USA > Colorado > Larimer County > History of Larimer County, Colorado > Part 33
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84
[184] .
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-
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
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 amidst 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
[186]
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 breaking 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 off 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. PARKB
[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-
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 the 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 ยท 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
[188]
HISTORY OF
LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO
gardeners. There are now two stores in Bellvue, postoffice 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 vigilants 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
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 postoffice 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
[190]
HISTORY OF
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 5th, 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-
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.