USA > Colorado > Larimer County > History of Larimer County, Colorado > Part 40
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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
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 11:30 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
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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, 21ST 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
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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
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
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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
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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 bluff 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
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-
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ruary, 1869, Captain Allen 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
LIVERY HELD & SALLAYAE
OLD GROUT STAGE BARN, BUILT IN 1870
at Mariana's Crossing on the Big Thompson and at Laporte on the Caché 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.
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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.
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
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