USA > Colorado > Larimer County > History of Larimer County, Colorado > Part 36
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"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
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.
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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- office 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.
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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
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 conscientious preachers of the gospel, and they are well supported ; and the public schools are the equal
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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
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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 gypsum 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.
"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. Duffield 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. McMullen, 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
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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.
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