fort Collins Courier was founded in June, 
 1878, by Ansel Watrous and Elmer M. Pelton and 
 the paper is still being published. It was started 
 as a Democratic paper and at once became the organ 
 of the Democratic party of Larimer county, but 
 after a change of ownership, in February, 1899, 
 it became an advocate of the principles and policies 
 of the Republican party and is still a rigid adherent 
 of those principles and policies. In May, 1882, the 
 Courier began issuing an evening daily edition, 
 which, however, was suspended in June, 1883, 
 after a little more than a year's experience. The 
 publishers found the field too narrow to support 
 such a daily as they were circulating and, after 
 sinking more than a thousand dollars in the venture, 
 decided to quit. The effort to establish a daily 
 newspaper on a profitable basis was renewed in 
 March, 1902, and this was successful. The Even- 
 ing Courier is now nearing its ninth volume and 
 is in a flourishing condition. It has been prosperous 
 from the very start and is now considered one of 
 the soild, substantial institutions of the city. 
 
 The Courier is owned by the Courier Printing 
 & Publishing Company, Carl Anderson, manager. 
 
 The Reporter, the first newspaper published in 
 Loveland, was founded by G. N. Udell on August 
 7th, 1880. Two months later the Reporter passed 
 under the control and management of Frank A. 
 McClelland, eldest son of the founder of the Lar- 
 imer County Express, and he sold the plant and 
 subscription list to George W. Bailey and John 
 Smart early in 1882. Since then the Reporter has 
 had several owners, editors and publishers. At 
 present it is owned and ably edited by Ira O. 
 Knapp, who has established for it a reputation for 
 reliability and a high regard for the right in all 
 things, as well as in the manner of dealing with all 
 subjects treated in its columns, which has given the 
 Reporter a high standing among the best people of 
 the county. The Reporter is Republican in politics. 
 
 The Loveland Leader was started in 1883 by 
 Horace P. Crafts, who discontinued its publication 
 after a few months' experience in a field already 
 well filled. 
 
 In 1885 S. W. Teagarden started the Larimer 
 Count Bee in Fort Collins. Two years later the 
 Bee disappeared from the Fort Collins newspaper 
 field. It was Republican in politics and was started 
 for the purpose of driving the Express to the wall, 
 but failed in its mission. Then came two other 
 newspaper ventures, which had short but ill-fared 
 lives. The Larimer County Republican started in 
 1889 and the Fort Collins Gazette, which made its 
 
 appearance in 1892. They came upon the stage 
 of action to "fill a long felt want" and that want 
 proved to be a newspaper grave. The Argus was 
 started in 1899, and after passing through several 
 mutations and changes of owners and name finally 
 became known as the Fort Collins Review, under 
 which title it is still being published daily and 
 weekly. The Review is the leading Democratic 
 paper in the county. It is ably edited by Edward 
 D. Foster and is published by the Review Publish- 
 ing company. 
 
 In 1903 the Evening Star appeared in the Fort 
 Collins newspaper firmament under the editorial 
 management of I. C. Bradley. It was small in 
 size, but bright and snappy and its daily appearance 
 was looked forward to with considerable interest 
 for ten months, when it dropped below the horizon 
 and passed out of sight. 
 
 Along sometime in the 90's, the exact date I am 
 unable to give. Earl Harbaugh started the Loveland 
 Register, which had a somewhat checkered career, 
 finally passing off the stage of action in 1908. The 
 Loveland Herald, Democratic, daily and weekly, 
 was founded in 1907, and is still preaching the 
 doctrines espoused and promulgated by Jefferson 
 and Jackson in a sprightly and interesting manner. 
 It has a large number of readers, an extra good 
 advertising patronage and is steadily making money 
 for its active, energetic and enterprising editor, 
 Mark A. Ellison. 
 
 Two newspapers had their birth in Berthoud, 
 the Bulletin and the News, only the first named sur- 
 viving. The Bulletin is independent in politics 
 and is a well edited and well managed local news- 
 paper and is rendering excellent service in exploit- 
 ing the resources, advantages and attractions of the 
 Little Thompson valley, one of the richest and 
 most prosperous agricultural sections of Colorado. 
 J. S. Bailey is the name of the present editor and 
 proprietor. 
 
 Though young in years, Wellington has given 
 birth to two newspapers, the News and the Sun, the 
 latter alone surviving. The Sun has changed hands 
 several times, but is now owned and conducted by 
 John E. Pope, an experienced newspaper man and 
 practical printer, who is serving his clientage ably 
 and well. It was founded in 1907, and has done 
 much to advance the material, social and moral 
 welfare of the far-famed Boxelder valley, of which 
 Wellington is the commercial center. 
 
 In February, 1887, after Manhattan had be- 
 come a booming mining camp with brilliant pros- 
 pects, a newspaper called the Prospector was started 
 
 [159] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 to proclaim to the world the golden resources of its 
 chosen home. The Prospector was published by the 
 Manhattan Publishing company, of which Dr. M. 
 A. Baker was president; I. R. Blevin, secretary, 
 and F. A. McCarty, treasurer. The paper was 
 short lived and passed out of existence within a year 
 and the printing material was moved to Denver. 
 
 In 19d6 Mr. and Mrs. B. F. Evans of Fort Col- 
 lins launched the Beacon, a bright and sparkling 
 literary weekly, which they continued to publish 
 until 1909, when it was suspended. This completes 
 the list of newspaper ventures in Larimer county, 
 from which it appears that many were called and 
 few chosen. The surviving papers are the Daily 
 and Weekly Express; the Daily and Weekly Cour- 
 ier, and the Daily and Weekly Review, all of Fort 
 Collins; the Weekly Reporter and the Daily and 
 Weekly Herald of Loveland; the Weekly Bulletin 
 of Berthoud, and the Weekly Sun of Wellington. 
 
 Postoffices in Larimer County 
 
 The first settlers in Larimer county remained 
 without a postoffice and mail facilities until 1862, 
 when the Overland Stage line was transferred from 
 the North Platte route to the South Platte, the line 
 following the latter stream from Julesburg to Den- 
 ver, thence north through Larimer county via Lit- 
 tle Thompson, Big Thompson, Laporte, Virginia 
 Dale to the Laramie Plains, and thence west to a 
 junction with the old North Platte route. That 
 year postoffices were established at Mariana's, on the 
 Big Thompson, and at Laporte. The office at Mar- 
 iana's was called Namaqua. A Spaniard with an 
 Indian wife was postmaster. G. R. Sanderson, 
 who kept a store at Laporte, was the first postmaster 
 at that place. Before that date settlers had to go 
 to Denver or Fort Laramie for their mail. In 1864 
 a postoffice was established at Washburn's Crossing 
 of the Big Thompson, and John E. Washburn was 
 postmaster. It was known as the Big Thompson 
 postoffice and retained that name until the Colorado 
 Central Railroad was built in 1877, when it was 
 changed to Loveland, which name it still bears. Soon 
 after the soldiers established a military post at Fort 
 Collins, in the fall of 1864, the troops were given 
 mail facilities and a postoffice called Camp Collins. 
 Joseph Mason was the first postmaster, the office 
 being kept in his store, which stood where the City 
 Drug store now stands. As the population in- 
 creased and a demand grew up for them, other 
 postoffices were established in different parts of the 
 county where they would accommodate the greatest 
 
 [160] 
 
 number of people. At present there are twenty- 
 four postoffices in the county, named as follows : 
 
 Bellvue, Berthoud, Boxelder, Bulger, Drake, Elk- 
 horn, Estes Park, Fort Collins, Glendevey, Glen- 
 eyre, Home, Laporte, Livermore, Logcabin. Long's 
 Peak, Loveland, Masonville, Moraine Park, Pine- 
 wood, St. Cloud, Timnath, Virginia Dale, Waverly 
 and Wellington. One of these. Fort Collins, is 
 a second-class office, and two others, Loveland and 
 Berthoud, are third-class offices. All the others are 
 in the fourth class. There are five Rural free 
 delivery routes radiating from Fort Collins, two 
 from Loveland, two from Berthoud, two from Wel- 
 lington and one from Bellvue. The annual re- 
 ceipts at the Fort Collins office for stamps, stamped 
 envelopes, postal cards sold and for box rents ex- 
 ceeds $30,000. The government has appropriated 
 $135,000 for a federal building containing a post- 
 office, work on which is expected to be started in 
 1911. 
 
 Origin of Local Names 
 
 I have devoted much time and energy to an effort 
 to ascertain, if possible, the origin of the names given 
 to localities, streams, mountains, lakes, passes, etc., 
 with greater or less success. In some instances I 
 have been unable, after considerable research, to 
 get the desired information, even from the oldest 
 inhabitants, as in the case of Namaqua. No one 
 living in the county has been able to tell me how 
 that name originated, nor what it signifies. It is 
 unquestionably of Indian origin, but how, when 
 and by whom it was bestowed and what it means are 
 among things which have escaped the memory (if 
 they ever knew) of all the surviving pioneers. In 
 several instances the origin of the names given to 
 localities is indicated in the historical sketches of 
 those localities, as in the case of Fort Collins, Love- 
 land, Big Thom.pson, Livermore, Laporte, Virginia 
 Dale, Stove Prairie and Buckhorn. In addition to 
 these, the following list of names under separate 
 captions, is presented in the belief that the history 
 of their origin should be preserved for the benefit 
 of future generations : 
 
 Naming of the Cache la Poudre 
 River 
 
 The true story of how the Cache la Poudre river 
 got its name was told me by the late Abner Loomis 
 and printed in the Fort Collins Courier of February 
 8th, 1883. This story came to Mr. Loomis from 
 first hand, having been told to him by his long time 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 personal friend, the late Antoine Janis, the first 
 white settler in Larimer county, who was a member 
 of a party of freighters that was snow-bound near 
 the present town of Bellvue, in November,. 1836. 
 The story as it was printed in the Courier more than 
 a quarter of a century ago, is substantially as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 "A few rods distant from where the Bellvue 
 school house now stands there is, or was, a deep 
 artificial depression covering several feet each way 
 in extent. From this hole in the ground the Cache 
 la Poudre river, one of Colorado's largest and finest 
 mountain streams, derives its name. The circum- 
 stances connected with the origin of the name are as 
 follows : 
 
 "In November, 1836, a large party of trappers 
 and employes in the service of the American Fur 
 company, while on their way from St. Louis to 
 Green River, Wyoming, with a heavily loaded wag- 
 on-train, camped for the night on the bank of the 
 river near the locality mentioned. Antoine Janis, 
 who was well known to all the early settlers of 
 Northern Colorado, then a boy twelve years of age, 
 was with the party, his father being captain of the 
 caravan. 
 
 "During the night a severe snow storm set in and 
 continued for several days, covering the ground with 
 an immense body of snow, which, for the time being, 
 prevented the further progress of the caravan. Fi- 
 nally, after the storm had abated and the snow had 
 settled some, the order was given to lighten the 
 wagons and get ready to proceed. A large, deep 
 pit, like a house cellar only much deeper, was dug 
 a few rods south of the camp, and all that could be 
 spared from each wagon was stored away in it. The 
 pit was then skillfully filled and covered over with 
 a pile of brush, which was set on fire and burned, 
 giving the spot the appearance of having been a 
 camping ground. This was done to deceive the pry- 
 ing eyes of thieving Indians. 
 
 "The train, considerably lightened, then pursued 
 its way over the mountains to its destination. Some 
 of the teams returned later in the season, reopened 
 the pit and loading the goods that had been safely 
 cached, departed with them for Green River with- 
 out the loss of a pound of freight. 
 
 "Included in the stores buried in the pit were 
 several hundred pounds of powder. From this cir- 
 cumstance comes the name Cache la Poudre, a 
 French phrase signifying 'where the powder was 
 hidden.' " 
 
 There have been several stories which pretended 
 to give the origin of the name of the Cache la 
 
 Poudre river, but this is believed to be the true 
 one, as it was related by an eye-witness of the cach- 
 ing of the powder. 
 
 Definition of the Word "Cache" 
 
 In Chittenden's American Fur Trade, Volume I., 
 page 41, we find the following lucid definition of the 
 term "Cache," which possesses a local significance 
 because of the name given to the principal river 
 which rises in and flows eastward through Larimer 
 county. The stream derives its name from an inci- 
 dent, the nature of and reason for which are so 
 clearly described by the author. He says: 
 
 "Of the many terms peculiar to the fur trade no 
 one was of more common use than the 'cache.' It 
 frequently happens that parties had to abandon tem- 
 porarily the property they were carrying, with the 
 intention of returning for it at a more convenient 
 time, the property so abandoned being cached or 
 concealed so as to prevent its loss or injury. The 
 use of the word in this specific meaning is very old 
 and, of course, came through the French, to whose 
 language it belongs. The cache, as ordinarily pre- 
 pared, consisted of a deep pit in the ground, in the 
 construction of which the point of paramount im- 
 portance was to avoid any trace of the work which 
 might attract attention after it was completed. The 
 size of the pit depended upon the quantity it was to 
 hold and sometimes it was very spacious and con- 
 tained wagons and other bulky material. The best 
 site was in a dry soil, easily excavated, and in a sit- 
 uation that afiforded good facilities for concealment. 
 The pit was lined with sticks and dry leaves, after 
 which the goods were carefully disposed therein, 
 and all perishable articles, such as provisions or fur, 
 were protected with the utmost care. This was 
 a vital matter, for it frequently happened that val- 
 uable articles were found spoiled. 
 
 "The greatest diflficulty in the preparation of a 
 cache was the concealment after completion. From 
 the sharp eyes of the sons of the prairie no trace 
 however minute would escape. * * * The conceal- 
 ment consisted simply in removing all evidence of 
 the cache — never by any sort of covering. The 
 point was to leave the ground looking just as it 
 did before. If in turf, the sod was scrupulously 
 replaced. In other places it was usual to build a 
 camp-fire over the cache and thus not only obliterate 
 all evidence of the work, but divert attention as 
 well. With all this care, caches were often discov- 
 ered and 'raised' or 'lifted' by those who had no 
 right to them. Wolves often dug them out and their 
 
 [161] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 work would discover them to the Indians. The 
 trappers themselves, as a general thing, respected the 
 cache of rival parties. 
 
 "These caches," continues the writer, "sometimes 
 attained notoriety and have left their names in var- 
 ious localities. Cache Valley, Utah, is an example. 
 There are also numerous 'Cache Creeks' scattered 
 throughout the West." 
 
 On Monday, August 1st, 1910, "Colorado Day," 
 Cache la Poudre Chapter, Daughters of the Ameri- 
 can Revolution, unveiled and dedicated a large gran- 
 ite tablet to mark the spot where trappers, in 1836, 
 cached a quantity of powder, from which incident 
 the Cache la Poudre river takes its name. The cer- 
 emonies took place on the lawn of the home of D. D. 
 Doty, in Pleasant valley, on whose farm the powder 
 was buried 74 years ago, and were interesting, in- 
 structive and impressive. Appropriate introductory 
 addresses were delivered by Hon. Fred W. Stover, 
 judge of the county court, himself a son of a pio- 
 neer, and Mrs. Frank Wheaton of Denver, Colo- 
 rado, Regent of the Daughters of the American 
 Revolution. The tablet was then unveiled by the 
 Misses Florence and Esther Gillette, daughters of 
 Mrs. C. P. Gillette, Chaplain of the Colorado 
 Chapter. The presentation address was delivered by 
 Mrs. P. J. McHugh, and the address of acceptance 
 on behalf of Larimer county by John J. Herring, 
 county attorney. The tablet, suitably engraved, 
 stands at the roadside, a few rods north of where 
 the pit was dug, in Mr. Doty's field. 
 
 Another Name for Cache la Poudre 
 , River 
 
 In Major Stephen H. Long's report of his noted 
 expedition to the Rocky Mountains, made in 1820, 
 we find the following reference to what is believed 
 to have been the Cache la Poudre river. He says: 
 "On the 3rd of July we passed the mouths of three 
 large creeks heading in the mountains and entering 
 the Platte from the northwest. One of these, nearly 
 opposite to where we were encamped, is called 
 'Pateros creek,' from a Frenchman of that name 
 who is said to have been bewildered upon it, wander- 
 ing about for twenty days almost without food. He 
 was found by a band of Kiowas who frequented this 
 part of the country, and restored to his companions, 
 a party of hunters at that time camping on the 
 Arkansas." 
 
 The three large creeks mentioned by Major Long 
 must have been the Cache la Poudre, the Big 
 Thompson and the St. Vrain, and it is altogether 
 
 [16::] 
 
 probable that the one he called Pateros is now 
 known . as the Cache la Poudre. How long the 
 stream had been known as Pateros creek before 
 Maj. Long noticed it we have no means of deter- 
 mining, as we are unable to find any other reference 
 to it in reports of either former or subsequent expedi- 
 tions. Neither does it appear how Long learned 
 that it was called Pateros creek. The present 
 name of Cache la Poudre was not bestowed upon 
 the stream until some fifteen or sixteen years later. 
 It appears, however, that the Cache la Poudre val- 
 ley had been visited by white men hunters and trap- 
 pers as much as one hundred years ago, and probably 
 earlier than that period. The origin of the name 
 Cache la Poudre is given elsewhere in this book. 
 
 Medicine Bow Mountains 
 
 The name Medicine Bow Mountains, a spur of 
 the Continental Divide, and which forms the west- 
 ern boundary of Larimer county, is derived from 
 the Indians. Tradition says that the Northern 
 tribes repaired annually to these mountains for the 
 purpose of procuring a variety of ash timber from 
 which they made their bows. With the Indians 
 anything that is excellent for the purpose for which 
 it was intended is called Good Medicine ; hence 
 this range of mountains came to be known as the 
 place where they could get Good Medicine bows. 
 Medicine Bow Mountains and Medicine Bow 
 river naturally followed. 
 
 Naming of Cameron Pass 
 
 Cameron Pass, one of the notable depressions in 
 the Medicine Bow range of mountains, was named 
 in honor of Gen. R. A. Cam.eron, president of the 
 Greeley Colony. Soon after locating the colony 
 at Greeley, in 1870, General Cameron and Dr. 
 Laws went up the Cache la Poudre river to Cham- 
 ber's lake on a prospecting trip, and while in the 
 mountains discovered the pass through the Medi- 
 cine Bow Mountains which led into North Park, 
 and afterwards named by the Union Pacific en- 
 gineering department as Cameron Pass, in honor of 
 General Cameron, and was entered on the map as 
 such. 
 
 Naming of the Laramie River 
 
 The Laramie river, perhaps the largest stream 
 in Larimer county, heads in the Medicine Bow 
 mountains, a short distance northwest of Chamber's 
 lake. It flows almost directly north for about six 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 miles and then bears northwesterly through one of 
 the prettiest valleys in the state, crossing the state 
 line into Wyoming nearly thirty miles northwest of 
 its source. Thence it flows a northerly course and 
 empties into the North Platte near Fort Laramie. 
 The Laramie is fed by several important tributaries 
 before it leaves Colorado, which have their sources 
 in the Medicine Bow Mountains, among them being 
 the West Branch, Spring Creek, Rawah, Mclntyre, 
 Legarde, Grace and other creeks. The main stream 
 derives its name from the Jacques Laramie, a French 
 Canadian, who came into the country in the employ 
 of the Northwest Fur company when that organiza- 
 tion first extended its operations to the waters of 
 the upper Missouri. Laramie gathered about him 
 a number of reliable trappers and trapped on the 
 headwaters of the North Platte. About the year 
 1820 Laramie decided to trap on the Laramie river 
 and its tributaries, notwithstanding the fact that it 
 was well known among trappers as a dangerous 
 country, for the reason that it was the battle ground 
 of the Northern and Southern tribes, who were con- 
 tinually at war with each other. Laram.ie's friends 
 urged upon him the danger of penetrating the dis- 
 puted country, but he calmed their fears by saying 
 that he would go alone and throw himself upon the 
 protection of the Indians, who were known to be 
 friendly to him. At the next gathering at the ren- 
 dezvous, Laramie, the heretofore central figure in 
 the company, was absent. His friends, with fore- 
 bodings of evil, organized a strong party and went 
 up the Laramie river in search of a cabin which he 
 informed them he would build. In two or three 
 days they found the cabin and the lifeless body of 
 their beloved partizan. There was every indica- 
 tion that he had met death at the hands of the 
 Indians. From that time on they spoke of the river 
 on the banks of which Laramie had been murdered 
 as Laramie's river, and later trappers in the country 
 called it Laramie river. This is the origin of the 
 name of Laramie river, from which comes Laramie 
 Plains, Laramie Range, Laramie Peak, Fort Lar- 
 amie, Laramie county, Wyoming, Laramie City 
 and Little Laramie river. 
 
 How Chambers Lake Got Its Name 
 
 In the late fifties Robert Chambers and his son, 
 Robert, came out from Iowa and built a cabin near 
 the mouth of the Big Thompson canon. They 
 engaged in trapping and hunting for a livlihood, 
 operating on all the streams that head in the Med- 
 icine Bow Mountains. In the fall of 1858 they 
 
 established a camp on the headwaters of the Cache 
 la Poudre river and set about trapping for beaver 
 and hunting bear for furs, meeting with good suc- 
 cess. Their ammunition running low, Robert, the 
 son, was dispatched to Laporte, then quite a settle- 
 ment and trading point, for a supply of powder and 
 lead. During his absence the Indians attacked the 
 camp at the lake and succeeded in killing and 
 scalping the lone occupant, but not until after a 
 desperate fight. Chambers held the redskins in 
 check while his supply of bullets held out and then 
 he cut the ramrod of his gun into slugs and fired 
 them at his assailants. But all in vain. He was 
 at last overcome and cruelly slain and his body hor- 
 ribly mutilated. The Indians burned the cabin and, 
 taking the furs that had been gathered, fled into 
 North Park. When the son returned with a supply 
 of ammunition he found his father cold in death 
 and the camp destroyed. He was so affected by the 
 scene which met his eyes that he vowed vengeance 
 on the Indians and determined to kill on sight 
 every redskin that crossed his path — a vow that he 
 kept and made good. He abandoned the mountains 
 and returned to his father's lonely cabin on the 
 Thompson. This is substantially the story as he 
 told it to former County Commissioner W. P. 
 Bosworth, in 1872, who related it to the writer. 
 
 After the Union Pacific road had been completed 
 to Cheyenne, in 1867, young Chambers, while in 
 Cheyenne, told one of the tie contractors of the 
 road of the vast amount of tie timber to be found 
 on the Cache la Poudre in the vicinity of the lake 
 where his father had been killed. The contractor 
 went there with a camp and tie outfit and cut and 
 floated down the Laramie more than one million 
 railroad ties for the Union and Denver Pacific 
 railroads. The camp was established on the shore 
 of the lake, which was given the name of Chambers 
 in honor of the old trapper who lost his life in a 
 struggle with the savages. Since then the locality 
 has been known as Chambers lake, one of the most 
 picturesque mountain landmarks in Northern Colo- 
 rado. 
 
 Lone Pine Creek 
 
 A beautiful trout stream derives its name from 
 a symmetrically formed, low branched pine tree 
 which stood solitary and alon'e near the banks of 
 of the stream on the Emerson ranch, three miles 
 west of Livermore postoffice. For years this tree 
 was a familiar landmark to travelers going to and 
 from the mountains. The Lone Pine is a tributary 
 of the North fork of the Cache la Poudre river. 
 
 [163] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 and heads high up among the timber and snows of 
 Greenridge, a range of high hills which divide the 
 waters of the Laramie river from those of the east- 
 ern slope. In places the stream flows through deep, 
 dark canons and then widens out into beautiful 
 valleys, in which are now a number of fine homes 
 and stock ranches. 
 
 Hook & Moore Canon 
 
 Hook & Moore canon is really a glade or narrow 
 valley lying between two rows of hogbacks, and ex- 
 tends from a point a little north of Pleasant valley 
 to Owl canon, a distance of about six miles. The 
 county road from Fort Collins to Livermore and 
 the mountain country beyond and also to the Lara- 
 mie Plains follow this glade to Owl canon. It 
 was named for H. M. Hook and James Moore, two 
 stockmen who pastured cattle In the glade in 1864- 
 65. In 1867 Mr. Hook moved his cattle to Wyo- 
 ming and was the first mayor of Cheyenne. In com- 
 pany with a man named French, he conducted a 
 store at Laporte in 1864-65. He was drowned in 
 Green River in 1878. Soon after that his widow, 
 who was a sister of Mrs. H. C. Peterson, and her 
 children came to Fort Collins and resided here sev- 
 eral years. Her daughter. Miss Nettie Hook, mar- 
 ried F. E. Gifford, a hardware merchant, in 1884. 
 
 The old Cherokee Trail, over which the Over- 
 land stage and emigrants passed in the early days, 
 followed a glade southwest of and parallel with 
 Hook & Moore glade, but in 1879 the road was 
 
 changed to Hook & Moore glade because it afforded 
 better and easier grades. 
 
 Pingree Hill 
 
 The long, steep hill leading from the bottom of 
 the canon of the Cache la Poudre river to the up- 
 lands, up and down which all travel to and from 
 Chambers lake and Cameron Pass must climb or 
 descend, was named in honor of George W. Pin- 
 gree, a hunter and trapper, who built a cabin on 
 the river bank near where the Rustic hotel now 
 stands, and spent his winters in the late 60's trap- 
 ping beaver and hunting wild game. He cut a trail 
 through the timber down the gulch from the summit 
 to the river, a distance of three miles, and over it 
 packed his supplies, furs and game. The descent 
 from the summit to the river is 1,200 feet. Along 
 late in the 60's, when the Union Pacific and Denver 
 Pacific railroads were being built, tie contractors 
 and lumbermen widened the trail and graded a 
 road down the hill so that teams loaded with camp 
 supplies could go over it, giving the name Pingree 
 to the hill, by which name it has since been known. 
 
 Pingree, called "Ping" by the Indians, came West 
 in 1846 and followed trapping and hunting. He 
 was with Kit Carson for many years and during 
 the Indian troubles of 1864-65 was with Col. John 
 M. Chivington's command, participating in the 
 battle of Sand Creek In November, 1864. The old 
 scout and trapper is still living at Fort Lupton, well 
 past four score years of age. 
 
 [164] 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 LARIMER 
 
 COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 Settlements, Towns and Cities 
 
 Laporte 
 
 1A (behold) Porte (gate), "behold the gate," 
 is properly named. It is the gateway to 
 J all that mountainous region lying north 
 of the South Platte river and extending 
 from the Plains to the Continental Divide, em- 
 bracing thousands of square miles of territory, 
 and is counted as being among the localities 
 where the very first white settlements were made 
 in Colorado, and is also a point about which 
 centers a great deal of historical interest. Indeed, 
 it is claimed that Antoine Janis, who staked out a 
 claim a little west of Laporte in 1844, and occupied 
 it as a home until 1878, was the first permanent 
 white settler in Colorado north of the Arkansas 
 river. Trapping camps on the streams issuing from 
 the eastern slope of the mountains had been estab- 
 lished and occupied by white men during the trap- 
 ping season thirty years before that time, but they 
 were by no means permanent settlements. The occu- 
 pants of these camps only lived in them but a few 
 months during the year at best, and when trapping 
 ceased to be profitable the camps were deserted and 
 abandoned for all time. Away back in the early 
 days, long before the gold hunters made their grand 
 rush upon Colorado, a band of intrepid Canadian 
 French mountaineers, hunters and trappers made 
 Laporte headquarters for their fur catching and 
 trading operations. They were here in 1847, 
 when the Mormons, with their long trains, drawn 
 by weary, footsore beasts, freighted with travel- 
 stained, yet hopeful men, women and children, 
 passed through on their way to a new home in the 
 deepest recesses of the Rocky Mountain region, 
 where they sought freedom to worship God in their 
 own peculiar manner ; they were here when the gold 
 hunters came in 1858, and some of them and their 
 half-breed descendants remained until years after 
 Colorado was admitted into the Union as a sover- 
 eign state. Their neighbors were the Cheyenne 
 and Arapahoe Indians, with whom they intermar- 
 ried and with whom they maintained the utmost 
 friendly and business relations. From 1858 to 1860 
 the community increased in numbers and in the lat- 
 ter year a town company was organized, known as 
 the Colona Town company, whose object was to 
 
 build a city on the banks of the Cache la Poudre at 
 the entrance to the mountain region. This com- 
 pany was officered the first year by Enoch W. Ray- 
 mond, president, and Arch P. Williams, secretary. 
 The writer has in his possession stock certificate No. 
 3, issued by that company, which reads as follows : 
 
 "Whole No. of Share, 50 Share No. 7 Certificate 
 
 "No. 3— Colona Town Company 
 
 "This is to certify that Chas. H. Blake is the owner of 
 one-tenth of one original share in the Town of Colona, 
 
 which entitles him to lots, described as 
 
 follows Subject to the by-laws 
 
 and assessments of the company. 
 
 "No transfer recognized unless . endorsed and recorded 
 in the books of the Company by the Secretary. 
 
 "Colona, Feb. 10, 1860. 
 
 "Enoch W. Raymond, President. 
 "Arch P. Williams, Secretary." 
 
 The town grew rapidly, between fifty and sixty 
 log dwellings being erected during that year, and 
 it was the most important point for business north 
 of Denver. The first cabin built in the new town 
 was erected by the late John B. Provost. In 1862 
 Laporte was made headquarters of the Mountain 
 division of the Overland Stage company, and for 
 a time it flourished like a green bay tree. In 1861 
 it was named the county seat of Larimer county 
 in the act passed by the first Territorial Legislature, 
 setting off and creating the counties of the terri- 
 tory, and it aspired to be the capitol of the terri- 
 tory, but that honor went to Colorado City for the 
 time being. Gardening and making hay, prospect- 
 ing for silver and gold, and hunting were the prin- 
 cipal occupations of the inhabitants. General farm- 
 ing had not then been entered upon. Game was 
 plentiful and easily obtained and, though flour some- 
 times commanded $100 a sack, the settlers seldom 
 suffered for food. 
 
 The first bridge over the Cache la Poudre river 
 was a toll bridge built by private parties. It stood 
 near where the present iron bridge now stands, and 
 during the rush to California and Oregon as many 
 as 2,000 wagons crossed on it in a single day. The 
 toll charged ranged from $3 to $8. This bridge 
 was carried away by the flood of 1864, and John B. 
 Provost rigged up a ferry, which was used during 
 high water for several years and until the county 
 built a new bridge. In the early days the town was 
 
 [165] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 a bustling business and supply recruiting point for 
 emigrants. There v/ere four saloons, a brewery, a 
 butcher shop, a shoe shop, two blacksmith shops, a 
 store and hotel. The first store was opened and 
 conducted by Jerry Kershaw, who afterwards sold 
 it to Chamberlin & Glenn. Preston Taft, still a 
 resident of Laporte, and the late A. H. Patterson 
 clerked in the store. The sales during the busy sea- 
 son often amounted to $1,000 per day. Everything 
 kept in a store sold for what we would now call a 
 big price. Sugar, 50 cents a 
 pound ; oysters and sardines, from 
 $1 to $1.50 per can; corn, 18 cents 
 and 20 cents per pound by the 
 sack; butter, from $1 to $1.50 per 
 pound, and everything else in pro- 
 portion. During the winter of 
 1864-65 hay brought $65 per ton. 
 The brewery was owned by a Ger- 
 man named Melanger. The build- 
 ing was afterwards moved to 
 Pleasant valley and was occupied 
 for years by James Shipp and fam- 
 ily as a residence. The Western 
 Union Telegraph opened an office 
 in 1866, and the operator was a 
 Mr. Mountuma. 
 
 The late William S. Taylor 
 kept a stage station at Laporte for 
 several years and had the pleasure 
 of entertaining at his board several 
 distinguished men, including Gen- 
 eral Grant, Vice-President Schuyler Colfax and 
 Samuel Bowles, editor of the Springfield, Massa- 
 chusetts, Republican. Horace Greeley stopped in 
 Laporte over night in June, 1859. The house 
 occupied by Mr. Taylor was moved to his farm, a 
 short distance east of Laporte, and is now owned by 
 Mr. M. L. Landes. The stage fare from Laporte 
 to Denver was $20. 
 
 In 1864 the county bought a small log building 
 of Henry Arrison at a cost of $150, which was used 
 as a court house and county offices. That build- 
 ing now forms a part of the Preston Taft resi- 
 dence. W. D. W. and Louis Taft and H. W. 
 Chamberlin conducted a dairy in what is now Pres- 
 ton Taft's barn. Judge James B. Belford, who 
 was afterwards twice a member of congress from 
 Colorado, held court in Laporte in 1866-7. Ed. 
 A. Smith, now of Loveland, then a young man, was 
 the Overland Stage company's blacksmith, stationed 
 at Laporte. He shod the horses and repaired the 
 coaches for the company until 1868, when the stage 
 
 [166] 
 
 line was discontinued. Dr. T. M. Smith was the 
 first physician to locate here, moving to Camp Col- 
 lins in 1864 to serve as assistant surgeon for the 
 soldiers. He went to Virginia in the early 80's and 
 died there a few years ago at an advanced age. The 
 first school house was built on the bluff south of 
 the river, but was afterwards moved to near where 
 Preston Taft now lives. 
 
 In 1863 a company of the 13th Kansas regiment 
 volunteer infantry was stationed at Laporte for a 
 
 OLD LAPORTE BREWERY. BUILT IN 1862 
 
 short time, acting as escort for the Overland stage. 
 This detachment of troops was succeeded by Com- 
 pany B of the First Colorado, and this in turn by a 
 battalion of the 11th Ohio volunteer cavalry, com- 
 manded by Captain Evans. The troops were camped 
 on what is now known as the Jos. Ham.merly place, 
 just west of Laporte. During the flood of 1864 
 the camp ground was covered with water and the 
 soldiers had to suddenly flee to higher ground for 
 safety. Many of their tents and much other gov- 
 ernment property were swept away by the angry 
 waters and only a small portion of it was ever re- 
 covered. In August, 1864, Col. W. O. Collins, 
 commanding the 11th Ohio cavalry, came down 
 from Fort Laramie on an inspection trip, and while 
 here decided to move the camp to the site of the 
 present City of Fort Collins, as is elsewhere noted. 
 In October of that year the camp was moved to 
 the new site and given the name of Camp Collins, 
 in honor of Colonel Collins. 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Preston A. Taft came to Laporte in 1865 and 
 still .resides there, being the only one remaining of 
 the early settlers, all the others having moved away 
 or died. Of those who settled in Laporte in 1858 
 it is not believed there Is a single one living. 
 
 Laporte Presbyterian Church 
 
 This church was organized ' in 1901 and was 
 served for several years by Rev. H. S. McCutcheon. 
 A church building was erected that year at a cost 
 
 from the San Luis valley with his Indian wife, 
 Marie, whom he called "John," five children, ser- 
 vants, cattle and horses, and settled in the Big 
 Thompson valley about three miles west of the 
 present thriving City of Loveland. Modena was 
 contemporary with Kit Carson, Jim Baker and 
 other noted frontier scouts, hunters and trappers, 
 and had scouted, hunted and trapped with them all 
 over this western country. On one of his scouting 
 trips up into what is now Wyoming and Montana 
 in the early 50's, Modena camped one night in the 
 
 
 '™!«S«fT!*P!"i 
 
 ^Awi-Cx-^, 
 
 
 ^^ ^^^L^i^,^ 
 
 OLD STAGE STATION AT NAMAQUA. BUILT IN 1858 BY MARIANA MODENO 
 
 of $3,600 and the organization has since received 
 a large accession of members. Rev. J. N. Young 
 is the present pastor. All the departments of the 
 church are well organized and doing efficient work. 
 
 Namaqua 
 
 In the spring or early summer of 1858, more than 
 sixty-two years ago, Mariana Modena, a man about 
 fifty years of age, of Spanish-Indian descent, came 
 
 Big Thompson valley and was so charmed with the 
 valley and its surroundings that he resolved to some- 
 time make it his home. He wanted to get off by 
 himself, so that he could raise cattle and horses and 
 not be disturbed by neighbors. At the time he 
 arrived at the site of his new home, his family con- 
 sisted of a wife, one step-son and four children of 
 his own. His wife was a Flathead squaw, whom 
 he purchased in the San Luis valley in 1848 of a 
 French trapper named Papa, paying for her in 
 
 [167] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 horses, taking a bill of sale as evidence of the trans- 
 action. Modena and the squaw were subsequently 
 married by a Catholic priest. A child by Papa, 
 born shortly after the marriage of Modena to Marie, 
 was named Louis Papa, who now lives in Big 
 Thompson canon, some fifteen miles west of Love- 
 land. Four children were born to Modena and 
 Marie, two of them dying in their infancy, the other 
 two, Antonio and Lena, reaching maturity. Mo- 
 dena was devoted to his children and to his step- 
 son, although Antonio, by his wild, wayward life, 
 caused him a great deal of trouble. He gave his 
 children as good an education as could be obtained 
 in the Catholic schools in Denver. Antonio grew 
 to be handsome, but a wild, and reckless man. At 
 last his conduct became so bad that he was compelled 
 to leave home, and it is reported that he was killed 
 in a drunken row in New Mexico in 1888. Lena 
 grew to a maiden of symmetrical figure, handsome, 
 regular features, large, lustrous eyes and the Spanish 
 type of litheness. She was the apple of her father's 
 eye and he almost worshipped her. He provided her 
 with the finest saddle horses he could find, fancy 
 saddles and bridles and a riding blanket fringed 
 with tiny silver bells, the handiwork of the Navajos 
 of New Mexico, and she could ride with all the ease 
 and grace of a princess. She died in 1872 and was 
 buried near her father's cabin beside the two chil- 
 dren who died in their infancy, in a graveyard in- 
 closed by an adobe wall, with a Catholic emblem 
 surmounting the gateway. The wife, Marie, died 
 in 1874 and Modena followed her in June, 1878. 
 Both were buried in the little graveyard beside their 
 children. 
 
 Modena was the first white man to permanently 
 locate in the Big Thompson valley. When he first 
 came he built a log cabin for his family to live in 
 and afterwards erected a larger stone building which 
 he called his fort. An engraving of the group of 
 buildings erected by him appears elsewhere in this 
 volume. Modena named his home Namaqua. The 
 writer has searched high and low for the origin 
 and signification of the word "Namaqua" without 
 success. The word is evidently a Pawnee proper 
 noun, as Pawnee proper nouns generally end in 
 "qua," but what it means translated into English 
 no one of whom we have inquired seems to know. 
 Namaqua was on the emigrant trail from the Arkan- 
 sas to California and Oregon, and in 1 862 it became 
 a station on the Overland stage line. A postoffice, 
 one of the first established in the county, was opened 
 here with Hiram Tadder as postmaster. Modena or 
 Mariana, as he was best known, kept a store which 
 
 [168] 
 
 contained supplies for emigrants, including frontier 
 whiskey. Salt meats and flour were very dear, flour 
 often selling as high as $30 per hundred pounds. 
 They were freighted from the Missouri with ox 
 teams, and sometimes the supply got very low before 
 a loaded freight train arrived from the East. Dur- 
 ing these times flour often soared to $100 per hun- 
 dred pounds. 
 
 Indians were troublesome in the early days, mak- 
 ing frequent attacks upon the emigrants, and as 
 affording a measure of protection from raids by the 
 savages, several trains traveled together. Mariana 
 built a bridge over the Big Thompson with a toll 
 gate at each end and before a wagon was allowed 
 to cross in either direction the driver must pay a 
 dollar. There was a good ford just below the 
 bridge, but there were times when the river was not 
 fordable on account of high water, and it was dur- 
 ing these times that Mariana reaped a rich harvest 
 in tolls. 
 
 Game was plentiful when Mariana first settled at 
 Namaqua — deer, grouse and bear in the mountains, 
 antelope on the plains and fish in the streams. Buf- 
 faloes were in great number on the Plains in the 
 eastern part of Colorado, but hunting them was 
 dangerous on account of marauding bands of In- 
 dians, who stampeded the hunters' horses and often 
 killed and scalped the hunters themselves. But little 
 is known of the early history of Mariana and that 
 little indefinite and unreliable, but there is no doubt 
 but that he lead an adventurous and exciting life 
 before he came to the Big Thompson. Namaqua 
 postoffice was discontinued several years ago. 
 
 Big Thompson Valley 
 
 Rising mid the snow-capped peaks of the Conti- 
 nental Divide, flowing down through beautiful Estes 
 Park and through deep, dark gorges and canons, 
 past butting crags and meadows bespangled with 
 wild flowers in their season, until it leaps onto the 
 Plains, we find the Big Thompson, one of the pret- 
 tiest streams in Colorado. Its valley, though not 
 as wide as that of the Cache la Poudre, is of re- 
 markable fertility and is wholly divided into farms, 
 whose productiveness is the wonder of the Conti- 
 nent, and which bear unmistakable evidence of 
 industry and prosperity, with their substantial and 
 attractive farm homes, outbuildings, sleek live stock 
 and the latest improved farm machinery. 
 
 From the canon to the Weld county line, a dis- 
 tance of about thirteen miles, there is hardly a quar- 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 ter section of waste land, all, or nearly all of it be- , 
 ing under a high state of cultivation and yearly pro- 
 ducing enormous crops of hay, grain, fruit, sugar ! 
 beets, potatoes and other vegetables. ' 
 
 But it w^as not always thus. Fifty years ago this) 
 beautiful valley, which now charms the vision of 
 the traveler, was an uninhabited wilderness, save 
 as it became the temporary camping ground of mi- 
 gratory savages, or the home of the buffalo, the 
 stately elk, the timid deer and the fleet-footed ante- 
 lope. Though thousands of armed soldiers — Span- 
 ish and American troops — explorers, trappers and 
 emigrants had crossed the valley, slaked their thirst 
 and laved their weary limbs in the waters of the 
 limpid Big Thompson in their movements from 
 south to north and north to south, not a white man 
 had then attempted to build himself a permanent 
 home within the boundaries of this beautiful, sun- 
 kissed valley, save one. A lonely grave on the 
 banks of the stream, three miles west of Loveland, 
 bears witness that one adventurous young man had 
 found a final resting place. A headstone at this 
 grave still bears the inscription : 
 
 "To the Mem.ory of 
 H. L. W. PETERSON 
 
 Aged 24 Years 
 
 Was Killed by Lightning 
 
 June 13, 1854." 
 
 Nothing is known of his history or of the com- 
 panions who accompanied him on his fatal trip, 
 further than that gained from the inscription. He 
 was probably an emigrant who left his eastern home, 
 lured by the greed for gold to carve out a fortune 
 among the golden sands of California. The first 
 permanent human habitation erected in the Valley 
 of the Big Thompson was built in 1858 by Mariana 
 Modena, a three-quarter Castilian, whose boast it 
 was in after years that he was the first "white man" 
 to settle on the Big Thompson. He took up a 
 squatter's claim to a tract of land situated three 
 miles up the stream from the present City of Love- 
 land. Here he built his cabin, which four years 
 later became a stage station on the Overland route 
 from the Missouri river to California, and here, 
 twenty years later, he was gathered to his P'athers. 
 Modena was merchant, saloon keeper and host, 
 and his place became noted throughout the West for 
 hospitality and good cheer. Modena was a squaw 
 man, that is, his wife was an Indian whom Modena 
 bought of a Frenchman. She had a son, Louis 
 Papa, who is still living in a small park situated 
 
 several miles up the canon above his step-father's 
 old home. The log house and outbuildings erected 
 by Modena are still standing as a monument to the 
 memory of one of the most noted frontier characters 
 of his day. 
 
 In 1859 William McGaa, better known in the 
 pioneer days as "Jack Jones," who was also a squaw 
 man, built a cabin on the land later owned by Ab- 
 raham Rist, and became Modena's neighbor. He 
 was the first real white man to settle in the Big 
 Thompson valley, and his son, William, now of 
 Pine Ridge, South Dakota, was the first child born 
 in Denver. 
 
 In 1860 the settlement in the valley was greatly 
 augmented by the arrival of a number of other set- 
 tlers who filed on claims and built homes for them- 
 selves and families. Among these were John Hahn, 
 
 Thomas H. Johnson, • Ashford, Ed. 
 
 Comb, Sherry, J. N. Hollowell, W B. 
 
 Osborn, James Boutwell, W. A. Bean, Jed Done- 
 fetter, Henry Dose, Samuel HafEner, Joseph Mark- 
 ley, Frank Prager, Foster brothers, John Miller, 
 H. B. Chubbuck, W. C. Stover, J. J. Ryan, Adam 
 Dick, Doc Allen and Ed Clark, and from that 
 time on the population of the valley steadily in- 
 creased until now it is one of the most densely pop- 
 ulated valleys in Colorado. 
 
 There were many among the pioneer settlers in 
 the Big Thompson, as there were also in the Cache 
 la Poudre valley, who had much to do with shap- 
 ing the policies and directing the destiny of Larimer 
 county, including John Hahn, Thos. H. Johnson, 
 William B. Osborn, W. A. Bean, H. B. Chub- 
 buck and Lucas Brandt, of the Big Thompson; J. 
 M. Sherwood, F. W. Sherwood, A. F. Howes, 
 Abner Loomis, James B. Arthur, John G. Coy, 
 Peter Anderson, Joseph Mason, N. C. Alford, Rev- 
 ilo Loveland, W. C. Stover and Harris Stratton, of 
 the Cache la Poudre valley. These were all strong 
 men, intellectually and physically, men of unblem- 
 ished character, strict integrity and the courage of 
 their convictions. They possessed the confidence 
 and good will of their neighbors and all of them 
 have since served the county in positions of honor 
 and trust with fidelity and faithfulness. They 
 were never found wanting in any crisis or tim.e of 
 stress. They were a noble band of men, made up 
 of the best blood and brawn t)f the nation — clear- 
 brained, firm-willed and strong of heart. No marble 
 shaft is needed to commemorate their virtues, for 
 they are enshrined in the hearts of all who helped 
 to subdue the wilderness and transform it into law- 
 abiding and God-fearing communities. Some of 
 
 [169] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 these have helped to make the laws and frame the 
 institutions of Colorado; others of those mentioned 
 have been intrusted with authority to administer 
 and execute the laws of the state. All were com- 
 monwealth builders. No public scandals arising 
 from malfeasance in office or failure to perfom a 
 duty has ever attached to any of them. They were 
 not grafters; they were patriots. 
 
 .The first ditch built to carry water to bluff lands 
 was taken out of the Big Thompson in 1867 and was 
 
 place, which was called Namaqua, where the Over- 
 land stage changed horses and where there was a 
 store, postofKce, blacksmith shop and other public 
 conveniences. Later a trading point and business 
 center grew up at Old St. Louis, one mile east of 
 the present City of Loveland, where a flour mill was 
 built in 1867. 
 
 In 1864 the Overland stage station was changed 
 from Mariana's place, or Namaqua, to John E. 
 Washburn's home, three miles lower down the 
 
 RAPIDS, BIG THOMPSON CANON 
 Pho'io by F. p. Clatwokthy 
 
 known as the "Chubbuck" ditch. The scheme at 
 the time was called a foolhardy one and the pro- 
 prietors found few to encourage them in their enter- 
 prise, but they persisted and proved the faith that 
 was in them. The ditch demonstrated that the bluff 
 lands were the very best for grain growing and 
 general agriculture and the result was that other 
 and larger ditches were soon after constructed to 
 carry water to all the lands on both sides of the 
 stream for many miles in each direction. 
 
 For several years the business center of the Big 
 Thompson valley in the early days was at Mariana's 
 
 [170] 
 
 creek, where a postoffice was established called Big 
 Thompson, with Mr. Washburn as postmaster. 
 
 In the fall of 1877 the Colorado Central Rail- 
 road company completed its line of road from Gol- 
 den to Cheyenne. The road crosses the Big Thomp- 
 son about a mile west of Old St. Louis, and a sta- 
 tion was established on the bluff lands north of 
 the stream. Here, in September of that year, a 
 townsite was laid out and platted in a wheat field 
 on a farm owned by the late David Barnes. It was 
 given the name of Loveland, in honor of Hon. W. 
 A. H. Loveland, president of the railroad company. 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 LARIMER 
 
 COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 which name the town, now a city of between 4,000 
 and 5,000 people, still bears. The town is beauti- 
 fully located and occupies a position that commands 
 a fine view of the valley up and down the stream 
 and the mountains to the west. Many of the build- 
 ings erected at Old St. Louis were moved to the 
 new town, and before winter set in Loveland occu- 
 pied a commanding position on the rriap, with its 
 business houses, offices, shops and other public con- 
 veniences needed for a thrifty and growing com- 
 munity. The name of the postoffice was changed 
 from Big Thompson to Loveland, trees were planted 
 along both sides of the streets, streets graded and 
 the whole town began to take on a healthy, pros- 
 perous growth. At this time it numbers among 
 its more important manufacturing enterprises a 
 1,200 ton beet sugar factory, built in 1901, which 
 turns out an average of 40,000,000 -pounds of gran- 
 ulated sugar annually ; fruit and vegetable canning 
 factories, flouring mill and grain elevator. It is 
 also the junction point of the Colorado & Southern 
 (formerly the Colorado Central) and the Great 
 Western railroads, and is one of the most important 
 shipping points in the state. 
 
 The principal irrigating systems of the Big 
 Thompson valley are the Handy, the Home Supply, 
 the Louden and the Greeley and Loveland canals, 
 and these furnish water for domestic uses and manu- 
 facturing purposes in addition to a supply for irri- 
 gating all the land lying between, the Little Thomp- 
 son creek on the south and the divide between 
 the Cache la Poudre and Big Thompson on the 
 north, embracing an area of about 150 square miles. 
 In 1880 Loveland had a population of 600 souls. 
 
 After diligent search through all the authorities 
 at command and consulting many of the pioneers, 
 we have been unable to trace the origin of the names 
 given the Big and Little Thompson streams. The 
 books contain no mention of the origin and no one 
 seems to know how, why, nor when the name was 
 bestowed upon these streams. It is probable, how- 
 ever, that they were named by David Thompson, 
 an English engineer and astronomer in the employ 
 of the Northwest Fur company, who, in 1810, 
 traversed and explored the country from the head- 
 waters of the Missouri river to the! headwaters of 
 the Arkansas in search of trapping grounds in the 
 interest of the company he represented. In 1811 
 he continued his explorations, and on July 15 th 
 arrived at Astoria, Oregon, and was the first white 
 man to explore the Colum.bia river above the point 
 where it was reached by Lewis and Clark in 1806. 
 Thompson's name appears in the "History of the 
 
 Fur Trade of the Far West," by Chittenden, and 
 he is the only Thompson mentioned in the work as 
 an explorer. The streams were known as the 
 1 hompson creeks before Fremont crossed the Plains 
 in 1843 on his second expedition, as he mentions 
 them in his report to the War department. It is, 
 therefore, fair and reasonable to assume that they 
 were named in honor of the English scientist, David 
 Thompson. 
 
 Trappers' camps were established by the North- 
 west Fur company, later known as the Hudson Bay 
 company, on all the streams of Northern Colorado 
 during the second decade of the nineteenth century, 
 and it is quite possible that the camps on these two 
 streams were known and designated as the Big and 
 Little Thompson camps. 
 
 If we except the coming to the Cache la Poudre 
 valley in 1858 of John B. Provost and his party 
 of French Canadian trappers and mountaineers, and 
 the location on the Big Thompson the same year of 
 Mariana Modena and his Mexican helpers, the 
 settlement of these valleys in 1860 by Anglo Saxons 
 was contemporaneous. The Sherwoods, the Ar- 
 thurs, the Davises, G. R. Strauss, Alfred F. Howes 
 and others located in the Cache la Poudre Valley, 
 and W. B. Osborn, Thos. H. Johnson, John Hahn, 
 J. N. Hollowell, Samuel Hafiner and Joseph Mark- 
 ley and others settled in the Big Thompson valley, 
 so that the beginning of civilization in Larimer 
 county practically dates back to 1860. Some of 
 these had crossed the Plains in the great gold rush 
 of 1858-9 and '60, and being disappointed in their 
 search for the precious metal, turned their attention 
 to the production of hay, vegetables and beef to 
 supply Denver and the mining camps in the moun- 
 tains. They cam.e north from Denver and found 
 locations suitable for their purposes in the valleys 
 named and made settlements. Most of them were 
 single men, young in years, strong of heart, sturdy of 
 frame and ambitious. Nearly all of the few^ who had 
 families had left them in their eastern homes to fol- 
 low on later when the husbands and fathers had built 
 and established homes for them. A few, very few, 
 brought their wives and children to share the dan- 
 gers, hardships and privations on the frontier with 
 them. 
 
 That year nearly all of the land along the margin 
 of the streams, from the mouth of Buckhorn creek 
 on the Big Thompson to what is now the Weld 
 county line, and from Laporte on the Cache la 
 Poudre to the same line, was taken up for hay 
 farms. The luxuriant grasses that were found 
 growing on the bottom lands made excellent hay. 
 
 [i7r] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 a commodity that was in great demand in the min- 
 ing camps, often bringing from $100 to $150 per 
 ton. The hay was hauled to Central City and 
 Black Hawk by oxen and it required about ten days 
 to make the round, trip. The road was long and 
 for a part of the way the hills were steep and rough. 
 A ton or ton and a half of hay made a big load for 
 four yoke of oxen. Usually two or three men would 
 make the trip together, so they could help each other 
 in case of a breakdown or other trouble. On their 
 return they brought home from Denver such sup- 
 plies, provisions, clothing, etc., as were needed to 
 last until another trip could be made, and would 
 also execute errands for their neighbors. The re- 
 turn of the hay peddlers was always a welcome 
 event, and those interested gathered at the cabins 
 of the home-comers to get the news from the out- 
 side world and to retail the gossip of the community 
 in exchange. The early day settlers in the two val- 
 leys had practically the same experiences and labored 
 under the same adverse conditions for the first few 
 years of their frontier life. 
 
 Of the settlers who came to the Big Thompson 
 in 1860, but few remain. Some of them thought 
 a tract of land several miles in extent was too small 
 for a white man and when their holdings began to 
 be restricted by newcomers, they moved on. The 
 ranches were then located by the claimant stepping 
 off a certain number of paces along the stream and 
 then drawing an imaginary line from bluff to bluff 
 at each end of the measured spaces, and calling his 
 all the land thus enclosed. With the advent of the 
 "Claim Club" squatters' claims were restricted 
 to 160 acres. After the lands had been surveyed in 
 1864, locators made homestead filings and most of 
 them subsequently proved up and secured title from 
 the government • to their individual tracts. When 
 the government survey was made some of the 
 claims were found to be short, while others con- 
 tained more acres than they were entitled to, one in 
 particular having enclosed 320 acres for a quarter 
 section. 
 
 All the bottom land was mowed or cultivated 
 that year and the succeeding few years, that portion 
 lying nearest the stream being used for raising 
 vegetables, potatoes principally. Irrigation was not 
 resorted to, onh' the grass that matured from rain- 
 fall being cut and cured for hay. This was cut 
 with hand scythes and raked by hand. Mowers 
 and horse rakes were unknown on the Plains in 
 those days. The raising of grain was not at- 
 tempted, the settlers depending on Denver for flour 
 and other provisions. There were often times 
 
 [172] 
 
 when bread was not to be had for days and when 
 antelope meat was the main stay of life. Flour 
 was hauled across the Plains from the Missouri 
 river, a distance of 600 miles, with ox teams, and 
 this staple at times of scarcity in Denver com- 
 manded fabulous prices. Sometimes it could not 
 be obtained at all. Forty dollars a sack was the 
 usual price for flour and on occasions as high as 
 $100 per sack was paid for it. However, the 
 pioneers made the best of the situation and en- 
 joyed themselves with their dances and public 
 gatherings. There was more of a community of 
 interest in those days than exists now, and if one 
 had a supply of provisions and his neighbor had 
 none, a division was promptly made so that the 
 neighbor should not go hungry. As fast as means 
 permitted many of the first settlers began to buy 
 cows and to accumulate herds of cattle. There 
 was a wide extent of the finest kind of pasturage 
 tor stoci; as all the bluff lands were open and un- 
 occupied and cattle and horses thrived and grew 
 fat on their rich, nutritious grasses. 
 
 In 1862, after the route of the Overland stage 
 had been changed from the North Platte to the 
 South Platte and the stages began making daily 
 trips from Denver to the north and west, a post- 
 office was established at Mariana's crossing and 
 called Namaqua, and James Boutwell was the first 
 postmaster. In 1864 the route of the stage was 
 changed and crossed the Big Thompson at the John 
 Washburn place, about a mile south of the present 
 City of Loveland. 
 
 A postoffice called the Big Thompson was 
 opened at this crossing, with Mr. Washburn as 
 postmaster. The stage station at Mariana's was 
 opened by James Boutwell who is still living and 
 is a resident of Denver. Later he sold the station 
 to Ryan & Acker who conducted it until the stage 
 route was changed to Washburn's crossing. In 
 1861 the settlers began to construct small ditches 
 through which to conduct water from the stream 
 to their gardens, potato patches and hay fields. 
 That was the introduction in the Big Thompson 
 valley of farming by irrigation. Ordinarily good 
 crops of hay could be produced on the bottom lands 
 without artificial aid, but there were years when the 
 rainfall was insufficient and the tonnage of hay was 
 light and in 1861, was one of those years. The 
 partial failure of the crop that year, due to lack of 
 jnoisture, is what stimulated ditch building. The 
 result of the application of water to the fields by 
 artificial means was so surprising and so encourag- 
 ing that the settlers formed companies and com- 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 LARIMER 
 
 COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 binations and constructed larger ditches from which 
 greater areas could be watered and bigger crops 
 produced. Vegetables of all kinds were in good 
 demand in Denver and the mining camps and 
 brought high prices, potatoes at one time com- 
 manding 12 cents a pound, and settlers engaged 
 largely in raising them, but not a bushel of grain 
 was raised in the valley until 1865. That year 
 William B. Osborn secured a half bushel each of 
 seed wheat and barley and sowed the grain on his 
 farm. He cut the grain with a cradle and threshed 
 it with a flail. Taking part of his wheat he went 
 to Douty's grist mill on South Boulder creek and 
 had it made into flour. Douty's mill was a prim- 
 itive affair, the burrs used having been chiseled 
 out of granite found in the canon. 
 
 Mr. Osborns success at wheat growing stimu- 
 lated others to engage in it and from that time 
 on wheat has been one of the staple crops of the 
 valley. So much wheat was grown in 1866-7 that 
 a mill became indispensible and in the fall of 1867, 
 Andrew Douty moved his mill to the Big Thomp- 
 son valley and sat it up at a point on the stream 
 about a mile east of the present City of Loveland. 
 This was the first flouring mill put in operation in 
 Larimer county. Mrs. Elizabeth Stone and H. 
 C. Peterson began the erection of a mill at Fort 
 Collins in 1867 but did not finish and get it in 
 operation until a year later. 
 
 Douty's mill was 30x50 feet ground dimen- 
 sions and three stories high. It had only one set of 
 burrs and could grind but about 75 bushels of grain 
 per day. The mill cost about $10,000 and proved 
 ^ not only a good investment, but also a great con- 
 venience to the people of the county. About 
 10,000 bushels of wheat were raised in the Big 
 Thompson valley in 1867, and one-half of it was 
 made into flour at the White Rock mill on Boulder 
 creek. The Big Thompson mill was operated by 
 Andrew Douty, George W. Litle and J. A. Litle, 
 first one and then another until Mr. Douty's death 
 in 1874. After the settlement of the estate the mill 
 was sold to A. Leonard & Son, who improved 
 it and successfully operated it for several years. 
 
 The first settlers in the Big Thompson valley 
 had their Indian scares in the early days when they 
 gathered at some central point for mutual pro- 
 tection, but it does not appear that the savages ever 
 killed any white people on that stream. The' 
 Indians swooped down in the valley from the moun- 
 tains now and then on horse stealing expeditions 
 or on begging trips, but they never killed anybody 
 on their raids, except in one instance and he was 
 
 a Mexican. This was in the summer of 1864. A 
 band of Utes came down from North Park on a 
 horse stealing raid and as they emerged from the 
 mountains they met a Mexican who was hauling 
 stone for Mariana. They surrounded him and 
 filled his body with arrows. His scalp was hung 
 on a Cottonwood stump and the red-skins pro- 
 ceeded on down the valley scattering fear and con- 
 sternation among the settlers. However, they made 
 no attempts, upon the lives of any of the settlers, 
 their object being to gather up and run o£E as many 
 horses as they could. They secured several horses 
 from Mariana and started for the hills. The story 
 of their raid and what came of it, as told by Abner 
 Loomis, one of the pursuers of the band and who 
 helped to recover the horses, is related elsewhere in 
 this book. 
 
 At another time during the same year a band of 
 Utes took Mariana's horses and fled to the hills in 
 the direction of Middle Park. With a couple of 
 friends Mariana pursued them, coming up with the 
 band early one morning just as the Indians were 
 eating breakfast. Instructing his companions to be 
 careful not to kill an Indian, but to keep out of 
 sight and fire at the ground, Mariana rode toward 
 the camp on the dead run, yelling and shooting as 
 his horse bounded toward them. The Indians were 
 taken by surprise and supposing a lot of white men 
 were after them, mounted their ponies and went 
 tearing away at full speed and without turning 
 around to look back. Mariana and his friends 
 gathered up the stolen horses and few things about 
 the camp and returned to their homes. This is 
 believed to be the last time the Indians raided the 
 Big Thompson settlement. 
 
 As early as 1871 George W. Litle, for the pur- 
 pose of solving the question whether fruit could 
 be grown in the valley, planted an acre to apple 
 trees. He had such good success with his experi- 
 ment that others soon followed his example and 
 now the farm without an orchard is an exception. 
 Mr. Litle was the first man in the county to pro- 
 duce apples. 
 
 Murder of John Matson 
 
 On November 1st, 1878, Frank Marvin, a half 
 lunatic hermit who had been a county charge for 
 a good many years, shot and killed John Matson, 
 just as the latter was entering the Ritchie home 
 about five miles west of Loveland. The tragedy 
 resulted from a quarrel the two men got into a few 
 days before over a mule belonging to one of Mat- 
 
 [173] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 son's neighbors, that Marvin had taken up and 
 claimed as his own. From words the two men came 
 to blows and in the fight Marvin got decidedly the 
 worst of it. It was then thought that the trouble 
 between Marvin and Matson was over after the 
 drubbing the former received, but not so. Marvin 
 "nursed his wrath to keep it warm" and borrow- 
 ing a Winchester, watched his chance to get even 
 with. Matson, following the latter to Mr. Richie's 
 
 Estes Park 
 
 Estes Park, one of the most important as it is 
 perhaps the most beautiful scenic center in Colo- 
 rado, is situated at the foot of Long's Peak in the 
 southwest corner of Larimer county. The 
 Park proper ranges from one to three miles in 
 width and about twelve miles in length, and em- 
 braces some of the grandest and most inspiring 
 mountain views to be found on the continent. 
 
 ENTRANCE TO ESTES PARK 
 Photo by F. P. Clatworthy 
 
 house towards which the victim fled on seeing 
 Marvin with a gun in his hand. Just as Matson 
 was crossing the threshold in search of refuge, Mar- 
 vin fired and Matson fell dead. Marvin then dis- 
 appeared and was not seen or heard of again in 
 Colorado until January, 1882, when he was ap- 
 prehended in Denver by Sheriff James Sweeney 
 who brought the murderer back to Fort Collins 
 and lodged him in jail to await trial on the charge 
 of murder. Marvin was convicted of lunacy and 
 committed to the State Insane asylum where he 
 died several years ago. 
 
 [174] 
 
 Nature seems to have reserved its best efforts in 
 planning to beautify the earth for man's delight 
 and concentrated them upon the forming of Estes 
 Park. Perhaps the best description of this beauti- 
 ful inter-mountainvale ever written is that con- 
 tained in "Life in the Rocky Mountains", a book 
 written by Miss Isabella L. Bird and published by 
 G. P. Putman & Son in 1879-80. Miss Bird was 
 an English lady and a thoroughly disciplined and 
 observant traveler. She spent several weeks in 
 Estes Park in the autumn and early winter of 1873, 
 and her description of the manifold beauties of the 
 Park has never been excelled. She says: 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 "Among the striking peculiarities of these moun- 
 tains are hundreds of high-lying valleys, large and 
 small at heights varying from 6,000 to 1 1 ,000 feet. 
 The most important are North Park, held by hostile 
 Indians; Middle Park, famous for hot 
 springs and trout; South Park, rich in 
 minerals, and San Luis Park. * « « 
 But parks innumerable are scattered 
 throughout the mountains, most of them 
 unnamed and others nicknamed by the 
 hunters and trappers who have made 
 them their temporary resorts. They al- 
 ways lie within the flaming foot hills, 
 their exquisite stretches of flowery pas- 
 tures dotted artistically with clumps of 
 trees sloping down-like to bright swift 
 streams full of red waiscoated trout, or 
 running up in soft glades into the dark 
 forest, above which the snow peaks rise 
 in their infinite majesty. * * * Estes 
 Park combines the beauties of all. The 
 Park is most irregularly shaped, and 
 contains hardly any level grass. It is 
 an aggregate of lawns, slopes and glades. 
 * * * The Big Thompson, a bright j 
 rapid trout stream, snow-born on Long's 
 Peak a few miles higher, takes all sorts 
 of -magical twists, vanishing and reap- 
 pearing unexpectedly, glancing among 
 lawns, rushing through romantic ravines, 
 everywhere making music through the 
 still, long nights. Here and there the 
 lawns are so smooth, the trees so artisti- 
 cally grouped, a lake makes such an ar- 
 tistic foreground, or a waterfall comes 
 tumbling down with such an apparent 
 feeling for the picturesque, that I am 
 almost angry with Nature for her close 
 imitation of art. But in another hun- 
 dred yards. Nature glorious unapproach- 
 able, inimitable is herself again, raising 
 one's thoughts reverently upward to her 
 Creator and owner. Grandeur and sub- 
 Hmity, not softness, are the features of 
 Estes Park. The glades which begin so 
 softly are soon lost in the dark primeval 
 forest, with their peaks of rosy granite 
 and their stretches of granite blocks piled and 
 poised by Nature in some mood of fury. The 
 §treaxns.axe -lost in canons nearly or quite inaccess- 
 ible, awful in their blackness and darkness; every 
 valley ends in mystery; seven mountain ranges 
 raise their frowning barriers between us and the 
 
 Plains, and at the south end of the Park, Long's 
 Peak rises to a height of 14,700 (14,276) feet, 
 with his bare granite head slashed with eternal 
 snows. The lowest part of the Park is 7,500 feet 
 
 ODESSA LAKE, ESTES PARK 
 Photo bv F. P. Clatworthy 
 
 high, and though the sun is hot during the day, 
 the mercury hovers near the freezing point every 
 night of the summer." 
 
 Describing her first view of Estes Park, Miss 
 Bird goes into ecstacies. She says: "From the 
 ridge on which this (Muggins) gulch terminated 
 
 [175] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 at a height of 9,000 feet, we saw at last Estes Park, 
 lying 1,500 feet below in the glory of the setting 
 sun, an irregular basin, lighted up by the bright 
 waters of the rushing Thompson, guarded by sen- 
 tinel mountains of fantastic shape and monstrous 
 size, with Long's Peak rising above them all in un- 
 approachable grandeur, while the Snowy Range, 
 with its outlying spires heavily timbered, come 
 down upon the Park slashed by stupendous canons 
 lying deep in purple gloom. The rushing water 
 was blood-red. Long's Peak was aflame, the glory 
 
 GEM LAKE, ESTES PARK 
 
 of the glowing heavens was given back to earth. 
 Never, nowhere, have I seen anything to equal the 
 view with Estes Park. The mountains 'of the 
 land which is very far off' are very near now, but 
 the near is more glorious than the far and reality 
 than dreamland." 
 
 Early History 
 
 The name of the first white man to set foot in 
 Estes Park is not disclosed by the records. He may 
 have been an independent trapper and hunter, or 
 an employe of either the Hudson Bay company 
 or of the American Fur company. Certain it is, 
 that agents of these companies explored and estab- 
 lished trapping camps on all the streams flowing 
 out of Ihe" eastern base of the mountains, from the 
 British Possessions as far south as the Arkansas 
 river, as early as 1810. It is therefore highly prob- 
 able that some of them penetrated the hills to the 
 sources of the Big Thompson and its affluents in 
 search of fur bearing animals, in which event they 
 must have explored Estes Park. The records do 
 show, however, that Kit Carson and a band of 
 trappers spent the winter of 1840-41 in Estes Park 
 gathering furs. They went in with pack animals 
 
 [176] 
 
 and probably followed the course of the Big 
 Thompson as near as they could. From that time 
 until in October, 1859, a period of nineteen years, 
 Estes Park was an unknown land, so far as the 
 records show. 
 
 For the following account of the early settle- 
 ment of Estes Park, I am indebted to a charming 
 little book called the "Story of Estes Park", written 
 by Enos A. Mills, the noted mountaineer and 
 guide, and published in 1905, from which I am 
 kindly permitted to copy at will, many thanks to 
 the author. In this book Mr. Mills says: 
 
 "The Park was named in honor of the first 
 settler, Joel Estes, who visited it in October, 1859. 
 It was named by W. N. Byers, founder of the 
 Rocky Mountain News, in 1864. When Estes 
 first came to the Park, he saw new lodge poles and 
 other recent Indian signs, but so far as known, 
 there never was an Indian in the Park since the 
 white man came. In the summer of 1860, in a 
 gulch about one-half mile south of Mary lake, 
 Milton Estes captured a black Indian pony. 
 Straggling arrow heads have been found over its 
 Parks and not far from Sprague's is what is called 
 the ruin of an old Indian fort. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Joel Estes moved into the Park 
 early in 1860 and built their cabin on Fish creek, 
 about a half block north of the "ranch house". 
 Except while away on a visit to Arkansas in 1863, 
 the Estes made the Park their home until the 
 summer of 1866. In the spring of 1861 Milton 
 Estes, then twenty-one, journeyed to Fort Lupton 
 and wedded Miss Mary L. Flemming, who had 
 come to Colorado in 1859, at the age of seventeen. 
 They moved to the Park alone and on the birth of 
 Charles F. Estes, February 10, 1865, became the 
 parents of the first white child born in the Park. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Estes still live, and from their lips 
 I heard the story of their Estes Park life. * * * 
 
 Joel Estes, like Boone, enjoyed being far from 
 neighbors, and one day while hunting, came to 
 where he could look down into the Park, and being 
 delighted with the view, at once moved into it 
 for "hunting and prospecting." Supplies were 
 packed in until 1861 when they were brought in a 
 two-wheeled cart. The Estes families lived the 
 simple life. Twice each year they went to the 
 Denver postofKce for their mail. On these event- 
 ful trips, which were made during the spring and 
 fall, they took a small quantity of fish, game or 
 hides to market. Reviewing her pioneer life, from 
 a distance of forty years, Mrs. Milton Estes said: 
 "We kept well, enjoyed the climate, had plenty of 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 fun, were monarchs of all we surveyed, had no 
 taxes to pay, and were contented as long as we 
 remained, but I wish I had pictures of ourselves in 
 those old days; and clothes, how we must have 
 looked." 
 
 Among the campers who came in during the 
 summer of 1865, were Rev. and Mrs. Richardson 
 and one August day of that summer he preached in 
 the Estes cabin to <-en listeners. Rev. Richardson 
 was a Methodist. The next religious services were 
 by United Brethren, Revs. E. J. Lamb and Ross, 
 in August, 1871. In the spring of 1866 the Estes 
 sold their holdings in the Park and moved away, 
 and none of them have ever been back. Joel Estes 
 died in New Mexico in 1875, his wife in Iowa, in 
 1882. "At this date, January 1905" says Mr. 
 Mills, "Mr. and Mrs. Milton Estes are alive and 
 for the past few years have been dividing their 
 time in their comfortable homes in Denver and El 
 Paso, Texas." A few months later a Mr. Jacobs 
 bought the Estes claim for $250.00, but in a short 
 time it was acquired by Hank Farrar, known as 
 "Buckskin". Mr. Farrar is a brother of Clinton 
 and Martin Farrar of Fort Collins, and Laporte. 
 Late in 1867 the Estes claim came under the con- 
 trol of Griffith Evans, and in due course, lost its 
 identity by becoming a part of the Lord Dunraven 
 estate. Mr. Evans founded the first permanent 
 settlement by remaining in the Park for nearly 
 twenty years. In 1868 "Rocky Mountain Jim", 
 James Nugent, who five years later, met a tragic 
 death at the hand of an assassin, built a cabin in 
 Muggins' gulch and that same year Israel Rowe, 
 hunter and discoverer of Gem lake, established a 
 home a short distance southwest of the base of 
 Mount Olympus. That year Charles W. Denni- 
 son, who was the unwilling victim of the first 
 death in the Park, built a log house about midway 
 between the cabins of Rowe and Evans, and George 
 Hearst (Muggins) pastured his cattle that year in 
 Muggins' gulch on the present Meadow Dale 
 stock ranch. A flock of sheep was brought into the 
 Park that year, but they did not remain long for 
 mountain lions loved mutton too well to make the 
 venture a safe and profitable one. 
 
 Long's Peak, that grim sentinel of the Contin- 
 ental Divide, which marks the southwestern corner 
 of Larimer county, caught the eye of Lieutenant 
 Zebulon M. Pike one day in November, 1806, 
 while on his exploring expedition which resulted in 
 the discovery of the Peak that bears his name. The 
 first mention of Long's Peak occurs in the report of 
 Major Stephen H. Long who had been sent out by 
 
 President Madison to explore the great Plains and 
 the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains. He 
 came in sight of it on June 30th, 1820, as his ex- 
 pedition slowly wended its way up the South Platte 
 and while still far out on the Plains on July 3. 
 Three days later, while his party was in camp at the 
 mouth of the Cache la Poudre river the name the 
 Peak now bears and will continue to bear while 
 time shall last, was bestowed in honor of Major 
 
 BEAR LAKE, ESTES PARK 
 
 Photo by F. P. Clatworthy 
 
 Long, the intrepid Commander of the expedition. 
 Neither Major Long nor any of his party ever 
 scaled the mountain that bears his name, nor did 
 Lieutenant Pike ever climb Pike's Peak, but four- 
 teen years later, E. James, a botanist in Major 
 Long's party ascended that mountain and was the 
 first man known to have reached a summit of the 
 Colorado Mountains. He also measured it, giving 
 it height as 11,500 feet. The Peak was named in 
 his honor, a title it retained for several years and 
 was then changed to Pike. 
 
 [177] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 What is claimed to have been the first attempt to 
 climb Long's Peak was made in August, 1864 by 
 W. N. Byers, founder of the Rocky Mountain 
 News. With three companions, Mr. Byers scaled 
 Mount Meeker and went some distance through 
 Keyhole on the trail now used. The attempt was 
 unsuccessful. Four years later Mr. Byers led a 
 
 have gazed out upon the wonders of the Rocky 
 Mountain regions from the lofty summit of the 
 noted mountain. Miss Anna E. Dickinson, the 
 celebrated lecturer, was probably the first woman 
 to make the ascent. She made the climb as the 
 guest of Prof. E. Hayden of the United States 
 Geological survey in 1871. In August, 1871, Rev. 
 
 ESTES PARK IN WINTER 
 Copyright by F. P. Clatworthy 
 
 party of climbers to the top. On August 23, 
 1868, the first ascent of Long's Peak was made. 
 The persons who made it were, Major J. W. 
 Powell, W. H. Powell, L. W. Replinger, Samuel 
 Gorman, Ned E. Farrell, John C. Summer and 
 William N. Byers. There was not the slightest 
 indication that human foot had ever trod the sum- 
 mit before. This party, says Mr. Mills, made 
 barometric and other observations and built a stone 
 cairn on the southeast corner of the summit. It 
 is safe to say that since then, thousands of people 
 
 [178] 
 
 E. J. Lamb, the first regular guide made his first 
 ascent, and in coming down, descended the "east 
 precipice" a feat but once repeated and then by 
 Enos A. Mills in 1903. Early in October, 1873, 
 the mountain was scaled by four persons, not un- 
 known to fame. They were Miss Isabella L. 
 Bird, the noted English traveler, Ex.-Mayor Piatt 
 Rogers, of Denver, Judge S. S. Downer, of 
 Boulder, with "Rocky Mountain Jim" as guide. 
 On September 23rd, 1884, Miss Carrie J. Welton, 
 a wealthy young lady from Massachusetts, perished 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 at Keyhole on her way down from the summit. 
 She gave out at the top of the trough, but the guide, 
 Carlyle Lamb, succeeded in getting her as far 
 down as Keyhole, when at her urgent request, he 
 left her and went to the Long's Peak House for 
 help to bring her down the mountain. He left her 
 about 9 o'clock at night, making all possible haste, 
 but it was almost morning before he could get back 
 to her through the cold, windy night with help. 
 He found her dead. . Over-exertion together with the 
 cold, had cut short her life. The body was tenderly 
 borne to the foot of the mountain and shipped thence 
 to her former eastern home for burial. The first 
 death in Estes Park appears to have been that of 
 Charles D. Miller, for whom the Miller Ford was 
 named, who was accidentally shot and killed by 
 Charles W. Dennison. Later a climber of Mount 
 Olympus accidentally shot and killed himself. He 
 was buried on the south side of the Thompson, 
 just below the mouth of Fall river. 
 
 "In the autumn and early winter of 1872, Earl 
 Dunraven, with his guests. Sir William Cummings 
 and Earl Fitzpatrick, shot big game in the Park. 
 Dunraven was so delighted with the abundance of 
 game and the beauty and grandeur of the scene, that 
 he determined to have Estes Park as a game pre- 
 serve. His agent set to work at once to secure the 
 land. Men were hired to file on claims and ulti- 
 mately about 14,000 acres were supposed to have 
 been secured from the government. * » * * 
 Many of Dunraven's land claims were contested. 
 His agent had secured much of the land by loose 
 or fraudulent methods and some by bullying the 
 homeseekers. R. Q. McGregor and others con- 
 tested the twentyrone original claims. The con- 
 testants claimed that "these twenty-one claims 
 had been entered by not more than five or six men ; 
 that the claimants had never lived on the land ; that 
 there were neither house nor fence, nor any im- 
 provement on any of the land." There are three 
 "old timers," still living in the park, who insist 
 that the greater portion of Dunraven's land was 
 fraudulently secured. Dunraven came out with 
 about 8,000 acres, but his agent claimed something 
 like 15,000, and for many years controlled that 
 amount. In 1895 some one investigated, and since 
 that time more than thirty homesteads have been 
 taken within the boundaries of the Dunraven 
 ranch.'' Since then Dunraven has sold all of his 
 interests in the Park. 
 
 "In 1874, a stage line was established between 
 the Park and Longmont, and the same year Mr. 
 and Mrs. R. Q. McGregor located at Black canon. 
 
 and Mrs. McGregor was appointed postmistress 
 the following year. Mr. McGregor served Lari- 
 mer county as county judge from 1882 to 1884, 
 being elected to fill a vacancy in the office. In 1876 
 the postoffice was transferred to the ranch house 
 and Mrs. Griff Evans became postmistress. John 
 T. Cleave became postmaster in 1877, but did not 
 move the office to its present location, at the junction 
 of Fall river with the Big Thompson until ten 
 years later. Many came to the Park to locate and 
 stay during 1875. John Jones and John Hupp 
 settled at Beaver Park; Abner Sprague and his 
 parents in Moraine Park; H. W. Ferguson at the 
 Highlands and Rev. and Mrs. E. J. Lamb chopped 
 a wagon road through the timber to the present 
 location of Long's Peak Inn. Mr. and Mrs. W. E. 
 James started Elkhorn Lodge in 1877. The Estes 
 Park hotel was built and opened in 1877. On the 
 20th of October, 1876, the first marriage was sol- 
 emnized at the Ferguson cabin in the Park, the 
 contracting parties being Richard M. Hubbell, 
 now of Fort Collins, and Miss Anna Ferguson. 
 Rev. J. F. Coffman performed the ceremony. The 
 first term of a public school was held in one of the 
 cottages at Elkhorn Lodge in the winter of 1881. 
 Early in the eighties, Postmaster J. T. Cleave be- 
 gan to keep household supplies and a few articles 
 for sale and in the early nineties, C. E. Lester 
 opened a store at the present village of Estes Park 
 for the accommodation of tourists and summer 
 visitors. The telephone line was completed to the 
 Park "-in 1900, an office being opened at that time. 
 The population of Estes Park increased gradually 
 until 1903, when the Big Thompson canon road 
 from Loveland to the Park, one of the finest scenic 
 roads in the state, was completed. Since then, 
 thousands of people have visited the Park each 
 summer, many to spend the heated term in comfort 
 and amid the most charming of surroundings with 
 not a few to become permanent residents. A pretty 
 village, with its fine hotels, one, the Stanley, cost- 
 ing $250,000.00, its general stores, bank, shops and 
 other public conveniences has been built up at the 
 junction of Fall river and the Big Thompson, and 
 the hillsides and small parks are dotted with neat 
 cottages built to accommodate tourists and summer 
 visitors. On Wind river, the Young Mens 
 Christian Association of Colorado, has established 
 permanent headquarters, where annual conferences 
 of that organization are held. These conferences 
 are attended every summer by hundreds of dele- 
 gates. A fish hatchery, one of the best in Colo- 
 rado is located on Fall river a few miles above the 
 
 [179] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 village of Estes Park. A daily line of automobile 
 steamers, carrying the United States mail, connect 
 Loveland' the nearest point on the Colorado & 
 Southern railway, with Estes Park, and make the 
 
 YPSILON PEAK, FROM DEER MOUNTAIN DRIVE, ESTES PARK 
 Photo by f. P. Clatworthy 
 
 run between the two places in 2J hours. At the 
 presidential election held in November, 1908, 173 
 votes were cast in the Park for president, which is 
 an indication of the growth and importance of a 
 community that has practically grown up in the 
 past decade. More that 4,000 visitors and tourists 
 
 [180] 
 
 spent from a few weeks to a few months in the 
 Park during the summer of 1909, and Estes Park 
 is now the summer playground for thousands of 
 people. 
 
 Ascent of Long's Peak 
 
 In Miss Isabella L. Bird's charming 
 book, "Life in the Rocky Mountains," 
 I find the following graphic description 
 of the ascent of Long's Peak which she 
 made in September, 1873, in company 
 with ex-Mayor Piatt Rogers, of Denver, 
 and Judge S. S. Downer, of Boulder, 
 with "Rocky Mountain Jim" as guide. 
 Rogers and Downer were then young 
 men, who had accompanied Miss Bird 
 to Estes Park from Longmont. Since 
 then not a year has passed that large 
 numbers of tourists and explorers have 
 ascended the Peak and drunk in the 
 glories so enthusiastically portrayed by 
 Miss Bird. Her story is as follows: 
 
 "As this account of the ascent of 
 Long's Peak could not be written at the 
 time, I am much disinclined to write it, 
 especially as no sort of description 
 within my powers could enable another 
 to realize the glorious sublimity, the ma- 
 jestic solitude and the unspeakable 
 awfulness and fascination of the scenes 
 in which I spent Monday, Tuesday and 
 Wednesday. 
 
 "Long's Peak, 14,700 feet high, 
 blocks up one end of Estes Park, and 
 dwarfs all the surrounding mountains. 
 From it on this side rise, snow-born, the 
 bright St. Vrain, and the Big and Little 
 Thompson. By sunlight or moonlight 
 its splintered grey crest is the one object 
 which, in spite of wapiti and bighorn, 
 skunk and grizzly, unfailingly arrests 
 the eye. From it come all storms of 
 snow and wind, and the forked light- 
 nings play around its head like a glory. 
 It is one of the noblest of mountains, 
 but in one's imagination it grows to be 
 much more than a mountain. It be- 
 comes invested with a personality. In its caverns 
 and abysses one comes to fancy that it generates 
 and chains the strong winds, to let them loose 
 in its fury. The thunder becomes its voice, and 
 the lightnings do it homage. Other summits 
 blush under the morning kiss of the sun, and 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 turn pale the next moment; but it detains the 
 first sunlight and holds it round its head for an 
 hour at least, till it pleases to change from rosy red 
 to deep blue; and the sunset, as if spell-bound 
 lingers latest on its crest. The soft winds which 
 
 knife in his belt, his revolver in his waistcoat 
 pocket, his saddle covered with an old beaver-skin, 
 from which the paws hung down; his camping 
 blankets behind him, his rifle laid across the saddle 
 in front of him, and his axe, canteen and other 
 
 hardly rustle the pine needles down here are raging gear hanging to the horn, he was as awful looking 
 rudely up there round its motionless summit. The a ruffian as one could see. By way of contrast he 
 mark of fire is upon it ; and though it has passed rode a small Arab mare, of exquisite beauty, skittish, 
 into grim repose it tells of fire and upheaval as high-spirited, gentle, but altogether too light for 
 truly, though not as eloquently, as the living him; and he fretted her incessantly to make her 
 volcanoes of Hawaii. Here under its 
 shadow one learns how naturally Nature 
 worships and the propitiation of the 
 forces of Nature arose in minds which 
 had no better light. 
 
 "Long's Peak, the American Matter- 
 horn, as some call it, was ascended five 
 years ago for the first time. I thought 
 I should like to attempt it, but up to 
 Monday, when Evans left for Denver, 
 cold water was thrown upon the project. 
 It was too late in the season, the winds 
 were likely to be strong, etc., but just be- 
 fore leaving, Evans said the weather was 
 looking more settled, and if I did not 
 get farther than the timber line it 
 would be worth going. Soon after he 
 left. 'Mountain Jim, came in, and said 
 he would go up as guide, and the two youths, 
 Piatt Rogers and S. S. Downer, who rode here 
 with me from Longmont, and I caught at the 
 proposal. Mrs. Edwards at once baked bread for 
 three days, steaks were cut from the steer which 
 hangs up conveniently, and tea, sugar and butter 
 were benevolently added. Our picnic was not to 
 be luxurious or 'well-found' one, for, in order to 
 avoid the expense of a pack mule, we limited our 
 luggage to what our saddle horses could carry. 
 Behind my saddle I carried three pair of camping 
 blankets and a quilt, which reached to my shoulders. 
 My own boots were so much worn that it was pain- 
 ful to walk, even about the Park, in them, so Evans 
 had lent me a pair of his hunting boots, which 
 hung to the horn of my saddle. The horses of the 
 two young men were equally loaded, for we had to 
 prepare for many degrees of frost. 'Jim' was a 
 shocking figure; he had on an old pair of high 
 boots, with a baggy pair of old trousers made of 
 deer hide, held on by an old scarf tucked into them ; 
 a leather shirt, with three or four ragged unbut- 
 toned waistcoats over it; an old smashed wideawake 
 hat from under which his tawny, neglected ringlets 
 
 TIMBERLINE HOUSE. LONG'S PEAK 
 
 hung; and with his one eye, his one long spur, his 
 
 display herself, 
 Heavily loaded 
 as all our horses 
 were, 'Jim' start- 
 ed over the half- 
 mile level grass 
 at a hand-gallop, 
 and then throw- 
 ing his mare on her haunches, pulled up along- 
 side of me, and with a grace of manner which 
 soon made me forget his appearance, entered 
 into a conservation which lasted for more than 
 three hours, in spite of the manifold checks of 
 fording streams, single file, abrupt ascents and de- 
 scents, and other incidents of mountain travel. 
 The ride was one series of glories and surprises of 
 ■park' and glade, of lake and stream, of moun- 
 tains on mountains, culminating in the rent pin- 
 nacles of Long's Peak, which looked yet grander 
 and ghastlier as we crossed an attendant mountain 
 11,000 feet high. The slanting sun added fresh 
 beauty every hour. There were dark pines against 
 a lemon sky, grey peaks reddening and etherealiz- 
 ing, gorges of deep and infinite blue, floods of 
 golden glory pouring through canons of enormous 
 
 [181] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 depth, an atmosphere of absolute purity, an occa- 
 sional foreground of cotton-wood and aspen flaunt- 
 ing in red and gold to intensify the blue gloom of 
 the pines, the trickle and the murmur of streams 
 fringed with icicles, the strange sough of gusts 
 moving among the pine tops — sights and sounds not 
 of the lower earth, but of the solitary, beast- 
 haunted, frozen, upper altitudes. From the dry, 
 buff grass of Estes Park we turned off up a trail 
 on the side of a pine-hung gorge, up a steep pine- 
 clothed hill, down to a small valley, rich in fine, 
 
 FRAME OF INDIAN WIGWAM, ESTES PARK 
 
 sun-cured hay about eighteen inches high, and en- 
 closed by high mountains whose deepest hollow 
 contains a lily-covered lake, fitly named 'The Lake 
 of the Lilies.' Ah, how magical its beauty was, 
 as it slept in silence, while there the dark pines 
 were mirrored motionless in its pale gold, and 
 here the great white lily cups and dark green leaves 
 rested on amethyst-colored water. 
 
 "From this we ascended into the purple gloom 
 of great pine forests which clothe the skirts of the 
 mountains up to a height of about 11,000 feet, and 
 from their chill and solitary depths we had a 
 glimpse of the golden atmosphere and rose-lit sum- 
 mits, not of 'the land very far off,' but of the 
 land nearer now in all its grandeur, gaining in sub- 
 limity by nearness — glimses, too, through a broken 
 vista of purple gorges, of the illimitable Plains 
 lying idealized in the late sunlight, their baked, 
 brown expanse transfigured into the likeness of a 
 sunset sea rolling infinitely in waves of misty gold. 
 
 "We rode upward through the gloom on a steep 
 trail blazed through the forest, all my intellect con- 
 centrated on avoiding being dragged off my horse 
 by impending branches, or having the blankets 
 badly torn, as those of my companions were, by 
 
 [182] 
 
 sharp dead limbs, between which there was hardly 
 room to pass — the horses breathless, and requiring 
 to stop every few yards, though their riders, ex- 
 cept myself, were afoot. The gloom of the dense, 
 ancient, silent forest is to me awe-inspiring. On 
 such an evening it is soundless, except for the 
 branches creaking in the soft wind, the frequent 
 snap of decayed timber, and a murmer in the pine 
 tops as of a not distant water-fall, all tending to 
 produce eeriness and sadness 'hardly akin to pain.' 
 There no lumberer's axe has ever rung. The trees 
 die when they have attained their prime, and stand 
 there, dead and bare, till the fierce mountain winds 
 lay them prostrate. The pines grow smaller and 
 more sparse as we ascended and the last stragglers 
 wore a tortured, warring look. The timber line 
 was passed, but yet a little higher a slope of moun- 
 tain meadow dipped to the south-west towards a 
 bright stream trickling under ice and icicles, and 
 there a grove of the beautiful silver spruce marked 
 our camping ground. The trees were in miniature, 
 but so exquisitely arranged that one might well ask 
 what artist's hand had planted them, scattering them 
 here, clumping them there, and training their slim 
 spires towards heaven. Hereafter, when I call up 
 memories of the glorious, the view from this camp- 
 ing ground will come up. Looking east gorges 
 opened to the distant Plains, then fading into pur- 
 ple grey. Mountains with pine-clothed skirts rose 
 in ranges, or, solitary, uplifted their grey summits, 
 while close behind, but nearly 3,000 feet above us, 
 towered the bald white crests of Long's Peak, its 
 huge precipices red with the light of a sun long 
 lost to our eyes. Close to us, in the caverned side 
 of the Peak, was snow that, owing to its position, is 
 eternal. Soon the afterglow came on, and before It 
 faded a big half-moon hung out of the heavens, 
 shining through the silver blue foliage of the pines 
 on the frigid background of snow, and turning the 
 whole into fairyland. The 'photo' which accom- 
 panies this letter is by a courageous Denver artist 
 who attempted the ascent just before I arrived, 
 but after camping out at the timber line for a week, 
 was foiled by the perpetual storms, and was driven 
 down again, leaving some very valuable apparatus 
 about 3,000 feet from the summit. 
 
 "Unsaddling and picketing the horses securely, 
 making the beds of pine shoots, and dragging up logs 
 for fuel, warmed us all. 'Jim' built up a great 
 fire, and before long we were all sitting round it at 
 supper. It didn't matter much that we had to 
 drink our tea out of battered meat-tins in which 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 it was boiled, and eat strips of beef , reeking with 
 pine smoke without plates or forks. 
 
 "Treat 'Jim' as a gentleman and you'll find him 
 one," as I had been told; and though his manner 
 was certainly bolder and freer than that of gentle- 
 men generally, no imaginary fault could be found. 
 He was very agreeable as a man of culture as well 
 as a child of nature; the desperado was altogether 
 out of sight. He was very courteous and even kind 
 to me, which was fortunate, as the young men had 
 little idea of showing even ordinary civilities. That 
 night I made the acquaintance of his dog 'Ring,' 
 said to be the best hunting-dog in Colorado, with 
 the body and legs of a collie, but a head approach- 
 ing that of a mastiff, a noble face with a wistful 
 human expression, and the most truthful eyes I ever 
 saw in an animal. His master loves him if he loves 
 anything, but in his savage moods ill-treats him. 
 "Ring's" devotion never swerves, and his truthful 
 eyes are rarely taken off his master's face. He is 
 almost human in his intelligence, and, unless, he is 
 told to do so, he never takes notice of any one but 
 'Jim.' In a tone as if speaking to a human being, 
 his master, pointing to me, said, 'Ring, go to that 
 lady, and don't leave her again tonight.' 'Ring' 
 at once came to me, looked into my face, laid his 
 head on my shoulder, and then lay down beside me 
 with his head on my lap, but never taking his eyes 
 from 'Jim's' face. 
 
 "The long shadows of the pines lay upon the 
 frosted grass, an aurora leaped fitfully, and the 
 moonlight, though intensely bright, was pale red, be- 
 side the leaping flames of our pine logs and their red 
 glow on our gear, ourselves, and Ring's truthful face. 
 One of the young men sang a Latin student's song 
 and two negro melodies; the other, 'Sweet Spirit, 
 hear my prayer.' 'Jim' sang one of Moore's melo- 
 dies in a singular falsetto, and all together sang 
 'The Star-spangled Banner' and 'The Red, White 
 and Blue.' Then 'Jim' recited a very clever poem 
 of his own composition, and told some fearful 
 Indian stories. A group of small silver spruces 
 away from the fire was my sleeping-place. The 
 artist who had been up there had so woven and 
 interlaced their lower branches as to form a bower, 
 affording at once shelter from the wind and a most 
 agreeable privacy. It was thickly strewn with 
 young pine shoots and these, when covered with a 
 blanket, with an inverted saddle for a pillow, made 
 a luxurious bed. The mercury at 9 p. m. was 12 
 degrees below the freezing point. 'Jim,' after a last 
 look at the horses, made a huge fire, and stretched 
 himself out beside it, but 'Ring' lay at my back to 
 
 keep warm. I could not sleep, but the night passed 
 rapidly. I was anxious about the ascent for the 
 gusts of ominous sound swept through the pines at 
 intervals. Then wild animals howled, and 'Ring' 
 was perturbed in spirit about them. Then it was 
 strange to see the notorious desperado, a red-handed 
 man, sleeping as quietly as innocence sleeps. But, 
 above all, it was exciting to lie there, with no better 
 shelter than a bower of pines, on a mountain 11,000 
 feet high, in the very heart of the Rocky Range, 
 under twelve degrees of frost, hearing sounds of 
 wolves, with shivering stars looking through the 
 fragrant canopy, with arrowy pines for bed-posts, 
 and for a night lamp the red flames of a camp 
 fire. 
 
 "Day dawned long before the sun rose, pure and 
 lemon-colored. The rest were looking after the 
 horses, when one of the students came running 
 up to tell me that I must come farther down the 
 slope, for 'Jim' said he had never seen such a sun- 
 rise. From the chill, grey peak above, from the 
 everlasting snows, from the silvered pines, down 
 through mountain ranges with their depths of Ty- 
 rian purple, we looked to where the Plains lay 
 cold, in the blue grey, like a morning against a far 
 horizon. Suddenly, as a dazzling streak at first but 
 enlarging rapidly into a dazzling sphere, the sun 
 wheeled above the grey line, a light and glory as 
 when it was first created. 'Jim' involuntary and 
 reverently uncovered his head and exclaimed, 'I be- 
 lieve there is a God!' I felt as if, Parsee-like, 
 I must worship. The grey of the Plains changed to 
 purple, the sky was all one rose-red flush, on which 
 vermilion cloud-streaks rested ; the ghastly peaks 
 gleamed like rubies ; the earth and heavens were 
 new-created. Surely 'the Most High dwelleth not 
 in temples made with hands.!' For a full hour 
 those Plains simulated the ocean, down to whose 
 limitless expanse of purple, cliffs, rocks and promon- 
 tories swept down. 
 
 "By seven we had finished breakfast and passed 
 into the ghastlier solitudes above, I riding as far as 
 what, rightly or wrongly, is called the Boulder 
 field, an expanse of large and small boulders with 
 snow in their crevices. It was very cold ; some 
 water which we crossed was frozen hard enough 
 to bear the horses. 'Jim' had advised me against 
 taking any wraps, and my thin Hawaiian riding- 
 dress, only fit for the tropics, was penetrated by the 
 keen air. The rarified atmosphere soon began to 
 oppress our breathing, and I found that Evan's 
 boots were so large that I had no foothold. For- 
 tunately, before the real diflSculty of the ascent 
 
 [183] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 began, we found, under a rock, a pair of small 
 over-shoes, probably left by the Hayden exploring 
 expedition, which just lasted for the day. As we 
 were leaping from' rock to rock, 'Jim' said, 'I was 
 thinking in the night about your traveling alone 
 and wondered where you carried your Derringer, 
 for I could see no signs of it.' On telling him that 
 I traveled unarmed he could hardly believe it, and 
 adjured me to get a revolver at once. 
 
 "On arriving at the 'Key Hole' (a literal gate of 
 rock), we found ourselves absolutely on the knife- 
 like ridge or backbone of Long's Peak, only a few 
 feet wide, covered, with colossal boulders and frag- 
 ments, and on the other side shelving in one pre- 
 cipitous, snow-patched sweep of 3,000 feet to a 
 picturesque hollow containing a lake of pure, green 
 water. Other lakes, hidden among dense pine 
 woods, were farther off, while close above us rose 
 the Peak, which, for about 500 feet, is a smooth, 
 gaunt, inaccessible-looking pile of granite. Passing 
 through the 'Key Hole,' we looked along the nearly 
 inaccessible side of the Peak, composed of boulders 
 and debris of all shapes and sizes, through which 
 appeared broad, smooth ribs of reddish-colored gran- 
 ite, looking as if they upheld the towering rock-mass 
 above. I usually dislike bird's-eye and panoramic 
 views, but, though from a mountain, this was not 
 one. Serrated ridges, not much lower than that 
 on which we stood, rose, one beyond another, far 
 as that pure atmosphere could carry the vision, 
 broken, into awful chasms deep with ice and snow, 
 rising into pinnacles piercing the heavenly blue 
 with their cold, barren grey, on, on for ever, till the 
 most distant range upbore unsullied snow alone. 
 There were fair lakes mirroring the dark pine 
 woods, canons dark and blue-black with unbroken 
 expanses of pines, snow-slashed pinnacles, wintry 
 heights frowning upon lovely parks, watered and 
 wooded, lying in the lap of summer; North Park 
 floating off into the blue distance. Middle Park, 
 closed till another season, the sunny slopes of Estes 
 Park, and winding down among the mountains the 
 snowy ridge of the Divide, whose bright waters 
 seek both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. There, 
 far below, links of diamonds showed where the 
 Grand River takes its rise to seek the mysterious 
 Colorado, with its still unsolved enigma, and lose 
 itself in the waters of the Pacific; and nearer the 
 snow-born Thompson bursts forth from the ice 
 to begin its journey to the Gulf of Mexico. Na- 
 ture, rioting in her grandest mood, exclaimed with 
 voices of grandeur, solitude, sublimity, beauty and 
 infinity, 'Lord, what is man, that Thou art mindful 
 
 [184] . 
 
 of him; or the son of man, that Thou visitest him?' 
 Never-to-be-forgotten glories they were, burnt in 
 upon my memory by six succeeding hours of terror. 
 You know I have no head and no ankles, and never 
 ought to dream of mountaineering, and had I known 
 that the ascent was a real mountaineering feat, I 
 should not have felt the slightest ambition to per- 
 form it. As it is, I am only humiliated by my suc- 
 cess, for 'Jim' dragged me up, like a bale of goods, 
 by sheer force of muscle. At the 'Key Hole' the 
 real business of the ascent began. One thousand 
 feet of solid rock towered above us, four thousand 
 feet of broken rock shelved precipitously below; 
 smooth granite ribs, with barely foothold, stood 
 out here and there; melted snow refrozen several 
 times presented a more serious obstacle; many of 
 the rocks were loose and tumbled down when 
 touched. To me it was a time of extreme terror. 
 I was roped to 'Jim,' but it was of no use — my feet 
 were paralyzed and slipped on the bare rock — and 
 he said it was useless to try to go that way and we 
 retraced our steps. I wanted to return to the 'Key 
 Hole,' knowing that my incompetence would detain 
 the party, and one of the young men said almost 
 plainly that a woman was a dangerous encumbrance, 
 but the trapper replied shortly that if it were not 
 to take a lady up he would not go up at all. He 
 went on to explore, and reported that further prog- 
 ress on the correct line of ascent was blocked by 
 ice; and then for two hours we descended, lowering 
 ourselves by our hands from rock to rock along a 
 boulder-strewn sweep of 4,000 feet, patched with 
 ice and snow, and perilous from rolling stones. My 
 fatigue, giddiness and pain from bruised ankles and 
 arms half pulled out of their sockets, were so 
 great that I should never have gone half-way had 
 not 'Jim,' nolens volens, dragged me along with a 
 patience and skill and withal a determination that 
 I should ascend the Peak, which never failed. After 
 descending about 2,000 feet to avoid the ice, we got 
 into a deep trough with inaccessible sides, partly 
 filled with ice and snow and partly with large and 
 small fragments of rocks, which were constantly 
 giving way, rendering the footing very insecure. 
 That part to me was two hours of painful and un- 
 willing submission to the inevitable; of trembling, 
 slipping, straining, of smooth ice appearing when it 
 was least expected and of weak entreaties to be left 
 behind while the others went on. 'Jim' always 
 said that there was no danger, that there was only 
 a short bad bit ahead, and that I should go up, even 
 if he carried me. 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 "Slipping, faltering, gasping from the exhausting 
 toil in the rarified air, with throbbing hearts and 
 panting lungs, we reached the top of the gorge and 
 squeezed ourselves between two gigantic fragments 
 of rock by a passage called the Dog's Lift, when I 
 climbed on the shoulders of one man and then was 
 hauled up. This introduced us by an abrupt turn 
 around the southwest angle of the Peak to a narrow 
 
 and, to my thinking, the worst part of the climb, 
 one slip, and a breathing, thinking human being 
 would lie 3,000 feet below, a shapeless, bloody 
 heap! 'Ring' refused to traverse the ledge and re- 
 mained at the 'Lift,' howling piteously. 
 
 "From thence the view is more magnificent even 
 than that of the 'Key Hole.' At the foot of the 
 precipice below us lay a lovely lake, wood em- 
 
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 llWlllBBlPlliitiitBiiii^^ '-% 
 
 
 ^te-?#'-;^£ Vi:;T'"-:^^^ ''Hi/ 
 
 
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 BM^^|B|B|i^^ 
 
 
 VIEW OF CONTINENTAL DIVIDE 
 Photo by F. P. Clatworthy 
 
 shelf of considerable length, rugged, uneven and so 
 overhung by the cliff in some places, that it is neces- 
 sary to crouch to pass at all. Above, the Peak looks 
 nearly vertical for 400 feet; and below, the most 
 tremendous precipice I have ever seen descends in 
 one unbroken fall. This is usually considered the 
 most dangerous part of the ascent, but it does not 
 seem so to me, for such foothold as there is is 
 secure, and one fancies that it is possible to hold 
 on with the hands. But there, and on the final. 
 
 bosomed, from or near which the bright St. Vrain 
 and other streams take their rise. I thought how 
 their clear, cold waters, growing turbid in the 
 affluent flats, would heat under the tropic sun and 
 eventually form part of that great ocean river 
 which renders our far-off islands habitable by im- 
 pinging on their shores. Snowy ranges, one behind 
 the other, extended to the distant horizon, folding 
 in their wintry embrace the beauties of Middle 
 Park. Pike's Peak, more than one hundred miles 
 
 [185] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 off, lifted that vast but shapeless summit, which is 
 the landmark of Southern Colorado. There were 
 snow patches, snow slashes, snow abysses, snow- 
 forlorn and soiled-looking, snow pure and dazzling, 
 snow glistening above the purple robe of pine worn 
 by all the mountains ; while away to the east, in lim- 
 itless breadth, stretched the green-grey of the end- 
 less Plains. Giants everywhere reared their splin- 
 tered crests. From thence, with a single sweep, the 
 eye takes in a distance of 300 miles — that distance 
 to the west, north and south being made up of 
 mountains ten, eleven, twelve and thirteen thou- 
 sand feet in height, dominated by Long's Peak, 
 Gray's Peak and Pike's Peak, all nearly the height 
 of Mont Blanc ! On the Plains we traced the rivers 
 by their fringe of cottonwoods to the distant Platte, 
 and between us and them lay glories of mountain, 
 canon and lake, sleeping in depths of blue and pur- 
 ple most ravishing to the eye. 
 
 "As we crept from the ledge around a horn of 
 rock I beheld what made me perfectly sick and dizzy 
 to look at — the terminal Peak itself — a smooth, 
 cracked face or wall of pink granite as nearly per- 
 pendicular as anything could well be, up which 
 it was impossible to climb, well deserving the name 
 of the 'American Matterhorn.' 
 
 "Scaling, not climbing, is the correct term for 
 this last ascent. It took one hour to accomplish 
 500 feet, pausing for breath every minute or two. 
 The only foothold was in narrow cracks or on min- 
 ute projections on the granite. To get a toe in 
 these cracks, or here and there on a scarcely obvious 
 projection, while crawling on hands and knees, all 
 the while tortured with thirst and gasping and 
 struggling for breath, this was the climb; but at 
 last the Peak was won. A grand, well-defined 
 mountain-top it is, a nearly level acre of boulders, 
 with precipitous sides all around, the one we came 
 up being the only accessible one. 
 
 "It was not possible to remain long. One of the 
 young men was seriously alarmed by bleeding from 
 the lungs, and the intense dryness of the day and 
 the rarification of the air at a height of nearly 15,000 
 feet, made respiration very painful. There is al- 
 ways water on the Peak, but it was frozen as hard 
 as a rock, and the sucking of ice and snow increases 
 thirst. We all suffered severely from the want of 
 water, and the gasping for breath made our mouths, 
 and tongues so dry that articulation was difficult 
 and the speech of all unnatural. 
 
 "From the summit were seen in unrivalled com- 
 bination all the views which had rejoiced our eyes 
 
 [186] 
 
 during the ascent. It was something at last to 
 stand upon the storm-rent crown of this lonely sen- 
 tinel of the Rocky Range, on one of the mightiest 
 of the vertebrae of the backbone of the North Amer- 
 ican continent, and to see the waters start for both 
 oceans. Uplifted above love and hate and storms 
 of passion, calm arriidst the eternal silences, fanned 
 by zephyrs and bathed in living blue, peace rested 
 for that one bright day on the Peak as if it were 
 some region. 
 
 " 'Where falls not rain, or hail, or any snow, 
 Or ever wind blows loudly.' 
 
 "We placed our names, with the date of ascent, 
 in a tin within a crevice, and descended to the ledge, 
 sitting on the smooth granite, getting our feet into 
 cracks and against projections, and letting ourselves 
 down by our hands, 'Jim' going before me, so that 
 I might steady my feet against his powerful shoul- 
 ders. I was no longer giddy, and faced the preci- 
 pice of 3,500 feet without a shiver. Repassing the 
 ledge and lift, we accomplished the descent through 
 600 feet of ice and snow with many falls and 
 bruises, but no worse mishap, and there separated, 
 the young men taking the steepest but most direct 
 way to the 'Key Hole' with the intention of getting 
 ready for the march home, and 'Jim' and I taking 
 what he thought the safer route for me — a descent 
 over boulders for 2,000 feet, and then a tremendous 
 ascent to the 'Key Hole.' I had various falls and 
 once hung by my frock, which caught on a rock, 
 and 'Jim' severed it with his hunting-knife, upon 
 which I fell into a crevice full of soft snow. We 
 were driven lower down the mountain than he had 
 intended by impassable tracts of ice, and the ascent 
 was tremendous. For the last 200 feet the boulders 
 were of enormous size and the steepness fearful. 
 Sometimes I drew myself up on hands and knees, 
 sometimes crawled; sometimes 'Jim' pulled me up 
 by my arms, or a lariat, and sometimes I stood on 
 his shoulders, or he made steps for me of his feet 
 and hands, but at six we stood on the 'Key Hole' 
 in the splendor of the sinking sun, all color deepen- 
 ing, all peaks glorifying, all shadows purpling, all 
 peril past. 
 
 " 'Jim' had parted with his brusquerie when we 
 parted from the students and was gentle and con- 
 siderate beyond anything, though I knew that he 
 must be grievously disappointed, both in my courage 
 and strength. Water was an object of earnest 
 desire. My tongue rattled in my mouth and I could 
 hardly articulate. It is good for one's sympathies 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 to have for once a severe experience of thirst. Truly 
 there was 
 
 " 'Water, water, everywhere. 
 But not a drop to drink.' 
 
 "Three times its apparent gleam deceived even 
 the mountaineer's eye, but we found only a foot 
 of 'glare ice,' At last, in a deep hole, he succeeded 
 in bireaking the ice and by putting one's arm far 
 down one could scoop 
 up a little water in 
 one's hand, but it was 
 tormentingly insuffi- 
 cient. With great dif- 
 ficulty and much assist- 
 ance I recrossed Boul- 
 der field, was carried 
 to the horse and lifted 
 upon him, and when 
 we reached the camp- 
 ing ground I was lift- 
 ed off him and laid on 
 the ground, wrapped 
 up in blankets, a hu- 
 miliating termination 
 of a great exploit. The 
 horses were saddled 
 and the young men 
 were all ready to start, 
 but 'Jim' quietly said, 
 'Now, gentlemen, I 
 want a good night's 
 rest and we shan't stir 
 from here tonight.' I 
 believe they were really 
 glad to have it so, as 
 one of them was quite 
 'finished.' I retired to 
 my arbor, wrapped my- 
 self in a roll of blan- 
 kets and was soon 
 asleep. When I woke 
 the moon was high, 
 shining through the sil- 
 very branches, whiten- 
 ing the bald Peak 
 above and glittering on 
 the great abyss of snow 
 behind, and pine logs 
 were blazing like a 
 bonfire in the cold, still 
 air. My feet were so 
 icy-cold that I could 
 
 not sleep again, and getting some blankets to sit in, 
 and making a roll of them for my back, I sat for 
 two hours by the camp fire. It was wierd and glor- 
 iously beautiful. The students were asleep not far 
 o£E in their blankets, with their feet towards the 
 fire. 'Ring' lay on one side of me with his fine 
 head on my arm, . and his master sat smoking, 
 with the fire lighting up the handsome side of 
 his face, and except for the tones of our voices 
 
 LAKE URSULLA, ESTES PARK, COLORADO 
 Photo by W. T. Parke 
 
 [187] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 and the occasional crackle and splutter as a pine 
 knot blazed up, there was no sound on the 
 mountain side. The beloved stars of my far-off 
 home were overhead, the Plough and the Pole Star, 
 with their steady light ; the glittering Pleiades, look- 
 ing larger than I ever saw them, and 'Orion's 
 studded belt' shining gloriously. Once only some 
 wild animals prowled near the camp, when 'Ring,' 
 with one bound, disappeared from my side, and the 
 horses, which were picketed by the stream, broke 
 their lariats, stampeded and came rushing wildly 
 towards the fire, and it was fully half an hour be- 
 fore they were caught and quiet was restored. 
 'Jim,' or Mr. Nugent, as I always scrupulously 
 called him, told stories of his early youth and of a 
 great sorrow which had led him to embark on a law- 
 less and desperate life. His voice trembled and tears 
 rolled down his cheek. Was it semi-conscious act- 
 ing, I wondered, or was his dark soul really stirred 
 by the silence, the beauty and the memories of 
 youth ? 
 
 "We reached Estes Park at noon of the following 
 day. A more successful ascent of the Peak was 
 never made, and I would not now exchange my 
 memories of its perfect beauty and extraordinary 
 sublimity for any other experience of mountaineer- 
 ing in any part Of the world. Yesterday snow fell 
 en the summit, and it will be inaccessible for eight 
 months to come." 
 
 Pleasant Valley 
 
 Pleasant Valley is a beautiful park lying just 
 back of the first ridge of hogbacks, six miles north- 
 west of Fort Collins. It is penned in between the 
 high hills of the Front Range on the west, the hog- 
 backs on the north and east, and is crossed from 
 west to east by the Cache la Poudre river, which 
 debouches from the canon at the extreme west end 
 of the valley. It is about two miles long from east 
 to west and varies in width from one-fourth of a 
 mile to a mile. This beautiful valley early attracted 
 the attention of the first settlers on the river and all 
 the farm and pasture lands were squatted upon in 
 1858-59 and '60. One of the first settlers of which 
 there is any record was G. R. Sanderson, who lo- 
 cated on the farm owned by Mrs. Joshua H. Yea- 
 ger. Sanderson built the first irrigating ditch 
 that took water from the Cache la Poudre river, 
 and it was the first ditch built in Larimer County, 
 its priority being dated June, 1860. It was also 
 the second irrigating ditch built in Northern Colo- 
 
 [188] 
 
 rado, the first having been built just below Denver 
 and took its water from the Platte. Its priority 
 of appropriation is dated a few days ahead of tlie 
 Sanderson, or Yeager ditch, as it is now called. 
 J. H. Yeager purchased Sanderson's claim in 1864 
 and took immediate possession. Samuel Bingham 
 located on what is now the Doty place, situated at 
 the foot of the west slope of Bingham hill, in 
 1860. Bingham hill took its name from the old- 
 timer. One of his daughters, Mrs. William Gard- 
 ner, is still living at Laporte, but the old pioneer 
 was gathered to his fathers more than thirty years 
 ago. In 1862 Abner Loomis settled on a ranch 
 in Pleasant Valley, being followed the following 
 year by Benjamin T. Whedbee. Perry J. Bosworth 
 came a little later and C. W. Harrington and Louis 
 Blackstock in 1867. Capt. William M. Post and 
 James H. Swan came from Connecticut in 1870 and 
 purchased land in the west end of the valley, on 
 which they lived several years. William P. Bos- 
 worth became a resident of the valley in 1870 and 
 he was followed a few years later by Charles E. 
 Pennock and Perry Willis. 
 
 In the fall of 1872 Jacob Flowers and a man 
 named Laidlaw came West from Wyandotte, Kan- 
 sas, in search of a location for a colony, and after 
 looking over the state quite thoroughly, decided 
 that Pleasant Valley and the Cache la Poudre val- 
 ley afforded the best opportunities for their project. 
 They returned to Kansas soon after the holidays 
 and submitted such a flattering report that twenty- 
 five families decided to leave the Sunflower State 
 and journey westward. Some of these colonists 
 stopped in Greeley and the remainder came on to 
 Fort Collins in the spring of 1873. Among the 
 latter were Jacob' Flowers and family, James Ne- 
 
 ■ ville and family, George Ismert and family and 
 Querin Schang, then a young unmarried man. Mr. 
 Flowers purchased of Joseph Mason a farm in 
 Pleasant Valley, which he owned and occupied until 
 his death a few years ago. In addition to making 
 
 ■ other improvements on the farm, he set out an or- 
 chard and was among the first to demonstrate that 
 fruit could be grown in Northern Colorado. In 
 1882 he built a fine stone residence on his farm 
 and also a large stone building which was occupied 
 several years by himself and son, B. F. Flowers, 
 dealers in general merchandise. That year he also 
 laid out and platted the town of Bellvue, one of the 
 most attractive little towns in the county. Since 
 then Bellvue has made a steady growth, and Pleas- 
 ant Valley is now thickly settled by enterprising 
 and prosperous farmers, fruit growers and truck 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 gardeners. There are now two stores in Bellvue, 
 postofSce and shops of various kinds, including meat 
 market, wagon shop, blacksmith shop and other 
 public conveniences. There were 131 votes polled 
 in Bellvue precinct, which embraces Pleasant Val- 
 ley, in 1908. 
 
 Virginia Dale 
 
 Virginia Dale was one of the most noted localities 
 in the western country in the early days. It was 
 known far and wide, its name and fame being 
 spread from ocean to ocean by Overland stage trav- 
 elers, described by magazine writ- 
 ers and newspaper correspondents 
 and discussed in public places all 
 over the country, often in terms of 
 praise and again with awe and su- 
 perstition. It was the first division 
 point northwest of Denver on the 
 Overland stage line and was es- 
 tablished as such in June, 1862, 
 when the stage company moved 
 down from the North Platte route. 
 Joseph A. Slade, better known in 
 those days as "Jack" Slade, was 
 appointed division agent and had 
 charge of the station the first year. 
 He had been transferred from the 
 North Platte route, where he was 
 known and recognized as the most 
 efficient division agent on the en- 
 tire line. It is said of him that he 
 never failed to get the United 
 States mails through on time on his division, and 
 that stage robbers and road agents had a hearty 
 fear of him. 
 
 Virginia Dale is located in the Black Hills in 
 the northern part of Larimer county, about forty 
 miles northwest of Fort Collins. It remained a 
 division point on the Overland stage route until 
 the Union Pacific Railroad was completed to Chey- 
 enne, in 1867, and was then abandoned. The sta- 
 tion house, stage stables and other buildings were 
 erected by Slade, and the old station house, its walls 
 scarred by bullet holes, is still standing. Slade had 
 the reputation of being a gambler and desperado, 
 but he never neglected his duty as division and sta- 
 tion agent. He was a strict disciplinarian and ruled 
 his drivers with an arbitrary hand, never permitting 
 his orders to be evaded or disobeyed. At times he 
 drank heavily, and when under the influence of 
 liquor was a terror to his associates. It is said 
 
 that he made Virginia Dale station a rendezvous 
 for gamblers and road agents. Liquors of all kinds 
 were kept and sold there and it soon became noted 
 as being a resort for some of the hardest and most 
 abandoned characters of the west; in fact it is 
 claimed that stage robbers or road agents, as they 
 were called, made their headquarters at Slade's 
 place on Dale creek. He named the station Vir- 
 ginia Dale in honor of his wife's maiden name. 
 Slade remained in charge of the division and station 
 for little more than a year and was then discharged 
 by the stage company. His conduct during his drink- 
 ing bouts became intolerable and the reputation of 
 
 A GLIMPSE OF THE POUDRE ABOVE BELLVUE 
 
 the station so bad that the company was compelled to 
 make a change. Slade went to Montana and was 
 hung by the vigilaJils in the fall of 1864 at Virginia 
 City. The story of his career is told elsewhere in 
 this volume. 
 
 After Slade's dismissal, the late William S. Tay- 
 lor was placed in charge of the Virginia Dale sta- 
 tion. He had early that year (1863) returned 
 from Illinois, where he married his first wife, whom 
 he installed as housekeeper. She was a handsome, 
 intelligent, cultured and a very amiable lady and 
 was much admired for her tact and ability as a cook 
 and entertainer by all stage going travelers who 
 passed that way on their journey to and from Salt 
 Lake and the Pacific coast. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor 
 kept the station until 1866 when they were given 
 the Laporte station which they kept until the Over- 
 land stage line was abandoned on the completion 
 of the Union Pacific railroad to Cheyenne. Mrs. 
 
 [189] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Taylor died in Fort Collins in 1886, sincerely 
 mourned by all who knew her. Mr. Taylor mar- 
 ried Miss Mary Murch for his second wife and 
 they soon afterward moved to Pasadena, California, 
 where he died in 1895. 
 
 In 1864-5-6 Virginia Dale was a noted camping 
 place for emigrant trains. By order of General Con- 
 nor, commander of the Department of the Plains, 
 this route from Julesburg to Denver and thence on 
 west through Laporte and Virginia Dale to Fort 
 Steele, where it joined the old Oregon trail, was the 
 only route that emigrants were permitted to travel 
 during those years, owing to the hostility of the 
 Northern Indians who infested the old North 
 Platte route and raided and harrassed all who went 
 or came that way. It was not an unusual sight to 
 see fifty or one hundred emigrant wagons with their 
 loads of human freight and merchandise in camp 
 array at the Dale. It was a favorite camping place 
 and caravans frequently stopped there for days at a 
 time to rest the stock. 
 
 To the east of the stage station is a high hill upon 
 the summit of which Slade had erected a stone 
 lookout in which he kept a watchman most of the 
 time, when there was threatened trouble with the 
 Indians in that vicinity. From the top of this hill 
 there is a good view of the station and the Plains 
 far to the east and to the northwest in which direc- 
 tion the road led, and if the sentinel saw danger 
 approaching the station he would signal to men 
 there to that effect, and if he saw that danger 
 threatened emigrant trains or the stage coaches he 
 would signal the station, thus often averting Indian 
 massacres which have dotted the Plains with the 
 graves of their victims. To the northeast of the 
 station is a mountain called Robbers Roost. On 
 the top of this mountain, it is said, the stage robbers 
 and road agents who made their headquarters at 
 Slade's, hid the plunder they had taken from stage 
 coaches and emigrant trains, which they had suc- 
 ceeded in robbing. It is charged that Slade himself 
 often engaged in these forays and hid the plunder 
 thus secured on Robbers Roost until he had an 
 opportunity to dispose of it elsewhere. 
 
 To the southwest of the station and on the 
 opposite side of the road, is a small cemetery in 
 which there are three graves. One of these is that 
 of a white man who was killed by the Indians. 
 While out hunting the stranger killed a deer at 
 no great distance from the station, and while in the 
 act of skinning his game, he received an arrow in 
 the back which penetrated one of his lungs. He 
 turned about but could see no one. Mounting his 
 
 [190] 
 
 horse he rode to the station and told what had 
 happened, dying soon afterwards. He was buried 
 in the little graveyard, which the traveler may yet 
 see as he passes along the road. One of the other 
 graves contains the remains of Mrs. S. C. Leach, 
 whose husband bought the station property of the 
 Overland stage company and lived in the house and 
 kept the postofEce for many years. Mr. Leach went 
 to Wyoming in the early '80s and died there a few 
 years later. Who the occupant of the third grave 
 was is unknown. He may have been the victim of 
 Slade's drunken anger, or that of a sick and weary 
 traveler whom death claimed ere he reached his 
 journey's end. 
 
 To the southeast of the old station house and 
 close to the main traveled road, there is a rock 
 which has a perpendicular height of 500 feet. In 
 connection with this rock there is a legend to the 
 effect that a Cheyenne Indian warrior who became 
 enamored of a young Ute squaw, but because of 
 a tribal law of the Utes no member of that tribe 
 was allowed to marry out of the tribe, he was re- 
 fused her hand. Despairing of ever gaining the con- 
 sent of the Utes to a violation of their tribal law, 
 the warrior lover stole the Ute maiden and being 
 pursued, both fled to the top of this rock. The 
 rock was surrounded by Utes and seeing no way to 
 escape the vengeance of their pursuers, they locked 
 themselves in each others arms and leaped from 
 the summit of the mountain and were dashed to 
 pieces on the rocks below. This incident gave rise 
 to the name "Lovers' Leap" which still clings to 
 the rock. 
 
 Albert D. Richardson, in his book, "Beyond the 
 Mississippi", gives a different version of the romance 
 from which the rock derives its name. In company 
 with Schuyler Colfax, who was elected Vice- 
 President of the United States in 1868, Lieutenant- 
 Governor Bross of Illinois and Samuel Bowles, 
 editor of the Springfield, Massachusetts, Republican, 
 while going west in June, 1865, in an Overland 
 coach, spent one Sunday at Virginia Dale. Mr. 
 Richardson tells the story as follows : 
 
 "The Indians did not catch us ; but a hundred 
 miles west of Denver the troubles grew so serious 
 that we waited for trustworthy information from 
 the front, remaining one day at Virginia Dale 
 station, in a lovely little valley imprisoned by tower- 
 ing mountains. One of their precipitous walls is 
 known as 'Lovers' Leap'. The legend runs that an 
 emigrant, whose mistress had abandoned him and 
 married another, threw himself from it and was 
 dashed to pieces in full view of the woman for 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 whom he had flung away his life. The Secession 
 founder of the station, not daring to call it Vir- 
 ginia Davis in honor of Mrs. Jefferson Davis, 
 found solace in Virginia Dale." 
 
 Mr. Samuel Bowles, editor of the Springfield, 
 Massachusetts, Republican, who, with others, ac- 
 companied Mr. Richardson on this trip across the 
 continent,- in a letter published in his paper, tells 
 why the party spent a day at Virginia Dale, and 
 also gives his impressions of the station, its occu- 
 pants and their surroundings at that time. That 
 was when Mr. and Mrs. W. S. Taylor kept the 
 station. He says in a letter dated Virginia Dale, 
 June 5 th, 1865: — 
 
 "There was no aristocratic distinction between 
 the days of the week, west of the Mississippi. The 
 Broad church rules here are so broadly kept that 
 even St. Burleigh of your modern Florence would 
 find hearty welcome, particularly from our red 
 brethren, who would rate his scalp with its orna- 
 ments at .the value of a dozen of the ordinary sort. 
 Sundays are as good as other days, no better. Stages 
 run, stores are open, mines are dug, and stamp mills 
 crush. But our Eastern prejudices are not alto- 
 gether conquered by the 'spirit of the age'; and so, 
 on reaching here yesterday morning at sunrise, we 
 commanded a twenty-four hours halt. Possibly 
 our principles had a point put to them by learn- 
 ing from the down stage that 'Mr. Lo, the poor 
 Indian,' had got loose up the line, stolen horses, and 
 interrupted communications. At any rate the 
 motive fear for our scalps or fear for our souls — we 
 followed the fashion of our forefathers, and slept 
 through the day, some of us in the coach, the rest 
 stretched out on the piazza of the only house in 
 Virginia Dale; clambering up a high rock in the 
 evening to view the landscape o'er the valley, 
 streams, snow-clad mountains, and far-distant 
 Plains, and closing out our observances with a more 
 hearty than harmonious rendering of our small 
 repertoire of psalm tunes. 
 
 "Lodgings are not extensive in this locality ; the 
 Speaker borrowed a bed ; two slept in the coach ; and 
 two of us rolled ourselves up in our blankets and 
 took the floor. I hit upon a board whose hard side 
 was accidentally put up ; and what with this and hun- 
 gry and dry and noisy stage drivers coming in at 
 from 2 to 4 a. m. and less vociferous but quite as 
 hungry invaders of our bodily peace in the form of 
 vermin, the night brought more of reflection than re- 
 fection — to us. But we are off early this morning, 
 having satisfied our Christian consciences, and learn- 
 
 ing that the Indians were certainly still one hundred 
 and fifty miles away, but leaving behind for a Mon- 
 day's rest a fresh stage load of eager gold seekers and 
 Salt Lake merchants, whom our scruples on the 
 subject of Sunday traveling had thrown one day be- 
 hind. But they were solaced by the arguments that 
 we would make the path straight for them above, 
 that they must stop somewhere, and that here was 
 the best food and the prettiest cook on the line. 
 
 "Virginia Dale deserves its pretty name. A 
 pearly, lively-looking stream runs through a beauti- 
 ful basin of perhaps one hundred acres, among the 
 mountains — for we are within the entrance of the 
 great hills — stretching away in smooth and rising 
 pasture to nooks and crannies of the wooded range; 
 fronted by rock embankment, and flanked by the 
 snowy peaks themselves; warm with a June sun, 
 and rare and pure with an air into which no fetid 
 breath has poured itself — it is difficult to imagine 
 a more loveable spot in Nature's kingdom. It is 
 one hundred miles north from Denver, half of the 
 way along the foot of the hills, crossing frequent 
 streams, swollen and angry with melting snows, 
 and watering the only really green acres we have 
 seen since leaving Kansas; and half the road wind- 
 ing over and around and between the hills that form 
 the approaches to the Rocky Mountains. Only the 
 station of the stage line occupies the dale ; a house, 
 a barn, a blacksmith shop; the keeper and his wife, 
 the latter as sweet, as gentle and as lady-like as if 
 just transplanted from Eastern society, yet prepar- 
 ing bountiful meals for twice-daily stage loads of 
 hungry and dirty passengers ; the stock tender and 
 his assistant — these were all the inhabitants of the 
 spot, and no neighbors within fifteen miles. For 
 the day, our party and its escort — the soldiers lying 
 off in the grass by the watdr with their camp fire 
 and their baggage wagon — made unusual life, and 
 gave a peculiar picturesqueness to the sequestered 
 spot. 
 
 Joseph A. Slade was the first white man to locate 
 in what is now known as Virginia Dale. He built 
 a division station on Dale creek for the Overland 
 stage company in 1862 and had charge of the station 
 for the company for about one year. He was suc- 
 ceeded by William S. Taylor and he by S. C. 
 Leach. When the station was abandoned by the 
 Overland stage company in 1868, Mr. Leach pur- 
 chased the property and lived there until 1885, 
 when he sold out to W. C. Stover and moved to 
 Wyoming, where he died several years ago. It was 
 not until the spring of 1872 that other settlers be- 
 
 [191] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 gan to come and locate along the streams and estab- 
 lish homes. Among the first of these were Andrew 
 Boyd and Joseph H. George who took up ranches 
 on Dale creek a few miles below the old station. 
 Peter Gealow took up a ranch that year on Dead- 
 man creek, a tributary of Dale creek. Thomas B. 
 Bishopp located on Dale creek about a mile below 
 the old station in 1873 and still lives on the ranch 
 he took up then. Andrew Boyd and Peter Gealow 
 also still occupy the ranches they settled on in 1872. 
 Joseph H. George remained on his ranch until 1909 
 when he sold it to John Muse. These early settlers 
 were followed soon afterwards by I. G. Stafford, D. 
 C. Young, C. B. Mendenhall, J. M. McCain, 
 Moses Morrison, W. B. Woodruff, Frank Kibler, 
 W. H. Harriman, Daniel Heckart, Mrs. HoUiday, 
 Alexander Murchland, Fred Christman and W. T. 
 Webber. Some of the first settlers have since died 
 and others have moved away, but their ranches are 
 occupied by new comers. 
 
 Many others have located in Virginia Dale since 
 then, so that in 1908, 38 votes were polled in that 
 precinct. The first school house built at Virginia 
 Dale was erected in 1874 and it is still in use. C. 
 B. Mendenhall and W. H. Harriman were mem- 
 bers of the board of school directors at that time, 
 and a school was taught in the new building that 
 year. Miss Emma Stafford and Joseph and Alex 
 Murchland were among those who attended the 
 first school. Frank Kibler and his wife were the 
 first couple married in Virginia Dale, and Rachael 
 Boyd, daughter of Andrew Boyd, was the first child 
 born there. The first settlers of Virginia^ Dale 
 were attracted there by its superior advantages as 
 a stock country and the opportunities for dairying, 
 an industry that is still carried on with excellent 
 success. The parks and hillsides afford fine grazing 
 and the valleys along the streams have been con- 
 verted into splendid meadows, gardens and orchards. 
 It is a well watered region, its principal streams 
 being Dale creek, Fish creek, Deadman creek, and 
 Six and Ten Mile creeks. These streams furnish 
 an abundance of water for stock and for the irriga- 
 tion of meadows, gardens and orchards. 
 
 A church has been erected at Deadman crossing 
 of the Laramie road, in which services are held once 
 in two weeks the year round, the pulpit being 
 supplied by Rev. Franklin Moore of Fossil Creek. 
 The finding of the body of a man who had evi- 
 dently been killed near the stream by the Indians, 
 gave rise to the name "Deadman", by which the 
 creek has since been known. The bones of the un- 
 fortunate unknown rest in the soil of a knoll im- 
 
 [192] 
 
 mediately west of the house built by Fred Christ- 
 man in 1875. The ranch is now owned by W. H. 
 Aldrich, postmaster at Virginia Dale. 
 
 Virginia Dale Church 
 
 The first religious work done at Virginia Dale 
 was the organization of a Sunday School in 1878. 
 The first preaching was by Rev. D. E. Finks, pastor 
 of the Fort Collins Presbyterian church. He held 
 services in the school house. The church was first 
 built as a union church near the present home of 
 Daniel Heckart in 1880. In 1881 it was dedi- 
 cated as a Methodist church by Rev. Merritt, 
 Presiding Elder. The congregation was served 
 thereafter by Revs. Allen, Coyle, Long and Trow- 
 bridge. In 1885 the church building was moved to 
 its present site on Fred Christman 's ranch on Dead- 
 man creek, Mr. Christman donating the site. In 
 1889 the Methodists abandoned the field and for 
 three years no services were held there. In 1893, 
 Rev. Franklin Moore took charge of the work and 
 a Presbyterian church was organized. Rev. T. C. 
 Kirkwood, ofiBcating. The work has since been 
 carried on by Rev. Moore, with the exception of 
 three years when he was stationed at Hillsboro. He 
 resumed services in 1907 and is still in charge of the 
 work. 
 
 Livermore 
 
 Livermore derives its name from a combination of 
 the names of two of its earliest permanent settlers, 
 Adolphus Livernash and Stephen Moore — ^who built 
 a cabin in 1863 on the ranch recently owned by 
 Andrew Brooker, one fourth of a mile south of the 
 present Livermore hotel, store and postoffice, and 
 engaged in prospecting for coal and precious min- 
 erals. Livernash, then a sixteen year old boy, a 
 native of Wisconsin, remained only a few months 
 with Moore, returning to Laporte where he secured 
 employment. In 1874 he married Sarah E. Isard, 
 James H. Swan, a Justice of the Peace, performing 
 the ceremony. Later Mr. Livernash moved to 
 Boulder county and engaged in mining. He was 
 killed by lightning in 1883, while working in a 
 mine. His widow and three children, two daugh- 
 ters and son, are residents of Fort Collins, the son 
 Edward J. Livernash being associated with his 
 brother-in-law, Walter P. Hurley, in the drug 
 business, and proprietors of the Owl Drug Store. 
 Moore held on to his claim in Livermore until 
 1871 when he sold it to Russell Fisk. Shortly after 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 LARIMER 
 
 COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 that Moore disappeared and his present where- 
 abouts, if he is still living, is unknown. At the 
 time Moore and Livernash built their little one- 
 room cabin on the banks of the North fork of the 
 Cache la Poudre, what is now known as Livermore, 
 extended from Laporte west to the Continental 
 Divide and from the southern boundary of Larimer 
 county north to the present state line between Colo- 
 rado and Wyoming, and the human occupants of 
 that vast extent of territory were a band of Ute 
 Indians who made their home in North Park. It was 
 a vast unsurveyed and, save for the Overland stage 
 road, an untracked wilderness. The smile of a white 
 woman had never been seen and the prattle of a 
 child had never been heard within its borders. 
 Game and fur bearing animals were numerous and 
 it was the hunter's and trapper's paradise. As 
 early as 1824 hunters and trappers in the employ of 
 the Hudson Bay Fur Company built their cabins 
 along the streams in the fall of the year and carried 
 on their operations of trapping beaver and killing 
 other fur bearing animals during the winter season, 
 leaving in the spring with their packs of furs for 
 their Northern rendezvous, only to return the fol- 
 lowing fall to resume operations. These annual 
 invasions of hunters and trappers from the North 
 continued until about 1850 and until they had 
 practically exhausted the supply of beaver and were 
 then known no more. 
 
 In the fall of 1861, N. C. Alford of Fort Collins, 
 Jacob Cornelison of Virginia Dale, and the late 
 William Calloway, established a hunters' camp on 
 Meadow creek, fifteen miles north of the present 
 Livermore postoffice, where they spent the succeed- 
 ing winter hunting game for the Denver market. 
 That same fall another hunting party established a 
 camp at the mouth of Lone Pine canon on the 
 ranch now owned by Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Bellairs. 
 The country was rich at that time in meat produc- 
 ing wild animals, such as deer, antelope and elk, and 
 these hunting parties were very successful. 
 
 Out of that portion of the country named Liver- 
 more by Livernash and Moore in 1863, has since 
 been carved the entire county of Jackson, also the 
 following election precincts in Larimer county: 
 Home, Laramie, St. Cloud, Virginia Dale, Estes 
 Park, Pinewood, Buffum, Stratton Park, Drake, 
 Buckhorn and Livermore, containing in 1908, a 
 voting population of 663. It must be remembered 
 that these are all mountain precincts and do not 
 include any part of Jackson county. 
 
 The Livermore country was early recognized as 
 the best grazing and stock raising section in North- 
 
 ern Colorado and nearly all of the first settlers were 
 stockmen interested in either horses, cattle or sheep. 
 It is bountifully watered by the Cache la Poudre 
 river, the North fork, the North and South Lone 
 Pine, Dale, Trail, Meadow, Rabbit and Stonewall 
 creeks, besides numerous small branches of these 
 streams, while numbers of open parks and grass 
 covered hills and blufEs afEord splendid pasturage. 
 The bottom lands along the streams make fine 
 meadows, from which thousands of tons of hay are 
 cut annually. These advantages were not to be 
 overlooked by the stockmen, hence they were the 
 first to locate there and establish homes. Next to 
 the arrival of Moore and Livernash in 1863, came 
 Cyrus Godwin, a hunter, who located on what is 
 now the Jack Currie ranch, in 1865. Jacob Cor- 
 nelison, who spent the year 1863 in the Livermore 
 country, says there were two Irishmen on the Milne 
 place (now covered by the Halligan reservoir) 
 who raised a crop of oats and potatoes and sold 
 their products at Laporte for fabulous prices. 
 William Calloway, who hunted here in 1861-2 and 
 then went to Idaho, returned in 1867 and located 
 on what is now known as the Cradock ranch, and 
 in the spring of 1869 his brother, Martin and fam- 
 ily came out from Indiana and settled on a ranch 
 in Boxelder canon. Mrs. Calloway was the first 
 white woman to venture into that section of the 
 country. Her nearest white woman neighbor lived 
 sixteen miles away. Mrs. Calloway is now a resi- 
 dent of Fort Collins. Her husband died January 
 7, 1879, and she later married William Calloway, 
 who died in 1891. 
 
 Horace and Charles Emerson spent the winter 
 of 1869-70 in Coe & Carter's employ getting out 
 railroad ties above the Rustic. Coe & Carter built 
 the wagon road to the tie camp over which camp 
 supplies were hauled. At this time Steve George, 
 or "Dutch" George, and 'Trench Pete" were truck 
 gardening on what is now the Roberts Bros, ranch 
 at the mouth of Lone Pine creek. Later "Dutch" 
 George moved to the mouth of Elkhorn creek where 
 he lived until 1878, when he was killed by a bear 
 near Laramie Peak. His real name was George 
 Neare. 
 
 In the spring of 1870, John Hardin and Fred 
 Smith moved from Pleasant Valley into the, moun- 
 tains and settled on the ranches they still own on 
 South Lone Pine creek, twenty-four miles west of 
 the Livermore postoffice, both engaging in the cattle 
 business and lumbering. Obenchain built a saw 
 mill near them in 1872 and sold it to Smith in 1875. 
 Quite a number of settlers located in the Livermore 
 
 [193] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 county in 1870 to engage in the stock raising busi- 
 ness, including Charles Emerson, H. A. Keach, Sol- 
 omon Batterson, John W. Calloway, Jacob Mitchell 
 and others. In 1871, Stephen Moore sold the claim 
 he and young Livernash located in 1863 to Russell 
 Fisk. Just before that a weekly mail route had been 
 established from Greeley to Livermore, and Moore 
 was appointed postmaster, but had not received his 
 commission when he transfered his property. Mr. 
 Fisk was appointed in his place and was, therefore, 
 Livermore's first postmaster. John Gordon of 
 Greeley, was the first mail carrier. Before that the 
 people of the Livermore country had to go to La- 
 porte for their mail. Peter Huffsmith of Greeley 
 secured the contract for carrying the mail after 
 Gordon's time was out, and he put on a stage for 
 the convenience of passengers, making three trips a 
 week. 
 
 The Livermore school district was organized in 
 1871 and Mrs. Fisk taught the first school. She 
 did not have many pupils, for the reason there were 
 not many children in the country. Andrew Gil- 
 christ located on the ranch at the mouth of Lone 
 Pine canon now owned by Mr. and Mrs. J. R. 
 Bellairs, in 1871. He sold it later to a Mr. Spencer 
 who, in time, sold to George Burnham and from 
 him it passed to Harry Gilpin-Brown, whose widow 
 is the present Mrs. Bellairs. Gilchrist later 
 went to Wyoming where he amassed a fortune in 
 the sheep business. That year the Emerson Bros, 
 embarked in the cattle business, in which they have 
 continued to the present time with marked success. 
 George Barlow started a blacksmith's shop at Stone- 
 wall crossing in 1872. Lewis Wetzler settled on 
 the Lone Pine in 1874 and he and Russell Fisk 
 and R. O. Roberts were members of the school 
 board that year. T. A. Gage bought the Crystal 
 Springs ranch in 1874, and in 1876 he taught the 
 Livermore school. 
 
 Mr. Fisk built a hotel and store on the ranch he 
 bought of Moore and otherwise improved the pro- 
 perty, and in 1874 leased the hotel to R. O. Roberts 
 for one year. When the time was up Mr. Roberts 
 built a hotel at the Forks. Clerin Woods kept 
 bachelor's hall on the McNey place in 1874-5 and in 
 1876, John McNey, John H. Sargisson, and J. S. 
 Sloan located in Livermore. Among the new 
 comers between that time and 1880 were Alson 
 Weymouth, George Burnham, L. H. Chase, D. W. 
 Harned, Pierce Riddle, Asbury Riddle, M. L. 
 Landes, S. B. Chaffee, F. K. Chaffee, A. H. Mor- 
 
 [194] 
 
 gan, D. M. Halligan, C. M. Chase and Andrew 
 and John Brooker. The most prominent stock- 
 men then were Emerson Bros., H. T. Miller, T. A. 
 Gage, Asbury and Pierce Riddle, S. B. ChafFee, S. 
 Batterson, A. H. Morgan, R. O. Roberts, Alson 
 Weymouth, L. H. Chase, Moody & Buzzell, John 
 S. Williams, John McNey, Bennett Bros., William 
 Calloway, James and Daniel Hardin, John Hardin 
 and D. M. Halligan. Some of these were operat- 
 ing dairies, some engaged in horse raising and others 
 in wool growing, but most of them were in the 
 cattle business. Among those who settled in the 
 Livermore country in the decade following 1880 
 were W. E. Tibbetts, J. Cornelison, George W. 
 Seibert, William Parcell, William Poland, Harry 
 Gilpin-Brown, A. H. Aldrich, Dayton Robinson, 
 George Clark, B. A. Griffith, Levi Weymouth, 
 John Pearce and Samuel Stearley. A hotel was 
 built on the Elkhorn in 1876, and it was quite a 
 famous summer resort for several years. The vener- 
 able Henry T. West, one of the pioneers of Greeley, 
 kept the hotel in 1879-80. The building was 
 burned down in 1886. In the fall of 1886, W. P. 
 Keays leased the Livermore hotel of Russell Fisk 
 and managed it until 1890. That year the County 
 Commissioners laid out a new road which crossed 
 the North fork a quarter of a mile above the old 
 Fisk crossing. William Brelsford built a new 
 hotel, store and barn at the new crossing and the 
 old Fisk hotel was abandoned. In 1891 James H. 
 Swan bought the Brelsford property and soon after- 
 wards built a hall where public gatherings were 
 held. In 1898 a telephone line was extended to 
 Livermore from Fort Collins and an exchange 
 established in the store. Between the years 1890 
 and 1900, Frank Jones, H. A. Keach, Leslie Hors- 
 ley, Charles Cradock, C. E. Peters and A. L. 
 Johnson become residents of Livermore. In 1901 
 C. W. Ramer bought the hotel and store and kept 
 them until December, 1909, when he sold them to 
 Malcom Bellairs, the present proprietor. 
 
 On May 20th, 1904 a cloudburst on the Stone- 
 wall watershed caused an unprecedented flood which 
 did many thousands of dollars damage. It carried 
 away a number of bridges, the North Fork ditch 
 flume over Stonewall creek, and inundated all the 
 bottom lands from the mouth of that stream to the 
 mouth of the North Fork. Water three feet deep 
 poured through the hotel and the public hall was 
 carried away bodily and completely wrecked. A 
 piano that was used in the hall was afterwards 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 found near Bellvue, having floated down stream 
 with the flood more than twenty miles. The bridges 
 were soon replaced and Mr. Ramer built a larger 
 and better hall. 
 
 The first couple married in Livermore was 
 William Calloway and Mrs. Keach, but the date of 
 the wedding is not recalled. It probably took place 
 in the early seventies. The honors of being the first 
 child born lies between a son of Mr. and Mrs. 
 John Gordon and a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. 
 John Hardin, named Anna. 
 
 Among the Livermore Pioneers who have passed 
 on to their reward are William Calloway, John 
 Weymouth, S. B. Chaffee, John McNey, W. W. 
 Lowery, A. H. Aldrich, D. M. Halligan, William 
 Batterson, Dayton Robinson, Harry Gilpin-Brown, 
 Charles Gilpin-Brown, C. R. Bullard, Robert 
 Royston and Mrs. S. Batterson. 
 
 I am indebted for much of the data concerning the 
 early history of Livermore to an excellent paper read 
 before the Livermore Woman's Club by Mrs. A. H. 
 Aldrich, March 10th, 1910. 
 
 In 1895, the General Assembly of Colorado ap- 
 propriated $16,000 for use in constructing a State 
 road from Bellvue, via Livermore and Ute Pass, to 
 Walden, North Park, now the county seat of 
 Jackson county. The road was built in 1896 and 
 opened for travel in 1897. That year a mail route 
 with a daily line of stages, was established between 
 Fort Collins and Walden, but the stage line only 
 remained in operation about a year and was then dis- 
 continued. A postoffice, with S. J. Peery as post- 
 master, was established at Westlake on the South 
 Lone Pine about 25 miles west of Livermore, and 
 this, too, was discontinued when the stage was 
 pulled oiiE the road. 
 
 Little Thompson Valley 
 
 The stream known as the Little Thompson rises 
 at the base of two mountains, called the Twin Sis- 
 ters. By their position they entirely cut the creek off 
 from the waters of the Snowy Range, hence, as is 
 well known in the summer months the Little 
 Thompson furnishes but a meagre supply of water. 
 This supply is now, however, supplemented by im- 
 mense reservoirs in which the spring floods are stored 
 for use later in the season, so that, at the present 
 time, the entire valley, from the foothills to the east 
 county line, is under a high state of cultivation, 
 yielding prodigious crops of grain, potatoes, fruit. 
 
 hay and sugar beets. From the base of Twin 
 Sisters, whose position is directly east of Long's 
 Peak, the stream follows a winding course, the 
 general direction of which is east until it crosses the 
 line dividing Larimer and Weld counties and is 
 soon thereafter merged in the Big Thompson, which 
 empties into the South Platte a little south of the 
 town of Evans. It follows a broad, natural basin, 
 which is noted above all the country around for its 
 deep, rich and very productive soil. Through this 
 basin the creek has cut its crooked way, often to a 
 depth of six and eight feet, without reaching the 
 limit of the soil. In the early days, the Little 
 Thompson was noted, too, on account of the large 
 trees lining its banks, some of them attaining the 
 dimension of 18 feet in circumference. For a 
 decade or more after the first settlement the Little 
 Thompson valley was an excellent stock range, the 
 grasses here being unusually plentiful and nutritious. 
 Among the first settlers of the valley were W. R. 
 Blore and Culver & Mahoney. These men and 
 David Lyken located in the valley near the course 
 of the Little Thompson in 1866 and engaged quite 
 extensively in the cattle business. At one time Cul- 
 ver & Mahoney had as many as 3,000 head of cattle 
 and horses on the range,' tut later, owing to the 
 taking up of land by settlers and the narrowing of 
 the range, they disposed of their herds and engaged 
 in raising high grade cattle. They were brothers-in- 
 law and came to the Little Thompson valley from 
 the Home Falls mine in Boulder county. Mr. 
 Lyken later became a noted live stock thief de- 
 tective and had much to do in the early days in 
 ridding the country of a class of undesirable citizens, 
 many of whom found long homes in the state pen- 
 itentiary. Culver & Mahoney's house was in 
 Boulder county, but their barns, corrals and the 
 most of their land was in Larimer county. Four 
 miles down the creek from their ranch one William 
 Stagg opened out a small cattle ranch, which later 
 became the property of George Zweck of Long- 
 mont. Two miles further down the stream James 
 M. Eaglin located on a half section of land, on 
 which he raised a crop of wheat, the first grain 
 grown in the valley. Eaglin was quite a prominent 
 man in the county, serving as County Superintend- 
 ent from 1870 to 1872. In the summer of 1875 he 
 sold his farm to John C. Ish, who shortly after- 
 wards sold the west half of the tract to his brother- 
 in-law, John W. Everhard. Mr. Ish early in the 
 90's sold his farm and moved to Fort Collins, which 
 has since been his home, although he owns large 
 
 [195] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 stock and ranch interests in North Park. The 
 Everhard farm still remains in the family. Eaglin 
 went to North Park after selling his farm and re- 
 engaged in mining. Later he was drowned while 
 trying to ford Eagle river. 
 
 Mr. Ish came to Larimer county in 1869 and 
 started a cattle ranch on the Buckhorn. Up to 1875 
 but few settlers located on land in the eastern part of 
 the Little Thompson valley, but at that time there 
 were quite a number west of the present railroad 
 line. Among them was Lewis Cross, who was 
 County Commissioner from 1878 to 1881; Preffer 
 Bros; Krueger & Son; Hamlin; Henry and Hugo 
 Hupp; Charlie Meining; Mr. Cronk and others, 
 whose names we have been unable to obtain. Up 
 to this time the principal industry was the running 
 of cattle, only a few of the settlers giving any atten- 
 tion to farming, but since that time no part of the 
 county has developed more rapidly as a farming 
 country than the Little Thompson valley. In 1876 
 there were about 2,000 bushels of grain raised in 
 the valley; in 1877 about 6,000 bushels of wheat 
 and oats, and in 1878 about 16,000 bushels. From 
 this on the production of farm crops increased 
 rapidly and within a decade thereafter of the wheat 
 crop alone more than 200,000 bushels were mar- 
 keted from the farms of the Little Thompson 
 valley. 
 
 The Overland stage crossing was about a mile 
 and a half up the stream from where the Colorado 
 & Southern railroad bridge is now. Lewis Cross 
 located in 1873 on a farm on the creek bottom im- 
 mediately west of the railroad and the house he 
 built on it is still standing. He was appointed 
 the first postmaster of the Little Thompson post- 
 office, an office he held for several years. In the 
 fall of 1877, after the completion of the Colorado 
 Central railroad (now the Colorado & Southern) 
 from Denver to Cheyenne, the name of the post- 
 office was changed to Berthoud, in honor of Capt. 
 E. L. Berthoud of Golden, chief engineer, who laid 
 out and established the line for the railroad. In 
 1877, Peter Turner, a Colorado pioneer, who had 
 been successful at mining in Gilpin and Boulder 
 counties, came to the Little Thompson valley 
 and purchased a track of land on the blufE north of 
 the creek, on which, in 1880, he laid off and platted 
 the present town of Berthoud. The postoffice was 
 soon afterwards moved to this point. To Mr. 
 Turner belongs the honor of founding one of the 
 prettiest as it is one of the most thrifty and pros- 
 perous towns in Northern Colorado. It is the 
 
 [196] 
 
 market town of a wide extent of very productive 
 farming country and has for more than twenty 
 years, been the most extensive primary wheat mar- 
 ket in Colorado. It has a population of about 
 800, with churches, high school, public halls, a 
 newspaper, splendid water works and sewer sys- 
 tem, flour mill, elevator, well graded streets and 
 numerous handsome business houses and many fine 
 private residences. Every line of business is repre- 
 sented, and it is the shipping point for thousands of 
 head of fat cattle, hogs and sheep annually, in ad- 
 dition to grain, flour, foodstuffs, fruit and other 
 farm products. Berthoud is situated 18 miles di- 
 rectly south of Fort Collins, the county seat. 
 
 Brusque, big-hearted Peter Turner, the founder 
 and guardian spirit of Berthoud, builded better than 
 he dreamed of when he erected the first frame cabin 
 on the present site of the town, and it must be 
 gratifying to him now to look back and note the 
 changes that have since taken place ; to glance up and 
 down its busy streets and see the large well-filled 
 blocks, the handsome homes, churches, schools and 
 hotels that have clustered about that lonely spot on 
 the open prairie which he named Berthoud thirty 
 years ago. Mr. Turner is still living in the enjoy- 
 ment of rugged health and loves to tell of the days 
 when Berthoud was born. In the country immed- 
 iately tributary to Berthoud there are annually pro- 
 duced 500,000 bushels of wheat, 65,000 bushels of 
 oats, 30,000 bushels of barley, 75,000 to 100,000 
 sacks of potatoes, thousands of tons of sugar beets, 
 and from 40,000 to 50,000 tons of hay. The surplus 
 of all these products, in addition to the tons and tons 
 of fruits and vegetables, is sold on the streets of 
 Berthoud and the money spent or banked in that 
 town. The surplus hay is converted by the thrifty 
 farmers into beef and mutton for the Eastern mar- 
 kets. About 25,000 sheep and lambs and from 
 2,000 to 3,000 head of cattle are annually fattened 
 in the feeding pens of the Little Thompson valley 
 and mainly shipped and sold to Eastern consumers. 
 The feeding and fattening of live stock helps to 
 keep up the fertility of the soil and thus increase 
 the yield of farm products and the value of the 
 farms. Good farm land, having stable water 
 rights, ranges in value from $100 to $200 per acre 
 and very few of them are ever offered for sale. 
 
 The Free ]\lasons, Odd Fellows, Knights of 
 Pythias, Woodmen of the World, Daughters of 
 Rebecca, and several other secret fraternal orders 
 are represented in Berthoud by flourishing lodges. 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 The bank of Berthoud, established in 1892, with 
 T. C. Bunyan as President, does a large, safe and 
 constantly increasing business. The First National 
 Bank established in 1905 with Guy E. Loomis as 
 Cashier, is also a stable and flourishing financial 
 institution, while the Bulletin, an up-to-date 
 weekly newspaper, furnishes mental pabulum and 
 the current neighborhood news to the reading mem- 
 bers of the community. 
 
 The following sketch of the early history of 
 Berthoud is taken from the Berthoud Bulletin 
 of December, 1910: 
 
 "The thriving little city of Berthoud is situated 
 on the Colorado & Southern railroad in the south- 
 east corner of Larimer county. The first store 
 was started in old Berthoud in 1880 by Snyder & 
 Grill. This was a general merchandise stock and 
 was bought by J. Y. Munson & Company in 1881. 
 In 1883 the stock of goods was moved to the pres- 
 ent Berthoud and located in the building where J. 
 H. McClung's meat market now is. 
 
 "The first blacksmith shop was started by W. C. 
 Fenton's father on the lots where the U. B. church 
 is situated. The second store was commenced by 
 Bowman & Day where L. M. Walker has his pool 
 hall. The first church that was organized was the 
 Presbyterian, which held services in the building now 
 occupied by M. D. Whipple as an office. The 
 U. B. church erected the first church edifice which 
 is now owned by the Baptist denomination and is 
 in first-class condition. Berthoud's splendid public 
 school was commenced in a two-room building on 
 the ground which is now Sixth street. Afterward 
 additional ground was purchased just west, and the 
 new school building was erected where it is now. 
 Since that time there has been an addition which 
 doubles the capacity of the structure and gives Ber- 
 thoud ample facilities in the school line. 
 
 "The pioneer lumber yard was started in 1886 and 
 was purchased the next year by the Fairbairn Lum- 
 ber Company, which is still doing business in town. 
 
 "The first newspaper was launched in July, 1890, 
 and was known as the Blade, which name was after- 
 wards changed to the Berthoud Bulletin. This 
 paper has had a rival at times, but it was found that 
 the field was too small for two papers, so the rival 
 papers were moved elsewhere. 
 
 "The original grain business was commenced by 
 F. A. Crane in the building where C. A.. Williams 
 now has his garage. As this country has always 
 been a great grain producing district the ware- 
 house was entirely too small and the wheat in sacks 
 
 would often be piled two or three feet high from the 
 depot to Mountain avenue, a distance of three hun- 
 dred feet. 
 
 "At no time in its history would this town toler- 
 ate a saloon for more than a year at a time. Some- 
 times one would be started, but at the next election 
 it would be voted out. As water is of prime neces- 
 sity the people early, about 1887, put in what was 
 known as the Berthoud Ditch and Reservoir water 
 works at a cost of $12,000 to supply water for the 
 town. Since that there has been expended $33,000, 
 making the plant cost $45,000. 
 
 "The sewer system on which the health of the 
 town depends was originated in 1900 and is known 
 as the public sewer, which starts one mile south of 
 town and comes up Second street to Mountain 
 avenue, then west to the Presbyterian church. This 
 sewer was constructed by J. B. Ware. Since that 
 time there has been constructed nine district sewers 
 and two sub-sewers. The entire cost of Berthoud's 
 sewer system has been $12,000. 
 
 "Among the catastrophes of the early times was 
 the fire of the Davis-Hartford Merchandise Com- 
 pany, which burned them out entirely, but they re- 
 built and are among our most prosperous merchants 
 today. The next fire was the burning of a hotel on 
 the east side of the railroad track. J. C. Shull con- 
 ducted on Third street the pioneer restaurant in the 
 town. Uncle Sam first had the mail delivered by 
 Lewis Cross in the J. Y. Munson & Company's 
 store, while the C. & S. railroad affairs at the depot 
 were attended to by L. H. Kelly, one of the towns- 
 men. These were some of the pioneers, and from 
 their efforts and that of many others the hustling 
 town has grown to its present size." 
 
 Churches of Berthoud 
 
 The Presbyterian church was organized in 1884. 
 It was the second religious denomination to occupy 
 the field in the town of Berthoud, then but four 
 years old. The first pastor was Rev. John Wilson, 
 and the present pastor is Rev. C. A. Wilson. The 
 church has a membership of 85 and the value of 
 church property is $6,000. 
 
 Christian Church. — This church was organized 
 in 1894 with Rev. E. F. Harris as pastor. The 
 name of the present pastor is Rev. M. P. Goody- 
 kountz. The membership roll contains the names of 
 60 persons, and the church property is valued at 
 $3,000. 
 
 [197] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 Methodist Church. — ^Those of the Methodist 
 Episcopal faith living in Berthoud and vicinity per- 
 fected a church organization in 1902, and Rev. 
 Rigdon was assigned to the pastorate by the Colo- 
 rado Conference. There are now 70 members in the 
 organization and Rev. W. J. Kidd is the present 
 pastor. The church property is valued at $7,000. 
 
 Baptist Church. — This denomination perfected a 
 church organization in 1904, with Rev. W. H. 
 Whittier as its first pastor. There are now 46 
 members, and Rev. J. A. Partee ministers to the 
 congregation. The value of church property is 
 $2,000. 
 
 German Congregational Church. — ^This church 
 was organized in 1909. It now numbers 100 
 members and the present pastor is Rev. J. H. Eckert. 
 The first pastor was Rev. Peter Krejar. The 
 church property is valued at $3,000. 
 
 United Brethren Church. — This organization 
 was first known as the Little Thompson Mission 
 and it was served by Rev. E. J. Lamb. Services 
 were first held in the school house in old Berthoud, 
 but soon after the completion of the Colorado Cen- 
 tral railroad from Denver to Cheyenne, the congre- 
 gation met in what is now the town of Berthoud. 
 The U. B. is the first and oldest church organiza- 
 tion in the Little Thompson valley. The first 
 pastor, as appears by the record, was Rev. H. Arch- 
 aret, who was appointed June 18, 1875, to take 
 charge of the Big Thompson Mission. The present 
 pastor is Rev. T. A. Reiser and the membership list 
 contains the names of 192 persons. All the depart- 
 ments of the church are well organized and doing 
 efficient work. 
 
 Banks of Berthoud 
 
 The Berthoud National Bank. — This bank 
 opened its doors for business on April 1st, 1892, and 
 its nearly twenty years of usefulness has been pro- 
 ductive of good results. It was started as a private 
 institution by T. C. Bunyan, who is still its ex- 
 ecutive head. It was incorporated as a National 
 bank on November 16th, 1905, and opened for busi- 
 ness as such on January 2nd, 1906. Its capital stock 
 is fixed at $50,000 and its circulation amounts to 
 $50,000. Its resources at the present time amount 
 to $318,290.61, its deposits to $198,587.71, and its 
 surplus and profits to $18,897.79. The officers and 
 directors of the bank are: President, T. C. Bun- 
 yan; Vice-President, Thos. Kerley; Cashier, John 
 Bunyan ; Assistant Cashier, J. A. Bunyan. 
 
 National Bank of Berthoud. — ^This bank was 
 chartered and opened for business in 1905, with a 
 
 [198] 
 
 full paid capital stock of $25,000, with Guy E. 
 Loomis filling the position of cashier. Its resources 
 at the present time amount to $74,805.78; its de- 
 posits to $40,935.86, and its surplus and profits to 
 $3,220.92. The present officers and directors of the 
 bank are: President, F. A. Bein; Cashier, Guy E. 
 Loomis; L. H. Fagan and L. W. Hendershott. 
 
 Buckhorn Valley 
 
 The Buckhorn creek, from which the valley de- 
 rives its name, heads in the foothills about thirty 
 miles northwest of Fort Collins, flows a south- 
 easterly course and empties into the Big Thompson 
 river about eight miles west of Loveland. Before 
 the country was settled up, the valley and the range 
 of low, grass covered hills bordering the stream, was 
 a favorite feeding ground for deer, antelope and 
 mountain sheep. The stream no doubt takes its 
 name from the numerous horns shed by the males 
 of these animals that were scattered up and down the 
 valley. In places the stream canons up and at others 
 it widens out into grass covered meadows and parks 
 and is one of the most beautiful of the small 
 streams that flow out from the hills. The fine 
 grazing grounds along its banks early attracted the 
 attention of stockmen and they were the first to settle 
 in the valley, and large herds of cattle were pas- 
 tured there in the late 60's and early 70's. The 
 land along the stream is now all taken up and occu- 
 pied by thrifty farmers, whose well cultivated 
 fields and orchards are in striking contrast with 
 conditions as they prevailed when the first settlers 
 located in the Big Thompson valley. I have been 
 unable to learn the name of the first white settler 
 in the Buckhorn valley or the date of his settlement. 
 B. F. Milner and family probably made one of the 
 first settlements, and he is still a resident of the 
 valley. He was followed by George Lawrence who 
 located on what is now known as the Neville place, 
 a Mr. Oliver who lived on the place now owned 
 by Samuel Steele, Buck Piatt, S. H. Gransbury, 
 and Alex McWhorter settled on the Thompson 
 place. John C. Ish with a herd of cattle occupied 
 what is now the Henderson place. Other early 
 settlers were Joseph McFadden, C. C. Hayes, J. 
 B. Fletcher, Hank Steward, William Trowbridge 
 and George W. Buffum. These were all stockmen 
 and beyond putting up hay, paid but little attention 
 to cultivating the soil. Now there are many fine 
 farms in the valley with comfortable dwellings and 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 outbuildings, good orchards and other evidences of 
 progress and prosperity. Among the most notable 
 of these are the farms of J. R. Mason, the Smith 
 Brothers and others. C. G. McWhorter has one of 
 the finest orchards in the county, from which in 
 favorable seasons he derives a good income. He 
 has been successful in growing peaches, for which 
 he finds a ready home market. 
 
 Masonville is the trading point in the valley. 
 Here is established a general store, postoffice, school 
 house and other public conveniences. A church was 
 erected there last fall and has since been duly dedi- 
 cated. There is probably as much intelligence, cult- 
 ure, wealth and comfort centered in the Buckhorn 
 valley as can be found in the same limited suburban 
 area in the State of Colorado. 
 
 Masonville Presbyterian Church 
 
 This church was organized October 10th, 1909, 
 by Rev. Franklin Moore, with 20 members, and on 
 February 18th, 1911, the corner-stone of an attract- 
 ive place of worship was laid with appropriate 
 ceremonies. The church building, completed, is 
 estimated to cost $2,100. Christian work had been 
 carried on in the Buckhorn valley for about 30 
 years, beginning with the organization of a Sunday 
 school in 1880, with Mrs. Elizabeth Carter as 
 Superintendent. The school was conducted several 
 years under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal 
 church, George E. Trowbridge being the local 
 preacher. In the meantime the Dunkard denomina- 
 tion conducted religious services in J. R. Mason's 
 new barn. Rev. T. S. Flag being the preacher. In 
 1897 the Methodists temporarily abandoned the 
 field and Rev. J. S. King, a Congregationalist, took 
 charge of the work. In 1902, Rev. L. J. Lamb, a 
 Methodist, served the little flock as pastor until 
 death called him hence in 1903. The church was 
 then supplied by Rev. L. C. Woodford for six 
 months and he was succeeded by Rev. Pearl Symes 
 who served the congregation for two years. Rev. 
 R. S. Wallace, assistant pastor of the Fort Collins 
 Baptist church, preached for the congregation in 
 1908. In June, 1909, Rev. Franklin Moore, former 
 pastor of the Fossil Creek Presbyterian church, took 
 charge of the work at Masonville and in October of 
 that year organized a Presbyterian church. The 
 congregation now supports a flourishing Sunday 
 school and a Christian Endeavor society. The 
 officers of the church are Pastor, Rev. Franklin 
 
 Moore; Ruling Elders, C. G. McWhorter, L. A. 
 Sheldon and E. O. Smith; Trustees, Chas. Stobbe, 
 Frank Nicodemus and J. H. Spence. 
 
 Redstone Valley 
 
 Redstone creek, a tributary of the Buckhorn creek 
 and it in turn of the Big Thompson, rises in the 
 niountains near Stove Prairie, about twenty miles 
 west of Fort Collins. It flows in a southeasterly 
 course and empties into the Buckhorn near Mason- 
 ville. It derives its name from immense red sand- 
 stone cliffs which line its banks for miles and the 
 valley takes its name from the stream. In places 
 the stream canons up closely and at other places 
 the valley widens out into beautiful meadows, parks, 
 groves of timber and cultivated fields, affording the 
 visitor a variety of charming views and beautiful 
 landscape scenes. The drive along the stream for 
 ten or twelve miles is one of the most charming in 
 the mountains. High, timber-covered hills rise to 
 the east and to the west of the valley, whose sum- 
 mits range from 7,000 to 7,500 feet above sea level. 
 Horsetooth " mountain, seen so plainly from the 
 Plains, shows off to much greater advantage when 
 seen from its western base, which rests in the Red- 
 stone valley. 
 
 In the early days the Redstone valley and the 
 grass covered slopes of the hills which encompass it 
 on the east and on the west, was the favorite graz- 
 ing ground of many herds of cattle and they waxed 
 fat on the nutritious grasses found here. Sawmills 
 came in later and stripped the hills of merchantable 
 timber and hundreds of thousands of feet of pine 
 timber were manufactured into lumber and then 
 hauled to either the Fort Collins or Loveland 
 markets. Here, also, in this secluded vale, a num- 
 ber of families built themselves homes and engaged 
 in stock raising, lumbering, mining, or timber haul- 
 ing. Among the first of these were Ex-Sheriff James 
 Sweeney, John Deaver, Adam Blackhurst, Nicholas 
 Patterson, Albert Yale, Sam West, Ben Johnson, 
 Miss Gloria Norcross, Lewellyn and Frank Bart- 
 holf. But few of the original settlers of the valley 
 are to be found there today, the most of them hav- 
 ing moved either to Loveland or Fort Collins. Miss 
 Gloria Norcross, a Virginia lady, who came there 
 with her uncle, the late Nicholas Patterson, in 1879, 
 has lived there the longest of any one as a continu- 
 ous resident. The Redstone valley has been her 
 home for 31 years and she has no desire to move 
 away or to change her abode. Among the present 
 
 [199] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 residents of the valley are J. C. Brown, Des Ames, 
 Bayard Thompson, Miss Norcross, William Night- 
 ingale, Sr. and his son William Nightingale, Jr. 
 and John Nightingale. William Nightingale, Sr. 
 and family located in a beautiful park known as 
 Happy Hollow, in 1883, and his brother John and 
 
 HORSETOOTH FALLS 
 
 family settled close by them in 1887. Happy Hol- 
 low derives its name from an incident that occurred 
 in the early 70's. A party of Eastern tourists camped 
 there for several weeks one summer and they were 
 so charmed with the surroundings and had such a 
 good time that they named the park "Happy Hol- 
 low". One among the number was a contributor 
 to Harper's Magazine, and he perpetuated the name 
 in an illustrated article descriptive of the charms of 
 
 [200] 
 
 "Happy Hollow," that was published in the mag- 
 azine. Happy Hollow is reached by wagon road 
 from Fort Collins or Loveland over one of the 
 pleasantest eighteen-mile drives in the county, and 
 it is becoming a favorite mountain vacation resort. 
 Scores of people from the valley towns and Plains 
 country have found this to be a delightful place in 
 which to spend a few weeks in the summer time, 
 camping out, gaining rest and storing up strength 
 for life's arduous duties at home. 
 
 The whole country in the vicinity of Happy Hol- 
 low is mineralized and a great deal of prospecting 
 with varying results has been done, and it would 
 not be surprising if rich gold, silver and copper 
 veins are found here. Indeed, the Nightingales 
 have already a mine near their homes that promises 
 to become a regular bonanza. 
 
 The Alford District 
 
 What is known as the Alford District embraces a 
 section of the mountains lying between Livermore 
 on the south and St. Cloud on the north. It is 
 watered by three branches of Rabbit creek, which 
 head in the hills several miles to the west and north- 
 west, and is an excellent stock and dairy region. The 
 valleys of the three streams afiEord good meadows 
 and considerable tillable land. In the early days it 
 was almost inaccessible on account of the high hills 
 surrounding it and the difficulty the settlers ex- 
 perienced in making roads suitable for travel. In 
 the early 80's the county built a good road over 
 Calloway hill, since which time the district has be- 
 come better known. 
 
 The first settlers in this district were N. C. Al- 
 ford who settled on the North branch in 1867, after 
 whom the district takes its name, J. W. Calloway, 
 John S. Williams, Joseph Harden and his four sons, 
 David, Charles, James and M. B. Harden, who 
 settled on Middle Rabbit creek at about the same 
 time. William Calloway settled on North Rabbit 
 in 1867, but later took up and improved what is 
 known as the Cradock ranch on the North fork of 
 the Poudre. A. R. Milne settled in the valley of 
 the North fork above the canon in 1874, and his 
 neighbors, D. M. Halligan and family in 1880. H. 
 A. Keach located on North Rabbit in 1882. Mr. 
 Keach came to Colorado in the 70's, but went back 
 to his native state, Vermont, where he married and 
 soon after returned to Colorado. In September of 
 the present year he sold his ranch and stock and is 
 now a resident of Seattle, Washington. Among the 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 later settlers in that district were W. W. Lowery, 
 C. R. Bullard, William Stewart, S. H. Birdsall and 
 C. R. Salisbury. Mr. Lowery and Mr. Bullard both 
 died several years ago. All of these early settlers 
 were engaged in stock raising or dairying. 
 
 N. C. Alford was engaged in horse breeding and 
 brought from Iowa the first registered Percheron 
 stallion ever introduced in the county. He sold his 
 ranch and stock to Henry T. Miller in 1880, and 
 moved his family to Fort Collins, which city has 
 since been his home. 
 
 The Hardens disposed of their holdings on Mid- 
 dle Rabbit in 1873 and took up a fine ranch on 
 Meadow creek, nearly two miles east of the foot of 
 Cherokee hill that year, where they engaged in 
 the horse business. Joseph Harden, the father, died 
 on this ranch a good many years ago. A postofKce 
 was established at Alford along in the 80's, but was 
 discontinued about two years ago for the reason that 
 no one wanted to be bothered with its duties. The 
 settlers now depend upon the Livermore postoffice 
 for their mail. 
 
 Early Settlement of the Laramie 
 River Valley 
 
 Tamerlane Forrester, one of the first white men 
 to locate permanently in that part of the Laramie 
 river valley situated in Larimer county, has kindly 
 furnished me with the following account of the 
 early settlement in that valley : 
 
 "Although one of the old timers in Larimer 
 county, I was born in the State of Missouri, where 
 I spent the days of my childhood. When quite a 
 youth, I moved with my family, to Kansas, where, 
 after attaining riper years, I served in various cam- 
 paigns against the Cheyennes, Arapahoes and Sioux. 
 Later the Indians becoming less hostile and of- 
 fensive, I, with the energy and ambition of youth, 
 decided to push farther west, and seek my fortune 
 in that mountainous country. With that object in 
 view I traveled overland as far as California, pass- 
 ing through all the perils and hardships that visited 
 those early pioneers of this great Western country. 
 
 "The Golden State, however, did not offer me the 
 inducements I anticipated, so in 1876, I drifted 
 back, and took up my headquarters about fifty-two 
 miles northwest of Fort Collins, at a place known 
 as Tie Siding, a short distance over the Wyoming 
 border. I here spent a year occupied in making 
 ties, before I moved to the Laramie river, where, 
 with the ■ exception of numerous pleasure trips to 
 
 difEerent parts of the country, I have lived ever 
 since. I became a resident of Larimer county in 
 the year 1877. 
 
 "During my year's stay in Tie Siding, I made 
 many trips to Fort Collins, which was then a small 
 town of some hundred and fifty souls. The sur- 
 rounding country at the time was given up mostly to 
 farming on a small scale, and on account of the small 
 population one was acquainted with all the inhabit- 
 ants. 
 
 "I have been a regular visitor to Fort Colins ever 
 since, in fact not a year has gone by without I have 
 enjoyed a short stay there, and strange as it may 
 seem, the only individual I remember as having lived 
 there in the early days, and who is still a resident, 
 is James Sweeney. Jim Sweeney was Sheriff in the 
 old days, serving in that capacity for four terms, 
 with praiseworthy zeal and efficiency. His well 
 deserved popularity was enormous, his friends were 
 legion, and his enemies very few. 
 
 "My parents, my three brothers, and my five sis- 
 ters took up our abode on the Laramie river in 
 1877, in a house, long since destroyed, situated some 
 four and a half miles from the Wyoming line near 
 Grace creek. After a short time however, we moved 
 up the river to one of its tributaries, since known as 
 Forrester creek, and the site of my present ranch. 
 
 "Here my mother died in 1884, and my father 
 followed her some five years later, both being 
 buried in a little private graveyard on one of the 
 pretty hills overlooking the river, and within sight 
 of their earthly home. After the death of our par- 
 ents, the children, one by one drifted elsewhere, 
 with the exception of myself. The five girls mar- 
 ried, four are still living, Mrs. Peck having died 
 at Fort Collins in 1905. Mrs. Falkenstein and 
 Mrs. Detro are in Alberta, Canada; Mrs. C. J. 
 Sperr and Mrs. Z. Zinn reside in Fort Collins. My 
 brothers, C. C. and W. L. Forrester live in Denver, 
 Colorado, and A. C. Forrester in Taplen, Idaho. 
 
 "At the time of my arrival on the Laramie river, 
 the life, customs and conditions were far difEerent 
 from those existing at the present time. The popu- 
 lation, which was much greater then, was occupied 
 in the cutting, hewing and floating of ties for the U. 
 P. railroad. All the way up the different creeks on 
 either side of the river were tie camps and the hills 
 were dotted with the cabins of the tie makers. Daw- 
 son, who had the contract for the U. P. railroad, 
 had his headquarters near the junction of the Mc- 
 Intyre and Laramie rivers, which in recent years 
 has been named Gleneyre. Dawson's headquarters 
 ran a commissariat for all the tie makers, and there 
 
 [201] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 could always be found some one with whom to pass 
 the time of day. The surrounding hills abounded 
 in antelope, elk, and deer and on Dawson's pay roll 
 were several paid hunters employed to furnish game 
 for the difFerent camps. The ties were gotten out 
 during the winter, piled along the river banks, and in 
 the spring pushed into the river and floated to Lara- 
 mie in drives of from 35,000 to 250,000, taking 
 from ten days to three weeks to make their destina- 
 tion, according to the flow of water. When Daw- 
 son gave up the contract, he was succeeded by Coe 
 & Carter, which firm through the able management 
 of O. P. Yelton, continued to supply the railroad 
 with the necessary ties. Besides the men connected 
 with the tie camps, one was frequently meeting with 
 jolly, sociable cow-punchers riding for some of the 
 big outfits on the Laramie Plains. 
 
 "At one time from 15,000 to 40,000 head of cattle 
 ranged on the hills above the river. The feed for 
 the stock was far better than now, and looking back 
 it seems as if the seasons were more favorable. We 
 were not visited with such early frosts in the fall 
 and our springs seemed not so late. More snow fell 
 in the mountains, but the grass on the sidehills was 
 of such a standard that stock could always forage, 
 and it was only during the most severe winters that 
 there was any material loss of cattle. One could 
 find beef fat enough to butcher any time in the 
 year, and feeding was unheard of. Irrigation was 
 done in a small way for a kitchen garden, and a 
 little hay was cut for a few saddle horses or milch 
 cows; what since has given way to meadowland, was 
 then sage brush and high bunch grass. 
 
 "In the early days, on the Laramie river in Colo- 
 rado, the ranchmen started their herds from a few 
 milch cows and mavericks, gradually increasing their 
 stock, and with the small expense incurred in raising 
 cattle at that time, many of the early settlers re- 
 tired from business in the course of ten or twelve 
 years with an ample competence. 
 
 "In the 70's there were but six ranches on the 
 Laramie river from the Wyoming line to its source 
 near Chambers Lake, a distance of some thirty odd 
 miles. Mr. Bliler's ranch was the first from the 
 line; Capt. Hance, who introduced the buck and 
 pole fence on the river, was located near Grace 
 creek; Wm. Mansfield's cabin and buildings stood 
 close to the river between Capt. Hance and the 
 Forrester family. A few miles above Forrester 
 creek was Hutton's horse ranch at the foot of Horse 
 Ranch pass, while some three miles up the river 
 from Dawson's headquarters, and about twenty 
 miles from its source, Oscar and Kelly Martin 
 
 [202] 
 
 ranched on what is now the property of Mr. A. de 
 V. Baldwin. 
 
 "North Park was then as Nature made it, and 
 probably one of the finest antelope countries in the 
 world, with one sole occupant living in the extreme 
 north end, or what is known as the neck of the Park. 
 This trapper, prospector and hermit was a man by 
 the name of Pinkham, hardy of nature and rustic of 
 habit." 
 
 At the present time the Laramie River valley is 
 settled all the way from the Capt. T. H. Davy's 
 big ranch at the State road crossing clear down to 
 the State line, and stock raising and dairying are the 
 principal industries of the people. There are two 
 postoffices in the valley, one at Capt. Davy's ranch, 
 known as Glendevey and the other six miles down 
 the river, known as Gleneyre. The Laramie river 
 valley is one of the most attractive valleys in the 
 state and is a favorite resort for summer tourists, 
 who come from all parts of the country to spend a 
 few weeks during the heated term. It is the fisher- 
 men and hunters' paradise, as the river and its 
 affluents abound in native, rainbow and German 
 brown trout, and among the adjacent hills may be 
 found deer, elk, bear and mountain lion on which 
 the sportsman may display his markmanship during 
 the open season. , 
 
 St. Cloud 
 
 St. Cloud precinct embraces all of Township 11, 
 Ranges 72, 73 and 74; South half of Township 12, 
 Ranges 72, 73 and 74 and all of Township 10, 
 Range 74. It is mountainous and broken with in- 
 tervening parks and small valleys along the streams 
 tributary to the North fork of the Cache la Poudre 
 river, which crosses the precinct from west to east. 
 Portions of it are well timbered. In the late 60's 
 and early 70's, thousands of railroad ties and a 
 great deal of lumber were cut from its mountain 
 sides and hauled by teams to the Union Pacific rail- 
 road. In those days the precinct was known as 
 Diamond Peak, and the voting place was at a tie 
 camp boarding house on Trail creek, its name 
 being changed to St. Cloud in the 80's. Joseph 
 Harris and Clerin T. Woods were the first per- 
 manent white settlers, both locating on stock ranches 
 on the North fork, near the mouth of Trail creek 
 in 1874. They were followed shortly afterwards 
 by C. I. Woods, a brother of C. T. Woods. Mr. 
 Harris and C. I. Woods disposed of their holdings 
 there in 1880 and moved to Fort Collins, but C. T. 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 Woods continued to live on his ranch, engaged in 
 the cattle business, until about ten years ago, 
 when he sold to Frank L. Watrous and moved to 
 Fort Collins, where he still resides. Mr. Harris 
 and Mr. C. I. Woods died several years ago. 
 
 In 1883, Henry T. Miller, having sold the Al- 
 ford horse ranch on Rabbit creek, which he pur- 
 chased in 1880, bought a preemption relinquishment 
 of H. E. Tedmon to the tract of land now owned 
 and occupied by William Campton and known as 
 the Cherokee Park summer resort. Mr. Miller 
 built a house on this tract and occupied it until 1890, 
 when he sold the property to Mr. Campton and 
 came to Fort Collins, where he still resides. After 
 H. E. Tedmon, then State Senator, sold his 
 hardware business in Fort Collins to E. R. 
 Barkley in 1884, he moved his family to a 
 stock ranch situated about a mile up the river 
 from the Miller place, where he still resides 
 engaged in the cattle business. In 1886 T. J. Mont- 
 gomery bought a claim some two miles farther up 
 the river and lived there several years caring for a 
 herd of cattle. E. R. Barkley and A. C. Kluver 
 own stock ranches on Sheep creek, but they have 
 never lived there with their families. There are 
 also settlers now on the headwaters of Sheep creek. 
 One of them, Mr. Wooster, has been there a good 
 many years. 
 
 Mr. Miller secured the establishment of a post- 
 ofKce at his place to which he gave the name of St. 
 Cloud, which it still bears. C. T. Woods was post- 
 master at St. Cloud for several years, being suc- 
 ceeded by F. L. Watrous and he by Noah Bristol. 
 The office is now located at Campton's summer 
 resort and Mr. Campton is the postmaster. There 
 were thirty votes cast in the precinct in 1908. The 
 distance from Fort Collins to St. Cloud is forty 
 miles, and in the summer time an automobile stage 
 makes tri-weekly trips between the two points for the 
 accommodation of mountain tourists. 
 
 Upper Boxelder 
 
 Boxelder creek is formed by several smaller 
 streams, notably one rising in Wyoming and another 
 in Larimer county. The upper portion of this 
 creek runs a clear stream of water, winter and sum- 
 mer, but when it comes out on the Plains it sinks in 
 the sand to rise again further down and for some 
 distance forms a running stream, then again loses 
 itself in the sand, making what is called an under- 
 flow. The headwaters of this stream afford good 
 
 trout fishing, especially in the pools, and the local- 
 ity is a favorite one for picnic parties from Cheyenne 
 and the surrounding country. The surface is roll- 
 ing with here and there timber covered hills and 
 fertile valleys. It is an excellent grazing district 
 and large herds of cattle, flocks of sheep and bunches 
 of horses feed and fatten on the nutritious grasses 
 that abound in the parks and on the hillsides. Isaac 
 Adair was the first permanent white settler in Up- 
 per Boxelder, locating there in March, 1875. He 
 came to Colorado in the 60's and lived for several 
 years in Pleasant Valley, near the present town of 
 Bellvue, but wishing a wider range for his stock, 
 took up a ranch on Upper Boxelder, where he lived 
 until he moved to Fort Collins in 1905. Edward 
 Adams, who now lives in Montana, came a little 
 later. Among the first squatters to locate in Upper 
 Boxelder in the early 70's was Hank Wise, but he 
 did not remain long. William J. Logan, now of 
 Virginia Dale, was the next settler. He was fol- 
 lowed a little later by Miss Maggie Williams, 
 Henry Held, Mrs. Gooding, Alexander Webster, 
 J. M. Autrey and Anthony Barriaut, who was the 
 first postmaster. Barriaut was killed in 1886, by 
 James Robertson in a quarrel which grew out of 
 family trouble concerning a window and door to a 
 dance hall. The coroner's jury returned a verdict 
 of justifiable homicide. Barriaut was a well edu- 
 cated man and was said to have been a lawyer in 
 France before he came to the United States. Rob- 
 ertson left the country soon afterwards and went 
 to Texas, where, it is said, he died with his boots 
 on, being killed in a saloon brawl. It is still be- 
 lieved by many Upper Boxelder people that the 
 killing of Barriaut was a case of murder in the 
 second degree. 
 
 E. W. Whitcomb and Oliver Goodwin ranged 
 their cattle on Upper Boxelder in the late 60's and 
 early 70's, controlling a large range in the foothills 
 and on the Plains. Whitcomb lived at that time 
 on the ranch later owned by Noah Bristol and now 
 owned by the Buckeye Ranch Company. Mr. 
 Whitcomb is still living in Cheyenne. One of Fort 
 Collins' principal residence streets is named for him. 
 
 The first school in Upper Boxelder was taught in 
 1883 by Miss Daisy Runyan. A colony of Mor- 
 mons squatted there in 1882 and helped to supply 
 pupils for the school. They left shortly afterwards, 
 however, some going to Missouri and others to 
 Utah. Isaac Adair, the first permanent settler on 
 Upper Boxelder, died in Fort Collins in 1907, his 
 wife following him to the spirit land two years 
 later. 
 
 [203] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Loveland 
 
 The history of the city of Loveland begins with 
 the completion, in the fall of 1877, of the Colorado 
 Central railroad from Golden to Cheyenne. Just 
 prior to that time the site the city occupies was 
 covered with growing wheat belonging to David 
 Barnes, and the town was not laid out and platted 
 until after the wheat had been harvested and re- 
 moved. Old St. Louis, situated one mile further 
 down the Big Thompson river, was the commercial 
 center and distributing point for the entire valley, 
 but when lot selling began at Loveland many of 
 the buildings were moved from the old town to the 
 new, thus forming the nucleus of the present city 
 of Loveland. The postoffice was moved from St. 
 Louis and the name changed to Loveland. John 
 Buchanan was shortly afterwards appointed post- 
 master. The beginning of the winter of 1877-8 
 found quite a number of dwellings and business 
 houses in the new town, and since then Loveland 
 has steadily increased in population, in importance 
 as a shipping and distributing point, until now it is 
 the fourth city on the Colorado & Southern rail- 
 road north of Denver, in point of size and the 
 amount of business done. It is the center of a very 
 rich and quite extensive agricultural and stock 
 feeding section and its growth is of a substantial 
 character. In 1874 a stage line was established be- 
 tween Greeley and Old St. Louis by George W. 
 Foote, who abandoned it shortly after the comple- 
 tion of the railroad. 
 
 The first newspaper, the Loveland Reporter, was 
 issued in June, 1880, by G. N. Udell, who a short 
 time afterward sold the plant to Frank A. McClel- 
 land, son of the pioneer newspaper editor of Fort 
 Collins. The paper has had several different own- 
 ers since then, but has always remained true to its 
 mission — that of doing all it could to advance the 
 material, social and moral interests of its chosen 
 home. It is now owned and conducted by Ira O. 
 Knapp. 
 
 In the early spring of 1881, upon the petition of 
 George W. Krouskop, Dr. Geo. P. Taylor, J. H. 
 Oliver, John W. Seaman, John F. Walters, W. S. 
 Phipany, N. H. Stevens, B. F. Milner, A. D. 
 Fuller, Conrad Kollmer, J. M. Cunningham, M. 
 M. Bailey, E. S. Allen, Chas. L. West, Geo. E. 
 Roberts, T. T. Roberts, J. M. McCreery, Joseph 
 Heukaufer, Dr. W. B. Sutherland, F. M. Mitchell, 
 J. W. Ansell, J. B. Harbaugh, J. M. Aldrich, W. 
 S. Russell, E. F. Humphrey, William Roper, D. W. 
 Sampson, J. J. Burke, W. D. Hemingway, Frank 
 
 [204] 
 
 Harrison, J. T. Wagner, H. Cone, William Rich- 
 ardson, Isaac Grewell, Joseph Shellenberger, J. J. 
 Youtsey, W. B. Osborn, J. B. Middleton, and J. L. 
 Herzinger, Judge Jay H. Bouton of the County 
 Court appointed Sherman W. Smith, W. S. Rus- 
 sell, John L. Herzinger, W. B. Osborn and J. M. 
 Aldrich Commissoners to conduct an election to de- 
 termine the wishes of the people concerning incor- 
 poration. The election was held April 11, and re- 
 sulted in fifty votes being cast for incorporation and 
 one vote against it. Then followed an order of the 
 County Court incorporating the town. The formal 
 organization of the town took place May 11, when 
 the following named officers were sworn in and en- 
 tered upon their official duties: J. M. Aldrich, 
 Mayor; E. S. Allen, Recorder, and W. B. Osborn, 
 James Coffield, J. B. Harbaugh and W. S. Rus- 
 sell, Trustees. 
 
 Water rights for the town were obtained from 
 Francis E. Everett of Golden, and the trees planted 
 on every street by David Barnes were taken charge 
 of by the municipality. In 1880, Ferguson and 
 Harrison built the Loveland Mills, having a 
 capacity of 125 sacks of flour per day, and an eleva- 
 tor holding 50,000 bushels of grain. The mill and 
 elevator were destroyed by fire in 1885, and subse- 
 quently rebuilt. In 1885, the town authorities let 
 a contract to Swan Brothers to sink an artesian 
 well. The well is 2,742 feet in depth, and cost 
 about $14,000, the result being a small flow of 
 water impregnated with iron and other subtances 
 rather unpleasant to the taste. As a means of sup- 
 plying the town with good soft, wholesome water, 
 the well was a lamentable failure, though the water 
 is said to possess excellent medical properties. 
 
 The failure of the well to meet expectations led 
 to a demand for a system of water works that would 
 afford water for domestic use and fire purposes, and 
 on October 11, 1886, an election was held to bond 
 the town in a sum sufficient to construct a municipal 
 water plant. The proposition carried and a contract 
 was entered into with the Michigan Wood Pipe 
 Company to construct the plant. The works were 
 completed in the spring of 1887 and since then 
 Loveland has had an abundant supply of excellent 
 water both for domestic use and fire protection. 
 
 Loveland is essentially a city of homes, churches 
 and schools. Its private residences are the pride 
 and the admiration of its citizens and the surprise 
 of strangers. Its churches are large, handsome 
 structures, whose pulpits are supplied by able and 
 co!-scientious preachers of the gospel, and they are 
 well supported ; and the public schools are the equal 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 in point of efficiency and relative standing with the 
 best in the state. A thoroughly organized and 
 well conducted High school has been maintained 
 for about ten years, and its graduates are eligible to 
 admission to any of the higher institutions of learn- 
 ing in Colorado. Three banks, two national and 
 one state, judiciously officered and conservatively 
 managed, represent the financial interests of the city 
 and surrounding country. The reports of these 
 banks, dated March 27, 1910, show in the aggre- 
 gate, the prosperous financial condition of the com- 
 munity in which they are located, as follows: 
 
 Capital stock 200,000.00 
 
 Resources 1,461,855.92 
 
 Loans and discounts 1,163,730.92 
 
 Deposits 1,018,660.26 
 
 Surplus and undivided profits 91,880.33 
 
 That is a showing of which many larger cities in 
 the country could well be proud. 
 
 Loveland supports a thoroughly organized and 
 well disciplined and finely equipped fire department, 
 under whose efficient direction and management and 
 with the aid of an excellent system of water works, 
 the losses of property by fire are kept at a minimum, 
 and a well officered police force serves to prevent 
 crime and turbulence and disorder. Saloons and 
 the selling of intoxicating liquors are prohibited 
 under the operation of the state local option law, 
 and the community is one of the most law abiding 
 and God-fearing in the entire country. 
 
 Though situated in one of the best and most pro- 
 ductive agricultural regions in the west, Loveland 
 is not dependent altogether upon the products of 
 the farm, the dairy and the orchard for its prosperity 
 and future growth, though these alone would be 
 sufficient to foster and support a much larger city. 
 Great and important as these resources are and much 
 as they have contributed to the growth, importance 
 and influence of Loveland, they are not entitled to 
 all the credit. Manufacturing, live stock raising 
 and stock feeding have been material aids in the up- 
 building and maintenance of the city, and will con- 
 tinue to be important factors in advancing its future 
 growth and prosperity. There is not another city 
 in Colorado of the same population and influence 
 that has done as much to promote the establishment 
 of manufacturing enterprises as Loveland, and no 
 other city of the same size can boast of a greater 
 number of important productive industries. These 
 include a beet sugar factory with a capacity for con- 
 verting from 1,200 to 1,500 tons of sugar beets 
 every twenty-four hours into the finest granulated 
 
 sugar, employing about 400 men during the sugar 
 making season; extensive flouring mills and eleva- 
 tors; canning factories for putting up fruits and 
 vegetables of commerce, besides numerous other 
 smaller manufacturing enterprises. In addition to 
 these are two immense plaster mills and the Arkins 
 stone quarries, both situated a few miles west of the 
 city and are directly tributary to it. The plaster 
 mills and the quarries employ a large amount of 
 capital and hundreds of men are kept busy the year 
 around in producing plaster and in quarrying and 
 cutting stone. These industries are so important 
 that the railroad company deemed it advisable to 
 build a branch line of track from Loveland west 
 past the plaster mills to the quarries. Thousands of 
 car loads of plaster and stone are annually sent to 
 Loveland over this branch road and forwarded by 
 the Colorado & Southern Railway to their destina- 
 tion. The manufacturing industries are steadily 
 growing in importance and are annually adding 
 millions of dollars to the trade and commerce of 
 Loveland. The city also possesses another great 
 advantage. It is the natural market center and 
 distributing point for all of the mountain country 
 west of it, as far back as the Continental Divide, 
 in whose parks and valleys are numerous stock 
 ranches, and whose mountain sides furnish tim- 
 ber for several saw mills. These mills convert the 
 huge pine trees into merchantable lumber, which 
 finds a ready market at Loveland. 
 
 Estes Park, the famous Rocky Mountain sum- 
 mer resort, where thousands of visitors annually 
 spend the heated term amid scenes of unparalleled 
 beauty, is only thirty-two miles distant from Love- 
 land, the nearest railroad point, and passengers des- 
 tined for the Park are whirled through the canon 
 of the Big Thompson in large steam propelled 
 automobiles which land them at their journey's 
 end in two hours and a half. The views presented 
 along the route through this wonderful canon are 
 sublime beyond comparison and one never tires 
 looking at them and admiring the wonderful works 
 of Nature. The road follows the stream, crossing 
 and re-crossing it a score of times and goes wind- 
 ing around past awe-inspiring cliffs and _ walls of 
 granite which lift their heads thousands of feet in 
 the air, past timber and grass covered slopes and by 
 small but beautiful parks, until all at once it opens 
 out upon the meadows of Estes Park. A very large 
 share of the Park trade comes to Loveland whose 
 merchants, with their mammoth store houses, are at 
 all times prepared to supply, and nearly all of the 
 travel to and from the Park leaves or boards the 
 
 [205] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 trains at this enterprising city. The trade with 
 Estes Park and the mountain country, add mater- 
 ially to the commercial importance and prosperity 
 of Loveland. 
 
 The Colorado Nursery Company, which has the 
 largest nursery in the State and which supplies 
 fruit, shade and ornamental trees, shrubs and plants 
 to nearly all of Colorado, and whose trade amounts 
 to hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, has its 
 home in Loveland and is a leading factor in the 
 business life of the city, so that altogether there are 
 few communities in the county that have a more 
 promising future than the commercial center of the 
 Big Thompson valley. 
 
 For the following specific mention of the manu- 
 facturing interests of Loveland I am indebted to 
 John N. Gordon, secretary of the Chamber of 
 Commerce of that city, who has also kindly fur- 
 nished data relating to the churches, theatres and to 
 the public library, in all of which the people take 
 just pride: 
 
 "The Buckhorn Plaster mill, situated six miles 
 west of Loveland, was built and established in the 
 early 80's by Alfred Wild. It was the first plant in 
 the state to produce plaster of paris which, owing 
 to its superior quality, is in great demand all over 
 the Western country. The plant has been en- 
 larged several times until at this time, under the 
 management of the Buckhorn Plaster Company, the 
 mill is operating with a capacity of 1,200 sacks of 
 plaster per day. Owing to the immense quantity 
 and superior quality of the gj-psum found in the 
 locality and the constantly increasing demand for 
 the manufactured product, another mill, having 
 a capacity for turning out 1,000 sacks of plaster 
 per day, has been erected about one mile west of 
 the original plant, which is operated under the same 
 management. The gypsum is found in accessible 
 ledges and is easily and cheaply quarried, the mills 
 and the quarries furnishing employment for a large 
 number of men. 
 
 "The Empson Canning factory was built by the 
 Empson Packing Company in 1907, with an operat- 
 ing capacity, when fully equipped, of 20,000 cans 
 per hour, and can handle the crop from 3,000 
 acres of peas alone. At present the products of the 
 factory are limited to peas and beans, but additions 
 will be made as fast as the raw material can be 
 secured. The factory furnishes employment to a 
 number of operatives during the canning season and 
 is the means of distributing a large sum of money 
 annually to the farmers and working people. 
 
 [206] 
 
 "The beet sugar factory, the first one to be built 
 in Larimer county, was erected in 1901, by the Great 
 Western Sugar Company, at a cost of $1,000,000. 
 It is capable of extracting the sugar from 1,200 to 
 1,500 tons of beets every twenty-four hours, and re- 
 quires beets grown on from 10,000 to 12,000 acres 
 of land to keep it in operation during the sugar mak- 
 ing campaign, which usually lasts about 100 days. 
 An average of about 40,000,000 pounds of refined 
 sugar is annually produced, requiring the labor of 
 about 2,000 field beet workers and 400 men em- 
 ployed in the factory while it is in operation. The 
 Great Western Sugar Company annually pays out 
 more than $1,000,000 for sugar beets and labor. 
 The sugar making industry has been of great 
 material benefit to the city of Loveland and the 
 farming district surrounding it. 
 
 "An electric lighting system was installed in 
 Loveland in 1901 by the Loveland Light, Heat and 
 Power Company, which was succeeded, in 1907, 
 by the Northern Colorado Power Company, which 
 transmits the electric fluid from its mammoth power 
 plant situated at Lafayette. A sewer system was 
 inaugurated in 1903 and now the city is divided 
 into nine sanitary sewer districts. 
 
 "The first public place of amusement, known as 
 the Bartholf Opera House, was built and opened in 
 1884 and it is still used for that purpose. The 
 new Loveland theatre was built in 1903 and is 
 known as the Majestic Theatre. 
 
 "The Loveland public library was organized in 
 1903, with Mrs. A. V. DufEeld as Librarian. In 
 1908 Andrew Carnegie donated $10,000 for a 
 library building and this was erected on a site 
 costing $3,500. The library now contains 2,500 
 volumes, which are constantly being added to by 
 purchase and donations of new books. The build- 
 ing is a handsome one and the interior arrangements 
 are nicely adapted to the purpose for which it was 
 erected. The present board of directors is composed 
 of Mayor J. W. McMuUen, President; B. R. Bon- 
 nell, Vice-President; A. V. Benson, Secretary; O. 
 H. Egge, J. M. Cunningham and Mrs. J. R. An- 
 derson. 
 
 "Not the least among Loveland's list of productive 
 industries is that of fruit growing. This industry 
 gives pleasant and profitable employment to a large 
 number of people — men, women and children — and 
 its products add to the health and pleasure of con- 
 sumers. The district has raised a variety of fruit 
 in a sort of a desultory, haphazard way for the past 
 twenty-five years, but not until during the past de- 
 cade has much attention been given to raising fruit 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 for commerce. Apples, plums, cherries and all 
 kinds of small fruits do especially well, but until 
 recent years there were only a few commercial or- 
 chards and these were limited to a few acres each. 
 They were sufficient, however, to demonstrate that 
 the Loveland district was a reliable fruit section and 
 that a large and profitable industry could be built up 
 in fruit growing. This demonstration served its pur- 
 pose and now large commercial orchards, parti- 
 cularly of apples and cherries, are being planted and 
 it is freely predicted that in a very few years the 
 production of apples and cherries will be a leading 
 industry in the Big Thompson valley. Loveland's 
 special distinction in the fruit line during the past 
 fifteen years, has come from the production of 
 red raspberries in which, quantity and quality con- 
 sidered, it leads all other competitors in the state. 
 As high as 30,000 crates of red raspberries have 
 been produced in the vicinity of Loveland in a sin- 
 gle season. Currants, gooseberries and other small 
 fruits are also largely grown in that district. 
 
 "The present officers of the city of Loveland are : 
 Mayor, J. W. McMuUen; Aldermen, First Ward, 
 A. E. Sprague and W. C. Moore; Second Ward, 
 E. O. Hile and O. D. Shields; Third Ward, C. E. 
 Clark and Jared Craig; Fourth Ward, H. M. Mc- 
 Clure and F. W. Loomis; Attorney, Ab. H. 
 Romans; Treasurer, I. G. McCreery; Street Com- 
 missioner, O. B. Ford ; Physician, Dr. S. A. Joslyn ; 
 Superintendent of Water Works, J. D. Lease; 
 Clerk, S. J. Krouskop; Marshal, Luther Hagler; 
 Police Magistrate, H. R. Smith; Police Officer, S. 
 T. Querry. 
 
 Churches of Loveland 
 
 "The religious orders are represented in Loveland 
 by sixteen separate and distinct church organiza- 
 tions. These organizations, with two exceptions, 
 each have resident pastors and each a place of wor- 
 ship ranging in cost from $1,000 to $40,000. They 
 have an aggregate membership of 2,650, equal to 
 about one-half the entire population of the city. 
 The Methodist was the first church organization 
 founded in the county. The three charter mem- 
 bers of the Methodist church are still living, viz: 
 Judge and Mrs. W. B. Osborn of Loveland and 
 David Hershman of Boulder." 
 
 The following data relating to the Loveland 
 churches, gathered by J. N. Gordon of that city, 
 will be of interest not only to the present genera- 
 tion but to those that shall succeed the living: 
 
 "First Methodist Episcopal. — Organized in 1866; 
 number of members three ; cost of first church build- 
 ing $800 ; name of first pastor,Rev. O. P. McMains ; 
 church rebuilt in 1887 and in 1901; present value 
 of property $25,000; name of present pastor, Rev. 
 W. D. Phifer; present number of members 400; 
 number in the Sunday school, 290. Special mis- 
 sionary work carried on with regular service at the 
 Weldon school, eight miles west of town. Rev. 
 Antes preached the first sermon in 1863, at which 
 the entire population of the Big Thompson valley, 
 numbering 13, was present. This was the first 
 religous service held in Larimer county. 
 
 "First United Presbyterian. — Organized in 1875, 
 with a total of 16 members, cost of first building, 
 $1,600; name of first pastor, Rev. W. H. Mc- 
 Creery; church rebuilt in 1893 and in 1905 ; present 
 value of church property, $40,000; name of present 
 pastor. Rev. R. C. Gibson ; present number of mem- 
 bers, 374; number in Sunday school, 250. The first 
 service of this denomination was held in the old 
 Weldon log school house, and the church was or- 
 ganized in the Rist school house south of the Big 
 Thompson river. 
 
 "First Baptist. — Organized in 1878, with 12 
 members ; cost of first building $2,000 ; name of the 
 first pastor. Rev. J. C. Cline; church rebuilt in 
 1902; present value of property, $15,000; name of 
 the present pastor. Rev. L. H. Coffman; present 
 number in Sunday school, 250; present number of 
 members, 403. 
 
 "United Brethren. — Organized in 1872 with two 
 members; cost of first building, $1,500; name of 
 first pastor, Rev. E. J. Lamb; church rebuilt in 
 1906; present value of church property, $12,000; 
 pastorate vacant at- present; present number of 
 members 140; number in Sunday school, 90. 
 
 "First Christian. — Organized in 1879; cost of 
 building $2,000; name of first pastor. Rev. James 
 McMillen; church rebuilt in 1904; present value 
 of property, $18,000; name of present pastor, Rev. 
 C. L. Dean; number of members, 210; number in 
 Sunday school, 200. 
 
 "St John The Evangelist (Catholic) — Organized 
 in 1890; name of the first Priest, Rev. Edward 
 Downey; present value of property, $10,000; 
 name of the present priest. Rev. W. J. Howlett; 
 number of members, 150; number in Sunday school, 
 85. 
 
 "First German Congregational. — Organized 
 November 24th, 1901, with 26 members; name of 
 first pastor, Rev. Phillip Bechtel; present value of 
 property, $7,000 ; name of present pastor, Rev. John 
 
 [207] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Hoelzer; number of members at the present time, 
 174; number in Sunday school, 175. 
 
 "Evangelical Association (German). — Organized 
 in 1901 with 25 members; name of first pastor, W. 
 Mengedaht; present value of property, $6,000; 
 name of present pastor, W. Noerenberg; number of 
 members at the present time, 56; number in Sun- 
 day school, 85. 
 
 "All Saints Episcopal Mission. — Organized in 
 1902 writh 20 members; cost of building $2,500; 
 name of first Rector, Rev. Maurice J. Bjrwater, 
 Archdeacon of Colorado ; name of present Rector, 
 Rev. Edgar Jones; present number of members, 
 35. 
 
 "Seventh Day Adventist. — Organized in 1904 
 with 12 members; cost of building, $2,000; name 
 of first pastor. Rev. Watson Ziegler; pastorate 
 vacant; number of members at the present time, 
 28 ; number in Sunday school, 45. 
 
 "First Presbyterian. — Organized in 1904 with 26- 
 members; Rev. Reuben S. Smith, first pastor; pres- 
 ent value of property, $5,000; name of present 
 pastor. Rev. Melvin L. Laybourn; present num- 
 ber of members, 183; number in Sunday school, 176. 
 
 "Swedish Lutheran. — Organized in 1905 with 
 nine members ; name of first pastor, F. O. W. Gus- 
 tafson; present value of property, $5,000; name of 
 present pastor. Rev. John H. Nelson; present num- 
 ber of members, 75; number in Sunday school, 12. 
 
 "Zion Lutheran (German). — Organized March 
 8th, 1905; number of members, 300; name of first 
 pastor, Rev. F. H. Besel ; present value of property, 
 $7,000; name of present pastor. Rev. F. H. Besel; 
 present number of members, 300 ; number of mem- 
 bers in Sunday school, 75. Special missionary 
 work carried on at Johnstown and Evans. 
 
 "German Reformed. — Organized in 1906 with 17 
 members; name of first pastor, Rev. Peter Bauer; 
 present value of property, $3,500; name of present 
 pastor, Rev. C. G. Zips; present number of mem- 
 bers, 40. 
 
 "First Free Methodist. — Organized in 1906 with 
 1 4 members ; name of first pastor, Rev. James Glaz- 
 ier; present value of property, $1,500; name of 
 present pastor, Rev. Charles Glazier; present num- 
 ber of members, 20; number in Sunday school, 25. 
 
 "German Congregational Zion. — Organized in 
 1908 with 40 members; name of first pastor. Rev. 
 Phillip Bechtel; present value of property, $3,000; 
 name of present pastor, Rev. J. H. Eckhardt; pres- 
 ent number of members, 62 ; number in Sunday 
 school, 40." 
 
 [208] 
 
 Boxelder Valley and Wellington 
 
 The Boxelder valley extends from where the 
 Boxelder creek empties into the Cache la Poudre 
 river to the canon where that stream debouches on 
 to the Plains, a distance of twenty miles. In places 
 the valley proper is from two to three miles in 
 width between bluffs narrowing down in other 
 places to one-half a mile in width, and the soil is 
 rich, very productive and easily worked. The sur- 
 face in the main is level and smooth with just 
 enough pitch to the south to make irrigation prac- 
 ticable and easy. The bluff lands bordering the 
 valley are rich and pliable and produce enormous 
 crops on the application of water. As the valley and 
 bluff lands were, in the early days, supposed to be 
 beyond the possibility of ever being brought under 
 irrigation, they remained unoccupied, except for 
 pasture, for nearly twenty-five years after the set- 
 tlements were made along the Cache la Poudre 
 river. The Boxelder creek is a small stream, ex- 
 cept during flood periods, and soon after the water 
 leaves the canon it sinks into the sand to reappear 
 miles further down, so that for a greater part of the 
 year, it is a dry stream on the surface for several 
 miles of its length. Even if it kept up a constant 
 flow the year around it would not afford sufficient 
 water to irrigate more than a small fraction of the 
 land along the border of the stream. 
 
 E. W. Whitcomb, now a resident of Cheyenne, 
 was probably the first settler in the valley. He 
 located a stock ranch on the creek near the canon in 
 1867 or 68, and pastured a large herd of cattle 
 and a band of horses on the rich and succulent 
 grasses of the valley and adjacent bluffs. Mr. 
 Whitcomb sold his ranch in 1875 to Noah Bristol. 
 John Arthur established a cattle camp in the valley 
 about four miles below the canon in 1861 and con- 
 trolled a portion of the range for twelve or fifteen 
 years. Lower down, William Brandis established 
 a cattle ranch in the 60's where he made his home 
 for nearly thirty years. All the rest of this beauti- 
 ful valley, except a few farms near the mouth of 
 the stream, remained unoccupied by settlers until 
 about 1880. In 1879, Benjamin H. Eaton and his 
 associates began construction work on what is known 
 as the Larimer and Weld Canal. This canal tapped 
 the river about two miles northwest of Fort Collins 
 and is one of the largest irrigating canals in North- 
 ern Colorado. It has an appropriation of 720 
 cubic feet of water per second, and is about seventy 
 miles in length, extending down into Weld count>' 
 for a long distance. It carries water out on to the 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 bluff lands and covers many thousand acres of fine 
 farm lands. Soon after the project was gotten 
 under way, all the lands in the Boxelder valley that 
 could be irrigated from it were taken up and oc- 
 cupied by thrifty farmers who brought them under 
 cultivation, producing a wonderful change in the 
 face of the country. 
 
 In 1881, F. C. Avery, N. C. Alford and their 
 associates organized the Larimer County Ditch 
 company for the purpose of constructing what is 
 known as the Larimer County Canal. This canal 
 takes its water from the north side of the river, a 
 short distance below the canon, and, keeping on 
 grade, carries it far out on to the bluff lands some 
 three or four miles north of the Larimer and Weld 
 canal, which it parallels, and thence on east into 
 Weld county. It is nearly 100 miles in length and 
 furnishes water to irrigate between, 30,000 and 
 40,000 acres of very productive land. It has an 
 appropriation of approximately 500 cubic feet of 
 water per second and by reason of its mountain 
 feeders, which bring water from the Grand and 
 Laramie water sheds, and its extensive system of 
 reservoirs, is conceded to be the best irrigation sys- 
 tem in Northern Colorado. It covers a large body 
 of land in the Boxelder valley lying north of the 
 Larimer and Weld canal, and the land was taken 
 up and occupied by settlers soon after construction 
 work was started on the canal. But there still 
 remained a large body of excellent farm land in the 
 Boxelder valley lying north of the Larimer County 
 canal and which could not be watered from it. 
 
 The subject of putting water on these lands and 
 bringing them under cultivation engrossed the 
 serious thought and consideration of Fort Collins 
 people for several years and as early as 1878 a com- 
 pany composed of John C. Abbott, W. C. Stover 
 and John C. Matthews was formed for the purpose 
 of making a survey for a ditch from the canon of the 
 North Fork out among the hills on to the Plains. 
 The survey was made and the project was demon- 
 strated to be a feasible one, but being unable to 
 enlist sufficient capital to put through the enter- 
 prise, nothing further was done at that time. Three 
 years later, in the spring of 1881, Francis L. Car- 
 ter-Cotton and his associates organized the North 
 Fork Ditch Company, having for its object the con- 
 struction of a ditch and system of reservoirs by 
 means of which these lands could be irrigated. Mr. 
 Carter-Cotton succeeded in enlisting the co-opera- 
 tion of what was known as the English Company 
 with large capital, and the work of building the 
 ditch was started. The company bought up or 
 
 contracted to buy all the railroad lands in the dis- 
 trict sought to be irrigated, some 16,000 acres. 
 These lands laid in the odd numbered sections and 
 were a part of the Union Pacific land grant. As 
 soon as the work on the ditch had gotten well under 
 headway, settlers came in and took up the govern- 
 ment land. Among these first settlers were Joseph 
 Mefford, S. R. Wasson, Harvey Caverly, John 
 Gray, C. Goodrich, George Jameson, R. Q. Tenney, 
 P. G. Terry, James W. McGinley, John Cameron, 
 J. L. Smith, V. Demmel, Gustave Wich, William 
 Fertig, Frank Haeckel, John Jones, John Mc- 
 Millan, M. Durand, John Bee, A. K. Morse, 
 Phillip Lariviere, Eugene Kerr, I. N. Thomas, I. 
 B. Harris and others whose names have escaped 
 me. They built houses, fenced their tracts and 
 otherwise improved them, expecting to be supplied 
 with water from the ditch for irrigation. The 
 ditch was completed to Boxelder creek in 1884, but 
 being decreed a late water appropriation, the ditch 
 company could only draw water from the river 
 during flood time when there was more than enough 
 to supply all of the older ditches. The settlers did 
 not get any water for their crops that year. They 
 fared but little better in 1885-6, and the result was 
 the crops burned up and the farmers denied a har- 
 vest and many of them became discouraged and 
 abandoned their farms. The construction of the 
 ditch was costing so much more than the original 
 estimates that the English Company, which had 
 been furnishing the capital, surrendered its inter- 
 ests in the project to the Travelers' Insurance Com- 
 pany, which owned and controlled the enterprise 
 for several years. Mr. Carter-Cotton abandoned 
 the enterprise in 1886 and left the country. While 
 owned by the Travelers' Insurance Company, it 
 was able, now and then a year, to fill some of the 
 reservoirs connected with the ditch system from 
 which a few farmers drew sufficient water to irri- 
 gate and produce a crop, but, as a whole, the ditch 
 proposition was a lamentable financial failure, so 
 far as the company and most of the farmers in the 
 Boxelder valley were concerned. 
 
 In the spring of 1901, the North Fork ditch, 
 reservoirs, rights of way, lands and franchise passed 
 by purchase into the possession of the North Poudre 
 Irrigation Company, a strong combination of farm- 
 ers, business men and capitalists, who at once set 
 about improving the property by enlarging and put- 
 ting the ditch in thorough repair, constructing new 
 reservoirs and increasing the capacity of the old 
 ones. This involved the expenditure of a large sum 
 of money, but the changes and improvements re- 
 
 [209] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 suited in bringing the company's irrigation system 
 up to a high state of efficiency, so that in the spring 
 of 1902, the company was in position to supply 
 water for irrigation to a greatly increased area of 
 choice tillable land. That year the Fossil Creek 
 reservoir, holding 550,000,000 cubic feet of water, 
 was built and filled that fall and the following 
 spring. Not a drop of the water stored in this 
 reservoir could be applied to any of the Boxelder 
 valley land, but by a system of exchange through 
 which ditches in Weld county with old appropria- 
 tions were supplied from the reservoir, the North 
 Poudre company was given the right to take an 
 equal quantity into its ditch from the river and 
 apply it to lands under its ditch. The water thus 
 acquired through exchange was utilized for direct 
 irrigation of Boxelder lands and for filling reservoirs 
 that could be drawn upon to supplement the supply 
 from the ditch as the stored water was needed. The 
 enterprise and energy shown by the North Poudre 
 company soon attracted the attention of settlers 
 and during the following year all of the govern- 
 ment lands were taken up and occupied and the 
 company had sold nearly all of its land, so that at 
 the opening of 1904, there was a family on almost 
 every quarter section in the valley, and during that 
 year there were under cultivation nearly 30,000 
 acres of land. The ditch and reservoirs of the 
 company were able to supply all of these new farms 
 with water for irrigation and domestic use and the 
 farmers began to raise good crops of grain, beets 
 and alfalfa, and were prosperous. At the present 
 time the Boxelder valley is recognized as among the 
 best and most productive farming and stock feed- 
 ing regions of Colorado. The moving spirit in the 
 reclamation and upbuilding of the Boxelder valley 
 was Francis C. Grable, to whose enthusiasm, 
 wise foresight and resistless energy is due the most 
 credit for the great work accomplished. 
 
 The town of Wellington, situated in the heart 
 of the Boxelder farming district, was founded in 
 the winter of 1902 and at once took on surprising 
 growth. The inhabitants were mainly from Kansas, 
 Iowa and Nebraska, intelligent, thrifty and enter- 
 prising and took a great deal of pride in the town. 
 It now boasts of a population of about 500 with 
 almost every line of business represented. Its streets 
 are broad, clean and well kept, being paved with 
 gravel. Its numerous pretty homes, substantial 
 business blocks, churches, fine school house, bank, 
 hotels, elevator, telephone exchange, town hall and 
 public assembly room and other up-to-date public 
 conveniences, including a weekly newspaper and 
 
 [210] 
 
 municipal water works system, all bear the im- 
 press of stability, showing that the people are pros- 
 perous, happy and contented. In 1903 the Colo- 
 rado & Southern Railroad company extended its 
 line of track from Fort Collins to Wellington, a 
 distance of twelve miles, and from that town north- 
 west to the town of Waverly, a distance of five 
 miles, over which two daily passenger trains are oper- 
 ated. The town is incorporated and has its mayor, 
 board of trustees, clerk, fire department and full set 
 of town officials, public park, sidewalks, etc. Thou- 
 sands of fruit and shade trees were early set out so 
 that the town is now nearly hidden by trees and 
 foliage in the summer season. The Denver, Lara- 
 mie & Northwestern railroad, now in course of con- 
 struction, will pass through the town, making it a 
 junction point. Wellington is already an import- 
 ant shipping point and thousands of car loads of 
 grain, live stock, sugar beets, potatoes, etc., are sent 
 away from the town every year, and it is the supply 
 and distributing point for a large extent of country. 
 All this has been accomplished during the past 
 eight years through the development of the North 
 Poudre Irrigation company's system of ditches and 
 reservoirs, by means of which an extensive body of 
 splendid farming land has been brought under ■ 
 cultivation. In 1908 the number of votes cast at 
 Wellington was 321, all of the voters being residents 
 of the Boxelder valley. 
 
 Churches of Wellington 
 
 First Methodist Church — This church was or- 
 ganized in December, 1904, with a class of 22, and 
 Rev. G. A. Spence was assigned as the first pastor. 
 A building for church purposes was erected in the 
 summer of 1905, and the present value of church 
 property is $6,000. Rev. Robert Titmarsh is now 
 serving the congregation. The membership has 
 largely increased and there are 100 children enrolled 
 in the Sunday school. 
 
 First Congregational Church— Rev. Horace 
 Sanderson organized this congregation of 22 mem- 
 bers on September 18th, 1904. Rev. Arthur Mor- 
 rison was the firsj pastor, being called September 
 25th. A place of worship was completed in March, 
 1905, and the present value of church property is 
 placed at $5,500. The membership roll now con- 
 tains the names of 58 persons, and Rev. Ernest 
 Jones is the pastor. A Sunday school was organized 
 on May 28th, 1905, and there are now 78 pupils. 
 
 First Baptist Church — This congregation was 
 organized on June 11th, 1905, with 15 members, 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 and Rev. George W. D. Dixon was the first pastor. 
 In the summer of 1907, a house of worship was 
 built and the present value of church property is 
 $3,500. The membership has increased to 33, and 
 Rev. J. J. Earp is the present pastor. There are 25 
 children enrolled in the Sunday school. The 
 church has been closed for the past two years, but 
 about two months ago a pastor was called and the 
 congregation is being reorganized. 
 
 Christ (German) Congregational Church — This 
 church was organized in the spring of 1905, with 
 Rev. Paul Burkhardt as pastor. A house of wor- 
 ship was built that summer and the present value 
 of church property is estimated at $1,500. 
 
 Wellington's Bank 
 
 The First National bank of Wellington was 
 organized June 12th, 1905, with a capital stock of 
 $40,000. Its resources amounted to $169,882.64 in 
 November, 1910; its deposits to $65,481.08 and its 
 surplus and undivided profits to $4,917.41. The 
 bank serves a rich and growing agricultural and 
 stock feeding district in a town of about 500 in- 
 habitants, which was founded in 1902. The pres- 
 ent officers and directors are: President, P. Ander- 
 son; Vice-President, F. M. Wright; Cashier, John 
 S. Cusack; Assistant Cashier, Miss A. B. Wilson; 
 C. Cusack, C. R. Geith. 
 
 Stove Prairie 
 
 Stove Prairie was the name given in the early 
 60's to a beautiful little park situated in the Front 
 range of mountains about twenty-five miles west 
 of Fort Collins. The name originated in the fol- 
 lowing manner: Two prospectors traveled up 
 Buckhorn creek in search of placer ground and 
 finally wandered into a grass covered meadow, be- 
 lieving themselves to be its discoverers and the first 
 white men to step foot within its borders. Their 
 felicitations were short lived, however. They had 
 not completed their explorations ere they came upon 
 an abandoned camp in which the former occupant 
 had left his camp stove. From this circumstance 
 originated the name "Stove Prairie". 
 
 The first white settler in Stove Prairie was a man 
 named Williams of Greeley, who about 1875, es- 
 tablished a horse camp and pastured a band of 
 horses there for several years. He built a cabin at 
 the foot of the hill near the entrance and made his 
 home there while looking after his horses. He was 
 
 followed a little later by a Mr. Ripperdam with a 
 hunch of cattle. Then came Charles Havens who 
 took up the place now owned by Thomas Morgan, 
 and J. W. Rutherford who settled upon the place 
 now owned by Harlan Bosworth. A man named 
 Beals first located the Harlan Bosworth place. The 
 Graham brothers, Mat and Al, settled there along in 
 the 80's. Mat was found dead in his cabin at the 
 foot of Stove Prairie gulch a few years later, and 
 Al is now an inmate of the State insane asylum. 
 Other settlers on Stove Prairie were Jehiel Shull, 
 Wm. P. Bosworth, the Hollemans, Henry Mc- 
 Ginness. A school district was organized in 1893 
 and a comfortable and well furnished log school 
 house was built in 1894. 
 
 The Stove Prairie country is essentially a stock 
 region and nearly all of the settlers own herds of 
 cattle. It is too high for general farming, only 
 coarse grains for stock food and potatoes and hardy 
 vegetables are grown. The hills about the park 
 are covered with timber and in the early days saw 
 mills cut a great deal of lumber in that vicinity. 
 
 The foot of Stove Prairie gulch offers fine camp- 
 ing grounds for fishermen and picnic parties and not 
 a summer passes that the banks of the river at that 
 point are not alive with camping parties. The 
 river for a few miles above and below the mouth 
 of the gulch is the trout fisherman's paradise. 
 
 The Utes in their forays on their hereditary 
 enemies, the Cheyennes and Arapahoes and later on 
 the white settlers in the Big Thompson, used to 
 come down from North Park over Ute Pass and 
 thence down Huleatt and up Stove Prairie gulches 
 and across Stove Prairie park to the Buckhorn 
 creek, down which they traveled to the Big Thomp- 
 son valley. In places their trail was worn down 
 into the soil several inches and its outlines are still 
 visible. 
 
 Fort Collins 
 
 Fort Collins, the county seat and principal town 
 in Larimer county, owes its origin and final place 
 on the map to the intervention of a flood in the 
 Cache la Poudre river. This flood occurred on the 
 last days of May and first days of June, 1864, and 
 is said to have been the worst known by white men. 
 The water poured out of the banks of the stream 
 and inundated the valley from bluff to bluff with a 
 torrent that carried everything not firmly attached 
 to the soil with it. It carried out the toll bridge 
 at Laporte at a time when the movement of emi- 
 gration westward was the heaviest, and more than 
 
 [211] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 200 emigrant wagons were stalled on the bluffs 
 south of Laporte, being unable to ford the stream 
 because of high water. The Overland stages could 
 not make their regular trips for several days, and 
 as a result many travelers east and west bound, 
 were flood held at Laporte. On the first appearance 
 of the flood and after the bridge had been washed 
 away, John B. Provost sent to Denver for a heavy 
 cable and, constructing a rude flat boat, estab- 
 lished a ferry across the stream at his place. The 
 stages and emigrant wagons were taken across on 
 this flat boat and proceeded on their way. The 
 charge for ferrying a team and wagon across the 
 river was $10 and for a few days Mr. Provost did 
 a thriving business, making money hand over fist, as 
 the saying is. The river was turbulent and un- 
 safe to ford through almost the entire month of 
 June and Mr. Provost used to say afterwards that 
 "it was the biggest month's work he ever did." 
 
 In the fall of 1863, Company B of the First 
 Colorado Volunteer Cavalry was sent to Laporte to 
 patrol the Overland stage line and guard and pro- 
 tect the coaches and emigrant trains from Indian 
 raids and attacks, also to protect the lives and 
 property of the few settlers in the valley at that 
 time from the thieving and murderous savages who 
 were making a great deal of trouble on the Plains. 
 The soldiers established their encampment on the 
 bottom lands near the river on Antoine Janis' 
 claim a short distance up the stream from the pres- 
 ent village of Laporte. The land on which the 
 soldiers camped later passed into the ownership of 
 Tobias Miller, who sold it to Joseph Hammerly, 
 the present occupant. Log cabins for the officers 
 and men and stables for the horses were built that 
 fall and Company B remained here through the 
 winter. In April, 1864, General Schofield, com- 
 manding the Department of the Missouri, ordered 
 Colonel Chivington of the First Colorado to send 
 four companies of his regiment to proceed west on 
 the Overland stage line as far as Fort Bridger and 
 co-operate with General Connor's forces in a cam- 
 paign against the Indians, which were becoming 
 very troublesome, threatening to break up the 
 Overland mail and make the emigrant road im- 
 passable. Colonel Chivington ordered Major Wyn- 
 koop to proceed west to the aid of General Connor 
 and to have Captain Logan of Company B join him 
 with his troop at Laporte. On arriving at Laporte 
 Major Wynkoop found that Captain Logan's 
 troop was poorly mounted and indifferently armed, 
 consequently there was considerable delay before 
 the soldiers were ready to march westward. This 
 
 [212] 
 
 delay resulted in giving the Southern Utes an op- 
 portunity to attack the Overland stage on the 
 Laramie Plains. On the 5th of July, these Indians 
 raided the stage company's station at Cooper Creek 
 and ran off all the stock, and the same night they 
 visited Medicine Bow station and carried away all 
 the provisions and stripped the keepers of the sta- 
 tion, Hazzard and NichoUs, of their clothing. 
 
 In the meantime Lieut. Col. W. O. Collins of 
 the 11th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, commanding the 
 post at Fort Laramie, was ordered to send two 
 companies of his regiment to take the place of the 
 Colorado troops sent to join General Connor's 
 forces at Fort Bridger. Companies B and F of 
 the Ohio troops in command of Capt. William H. 
 Evans, were sent to Laporte in pursuance of this 
 order, arriving the latter part of May, 1864. The 
 camp or post, which before this had no distinction, 
 was christened Camp Collins in honor of Lieut. 
 Col. W. O. Collins. A portion of Capt. Evan's 
 troops occupied the cabins left by the Colorado 
 soldiers and the remainder lived in tents. 
 
 Laporte at the time was the county seat of 
 Larimer county, a station on the Overland 
 stage line and the most important trading 
 and distributing point north of Denver. Quite a 
 large settlement of white people had centered there 
 and nearly all lines of business were represented. 
 The duty of the Ohio troops was the same as that 
 performed by the Colorado soldiers, the patroling 
 and guarding the Overland stage line and protect- 
 ing emigrants and settlers from Indian depredations. 
 It was because the Indians had become more dar- 
 ing and more troublesome with the opening of the 
 spring and their raids and depredations more fre- 
 quent, that General Schofield, commander of the 
 department, deemed it wise in the interest of 
 safety, to send two companies of cavalry here at 
 that time to take the place of the one company of 
 Colorado troops. The new comers found plenty 
 to do and none of them ate the bread of idleness 
 that summer. They were required to patrol the 
 stage line and escort the coaches and emigrant 
 trains every day from Laporte to Virginia Dale; 
 were detailed on detached duty at Fremont's 
 Orchard, Latham, Camp Mitchell, Big Laramie 
 station. Cooper creek. Willow Springs and Vir- 
 ginia Dale. 
 
 A great body of snow fell in the mountains in 
 the winter of 1863-4, filling the gulches and ravines 
 to the depth of several feet, and the snow was from 
 four to six feet deep in the timber on the hillsides. 
 From the barren mountain tops above timber line 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 the snow had blown off into the timber, gulches 
 and ravines where it became packed and as hard 
 as an ice-bed, almost. The foothills near the Plains 
 were covered with a heavy growth of timber which 
 held the snow in place, preventing it from drifting, 
 so that back in the hills there was an immense quan- 
 tity of water making material. 
 
 "The summer of 1863," says Gen. Frank Hall in 
 his History of Colorado, "was marked by a pro- 
 tracted drouth which dried up the smaller streams, 
 and prevented the growth of crops in the limited 
 area then cultivated. Earlier than usual, about the 
 middle of October, one of the severest winters ever 
 known in this latitude set in, with frequent heavj 
 snows and very cold weather. Those who had 
 stock on the range lost it, supply trains were block- 
 aded, and many abandoned. It seemed impossible 
 to maintain any sort of communication with the 
 States. The stages, under ordinary circumstances 
 would push through when it was possible for any 
 living force to face the bitter blasts, were delayed; 
 the drivers, bewildered and lost in the furious wind- 
 blown snows, wandered about wildly on the track- 
 less prairies." 
 
 In the spring of 1864, under the influence of the 
 sun's warm rays the great masses of snow melted 
 on the foothills and torrents of water came pouring 
 down from the slopes into the channel of the Cache 
 la Poudre, swelling the stream even with its banks. 
 On the 9th of June, an extraordinary rain storm set 
 in on the water shed of the upper part of the river, 
 melted the snow in the higher altitudes and an 
 enormous volume of water laden with drift-wood, 
 poured into the already swollen channel, and the 
 sullen roar of the rushing stream as it burst out of 
 the canon was heard for a long distance. On reach- 
 ing the Plains, the water spread out and sub- 
 merged the bottom lands from bluff to bluff, to a 
 depth of several feet. The storm occurred in the 
 afternoon and the raging torrent, plunging like the 
 waves of the sea under the impulse of a gale, swept 
 down through the soldier's camp in the night al- 
 most without warning. Tents, clothing, accoutre- 
 ments, ordinance and ordinance stores and some of 
 the cabins were carried away and the soldiers, 
 awakened from sleep, fled for their lives to the near- 
 est bluff. Some of them sleeping in the cabins and 
 unable to open the doors because of the pressure of 
 water against them, crawled out through chimneys 
 and jumping from the roof into the water, waded 
 to dry land. The poor fellows were in a sorry 
 plight the remainder of the night without shelter 
 and many of them with only the clothes they slept 
 
 in to protect them from the chilling rain which was 
 still falling. When morning broke a scene of deso- 
 lation presented itself to view. The camp grounds 
 were completely submerged and only the roofs of 
 cabins that had withstood the on-rush of water were 
 visible, while as far as the eye could reach up and 
 down the river nothing but a surging sea of 
 muddy water could be seen. Fortunately no 
 lives were lost, but there were several narrow 
 escapes by the settlers on the bottom lands. In 
 Laporte all the cellars and floors of the buildings 
 were deluged, and the inhabitants had to seek higher 
 ground. Several lost everything they possessed. 
 
 The storm which brought on the flood in the 
 Cache la Poudre was general in the northern part 
 of the Territory and Denver, the Boulder, St. 
 Vrain and Big Thompson valleys suffered severely 
 from its effects. Great waves of muddy water 
 came down Cherry creek and poured over and sub- 
 merged West Denver, doing a vast amount of dam- 
 age. Among the buildings which were wholly de- 
 stroyed and carried in fragments down the Platte 
 river were the Methodist church, the office of the 
 Rocky Mountain News and the City Hall. Por- 
 tions of the heavy machinery of the News office 
 were carried down the river and never recovered. 
 The low lands in the Big Thompson valley were 
 submerged, settlers' cabins were washed away and 
 gardens and meadows destroyed. 
 
 Soon after the storm ceased and the sun came out 
 from behind the clouds, the waters began to recede 
 and it was not long until they had fallen back to 
 the channel, leaving the bottom lands uncovered. 
 The channel ran bank full, however, through a good 
 part of the month of June. A report of the disaster 
 that had overtaken the soldiers was sent to Col. 
 Collins at Fort Laramie, and he directed Capt. 
 Evans, commander of the post, to look up a new 
 location for the camp, one that would be beyond 
 danger of floods in the future. Capt. Evans sent 
 Lieut. James W. Hanna with a detail of soldiers 
 down the river in the month of July in search of the 
 desired location. The party followed the river on the 
 north side down to the mouth of Boxelder creek, 
 forded the stream there and returned to camp via 
 the south side of the stream, fording again at La- 
 porte. In coming up the south side of the river 
 they met Joseph Mason, who then lived on the 
 place so long owned and occupied by the late Wil- 
 liam F. Watrous. Mr. Mason called Lieut. 
 Hanna's attention to the site now occupied by the 
 city of Fort Collins, and describing its advantages, 
 urged a favorable report of the ground to Col. 
 
 [213] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Collins. This Lieut. Hanna promised to do. He 
 kept his promise and sent through Capt Evans, a 
 flattering description of the site, giving its prox- 
 imity to the river, situation on the high dry land 
 vi'ith good drainage and a fine view of the surround- 
 ing country for miles in each direction. One great 
 objection to the old camp grounds at Laporte, in 
 addition to its liability to be flooded in times of high 
 water, was that it was hemmed in by bluffs and hog 
 backs so that the view was restricted in each direc- 
 tion, making it possible for Indians to swoop down 
 upon the camp unseen and run off the troopers' 
 horses. 
 
 At the time Lieut. Hanna made his survey there 
 was not a house nor even a cabin on the south side 
 of the river from Joseph Mason's home to the Sher- 
 wood place, a distance of about five miles, and thou- 
 sands of prairie dogs had possession of the site se- 
 lected for the new camp. Soon after receiving 
 Lieut. Hanna's report, Col. Collins left Fort Lara- 
 mie with a guard of soldiers, for Camp Collins for 
 the purpose of a personal inspection of the location 
 recommended. He arrived at Laporte on the 13th 
 of August. He remained there a week, leaving on 
 on the return to Fort Laramie via Fort Halleck, 
 August 21st. On the way down from Fort Lara- 
 mie, Col. Collins kept a daily journal noting num- 
 ber of miles traveled each day, the stopping places 
 at night and describing the character of the country 
 and the road traversed. At the request of Mr. 
 Francis C. Grable of Fort Collins, Mrs. Catherine 
 W. Collins, widow of Col. Collins, sent him from 
 her home in Hillsboro, Ohio, this jdurnal and 
 several other papers of historical value, which have, 
 with Mrs. Collins' consent, been presented to the 
 Association of Pioneer Women of the Cache la 
 Poudre valley for preservation. The list of papers 
 include : 
 
 A pen map made of Camp Collins ; 
 Autograph letter of Col. Collins ; 
 Journal ; 
 
 Circular of the Overland Stage Company; 
 Photograph of Col. Collins and Mrs. Collins' 
 letter of transmission. 
 
 The journal sent by Mrs. Collins is endorsed in 
 Col. Collins' handwriting as follows : 
 
 "Journal of trip to Camp Collins from Fort 
 Laramie, August 8th to August 13th, 1864." 
 
 It enters into details concerning roads, grass, 
 water and wood. No doubt such a record was re- 
 quired by the army regulations in those early days 
 so that all movements of troops might be made 
 
 [214] 
 
 along the best routes. The record of the last two 
 days' travel is herewith copied : 
 
 "Friday, August 12th, left camp about 6 a. m. ; 
 road hilly and circuitous, water in one or two small 
 branches, especially on Little Crow creek. A few 
 miles from camp where party with prisoners from 
 Camp Collins had camped last night; met them two 
 or three miles from our camp. Road thence broken, 
 circuitous and latter part muddy to Jack Springs, 
 when stopped for noon; distance about twenty-two 
 miles. Road generally good; no wood or water. 
 Grasshoppers appeared in swarms as we left camp. 
 Camped for night on Boxelder. Fine running 
 stream, plenty of flood wood, good grass; distance 
 fourteen miles. Total 36 miles in day." 
 
 "Saturday, August 13th, left camp' at 7 o'clock; 
 got to Camp Collins on Cache la Poudre about 11 
 o'clock. Road good but no water or wood, but 
 grass plenty. Cache la Poudre fine stream coming 
 out of mountains just above camp; distance about 
 fourteen miles. Summary: 
 
 From Fort Laramie to Cherry Springs ... 24 miles 
 
 Camp on Chug 30 miles 
 
 Camp on Horse creek 30 miles 
 
 Camp on Crow creek 20 miles 
 
 Camp on Boxelder 36 miles 
 
 Camp Collins 14 miles 
 
 Total 154 miles 
 
 While at old Camp Collins, Col. Collins inspected 
 the new site for a post, the condition of the troops 
 and his report of the way he found things and what 
 he did is embodied in a report to General R. B. 
 Mitchell, commanding the district of Nebraska, 
 which follows : 
 
 "Hd. Qrs. 11th O. V. C. in the Field at Camp 
 Collins, Colo. Ter., Aug 21st, 1864. 
 "To Gen. R. B. Mitchell, 
 
 Comdg. Dist. of Nebraska. 
 
 "I respectfully report that I have arrived at this 
 Post, on the 14th inst. Found companies B and F 
 11th O. V. C. stationed here partly in quarters upon 
 detached service, health of the troops excellent and 
 the discipline creditable to officers and men. 
 
 "On careful examination and inquiry, I became 
 satisfied that the good of the service required a 
 change in the location of the post. The present site 
 is within the town of Laporte, where the claims of 
 lot holders seriously interfere with military inter- 
 ests, the ground is subject to overflow, the whole 
 having been under water and much public property 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 destroyed about the 10th of June last, and the space 
 being too contracted for military purposes. 
 
 "I therefore determined to select new grounds 
 in the vicinity and fortunately was able to find a 
 locality having superior advantages in the way of 
 wood, water and grass without danger of overflow 
 
 LIEUT.-COL. WM. 0. COLLINS 
 
 and where sufficient territory could be obtained 
 without interfering with the claims of any citizens. 
 "I enclose a copy of an order appropriating the 
 ground and directing the removal of the troops and 
 stores to the same and respectfully ask its approval. 
 This post is likely to be an important one and I 
 find a contract for the delivery of 2,000 tons of hay 
 by the order of the Quartermaster of the Depart- 
 ment which indicates an intention to winter a large 
 number of troops and stock in the vicinity. The 
 great alarm existing from attacks made and threat- 
 ened by the Indians seemed to make it proper that 
 I should visit Denver to consult with the authori- 
 ties, and I made a hasty trip to that place, being 
 absent from this post but three days. I found 
 martial law proclaimed, business suspended and 
 a regiment of volunteers rapidly raising which is 
 to take the field in a few days. Its destination 
 is the valley of the South Platte and the coun- 
 try south towards the waters of the Republi- 
 can and Arkansas, where the Cheyennes, Kiowas, 
 Apaches and other Indians have recently been 
 committing serious outrages and depredations. 
 No part of these volunteer forces will prob- 
 ably go north of the valley of the South Platte. 
 
 There is a considerable number of Arapahoes in 
 the neighborhood of this post, but they profess 
 friendship and as yet have committed no acts of 
 hostility. Several parties of Utes have recently 
 crossed the Overland stage road west of this post, 
 going north to 'look for Sioux' as they say, but who 
 protest they will harm no white men. Gov. Evans 
 and Maj. Whiting (Indian Agent) assure me they 
 have full confidence in their professions, and sug- 
 gest that they be permitted to make war upon the 
 Cheyennes and Arapahoes and Sioux who are their 
 hereditary enemies. At this time all the Indians 
 need watching and I shall care that they are care- 
 fully observed. Capt. Evans' Company F, com- 
 manding the two companies stationed at this post, 
 is ordered to hold them in readiness to pursue 
 Indians at any moment and detachments are con- 
 stantly out scouting, escorting and garrisoning 
 points supposed to be liable to attack. Most of the 
 settlers on Cache la Poudre river, Thompson and 
 other streams are abandoning their ranches and 
 gathering into this post for protection. I think 
 much of the alarm unnecessary and hope the panic 
 
 MRS. WM. O. COLLINS 
 
 will soon subside. I am about starting for Fort 
 Halleck from which post I will communicate with 
 you. Very respectfully your obdt. sevt, 
 
 "Wm. O. Collins, Lt.-CoL, 
 "Comd'g 11th O. V. C." 
 
 The date of the foregoing report corresponds 
 with the date of the birth of Fort Collins, for on 
 that date Col. Collins issued an order appropriating 
 the ground for military purposes and directing the 
 
 [215] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 removal of the troops and stores to the new Camp 
 Collins, although it does not appear that any of the 
 soldiers occupied the new site until a few days 
 later. The active work of constructing the new 
 camp was immediately begun, however, by sending 
 men into the hills to cut and prepare timbers for 
 quarters for the officers and men and for the stables. 
 Col. Collins had, on his first visit, directed that a 
 military reservation four miles square be set off 
 and that a description, giving metes and bounds, be 
 sent to the war department at Washington for 
 approval. On the 12th of November the acting 
 Secretary of the Interior addressed the following 
 letter to President Lincoln, recommending the es- 
 tablishment of the reservation : 
 
 "Department of the Interior, 
 "Washington, D. C, Nov. 12, 1864. 
 "Sir:— 
 
 "I have the honor to recommend that a reserva- 
 tion for military purposes be made of a tract of 
 land situated in township number 7, north range 
 69 west, in the territory of Colorado, and described 
 as follows: 
 
 "Beginning in the center of the main channel of 
 the Cache la Poudre river where the east line of 
 the claim of Joseph Mason crosses the same, thence 
 south four miles, thence east four miles, thence 
 north about four miles to the center of the main 
 channel of the Cache la Poudre, thence with the 
 center of the main channel of the said river follow- 
 ing its meanderings' to the place of beginning. 
 
 "The letter of the Secretary of War of the 3rd 
 and the report of the Commissioners of the General 
 Land Office of the 12th inst. relative to this sub- 
 ject I respectfully submit herewith. 
 
 "I am Sir, very respectfully, your obedient 
 servant, W. T. Otto^ 
 
 "Acting Secretary." 
 
 This letter bore the following endorsement : 
 
 "Executive Mansion, 
 
 "November 14, 1864. 
 "Let the tract of land within described be set 
 apart as a military reservation pursuant to the 
 recommendation of the acting Secretary of the In- 
 terior. A. Lincoln." 
 
 The reservation was surveyed in 1864 by Wm. 
 Ashley and Hiram Witter and contained 6,168.92 
 acres of land. 
 
 The Joseph Mason claim mentioned in the 
 recommendation of the acting Secretary of the In- 
 terior, was later owned by Henry Forbes, then by 
 
 [216] 
 
 James L. Allen, who sold it to W. F. Watrous. The 
 reservation was relinquished by the government and 
 thrown open to homestead and preemption entries 
 in 1872, under the provisions of an act of Congress, 
 approved May 15th, of that year. 
 
 Valuable Record Book 
 
 While Judge M. E. Hocker was dealing in drugs 
 in Laramie, Wyoming, in 1876, a man came to 
 him with a book containing the morning reports and 
 orders of the commanding officer at Camp Collins, 
 and asked the Judge what he should do with it. 
 The Judge looked the book through and saw that 
 it contained records of events of historical value 
 that would be of special interest to the people of 
 Fort Collins, so he said to the man "Leave the book 
 with me and I will send it to Frank Stover". He 
 did so and Mr. Stover has been in possession of the 
 book ever since. Through his kindness, I am per- 
 mittted to copy from it as freely as I wish. The book 
 is well preserved and the hand-writing in which the 
 reports and orders are recorded is clear and distinct, 
 showing but little the effect of age. The special 
 orders issued by the commanding officers are num- 
 bered from 1 to 187. These are followed in the 
 book by a new series of general and special orders, 
 the last one being numbered 16 and dated June 
 25th, 1865. 
 
 Special order No. 1 is dated Camp Collins, Colo- 
 rado Territory, June 28th, 1864, and reads as fol- 
 lows: 
 
 "Serg't B. F. McClermont Company E 11th O. 
 V. C. and temporarily assigned to Company F 11th 
 Reg't O. V. C. is released from duty at this camp 
 and is hereby ordered to Fort Halleck D. T. to 
 report without delay to Major Mackey for duty. 
 "By order, 
 
 "Capt. W. H. Evans, 
 
 "Comd'g Camp Collins." 
 
 As most of the orders relate to details of soldiers 
 to act as escorts to stage coaches, to the U. S. Pay- 
 master or for guard or camp duty, only those having 
 special bearing on conditions as they existed at that 
 period or are of historical interest will be quoted, 
 some of them at length and others by reference : 
 
 Order No. 2, signed by Capt. Evans gives 
 notice that "any citizen who shall be detected in 
 Larimer county of giving or selling liquor to sol- 
 diers of Company F 11th Ohio Cavalry, without 
 the written permit of the commander of Camp 
 Collins, will be visited with the severest punish- 
 ment." 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Order No. 3, dated July 4th, 1864, assigns 
 Acting Assistant Surgeon T. M. Smith to duty at 
 the camp. Dr. Smith was the pioneer physician 
 and surgeon of Fort Collins and is kindly remem- 
 bered by many of those who lived here as late as 
 1882, when he went to Virginia, where he died a 
 few years later. Dr. Smith remained in the Cache 
 la Poudre valley for several years after the soldiers 
 left and was elected County Treasurer in 1872. 
 
 quarters and barracks for private soldiers and the 
 Post Quartermaster had the logs hauled to the new 
 camp grounds by government teams. Here the 
 logs were fitted and put in place by other details of 
 soldiers under the direction of Private Harold F. 
 Elborn, post carpenter. The doors, windows and 
 hardware for the buildings were procured at Den- 
 ver and the lumber for the floors and roof and the 
 shingles were obtained at Obenchain's saw-mill, 
 
 CAMP COLLINS IN 1865 
 
 By an order issued July 1st, Antoine Janis was 
 appointed to act as guide and interpreter for the 
 post. Mr. Janis located on the claim on which the 
 soldiers were camped at the time this order was 
 issued in 1844, and could speak the language of the 
 Indians fluently. He was an educated man who, 
 by reason of having an Indian woman for his wife, 
 was on friendly terms with the natives. 
 
 An order issued August 21 directs that no en- 
 listed men of this camp will be permitted to en- 
 gage themselves to work for citizens without special 
 permission from the commanding officer, owing to 
 the additional labor that will be required in the 
 construction of the new camp. Sergeants of com- 
 panies were directed to see that all axes and other 
 tools were put in order. 
 
 Immediately afterwards details of soldiers were 
 sent to the hills to cut logs for buildings for officers' 
 
 which stood near where William Falloon now lives, 
 northwest of Laporte. 
 
 The plan of the post as designed by Col. Collins, 
 who again visited the camp on September 29th, 
 was carried out as follows : 
 
 Parade ground was laid out between what is now 
 Jefferson street and the river north of where the 
 Tedmon house now stands. 
 
 The officers' quarters were located immediately 
 south of the parade and the privates' barracks on the 
 east and west sides of the square. 
 
 The quartermaster's and the commissary's quar- 
 ters were placed on the west side and the guard 
 house on the east side, while the hospital stood west 
 of the parade grounds on a site selected by Drs. 
 Underbill and Smith. The laundry was placed at 
 a point northwest of the post near the river. The 
 stables were built near the river bank a little to the 
 
 [217] 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 northwest of parade grounds ; caves dug in the 
 river bank were also used for stables. The black- 
 smith shop stood on the bottom land east of the 
 Linden street bridge. All buildings except the 
 blacksmith's shop were erected on parallel lines and 
 at right angles with the parade grounds. The 
 south line of the parade grounds was about where 
 the mill race is now. 
 
 The work on the buildings progressed rapidly 
 and on September 28th Capt. Evans ordered Lieut. 
 E. L. Pettijohn to take command of the new camp 
 and all troops and government property, and on the 
 
 ^^^^^ , 
 
 t 
 
 
 ...-'^^iik 
 
 
 
 a^-,-~~"%i 
 
 j. 
 
 
 ys 
 
 L| 
 
 ^ '^' 
 
 .^1 ; 
 
 1 ' 
 
 THE OLD GROUT BUILDING 
 
 2nd of October Lieut. James W. Hanna was or- 
 dered to go to the new camp and take command of 
 detachment of Company F 11th O. V. C. On the 
 same day Lieut. Hanna was ordered to go down 
 the Cache la Poudre with a detachment of soldiers 
 and arrest "Gov. Briggs" with his wagon and all 
 stores in his charge. In executing the "Gov. 
 Briggs" order Lieut. Hanna seized seven kegs of 
 sour lager beer and four gallons of wine. The 
 beer was poured on the ground and the wine turned 
 over to Dr. Smith for hospital uses. 
 
 On the 5th of October Capt. Evans appointed 
 Capt. Wesley Love, Lieut. E. P. Drake and Lieut. 
 E. L. Pettijohn a board of survey to convene at the 
 new camp for the purpose of ascertaining and re- 
 porting claims set up by citizens to any land within 
 the reservation and whether any of the claims are 
 valid and what the value of all labor and material 
 expended upon the same prior to August 20th, 1864. 
 The board reported the same day that there was 
 not a valid claim within the limits of the reserva- 
 tion nor any occupant or improvement of any value 
 on said reservation on August 20th. 
 
 Notwithstanding the report of the board of sur- 
 vey, Capt. Evans on the 12th of October issued 
 orders to two trespassers on the reservation to 
 
 [31 S] 
 
 vacate and remove beyond the limits of the four 
 miles square, giving one of them ten days and the 
 other twenty-four hours to get off. The names of 
 these spurious claimants are not given. They had 
 probably squatted on the reservation for the pur- 
 pose of selling liquor to the soldiers. 
 
 On October 7th Capt. Evans appointed Joseph 
 Mason and Henry Chamberlin acting sutlers for 
 the post, giving them the privilege of erecting proper 
 buildings at. or near the new camp and the keeping 
 and vending to the soldiers such goods as were 
 usually kept and sold by army sutlers. In accord- 
 ance with their appointment and the privileges 
 granted them, Messrs Mason & Chamberlin erected 
 a log building on the site now occupied by the 
 Horn block at the corner of Linden and Jeffer- 
 son streets, in which to keep their goods. This was 
 Fort Collins' first mercantile establishment, and 
 it proved to be a great convenience not only for 
 the soldiers but for the settlers as well. Louis B. 
 Taft, a brother-in-law of Mr. Chamberlin, clerked 
 in the store for the firm in the fall of 1864 and 
 part of the winter of 1865. In the spring of 1865, 
 Air. Chamberlin sold his interest in the store to 
 Major Asaph Allen, former commandant at Fort 
 Halleck, and the firm became Mason & Allen. 
 That year the firm built the "Old Grout," which 
 stood where Frank Stover's drug store now stands, 
 fronting Jefferson street. This building not only 
 afforded the camp sutlers more room in which to 
 carry on their business but it also contained a hall 
 which was used for public purposes for many years 
 and in fact until 1878, when Wilson's hall was 
 built. Harris Stratton was the architect and super- 
 intendent of construction of the "Old Grout". The 
 old building was torn down in the spring of 1882 
 to make room for Frank Stover's drug store. The 
 "Old Grout" had a remarkable history, which 
 if written up in its entirety, would read almost 
 like a romance. It was a large tuo story build- 
 ing, with a porch and balcony across the front 
 end. The first floor contained a large store room,, 
 a warehouse and living rooms in the rear. The 
 second floor contained a public hall which was 
 reached by an outside stairway. This was the only 
 public hall on the reservation and it was used for 
 many different purposes, including church services, 
 Sunday schools, theatres, lectures and dances. When 
 the county seat was moved down from Laporte in 
 the fall of 1868, the hall was converted into a court- 
 room and county offices. The old building served a 
 splendid purpose in its day and when it was razed 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 to the ground, one of the principal landmarks 
 noting the early history of Fort Collins disappeared. 
 Judge Lewis Stone, a recent comer from Minne- 
 sota, was given permission on the 8th of October, 
 1864, to build and keep a mess house at the post 
 for the accommodation of the military officers 
 stationed here. A log building for this purpose was 
 erected that fall, on the site now occupied by the 
 stone hotel on Jefferson street. Here, after the 
 death of her husband, Mrs. Elizabeth Stone affec- 
 tionately called "Aunty" Stone, 
 boarded the officers while they re- 
 mained at the post, and after they 
 left in June, 1866, she threw the 
 house open to the public as a hotel. 
 This was the first dwelling house, 
 and also the first hotel built in 
 Fort Collins. Mrs. Stone sold this 
 building in 1873 and it was 
 moved to where the Express 
 printing office now stands and at- 
 tached to the rear of and used as 
 a kitchen for the old Agricultural 
 hotel, built that year by Capt. 
 Marcus Coon. O. C. Peck then 
 erected the stone hotel on the site 
 of the old log building. After the 
 front part of the old Agricultural 
 hotel was moved to the corner 
 where the Northern hotel now 
 stands in 1878 by D. M. Harris, "Aunty" Stone's 
 old mess house was used as a dwelling until 
 1907, when it was converted into a paint shop. In 
 1909, the Association of Pioneer Women of the 
 Cache la Poudre Valley bought the building, had it 
 moved to a site on Mason street, between Oak 
 and Olive streets, where it is being fitted up for a 
 museum in which to preserve historical relics of 
 pioneer days and as a meeting place for the associa- 
 tion. 
 
 It is difficult to fix the exact day of the month 
 when the old camp at Laporte was abandoned and 
 , the new camp occupied by all the troops stationed 
 on the Cache la Poudre, but it must have been 
 somewhere about the middle of October. Part of 
 the force had been occupying the new camp doing 
 guard duty and constructing the new buildings for 
 several weeks prior to the middle of the month, but 
 the order to Lieut. Pettijohn to have guard mount- 
 ing at the new camp was dated October 18th. 
 While the site for the camp was located August 
 20th, 1864, and the boundaries of the military reser- 
 vation were established shortly after that date, the 
 
 soldiers were not all removed from the old camp 
 west of Laporte to Camp Collins until in October. 
 At this latter date the officers' quarters, the soldiers' 
 barracks, the guard house, magazine and stables had 
 practically been completed and made ready for oc- 
 cupancy. All the camp stores, quartermaster's 
 supplies, horses, guns and ammunition had already 
 been moved to the new camp, so that when the 
 troops, left at the old camp doing guard duty while 
 the new camp buildings were being erected, joined 
 
 - »■,*• ■ -^ 
 
 AUNTIE" STONE'S MESS HOUSE AND HOTEL, THE FIRST DWELLING 
 HOUSE BUILT IN FORT COLLINS 
 
 their comrades at Camp Collins on October 18th, y 
 the post became fully established and occupied. 
 On the 23rd of October Capt. Evans issued an 
 order directing Lieut. C. W. Waters of Company 
 B, 11th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, to proceed to Fort 
 Kearney, Nebraska, with the veterans of Company 
 B whose term of enlistment had expired. Four / 
 days later Sergeant W. A. Wagner was detailed to 
 have charge of the Quartermaster's trains dispatched 
 to Fort Kearney with the veterans and their sup- 
 plies. Beginning with October 23rd, 1864, all 
 orders issued by the commandant of the post were 
 dated at Fort Collins instead of Camp Collins, as 
 had heretofore been the practice, indicating that, in 
 the opinion of Capt. Evans, the post had outlived 
 the title of "camp" and had risen to the dignity of 
 a fort. 
 
 The book of morning reports heretofore referred 
 to contains 187 special orders issued by Capt. W. H. 
 Evans while in command, including a few issued 
 during the temporary absence of Capt. Evans. On 
 May 5th, 1865, Capt. Luther Wilson of Company 
 D 1st Veteran battalion, Colorado Cavalry, suc- 
 
 [219] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 ceeded Capt. Evans as commander of the post, re- 
 maining until June 23rd, when all the Ohio troops 
 were ordered home for discharge. Capt. Wilson 
 issued two general orders and sixteen special orders. 
 The most of these orders related to the detailing 
 of soldiers for guard duty on the line of the Over- 
 land stage, details for camp duty and as guards for 
 supply trains, for the arrest of deserters and for 
 various other duties such as wood cutting, hauling 
 hay, etc. A few of them are of general interest in 
 that they seem to throw a side light on conditions 
 as they existed in the Cache la Poudre valley at the 
 time the orders were issued, and these are herewith- 
 reproduced. At that time there were about a ' 
 dozen settlers along the river between Laporte and 
 the east county line. The most of these were en- 
 gaged in stock raising and their cattle and horses 
 roamed at will over a wide expanse of unfenced and 
 unbroken plains. Those not engaged in the stock 
 business cultivated truck gardens on the river bottom 
 or cut and put up hay, selling their products either 
 to the government or to the stage stations along the 
 Overland line. Captain Evans, although a good 
 soldier and a strict disciplinarian, is reported to have 
 been something of a military martinet and assumed 
 to dictate and control the acts and movements of the 
 settlers as well as the soldiers. This the former re- 
 sented, which resulted in a good deal of bad blood 
 between them and Captain Evans. They didn't get 
 along well together at all, and there was much re- 
 joicing among the settlers when he was transferred 
 to another field of action. 
 
 On November 5th, T. M. Smith, acting assistant 
 surgeon, was granted permission to proceed to Den- 
 ver for the purpose of procuring medical supplies 
 for the post. When the Eleventh Ohio troops were 
 withdrawn from the post and sent home to be dis- 
 charged. Dr. Smith remained in Fort Collins and 
 was the first physician to locate permanently in the 
 county. He afterwards became a prominent citi- 
 zen, and in 1872 was elected County Treasurer 
 and was also one of the charter members of the 
 Collins lodge No. 19 of Ancient, Free and Ac- 
 cepted Masons. He went to Virginia in 1882 and 
 died there a few years later. 
 
 The first clash between the settlers and the post 
 commander occurred November 10, when the latter 
 issued the following special order : 
 
 "It having been reported to these headquarters by 
 the Quartermaster that cattle belonging to citizens 
 in this vicinity are now and have been destroying 
 government hay at this post, and that it is impossi- 
 ble to erect substantial corrals around said hay; in 
 
 [220] 
 
 consequence of this due notice is given to all whom 
 it may concern that on or after Nov. 11th, 1864, 
 the Quartermaster is authorized to dispose of any 
 cattle destroying hay at this post to the best interest 
 of the government." 
 
 The government hay was stacked on the open 
 prairie near the post and was not protected by fence 
 or any kind of enclosure. As a result the range 
 cattle wandered on the reservation and helped them- 
 selves to the hay. The order confiscating cattle 
 caught eating government hay stirred up a good deal 
 of indignation among the settlers owning cattle, and 
 they did not hesitate to show it. They had no 
 facilities for yarding and feeding their herds, and 
 they resented the order as an imposition. They felt 
 that if the government couldn't fence and protect 
 its hay stacks the post commander should detail a 
 few of his soldiers to guard the stacks and keep the 
 cattle away, instead of confiscating the animals. 
 The ill-feeling engendered between the settlers and 
 the commanding officer by this order was intensified 
 by other arbitrary and uncalled for acts of what the 
 settlers called oppression, and while Captain Evans 
 remained in command there was much bitter feeling 
 towards him by citizens. Fortunately no serious 
 outbreak occurred between the belligerents and 
 nobody received any personal injuries because of the 
 feud, but the settlers were all glad to have Captain 
 Evans leave for good and all. 
 
 The commander of the post was frequently an- 
 noyed by soldiers returning from Laporte in an in- 
 toxicated condition, and to prevent these annoyances 
 he issued the following order on November 10th: 
 "In consequence of soldiers from this post return- 
 ing from Laporte and that vicinity intoxicated, due 
 notice is hereby given to all venders of liquors in the 
 vicinity that they are prohibited from selling liquor 
 of any kind, to any soldier or soldiers or giving in 
 trade to them, either personally or through any citi- 
 zen. For violation of this order, the party or parties 
 so offending will without distinction of person be 
 arrested and their stock confiscated." 
 
 This order is supposed to have been intended for 
 the government of John B. Provost and Henry 
 Arrison, both of whom conducted drinking places at 
 Laporte. Arrison had been Sheriff of the county 
 and the phrase "without distinction of persons" was 
 thought to be aimed at him. 
 
 On the 14th of November Major Thos. L. 
 Mackey arrived from Fort Halleck and took tem- 
 porary command, and he at once issued an order 
 modifying Captain Love's order, directing the con- 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 fiscation of cattle belonging to citizens found eating 
 government hay, as follows : 
 
 "So much of special order No. 72 from these 
 headquarters as authorized the sale of stock belong- 
 ing to citizens found trespassing, is hereby rescinded 
 and the following substituted: 'AH cattle belong- 
 ing to citizens found at the hay stacks will be put in 
 the corral and the owners can there get the stock 
 only by applying to the acting assistant quarter- 
 master and paying $1 for each animal so coralled 
 and $1 each for each subsequent day the stock is 
 kept in the corral.' " 
 
 This order had a mollifying effect upon the set- 
 tlers and created a better feeling between the citi- 
 zens and the post, although the latter at no time 
 had any use for Captain Evans. 
 
 On November 22nd, Lieut. James W. Hanna 
 was ordered to proceed to Fort Laramie in charge 
 of recruits and to take with him two quartermaster 
 teams for the purpose of bringing back camp sup- 
 plies. It was while returning from Fort Laramie 
 that Lieutenant Hanna and his command were 
 caught in a blizzard and nearly lost their lives by 
 freezing, as detailed elsewhere in this book. 
 
 That the camp sutlers were not allowed to make 
 their own prices on their goods is evidenced by 
 special order No. 88, issued by Major Mackey on 
 November 28th, as follows: 
 
 "A post council of adrninistration to consist of 
 Lieut. O. S. Glenn and Lieut. E. L. Pettijohn will 
 convene immediately for the purpose of fixing the 
 tariff of prices on the sutler's goods at this post." 
 
 It appears from these post records that details of 
 soldiers were frequently sent out to arrest and bring 
 in deserters who had attempted to get out of the 
 service by the back door, not only from this post, 
 but also from other regiments of soldiers stationed 
 on the frontier. That desertions were frequent is 
 not to be wondered at when one recalls the circum- 
 stances surrounding the soldiers. They were 
 penned up in military posts away out on the fron- 
 tier, encompassed by dangers, seen and unseen, sub- 
 ject to arduous and perilous duty in an inhospitable 
 region, deprived of the privileges they were accus- 
 tomed to enjoying and hundreds of miles from their 
 homes and loved ones, it is not surprising that some 
 of them violated the terms of their enlistment and 
 made breaks for liberty. Major Mackey gave over 
 the command of the post on the 29th of November 
 to Captain Evans and departed with a detail of sol- 
 diers for Fort Laramie. On December 4th, Cap- 
 tain Evans issued an order detailing Sergeants and 
 their men to visit an east-bound caravan a few miles 
 
 east of the post and arrest as deserters A. Douty, N. 
 J. Bales, J. F. Bales and John Snyder of Company 
 D, Seventh Iowa Cavalry, and bring them to the 
 post. This is only one of many such orders as 
 appears from the records, showing that attempts to 
 get away from a soldier's life were quite frequent. 
 
 By order of Captain Evans, Mrs. Catherine 
 Wiseman was appointed hospital matron at the 
 post. This is the first time that a woman's name is 
 mentioned in connection with hospital duties. Who 
 Mrs. Wiseman was or where she came from is not 
 stated. She was, however, probably the wife of one 
 of the soldiers who had followed her husband into 
 the wilderness. 
 
 The deserters, A. Douty, N. J. Bales,, J. F. Bales 
 and John Snyder, were evidently caught by Captain 
 Evans' detail sent out December 4th, for on the 
 14th of that month they were sent to Fort Laramie 
 in charge of Corporal Ettinger and three men and 
 turned over to Colonel Collins for trial. Acting 
 Assistant Surgeon T. M. Smith went with the de- 
 tail to get hospital supplies for the post. \ 
 
 On the 2nd of January, 1865, Company B, 
 Eleventh Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, was relieved 
 from duty at Fort Collins and ordered to report to i 
 the commanding officer at Fort Laramie without de- / 
 lay, Lieut. E. L. Pettijohn to take command of the 
 company and Lieut. E. P. Drake, Acting Assisting 
 Quartermaster, was ordered to furnish transporta- 
 tion for the men. On January 6th, Capt. Thos. 
 P. Clark was ordered to proceed with Company C, 
 Eleventh Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, to Fort Laramie 
 and report to the commanding officer at the fort. 
 Colonel Collins was at that time concentrating all 
 the troops not required for duty at the outlaying 
 posts at Fort Laramie for the purpose of securing 
 a sufficient force to enable him to attack and punish 
 Chief Man-Afraid-of-His-Horses and his band of 
 Sioux who were committing depredations along the 
 North Platte, capturing government trains loaded 
 with clothing, blankets, ammunition, subsistence and 
 supplies, robbing stage stations and interfering with 
 travel. That was what is known as the bloody year 
 on the Plains, and Colonel Collins determined to do 
 what he could to put a stop to the fiendish work of 
 the Indians, and that is why he called in Companies 
 B and C from Fort Collins. Colonel Collins came 
 up with about 2,000 warriors near Mud Springs on 
 Feb. 8th, 1865, and gave them battle, defeating the 
 Indians and killing 150 of them. Colonel Collins 
 was an experienced Indian fighter and knew just 
 how to dispose of his troops in a manner to get the 
 best results. His loss in the engagement was two 
 
 [221] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLOR A,D O 
 
 killed and sixteen wounded. He had only 125 men 
 in his command when this engagement took place, 
 but they had the advantage of position and were 
 able to resist every assault of the Indians and finally 
 compelled the latter to leave the field and flee 
 northward. Julesburg was burned on the 7th of 
 January by the Indians, about a month before 
 Colonel Collins' signal victory at Mud Springs. 
 
 On January 9th, Lieutenants Ewell P. Drake and 
 James W. Hanna were appointed a board of survey 
 to meet for the purpose of examining into the 
 amount and causes of the loss of certain ordnance 
 and ordnance stores, said to have been lost in the 
 month of June, 1864, by reason of the overflow of 
 the Cache la Poudre river. This board met Jan- 
 uary 10th and made an investigation of the matters 
 referred to it and reported that the loss of govern- 
 ment property mentioned in the special order of 
 Captain Evans was caused by the sudden overflow of 
 the Cache la Poudre river, whereby the articles re- 
 ported as lost were washed away or otherwise de- 
 stroyed. On the 15th of January, on the complaint 
 of Zacharia Thomason, Edward Hathaway and 
 William Dunnars were arrested on the order of the 
 commanding officer, charged with stealing cattle, the 
 property of said Thomason. At the hearing before 
 a military court martial the accused pleaded guilty, 
 and in extenuation of the act claimed that they were 
 prompted to steal and kill the cattle from dire neces- 
 sity, and further that they were under the impression 
 that they were merely taking Joseph Mason's cattle, 
 for whom they had been working. At the close of 
 the investigation Lieut. Ewell P. Drake, command- 
 ing the post in the absence of Captain Evans, issued 
 the following order : 
 
 "Having the welfare and safety of government 
 property at heart, also the protection of citizens in 
 the county in the absence of civil law, hereby make 
 known to all whom it may concern that the safety 
 of everyone, both military and civil, requires that no 
 person or persons should be tolerated in this county 
 who are unable to discriminate between their own 
 and other persons' property, it is therefore ordered 
 that Edward Hathaway and William Dunnars, 
 within ten days from this date, leave this county 
 not to return either as residents or visitors, without 
 permission from the commanding officer of this 
 post. 
 
 In view of the fact that in those days and for 
 many years afterwards cattle stealing was a crime 
 punishable with death at the command of Judge 
 Lynch, it must be conceded that Hathaway and 
 Dunnars got off easy. That they were undesirable 
 
 [222] 
 
 citizens is evidenced by the fact that their deporta- 
 tion gave rise to no protest or opposition from the 
 settlers. They left the county within the specified 
 time and, so far as is known, have never since 
 stepped foot within its borders. 
 
 On January 25th, Captain Evans, by special 
 order, directed the sutler to give enlisted men credit 
 at his store, to the amount of $5 per month, to be 
 charged to the man making the purchase. On Feb- 
 ruary 2nd, another order was issued directing the 
 sutler to open his store at guard-mounting in the 
 morning and to close the same at retreat. From 
 this it would appear that the post sutler could not 
 be a law unto himself. 
 
 About the 1st of February, 1865, Col. Thomas 
 Moonlight of the Eleventh Kansas Cavalry, who 
 had been made commander of the District of Colo- 
 rado, proclaimed martial law in his district, for the 
 purpose, as he explained, of enabling him to raise 
 men and horses to go out and open the Overland 
 stage line. This line had been closed by the In- 
 dians, who burned all the stations between Denver 
 and Fort Kearney except one, killing or capturing 
 the station tenders and running off all the stock. 
 There was a period of several weeks in the winter 
 of 1865 when Denver was cut off from communica- 
 tion with the East by stage. Transportation trains 
 were captured and robbed and Denver and the 
 whole territory was threatened with famine, as the 
 food supply was becoming short. Flour rose to $25 
 per one hundred pounds, and all other food supply 
 in proportion. The Indians raided all the thorough- 
 fares, cutting off merchandise trains. Colonel 
 Moonlight's order proclaiming martial law provided 
 for shutting up all places of business, stopping every 
 department of industry, including the mines and the 
 mills, in brief, suspending every branch of industrial 
 life until the troops needed to subdue the Indians 
 and open the Overland stage line should be fur- 
 nished. In Governor Elbert's proclamation calling 
 for troops, Boulder, Larimer and Weld counties 
 were required to raise one company of sixty men. 
 Colonel Moonlight's proclamation of martial law 
 was sent to all commanders in the district with the 
 request that they press into service both men and 
 horses. Complying with this request Captain 
 Evans, on February 9th, issued the following spe- 
 cial order. No. 140: 
 
 "The exigency of the occasion has required the 
 commander of the district of Colorado to proclaim 
 martial law and has furthermore requested that men 
 and horses be furnished from this district to operate 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 in conjunction with other troops to open communi- 
 cation with the States on the Overland stage line. 
 
 "It is hereby ordered for the mutual protection of 
 all concerned that every male person between the 
 ages of eighteen and fifty years residing on Cache 
 la Poudre creek, convene at Fort Collins, Colorado 
 Territory, on Feb. 11th, 1865, at 10 o'clock a. m., 
 and those of Big Thompson at Judge Washburn's 
 on February 12th at 1 o'clock. A failure to con- 
 form to the above order will be met with the 
 severest penalty." 
 
 When the settlers of the Cache la Poudre met on 
 the 11th as directed, Captain Evans, standing on a 
 whiskey barrel near the flag pole, is reported to have 
 addressed them as follows : 
 
 "Denizens of the wilderness ! It becomes my duty 
 as a United States officer to address you. Do you 
 see that flag? (pointing to the top of the flag pole, 
 where all eyes were quickly turned). That flag is 
 the emblem of my native country ! And under the 
 stars and stripes of that old banner, I proclaim mar- 
 tial law in your midst; and it also becomes my duty 
 to inform you, as commander of this region, that in 
 the future I will hold you firmly, as I would a wine 
 glass, in the hollow of my hand. 
 
 "War is now breaking out in all directions, and 
 the various Indian tribes who inhabit these Western 
 territories have shown marked degrees of rebellious- 
 ness by which the peace and safety of my country is 
 greatly threatened. At this hour of my speaking 
 part of my troops are doubtless under fire at Fre- 
 mont Orchard. I therefore call you to arms as re- 
 serve militia to co-operate with my warriors in sup- 
 pressing the ruthless invaders, and any man who re- 
 fuses to obey my commands, I will make wolf's bait 
 of his carcass, by God, sir." 
 
 The records do not show what effect this vulgar 
 but impassioned appeal had upon Captain Evans' 
 listeners, but the presumption is that Larimer 
 county furnished its quota of twenty men, for the 
 settlers clubbed together and raised a large sum of 
 money for use in paj'ing bounties to the enlisted 
 men. This money, or a part of it, was afterwards 
 paid back to the contributors by the county. A 
 good many horses were also pressed into service at 
 this time, whose owners were also compensated for 
 their property by the county as the county records 
 show. 
 
 The troops raised at that time under Colonel 
 Moonlight's order were employed in driving off the 
 Indians and in re-opening and re-establishing the 
 Overland stages on their regular runs. On the 2-7th 
 of April the militia returned to Denver, having ac- 
 
 complished the desired object, and thus ended Colo- 
 rado's part in the war so far as the citizen soldiery 
 was concerned. The soldiers from Larimer county 
 were absent from home only a little more than two 
 months. 
 
 Some of the settlers called upon to furnish horses 
 for military service evidently tried to evade Colonel 
 Moonlight's order by hiding their animals, and these 
 were shown no mercy, according to the following 
 special order of Captain Evans, dated February 
 14th, which reads: 
 
 "It having come to the knowledge of the com- 
 mander of the post that Messrs. Rice and Boyd, re- 
 siding on this creek, are trying to evade the order 
 issued by Colonel Moonlight Feb. 7th, 1865. It is 
 hereby ordered that all of the serviceable stock novij 
 owned by them is confiscated for public use. Ser- 
 geant Wiseman of Company F, Eleventh Ohio Vol- 
 unteer Cavalry, with two men, will thus proceed to 
 Virginia Dale or vicinity on the Overland road and 
 there carry out the above order." 
 
 It is fair to presume that the Rice and Boyd; 
 horses were confiscated, as on the 15th Captain 
 Evans detailed Sergeant W. H. Sellen, with several 
 men, to proceed to Denver with horses and report 
 to Colonel Moonlight. On the 20th of February, 
 Lieut. K. H. Stone was directed to take with him 
 one sergeant and two privates and proceed to Big 
 Thompson creek and press into service twenty serv- 
 iceable horses and report with the same to this post 
 without delay. Details of soldiers were also sent on 
 the same day to Park Station on the Overland stage 
 line and collect and gather all horses not the prop- 
 erty of Ben HoUaday and bring them to this post. 
 
 The Buckhorn country was also scoured for 
 horses which were pressed into the service, as were 
 also all serviceable horses found in Joseph Mason's 
 herd on the Boxelder. 
 
 The Indians became so very troublesome on the 
 Plains that year that Gen. G. M. Dodge, com- 
 mander of the department of the Missouri, decided 
 to organize a new department, and on March 28th 
 consolidated the district of Utah, Colorado and 
 Nebraska into one district to be known as the Dis- 
 trict of the Plains, and assigned Brig.-Gen. P. E. 
 Connor to the command with headquarters in Den- 
 ver. While commanding the district of Utah, in 
 1862-3-4, Colonel Connor had proved himself an 
 able officer and had won distinction as an Indian 
 fighter. For heroic conduct at the battle of Bear 
 River on the 29th of January, 1863, in which 249 
 Indians were killed and which resulted in causing 
 the Bannocks, Snake and Shoshone tribes to sue for 
 
 [223] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 peace, Colonel Connor was made a Brigadier-Gen- 
 eral, his commission being dated March 29th. On 
 assuming command of the District of the Plains, 
 General Connor appointed the members of his staff, 
 and First Lieut. Charles C. Hawley of the Veteran 
 Battalion of the First Colorado Cavalry was made 
 Acting Ordnance Officer for the South and West 
 Sub-Districts of the Plains. Lieutenant Hawley 
 was later promoted to a Captaincy and at the close 
 
 ARAPAHOE INDIAN BOYS 
 
 of hostilities settled on a farm in the Cache la Pou- 
 dre valley near Fort Collins, where he has since 
 lived an honored citizen of the county. In one of 
 Captain Evans' orders, issued in March, 1865, Pri- 
 vate Eugene H. Bostwick of Company F, Eleventh 
 Ohio Cavalry, was directed to report to Lieut. C. C. 
 Hawley at Denver for duty. 
 
 That the soldiers stationed here in 1865 were not 
 averse to stealing cattle now and then from one set- 
 tler and selling them to another in order to add to 
 their meagre monthly wages and increase their per- 
 quisites, is evidenced by a special order issued April 
 5th, commanding T. H. Branderbury (citizen) to 
 turn over to Jonathan Wild (citizen), of Laporte, 
 certain cattle bought by said Branderbury of Martin 
 
 [224] 
 
 Mills of Company F, Eleventh Ohio Cavalry. The 
 inference is that Mills had stolen the cattle from 
 Wild and sold them to Branderbury. On April 
 29th, Captain Evans issued an order reading: 
 "Hereafter there will be no Indians allowed to visit 
 within this post and no soldiers will be allowed to 
 visit any Indian camp." At that time Chief Friday 
 and his band of Arapahoes were camped on John G. 
 Coy's land and were given rations and protected by 
 the government in exchange for their lands in Colo- 
 rado. It is quite probable that the Indian propen- 
 sity to steal everything not too big to carry away af- 
 forded a reason for this order. 
 
 On the 2nd of May, Capt. W. H. Evans was 
 relieved from command at Fort Collins by an order 
 issued by General Connor, and Lieut. Ewell P. 
 Drake appointed in his stead. Three days later 
 Capt. Luther Wilson of Company D, First Veteran 
 Battalion Colorado Cavalry, assumed command, re- 
 maining in charge of the post until June, when the 
 Ohio troops were sent home to be mustered out of 
 service. 
 
 Camp Calls 
 
 The first order issued by Captain Wilson fixed 
 the calls of the day at the post as follows : 
 
 Reveille, at sunrise. 
 
 Stable Call, immediately after. 
 
 Breakfast Call, at 6:30 o'clock a. m. 
 
 Sick Call, at 7 o'clock a. m. 
 
 Guard Mounting, at 8 o'clock a. m. 
 
 Fatigue Call, immediately after. 
 
 Water Call, at 9 o'clock a. m. 
 
 Fatigue Recall, at 1 1 :30 o'clock a. m. 
 
 Dinner Call, at 12 — noon. 
 
 Orderly Call, at 1 o'clock p. m. 
 
 Fatigue Call, immediately after. 
 
 Water Call, at 3 o'clock p. m. 
 
 Fatigue Recall, at 4 o'clock p. m. 
 
 Stable Call, at 5 :30 o'clock p. m. 
 
 Retreat, at sunset. 
 
 Tattoo, at 9 o'clock p. m. 
 
 Taps, at 9:15 o'clock p. m. 
 
 In June, 1865, Hon. Schuyler Colfax, Member 
 of Congress from Indiana and Speaker of the House 
 of Representatives, accompanied by Lieutenant- 
 Governor Bross of Illinois and Samuel Bowles, 
 editor of the Springfield (Mass.) Republican, 
 passed through Fort Collins in an Overland stage 
 coach en route to the Pacific Coast. To guard 
 and protect these distinguished visitors from 
 attacks and injury by hostile Indians, which 
 then infested the stage route and were almost 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 daily committing depredations by interfering 
 with the operations of stages, burning stations, 
 stealing stock and often killing drivers and 
 passengers, details of soldiers accompanied the stage 
 coach containing Mr. Colfax and his companions 
 from one station to another all through the danger 
 
 CAPTAIN EVANS' HEADQUARTERS 
 
 zone. From Fort Collins to Virginia Dale the 
 escort of soldiers was composed of Sergeant Wise- 
 man of Company F, Eleventh Ohio Cavalry, and 
 six privates, and they were ordered to proceed with 
 the coach as an escort as far as Virginia Dale, 
 where they would be relieved by Corporal Jenkins 
 of Company D, Veteran Battalion of the First Colo- 
 rado Cavalry. On the route. Sergeant Wiseman 
 was instructed to "carefully guard the coach and 
 inmates from hostile Indians," also to pay particular 
 attention "that proper respect is paid to the dis- 
 tinguished visitors." When his horses were suffi- 
 ciently rested at Virginia Dale, he was to return to 
 the post without delay. We have quoted the lan- 
 guage of the order issued to Sergeant Wiseman on 
 this occasion to show the care taken by military 
 authorities to protect Mr. Colfax and his compan- 
 ions in their progress through the county; also as an 
 indication of the perils travelers by stage coach had 
 to encounter in those days. A similar order was 
 issued to all the escorts detailed to guard the coach 
 from Fort Collins to Fort Halleck. From Fort 
 Halleck west the visitors came under the care of the 
 commanding officer of that post, soldiers from Fort 
 Collins not being allowed to go beyond that point. 
 That month all of the troops belonging to the 
 Eleventh Ohio Volunteer Cavalry were relieved 
 from duty at Fort Collins and those whose terms of 
 enlistment had expired were sent East to be mus- 
 tered out. So far as I have been able to learn, only 
 three officers of the Eleventh Ohio Regiment of 
 Cavalry decided to remain in the county, and they 
 
 were Lieut. Ewell P. Drake, Lieut. O. S. Glenn 
 and Lieut. R. E. Talpey. Glenn and Talpey en- 
 gaged in the mercantile business at Laporte for a 
 time and then went to farming the land on which 
 the sugar factory stands. Lieutenant Drake, in the 
 late 60's, owned what was afterwards known as the 
 Barry farm, now owned by the Great Western 
 Sugar Company. Lieutenant Drake bought the farm 
 of Capt. C. C. Hawley. 
 
 Capt. Luther Wilson of Company D, First Colo- 
 rado Veteran Battalion, remained in command of 
 the Fort Collins post until August, 1865, when he 
 and his troops were relieved by Colonel Fitzsim- 
 mons of the Twenty-first New York Cavalry and a 
 battalion of his regiment. These troops remained 
 at the post, guarding the Overland stage line, per- 
 forming garrison duty and serving as escorts for 
 emigrant trains, etc., until June, 1866, when they 
 were ordered to Denver to be mustered out. A bat- 
 
 LIEUT. FRED WALLACE, 21 ST NEW YORK CAVALRY 
 
 talion of a Missouri regiment was sent here then to 
 take the place of the New York soldiers. These 
 Missouri troops were principally men who had either 
 deserted from the Confederate army or had been 
 taken prisoners by Union troops and had enlisted to 
 
 [225] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 fight Indians on the Plains. They were known as 
 "Galvanized" Yankees. They remained here until 
 the spring of 1867, when the post was abandoned. 
 Four officers of the Twenty-first New York Regi- 
 ment of Cavalry remained here after being mustered 
 out of service and helped develop the county. They 
 were Capt. Norman H. Meldrum, Capt. George 
 E. Buss, Lieut. John H. Mandeville and Lieut. 
 Fred Wallace. But two of these are still in the land 
 of the living. Captain Meldrum of Buffalo, Wyom- 
 ing, and Lieutenant Mandeville of Fort Collins. 
 Lieutenant Wallace died in 1878, and Captain 
 Buss in 1908. 
 
 The departure of the battalion of Missouri sol- 
 diers in the winter of 1867 ended the military occu- 
 pation of and military rule in Fort Collins. There 
 were but few citizens here then, as only those who 
 were able to get permission from the military 
 authorities were allowed to acquire homes on the 
 reservation. Among those thus privileged were 
 Joseph Mason, Capt. Asaph Allen, "Auntie" 
 Stone, H. C. Peterson, Mr. and Mrs. Harris Strat- 
 ton, John R. Brown, and a few others. Mr. Strat- 
 ton came here in 1865 and Mrs. Elizabeth Keays in 
 1866, and she and Mr. Stratton were married Dec. 
 30th, 1866, their's being the first marriage solemn- 
 ized in Fort Collins. 
 
 In 1865, Mason & Allen, post sutlers, were given 
 permission to build a large sutler's store on the cor- 
 ner of Linden and Jefferson streets on the site now 
 occupied by F. P. Stover's drug store. This was 
 what was known for years as the Old Grout build- 
 ing, and Harris Stratton superintended its construc- 
 tion. A description of this old building, which was 
 torn down and demolished in the spring of 1882 
 to make room for Stover & Hocker's drug store, and 
 the different uses that was made of it, is told else- 
 where in this book. Other settlers came in, some of 
 them locating in town and others squatting on reser- 
 vation lands in the expectation that they would 
 sooner or later be thrown open to entry and settle- 
 ment. What was later known as the "Old Town" 
 was surveyed and platted in 1867 by Jack Dow, as- 
 sisted by Capt. N. H. Meldrum and others. That 
 year "Auntie" Stone and H. C. Peterson began the 
 erection of a grist mill, completing it in 1869, in 
 time to grind the wheat crop of that year. It was 
 driven by water power, the water being conducted 
 from the river in a ditch. The machinery for the 
 mill was purchased in Buffalo, New York, and 
 shipped thence by rail to Cheyenne and from there 
 hauled across the country by teams. The mill when 
 completed and in operation would not compare 
 
 [226] 
 
 favorably with a modern flour mill. The grain was 
 ground with whirling granite burrs or stones and 
 the flour separated from the bran by an old-fash- 
 ioned bolt, but it served a good purpose for a num- 
 ber of years. It was remodeled and somewhat mod- 
 ernized in 1878. The third story of the old mill 
 was used for a Masonic lodge room in 1870 and 
 1871, making fairly good quarters. Here the lodge 
 was instituted under a charter in September, 1870, 
 and here many of the pioneers of the valley were 
 
 THE FIRST MILL BUILT IN FORT COLLINS 
 
 made Master Masons. In the fall of 1867 Mr. 
 Peterson left for Buffalo to purchase the machinery 
 for the mill, and while passing through Chicago he 
 was knocked down by footpads and robbed of about 
 $3,000 which he carried on his person and which he 
 intended to use in paying for the machinery. Mr. 
 Peterson had to return to Fort Collins and raise 
 more money before he could complete his purchases, 
 being obliged to make a second trip East. This de- 
 layed the completion of the mill several months. Mr. 
 Peterson and Mrs. Stone continued to own and 
 operate the mill until Dec. 10th, 1873, when Mr. 
 Peterson sold his half interest in the property to 
 Joseph Mason. Three weeks later, on December 
 31st, Mrs. Stone sold her interest to T. M. Rob- 
 erts, who, on March 18th, sold his half to Mr. 
 Mason, who became sole owner. On Feb. 4th, 
 1880, Mr. Mason sold a half interest in the mill 
 property to B. F. Hottel and the two operated it 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 together, the firm name being Mason & Hottel. Mr. 
 Mason died in the spring of 1881 and Mr. Hottel 
 became sole owner of the mill in the settlement of 
 the estate, conveying it in 1885 to the Colorado 
 Milling and Elevator Company, which company 
 retained him as manager, a position he still holds. 
 The old mill burned down in 1886 and was imme- 
 diately rebuilt along more modern lines. It is still 
 in operation and doing a good business, converting 
 from 200,000 to 300,000 bushels of wheat per an- 
 num into merchantable flour and food stuffs. 
 
 In 1880, Joseph C. Watson and his associates 
 built a large flouring mill on the margin of the first 
 bench above the river along side of the railroad 
 track north of the depot. The enterprise failed to 
 prove a profitable venture and fell into disuse after 
 being operated a few years. In 1886, the farmers 
 of the valley, feeling that they were not being 
 treated fairly in the matter of price for their wheat 
 by the Colorado Milling and Elevator Company, 
 clubbed together and built a fine large mill immedi- 
 ately across the street from the Lindell Mills, at a 
 cost of nearly $100,000. It was largely built with 
 borrowed capital and was known as the Farmers' 
 Mill. This enterprise also proved a financial failure, 
 and in a few years, after much litigation, passed into 
 the hands of mortgagees and was closed down. The 
 building is now used for a wholesale grocery store. 
 
 In 1894, John M. Hoffman built a mill for 
 grinding feed for stock on Riverside avenue in the 
 eastern part of the city, and in 1900 added to the 
 building and installed a flouring mill. This mill 
 is still operated by the Hoffman Milling Company 
 and has proved a financial success. 
 
 The first school taught in Fort Collins was 
 opened in June, 1866, by Mrs. Elizabeth Keays. It 
 was a private school, opened in a small room in 
 "Auntie" Stone's hotel, for the purpose of giving 
 her young son, William P. Keays, instruction; but 
 she soon had applications for admission from parents 
 of other children in the neighborhood and had sev- 
 eral pupils at the close of the term. That summer 
 the Fort Collins school district was set off and or- 
 ganized by the appointment of Capt. Asaph Allen, 
 W. D. Hayes and H. C. Peterson as members of the 
 first school board. In September the board em- 
 ployed Mrs. Keays to teach the first term of a public 
 school ever taught in Fort Collins. She gave up the 
 school by permission in December, and on the 30th 
 of that month was united in marriage with Harris 
 Stratton. This school was opened and taught in 
 one of the abandoned officers' quarters of the mili- 
 tary post. 
 
 The year 1867, after the departure of the sol- 
 diers, was an uneventful one. But few settlers 
 came in and, with the exception of the work that 
 was being done on the mill and mill ditch, but little 
 was done in the way of improvement. That year 
 witnesses the opening of the first farm on what was 
 called the bluff, when Harris Stratton located on a 
 quarter section of dry land one mile south and a 
 
 MAJOR OTIS, 21ST NEW YORK CAVALRY 
 
 mile west of Fort Collins. This he converted into 
 a dairy farm and occupied it with his family for 
 about thirty years. Seven years later the Larimer 
 County Canal No. 2 was built and Mr. Stratton got 
 water then to irrigate his farm. The farm is now 
 owned by E. S. Bumstead. Following Mr. Strat- 
 ton's example others began to locate on the bluff 
 lands, for it was then beginning to dawn upon set- 
 tlers that the valley was destined to become a rich 
 agricultural section. The bottom lands along the 
 river had all been taken up by the first comers and 
 these under cultivation yielded enormous crops of 
 hay, grain and vegetables, under crude methods of 
 irrigation. The first irrigating ditches were small 
 affairs and built to carry water on to the bottom 
 lands, but later they began to be enlarged and to be 
 
 [227] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 extended out on to higher lands, which were found 
 to be especially adapted to the growing of wheat and 
 oats, which were the main crops produced in those 
 days. The laying out of an irrigating canal de- 
 signed to carry water on to the blufE lands was the 
 signal for new comers to secure tracts of land that 
 could be watered from the proposed enterprise, 
 hence much of the unoccupied land was taken up and 
 the foundations for new homes were laid. Soon 
 after the soldiers were finally ordered to abandon 
 their posts along the Overland stage line in Larimer 
 county, to be soon afterwards followed by the com- 
 pletion of the Union Pacific railroad on the north 
 and the Kansas Pacific on the south, the county be- 
 gan to take on an altogether different appearance. 
 Settlers, no longer obliged to traverse the broad 
 plains with slow-going means of transportation, 
 came by rail to Cheyenne or Denver and thence 
 spread out into the adjacent country in search of 
 land on which to build themselves new homes. The 
 valleys watered by the Cache la Poudre river and 
 the Big Thompson and Little Thompson creeks, 
 caught many of these emigrants, the most of whom 
 engaged in farming. The markets for all they 
 could produce were not uncertain, for the demand 
 in the mining camps and growing cities and towns 
 was greater than the supply. Wheat, oats, hay and 
 vegetables were the principal staples. No attempt 
 had yet been made to grow standard fruits, though 
 the small fruits, like strawberries, currants and 
 gooseberries had been produced in yearly increasing 
 quantities. Dairying and poultry were also practi- 
 cally strangers to the country. Stock growing and 
 farming constituted the sole industries of the 
 county and in the late sixties and early seventies im- 
 mense herds of cattle and horses roamed the Plains 
 and grew fat on the nutritious grasses which grew 
 spontaneously from the soil. It can well be said that 
 the country at that time was the stockman's para- 
 dise. 
 
 There was but little change in the social life of 
 Fort Collins from the condition it was in when the 
 military post was abandoned, until 1868. That year 
 there occurred an incident that somewhat roused 
 the ambition and put new life into the inhabitants. 
 The act of the Territorial Legislature creating coun- 
 ties, passed in 1861, designated Laporte as the 
 county seat of Larimer county. That place re- 
 mained the county seat until 1868, although there 
 was no county organization until 1864. In August, 
 1868, the question of locating a permanent county 
 seat was submitted to a vote of the people, a ma- 
 jority of whom decided that Fort Collins was the 
 
 [228] 
 
 proper place. It would be an interesting historical 
 fact if the records of that vote Could be given here, 
 but, alas ! the public records are silent on that point. 
 Tradition, corroborated by certain statements made 
 in the record of proceedings of the Board of County 
 Commissioners, is practically all the foundation 
 there is for claiming that the people voted to locate 
 the county seat at Fort Collins. Of course, there is 
 not the least doubt in the world that such an elec- 
 tion was held, but the public records fail to say how 
 many voted for Fort Collins, how many voted for 
 Laporte and how many voted for Big Thompson, all 
 three of the localities named being candidates for the 
 honor. We are bound to assume, however, that 
 Fort Collins won out in the contest, for the Com- 
 missioners' records show that Mason & Allen were 
 given the contract for moving the public offices and 
 all county property from Laporte to Fort Collins. 
 This included the log jail that "Uncle Ben" Whed- 
 bee built in 1864. The county offices were located 
 in the Old Grout building for the time being, and 
 terms of court were also held in that building. This 
 change made Fort Collins the central business point 
 In the county. People had to come here to pay 
 their taxes, attend court and to transact public 
 business. The Board of Commissioners met here 
 and their sessions were nearly always attended by a 
 greater or less number of people with petitions for 
 highways and bridges, etc., and these frequent visit- 
 ors added life to and increased the activities of the 
 town, though there was no perceptible increase in 
 population until several years afterwards. 
 
 In the winter of 1869 an incident occurred that 
 stirred the feelings of the few inhabitants of the lit- 
 tle town to the very depths and aroused their sym- 
 pathies to a high pitch. This was the mysterious 
 and unaccountable disappearance of Capt. Asaph 
 Allen, one of the most prominent and most admired 
 men of the place. Captain Allen commanded a 
 company of cavalry in the Eleventh Ohio Regiment 
 at Fort Halleck, and when he was mustered out in 
 1865 on the expiration of his term of service, he 
 came to Fort Collins and bought Henry W. Cham- 
 berlin's interest in the sutler's store, owned by 
 Mason & Chamberlin, and became Joseph Mason's 
 partner. After the soldiers left and the post was 
 abandoned Mason & Allen continued in the mer- 
 cantile business in the Old Grout building. They 
 kept a general store and supplied the settlers with 
 such necessaries as they required. They also filled 
 contracts calling for beef by the government to sup- 
 ply military posts in what is now Wyoming, and 
 were doing a large and profitable business. In Feb- 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 ruary, 1869, Captain Alien went East to buy goods 
 for the company's establishment in Fort Collins; 
 also to settle up the firm's accounts at Washington. 
 After completing his business in Washington, Cap- 
 tain Allen started for Lawrence, Kansas, to visit his 
 father. On arriving at Baltimore he got off the 
 
 CAPT. ASAPH ALLEN 
 
 train for some purpose and disappeared as though 
 the earth had opened and swallowed him. Noth- 
 ing was ever heard of him afterwards and there is 
 little doubt that he was purposely made away with. 
 He left considerable property and the settlement of 
 his estate was the first important case to come before 
 the Probate Court of Larimer county. Everybody 
 that knew Captain Allen held him in very high re- 
 gard and his mysterious disappearance cast a shadow 
 of gloom over the little town. Joseph Mason was 
 appointed administrator of Captain Allen's estate 
 in October, 1869; A. K. Yount, B. H. Eaton and 
 J. L. Brush were the appraisers. A. F. Howes was 
 County Judge at that time and J. C. Matthews 
 Acting Clerk of the Court. 
 
 In the summer of 1869, Alfred A. Edwards and 
 Rev. W. T. McAdams, representing a number of 
 Mercer county, Pennsylvania, families, came to 
 
 Fort Collins to seek a location for a colony, and the 
 following year Rev. McAdams' family, with the 
 families of George Sykes, Joseph E. Shipler, Wil- 
 liam Smith and Jacob Collamer, came from the East 
 to join them. This was known as the Mercer 
 Colony and was the first of a number of colonies 
 that subsequently settled in Northern Colorado. 
 They selected a choice body of land lying west of 
 the town, which included what is now known as 
 Prospect Park and the Scott-Sherwood addition, 
 and that year began the construction of the Mercer 
 ditch. They had not progressed very far with the 
 work before their funds gave out and construction 
 of the ditch was abandoned. Ten years later an- 
 other company took hold of the enterprise and com- 
 pleted it. The colony became discouraged and the 
 land acquired passed a few years later into the pos- 
 session of John Sheldon, father of Charles H. Shel- 
 don, Cashier of the Poudre Valley National Bank. 
 Mr. Edwards is the only member of the colony 
 who is still a resident of Fort Collins. Joseph 
 Shipler, another member, is a resident of Denver. 
 Mr. Edwards has filled many positions of public 
 trust in the county, including County Treasurer 
 for four years. Secretary and later President of the 
 Water Supply and Storage Company for eighteen 
 years and is now General Manager of the Laramie- 
 Poudre Reservoirs and Irrigation Company, and 
 also President of the State Board of Agriculture. 
 
 Simultaneously with the transfer of the Over- 
 land stage route from the North Platte to the 
 South Platte in 1862, postoffices were established 
 
 OLD GROUT STAGE BARN, BUILT IN 1870 
 
 at Mariana's Crossing on the Big Thompson and 
 at Laporte on the Cache la Poudre. Previous to 
 that time settlers had either to go to Denver or 
 Fort Laramie for their mail. At first station agents 
 of the Overland Company acted as postmasters. 
 
 [229] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 Later when the soldiers came here the post sutlers 
 discharged that duty. Joseph Mason, being post 
 sutler at Fort Collins, was the first postmaster, 
 serving in that capacity until 1868, when Dr. 
 McClanahan was appointed. The office was then 
 removed from the Old Grout building to Whedbee 
 & McClanahan's drug store, which stood on the 
 ground later occupied by A. K. & E. B. Yount's 
 bank building, now known as the Horn block, and 
 John C. Matthews was assistant postmaster. It 
 remained here until 1873, when the building it oc- 
 cupied was moved to the southeast corner of Col- 
 lege and Mountain avenues, the present site of the 
 First National Bank building, and J. E. Reming- 
 ton, who was then postmaster, moved the postoffice 
 with it. In 1874, Fort Collins was made a money 
 order office, and on July 6th of that year George 
 A. Kinney bought the first money order. It was 
 for the sum of $15 and made payable to Caroline 
 Kinney at Oriskany Falls, New York. The names 
 of the postmasters succeeding Mr. Remington fol- 
 low: Joseph Mason, J. S. McClelland, Andrew 
 Armstrong, Charles W. Ramer, Ansel Watrous, 
 Charles W. Ramer, D. C. Threlkeld, J. M. Simms, 
 William V. Roberts, Thos. H. Davy, and Marshall 
 Moore, who is the present incumbent. 
 
 The first kiln of brick was burned in 1870, by 
 H. C. Peterson and "Auntie" Stone, who, from this 
 kiln, that year erected the first brick house built in 
 Fort Collins. This house stood on Lincoln avenue 
 near the Lindell Mills, and was occupied by Mr. 
 Peterson and his family until 1882. The second 
 brick house was built in 1871 on College avenue 
 near the mill race by Sam Gano. Both of these 
 structures were torn down in the summer of 1910 
 to make room for the tracks of the Union Pacific 
 railroad. The next brick house erected in the town 
 was built by L. R. Rhodes in 1873. 
 
 In 1870, a movement was started by Judge A. F. 
 Howes to build a school house in Fort Collins. As 
 there was but little taxable property in the district 
 a large share of the money needed was raised by 
 subscription. A small frame building was erected 
 on Riverside avenue near the corner of Peterson 
 street at a cost of about $1,100. This was used for 
 school and church purposes until the Remington 
 building was completed in the spring of 1879. The 
 old school house was then sold to Frank Michaud 
 and others and converted into a Catholic church 
 and used as such until 1900-01, when the parish 
 erected a beautiful church edifice on Mountain ave- 
 nue at the corner of Howes street. It was then 
 converted into a dwelling and is still used as such. 
 
 [230] 
 
 In 1870, William C. Stover, who had been in 
 the mercantile business at St. Louis in the Big 
 Thompson valley, sold his interest there to A. K. 
 Yount, and came to Fort Collins and, in company 
 with John C. Matthews, purchased the Mason 
 stock of goods, then housed in the Old Grout. 
 They continued in business in that building until 
 1873, when they erected a large brick building on 
 the northeast corner of Jefferson and Linden 
 streets, using the first floor as a salesroom and ware- 
 house. They sold the second floor to the Free 
 
 FIRST BRICK HOUSE BUILT IN FORT COLLINS 
 
 Masons, who used it for a lodge room until 1885. 
 Mr. Matthews retired from the firm in 1874 and 
 Mr. Stover continued the business until 1880, when 
 he sold it to the Fort Collins Mercantile Company, 
 composed of himself, Albert B. Tomlin and others, 
 relinquishing the management to Mr. Tomlin. 
 From the time that Mr. Stover located here, in 
 1870, until the Agricultural Colony came, in 1872, 
 there was but little change either in the appearance 
 or business affairs of the town. There were a few 
 additions to the population, otherwise conditions re- 
 mained about the same as they had been for several 
 years, unless we except the location of the Colorado 
 Agricultural College here by an act of the Terri- 
 torial Legislature, passed in 1871. The bill for this 
 act was introduced by Hon. Mathew S. Taylor, 
 who represented the county in that Legislature, and 
 who secured its passage and approval. The history 
 of the rise and growth of this excellent institution 
 is given in detail elsewhere in this book. 
 
 Agricultural Colony 
 
 Perhaps the most notable event in the early day 
 history of Fort Collins was the location here in the 
 fall of 1872 of what was known as the "Agricultu- 
 ral Colony." This project originated with General 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 R. A. Cameron, First Vice-President and Superin- 
 tendent of the Greeley Colony and he, aided by 
 several members of that Colony and a number of 
 local citizens, carried it into efEect. Circular No. 
 1, issued December 9th by the promoters, gives the 
 names of the officers and trustees as follows: 
 
 President and Superintendent, Gen. R. A. Came- 
 ron; Vice-President, John C. Matthews; Secre- 
 tary and Treasurer, William E. Pabor; Trustees: 
 Judge A. F. Howes, Jared L. Brush, Rev. E. 
 HoUister, Hon. J. M. Sherwood, B. H. Eaton, Col. 
 J. E. Remington, N. H. MeWrum, E. W. Whit- 
 comb, Jacob Welch, B. T. Whedbee, Joseph Mason. 
 
 After describing the location, its resources and ad- 
 vantages, climate, scenery, etc., it goes on and sets 
 out the inducements to become a member in the 
 following language: 
 
 "Any person may join the Fort Collins Agri- 
 cultural Colony who is possessed of a good moral 
 character by the purchase from the Secretary and 
 Treasurer by draft or money order on Greeley, 
 Colorado, or by registered letter, of a certificate of 
 membership. These certificates are graded as fol- 
 lows: $50.00, $150.00 and $250.00. A $50.00 
 membership will entitle the holder to locate one 
 town lot, appraised at not more than $100; a $150 
 membership will entitle the holder to locate a busi- 
 ness lot and a residence lot, or in lieu thereof, a piece 
 of outlying land, or a water right for a government 
 or railroad 80-acre tract; a $250 membership 
 will entitle the holder to locate a business lot, a 
 residence lot and an outlying tract of land, or in 
 place of the latter, a water right to a government or 
 railroad 80-acre tract. Business lots will be appraised 
 from $100 to $300; residence lots from $50 to 
 $150. The lands immediately adjoining town will 
 be subdivided into 10, 20 and 40-acre tracts. The 
 town is being laid out with streets 100 feet wide and 
 avenues 140 feet wide. Blocks will be 400 feet 
 square; business lots will be 25 by 190 feet; resi- 
 dence lots will be 50 and 100 feet front by 190 feet 
 deep. 
 
 "As soon as the lots and lands are surveyed one- 
 fifth will be opened for selection at a drawing of 
 which public notice will be given. The second 
 fifth will be opened for drawing on the first Tues- 
 day in April, 1873; the third fifth on the second 
 Tuesday in May, 1873; the fourth fifth on the first 
 Tuesday in October, 1873, and the final drawing 
 for the balance on the second Tuesday in May, 
 1874." 
 
 Speaking of some of the important plans of the 
 colony the circular says : 
 
 "Choice locations are reserved for a college, sem- 
 inary, graded schools and for church buildings for 
 each religious denomination, for a first-class hotel, 
 county buildings and for other public buildings, 
 for public parks, for a zoological garden and for 
 a cemetery. It will be the special care of the Colony 
 to make this point a superior one for educational 
 facilities." 
 
 Speaking of what the town then contained, what 
 was wanted and what not wanted, the circular adds : 
 
 "We have at present a postoffice, a grist mill, 
 two stores, a drug store, two blacksmith shops, a 
 harness shop and two small hotels. 
 
 "What we need immediately are a good county 
 newspaper with a press for job work; a saw mill 
 and planer ; a hardware store ; a furniture store ; a 
 wagon shop; a livery stable; a number of good 
 stores; a bank, and any quantity of farmers, me- 
 chanics and industrious people. 
 
 "What we do not want is whiskey saloons or 
 gambling halls. There is not a place in the county 
 where liquor is legally or publically sold as a bever- 
 age, neither do we intend that there shall if we can 
 help it." 
 
 Commenting upon this new colony the Denver 
 Times of December 9th, 1872, said: 
 
 "A new Colony movement has been organized for 
 the northern part of Colorado, having for its cen- 
 tral point Fort Collins, lately a military reservation 
 upon the Cache la Poudre river, some 25 miles west 
 of Greeley. The old town settlement is to be ab- 
 sorbed in the new movement and some 3,000 acres 
 of land adjoining are to be sub-divided into 10, 20 
 and 40-acre lots for the benefit of the colonists. Out- 
 side of this are thousands of acres of government and 
 railroad land, upon which settlements can be made 
 for the benefit of farmers, stockmen, dairymen and 
 others interested in kindred pursuits. The colony 
 is formed upon somewhat the same principle as the 
 Greeley and the Colorado Springs colonies, and 
 has identified with it as Trustees such men as Judge 
 A. F. Howes, Probate Judge of Larimer County, 
 Hon. J. M. Sherwood, member of the Territorial 
 Board of Immigration for the Territory, Rev. E. 
 Hollister, of the Greeley Colony, and other gentle- 
 men of position and influence in Larimer and Weld 
 counties. It has for its location one of the finest 
 agricultural valleys in the territory. The Agricult- 
 ural College of Colorado is located here and for 
 Eastern agriculturists looking for new homes, no 
 finer point can be presented for settlement. In- 
 formation concerning the new colony can be had by 
 addressing the Secretary, W. E. Pabor, Esq., at 
 
 [231] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Fort Collins. General Cameron is President and 
 these two gentlemen cannot fail to make this new 
 colony a great success, as their efforts at Greeley 
 and Colorado Springs amply attest." 
 
 The immediate effect of this Colony movement 
 was the infusion of new blood by the addition of 
 several hundred people to the population of the 
 town, the erection of many buildings, an increase in 
 business enterprises and an improvement in the tone 
 
 JUDGE BOUTON'S LAW OFFICE, BUILT IN 
 DECEMBER, 1872 
 
 of society in general. At the first drawing of lots, 
 held in December, there were many present to take 
 their chances with the wheel of fortune. Among 
 the lucky ones at the drawing who have since figured 
 quite extensively in the history of the development 
 of Fort Collins were Jacob Welch, Franklin C. 
 Avery, Judge Jay H. Bouton and Marcus Coon. 
 Mr. Welch drew two lots at the corner of College 
 and Mountain avenues where the Welch block 
 now stands. Mr. Avery the lot next north of the 
 Welch lots, and Judge Bouton the lots next north 
 of Mr. Avery's, and Marcus Coon the lots at the 
 corner of Mountain avenue and Mason street, 
 
 [332] 
 
 where the postoffice and the Fort Collins Express 
 office now stand. One-fifth of the lots were dis- 
 posed of at the drawing. 
 
 The old town had been surveyed practically on 
 lines parallel with the course of the river and the 
 new town platted by the colony was laid out square 
 with the world — that is, its streets run east and 
 west and north and south. When the two towns 
 were hitched together, a good many sharp angles in 
 the streets appeared on the plat. This caused con- 
 siderable confusion to strangers. There was one 
 house in the new town when the drawing was held, 
 and that stood on the triangle now occupied by the 
 Avery block. 
 
 It was owned and occupied by Thomas P. Hol- 
 land, and was moved away thirty years ago. 
 
 At the close of the drawing a rush was started 
 to get the first building constructed, and Judge 
 Bouton won out, doing much of the work himself. 
 This building was occupied at first by Judge Bou- 
 ton as a law office and in 1874-5 by the Standard, 
 the second newspaper started in Fort Collins. 
 "Auntie" Stone's old mess house was moved to the 
 corner of Mountain avenue and Mason street and 
 added to and made a part of the Agricultural hotel 
 built that year by Coon & Scranton. 
 
 The opening of the spring of 1873 witnessed 
 the influx of many people seeking homes in Fort 
 Collins and also a great deal of building activity. 
 New homes and new business blocks went up al- 
 most like magic, and the demand for building mater- 
 ial and mechanics far exceeded the supply. Several 
 good substantial brick business blocks were built on 
 Jefferson street, including the A. K. & E. B. Yount 
 bank building. Stover & Matthews' store, Joseph 
 Mason's store, and others. Jacob Welch built a 
 large frame veneered with brick at the corner of 
 College and Mountain avenues in which he opened 
 an extensive general store. This building was 
 burned down on Feb. 3rd, 1880, and two young 
 people employed as clerks in the store lost their lives 
 in the conflagration. Their names were Miss Tillie 
 Irving and Mr. A. F. Hopkins. The fire broke out 
 about midnight when they were asleep in their 
 rooms on the second floor and the flames spread so 
 rapidly that they were unable to escape from the 
 building. Mr. and Mrs. Welch were also asleep 
 in another part of the second floor and barely missed 
 the fate of the two young people by jumping from 
 a window to the ground. This untoward event 
 cast a gloom over the community, for besides the 
 horrible fate of Miss Irving and Mr. Hopkins, the 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 property loss amounted to a good many thousand 
 dollars. 
 
 In the winter of 1872-3 "Uncle Ben" Whedbee 
 moved his store building and public hall from the 
 corner of Jefferson and Linden streets to the cor- 
 ner of College and Mountain avenues on to the 
 ground now? occupied by the First National bank 
 building. "Uncle Ben" kept a small general store, 
 including a few drugs and patent medicines and 
 his desertion of the "old town" for the new town, 
 caused considerable sectional feeling, which was the 
 beginning of an "old" and "new" town fight which 
 raged with a good deal of bitterness for more than 
 twenty-five years, and it crops out now and then 
 even to this day. It was the "old town" against 
 the "new" in about everything that came up — 
 politics included — ^but fortunately no tragedies 
 ever grew out of it. There were, however, numer- 
 ous personal conflicts among the adherents of the 
 two factions, but they were none of them of a 
 serious nature. This antagonism retarded the 
 growth of the town for a few years, for new comers 
 were loath to settle here and take sides in a sec- 
 tional controversy and therefore went elsewhere. 
 The feeling was so strong that measures intended 
 for the public good inaugurated and supported by 
 the "old town" were opposed by the "new" town 
 through jealousy, and vice versa. It was thus that 
 the colony movement which was designed to build 
 up a thriving and prosperous town and make it the 
 chief commercial center of the Cache la Poudre 
 valley practically failed of its purpose for the time 
 being. Nevertheless the spring of 1873 witnessed 
 the arrival of several families and the work of 
 providing dwellings for them and of erecting busi- 
 ness houses went on at a lively rate of speed. Con- 
 tracts for constructing No. 2 irrigating canal 
 through which to water the bluff lands south and 
 west of town was let to B. H. Eaton and John C. 
 Abbott, who completed the work in 1874. The 
 town ditch was built in 1873 by A. R. Chaffee. 
 
 On the 3rd of February, 1873, the Board of 
 Commissioners for Larimer County granted the 
 petition of citizens for a town government and 
 appointed B. T. Whedbee, G. G. Blake, H. C. 
 Peterson, W. C. Stover and W. S. Vescelius to act 
 as the first Board of Trustees, until an election for 
 such oflScers could be held. On the following day, 
 February 4th, the Trustees met and organized by 
 electing B. T. Whedbee, President; Joseph E. 
 Shipler, Town Clerk, and Daniel O. Davis, Con- 
 stable. The first important piece of business trans- 
 acted by the board was to authorize the making of 
 
 a road from the north end of College avenue to 
 the river, provided the County Commissioners 
 built a bridge over the river at the intersection. 
 Later the Commissioners appropriated $1,200 for 
 the bridge and the road was built. At the next 
 meeting of the Trustees, the old post burying 
 ground located on the high ground where the fed- 
 eral building is to be erected, was declared a nuis- 
 ance and ordered abandoned. The bodies were taken 
 up and removed to the new cemetery, southeast 
 of the town. A six mill tax was levied and lots 
 in the center of the colony were assessed at $30 
 each, while land acreage property was valued at 
 from $20 to $25 per acre. 
 
 At the town election held in April, 1873, there 
 were 23 votes cast. The Trustees elected were the 
 same as the ones appointed by the County Com- 
 missioners in February. Joseph E. Shipler was 
 elected Town Clerk; Albert Yale, Street Super- 
 visor and E. L. Peterson, Constable. L. R. Rhodes 
 was appointed Town Attorney by the Trustees. 
 The first bill allowed and ordered paid was pre- 
 sented April 25th by C. S. Hayden and called for 
 $136 for services rendered in surveying and platting 
 Mountain Home Cemetery. The Larimer County 
 Land Improvement Company was given permission 
 to erect and operate a saw mill at the north end of 
 Linden street. 
 
 One of the most important events that occurred 
 in April, 1873, was the establishment of the Larimer 
 County Express, the first newspaper published in 
 the county. On Mountain avenue, a few feet east 
 of where the Masonic temple now stands, a small 
 frame building with a shed roof, had been erected. 
 A printing press and a quantity of second-hand type 
 purchased in Cheyenne and moved down by team 
 was installed in this building, and on the 26th day 
 of April the first number of the paper was issued, 
 with Joseph S. McClelland as proprietor, editor 
 and publisher. The first edition contained quite 
 an extensive "write-up" of Larimer county and 
 was circulated far and wide to advertise the pos- 
 sibilities of its adopted home. 
 
 Unfortunately for the good of this book and 
 future searchers after facts concerning the early his- 
 tory of Larimer county, the files of the Express 
 from the first issue down to 1880, were wantonly 
 destroyed by fire and many valuable and import- 
 ant records of interesting early incidents were blot- 
 ted out. A more detailed account of the rise and 
 progress of Larimer county newspapers, including 
 the Express, will appear elsewhere in this volume. 
 
 [233] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Another important event of that year, but which 
 was not so beneficent in results as the founding of 
 the Express, was the establishment of the first bank 
 in Larimer county. A young man named Harry 
 Tutton, son of a Greeley colonist, came here in 
 the spring and opened a bank in a small frame 
 building which stood a little back from the street 
 near where the Owl drug store now stands. For 
 a few months the bank flourished and proved a great 
 convenience to the settlers. Unfortunately for that 
 institution and its trusting depositors, a financial 
 panic, one of the worst known, swept over the 
 country and carried down banks and business houses 
 by the hundreds. Among others Mr. Tutton's 
 bank. He had deposited his surplus funds with a 
 Denver bank. One day, during the height of the 
 financial storm, Mr. Tutton went to Denver, os- 
 tensibly to withdraw his deposits, and never re- 
 turned. His bank remained closed and its affairs 
 were afterwards wound up. This failure absorbed 
 most of the money in the county and wiped out the 
 accumulations of a number of depositors of money 
 they needed to tide them over until a crop could 
 be raised. In verification of the saying that mis- 
 fortunes never come singly, the grasshoppers, right 
 on the heels of the bank failure, dropped down upon 
 the country in great swarms. They spread over 
 the farms and devoured the growing grain and 
 vegetables, leaving the country destitute of food 
 and the means for obtaining it. It was a gloomy 
 period in the history of the county and embryo 
 town. Many became discouraged and left the coun- 
 try and progress in the work of development suf- 
 fered severely. Others, however, with stouter 
 hearts, more courage and more means came from the 
 East to take their places, so that growth was not 
 altogether retarded. The second and third years of 
 the grasshopper scourge found the settlers better 
 prepared to fight them and protect their crops from 
 devastation. Through the use of various methods 
 for accomplishing the destruction of the unwelcome 
 invaders, the farmers were enabled to harvest, not 
 all, but a fair share of their crops. Since 1876 the 
 country has not been troubled with these migratory 
 pests, and not an entire crop failure has occurred. 
 It is useless to dwell at greater length upon this 
 gloomy period in the history of Larimer county. 
 Suffice it to say, that most of those who remained 
 and those who came here in the dark grasshopper 
 days, lived through the plague and have prospered 
 and become firmly established amid peace and 
 plenty. 
 
 Ordinance No. 1, relating to buildings and chim- 
 neys, was passed and adopted by the Board of Town 
 Trustees on May 30th, 1873. This was the begin- 
 ning of the enactment of laws and ordinances for 
 the government of the town of Fort Collins. On 
 the same date an ordinance (No. 2) was passed and 
 adopted prohibiting the granting of licenses for the 
 sale of vinous, spirituous and intoxicating liquors in 
 the town of Fort Collins, druggists excepted. Sev- 
 
 JEFFERSON STREET IN 1874 
 
 eral other ordinances were passed and adopted at 
 the same meeting, including or relating to auction- 
 eers and regulating the use of fire-arms in the town. 
 On July 20th W. S. Vescelius was appointed 
 Fire Warden for the town. The first bill for print- 
 ing, amounting to the sum of $20.50, was allowed 
 and ordered paid to J. S. McClelland, editor of the 
 Express, on Sept. 5th, 1873. Unpaid town war- 
 rants at that time drew 12 per cent interest per 
 annum. 
 
 On Feb. 27, 1874, the trustees ordered vacated 
 forty feet on the north side of Riverside avenue 
 from block "G" to the east line of the corporation; 
 also forty feet on the east side of Lincoln avenue. 
 The vacation of the forty-foot strip on the north 
 side of Riverside avenue is what caused the trouble 
 when the Union Pacific sought a right of way over 
 that avenue into the city in 1910, and which, in the 
 end, cost the county several thousand dollars, paid 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 for private property, on the south side of the avenue 
 for use in widening that thoroughfare. On March 
 16th, 1874, Messrs. Marcus Coon, J. H. Brad- 
 street and Lorenzo Snyder were appointed judges 
 to conduct the spring election. Joseph E. Shipler 
 was allowed $31 for services rendered as Clerk, 
 Treasurer and Assessor for the year ending April 
 6th, 1874. This indicates that Mr. Shipler's duties 
 could not have been onerous at that time. Notice 
 of the spring election was ordered published in the 
 Fort Collins Standard. At this election, held April 
 7th, the following officers were chosen: Trustees, 
 Messrs. A. H. Patterson, W. C. Stover, H. C. 
 Peterson, A. K. Yount and Marcus Coon; Treas- 
 urer, B. T. Whedbee; Clerk, J. E. Shipler; Street 
 Supervisor, F. C. Avery; Justice of the Peace, 
 Amrai Smith; Constable, F. C. Thomason. On 
 April 13th, Constable Thomason's official bond, 
 signed by O. C. Peck and T. M. Roberts, and 
 Clerk Shipler's bond, signed by Charles Boettcher 
 and Abner Loomis, as sureties, were approved. The 
 standing committees of the Board were: 
 
 On Hnance: Stover, Patterson and Coon. On 
 streets, alleys and bridges: Peterson, Patterson and 
 Stover. On public grounds and buildings: Patter- 
 son, Coon and Peterson. A. K. Yount was elected 
 President of the Board, and O. P. Yelton was ap- 
 pointed Justice of the Peace in place of Ammi 
 Smith, who failed to qualify. The official bond of 
 F. C. Avery as Street Supervisor, signed by Joseph 
 Mason, J. H. Bouton and William Sullivan as 
 sureties, was approved. The contract for doing the 
 public printing for the year was awarded to Bouton 
 & Sullivan of the Standard. J. H. Bouton was ap- 
 pointed Town Attorney for the year. One and a 
 half mills was the tax levy for the town. On July 
 1st, F. C. Avery, Street Supervisor, reported that 
 forty-five citizens had worked out their street tax 
 and eleven had paid the tax in money and thirty- 
 five were delinquent. 
 
 On October 2nd a petition, signed by sixty-eight 
 citizens, was presented asking that the liquor ordi- 
 nance be repealed. The request was refused by a 
 vote of three nays and one aye. Those voting nay 
 were Stover, Patterson and Peterson; aye, Coon. 
 
 The No. 3, or town ditch, built in 1873 on high 
 ground along the west side of the townsite, began 
 to be a good deal of a nuisance through seepage. 
 During the irrigating season when the ditch was 
 filled to its capacity the water soaked through the 
 porous soil and came to the surface in the lower 
 portion of the town, causing marshes and swamps. 
 The ground on both sides of Laporte avenue was 
 
 covered with standing water, so much so that people 
 had to cross on raised plank walks to get to the 
 Methodist church, which stood a little west of the 
 present C. & S. passenger station. The ground on 
 the south side of Mountain avenue, between Mason 
 street and College avenue, where the Masonic tem- 
 ple stands, was also a swamp of standing water, 
 breeding places for miasma and mosquitoes. At last 
 these conditions became unbearable and the Town 
 Trustees were appealed to to abate the nuisance. 
 This body, at the first meeting, in January, 1875, 
 inaugurated a movement on the petition of Dr. T. 
 M. Smith, M. E. Hocker, Abner Loomis, W. H. 
 Trimble, L. R. Rhodes and others, to provide for a 
 system of drainage that would carry off this seepage 
 water and result in reclaiming the land covered by 
 it. Beyond ordering the ditch and its laterals 
 cleaned out and repaired but little else was done. 
 This was done, but it did not help matters much, 
 and the conditions complained of remained practi- 
 cally unimproved until the city constructed the 
 Mountain avenue sewer in 1886. This sewer and 
 others that were constructed later carried off the 
 offending water and reclaimed the property covered 
 by it. Since then the city has not been troubled by 
 seepage water from the town ditch. 
 
 On February 5th A. K. Yount resigned as 
 President of the Board and W. C. Stover was 
 elected to succeed him. For the spring election in 
 1875, B. T. Whedbee, J. C. Matthews and S. D. 
 Luke were appointed judges. At this election, held 
 April 5th, ninety-seven votes were cast, and Marcus 
 Coon, S. D. Luke, B. T. Whedbee, G. G. Blake 
 and Albert Yale received the highest number of 
 votes for Trustees and were declared elected. 
 Joseph Shipler was elected Clerk, John Schenk, 
 Constable, and W. S. Vescelius, Street Supervisor. 
 S. D. Luke was chosen President of the Board of 
 Trustees, and Jay H. Bouton, Town Attorney. 
 The printing contract for that year was awarded to 
 J. S. McClelland. The tax levy that year was five 
 mills on the dollar. On the 5th of October the 
 anti-license ordinance was repealed and T. J. Wil- 
 son given a license to sell beer, wines and liquors. 
 His was the first saloon legalized in Fort Collins, 
 and his license cost him $150. 
 
 Up to this time the town tax had been assessed 
 by the Town Clerk and collected by the Constable, 
 and, as there was some doubt about the legality of 
 the town organization, many refused to pay the 
 amount of town taxes assessed against them, so that 
 the collector had more or less trouble in making 
 collections. It often occurred that as much as fifty 
 
 [235] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 per cent of the levy was delinquent, leaving the 
 town without funds needed for contingent expenses 
 and for public improvements. In many instances it 
 would have done no good to try to enforce collec- 
 tions, as the delinquent tax-payers would stand suit 
 rather than pay and this would have cost the town 
 
 SHETLAND FALLS, ROARING CREEK 
 
 more than the amount of the tax. At last, the Ter- 
 ritorial Legislature passed a law requiring the 
 County Treasurer to collect all taxes, including the 
 town's proportion of the levy. 
 
 An apathetic feeling seemed to prevail with re- 
 gard to town affairs, partly due, no doubt, to a re- 
 peal of the anti-saloon ordinance and the granting 
 of licenses to sell liquors, as there was then a strong 
 but unorganized sentiment against the open saloon, 
 and partly to the unsatisfactory condition of town 
 affairs. This feeling manifested itself at the April 
 
 [236] 
 
 election in 1876, as there were but twenty votes 
 cast for town officers. The officers elected were: 
 Trustees, D. Stanbury, W. F. Watrous, B. T. 
 Whedbee, W. S. Vescelius and G. G. Blake; Clerk, 
 J. E. Shipler; Street Supervisor, James Sweeney; 
 Constable, F. N. B. Scott; B. T. Whedbee was 
 chosen President of the Board of Trustees, Charles 
 Howell appointed Constable and Collector for the 
 year. On Feb. 13th, 1877, James W. Norvell and 
 F. C. Avery were appointed members of the Board 
 of Trustees to fill vacancies caused by resignations 
 and removal from town, and on February 15th J. 
 W. Norvell was chosen Town Attorney, and James 
 A. Brown appointed Street Supervisor in place of 
 James Sweeney, resigned. J. W. Barnes, S. D. 
 Luke and David Patton were appointed Judges to 
 conduct the annual spring election on April 2nd, 
 1877. No election for town offices appears to have 
 been held in April, 1877, or at least the records are 
 silent on that point, and the old officers held over. 
 On June 6 a new saloon ordinance, fixing the 
 license fee at $200, was passed and adopted. J. W. 
 Barnes was appointed Town Clerk. 
 
 On June 28th, 1877, the Board of Trustees 
 passed and adopted an ordinance granting to the 
 Colorado Central Railroad Company right of way 
 along Mason street from the southern to the north- 
 ern limits of the corporation. H. L. Akard was 
 appointed Town Marshal, and William Michaud 
 Night Watchman on September 7th. At this time 
 the Colorado Central Railroad was being built 
 through the town and its employes caused disorder 
 through a too free indulgence in strong drink, mak- 
 ing it necessary to appoint additional officials to re- 
 strain them. 
 
 It appears from the records that B. T. Whedbee, 
 J. W. Norvell, F. C. Avery and David Patton were 
 chosen Trustees on April 2nd, 1878, although there 
 is no announcement recorded declaring them to be 
 such. The records show, however, that they met 
 and transacted business as a Board of Trustees 
 until April 24th, when they granted the petition of 
 citizens asking that an election be held to vote on 
 the question of organizing the town under the pro- 
 visions of the general laws of Colorado. No meet- 
 ing was held after that until November 27th, when 
 the names of B. T. Whedbee, F. C. Avery, D. Pat- 
 ton and G. G. Blake appear as Trustees and Eph. 
 Love as Clerk. No mention is made of an election 
 being held in the meantime to vote upon the ques- 
 tion of reorganizing. At this meeting saloon licenses 
 were, by ordinance, fixed at $300 per annum. They 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 remained at this figure until 1883, when the license 
 fee was raised to $1,000 per annum. 
 
 On March Nth, 1879, in response to the petition 
 of twenty citizens, President Whedbee of the Board 
 of Trustees, called a special election to be held 
 April 12th, 1879, to vote upon the question of or- 
 ganizing the town of Fort Collins under the laws of 
 the State of Colorado. This election was held on 
 the date named, with Marcus Coon, Geo. H. Ab- 
 bott and John W. Smith acting as judges. The 
 vote was canvassed April 16th, when it was found 
 that forty votes were cast for municipal organiza- 
 tion and one against. President Whedbee of the 
 Board of Trustees then called an election to be held 
 May 16th, 1879, for the purpose of electing one 
 Mayor, one Recorder, and four Trustees. Geo. H. 
 Abbott, S. R. Lyon and John W. Smith were ap- 
 pointed judges of the election. The votes cast at 
 this election were canvassed May 17th and it was 
 found that the following officers had been elected: 
 Mayor, B. T. Whedbee; Recorder, L. E. Denslow; 
 Trustees, F. P. Stover, David Patton, Martin Van- 
 dewark and H. C. Peterson. The new Board of 
 Trustees met for the first time on May 24th, with 
 Mayor Whedbee in the chair. L. R. Rhodes and 
 L. E. Denslow were appointed a committee to re- 
 vise the ordinances of the town, and the following 
 standing committees were named by the Mayor: 
 
 On finance: Patton, Peterson and Vandewark. 
 On streets, alleys and bridges: Stover, Patton and 
 Vandewark. On public grounds, buildings and 
 ditches: Peterson, Vandewark and Stover. On 
 laws and ordinances: Denslow, Patton and Stover. 
 William Morgan was appointed Marshal, and 
 James L. Allen Street Supervisor. 
 
 The town having been duly incorporated under 
 the laws of the state, entered upon a new and more 
 prosperous period, and its public affairs were better 
 and more systematically managed. 
 
 Reviewing the incidents and events that occurred 
 from 1873, when the town was first organized, 
 down to 1879, when it was duly incorporated, I 
 find but little worthy of comment. Following the 
 rush of 1873, after the colony became established, 
 the growth of the town was slow and uncertain. 
 Many of those who came here during the colony 
 rush, becoming discouraged through the failure of 
 the first bank and because of the havoc caused by 
 the grasshoppers, moved away in 1874, 1875 and 
 1876, and but few of their places were taken by 
 newcomers. Building was practically at a standstill 
 and business of all kinds was in the dumps. In the 
 fall of 1873, Mr. and Mrs. A. K. Yount, having 
 
 sold their mercantile business at Big Thompson, 
 moved to Fort Collins and began the construction 
 of a brick bank building at the corner of Jefferson 
 and Linden streets. The building was completed 
 in the spring of 1874 and A. K. & E. B. Yount 
 opened a bank in the front room facing on Jefferson 
 street. Money at that time commanded two per 
 cent interest per month, and the bank did a good 
 business.. In 1875 Mr. Yount was elected a member 
 of the convention which met in Denver Dec. 20th, 
 1875, to frame a State Constitution, and Charles H. 
 Sheldon, a late arrival from the State of New York 
 was employed to take his place in the bank. In 
 September, 1876, shortly after Colorado had been 
 admitted into the Union as a sovereign state, Mr. 
 Yount was killed at Boulder while trying to board 
 a train bound fbr Denver. He made a misstep in 
 climbing into the car and was thrown under the 
 train and run over, killing him instantly. The 
 bank continued to do business under the manage- 
 ment of Mrs. Yount, until 1883, when it was 
 forced into liquidation. Mr. Sheldon remained in 
 Mrs. Yount's employ until the fall of 1878, when 
 he and W. C. Stover started the Poudre Valley 
 Bank. 
 
 During the summer of 1873, M. E. Hocker came 
 here from Wyoming and opened a drug store in the 
 Old Grout building, continuing in business there 
 until the Yount building was completed, when he 
 moved his stock and fixtures into a room in the rear 
 of the bank, facing Linden street. In September, 
 1874, Frank P. Stover, a brother of W. C. Stover, 
 arrived from South Bend, Indiana, and being 
 pleased with the country, bought an interest in the 
 Hocker drug store and decided to remain. In the 
 spring of 1874 Clark Bouton established a news- 
 paper, called the Fort Collins Standard. It was the 
 second newspaper started in the County. A few 
 months later William W. Sullivan bought an in- 
 terest in the plant and its business, and when Mr. 
 Bouton died, in 1875, the publishnng firm became 
 Sullivan & Myrick. The office was located on Col- 
 lege avenue about where the Fort Collins Hardware 
 Company's store now is. It was in this office that 
 Herbert Myrick, son of one of the proprietors, 
 learned the printer's trade. He is now president of 
 the Phelps Publishing Company of Springfield, 
 Massachusetts, one of the famous publishing houses 
 of the United States. In the fall of 1875 Mr. Sul- 
 livan leased his interest in the Standard to his part- 
 ner, H. L. Myrick, who continued its publication a 
 few months and then suspended it. 
 
 [237] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 On the 14th of December, 1873, Collins Grange 
 No. 7, Patrons of Husbandry, was organized with 
 twenty-five members, in a hall on the second floor 
 of a frame building which stood where Scott's drug 
 store now stands. The first officers were R. Q. 
 Tenney, Master, and E. F. Kerr, Secretary. This 
 became the leading Grange in the State, and at one 
 time had a membership of about 100. The Grange 
 purchased the hall it met in and the building was 
 known as Grange hall until it burned down, in 
 1883. 
 
 Fort Collins Lodge No. 19, Independent Order 
 of Odd Fellows, was instituted October 14th by 
 
 UNLOADING BEETS AT A DUMP 
 
 Judge Omer O. Kent, special Grand Master of 
 Denver. The charter members of the lodge were 
 Jay H. Bouton, A. H. Remington, George G. 
 Blake, David M. Harris, S. P. Holland, J. L. 
 Johnson, and J. E. Remington. J. E. Remington 
 was the first Noble Grand, and Jay H. Bouton the 
 first Vice Grand. The lodge met in a room over 
 B. T. Whedbee's store until 1882, when a brick 
 building was erected for its use on Linden street. 
 This hall is now owned by the Geo. H. Thomas 
 Post No. 7, Grand Army of the Republic, the 
 Odd Fellows having built a larger and better hall 
 on East Mountain avenue in 1895. This hall is 
 over W. A. Collins' furniture store. The lodge 
 has now a large membership and is in a flourishing 
 condition. 
 
 As early as 1870 the inhabitants of Fort Collins 
 began to take an interest in social, educational and 
 religious affairs. Before that, society was in an in- 
 choate state and social functions of an elevating 
 character few and far between. The small com- 
 munity was made up of people who had come from 
 different states, bringing with them the customs and 
 
 [238] 
 
 habits of the communities they had left. They pos- 
 sessed divergent, political, social, educational and 
 religious ideas and it took time for them to assimi- 
 late and become moulded together into one harmon- 
 ious whole. Then again, they were in a new coun- 
 try, far from a base of supplies, and the problem of 
 "how shall we solve the problem of existence, pro- 
 vide ourselves, our wives and children, with food, 
 shelter and raiment," first engrossed their attention 
 to the exclusion of almost every other consideration. 
 They could get along a few years without schools, 
 without churches and without clubs and societies, 
 but they could not get along without food and rai- 
 ment. They were not heathen nor barbarians, for 
 a large majority of them were educated, intelligent, 
 law-abiding and God-fearing men and women, 
 drawn from the best and more advanced communi- 
 ties in the eastern states, but the first law of nature 
 impelled them to provide, at the start, for their 
 bodies, even though it be at the expense of their 
 heads and hearts. It is not surprising, then, that 
 but little attention was given to other than material 
 things. They were but few in number at best, and, 
 as stated, these few were lacking that homogeneity 
 of sentiment which later characterized their inter- 
 course as members of the same community. 
 
 In 1870, however, we find them getting together 
 and organizing for mutual benefit, for progress and 
 the promotion of higher aims than mere bodily com- 
 fort. That year a Masonic lodge was instituted in 
 the second story of the Grout building with H. C. 
 Peterson, J. H. Bradstreet, J. R. Wills, B. H. 
 Eaton, A. Loomis, C. J. McDivit, A. J. J. Davis 
 and Geo. W. Swift as charter members. The first 
 officers of the lodge were: W. M., H. C. Peter- 
 son; S. W., J. R. Wills; J. W., B. H. Eaton; 
 Treasurer, Abner Loomis; Secretary, J. H. Brad- 
 street; S. D., Perry Downing; J. D., Harris Strat- 
 ton; S. S., C. J. McDivit; J. S., A. J. J. Davis; 
 Tiler, T. M. Smith. The lodge held regular meet- 
 ings, first in the attic of the mill, second, in the sec- 
 ond story of B. T. Whedbee's store and then pur- 
 chased the second story of Stover & Matthews' 
 store building, where rooms were fitted up in which 
 meetings were held until 1885. 
 
 That year the Masons leased the third floor of 
 the Poudre Valley Bank block and converted it into 
 a lodge room, which they occupied until 1902, when 
 the Masonic temple was built on West Mountain 
 avenue, in which lodge meetings have since been 
 held. 
 
 The first school house was built in 1870 at a cost 
 of $1,100 and the few people here then taxed them- 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 selves heavily, to accomplish it, but they were proud 
 of the feat and of the schools taught therein. It 
 was a small frame building, but it was the beginning 
 of better things and the precursor of progress. In 
 1872 the military reservation was thrown open 
 to settlement and the Agricultural Colony es- 
 tablished on its lands an enterprise that brought 
 many new settlers to Fort Collins. The Pres- 
 byterian church was organized that year. The fol- 
 lowing year witnessed the founding of the first 
 newspaper, the opening of a bank, the erection of a 
 Methodist church and the Agricultural hotel, be- 
 sides several business blocks and dwelling houses. 
 
 The years 1874-5-6 were gloomy ones for the 
 little colony owing to the failure of the first bank 
 and the ravages of the grasshoppers. But little 
 building was done and business of all kinds was 
 practically at a standstill. Many left the colony to 
 seek homes elsewhere, so that the population of the 
 town practically remained unchanged until 1877. 
 The gold discovery in the Black Hills drew off 
 quite a number of venturesome ones in 1875-6, the 
 most of them returning later when the northern 
 Indians became troublesome. Nevertheless, the 
 town was not altogether lifeless during this period. 
 The second newspaper, the Standard, was estab- 
 lished, and the Yount bank opened for business in 
 the spring of 1874. A Missionary Station of the 
 Episcopal church was established in 1875, the first 
 regular services being held on the first Sunday in 
 May, in the frame building erected for the Lari- 
 mer County bank. This building stood near where 
 the Owl drug store now stands. It was purchased 
 by the Episcopal congregation and used as a place 
 of worship until 1883, when the new church was 
 completed, ready for use. The old building stands 
 now on East Oak street at the rear of St. Luke's 
 church. Rev. Francis Byrne, who died a few years 
 ago at the age of ninety-seven years, conducted the 
 first Episcopal services held. 
 
 In 1876, M. E. Hocker, the pioneer druggist, 
 sold his interest in the Stover-Hocker drug store to 
 his partner, Frank P. Stover, and started for Dead- 
 wood, in the Black Hills, with a stock of drugs. 
 While crossing the Plains between Cheyenne and 
 Deadwood his trains were raided by Indians and 
 his teamsters barely escaped with their lives. This 
 incident sickened him of the Black Hills country 
 and he turned back and opened a drug store at 
 Evanston, Wyoming. 
 
 The spring of 1877 opened with better prospects 
 ahead for the farmers and townspeople. The grass- 
 hoppers had run their race and had practically dis- 
 
 appeared, so that farmers were encouraged to seed 
 all their tillable land to wheat, oats and potatoes, 
 so far, at least, as the grasshoppers were concerned. 
 New farms were located upon and new land broken 
 out and seeded to crops, and the harvest that fall 
 was a bountiful one. The first State Legislature, 
 held during the winter of 1877, had appropriated 
 money for the Agricultural college buildings, no 
 great amount, to be sure, but large enuogh to en- 
 courage the State Board of Agriculture to make a 
 
 AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE AS IT WAS IN 1883 
 
 beginning in the development of its plans. This 
 appropriation would not be available until after the 
 taxes of 1877 had been collected, nevertheless it had 
 the effect of stiffening the courage and strengthen- 
 ing the hopes of the people of Fort Collins, so that 
 they began to look forward to a welcome change in 
 the situation of material things. 
 
 The Colorado Agricultural college had been 
 located at Fort Collins by an act of the Territorial 
 Legislature passed in 1871. The location was con- 
 firmed by the State Constitution, adopted in 1876, 
 but until the first General assembly made the ap- 
 propriation spoken of, the Board of Agriculture had 
 no means at command for use in making prepara- 
 tions for opening the school. They could not erect 
 suitable buildings nor employ instructors without 
 money. That is why practically nothing was done 
 towards improving the site until 1878, when the 
 money appropriated became available. 
 
 Beginning of a New Era 
 
 For several years the people of Larimer county 
 had been wistfully looking forward to the time 
 when a railroad should be built from Denver 
 through the county to a connection with the Union 
 Pacifiic at Cheyenne, over which they could ship 
 marketable live stock and surplus agricultural prod- 
 
 [239] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 ucts without the long drive or long haul. The 
 spring of 1877 opened with bright prospects for the 
 fruition of their hopes. A subsidiary company of 
 the Kansas Pacific Railroad company completed 
 and opened for traffic on Sept. 23rd, 1870, a rail- 
 road extending from Denver to Golden. Later the 
 same company extended the road from Golden 
 through Boulder to Longmont, which remained 
 the terminus for two or three years. It was known 
 as the Colorado Central road and in 1876 It passed 
 from the control of the Kansas Pacific Railroad 
 company into the possession of a new company 
 known as the Colorado Central Railroad company, 
 made up principally of Colorado men with W. A. H. 
 Loveland of Golden, as President. Soon after 
 getting possession of the road, Mr. Loveland went 
 to New York for a conference with Jay Gould, then 
 at the head of the Union Pacific system. The 
 result of this conference was that Mr. Gould, act- 
 ing for the Union Pacific, entered into an agree- 
 ment with Mr. Loveland to furnish the means for 
 extending and completing the road from Longmont 
 to Cheyenne. Mr. Loveland returned to Golden 
 in high spirits and was given an enthusiastic re- 
 ception by his fellow-citizens. The line was sur- 
 veyed and located In the winter of 1877 by Capt. 
 E. L. Berthoud, chief engineer, and as soon as the 
 frost left the ground In the spring the work of 
 grading and building the road began at both ends 
 simultaneously and was vigorously pushed forward. 
 On June 28th the Board of Trustees of the town of 
 Fort Collins passed an ordinance granting the Colo- 
 rado Central Railroad company a right of way 
 through the town along Mason street and certain 
 other privileges, such as depot grounds, and lands 
 for yards. The grading and bridging of the road, 
 ready for the ties and rails was completed between 
 Longmont and Hazard, five miles west of Chey- 
 enne, In September and track laying from Hazard 
 south was so far advanced by the end of that 
 month that the smoke of the construction trains 
 could be seen on the summit of the bluffs north of 
 Fort Collins. Thomas J. Montgomery, a nephew 
 of President Loveland, who had been assisting 
 the agent at Longmont, was sent here to be the 
 first station agent and telegraph operator at Fort 
 Collins. He arrived on the 6th of October and on 
 the 7th opened an office In Joseph Mason's store on 
 Jefferson street. At that time the track layers had 
 reached the bridge over the river and on the 8th 
 of October the construction train rolled Into the 
 town of Fort Collins, signaling the event by a long 
 blast of the locomotive whistle. Before the end 
 
 of October the track had been laid into Longmont, 
 the road opened to traffic and communication by 
 rail with Denver and Cheyenne established. 
 
 The arrival on the depot grounds of the construc- 
 tion train on the morning of October 8th was 
 greeted with great enthusiasm by the excited popu- 
 lation of the town and congratulations over the 
 fulfillment of their hopes long deferred passed from 
 mouth to mouth. The people of the town and 
 surrounding country were wild with delight, mak- 
 ing the event an occasion for great rejoicing. A 
 few days later the first shipment of freight ever 
 brought Into Fort Collins by rail arrived from the 
 north and it consisted of one carload of merchan- 
 dise for W. C. Stover and three carloads of Rock 
 Springs coal for A. H. Patterson. 
 
 When Mr. Montgomery arrived here to take 
 charge of the station, worklngmen were engaged in 
 laying the foundation walls of the depot building, 
 a small brick structure containing a freight room, 
 a small office for the station agent and telegraph 
 operator, and a small waiting room. About the 
 first of November the depot was far enough ad- 
 vanced toward completion so that Mr. Mont- 
 gomery could move his office from Mason's store 
 Into the freight room, where he remained until 
 after the waiting room and his regular office had 
 been completed and plastered. The advent of the 
 railroad marked the beginning of a new era In the 
 history of Fort Collins and Larimer county. It 
 opened communication by rail with the outside 
 world and brought the town in touch with the rest 
 of creation. It afforded the farmer and stockman 
 an opportunity to ship out their surplus products and* 
 fat cattle to wider and better markets. The home 
 merchants could also get in their stocks of goods in 
 better time, In better condition and at a cheaper rate, 
 consequently the producers and consumers were all 
 benefited. 
 
 The winter and spring of 1878, following the 
 completion of the railroad, witnessed an influx of 
 new settlers, the most of them farmers from the 
 middle west who came either to take up new land 
 or purchase improved or partially Improved farms. 
 They brought their families, household goods and In 
 many Instances, their live stock with them, pre- 
 pared to stay. Not a few cast their lot with the 
 town and began building themselves homes and to 
 establish themselves In business thus, by example, 
 Instilling new life and stimulating new energy 
 among those already here. The entire year was 
 a busy one, many new buildings being erected and 
 several new lines of business established. The con- 
 
 [240] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 tract for the construction of the main Agricultural 
 college building was let in June and the corner 
 stone was laid July 27th and the structure com- 
 pleted the following fall; bonds amounting to 
 $7,500, drawing 12 per cent interest, principal and 
 interest payable in gold, were voted by the school 
 district and the proceeds used in erecting the front 
 half of the Remington School building; contract let 
 to John F. Colpitts and Joseph Coyte who began 
 work in September, completing the building in 
 February, 1879; Wilson's hall on Jefferson street, 
 afterwards used for district court purposes, was com- 
 pleted that fall. L. W. Welch built a $5,000 
 block on College avenue on the ground now occu- 
 pied by the Murphy-Ready Clothing store; a small 
 brick for the use of the Poudre Valley bank and a 
 frame for the Parlor Drug store were erected on 
 Linden street between Jefferson and Walnut; W. 
 C. Stover and Tedmon Bros, each added a 50-foot 
 brick extension to their stores, and Chris. Philippi 
 and L. Flescher each had buildings erected on Jef- 
 ferson street, one for a harness shop and the other 
 for a tailor shop; D. M. Harris expended $2,500 
 in enlarging and refitting the Commercial hotel, 
 which stood where the Express building now stands. 
 In addition to these a number of dwelling houses 
 were erected in different parts of the town that 
 year, the total expenditures for new buildings and 
 additions to old ones, amounting to upwards of 
 $60,000. 
 
 The Courier was founded that year, the first 
 number appearing on the 29th of June, with 
 Watrous & Pelton as publishers and proprietors. It 
 was issued from rooms on the second floor of the 
 McConathy block which stood where the Antler's 
 hotel now stands, and the Poudre Valley bank 
 opened its doors for business on Saturday, Novem- 
 ber 11th, in the Wilson block on Jefferson street, 
 with William C. Stover as President and Charles 
 H. Sheldon as Cashier. The bank occupied these 
 quarters but a few weeks while awaiting the com- 
 pletion of its new building on Linden street. In 
 the fall of 1877 J. S. McClelland built a brick 
 building on Linden street for the use of the Express 
 newspaper. It stood next south of where the Gem 
 Grocery is now and was burned down in the early 
 80's. During the month of October, 1878, 42 
 carloads of freight were dispatched and 31 carloads 
 received, making a total of 73 carloads handled at 
 the Fort Collins station, the total receipts amount- 
 ing to $4,627.09. The railroad had then been in 
 operation about a year. 
 
 The following paragraph appeared in the 
 
 Courier August 31st, 1878: "We have on exhibi- 
 tion at our office (thanks to Mrs. Kate Trimble) 
 a sample of Fort Collins-grown apples. They are 
 of the variety known as 'Strawberry.' These were 
 the first apples raised in Larimer county and they 
 put to shame the croakers who had declared that 
 apples could not be produced in Larimer county." 
 They were grown on trees brought from Missouri 
 by W. H. Trimble in 1875, and marked the begin- 
 ning of an important industry. Others began experi- 
 menting with fruit growing with the result that 
 Larimer county fruit, berries, cherries, plums and 
 apples are now staple products that are much sought 
 after and command remunerative prices. 
 
 The Methodist church was moved that year from 
 lots west of the depot to a new location on Moun- 
 tain avenue. It was refitted and newly furnished 
 and was occupied for church and Sunday school 
 purposes until the new church was built on College 
 avenue in 1896. There were then three resident 
 clergymen in the town, Rev. C. A. Brooks of the 
 Methodist church. Rev. D. E. Finks of the Presby- 
 terian church, and Rev. Francis Byrne of St. Luke's 
 Episcopal church. The Catholics held occasional 
 services here, sometimes in the Grout building and 
 at other times in the homes of private families, but 
 they had no resident priest. 
 
 The Lindell mills that year converted 108,000 
 bushels of wheat into flour and bran. The wheat 
 was all grown in the Cache la Poudre valley and 
 shows that agriculture was gaining a strong foot- 
 hold in the valley. 
 
 Building operations started late in 1879, but 
 little being done in that line until July, the me- 
 chanics putting in good time from that on, erecting 
 forty-one structures at a total cost of $76,000. 
 Among the more important buildings erected that 
 year are the Tedmon house, Colorado Elevator, Odd 
 Fellows hall. Standard Mills, Thomas & Linden- 
 meier's block, Welch block, F. C. Avery's residence, 
 C. W. Ramer's residence and Eph Love's residence. 
 One million and one hundred and fifty thousand 
 bricks were laid into walls that year and the sales 
 of merchandise of all kinds footed up to $444,379. 
 The following statement furnished by the depot 
 agent shows that the railroad business transacted 
 that year had materially expanded during the 
 twelve months ending December 31st: 
 
 "Collections on freight received $36,920.82 
 
 Collections on tickets sold 6,333.80 
 
 Collections on prepaid charges 2,535.23 
 
 Total $45,789.85 
 
 [241] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 "Number of pounds of freight forwarded, 22,- 
 405,960, equal to 1,120 carloads of 20,000 pounds 
 each. Included in freight forwarded were 14,480 
 sacks of flour, 10,200 bushels of wheat, 282 car- 
 loads of stone and about 60,000 railroad ties." 
 
 The first term of the State Agricultural college 
 opened on Monday, September 1st, with a fair 
 enrollment of students. 
 
 Work was begun on the construction of the 
 Pleasant Valley and Lake canal in August, and 
 Contractor John C. Abbott practically completed it 
 that year. This canal was being built to furnish 
 water for between 6,000 and 7,000 acres of choice 
 farming land lying west of the town. 
 
 The Temperance Gazette, published by W. C. 
 Wheeler, with Rev. E. L. Allen as editor, was 
 founded in November. It was the third paper 
 started in Larimer county and it had a brief but 
 troubled existence. It died of inanition a few 
 months after it was born. 
 
 The darkest hour the town had seen in its history 
 occurred on Tuesday night, February 3rd, 1880, 
 when L. W. Welch's large two-story building at 
 the corner of College and Mountain avenues was 
 destroyed by fire with all of its contents. Though 
 the property loss was between $40,000 and $50,000, 
 the most disastrous effect was the death of Miss 
 Tillie Irving and Mr. A. F. Hopkins, two clerks 
 employed in the store, who lost their lives in the 
 conflagration. They were sleeping on the second 
 floor of the building at the time the fire broke out 
 as were Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Welch and their 
 little. grandchild. Dr. and Mrs. T. M. Smith and 
 two children and L. W. Welch, the proprietor, 
 all of whom, excepting the unfortunate victims, 
 escaping with their lives. Mr. Hopkins had left 
 his room and had evidently been overcome by 
 smoke and heat before he reached the stairway, as 
 his body was found in the ruins on the opposite 
 side of the building from his room. Miss Irving's 
 charred body was found directly beneath her room, 
 showing that she had not left it, either being con- 
 fused by the crackling flames or overcome by the 
 smoke. No event had ever occurred in Fort Collins 
 that cast so deep a gloom and so poignant a feeling 
 of sadness as the horrible death of these two 
 estimable young people. Miss Irving was book- 
 keeper in the store and Mr. Hopkins a salesman. 
 
 Among the notable events that occurred in 1880 
 was the completion and opening to the public on 
 May 20th of the Tedmon house, admitted to be 
 the finest hotel in Colorado north of Denver. This 
 event was hailed with great pleasure not only by 
 
 [242] 
 
 citizens of the town but by the traveling public as 
 well. It had been erected on the corner of Jeffer- 
 son and Linden streets on the site formerly occu- 
 pied by the Blake house, built in 1870, and con- 
 tained sixty-five handsomely furnished rooms. It 
 was built by B. S. Tedmon, who conducted it for 
 about a year and then leased the hotel and furniture 
 to George S. Brown, one of the best hotel men 
 known in the West. For nearly thirty years The 
 Tedmon house was one of the most popular public 
 stopping places in Colorado and had a reputation 
 second to none. It was sold in 1909 to the Union 
 Pacific Railroad company, the ground it occupied 
 being needed for terminal purposes, and was vacated 
 and dismantled early in the season of 1910. Its 
 last proprietor was H. M. Sholine. Charles W. 
 Ramer conducted the hotel for eight years. He 
 was succeeded by Mrs. NelHan Harris after whose 
 death in 1903, it passed into the hands of Mr. 
 Sholine. 
 
 The burning of the Welch block in February 
 started a vigorous discussion in favor of better fire 
 protection, which resulted in the organization on 
 May 21 of a Hook and Ladder company and its 
 equipment by the town authorities. The first officers 
 of the company were John Place, Foreman ; W. T. 
 Seamans, First Assistant; E. M. Pelton, Second 
 Assistant; W. P. Keays, Secretary, and John 
 Deaver, Treasurer. A constitution and set of by- 
 laws, drafted by H. N. Hayes, A. B. Ogden and 
 E. M. Pelton were adopted and the company at 
 once began drilling and fitting itself for fire fighting. 
 This was the beginning of Fort Collins present 
 splendidly equipped and very efficient fire depart- 
 ment. 
 
 North Park began to attract considerable atten- 
 tion that year on account of its fine grazing and 
 meadow lands. Several Fort Collins stockmen, 
 including C. B. Mendenhall, James A. Brown, 
 Marsh Jones and W. F. Scribner moved their 
 herds into the park in the early summer of 1879 
 and they gave such a glowing description of the 
 country and its advantages as a stock raising region 
 that others followed. Gold was discovered at Inde- 
 pendence Mountain in the park in 1846 by mem- 
 bers of Col. John C. Fremont's party of explorers 
 and this fact becoming more generally known, 
 incited a rush of prospectors to that section in search 
 of the precious minerals. The mountains surround- 
 ing the park were quite thoroughly prospected in 
 1880 which led to the discovery of a number of 
 rich silver bearing leads, especially in the south- 
 east corner of the park, later locally known as Tel- 
 
x/ 
 
 HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY^ 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 ler. Silver was also discovered on the headwaters of 
 Grand river in Grand county, a few miles dis- 
 tant from Teller and a town was laid out there and 
 called Lulu, in honor of the eldest daughter of B. 
 F. Burnett, who was one of the original locaters. 
 These discoveries drew off a good many people 
 from Fort Collins that and the following year, some 
 to engage in mining and others in various lines of 
 business. A good many thousand dollars were 
 spent in 1880-1 and 2 in development work on 
 mining claims which practically went for naught. 
 
 son. Since then, North Park has become the stock- 
 men's paradise and thousands of head of cattle are 
 annually kept grazing on its rich pasture lands 
 during the summer and fitted for beef in the fall. 
 
 The Tenth Federal census, taken in June, 1880, 
 gave Larimer county a population of 4,862 and 
 Fort Collins a population of 1,356. Thomas M. 
 Cotton was the enumerator for Fort Collins, and 
 he found that the town contained 220 dwellings 
 and 236 families. In the decade between 1870 and 
 1880 the population of Larimer County had in- 
 
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 FORT COLLINS IN 1881 
 
 Although several good silver and galena leads were 
 located and partially developed, the cost of getting 
 the ore to the smelters at Denver was so great that 
 the miners were left no profit, consequently the 
 camps were abandoned. Some day, when railroads 
 penetrate this region the silver mines at Teller and 
 Lulu will become heavy producers of silver, lead and 
 other valuable minerals. Nearly all of those who 
 left Fort Collins to engage in mining and other 
 enterprises at Teller and Lulu in the early days, 
 returned to their homes here sadder but wiser men. 
 The real home-making settlement of North Park 
 proper began in 1880, although a few stockmen 
 had driven their herds in there in 1879 to graze 
 through the summer, moving them out in the fall. 
 They made no provisions for winter by putting up 
 hay and were afraid to trust their stock to survive 
 the deep snows and cold of the long winter sea- 
 
 creased from 838 to 4,862, a gain of 4,024 and 
 during the three years ending in June, 1880, Fort 
 Collins had more than doubled its population. That 
 year (1880) witnessed a large increase in popula- 
 tion and in the amount of building done. Includ- 
 ing the Opera house, which was built that year, 
 eighty-five dwellings, store and office buildings 
 were erected at a cost of $200,000. Among the 
 more important structures were the Opera house 
 and Welch block combined; residences for Capt. 
 W. M. Post, Frank Soult, W. S. Vescelius, T. 
 Corbin, Lewis Secord, W. S. Mason, C. B. An- 
 drews, Richard Burke, (now owned by Mrs. Short- 
 ridge), A. Armstrong on Remington street, Mrs. 
 Sherrell, Theo. Kutcher, Chas. Evans, J. R. Wills, 
 Mrs. M. P. Carpenter and James Conroy. The 
 last mentioned is now owned by and occupied by 
 N. C. Alford. 
 
 [243] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Among the business blocks were the Cornucopia 
 restaurant for A. B. Ogden, A. H. Patterson's large 
 store warehouse; L. P. Kemoe's store building at 
 the intersection of Linden street and Mountain 
 avenue, now owned by D. F. O'Loughlin, and 
 others of lesser importance. 
 
 The Opera house was built by the Larimer 
 County bank, Jay H. Bouton, Dr. C. P. Miller, 
 M. F. Thomas and P. S. Balcam and was then, 
 and is now, one of the most popular play houses 
 in the state north of Denver. By reason of the 
 rapid growth of the town, real estate advanced 
 rapidly in value, lots that were offered for from 
 $50 to $75 early in 1879, sold in 1880 for $500 
 to $800. 
 
 In the spring of 1881 the Union Pacific and the 
 Burlington & Missouri Railroad companies each 
 sent a corps of engineers here to survey and locate 
 a route for a railroad through the Cache la Poudre 
 canon and no sooner had the Union Pacific run its 
 line to Cameron Pass than it began grading from 
 the mouth of the canon westward, thus getting 
 possession of the route ahead of its rival. After 
 spending something more than $100,000 in build- 
 ing a grade extending about twenty miles up the 
 river, the company abandoned the project. Charles 
 E. Pennock had charge of one of the camps and 
 Robert Walsh of another. In May of that year the 
 Greeley, Salt Lake & Pacific Railroad company 
 made application for a right of way through the 
 town along Willow street. The company which was 
 a subsidiary company of the Union Pacific, pro- 
 posed to build and operate a standard gauge road 
 from Greeley to Salt Lake and beyond, via Fort 
 Collins. The application was granted and on July 
 21st a committee composed of A. B. Tomlin, John 
 C. Abbott, Eph Love, L. R. Rhodes and Abner 
 Loomis was appointed to ascertain the value of the 
 property required by the company for its right of 
 way through the city. This committee a few days 
 later reported that the right of way would cost 
 $6,300. The right of way question being settled, 
 grading contractors set their men and teams at work 
 on the grade on Saturday, August 13th, and the 
 work was pushed rapidly forward all along the line 
 between Greeley and the stone quarries. By the 
 15th of September the grading between Greeley 
 and Fort Collins was completed and the bridge 
 builders also had their work well in hand. The 
 grading between Fort Collins and the quarries was 
 also nearly done. 
 
 The building record for 1881 shows that six- 
 teen business houses, costing $51,178, forty-eight 
 
 [244] 
 
 dwellings, costing $54,547 were erected and that 
 the total sum expended for improvements exceeded 
 $120,000. Among the more notable structures 
 were the Union block on Jefferson street, store 
 room on College avenue now occupied by McGehe's 
 barber shop, Bernheim's brick store on Linden 
 street, Capt. Mclntyre's residence on Matthews 
 street. Dr. C. P. Miller's residence, Andrew Arm- 
 strong's residence on College avenue and the Ish 
 residence on Sherwood street; the College dormi^ 
 tory, the city hall and the Reed & Dauth block on 
 Linden street and others. The postoffice receipts 
 that year exceeded $5,000. 
 
 At the municipal election held April 4th, 1882, 
 by a vote of 268 for to 44 against, the people of the 
 town emphatically declared in favor of a system of 
 water works that would supply water for domestic 
 uses and fire protection. The subject had been dis- 
 cussed pro and con for several months by the local 
 newspapers and individuals, so that it was pretty 
 well understood, consequently the vote was an em- 
 phatic expression of the sentiments and wishes of the 
 people. Up to this time and for more than a year 
 afterwards when the works were completed, the 
 people were supplied with water for cooking and 
 drinking purposes from what was known as the 
 "water wagon", consisting of a tank on wheels. 
 From this primitive system of water works, people 
 were able to supply their needs at the rate of 25 cents 
 a barrel or 5 cents a pail full. This water was 
 dipped up from the river near College avenue 
 bridge and peddled out through the town by the 
 owner of the "water wagon". Water needed for 
 the laundry and cleaning purposes was obtained 
 from the irrigating laterals that traversed the town. 
 
 The board of Town Trustees at once proceeded 
 to have plans and specifications drawn for a sys- 
 tem of water works that would meet the needs of 
 the town for several years. This done, the 
 Trustees, consisting of George S. Brown, Mayor, 
 Jay H. Bouton, Abner Loomis, H. E. Tedmon and 
 Wm. F. Watrous, with Frank P. Stover, Recorder, 
 and Eph Love, City Attorney, gave notice of a spe- 
 cial election to be held Sept. 20th, 1882, for the pur- 
 pose of voting on the approval or rejection of the 
 plans prepared. The election was held at which 
 273 votes were cast, of which number 182 were for 
 the plans and 78 against, with 13 scattering. On 
 the 2nd of October the Trustees advertised for 
 sealed bids on the construction of the works, the 
 bids to be opened October 20th. On October 31st, 
 the contract to construct the plant was let to Rus- 
 sel & Alexander of Colorado Springs, their bid of 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 $80,750 being considered the lowest and best. The 
 contractors at once began making preparations for 
 executing the contract and the Trustees prepared 
 for raising the necessary funds. On November 
 7th the Board of Trustees passed an ordinance 
 which provided for the creation of a bonded in- 
 debtedness of $85,000, the bonds to bear 7 per cent 
 interest payable annually, the principal to be re- 
 deemable at the pleasure of the town on and after 
 December 1st, 1892, and to become absolutely due 
 and payable on the 1st day of December 1897. As 
 
 RUSTIC HOTEL, BUILT ON UPPER 
 POUDRE IN 1881 
 
 the work progressed on the plant it became neces- 
 sary to make changes from the original plans. The 
 town was growing rapidly and larger and additional 
 mains were required and other improvements made. 
 This required a larger expenditure than was at first 
 contemplated and on May 20th, 1883, the city 
 council (Fort Collins having become by proclama- 
 tion of the governor, a city of the second class) 
 passed an ordinance increasing the bonded indebted- 
 ness $20,000 by a new issue of bonds payable at 
 the pleasure of the city after ten years, and due at 
 the expiration of fifteen years. These bonds were 
 to draw 8 per cent interest, interest payable semi- 
 annually. This issue brought the total bonded in- 
 debtedness of the city up to $105,000. The plant 
 was completed, tested and accepted by the city 
 council on the 7th of June, 1883. H. P. Handy 
 was the engineer in charge of construction. 
 
 The whole number of feet of water main, the 
 laying of which was included in the contract, was 
 43,400; the number of fire hydrants, 20 with 15 
 water gates. The supply of water was taken from 
 the Cache la Poudre river a short distance west of 
 Laporte and carried through an open ditch three- 
 fourths of a mile to the pump house, a brick struct- 
 ure on a stone foundation. From there the water 
 was forced into and through city mains by pumps, 
 
 driven by two turbine water wheels of 75 horse 
 power each. 
 
 There was great rejoicing in the city when the 
 works were completed and people realized that they 
 would no longer have to depend upon the water 
 wagon for a drink of water or enough to fill the 
 tea kettle, and practically the whole town turned 
 out to witness the final tests. Under 120 pounds 
 pressure, four streams of water were sent through 
 1^-inch nozzles 102 feet high. This was better 
 than the contract called for or was expected. Fort 
 Collins then had, in the opinion of experts, as good 
 a system of water works as there was in the state 
 and naturally the people were proud of it. They 
 also appreciated more than words could express the 
 privilege of turning a faucet in their own kitchen 
 and getting an abundant supply of pure water for 
 all uses. The filthy old water wagon was rele- 
 gated to the rear, never more to do service in the 
 progressive city of Fort Collins. In after years, 
 due to the growth of the city, the system became 
 inadequate to meet the demands of the people and 
 an ienlargement and extension became necessary, 
 but of this later on in its proper order. On the 
 morning of the 14th of September (1882) another 
 devastating fire broke out in F. P. Stover's new 
 drug store block, situated on the corner of Jeffer- 
 son and Linden streets, on the site formerly occu- 
 pied by the historic Grout building, and despite 
 every effort that could be put forth with the means 
 at command, the handsome new building was soon 
 reduced to smoking ruins. The fire spread to the 
 adjoining store building owned by T. H. Robert- 
 son & Co., and it too, fell a victim to the fury of 
 the flames. They were both new buildings under 
 construction and nearly completed ready "for occu- 
 pancy. Indeed, Mr. Stover had already moved a 
 portion of his stock of drugs, oils and paints into 
 the basement of his building and would have moved 
 his entire stock within a few days. The loss on 
 these two buildings exceeded $24,000, partly 
 covered by insurance. This calamity quickened and 
 intensified the appeal for the early construction of 
 the water works for which the people had voted. 
 
 Although the grading on the Greeley, Salt Lake 
 & Pacific railroad was practically completed from 
 Greeley to Fort Collins and a portion of the bridg- 
 ing done in 1882, the track was not laid and the 
 road completed until nearly a year later. The 
 first passenger train was run over the road on Sun- 
 day, October 8th, 1883. It was an excursion train 
 and arrived in Fort Collins about noon and had on 
 board, in addition to a number of railroad officials. 
 
 [245] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 about twenty of the prominent business men of 
 Greeley, including Mayor Hawkes. Regular pas- 
 senger and freight service was installed a few days 
 later. In December, regular trains were put on 
 between Fort Collins and Denver, via the Greeley, 
 Salt Lake & Pacific and Denver Pacific roads and 
 were maintained several years and until the Colo- 
 rado Central railroad went into the hands of a re- 
 ceiver in 1889, when they were discontinued. 
 
 The amount expended for new buildings and im- 
 provements in 1882 was $223,375. The more im- 
 
 JEFFERSON STREET, FORT COLLINS 
 
 portant buildings erected were the Poudre Valley 
 bank block, completion of the city hall, completion 
 of Jefferson street block, St. Luke's church, Col- 
 pitt's block on Walnut street, the Keystone block, 
 (destroyed by fire in September) and residences 
 for John C. Abbott, C. C. Enigh, Frank Miller, 
 James B. Arthur, Vandewark business block, Rob- 
 ertson & Haynes business block, Express block on 
 Linden street and Livingston & Sickman block on 
 College avenue. 
 
 An enumeration of the inhabitants of Fort Col- 
 lins, taken in December, 1882 and January, 1883, 
 by authority of the Board of Town Trustees, dis- 
 closed the fact that the town had a population of 
 2,034, a sufficient number to entitle it to be graded 
 a city of the second class. The census showed 
 there were 1,150 males and 884 females within 
 the limits of the town, and steps were at once taken 
 to have the town declared a city of the second 
 class. The Federal census of 1880, gave the town 
 a population of 1,356, making the gain in a little 
 more than a year, 678. On the 2nd of February, 
 Governor Grant issued a proclamation declaring 
 Fort Collins a city of the second class. The Board 
 of Trustees met on February 14th, and directed 
 the town attorney to prepare and submit an ordin- 
 ance providing for dividing the town into four 
 wards. This ordinance was passed and adopted 
 
 [246] 
 
 February 26th, 1883, and at the election held April 
 3rd, a Mayor, City Council of eight members, a 
 City Clerk, a City Marshal, a City Attorney and 
 a City Treasurer were elected. The campaign 
 preceding this election was the most bitter in the 
 history of the town, as it is apt to be whenever a 
 moral question is embraced in the issues. The main 
 issue was high as against low license. For years 
 the town had been charging saloon keepers a license 
 fee of $300 per annum, with the result that the 
 town was over run with saloons and places where 
 intoxicants could be obtained. There were thirteen 
 open bars in the town in addition to three drug 
 stores which sold liquors, and there were also five 
 houses of prostitution in which liquors and beer 
 were openly and flagrantly sold. Gambling houses 
 flourished and the town was really what is known 
 in the wild and wooly as a "wide open" town. To 
 make matters still worse, incendiarism was ram- 
 pant, hardly a night occurring without one or more 
 alarms of fire. The loss in some of these fires was 
 heavy, while in other instances only sheds, stables 
 and barns were burned. The town was full of 
 idle and vicious men, driftwood from railroad and 
 ditch camps, irresponsible creatures, without home 
 or friends, who hung about the saloons and brothels. 
 Several of the fires were laid at the door of these 
 men and were started for the sole purpose of getting 
 a free drink. They had noticed that whenever a 
 fire occurred, the saloons set up a drink to the fire 
 fighters after they had gotten the flames under con- 
 trol. The law and order element in the city be- 
 came aroused and set about organizing for the pur- 
 pose of putting a municipal ticket in the field, 
 pledged to increase the license to $1,000 per annum, 
 believing that policy would have the effect of driv- 
 ing the low down doggeries out of business. The 
 saloon interests then combined their forces and 
 waged a bitter fight in behalf of a mayor and city 
 council that would retain saloon licenses at $300 
 per annum. High and low license city tickets 
 were put in the field and the adherents of each ex- 
 erted themselves to the utmost in an effort to carry 
 the election their way. The city was thoroughly 
 canvassed and the position of every legal voter was 
 known before election day. The election was held 
 on Tuesday, April 3rd, and resulted in the choice 
 of a high license Mayor, City Clerk and six of the 
 eight Aldermen, thus giving the high license party 
 control of the government. The total number of 
 votes cast was 499, and the high license mayor 
 was elected by 27 majority. The officers elected 
 were Mayor, A. L. Emigh; City Clerk, H. F. 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Sturdevant; City Treasurer, C. H. Sheldon; City 
 Marshal, W. T. Shortridge; City Attorney, Eph 
 Love; Aldermen, W. C. Stover, W. R. Aker, 
 first ward ; E. R. Barkley and L. W. Welch, second 
 ward; J. R. Wills and Louis Dauth, third ward; 
 W. M. Post and S. H. Seckner, fourth ward. 
 
 On Saturday evening, April 14th, the Board of 
 Trustees of the town of Fort Collins met for the 
 last time and after listening to reports of officers 
 and transacting such business as came before it, 
 adjourned, sine die. The newly elected city officers 
 
 CORNER OF WALNUT AND LINDEN STREETS, 
 FORT COLLINS 
 
 were immediately sworn in and entered upon the 
 duties of their respective positions. On Tuesday 
 evening, April 17th, the city council met again 
 pursuant to adjournment and Mayor Emigh sub- 
 mitted a list of standing committees and also the 
 names of appointive officers. These latter were: 
 Street Commissioner, Robert Walsh; Chief of 
 Fire Department, George T. Wilkins; Nightwatch- 
 man, C. M. Buck. The appointments were 
 promptly confirmed by the council. The committee 
 on law and ordinances reported an ordinance on 
 excise fixing the cost of liquor licenses at $1,200 
 per annum, payable quarterly in advance. A ques- 
 tion coming up regarding the legality of some of its 
 provisions, the ordinance was referred to the City 
 Attorney for an opinion on disputed points. At a 
 meeting held April 19, the excise ordinance was re- 
 ported by the City Attorney and after an amend- 
 ment fixing the license fee at $1,000 per annum, 
 one-fourth payable quarterly in advance, had been 
 approved, the ordinance was passed and adopted and 
 went immediately into efifect after publication. The 
 effect of this ordinance was to weed out all but six 
 of the saloons and the proprietors of these were each 
 placed under $3,000 bonds, conditioned that he 
 should keep and observe all the provisions of the 
 ordinance regarding closing on Sunday and elec- 
 
 tion days, gaming with cards or other devices in 
 the saloon, etc., fixing the penalities for violations 
 at from $50 to $300. The ordinance and all other 
 law and order ordinances were strictly enforced 
 and a radical improvement in the social and moral 
 condition of the city followed. The riff-raff, flot- 
 sam and jetsam, the gamblers and many of the loose 
 women that had floated in here during the "wide 
 open" period, found it convenient to leave the city 
 and seek localities where they could more safely 
 ply their nefarious avocations. The result was that 
 Fort Collins became a quiet, peaceable and law 
 and order loving community. One year later the 
 council passed an ordinance prohibiting the sale of 
 intoxicants of all kinds within the limits of the city. 
 This, however, was repealed in 1885 and the high 
 license ordinance re-adopted, which remained in 
 force until 1896, when the city again returned to 
 the principle of absolute prohibition, thus entirely 
 cutting out the open saloon, a policy that has since 
 been strictly adhered to and enforced. In 1909 the 
 city, by a vote of 5 to 1, accepted the provisions of 
 the State Local Option law absolutely prohibiting 
 the granting of liquor licenses and the sale of liquor 
 in the town. This policy is working well and the 
 city could not be prevailed upon to return to a 
 policy that fostered the open saloon. It was thus 
 that the open saloon in Fort Collins passed into 
 history unhonored, unwept and unsung. 
 
 Fort Collins at this period, instead of the old 
 Grout building of ten years before and the few 
 hundred people of five years later, was a town of 
 no mean proportions, having a population of more 
 than 2,000 people, with business blocks of brick and 
 stone that would do credit to many cities of far 
 greater population; with general stores the like of 
 whose large supplies and endless assortment are not 
 seen outside the Mountain states; with two flouring 
 mills, a large grain elevator, three banks, three 
 hotels, two daily and weekly newspapers, water 
 works, machine shops, graded schools with classes 
 ranging from kindergarten up, good school and 
 church buildings, and a thrifty ambitious, enter- 
 prising and intelligent class of people. Here was 
 also the State Agricultural college with good build- 
 ings and an improved farm and between sixty and 
 seventy students and with a record for helping the 
 farmer, the worth of which was not half told nor 
 realized and also with a record for wide investiga- 
 tion and substantial advance in the field of agri- 
 culture that had already challenged the admiration 
 of the leading agriculturists of the Nation. 
 
 [247] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 As already stated the first cemetery located in 
 Fort Collins was on the site selected by the postoffice 
 department for the Federal building at the corner 
 of College avenue and Oak street, for which Con- 
 gress has appropriated $100,000, and it was used 
 for the interment of soldiers who died here in 1864- 
 5 and 6. In 1873 this was abandoned and grounds 
 for a new cemetery, lying southeast of the town 
 were purchased and laid off into burial lots. It was 
 named "Mountain Home" and the bodies were re- 
 moved from the old to the new. As time passed on 
 
 LINDEN STREET, FORT COLLINS, 
 LOOKING NORTHEAST 
 
 this cemetery became too confined to meet require- 
 ments and on August 15th, 1887, the city pur- 
 chased from Thomas Connolly an eighty-acre tract 
 lying a mile and a half west of the city, with abund- 
 ant water rights from the Pleasant Valley & Lake 
 Canal for the sum of $4,000. One half of the 
 tract, or forty acres, was immediately laid out by 
 expert landscape gardeners for cemetery purposes 
 and named Grandview Cemetery. The first inter- 
 ment was made in the new cemetery November 
 22nd, 1887, The grounds were attractively laid 
 out with circular drives, ranging from 15 to 30 feet 
 in width. There were several small parks and these 
 were sown to blue grass and beautified with shrub- 
 bery and flowers. A plat of one-half an acre was 
 set off and dedicated to the uses of George H. 
 Thomas, Post No. 7, Grand Army of the Republic, 
 which removed to its plat the remains of the ten 
 soldiers buried in the old cemetery at the time of 
 the military occupation and many deceased soldiers 
 of the Civil war have therein been interred. No 
 new interments were permitted in Mountain Home 
 Cemetery after Grandview was opened, and the re- 
 mains of those buried in the former have since been 
 removed to the latter. The city and private citizens 
 have done much to beautify Grandview and it is 
 now one of the most attractive Cities of the Dead 
 
 [248] 
 
 in the state. Thousands of shade and ornamental 
 trees have been set out there and kept in order and 
 now afford an abundance of grateful shade. Hun- 
 dreds of well kept flower beds also add a pleasing 
 view to the scene. 
 
 The Colony provided for two small parks — 
 Washington and Lincoln — but only one of these 
 (Lincoln,) has been improved, making it a veritable 
 beauty spot. The Carnegie Public library is situated 
 in this park. 
 
 The amount expended in 1883 for new build- 
 ings and public improvements amounted to $169,- 
 000. The more important of the new buildings were 
 residences for B. F. Hottel, H. A. Crafts, Prof. A. 
 E. Blount, Prof. W. W. Remington, John G. 
 Lunn, B. F. Kelley, T. W. VoUintine, county 
 jail. Mechanical hall at college. Standard Milling 
 Company elevator, and two store buildings on 
 Linden street for T. H. Robertson & Co. 
 
 In 1886 it was found that additional school facil- 
 ities were an absolute necessity. For several years 
 the district had been compelled to rent vacant store 
 rooms on Jefferson street and Mountain avenue in 
 which to house several of the grades that could not 
 be accommodated at the Remington street school 
 building, and it was decided to erect an eight room 
 school house on property owned by the district at 
 the corner of Mountain avenue and Howes street. 
 A bond issue of $19,500 was promptly voted by the 
 taxpayers. On August 19 the contract to construct 
 the building according to plans and specifications, 
 was let to the E. F. Halleck Lumber company, of 
 Denver, for $19,000. The building was completed 
 in time for the opening of school in September, 1887. 
 
 On Saturday, July 10th, 1886, the Lindell Mills, 
 the pioneer flour mill of the Cache la Poudre valley, 
 were destroyed by fire, including all of its valuable 
 machinery, involving a loss of $60,000. The in- 
 surance on the property amounted to $28,000. The 
 mill was owned by the Colorado Milling and Ele- 
 vator company, B. F. Hottel, manager. The com- 
 pany immediately began preparations for build- 
 ing a larger and better mill to take the place of the 
 one destroyed. The new mill was completed in due 
 time and was equipped with modern machinery 
 and all the latest and most approved appliances for 
 converting wheat into commercial flour. At this 
 time the preliminaries for the proposed Farmer's 
 mill began to assume definite form and the trustees, 
 on Tuesday, July 15, let the contract for the ma- 
 chinery and equipment to E. P. Allis & Co., of 
 Milwaukee, at the company's bid of $36,000. The 
 building, a brick structure, 45 by 65 and four 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 stories high above the basement, was to be con- 
 structed at the expense of the Farmer's Protective 
 association. The Farmer's Protective association 
 was incorporated January 5th, 1884, under the laws 
 of Colorado. Among the objects specified in the 
 articles of incorporation, were the building of mills 
 and elevators, buying and selling real estate, the 
 manufacture of flour, feed, etc. The association 
 was organized primarily for the purpose of pro- 
 tecting the interests of the wheat growers of the 
 Cache la Poudre valley against alleged unfair dis- 
 crimination on the part of the millers of Colorado 
 in the purchase of grain. The farmers claimed 
 that the millers were not paying for wheat all they 
 could afEord to pay and that they were shipping 
 wheat into the state from Utah and other states to 
 the injury of the Colorado farmers, this in face of 
 the fact that Colorado was producing more bread- 
 stuffs than was sufficient to supply the needs of the 
 state. The leaders in the movement among the 
 farmers were J. E. Plummer, Z. C. Plummer, 
 Joseph Murray, John G. Coy, P. Anderson and 
 the most of the leading farmers of the valley be- 
 came members of the association, among whom the 
 feeling prevailed that a mill should be built to in- 
 sure a better return for their labors. The mill was 
 built and set in operation but through mismanage- 
 ment it proved a losing proposition and in a few 
 years fell into the hands of creditors who closed it 
 down and dismanteled it. 
 
 Fort Collins was a progressive town and its 
 citizens believed in keeping step with the march of 
 progress in all things that promised to aid in its 
 development or that added to the comfort and con- 
 venience of the community. The electric system of 
 lighting streets and for domestic ^use was being in- 
 troduced in most of the large cities of the country, 
 giving such excellent satisfaction that a company 
 was organized and incorporated in October, 1887, to 
 build and operate a plant in Fort Collins. The 
 organization was known as the Fort Collins Light, 
 Heat and Power company, its incorporators being 
 W. B. Stewart, E. P. Roberts, E. T. Dunning and 
 William B. Miner. On October 18th the city 
 council passed a resolution granting the company 
 and its successors the right to erect and operate 
 electric lights and right of way through all the 
 streets and alleys for the erection of poles and lay- 
 ing, suspending and maintaining the necessary wires 
 and other appliances for the transmission of elec- 
 tricity in, through, under or over the said streets 
 and alleys. Mr. Stewart came from Denver. He 
 was a machinist and mechanical engineer of acknow- 
 
 ledged ability and experience. Mr. Roberts was 
 the general manager of the Cheyenne electric light 
 works. Mr. Dunning was one of the leading attor- 
 neys of Fort Collins and Mr. Miner, a prominent 
 resident and well known man of wealth. The fol- 
 lowing day Messrs. Stewart and Roberts went to 
 Denver to order the necessary machinery for the 
 plant, promising to light up the city with electricity 
 about the middle of December. The city agreed 
 to take ten arc street lights and to pay $2,000 the 
 first year for them. The plant furnished the city 
 
 CORNER OF LINDEN AND WALNUT STREETS, 
 FORT COLLINS 
 
 with lights until 1908 when the franchise passed by 
 purchase under the control of the Northern Colo- 
 rado Power company which generated the electricity 
 at its big power plant at Lafayette and transmitted 
 it from there over wires to the city. The old plant 
 was dismanteled and the building remodeled and 
 made to house other business enterprises. 
 
 A telephone was constructed in August, 1887, 
 by the city to connect the city hall with the water 
 works pump house for use in cases of fire, when 
 greater pressure was required. Six years later, 
 July 13, 1893, the city council granted a franchise 
 to the Colorado Telephone company to build 
 a line connecting Fort Collins with Denver and 
 other Colorado cities. The line was completed 
 and an exchange was located in J. R. Will's drug 
 store and Mr. Wills was the first manager. There 
 were about fifty local subscribers. The list has 
 since grown to between 3,000 and 4,000 and in 
 1909, the Telephone company erected a handsome 
 and well arranged building on College avenue for 
 the exclusive use of the exchange, and has a large 
 number of employees on its local pay roll. 
 
 For several months previous to the opening of 
 the year 1888, citizens and the newspapers had 
 discussed the necessity of an adequate sewer sys- 
 tem from a sanitary standpoint, and an attempt 
 was made to bond the city in the sum of $8,000, 
 
 [249] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 the proceeds to be used in the construction of a 
 sewer extending from the Franklin School build- 
 ing east on Mountain avenue to Lincoln avenue 
 and thence to the river. When the proposition 
 vi^as laid before the people at the municipal elec- 
 tion, held April 3rd, 1888, it was voted down by 
 34 majority. The vote against the bonds was 
 not an indication of the sentiments of the people 
 on the question of sewers, but simply an expres- 
 sion against bonding the city for the purpose of 
 constructing them. The 
 feeling that the sewer 
 should be built was 
 strong, but the people dis- 
 liked the idea of voting 
 bonds for the improve- 
 ment. They favored sew- 
 ers and other public im- 
 provements, but wanted 
 the city to pay for them 
 as they were made and 
 not issue bonds. In July 
 the city council saw its 
 way clear to begin the 
 work of sewer construc- 
 tion and on the 7th, 
 awarded the contract for 
 excavating 2,870 feet for 
 sewer purposes to V. L. 
 Watkins who began work 
 at once on the first sewer 
 built in Fort Collins. 
 This sewer was originally 
 intended to be built of 
 
 brick and to extend from a point on the river near 
 the Lincoln avenue bridge, thence southwest on 
 Lincoln avenue to the intersection of Mountain 
 avenue and thence west on Mountain avenue to 
 the alley west of the Franklin School building, a 
 distance of 2,870 feet. The cost paid out of the 
 revenues of the city amounted to $3,500. In 
 1891 this sewer was extended west 540 feet and 
 in 1893 still further west 586 feet. The people 
 quickly familiarized themselves with the benefits 
 of sewers and since then almost the entire city 
 has been underlaid with a net-work of sewers. 
 The total number of feet constructed and now in 
 use amounts at this time to 19} miles. 
 
 During the years of 1882-3 and 4 the city built 
 up faster than the surrounding country which it 
 depended upon for support with the inevitable re- 
 sult. Business in all lines was overdone and a period 
 of liquidation and stagnation set in and continued 
 
 until along in the early 90's, so that in the matter 
 of growth the town but little more than held its 
 own. The census of 1890 gave the town a popu- 
 lation of but 2,053, a gain of only 42 during the 
 preceding decade. A number of causes contributed 
 to this condition of affairs, the principal one being 
 that the farmers were not doing well. Their prin- 
 cipal money crop was wheat and this fell off in 
 yield per acre, due to continued cropping year 
 after year, and to decline in the market price so 
 
 LAMB FEEDING IN LARIMER COUNTY 
 
 that, taking out the cost of production, there was 
 little or nothing left the producer. Then many 
 of the farmers were in debt for their land, for im- 
 provements and for farm implements, stock, etc., 
 and they had all they could do to keep their heads 
 abo\'e water. Alfalfa hay was a drug upon the 
 market and there was no demand for it. This 
 was before the introduction of sheep feeding which 
 a few years afterwards wrought a wonderful change 
 in the situation. The stockmen suffered with the 
 farmers as there was a frightful decline in the 
 values of cattle and horses between 1885 and 1890, 
 so that money was scarce and business correspond- 
 ingly dull. It is an universally acknowledged 
 truism, applying particularly to an agricultural and 
 stock growing section, that unless the producers 
 thrive the town cannot prosper. Things were about 
 getting down to bed rock in 1889 when, through 
 an accident the farmers began to take up sheep 
 
 [250] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 feeding as a hew industry. The first year only 
 3,500 Mexican lambs were put in the pens and fed 
 for the Chicago Tnarket. The lambs fattened on 
 alfalfa and corn, brought a good price in Chicago 
 in April and May, 1890. The results of the ex- 
 periment were so encouraging that farmers gen- 
 erally began to engage in it, so that by 1896-7 the 
 number of sheep and lambs on feed in the county 
 had increased from 3,500 to nearly 200,000 and 
 in 1901 to 400,000. As a general thing the busi- 
 ness was profitable. It enabled many a struggling 
 farmer to pay off his debts and save his farm and 
 home. By feeding sheep and lambs he made a 
 home market for his surplus alfalfa, coarse grains 
 and roots and also increased the fertility of his 
 soil, resulting in larger and better harvests. The 
 impulse of the prosperity of the farmers during 
 this period was felt in Fort Collins and the town 
 began to take on new life. A good deal of build- 
 ing was done, new enterprises were started and the 
 population of the town increased from 2,034 to 
 3,153 in the decade between 1890 and 1900, a 
 gain of more than 1,000 souls, notwithstanding the 
 business panic of 1893. The creamery and cheese 
 factory built in 1888 contributed not a little to the 
 prosperity of the farmers and town's people, for 
 it distributed large sums of money every week for 
 milk and cream to producers. 
 
 Perhaps the darkest day of the entire decade 
 occurred on October 5th, 1895, when the Lindell 
 Mills again burned down, involving the destruc- 
 tion of the only flour mill in operation in Fort 
 Collins and a pecuniary loss of $125,000. It was 
 the second time the Lindell Mills had been de- 
 stroyed by fire. The first time was in July, 1886. 
 They were rebuilt in 1887 and had been in suc- 
 cessful operation until the flames devoured them 
 in 1895. Several thousand sacks of flour and about 
 $4,000 worth of grain sacks were consumed in the 
 last fire. The elevator adjoining the mill con- 
 tained 50,000 bushels of wheat, much of which 
 was made worthless by fire, water and smoke. In 
 1896 the mills were rebuilt on a larger and more 
 substantial scale, and are still in operation. They 
 furnish a ready market for all the wheat grown 
 in the vicinity. 
 
 The Odd Fellows built their handsome and com- 
 modious hall in 1895 and began occupying it about 
 the first of December. 
 
 A majority of the aldermen elected at the muni- 
 cipal election held April 7th, 1896, were ardent 
 prohibitionists and it was not long after they took 
 their seats in the council before an ordinance. 
 
 prohibiting the open saloon and the sale of intoxi- 
 cating liquors of all kinds, was passed and adopted. 
 Since then the sale of wines, liquors and beer in 
 Fort Collins has been illegal and every known 
 violation of the ordinance has been dealt with by 
 the courts, not always in a merciful manner. For 
 fourteen years the city has been without an open 
 saloon and this condition bids fair to be continued 
 indefinitely, as public sentiment in Fort Collins 
 is bitterly opposed to the liquor traffic. 
 
 F. R. Baker, a strong anti-saloon man, was 
 mayor of the city at that time and the anti-license 
 aldermen who voted for the prohibition ordinance 
 
 LINDEN STREET, FORT COLLINS, 
 LOOKING SOUTHWEST 
 
 were Benjamin Dix, Samuel Luke, James M. 
 Simms, W. J. Meyers and J. W. Downey. 
 
 In October, 1898, the Colorado & Southern 
 railroad company began the erection of a new pas- 
 enger station to take the place of the old small, 
 badly arranged and worse looking brick structure 
 that had been in use since October, 1877. The 
 new station is still in use and at the time it was 
 built was conceded to be the handsomest and most 
 conveniently arranged station on the entire road. 
 It is 31 by 80 feet, ground dimensions, and built 
 of gray stone laid up in broken ashlar style, with 
 cut stone caps and sills and arches. It cost between 
 $8,000 and $9,000. It was completed and occu- 
 pied in May, 1899. 
 
 The decade between 1900 and 1910 was the 
 most prosperous era that Fort Collins ever exper- 
 ienced. The population increased during the ten 
 years from 3,153 to 8,210 and business of all kinds 
 was flourishing. There was no boom, just a steady 
 substantial growth with a constantly increasing 
 trade in every department of business. Citizens 
 had awakened from the lethargic condition that 
 prevailed for several years during and after the 
 panic of 1893, and early in the decade began to take 
 a more optimistic view of things. New business 
 
 [251] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 blood had been introduced, the farmers were mak- 
 ing money and doing well, more land had been 
 brought under cultivation and the banks were carry- 
 ing large sums in deposits, and everything of a 
 material nature seemed to be favorable to continued 
 prosperity. New business blocks and new dwell- 
 ings and residences were erected in large numbers 
 and new people came in to occupy them. In 1901 
 the receipts of the postoffice exceeded $10,000 per 
 annum which entitled the town to the carrier de- 
 livery system which was installed that year, three 
 
 CORNER OF WEST MOUNTAIN AND COLLEGE 
 A\'ENUES, FORT COLLINS 
 
 carriers of mail being first employed. This system 
 has grown so that now six carriers are employed to 
 deliver mail in the city. 
 
 In 1899 a public library association was organ- 
 ized and the collection of books gathered up by 
 the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and by 
 the Rev. George N. Falconer, numbering about 
 800 volumes, all told, were donated to the associa- 
 tion as a nucleus of a public library. These books 
 were gathered up and first housed in rooms on the 
 second floor of the Welch block and Mrs. Jane 
 Budrow was appointed the first librarian. A few 
 months later Mayor F. R. Baker, in accordance 
 with the statutes, appointed a board of directors 
 consisting of Mrs. Ida M. Warren, Mrs. P. J. 
 McHugh, Miss Mary Killgore, Judge Jay H. 
 Bouton, Ansel Watrous and T. A. Gage, with 
 the Mayor as an ex-ofKcio member, which board 
 accepted the books from the old association and they 
 then became the property of the City's free library. 
 The books were soon after moved to a room on 
 College avenue where they remained until the fall 
 of 1903 when they were placed in the Carnegie 
 library building in Lincoln Park. Through the 
 efEorts of Mrs. D. A. McLean and other citizens, 
 Andrew Carnegie, the well known steel manu- 
 facturer and philanthropist, donated $12,500 
 
 [252] 
 
 towards the cost of a suitable library building, 
 conditioned that the city should support and main- 
 tain a free public library, which the city authorities 
 agreed to do. The library now contains nearly 
 8,000 volumes of choice books and is one of the 
 fixed and most popular public institutions of the 
 city. 
 
 The most notable event in the history of Fort 
 Collins, in a material way, since the completion of 
 the Colorado Central Railroad in 1877, was the 
 building of the beet sugar factory in 1903. This 
 subject had been agitated since 1888 when it was 
 demonstrated by experiments at the State Agri- 
 cultural college that sugar beets, carrying a high 
 percentage of saccharine matter could be success- 
 fully and profitably grown in Larimer county. 
 This agitation resulted in a concerted m.ovement 
 started in 1891 to get a factory here, and a rep- 
 resentative of the Oxnard interests promised that 
 if the farmers would engage to grow 5,000 acres 
 of beets he would see that a factory was built. At 
 that time he said nothing about a bonus or sub- 
 sidy. Committees were appointed to solicit acreage 
 and its members soon secured pledges for the re- 
 quired number of acres. The Oxnard company 
 was notified of what had been done and a few days 
 later a representative appeared on the ground and 
 demanded a bonus of $150,000 cash, site for a fac- 
 tory and free water for its use. This demand was 
 promptly negatived and that was the last heard of 
 the Oxnard proposition. In 1901 Loveland suc- 
 ceeded in getting capital interested in the building 
 of a factory there and the plant was completed 
 and placed in successful operation in October that 
 year. The Loveland factory proved to be such a pro- 
 nounced success and the establishment of the enter- 
 prise had such a decided effect in advancing values 
 of real estate, both farm and town property, that 
 the people of Fort Collins were stimulated to extra 
 exertion in behalf of the location and building of a 
 factory at that point. Public meetings were held 
 in the winter of 1901-2, at which an encouraging 
 degree of enthusiasm was promoted. Committees, 
 headed by Jesse Harris and Frank E. Baxter, were 
 appointed to solicit beet acreage and they entered 
 upon their work with an energy that promised 
 success. They soon had the required acreage 
 pledged and James B. Arthur and Peter Ander- 
 son were sent east to look over the factories in 
 Michigan and to confer with the Kilby company 
 of Cleveland, Ohio, which built the Loveland fact- 
 ory, and others for the purpose of getting capital 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNT Y 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 interested to the extent of furnishing the money to 
 build and operate a 600 ton per day plant. They 
 were authorized to close a contract for the con- 
 struction of the plant at once. This was in Janu- 
 ary, 1902. They returned from their mission on 
 January 20th and submitted a report in which they 
 set forth what had been done in the premises and 
 what the prospects were for getting a factory that 
 year. The substance of the report was that it 
 would be inadvisable to attempt to complete a fact- 
 ory in time for the fall campaign; that it could be 
 done if conditions were altogether favorable but 
 that it would cost more money than if the con- 
 tractor had more time in which to do the work. 
 The matter rested in this shape until April when 
 it was decided to deposit all the beet contracts with 
 Joel F. Vaile of Denver, to be held by him until 
 such time as they could be legally transferred to the 
 Fort Collins Sugar company, positive assurance be- 
 ing given that the factory would be built. About 
 the first of August the Fort Collins Sugar Manu- 
 facturing company filed its articles of incorpora- 
 tion. The company was capitalized at $350,000, 
 divided into 3,500 shares of $100 each. The di- 
 rectors for the first year were to be J. S. Brown, 
 Denver, B. F. Hottel, James A. Brown, James B. 
 Arthur, C. R. Welch, J. S. McClelland and F. 
 M. Shaw. At this time Mr. Shaw reported that 
 contracts had been secured for the growing of 6,- 
 483^ acres of beets for the years 1903-4 and 5. By 
 Saturday, September 10th, the stock had all been 
 subscribed for and a meeting of the directors was 
 held that day for the purpose of electing officers 
 with the following result : President, B. F. Hottel ; 
 Vice-President, James B. Arthur; Secretary, F. M. 
 Shaw; Treasurer, C. R. Welch. At that meeting 
 it was given out that the company was then fully 
 organized and expected to break ground for the 
 sugar factory within a few days. B. F. Hottel, 
 James A. Brown and F. M. Shaw left for the East 
 on the 12th of September and wired back from 
 Cleveland on the 20th that they had let a contract 
 to the Kilby Manufacturing company for a 600 
 ton per day sugar factory to cost $650,000, the 
 plant to be completed on or before September 15th, 
 1903. On their return home a meeting of the 
 stockholders was held September 23rd to hear their 
 report. It was then decided to build a 1,200 ton 
 pjant and to increase the capital stock to $1,000,- 
 000, and the Kilby Manufacturing company was 
 notified to that effect. Mr. Kilby immediately 
 wired back September 30th, that he accepted the 
 change and would construct a 1,200 ton plant. On 
 
 the 16th of October the Fort Collins Sugar Manu- 
 facturing Company was reincorporated as the Fort 
 Collins, Colorado, Sugar Company. The capital 
 stock was fixed at $1,000,000 and the officers of 
 the old company were retained for the new. The 
 company purchased the Alexander Barry farm of 
 120 acres and the Buckingham tract of 480 acres 
 for a site for the factory, paying $18,000 for the 
 Barry farm and $48,000 for the Buckingham tract, 
 and on Wednesday morning, November 12th, 
 1902, the ground was broken for Fort Collins' big 
 
 TYPICAL BEET DUMP 
 
 sugar factory. On the day before the Fort Collins 
 Railway Development company let a contract for 
 the grading of a line of railway from Fort Collins 
 to Wellington in the Boxelder valley, a distance 
 of twelve miles. 
 
 The beginning of construction work on these 
 new and important enterprises had a marked effect 
 on real estate values, both urban and suburban. 
 Farm lands in the vicinity of the city that a few 
 months before could have been purchased for from 
 $100 to $150 per acre, almost immediately were 
 advanced to $200 and $250 per acre and city prop- 
 erty felt the impulse in a corresponding degree. 
 The city took on new life and the seasons of 1903- 
 4-5 and 6 were remarkably busy ones for the build- 
 ers. Labor found ready employment and many 
 new business enterprises were established. The 
 city directory issued in 1905 showed that the town 
 had more than doubled its population since work 
 was begun on the sugar factory and the Welling- 
 ton extension of the railroad. In the summer of 
 1904 all the local stockholders in the Fort Collins, 
 Colorado, Sugar Company sold their shares to the 
 Great Western Sugar company, a subsidiary com- 
 pany of the American Sugar Refining company, 
 which had been organized. The local stockholders 
 held $300,000 worth of stock of the old company 
 
 [253] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 for which they were paid par value with 6 per 
 cent interest, and the management of the com- 
 pany was vested in new hands. The factory 
 was completed and began slicing beets on Jan- 
 uary 4th, 1904, with between 60,000 and 70,- 
 000 tons of beets, the entire crop of the season of 
 1903, on hand to work up into sugar. The sugar 
 making campaign closed about the first of March 
 with more than 15,000,000 pounds of granulated 
 sugar to its credit. Eight crops of beets have been 
 harvested in Fort Collins district since beet plant- 
 
 CORNER OF WALNUT STREET AND COLLEGE 
 AVENUE, FORT COLLINS 
 
 ing began in the spring of 1903, for which the Great 
 Western Sugar company has paid to the farmers 
 $5,860,000, and to employes in and about the fact- 
 ory about $2,000,000, making a total of $7,860,- 
 000 that it has expended for beets and labor. This 
 is exclusive of the cost of the factory which was 
 $1,250,000, a large part of which was paid out for 
 labor and material on the buildings. 
 
 The growth of the town was so rapid in 1902-3, 
 that the demand for water for domestic uses was 
 greater than the supply and it became necessary 
 to make provisions for an increased quantity of that 
 indispensible necessity. The old water works sys- 
 tem, completed in 1883, was totally inadequate to 
 meet requirements and besides, the water was in 
 constant danger of contamination from sewage 
 from Bellvue and the settlements on the North 
 fork of the Cache la Poudre and was also full of 
 impurities during the frequent flood periods that 
 had their rise mainly on the North fork. To rem- 
 edy these evils and to insure a larger supply of bet- 
 ter water it was decided, after a series of investiga- 
 tions, to extend the supply pipes up into the canon 
 to a point on the main stream above the confluence 
 of the North fork. In the summer of 1903 the 
 people voted to issue municipal bonds of the city 
 to the amount of $150,000, the proceeds of the 
 
 [254] 
 
 sales of which to be used in the extension and en- 
 largement of the city's water system. The bonds 
 were sold and in September a contract to construct 
 the new system was let to Holme & Allen of Den- 
 ver, who completed the job in the spring of 1904. 
 The contract called for a gravity system that would 
 supply the city with 4,000,000 gallons of water 
 every 24 hours with a pressure of 90 pounds to 
 the square inch at the intersection of College and 
 Laporte avenues. This system afforded an ample 
 supply of unfiltered water for all purposes, but, 
 during the spring floods, the stream carried a great 
 deal of impurities making the water unfit for use 
 for a few days at a time. To remedy this the city, 
 in 1909, installed near the head works a mechanical 
 filter of sufficient capacity to cleanse and purify all 
 the water the system could carry. Since then Fort 
 Collins has enjoyed the luxury of a bountiful supply 
 of the best and purest of water at all times. As a 
 provision against accidents and to make sure of a 
 supply, the city in 1910, had constructed a cement 
 storage basin at Bingham hill, with a capacity of 
 5,000,000 gallons of filtered water to be held in 
 storage and to be drawn upon only in case an acci- 
 dent should occur to the pipe line above that point. 
 At present Fort Collins prides itself on having one 
 of the best municipal water plants in the Rocky 
 Mountain region. 
 
 In September, 1903, a contract for the construc- 
 tion of the Carnegie public library building was let 
 to Butler & McDaniels and the building was com- 
 pleted early in 1904. This is a beautiful building, 
 its exterior walls being of red sandstone ornamented 
 with gray sandstone caps and sills, and cost about 
 $15,000 to build and furnish. It is located in Lin- 
 coln Park, fronting on Matthews street, one of the 
 main resident streets of the city. 
 
 In 1904 the Poudre Valley Gas Company was 
 incorporated with a capital of $100,000 for the pur- 
 pose of constructing and operating a gas plant which 
 should furnish illuminating and heating gas to citi- 
 zens of Fort Collins. The stock was all subscribed 
 by local capitalists and construction work was be- 
 gun that fall and prosecuted with vigor during the 
 following winter. The works were completed and 
 gas was turned through 6 miles of mains in March, 
 1905. Since then about 5 additional miles of mains 
 have been laid, making In all 1 1 miles of gas mains 
 In the city, from which 800 consumers are supplied 
 with gas for illuminating and heating purposes. 
 The officers of the company are President, B. F. 
 Hottel; Vice-President, F. P. Stover; Treasurer, 
 James A. Brown; Secretary, F. W. Stover; Mana- 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 ger, Miss Emma Frederickson. This company 
 annually pays into the city treasury three per cent 
 of its net earnings as a franchise tax. 
 
 In the fall and winter 1906 a ten day's cam- 
 paign was started for the purpose of soliciting 
 subscriptions to a fund to be used in erecting and 
 equipping a Young Men's Christian Association 
 building. The campaign resulted in securing 
 pledges to the amount of about $65,000. With this 
 sum to begin with the association selected plans 
 and proceeded to let contracts for the construction 
 of a $60,000 building. The structure was com- 
 pleted in February, 1908, and the first public as- 
 semblage to meet in the new building gathered on 
 February 26 to listen to an address by George B. 
 Hodge, International Secretary of the Educational 
 department of Y. M. C. A. work. The building 
 completed, furnished and equipped, cost $90,000, 
 the entire sum being raised by voluntary contri- 
 butions. The building and its equipments is a 
 monument to the enterprises, liberality and progress- 
 ive spirit of the people of Fort Collins and 
 vicinity. 
 
 The Fort Collins Hospital association, organ- 
 ized in 1903, erected a large and well furnished 
 building in 1906, at the corner of Matthews and 
 Magnolia streets, thus supplying the city with a 
 growing and very important need. 
 
 Realizing the need of more park room, the city, 
 in 1907, purchased 60 acres of the former John 
 Sheldon farm, paying therefor, $48,000. This 
 tract of land is gradually being improved and con- 
 verted into a public park. It is situated just west 
 of and adjoining the western limits of the city, and 
 is within one block of the Mountain avenue street 
 car line. It is the purpose of the Park Commis- 
 sion, as soon as available funds can be obtained, to 
 make a veritable beauty spot and breathing place of 
 this park. It will command a fine view of the 
 mountains on the west and the city on the east, 
 while on the north and south stretching away for 
 miles in each direction lie cultivated fields and 
 handsome farm homes and orchards. 
 
 In the fall of 1906 the city council of the City 
 of Fort Collins granted a franchise to the Denver 
 Interurban Railway company which gave the com- 
 pany the right to construct and operate a system of 
 electric railways along the certain specified streets 
 and avenues of the city. The company began con- 
 struction work in the summer of 1907 and on 
 December 28th began operating street cars over the 
 five miles of track laid upon the following named 
 streets and avenues: College avenue from Jeffer- 
 
 son street to Pitkin street; Pitkin street from Col- 
 lege avenue to Remington street; Remington street 
 from Pitkin to Elizabeth and thence along the 
 last named street to College avenue ; Mountain 
 avenue to Grandview Cemetery; Jefferson from 
 
 THE MAUDE BELLE, CAPT. POST'S PLEASURE 
 BOAT ON LINDENMEIER LAKE 
 
 College avenue to a connection with the Moun- 
 tain avenue line at Peterson street; Linden street 
 to Jefferson street. In 1908 the company extended 
 its Linden street line on past the sugar factory to 
 Lindenmeier lake, and in 1909 placed cars in opera- 
 tion on Peterson, East Magnolia and Whedbee 
 streets to Elizabeth street. The company gives a 
 
 [255] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 twenty minute service on all these lines and the 
 people of Fort Collins find the street cars of great 
 convenience. The tracks and equipment are first- 
 class in all respects and the system is well managed. 
 Aside from sketches of the rise and progress of 
 the difiEerent churches, the public schools, theaters, 
 women's clubs, and fraternal societies, the fore- 
 going completes the story of the salient features 
 of the history of Fort Collins from the time the 
 soldiers were stationed here in October, 1864, to 
 the close of the year 1910. From that lonely 
 military post, away out on the frontier at the base 
 of the Rocky Mountains, 600 miles beyond the 
 boundaries of civilized rule, Fort Collins has grown 
 to a city of 8,210 people, with its churches, public 
 schools, theatres, fraternal organizations, street 
 cars, gas works, water works, embracing 40 miles 
 of distributing mains, 19] miles of sewer mains, its 
 public library, park system, race track and manu- 
 facturing plants, besides many public conveniences 
 and business enterprises which are only found in a 
 wide awake, progressive community. What the 
 next fifty years has in store for Fort Collins time 
 alone will determine. That it faces a promising 
 future cannot be denied, but it must be left to the 
 historian of half a century hence to tell the story of 
 its growth and advancement as intervening time 
 shall unfold and reveal it. 
 
 In July, 1909, the Union Pacific Railroad camp- 
 any authorized and instructed its agent, Jesse 
 Harris of Fort Collins, to purchase all the property 
 embraced in five city blocks lying between Jefferson 
 and Willow streets for use as a right of way through 
 the city and for terminal facilities. The purchase 
 was made at an expense of about $400,000, and in 
 1910 the ground was cleared of buildings, fences, 
 trees, etc., and made ready for the railroad graders. 
 The company had already graded a track from 
 Denver to a point near the town of Milliken for a 
 line of road from Denver to Fort Collins, and dur- 
 ing that summer and fall it had completed the grade 
 to Fort Collins and had also erected all the bridges 
 and culverts along the line. In October work was 
 suspended until the spring of 1911 with the an- 
 nouncement that it would then be resumed and the 
 line completed and placed in operation at the earliest 
 possible moment. This move on the part of the 
 Union Pacific was greeted with many manifesta- 
 tions of pleasure by the people of Fort Collins, who 
 had long looked forward to the time when a com- 
 peting railroad should be built from Denver into 
 the city. The new road, when completed, will 
 afford a sliorter and more direct route to the Capi- 
 
 [:56] 
 
 tal of the state and also provide a direct outlet to 
 the east over that company's line from Julesburg 
 to Denver, via LaSalle, thus cutting out the delay 
 and expense of the haul to Denver in order to con- 
 nect with lines leading east. 
 
 This movement also spurred the Colorado & 
 Southern Railroad company to action and in Decem- 
 ber, 1910, it began the work of grading an exten- 
 sion of its line of road from Wellington to Chey- 
 enne, the Capital of Wyoming, so it is highly prob- 
 able that by the first of July, 1911, Fort Collins 
 
 S^ 
 
 
 ^*ri;V"^"""' &. 
 
 
 w^^ 
 
 P^HB 
 
 IMLES OF SUGAR BEETS 
 
 will be on a main trunk line of railroad extending 
 from Puget Sound to the Gulf of Mexico, and also 
 on a direct line eastward via the Union Pacific, 
 privileges the city had been hoping for and ex- 
 pecting for nearly thirty years. 
 
 Old Burying Ground 
 
 When the soldiers were in Fort Collins in 1864-5 
 and 6, they buried their dead on ground lying be- 
 tween College avenue and Mason street, now crossed 
 by Oak street. This ground was used for several 
 years afterwards for cemetery purposes, but when 
 the Colony located here in 1872, new burying 
 grounds were laid off at the east end of Laurel 
 street, to which many, but not all the bodies in the 
 old ground were removed. Later when Oak street 
 was being leveled off to grade, the bones of several 
 bodies interred in unmarked graves, were plowed 
 up. These grim reminders of early day deaths were 
 gathered up and properly buried in what is now 
 known as the old cemetery. The names of those 
 who occupied these unmarked graves have passed 
 from the memory of even the oldest inhabitant, and 
 their life history is as a sealed book with the present 
 generation. 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 First White Child Born in 
 Fort Collins 
 
 Mrs. Agnes Giddings, wife of E. C. Giddings, 
 was the first white child born within the limits of 
 the present City of Fort Collins, and she came into 
 the world as the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. August- 
 ine Mason on the 31st day of October, 1867. As 
 a singular coincidence she was born in the house in 
 which Mr. and Mrs. Harris Stratton were married 
 on the 30th day of December, 1866, and who were 
 the parents of the second white child born in Fort 
 Collins, who is now Mrs. P. J. McHugh. These 
 ladies are both residents of Fort Collins and admired 
 leaders and factors in church, club and social cir- 
 cles. They have grown up with the city, and have 
 seen it develop from a frontier military post to one 
 of the most important cities in the Centennial State, 
 and their efforts and influence have always been cast 
 on the side of moral, educational and social advance- 
 ment. The wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Harris Strat- 
 ton was the first one celebrated in the then embryo 
 City of Fort Collins. Mention of this wedding is 
 made elsewhere in this book. 
 
 First Murder in Fort Collins 
 
 The night before Christmas, 1881, a colored 
 man named Albert Sherwood, employed as a cook 
 at the Tedmon House, was shot and killed by a 
 white man named Lindeville, better known as 
 "Tex," in a carousal at a bagino kept by colored 
 women on N. Meldrum street. This was the first 
 murder committed in Fort Collins. The murderer 
 escaped punishment by pleading self-defense. Sher- 
 wood was striking Lindeville on the head with a 
 pitcher when the latter drew his gun and shot him. 
 
 Churches of Fort Collins 
 
 The First Methodist Episcopal church was the 
 first of the religious orders to organize a class in 
 Fort Collins, and the organization has since kept 
 pace with the growth and development of the city 
 and surrounding country, that church having a 
 larger membership than any of its sister denomina- 
 tions. The first class was organized in 1867 by 
 Rev. O. P. McMains. He was succeeded by Rev. 
 Geo. W. Swift, who remained on the circuit which 
 then embraced the Big Thompson and Poudre valley 
 classes for a period of one year. He was succeeded 
 by Rev. J. R. Moore, who ministered to the Fort 
 Collins class two years, the circuit having been re- 
 
 duced to the Poudre valley alone. Then followed 
 Rev. J. P. Dew, who, in 1873, began the erection of 
 a place of worship on lots situated immediately west 
 of the Colorado & Southern railroad's main tracks. 
 Rev. R. W. Bosworth succeeded Rev. Dew and com- 
 pleted the building of the church and it was dedi- 
 cated by Rev. Geo. H. Adams, Presiding Elder, 
 in the spring of 1876, Mr. Bosworth remaining in 
 charge three years being succeeded in 1876 by Rev. 
 C. A. Brooks. The lots on which the church was 
 built were donated by the Larimer County Land 
 Improvement company. Through irrigation and 
 seepage the lots became covered with water so that 
 for a greater part of the season it was impossible 
 to get to the church without wading through mud 
 and water, consequently services in the church were 
 abandoned. After that services were held in the 
 second story of the Old Grout building, until the 
 spring of 1878, when the church building was 
 moved to a new site on Mountain avenue. The lots 
 for the new site were donated by A. L. Emigh. 
 The old building was abandoned for church uses 
 in 1897, when the new place of worship was com- 
 pleted at the corner of College avenue and Olive 
 street, but it is still standing and is used as a garage. 
 The new edifice was begun while Rev. James F. 
 Coffman was pastor and completed during the pas- 
 torate of his successor. It is one of the finest 
 church buildings in the city, seating about 1,200 
 persons. It is supplied with an excellent pipe organ 
 and the attendance is uniformally good. The pres- 
 ent membership numbers 929 and the Sunday school 
 has an enrollment of 1,165. Mission work is car- 
 ried on at St. Paul's chapel on Shields street, and 
 at Sunnyside. Rev. H. G. Porter is the present 
 pastor. The present value of the church property 
 is $43,500. 
 
 The First Presbyterian church was organized 
 August 25th, 1872, by Rev. Sheldon Jackson, Super- 
 intendent of Territorial Missions, with the follow- 
 ing membership : Mrs. Caroline McAdams, Miss 
 Hattie G. McAdams, Mrs. Rebecca Lyon, Mrs. 
 Mary E. Peterson, Mrs. Alice McGoffin, Mrs. 
 George E. Buss, Mrs. S. S. Sykes, George T. 
 Sykes, Wm. M. Neece, Mrs. Mary S. Peterson, 
 J. H. Mandeville, Andrew Cowan and Mrs. Christ- 
 ina Vescelius. George T. Sykes was the first elder 
 and Rev. R. G. Thompson, then of Greeley, the 
 first pastor. Previous to that, however, Rev. W. 
 T. McAdams preached to the little band of wor- 
 shippers. The church was received into the Colo- 
 rado Presbytery in September, 1872. Articles of in- 
 corporation were filed in December, 1873, by Henry 
 
 [257] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 C. Peterson, J. C. Matthews, W. C. Stover, W. S. 
 Vescelius, A. K. Yount and Andrew Cowan, who 
 were elected the first trustees of the church. Rev. 
 Joseph Patterson began ministering to the church in 
 June, 1873, remaining in charge two years. Meet- 
 ings were then held in the Old Grout building, the 
 school house and whenever and wherever a suit- 
 able place could be obtained. Rev. D. E. Finks 
 succeeded Rev. Patterson in June, 1876. The first 
 regular place of worship, which stood at the corner 
 of Linden and Walnut streets was commenced in 
 1876 and dedicated on June 24th, 1877. The Sab- 
 bath school was organized in July, 1877. Rev. 
 Finks served the church as pastor until the fall of 
 1881. Between the time Mr. Finks resigned in 
 1881, until May, 1886, when Rev. J. W. Part- 
 ridge assumed charge, the church pulpit was sup- 
 plied by Rev. Duncan McCall, Rev. J. G. Smith, 
 Rev. David McTavish, Rev. E. H. Curtis, Rev. 
 T. E. Bliss and Rev. Carl H. Stone. The corner 
 stone of the present house of worship at the corner 
 of Remington and Olive streets, was laid on June 
 27th, 1887, and the building was completed in No- 
 vember of that year. The cost of the new church 
 edifice was about $9,000, and it has a seating capa- 
 city of 400 adults. Andrew Armstrong was super- 
 intendent of construction. 
 
 The present number of members is 617. The 
 Sunday school has a membership of 452. The con- 
 gregation purchased a pastor's residence on Mat- 
 thews street in 1905. Rev. J. G. Klene is the pres- 
 ent pastor of the church. Special missionary work 
 is carried on at the Logan street chapel. The pres- 
 ent value of church property is $25,000. 
 
 St. Joseph's Catholic Church. The credit for 
 holding the first religious services in Larimer county 
 belongs to the Catholic denomination. A few years 
 after John B. Provost and his companions came 
 from Fort Laramie in 1858, and located at La- 
 porte. Right Rev. Joseph P. Machebeuf, the intrepid 
 pioneer Bishop of Colorado, came to the Cache la 
 Poudre valley and held religious services at the 
 homes of the people. The date of his first visit is 
 not known, but between 1858 and 1878 the new 
 settlement was visited by other missionaries. Fathers 
 Raverdy, Robinson (now Vicar-General), Mc- 
 Grath and Rithmeyer being among the number. 
 They came from Denver and celebrated mass at La- 
 porte and at the homes of Catholics living west and 
 north of Fort Collins, most frequently at the home 
 of Frank Michaud. In the summer of 1878, the 
 late Bishop Machebeuf of Denver, celebrated mass 
 for the first time within the limits of Fort Collins. 
 
 [258] 
 
 The services were held in the hall on the second 
 floor of the Old Grout building. On this visit the 
 Bishop authorized the purchase by Frank Michaud, 
 of the school house of district No. 5 from the Board 
 of School Directors, composed of W. F. Watrous, 
 J. S. McClelland and Dr. W. C. Stephenson. This 
 school house was erected in 1870 and was the first 
 frame school house built in Larimer county. The 
 amount paid by Mr. Michaud for the building was 
 $400, which was raised by subscription. The prop- 
 erty was held for several years in the name of Mr. 
 
 FARMERS LOADING BEET PULP FOR STOCK- 
 FEEDING PURPOSES 
 
 Michaud, who has always been one of the foremost 
 men of the parish. Shortly afterwards two ad- 
 joining lots were purchased for a rectory and held 
 in the name of W. J. Prendergast for two years, 
 when the whole church property was turned over 
 to Bishop Machebeuf, trustee for the Catholics. The 
 congregation met in the school house, which had 
 been repaired and converted into a place of wor- 
 ship, until in August 4th, 1901, when the beautiful 
 new church was dedicated by Bishop N. C. Matz of 
 Denver. 
 
 In 1879 the pastors of St. Joseph's church be- 
 came residents of Fort Collins, their names and 
 dates of service being as follows : Father Abel, 
 1878-80; Fathers Cummings and Navet, 1880-83; 
 Father Raiber, now of Colorado Springs, also visited 
 Fort Collins in 1880; Father J. J. LePage, 1883- 
 84; Fathers Gleason and Emblem, 1884-85; Father 
 R. P. Robinett, 1885-91; Father Edward Downey, 
 1891-92; Father R. P. Robinett, 1892-98; Father 
 Volpe, 1898. It was during the incumbency of 
 Father LePage that the old rectory on Peterson 
 street was built. The most progressive and most 
 prosperous period in the history of St. Joseph's 
 church is that of the years that followed 1899, when 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 LARIMER COUNTY 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 Right Rev. N. C. Matz sent Rev. G. Joseph La- 
 Jeunesse to Fort Collins to take charge of the parish. 
 Since then the membership of the church has more 
 than doubled and the value of all church property 
 has increased from $1,600 to $43,000. The present 
 number of members is 1,000, and the number of 
 children enrolled in the Sunday school is 75. The 
 corner stone of the new church was laid in 1900 and 
 the building was completed and dedicated on August 
 4th, 1901. 
 
 Plymouth Congregational. Organized in 1908, 
 with a list of 40 members. The membership has 
 since increased to 70 and is still growing. At first 
 the congregation worshipped in a room of the Y. M. 
 C. A. building, but in the spring of 1910 a frame 
 chapel was purchased and moved to a lot at the 
 corner of Magnolia and Meldrum streets, owned by 
 the church, and repaired and seated, and where regu- 
 lar services are now being held. The first pastor was 
 Rev. R. T. Cross who resigned in 1910 and moved 
 to Ohio on account of his wife's health. Mrs. 
 Cross died a few months later. The present value 
 of the property owned by the church is $2,500. In 
 February, 1911, Rev. Albert A. Robertson formerly 
 of St. Louis, accepted a call to the pastorate and is 
 now in charge. The number enrolled in Sunday 
 school is 50. 
 
 United Presbyterian. The United Presbyterian 
 church of Fort Collins was organized on January 
 2nd, 1906, with the names of 23 persons enrolled 
 on its membership list. Rev. W. B. Gillis was in- 
 stalled as pastor and he is still serving the congre- 
 gation. In 1907, a very pretty and well arranged 
 place of worship was erected at the corner of Mat- 
 thews and Mulberry streets at a cost of several 
 thousand dollars and here regular services are con- 
 ducted every Sunday by the pastor. The number of 
 members has increased from 23 to 56. The present 
 value of church property is $10,000. The number 
 enrolled in the Sunday school is 55. 
 
 German Evangelical Congregational. This 
 church was organized in 1903 with about 100 mem- 
 bers. The first pastor was Rev. Paul Burkhardt. 
 In 1904 the congregation began the erection of a 
 large brick church at the corner of Whedbee and 
 Oak streets and completed it in 1905. The present 
 value of the church property is $10,000, and the 
 membership has increased to 150. There are 100 
 children enrolled in the Sunday school. The mem- 
 bership of the church is composed of Germans or peo- 
 ple of German descent. 
 
 First Church of Christ Scientist. The Christian 
 Science church was organized as a society in 1897, 
 
 with Charles E. Schaap as first reader, and Mrs. 
 Libbie Oldershaw as second reader. Meetings for 
 services were held at the residence of S. W. Battey. 
 In January, 1905, the First Church of Christ 
 Scientist was incorporated under the laws of the 
 State of Colorado, with the following members: 
 Mrs. Annie Battey, Mrs. Libbie Oldershaw, Mrs. 
 Ruth Battey, S. W. Battey, Albert R. Chappell, 
 Bessie Coffman, E. M. Cole, Sophia Deatrick, 
 Elisha King, Cordelia Miller , George Miller, 
 Mame Robinson, Oscar Robinson, L. M. Strayer, 
 
 WEST MOUNTAIN AND COLLEGE AVENUES, 
 FORT COLLINS 
 
 S. H. Seckner, Ida Seckner, Mildred Seckner, 
 Mrs. Louis Secord and Alice Tedmon. At the 
 present time services are being held in Unity church 
 on College avenue, with Mrs. Aurilla Crain first 
 reader and S. H. Seckner second reader. The 
 church supports a reading room situated in the 
 McPherson block on Linden street. Judge Jay H. 
 Bouton has given the church a lot on which the 
 congregation will erect a place of worship of its 
 own in the near future. 
 
 St. Luke's Episcopal Church. The Missionary 
 station at Fort Collins was first permanently occu- 
 pied in 1875, when regular services were held on 
 the first Sunday in May in the building originall> 
 used by the Larimer County bank. This building 
 stood where the Avery block now stands and was 
 a small frame structure. The building and the lots 
 it stood upon was purchased for $600 and deeded 
 to the Bishop of the jurisdiction and his successors 
 in oifice. The building was repaired and improved 
 and consecrated as St. Luke's Episcopal Church. 
 The Rev. Francis Byrne was placed in charge of the 
 parish under the missionary jurisdiction of the Right 
 Rev. Bishop Spalding of Colorado and Wyoming. 
 The first executive committee named by Rev. Fran- 
 cis Byrne, was composed of Joseph Coyte, Jr., Jay 
 H. Bouton, Albert Haffenden, James Conroy and 
 Richard Burke. Joseph Coyte, Jr. was chosen 
 
 [259] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 Senior warden; James Conroy, Junior warden and 
 Secretary; Jay H. Bouton, Vestryman and Treas- 
 urer; Richard Burke and Albert Haffenden, Ves- 
 tryman. The church was incorporated in July, 
 1876, and a constitution and by-laws for the guid- 
 ance of the vestry adopted. The first altar cloth, 
 worked in beautiful Ecclesiastic designs, is still in 
 existence and being preserved by B. F. Hottel. In 
 August, 1876, the church purchased Totton's hall 
 in which services had been held under a lease for 
 more than a year. Bishop Spaulding contributing 
 $350 toward the purchase money. A rectory, cost- 
 ing $920, was built in 1878 at the corner of Oak 
 and Howes streets, the building committee being 
 composed of Richard Burke, B. F. Hottel, Jay H. 
 Bouton, James Conroy and Joseph Coyte Jr. Mr. 
 Coyte was the contractor. In January, 1881, the 
 church purchased a lot at the corner of College 
 avenue and Oak street on which to erect a new 
 church building. The lots on which Totton's hall 
 stood were sold for $2,000 and the building was 
 moved to the rear of the new church lot and fitted 
 up for a dwelling. The corner stone of the new stone 
 church was laid on Thursday, November 2nd, 1882, 
 and the building was completed and dedicated the 
 following year. It cost about $6,000. On July 
 8th, 1875, a few days after he took charge of the 
 parish. Rev. Francis Byrne performed the ceremony 
 at a double wedding, the contracting parties being 
 Jay H. Bouton and Miss Celeste Nixon, and Al- 
 bert M. Bristol and Miss Jennie Nixon. 
 
 The Rectors of the church from the date of its 
 organization to the present time have been Rev. 
 Francis Byrne from 1875 to 1882; Rev. H. H. 
 Haynes from 1882 to 1883; Rev. Geo. S. Gibbs 
 from 1883 to 1884; Rev. W. C. Spencer from 1884 
 to 1886; Rev. D. C. Pattee from 1886 to 1889; 
 Rev. J. T. Protheroe from 1889 to 1890; Rev. 
 Thomas Bakes from 1890 to 1896; Rev. D. H. 
 Clarkson from 1896 to 1898; Rev. J. T. Crowe 
 from 1898 to 1908; Rev. F. H. Touret from 1908 
 to 1910. Rev. C. H. Shutt is the present Rector. 
 
 First Baptist Church. This church was organ- 
 ized June 1st, 1879, byJRev. ^ladison Harry, pas- 
 tor of the church at Loveland, who served both con- 
 gregations for a little more than a year. There 
 were but five members when it was first organized, 
 but this number was increased to 14 before the close 
 of the }'ear. The congregation worshipped a few 
 Sundays in the Methodist church, then in the Pres- 
 byterian church from July, 1879, to June, 1881, 
 and then in Odd Fellows hall, the Poudre Valley 
 bank block, and later in a vacant store room in 
 
 [260] 
 
 Union block on Jefferson street. In 1881 the con- 
 gregation purchased the lots on which its present 
 imposing church building stands, and in 1887, 
 a small brick chapel was erected for the use of the 
 church. This gave way in 1903 to a handsome 
 stone edifice, modern in its appointments, which was 
 completed in 1904, and dedicated on June 4th of 
 that year. The present value of church property is 
 $25,000. The membership has increased from five 
 in 1879 to 400 in 1910, with 250 children enrolled 
 in the Sunday school. Rev. Dr. M. P. Hunt, late 
 of Louisville, Kentucky, is the present pastor. 
 Special missionary work is carried on in Lake Park, 
 a suburb of Fort Collins and at Wellington, Colo- 
 rado. Among those who have served the church as 
 pastor since its organization are Rev. Madison 
 Harry, Rev. W. B. Winn, Rev. E. N. Elton, Rev. 
 J. B. Murch, Rev. W. H. Moore, Rev. S. N. 
 Monroe -and Rev. Dr. W. T. Milliken. 
 
 First African-American Church. This church 
 was organized and established Jan. 19, 1908, through 
 the efforts of Mrs. Edith J. Goodall, a missionary 
 of the African Methodist Episcopal Conference. 
 The organization was perfected at the home of Mr. 
 Gus Green, 230 Cherry street. The organization 
 was recognized and confirmed by Rev. James H. 
 Hubbard, Presiding Elder of the A. M. E. Con- 
 ference at the home of Charles Clay, 317 Maple 
 street, on February 9, 1908, Rt. Rev. Abraham 
 Grant, Presiding Bishop. A small but neat and 
 substantial place of worship was erected at a cost 
 of more than $500. Here the congregation held 
 services for nearly two years, but being unable to 
 pay off the debt resting against the property, the 
 building was sold November 9, 1909, to the Con- 
 gregationalists, who moved it to the corner of Mag- 
 nolia and Meldrum streets and are using it as a 
 house of worship. 
 
 Seventh Day Adventist. This denomination was 
 organized and became a church body on February 
 5, 1887, with 12 members. Elder J. D. Pegg was 
 the first pastor and the value of the church property 
 was $1,000. A new church building was erected 
 in 1901 at the corner of Magnolia and Whedbee 
 streets and the church property is now valued at 
 $3,000. The membership roll contains the names 
 of 70 members and 63 children are enrolled in the 
 Sabbath school. All local organizations of this 
 denomination work in one general organization, 
 and at the present time have missionaries in every 
 nation on earth except three. It is claimed that 
 the Seventh Day Adventists have a greater number 
 of missionaries employed in foreign fields than any 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 other denomination, except Presbyterian. Elder 
 Watson Ziegler, who is the present pastor of the 
 church in Fort Collins, has served as such for the 
 past fifteen years. 
 
 Second Presbyterian Church. A Sunday school 
 was opened in what was known as the West Side 
 Chapel in December, 1902, and this paved the way 
 for the organization on October 11, 1907, of the 
 Second Presbyterian Church, with 36 members. 
 The value of the church property at that time was 
 $1,000. This has since increased to $3,500. Rev. 
 H. S. McCutcheon served the congregation from 
 December, 1907, until the close of 1910 and he 
 was soon afterwards succeeded by Rev. Nelson B. 
 Kline. The church roll now contains the names of 
 81 members and there are 150 children enrolled in 
 the Sunday school. 
 
 Unity Church. Those in Fort Collins of the 
 Unitarian faith perfected an organization on Janu- 
 ary 2, 1898, under the leadership of Rev. George 
 N. Falconer who served the congregation as pastor 
 until 1902. At the close of his first year's pastorate. 
 Rev. Falconer had 74 members enrolled on his list. 
 For a few years, services were held in Odd Fellows 
 hall, but in 1903 the congregation began to lay 
 plans for a house of worship of its own. A lot, sit- 
 uated on the southwest corner of College avenue 
 and Mulberry street, was purchased of C. R. Welch 
 for $1,500 and on this a beautiful stone building 
 was erected in 1904-5, at a cost of $15,000. The 
 church was dedicated on June 9, 1905, and has since 
 been in use as a place of worship. Rev. John C. 
 Mitchell is the present pastor and the membership 
 has increased to 112. Mrs. C. J. Sperr, Superin- 
 tendent, reports a list of 52 children enrolled in the 
 Sunday school. 
 
 The Christian Church. The First Christian 
 church of Fort Collins was organized in 1890 with 
 about 30 members, a large percentage of them 
 women. Rev. Dr. L. S. Brown was first called to 
 minister to the congregation, which worshipped for 
 several years in a large floored tent called the "Tab- 
 ernacle." Rev. S. R. Wilison succeeded Dr. Brown 
 in 1895 and he at once set about making prepara- 
 tions for a church building that would afford more 
 comfortable quarters for the congregation. The 
 membership embraced but a few men and only one 
 or two of these had the necessary business qualifica- 
 tions to enable them to take the lead, consequently 
 the burden fell largely upon Rev. Willson's should- 
 ers. At last, after securing a goodly number of 
 pledges for varying sums of money and borrowing 
 a sum from the Church Extension fund, he was en- 
 
 abled to proceed with the work of building. The 
 church edifice was completed and first opened for 
 worship on May 1st, 1898, the day Commodore 
 Dewey compelled the Spaniards to haul down their 
 flag in Manila Bay, Rev. Wilison himself doing 
 much of the work on the building. The church 
 stands on the southeast corner of College avenue 
 and Magnolia street, and is a monument to the 
 energy, sagacity and perseverance of Rev. Wilison 
 and his handful of earnest church workers. The 
 property is now worth $20,000. The church has a 
 membership of 300 and there are 200 children en- 
 rolled in the Sunday school. Rev. Wilison was reg- 
 ular pastor of the church for three years and has of- 
 ten supplied the pulpit since his retirement during 
 vacancies in the pastorate and during the temporary 
 absence of the regular pastor. During the first 
 years of his service as pastor he received $30 per 
 month, the congregation not being able to pay a 
 greater sum. The church is carrying on special 
 missionary work and conducting a Sunday school 
 in a chapel at 1002 West Oak street. 
 
 Banks of Fort Collins 
 
 There are five conservatively managed and pros- 
 perous banks in Fort Collins, affording excellent 
 banking privileges for the city and surrounding 
 country. Three of these are National banks and 
 and banks of issue, the other two being organized 
 under the laws of Colorado. Three of the five, 
 The First National bank, the Commercial Bank 
 & Trust company and The Fort Collins National 
 bank, conduct savings departments in connection 
 with their commercial business. 
 
 The capital stock of the five banks, all paid in, 
 amounts in the aggregate to $450,000, and in the 
 month of December, 1910, their combined resources 
 amounted to $3,170,481.82; total deposits to 
 $2,029,136.41, and total surplus and undivided 
 profits to $288,258.05. 
 
 The Poudre Valley National bank, started as a 
 private institution with a capital of $6,000, was 
 opened for business November 9th, 1878. Its 
 officers were William C. Stover, President and 
 'Charles H. Sheldon, Cashier. Mr. Sheldon is still 
 cashier of and a large stockholder in the bank. In 
 1893 the capital stock of the institution was in- 
 creased to $100,000 and the bank was re-organized 
 and incorporated under the laws of Colorado. It 
 was then known as the Poudre Valley bank. In 
 1905 the capital stock of the institution was in- 
 creased to $150,000 and the bank was converted into 
 
 [261] 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 the Poudre Valley National bank. In December, 
 1910, its resources amounted to $1,320,980.03; its 
 deposits to $913,353.12 and its surplus and un- 
 divided profits to $107,626.91. The present officers 
 and directors of the bank are: President, B. F. 
 Hottel; Vice-President, F. P. Stover; Cashier, 
 Charles H. Sheldon; Assistant Cashier, Verner U. 
 Wolf; Thos. H. Robertson, A. W. Scott and Fred 
 W. Stover. 
 
 The First National bank was incorporated as the 
 Larimer County bank in November, 1880, under 
 
 CORNER OF WEST MOUNTAIN AND COLLEGE 
 AVENUES, FORT COLLINS 
 
 the laws of Colorado. On Monday, January 3rd, 
 1881, the bank opened its doors for business in the 
 Opera house block with the following officers and 
 directors : President, Franklin C. Avery ; Vice- 
 President, Noah Bristol; Cashier, Charles P. Scott; 
 William G. Bixby, Daniel Hawkes, A. L. Emigh 
 and Edgar Avery. The original stockholders of the 
 Larimer county bank were Franklin C. Avery, 
 Noah Bristol, William G. Bixby, E. N. Garbutt, 
 Chas. P. Scott, James Benedict, Daniel Hawkes, 
 Bruce F. Johnson, David Hapgood, Abraham L. 
 Emigh, Eber T. Dunning and Harry N. Haynes. 
 On December 21st, 1881, the board of directors de- 
 cided to convert the Larimer County bank into the 
 First National bank of Fort Collins, and on January 
 31st, 1882, the Comptroller of the Currency issued 
 a certificate of organization authorizing the insti- 
 tution to do business under that name according to 
 the provisions of the National banking law. Frank- 
 lin C. Avery, the founder of the bank, served con- 
 tinuously as its president until 1909, when, owing 
 to ill health, he resigned and Hon. W. A. Drake ' 
 was elected successor. At the present time the re- 
 sources of this bank amount to $899,914.72; its 
 deposits to $512,537.45 and its surplus and un- 
 divided profits to $133,777.27. The officers and 
 directors are : President, W. A. Drake ; Vice- 
 Presidents, W. Ed. Wright and A. C. Kluver; 
 Cashier, W. C. LeMaster; Assistant Cashier, O. 
 
 [262] 
 
 A. HiUer; C. R. Evans, I. W. Bennett, M. H. 
 Akin, L. G. Carpenter, F. N. B. Scott, E. C. Gid- 
 dings, A. L. Rohling and J. F. Vandewark. 
 
 The Fort Collins National bank was organized 
 and established in 1900, with a capital stock of 
 $50,000, which was subsequently increased to 
 $100,000. The first board of directors was com- 
 posed of James A. Brown, P. Anderson, R. Breni- 
 man, T. A. Gage and James E. Prout. Mr. An- 
 derson was elected president and G. A. Webb, 
 cashier. Mr. Anderson resigned the presidency in 
 1901 and Mr. Brown was chosen to succeed him 
 and has since been the chief executive officer of the 
 institution. The present resources of the bank 
 amount to $467,938.38; its deposits to $248,179.38 
 and its surplus and profits to $32,775.73. The 
 officers and directors of the bank at this time are: 
 President, James A. Brown; Vice-President, R. 
 Breniman ; Cashier, G. A. Webb ; Assistant Cash- 
 ier, B. A. Gage; H. D. Humphrey, Chas. O. Cul- 
 ver, S. W. Johnson, G. A. Webb and M. M. St. 
 Clair. Among the original stockholders in the 
 Fort Collins National bank were P. Anderson, P. 
 J. Gaum now of California, James E. Prout, de- 
 ceased, Joel Roullard now of Idaho, W. G. Sil- 
 cott, deceased, D. H. Taylor, deceased, Edson War- 
 ren, deceased. Of the original stockholders the 
 following are still with the bank: R. Breniman, 
 James A. Brown, T. A. Gage, Willard Harding, 
 
 E. A. Riddle, G. A. Webb. Some of the older 
 stockholders have been replaced by H. D. Humph- 
 rey, Charles O. Culver, S. W. Johnson, M. M. St. 
 Clair. 
 
 The Commercial Bank & Trust company was 
 organized under the laws of Colorado and estab- 
 lished on May 23rd, 1906, with a capital stock of 
 $50,000. B. F. Clark was the first President and 
 Clark Sm.ith, Cashier. The resources of the bank 
 amount at the present time to $303,022.44; de- 
 posits to $241,047.27 and its surplus and profits 
 $11,975.17. The present officers and directors are: 
 President, L. C. Moore; Vice-Presidents, H. H. 
 Scott, C. W. Zepp and T. H. Eves; Cashier, M. 
 G. Nelson; Assistant Cashier, A. J. Whistleman; 
 
 F. M. Wright, W. A. Moon, W. W. Edwards, 
 D. L. Clark, W. M. Otis and O. S. Jones. 
 
 The Fort Collins Bank & Trust company was 
 organized and established under the laws of Colo- 
 rado in January, 1910, with a capital stock of 
 $50,000. Excepting in the office of cashier, there 
 has been no change in the official roster of the bank 
 since it was organized. The resources of the in- 
 stitution at the present time amount to $178,626.25; 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 deposits, $114,019.28 and its surplus and profits 
 to $2,102.97. The officers and directors are: Pres- 
 ident, C. R. Welch; Vice-President, S. H. Clam- 
 mer; Cashier, T. S. Jones; Assistant Cashier, M. 
 C. Smith ; C. E. Daniels, H. M. Rubey, J. S. Stan- 
 ley, W. C. McKeown and Harry Van Horn. 
 
 George H. Thomas Post No. 7, 
 G. A. R. 
 
 George H. Thomas Post, No. 7, Grand Army 
 of the Republic, was organized in Fort Collins 
 on June 29th, 1881. Eugene K. Stimson, who was 
 commander of the "Department of the Moun- 
 tains", which included Colorado, Wyoming and 
 New Mexico, was the mustering officer, assisted 
 by Comrade Van Horn. The meeting was held 
 in Grange hall, in the second story of a frame 
 building that stood at the intersection of College 
 and Mountain avenues. This building was burned 
 in 1883. The records shows that the following 
 comrades were present: 
 
 E. E. Edwards, Chaplain, 7th Minnesota In- 
 fantry and President of the Colorado State Agri- 
 cultural College. 
 
 George L. Courtney, Private of Company A, 
 40th Indiana Infantry, now a resident of Wyoming. 
 
 J. A. Rischel, Company B, 135th Pennsylvania. 
 
 A. E. Blount, Capt. Company F, 1st Tennessee 
 Cavalry, Professor of Agriculture, State Agricul- 
 tural College. 
 
 J. F. Stephenson, Company B, 136th Illinois 
 Infantry. 
 
 Robert Keown, Company D, 7th Connecticut 
 Cavalry. 
 
 Samuel Brainard, 1st Lieut. Company B, 2nd 
 Vermont Infantry, now of Cheyenne, Wyo. 
 
 Thomas Lundy, Sergt. 10th Missouri Infantry, 
 Lieut. 13th Illinois Cavalry, now of Ogden, Utah. 
 
 Edwin A. Ballard, Lieut. Company F, 47th 
 Ohio Infantry. 
 
 P. M. Hinman, Corporal Company K, 3rd 
 Colorado Cavalry. 
 
 L. J. Hilton, Company B, 7th Wisconsin In- 
 fantry, now of Denver, Colo. 
 
 Lewis Kern, Private Company I, 44th New 
 York Infantry, now of New Windsor. 
 
 Lundy and Keown were born in Ireland, the 
 others being native born. These were mustered 
 in as the nucleus of one of the most prosperous and 
 progressive posts in the department. 
 
 The election of officers resulted as follows: 
 
 Geo. L. Courtney, Post Commander. 
 
 A. E. Blount, S. V. Post Commander. 
 
 Edwin A. Ballard, J. V. Post Commander. 
 
 L. J. Hilton, Officer of the Day. 
 
 Thomas Lundy, Officer of the Guard. 
 
 Samuel Brainard, Sergeant Major. 
 
 E. E. Edwards, Chaplain. 
 
 P. M. Hinman, Adjutant. 
 
 J. A. Rischel, Quartermaster. 
 
 The organization was completed by the installa- 
 tion of officers. 
 
 The charter of the post is dated June 22nd, 1881. 
 
 The post meetings were held in various halls up 
 to January, 1899, when the hall formerly owned 
 by the I. O. O. F. was purchased. The meetings 
 are held the second and fourth Saturday evenings 
 of each month. The roster shows that there have 
 been up to the present (Mar. 31, '10) 310 mem- 
 bers. 
 
 Of the twelve charter members, six are known 
 to be alive. Those who have contributed largely 
 to the success of the post and who have served as 
 adjutants are in the following order: 
 
 P. M. Hinman, from June 29, 1881 to January, 
 1882. 
 
 W. T. Rogers, W. A. Gunn, P. B. Learnard, J. 
 S. McClelland, J. D. Mandeville, Eugene Holmes, 
 Hiram R. Smith, I. L. Bailey, S. Oldfield and R. 
 Q. Tenney. Their terms of office have covered from 
 one month to eighteen years, the long terms being 
 those of J. D. Mandeville, 3 years and 2 months 
 and R. Q. Tenney, 18 years. 
 
 The comrades represent seventeen states and eight 
 foreign countries, viz: England, Scotland, Ireland, 
 Wales, Canada, France, Germany and Sweden. 
 
 OFFICERS FOR 1910 
 
 H. H. Sargent, Post Commander. 
 Wm. H. Fox, S. V. Commander. 
 A. E. Crocker, J. V. Commander. 
 J. C. Davis, Chaplain. 
 T. C. Parker, Surgeon. 
 Wm. N. Cooper, Quartermaster. 
 E. W. Hodges, Officer of the Day. 
 J. H. Buttorff, Officer of the Guard. 
 R. Q. Tenney, Adjutant. 
 
 The Auxiliary organizations of this post are Geo. 
 H. Thomas, W. R. C. No. 26, organized February 
 8, 1889, having at present a membership of 100, 
 and is one of the progressive up-to-date corps of the 
 department. Mrs. Hattie Oldfield is president 
 
 [263] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIM ER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 and Mrs. L. Davison, secretary for 1910. This 
 W. R. C. raised the funds and presented to the post 
 the finest soldier's monument in the state, "Dedi- 
 cated to the known and unknown dead". This is a 
 life-sized soldier standing at "parade rest," on a 
 base eight feet square and six feet high, the whole 
 standing twelve feet high. The cost of this ele- 
 gantly carved granite memorial was $1,250 and it 
 will ever stand as a token of the patriotism and 
 loyalty of this noble band of self-sacrificing women. 
 
 Capt. I. N. Thomas Camp No. 17 was organized 
 March 4, 1893, with 58 charter members, 52 of 
 which mustered in at that time. Geo. W. Bailey 
 was made Captain, Don A. Carpenter, First Lieu- 
 tenant and Henri S. McClelland Second Lieutenant. 
 This camp was later re-organized under the name 
 of Carlos J. Stolbrand Camp No. 24. 
 
 Caroline Scott Harrison Tent No. 2, Daughters 
 of Veterans, was organized in May, 1893. This 
 tent was reorganized on May 20, 1898, as Aunt 
 Beckie Young Tent No. 6. Mrs. Minnie Fran- 
 cisco is the President for 1910. 
 
 Sons of Veterans Auxiliary No. 2, was organized 
 May 8, 1908. Mrs. Mary E. Gooding is President 
 for 1910. 
 
 Secret, Fraternal and Beneficiary 
 Orders 
 
 The secret, fraternal and beneficiary orders are 
 well represented in Fort Collins, there being no less 
 than thirty-eight well supported and flourishing 
 lodges, camps, wigwams, eyries, unions, chapters, 
 cantons and asylums in the city, which embrace the 
 following : 
 
 Collins Lodge No. 19, A. F. & A. M. 
 
 Cache la Poudre Chapter No. 11, R. A. M. 
 
 De Molay Commanding No. 13, K. T. 
 
 Eastern Star Chapter No. 26. 
 
 Fort Collins Lodge No. 19, I. O. of O. F. 
 
 Fort Collins Encampment No. 23, I. O. of O. F. 
 
 Fort Collins Canton No. 21, Patriarchs Milit- 
 ant. 
 
 Delta Rebekah Lodge No. 25. 
 
 Fort Collins Lodge No. 804, B. P. O. Elks. 
 
 Knights of Pythias. 
 
 Fort Collins Lodge of Moose. 
 
 Fraternal Order of Eagles. 
 
 Knights of the Golden Eagle. 
 
 Woodmen of the World. 
 
 Modern Woodmen of America. 
 
 Ancient Order United Workmen. 
 
 Fraternal Union. 
 
 [264] 
 
 Improved Order of Redmen. 
 Daughters of Pocahontas. 
 Macabees. 
 
 P. E. O. Sisterhood. 
 Royal Arcanum. 
 Royal League. 
 Royal Neighbors. 
 Modern Brotherhood of America. 
 Fraternal Aid Association. 
 Homesteaders. 
 Highland Nobles. 
 Home Guards of America. 
 Knights of Columbus. 
 Knights and Ladies of Security. 
 Degree of Honor. 
 
 Five Labor Unions, to-wit: Barbers', Printers', 
 Carpenters', Brick Masons', Cigarmakers'. 
 
 Civic Organizations 
 
 Fort Collins Fire Department. 
 
 Chamber of Commerce. 
 
 Credit Men's Association. 
 
 Grocers' and Butchers' Association. 
 
 Retail Merchants' Association. 
 
 Larimer County Bar. 
 
 Physicians' and Surgeons' Association. 
 
 Union Veteran League. This organization is 
 composed of Veterans of the Civil war who served 
 three years or longer in the armies of the United 
 States during the rebellion of 1861-5. 
 
 Women's Clubs 
 
 There are four literary clubs in Fort Collins, 
 organized officially and supported and conducted by 
 women exclusively. They are: 
 
 The Woman's Club. 
 
 The Columbian Club. 
 
 The Current Event and Travel Club. 
 
 The Kanatenah. 
 
 There is also a well organized chapter of the 
 Daughters of the Revolution and an Association 
 of the Pioneer Women of the Cache la Poudre 
 Valley. The Fort Collins Pioneer Association, com- 
 posed of men and women, was organized in 1905. 
 
 The Fossil Creek Presbyterian 
 Church 
 
 This church originated in a revival service held 
 in the winter of 1886 by the evangelist, H. W. 
 Rankin. The organization was perfected December 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 11th, 1887, Rev. T. C. Kirkwood, assisted by Rev. 
 Charles A. Taylor, officiating. Ellis Moore was 
 made Ruling Elder and Henry Franz, Deacon. 
 The church then had a membership of 20. Rev. A. 
 W. Cooper became pastor and served as such for 
 two years. Rev. Chas. A. Taylor, pastor of the 
 Timnath church then supplied the pulpit until in 
 the fall of 1889, when Rev. A. S. Kemper accepted 
 a call to the pastorate. He carried on the work in a 
 very acceptable manner for about two years and then 
 resigned. During his incumbency quite a number of 
 members were received into the church. 
 
 In May, 1892, Rev. Franklin Moore, a licen- 
 tiate, took charge of the work and faithfully and sat- 
 isfactorily served the church for eleven years. In 
 the fall and winter of 1894-5, a stone building, 
 costing $2,000 was erected, $600 of the amount 
 being contributed by the board of church erection of 
 the Presbyterian church. The new place of worship 
 was duly dedicated on February 3rd, 1895, Rev. 
 Robert Coltman, assisted by Revs. A. E. Chase and 
 Franklin Moore, officiating. During Mr. Moore's 
 pastorate about 100 members were received, over 50 
 of them by baptism. His resignation took effect 
 May 1st, 1903. The church was without a pastor 
 then for nearly two years. On April 1st, 1905, 
 Rev. W. D. Reaugh took charge and acceptably 
 served the church for two years. He was- followed 
 by Rev. A. H. Moore, a licentiate, who supplied the 
 pulpit one year. The present pastor, J. H. Henry, 
 began work December 1st, 1909 and is proving a 
 very efficient pastor. 
 
 Timnath 
 
 Soon after the completion of the Greeley, Salt 
 Lake & Pacific railroad, in 1882, the nucleus of a 
 village sprang up at a station on the railroad six 
 miles southeast of Fort Collins. It was started in 
 the heart of a thickly settled and prosperous farm- 
 ing community which had, theretofore, been known 
 as Sherwood, in honor of one of the pioneers of the 
 Cache la Poudre valley. The first dwelling erected 
 in the embryo town was built by William Groff, 
 which was later purchased by T. J. Wilkins and is 
 now the home of his widow, Mrs. Wilkins. A 
 schoolhouse, known as the Fairview school, was built 
 in 1882 to take the place of the old log cabin, built 
 in 1869, in which a school was taught until the new 
 house was completed. The old school house stood 
 on the south side of the river and Miss Mary 
 Moulton, now Mrs. F. W. Sherwood, taught the 
 first school opened in that district in 1870. The 
 
 new school house was built on the north side of the 
 river a short distance north of the railway station. 
 A Presbyterian church was organized in 1882, to 
 which Rev. Charles A. Taylor, the first pastor, gave 
 the name of Timnath, taking his cue from the 14th 
 chapter of Judges in Holy Writ, the first verse of 
 which reads as follows: 
 
 "And Samson went down to Timnath and saw 
 a woman in Timnath of the daughter of the Phil- 
 istines, whom he afterwards took unto wife." 
 
 REPAIRING IRRIGATING DITCHES— THE MEN 
 THE FOREGROUND ARE TOMMY CLINE, 
 EB. DA^'IS AND BOB STRAUSS 
 
 IN 
 
 From that time the village has been known as Tim- 
 nath. In imitation of Samson's example, many a 
 present day Samson has gone down to Timnath to 
 take a rosy-cheeked damsel for his wife, justifying 
 his course by liberal quotations from the Bible. 
 Rev. Taylor was appointed the first postmaster and 
 the postoffice was located in the kitchen of the 
 manse, which was not plastered, and the letters 
 would be stuck in the crevices between the siding. 
 
 A church was completed and dedicated in 1888 
 and from that time the town began to grow and 
 spread out until at present almost every line of 
 business is represented, and Timnath has become an 
 important shipping point for fat live stock, and the 
 products of the farm. There are large well-filled 
 stores, a hotel, a bank, public hall and several other 
 public conveniences. A few years ago the railroad 
 company built a small but well-appointed station to 
 take the place of the old uncovered platform that 
 served as a depot for several years. 
 
 [265] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 The first grocery store was built and stocked by 
 Teller & Son in 1889, and the first blacksmith shop 
 was started by David R. Galbreath. 
 
 The first settlers in the vicinity of Timnath were 
 Thos. Cline, R. G. Strauss, Simon Duncan, Ebene- 
 zer and Thomas Davis, J. M. and F. W. Sherwood, 
 Paul Flick, Capt. Geo. E. Buss and others. They 
 all had more or less exciting experiences with the 
 Indians. Mrs. Duncan was alone with her small 
 
 
 
 ^^^^'^^tSa '^ j^^l^'.-Mt? 
 
 7.:;r''- 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 OT 
 
 
 f 
 
 ' \s 
 
 ny^^ 
 
 ^^M 
 
 
 m 
 
 p- ^ 
 
 
 
 
 !^ 
 
 < ys',-fe4.,--. . 
 
 
 ■ ' '--i .-w 
 
 • 
 
 OLD ARAPAHOE COUNCIL TREE 
 
 children one day when a number of redskins came 
 to the cabin. She siezed a gun and opened fire upon 
 them through the chinking of the logs and her un- 
 welcome visitors turned and fled, leaving her the 
 victor. They never troubled the Duncan cabin 
 after that, though it is possible that all they wanted 
 at that time was to beg or borrow something. At 
 another time, in 1867, word came down the river 
 that the Indians were on the war path, and many 
 of the women and children hid themselves in the 
 bushes or tall grass. Mrs. Thomas Davis and little 
 two year old son, John, were at home alone when 
 the alarm was given. She took the child and both 
 hid in the willows, remaining there a day and a 
 night until she thought the danger was past. John 
 
 [266] 
 
 Davis was born near Timnath in 1864, and was 
 the second white boy born in that neighborhood. 
 He is still living near his birthplace. 
 
 The old log school house was for many years 
 a landmark on the road between Greeley and Fort 
 Collins. Religious services were often held in it 
 and people drove for miles to attend them. The 
 old Fairview school house built in 1882, became too 
 small to accommodate all the children who wished 
 to attend school and a larger and much handsomer 
 school building was erected in 1909. 
 
 On James Strang's farm, near Timnath, stands 
 an aged Cottonwood tree, known as the council tree. 
 Beneath its wide-spreading branches the Arapahoes 
 and Cheyennes used to hold their councils, and on 
 the old tree in 1862, Robert Strauss saw the Indians 
 hang a redskin enemy, probably a Ute or Pawnee, 
 who had fallen into their hands. 
 
 The Farmers' Bank of Timnath 
 
 This institution was organized as a private bank 
 in June, 1906, with a capital stock of $10,000. 
 John A. Cross, now State Senator, was the first 
 President, I. J. Mead the first Vice-President and 
 
 E. W. Thayer the first Cashier. On September 
 19th, 1907, it was incorporated as a state bank 
 and the capital increased to $15,000. The total 
 resources of the bank on the date of the statement 
 issued on November 10th, 1910, amounted to $72,- 
 683.69; its deposits, including savings accounts to 
 $53,051.75 and its surplus and profits to $4,631.94. 
 Its present officers and directors are: President, 
 J. M. Edwards; Vice-Presidents, H. H. Thayer 
 and H. G. Springer; Cashier, E. W. Thayer; B. 
 
 F. Clark, H. Strauss, E. D. Pearson. 
 
 Timnath Presbyterian Church 
 
 This church was organized in the spring of 1882 
 with 50 members. Religious services were held 
 previous to that time, however, in the old log school 
 house which stood across the river from the present 
 town of Timnath. Rev. Charles A. Taylor was 
 the first regular pastor of the congregation. The 
 church building was completed and dedicated Aug- 
 ust 25th, 1888, and the present value of the church 
 property is $6,000. The membership roll at pres- 
 ent contains the names of 90 persons, and the Sun- 
 day school has an enrollment of 75. Rev. J. M. 
 Wylie is the present pastor. All departments of 
 the church are working together in harmony for 
 the up-building of the kingdom. 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 The Eleventh Ohio Cavalry 
 
 The 11th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry played such 
 an important part in the early history of the Cache 
 la Poudre valley, particularly of Fort Collins, that 
 a brief account of its organization and service on 
 the Plains during the Indian troubles of 1864-5 
 and 6, will, I am sure, be of interest to the reader. 
 For this sketch, prepared by an officer in that regi- 
 ment, I am indebted to Rollin Q. Tenney of Fort 
 Collins, who clipped it from a recent number of 
 the National Tribune, published at Washington, 
 D. C. The writer says : 
 
 "Seeing a short sketch of the 11th Ohio Cavalry, 
 we desire to make a few corrections or additional 
 statements. In 1861 the 1st battalion of the 6th 
 Ohio Cavalry was detached from the regiment at 
 Benton Barracks, and sent to Fort Laramie to re- 
 lieve the 2d U. S. Dragoons, which were sent south. 
 This battalion was commanded by Maj. Wm. O. 
 Collins, of Hillsboro, O. Very soon Maj. Collins 
 discovered his battalion was unable to cope with 
 the "wily red man," and he got permission from 
 the War Department to recruit a second battalion 
 for this especial service, which he did, and the two 
 battalions were organized and called the 11th Ohio 
 Cavalry. 
 
 "Maj. Collins received a Colonel's commission. 
 Soon thereafter, there were 200 recruits secured for 
 this regiment, and on the arrival of the recruits at 
 regimental headquarters. Fort Laramie, they were 
 organized into two new companies, K and L. The 
 1st battalion was mustered out at the expiration of 
 its term of service. The other companies were re- 
 tained until the close of the war or until relieved 
 in 1866. The regiment was commanded success- 
 ively by Col. Collins, Maj. Mackey and Maj. 
 Evans. The regiment established Fort Collins, Colo- 
 rado, Fort Halleck, Wyoming, and Fort Connor, 
 Montana, and guarded the overland stage route 
 from Denver to Salt Lake City. It was with 
 Gen. Connor on his famous expedition in 1865 
 against Red Cloud and Sitting Bull in the Powder 
 river and Big Horn country. The regiment had 
 numerous fights with the Indians, the most noted 
 of which was on the Rosebud, a tributary of 
 Tongue river, and not far from where Gen. 
 Custer's massacre took place later. This battle was 
 fought by Gen. Connor's command on that expe- 
 dition, and the command consisted of two com- 
 panies of the 2d California Cavalry, two companies 
 of the 7th Iowa Cavalry, two companies of the 11th 
 Ohio Cavalry, one company of Pawnee Indian 
 
 Scouts, commanded by the noted Capt. North, and 
 one company of Winnebago Indian Scouts — about 
 500 in all. 
 
 "The Indian forces, commanded by Sitting Bull 
 and Red Cloud, were said to be of 5,000 warriors. 
 Gen. Connor's command marched all night and at- 
 tacked the village just at daybreak, defeating the 
 Indians, capturing and burning the village and 
 capturing about 600 head of horses, mules and 
 ponies, the most of which were stolen from the 
 stage company and emigrants the year before. Con- 
 nor's loss was two killed and several wounded. The 
 Indian loss was supposed to be about 100. This 
 expedition of Connor's was the expedition with 
 which Col. Cole, with two regiments of Missouri 
 Cavalry, was to form junction with Connor on 
 the Yellowstone; but Col. Cole's command failed 
 to connect, and retreated from the country in dis- 
 order. After this expedition. Red Cloud and Sit- 
 ting Bull signed a peace treaty at Fort Laramie, 
 and remained peaceable for a short time. 
 
 "The regiment did very strenuous service, three 
 and four men being placed at stage stations to pro- 
 tect them, and it was not unusual for a war party 
 of Indians to dash in, kill the soldiers, burn the 
 station and drive off the stock. 
 
 "The writer, a member of Company K, had the 
 honor of commanding the escort to Speaker Colfax, 
 Ex-Lieut. Governor Bross, of Illinois, and Richard- 
 son, of the New York Tribune, and Samuel Bowles, 
 editor of the Springfield, Massachusetts, Republican. 
 This was during the time of the Indian troubles, 
 and the stages were only run through with escorts, 
 traveling by night only. This was Speaker Col- 
 fax's overland trip from the Missouri river to San 
 Francisco in 1865, I think. The regiment was re- 
 lieved by the 7th U. S. Cavalry in June, 1866, and 
 was mustered out at Columbus, O., Aug. 14, 1866." 
 — P. W. Brown, Second Lieutenant, Wth Ohio 
 Cavalry, Runnells, Iowa. 
 
 Home 
 
 The election precinct known as "Home" em- 
 braces all of that territory lying west of Livermore 
 precinct to the summit of the Medicine Bow range, 
 south of St. Cloud and Laramie precincts and North 
 of Estes Park precinct. The first permanent set- 
 tler in this precinct was John Zimmerman, who 
 located near Cameron Pass in 1880. He and his 
 family consisting of wife and four children, two 
 sons and two daughters, were the only occupants of 
 all that region for about two years. 
 
 [267] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 In May, 1879, the Cache la Poudre and North 
 Park Toll Road company was incorporated with 
 a capital of $5,000 to build a wagon road along 
 the Cache la Poudre river from the foot of Pingree 
 hill, or Pingree's Camp as it was then called, past 
 Chambers lake and over Cameron Pass into North 
 Park. The directors for the first year were A. H. 
 Patterson, S. B. Stewart and L. R. Rhodes. Mr. 
 
 That year J. A. Clark built a hotel on Cameron 
 pass and J. W. Norvell and his associates started 
 a store near Clark's hotel. Hotels and stores were 
 also built at Teller and Lulu the same year, and 
 a newspaper, called the North Park Miner, was 
 started at Teller. In 1882 Mr. Stewart put on 
 a line of stages from Fort Collins to Teller and 
 secured the establishment of a daily mail route be- 
 
 LAKE COMO, AT ZIMMERMAN'S 
 
 Stewart began work on the project that jear and 
 in 1880 completed the road and opened it for travel 
 to Chambers lake. Mr. Zimmerman moved his 
 family in over that road. About that time a min- 
 ing excitement broke out in the southeast corner 
 of North Park and by the following year a town 
 with several hundred inhabitants had sprung up on 
 or near Jack creek. The town was named Teller, 
 in honor of United States Senator Henry M. Teller. 
 Another mining camp was also established about this 
 time in the northeast corner of Grand county, and 
 it was called Lulu in honor of the eldest daughter 
 of B. F. Burnett, who was one of the principal 
 locators. Mr. Stewart extended his road in 1881 
 from Chambers lake to Teller and for three or 
 four years while the Teller and Lulu camps were 
 flourishing, there was a great deal of travel over it. 
 
 [268] 
 
 tween the two points. His coaches went out of 
 Fort Collins loaded almost every day during that 
 summer and fall. Postoffices were established at 
 Home and Chambers lake, with John VanDoIah 
 as postmaster at the lake and Paul Mansfield at 
 Home. The Home postoffice was kept in a small 
 cabin still standing on what is now known as the 
 Williams' ranch, formerly owned by C. B. An- 
 drews and called the Shetland ranch. John R. 
 Brown, who was post blacksmith for the troops 
 when they were at old Camp Collins in 1864-5 and 
 6, located on this ranch in 1880, selling it in 1885 
 to Mr. Andrews and he in turn, a few years ago, 
 to C. E. Williams. H. C. Peterson and family, 
 R. W. Durkee, George Grill and others took up 
 land along the river between Pingree camp and 
 Poudre falls in 1881-2. S. B. Stewart built a hotel 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 at the foot of Pingree hill that year which he called 
 Rustic, and which he conducted for three or four 
 years. It soon became a famous resort for summer 
 tourists and he had a good run of custom during 
 the summer seasons. Norman W. Frey and Dixon 
 & DeRivas located at what is now called Pinehurst 
 about that time. 
 
 In the spring of 1884, Mr. Zimmerman moved 
 his family down from Cameron pass and occupied 
 a cabin on the north side of the river nearly opposite 
 to where he afterwards built the Keystone hotel. 
 He soon had a saw mill running, cutting out lum- 
 ber for two frame cottages which he erected in 1886 
 on the south side of the river where, for several 
 years, he and his family hospitably entertained sum- 
 mer visitors. These cottages are still standing and 
 serve as annexes to the Keystone hotel, a fine three 
 story brick structure, thoroughly modern in all of 
 its appointments, erected in 1896, which he and his 
 daughters, the Misses Eda and Agnes, still suc- 
 cessfully conduct. Soon after locating here, Mr. 
 
 Zimmerman was appointed postmaster, which office 
 he still holds. 
 
 R. W. Durkee, H. C. Peterson and John R. 
 Brown sold their ranches in 1885 to C. B. An- 
 drews and left the mountains, Mr. Peterson, Capt. 
 Coon and John Lyon going with their families to 
 the White river country, locating near the present 
 town of Meeker. Mr. Peterson died there in 1896, 
 and Capt. Coon died in Connecticut in 1903. Mr. 
 Peterson's widow and one daughter, Mrs. J. H. 
 Setzler, are residents of Fort Collins and his two 
 sons, Ray of San Francisco and Lee of Meeker, are 
 living. The Stewart Toll road became an open 
 public highway in 1902. Casper Zimmerman has 
 carried the mail from Fort Collins to the Home 
 postoffice for the past twenty years, and his stage line 
 is now equipped for forty-five miles of the distance 
 with steam automobiles, which cover the route from 
 Fort Collins to Elkhorn in four hours. Over the 
 remaining fourteen miles, the mail and passengers 
 are carried in stages drawn by horses. 
 
 [269] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 Biographical 
 
 THE history of a country is best told in a record of the lives of its people," said Macaulay, the 
 great English historian. With this statement in view, this biographical record has been pre- 
 pared. No more interesting or instructive matter could be presented to an intelligent public. 
 In this volume will be found the life stories of many of the pioneers of Larimer county, whose 
 lives and characters are worthy the imitation of coming generations. It tells when and how they crossed 
 the Plains and settled in Larimer county ; of how they lived and what they did in the early days. It tells 
 how some, beginning life in poverty, by industry and good management, have become wealthy. It tells 
 of men who have risen from the lower walks of life to eminence as public officials. It tells of' those in 
 every walk of life who have striven to succeed, and records how success has usually crowned their efforts. 
 It tells how that many, in the pride and strength of early manhood, left the plow and the anvil, the office 
 and the counting-room, left every trade and profession, and at their country's call went bravely forth "to 
 do or die," and how through their efiEorts the savages of the west were subdued, and of those who fought 
 valiantly for a restored Union. Coming generations will appreciate these sketches and preserve them as 
 a sacred treasure from the fact that they contain much of the history of Larimer county that would 
 never find its way into the public records. Care has been taken in the compilation of these sketches, and 
 every opportunity possible given to those represented to insure correctness in what has been written, and 
 it is believed that few errors of consequence will be found. In addition to the biographical sketches, 
 steel and half-tone portraits of many pioneers and representative citizens are given. The faces of some 
 and their biographical sketches will be missed in this book. For this, the publishers are not to blame. Not 
 having a proper conception of the work, some refused to give the desired information, while others were 
 indifferent. On the whole, however, the publishers believe the work contains a great deal that will interest 
 and instruct the present and future generations and be appreciated by the loyal citizens of Larimer county. 
 June, 1911. The Courier Printing ^ Publishing Co. 
 
 General R. A. Cameron, founder and first 
 president and superintendent of the Fort Collins 
 Agricultural Colony, established in 1872, died on 
 Thursday, March 15, 1894, at his home in Canon 
 City, after a lingering illness. A sketch of his 
 life and public service follows: General Cameron 
 was born February 22, 1828, in Brooklyn, New 
 York. He moved to Indiana, near Chicago, In 
 1842, graduated at the Indiana Medical college in 
 the spring of 1850, and was a member of the Indi- 
 ana legislature in 1860-61. At the breaking out of 
 the Civil war, he raised a company in two days and 
 was mustered in as Captain in the 9th Indiana In- 
 fantry, was made lieutenant colonel of the 19th 
 Indiana and sent to the defence of Washington 
 in July, 1861; was made colonel of the 34th Indi- 
 ana and took part in the battles of Island No. 10, 
 New Madrid, Port Gibson, capture of Memphis 
 and siege of Vicksburg. He was for bravery and 
 good conduct at Port Gibson, under the eye of Gen. 
 Grant, commissioned brigadier general. After the 
 opening of the Mississippi river he was in command 
 
 [370] 
 
 of the Third division of the Thirteenth army corps 
 in the Red river campaign, under Gen. Banks, until 
 General Ransom was wounded at Sabine Cross 
 roads in Louisana, when the command of the corps 
 fell to him. He was placed in command of the dis- 
 trict of La Fourch, with headquarters at Thibo- 
 deauxville, Louisana, after the Red river cam- 
 paign, and remained there until the close of the war. 
 Soon after the war the Louisiana legislature, at the 
 motion of Duncan Smith, changed the name of 
 Sabine to Cameron, as a compliment to General 
 Cameron for having done his duty with as little 
 friction as possible and preserved his honor and In- 
 tegrity under all circumstances. In 1870 General 
 Cameron assisted N. C. Meeker in organizing the 
 colony which located In Greeley, Colorado, and 
 took charge as superintendent of the enterprise un- 
 til it proved a success. He repeated his experi- 
 ments at Manitou and Colorado Springs and after- 
 wards, in 1872, organized the Fort Collins Agri- 
 cultural Colony. He was made warden of the 
 Colorado state penitentiary by Governor Eaton in 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 1885, serving two years in that capacity. He was 
 an important factor in the settlement of the Cache 
 la Poudre valley and contributed largely of his 
 means and energy to the establishment of colonies 
 at Greeley, Colorado Springs and Fort Collins, 
 doing much in his day to bring the state into notice 
 and in aiding in its settlement and development. 
 
 Louis R. Blackstock. — Born in Atlanta, 
 Georgia, November 5th, 1842; die.d at Fort Col- 
 lins, Colorado, April 12th, 1904. He came to 
 Larimer county in 1869 and settled on a farm in 
 Pleasant valley near the present town of Bellvue, 
 where he lived for more than a third of a century. 
 In 1902 Mr. Blackstock gave up farming and 
 moved his family to Fort Collins and opened and 
 successfully conducted the Blackstock hotel on Jef- 
 ferson street until death supervened. He was 
 twice married, his first wife being a sister of former 
 county commissioner W. P. Bosworth and P. J. 
 Bosworth of Fort Collins, and of Harlan P. Bos- 
 worth of Stove Prairie. Two children, Lee Black- 
 stock and Mrs. Ernest Honnold were born of the 
 union, both of whom are living. His second wife 
 was Mrs. Wiseman whom he married in 1894, 
 and who survives him. He was a man of many 
 sterling qualities of heart and mind, and, though 
 tenacious of what he believed to be his rights, was 
 well liked. 
 
 Walter E. Mansfield, D. C, was born Nov- 
 ember 25, 1871, at Meridian, Mississippi; came to 
 Colorado in 1873, locating first at Las Animas, 
 coming thence to Fort Collins, in September, 1910; 
 married Mary M. Morgan in 1907; graduate of the 
 Cleveland school of Psychology and at the National 
 school of Metaphysical Science ; the National school 
 of Chiropractic; chiropractor by profession having 
 an office at the northeast corner of College avenue 
 and Oak street. Fort Collins. He contends that 
 from a Chiropractic standpoint disease emanates 
 from a pressure upon the nerves leading from the 
 spinal cord. 
 
 Ulysses S. Hankins, was bom January 9th, 
 1868, at New Market, Iowa; received his educa- 
 tion in the public schools and at the Colorado Agri- 
 cultural college. He was reared on a farm and is 
 a son of W. A. Hankins of Loveland. He came 
 from Iowa with his parents to Colorado in 1879 
 and the family settled on a homestead claim near 
 Loveland, Larimer county. Our subject was mar- 
 ried November 18th, 1891, to Cora Pegg in Fort 
 Collins. They have one child, a son, named Har- 
 
 lan who is at home with his parents. For the past 
 seven years has most acceptably filled the post of 
 field superintendent for the Great Western Sugar 
 company in the Berthoud district. In the spring 
 of 1910, Mr. Hankins moved from his farm into 
 the town of Berthoud, where he now resides. 
 
 Thomas J. Montgomery. — Descended from 
 good old Virginia and Kentucky parentage, Mr. 
 Montgomery was born September 20th, 1849, in 
 
 THOMAS J. MONTGOMERY 
 
 Macoupin county, Illinois. He was reared on a farm 
 until 16 years of age when he came to Golden, 
 Colorado, with his uncle, W. A. H. Loveland. 
 This was in 1866. He clerked in his uncle's store 
 at Golden when that place was the Capital of Colo- 
 rado, learning telegraphy of R. E. Gamble at night 
 after the store was closed. In 1867 he applied for 
 a position as government telegrapher, was accepted 
 and sent to Fort Sedgwick and from there to Mud 
 Springs on the North Platte; had charge of this 
 station eight months and was then transferred to 
 Bovay's ranch and then to Alkali Flats. That 
 year he entered the employ of the Union Pacific 
 and was sent to Cheyenne to superintend the in- 
 stallation of telegraph offices along the line of the 
 
 [271] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 railroad west of that point, opening the office at 
 Colorado Junction, Granite Canon, Tie Siding, 
 Buford, Laramie and others on west. He witnessed 
 some stirring times at Mud Springs and Bovays, as 
 the Indians were very troublesome that year. He 
 went back to his Illinois home in the fall of 1870 
 and took a complete course in bookkeeping and com- 
 mercial law at the Commercial college in Springfield. 
 In the winter of 1873 he was appointed night oper- 
 ator at Martinsburg on what is now the Wabash 
 road, remaining in the company's employ about a 
 year. In February, 1875, he married Addie Z. 
 Eberman, and moved to Golden in 1876, and was 
 employed by the Colorado Central railroad as oper- 
 ator at Longraont until October 7, when he came to 
 Fort Collins to take charge of the station as agent 
 and telegraph operator. He first opened an office in 
 Joseph Mason's store on Jefferson street remaining 
 there until October 22, when he moved the office 
 into the unfinished depot. In 1881, Mr. Mont- 
 gomery was elected county clerk and re-elected in 
 1883, serving two full terms. He then moved on to 
 a stock ranch near St. Cloud and engaged in the 
 cattle business, selling ranch and stock In 1890 and 
 returning to Fort Collins, which has since been 
 his home. His first wife died in October, 1893, and 
 in January, 1899, he married Helen E. Lunn, who 
 died a few years ago. He has one son, Hugh, child 
 by his first wife, who is now general manager of 
 the Electric Light and Heating plant at Auburn, 
 New York. His present occupation is that of con- 
 veyancer and dealer in real estate, placing loans, etc. 
 
 S. W. Johnson.— Born November 25th, 1852, 
 in Perry county, Ohio ; educated at Sterling, White- 
 side county, Illinois; married Maud M. Cochrane, 
 February 16th, 1898; three children, Wesley, 
 Lovina and Ephriam ; came to Fort Collins, March 
 1st, 1904 and engaged in farming; stockholder in 
 and director of the Fort Collins National bank and 
 is recognized as a high class citizen. 
 
 Sylvanus Oldfield was born December 23rd, 
 1847, in Richland county, Ohio. Went with his 
 father's family to Jasper county, Iowa, in 1856, 
 where he went to school and worked on a farm. At 
 the age of 16, he enlisted in company K of the 28th 
 Iowa infantry, February 29th, 1864, serving until 
 the end of the Civil war. Was wounded at the 
 battle of Cedar Creek, October 19th, 1864. At 
 the close of the war he located on a homestead in 
 Thayer county, Nebraska, where he lived until he 
 came to Colorado in the fall of 1887. He married 
 Hattie E. Wilson, January 1st, 1873, at Delhi, 
 
 [272] 
 
 Iowa. Came to Larimer county in 1900 and spent 
 two years on a farm near Trilby school house, mov- 
 ing then to Fort Collins, where he still resides. 
 Was one year field superintendent for the Great 
 Western Sugar company, and for the past six years 
 has been in the United States mail service as rural 
 route carrier. He has four surviving children ; Mrs. 
 Nellie E. Cline of Adams county, Colorado; Mrs. 
 Daisy E. Pavitt, of Greeley, Colorado ; Raymond 
 A. of Covina, California, and Mrs. Bessie Russell 
 of Fort Collins. 
 
 Walter Dixon^ born in Brampton, Derby- 
 shire, England, in the year 1839; married in 1865 
 to Mary Ann Hall. There have been born to them 
 eight children. When the people who formed the 
 Greeley colony, in Weld county, came to the West 
 in 1870, Mr. Dixon joined them and in 1885 he 
 moved with his family to Fort Collins. In Febru- 
 ary, 1887, he settled upon a farm five miles north- 
 west of the latter city where he still resides. 
 
 John C. Matthews. — The subject of this 
 sketch died November 9th, 1897, at White's hos- 
 pital in Fort Collins, aged 72 years. Mr. Mat- 
 thews was a native of Missouri, but came to the 
 Cache la Poudre valley in 1866 and located at La- 
 porte, then the county seat of Larimer county. He 
 at once became an important factor in the develop- 
 ment and upbuilding of his chosen home. He 
 taught the first public school at Laporte. While 
 thus employed he was made county jailer and 
 also appointed deputy clerk, discharging the duties 
 of all three positions with the utmost faithfulness 
 and fidelity. In the county clerk's office he brought 
 order out of chaos, opening the first regular set of 
 record books for the county. Later he engaged in 
 the mercantile business at Laporte in partnership 
 with the late A. H. Patterson, the firm subsequently 
 moving its stock of goods to Fort Collins, which 
 had been selected as the county seat. In 1870, Mr. 
 Patterson sold his interest in the store to the late 
 William C. Stover and the firm of Stover & Mat- 
 thews carried on the business together until 1876, 
 when Mr. Matthews disposed of his interest in the 
 firm to Mr. Stover and retired. Until the big brick 
 building at the corner of JefEerson and Linden 
 streets was erected in 1874, Stover & Matthews 
 occupied the old Grout building which stood where 
 Frank P. Stover's drug store now stands. That 
 was the first brick store building erected in Fort Col- 
 lins and it was occupied for thirty-six years for mer- 
 cantile and other purposes and until, in the spring 
 of 1910, it was razed by the Union Pacific rail- 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 road company. The Free Masons met on the 
 second floor of the building for about ten years. 
 Mr. Matthews was twice elected county clerk of 
 Larimer county, and held other offices of trust and 
 responsibility, always giving the utmost satisfac- 
 tion. One of his greatest claims upon the regard 
 of the community and one for which his memory 
 will long be revered, lies, perhaps, in his gift of 
 eighty acres of land to the state for the use of the 
 Agricultural college and which is now embraced 
 in the present college farm. It was through the 
 generosity and public spirit of Mr. Matthews, Ar- 
 thur H. Patterson, Joseph Mason and Henry C. 
 Peterson, each of whom made a free gift to the 
 state of land, that the friends of the college were 
 able to secure the location of that institution in 
 Fort Collins. One of the beautiful residence 
 streets of the county seat was named in honor of 
 Mr. Matthews. He was never married. His 
 burial was according to the rites of the Masonic 
 order of which he had been a member for more 
 than a quarter of a century. 
 
 Peter Anderson. — Whether as farm hand, 
 when a boy, freighter across the Plains in 1864-5, 
 farmer, stockman, at the head of a big mercantile 
 business, banker, school director, city alderman, or 
 President of the Chamber of Commerce, Peter 
 Anderson was ever the same kindly, urbane, genial 
 and progressive citizen that he is today. His early 
 life was a strenuous one and his success in later 
 years is proof of the metal that is in him. He 
 made good as a chore boy on a Wisconsin farm, as 
 a bull-whacker on the Plains, as a Colorado farmer, 
 as stockman controlling big herds of cattle on a 
 Wyoming range, for the past twenty-two years as 
 head of an important mercantile establishment, as 
 Vice-President of the First National bank, as a 
 city alderman,, a member of the board of education 
 and as President of the Chamber of Commerce. 
 He has never lost his grip nor fallen down with 
 anything he has ever undertaken, and is today one 
 of the foremost citizens of the county. He enjoys 
 the confidence and respect of every person in the 
 world that knows him. Having been a resident 
 of the county for forty-five years and known to be 
 an enterprising, energetic, progressive and public 
 spirited man, the number of his friends and ac- 
 quaintances runs up into the thousands. He is a 
 natural born booster and has always stood ready 
 with voice, pen and purse to help advance any pro- 
 ject or enterprise that gave promise of aiding in 
 the growth, development and prosperity of his chosen 
 
 home. Indeed, he has been personally identified 
 with many of the public enterprises that have since 
 added to the fame and prosperity of Fort Collins 
 and Larimer county. He has helped to build and 
 maintain churches, encouraged popular education 
 both as a private citizen and school officer, and has 
 done much in the way of developing the resources 
 of and in advancing the material prosperity of the 
 county. He is benevolent and generous and, with 
 kindly advice and open purse, has helped many a 
 poor man to get on his feet and started on the road 
 to independence. His private character is un- 
 impeachable and his domestic life a happy one. In 
 all his intercourse with his fellowmen he is an in- 
 born gentleman. Mr. Anderson was born October 
 17th, 1845, near Honefos, Norway, and can, there- 
 fore, never be President of the United States, no 
 matter how much the people should want him to 
 be. His father died when he was five years of age, 
 and two years later his widowed mother, with her 
 little flock of five children, the subject of this sketch 
 being next to the youngest, came to the United 
 States and settled in Walworth county, Wisconsin. 
 The family was poor, dreadfully poor, hence Peter, 
 when less than nine years of age, was put out to 
 work as chore boy for a farmer, his meagre earn- 
 ings going into the common fund for the support of 
 his mother and her dependent little ones. From that 
 time until the spring before he was sixteen years 
 old, he worked on a farm summers and went to 
 school winters. In the fall of 1864 he turned his 
 face westward and arrived in Denver in due time. 
 After working at the saddler's trade with William 
 Lindenmeier a few months, he bought four yoke 
 of oxen and a wagon and began freighting across 
 the Plains, making three trips from Denver to the 
 Missouri river during the years 1864 and 1865. In 
 the fall of 1865 he bought George R. Mcintosh's 
 squatter's claim of 160 acres of land and improve- 
 ments thereon. This claim is situated east of and 
 adjoining what is now the sugar factory farm, 
 and forms a part of Mr. Anderson's splendid and 
 highly improved 330-acre farm. On the claim was 
 a small log cabin which Mr. Anderson moved into 
 on January 14, 1866, and which was his bachelor 
 home for about ten years. In 1866 he became 
 associated with William Lindenmeier, Sr., in farm- 
 ing and stock business and they continued as part- 
 ners until 1878, when Mr. Lindenmeier retired 
 from the firm. Mr. Anderson then took his 
 two brothers in as partners and they run cattle 
 in Northern Wyoming and Western Nebraska, 
 until 1890, when they disposed of their holdings 
 
 [273] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 and retired from that line. In the fall of 1887, 
 they turned 5,000 head of cattle on the range and 
 were only able to gather 2,000 head the follow- 
 ing spring, the hard winter of 1887-1888 hav- 
 ing killed ofE 3,000 head, involving a loss to the firm 
 of $90,000. In September, 1878, Mr. Anderson 
 married Mary Severson of Black Earth, Wiscon- 
 sin. She died in September, 1891, leaving her hus- 
 band with the care of a young daughter, who is 
 now Mrs. Cora Riddell. In October, 1892, he 
 married for his second wife, Mrs. Anna J. Kriplin, 
 of Whitewater, Wis., who was his boyhood's sweet- 
 heart, but who married while he was out west, her 
 husband dying a few years before Mr. Anderson's 
 first wife died. The union has been a happy one 
 and blessed with one living son, Howard, now about 
 13 years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Anderson have a 
 beautiful home at the corner of Howes and Oak 
 streets and are generous and hospitable entertainers. 
 Since 1888 he has been engaged in the mercantile 
 business in this city, in which he has been very suc- 
 cessful. He has served one term as alderman from 
 the 3rd ward, three terms as member of the board 
 of education, several years as director and Vice- 
 President of the First National bank, and one year 
 as President of the Chamber of Commerce. 
 
 Herbert S. Pease was born July .18th, 1861, at 
 Flint, Michigan ; married Minnie B. Morrish, born 
 September 10th, 1865, at his own birthplace, Janu- 
 ary 10th, 1884; moved in 1885 to Buffalo county, 
 Nebraska, and was engaged in the drug business 
 there until 1899, when he came to Fort .Collins. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Pease have two children, Glenn R., 
 born September 9th, 1889, and Ray H., born Aug- 
 ust 16th, 1894. 
 
 Benjamin T. Whedbee. — Because of length of 
 years and useful life, many years of it spent in the 
 service of the people as a public official, and because 
 of his integrity and rugged honesty, characteristics 
 that marked his every act, public or private, the 
 late Benjamin T. Whedbee was one of the most 
 remarkable of the early pioneers of the Cache la 
 Poudre valley. He was born Nov. 14th, 1812, in 
 Orange county. North Carolina, and died in Fort 
 Collins Oct. 24th, 1910, aged nearly 98 years. He 
 moved to Missouri in 1832 and, after visiting sev- 
 eral portions of that state, settled in Buchanan 
 county. He worked at the carpenter trade, on a 
 farm, and was engaged in the mercantile business 
 a part of the time. He came to Colorado in 1863- 
 and settled in what is now known as Pleasant val- 
 ley, a name he gave it soon after his arrival. He 
 
 [274] 
 
 removed to Fort Collins in April, 1871, and opened 
 and kept the first drug store north of Boulder. He 
 disposed of this store in 1875 and engaged in the 
 general merchandise business, on the corner of 
 Mountain and College avenues, retiring from active 
 business pursuits in 1881. He served the people 
 of his chosen home as a member of the board of 
 town trustees and also as mayor one term with sig- 
 
 BENJAMIN T. WHEDBEE 
 
 nal fidelity and faithfulness. When Larimer county 
 was organized for judicial purposes, in 1864, Gov- 
 ernor John Evans appointed Mr. Whedbee its first 
 county treasurer, and he was twice thereafter 
 elected to the same office by the people. While in 
 that position he carried the tax roll and the records 
 in his pocket, and when he met a taxpayer on the 
 street he would collect the amount due the county 
 and give receipt. He also carried the county money 
 and when he met a man with a warrant he would 
 pay the amount the county owed. There was no 
 court house at the time and business was done in 
 rather crude fashion. Everybody trusted "Uncle 
 Ben," for he was as honest as the day is long, and 
 everything he did was done carefully and well. 
 Mrs. Whedbee died in 1886, and for a long time 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 "Uncle Ben," who had no children, made his home 
 with a relative, the late Mrs. Elizabeth Travis. 
 Upon her death the care of the aged man fell to 
 Mrs. Travis' two daughters, Grace and Marian, 
 who most faithfully and constantly nursed him, at- 
 tending to every want as though they were his own 
 children. Mr. Whedbee erected the first county 
 jail. It was a small, but substantially built, log 
 building, and served a good purpose for several 
 years. He was a member of the Presbyterian 
 church; had been a Master Mason for more than 
 fifty years, and was buried with Masonic honors. 
 
 John Eraser was born at Lumphanan, in Aber- 
 deenshire, Scotland, on the 10th day of June, 1871, 
 and came to Fort Collins in May, 1892. Upon his 
 arrival in this country he at once engaged in farm- 
 ing and has continued in that occupation to the 
 present time. On the 20th of September, 1904, 
 he was married to Miss Jeannie Taggart, a native 
 of the same county in Scotland in which Mr. 
 Eraser was born. Since coming to Colorado, Mr. 
 Eraser has shown the same thrift and economy 
 which is noticeable in so many of his countrymen 
 and is rapidly nearing a condition of independence 
 which assures his ease and comfort as age comes 
 upon him. 
 
 Henry C. Peterson was, perhaps, the first 
 white civilian to locate permanently in Old Camp 
 Collins. If not the first, he was one of the first. 
 He was born April 9, 1836, in Williamsburg, 
 Ohio, where he received his education in the public 
 schools and later learned the trade of a millwright. 
 Endowed with a love for adventure, and a desire 
 to share in the far-famed riches of Colorado gold 
 mines, he journeyed across the Plains with the great 
 rush in 1859 and worked in the mines of Gregory 
 Gulch and freighted until 1864, when he located 
 in Camp Collins. The soldiers had established a 
 military post here that year and he immediately 
 secured employment as a gunsmith, repairing guns 
 for the soldiers. In 1865, he cut the logs for and 
 built the first dwelling house erected in Fort Col- 
 lins. It was built for Mrs. Elizabeth (Aunty) 
 Stone, in which she kept a mess house for the officers 
 of the post. It was also Fort Collins' first hotel 
 and was used for that purpose until 1873. In com- 
 pany with Mrs. Stone, who was a woman of means, 
 he began in 1867 the erection of a flour mill and 
 completed it in 1868. At this time there was only 
 one other mill north of Denver and that was built 
 the same year at Old St. Louis on the Big Thomp- 
 son. Stone & Peterson operated the mill until 
 
 1873, when they sold it to Joseph Mason, who in 
 the winter of 1880, sold a half interest in it to 
 Benjamin E. Hotfel, and it has since been known 
 as the Lindell Mills. It was destroyed by fire in 
 June, 1886, and immediately rebuilt. Mr. Peter- 
 son married Mary Lyon, April 8th, 1872. Miss 
 Lyon came across the Plains from Pittsburg, Penn- 
 
 HENRY C. PETERSON 
 
 sylvania, in 1864 with her brothers, William and 
 John, and after spending a few years at Laporte 
 went to Cheyenne to live, returning to Fort Col- 
 lins in 1870. Of her union with Mr. Peterson 
 there are four surviving children, two sons, Lee and 
 Roy, and two daughters, Mrs. J. H. Setzler and 
 Mrs. Ella Grove, both of this city. Lee Peterson 
 is a prominent citizen of Meeker, Colorado, and 
 Roy is a resident of San Francisco, California. In 
 the spring of 1881, Mr. Peterson took up land on 
 the Upper Poudre and lived there with his family 
 until 1885, when they moved to Buford, Rio Blanco 
 county. He died at Meeker, April 10th, 1896. His 
 widow resides with her daughter, Mrs. Setzler, of 
 Fort Collins. He was a public spirited man, a de- 
 voted husband and father and was held in high 
 esteem by all the pioneers of the Cache la Poudre 
 
 [275] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 valley. He built the first school house in Fort 
 Collins, a frame structure, erected in 1871 ; burnt 
 the first kiln of brick and built the first brick house 
 here. This house was erected in 1873 and stood 
 on Lincoln avenue, near the Lindell Mills. 
 
 S. H. BiRDSALL was born at Venango, Crawford 
 county, Penn., in the year 1836. He entered the 
 Allegheny college at Meadville, Penn., in 1855, and 
 
 S. H. BIRDSALL 
 
 finished the course of instruction there in the spring 
 of 1860. While still a student at college, Mr. 
 Birdsall commenced to give lessons in music. He 
 took a Normal course in music at Meadville in 
 1867, and was able thereafter to greatly improve 
 his method of teaching. In August, 1862, he en- 
 tered the Union army as private in Company K, 
 150th regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, and 
 served for one year on the private guard of President 
 Lincoln in Washington. In 1863, he raised a 
 company of colored troops and became regimental 
 quartermaster. When mustered out in 1865, at 
 Roanoke Island, he was made agent of the Freed- 
 man's Bureau. His health was beginning to show 
 the effect of exposure and after a year or two spent 
 in trying to recuperate, he went to Titusville, Pa., 
 
 [-'76] 
 
 and taught music in the schools of that city. He 
 came west with the Greeley colony in 1870. In the 
 spring of 1871, he moved upon a tract of land near 
 Timnath in Larimer county. Mr. Birdsall was 
 married in 1860 to Amanda D. Knerr of Venango, 
 Pennsylvania. Two daughters were born to this 
 union. The principal work of his life has been to 
 impart instruction to youth. He has had large 
 experience in teaching in the public schools, and has 
 been especially successful in the giving of instruc- 
 tion in music. He has a happy faculty of versifica- 
 tion which he has exhibited in the production of 
 many rousing campaign songs. Mr. Birdsall is now 
 a resident of Kimball county, Nebraska. He has 
 been many years a member of the M. E. church 
 and retains his membership in the Masonic and 
 G. A. R. orders. His present address is Pine Bluffs, 
 Wyoming. 
 
 Harry L. Gilpin-Brown was born in York- 
 shire, England, on the 18th day of October, 1860. 
 He was educated at Harrow school, and came to 
 Colorado in 1880, first settling near Timnath, 
 in Larimer county. He was the son of George 
 Gilpin-Brown of Sedbury Park, Yorkshire, and re- 
 lated to Gov. Gilpin of Colorado. In 1890, having 
 lived a few years in North Park, he bought a farm 
 near Livermore where he resided until his death 
 in June, 1905. On the 18th of January, 1893, he 
 married Sylvia Swan of Larimer county. While liv- 
 ing on his Livermore farm, he engaged in the cattle 
 business with marked success. His health after 
 coming to America was never good and he was 
 thus precluded from participating in public affairs. 
 
 Jesse M. Sherwood. — Judge Jesse M. Sher- 
 wood, one of the pioneers of the Cache la Poudre 
 valley, died Nov. 30th, 1879, at the home of his 
 brother, F. W. Sherwood, four and one-half miles 
 southeast of Fort Collins, from Bright's disease of 
 the kidneys. He was about 65 years of age. He 
 was born in Oswego county. New York, and emi- 
 grated to Wisconsin in 1834. Soon after that he 
 located at Manitowoc in that state, where he lived 
 several years, engaged in lumbering in Manitowoc 
 and Calumet counties. In 1854 a township in Calu- 
 met county was named for him. He always took a 
 prominent part in the public affairs of northern 
 Wisconsin, and represented Manitowoc county in 
 the state legislature in the early years of that county, 
 and also held other important positions of public 
 trust. Judge Sherwood left Manitowoc for the 
 West in the spring of 1860 and, crossing the Plains 
 with an ox team in company with his brother, F. 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 W. Sherwood, arrived in the Cache la Poudre val- 
 ley in December of that year, both locating on the 
 place vvrhere he died. The brothers engaged in 
 farming and stock raising and were very successful. 
 Judge Sherwood was twice elected probate judge of 
 Larimer county and once a member of the Terri- 
 torial council. In 1875-6 he became interested in 
 mines and mining property at Caribou, Boulder 
 county, where he lived until the beginning of his 
 last sickness, when he was brought to his former 
 home by his brother. Judge Sherwood was a man 
 of great courage, fine ability and excellent social 
 qualities, who left the impress of his master mind 
 on the destiny of Larimer county. 
 
 John R. Ullery was born in western Ohio in 
 1832; moved to Nebraska in 1856, and married 
 Mary Wheeler Feb. 2nd, 1858, at Brownsville, 
 Nebraska; seven children were born to the union, 
 only three of whom are living; came to Colorado in 
 1862, did carpenter work for several years and then 
 engaged in farming in the Little Thompson valley; 
 went to Missouri in 1897, remaining until 1908, 
 when he returned to Berthoud ; spent a short time 
 at Grand Junction. The names of his children are 
 Mrs. Stella M. Wray of Berthoud, Mrs. Anna L. 
 Shellenberger, Nampa, Idaho, and Forest Ullery, 
 Nampa, Idaho. 
 
 George R. Strauss. — Sketches of the lives of 
 men identified with the earliest history of the set 
 tlement of a community and whose brain and brawn 
 contributed to the development of the resource of 
 a country, converting it from a wilderness into a 
 populous, prosperous and highly civilized region, are 
 always interesting and instructive. Such men mark 
 the beginning of the history of communities and 
 commonwealths. To such men as George Robert 
 Strauss, a pioneer of pioneers, who, realizing the 
 possibilities of the Cache la Poudre valley, set about 
 establishing a home and doing his part toward re- 
 deeming a wild, unfrequented region, the present 
 inhabitants of Larimer county owe an everlasting 
 debt of gratitude. It can almost be said of a truth 
 that the history of the white settlement of the 
 county began with the advent in its borders of Mr. 
 Strauss on May 15th, 1860. There was, to be sure, 
 a small Settlement at Laporte composed mainly of 
 trappers, fur traders and adventurers, who were of 
 a migratory character, here today and there tomor- 
 row, but permanent settlers were few and far be- 
 tween when Mr. Strauss located here. George Rob- 
 ert Strauss was born Nov. 20, 1831, in Columbia, 
 South Carolina. At the age of fifteen he left his 
 
 native state and went to Kentucky, where he spent 
 seven years of his life, going thence to Indiana. A 
 little later we find him moving westward to Mis- 
 souri, where he remained three years. He was in 
 Kansas during the exciting times of the border ruf- 
 fian war. In 1858, he entered government employ 
 and started from Fort Leavenworth with an ox 
 
 GEORGE R. STRAUSS 
 
 train loaded with supplies for General Albert Sid- 
 ney Johnston's soldiers, then located at Camp Floyd, 
 near Salt Lake, Utah. Shortly after arriving at his 
 destination, in the summer of 1858, Mr. Strauss 
 purchased a team of horses and wagon and, with 
 three or four companions, started for California. 
 He had not proceeded far on the journey ere he was 
 taken sick with pneumonia. While wrestling with 
 the disease a party of Mormons passed by and, 
 espying his team and outfit, promptly appropriated 
 them to their own use, leaving him without means 
 to continue his journey. On recovering from his 
 illness, Mr. Strauss' sole worldly possessions con- 
 sisted of $10.00 in money and the clothes he had on 
 his back. He gave a returning emigrant a dollar 
 to take him back to Provost, Utah, where he spent 
 the winter of 1858-9 and the following summer, do- 
 
 [277] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 ing such odd jobs as fell to his hands. During the 
 winter of 1859-60 he herded cattle for some drovers 
 from the Indian territory. About the first of April, 
 1860, accompanied by Robert Lawrence, Mr. 
 Strauss turned his footsteps eastward. He had 
 noted the beauty and character of the Cache la 
 Poudre valley on his outward journey in 1858, and 
 he decided to come back here and set his stakes for 
 a home. The travelers had one pony and on his 
 back were packed bedding, extra clothing, cooking 
 utensils and provisions. The entire journey from 
 Camp Floyd to the Cache la Poudre valley was 
 made on foot, and they were six weeks on the road. 
 The weary, foot-sore travelers reached a point on 
 the bank of the river about a mile east of Fort Col- 
 lins on the evening of the 15th of May, 1860, and 
 spent the night there. They were without a cent 
 of money, but as game was plentiful there was no 
 danger of starving. The next day they began pros- 
 pecting their surroundings and looking for some- 
 thing to do. Aside from a collection of log cabins 
 at Laporte, only a few of which were occupied, 
 there were but four human habitations on the river 
 from the canon to the point where the stream emp- 
 ties into the Platte. One of these stood on the 
 farm now owned by M. L. Landes near Laporte. 
 Todd Randall's cabin on what is now the Slockett 
 farm, two and one-half miles southeast of Fort Col- 
 lins, one on what is now the James Cuthbertson 
 farm, four miles below Fort Collins, and Robert 
 Boyd lived in the fourth, located a short distance 
 west of the present city of Greeley. Other than 
 these, there was not another building of any kind in 
 the valley. The first summer after coming here 
 Mr. Strauss eked out a bare existence by doing odd 
 jobs here and there as he could get them to do. In 
 .the fall of 1860 he joined a band of hunters and 
 spent the following winter killing game in the 
 mountains and marketing it in Denver. The sum- 
 mer of 1861 he started out in business by himself 
 and planted a garden which yielded him good re- 
 turns, his vegetables finding a ready sale to emi- 
 grant trains moving through the country. Thus, 
 from a pioneer settler without a penny, by indus- 
 try, perseverance, and the exercise of prudence and 
 good judgment, he amassed a handsome property. 
 Whenever he had a few dollars to spare he invested 
 them in cattle and these grew into large herds. 
 The homestead he located on in 1860 is situated on 
 the bottom lands about a mile up the river from 
 Timnath, and here he lived a single man for forty- 
 four years, dying from exposure during the flood of 
 May 20th, 1904. The circumstances surrounding 
 
 [278] 
 
 the death of this estimable man and pioneer are in- 
 deed sad. Along in the evening of the day of the 
 flood, the water came rushing through his home, 
 admonishing him to seek safety in flight to a neigh- 
 bor's. He left the house and started for the house 
 of James Strang, his nearest neighbor, but being 
 old and feeble he could not withstand the force of 
 the rushing water and was carried to a wire fence 
 at which he managed to gain a standing position 
 and maintain it by holding on to the top wire. He 
 called for help, but the noise of the rushing torrent 
 drowned his voice and he was not heard. At day- 
 light the following morning he was discovered by 
 Mr. Strang and rescued from the perilous position 
 and taken to Mr. Strang's house. He had been 
 standing all night in cold virater and became so 
 chilled by exposure that he lived but a few hours 
 after reaching a place of safety. He was buried 
 with Masonic honors on Wednesday, May 25th. 
 Thus passed away, at the age of 73 years, one of the 
 very first of the rugged pioneers who helped to make 
 the Cache la Poudre valley what it is today — one of 
 the wealthiest and most prosperous regions in the 
 United States. 
 
 Mr. Strauss was a specimen of the brave, inde- 
 pendent westerners; sanguine in temperament, 
 genial in disposition and honorable in thought and 
 deed, unostentatious at all times. He lived a sim- 
 ple. Christian life, esteemed and admired by all who 
 knew him. He was a factor in the development of 
 the Cache la Poudre valley and watched its progress 
 and advancement with almost a father's solicitude. 
 It is to such men as he that his survivors in the val- 
 ley are greatly indebted. 
 
 George Porter Avery was born on December 
 25th, 1852, and was educated at Cazenovia and 
 Syracuse Universities. He has been twice married. 
 He came to Colorado, settling at Fort Collins in 
 the fall of 1896. The greater part of Mr. Avery's 
 life has been devoted to the preaching of the gos- 
 pel under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal 
 church. 
 
 William F. Watrous. — ^The venerable Wil- 
 liam F. Watrous closed his eyes in death on Mon- 
 day afternoon, July 18th, 1910, at the family home, 
 115 Shields street, Fort Collins. Mr. Watrous was 
 born Aug. 10, 1825, in Bridgewater, Susquehanna 
 county, Pennsylvania, and was therefore nearly 85 
 years of age. When six years old his father moved 
 to a farm in Broome county, New York, in the valley 
 of the Susquehanna river, where the boy grew to 
 manhood's estate. He received his education in the 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 public schools of New York and at a neighboring 
 academy. On Nov. 4th, 1847, he was united in 
 marriage with Jane B. Carrier, who, with four chil- 
 dren, survive him. The children's names and resi- 
 dences are : Mrs. Alice M. Patterson, widow of the 
 late A. H. Patterson, Pueblo; William A. Watrous, 
 Wheatland, Wyoming; Frank L. Watrous and 
 Miss Anna Watrous, Fort Collins. In the fall of 
 1849 Mr. Watrous and his wife and little daughter, 
 Alice, emigrated from New York to Wisconsin and 
 located in the unbroken forests of Charlestown, 
 Calumet county. Young and ambitious and strong 
 of heart, he worked with undaunted courage and 
 cheering hopes to carve out a home for himself and 
 family. He early took an active interest in fruit 
 growing and was the first to demonstrate that ap- 
 ples and all the hardy kinds of fruit could be grown 
 with success in northeastern Wisconsin. In the fall 
 of 1864 he sold his Calumet county farm and moved 
 to Manitowoc, Wisconsin, where he engaged quite 
 extensively in fruit growing and market gardening, 
 remaining here until the winter of 1871, when he 
 came with his family to Larimer county, which had 
 since been his home. He purchased a farm situated 
 in the Cache la Poudre valley, about three miles 
 northwest of Fort Collins, on which he lived until 
 1874. He then moved to Fort Collins and built 
 himself a house at the corner of College avenue and 
 Myrtle street. In 1882 he sold the most of his 
 town property and moved to a fruit farm situated 
 on the river bank about one mile northwest of Fort 
 Collins, on which he lived until about two years 
 ago, when increasing years with their physical bur- 
 dens admonished him to retire from active business 
 pursuits. From early manhood Mr. Watrous took 
 an active interest in public affairs and there were 
 but few years of his life in Wisconsin that he did 
 not hold some official position either in town or 
 county, always with credit to himself and satisfac- 
 tion to the people. In 1862 he represented his 
 county in the Wisconsin legislature, and for several 
 years in succession was chairman of the town board 
 of supervisors, which made him also a member of 
 the board of county supervisors. Since coming to 
 Larimer county, in 1871, he had been a public- 
 spirited, progressive citizen, always among the fore- 
 most in assisting with energy, pen and purse, any 
 enterprise that promised to advance the material, 
 social, educational and moral interests of his chosen 
 home. In March, 1877, Governor Routt appointed 
 him a member of the first state board of agriculture, 
 a position he occupied until April, 1891, a period of 
 fourteen years. He was elected president at the first 
 
 meeting of that board and continued to preside over 
 its meetings for a period of nearly ten years. It was 
 during his administration that the main college 
 building and various other buildings connected there- 
 with were erected. When the main building was 
 ready for use and it was decided to open school in 
 the spring of 1879, it was found that there was no 
 public money to be had for that purpose until later 
 
 WILLIAM F. WATROUS 
 
 in the season. To get over this difficulty Mr. Wat- 
 rous and the late John J. Ryan, who was also a 
 member of the board of agriculture, went to Den- 
 ver and borrowed $3,000 at a bank on the strength 
 of their joint note, and with this money the school 
 was opened and started off on its career of useful- 
 ness. After the taxes had been collected later on 
 the note was paid off out of college funds. In the 
 spring of 1882 he was elected a member of the board 
 of town trustees, which contracted for and super- 
 vised the construction of Fort Collins' first system 
 of waterworks, and his name, with those of the other 
 members of the board, is engraved on a stone tablet 
 inserted in the front wall of the old pump house. 
 He was one of the pioneers in fruit growing in Colo- 
 rado, sharing that honor with the late J. S. McClel- 
 
 [279] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 land, A. N. Hoag and Z. C. Plummer, and his and 
 their success in that direction gave encouragement 
 to hundreds of others in Larimer county, who now 
 boast of fine orchards and an abundance of health- 
 giving and health-preserving fruits. 
 
 Charles V. Howard was a native of Massa- 
 chusetts, born in 1837; died April 17th, in Fort 
 Collins, aged 69 years. Mr. Howard was one of 
 
 CHARLES V. HOWARD 
 
 the pioneer farmers of the Cache la Poudre valley, 
 having located on a farm four miles northwest of 
 Fort Collins in 1870. This was his home for thirty- 
 five years, but owing to failing health he was obliged 
 to give up hard work and therefore sold his farm in 
 1905 and moved to Fort Collins. He is survived 
 by two children, a married daughter in California, 
 and a son, Charles, who was with his father when 
 he died. 
 
 Benj. Preston. — Among the foreign born far- 
 mer citizens of Larimer county, who after endur- 
 ing the hardships and privations incident to pioneer 
 life and the opening to cultivation of virgin soil, and 
 who by arduous labor and close and intelligent at- 
 tention to work in hand, is now enjoying a well- 
 
 [280] 
 
 earned respite from the strenuous activities of farm 
 life, mid health and plenty, and surrounded by 
 children and friends, Benj. Preston stands well up 
 toward the head of the ranks of the successful and 
 prosperous. Mr. Preston is one of the best known 
 and most warmly admired citizens of the county. 
 He began with little, and unless overtaken by ill- 
 fortune, will end with much hard-earned incre- 
 ment. He was born a poor English farmer's boy. 
 May 9th, 1848, at Kirby Kane, Suffolk, England, 
 where he received his education. At the age of six- 
 teen years he left the parental home and started 
 for the United States, arriving in New York, April 
 5th, 1866, going thence to Battle Creek, Mich- 
 igan to meet an uncle who had sent for him and 
 paid his passage to this country. Speaking of this 
 period in his life he jokingly says, "I came to this 
 country because I was needed here and was sent 
 for." After attaining his majority he started for 
 the wild and wooly west, stopping first in Chey- 
 enne and coming to the Cache la Poudre valley that 
 fall. During the few months he spent in Cheyenne 
 he was employed as hostler in the Union Pacific 
 round-house and has many a time cleaned the 
 engine known as the D. H. Moffat, then employed 
 on construction work on the Denver Pacific rail- 
 road. In 1870 Mr. Preston and a man named 
 Silas Doty cultivated a part of Judge A. F. Howes' 
 ranch, and in 1871 he moved on to John Brush's 
 place in the Big Thompson valley, and farmed it 
 one year until 1877, when he bought the land he 
 lives on at the present time, from Edgar Avery, of 
 Greeley, paying $10 per acre for it, with water 
 rights. It was then a piece of raw land without 
 a building, fence or tree on it and looked quite 
 different from the way it does now, with its beauti- 
 ful and commodious farm house, large barn, sheds 
 and corrals, its fruit and shade trees and vegetable 
 and flower gardens, making it one of the most 
 attractive farm homes in the county, as it is 
 one of the most productive. With the land he 
 got the same water rights that he holds now 
 in the Warren Lake reservoir for which he 
 has during the present year (1910) refused $16,- 
 000. The 228 acre farm with water rights that 
 he paid $1,600 for in 1877, could not be bought 
 now for less than $45,000. Mr. Preston broke 
 up a part of his land that fall and raised his 
 first crop in 1878 and has since been a uni- 
 formly successful farmer and stock feeder, and 
 has since accumulated a handsome competence. He 
 was united in marriage with Miss Hessie S. Bell, 
 daughter of the late Thomas P. Bell, in November, 
 
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HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 1874, and they have three children living; Mrs. 
 Clara L. Halderman, Charles B. and William A. 
 Preston. He has been president of the Fort Col- 
 lins Sheep Feeders' association, president of the 
 Fort Collins Beet Growers association and has done 
 more to increase the yield of spring wheat than any 
 other man in Colorado. He is an enterprising and 
 public spirited citizen and has been identified with 
 many progressive movements calculated to develop 
 the resources of the county and advance the mater- 
 ial welfare of its citizens. He is interested with 
 his son Charles and his son-in-law B. J. Halderman, 
 in the improvement and cultivation of 640 acres of 
 land in the San Luis valley in Costilla county. 
 
 Robert S. Fedder was born in Pittsburg, Penn- 
 sylvania, March 4, 1855. His early education was 
 received in his native city, where he resided until 
 
 1875, when he came to Colorado. In 1880 and 
 1881 he served as deputy clerk of Grand county and 
 prior to that time he served in the same capacity 
 in Larimer county for a few months, under Charles 
 P. Scott. He returned to this county in 1882, re- 
 ceiving the appointment as deputy under the then 
 county clerk, T. J. Montgomery. He held the 
 office of deputy treasurer under John L. Thomas, 
 who was elected in 1893. In January, 1895, he be- 
 came clerk of the district court, under Judge Jay 
 H. Bouton. In 1906 he was appointed a deputy 
 in the office of the secretary of state and, on return- 
 ing from Denver, he was appointed city clerk to 
 succeed T. H. Garrett, who resigned to go on his 
 ranch. In the following year, 1907, he was elected 
 to the office and his re-election took place in 1909, 
 the present being his second term. He was mar- 
 ried in this city October 17, 1895, to Miss Mamie 
 Snyder, who survives him. They had no children. 
 He died Sept. 2nd, 1910. 
 
 Eugene Holmes^ was born September 14th, 
 1845, near Pontiac, Michigan. His father died 
 August 6, 1847, and his mother moved to New 
 York state where she died in December, 1854. Our 
 subject was educated at Cazenovia seminary, N. 
 Y. On August 31st, 1864, he enlisted in 189th N. 
 Y. volunteer infantry and participated in the siege 
 of Petersburg, the battle of Five Forks and at the 
 surrender of Gen. Lee at Appomattox. He was 
 married August 14th, 1876, to Jennie Kelly of 
 Hannibal, N. Y. After teaching school several 
 years in New York, Mr. Holmes came to Fort 
 Collins May 31st, 1878, and followed teaching in 
 different parts of Larimer county for a number of 
 years. He was one of the teachers employed in 
 
 September, 1879 to conduct the second school taught 
 in the Remington building which was completed 
 that year. Mr. Holmes has a beautiful home on 
 Laporte avenue and enjoys the confidence and re- 
 spect of all who know him. 
 
 William Lindenmeier Jr. is a native of Colo- 
 rado, born September 14th, 1867, in Denver. He 
 is of German descent, his father, William Linden- 
 
 WILLIAM lindenmeier, JR. 
 
 meier coming to the Pike Peak region in 1860 with 
 the rush of gold seekers, and in 1861, enlisted in 
 company B of the First Colorado volunteer cavalry, 
 Col. John M. Chivington commanding, serving all 
 through the Civil war. He participated in the fights 
 at Apache Canon, Pigeon's Ranch and Peralto, New 
 Mexico, and did valiant service as an Indian fighter 
 in 1864-5. In 1874, when our subject was seven 
 years of age, the Lindenmeier family moved from 
 Denver to Cheyenne, where he received his education 
 in the public schools. His father at that time was 
 engaged in the cattle business in company with 
 Peter Anderson and later moved his family to Fort 
 Collins. On January 15th, 1887, William Jr. was 
 joined in marriage with Caroline Cleave in Fort 
 Collins, and four children, Sheridan W., Clark 
 
 [281] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Hall, Warren and Mary Alice, are the fruits of the 
 union. Soon after his marriage our subject opened 
 a jeweler's store on College avenue, which he con- 
 ducted several years and then moved on to his 
 father's farm at Lindenmeier Lake and followed 
 farming, stock raising and stock feeding with ex- 
 cellent success. In the spring of 1908, when the 
 Denver Interurban extended its street car tracks 
 to Lindenmeier Lake the subject of this sketch be- 
 gan fitting up the grounds bordering the lake as 
 a pleasure resort for the entertainment of summer 
 visitors and picnic parties. A naptha launch and 
 a number of row boats were placed on the lake, a 
 dancing pavilion, refreshment hall and other at- 
 tractions and conveniences constructed which to- 
 gether with the grove of shade and fruit trees, 
 make it a delightful resort. Mr. Lindenmeier is 
 a member of three Masonic orders. Blue lodge, 
 Royal Arch chapter, Commandery of Knight Temp- 
 lers; Woodman of the World, Modern Wood- 
 men of America, Elks and Sons of Veterans. 
 
 Otto A. Killer^ assistant cashier of the First 
 I^Jational Bank of Fort Collins, was born July 19th, 
 1^83, in New York City, and was educated at 
 Elyria, Ohio. He was married August 15th, 1907, 
 to Clara Henkel. They have one child, a daugh- 
 ter, Louise L. Hiller. The family came from Ohio 
 to Fort Collins arriving here January 29th, 1908, 
 and Mr. Hiller has since been employed in the First 
 National Bank. Mr. Hiller is of German decent 
 and speaks, reads and writes in the German lan- 
 guage fluently. His father is a teacher at the 
 German school in Elyria, Ohio. Mr. Hiller started 
 in the banking business in the latter city in 1901 as 
 collector and advanced steadily to the position of 
 assistant cashier, which position he still occupies 
 with the First National bank of Fort Collins. 
 
 John E. Roberts and Ellis H. Roberts. — 
 These two gentlemen comprise the firm of John E. 
 and Ellis H. Roberts, stockmen and dairymen, late 
 of the Upper Boxelder. John E. was born in 
 Deerfield, Oneida county. New York, March 24th, 
 1836. He arrived in Colorado July 1st, 1878, set- 
 tling on the Boxelder 26 miles northwest of Fort 
 Collins. May 19th, 1871, Mr. J. E. Roberts was 
 joined in wedlock to Mary Coates. Two daugh- 
 ters and one son were born of the union, Eliza- 
 beth, born August 20th, 1882; Edwin J., Novem- 
 ber 7th, 1888, and Laura B., November 5th, 1890. 
 Ellis H. Roberts was born in Deerfield, New York 
 on December 14th, 1849, coming to Colorado July 
 23rd, 1874, and engaging in the stock and ranch 
 
 [282] 
 
 business with his brother on Boxelder creek. The 
 brothers have grown prosperous during the 37 years 
 of their partnership and were until they sold out, 
 classed among the large stockmen of the county, 
 owning a fine ranch property and a comfortable 
 home where friend and stranger alike were always 
 most hospitably received. They are now both resi- 
 dents of Fort Collins. 
 
 John Sheldon was born January 29, 1813, at 
 Deerfield, Massachusetts; died January 2, 1886, in 
 Fort Collins, aged nearly 73 years. His father's 
 family removed from Massachusetts to Western 
 New York at an early day, where he received a 
 good common school education. He came to Fort 
 Collins in 1874 and engaged in wool growing, 
 locating on the farm on which he died. Prospect 
 park and the new city park were portions of his 
 farm. Mr. Sheldon disposed of his flocks in 1879 
 and gave his whole attention to cultivating his farm, 
 then one of the finest in Larimer county. He was 
 one of the pioneer farmers of the valley and was 
 the first to introduce alfalfa and advocate its pro- 
 duction as a forage plant. He was known far and 
 wide as one of the most enterprising and progress- 
 ive farmers in the county, and he did much, both 
 by precept and example, to encourage agriculture 
 and stock growing in Colorado. Two sons, Charles 
 H. Sheldon, cashier of the Poudre valley National 
 bank, and Henry, who died a few years ago, sur- 
 vived his death, his wife having died in New York 
 state many years ago. 
 
 George C. Briggs was born in Jefferson county, 
 Pennsylvania, on May 10, 1860. He came to 
 northern Colorado in 1880, settling in Evans, 
 Weld county, where he engaged in the mercantile 
 business. In January, 1889, he and Isabelle Parks 
 of Washington, Kansas, were united in marriage 
 and four children were the results of the union: 
 Ethel, Elmira Agnes and J. Glenn. In 1901 Mr. 
 Briggs and family moved to Loveland where he 
 engaged in the newspaper business, being editor 
 and business manager of the Loveland Register. 
 Later he retired and entered mercantile circles 
 again, but sold out in the spring of 1910. 
 During his nine years residence in Loveland, Mr. 
 Briggs has taken a prominent part in that city's 
 affairs. He has served one term as mayor; was 
 president of its chamber of commerce; member of 
 the Elks, Odd Fellows and W. O. W.; and for 
 eight years he was on its school board. He is a 
 pushing, progressive American, a type that has 
 forced Colorado to the front of its sister states the 
 
I he CenlucY Ptjfilshno Z- trnQca-vinc^ Lh.::::-y- 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 past quarter of a century, and as a neighbor and 
 friend he is highly esteemed by all. He was mayor 
 of Evans 16 years, and the town's postmaster for 
 five years. 
 
 Hon. Benjamin H. Eaton. — The people of 
 Larimer and Weld counties, particularly the early 
 settlers of those counties, will always, retain a warm 
 place in their hearts for sturdy Benjamin H. Eaton, 
 Colorado's only farmer governor who filled the 
 executive chair of State from January, 1885, to 
 January, 1887, through the partiality of those who 
 knew and appreciated his great worth as a common- 
 wealth builder. Coming to Colorado in 1859, 
 during the first days of the Pikes' Peak gold ex- 
 citement, he was, until his death in 1904, one of 
 the foremost and most prominent citizens of the 
 state. His elevation to the highest position within 
 the gift of the commonwealth is sufficient proof 
 of his prominence as a citizen. During his life he 
 witnessed the remarkable development of the vari- 
 ous industries of the Centennial State, himself 
 largely contributing thereto. Contemporaneous his- 
 tory establishes the fact that he did more than any 
 other one man to develop the agricultural resources 
 of Colorado and bring them up to their present high 
 and prosperous standing. At one time he owned 
 ninety 160 acre farms in Weld county, nearly all 
 of them watered from canals and reservoirs of his 
 own construction. Mr. Eaton was born in Har- 
 rison county, Ohio, and was the second eldest of 
 eight children, six of whom attained mature years. 
 Upon completing his education the subject of this 
 sketch taught school in Ohio for a time. In 1854 
 he removed to Louisa county, Iowa, where he taught 
 school two years, returning to Ohio in 1856 and was 
 there united in marriage with Delilah Wolf. His 
 wife died May 31st, 1857, leaving a son, Aaron 
 J., who is now a prominent citizen of Weld county. 
 In the spring of 1858, he went a second time to 
 Iowa, but a year later crossed the Plains to Colo- 
 rado. Here, and in New Mexico, he prospected 
 and mined and engaged in agricultural pursuits. 
 In 1864 he returned to Louisa county, Iowa, and 
 married Rebecca J. Hill. Crossing the Plains with 
 his bride, he settled upon land in Weld county, 
 adjoining the east line of Larimer county and em- 
 barked in stock raising. Fort Collins was then 
 his nearest postoffice and trading point and here 
 he formed many strong and lasting friendships. 
 He was one of the charter members of the Collins 
 lodge No. 19, A. F. & A. M. and remained a 
 
 cherished member thereof until the lodge at Greeley 
 was instituted and established. 
 
 In addition to his ranching and stock raising 
 pursuits, Mr. Eaton early became contractor and 
 constructor of irrigating canals and reservoirs, 
 through the building of which he greatly promoted 
 and advanced the agricultural interests of the coun- 
 ties of Larimer and Weld. In 1873, associated 
 with John C. Abbott, he constructed what is known 
 as Larimer county Canal No. 2, which waters a 
 large tract of productive land west, south and south- 
 east of Fort Collins. This was one of the first 
 canals built in Larimer county to carry water on 
 to the bluff lands. In the fall of 1878, Mr. Eaton 
 began work on the Larimer & Weld Canal, known 
 as the Eaton ditch, which at that time was the 
 largest and longest irrigating canal in the state. 
 The headgate is situated about two and a half 
 miles northwest of Fort Collins and the canal is 
 about 70 miles in length. He completed this pro- 
 ject in 1879 and then went to Denver and built 
 what is known as the High Line canal for a com- 
 pany of English capitalists. Later he built the Wind, 
 sor reservoir and still later the Sand creek ditch 
 which draws water from Sand creek and brings 
 it over Boulder Ridge and discharges it into the 
 North fork of the Cache la Poudre river. By his 
 second wife he had a son Bruce G. who resides in 
 Greeley, and a daughter, Jennie B., wife of J. M. 
 B. Petrikin, also a prominent citizen of Greeley. 
 Mr. Eaton died in 1906, at Greeley. 
 
 Hon. Thomas H. Johnson was born in Dixon, 
 Illinois, May 23, 1839. He was a farmer's son 
 and used to hard and honest labor from sunrise to 
 sundown. In those days school houses were few 
 and far between and the opportunity for boys and 
 girls to get the rudiments of an education were 
 scarce. But "Tom" mastered the three R's and 
 worked on the farm, thereby becoming well 
 grounded in the cultivation of the soil and the 
 growing of live stock. After he had reached his 
 majority he became infected with the Western 
 fever, and wanted to be a gold seeker and he 
 joined an imigrant party for Colorado, arriving at 
 Golden on June 29, 1860. But placer mining did 
 not appeal to him when he reached the El Dorado 
 of his hopes, and with a small party of men he came 
 to the Big Thompson valley, arriving there on 
 July 3rd. His brief stay at and about Golden had 
 shown him that hay was a valuable commodity. 
 There was plenty of rich grass on the prairie that 
 could be cut and hauled into the mines, and hay 
 
 [283] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 at from $100 to $150 per ton at Black Hawk and 
 Central City, was far more profitable than placer 
 mining for it was more sure. The hay was in 
 sight, while the yellow metal was elusive and not 
 to be found where expected. He farmed quite a 
 number of acres, several of them being planted 
 with potatoes, and he and a neighbor, Frank Card, 
 were first in the valley to raise them in quantities 
 
 HON. THOMAS H. JOHNSON 
 
 to sell. They hauled them to Forts Laramie and 
 Sanders in Wyoming and Fort Morgan, Colorado. 
 Mr. Johnson also engaged at stock raising while 
 tilling the soil. He got a contract in 1867 from 
 the Union Pacific railroad company to grade the 
 right of way from Cheyenne, west to Ogden, Utah, 
 which was completed in due time. Mr. Johnson 
 is a Republican and from boyhood has always taken 
 an interest in politics. In 1865 or 1866 he with 
 Judge Howes and others, called the first Republi- 
 can mass meeting ever held in Larimer county. It 
 convened in Fort Collins and elected delegates to 
 the Territorial convention held in Denver, and 
 from that day to the present, Tom has been an 
 active participant and one of the chief attendants 
 at county and state conventions. He has also been 
 [28+] 
 
 an active member of the Cattlemen's association 
 held in Denver and elsewhere, and his voice could 
 always be heard as in ringing, forceful tones he 
 spoke for what he believed to be the best policy; 
 and he has always been listened to with respect 
 and deference. He returned to Dixon in the win- 
 ter of 1868 and '69 and married Eliza M. Rogers 
 on February 25th, 1869. The young couple came 
 to the Big Thompson valley and there they have 
 resided since, every roof that covered them being 
 home in its best sense ; made so by a woman whose 
 altar has been the family hearthstone. Four child- 
 ren bless this union, three of them surviving. They 
 are Burton W. Johnson, engaged at mining at 
 Seven Troughs, Nevada; Mrs. Myrna A. Richey 
 of Lone Tree, Iowa and Mrs. Edna G. Ish of 
 Longmont. Mr. Johnson has held positions of 
 ' trust and could have held elective ofBce more had 
 he so minded. He was Larimer county's repre- 
 sentative in the Third General assembly; was 
 deputy warden of the state penitentiary during 
 Governor Mclntire's adminstration ; and Governor 
 Thomas appointed him state game and fish com- 
 missioner, offices that he filled with credit to him- 
 self and the state. As the years rolled on the old 
 guard of pioneers is becoming less and in a few 
 short years the last pioneer will have crossed the 
 range — and none will he more mourned in state 
 or valley than Thomas H. Johnson — true citizen, 
 loving husband, affectionate father and staunch 
 friend. 
 
 Walter L. Fenton was born at Mineral Ridge, 
 Trumbull county, Ohio, on the 20th day of Decem- 
 ber, 1832. He was married in 1854, to Margaret 
 Evans, and in 1880 came to Larimer county and 
 settled at Berthoud. From the age of eighteen 
 years until sixty, he followed the blacksmith trade. 
 There are five children. Mr. Fenton by reason of 
 advancing years has retired from active labor and 
 now resides at Berthoud. 
 
 William S. Taylor, one of Larimer county's 
 most esteemed and best loved pioneers, died on April 
 10th, 1899, at Pasadena, California, which had 
 been his home since 1891. Few men have ever lived 
 in the county who were better known and more uni- 
 versally admired because of his generous nature, 
 genial disposition and frank, cordial and companion- 
 able characteristics, than big-hekrted William Stone 
 Taylor. He was born May 10th, 1835, in Wash- 
 mgton, Pennsylvania, and was therefore nearly 64 
 years of age when death called him hence. He went 
 at an early age with his parents to Illinois, and in 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 1862 came to Laporte, this county, which was his 
 home for nearly thirty years. He came west to enter 
 the employ of the Overland Stage company and kept 
 the stage station at Virginia Dale during the perilous 
 years of 1863-4-5, when the Indians were so trouble- 
 sortie. 
 
 Almost the entire country was then an unbroken 
 wilderness, inhabited only by marauding and murder- 
 ous bands of Indians. Later he kept the stage sta- 
 tion at Cooper Creek, Wyoming, and in the fall of 
 1867, after the Union Pacific railroad had been 
 completed to Cheyenne, and the stage line had been 
 changed to run from Denver to Cheyenne, he took 
 charge of the hotel and station at Laporte, remain- 
 ing there for several years. Here he had the pleas- 
 ure of entertaining General Grant and party as it 
 passed through the country in 1868; and on Sun- 
 day, June 21st, 1865, Hon. Schuyler Colfax, after- 
 ward vice-president of the United States, and Sam- 
 uel Bowles, editor of .the Springfield, Massachusetts, 
 Republican, spent the day with him and his accom- 
 plished wife at Virginia Dale. After the comple- 
 tion of the Union and Central Pacific roads to the 
 Western coast and the abandonment of the La- 
 porte stage station, Mr. Taylor bought the hotel 
 building and moved it onto his farm, just east of La- 
 porte, where he lived for nearly 20 years. The farm 
 is now owned by M. L. Landes. Shortly after the 
 death of his first wife, in July, 1886, Mr. Taylor 
 sold his farm and stock and spent much of his time 
 in traveling, making Fort Collins his home, how- 
 ever, until he moved to California in 1891. In 
 1890 he married Mary Murch, who, with one 
 daughter, survives him. Mr. Taylor was noted for 
 his genuine western hospitality, his kind heart and 
 liberality. He loved his home and friends, and his 
 latch-string could always be found on the outside. 
 He was the life of social gatherings and no man 
 ever enjoyed the companionship of congenial spirits 
 better than he did. 
 
 Frank E. Baxter is a native of WoodhuU, 
 Steuben county. New York, where he first saw 
 the light on February 16th, 1852. He was edu- 
 cated at Woodhull academy and, having moved to 
 Atlantic, Iowa, was there married on the 5th of 
 September, 1875, to Miss Frank A. Hoyt. To 
 this union was born a son, Ray Baxter. Mr. 
 Baxter migrated to Colorado in 1883, and first set- 
 tled at Stratton Park in Larimer county. Having 
 lost his first wife, after some years of widowhood, 
 he was married to Miss Florence E. Woods of 
 Fort Collins, and this marriage has been blessed 
 
 by the birth of three daughters, Norma, Leone and 
 Lucile, and a son, Frank E. Jr. The subject of 
 our sketch is emphatically what is known in the 
 expressive language of the West as a "hustler". 
 He has been active in the politics of the county and 
 has been several times elected by the people to 
 offices of trust which he has filled with integrity 
 and to the satisfaction of his fellow citizens. He 
 
 FRANK E. BAXTER 
 
 has engaged successfully in farming as well as in the 
 mercantile business. His social nature is largely 
 developed and he delights in the society of his neigh- 
 bors and acquaintances. An active member of sev- 
 eral- lodges, he is known as a worker. Fearless 
 in the expression of his opinion while tolerant 
 of the opinions of others, he exerts an influence 
 for good. His entire honesty in dealing with his 
 fellows serves as an example and encouragement 
 to the virtuous and as a rebuke to the vicious. Not 
 a little of the progress and development of Larimer 
 county is due to Mr. Baxter and men of his class. 
 
 Frederick Lee Beery is engaged in the culti- 
 vation of fruitlands in the vicinity of Loveland, 
 Larimer county, where he has resided since the 
 autumn of 1899. He was married on the 25 th day 
 
 [285] ■ 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 of December, 1907. Mr. Beery is a successful 
 farmer, and energetic young man and a respected 
 citizen. His only child, Victor Lee Beery, was 
 born May 30, 1910. 
 
 George Carlson was born of Swedish parents, 
 on the 23rd of October, 1876, at Alta, Buena 
 Vista county, Iowa. His parents moved to Colo- 
 rado while George was still very young and the 
 
 GEORGE CARLSON 
 
 first eight years of his school life were passed at 
 Villa Park public schools in Barnum, near Denver. 
 Under the necessity to carve out for himself a 
 career, he labored on a farm and by industry and 
 economy he was enabled to accumulate sufficient 
 money to meet the expense of a course of study at 
 the Agricultural college at Fort Collins, which in- 
 stitution he attended during the years 1892 and 3. 
 The year 1894-5 was spent in teaching school in 
 the Ashton district, in Weld county. Having saved 
 enough money to enable him to again take up his 
 studies, he entered the State Normal school in 
 1895, and in 1898 was graduated from that insti- 
 tution with marked credit. At the Normal school, 
 Mr. Carlson evinced a love for athletic sports 
 which he never failed to manifest during all of his 
 
 [286] 
 
 subsequent career as a student. Such youthful 
 trophies and honors as may be won upon the foot- 
 ball grounds were frequently awarded him and the 
 election by his fellow students from time to time 
 to offices in their various associations gives evidence 
 of his popularity among them. The course at the 
 Normal completed, he wished to pursue his stud- 
 ies further, and in the fall of 1898, entered the 
 State university at Boulder. Here he did literary 
 work of a character that won for him the com- 
 mendation of his instructors and opened the way to 
 his becoming instructor in English in the prepara- 
 tory school of the university. In 1892 he was grad- 
 uated from the university, receiving the degree of 
 A. B. His preparatory or preliminary study was 
 now completed and it became necessary for him to 
 decide upon a calling for life and to enter upon 
 the special preparation for that. He chose the pro- 
 fession of the law and graduated from the law 
 school in 1905. His first year after admission to 
 the bar was spent in the practice of the law in the 
 state of Idaho. In 1905, he settled in Fort Collins 
 and opened an office and has continued to the pres- 
 ent time in the practice of his profession. On the 
 29th day of August, 1906, Mr. Carlson was mar- 
 ried to Miss Rose Alps and there have been born 
 to them two children, a boy and a girl. He was 
 appointed in 1906 deputy district attorney for the 
 county of Larimer and won some reputation by 
 the vigorous and successful manner in which he 
 prosecuted violators of the law prohibiting the sale 
 of intoxicants. Before the expiration of his term 
 of appointment, he resigned the office of deputy 
 prosecutor and for a few months confined himself 
 to a private practice. In 1908, he was elected dis- 
 trict attorney for the Eighth judicial district of 
 Colorado. Mr. Carlson has met with flattering 
 success in the practice of the law and gives promise 
 of a successful future. He is studious, careful and 
 possessed of a fair, judicial mind; his clients are 
 dealt with in a spirit of fairness and courtesy and 
 he is respected by the members of the bar. He has 
 been active in the field of politics and has met with 
 some success as a public speaker. His persever- 
 ence, amiable address and scholarship are calculated 
 to carry him far and he is sure to give a good 
 account of himself as the years go by. 
 
 Charles H. Kennedy was born May 6th, 
 1887, in Ritchie county. West Virginia; educated 
 at Indian Creek school, Beatrice, West Virginia; 
 married Grace E. Morgan of Hendley, Nebraska, 
 April 16th, 1910; came to Fort Collins, July 25th, 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 1906, and lives at 1002 South College avenue. He 
 is a groceryman by occupation and a valuable ad- 
 dition to the business and social life of the home 
 of his adoption. 
 
 J. L. Nightingale was born in Alexander, 
 Nebraska, on the 4th of November, 1867. His 
 education commenced in the common schools of that 
 state was completed at the Baptist seminary at Gib- 
 bon, Nebraska, followed by a business course at 
 Greeley. He operated as a mining- solicitor for a 
 time and at last took up his residence at Livermore, 
 in Larimer county, where he served for eight years 
 as deputy postmaster. He then for two years filled 
 the office of Game warden and for the last six 
 years has acted as assistant postmaster at Fort Col- 
 lins. Mr. Nightingale's genial good nature has 
 won for him the friendship, and his sterling honesty 
 has secured the esteem of all with whom business 
 brings him in contact. 
 
 Thomas Chalmers Bunyan, President of the 
 Berthoud National bank, has always occupied a 
 high position in the estimation of the people in 
 every community in which he has lived, particu- 
 larly in that of Berthoud where he has spent nearly 
 twenty years of a busy life. He is a native of 
 West Charlton, New York, where he was born 
 August 30th, 1847. His parents were John Bun- 
 yan and Jane T. (Chalmers) Bunyan. He was 
 educated at Charlton academy and at Union col- 
 lege, graduating from the latter with the degrees of 
 A. B. and A. M. Soon after completing his studies 
 at Union college, he was chosen superintendent of 
 the schools of Ballston Spa, New York, serving in 
 that capacity from 1872 until he came to Colo- 
 rado in 1892. Upon assuming this position, 
 Mr. Bunyan set at work at once to reorganize the 
 system then in operation and succeeded in estab- 
 lishing what developed into a system that was the 
 pride of Ballstonians. He gradually raised the 
 standard until it became one of the most perfect 
 and best conducted systems of graded schools in 
 towns of the size of Ballston Spa in the Empire 
 State. He was also actively identified with other 
 educational interests outside of the Ballston schools. 
 He was, while a resident of Ballston Spa, a not 
 infrequent contributor to leading educational per- 
 iodicals and was the author of numerous papers 
 on educational subjects which were read before 
 gatherings of teachers. He was one of the organ- 
 izers and the first President of the Saratoga county, 
 New York, Teachers' association, one of the most 
 prosperous and influential organizations of the kind 
 
 in that state. After coming to Berthoud in 1892, 
 he dropped educational work, but not his interest 
 in the education of the masses, to engage in the 
 banking business. He founded the Bank of Berth- 
 oud that year and his success in that venture has 
 been all and more than he had reason to expect, 
 when he opened the doors of his bank for the first 
 time. He has been President of the bank and its 
 
 THOMAS CHALMERS BUNYAN 
 
 successor the Berthoud National bank since April 
 1st, 1892. Personally, Mr. Bunyan is too well 
 known in the Little Thompson valley and Lari- 
 mer county to need any words of praise in this 
 sketch. His uniform courtesy and even tempera- 
 ment, his strong convictions of what is right and 
 what is wrong, his personal presence and his rare 
 intellectual powers have fitted him to make and to 
 hold as friends all those whose friendship is worth 
 considering. His family is an interesting one and 
 every member of it is held in high esteem. Mr. 
 Bunyan was married August 11th, 1875, to Miss 
 Ellen M. Hallowell, at West Charlton, New York. 
 Four children have come to bless the union, their 
 names being John Bunyan, cashier of the Berthoud 
 National bank; William C. Bunyan, assistant 
 
 [287] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 cashier of the bank; Julia and Ellen T. Bunyan, 
 all of them graduates of the University of Colo- 
 rado. Mr. Bunyan has a fine large library of well 
 selected books where he spends his leisure hours in 
 reading. 
 
 George Bear was born June 24th, 1824, in 
 London, England, and came to America at the age 
 of 28 years, in 1852. He was married January 
 
 GEORGE BEAR 
 
 25th, 1855, to Aliss Ellen Landell, who was also 
 of English birth. There were born to them nine 
 children, eight of whom are still living, being Mrs. 
 J. W. Humphrey, of Kansas City, Missouri; J. 
 P. Bear, of Fort Collins; Mrs. H. C. Henderson, 
 of Los Angeles, California; F. A. Bear, of Boise, 
 Idaho; Mrs. M. B. Stewart, of Denver; George 
 Bear, of Bellvue, Colorado; Mrs. W. A. Farn- 
 ham, of Alamosa, Colorado and Mrs. A. C. Ruther- 
 ford, of Twin Falls, Idaho. 
 
 The subject of this note came to Black Hawk, 
 Colorado, in 1863, and in 1864 located on a farm 
 in Boulder county, where he engaged in stock rais- 
 ing in connection with general farming. In 1880, 
 
 [288] 
 
 he moved with his family to Larimer county and 
 settled on a farm near Bellvue. Here he continued 
 the same business of farming and stockgrowing as 
 had occupied his attention in Boulder county, until 
 the time of his death, which occurred on May 
 11th, 1903. Mr. Bear met with success in his 
 undertakings and was possessed of a comfortable 
 amount of worldly goods. He was a consistent 
 member of the church, a kind parent and an up- 
 right citizen. He came to the state when little 
 had been done to test its possibilities and lived to 
 see it rank as one of the best in the Union. He 
 raised a family, none of whom has failed to follow 
 in the lines of right conduct so persistently fol- 
 lowed by the father. 
 
 Mrs. Emeline Dorman has been a resident of 
 Larimer county for the last five years, her home 
 being at Berthoud. She was born near Dayton, 
 Ohio, on March 8, 1842. Her husband, to whom 
 she was married in 1860, was in the Civil war and 
 saw much active service. Mrs. Dorman is the 
 mother of seven sons, three of whom are citizens of 
 Larimer county. 
 
 George E. Graham, son of Edmund A. Gra- 
 ham, the pioneer painter and decorator of Fort 
 Collins, was born November 21st, 1871, in Ypsi- 
 lanti, Michigan. Two years later his parents moved 
 to Fort Collins where our subject learned and has 
 since successfully followed his father's occupation 
 for 18 years. On November 22nd, 1899, he mar- 
 ried Mary A. Philippi, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. 
 Christian Philippi, who was born June 6th, 1880 
 in Fort Collins. 
 
 Thomas C. Halvorson. — The thirty years our 
 subject has spent at farming in the Cache la Poudre 
 valley have been fruitful of good results, and he is 
 now numbered among the comfortably well-off re- 
 tired farmers of Fort Collins. He was born Janu- 
 ary 31st, 1854, at Hjoring, Denmark, and obtained 
 his education in the public schools of his native land. 
 He was a soldier in the King's army for 15 months 
 and a corporal during six months of the time. He 
 came to the United States when a young man and 
 on March 29th, 1881, married Nelsina Gotf red- 
 sen at Penn Yan, New York. Two months later. 
 May 24th, he and his bride landed in Fort Collins 
 and he at once engaged in farming and stock raising. 
 He worked the F. W. Garrett farm three years 
 and then took up a homestead in the Boxelder dis- 
 trict. He sold the improvements on this claim, 
 relinquished his right and bought an 80 acre farm 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 on which he lived for 16 years. He now resides 
 on the corner of Peterson and Myrtle streets, Fort 
 Collins. In the fall of 1909 he bought a 160-acre 
 farm situated nine miles northwest of Fort Collins. 
 
 Swan Gustaf Anderson was born in Sweden, 
 on December 28th, 1861, and came to America and 
 to Larimer county in 1881. In 1894, he was mar- 
 ried to Matilda Carlson who also was born in 
 Sweden, on the 9th day of June, 1863. Three 
 sons and a daughter have been born to them. Mr. 
 Anderson has been engaged in farming since com- 
 ing to this country. He is a man to be trusted. 
 
 William Mabel was born in December, 1858, 
 in a log house in Allegheny City, Pennsylvania; 
 came to Fort Collins in 1876, spending first three 
 years in Spring Canon as cow puncher; has since 
 lived on Stover street ; brickmason ; married Annie 
 Carroll, January 2nd, 1885, in Fort Collins; four 
 children, Harriet, Laura G., Eva V. and Jessie C. 
 Mabel; worked in oil fields of Pennsylvania before 
 coming to Colorado; has invented a number of use- 
 ful mechanical appliances. 
 
 Rev. William H. McCreery was born in the 
 Ligonier valley, Westmoreland county, Pennsyl- 
 vania, on November 17, 1839. When nine years 
 old his father moved onto a farm in Indiana county, 
 Pennsylvania, and there he divided his boyhood 
 days attending district school and at work on the 
 home place. From the school he went to the acad- 
 emy in Marion, Pennsylvania and pursued his 
 studies for a higher education till August, 1862, 
 when he enlisted in the 139th infantry, Pennsyl- 
 vania volunteers, ready to give his life, if neces- 
 sary, in defense of the Union. Later he enlisted 
 in the United States signal corps. There he 
 stayed until mustered out in August, 1865. On 
 his return home, he resumed his studies at Day- 
 ton academy and was graduated from Westminister 
 college with first honors in 1870. From 1870 
 to 1873 he was in charge of the Mount Pleasant 
 academy, Pennsylvania, during which time he was 
 preceptor of Z. X. Snyder, now president of the 
 State Normal school of Greeley. Mr. McCreery 
 attended the Allegheny Theological seminary, was 
 graduated in 1870, and ordained a minister of 
 the United Presbyterian church, in August, 1874. 
 Shortly after that he and his family moved 
 to Colorado, coming direct to what is now known 
 as Loveland, and here he has remained. He 
 organized the United Presbyterian church in 
 that city on November 25, 1875i the pioneer United 
 
 Presbyterian church of Colorado. The congre- 
 gation numbered 15, and to-day it has enrolled on 
 its register about 400 communicants. In 1879 he 
 ceased his pastoral duties, owing to ill health, lived 
 quietly, but in the fall of 1882 he was appointed 
 superintendent of Larimer county's schools. To 
 this office he was twice re-elected by an over- 
 whelming majority. His occupancy of that office 
 
 REV. WILLIAM H. MC CREERY 
 
 proved he was the right man in the right place, 
 for the school districts increased 100 per cent, or 
 from 27 to 54, and that number has been but 
 slightly augmented to the present day. Those 
 five years represented a great development in school 
 matters and the former superintendent is entitled 
 to great praise for his ability and work. Part of 
 Mr. McCreery's duty was to locate all school 
 district boundaries and place them on section lines, 
 arid the work was well and ably done. From 1888 
 to 1889 he conducted a private school in Loveland, 
 then engaged in real estate, loans and insurance, 
 and in these lines he is still engaged, enjoying good 
 health and an optimistic placidity of mind that is 
 refreshing to friends and acquaintances. In 1870 
 the Rev. William H. McCreery and Martha Mar- 
 
 [289] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 shall of Dayton, Pennsylvania, were united in mar- 
 riage, and three children still live to add to their 
 parents' joy and happiness. They are Mrs. Mabel 
 Tuggy of Riverside, California; Mrs. Ida Berger 
 of Shoshone, Wyoming and ' the Rev. Elbert Mc 
 Creery, a missionary at Dolieb Hill, Sobat river, 
 London, Africa. Mrs. McCreery died in May, 
 1900 and three years later he married Miss Julia 
 McCreery, who still shares with him the enjoy- 
 ments and responsibilities of the home. 
 
 James E. DuBois was born October 23rd, 1843, 
 near Cincinnati, Ohio, and came to Colorado in 
 1859, while still in his teens. The family first 
 located on Boulder creek, but in 1870 moved to the 
 Big Thompson valley which remained its home 
 for many years. Mr. DuBois early took an interest 
 in mining and spent several seasons prospecting and 
 hunting for precious minerals, which, however, 
 seemed to elude him for he was never successful at 
 mining. In 1885 he was elected county clerk of 
 Larimer county, and re-elected in 1887, serving the 
 people both terms with fidelity and to the satis- 
 faction of the people. Shortly after retiring from 
 the county clerk's office, he was appointed a member 
 of the state board of agriculture and in 1897 was 
 elected secretary of that board. On the 4th day of 
 April, 1888, he was united in marriage to Henrietta 
 LeBoeuf who died December 9th, 1898. Mr. Du 
 Bois died in 1901. 
 
 Charles Clay. — The pioneer colored man of 
 Larimer county, had been a familiar figure about the 
 streets of Fort Collins for nearly half a century. 
 He was born a slave October 10th, 1828, on the 
 farm of William Robertson, in Calloway county, 
 ^Missouri. When his master died, Mr. Clay be- 
 came the property of John Robertson, his former 
 master's son. Charles was in St. Charles, Missouri, 
 when the war broke out, engaged in purchasing 
 his freedom. He was to pay $2,000 for himself, 
 but after paying $600 of the claim, concluded he 
 had paid enough and started for California, going 
 as cook for a wagon train. On getting to Fort 
 Laramie the train was held with others because of 
 the hostility of the Indians along the route. He 
 there engaged as cook for an officers' mess of ten. 
 From that time until he came to Colorado he saw 
 exciting times and was in several Indian fights. He 
 was with Lieutenant Casper Collins' party when 
 that gallant soldier was killed by the savages in 
 1863, and relates a graphic story of that sad affair. 
 Lieutenant Collins was a son of Col. W. O. Col- 
 lins for whom Fort Collins was named. The story 
 
 [290] 
 
 of his tragic death is related elsewhere in this vol- 
 ume, practically as Clay tells it. During the fight, 
 Clay, armed with a carbine, laid behind the parked 
 wagons shooting at Indians whenever he could see 
 a good mark. Clay came to Colorado in 1864, and 
 worked as cook for William Mcllvaine, who kept 
 the Overland stage station at Latham at the junc- 
 tion of the Cache la Poudre and the South Platte. 
 After staying there a year he went to Denver to 
 work as cook in the Old Planters hotel for Jim 
 McNassar at $80 per month. Late in the season 
 of 1865 he came to Laporte and worked for a 
 German who was operating a brewery there. Next 
 he was employed by W. S. Taylor as cook at the 
 Laporte stage station. Clay became a permanent 
 resident of Fort Collins in 1875 and that city had 
 since been his home. He has followed various occu- 
 pations since locating in Fort Collins, including that 
 of farmer, cook, barber, butcher and shoemaker 
 and has been city scavenger for nearly twenty 
 years. He was one of the most interesting char- 
 acters in the city. Everybody knew him and was 
 his friend. Mr. Clay died on Wednesday, Aug- 
 ust 31, 1910. 
 
 William H. McCormick was born in Noble 
 county, Ohio; came to Denver April 7th, 1870; 
 taught school two years in Arapahoe county; came 
 to Larimer county as a Home Missionary of the 
 United Brethren church, which has since been his 
 home, his work requiring visits to all the settle- 
 ments from the Divide south of Denver to the 
 Cache la Poudre valley, making his trips on horse- 
 back; knew most of the families in the great val- 
 leys between Denver and Fort Collins ; first visited 
 Big Thompson valley in the fall of 1870; married 
 Anna M. Brunner of Denver, October 15th, 1879, 
 and soon afterwards moved to his farm near Ber- 
 thoud; moved from farm to Berthoud in 1890 and 
 engaged in the mercantile business in which he still 
 remains; represented Larimer county in the 5th 
 General assembly and was a faithful, conscientious 
 member of that body. Mr. McCormick has traveled 
 a great deal, having visited nearly all the lands and 
 countries on the globe and is a cultured and well in- 
 formed gentleman. He has two children, Mrs. 
 Grace Doke, wife of Attorney I. J. Doke of Love- 
 land, and W. E. McCormick. 
 
 S. F. Stewart is a southern man by birth, reach- 
 ing Colorado from North Carolina Aug. 2nd, 1889. 
 He located in Fort Collins, where he has been a fix- 
 ture up to this time. Independence day, 1856, is 
 the date of his birth. He was educated in the pub- 
 
MRS. ELIZABETH (AUNTY) STONE 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 lie schools of his native state and married June 15th, 
 1887, in Graham county, Kansas, Lena R. Tritt. 
 The names of his sons are Paul L., George S., and 
 Modern W. For sixteen years Mr. Stewart was 
 engaged in the farm implement business, but is now 
 conducting a general store on Jefferson street. He 
 is very well known to the farming community as a 
 courteous, obliging and accommodating man, thor- 
 oughly reliable in all his dealings. 
 
 Mrs. Elizabeth Stone. — Civilization in Fort 
 Collins may be said to have had its beginning when 
 Lewis Stone and his wife, the late Mrs. Eliza- 
 beth Stone, better known all over Northern Colo- 
 rado as "Aunty" Stone, located in Camp Collins 
 in September, 1864. Mrs. Stone was the first 
 white woman to become a permanent resident in 
 what is now Fort Collins, which continued to be 
 her home until death called her hence on December 
 4th, 1895. She was a remarkable woman in many 
 respects, leading a busy, useful life, doing good in 
 the world, finally passing on to her reward in the 
 95 th year of her age. There have been and are 
 more renowned women in the world than good 
 old "Aunty" Stone, women of higher educational 
 attainments, of nobler intellectual endowments, 
 loftier aspirations and who outranked her in social 
 distinction, but never one whose sympathies were 
 broader or more fruitful, or who did more by pre- 
 cept and example to sustain the weak, encourage 
 the oppressed, inspire the halting and disheartened 
 and to put new life and hope into the despondent 
 than she did during her long and eventful life. 
 Every good cause found in her a friend ready to 
 listen and prompt to undertake in its behalf to the 
 full measure of her time, and ability. She encour- 
 aged the weak and faint of heart and sent them on 
 their way rejoicing. She was acute, thoughtful, 
 original and persistent. She worked on another's 
 plans for the advancement of good as eagerly as 
 if they were her own. She sought out the un- 
 fortunate and quietly helped them or saw that they 
 were helped. She was a simple hearted, unosten- 
 tatious, yet forceful woman. Every good work in 
 church or community found in her a friend and en- 
 thusiastic supporter. Every evil cause had in her a 
 relentless foe. She was a friend to the friendless, 
 a mother to the motherless, the guide and coun- 
 sellor of youth and an upright Christian woman. 
 She was, withal, a faithful, devoted wife and 
 mother. Such were the chief characteristics of the 
 first white woman to settle in and establish a home 
 in Fort Collins, and from the very beginning her 
 
 influence upon the wild, sometimes reckless, natures 
 of the soldiers stationed here at that time and upon 
 those who came after they had gone, was of a 
 marked beneficial character. The presence among 
 them of a noble, white-souled woman and her con- 
 stant appeal to their better nature, exerted a whole- 
 some influence and restrained them from the in- 
 dulgence in those demoralizing excesses, so common 
 among men on the frontier, away from the civiliz- 
 ing influences of home and dear friends. 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL 
 
 Elizabeth Hickok was born September 21, 
 1801, at Hartford, Connecticut. She came of a 
 hardy, adventurous race and spent the greater por- 
 tion of her long life on the frontier. When four 
 years of age, her father sought a new home in the 
 then trackless waste of Northern New York, finally 
 locating where Watertown now stands. Here her 
 early life was spent amid the scenes incident to a 
 home in the wilderness, and here she obtained the 
 rudiments of an education. On Washington's 
 birthday, February 22, 1824, she was united in 
 marriage with Hon. Ezekiel W. Robbins, and 
 four years later went with husband and their 
 two children to St. Louis, Missouri, then a frontier 
 French trading post. Ten years later, or in 1838, 
 the family removed to Chester, Randolph county, 
 Illinois, where, in 1852, the husband died, leaving 
 the widow in a new and undeveloped country with 
 eight children to provide for and educate. She as- 
 sumed the responsibility and kept her little flock 
 together, providing for their wants as best she 
 could and giving them all the advantages for school- 
 ing that the country at that time afforded. She re- 
 mained a widow about five years, during which 
 time she spent a year at her former home in Water- 
 town, New York. On returning west she went 
 to St. Paul, Minnesota, then in the heart of a wild, 
 unbroken region, where she met and formed the 
 acquaintance of Hon. Lewis Stone, to whom she 
 was married in 1857. Leaving St. Paul, the fam- 
 ily settled at St. Cloud, Minnesota, and remained 
 there till 1862, when the Indians becoming trouble- 
 some, they concluded to cross the Plains and come 
 to Denver. Their team was composed of two cows 
 yoked together like oxen, which they drove through 
 to Denver, milking the cows regularly and mak- 
 ing butter on the way. In making the butter, no 
 patent churn was employed. It was produced by 
 the motion of the wagon, and it was good butter 
 too. Soon after reaching Denver, Mr. Stone pur- 
 chased twelve lots where the Union depot now 
 
 [291] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 stands and built a house thereon which was rented 
 for a restaurant. Leaving a son of Mr. Stone's in 
 charge of their Denver property, Mr. and Mrs. 
 Stone located on a claim in the St. Vrain valley, 
 where they remained about a year. While living 
 in Denver, Mr. Stone became interested with Dr. 
 T. M. Smith (then contract surgeon at Camp Col- 
 lins and afterward for many years a prominent and 
 influential citizen of Fort Collins) in some mining 
 property, and it was through his influence that Mr. 
 and Mrs. Stone were later induced to come to 
 Camp Collins, a military post then just established 
 in the Cache la Poudre valley on the site of the 
 present city of Fort Collins, and they moved here 
 in September, 1864. That was about a month be- 
 fore the soldiers came here to occupy their new 
 quarters. Mrs. Stone was the first white woman 
 to permanently locate in the embryo city, and was 
 the only white woman here for about a year when 
 others began to arrive. Two years before, in 1862, 
 Mr. and Mrs. John G. Coy had settled on their 
 present farm nearly a mile east of and across the 
 river from Camp Collins. During the fall of 1864, 
 Mr. and Mrs. Stone built the first dwelling house 
 erected in Fort Collins. It was built of logs and 
 stood where the stone hotel on Jefferson street now 
 stands, and was occupied for hotel purposes for a 
 good many years. The building was taken down 
 in 1873 and moved to the corner of Mountain 
 avenue and Mason streets where it was rebuilt 
 and become a part of the Agricultural hotel of 
 colony times. In 1908, the Pioneer Women of the 
 Cache la Poudre valley bought the old house and 
 had it moved on to a lot on S. Mason street, where 
 it will be used by the ladies to hold their meetings 
 in and kept as a memento of pioneer days. Many 
 of the army officers stationed here during the win- 
 ter of 1864-5 and the following summer boarded 
 with Mrs. Stone while she conducted the hotel. 
 A cut of the building made from a tintype taken 
 in 1866, appears in this volume. Mr. Stone died 
 in January, 1866, and was buried in the post ceme- 
 tery near the corner of College avenue and Oak 
 streets, the site of which was purchased by the 
 United States in 1908 on which to erect a federal 
 building for Fort Collins. During that year (1866) 
 the settlement having increased in number by the 
 arrival of emigrants from the East and the dangers 
 from bands of predatory Indians having diminished, 
 the soldiers were withdrawn and the post aban- 
 doned. About this time Mrs. Stone became inter- 
 ested with the late H. C. Peterson in the project of 
 erecting one of the prime necessities of civilization, 
 
 [292] 
 
 a mill for converting wheat into flour, and they 
 at once set about carrying the project into effect. 
 The mill was completed ready for use late in the 
 fall of 1868, and it was the second mill of its kind 
 built in Colorado north of Denver, the first one 
 being located on Boulder creek, east of the present 
 city of Boulder. The mill built by Mrs. Stone 
 and Mr. Peterson was a frame structure and stood 
 where the Lindell mill now stands. It was de- 
 stroyed by fire in 1886, rebuilt in 1887 and again 
 burned down in 1895. The present mill was built 
 in 1896 and is still in successful operation. The 
 first mill was operated by Mrs. Stone and Mr. 
 Peterson until 1873 when they sold it to Joseph 
 Mason. Mrs. Stone started the first brickyard 
 and had made the first brick made in Northern 
 Colorado. This was in 1871. The first kiln 
 burned contained brick for two houses, one of which 
 was built near the mill for herself. It was the 
 first brick house built in Fort Collins. The second 
 brick house stood near the mill race on North Col- 
 lege avenue, and was built in 1872, for a man 
 named Gano. Both of these homes were torn down 
 in the spring of 1910 to make room for the tracks 
 of the Union Pacific railroad. Mrs. Stone used to 
 entertain all the ministers that came along in the 
 early days and was friendly to all of the religious 
 denominations, giving liberally of her means to 
 their support. She also contributed towards the cost 
 of every church erected in the home of her adop- 
 tion during her life time, and was an ardent ad- 
 vocate of the temperance cause and was one of the 
 first to help organize the Womans' Christian Tem- 
 perance Union, and always did all in her power 
 to advance the good work. She was especially dis- 
 tinguished in charitable work. She loved amuse- 
 ment and enjoyed social gatherings at which she 
 was an honored guest. Being a Mason's widow, 
 she was invariably invited to attend the social func- 
 tions of the Masonic fraternity. At one of these 
 held after she had passed her 82nd birthday, she 
 joined in a dance in which representatives of four 
 generations of her family participated, dancing 
 with them in the same set with all the spirit and 
 evident enjoyment of a young girl. During the 
 last five years of her life she was comparatively 
 helpless and unable to get about without assistance. 
 She cast her first vote at the municipal election of 
 
 1894, and her last at the election held in April, 
 
 1895, being trundled to the polls by her son in a 
 wheeled chair. She voted the prohibition ticket 
 at both of these elections. She retained her men- 
 tal faculties to the last and was bright and cheer- 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 ful, recognizing her friends and greeting them with 
 smiles and kindly salutations. She fell asleep for 
 the last time on Wednesday, December 4th, 1895, 
 at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Theodosia Van 
 Brunt, at the advanced age of 94 years, two months 
 and 13 days. The bells of the city were tolled out of 
 respect to her memory and to give notice of the sad 
 though not unexpected event. At one time while a 
 resident of Fort Collins, Mrs. Stone was possessed 
 of a good deal of property and was deemed well 
 off in this worlds' goods, but reverses came and the 
 most of her accumulations were swept away, leav- 
 ing her but little in her decliniug years. In pre- 
 paration for the change that she knew to be in- 
 evitable, she had the forethought to put aside in 
 Mr. George W. Buffum's hands, a sum sufficient 
 to meet all the necessary burial expenses, and this 
 was religiously kept and applied to that purpose, 
 so that before the sun went down on the day of 
 her burial, all the expenses thereof were paid in full. 
 The funeral took place on Friday, December 6th, 
 at the Presbyterian church, all the clergymen in 
 the city, including Rev. J. F. Coffman of the 
 Methodist church. Rev. L. S. Brown of the Christ- 
 ian church. Rev. U. F. Smiley of the Presbyterian 
 church. Rev. Thos. Baker of the Episcopalian 
 church and Rev. Arthur S. Phelps of the Baptist, 
 having a part in the solemn service. The ushers 
 were G. T. Budrow and R. S. Fedder, and the 
 bearers were Abner Loomis, James B. Arthur, A. 
 B. Tomlin, Andrew Armstrong, Ansel Watrous 
 and Peter Anderson. A special choir composed of 
 Miss Agnes Everest, Miss Bertha Pegg and Mr. 
 John P. Ryckman and Charles R. Evans, with 
 Mrs. Frank E. Baxter at the organ, rendered ap- 
 propriate selections for the occasion. All business 
 in the city was suspended during the funeral, all 
 the bells in the city tolled the last sad requiem as 
 the procession moved toward the city of the dead 
 in Grandview cemetery, where the closing scenes 
 were enacted and the body of dear "Aunty" Stone 
 was tenderly placed in the tomb. Six of Mrs. 
 Stone's children survive her death and they are W. 
 T. Robbins of Loveland, Colorado; Mrs. Lucy J. 
 Fallis of Gray's Summitt, Missouri; Theodosia M. 
 Van Brunt of Loveland, Colorado; Ellen S. Ray 
 of Chicago, Illinois; D. C. Robbins of Topeka, 
 Kansas, and James M. Robbins of Petersburg, Illi- 
 
 RoBERT MiLLERj a native of Denmark, was born 
 in 1843, in Copenhagen, where he received his edu- 
 cation. He came to the United States in early man- 
 
 hood and settled at Des Moines, Iowa, where he 
 was married in 1871, to Tena Paulson. He came 
 to Colorado in 1873, locating first at Black Hawk. 
 Ten years later, in 1883, he moved his family to 
 Fort Collins, which continued to be his home until 
 he died in 1905. Here he carried on farming and 
 also followed the bottling business. Nine children 
 were born to Mr. and Mrs. Miller and their names 
 are: Mrs. N. G. Strayer, Frank E. Miller, John 
 Miller, Alfred Miller, Robert Miller, Jr., Charles 
 Miller, George Miller, William Miller and Elen- 
 ore Miller. Mr. Miller built a brick block on N. 
 College avenue in which^Jie carried on the bottling 
 business for many years which his sons continue to 
 conduct. 
 
 John J. Harding was born August 1st, 1863, 
 in Wyoming county, Pennsylvania, and received 
 his education in the district schools of his native 
 state. He came to Colorado in September, 1888, 
 and engaged in farming near Timnath ; married 
 Ida Ace, January 29, 1898; worked as farm hand 
 from 1889 to 1895, excepting two years when he had 
 charge of Lake Canal ditch; rented a farm in 1896 
 and carried it on one year and in 1897 he bought 
 160 acres of land in the eastern part of Larimer 
 county which he has since cultivated and on which 
 he feeds stock. Fortune has favored Mr. Hard- 
 ing since he came to Colorado and he is now rated 
 as one of the prosperous farmers of the county. 
 
 Delano A. Edson. — Born November 30th, 
 1818, in Cayuga county, New York; married Eli- 
 zabeth Wright in 1850; came to Fort Collins in 
 1880, and died december 23rd, 1887. Mr. Edson 
 was a farmer by occupation. He opened a new 
 farm three miles south of Fort Collins and soon be- 
 came a leading and very successful farmer. His 
 wife died August 2nd, 1884. Three children, Mrs. 
 F. C. Avery, Mrs. Alex. Ault, (since deceased) and 
 Mrs. A. A. Edwards survive their parents. He 
 was a truly good man and a thoroughly conscien- 
 tious and consistent Christian gentleman. 
 
 Carlyle Lamb was for 21 years guide to parties 
 making the ascent of Long's Peak and during that 
 period climbed to the summit 144 times. He was 
 born October 24th, 1862, in Guthrie county, Iowa, 
 and attended the public schools in Nebraska; came 
 to Longmont in May, 1875 and to Estes Park in 
 August, 1879, locating on a homestead at the foot 
 of Long's Peak where he lived until 1902; mar- 
 ried Emma Bachelder in Denver on July 24th, 
 1890. After selling out in Estes Park in 1902, 
 
 [293] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 he spent three years in Oregon and California, re- 
 turning to Colorado in 1905 and locating on a 
 dairy farm three miles west of Fort Collins where 
 he still resides engaged in dairying. 
 
 John J. Nugent. — One of those who came to 
 Laporte nearly a third of a century ago and who 
 through industry and intelligent application, has 
 done much to promote the fruit and vegetable 
 
 JOHN J. NUGENT 
 
 growing and marketing business in Larimer county, 
 is John J. Nugent, the subject of this sketch. He 
 was born February 2nd, 1857, in Sussex county. 
 New Jersey, and came to Colorado in 1876, when 
 19 years of age. For a few years thereafter he 
 worked at mining at Caribou and other Boulder 
 county mining camps. On April 21st, 1879, he was 
 united in marriage with Mary E. Hoy, at Valmont, 
 Boulder county and in 1880, he moved his wife to 
 Laporte which has since been the family home. He 
 continued work in the mines, leaving his wife at 
 their new home, until he had accumulated money 
 enough to pay for a tract of garden and fruit land 
 on what is known as the "Island" at Laporte, when 
 he quit mining and devoted his time and attention 
 to the improvement and cultivation of his land. He 
 
 [294] 
 
 engaged in gardening and fruit growing and has had 
 a fair measure of success. He has a fine home, sur- 
 rounded by pleasing prospects, and lives in the en- 
 joyment of comfort and plenty. Mr. Nugent's 
 wife died in October, 1904, leaving besides her 
 husband, four children surviving. Their names are 
 Mrs. Elizabeth Runyan of Portland, Oregon, Mrs. 
 May Garbutt of San Francisco, California, Mrs. 
 P. J. Landes of Laporte and George H. Nugent 
 at- home. In 1879, Mr. Nugent visited his old 
 home in New Jersey and on returning to Colorado 
 was accompanied by his sister, who is now Mrs. F. 
 T. Dexter of Fort Collins. 
 
 J. Roland Seaman. — For many years past the 
 familiar countenance of Mr. Seaman was to be 
 seen upon entering the assessor's office where he 
 has so long served as deputy. In 1910 the peo- 
 ple of the county, appreciating his diligence and 
 steady devotion to duty, promoted him to chief of 
 that department of the county government, which 
 he has assisted so ably to conduct. Mr. Seaman is a 
 native son, born at Loveland, March 8th, 1884, 
 and was married to Miss Henrietta H. Simmons 
 at Fort Collins, June 5th, 1907. His wife was 
 born in Fort Collins. Both were educated at home 
 where the institutions of learning afford both the 
 ground work and structure of an advanced edu- 
 cation. 
 
 Abraham I. Akin was born at Lockport, Illi- 
 nois, on September 22, 1861. He came to Colo- 
 rado in the spring of 1880, and joined his father on 
 a farm near Fort Collins where he remained until 
 the year 1906. During his life on the Colorado 
 farm, Mr. Akin showed a spirit of progress which 
 manifested itself in the raising of one of the finest 
 herds of thoroughbred shorthorn cattle produced in 
 the state. He has been identified with many of the 
 progressive movements in agriculture, having en- 
 gaged successfully in sheep-feeding, orcharding, the 
 raising of sugar beets and the development of water 
 for irrigation. On September 4th, 1900, Mr. Akin 
 was married to Miss Nellie Taylor, who was born 
 and reared in Larimer county. They have one 
 daughter, Grace, born November 20th, 1904. With 
 his family he now resides in Fort Collins. He is 
 wide awake and ever ready to advance any enter- 
 prise which looks to the betterment of his city and 
 community. 
 
 Oliver L. McKissick was born October 11th, 
 1865, in Weld county, Colorado, and received his 
 education in the public schools; married at Long- 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 mont, March 11th, 1890, and the names of his 
 children are Ethel R., Frances A., Chester C, and 
 John W. McKissick; miner by occupation; coal 
 mining at Erie from 1886 to 1893, and mining at 
 Idaho Springs from 1893 to 1909; moved to Love- 
 land in 1909 and employed as mechanic at the sugar 
 factory; father, John M. McKissick, spent most of 
 his life coal mining in Weld county. 
 
 Matthew Auld was born on May 8th, 1883 
 at Kilmarnock, Scotland. Coming to Colorado he 
 stopped for a few years at Denver and in 1899 
 came to Fort Collins and attended the State Agri- 
 cultural college. He was appointed Deputy clerk 
 of the District court in 1907, and is recognized as 
 a vocalist of ability. He was married on November 
 10th, 1909, to Miss Lois Silcott of Fort Collins. 
 
 Jacob Armstrong died on the 8th of June, 
 1889, at his residence in Fort Collins, aged 73 
 years. He was a native of the state of New York, 
 and early in life learned the watchmaking trade 
 which he followed until he came to Fort Collins 
 in 1874. The first few years of his residence in 
 Larimer county were devoted to sheep husbandry 
 and wool growing, but becoming dissatisfied with 
 a ranchman's lonely life he disposed of his flocks 
 and ranch to his son and moved into Fort Collins 
 and owned and occupied the Dr. Quick house, 
 corner of College avenue and Magnolia streets, 
 until he died. He was possessed of a snug fortune 
 at his death which he settled upon his only child, 
 Jacob Armstrong, Jr., just before death. 
 
 John H. Cameron Jr. was born in New York 
 City, July 28th, 1870. He came to Fort Collins 
 in 1882 and lived for some years on a farm. On 
 January first, 1893, he was married to Nora A. 
 Neece. Mr. Cameron has been for sixteen years an 
 active member of the Fort Collins fire department 
 and has acted for several years as assistant water 
 superintendent for that city. 
 
 Rev. E. J. Lamb. — Our subject spent 40 years 
 of his life carrying the message of the Master to 
 the pioneers of Northern Colorado, much of the 
 time doing missionary work organizing and estab- 
 lishing churches and Sunday schools in the valleys 
 of the South Platte, the Cache la Poudre and the 
 Big and Little Thom.pson. He was a typical fron- 
 tier missionary, with a powerful frame, a kindly 
 heart filled with zeal for the Master's cause and 
 with a strong though appealing and sympathetic 
 voice, he drew many a sin-sickened soul to the foot 
 of the Cross. He was assigned to the missionary 
 
 field of Northern Colorado in 1871, by the Mis- 
 sionary Board of the United Brethren church and 
 was the second missionary sent by his church to 
 the territory. He traveled long distances on horse- 
 back going from place to place in a thinly settled 
 district, enduring hardships and privations that 
 would have driven a less resolute man from the 
 field. Mr. Lamb was born January 1st, 1832, in 
 
 REV. E. J. lamb 
 
 Wayne county, Indiana, and obtained his educa- 
 tion in the common schools of St. Joseph county, 
 Indiana. In September, 1868, he married Mrs. 
 Jane Morger, a widow with three sons, her maiden 
 name being Jane Spencer. He was twice married, 
 his first wife, at her death, leaving him with five 
 children, Charles, Lawrence J., Carlyle, Jerry and 
 Lillian. One daughter, Jennie, was born to him 
 by his second marriage. The sons of his second 
 wife when he married her, were Romantes, James 
 and Frank Morger, one of whom, James, is a resi- 
 dent of Fort Collins. Mr. Lamb followed farm- 
 ing in Iowa and Nebraska for many years, and 
 upon receiving a call to preach the gospel he was 
 ordained an Elder of the U. B. church in 1871 and 
 sent as a missionary to Colorado. He came to 
 
 [295] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Denver first in 1860 with the gold rush, return- 
 ing shortly afterwards to Iowa. On coming to 
 Colorado as a missionary he located at Burling- 
 ton, now Longmont, moving later to Fort Collins 
 and still later to Estes Park where he ministered 
 to the people for ten years. Rev. Lamb, though 
 79 years of age, is still a vigorous man in the en- 
 joyment of fairly good health. 
 
 Alfred F. Howes. — ^When former State Sena- 
 tor Alfred F. Howes died on January 16th, 1896, 
 Larimer county suffered the loss of one of its in- 
 trepid pioneers, a brave soul who helped to pave 
 the way in the valley of the Cache la Poudre for 
 civilization's resistless tread. For more than 35 
 years Judge Howes had been a familiar figure in 
 the community, one who, in the early history of 
 Larimer county, took a leading part in all public 
 enterprises, in politics and in social matters. All 
 classes of citizens had confidence in him and went 
 to him for counsel and advice in times of trouble 
 and distress, and never came away without being 
 comforted and assisted. Alfred F. Howes was born 
 November 25th, 1817, in Putnam county, New 
 York. His boyhood days were spent on a farm and 
 his education was obtained in the country schools 
 of the period and at select schools in Lima, Geneva 
 and Canandaigua, all in his native state. He be- 
 gan early to take a deep interest in public affairs, 
 and after leaving school he served one term of two 
 years as deputy county clerk of Ontario county, 
 New York, gaining thereby a knowledge of the 
 methods of transacting public business which in 
 after years served him and the home of his adoption 
 a good purpose. At the age of 22 he left the par-j 
 ental roof and boldly struck out for what was then 
 considered the far west, finally locating at Law- 
 renceburg, Indiana, where fifteen years of his life 
 were spent in active business pursuits. Here, on 
 July 5th, 1843, he was united in marriage with 
 Mary Lane Buell, who died at St. Peters, Minne- 
 sota, in 1858, leaving two sons, Robert and Henry 
 S. and a daughter. The daughter died at the age of 
 13 years, but the sons are still living, one of them, 
 Robert, being a resident of Fort Collins. In 1854, 
 Mr. Howes moved his family from Indiana to St. 
 Paul, Minnesota, thence in 1857, to St. Peters in 
 that state, of which town he was one of the 
 founders. While living at St. Peters he served one 
 term as supervisor of Nicollet county. Soon after 
 the death of his wife in 1858, the children were sent 
 to friends in the east, and the following year, Mr. 
 Howes crossed the Plains to Denver, and in 1860, 
 
 [296] 
 
 located at Laporte, Larimer county. After that 
 and up to the time of his death in 1896, a period 
 of more than 35 years, many of them years of toil, 
 hardships, privation and danger, he was one of the 
 foremost citizens and rugged stand-bys of Larimer 
 county and of Colorado, ever loyal to what he be- 
 lieved to be their best interests, ever mindful of 
 what constitutes good citizenship and ever true to 
 
 ALFRED F. HOWES 
 
 the instincts of a gentleman. He was one of the 
 leaders in the movement to organize the Colona 
 town company at Laporte and was the first presi- 
 dent and chief executive of the company. In 1864, 
 he located upon the Howes homestead, a body of 
 land embracing 640 acres situated along the north 
 bank of the Cache la Poudre river, one mile east of 
 the present city of Fort Collins. To this was 
 added in after years by purchase 160 acres, making 
 a valuable estate of 800 acres of the finest land in 
 the valley. During the succeeding score of years he 
 was fairly prosperous in his undertakings, making 
 money by putting up hay and selling it to the gov- 
 ernment and to miners at Black Hawk and Central 
 City. In the early years of his operations in this 
 line he used to get as high as $150 per ton for hay 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 delivered at Fort Laramie, and kept a string of 
 teams on the road in the fall and winter hauling 
 the product of his ranch to market. In the early 
 history of the county, Mr. Howes took a leading 
 part in promoting the growth and development of 
 his chosen home, and every public enterprise started 
 with that end in view received his cordial co-opera- 
 tion. The Pioneer irrigating ditch, which was 
 among the first built in the county, was taken out 
 by himself and Andrew Ames. The greater part of 
 what was once Judge Howes' splendid farm is now 
 owned by the Water Supply & Storage company. 
 In 1868, Mr. Howes was elected county judge, and 
 re-elected in 1872, serving the county in that 
 capacity with signal ability and fairness two full 
 terms. In 1874 he was named a member of the 
 State Board of Agriculture in the act of the Terri- 
 torial legislature establishing the Agricultural col- 
 lege at Fort Collins, and always took a lively in- 
 terest in the subsequent growth and success of that 
 institution, aiding it with voice and pen as occasion 
 demanded. He was appointed by Governor Gilpin 
 in 1861, a member of the first board of county com- 
 missioners of Larimer county, but failed to qualify. 
 In 1890, Judge Howes was the candidate of the 
 Republican party for State senator from the Second 
 senatorial district, which then embraced the coun- 
 ties of Larimer, Routt and Grand, and was elected 
 over Judge Edwin A. Ballard, his Democratic op- 
 ponent. He faithfully served the people of the dis- 
 trict with ability and distinction to the end of his 
 term, in January, 1895, when failing health ad- 
 monished him to give up politics and retire to pri- 
 vate life. In about a year from the time he retired 
 from office, death removed him to another sphere 
 in the 79th year of his age. The bearers at the 
 funeral, held on Saturday, January 18th, were 
 James B. Arthur, John G. Coy, Abner Loomis, C. 
 W. Ramer, P. Anderson and N. C. Alford, all of 
 whom had known and admired the deceased as 
 neighbor and citizen for more than thirty years. 
 
 Walter DeW. Taft. — The farm home of the 
 Taft brothers, Walter DeW. and Louis B., sit- 
 uated about two miles northwest of Fort Collins, 
 has long been noted for its good cheer and the gen- 
 uine western hospitality of its inmates. Mrs. Wal- 
 ter Taft, an educated, intelligent and cultured 
 woman, is the presiding genius of the household, 
 and ably assisted, as she has been by her husband 
 and his bachelor brother, Louis, she has made the 
 
 home an ideal one, where good cheer, comfort and 
 contentment hold complete sway. The latch-string 
 to their door is always on the outside, and acquaint- 
 ance and stranger is sure to meet with generous 
 welcome. The Taft brothers were reared among 
 the granite hills of New Hampshire and Vermont, 
 and came from good old Colonial stock. They are 
 distantly related to President William H. Taft, and 
 are among the very best people in the Cache la Pou- 
 dre valley, which has been their home for more 
 than forty years. Walter DeW. Taft was born 
 May 20th, 1832, near Oneida Lake, in the state 
 of New York, where his parents, both natives of 
 New Hampshire, spent about a year, returning to 
 their former home in New England shortly after 
 the birth of their third child, the subject of this 
 sketch. Mr. Taft was educated at Swanzey, New 
 Hampshire, and there learned the trade of making 
 wooden bowls. His parents moved to Ludlow, Ver- 
 mont, in 1850, and here the father and son en- 
 gaged quite extensively in the manufacture of 
 wooden bowls until 1860, when Walter migrated to 
 Rock Island, Illinois, where a sister, Mrs. H. W. 
 Chamberlin, and family resided. The following 
 year Mr. Taft and Mr. Chamberlin and family 
 came to Denver, crossing the Plains with an ox 
 team, and for two years he followed freighting from 
 the Missouri river to Colorado, making two trips 
 back and forth each year. He and his brother, 
 Louis, went to Virginia City, Montana, in 1863, 
 returning to Laporte in 1864. While in Montana 
 he paid $40.00 for a hundred pounds of flour and 
 $2.50 per pound for butter. In the spring of 1865 
 the brothers went to Iowa and bought a bunch of 
 cattle, which they drove across the Plains and pas- 
 tured two years in the Boxelder valley and then 
 sold them. In 1868 he went to Georgetown and 
 worked in the Comet mine a couple of years. He 
 was united in marriage with Miss Caroline Frazer 
 Sept. 1st, 1870, and in 1872 returned to the Cache 
 la Poudre valley, which has since been his home. 
 For four years he lived on what is now the Falloon 
 place, in Pleasant Valley, and while there sawed 
 rails enough in Obenchain's mill for four miles of 
 fence. He moved onto the farm he and his brother 
 Louis now own and occupy in 1876. Mr. Taft 
 was president of the Farmers' Protective association 
 from 1888 to 1893, and has served one term as 
 president of the Fort Collins Pioneer association. 
 From the time Mr. Taft left Illinois, in 1861, until 
 he settled down on a farm in Larimer county, he 
 
 [297] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 had driven an ox team more than 10,000 miles, 
 which shows that he is possessed of a world of 
 patience. 
 
 Louis B. Taft. — ^The story of Louis B. Taft's 
 life reads very much like that of his brother Walter, 
 the date and place of birth alone excepted. Since 
 Louis came to man's estate he has been associated 
 with Walter in his journeyings and business under- 
 takings, and is so associated today. He was born 
 May 27th, 1839, in Swanzey, New Hampshire, 
 where, and in the common schools of Vermont, he 
 received his education. He came to Colorado in 
 1864 and clerked for a time for Mason & Cham- 
 berlin, who conducted a sutler's store for the 
 troops in a log building which stood directly across 
 Linden street from Stover's drug store. He went to 
 Montana that fall to join his brother, Walter, and 
 came back to Laporte with him in 1864, going to 
 Iowa the next year after cattle. In 1867, after sell- 
 ing the cattle, he went to Georgetown and discov- 
 ered the Comer mine, a very rich silver proposition, 
 which he and his brother worked for two or three 
 years. He then went into Stewart's reduction 
 works and took up the study of metallurgy and soon 
 became a proficient assayer, and was given charge of 
 that department of the work. He remained there 
 until 1872, when he came back to Laporte with his 
 brother, Walter, and has since been a member of the 
 firm of Taft Brothers. Besides the farm they live 
 on they own a hay farm of 160 acres on the river 
 bottom, about five miles east of Fort Collins, from 
 which they take a great many tons of choice native 
 hay every year, which brings them a large yearly in- 
 come. They have accummulated a goodly share of 
 this world's goods and are enjoying themselves in 
 their old age as rational, intelligent human beings 
 should always be able to do, and they possess the 
 confidence and respect of all who know them, to a 
 remarkable degree. In 1884 Mr. Taft was the 
 democratic candidate for county commissioner from 
 the First district, receiving 772 votes, as against 960 
 cast for Wm. P. Bosworth, his republican oppo- 
 nent. That year Grover Cleveland, the successful 
 democratic candidate for President, received 645 
 votes in this county, so Mr. Taft, though defeated, 
 ran 127 votes ahead of his ticket. 
 
 Mathew S. Taylor.— Mathew S. Taylor came 
 to Larimer county in the early 60's when still quite 
 a young man. He was a native of Illinois, and a 
 brother of the late William S. Taylor, who kept the 
 stage station at Virginia Dale, 1863 to 1865, and 
 the Laporte station from 1866 to 1868, and was a 
 
 [298] 
 
 well-known and popular young man, an attorney by 
 profession. In 1869 he was the democratic candi- 
 date for member of the Territorial legislature and 
 was elected over the late Judge John E. Washburn, 
 his republican competitor. He served through the 
 Eighth session of the legislature with marked ability 
 and was considered one of the brightest members of 
 that body. He was an indefatigable worker and dur- 
 ing the term succeeded in securing the passage of sev- 
 eral important acts affecting the interests of Larimer 
 county, among them being the bill to locate the 
 State Agricultural college at Fort Collins. When 
 the Leadville excitement broke out in 1878, Mr. 
 Taylor went there and opened an office for the prac- 
 tice of his profession and soon gained an extensive 
 and lucrative practice. He died in Leadville, April 
 7th, 1884, aged about 40 years. 
 
 Judge John E. Washburn was born Aug. 7th, 
 1830, at Litchfield, Herkimer county. New York. 
 On attaining his majority he went to Chicago, 
 where, in 1853, he was married. He came to Colo- 
 rado in 1860 and to the Big Thompson valley in 
 1863, where he lived until death supervened on 
 Aug. 15th, 1886. He was one of the first to suc- 
 cessfully engage in farming, dairying and fruit- 
 growing in Larimer county, and assisted in various 
 ways in developing the resources of the county. He 
 held during his lifetime in this county various posi- 
 tions of public trust, including one term as county 
 judge, and was the candidate of the greenback party 
 for governor of Colorado in 1884. Judge Wash- 
 burn was a man of marked ability, and commanded 
 the respect of those who disagreed with him on all 
 subjects. His friendships were lasting. As a pio- 
 neer of the Big Thompson valley, he was always an 
 energetic worker for the best interests of the com- 
 munity, and all projects calculated to advance the 
 material, social and moral upbuilding of his chosen 
 home received his hearty and active support. When 
 the Grange movement started in Colorado, he was 
 one of the first to enlist in it and he gave the cause 
 earnest and efficient aid and encouragement. Later 
 he was president of the Loveland Farmers' institute 
 and also secretary of the Northern Colorado Horti- 
 cultural society. He left a wife, now a resident of 
 San Diego, California, and one daughter, Mrs. 
 Winona W. Taylor of Fort Collins. 
 
 Mrs. Lucy Schilling is now a resident of 
 Loveland, at 1109 Lincoln avenue. She recently 
 came to that city from Nebraska. She married 
 John J. Schilling, Jan. 15th, 1877, in Lake county. 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Indiana, moving to Nebraska, where her husband 
 died at Grand Island, in 1892. She has two sons 
 living, Arthur E., a prosperous farmer at Scotia, 
 Neb., and Earl S., employed in a business house in 
 Loveland. The hand of sorrow has borne heavily 
 upon this estimable lady, for, besides her husband, 
 she has lost two sons and a daughter, Albert T., and 
 Mrs. Lillie F. Locker, who died at Scotia, Neb., 
 and Fred H., who passed away at Loveland. 
 
 Hon. Jared Lemar Brush was born in Clermont 
 county, Ohio, on the 6th day of July, 1835, and 
 was educated at Felicity, Ohio. Mr. Brush be- 
 longs to the class of empire builders to whom the 
 West owes a large debt of gratitude. He came to 
 Colorado in the year 1859 and for more than half 
 a century has been identified with nearly every 
 enterprise that has contributed to the development 
 of the agricultural resources of the state. He set- 
 tled in Russell Gulch and afterwards, in 1860, came 
 to Weld county, where he engaged in farming and 
 stock raising. He married Ada Maltby in 1866. 
 Two children, both still living, were born : Walter 
 L. and Edna M. Mrs. Brush died in 1874, and 
 in 1879 he married Mrs. Doolittle. Five children, 
 all still living, were born: Ruth G., Ada M., 
 Mary J., Jared L., and Sterling R. Death claimed 
 the second wife in 1903. 
 
 Mr. Brush has always taken a keen interest in 
 political questions, local and national, and there 
 have been few councils of the political party with 
 which he is identified in which his voice has not been 
 heard, and his influence felt. In 1870, he was 
 elected sheriff of Weld county; county commis- 
 sioner in 1874; a member of the state legislature 
 in 1876. He has been twice elected Lieutenant 
 Governor of the state, and has been three times 
 sent as delegate to the National Republican con- 
 vention, and has served for a good many years as a 
 member of the State Board of Agriculture. He 
 joined the Union colony in 1870 and has lived in 
 Greeley ever since ; has been president of the 
 Greeley National bank for twenty-one years. Mr. 
 Brush will perhaps be longest remembered for the 
 interest he has taken in the development of irriga- 
 tion in Colorado. His assistance did much to per- 
 fect the organization of two large irrigation sys- 
 tems — the Upper and Lower Platte and the Beaver, 
 and the construction of the ditches connected there- 
 with. The development of the country around 
 Brush, Colorado, has been accomplished chiefly as 
 the result of his efforts. He has also at all times 
 been deeply interested in educational matters and 
 
 it was in no small degree due to his influence and 
 energy that the State Normal school was located 
 at Greeley. Under the first military organization 
 of the state, Mr. Brush was made a field brigadier 
 general. His clear sighted conception of the con- 
 sequences which must follow from given causes has 
 given him the truly prophetic vision, and acting 
 upon the conclusions thus reached has enabled him 
 
 HON. JARED LEMAR BRUSH 
 
 to foresee the needs of the people and to grasp in 
 advance the unguessed possibilities of the arid west. 
 While securing to himself a competency of worldly 
 goods, he has never acquired wealth by measures 
 which left the field less productive for others. His 
 influence has always been constructive, his conduct 
 unselfish. He has had at different times large hold- 
 ings of agricultural land in Weld county and has 
 been able in his own experience to work out many 
 of the problems which confronted the settler from 
 the East, in the presence of an untried climate, a 
 strange character of soil and the entirely unlearned 
 methods of irrigation. His efforts towards the im- 
 provement of the stock fed upon the farms and 
 the horses used by the farmers have done much 
 to awaken an interest in these subjects, and his con- 
 
 [299] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 nection with the Agricultural college has put it in 
 his power to further the efforts of the general gov- 
 ernment on these lines. For many years, the figure 
 of Mr. Brush will stand out large in the history of 
 Northern Colorado. 
 
 Horace W. Emerson was born on June 7th, 
 1838, at New Hampton in the State of New Hamp- 
 shire. His boyhood was spent upon a farm and 
 
 HORACE W. EMERSON AND DAUGHTER DOROTHY 
 
 he was educated in the common schools and at the 
 New Hampshire Institute. On October 22nd, 
 1862, he was married at his native town to Miss 
 Lizzie Freeman. He came to Colorado in 1866 
 and first located at Julesburg. From that place 
 he went to Fort McPherson where he worked for 
 a time then, in the fall of 1867, moved to Sherman 
 where he worked at putting up wood for the Union 
 Pacific railroad company until the fall of 1868. In 
 December of this latter year he came to Larimer 
 county. During the winter of 1868-9 he was en- 
 gaged in getting out railroad ties near Chamber's 
 lake. The ties amounting to two hundred and 
 twenty thousand in number were floated down the 
 Poudre river at time of high water in the spring 
 
 [300] 
 
 and were landed at Greeley. In 1870 Mr. Emer- 
 son went to Fort Lyon and built there two 
 sets of company quarters of stone, and two sets 
 of officers quarters of brick. In 1871 he built 
 himself a home at Greeley where he resided for 
 one year. In the fall of 1871, associated with 
 his brother, Charles, he put in a herd of cattle 
 near Livermore, and in the winter of 1872 worked 
 at getting out ties near Fort Steele and contin- 
 ued to follow this work for seven or eight years, 
 at the end of which period he returned to Lari- 
 mer county and took up a body of land near Liver- 
 more, which is still occupied by himself and his 
 brother Charles. Mr. Emerson's wife died in 1889 
 and in 1891 he married her sister, Metta Freeman, 
 in Frankfort, Maine. He has one child, a daugh- 
 ter, Dorothy, aged twelve years. 
 
 Olin G. Reed^ eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. 
 Samuel O. K. Reed, was born July 9th, 1873, in 
 Brooklyn, New York, and educated at the Colo- 
 rado Agricultural college; married Nellie Morse- 
 man, July 3rd, 1897, and they have five children, 
 all at home, Lloyd M., Emmet G., Sarah J., 
 Blanche J., and Eugene C. ; came to Colorado in 
 February, 1881 and spent his boyhood days on his 
 father's farm at Fossil creek on which he is now 
 living and successfully cultivating. 
 
 William E. Mahood^ born Nqvember 21st, 
 1866, at Hanover, Illinois, received his education in 
 the public schools of Nebraska; came to Fort Col- 
 lins, December 10th, 1888; farmer and stockman; 
 married Susie Kennedy, February 24th, 1897, at 
 Windsor ; no children ; spent first few years in Fort 
 Collins as salesman in a grocery store; guard two 
 years at state penitentiary. Canon City; associated 
 with Bennett Brothers in the ownership and man- 
 agement of a 640 acre farm/in Black Hollow and 
 carried on farming and stock feeding until 1907, 
 when he moved to Fort Collins which is still the 
 family home. Still owns half interest in the farm 
 and looks after its management; elected alderman 
 from the third ward in April, 1909, serving on the 
 council with signal ability and fidelity; is a Master 
 Mason, a Royal Arch Mason and a Knight Temp- 
 ler. Mrs. Mahood, born November 18th, 1870, 
 was a daughter of W. W. Kennedy, of Windsor, 
 came to Colorado in 1880. 
 
 John Lindley Smith was born near Batavia, 
 Ohio, Aug. 27th, 1838. He came to Fort Collins 
 in 1870; was married here on June 6th, 1886, to 
 Mrs. Rosamond S. Edwards. They have one 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 child, a daughter. Miss Fern. Mr. Smith was a vet- 
 eran of the Civil war, enlisting Sept. 10th, 1861, 
 in Company F, 59th regiment Ohio volunteer in- 
 fantry; was honorably discharged April 27th, 1862. 
 He has always been an enthusiastic worker in the 
 temperance cause; a faithful, earnest Christian at 
 all times. He organized the first Sunday school in 
 Fort Collins, August, 1870. The school was held 
 in a small frame shanty opposite Aunty Stone's log 
 hotel. When the Good Templars organized here 
 in 1872 Mr. Smith was one of the main workers in 
 the lodge. He was Deputy Grand Chief Templar 
 for twelve years. 
 
 Charles G. McWhorter, born August 3rd, 
 1862, at Brockport, New York; came to Greeley 
 in May, 1870; moved to Buckhorn valley in 1871, 
 where he has since resided engaged in farming and 
 fruit growing, having had good success in raising 
 peaches; married Mary L. Sheldon August 9th, 
 1894, and has three children, Lewis A., Fannie L. 
 and Lesle S. McWhorter; has served Larimer 
 county as deputy assessor several years, giving ex- 
 cellent satisfaction. He is an upright honorable 
 man, a good husband, father and neighbor; has 
 one of the finest and most productive orchards 
 in the county and his fruit always finds a ready 
 market. 
 
 J. Monroe Whiteman^ senior member of the 
 firm of Whiteman & Nelson, proprietors of the Gem 
 grocery, was born Dec. 13th, 1847, in Livingston 
 county. New York, and educated in the public 
 schools of his native county. He came to Colorado 
 in September, 1886, and for a number of years was 
 the popular and efficient clerk at the Tedmon house, 
 a position- he resigned to engage in the grocery busi- 
 ness with D. C. Threlkeld, in 1900, which he still 
 follows. Mr. Whiteman married Jennie Budrow in 
 November, 1877, in Livingston, N. Y., and she died 
 in 1891 in Fort Collins. Since then he has lived 
 the life of a single man. In 1903, Mr. Threlkeld 
 sold his interest to Frank M. Nelson. His business 
 life has been a prosperous one and the firm of 
 Whiteman & Nelson has a high rating in the com- 
 mercial reports of the country. 
 
 Frank H. Madden was born December 11th, 
 1873, in Van Buren county, Iowa; his wife, whom 
 he married January 24th, 1894, was born as Anna 
 V. Hoskin, on September 24th, 1871, also in Van 
 Buren county, Iowa; they came to Fort Collins, on 
 March 20th, 1904, where they still reside; for three 
 years after coming here he followed contracting and 
 
 building and since then he has been engaged as a 
 dealer in real estate and is himself a land owner. 
 
 Hon. Fred W. Stover, son of Hon. William C. 
 Stover, a Larimer county pioneer and a member of 
 the constitutional convention which framed the or- 
 ganic law of Colorado, was born Sept. 25th, 1878, 
 in Fort Collins. He was educated in the public 
 
 HON. FRED W. STOVER 
 
 schools of his native city, at the University of Den- 
 ver and the Denver Law school; married Lucile 
 Timberlake, Dec. 28th, 1904, of Sterling, Colo., 
 and they have one child, Sarah Margaret Stover. 
 He was admitted to the bar in 1904 and began prac- 
 ticing his profession in Fort Collins that year; ap- 
 pointed judge of the county court of Larimer county 
 in November, 1907, to fill out the unexpired term of 
 Judge C. V. Benson, resigned, and in November, 
 1908, he was elected by the people to a full term, 
 which he is now serving. Judge Stover is a mem- 
 ber of the Colorado State Bar association and also 
 of the Larimer County Bar association. 
 
 John C. McLeod was born May 10th, 1850, 
 in Montague, Prince Edwards Island, Canada; 
 married to Annie Stewart, May 25th, 1878, and 
 
 [301] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 they have four children, Mary C, Edna F., Bertha 
 M., and J. Keith McLeod; came to Colorado in 
 1874, locating first at Longmont; moved to Old 
 St. Louis in the Big Thompson valley in 1875; 
 was in the shoe business. Mr. McLeod died in 
 Loveland, October 31st, 1896. He was a public 
 spirited man and took an active part in every cause 
 that promised to add to the welfare of Loveland, 
 being an ardent temperance worker and also zeal- 
 ous worker in the church. His widow and children 
 still live in Loveland. No man was better known 
 in the Big Thompson valley or more highly re- 
 spected than John C. McLeod. 
 
 William M. Slaughter died at his home in 
 Loveland on Friday, Nov. 19th, 1897, from pneu- 
 monia, after a very short illness. One of the most 
 striking figures of the early history of Colorado 
 passed away when Judge Slaughter was called from 
 the world. He came West in 1858, from Platts- 
 mouth, Nebraska, with the very earliest of the 
 pioneers and at once took a prominent part in direct- 
 ing public affairs. At that time no legal authority 
 had been asserted for the protection of life and 
 property, arid to preserve law and order a pro- 
 visional court was established with three associate 
 justices, Mr. Slaughter being named chief justice. 
 Before this tribunal persons charged with crimes 
 against person or property were given a trial, and if 
 found guilty of theft the sentence was banishment 
 from the country. Murderers were sentenced to 
 immediate execution. While a member of this 
 court. Judge WSiughter illustrated his unswerving 
 fidelity to duty by condemning his friend, James 
 Gordon, to death for shooting and killing, while 
 drunk, an inoffensive German farmer. After pro- 
 nouncing sentence, the judge gave him a respite of 
 one week in order that the murderer might settle 
 up his earthly affairs, and assisted him in closing up 
 his business matters. Gordon was duly executed on 
 the day fixed by the judge. In 1862, Judge Slaugh- 
 ter moved to Central City and in 1863 was elected 
 mayor of that town. At that time Central was the 
 leading town of the territory, a booming mining 
 camp of perhaps 10,000 people. It was never "a 
 man for breakfast" camp for the reason that mur- 
 derers were sure of swift punishment. But two 
 murders were committed there while Judge Slaugh- 
 ter was mayor. One of them expiated his crime on 
 the gallows, and the other, Charles Hanicon, a 
 theatrical manager, who killed Dan Spitz, a prize- 
 fighter, escaped to the south and joined the Con- 
 federate army. He was later killed in battle. Judge 
 
 [302] 
 
 Slaughter served two terms in the Territorial legis- 
 lature and had a conspicous part in shaping the 
 legislation of the period for Colorado. He came to 
 Larimer county in 1872, settling on a farm in the 
 Big Thompson valley, about four miles west of the 
 present city of Loveland, and became one of the 
 pioneer fruit growers of the county. Judge Slaughter 
 was one of the prime movers in organizing and es- 
 tablishing the Pioneer Society of Colorado, and 
 numbered among his friends nearly every Colo- 
 radoan who came to Pike's Peak in the great gold 
 rush of 1858-59 and '60. He had passed the three- 
 score milestone by four years, but was as vigorous 
 and ambitious as a man of fifty up to his last illness. 
 He practiced law in the courts of the county and 
 state for several years before his death, and was 
 an esteemed member of the Larimer County Bar 
 association. 
 
 Isaac Adair was born May 2, 1835, in Ohio, 
 died October 19th, 1907, in Fort Collins, Colo- 
 rado. His first occupation after attaining his ma- 
 jority was that of boatman on a canal. He then 
 came to Denver as a teamster for Majors & Rus- 
 sell, the overland freighters and stage proprietors. 
 For many years after that he was engaged in freight- 
 ing with mule teams from the Missouri river to as 
 far west as Salt Lake and Oregon. While the 
 Union Pacific railroad was being built he was en- 
 gaged as a contractor, furnishing ties and timber for 
 the company. In January, 1870, he was married 
 to V. Anna Shores at Cheyenne, and shortly after- 
 wards came to Pleasant valley, Larimer county, 
 where he lived until 1875, when they located on 
 Upper Boxelder and engaged in ranching, dairy- 
 ing and stockgrowing. Here the family lived until 
 1904, when old age and declining health admon- 
 ished them to sell their mountain holdings and 
 move to Fort Collins, where he died as stated. His 
 wife survived him but a short time. They left one 
 daughter, Mrs. Dora Hazard of Central City, 
 Colorado. 
 
 Prof. S. Arthur Johnson, born December 
 13th, 1866, at Morristown, N. J.; boyhood spent 
 on a farm; graduated from Morristown High 
 school, 1887; graduated from Rutger's college with 
 degree of B. S. in Civil engineering, in 1891; 
 engaged in private and public school work in Illi- 
 nois from 1892 to 1895; received degree of M. S. 
 from Rutger's in 1895; came to Denver that year; 
 married May A. Bice, January 15th, 1896; taught 
 science and mathematics in West Denver High 
 school from 1896 to 1902; appointed assistant in 
 
//A: 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Zoology and Entomology at Colorado Agricultural 
 college in 1902; made associate professor of Zoology 
 and Entomology in 1906, which position he still 
 holds. Prof, and Mrs. Johnson have three child- 
 ren, Alice M., born February 27th, 1897; Miriam 
 A., born April 11th, 1901; Frederick B., born July 
 2nd, 1905. Prof. Johnson is a scholarly gentleman 
 and is recognized as one of the strongest members, 
 intellectually, of the college faculty, and his services 
 in Farmers' institute work are in demand in all 
 of the agricultural and horticultural sections of 
 Colorado. 
 
 Sherman W. Smith was born Aug. 30th, 1837, 
 at Newport, New York. He came to the Big 
 Thompson valley in 1863, and was one of the 
 pioneers of the county. He was married Jan. 20th, 
 1875, to Miss Anna Sciddle. He died May 8th, 
 1888, leaving a wife, two children, two brothers, 
 Charles C. Smith of Loveland, James M. Smith of 
 Salida, and a sister, Mrs. G. F. Swartz of Freeport, 
 Illinois. Mr. Smith was much esteemed by his 
 neighbors and friends for his many excellent quali- 
 ties of heart and mind. 
 
 John J. Ryan. — In the death of John J. Ryan, 
 which occurred at the family residence in Fort Col- 
 lins on Friday, May 26, 1899, Larimer county lost 
 one of its foremost pioneer citizens, a man who had 
 spent nearly forty of the best years of his life in 
 developing agriculture, the principal industry of 
 the county, and in advancing the social, educational 
 and material interests of its people. No history of 
 the county would be complete without a refer- 
 ence to his achievements along these lines, for much 
 of the county's progress and advancement in those 
 things which make life desirable in any locality is 
 due to his influence and example and to his intelli- 
 gent, untiring and well directed efforts in promot- 
 ing the growth and welfare of his chosen home. 
 But, one by one the pioneers of Colorado, the wil- 
 derness subduers and commonwealth builders of 
 our cherished Centennial state who forced their 
 way across the trackless Plains against disease, 
 lurking dangers and hostile savages, are dropping 
 out of the ranks and leaving vacancies that never 
 can be filled. Year by year the column grows 
 smaller, the ranks thinner, and the circle narrower, 
 and soon, all too soon, they will live only in the 
 memories of grateful survivors and upon the pages 
 of history, whose records will ever bear loving wit- 
 ness of their courage, perseverance and self-denial ; 
 of their hardships and privations. John Joseph 
 Ryan was born May 14th, 1837, in Roscrea, County 
 
 Tipperary, Ireland. He was the son of John and 
 Ann (Meacher) Ryan, natives of the same county. 
 In the early 40's, the subject of this sketch came 
 to the United States with his parents who set- 
 tled near St. Louis, Missouri. He attended the 
 public schools of St. Louis and obtained the rudi- 
 ments of a thoroughly practical education, after- 
 wards taking a course in the first commercial col- 
 lege established in that city. When 18 years of 
 age he went to Davenport, Iowa, to take the posi- 
 tion of bookkeeper for a large lumber firm doing 
 business in that city. On the 20th of October, 
 1859, he was united in marriage with Miss Pelagia 
 J. Leonard, daughter of Harvey Leonard who was 
 a pioneer of Scott county, Iowa and for twenty 
 years its honored sheriff. Shortly after his mar- 
 riage, Mr. Ryan started for Colorado, with five 
 adventure-loving companions. He went to what 
 is now Kansas City and, outfitted with ox train 
 and a year's supplies, crossed the Plains via the old 
 Santa Fe trail to the Arkansas river, thence up 
 that stream to Pueblo and from there to Denver, 
 where he arrived in April, 1860. From there he 
 went to Central City and, buying a gulch claim, 
 engaged in mining. He was unfortunate in his 
 mining ventures and leaving the mountains, came 
 down to the Big Thompson valley, where he hoped 
 he might earn money enough to enable him to 
 return to civilization. In June, 1860, he and a Mr. 
 Spencer bought a claim of William C. Stover, sit- 
 uated a short distance south of the present city of 
 Loveland and which is still a part of the Ryan 
 estate. Mr. Spencer returned to Iowa later that 
 season, but Mr. Ryan concluded to remain. With 
 the help of a German, he put up more than 50 tons 
 of hay, which he hauled with ox teams to Golden 
 and sold. He had purchased from a Mr. Tucker 
 of Golden, two ox teams and a wagon, agreeing to 
 pay for them when he sold his hay. He kept his 
 engagement promptly and also had money enough 
 left to buy a year's supply of provisions. In the 
 spring of 1861, he sold the remainder of his hay 
 in the stack at $30 per ton and from that time on 
 to the day of his death, he never knew the want of 
 a dollar. In the fall of 1862 he took a load of 
 vegetables, raised on his farm, to Fort Halleck, 
 which was then being built by the government, and 
 sold them to the troops stationed there. Teams 
 and teamsters being scarce in those days, he was 
 employed to haul logs for and help in the construc- 
 tion of the fort buildings. Here he again met 
 William C. Stover, who was returning from the 
 Sweetwater county and who came down from Fort ' 
 
 [303] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Halleck to Big Thompson with Mr. Ryan, In 
 1863, he with other settlers built the Big Thomp- 
 son Irrigation and Manufacturing company's ditch, 
 one of the first irrigating ditches constructed in 
 the Big Thompson valley. Mr. Ryan was one of 
 the incorporators and directors of the company. 
 His associates in this enterprise were W. H. Bacon, 
 W. B. Osborn, Joseph Markley, Geo. P. Luce, 
 Thomas Cross, H. B. Chubbuck, James M. Smith 
 Jr., J. D. Bartholf, J. M. Lopen and John E. 
 Washburn. Mr. Ryan kept the Overland stage 
 station at Namaqua for nearly a year. In the fall 
 of 1863 he returned to Iowa with a spring wagon, 
 with which he brought his family to Colorado in 
 the spring of 1864. The family lived in a small 
 log home for several years, Mr. Ryan in the mean- 
 time carrying on his farm operations with un- 
 varying success. Later he engaged in the stock 
 business in connection with farming, which also 
 proved profitable. Indeed all of his undertakings 
 turned out well and he became prosperous and 
 wealthy. His accretions of capital were slow at 
 first but steadily and regular, increasing in volume 
 later on as his interests and investments became 
 more extended and diversified. He gave liberally 
 of his means to all worthy objects and was generous 
 in his charities. During the early days, prior to 
 the organization of the county for judicial purposes, 
 justice was administered by a Claim club of which 
 Mr. Ryan was secretary, Robert Hereford, presi- 
 dent and Jesse M. Sherwood, judge. A short but 
 stringent code of laws was adopted by the club 
 according to which justice was meted out to those 
 who violated its provisions, either in the Cache la 
 Poudre or Big Thompson valleys. Those who lived 
 under and were governed by this code declare that 
 never was more exact justice administered than by 
 this crude organization of pioneer settlers. The 
 association commanded the respect of all and even 
 those who were unruly elsewhere, here tried to 
 keep within the bounds of the Claim club's code. 
 Swift punishment followed a conviction of guilt, 
 but it can be said to the honor of the club and to 
 the credit of the two communities that not once 
 during the period of its usefulness was it found 
 necessary to sentence a man to be hung. Fines and 
 banishment from the country were the usual sen- 
 tences of the club. 
 
 MR. Ryan's official career. 
 
 In the early days of settlement of Larimer 
 county, men of education, of business ability and in- 
 tegrity were much sought after to fill the various 
 
 [304] 
 
 places of public trust and responsibility and it is 
 not strange, therefore, that Mr. Ryan was often 
 called upon to serve the people in public positions. 
 In 1861, after the organization of Colorado as 
 a Territory and the creation of Larimer county, 
 he was appointed a member of the first board of 
 county commissioners by Governor Gilpin. His 
 colleagues appointed at the same time were A. F. 
 Howes and F. W. Sherwood. Owing to a dis- 
 agreement over the question of locating the county 
 seat and the voting of bonds for county buildings, 
 the board failed to perfect an organization, and 
 Governor Evans, who succeeded Governor Gil- 
 pin in 1862, appointed Joseph Mason, James B. 
 Arthur and William B. Osborn, their successors. 
 In the early days, Mr. Ryan was the democratic 
 candidate for member of the Territorial legislature, 
 but his party being largely in the minority, he failed 
 of an election. He was also the candidate of his 
 party in 1877 for county comrrtjssioner against 
 Lewis Cross, who was elected. He was for years 
 a member of the Big Thompson school board and 
 assisted in building the first school house erected 
 in the county. Later he served as mayor of Love- 
 land. In 1877, Governor Routt appointed him a 
 member of the state board of agriculture, an ap- 
 pointment that was afterwards renewed by Gov. 
 ernors Pitkin, Cooper and Adams, serving con- 
 tinuously on that board for twenty-two years. His 
 services in that connection for the entire period was 
 marked at all times by zealous and eiBcient en- 
 deavors to promote and further the Interests of 
 the Agricultural college and the course of popu- 
 lar education generally. He was president of the 
 board from 1895 to 1897, and was by many years 
 the senior member in continuous service. He 
 was also for many years an active and loyal mem- 
 ber of the democratic state central committee, and 
 served as delegate from Larimer county In every 
 state convention of his party since the state was 
 admitted into the Union, save one. In 1892, he 
 was sent as an alternate delegate from Colorado 
 to the National democratic convention held In 
 Chicago, and was a member of the association of 
 Colorado pioneers. He had been a stockholder, 
 director and vice-president of the Bank of Love- 
 land ever since the founding of that Institution in 
 1882. His ofKcIal career in all the positions of 
 trust and responsibility held by him, was marked 
 by the same careful attention to details, the same 
 conscientious fidelity to the principles of right and 
 justice, and the same regard for the interests of 
 the people which characterized the man in the con- 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 duct of his own private affairs. Mr. Ryan's family 
 consisted at the time of death of a wife and five 
 children, four sons and a daughter, namely John 
 H. of Salt Lake ; George L. of Loveland ; Mrs. 
 Harriet Galligan, wife of Colorado's popular and 
 efficient ex-state treasurer; Charles and William 
 L. Ryan, the wife and two younger sons being 
 then residents of Fort Collins. Mr. Ryan's body 
 was entombed in Lakeside cemetery at Loveland, 
 and the bearers of the casket were James B. Arthur, 
 former mayor of Fort Collins, Abner Loomis, presi- 
 dent of the Poudre Valley Bank, J. W. Nor- 
 well, deputy district attorney, Aaron S. Benson, 
 president of the Bank of Loveland, John Hahn, 
 member of the board of county commissioners, 
 and Frank G. Bartholf, a former county commis- 
 sioner. 
 
 Mrs. David James. — Carrie, daughter of Mr. 
 and Mrs. Joseph Shallenberger, was born in West- 
 ern Pennsylvania and her parents came to Larimer 
 county in 1877. In 1884 she and Davis James 
 were married and four children were born to them : 
 Mrs. Elmer Wright, of Cheyenne, Wyoming, 
 Corinne, Lloyd and Carolyn of Loveland. Mr. 
 James was appointed postmaster of Loveland by 
 President McKinley and reappointed by President 
 Roosevelt. He died November 19, 1906, and Mrs. 
 James continued the office. She was later ap- 
 pointed postmaster by Roosevelt for four years, her 
 time expiring in January, 1911. She is highly es- 
 teemed by all, and in the performance of her offi- 
 cial duties she has demonstrated good business 
 ability, evidence that a woman can perform other 
 duties than those of the household, and that the 
 political enfranchisement of her sex in Colorado 
 was an act of statesmanship and justice. Since the 
 foregoing was written Mrs. James has been reap- 
 pointed postmistress for another term of four years 
 by President Taft. 
 
 Victor G. H. Stuart was born at Rumford, 
 Essex, England, and educated at Clifton college, 
 Bristol, England. He came to Larimer county 
 March 17th, 1891, and bought the Wallis Link 
 stock ranch on the Laramie river and followed 
 the cattle business until 1908, when he sold ranch 
 and stock and since 1910 has been a resident of 
 Fort Collins. Mr. Stuart married Corwin H. 
 Chase on December 4th, 1901, and she has borne 
 him a son, V. G. Hamilton Stuart. 
 
 John S. Cuthbertson was born at Lauder, 
 Scotland, on the 13th day of January, 1843, at 
 which place he received his education. In the year 
 
 1874 he came to Fort Collins and engaged in farm- 
 ing. On May 8th, 1883, he married Mary Tay- 
 lor and their union was blessed by the birth of three 
 children, Bella and Helen, both of whom are still 
 residents of Larimer county, and a son, William 
 T. This young man was graduated at the State 
 Agricultural college where he took his degree as 
 Doctor of Veterinary Surgery and had commenced 
 
 JOHN S. CUTHBERTSON 
 
 his practice when, on the 13th of January, 1911, he 
 was prematurely called to leave the labors of this 
 world. He was a young man of great promise and 
 already gave reason to believe that he would be- 
 come a useful citizen as well as the support of his 
 parents in their declining years. Mr. Cuthbert- 
 son continued to follow the occupation of farming 
 until 1905, when the infirmities of age emphasized 
 by growing weakness of vision made it necessary 
 for him to retire from active labor. Upon leaving- 
 the farm he removed with his family to Fort Col- 
 lins where he still resides. He has always been 
 recognized as a devout believer in the comforting 
 assurances of the Christian religion, a loved and 
 devoted father and a highly respected citizen. 
 Accustomed in his native country to the handling 
 
 [305] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 of sheep, Mr. Cuthbertson was very successful in 
 the business of feeding lambs for the market in this 
 county, and his habits of frugality and careful 
 husbandry were a rebuke to the wasteful methods 
 of many of the farmers of his vicinity. 
 
 Drury G. Keirsey. — One of Ben Franklin's 
 wise sayings was "He that by the plow would 
 thrive, himself must either hold or drive". That 
 
 DRURY G. KEIRSEY 
 
 is true of the farmer and it is equally true of the 
 business man or professional man. To succeed in 
 any legitimate undertaking a person must keep in 
 touch with every detail, know what to do and how 
 and when to do it and be competent to direct and 
 control every feature and branch of his business. 
 If he is a merchant, he must know what to buy 
 that will please his patrons, and when and how 
 to buy it and must also know how to offer and 
 direct the sale of his wares, so that he may profit 
 thereby. Our subject, one of the leading and most 
 successful and prosperous merchants in Fort Col- 
 lins, possesses all the requirements mentioned which 
 accounts for his success. He is constantly "on the 
 job", as the saying is, and nothing connected with 
 his large establishment escapes his attention. Mr. 
 [306] 
 
 Keirsey was born in 1864, at Humansville, 
 Missouri, and obtained his education in his native 
 town. In 1890, he was united in marriage with 
 Carrie Barnett and they have had four children, 
 Lois, Faye, Harold and Mildred, all at home. He 
 came with his family from Missouri to Canon City, 
 Colorado, in 1893, and to Fort Collins in August, 
 1899, to take over the management of the Golden 
 Rule store, then owned by a syndicate, later becom- 
 ing sole proprietor and which he still carries on 
 and conducts. He possesses all the requirements 
 of a No. 1 business man and as such he has been 
 able to build up and maintain one of the largest 
 and best mercantile establishments in Northern 
 Colorado, employing a large number of ladies and 
 gentlemen as clerks and salesmen, and command- 
 ing a trade that runs into the hundreds of thou- 
 sands of dollars annually. Mr. and Mrs. Keirsey 
 are prominent members of the Baptist church, and 
 Mrs. Keirsey is a leader in church and social cir- 
 cles. They have a beautiful home on East Oak 
 street and are never happier than when entertain- 
 ing friends and contributing to their pleasure. 
 
 William Naylor was born September 28th, 
 1844, in Shelby county, Missouri. Married Ellen 
 Oakes, also of Shelby county, February 20th, 1868; 
 came to the Big Thompson valley in October, 1877, 
 locating on a farm two and one-half miles north- 
 v\-est of Loveland where he lived 27 years and then 
 moved to Loveland and retired from active labor; 
 took part in building extensions to Louden ditch and 
 was director of the company for 20 years ; succeeded 
 in running water through the ditch in 1880; has 
 seven children whose names and places of residences 
 are: Mrs. W. H. Trindle, Anaheim, California; 
 E. W. Naylor, Mrs. J. M. Clyde, James F. Nay- 
 lor, Carl C. Naylor, Cora M. Naylor, all of Love- 
 land, and Mrs. F. L. Thomas of Outlook, Wash- 
 ington. His present residence is at the corner of 
 Cleveland and 7th streets, Loveland. Mr. Nay- 
 lor has seen the Big Thompson valley grow from a 
 sparcely settled district to a populous and prosperous 
 community, and Loveland from a way station on the 
 Colorado Central railroad to a city of 5,000 in- 
 habitants, and has done his share towards bringing 
 these changes about. 
 
 James H. McClung was born May 24th, 
 1864, in Illinois; educated in the public schools of 
 Ohio and Loveland, Colorado; came to Colorado 
 in 1879, and settled in Loveland; employed six 
 years in the flour mill of his uncle A. A. Leonard; 
 married Martha A. Trusler in 1892, at Berthoud, 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 and they have two children, a daughter, Anna G. 
 and a son Lee O. McClung; lived on and con- 
 ducted a farm six years after his marriage. The 
 family now resides on East Mountain "avenue, Ber- 
 thoud, where Mr. McClung is engaged in the 
 butcher and meat market business. He has been a 
 resident of the Centennial state for thirty-two years 
 and is firmly convinced that there is no better 
 county in the world than Larimer county. 
 
 Jacob Welch — Born, Oct. 12th, 1819, near 
 Uniontown, Pennsylvania; died, Sept. 18th, 1907, 
 in Fort Collins, Colorado, aged nearly 88 years. In 
 the death of Mr. Welch another link in the chain 
 that bound the present with the past has been 
 broken, and the community has suffered the loss of 
 one who had been a prominent factor for more than 
 a third of a century in the business and social life of 
 Larimer county, a man of action, energy and enter- 
 prise, who had done much for the upbuilding of 
 Fort Collins and the advancement of its material 
 prosperity. In his youth Mr. Welch attended the 
 public schools of his native state, and at an early 
 age entered upon an active business life, first learn- 
 ing the potter's trade, then drifting into the mer- 
 cantile business, which he followed for thirty-five 
 years. In 1840 he migrated from his birthplace to 
 Akron, Ohio, where he lived for thitry years, com- 
 ing to Colorado in 1870 to join the Greeley colony. 
 Three years later he moved to Fort Collins, then a 
 frontier hamlet, which had since been his home. 
 Here he established himself in the mercantile busi- 
 ness at the corner of College and Mountain avenues, 
 where the Welch block now stands, opening his 
 store in a tent pending the erection of a suitable 
 building. He continued in this line of business until 
 
 1879, when he sold his stock of goods to his son, L. 
 W. Welch, and retired to look after his real estate 
 interests, which occupied his time and attention until 
 the beginning of his last sickness. Many monu- 
 ments in the way of buildings erected by him in 
 his chosen home attest his enterprise and activity as 
 a citizen. In addition to the store building erected 
 in 1873, which was destroyed by fire in February, 
 
 1880, and immediately rebuilt, he had built several 
 others, including two handsome stone residences on 
 Olive street, in one of which he lived until death 
 called him ; also the block of stores on West Moun- 
 tain avenue, now owned by his son, L. W. Welch, 
 besides several other structures of less importance. 
 In the spring of 1881 he was elected mayor of Fort 
 Collins and served one full term of two years, dur- 
 ing which the Greeley, Salt Lake & Pacific railroad 
 
 was built through the city and while the town was 
 taking on a rapid growth and extending its borders 
 in every direction. On Jan. 17th, 1839, at Moga- 
 dore, Ohio, Mr. Welch inter-married with Miss 
 Anna Achison, who passed on to the Great Beyond 
 to join the husband of her youth in 1910. The mar- 
 riage proved a happy one, the bride and groom be- 
 ing privileged to spend sixty-eight years of their 
 lives together in the enjoyment of an uninterrupted 
 married existence, a privilege accorded to but very 
 few, indeed. Five children were born of the union, 
 Mrs. Emma Schneider, Mrs. Martha Atwood and 
 Corwin, Albert L. and L. Wilbur Welch, the three 
 sons being residents of Fort Collins. 
 
 John Nelson^ Jr., was born March 25th, 1870, 
 in Scotland, coming to the United States with his 
 parents while still a small boy, and to Fort Collins 
 in 1873; received his education in the public schools 
 and at the Colorado Agricultural college; married 
 Laura Catlett in 1895, who died and on October 
 7th, 1900, married Lydia Pohlman for his second 
 wife; has no children. Mr. Nelson is a car- 
 penter by trade, but spends about eight months 
 of the year superintending the running of water 
 through Larimer county No. 2 canal. On 
 arriving from Scotland in 1871, the Nfelson family 
 stopped two years in Chicago and were in that 
 city during the big fire in October, 1871. Mr. 
 Nelson's present home is at 517 East Laurel street. 
 Fort Collins, Colorado. 
 
 Charles S. Cooksie was born on December 
 22, 1858, in Clayton county, Iowa. He came to 
 Colorado and to Fort Collins in June, 1885. In 
 January, 1890, he was married to Ella PuUiam of 
 Fort Collins. They have a family of four child- 
 ren. Mr. Cooksie has been engaged in farming and 
 in the mercantile business. He bears a fine repu- 
 tation for integrity and clean citizenship. 
 
 Ralph Leroy Parshall was born in Golden, 
 Colorado, July 2, 1881. His boyhood days were 
 spent in the mountains at Creswell, where he at- 
 tended district school. In September, 1899, he en- 
 tered the Colorado Agricultural college. In 1904 
 he was graduated from the civil engineering course, 
 since which time he has been a teacher in that de- 
 partment. He took a post graduate course of five 
 months at the University of Chicago and the sum- 
 mer of 1904 he was assistant in the State Engineer's 
 office at Denver. Since Mr. Parshall came to Fort 
 Collins in 1899, he has made Larimer county his 
 home. On June 12, 1906, he and Florence May 
 
 [307] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Stuver were united in marriage, one child, a son, 
 Maxwell, being the fruit of the union. Mr. Par- 
 shall is an honored and esteemed member of the 
 Society for the Promotion of Engineering education. 
 
 Levi Tombaugh had been before his death in 
 March, 1911, as the result of a runaway accident, 
 one of the enterprising and successful farmers and 
 market gardeners of Larimer county. He was a 
 
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 ^^^^ ^^BP^ ^^Ht^^ ■•'-^f^S^Tn^^^^M 
 
 
 
 
 
 LEVI TOMBAUGH 
 
 loyal citizen of the Centennial state, a man without 
 guile, a great lover of children, though he never had 
 any of his own, a devoted husband and foster father, 
 a genial, warm-hearted friend and an accommodat- 
 ing and obliging neighbor. Mr. Tombaugh was 
 born Aug. 22nd, 1849, in Miami county, Indiana. 
 He spent his boyhood days on his uncle's farm, at- 
 tending the district school as opportunity offered and 
 when his services were not needed on the farm. 
 When 21 years of age he started westward, stopping 
 a few years in Missouri, going thence to Texas and 
 then back again to Missouri. The western fever 
 still raged in his veins and in 1878 he came to Fort 
 Collins to seek his fortune. The Larimer and Weld 
 canal was then being built by Benjamin H. Eaton, 
 [308] 
 
 who was elected governor of Colorado in 1884. 
 Our subject hired out to do construction work on 
 the canal for Mr. Eaton, remaining in his employ for 
 three years, and not only helped to build the 
 largest irrigating canal in northern Colorado, but 
 also the High Line canal near Denver, for which 
 his employer was contractor. He returned to his 
 Missouri home in 1884 and on Feb. 8th, 1885, he 
 married Miss Jane Coy, the union proving a very 
 happy one. In the fall of 1892, he moved his family 
 from Missouri to Fort Collins, having decided that 
 Colorado offered greater opportunities for a man of 
 limited means for establishing a home and acquiring 
 something for a rainy day than any other part of 
 the country he had visited. He bought fifty acres of 
 land two miles southwest of Fort Collins, then 
 known as the Graham place. It was not a promis- 
 ing piece of land, but he could do no better with 
 the means at command, so he took it, going into 
 debt for a part of the purchase money. Part of the 
 tract was covered by a cat-tail swamp and the re- 
 mainder was a dry knoll above water. The first 
 hard work he did on the place was in draining the 
 swamp and converting it into garden land. He ac- 
 complished his purpose, however, and had the satis- 
 faction of reclaiming about ten acres of what was 
 thought to be a worthless swamp and making of it 
 as rich and productive garden land as there is in 
 Larimer county. He then began raising vegetables 
 and small fruits for market in which he had re- 
 markable success. He soon paid off the debt on his 
 place and succeded in securing water for his dry 
 knoll, finally bringing that under a high state of 
 cultivation. About five years ago he sold his fifty 
 acres of upland for $10,000, reserving the reclaimed 
 swamp land for his own use. He sold the latter in 
 the spring of 1911 for a big price and moved into 
 Fort Collins, which has since been the family home. 
 His faithful and devoted wife did her full share in 
 bringing about prosperity, for while he was at work 
 in the garden she would drive into town and sell 
 the fruit and vegetables as they were produced on 
 the place. Though, as stated, Mr. and Mrs. Tom- 
 baugh never had any children of their own, they 
 have brought up three foster or adopted children, to- 
 wit: Mrs. Anna Payne, and Mattie and Edward 
 Tombaugh. 
 
 Benjamin F. Williams was born in Jefferson 
 county. West Virginia, in 1872. In 1875 his par- 
 ents moved to Illinois and the following year found 
 them again Westward bound until the Plains of 
 Nebraska halted their onward march for a period. 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 Again taking up the route to the setting sun, March, 
 1905, found Mr. Williams in Colorado, at Welling- 
 ton. Looking about for a permanent location he 
 was struck by the superior advantages of the Spring 
 Canon ranch, then owned by Henry T. Miller, of 
 whom he purchased in 1907. This is a fine ranch 
 and is now in the hands of a competent and ener- 
 getic farmer, who may be depended upon to keep 
 up its fertility and productiveness. Mr. Williams 
 has a willing helpmate, whose maiden name was 
 Miss Ella Westberg, whom he married March 27th, 
 1910. 
 
 Hiram Pierce. — Born August 8th, 1852, at 
 Waterford, Wisconsin; learned carpenter and join- 
 er's trade; married Maggie White, May 12th, 
 1879, at Chilton, Wisconsin; three children, Rob- 
 ert Ansel, mining engineer, Denver; Blanche, 
 stenographer and Elizabeth, student; both daugh- 
 ters at home; came to Fort Collins November 11th, 
 1878, and followed contracting and building until 
 January, 1905, when he was appointed instructor in 
 carpentry at Colorado Agricultural college, a posi- 
 tion he still holds; has a fine home at 510 South 
 Howes street. 
 
 Frederick J. Snyder. — Mr. Snyder was one of 
 the real pioneers of Colorado and a very early set- 
 tler in Larimer county, locating on a farm near the 
 present town of Timnath, in 1865. He walked the 
 entire distance from Chicago to Denver in 1860, 
 making the trip in 271 days. He came alone, carry- 
 ing his bedding and provisions, excepting what he 
 killed on the road, on his back. He was a good citi- 
 zen, a kind and obliging neighbor. He died at his 
 farm home on Nov. 23rd, 1892, aged 72 years. 
 Two sons, William and Lincoln Snyder, survive 
 him. 
 
 TwiFORD CoRBiN. — The subject of this sketch 
 was born October 11th, 1838, in Sussex county, 
 Delaware. He spent his early years on his father's 
 farm, having few advantages in the way of obtain- 
 ing an education, but he was observing and through 
 his intercourse with neighbors and friends acquired 
 a good knowledge of business and political affairs. 
 He left home in his early manhood to seek his fort- 
 une with only $15 in his pocket. He traveled west- 
 ward and spent a few years in Illinois, going thence 
 to Missouri to engage in business, finally turning 
 his attention to farming near Cameron in that state. 
 In 1867 he was married to Sarah M. Selby, who 
 died in 1869. For his second wife he married Mrs. 
 Sarah J. Leffingwell in 1871. Three sons were 
 
 born to the second union only of whom Franklin, 
 survives his parents and he is a resident of Fort 
 Collins. In 1880 Mr. Corbin came to Fort Col- 
 lins and purchased a lumber yard and this city was 
 his home until he died, December 21st, 1896. He 
 was an excellent business man and prospered in the 
 lumber trade, accummulating a competence. He 
 was an ardent member of the Christian church, and 
 
 TWIFORD CORBIN 
 
 aided materially in organizing that denomination 
 in Fort Collins, contributing liberally of his means 
 to the building of a church edifice for the congrega- 
 tion to worship in. His religion was unostenta- 
 tious and his record as a man and citizen was as an 
 "open book". As a business man he was conser- 
 vative and with wise foresight achieved success. He 
 was manly and outspoken and had great admira- 
 tion and strong friendship for men of that class. He 
 took a great interest in public affairs, co-operating 
 heartily in every movement calculated to advance 
 the material and moral welfare of his chosen home. 
 
 William Thomas SxHortridge. — The "Blue 
 Grass State" added more than its quota to the long 
 line of pioneers who crossed the Plains in the early 
 
 [309] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 sixties — and among the stalwart sons of Kentucky 
 the name of William Thomas Shortridge promi- 
 nently stands forth. Born at Lexington, April 3rd, 
 1831, he was married at Independence, Missouri, 
 to Miss Polly A. Kelly, December 19, 1854. There 
 •was but one child born of the union, Mrs. Lou 
 Wallace, long a resident of this city. Mr. Short- 
 ridge came to Colorado In 1860, locating in. Den- 
 
 WILLIAM THOMAS SHORTRIDGE 
 
 ver. He filled many political positions, a trusted 
 and faithful public servant. A deputy U. S. Mar- 
 shal and deputy sheriff in Denver, city marshal 
 while a resident of Fort Collins, in 1882 and '83 
 and deputy sheriff under Sheriff W. T. Bransom in 
 1894. He was an old Plainsman — drove an ox 
 team to Salt Lake for Ben Holladay in the sum- 
 mer of 1852 and was wagon master later on for 
 Majors, Russell and Waddell. He died at his home 
 in Fort Collins, May 15, 1905. 
 
 Pierce J. Landes^ son of Mr. and Mrs. M. L. 
 Landes, was born May 10th 1885, at Livermore, 
 Colorado; attended the public schools; married 
 Rosalie Nugent, December 9th, 1908 at Laporte; 
 farmer by occupation; went with parents to Cali- 
 fornia in 1893, returning to Fort Collins in 1895, 
 
 [310] 
 
 his father having purchased what is known as the 
 W. S. Taylor farm, near Laporte. Our subject 
 now owns the farm and has resided on it since 
 1895, engaged in general farming, sheep feeding 
 and sugar beet raising in which he has met with 
 good success. His mother was a daughter of the 
 late John Riddle, one of the early settlers of the 
 Cache la Poudre valley. His father is a retired 
 farmer and he and his family live in Fort Collins. 
 
 H. B. Chubbuck was born in Pennsylvania, 
 October 6, 1817. When twenty-one years of age, 
 he left Pennsylvania and went to Illinois, residing 
 there about twelve years. In 1850 he went to Cali- 
 fornia, where he remained two years and then came 
 east as far as Nebraska. In 1858 he came to Colo- 
 rado, locating near the present city of Denver, and 
 was one of the original members of the loan com- 
 pany which laid out the place in 1859. He located 
 a claim on the west bank of the Platte in 1859 
 and in company with a man named Smith built 
 the first bridge across that stream, hewing the 
 timbers that were used in its construction from 
 Cottonwood trees growing on their claims. The 
 bridge was known for many years as the "Old 
 Chubbuck bridge" and was on the road leading 
 to the Gregory mine, now Central City. He was 
 engaged in business in what is now West Denver, 
 then called Auraria, during the first years of its 
 existence, besides opening up quite a market gar- 
 den. He used for two or three seasons for cul- 
 tivating his garden crop, a single ox, broken to har- 
 ness and driven with lines. He assisted in build- 
 ing an irrigating ditch to water his land, which 
 was probably the first one built in Colorado. In 
 the spring of 1862, he removed to the Big Thomp- 
 son valley, locating on land later owned by David 
 Hershman, where he resided until 1867, when he 
 sold the claim and with his two sons opened up 
 the farm on which he died October 9th, 1880, it 
 being the first bluff farm taken up and improved 
 in the county, and at that time considered a very 
 risky investment. Mr. Chubbuck was the first 
 county superintendent of schools for Larimer county 
 and was elected sheriff in 1866, serving one term. 
 He was a kind hearted man, greatly liked and re- 
 spected, so much so that nearly everyone in the 
 county was his friend. 
 
 Anna M. Montgomery, daughter of Mr. and 
 Mrs. Paul C. Johnson and wife of Albert Mont- 
 gomery, was born April 24th, 1878, at Riverton, 
 Iowa; attended school in Larimer county, Colorado; 
 married June 25th, 1896, at Boulder, Colorado; 
 
HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 LARTIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 has one child, Paul C, born May 2, 1897; came to 
 Fort Collins in 1881 and was reared on a farm; 
 housekeeper and dressmaker by occupation; resi- 
 dence Fort Collins. Her parents born in Denmark, 
 the father in 1852 and the mother in 1858. 
 
 Peter Turner, the founder of the present town 
 of Berthoud, was born in 1838 in Franklin county, 
 Virginia, where he lived until he had reached the 
 age of 17 years. He came to Iowa in 1857, and to 
 Colorado in 1861, locating first in Russell Gulch. 
 He followed sluice mining for two and a half years 
 and then moved to Sunshine, Boulder county, and 
 was the first settler in that camp. He came from 
 there to the Little Thomfwon valley in the fall of 
 1877, and in 1880 laid off the present town of Ber- 
 thoud from a portion of his farm. He is still a resi- 
 dent of Berthoud, reaping the benefit of his early 
 day investments. He has five living children, but 
 his wife, 'the companion of his younger years, died 
 about three years ago. Mr. Turner built the first 
 house in Berthoud, and still occupies it. 
 
 Lewis E. Parker. — Born in 1864, when war's 
 alarms filled the country with its fears and 
 dreads, with its tears and sorrows, our subject 
 first saw the light in Fountain City, Indiana — 
 a state whose stalwart sons fought nobly on many a 
 gory battlefield in behalf of the integrity of the 
 Union. When 16 years of age he went to Iowa 
 and about a year later moved to Denver, where he 
 dwelt about six months and then came to Larimer 
 county to make his home. He was still a boy in 
 years with a man's ambition and soon found em- 
 ployment on W. H. Peterson's farm near Timnath, 
 then on George W. Baxter's farm in the Harmony 
 neighborhood, putting in three years as a farm hand. 
 He then filed a preemption claim on 160 acres in 
 Coal Bank draw in Weld county on which he lived 
 about four years and improved, serving two years in 
 the meantime as road overseer of his district. On 
 December 23rd, 1886, he led Nettie Cline, a daugh- 
 ter of one of the real pioneers of the Cache la 
 Poudre valley, to the marriage altar. Six children, 
 five sons and one daughter have blessed the union. 
 In 1894, Mr. Parker purchased a half section of 
 land situated in the Cache la Poudre valley, nine 
 miles southeast of Fort Collins, and there he and 
 his family have since resided. He is a successful 
 farmer and stock feeder and, through industry, 
 strict attention to his own affairs and good manage- 
 ment, has succeeded in laying by a goodly store of 
 this world's goods for use in his declining years. 
 "His farm is one of the oldest in the valley having 
 
 been taken up as a squatter's claim by Mrs. Par- 
 ker's father in 1860, before the country was sur- 
 veyed and afterwards proved up on and purchased 
 of the government. It is well improved, the soil 
 rich and productive and kept in a high state of cul- 
 tivation, and Mr. Parker seldom or never fails to 
 reap a rich reward in products for his season's 
 labor, care and attention. Besides being a good 
 
 MR. AND MRS. L. E. PARKER 
 
 farmer and stock feeder he is an excellent citizen 
 who is doing well his part to develop the agricul- 
 tural resources of his chosen home. He came to 
 Larimer county a poor boy and has risen through 
 his own unaided efEorts to a proud position among 
 the successful men of the community. 
 
 A. T. GiLKisoN was born on the 25th day of 
 December, 1847, at Centerville, Michigan. The 
 story of his life is one that will be read with in- 
 creasing interest as the accumulation of years puts 
 farther into the background the experiences, the 
 hopes, the disappointments and the successes of the 
 searchers for the hidden treasures of the mountains. 
 His has been the life of the prospector which, in 
 the limited space allowed for this sketch, must be 
 
 [311] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 told without embellishment or the ornaments of fic- 
 tion. When Mr. Gilkison was but a few months 
 of age his parents moved to Ohio, and before he 
 was a year old his mother died. Left to the care 
 of grandparents and then to other relatives he was 
 kept under one roof hardly long enough to begin 
 to call it home before he was passed into the hands 
 of new guardians. About the year 1855 or 6, he 
 
 A. T. GILKISON 
 
 was taken to Chariton, Iowa, where he remained 
 until 1866. Then, at the age of 19 years, he started 
 to make a career for himself. He made the over- 
 land wagon trip to Colorado in company with quite 
 a band of emigrants and arrived in Denver on the 
 1st day of April, 1866, and immediately commenced 
 his search for gold. We shall only be able here to 
 follow him rapidly in his wanderings. He went to 
 Nevada, in Gilpin county, Colorado, meeting there 
 with very little success. On May second, 1869, 
 he married Margaret J. Dalley who was at that 
 time but 16 years of age. In the spring of 1871, 
 he moved to Caribou, then a noted silver camp. He 
 continued to prospect for gold and located many 
 claims but found nothing that would produce the 
 expected "stake." His experience was that of many 
 
 [312] 
 
 another prospector — hunting for the coveted ore 
 as long as credit could be had for food. When 
 credit was exhausted, a period of labor for wages 
 until uneasy grocers and butchers were silenced and 
 then another dash with pick and pan for the pros- 
 pect field. The settling upon a piece of land and 
 the raising of some hay and vegetables for sale to 
 the miners were but incidents which interrupted 
 for a short time the main object in life. The limit- 
 ing of the family to one ration of meat a week, on 
 Sunday morning, in order that money might be 
 saved to buy a team, Is a pointer to mark the finan- 
 cial condition of the family. There were by this 
 time two boys and a girl in the family. A mule 
 team was finally purchased, partly on credit, and 
 catching the "Leadville fever" the family started 
 for that camp, sure that there was the long sought 
 goal. Hardly landed at Leadville, he heard of the 
 rich strikes being made at Gunnison and again 
 the family were loaded into the wagon and the 
 mules headed for that camp. But the drive was long 
 and before Gunnison was reached the excitement 
 had died out and Mr. Gilkison drove on to Gothic, 
 a new camp just starting up. Here it was the old 
 story — exaggerated reports, a frantic rush, feverish 
 searching for prospects and — disappointment. Again 
 the wagon was loaded and the drive made to 
 Crested Butte. A halt was made at this place and 
 here was found the end of the rainbow with its 
 pot of gold. Going one day to the brook for water, 
 Mr. Gilkison noticed the surface of a rock from 
 which the soil had been removed by the boots of 
 others who had used the same path. He examined 
 the rock, removed a large fragment, and found it 
 rich. This developed into a property his interests 
 in which was sold for a sum of money which com- 
 pensated him for the weary years of searching. He 
 moved in 1880 to Larimer county and engaged for 
 some years in farming and finally embarked in 
 mercantile business in which he is still engaged. 
 His father, James T. Gilkison, enlisted in the 
 104th Ohio Volunteers and was killed in battle. 
 
 Frank E. Miller.— Born December 8th, 1873, 
 in Des Moines, Iowa, and received his education 
 in Fort Collins, Colorado; came from Iowa with 
 his parents to Colorado in 1874, locating first at 
 Black Hawk, moving in March, 1883, to Fort Col- 
 lins which has since been his home. Mr. Miller 
 was united in marriage with Anna M. Dievendorf, 
 of Boulder, Colorado, on November 23rd, 1897. 
 They have no children. From 1901 to 1905, Mr. 
 Miller served as deputy county treasurer under 
 
liJ.<. ^/:^^=^^r^y^ 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Clark Smith, and was a popular and very efficient 
 assistant in that office. Soon after retiring from 
 public office he purchased what was known as the 
 Killgore book store, which he has since conducted 
 with a satisfactory degree of success. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Miller have a charming home on S. Meldrum street 
 and are hospitable and genial entertainers. 
 
 William C. Stover was born July 11th, 1841, 
 in Bottetourt county, Virginia, his father, Jacob 
 Stover, belonging to one of the first families of 
 the Old Dominion. In 1850, when nine years of 
 age, he emigrated with his father's family to South 
 Bend, Indiana, where he attended school and re- 
 ceived his education. Early in the spring of 1860 
 the subject of this sketch, then in his ninteenth 
 year, left South Bend for the West. He crossed 
 the Plains with an ox team in company with a long 
 wagon train and arrived at Boulder, May 10th, 
 1860. From Boulder he came to the Big Thomp- 
 son valley and located on a hay ranch. Here he 
 celebrated his nineteenth birthday. He spent a 
 portion of the years 1861 and 1862 in the Sweet 
 Water country in Wyoming, returning to his ranch 
 in the Big Thompson valley in the fall of 1862. 
 Following the wake of the rush of gold hunters 
 then pushing on to the new discoveries in Mon- 
 tana, which were at the height of their excitement, 
 he spent a portion of the years 1863-4-5-6 in that 
 territory, during which he made a visit to his for- 
 mer home in South Bend, Indiana. Here he and 
 his brother, George, fitted up a train of ox teams 
 and both came west to Virginia City, Montana, 
 bringing with them a large quantity of groceries 
 and provisions which they disposed of to the miners 
 at a good profit. He returned to his home on the 
 Big Thompson in the summer of 1867, and, in 
 company with the late A. K. Yount, engaged in 
 the mercantile business at old St. Louis, about one 
 mile east of the present city of Loveland. In Janu- 
 ary, 1870, having disposed of his interests and busi- 
 ness in the Big Thompson valley, he moved to Fort 
 Collins, and, in company with the late John C. 
 Matthews, established a grocery and supply store 
 in the old Grout building, where the firm remained 
 until 1874, when the stock and business was re- 
 moved to a new brick building which the firm 
 erected on the corner of Jefferson and Linden 
 streets. Shortly after moving into the new build- 
 ing, Mr. Matthews retired from the firm and Mr. 
 Stover became sole proprietor of the stock and build- 
 ing. He continued to carry on the business alone 
 until 1882, when he sold an interest to the late 
 
 A. B. Tomlin and the firm became A. B. Tomlin 
 & Co. On the 11th of November, 1878, Mr. 
 Stover and Mr. Charles H. Sheldon, the present 
 cashier of the Poudre Valley National bank, opened 
 and established the Poudre Valley bank in the Wil- 
 son block on Jefferson street, moving a few weeks 
 later to a new brick building erected for them on 
 Linden street. The bank was moved on the com- 
 pletion of the Loomis block in 1883, to its pres- 
 ent location. Mr. Stover remained president of 
 the bank until January, 1893, when, owing to ill 
 health, he declined re-election, continuing, how- 
 ever, on the board of directors and as vice-presi- 
 dent until he died. In 1882, in company with 
 Andrew McGinley, Mr. Stover engaged in the 
 stock business near Fort Robinson in Western Neb- 
 raska, where the firm of Stover & McGinley ran 
 a large herd of cattle for many years, finally dis- 
 posing of their holdings and winding up the firm's 
 affairs in 1905. In 1892, Mr. Stover, Frank 
 Chaffee and R. M. Ferguson organized the Collins 
 Cash Clothing company, with Mr. Stover as 
 president, a position he held at the time of his 
 death. He had also been president of the Stover 
 Investment company for several years. Up to 1893, 
 when he declined a re-election to the presidency of 
 the Poudre Valley bank, he had been an active 
 business man, foremost in many enterprises de- 
 signed to build up Fort Collins and advance his pri- 
 vate interests, and had accumulated quite a large 
 fortune. Since then, though continuing to retain an 
 interest in a number of business enterprises, he sur- 
 rendered the active management of them to younger 
 men, exercising only a supervisory control. Mr. 
 Stover was one of the early members of the First 
 Methodist Episcopal church of Fort Collins and 
 contributed liberally of his means to its upbuilding 
 and maintenance. Many other Methodist churches 
 have been established in Colorado through his gen- 
 erous financial assistance. His benevolences were 
 many and widely distributed, but always performed 
 in a modest, quiet way, as he disliked publicity in 
 such matters. 
 
 HIS PUBLIC SERVICES 
 
 Mr. Stover always took an active interest in pub- 
 lic affairs and, during the earlier years of his man- 
 hood, served his state, his county and his city in 
 many places of trust and responsibility with marked 
 ability and fidelity. He was elected a member of 
 the Territorial council in 1873, serving one term. 
 In 1875 he was chosen to represent Larimer county 
 as a delegate to the constitutional convention, 
 which framed the organic law of the state. This 
 
 [313] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 convention met in Denver on the 20th day of De- 
 cember, 1875, and concluded its labors on the 14th 
 day of March, 1876. In that convention Mr. 
 Stover was a member of the following important 
 standing committees: Legislation and legislature; 
 counties; mines and mining and forest culture, and 
 was also a member of several special committees. 
 It was due to his efEorts in the constitutional con- 
 vention that the clause locating the Colorado Agri- 
 cultural college in Fort Collins was adopted. In 
 September, after Colorado had been admitted into 
 the Union as a state, Mr. Stover was nominated 
 for state senator by the democratic party, but was 
 defeated at the election held the following October, 
 by Norman H. Meldrum, the latter receiving four 
 majority. At the democratic state convention held 
 in Leadville in September, 1880, Mr. Stover was 
 nominated for lieutenant governor, but went down 
 to defeat with his ticket, although running many 
 votes ahead of it in his home county. In the spring 
 of 1883 he was elected a member of the city council, 
 serving one term with distinguished ability. These 
 honors came to him unsought and some of them 
 against his protest, as he was never in any sense a 
 seeker after oiKce. Mr. Stover was three times mar- 
 ried. His first wife, Jane M. White, whom he mar- 
 ried February 16th, 1869, and who was the mother 
 of his three children, died February 27th, 1879. His 
 second wife was Sarah A. White, a relative of his 
 first wife, of Mercer, Pennsylvania. The three 
 children, one of them an infant, were placed in her 
 charge after their mother's death, and she reared 
 them with all the care and lavished upon them the 
 affection of an own mother. Mr. Stover married 
 her in 1882. She died in November, 1904. He 
 married his third wife, Emily Putnam, in Iowa, 
 in the summer of 1907, and she and his children. 
 Dr. George H. Stover of Denver, Mrs. Emma Put- 
 nam of Los Angeles, California, and Judge F. W. 
 Stover, of Fort Collins, survive him. He also leaves 
 two brothers, George H. Stover of South Bend, In- 
 diana, and Frank P. Stover of Fort Collins. Mr. 
 Stover died at the home of his son, Dr. George H. 
 Stover, in Denver, at 1 :30 a. m., on October 8th, 
 his wife and children being at his bedside. 
 
 Eugene F. Kerr was born on a farm in 1850 
 near Iowa City, Iowa, where he received his edu- 
 cation. He came to Colorado in 1873, locating first 
 at Longmont, then coming to Larimer county the 
 same year. He engaged in wool growing which he 
 followed a few years and then took up farming 
 which is still his occupation. In 1882 he married 
 
 [314] 
 
 Clara J. Davis and they have two children, Har- 
 riette and Walter E. The family lives on a farm 
 situated about two miles directly west of Fort Col- 
 lins. The daughter, Mrs. Chas. Troutman, is a 
 graduate of the Fort Collins High school and also 
 of the Colorado Normal school at Greeley. 
 
 Major John Kerr first saw the light May 15, 
 1823, near Winchester, Virginia and that light dis- 
 appeared in death on Sunday morning, June 24, 
 1893. Death closed a long and honorable career 
 and removed from life's activities one of the best 
 known and best loved of the Colorado pioneers. 
 On coming to man's estate, Mr. Kerr rejoiced in 
 the possession of a splendid physique, rugged health, 
 a cool brain, and a well cultivated and well bal- 
 anced mind. His was a brave adventurous spirit, 
 and in early manhood he wended his way west- 
 ward, arriving at St. Joseph, Missouri, in 1849, 
 just at the setting in of the great overland rush to 
 the California gold fields. The following year he 
 made his first trip across the Plains in charge of a 
 train of ox teams loaded with merchandise, billed 
 for Livingston & Kincaid, of Salt Lake City. The 
 venture, though extremely hazardous, was suc- 
 cessful, and continuing in the business he made a 
 round trip from the Missouri river to Salt Lake 
 each succeeding year for eight years, his freight 
 bills often running as high as from $50,000 to $56,- 
 000. In 1859 he was engaged in transporting gov- 
 ernment supplies from Independence, Missouri, to 
 Salt Lake for Gen. Sidney Johnson's army, then 
 employed in keeping the Mormons in subjection. 
 His route lay up the North Platte via Fort Lar- 
 amie and the South Pass. It was a wild country 
 in those days, infested with savages who made fre- 
 quent attempts to capture his train, but never suc- 
 ceeded. While making the crossing at Green River 
 in 1853, Major Kerr first fell in with Old Jim 
 Baker, the noted scout, hunter and guide, W. T. 
 Shortridge, afterwards for many years a much re- 
 spected citizen of Fort Collins, and Harvey Jones. 
 The acquaintance thus began ripened into a warm 
 and enduring friendship. All of these intrepid 
 pioneers and frontiersmen lived to a ripe old age, 
 finally dropping into that dreamless sleep that 
 knows no waking, revered and honored by their 
 survivors for the hardships they endured, the trials 
 experienced and the dangers they met with while 
 marking out trails through a trackless wilderness 
 for those of us who came afterwards to follow. 
 Major Kerr followed freighting across the Plains 
 until the breaking out of the Civil war and then. 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 disposing of his train, he came from Salt Lake and 
 engaged in farming and cattle raising in the valley 
 of the Platte a few miles below Denver. In 1864 
 he raised the largest crop of wheat ever produced 
 by one man in Colorado — 31,000 bushels. When 
 Ben Holladay moved the Overland stage route from 
 the North Platte to Denver in 1862, Major Kerr 
 was selected to take charge of the line from Denver 
 to Salt Lake. He established all the stations on 
 the road, purchased the stock and supplies and em- 
 ployed the men. His orders were to see that the 
 mail never failed to go through on time and he car- 
 ried them out to the letter. Everything was run on 
 a high pressure system in those days. Competent 
 men for the stage service commanded wages run- 
 ning from $200 to $300 per month, and every- 
 thing else was in proportion. In 1864 Major Kerr 
 married a daughter of John Ish of Saline county, 
 Missouri, who survives him. Mrs. Kerr is a sister 
 of Capt. John C. Ish of Fort Collins. One child, a 
 son, who died in 1869, was born to them. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Kerr became residents of Larimer county in 
 1879, when they located on a fine tract of land 
 situated in the Little Thompson valley about 
 two miles south of the present town of Berthoud. 
 Major Kerr was an honest man ; a man of warm, 
 generous impulses, many sterling virtues and no 
 vices. He was true to his friends and just to 
 all men ; enemies he had none. Though com- 
 pelled in the early days to mingle freely with 
 all classes ; and frequently thrown into a vortex 
 of dissipation, vice and crime, he preserved his man- 
 hood and constantly maintained a dignified and re- 
 served attitude, which at once commanded respect, 
 if not admiration of the most reckless debauchee. 
 
 John Lyon was born May 28th, 1837, in Pitts- 
 burg, Pennsylvania. Came west in 1857 and was 
 in the employ of the Overland stage company at 
 Kearney, Nebraska, for seven years. He came to 
 Larimer county in 1867 and located at Laporte 
 where he was employed as clerk in Hook & French's 
 store. Later he located on a farm two miles east 
 of Laporte where he lived for many years. He 
 married Miss Ada Hawley in 1876, and has two 
 children living, Mrs. Anna H. Maddux of Den- 
 ver and A. W. Lyon, Salt Lake, Utah. Mr. Lyon 
 retired from active business pursuits several years 
 ago and is now living with his daughter in Denver. 
 
 Rev. Lawrence J. Lamb. — The subject of this 
 sketch was born April 8th, 1860, near Fort Scott, 
 Kansas, and when 14 years of age came with the 
 family of his father. Rev. E. J. Lamb to Long- 
 
 mont, Colorado, where they resided until 1879 
 when the family moved to Larimer county, which 
 was his home until death called him hence on the 
 18th of November, 1903. In January, 1883, he 
 was united in marriage with Christina Nispel in 
 Nebraska, and five sons, Arthur, Henry, Frank, 
 Luther and Benjamin, were born to them, all of 
 
 REV. LAWRENCE J. LAMB 
 
 whom are living. Mr. Lamb followed farming 
 in Colorado and Nebraska for several years, but 
 gave up that occupation in 1897 to enter the minis- 
 try, having been licensed that year to preach by 
 the Colorado conference of the Methodist Epis- 
 copal church. He moved his family from the farm 
 to Fort Collins soon after and devoted his whole 
 time and energy to the work of the Master. He 
 served the congregation at Boxelder, Hygiene and 
 Masonville with much zeal, force and earnestness, 
 and was in the midst of preparing a sermon to be 
 delivered to his congregation at Masonville when 
 taken sick with pneumonia which caused his death. 
 He was the second son of Rev. E. J. Lamb, one 
 of the two pioneer missionaries sent to Colorado in 
 1871 by the United Brethren church, and his gen- 
 ial manner, his zeal, earnestness and conscientious 
 
 [315] 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 efforts to advance the Master's cause on earth won 
 for him the confidence and respect of all classes. 
 He was an excellent citizen, a devoted husband, 
 an indulgent father and a zealous worker in the 
 Master's vineyard, and his untimely death was 
 deeply lamented. His widow and three unmarried 
 sons reside at 320 West Olive street. 
 
 James R. Mason — The subject of this sketch 
 is a striking example of what a sturdy frame and 
 
 MR. AND MRS. JAMES R. MASON 
 
 persevering man can accomplish in Colorado in a 
 few years amid dangerous and discouraging en- 
 vironments. Coming to Colorado a poor boy, 14 
 years of age, he had to fight his own way through 
 many adverse circumstances and discouragements 
 that would have disheartened those made of less 
 sterner stuff, up from poverty to affluence and to 
 a position in the community that is the envy of 
 weaker minds. Mr. Mason was born in 1849, in 
 Caldwell county, Kentucky. His childhood days 
 were spent in the famous "Blue Grass' region, 
 where he had instilled in his being that love for 
 fine stock which has since characterized the man. 
 In 1863 he crossed the Plains with a bull team 
 loaded with four tons of whiskey for a wholesale 
 
 [316] 
 
 liquor house. On arriving in Denver he camped 
 on Larimer street and after resting his team a few 
 days, hauled his freight to Black Hawk. He then 
 went to work for a ranchman on the St. Vraiii, 
 two and one-half miles west of Longmont, and 
 hauled hay with oxen from the ranch to Black 
 Hawk and Central City. This was in 1864-5. 
 In the fall of 1866 he was sent into the mountains 
 after a load of poles. A snow storm set in, block- 
 ing the trail so that he could not return and he 
 was three days without a mouthful of food, what 
 he considered the most gloomy period of his life. 
 He has seen many stirring times in Colorado and 
 endured many hardships and privations, but never 
 before nor since has he felt the pangs of hunger so 
 keenly as he did on that occasion. Along in the 
 late 70's, Mr. Mason engaged in the hay and grain 
 business at Longmont in which he was successful, 
 and in 1885, he bought the land in the Buckhorn 
 valley on which his present home stands and moved 
 onto it. He has since added many broad acres to 
 his holdings and has one of the finest and best fur- 
 nished homes in the Mountain regions. His farm 
 house is large and roomy and equipped throughout 
 with every modern convenience, hot and cold water, 
 baths, furnace heat, and there he leads a prosperous 
 and contented life, surrounded by everything that 
 tends to add to the comfort and happiness of human 
 beings — a devoted wife and affectionate children. 
 Mr. Mason is a man of more than ordinary intelli- 
 gence and ability — native and acquired. He has 
 always been a hard-working, industrious man, pru- 
 dent in the management of his affairs, and through 
 the exercise of a well-balanced judgment has ac- 
 cumulated a comfortable fortune, and is today a 
 splendid example of a self-made man. While Mr. 
 Mason does more or less farming, at which he has 
 been very successful, his specialty is the breeding 
 and raising of fine stock. He was the first man to in- 
 troduce Red Polled cattle in Colorado, and is there- 
 fore the pioneer breeder of these excellent beef 
 and milk breed of animals. The Buckhorn creek 
 flows through his ranch, furnishing a never failing 
 supply of stock water, and his large holdings of 
 tillable and excellent pasture lands, make it an ideal 
 home for cattle and horses. Mr. Mason married 
 his first wife, Mary Maddox, in 1870, at Old St. 
 Louis on the Big Thompson, by whom he had two 
 children, Mrs. Edith Samuels, wife of F. M. Sam- 
 uels of Loveland, and Charles A. Mason. Mrs. 
 Mason died in 1875, and in August, 1877 he mar- 
 ried Mary Flory at Longmont, who is the mother 
 of seven children : J. W. Mason, Mrs. Bird Stobbe, 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 W. H. Mason, Mrs. Vina Thompson, Floyd J. 
 Mason, John R. Mason and Mrs. May Stevens of 
 Covina, California. 
 
 Henry E. Hart. — ^The immediate ancestors of 
 our subject, Mr. and Mrs. Henry P. Hart, came 
 west from New York state in 1849 and settled near 
 
 HENRY E. HART 
 
 Springfield, Illinois, where he was born May 8th, 
 1863. He spent his boyhood days on his father's 
 farm where he acquired those habits of industry 
 which have stood him so well in hand since he came 
 to Colorado. His ancestors came from Brainston, 
 England, in 1642. He came to Fort Collins in 
 1886, crossing the Plains from Springfield in a 
 Prairie schooner, and engaged in market gardening 
 in which he has met with excellent success. In 
 1887 he went to Excelsior Springs, Missouri, and 
 married the sweetheart of his schoolboy days. Miss 
 Addie Brundage, on November 15th. The bride's 
 parents moved to Missouri when she and her lover 
 were children, but he knew where she was and 
 when they arrived at suitable age the vows of their 
 youth were renewed at the marriage altar. They 
 have two children living, Clyde A. and Lottie C. 
 
 Mr. Hart owns 20 acres of rich and highly im- 
 proved garden land at the northwestern outskirts 
 of Fort Collins, from which he yearly derives a 
 handsome income. Mrs. Hart was born August 
 2nd, 1862, at Springfield, Illinois, and was a class- 
 mate of her husband in the public school. When 
 still a child she went with her parents to Excelsior 
 Springs, Missouri, where she was joined in mar- 
 riage with Mr. Hart. She has been the mother 
 of five children, only two of them surviving. Her 
 ancestors came from Kentucky and settled in Illi- 
 nois in 1810. She is a member of the Methodist 
 church. 
 
 Albert S. Pindell^ one of the most active, fear- 
 less and efficient administrative officers Larimer 
 county ever had, was born on a farm August 21st, 
 1864, at Bonaparte, Iowa; came to Julesburg, 
 Colorado, in 1882, and rode the range as cowboy 
 until 1895, when he settled in Larimer county and 
 engaged in farming and horse raising; moved to 
 
 MRS. HENRY HART 
 
 Wellington in 1905 and served the town as marshal 
 for three years; appointed deputy sheriff in the 
 fall of 1908 and moved his family to Fort Collins 
 
 [317] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 and is still a member of Sheriff Carlton's official 
 staff. Mr. Pindell married Alice R. McGinley, 
 daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James W. McGinley, 
 July 31st, 1898. Of this union four children 
 have been born, Nellie, James, Alice and George. 
 Mr. Pindell is recognized and feared by law 
 breakers as a man who is alert in the discharge 
 of his official duty and who never fails to get the 
 person named in the warrant placed in his hands for 
 execution. 
 
 Andrew J. Hottel was born August 7th, 1852, 
 in Shenandoah county, Virginia. He early learned 
 the miller's trade and in 1876 came to Fort Collins 
 and secured employment in the Lindell Mills, 
 where he remained until 1892 when he went to 
 Lamar to assume the management of the Lamar 
 Milling & Elevator company. He died August 
 9th, 1899, leaving a wife and three children, a son 
 and two daughters. 
 
 Rev. Frances Byrne. — Born in Carlow, Ire- 
 land, near Dublin, May 4th, 1807; died June 24, 
 1904 at Littleton, Colorado. He was educated for 
 the ministry and on St. Mark's day, April 24, 
 1850, was ordained to the priesthood by Lord Spen- 
 cer, Bishop of Jamaica. He left Jamaica for New 
 York in 1854; officiated in Boston until 1867 
 when he came with Bishop Randall to Colorado, 
 where he labored as missionary to within five years 
 of his death. He came to Fort Collins in 1875 
 and helped to organize St. Luke's church of that 
 city, remaining rector of the church until 1882 
 when he was transferred to another field. "Father 
 Byrne", as he was lovingly called, was for many 
 years known and beloved in Colorado for his good 
 work in mining camps and in the cities and towns 
 of the state on the Plains. None who had ever 
 looked upon his face could ever forget the serene 
 peacefulness it radiated. It was as a glowing bene- 
 diction and bespoke a mind surpassingly pure and 
 calm. 
 
 Frank E. Gifford. — One of the enterprising 
 and thorough going hardware men of Fort Collins 
 is Frank E. Gifford, born in Tioga county. New 
 York, June 4th, 1859. He married Miss Nettie 
 T. Nook March 24th, 1884. Their home has been 
 made happy by the birth of one son and two daugh- 
 ters, May, Allaquippa and Reamer. Mrs. Gifford 
 succumbed to a lingering disease, several years ago. 
 Mr. Gifford's second wife, whom he married in 
 Fort Collins, November 18th, 1908, was Emma 
 Lord. He came to Fort Collins in July, 1879, 
 
 [318] 
 
 was clerk in several business houses until 1898, 
 when he branched out on his own account in the 
 hardware line, in every branch of which he is an 
 expert. He is a popular and accommodating merch- 
 ant. 
 
 E. A. Atherly is a native of New York, his 
 birthplace being near Jamestown in that state. He 
 was born on September 22nd, 1849, and on the 
 tenth day of October, 1876, he married Miss Mary 
 E. Jones, of Jamestown. In the autumn of 1892, 
 Mr. Atherly removed with his family to Fort Col- 
 lins where he has since been engaged in the mer- 
 cantile business. 
 
 M. E. Hocker, the pioneer druggist of Fort 
 Collins, died in November, 1907, at Leeton, Miss- 
 ouri, aged about 75 years. Mr. Hocker was a 
 native of Missouri and served all through the Civil 
 war in the Confederate army. He came to Fort 
 Collins in 1870, and was for a time associated with 
 B. T. Whedbee in the management of the only 
 mercantile establishment here then in which drugs 
 and medicines were carried. Being a pharmacist, 
 Mr. Hocker had full charge of the drug business. 
 At that time Mr. Whedbee's store stood at the 
 corner of Linden and Jefferson streets, where the 
 Yount bank building was afterwards erected. 
 When Mr. Whedbee moved his building and stock 
 of goods jn 1873 to the corner where the First 
 National bank building now stands, Mr. Hocker 
 severed his connection with the firm and he and 
 William C. Stover opened a drug store in the old 
 Grout building, which stood where Frank P. 
 Stover's drug store now stands. This w^ the 
 founding of what is now known as the City Drug 
 store, owned and conducted by Frank P. Stover. 
 In the fall of 1874, W. C. Stover sold his interest 
 in the drug store to his brother, F. P. Stover, who 
 had just come out from Indiana, and he and Mr. 
 Hocker under the firm name of Stover & Hocker, 
 conducted the business until 1876 when Hocker 
 disposed of his interest to his partner and started 
 for the Black Hills with a stock of drugs and 
 medicines, but did not reach his destination as the 
 bull train hauling his goods was raided by the 
 Indians en route and practically destroyed. Mr. 
 Hocker then went to Rawlins, Wyoming. In 1880 
 he came back to Fort Collins and bought in with 
 his old partner, F. P. Stover, the two carrying on 
 the business until after the fire in September, 1882, 
 which destroyed the firm's new building, then about 
 ready to move into, when he again sold to his part- 
 ner and moved to Evanston, Wyoming, where he 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 opened and conducted a drug store for several years. 
 In 1905 he disposed of his interests at Evanston 
 and went back to his native state where he died. 
 
 John Straughan Williams was born Oct. 7th, 
 1839, near Paris, Edgar county, Illinois, of Welsh 
 and Scotch descent, his father's parents being natives 
 of Wales, and his mother, whose maiden name was 
 Ailcy Ann Straughan, of Scotch parentage. When 
 our subject was seven years of age his father moved 
 
 JOHN straughan WILLIAMS 
 
 to what is now Boone county, Iowa, the county not 
 having been organized at that time, the Indians 
 having been removed to their reservation only the 
 year before. The town his father located in being 
 largely settled by Swedish people was for many 
 years called Swede Point, but is now known as 
 Madrid. His school advantages were meager in 
 those days, but he profited by such as the county af- 
 forded and became well grounded in the fundamen- 
 tals of an education. In 1860, when 21 years of 
 age, he had an attack of the Pike's Peak gold fever 
 and he arrived at Gold Hill, Boulder county, in 
 June of that year. In 1865 he went back to Iowa, 
 returning to Colorado in the fall of that year. That 
 
 year the Indians were troublesome on the Plains 
 and he lost much time waiting for a wagon train 
 large enough to defend itself against attacks of the 
 savages. He made another trip to Iowa in 1870, 
 and on his return to Colorado he married Caroline 
 L. Osborn of Central City, in February, 1871; she 
 lived but a short time. He filed on a homestead 
 near Boulder City, which is now known as the 
 McCall farm, on which fine oil wells have since 
 been developed. In the fall of 1872, soon after the 
 death of his wife and twin babies, Mr. Williams 
 came to Larimer county, locating first on Rabbit 
 creek, a few miles northwest of Livermore. His 
 sister. Miss Maggie Williams, kept house for him 
 several years. In 1884 he was married to Martha 
 Z. Reavill of Fort Collins, and in 1890 he moved 
 to the ranch on the Lone Pine creek, where he con- 
 tinued to carry on the cattle business until January, 
 1910, when he moved to Fort Collins, where he died 
 on April 17th, 1911, his wife and three children, 
 Frank R:, Carrie and George Williams, surviving 
 him. 
 
 Emmet C. McAnelly^ oldest son of Judge and 
 Mrs. Jefferson McAnelly, was born September 
 6th, 1875, at Bowling Green, Indiana. He came 
 with his parents to Loveland in 1881 and to Fort 
 Collins in 1884; received his education in the pub- 
 lic schools and after graduating from the High 
 school, took the engineering course at the Colorado 
 Agricultural college, graduating therefrom with 
 high honor. He married Mildred Goldsborough, 
 a high school classmate, on March 16th, 1904. 
 Since graduating from college he has most accept- 
 ably served thp home of his adoption several years 
 as city engineer and is now serving his third term 
 as county surveyor of Larimer county. He has a 
 beautiful cottage home on West Mountain avenue 
 and is recognized as one of the most upright and 
 useful men in the community. One of -the most 
 notable pieces of engineering was the laying out 
 and construction of Fort Collins' new water works 
 system, including the filter plant and storage basin. 
 
 B. A. Griffith was born on the 30th day of 
 May, 1864, at Lancaster, Ohio. His education 
 was acquired at the district schools of the state of 
 Kansas. He came to Colorado in the spring of 
 1883 and settled on a farm near Livermore, in 
 Larimer county, in the same year. On the 6th 
 day of April, 1895, he married Miss Anna Cline 
 and two children, Horace and Anna were born to 
 
 [319] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 them. Mr. Griffith has been engaged in the busi- 
 ness of ranching and cattle raising since coming to 
 this country and has met with a large degree of 
 success. He is one of the substantial men of the 
 county and fully alive to its possibilities. 
 
 Joseph Mason was born in Montreal, Canada, 
 January 28, 1840. He attended school at Mon- 
 treal and Sherbrooke, and received a fair common 
 
 JOSEPH MASON 
 
 school education; 1-eft Canada at the age of 15 
 and spent three years in the New England states, 
 one year in Mississippi, bringing up at St. Louis 
 in the spring of 1859, when he joined Capt. Rey- 
 nold's expedition which was accompanied by Prof. 
 Hayden, to explore the head waters of the Yellow- 
 stone. He left the party at Deer Creek where it 
 had gone into winter quarters, and on the 10th of 
 February, 1860, arrived at Laporte, where he found 
 a settlement of mountaineers and trappers fifty or 
 sixty strong, and four or five hundred Indians. He 
 spent some time after that in the mining regions of 
 the territory and in different parts of Colorado, re- 
 turning to the Cache la Poudre valley in 1862, 
 when he made his first investment in real estate. 
 
 purchasing a farm on the south side of the river 
 nearly opposite Rock Bush's place and a little over a 
 mile northwest of Fort Collins, of the squaw of a 
 man named Gangros, who had been killed by the 
 Indians about four months before. It was mainly 
 through his influence that Camp Collins was estab- 
 lished in 1864 on the present site of the City of Fort 
 Collins. From that day until the day of the acci- 
 dent which resulted in his death on the 11th of 
 February, 1881, amid all the trials and discourage- 
 ments incident to pioneer life, he never lost faith 
 in Fort Collins, of which he was the first white 
 settler. In 1862, Governor Evans appointed Mr. 
 Mason, Wm. B. Osborn of Big Thompson and 
 James B. Arthur of Cache la Poudre the first board 
 of county commissioners. Mr. Mason was elected 
 sheriff of the county in 1871 and re-elected in 1873; 
 was appointed the first postmaster of Fort Collins, 
 a position he held for several years. In 1877 he 
 was reappointed postmaster by President Hayes 
 but resigned his office in 1879. In company with 
 Major Allen he built the old Grout building 
 which stood where F. P. Stover's drug store now 
 stands and which was a land mark from 1865 to 
 1882, in which he served the soldiers while they 
 were here as post sutler, remaining in trade until 
 December, 1869, when he sold his stock and business 
 to the late William C. Stover and John C. Mat- 
 thews. In 1873 he purchased the Lindell flouring 
 mills, and in 1877 re-engaged in the mercantile 
 business in company with Francis L. Carter-Cotton 
 in which he continued until December of that year 
 when the copartnership was dissolved. After dis- 
 posing of his mercantile business to Tedmon 
 Brothers in 1878, he retired from trade and devoted 
 his time and attention to his milling business in 
 which Benjamin F. Hottel became associated in the 
 fall of 1877. Mr. Mason was largely instrumental 
 in securing an affirmative vote of the people locat- 
 ing the county seat at Fort Collins in 1868, and 
 was recognized in his lifetime and is remembered 
 to this day by all of the pioneers of the valley, as 
 one of the most enterprising and public spirited 
 citizens the county ever had Mr. Mason was mar- 
 ried to Luella M. Blake on July 3rd, 1870, and 
 two children were the fruits of the union, Minnie 
 Luella and Albert J. Mason. Miss Minnie died 
 in 1903 and Albert is an electrician in the employ 
 of the construction company of the Laramie-Poudre 
 Reservoirs & Irrigation company, engaged in driv- 
 ing a tunnel through Green mountain near the 
 headwaters of the Laramie and the Cache la Poudre 
 rivers. 
 
 [320] 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 LARIMER 
 
 COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 John Baptiste Provost^ one of the first white 
 settlers in Larimer county, and who had been a 
 continuous resident of the county for nearly half 
 a century, died on Monday, January 4th, 1904, 
 at his late home in Laporte. He was a native of 
 Montreal, Canada, born July 4th, 1823. His early 
 manhood was spent on the frontier, trapping and 
 trading for furs with Indians on the headwaters 
 of the Missouri river and its tributaries, and on 
 Snake and Green rivers, in the employ of the Hud- 
 son Bay Fur company. In the spring of 1858 he 
 came from Fort Laramie to the Cache la Poudre 
 valley with a band of trappers and fur traders, 
 locating at Laporte which had since been his home. 
 At that time Laporte was a small frontier trading 
 post and resting place for emigrants before enter- 
 ing the mountains. It was inhabited by white men 
 only during the trapping season, who, as soon as 
 the snows of winter disappeared in the spring 
 folded their tents and took the trail for Fort Lara- 
 mie where they sold their furs and usually spent the 
 summer. These were the conditions at Laporte 
 when "Uncle John", as he was familiarly called, 
 located there. There were really no permanent 
 white settlements in Larimer county until later, 
 so that in reality Mr. Provost is entitled to the 
 honor of being the first permanent white settler in 
 the county. Others followed shortly afterwards, 
 and among these were Rock Bush, Judge A. F. 
 Howes, G. R. Strauss, Abner Loomis, James B. 
 Arthur and J. M. and F. W. Sherwood. Of this 
 venturesome and heroic band only one, Rock Bush, 
 is still living, all the others having joined the silent 
 majority beyond the tomb. When Mr. Provost 
 came to the Cache la Poudre valley to establish a 
 home, roving bands of Cheyennes, Arapahoes and 
 Sioux made the valley their temporary home. With 
 these "Uncle John" made friends, finally taking 
 a Sioux woman for a wife to whom several child- 
 ren were born. These, with one exception, a 
 daughter who was with her father in his last hours, 
 with their mother went to Red Cloud agency in 
 1880, and those living, so far as is known, are still 
 there. For many years Mr. Provost kept a road 
 ranch on the south side of the river in the home 
 now occupied by Rowland Herring. In 1869, soon 
 after the Overland stage had been succeeded by the 
 Union Pacific railroad, he purchased one of the 
 stage company's abandoned buildings in the town 
 on the north side of the river in which he opened 
 and kept a hotel and eating house until a few 
 months before his death. In June, 1864, at the 
 time of the big flood when the bottom lands of the 
 
 valley were all under water and the stream itself 
 was a raging torrent, he built and operated a ferry 
 until the flood subsided, doing a thriving business 
 transferring emigrants and travelers from one side 
 of the river to the other. Overland travel was 
 heavy that year and he made a lot of money with 
 his ferry. For more than twenty-five years Mr. 
 Provost kept the only hotel and road house in La- 
 
 JOHN BAPTISTE PROVOST 
 
 porte and during that time entertained many of 
 the noted men of the state and nation, and he be- 
 came known almost from coast to coast as the genial 
 "Uncle John" at the base of the mountains. He 
 had scores of friends all over the country. He was 
 genial of manner, kind of heart and charitable to 
 a degree. He was one of the landmarks of the 
 county and people of all classes mourned his death. 
 
 W. E. Vaplon. — The Colorado Agricultural col- 
 lege has been very fortunate in secuirng the services 
 of so competent a man as Mr. Vaplon to have 
 charge of its poultry department. He is experienced 
 in that line of work, eminently practical and a val- 
 uable addition to the institution's corps of instruc- 
 tors employed in the many branches of farm work 
 which are of such interest to the agriculturists of the 
 
 [321] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 state. Mr. Vaplon comes from Menomonie, Wis- 
 consin, where he was born Aug. 2nd, 1869. He 
 was educated at the same place, grew to manhood 
 there and was married to Miss Edith Staples Dec. 
 1st, 1894. They have two children, Lawrence and 
 Esther. 
 
 Frank P. Stover. — ^This gentleman, one of 
 the foremost citizens and business men of Larimer 
 county, was born Dec. 11, 1852, in St. Joseph 
 
 ; 
 
 1 
 
 \ 
 
 
 , 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 ! 
 
 
 *k1 
 
 r 
 
 f 
 
 f 
 
 
 FRANK P. STOVER 
 
 county, Indiana; raised on a farm near South Bend, 
 that state. He attended the South Bend High 
 school five years, taking a course in civil engineer- 
 ing in the meantime. In 1871 he engaged in the 
 hardware business, which he followed until 1874, 
 when he came to Fort Collins and purchased W. C. 
 Stover's interest in Hocker & Co.'s City Drug 
 Store, later becoming sole owner. Since then the 
 City Drug store, with Frank P. Stover constantly 
 at its head, has been one of the principal land marks 
 of the city. In the fall of 1889 Mr. Stover was 
 elected county treasurer on the Democratic ticket 
 by 206 majority over his opponent, C. L. Smith, 
 Republican, in a strong republican county. He 
 was re-elected in 1891 and served the county in 
 [322] 
 
 that capacity with great faithfulness, fidelity and 
 efficiency four years. He was town recorder and 
 town trustee in 1882-3, when first water works 
 were constructed. He has always been a very 
 popular gentleman and a thorough-going business 
 man. He is married, has a beautiful home in Fort 
 Collins, and his domestic life is ideal. 
 
 Albert E. Butler is a ranchman residing in 
 Livermore, Colorado. He came to Colorado in 
 the spring of 1885 and settled first in North Park. 
 He was born at Springdale in the state of Maine, 
 October 5th, 1865, and received his education at 
 Meridan, Massachusetts. In November, 1902, he 
 was married to Mrs. Eva Mosman. Mr. Butler's 
 attention since arriving in the state has been largely 
 given to the raising of cattle, at which business he 
 has been very successful. He enjoys the respect of 
 his fellow citizens, is known as fair and honorable 
 in his dealings and worthy of confidence. 
 
 Wesley W. Lowery died December 9th, 1901, 
 aged 52 years. He was born in January, 1849, 
 near Canton, Ohio. When eight years of age his 
 father moved his family to Indiana, where the sub- 
 ject of this sketch grew to manhood's estate. In 
 1864, when fifteen years of age, Mr. Lowery en- 
 listed in the 44th Indiana volunteer infantry and 
 was assigned to Gen. George H. Thomas' corps. 
 The service was too severe for one of his years and 
 he became broken in health and was obliged to 
 spend several months in the hospital. After his 
 discharge from the army he went with his father's 
 family to Illinois, where he lived until admon- 
 ished by broken health to seek a milder climate. 
 On April 2nd, 1874, he was united in marriage 
 with Miss Sarah E. Coon, who, with six children, 
 two sons and four daughters, survive him. The 
 son's names are Irvin I., of Springfield, Missouri, 
 and Ambrose, whose home is in Salt Lake, Utah. 
 Two of the daughters, Mrs. Carrie E. Keach and 
 Miss Ophie, have died since their father departed 
 this life. The other daughters, are Mary M. (now 
 Mrs. Wilkins O. Peterson, a resident of Pueblo) 
 and Miss Ruth, who is still with her mother. Mr. 
 Lowery came to Fort Collins in 1882, and for three 
 years followed the occupation of plasterer. In 
 1885 he purchased a stock ranch near St. Cloud 
 in the mountains, and engaged in stock raising, in 
 which he was very successful, leaving his family in 
 comfortable circumstances. In the summer of 1901 
 he returned to Fort Collins with his wife and 
 younger daughters, leaving his stock ranch and 
 herds of cattle to the care of his sons. Mr. Lowery 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 was an honorable, upright man and citizen, and 
 possessed the confidence and esteem of all who 
 knew him. 
 
 Archibald R. Milne. — Born in 1824, in Lon- 
 don, England; died October 28, 1907, in Denver, 
 Colorado. He came with his father's family to the 
 United States in 1834, and settled near Grand 
 Rapids, Michigan. In 1853 he went to the gold 
 fields of Australia and worked at mining in that 
 country for seventeen years. He returned to the 
 United States in 1870 and came to Colorado in 
 1871. In 1874 he filed on an eighty acre home- 
 stead in the beautiful valley of the North fork of 
 the Cache la Poudre river, on which he lived a 
 third of a century. He sold his ranch in 1901 to 
 the North Poudre Irrigation company for reser- 
 voir purposes, but continued to occupy his old home 
 until about the first of October, 1907, when he 
 went to Denver to receive medical treatment at a 
 sanitarium where he died shortly afterward. Mr. 
 Milne was unmarried. 
 
 "Ranger" Jones. — Michael Jones, better known 
 among the pioneers of Larimer county as "Ranger" 
 Jones, died July 12th, 1889, at his home near Vin- 
 ing, Kansas. He was the father of Mrs. Thomas 
 Earnest, whose husband was also a Cache la Poudre 
 pioneer, and for many years occupied an extensive 
 ranch on the north side of the river about a mile 
 west of Timnath. The farm was later owned by 
 the late G. R. "Bob" Strauss and is now the prop- 
 erty of his brother, Herman Strauss. Michael 
 Jones was born in October, 1816, in Kentucky. 
 In 1860 he came to the Cache la Poudre valley and 
 began dealing heavily in cattle, horses and mules, 
 amassing a large fortune, amounting at one time 
 to $400,000. Along In the 70's Mr. Jones moved 
 to Kansas where he purchased 800 acres of land in 
 one body and built himself a home on it. Here he 
 lived until he died in 1889, though making fre- 
 quent trips to his former Colorado home to visit 
 with his daughter, Mrs. Earnest, and other old time 
 pioneer friends. He was an energetic and very in- 
 dustrious man and was known all over the country 
 on account of his genial good nature. He could 
 take a joke as well as give one, and was given the 
 name of "Ranger" Jones, a name that stuck to him 
 as long as he lived. 
 
 Hon. William H. Trindle was born in Van 
 Meter, Iowa, on May 1st, 1879. He attended the 
 Western college of Toledo, Ohio, taking a full col- 
 legiate course, then attended the law school of 
 
 Drake university, Des Moines, Iowa. He came to 
 Loveland in the winter of 1902, looking for a site 
 to locate, and in April, 1903, he returned, satisfied 
 with the location, determined to make that city his 
 future home. How well he decided was borne out 
 by the republicans of Larimer county electing him 
 in 1908 to represent them in the Seventeenth Gen- 
 eral assembly of the state. Mr. Trindle is an able 
 
 HON. WILLIAM H. TRINDLE 
 
 student of the law and he possesses a magnetism of 
 manner that has made him hundreds of friends in 
 his native city, his county, and his state. He is 
 junior member of the Simpson & Trindle law firm. 
 
 James M. Smith.— Born, Dec. 26th, 1838, at 
 Newport, New York; died, Feb. 13th, 1906, at 
 Santa Maria, California. Mr. Smith was one of 
 the early settlers and pioneers of the Big Thompson 
 valley, coming there in 1861. He followed farm- 
 ing and stock raising for several years and, in 1869, 
 engaged in the mercantile business at Old St. Louis, 
 one mile east of the present city of Loveland. 
 He disposed of his store and stock of goods in 1877, 
 and in 1878 went to Leadville; here, and in other 
 parts of the state, he lived until 1904, when, broken 
 in health, he went to California. He is kindly re- 
 
 [323] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 membered by all of the old-timers of the county as 
 "Jolly J. M." He left a wife, one son, a daughter 
 and a brother, Charles C. Smith of Loveland. 
 
 John C. Beers was born a subject of Franz 
 Josef, Emperor of Austria-Hungary, near Vienna. 
 Hearing of the opportunities offered to young 
 men in America, he left his native country and in 
 1874 he landed in the country which has con- 
 
 JOHN C. BEERS 
 
 tinued to be his home. On March 22nd, 1879, he 
 came to Fort Collins and for fourteen years fol- 
 lowed the blacksmith trade. He then disposed of 
 his shop and took up the business of farming which 
 he followed with marked success for a period of 
 15 years. On the 29th of December, 1880, he was 
 married to Addie Jones of Fort Collins, and there 
 are living as the fruits of this union three children, 
 Edith, George and Leroy. While engaged in farm- 
 ing Mr. Beers for several years was extensively 
 interested in sheep feeding which proved fairly 
 profitable. After 15 years of agricultural labor 
 and having become possessed of several well-im- 
 proved farms, he sold out all of his landed property 
 and moved with his family again to Fort Collins 
 with the intention of retiring from active labor. But 
 [324] 
 
 labor had become a necessity to enjoyment of life 
 and he again opened his shop and re-engaged in 
 the business of blacksmithing. Larimer county has 
 had no citizen who sustained a higher character 
 for industry and integrity than does Mr. Beers. No 
 security is better than his word and none of his 
 fellow citizens is more highly respected. Like all 
 men of his nationality he is a friend and ardent 
 supporter of the public school system and a devoted 
 churchman. 
 
 A. P. Garrison, one of the leading contractors 
 and builders of Fort Collins, was born in Peoria, 
 Illinois, in 1864. He was graduated from Eureka 
 college. Eureka, Illinois, in 1886, and followed 
 teaching for about ten years after graduating; mar- 
 ried Mattie N. Stubbs, in 1890. They have no 
 children. The family came to Colorado in 1901, 
 locating at Greeley, moving two years later to Fort 
 Collins which is still its home. Mr. Garrison has 
 had but few idle hours since coming to Fort Col- 
 lins and is regarded as a good mechanic and a man 
 of his word. 
 
 August Johnson, is a native of Smoland, 
 Sweden, born October 25th, 1860, the year the first 
 settlers began to locate in Larimer county, and at- 
 tended the public schools of Sweden. He crossed 
 the Atlantic and came to Loveland in 1888, remain- 
 ing there two months and moved on to a farm at 
 Sunnyside. On February 9th, 1889, he married 
 Anna T. Peterson at Berthoud. Two children 
 have been born to them, Carl Erick and Anna 
 Elvira. In 1906 the family moved to Berthoud and 
 are now residing on East Mountain avenue of that 
 place. Mr. Johnson's occupation has been and is 
 now that of a farmer in which success has resulted 
 from his well-directed efforts. He rejoices in the 
 fact that he came to America and located in the 
 Garden spot of Colorado, where he has been able 
 to accumulate a comfortable fortune. 
 
 John E. Pope, editor and proprietor of the Wel- 
 lington Sun, was born August 15th, 1868, at 
 Sigourney, Iowa, where he received his education. 
 Learned the printer's trade in the Keokuk County 
 News office; married Clara Vannander, April 6th, 
 1892, and was editor and publisher of the Fonda 
 (Iowa) Review from 1897 to 1900. Came to Colo- 
 rado in the summer of 1900, locating first in Denver 
 and remaining in that city about a year. He then 
 went to Elbert, Colorado, and took charge of the 
 Elbert County Tribune, which he conducted until 
 1908 when he sold the plant and moved to Welling- 
 
X 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 ton and bought the Sun, of which he is now editor 
 and publisher. Mr. Pope came from a newspaper 
 family, his father, A. J. Pope, being a newspaper 
 man and contributor to the columns of several Miss- 
 issippi valley papers. Mrs. Pope, wife of the sub- 
 ject of this sketch, died January 4th, 1911, in Fort 
 Collins, but left no children. 
 
 Jesse Harris. — To have for the subject of a 
 biographical sketch a man whose life has been de- 
 voted to doing something for the improvement of 
 material things, for the development of the resources 
 and advantages of his chosen home and for the 
 social, educational and moral advancement of his 
 fellowmen, affords the conscientious biographer the 
 keenest of pleasure, for he feels that in telling the 
 life story of such a one, he is placing before the 
 world an example for others to emulate. Such a man 
 is Jesse Harris of Fort Collins. Mr. Harris was 
 born November 15th, 1849, in Clermont county, 
 Ohio. His parents moved to Iowa when he was a 
 child and he received his education in the public 
 schools and at the University of Iowa at Iowa City 
 which he attended. His boyhood was spent on a 
 farm where he acquired an intimate knowledge of 
 the habits and characteristics of the different breeds 
 of domestic animals with special reference to the 
 horse. He loved a horse and early in life was ac- 
 counted one of the best judges of horses in Iowa, a 
 reputation he holds to this day in his Western home. 
 On March 12th, 1872, our subject was joined in 
 marriage with Mary A. Miles, at Rock Island, Illi- 
 nois, where she was engaged in teaching penmanship 
 in the High school. Mr. and Mrs. Harris are the 
 proud parents of six living children ; Mrs. Ellen 
 Brooks, of Denver; Capt. Archibald J. Harris, of 
 the 2nd regiment United States infantry, stationed 
 at Honolulu, Hawaiian islands; Mrs. Grace M. 
 Keller, of Salem, Oregon; Mrs. Abbie D. Coy and 
 Miss Mary R. and Lucien M. Harris of Fort Col- 
 lins. Mr. Harris came from Iowa with his family 
 to Larimer county in 1878 arriving in Fort Collins 
 on November 8th. He taught school the following 
 winter in the Little Thompson valley, and in 1880 
 moved his family to Fort Collins where he has 
 since resided. Here he engaged in dealing in real 
 estate and the buying and selling of horses and 
 cattle. In 1885 he began importing registered 
 draft, coach and English Hackney horses in whicli 
 he continued until 1893, making nine round trips 
 to Europe and receiving ten shipments of Clydes- 
 dale, English Shire, Percheron and Cleveland Boy 
 horses which he sold to horse breeders in the various 
 
 states between New York and California, inclusive. 
 He brought over from Europe some of the finest 
 and most valuable specimens of horse flesh ever im- 
 ported, gaining a national reputation as a judge and 
 importer of horses. He did more to improve the 
 character and increase the value of the horse stock 
 of Colorado and the western states than any other 
 man. On May 31st, 1899, Mr. Harris was chosen 
 a member of the State Board of Agriculture, to fill 
 the vacancy caused by the death of John J. Ryan. 
 He was made chairman of the farm committee and 
 at once went to work with his characteristic vigor 
 to improve conditions on the farm and make it 
 what it was designed to be, a model of its kind. 
 He was also instrumental in getting the board to 
 purchase a large tract of pasture land near the foot- 
 hills on which was a living spring of water slightly 
 tinctured with sulphur. This water he had piped 
 to the college where a stone fountain was erected 
 from which constantly flows a steady stream of 
 potable, health giving water for the use of the col- 
 lege. On the side of the fountain the name "Har- 
 ris" is chiseled in the rock in recognition of Mr. 
 Harris' services in supplying the college with a 
 prime necessity. He served six years on the board 
 and through his activity and influence, many changes 
 for the better were made on the farm and in the 
 erection of new buildings. Since retiring from the 
 board he has given much of his attention to deal- 
 ing in real estate and the buying and selling of live 
 stock. On the 4th of April (1911) he was elected 
 mayor of Fort Collins by the largest majority ever 
 cast for any candidate for that office in the history 
 of the city. In 1909, acting as agent, he purchased 
 more than $400,000 worth of real estate in Fort 
 Collins and vicinity for right of way and terminals 
 for the Union Pacific railroad, which is building 
 into the city from Denver. Mr. Harris has recently 
 been appointed a member of the Board of Peni- 
 tentiary and Reformatory Commissioners for Colo- 
 rado, one of the most important appointments made 
 by Governor Shafroth. He has been live stock 
 agent in Colorado for many years for the Chicago, 
 Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad company, a posi- 
 tion he still holds. 
 
 Mrs. Melissa Heckart, was born February 
 15th, 1842, in Green county, Pennsylvania, and at- 
 tended the public schools of her native state and 
 Iowa. Her maiden name was Melissa Clark. On 
 February 24th, 1859, she married W. C. Harriman, 
 who died in 1879, and she became the wife of 
 Daniel Heckart, April 17th, 1881. The names of 
 
 [325] 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 LARIMER COUNTY 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 her children are G. N. Harriman, Mrs. J. W. 
 Price, Mrs. Bessie Bales, H. L. Heckart and Flossie 
 Heckart. She came from Marshall county, Iowa, to 
 Greeley in 1873, and in 1874, the family located on 
 a ranch near Virginia Dale which she still owns. 
 
 Thomas H. Garrett. — No one taking a square 
 look at the present clerk of the hoard of county 
 commissioners would class him as an Englishman, 
 
 THOMAS H. GARRETT 
 
 but such must be the fact as Thomas says so, but he 
 was educated in the Utica, N. Y. schools, arriving 
 in Larimer county in 1880; married Mary A. Kirby 
 in Fort Collins in 1891. A daughter, Ellen, is the 
 only child. Mr. Garrett has served in many im- 
 portant public positions and has at all times proved 
 a capable and efficient officer. He served as deputy 
 assessor under J. M. McCreery, as deputy county 
 clerk under F. J. Burnett, is now serving in the 
 same capacity under A. P. Greenacre. He was for 
 nine years city clerk of Fort Collins, and in early 
 days was a member of the city's fire department. 
 When \h. Garrett was chief of the fire depart- 
 ment. Fort Collins had its crack running team, and 
 the races between rival inter-state teams were ex- 
 citing exhibitions of speed, skill and endurance. For 
 
 [326] 
 
 four years he tried farming but decided that a farm- 
 er's life was not in his line, and he claims no record 
 for those four years. He left the farm to engage in 
 mercantile pursuits. 
 
 John M. Hoffman^ is a Virginian by birth. 
 He first saw the light of day on Christmas, 1864, 
 at Edinburg, where he was educated. Twenty- 
 one years later he came to Colorado and spent a 
 couple of years at Eaton, following the occupation 
 of a miller. In 1887 he came to Fort Collins, 
 which city has since been his home. Mr. Hoffman 
 was married December 14th, 1892, to Francis E. 
 Coy, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John G. Coy. 
 They have two children, Lydia A. and M. Coy 
 Hoffman, both at home. In 1894, Mr. Hoffman 
 built the Hoffman flour and feed mill on Riverside 
 avenue, and is president and general manager of 
 the Hoffman Milling company which now operates 
 the mill. His business life has been successful, and 
 he is recognized as one of the solid, substantial 
 citizens of Fort Collins and Larimer county. He 
 and his family reside on East Oak street. He is 
 an esteemed member of Collins lodge No. 19, A. 
 F. & A. M. 
 
 Walter J. Prendergast. — Of the long list 
 of pioneers who came to the Cache la Poudre val- 
 ley in 1858, 1859 and 1860, but two remain as 
 residents. These two are Rock Bush and' Walter 
 J., better known as "Joe" Prendergast. All the 
 others of that intrepid band known as the very 
 first settlers, have either joined the silent majority 
 or moved on to other fields. Walter Joseph Prender- 
 gast was born on Easter Sunday, 1834, in County 
 Mayo, Ireland. At the age of twenty he migrated 
 to the United States, landing at New York city. 
 Here and in the surrounding country he sought 
 employment without success and, early in the win- 
 ter of 1855 he enlisted as a private in the Seventh 
 United States infantry for a term of five years. In 
 the spring of 1858 his regiment was ordered to re- 
 port from a military post in the Indian territory to 
 Gen Albert Sidney Johnston at Camp Floyd, Salt 
 Lake, Utah, for service in suppressing the Mor- 
 mon rebellion. The regiment followed the Oregon 
 trail up the North Platte through South Pass to 
 Salt Lake. He was discharged as a sergeant on 
 the expiration of his term of enlistment in Febru- 
 ary, 1860. He then fitted up an ox team and a 
 wagon and started on the return trip to the states. 
 He remained several weeks at Fort Bridger on his 
 way east, where, on the 16th of April, 1860, he 
 married Martha Hanson, who made very pleasant 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 company for him, not only for the remainder of the 
 overland journey, but also for the fifty years of the 
 journey through life which they have traveled 
 together. They came from the Laramie Plains 
 down over the old Cherokee trail to Laporte, 
 where, rather than pay John D. Provost's charges 
 for using his log toll bridge, they forded the river 
 and proceeded on their way. They arrived at the up- 
 per crossing of the Little Thompson creek on the 
 16th of May, 1860, and, being weary of travel and 
 pleased with the appearance of the country decided 
 to locate, and found a home. Here they built a 
 snug log cabin in which they lived until the spring 
 of 1861, when they moved to the Cache la Poudre 
 valley and located on the ranch now owned by J. 
 T. Stroh near the Weld county line. The summer 
 of 1860 was spent in cutting and putting up hay, 
 which he hauled to the mining camps at Black 
 Hawk and Central City that fall and the following 
 winter. The valley of the Little Thompson and 
 the adjacent prairies were covered with a thick 
 and heavy growth of grass and he put up a large 
 quantity of hay, which brought a good price at the 
 mining camps. For one load of hay, hauled to 
 Black Hawk with four yoke of oxen in the winter 
 of 1860-61, during the time of scarcity, he received 
 $625. He lived on the Poudre from the spring of 
 1861 until the spring of 1877, when he moved on 
 to the farm he still owns and occupies at Fossil 
 Creek. While living on the Poudre he cut and 
 put up hay, raised grain and vegetables and pros- 
 pered. The hay was hauled to Fort Laramie and 
 sold for $100 per ton. "Many a day", he says, in 
 speaking of his experiences in 1863-4-5, "I have 
 carried my rifle, powder horn, bullet pouch and 
 revolver to the field with me, fearing an attack 
 from the Indians. I would set my rifle against a 
 hay cock and lay the powder horn and bullet pouch 
 beside it, but always kept the revolver with me 
 ready for use. I never looked toward the bluff 
 without expecting to see the head of a redskin peer- 
 ing at me. They never gave any trouble, how- 
 ever, except to come to the house and beg for food". 
 His nearest neighbors, when he first moved on the 
 Poudre, were James B. and John Arthur, Kb. 
 Davis, George Stotts and a man by the name of 
 Thacker and J. M. and F. W. Sherwood. "While 
 those were perilous times, full of apprehended 
 dangers and when we experienced hardships and 
 privations ; when flour was costly and sometimes 
 impossible to get, and when we often went hungry 
 for bread, we still enjoyed ourselves and always 
 made the best of the situation. We were young, 
 
 healthy and ambituous and thought of nothing of 
 what we had to endure," says Mr. Prendergast. In 
 1862, Mr. Prendergast bought some Mexican 
 onion seed for which he paid an ounce of gold dust 
 for an ounce of seed. The flavor of the onions 
 raised from that seed was accentuated by a strong 
 taste of gold. Mr. and Mrs. Prendergast are pas- 
 sing their declining years mid peace and plenty. 
 
 WALTER J. PRENDERGAST 
 
 surrounded by four of their children and a host of 
 admiring friends and neighbors. Six children have 
 been born to them, all of whom are living. Their 
 names are Mary, Mrs. Margaret McLean of Lon- 
 don, Ontario, Canada; John, Walter, Mrs. Mat- 
 tie Atherly of Cheyenne, and James. 
 
 Rev. a. S. Kemper. — Born in 1836 in Cin- 
 cinnati, Ohio; educated in High school of his na- 
 tive city and taught school a few years; married 
 Mary Bradbury in 1855; licensed to preach by 
 Presbytery of Cincinnati in 1860; graduated from 
 McCormick Theological seminary, Chicago, in 
 1863, going thence to Minnesota where his wife 
 died in 1877; married Cecilie Farsund in 1879; 
 largely instrumental in founding Female seminary 
 at Albert Lea, Minnesota; came to Colorado in 
 
 [327] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIM ER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 1889 to become pastor of Fossil Creek church, 
 where second wife died; has had no charge since 
 that time; has four living children, Charles W., 
 Fred A. and Josie of Fort Collins, and Mrs. C. K. 
 Benedict of Los Angeles, California. 
 
 William Campton was born on the 21st of 
 May, 1838, at Dubuque, Iowa. He married Phebe 
 A. Dyer at Mineral Point, Wisconsin. His occu- 
 
 MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM CAMPTON 
 
 pation until the year 1885, when he came to 
 Colorado, was farming. Upon arriving in this 
 state, after some moving about, he finally located 
 at Fort Collins where he engaged in the livery 
 business. In 1886 he purchased property at St. 
 Cloud, in Larimer county, and after having spent 
 a good deal of time and money in improving it he 
 moved with his family to reside upon it. Believing 
 that he who ministers to the innocent pleasures of 
 mankind or provides a place of retreat from the 
 urgent pressure of business, may claim the title of 
 benefactor, he opened a summer resort at his moun- 
 tain home which soon became one of the most popu- 
 lar places in the state for those seeking the refresh- 
 ing climate of the mountains during the heated 
 period of the year. In 1895 Mr. Campion's moun- 
 
 [328] 
 
 tain home was destroyed by fire, but with true 
 Western energy he soon rebuilt it on a larger scale 
 and added several cottages to his accommodations 
 for summer guests. He has devoted some attention 
 to the mineral resources of the county and has al- 
 ways been alive to every movement which looked 
 to the betterment of the state or the development 
 of its resources. Always active and alert, he is 
 a very pleasant and successful caterer to the com- 
 fort of his guests. He has six children some of 
 whom assist in the management of his increasing 
 business. 
 
 James Jensen was born a subject of the King 
 of Denmark on November 21st, 1867, but re- 
 nounced his allegiance and came to Colorado in 
 1894. He located on a farm at Welcome Hill. 
 Lived at Welcome Hill, 14 miles northeast of 
 Berthoud, then moved on the farm one and one 
 half miles northeast of Berthoud, and engaged in 
 cultivating the soil, and that is still his home. In 
 1897 he went to Atchison, Kansas, and was joined 
 in marriage with Katie Deitrickson; six children 
 have blessed the union. They are, Leroy, Francis, 
 Bessie, John, George and Ethel, all living. Like 
 nearly all of his countrymen who have settled in 
 Larimer county, Mr. Jensen has done well and is 
 now comfortably well-off and a loyal citizen of 
 the land of the free and the home of the brave. 
 He has a fine farm and never fails to show a 
 balance on the right side of the ledger at the close 
 of the season's operations. 
 
 George Wilford Wright, a resident of Colo- 
 rado since 1903. When he kicked the mud of the 
 old Hawkeye state from his feet he landed in Ber- 
 thoud on solid ground. He was born in Iowa, 
 Dec. 19th, 1875, and was married to Zetta Thomp- 
 son at Garner, in that state, March 14th, 1900. 
 They have but one child living, a little son, Carroll 
 Samuel. For 18 years Mr. Wright has followed the 
 trade of painting and decorating, a man of experi- 
 ence at the top of his line. He was born Wright, 
 in Wright county, came to the right state and is all 
 right. 
 
 Henry P. Handy. — The subject of this sketch 
 was one of the noted civil engineers of the West, 
 and he left many monuments of his skill as such, 
 throughout Colorado, in the planning and construc- 
 tion of large irrigation canals, dams, reservoirs, rail- 
 roads and bridges. Not the least important of these 
 was the planning and supervising of the system of 
 water works built by Fort Collins in 1882-3. He 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 was the locating and construction engineer of the 
 railroad through the Royal Gorge for the Denver 
 & Rio Grande, and also located the Oregon short 
 Line. One of the large canals in the Big Thomp- 
 son valley which he laid out and superintended the 
 construction of was named in his honor. Mr. Handy 
 was born near Utica, New York, July 24th, 1832, 
 and died at Nampa, Idaho, in February, 1903. He 
 left a wife and five children. The names of the 
 children are Mrs. Nelia R. King, Nampa, Idaho; 
 Wm. P. Handy, Denver, Colorado; George H. 
 Handy, Caldwell, Idaho; Ralph H. Handy and 
 Roy S. Handy. Mr. Handy and his family were 
 residents of Fort Collins for nearly twenty years. 
 
 Capt. Charles C. Hawley. — This is the story 
 of a Larimer county pioneer who, in his early man- 
 hood, led a very active and useful life, first as book- 
 keeper for an Indian trading company in Minne- 
 sota; clerk and later captain of a Mississippi river 
 steamboat; a gold seeker in Colorado and then as a 
 gallant soldier and officer in the Union army. Mr. 
 Hawley was born July 26th, 1839, at Lacolle, Can- 
 ada, and landed in St. Louis in April, 1856; was 
 bookkeeper for an Indian trading company at St. 
 Paul and Traverse des Sioux, Minnesota, where he 
 was known to the Mdewahton Lake Sioux as "Napa 
 Ska" or "White Hand" ; served the trading company 
 as clerk and later as captain of the steamboat Jean- 
 ette Roberts; caught the gold fever and arrived in 
 Denver in June, 1861, enroute to California. Re- 
 verses to the Union army prompted him to enlist 
 July 29th, 1861, in the First Colorado volunteer 
 cavalry in Denver; promoted through the grades to 
 2nd and 1st lieutenants and then to captain of a 
 company at the age of twenty- four; was in the 
 battle with the Confederates at Apache Canon, 
 Pigeon's Ranch and Peralta, New Mexico, and 
 in engagements of lesser note with Indians. Rep- 
 resented Larimer county in the first constitution- 
 al convention held in Denver in 1864; secured 
 a franchise from the territorial legislature in 1864 
 for a bridge at Laporte; organized a company In 
 1865 to construct a ditch from Laporte to Long 
 Pond basin to be used as a reservoir; served one 
 term as assessor in Minnesota and two terms as 
 assessor for Larimer county; was water commis- 
 sioner for District No. 3 for four years, the dis- 
 trict embracing Larimer and Weld counties. Capt. 
 Hawley served 4^ years in the Union army; was 
 assistant quartermaster and commissary; appointed 
 ordnance officer in 1863 for the district of the 
 Plains, with headquarters in Denver; had charge 
 
 of a large ordinance supply depot, inspection of 
 troops in camp and field was part of the duties of 
 the office. In 1862 he made his first Investment 
 in Larimer county, buying what was known as the 
 Barry farm now owned by the Sugar company of 
 Alphonse Larocque for $56. Mrs. Hawley lived 
 nearly a year on this place in 1863 while her hus- 
 band was In the army. Capt. Hawley married 
 
 CAPT. CHARLES C. HAWLEY 
 
 Ellen M. Gordon, August 25th, 1859, in St. Paul, 
 Minnesota. They have had 12 children, eight of 
 whom are living, twenty-four grandchildren and 
 six great grand children. Walter L. and family are 
 now living in Montana, Charles C. Jr. and fam- 
 ily in this city, Alden M. and family are near the 
 Canada boundary line in Dakota, Mrs. Anna C. 
 and husband. Frank A. Chaffee, resident of Fort 
 Collins, Custer and wife are In California, Mrs. 
 Carrie Smoke and husband in Denver, Mort now 
 on the old homestead and Alva L. and family are 
 residents of Nebraska. 
 
 William L. Burnett is an example of the high 
 grade of manhood produced in the healthy atmos- 
 phere of Colorado. Born in Manltou, Mason 
 
 [329] 
 
HISTORY OF 
 
 LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 county, Illinois, he came with his parents to Fort 
 Collins in May, 1885. Here, in 1899, he married 
 Miss Eva H. Cushing and they now have a family 
 of four children. He is now curator of the museum 
 at the Colorado Agricultural college. 
 
 Thomas Cline. — One of the notable characters 
 of the pioneers who came to the Cache la Poudre 
 valley in 1860, is Thomas Cline — overland 
 
 THOMAS CLINE 
 
 freighter, hunter and guide — who died in 1910. 
 Though nearing the seventy-fifth milestone on life's 
 journey, he was in the enjoyment of excellent health 
 up to the time of his last sickness, with all of his 
 faculties unimpaired, and nothing pleased him more 
 than to sit down and tell of his pioneer adventures, 
 of his scraps with the wily redskins who infested 
 the Plains in the early days and his prowess with 
 his trusty rifle while on hunting expeditions. Many 
 a buffalo, bear, deer, elk, mountain lion and antelope 
 could testify to the accuracy of his aim were they 
 living and had the power of speach. Mr. Cline 
 was born in Holmes county, Ohio, in 1836, and 
 went with his father's family to Iowa in 1850, so 
 that his life has almost entirely been spent on the 
 
 frontier. After settling in the Cache la Poudre 
 valley in 1860, he followed freighting, and many 
 is the time he has crossed the Plains with a bull 
 team, hauling freight from the Missouri river to 
 the Rocky Mountains, enduring all sorts of hard- 
 ships aad privations, besides narrow escapes from 
 hair-lifting savages. He was known from the 
 Missouri to the Rockies as a dead shot and a fear- 
 less man, so that very few cared to molest him at 
 any time or place. Even the Indians had a whole- 
 some fear of his gun. Once, in 1861, while com- 
 ing west with a load of freight, traveling alone, a 
 small party of Indians swooped down upon him at 
 Fremont's Orchard on South Platte. They wanted 
 to trade for some of the goods in his load, but he 
 refused to dicker with them. They advanced 
 toward him in a threatening manner in an attempt 
 to scare him into acceding to their demands, but he 
 leveled his gun at them and they fled in great haste, 
 giving him no more trouble. He located first on a 
 ranch situated on the river bottom a short dis- 
 tance west of the present site of the city of Greeley, 
 where he lived until 1862, when he took up land 
 further up the stream, near the present town of 
 Timnath. His neighbors at that time were Joseph 
 Prendergast, E. B. Davis, Dwight Scotten, G. R. 
 Strauss, Thomas Earnest, "Ranger" Jones, Fletcher 
 Earnest, James B. Arthur and the Sherwoods. 
 While he was living in Weld county in 1861, there 
 were nine days during which all he and his dog 
 had to eat was two curlews that he killed by hurl- 
 ing stones at them. His nearest neighbor was miles 
 away, who was as destitute of provisions as him- 
 self. While game was plentiful, he and his neigh- 
 bor were short of ammunition. He had but one 
 cap for his gun and dared not use that for fear the 
 Indians might raid him. On the ninth day he suc- 
 ceeded in getting a supply of ammunition and then 
 had no trouble in refilling his larder with wild 
 game. In 1866, Mr. Cline married Anna Cosslet, 
 who died in 1904. Six children were born to the 
 union, five of whom are living, to-wit; Mrs. Sophia 
 Darnell of Fort Collins ; Mrs. May Gardner ; Mrs. 
 L. E. Parker of Timnath, Edward and George 
 Cline, Mrs. B. A. Griffith of Livermore, having 
 passed away. 
 
 Walter R. Prendergast was born Novembei 
 1st, 1859, in Birmingham, Warwickshire, Eng- 
 land, son of Mr. and Mrs. John Prendergast. The 
 family came to Fort Collins October 4th, 1879, and 
 in 1881 our subject preempted 160 acres of land 
 three miles west of Fort Collins, which he proved 
 
 [330] 
 
MR. AND MRS. GEORGE W. LITLE 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 up on and improved and which was the family 
 home for many years. In 1897 he was united in 
 marriage with Mary O. EUms of Boston, Mass- 
 achusetts. They have no children. Mr. Prender- 
 gast is a practical and successful farmer and since 
 his marriage has owned, lived on and worked a farm 
 in the Fossil Creek district, south of Fort Col- 
 lins. His father, John Prendergast and his younger 
 sons carried on the old farm until a few years ago 
 and then sold it and moved to Fort Collins. 
 
 George W. Litle. — In writing of the Colo- 
 rado pioneers' trials and perils, one is constantly 
 confronted by raiding, murderous Indians and law- 
 less whites, who, living in a country where organi- 
 zed society barely existed, were quite often more 
 ruthless and given to savage deeds than the abori- 
 gines. But when you meet with one of these first 
 comers who tells you that he found the Big Thomp- 
 son valley "The tamest place he had been in for 
 years" you wonder, till told of his experiences with 
 "bad" men in a two years' sojourn in a California 
 mining camp in the early '60's, and a four years' 
 stay in Idaho when gold was first discovered there 
 by white men. Then you can readily believe he 
 found it "tame" in the valley. George W. Litle 
 was born in Lee county, Iowa, May 15, 1841. He 
 was a farmer's son and aided in the farm work till 
 May, 1861, when, becoming afflicted with the wan- 
 der lust, he left home for California, coming across 
 the Plains with a train of ox teams. He worked 
 at placer and tunnel mining on the Calavaras river 
 near the town of Jenny Lind, Calavaras county 
 for two years and made good. But one night, the 
 fall of '63, news of the discovery of gold in Boise 
 basin, Idaho, was brought to camp and the next 
 morning, accompanied by his partner, Henry Rugh, 
 a "forty-niner" of the Golden state, he left for the 
 new diggings on the hurricane deck of a mule. He 
 remained there four years and satisfied with his 
 clean up, he left for the east. In July, 1869, Mr. 
 Litle and his former chum, Mary A. Bird, were 
 married at Fort Madison, Iowa, and after a brief 
 honeymoon, they came west, settling in old St. Louis, 
 a small town three-quarters of a mile east of what 
 afterwards became known as Loveland. He and his 
 brother, J. A. Litle, leased the Douty grist mill and 
 bought a squatter's relinquishment of 160 acres 
 near by. The brother looked after the mill and 
 George attended to the farm, staying there until 
 1880 when he sold it. That land is situated near 
 the sugar factory and during the sugar beet boom 
 it was parcelled off into town lots. Mr. Litle also 
 
 owned 160 acres five miles east, but feeling that 
 continuous labor was not the way to enjoy life, 
 he sold all and for four months he remained com- 
 paratively idle. Then he and Frank Barthoff 
 bought 400 acres five miles from Loveland and he 
 worked the farm. Two years later he bought Mr. 
 Barthoif's interest and that was his home for some 
 years. In 1907 he sold 160 acres of it to J. M. 
 Cunningham. The next year he sold 80 acres to 
 W. B. Harris, and the fall of 1909 he sold the re- 
 maining 160 to Nicholas Beber, then moved to 
 Loveland the next spring, bought a cozy home on 
 the corner of 8th street and Washington avenue, 
 where be and wife are living a contented, happy 
 life. Mr. Litle has had many exciting advent- 
 ures during his eventful career, but he is too mod- 
 est to allow any of them in print. One in par- 
 ticular, when he, a total stranger in Fort Scott, 
 Kansas, interfered in a street quarrel between a 
 white man and a negro, is worth publication but 
 you will have to get the story from him. No child- 
 ren were born to Mr. and Mrs. Litle, but they 
 claim two by adoption. One is Mrs. Cortland 
 Secord of Fort Collins ; the other Jean, was mar- 
 ried New Year's day of 1910, to J. H. Elliot and 
 they live on a farm a few miles from Loveland. 
 The subject of this sketch is yet a hale and hearty 
 man and as ready for a business deal as when he 
 was 40 years younger. Although he suffered from 
 organic trouble and submitted twice to dangerous 
 surgical operations, one having no knowledge of 
 this, would scarcely believe it, for he possesses so 
 much vitality and mental strength. 
 
 Herman Strauss. — Located near Timnath ; lives 
 on one of the model farms of the county. Born in 
 the south, at Columbia, S. C, in 1850. Herman 
 Strauss settled in Larimer county in March, 1878. 
 For three years he was employed by his brother as 
 manager of his farm, and later, for six years follow- 
 ing, he farmed the property as a renter. He was 
 married to Mrs. Eliza C. Horner Jan. 17th, 1905. 
 By the demise of his brother, Robert G. Strauss, he 
 became the sole owner of his large farm and stock 
 interests, which could not have fallen into better 
 hands. Mr. Strauss is an excellent farmer, thrifty, 
 energetic and of good business ability. 
 
 T. H. Hale was born in 1876, in Schuyler 
 county, Missouri, and attended the public schools 
 of his native town; married Carrie Skinner, May 
 13th, 1896, and has five children, William, James, 
 Ozeitta, Ethel and Raymond Hale. He came to 
 Fort Collins in 1899, and has since followed farm- 
 
 [331] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 ing, stock raising at which he has been very suc- 
 cessful. He owns and cultivates a good farm and 
 buys and sells live stock. 
 
 John McPherson. — The subject of this sketch 
 was born June 14th, 1842, at Almond Bank, near 
 Perth, Scotland, and came to the United States in 
 1868, locating in business at Chicago. In 1871 
 he returned to his Scotland home for a visit and on 
 
 
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 JOHN MCPHERSON 
 
 coming back to America he was accompanied by 
 his sister, Mrs. James Loomis, and his brother-in- 
 law, John Nelson and family, all of whom came 
 to Colorado with him in 1873. Mr. McPherson 
 and Mr. Nelson secured farms a short distance 
 southeast of Fort Collins and were the first in 
 that vicinity to take water for irrigation from the 
 Larimer county canal No. 2. They built the first 
 fence put up on the bluff lands between the Cache 
 la Poudre and Big Thompson rivers. Mr. Mc 
 Pherson sold his farm in 1881 and two years later 
 moved to Fort Collins and was for one year mana- 
 ger of the Farmers' elevator. After resigning from 
 that position in 1884, he engaged in building 
 operations, the McPherson block, now occupied by 
 
 [332] 
 
 the Gem Grocery, one of the most substantial 
 business blocks in Fort Collins, was erected by him 
 that year. He was a stone cutter by occupation 
 and evidence of his handiwork crop out in a num- 
 ber of the best buildings in the city. Five child- 
 ren, Mrs. Walter Beach and John, both of Fort 
 Collins, Fred of Shoshone, Wyoming, Andrew 
 (residence not known) and Mrs. R. J. Handy of 
 Rochester, New York, survive him. 
 
 Henri S. McClelland was born August 3rd, 
 1869, in Galesburg, Illinois; received his education 
 in the public schools of Fort Collins and the Colo- 
 rado Agricultural college; married Matie Sains- 
 bury, October 18th, 1893, and two children, Mary 
 Irene and Joseph Henry McClelland, have blessed 
 the union ; came from Galesburg to Fort Collins 
 with his father's family in 1873, and still resides 
 in the Cache la Poudre valley; farmer and fruit 
 grower, and has the largest and most productive 
 orchard in Northern Colorado. Mr. McClelland 
 is a son of the J. S. McClelland, founder of the 
 first newspaper published in Larimer county. 
 
 Oliver B. Tomlin. — This deservedly popular 
 young man, who served as a mail carrier in Fort 
 Collins for many years, being one of the original ap- 
 pointees, is now a resident of Helena, Montana, and 
 is employed as a draftsman in the office of the sur- 
 veyor-general of that state. His parents came to 
 this state in 1872, and his father, A. B. Tomlin, 
 conducted a general store in Fort Collins for many 
 years. Mr. Tomlin was born in Fort Collins Jan. 
 4th, 1878. He attended the public schools and High 
 school and graduated from the Colorado Agricul- 
 tural college with distinguished honors. He has a 
 host of friends in his native city, where he has been 
 so favorably known from boyhood, who are warm 
 admirers of his straightforward disposition and 
 manly character. 
 
 William B. Baker, born in the year 1854, was 
 one of the pioneers of Larimer county, to which he 
 came in 1870. Forced by loss of health to leave 
 his widowed mother he sought the West and an 
 outdoor life with the hope of improvement. He 
 secured a position on the Alsop and Hutton ranch, 
 on the Laramie Plains, where for some years he 
 led the life of a cow-boy, passing through all the 
 grades of that school from "flunkey" cook, to sheep 
 herder, horse herder and cow-puncher, he grad- 
 uated as a "broncho buster." He became a fine 
 rider and learned to love the Plains and his horse. 
 During the winter months he returned to the East 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 to attend school, being a student of the Baptist 
 University of Des Moines, Iowa. On January 4th, 
 1879, he married Amanda E. McCall at Fort Col- 
 lins and settled on a homestead five miles east of 
 that city. When Mr. Baker moved with his young 
 wife into his one room cabin, the neighbors con- 
 sisted largely of coyotes and antelopes. Their ex- 
 periences were those of all of the hardy class who 
 have moved ahead of the settlements and sought 
 a home on the frontier. Their home was bright- 
 ened by the arrival one after the other of six child- 
 ren, four daughters and two sons, all of whom are 
 living excepting a daughter who died in early child- 
 hood. The sons are both graduates of the State 
 Agricultural college, and the daughters attended 
 the Fort Collins High school. Mr. Baker lived 
 to take part in the making of twenty-six years of 
 the history of Larimer county. His death occurred 
 in the fifty-first year of his age and he left surviv- 
 ing him a widow and five children. Mrs. Baker 
 now resides in Fort Collins with a daughter. Mr. 
 Baker was interested in the upbuilding of the church 
 of which he was a member and he had a full ap- 
 preciation of the value of free schools. He was 
 successful in his business and lived to see his child- 
 ren, grown to manhood and womanhood, take their 
 places as respected members of society. 
 
 Eben S. Merrifield. — Born July 25th, 1836, 
 at Burton center, New York; educated in common 
 and High schools of St. Joseph and Porter counties, 
 Indiana; married first wife, Miriam F. Wolf, 
 December 25th, 1862; second wife, Sarah A. Pratt, 
 June 10th, 1896; children, Ralph C, Monie, Hal- 
 bert and Frances Merrifield; came from Indiana to 
 Colorado in May, 1902; spent a year in Long- 
 mont, coming thence to Fort Collins in April, 1903; 
 farmer and insurance agent. Mr. Merrifield spent 
 several years in his early manhood in the United 
 States treasury department in Washington. 
 
 Charles Emerson was born at New Hampton, 
 New Hampshire, on the 5th day of November, 
 1849, and was educated in the schools of that city. 
 He came to Colorado in 1869, and located near 
 Livermore, in Larimer county, in the year 1871. 
 In 1877 he was married to Miss Alice Freeman. 
 He was engaged in the year 1868-9 with his brother, 
 Horace, in getting out railroad ties near the head- 
 waters of the Cache la Poudre river for the Den- 
 ver Pacific railroad company. During the greater 
 part of his residence in Larimer county he has been 
 engaged in ranching, giving the most of his atten- 
 tion to the production of alfalfa and the feeding 
 
 of cattle, meeting with great success in the business. 
 He has paid little attention to active politics though 
 at all times well informed on the questions of the 
 day and punctual in the exercise of his duties as 
 a citizen. He was at one time a candidate for 
 the office of State senator and polled the full 
 strength of his party. His estimable wife, who 
 shared with him the difficulties of pioneer life was 
 
 CHARLES EMERSON 
 
 spared to enjoy for some years the fruits of their 
 united labor, but, in the early part of the winter 
 of 1911, she was stricken with paralysis which 
 terminated her life. She had so entirely identified 
 herself with all the interests of her community that 
 her death was mourned as a public calamity. Mr. 
 Emerson has contributed much to the upbuilding of 
 the county by his demonstration of the complete 
 suitableness of local conditions for success in the 
 business of cattle feeding. 
 
 Carlton C. Bushnell. — Bom in 1845 in 
 Princeton, Illinois, and educated in Peru, that 
 state. Came to the Big Thompson valley in 1871 
 and located at Namaqua, where he followed farm- 
 ing. Married Emma Hanby in 1879 and has two 
 
 [333] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 daughters, Mrs. A. B. Cook of Loveland, and Mrs. 
 F. F. Rourk of San Francisco, California. Con- 
 ducted a hotel in Loveland for several years and 
 is now leading a retired life. 
 
 Austin C. Downey, son of Dr. and Mrs. J. W. 
 Downey, was born November 8th, 1881, at Topeka, 
 Illinois. In 1887 moved with his parents to Iowa 
 
 
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 AUSTIN C. DOWNEY 
 
 and in 1892 to Fort Collins, Colorado. Here he 
 attended public school five years and the State Agri- 
 cultural college five years, taking the civil engineer- 
 ing course. In the activities of the student body 
 he excelled in oratory, winning all of the class con- 
 tests and medals. Served as president of the Orator- 
 ical association, was college orator at Washington 
 Day exercises, member of Columbian Literary 
 society and the "Collegian" staff. In the cadet 
 battalion he attained the rank of captain. He be- 
 gan his career as an engineer with the Oregon Short 
 Line railroad in the spring of 1902. In 1903 he 
 was in the State engineer's office with Professor L. 
 G. Carpenter and with one of the Irrigation Com- 
 panies in the Arkansas valley. Passed the first 
 civil service examination at the organization of 
 [334] 
 
 United States Reclamation service and was as- 
 signed to the Shoshone Project, Cody, Wyoming. 
 Took up the work in June, 1903 and was closely 
 identified with the development of the project. For 
 several years he was first assistant to D. W. Cole, 
 constructing engineer on Shoshone dam. This be- 
 ing the highest dam ever built presented difficult 
 problems in the solution of which Mr. Downey 
 had an important part to perform, being chief of 
 party and instrument man on construction surveys 
 and later an inspector in the real work of building 
 the dam. He received frequent promotions, the 
 last one of which would have been effective two 
 weeks later than the date of his death when he 
 would have succeeded Mr. Cole and been in full 
 charge of affairs at the dam. Among his associates 
 he earned a reputation for conscientious accuracy and 
 as a persistent worker. During his seven years in 
 the Reclamation service he had but three vacations 
 of ten days each. He died June 16, 1910, by acci- 
 dental drowning in Shoshone lake. The body 
 was recovered two months later and on August 
 18th, 1910, was buried in Grandview cemetery. 
 Fort Collins, Colorado, with Masonic honors. 
 
 Rev. John G. Klene^ pastor of the First Pres- 
 byterian church, was born in Sparta, Illinois, and 
 educated at Monmouth college and McCormick 
 seminary; married Sarah B. Hood in 1895, and 
 four children have blessed the union — Vivian C, 
 Lorine L., Pauline H., and Helen Redell; came 
 to Colorado in 1904 and was for three years pastor 
 of Boulder Presbyterian church and in 1907 was 
 called to the Presbyterian church of Fort Collins 
 of which he is still in charge. 
 
 Charles Gilpin-Brown was born in 1857, 
 near Richmond, in Yorkshire, England. He was 
 educated at Harrow school and at Wimbledon Mili- 
 tary school. He came to Colorado in 1888 and set- 
 tled upon a ranch at Livermore, in Larimer county, 
 in 1892. In 1891 he was married to Miss Helen 
 Graham Poland. He served in the office of county 
 commissioner from 1904 to the date of his death in 
 1906. He is survived by his wife and two daugh- 
 ters, Margaret and Frances. 
 
 Mortimer M. Jones was born July 24th, 1854, 
 in Macon county, Missouri, where he was edu- 
 cated; married Marietta Isenburg September 24, 
 1883; came to Byers, Colorado, April 1st, 1879, 
 and to Larimer county July 1st, 1879, and has 
 since followed farming in this county. Mr. Jones 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 is a nephew of Michael Jones, better known to the 
 old timers as "Ranger" Jones, who settled in the 
 Cache la Poudre valley near the present town of 
 Timnath in 1860. 
 
 Mrs. Alvina C. Koeper. — This worthy lady 
 was born at New Bremen, Ohio, on the 10th of 
 August, 1862. She was married to August H. 
 Koeper, January 18, 1883, at the same place. 
 Twelve years later in February, 1895, she ac- 
 companied her husband to Colorado, making their 
 home at Bellvue. Two sons and one daughter 
 were born to them, Herbert C, Dewey John and 
 Alice L. After the death of her husband which 
 occurred in Bellvue in October, 1903, Mrs. Koeper 
 sold her valuable farm property and stock inter- 
 ests and is now a resident of Fort Collins. 
 
 Prof. Burton O. Longyear. — Born July 16th, 
 1868, on a farm near Leslie, Michigan; moved to 
 Mason, Michigan, when 18 years of age and later 
 engaged in the drug business; took a special course 
 at the Michigan Agricultural college and became 
 an instructor in botany in that institution in 1894; 
 came to Fort Collins July 31st, 1904, to teach 
 botany in the Colorado Agricultural college and is 
 now Professor of botany and forestry at that in- 
 stitution. Prof. Longyear married Jessie L. Bond, 
 December 28th, 1897, at her home in Leslie, Mich- 
 igan ; two children have been born to them of whom 
 the eldest; Lawrence B. is alone living, and he is 
 now nearing the 12th anniversary of his birth. 
 Prof, and Mrs. Longyear are zealous and influen- 
 tial members of the First Baptist church of Fort 
 Collins. 
 
 L. H. Fagan was born at Winnebago, Minne- 
 sota, on the 21st day of November, 1871. He at- 
 tended the high school at Winnebago, from which 
 he was graduated in 1892. After teaching school 
 for a time he came to Berthoud, in Larimer county, 
 in the spring of 1893. He purchased a farm of 
 one hundred and sixty acres near Berthoud and en- 
 tered upon the business of farming, and since the 
 year 1896 has been continuously engaged in winter 
 sheep feeding in which he has been very successful. 
 He has landed interests at Berthoud as well as at 
 Bennett, Colorado, and at Maxwell, New Mexico. 
 In November, 1908, he was elected to the office 
 of county commissioner and is a director of the 
 First National bank of Berthoud. He is also a 
 member of the Masonic order and other lodges 
 and of the Presbyterian church. Two sisters are 
 living, both of whom graduated at the Normal 
 
 school at Greeley. One of these ladies is married 
 to Dr. D. W. McCarty, of Berthoud, the other 
 to Mr. Earnest Carter of Leadville. The father of 
 Mr. Fagan, Mr. Daniel Fagon, was born in Ire- 
 land on the 23rd of March, 1835, and is still living. 
 He came to America when eight years of age and 
 moved to Minnesota in 1857. He enlisted in the 
 
 L. H. FAGAN 
 
 Union service in June, 1861, and served under 
 General Thomas and was with Sherman on the 
 March to the sea. He served with distinction and 
 was in many hard fought engagements. At the 
 time of his discharge in July, 1865, he had risen 
 from the ranks to the grade of second lieutenant. 
 He was married on October 10th, 1867, and came 
 to Colorado in 1892 and engaged in farming. 
 
 William F. Gilkison. — Our subject is a native 
 of Colorado, born January 11th, 1872, at Cari- 
 bou, Boulder county; graduate of the Colorado 
 Agricultural college, class of 1895 ; assistant in M. 
 E. department of his alma mater one year and then 
 promoted to a professorship and head of the depart- 
 ment of Mechanical Engineering at the University 
 of Wyoming, where he remained until 1908 when 
 
 [335] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 he returned to Fort Collins to engage as a whole- 
 sale dealer in farm products and as a stockman. 
 He married Minnie F. Harrington, a college class- 
 mate, June 30th, 1897 and has one child, Irene. 
 
 James D. Mandeville. — Born September 21st, 
 1841, in Tompkins county. New York; received his 
 education in the public schools and at Ithaca acad- 
 emy; enlisted September 12th, 1861, in 50th New 
 York volunteer engineers; mustered out September 
 20th, 1864; married Olivia L. Denson, August 
 23rd, 1866; printer by trade; edited and published 
 Candor, New York, Press two years ; came to Fort 
 Collins in March, 1881, where he has since resided. 
 Mr. Mandeville came of revolutionary stock, his 
 great grandfather having been a General under 
 Washington. Recruited for 198th Ohio volunteer 
 infantry and received a commission from Governor 
 John Brough as adjutant of the regiment. 
 
 Willis S. Miller. — Born in Queen City, Mis- 
 souri, where he received his education ; married 
 Emma A. Foglesong in 1886, and came to Fort Col- 
 lins in 1887; children are named, Calvin, Leo, Bert, 
 Clarence, Lloyd, Allie, Earl, Myrtle and Freda 
 Miller; postmaster and general storekeeper at Elk- 
 horn, 45 miles west of Fort Collins; proved up on 
 a homestead at Elkhorn in 1902, and has met with 
 good financial success. Mr. Miller cast his first 
 vote in the fall of 1887 in Fort Collins. 
 
 Nathaniel Thomas was born in northwestern 
 Ohio, in 1835, where he received his education. 
 After completing his studies, he taught school in 
 Hancock county for years. In 1862 he and Nancy 
 Mo'\nelly were united in marriage. Miss Mc- 
 Anelly was a school teacher in the same county. 
 In 1865 Mr. and Mrs. Thomas moved to south- 
 western Indiana, where both resumed their work, 
 school teaching. They were engaged at that work 
 till Mr. Thomas' health failed. He was advised to 
 seek a milder climate, and in 1892 they came to 
 Colorado, locating in Larimer county. In a short 
 time his health was so far recovered that he again 
 took up his work as school teacher, continuing in 
 that profession till a few years ago, when he re- 
 tired, thinking that forty-five years as a teacher was 
 enough. 
 
 Addison N. Hoag.— One of the first men to 
 demonstrate beyond peradventure by actual results, 
 in spite of predictions to the contrary, that fruit 
 could be successfully and profitably grown in Lari- 
 mer county, was Addison N. Hoag, the subject of 
 [336] 
 
 this sketch. He was a native of Massachusetts, and 
 came to Colorado in July, 1860. He mined, 
 hunted and trapped in California gulch, on the 
 headwaters of the Arkansas, the Grand and 
 Cache la Poudre rivers. In 1864 he went to Kan- 
 sas and married Miss Ludema Williams, and in 
 1871 returned to Colorado, locating first at Gree- 
 ley, thence in 1874 coming to Fort Collins. In 
 February of that year he took up as a homestead 
 an unpromising 80-acre tract of land four miles 
 northwest of the town. This he first placed under 
 a high state of cultivation and then planted a por- 
 tion of it to an orchard, embracing apples, pears, 
 plums, cherries and small fruits. He also carried 
 on market gardening with good results, and kept 
 bees and poultry. His orchard came into bearing 
 in 1880, and he was able to realize a handsome in- 
 come from his fruit and other ventures from that 
 time on. His success at fruit-growing stimulated 
 others to follow his example, and now the irrigated 
 portions of the county are dotted with orchards 
 which are producing large quantities of luscious, 
 health-giving fruit for export, in addition to that 
 needed for home consumption. When Mr. Hoag 
 sold his property in the 90's and went to Arizona 
 for his wife's health, he had 400 acres of land, work 
 horses, farm tools, cattle and dairy cows, vg-lued in 
 those days of low prices at $20,000. When he 
 located his homestead, in 1874, he was $175 in debt 
 for team and wagon. 
 
 W. A. Hawthorne. — Born June 14th, 1874, 
 in Denver, Colorado; educated at the Colorado 
 Agricultural college; married Anna M. Wills, 
 daughter of Joseph R. Wills, a Fort Collins pio- 
 neer. May 17th, 1899, and has one child, a daugh- 
 ter, Roma. Mrs. Hawthorne was born November 
 28th, 1875, in Fort Collins. Mr. Hawthorne 
 owns and conducts a garage on S. College avenue, 
 and is a dealer in automobiles, in which business 
 he has been very successful. 
 
 Dr. William A. Kickland came into the world 
 in 1868 at Crystal, Michigan; educated at Uni- 
 versity of Michigan, graduating in 1892 with de- 
 gree of B. S. ; receiving degree of M. D. in 1895. 
 Dr. Kickland came from Michigan to Fort Col- 
 lins in 1895, and that city is still his home; mar- 
 ried Kate Lee, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. E. A. 
 Lee in 1895; member of Larimer county Medical 
 association. Fort Collins Hospital association, and 
 Colorado State Medical association. Since com- 
 ing to Fort Collins, Dr. Kickland has built up an 
 extensive practice in medicine and surgery He has 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 a beautiful home at the corner of West Mountain 
 avenue and Sherwood street. Mrs. Kickland is a 
 popular member of the Woman's club and has 
 served the club as president. 
 
 Marcus Coon. — One of the early settlers of 
 Fort Collins, w^as born February 10th, 1831, in 
 Hudson, Nevir York. He enlisted in the service 
 of the United States, April 22nd, 1861, and was 
 commissioned captain of Company D 1st Connect- 
 icut Volunteer Infantry, and participated in the 
 first battle of Bull Run, July 21st, 1861. He was 
 discharged July 31st, 1861, but re-enlisted Aug- 
 ust 2nd, 1861, and mustered in as first lieutenant 
 of Company B Harris Light Cavalry, subsequently 
 known as the 2nd New York cavalry. Later the 
 command of the company fell to him and he re- 
 signed as captain September 25th, 1863. Captain 
 Coon was m.arried October 16th, 1871, to Miss 
 Julia Davis, who survives him. In 1872 Mr. and 
 Mrs. Coon came to Colorado, locating first at 
 Greeley, a little later removing to Fort Collins. 
 In 1873, he built the Agricultural hotel which 
 stood at the corner of Mountain avenue and Mason 
 streets where the Fort Collins Express building 
 now stands, attaching the first dwelling house 
 erected in Fort Collins to the rear of the hotel for 
 use as a kitchen and laundry. This old building 
 has since been purchased by the Pioneer Women 
 of the Cache la Poudre valley, moved to a new site 
 and is being fitted up as a Pioneer museum. Mr. 
 Coon conducted the hotel until 1877, when he sold 
 it to D. M. Harris, who, in 1879, moved it on to 
 the site now occupied by the Northern hotel, en- 
 larged and renamed it the Commercial hotel. In 
 September, 1876, after Colorado had been admitted 
 into the Union, Capt Coon was elected sheriff of 
 Larimer county, but resigned in 1877 and James 
 Sweeney was appointed his successor to serve until 
 the next succeeding general election. In 1885, Cap- 
 tain and Mrs. Coon went to the White river coun- 
 try and located on a stock ranch near Buford in what 
 is now Rio Blanco county. On the organization 
 of Rio Blanco county in 1889, he was appointed 
 sheriff by Governor Cooper and resided at Meeker, 
 the county seat for about four years, dying there 
 February 15th, 1903, aged seventy-two years. 
 
 Arthur E. Lamb, son of the late Rev. L. J. 
 Lamb, was born March 31st, 1884, near Fort Col- 
 lins; educated at the Colorado Argicultural college 
 taking the Civil Engineering course; married 
 Beulah Sherman, December 21st, 1^10, and is a 
 civil engineer by profession and occupation. Mr. 
 
 Lamb is First lieutenant of Company "F" first in- 
 fantry, Colorado National guard. Has been as- 
 sistant to City Engineer and County Surveyor, E. 
 C. McAnelly for several years and was recently 
 appointed City Engineer of Fort Collins. 
 
 Francis C. Grable, born September 22d, 1854, 
 of Scotch-German parentage; Scotch on his mother's 
 side, German on his father's; the latter coming 
 
 FRANCIS C. GRABLE 
 
 from the valley of the Shenandoah in Vir- 
 ginia, the valley made immortal by the great ride 
 of Sheridan — the footsteps of whose horse beat 
 faster and faster as he bore his master to the scene 
 of the battle from Winchester Town, twenty miles 
 away. Because of delicate health as a boy, the 
 subject of this sketch was compelled to close his 
 school days at the age of sixteen and it seemed 
 as if the light of his life went out when, with his 
 books under his arm, he went for the last time 
 from the old school house near his father's country 
 home on the Ohio farm. Seeking health he came 
 to Nebraska in 1872, where at Falls City he en- 
 tered his brother's bank, remaining there four years. 
 In 1876 he became cashier of the State Bank at 
 
 [337] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Kearney, Nebraska, from which position he re- 
 signed in 1880 to form a law partnership with Mr. 
 H. C. Andrews, of Kearney, a gentleman well- 
 known to many of the citizens of Northern Colo- 
 rado because of his connection with the North 
 Poudre Irrigation company at its organization. In 
 1881 Mr. Grable was married to Katharine Mc 
 Allister. Their only child is Katharine Lee, a 
 daughter, who is devoted to books and art. In 
 1887 Mr. Grable moved to Omaha, where he has 
 had an office ever since and where his family reside. 
 For years thereafter, Mr. Grable's work was in 
 connection with the Lincoln Land company, a 
 corporation owned by the officers and friends of 
 the Burlington railroad — the business of which 
 was the location, ownership and development of 
 the townsites along that great railroad. Over 
 six hundred miles of that work went into Mr. 
 Grable's charge, comprising the line of road from 
 Alliance in Nebraska, to Deadwood, South Da- 
 kota, and from Edgemont to Billings, Montana. 
 He located the townsites and then started out 
 to make them grow by developing the country 
 tributary to them. He built an irrigating canal 
 and two storage reservoirs at Crawford, Nebraska; 
 constructed a ditch and reservoir system at Edge- 
 mont, South Dakota ; developed mines at Union 
 Hill, where he started a stamp mill and smelter. 
 A panic swept him off his feet financially before 
 his work was finished, leaving him with an 
 indebtedness that would- have appalled a less cour- 
 ageous man, but he went at those debts as he has 
 everything else, with an energy that would admit 
 of no defeat, and says he hopes to live long enough 
 to get them all paid. In 1901 he came to Fort 
 Collins and turned the ditches, reservoirs and lands 
 of which he was sole owner, into a corporation 
 known as The North Poudre Irrigation company. 
 The ten years he has given to this great undertaking 
 has made him a factor in the development of irriga- 
 tion" in Northern Colorado. Thirty-nine active 
 business years are to Mr. Grable's credit at this 
 time, so active that he hardly knows what a holiday 
 occasion is like. He has never had time to travel 
 abroad or at home, and has the pleasure yet in 
 store of seeing the Pacific ocean and the sunny 
 western slope. He likes work. He worked at 
 first from boundless energy and to see things done; 
 later, from force of habit — then to get the debts 
 lifted over to the right side of the ledger. He has 
 never worked for the sake of accumulating, for he 
 values neither money nor property. Had Mr. Grable 
 have had the time, he would have been an artist or 
 [338] 
 
 a poet; for he loves passionately everything bea- 
 utiful and artistic. He is a word painter, and we 
 doubt not that the "History of Colorado" that he 
 is now writing will be a valuable acquisition to 
 Western literature; for he possesses the happy 
 faculty of blending facts with fancy, prose with 
 poetry and clothes statistics with the artistic touches 
 that brightens and embellishes and entertains. In 
 Valley View he had selected a spot for a home that 
 was ideal. In full view were the mountains, the 
 valleys and the lakes; no sightlier place was to be 
 found in all the beautiful state of Colorado. That 
 night in 1909 that saw its entire destruction by 
 fire was a night that will live in the memory of 
 the builder while memory lasts, and that a great 
 sanitarium may be erected on that sightly and 
 health restoring spot, is a wish that all hope to see 
 fulfilled. 
 
 David M. Harris. — Born April 9, 1841, in 
 Devonshire, England; died September 12th, 1904, 
 in Fort Collins, Colorado. On attaining his ma- 
 jority, Mr. Harris served three years in the British 
 navy as a ship carpenter, and then spent five years 
 in the English merchant marine. He was married 
 to Elizabeth A. Galloway, February 10th, 1867. 
 In 1870 Mr. and Mrs. Harris came to the United 
 States and in 1873 to Fort Collins. In the spring 
 of 1877, he bought what was then known as the 
 Agricultural hotel, which stood where the Express 
 building now stands, at the corner of Mountain 
 avenue and Mason streets, changing the name later 
 to the Commercial hotel and moving a part of the 
 building to where the Northern hotel now stands. 
 He added to the building and personally conducted 
 the hotel for many years, and until failing health 
 admonished him to give up active business pursuits. 
 His death resulted from paralysis. He left a widow, 
 who has since died, and a daughter, Mrs. Grace 
 Vandewark, who lives at Gering, Nebraska. 
 
 William N. BacheldeRj a pioneer in the wool 
 growing industry of Larimer county, died October 
 21st, 1908, at Gebo, Montana, aged 70 years. Mr. 
 Bachelder was a native of Castleton, Vermont, but 
 came to Larimer county in 1871 and established 
 a home and a sheep ranch at Spring canon where 
 he lived for about a score of years. He was the 
 third man to engage in the wool growing business 
 in the county and his venture proved to be success- 
 ful for a few years, and until the county became 
 so thickly settled that the sheep range was almost 
 entirely obliterated. He took an active interest 
 in political affairs and was one of the leaders of 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 the greenback movement in Colorado. He was a 
 candidate at one time for lieutenant govornor on 
 the greenback ticket, and at another time was his 
 party's choice for representative in the General 
 assembly, but was defeated on both occasions. He 
 finally sold off his flocks and engaged in other busi- 
 ness enterprises. In 1893, Gov. Waite appointed 
 him superintendent of Water division No. 1, an 
 office he filled with ability and satisfaction. In 1899 
 he went to Montana to be near his son, Fred S. 
 Bachelder, where he died. 
 
 Adelbert F. Brown was born on the 18th day 
 of June, 1871, in Fort Collins, Colorado. He was 
 educated at Fort Collins and at the Normal school 
 of Fremont, Nebraska. On the 14th day of Feb- 
 ruary, 1895, he was married to Miss Mabel E. 
 Picken, of his native city. They have three child- 
 ren; Jas. R., Hallett P. and Roy G. Mr. Brown, 
 upon coming to man's estate occupied himself for a 
 few years at farming, but later became associated 
 with Mr. Frank Mathews in the butcher and pack- 
 ing business in Fort Collins under the firm name of 
 Mathews & Brown. He has been from early boy- 
 hood, in one way or another, always connected with 
 the stock business, having passed through its various 
 grades from cow-boy to herd owner. 
 
 C. E. Daniels was born in Wisconsin, and went 
 in the year of 1888, to Loraine, Ohio. Here 
 he engaged in the banking business. To this line of 
 business he has devoted his life, having been as- 
 sociated in the organization of several banking in- 
 stitutions. He was married in Cleveland, Ohio, in 
 1901, to Miss C. Louise Rogers, and in 1907 moved 
 to Fort Collins where he still resides. 
 
 Chauncey W. Harrington was born in 1822, 
 in Batavia, New York; died, March 22nd, 1906, in 
 Fort Collins. Mr. Harrington was a true Western 
 pioneer, an excellent citizen and a devoted husband 
 and father. He crossed the continent in 1859, and 
 after spending one year in California returned to 
 Denver, which was his home until 1868, when he 
 moved to Laramie, Wyoming , coming thence to 
 Larimer county in 1871 and locating on a farm in 
 Pleasant valley, near the Shipp bridge. He spent 
 the winter of 1868-9 on the headwaters of the Lara- 
 mie river getting out ties for the Union Pacific rail- 
 road, and floated them down the river to Laramie 
 City in the spring of 1869. He sold his farm in 
 Pleasant valley in 1897 and moved his family to 
 Fort Collins, which place had since been his home. 
 A wife and five children survived him. ' The names 
 
 of the children are, Mrs. Stanley Davis of Greeley, 
 Mrs. F. A. Bear of Idaho, and Mrs. E. D. Searing 
 of Portland, Oregon, W. H. Harrington and Mrs. 
 Sarah Shipp, both of Idaho. 
 
 Thaddeus a. Gage. — To be a direct descendent 
 of John Alden and Priscilla, made famous in Long- 
 fellow's "Courtship of Miles Standish" is an honor 
 
 THADDEUS A. GAGE 
 
 that falls to the credit of the subject of this sketch. 
 John Alden accompanied the Pilgrims from South- 
 hampton as a cooper. The youngest of the Pil- 
 grims, being then twenty-one years of age, he after- 
 ward became a magistrate of the colony, serving 
 as such for more than a half century. Thaddeus 
 Alden Gage was born November 7th, 1844, at 
 Salisbury, New York. Eighteen years later he 
 moved to Illinois, where he spent ten years at teach- 
 ing, clerking and farming. He came to Colorado 
 in 1873 and to Larimer county in 1874. In 1875 
 he married Esther R. Riddle and moved to his 
 mountain ranch near the Forks hotel, where he en- 
 gaged in dairying and stock raising. Ten years 
 later he was elected county assessor and moved his 
 family to Fort Collins He declined a second term 
 as assessor, but continued in the cattle business 
 
 [339] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 until 1901. He helped to organize the Fort Collins 
 National bank in 1900 and was a director of that 
 institution until 1908, when he moved to Denver. 
 He also helped to organize the Larimer County 
 Fair Association and was its secretary for two 
 years; helped to organize the Larimer County Stock 
 Growers association and took an active part with 
 other citizens in securing the sugar factory and the 
 street railway. Was a member of the chamber of 
 commerce and also a director until he left for Den- 
 ver; member of the board of dii'ectors of the Pub- 
 lic Library; president and manager of the Poudre 
 Valley Live Stock company; assisted in organiz- 
 ing the First Unitarian society and was a member 
 of the board of trustees for several years. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Gage have two children, Bertram A. Gage, 
 assistant cashier of the Fort Collins National bank 
 and Harriet F. Gage, married to Robert A. Pierce, 
 chief mining and construction engineer of the North- 
 ern Coal & Coke company. Mr. Gage is a Master 
 Mason, a Royal Arch Mason, and a Knight Tem- 
 plar. Has filled all the chairs in those orders, 
 except E. C. in De Molay Commandery. While 
 Worshipful Master of Collins' lodge No. 19, he 
 had the pleasure of conferring the degrees upon 
 his son, Bertram A. Gage. Was a charter member 
 of lodge 804, B. P. O. Elks. 
 
 Dr. Harry E. Kingman, professor of veter- 
 inary surgery in the Veterinary department of the 
 Colorado Agricultural college, was born May 13th, 
 1881, at Fort Collins; attended public schools of 
 Boulder; received degree of B. S. at Colorado 
 Agricultural college; D. V. S. at Kansas City 
 Veterinary college; M. D. V. at McKillip's Veter- 
 inary college, Chicago; married Edna Garbutt, 
 daughter of Mr. and Mrs. E. N. Garbutt, July 
 29th, 1908. Dr. and Mrs. Kingman have one 
 child, Edward A., and the family home is in Fort 
 Collins, Colorado. 
 
 Thomas J. Wilkins.— This sketch has to do 
 with the earthly career of a Christian man who died 
 at Timnath Sept. 9th, 1900. He passed to his long 
 rest after years spent in deeds of brotherly love, 
 charity and forbearance. Thomas J. Wilkins was 
 born at Grenloch, New Jersey, Dec. 6th, 1852; 
 educated in the public schools of his native state and 
 attending the academies of Williamstown and Black- 
 wood. He was married Dec. 24th, 1874, to Martha 
 Scott, a young lady of Quaker parentage. Four 
 daughters have blessed the union, three of whom 
 are married: Mrs. J. A. Coy, living at Timnath; 
 Mrs. James Elliott at Morrill, Nebraska, and Mrs. 
 
 [340] 
 
 O. J. Ripple at Denver. Miss Emma T. is a 
 teacher in the Fort Collins schools. Mr. Wilkins 
 came to Colorado in August, 1878, locating at Tim- 
 nath, his wife following him six months later. He 
 homesteaded the Edwards' farm; was the founder 
 of the First Presbyterian church at Timnath, which 
 he served both as deacon and elder, holding the 
 latter position until his death. 
 
 David A. Black was born at Bethlehem, Iowa, 
 on July 1st, 1863. He came to Colorado at the age 
 of eleven years and passed his youth on a farm in 
 the vicinity of Fort Collins. On June 11th, 1900, 
 he was married to Miss Mabel A. Gregg. They 
 have two sons and he is still engaged in farming. 
 "Dave" is possessed of a happy nature which finds 
 sunshine where others see only shadows. He is 
 recognized as among the intellectual class of farm- 
 ers who are raising agriculture to the rank of a 
 science. Honest, industrious and thoughtful, Mr. 
 Black enjoys the esteem of his acquaintances and 
 respect of the community in which he lives. 
 
 Mariana Modeno, the first "white" settler in 
 the Big Thompson valley, was born at Taos, New 
 Mexico, in 1812, and was of Castilian parentage. 
 He was said to have been liberally educated in his 
 youth and to be able to speak thirteen different 
 languages fluently. Next to Jim Bridger, Kit Car- 
 son and Jim Baker, Modeno was perhaps the most 
 noted frontiersman, trapper, hunter, guide, scout 
 and Indian fighter in the West. He was known at 
 one time in almost every town between the Missouri 
 river and the Rocky mountains; from the City of 
 Mexico to the British possessions. He carried the 
 marks on his person of many a bitterly waged con- 
 flict with the Indians, and was for many years a 
 valued scout and guide in the employ of the govern- 
 ment. He settled on the Big Thompson in 1858, 
 where he lived until he died, June 25, 1878, hav- 
 ing amassed considerable wealth in the meantime. 
 
 G. A. Hamilton, one of the foremost farmers of 
 the Big Thompson valley was born in 1849, near 
 London, Ontario, Canada, and reared on a farm; 
 attended district school. When 21 years of age he 
 went to Michigan and worked in the pineries; 
 bought land and lived in that state until health 
 failed in 1879 when he came to Longmont and 
 engaged in the grocery business; sold out in fall of 
 1882 and moved in January, 1883, to the farm he 
 now lives on in the Big Thompson valley. Besides 
 being a good farmer, he is an importer and breeder 
 of Suffolk Punch horses; -has been a director of the 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Consolidated Home Supply Ditch and Reservoir 
 company for 15 years, and is also Vice-President 
 of the First National bank of Loveland, but has 
 never held or aspired to any political office. 
 
 J. B. Fuller was born at Cape Vincent, in New 
 York state, on the 26th day of March, 1863, and 
 attended the public schools. In 1881 he came to 
 Fort Collins and learned the plumbers trade with 
 H. E. Tedmon, and has continued to the present 
 time to work at that business. He was married 
 on February 16th, 1907, to Miss Florence R. Mann, 
 of Lyons, N. Y. Mr. Fuller was for twelve years 
 a member of the Fort Collins fire department. 
 
 John W. Everhard was born at Massillon, 
 Ohio, and educated at Columbus in that state, 
 where he later engaged in the mercantile business. 
 Settled in Salem county, Missouri, in an early day, 
 and came to Colorado in 1875. He and his 
 brother-in-law, John C. Ish, bought the James 
 Eaglin ranch of 320 acres, and began farming and 
 stock raising. Mr. Everhard went to North Park 
 in 1880 and located on a big stock ranch in the 
 vicinity of Owl mountain, which he sold a few 
 years ago to his nephew, J. L. Ish, and returned to 
 Berthoud where he and his wife live in comfort- 
 able retirement, beloved by all who know them. 
 In 1881, Mr. Everhard was the democratic can- 
 didate for County Commissioner, and in 1897 the 
 candidate of his party for County Assessor, but 
 failed of election, though polling a much larger 
 vote than was cast for his party ticket at each 
 election. He came of revolutionary stock, his 
 grand-father having been a soldier in the war of 
 Independence under General St. Clair. 
 
 Gardner R. Cushing is a Colorado product, 
 having been born at Fort Collins on July 7th, 1880, 
 where he received his education completing his 
 school work at the State Agricultural college.- He 
 was married July 23rd, 1904, to a lady of Fort 
 Collins and now has three children, Colbert E., 
 Claudia M. and Lucy Bell. Mr. Cushing's father 
 was the first breeder of Holstein cattle in Larimer 
 county. The subject of this sketch has been for 
 a number of years the clerk of the county court of 
 Larimer county, the duties of which office he has 
 performed to the entire satisfaction of the public. 
 He is considered as among the clean and rising 
 young men of the county. 
 
 Frank J. Burnett was born at Pekin, Illinois, 
 on December 14th, 1873, and came with his par- 
 ents to Colorado in the fall of 1879. The family 
 
 stopped in Boulder until the spring of 1880, when 
 they removed to Larimer county. Mr. Burnett 
 was educated in the schools of Fort Collins, and 
 on the 14th day of February, 1905, was married to 
 Miss Gertrude Dinnebeck. They have three child- 
 ren, Ruth, Raymond and Benjamin F. He has 
 been several times elected to public office in the 
 county and has served the people faithfully and with 
 the highest integrity as county clerk for a period 
 of four years. He is now manager of the insur- 
 ance department of the Security Abstract and In- 
 vestment company of Fort Collins. He has always 
 been a promoter of clean athletic sports. 
 
 Orivijlle Springer came to Colorado from 
 Bridgeport, Gloucester county, New Jersey, landing 
 in Larimer county March 3rd, 1887, and setting his 
 stakes at Timnath, where he has since resided. He 
 married Sibyl Tatum Howey, Dec. 30th, 1896. 
 One child living. Earl Howey Springer. Mr. 
 Springer is a practical farmer, thoroughly ac- 
 quainted with the business in all its details, a man 
 of probity and strict integrity. 
 
 Charles Golding-Dwyre^ Jr. was born in 
 London, England, on the 19th day of February, 
 1872. He came with his parents to Fort Collins 
 in 1883 and after having passed creditably through 
 the schools of that city he took a course of study 
 at the Colorado State Agricultural college. Jan. 
 1st, 1897, he was chosen as an instructor in that 
 institution where he is still employed. On the 25th 
 day of August, 1898, he was married to Mis? Effie 
 Loomis of Fort Collins. They have two children, 
 a son and a daughter. Mr. Golding-Dwyre is 
 earnest and capable in the work in which he is 
 engaged, a good citizen and an example of what 
 a young man possessed of proper ideals and a 
 healthy self-reliance may accomplish. 
 
 Z. O. HoLCOMB was born August 12th, 1850, 
 in Chillicothie, Missouri ; married Alice E. Lawson, 
 January 8th, 1882; five children were born to them 
 and all are living. The family moved to Larimer 
 county in 1901 and to Fort Collins in the spring 
 of 1902. Mr. Holcomb is a farmer by occupation 
 and has successfully cultivated the P. Anderson 
 farm near Fort Collins the past two years. 
 
 John H. Cameron, was born August 14, 1842 
 In New York City. Early in life he learned the 
 machinist trade an occupation he followed for 25 
 years. In 1864 he enlisted in the 125th New York 
 volunteer infantry and was shortly afterward trans- 
 ferred to the 4th N. Y. heavy artillery in which he 
 
 [341] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 served until the close of the war. He married 
 Elizabeth Madden on February 28th, 1869, and 
 in 1882 came to Fort Collins, locating first on 
 a dry ranch seven miles north of that city. In 
 1890 he moved into the city and served as janitor 
 at the Agricultural college for ten years. He died 
 November 17th, 1901, leaving a wiie and five sons, 
 John H. Jr., Robert, Allen, George and Walter. 
 
 Thomas B. Bishopp. — There are few men liv- 
 ing in Colorado today who have seen more of bor- 
 der life, endured greater hardships and trials, met 
 
 with more trying vicissitudes and come through 
 them all unscathed, morally and physically, than 
 the subject of this sketch. Mr. Bishopp was born 
 June 27th, 1832, in Sailhurst Parish, Sussex county, 
 England. He came with his father's family to 
 Madison county. New York, when a child and re- 
 ceived his education in the common schools of that 
 county. His father was an importer and breeder 
 of Durham cattle. In 1855, when 23 years of age, 
 he came west to Iowa, going thence to Minnesota 
 in 1856, remaining in that state until 1860, when 
 he crossed the Plains to Colorado, locating first in 
 California gulch. Prospecting and mining proving 
 unsatisfactory, he returned to Denver and began 
 freighting with ox teams from that city to Central 
 City, which he followed for three years. He then 
 went to Oregon and freighted from 1863 to 1867, 
 [342] 
 
 from the Columbia river to the Boise, Idaho, mines, 
 conducting a general store at Boise in 1864. From 
 1865 to 1866 he fought Indians who robbed him of 
 wagons and stock valued at $10,000, and in 1868-9 
 operated a sawmill and conducted a meat market at 
 Silver City, Idaho. He came back to Colorado in 
 1869 and in 1870 built Union colony ditch No. 3, 
 moving then to Colorado Springs and there oper- 
 ated a dairy in connection with the transfer busi- 
 ness until 1873, when he moved to his present 
 home in Virginia Dale, where he is a successful 
 breeder of Clydesdale horses and Durham and Jer- 
 sey cattle. On Oct. 7th, 1880, he married Harriet 
 C. McKay and they have two sons, B. G. D. Bish- 
 opp, instructor in dairying at the Colorado Agricul- 
 tural college, and F. C. Bishopp, entomologist, U. 
 S. department of agriculture, stationed at Dallas, 
 Texas. From 1888 to 1891 our subject most ac- 
 ceptably served Larimer county as a member of its 
 board of commissioners. 
 
 Stephen A. Wathen has been In the stock 
 business in Spring canon ever since making his home 
 in Larimer county in 1877. He is a native of Ken- 
 tucky, born in Hardin county in 1860. He married 
 Lydia L. Bardwell July 15th, 1885, in Fort Col- 
 lins. A daughter, Miss Norah, is their only child. 
 He has a fine ranch in Spring canon and a choice 
 bunch of cattle. 
 
 Louis G. Carpenter, junior member of the firm 
 of L. G. & R. C. Carpenter, consulting engineers, 
 with offices in New York and Ithaca, New York, 
 and Denver and Fort Collins, Colorado; former 
 Professor of Civil and Irrigation Engineering; Di- 
 rector of the experiment Station at the Colorado 
 State Agricultural college and former State Engi- 
 neer of Colorado, was born March 28th, 1861, in 
 Orion, Oakland county, Michigan. His father, C. 
 K. Carpenter, was a prominent farmer, active in 
 public work and in the organization of important 
 enterprises. He was a director and vice-president 
 of the Detroit and Bay City Railroad company, 
 and for some time the only director in Michigan. 
 At the time of his death he was President of the 
 Farmers' Mutual Insurance company of Michigan, 
 embracing several thousand members. His ances- 
 tors settled in Massachusetts about 1640, and one 
 of them was one of the ten incorporators of Rhode 
 Island with Roger Williams. R. C. Carpenter, a. 
 brother of our subject, has been Professor of Ex- 
 perimental Engineering at Cornell university for 
 many years, and is a recognized authority in many 
 lines of work. Another brother. Judge William L. 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Carpenter, was District and Supreme Court Judge 
 of Michigan for many years, resigning from the Su- 
 preme bench to resume private practice in Detroit. 
 He has also been President of the Detroit College 
 of Law for a number of years. Our subject ob- 
 tained the rudiments of an education in the public 
 schools, spending his spare time for several years 
 in a country printing office. He entered the Mich- 
 igan Agricultural college in February, 1876, and 
 graduated therefrom in November, 1879. The win- 
 ter vacations were spent in teaching school and the 
 money thus earned during his college course was 
 sufficient to take him through without much aid 
 from his parents. He did some instructional work 
 while in college and acted as temporary instructor 
 immediately after graduating. In February, 1881, 
 he was chosen instructor in mathematics at his 
 Alma Mater, remaining here with various promo- 
 tions, finally becoming assistant Professor of Mathe- 
 matics and Engineering. He resigned in 1888, to 
 take charge of the department of Civil and Irriga- 
 tion Engineering at the Colorado Agricultural col- 
 lege, which position had been offered him. Two 
 of his winter vacations were spent at the University 
 of Michigan and two at Johns Hopkins' university 
 in Baltimore. He had become so well known in 
 the educational world as a mathematician that at 
 the age of 23 his name was inserted in the American 
 Cyclopedia of Biography. He became a member of 
 the American Association for the Advancement of 
 Science in 1883, and of the British association in 
 1884. In June, 1888, Professor Carpenter was 
 elected to the chair of Physics and Engineering at 
 the Colorado Agricultural college, and began serv- 
 ice at that institution September 1st of that year. 
 From that time until 1910, a period of twenty-two 
 years. Professor Carpenter was intimately con- 
 nected with the history of the college and experi- 
 ment station and also with the history of the de- 
 velopment of scientific irrigation in the arid regions. 
 About 1890, the course in Irrigation Engineering 
 was established, the first in any American college. 
 It was launched without precedent or guide and 
 without available text books, but the students grad- 
 uating from that course, beginning in 1892, have 
 become prominent in the development of irrigation 
 in the arid West. One of them is now a Division 
 Engineer in the United States reclamation service, 
 and many others are professionally connected with 
 that service. Several have been deputy state engi- 
 neers, while others have been in responsible charge 
 of some of the largest canals and dams and con- 
 structions in the West. In 1890 Professor Carpen- 
 
 ter was appointed to conduct an investigation or- 
 dered by congress on artesian wells in Colorado and 
 New Mexico. In 1891 he visited California to 
 study irrigation in that state, and in 1892 he went 
 to Europe, spending considerable time in France, 
 Italy and Algeria, investigating the irrigation sys- 
 tems of those countries, in doing which he was 
 given special facilities. Some years later the French 
 government conferred upon him the decoration of 
 Chevalier du Merite Agricola. In 1899 Professor 
 Carpenter was elected Director of the Colorado 
 Agricultural college experiment station, resigning 
 in 1910 to give his attention to the duties of con- 
 sulting engineer. He was an influential member of 
 the association of experiment stations, several 
 times an officer and was one of the committee of five 
 which considered and passed upon the general ques- 
 tions of policy of the stations in the United States. 
 He was also a member of the confidential committee 
 of five appointed to confer with President Taft be- 
 fore his inauguration and, at the President's request, 
 afterwards met him in Washington in April and 
 November. In 1903 he was appointed State Engi- 
 neer by Governor Peabody and served one term in 
 this very important and responsible position. In 
 1902 he had been asked by the attorney-general to 
 confer regarding the suit brought by the state of 
 Kansas against Colorado concerning the waters of 
 the Arkansas river. This was a subject of supreme 
 importance, because if the attack proved successful 
 it would have prevented the right to use the water 
 from any Colorado stream for irrigation. At that 
 time he prepared an outline of defence which was 
 followed almost exactly in the development of the 
 case, so that at the closing of the case by the deci- 
 sion of the United States Supreme Court, the whole 
 line of successful defense had been as he had indi- 
 cated at the beginning. This Kansas suit was felt 
 to be a most important matter and it is conceded 
 that Professor Carpenter rendered Colorado an in- 
 estimable service in the part he took in it. He 
 practically collected and prepared all the evidence, 
 and, working with Mr. Vaile, prepared the brief 
 for Colorado, and the final decision of the Supreme 
 Court recognized the right of Colorado to use the 
 water of the Arkansas river for irrigation. This 
 opened the way for active development which then 
 set in with considerable vigor. While there may 
 be future litigation respecting the rights of states to 
 use water from inter-state streams for irrigation, the 
 primary question as to whether such water may be 
 so used has been permanently settled. Hearings in 
 this celebrated case were held in Wichita and To- 
 
 [343] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 peka, Kansas, New Mexico, Arkansas, District of 
 Columbia and in Colorado. Professor Carpenter 
 was the first as well as the last witness put on the 
 stand by Colorado and his examinations, all told, 
 lasted eleven days. The testimony he gave on direct 
 examination was published by the state. The work 
 performed by Professor Carpenter in the Kansas- 
 Colorado case was not necessarily connected with 
 his duties as state engineer, but it was felt to be 
 most important for the irrigation interests of the 
 state. When his term expired he was told that he 
 would be re-appointed State Engineer if he would 
 make application for the office, but this he declined 
 to do. He, however, continued as consulting engi- 
 neer under special contract until the final decision 
 in the Kansas case. In 1907 he was appointed a 
 member of a commission by the Province of British 
 Columbia to investigate and report upon irriga- 
 tion in that province. Public hearings were held 
 and Professor Carpenter spent much time searching 
 the records and investigating conditions. As a re- 
 sult, his report was published as a state document 
 and was accepted as the basis of the water act that 
 was passed by the next Parliament and under which 
 that province is making great strides in develop- 
 ment. Invitations for private employment became 
 so pressing from many of the most important finan- 
 cial interests in the country that in 1910 Professor 
 Carpenter entered into an engineering partnership 
 with his brother. Prof. R. C. Carpenter of Cornell 
 university, and they have established offices in New 
 York, Denver and their home towns. He has been 
 engaged by the Macmillans, publishers of London, 
 to prepare a book for one of their series and also by 
 a New York firm to prepare one for their Harvard 
 engineering series. He was a member of the editor- 
 ial staff of the first edition of the Standard Diction- 
 ary, and has been engaged for the new edition now 
 under way. He is a director of the First National 
 bank of Fort Collins, and also of the Fort Collins 
 Building and Loan association, and President of the 
 association for the past few years; an incorporator 
 of the Michigan Engineering society ; was President 
 of the American Society of Irrigation Engineers and 
 also a member of various other scientific and engi- 
 neering societies. He is said to have the largest and 
 best library relating to irrigation in the world. In 
 1887 Professor Carpenter married Mary J. C. Mer- 
 rill, a fellow student of his Alma Mater in the class 
 succeeding his. They have two children, Louis, 
 born in 1889, and Jeanette, born in 1892. Mrs. 
 Carpenter was one of the founders of the Woman's 
 [344] 
 
 club of Fort Collins, is a member of the Public 
 library board, and active in many enterprises. 
 
 William Calloway was born Aug. 9th, 1837, 
 in Clinton county, Indiana, where he lived on his 
 father's farm and attended school until he was 21 
 years of age. In the spring of 1859 he went to Mis- 
 
 WILLIAM CALLOWAY 
 
 souri and, associated with Jacob Cornelison, engaged 
 in freighting with ox teams from the Missouri river 
 to Colorado. During the winter of 1861-2 he and 
 N. C. Alford camped on Meadow creek, twelve 
 miles north of Livermore, and hunted game, which 
 was hauled to Denver and sold. On one of his 
 trips he was offered a town block situated in what 
 is now the main business center of that city for a 
 sack of flour, but refused to trade. Flour was worth 
 then $100 per sack. In 1863 he went to Idaho and 
 worked for N. C. Alford on a ranch for $100 per 
 rnonth the first year, and later conducted a ranch of 
 his own. In 1867 he came to Cheyenne, Wyoming, 
 and in the fall of that year took up a ranch in Box- 
 elder canon, which he sold, and in 1870 located in 
 Livermore on what is now known as the Cradock 
 ranch, and engaged in stock raising. In 1874 Mr. 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 LARIMER 
 
 COUNTY 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 Calloway married Fannie Keach and three children 
 were born of the union, whose names are Mrs. Ella 
 Burns of Seattle, Ray Calloway of Bellvue, Wash- 
 ington, and Mina May, deceased. His wife died in 
 1878, and in 1881 he married Mary Calloway, 
 widow of his deceased brother, Martin Calloway. 
 One child, a daughter, was born of this union and 
 she is now Mrs. Libbie Hoffman of Fort Collins. 
 Mr. Calloway died June 9th, 1891, at Livermore. 
 
 Franklin C. Avery. — In looking back over 
 the past forty years of the history of Fort Collins 
 and reviewing the names of those who have been 
 pre-eminent in the upbuilding of the place, the 
 mind instinctively rests upon that of Franklin C. 
 Avery. There are few, indeed, to whom greater 
 credit can be given or upon whom a greater meed 
 of praise should be bestowed for what has been ac- 
 complished in the development of the resources of 
 Larimer county and in the growth and advance- 
 ment of Fort Collins, than upon Mr. Avery. He 
 has been a leader and has aided by his means, his 
 example and his influence those projects, public and 
 private, which were designed to promote the growth 
 of town and country and to add to the welfare of 
 the people and advance their prosperity. Progres- 
 sive plans have been promoted by his willing co- 
 operation, and local interests have always received 
 his fostering care. Justly, therefore, he occupies 
 a position among the progressive and most influ- 
 ential men of the town and county. Mr. Avery 
 was born April 8th, 1849, at Ledyard, Cayuga 
 county. New York. He was the second among the 
 five children born to Edgar and Eliza (Worthing) 
 Avery. His ancestors are listed among the colonial 
 families of New England. Soon after completing 
 a course in civil engineering Mr. Avery joined the 
 Union colony and came to Greeley, arriving on 
 May 9th, 1870. He assisted in surveying and 
 platting the town of Greeley and also in laying out 
 the ditches. In the fall of 1871 he located near La- 
 porte, Larimer county, and embarked in the cattle 
 business. In the fall of 1872 he was chosen as engi- 
 neer for the Agricultural Colony and laid out and 
 platted the town of Fort Collins for the colony, 
 changing the old town survey to conform to the 
 new. That fall he was elected county surveyor 
 and was re-elected in 1874. He became interested 
 in real estate and acquired title to town property 
 and also farm lands in Larimer and Weld counties, 
 and was at one time an extensive holder of landed 
 property. In November, 1880, Mr. Avery founded 
 the Larimer County bank, a state institution, with 
 
 a capital of $30,000. In 1882 the name was 
 changed to the First National bank and the capi- 
 talization increased to $50,000. The capital has 
 since been increased to $100,000, and Mr. Avery 
 served the institution as president from 1881 to 
 1910, when he sold his interest and retired. In 
 addition to the Avery block, containing ten stores 
 and a large number of offices, and which was the 
 home of the First National bank for many years, 
 he has had a number of other buildings erected in 
 the city, including a handsome and commodious 
 stone residence, set in the midst of large and beau- 
 tiful grounds. He also had a fourth interest in 
 the building of the Opera house block and owns one- 
 fourth of the Northern hotel. It was through his 
 instrumentality that these and the beautiful First 
 National bank building were erected. He was one 
 of the promoters and organizers of the Larimer 
 County Ditch company, which afterwards changed 
 its name to the Water Supply and Storage company, 
 and he originated the project of bringing water 
 from the Laramie river across the divide to the 
 Poudre water shed. That company constructed 
 and practically completed one of the largest and 
 best irrigation systems in Colorado, whereby many 
 thousands of acres of otherwise unproductive land 
 has been brought under a high state of cultivation. 
 He was the president of the company for several 
 years. The shares of this company originally fixed 
 at $100 are now worth nearly $4,000. Mr. Avery 
 has been thrice chosen a member of the Fort Col- 
 lins city council, and has had much to do in shap- 
 ing the municipal affairs of his chosen home city. 
 On Feb. 24th, 1876, Mr. Avery married Sarah 
 Edson, who was born near Auburn, New York, 
 the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. D. A. Edson. 
 Three children were born of the union, Edgar D., 
 who has been cashier of the First National bank, 
 city treasurer, and is now engaged in the real es- 
 tate and loan business; Mrs. Ethel Woodworth, 
 and Mrs. Louise Crose, all residents of Fort Collins. 
 
 John R. Brown. — This pioneer prospector, 
 miner, blacksmith and farmer, was born Aug. 18th, 
 1833, near Toronto, Canada. He died Oct. 6th, 
 1910, at Buffalo, Wyoming, aged 77 years. He had 
 few opportunities for obtaining an education and 
 was early put to work learning the blacksmith's 
 trade in his father's shop. In 1858 he migrated to 
 Lawrence, Kansas, and on May 1st, 1860, he ar- 
 rived at the Tarryall mining camp in South Park; 
 spent the winter of 1860-61 in the Bobtail mine at 
 Central City, and in June, 1861, enlisted in Com- 
 
 [345] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 pany B, Capt. S. M. Logan of the First Colorado 
 Volunteers, then organized as infantry, but changed 
 to cavalry the following winter. The regiment 
 was sent to Fort Union in January, 1862, and in 
 the latter part of the March following participated 
 in the battles of Apache Canon, Pigeon's Ranch, 
 and the fight at Peralto in April. Fred Smith of 
 Westlake was engaged in these battles with Mr. 
 
 
 'J. 
 
 )^ 
 
 J 
 
 
 ^^L .J* 
 
 i 
 
 
 HL^ 
 
 JOHN R. BROWN 
 
 Brown. In the fall of 1863 Company B was sent 
 to Laporte to guard the Overland stage against In- 
 dian attack. After being mustered out in October, 
 1864, Mr. Brown, in company with Robert Brown, 
 started a blacksmith's shop at Laporte, doing a good 
 business. They bought a squatter's right to 160 
 acres of land of John B. Provost and cultivated the 
 land in connection wrth the blacksmith business. 
 The Browns. dissolved partnership in 1865, our sub- 
 ject keeping the farm. During the winter of 1865- 
 66 he was the post blacksmith at Camp Collins, 
 and in 1868 he and his brother, James A. Brown, 
 became partners in wagon-making and blacksmith- 
 ing, selling out in 1869, and John R. returning to 
 his farm, which he sold in 1880 to A. T. Gilkison. 
 In 1881 he took up the ranch on the Upper Poudre 
 [346] 
 
 now owned by C. E. Williams, selling his claim in 
 1885 and going to Johnson county, Wyoming, 
 where he died. 
 
 D. A. Camfield. — "Let no fertile land go dry," 
 is Mr. Camfield's watchword. That he is doing his 
 part to make the sentiment a living reality is proven 
 by the fact that he and his associates have com- 
 pleted 500 miles of irrigating ditches and con- 
 structed several large reservoirs by means of which 
 400,000 acres of land are irrigated and reclaimed, 
 and has other projects under way that will be the 
 means of putting water on and redeeming about 
 425,000 additional acres. The total cost of the 
 completed ditches and reservoirs and those now in 
 course of construction will aggregate about $17,- 
 000,000, and the value of the land reclaimed has 
 increased from $2.50 per acre to $75 and $100 per 
 acre, thus adding more than $60,000,000 to the 
 wealth of Colorado. Mr. Camfield was born in 
 1860 in Providence, Rhode Island, and received his 
 education in the public schools of that city. He came 
 from his native state to Greeley in 1878, arriving at 
 his journey's end with $25 in his pocket. He at once 
 secured employment on a farm at $18 per month 
 "and found." After seven months on this farm he 
 rented 160 acres of land and began work for him- 
 self. He lived alone, cooking his own meals, doing 
 the chores, and cultivating his farm, prospering in a 
 modest way. It was while on this farm that he be- 
 gan to study the problem of water supply and irri- 
 gation and how to increase the former by storing 
 water and holding it back for use as needed, a part 
 of the millions of cubic feet that annually go to 
 waste. He has already accomplished a wonderful 
 work in this direction, but still has other worlds to 
 conquer. As chief promoter and the head and 
 front of the Laramie-Poudre Reservoirs & Irrigation 
 company, Mr. Camfield is now engaged in the stu- 
 penduous task of bringing water from the Laramie 
 river watershed through a tunnel two and a fourth 
 miles in length that is being driven through the 
 range of mountains that form the divide between 
 the Laramie and the Cache la Poudre rivers, and 
 turning it into the latter stream, whence it will 
 flow down to the headgate of the Poudre Valley 
 ditch. From this point the water will flow through 
 a ditch 100 miles in length out upon the Plains and 
 thus bring 125,000 acres of fertile land under water. 
 This company holds filings on Laramie river water 
 both for direct irrigation and for storage; also on 
 Cache la Poudre water for direct and storage use. 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 It also owns several mountain reservoirs, the total 
 capacity of its holdings amounting to 3,600,000,000 
 cubic feet of water, or 84,000 acre feet, sufficient 
 with direct flow to irrigate 125,000 acres of land. 
 The men associated with Mr. Camfield in this great 
 
 D. A. CAMFIELD 
 
 undertaking are S. H. Shields of Fort Morgan and 
 Messrs. W. G. Evans, Iliff, and Thorpe of Denver. 
 The cost of the completed project is estimated at 
 between $4,000,000 and $5,000,000. The major 
 portion of the ditch work is already completed and 
 construction of the remainder is being pushed for- 
 ward with all possible speed. The tunnel was com- 
 pleted July 22, 1911. The tunnel is being made 
 large enough to carry 1,000 cubic feet of water per 
 second of time, although the company does not ex- 
 pect to draw from the Laramie more than 500 cubic 
 feet, except during flood seasons when the excess 
 will be stored. Not alone in the field of irrigation 
 has Mr. Camfield made his energy and enterprise ^ 
 factor in the development of northern Colorado. He 
 has provided Greeley with a hotel, "The Camfield," 
 of which every citizen not only of that town but also 
 of the surrounding country is proud, and one that 
 
 fills the need of years. It is a hotel in which a city 
 of 25,000 inhabitants could take just pride, for there 
 are few larger or better ones in the state. He spent 
 a fortune on an enterprise about which he knew but 
 little, but Greeley needed a good hotel and Mr. 
 Camfield promptly supplied that need. Mr. Cam- 
 field is of medium height and rather stocky built. 
 He has a fair complexion, blue eyes, dark hair gray- 
 ing at the temples, and a reddish mustache. He is 
 fond of horses, but of late years has become an 
 automobile enthusiast, and once a year goes to his 
 former home in Providence in his car. Mr. Cam- 
 field is president of the City National bank, which 
 has its quarters in its own $130,000 building across 
 the street from the Camfield hotel. 
 
 William Brandis. — This sketch contains a few 
 points in the busy life history of a Colorado pioneer, 
 a gallant soldier in the First Colorado cavalry. 
 
 WILLIAM brandis 
 
 teamster, stockman and farmer, and a man and citi- 
 zen against whom not one derogatory word can be 
 said. He was a citizen of Larimer county for 35 
 years and did his part to subdue the wilderness and 
 make it blossom like the rose. William Brandis 
 
 [347] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 was born in 1841, near Bremen, Germany. When 
 still a child he came with his parents to Galveston, 
 Texas, moving afterward to Prairie du Chien, Wis- 
 consin, where he attended school. He crossed the 
 Plains in 1860, arriving at Denver June 13th, 
 spending the remainder of the season mining at 
 Central City and Black Hawk. In those days the 
 only postoflRce for the mining district was located at 
 
 MRS. WILLIAM BRANDIS 
 
 Central City, and a Mr. Fields delivered letters to 
 whom they were addressed, charging 25 cents for 
 the service. In November, 1861, he enlisted in 
 Company E, First Colorado Volunteer cavalry, un- 
 der Col. John M. Chivington, and served three 
 years. After his discharge he followed teaming be- 
 tween Central City and Georgetown, and between 
 Denver and Camp Collins. In the winter of 1865 
 he hauled government corn with an ox team for the 
 soldiers at Camp Collins, stopping at "Auntie" 
 Stone's house, then not quite finished. In 1867 he 
 hauled lumber from North Clear creek to Cheyenne 
 and sold it for $100 per thousand feet, and in 1870 
 he filed on a homestead in the Boxelder valley, four 
 miles northeast of Fort Collins, and settled down to 
 the life of a ranchman, engaging in stock raising, 
 
 [348] 
 
 in which he was successful. In 1879, after the com- 
 pletion of the Larimer & Weld canal, he engaged 
 in general farming in connection with his stock busi- 
 ness. He married Christine Johnson in 1873 at 
 Greeley, and four children were born to them, Kate 
 D., Walter, Alice, and Oscar. Alice died in 1893. 
 In 1905 Mr. Brandis sold his farm and moved with 
 his wife and daughter. Miss Kate, to San Diego, 
 California, where the wife and mother died on July 
 15th, 1910. The eldest son, Walter, lives at Fort 
 Morgan, and the second son, Oscar, is a prosperous 
 farmer in the Wellington district. The father and 
 sister still reside in San Diego. 
 
 Nathaniel C. Alford was born at South 
 Hope, in the state of Maine, on the 29th of No- 
 vember, 1834. The story of Mr. Alford's life reads 
 like a romance and is well worth the study of any 
 young man as an example of what may be accom- 
 plished by diligent application to the work which 
 presents itself, and a character of strict integrity. 
 Until he was 18 years of age, our subject worked 
 upon a farm in his native state and then served 
 three years in learning the carpenter trade, receiv- 
 ing during this apprenticeship no other wages than 
 his board. At the age of 21 he started west, and, 
 arriving at Rockford, Illinois, remained there three 
 j'ears working at his trade. In the spring of 1859, 
 the Pike's Peak gold excitement being at its 
 heighth, Mr- Alford was seized with the fever 
 which at that time drove so many young men to 
 the West. Joining with three others he went to 
 St. Joseph, Missouri, and on the first of May the 
 party started on the overland trip with an outfit of 
 two yoke of oxen and one yoke of cows and a 
 wagon and arrived in Denver in June of the same 
 year. Of the hardships, such as they were, of the 
 experiences of that journey we have no informa- 
 tion. The first work engaged in by Mr. Alford 
 after his arrival in Denver was the pulling of one 
 end of a whip-saw in the manufacture of lumber 
 which was sold to the miners to be made into sluice 
 boxes. In August, 1859, he went with a party of 
 sixty to Middle Park, where they discovered the 
 Breckenridge mines. They then went down the 
 river through Eagle and Pitkin counties and find- 
 ing themselves getting short of provisions were 
 obliged to return to Idaho Springs. During the 
 next two years Mr. Alford was engaged in freight- 
 ing between Denver and Missouri river points in 
 the summer season. During the winter of 1861-2 
 he wintered his oxen at a place seven miles atbove 
 Livermore, in Larimer county, and hauled game 
 
M 6 
 
 CcA^^i^^c^ 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 for a band of six hunters to Denver. The rigor of 
 the life led at this time is evidenced by the fact that 
 Mr. Alford camped during the entire winter with- 
 out tent or other shelter. In the summer of 1862 
 he crossed the Plains to Oregon and in the follow- 
 ing winter went to the Boise mines in Idaho, where, 
 in the succeeding summer, he started a vegetable 
 farm, doing the first plowing and irrigation done in 
 that state. Here he remained until the fall of 
 1865, in the summers carrying his vegetables with 
 a train of sixteen pack mules to the mines in the 
 valley. He then sold his business and returned by 
 the Panama route to his native state, but returned 
 to Colorado in the Spring of 1867. When the 
 town of Cheyenne, Wyoming, was started Mr. Al- 
 ford was there and burned the first kiln of brick 
 ever made in that state. The following winter 
 found him conducting a grocery business at the 
 Elizabethtown m.ines in New Mexico. Selling out 
 his business at this place he went to Texas in the 
 spring of 1868 and bought a herd of cattle which 
 he drove to the Arkansas river and wintered, and in 
 the following summer moved them to Nevada, 
 where he sold them and returned to Colorado. In 
 1870 he went with Mr. A. C. Goodhue to Illi- 
 nois, where they purchased a train load of brood 
 mares which they shipped to Colorado, this being 
 the first train load of horses ever shipped over the 
 Union Pacific road. The mares were held at Rock 
 Creek, in Boulder county, during the summer of 
 1871, and Mr. Alford returned to Illinois where 
 he purchased and brought to Colorado the first Nor- 
 man draft stallion ever brought to the state. In 
 the fall of 1871 he drove his horses and about one 
 hundred head of cows into Larimer county and set- 
 tled on Rabbit creek, a few miles north of Liver- 
 more. His wanderings were now about at an end. 
 In the winter of 1871-2 he returned to Maine and 
 was married to Ann E. Hobbs of the town of 
 Hope. The newly married pair arrived in Colo- 
 rado in March, 1872, and went to their home on 
 Rabbit creek. A log cabin with a single room was 
 erected and served as the family mansion until the 
 fall of 1880, when they moved to Fort Collins, 
 which city has been their home to the present time. 
 In 1877 Mr. Alford served as a member of the 
 first State Legislature of Colorado. In 1881 he 
 embarked in the bee business, starting three 
 apiaries and shipping the first car of honey ever 
 sent out of Larimer county. This business was 
 conducted successfully for eight years. In 1881 
 and the following year, joining with six other men, 
 he started the construction of the Larimer County 
 
 ditch, since known as the Water Supply & Storage 
 Company ditch, and finished it to a point seven 
 miles east of Boxelder creek. He was made presi- 
 dent of the company and had charge of the work 
 of construction. With unusual foresight, Mr. 
 Alford purchased a large body of land under the 
 newly constructed ditch, which, as the benefits to 
 be derived from irrigation became manifest, rose 
 rapidly in value and secured him a competency for 
 his declining years. The land thus purchased was 
 fenced and farmed for a number of years, furnish- 
 ing pasturage for about four hundred head of cat- 
 tle during the winter season. In 1893 he became a 
 stockholder in the Poudre Valley bank and was 
 elected a member of the directorate, which office he 
 retained until the fall of 1909. At the time of the 
 institution's being changed from a state to a na- 
 tional bank, in 1905, he was elected president and 
 acted in that capacity until, warned by advancing 
 age to seek relief from some of his business bur- 
 dens, and in November, 1909, he resigned the posi- 
 tion. Mrs. Alford was permitted to enjoy life 
 through all the years of struggle and for some time 
 after their pathway had become less thorny. In 
 the month of November, 1910, however, she was 
 called from the scenes of this life. She will be 
 long remembered as a kind and helpful neighbor, a 
 devoted wife and loving and sensible mother. 
 There were born to Mr. and Mrs. Alford a son, 
 George, who did not live to complete his first year, 
 besides two sons and two daughters, who are still 
 living in Larimer county. Of these children, Fred 
 C. was born on the 22nd of May, 1875 ; Lore E., 
 on the 28th of Nov., 1876; Abbie A., on July 19th, 
 1878; and Anna Helen, on Sept. 12th, 1885. Mr. 
 Alford's life has been that of a pioneer. To pre- 
 pare the way for the comfort of those who followed 
 him he faced the hardships and dangers of an en- 
 tirely uncivilized country. To such men as he the 
 country owes a debt which can scarcely be paid. 
 With brains to plan, with courage to struggle 
 against great odds, with perseverance to persist in 
 the face of danger, with confidence in the future of 
 a great people, they blazed the trails and marked 
 in the desert with their camp-fires the sites of teem- 
 ing cities which some of them, as the subject of 
 this sketch, have been permitted to view ere called 
 away to their rest. 
 
 Hon. Clarence Vanderburgh Benson was 
 born at Louden, Iowa, Sept. 27th, 1868. His parents 
 came to Golden, Colorado, in 1870, and in 1877 the 
 family removed to Loveland, Colorado, residing on 
 
 [349] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 a farm, where he grew to manhood. He was grad- 
 uated from the Colorado Agricultural college in 
 1890, receiving the degree of B. S. He entered the 
 law department of the University of Michigan, at 
 Ann Arbor, graduating in 1892 with the degree of 
 LL. B. He also did post-graduate work and the 
 degree of M. S. was conferred upon him by the 
 Colorado Agricultural college. Soon after receiv- 
 
 HON. CLARE>rCE VANDERBURGH BENSON 
 
 ing his university degree he entered upon the prac- 
 tice of law- at Tort "Collins, Colorado; later he 
 opened an offtceat Loveland, Colorado. On Nov. 
 29th, 1893, hr was married to Miss Lucy Bell of 
 Chester, New Hampshire, granddaughter of Samuel 
 Bell, formerly -governor and United States senator 
 of that state. She is' also a graduate of the Colo- 
 rado Agricultural college. He was active in public 
 affairs at Laveland; was elected city attorney, and 
 re-elected for a - second term ; ■ also served as a 
 member of the city council; held the position of 
 cashier of the Bank of Loveland and was a mem- 
 ber of the board of directors. He was a member 
 of the board of education at Loveland for eight 
 years; was president of the board at the time he 
 resigned to enter upon his duties as Judge of the 
 [350] 
 
 county court of Larimer county, to which position 
 he was elected in the fall of 1904. The excellent 
 record which Judge Benson made while on the 
 bench gained him the high esteem of his fellow citi- 
 zens, and made him a host of friends. For a num- 
 ber of years Judge Benson has been prominent in 
 the affairs of the Pacific jurisdiction. Woodmen of 
 the World. He was elected a delegate to the Head 
 Camp session, held in San Francisco in 1898, and 
 was re-elected a delegate to the session held in Salt 
 Lake City in 1900, where he was elected a mem- 
 ber of the board of head managers, and was also 
 chosen chairman of the finance committee. He was 
 re-elected to these positions at the ! Seattle Head 
 Camp session in 1907. Upon the vacancy occurrj'ng 
 in November of that year in the ofKce of head clerk, 
 by the death of the former head clerk, his associate 
 officials urged him to accept the appointment ten- 
 dered him, for his trained legal ability and thdr- 
 ough familiarity with the biisiness of this great 
 order,- ahd its large investments, -especially fitted 
 him for, this position of high responsibility. - In the 
 fall of 1908 he was nominated by the republican 
 state, convention, for the office of lieutenarlt gov- 
 ernor. Judge Benson is a member of the board" of 
 directors of the Loveland National bank. ' In" his 
 fraternal affiliations he is a 32nd degree ' Mason, a 
 Shriner, an Elk and a member of the -Knights of 
 Pythias. 
 
 Myron H. Akin, an ex-mayor of Fort Collins 
 and one of the city's leading citizens who, for thirty 
 years has been a prominent factor in the exploita- 
 tion and development of the agricultural, stock- 
 growing and stock-feeding industries of Larimer 
 county, was born in Lockport, Illinois, where he 
 received his education. He was the second son in 
 order of birth of Henry and Eunice (Harris) Akin, 
 both of whom were natives of the state of New 
 York. Henry Akin, the father, was born Aug. 
 20th, 1819, in the old historic Hill house at Johns- 
 town, New York, and was cotemporary with Eliza- 
 beth Cady Stanton with whom he went to school. 
 In 1842 he married Eunice Harris, who was born at 
 Pine Plains, Dutchess county. New York, in 1823. 
 Six sons, Henry, a railroad superintendent at Hous- 
 ton, Texas; Myron H., Harris, A. I. Akin, and 
 William B. Akin of Fort Collins, Colorado, and 
 John H. Akin of Houston, Texas, were born of the 
 union. Mr. Akin, senior, came with the -younger 
 members of his family from Illinois to Fort Collins 
 in 1879, and settled on a tract of raw land situated 
 three miles southwest of Fort Collins. He was a 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 thorough farmer, and with the help of his sons sub- 
 dued the soil and brought his farm under a high and 
 profitable state of cultivation. His wife died in 
 February, 1896, and he followed her to the grave in 
 1904. The subject of this sketch came from Illi- 
 
 MYRON H. AKIN 
 
 nois to Fort Collins in 1881 and spent three years 
 on his father's farm. He then became associated 
 with Jesse Harris in the buying and selling of live 
 stock, a line of business he successfully followed for 
 five years. On June 5 th, 1890, he was united in 
 marriage with Elizabeth D. Mellinger in Fort Col- 
 lins. She was born in Seven Mile, Ohio, in 1859, 
 and was educated in Fort Wayne, Indiana. After 
 leaving school she taught for six years in the 
 graded schools of Fort Wayne, coming from there 
 to Fort Collins in 1884. Here she was employed 
 as a grade teacher in the public schools for seven 
 years previous to her marriage, and has since 
 served fourteen years on the board of education. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Akin have three children, a son and 
 two daughters, and their names are Eunice Harris, 
 Wayne Mellinger and Julia Asenath, all at home. 
 Miss Eunice is a graduate of the Fort Collins High 
 school and is a talented musician and organist at the 
 
 Presbyterian church. Wayne and Julia are still in 
 school. Our subject was one of the organizers of 
 the Akin Live Stock company and was president of 
 the company for three years. This company owned 
 a large tract of land northwest of Fort Collins and 
 did an extensive business for several years in the 
 raising and buying and selling of live stock and in 
 the feeding of cattle and sheep for market. Mr. 
 Akin was also one of the promoters and organizers 
 of the Laramie-Poudre Reservoirs & Irrigation 
 company, now engaged in constructing one of the 
 largest and most important irrigation projects in- 
 augurated in northern Colorado, and has been a 
 director of the company. He served his ward, the 
 Fifth, as a member of the Fort Collins city council 
 from 1908 to 1909, and was then elected ipayor of 
 the city, a position he filled with conspicuous ability 
 for two years. He resides in a beautiful "home at 
 1008 Remington street. ' ' 
 
 John S. Cusack^ cashier of the First' National 
 bank of Wellington, Colorado, is a native of Ne- 
 braska, born Nov. 2nd, 1879, at North" Bend, 
 Dodge county,' that state. He received the rudi- 
 ments of an education in the public schools of his 
 native town and completed his' school work at Moh- 
 
 JOHN S. CUSACK 
 
 mouth, Illinois. After leaving school he was em- 
 ployed by the Standard Beet Sugar company for two 
 years and then opened and conducted a bank at 
 Ames, Nebraska, until June, 1905, when he came 
 
 [351] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 to Larimer county to accept the position he now 
 holds with the Wellington bank. Mr. Cusack was 
 united in marriage with Mary A. Wilson on June 
 20th, 1906, and they have one child, named John 
 Charles Cusack. Besides being an excellent busi- 
 ness man and banker, Mr. Cusack is one of the most 
 prominent citizens of Wellington, and 
 takes deep interest in and an active part 
 in the public affairs of the town. He is 
 loyal to the town and believes, and 
 gives reasons for his faith, that Welling- 
 ton is destined to become one of the 
 most important business points in Lari- 
 mer county. Our subject's father, Chris- 
 topher Cusack, was born in Guelph, 
 Canada, of Irish descent. His mother, 
 Eliza (Scott) Cusack, is a native of 
 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mr. Cusack 
 is a Master Mason, an Odd Fellow, 
 and a member of the B. P. O. Elks. 
 
 AiNswoRTH Emery Blount was 
 born at Brainard, East Tennessee, Feb. 
 6th, 1832. His parents were from New 
 England and went south as missionaries 
 to the Cherokee Indians. He was edu- 
 cated at Dartmouth college (class of 
 1859), and chose teaching as his pro- 
 fession. During the Civil war he saw 
 active service as a captain in the First 
 East Tennessee cavalry under Col. 
 'Tighting Jim" Brownlow. He was 
 also associated with "Parson" Brown- 
 low in the publication of his abolition 
 paper, and when driyen out of Ten- 
 nessee went to Galesburg, Illinois, where 
 the publication was continued. After 
 the close of the war he was postmaster 
 under President Grant at Cleveland, 
 East Tennessee, for eight years. During 
 this time he owned a farm near Cleve- 
 land, where he carried on his experi- 
 ments in improving corn which brought him to the 
 notice of the Department of Agriculture and all the 
 leading agricultural publications of the country. 
 Professor Blount came to the Colorado State Agri- 
 cultural college in 1878, as its first professor of agri- 
 culture. His work of fourteen years in experiment- 
 ing with and improving wheat and other grains was 
 of immense value and gave to the institution and 
 himself a world-wide fam.e. In 1890 he went to 
 Las Cruces, New Mexico, where he spent several 
 years in the same line of work. Professor Blount 
 
 [352] 
 
 was married at Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, in 
 1865, to Susan P. Hall (sister of Dr. Henry F. 
 and Edward H. Hall). Professor Blount and his 
 wife have lived in recent years at Wellesley, Massa- 
 chusetts. They have two daughters. Miss Nettie, 
 a teacher at Wellesley, and Carrie, wife of George 
 
 SOLOMON BATTERSON 
 
 H. Bowles, M. D., of Boston, Massachusetts. Pro- 
 fessor Blount died at Wellesley on Feb. 21st, 1911, 
 aged 79 years. 
 
 Solomon Batterson was born Aug. 26th, 
 1830, in the town of Hume, Alleghany county, 
 New York, his parents being Henry and Hannah 
 (GoiiE) Batterson. His ancestors moved from 
 Pennsylvania and settled in New York state, where 
 his father followed farming. From there he moved 
 to Cleveland, Ohio; thence, twelve years later to 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Chicago. Shortly afterwards the family settled in 
 Cass county, Illinois, moving later to Chatfield, 
 Minnesota, where the father died. Our subject at- 
 tended the public schools in Cleveland, Ohio, and 
 when 14 years of age hired out to work on a farm 
 and was thus employed for eight years. Mr. Bat- 
 terson was married in Decorah, Iowa, to Mary L. 
 Fassett, who was born in Alleghany county, New 
 
 MRS. SOLOMON BATTERSON 
 
 York. After devoting eight years to farming in 
 Steele county, Minnesota, he moved to Clear Lake, 
 Iowa, where he carried on a rented farm for three 
 years. In 1870 he came to Colorado with his team 
 and cattle, driving through from Iowa. The fam- 
 ily had started for California, but on reaching the 
 Cache la Poudre valley they were so well pleased 
 with the country that they decided to remain in 
 Larimer county. They went to a point ten miles 
 west of Livermore in August and homesteaded 160 
 acres and later pre-empted another 160 acres ad- 
 joining, which gave him 320 acres of meadow and 
 pasture land. He subsequently purchased two ad- 
 ditional quarter sections, making him 640 acres 
 of land. He still owns the property and lived on it 
 for about 35 years, amassing a comfortable fortune 
 
 in the cattle business. About eight years ago he 
 sold off his cattle, leased his ranch and he and his 
 wife moved to Fort Collins, where Mrs. Batterson 
 died in 1910. Three children were born to Mr. 
 and Mrs. Batterson, but only one, Mrs. Mina Tib- 
 bitts of Livermore, survives. The youngest, a 
 daughter, died in 1878, and the only son, William, 
 passed away in 1908. 
 
 Hon. John C. Abbott was born Jan. 20th, 
 1841, in Lockport, Will county, Illinois, and reared 
 on a farm. He received his education at Batavia and 
 Joliet in the state of his nativity, and at the college 
 in Hillsdale, Michigan, graduating from that insti- 
 tution. On Nov. 26th, 1862, he was joined in 
 marriage with Emily Wright at Morris, Illinois. 
 Mrs. Abbott was born Aug. 27th, 1840. She was 
 educated in the public schools, completing her 
 studies at Northwestern college. Two sons and 
 a daughter were born of the union, but only the 
 sons, Frank D. and Albert D., are living, the 
 daughter dying at the age of three years. For 
 eight years after the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. 
 Abbott he carried on his father's farm in Will 
 county, Illinois, and in 1870 he came to Colorado 
 with the Union colony of Greeley, his family fol- 
 lowing him three months later. The family re- 
 mained in Greeley until 1872, when he located on 
 a tract of wild land in Larimer county, bordering 
 the line between Larimer and Weld counties. This 
 he improved and converted into a valuable farm, 
 on which he lived until 1881, when he moved his 
 family to Fort Collins, where it has since resided. 
 Mr. Abbott early began to take an active part in 
 the development of the agricultural resources of 
 the Cache la Poudre valley, and was particularly 
 interested in the promotion and construction of irri- 
 gating canals and ditches. In company with Ben- 
 jamin H. Eaton, who later become governor of 
 Colorado, they built the Lake canal ditch, the Lari- 
 mer county No. 2 canal, and was associate con- 
 tractor in the construction of the Pleasant Valley 
 & Lake canal in 1879-80. All of these were Lari- 
 mer county enterprises. After moving to Fort Col- 
 lins Mr. Abbott engaged in the mercantile business 
 with Charles W. Ramer, their store standing on 
 the ground now occupied by the First National 
 bank building. He remained thus engaged until he 
 was elected Auditor of State in November, 1882, 
 moving soon afterwards to Denver to enter upon 
 his official duties. After completing the two years' 
 term as State Auditor, he moved his family back 
 to Fort Collins and engaged in the real estate, in- 
 
 [353] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 surance and loan business. For several years be- 
 fore his death, which occurred on Jan. 22nd, 1909, 
 Mr. Abbott suffered from creeping paralysis, which 
 unfitted him for active business pursuits of any 
 kind, and he was, perforce, compelled to retire. 
 Until stricken with the disease which finally re- 
 sulted in his death, he was one of the most active 
 of men and a broad-minded, whole-souled, genial 
 
 HON. JOHN C. ABBOTT 
 
 gentleman. He was optimistic regarding the fu- 
 ture of the Cache la Poudre valley, and in the pio- 
 neer days predicted what has since come to pass re- 
 specting the growth and importance of his chosen 
 home, and was himself a prominent factor in pro- 
 moting and aiding in its upbuilding. He was one 
 of the pioneer farmers and business men of the 
 Cache la Poudre valley, and did his part and did it 
 well, too, to subdue the wilderness and make it 
 what it is today. His widow and two sons are 
 still living, the eldest, Frank D Abbott, being a 
 member of the Fort Collins Abstract company. 
 Previous to his connection with that company he 
 had served the county two terms, or four years, as 
 County Clerk and Recorder, and was also a dep- 
 uty in that office for four years. The other son, 
 [354] 
 
 Albert D. Abbott, is engaged in the real estate, 
 loan and insurance business. Mrs. Abbott, widow 
 of our subject, is a lady of fine literary attainments 
 and has been a welcome contributor to the local 
 press for many years. She is now past three- 
 score and ten, and is only waiting for the summons 
 to join her companion on the other side. 
 
 Martin Calloway was born on a farm, Dec. 
 20th, 1846, in Clinton county, Indiana. He re- 
 ceived his education in the public schools of his na- 
 tive county. His parents both died within four 
 months of each other, leaving him to care for him- 
 self at six years of age. When 19 years of age he 
 enlisted, on Feb. 22nd, 1865, in Company F, 150th 
 regiment of Indiana Volunteers, serving in the ranks 
 until the close of the Civil war. On Jan. 7th, 1868, 
 he married Mary Hackerd and in April, 1869, he 
 and his wife came to Larimer county and located on 
 a ranch in Boxelder canon. This ranch is now 
 owned by the Greenacre Brothers. Like all new- 
 
 MARTIN CALLOWAY 
 
 comers on the border, Mr. and Mrs. Calloway suf- 
 fered many hardships, passed through privations, 
 and endured many tribulations incident to pioneer 
 life. Mr. Calloway cut hay and hauled it with an 
 
^u^^ 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 ox team to Cheyenne, exchanging it for household 
 supplies and cash, meanwhile fencing, ditching and 
 otherwise improving his ranch. The Indian 
 troubles on the border were practically at an end, 
 but life on a lonely ranch in the hills, many miles 
 from neighbors, is not like living in a city with every 
 convenience at hand and surrounded by good friends 
 and kind neighbors. Along in the 70's he engaged 
 in sheep raising and wool growing which was then 
 a profitable business. Mr. Calloway was taken 
 sick with pneumonia in January, 1879, and died on 
 the 7th of that month at his home, leaving his wife 
 and two young daughters to face the vicissitudes of 
 life without his protecting care. The daughters are 
 named Clara, now married and living in Wyoming, 
 and Emma, who is at home with her mother in Fort 
 Collins. 
 
 Charles B. Andrews. — Born on Aug. 6th, 
 1854, in Alleghany City, Pennsylvania; died on 
 Nov. 17th, 1905, in Fort Collins, Colorado. He 
 was a son of Col. James Andrews, for many years 
 a successful civil engineer and railroad contractor 
 and who, associated with Captain Eads, built the 
 famous bridge over the Mississippi river at St. 
 Louis, later assisting in the construction of the jet- 
 ties at the mouth of that stream. Our subject laid 
 the foundation for an education in the public 
 schools of his native city, subsequently building 
 thereon at the Western University of Pennsylvania 
 at Pittsburg. Failing health forced him to aban- 
 don his studies before completing the regular 
 course and to seek a more genial climate. He was 
 afflicted with asthma and, hoping to get relief from 
 his sufferings, he went to Florida and then to 
 California. He passed through Denver in 1871, 
 en route to California, returning from the Pacific 
 coast the following year to Colorado, locating in 
 Fort Collins, which was thereafter his home. Here 
 he found the much sought for relief and was com- 
 paratively free from suffering for nearly thirty 
 years. He had not lived in Colorado many months 
 before he embarked in the cattle business and the 
 venture proved successful, financially. He was as- 
 sociated with the late Abner Loomis for several 
 years in buying, raising and selling of cattle. The 
 Loomis & Andrews range was near Casper, Wyom- 
 ing, for a time and then on the Belle Fourche, 
 South Dakota. They sold their herds in 1882 for 
 $127,000 and retired from the cattle business. Mr. 
 Andrews then invested in farm lands in the Cache 
 la Poudre valley and in city property in Fort Collins. 
 Besides being an extensive land owner, he was a 
 
 stockholder and director of the • Poudre Valley 
 bank, now the Poudre Valley National bank, and 
 was vice-president of that institution when he died. 
 In March, 1881, Mr. Andrews was joined in mar- 
 riage with Julia Henderson, daughter of Mr. and 
 Mrs. John W. Henderson. One child, a son, 
 James H. Andrews, a graduate of the Colorado 
 Agricultural college, and now a civil engineer by 
 profession, was born of the union. Mrs. Andrews 
 and her son still make their home in Fort Collins, 
 though they have large ranches and stock interests 
 in the mountains near Livermore, where they 
 spend most of the summer each year. Mr. An- 
 drews was a lovable character. Simple in habits, 
 unaffected in manner, democratic in thought and 
 actions and a very genial gentleman. He meas- 
 ured men by the standard of their mental and moral 
 worth, and not by their bank accourits. There was 
 not a false note in his make-up to mar the harmony 
 of a well-balanced man in spirit and he lived an 
 ideal life, notwithstanding his affliction. Long a 
 sufferer from asthma he was debarred from pur- 
 suits that required the exercises of physical 
 strength, yet he went about the work that he 
 could do best in a quiet, orderly manner, accom- 
 plishing results that surprised those who knew 
 how badly he was handicapped. He was a man 
 who at all times and under all circumstances com- 
 manded the confidence and esteem of his fellow- 
 men. His uprightness and integrity were above 
 suspicion, and in all the relations of life he was 
 the same modest, genial and companionable ^gentle- 
 man and model citizen. In 1902 he had a beautiful 
 home, one of the finest in Fort Collins, erected on 
 Canon avenue, for himself and family, but did not 
 live long afterwards to enjoy it, so cruel and in- 
 consistent is the irony of fate. This is still the 
 home of his surviving loved ones. 
 
 Eugene F. Brawner was born Aug. 30th, 
 1867, in Delavan, Illinois, of Scotch-Irish and Hol- 
 land-Dutch descent. He was educated in his native 
 state and came from there to Denver, Colorado, 
 with his father's family in 1888. On Oct. 20th. 
 1889, he was joined in marriage with Mary B. 
 Hastings, who can trace her ancestry back to Wil- 
 liam the Conqueror. She was born March 31st, 
 1871, at Three Rivers, Massachusetts, where she 
 was educated, coming to Colorado in 1888, and 
 settling in Denver, where she was married. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Brawner have six living children, Mrs. 
 Bessie Wadlin of California, Eugene H., Grace L., 
 Marguerite K., W. Howard, and Paul H. at 
 
 [355] 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 home. Our subject learned the bricklayer's trade 
 in his youth and is now one of the leading brick 
 contractors in the northern part of Colorado. He 
 moved with his family from Denver to Fort Col- 
 lins in 1894 and the last named city has since been 
 his home. Besides being the brick contractor for 
 several of the large public buildings and business 
 blocks of Fort Collins, he is often called to neigh- 
 
 EUGENE F. BRAWNER 
 
 boring towns and cities to construct important 
 buildings. At the present time he and his son, 
 Eugene, are constructing a large addition to the 
 Longmont High school building. Mr. Brawner is 
 a member of Fort Collins lodge No. 804, B. P. O. 
 Elks, and also of several other fraternal orders. 
 Besides being a first-class brick-layer, he is a crack 
 shot with a rifle and has taken part in several of the 
 state shooting tournaments. 
 
 Ralph Bosworth.— This young business man 
 was born in Fort Collins Sept. 18th, 1877. He 
 was educated here and has made this city his home. 
 He was married to Daisy Welch in 1903. Their 
 home has been made doubly happy by the welcome 
 visits of the stork. Three little ones were born to 
 them, two of whom are living, a little girl, Mary 
 
 [356] 
 
 Lucille, and a little boy, Robert Daryl. Mr. Bos- 
 worth has been engaged for many years in the 
 plumbing business. He, like many another young 
 business man, is piloting his craft by the compass 
 of rugged honesty, content to anchor in the harbor 
 of success through the open sea of fair dealing.. 
 
 Harris Akin was the third son of Mr. and 
 Mrs. Henry Akin. He was born on his father's 
 farm in Will county, Illinois, near Lockport, on 
 July 7th, 1859. He was a member of the first 
 graduating class of the Hoopeston (Illinois) High 
 school. Mr. Akin came to Fort Collins with his 
 parents on Dec. 12th, 1879, and in 1881 and 1882 
 he attended the State university at Boulder. On 
 Jan. 7th, 1885, he and Laura E. Stickle were 
 united in marriage at Denver. Mrs. Akin is a 
 native of Colorado. She was born near Golden, on 
 May 23rd, 1862. Three children were born to 
 Mr. and Mrs. Akin, Victor H., Helen, and How- 
 ard. Mr. Akin has made Larimer county his 
 home since he first arrived. In 1897 he located on 
 a farm in the Boxelder valley, seven miles northeast 
 of Fort Collins, and there he has a comfortable 
 home, surrounded by neighbors who esteem him 
 and his estimable wife. 
 
 O. F. Beier. — Many of the residents of Colo- 
 rado came to the state in early days in what was 
 then called prairie schooners; very few have made 
 the trip as Mr. Beier has done in a modern, up-to- 
 date automobile. He motored from Detroit in the 
 fall of 1908, making the trip in 19 days. Mr. 
 Beier was born in St. Clair county, Michigan, 
 Dec. 19th, 1882. He was educated at New Haven 
 and Romeo in that state, and was married to Edith 
 Tweedie, May 16th, 1907. A bright little boy, 
 the joy of their lives, J. Kenneth, is the fruit of 
 their union. 
 
 A. E. Crocker. — Mr. Crocker came to Colorado 
 in July, 1866, when, following the close of the Civil 
 war, the territory began taking on new growth, and 
 he was personally acquainted with many of the men, 
 governors, judges, and other representative citizens 
 who figured largely in public affairs at that and 
 subsequent periods. He was born Oct. 2nd, 1846, 
 in Burlington, Vermont, receiving his education in 
 the common schools of his native state and at the 
 Rockford, Illinois, High school. He enlisted in the; 
 Eighth Illinois Volunteer cavalry, under Colonel 
 Farnsworth, and served three years in the war for 
 the preservation of the Union. He came to Colo- 
 rado soon after being mustered out of the service; 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY^ 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 spent 18 years in Denver, Boulder and other parts 
 of the state and came to Fort Collins in 1884. He 
 married Martha Stewart, daughter of A. T. Stew- 
 art, a prominent Boulder county coal miner, in 
 1881, at Camfield. Two sons, James Arthur of 
 Fort Collins and Frank B. of Salt Lake City were 
 born of this union. While in the military service 
 during the Civil war his regiment participated in 
 
 A. E. CROCKER 
 
 most of the important battles fought by the army of 
 the Potomac, including the Wilderness, Cold Har- 
 bor, Antietam, Gettysburg, Chancellorsville and 
 Fredericksburg. Soon after locating in Fort Col- 
 lins Mr. Crocker entered Judge Jefferson Mc- 
 Anelly's law ofBce and began the study of law and 
 was admitted to the bar in 1893. Since then he 
 has been deputy sheriff, two years; constable, ten 
 years; truant officer and local agent of the Humane 
 society. He is a member of George H. Thomas 
 Post No. 7, Grand Army of the Republic, and is 
 the present senior vice-commander of the post; is a 
 republican in politics and has served his party as 
 chairman of the First ward committee for twelve 
 years. Mr. Crocker is a strong advocate of temper- 
 ance and neither uses liquor nor tobacco in any 
 
 form. Through prudence and careful management 
 he has acquired considerable property in Fort Col- 
 lins, and is looked upon as a useful and valuable 
 citizen. 
 
 Philemon P. Black. — The death of this esti- 
 mable gentleman and Cache la Poudre pioneer, 
 which occurred Nov. 2nd, 1901, removed from life 
 one of the county's most esteemed farmer citizens. 
 Mr. Black was a native of Chautauqua county. 
 New York, born June 17th, 1825. He came to the 
 Cache la Poudre valley in 1874 and located on a 
 tract of wild land three miles north of Fort Collins 
 and at once began to improve and make a farm and 
 a home for himself and family. One of his first 
 notable efforts was the planting of an orchard, and 
 it may be truly said of him that he was foremost 
 among the pioneers to demonstrate that fruit could 
 be successfully grown hpre. By reason of his suc- 
 cess many others were induced to plant orchards in 
 what has since proved to be one of the best fruit 
 regions in Colorado. He left a widow and five 
 grown children. His companion and the mother 
 of his children rejoined him in the "land of the 
 leal" in 1907, but the children are, save one, still 
 living, though widely scattered from the old home. 
 
 Robert J. Andrews. — Nearly a third of a 
 century has passed since Mr. Andrews made Fort 
 Collins his home. He first came to this state in 
 1879. He spent ten years of his life in Wyoming, 
 where the zephyrs carry pebbles all the year around. 
 Mr. Andrews was born in Allegheny City, Penn- 
 sylvania, in 1863. He was educated in his home 
 town and at Andover, Massachusetts. He was 
 married April 11th, 1899, to Katherine Kelley. 
 Mr. Andrews has made many investments in dif- 
 ferent enterprises since coming to the West, and 
 his capital has entered largely into the develop- 
 ment of the country. 
 
 Capt. George E. Buss. — Born, Oct. 14th, 
 1829, in the state of Massachusetts; died, April 7th, 
 1908, in Fort Collins, Colorado, in the 79th year 
 of his age. At the age of 22 Mr. Buss moved to 
 the state of New York, and on April 25th, 1854, 
 married Frances A. Butts of Booneville, New York. 
 One child, now Mrs. Varah Armstrong, was born 
 of the union. Two days after President Lincoln 
 issued a proclamation calling for 75,000 volunteers 
 to put down the southern rebellion, Mr. Buss en- 
 listed as a private in the 14th regiment of New 
 York Volunteer infantry, and was immediately pro- 
 moted and made a sergeant of his company; later 
 
 [357] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 given a second lieutenant's commission. During the 
 first two years of the Civil war he participated in 
 the following battles: Hanover Court House, May 
 12th, 1862; Mechanicsville, June 26th, 1862; 
 Gaines' Mill, June 27th, 1862; Malvern Hill, July 
 1st, 1862; Second Bull Run, Aug. 28th, 1862; An- 
 
 CAPT. GEORGE E. BUSS 
 
 tietam, Sept. 17th, 1862; Chancellorsville, May 
 3rd, 1863. In November and December, 1863, he 
 was on detached service, recruiting for the 21st New 
 York Volunteer cavalry at Boonsville, New York, 
 and in January, 1864, he joined that regiment at 
 Hall's Mill, Virginia, having been mustered in for 
 three years, or during the war. For distinguished 
 bravery on the battle-field he was commissioned a 
 first lieutenant. While in the cavalry service he 
 took part in the Wilson's Run raid and also in the 
 battles at Piedmont, Winchester, Rood's Hill and 
 a number of skirmishes. His term of enlistment not 
 having expired at the close of the war, he was sent 
 with his regiment to Camp Collins, to assist in 
 keeping the Indians in check and protecting the 
 Overland stage, the emigrant trains and the settlers. 
 He arrived at Camp Collins in August, 1865, where 
 he remained until June, 1866, when his regiment 
 [3S8] 
 
 was mustered out in Denver, and he was given the 
 brevet rank of captain. Among the well-known of- 
 ficers of his regiment who remained to become citi- 
 zens of Larimer county were Capt. N. H. Mel- 
 drum, Lieut. John H. Mandeville, Lieut. Fred 
 Wallace, and himself. Only two of the quartette 
 are npw living. Captain Meldrum and Lieutenant 
 Mandeville. Lieutenant Wallace died in 1878, and 
 the subject of this sketch in 1908. On being mus- 
 tered out of the service, Captain Buss purchased a 
 team and wagon and started east after his family, 
 having already purchased a tract of land near the 
 present village of Timnath. He returned to Colo- 
 rado with his wife and child in September, 1866, 
 and at once began to improve and develop his farm, 
 joining with F. W. Sherwood and others in taking 
 out an irrigating ditch from which to water his land. 
 From that time until he died, our' subject had been a 
 continuous resident of Larimer county, and was a 
 
 MRS. GEORGE E. BUSS 
 
 loyal, public-spirited and trustworthy citizen. His 
 first wife died in 1882, and in 1884 he married 
 Hattie A. Treat of Sharon, Wisconsin, who sur- 
 vives him. In 1890 Captain Buss sold his farm and 
 moved to Fort Collins, which is still the home of 
 
FRED R. BAKER 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Mrs. Buss. For several years previous to his death 
 Captain Buss was debarred by physical infirmities 
 from active participation in public affairs, but 
 through all his w^eakness and suffering he was the 
 same brave soldier that he was on the battle-field, 
 the same true-hearted, loyal gentleman, friend and 
 neighbor, and all through life held to the same 
 hopeful, trusting spirit which characterize all of 
 Nature's noblemen. He was a cherished member 
 of the George H. Thomas Post No. 7, Grand Army 
 of the Republic, which order conducted his burial 
 services in Grandview cemetery. 
 
 Frederick R. Baker was born in Northhamp- 
 tonshire, England, Feb. 18th, 1844. His father, 
 Richard Baker, an English farmer, brought his fam- 
 ily to America in 1852, when the subject of this 
 sketch was eight years of age, and settled in Loraine 
 county, Ohio, near the town of Elyria, where he 
 engaged in farming. Amid the surroundings of 
 farm life the lad grew to manhood's estate and was 
 educated. In 1863 Mr. Baker enlisted in the Union 
 Light Guard, Seventh Independent troop, Ohio 
 Volunteer cavalry, famous as the Black Horse 
 squadron that served as escort to Abraham Lincoln. 
 This company was raised by Governor Todd, Ohio's 
 noted war governor, for special service, but subse- 
 quently enlisted as a regular three-year volunteer, at 
 Columbus, Ohio. Mr. Baker was engaged on duty 
 in Washington, D. C, carrying dispatches of great 
 importance to and from the President to the War 
 department and the army during the exciting times 
 of the great Civil war. For a time he did duty for 
 Col Lafayette C. Baker, chief of the secret service. 
 With his company he participated in the grand re- 
 view at Washington, and in September, 1865, was 
 mustered out of the service with an honorable dis- 
 charge. He cherished many pleasant recollections 
 of President Lincoln, with whom he became well 
 acquainted, and considered him not only the great- 
 est of statesmen, but the simplest and kindest of 
 men he ever knew. Returning to his home in Ohio 
 at the close of the war, Mr. Baker engaged in farm- 
 ing until 1873, when he came to the Cache la Pou- 
 dre valley and took up a homestead one-half mile 
 southeast of Fort Collins, on which his only son, 
 Edward R. Baker, now resides. In December, 1876^ 
 Mr. Baker returned to Ohio and was married to 
 Elenora S. Jackson of Amherst. Mr. Baker was a 
 successful farmer and stock grower, taking special 
 pride in fine cattle. He was one of the first to in- 
 troduce thoroughbred Shorthorn cattle into Lari- 
 mer county, which he bred and raised with great 
 
 success. He retired from the farm in 1890 and 
 moved to Fort Collins, erecting a handsome home at 
 the corner of Matthews and Mulberry streets, 
 where he resided until his death. Mr. Baker was 
 chosen through the partiality of the people to many 
 important public positions of trust and responsibil- 
 ity, discharging the duties of which with ability, 
 faithfulness and fidelity. He served one term, from 
 1890 to 1893, as a member of the board of County 
 Commissioners and was chairman of the board dur- 
 ing the last year of his service upon it ; was a direc- 
 tor in the First National bank for twenty years, an 
 office he held till bis death, a testimonial of the con- 
 fidence placed in him by his fellow citizens and co- 
 workers. He was associated with others in promot- 
 ing the Larimer County Fair association, which 
 years ago gave to Colorado its best county fairs, 
 equal to the state fair at Pueblo. In the spring of 
 1895 Mr. Baker was elected mayor of Fort Col- 
 lins and was thrice re-elected to the position, giving 
 the city each of the four terms a clean, honorable 
 and satisfactory administration, during which time 
 the City park was conceived and created, though 
 Mayor Baker met with strong opposition. At that 
 time Fort Collins owned but half of the square 
 now known as Lincoln park, and the mayor 
 wanted the city to purchase the other half. After 
 a protracted struggle, Mr. Baker, with the assist- 
 ance of those; iavorable to the project, succeeded in 
 his efforts, thereby obtaining for the public ample 
 room for recreation and pleasure purposes. He also 
 was instrumental in having the Carnegie library 
 building located in the park, thus making- it one of 
 the city's beauty spots. Mr. Baker was a charter 
 member of the Geo. H. Thomas Post No. 7, Grand 
 Army of the Republic, and served once as aide on 
 the staff of the department commander. He was a 
 trustee of the Presbyterian church for more than a 
 score of years, and president of its board for many 
 years. But one child was born to Mr. and Mrs. 
 Baker, Edward R. Baker, who, with his wife and 
 one child, reside on the home farm. The mother 
 occupies the home in Fort Collins. Frederick R. 
 Baker departed this life on May 2, 1906. His 
 whole life had been a busy one, and it can be truly 
 said of him that the world is better for his having 
 lived in it. 
 
 Merlin H. Aylesworth, only son of Dr. Bar- 
 ton O. and Georgia (Shores) Aylesworth, and one 
 of the rising young lawyers of Fort Collins, was 
 born July 19th, 1886, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He 
 obtained the rudiments of an education in the pub- 
 
 [359] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNT Y 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 lie schools, completing his studies at the Colorado 
 Agricultural college, the University of Colorado, 
 University of Wisconsin and the Denver univer- 
 sity, the last named institution conferring upon 
 him the degree of LL. B. He came from Iowa to 
 Denver, Colorado, with his parents in 1896 and 
 to Fort Collins in 1898, and the last named city 
 is still his home. Mr. Aylesworth was united in 
 
 MERLIN H. AYLESWORTH 
 
 marriage, Oct. 20th, 1909, with Blanche M. Par- 
 rett of Denver, and they have one child. Barton J. 
 Aylesworth. Our subject opened a law office in 
 Fort Collins in 1908 and began the practice of his 
 profession and is having excellent success. He is 
 attorney for the Commercial Bank & Trust Com- 
 pany, and local attorney for the Northern Colo- 
 rado Power Company. In October, 1910, he was 
 elected chairman of the Larimer County Republi- 
 can Central committee, which position he still 
 holds. He has been appointed county attorney and 
 will assume the duties of the office Aug. 1st, 1911. 
 He takes a lively interest in public affairs and is 
 active in promoting and advancing the welfare of 
 his chosen home. He is a member of the Larimer 
 County Bar association and has a high standing as 
 
 [360] 
 
 a lawyer and as a citizen. His father. Dr. Barton 
 O. Aylesworth, was president of the Colorado 
 Agricultural college from 1898 to 1909, when he 
 resigned to engage in other lines of work. 
 
 J. S. Bailey^ owner and publisher of the Ber- 
 thoud Bulletin, conducts an independent paper, ac- 
 knowledging no political boss, but giving facts as 
 he sees them. He was born near Janesville, Indi- 
 ana, Jan. 11th, 1857; was married to Emma Mc- 
 Creery July 22nd, 1884. To this union were born 
 four children, of whom two are living, J. W. and 
 Glen Bailey. He was educated at private schools 
 and the Kirksville State Normal in Missouri. He 
 came to Loveland in February, 1910, but is now 
 of Berthoud, and is a welcome addition to Lari- 
 mer county's progressive population. 
 
 Hon. Aaron S. Benson. — In this sketch we 
 shall endeavor to set forth in a limited number of 
 words some of the activities of one of Larimer 
 county's foremost and most loyal of citizens, a man 
 who has done a great deal by precept and example 
 to encourage and promote the development and up- 
 building of the varied industries of the county and 
 to advance the cause of education and civilization. 
 Indeed, we think it can be said without varying 
 fromthe truth that few men have ever lived in the 
 county who can justly be credited with having done 
 more in that direction than Aaron S. Benson. He 
 has built and assisted in building irrigating canals 
 and ditches, opened up and improved farms, encour- 
 aged fruit growing and stimulated the production 
 of field crops of greater value than had been the 
 rule theretofore and has been one of Loveland's 
 right hand men in advancing the material, social, 
 educational and the moral welfare of that city. As 
 president of the pioneer bank of Loveland for twen- 
 ty-seven years, he has been able to aid and assist 
 many public enterprises that have inured to the 
 growth of that city and has helped many a man to 
 his feet who was laboring under a stress of un- 
 toward financial circumstances and sent them on 
 their way rejoicing to prosperity. Mr. Benson 
 was born June 14th, 1837, in Monroe county. 
 New York, the son of Sherman and Jane (Shaw) 
 Benson. His boyhood was spent in his native state 
 and in the state of Iowa, whither his parents moved 
 when he was a child. In 1862 he went from Iowa 
 to Dutchess county. New York, for the purpose of 
 settling up his maternal grandfather's estate, return- 
 ing to his home in Louden, Iowa, in 1865. Here he 
 was engaged in the nursery business for several 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 years. Influenced by failing health he decided, in 
 1870, to try the effects of the climate of Colorado on 
 his ailment, asthma, and therefore came to Golden, 
 Jefferson county, where he spent seven years in the 
 nursery business in connection with market garden- 
 ing and fruit growing, regaining his health in the 
 meantime. In 1877 he moved to Larimer county, 
 for the purpose of constructing the Louden canal, 
 of which company he has since been either secretary 
 or president. At the same time he purchased and 
 has since improved farm lands and is the owner of 
 several farms in Larimer county, also of a fine resi- 
 dence in Loveland. In 1882 he became interested 
 in the Bank of Loveland (now the Loveland Na- 
 tional bank) and was elected president of its board 
 of directors in 1883, a position he held until Jan- 
 uary, 1911, when he declined to accept re-election 
 on account of failing health. On his retirement 
 from the presidency a committee was appointed 
 from among his colleagues in the directorate to draft 
 resolutions expressive of their sentiments on his re- 
 tirement, which reported for the stockholders the 
 following: "That the stockholders of the Love- 
 land National bank in acceding to the request of 
 Mr. A. S. Benson to be relieved of further duties 
 in the presidency and directorate of the bank ex- 
 press their deep regret at the necessity for the sev- 
 erance of these relations, and we take this action 
 only in deference to Mr. Benson's request most 
 positively expressed. That we recognize the past 
 success of the Bank of Loveland and the Loveland 
 National bank, its present success, as w€ll as other 
 enterprises with which Mr. Benson was so closely 
 identified, as in a large measure due to his breadth 
 of vision and the business integrity, energy and 
 faithfulness which he brought to bear in their man- 
 agement. That we sincerely hope the relief now 
 granted from these responsibilities may contribute 
 to Mr. Benson's health and comfort, and that as a 
 community we may enjoy his neighborly. Christian 
 fellowship and wise counsels. — ^W. H. McCreery, 
 F. N. B. Scott, W. H. McCormick, committee." 
 Mr. Benson's first wife, Eliza (Cleghorn) Benson, 
 died in 1862, leaving three children. Perry, Mary, 
 wife of J. A. Lewis, and Charles. In 1864 he was 
 united in marriage with Marion Vanderburgh of 
 New York. Four children have blessed this union, 
 Clarence V. Benson, ex-County Judge of Larimer 
 county and now head clerk of the Pacific jurisdic- 
 tion of the Woodmen of the World; Velma V., 
 wife of Alfred Beebe ; Franc V., wife of J. I. Lan- 
 ham, and Aaron V. Benson, cashier of the Love- 
 land National bank. The family is identified with 
 
 the Baptist church. Fraternally our subject is a 
 Master Mason and a member of the B. P. O. Elks. 
 Politically he is a republican. While a citizen of 
 Jefferson county, Mr. Benson was for three years 
 a member of the board of County Commissioners 
 of that county. Through his business methods, 
 county warrants advanced from fifty cents on the 
 dollar to par within a year and a half after he took 
 his seat on the board, with a lower tax rate. A 
 court house was built while he was on the board 
 without exceeding the estimated cost. From Jan- 
 uary, 1880, to January, 1883, he served Larimer 
 county as a member of its board of commissioners, 
 and in the fall of 1882 he was elected to represent 
 the county in the Fourth General assembly of Colo- 
 rado, which met in Denver in January, 1883. In 
 this capacity he introduced and secured the passage 
 and approval of an act appropriating funds for a 
 Mechanical Engineering department at the Colo- 
 rado Agriculural college; also an act securing to 
 that institution a perpetual 1-5 mill tax for its 
 support. In the fall of 1885 he was re-elected 
 County Commissioner and during his second term 
 the court house was built without the cost exceed- 
 ing the amount appropriated for the construction. 
 At one time Mr. Benson was a member of the 
 State Board of Agriculture, and has served 22 
 years altogether as school director since he came 
 to Colorado. He has always been a warm friend 
 of popular education and favors any plan whereby 
 the educational interests of the state may be pro- 
 moted and fostered. 
 
 Phillip Covington, though born at, or near, the 
 dawn of the Nineteenth century and living more 
 than half a score of years beyond the allotted period 
 of man, Phillip Covington's whole life was spent on 
 the frontier, being one of those sturdy men who 
 have ever acted as the advance guard of civilization 
 in beating back the savages and in subduing the 
 wilderness. Mr. Covington was born Dec. 21st, 
 1803, in Hannibal county. North Carolina. At the 
 age of five years his father's family moved to Ken- 
 tucky, then a new and sparsely settled region, where 
 young Phillip grew to manhood, receiving only such 
 educational advantages as were afforded in the dis- 
 trict schools of the period. He left the paternal 
 roof soon after attaining his majority and struck out 
 for the West, bringing up at St. Louis, Missouri, 
 then a straggling frontier town. Here, in 1827, he 
 engaged with the American Fur company to make 
 a trip to what is now known as the Green River 
 country in Wyoming, with Captain Sublette, the 
 
 [361] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 company's western agent. Eighty-four years ago 
 this little band of mountaineers and trappers, with 
 a long train of pack animals, loaded down with 
 goods to exchange with the Indians for furs, slowly 
 wended its way up the Cache la Poudre valley and 
 on through Virginia Dale and across the Laramie 
 Plains to one of the fur company's outposts on 
 Green river, where the cargo of trinkets was dis- 
 
 PHILLIP COVINGTON 
 
 charged. Captain Sublette and his party of pack- 
 ers returned to St. Louis in 1828, where the men 
 were paid off and discharged. The following year 
 Mr. Covington returned to Kentucky, where, 
 April 2, 1829, he was married. Shortly after the 
 wedding the young couple emigrated to northwest 
 Missouri, where they lived until 1875, when they 
 followed their children to Greeley, making their 
 home with their son, Marshall M. Covington. In 
 1878 they came to Larimer county and settled in 
 the Harmony district. In 1850 Mr. Covington 
 crossed the Plains to California, where he spent two 
 years at gold mining. He died April 6th, 1886, at 
 his son's home, aged nearly 83 years. 
 
 Hon. Jay Henry Bouton. — The life of Judge 
 Bouton has been one of active identification with 
 
 [362] 
 
 public affairs. Since coming to Fort Collins in 
 1872 he has been Secretary of the Colony, Town 
 Attorney, County Attorney, County Judge nine 
 years. Judge of the District Court six years. Presi- 
 dent of the Board of Education 18 years, and a city 
 alderman eight years, faithfully discharging the du- 
 ties of these various positions with strict fidelity and 
 fairness. He was also the candidate of the Pro- 
 hibition party in 1888 for Attorney General of 
 Colorado. Judge Bouton is a native of the Empire 
 state, born Dec. 28th, 1849, at Moravia, Cayuga 
 county, New York, and received his primary and 
 classical education in the public schools and academy 
 there and at Groton, Tompkins county. New 
 York. He began the study of law in the ofEce of 
 Wm. W. Hare, Groton, New York, finishing his 
 legal studies with Bouton & Chaplain, Cortland, 
 New York. He was admitted to the bar June 8th, 
 1870, at the general term of the Supreme court at 
 Binghamton, New York. He practiced law two 
 years in Cortland in partnership with George B. 
 Jones, District Attorney of Cortland county, and 
 then moved to Omaha., where he remained a few 
 months. In October, 1872, he came to Fort Col- 
 lins and opened an office for the practice of his pro- 
 fession. The principal object he had in view in 
 coming to Colorado at that time was to look after 
 and care for his invalid brother, Clark Bouton, 
 founder of the Standard, and County Superintend- 
 ent of schools, who died Oct. 25th, 1874, after a 
 valiant struggle to overcome asthma and rheuma- 
 tism. Judge Bouton traces his ancestry back to the 
 fifth century, when King Clovis ruled over the Visi- 
 goths. The ancient Bouton shield, or coat-of-arms, 
 had the following motto on a ground work oi 
 perpendicular lines : "De Gules a la Fasce d' Or," 
 which is old French and translators say implies, 
 "as fierce as a leopard when it attacks with its red 
 mouth." The French historian, speaking of the Bou- 
 tons, says that it is accorded to a noble ancestry 
 that a proclivity for patriotism, education and re- 
 ligion is seen in the race all down the ages. John 
 Bouton was a Huguenot who fled to England 
 during the existence of the great persecution, whence 
 he sailed for America in July, 1635, and landed at 
 Boston in December, 1635, and settled in Norwalk, 
 Connecticut. From him all the families of Boutons 
 or Boughtons in this country were descended. 
 Judge Bouton erected the first building put up in 
 what was called the "new town." This was in De- 
 cember, 1872, and it stood on North College ave- 
 nue, where the store occupied by Jesse Wood, the 
 bookseller. Opera house block stands. In this he had 
 
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HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 his office and kept bachelor's hall until his mother, 
 Sarah M. Bouton, came in April, 1873. While 
 serving as secretary of the colony he invested in 
 town lots and other property and has since realized 
 handsome returns from those investments. He was 
 appointed Town Attorney in 1873, County Attor- 
 ney in 1874, and in 1876 was first elected County 
 Judge, re-elected in 1879 and again in 1892. In 
 1894 he was elected Judge of the Eighth Judicial 
 district, composed of the counties of Boulder, Lari- 
 mer, Morgan and Weld, serving six years in that 
 capacity with distinguished ability. He served the 
 city of Fort Collins eight years as alderman from 
 the Second ward, and was a member of the city 
 council when the first system of water works was 
 built. For eighteen years in succession he was 
 President of the Board of Education and may justly 
 be called the Father of Fort Collins' present excel- 
 lent public school system. He introduced and estab- 
 lished the kindergarten in 1880, and it was the first 
 kindergarten opened west of St. Louis. In 1893 
 he secured the passage of an act by the legislature 
 making it a part of the public school system of 
 Colorado. The judge is a man of pronounced lit- 
 erary tastes and has the largest private library in 
 Larim.er county, and he is an enthusiast upon all 
 matters relating to education and school work. He 
 was the originator of and one of the owners and 
 builders of the Opera house block, the Bouton & 
 Crain block and has also built several residences in 
 Fort Collins, including the family home. On July 
 8th, 1876, Judge Bouton was married to Celeste 
 Nixon, who is a native of Baraboo, Wisconsin. 
 They have three living children, Mrs. Aureli S. 
 Crain, wife of L. D. Crain of the Bouton-Crain 
 Hardware company; Clark L. Bouton, a member 
 of the Bouton-Crain Hardware company, and Jay 
 Henry Bouton, Jr., who is at home. The family 
 has a beautiful home on North Sherwood street, 
 built in 1897, where good cheer, hospitality and 
 filial affection are immovably enshrined. Aside 
 from his official duties as a member of the Board of 
 Directors of the Public library. Judge Bouton is 
 now leading a retired life in close communion with 
 the thousands of volumes in his library, honored 
 and revered by a multitude of personal friends and 
 admirers. The judge is a Master Mason, a Royal 
 Arch Mason, a Knight Templar, and a member of 
 the Mystic Shrine and a 32nd degree Scottish Rite 
 Mason ; an Odd Fellow and a Knight of Pythias. 
 He was one of the founders of and a charter mem- 
 ber of Fort Collins lodge No. 19, I. O. of O. F. 
 
 Henry D. Calhoun was born in Beaver county, 
 Pennsylvania, April 13th, 1847, and spent his boy- 
 hood on a farm. He received his education in the 
 district and select schools, taking the final work 
 at Westminster college in his native state, where 
 he graduated in the classical course, June, 1570. 
 In the spring of 1871 he came to Colorado and 
 spent the winter of 1871-2 in Boulder county, and 
 
 HENRY D. CALHOUN 
 
 in the year of 1872-3 he was employed as principal 
 of schools in the city of Boulder. In 1875 he moved 
 to the Big Thompson valley, in Larimer county, 
 and commenced farming. On the 28th day of 
 May, 1884, he was married to Mattie Love, who 
 died on April 23rd, 1901. The only child of his 
 marriage was a son, Eph. J. Calhoun. Mr. Cal- 
 houn continued to reside upon his farm until 1886, 
 when he moved to Loveland, which place continues 
 to be his home. He was engaged for fifteen years 
 in the mercantile business in Loveland and did much 
 to promote the growth of the city. He married 
 Martha Strickler, as his second wife, on the 10th 
 day of November, 1903. He became an extensive 
 property holder, and the latter days of his life are 
 given up to its management. He is highly respected 
 
 [363] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 in the community and has been identified with many 
 enterprises undertaken to build up a model city. He 
 was a charter member of the Loveland United 
 Presbyterian church, organized in 1875 by Rev. W. 
 H. McCreery, and is still affiliated with the same. 
 His son, Eph. J. Calhoun, grew to manhood and 
 
 ALEXANDER BARRY 
 
 met his death on March 21st, 1910, caused from an 
 electric shock, leaving a widow and infant son, 
 named Henry Jay Calhoun. 
 
 Alexander Barry was a native of Colerain, 
 County Londonderry, Ireland, born in 1839, of 
 Scotch parents and the eldest of six children. He 
 came with his father's family from Ireland to the 
 United States in 1863. The father died the follow- 
 ing year in Philadelphia. Our subject was em- 
 ployed for five years in the Pennsylvania oil re- 
 
 [364] 
 
 gions, engaged in drilling oil wells under contracts. 
 At Walnut Bend, near Oil City, Pennsylvania, he 
 married Emma Thompson, daughter of W. N. 
 Thompson, who was born near Florence, Penn- 
 sylvania. After spending a year in Philadelphia, Mr. 
 and Mrs. Barry, in 1871, came to Fort Collins, 
 which is still the family home. Mr. 
 Barry bought of Joseph Mason 120 
 acres of land on the north side of the 
 Cache la Poudre river, adjoining Fort 
 Collins, which he improved, occupied 
 and cultivated until 1902, when he sold 
 the farm to the Great Western Sugar 
 company, and moved his family into the 
 city of Fort Collins. Fortune favored 
 him and he prospered almost from the 
 start. Along in the early 80's he bought 
 200 acres of land near Windsor, Weld 
 county, and also purchased a stock ranch 
 on the North Platte, Wyoming. He 
 was a broad-minded, generous-hearted 
 and public-spirited man and citizen. He 
 died Oct. 28th, 1905, at Little Rock, 
 Arkansas, while en route to Hot Springs 
 to take treatment for paralysis, leaving a 
 wife and eight children in good finan- 
 cial circumstances. The names of his 
 children are Mrs. Rachael Decker, Miss 
 May Barry, Mrs. Margaret Wolfer, 
 Robert Barry, Mrs. Clara Jennings, 
 Mrs. W. A. Harris, James Barry and 
 Mrs. Ruth Metcalf of Marrietta, Ohio. 
 Mrs. Barry and her daughter. May, a 
 graduate of the Fort Collins High 
 school, and the only one of the children 
 at home, have a beautiful residence on 
 South College avenue near the Agricul- 
 tural college. 
 
 Samuel H. Clammer. — It took Sam 
 Clammer just a score of years to rise 
 from the condition of a West Virginia 
 contractor's boy to that of a capitalist and 
 banker; from laborer to employer; from cotton 
 jeans to broadcloth; from poverty to affluence; 
 from an unlettered country lad to mayor of 
 the growing and prosperous city of Fort Collins. 
 And his upward steps were all taken in Colorado 
 with a cash capital of $5.00 to start with. But he 
 had what is better than money. He had ambition 
 to learn and to gain, courage to meet and overcome 
 obstacles, grit and perseverance to stick to it until he 
 had accomplished his object. Nevertheless, his is a 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 wonderful record of achievement. Mr. Clammer 
 was born on March 27th, 1874, at Smithville, 
 Ritchie county, West Virginia. He was one of a 
 large family of children, and his father, a poor 
 contractor of German descent, was often troubled 
 for means to feed and clothe his growing family. 
 Sam worked on his father's poverty-stricken acres 
 without school advantages and poorly dressed until 
 he was 1 7 years of age and then obtained his father's 
 consent to strike out for himself. He came direct to 
 Colorado and when he arrived at Eaton, Weld 
 county, in February, 1891, the clothes on his back 
 and $5.00 in money constituted his sole worldly 
 possessions. He secured employment on a farm and 
 worked hard, early and late, for $16 per month, 
 and three years later came to Larimer county. Here 
 also he worked on a farm, often putting in sixteen 
 and eighteen hours a day, until he had accumu- 
 lated a little money, which he invested in a saw- 
 mill at Black Mountain and lost it all, in addition 
 to a year's labor. Then he engaged in the livery 
 business, which he followed for a time ; then bought 
 a farm in the Harmony district, selling it a year 
 later to buy the George Wilson farm, situated under 
 the Larimer county canal. This he held a short 
 time and sold it for twice what he paid for it. From 
 this time on his progress upwards has been of a 
 meteoric character. Everything he touched seemed 
 to turn to money. One of his best deals was when 
 he bought the Poudre Valley Live Stock company's 
 property, including a large herd of cattle, running 
 into debt for a good big share of the purchase 
 money. This he sold four months later and cleaned 
 up a handsome profit in the deal. He has bought 
 and sold a number of other farms and still owns 
 several good tracts of cultivated land. He was one 
 of the promoters and builders of the Northern hotel, 
 which cost $100,000, and owns a controlling inter- 
 est in the property. He is a stockholder of the First 
 National Bank of Fort Collins, and is a director 
 and vice-president of the institution. He is also 
 interested in several other profitable enterprises. 
 He is liberal with his money; keeps it moving, 
 doing good. In April, 1905, Mr. Clammer was 
 elected mayor of Fort Collins and re-elected in 
 April, 1907, giving the city four years of faithful 
 and efficient service. At the close of his second term 
 as mayor he refused to accept the office again, but 
 the people were determined he should continue to 
 serve them, so they elected him a member of the 
 city council in 1909, which position he filled until 
 April, 1911. Notwithstanding his success and his 
 wealth, he is the same genial and approachable gen- 
 
 tleman that he was when he worked on a farm at 
 $16 a month, and is recognized as one of Fort Col- 
 lins' foremost, public-spirited and enterprising citi- 
 zens. On June 7th, 1899, Mr. Clammer married 
 Emma P. Garrett, an adopted daughter of the late 
 Rev. F. W. Garrett, and three children have been 
 born of the union, Willa, aged 10; Olin, aged 8; 
 and Burton, aged 6. Mrs. Clammer is a native of 
 Colorado, born at Caribou, Boulder county. 
 
 H. F. Brooks was born in Edwardsville, Illi- 
 nois, March 20th, 1847, and was educated there 
 and in St. Louis. He was married in Rochester, 
 Minnesota, in 1868, to Frances Carlows. They 
 have three sons, Ernest J., a resident of Washing- 
 ton; W. H., on a ranch near Fort Collins, and S. 
 S., who lives at home. Mr. Brooks came to Colo- 
 rado in 1881. In the early years of his life he fol- 
 lowed the trade of wagon-maker, but is now com- 
 fortably located on a fruit farm near Laporte. 
 
 W. B. Alford^ born in Buchanan county, Iowa, 
 Nov. 19th, 1870; received his education in the pub- 
 lic schools; came to Colorado in August, 1872, and 
 lived on his Grandfather Alford's farm, ten miles 
 west of Denver; came to Larimer county March 
 10th, 1886, and followed farming and stock rais- 
 ing; married May Benoy, March 17th, 1897, and 
 they have an only daughter, Flora Edith Alford. 
 
 Hon. George W. Bailey. — From a water-boy 
 in a coal mine, from a chore-boy on a farm, from 
 a Black Hills freighter, a cowboy on the Plains, 
 and from editor of a newspaper, the subject of this 
 sketch rose through regular gradations and by his 
 own unaided efforts, indomitable will and ambi- 
 tion to a seat on the Supreme Court bench of the 
 state of Colorado. This, in brief, is the life history 
 of Judge George W. Bailey, who died on April 
 15th, 1909, in Fort Collins, Colorado. Judge Bai- 
 ley was born March 8th, 1856, in St. Louis, Mis- 
 souri. The family moved to Illinois and when the 
 boy was nine years of age his father enlisted in the 
 Union army and part of the support of the family 
 fell upon George's shoulders, so that the opportun- 
 ities for obtaining an education were exceedingly 
 meagre. In 1873 the Bailey family came to Colo- 
 rado and settled in the Harmony district and for 
 three years our subject worked in the lumber woods, 
 then as freighter to the Black Hills, later riding the 
 range in Nebraska and South Dakota as a cowboy. 
 He returned to Fort Collins in 1882 and took up 
 the study of the law, which he pursued with great 
 
 [365] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 diligence until 1885, when he was admitted to 
 practice. While studying law he assisted in editing 
 the Loveland Reporter and in 1883 he went to 
 Grand Lake and founded the Prospector, which he 
 and his partner, John Smart, published about two 
 years. Here on April 17th, 1883, he married Belle 
 Jarbeau. Soon after being admitted to the bar he 
 
 
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 HON. GEORGE W. BAILEY 
 
 moved his family to Fort Collins and that city is 
 still the family home. Here he served four years 
 as City Attorney, five years as deputy District At- 
 torney and two years as County Judge. In Jan- 
 uary, 1905, he was appointed a Justice of the State 
 Supreme Court by Governor Peabody, a position 
 he occupied and honored until a few months before 
 his death. 
 
 Isaac C. Bradley^ the youngest of a family of 
 five children, was born Oct. 28th, 1878, near 
 Huntsville, Missouri, which was also the birth- 
 place of his father and mother. He received his 
 education in the public schools of Mexico, Mis- 
 souri, and after leaving school learned the printer's 
 trade, which he followed until 1903, opening 
 and establishing a shop for the repair of bicycles and 
 
 [366] 
 
 motorcycles and for the sale of them, in 1906, 
 a line of business he still follows and in which he 
 has had a good measure of success. Mr. Bradley 
 came from Missouri to Fort Collins, arriving on 
 the 22nd of January, 1901. After working at the 
 printing trade in the local newspaper offices for 
 about a year, he founded and began the publication 
 of the Fort Collins Daily Star, which he published 
 until 1903 and then suspended it. Being some- 
 what of a mechanical genius and seeing an opening 
 for a bicycle repair shop, he embarked in that busi- 
 ness, dealing also in bicycles, motorcycles and sup- 
 plies. He is an enthusiastic member of the Bicycle 
 club and also of the Motorcycle club, and has origi- 
 nated and promoted several entertaining and suc- 
 cessful bicycle and motorcycle races. On Nov. 4th, 
 1903, Mr. Bradley was united in marriage with 
 Frankie May Fox, who was born near Mexico, 
 Missouri. Two children, James Vincil and 
 
 ISAAC C. BRADLEY 
 
 Dorothy E., have blessed the union. Our subject is 
 of German descent, his ancestors settling in the 
 United States several generations ago. He is a man 
 of probity and honor and is rated as one of Fort 
 Collins' most progressive citizens. 
 
.^v~,^iyL-^^--L^t>^--2^ 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 James A. Brown. — This is the story of a man 
 who came to Fort Collins in 1868, who, by sheer 
 force of character, steady application and absolutely 
 square dealing, has accumulated a handsome for- 
 tune. And the best part of it is, no man living can 
 truthfully say that James A. Brown ever wronged 
 him out of a single cent. His absolute honesty, 
 strict integrity and fair-mindedness are recognized 
 and commended by all who know him. Mr. Brown 
 was born Jan. 31st, 1843, on Prince Edwards' Is- 
 land, Canada, where he was educated in the public 
 schools. On his 24th birthday, Jan. 31st, 1867, he 
 married Adelaide Carnrike, at Bellville,- Canada. 
 His living children are Adelbert and Clyde H. of 
 Fort Collins, and Frank J. of Portland, Oregon. 
 The eldest son is the junior member of the firm of 
 Matthews & Brown, butchers and packers. Mr. 
 Brown learned the carriage-maker's trade in early 
 manhood and soon after arriving in Fort Collins 
 joined his brother, John R. Brown, in the wagon- 
 making and blacksmithing business, in which both 
 were successful. They remained in partnership two 
 years and then our subject retired to engage in the 
 cattle business. In 1881 he was chosen general 
 manager of the Powder River Live Stock company 
 and remained as such until 1893, when the com- 
 pany sold its herds and retired from the live stock 
 business. The company's investment amounted to 
 $750,000, and it was one of the most successful 
 live stock companies operating in Wyoming. In 
 the fall of 1886 the company bought 2,500 acres of 
 land in the Elkhorn valley, Nebraska, on which it 
 established extensive feeding grounds and where it 
 fed and fattened 2,000 head of cattle annually for 
 market. Mr. Brown was also manager of this en- 
 terprise. During the hard winter of 1886-7 the 
 Powder River Live Stock company lost $400,000 
 worth of cattle by starvation and the bitter cold. 
 It had 24,000 head of cattle on the range in the fall 
 of 1886, and only found 8,000 head in the spring 
 of 1887. Notwithstanding this heavy loss, the com- 
 pany came out ahead in the deal through the big 
 dividends earned in previous years. After the com- 
 pany closed up its affairs, Mr. Brown came back to 
 Fort Collins, which has been his home for 43 years. 
 Though the owner of several of the best farms in 
 the county, he has never carried on farming him- 
 self. He has always lived in town, and has built 
 more than a dozen houses in Fort Collins, including 
 the first frame house built in the town. He has 
 served two terms, from 1901 to 1905, in the city 
 council as alderman from the Fourth ward, and 
 was a member of that body when the new water 
 
 works were built in 1904. In 1902 he was a mem- 
 ber of the committee that secured the building of 
 the sugar factory and a director of the Fort Col- 
 lins-Colorado Sugar company for two years. In 
 1903 he was elected president of the Fort Collins 
 National bank, having been one of the founders 
 and one of the first directors of that i.nstitution. 
 He has been a hard worker and a good manager all 
 his life, and is now reaping the rewards of the 
 energy and prudence of his younger years. Larimer 
 county has no better, more enterprising or more 
 public-spirited citizen than James A. Brown. 
 
 Lucas Brandt. — In the early days of Colorado's 
 history, when it was never safe to ramble many 
 miles from the ranch without a military escort, 
 when roving bands of Sioux delighted in lifting a 
 fellow's hair just to secure a war trophy, or to sat- 
 isfy a thirst for revenge, Lucas Brandt risked the 
 
 LUCAS BRANDT 
 
 dangers and hazards of an overland trip to try his 
 luck in this state. He was born in Ohio, Fairfield 
 county, June 27th, 1845 ; was educated in the pub- 
 lic schools of Indiana and was married to Miss Ara- 
 bella Shallenberger Oct. 29th, 1874. Of this union 
 
 [367] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 four children were born, Morton, Charles C, Roy 
 and Arabella. Mrs. Brandt died Dec. 4th, 1891. 
 Nearly three years had elapsed when Mr. Brandt 
 was married to Miss Nettie F. Waite, Aug. 15th, 
 1894. Two sons were born of this last marriage, 
 Jesse W. and Ferris W. Mr. Brandt resigned the 
 lucrative position of pilot to a double-deck prairie 
 schooner on arriving in Denver, April 5th, 1867. 
 His first location was on Bear creek, a small tribu- 
 tary of the South Platte, west of Denver, and a 
 few months later he became a permanent fixture of 
 the Big Thompson valley. Mr. Brandt has been 
 actively engaged every year of his long residence in 
 Colorado in some useful and profitable occupation, 
 and in early days it was no uncommon occurrence 
 to see him carrying a goad and steering bulls along 
 the roads of the valley. He became mayor of Love- 
 land in 1894. Always a pushing, progressive citi- 
 zen, closely identified with the industries of the 
 town of Loveland, he is now the manager of the 
 Loveland Milling & Elevator company. Mr. 
 Brandt ably represented Larimer county in the 
 Second General Assembly of Colorado. 
 
 William J. Preston was born Sept. 28, 1868, 
 in north Carolina; came with his parents to Clear 
 Creek, Colorado, in 1869. When William came 
 with his parents to Larimer Co., in 1882, Lewis 
 Cross was postmaster at Old Berthoud. In 
 1893 he married Althea May Stryker at Ber- 
 thoud. They have two children living, Viola U., 
 born Feb. 12, 1895 and Norman C, born Sept. 
 17, 1897. Myrtle E., born Nov. 17, 1902, died 
 Jan. 29, 1903. Mr. Preston has been in the machine 
 and plumbing business in Berthoud the past 10 
 years, and now lives at the corner of 5th street and 
 Turner avenue. Mr. Preston's mother died June 
 3, 1897, but his father still lives, making his home 
 with William in Berthoud. 
 
 James Sullivan, one of the pioneers of Colo- 
 rado and early settlers of the Big Thompson valley 
 and a solid, substantial and progressive citizen of 
 Larimer county, was born November 28th, 1832, 
 at Union, Virginia, where he grew to man's estate. 
 In 1849 he moved to Vinton, Benton county, Iowa, 
 where he resided until 1859, when he came to 
 Colorado. He returned to Iowa in the fall of 
 that year, and in the spring of 1862 started west 
 again with his family, locating this time on Bear 
 creek, south of Denver, where he lived until the 
 spring of 1869, when he moved to the Big Thomp- 
 son valley and engaged in farming and stock rais- 
 
 [368] 
 
 ing, in which he met with excellent success. For 
 nearly a score of years, Mr. Sullivan was one of 
 the foremost, best known and most highly respected 
 citizens of Larimer county. He led his political 
 party in many a hotly contested campaign in the 
 county, and was elected county commissioner in 
 1873, in which office he served one term, faithfully 
 discharging its duties with fidelity and efficiency. 
 He was his party's candidate for representative 
 in the state legislature in 1876 and again in 1886, 
 leading his ticket both times by a good many votes. 
 He also made the race for county commissioner in 
 1882 but was defeated by J. B. Harbaugh. Mr. 
 Sullivan was a man of few words, but of inflex- 
 ible purpose, a hater of shams and a rigid adherent 
 of right in all the relations of life. He died at 
 the family home in Loveland, on Monday, July 
 23, 1888. 
 
 Herbert N. Wheeler, Supervisor of the Colo- 
 rado National forest, was born Sept. 27th, 1873, 
 at Nortonville, Kansas; educated in the public 
 schools and High school at Dodge Center, Minn., 
 graduating in 1892; Milton college, Wis., in 1897, 
 degree A. B. ; and the University of Colorado in 
 1902, with degree of A. M. ; came to Boulder, 
 Colo., in July, 1897, and to Larimer county in 
 July, 1907; taught school at Sapinero, Ophir, Clif- 
 ton, Idaho Springs and Montrose in Colorado; 
 Assistant Professor in Botany at University of Colo- 
 rado in 1901-1902; entered U. S. Forest service 
 as guard in July, 1905; made Forest Ranger in 
 November, 1905, and Forest Supervisor in April, 
 
 1906, of Montezuma forest; transferred to Colo- 
 rado forest, July, 1907, and moved headquarters 
 to Fort Collins, June, 1908. Mr. Wheeler re- 
 mained a bachelor until June 22nd, 1909, when he 
 was joined in marriage with Felicitas J. Walther. 
 
 Prof. Thomas M. Netherton, A. B. A. M., 
 was born May 28th, 1870, in Daviess county. Mo.; 
 received his early training in the public schools 
 of that state; was graduated from William Jewell 
 college, at Liberty, Missouri, in June, 1896, and 
 the University of Chicago in 1899; married 
 Phena E. Wiles, August 27th, 1896, of which mar- 
 riage two children have been born; Crystal W., 
 October 13th, 1897, and Marjorie L., November 
 10th, 1904. Prof. Netherton taught in colleges in 
 Missouri ten years; removed to Colorado in June, 
 
 1907, and in July, 1909, was elected as the first 
 Principal of the Colorado School of Agriculture of 
 the State Agricultural college at Fort Collins. 
 
a/y/iy^ %U^c-y^ xfy) 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Prof. Netherton has already established an envi- 
 able reputation as a teacher and executive officer 
 and is an able, strong and vigorous worker in his 
 profession. 
 
 John Nelson, Sr.— This is the life story of one 
 of Scotia's rugged sons who left his native land in 
 1871 to build a home for himself and family and to 
 carve out a fortune in the "land of the free and the 
 home of the brave". That he succeeded and is now 
 one of the stable, forehanded citizens of Larimer 
 county, is due to his courage, perservance and in- 
 dustry and to SL prudent management of his per- 
 sonal affairs. Mr. Nelson was born July 6th, 
 1840, in Ayrshire, Scotland, and received his edu- 
 cation in his native land. He was born and reared 
 on a farm and upon reaching his manhood, learned 
 the linen bleaching industry, drawing such wages 
 as were paid in those days for that kind of work. In 
 1867, he married Mary McPherson, and four years 
 later came with his family from Scotland to the 
 United States. He spent about two years in Chi- 
 cago, working in the stone yards and about the 
 docks and doing such other work as fell to his hands. 
 He moved with his family from that city in the 
 spring of 1873, to Fort Collins, and bought 240 
 acres of raw land, situated three and a half miles 
 southeast of Fort Collins, of the late Judge A. F. 
 Howes. He began at once to improve his purchase 
 by building a small frame house upon it, fencing the 
 tract and by preparing the soil for a crop. In 1874 
 he planted part of his farm to wheat and oats and 
 was the first white man to draw irrigation water 
 from Larimer county Canal No. 2, which was 
 completed that year. The grasshoppers swooped 
 down upon his fields in August and destroyed the 
 most of his crop, and they came again and did a 
 great deal of harm in 1875 and in 1876, leaving 
 him barely enough of the fruits of his toil to keep 
 the wolf from the door. Since then, to the time 
 he sold his farm in 1906, his operations have 
 been uniformly successful. In 1877, Mr. Nelson 
 bought a few head of registered Jersey cows, the 
 first registered animals of that breed brought into 
 the county. To these he added others until he 
 had acquired a fine herd of Jersey cattle, includ- 
 ing thirty milch cows, from which he made 200 
 pounds of prime butter per week. His thorough- 
 bred and well-kept Jersey cattle attracted a great 
 deal of attention and were prize winners at the 
 county fairs. He also raised and dealt in thorough- 
 bred Clydesdale horses, his stallion, a splendid 
 animal — winning many premiums at the annual 
 
 fair. Mr. Nelson sold his farm in 1906, for $22,- 
 000 and had built for himself and family a beauti- 
 ful home at 704 Remington street, Fort Collins, 
 where he and his good wife are enjoying the well- 
 earned fruits of their strenuous early day labors, 
 with all of their surviving children, save one daugh- 
 ter, near them. They were the proud parents of 
 eight children, all of whom are living except one 
 son, who died in 1908, and all of them are well 
 situated in life. The names of their surviving 
 children are Mrs. Janet Laidlaw, John R., Alex- 
 ander, Murdock G., Mary and James Nelson, all 
 of Fort Collins, and Mrs. Ellen Silcott of Idaho 
 One of the sons, Murdock G. Nelson, is cashier 
 of the Commercial Bank & Trust company, and 
 also City Treasurer of Fort Collins. Mr. and 
 Mrs. Nelson are quietly, peacefully and conten- 
 tedly passing the closing years of their lives, sur- 
 rounded and beloved by their children and in the 
 enjoyment of the confidence and esteem of all who 
 know them. 
 
 John P. Ryckman, one of Fort Collins most 
 active faithful and efficient public officials, was 
 born December 28th, 1857, at Johnstown, Penn- 
 sylvania; educated in the public schools of Marion 
 Center, Pennsylvania, and at the Normal school 
 of Ada, Ohio. He arrived in Fort Collins, April 
 8th, 1881, and followed the occupation of sales- 
 man for several years. On December 28th, 1892, 
 he married Ada Silcott, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. 
 W. G. Silcott, who died in 1901. His two sons 
 are named William and Charles Ryckman. On 
 the 8th of January, 1905, Mr. Ryckman married 
 Stella Steele. He served Fort Collins as night- 
 watchman from 1898 to 1900 and was then elected 
 City Marshal and after serving three years was re- 
 elected in April, 1907, a position he held until 
 April, 1911, when his term expired. Mr. Ryck- 
 man is a modest, quiet gentleman, a vocalist of high 
 repute, and as head of the police force, a terror to 
 evil doers. 
 
 Ernest W. Thayer, Cashier of the Farmer's 
 bank of Timnath, an institution he helped to or- 
 ganize as a private bank in 1906, and which was 
 incorporated as a State bank September 19th, 1907, 
 was born July 25th, 1884, in South Deerfield, 
 Massachusetts. In 1894, when ten years of age, 
 he came to Colorado, locating at Timnath which 
 has since been his home. On June 17th, 1908, he 
 married Roxie P. Love of Fort Collins. Mr. 
 Thayer was educated in the public schools of Lari- 
 mer county and at the Colorado Agricultural col- 
 
 [369] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 lege. He is recognized as one of the rising young 
 business men and financiers of the county, and he 
 enjoys the confidence and respect of a wide circle 
 of friends and acquaintances. 
 
 Frederick Christman was born March 31st, 
 1839, in Germany. Soon after the death of his 
 father he and his mother migrated to the United 
 States, settling in Wheeling, Virginia, in 1853, 
 
 FREDERICK CHRISTMAN 
 
 where he received his education and learned the 
 moulder's trade. In 1861 he enlisted in the Third 
 Virginia Volunteer cavalry and was mustered out as 
 a sergeant in the spring of 1865. He participated 
 in more than 100 battles and skirmishes, including 
 Chancellorsville, Antietam, Gettysburg, Second Bull 
 Run, Cross Keys, Winchester, Strasburgh and many 
 others. His company was at one time General Fre- 
 mont's bodyguard. At Culpeper court house he 
 was shot through the right hand and owes his life 
 at this time to the fact that he was an Odd Fellow ; 
 was taken prisoner and spent forty days in Libby 
 prison and at Castle Thunder. He came to Larimer 
 county in 1873, locating first on Rabbit creek, and 
 then on Deadman creek in Virginia Dale. He sold 
 his ranch on Deadman creek in 1880 and moved his 
 
 [370] 
 
 cattle to Sheridan, Wyoming, selling his herd in the 
 spring of 1881 and returning to Virginia Dale. 
 He bought back the Deadman ranch, improved it 
 by erecting a large, comfortable house and barn and 
 opened a road-house. His house was a favorite 
 stopping place for travelers, tourists and hunters. In 
 
 1905 he sold the ranch and stock and moved his 
 family to Fort Collins, where he has since resided. 
 At Cheyenne, in 1884, Mr. Christman married 
 Mary B. Young, and they have two sons, Carl and 
 Allen, who are engaged in dairying and the cattle 
 business near Stove Prairie. On the 17th of April, 
 1911, our subject had been fifty years an Odd 
 Fellow ; is also a member of the Fort Collins En- 
 campment and Past Chief Patriarch of that order. 
 He and his wife are members of the Delta Rebekah 
 lodge, and he also belongs to the Grand Army and 
 has served as Colonel of the Union Veteran Legion. 
 Mrs. Christman is a native of Iowa, coming to 
 Colorado in 1882. 
 
 Herman S. Youtsey.- — This county is indebted 
 to the state of Indiana for many of its active, ener- 
 getic and most popular citizens and among the num- 
 ber is Herman S. Youtsey, who has often served 
 the people in important public offices faithfully and 
 well. Born December 29th, 1842, in Jackson county, 
 he accompanied his parents to Iowa in 1852; ar- 
 riving at man's estate, he left the Hawkeye state 
 for Colorado, reaching Boulder in 1871, where he 
 tarried six years, but the year 1878 found him on a 
 homestead near Loveland. Retracing the record 
 for a few years. Mr. Youtsey attended Oskaloosa 
 college in Iowa, and was married to Miss Alice H. 
 Stephens in 1875. Two boys are living of this 
 union, Floyd S. and Otho E. Roy died in infancy. 
 Mr. Youtsey was twice elected Assessor, serving 
 two terms, and filled one term as Treasurer of the 
 county. 
 
 Richard A. Maxfield was born in 1873 at 
 Council Bluffs, Iowa; came to Colorado in 1881, 
 locating at Red Cliff; in 1882 his father took up 
 the land on which the town of Rifle now stands. 
 Our subject followed ranching until 1891, when 
 he entered the Colorado Agricultural college, grad- 
 uating therefrom in 1896. In the spring of 1898 
 Mr. Maxfield enlisted in the United States Volun- 
 teer engineers, the regiment being stationed at 
 Honolulu, Hawaiian islands, during the Spanish 
 war. On being mustered out in 1899, he returned 
 to Fort Collins and was appointed military in- 
 structor at the Agricultural college, resigning in 
 
 1906 to engage in the cattle business, associated 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 with Fred C. Alford. The firm has a fine farm 
 and stock ranch in Pleasant valley, where our sub- 
 ject and his family reside. He married Abbie 
 Alford, daughter of Hon. N. C. Alford, in 1902, 
 and they have one son, Richard Alford Maxfield. 
 
 Charles W. Ramer. — Love of adventure and 
 a desirfi to better his worldly condition are what 
 made a Larimer county pioneer of Charles Worth- 
 Ington Ramer, one of the very few living of those 
 brave men who set their stakes in the Cache la 
 Poudre valley in 1862. He was born on April 
 10th, 1844, at Goshen, Indiana, and attended the 
 public schools of his native town. In 1858 his par- 
 ents moved to Bethany, Missouri, which was the 
 family home for many years. He enlisted in April, 
 1861, under President Lincoln's call for volun- 
 teers, in Company H of the 1st Missouri Volun- 
 teer Cavalry and was mustered out on expiration 
 of term of service a year later. He came to Colo- 
 rado, arriving at Laporte in June 1862, after help- 
 ing to drive a bunch of cows and calves across the 
 Plains. He was then but 18 years of age but 
 bristling with energy and ambition. He clerked 
 a few months in G. R. Sanderson's store at La- 
 porte and got a job driving stage on the Overland 
 route in the winter of 1862-3, between Laporte 
 and Virginia Dale. He would leave Laporte on 
 the arrival of the stage from Denver in the morning 
 and drive to Virginia Dale, where he would meet 
 and drive the east bound coach back to Laporte in 
 the afternoon. That was when the notorious 
 desperado, Slade, was Superintendent of the Moun- 
 tain division. In 1864, Mr. Ramer went to Mon- 
 tana, returning to Laporte in the fall of 1865, 
 going in the spring of 1866 to his former home 
 In Missouri, where he remained about a year and 
 then came back to Colorado. He made another 
 trip to Missouri in 1868, returning to Laporte in 
 the following year. He married Rachael V. Mc 
 Clung in 1874, at Bethany, Missouri, leaving for 
 the West shortly afterwards. This time he came 
 to Fort Collins and bought a livery stable of Joseph 
 Mason which he conducted until 1876, when he 
 sold it. He went back to Missouri in 1875 after 
 his family and after living on a ranch in Pleasant 
 valley until 1877, he moved to Fort Collins. He 
 engaged in the grocery business in 1880 and in 
 1881, President Garfield appointed him postmaster 
 for Fort Collins, and he was reappointed by Pres- 
 ident Harrison in 1889 for another term of four 
 years. At the close of his second term as post- 
 master, he leased the Tedmon house and conducted 
 
 it five years and then purchased the store at La- 
 porte which he kept five years. After disposing 
 of his interests at Laporte, he bought the hotel and 
 store at Livermore in 1901 and successfully con- 
 ducted both for eight years, exchanging the pro- 
 perty in 1910 for the Bellairs stock ranch at West- 
 lake, which is now his home. Mr. and Mrs. Ramer 
 have a beautiful home in Fort Collins, but they 
 
 CHARLES W. RAMER 
 
 prefer to spend their summers at least at their fine 
 mountain home looking after the welfare of their 
 herd of 350 head of high grade cattle. They have 
 three children, John E., Miss Nellie G. and Mrs. 
 Jessie Moore. John has served the county four 
 years as deputy county clerk and five years as prin- 
 cipal of that office; two years as deputy Secretary 
 of State and was the candidate of the Republican 
 party in 1910 for the head of that office. The 
 youngest daughter is the wife of Frank W. Moore 
 who has been twice elected County Treasurer of 
 his native county. Mr. Ramer has been a busy, 
 active man ever since he came to Larimer county 
 and is one of the best known and most popular 
 men in Northern Colorado. He has done his part 
 to bring the county into public notice and done it 
 
 [371] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 well. He is one of the two men left who came 
 to the Cache la Poudre valley in 1862, John G. 
 Coy being the other one. May his days be long 
 in the land that he may enjoy to the utmost the 
 fruits of his early day activities. 
 
 Rev. Thomas Waters Taylor is kindly re- 
 membered by all who had the pleasure of his 
 acquaintance as a talented evangelist and preacher, 
 
 REV. THOMAS WATERS TAYLOR 
 
 a tireless worker and a large hearted, genial gentle- 
 man. He was born November 14th, 1854, at 
 Thirlestane, Berwickshire; Scotland, and educated 
 in the public schools and at Lauderdale, Scotland, 
 taking a theological course. On the 14th of Novem- 
 ber, 1881, Mr. Taylor was joined in marriage 
 with Margaret McAllister Greig, who survives 
 him. The family came to Fort Collins March 3rd, 
 1893, and lived for two years on South Howes 
 street. During this time Mr. Taylor occupied the 
 pulpit of the First Presbyterian church for a period 
 of nine months. In 1895, he moved to Estes Park 
 and was the founder of the First Presbyterian 
 church there, later moving on to a farm near Fort 
 Collins where he died March 26th, 1901, aged a 
 
 [372] 
 
 little more than 46 years, leaving no children, save 
 an adopted son named Thomas Waters Taylor. In 
 his native country, Mr. Taylor was widely known 
 in Evangelistic circles as an able and zealous ex- 
 pounder of the Bible and as a sincere and earnest 
 preacher of the gospel. Of his life and character 
 too much cannot be said in praise. Though afflicted 
 with an incurable malady, consumption, coming to 
 Colorado for his health, he was a faithful and ener- 
 getic worker for the Master until his strength 
 finally gave out, a man of great piety and deep faith 
 in the Christian religion; also of unusual executive 
 ability, and determination of will. His life, though 
 short as measured by the term of man's allotted 
 years, was filled with kindly deeds towards all with 
 whom he came in contact and his death at a period 
 of his greatest usefulness, was deeply lamented. 
 
 Oscar Riker is another native New Yorker, 
 who married Sarah Hanby, April 4th, 1871, at 
 Yonkers, New York. Three boys were born to 
 them, Oscar S., Joseph D., and George H. Riker, 
 all born in Yonkers and all married and now resi- 
 dents of Loveland. Mr. Riker came to Loveland 
 May 13th, 1884, and for four years conducted the 
 Big Thompson hotel, then conducted the Love- 
 land House for 22 years, retiring therefrom April 
 25th, 1910. Since then he has resided at 434 R. 
 R. avenue, enjoying the fruits of an active and well 
 spent life. 
 
 Peter Kern^ a Larimer county pioneer farmer, 
 retired, was born August 31st, 1835, at Kriegs- 
 feldt, Germany. He went to school in his native 
 country and though more than sixty years an Amer- 
 ican citizen and fluently speaking the English lan- 
 guage, still preserves his mother tongue and can 
 speak, read and write it as when a boy in the Father- 
 land. He came to the United States in 1848, with 
 his father's family which settled at Claverack on the 
 Hudson river, a few miles below Albany, New 
 York. Here he served an apprenticeship at the 
 wagon and carriage making trade. He married 
 Catherine Knau, February 15th, 1858, and they 
 have one son, Frank P. Kern, living. Mr. Kern 
 joined the Greeley Colony in June, 1871, and a 
 few weeks later filed on an 80-acre homestead in 
 the Cache la Poudre valley situated east of the 
 present town of Timnath; bought another 80-acre 
 tract from Frank Scott and a 160-acre tract of 
 railroad land, making him altogether 320 acres of 
 fine land. This he set to work to improve and con- 
 vert into a farm, by building a large story and a 
 half log house, fencing the land and breaking out 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 a portion of it for crops. In 1890 he sold the farm 
 to John H. Gault and moved his family to Fort 
 Collins where he still resides, enjoying the fruits 
 of his early labors. 
 
 Mark Austin Ellison. — The great timber 
 belt of Northern Central Pennsylvania has pro- 
 duced many men, who at a later period, have won 
 their way to success in the rapidly growing regions 
 of the West. Among them is Mark Austin Elli- 
 son, who was born February 9, 1876, in Tioga, 
 Tioga county, Pennsylvania, where his father, 
 George F., was at that time engaged in farming and 
 the lumber business. The latter, now eighty-six 
 years old, and the mother, Mary Elizabeth, aged 
 eighty, are both still living at Elkland in the Key- 
 stone state, and are hale and hearty. When the 
 lad was fourteen, the family moved to the Harrison 
 valley, where the father became freight agent for 
 the New York Central railway. At the old home, 
 Mark had faithfully attended the public schools; 
 now he was duly advanced to the high school, and 
 occupied his nights and Saturdays learning rail- 
 road station business, including telegraphy. Upon 
 reaching the age of seventeen, he was put in the 
 service as an extra for the railroad company, and 
 acted as agent. or operator at different stations on 
 the line, conducting the business of the American 
 Express Company at the same time. After this ex- 
 perience in transportation affairs, he concluded to 
 take up trade, and entered the employ of the M. 
 S. Haskell Mercantile Company at Mills, Penn- 
 sylvania, also in the timber region, where he con- 
 tinued two years. Then having saved quite a snug 
 sum of money, he and his brother formed a co- 
 partnership for handling general merchandise under 
 the firm name of Ellison Brothers, at the same 
 place. At the end of the two years, owing to the 
 destruction by fire of the two big mills of the town, 
 and the consequent depressing effect on enterprise, 
 the business was sold out and he moved to Wells- 
 ville, New York, to become manager for B. Mc 
 Owen & Company, an important concern that 
 operated nine separate establishments altogether, 
 in as many different localities. His connection 
 with that house lasted until 1902, when, owing to 
 the illness of his father and mother, he returned 
 home and took charge as buyer for the P. S. 
 Schweitzer Mercantile company, and remained with 
 them three years. It was then he met the lady 
 who became his wife, nee Miss Lena Mae Keltz, 
 and the two were married March 30th, 1905. They 
 now have one child, a son Donald, six years old, 
 
 who, so to speak, is a "chip off the old block". Mr. 
 Ellison had previously made a short tour of obser- 
 vation to Montreal, Canada, and in the year of his 
 marriage, accepted a position with Peck, Haskell 
 & Company, of that city; but, because of the severe 
 cold of the winters of that locality, soon left, and 
 in July of the same year, migrated west to Colo- 
 rado. He had already been offered a position with 
 the State Mercantile Company, and on his arrival 
 
 MARK AUSTIN ELLISON 
 
 the Denver house at once sent him to Lafayette; 
 but after an experience of three months, he moved 
 over and took charge of the dry goods department 
 of the company's new store in Loveland. Three 
 years elapsed of this, and he spent a short while 
 looking over business opportunities in Fort Collins, 
 but soon returned to Loveland, and was with the 
 Doty-Dundon Company a twelvemonth. Mr. Elli- 
 son had long been deeply interested in and studi- 
 ously observant of those phases of journalism which 
 had to do with advertising, and during this period 
 he bought an interest in the Herald newspaper. 
 In February, 1910, he accepted the position as ad- 
 vertising manager, and on August 1st, that year, 
 at a meeting of the stockholders, he was appointed 
 
 [373] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 editor, secretary and general manager of the pub- 
 lishing company. Mr. Ellison is intimately identi- 
 fied with the religious, social and fraternal affairs 
 in the city of his adoption and has a host of friends 
 in the teeming valley of the Big Thompson. 
 
 Lieutenant John H. Mandeville was born 
 September 25th, 1839, at Brookton, New York, 
 
 LIEUTENANT JOHN H. MANDEVILLE 
 
 where he was educated in the public schools; mar- 
 ried Clara Vanorder, September 4th, 1861, at 
 Ithaca, New York. Their surviving children are 
 Mrs. Grace Gregory of Fort Collins, and Dwight 
 Mandeville of Eaton, Colorado. On September 4th, 
 1861, he enlisted in Company G, 50th New York 
 Engineers, and in January, 1862, was discharged 
 for disability. In 1863, Mr. Mandeville enlisted 
 in Company L of the 21st New York Volunteer 
 Cavalry and was mustered out and discharged at 
 Denver, Colorado, in June, 1866, as second Lieu- 
 tenant. He returned to his New York home in 
 the fall of 1866, remaining there through the fol- 
 lowing winter. In March, 1867, he came back to 
 Larimer county with his wife and located on a 
 farm near Laporte, where he lived about a year and 
 
 [374] 
 
 then moved to Cheyenne and engaged in contract- 
 ing and building, returning to Laporte in 1869 
 and reengaging in farming, which he followed un- 
 til he moved to Fort Collins more than twenty 
 years ago. During his residence in Fort Collins, 
 he has served as justice of the peace and district 
 court bailiff. Mr. Mandeville is one of the four 
 officers of the 21st New York cavalry who elected 
 to remain in the country after the regiment was 
 mustered out, his comrades being Captain N. H. 
 Meldrum, Lieutenant George E. Buss and Lieu- 
 tenant Fred W. Wallace. Of these four, our sub- 
 ject is the sole surviving resident of Fort Collins. 
 During the Civil war, Lieutenant Mandeville 
 served under Generals Siegel, Hunter and Sheri- 
 dan, participating in thirteen battles in Virginia, 
 among them being those of Newmarket, Win- 
 chester and Piedmont. He was with Sheridan when 
 that gallant cavalry leader chased Confederate 
 General Early up and down the Shenandoah val- 
 ley. When the 21st New York Cavalry arrived 
 at Fort Collins in 1865, Chief Friday's band of 
 Arapahoes was camped on the Sherwood place. A 
 few years afterwards, Friday's band moved to 
 the Sweetwater country and went on the war path, 
 causing the government considerable trouble. In 
 the fall of 1865, Lieutenant Mandeville and a de- 
 tachment of troopers were sent to Fort Morgan to 
 prevent freight and emigrant outfits from passing 
 to and fro without adequate protection from rov- 
 ing bands of savages that infested the South Platte 
 valley that fall. 
 
 QuERiN ScHANG was born in 1853 in Loraine, 
 France; came to the United States in 1868 and to 
 Fort Collins in 1873; worked in Mason's mill and 
 outside of the miller, was the only help employed. 
 In July, 1874, in company with Kintz Pew started 
 a meat market which they conducted two or three 
 years; married Virginia Mason in 1879, and two 
 of their children, Irene and Nora, survive. Mr. 
 Schang conducted the Standard restaurant a few 
 years and then turned his attention to farming and 
 stock raising. He resides at Amarillo, Texas. 
 
 James G. Seaman was born January 16th, 1848, 
 near Utica, New York; spent several of his boy- 
 hood years on the Erie canal ; married Mary Jack- 
 son in January, 1869, and two children, James H., 
 and Arthur L. Seaman, were born to them. The 
 family came to Fort Collins in May, 1881, and set- 
 tled on a homestead in the Boxelder valley, which 
 he has since converted into one of the finest, 
 best improved and most productive farms in the 
 
i^^C^yL-'O^-f^-y^ 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 county. His land is irrigated from the Larimer 
 County canal and his farm and water rights are 
 very valuable. His wife died in Fort Collins in 
 1905, and on March 26th, 1908, he remarried, his 
 wife's maiden name being Julia E. Daily. A son 
 Harold G. Seaman was born April 10th, 1911. 
 Mr. Seaman is a good and thorough farmer, and 
 though he had a few lean years while waiting for 
 the completion of the irrigating canal from which 
 his farm is watered, he has had remarkable suc- 
 cess and is now enjoying the fruits of his stren- 
 uous labors in the years that are agone. 
 
 Carl Anderson, principal stockholder, president 
 and general manager of the Courier Printing and 
 Publishing Company, Fort Collins, was born May 
 3rd, 1872, at St. Charles, Iowa, where he was 
 reared to the age of fourteen years, the last few 
 years on a farm near his birthplace. His father, 
 James M. Anderson, then bought a half interest 
 in the Indianola, la.. Herald, and moved his family 
 to that place. Here our subject worked at the 
 printer's trade for the first two years, then entered 
 Simpson College which he attended for several 
 years. His health failing, he was compelled 
 to give up his studies and for several years 
 devoted himself strictly to regaining his health 
 by traveling in the Southern states, spending 
 the years from 1893 to 1897, inclusive, following 
 different vocations. During the winter of 1895-6 he 
 was employed by the Southern Railway to write up 
 the territory adjacent to the railroad for Northern 
 newspapers and traveled over the company's entire 
 system. In 1896-7 he attended the University of 
 Mississippi at Oxford. In the fall of 1898 he came 
 to Colorado with the intention of buying the Love- 
 land Reporter of W. L. Thorndyke and engaging in 
 the newspaper business, but the deal fell through 
 and he then purchased a majority of the stock of 
 the Courier Printing and Publishing company of 
 Fort Collins which he still retains. Since taking 
 charge of the Courier on February 16th, 1899, 
 Mr. Anderson has thoroughly equipped the news- 
 paper and job printing plant with the best of mod- 
 ern machinery and made the Courier one of the 
 leading and most influential newspapers in Colo- 
 rado outside of the large cities, advancing it from 
 an eight-page patent inside weekly to a daily of 
 often greater dimensions, and also issues two all 
 home print weeklies, the Weekly Courier and 
 Courier Farmer. He is overflowing with push and 
 enterprise and has made his influence felt in every 
 movement designed to advance the material, social 
 
 and moral interests of the home of his adoption. 
 He contributes liberally of his time and means to 
 prom.oting the growth and upbuilding of Fort Col- 
 lins and is not content until he sees things moving 
 in that direction. Mr. Anderson is the only son 
 of James M. and Sarah E. Anderson. His father 
 served Warren county, Iowa, two terms, from 1900 
 to 1904 as representative in the Iowa State legisla- 
 ture, and is now and has been for a period of 
 twenty-five years co-editor and proprietor of the 
 Indianola Herald of that state. Our subject was 
 joined in marriage with Genora Lillian Evans on 
 June 28th, 1909 at Aurora, Illinois. They have 
 one child, James Lorin, born March 12th, 1911. 
 Mrs. Anderson was born November 6th, 1880, at 
 Big Rock, Illinois, the youngest of four daughters 
 of Daniel and Sarah 'Evans. The family later 
 moved to Aurora, Illinois, where she received her 
 earlier education in the public schools. She received 
 later scholastic training at Oberlin College, Ober- 
 lin, Ohio., and at the Normal school at De Kalb, 
 Illinois. She taught in the city schools of Oxford, 
 Iowa, and Aurora, Illinois, and of Fort Collins, 
 Colo. 
 
 Dr. Charles Alfred Lory was born at Sardis, 
 Ohio, September 25th, 1872. At the age of nine 
 years he began work in a planing mill, remov- 
 ing to Colorado with his parents in May, 1888, 
 and found work on a farm. In 1893 he was em- 
 ployed as a ditch rider, on one of the big irrigat- 
 ing systems of Weld county and later was super- 
 intendent for the Big Cut Lateral and Reservoir 
 company for five seasons. He worked his way 
 through the State Normal School of Colorado, grad- 
 uating in 1898 with the degree of Ped. B and in 
 1901 he graduated from the University of Colo- 
 rado with the degree of B. S., receiving in 1902, 
 the degree of M. S. In 1909, after his election to 
 the Presidency of the Colorado Agricultural college, 
 the University of Colorado conferred upon him 
 the degree of LL. D. From 1899 to 1902, he 
 was student assistant in the department of physics 
 at the University of Colorado; from 1902 to 1904, 
 principal, of the High school of Cripple Creek, 
 Colorado; from 1904 to 1905 acting professor of 
 physics at the University of Colorado, and in 1905 
 was chosen professor of physics at the Colorado 
 Agricultural college and professor of physics and 
 electrical engineering in 1907. During the sum- 
 mer of 1906 and 1907, he was engaged in special 
 irrigation work for the office of experiment station, 
 U. S. department of Agriculture, under Dr. Elwood 
 
 [375] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Meed. In 1909, he was chosen President of the 
 Colorado Agricultural college, which position he 
 now holds. In June, 1904, Dr. Lory was married 
 to Miss Carrie Louise Richards of Quincy, Illi- 
 nois. He is a member of the N. E. A. and of 
 various scientific engineering and literary associa- 
 tions, clubs and fraternal organizations in all of 
 which he takes an active interest and an influential 
 
 DR. CHARLES ALFRED LORY 
 
 part. Dr. Lory is justly regarded as one of the 
 leading and most successful educators in the west. 
 To a mind well trained in his special line of studies, 
 he adds executive capacity of the highest quality, 
 and remarkable financial ability — characteristics 
 which give him a superb equipment for solving 
 and mastering the many intricate problems which 
 come before him as President of a technical edu- 
 cational institution under the joint patronage and 
 control of the state and the nation. Quiet in 
 manner; courteous in all of his dealings with both 
 the faculty and the student body; eminently fair 
 and just in all of his decisions; firm, yet kind and 
 tactful in his discipline, he combines mental cult- 
 ure with rare common sense and judgment in a 
 combination of qualifications that has made the two 
 [376] 
 
 years of his administration the most successful that 
 the Colorado Agricultural college has ever known; 
 under his wise and skillful direction the college 
 is growing, as it never grew before, in attendance, 
 in scholarship, in usefulness as an institution upon 
 which so largely depends the industrial develop- 
 ment of the Commonwealth, and the creation of 
 the type of citizenship that will assume the con- 
 tinued upbuilding and prosperity of Colorado. For 
 Dr. Lory is a firm believer in what has become 
 known as practical education, which rightly in- 
 terpreted means that to the culture of the mind 
 should be added instruction such as will enable the 
 graduate to at once enter upon some practical pur- 
 suit which will assure him a livelihood for himself 
 and family. The new and somewhat intricate 
 problems involved in such a scheme of education 
 Dr. Lory is working out with a success that prom- 
 ises to endow him with a' lasting fame and also 
 place the college under his direction upon the high- 
 est plane of power and influence in the intermoun- 
 tain west. 
 
 W. C. Stiles. — One of the most prosperous and 
 enterprising citizens of the county makes his home 
 at Loveland. Well known to everyone in the south- 
 ern part of the county, where he has been a promi- 
 nent and deservedly popular figure for nearly half 
 a century, W. C. Stiles has made his mark as a 
 progressive farmer and stock grower. He came 
 to Colorado in 1876; was born in Michigan, arid 
 was married in Denver to Louelle Herbert, October 
 3, 1881. A daughter, Glenn, and son, Bert, are 
 graduates of Colorado college, Colorado Springs, 
 and both are now teachers of note. Another son, 
 Frank, and a daughter. Miss Helen, are at home 
 with their parents. Mr. Stiles helped to con- 
 struct the first building erected in Loveland. He 
 erected buildings and otherwise improved five dif- 
 ferent farms and now owns a 1,000-acre foothill 
 ranch upon which grazes one of the finest herds of 
 black cattle known in the state. 
 
 Norman H. Meldrum was born October 11th, 
 1841, at Mixville, Allegheny county. New York. 
 At the age of four years, he moved to Caledonia, 
 Livingston county, that state. He attended the 
 public schools, finished his education at the age of 
 19 at the Union school at Bergen, Monroe county. 
 New York. He enlisted in Company B 100th New 
 York Volunteer Infantry in August, 1861. Served 
 under McClellan in the Chickahominy campaign, 
 participating in the battles of Williamsburg, Fair 
 Oaks, and the Seven Days fight. In 1862, he 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 was commissioned as First Lieutenant in company 
 G, 21st New York Cavalry, and did service in 
 the Shenandoah valley; served as Aide-de-Camp on 
 the staffs of Generals Siegel and Hunter during 
 their Valley campaigns and also with Sheridan 
 until the close of the war. In 1865 he was or- 
 dered to Fort Collins, Colorado; served in the Ind- 
 ian campaigns during that year and on July 13th, 
 1866, was mustered out of the service with the 
 rank of captain. After his discharge Captain 
 Meldrum settled at Fort Collins but soon after- 
 wards moved to Cheyenne, Wyoming, and in 1867 
 was elected treasurer of that city. At the expira- 
 tion of his term of office, he returned to Fort Col- 
 lins and engaged in farming and stock growing. 
 He was assessor of Larimer county from 1872 to 
 1874; was a member of the last territorial legislat- 
 ure which convened in Denver in 1875. On Octo- 
 ber 3rd, 1876, was elected a member of the Senate 
 of the First general assembly. In the fall of 1878, 
 was elected Secretary of State and re-elected in 
 1880. Appointed Surveyor General of Colorado 
 in 1883 by President Arthur and served until 
 December 9th, 1885, when he was removed for of- 
 fensive partisanship by President Cleveland. In 
 the fall of 1886, was elected Lieutenant Governor 
 of Colorado and served one term with distinction. 
 In 1890, he was appointed by President Harrison 
 as Receiver of the Land Office at Sterling, Colo- 
 rado, serving four years. Was then elected to the 
 position of Receiver of the State Board of Land 
 Commissioners of Colorado in 1894 and served a 
 full term of two years. In the year 1897, he 
 removed to Buffalo, Wyoming, where he engaged 
 in stock growing and a large irrigation proposi- 
 tion which will eventually prove beneficial to the 
 state and county. Politically, he is a republican and 
 exerted a great deal of influence in the councils of 
 his party and was never defeated for any office that 
 he aspired to at any general election. 
 
 J. Nelson Hollowell is one of the Argonauts 
 of the Big Thompson valley. He is one of the 
 four surviving members of that hardy band of 
 pioneers who settled in that beautiful valley in 
 1860, to help found a rich and prosperous com- 
 monwealth in the Rocky Mountain region. They 
 endured hardships, suffered privations and were 
 surrounded by dangers, seen and unseen, that those 
 who should come after them might enjoy the bless- 
 ings of civilization, such as the inhabitants of Lari- 
 mer county now rejoice over. To be sure the most 
 of them came to Colorado in search of the "golden 
 
 fleece" but failing to find it, they turned their at- 
 tention to the husbandman's peaceful pursuits and 
 set about converting the wilderness into a habit- 
 able region for civilized man. Mr. Hollowell's 
 surviving companions engaged in this great under- 
 taking are Judge W. B. Osborn, Hon. Thos. H. 
 Johnson and John Hahn. Our subject was born 
 in Yates county, New York, and received his edu- 
 
 J. NELSON HOLLOWELL 
 
 cation in Wyoming county. New York. He ar- 
 rived in Colorado, May 10th, 1860, and settled 
 in the Big Thompson valley a few months later, 
 and that has been his home for fifty-one years. He 
 was the first man to demonstrate that vegetables 
 and grain could be successfully produced in Lari- 
 mer county. In 1870 he married Mary E. Ward, 
 who has borne him four children, Guy C, Maleen, 
 William W., and Frank Hollowell. Some of Mr. 
 Hollowell's pioneer experiences are related else- 
 where in this volume. 
 
 F. M. Ames was born August 25, 1865, in 
 Crawford county, Pennsylvania; received his edu- 
 cation in the public schools of Michigan and Fort 
 Collins, Colo.; came to Fort Collins April 30th, 
 
 [377] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 1882. Married Francis May Nelson, March 26th, 
 1889, and has six children, Gertrude M., Ray S., 
 Lynn O., NerclUa S., Leola F. and Clinton N. ; 
 ranch and stockman by occupation. 
 
 Prof. Clarence P. Gillette. — The subject 
 of this sketch is head of the department of Zoology 
 and Entomology at the Colorado Agricultural Col- 
 
 PROF. CLARENCE P. GILLETTE 
 
 lege and Entomologist of the experimental station 
 connected with that institution; made State Ento- 
 mologist by act of the Colorado General assembly 
 in 1907, and placed in charge of all the horti- 
 cultural inspection work of the state ; director of 
 the Colorado Agricultural Experiment station; 
 long a Fellow in the American Association for the 
 Advancement of Science; a charter member of the 
 American Association of Economic Entomologists 
 and of the Entomological Society of America. He 
 is also a member of the Association for the Pro- 
 motion of Agricultural Science; of the Iowa Acad- 
 emy of Science; of the St. Louis Academy of 
 Science, and was recently elected a member of the 
 Permanent Committee of the Congress Interna- 
 tional D' Entomologic. Prof. Gillette was born 
 April 7th, 1859, on a farm in Lyons township, 
 
 [378] 
 
 Ionia county, Michigan. His father, William 
 Henry Gillette, who is still living, was a pros- 
 perous farmer. The boy remained on the farm and 
 attended the public schools until he - attained his 
 majority and in 1880, entered the Michigan Agri- 
 cultural college as a freshman, graduating there- 
 from in 1884. He was wholly self-supporting 
 throughout his college course, earning the money 
 by teaching and selling books. The winter of 
 1885-6 was spent in special entomological work at 
 the State University of Illinois. The following 
 year he was chosen as assistant in the department of 
 Zoology and Entomology in the State Agricultural 
 college of Michigan, which position he held until 
 May, 1888, when he accepted the post of Ento- 
 mologist for the Iowa Experiment Station. In 
 December, 1890, he gave up the purely station work 
 in Iowa to take the chair of Zoology and Ento- 
 mology, and Entomologist of the Experiment sta- 
 tion at the Colorado Agricultural college, which 
 positions he still holds. In 1907, the Colorado 
 General assembly passed a law making the Ento- 
 mologist of the State Agricultural college. State 
 Entomologist, in charge of all the horticultural 
 inspection work in the state. Prof. Gillette has 
 since discharged the duties of this important office 
 with exceptional skill and great fidelity. There is 
 probably not an orchard in Colorado that he has 
 not personally visited and inspected or had it done 
 by trained assistants, resulting in an immense sav- 
 ing to fruit-growers and in improving the health 
 and vigor of the orchards and also the quality of 
 the fruit. He has an intimate knowledge of the 
 diseases and insect pests which affect fruit bearing 
 trees and shrubbery and is skilled In the proper 
 methods of treating the diseases, and eradicating 
 the pests. Through his wise counsel and skill- 
 ful treatment, many a Colorado orchard has been 
 saved from destruction and are now yielding pro- 
 fitable crops for their owners. He is the author of 
 several valuable bulletins treating of insect pests 
 and insecticides, which have been published by 
 authority of the State Agricultural college and Ex- 
 periment station and widely distributed all over 
 the country. Professor Gillette is a recognized 
 authority on all matters connected with the depart- 
 ment of Zoology and Entomology at the college. 
 In 1910, because of his superior skill and executive 
 ability, the State Board of Agriculture appointed 
 him Director of the Colorado Agricultural Ex- 
 perimental station, and he is looked upon and 
 considered one of the intellectually strong members 
 of the college faculty. On March 31st, 1886, 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Professor Gillette married Clara M. Smith, of 
 Portland, Michigan. They have two children, 
 Florence Marie and Nola Esther. Mrs. Gillette 
 is a member of the Cache la Poudre Chapter of the 
 Daughters of the American Revolution and 
 Chaplain of the Colorado State Conference. 
 
 Wellington Hibbard was born in 1841, in 
 South Butler, New York, the son of Russell and 
 Almyra (Craw) Hibbard. At the age of twenty, 
 he went to Lowell, Michigan, to enter the employ 
 of an uncle who was operating a flour mill. He 
 remained there until he had mastered the miller's 
 trade and then moved to Grand Rapids, that state, 
 and entered the employ of the Star Mill. Two 
 years later he was appointed foreman of the mills 
 and taken in as a partner. In 1876, he built the 
 Crescent mill in Grand Rapids. In 1880 the firm 
 of Hibbard & Graff absorbed and owned all the 
 mills then in that city. Between the years 1881 
 and 1892, he was engaged in business in New 
 York, Chicago and Jackson, Michigan, succes- 
 sively. In 1892, he again went to Chicago and be- 
 came an attache of the History of Chicago company, 
 achieving wonderful success in this line of work. 
 In 1894 he went to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as 
 manager of the History of Milwaukee company, 
 and two years later became manager of the History 
 of Louisville, Kentucky company. From Louis- 
 ville in 1898, he went to St. Louis, Missouri, as 
 manager of the History of St. Louis company. In 
 1903, Mr. Hibbard came to Fort Collins to in- 
 vestigate an irrigation project of which he later be- 
 came manager. This enterprise then consisted of 
 filings made in 1902 on what was known as the 
 Link lakes, situated on the eastern slope of the 
 Medicine Bow mountains in Larimer county, and 
 it was only contemplated to divert the water in 
 these lakes through the "Sky" line ditch and turn 
 it into the Cache la Poudre river as a supplement- 
 ary supply. Mr. Hibbard undertook to finance 
 the enterprise and went east to interest capital. The 
 idea of a tunnel through which to convey water 
 from the Laramie watershed to that of the Poudre 
 had, in the meantime, been conceived and our 
 subject grasped its importance at once and also the 
 full extent of its possibilities. In 1904, a corps of 
 engineers was sent into the field to survey and out- 
 line the proposed system and also to ascertain the 
 extent of the available unappropriated water of the 
 Laramie river. As a result of their reports, filings 
 were made that year on the tunnel site and upon 
 the unappropriated water of that stream and some 
 
 of its tributaries. The project now began to as- 
 sume the proportions of a great irrigation proposi- 
 tion, and in 1906, the partnership theretofore ex- 
 isting terminated, and the Laramie Reservoirs 
 & Irrigation company was organized in its stead 
 to carry out the proposed plans. Mr. Hibbard was 
 Secretary and General Manager of the company. 
 A little later it was decided to extend the proposed 
 
 WELLINGTON HIBBARD 
 
 system into Weld county and develop lands in the 
 Crow creek district. Mr. Hibbard succeeded in 
 interesting Messrs. D. A. Camfield of Greeley, 
 and S. H. Shields of Denver, in the proposition and 
 a new company was organized with greater capital, 
 known as the Laramie-Poudre Reservoirs & Irriga- 
 tion company. The Greeley-Poudre Irrigation 
 district was then organized, embracing 125,000 
 acres of land in the Crow creek district. The com- 
 pletion of the project involves the expenditure of 
 $5,000,000. The development, the financing and 
 the destiny of the enterprise were in Mr. Hib- 
 bard's hands, and had he lived to see it fully con- 
 summated it would have been the crowning glory 
 of his life, the realization of his fondest hopes, for 
 it would have been the fruits of his tireless energy, 
 
 [379] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 wonderful tenacity of purpose, in the face of op- 
 position and what at times seemed unsurmount- 
 able obstacles. The great work he started is now 
 well under way and will be completed during the 
 present year. Mr. Hibbard met a tragic death 
 through the overturning of a runaway automobile 
 on Pingree hill in March, 1910, while on his way 
 to inspect the progress of the work on the tunnel. 
 He left surviving him a widow and three daugh- 
 ters, Mrs. H. B. Hutson, of Bethel, Ohio; Mrs. 
 C. S. Potter and Miss Nana Hibbard of Fort Col- 
 lins. 
 
 George H. Cram was born in Rutland, Ver- 
 mont, and educated at Castleton, that state. On 
 September 4th, 1869, he married Sarah E. Baker, 
 and a son, Dr. R. Lee Cram of Park City, Mon- 
 tana, was born of the union. Mr. Cram came to 
 Colorado on April 5th, 1876, and first located at 
 Hillsboro, Weld county. He taught school the 
 first few years of his residence in Colorado, was a 
 stockholder in and secretary of the Hillsbo-ro Canal 
 company, for several years, and was the first man 
 to put up money for that project. He moved to 
 Larimer county in 1887 and is now a traveling 
 salesman. He has lived to see Larimer county in- 
 crease in population from a few hundred souls to 
 more than 25,000 and has done his share in helping 
 to develop its manifold resources. 
 
 O. D. Shields^ one of Loveland's foremost pio- 
 neer citizens, is a native of Mahoning county, Ohio. 
 On coming to man's estate, he spent ten years in 
 the oil regions of Pennsylvania and then came west, 
 locating in Loveland in 1879, where he has since 
 lived and flourished. He early saw the fruit grow- 
 ing possibilities of Larimer county and the need 
 of acclimated nursery stock and therefore started 
 a nursery in a small way at first, adding to his 
 ground and stock year by year, until at last he had 
 one of the largest, best equipped and best assorted 
 nurseries in Colorado, and has been the means of 
 supplying thousands of orchards in the state with 
 trees that were true to name and thoroughly ac- 
 climated and which have since proved a source of 
 pleasure and profit to their owners. In this re- 
 spect, Mr. Shields has been a real benefactor to 
 his race and to Colorado, for through his fore- 
 sight and his skill in growing fruit trees, the fruit 
 growing industry has been fostered and developed 
 to a marked extent, and Larimer county, in par- 
 ticular, enriched by hundreds of thousands of dol- 
 lars. He sold his nursery business a few years ago 
 
 [380] 
 
 to the Colorado Nursery company, and retired from 
 active business pursuits. He resides in a cosy, well 
 furnished home on West Fifth street, Loveland, 
 with his wife and son, Donald, enjoying the aut- 
 umn of life in comfort and at peace with all the 
 world. It is to such men as Mr. Shields to whom 
 an everlasting debt of gratitude is due for what 
 they have done to make life worth living in this 
 splendid Centennial state of ours. 
 
 Alfred A. Edwards. — It is a well recognized 
 fact that the men who "do things", the men who 
 are the staunch, intellectual, progressive and moral 
 supports of the county, are, generally speaking, 
 those who spend their early years on the farm. 
 There is something in the close contact with the 
 soil and with the lessons taught by nature which 
 tends to develop the youth and cause him to ex- 
 pand mentally, morally and physically. The annals 
 of Larimer county are full of bright, shining ex- 
 aniples of men who, because of their intellectual 
 strength, moral fibre and progressive spirit, have 
 been called from the farm to occupy positions of 
 trust and responsibility, or to lead in the execution 
 of great enterprises. These reflections lead up to 
 the life story of Alfred A. Edwards, for he is an 
 example of a farmer boy who has made good in 
 every sense of the term. He was born August 26th, 
 1851, in Mercer county, Pennsylvania. He lived 
 on his father's farm, doing the work assigned him, 
 and. doing it well, until he was thirteen years of 
 age. The family then moved to the town of Mer- 
 cer where he laid the foundation for an education 
 in the public schools. In August, 1869, he came 
 to Larimer county with Rev. W. T. McAdams 
 and four other men. He spent a year in the West 
 as a cowboy and ranch hand, and then returned to 
 his Eastern home to complete his education. This 
 done, he taught school one year and later was rail- 
 road ticket agent in Mercer and Sharon, Penn- 
 sylvania, until 1876, when he retraced his steps 
 to Colorado, arriving in Fort Collins in Septem- 
 ber, and that city has since been his home. From 
 1876 to 1884 Mr. Edwards was engaged in various 
 avocations, among them ranching, bookkeeping, 
 clerking and milling. He was also assistant to rail- 
 road station agent T. J. Montgomery for about 
 two years. In May, 1884, he was appointed deputy 
 County Treasurer and deputy Clerk of the Dis- 
 trict Court under E. N. Garbutt. In the fall of 
 1885 he was elected to the office of County Treas- 
 urer, serving the people in that position with signal 
 ability and fidelity until July 1st, 1890, having 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 been appointed to fill a vacancy for six months, 
 due to a change in the law. On retiring from 
 public service, Mr. Edwards engaged in the ab- 
 stract, real estate and insurance business. In July, 
 1891, he assisted in organizing the Water Supply 
 & Storage company, which sprang up on the ruins 
 of the old Larimer County Ditch company. He 
 was one of the incorporators and also a Director 
 and Secretary of the new company, serving in the 
 latter capacity for three and one half years. In 
 1895, he was chosen President and General Mana- 
 ger of the company, filling those positions for fif- 
 teen years. It was during his administration that 
 the company made its greatest advance toward 
 efficiency, bringing it up among the foremost water 
 distributing and irrigation enterprises in Colorado. 
 The market value of shares in the company has 
 increased from $500 in 1891 to about $4,000 in 
 1910. In 1905, Governor McDonald appointed 
 Mr. Edwards a member of the State Board of 
 Agriculture for a term of eight years. He was 
 chosen Vice-President of the board in 1907, and 
 made President in 1909, which position he still 
 holds. It is fortunate for the college, for Colo- 
 rado and for Fort Collins as well, that a man of 
 strong individuality, unswerving integrity and an 
 acute appreciation of right and justice, like Mr. 
 Edwards, has been honored with this important 
 and very responsible position, for on a faithful 
 discharge of its duties depends not only the finan- 
 cial interests of the institution, but also the in- 
 tellectual and moral welfare of its hundreds of 
 students, for his success in life is an inspiration in- 
 citing them to greater effort. Mr. Edwards is 
 also General Manager of the Laramie-Poudre Re- 
 servoir & Irrigation company, one of the largest 
 and most important irrigation projects in Colorado. 
 He was married December 20th, 1883, to Phoebe 
 G. Edson. They have three children, James G., 
 Walter D. and Ruth E., all of whom still linger 
 about the home nest, although the sons are steadily 
 employed in irrigation engineering and construc- 
 tion work. The family has a beautiful home on 
 West Mountain avenue, ideal in character and 
 furnishings, and where conjugal love, happiness and 
 contentment reign supreme. No man in Larimer 
 county has been instrumental to a greater extent 
 in developing its agricultural resources than Mr. 
 Edwards and though he has filled many public 
 places of trust and responsibility and has had the 
 handling of millions of dollars of other peoples' 
 money, not a whisper or hint of malfeasance in 
 office or betrayal of trust has ever been heard. His 
 
 record in all of them is without blot or blemish, 
 and wherever he is known he is one of the most ad- 
 mired of men because of his acknowledged enter- 
 prise and integrity and his splendid social gifts. 
 
 Richard C. Springer. — Few men in Larimer 
 county have been more successful than Richard C. 
 Springer. He has been a resident of the county 
 since 1882, living at and near Timnath. He was 
 born in New Jersey, May 25th, 1862, and was 
 educated in the public schools at Bridgeport, his 
 native town. He was married to Martha S. Shea, 
 April 23rd, 1884. Wilbur B. Springer of Tim- 
 nath, is their only child. Mr. Springer first located 
 on a farm 2-| miles northwest of Timnath and fol- 
 lowed farming for many years. He now lives one- 
 half mile northwest of Timnath. He conducted 
 a general merchandise store and has been post- 
 master of the town for several years. He owns 
 two farms near Timnath, a store building and two 
 other houses and lots in that town, and while in 
 California, made investments in city property in 
 Los Angeles. 
 
 Arthur B. Harris was born near Fort Collins, 
 Colo., October 28, 1886, the son of Isaac B. and 
 Mary Lillian (Elton) Harris; graduated from the 
 public schools and attended the Agricultural col- 
 lege two years, taking the preparatory work; en- 
 tered newspaper office, making a study of editorial 
 and business ends as well as learning the printers' 
 trade, later conducting a job office for some time; 
 was married in Colorado Springs to Nannie M. 
 Chrisman, October 23, 1909, and has one daugh- 
 ter; moved to Wellington, Larimer county, in 
 April, 1910, accepting employment on the Welling- 
 ton Sun; in January, 1911, established "The Cham- 
 pion," a monthly prohibition journal and official 
 organ of the state Prohibition party; takes an active 
 interest in party politics and has been county chair- 
 man since twenty-one years of age. 
 
 M. C. Ward. — It is somewhat noticeable what 
 a wonderful attraction farm life has for the man 
 who for nearly a lifetime has been exposed lo all 
 the perils, risks and dangers of the railway service. 
 For 25 years Mr. Ward was a most capable and 
 efficient conductor, 20 years of which in the employ 
 of the Colorado and Southern railroad, and after 
 so many years of active duty he tendered his resig- 
 nation and is now happy in the selection of a com- 
 fortable home west of Fort Collins, where he may 
 pass the remaining years of his life amid agreeable 
 rural surroundings. Mr. Ward was born at Ver- 
 
 [381] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 sallies, Ohio, June 2nd, 1861, and was married to 
 Mary Ligier in 1883. To them was born one son, 
 Carl. The family came to Colorado in 1891, and 
 to Larimer county in 1902. 
 
 William H. Ralph was born March 22nd, 
 1849, at Hetston, Cornwall, England, where he 
 went to school. At 14 years of age, he was ap- 
 
 WILLIAM H. RALPH 
 
 prenticed to the cabinet-making trade, serving under 
 one master for six years, going then to London 
 to work for an uncle as a journeyman. He re- 
 mained in his uncle's employ one year and then 
 went to Truro, Cornwall, where on August 28th, 
 1870, he married Mary Anna Hearn. Soon after 
 the wedding, Mr. Ralph and his bride emigrated 
 to the United States, locating first at Elizabeth, 
 Illinois, where he opened a furniture and under- 
 taking store. Two years later moved to Onton- 
 agon, Michigan. Here he made furniture for the 
 copper miners and coffins for those that needed them 
 until 1873, when he came to Colorado and located 
 in business at Central City. The altitude there 
 being too high for him, he sold his business in 1877 
 and in September, 1878, he came to Fort Collins 
 
 [382] 
 
 and established himself in business in a room in 
 the Wilson block on Jefferson street. Two years 
 later he erected the building next west of the Cour- 
 ier office and occupied it until the fall of 1881, 
 when he sold it to E. O. Hoyt. In 1882, Mr. 
 Ralph joined with the late J. T. Cliff, W. C. 
 Stover and A. H. Patterson and built the Jeffer- 
 son block. Into this building he moved his stock 
 of furniture and continued in business until the 
 silver panic of 1893 came on, when he disposed of 
 his property on Jefferson street and retired from 
 active business for a few years. In 1900, he opened 
 a furniture store at Eaton, Colorado, and con- 
 ducted it until his health gave out in 1907. He 
 suffered from nervous prostration for about two 
 years, finally recovering sufficient strength to en- 
 able him to open and conduct a variety store on 
 E. Oak street which now occupies his time and at- 
 tention. Mr. Ralph was the pioneer cabinet maker 
 and undertaker and exclusive dealer in furniture 
 in Fort Collins, and as a business man and citizen 
 stands very high in the estimation of his fellow men. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Ralph have three sons and two 
 daughters, William J. Ralph, Mrs. Henrietta Nel- 
 son, wife of Frank M. Nelson, Albert H. Ralph, 
 Mrs. Nellie Arbuckle and Harry Ralph, all 
 located near the parental home. Mr. Ralph 
 served two terms in the city council as alderman 
 from the first ward. 
 
 Stewart McNey was born in 1876, in Russell 
 Fisk's dugout at Livermore. He was the eldest of 
 three sons, Stewart, Walter and John McNey, 
 whose parents were John and Frances (Stewart) 
 McNey, pioneers of the Livermore country. They 
 crossed the Plains in a wagon in 1875 and located 
 on a stock ranch about eight miles west of the pres- 
 ent Livermore hotel and postoffice, where they lived 
 until Mr. McNey died in December, 1901. Here 
 the sons grew to manhood. Walter is a ranchman 
 at Westlake, John a ranchman on home place in 
 Livermore, and our subject lives at 416 Peterson 
 street. Fort Collins. He married Josie Dyekman 
 in October, 1908, who is a daughter of LeRoy and 
 Mary E. Dyekman. Mrs. McNey graduated from 
 the Fort Collins High school and has since been a 
 successful teacher in the public schools of Larimer 
 county for a period of six years. 
 
 Dr. Albert E. Goodwin came with his family 
 from Wisconsin to Fort Collins, July 19th, 1905, 
 and is one of the most active, energetic and am- 
 bitious men in the community. A dentist by pro- 
 fession, but soon tiring of office work, he branched 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 out into a successful dealer in land and live stock, 
 in which he has made a fortune- within the brief 
 space of five years; is one of the originators and 
 promotors of the Park Creek Irrigation district. 
 Dr. Goodwin was born January 29th, 1865, at 
 Trenton, Pierce county, Wisconsin, and married 
 Florence E. Bennett, August 19th, 1903. They 
 have two children, Merle Alice and James Ben- 
 nett. He and an associate recently invested in the 
 Roberts stock and dairy ranch, for which they 
 paid upwards of $30,000. Dr. Goodwin is a fine 
 example of the man who does things and makes it 
 pay. 
 
 Dr. George H. Glover. — Born on an Iowa 
 farm, April 2nd, 1864, and reared on a Colorado 
 farm; these are among the favors kind nature and 
 circumstances have bestowed upon the subject of 
 our sketch. Two years of his life were spent in 
 his native town. Eagle, Iowa, six years at Earl- 
 ville, Illinois, and the rest of it for the most part, 
 in Colorado. In 1850, his father, Russell B. 
 Glover, tramped across the Plains to Sacramento, 
 California, with an emigrant train. He located 
 a mine, sold it and the following year he planted 
 a large field of potatoes. Prices slumped at harvest 
 time; he lost money and then returned to Illinois. 
 In 1858 he married Emily Cook Garland from 
 West Campton, New Hampshire, and followed 
 farming in Illinois. His wife being a sufferer from 
 asthma, he moved to Iowa in 1863, but as she re- 
 ceived no benefit he returned to Illinois two years 
 later. In the spring of 1872, Mr. Glover moved 
 to Longmont when our subject was seven years of 
 age. The boy was raised on a farm two miles east 
 of Longmont and attended the Longmont public 
 schools. In January, 1880, when 16 years of age, 
 he entered the Colorado Agricultural college, grad- 
 uating therefrom in 1884 with the first class 
 granted diplomas at that institution. He paid his 
 own way through college, his parents being in 
 straightened circumstances, owing to his mother's 
 illness. A good friend ofiEered to pay his way 
 through the Iowa Agricultural college at Ames. He 
 accepted the offer and graduated in veterinary 
 medicine at that institution in 1885. In Nov- 
 ember, 1887, he married Margaret J. Glover (no 
 relation) at Longmont. Immediately after this 
 he was employed by Colorado and Montana 
 as sanitary inspector of cattle on the old Na- 
 " tional trail from Texas. His duty was to inspect 
 through cattle for Texas fever and was thus em- 
 ployed for six years. He also served one year as 
 
 deputy state veterinarian of Montana. Then he 
 spent two years on the home farm and in 1900 
 was employed by the Colorado Agricultural col- 
 lege to give lectures once a week on veterinary 
 medicine. Two years later he was elected head of 
 the veterinary department at that institution, which, 
 through his energy and distinguished skill and 
 
 DR. GEORGE H. GLOVER 
 
 ability, is now in class "A" of the veterinary col- 
 leges of America. Dr. Glover is President of the 
 Association of Faculties and State Examining 
 Boards of America, and President of the American 
 Veterinary Medical Association; was President of 
 the Colorado Veterinary Medical Association in 
 1907, and is City Food Inspector of Fort Collins. 
 
 Frank W. Ricks was born February 7th, 1840, 
 in Germany, and educated in his native country; 
 came to the United States at an early age and on 
 November 27th, 1867, married Anna Roeder at 
 St. Louis, Missouri; came to the Little Thomp- 
 son valley in 1881 and settled on a farm 3| miles 
 west of Berthoud, where he has since resided; is 
 a successful and prosperous farmer and fruit grower 
 and thinks farming by irrigation is the only pro- 
 
 [383] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 per way to successfully cultivate the soil. Served 
 two years and ten months in Company E of the 
 second Missouri Cavalry during the Civil war. 
 
 Edgar T. Pate, sole proprietor of the Boston 
 Store, one of the largest and most prosperous mer- 
 cantile establishments in Northern Colorado, was 
 born April 12th, 1875, at Sweet Springs, Pettis 
 
 EDGAR T. PATE 
 
 county, Missouri. In 1889 he came with his 
 father's family to Boulder, Colo. He was educated 
 in the public schools, carrying newspapers after 
 school hours. After graduating from the High 
 school he went to Denver and was employed as a 
 solicitor by one of the afternoon dailies of that 
 city. He enlisted June 13th, 1898, in company H 
 of the 1st Colorado Volunteers; accompanied his 
 regiment to the Philippines, spending about a year 
 in Luzon. He was an orderly on General Green's 
 staff when the 1st Colorado marched into Manila. 
 His military record shows he was in the battle of 
 Manila, Aug. 13th, 1898. Engagements with 
 insurgents, Feb. 4th and 5th and Feb. 23rd, 1899, 
 and subsequent scouts and marches to June 12th, 
 1899, when he was shot through the left knee, at 
 
 [384] 
 
 Mariquina Heights, and sent home on the hospital 
 ship, Relief. Mr. Pate moved to Larimer county, 
 December 15th, 1903, and opened up the mercantile 
 business in Loveland; moved to Fort Collins, May 
 14th, 1908, and opened the Boston Store which he is 
 still conducting with almost phenomenal success. 
 He has twice had to move into larger quarters to 
 obtain space in which to carry on his constantly 
 increasing business. Mr. Pate was the originator 
 of the "spot cash and no delivery" policy in selling 
 goods which is working like a charm. He employs 
 twenty clerks and salesmen and is doing an im- 
 mense business. He married Bertie E. Smith, 
 September 3rd, 1901, at Holden, Missouri, and 
 three children, Ethel Pearl, Robert Edgar and 
 Flemmon Earnest, have been the fruits of the 
 union. The father of our subject T. J. Pate is a 
 native of Alabama. He taught school in Mississippi 
 in his younger days. On the breaking out of the 
 Civil war he joined the 4th, Missouri Volunteer 
 Infantry and fought all through the conflict for 
 the "Bonnie Blue Flag" which bore a single star. 
 
 N. R. Faulkner was born in Hancock, Dela- 
 ware Co., N. Y. Educated at Sherman, Pennsyl- 
 vania. Lived at Lone Tree, Iowa, from 1872 to 
 1882, where he was married to Ella Richey in 
 1875. He came to Loveland in 1882. They have 
 three children, Harry, Alva and Lena. He is 
 engaged in farming. 
 
 George Cronk. — ^With the single exception of 
 Mrs. Cary Culver, widow of the late Cary Culver, 
 who was the first man to permanently locate in the 
 Little Thompson valley, Mr. Cronk has been a 
 continuous resident of that valley for a longer 
 period of time than any other person living. He 
 came there in 1871 and took up a- homestead one 
 mile west and one and a half miles south of the 
 present town of Berthoud, and has, therefore, been 
 a citizen of the county for forty years. He was 
 born in 1837, in Pittstown, New York, and came 
 to Colorado in 1859 with the rush of gold seekers. 
 He stopped a short time at Boulder, then a fron- 
 tier log cabin town, and then located on the St. 
 Vrain. In 1862 he enlisted in the 2nd Colorado 
 cavalry and served three years, principally in Mis- 
 souri, Arkansas and Indian Territory, under Capt. 
 Kingsbury. He married Miss Eliza M. Graf- 
 ton, September 10th, 1866, and settled in the Little 
 Thompson valley in 1871. His neighbors at first 
 were few and far between. Though he still owns 
 the farm he took up forty years ago, in addition 
 to 80 acres of railroad land that he bought, he has 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 given up farm work and farm life and he and his 
 wife reside in Berthoud, enjoying a well earned rest 
 after many years of pioneer life. They have no 
 children. 
 
 William Rist^ ex-County Surveyor, ex-city 
 Engineer of Fort Collins and ex-Division Engineer 
 for Irrigation Division No. 1 of Colorado, was 
 born April 13th, 1853, in Fayette county, Penn- 
 sylvania; educated at Bethany, West Virginia; 
 came to Colorado in 1869; married Texanna Trees 
 of Texas in 1880; three children living; Irene, 
 Charlotte, and Anna J. Rist; moved, in 1881, to 
 Fort Collins which place is still his home; has 
 spent twenty-two years of his life in public service. 
 
 William Russell Thomas was born at Barry- 
 ville, Sullivan county, N. Y., his parents removing, 
 when he was a mere child, into Pennsylvania, in 
 which state he spent his boyhood years. He received 
 his first education in the public schools and began 
 his preparations for college at the Monticello (N. 
 Y.) Academy. He entered the Freshman class of 
 Williams college in 1861, graduating with the 
 degree of A. B. in 1865, having in the meantime 
 taken some practical lessons in journalism on the 
 Chicago Tribune. He was one of the Tribune's 
 reporters of Abraham Lincoln's funeral. 
 
 After graduating he spent several months study- 
 ing constitutional history and law. In 1866 he 
 started for Colorado and spent the larger portion 
 of the summer of that year traveling in the moun- 
 tains accompanying Bayard Taylor in his tour of 
 Colorado. 
 
 In October, he secured a position on the Central 
 City Register as editor, which he retained until 
 May, 1867, when he was offered and accepted a 
 position on the Rocky Mountain News at Denver, 
 as managing editor. This place he held for eleven 
 years, or until May, 1878, when the sale of the 
 paper occasioned an entire change of editorial policy 
 and management. 
 
 During the years of 1880-81 he was first city 
 editor and then managing editor of the Denver 
 Times. In 1886 he returned to the News, serving 
 in the various positions of reporter, city editor, man- 
 agmg editor and editorial writer for sixteen years, 
 until December, 1902, when he resigned to accept 
 his present position on the Agricultural college 
 faculty. 
 
 The only political position he ever held was that 
 of Adjutant General of the Territory, from 1872 
 to 1874. In June, 1901, he was elected unani- 
 
 mously by the State Board of Agriculture to fill 
 the vacancy in its membership, and in December, 
 1902, the board created the Department of Con- 
 stitutional History and Irrigation Law, and elected 
 Dr. Thomas professor in charge of the department. 
 He conducts the classes in United States Constitu- 
 tion, Irrigation law. Sociology, Political Economy, 
 History, Laws of contracts and Laws governing 
 
 WILLIAM RUSSELL THOMAS 
 
 the practice of Veterinary Science, and the care and 
 transportation of live stock. 
 
 At its commencement in 1902, the University 
 of Denver conferred upon him the degree of Doctor 
 of Letters, "in recognition," as the Chancellor said, 
 "of his services in behalf of education in Colorado." 
 
 Dr. Thomas was happily married, September, 
 1871, to Miss Flora Sumner, of West Liberty, 
 Iowa, a union that has been blessed by three sons 
 and a daughter: Chauncey, William Russell Jr., 
 Charles Sumner, and Flora Thomas. 
 
 James Watson is a native of Scotland, born in 
 June, 1858, at Inverurie, Aberdeen. He was 
 reared on a farm and attended school in his youth. 
 He came to Fort Collins in 1887, and in 1893 
 
 [385] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 married Agnes Petrie, who has borne him five chil- 
 dren, Janie, Jessie, James, Alexander, Anna, and 
 Bessie. He is recognized as one of the best and 
 most successful farmers in the county. 
 
 McCoRMicK Brothers, (George C, and 
 James G.,) owners and publishers of the Morning 
 and Weekly Express of Fort Collins, are both 
 
 GEORGE C. MCCORMICK 
 
 natives of Iowa, a state that has furnished Colo- 
 rado with many good citizens. George C, was 
 born October 20th, 1872, and James G., February 
 24th, 1874, near Sandyville, Warren county. They 
 are sons of Montgomery and Harriet McCormick. 
 In 1880, they moved with their parents to Stanton, 
 Iowa, where for eleven years their attention was 
 devoted exclusively to farming and to laying the 
 foundation for their education, in the public schools. 
 In 1891, the family moved to College Springs, 
 Iowa, where the parents still reside. The sub- 
 jects of this sketch attended Amity college in their 
 home town, from which both graduated, George 
 in 1897 from the Philosophical course, and James 
 in 1899 from the Scientific course. About the 
 time of his graduation, George bought the Current 
 Press of College Springs and engaged in the news- 
 paper business, which he has since followed with 
 success. On January 1st, 1899, he sold the Cur- 
 rent Press to his brother James, and purchased the 
 Albia Republican, which he conducted alone for a 
 period of eight years, except for a year and a half 
 
 [386] 
 
 when he was associated with his brother. James 
 published the Current Press until 1903, when he 
 purchased the Cresco Times, which he published 
 for about a year and then entered into partnership 
 with George in the management of the Albia Re- 
 publican, the firm continuing until July, 1906, 
 when James came to Fort Collins and bought a one- 
 half interest in the Express, which he still owns. 
 On June 24th, 1905, James was joined in marriage 
 with Nina Webster, daughter of Mrs. Orpha Web- 
 ster of Cresco, Iowa. George married Carrie 
 Sherman, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. S. L. Sher- 
 man at College Springs, June 22nd, 1897. Of the 
 last named union, two children were born; Paul, 
 aged nine years and Ruth, aged four years. The 
 family resides at 601 West Mountain avenue. On 
 May 1st, 1907, George McCormick sold the Albia 
 Republican and purchased W. D. Junkin's half 
 interest in the Express and the two brothers again 
 became associated in the newspaper business under 
 the firm name of McCormick Brothers, and they 
 are still vested with the ownership and manage- 
 ment of the pioneer newspaper of Larimer county. 
 On the 28th of May, 1907, McCormick Brothers 
 began the publication of the Morning Express in 
 connection with the weekly edition, thus giving 
 
 JAMES G. MCCORMICK 
 
 Fort Collins a morning paper. The Express is 
 republican in politics and an earnest and consistent 
 advocate of the development of the resources of 
 Larimer county and the upbuilding of Fort Collins. 
 
Of. a.^r>^. 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 The McCormick Brothers at once became identi- 
 fied with the business interests and growth of their 
 adopted home and in 1907 erected the Express 
 building, especially adapted to the requirements of 
 the newspaper business, and two years later, in 
 1909, they erected the building adjoining the Ex- 
 press office, which is leased to the government for 
 postoffice purposes. The Weekly Express was 
 founded by the late Joseph S. McClelland, who 
 issued the first number on April 26th, 1873. After 
 passing through several changes of ownership, the 
 paper and its equipment finally came into the hands 
 and under the control and management of the 
 McCormick Brothers, where it still remains. 
 
 Hon. William A. Drake. — The man who 
 achieves success in any legitimate undertaking 
 through sheer force of will, sets a worthy 
 example for others to emulate. He is a credit 
 to the community in which he lives and is entitled 
 to honor and respect. Such a man is State 
 Senator William A. Drake of Fort Collins. He 
 was born on a farm, reared on a farm and is 
 one of the leading, progressive and most prosper- 
 ous farmers in Colorado. Besides his home place 
 on which he settled in 1882, he owns several of the 
 best improved and most productive farms in the 
 county, and has also a large body of land in Al- 
 berta, Canada. Mr. Drake was born March 4th, 
 1853, near the shores of Cayuga lake, Cayuga 
 county. New York. His father, William A. Sr., 
 was born in Goshen, Orange county. New York. 
 When the subject of this sketch was four years of 
 age he was taken by his parents to Polk county, 
 Iowa, where he grew to manhood's estate. He at- 
 tended the public schools of Polk county and the 
 Baptist University in Des Moines, paying his own 
 way through that institution through teaching 
 school during the vacation season. After leaving 
 school, he engaged in farming during the summer 
 and taught school in the winter. He spent the 
 summer of 1876 in Oregon, teaching, returning 
 to Iowa in the fall. He taught fourteen terms in 
 Iowa, thus gaining a wide experience in educa- 
 tional matters and also making him an ardent ad- 
 vocate and zealous supporter of the public school 
 system. Senator Drake came from Iowa to Fort 
 Collins in the spring of 1882. He then purchased 
 an 80-acre tract of partly improved land, situated 
 two miles south of the city, making a partial pay- 
 ment down. Four years later he had paid off the 
 debt on his land and had bought an adjoining 
 80-acre tract, adding another 80-acre tract to his 
 
 160-acre farm three years afterwards, making 240 
 acres of very productive land, all in one body. He 
 improved his farm by fencing it, constructing 
 irrigating laterals, bridging ditches and by build- 
 ing a handsome and commodious brick farm house, 
 a big barn 44x60 feet in dimensions, with a wing 
 on each side 24x30. In 1892 he began to feed 
 sheep and lambs for the eastern markets in which he 
 has been very successful. In his home feeding 
 pens he fattens about 4,000 head every year and 
 he has often marketed as high as 40,000 head in 
 a season, the most of them fattened on his other 
 farms and in the Arkansas valley. He is the most 
 extensive sheep feeder in Colorado and has made 
 good money in the business. Nothwithstanding 
 his farm duties and stock feeding interests, and 
 they have been and are strenuous, he has found 
 time to devote to public affairs and his counsel 
 and co-operation has often been sought in political 
 campaigns and in behalf of the moral and material 
 advancement of his chosen home. He has been 
 President of the school board of District Number 
 16; President of the Larimer County Sheep Feed- 
 ers association ; President of the Fort Collins Beet 
 Growers association and an active and influential 
 worker in all of them. He is now a heavy stock 
 holder and vice-president of the First National 
 Bank, of Fort Collins. He was an important factor 
 in the movement to get a sugar factory in Fort Col- 
 lins. In 1902 Mr. Drake was the republican candi- 
 date for State Senator from the Tenth senatorial dis- 
 trict, composed of the counties of Boulder and Lari- 
 mer, and was elected by a majority of nearly 1,700. 
 He at once took a commanding position in that body 
 and the good work he accomplished for the benefit 
 of his constituents during the Fourteenth and Fif- 
 teenth General assemblies made his re-election in 
 1906 a foregone conclusion. He was one of the 
 most active and hardest working members of the 
 State senate during both terms and his ability and 
 forcefulness was recognized and appreciated by all of 
 his colleagues. In fact, he was a tower of strength 
 in that body and could get anything he asked for 
 passed by the senate. He was a capable, honest 
 and popular representative of the leading industries 
 of northern Colorado, and his record as State 
 senator is pointed to with pride by friend and foe. 
 Had he not positively declined, he would un- 
 doubtedly have been sent back for a third term in 
 1910. In the Fourteenth General assembly Sena- 
 tor Drake was a member of the following com- 
 mittees: Agriculture and Irrigation; Live Stock; 
 County Affairs ; Military and Horticulture. Among 
 
 [387] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 the important bills introduced by him which passed 
 the Senate are the following: Bill amending school 
 law; bill appropriating $75,000 for an irrigation 
 engineering building for the Agricultural college. 
 The bill passed with the amount cut to $40,000. 
 Bill to protect trade and commerce against unlaw- 
 ful restraint. This measure passed the senate but 
 was killed in the house. During the session of 1905 
 he was chairman of the Committee of Agriculture 
 and Irrigation, and also of the Live Stock com- 
 mittee ; miember of the committees on Banking and 
 Insurance, privileges and elections, reapportionment 
 and of the committee appointed to investigate the 
 titles to seats in the senate of Senators Bohn and 
 Healy. He introduced bills at this session con- 
 cerning sweet-clover. (This bill passed the sen- 
 ate and was killed in the house) ; amending an act 
 creating state board of agriculture ; bill appropriat- 
 ing $30,000 for the Agricultural college, (Mr. 
 Drake asked for $70,000, but only got $30,000) ; 
 a stock bill which put a stop to grafting from the 
 sheep feeders by the State Stock board. During the 
 session of 1907, Senator Drake was chairman of 
 the committee which named the standing com- 
 mittee of the senate and apportioned patronage ; 
 chairman of committee on finance. It is worthy 
 of note here that this was the only session of the 
 legislature that did not appropriate more money 
 than the estimated revenues of the state for the 
 biennial period. He was also a member of the 
 committees on Reapportionment, and Agriculture 
 and Irrigation. He was the caucus nominee for 
 president pro tem of the senate, but was defeated 
 by four senators who ignored the caucus. Senator 
 Drake introduced and secured the passage and ap- 
 proval of the local option law, by all odds the 
 most important measure enacted and an appro- 
 priation of $4,000 for the Loveland road. At the 
 session of 1909, Senator Drake was a member of 
 the committee on Finance and of the committee 
 on Agriculture and Irrigation. He secured the 
 passage at this session of the district drainage law, 
 the local improvement law; an act accepting the 
 Carnegie Foundation fund; an appropriation of 
 $119,372.18 for the Agricultural College and an 
 appropriation of $3,480 for the Loveland and Fort 
 Collins road; an act accepting, ratifying and as- 
 senting to the terms, grants and conditions of an 
 act passed by the 59th Congress relating to in- 
 creased appropriations for the Agricultural college; 
 an act transferring the proceeds of the land fund 
 to the college; an act relating to dairy products. 
 The records show that Senator Drake made 76 
 
 [388] 
 
 motions and cast nearly 2,000 votes during the four 
 regular sessions. He also secured the passage of 
 an act creating Larimer county a separate and in- 
 dependent senatorial district. He was a delegate 
 to the National republican convention in 1908 
 and member of committee on resolutions from 
 Colorado. On March 20th, 1878, Mr. Drake 
 married Emma Arnettie Darnell daughter of 
 Thomas Darnell, at Des Moines, Iowa. They 
 have three children ; Nellie D., Edwin A., and 
 Walter Ray. The daughter and both sons are mar- 
 ried and live near Fort Collins. In 1908, Senator 
 Drake turned his home farm over to his son and 
 built himself a beautiful residence on Remington 
 street, Fort Collins, where he now lives. 
 
 Harry V. Bennett was born in Chickasaw 
 County, Iowa, on the 3rd day of June, 1856. Mr. 
 Bennett came to Colorado with his parents in 1864, 
 crossing the plains by wagon with a team of four 
 yoke of cows. After a residence of three years the 
 family went by wagon to California; remaining in 
 the west five years. In 1872 they returned to the 
 Little Thompson Valley and in 1874 located near 
 Berthoud where Mr. Bennett has since been en- 
 gaged in farming and stock raising. On Novem- 
 ber 26, 1886, he was married to Laura F. Keirnes. 
 They have one daughter, Emma V. Bennett, born 
 July 18, 1888. Mr. Bennett has been successful in 
 his business and is a valued citizen of the county. 
 
 John W. Henderson was born March 25th, 
 1830, in Accomac county, Virginia; died April 5th, 
 1904, in Fort Collins, Colorado; married Hen- 
 rieta Durkee, March 25th, 1856, who with two 
 children, Mrs. C. B. Andrews of Fort Collins, 
 and Joseph Henderson of Livermore, survivr. 
 Our subject came from Missouri to Colorado in 
 1878 and engaged in freighting from Colorado 
 Springs to Leadville during the boom period, be- 
 fore the railroad was built into that great Silver 
 camp, doing a profitable business; sold his freight- 
 ing outfit in 1879 and moved to Fort Collins 
 which continued to be his home until he died. Mr. 
 Henderson was a splendid type of the noblest work 
 of God, an honest man, fair and just in all his 
 dealings and ever ready to render unto Caesar the 
 things that are Caesar's. 
 
 Eliza A. Reid. — Born in 1842 at Newburg, 
 Ohio; married N. R. Herrington, January 8th, 
 1861. Came to Colorado in 1879, first locating 
 in Fort Collins, then moving to the Redstone val- 
 ley. Her husband died in 1881 leaving her with 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 the care of seven children, whose names are Mrs. 
 Eva V. Nye; Mrs. Mary A. Kimmons; Harry G., 
 Fred O., Birney L., Mrs. Flora C. Cross and Mrs. 
 Grace Lindenmeier. In 1881 Mrs. Herrington 
 moved to Fort Collins which has since been her 
 home. 
 
 George F. Haver, born April 28th, 1861, at 
 Moline, Illinois; married Mary Olden, July 3rd, 
 1884, at Atlantic, Iowa; moved to Fort Collins, 
 January 3rd, 1906; has five sons and two daughters 
 living, two dying in their infancy. Mr. Haver is 
 a brick contractor by occupation and has done well 
 since he came to Colorado. He is recognized as 
 an industrious, energetic man and good citizen. 
 
 Rev. G. Joseph LaJeunesse, pastor of St. 
 Joseph's Catholic church, Fort Collins, will long 
 be remembered by those who know him as a tal- 
 ented clergyman, a tireless worker and a genial 
 friend. He was born on July 5th, 1862 in 
 St. Paul, Minnesota. His father, Joseph La- 
 Jeunesse, was born in Montreal, Canada, of 
 French parents and his mother, Mary E. (Brown) 
 Lajeunesse, was born in St. Charles, Mis- 
 souri. They were married in St. Paul, Minne- 
 sota, in 1858. Of this union our subject was the 
 second child in order of birth. In 1863 his parents 
 moved to Chambly, near Montreal, Canada, where 
 he was reared. He was educated in Montreal 
 college at the Seminary of Philosophy, and at the 
 Grand Seminary of that city. In 1888, he went 
 to Paris, France, to further pursue his studies, but 
 his health breaking down, he came back to Mon- 
 treal at the end of a year. After his ordination in 
 the Cathederal of Montreal by Archbishop Fabre 
 on July 25th, 1889, he served successively as chap- 
 lain to the Sisters of Providence, Brothers of Christ- 
 ian Instruction of Montreal, Sisters of Charity of 
 St. Boniface, Manitoba, and Brothers of Charity, 
 Boston, Massachusetts, being thus engaged for six 
 years. Father Lajeunesse came to Denver Colo- 
 rado, in November, 1895, and after spending eight 
 months as assistant pastor at the Immaculate Con- 
 ception Cathedral in that city, he was assigned as 
 first resident pastor to the parish of Lake City, 
 Colorado, where he had charge of the work for two 
 years and four months, going thence to Gunnison, 
 Colorado, where he spent five months in this ex- 
 tensive jurisdiction. On the 21st of April, 1899, 
 ht came to Fort Collins to take charge of St. 
 Joseph's parish and is still ministering to its con- 
 gregation. Of the results of Father Lajeunesse's 
 work in Fort Collins too much cannot well be said 
 
 in praise. He is a man not only of great piety and 
 deep faith in God, but also of remarkable energy, 
 unusual executive ability and determination of will. 
 He set himself at once to the work of improving 
 conditions in the parish and in 1901, had the pleas- 
 ure and the satisfaction of assisting in the dedica- 
 tion of the beautiful and comm.odious church on 
 W. Mountain avenue in which the congregation 
 
 RE^'. G. JOSEPH LAJEUNESSE ^ 
 
 has since worshipped. He has also been instru- 
 mental in having churches erected at Greeley and 
 at Loveland which at present form two distinct 
 and thriving parishes. His interest and activity 
 in the growth of Fort Collins did not cease with 
 the completion of St. Joseph's church, but con- 
 tinued until he had remodeled and erected twelve 
 other buildings, including the Antlers hotel and 
 the rectory, the finest at this date in the Diocese 
 of Denver. 
 
 Albert A. Hawley, born in 1845, near Mon- 
 treal, Canada, came to Colorado in 1863, and 
 served as Deputy Provo-Marshal under Capt. John 
 Wanless; went to New York in 1865, and married 
 Alma B. Burnop in 1878; returned in 1879 to 
 
 [389] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Fort Collins, which has since been his home; lived 
 on a farm for 18 years and then moved to Fort 
 Collins. Mr. and Mrs. Hawley have two chil- 
 dren, Albert B. and Olive J.; and an adopted 
 daughter, Mrs. Ben. Lamb; lives at 813 W. Moun- 
 tain Avenue. 
 
 Perry Harrington was born July 1st, 1846, 
 in Ashtabula county, Ohio, where he went to 
 school and learned the builder's trade. On August 
 
 PERRY HARRINGTON 
 
 18th, 1867, he was joined in marriage with Julia 
 Packard at Deerfield, Wis., and six children were 
 born of the union; Fred M., Nettie D., Minnie F., 
 George W., Alta M., and Julia E. Harrington. 
 Mr. Harrington came to Colorado in December, 
 1878, and located at Fort Collins, which city con- 
 tinued to be his home until he died on February 
 27th 1911. Mrs. Harrington and their children fol- 
 lowed him to Fort Collins from the east in May, 
 1880. Mr. Harrington was an active, energetic man 
 and a good mechanic and he readily found employ- 
 ment at contracting and building and in construct- 
 ing bridges for Larimer county. He was for many 
 years the main bridge builder in the county and did 
 a great deal of work of that kind in all parts of the 
 county, including North Park. A number of good 
 buildings including large business blocks remain to- 
 day in Fort Collins as monuments to his energy and 
 skill as a mechanic. He set the first plate glass 
 placed in a business block in that city. Mr. Har- 
 
 [390] 
 
 rington came of good stock, his mother being a sis- 
 ter of Commodore Perry who won the famous 
 naval victory over the British fleet on Lake Erie 
 in 1813, and he was named in honor of his noted 
 uncle. His widow and several of his children still 
 reside in Fort Collins. 
 
 James Miller. — Born in 1849, at St. Johns, 
 New Brunswick; educated in the common schools 
 of Canada; married Jessie Brockway in 1873, at 
 Greeley, Colorado ; Edwin A., of Fort Collins, and 
 Albert of Walden are their only children; came to 
 Greeley in 1872 and to near Timnath, Larimer 
 county in 1883 ; lumberman by occupation and 
 helped to build and operate a saw mill at Greeley 
 in the early 70's; ancestors came from Liverpool 
 early in the 19th century and engaged in the lum- 
 ber business in Maine and New Brunswick, being 
 located at Calais, Maine, for some time. Our sub- 
 ject drove saw logs down the Cache la Poudre river 
 for W. F. Thompson until the lumber business 
 was abandoned at Greeley, then drifted into farm- 
 ing near Timnath ; active in the growth and de- 
 velopment of Timnath, being a member of com- 
 mittee that built the church there, of which he was 
 an elder for more than 20 years; charter member 
 of Timnath lodge of Odd Fellows; was long en- 
 gaged in the mercantile and forwarding business. 
 Mrs. Miller came from an old Massachusetts 
 family that antedates the Revolution, her grand- 
 father having been a revolutionary soldier. 
 
 Frank M. Nelson was born September 23rd, 
 1867, in Muscatine, Iowa, and attended the public 
 schools in Warren county, Illinois; came to Fort 
 Collins, July 15th 1886, which place has since 
 been his home; drove delivery wagon for grocery 
 store a few years; salesman in Turk's grocery ten 
 years and then became associated with J. M. White- 
 man in the grocery business in 1903 in which he 
 continues with excellent success. Mr. Nelson mar- 
 ried Henrietta Ralph, June 1st, 1892, and they 
 have four children. Monroe, Maud, Ralph and 
 Arlene Nelson, all at home. Whiteman & Nelson 
 are proprietors of the Gem Grocery, one of the 
 most reliable and most prosperous mercantile es- 
 tablishments in Northern Colorado. Mr. Nelson 
 is 'an influential member of the Woodmen of the 
 World, and of the order of Elks. 
 
 Albert Baker Tomlin. — In the year 1873, 
 Mr. Tomlin arrived in Fort Collins from Missouri. 
 He at once formed a partnership with W. C. 
 Stover, engaging in general merchandise. He fol- 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 lowed this line for many years, and in 1878, his 
 friends called upon him to accept the nomination 
 for County Treasurer. He filled the office with 
 great credit, and until his business interests de- 
 manded his personal attention. He was born in 
 Maryland, April 30th, 1840, and was educated in 
 Baltimore. He married Elizabeth E. Whitesides 
 on December 31st, 1874. Five sons and one daugh- 
 ter were born to them — Mrs. Eleanor Esgar, 
 Oliver B., Thomas A., Galen J., Wesley R., and 
 Henry M. Mr. Tomlin died on June 26th, 1908. 
 He was a man greatly respected, loved and honored 
 in the community. 
 
 John Hahn. — Chief among the farmers and 
 ranchmen of the Big Thompson valley is John 
 Hahn, who, at the ripe age of three score and tert, 
 still overlooks his possessions and, if necessary, can 
 do a man's work in field or garden. Mr. Hahn 
 was born in Germany, October 6, 1840. His 
 parents, with many others from their community 
 in Deutchland, emigrated to America. The family 
 ascended the Mississippi river to Rock Island, Illi- 
 nois. John's father died shortly afterwards. Mr. 
 Hahn lived in the Sucker state until he was about 
 19 years old, working on a farm from the time he 
 could handle and master implements; but in 1860, 
 with a party from his neighborhood, he came to 
 Colorado. They crossed the Plains with the usual 
 bull and horse teams used in those days, and on 
 April 26, that year, they arrived at Denver, then 
 a cluster of huts, cabins and a few houses. He 
 came to the Big Thompson valley in August, 1860. 
 He squatted on 160 acres of government land three 
 miles east of the present town of Loveland, and 
 he still owns the old homestead. He cut and 
 pressed hay in the valley and many a load did he 
 haul to Central City and the adjacent mines, get- 
 ting all kinds of prices. He at one time sold a 
 ton to the livery stable of McCool & Cleming for 
 a small bunch of cows, drove them home to graze 
 on the plains and later sold them for $500. He 
 considers that one of his best dickers, but the price 
 of hay would average $100 a ton and he made 
 money while those prices lasted. In the early days 
 there were several Indian "scares," but nothing 
 serious resulted, though it necessitated the sending 
 of the settlers' wives and children to Laporte and 
 Fort Collins for protection. Mr. Hahn was one 
 of the promoters of the Douty grist mill, the first 
 one built in the valley. He, with others, donated 
 enough money to put up the building and buy the 
 plant, and they were paid back by having their 
 
 wheat ground there. Mr. Hahn was County Com- 
 missioner for three years in the later '90's and 
 served to the satisfaction of the taxpayers. He was 
 President of the Loveland Building Association for 
 several years; also President of the Ryan Gulch 
 Reservoir Company, and he was one of the organ- 
 izers of the Loveland National Bank, and has been 
 its vice president for years. The winter of 1875- 
 
 JOHN HAHN 
 
 76, nearly 16 years after he left home, he went to 
 Hillsdale, 111., and in February of that winter was 
 married, and for over a third of a century Mr. and 
 Mrs. Hahn have walked down life's road lovers, 
 counselors and helpmeets. Three children blessed 
 the union, but two, Edson and Mabel Josephine, 
 have crossed the Great Divide, leaving one, Mrs. 
 Jessie McWhinney, to comfort them in their de- 
 clining years — years that to them have proved years 
 of peace, happiness and great plentitude in this 
 world's goods. 
 
 Jerome Emmett Walker was born December 
 3rd, 1856, at Sandwich, Illinois; educated in Iowa; 
 married Mary E. Lee April 30th, 1882, and came 
 to Fort Collins June 28th, 1888. The names of 
 his living children are Maud D., Mabel J., Lee J., 
 
 [391] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 and Robert E. Walker. Mr. Walker is a carpenter 
 by trade ; has been janitor at the court house five 
 and one-half j'ears, deputy sheriff three years and 
 is now Superintendent of the county poor farm and 
 hospital. 
 
 August L. Rohling is a native of Germany, 
 born February 28th, 1858, at Dielingen, West- 
 
 AUGUST L. ROHLING 
 
 phalia, «here he passed the first fifteen years of 
 his life, meantime attending the gymnasium. He 
 came to the United States with his brother, Phillip, 
 in 1873 and settled in Indianapolis, where he se- 
 cured employment in a wholesale dry goods house. 
 Three years later he came to Black Hawk, Colo- 
 rado, and here secured employment as a salesman 
 with Rittmaster & Company. His brother joined 
 him here in 1882 and, as partners, they started 
 a store and succeeded in building up a large and 
 profitable trade. Ten years later, in 1892, the 
 firm of Rohling Brothers opened a dry goods 
 store in Fort Collins, and our subject came here 
 to have charge of it. In 1894 he purchased the 
 building on Linden street he now occupies. It 
 is known as the Rohling block. On February 1st, 
 
 [392] 
 
 1896, the brothers dissolved partnership, our sub- 
 ject retaining the Fort Collins store and has built 
 up an extensive and valuable patronage. While 
 living in Black Hawk, Mr. Rohling married Joh- 
 anna Rudolph, who was born in Newark, New 
 Jersey, and died in Black Hawk, leaving one child, 
 Elizabeth Augusta, now Mrs. James M. Moore, 
 of Greeley. His second wife, whom he married 
 in Longmont, was June Stephenson, who was born 
 in Carthage, Missouri, a daughter of W. T. Step- 
 henson, of Joplin, Missouri. This union has been 
 blessed with three children, A. Lynn, Lois and 
 Cordelia. Mr. Rohling served one term as a mem- 
 ber of the board of trustees of Black Hawk, and 
 was a member of the school board for three years, 
 serving as president one year. Since coming to 
 Fort Collins he has been twice a member of the 
 city council as a representative from the Fourth 
 ward. He was made a Master Mason in Black 
 Hawk lodge No. 4, and is now aflSliated with Col- 
 lins lodge No. 19, A. F. & A. M. He is also a 
 leading member of Fort Collins lodge No, 19, 1. 
 O. of O. F., which he has represented in the Grand 
 Lodge, and is also connected with the Encamp- 
 ment, the Canton and the Rebekah lodge. He is 
 a charter member of Larimer lodge No. 101, K. 
 of P. and was its first Chancellor Commander. 
 Mrs. Rohling is a member of the Eastern Star, 
 chapter No. 26. Mr. Rohling is an enterprising 
 and public spirited citizen, a leader in all good 
 work and a thoroughgoing business man and gen- 
 tleman. 
 
 Martin Vandewark.— Born July 20th, 1840, 
 at Jamestown, New York; died October 10th, 
 1909, at Santa Barbara, California. Mr. Vande- 
 wark came to Fort Collins in 1874 and engaged 
 in wool growing and ranching, which he followed 
 until 1879. In 1886, in company with Charles 
 Evans, he successfully engaged in the mercantile 
 business as a dealer in hay, grain, farm implements, 
 wagons, carriages, etc., and continued in this line 
 until 1895, when he retired to a farm in the Har- 
 mony district. In 1904 he sold all of his property 
 m Larimer county and moved to Santa Barbara, 
 California, where he died. He left a widow, and 
 one son, Fred Vandewark, the latter a resident of 
 Fort Collins. 
 
 R. E. FooTE of the law firm of Thomason & 
 Foote. Fort Collins, Colorado, was born June 19th, 
 1881 at Canton, Mississippi, educated in the pub- 
 lic schools of San Francisco, Boone's preparatory 
 school, Berkeley, California, and University of Cali- 
 
SENATOR JAMES C. EVANS 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 fornia; graduate of the law department of Denver 
 University; came to Fort Collins in 1909; married 
 Grace E. Metcalf September 1st, 1910; one child, 
 Enid Lillian. 
 
 Hon. James C. Evans, twice elected State Sen- 
 ator from Larimer county and one of the best and 
 most influential citizens of Fort Collins, during 
 his residence therein, was born in Mount Vernon, 
 Knox county, Ohio, August 22nd, 1845, and was 
 a descendant of an old Pennsylvania family. His 
 father, Thomas Evans, a native of Berks county, 
 Pennsylvania, removed to Ohio and settled about 
 1835, in Knox county, where he engaged in farm- 
 ing. His wife was a widow and James C. was 
 the only child born to her union with Mr. Evans. 
 In the grammar and high schools of Mount Vernon 
 our subject obtained the rudiments of an education. 
 Later he attended the Ohio Wesleyan University 
 at Delaware, Ohio. While carrying on his col- 
 lege studies in 1864, he volunteered in Company E, 
 145th Ohio Infantry of which he served as corporal 
 until the expiration of his term of service. He then 
 returned to the University and graduated there- 
 from in 1868, with the degree of A. B. After 
 leaving school, he engaged in the mercantile busi- 
 ness which he followed for several years. Coming 
 to Colorado in 1879, Mr. Evans located in Fort 
 Collins, which was his home until he died on 
 February 21st, 1901. From 1880 to 1891 he was 
 engaged in the meat market business with Messrs. 
 Thoman & Vollintine, and also had charge of the 
 boarding house and stores at the stone quarries in 
 Stout and Arkins for a number of years. In 1891 
 he purchased the College avenue grocery, which he 
 carried on in his own name until 1894 when he 
 took his son, Charles R., into partnership and the 
 firm became known as J. C. Evans & Son. They 
 continued in the grocery business under that name 
 until the death of our subject in 1901. In addi- 
 tion to the grocery business, Mr. Evans supervised 
 the work on two farms, one of 240 acres and 
 another of 160 acres, in the vicinity of Fort Col- 
 lins. On one of his farms, he and his son set out 
 what is probably one of the largest cherry orchards in 
 the United States. In Ohio, August 25th, 1869, Mr. 
 Evans was united in marriage with Augusta Noe, 
 who was born in Morrow county, Ohio, daughter 
 of R. L. Noe, a farmer and business man. Of this 
 union two children survive, a son and a daughter. 
 The former, Charles R. Evans, is a graduate of the 
 Colorado Agricultural college. The daughter, 
 Grace G., is a graduate of the Ohio Wesleyan Uni- 
 
 versity, and the wife of E. L. Shannon, a prominent 
 attorney of Denver. During the late '80's, Mr. 
 Evans served two years as mayor of Fort Collins, 
 and in November, 1894, he was elected State Sen- 
 ator on the republican ticket by a large majority. 
 He served faithfully and creditably in the Tenth 
 and Eleventh General assemblies, sessions of 1895 
 and 1897. Through his efforts, in 1895, was se- 
 cured a state appropriation of $15,000 for a state 
 road from Fort Collins to Steamboat Springs, via 
 Ute Pass and North Park. At the same session 
 he also secured the passage and approval of bills ap- 
 propriating $10,000 for the enlargement of the 
 Mechanical Laboratory, and $5,000 for the Cherr- 
 ical Laboratory at the Colorado Agricultural col- 
 lege. He was reelected State Senator in Novem- 
 ber, 1898, and had served through the Twelfth 
 and a part of the Thirteenth General assemblies, 
 sessions of 1899 and 1901, when he died. Senator 
 Evans was taken ill with pneumonia in the senate 
 chamber on Thursday, February 14th, and removed 
 to his room in the Windsor hotel. The following 
 Saturday he was taken from the hotel to the home 
 of his daughter, Mrs. Shannon, where he died on 
 Thursday, just one week after he was taken sick. 
 Senator Evans was one of nature's noblemen, who 
 succeeded because he deserved to succeed, who was 
 respected and admired and liked by all who knew 
 him. He was actively identified with all that 
 tended to the welfare of his city and county. He 
 was the special friend and champion of the Colo- 
 rado Agricultural college. Courteous, fair, sympa- 
 thetic and kindly he had friends on every hand. In 
 the senate, where he sat through three and a part of 
 the fourth sessions, he was an acknowledged leader. 
 No member of that body had a wider influence than 
 he possessed. He was clear and logical in his 
 thoughts and earnest and forceful in their expres- 
 sion, and was considered one of the best speakers in 
 the senate. Senator Evan's body was brought to 
 Fort Collins and buried in Grandview cemetery 
 with Masonic honors. 
 
 Benjamin F. Flowers was born June 22nd, 
 1861, in Woods county, Virginia, now West Vir- 
 ginia. He came to Wyandotte, Kansas, when a 
 child where he attended school until the age of 12 
 years, when his father moved to Pleasant valley, 
 locating in what is now the town of Bellvue. Here 
 the boy continued his studies until he reached man's 
 estate when he became associated with his father 
 and others in the mercantile business and as deal- 
 ers in lumber, in which he continued for several 
 
 [393] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 years. He was joined in marriage with Miss 
 Amanda Catlett on March 28th, 1892, and later 
 spent a few years at Lyons, Colorado, returning 
 to Fort Collins about four years ago to engage in 
 buying and selling real estate. 
 
 John F. Douglass, one of the stable and reli- 
 able business men of Fort Collins, was born Nov- 
 ember 18th, 1849, in Crawford county, Pennsyl- 
 
 
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 JOHN F. DOUGLASS 
 
 vania, where he attended school until 10 years of 
 age, when the family moved to Illinois, where he 
 completed his studies. Here also he worked on a 
 farm and at other occupations until 1882, when 
 he came to Fort Collins to join his brother, James 
 C. Douglass, who had preceded him a few years. 
 The brothers formed a co-partnership in the trans- 
 fer and coal business which he still follows, carry- 
 ing on the business alone since his brother retired 
 about a year ago. They have been uniformly 
 successful in their undertakings and have acquired 
 considerable city and ranch property, besides build- 
 ing up an excellent reputation as reliable business 
 men and citizens. They owned and operated the 
 first and only omnibus line in Fort Collins, and 
 our subject still does a large transfer and coal 
 
 [394] 
 
 business with offices at the corner of College ave- 
 nue and Oak street. Our subject married Dora 
 Smith, October 2nd, 1889, and one child, a daugh- 
 ter, Eulalia, was born of the union. Miss Eulalia 
 is a talented musician and performer on the piano 
 and a cultured lady, and her services are much 
 sought after at social entertainments. Until about 
 a year ago when the brothers dissolved partner- 
 ship and James C. retired because of failing health, 
 the firm of Douglass Brothers was one of the oldest 
 and most reliable business firms in Fort Collins and 
 its standing ranked high in commercial circles. The 
 word of our subject has always been considered as 
 good as a bond, for he has never failed to keep his 
 promises. 
 
 E. E. Watts. — That the location of the Agri- 
 cultural college has drawn to Fort Collins and 
 Larimer county many good citizens is a truism. 
 Assuredly, not alone have the advantages to be 
 gained by proximity to this free institution been 
 responsible for the county's great increase in popu- 
 lation, but our magnificent climate and productive 
 soil must also be accredited with their seductive 
 attractions. Climatic and educational facilities Mr. 
 Watts declares were the most potent influences in 
 deciding his course to adopt Larimer county as his 
 future home. He is a former resident of Nebraska, 
 having lived there for 20 years. He was born in 
 Buda, 111., June 4th, 1861; educated in the com- 
 mon schools, and married when 22 years of age, 
 Emma E. Cain. Three sons and one daughter have 
 brought joy to their hearts: William E., Ira M., 
 Florence C, and Robert H. Mr. Watts is a 
 farmer by occupation and a most desirable citizen 
 and obliging neighbor. 
 
 Dr. Franz Murke, chief consulting chemist 
 for the Great Western Sugar company, with resi- 
 dence in Fort Collins, Colorado, was born March 
 19th, 1869, in Burg, Prussia; took the Ph. D. de- 
 gree at the University of Goettingen, 1893. From 
 that time he was employed in dififerent German 
 sugar factories until 1900, when he went to Spain 
 to engage in the same business. He came to the 
 United States in 1902, and to Fort Collins in 1903, 
 and has since been in the employ of the Great 
 Western Sugar company. Dr. Murke owns and 
 occupies an excellent farm situated three miles 
 southwest of Fort Collins. 
 
 John A. C. Kissock was born March 9th, 1855, 
 in Toronto, Canada, and educated in Montreal. 
 He arrived in Fort Collins on June 12th, 1874, 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 and that city has since been his home. He was full 
 of energy and enthusiasm, the possessor of some 
 capital and, in 1875, he engaged in the cattle busi- 
 ness in which he continued until 1878, and then 
 
 JOHN A. C. KISSOCK 
 
 followed the mercantile business a few years, 
 branching off into real estate, abstracting and in- 
 surance in which he is still interested, being a mem- 
 ber of the firm of Edwards, Kissock & Abbott, but 
 at present not actively employed in any particular 
 line of work. Mr. Kissock is an expert accountant 
 and his services as such are frequently in demand 
 in auditing and checking up the books of city and 
 county officers and also of corporations. He is, 
 withal, a most excellent citizen, clean, honorable 
 and reliable, whose integrity has never been called 
 in question. He has twice represented the Fourth 
 ward in the city council and was a valued and very 
 efficient member of that body all through both 
 terms. He may justly be called the father of Fort 
 Collins' sewer system, for it was he that first 
 brought the matter before the council and urged 
 the necessity of prompt action on account of sani- 
 tary reasons. He was opposed by a few in the coun- 
 cil and also by leading citizens, but he persisted 
 
 in his position and finally had the satisfaction of 
 having the sewer project adopted by the council 
 and work started on the construction of the Moun- 
 tain avenue sewer, the first built in the city. Mr. 
 Kissock married Emma Sweeney, November 9th, 
 1881, in Fort Collins, and three daughters and a 
 son have blessed the union. The children's names 
 are Mrs. Jessie L. Clark, Fort Collins ; Mrs. Emma 
 E. True, Nepesta, Colorado, and Rubey A. and J. 
 Raymond at home. He is a. member of the Elks, 
 I. O. O. F., Royal Arcanum, Woodmen of the 
 
 MRS. JOHN A. C. KISSOCK 
 
 World and Women of Woodcraft. In addition 
 to his other public activities, Mr. Kissock has built 
 a number of business blocks and dwelling houses 
 in Fort Collins. 
 
 Emma A. Sweeney was born July 31st, 1862, 
 at Clinton, New York; educated at St. Albans, 
 Vermont and at Malone, New York. She came to 
 Fort Collins, March 31st, 1879, and on Novem- 
 ber 9th, 1881, was united in marriage with John 
 A. C. Kissock, the union proving a very happy 
 one. Mrs. Kissock is a member of the Women of 
 Woodcraft and of the Woman's club of Fort 
 Collins. 
 
 [395] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Lathrop Montgomery Taylor was born at 
 Farmington, Fulton county, Illinois, August 11, 
 1868, and with his parents, in 1878, removed to 
 Canton, Illinois. He was educated at Jubilee Col- 
 lege, Ills., Racine college. Wis., the Maryland 
 Military and Naval academy and at the University 
 of Nebraska at Lincoln. In 1888, he came west 
 
 LATHROP M. TAYLOR 
 
 and was employed in the general offices of the Bur- 
 lington railway, Lincoln, Nebraska, and later 
 entered the service of the Denver and Rio Grande 
 railway at Denver. In 1890 he accepted a position 
 as deputy secretary of the Colorado Agricultural 
 college under Hon. Frank J. Annis. With the 
 organization of the Commercial department of the 
 college, Mr. Taylor became one of its instructors, 
 which position he held during the existence of the 
 department when he became assistant to the presi- 
 dent, serving during the administration both of 
 President Ellis and President Aylesworth. With 
 the reorganization of the college in 1909, at the 
 incoming of President Lory, Mr. Taylor was elected 
 Secretary, and to the duties of this position, in 1911, 
 were added those of purchasing agent. During 
 1904-06 he served as Commander of the Sons of 
 
 [396] 
 
 Veterans for the Division of Colorado and Wyo- 
 ming, and also as First Lieutenant of Company M. 
 Colorado National Guard during the Cripple 
 Creek mining troubles. 
 
 Mr. Taylor treasures a wide knowledge of busi- 
 ness affairs, of men and of measures; executive 
 ability of a high order and grpat energy and integ- 
 rity of character, which his twenty-one years of 
 service with the college has amply and abundantly 
 demonstrated. 
 
 Clarence A. Carlton. — Was born in Lowell, 
 Mass., June 12, 1860. While he was quite young 
 his parents moved to Worcester where he attended 
 school. He spent some years in Missouri on a 
 farm before coming to. Colorado in 1881. He was 
 married in May, 1887, to Miss Mary E. Knapp 
 of Wilmington, Illinois. Since that time he has 
 made his home in Loveland, where he engaged in 
 business. His family consists of three daughters, 
 Jean, Lesley, and Leonore. He has always taken 
 
 CLARENCE A. CARLTON 
 
 a lively interest in the public welfare of both city 
 and county. He has held several public offices and 
 at present is county sheriff. He is a member of 
 the Methodist church and of several lodges. 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Joseph J. Kerr, born March 3rd, 1859, in Mar- 
 shall county, Indiana; came to Colorado in 1878, 
 and to Fort Collins in 1880; farmer; married 
 Delilah J. Yocum, of Missouri, February 21st, 
 1887; one child, Iva Nora, at home. Mrs. Kerr 
 was born February 22nd, 1860, in Missouri; came 
 to Colorado in 1874 and to Fort Collins in 1886. 
 
 Burton Davis Sanborn of Greeley, a pio- 
 neer of Northern Colorado, and widely known as 
 an irrigationist, has been active in that field for 
 more than a decade. While always a .resident of 
 Greeley, his irrigation work has been largely in 
 Larimer county. Among his notable achievements 
 was the rehabilitation and reorganization of The 
 North Fork Ditch and system of reservoirs, planned 
 years before by F. L. Carter-Cotton and which 
 finally resulted in the formation of The North 
 Poudre Irrigation company with Mr. Sanborn as 
 its responsible head and president. He was re- 
 markably successful in financing this company, only 
 relinquishing the burden of management when the 
 company's future was assured. He is still a large 
 stockholder in it. Another marked success in his 
 career was the planning and building of Fossil 
 Creek reservoir and the development of the ex- 
 change system now in vogue in connection with it, 
 which was the one thing necessary to make The 
 North Poudre Irrigation company rank with the 
 best in Colorado. Together with W. A. Insinger, 
 D. H. Barber and other Greeley and Loveland 
 ditch men, Mr. Sanborn organized The Seven 
 Lakes Reservoir company. Almost single handed 
 and alone, Mr. Sanborn built The Great Boyd 
 Lake reservoir. His only assistance was a loan 
 furnished by a large power company which ex- 
 pected to use the lake in connection with a power 
 enterprise. When this plan failed to materialize, 
 Mr. Sanborn organized The Boyd Lake Reservoir 
 & Irrigation company with a capital stock of $400,- 
 000. Boyd Lake has saved many crops in north- 
 ern Colorado which would otherwise have been 
 lost. It is the largest reservoir in Larimer county 
 and will always have an important bearing upon 
 the water supply during periods of scarcity. A 
 few years ago, Mr. Sanborn and F. O. Stanley 
 purchased the 5,000-acre Dunraven ranch at Estes 
 Park and they acquired title to it in the name of 
 The Estes Park Development company, owning 
 Its stock as equal partners. In acquiring one-half 
 interest in this property, Mr. Stanley agreed to 
 build a hotel and make other improvements which 
 have materialized in the beautiful Stanley hotel 
 
 and Stanley Manor, and the completion of the 
 road from Lyons to the park. This beautiful park 
 is generally recognized as having great future pos- 
 sibilities. Burton Davis Sanborn was born Nov- 
 ember 1, 1859, at Hardwick, Vermont, and was 
 educated in the Greeley public schools. He was 
 married May 18, 1888, to Carrie Bassett. As a 
 result of this union, three children survive; Gladys 
 
 BURTON DAVIS SANBORN 
 
 P., Carl B., and Philo H. His daughter is the 
 wife of former Mayor George M. Houston. He 
 came to Colorado in 1870 and has always lived in 
 Greeley. He was a member of the original Union 
 Colony and its present secretary. This corporation 
 is kept alive to enforce the principles upon which 
 the Colony was founded. He is the senior partner 
 in the Real Estate, Loan & Insurance firm of 
 Sanborn & Houston, Greeley. 
 
 Henry Webster. — One of the substantial farm- 
 ers of Larimer county, now located in the Harmony 
 district, is the subject of this sketch. Mr. Webster 
 left Warren county, Iowa, where he was born 
 March 20th, 1867, to make his home in Colorado. 
 He first settled on the Boxelder in 1874. He was 
 
 [397] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 married to Anna Franz in Fort Collins, on Novem- 
 ber 9th, 1898. Their children are three in number, 
 a son, Harry, and two daughters, Gretchen and 
 Dorothy. Mr. Webster owns a fine farm in a sec- 
 tion famous for the fertility of its soil and the 
 prosperity of its people. 
 
 August C. Kluver, President of the Water 
 Supply & Storage company, one of the largest and 
 most important irrigation systems in Northern 
 
 AUGUST C. KLUVER 
 
 Colorado, was born April 15th, 1857, the eldest 
 son of German parents who crossed the Atlantic 
 soon after their marriage and settled in Chicago, 
 where our subject first saw the light of day. His 
 youth was spent on his father's farm and his early 
 manhood at railroad work. In the spring of 1882 
 he came to Fort Collins, his worldly possessions 
 consisting of $31 in cash and a span of horses and 
 wagon. The first year of residence here was spent 
 in doing such odd jobs of teaming as he could get 
 to do, and in the fall of 1883 he ran a threshing 
 machine and hay baler for Andrew Ames. By this 
 time he had become the owner of three teams and 
 these he traded to Richard McCloy, in the spring of 
 
 [398] 
 
 1884, for a small stock of groceries situated on 
 Linden street, and engaged in the mercantile busi- 
 ness. His business career and financial success 
 since that time have been truly remarkable, clearly 
 demonstrating what a young man can achieve 
 when he sets out to gain a fortune. He is now the 
 owner of good farms in the Cache la Poudre valley, 
 the Cradock ranch at Livermore, a stock ranch 
 on Rabbit and Meadow creeks and cattle; is a 
 stockholder and director of the First National bank; 
 a large shareholder and director of the Water Sup- 
 ply & Storage company of which company he is 
 serving a second term as President. He remained 
 in the mercantile business more than twenty years. 
 While in that business he branched out into the 
 cattle business and carried on a. livery stable for a 
 short time. On October 15th, 1884, Mr. Kluver 
 was married to Mary E. Cornwall in Fort Collins 
 and they have one child, a son, Fred Kluver, who 
 is married and lives on the Cradock ranch near 
 Livermore. 
 
 Thomas Morgan was born November 23rd, 
 1859, at LaCrosse, Wisconsin. He was raised on 
 a farm and soon after attaining his majority, came 
 to Fort Collins, arriving in January, 1881. He 
 married Miss MoUie Walker, December 31st, 
 1888, near Fort Collins, his bride being a daughter 
 of Carson Walker, a pioneer of the Big Thompson 
 valley. In 1902, he purchased the W. P. Bosworth 
 ranch at Stove Prairie on which he has since lived. 
 Being industrious and thrifty, he soon gathered a 
 nice bunch of cattle about him and added 200 acres 
 to his 160 acre ranch, giving him 360 acres of fine 
 meadow, pasture and tillable land. For the past 
 twenty years he has been a member of the school 
 board in his district, and has also been overseer of 
 his road district for four years. 
 
 George O. Stakebake came to Colorado, Feb- 
 ruary 22nd, 1892, making his home in Fort Col- 
 lins. Indiana was his home previous to that time, 
 where he was born on the 22nd of September, 
 1868, in Randolph county; educated in the public 
 schools at Winchester, and on the 21st of July, 
 1897, he married Phebe A. Doolittle, in Fort Col- 
 lins. They have one son living, Blauvelt Stake- 
 bake, aged four years. On September 3rd, 1902, 
 the shadow of death swept across their happy home 
 and their beloved daughter Leata Arlene passed 
 into a last sleep. Again on December 4th, 1909, 
 little Everett Van Houton left them to mourn a 
 second time a loved and cherished idol. Mr. Stake- 
 
^A/ ^A 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 bake is a wheelright by occupation and an expert 
 mechanic. He is now conducting a general repair 
 shop at 217 East Mountain avenue in Fort Collins. 
 Mrs. Stakebake is a daughter of Mrs. S. M. Doo- 
 little, widow of the late Thomas H. Doolittle, 
 who came to Fort Collins in the early eighties and 
 also a niece of Mrs. Ella B. Yount who, associated 
 with her husband, the late A. K. Yount, established 
 a bank in Fort Collins. 
 
 Frederick W. Sherwood. — Among .the very 
 first of the pioneer leaders in the movement to set- 
 tle Larimer county was the subject of this sketch. 
 Mr. Sherwood was born in December, 1831, in 
 Oswego, New York. His youth was spent in his 
 native city, where he attended the public schools. 
 From there he migrated, in 1858, to Manitowoc, 
 Wisconsin, and engaged in the lumber business with 
 his brother, Jesse M. Sherwood. Two years later, 
 in the spring of 1860, the brothers, Jesse M. and 
 F. W., fitted themselves out with ox-teams, wagons 
 and provisions for a trip across the Plains to Colo- 
 rado. They arrived in Denver the following sum- 
 mer, and, after spending a few months in the mines 
 at Russell Gulch, came to the Cache la Poudre 
 valley, arriving in the latter part of December, 
 1860. They located on a fine tract of river bot- 
 tom meadow land situated about four and one-half 
 miles southeast of the present city of Fort Collins. 
 That winter they hauled logs from the mountains 
 and erected a comfortable house, which is still 
 standing in a fairly good state of preservation. 
 There were but few people living in the valley be- 
 low Laporte then and neighbors were scattering 
 and long distances apart. The Sherwoods early 
 began the raising, buying and selling of horses and 
 cattle, develcfping their farm at the same time, and 
 raising hay, grain and vegetables on quite an ex- 
 tensive scale, in which they were remarkably suc- 
 cessful. In 1864 the Sherwood ranch was an Over- 
 land stage station for a few months and soon be- 
 came known far and wide for the warm welcome 
 and generous hospitality extended to travelers and 
 visitors. Chief Friday's band of Arapahoe Indians 
 were camped on the Sherwood ranch in 1865-6, and 
 F. W. Sherwood was appointed an agent by the 
 Government to supply them with food and look 
 after their welfare. One of the treasures of our 
 subject's later years was the commission issued to 
 him, signed by President Abraham Lincoln. In 
 1875, after adding to their land holdings, and 
 fortune had generally favored them, the brothers 
 divided up the property, leaving our subject in pos- 
 
 session, of perhaps, the finest and best improved 
 farm of about 1,000 acres there was in the valley. 
 Mr. Sherwood continued to carry on the farm un- 
 til 1894, when he exchanged it for an improved 
 stock ranch on the Laramie river, receiving in ad- 
 dition, a goodly sum of money. Here for eight 
 years, Mr. and Mrs. Sherwood lived in a large, 
 well-finished, handsomely furnished log house. 
 Their latch string always hung outside and genuine 
 hospitality and good cheer reigned within. Mr. 
 Sherwood disposed of this ranch and his live stock 
 in 1902 to A. de V. Baldwin, and moved back to 
 Fort Collins, which was his home until he died 
 February 10th, 1906. Thus passed away one of the 
 noblest of the pioneer characters of Larimer county. 
 In 1861, after the Territorial Legislature had set 
 off and created Larimer county, Governor Gilpin 
 appointed Mr. Sherwood a member of the first 
 board of county commissioners. His colleagues 
 appointed at the same time, were Alfred F. Howes 
 and John J. Ryan. This board, however, failed 
 to perfect an organization and never received of- 
 ficial recognition. In 1871, Mr. Sherwood was 
 elected a county commissioner, serving his term with 
 signal ability and fidelity. He was again elected 
 commissioner for the first district in 1897 and was 
 chairman of the board the last year of his term. 
 In 1874, Mr. Sherwood married Mary Moulton, 
 who taught the first school in what is now known 
 as the Timnath district, and she survives him. They 
 had no children. Mrs. Sherwood came from Illi- 
 nois to Larimer county in 1869, and followed 
 teaching until she married. To write a full and 
 complete biography of our subject's life and pub- 
 lic services since he came to Colorado would be 
 almost like compiling a history of Larimer county, 
 so closely was he identified with the development 
 of its material resources and so intimately associated 
 was he with its official and social affairs. As a broad 
 minded, clear headed enterprising and public spirited 
 gentleman he was without a superior, and the 
 memory of his good deeds as a neighbor, friend, 
 citizen and public official will long remain with 
 those who survive him. 
 
 C. N. Glover, President of the Glover Tile 
 company, (Inc.) was born November 22nd, 1860, 
 and educated in Chicago, Illinois.; married Mary 
 E. White, (sister of Mrs. J. L. Armstrong,) of 
 Detroit, Michigan, July 21st, 1883. They have 
 one son, Eugene N., who is engaged in newspaper 
 work. Mr. Glover came to Fort Collins in Dec- 
 ember, 1893, and bought the old Secord place, three 
 
 [399] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 miles north-west of Fort Collins. Here he will 
 erect a $25,000 plant for the manufacture of con- 
 crete tile, an enterprise which promises to become 
 an important addition to the industries of the Cache 
 la Poudre valley. Mr. Glover is one of the ster- 
 ling citizens of Larimer county, public spirited and 
 enterprising. 
 
 Paul W. Lee. — For many years the bar of Lar- 
 imer county has been noted for the intellectual 
 
 PAUL W. LEE 
 
 acumen, thorough knowledge of jurisprudence, high 
 legal standing and upright professional character 
 of its members. They are all gentlemen of ability, 
 learned in the principles of the law and careful and 
 conscientious in the application of those principles. 
 Among those who stand in the front rank of the 
 legal fraternity of the county is the subject of this 
 sketch. Mr. Lee has been secretary of the Larimer 
 county Bar association since its organization ; is a 
 member of the Colorado Bar association and the 
 American Bar association ; of the American Acad- 
 emy of Political and Social Science; of the Amer- 
 ican Political Science association; of the National 
 Municipal League and of the Loyal Legion. He 
 was attorney for the city of Fort Collins from April, 
 
 [400] 
 
 1907 to April, 1911, and has an extended practice in 
 the courts of the state, with a broad experience in ir- 
 rigation litigation, particularly in the courts of Lar- 
 imer and Weld counties, during the past ten years. 
 He has frequently appeared as referee in the adjudi- 
 cation of prior rights to the use of water for irriga- 
 tion and has a thorough knowledge of the theory and 
 practice of irrigation. Mr. Lee was born November 
 26th, 1876, in Xenia, Ohio. He is a B. A. grad- 
 uate of the University of Colorado, and an LL. B. 
 graduate of the University of Denver. He was 
 married August 22nd, 1906, to Florence Moore 
 and the union has been blessed with two children, 
 a son and a daughter, Richard M., and Margaret 
 Lee. He came from his native state to Colorado 
 in 1897, locating first at Colorado Springs. After 
 being admitted to practice in the courts of the state 
 in 1900, he settled in Fort Collins which has since 
 been his home. Practiced in Greeley 1901-3; 
 located in Fort Collins in 1903. 
 
 Arthur J. Piatt was born on a farm in 1872, 
 in Neosho county, Kansas, and educated in Iowa; 
 married Minnie E. Debolt November 21st, 1900, 
 at Fort Collins, Colorado, and they are the par- 
 ents of three daughters, Ruth, Mildred and Evelyn. 
 He came from Iowa to Fort Collins in 1895 and 
 worked on a ranch the first summer; returned 
 then to Iowa and attended school at Earlham acad- 
 emy one winter; came back to Fort Collins in the 
 spring of 1897 and attended one term at the State 
 Normal school, Greeley; engaged in farming the 
 following four years; worked four years for P. 
 Anderson Mercantile company in Fort Collins, 
 and then P. Anderson and he founded the Piatt 
 Mercantile company at Wellington, Colorado, 
 where he and his family reside. Mr, Piatt enjoys 
 the confidence and good will of all who know him 
 and is considered one of the substantial business 
 men of Larimer county. 
 
 Clerin T. Woods. — Mr. Woods came west 
 when a mere lad, being 12 years of age when he 
 landed in Marshalltown, Iowa, hailing from Ohio, 
 where he was born December 1st, 1853. He was 
 educated in Marshalltown, Iowa. He roughed it 
 across the Plains in 1871, punching cows, and re- 
 peated the trip ip 1872. The year 1873 found 
 him a resident of Larimer county. He moved to 
 St. Cloud in 1874, where he served as postmaster 
 for 18 years, and in 1902 he became a resident of 
 Fort Collins. He married Emma Haddock in 1878, 
 at Marshalltown, Iowa. Two sons and two 
 daughters were born to them: Hubert R. Woods, 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Auditor Hahn's Peak R. R.; Mrs. Florence E. 
 Baxter, Miss Maud and Imri Woods, the two 
 last being with their parents. Mr. Woods was 
 at one time one of the largest cattle growers in 
 Larimer county. 
 
 Howard G. Springer. — One of the conspicu- 
 ous examples of the thousands of young men who 
 left their eastern homes and came to Colorado with 
 limited means in the early days in search of a more 
 genial climate and where there were greater ad- 
 vantages for acquiring a competence and who, 
 through industry, persevenance and good judgment, 
 have exceeded their fondest anticipations in that 
 direction, we feel at liberty to mention and point 
 out the subject of our sketch. Mr. Springer was 
 born March 13th, 1865, at Bridgeport, New Jersey, 
 and spent his boyhood on a farm. He received his 
 education in his native town and soon after attain- 
 ing his majority, he bade good-bye to his eastern 
 home and friends and journeyed westward, arriv- 
 ing in Fort Collins in March, 1887. Being a far- 
 mer boy and a lover of good stock, he began to 
 look about for a piece of land or a farm that he 
 could obtain on which to begin an independent life 
 and make a home. Fortune favored him for it 
 soon came to his knowledge that the Armstrong 
 McGinley farm of 240 acres, a short distance north 
 of Timnath, one of the best and most productive 
 tracts of land in the Cache la Poudre valley, was 
 for sale. It did not take him long to close a bargain 
 with Mr. McGinley for the place, going into debt 
 though for a good big share of the purchase money. 
 Possession of the place was given him right away 
 and he went to work digging a fortune out of the 
 soil. If you would learn how well he has suc- 
 ceeded, ask his neighbors, his bankers, or anyone 
 that knows his circumstances, and they will tell 
 you that Howard Springer is one of the foremost 
 as well as one of the wealthiest citizens of the Tim- 
 nath district. He is now the owner of two good 
 farms, one of 200 acres and another of 240 acres, 
 all under a high state of cultivation and producing 
 marvelous crops every year. In 1910 his wheat 
 fields yielded him 66 bushels to the acre, which 
 goes to show what kind of a farmer he is, what 
 kind of land he has and how he works. A poor 
 farmer couldn't get such yields of grain from even 
 the famous rich bottom lands of the Nile. Not 
 long after he began operations on his farm, Mr. 
 Springer discovered that it was not good for man 
 to be alone, that solitude and cold lunches were not 
 conducive to one's greatest happiness, and he be- 
 
 gan to look about for a suitable help-meet and com- 
 panion. Here fortune favored him again. Near by 
 lived Almeda Flick, daughter of Paul Flick, one 
 of the real pioneers of the Cache la Poudre valley, 
 and she met favor in his eyes and he in hers, with 
 the usual result — that one very short word in re- 
 ply to a question, settled the matter and they were 
 joined in marriage on March 12th, 1889. The 
 
 HOWARD G. SPRINGER 
 
 union has been blessed with two beautiful daugh- 
 ters, one dying in infancy and the other, Alice 
 Elizabeth, a graduate of the Fort Collins High 
 school. Mr. Springer has had remarkable success 
 as a farmer and stock feeder and this was not due 
 to luck, but to hard work, good management and 
 in knowing how to do a thing right and when to 
 do it. He believes in and practices one of Ben 
 Franklin's famous maxims, "He that by the plow 
 would thrive, himself must either hold or drive." 
 He is known as a man of strict integrity, upright 
 and honorable in all his dealings, as one of the solid, 
 substantial citizens of Larimer county. He is a 
 Vice-President of the Farmers' Bank of Timnath 
 and director of school district No. 6. 
 
 [401] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 WiLLARD Harding, one of the early settlers 
 of the Cache la Poudre valley and one of the suc- 
 cessful and substantial farmers of Larimer county, 
 was born in 1840, in Wyoming county, Pennsyl- 
 vania. He was reared on a farm and received his 
 
 WILLARD HARDING 
 
 education in the common schools of that period, 
 attending school in the winter season when his 
 services were not needed in his father's fields. He 
 migrated to Colorado in 1872 and first located 
 on a part of the farm now owned by T. J. Stroh. 
 His nearest neighbors at that time were Gilbert 
 Smith, Revilo Loveland, Simon Duncan, Lewis 
 and Peter Kern, William H. and Adolphus Peter- 
 son, Ebenezer, John and David Davis, James B. 
 and John Arthur and Joseph Prendergast. He 
 has followed the business of farming, stock raising 
 and stock feeding since coming to Colorado with 
 uniform success and is rated one of the financially 
 strong men of the county. He has never sought 
 nor accepted public ofBce, although he has always 
 taken a lively interest in public affairs, but has 
 devoted his time and attention to the improvement 
 and cultivation of his farm and to the care of his 
 live stock. Mr. Harding never married and has 
 
 [402] 
 
 therefore lived the life of a bachelor. He has been 
 a good and useful citizen of the county for nearly 
 forty years, and has done his part in helping to 
 subdue the wilderness and make it blossom as the 
 rose. If all men had as high a conception of the 
 difference between right and wrong as has ani- 
 mated his conduct all through life, there would be 
 no need of court houses and jails. 
 
 Montezuma W. Fuller was born November 
 13th, 1858, at Horton, Kings county. Nova Scotia; 
 educated in the public schools and at the Colorado 
 Agricultural college; came from Denver, Colo., to 
 Fort Collins, in April, 1880; married Anna E. 
 Graham, June 27th, 1881, in Fort Collins; names 
 of children: Graham W., Robert K., Frances M., 
 Bessie M., Dorothy F., Paul H. and Margaret 
 Fuller; architect and building superintendent. 
 
 Frank Michaud. — This is the story of one of 
 the stand-bys of Larimer county. He came to Golo- 
 
 frank michaud 
 
 rado the first time fifty-four years ago and has been 
 a resident of the county since 1871, a period of 
 forty years. He is widely known and highly es- 
 teemed for his many splendid traits of character. 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Mr. Michaud was born October 13th, 1837, at 
 Isle Verte, province of Quebec, Canada, where he 
 received his education in the public schools. He 
 married Aurella Paradis, August 19th, 1867, at 
 Trois Pistoles, Canada, and they have four chil- 
 dren, Joseph and Anna Michaud, Mrs. Helen Wil- 
 lox and Mrs. Mary Bogard, all of Fort Collins. In 
 1856, Mr. Michaud went into the lumber wood« 
 
 MRS. FRANK MICHAUD 
 
 of Northern Wisconsin and rafted lumber down 
 the Wisconsin river from Wausau to Prairie du 
 Chien and other river towns on the Mississippi. 
 In 1857, he drifted to St. Louis and hired out to 
 Col. Bent to drive an ox team loaded with freight 
 to Bent's fort in the Arkansas river valley. He 
 made the trip without incident or serious accident, 
 returning to St. Louis in 1858 and drove a gov- 
 ernment train to Fort Union, New Mexico. He 
 then went to New Orleans, but not being pleased 
 with conditions there, returned to his starting 
 point and in the spring of 1859, arrived in Den- 
 ver. After spending three months in the mines at 
 Central City, he returned to Denver and took up 
 160 acres of land on the Platte river bottom, near 
 
 the present town of Brighton. He was the first 
 man in Colorado to declare his intentions to be- 
 come a citizen of the United States. This was in 
 the spring of 1861. He remained on his ranch 
 near Brighton, making hay and raising vegetables 
 for the Denver market until 1871, when he traded 
 the ranch with Joseph Mason for the farm in the 
 Cache la Poudre valley on which he still lives. Since 
 coming to Larimer county he has taken an active 
 interest in public affairs and has been road overseer 
 of his district for eleven years and school director 
 for twenty years. He is regarded as one of the best 
 citizens of the county, intelligent, honest and up- 
 right. 
 
 Frank A. Chaffee. — A native to the manor 
 born, a man who has spent all the years of his life 
 in Larimer county. Mr. Chaffee was born on the 
 Big Thompson, . one mile west of where Loveland 
 now stands, June 30th, 1862. He was educated 
 in the schools of Fort Collins, and was married 
 to Miss Anna C. Hawley, Nov. 10th, 1892. They 
 have one daughter, Gladys. Mr. Chaffee has been 
 in business in Fort Collins for over twenty years, 
 and with W. C. Stover and R. M. Ferguson 
 founded the Collins Cash Clothing Co. Since the 
 death of W. C. Stover, his son, Judge Fred W. 
 Stover has become the silent partner of the firm. 
 In 1908, Mr. Chaffee was elected a member of the 
 board of County Commissioners. His large ma- 
 jority of the votes cast is a true measure of the 
 confidence and esteem in which he is held by the 
 people of the county. 
 
 Peter Gealow. — This is a brief life history of 
 Peter Gealow, one of the pioneers of Virginia Dale 
 and also one of the solid, substantial citizens of 
 Larimer county. He was born in Germany, but 
 came to the United States with his parents when 
 a child and was educated in this country. In 1883 
 he married Ida Waxmost, at St. Peter, Minne- 
 sota. They have no children. By occupation he 
 is a stockman in which he has had good success. He 
 came to Larimer county in 1872 and located on a 
 ranch on Deadman creek, which has since been 
 his home. His neighbors at that time, were S. C. 
 Leach and Frank Kibler and they lived several 
 miles distant from him. He never had any trouble 
 with the Indians nor anybody else, having always 
 lived a quiet, peaceful life and given to minding 
 his own business and not interfering with his neigh- 
 bors. He is widely known and is a good and highly 
 
 [403] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 respected citizen. From him we learn that William 
 Kibler, son of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Kibler, was 
 the first child born in Virginia Dale and he opened 
 his eyes upon his world in 1873. 
 
 James C. Douglass. — Born May 12th, 1848, 
 in Cochranton, Crawford county, Pennsylvania, 
 where he received his education in the public 
 
 MR. AND MRS. JAMES C. DOUGLASS 
 
 schools. He was reared to manhood on a farm and 
 soon after attaining his majority, he moved to 
 Garnett, Kansas, where he was married in 1876, 
 to Cynthia A. Clarke. They have three children 
 living, Earl, Wilhelmina and Helen Irma, all of 
 whom were born in Fort Collins, to which place 
 Mr. and Mrs. Douglass moved in 1879. Before 
 coming to Fort Collins he had been engaged in 
 farming in Kansas, but since then he has given his 
 attention mainly to the coal and transfer business 
 which he has successfully followed for nearly thirty 
 years. His children have been given the advant- 
 ages offered by the public schools of Fort Collins, 
 all of them being graduates of the High school, 
 the son Earl and daughter Wilhelmina being grad- 
 uates also of the Colorado Agricultural college, at 
 
 [404-] 
 
 which institution Earl is now a valued member of 
 the teaching staff. The daughters are successful 
 public school teachers in the county. During his 
 residence in Fort Collins our subject has acquired 
 valuable real estate in the city and is also the owner 
 of farm property on Dry creek. He is half owner 
 and builder of the Colorado block, one of the finest 
 business and office blocks in the city; has a fine 
 house on South Howes street and is in comfort- 
 able financial circumstances. He is a leading mem- 
 ber of the First Baptist church, a man of honor and 
 integrity and enjoys the confidence and respect of 
 all who know him. 
 
 Mrs. James C. Douglass. — Cynthia Ann 
 Clarke first saw the light in Pickaway county, 
 Ohio, where she spent sixteen years of wholesome 
 life on a farm. Then, "after the war" the Clarke 
 family fell victims to the western fever, and came, 
 first by river steamer down the Ohio and then over- 
 land from the Missouri to Anderson county, Kan- 
 sas. They shared the trials of pioneers, their un- 
 ceasing toil and uncertain future of the farmers 
 about them, accepting grasshopper years, dry years 
 and years of plenty hopefully and as cheerfully as 
 possible. Miss Clarke soon became one of the much 
 needed teachers of the county and also attended 
 the Kansas State Normal school at Emporia, a 
 couple of terms. In 1876 she married James C. 
 Douglass, also a Kansan, and three years later 
 started for Colorado in a prairie schooner. For 
 six long, tiresome weeks that vehicle impelled by 
 horses, crawled over the Plains of Kansas and Colo- 
 rado in scorching summer heat, its occupants, weary 
 of camp life and scarcity of water, finally reached 
 Laporte, August 1st, 1879. After visiting many 
 localities in the state from the Cache la Poudre 
 valley to the Garden of the Gods, Mr. and Mrs. 
 Douglass settled in Fort Collins and have since 
 made that city their home, enjoying content, pros- 
 perity and the good-will and esteem of a wide cir- 
 cle of warm friends. Mrs. Douglass is a member 
 of the Baptist church and has long been a leader 
 in all good work connected therewith. 
 
 Thomas Darnell, one of the early settlers 
 of the Cache la Poudre valley, died November 14th, 
 1904, at the home of his daughter, Mrs. W. A. 
 Drake, wife of Senator Drake, aged 76 years. He 
 came from Iowa to Fort Collins in 1880, and en- 
 gaged in farming. In 1902 he sold his farm to the 
 North Poudre Canal company, as the greater por- 
 tion of it would be covered by the Fossil Creek res- 
 ervoir which that company was building, and moved 
 
i^L i^:\Cj^<i>-^ / 1^ 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 his family into Fort Collins. His aged wife died in 
 June, 1904, and he then made his home with his 
 daughter until death ensued. 
 
 Abner Loomis.- — -The history of Larimer county, 
 i like that of all other communities, is founded upon 
 [ the lives, the characters, and the deeds of the pion- 
 eers, who braved the dangers and endured the hard- 
 ships, privations and sufferings incident to the long 
 and perilous journey across a 600 mile desert to 
 establish a new home beyond the borders of civil- 
 ization. Their blood was tinctured with iron, 
 their nerves fortified by steel and their souls made 
 invulnerable by high purposes and cherished ideals. 
 They were also possessed of prophetic vision, for 
 they saw in this land of promise the making of a 
 rich and prosperous region, filled with teeming 
 thousands of happy, contented people. They came 
 and laid the foundations deep and lasting for the 
 blessings of civilization which we of the present 
 generation now enjoy. To Abner Loomis, one of 
 that noble band of pioneers, this sketch is dedi- 
 cated. Mr. Loomis was born December 17th, 
 1829, at Fredonia, New York. His parents moved 
 to Black Creek, Ohio, when our subject was four 
 years old, and here the future pioneer and suc- 
 cessful man of affairs had his first introduction 
 to the school room, within a small, rude log struc- 
 ture with rough benches and desks, to sit and work 
 upon. A primer was his only school book. In 
 1840, the family moved to Iowa, then a sparcely 
 settled country without schools or colleges, con- 
 sequently young Loomis had but slight opportuni- 
 ties to acquire an education outside of his own 
 efforts before the family fireside, but those efforts 
 proved invaluable to him in after life. In 1850, 
 Mr. Loomis crossed the Plains to California with 
 an ox team and was three months making the jour- 
 ney. He made money at placer mining, but spent 
 much of his gains searching for richer ground. He 
 returned to Iowa in 1859, and in the spring of 1860 
 started for Colorado, then the mecca of gold hunt- 
 ers. Soon after arriving at his destination, he fell 
 m with Antoine Janis with whom and eight others, 
 he prospected along the eastern base of the moun- 
 tains from Laporte to Medicine Bow creek, but 
 failed to find enough of the yellow dust to pay ex- 
 penses. In June, 1860, he returned to the Cache 
 la Poudre valley and in company with two others, 
 filed a squatter's claim on land in Pleasant valley. 
 The prairie was covered with a luxuriant growth 
 of grass and while his associates were cutting and 
 stacking hay, he went to Denver, bought an ox 
 
 team and drove it to Omaha after a load of provi- 
 sions which he brought back that season. In the win- 
 ter of 1860-1 and spring of 1861, their surplus hay 
 was hauled to Central City, a distance of 90 miles, 
 and sold for $100 per ton. In 1861, Mr. Loomis 
 raised potatoes, corn and other vegetables on his 
 land in which he succeeded so well that he con- 
 tinued in that line until 1867, finding a ready, 
 though distant market for his products at the min- 
 ing camps. In 1862, Mr. Loomis exchanged gold 
 dust for mint certificates and made a trip to Mis- 
 souri. He fell in with some Union soldiers in Kan- 
 sas who arrested him in the belief that he was a 
 a spy from "Pap" Price's confederate army, but 
 when he showed his captors those mint certificates, 
 they released him. If he had not had those cer- 
 tificates he probably would have been hung as a 
 spy. In 1867 he gave up general farming and 
 turned his attention to cattle raising, having already 
 accumulated a herd of 200 head. That year he 
 established a ranch at Spring canon and thence- 
 forward for about 15 years he devoted the most 
 of his time and attention to the cattle business. In 
 1879 he formed a partnership with Charles B. An- 
 drews in the cattle business and in 1882 the firm 
 sold 7,000 head for $127,000. When Mr. Loomis 
 first settled in Pleasant Valley, in June, 1860, 
 there were but three other Americans here, and 
 they were William Lytton and Todd, and A. W. 
 Randall. After disposing of his cattle, Mr. Loomis 
 devoted his means and energies to the upbuilding 
 of Fort Collins and Larimer county. His life 
 was ever a busy one and his work of whatever 
 nature was well done. He was a pioneer of pion- 
 eers and his counsel was often sought on various 
 subjects and his aid and sympathy were extended 
 to all worthy objects. In every step forward in 
 the march of progress he was a potent factor. No 
 heart was more quickly touched by appeals of the 
 unfortunate and the aid he rendered was the un- 
 ostentatious and quiet act of one who fully under- 
 stood the master definition of true charity. His 
 love of right, strong as it was, was no stronger 
 than his abhorence of wrong, and he had that moral 
 poise which intuitively differentiated between right 
 and wrong. Recollections of Abner Loomis, of 
 his blameless life, his sturdy manhood, his energy, 
 enterprise and public spirit; of his generous deeds, 
 his loyalty as a friend and as a citizen and his lov- 
 ing kindness and sympathy for those in trouble, 
 will ever be pleasant and profitable. In 1894, he 
 was elected President of the Poudre valley bank, a 
 position he filled for more than ten years. When 
 
 [405] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 the county > was organized, Governor Evans ap- 
 pointed him member of the board of County Com- 
 missioners and he served the people in that capa- 
 city for eleven successive years. He also served 
 his ward on the town board of trustees when the 
 water works were built in 1882-3. In 1862 he mar- 
 ried Isabelle Allen, who was the mother of his 
 children. She died greatly lamented in October, 
 1892, and on December 21st, 1896, he married 
 Mrs. M. Maxwell, who survives him. He de- 
 parted this life August 23rd, 1904. His surviving 
 children are Leonidas, Guy E., and Jasper Loomis, 
 Mrs. T. H. Robertson and Mrs. Charles Gold- 
 ing-Dwyre, Jr. Mr. Loomis was a Master Mason 
 and a member of the order of Elks. 
 
 Jack Harper; born in 1844, in Virginia, and 
 moved to Nebraska in 1860; fought Indians on 
 the Plains for three years and in 1867 came to 
 Fort Collins with a mule team and was employed 
 for a time at hauling lumber from Rist Canon to 
 Fort Russell, Wyoming; ran a threshing machine 
 in 1868 for N. H. Meldrum; drove ties down the 
 Poudre in 1870 with a gang of Mexicans for Con- 
 tractor Watson; went to Texas and in 1877 mar- 
 ried Miss M. J. Fritz, settling soon after in Utah 
 where he now resides. He has pleasant recollec- 
 tions of many of the old timers in the Cache la 
 Poudre valley, including Joseph, Austin and Frank 
 Mason, White, Bradbury, Gordon and Dr. T. 
 M. Smith. 
 
 James M. McCreery. — Our subject in this in- 
 stance was one of the pioneers of the Big Thomp- 
 son valley and was during all of his thirty-seven 
 years' residence one of the most popular and most 
 highly esteemed citizens of Larimer county. Every- 
 body knew James M. McCreery and everybody had 
 the utmost confidence in his honesty, his Integrity 
 and in the sincerity of his purpose. Friends he had 
 everywhere and enemies he had but few. He was the 
 soul of honor, whether as a private citizen or as a 
 servant of the people whom he repeatedly served 
 in various important positions of public trust. 
 Mr. McCreery was born April 25th, 1853, in 
 Indiana county, Pennsylvania. He was reared on 
 a farm and received his education in his native town. 
 A portion of his boyhood years were spent learning 
 a trade in the car shops at Allegheny, Penn. He 
 came west in 1874 and settled in the Big Thomp- 
 son valley where he spent four years on a farm. 
 He was then employed for several years as salesman 
 in Krouskop's store at Loveland. On November 
 22nd, 1882, he was united in marriage with Ada 
 
 [406] 
 
 L. Shallenberger and their living children are Ralph 
 R., Mrs. Bessie Van Sickle, Lucas, Herbert (now 
 deceased), and Helen. In January, 1892, Mr. 
 McCreery was appointed deputy County assessor 
 and he moved his family from Loveland to Fort 
 Collins, which place remains the family home. 
 Four years later he was elected County assessor, 
 which office he filled four years with conspicuous 
 
 JAMES M. MC CREERY 
 
 ability. Since then he has served the county four 
 years as sheriff and two years as district court 
 bailiff. He was an able, conscientious, and faithful 
 public official, not a blot or blemish remaining to 
 stain his private or public record. Mr. McCreery 
 died in January, 1911, sincerely mourned by all 
 that knew him. He was a devoted husband, a 
 fond and indulgent parent, and a true and trusty 
 friend. 
 
 Ansel Watrous, eldest son of Orrin J. and 
 Jane E. (Smith) Watrous, was born November 1st, 
 1835, in Conklin, Broome county. New York. His 
 father, the eldest son of Ansel and Demis (Luce) 
 Watrous, was born June 18th, 1815, in Schoharie 
 county, New York. At the age of five years his 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 father moved his family to Bridgewater, Susque- 
 hanna county, Pennsylvania, where he first attended 
 the common schools of the period, completing his 
 school work at Montrose academy. When 17 years 
 of age he was apprenticed to the printer's trade in 
 a Wilkesbarre, Pa., printing office, and on July 
 16th, 1834, married Jane E. Smith, who was born 
 September 15th, 1814, in the town of Franklin, 
 Susquehanna county. Pa., daughter of Roswell 
 Smith, who was a native of Hartford, Conn., and 
 a descendant of a colonial family. Six children 
 were born of this union: Ansel, Henry O., Jerome 
 A., Demis L., Eliza J., and Kate M. Watrous, 
 In 1844 he moved his family from the state of 
 New York to Wisconsin, arriving at Sheboygan 
 Falls on September 16th, moving in the spring of 
 1848 to Brothertown, Calumet county, Wis., where 
 he conducted a hotel and stage station for one year 
 and then moved, in May, 1849, to Charlestown, in 
 that county. Here he began the erection of a saw- 
 mill on the Manitowoc river. While on a trip to 
 Sheboygan, thirty miles away, after a load of mill 
 machinery, he was stricken with cholera and died 
 September 10th, 1850. The family then returned 
 to Broome county. New York, where the subject of 
 this sketch was apprenticed to a cousin of his father 
 in Brooklyn, Pa., to learn the carpenter and joiner's 
 trade. In September, 1855, he returned to his 
 former home in Wisconsin, and on December 25th, 
 1856, was joined in marriage with Florelle Thomp- 
 son, who was born June 27th, in Stockton, N. Y., 
 the daughter of Rufus and Susan ( Schofield ) 
 Thompson. In November, 1860, he was elected 
 sheriff of Calumet county on the ticket with Abra- 
 ham Lincoln, the martyred Civil war President, 
 and served two years. In the fall of 1863 he was 
 elected county clerk to fill a vacancy, and re-elected 
 in 1864 for a full term, serving three years in that 
 office. On retiring from office he followed con- 
 tracting and building until December 26th, 1877, 
 when he started for Colorado, arriving in Fort 
 Collins on December 30th. Here he was employed 
 as a salesman in W. C. Stover's store until June, 
 1878, when, in company with Elmer E. Pelton, 
 he founded the Fort Collins Courier with which he 
 is still connected as editor. In March, 1885, 
 President Cleveland appointed him postmaster of 
 Fort Collins, which office he held until June, 1889. 
 He was an unsuccessful candidate on the democratic 
 ticket for auditor of state in 1882 and again in 
 1884, going down to defeat with his ticket. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Watrous have no children. 
 
 Stephen H. Seckner, one of the best known 
 and most highly esteemed citizens of Fort Collins, 
 was born January 27th, 1847, in Lewis county, 
 New York, where and at the Commercial College 
 of Watertown, New York, he was educated. In 
 1873 he married Ida Ayers, and they have one 
 daughter, now Mrs. Mildred Smith, of Knoxville, 
 Tennessee. He came to Fort Collins with his fam- 
 
 STEPHEN H. SECKNER 
 
 ily in 1880,- and opened a grocery store in the 
 Yount Bank block, afterward building for himself a 
 store and dwelling rooms on Linden street. Pos- 
 sessed of a fine artistic temperament, he gave up the 
 grocery business and opened a photographer's studio, 
 which he has since chiefly conducted with marked 
 success. He has served his home city one term of 
 two years as alderman, also two years as police 
 magistrate. Was a member of the first city council 
 of Fort Collins, and is now Secretary and Recorder 
 of the Masonic orders of Fort Collins, being a 
 Master Mason, a Royal Arch Mason and a Knight 
 Templar. He is also a Civil war veteran and a 
 member of the Geo. H. Thomas Post No. 7, G. A. 
 R., of which he is a past commander. He is one 
 of the foremost in actively promoting all move- 
 
 [407] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 merits designed to advance the material prosperity 
 of Fort Collins and to elevate the educational, 
 moral and religious standard of the community. 
 
 Herbert A. Edmonds. — One of the stirring and 
 successful business men of Fort Collins is Herbert 
 A. Edmonds, the well know^n dealer in dry goods 
 and women's furnishings. He first opened his eyes 
 
 HERBERT A. EDMONDS 
 
 upon the things of this world on August 19th, 1860, 
 at Three Rivers, Michigan, but he has no distinct 
 recollection of what attracted his attention at that 
 time. As time passed he was sent to school at 
 Syracuse, New York, where he obtained his educa- 
 tion. At the age of 23, Mr. Edmonds was joined 
 in marriage with Frances Barnes and they have two 
 children, Jessie B., and Millie E. Miss Jessie is a 
 teacher of marked ability and has been employed 
 in the Longmont schools for the coming year. Miss 
 Millie is at home and is a valued assistant in her 
 father's store. Mr. Edmonds came to Denver in 1883 
 and engaged in the dry goods business, moving thence 
 in 1886 to Greeley and to Fort Collins in 1903. 
 Here he has continuously followed the dry goods 
 business with marked success. He is one of the most 
 [+08] 
 
 genial and enterprising of men whose splendid social 
 qualities have drawn to him a host of friends. He 
 is a man who, when he takes hold.of a project makes 
 it win. In 1905 he promoted the Northern Colo- 
 rado Electric company which was the beginning of 
 the agitation which resulted in a street railway for 
 Fort Collins, and was one of the originators of the 
 Stork System of Savings which has been success- 
 fully introduced into nearly every state in the 
 Union. He was chairman of the committee which 
 arranged for and successfully carried out the widely 
 heralded Lamb Day celebration which brought 20,- 
 000 people to Fort Collins. Mr. Edmonds is an 
 enthusiastic member of the B. P. O. Elks and was 
 elected Exalted Ruler of lodge No. 804, Fort 
 Collins, in April, 1911. He is also an influential 
 member of the chamber of commerce and has served 
 that organization on several important committees. 
 
 Rezin E. Dotts was born near New Philadel- 
 phia, Tuscarawas county, Ohio, February 18th, 
 1 852 ; educated in the public schools ; went with his 
 parents in 1869 to Wayne county, Iowa; taught 
 school winters and worked on a farm summers; 
 took a course at Kirksville, Missouri, Normal 
 school; came to Fort Collins in 1877; married 
 Esther B. Black, August 26th, 1877, Rev. C. A. 
 Brooks performing the ceremony; three daughters 
 were born of the union; taught Laporte school 
 winter of 1877-8, pupils half-breeds and whites, 
 the latter predominating; manager of Colorado 
 elevator five years; moved to a farm in Boxelder 
 valley in 1885; sold out in 1904 and moved to 
 Denver. Mr. Dotts is now President of the Brooks 
 Tent & Awning company, and lives at 920 Ogden 
 street, Denver. 
 
 J. F. Farrar. — As a member of the legal fra- 
 ternity of Fort Collins and of the Colorado and 
 Larimer County Bar associations, Mr. Farrar, 
 though still a young man, has established an envi- 
 able reputation among the people and has won 
 recognition from his seniors in the practice of the 
 law. He is a close student and by diligent appli- 
 cation, has become well grounded in the principles 
 of the law and is so conversant with the code of 
 practice that he very seldom fails to win a case in 
 court. He takes an active part in public affairs and 
 in politics, keeping thoroughly posted concerning 
 topics of state and national importance as well as 
 regarding matters that have to do with the welfare, 
 of Fort Collins and Larimer county. In politics, 
 Mr. Farrar is a democrat and has served his party 
 as Chairman of its County Central committee. In 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 1909, Governor Shafroth appointed him a member 
 of the State Board of Pardons, a position he still 
 holds. He is a native Coloradoan, his birthday 
 occurring on November 15th, 1877, and Evans, 
 Weld county, was his birthplace. He was educated 
 in the East Denver High school and at the Denver 
 University where he took the law course. He was 
 admitted to the bar in 1900 and located in Fort 
 Collins in 1901 and began the practice of his pro- 
 fession. On February 12th, 1907, he married 
 Mary McMenemy in Omaha, Nebraska. 
 
 Thomas GarnicKj one of the leading con- 
 tractors and builders of Fort Collins, was born 
 April 6th, 1844, at Quincy, Illinois; received his 
 education in the public schools of Nauvoo, Illi- 
 nois; married Fannie Congrove, September 12th, 
 1869, and their children's names are Fred, Charles 
 E. and Frank; came from Illinois to Fort Collins, 
 arriving July 16th, 1878, and that city has since 
 for the most part, been his home. 
 
 Edward Hayden Hall was born at Wolfe- 
 borough, New Hampshire, on August 30, 1857. 
 Lived at Meredith and Portsmouth in the same 
 state and was employed for six years in the banks 
 of the latter city. Removed to Fort Collins, Colo- 
 rado, in May, 1882. In that year built and oper- 
 ated the Loveland Elevator at Loveland, in part- 
 nership with S. B. Harter and the late John J. 
 Ryan. Returned to Fort Collins in 1883 and en- 
 gaged in the loan and investment security business. 
 Organized the Colorado Loan Association with 
 E. T. Dunning, W. G. Bixby and F. C. Avery as 
 associates. In the same year embarked in the range 
 cattle business with W. G. Bixby under the firm 
 name of Bixby & Hall. This business was merged 
 in the Poudre Live Stock company, followed in 
 later years by the Akin Live Stock company and 
 the Live Stock company. Was for over twenty 
 years, associated with F. C. Avery in extensive land, 
 farming and live stock operations. Was married 
 on August 22, 1885, to Violette Fortune of Kit- 
 tery Point, Maine. Made their home at 627 
 South College avenue where they still reside. Have 
 a family of three sons; Roland R., Hayden H., 
 and Phillips P. Hall. Of the twenty-eight years 
 of his residence in Fort Collins, Mr. Hall has de- 
 voted one-half of that time to public service with- 
 out compensation; four years as alderman in the 
 early '90's, and ten years as member and Presi- 
 dent of the Board of Education (1900-1910). Dur- 
 ing his administration the High school, Laurel 
 street, LaPorte avenue and Rockwood Place school 
 
 buildings were constructed and equipped. "The 
 pathway of a good school director is more often 
 strewn with thorns than with roses and when a 
 school district finds a person able to tread the 
 thorns without pricking his feet or exciting the 
 pity, envy or jealousy of others, it is indeed fortu- 
 nate. Mr. Hall as President demonstrated his 
 ability to do this without sacrificing a modicum of 
 
 EDWARD HAYDEN HALL 
 
 his own self respect, giving at the same time, the 
 best and most universally approved service to the 
 schools and public. Good school directors are born, 
 not made and a nature endowed school officer is 
 of far greater value to the district than the best 
 hand made product ever turned out." (Fort Col- 
 lins Courier.) Mr. Hall was active in the cam- 
 paign for a Y. M. C. A. building for Fort Collins 
 and was chairman of the building committee which 
 had charge of its erection. He is a member in 
 good standing of the Masonic, Odd Fellows and 
 K. of P. fraternities. 
 
 David M. Fee, D. D. S., born in Washington 
 county, Pennsylvania; educated at Monmouth col- 
 lege, 111., and Chicago college of Dental Surgery; 
 married Elizabeth R. Caldwell, June 18th, 1903; 
 
 [409] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 two children, Elizabeth A., aged seven, and David 
 Caldwell Fee, aged three; came to Fort Collins 
 in May, 1907, and is engaged in the coal, hay and 
 grain business. 
 
 Captain Josiah W. McIntyre. — The subject 
 of this sketch was born March 15 th, 1839, at Vil- 
 lanova, New York. His school days were spent 
 
 CAPT. josiah W. MCINTYRE 
 
 in the public schools, the High school at Erie, Penn- 
 sylvania, from which he graduated, subsequently 
 taking a thorough business training at a commercial 
 college in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. On August 
 30th, 1862, he enlisted as a private in Company C 
 of the 16th Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry and 
 served until 1864, when he was discharged on ac- 
 count of disability. He was wounded under the 
 left eye at the battle of Shepardstown, Virginia, 
 and taken prisoner, but was exchanged shortly after- 
 wards and sent home. On recovering from his 
 wound he rejoined his regiment and did valiant 
 service for the Union. The wound under the eye 
 gave him a great deal of trouble and, owing to un- 
 skillful treatment while he was a prisoner, resulted 
 in producing total blindness in 1885. In 1866, 
 
 [410] 
 
 Captain McIntyre moved to Missouri, where he 
 studied law and was admitted to the bar and elected 
 County Judge of Caldwell county in 1870, in which 
 office he served two full terms. He came to Fort 
 Collins in April, 1878, and that city has since been 
 the family home. After losing his sight, Captain 
 McIntyre resumed his study of law in the law de- 
 partment of the University of Michigan, graduat- 
 ing therefrom in June, 1889 with the highest honors 
 conferred by that institution. He was the first 
 blind man to graduate in the United States with 
 the degree of LL. D. He was married to Lucy 
 N. Richards, September 13th, 1862, who with one 
 son, Clyde, of Michigan, survives him. He died 
 on the 6th of October, 1892. Lucy N. Richards 
 was born November 11th, 1844, in Erie county, 
 Pennsylvania. Her parents were of Puritan blood 
 and revolutionary stock. She was educated in the 
 public and academic schools of that day and began 
 teaching school at the age of 17 years. She mar- 
 
 MRS. LUCY N. MCINTYRE 
 
 ried Josiah W. McIntyre in September, 1862, 
 just before he left for the front as a volunteer in 
 the Civil war, parting with her young husband 
 with smiles instead of tears, not because her heart 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 was not breaking, but because of the great cause in 
 which he had enlisted. Seven children were born 
 to Captain and Mrs. Mclntyre, only one of whom 
 Clyde, survives. Mrs. Mclntyre was a charter 
 member of the Woman's Christian Temperance 
 Union of Fort Collins, organized in 1879, and still 
 retains her membership. In 1910 she received the 
 State W. C. T. U. banner for the best local evan- 
 gelistic work. Her whole life has been devoted to 
 the work of uplifting humanity and she has long 
 been a recognized leader in church and mission 
 work and reform movements. She became a mem- 
 ber of the Methodist Episcopal church when 
 ten years of age, and has since led a consistent 
 Christian life. She is a bible student an ardent 
 lover of books and her home at 137 Matthews 
 street contains an excellent library. 
 
 Arthur H. Patterson. — This is a sketch of 
 a pioneer and commonwealth builder. All the 
 years of his matured manhood were sedulously de- 
 voted to- the development and nurture of the re- 
 sources and industries of his chosen western home 
 and his death, at the age of forty-eight years, was 
 a distinct loss to Fort Collins, Larimer county and 
 to Colorado. He was closely identified with the 
 early history and subsequent growth of Fort Col- 
 lins, contributing liberally of his time and means 
 to its upbuilding and material advancement. He 
 was one of the donees to the state of the 240-acre 
 tract, since utilized as the Agricultural college farm, 
 the main college building, the chemical laboratory, 
 the old and new domestic science building, the hor- 
 ticultural hall, the college library building, the me- 
 chanic shops, the old engineering building and the 
 group of buildings in use by the department of 
 veterinary science all standing on the eighty-acre 
 tract once owned by him and given free to the 
 people. He was an energetic business man and 
 erected two large and substantial business blocks, 
 one of which stood on the northeast corner of Jef- 
 ferson and Pine streets and was destroyed by fire 
 in 1889. The other, a part of what is known as 
 the Jefferson block, is still standing at the north- 
 west corner of Jefferson and Pine streets. Arthur 
 H. Patterson was born May 31st, 1844, at Trough, 
 Huntington county, Pennsylvania, of Scotch-Irish 
 parents. Later his father's family moved to Cin- 
 cinnati, Ohio, where Arthur received the benefit 
 of a good common school education. In 1856, 
 when but twelve years of age, his father emigrated 
 with his family to Leavenworth, Kansas, where, 
 shortly afterwards, the father died. It was while 
 
 living at Leavenworth that young Patterson made 
 the acquaintance of William F. Cody, since be- 
 come famous as scout, guide, Indian fighter and 
 showman, who is known the world over as "Buf- 
 falo Bill". Their acquaintance ripened into a 
 friendship that cemented them together in ties of 
 enduring strength, which the changes of time and 
 circumstances of later years never affected. In 1860, 
 
 ARTHUR H. PATTERSON 
 
 Mr. Patterson, in company with Mr. Cody, came 
 to Denver. They were both mere boys, only six- 
 teen years old, but they were full of courage and 
 ripe for adventure. In January, 1862, both left 
 for New Mexico in charge of government trains 
 carrying supplies for Col. Chivington's command 
 which fought the decisive battle at Apache Canon, 
 resulting in the defeat of the Confederates under 
 Gen. Sibley. In 1863, Mr. Cody returned to his 
 home in Kansas, but Mr. Patterson remained in 
 the West, serving in the various capacities of wagon 
 master in charge of freight trains for government 
 contractors, superintendent of stage lines, mule 
 trains, bull trains, etc., until he came to the Cache 
 la Poudre valley in 1866. Notwithstanding his 
 youth, Mr. Patterson was entrusted with the man- 
 
 [411] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 agement and control of immense freighting outfits, 
 requiring from forty to fifty teamsters all of whom 
 looked to him for orders, and this trust was never 
 abused. On coming to Fort Collins in 1866, he 
 at once established himself in business and was 
 noted for his push and enterprise. In December, 
 1873, Mr. Patterson married Alice M. Watrous, 
 eldest daughter of Hon. W. F. Watrous. Six 
 children, five girls and one son, were born of the 
 union, all of whom are living. He had held many 
 offices of public trust and great responsibility in 
 Larimer county and Fort Collins, always discharg- 
 ing the duties thereof to the satisfaction of the peo- 
 ple. He was twice elected county clerk, served 
 as clerk of the district court, and as alderman from 
 his ward in the city council. In 1884 he was the 
 candidate of his party for representative in the 
 Colorado General assembly, and, though his party 
 was largely in the minority, succeeded by his strong 
 personal following in greatly reducing his opponent's 
 majority. He died from dropsy on December 27th, 
 1892. 
 
 John Letford Smith. — Here is a man who 
 during a residence of more than three decades in 
 Fort Collins, has done as much if not more than 
 anyone else to beautify and adorn the homes and 
 business houses of his neighbors, thus cultivating 
 the artistic and adding to the charm of life, simply 
 by the skillful use of his brushes and the mingling 
 of colors for the best effects. Mr. Smith was born 
 May 5th, 1845, at Kingston, England, where he 
 received his education and lived until 1853, when 
 his father's family moved to Sutton-Surrey, Eng- 
 land. Here he perfected himself in the art of paint- 
 ing and decorating, and in 1874, emigrated to the 
 United States. Just before sailing for America, 
 he married Susan Clark at Cambridge, England, 
 and he and his bride crossed the broad Atlantic 
 together on the wedding trip. They located first 
 at Dunkirk, New York, where, and at Fredonia, 
 he plied his trade until 1879. His wife died May 
 11th, 1877, leaving him one daughter, now Mrs. 
 Ada Drohen, whose home is in Fredonia. Mr. 
 Smith arrived in Fort Collins, October 3rd, 1879, 
 and that city has since been his home. Soon after 
 establishing himself in his new home, he went into 
 partnership with Frank Soult, and they worked 
 together at painting, decorating and sign writing 
 for a period of twenty years. In November, 1880, 
 Mr. Smith went back to Fredonia, New York, and 
 married Emma Letford and two children, Dudley 
 Smith and Mrs. Nellie Rainbolt, of Fort Collins, 
 
 [412] 
 
 were the fruits of the union. In the early '80's, 
 Mr. Smith preempted a quarter section of land 
 in the Boxelder valley, adjoining the present town 
 of Wellington, which he proved up on and owned, 
 improved and cultivated until 1904, when he sold 
 the place to F. C. Grable, having in the meantime 
 purchased another 160-acre tract adjoining his pre- 
 emption claim. He built ditches and a reservoir 
 
 JOHN LETFORD SMITH 
 
 from which to irrigate his land, selling them with 
 his farm, for which he received a good round price. 
 He then purchased another improved 160-acre farm 
 situated five miles northwest of Fort Collins, which 
 he cultivated and where he feeds and fattens stock. 
 He also owns considerable valuable city property 
 and has a good supply of this world's goods. He 
 has retired from active work and devotes his time 
 to looking after his property interests. He has 
 been successful in all of his undertakings and no 
 man enjoys the confidence and respect of those who 
 know him best, more than John Letford Smith. 
 
 John B. Everhard was born in Holt county, 
 Missouri, on the 24th day of December, 1861 ; is 
 still unmarried. He came with his father's family 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 to Colorado in the fall of 1863, and settled at 
 Fremont's Orchard. In February, 1864, the family 
 moved to Denver where they remained until the 
 latter part of 1866, then returning to Missouri. In 
 1875, he came again with his family to Colorado, 
 settling on the Little Thompson, where he still 
 resides. He has been chiefly engaged in farming, 
 stock raising and feeding. 
 
 Lewis Clark Moore, President of the Com- 
 mercial bank and Trust company; President of the 
 North Poudre Irrigation company and President of 
 the Buckeye Land and Development company, all 
 institutions of high standing and great moment, 
 was born January 24th, 1866, at Findlay, Ohio. 
 He received his education in the public schools of 
 his native state and at Eastman business college in 
 Poughkeepsie, New York. He came to Colorado 
 in 1885, in the 20th year of his age and after liv- 
 ing at Idaho Springs for a short time, moved to 
 Fort Collins in June, 1887. Soon after locating 
 in the last named city, he was appointed clerk of 
 the county court by Judge JefEerson McAnelly, 
 who was then County Judge. He served in that 
 capacity for about 18 months and on January 1st, 
 1899, went to work as bookkeeper in the First Na- 
 tional bank, being promoted shortly afterwards to 
 the post of assistant cashier and later to that of 
 cashier of the bank, a position he held for several 
 years. He early evinced a keen insight of business 
 matters and by judicious investment of his savings 
 he began to accumulate considerable property 
 and to be recognized as an important factor 
 in financial circles. He is a careful, alert and 
 methodical business man, a good judge of val- 
 ues and his progress upward on the ladder of 
 fortune has been rapid and safe. Today he 
 is rated as one of the most conservative men 
 in Fort Collins. Mr. Moore is a quiet, unassum- 
 ing gentleman, and though wedded to his business, 
 IS a genial companion and is strongly attached 
 to his home and friends. On July 6th, 1893, he 
 was united in marriage with Agnes Ferrier at 
 Liberty, Nebraska. Mrs. Moore came from Neb- 
 raska in 1890 and was assistant to the principal 
 of the High school for three years prior to her mar- 
 riage. She is a highly educated lady, cultured and 
 refined, and a leader in educational, club and church 
 work. Mr. Moore is a Master Mason, a Royal 
 Arch Mason, a Knight Templar and a member 
 of the Mystic Shrine; an Odd Fellow and an Elk, 
 and a member of the First Presbyterian church of 
 Fort Collins. About six years ago he became in- 
 
 terested in irrigation matters, the storage and con- 
 servation of water and its proper distribution for 
 beneficial purposes and has promoted and aided in 
 the construction of several large reservoirs in the 
 northern part of the county, including the Halli- 
 gan and No. 15 reservoirs and has taken an active 
 part in improving and perfecting the North Poudre 
 Irrigation system, of which he is now the efficient 
 head. 
 
 Bolivar S. Tedmon. — The subject of this 
 sketch, better known as "Bob Tedmon," was born 
 
 BOLIVAR S. TEDMON 
 
 September 19th, 1848, in Martinsburgh, Lewis 
 county, N. Y. His parents were of Scotch and 
 English descent. His early life was spent on a 
 farm with his parents, Levi and Rachael Tedmon, 
 two brothers, Ferdinand L. and Herbert E., and 
 two sisters, Almira, and Edith Tedmon. He ob- 
 tained his education in the district school and at 
 the Lowville, N. Y., academy, and then followed 
 teaching in rural and village schools during the 
 winter terms for several years. At the age of 25 
 he married Alice C. Allyn, daughter of Ira Allyn, 
 who was a direct descendant of Ethan Allen, the 
 hero of Ticonderoga. Mr. Tedmon's mother was 
 
 [413] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Rachael Seward, daughter of Swain Seward, who 
 was a cousin of Hon. William H. Seward, former 
 United States Senator from New York, and later 
 Secretary of State during President Lincoln's ad- 
 ministration. In early life our subject's ambition 
 prompted him to seek a more active career and in 
 the fall of 1872 he engaged in the mercantile busi- 
 ness, forming a partnership about two years later 
 
 MRS. BOLIVAR S. TEDMON 
 
 with his brother, Hon. H. E. Tedmon, who is a 
 well known resident of Larimer county. The 
 brothers carried on business together in their native 
 town until the spring of 1878, when they decided 
 to remove to Colorado and arrived in Fort Collins 
 in May of that year with their families, and, except 
 for brief intervals of absence, that city has since 
 been our subject's home. Tedmon Bros, bought 
 what was known as the Joseph Mason store and 
 continued in business in Fort Collins for several 
 years. In the fall of 1879 B. S. Tedmon built the 
 Tedmon House, the first three story brick and stone 
 building erected in Fort Collins. It was completed 
 and opened by the owner in the spring of 1880. 
 In 1882 Mr. Tedmon sold the hotel to George M. 
 Jones and accepted the appointment of Superin- 
 
 [414] 
 
 tendent of Insurance, tendered him by Hon. John 
 C. Abbott, then State Auditor, serving in that 
 capacity two years under Mr. Abbott and two years 
 under Hon. Hiram A. Spruance. He also served 
 one year as deputy State Auditor under Hon. John 
 M. Henderson. On retiring from ofKce Mr. Ted- 
 mon again engaged in the mercantile business in 
 Denver, but soon retired from trade to take up real 
 estate, insurance and loans, which line he has since 
 followed with marked success, his two sons, Allyn 
 H. and Bob S., being now associated with him 
 under the firm name of B. S. Tedmon & Sons. The 
 firm is widely and favorably known and enjoys an 
 extensive and lucrative patronage. Three children 
 have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Tedmon, and 
 their names are Anna R., teacher of oratory and 
 dramatic expression ; Allyn H. and Bob S. Tedmon, 
 Jr., who are associated with their father. Mr. Ted- 
 mon has been a firm and loyal friend of Fort Collins 
 for a third of a century, never failing when oppor- 
 tunity offered to speak a good word for the home 
 of his adoption and has stood ready to lend a help- 
 ing hand in forwarding any movement that was 
 intended to advance its growth and material wel- 
 fare. 
 
 Wallis a. Link was born December 3rd, 1860, 
 in Jo Daviess county, Illinois ; came to Laramie 
 Wyoming, in 1870; married Mary E. Kenyon, 
 July 23rd, 1889, and settled on a stock ranch on 
 Stuck creek in 1889, removing two years later to 
 Big Park and engaged in the stock business. In 
 1901 he discovered a chain of lakes on the eastern 
 slope of the Medicine Bow mountains which bear 
 his name and now form a part of the Laramie- 
 Poudre Reservoir and Irrigation project. He orig- 
 inated the project of bringing the water from these 
 lakes through a tunnel to the Poudre water shed, 
 and was actively connected with it for about five 
 years. He sold his ranch in 1900 and moved his 
 family to Fort Collins which has since been his 
 home. Mr. and Mrs. Link have three children, 
 Mildred F., Alcena I., and Neil G. Link, all at 
 home. 
 
 M. R. KiLBURN was born February 16th, 1865, 
 in Virginia City, Montana; came with his parents 
 to the Big Thompson valley in September, 1865, 
 where he still lives; educated in public schools. 
 Agricultural college and Denver university; mar- 
 ried Alice Kempton of Corning, Iowa, July 3rd, 
 1889; two children, Saville and Miriam, both at 
 home; instructor in Central Business College, Den- 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 ver, ten years; conducted commercial school at 
 Loveland three years; now in nursery business; 
 member of State Board of Horticulture. 
 
 Joseph H. George^ one of the first permanent 
 white settlers of the Virginia Dale district, is a 
 native of Canada, born May 9th, 1846, where he 
 attended school and attained his majority. He came 
 west in 1868 and settled first in the Cache la 
 Poudre valley in Weld county, a short distance 
 west of the present city of Greeley, finding em- 
 ployment on the ranch owned by Robert and 
 Andrew Boyd. He remained here until the spring 
 of 1872, marrying a sister of his employers in 
 the meantime, when he moved with a bunch 
 of cattle to Virginia Dale and located on a 
 stock ranch on Dale creek a short distance down 
 stream from Andrew Boyd's ranch, which he 
 owned and operated for thirty-seven years with 
 marked success. His ranch embraced tillable, 
 meadow and pasture lands, and here his herd of 
 cattle increased until he became known as one of 
 the prominent stockmen of the county. He sold 
 his holdings, including live stock in October, 1909, 
 for $22,000 and retired from active business pur- 
 suits. He is noted for honesty of purpose, up- 
 rightness and square dealing in all his business 
 transactions, and his integrity as a man and a citi- 
 zen has never been called in question. His word 
 is as good as a bond and what Joe George promises 
 to do that he will do. His first wife, who died 
 several years ago, bore him two sons, Robert O. 
 and Joseph E. George. He remarried, his second 
 wife being a native of Chautauqua county. New 
 York, and a niece of his first wife. Mr. George 
 is now a temporary resident of Fort Collins, not 
 yet having fixed upon a permanent place of resi- 
 dence. 
 
 John Kimmons. — A prosperous cattleman, is 
 a native of Carroll county, Illinois, born March 
 7th, 1857; attended public school until 1867 when 
 his parents moved to Missouri, thence to Gales- 
 burg, Illinois; came to Fort Collins in the fall 
 of 1877 and worked three years for J. G. Ridgeley 
 on Highland Place ranch ; worked nine years for 
 Chain & Hardy, Denver, stockmen, during which 
 he began to gather a herd of cattle for himself; 
 drove his cattle to North Park in 1897, where he 
 owned 1,480 acres of deeded land and at one time 
 500 head of cattle; sold his cattle in 1907 and 
 turned his ranch into a dairy farm; married Mary 
 Herrington, December 6th, 1882, and they have 
 eight children; Mrs. Earl McComb, Wiley, Colo- 
 
 rado; Florence, Edith, Mabel, Georgia, Helen B., 
 Robert and John. The family resides in Fort 
 Collins. 
 
 Harris Stratton was born November 10th, 
 1829, at Northfield, Massachusetts; died on Sun- 
 day, July 12th, 1908, in Fort Collins, Colorado, 
 aged 79 years. Mr. Stratton was reared and 
 
 HARRIS STRATTON 
 
 educated in his native town. In 1854, he came 
 west and settled in Lawrence, Kansas, helping to 
 erect the second house built in that now large and 
 flourishing city. He moved to Topeka, Kansas, 
 on January 1st, 1855, and assisted in building the 
 first house erected in what later became the capital 
 city of the state. In July of that year he went 
 back to his eastern home, returning to Kansas the 
 same year with a company of thirty-four settlers; 
 was with General James Lane as aid and scout 
 during the Border RuflSan troubles; represented 
 Doniphan county in the first free state legislature, 
 which convened at Lawrence, and was also a mem- 
 ber of the house of representatives under the To- 
 peka constitution, serving as speaker thereof. He 
 was a clerk in the state auditor's office and was 
 
 [415] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 afterwards appointed auditor of state by the Gov- 
 ernor. He was also secretary of the Topeka Town 
 company. He went to Texas in 1860, thence to 
 Savannah, Georgia, and finally, after running the 
 gauntlet of General Braxton Bragg's southern 
 army, arrived at his native town in August, 1863. 
 That fall he again turned his face westward and 
 spent two years in Kansas. In 1865, he crossed 
 
 MRS. HARRIS STRATTON 
 
 the Plains to Larimer county, locating in what 
 was then Camp Collins, which has since been his 
 home. Mr. Stratton represented Larimer county 
 in the Territorial Legislature of 1867-8, and was 
 chosen sergeant at arms of the senate in the first 
 State Legislature. In 1877, Governor Routt ap- 
 pointed him a member of the State Board of Agri- 
 culture and upon the organization of the board he 
 was elected secretary, a position he held for several 
 years. He was raised a farmer and followed that 
 calling and that of dairying after coming to Colo- 
 rado, until 1891, when he sold his farm and went 
 with his family to Georgia, where he spent two 
 years, returning then to Fort Collins. He was 
 district court bailiff for five years. On December 
 30th, 1866, Mr. Stratton married Mrs. Elizabeth 
 
 [416] 
 
 Keays, and it was the first marriage solemnized 
 in Fort Collins. Three daughters were the fruits 
 of the union, two of them, Mrs. P. J. Mc 
 Hugh of Fort Collins and Mrs. A. Anderson of 
 Colton, California, with their mother, survive him. 
 The third daughter, Miss Marguerite Stratton, 
 preceded her father to the spirit world in 1901. 
 Mr. Stratton was a charter member of Collins 
 lodge No. 19 A. F. & A. M., and a member of the 
 lodge when he died. For more than fifty years he 
 had been a pioneer and frontiersman and had faith- 
 fully done his part in developing the resources of 
 the Great West. Elizabeth L. Park was born Feb- 
 ruary 3rd, 1830, near Watertown, New York, 
 and received her education at Coburg, Canada, 
 w'here her father was engaged as a millwright. 
 On October 2nd, 1854, she was married near 
 Springfield, Illinois, to William Keays, who died 
 in 1859, leaving a widow and a son, William P. 
 Keays. Mrs. Keays came to Fort Collins in 1865 
 and on December 30th, 1866, was joined in mar- 
 riage with Harris Stratton. Mrs. Stratton, though 
 past four score years, is in the enjoyment of good 
 health and retains all her mental faculties. She 
 resides with her daughter, Mrs. P. J. McHugh. 
 
 Michael Gardner^ one of Fort Collins best 
 known and most highly respected citizens, was born 
 June 26th, 1834, at St. Rose, Canada, and edu- 
 cated in the public schools of his native town. On 
 July 24th, 1854, he married Hattie Wolcott, but 
 no children survive. He spent four years as a 
 soldier in the Civil war, participating in several 
 hard fought battles and was given an honorable dis- 
 charge in 1865. He came to Colorado in 1877, 
 and to Fort Collins in July, 1878. Here he carried 
 on blacksmithing for more than twenty years, re- 
 tiring with a competence in 1899. Since then he 
 and his invalid wife have lived a quiet, peaceful 
 life in a fine home at 354 E. Mountain avenue, 
 which they have occupied for a third of a century. 
 Mr. Gardner always did his work well and when 
 he agreed to, and always dealt fairly and squarely 
 with everyone. Mrs. Gardner has been a bed- 
 ridden invalid for many years and so devoted is he 
 to his helpless companion that he seldom leaves 
 her bedside. 
 
 Lewis Wetzler was born in June, 1842, in 
 Germany, and educated in the common schools of 
 his native town. He came to the United States at 
 an early age and settled in Maine, where, in 1861, 
 he married Melissa Weymouth. His surviving 
 children are Charles, of Fort Collins, William, 
 
FRED M. WRIGHT 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Edwin, and Arthur. He came to Greeley in 1871, 
 and to Livermore, Larimer county, in 1873, locating 
 on the Lone Pine. He planted the first orchard 
 set out in the mountains and was laughed at by 
 his neighbors, who said that fruit could not be 
 grown in Livermore. He was not long in demon- 
 strating that hardy fruits could be grown in that 
 section and so turned the laugh on his dilatory 
 neighbors. He sold his ranch in the '80's and 
 moved his family to Fort Collins, thence to Phoenix, 
 Arizona, in 1895, and to San Diego, California, 
 in 1908, where he now resides. 
 
 Fred M. Wright. — As a representative of the 
 beet sugar industry in Colorado, who has done and 
 is still doing a great deal to promote the manufac- 
 ture of sugar from beets and who has met with 
 more than ordinary success in his calling, Mr. 
 Wright is a man for whom I take pleasure in writ- 
 ing a biographical sketch for the history of Larimer 
 county. Mr. Wright was born September 25th, 
 1869, at Bridgewater, Michigan. The beginning 
 of his education was made in the rural schools of 
 his native state, and then taking a course in the 
 Clinton, Michigan, High school. His early life 
 was spent on a farm and he is not only a theoretical 
 but also a practical farmer. He was the son of 
 George P. and Anna (Wier) Wright. His father 
 is a native of the state of New York and was edu- 
 cated for the Baptist ministry and served as general 
 missionary in Colorado for that denomination a 
 good many years, and his mother was born in Michi- 
 gan where she met and married the father of our 
 subject. Our subject was united in marriage with 
 Hily Bond on July 24th, 1888, at Tecumseh, 
 Michigan. She was born June 4th, 1868, in 
 Schuyler county. New York, and educated in 
 Michigan. Her father was of German descent and 
 her mother, whose maiden name was Emma Doty, 
 was born in Danville, Illinois. Sooh after they 
 were married Mr. and Mrs. Wright moved from 
 Michigan to Denver, Colorado, where they resided 
 until 1895 when they moved on to a farm situated 
 between Loveland and Berthoud. Three years later 
 they sold their farm and purchased^ the store at 
 Laporte, Larimer county, which was their home 
 until 1902 while Mr. Wright was carrying on the 
 mercantile business. He was also postmaster at 
 Laporte for three years. In the spring of 1902, 
 Mr. Wright disposed of his interests at Laporte 
 and moved his family to Fort Collins which city 
 has since been the family home. On December 1st, 
 1902, our subject was appointed assistant agricul- 
 
 turist and two years later chief agriculturist of the 
 Great Western Sugar company at Fort Collins, 
 which position he filled with such a degree of 
 ability, faithfulness and efficiency, that on October 
 1st, 1909, he was promoted to the important post 
 of local manager of the Fort Collins sugar factory. 
 He held this office until February 1st, 1911, when 
 he resigned to take a position with the San Luis 
 Valley Beet Sugar company which is building a 
 new factory at Monte Vista, Colorado. Mr. 
 Wright is considered an expert in the cultivation 
 and harvesting of sugar beets and in the manufac- 
 ture and marketing of beet sugar, and has made 
 good in whatever position he has been called upon 
 to fill. He is a skilled, careful and methodical 
 business man, trustworthy to a degree and prompt 
 in the discharge of duty. The very fact that he 
 rose from an humble but important position with 
 the Sugar company to the responsible office of local 
 manager of one of the largest beet sugar factories 
 in the United States within a period of seven years, 
 alone testifies to his industry, skill and ability, and 
 to his integrity as a man. He has a beautiful and 
 nicely furnished home at 719 Remington street, 
 one of the finest residence streets in Fort Collins. 
 
 Capt. William M. Post, who spent 33 years 
 on the sea and has been a citizen of Larimer county 
 for 41 years, was born in 1823, in Essex, Connect- 
 icut, a son of Russell and Jemima (Pel ton) Post. 
 His is descended from a Holland family that set- 
 tled at Saybrook, Connecticut, in the early his- 
 tory of that colony. At the age of thirteen, our 
 subject went to sea as a cabin boy on the packet 
 line to Mobile, Alabama. He sailed before the 
 mast from 1836 to 1840 and was promoted to 
 second and later to first-mate. He was master and 
 part owner of a fine brig in 1846, making a num- 
 ber of trips to Europe in the merchant service, visit- 
 ing Liverpool, Amsterdam, Antwerp and Havre. 
 From 1861 to 1864 he was master in the U. S. 
 navy and executive officer of the store ship "Relief" 
 and the gunboat "Sonoma" in the North Atlantic 
 flying squadron, spending nine months in the West 
 Indies after privateers. He was on the blockade off 
 Charleston many months. He secured two prizes, 
 one the "Virginia" and the other the steamer "Ida", 
 both of which he brought to New York. He then 
 engaged in the West India trade as commander of 
 the brig "John R. Plater" until 1869, when he gave 
 up a seafaring life. In June, 1870, Capt. Post came 
 to Colorado, his family following in 1871, and pur- 
 chased a farm in Pleasant valley on which he lived 
 
 [417] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 until 1880, when he rented the farm and rnoved 
 to Fort Collins, where he has since resided. On 
 May 27th, 1847, he married Almena T. Collins, 
 who died in Connecticut on April 5th, 1862, and 
 on March 30th, 1863, he married Emeline E. 
 Jones in East Haddam, Connecticut. She was a 
 daughter of A. P. and Emeline (Emmons) Jones, 
 and a descendant of a family that settled in New 
 
 CAPT. WILLIAM M. POST 
 
 Haven, July 10, 1639. Capt. and Mrs. Post are 
 the parents of a son and a daughter. The son, 
 Frederick E. Post, was educated at the Colo- 
 rado Agricultural college and is now a prominent 
 Denver photographer. The daughter, Lillian E., 
 who was also educated at the Agricultural college, 
 is the wife of Harvey H. Griffin, Agricultural 
 superintendent for the Great Western Sugar com- 
 pany. Since moving to Fort Collins, Capt. Post 
 has looked after his farm in Pleasant valley, dealt 
 in real estate and has loaned money for eastern 
 people, some of whom he never saw, but who have 
 the utmost confidence in his judgment and in- 
 tegrity. Although almost a nonagenarian, Capt. 
 Post retains his faculties and a very large degree 
 of physical vitality and is one of the most enter- 
 
 [418] 
 
 taining men to visit and chat with. He has always 
 been an omnivorous reader and is familiar with a 
 wide range of subjects with which to enliven con- 
 versation. 
 
 Herman W. Schroeder. — ^Achievement has 
 been the watchword of Mr. Schroeder from boy- 
 hood. To get ahead in the world has been his 
 fondest dream, and judging by results, his hopes 
 and desires have been successfully realized. He 
 came into this world on April 2nd, 1855, on Doty 
 Island, near Neenah, Wisconsin, of German par- 
 entage. Left without a father's guidance and pro- 
 tecting care at an early age, he became the foster 
 son of Mr. and Mrs. Aaron F. Watrous, of Char- 
 lestown, Wisconsin, who sent him to school and 
 treated him the same as an own child. When his 
 school days were over, he learned the carpenter 
 and joiners' trade, coming to Fort Collins in April, 
 1878. His sole capital then consisted of a stout 
 
 HERMAN W. SCHROEDER 
 
 heart, willing hands, honest purposes and a set of 
 carpenter's tools. Of money in hand he had none. 
 He arrived at his future home at an opportune 
 time when Fort Collins was on the up-grade, and 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 he had no difficulty in obtaining employment at his 
 trade. He was steady, industrious, reliable and 
 prudent, and being a good mechanic, he forged 
 ahead with rapid strides, gaining an enviable stand- 
 ing in the community as a man who, when he said 
 he would do a thing, did it without ifs and ands. 
 Many of the business blocks and handsome homes 
 in the city of Fort Collins testify to his skill as a 
 builder. Along in the late '80's he invested a part 
 of his savings in a herd of cattle in North Park, 
 which proved a successful venture. In 1881, Mr. 
 Schroeder married Emma Bennett, and three child- 
 ren came to bless the union, one of whom died in 
 childhood. The survivors are Herman and Miss 
 Beulah. The son is a successful drug clerk and the 
 daughter a student in the local business college. Mr. 
 Schroeder has represented his ward in the city 
 council and is recognized as one of the solid, sub- 
 stantial men of Fort Collins. He has a beautiful 
 and nicely furnished cottage home on Matthews 
 street, and one or two other cottages that are oc- 
 cupied by tenants. 
 
 Robert O. Roberts was born January 8th, 
 1829, near Utica, New York. His father, Owen 
 Roberts, was a native of North Wales, born on 
 an estate where his ancestors had resided for many 
 generations. His mother was born near Utica, 
 and died in that city at the age of 47 years. His 
 father, when well advanced in years, came to Colo- 
 rado, dying several years ago at the age of 90. Our 
 subject was the eldest of a family of ten child- 
 ren, and received his education in the public schools 
 of Oneida, county. New York. When 17 years 
 of age he was apprenticed to the furniture busi- 
 ness, and learned how to varnish, polish, paint 
 and upholster furniture. In Watertown, New 
 York, he was married. to Mary Tuttle, who was 
 born in that place, daughter of Theodore Tut- 
 tle, a former citizen of Connecticut. Of this 
 union there are five surviving children, Charles E., 
 merchant and hotel keeper at Ingleside; George F. 
 and Earnest W., stockmen of Livermore; Mrs. 
 Eva May Swan of Livermore, and Mrs. Grace 
 Wills of Denver. Mr. Roberts came west with 
 his family in 1874, arriving at Greeley on Febru- 
 ary 7th. That same year he moved to Livermore 
 and kept the Fisk hotel one year and then took 
 up 160 acres of land on which he built the Forks 
 hotel. This he conducted for seven years, then 
 sold it. Soon afterwards he located on a 280-acre 
 stock ranch on the North fork of the Cache la 
 Poudre river, one mile north of the Livermore 
 
 postoffice, where his sons, George and Ernest now 
 reside. Mr. Roberts embarked in the cattle busi- 
 ness soon after coming to Colorado, in which he 
 and his sons, George and Ernest have been very 
 successful. The home ranch is improved with 
 good buildings, corrals, and fences, and with or- 
 chards and groves. He and his wife have been 
 residents of Fort Collins for the past fourteen 
 
 ROBERT O. ROBERTS 
 
 years and they own valuable property on South 
 Sherwood street. Though past four score and two 
 years, Mr. Roberts retains remarkable vitality for 
 one of his age. 
 
 Tom Quinn. — Thirty years in the employ of 
 the Union Pacific and Colorado & Southern rail- 
 road companies at Fort Collins, as foreman in 
 charge of the mechanical department looking after 
 repairs to cars and engines; appointed once and 
 elected four times a member of the city council of 
 his chosen home city, is the record that stands to 
 the credit of Alderman Tom Quinn, one of the 
 best known and most highly esteemed citizens of 
 the county seat of Larimer county. During his 
 thirty years residence in Fort Collins, Mr. Quinn 
 
 [419] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 has been a booster and a builder and has been a 
 large contributor to the growth and to the material 
 and moral welfare of the city. Day in and day 
 out he can always be found at his post of duty, 
 steady, faithful and efficient, and there are but 
 few men in the city whose annual rent roll exceeds 
 his. Mr. Quinn was born February 22nd, 1860, 
 in county Tipperary, Ireland, where he was edu- 
 
 TOM QUINN 
 
 cated. He came to the United States in 1874 and 
 after spending two years at Council Bluffs, Iowa, 
 pushed on farther west, arriving at Black Hawk, 
 Colorado, in 1876. Here he served one year as 
 messenger boy for former United States Senator 
 Nathaniel P. Hill, who then had charge of exten- 
 sive reduction works at that place. In 1877 our 
 subject went to Leadville where he spent two years, 
 returning to Denver in 1879. After working two 
 years in the Union Pacific railroad shops in Den- 
 ver, he was sent to Fort Collins to take charge of 
 repair work here, and that city has since been his 
 home. He married Elizabeth Owens, October 
 22nd, 1888 and they have two children, John F., 
 and William W. Quinn. 
 
 [420] 
 
 Marshall Moore, Fort Collins' popular, ac- 
 commodating and very efficient postmaster, was 
 born October 2nd, 1870, at Woodbine, Iowa, re- 
 ceiving his education in the public schools of his 
 native town and the Woodbine Normal school. He 
 was' united in marriage with Jennie A. Smith on 
 December 19th, 1891, and they have two children, 
 Ethel M., and Gladys L., both at home. At 19 
 years of age, Mr. Moore went to work for the J. 
 A. Boies Hardware company, where he learned 
 the hardware, plumbing and heating business. He 
 was employed by the Boies Hardware company until 
 he bought a share in the business in 1897. Mr. 
 Boies died in 1901, and in closing up his estate 
 the business was sold. Our subject then engaged 
 exclusively as contractor in the plumbing and heat- 
 ing business until he came to Fort Collins in 1904 
 to take charge of that department in the J. A. 
 Brown Hardware company's store, remaining with 
 
 MARSHALL MOORE 
 
 that company until the firm sold its business to the 
 Barkley, Bouton & Crain Hardware company. He 
 took some stock in the new company and was elected 
 its secretary, a position he held until President 
 Roosevelt appointed him postmaster for Fort Col- 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 lins, February 9th, 1909. He has been a strong 
 republican in politics and is a recognized leader 
 in the party. Since coming to Fort Collins in 1904, 
 he has borne himself in such a manner as to win 
 the confidence and respect of all who have had 
 the good fortune to make his acquaintance. He 
 is a stirring, ambitious man who believes in doing 
 things, and doing them right. His manner of con- 
 ducting the affairs of the postoffice has been of 
 such a careful and methodical nature as not only 
 to win the commendation of its patrons, but also 
 of the United States postofEce department. 
 
 Jacob Flowers. — One of the pioneers of Pleas- 
 ant Valley, was born July 4th, 1827, in Green 
 county, Pennsylvania. On January 28th, 1853, 
 he was married to Miss Elizabeth Meeks of Woods 
 county, Virginia. He came to Larimer county 
 with the Wyandotte Colony in 1873, and settled 
 on a farm in Pleasant Valley, where he lived until 
 death summoned him in 1898. He laid out and 
 platted the town of Bellvue and was the first 
 merchant of that village. 
 
 Jack Dow. — One of the most useful of the 
 pioneers of the Cache la Poudre valley, by reason 
 of his profession' and who did much during his 
 residence in the county to develop the latent agri- 
 cultural resources of Northern Colorado, was Jack 
 Dow. He was born in 1839 in the City of New 
 York, where he received his education and where 
 he acquired the profession of civil engineering 
 which he followed through life. In the early sixties 
 he crossed the continent to California, via the 
 Southern route through New Mexico and Arizona. 
 The country not meeting his expectations, he started 
 on the return trip to his native state in 1S69. On 
 the way east he stopped in Laporte and was so well 
 pleased with the' Cache la Poudre valley that he 
 decided to locate and 'build himself a home. The 
 country was "new then and his services were in al- 
 most constant demand for several years in running 
 land lines and in laying out roads and irrigating 
 ditches and superintending their construction. In 
 1874 he was elected county surveyor of Larimer 
 county and served one term, and that year was 
 joined in marriage with Helen Cuthbertson, a 
 native of Scotland and a sister of John S. Cuth- 
 bertson of Fort Collins, and James Cuthbertson of 
 Iimnath. In his capacity of civil engineer he laid 
 out. and superintended the construction of several 
 of the first irrigation ditches built in the Cache la 
 Poudre valley, including the Arthur ditch, the 
 
 Larimer County No. 2 canal and the Pleasant 
 Valley & Lake canal completing the latter in the 
 year 1879. In 1880, Mr. Dow moved his family 
 to Northern Wyoming, then a new country, and 
 followed his profession and ranching until about 
 the time of his death on November 11th, 1904. 
 He left a widow but no children. Few men have 
 ever lived in Larimer county who had more warm 
 
 JACK DOW 
 
 personal friends than Jack Dow. He was the soul 
 of honor, upright in all his dealings and his in- 
 tegrity was never called in question. ^, 
 
 John N. Gordon. — The subject of this sketch 
 can adapt himself to all sorts of conditions and 
 make good under any and all kinds of circum- 
 stances. He is, in short a general utility man — 
 just such a man as is needed 'in every community. 
 He can teach school, edit and manage a newspaper, 
 sell goods over the counter, deal out justice in 
 court, buy and sell real estate, keep the town 
 records, serve as a member of the school board, 
 fill the post of secretary of the chamber of com- 
 merce, or act as a newspaper correspondent. He 
 can do all these things because he has done them, 
 
 [421] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 and done them well, too. He is well educated, 
 honest as the day is long, has opinions of his own, 
 and is firm in his convictions. Mr. Gordon was 
 born April 18th, 1856, in Jefferson county, Indi- 
 ana; educated in the preparatory school at Han- 
 over, (Indiana) college, at Boyd's Commercial 
 college, Louisville, Kentucky, and at Monmouth 
 college, Monmouth, Illinois, where he graduated 
 
 JOHN N. GORDON 
 
 in 1880 with the degree of A. B. and later re- 
 ceiving the degree of A. M. He came to Colo- 
 rado in 1880 and located at Loveland, which city 
 is still his home; married Minnie R. Clark, June 
 30th, 1886, and has two children, Morris C. and 
 Deane B. Gordon. He has" been justice of the 
 peace six successive terms, taught school three years, 
 edited the Loveland Register one year, merchant 
 nine years, real estate dealer a number of years, 
 secretary of the Loveland Chamber of Commerce 
 three years, member of the school board one term, 
 city clerk two terms and newspaper correspondent 
 for twenty-five years and hasn't turned his sixtieth 
 year yet. He can easily be set down as a man of 
 marked versatility of accomplishment. 
 
 [422] 
 
 Asa M. Horner.— Mr. Horner was born 
 March 27th, 1848, in Gloucester county. New Jer- 
 sey, and was reared on a farm 20 miles south of 
 Philadelphia. He obtained his education in the 
 district school, at a boy's boarding school in Norris- 
 town, Pennsylvania, and at Fort Edward, New 
 York. Failing health admonished him to seek a 
 dryer climate, so he came to Greeley in 1872, where 
 he spent six weeks and then came to near where 
 Timnath is now and lived with Harry and Frank 
 Scott. He and another man worked a month for 
 Bob Strauss, and Bob called them his clerks. After 
 that he spent three months on the Redstone chop- 
 ping fence poles for Harry Scott. In the spring 
 of 1873, he filed a homestead claim on land that 
 is now partly covered by the Timnath reservoir. 
 He engaged in wool growing with Royal Cobb 
 until the ditches were built east of them, when the 
 range was taken for farms. He then sold his sheep 
 
 FOUR GENERATIONS OF THE HORNER FAMILY, 
 ASA M. HORNER TO THE RIGHT 
 
 and bought 160 acres of railroad land and turned 
 his attention to farming. In 1876 Mr. Horner re- 
 turned to New Jersey to visit old friends and at- 
 tend the Centennial exposition in Philadelphia. 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 While east, the asthma which had caused him to 
 come to Colorado seized him again, and he was 
 obliged to cut short his visit and return west. In 
 speaking of his experience, Mr. Horner said, "it 
 required a year in Colorado to regain what he lost 
 in the five weeks spent in New Jersey." Fearing 
 to visit his old home again very soon, one of the 
 Jersey girls, Hannah M. Edwards, came to Fort 
 Collins on February 21st, 1879, and was joined 
 with him in marriage. The ceremony took place 
 at the Agricultural hotel which then stood where 
 the postofKce is now, and was performed by Rev. 
 C. A. Brooks of the Methodist church. Five 
 children were born to them; Henry, George, Alice, 
 Jesse and Eula. All are living but Alice. In 1893 
 he ventured to go east again with his family and 
 visited the World's fair in Chicago, also Washing- 
 ton, Philadelphia and Niagara Falls. In 1903 he 
 moved to Fort Collins to give his younger child- 
 ren a chance to attend High school. In 1898, Mr. 
 Horner purchased a summer home in the Laramie 
 river valley, where he spends the summer months, 
 finding health and strength by climbing hills and 
 sporting with gamey trout. In 1910 with his 
 wife and daughter, he visited two of his sons of 
 j Cody, Wyoming, and later toured Yellowstone 
 Park on a camping trip, returning to Fort Collins 
 in August. 
 
 James Cuthbertson, son of William and 
 Helen (Symington) Cuthbertson of Berwickshire, 
 Scotland, was born September 2nd, 1852. His 
 father was a burgess and traces his ancestry back 
 to St. Cuthbert, bishop of Lindisfarne, who died 
 March 20th, A. D. 687. He was consecrated at 
 York during the Easter festival by Theodore, arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, but only exercised his episco- 
 pal office two years. He was noted for his piety, 
 and his austere and secluded mode of living added 
 greatly to the estimation in which he was held, and 
 as usual at that period, the performance of miracles 
 was freely ascribed to him. The ancestors of Helen 
 (Symington) Cuthbertson, mother of our subject, 
 were given a grant of land by the crown in the 
 14th century, on condition that they house and pro- 
 tect the traveling monks who went about the coun- 
 try building abbeys and cathedrals. It is worthy 
 of note that for centuries there has been a Helen 
 m the Symington family and its various branches. 
 Berwickshire is a maritime county of Scotland, 
 forming its southeastern extremity, and has a nota- 
 ble history. The county derives its name from the 
 borough of Berwick, one of the few remaining 
 
 walled towns in the United Kingdom. The town 
 siiffered much during the Border wars. Lauder 
 is the name of the village in which Mr. Cuthbert- 
 son was born and here he received his education. 
 He emigrated to the United States in his youth, 
 stopping in New York city, going thence to Chi- 
 cago in 1871, shortly after the big fire in that city. 
 He came to Fort Collins in 1872 and located on 
 a tract of land three miles southeast of Fort Collins 
 which he improved and successfully cultivated for 
 nearly thirty years. About ten years ago he sold 
 his farm and purchased another near Timnath on 
 which he now resides. He has been a successful 
 farmer and stock feeder and has amassed a com- 
 fortable competence. He ranks high as a citizen, 
 farmer, friend and neighbor and is warmly esteemed 
 by all who know him. He is a man of strong con- 
 victions and is ready at all times to defend his opin- 
 ions by fair, intelligenf argument in which he is 
 seldom worsted. Mr. Cuthbertson has never mar- 
 ried and is therefore heart whole and fancy free. 
 Politically, he is a republican of the strictest sort 
 and while he takes an active interest in public affairs 
 and is well informed upon all important public 
 questions, he has never been an office seeker and 
 has never held a public office. He prefers the con- 
 dition of an independent sovereign to that of a 
 public serf. Fraternally, Mr. Cuthbertson is a 
 Master Mason, a Royal Arch Mason and a Knight 
 Templar, being a member of Collins lodge No. 19, 
 A. F. & A. M.; Cache la Poudre chapter No. 11 
 R. A. M. and of De Molay commandry No. 13, 
 K. T., all of Fort Collins. He is a warm hearted, 
 genial gentlemen, a prince socially and has hosts of 
 friends in Larimer county, of which he has been 
 a resident for nearly forty years. 
 
 Hon. Neil F. Graham, appointed Judge of the 
 Eighth Judicial District of Colorado, by Governor 
 John F. Shafroth, January 11th, 1911, to fill the 
 vacancy created by the election of Hon. James E. 
 Garrigues as Associate Justice of "the Supreme 
 Court, was born March 5th, 1866, at Komoka, 
 Ontario. At the age of five years he emigrated 
 with his father's family from Canada to Wash- 
 ington county, Kansas, where he was reared on a 
 farm. He received a college education at the 
 Ottawa University, Ottawa, Kansas. After pur- 
 suing a course at law, he was admitted to the bar 
 in Kansas in 1893, and continued to practice his 
 profession until he was appointed district judge. 
 Judge Graham was united in marriage with Dura 
 G. Evans, April 12th, 1898, at Washington, Kan- 
 
 [423] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 sas, and they have one child, a daughter, Margaret. 
 He moved vi'ith his family from Kansas to Fort 
 Collins, arriving August 8th, 1907, and shortly 
 thereafter opened an office with J. J. Herring for 
 the practice of law. He at once took high rank 
 with the members of the Larimer county bar and 
 is recognized as a close and indefatigable student, 
 an able leader, a conscientious and reliable ad- 
 
 HON. NEIL F. GRAHAM 
 
 vocate and .as a man learned in the law. Since 
 being elevated to the bench of the district court, 
 Judge Graham has met with hearty endorsement 
 for the fairness and impartiality of his rulings and 
 for his conception of the principles of the law, and 
 as a private citizen he is held in the highest esteem 
 for manly, upright bearing. He is a valued mem- 
 ber of the Fort Collins board of education and his 
 interests in the cause of popular education and his 
 influence in the management of the public schools 
 are highly regarded. Politically Judge Graham is 
 a democrat and while a citizen of Kansas, he repre- 
 sented that state in the National Democratic con- 
 ventions of 1896 and 1900. 
 
 Elmbr Elwood Keach was born June 22nd, 
 1872, at Greeley; parents from New Hampshire, 
 
 [424] 
 
 his father being a veteran of the Civil war and his 
 mother a relative of Henry Ward Beecher. She 
 died at Livermore, Colorado, April 30th, 1878. 
 Our subject grew to manhood on what is known as 
 the Cradock ranch ; married Milly O. Aldrich, 
 October 3rd, 1895 and she died June 17th, 1896; 
 married for his second wife, Carrie E. Lowery, 
 January 1st, 1901, who died April 6th, 1909. In 
 company with his father, H. A. Keach, he owned 
 and operated a cattle ranch at Alford, 30 miles 
 northwest of Fort Collins, selling the ranch and 
 stock in October, 1910, and removing to Seattle, 
 Washington, for the benefit of father's health. 
 Our subject was postmaster at Alford from May, 
 1899 to February 15th, 1909, and was for 12. years 
 superintendent of the Sunday school at Livermore 
 and also an elder of the Union Presbyterian church 
 at that place. Mr. Keach has three children, Lewis 
 E., born August 25th, 1902; Florence E., born 
 September 19, 1905; Carrie E., born April 6th, 
 1909. 
 
 James McGinley, born October 7th, 1812, 
 in Westmpreland county, Pennsylvania, of Scotch- 
 Irish parentage. He married May Armstrong, 
 March 9, 1837, and came from Michigan to the 
 Cache la Poudre valley in 1874, locating on a farm 
 one mile north of Timnath, where he lived until 
 death called him, April 1st, 1896. He left two 
 sons, James W. McGinley of Stratton Park, and 
 Armstrong McGinley who died a few years ago 
 in California. He died as he had lived, a true man, 
 faithful to himself, faithful to mankind and faith- 
 ful to his Maker. 
 
 Allen P. Greenacre. — The sons of Illinois 
 have figured largely as adjuncts in the development 
 of the industrial resources of Larimer county and 
 in advancing its material, social and educational 
 standards. Nowhere do we find better, more wide- 
 awake, active and energetic specimens of manhood, 
 than among those who came west from the great 
 Sucker state, and our subject is one of them. He 
 first opened his eyes upon the things of this world 
 on Christmas day, 1873, at Bristol, Illinois. He 
 came to Fort Collins in May, 1886, and obtained 
 his education in the public schools of that city and 
 at the Colorado Agricultural college. After re- 
 ceiving a B. S. degree, he remained with his alma 
 mater as an instructor in the department of 
 Mechanical Engineering from 1896 to 1902, re- 
 signing then to engage in ranching and the stock 
 business at Boxelder canon with his brothers. 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Harold and Edgar Greenacre, following these oc- 
 cupations until November, 1910, when he was 
 elected County Clerk and Recorder, receiving the 
 largest majority of any one man on the republican 
 ticket. He soon after moved his family to Fort 
 Collins and entered upon his official duties on 
 January 10th, 1911. Though still interested with 
 
 ALLEN P. GREENACRE 
 
 his brothers in the ranch and cattle business, he is 
 not now directly connected with its management. 
 On October 31st, 1903, he was united in marriage 
 with Carolyn L. Wood, a Greeley lady who had 
 been a popular and successful teacher in the public 
 schools of Fort Collins. She graduated from the 
 State Normal School in 1898 with high honors. One 
 daughter, Esther Florence, has come to bless the 
 union. Mr. Greenacre is what is known in western 
 parlance as a "hustler" and has scores of warm 
 personal friends in every part of the county. He is 
 democratic in bearing and manner and is making 
 a very popular and efficient public official. 
 
 Benjamin B. Harris. — On a farm near Love- 
 land, Clermont county, Ohio, the subject of this 
 sketch was born. The farm was situated along 
 the Little Miami river, about 18 miles north of 
 
 Cincinnati. The B. B. of his name stand for 
 Benjamin Butterworth, the noted Ohio congress- 
 man and a cousin of Mr. Harris, and our subject's 
 youthful days were spent in the companionship of 
 that cousin, since famous in the councils of the 
 nation. Mr. Harris was born in 1836, and in 
 1850, the family moved from Ohio to Iowa, locat- 
 ing at Iowa City. For fifteen years he lived in that 
 vicinity engaged in farming and the raising of cat- 
 tle and hogs. In 1867 he went to Cass county, 
 that state, and assisted in founding the City of 
 Atliintic. In 1886, Mr. Harris came to Fort Collins 
 and purchased a choice tract of land adjoining the 
 Colorado Agricultural college farm on the south, 
 which he improved by erecting new buildings and 
 planting an orchard, and where he became noted as 
 one of the leading farmers and stockmen of Larimer 
 county. He was an ardent lover of fine cattle and 
 went to great expense in procuring the best blooded 
 animals he could find with which to stock his 
 
 BENJAMIN B. HARRIS 
 
 farm, and his cattle always topped the market 
 when placed on sale. He was a leader in the 
 development of the agricultural and stock grow- 
 ing possibilities of the Cache la Poudre valley and 
 
 [425] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 as he set the pace, others followed. He was 
 thorough in all his work and his farm today is 
 one of the model farms of the county. He had 
 charge as overseer of the college farm a few years, 
 and aided and encouraged by the State Board of 
 Agriculture, he succeeded in bringing it to its 
 present high standard of productiveness and use- 
 fulness. Mr. Harris retired from active business 
 pursuits, in April, 1908, and went with his wife 
 to California, but was brought back to Fort Collins 
 a year later in a dying condition. He passed away 
 August 1st, 1909. Mr. Harris married Almira 
 Douglass, April 21st, 1857, and his surviving chil- 
 dren are Mrs. Anna Lamb, Mrs. Nellie Mor- 
 gareidge, Mrs. Grant Morseman, Mrs. Ida Wil- 
 son and Fred W. Harris. 
 
 R. G. Maxwell was born April 21st, 1860, in 
 Peoria county, Illinois, and educated in the country 
 schools of Peoria county; married Minnie Hann, 
 December 25th, 1889; his children are named Paul, 
 Park, Ray, Ralph, Warren and Wilbur Maxwell; 
 came to Larimer county in 1900, and is a successful 
 and prosperous farmer and good citizen. 
 
 Rev. Franklin Moore. — There are few men 
 in the world we imagine who have done nobler, 
 more self-sacrificing, more efficient and more ac- 
 ceptable work in the Master's field than the sub- 
 ject of this sketch. As a missionary, he has traveled 
 thousands of miles in all kinds of weather, in the 
 mountains and on the Plains, to meet his appoint- 
 ments and preach the gospel to the people. Mr. 
 Moore was born March 15th, 1855, in Salem 
 county. New Jersey, the son of christian parents. 
 He came to the Cache la Poudre valley in 1878, 
 and taught school for several years, first in the old 
 log cabin, known as the Buss school house, and then 
 in Timnath school house. In February, 1880, he 
 married Martha L. Peterson of New Jersey, and 
 they settled on the farm now owned and occupied 
 by Charles Roys, north of Timnath. He was 
 superintendent of the Timnath Sunday school for 
 12 successive years. In 1892, he began the study 
 of theology, taking charge that year of the Fossil 
 Creek Presbyterian church as pastor. He was or- 
 dained in 1895 and remained in charge of that 
 church for eleven years, doing missionary work at 
 Virginia Dale, Livermore, Bellvue and Stout dur- 
 ing that time. In 1905, he took charge of the 
 Hillsboro Presbyterian church, serving it as pastor 
 for three years, also doing mission work at school 
 houses in the Big Thompson valley. In 1908 he 
 
 [426] 
 
 returned to his home at Fossil Creek and engaged 
 in circuit work at Virginia Dale, Livermore and 
 Waverly, taking charge of a mission at Masonville, 
 preaching at each of these places once in two weeks. 
 During the summer season he also preached at 
 Boxelder, Adams, Log Cabin and Elkhorn on week 
 days. During all of these 19 years of strenuous 
 work, his good wife has been a constant help and 
 
 REV. AND MRS. FRANKLIN MOORE 
 
 encouragement. She is a great lover of home and 
 Mr. Moore freely admits that it has been only 
 through her patience, economy and sacrifice that 
 they have been able to secure and maintain their 
 much appreciated home at Fossil Creek. Seven 
 children have been born to them, five of whom are 
 still living. They are Mrs. Edith Franz and Attie 
 D., Elizabeth T., Ralph F., and Alma Meta 
 Moore. 
 
 CoRwiN R. Welch. — He who contributes with 
 his energy or his means to the material and com- 
 mercial prosperity of his chosen home; who, by his 
 foresight and judgment, assists in the development 
 of its resources; in whose hands large financial 
 trusts are placed and safely held and faithfully 
 guarded; who never betrayed the trust or know- 
 
HISTORY OF 
 
 LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 ingly wronged another; such a one may justly be 
 called a benefactor. To this class belongs Corwin 
 R. Welch, a former merchant prince of Fort Col- 
 lins and now President of the First National Bank 
 of Fort Collins, and one of the city's most enter- 
 prising and progressive citizens. It would be 
 impossible to write an accurate history of Fort 
 Collins and omit mention of his connection with the 
 growth of the city which has been his home since 
 1883, and the principal scene of his financial suc- 
 cesses. The supremacy and commercial importance 
 of Fort Collins is due in a large measure to his 
 business acumen and sagacity, for he was one of 
 the foremost in using his influence and means in 
 securing the building of the sugar factory and in 
 introducing manufacturing enterprises and business 
 projects that would be of permanent value to this 
 place. Not alone in promoting and forwarding 
 enterprises calculated to advance the material pros- 
 perity of Fort Collins, has he been conspicuous. He 
 has been an active and diligent worker in church 
 and temperance movements, and has contributed 
 largely of his means to the building up and support 
 of churches of various denominations, and to the 
 advancing of the cause of temperance, being one 
 of the strong and persistent instrumentalities in the 
 warfare which resulted a few years ago in banishing 
 the open saloons from Fort Collins. Mr. Welch 
 was born January 15th, 1848, in Mogadore, Ohio, 
 of Holland-Scotch-Irish ancestry. He secured the 
 foundation of his education in the public schools 
 of Akron, Ohio, upon which he later built a thor- 
 ough knowledge of the business and commercial 
 affairs of the country. To these acquirements he 
 has since added a broader and deeper knowledge 
 of the world by study and extensive travel and tours 
 in foreign lands as well as in his own country. In 
 1872, he married Julia Stansbury of Greeley, who 
 bore him one child, a daughter, who is now Mrs. 
 Laura Hoar, of New York City. He married for 
 his second wife, Mary T. Thomas at Indianapolis, 
 Indiana, on March 5th, 1884. In the fall of 1870, 
 he came with Union colony to Greeley, being one 
 of the original colonists. During the six succeeding 
 years he was engaged in the mercantile business at 
 Greeley, going thence in 1876 to Boulder to engage in 
 the business, where he remained seven years and then 
 came to Fort Collins, which has since been his home. 
 Here he conducted the largest and most popular 
 dry goods store in Northern Colorado, retiring 
 therefrom in 1900 to devote his time and attention 
 to other important personal interests. He was a 
 director and vice-president of the First National 
 
 bank of Fort Collins for ten successive years, and 
 is now President of this bank. Mr. Welch has a 
 beautiful home on South College avenue, situated 
 amid attractive surroundings, and here with all the 
 comforts and luxuries the heart could wish, includ- 
 ing an extensive and well selected library and many 
 choice works of art, gathered during his travels, he 
 is spending his declining years. He is an active 
 member of the First Presbyterian church and in 
 politics is a republican. 
 
 
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 ISAAC B. HARRIS 
 
 Isaac B. Harris, son of George and Sarah 
 (Daniels) Harris, was born May 5th, 1859, at 
 Truro, Nova Scotia, where he received his educa- 
 tion. His father was born near Ottawa, Canada, 
 of English parents, and was a soldier in the British 
 army. His mother was born in Nova Scotia, of 
 Scotch parents. Our subject was the youngest son 
 of the family and grew to manhood in his native 
 town. In 1880 he came to Colorado and after 
 spending a few months in Idaho Springs and in 
 Middle Park, moved to Fort Collins, which place 
 has since been his home. On December 24th, 1885, 
 he was joined in marriage with Mary Lillian Elton, 
 daughter of Rev. E. N. Elton, who was then pastor 
 
 [427] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 of the First Baptist church of Fort Collins. Nine 
 children were born of the union and their names 
 are: Arthur V., Elton G., Margaret, Edna, Estella, 
 Carroll, Lillian, Alvord. For many years after 
 Mr. Harris came to Larimer county, he success- 
 fully followed farming, stock raising and stock 
 feeding, but is now a dealer in hay, grain, flour 
 and feed on Jefferson street. He built the Blaine 
 hotel and a block of stores and shops on Pine street 
 and still owns them; is also the owner of some 
 very productive farms in the Cache la Poudre 
 valley. His son, Arthur, is a job printer by trade 
 and his second son, Elton G., is studying for the 
 ministry. His eldest daughter, Margaret, is a grad- 
 uate of the Fort Collins High school, class of 1911. 
 
 Frederick A. Morton. — Born November 29th, 
 1860, at New Hampton, Iowa; raised on a farm 
 and attended district school; went to Kansas when 
 a boy and lived in that state until he came to Fort 
 Collins in 1903; learned trade. of- blacksmith, an 
 occupation he followed for .20' years; is a farmer 
 now; married Margaret R. Pavis in 1881, in Kan- 
 sas; has six children; Mrs." Katie 'Bright, Mrs. 
 Blanche Caywood, Mrs. Dolly Bright and Gilbert, 
 Arthur and Ellen Morton all three at home. 
 
 James Ezra Plummer was boyn November 
 12th, 1832, in Highland county, Ohio, where he was 
 educated ; moved to Iowa at an early age where on 
 April 15th, 1863, he married Sarah L. Garrett; six 
 children, Willard, Vernon, Ella, Denver, Effie and 
 Rose were the fruits of the union; came to Black 
 Hawk, Colorado, in 1860, freighting a ten stamp 
 quartz mill ; was the first deputy sheriff appointed in 
 Colorado Territory; superintendent of the Dalton 
 & Bates mining property from 1865 to 1866. Mr. 
 Plummer crossed the Plains six times with a freight- 
 ing outfit; returning to Iowa in 1866 and carried on 
 farming until 1882, when he returned to Colorado 
 and located on a farm near Fort Collins, where he 
 lived until death called him home on September 
 8th, 1897. His widow died February 10th, 1900. 
 
 George H. Simpson was born January 6th, 
 1848, in Jennings county, Indiana; went with his 
 parents to Page county, Iowa, in 1858, and was 
 educated at College Springs academy; learned the 
 plasterer's trade in 1866, which he still follows. In 
 1870 he was married to Lizzie J. Blair of Bell- 
 fontaine, Ohio, and seven children were born of the 
 union, six of whom are still living ; moved to Jewell 
 county, Kansas, in 1874, and took up a homestead, 
 
 [428] 
 
 moving thence in 1890 to Loveland, which continues 
 to be his home. His wife died February 17th, 
 1890, and on July 5th, 1894, he married Mrs. S. 
 D. Cathers, widow of George S. Gathers, a pioneer 
 stage driver. Mr. Simpson resides at 330 East 
 7th street, and expects to spend the rest of his days 
 in suliny Colorado. Mrs. Simpson, when she was 
 Mrs. Cathers, resided many years in Fort Collins 
 in the early days, and still has a goodly number of 
 old-time acquaintances in that city. 
 
 HARRY HALE HARTMAN 
 
 Harry Hale Hartman^ Larimer county's 
 gentlemanly and very efficient Clerk of the Dis- 
 trict Court, was born June 1st, 1872, at Indianola, 
 Iowa. He attended the public schools and grad- 
 uated from the Indianola High school when 15 
 years of age. He then attended Simpson college, 
 three years, when his health failed, and he was com- 
 pelled to leave that institution. Later he spent a 
 year in the study of the law at the University of 
 Minnesota, and graduated from the law depart- 
 ment of the University of Iowa with the class of 
 1900. On October 9th, 1901, he married Ora 
 Talbott and from this union three children have 
 been born, to-wit: John Dixon, Lucile and Ed- 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 gar Watson, all of whom are living. Mr. Hart- 
 man came with his family from Iowa to Fort Col- 
 lins on June 13th, 1904, and has since been an 
 influential and highly respected resident of that 
 city. After leaving school, he farmed about two 
 years and then engaged in the abstract, loan and 
 insurance business in company with his father for 
 several years. After being admitted to the bar 
 he practiced law at Indianola until he removed to 
 Fort Collins* and has been admitted to practice 
 in Colorado. Mr. Hartman is a member of the 
 First Presbyterian church of Fort Collins; director 
 of Fort Collins Y. M. C. A.; charter member of 
 the chamber of commerce ; is an Odd Fellow, a 
 Knight of Pythias and a member of insurance 
 orders, and also of the Phi Delta Phi law frater- 
 nity and the Delta Tau Delta college fraternity. 
 His father, E. W. Hartman, a native of Ohio, 
 settled in Iowa while it was still a territory. He 
 was a lawyer by profession. His mother, Mrs. 
 Sarah (McKee) Hartman, was of southern descent 
 but a native of Indiana. 
 
 Thomas Lee Moore. — The subject of this 
 sketch, a direct descendant of General Light Horse 
 Harry Lee of Revolutionary fame, was born June 
 19th, 1846, in Jefferson county, Ohio. His edu- 
 cation was obtained in the public schools of his 
 native county and at Franklin and Hopedale col- 
 leges, in Ohio. He enlisted on August 18th, 1862, 
 in Company H of the 126th Ohio volimteer Infan- 
 try and was honorably discharged June 25th, 1865, 
 at the close of the war. He participated with his 
 regiment in 28 battles, including such bloody 
 fights as took place at the Wilderness, Cold Har- 
 bor, Cedar Creek, Petersburg, Winchester and 
 others. From the 5th of May until July 1st, 
 1864, his regiment lost 508 men in battle. On April 
 1st, 1868, our subject arrived in Fort Collins in 
 company with K. P. Pew, the two walking in from 
 Laporte where they left the Cheyenne-Denver 
 stage. On the ride down from Cheyenne, Mr. 
 Moore had the famous scout and guide. Kit Car- 
 son, for a seatmate. Two years later our subject 
 went east and on November 13th, 1870, married 
 Ella S. McCain, who bore him three children; 
 James M., Frank W., and Carrie L., who is now 
 Mrs. T. K. Seaton. James Moore is a druggist 
 in Greeley, and Frank W. Moore is the present 
 County Treasurer of Larimer county. Mrs. Sea- 
 ton's husband is a druggist at Delta, Colorado. The 
 children were all born in Fort Collins. Soon after 
 the wedding our subject returned to Fort Collins 
 
 with his bride where he has since resided. His 
 wife died June 10th, 1882, and on September 20th, 
 1883, he married for his second wife, Hannah 
 M. Thompson, who was born in New York City. 
 One child, a daughter, lone, was born of this union. 
 Mr. Moore helped to build the City hotel on Jef- 
 ferson street and conducted it seven years, selling 
 it then to engage in the livery business, which 
 
 THOMAS LEE MOORE 
 
 he followed for 22 years. He is now living a re- 
 tired life. He has represented the 2nd ward in 
 the city council eleven terms and is a member of 
 Geo. H. Thomas Post G. A. R. and was Post Com- 
 mander in 1908. 
 
 James McEwen. — One of ten children, all born 
 in Scotland, our subject made his appearance on 
 this mundane sphere on the 3rd of October, 1829, 
 and, though well past the 80th milestone In life's 
 journey, he Is still active and vigorous, looking after 
 his business afEaIrs as keenly as a man half his years 
 might be expected to do. He was a splendid type 
 of physical manhood when he came to Fort Collins 
 nearly thirty-seven years ago, tall, straight, with a 
 hardy, well knit frame, covered with good sound 
 
 [429] 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 flesh, he was not one that many cared to pick a 
 quarrel with under ordinary circumstances. He 
 received his education in the common schools of 
 the period and lived in his native town until he was 
 24 years of age. In 1855 he emigrated and settled 
 on a farm in Canada, near London, where he re- 
 mained until 1874, when he came west and settled 
 at Fort Collins, which has since been his home. He 
 
 JAMES MCEWEN 
 
 engaged in farming and stock raising; conducted 
 a butcher shop and meat market in Fort Collins a 
 few years and then went back to the farm again, 
 meeting with fairly good success in most of his 
 undertakings. He sold his farm in the Boxelder 
 valley a few years ago and moved to Fort Collins 
 where he now resides. Since retiring from the 
 farm, Mr. McEwen has bought, sold and fed cat- 
 tle, doing a large business, some years feeding and 
 fattening as many as 2,000 head. He is an excel- 
 lent judge of cattle and no man can deceive him in 
 the weight or value of an animal. He was one of 
 the pioneer butchers of Fort Collins, supplying 
 many of the old timers with their meats, fruits and 
 vegetables. In 1880, Mr. McEwen married Mrs. 
 Salina Hughes, widow of Peter Hughes who was 
 
 [430] 
 
 killed by being thrown from a fractious horse early 
 in 1879. Mr. and Mrs. McEwen have a cosy 
 home at 418 Washington street where, without 
 children, they are spending a quiet peaceful old 
 age, surrounded by every comfort and many ad- 
 miring friends. 
 
 Edwin A. Schlichter. — Opportunity in the 
 west for the intelligent young man who seeks a 
 name, fame and fortune, is always* present, and 
 Colorado is the mecca which attracts so many of 
 that class to its borders. Here, he who would 
 climb the ladder of success must have the ability 
 to do, the will to make good and the progressive 
 spirit as necessary adjuncts; combined, the climb is 
 easy in spite of any obstacle. Because of these 
 winning traits of character, Edwin A. Schlichter 
 now holds the responsible position of District 
 Manager of the Northwestern Mutual Life In- 
 surance company. Realizing the great opportunities 
 
 EDWIN 
 
 SCHLICHTER 
 
 for advancement in the west, he left his home in 
 
 Bethlehem, Indiana, where he was born, Novem- 
 
 ^ber 14th, 1879, to cast his fortune in Colorado. He 
 
 preached this state in April, 1902, and was given 
 
FRED W. STOW 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 a position as school teacher in District No. 11 in 
 this county. Mr. Schlichter was educated and 
 graduated at Borden Institute, in Indiana, and 
 taught school for four years previous to his coming 
 to this state. He was married to Miss Ida O. Gil- 
 kison, June 30th, 1904, in Fort Collins, where 
 they now reside. Their home has been blessed by 
 two visits of the stork; Thelma, a little girl now 
 five years old, and a little son, Irwin, three years 
 old, are evidences of "its burden. 
 
 Fred W. Stow. — Among the attorneys of Fort 
 Collins, Mr. Stow occupies a position of honor and 
 influence, a position that has come to him not 
 through luck or any accidental combination of 
 favorable circumstances, but as the result of 
 diligent study, close application and a deter- 
 mined will. Since coming to Fort Collins in 
 1902 to begin the practice of his profession, 
 he has established a reputation for clear and 
 logical thinking and- a correct conception of 
 the law. Mr. Stow was born November 20th, 
 1877, at Hamburg, Fremont county, Iowa, and 
 is a son of Hon. Washburn A. Stow, an eminent 
 member of the Omaha, Nebraska, bar, who died 
 at Lincoln, in October, 1887, being stricken with 
 a fatal illness immediately following an argument 
 before the Supreme Court of Nebraska. His father 
 was a native of Vermont, born in 1842. He came 
 west when a boy and was studying law when the 
 Civil war broke out. He enlisted in the 8th Iowa 
 cavalry, remaining with his regiment until the close 
 of the war when he resumed his studies and was 
 admitted to the bar in 1866. From Hamburg, 
 Iowa, he removed to Omaha in 1882, which was 
 his home until he died. His wife died in 1886. 
 Our subject was educated in the public schools of 
 his native town, at Omaha and at the University 
 of Colorado, graduating from the last named in- 
 stitution in 1902, with the degree of LL. B. On 
 June 9th, 1902, he began the practice of his pro- 
 fession in Fort Collins, associated with F. J. Annis, 
 with whom he remained about six years. Since 
 that connection was dissolved in 1908, he has been 
 alone. Mr. Stow is an influential member of the 
 Colorado State Bar association and also of the 
 Larimer County Bar association. He was united 
 in marriage with Miss Fona R. Woods, July 25th, 
 1906, at Hamburg, Iowa, and they have one child, 
 Richard W. Stow, who is still in his infancy. Mr. 
 Stow came from Hamburg, Iowa to Fort Collins 
 'n 1899, and at once matriculated in the law de- 
 partment of the University of Colorado at Boulder, 
 
 graduating therefrom as stated, in 1902. Reared 
 in the democratic faith, Mr. Stow is staunch in his 
 allegiance to the principles of that party and in his 
 support of its candidates. Though often impor- 
 tuned to accept political honors at the hands of his 
 party, he has steadfastly declined for personal rea- 
 sons, finally consenting however, to accept the ap- 
 pointment of City Attorney for Fort Collins, an 
 office he still holds. 
 
 CAPT. JOHN C. ISH 
 
 Capt. John C. Ish was born October 26th, 
 1839, in Holt county, Missouri. His father. Judge 
 J. G. Ish, was a wealthy farmer and slave owner. 
 Our subject enlisted in the Confederate army in 
 1861 and was discharged as Captain at the close of 
 the war in 1865; wounded in battle seven times 
 and spent several months in the Federal prisons at 
 Alton, Illinois. At the battle of Pea Ridge he was 
 shot through the groin and lingered between life 
 and death for six months. In 1866 he drove a herd 
 of cattle from southern Texas to Independence, 
 Kansas, blazing a trail that is still known as the 
 Ish trail. In 1869 he came to Larimer county, 
 driving 150 carefully selected heifers across the 
 
 [431] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Plains and these formed the nucleus of a large 
 herd which he ranged on the Buckhorn. The 
 Indians on the Plains were never worse than when 
 he came west, and wagon trains ahead and behind 
 were attacked and drivers and occupants massacred, 
 but the captain with his little party of five, arrived 
 safely at the foot of the Rockies after 90 days of 
 running the gauntlet of the warring Sioux and 90 
 nights of anxious vigil. From 1875 to 1890, he 
 followed farming in the Little Thompson valley 
 but moved his cattle to North Park in 1881, clos- 
 ing out his herds in 1910. His home has been in 
 Fort Collins for about 20 years. 
 
 Julius F. Sampson was born January 25th, 
 1856, in Appleton, Wisconsin, son of Rev Wm. 
 H. Sampson, who settled in that state in 1842; 
 came to Nebraska in 1878 and married Eliza Gute, 
 October 23rd, 1884, at Orleans, Nebraska; learned 
 the drug business in Hartford, Conn.; came to 
 Wray, Colorado, in 1886; to Denver in 1890; 
 Akron in 1897; Platteville, Colorado, 1899; and 
 to Berthoud, Colorado, October 15th, 1903; em- 
 ployed in Foresman & McCarty's drug store. Mrs. 
 Sampson was born in Zurich, Switzerland, May 
 21st, 1865. . Mr. and Mrs. Sampson's children are 
 named Albert H., Carl E., and Jay F. Sampson. 
 
 James Strang was born September 11th, 1849, 
 in Clydesdale, Scotland, and received his educa- 
 tion in his native town and in the city of Glasgow. 
 He is a descendant of an old and distinguished 
 Scottish family and can trace his ancestry back 400 
 years. Many of his ancestors were eminent in their 
 day in theology, the law, arts and agriculture. 
 One of them, James Strang, for whom our sub- 
 ject was named, was for years Principal of the Uni- 
 versity of Glasgow. Another, Christopher Strang, 
 was beheaded in 1666, during the Covenanter 
 trouble. After attaining his majority, our subject 
 represented a large wholesale woolen house of Glas- 
 gow as traveling salesman, for twenty years, which 
 kept him on the road all the time and enabled him 
 to become thoroughly conversant with the customs, 
 habits and conditions of the people in all parts 
 of Scotland. In 1874 he married Jane Warnock, 
 of Lanarkshire, who bore him two sons, Christopher 
 and James W. Strang. She died in 1879. Ten 
 years later he married Annie R. Meikle of Stran- 
 raer-Wigtownshire, Scotland, who has borne him 
 one son, Robert M. Strang, of Timnath, Colorado. 
 Mr. Strang came from Scotland to Fort Collins 
 in 1888, and settled first on a farm near that city, 
 moving in 1890 to his present home near Tim- 
 
 [432] 
 
 nath, engaging in farming, and cattle raising in 
 which he has prospered. He is an ardent admirer 
 of Robert Burns, the poet and his works, and 
 In 1888 was instrumental in organizing a Burns 
 Club, of which he was made the first President. 
 The club is now known as the Caledonian Club, 
 and It meets annually on the 25th of January 
 
 JAMES STRANG 
 
 and St. Andrews day to commemorate the anni- 
 versary of Scotland's famous bard. Mr. Strang's 
 hobby is music and art, and he Is also a great 
 lover of a good horse. In his youth, he was 
 noted as an amateur athlete, there being but few 
 better In all Scotland. He paid a visit of several 
 months to his old home in Scotland in 1910, and 
 was royally entertained while there by the friends 
 of other days. He Is one of the most genial and 
 companionable of gentlemen, generous and hospit- 
 able to a degree, a student of history, has traveled 
 much, and is a good raconteur and his companion- 
 ship Is much sought after. 
 
 George E. Toomey was born October 17th, 
 1873, in Amerlcus, Kansas; attended the public 
 schools; was a student at Baker University from 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 1890 to 1895; came to Denver in 1895; graduated 
 from Denver University in 1898 with the degrees 
 of Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Oratory; took 
 post graduate work at Northwestern University; 
 came to Fort Collins in 1900 and on June 19th, 
 1901, married Lineta L. Crandall, daughter of Prof. 
 Charles S. Crandall of the Department of Botany 
 
 GEORGE E. TOOMEY 
 
 and Horticulture, Colorado Agricultural college. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Toomey have one child, Catherine 
 May Toomey, born Dec. 26th, 1910. He was 
 instructor at the Colorado Agricultural college 
 from 1900 to 1901, then engaged in the hardware 
 business, which he followed for a season and then 
 took up real estate, loan and insurance; served 
 Fort Collins as .city clerk from August, 1910, to 
 April, 1911. In May, 1911, he was appointed 
 under sheriff of Larimer county, a position he still 
 occupies. Our subject's father was born in Mil- 
 ford, Perry county. Pa., and is of Scotch-Irish 
 descent. His present home is in Americus, Kansas, 
 where he is engaged in the grain and elevator busi- 
 ness. His mother, Catherine J. (Ickes) Toomey 
 was born in Newport, Perry county, Pa., and is 
 of German descent. 
 
 Mrs. Lineta L. Toomey, wife of our subject, 
 was born April 19th, 1883, at Harbor Springs, 
 Michigan, and was a member of the senior class 
 at the Colorado Agricultural college at the time 
 of her marriage. She is an educated and cultured 
 lady, and a favorite in social circles. Mr. Toomey 
 is a vocalist of much prominence and his well 
 trained tenor voice is often heard in public gather- 
 ings. He is withal a faithful, conscientious and 
 very efficient public official who discharges his duty 
 without fear or favor. He is a Master Mason 
 and member of Collins lodge No. 19 of Fort Col- 
 lins, and of Larimer lodge No. 101, K. of P. 
 
 Frank H. Miller, Manager of the State Mer- 
 cantile company's immense establishment in Fort 
 Collins and one of the reliable and successful busi- 
 ness men of the city, was born February 23rd, 1878, 
 in Towanda, Pennsylvania, and was educated in 
 Stroudsburg, his native state. On October 27th, 
 1903 he was united in marriage with Delia Craw- 
 
 FRANK H. MILLER 
 
 ford at Detroit, Michigan, and one son, Frank 
 H. Miller, Jr., has been born of the union. Gide- 
 on H. Miller, pur subject's father, was a native 
 of Hope, New Jersey. The subject of this sketch 
 
 [433] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY. COLORADO 
 
 came with his family from Pennsylvania to Colo- 
 rado in 1905, and two years later he was appointed 
 Manager of the grocery department of the State 
 Mercantile company, which had then opened a 
 store in Fort Collins. On January 1st, 1910, he 
 was made Manager and given charge of the com- 
 pany's business in that city. He became a stock- 
 holder of the company in May, 1911. Coming 
 here a young man, with his position in the busi- 
 ness world and his fortune yet to make, Mr. 
 Miller has steadily advanced towards the goal he 
 had set before him, and now enjoys the realiza- 
 tion of the dreams of his boyhood days. This 
 result was not achieved without the exercise of 
 all his talents and strict attention to business and 
 to the needs of the patrons of the large and pros- 
 perous establishment placed under his manage- 
 ment. 
 
 Hon. Jefferson McAnelly, an ex-County 
 Judge of Larimer county and a leading lawyer and 
 prominent citizen of Fort Collins, was born Nov- 
 ember 30th, 1845, on a farm in Hancock county, 
 Ohio. The foundation for his education was laid 
 in the public schools. He then attended the Union 
 schools at Findlay, Ohio. After teaching school 
 several years, he spent two years in study at the 
 Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio, and, 
 in 1872, graduated from the law department of 
 the Indiana University at Bloomington, Indiana, 
 and was admitted to practice in the courts of Ohio 
 and Indiana, including the supreme courts of those 
 states. On October 14th, 1872, he married Sarah 
 E. Leonard at Findlay, Ohio. Soon after the wed- 
 ding, he located in Brazil, Indiana, and practiced 
 his profession there for several years. From 1874 
 to 1877 he served as assistant prosecuting attorney 
 for the Thirteenth Indiana circuit, and was then 
 appointed County Auditor, serving two years in 
 that position. In 1881, Judge McAnelly moved 
 his family from Indiana to Loveland, Colorado, 
 where his wife's parents and a brother lived. Here 
 he practiced law until he was elected County Judge 
 in the fall of 1883. In October, 1884, he moved 
 his family to Fort Collins and that city has since 
 been his home. He was reelected County Judge 
 in 1886, and served the people in that capacity for 
 six consecutive years. His service on the bench gave 
 excellent satisfaction, very few appeals from his 
 rulings and decisions having been taken and in 
 these few he was sustained by the appellate courts. 
 Since retiring from the bench in 1890, Judge 
 
 [434] 
 
 McAnelly has devoted almost his entire time to the 
 practice of his profession in Larimer and adjoining 
 counties. He takes high rank as a lawyer and ad- 
 vocate and is a member of the Larimer county Bar 
 association. Judge and Mrs. McAnelly have five 
 children living, two sons and three daughters, all 
 well situated in life. The two sons are civil and 
 
 HON. JEFFERSON MC ANELLY 
 
 irrigation engineers and the eldest, E. C. McAnelly 
 has served Fort Collins as City Engineer and Lari- 
 mer county as County Surveyor for several years. 
 
 Edward F. Suiter, a son of the late Peter 
 Suiter, one of the pioneer farmers of the Harmony 
 neighborhood, was born November 21st, 1865. In 
 1873, when our subject was seven years of age, the 
 Suiter family came to Colorado and after stopping 
 a couple of weeks in Greeley, moved on to a piece 
 of raw land situated in the Harmony district, about 
 six miles southeast of Fort Collins. Here the fam- 
 ily lived for many years and in the public schools 
 of school district No. 17, our subject obtained the 
 rudiments of an education, which, supplemented 
 by a three years' course at the Colorado Agricultural 
 college, fitted him for grasping and solving many 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 of the various problems of life. He made good 
 use of his opportunity, making a diligent and con- 
 scientious study of the theory and practice of irri- 
 gation, which has since stood him well in hand in 
 the construction, operation and superintendency of 
 canals and ditches. He is a recognized expert in 
 this line of work and his services have been much in 
 
 EDWARD F. SUITER 
 
 demand. He is also a leading contractor in cement 
 construction work. On November 16th, 1887, 
 Mr. Suiter married Luella C. Fredericks, a boy- 
 hood schoolmate, and they have five children ; Flora 
 E., Henrietta A., Gladys E., Harlan L. and Rol- 
 land E. Suiter, all at home. For two successive 
 terms he was elected alderman from the first 
 ward of Fort Collins to represent that ward in the 
 city council, where he rendered faithful, efficient 
 and satisfactory service. He is at present employed 
 in the Government reclamation service in Montana 
 in charge of ditch work. For nearly two score 
 years, Mr. Suiter has been a resident of Larimer 
 county, during which time his life has been like 
 an open book to be read by all with not a scratch 
 or a blurr to mar the page. His record as a man, 
 
 a citizen, a public official and as a husband and 
 father is without blemish. 
 
 James H. Swan. — Many still believe that Con- 
 necticut people made a business of manufacturing 
 wooden nutmegs, palming them off on unsuspect- 
 ing purchasers for the genuine article. Neverthe- 
 less, Mr. Swan claims that state as his native heath, 
 and the exact location being East Haddam, where 
 he was born June 11th, 1843. Mr. Swan has been 
 twice married. His first wife was Julia M. Doane, 
 to whom he was wedded in Connecticut. She died 
 May 18th, 1883, in Fort Collins. His second 
 wife's maiden name was Minerva A. Harned. 
 His sons are Herbert Ely, and Walter F. The 
 daughter's name is now Mrs. Sylvia G. Bellairs. 
 He first located in Pleasant valley in 1871, com- 
 ing to Colorado the previous year, and followed 
 farming and stock raising until he made his resi- 
 dence in Fort Collins in 1882. For many years 
 
 JAMES H. SWAN 
 
 Mr. Swan filled many important offices, always 
 in a faithful and most satisfactory manner, enjoy- 
 ing the confidence and respect of everyone. For 
 seven years he was the able assistant to the post- 
 
 [435] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 master at Fort Collins. In 1891 he engaged in 
 the hotel and general merchandise business at Liver- 
 more, taking up his residence there, and serving as 
 postmaster. In 1894 he was elected a county com- 
 missioner, representing the mountain district. His 
 administration of county affairs was marked by 
 keen discernment and superior judgment in the ex- 
 penditure of public funds. His unobtrusive man- 
 ner and genial disposition have made him many 
 loyal friends. 
 
 Elijah Horner was a native of New Jersey, 
 born September 28th, 1850, at Mullica Hill. He 
 was reared on a farm and educated at Harrison- 
 ville, New Jersey. On February 21st, 1873, he 
 was united in marriage with Eliza C. Edwards at 
 Woodstown, New Jersey, and four children were 
 born to them; Elbert, Oliver J., Jacob and Mrs. 
 Elsie K. Medlock. Mr. Horner followed farm- 
 ing in his native state until August, 1878, when 
 
 ELIJAH HORNER 
 
 failing health admonished him to seek a dryer and 
 less rigorous climate and he came to Fort Collins 
 near where his brother, Asa M. Horner, had lived 
 for several years, and who had been greatly bene- 
 
 [436] 
 
 fited by the change. Our subject purchased a farm 
 situated about four miles southeast of Fort Collins 
 which he improved by adding new buildings, fenc- 
 ing and by setting out an orchard and which he 
 cultivated until an unfortunate runaway accident 
 in 1886 shortened the life of an enterprising farmer 
 and excellent citizen. He died at the family home 
 in 1896, mourned by all who knew him. After 
 her husband's death, Mrs. Horner and her young 
 sons carried on the farm with success for several 
 years, and in 1905 she married Herman Strauss, a 
 brother of G. R. Strauss, one of the earliest set- 
 tlers of the Cache la Poudre valley. Mr. Strauss 
 is a successful farmer and stock feeder, and Mrs. 
 Strauss a leader in church work at Timnath. Mrs. 
 Horner was born, educated and reared in New 
 Jersey. Her father was of Welsh descent, his an- 
 cestors coming to America in Colonial times, and 
 her mother was American born. 
 
 Thomas H. Doolittle is remembered by the 
 earlier settlers of Larimer county «s an upright 
 citizen, a devoted father, a faithful friend. He 
 was born at Ithaca, New York, on November 13th, 
 1835. On October 28th, 1857, he married Sarah 
 M. Blauvelt at Buffalo, New York, and soon there- 
 after, in 1859, moved" to the State t)f Kansas, where 
 he engaged in farming. In 1862 he enlisted in the 
 10th New York Cavalry and served in the Civil 
 war until its close. In 1882 he moved with his 
 family to Colorado, settling first at Boulder, from 
 which place he came to Fort Collins, where he 
 resided until his death in August, 1902. Mr. Doo- 
 little was an honored member of the Masonic or- 
 der and highly respected in his city and county. 
 
 Paul Flick was born in Clarion county, Penn- 
 sylvania, September 9th, 1831. Removed to Wis- 
 consin in 1856, and to Colorado in the spring of 
 1860. After spending the seasons of 1860-61 min- 
 ing on Blue river, Summit county, he located in 
 Denver where he remained until 1867. He re- 
 turned to Wisconsin in the spring of 1867, where 
 he married, leaving soon afterwards for Denver. 
 In July of that year he came to the Cache la Poudre 
 valley and located on the farm occupied by the 
 family at the time of his death, December 15th, 
 1878. Being a pioneer in the valley and a straight 
 forward honorable man in all of his dealings, Mr. 
 Flick had an extended circle of friends and ac- 
 quaintances all of whom were warmly attached to 
 him. A wife and three children survive him. The 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 farm he located and lived upon is near Timnath 
 and is now owned by James Strang. 
 
 Jerry Thornton Beach. — Wherever sheep 
 raising and wool growing can be carried on with 
 success and at a profit, there one may expect to 
 find some of the hardy sons of the Green Moun- 
 
 ^^Hp^^ 
 
 1 
 
 ^H£j^ilM|^ 
 
 1 
 
 *ȣ' 
 
 * 7 
 
 / 
 
 /^S^0\ 
 
 
 ^^^^^^Bk, "'"'" M 
 
 ^^^^ 
 
 
 ^ 
 
 H^HH!i^^M[^^BH| 
 
 Ml 
 
 jerry THORNTON BEACH 
 
 tain state engaged in the business. Vermont was 
 for many years prior to 1850, the chief wool grow- 
 ing state in the Union, but since that time the an- 
 nual clip has decreased, owing to strong outside 
 competition. But the choice breeds of fine wooled 
 mermo sheep of ancient pedigree raised in Ver- 
 mont are celebrated all over the world, and have 
 been exported to Australia, South America and 
 other remote countries. Texas, Colorado and Cali- 
 fornia sheep-raisers still visit that state to get 
 thoroughbred animals to use in keeping up the 
 standard of their flocks. Our subject was raised 
 in a sheep-raising and wool-growing atmosphere 
 and on arriving at man's estate, he came to Colo- 
 rado to establish himself in the business that his 
 father had followed among the mountains of Ver- 
 mont. Mr. Beach was born May 26th, 1853, at 
 
 Castleton, Vermont, and raised on a farm. In 1872 
 he married Nellie Hewitt and shortly afterwards 
 started for Fort Collins, which has since, with 
 the exception of a few years spent in Wyoming, 
 been his home. He stocked a ranch near Spring 
 canon with sheep and laid the foundation for a 
 competence, but in 1877 sold his ranch and sheep to 
 Rogers & Moore and engaged in farming in Pleas- 
 ant valley. In 1881 he went to Lookout Moun- 
 tain, Wyoming, and in company with his father 
 established another sheep ranch which he sold in 
 1889 and returned to Fort Collins. Since then 
 he has bought and sold sheep and fed lambs for 
 the eastern markets, going with one shipment to 
 England where he sold his lambs at a good profit. 
 Two sons were born to him by his first wife, Ed- 
 gar and Walter. For his second wife, Mr. Beach 
 married Salvina Flowers in 1880, and four child- 
 ren were born to them: Mrs. Minnie Hotch- 
 kiss, Mrs. Maggie Johnson, Mrs. Cora Snook and 
 
 MRS. JERRY THORNTON BEACH 
 
 Herbert C. Beach. His second wife died in 1905, 
 and Mr. Beach now has his home with his daugh- 
 ter, Mrs. Snook, at 410 S. Howes street. Mr. 
 Beach, his young wife and father and mother ar- 
 
 [437] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 rived in Fort Collins from Vermont, December 
 31st, 1872. Shortly afterwards he went to work 
 as a salesman in Jacob Welch's general store, hav- 
 ing in the meantime, established his father and 
 mother on the Spring canon sheep ranch, where he 
 remained seven years, . becoming thoroughly ac- 
 quainted with the business and with the people. 
 He was an excellent salesman, faithful, accurate 
 and trustworthy. In 1890, he, like many others, 
 engaged in sheep feeding and buying lambs on the 
 range and selling them to other feeders. One sea- 
 son he bought and sold 75,000 lambs, and was con- 
 sidered one of the best judges of sheep in the 
 county. Since his wife died in 1905, he has led a 
 retired life. His father and mother both died in 
 this city a few years ago. 
 
 Joseph Sainsbury. — Born, 1837, in Woolshire, 
 England; came to the United States when 17 years 
 of age and began life as a farmer boy in the state 
 of New York. Two years later he went to Sauk 
 county, Wisconsin, where he married Miss Mary S. 
 Goman. Served two years in the 12th Wisconsin 
 veteran volunteer infantry. He came to Larimer 
 county in 1876, and located on a farm in the Har- 
 mony district, where he died Feb. 17th, 1889, aged 
 52 years. His widow and three daughters survive 
 him. The daughters' names are: Mrs. H. C. Cov- 
 ington, Mrs. R. N. Watson and Mrs. Henri Mc- 
 Clelland. Mrs. Sainsbury re-married several years 
 ago, her second husband being Samuel L. McCar- 
 roll. 
 
 Charles Frederick William Cradock was 
 born at the family home at Hartford, Yorkshire, 
 England, in 1861. His health being somewhat 
 impaired, he was induced to seek a change of climate 
 and came to Colorado in the year 1879, and took up 
 his residence near Fort Collins. Wishing to profit 
 by the invigorating influences of outdoor life, Mr. 
 Cradock engaged in ranching and has been the ow- 
 ner of several fine farms in Larimer county which 
 he has brought to a high state of cultivation. His 
 attention has been most extensively given to the 
 production of forage crops and the feeding of live 
 stock. In January, 1898, he was married to Miss 
 Eleanor Maude Vaughan-Lloyd, of Richmond, Vir- 
 ginia. There have been born to them two child- 
 ren, Evelyn Constance and Eleanor Mary. The 
 beautiful mountain home a short distance from 
 Livermore, where Mr. Cradock with his family 
 resided until a few months ago, had been his resi- 
 dence for 15 years and was well known for the 
 generous English hospitality of its inmates. Mr. 
 
 [438] 
 
 Cradock is convivial and an unsparing entertainer; 
 his very highly esteemed lady is intelligent, well 
 informed and devoted to her family, while the two 
 beautiful daughters fill the home with a radiance 
 which makes the visitor loth to depart. The clim- 
 ate of Colorado has had a very beneficial effect 
 upon the health of Mr. Cradock and he has been 
 enabled to forget that he left his native land an in- 
 
 CHARLES FREDERICK WILLIAM CRADOCK 
 
 valid. He has given little attention to politics but 
 has been disposed rather to attend to the business of 
 his farm and the delights of his pleasant home. He 
 now owns a beautiful chicken ranch south of Den- 
 ver, where he and his family now live. 
 
 Christian White. — This old soldier whose face 
 has become so familiar to every resident of Fort 
 Collins and who has made his home here for the 
 past 30 years, was born in the city of New York 
 in 1848. His services were in active demand while 
 he wore the uniform of Uncle Sam, and his pro- 
 ficiency as a nurse was the means of his assignment 
 to duty in the hospital wards of the army and navy. 
 Many an old soldier, sick nigh unto death, has 
 owed his recovery to the faithful care and unre- 
 
HISTORY OF LARI MER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 mitting attention given him by this experienced 
 nurse. Mr. White came to Colorado in 1872, and 
 followed mountain freighting for a number of 
 years. Since coming to Fort Collins he has served 
 as superintendent of the county poor farm five years. 
 His services as a nurse have been frequently solic- 
 ited by his friends and acquaintances. He is now 
 on duty at the court house as bailifE for the district 
 court. 
 
 LEWIS CROSS 
 
 Lewis Cross, a pioneer of the Little Thompson 
 valley, postmaster, justice of the peace, and county 
 commissioner of Larimer county from January, 
 1877, to January, 1880, died at the home of his 
 son, John Cross in Denver, on Sunday morning, 
 November 20, 1887, aged 71 years. Mr. Cross 
 was born May 10th, 1817, in Rockingham county, 
 Virginia, and lived at the place of his birth until 
 16 years of age, when he emigrated with his father's 
 family to Wayne county, Indiana, where he followed 
 farming. In 1840 he removed to Iowa, then known 
 as the far West. He came to Colorado in 1860, 
 settling first at Central City, afterward locating 
 on Ralston creek, near the City of Golden, where 
 he lived until 1873, when he moved his family on 
 to a farm in the Little Thompson valley, one mile 
 
 south of the present thriving town of Berthoud. 
 His entire life was one of usefulness and benefit 
 to mankind. He filled many public posts of honor 
 and responsibility, executing every trust faithfully 
 and with great fidelity. He served sixteen suc- 
 cessive years as justice of the peace, and soon after 
 his arrival in the Little Thompson valley, he was 
 appointed postmaster, which ofKce he held until 
 domestic affliction and broken health admonished 
 him to resign, which he did in 1886. He was 
 elected county commissioner to represent the third 
 district in October, 1876, at the first election held 
 in Colorado after it was admitted into the Union, 
 and discharged the duties of the office with an eye 
 single to the interests of the people. His colleagues 
 on the board were Revilo Loveland and Noah 
 Bristol. No man in Larimer county was more 
 widely known and more respected, revered and be- 
 loved by his fellow citizens than Lewis Cross. 
 
 MRS. LEWIS CROSS 
 
 Joseph M. Purdie was born January 8th, 1856, 
 in Schuykill county, Pennsylvania; educated at La 
 Salle, Illinois; married Mary E. Newham, Dec- 
 ember, 1882, at Weeping Water, Nebraska, and 
 has four children, William, Elizabeth, Fern G. 
 and Jeanette Purdie. Mr. Purdie came to Colo- 
 
 [439] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 rado in 1876 and located at Walsenburg; followed 
 coal mining for eight years ; came to Larimer county 
 in 1904 and is now engaged in farming. In the 
 summer of 1882 he prospected for coal for the 
 Denver and Fort Worth railroad company with 
 Captain William Anderson. 
 
 THOMAS DAVIS 
 
 Thomas Davis was born in Glenmorgan county, 
 Wales, on March 31st, 1842. In May, 1868, he 
 was married to Elizabeth Evans and the newly 
 married couple at once set sail for America. Mr. 
 Davis' brother, Ebenezer, had preceded him to 
 this country and met him upon his arrival at Chey- 
 enne in July, 1868. Ebenezer Davis had already 
 settled upon a farm in the Poudre valley about 
 eight miles southeast of Fort Collins, and upon the 
 arrival of his brother, Thomas, the latter went with 
 his wife to Ebs' home where they lived for a short 
 time. In the spring of 1869, Thomas took up a 
 homestead adjoining his brother's farm and at once 
 moved upon it and commenced the work of bring- 
 ing out the ditches and the building up of a home. 
 When Thomas Davis and his wife arrived in this 
 country they knew no other language than their 
 native Welsh and their communication was con- 
 
 [440] 
 
 fined to the few families from Wales who were 
 settled near them. Thomas' attention while en- 
 gaged in farming was given largely to the raising 
 of cattle, a business in which he met with very 
 ilattering success. In September, 1880, his life 
 was brought to a sudden and premature close In an 
 accident in which he was killed by a horse. He left 
 surviving him his wife and five children, a son and 
 four daughters. Mrs. Davis continued to live 
 upon the farm and, with the aid of her children, 
 to conduct the farming operations, proving herself 
 to be an efficient and successful manager, until the 
 spring of 1905, when she disposed of her farm and 
 went to make her home with her youngest daugh- 
 ter who had been married to Homer Thayer. Com- 
 ing to a country where every condition was new to 
 them, unfamiliar with the language spoken, pos- 
 sessed with little of the world's goods, Mr. Davis 
 and his wife, by persevering industry and frugality 
 succeeded in winning a fair competence. Their ad- 
 
 MRS. THOMAS DAVIS 
 
 herence to the principles of Christianity, which 
 they not only professed but carried very thoroughly 
 into their daily intercourse with their fellow men, 
 caused them to be loved and respected by all. Their 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 children were educated and learned to adopt the 
 standards of integrity which had guided their par- 
 ents through life. 
 
 Andrew Armstrong was born in County Arm- 
 agh, Ireland, in the year of 1824. At the age of 
 17, he came to America, and took up his residence 
 
 ANDREW ARMSTRONG 
 
 in the city of New York. Here he followed for 
 many years the business of contractor and builder; 
 and was active in both church and Masonic circles. 
 In 1873, he was attracted to Colorado by numerous 
 New York acquaintances, who had come out with 
 the Greeley colony. To one leaving the sea, 
 the beauty of the mountains at Fort Collins attracted 
 more strongly than the prairies surrounding Greeley. 
 Consequently, Mr. Armstrong located in Fort Col- 
 lins. He immediately became interested in the de- 
 velopment of the town, erected several of its earlier 
 residences and buildings and acquired a fair amount 
 of prosperity. In 1880 he was appointed postmaster. 
 He was prominent in all good works, mindful of the 
 sick and needy, a loyal member of the First Presby- 
 terian church of Fort Collins. He served in various 
 offices, and was twice sent a Commissioner to the 
 
 General Assembly of the Presbyterian church. He 
 was also an ardent member of the Masonic order, 
 in which he had attained the thirty-second degree. 
 At the time of his death, he had been for seven 
 consecutive years. Grand Chaplain of the Grand 
 Lodge of Colorado. His earthly life closed on the 
 4th day of September, 1904, in Denver, at the 
 home of his daughter, Mrs. Charles G. Mantz, 
 where his widow rich in years and in fond memor- 
 ies of Larimer county, now resides. 
 
 Miles A. Brown was born in the state of New 
 York on the 13th day of May, 1839. He was 
 educated in the district schools of Fulton county. He 
 has been three times wedded, marrying for his first 
 helpmate Miss Sarah Cole in the year 1869, after 
 his return from the Civil war. He served in this war 
 from 1862 until 1865 in the First Michigan Sharp- 
 shooters. His first battle experience was at the 
 Wilderness and from this time until his discharge 
 he was in many hard fought battles. In 1870 Mr. 
 
 MILES A. BROWN 
 
 Brown moved with his family to Colorado and set- 
 tled on a farm in the Big Thompson valley, and 
 afterwards in the same year in what came after- 
 wards to be known as the Harmony district south- 
 
 [441] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 east of Fort Collins. His life since that time has 
 been entirely devoted to farming, an occupation in 
 which his efforts have been quite amply rewarded. 
 When he arrived in Colorado, the problems of farm- 
 ing by irrigation in the arid West were all un- 
 solved and his perseverance and intelligence have 
 contributed greatly to the building up of the mate- 
 rial wealth of the county. In 1878 he was married 
 to Ellen Cowles, and later, in 1895, to Clara Pres- 
 ton. There are two children, Ellen, aged twelve, 
 and B. T. aged eight years. Whatever enterprise 
 has been undertaken in the county looking to the 
 betterment of the condition of the farmers, to the 
 improvement of the public schools, or to the gene- 
 ral advancement of the county, has always found 
 in Mr. Brown a warm and active supporter. While 
 at no time an office seeker, he has been zealous in 
 the performance of his duties as a citizen, being 
 ever well posted on the questions of the day and 
 ready by his ballot to register his opinion. 
 
 John Hardin. — ^Among the sturdy pioneers of 
 Larimer county who helped to subdue the wilder- 
 ness and make it habitable for the sons of men, John 
 Hardin of Westlake, takes high rank. He was born 
 January 13th, 1826, in Henry county, Kentucky, , 
 and is of a lorig-lived, hardy race. Fourteen years 
 later, he came to Missouri with his father's family 
 and lived and worked on a farm until he attained 
 his majority. That year, 1847, he joined a party 
 of traders and went overland to California, driv- 
 ing an ox team and being six months on the road. 
 There he worked in the mines two winters and 
 then returned to the States by sea, via the Isthmus 
 of Panama. On June 22nd, 1852, Mr. Hardin 
 married Sarah J. Hand. He worked on a farm 
 until 1864, when he came to Colorado, settling 
 in Pleasant valley, where he worked for Abner 
 Loomis and B. T. Whedbee until 1865, when his 
 wife died, leaving him with four children. These 
 he took back to Missouri and put them in school. 
 He remained in the old home until the following 
 winter when he came back to Colorado with a 
 wagon load of flour which, he sold for $20.00 per 
 hundred pounds, and returned to Missouri. On 
 the 13th day of November, 1866, he married 
 Mahalah Hand and remained east until the spring 
 of 1869 when he again turned his face westward. 
 He worked a rented farm in Pleasant valley that 
 year and raised a crop of potatoes which brought 
 him a goodly sum of money. He drove a bunch of 
 cattle across the Plains when he came west the last 
 time, and in the spring of 1870 he took up a home- 
 
 [442] 
 
 stead on the South Lone Pine, 48 miles northwest 
 of Fort Collins, and moved his family and cattle 
 there that year. Since that time this has been his 
 home. For several years after he moved to the 
 mountains he hauled lumber, fence posts and fire- 
 wood to Fort Collins with a mule team, camping 
 out wherever night overtook him. He now owns 
 an excellent and well improved 320-acre stock ranch 
 and a fine herd of high grade cattle. Up to his 
 85th year, Mr. Hardin was hale, hearty, strong 
 and active and not a work day passed that he was 
 not doing something on the ranch, chopping wood, 
 making garden or looking after the cattle. He died 
 August 8th, 1911. Mr. Hardin is the father of 
 ten living children whose names are Louisa F., 
 George W., Mary J., Amanda, Montana J., Mar- 
 tha E., Matilda, John W., Mark, Allen R., and 
 Edna R. 
 
 Henry Forrest Hall^ M. D., was born at 
 Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, August 8, 1842. He 
 graduated in medicine at the University of Ver- 
 mont. At the outbreak of the Civil war, he went 
 to the front as hospital steward in the U. S. regulars 
 and was at the first battle of Bull Run. He saw 
 service later under General Banks at New Orleans. 
 After the war he went to California (via Panama) 
 where he resided until January, 1886, when he 
 came to Fort Collins. Here he practiced his pro- 
 fession for several years and was beloved by many 
 because of his kind and genial character. He was 
 mayor of Fort Collins for one term. His health 
 failing, he removed to Alberquerque, New Mexico, 
 in 1891, and a year later returned to California. 
 He died September 22, 1897, at Coronado Beach 
 after a long sickness with locomotor ataxia. He 
 was married in 1885 to Agnes C. Murdock who 
 survives him at Las Gatos, California. 
 
 Fulton N. B. Scott was born December 19th, 
 1841, in Washington county, Pa., and received his 
 education in Illinois. He came to Fort Collins in 
 1873 and followed blacksmithing for several years, 
 at which he was very successful. Later he engaged 
 in the hardware business at Loveland, retiring from 
 that line of business about twelve years ago to give 
 his attention to other interests. Mr. Scott has been 
 a County Commissioner, a member of the Fort 
 Collins city council, and is a director of the First 
 National bank of Fort Collins and of the National 
 Bank of Loveland. He is a man of large means, 
 acquiring his start by hard work, and has been an 
 important factor in the development of the indus- 
 tries and business interests of Larimer county. He 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 has been twice married. His first wife was Emma 
 Flamming who bore him a son, Ira J. Scott, of 
 Denver. He married for his second wife, Mrs. R. 
 T. Lown, a daughter of Judge and Mrs. W. B. 
 Osborn, of Loveland. Two sons, Delano and 
 Claire, were born of this union. 
 
 Joseph S. McClelland. — When Joseph Simp- 
 son McClelland founded and established the Lari- 
 mer County Express on April 26th, 1873, the first 
 newspaper printed in the county, he builded a monu- 
 ment that should perpetuate his memory for cen- 
 turies. The county at that time had a population 
 of less than 1,500, all told, and it was a courageous 
 thing for a man to attempt to make such a venture 
 a success in the widely separated and sparcely settled 
 community that existed then. But he did it, honored 
 be his memory, and the Express today is a living 
 witness of his wise foresight and his confidence in 
 the future of his chosen home. Mr. McClelland 
 was born April 17th, 1837, in Lancaster county, 
 Pennsylvania. His parents were Joseph and 
 Clarissa (Souder) McClelland, the former a native 
 of Ireland and the latter of German descent. On 
 January 5th, 1860, he was married to Henrietta 
 Marsh, who died May 26th, 1906, in Fort Collins. 
 For his second wife he married on September 12th, 
 1907, Mrs. Margaret Rambo, a widow and sister 
 of his first wife. He died on Thursday, November 
 4th, 1909. Four sons, children by his first wife, 
 survive him: Francis A., and Elmer F., employed 
 on Denver newspapers; John Horace, employed on 
 the Los Angeles, California, street railway system, 
 and Henri S., who was associated with his father 
 in conducting the large fruit farm at Fossil Creek. 
 In early manhood our subject learned the printer's 
 trade and published the Tribune at Tiflin, Ohio, 
 for several years. Soon after the Civil war broke 
 out Mr. McClelland enlisted May 27th, 1862, as 
 sergeant in Company D of the 86th Ohio Volunteer 
 Infantry and was mustered out September 25th, 
 1862, by reason of expiration of service. He reen- 
 listed September 11th, 1863, in Company G of the 
 127th Ohio Volunteer Infantry and was given a 
 Second Lieutenant's commission, being promoted to 
 First Lieutenant on September 21st, 1864. This 
 regiment saw much hard service in which the officers 
 and men nobly acquitted themselves. He was 
 mustered out with his regiment October 5th, 1865, 
 at the close of the war. In 1866 he moved to 
 Galesburg, Illinois, and purchased the Free Press, 
 which he edited and conducted until 1872, coming 
 to Colorado late that year. He worked on Denver 
 
 newspapers a few months and in the spring of 1873 
 he came to Fort Collins and established the Express, 
 the first number of which appeared April 26th, of 
 that year. Shortly afterwards he filed on 160 acres 
 of fruit and farm land at Fossil Creek, on which 
 he lived for many years, going back and forth from 
 his farm to his office until January, 1880, when he 
 sold his newspaper to Craft brothers, and retired 
 permanently from the printing business to give his 
 whole time and attention to his farm, without, how- 
 ever, neglecting his duties as a citizen or losing his 
 interest in public affairs. He was a member of 
 Geo. H. Thomas post, G. A. R., serving one term 
 as commander. He was also an active member of 
 the Patrons of Husbandry, being one of those who 
 organized the first Grange in Larimer county at 
 Fort Collins in 1874. For several years before his 
 death he was a leading member of Pomona Grange 
 and served it as master. From 1878 to 1880, he 
 was Postmaster at Fort Collins; served four years 
 as a member of the State Board of Agriculture; 
 was President of the State Horticultural Society for 
 two years. Associated with othef farmers he as- 
 sisted in building what was known as the Watson 
 Mill which stood near the railroad track north of 
 the depot and later contributed to the building of 
 the Farmer's Mill, the structure being now used as 
 a wholesale grocery store. He was also actively 
 associated with others in getting the big beet sugar 
 factory established in Fort Collins, and assisted in 
 the promotion and construction of several irrigating 
 canals, ditches and reservoirs in the Cache la 
 Poudre valley. He was an active, energetic and 
 very enterprising man and did much during his 
 thirty-six years' residence in Larimer county to 
 advance its material and moral development. In 
 1904 he gave over the management of his fruit 
 farm to his son, Henri, and moved into Fort Collins 
 which was his home until death called him hence. 
 The McClelland fruit farm at Fossil Creek is 
 widely known in Colorado on account of the extent 
 of its orchards and variety and excellent character 
 of the fruit produced, our subject being a pioneer 
 in the fruit-growing industry in Larimer county. 
 He began planting fruit trees on his claim in 1876, 
 and kept adding to the area of his orchard until he 
 had about 100 acres planted to a great variety of 
 fruit trees and shrubs. 
 
 Warren H. Rutledge first made his presence 
 known among the people of this world some time 
 in 1872, in County Sligo, Ireland, where he received 
 his education. He came to Colorado in March, 
 
 [443] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 1898, and settled in Estes Park where he is engaged 
 in the stock business and ranching in which he is 
 meeting with a fair measure of success. 
 
 William O'Brien. — Many of Scotland's brave 
 lads and bonnie lasses have crossed the broad At- 
 lantic during the past twenty-five years to become 
 citizens of the Cache la Poudre valley. They have 
 foresworn allegiance to the British crown and have 
 
 WILLIAM O'BRIEN 
 
 taken upon themselves the responsibilities and as- 
 sumed the honors of American citizenship. They 
 are now loyal citizens of the greatest Republic on 
 earth, and are proud to be numbered among the 
 defenders of the Stars and Stripes and the institu- 
 tions the flag represents. They are industrious, 
 prudent and thrifty, and are enrolled among the 
 best citizens of Larimer county. Among those who 
 forsook their ancestral homes in Scotland to seek 
 new scenes, new friends and new homes and fort- 
 unes in Colorado, was William O'Brien, who, 
 for the past eleven years, has been Superintendent 
 of the Colorado Agricultural college farm, and has 
 discharged its duties and shouldered its responsi- 
 bilities in a manner that has given entire satisfac- 
 
 [444] 
 
 tion to the State Board of Agriculture and reflect- 
 ed credit upon himself. Mr. O'Brien first saw the 
 light of day on December 18th, 1862, in Aber- 
 deenshire, Scotland. He was born on a farm and 
 received his education in the public schools of the 
 period. Following the example of thousands of his 
 countrymen, he came to the United States to better 
 his condition, arriving in Boston, Massachusetts, 
 in 1887. While about the docks in that city in 
 1888, he noticed that a shipment of horses was be- 
 ing unloaded from a transatlantic steamer that had 
 just arrived and closer observation convinced him 
 that the animals had come from his own country 
 and upon inquiry he learned that the horses belong- 
 ed to Jesse Harris and that he was going to ship 
 them to Colorado. He immediately sought out Mr. 
 Harris and asked for employment in loading the 
 horses on the cars and in caring for them enroute. 
 Mr. Harris said to him "I have about all the help 
 I need, but if you want to go along, I will take you 
 through but will not agree to pay you wages dur- 
 ing the trip." Mr. O'Brien jumped at the chance 
 and that is how it is that he is a Coloradoan to- 
 day. It was not long after he arrived in Fort Col- 
 lins until he and two of his countrymen, John 
 Eraser and Charles Willox, bought the Austin 
 Mason farm of 120 acres, which they cultivated 
 in company until Mr. O'Brien was appointed to 
 the position he now holds at the college. In 1890 
 Mr. O'Brien m.arried Jane Eraser and they have 
 nine children, Jennie, William, Jesse, Marshall, 
 Annie, Lorna, Nellie, Alice and Bessie, all at 
 home. He is an expert farmer and has served the 
 state and college well as farm superintendent and 
 given the best of satisfaction. Mrs. O'Brien, nee 
 Erazer, is also a native of Scotland. She came to 
 Colorado in 1890 to marry the sweetheart of her 
 girlhood days and has never had occassion to regret 
 the voyage across the Atlantic. She is a model 
 wife and mother and her home is the abiding place 
 of love, contentment and happiness. 
 
 John McNey.— A pioneer LIvermore ranch- 
 man and stockman, died on December 31st, 1901, 
 at the family home, aged seventy years. Mr. Mc- 
 Ney was born in 1831, in Sheffield, England, his 
 parents being natives of Scotland. He came to 
 the United States in 1856, locating first In South 
 Carolina. Later he went to New York City and 
 obtained employment in A. T. Stewart's dry goods 
 store. From there he went to Galesburg, Illi- 
 nois, and In 1867, he drove a six mule team, loaded 
 whh government supplies for Gen. Custer from 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Leavenworth to Wyoming. While on this trip he 
 rescued a soldier's wife and three children from the 
 Indians. In 1868 he drove an ox team to Colo- 
 rado. The following year he hauled government 
 supplies to Fort Ellis. He married Frances Stew- 
 art at Leavenworth in 1875, and that year started 
 across the Plains with a herd of cattle and settled 
 on a ranch eight miles west of Livermore, where 
 he lived for twenty-six years, successfully engaged 
 in the stock business. He left a wife and three 
 sons, Stewart, Walter and John, all residents of 
 Larimer county. 
 
 Calvin I. Woods was born February 25th, 
 1840, at Mt. Vernon, Ohio; graduated at Gran- 
 ville, Ohio ; married May Isabelle Harris, Sep- 
 tember 11th, 1867; children's names, George D., 
 Frank T., Mrs. Lura M. Garbutt, Joseph H., Mrs. 
 Zelma I. Smith, Mrs. Mabel C. Brown, Mrs. 
 Jessie Newsome. Mr. Woods crossed the Plains 
 in 1872 with a herd of cattle and located on a 
 ranch in Livermore. In 1880, he sold his ranch 
 and cattle and moved to Fort Collins and that city 
 has since been the family home. Mr. Woods built 
 the stone house on the farm on the Laporte road 
 west of Fort Collins, now owned by S. B. Griffin, 
 where he died in the spring of 1891. Mr. Woods 
 was one of Larimer county's foremost citizens. He 
 possessed the confidence and respect of all who 
 knew him and was highly esteemed as a neighbor 
 and friend. 
 
 John H. Payson was born June 28th, 1857, 
 in Hope, Knox county, Maine ; reared on a farm 
 and attended district and high school at Camden 
 and Rockport, in his native state; came west in the 
 spring of 1880 and spent two years in Wyoming, 
 employed on a cattle ranch for Alford, Emerson 
 brothers and Joseph Kennedy, coming then to Fort 
 Collins which place is still his home. On Sept- 
 ember 24th, 1884, Mr. Payson married Alice M. 
 Guest and they have one daughter, Mildred at 
 home, their only son dying December 27th, 1908, 
 while in his Sophomore year at the Colorado Agri- 
 cultural college. For four years after his mar- 
 riage, Mr. Payson followed farming in the Cache 
 la Poudre valley and then located on a mountain 
 stock ranch at Stratton park, where the family 
 lived until 1905, moving then to Fort Collins to 
 educate their children. Since then he has busied 
 himself in improving his home and in building 
 houses for sale and for rent. Mr. Payson is an 
 industrious, prudent, quiet man and public spirited 
 citizen and has an enviable standing in the com- 
 
 munity. Our subject was the third child in order of 
 birth of Guilford M. and Sarah Amanda (Hobbs) 
 Payson, both of whom were natives of Hope, Maine, 
 and descendants of a Colonial family. The father 
 was a ship carpenter by occupation at first, later 
 becoming a merchant and then a farmer. He was 
 the father of eight children three of them dying in 
 their infancy, and five surviving. He served three 
 
 JOHN H. PAYSON 
 
 years as a soldier in the Civil war; his father 
 was a soldier of 1812, and his grandfather served 
 in the Continental army during the revolutionary 
 war, which shows that our subject comes from fight- 
 ing stock. 
 
 John O. Williams^ expert in charge of the gov- 
 ernment horse station in Fort Collins, was born 
 March 10th, 1885, in Vendocia, Ohio. He attended 
 the public and High school at Cleveland, Ohio, and 
 graduated from the University of that state in 1908 
 with the degree of bachelor of science in agricult- 
 ure. On March 16th, 1908, he was appointed 
 scientific assistant in animal husbandry in the United 
 States department of agriculture, stationed at 
 Washington, D. C. In October of that year he 
 
 [445] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 was transferred to the Fort Collins station, where 
 he still remains engaged in the work of producing 
 a distinctly American type of carriage horse in which 
 he is meeting with marked success. 
 
 John D. Davis. — Among the foreign born resi- 
 dents of Larimer county who left their native land 
 to seek homes and fortunes in the United States 
 
 JOHN D. DAVIS 
 
 and who settled in the Cache la Poudre valley at 
 an early date, not many stood higher in the esti- 
 mation of their fellow pioneers than the four Davis 
 brothers, Ebenezer, John D., Thomas and David. 
 They were esteemed for their industry, their 
 probity and integrity, for their genuine hospitality 
 and good citizenship. But it is of John D. in 
 particular, we wish to speak in this sketch. He 
 was born on March 14th, 1836, in Wales, and 
 came to the United States in 1854, when 18 years 
 of age. As a young man he worked in the Lake 
 Superior copper mines a few years and later in the 
 Ohio coal mines. On August 18th, 1863, he mar- 
 ried Leah Jones, leaving in the spring of 1864 for 
 Colorado, in company with his brother David and 
 family, both coming to join their brother Ebenezer, 
 [446] 
 
 who located in the Cache la Poudre valley in 1859. 
 Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. John 
 D. Davis and their names are Thomas L. Davis of 
 Timnath, Mrs. Rachael Davis of Loveland and 
 John S. Davis, who is assistant cashier of the First 
 National bank of Greeley. When Mr. Davis first 
 came to Larimer county he filed on an 80-acre 
 homestead near the present village of Timnath and 
 preempted a tract of 120 acres adjoining his home- 
 stead. The Riverside School house stands on the 
 land he homesteaded. He at once engaged in the 
 cattle business in connection with general farming 
 in which he continued for almost a quarter of a 
 century, with excellent success. He sold his farm 
 and disposed of his herds in 1885 and moved to 
 Greeley, where he died July 11th, 1910. His 
 widow resides with her son, John S., at Greeley. 
 The eldest son, Thorrias L., was the third white 
 child born in the Cache la Poudre valley, the first 
 being Frederick Sherwood, son of Mr. and Mrs. 
 
 MRS. JOHN D. DAVIS 
 
 Jesse M. Sherwood, who was born in 1862. Mrs. 
 Davis was born December 28th, 1843, in Wales. 
 After locating in the Cache la Poudre valley Mr. 
 Davis hauled hay cut with a scythe and baled in a 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 hand press to Forts Hall, Fetterman and Laramie 
 and Mrs. Davis looked after the home, milked the 
 cows and made butter which sold for a big price 
 in those days. She paid Joseph Mason $75 each 
 for unbroken heifers with which to begin her dairy. 
 One time in 1865, fearing an Indian raid she car- 
 ried the infant Thomas into the meadow and with 
 him hid in the tall grass. A neighbor, Mrs. Pin- 
 kerton, placed her seven children into a boat and 
 with them hid in the willows, and then with bated 
 breath listened through the night so that if the clat- 
 tering hoofs of Indian ponies in the distance should 
 warn her that she was on the wrong side of the 
 river she could cross to the opposite side into the 
 protecting shadows of a cottonwood grove, because 
 it was also necessary to avoid being found by the 
 Indian dogs. 
 
 James F. Vandewark, President of the River- 
 side Ice & Storage company; President of the Fort 
 Collins chamber of commerce and one of the fore- 
 most business men of that city, was born December 
 22nd, 1870, in Beatrice, Nebraska. He was the 
 second son in order of birth of Elmer E. and Liz- 
 zie N. (Giles) Vandewark, who came from 
 Nebraska to Fort Collins in 1873 and located on a 
 farm in Pleasant valley, near the village of Bell- 
 vue. The father of our subject was born in James- 
 town, New York, of Holland Dutch descent, his 
 grandfather coming from Holland and settling at 
 Chautauqua lake. New York, early in the Nine- 
 teenth century. He was a good farmer and an excel- 
 lent citizen, never neglecting any duty he owed his 
 God, his family or his country, and his death several 
 years ago was deeply lamented. The subject of this 
 sketch was but three years of age when his father 
 settled in Larimer county. He grew to manhood 
 on his father's farm and received his education in 
 the public schools of Larimer county. In June, 
 1893, he married Grace Harris, daughter of D. M. 
 Harris, a pioneer hotel keeper of Fort Collins, and 
 two children, Edith and Floyd, were born of the 
 union. The son is a student at Winona Lake, 
 (Indiana) school for boys, and the daughter is 
 with her mother at Alliance, Nebraska. For 
 his second wife, Mr. Vandewark married Helen 
 K. Devers on May 12th, 1909. She was born in 
 New York City. She came to Colorado with her 
 parents in 1885, and was educated in the public 
 schools of Larimer county. Mr. and Mrs. Vande- 
 wark have a beautiful home on West Mountain 
 avenue. In 1892, Mr. Vandewark established 
 himself in the transfer and coal business, adding 
 
 the dealing in ice three years later. He built the 
 first and only artificial ice plant established in Fort 
 Collins. This plant was torn down in 1910 to 
 make room for the tracks of the Union Pacific 
 railroad. Mr. Vandewark then organized the 
 Riverside Ice & Storage company and at once pro- 
 ceeded to build and equip the largest and best ap- 
 pointed artificial ice plant in Colorado, north of 
 Denver. After selling the old plant to the rail- 
 road company, he disposed of his coal and transfer 
 business to the Fort Collins, Coal, Seed and Trans- 
 fer company, and has since given his time and at- 
 tention to the manufacture, sale and delivery of pure 
 ice. He employs a large number of men and teams 
 in carrying on his business, in which' he has been 
 preeminently successful, and is rated as one of the 
 most active and influential business men of his home 
 city. He has been a member of the Fort Collins 
 chamber of commerce ever since it was organized 
 and has taken a leading part in all of the public 
 activities of that organization. At the last annual 
 meeting of that body he was chosen president for 
 the current term and is discharging the duties of 
 the position with marked ability and enterprise. 
 By his energy, industry and enterprise and by care- 
 ful and prudent management, Mr. Vandewark has 
 built upj from small beginnings, a large establish- 
 ment by means of which he is supplying not only 
 his own city but neighboring towns as well with 
 a prime necessity and in all his transactions he is 
 strictly reliable, prompt and painstaking. He is one 
 of the most loyal of citizens and has great faith in 
 the future of Fort Collins and Larimer county, of 
 which he has been a resident nearly all his life. He 
 is a member of the board of directors of the First 
 National bank, of the Masonic lodge, of the B. P. 
 O. Elks and of the Woodman of the World. 
 
 Philander Ricketts. — Early in youth the sub- 
 ject of this sketch made his choice of a profession 
 and at the age of twenty, he was successfully train- 
 ing the young idea in the public schools of Indiana, 
 in which state he was born on a farm in 1848. By 
 teaching and attending college alternately, he grad- 
 uated from Wabash college with high honors in 
 1878. Overwork and devotion to study under- 
 mined his health, compelling him to abandon his 
 chosen line of work, and to seek some other occu- 
 pation in a difiEerent clime. Taking a life partner 
 in 1879, in the person of Julia Thomas, the couple 
 came West immediately and settled on a farm near 
 Fort Collins, engaging in agriculture and stock rais- 
 ing pursuits. Mr. Ricketts is a man of scholarly 
 
 [447] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY. 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 attainments. Four sons and two daughters have 
 blessed their happy home. Dr. Joy Ricketts and 
 Mrs. Mabel Startzer are the daughters, and 
 Hubert, Richard, Julian and Stanley, the sons. 
 
 John R. Samuels, son of Harvey H. Samuels, 
 a pioneer of the Big Thompson valley, was born 
 Majth 27th, . 1841, .in Warren county, Illinois, 
 whe;re he attended the public schools. _ He came 
 
 JOHN R. SAMUELS 
 
 with his father's family to Larimer county, in 1863, 
 when 22 years of age. He assisted his father on 
 the farm for several years and then he and his 
 brother, F. M. Samuels, went into partnership to 
 engage in farming and stock raising, which they 
 followed for more than thirty years, with marked 
 success. They then sold their holdings and retired, 
 each with a handsome fortune. Our subject re- 
 mained a single man until 1893, when on December 
 5th, he married Mrs. Carrie Clark, from whom he 
 was divorced December 18th, 1905. Two chil- 
 dren, Willie and Edith Lillian, were born of the 
 union. The death of Willie in 1906, at the age 
 of 11 years, was a severe blow to the father, one 
 from which he never quite recovered as he was very 
 [448] 
 
 fond of his children. He did not remarry but lived 
 single the remainder of his life. When he died on 
 November 28th, 1908, he was considered one of 
 the wealthy men of Loveland. Mr. Samuels was 
 a man of strong convictions, honest, reliable and 
 an excellent citizen. He believed in trying to do 
 what was right for right's sake and not because 
 of any creed or religious denomination. Politically, 
 he adhered to the principles of the democratic party 
 and voted his party ticket at State and National 
 elections. In local matters he voted for the men 
 whom he believed to be the best qualified for the 
 office they sought. His death removed from the 
 activities of life a man who had done much to 
 develop the resources of Larimer county. 
 
 J. M. Shaffer. — Away down southwest in 
 Delta county, Colorado, at Austin, may be found 
 an old-time resident of Fort Collins, J. M. Shaffer, 
 now actively engaged in fruit growing. In the year 
 1874, Mr. ShafEer, with his parents, left Dela- 
 ware county, Indiana, overland bound for Atlantic, 
 Iowa. After a short stay, not satisfied with the 
 outlook, they harnessed up again, driving through 
 to Fort Collins, arriving here May 28, 1879. The 
 country was very attractive to them and Mr. 
 Shaffer drove his stakes for a long stay. He was 
 born at Covington, Miami county, Ohio, Septem- 
 ber 30, 1852, and was educated in the public 
 schools. He was married in Fort Collins to Mary 
 A. Harris, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. B. A. Harris, 
 September 30, 1879. For several years Mr. Shaf- 
 fer was em.ployed as a salesman for firms in Fort 
 Collins, and in 1906 branched out on his own ac- 
 count, conducting the Collins Cash grocery. Al- 
 ways an affable and courteous gentleman, he en- 
 deared himself to many who regretted his departure 
 after 30 years' residence in Larimer county. 
 
 Daniel L. Powers.— Born in 1838 in New 
 Jersey; died March 23, 1908, aged seventy years. 
 Mr. Powers was a wheelwright by occupation. He 
 came to Colorado in 1868 and to Fort Collins 
 in 1870. Here he formed a partnership with 
 William P. Morgan in the wagon making and 
 blacksmithing business, Mr. Powers doing the wood- 
 work and Mr. Morgan the blacksmithing. This 
 arrangement existed for about ten years, when 
 Mr. Powers withdrew from the firm to accept the 
 agency for the sale of the McCormick farm im- 
 plements, which he held for about twenty-two years. 
 He was the first wagon maker to open a shop in 
 Fort Collins and carry on the work of his trade 
 continuously for a term of years, though James A. 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Brown began doing work of that kind at odd 
 spells two years before Mr. Powers located here. 
 The deceased left a wife and three children, Clar- 
 ence L. and two married daughters, . Mrs. Eva E. 
 Durand of Windsor, and Mrs. Daisy Valentine, 
 of Johnstown. 
 
 Hon. Ledru R. Rhodes was born on February 
 12th, 1849, in Licking county, Ohio, and attended 
 the public schools of. that county. On the 8th of 
 January, 1874, he was married to Eppie Cowan, of 
 Fort Collins, who died in 1886, and a few years 
 later, Mr. Rhodes took as a second wife, Luella 
 Mason, the widow of Joseph Mason, an early set- 
 tler of Larimer county. Mr. Rhodes has now liv- 
 ing a daughter, Mrs. Helene J. Anderson, who 
 resides at Los Angeles, California. The arrival of 
 Mr. Rhodes in Colorado dates on the 17th day of 
 March, 1872, in which year he came to Fort Col- 
 lins. There are few men more fully endowed by 
 nature with those qualities which, if their possessor 
 is allowed the advantages of scholastic culture, lead 
 to eminence at the bar or as a public speaker. Upon 
 his arrival in Fort Collins, Mr. Rhodes tried his 
 hand at several occupations and at last, in 1873, 
 opened an office in that city for the practice of the 
 law. In 1874 he was elected city attorney, and in 
 1878 he was chosen to represent the people of Lari- 
 mer county in the State senate. As a senator he 
 made a record of which he has a right to be proud. 
 During his service of four years, he was a member 
 of important committees and never neglected the 
 interests of his constituents. His most important 
 service, perhaps, was as a member of the committee 
 on irrigation, where his experience in irrigation 
 matters in the Poudre yalley eminently fitted him 
 to act intelligently in the formation of the body of 
 irrigation laws which were enacted in 1879. The 
 wisdom of these laws. has been more and more re- 
 cognized as the years have passed. Mr. Rhodes 
 was also a member of the judiciary committee 
 which drafted the practice act for courts of record 
 now in operation in this state. In 1883 and 1884 
 he was chosen as attorney for the Colorado Cattle 
 Growers association. In 1885 he was elected 
 district attorney for the counties of Arapahoe, 
 Larimer and Weld, defeating the Hon. I. N. 
 Stevens, who opposed him. In 1890, Mr. Rhodes 
 left Colorado and went to Salt Lake, Utah, where 
 he practiced his profession for a period of twelve 
 years, winning for himself a high rank at the bar 
 of that city. In 1902 he returned to Fort Collins 
 and again took up his practice in that city. He 
 
 then gave up the general practice and to the present 
 time has given his attention almost exclusively to 
 cases arising out of questions involving the law of 
 irrigation. In the last named field of the law, Mr. 
 Rhodes has won an enviable reputation, having 
 
 HON. LEDRU R. RHODES 
 
 handled successfully some of the most fiercely con- 
 tested matters involving many abstruse and diffi- 
 cult legal principles. The interests of Larimer 
 county have never had a more ardent champion than 
 they have found in Mr. Rhodes. The Agricultural 
 college, the good-roads movement, the procuring 
 of additional railroad service, the securing of pub- 
 lic utilities, all have found in him a ready and effi- 
 cient advocate. During his practice in Fort Col- 
 lins, Mr. Rhodes has been associated in partner- 
 ship with a number of the best lavi^'ers who have 
 ever practiced at the bar of Larimer county. 
 
 [449] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 William H. Trimble was born February 13th, 
 1824, in Logan county, Kentucky. At the age of 
 8 years he moved with his father's family to Cal- 
 loway county, Missouri, where he received a public 
 school education. He served as a private soldier 
 all through the Mexican war in Doniphan's expe- 
 
 WILLIAM H. TRIMBLE 
 
 dition. After the war he returned to his home in 
 Missouri. In 1850 he journeyed across the Plains 
 to California where he engaged in mining until 
 1855, returning then by way of the Isthmus of 
 Panama and settling in Gentryville, Gentry county, 
 Missouri, and engaging in the mercantile business. 
 That year he married Sarah Catherine Allen and 
 remained in business until 1863. On the breaking 
 out of the Civil war, Mr. Trimble, though a slave 
 owner, raised a company of Union volunteers of 
 which he was commissioned captain. In 1863, he 
 bought a drove of cattle and trailed them across the 
 Plains to the Boxelder creek, north of Fort Collins, 
 and sold them to E. W. Whitcomb. Returning to 
 Missouri in the fall of 1863, he bought a freighting 
 outfit and followed freighting from St. Joseph, 
 Mo., to Denver, Colo. He also brought his family 
 to Denver and remained through the winter freight- 
 ing from Denver to Black Hawk. In the spring of 
 [450] 
 
 1865 he returned East, sold out his freighting train 
 and settled in Paradise, Clay county, Mo., where 
 he reengaged in the mercantile business until 1872. 
 In 1873 he made a visit with his family to Fort 
 Collins and bought a half interest in the cattle busi- 
 ness with Abner Loomis. He returned to Missouri 
 in the fall and in the spring of 1874 he brought 
 his family to Fort Collins and engaged in the mer- 
 cantile business in a building which stood where 
 now stands the Antlers hotel. In the fall of 1874, 
 himself, A. C. Craig and James Todd of St. Joseph, 
 Mo., engaged in the sheep business north of La- 
 porte. In the fall of 1876 he and Mr. Loomis 
 disposed of their cattle on the Sybille river in 
 Wyoming to Swan Brothers; and later he and A. 
 C. Craig engaged in the cattle business at Bates' 
 Hole, Wyo., on the Platte above old Fort Casper. 
 At the time of his death in July, 1878, they were 
 running about 3,000 head of cattle. The five chil- 
 dren, James H., Charles W., Mrs. Charles H. 
 Sheldon, Robert E., and Edgar H., with the excep- 
 
 MRS. WILLIAM H. TRIMBLE 
 
 tion of James H., who died in 1892, are all resi- 
 dents and highly esteemed citizens of Fort Collins. 
 The subject of this sketch had been a Master Mason 
 many years before his death and was buried with 
 
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HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Masonic honors. Mrs. Trimble was born in 1839, 
 in Missouri. She was a devoted wife and a tender, 
 loving mother who trained her children in the fear 
 and admonition of the Lord. She was a zealous 
 member of the Christian church and contributed 
 largely of her means, her influence, and strength 
 to the building of a church edifice and to the growth 
 of the congregation. Mrs. Trimble died on June 
 30th, 1911, at her home in Fort Collins. 
 
 Elza Silcott. — Died in Fort Collins, June 20th, 
 1897 from apoplexy. He was a native of Park 
 county, Indiana, born in 1851. He came with his 
 family to Fort Collins in 1883 and engaged in the 
 furniture business in which he continued until a 
 short time before his death. He left a widow and 
 one daughter. Later, Mrs. Silcott married Alex- 
 ander Nelson and the daughter is now the wife 
 of Mathew Auld. 
 
 Augustine Mason, one of the interesting pio- 
 neer characters of the Cache la Poudre valley, was 
 born April 28th, 1830, near Quebec, Canada, of 
 French parents, and was a brother of the late Joseph 
 Mason, the first white settler in Fort Collins. He 
 was educated at a private school in Rudgeland, 
 Canada, but was twenty-four years of age before 
 he could speak the English language. In Septem- 
 ber, 1857, he married Charlotte M. Bebee at 
 Oneida Station, New York, where he remained 
 for several years. His wife being an invalid from 
 pulmonary trouble he was persuaded by his brother, 
 Joseph, to bring her to Colorado, and arrived here 
 March 17th, 1866. Soon after coming here he took 
 charge of a mule train for his brother and trans- 
 ported forty-four government troops that had been 
 stationed in Camp Collins, and were returning east 
 to be mustered out, receiving $30 apiece for carry- 
 ing them to Fort Leavenworth. Mrs. Mason's 
 health improved rapidly in Colorado and was com- 
 pletely restored. She raised a large family of chil- 
 dren, seven of whom were born in Fort Collins 
 and had the honor of being mother to the first white 
 child born in that place. This auspicious event oc- 
 curred October 31st, 1867, Mr. Mason riding a 
 fine mare to death hunting up Dr. T. M. Smith. 
 The name of Agnes was given the child, and she 
 is now the wife of E. C. Giddings, one of the best 
 and most prosperous farmers in the county. Mr. 
 Giddings and family have a beautiful home in Fort 
 Collins, and he oversees the work on his big farm, 
 six miles distant. The house in which Mrs. Gid- 
 dings was born, stood immediately back of where the 
 Tedmon house now stands and was built for officers 
 
 quarters when the soldiers were stationed at Camp 
 Collins. When he first came to the Cache la Poudre 
 valley, Mr. Mason lived on what was later known 
 as the W. F. Watrous place until 1870, when he 
 bought the farm now owned by John Frazer. For 
 40 acres of this farm he paid $20 an acre and for 
 an additional 80 acres adjoining, he paid $8.00 an 
 acre. This farm could not be bought now for less 
 than $300.00 per acre, so great has been the increase 
 in the value of farm lands in the vicinity of Fort 
 Collins, in the past few years. Mr. Mason and 
 his family continued to live on this farm until 1884 
 when he sold it and moved to Wyoming, where 
 he and his good wife died several years ago. Mr. 
 Mason had more than his full share of the ills 
 that flesh is heir to in the early years, suffering mis- 
 fortunes that would have broken the spirit of the 
 average man, but he never gave up and finally 
 had the satisfaction of overcoming them all and 
 of acquiring a handsome competence before he died. 
 In 1867, he put in sixty acres to grain and the 
 grasshoppers destroyed it all. These pests came 
 from over the range and the air was so full of them 
 at times that they hid the sun like a cloud. In 1870 
 the hail destroyed his entire crop as it did, also 
 that of his neighbors', C. C. Hawley and Rock 
 Bush. In 1871, he lost half his crop by hail. In 
 1872 he had a siege of erysipelas which kept him 
 confined to the house for several months. That 
 year he could not put in a crop. He had barely 
 recovered when his wife was taken down with 
 intermittent fever and one of his daughters had 
 typhoid fever. In the summer of 1868, Mr. Mason 
 had charge of twelve men employed in putting up 
 hay for Capt. Allen at Meadow Springs, for the 
 Cheyenne market. They had to keep watch every 
 night to guard against the Indians, who were very 
 troublesome that year. Black Crow of Chief Fri- 
 day's band of friendly Arapahoes, was the hunter 
 for the party and his squaw did the cooking. When 
 Whitcomb's herder on the Boxelder, yvras shot by 
 the Sioux, Black Crow became so nervous that he 
 would not stay with the party, although pfEered 
 double wages. This incident shows the nervous 
 strain the pioneers were under all of the time from 
 fear of a sudden raid by the wily redskins. They 
 never left home unarmed and men carried their 
 guns into the fields with them for use in case of 
 attack. Mr. Mason was a square built man of 
 medium height and rugged nature. He had dark 
 brown hair and wore a full beard' which nearly 
 covered his face, and was afraid of- nothing. He 
 was kind hearted, a good neighbor and devoted to 
 
 [451] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 his friends and family. The names of his children 
 are : Mrs. Charlotte R. Landers, Nathan N. Mason, 
 Mrs. Nina Riddle, Joseph E. Mason, Mrs. Agnes 
 E. Giddings, Mrs. Ettie L. Conrey, Mrs. Ida N. 
 Leach, Augustus Mason, Mrs. Lettie A. Garrett, 
 and Clarence Mason. 
 
 Cornelius H. Bond, sheriff of Larimer county 
 from January, 1896 to January, 1901, and a pub- 
 lic spirited, progressive citizen, was born October 
 
 CORNELIUS H. BOND 
 
 9th, 1855, in Guernsey county, Ohio. He com- 
 pleted his school studies at Muskingum college 
 in his native state, and in 1879, came to Colo- 
 rado, arriving at Loveland on March 7th. In 
 1888, Mr. Bond married Frona Sullivan, a daugh- 
 ter of the late James Sullivan vi^ho vv'as a pioneer 
 of the Big Thompson valley, and one child, a 
 daughter, Doris, vv^as born of the union. Mrs. 
 Bond died February 20th, 1895, at Loveland. On 
 May 7th, 1896, our subject married Alma San- 
 born. Of this union four children wtrt born, 
 Frank Cornelius, Florence Camelia, George Fred- 
 erick and May Sanborn Bond, all at home. In the 
 fall of 1895, Mr. Bond was nominated on the re- 
 
 [452] 
 
 publican county ticket for the office of sherifiE and 
 was elected in November by a plurality of 1234 
 votes, the largest cast for any of the candidates 
 at that election, which indicated his personal popu- 
 larity with the people. He was reelected in No- 
 vember, 1898, and served the county as sheriff in 
 an able, faithful and very efficient manner for a 
 period of five years. In 1902 he was appointed 
 a member of a committee to view the old Bald 
 mountain road to Estes Park, and in his report 
 he recommended the building of the present scenic 
 road up Big Thompson canon. It was largely 
 through his earnest efforts and influence that the 
 road was built. In 1905, Mr. Bond organized 
 the Estes Park Townsite company, of which he is 
 the present manager. He has been largely instru- 
 mental in promoting the growth and material wel- 
 fare of the beautiful village of Estes Park. 
 
 Peyton H. Workman. — Mr. Workman came 
 to Colorado a baby in arms only three months old, 
 from Beloit, Kansas, where he was born in 1882; 
 educated in Denver, his parents first locating near 
 Kit Carson. He was married in Loveland, Janu- 
 ary 11th, 1910, to Miss Natalie W. Bauer. They 
 have one bright little boy. Mr. Workman's occu- 
 pations have been many and varied. He freighted 
 in the mountain district for awhile. His father 
 was a successful stockman and it was natural that 
 he should hanker for the broncho, saddle and chaps. 
 For five years he followed the cow punchers' life. 
 Tiring of this, he invested in a cigar and con- 
 fectionery store in Loveland. He was appointed 
 marshal of the city, serving one year. In 1910 
 the Texas fever caught him, but finding the Lone 
 Star State much over estimated, he returned to 
 Loveland and is now a carpenter, contractor and 
 builder. Always an active and energetic man, he 
 deserves success. 
 
 James Sweeney. — Serving Larimer county 
 faithfully and efficiently as sheriff constitutes the 
 major part of the public record of James Sweeney, 
 and it is a record that reflects great credit on him. 
 To be elected four times in succession as a Dem- 
 ocrat, overcoming a strong Republican majority, 
 indicates his popularity with the people and the 
 measure of confidence they reposed in him. Lar- 
 imer county has had a good many sheriffs since he 
 retired from office, but all old-timers will tell you 
 now that the county never had a better one than 
 "Jim" Sweeney. He was born October 24th, 
 1847, in Clinton county. New York; raised on a 
 farm and attended the public schools. At 16 years 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 of age he went to Vermont and worked on a rail- 
 road and in 1864 he joined a construction camp 
 engaged in rebuilding railroad bridges destroyed by 
 contending armies during the Civil war. He came 
 to Colorado in 1868 and ate his first meal in the 
 then territory at Mariana's station on the Big 
 Thompson. He spent the first two years at Central 
 City working in a saw mill, and in 1871 located 
 a stock ranch on the Redstone, Larimer county, and 
 engaged in the cattle business until 1876, when he 
 moved to Fort Collins which has since been his 
 home. He married Elizabeth Duncan in 1876 and 
 has three children, Mrs. Mary Nelson, wife of M. 
 G. Nelson, cashier of the Commercial Bank and 
 Trust company; Frank, an engineer on the Moffat 
 road, and Miss Arloe. 
 
 Hon. John A. Cross. — Among the recent 
 comers to the Big Thompson valley was John A. 
 Cross. He was born on a farm in Seneca county. 
 New York, on March 24, 1855. After he had 
 reached his majority, he realized that 'York state 
 was not the place for a farmer, and early in 1879, 
 he started west, reaching Loveland that summer. 
 He located his present homestead of 160 acres and 
 with a team of mules, broke up several acres for 
 crops. He married Mary E. Beardsley, early in 
 the winter of 1882, in Livingston county, Illinois. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Cross returned to Colorado in the 
 spring of 1883 and occupied the homestead, and 
 there they have since resided. Farming in the sum- 
 mer and working on ditches in the winter was the 
 routine work for years till a political friend opened 
 up a new field of action. The fall of 1899, Mr. 
 Cross was elected sheriff of Larimer county and 
 was re-elected in 1901, and during his five years 
 in office, he increased his hundreds of friends to 
 thousands. He retired from office early in Janu- 
 ary, 1905, and returned to Loveland and aided in 
 organizing the First National bank of that city. 
 On May 27, its doors were opened with Mr. Cross 
 as Vice-President. On January 1, 1909, he be- 
 came the bank's business, or assistant cashier, resign- 
 ing therefrom in December, 1910. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Cross are blessed with six children and all are alive 
 and enjoying good health. Mrs. Katherine L. Cole- 
 man of Los Angeles, California; Albert C. Cross, 
 in charge of the home ranch; Mrs. Mary A. Koe- 
 nig, on a ranch nine miles east of Loveland ; Jean 
 A. Cross, teacher of the Welcome Hill school; 
 Helen M. Cross, a pupil in the Loveland High 
 school and John A. Cross, Jr., the "baby" of the 
 flock. John A. Cross is a likable and lovable man. 
 
 He is ever the same, courteous and pleasant to all 
 — and it is questionable if the Big Thompson val- 
 ley has a more esteemed or popular citizen. And 
 such men are the backbone of Colorado's industrial 
 and social order. He bears adversity like a philos- 
 opher of old, and it does one good to hear him tell 
 how his crops were lost to him at five different 
 times by hail, or, as he puts it — "since living in the 
 
 HON JOHN A. CROSS 
 
 valley I've been hailed out five times and starved 
 to death as many more, but I'm still alive and en- 
 joying good health, thank you." At the general 
 election held in November, 1910, Mr. Cross was 
 the choice of his party for the post of State senator 
 from Larimer county, and was elected over Peter 
 Anderson, one of the most popular of the pioneer 
 citizens of the Cache la Poudre valley, and began 
 serving his first term in that body of lawmakers 
 in January, 1911. 
 
 Herbert M. Lewis was born April 17th, 1845, 
 in Barry county, Michigan; died September 30th, 
 1908, at Timnath. Our subject married Mary 
 E. Kitchel October 15th, 1868, and six children 
 were born to them, five of whom are living, to-wit: 
 Seth C. ; Stephen G. ; William G. ; John H. ; Lewis 
 
 [453] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 and Mrs. Alta L. Bush. Mr. Lewis came to Fort 
 Collins December 25th, 1881, and soon afterward 
 moved on to a farm six miles east of that city where 
 he died. 
 
 Wm. J. Logan was a native of Carrickfergus, 
 County Antrim, Ireland. He came to the United 
 States in 1861, then a young man, well educated 
 
 WILLIAM J. LOGAN 
 
 and brimming with energy and enterprise. He 
 stopped in New York, engaged in the mercantile 
 business until 1866, when he came to Omaha, 
 Nebraska, where he remained until 1876, when he 
 moved to Cheyenne, Wyoming. In 1878, he 
 located on a ranch on upper Boxelder creek and en- 
 gaged in the cattle business and dairying. He sold 
 his stock ranch in 1907 and moved over to the old 
 Overland stage road in Virginia Dale, where he 
 built a store, stocked it with goods, and is now 
 doing a fine business. His store is the only one in 
 that section of the country and is a great convenience 
 to the ranchmen in that vicinity, also to the tour- 
 ists and the traveling public which pass his door, 
 as he sells camp supplies as cheaply as they can be 
 obtained in Fort Collins or elsewhere. Mr. Logan 
 is a well preserved and very intelligent and enter- 
 
 [454] 
 
 taining gentleman, with whom it is a pleasure ' to 
 spend a season in conversation. His only son, 
 George Logan, has a fine, well-stocked ranch near 
 him and is one of the prosperous citizens of Vir- 
 ginia Dale. 
 
 Aaron Ejtchel. — ^A veteran of the Civil war, 
 a pioneer farmer of Larimer county and former 
 county commissioner, died on November 6th, 1910, 
 from pneumonia after a very brief illness, aged 68 
 years. He was born April 23rd, 1842, in Lake 
 county, Indiana. In August, 1862, he enlisted as 
 a volunteer in the 23rd Iowa Infantry and served 
 all through the war, receiving an honorable dis- 
 charge July 26th, 1865, at Galveston, Texas. Mr. 
 Kitchel married Mary Hart at Indianola, Iowa, in 
 1868. He came with his family to Colorado in 
 1879 and located on a homestead situated six miles 
 east of Fort Collins. His wife died in 1895 and he 
 sold his farm and moved to Fort Collins. He re- 
 married in 1900, his second wife, formerly Mrs. 
 Mary Hamilton, dying in 1908. His surviving 
 children are Alfred B. Kitchel of Sheridan, Wyom- 
 ing, William F. Kitchel of Upland, California, 
 Oliver Kitchel of Sheridan, Wyoming and Jennie 
 L. Kitchel, a teacher in the Fort Collins schools. 
 
 Andrew J. Ames came to Colorado in 1860, 
 first engaging in mining in Russell Gulch. On 
 account of being afflicted with mountain fever he 
 came down out of the mountains and settled in the 
 Poudre valley. Mr. Ames was born in 1835 at 
 Dumfries, Upper Canada, of New England par- 
 entage. The family moved to Cleveland, Ohio, 
 thence to Northeastern Iowa. Mr. Ames came west 
 during the Pikes Peak excitement. In 1862 he 
 gave Todd Randall $400 to relinquish his claim 
 to what is now known as the Slockett farm. 
 In company with Judge Howes he built the Pioneer 
 ditch and the first upland crops were raised under 
 it on Mr. Ames farm. Mr. Ames brought the first 
 mowing machine used in the valley and it proved 
 so valuable an aid in making hay that he rented it 
 to neighbors for $30 per day. Mr. Ames was the 
 pioneer log driver on the Poudre, bringing down 
 200,000 feet to the Obenchain mill in 1865. The 
 logs were cut along the river bank from the mouth 
 of the canon to the Little Narrows and brought $21 
 per thousand feet. The mill stood on the farm now 
 owned by William Falloon. Mr. Ames was largely 
 instrumental in improving and opening up the Rist 
 Canon road. Two thirds of all the house logs, 
 lumber, posts, poles, firewood, etc., came out of 
 the hill over this road. Mr. Ames farmed until 
 
lBlililHllIII!!IIB«IIIll!!llili!!I!IJillII!lilll5^ 
 
 J 
 
 "^ 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 1880 when in company with R. Q. Tenney he en- 
 gaged in the implement, flour and feed business, 
 finally selling out and removing to Denver where 
 he died a few years ago. 
 
 John G. Riddle. — ^When John G. Riddle sank 
 into that "sleep that knows no waking" on July 
 23rd, 1887, Larimer county lost, and felt the loss 
 deeply, too, one of its very best and most pro- 
 gressive citizens — a man who was beloved and es- 
 teemed by all that ever came within the sphere of 
 his acquaintance. He was the embodiment of all 
 that pertains to the attributes of nobility of char- 
 acter, a just and upright man, a good citizen and a 
 devoted husband and father. Mr. Riddle was born 
 December 24th, 1819, in Washington county, 
 Indiana. He moved to Iowa in 1843 then a wild 
 and unsettled country, and shortly afterwards mar- 
 ried Frances May, who bore him eleven children, 
 six girls and five boys, their names being Mrs. 
 L. Hake of Boulder, Colorado; Stephen A. Riddle, 
 of Lucas county, Iowa; Mrs. M. L. Landes, F. 
 P., John and I. C. Riddle, of Fort Collins; E. 
 A. Riddle and Mrs. Edson Warren, of Claren- 
 don, Texas; Mrs. T. A. Gage, of Denver, Colo- 
 rado; Mrs. Rachael Watrous (deceased) and Mrs. 
 May Owens, of Grand Junction. Mr. Riddle 
 first crossed the Plains in 1864 with a drove of 
 cattle which he took to Boulder county and sold. 
 Six years later, in 1870, he moved his family to 
 Fort Collins and purchased the farm later owned 
 by E. R. Barkley, two miles northwest of the 
 county seat which he improved and on which he 
 lived until death removed him from the activities 
 of life. He early took an active interest in public 
 affairs and was an enterprising and public spirited 
 citizen, one of the most prominent leaders in all 
 undertakings that promised to promote and ad- 
 vance the material, social and moral upbuilding 
 of his chosen home. He assisted materially in the 
 organization of the Larimer County Fair associa- 
 tion and was its first president, freely contribut- 
 ing of his personal efforts and means to make it a 
 success. He was a sterling democrat of the old 
 school. He never sought nor would he accept 
 public office, though often urged by political friends 
 to allow his name to be used as a candidate for 
 official honors. Though he realized that good pub- 
 lic officers were necessary in the proper conduct of 
 government affairs, he believed that his duty laid 
 in the direction of doing all he could by precept 
 and example, to promote and aid in the develop- 
 ment of the material resources of the county and 
 
 he fully exemplified this belief. He was a great 
 lover of good live stock and did a great deal to im- 
 prove the character and quality of the horses and 
 cattle of the county, always breeding the very best 
 on his own farm. His ten children are still living. 
 Mr. Riddle's body was borne to its last resting place 
 in Grandview cemetery by Abner Loomis, James 
 B. Arthur, A. N. Hoag, W. B. Miner, W. C. 
 Stover and N. C. Alford, six of Larimer County's 
 most highly esteemed pioneer citizens. Mrs. Fran- 
 ces (May) Riddle was born November 19th, 1826, 
 in Fountain county, Indiana; moved with her par- 
 ents to Marion county, Iowa, in 1843, and was 
 married to John G. Riddle July 25th, 1844. She 
 died on May 21st, 1911, at the home of her daugh- 
 tre, Mrs. M. L. Landes, Fort Collins, with whom 
 she had made her home for most of the time since 
 the death of her husband in 1887. 
 
 Ed. H. Wills.— When Mr. Wills' parents Mr. 
 and Mrs. Joseph R. Wills reached Fort Collins 
 in 1869, he was then but a little fellow barely four 
 years old. He was born in Williamsburg, Ohio, 
 September 17th, 1868. His father had served his 
 country faithfully during the Civil war and not 
 long after the close of hostilities, joined the vast 
 army of emigrants who sought homes in the Great 
 West. Mr. Wills was educated in Fort Collins 
 and was married here to Georgia Bosworth, June 
 19th, 1895. Their home is blessed with two chil- 
 dren, one boy, Paul; one daughter, Mary. Mr. 
 Wills followed the plumbing trade for 25 years in 
 which he was most successful. He is now enjoying 
 a much needed rest at his home near Fort Collins, 
 where he cultivates a fine fruit farm. 
 
 William P. Morgan. — Born in 1838, in Wales, 
 came to the United States in his youth and settled 
 in Cambria, Wisconsin; came to Colorado in 1865 
 and located in Fort Collins which had since been 
 his home. He was a blacksmith by occupation and 
 at once went to work at his trade in a log shop 
 which stood on Chestnut street a little north of 
 Jefferson street, which he purchased of Robert 
 Royston. Mr. Morgan worked at his trade a good 
 many years, a part of the time being associated with 
 Daniel L. Powers and later with Michael Gard- 
 ner. For three or four years before his death, on 
 Sunday, October 21st, 1907, he did but little shop 
 work on account of being crippled with rheuma- 
 tism. He served one term as deputy sheriff under 
 Sheriff James Sweeney and had been town marshal 
 once or twice in the early history of Fort Collins. 
 He left one son, Harry Morgan of Stove Prairie 
 
 [455] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 and two married daughters whose residence is Den- 
 ver, Colorado; also three brothers. Pierce and 
 Owen of Wisconsin, and Thomas Morgan of Stove 
 Prairie, Larimer county. 
 
 William Edwin James, one of the pioneers 
 of Estes Park and founder and builder of Elkhorn 
 Lodge, a noted and deservedly popular resort hotel 
 
 WILLIAM EDWIN JAMES 
 
 in the park, was born in Camden, N. Y., where he 
 received his education. On December 25th, 1865, 
 he was joined in marriage with Ella McCabe and 
 their living children are: Homer Edwin, Howard 
 Perry and Ella Estes James, now Mrs. Peter Hon- 
 dius. Our subject came to Colorado in 1874, ar- 
 riving at Denver, October 20th. Here he remained 
 about a year and then moved, on May 4th, to Estes 
 Park, where he died January 15th, 1895. On 
 settling in Estes Park, Mr. James engaged in the 
 live stock and hotel business, in which he was very 
 successful. He was a genial, hale fellow well met, 
 always ready to give time to his guests, and he 
 enjoyed a good story with the best of them. His 
 heart was with the Estes Park people and no one 
 had ought to say of him but that which was good. 
 
 [456] 
 
 He had been a Master Mason for 32 years when 
 he died. Mrs. James was born in Utica, N. Y., 
 and came with her husband to Colorado in 1874. 
 There were but very few people in the park when 
 Mr. and Mrs. James settled there and society was 
 in an inchoate state. There were no near neighbors 
 and for a number of years they lived a secluded life 
 except during the tourist season, when they an- 
 nually entertained many visitors. Since her hus- 
 band's death, Mrs. James has continued to carry 
 on Elkhorn Lodge with excellent success. This 
 popular resort hotel has recently been greatly en- 
 larged and has done a large business for a great 
 many years. Mrs. James' eldest son. Homer E. 
 James, is a prominent and prosperous business man 
 of Estes Park, being a dealer in lumber and build- 
 ing material, etc. 
 
 Henry F. Pratt. — Our subject, one of the for- 
 mer thoroughgoing and successful farmers of Lari- 
 mer county, but now a resident of California, was 
 
 MRS. WILLIAM EDWIN JAMES 
 
 born December 14th, 1856, in Hancock county, 
 Indiana, where he attended a public school and 
 received his education. When 20 years of age he 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 went to California and on September 24th, 1878, he 
 was joined in marriage with Rose Garrett. In the 
 fall of 1879 he removed with his family to Larimer 
 county and took up a homestead claim seven miles 
 east of Fort Collins, on which he lived 28 years, 
 successfully carrying on general farming. The farm 
 IS still known as the "Old Pratt place." Here his 
 wife died November 25th, 1885, leaving two chil- 
 dren, Cora, now Mrs. Charles Nixon of Severance, 
 and Arthur, who lives near the Boxelder school 
 house. Mr. Pratt was one of the pioneer farmers 
 of the Cache la Poudre valley, locating on his home- 
 stead claim when the county was new and unde- 
 veloped and when neighbors were few and far be- 
 tween, but notwithstanding the hardships and ad- 
 versities of pioneer life he persevered and conquered 
 them all and is now enjoying the fruits of his early 
 day labors and experiences. He married for his 
 second wife, Mrs. Fannie Smith who Is still living. 
 In 1907 he sold his farm, implements and stock and 
 removed to California where he now resides. 
 
 Hon. Herbert E. Tedmon^ owner of one of the 
 largest stock ranches and herds of cattle in Larimei 
 county, was born June 12th, 1852, in Martins- 
 burg, New York. His ancestors on the paternal 
 side were pioneers of Massachusetts, having come 
 to this country from Scotland. His maternal grand- 
 father was a soldier in the war of 1812. Our sub- 
 ject received his education in the public schools and 
 at Martins' institute; clerked three and one-half 
 years in a hardware store in Lowville, New York, 
 and then he and his brother, B. S. Tedmon, en- 
 gaged in the grocery business in his native town. 
 They sold out their business in the spring of 1878, 
 when both came to Fort Collins and bought the 
 Joseph Mason stock of general merchandise on 
 Jefferson street and reengaged in the mercantile 
 business. They continued in trade together until 
 January, 1883, when our subject purchased his 
 brother's interest and closed out all lines except 
 hardware. For two years he was associated with 
 E. R. Barkley in the hardware trade, selling his 
 interest in the stock in 1885 to embark in the cattle 
 business in which he is still engaged. In 1887 he 
 moved to Logan county and served three years from 
 1889, as Clerk of the District Court of that county. 
 He was appointed Register of the United States 
 land office at Sterling by President Harrison, which 
 position he filled until 1894, when he returned to 
 his stock ranch at St. Cloud, Larimer county. He 
 was elected County Clerk of Larimer county in 
 1897, and reelected in 1899, giving the people four 
 
 years of excellent service in that position. Dur- 
 ing his encumbency of the County Clerk's office he 
 and his family resided in Fort Collins, returning 
 to his stock ranch in 1903. He was a member of 
 the city council of Fort Collins for one term and 
 also served as Secretary of the Board of Education. 
 In the fall of 1882, Mr. Tedmon was elected state 
 Senator to represent the counties of Grand, Larimer 
 
 HON. AND MRS. HERBERT E. TEDMON 
 AND SON EARL L. 
 
 and Routt in the Fourth and Fifth General 
 assemblies of Colorado. On December 12th, 1876, 
 Mr. Tedmon married Jennie L. Smith in Boone- 
 ville, New York. They have an only child, a son, 
 Earl L. Tedmon, who was educated in the public 
 schools and at the Colorado Argicultural college 
 and who is also engaged in the stock business at 
 St. Cloud. 
 
 W. S. Vescelius.^ — One of the early settlers of 
 Fort Collins, was born in 1821, in Seneca county. 
 New York; died in Denver, September 3rd, 1886, 
 and was buried in Fort Collins cemetery. He 
 emigrated from his native state to Fort Collins in 
 1871, where he resided until 1880, when he went 
 
 [457] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 to Denver to engage in business. His aged widow 
 lives on West Olive street, Fort Collins. His only 
 daughter, the late Mrs. Joseph Shipler, died in 
 1883. Mr. Vescelius was well known and greatly 
 respected by all the old-timers. 
 
 Noah Bristol was born in November, 1836, at 
 Panton, Addison county, Vermont; died December 
 21st, 1907 at St. Cloud, Colorado. He was edu- 
 cated at Vergennes in his native state, and in 1860 
 went to Wisconsin. Here he engaged in teaching 
 school and in farming until 1865 when he returned 
 to Vergennes. He remained there ten years, two 
 
 of the first board of directors. Since his wife's 
 death several years ago, Mr. Bristol had been a 
 member of his son's family. He left one son, W. 
 P. Bristol of Fort Collins and two daughters, Mrs. 
 Edgar Kern of Windsor and Mrs. Elsie Price of 
 Greeley. 
 
 JuDSON H. Bristol was born February 12, 
 1853, at Panton, Vermont, where he was educated 
 and reared to man's estate; died October 7th, 1907, 
 in Fort Collins, Colorado, aged 54 years. Mr. 
 Bristol came to Colorado in 1875 and engaged in 
 farming and stock growing. He returned to his 
 
 THE BRISTOL BROTHERS 
 Reading From Left to Right: Noah, Judson H., Dr. George E. and Albert W. 
 
 of which were spent in the employ of the Rutland 
 & Burlington railway company. Later he engaged 
 in the produce forwarding and commission busi- 
 ness. He was also proprietor of the Stevens House 
 at Vergennes for a few years. In 1874, Mr. 
 Bristol came to Larimer county and buying the 
 Whitcomb stock ranch on the Boxelder, eighteen 
 miles north of Fort Collins, engaged extensively in 
 sheep husbandry and wool growing. He also fol- 
 lowed farming and dairying. He sold his Box- 
 elder holdings in 1905 to the Buckeye Ranch com- 
 pany and he and his son, W. P. Bristol, purchased 
 a stock ranch at St. Cloud, where they lived and 
 where the elder Bristol died. Mr. Bristol was, 
 in 1875, elected a member of the board of county 
 commissioners and served a full term of three years, 
 being chairman of the board the last year of his 
 term. He was again chosen county commissioner 
 at the election in November, 1881, and served from 
 January, 1882 to January, 1885. He was an ex- 
 cellent business man and made one of the best com- 
 missioners the county ever had. He was also post- 
 master at Bristol for several years and was filling 
 the same position at St. Cloud when he died. When 
 the Larimer County bank (now the First National 
 bank) was established in 1881, he was a member 
 
 [458] 
 
 native state in 1880, and was there joined in mar- 
 riage with Miss Alice Foote, who, with four child- 
 ren, Mrs. Addie F. Brown, Warren J., Ralph F. 
 and Mildred survive. In 1890, Mr. Bristol dis- 
 posed of his stock and ranch holdings and moved 
 his family to Fort Collins, which is still the family 
 home. Since then he had filled several places of 
 public trust and responsibility with exceptional fi- 
 delity and efficiency, among them being deputy sher- 
 iff, deputy internal revenue collector, deputy county 
 assessor and was serving his second term as justice 
 of the peace in and for Fort Collins when he died. 
 He was a man of courage, genial disposition, gener- 
 ous to a fault, charitable to a degree and was well 
 liked by all who knew him. As a public official, 
 he was true and faithful to his trust, always kind 
 and obliging. 
 
 Ida Maria Warren^ widow of the late Captain 
 Charles Warren, was born May 23rd, 1851, in 
 Dalton, among the famous Berkshire hills of Mass- 
 achusetts, in the valley of the Housatonic. She was 
 descended of sturdy revolutionary stock, her pa- 
 ternal and maternal grandfathers having been 
 soldiers in the war for American independence, 
 and she was a cousin of United States Senator 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Frances E. Warren of Wyoming. She graduated 
 from the High school of Dalton at the age of four- 
 teen years. For several years thereafter she was a 
 teacher in the public schools of her native tovv'n and 
 in the schools of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Her 
 maiden name was Ida M. Warren. She was united 
 in marriage with Capt. Charles Warren in 1872 and 
 in June, 1873, they came from the East and located 
 in Fort Collins which was thereafter- the family 
 home. She died in that city on November 4th, 
 1908. Mrs. Warren found plenty of work for 
 her hands, head and heart to do on coming to her 
 western home. She closely identified herself with 
 every movement which had for its object the in- 
 tellectual and moral uplift of the community and 
 she was a tower of strength in church and club 
 work. She was also especially interested in the 
 public library, and was one of the originators and 
 active promoters of the movement to establish a 
 public library in Fort Collins and had been a lead- 
 ing and influential member of the board of directors 
 of that institution from the very first. She had also 
 been a member of the Woman's Club, the Kane- 
 tenah club and the Woman's Pioneer association 
 and had just established her right to membership 
 with the Daughters of the American Revolution 
 when death called her hence. All classes felt deeply 
 the loss, the city, the church, society and the cause 
 of humanity had sustained in her death for she was 
 a leader in all good works. 
 
 Captain Charles Warren. — ^A gallant soldier 
 of the Civil war, whose term of active service ex- 
 ceded four years, during which he participated in 
 many of the hard fought and bloody battles of that 
 internecine conflict; who rose from the ranks to 
 a first lieutenancy and was breveted captain at the 
 close of the strife for distinguished services on the 
 field of battle; an active man of affairs who did 
 much in his life-time to develop the agricultural 
 resources of Larimer county and to promote its 
 growth and business interests, was Captain Charles 
 Warren, who died in Fort Collins on May 8th, 
 1898, from a stroke of apoplexy. Captain Warren 
 was born May 30th, 1840, at Aurora, New York, 
 and educated in the public and High schools of Lee, 
 Massachusetts. When the Civil war broke out in 
 April, 1861, he enlisted under the call of President 
 Lincoln for 75,000 ninety-day volunteers, in Dur- 
 yea's famous Zouaves. At the expiration of his 
 term of service as a ninety-day volunteer, he re- 
 enlisted in his brother's artillery company, the 5th 
 New Jersey, and participated in all the battles in 
 
 which the company was engaged, and was subse- 
 quently commissioned a second lieutenant in the 
 45th New York Volunteer Infantry. He was dis- 
 charged in Texas at the close of the war with the 
 brevet rank of captain, conferred for distinguished 
 service in the field. After the surrender of Lee at 
 Appomattox in April, 1865, his regiment was sent 
 to Brownsville, Texas, to protect the border dur- 
 ing the Maximillian troubles in Mexico, and there 
 is where he was mustered out. Soon after being 
 discharged from the military service. Captain 
 Warren engaged in the mercantile business in New 
 York City, and later became a cotton factor at 
 Atlanta, Georgia. He returned to New York in 
 1870 to accept a position in the custom house under 
 Hon. Chester A. Arthur, who was elected vice- 
 president in 1880, on the ticket with James A. 
 Garfield and succeeded to the presidency on the 
 death of Garfield in 1881. In 1872, Captain War- 
 ren and Ida M. Warren were united in marriage 
 at Dalton, Massachusetts, coming in 1873 to Fort 
 Collins, which has since been the family home. 
 Three sons, C. Brook, Nathan C, and Thomas J. 
 Warren, were born of the union, and all three are 
 residents of and engaged in business in Fort Collins. 
 The eldest son, C. Brook Warren is a prosperous 
 grocer; Nathan C. a member of the Warren Com- 
 «iercial Company, and Thos. J. a member of the 
 firm of Espelin & Warren, florists. For three or 
 four years after locating in Fort Collins, Captain 
 Warren was engaged in the lumber trade, subse- 
 quently moving on to a tract of raw land near 
 Warren lake, which he improved and lived upon 
 until 1890, when he was chosen manager of the 
 Harmony mills and moved his family to Fort Col- 
 lins. That city was his home thenceforward until 
 he died on May 8th, 1898. On retiring from the 
 milling business in 1906, he organized the Warren 
 Commercial company and remained at the head of 
 its affairs up to the time of his last illness. 
 
 E. A. Nye was born at Amherst, Loraine county, 
 Ohio, in the 50's, and was educated at Elyria, Ohio. 
 In 1877, he came to Larimer county with a wagon 
 train, being followed by Indians day after day 
 watching for a chance to steal horses for Sitting 
 Bull's band of hostiles. He married Eva Herring- 
 ton, September 28th, 1880, at Highland Park. 
 Five children, Mrs. Mamie Lindenmeyer, R. W., 
 Frank, Mildred and Harlan Nye, all living, were 
 born to them. The present home of the family is 
 at 116 North Grant street. Fort Collins. Mr. Nye 
 cut the logs for the lumber used in the Remington 
 
 [459] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 school building also for the native lumber used in 
 the first Agricultural college building. 
 
 Preston A. Taft. Persistence, when com- 
 bined with good judgment, almost invariably opens 
 the trail to success. Mr. Taft has never had 
 occasion to regret that his foresight and ambition led 
 him to brave the lurking dangers of the long, soul 
 
 PRESTON A. TAFT 
 
 and body wearying journey across the Great Ameri- 
 can desert in the early days and persist in seeing for 
 himself what there was in Colorado. His elder 
 brothers had preceded to the new Eldorado and 
 their letters home, teeming with glowing descrip- 
 tions of the country, the climate and opportunities 
 for young men, filled his heart with ambition ; hence 
 we see him leaving the old home in the old Granite 
 state and striking out for the West. This was in 
 1865, when the Plains were cris-crossed with the 
 trails of blood-thirsty savages who were waging a 
 relentless war against the whites, raiding and burn- 
 ing settlements and slaying inhabitants, regardless 
 of age or sex; swooping down upon wagon trains, 
 killing the drivers, driving off the stock and either 
 burning or stealing the contents of the wagons as 
 their necessities demanded. But the dangers of the 
 
 [460] 
 
 Plains had no terrors for him. He was young, 
 resolute and ambitious, afraid of nothing, deter- 
 mined and full of the spirit of adventure. He 
 luckily fell in with a drover who was trailing a herd 
 of cattle to the Cache la Poudre valley and came 
 through in safety. The cavalcade arrived at its 
 destination in the fall and our subject spent the 
 following winter helping to herd the cattle in the 
 Boxelder valley. In the spring of 1866, he and his 
 brother-in-law, H. W. Chamberlin and Captain 
 Glenn, went to Fort Sanders, and established a 
 ranch on the Laramie river at the Union Pacific 
 crossing, the present site of the City of Laramie, 
 Wyoming. Here the three men put in a stock of 
 general merchandise valued at $12,000. The ranch 
 was raided by the Indians in October, 1866, and 
 John Sherry and a Mexican employe were killed. 
 Mr. Taft had started for Camp Collins the day be- 
 fore the raid occurred, consequently was not pres- 
 ent. The company sold what goods the Indians 
 were unable to carry away, for $1,400, and aban- 
 doned the ranch. In December of that year, after 
 closing out the remainder of the stock of goods, 
 Mr. Taft went to Denver to spend the winter and 
 in the spring of 1867, joined his brothers, Walter 
 and Louis Taft at Georgetown, Colorado, where 
 he spent a year at mining, returning in 1868 to his 
 old home in Vermont. Mr. Taft was born May 
 25th, 1844, in Swansea, New Hampshire, and edu- 
 cated in Vermont, to which state his father moved 
 when he was a child. In December, 1869, the 
 year following his return from Colorado, he mar- 
 ried Ida M. Howe, who died in 1871. In 1873 
 he turned his face westward again, arriving in the 
 spring of that year at Laporte, which has since been 
 his home. In August, 1878, he married for his 
 second wife, Mrs. Olive Wallace, widow of Lieut. 
 Fred Wallace who was stationed at Camp Collins 
 in 1865-6 with the 21st New York cavalry, and 
 who died in 1878. Of this union one daughter, 
 Pauline, survives. Mr. Taft is a market gardener 
 and fruit grower by occupation. 
 
 Dennis F. O'Loughlin. — ^A stockholder of the 
 Consolidated Plaster company, which owns and 
 operates extensive plaster mills at Red Buttes, Wyo- 
 ming, and Buckhorn, Larimer county, was born 
 March 17th, 1856, in Lambertville, New Jersey, 
 and educated in the public schools of Willimantic, 
 Connecticut. He was the eldest son of Michael 
 and Margaret (Mathews) O'Loughlin, who were 
 natives of Ireland. The father emigrated to the 
 United States when he was eighteen years old and 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 the mother at the age of ten years. After leaving 
 school our subject learned the plasterer's trade 
 which was his occupation until about four years 
 ago, when he retired with a competence. During 
 the last three years that he worked at his trade he 
 plastered 550 Fort Collins houses. In 1878, our 
 subject married Annabell Roach at Willimantic, 
 Conn., and there are five children living: Dennis, 
 Robert, Leo, Annabell and Frank. Mr. O'Lough- 
 lin came from Connecticut to Fort Collins with his 
 family, arriving on May 2nd, 1880, and was one of 
 the first guests at the Tedmon house, which had just 
 been completed and thrown open to the public. 
 The town was then beginning to take on a rapid 
 growth and Mr. O'Loughlin found plenty to do 
 at his trade and when he retired after twenty-seven 
 years of active work there were but few dwellings, 
 residences and business houses that he had not 
 finished their interior walls. In politics, Mr. 
 O'Loughlin is a republican, but not a bitter parti- 
 zan, often crossing his ticket where, in his opinion, 
 the interests of the county or state will be best 
 subserved by the election of candidates on the oppo- 
 sition ticket. He is first of all a loyal, liberal and 
 public spirited citizen of Fort Collins, towards 
 whose up-building he has contributed so much of 
 his brain power and energy during the past thirty 
 years. Few men in Fort Collins enjoy the confi- 
 dence and esteem of his fellow citizens to a greater 
 extent than Dennis F. O'Loughlin. He is the soul 
 of honor and his integrity is unquestioned. 
 
 W. T. Parke was born in 1857, in Valparaiso, 
 Indiana, where he was educated. He came to Colo- 
 rado in 1880 and in 1888 settled in Estes Park, 
 where he has since been successfully engaged in the 
 mercantile business. Our subject is a bachelor and 
 has neither chick nor child to take his attention 
 from business. 
 
 Benjamin F. Burnett was born the son of 
 William N. and Margaret (Reeves) Burnett, on 
 April 9th, 1838, in Tazewell county, Illinois. He 
 was united in marriage with Clara C. McGrew, 
 January 31st, 1865, in Peoria county, Illinois, from 
 which union were born Lulu, Frank J., Pearl, 
 Arthur, Maud and Zoa. Mr. Burnett enlisted on 
 May 1st, 1864, to serve 100 days as Second Lieu- 
 tenant of Company C 139th, Illinois Volunteer 
 Infantry and was honorably discharged October 
 28th, 1864, by reason of expiration of service. He 
 reinlisted at Pekin, Illinois, February 10th, 1865, 
 to serve one year or during the war, and was mus- 
 tered in as captain of Company C 148th, Illinois 
 
 Volunteer Infantry. The regiment was mustered 
 out September 5th, 1865, at Nashville, Tenn- 
 essee. During his second enlistment Captain Bur- 
 nett served as Provost Marshal at Tullahoma, and 
 Decherd, Tennessee. His militiary record is an 
 honorable one and without a blemish. At the 
 close of his first term of service, he received a per- 
 sonal letter of thanks, signed by President Lin- 
 
 BENJAMIN F. BURNETT 
 
 coin and Secretary of War Stanton. Mr. Burnett 
 came with his family from Peoria, Illinois, to 
 Fort Collins in the fall of 1879, and they were 
 cherished and highly respected residents of the 
 city for many years. At first he engaged in the 
 mercantile business and then followed mining and 
 prospecting at Lulu, Teller, Manhattan and other 
 camps in the state, moving a few years ago to Den- 
 ver, where he and his unmarried children reside. 
 He is still interested in mining and has large in- 
 terests at Manhattan near which place he and his 
 family annually spend their summers in their tree 
 embowered cottage "Laughalot" on the banks of 
 the swift flowing Cache la Poudre river. Mr. 
 Burnett is one of the most active, energetic and 
 enterprising of the early settlers of Fort Collins 
 
 [461] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 and, as a result, he is now financially able to live 
 at ease the rest of his life. His eldest son, Frank 
 J. Burnett, served Larimer country as County 
 Clerk and Recorder for four years, and is still a 
 prominent business man of Fort Collins. 
 
 William H. Avery, born October 5th, 1854, 
 at Ledyard, Cayuga county, New York; died on 
 Monday, June 2nd, 1890, in Fort Collins, Colo- 
 
 WILLIAM H. AVERY 
 
 rado. Mr. Avery was educated at Cazenovia sem- 
 inary, Cazenovia, New York. He came with his 
 family to Fort Collins in June, 1881, and at once 
 engaged in active business pursuits, dealing exten- 
 sively in real estate. He was interested with his 
 brother, Franklin C. Avery, in the purchase of a 
 large body of railroad land in Larimer and Weld 
 counties, which, through the construction of the 
 Larimer County Canal, by means of which the lands 
 could be watered, became very valuable as farming 
 lands. Our subject had general charge of the busi- 
 ness in which he and his brother were associated in 
 connection with those lands. He was distinct- 
 ively a business man, imbued with the spirit of 
 activity, vigilance and enterprise. All enterprises 
 
 of a public nature, designed to promote the general 
 welfare of Larimer county and increase its pro- 
 ductive possibilities, received his earnest support 
 and effective cooperation. At the time of his death 
 he was a director of the First National bank of 
 which his brother, F. C. Avery was' President, and 
 was also President of the Larimer County Canal 
 Company an irrigation project that he took a 
 deep interest in and to the construction of which he 
 contributed liberally of his means. Fort Collins 
 lost an excellent citizen when William H. Avery 
 died. 
 
 Hannah H. King. — Our subject came with her 
 husband, the late J. M. McCain, from Iowa to 
 Greeley in September, 1873, and in March, 1874, 
 they located on a dairy ranch in Virginia Dale. In 
 1877, when the C. C. railroad was being built, Mr. 
 McCain took charge of the Fossil creek section 
 house, returning in 1880 to their ranch at Vir- 
 ginia Dale. Here, on July 4th, 1885, Mr. McCain 
 died, leaving his wife with five small children to 
 raise, care for and educate. The following year 
 she moved to Fort Collins, bought a house and put 
 her children in school. In 1889 she married George 
 W. King and the family moved back to Virginia 
 Dale. They soon returned to Fort Collins and built 
 the house on East Oak now owned and occupied 
 by Frank Mathews. In 1903, Mrs. King and her 
 two daughters went to California, and ■ from there 
 in 1909, to Portland, Oregon, where they now re- 
 side. Mrs. King is a fine type of pioneer women — 
 resolute, fearless and firm of purpose, she battled 
 bravely against unfavorable circumstances and 
 overcame them and has lived to educate her child- 
 ren and see them occupying high positions, loved, 
 honored and respected. 
 
 Charles H. Sheldon^ cashier of the Poudre 
 Valley bank and its successor, the Poudre Valley 
 National bank, for a period of nearly 33 years, and 
 one of the best known business men of Larimer 
 county, was born August 11th, 1852, at Moscow, 
 Livingston county, New York. He received his 
 education in the public schools of his native county 
 and at the New York Normal school of Geneseo. 
 He was the son of John and Emeline (Higgins) 
 Sheldon, and was brought up on a farm. Like 
 other boys of the period, he played hookey at school, 
 hunted bird's nests, patronized the old swimming 
 hole at every suitable opportunity, raided orchards 
 and watermelon patches and took his threshings like 
 a stoic, without a whimper. Believing that the West 
 offered better opportunities for young men than the 
 
 [462] 
 
HON. JOHN M. CUNNINGHAM 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 thickly settled portions of his native state, he pack- 
 ed his trunk and came to Colorado, arriving in 
 Fort Collins in June, 1874. On May 1st, 1875, 
 he became employed as bookkeeper in the A. K. 
 & E. B. Yount bank and was made cashier of the 
 bank in the fall of 1876. He continued in that 
 position until the fall of 1878, and on November 
 11th, of that year, started the Poudre Valley bank 
 in company with W. C. Stover. On June 3rd, 
 1879, Mr. Sheldon married Martha A. Trimble, 
 daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Trimble. They 
 have an only daughter, Miss Olive L. Sheldon, 
 who is a member of the home circle. He and his 
 family have a beautiful home at the corner of 
 Howes and Oak streets. 
 
 Hon. John M. Cunningham. — The sons and 
 daughters of Ohio, the Buckeye State, have done 
 their share in building up the Union during the past 
 half century. They are a progressive and forceful 
 people, no matter whether they are from Lake Erie's 
 shore, Ohio river's bank, the Western Reserve or 
 the Southern tier. And in the settlement of the 
 great west the "Buckeyes" have forged well to 
 the front and made their mark in city, in town, in 
 mining camp, or on the fruitful soil of the prairie. 
 John M. Cunningham and his estimable wife are 
 from Ohio, and during their residence of 32 years 
 in Loveland, they have ably aided in making it a 
 city of prosperity and of happy homes. Mr. Cun- 
 ningham was born on a farm in Guernsey county, 
 Ohio, January 4, ,1853. He received a good edu- 
 cation after which he taught school for four years. 
 In 1875 he moved to Morning Sun, Iowa, where 
 he remained three years, but returned to his old 
 home in 1877 and married Margaret H. Hutche- 
 son. In 1878 Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham came 
 to Colorado, arriving in Loveland on May 1. The 
 now prosperous and growing little city was then a 
 struggling hamlet, but ambitious to discard its 
 swaddling clothes, and the building of homes and 
 business houses was in a flourishing condition. Mr. 
 Cunningham had a good knowledge of the builder's 
 trade, and for ten years he worked at it. Many of 
 Loveland's early pretentious structures were the 
 work of his brain and hand, the BartholfiE opera 
 house being the most conspicuous. Mr. Cunning- 
 ham then engaged in the lumber business with J. 
 R. Anderson in 1899, and for nine years he and 
 his partner handled all the lumber, etc., that was 
 sold in that town. Prior to his withdrawal from 
 the lumber trade, Mr. Cunningham had assisted 
 m the organization of the Larimer County bank. 
 
 and in August, 1898, he became associated with 
 that monetary institution as assistant cashier, a 
 position which he held for about two and a half 
 years, then became cashier on January 1, 1901, the 
 ofKce he still retains. Two children were born to 
 Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham, John H. and J. 
 George. The young men are engaged in business 
 with their father, under the corporate name of Cun- 
 ningham Lumber & Supply company, with Cun- 
 ningham senior as its President. Mr. Cunningham 
 never had any itching for political office or power, 
 but during his residence in Loveland he has been on 
 the town and school boards. He prefers a business 
 career, and would not change his home life for any 
 office in the gift of the people. He has always had 
 an abiding faith in Loveland's progress and to him 
 the pretty little city is the most sacred spot on earth. 
 During his 32 years residence in that city he has 
 secured a fair share of this world's goods. Such men 
 and women as Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham are a 
 credit to any community and the appreciation in 
 which they are held by friends and neighbors is 
 evidence of their worth. In November, 1910, Mr. 
 Cunningham was elected as a Republican, over N. 
 C. Farnworth, Democrat, to represent Larimer 
 county in the Eighteenth General assembly of Colo- 
 rado, an office which he is filling with credit to 
 himself and to the honor of the county. 
 
 A. J. Williams,, a successful and prosperous 
 stockman of Livermore, Colorado, was born July 
 17th, 1868, in Nova Scotia, where he received his 
 education. He came to Colorado in 1892, and set- 
 tled on the Lone Pine, Larimer county and engaged 
 in the stock business which he still follows. In 
 March, 1910, he moved to his present location, 
 where he owns and has improved what is now 
 known as the Cedar Valley ranch. On July 19th, 
 1910, our subject was united in marriage with 
 Frances B. Funk, after having lived a bachelor for 
 more than a score of years. 
 
 Ed. Harris was born January 30th, 1841, on a 
 farm in Indiana and received his education in the 
 public schools of his native state. On September 
 25th, 1867, he married Henrietta Honnold and 
 the names of their children are Jesse, Frank, Bert, 
 Ed, Chester and Myrtle. Our subject came with 
 his family to Fort Collins in 1879, arriving May 
 29th. He is a farmer by occupation and, with the 
 exception of one year that he lived in Boulder, has 
 spent thirty-two years in Fort Collins and vicinity. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Harris have spent three winters in 
 
 [463] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 California, but their home has been in Colorado 
 ever since, they came west in 1879. Mr. Harris 
 has met with a fair measure of success in his under- 
 takings and is passing his declining years amid 
 peace and plenty. 
 
 KiNTZiNG P. Pew was born September 5th, 
 1847, in Mercer, Pennsylvania, where he received 
 his education in the public schools. A few months 
 
 KINTZING P. PEW 
 
 before he attained his majority, Mr. Pew started 
 westward, arriving in Fort Collins, April 1st, 1868, 
 having come from Cheyenne to Laporte on the 
 stage in company with Thos. L. Moore. He after- 
 wards engaged in farming, raised stock, and ran a 
 threshing machine for a good many years. He 
 married Mrs. Anna Bailey, June 29th, 1874, and 
 three children were born to them, Mrs W. M. 
 Wilson of Long Beach, California; Roy Pew of 
 Saratoga, Wyoming, and Mrs. Edna Gregory of 
 Denver. Mr. Pew sold his farm a few years ago, 
 and for much of the time since has been deputy post- 
 master at Laporte and salesman in the store. There 
 are few men that can count up more friends, wher- 
 ever he is known, than genial, big-hearted "Kintz" 
 
 [464] 
 
 Pew. In the early days, Mr. Pew did his part 
 bravely in the work of developing and convert- 
 ing a new country into a habitable and prosperous 
 region, where the banner of civilization could be 
 kept waving all down through the ages as evidence 
 of the redemption of a wilderness from savagery 
 and barbarism. He was ever ready to do a friend 
 a favor, if within his power, and never turned a 
 pleading mendicant from his door empty handed. 
 His children are all well to do. 
 
 Benjamin F. Hottel. — Elsewhere in this 
 book it is written that five classes of pioneers aided 
 in the opening up of this great Rocky Mountain 
 region to settlers. They were explorers, trappers, 
 gold hunters, soldiers and those in search of homes. 
 There is yet another — the industrial pioneer — and 
 he is not the least in merit to his predecessors. It 
 is true that he .did not encounter the hardships, 
 deprivations and dangers of the first comers, but 
 he had many chances in business lines. He was not 
 afraid to invest his money in undertakings that 
 ultimately helped to make Larimer county, its 
 towns and cities what they are today. By his fore- 
 sight, energy and courage he did as much towards 
 developing and building up the country as those 
 who followed trails, freighted food stuffs and mer- 
 chandise from point to point; as the man who built 
 the first house deserving the name, plowed the 
 first furrow, dug the first irrigating ditch or spread 
 out his herds of cattle over the plains. Among the 
 latter, Benjamin F. Hottel stands well towards 
 the head of the list. Mr. Hottel is a native of Vir- 
 ginia, born, reared and educated in the famous 
 Shenandoah valley. He came west in 1875, stop- 
 ping first at Omaha where he engaged in the whole- 
 sale grocery business. Later he put a herd of cattle 
 on the rich pasture lands of Wyoming, casting his 
 lot with Fort Collins in October, 1877. At this 
 time he was less than thirty years of age but he 
 had foresight, courage, energy and ability and see- 
 ing in the Cache la Poudre valley a future of great 
 industrial promise, he determined to aid in its 
 development. He had learned the miller's trade in 
 his father's mill in the Old Dominion and did not 
 hesitate to associate himself with Joseph Mason 
 in operating the Lindell mills, then owned by Mr. 
 Mason, and since then Fort Collins has been the 
 home of himself and family. In February, 1880, he 
 bought a half interest in the mill, purchasing the 
 other half &f the Mason estate after Mr. Mason's 
 death in 1881, becoming sole owner. In 1885 he 
 sold the property to the Colorado Milling & Ele- 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 vator company, but has since remained as manager 
 of the mills for the company. Since becoming 
 identified with the Lindell Mills, Mr. Hottel has 
 paid to the farmers of the Cache la Poudre valley 
 millions of dollars for wheat and other grains and 
 is looked upon and recognized as one of the fore- 
 most men of Fort Collins. He is possessed of great 
 strength of character, marked breadth of vision 
 and is enterprising and public spirited. He was 
 one of the leaders in the movement which resulted 
 in getting one of the largest sugar factories in the 
 state built in Fort Collins, himself subscribing for 
 $25,000 worth of stock in the enterprise and was 
 made first President of the company. He is always 
 ready with voice and purse to help along and pro- 
 mote any enterprise or undertaking that promises 
 to advance the material, social and moral welfare 
 of the community. Although he has never been 
 an officer-seeker and has always been averse to ac- 
 cepting public office, he did consent to serve the 
 city twice as an alderman from his ward, rendering 
 splendid service each time. He is a large hearted, 
 broad-minded man and one of the main stays of 
 the business interests of Fort Collins. His be- 
 nevolences amount to a large sum each year, yet 
 he bestows them in a quiet, modest way, not "let- 
 ting his left hand know what his right hand doeth" 
 in such matters. In January, 1910, Mr. Hottel 
 was elected President of the Poudre Valley Nation- 
 al bank with which institution he had long been 
 connected as a stockholder and director. In 1875 
 he was married to Emma Mantz and three children, 
 Charles M., Anna Josephine (now deceased), and 
 Mary E. are the fruits of the union. In religion, 
 Mr. Hottel is an Episcopalian and in politics, a 
 democrat. 
 
 L. D. Crain. — To rise from the station of an 
 humble farmer boy through all the grades of the 
 public schools of Indiana, including the High 
 school, then entering Purdue University, graduat- 
 ing therefrom in June, 1892 with the degree of B. 
 M. E., and coming direct to Fort Collins to ac- 
 cept the position of assistant to Professor J. W. 
 Lawrence of the Mechanical Engineering depart- 
 ment of the Colorado Agricultural college, and 
 being promoted to a professorship in that institu- 
 tion, is an experience that Mr. Crain can look 
 back upon with infinite pleasure, and is a record 
 that challenges the admiration of all right think- 
 ing people. Mr. Crain was born February 3rd, 
 1868, near Angola, Steuben county, Indiana. He 
 worked on his father's farm until he entered the 
 
 Angola High school, from which he was graduated 
 in 1887. He matriculated in Purdue University, 
 September 18th, 1888, graduating therefrom in 
 June, 1892, with the degree of B. M. E. He came 
 direct from Purdue to Fort Collins in August of 
 that year and became assistant to Prof. J. W. Law- 
 rence in th'e department of Mechanical Engineer- 
 ing at the Colorado Agricultural college. He re- 
 
 L. D. CRAIN 
 
 mained in this department until 1903, when he 
 was elected Professor of Electrical Engineering and 
 started the course of electrical engineering at that 
 institution. This he conducted two years and then 
 resigned to go into business. He was connected 
 with the college for a period of thirteen years, less 
 one year spent in Cornell University taking post 
 graduate work, receiving there the M. M. E. de- 
 gree in June, 1902. He was married in the sum- 
 mer of 1894 to Laura Willson, daughter of Rev. 
 S. R. Willson, and a college classmate. She died 
 in 1895. He married September 16th, 1901, Miss 
 Aureli Bouton, daughter of Judge and Mrs. J. H. 
 Bouton. The names of his three children are L. D. 
 Jr., Jay B. and Richard W. On retiring from the 
 college faculty, Mr. Crain engaged in the hardware 
 
 [465] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 business as a member of the firm of The Bouton & 
 Grain Hardware company in which he has con- 
 tinued. He was made a Master Mason in Angola 
 Lodge No. 236, Angola, Indiana; a Royal Arch 
 Mason in Cache la Poudre Chapter No. 11, R. 
 A. M., and Knight Templer in DeMolay Com- 
 mandry No. 13 K. T., Fort Collins. He affiliated 
 with Collins lodge No. 19, A. F. & A. M. soon 
 after coming to Fort Collins, and served it as Wor- 
 shipful Master in 1900. He has also been High 
 Priest of Cache la Poudre chapter, and Eminent 
 Commander of DeMolay commandery. Worthy Pa- 
 tron of Collins chapter No. 26 O. E. S., and Grand 
 Patron of the Grand Chapter of Colorado. He is a 
 member of Denver council of Royal and Select 
 Masters, and is a 32nd degree Mason, being a 
 member of Denver Consistory A. A. S. R. of Colo- 
 rado. He joined the O. E. S. in Indiana in 1889. 
 Mr. Crain is also a Knight of Pythias and has 
 served two terms as Chancellor Commander of 
 Larimer Lodge No. 101, K. of P., and one term 
 as Grand Chancellor of Colorado. 
 
 R. Q. Tenney was born March 14th, 1838, in 
 Lebanon, New Hampshire; spent boyhood on a 
 farm; enlisted in company C 15th Vermont In- 
 fantry in August, 1862; mustered in as commissary 
 sergeant; came to Fort Collins in June, 1871, and 
 followed farming and dairying; was first Master 
 of Grange No. 7, organized in 1874; engaged in 
 stock business in 1883 with brother, Melvin A. 
 Tenney; was Water Commissioner for District 
 No. 3, in 1893-4; follows irrigation engineering 
 and was one of the originators of the Park Creek 
 Irrigation district. 
 
 John Zimmerman. — This noted frontiersman, 
 traveler, hunter, guide, miner and Larimer county 
 pioneer was born in 1840 mid the towering peaks 
 of the Alps of Switzerland. He emigrated with 
 his family to the United States when a small boy, 
 the family locating near La Crosse, Wisconsin. Here 
 he grew to manhood and received his education. He 
 came with his family from Minnesota to Larimer 
 county in 1880 and located at Cameron pass where 
 he spent four years hunting, prospecting and serving 
 as guide to tourists. In 1884 he moved his family 
 to his present location which has been his home for 
 27 years. With a rude saw mill he cut the lumber 
 with which to build a few cottages, doing the work 
 himself mainly, and began to entertain mountain 
 visitors, and tourists. His resort became so widely 
 noted for its hospitality and good cheer that he 
 decided to build a large and commodious hotel in 
 
 [466] 
 
 which to accommodate and entertain his guests, 
 and the "Keystone" at Home postoffice, a three 
 story and basement brick structure containing about 
 40 rooms and equipped with hot and cold water 
 and other modern conveniences was the result. Mr. 
 Zimmerman made the brick for the building and 
 did much of the construction work himself. His 
 wife died in 1903 leaving husband and four chil- 
 dren, two sons and two daughters, Ed and Casper 
 and the Misses Eda and Agnes Zimmerman. 
 
 Judge William B. Osborn. — Judge Osborn Is 
 a pioneer of Larimer county In the fullest meaning 
 of the term. His was the first family in the Big 
 Thompson valley. He built the first house with a 
 shingled roof In the valley, and Mrs. Osborn was 
 the first woman settler. The judge also was the 
 first man to bring cereal seed into that section. In 
 1862 he purchased half a bushel of oats, half a 
 bushel of wheat and half a bushel of rye, but his 
 faithful wife Is entitled to equal credit, for part of 
 her money— made by the work of her own hands — 
 went toward the payment. Mr. Osborn was the 
 first judge of the Larimer county court; performed 
 the first marriage ceremony in Larimer county, at 
 his home, Andrew Ames and Miss Cooper being 
 the contracting parties, and presided at the first 
 funeral of a white person in the county, reading the 
 Episcopal burial service from the book of prayer, 
 at the burial of Mrs. Joseph Markley in 1862. 
 William B. Osborn was born on his father's farm, 
 in Milo township, Yates county. New York, on 
 July 17, 1824. While still a boy his family moved 
 on to a farm in Perry, Wyoming county. New 
 York, and William grew up like every other farm 
 lad, doing the chores and attending the district 
 school. When a young man he went to a High 
 school at Perry till he was 21, then his father gave 
 him the means to go to Sclpio, Ohio, to see an 
 aunt. Young Osborn applied for and obtained a 
 school where he taught for nearly three years. He 
 had formed the acquaintance of a young medical 
 man, but recently graduated, and William thought 
 that he would like to master the mysteries of the 
 medical profession. The money he earned as a 
 pedagog he laid out on a medical education, devot- 
 ing all his vacation periods to gaining a knowledge 
 of medicine and surgery. After a three years' 
 residence in Scipio, his medical friend moved to 
 East Liberty, Ohio, and William went with him 
 as a friend and assistant. There he met his fate 
 and through that medium he forsook powders and 
 pills, lancet and ligatures. At East Liberty he 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 met Margaret C. Castetter, and the young people 
 were married. They lived on a farm near South 
 Bend, Indiana, without any disposition to change 
 their lot in life till 1860. In the spring of 1860 he, 
 and twenty-one others, left South Bend for Colo- 
 rado, and on May 15, they pitched their tents at 
 Gold Dirt, a camp six miles from Central City. 
 There was every evidence of gold in abundance — 
 both placer and quartz — and the need of a legal 
 camp organization was quite apparent. A meeting 
 was called and attended by every man in the camp 
 and this resulted in the election of Mr. Osborn as 
 secretary of that district. His duties were to issue 
 certificates of discovery and preemption and every 
 night his little ofKce was crowded by prospectors to 
 have their discoveries placed on record and get 
 their certificates showing ownership of claims. 
 Then the gold seekers needed a miner's court and 
 one was organized with Clerk Osborn as judge. 
 That fall a Boulder merchant, Harris Tarbox, 
 with whom Judge Osborn was quite friendly, in- 
 duced him to visit the Big Thompson valley. He 
 sang its praises as an ideal place to farm and raise 
 live stock and the judge rode over with him. A 
 man named Samuel Heffner had squatted on a 
 fine piece of bottom land a little east of where Love- 
 land was afterward located, and the judge bought 
 his relinquishment. This farm is still in the family, 
 and on it resides Milo Y. Osborn, only son of the 
 judge. Returning to Gold Dirt, the judge re- 
 sumed his clerical and judicial duties, but he was 
 determined at some future day to return to the 
 soil — he loving a farmer's life. The next spring 
 Mrs. Osborn and children came to Gold Dirt and 
 after a stay of a few months all moved on to the 
 acres Mr. Osborn had purchased. There was noth- 
 ing on it to speak of, as a habitation, but its new 
 owner had a log house built in which they resided. 
 Judge Osborn has occupied many positions of honor 
 and trust since his residence in Colorado. Aside 
 from his services at the gold camp, he was the first 
 county judge of Larimer county, appointed to that 
 office by the commissioners. At the expiration of 
 his term he was appointed county treasurer to fill 
 a defaulter's unexpired term, and on its completion 
 he was elected for another term. He also was ap- 
 pointed assessor of the county; appointed member 
 of the State Reform School board, and while hold- 
 ing that office he was appointed a member of the 
 State Board of Horticulture, but declined, owing 
 to too many business cares. Next he was appointed 
 clerk of the horticultural board and resided in Den- 
 ver for a year, but not caring to be away from 
 
 the farm, he resigned. He is now secretary and 
 treasurer of the Loveland Cemetery association 
 and that is enough duty for a man of his years to 
 perform. Five children were born to Judge and 
 Mrs. Osborn, three of whom are living and enjoy 
 the comfort of having loving families ; Mrs. Ella 
 C. Scott, of Fort Collins; Milo Y. Osborn, re- 
 siding on the old home farm, and Mrs. Cora B. 
 Timpke, of Loveland. On July 17, 1910, our 
 subject was 86 years of age. He is in full posses- 
 sion of all his faculties and his fund of stories of 
 events of the early days in Colorado and Larimer 
 county would more than fill a book the size of this 
 history, and during all his days he has lived a re- 
 markably clean life. The noble woman who has been 
 his companion for over 62 years, is entitled to a full 
 measure of praise. Always hopeful and cheerful, 
 she has been helpmeet and counselor to the man of 
 her choice; making him feel year after year, that 
 God has been very good to him. 
 
 Abner E. Sprague, locating engineer for the 
 Missouri Pacific railroad in Nebraska for five 
 years, assistant engineer for the Union Pacific rail- 
 road in Colorado for several years and County 
 Surveyor of Larimer county for three terms, was 
 born March 28th, 1850, in Dundee, Illinois. He 
 came to the Big Thompson valley in July, 1864, 
 where he received the rudiments of an education. 
 His father, Thos. Sprague, came to Colorado in 
 1860. Our subject married M. Alberta Morrison 
 in December, 1888. They have no children. Mr. 
 Sprague settled in Estes Park in 1875, and has been 
 a resident of Larimer county since 1864. His pres- 
 ent home is in Loveland, where he is engaged in 
 civil engineering, surveying and ranching. In 1864, 
 the Sprague family settled in the Big Thompson 
 valley near the county line between Larimer and 
 Weld counties. 
 
 Dr. Mary D. Reckly is entitled to the distinc- 
 tion of being the first woman physician to open an 
 office in Fort Collins for the practice of her pro- 
 fession. This she did in 1904, and is still engaged 
 in healing the sick and soothing the afflicted. She 
 was born at, and received her early education in 
 Hillsboro, Ohio, the former home of Colonel W. 
 O. Collins, the gallant soldier for whom Fort Col- 
 lins is named. She has an A. B. degree from the 
 University of Denver, and is a graduate both from 
 a regular school of medicine and a school of osteo- 
 pathy. She has spent three years pursuing medical 
 studies in Europe and is a skilled and sympathetic 
 
 [467] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 physician as well as an educated, cultured lady of 
 pleasing personality who wins friends in every walk 
 of life. 
 
 Samuel F. Webster.— To cause a nickel to 
 multiply itself two million times, resulting in an 
 increment of $100,000, within a period of twenty- 
 
 SAMUEL F. WEBSTER 
 
 three years, is one of the most notable achievements 
 of a farmer's boy on record; but that is what the 
 subject of this sketch has accomplished since he ar- 
 rived at the age of sixteen years. How did he do it? 
 Well, he didn't do it by loafing about town, play- 
 ing pool for the drinks or cigars, bucking the tiger 
 or betting on futures. No, he didn't get his start 
 in that way. He got it by steady, hard work, long 
 hours in the field plowing, sowing and harvesting 
 crops, feeding stock, wise management and prudent 
 husbanding of his resources. When Sam was six- 
 teen years of age he began to shift for himself. He 
 left home with one solitary nickel in his pocket and 
 the clothes he had on his back. That was in 
 1887. After working a few months for farmers 
 he bought 160 acres of land of F. C. Avery, 
 agreeing to pay $6,000 for it with interest at 12 
 
 [468] 
 
 per cent. He also went into debt $600 for two 
 spans of horses for use in working his land. Be- 
 fore he was twenty-five years old he had paid 
 for his farm and teams, had a good bunch of 
 cattle and money in the bank. Since then his 
 progress towards wealth and independence has 
 been rapid. He has added 240 broad acres to his 
 land holdings and has now a fully equipped farm 
 of 400 acres of as productive land as there is in the 
 county, well stocked with horses and cattle; owns 
 considerable city property and is a stockholder 
 in the First National bank of Fort Collins. Mr. 
 Webster was born March 12th, 1871, in Cass coun- 
 ty, Missouri, and received his education in the 
 public schools. In 1875 he came from Missouri 
 with his father's family to Larimer county. His 
 father, Stewart Webster, followed freighting for 
 two years and in 1877, he homesteaded a quarter of 
 a section of land in the Harmony district on which 
 he lived for more than twenty years. Our subject 
 married Maggie Angell on January 25th, 1905, at 
 
 MRS. SAMUEL F. WEBSTER 
 
 Colorado Springs and she has been a real helpmeet, 
 much of his success being due to her counsel and 
 advice. She is a daughter of James Angell 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 who came from Bedford, Iowa, where she was 
 born in 1882, to Larimer county in 1885, and 
 settled first in the Little Thompson vaDey, moving 
 thence to the Buckhorn valley where he still resides. 
 Mr. Webster moved his family from the farm to 
 Fort Collins in 1905 and that city is still his home. 
 He has five children, Isabel, Catherine, Elizabeth, 
 Hazel, and Samuel J. Webster, all at home. Our 
 subject resides with his family in a handsome and 
 nicely furnished home at 300 Matthews street, 
 where he is now enjoying life and the fruits of his 
 well-earned fortune. He is an ardent lover of a 
 good horse and has owned several speed ring win- 
 ners. He is a public spirited citizen and is ever 
 ready to help along a worthy public enterprise. 
 
 C. O. Culver. — Our subject in this instance was 
 not a pioneer, but he is one of the solid, substan- 
 tial and most highly respected citizens of Larimer 
 county. Mr. Culver was born September 26th, 
 1854, on a farm near Athens, Illinois. His educa- 
 tion was obtained in the public schools and in a 
 business college, and on February 19th, 1878, he 
 married Mary J. Rice of Jacksonville, Illinois. 
 Of this union five children were born, C. A., M. 
 Alma, G. Warren, Howard B., and Edith H., all 
 natives of Menard county, Illinois. He came with 
 his family from Illinois to Fort Collins in 1903, 
 and purchased what was then known as the Trim- 
 ble farm, one mile south of the College, which is 
 still the family home. Mr. Culver is a progressive 
 and prosperous farmer and stock feeder, and he and 
 his family stand high in business, social and church 
 circles. He is a director of the Fort Collins Na- 
 tional bank and his wise counsel is often sought 
 in business matters. 
 
 GusTAV E. Lyckman. — No better specimens of 
 sturdy manhood have forsaken their homes beyond 
 the Atlantic and forsworn their allegiance to foreign 
 prince and potentate than those who have come 
 from Sweden to be enrolled as citizens of the Amer- 
 ican Republic. Almost invariably they possess the 
 vigor, the industry, the prudence and the love of 
 freedom which make them good citizens of our 
 favored land. Obedience to the established laws of 
 the country and recognition of the rights of others 
 are, as a rule, marked characteristics of natives of 
 Sweden. The principle "live and let live" seems 
 to have been engrafted upon their souls in child- 
 hood and to have grown with their growth into a 
 living, sentient motive. Such a man at least, was 
 Gustav E. Lyckman. He was born March 25th, 
 1833, in Stockholm, Sweden, where he received his 
 
 education. He emigrated to the United States in 
 1865, and after spending two years in Chicago, 
 familiarizing himself with the ways, customs and 
 habits of the American people and with their laws 
 and institutions, he moved to Kansas City, Missouri, 
 where he engaged in the mercantile business which 
 he followed for a few years, then selling his store 
 and buying a farm which he conducted until he 
 
 GUSTAV E. LYCKMAN 
 
 came to Fort Collins in 1886, to join his son, Gus. 
 A. Lyckman, who had preceded him several years. 
 Here he lived until his death on July 11th, 1910. 
 He is survived by one child (Mrs. Anna E. Stur- 
 devant, late of Boulder, died Oct., 1904), G. A. 
 Lyckman of the Cache la Poudre valley. The son 
 has been a well-known and highly esteemed resident 
 and successful farmer of that valley for nearly a 
 third of a century and has done much to help 
 develop its agricultural resources. He is a stock- 
 holder in the Water Supply & Storage company 
 and for several years a member of its board of 
 directors. ■ 
 
 Harry B. Boyd, a native of Marion, Ohio, born 
 in 1862, came to the Big Thompson valley on 
 October 20th, 1873, four years before a railroad 
 
 [469] 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 was built into Larimer county, and that valley is 
 still his home. In 1893 he married Laura Richart, 
 daughter of a Big' Thompson pioneer. They have 
 no children. Mr. Boyd is a butcher by occupation. 
 
 Louis Papa, step-son of Mariana Modena, who 
 settled in the Big Thompson valley in 1858, was 
 born in Walla Walla, Washington, in the late for- 
 
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 -z^^sT * vsl« ^^^l^^^l 
 
 W3t 
 
 
 ^^^^f ' .-^'^^^^^^ 
 
 ■b^ 
 
 Kniiit'h^^^mH 
 
 IP^^^^H 
 
 If! 
 
 ■ 
 
 LOUIS PAPA 
 
 ties or early fifties of the Nineteenth century, the 
 exact year of his birth being unknown to him. He is 
 of French and Indian descent. He came to the Big 
 Thompson valley with mother and step-father and 
 that has been his home for more than fifty years. 
 His ranch is in the Big Thompson canon, where 
 he carries on gardening and cattle raising. 
 
 John S. Oliver was born May 25th, 1846, in 
 Adams county, Illinois; moved to Missouri in 1859; 
 enlisted in March, 1862, in Co. "H" of the 6th, 
 Mo., Volunteer cavalry, and on expiration of two 
 years' service, reenlisted in Co. "B" of 13th, Mo., 
 cavalry. The regiment was retained in service 
 after the war closed and in 1865 sent to Denver as 
 escort to Gen. Upton ; two companies were sent to 
 Fort Collins and four to Fort Morgan to do guard 
 
 [470] 
 
 duty; mustered out in 1866; followed farming until 
 1874, when he came to Fort Collins, where he 
 has since lived. He married for his first wife 
 Sarah J. Luke, who died in 1909; remarried Mrs. 
 Rebecca Powers in 1910; has three sons, Thomas, 
 Charles and George ; two daughters, Mrs. Mary 
 Williams and Mrs. Kate Hodges. 
 
 W. E. Willis was born in 1829, in Harrison 
 county. West Virginia; reared on a farm and at- 
 tended district school; married Harriett E. Bos- 
 worth in 1851 and the names of their children are 
 Perry H., Squire L., George, William E., Raymond 
 L. Mr. Willis came to Colorado in 1871, and 
 located on a farm in Pleasant Valley where he suc- 
 cessfully followed gardening for several years. He 
 was an honest, industrious and prudent man and a 
 loyal citizen of the county. Mrs. Willis was a 
 sister of P. J., H. P. and W. P. Bosworth, all of. 
 Larimer county. Our subject is descended from a 
 colonial family of Virginia, his ancestors settling in 
 that colony in the early years of the Seventeenth 
 century. His great, great grandfather was a school 
 teacher in Virginia before the revolutionary war 
 and one of the contracts executed between him and 
 the school authorities of that period is still in 
 existence. It provided among other things that he 
 should receive in payment for his services so many 
 bushels of corn, so much bacon and a certain amount 
 of money, and that he should be excused from teach- 
 ing so many days during the term so that he could 
 hoe his own corn. Mr. Willis was an honest, hard 
 working citizen. He died August 17th, 1902, aged 
 73 years. During the Civil war he was in the 
 United States transportation service. 
 
 George H. Willcox was one of the first men to 
 recognize the value of Colorado's most succulent 
 grasses and to fully grasp the advantages of that 
 magnificient forage plant, alfalfa, as a food for 
 dairy cattle. He came west from Iowa, in 1880, 
 where he was born October 19th, 1856; married 
 Rose Webber at Ouray, Colorado, February 22nd, 
 1893. For a number of years Mr. Willcox has 
 been in the dairy business and is now located near 
 Fort Collins. He owns a splendid herd of selected 
 dairy animals, and has among the number many 
 very choice specimens of the Holstein breed, re- 
 markable for their milk producing qualities, true 
 types of the one purpose animal. Mr. Willcox 
 is an active, energetic man who has built up a fine 
 business by square dealing and honest treatment 
 to a long list of patrons. 
 
MR. AND MRS. JOHN G. COY 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 John G. Coy, one of Larimer county's foremost 
 farmers and mcist highly respected pioneer citizens, 
 was born April 14th, 1834, in Oswego, New York. 
 His parents were English people and his father was 
 a miller by trade. At the age of ten years, our 
 subject was left an orphan and thrown upon the 
 care of an uncle. When 13 years of age he went to 
 live with an uncle in Illinois and worked on a farm 
 for five years, returning then to Oswego. In the fall 
 of 1852, he went by sea to New Orleans, thence up 
 the Mississippi to St. Louis. Here he joined a 
 caravan bound for California, which crossed the 
 continent and arrived at its destination that fall. 
 He first found employment on a ranch; then made 
 shingles and spent a few years in mining with 
 indifferent success. Mr. Coy returned to New 
 York in the spring of 1861, via the Isthmus of 
 Panama and in the spring of 1862 he and Emily 
 Adams were married. Mrs. Coy was born near 
 Norwich, England, in 1838, and was the second 
 eldest of a family of eleven children. Her parents 
 came to America when she was three years of age. 
 Her mother died when she was 15 and her father 
 followed his wife to the grave six years later, leav- 
 ing her to care for the family of children. After 
 teaching school about a year and a half, she mar- 
 ried Mr. Coy and shortly afterwards bride and 
 groom started on their long and perilous trip across 
 the dreary Plains. They left Cuba, Missouri, with 
 three yoke of oxen, a light covered wagon, a tent, a 
 saddle horse and provisions enough to last them 
 through to California. The story of the trials, 
 accidents and incidents, met with on this trip is 
 related in a paper read by Mrs. Coy at an annual 
 banquet of the Pioneer association, which is re- 
 produced elsewhere in this volume under the cap- 
 tion "Crossing the Plains in 1862". Mr. and Mrs. 
 Coy arrived in the Cache la Poudre valley and on 
 the site of their present home on August 1st, 1862, 
 where they concluded to remain through the follow- 
 ing fall and winter as the season was too late to 
 safely venture on the long trip to the Pacific coast. 
 One winter in Colorado removed all thoughts of 
 going on to California and for nearly half a century 
 the Cache la Poudre valley has been their home. 
 Mr. Coy occupies and carries on the farm he lo- 
 cated on in 1862 and it is one of the best and most 
 productive farms in the county. He is a thorough 
 going farmer, stock feeder and business man, which 
 furnishes the key to his success in life. His farm 
 is highly improved and yields its owner a hand- 
 some income annually. The farm buildings are 
 modern in character and arranged with special 
 
 reference to utility and convenience. Since becom- 
 ing a citizen of the Cache la Poudre valley, Mr. 
 Coy has twice served the county as a member of the 
 board of county commissioners, once the candidate 
 of his party for state senator and once for gov- 
 ernor of Colorado, and has always taken an active 
 interest in public affairs. That he failed of an 
 election to these high positions was not due to 
 lack of personal popularity but to the fact that his 
 party was largely in the minority. Mr. and Mrs. 
 Coy have been the parents of ten children, four of 
 whom died at a tender age. The six surviving are 
 all married and well settled in life. The eldest, 
 Elizabeth, is the wife of Prof. James W. Law- 
 rence, head of the department of mechanical engi- 
 neering at the Colorado Agricultural college. She 
 was a member of the,- first class to graduate from 
 that institution receiving ; the degree of B. S. in 
 1884. The other daughters are now Mrs. John 
 M. Hoffman, of Fort Collins and Mrs. George 
 Bertram, of Idaho Falls, Idaho. The sons are 
 named W. B. Coy, a farmer of Torrington, Wyom- 
 ing; John E. Coy, a farmer of Fort Collins, and 
 Burgis Coy, a civil engineer in charge of construc- 
 tion work on the Laramie-Poudre Reservoir and 
 Irrigation company's mammoth irrigation projects. 
 
 James M. Naylor was born September 30th, 
 1854, in Shelby county, Missouri; married Sarah 
 E. Golay, born August 15th, 1859, in Shelby 
 county on July 6th, 1879; came to Colorado in 
 1873, and engaged in stock raising until 1878 when 
 he went to Missouri and married. He then returned 
 to Colorado in 1881, locating three miles northwest 
 of Loveland, and engaged in farming and stock 
 raising; moved in 1882 three miles east of Love- 
 land, and in 1890 to the Alexander place near the 
 Little dam. In 1891, he moved to Chaffee county, 
 Colorado, selling his range stock in 1897 and moving 
 back to the Big Thompson valley to a place two 
 miles northeast of Loveland, w^here he fed sheep and 
 cattle until 1909, when he moved his family to 
 Loveland, and is now living a retired life at 409 E. 
 7th street. Mr. Naylor is one of the enterprising 
 and thrifty farmers and stock raisers of Larimer 
 county. 
 
 Samuel H. Eidson was born in 1850, in Adams 
 county, Illinois, where he received his education ; 
 came to Colorado in 1871, locating first in Boulder 
 county; moved to Larimer county in 1879 and is a 
 farmer by occupation ; married Carrie Ackerman in 
 1879 at Hygiene, Colo., and their children's names 
 
 [471] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 are, Otto, Elmo, Carl, Lester, Jean, Gladys, Theo- 
 dore, and Josephine. Mr. Eidson helped to build 
 the Handy and Home Supply irrigating canals and 
 Mariana reservoir. 
 
 John Lewis Herzinger. — Born April 1st, 
 1854 in Germany; died January 12th, 1899, in 
 Loveland, Colorado. This simple statement tells 
 of the opening and closing of a long and useful 
 
 JOHN LEWIS HERZINGER 
 
 life — a life marked by good deeds, love for his 
 fellowman, his country, his home, his family and 
 his God. For more than a score of years Mr. 
 Herzinger was a leading citizen and business man 
 of Loveland arid was known far and wide because 
 of his manliness, his unselfish and spotless char- 
 acter and for his good citizenship. He came with 
 his parents from the Fatherland to the United 
 States when four years of age, the family settling 
 in Jackson, Missouri. Here he obtained a common 
 school education and learned the shoemaker's trade. 
 In 1849 he went to California, where he remained 
 several years. On October 5th, 1860, he was 
 joined in marriage with Mary M. Loyd of Freder- 
 ickstown, Missouri, who survives him. No child- 
 
 [472] 
 
 ren were born of the union. During the civil war, 
 Mr. Herzinger served as scout under Generals 
 Grant and Prentice, and was commended for his 
 loyalty and many acts of bravery. In 1871 he 
 came from Missouri to Caribou, Boulder county, 
 where he became associated with S. B. Harter in 
 the mercantile business — a partnership which con- 
 tinued for more than a quarter of a century. In 
 the fall of 1877, the firm moved to Loveland and 
 erected the first brick store building and hall in 
 that town. Mr. Herzinger was mayor of Love- 
 land for two years and was for many years a di- 
 rector of the Bank of Loveland. Strict integrity 
 and a keen business mind characterized all his 
 dealings. He joined the Odd Fellows in Califor- 
 nia and was a charter member of Loveland lodge 
 No. 36, I. O. of O. F. ; also a member of the 
 Methodist church. 
 
 Hannah M. Case was born May 17th, 1845, 
 in Athens county, Ohio, the daughter of a mer- 
 chant and manufacturer, D. B. Stewart, for whom 
 her birth place was named. She was educated at 
 Miller's Seminary, and at the" age of 20, married 
 J. M. Case, the inventor of the roller process em- 
 ployed in the manufacture of flour. Of this union 
 six children were born, two boys and four girls, all 
 of whom are living. Their names are Mrs. Rosa- 
 mond Herd, of Cortland, Arizona; Murray B. Case 
 also of Arizona; Ethel A. Hicks, of Lamont, Iowa; 
 Harvey O. Case of Colorado Springs, Colorado; 
 Mrs. Mabel L. Baisden, of Havana, Cuba, and 
 Luella Case of Fort Collins. Mrs. Case and her 
 youngest daughter, Luella, came to Fort Collins 
 in 1899, and that place has since been their home. 
 
 John W. Seaman. — Died at midnight on Janu- 
 ary 9th, 1907, at his home in Loveland, aged 63 
 years. Mr. Seaman was born in 1844, at Belle- 
 fontaine, Ohio. He was educated in the public 
 schools of that day, and in 1862, when but 18 years 
 of age, he enlisted in the 96th Ohio Volunteer 
 Infantry, but was discharged at Vicksburg in 1863, 
 on account of disability. Recovering his health, he 
 reentered the army in 1864 in the 132nd Ohio 
 Infantry, and was commissioned a Second Lieu- 
 tenant. When the Civil war closed he returned 
 to his Ohio home, where he remained until 1871, 
 coming then to Colorado and locating in Evans. 
 In 1877, Mr. Seaman came to Loveland and took 
 charge of George Krouskop's general store. In 1883, 
 he was appointed Postmaster by President Arthur, 
 and gave the community splendid service. After 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 retiring from the postoffice in 1888, he again en- 
 gaged in the mercantile business, and twice served 
 Loveland as member of the board of town trustees. 
 In the fall of 1901 he was elected County Assessor, 
 and reelected in the fall of 1904. He was a care- 
 ful, painstaking and one of the most conscientious 
 public officials Larimer county ever had. He left 
 a widow, three sons and a young daughter. The 
 eldest son is the present Assessor of the county. 
 
 Cooke Rhea now a prosperous Jackson county 
 ranchman, but a former resident of Fort Collins, 
 has been on the frontier nearly all his life. He 
 was born October 28th, 1844, in Mercer county, 
 Missouri, and relocated in Platte county, Neb- 
 raska. In November, 1886, he married Carrie 
 Growendike at Rawlins, Wyoming, and his living 
 children are Ethel R., Clara L., Spartan W. and 
 Ruth N. His daughter Ethel was the first child 
 born in Big Creek Park, Jackson county. Mr. 
 Rhea came to Kansas in 1854, in Border Ruffian 
 times, and to Colorado in 1872, returning to Kan- 
 sas the following year. In the raid the Cheyenne 
 Indians made through Kansas in 1875, he cap- 
 tured Chief Dull Knife's horse and kept the animal 
 until he died. He came back to Colorado in 1880, 
 and in 1882 helped to build the Greeley, Salt Lake- 
 & Pacific railroad, having a sub-contract for grad- 
 ing the track across the Sherwood ranch west of 
 Timnath. In the fall of 1882 he went to North 
 Park, locating on a stock ranch, in Big Creek 
 Park, where he still lives. Mr. Rhea did a good 
 deal of hunting game for market the first few years 
 of his life in the park, always with good success. 
 Antelope, deer, elk and bear were plentiful in those 
 days, and he shot and killed twenty-seven antelope 
 in one day. Of other game killed that year (1882) 
 there were four bear, eleven deer, seventeen elk 
 and seven mountain sheep. 
 
 Prof. Edward B. House, eldest son of Mr. and 
 Mrs. E. P. House of Greeley, and head of the de- 
 partment of Civil and Irrigation Engineering of 
 the Colorado State Agricultural college was born 
 February 27th, 1872. His father came to Colo- 
 rado in 1865 and his mother in 1870. The family 
 lived at Evans until 1878 and then moved to 
 Greeley. There were three children in the family, 
 Edward B., George W., and Louise, now Mrs. 
 Downey, all of whom were educated in the pub- 
 lic schools of Greeley. Our subject graduated 
 from the Greeley High school in 1891, and then 
 spent a year at work earning money to enable him 
 
 to enter college. He spent the year 1893 at the 
 University of Pittsburg, going thence to the Uni- 
 versity of Michigan at Ann Arbor, graduating 
 therefrom with the degree of B. S. (E. E.) on 
 June 20th, 1896, as one of the honor members of 
 a class of 851 students. He came to Fort Collins 
 and began work at the Colorado State Agricultural 
 college on September 1st, 1896, as assistant in 
 
 PROF. EDWARD B. HOUSE 
 
 mathematics and physics; was made professor of 
 mathematics January 1st, 1897 and held the chair 
 of mathematics for nine years; did irrigation work 
 during the summer vacations for several years; 
 worked on the Colorado-Kansas case two summers 
 and was stationed at Chamber's lake one summer. 
 The degree of M. S. was conferred upon him June 
 3rd, 1904, and September 1st, 1905, he vvas chosen 
 associate professor of Irrigation Engineering. He 
 held this position five years. On June 15th, 1910, 
 he was promoted to professor of Civil and Irriga- 
 tion Engineering, and on April 1st, 1911 he was 
 placed at the head of that department of college 
 work. On August 25th, 1896, Professor House 
 was joined In marriage with Harriet Chandler of 
 Macomb, Illinois, who had been a teacher in the 
 
 [473] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 public schools of Fort Collins. They have three 
 children; Edward C, Margaret, and Joseph C. 
 House, all at home. Professor House is a member 
 of Larimer Lodge No. 101, Knights of Pythias 
 and represented the lodge in the Grand lodge of 
 Colorado in 1901 ; was elected Grand Master at 
 Arms in 1904, and Grand Chancellor in 1907, 
 leading the Colorado Pythians through a successful 
 and prosperous year. 
 
 Wilbur R. Thornton^ a former capable, hon- 
 est and very efficient member of the board of com- 
 missioners of Larimer county, who died June 19th, 
 
 WILBUR R. THORNTON 
 
 1901, at Loveland, was a native of the state of New 
 York. He married Jessie Scoville in 1877, at At- 
 tica, New York, and they came to Colorado the 
 same year. His early pursuits were teaching school 
 and carpenter work, but after coming to Larimer 
 county his business was chiefly farming, at which he 
 was very successful. For many years he was the 
 moving spirit and president of the Home Supply 
 ditch. In 1891 he was elected a county commis- 
 sioner on the democratic and prohibition ticket, 
 serving his term of three years with marked ability 
 and satisfaction; for seven months he was manager 
 
 [474] 
 
 of the Berthoud Mill and pulled the affairs of the 
 Milling company through the panic of 1893-4, 
 after being repeatedly requested to take full charge. 
 Mr. Thornton had lived in and around Loveland 
 for nearly thirty years, when he died, holding the 
 respect and confidence of all who knew without 
 a break through all those years. He left surviving 
 three children, Clarence F., Theresa R., and Bruce 
 J. Thornton. The family lives at 355 West 5th 
 street, Loveland. Mr. Thornton was by nature, 
 education and experience well fitted for almost 
 any position in the gift of the people and had he 
 lived he would no doubt have been called upon to 
 serve the people in many public capacities. He 
 knew how to transact public as well as private 
 business in a methodical and accurate manner and 
 was of great service in this regard as a member of 
 the board of county commissioners. Larimer 
 county never had a more competent and conscien- 
 tious member of the board than he proved to be or 
 one that gave better service. His death was not 
 only a great loss to his family but a distinct loss 
 to the community in which he lived and to the 
 county at large. 
 
 William A. Shipp was born April 2nd, 1855, 
 at Jordan Grove, Iowa; educated at Irving, Kan- 
 sas, and at Laporte, Colorado; came to Colorado 
 in 1868 with his father's family and settled at La- 
 porte. He was joined in marriage with Maggie 
 Lawrence on March 29th, 1880, and they have four 
 children; Elsie, Albert, Walter and Alice. Mr. 
 Shipp has followed farming for many years with a 
 fair measure of success. He resides in Pleasant 
 Valley. 
 
 William T. Newell was born December 12th, 
 1830, in Hancock county. West Virginia; raised 
 on a farm and received his education in the common 
 schools; went to Iowa in 1854, remaining in that 
 state until 1860, when he crossed the Plains with 
 an ox team and arrived at Central City, Colorado, 
 May 20th; engaged in mining and lumbering in 
 Gilpin county for 23 years; came to the Little 
 Thompson valley in 1883, having, in 1874, pur- 
 chased 320 acres of land situated 14 miles east of 
 Berthoud, which he fenced for pasture; married 
 Carrie E. Bradley, daughter of S. H. and Anna 
 Laurie Bradley of Black Hawk, in January, 1867; 
 ten children were born of the union, five of them 
 are living: J. H. Newell, manager of Mintener 
 Lumber company, Berthoud ; W. A. Newell, S. 
 Ernest and William T., farmers near Berthoud, 
 and Charles S. Newell of the Colorado Telephone 
 
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HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 company, Denver. Mr. Newell crossed the Plains 
 seven times in a wagon and tells some thrilling 
 Indian stories. He and his wife are passing their 
 declining years in the village of Berthoud. 
 
 Hon. Joseph Murray. — ^Joseph Murray, spec- 
 ial agent of the United States Treasury Depart- 
 ment in charge of the Seal islands of Alaska, died 
 in Fort Collins, October 4th, 1898, at the age of 
 55 years. Mr. Murray was born April 10th, 1843 
 in County Kildare, near Dublin, Ireland, and was 
 educated in the national schools of Ireland and at 
 Salford college, England. Of humble but honest 
 parentage, he early developed those traits of char- 
 acter that made him a noted man throughout his 
 eventful life. His leading characteristics were a 
 cheerful and vivacious temperament, enthusiasm, 
 ready sympathy for the weak and suffering and un- 
 tiring energy. Mr. Murray, at the age of 18 years, 
 came to the United States and joined the Union 
 Army, enlisting in the famous 69th New York 
 Volunteers, which was attached to General Francis 
 Meagher's Irish brigade. He fought in the army 
 of the Potomac from Manassas to the Wilderness, 
 participating in the first big battle of the war at 
 Bull Run, July 21st, 1861, also in the battles at 
 Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville and 
 Gettysburg. He was commissioned a second lieu- 
 tenant before the war ended. After being mustered 
 out, Mr. Murray followed bookkeeping In New 
 York, going thence to Paterson, New Jersey to 
 become foreman of a factory. In August, 1869, 
 he married Miss Margaret H. Jordan of Whip- 
 pany, New Jersey, who survives him. They came 
 to Colorado in 1870, with the Greeley Colony, and 
 went bravely to work together to make a home on 
 the barren Plains. Mr. Murray assisted mater- 
 ially in the organizing of the town of Greeley and 
 in bringing order out of chaos. Three years later 
 he moved to Larimer county and took up a home- 
 stead in the Harmony district and engaged in farm- 
 ing. He was elected assessor of the county in 
 1874, and was the candidate of the republican 
 party for sheriff in 1876, but was defeated. Later 
 he identified himself with the Farmers' Alliance 
 and labor movements. He was called the father 
 of the Knights of Labor in Colorado and assisted in 
 organizing lodges all over the state and in attempt- 
 ing to improve the conditions of the laboring classes. 
 He was also an aggressive champion of the farm- 
 ers' movement and was the leader in organizing 
 the Farmers' Milling & Elevator company, in which 
 he was a very heavy loser. In 1889, President 
 
 Harrison appointed him special agent of the treas- 
 ury department to take charge of the Alaska seal 
 fisheries, a position he held up to the time of his 
 death. In the care of the seal rookeries and the 
 supervision of the fish canneries he had an exten- 
 sive territory to cover, requiring him to travel from 
 the Pribyloff Islands to Sitka, a distance of 5,000 
 miles. He did a great deal to preserve seal life 
 from pelagic sealers, and assisted materially in 
 bringing about the settlement of the vexed seal 
 question between the United States and Great 
 Britain. He was on his way to Washington to 
 prepare and submit his report, and stopped off to 
 visit his family after an absence of two years when 
 stricken with paralysis of the brain from which he 
 failed to recover. Thus ended the life and public 
 services of one of the most useful and popular men 
 that ever dwelt in Larimer county. 
 
 William Ringland was bom in County Down, 
 Ireland, on Nov. 5, 1841, on the farm that had 
 been in his father's family for over 200 years. On 
 February 1, 1867, he and Margaret Ann Ireland 
 were married, the ceremony being performed in the 
 Presbyterian church, Killileigh, County Down, by 
 the Rev. Andrew Braky, the pastor who performed 
 a similar service for the father and mother of the 
 groom, and in the same church. Twin sons were 
 born to Mr. and Mrs. Ringland, on October 14, 
 1870, the mother dying the following February. 
 The father and his sons set sail for America, via 
 Liverpool, England. He left his sons with an uncle 
 in Ohio and continued his journey, arriving in 
 Larimer county, about the 26th of March, 1871, 
 and here he has since lived. 
 
 Perry Reeder. — Our subject is one of the 
 thrifty, prosperous farmers of Larimer county, who, 
 starting with little except a clear brain and willing 
 hands, has made good. He was born March 8th, 
 1863, in West Virginia, mid the booming of cannon, 
 the whistling of bullets and the rattle of drums 
 of the Civil war period, and was educated at Carth- 
 age, Illinois. He came to Colorado in 1887, and 
 went to work on a farm for E. B. Davis, south 
 of Timnath. In 1894, he married Emma E. Allam 
 of Windsor, who died in March, 1903, leaving 
 a daughter, Fannie, and a son, Albert. Soon after 
 his first marriage, he took charge of the Alex Barry 
 farm south of Windsor, where he lived for six 
 years. In 1901 he bought a farm of 160 acres six 
 miles east of Fort Collins, on which he still re- 
 sides. In June, 1904, Mr. Reeder married, for his 
 
 [475] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 second wife, Mrs. Lizzie Walker of Fort Collins. 
 His farm is watered from the Larimer County canal, 
 one of the best irrigating canals in the state. He 
 has fed sheep for 14 years and has found it to be 
 a very profitable industry. 
 
 Frederick J. Schroeder. — Born of German 
 parents, June 7th, 1857, in Auglaise county, Ohio, 
 our subject received his education in the public 
 
 schools of Cincinnati. Soon after leaving school 
 he began work in a grocery store, and later went 
 to Knoxville, Ohio, where he apprenticed him- 
 self to learn the harness maker's trade. He then 
 returned to Cincinnati and resumed the occupa- 
 tion of salesman in a grocery store, which he fol- 
 lowed until he was 22 years of age, and then went 
 into business for himself. In 1882 he married 
 Emma E. Konsheim, and seven children are living 
 as fruits of the union, whose names are Albert, 
 Margaret, Edna, John, Lewis, Theodore, arid 
 Mary, all at home. Seized with the western fever 
 in 1883, Mr. Schroeder came with his family to 
 Larimer county and took up the claim in Liver- 
 more that Arthur Aldrich now owns and occupies. 
 
 [+76] 
 
 After spending a year in the mountains, he moved 
 to Fort Collins in 1884, and went to work in 
 Evans, Thoman & company's market. In 1885, he 
 went into partnership with John Yost and the firm 
 bought the Standard market on Linden street and 
 continued in that line of business until 1904, when 
 he sold out. Since then, Mr. Schroeder has been 
 engaged in buying and selling live stock, feeding 
 cattle and sheep for market and in wool growing 
 in which he has had splendid success. Though 
 neither a politician nor an office seeker, he has 
 through the unsought partiality of friends served 
 the First ward of Fort Collins five years as its rep- 
 resentative in the city council, one year by appoint- 
 ment and two full terms by election, making an 
 enviable record for faithfulness and fidelity to 
 trust. He has a beautiful home on Remington 
 street and is the owner of considerable other real 
 estate. He is a public spirited, progressive citizen 
 and no man in the home of his adoption enjoys to 
 greater extent the good will, confidence and re- 
 spect of his fellowmen than Frederick J. Schroeder. 
 
 O. C. Peck was born April 24, 1824, in Vir- 
 ginia; died January 28, 1886, at his farm home 
 three and one-half miles south of Fort Collins, 
 aged 62 years. Mr. Peck came to Fort Collins 
 in 1871 and remained here until 1877, when he 
 returned to Missouri. During his first residence 
 here he engaged largely in building enterprises and 
 was the builder of the stone hotel on Jefferson 
 street, known as the City hotel. He also built 
 and owned a large brick business block on Jeffer- 
 son street, recently occupied by the Fort Collins 
 Buggy company, besides several other buildings of 
 less importance. After spending some six years 
 in Missouri he returned to Fort Collins and set- 
 tled on the farm on which he died. He was the 
 father of Mrs. D. L. Powers of this city and Mrs. 
 P. G. Terry of Wellington. 
 
 Peter Schelt was born September 10th, 1835, 
 in Germany; came to the United States in 1848; 
 after reaching manhood's estate he worked in the 
 Pennsylvania coal mines, later moving to Illinois; 
 enlisted at the outbreak of the Civil war in the 21st 
 Illinois Volunteer Infantry, commanded by Col. 
 U. S. Grant. Our subject was mustered out in 
 1865, and in 1867, he came to the Big Thomp- 
 son valley and engaged in freighting from Den- 
 ver to Fort Laramie; married Viola Severance in 
 January, 1871, who bore him five children, Mrs. 
 Frank Cunningham, Mrs. Emma Webster, Will- 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COL OR ADO 
 
 iam, Frank and Augustus Schelt; settled in the 
 Cache la Poudre valley in 1878, later moving to 
 Fort Collins which w^as his home until he died, 
 September 5th, 1904, while attending a soldier's 
 reunion at Loveland. Mrs. Schelt is now a resi- 
 dent of Fort Collins. 
 
 Virgil W. Stoddard was born June 29th, 1852, 
 in Sullivan county. New York, where he received 
 his education. He came to Colorado in April, 1874, 
 and settled in Greeley; came to Loveland in 1881 
 and engaged in the livery business with George 
 W. Foote, the partnership continuing for twenty- 
 two years, and it is a significant fact that not the 
 slightest friction or misunderstanding occurred in 
 the firm in all that time. Our subject married 
 Josephine Kelley, January 26th, 1881, and six 
 children were born to them; Mabel G., Max C, 
 George, Frank, Dr. Fred W. and Jennie L. Stod- 
 dard. Mr. Stoddard retired from active business 
 pursuits several years ago, devoting his attention 
 to his extensive property interests. He was a stock- 
 holder in the First National bank of Loveland when 
 he died on February 22nd, 1911. He was a prom- 
 inent and highly esteemed citizen of Loveland for 
 thirty years and his death was sincerely mourned. 
 
 George M. Clammer. — Mr. Clammer has but 
 recently engaged in business in Colorado, reaching 
 Fort Collins in July, 1907, which was his first loca- 
 tion in the state. When he arrived in Colorado he 
 looked the state over and finding this city a most 
 desirable and advantageous point invested his capi- 
 tal in the grocery and bakery business. He became 
 a partner in the firm of H. H. Wallis & Co., which 
 is doing buisness at the old Mcintosh stand on 
 College avenue. Mr. Clammer was born in West 
 Virginia, at Grantsville, in Calhoun county, Octo- 
 ber 29th, 1869. He was married to Miss Ida 
 McNeill at Smithville, Ritchie county, in the same 
 state, April ,29th, 1900, and received his education 
 at the same place. 
 
 Joseph Hammerly, one of the successful and 
 prosperous farmers of the Cache la Poudre valley, 
 was born October 16th, 1865, at Mount Sterling, 
 Crawford county, Wisconsin, and was educated in 
 the public schools of his native town. On July 
 11th, 1888, he married Elizabeth Dowling at 
 Boscobel, Wisconsin, and on January 3rd, 1891, he 
 and his family arrived at Bellvue, Larimer county. 
 Mr. and Mrs. Hammerly have nine children; 
 Delia E., Fred E., Edson J., Gertie M., Mag- 
 gie F., Joseph L., Louis R., Elizabeth M. and 
 
 Clara Belle. Mr. Hammerly owns 240 arces 
 of land near Laporte and 640 acres at Gale- 
 ton, Weld county. Part of his home farm at La- 
 porte is the land that Antoine Janis squatted 
 on in 1844, Mr. Janis being the first white 
 settler to make a permanent location in all that 
 part of Colorado lying north of the Arkansas 
 river. Our subject began moving westward in 
 
 MR. AND MRS JOSEPH HAMMERLY 
 
 1885, first to Iowa, then to Minnesota, Dakota, 
 Wyoming and Nebraska, living at Freeport in the 
 last named state five years, engaged in farming. 
 Our subject was a son of Leonard and Elspeth 
 (Chandler) Hammerly, who were natives of 
 Switzerland. They were married in 1852 and 
 crossed the Atlantic shortly afterwards to the 
 United States and settling in Crawford county, 
 Wisconsin. They were the parents of eight child- 
 ren, four boys and four girls, all born in Wis- 
 consin and are all living, except one son and one 
 daughter who died in their youth. The parents 
 are also both dead. Our subject bought his farm 
 at Laporte of Tobias Miller, one of the best known 
 of the pioneers of the Cache la Poudre valley who 
 purchased it of Antoine Janis. 
 
 [477] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Prof. James W. Lawrence, dean of the Colo- 
 rado Agricultural college and head of the depart- 
 ment of Mechanical Engineering at that institu- 
 tion, was born December 14th, 1858, in Toronto, 
 Canada. His childhood, youth and early manhood 
 
 PROF. JAMES W. LAWRENCE 
 
 were passed in New England. He passed through 
 all the school grades of Boston and from the High 
 school, he went to the Massachusetts Institute of 
 Technology, graduating in 1879 from the depart- 
 ment of Mechanic Arts. After leaving school he 
 was immediately employed by the Pacific Mills 
 at Lawrence, Massachusetts, where he remained 
 four years. It was while employed here that he 
 received an offer to take charge of the department 
 of Mechanical Engineering of the Colorado State 
 Agricultural college, which he accepted. He ar- 
 rived in Fort Collins March 19th, 1883, and im- 
 mediately began the work of building up the de- 
 partment to its present splendid proportions and 
 of which he has since been the head — a period of 
 twenty-eight successive years. Prof. Lawrence is 
 a member of Fort Collins lodge No. 19, A. F. & 
 A. M. ; a member of the American Society of Me- 
 chanical Engineers; of the Society for the Pro- 
 motion of Engineering Education ; of The American 
 
 [478] 
 
 Society for the Advancement of Science and of the 
 Colorado Schoolmaster's club. On June 19th, 
 1890, he was united in marriage with Elizabeth 
 Coy, and they have one son, George Coy Lawrence. 
 Mrs. Elizabeth (Coy) Lawrence, eldest daughter 
 of John G. Coy and Emily (Adams) Coy was 
 born September 23rd, 1865 on her father's farm, 
 near Fort Collins, and was the first white girl 
 born in the Cache la Poudre valley. Although a 
 native of Colorado, she has the distinction of hav- 
 ing crossed the Plains in a prairie schooner. When 
 she was about one year old her parents took her 
 east, having a wagon in a freight train in which 
 mules furnished the motive power. On their re- 
 turn west, they had their own wagon and teams. 
 Miss Coy attended the public schools in Fort Col- 
 lins and in 1880, she entered the first class of the 
 Agricultural college, graduating therefrom in 
 June, 1884, being the first lady graduate. After 
 
 MRS. JAMES W. LAWRENCE 
 
 graduation she served two years as an instructor in 
 the college. She was married, as stated, June 19th, 
 1890. She has been a member of the Woman's 
 club since its organization in 1889, and also its 
 president one term. 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 John M. Tinsman was born March 22nd, 
 1851 in Clark county, Missouri; educated in the 
 public schools of his birthplace and at St. Francis 
 academy; married Mattie E. Goodrich, December 
 12th, 1876, at LaGrange, Missouri, and their 
 children are named Jesse L., J. Russell, Emmett 
 P., Frank G., and Mary L. Tinsman. Mr. Tins- 
 can came with his family to Windsor, Weld county, 
 February 8th, 1892, and engaged in general farming 
 which he followed until 1903, when he moved on 
 to a farm near Timnath, which he carried on until 
 1908 and then moved his family to Fort Collins 
 where they now reside. He is a good farmer and 
 has had excellent success in crop growing and stock 
 feeding in Colorado. The family resides at 412 
 South Howes street. 
 
 Ebenezer C. Richards died in Fort Collins on 
 November 23rd, 1906, aged more than four score 
 years. Mr. Richards was born in West Charles- 
 ton, Vermont, February 22, 1826. He came west 
 in 1873 and to Fort Collins in 1880, and engaged in 
 farming. He was a good farmer and an excellent 
 citizen, doing his part valiantly in the movement 
 to develop the agricultural industries of the county. 
 His wife passed on to the other world several years 
 before he did and since that he had made his home 
 with his son, John C. Richards. A son and a daugh- 
 ter are his only surviving children. 
 
 Rock Bush. — This is the story of Rock Bush, 
 the only man remaining of that hardy band of pio- 
 neers who came to the Cache la Poudre in 1858-9 to 
 .subdue the wilderness and to build homes for 
 themselves and their families. Mr. Bush, now 79 
 years of age, is a typical frontiersman. He has 
 lived continuously on the farm he took up fifty-one 
 years ago, a respected and revered citizen. Mr. 
 Bush was born in 1832, in Canada, of F-rench ex- 
 traction.. He received his education in the common 
 schools of the period and soon after attaining his 
 majority, becoming enamored with the love of ad- 
 venture from listening to the stories told of the wild 
 west, he crossed the Plains with an ox team in 1857, 
 following the North Platte route, and arrived at 
 Green river after a three month's trip. Here he 
 spent two years operating a ferry on Green river 
 for the accommodation of emigrants. It was while 
 thus engaged that he heard from emigrants the 
 story of the beautiful Cache la Poudre valley and 
 the opportunities it afforded to the home seeker, 
 and that was what induced him to come here in 
 1859. He located a squatter's claim on the river 
 
 bottom three miles east of Laporte, built himself 
 a cabin and settled down to a farmer's life. Early 
 in the seventies he married Johanna Forbes, the 
 daughter of a pioneer, by whom he had five child- 
 ren, Rock, Guy, George, Amelia and Gussie. The 
 Indians never troubled him and for fifty-two years 
 he has lived a quiet, ^jeaceful life in the enjoyment 
 
 ROCK BUSH 
 
 of good health and the confidence and respect of his 
 neighbors. In the winter of 1863, Mr. Bush hunted 
 and trapped beaver on the headwaters of the Lar- 
 amie river, where he secured 400 skins in one 
 month's time. In going and returning to the trap- 
 ping grounds, he followed the Cherokee trail to the 
 Laramie Plains and thence over Sand Creek pass 
 to the Laramie river. The beaver skins captured 
 on that trip brought him a good sum of money. 
 
 James W. Shipp, one of the pioneers of the 
 Cache la Poudre valley, was born March 27th, 
 1831, in Indiana; died June 16th, 1900, at La- 
 porte. At the age of 20, he moved to Linn county, 
 Iowa and on March 27th, 1853, he married Re- 
 becca Barkley. Nine children were born to them, 
 seven of whom are still living. Mr. Shipp came 
 with his family to Laporte in 1868, and after spend- 
 
 [479] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 ing one year in that place, he moved to a farm in 
 Pleasant Valley on which he died. He was a good 
 and loyal citizen, hospitable and kind, never turning 
 the stranger from his door. 
 
 Henry Akin, one of the pioneer farmers of the 
 Cache la Poudre valley, was born August 20th, 
 1819, in the old historic Hill house at Johnstown, 
 New York. He was cotemporary with Elizabeth 
 
 HENRY AKIN 
 
 Cady Stanton, both belonging to the same classes 
 in the common schools of the period. He was 
 brought up on a farm and early learned the habits 
 of industry and prudence so carefully inculcated 
 by successful farmers in the eastern states. On De- 
 cember 28th, 1841, he was united in marriage with 
 Eunice Harris. Six sons were born of the union, 
 all of whom are living; Henry, superintendent of a 
 railroad at Houston, Texas ; Myron H., Harris, A. 
 I. and William B. of Fort Collins, and John S. 
 Akin of Houston, Texas. The subject of this sketch 
 came with his younger children from Illinois to Fort 
 Collins in 1879 and settled on a tract of raw 
 prairie land situated three miles south-west of Fort 
 Collins. Here, with the help of his sons, he sub- 
 
 [480] 
 
 dued the soil and brought his farm under a high 
 state of cultivation. His wife died in February, 
 1896, and he followed her to the grave in 1904. 
 Mr. Akin was a good farmer, an excellent citizen, 
 and a kind and obliging neighbor. He lived to see 
 his sons all well settled in life and enjoying the 
 friendship, confidence and esteem of those who 
 know them. Eunice (Harris) Akin, daughter of 
 Israel and Phebe (Barker) Harris was born in 
 1824, in Pine Plains, Dutchess county, New York. 
 Her father was a prominent man and was a mem- 
 ber of the New York legislature in 1820-21. In 
 1818 he was appointed Colonel of the 20th regi- 
 ment of the New York state militia. Our sub- 
 ject married Henry Akin, December 28th, 1841, 
 emigrated to Lockport, Illinois, in 1843 and in 
 1875 moved to Vermillion county, Illinois, and 
 from thence in 1880, to Fort Collins, Colorado, 
 where she died February 16th, 1896, aged 72 years. 
 
 MRS. HENRY AKIN 
 
 Henry H. Thayer, a descendant of a well 
 known New England family which traces its an- 
 cestry back to Colonial times, was born on June 
 17th, 1845, in Deerfield, Massachusetts; educated 
 in the public schools of Deerfield and Bernards- 
 
(/4^6:cyU^^ 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 town of that state; married Sarah A. Dickinson, 
 October 7th, 1870; children, Mrs. Mabel A. Hor- 
 ner, Homer D., Lewis H., and Ernest W. Thayer. 
 Mr. Thayer and family arrived in Colorado in 
 September, 1904, locating on a farm about one 
 mile south of Timnath. He is an enterprising and 
 thorough farmer as his success and the appearance of 
 his farm indicates, and is well pleased with the 
 country. He now resides on Main street, Tim- 
 nath, and is vice-president of the Farmer's bank of 
 that town. 
 
 E. Chester Giddings. — When a young man 
 starts out bare-handed on a rented farm to make a 
 fortune, and through industry, proper management 
 and the exercise of good judgment and wise fore- 
 sight, succeeds in accomplishing his purpose within 
 a score of years, besides increasing the fertility of 
 the land and placing it in better condition than 
 when he began operations, it proves that he is com- 
 posed of the right kind of material; that brain and 
 muscle joined forces and worked hand in hand for 
 success in his case. Yet, that is the experience of 
 the subject of this sketch. His success also speaks 
 in strong terms of the productiveness of Colorado 
 soil when well treated. Mr. Giddings first saw the 
 light of day on March 7th, 1867, in Warren 
 county, Illinois. He is a son of Loren Giddings, 
 and the second of a family of eight children — four 
 boys and four girls. He was raised on a farm, ob- 
 taining his education in the public schools. He 
 spent two years in Iowa and in February, 1883, 
 came with his father's family to Fort Collins, which 
 has since been his home. After assisting his father 
 on the farm for a few years, he hired out to drive 
 team for his uncle, Leander Giddings, who was en- 
 gaged in the ice and transfer business, and worked 
 for him for four years. On Christmas day, 1888, 
 he married Miss Agnes E. Mason, and the follow- 
 ing year rented a farm and began laying the founda- 
 tion for a competence for himself and family. Two 
 children, Melissa E. and Ralph L., both at home, 
 have blessed the union. For twelve years, Mr. 
 Giddings has carried on the farm he now occupies 
 and not in a single one of these years has he failed 
 to have a good snug balance of profit to his credit 
 after paying rental and all running expenses. The 
 secret of this is that he is a thoroughly practical 
 farmer and that when there is work to do he does it, 
 or sees that it is done, instead of spending his time in 
 town talking politics or playing seven-up with the 
 boys. Two years ago he bought and furnished a 
 handsome home on West Mountain avenue in 
 
 Fort Collins where he and his family spend the 
 winter months, although not a day passes that he 
 does not visit and oversee the work on his farm, 
 which is situated in the Boxelder valley, six miles 
 northeast of Fort Collins. Mr. Giddings is a 
 member of Collins lodge No. 19, A. F. & A. M.; 
 of Cache la Poudre Chapter No. 11 R. A. M. ; of 
 DeMolay commandery No. 13 K. T. ; of El Jebel 
 Tempel of the Mystic Shrine, and Eastern Star ; 
 the Elks arid Woodmen of the World, and is 
 seldom absent from the meetings of any of these 
 orders. Mrs. E. C. Giddings (Agnes E. Mason, 
 daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Augustine Mason, 
 pioneers of the Cache la Poudre valley), was 
 born October 31st, 1867, and to her belongs 
 the honor of being the first white child born 
 in Fort Collins. She grew to womanhood's estate 
 on her father's farm, receiving her education 
 in the public schools of district No. 11, and on 
 December 25th, 1888, she was united in marriage 
 with E. Chester Giddings. She has always been a 
 true and faithful helpmeet, sharing her husband's 
 burdens and rejoicing in his successes, never neg- 
 lecting a duty as wife and mother or shirking a re- 
 sponsibility. She is a member of the Eastern Star 
 and also of several literary and social clubs, and is a 
 leader in all good works. She is a lady of culture 
 and refinement and enjoys the acquaintance and 
 friendship of a very wide circle, finding her great- 
 est pleasure, however, in the duties of her home sur- 
 rounded by her husband and children. 
 
 Peter G. Terry is a native of Illinois, born 
 March 19th, 1840. Came to Colorado in 1869, 
 locating at Denver. In 1870, he helped to build 
 the Denver Pacific railroad and in 1871 came to 
 Fort Collins and filed a homestead claim on land 
 now covered by Terry lake. He lived on this 
 farm until it was purchased in 1890 by the Lari- 
 mer & Weld reservoir company, but was engaged 
 during the winter of 1879-80 freighting to Lead- 
 ville from Denver. In 1885 he preempted 160 
 acres in the Boxelder valley three miles northwest 
 of Wellington, on which he now resides. He help- 
 ed to build the Jackson ditch and superintended 
 the installation of the Terry lake headgates. Mr. 
 Terry served three years during the Civil war in 
 company B of the 11th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, 
 receiving an honorable discharge at the close of the 
 war. In 1888 he was joined in marriage with 
 Miss Sarah E. Peck and two children have blessed 
 the union, Mrs. Laura M. Davis of Fort Collins, 
 and Miss Mary R. Terry, who resides with Jier 
 
 [481] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 parents. Mr. Terry is a successful farmer and an 
 intelligent citizen. 
 
 GusTAVE WiCH. — Born and reared on a Bavar- 
 ian farm, educated in the schools of his native 
 country, followed farming and rafting lumber down 
 the river Main until he came to the United States, 
 were some of the boyhood and early manhood ex- 
 
 GUSTAVE WICH 
 
 periences of our subject. Mr. Wich made his ad- 
 vent into the world on June 24th, 1859, and 
 twenty-three years later he led Margaret Eber to 
 the marriage altar. His good wife has borne him 
 eleven children, all of whom are living save one, 
 who died at an early age. The names of his living 
 children are, John W., George A., Fred G., An- 
 drew J., Charles C, Clara M., Gustave, Vernie, 
 Henry and William Wich. Two of the sons, 
 John and Fred are married and have homes of 
 their own, all the others still claim shelter under 
 the parental roof. In 1885 Mr. Wich came direct 
 from Bavaria to Fort Collins and he has since 
 been a worthy and upright citizen of Larimer 
 county. He worked as a farm hand for difEerent 
 farmers for about a year and a half and thert sent 
 
 for his family to join him here in the land of 
 liberty. In 1887 he preempted 40 acres of land in 
 the Boxelder valley, but later when his little farm 
 was needed for a reservoir site, he sold it and 
 bought 80 acres situated a mile south of the present 
 town of Wellington. He kept adding to his farm 
 until now he owns 320 acres of as fine land as the 
 state affords, all improved and under a high state 
 of cultivation. He has a beautiful home and is 
 one of the prosperous and stable citizens of the 
 county. He has been school director for about ten 
 years and has twice been elected a justice of the 
 peace in his precinct. 
 
 Alexander Strachan. — In the more recent 
 years of the settlement of the West, Colorado has 
 drawn heavily upon Scotland for very many of its 
 most practical farmers. Among the number is 
 Alexander Strachan who located in Larimer county 
 in 1896. He arrived in Denver in 1888, coming 
 from Aberdeenshire, where he received his edu- 
 cation. He married Miss Jessie Craigmyle, in 
 1881. A daughter and a son, Alice and James A. 
 are their only children. Mr. Strachan owns a fine 
 farm south of Fort Collins and is one of the big 
 lamb feeders of the valley. 
 
 Adna R. Chaffee. — Another of the sturdy 
 pioneers of the Cache la Poudre "passed on to that 
 bourne whence no traveler returns," when Adna 
 R. Chaffee died, April 5th, 1907. Mr. Chaffee 
 had played an important part as a pioneer citizen 
 of Larimer county in the movement to demon- 
 strate its agricultural and industrial possibilities, 
 and to promote the welfare of the community. Had 
 he lived one day longer he would have been 83 
 years of age, as he was born April 6, 1824. Her- 
 kimer county. New York, was the place of his na- 
 tivity. When about 12 years old he went with 
 his father's family to Michigan, where he came to 
 manhood's estate. After attaining his majority, 
 Mr. Chaffee followed lumbering as an avocation 
 until 1860, when he started for Colorado. He 
 crossed the Plains with an ox team, and was 40 
 days on the road between St. Joseph, Missouri, and 
 Denver, arriving at the last named place in July of 
 that year. He first located in Russell Gulch, where 
 he put in three months at placer mining, going then 
 to Golden and thence to Green Mountain Falls, 
 where he conducted a hotel until January, 1862. 
 He then came to Larimer county and settled in 
 the Big Thompson valley about one and a half 
 miles west of the present city of Loveland. In 1863 
 
 [482] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 he took charge of the Laporte station for the Over- 
 land Stage company, and in October of that year 
 he moved to a farm situated one mile down the 
 river from the present city of Fort Collins. Here 
 he and his family lived until 1888 when he moved 
 to Fort Collins, which was his home until he died. 
 Mr. Chaffee married Sarah Piper in Michigan, 
 and she with one son, Frank Chaffee, a member of 
 the present board of County Commissioners, sur- 
 vive him. 
 
 Mrs. Josephine Hupp. — Proprietor and man- 
 ager of the Hupp hotel in Estes park, was born in 
 1857, in Michigan, and received her education at 
 Rockford, in her native state. She was married ia 
 1876 and has one son, Harrie Elmer Blinn, who was 
 the first child born in Loveland. In 1906, Mrs. 
 Hupp and Miss Ella Hupp built the Hupp hotel 
 in Estes park, and in 1908 they purchased a large 
 new building on the opposite side of the street, 
 which is now known as the Hupp annex, and Mrs. 
 Hupp is manager of both. Mrs. Hupp is a thor- 
 ough business woman and a deservedly popular 
 hostess. 
 
 Archie C. Ward^ local manager for the Colo- 
 rado Telephone company at Estes Park, was born 
 January 17th, 1881, in Stockton, California; edu- 
 cated at Bancroft, Nebraska; married Ruth Whit- 
 ford, October 9th, 1900, and they have one child, 
 Gerald. Mr. Ward came to Colorado June 10th, 
 1905 and located first at Waverly, later moving 
 to Estes Park, where he now resides. 
 
 Henry T. Miller. — Few men have done more 
 to promote and advance the material interests of 
 Larimer county than Henry T. Miller, and few men 
 stand higher in the estimation of his friends and 
 acquaintances than he does. Ever since he came 
 to the county, forty years ago, he has devoted his 
 mental and physical energies to the development of 
 the resources and advantages of his chosen home, 
 and is recognized as one of the most enterprising 
 of citizens. Mr. Miller was born June 13th, 1840, 
 in Fulton county, Illinois, and was educated in 
 Iowa, in which state he grew to manhood. On 
 January 1st, 1868, he married Lettie Buchanan, 
 and the names of their living children are Mrs. 
 Jessie Stradley, Mrs. Lettie Martin, Catherine 
 Miller, Mrs. Nina Stuart, Mrs. Florence Scott, 
 Harry H., and Dr. N. J. Miller. At the out- 
 break of the Civil war, Mr. Miller enlisted in the 
 8th Iowa Infantry, and served four years in the 
 
 field in that and in the 33rd Iowa Infantry. He 
 has been a soldier, a farmer, a stockman, a county 
 oiBcer, and again a farmer and has made good. He 
 came to Colorado in 1870, bringing with him a 
 car load of mules which he sold in Golden. He 
 then went east after his family and while cross- 
 ing the Plains on his return west in 1872 was 
 
 HENRY T. MILLER 
 
 badly frightened by a band of Sioux, which tried 
 to stampede a bunch of horses he was driving to 
 Colorado, but he got out of the scrape without the 
 loss of an animal. He located that year at 
 Namaqua on the Big Thompson, and followed 
 freighting from the Missouri river. In 1880, Mr. 
 Miller purchased the Alford ranch and horse stock 
 on Rabbit Creek and lived there three years, when 
 he moved on to the place now occupied by Camp- 
 ton's summer resort, at Cherokee Park. He was 
 elected county commissioner in the fall of 1881 and 
 served the county in that office for three years, 
 being chairman of the board from 1883 to January, 
 1884. Through his efforts a post office was estab- 
 lished at St. Cloud in 1885. He sold his property 
 at St. Cloud in the late 80's and moved to Fort 
 Collins which has since been his home. Besides 
 
 [48J] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 a fine farm of several hundred acres near Dixon 
 canon, Mr. Miller owns a good deal of city prop- 
 erty from which he derives a snug income. 
 
 George Stearly^ one of the best known citizens 
 of the county of German origin, has been a resident 
 of Laporte since 1873. George Stearly was born 
 in Wurtemberg, Germany, near Stuttgard, April 
 
 GEORGE STEARLY 
 
 19, 1851 and was but 22 years of age when he first 
 trod the fruitful soil of his adopted state. He 
 was married at Denver to Mrs. Sarah E. Stearly. 
 They have one son, Byron. Mrs. Stearly 's son 
 Fred, makes his home with them, also a nephew 
 Harry I. Nettleton. Mr. Stearly is still a resi- 
 dent of Laporte where for nearly forty years his 
 hearty greeting has welcomed visiting friends and 
 transient travelers. He is now a' solid farmer and 
 stockman, being possessed of one of the largest 
 ranch properties in the county. It consists of 1300 
 acres near Laporte devoted to alfalfa, grains and 
 pasture. He also owns herds of cattle, horses, 
 and mules. Mr. Stearly engaged largely in 
 winter feeding of cattle for market for many 
 years. After his arrival in Laporte, he conducted 
 
 [484] 
 
 the only blacksmith shop in the valley outside of 
 Fort Collins, and the, product of his hands be- 
 came so famous for durability and finish that his 
 services were in constant demand. He has lived 
 a life of usefulness, doing good and lending a help- 
 ing hand. Mr. Stearly has served on the Laporte 
 Board of Education for many years as a director. 
 
 Mrs. Julia A. Henderson. — Mrs. Henderson 
 came to Colorado with her father, Harvey H. 
 Samuels, her mother, three brothers and two sis- 
 ters, settling down in the Big Thompson valley in 
 1863, where they have been in the ranch and cattle 
 business ever since. Mrs. Henderson was born 
 in Illinois, February 18th, 1839, and was married 
 to Mr. Henderson in 1866. She has four sons, 
 George E., James W., John H., and Thomas M. 
 Henderson. Her maiden name was Julia A. 
 Samuels. The family came here from Iowa, and 
 has engaged extensively in raising fine stock and 
 ranching. 
 
 Grattan Lawder was born on an English ship 
 on the border of France, May 17th, 1865. When 
 about 12 years of age she came from Ireland to 
 Clinton, Iowa, where she received her education. 
 She came to Colorado in May, 1883, and located 
 on the Elkhorn in Larimer county. On July 19th, 
 1888, she was united in marriage with Sir Cecil 
 Moon, a British Baronet, and became Lady Cather- 
 ine Moon. In 1899 she accompanied her husband 
 to England where she remained until 1902, when 
 she returned to her home on the Elkhorn where 
 she has since lived. She is the owner of a fine 2100- 
 acre stock ranch and is engaged in the cattle busi- 
 ness and general ranching. Lady Moon is a good 
 business woman and a lover of good horses. 
 
 Oscar J. Smith, one of the progressive and sub- 
 stantial farmers and stock feeders of the Little 
 Thompson valley, was born December 22nd, 1855, 
 in Livingston county, Missouri, where he received 
 his education. His wife, Margaret J. Smith, was 
 born April 18th, 1861, at Jacksonville, Illinois, and 
 was married to Oscar J. Smith in 1885 at Chili- 
 cothe, Mo. They have four children, all natives of 
 Colorado. Mr. Smith came to Colorado July 28th, 
 1878, and settled first at Longmont, where he 
 lived until 1889, moving then to a farm in the 
 vicinity of Berthoud. Since coming west, Mr. 
 Smith's business has been farming and sheep feed- 
 ing, chiefly, in which he has had good success. The 
 names of the children are Virginia M. Smith and 
 
CA^Jcl -^72^ 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Orville E. Smith, of Berkeley, California; Mrs. 
 Myrtle M. Allen of Kansas City, Missouri, and 
 Theodore Neil Smith, at home. 
 
 Frederick Gross. — Beginning with little and 
 ending with much is the record that, so far as 
 material things are concerned, stands to the credit 
 of the subject of this sketch. But this result was 
 not attained without a struggle. He battled man- 
 fully in his younger days against adverse cir- 
 cumstances and at last came off victor. What 
 though the brown locks of youth are silvered o'er 
 with gray; what though his step is not as lithe, his 
 form as erect and his sight as keen as when, stimu- 
 lated by ambition, he arrived in Fort Collins more 
 than a third of a century ago to carve out a home 
 and a competence for himself and family among 
 strangers in a new and undeveloped region. He ac- 
 complished his purpose and now rejoices in the real- 
 ization of his fondest hopes. Frederick Gross was 
 born August 28th, 1840, in Hargeshiem, Prussia, 
 and received his education in his native town. He 
 was born and reared on a farm in a country where 
 small land holdings and the thorough cultivation of 
 every foot of the soil, and intense farming was al- 
 most the universal rule. But the lessons he learned 
 in his youth on his father's farm, stood him well in 
 hand when he settled down to the life of a Colorado 
 farmer. Mr. Gross emigrated to the United States 
 in 1862. For the first five months he was em- 
 ployed in a bakery in New York City and then 
 moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Here he worked 
 at blacksmithing for twelve years. He came to 
 Colorado in 1875 and for three years worked as a 
 farm hand, a part of the time for his brother-in- 
 law, Lewis Kern, of Windsor, who had come west 
 a few years before. In the spring of 1878, Mr. 
 Gross bought 80 acres of land situated in the 
 Harmony District of Fred Hoyt, and another con- 
 tiguous 80-acre tract of F. C. Avery. He built a 
 small house, dug a well and fenced his land and 
 raised a small crop that year. The succeeding year 
 he harvested a larger and better crop and the be- 
 ginning of the smiles of fortune dates from that 
 period. He had mastered the science of intense 
 farming on his father's limited acres in Germany 
 and the knowledge thus gained, coupled with energy 
 and industry enabled him to outstrip many of his 
 neighbors in the annual yields of his broad and 
 well tilled acres. He soon became known as the 
 farmer who never failed to raise a good crop. Year 
 by year he added to the value of his farm by good 
 and substantial improvements, including a large 
 
 and handsome brick house, barns, sheds and corrals, 
 and when he retired two years ago and left the 
 care of the farm to his son, George, he was counted 
 one of the foremost men of means in the district. 
 In 1869, he married Anna K. Brost in Milwaukee 
 who bore him three sons, Fred W., of Scottsbluff, 
 Nebraska ; Charles of Kimball, Nebraska and 
 George on the home farm. Mrs. Gross died in 
 April, 1908 and in April, 1910 our subject married 
 Martha Manson, for his second wife, and they re- 
 side at 335 East Magnolia street, Fort Collins. 
 
 John Deaver came from Iowa to Colorado in 
 1860, arriving in Denver in May of that year. He 
 went immediately to the Gregory Gulch gold dig- 
 ging and spent several years at mining and running 
 a saw mill at Black Hawk and Central City. He 
 came to Larimer county in 1870 and located on a 
 stock ranch on Redstone creek, where he lived 
 until 1880, when he moved to Fort Collins, which 
 has since been the family home. He was engaged 
 in the flour and feed business and in conducting 
 a livery stable for several years. For the past ten 
 years he has been looking after a herd of cattle 
 ranging in the Upper Poudre country between 
 Home and Chambers lake, making his headquarters 
 during the summer months at the Thayer ranch, 
 near Zimmerman's. He is married and has an 
 adopted daughter, Mrs. Harry Schreck, with whom 
 Mrs. Deaver makes her home during his absence 
 in the mountains. 
 
 Frank T. Woods was born September 13th, 
 1872, at Greeley, and educated at Fort Collins, 
 Colorado; married Rose Gilkison, June 6th, 1898, 
 and they have two daughters, Loma Z. and Myrna 
 R. Woods. Follows ranching and dairying near 
 Walden, in Jackson county. Our subject was a son 
 of the late C. I. Woods and spent his early boyhood 
 on his father's stock ranch at St. Cloud, Colorado, 
 moving thence with his father's family to Fort Col- 
 lins in 1880. 
 
 George Giddings, born March 25th, 1874, at 
 Cameron, Warren county, Illinois; died Decem- 
 ber 3rd, 1909, in Fort Collins, Colorado; lived on 
 his father's farm for more than 21 years; married 
 Delia Smith of New York, August 6th, 1874. Two 
 sons were their only children, Edwin F. and Minot 
 J. The family came from Illinois to Fort Collins 
 on December 24th, 1883. Our subject followed 
 various occupations and was engineer at the City 
 Water Works for several years. His last years 
 were spent on a small farm north of Fort Collins. 
 
 [485] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 P. J. McHuGH, M. D.— Since February, 1890, 
 Dr. McHugh has been identified with the profes- 
 sional and also with the business interests of Fort 
 Collins and has contributed to its advancement by 
 his connection with progressive enterprises and pub- 
 lic spirited movements. He was born near Essex, 
 Essex county, Ontario, Canada, on September 17th, 
 1863. His parents were born in County Cavan, 
 
 DR. p. J. McHUGH 
 
 Ireland. They migrated to Canada in 1846, and 
 his father was sheriff of Essex county for nineteen 
 years. There were ten children in his family, five 
 boys and five girls and our subject was the youngest 
 of the. five boys. He received his education in the 
 public schools of Essex; taught school in Essex 
 two years, was clerk in the postofKce at Windsor 
 six years being in the money order and savings de- 
 partment three years of the time; graduated from 
 the Detroit College of Medicine in 1888; served 
 as hospital interne in Harper hospital for a year 
 and a half; came to Fort Collins in 1890, which 
 place is still his home. He took post graduate work 
 at New York during the season of 1897-98, and at 
 Vienna, Austria, in 1904; married Lerah G. Strat- 
 ton, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Harris Stratton who 
 
 [486] 
 
 were Fort Collins pioneers, on January 21, 1892. 
 Three sons, Keith P., Jerome A., and Wier J. Mc- 
 Hugh are the fruits of the union. Dr. McHugh 
 has been a member of the State Board of Medical 
 Examiners for six years; President of the Colo- 
 rado State Medical Society in 1907-8; President 
 of the Larimer county Medical Society; Mayor 
 of Fort Collins from 1903 to 1905, and is a director 
 and secretary of the S"ort Collins Hospital associa- 
 tion and a stockholder in the Northern Hotel com- 
 piany. 
 
 John C. Shull^ a Veteran of the Civil war who 
 came west in the seventies, located in Larimer 
 county in 1880. He ertlisted in the 34th Ohio In- 
 fantry, September 3rd, 1861, re-enlisting in the 
 field January 1864, serving through the war and 
 was honorably dischargeB March 11th, 1865. Mr. 
 Shall, who is now afiH has been postmaster at 
 Berthoud for many ye&rs, is exceedingly modest 
 about his part in many of the engagements of the 
 great Civil strife, but it is well known that he was 
 
 MRS. P. J. McHUGH 
 
 a participant in many of the bloody battles of the 
 war, always in line with the other brave boys in 
 blue defending their country's honor. He was born 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 in Stark county, Ohio, August 2nd, 1841. July 
 3rd, 1867, he was married to Nancy Jane Hilliard. 
 They have three daughters, Mrs. Jessie Brinkley, 
 Mrs. Gertrude Mahan and Mrs. Raymond Fenton ; 
 also two sonss Walter and Charles. 
 
 Joseph E. Shipler, the first clerk of the town 
 of Fort Collihs, was born September 6th, 1843, 
 in Mercer,. Pennsylvania, where he was educated; 
 enlisted in the 10th Pennsylvania Volunteer In- 
 fantry April 19th, 1861; served three years in the 
 army of the Potomac and was mustered out at the 
 expiration of his term of enlistment, June 17th, 
 
 1864, at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; married Alice 
 Vescelius, June 30th, 1864, at Gregg, New York, 
 and their surviving children are, William P. Ship- 
 ler, of Montana; Fred E. Shipler, of Denver; Mrs. 
 Alice E. Johns, of Denver, and Mrs. Lulu C. 
 Bryant, of Pueblo. Mr. Shipler and family arrived 
 in Fort Collins on February 8th, 1869, and he en- 
 gaged in contracting and building. He was ap- 
 pointed the first town clerk of Fort Collins in 1873 
 and held the office several years. For the past 
 25 years, he has been engaged in prospecting and 
 mining in Colorado and Nevada. His wife died in 
 1883, in Fort Collins. 
 
 Samuel O. K. Reed. — Many of the sons of the 
 Empire state are scattered throughout Colorado, 
 and Larimer county is proud of the fact that it 
 contains its share of them. Mr. Reed was born 
 August 5th, 1844, at Franklindale, New York, son 
 of Rev. N. A. Reed; educated at Middletown, 
 New York, and at Zanesville, Ohio ; enlisted Aug- 
 ust 15th, 1862, in company E 3rd Ohio Volunteer 
 Infantry and was honorably discharged June 15th, 
 
 1865, at Columbus, Ohio; married Jennie Cameron 
 August 1st, 1872, at Brooklyn, New York, and she 
 died in 1910, in Fort Collins, leaving two child- 
 ren, Olin G. Reed of Fort Collins, and Joseph 
 F. Reed in government employ at Fairfield, Wash- 
 ington. Our subject came to Fort Collins in Oct- 
 ober, 1880, and followed farming until 1906 when 
 he retired and moved to Fort Collins. Since then 
 he has been constable and district court bailiff. He 
 is a genial gentleman, and can give and take a joke 
 with the best of them. 
 
 George W. Foote. — Many an old timer could 
 have been well spared in Colorado, but the man 
 who does things is always welcome — whether he 
 comes first or last. In this class stands a man who 
 came to Colorado in 1874 in search of health, and 
 
 if found, he determined to remain and do his share 
 in its upbuilding. George W. Foote was a great 
 sufferer from asthma and weighed but 117 pounds 
 when he arrived in Greeley; and in this connection 
 John Stover of Platteville tells the following: 
 "When I first saw Foote I pitied him, he looked so 
 weak and frail. I sold him the first team of horses 
 
 GEORGE W. FOOTE 
 
 that he owned in the then territory. They were 
 a spirited pair and full of life and after he purchased 
 I told him that I would take them to the barn, as 
 he didn't look strong enough to handle 'em, even 
 to carry the halters. Yet the cuss knew horses to 
 an iota, knew how to break 'em, and had the nerve 
 to handle any horse no matter how vicious, and 
 for years after he was the best judge and handler 
 of horses in northern Colorado." 
 
 George W. Foote was born in Mill Creek Hun- 
 dred, Delaware, on November 23, 1842, in the old 
 homestead that had cradled his father and grand- 
 father. His grandsire had heard of Bunker Hill, 
 and though but a boy, he was of the stuff from 
 which heroes are made. He was a drummer boy in 
 the Continental army and aided in the colonies gain- 
 ing their independence from England. George 
 
 [487] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 attended school at Wilmington and in Philadelphia 
 and in the interim he worked on the home farm. 
 He was married to Sarah A. Woodward, and two 
 children were born to them. George and family 
 came west in 1874 and on June 5, arrived in 
 Greeley, Colorado. They resided there until 1881, 
 then moved to Loveland where he engaged at farm- 
 ing and in the livery and stage line business. He 
 
 GENERAL WILLIAIM LARIMER 
 
 operated the stage between the two towns, the stage 
 between Loveland and Estes Park and he was also 
 connected with other stage lines. Mrs. Foote died 
 in 1892 and two years later Mr. Foote married 
 Delia E. Weaver, a Kansas girl. Two children 
 are by that issue, Lester G. and Edna D., and the 
 family occupy a comfortable home on the corner of 
 5th street and JefEerson avenue. In 1899 Mr. 
 Foote sold his farm to the recently organized Love- 
 land Sugar Company for a site for its plant, since 
 which time he has devoted his time to his other lands 
 — one half section located in Weld county in the 
 Little Thompson valley. The Foote family is numer- 
 ically strong in the east and middle west and were 
 blood kin to some of the most famous men and 
 uomen of the past century — among them being 
 
 [488] 
 
 Harriet Beecher-Stowe of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" 
 fame, and the famous Brooklyn preacher, the Rev. 
 Henry Ward Beecher. Mr. Foote has prospered in 
 this world's goods and is now the owner of several 
 farms, lives in one of the finest homes in Loveland 
 and is President of the Larimer County Bank and 
 Trust Company. He is rated as one of the wealthiest 
 men in the county. 
 
 Dr. Roy Wiest was born May 9th, 1877, at 
 Pontiac, Michigan; attended the Pontiac public 
 schools, -the Detroit High school and the University 
 of Michigan Medical school, graduating therefrom 
 in 1901. He came to Colorado in 1902 and located 
 at Loveland ; married Sara Armstrong on Sept. 6th, 
 1905, and they have one child, Donald K. Wiest. 
 Our subject moved to Estes Park in 1906 where 
 he is engaged in practicing his profession. He is 
 a member of the Larimer County Medical society 
 and of the American Medical society; also a mem- 
 ber of the Colorado Pharmacal association. 
 
 Samuel Service, one of the prosperous dealers 
 in general merchandise in Estes Park, was born 
 July 3rd, 1860, at Bally Easton, Ireland, and re- 
 ceived his education in his native country. He came 
 to Colorado in 1884, locating first at Sterling, 
 moving thence, in 1902, to Estes Park where he has 
 since resided. Mr. Service is an excellent business 
 man and citizen. On March 23rd, 1890, he mar- 
 ried Sadie Boyd at Iliff, Colo., and they have eight 
 children: Mary, Susan, Rhoda, Frank, Bryan, 
 Estes, Helen and Wilma. 
 
 J. W. Kendall was born in Wapelo county, 
 Iowa; came to Colorado in 1873, settling in Den- 
 ver; moved to Larimer county in 1879 and fol- 
 lowed farming and stock raising; married M. J. 
 Hembree in 1900, and they have one child, Lola 
 Kendall. Mr. Kendall is a veteran of the Civil 
 war, serving first in the 24th, Missouri Infantry 
 and later in the 148th, Illinois Infantry. He was 
 employed in the construction of the Larimer and 
 Weld county canal and has helped to build several 
 other ditches in Larimer county. 
 
 E. M. McGiBBON. — Wyoming lost a good 
 citizen to Colorado when Mr. McGibbon settled 
 here. He was born in Wyoming at Laramie city, 
 September 3rd, 1872, and came to this state April 
 26th, 1902. He was educated in the public schools 
 in Laramie and at the Wyoming State university. 
 He was married to Miss Nettie Gertrude Glynn, 
 March 26th, 1901. He is a farmer and stock 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 grower and owns a fine farm four miles north-east 
 of this city. 
 
 Victor Akin. — Mr. Akin is another product 
 of the Centennial state and a native of this county. 
 He was born three miles south-east of Fort Col- 
 lins in 1886 and was married to Miss Elsie Gladys 
 Haven in 1909. They have one daughter Helen 
 Louise. He was educated in the public schools 
 of the county. Mr. Akin has been actively en- 
 gaged in the farming industry for several years 
 on a large scale. In 1910 he had nearly one thou- 
 sand acres of wheat under cultivation north-east 
 of this city. His crop this year, while not as ex- 
 tensive, covers over seven hundred acres. He has 
 the push and energy to make a record among the 
 best of Larimer county's agriculturalists. 
 
 William H. Laws was born in 1840, in Law- 
 rence county, Indiana; educated at Eureka college, 
 Eureka, Illinois; came to Colorado in May, 1868, 
 and in 1872 married Ida Dow; six children, Mrs. 
 Mabel Johnson, W. G., Claude, Earl G., Mrs. 
 Nora L. Wallace and Hazel D. Laws; lived in 
 Boulder county thirteen years and was Assessor 
 four years and County Clerk of that county four 
 years; came to Larimer county in 1882 and set- 
 tled in the Big Thompson valley. Is a retired 
 farmer and a resident of Loveland. 
 
 LoREN GiDDiNGS. — The subject of this sketch 
 is the sole survivor of three brothers — Leander, 
 George and Loren Giddings — who came from Illi- 
 nois to the Cache la Poudre valley thirty years 
 ago for thf same reason that actuated hundreds of 
 others to move westward, and that was to better 
 their financial condition and to establish homes in 
 a more equable climate. That the change resulted 
 beneficially to these three brothers is evidenced by 
 the fact that all of them remained and have done 
 their part in developing the industries of the coun- 
 ty, making it what it is today, one of the richest 
 and most prosperous sections in the United States. 
 Two of the brothers, Leander and George, have 
 closed their earthly careers and passed on to join 
 the unnumbered throng beyond the grave, but not 
 until after both had met with a fair measure of 
 success in their various undertakings. Our subject 
 was born October 11th, 1841, on a farm in Warren 
 county, Illinois. He received his education in the 
 public schools of the period and on January 12th, 
 1865, he married Elizabeth Stafford at Berwick, 
 in his native state. Eight living children, all well 
 established in life, were born to them, and their 
 
 names are: Ettie M. (now Mrs. Victor E. 
 Stephens of Fort Collins) ; E. Chester, Claude C, 
 Frank D., also of Fort Collins; S. Ralph of Tim- 
 nath, Mary A., Phebe L. (now Mrs. Orville 
 Young of Scottsblufl, Neb.), and Ina J. (now Mrs. 
 L. F. Fetters of Scottsbluff, Neb.). In 1881, Mr. 
 Giddings moved to Taylor county, Iowa, and two 
 years later came to Fort Collins, near which place 
 
 LOREN GIDDINGS 
 
 he has since resided, engaged in farming, stock 
 raising and stock feeding. The first seventeen years 
 of his life in Colorado were spent on N. C. Alford's 
 farm in the Boxelder valley. Since then, for a 
 greater part of the time, he has lived near Timnath 
 where he has followed farming and gardening with 
 excellent success. Mr. Giddings is one of the sturdy, 
 substantial citizens of the county, a man who has 
 always lived at peace with his neighbors and has 
 always rendered unto Caesar the things that are 
 Caesar's. 
 
 Hiram R. Smith, one of the best and most 
 favorably known citizens of Loveland is a native 
 of Pennsylvania; educated at Westminister college; 
 married Louisa M. Shields, October 1st, 1878; 
 came to Loveland in June, 1879; has faithfully 
 
 [489] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 served in positions of trust including justice of the 
 peace, an oflSce he still holds. Mr. Smith fought 
 three years for the Union during the Civil war; is 
 a valued nevi^spaper correspondent. 
 
 Aaron V. Benson w^as born December 25th, 
 1878, near Loveland, Colorado. He received his 
 education in the graded schools of Larimer county 
 
 AARON V. BENSON 
 
 and at the State Agricultural College at Fort 
 Collins, Colorado. In 1900 he accepted the posi- 
 tion of bookkeeper in the Bank of Loveland, of 
 Loveland, Colorado, serving vi^ith that institution 
 successively as bookkeeper, assistant cashier and 
 cashier, having held the position of cashier with the 
 Bank of Loveland and with its successor, The Love- 
 land National Bank, since 1904. 
 
 Daniel M. Halligan was born in May, 1830, 
 in Dublin, Ireland. He came to the United States 
 in 1847 and spent two years in Illinois. In 1849 
 he crossed the Plains to California and engaged in 
 mining. He went to Australia in 1850, but re- 
 turned to California in a few months, locating at 
 Michigan Bluff. In 1860 he was married to Mary 
 
 [490] 
 
 Roberts and in 1882 he came with his family to 
 Larimer county and took up a stock ranch on the 
 North Fork of the Cache la Poudre, where he 
 lived until December 8 th, 1899, when he died. He 
 left a wife and three children ; Walton M. of Den- 
 ver ; W. B. of Fort Collins and Mrs. Bessie Heath, 
 of Colorado Springs. 
 
 James Brunton. — ^A miller, machinist and ac- 
 countant by occupation, our subject was born Aug- 
 ust 4th, 1862 in Pleeblesshire, Scotland, where he 
 was educated. Married Laura B. Livingston, 
 March 13th, 1890. His children are named Leva 
 S., Jessie L., James F. and George W. Came to 
 Fort Collins July 19th, 1887, and assisted in the 
 construction of the Farmers' Mill. Has been em- 
 ployed by B. F. Hottel in the Lindell Mills since 
 1891. Mr. Brunton was elected alderman from the 
 second ward, April 4th, 1911. 
 
 John Vaughn Barker. — Until recently, Mr. 
 Barker has been actively engaged in the furniture 
 business in Fort Collins. He came to the state in 
 1900, and located in this city, a year later. He was 
 born in Chicago, January 31st, 1872, and was 
 educated there. He was married August 21st, 
 1895 to Miss Carrie L. Weinstein. They have one 
 child, Leo. V. Prior to coming to Colorado, Mr. 
 Barker was connected for a number of years with 
 the Parry Mfg. Co., of Indianapolis, Indiana, the 
 largest buggy concern in the world. Before that 
 he was cashier and auditor for the carriage wheel 
 trust, known as the Commercial Wheel Company. 
 
 John Bunyan Bay. — Mr. Bay is one of the 
 successful and prosperous farmers and gardeners 
 of the Cache la Poudre valley, and was born in 
 1862, near Vincennes, Indiana; educated in the pub- 
 lic schools of Illinois, and on September 7th, 1887, 
 married Sarah McGehee who has borne him four 
 children, Mabel, Carl, Roy and Raymond. He 
 drove a team from Illinois to Fort Collins arriving 
 in the fall of 1886; he followed market gardening 
 for 18 years at which he was very successful and 
 has since carried on general farming. 
 
 Elbert D. Pearson was born November 15th, 
 1859, in Oswego county. New York, where he re- 
 ceived his education in the public schools; married 
 Alice Dayhuff, December 14th, 1898; came to 
 Greeley, November 10th, 1886, and followed farm- 
 ing near that city for eight years; moved to Lari- 
 mer county in 1895 and bought a farm five miles 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 east of Fort Collins which he sold in 1903, and 
 has since lived in Timnath, taking charge, as man- 
 ager, of the grain elevator at that place, a position 
 he holds at the present time. Mr. and Mrs. Pear- 
 son have no children. The fact that he has been 
 retained in the important and responsible position 
 of manager of an elevator through which tens of 
 thousands of bushels of grain are passed every year, 
 is proof of Mr. Pearson's integrity as a man, and 
 ■of his faithfulness as an employe. It is therefore 
 needless to say that he enjoys the confidence and 
 respect of all who know him. 
 
 George W. Raigle. — ^Another of the sturdy 
 sons of Ohio, who early responded to the bugle 
 call "to arms," was George W. Raigle. A native 
 of that state, born in Coshocton county, but edu- 
 cated in Indiana, he enlisted from the latter state 
 in 1862, in company I 97th Regiment Infantry 
 Volunteers. Comrade Raigle served his country 
 loyally and bravely for three years and was then 
 honorably discharged. He was in the thickest of 
 the fray at Vicksburg and Mission Ridge, both 
 battles marked by fierce fighting and great loss in 
 killed and wounded in both armies. He marched 
 with Sherman's army to the sea and passed in re- 
 view with the great army of veterans at Washing- 
 ton, D. C, at the close of the memorable conflict. 
 Mr. Raigle was married to Christina A. Howard, 
 February 20th, 1866, in Indiana, coming to Colo- 
 rado and settling in Larimer county, July 15th, 
 1879. 
 
 Ira O. Knapp was born in Will County, Illi- 
 nois, in 1859, and lived in that part of the state 
 until he reached his twentieth year, when he heard 
 the call of the west and went to Nebraska and 
 later to western Kansas, where he learned some- 
 thing of the printing business, which he followed 
 for several years, his wanderings taking him back 
 to Illinois where he worked in several places, Chi- 
 cago among the rest. Bookkeeping was then taken 
 up and for several years he was in the employ of 
 a large general merchandising firm in Oregon, Illi- 
 nois. In 1884 he married Miss Delia Dunkelberg 
 of Rochelle, Illinois, and to them two sons, Herman 
 J. and Jean V. were born, both of whom have re- 
 ceived college education. Then farming claimed a 
 few years time and in 1890 Mr. Knapp came to 
 Colorado and has since that time made his home in 
 Larimer county where he has followed several lines 
 of work and done his part in the general develop- 
 ment of this section of the state and Loveland in 
 
 particular, where he has made his home most of the 
 time since coming to Colorado. Mr. Knapp has 
 been a consistent republican since becoming a voter 
 and has been a worker in the ranks rather than an 
 office seeker, though he has held the office of alder- 
 man in Loveland for a term of five consecutive 
 years, being the longest ever given anyone by the 
 citizens of that place. On February 1st, 1909, he 
 
 IRA 0. KNAPP 
 
 became the editor and manager of the Loveland 
 Reporter, the pioneer paper of Loveland. His 
 varied experience has fitted him to deal as a news- 
 paper writer, in a sympathetic manner with all the 
 subjects of interest to the readers of the Reporter. 
 
 MiLo Y. OsBORN, only son of Judge and Mrs. 
 W. B. Osborn, pioneer settlers of the Big Thomp- 
 son valley, was born December 13th, 1851, in East 
 Liberty, Ohio. In 1861, he came with his mother 
 to the Big Thompson valley, his father having pre- 
 ceded them the year before, and that valley has 
 been his home for a period of 50 years. On June 
 10th, 1875, our subject married Louise Frazier, of 
 Denver, a pioneer girl and the first musician of 
 note In the county. Of this union, four sons. 
 
 [491] 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 L A R I M E R CO UN T Y, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 Clarence, Walter, Kenneth and Llewellyn were 
 born, all of whom are living. Mr. Osborn is a suc- 
 cessful farmer "and owns a fine farm of 245 acres 
 situated within a mile of Loveland. In 1899, he 
 was elected County Assessor^ and served one full 
 term, giving excellent satisfaction. 
 
 John L. Willis.: — For more than a third of 
 a century our subject has successfully " followed 
 
 JOHN L. WILLIS 
 
 farming in Larimer county on land he purchased in 
 1877, then practically in its native state, without 
 a fence, a tree or bush upon it. There was a home- 
 steader's cabin on the land and that was about all. 
 With true western spirit Mr. Willis went to work 
 and has since improved the place until he now has 
 one of the most attractive and productive farms in 
 the Cache la Poudre valley. He was born Septem- 
 ber 5th, 1850, in Connecticut where he received his 
 education ; married Luella A. Cobb, November 
 22nd, 1877, who bore him seven children: Mrs. 
 Edith Giddings, Dora, Arthur, Howard, Frank, 
 Leila, and Laura Willis. He came to Colorado in 
 1875 and settled on the farm, which he still owns 
 and occupies, in 1877, situated about two miles 
 north of the present village of Timnath and about 
 
 [492] 
 
 six miles southeast of Fort Collins. Mrs. Willis 
 died March 27th, 1908, and our subject has since 
 remained single. She was a daughter of Royal Cobb, 
 one of the pioneer wool growers of Larimer county, 
 who died several years ago. Like all of the pioneers 
 who remained in the Cache la Poudre valley, Mr. 
 Willis has made good and is rated as one of its fore- 
 handed and substantial citizens. He had his ups 
 and downs, and his share of hardships, privations 
 and discouragements in the early days, but he never 
 gave up and has the satisfaction now of enjoying 
 the fruits of his labor as the sunset of life ap- 
 proaches. 
 
 John E. Anderson. — The subject of this sketch 
 was born and educated in Sweden, but renounced 
 his allegiance to his native country to become a 
 citizen of the United States. He came to Fort 
 Collins in 1890 and has since successfully followed 
 farming. He was united in marriage with Miss 
 Amy P. Scott in 1898, and five children have been 
 born to the union, namely, Audrey, John, Robert, 
 Lillie and Pearl. 
 
 Phillip Lariviere was one of the earliest set- 
 tlers of the Cache la Poudre valley, coming here 
 in December, 1859 from Fort Laramie. He was a 
 good type of that class called freighters who played 
 such an important part in the early settlement of 
 the Rocky mountain region. Mr. Lariviere was 
 born in 1840, at Three Rivers, Canada, where he 
 learned the trade of a wheelwright, and in 1858 
 crossed the Plains to Fort Laramie. When he 
 came to the Cache la Poudre valley in 1859, there 
 was but one white woman here, a Mrs. LaMarsh. 
 In August, 1866, our subject married Mary Harris, 
 the ceremony being performed by Harris Stratton. 
 Eight children, four boys and four girls were born 
 of the union, all of whom are living. Mr. Lari- 
 viere died in May, 1886, from the effects of a kick 
 of a horse. 
 
 Henry P. Handy. — The subject of this sketch 
 was one of the noted civil engineers of the West, 
 and he left many monuments of his skill as such 
 throughout Colorado, in the planning and construc- 
 tion of large irrigation canals, dams, reservoirs, 
 railroads and bridges. Not the least important of 
 these was the planning and supervising of the sys- 
 tem of water works built by Fort Collins in 1882- 
 3. He was the locating and construction engineer 
 of the railroad through the Royal Gorge for the 
 Denver & Rio Grande, and also located the Oregon 
 Short Line. One of the large canals in the Big 
 Thompson valley which he laid out and superin- 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 tended its construction, was named in his honor. 
 Mr. Handy was born near Utica, New York, July 
 24th, 1832, and died at Nampa, Idaho, in February, 
 1903. He left a wife and five children. The 
 names of the children are Mrs. Nelia R. King, 
 Nampa, Idaho; Wm. P. Handy, Denver, Colo- 
 rado; George H. Handy, Caldwell, Idaho; Ralph 
 H. Handy and Roy S. Handy. Mr. Handy and 
 his family were residents of Fort Collins for nearly 
 twenty years. 
 
 John C. Creed. — Born November 15th, 1833, 
 in Highland county, Ohio. In December, 1861, he 
 enlisted in company D 11th Ohio Volunteer 
 Cavalry, commanded by Col. W. O. Collins, after 
 whom Fort Collins was named. He served until 
 April, 1865, being discharged as sergeant of his 
 company at Omaha, Nebraska. He came to Fort 
 Collins in July, 1881, and continued to live here 
 until he died on March 12, 1896. He was a gal- 
 
 HENRY W. CHAMBERLIN 
 
 David James. — Few men have lived in Larimer 
 county who had more friends and exerted a wider 
 influence in the political affairs of the county than 
 did our subject during his lifetime. He began to 
 take a lively interest in public affairs in his early 
 manhood and, for years previous to his death, was 
 a leader and a tower of strength in the councils 
 
 lant soldier and did valiant duty as an Indian 
 fighter on the frontier. He left a widow, Sarah A. 
 Creed, and one son, Charles C. Creed, now of Boise, 
 Idaho. 
 
 ' DAVIU JAMES 
 
 and activities of the republican party, and many of 
 the county officers of the past owed their election 
 mainly to the influence and activity David James 
 exerted in their behalf. He was a leader, not a 
 driver, and his friends always had confidence in 
 his sagacity and judgment and followed wherever 
 'he led. He was elected the first town marshal of 
 Loveland, an office he held for six or seven years, 
 and served the town as postmaster for nine years, 
 being appointed first by President McKinley in 
 1897. Since his death, his widow has held the 
 office having been reappointed for a four years term 
 by President Taft. Mr. James was born July 23rd, 
 1856, on a farm near Big Rock, Illinois. He re- 
 ceived his education in the public schools of his 
 native state, and in 1879 he came to Colorado and 
 
 [493] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 located at Loveland, Larimer county, which place 
 remained his home until he died on November 19th, 
 1906. He was employed on a farm for the first 
 few years and later followed the milling business 
 for five or six years. He was always an active man, 
 never a drone in the hive of industry. He was 
 withal a manly man and he gradually drew about 
 himself a cordon of friends which remained un- 
 
 FRANK J. ANNIS 
 
 broken to the day of his death. On September 
 11th, 1884, our subject was joined in marriage with 
 Carrie Shallenberger of Loveland, and four chil- 
 dren, Beulah, Corinne, Lloyd and Carolyn, all 
 living, were born to them. Loveland lost one of its 
 enterprising and public spirited citizens when David 
 James died. 
 
 Squire Ralph GiddingSj son of Loren Gid- 
 dings, was born December 29th, 1873, in Cameron, 
 Illinois. Ten years later he came with his father's 
 family to Fort Collins, Colorado, arriving Febru- 
 ary 25th, 1883, and here he received his education 
 and learned the trades of blacksmith and machin- 
 ist. On February 22nd, 1900, he was joined in 
 marriage with Edith N. Willis, daughter of John 
 L. Willis, of Timnath. They have two children, 
 
 Dora W. and John Howard Giddings. With im- 
 provised anvils and bellows our subject and his 
 brother, Frank, started in the blacksmith business 
 when boys. The two boys earned their first $5 in 
 Colorado grubbing sage bush for N. C. Alford. 
 Our subject invented and had patented in 1911, 
 the Gidding's beet puller which he is now manu- 
 facturing at his shop in Timnath. 
 
 William H. Turner^ son of Peter Turner, the 
 founder of the town of Berthoud, was born July 
 4th, 1867, at Red Oak, Iowa; reared on a farm 
 and attended the public schools of Larimer county ; 
 married Otie Kerby, September 30th, 1896, who 
 died November 8th, 1907; married for his second 
 wife, Mary Bramhell, July 22nd, 1908. His five 
 children are named Gerald, Rebekah, William P., 
 Louise and Lloyd Turner. Mr. Turner came with 
 his parents to Sunshine, Boulder county, in Sep- 
 tember, 1873, and to the Little Thompson valley, 
 October 10th, 1877. His late boyhood years were 
 spent mainly in the saddle riding the range as a 
 cowboy, but he is now a successful and prosperous 
 farmer. He owns and carries on one of the best 
 farms between Fort Collins and Denver, situated 
 li miles north of Berthoud, and is also a breeder 
 of Norman horses, lines of work he expects to carry 
 on all his life. 
 
 ViNCENZ Demmel was born in April, 1838, 
 near Munich, Bavaria, where he was educated, sub- 
 sequently learning the shoemaker's trade. He came 
 to the United States in 1872, and to Fort Col- 
 lins in April, 1873, which place was his home until 
 he died on May 3rd, 1897. Mr. Demmel had 
 built for his use as a shoe shop and residence, one of 
 the first frame buildings erected in Fort Collins, 
 which he occupied and in which he worked at his 
 trade for nearly a quarter of a century. The build- 
 ing is standing on the original site on Jefferson 
 street, next east of the City Hotel. His wife, 
 two sons and two daughters, survived him until 
 1909, when one of the daughters died in Fort Col- 
 lins. The other daughter, Miss Margaret is a grad- 
 uate of the Fort Collins High school and has been a 
 valued and very efficient teacher in the public 
 schools of Fort Collins for several years. The two 
 sons own and occupy one of the finest farms in the 
 Boxelder valley and are good artd prosperous citi- 
 zens. 
 
 John H. Simpson, Loveland, Colo., is a native 
 of Ohio, born at Attica, October 11th, 1871. His 
 education was obtained in the public schools of the 
 
 [494] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 period and at Buchtel College, Akron, Ohio, grad- 
 uating therefrom in 1894. Adopting the law as a 
 profession he entered upon a course of study in that 
 science at Akron, Ohio, and was admitted to prac- 
 tice in 1895. On August 21st, 1899, Mr. Simpson 
 was joined in marriage with Elsie May Carson, and 
 they have two children, Pauline and John Carson 
 Simpson. In the summer of 1903 he moved to 
 Denver, Colorado, where he opened an office and 
 began the practice of his profession, removing 
 thence on September 1st, 1906, to Loveland, which 
 city is still his home. Before coming to Colorado 
 Mr. Simpson practiced law in Cleveland, Ohio, and 
 was United States Commissioner for the Northern 
 district of that state. He was admitted to the 
 practice of the law in the courts of Colorado in 1904 
 and is a member of the County Bar Association. He 
 is well versed in the principles of jurisprudence 
 and has met with gratifying success as counsel and 
 advocate in the practice of his profession, as the 
 
 JOHN H. SIMPSON 
 
 trial docket in both the county and district courts 
 of Larimer county clearly show. He is an able 
 and conscientious lawyer as his clients are at all 
 times ready to testify. 
 
 Frank W. Moore. — ^This is a short life story of 
 one of the most successful of Fort Collins' young 
 business men and also one of the most popular and 
 efficient public officials Larimer county ever had. 
 He was born on September 17th, 1877, the fif- 
 teenth anniversary of the battle of Antietam, one 
 of the most sanguinary of the Civil war, and is a 
 native son of Fort Collins. He began his school 
 
 FRANK W. MOORE 
 
 life in the kindergarten and rose, year by year, 
 through all the grades, graduating from the High 
 school in 1897. After leaving school he became 
 associated in business with his father, Ex-Alderman 
 Thomas L. Moore, remaining in that connection 
 six years. On January 1st, 1905, he was appointed 
 deputy county treasurer under Col. T. C. Ramey, 
 and gave excellent satisfaction during both of Mr. 
 Ramey's terms of office, a period of four years. At 
 the republican county convention held in October, 
 1908, Mr. Moore was the choice of his party for 
 county treasurer to succeed Col. Ramey, and was 
 triumphantly elected in November of that year. He 
 was reelected in 1910 and is now serving a second 
 term in that highly important and responsible posi- 
 tion. He is vigorous in both thought and action, is 
 
 [495] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 quick of comprehension in the grasping of the point 
 in any question that comes before him, accurate in 
 his work and faithful and trustworthy in all things. 
 He has made and is making one of the best public 
 officials the county ever had. On March 1st, 1905, 
 Mr. Moore was united in marriage with Jessie 
 Ramer, youngest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Charles 
 W. Ramer, who are pioneers of the Cache la Poudre 
 valley. One daughter, now one year old has blessed 
 the union. The home life of Mr. and Mrs. Moore 
 is an ideally happy one. 
 
 Judge A. Q. McGregor^ former county judge 
 of Larimer county, was killed by lightning on June 
 17th, 1896, in Estes Park. He was a native of 
 Wisconsin, but came to Colorado in 1871. In 1883 
 he was appointed county judge, to fill a vacancy, 
 serving until January, 1885. He then resumed 
 the practice of law in Fort Collins, later moving 
 to Denver. He had large property interests in 
 Estes Park and he and his family spent the summers 
 there. 
 
 John McNabb. — Stout of heart, strong of limb, 
 wiry of frame and keen of eye the subject of this 
 sketch has spent the greater part of the past thirty 
 years tracking game among the lofty peaks and 
 pine clad hills of the Medicine Bow range of 
 mountains, or looking after the headgates and re- 
 pairs of the Water Supply and Storage Company's 
 system of mountain ditches and reservoirs. So long 
 has he been a mountaineer engaged in these em- 
 ployments that he seems to be a part and parcel of 
 the Medicine Bow range. One can scarcely think 
 of the mountains without coupling John McNabb 
 with them, and vice-versa. There is not a peak, a 
 cliff, a park, a gulch, a stream, a rivulet or a belt 
 of timber in the whole range that he has not 
 explored and he can tell just where each is located 
 and all about all of them. Mr. McNabb was born 
 November 30th, 1859, at Woodville, Township of 
 Eldon, Canada. He is descended from sturdy, 
 Scotch ancestors who were pioneers of Canada. 
 When fourteen years of age he left his home in 
 Canada and went to Lyon county, Minnesota, 
 where he remained about eight years, and his twin 
 brother lives there yet. He came from Minnesota 
 to Colorado in 1880 with John Zimmerman and 
 first located at Cameron pass in Larimer county, 
 later going to North Park near the present town 
 of Walden, where he lived for four years. He 
 then moved into the Cache la Poudre valley near 
 Zimmermans, and three years later to Fort Collins, 
 which city has since been his home for most of the 
 
 [496] 
 
 time. While living on the Poudre during the 
 mining excitement at Lulu and Teller, he carried 
 the mail for S. B. Stewart from Chambers lake to 
 those points and was obliged to make the twenty- 
 five mile trip going and coming on snow shoes in 
 the winter time, often with a pack weighing from 
 fifty to eighty pounds strapped to his back. On 
 December 20th, 1886, Mr. McNabb was united 
 
 JOHN McNABR 
 
 in marriage with Anna Sinclair at Laramie, Wyo- 
 ming, and their union has proved a happy one. 
 They have no children. 
 
 David Hershman. — Is a native of Wayne 
 county, Ohio, born September 24th, 1839. In 
 1 850, his father moved his family to Lansing, Mich- 
 igan, then a new and undeveloped region. When 
 21 years of age, Mr. Hershman went to Illinois 
 and hired out to a farmer for $14.50 per month, 
 which was good wages in those days. In 1865 he 
 came across the Plains with his brother John, ar- 
 riving in Denver, July 12th. In the latter part 
 of August he came to the Big Thompson valley, 
 which has since, until quite recently, been his home. 
 He is now a resident of Boulder. His business 
 ventures have been successful and he is possessed 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 of a comfortable competence to smooth the way of 
 his declining years. He has raised a family of "ten 
 children all boys except nine," as he puts it. He 
 has always borne a splendid reputation for probity, 
 integrity and clean living and is highly respected 
 by all who know him. 
 
 Barbara McIntosh, now deceased, was born 
 in 1828, in Scotland. She received her education 
 at Godmanchester, and, in 1860, married William 
 Gray Morrison. Four boys and two girls blessed 
 the union of which two only survive their parents: 
 William J. Morrison of Seattle, Wash., and Mrs. 
 Isabella Hyde, wife of John Hyde of Estes Park, 
 Colo. Mrs. Morrison came to Denver in 1893, 
 moving thence three years later to Estes Par-k, 
 where she died October 8th, 1910, at the home of 
 her daughter, Mrs. Hyde. She survived her hus- 
 band by about 26 years, and her remains were taken 
 to Trout River for burial. 
 
 James McGinley, born October 7th, 1812, in 
 Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, of Scotch- 
 Irish parentage. He married May Armstrong 
 March 9, 1837, and came from Michigan to the 
 Cache la Poudre valley in 1874, locating on a farm 
 one mile north of Timnath where he lived until 
 death called him, April 1st, 1896. He left two 
 sons, James W. McGinley of Stratton Park and 
 Armstrong McGinley who died a few years ago 
 in California. He died as he had lived, a true man, 
 faithful to himself, faithful to mankind and faith- 
 ful to his maker. 
 
 F. M. Samuels was born in Knox county, Illi- 
 nois, near Galesburg, on September 27th, 1844. 
 Four years later his family moved to Wapalow 
 county, and at 10 years of age the boy was put 
 at work on his father's farm. He was kept at 
 home quite strict, and was 12 years old before he 
 traveled a dozen miles. In July, 1863, he came 
 to Colorado, arriving in Denver on the 2nd. There 
 he worked at whatever was offered till August, 
 when he came to the Big Thompson valley and 
 worked out helping the farmers, getting from 75 
 cents to $1.50 a day, his dinner being allowed. 
 The next spring his father Harvey H. Samuels, 
 his brother John R., and he bought a claim; later 
 they took up claims adjoining, all being on the 
 Big Thompson three miles southeast from Love- 
 land's present site. In connection with farming 
 F. M. engaged at stock raising and times were 
 prosperous with him. They sold much of their 
 produce and beef cattle to neighboring towns and 
 
 at the mines, and many a load they hauled to 
 Cheyenne, a dangerous journey in those days, owing 
 to prowling bands of Arapahoes and Sioux and 
 those fellows were ever on a raid or the war path. 
 Farming and stock raising were his pursuits and 
 many a day he spent in the saddle on the round-up 
 
 F. M. SAMUELS 
 
 with Dave Wyatt as boss. But prices were at the 
 top notch. He has paid $7.50 to $12.50 for a 
 hundred pound sack of flour and the late spring 
 of 1864 it was held at $25, owing to a flood that 
 prevented travel from the supply stations. On the 
 other hand they sold hay for a good price, refusing 
 one time $60 a ton for it in stack. They sold 
 potatoes and grain from ten to fifteen cents a 
 pound, and the market was always wanting wheat, 
 corn and vegetables. F. M. Samuels and Edith 
 Mason were married in Fort Collins in 1893. She 
 is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Mason who 
 resided at Longmont, then moved to Masonville. 
 It was a happy marriage and the two live together 
 in comfort and happiness in one of the neatest 
 residences in Loveland. 
 
 Simon Duncan, one of the very few. remaining 
 pioneers of the Cache la Poudre valley crossed the 
 
 [497] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 great divide on Wednesday, January 30th, 1907, 
 at his farm home seven miles southeast of Fort 
 Collins, aged nearly 78 years. Mr. Duncan was 
 a native of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. He 
 crossed the plains with an ox team in 1860 and 
 located in Denver in June of that year. After 
 residing in that city until 1865, he moved his family 
 to a ranch situated on the river two miles west of 
 
 SIMON DUNCAN 
 
 the present town of Windsor, where he lived until 
 1872, when he located on a farm one mile east 
 of the present village of Timnath, on which he 
 died. Mr. Duncan had been a familiar figure in 
 the Cache la Poudre valley for more than forty 
 years and had done well his part toward setting up 
 the standard of civilization in the wilderness. He 
 was widely admired for his rugged honesty, his strict 
 integrity and genial hospitality. Besides an aged 
 wife Mr. Duncan was survived by a daughter and 
 three sons: Mrs. Lizzie M. Holmes, of Denver; 
 Perry A. and John, of Sheridan, Wyoming; and 
 Charles A. To Charles fell the lot of carrying on 
 the old farm that his father redeemed from the 
 wilderness nearly forty years ago. Mr. Duncan 
 was one of the foremost farmers and stock raisers 
 
 [498] 
 
 of the Cache la Poudre valley, a loyal citizen of 
 the county, an excellent friend and neighbor and 
 a kind and indulgent husband and father. His 
 whole life had been a busy and useful one and the 
 world was better for his having lived in it. 
 
 Watson Ziegler was born in Sigourney, Keo- 
 kuk County, Iowa, and married Mary Tomlinson, 
 September 25th, 1883. He came to Colorado in 
 May, 1880, locating first in Leadville, coming 
 thence to Larimer County in 1896. Mr. Ziegler was 
 a minister of the gospel of the Seventh Day Ad- 
 ventist denomination, but after fifteen years work 
 in the ministry his health became impaired and for 
 the past few years has given much of his time to 
 temporal pursuits. During this time he became 
 associated with the late Wellington Hibbard and 
 together they placed the Laramie-Poudre irrigation 
 project on the road to success. With his brother, 
 he has done much in the Harmony district towards 
 establishing farming in Colorado upon a scientific 
 basis. 
 
 C. RuGH^ for many years one of the substantial 
 business men and progressive citizens of Greeley, 
 was born in 1854, at Rugh's station, Indiana 
 county, Pennsylvania, in the stone house that his 
 father was born and died in. He came with his 
 family from his native county to Fort Collins in 
 1887, and engaged in the grocery business which 
 he followed for several years. Upon retiring from 
 that business, he moved his family to Greeley which 
 place has been his home for about 17 years, and 
 where he has since been in the potato shipping busi- 
 ness. He served on the Greeley City Council from 
 1900 to 1905. He has been successful in his under- 
 takings and is counted as one of the solid, substan- 
 tial men of that city. He is proud of his six chil- 
 dren, as he has reason to be. 
 
 Leonidas Loomis is a native of Pleasant Valley, 
 Larimer county, born July 20th, 1863. He was the 
 second white boy born in the Cache la Poudre 
 valley and the eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Abner 
 Loomis. He was educated in the public schools and 
 at the State Agricultural college, graduating there- 
 from in 1884, with the first class to receive diplomas 
 from that institution. He then engaged in the 
 cattle business in Wyoming, finally selling out and 
 returning to Fort Collins. He married Lovina 
 Hayes in 1902, and then spent a few years on a 
 stock ranch in North Park. He is now a prosperous 
 Cache la Poudre valley farmer. 
 
HISTORY 
 
 O F 
 
 LARIMER 
 
 COUNTY 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 James B. Arthur. — The "Great American 
 Desert" extended from the Missouri river to the 
 California line as depicted In Mitchell's geography 
 and atlas. It was thought by early explorers to be 
 an almost arid waste, thousands of square miles 
 in extent and unfitted for the habitations of civilized 
 men, yet time has proved the utter falsity of that 
 statement as it often proves the errors of history. 
 The gold excitement of 1849 was the beckoning 
 finger of thousands and the Plains were covered with 
 wagons bearing their human freight and household 
 goods to California. Five years later gold, that lure 
 for all men, was found in Gregory gulch, Nebraska 
 territory, afterwards Colorado. The human tide was 
 checked in its roll to the Pacific and stopped at the 
 new find, till but a few months elapsed when that . 
 section of our state had a goodly number of hardy 
 white men, men who staid and reared families, till 
 today it ranks high in the sisterhood union. Among 
 those who came afoot, on horseback or with ox team 
 was James B. Arthur, reaching the promised land 
 in the month of June 1860. This young man was 
 born in County Londonderry, Ireland, March, 1835. 
 His progenitors were Scotch Highlanders and, like 
 thousands of their neighbors, they had to seek shelter 
 in other lands, owing to the religious and civil wars 
 that swept over Auld Scotia for so many years. The 
 Arthurs were Presbyterians, a stalwart breed that 
 would worship God as they pleased, even if to do so 
 they had to wield claymore, dirk or pike. They 
 were kin to those who settled in the North 
 and South Carolinas, crossed the Alleghenies, spread 
 over Kentucky and the Ohio bottoms ; the men who 
 conquered the wilderness from its savage possessors 
 and finally ended all British pretentions to the 
 United States by whipping Packingham and his 
 red-coated veterans of a hundred battles at New 
 Orleans. And James B. Arthur was a good type 
 of his clan. At fourteen years of age he left his 
 native town and took passage on the Cathnesshire. 
 He was bound for Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, where 
 a sister resided. The youngster staid in "The 
 Smoky City" for a few months, working in a store, 
 but the river life had attractions for him that he 
 could not resist. In those days the floating palaces 
 that plied between Pittsburg, Cincinnati, St. Louis, 
 New Orleans and intermediate ports were the 
 chosen means of travel and they afforded just the 
 excitement for a full blooded, hardy, daring boy. 
 All through late fall, winter and early spring young 
 Arthur made his trips and by his honesty and atten- 
 tion to business he was promoted to positions of 
 
 trust, but there were from four to five months each 
 year that low water in the river kept the steamers 
 tied to the levees and James went on to the Great 
 lakes so as not to be idle and exhaust his earnings. 
 He first steamboated on lake Erie between Buffalo 
 and Cleveland, Toledo and Detroit and there he 
 was also known as a trustworthy, reliable employe; 
 and many positions of trust he held. The panic 
 of 1857 decided Mr. Arthur's future. That great 
 financial disaster paralyzed all industry and plunged 
 the whole country east of the Missouri river in 
 gloom. Realizing that hard times would hold all 
 business in its grip for months, Mr. Arthur went 
 to Kansas City where his brother John lived. That 
 was in 1858. The gold strike in Gregory gulch took 
 possession of him and he with several others 
 started across the Plains with oxen and wagons 
 and plenty of provisions. James B. Arthur was a 
 money maker. He was shrewd, far seeing and bold 
 in undertaking. Arriving in Colorado during the 
 gold fever height he staid around Gregory gulch 
 for a few weeks doing his share at placer mining. 
 But he plainly saw that washing or mining for gold 
 was a speculation and that there were far more 
 blanks than prizes in the drawing. He did not 
 expect to get rich in a day, month, or year, but he 
 did aim to acquire a competence, something that 
 would pay him for time and trouble spent and for 
 that reason gold mining did not appeal to him. Hay 
 at the camps was worth from $75 to $150 a ton 
 and the public domain — the Plains — were covered 
 with rich buffalo and gramma grass. Having teams 
 and wagons he saw a better chance to make money 
 in hay than at placer mining and he went on to the 
 prairie, put up his tent and with assistance the grass 
 was cut and dried and when cut was baled. Scythes 
 and hand rakes were used and hard work it proved 
 to be, but it meant money. There were no mowing 
 machines or hay balers in Colorado those days and 
 everything done was on the primitive order. A box 
 was used as a baler. This was about 3 by 6 feet, 
 and from 4 to 5 feet high. Ropes were placed at 
 end and sides, inside this crude affair ; hay was 
 pitched in and a man tramped it down till the box 
 was filled, then the ropes were hauled taut and tied. 
 This plan kept the hay in place and for hauling to 
 points of destination was far superior to loose hay 
 on a rack. But the loads were too bulky for their 
 weight and Mr. Arthur put in practice a method 
 he had seen hundreds of times on the Mississippi 
 river at New Orleans. He obtained an old cotton 
 press and put it to use. He and John Hahn, now 
 
 [499] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 of Loveland, were the first men to use this machine 
 in Colorado and it paid them for they put as much 
 hay in half the space as by the box method, con- 
 sequently they could haul more and in better shape. 
 Mr. Arthur had located a claim on the Cache la 
 Poudre, when he engaged in the hay business, 
 situated a few miles below the present site of Fort 
 Collins. It was a lonely spot. The neighbors 
 could be counted on the fingers of one hand and 
 the nearest one was miles away. In this connec- 
 tion it is well to note the effort of government that 
 then prevailed in the Poudre and Big Thompson 
 valleys among the ranchers. There being no regular 
 form a Claim Club had been organized with by-laws 
 and officers and all questions in dispute were settled 
 by it. The justice of the peace (one of the officers) 
 gave his decision first, then it was given to the 
 president of the club and how he decided was con- 
 sidered final. A great many people labor under 
 the impression that the territory before being named 
 Colorado was a part of Kansas. This is an error 
 as the following copy of the certificate for the land 
 located by Mr. Arthur will show: 
 
 Claim 63, 
 
 Book A, 
 
 Page 32, 
 
 Club record, 
 
 J. B. Arthur, 
 1 60 acres. 
 Colona City, N. T., 
 
 July 25, 1860. 
 
 William G. Goodwin, 
 Recorder. 
 
 N. T. stands for Nebraska territory, so Colorado 
 was partitioned off from Nebraska instead of from 
 Kansas. From farming Mr. Arthur developed into 
 a stock man, buying his first bunch of cattle in Mis- 
 souri and trailing them across the Plains. Years 
 after he went to New Mexico^ Wyoming, Oregon, 
 Utah, and Idaho after stock and at times owned 
 5,000 head. At that business he made the bulk 
 of his fortune. But in the early '80's he saw that 
 the open range was doomed and he sold every hoof 
 in 1883, then devoted his time and money to other 
 pursuits. He invested in irrigation ditch proposi- 
 tions, bought and sold land; he became an active 
 member of the Empson Packing company of Long 
 mont; also bought and opened to trade the gypsum 
 beds at Red Butte, Wyoming; and organized the 
 
 [500] 
 
 Rocky Mountain Plaster, Stucco and Manufac- 
 turing company. He was director of the Poudre 
 Valley bank for years and its vice-president at his 
 death. While not a politician, Mr. Arthur was a 
 staunch believer in good government and honest 
 officials. He never truckled to those high in au- 
 thority, nor curried public favor. In those early 
 days Governor Evans, appreciating his solid worth, 
 appointed him to the Board of Commissioners to 
 perfect the organization of Larimer county, and on 
 the expiration of his term he was twice elected to 
 succeed himself. He was also a member of Fort 
 Collins council for two terms ; mayor for one term ; 
 and state senator to fill a vacancy. He was a 
 zealous worker in Masonry and for years he was 
 a member of all the Masonic orders in Fort Collins. 
 Also a member of El Jebel Mystic Shrine of Den- 
 ver; and a member of De Molay Commandery No. 
 13, K. T. of Fort Collins, Colorado. He held many 
 Masonic offices, serving as Master of lodge No. 19 
 A. F. & A. M., Fort Collins; Eminent Commander 
 of the commandery of, that city. Mr. Arthur was 
 also an ardent Episcopalian and worked for years 
 as vestryman in the upbuilding of St. Luke's church 
 in his home town. James B. Arthur was married to 
 Mary A. Kelley in Bay City, Michigan, in the 
 early spring of 1870, and there is a thread of 
 romance to this tale of true love. The couple knew 
 each other in 1855 and in time there grew an at- 
 tachment. When he determined to go west and 
 seek his fortune they plighted their troth, but it 
 was nearly twelve years before they again met, 
 though a correspondence was kept up between them 
 and when the marriage tie made them one they 
 were as one — through the years they lived together 
 — till death called him hence, August 11, 1905. 
 James B. Arthur was one of Nature's noblemen. 
 There was not a more conscientious man. He de- 
 tested a liar; had no use for the fellow given to 
 sharp, questionable practices; but was a staunch, 
 steadfast friend to those who proved their worth, 
 no matter whether they were poor or rich. He was 
 fearless, but not rash, and no matter whether in a 
 mining camp in a city or town or on the cattle 
 drive, he stood by his principles and never weakened, 
 no matter how strong the opposition. And those 
 days when he was constantly on the move he was 
 welcome to all camp fires and his word was as good 
 as negotiable paper from Oregon to the Missouri, 
 from Mexico to the Canadian line. And as he 
 lived so he died — a brave and honest gentleman. 
 
PRESIDENTS OF THE COLORADO STATE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 
 
 CHARLES A. LORY 
 
 ELMER E. EDWARDS 
 ALSTON ELLIS 
 
 CHARLES L. INGERSOLL 
 BARTON O. AYLESWORTH 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 Work of the Colorado Agricultural College 
 
 SUPPLEMENTARY to the very concise 
 and accurate history of the Colorado Agri- 
 cultural college, located at Fort Collins, 
 which appears elsewhere in this volume, a 
 brief sketch of its present organization and work 
 may be of interest and value to the reader. The 
 influences of the modern college are not confined to 
 the class room, to the student body, nor to its 
 campus, but reach out in many directions, and mani- 
 fest themselves along many lines of endeavor. This 
 is especially true of the Colorado Agricultural col- 
 lege, organized, as it is, not alone for the training 
 and education of the youth of the state along prac- 
 tical and industrial lines, but also for the investiga- 
 tion and solution of the many prob' ' which are 
 constantly arising in every phase of ttft agricultural 
 industry, and which in an irrigated country are 
 often new and strange, and for carrying the in- 
 formation thus obtained and the facts thus demon- 
 strated to the homes of the people by the means of 
 bulletins, lectures and institutes held at central 
 points in the agricultural portions of the State. 
 This three fold work of the college may be char- 
 acterized as educational, research work and exten- 
 sion work. 
 
 The educational work of the college has been 
 defined by .the two Morrill Bills, under which it 
 received its land grant, and its annual donations 
 of money from the National Government, for giv- 
 ing instruction in the following topics: Military 
 Tactics, Agriculture, the Mechanic Arts, the 
 English Language, Economics and the various 
 branches of Mathematical, Physical and Natural 
 Sciences. These requirements, which have assumed 
 the nature of a contract between the State of Colo- 
 rado and the National Government, are being faith- 
 fully carried out by the college, both in letter and 
 spirit. The division of Agriculture offers courses in 
 Agronomy, Animal Husbandry, Entomology, For- 
 estry and Horticulture. The studies of the first 
 two years of these courses are identical, specializa- 
 tion in the respective courses being with the junior 
 year. The instruction in this division is designed 
 to meet the needs of two classes of students — those 
 who desire to take up some branch of farming as a 
 business pursuit in life, and those who desire to be- 
 come agricultural experts, teachers or investigators. 
 
 The facilities in these various lines are ample and 
 complete. The great college farm, the college 
 herds, the Government horse breeding plant, the 
 insect collections in the museum, which number 
 75,000 specimens, not to mention the numerous 
 buildings, with their highly equipped class rooms 
 and laboratories are all aids to the work of the 
 student. Furthermore the college is surrounded 
 by the most highly cultivated and productive agri- 
 cultural region in all Colorado, where agriculture 
 by irrigation has reached its highest and best de- 
 velopment, and the student is therefore afforded 
 ample opportunity for observation and practical 
 experience. For in Colorado, as in all the states 
 of the Rocky Mountain west, agriculture in all of 
 its varied forms rests upon irrigation, and it there- 
 fore becomes a highly specialized science. In addi- 
 tion to the knowledge required of the average far- 
 mer in the humid states,- the farmer, orchardist 
 or gardener, in the arid west, must understand the 
 use of water in the production of crops — when to 
 apply it, its use on different soils, the amount re- 
 quired in the varying soils, altitudes and climatic 
 conditions of different seasons — the proper prepara- 
 tions of the fields for the successful application of 
 water, the proper construction of ditches and later- 
 als for its most economical and intelligent dis- 
 tribution — in brief agriculture by irrigation is in 
 itself a science which must be mastered in order to 
 assure the most profitable results. Instruction is 
 given to include these special conditions. No other 
 institution is so advantageously situated for giving 
 instruction in arid, high altitude and irrigated agri- 
 culture. 
 
 The division of Mechanic Arts includes courses 
 in civil and irrigation engineering, in electrical 
 engineering and in mechanical engineering. The 
 studies for the first two years are the same, special- 
 ization beginning with the junior year, considerable 
 freedom being allowed in the choice of studies dur- 
 ing the junior and senior years. These courses are 
 given in an especially thorough manner — a strong 
 faculty, fine buildings, excellent equipment, library 
 facilities and opportunities for practical work, all 
 combining to furnish the student with opportuni- 
 ties not surpassed by any institution in the Inter- 
 mountain West. The best evidence of the admir- 
 
 [501] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 able work that is being done in this division is 
 the recognition given it by the National Govern- 
 ment in the preference shown its graduates for posi- 
 tions in the Reclamation Service, and other branches 
 of engineering work being carried on under Federal 
 authority and supervision. In these positions the 
 graduates of the Agricultural college are making 
 good, and demonstrating in their work the thor- 
 oughness and excellence of the instruction they re- 
 ceive during their college life. That the graduates 
 of the college are thus enabled to step into re- 
 sponsible and paying situations from the day of 
 graduation constitutes a controlling reason why 
 young men should avail themselves of the advant- 
 ages which these courses offer to them and vin- 
 dicates the claim made in behalf of practical and 
 industrial education. 
 
 The Division of General Science and Home 
 Economics is especially designed for young women 
 and offers a broad cultural course in science, liter- 
 ature and language, as well as a more technical 
 course in home economics. As in the other di- 
 visions, the studies of the first two years are the 
 same in both courses, being basic in their character, 
 specialization beginning in the junior year, with a 
 liberal choice of electives in the senior year, and 
 five credits allowed for music in the requirements 
 for graduation. When it is stated that ninety 
 per cent of the women in the United States do their 
 own house work, the need of training in all matters 
 that relate to the conduct of the home, and the 
 activities that center about it, need hardly be pointed 
 out. The problems of the home are fundamental 
 in National health, wealth and character. National 
 strength, greatness and prosperity rests upon the 
 homes and home life of its people, and as this is 
 pure and wholesome, well regulated and intelli- 
 gently managed and conducted, so will all the arts 
 of civilization be the better conserved and free in- 
 stitutions the more surely perpetuated. Hence the 
 importance of this course for the young women of 
 Colorado and the west, and for which the Agri- 
 cultural college offers unusual facilities, especially 
 since the completion of its new, handsome and com- 
 modious Hall of Household Arts, the gift of Sena- 
 tor Simon Guggenheim. Particularly should this 
 course command the attention of those who con- 
 template following teaching as a profession since 
 the demand for teachers of home economics is 
 greater than the supply, and the graduates in this 
 line of work are sought after as dietitians, lecturers 
 in college extension work ; managers of tea rooms ; 
 and demonstrators for college or club work. 
 
 The division of Veterinary Science offers a three 
 year course of nine months each to students who 
 wish to fit themselves for the practice of veterinary 
 medicine. The course is based upon the require- 
 ments of the United States Bureau of Animal In- 
 dustry, and for thoroughness of instruction both 
 theoretical and practical, is not surpassed by that 
 of any institution in the whole country. It as- 
 sures its graduates an honorable and profit- 
 able life vocation, the opportunities for the 
 veterinary practitioner being both numerous 
 and varied, including not private practice alone, 
 in which there are many inviting fields, but posi- 
 tions as veterinarians in United States cavalry regi- 
 ments, as investigators and inspectors in the Gov- 
 ernment Bureau of Animal Industry and as in- 
 structors in agricultural colleges, and as inspectors 
 and executive officers under the quarantine and 
 health laws and ordinances of states, towns and 
 cities. 
 
 Under these various divisions are grouped numer- 
 ous departments which bear a more or less intimate 
 relation to all of them, and in which special lines 
 of instruction are given, all basic in their character, 
 and all bearing upon the general work of the col- 
 lege. These are the departments of Agronomy, 
 whose instruction relates especially to soils, plant 
 breeding, crops, and farm management; of Ani- 
 mal Husbandry with its instruction in the breeds 
 of live stock, their care, feeding and propagation, 
 dairy farming, etc., of veterinary science; of bot- 
 any and forestry; of chemistry and geology; of 
 civil . and irrigation engineering ; of English and 
 history; of entomology and zoology; of home eco- 
 nomics; of horticulture; of language; of mathe- 
 matics; of mechanical engineering; of physics and 
 electrical engineering. 
 
 The Military department exists in accordance 
 with the requirements of the Morrill bill of 1862, 
 which enacts that military science and tactics shall 
 be taught in all agricultural colleges. In accord- 
 ance with this act, the Military department of the 
 college has always been maintained upon the high- 
 est basis of efficiency and forms one of the most 
 useful and attractive features of the student's life. 
 As the military drill affords physical training for 
 the young men, so a physical training department 
 is also maintained for young women. 
 
 The Conservatory of Music furnishes carefully 
 prepared courses of study in each of the various 
 branches taught, commencing with the most ele- 
 mentary in each specific branch and carrying its 
 students through to the last stages of a finished 
 
 [502] 
 
MEMBERS OF THE COLORADO STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE, A. D. 1911 
 Hon. a. a. EDWARDS Hon. jared l. brush Hon. E. M. AMMONS 
 
 Hon. FRANKLYN E. brooks Hon. R. W. CORWIN 
 
 Hon, JOHN C. BELL HON. T. J. EHRHART HON. CHAS. PEARSON 
 
 Dr. CHARLES A. LORY AND Governor JOHN F. SHAFROTH 
 
 EX-OFFICIO MEMBERS 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 musical education. Musical education in the West 
 has steadily advanced so that the advantages are 
 greater at home than in the East. 
 
 Special mention need not be made of the library 
 with its 38,000 volumes and 25,000 pamphlets, of 
 the laboratories or the museum, all of which are 
 supplemental to the main educational work of the 
 college and add to its equipment as a first-class, 
 successful institution of learning where instruction 
 aims to train young men and young women for 
 the industrial and practical avocations of life and 
 to create a type of citizenship, a certain well de- 
 fined quality of manhood and womanhood which 
 shall constitute the very bone and sinew of the 
 republic. 
 
 Passing from the educational work of this insti- 
 tution, which is the imparting of knowledge, its 
 research work, which is the creation of knowledge, 
 deserves brief but special mention. This work is 
 under the immediate direction of the Experiment 
 Station, which is maintained by the Hatch Fund, 
 an annual congressional appropriation of $15,000, 
 which began in 1887, and by the Adams fund, 
 which was begun in 1906 with an appropriation 
 of $5,000, to be increased by $2,000 annually until 
 the total should reach $15,000. These funds are 
 also aided by occasional appropriations by the state 
 legislature. In a new state, like Colorado, with its 
 varying soils, altitudes and climatic conditions, with 
 the new problems which are constantly forc- 
 ing themselves upon the attention of farm- 
 ers, stockmen and fruit growers, especially 
 those relating to irrigation, this work of research, 
 investigation and experimentation is of special value 
 and importance. Its actual results are to increase 
 our knowledge of facts and conditions, to enable 
 a more intelligent prosecution of agriculture and 
 of kindred pursuits and industries and a more suc- 
 cessful combat of the many and various difficulties 
 which constantly beset them, and finally to broaden 
 our vision of agriculture as the science upon which 
 most rests the real foundations of State and 
 National prosperity. 
 
 The third function of the Agricultural college is 
 Extension Work, that is, carrying the work of the 
 college to the people. This is done by means of 
 farmers' institutes and short courses held at various 
 central points in many sections of the state, and by 
 means of information bulletins. The institutes are 
 from one to three days duration. The short courses 
 occupy an entire week, and permit a more continu- 
 ous and detailed presentation of the practical topics 
 discussed by expert lecturers and professors. The 
 
 leading topics presented at these institutes and 
 short courses vary with the leading form of industry 
 in the locality where they are held. If it be farming 
 purely, then the subjects presented relate especially 
 to field crops; if it be fruit growing, then subjects 
 which concern the orchard and garden; if it be 
 stock growing, then subjects which bear upon animal 
 husbandry. The beneficient effects of this extension 
 work are already felt and are generally acknow- 
 ledged in Colorado. To the practical information 
 imparted, the timely hints given, the valuable sug- 
 gestions made by the Agricultural college experts 
 at these institutes and short courses, many individ- 
 uals — ^whole communities even — owe improved 
 methods and more prosperous conditions. 
 
 During six months of the college year there is also 
 maintained at the college, the Colorado School of 
 Agriculture. This is a secondary school, admitting 
 pupils from the 8th grade of the public school, and 
 divided into two terms of three months each. The 
 full course occupies three years. The studies are 
 mainly practical, and are intended for the special 
 benefit of farmer's boys and girls, who may have 
 neither the time nor the inclination to take an ad- 
 vanced college course. This school has now been in 
 operation for two years, is growing in popularity 
 and is doing an important work in the spread of 
 knowledge of an improved agriculture in all of its 
 various lines. 
 
 Such is the work of the Colorado Agricultural 
 college concisely outlined — such the threefold func- 
 tion that is making it so influential and upbuilding 
 a factor in the industrial development of the Com- 
 monwealth. No institution in the state is more 
 zealously or more worthily fulfilling the purpose 
 for which it was founded, and on none rests a 
 heavier weight of responsibility in the development 
 of Colorado's vast material resources, in the crea- 
 tion of material wealth, in the promotion of in- 
 dustrial prosperity and in the upbuilding of all the 
 arts of civilized life. Fortunate for the Colorado 
 of today, thrice fortunate for the young men and 
 young women who shall make the Colorado of 
 the future is the fact that the college and its man- 
 agement — the State Board of Agriculture, the 
 President, the Dean of the Faculty; the Director 
 of the Experiment Station and the Superintendent 
 of Extension work — realize this responsibility, and 
 are using their brains, time and efforts for the ac- 
 complishment of the tasks that have been Intrusted 
 to them, ably assisted and seconded, as they are, 
 by a faculty and a corps of instructors, each a 
 trained expert and master in his or her line of work. 
 
 [503] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 With such a management and such an executive ence and loyal support of the people of the state, 
 
 administration, and such a faculty, all working in but recognition also as a controlling and beneficial 
 
 harmony, all animated by the same zeal and sin- factor in the welfare, the happiness, the intelligence 
 
 gleness of purpose, the Colorado Agricultural col- of Colorado's citizenship, 
 lege not only commands and deserves the confid- W. R. Thomas. 
 
 [504] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 INDEX 
 
 HISTORICAL 
 
 COLORADO 7 to 39 
 
 Pike's Expedition 7 
 
 Discovery of Pike's Peak 7 
 
 Major Long's Expedition 7 
 
 Part of Louisiana Purchase 7 
 
 Attached to Kansas and Nebraska 7 
 
 Discovery of Gold 7 
 
 Territory, When Created 7 
 
 Area and Boundaries 7 
 
 Territorial Officers 7 
 
 Constitution of 1859-1863-1865 7 
 
 Regiments Raised for Union Army 7 
 
 Origin of Name 8 
 
 Coat of Arms 8 
 
 Governors of 8 
 
 Geography of 8 
 
 Mountain Ranges of 8 
 
 Parks of 8 
 
 Rivers and Lakes of 9 
 
 Climate of 10 
 
 Mineral Springs of 10 
 
 Agriculture, Stock-Raising, Mining, etc 11 
 
 State Capital 12 
 
 Educational Institutions 12 
 
 Railways and Telegraph Lines 12 
 
 Cities of Over 3,000 Population 13 
 
 Counties Created 13 
 
 Geological History and Physical Features 13 
 
 Indian Tribery 15 
 
 Death of Spotted Tail 16 
 
 Trapper, True Pathfinder 17 
 
 Story of Colorado in Paragraph 18 
 
 Growth in Three Decades 21 
 
 Agriculture and Fruit Products in 1910 21 
 
 Extent of Beet Sugar Industry 22 
 
 Irrigated and Irrigable Lands 22 
 
 Forest Lands 22 
 
 Value of Live Stock 22 
 
 Mineral Output 22 
 
 Miles of Railroad 22 
 
 Spanish Explorers 23 
 
 Ashley's Trip 23 
 
 Wooten's Expedition 23 
 
 Fremont's Second Expedition 23 
 
 Mormon Travel 25 
 
 Marcy's Expedition 26 
 
 Trip up Poudre in 1852 26 
 
 Greeley's Journey 28 
 
 Trapping on Cache la Poudre in 1849-50 31 
 
 Crossing the Plains in the Early Sixties by Mrs. Walter 
 
 Taft 33 
 
 Crossing the Plains in 1862 by Mrs. J. G. Coy 34 
 
 How Pioneers and Freighters Traveled Across the Plains 36 
 
 Samuel Bowles* Second Visit 36 
 
 Trip of Union Pacific Engineers 37 
 
 LARIMER CO.UNTY 40 to 164 
 
 When Created, Boundaries, Area, etc 40 
 
 Population in 1910 41 
 
 Jurisdiction Over North Park Established 41 
 
 Water Course 42 
 
 For Whom Named 42 
 
 Sketch of General Larimer 42 
 
 Under Three Flags 43 
 
 First Settlements 44 
 
 Letter From Antoine Janis 44 
 
 Claim Club Organized 46 
 
 Commissioners Appointed 46 
 
 When Organized 47 
 
 Indian Scares 47 
 
 Beginning of County Record 47 
 
 Laporte Townsite Company 48 
 
 Representatives in Territorial Legislature 48 
 
 Overland Stage Route 49 
 
 Former Home of Arapahoe Indians 50 
 
 Indians Sell Lands to Government 50 
 
 Names of First Settlers 51 
 
 Beginning of Farming 52 
 
 First Flour Mill 52 
 
 Grasshopper Visitation 52 
 
 Soldiers Establish Camp at Laporte 54 
 
 Beginning of County Government 55 
 
 Camp Collins at Laporte 57 
 
 Early Records of County Commissioners 58 
 
 Names of First County Officers 58 
 
 Election Precincts Established 62 
 
 What Attracted People to 64 
 
 Society, Occupation and Pastime 65 
 
 Overland Stage and Indian Troubles 66 
 
 Development of Irrigation 69 
 
 Irrigation and Agriculture 70 
 
 Ditches and Irrigation 71 
 
 Water Appropriations 72 
 
 Slade, the Desperado 73 
 
 First Wedding in 76 
 
 First Term of District Court '. Td 
 
 Killing of James Nugent 78 
 
 Killing of Clarence Chubbuck 81 
 
 Story of Jim Baker 83 
 
 Fierce Indian Battle 83 
 
 Greeley's Ride With Hank Monk 84 
 
 Denver McGaa 84 
 
 Two Early Day Duels 85 
 
 Thought Country Worthless 85 
 
 Profits of Early Day Gardening 85 
 
 "Ranger" Jones and the Indians 86 
 
 Prisoner Steals Court's Horse 86 
 
 Mariana Modeno 87 
 
 A Soldier's Epitaph 88 
 
 Stories of Early Days and Pioneer Incidents 88 
 
 Woman Starts New Industry. 97 
 
 Beginning of Newspaper Industry 97 
 
 Suicide of William Provost 99 
 
 Sufferings of Soldiers on Winter March 99 
 
 Indian Scare on Upper Boxelder 101 
 
 How Abner Loomis Lost a Mule 102 
 
 The Indian and the Lieutenant 102 
 
 Demolishing a Frontier Relic 103 
 
 Lynching of Musgrove 104 
 
 Spotwood's Recollections of Slade 105 
 
 Clay's Thrilling Experience 106 
 
 Rescue of Ute Susan 107 
 
 The Cherokee Trail 109 
 
 Cherokee Hill Mounds 110 
 
 Success of W. C. Stover Ill 
 
 David Hershman's Pioneer Story 112 
 
 [505] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 PAGE 
 
 A grateful Redskin 114 
 
 Happy Jack Episode 115 
 
 County's Only Lynching 117 
 
 Killing of Tom Burris 118 
 
 Killing of Anthony Bariant 119 
 
 Murder of Stephen McDonald 120 
 
 Death of Lieut. Collins 120 
 
 Death of Col. W. O. Collins 120 
 
 Assessments and Taxes 121 
 
 Names of County Officers from 1864 to 1910 124 
 
 Senators and Representatives 127 
 
 Public Schools 128 
 
 First School in County 1 29 
 
 Ditches and Reservoirs in Big Thompson Valley 132 
 
 Reservoirs in Cache la Poudre Valley 133 
 
 Introduction of Wool Growing and Sheep Feeding 135 
 
 Colorado Agricultural College 137 
 
 Introduction of Fruit Growing 143 
 
 County Fair Association 145 
 
 Court House 148 
 
 Stock Growers' Association 150 
 
 Industries of Counties 150 
 
 Manhattan Mining Camp 154 
 
 Coal Mining 154 
 
 Extinct Volcano 155 
 
 Lake Zimmerman 155 
 
 Lake Agnes 155 
 
 Laramie River Feeder Ditch 156 
 
 Newspaper History 158 
 
 Post Offices 160 
 
 Origin of Local Name 160 
 
 Naming of Cache la Poudre River. . 160 
 
 Cache, Definition of 161 
 
 Monument on Site of Cache 162 
 
 Another Name for Cache la Poudre River 162 
 
 Naming of Medicine Bow Mountains 162 
 
 Naming of Cameron Pass 162 
 
 Naming of Laramie River 162 
 
 Chambers Lake, How Named 163 
 
 Lone Pine Creek, How Named 163 
 
 Hook &f Moore Canon, How Named 164 
 
 Pingree Hill, For Whom Named 164 
 
 LAPORTE 165 to 167 
 
 Early Day Trapper 165 
 
 First Settlement and by Whom 165 
 
 Colona Town Company 165 
 
 Overland Stage Station 165 
 
 First County Seat of Larimer County 165 
 
 First Bridge Over Cache la Poudre River. 165 
 
 Business Houses 166 
 
 Arrival of Soldiers at 166 
 
 Presbyterian Church of 167 
 
 NAMAQUA 167 to 168 
 
 First Settler of 167 
 
 Mariana Modeno and Family 167 
 
 Overland Stage Station 168 
 
 Indian Attacks on Modeno 168 
 
 BIG THOMPSON VALLEY 168 to 174 
 
 Description of Valley 168 
 
 A Lonely Grave 169 
 
 William McGaa 169 
 
 Names of First Settlers 169 
 
 First Irrigation Ditch, When Built 170 
 
 First Post Office 170 
 
 Colorado Central Railroad 170 
 
 Founding of Loveland 170 
 
 Irrigating Systems 171 
 
 Big Thompson River, How Named 171 
 
 Beginning of Farming 173 
 
 Indian Raids 173 
 
 [506] 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introduction of Fruit Growing 173 
 
 Murder of John Matson 173 
 
 ESTES PARK 174 to 188 
 
 Location and Extent 174 
 
 Description of 174 
 
 Early History 176 
 
 First Settlers 176 
 
 For Whom Named 176 
 
 Names of Early Settlers 177 
 
 First Attempt to Climb Long's Peak 178 
 
 First Ascent 178 
 
 First Woman to Make the Ascent 178 
 
 Death of Carrie J. Welton 179 
 
 Arrival of Earl Dunraven 179 
 
 First Stage Line Into Park 179 
 
 First Postmaster 179 
 
 Settlement of Moraine Park 179 
 
 First Wedding 179 
 
 First Term of Public School 179 
 
 Village of 179 
 
 Big Thompson Canon Road 179 
 
 Ascent of Long's Peak by Miss Isabella Bird 180 
 
 PLEASANT VALLEY 188 to 189 
 
 Location and Extent 188 
 
 First Settlers 188 
 
 First Irrigating Ditch in 188 
 
 Wyandotte Colony 188 
 
 Village of Bellvue 188 
 
 VIRGINIA DALE 189 to 192 
 
 Division Point on Overland Route 189 
 
 Location 189 
 
 Joseph A. Slade, First Settler 189 
 
 How Named 189 
 
 Noted Camping Place 190 
 
 Robbers' Roost 190 
 
 Rendezvous of Road Agents 190 
 
 "Lovers' Leap" 190 
 
 Old Burying Ground 190 
 
 Described by Samuel Bowles 191 
 
 Names of Early Settlers 192 
 
 First School House 192 
 
 First Child Born at 192 
 
 Name of Stream 192 
 
 Deadman Creek 192 
 
 Church of 192 
 
 LIVERMORE 192 to 195 
 
 How and by Whom Named 192 
 
 Location and Extent 192 
 
 Alford's Hunting Camp 193 
 
 Names of First Settlers 193 
 
 Stock and Grazing Section 193 
 
 School District, When Organized 194 
 
 First Hotel and Store , 194 
 
 Cloudburst in Stonewall in 1904 194 
 
 First Wedding 195 
 
 State Road Through 195 
 
 LITTLE THOMPSON VALLEY 195 to 198 
 
 Description of 195 
 
 First Settlers and Their Occupations 195 
 
 Beginning of Agriculture 195 
 
 Overland Stage Crossing 196 
 
 First Postmaster of 196 
 
 Crossing of the Colorado Sf Central Railroad 196 
 
 Founding of Berthoud and by Whom 196 
 
 Important Grain Market 196 
 
 Fraternal Orders Represented 196 
 
 Starting the First Store 197 
 
 Building the First Church 197 
 
 The First Newspaper Founded 197 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Saloons Prohibited 197 
 
 Churches of Berthoud 197 
 
 Banks of Berthoud 198 
 
 THE BUCKHORN VALLEY 198 to 199 
 
 Location and Description of 198 
 
 Why Named 198 
 
 First Settlers of 198 
 
 Masonville, Trading Point 199 
 
 Masonville, Presbyterian Church 199 
 
 THE REDSTONE VALLEY 199 to 200 
 
 Why so Named 199 
 
 Names of First Settlers 199 
 
 Happy Hollow, How Named 200 
 
 THE ALFORD DISTRICT 200 
 
 Location and When Settled 200 
 
 Named for Whom 200 
 
 THE LARAMIE RIVER VALLEY 201 to 202 
 
 Names of First Settlers 201 
 
 Headquarters for Tie Makers 202 
 
 Extensive Grazing Grounds 202 
 
 Number of Ranches in 1870 202 
 
 Gleneyre Postoffice 202 
 
 Glendevey Postoffice 202 
 
 ST. CLOUD 202 to 203 
 
 Location and Boundaries of 202 
 
 Tie Makers' Camp in the Early Days 202 
 
 First Known as Diamond Peak 202 
 
 First Settlers '. 202 
 
 Cherokee Park Summer Resort 203 
 
 First Postmaster 203 
 
 UPPER BOXELDER 203 
 
 Description of : . .203 
 
 Excellent Grazing District 203 
 
 First Settler 203 
 
 Names of Other Settlers 203 
 
 Killing of Barriaut 203 
 
 First School in 203 
 
 Colony of Mormons 203 
 
 LOVELAND 204 to 208 
 
 Founding of 204 
 
 Laid Out in a Wheatfield 204 
 
 Old St. Louis 204 
 
 Moving of PostotBce 204 
 
 Name of First Postmaster 204 
 
 Important Shipping and Distributing Point 204 
 
 Stage Line Between Greeley and Old St. Louis 204 
 
 First Newspaper 204 
 
 When Incorporated 204 
 
 Names of Petitioners 204 
 
 Names of First Town Officers 204 
 
 Water Rights, How Obtained 204 
 
 Artesian Well 204 
 
 Building of Water Works 204 
 
 City of Homes, Churches and Schools 204 
 
 Condition of the Banks 205 
 
 Fire Department 205 
 
 Industries 205 
 
 Manufacturing 205 
 
 Market Center and Distributing Point 205 
 
 Terminus of Big Thompson Canon Road 205 
 
 Trade of Estes Park 205 
 
 Names of Manufacturing Plants 206 
 
 Beet Sugar Factory, When Erected 206 
 
 Installation of Electrical Lighting System .206 
 
 First Theatre, When Built 206 
 
 Public Library and Names of Directors 206 
 
 Center of Fruit Growing Industry 206 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Present Officers of 207 
 
 Churches of 207 
 
 BOXELDER VALLEY AND WELLINGTON 208 to 211 
 
 Description of 208 
 
 Character of Boxelder Creek 208 
 
 Name of First Settler 208 
 
 Building of Larimer Csf Weld Canal 208 
 
 Names of Other Settlers 209 
 
 The Larimer County Canal 209 
 
 The North Fork Ditch Company 209 
 
 The North Poudre Irrigation Company 209 
 
 Fossil Creek Reservoir 210 
 
 The Moving Spirit in the Reclamation of 210 
 
 Town of Wellington, When Founded 210 
 
 Present Population 210 
 
 Public Conveniences 210 
 
 Extension of Colorado S? Southern Railroad to 210 
 
 The Denver, Laramie & Northwestern Railroad 210 
 
 Important Shipping Point 210 
 
 Number of Votes Cast in 1908 210 
 
 Churches of 210 
 
 Bank of 211 
 
 STOVE PRAIRIE 211 
 
 Origin of Name 211 
 
 First White Settler and His Occupation 211 
 
 Names of Other Settlers 211 
 
 Crossed by Ute Trail 211 
 
 FORT COLLINS 211 to 265 
 
 County Seat of Larimer County 211 
 
 Owes Origin to a Flood 211 
 
 The Flood of 1864 212 
 
 Why Selected for a Site for a Military Post 213 
 
 For Whom Named 214 
 
 Survey of Site 214 
 
 By Whom Located and When 214 
 
 Visit of Col. Collins 214 
 
 Journal of Col. Collins' Trip from Ft. Laramie 214 
 
 Letter of Col. Collins recommending establishing a post.. 214 
 
 Date of Birth of Ft. Collins 215 
 
 Extent of Reservation 216 
 
 Order of President Creating Reservation 216 
 
 Valuable Record Book 216 
 
 Reports of Commanding Officer 216 
 
 Selling of Liquor to Soldiers Prohibited 216 
 
 First Pioneer Physician 217 
 
 Antoine Janis Appointed Guide and Interpreter 217 
 
 Building of Barracks and Officers' Quarters 217 
 
 Plan of Post 217 
 
 Arrest of Gov. Briggs 218 
 
 Board of Survey Appointed 218 
 
 Trespassers Ordered to Vacate 218 
 
 Appointment of Post Sutlers 218 
 
 Fort Collins' First Mercantile Establishment 218 
 
 Erection of "Old Grout" Building 218 
 
 History of the "Old Grout" 218 
 
 Erection of the Auntie Stone Cabin 219 
 
 Sale of Cabin to Pioneer Women 219 
 
 Date of Occupation of Post by Cos. B and F, 11th Ohio 
 
 Cavalry 219 
 
 Arrival of Co. D Veteran Battalion Colorado Cavalry.. 219 
 
 Number of Settlers in Poudre Valley 220 
 
 Occupation of Settlers 220 
 
 Captain Evans Unpopular 220 
 
 Clash Between Settlers and Post Commander 220 
 
 Order to Sell Settlers' Cattle 220 
 
 Arrival of Major Thomas L. Mackey 220 
 
 Order Confiscating Settlers' Cattle Revoked 221 
 
 Order Fixing Tariff of Prices on Sutlers' Goods 221 
 
 Arrest of Deserters 221 
 
 Appointment of Hospital Matron 221 
 
 [507] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 Co. B 11th Ohio Relieved from Duty 221 
 
 Battle of Mud Springs 221 
 
 Arrest of Cattle Thieves 222 
 
 Trial of Same 222 
 
 Proclamation of Martial Law 222 
 
 Indian Raids on Overland Stage Line 222 
 
 Call for Larimer County Volunteers 222 
 
 Address of Captain Evans 223 [ 
 
 Impressment of Horses 223 i 
 
 Indians Troublesome on the Plains 223 
 
 Captain C. C. Hawley Appointed Ordnance Officer 224 
 
 Indians Prohibited from Visiting Post 224 
 
 Captain Evans Relieved from Command 224 
 
 Captain Wilson Takes Command 224 
 
 Camp Calls of the Day 224 
 
 Distinguished Visitors 224 
 
 Ohio Troops Mustered Out 225 
 
 Captain Wilson Relieved by Col. Fitzsimmons of 21st 
 
 N. Y. Cavalry 225 
 
 Nevi^ York Troops Mustered Out in 1866 225 
 
 Post Occupied by Galvanized Yankees 225 
 
 Post Abandoned in 1867 226 
 
 Settlers On the Reservation 226 
 
 Building of First Grist Mill 226 
 
 First School Taught in Ft. Collins 227 
 
 Organization of School District 227 
 
 First Irrigating Ditches 227 
 
 Incoming of Settlers 228 
 
 County Seat Located at Ft. Collins 228 
 
 Disappearance of Captain Allen 228 
 
 The Mercer Colony 229 
 
 Beginning of Mercer Ditch 229 
 
 Post Sutler Made Postmaster . . .230 
 
 Post Office Made Money Order Office 230 
 
 Erection of First Brick House 230 
 
 Erection of First School House 230 
 
 Location of Agricultural College 230 
 
 Coming of Agricultural Colony 230 
 
 Names of Colony Officers 231 
 
 First Drawing of Colony Lots 232 
 
 Survey of Colony Site 232 
 
 First Building on Colony Site 232 
 
 Erection of Yount Bank Building 232 
 
 Burning of Welch's Store 232 
 
 Origin of Fight Between Old and New Town 233 
 
 Construction of No. 2 Irrigating Canal 233 
 
 Building of the Town Ditch 233 
 
 Incorporation of the Town 233 
 
 Names of First Officers 233 
 
 Money Appropriated for College Avenue Bridge 233 
 
 Officers Elected in 1873 233 
 
 Founding of the Larimer County Express 233 
 
 Establishing of the First Bank in 1873 234 
 
 The Grasshopper Scourge 234 
 
 Officers Elected in 1874 235 
 
 Dark Days of the Colony 236 
 
 Officers Elected in 1876 236 
 
 Granting Right of Way C. C. Railroad 236 
 
 Reincorporation of the Town 237 
 
 Officers Elected in 1879 237 
 
 Opening of the Yount Bank 237 
 
 Death of A. K. Yount 237 
 
 Founding of the Poudre Valley Bank 237 
 
 Opening of First Drug Store 237 
 
 Founding of the Fort Collins Standard 237 
 
 Organization of Collins Grange 238 
 
 Names of Officers 238 
 
 Founding of Collins Lodge No. 19 I. O. O. F 238 
 
 Founding of Collins Lodge No. 19 A. F. & A. M 238 
 
 Names of First Officers 238 
 
 Rush to the Black Hills 239 
 
 Establishment of Missionary Station 239 
 
 [508] 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Erection of the Agricultural College 239 
 
 Beginning of a New Era 239 
 
 Construction of the Colorado & Central Railroad 240 
 
 Name of the First Agent and Telegraph Operator 240 
 
 Opening of the Road for Traffic 240 
 
 Influx of New Settlers 240 
 
 Erection of Remington School Building 241 
 
 Building Statistics in 1879 241 
 
 Founding of the Fort Collins Courier 241 
 
 First Apples Grown in Larimer County 241 
 
 Erection of the Tedmon House 241 
 
 Building of Pleasant Valley Sf Lake Canal 242 
 
 Founding of Temperance Gazette 242 
 
 Opening of the Tedmon House 242 
 
 Organization of Hook and Ladder Company 242 
 
 Names of First Officers 242 
 
 Cattlemen Move to North Park 242 
 
 Founding of Camp Teller 242 
 
 Population in 1880 243 
 
 Number of Dwellings in Town 243 
 
 Number of Families 243 
 
 Population of Larimer County 243 
 
 Building of the Opera House 243 
 
 Surveys of U. P. and B. Sf M. Railroads 244 
 
 Building of Greeley, Salt Lake Sf Pacific 244 
 
 People Declare in Favor of System of Water Works.... 244 
 
 Bonds Voted for Water Works 245 
 
 Water Works System Completed in 1883 245 
 
 Destruction of Frank Stover's Store by Fire 245 
 
 Completion of Greeley, Salt Lake ^Pacific Railroad. . .245 
 
 Fort Collins Made City of Second Class 246 
 
 Liquor Licenses Increased from $300 to $1,000 per annum. 246 
 
 Names of First City Officers 246 
 
 Provisions of Local Option Laws Accepted 247 
 
 Location of First Cemetery 248 
 
 Purchase of Grandview Cemetery 248 
 
 Erection of Franklin School Building 248 
 
 Destruction of Linden Mills by Fire 248 
 
 Erection of Farmers' Mill 248 
 
 Installation of Electric Lighting System 249 
 
 Names of Incorporators 249 
 
 Installation of Telephone Exchange 249 
 
 Beginning of Sewer Construction 249 
 
 Census of 1890 250 
 
 Introduction of Lamb Feeding Among Farmers 250 
 
 Census of 1900 251 
 
 Destruction of the Linden Mills the Second Time by Fire. 251 
 
 Erection of Odd Fellows' Hall 251 
 
 Open Saloon Banished from Town 251 
 
 Erection of C. & S. Passenger Station .....251 
 
 Census of 1910 251 
 
 Organization of Library Association 252 
 
 Names of Directors 252 
 
 Building of the Beet Sugar Factory 252 
 
 Organization of Fort Collins Sugar Company 253 
 
 Names of Directors 253 
 
 Building of Fort Collins fef Wellington Railway 253 
 
 Construction of New System of Water Works 254 
 
 Installation of Filter System 254 
 
 Building of Storage Basin on Bingham Hill 254 
 
 Erection of Carnegie Library Building 254 
 
 Incorporation of Poudre Valley Gas Company 254 
 
 Names of Officers 254 
 
 Erection of Y. M. C. A. Building 255 
 
 Erection o-f Fort Collins Hospital 255 
 
 Purchase of Lands for City Park 255 
 
 Building of Denver & Interurban Street Railway 255 
 
 Granting Right of Way to U. P. Railroad 256 
 
 Extension of C. & S. Railroad to Cheyenne 256 
 
 The Old Burying Ground 256 
 
 First White Child Born in 257 
 
 First Murder in Fort Collins 257 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Churches of Fort Collins 257 
 
 Banks of Fort Collins 261 
 
 Geo. H. Thomas Post G. A. R 263 
 
 Secret, Fraternal and Beneficiary Orders 264 
 
 Civic Organizations 264 
 
 Women's Clubs 264 
 
 Fossil Creek Presbyterian Church 264 
 
 TIMNATH 265 to 266 
 
 Location and How Named 265 
 
 First Dwelling Erected 265 
 
 First School House Erected 265 
 
 Erection of Presbyterian Church 265 
 
 Opening of Railroad Station 265 
 
 PAGE 
 
 First Settlers in Vicinity of 266 
 
 Old Council Tree 266 
 
 Farmers' Bank of Timnath 266 
 
 Presbyterian Church 266 
 
 The llth Ohio Cavalry 267 
 
 HOME 267 to 269 
 
 Location and Boundaries 267 
 
 First Permanent Settler 267 
 
 Cache la Poudre and North Park Toll Road 268 
 
 Name of First Postmaster 268 
 
 Names of Other Settlers 268 
 
 Erection of Keystone Hotel 269 
 
 Toll Road Thrown Open to Public 269 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Abbott, Hon. John C 353 
 
 Adair, Isaac 302 
 
 Akin, Abraham 1 294 
 
 Akin, Harris 356 
 
 Akin, Henry 480 
 
 Akin, Myron H 350 
 
 Akin, Victor 489 
 
 Alford, Nathaniel C 348 
 
 Alford, W. B 365 
 
 Ames, Andrew J 454 
 
 Ames, F. M 377 
 
 Anderson, Carl 375 
 
 Anderson, Peter 273 
 
 Anderson, John E 492 
 
 Anderson, Swan Gustaf 289 
 
 Andrews, Charles B 355 
 
 Andrews, Robert J 357 
 
 Armstrong, Andrew 441 
 
 Armstrong, Jacob 295 
 
 Arthur, James B 498 
 
 Atherly, E. A 318 
 
 Auld, Matthew 295 
 
 Avery, Franklin C 345 
 
 Avery, George Porter 278 
 
 Avery, William H 462 
 
 Aylesworth, Merlin H 359 
 
 Bachelder, William N 338 
 
 Bailey, Hon. George W 365 
 
 Bailey, John S 360 
 
 Baker, Frederick R 359 
 
 Baker, William B 332 
 
 Barry, Alexander 364 
 
 Barker, John Vaughn 490 
 
 Batterson, Solomon 352 
 
 Bay, John Bunyan 490 
 
 Baxter, Frank E 285 
 
 Beach, Jerry Thornton 437 
 
 Bear, George 288 
 
 Beers, John C 324 
 
 Beery, Frederick Lee 285 
 
 Beier, O. F 356 
 
 Bennett, Harry V 388 
 
 Benson, Hon. Aaron S 360 
 
 Benson, Aaron V 490 
 
 Benson, Hon. Clarence Vanderburgh. 349 
 
 Biographical Introduction 270 
 
 Birdsall, S. H 276 
 
 Bishopp, Thomas B 342 
 
 Black, David A 340 
 
 Black, Philemon P 357 
 
 Blackstock, Louis R 271 
 
 Blount, Ainsworth Emery 352 
 
 Bond, Cornelius H 452 
 
 Bosworth, Ralph 356 
 
 BIOGRAPHICAL 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Bouton, Hon. Jay Henry 362 
 
 Boyd, Harry B 469 
 
 Bradley, Isaac C 366 
 
 Brandis, William 347 
 
 Brandt, Lucas 367 
 
 Brawner, Eugene F 355 
 
 Briggs, George C 282 
 
 Bristol, Judson H 458 
 
 Bristol, Noah 458 
 
 Brooks, H. F 365 
 
 Brown, Adelbert F 339 
 
 Brown, James A 367 
 
 Brown, John R 345 
 
 Brown, Miles A 441 
 
 Brunton, James 490 
 
 Brush, Hon. Jared Lemar 299 
 
 Bunyan, Thomas Chalmers 287 
 
 Burnett, Benjamin F 461 
 
 Burnett, Frank J 341 
 
 Burnett, William L 329 
 
 Bush, Rock 479 
 
 Bushnell, Carlton C..... 333 
 
 Buss, Capt. George E 357 
 
 Butler, Albert E 322 
 
 Byrne, Rev. Frances 318 
 
 Calhoun, Henry D 363 
 
 Calloway, Martin 354 
 
 Calloway, William 344 
 
 Cameron, John H 341 
 
 Cameron, John H. Jr 295 
 
 Cameron, General R. A 270 
 
 Camfield, D. A 346 
 
 Campton, William. . . ; 328 
 
 Carlson, George 286 
 
 Carlton, Clarence A 396 
 
 Carpenter, Louis G 342 
 
 Case, Hannah M 472 
 
 Chaffee, Frank A 403 
 
 Chaffee, Adna R 482 
 
 Christman, Frederick 370 
 
 Chubbuck, H. B 310 
 
 Clammer, George M 477 
 
 Clammer, Samuel H 364 
 
 Clay, Charles 290 
 
 Cline, Thomas 330 
 
 Cooksie, Charles S 307 
 
 Coon, Marcus 337 
 
 Corbin, Twiford 309 
 
 Covington, Phillip „ 361 
 
 Coy, John G .- 471 
 
 Cradock, Charles F. W 438 
 
 Crain, L. D 465 
 
 Cram, George H 380 
 
 Creed, John C 493 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Crocker, A. E 356 
 
 Cronk, George 384 
 
 Cross, Hon. John A 453 
 
 Cross, Lewis 439 
 
 Culver, C. 469 
 
 Cunningham, Hon. John M 463 
 
 Cusack, John S 351 
 
 Cushing, Gardner R 341 
 
 Cuthbertson, James 423 
 
 Cuthbertson, John S 305 
 
 Daniels, C. E 339 
 
 Darnell, Thomas 404 
 
 Davis, John D 446 
 
 Davis, Thomas 440 
 
 Deaver, John 485 
 
 Demmel, Vincenz 494 
 
 Dixon, Walter 272 
 
 Doolittle, Thomas H 436 
 
 Dorman, Mrs. Emeline 288 
 
 Dotts, Rezin E 408 
 
 Douglass, Mrs. James C 404 
 
 Douglass, James C 404 
 
 Douglass, John F 394 
 
 Dow, Jack 421 
 
 Downey, Austin C 334 
 
 Drake, Hon. William A 387 
 
 DuBois, James E 290 
 
 Duncan, Simon 497 
 
 Dwyre, Charles Golding Jr 341 
 
 Eaton, Hon. Benjamin H 283 
 
 Edmonds, Herbert A 408 
 
 Edson, Delano A 293 
 
 Edwards, Alfred A 380 
 
 Eidson, Samuel H 471 
 
 Ellison, Mark Austin 373 
 
 Emerson, Charles 333 
 
 Emerson, Horace W 300 
 
 Evans, Hon. James C 393 
 
 Everhard, John B 412 
 
 Everhard, John W 341 
 
 Fagan, L. H 335 
 
 Farrar, J. F 408 
 
 Faulkner, N. R 384 
 
 Fedder, Robert S 281 
 
 Fee, David M 409 
 
 Fenton, Walter L 284 
 
 Flick, Paul 436 
 
 Flowers, Benjamin F 393 
 
 Flowers, Jacob 421 
 
 Foote, George W 487 
 
 Foote, R. E 392 
 
 Fraser, John 275 
 
 Fuller, J. B 341 
 
 Fuller, Montezuma W 402 
 
 [509] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Gage, Thaddeus A 339 
 
 Gardner, Michael 416 
 
 Garnick, Thomas 409 
 
 Garrett, Thomas H 326 
 
 Garrison, A. P 324 
 
 Gealow, Peter 403 
 
 George, Joseph H 415 
 
 Giddings, E. Chester 481 
 
 Giddings, George 485 
 
 Giddings, Loren 489 
 
 Giddings, Squire Ralph 494 
 
 Gifford, Frank E 318 
 
 Gilkison, A. T 311 
 
 Gilkison, William F 335 
 
 Gillette, Prof. Clarence P 378 
 
 Gilpin-Brown, Charles 334 
 
 Gilpin-Brown, Harry L 276 
 
 ■ -Glover, C. N 399 
 
 £■ Glover, Dr. George H 383 
 
 t Goodwin, Dr. Albert E ..382 
 
 Gordon, John N 421 
 
 Grable, Francis C 337 
 
 Graham, George E 288 
 
 Graham, Hon. Neil F 423 
 
 Greenacre, Allen P 424 
 
 Griffith, B. A 319 
 
 Gross, Frederick 485 
 
 Hahn, John 391 
 
 Hale, T. H 331 
 
 Hall, Edward Hayden 409 
 
 Hall, Henry Forrest, M. D 442 
 
 Halligan, Daniel M 490 
 
 Halvorson, Thomas C 288 
 
 Hamilton, G. A 340 
 
 Hammerly, Joseph 477 
 
 Handy, Henry P 328 
 
 Hankins, Ulysses S 271 
 
 Hardin, John 442 
 
 Harding, John J 293 
 
 Harding, Willard 402 
 
 Harper, Jack 406 
 
 Harrington, Chauncey W 339 
 
 Harrington, Perry 390 
 
 Harris, Arthur B 381 
 
 Harris, Benjamin B 425 
 
 Harris, David M 338 
 
 Harris, Ed 463 
 
 Harris, Isaac B 427 
 
 Harris, Jesse 325 
 
 Hart, Henry E 317 
 
 Hartman, Harry Hale 428 
 
 Haver, George F 389 
 
 Hawley, Albert A 389 
 
 Hawley, Captain Charles C 329 
 
 Hawthorne, W. A 336 
 
 Heckart, Mrs. Melissa 325 
 
 Henderson, John W 388 
 
 Henderson, Mrs. Julia A 484 
 
 Hershman, David 496 
 
 Herzlnger, John Lewis 472 
 
 Hibbard, Wellington 379 
 
 Hiller, Otto A 282 
 
 Hoag, Addison N 336 
 
 Hocker, M. E 318 
 
 Hoffman, John M 326 
 
 Holcomb, Z. 341 
 
 Hollowell, J. Nelson 377 
 
 Holmes, Eugene 281 
 
 Horner, Asa M 422 
 
 Horner, Elijah 436 
 
 Hottel, Andrew J 318 
 
 Hottel, Benjamin F 464 
 
 [510] 
 
 PAGE 
 
 House, Prof. Edward B 473 
 
 Howard, Charles V 280 
 
 Howes, Alfred F 296 
 
 Hupp, Mrs. Josephine 483 
 
 Ish, Captain John C 431 
 
 James, Mrs. David 305 
 
 James, David 493 
 
 James, William Edwin 456 
 
 Jensen, James 328 
 
 Johnson, August 324 
 
 Johnson, Prof. S. Arthur 302 
 
 Johnson, S. W ■ 272 
 
 Johnson, Hon. Thomas H 283 
 
 Jones, Mortimer M 334 
 
 Jones, "Ranger" 323 
 
 Keach, Elmer Elwood 424 
 
 Kelrsey, Drury G 306 
 
 Kemper, Rev. A. S 327 
 
 Kendall, J. W 488 
 
 Kennedy, Charles H 286 
 
 Kern, Peter 372 
 
 Kerr, Eugene F 314 
 
 Kerr, Major John 314 
 
 Kerr, Joseph J 397 
 
 Kickland, Dr. William A 336 
 
 Kilburn, M. R 414 
 
 Kimmons, John 415 
 
 King, Hannah H 462 
 
 Kingman, Dr. Harry E 340 
 
 Kissock, John A. C 394 
 
 Kitchell, Aaron 454 
 
 Klene, Rev. John G 334 
 
 Kluver, August C 398 
 
 Knapp, Ira 491 
 
 Koeper, .Mrs. Alvina C 335 
 
 Lamb, Arthur E 337 
 
 Lamb, Carlyle 293 
 
 Lamb, Rev. E. J 295 
 
 Lamb, Rev.- Lawrence J 315 
 
 Lajeunesse, Rev. G. Joseph 289 
 
 Landes, Pierce J 310 
 
 Lariviere, Phillip 492 
 
 Lawrence, Prof. James W 478 
 
 Laws, William H 489 
 
 Lee, Paul W 400 
 
 Lewis, Herbert M 453 
 
 Lindenmeier, William Jr 281 
 
 Link, Wallace A 414 
 
 Litle, George W 331 
 
 Logan, William J 454 
 
 Longyear, Prof. Burton 335 
 
 Loomis, Abner 405 
 
 Loomis, Leonidas 498 
 
 Lory, Dr. Charles Alfred 375 
 
 Lowery, Wesley W 322 
 
 Lyckman, Gustav E 469 
 
 Lyon, John 315 
 
 McAnelly, Emmet C 319 
 
 McAnelly, Hon. Jefferson 434 
 
 McClelland, Henri S 332 
 
 McClelland, Joseph S 443 
 
 McClung, James H 306 
 
 McCormick, George C 386 
 
 McCormick, James G 386 
 
 McCormick, William H 290 
 
 McCreery, James M 406 
 
 McCreery, Rev. William H 289 
 
 McEwen, James 429 
 
 McGibbon, E. M 488 
 
 McGinley, James 424 
 
 McGregor, Judge A. Q 496 
 
 McHugh, P. J., M. D 486 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Mcintosh, Barbara 497 
 
 Mclntyre, Captain Josiah W 410 
 
 .McKissick, Oliver L 294 
 
 McLeod, John C 301 
 
 McNabb, John 496 
 
 McNey, John 444 
 
 McNey, Stewart 382 
 
 McPherson, John 332 
 
 MsWhorter, Charles G 301 
 
 Mabel, William 289 
 
 Madden, Frank H 301 
 
 Mahood, William E 300 
 
 Mandeville, James D 336 
 
 Mandeville, Lieutenant John H....374 
 
 Mansfield, Walter E 271 
 
 Mason, Augustine 451 
 
 Mason, James R 316 
 
 Mason, Joseph 320 
 
 Matthews, John C 272 
 
 Maxfield, Richard A 370 
 
 Maxwell, R. G 426 
 
 Meldrum, Norman H 376 
 
 Merrifield, Eben S 333 
 
 Michaud, Frank 402 
 
 Miller, Frank E 312 
 
 Miller, Frank H 433 
 
 Miller, Henry T 483 
 
 Miller, James 390 
 
 Miller, Robert 293 
 
 Miller, Willis S 336 
 
 Milne, Archibald R 323 
 
 Modeno, Mariana 340 
 
 Montgomery, Anna M 310 
 
 Montgomery, Thomas J 271 
 
 Moon, Lady Catherine, nee Grattan 
 
 Lawder 484 
 
 Moore, Frank W 495 
 
 Moore, Rev. Franklin 426 
 
 Moore, Lewis Clark 413 
 
 Moore, Marshall 420 
 
 •Moore, Thomas Lee 429 
 
 Morgan, Thomas 398 
 
 Morgan, William P 455 
 
 Morton, Frederick A 428 
 
 Murke, Dr. Franz 394 - 
 
 Murray, Hon. Joseph 475 
 
 Naylor, James M 471 
 
 Naylor, William 306 
 
 Nelson, Frank M 390 
 
 Nelson, John, Sr 369 
 
 Nelson, John, Jr 307 
 
 Netherton, Prof. Thomas M 368 
 
 Newell, Wm. T 474 
 
 Nightingale, J. L 287 
 
 Nugent, John J 294 
 
 Nye, E. A 459 
 
 O'Brien, William 444 
 
 Oldfield, Sylvanus 272 
 
 Oliver, John S 470 
 
 O'Loughlin, Dennis F 460 
 
 Osborn, Milo Y 491 
 
 Osborne, Judge William B 466 
 
 Papa, Louis 470 
 
 Parke, W. T 461 
 
 Parker, Lewis E 311 
 
 Parshall, Ralph Leroy 307 
 
 Pate, Edgar T 384 
 
 Patterson, Arthur H 411 
 
 Payson, John H 445 
 
 Pearson, Elbert D 490 
 
 Pease, Herbert S 274 
 
 Peck, O. C 476 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Peterson, Henry C 275 
 
 Pew, Kintzing P 464 
 
 Piatt, Arthur J 400 
 
 Pierce, Hiram 309 
 
 Pindell, Albert S 317 
 
 Plummer, James Ezra 428 
 
 Pope, John E 324 
 
 Post, Captain William M 417 
 
 Powers, Daniel L 448 
 
 Pratt, Henry F 456 
 
 Prendergast, Walter J 326 
 
 Prendergast, Walter R 330 
 
 Preston, Benj 280 
 
 Preston, William J 368 
 
 Provost, John Baptiste 321 
 
 Quinn, Tom 419 
 
 Raigle, George W 491 
 
 Ralph, William H 382 
 
 Ramer, Charles W 371 
 
 Reckly, Dr. Mary D 467 
 
 Reed, Olin G 300 
 
 Reed, Samuel O. K 487 
 
 Reeder, Perry 475 
 
 Reid, Eliza A 388 
 
 Rhea, Cooke 473 
 
 Rhodes, Hon. Ledru R 449 
 
 Richards, Ebenezer C 479 
 
 Ricketts, Philander 447 
 
 Ricks, Frank W. 383 
 
 Riddle, John G 455 
 
 Riker, Oscar 372 
 
 Ringland, Wm 475 
 
 Rist, William '. 385 
 
 Roberts, Ellis H 282 
 
 Roberts, John E 282 
 
 Roberts, Robert 419 
 
 Rohling, August L 392 
 
 Rugh, C 498 
 
 Rutledge, Warren H 443 
 
 Ryan, John J 303 
 
 Ryckman, John P 369 
 
 Sainsbury, Joseph 438 
 
 Sampson, Julius F 432 
 
 Samuels, F. M 497 
 
 Samuels, John R 448 
 
 Sanborn. Burton Davis 397 
 
 Schang, Querin 374 
 
 Schelt, Peter 476 
 
 Schilling, Mrs. Lucy 298 
 
 Schlichter, Edwin A 430 
 
 Schroeder, Frederick J 476 
 
 Schroeder, Herman W 418 
 
 Scott, Fulton N. B 442 
 
 Seaman, James G 374 
 
 Seaman, J. Rolland 294 
 
 Seaman, John W 472 
 
 Seckner, Stephen H 407 
 
 Service, Samuel 488 
 
 Shaffer, J. M 448 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Sheldon, Charles H 462 
 
 Sheldon, John 282 
 
 Sherwood, Frederick W 399 
 
 Sherwood, Jesse M 276 
 
 Shields, O. D 380 
 
 Shipp, James W 479 
 
 Shipp, William A 474 
 
 Shipler, Joseph E 487 
 
 Shortridge, William Thomas 309 
 
 ShuU, John C 486 
 
 Silcott, Elza 451 
 
 Simpson, George H 428 
 
 Simpson, John H 494 
 
 Slaughter, William M 302 
 
 Smith, Hiram R 489 
 
 Smith, James M 323 
 
 Smith, John Letford 412 
 
 Smith, John Lindley 300 
 
 Smith, Oscar J 484 
 
 Smith, Sherman W 303 
 
 Snyder, Frederick J 309 
 
 Sprague, Abner E 467 
 
 Springer, Howard G 401 
 
 Springer, Orville 341 
 
 Springer, Richard C : . . . .381 
 
 Stakebake, George 398 
 
 Stearley, George 484 
 
 Stewart, S. F 290 
 
 Stiles, W. C 376 
 
 Stoddard, Virgil W 477 
 
 Stone, Mrs. Elizabeth 291 
 
 Stover, Frank P 322 
 
 Stover, Hon. Fred W 301 
 
 Stover, William C 313 
 
 Stow, Fred W 431 
 
 Strachan, Alexander 482 
 
 Strang, James 432 
 
 Stratton, Harris 415 
 
 Strauss, Geo. R 277 
 
 Strauss, Herman 331 
 
 Stuart, Victor G. H 305 
 
 Suiter, Edward F ' 434 
 
 Sullivan, James 368 
 
 Swan, James H 435 
 
 Sweeney, James 452 
 
 Sweeney, Emma A 395 
 
 Taft, Louis B 298 
 
 Taft, Preston A 460 
 
 Taft, Water DeW 297 
 
 Taylor, Lathrop Montgomery 396 
 
 Taylor, Mathew S 298 
 
 Taylor, Rev. Thomas Waters 372 
 
 Taylor, William S 284 
 
 Tedmon, Bolivar S 413 
 
 Tedmon, Hon. Herbert E 457 
 
 Tenney, R. Q 466 
 
 Terry, Peter G 481 
 
 Thayer, Ernest W 369 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Thayer, Henry H 480 
 
 Thomas, Nathaniel 336 
 
 Thomas, William Russell 385 
 
 Thornton, Wilbur R 474 
 
 Tinsman, John M 479 
 
 Tombaugh, Levi 308 
 
 Tomlin, Albert Baker 390 
 
 Tomlin, Oliver B 332 
 
 Toomey, George E 432 
 
 Trimble, William H 450 
 
 Trindle, Hon. William H 323 
 
 Turner, Peter 311 
 
 Turner, William H 494 
 
 UUery, John R 277 
 
 Vandewark, James F 447 
 
 Vandewark, Martin 392 
 
 Vaplon, W. E 321, 
 
 Vescelius, W. S 457 
 
 Walker, Jerome Emmett 3- 
 
 Ward, Archie C 48 
 
 Ward, M. C 38 
 
 Warren, Ida Maria 458 
 
 Warren, Captain Charles 459 
 
 Washburn, Judge John E 298 
 
 Wathen, Stephen A 342 
 
 Watrous, Ansel 406 
 
 Watrous, William F 278 
 
 Watson, James 385 
 
 Watts, E. E 394 
 
 Webster, Henry 397 
 
 Webster, Samuel F 468 
 
 Welch, Corwin R 426 
 
 Welch, Jacob 307 
 
 Wetzler, Lewis 416 
 
 Whedbee, Benjamin T 274 
 
 Wheeler, Herbert N 368 
 
 White, Christian 438 
 
 Whiteman, J. Monroe 301 
 
 Wich, Gustave 482 
 
 Wiest, Dr. Roy ■. 488 
 
 Wilcox, George H 470 
 
 Wilkins, Thomas J 340 
 
 Williams, A. J 463 
 
 Williams, Benjamin F 308 
 
 Williams, John 445 
 
 Williams, John Straughan 319 
 
 Willis, John L 492 
 
 Willis, W. E 470 
 
 Wills, Ed. H 455 
 
 Woods, Calvin I 445 
 
 Woods, Clerin T 400 
 
 Woods, Frank T 485 
 
 Workman, Peyton H 452 
 
 Wright, Fred M 417 
 
 Wright, George Wilford 328 
 
 Youtsey, Herman S 370 
 
 Ziegler, Watson 498 
 
 Zimmerman, John 466 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Administration Building, C. A. C...138 
 A Glimpse of the Poudre Above 
 
 Bellvue 189 
 
 Agricultural College as it was in 
 
 1883 239 
 
 Agricultural Hall, C. A. C 140 
 
 An Arapahoe Wigwam 41 
 
 A Pioneer's Home 45 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Arapahoe Indian Boys 224 
 
 "Aunty" Stone's Mess House and 
 
 Hotel 219 
 
 Bear Lake. Estes Park 177 
 
 Beginning; of Colorado Agricultural 
 
 College 137 
 
 Big Thompson Dam 134 
 
 Camp Collins in 1865 217 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Captain Evans' Headquarters 225 
 
 Captain Post's Pleasure Boat on Lin- 
 
 denmeler Lake 255 
 
 Chambers' Lake, Dam and Reservoir 11 
 Civil and Irrigation Engineering 
 
 Building, C. A. C 139 
 
 Climbing Long's Peak 181 
 
 Conservatory of Music, C. A. C..139 
 
 [511] 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Corner Linden and Walnut Streets . . 249 
 Corner of Walnut Street and Col- 
 lege Avenue, Fort Collins 254 
 
 Corner of West Mountain and Col- 
 lege Avenues, Fort Collins 252 
 
 Corner of West Mountain and Col- 
 lege Avenues, Fort Collins 262 
 
 Corner of Walnut and Linden Streets. 247 
 
 •Dam of Halligan Reservoir 133 
 
 Electrical Engineering Building, C. 
 
 A. C 140 
 
 Entrance to Estes Park 174 
 
 Estes Park in Winter 178 
 
 Falls of the Cache la Poudre 54 
 
 Farmers Loading Beet Pulp for 
 
 Stock-feeding Purposes 258 
 
 First Brick House Built in Fort 
 
 Collins 230 
 
 First Chimney Built in Larimer 
 
 County 56 
 
 Fishing Scene on the Cache la 
 
 Poudre 51 
 
 Fort Collins in 1881 243 
 
 Fort Collins Sugar Factory 151 
 
 Frame of Indian Wigwam, Estes 
 Park 182 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Gem Lake, Estes Park 176 
 
 Horsetooth Falls 200 
 
 Horsetooth Mountain Near Fort 
 
 Collins 49 
 
 Indian Baby-Carriage 43 
 
 Indian Women and Children 41 
 
 Jefferson Street, Fort Collins 246 
 
 Jefferson Street in 1874 234 
 
 Judge Bouton's Law Office 232 
 
 Lamb Feeding in Larimer County... 250 
 
 Lake Como at Zimmerman's 268 
 
 Lake Ursulla, Estes Park 187 
 
 Lake Zimmerman 156 
 
 Larimer County's First Court House. .148 
 
 Larimer County Court House 149 
 
 Lily Pond and Campus, C. A. C..140 
 
 Linden Street, Fort Collins 248 
 
 Linden Street, Fort Collins 251 
 
 Lulu Falls, Estes Park 89 
 
 Manhattan Gold Camp in 1888 154 
 
 Map of Larimer County opp 40 
 
 Marguerite Falls, Moraine Park. . . 68 
 Mechanical Engineering Building, C. 
 
 A. C 139 
 
 Mitchell Lake 70 
 
 Odessa Lake, Estes Park 175 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Old Arapahoe Council Tree 266 
 
 Old Grout Stage Barn 229 
 
 Old LaPorte Brewery 166 
 
 Old Stage Station at Namaqua 167 
 
 Piles of Sugar Beets 256 
 
 Pioneer Restaurant 53 
 
 Pioneer Transportation Train 47 
 
 Range Sheep at Pasture 135 
 
 Rapids, Big Thompson Canon 170 
 
 Repairing Irrigating Ditches 265 
 
 Saw Tooth Mountain from Michigan 
 
 Ditch Camp 58 
 
 Shetland Falls, Roaring Creek 236 
 
 Simon Guggenheim Hall of House- 
 hold Arts, C. A. C 142 
 
 Steam Boat Rock, Livermore 50 
 
 The First Mill Built in Fort Collins. 226 
 
 The Old Grout Building 218 
 
 The "Skyline" Ditch 157 
 
 Timberline House, Long's Peak 181 
 
 Typical Beet Dump 253 
 
 Unloading Beets at a Dump 238 
 
 View of Continental Divide 185 
 
 West Mountain and College Avenues, 
 
 Fort Collins 259 
 
 Ypsilon Peak, Estes Park 180 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Abbott, Hon. John C 354 
 
 Akin, Henry 480 
 
 Akin, Mrs. Henry 480 
 
 Akin, Myron H 351 
 
 Alford, Nathaniel C opp. 349 
 
 Allen, Capt. Asaph 229 
 
 Anderson, Carl opp. 375 
 
 Anderson, P opp. 273 
 
 Andrews, Charles B opp. 355 
 
 Annis, Frank J 494 
 
 Armstrong, Andrew 441 
 
 Arthur, James B opp. 499 
 
 Avery, F. C opp. 345 
 
 Avery, William H 462 
 
 Aylesworth, Merlin H 360 
 
 Bailey, Hon. George W 366 
 
 Baker, Frederick R opp. 359 
 
 Barry, Alexander 364 
 
 Batterson, Solomon 352 
 
 Batterson, Mrs. Solomon 353 
 
 Baxter, Frank E 285 
 
 Beach, Jerry Thornton 437 
 
 Beach, Mrs. Jerry Thornton 437 
 
 Bear, George 288 
 
 Beers, John C 324 
 
 Benson, Aaron V 490 
 
 Benson, Hon. Aaron S opp. 360 
 
 Benson, Hon. Clarence Vanderburgh. 350 
 
 Birdsall, S. H 276 
 
 Bishop, Thomas B 342 
 
 Bond, Cornelius H 452 
 
 Bouton, Judge Jay H opp. 363 
 
 Bouton, Mrs. Jay H opp. 363 
 
 Bradley, Isaac C 366 
 
 Brandis, William 347 
 
 Brandis, Mrs. William 348 
 
 Brawner, Eugene F 356 
 
 Bristol, Judson H 458 
 
 Bristol, Noah 458 
 
 Brown, James A opp. 367 
 
 Brown, John R 346 
 
 Brown, Miles A 441 
 
 [512] 
 
 PORTRAITS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Brush, Hon. Jared Lamar 299 
 
 Bunyan, Thomas Chalmers 287 
 
 Burnett, Benjamin F 461 
 
 Bush, Rock 479 
 
 Buss, Capt. George E 358 
 
 Buss, Mrs. George E 358 
 
 Calhoun, Henry D 363 
 
 Calloway, Martin 354 
 
 Calloway, William 344 
 
 Camfield, D. A 347 
 
 Campton, Mr. and Mrs. William. . .328 
 
 Carlson, George 286 
 
 Carlton, Clarence A 396 
 
 Carpenter, Louis G opp. 343 
 
 Chamberlin, Henry W 493 
 
 Christman, Frederick 370 
 
 Clammer, Samuel H opp. 364 
 
 Cline, Thomas 330 
 
 Collins, Lieut. Col. William 215 
 
 Collins, Mrs. Wm. 215 
 
 Corbin, Twiford 309 
 
 Covington, Phillip 362 
 
 Coy, Mr. and Mrs. John G... opp. 471 
 Cradock, Charles Frederick William. 438 
 
 Crain, L. D 465 
 
 Crocker, A. E 357 
 
 Cross, Hon. John A 453 
 
 Cross, Lewis 439 
 
 Cross, Mrs. Lewis ^ 439 
 
 Cunningham, Hon. John j\I . . . .opp. 463 
 
 Cusack, John S 351 
 
 Cuthbertson, James opp. 423 
 
 Cuthbertson, John S 305 
 
 Davis, John D 446 
 
 Davis, Mrs. John D 446 
 
 Davis, Thomas 440 
 
 Davis, Mrs. Thomas 440 
 
 Douglass, Mr. and Mrs. James C..404 
 
 Douglass, John F 394 
 
 Dow, Jack 421 
 
 Downey, Austin C 334 
 
 Drake, Hon. W. A opp. 387 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Duncan, Simon 498 
 
 Eaton, Hon. Benjamin H opp. 283 
 
 Edmonds, Herbert A 408 
 
 Edwards, Alfred A opp. 380 
 
 Ellison, Mark Austin 373 
 
 Emerson, Charles 333 
 
 Emerson, Horace W and daughter, 
 
 Dorothy 300 
 
 Evans, Senator James C opp. 393 
 
 Fagan, L. H 335 
 
 Foote, George W 487 
 
 Gage, Thaddeus A 339 
 
 Garrett, Thomas H 326 
 
 Giddings, Loren 489 
 
 Gilkison, A. T 312 
 
 Gillette, Prof. Clarence P 378 
 
 Glover, Dr. George H 383 
 
 Gordon, John N 422 
 
 Grable, Francis C 337 
 
 Graham, Hon. Neil F 424 
 
 Greenacre, Allen P 425 
 
 Gross, Frederick opp. 485 
 
 Hahn, John 391 
 
 Hall, Edward Hayden 409 
 
 Hammerly, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph... 477 
 
 Harding, Willard 402 
 
 Harrington, Perry 390 
 
 Harris, Benjamin B 425 
 
 Harris, Isaac B 427 
 
 Harris, Jesse opp. 325 
 
 Harris, Mrs. Jesse opp. 325 
 
 Hart, Henry E 317 
 
 Hart, Mrs. Henry 317 
 
 Hartman, Harry Hale 428 
 
 Hawley, Capt. Charles C 329 
 
 Herzinger, John Lewis 472 
 
 Hibbard, Wellington 379 
 
 Hollowell, J. Nelson 377 
 
 Horner, Asa M 422 
 
 Horner, Elijah 436 
 
 House, Prof. Edward B 473 
 
 Howard, Charles V 280 
 
HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, 
 
 COLORADO 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Howes, Alfred F 296 
 
 Ish, Capt. John C 431 
 
 James, David 493 
 
 James, William Edwin 456 
 
 James, Mrs. William Edwin 456 
 
 Johnson, Hon. Thomas H 284 
 
 Kiersey, Drury G 306 
 
 Kissock, John A. C 395 
 
 Kissock, Mrs. John A. C 395 
 
 Kluver, August C 398 
 
 Knapp, Ira 491 
 
 La Jeunesse, Rev. G. Joseph 389 
 
 Lamb, Rev. E. J 295 
 
 Lamb, Rev. Lawrence J 315 
 
 Larimer, General William 488 
 
 Lawrence, Prof. James W 478 
 
 Lawrence, Mrs. James W 478 
 
 Lee, Paul W 400 
 
 Lindenmeier, William, Jr 281 
 
 Litle, Mr. and Mrs. George W.opp. 331 
 
 Logan, William J 454 
 
 Loomis, Abner opp. 405 
 
 Lory, Dr. Charles Alfred 376 
 
 Lyckman, Gustav E 469 
 
 Mandeville, Lieut. John H 374 
 
 Mason, Augustine opp. 451 
 
 Mason, Mrs. Augustine opp. 451 
 
 Mason, Mr. and Mrs. James R...316 
 
 Mason, Joseph 320 
 
 McAnelly, Hon. Jefferson 434 
 
 McClelland, Joseph S opp. 443 
 
 McClelland, Mrs. Joseph S.... opp. 443 
 
 McCormick, George C 386 
 
 McCormick, James G 386 
 
 McCreery, James M 406 
 
 McCreery, Rev. William H 289 
 
 McEwen, James 430 
 
 McBugh, Dr. P. J 486 
 
 McHugh, Mrs. P. J 486 
 
 Mclntyre, Capt^ Josiah W 410 
 
 Mblntyre, Mrs. Lucy N 410 
 
 McNabb, John 496 
 
 McPherson, John 332 
 
 Members of the Colorado State Board 
 
 of Agriculture opp. 503 
 
 Michaud, Frank 402 
 
 Michaud, Mrs. Frank 403 
 
 Miller, Frank H 433 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Miller, Henry T 483 
 
 Modeno, Mariana 87 
 
 Montgomery, Thomas J 271 
 
 Moore, Rev. and Mrs. Franklin .. .426 
 
 Moore, Frank W 495 
 
 Moore, L. C opp. 413 
 
 Moore, Marshall 420 
 
 Moore, Thomas Lee 429 
 
 Murray, Hon, Joseph opp. 475 
 
 Murray, Mrs. Joseph opp. 475 
 
 Nelson, John Sr opp. 369 
 
 Nugent, John J 294 
 
 O'Brien, William 444 
 
 Osborn, Judge William B opp. 467 
 
 Osborn, Mrs. William B opp. 467 
 
 Otis, Major 227 
 
 Papa, Louis 470 
 
 Parker, Mr. and Mrs. L. E 311 
 
 Pate, Edgar T 384 
 
 Patterson, Arthur H 411 
 
 Payson, John H 44 5 
 
 Peterson, Henry C 275 
 
 Pew, Kintzing P 464 
 
 Post, Capt. William M 418 
 
 Prendergast, Walter J 327 
 
 Presidents of Colorado State Agricul- 
 tural College opp. 501 
 
 Preston, Benjamin opp. 281 
 
 Preston, Mrs. Benjamin opp. 281 
 
 Provost, John Baptiste 321 
 
 Quinn, Tom 420 
 
 Ralph, William H 382 
 
 Ramer, Charles W 371 
 
 Rhodes, Hon. Ledru R 449 
 
 Riddle, John G opp. 455 
 
 Riddle, Mrs. John G opp. 455 
 
 Roberts, Robert O 419 
 
 Rohling, August L 392 
 
 Rustic Hotel 245 
 
 Ryan, John J opp. 303 
 
 Samuels, F. M 497 
 
 Samuels, John R 448 
 
 Sanborn, Burton Davis 397 
 
 Schlichter, Edwin A 430 
 
 Schroeder, Frederick J 476 
 
 Schroeder, Herman W 418 
 
 Seckner, Stephen H 407 
 
 Sherwood, F. W 399 
 
 Shortridge, William Thomas 310 
 
 Simpson, John H 495 
 
 Smith, John Letford 412 
 
 Springer, Howard G 401 
 
 Stearly, George 484 
 
 Stone, Mrs. Elizabeth (Aunty).. opp. 291 
 
 Stover, Frank P 322 
 
 Stover, Hon. Fred W 301 
 
 Stover, W. C opp. 313 
 
 Stow, Fred W opp. 431 
 
 Strang, James 432 
 
 Stratton, Harris 415 
 
 Stratton, Mrs. Harris 416 
 
 Strauss, George R 277 
 
 Suiter, Edward F 435 
 
 Swan, James H 435 
 
 Taf t, Louis B opp. 297 
 
 Taft, Preston A 460 
 
 Taft, Walter De Witt opp. 297 
 
 Taylor, Lathrop M 396 
 
 Taylor, Rev. Thomas Waters 372 
 
 Tedmon, Bolivar S 413 
 
 Tedmon, Mrs. Bolivar S 414 
 
 Tedmon, Hon. and Mrs. Herbert E. 
 
 and son. Earl L 457 
 
 Thomas, William Russel 385 
 
 Thornton, Wilbur R 474 
 
 Tombaugh, Levi 308 
 
 Toomey, George E 433 
 
 Trimble, William H 450 
 
 Trimble, Mrs. William H 450 
 
 Trindle, Hon. William H 323 
 
 Vandewark, James F opp. 447 
 
 Wallace, Lieut. Fred ' 225 
 
 Warren, Capt. Charles opp. 459 
 
 Warren, Mrs. Charles opp. 459 
 
 Watrous, Ansel Frontispiece 
 
 Watrous, William F 279 
 
 Webster, Samuel F 468 
 
 Webster, Mrs. Samuel F 468 
 
 Welch, C. R opp. 426 
 
 Welch, Jacob opp. 307 
 
 Welch, Mrs. Jacob opp. 307 
 
 Whedbee, Benjamin T 274 
 
 Wich, Gustave 482 
 
 i Williams, John Straughan 319 
 
 Willis, John L 492 
 
 Wright, Fred M 417 
 
 [513]