History of Larimer County, Colorado, Part 1

Author: Watrous, Ansel, 1835-1927
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Fort Collins, Colo. : The Courier Printing & Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 678

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Hasel Nationes

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

I hear the tread of Pioneers, of Nations yet to be;

The first low wash of waves, where soon shall roll a human sea .- Whittier.

S OME 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.

Aurel Nations

Note of Acknowledgment

I N 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.

Aurel Nations

A Tribute to the Author

T HE 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 OF 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.

I N 1806, one hundred and four years ago, a military exploring party, led by Lieut. Zebu- lon 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 became 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 officers 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,

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HISTORY OF

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but advanced into New Mexico, and met and checked the hitherto triumphant Confederates at La Glorietta (Apache Cañon).

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. McIntyre, 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-

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

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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 cañon 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 cañon 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.

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History of Larimer County, Colorado, Part 1

Author: Watrous, Ansel, 1835-1927 Publication date: 1911 Publisher: Fort Collins, Colo. : The Courier Printing & Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 678

Author: Watrous, Ansel, 1835-1927
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Fort Collins, Colo. : The Courier Printing & Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 678