History of Larimer County, Colorado, Part 49

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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the death of this estimable man and pioneer are in- deed sad. Along in the evening of the day of the flood, the water came rushing through his home, admonishing him to seek safety in flight to a neigh- bor's. He left the house and started for the house of James Strang, his nearest neighbor, but being old and feeble he could not withstand the force of the rushing water and was carried to a wire fence at which he managed to gain a standing position and maintain it by holding on to the top wire. He called for help, but the noise of the rushing torrent drowned his voice and he was not heard. At day- light the following morning he was discovered by Mr. Strang and rescued from the perilous position and taken to Mr. Strang's house. He had been standing all night in cold water and became so chilled by exposure that he lived but a few hours after reaching a place of safety. He was buried with Masonic honors on Wednesday, May 25th. Thus passed away, at the age of 73 years, one of the very first of the rugged pioneers who helped to make the Cache la Poudre valley what it is today-one of the wealthiest and most prosperous regions in the United States.

Mr. Strauss was a specimen of the brave, inde- pendent westerners; sanguine in temperament, genial in disposition and honorable in thought and deed, unostentatious at all times. He lived a sim- ple, Christian life, esteemed and admired by all who knew him. He was a factor in the development of the Cache la Poudre valley and watched its progress and advancement with almost a father's solicitude. It is to such men as he that his survivors in the val- ley are greatly indebted. .

GEORGE PORTER AVERY was born on December 25th, 1852, and was educated at Cazenovia and Syracuse Universities. He has been twice married. He came to Colorado, settling at Fort Collins in the fall of 1896. The greater part of Mr. Avery's life has been devoted to the preaching of the gos- pel under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal church.

WILLIAM F. WATROUS .- The venerable Wil- liam F. Watrous closed his eyes in death on Mon- day afternoon, July 18th, 1910, at the family home, 115 Shields street, Fort Collins. Mr. Watrous was born Aug. 10, 1825, in Bridgewater, Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, and was therefore nearly 85 years of age. When six years old his father moved to a farm in Broome county, New York, in the valley of the Susquehanna river, where the boy grew to manhood's estate. He received his education in the

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public schools of New York and at a neighboring academy. On Nov. 4th, 1847, he was united in marriage with Jane B. Carrier, who, with four chil- dren, survive him. The children's names and resi- dences are : Mrs. Alice M. Patterson, widow of the late A. H. Patterson, Pueblo; William A. Watrous, Wheatland, Wyoming; Frank L. Watrous and Miss Anna Watrous, Fort Collins. In the fall of 1849 Mr. Watrous and his wife and little daughter, Alice, emigrated from New York to Wisconsin and located in the unbroken forests of Charlestown, Calumet county. Young and ambitious and strong of heart, he worked with undaunted courage and cheering hopes to carve out a home for himself and family. He early took an active interest in fruit growing and was the first to demonstrate that ap- ples and all the hardy kinds of fruit could be grown with success in northeastern Wisconsin. In the fall of 1864 he sold his Calumet county farm and moved to Manitowoc, Wisconsin, where he engaged quite extensively in fruit growing and market gardening, remaining here until the winter of 1871, when he came with his family to Larimer county, which had since been his home. He purchased a farm situated in the Cache la Poudre valley, about three miles northwest of Fort Collins, on which he lived until 1874. He then moved to Fort Collins and built himself a house at the corner of College avenue and Myrtle street. In 1882 he sold the most of his town property and moved to a fruit farm situated on the river bank about one mile northwest of Fort Collins, on which he lived until about two years ago, when increasing years with their physical bur- dens admonished him to retire from active business pursuits. From early manhood Mr. Watrous took an active interest in public affairs and there were but few years of his life in Wisconsin that he did not hold some official position either in town or county, always with credit to himself and satisfac- tion to the people. In 1862 he represented his county in the Wisconsin legislature, and for several years in succession was chairman of the town board of supervisors, which made him also a member of the board of county supervisors. Since coming to Larimer county, in 1871, he had been a public- spirited, progressive citizen, always among the fore- most in assisting with energy, pen and purse, any enterprise that promised to advance the material, social, educational and moral interests of his chosen home. In March, 1877, Governor Routt appointed him a member of the first state board of agriculture, a position he occupied until April, 1891, a period of fourteen years. He was elected president at the first

meeting of that board and continued to preside over its meetings for a period of nearly ten years. It was during his administration that the main college building and various other buildings connected there- with were erected. When the main building was ready for use and it was decided to open school in the spring of 1879, it was found that there was no public money to be had for that purpose until later

WILLIAM F. WATROUS

in the season. To get over this difficulty Mr. Wat- rous and the late John J. Ryan, who was also a member of the board of agriculture, went to Den- ver and borrowed $3,000 at a bank on the strength of their joint note, and with this money the school was opened and started off on its career of useful- ness. After the taxes had been collected later on the note was paid off out of college funds. In the spring of 1882 he was elected a member of the board of town trustees, which contracted for and super- vised the construction of Fort Collins' first system of waterworks, and his name, with those of the other members of the board, is engraved on a stone tablet inserted in the front wall of the old pump house. He was one of the pioneers in fruit growing in Colo- rado, sharing that honor with the late J. S. McClel-

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land, A. N. Hoag and Z. C. Plummer, and his and their success in that direction gave encouragement to hundreds of others in Larimer county, who now boast of fine orchards and an abundance of health- giving and health-preserving fruits.

CHARLES V. HOWARD was a native of Massa- chusetts, born in 1837; died April 17th, in Fort Collins, aged 69 years. Mr. Howard was one of

CHARLES V. HOWARD

the pioneer farmers of the Cache la Poudre valley, having located on a farm four miles northwest of Fort Collins in 1870. This was his home for thirty- five years, but owing to failing health he was obliged to give up hard work and therefore sold his farm in 1905 and moved to Fort Collins. He is survived by two children, a married daughter in California, and a son, Charles, who was with his father when he died.

BENJ. PRESTON .- Among the foreign born far- mer citizens of Larimer county, who after endur- ing the hardships and privations incident to pioneer life and the opening to cultivation of virgin soil, and who by arduous labor and close and intelligent at- tention to work in hand, is now enjoying a well-

earned respite from the strenuous activities of farm life, mid health and plenty, and surrounded by children and friends, Benj. Preston stands well up toward the head of the ranks of the successful and prosperous. Mr. Preston is one of the best known and most warmly admired citizens of the county. He began with little, and unless overtaken by ill- fortune, will end with much hard-earned incre- ment. He was born a poor English farmer's boy, May 9th, 1848, at Kirby Kane, Suffolk, England, where he received his education. At the age of six- teen years he left the parental home and started for the United States, arriving in New York, April 5th, 1866, going thence to Battle Creek, Mich- igan to meet an uncle who had sent for him and paid his passage to this country. Speaking of this period in his life he jokingly says, "I came to this country because I was needed here and was sent for." After attaining his majority he started for the wild and wooly west, stopping first in Chey- enne and coming to the Caché la Poudre valley that fall. During the few months he spent in Cheyenne he was employed as hostler in the Union Pacific round-house and has many a time cleaned the engine known as the D. H. Moffat, then employed on construction work on the Denver Pacific rail- road. In 1870 Mr. Preston and a man named Silas Doty cultivated a part of Judge A. F. Howes' ranch, and in 1871 he moved on to John Brush's place in the Big Thompson valley, and farmed it one year until 1877, when he bought the land he lives on at the present time, from Edgar Avery, of Greeley, paying $10 per acre for it, with water rights. It was then a piece of raw land without a building, fence or tree on it and looked quite different from the way it does now, with its beauti- ful and commodious farm house, large barn, sheds and corrals, its fruit and shade trees and vegetable and flower gardens, making it one of the most attractive farm homes in the county, as it is one of the most productive. With the land he got the same water rights that he holds now in the Warren Lake reservoir for which he has during the present year (1910) refused $16,- 000. The 228 acre farm with water rights that he paid $1,600 for in 1877, could not be bought now for less than $45,000. Mr. Preston broke up a part of his land that fall and raised his first crop in 1878 and has since been a uni- formly successful farmer and stock feeder, and has since accumulated a handsome competence. He was united in marriage with Miss Hessie S. Bell, daughter of the late Thomas P. Bell, in November,

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MRS. BENJAMIN PRESTON

BENJAMIN PRESTON

HISTORY OF

LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO

1874, and they have three children living; Mrs. Clara L. Halderman, Charles B. and William A. Preston. He has been president of the Fort Col- lins Sheep Feeders' association, president of the Fort Collins Beet Growers association and has done more to increase the yield of spring wheat than any other man in Colorado. He is an enterprising and public spirited citizen and has been identified with many progressive movements calculated to develop the resources of the county and advance the mater- ial welfare of its citizens. He is interested with his son Charles and his son-in-law B. J. Halderman, in the improvement and cultivation of 640 acres of land in the San Luis valley in Costilla county.

ROBERT S. FEDDER was born in Pittsburg, Penn- sylvania, March 4, 1855. His early education was received in his native city, where he resided until 1875, when he came to Colorado. In 1880 and 1881 he served as deputy clerk of Grand county and prior to that time he served in the same capacity in Larimer county for a few months, under Charles P. Scott. He returned to this county in 1882, re- ceiving the appointment as deputy under the then county clerk, T. J. Montgomery. He held the office of deputy treasurer under John L. Thomas, who was elected in 1893. In January, 1895, he be- came clerk of the district court, under Judge Jay H. Bouton. In 1906 he was appointed a deputy in the office of the secretary of state and, on return- ing from Denver, he was appointed city clerk to succeed T. H. Garrett, who resigned to go on his ranch. In the following year, 1907, he was elected to the office and his re-election took place in 1909, the present being his second term. He was mar- ried in this city October 17, 1895, to Miss Mamie Snyder, who survives him. They had no children. He died Sept. 2nd, 1910.

EUGENE HOLMES, was born September 14th, 1845, near Pontiac, Michigan. His father died August 6, 1847, and his mother moved to New York state where she died in December, 1854. Our subject was educated at Cazenovia seminary, N. Y. On August 31st, 1864, he enlisted in 189th N. Y. volunteer infantry and participated in the siege of Petersburg, the battle of Five Forks and at the surrender of Gen. Lee at Appomattox. He was married August 14th, 1876, to Jennie Kelly of Hannibal, N. Y. After teaching school several years in New York, Mr. Holmes came to Fort Collins May 31st, 1878, and followed teaching in different parts of Larimer county for a number of years. He was one of the teachers employed in

September, 1879 to conduct the second school taught in the Remington building which was completed that year. Mr. Holmes has a beautiful home on Laporte avenue and enjoys the confidence and re- spect of all who know him.

WILLIAM LINDENMEIER JR. is a native of Colo- rado, born September 14th, 1867, in Denver. He is of German descent, his father, William Linden-

WILLIAM LINDENMEIER, JR.

meier coming to the Pike Peak region in 1860 with the rush of gold seekers, and in 1861, enlisted in company B of the First Colorado volunteer cavalry, Col. John M. Chivington commanding, serving all through the Civil war. He participated in the fights at Apache Canon, Pigeon's Ranch and Peralto, New Mexico, and did valiant service as an Indian fighter in 1864-5. In 1874, when our subject was seven years of age, the Lindenmeier family moved from Denver to Cheyenne, where he received his education in the public schools. His father at that time was engaged in the cattle business in company with Peter Anderson and later moved his family to Fort Collins. On January 15th, 1887, William Jr. was joined in marriage with Caroline Cleave in Fort Collins, and four children, Sheridan W., Clark

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Hall, Warren and Mary Alice, are the fruits of the union. Soon after his marriage our subject opened a jeweler's store on College avenue, which he con- ducted several years and then moved on to his father's farm at Lindenmeier Lake and followed farming, stock raising and stock feeding with ex- cellent success. In the spring of 1908, when the Denver Interurban extended its street car tracks to Lindenmeier Lake the subject of this sketch be- gan fitting up the grounds bordering the lake as a pleasure resort for the entertainment of summer visitors and picnic parties. A naptha launch and a number of row boats were placed on the lake, a dancing pavilion, refreshment hall and other at- tractions and conveniences constructed which to- gether with the grove of shade and fruit trees, make it a delightful resort. Mr. Lindenmeier is a member of three Masonic orders, Blue lodge, Royal Arch chapter, Commandery of Knight Temp- lers; Woodman of the World, Modern Wood- men of America, Elks and Sons of Veterans.

OTTO A. HILLER, assistant cashier of the First National Bank of Fort Collins, was born July 19th, 1883, in New York City, and was educated at Elyria, Ohio. He was married August 15th, 1907, to Clara Henkel. They have one child, a daugh- ter, Louise L. Hiller. The family came from Ohio to Fort Collins arriving here January 29th, 1908, and Mr. Hiller has since been employed in the First National Bank. Mr. Hiller is of German decent and speaks, reads and writes in the German lan- guage fluently. His father is a teacher at the German school in Elyria, Ohio. Mr. Hiller started in the banking business in the latter city in 1901 as collector and advanced steadily to the position of assistant cashier, which position he still occupies with the First National bank of Fort Collins.

JOHN E. ROBERTS AND ELLIS H. ROBERTS .- These two gentlemen comprise the firm of John E. and Ellis H. Roberts, stockmen and dairymen, late of the Upper Boxelder. John E. was born in Deerfield, Oneida county, New York, March 24th, 1836. He arrived in Colorado July 1st, 1878, set- tling on the Boxelder 26 miles northwest of Fort Collins. May 19th, 1871, Mr. J. E. Roberts was joined in wedlock to Mary Coates. Two daugh- ters and one son were born of the union, Eliza- beth, born August 20th, 1882; Edwin J., Novem- ber 7th, 1888, and Laura B., November 5th, 1890. Ellis H. Roberts was born in Deerfield, New York on December 14th, 1849, coming to Colorado July 23rd, 1874, and engaging in the stock and ranch

business with his brother on Boxelder creek. The brothers have grown prosperous during the 37 years of their partnership and were until they sold out, classed among the large stockmen of the county, owning a fine ranch property and a comfortable home where friend and stranger alike were always most hospitably received. They are now both resi- dents of Fort Collins.

JOHN SHELDON was born January 29, 1813, at Deerfield, Massachusetts; died January 2, 1886, in Fort Collins, aged nearly 73 years. His father's family removed from Massachusetts to Western New York at an early day, where he received a good common school education. He came to Fort Collins in 1874 and engaged in wool growing, locating on the farm on which he died. Prospect park and the new city park were portions of his farm. Mr. Sheldon disposed of his flocks in 1879 and gave his whole attention to cultivating his farm, then one of the finest in Larimer county. He was one of the pioneer farmers of the valley and was the first to introduce alfalfa and advocate its pro- duction as a forage plant. He was known far and wide as one of the most enterprising and progress- ive farmers in the county, and he did much, both by precept and example, to encourage agriculture and stock growing in Colorado. Two sons, Charles H. Sheldon, cashier of the Poudre valley National bank, and Henry, who died a few years ago, sur- vived his death, his wife having died in New York state many years ago.

GEORGE C. BRIGGS was born in Jefferson county, Pennsylvania, on May 10, 1860. He came to northern Colorado in 1880, settling in Evans, Weld county, where he engaged in the mercantile business. In January, 1889, he and Isabelle Parks of Washington, Kansas, were united in marriage and four children were the results of the union: Ethel, Elmira Agnes and J. Glenn. In 1901 Mr. Briggs and family moved to Loveland where he engaged in the newspaper business, being editor and business manager of the Loveland Register. Later he retired and entered mercantile circles again, but sold out in the spring of 1910. During his nine years residence in Loveland, Mr. Briggs has taken a prominent part in that city's affairs. He has served one term as mayor; was president of its chamber of commerce; member of the Elks, Odd Fellows and W. O. W .; and for eight years he was on its school board. He is a pushing, progressive American, a type that has forced Colorado to the front of its sister states the

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The Century Publishing & Engraving Change Benjamint Satan

HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO

past quarter of a century, and as a neighbor and friend he is highly esteemed by all. He was mayor of Evans 16 years, and the town's postmaster for five years.

HON. BENJAMIN H. EATON .- The people of Larimer and Weld counties, particularly the early settlers of those counties, will always retain a warm place in their hearts for sturdy Benjamin H. Eaton, Colorado's only farmer governor who filled the executive chair of State from January, 1885, to January, 1887, through the partiality of those who knew and appreciated his great worth as a common- wealth builder. Coming to Colorado in 1859, during the first days of the Pikes' Peak gold ex- citement, he was, until his death in 1904, one of the foremost and most prominent citizens of the state. His elevation to the highest position within the gift of the commonwealth is sufficient proof of his prominence as a citizen. During his life he witnessed the remarkable development of the vari- ous industries of the Centennial State, himself largely contributing thereto. Contemporaneous his- tory establishes the fact that he did more than any other one man to develop the agricultural resources of Colorado and bring them up to their present high and prosperous standing. At one time he owned ninety 160 acre farms in Weld county, nearly all of them watered from canals and reservoirs of his own construction. Mr. Eaton was born in Har- rison county, Ohio, and was the second eldest of eight children, six of whom attained mature years. Upon completing his education the subject of this sketch taught school in Ohio for a time. In 1854 he removed to Louisa county, Iowa, where he taught school two years, returning to Ohio in 1856 and was there united in marriage with Delilah Wolf. His wife died May 31st, 1857, leaving a son, Aaron J., who is now a prominent citizen of Weld county. In the spring of 1858, he went a second time to Iowa, but a year later crossed the Plains to Colo- rado. Here, and in New Mexico, he prospected and mined and engaged in agricultural pursuits. In 1864 he returned to Louisa county, Iowa, and married Rebecca J. Hill. Crossing the Plains with his bride, he settled upon land in Weld county, adjoining the east line of Larimer county and em- barked in stock raising. Fort Collins was then his nearest postoffice and trading point and here he formed many strong and lasting friendships. He was one of the charter members of the Collins lodge No. 19, A. F. & A. M. and remained a

cherished member thereof until the lodge at Greeley was instituted and established.

In addition to his ranching and stock raising pursuits, Mr. Eaton early became contractor and constructor of irrigating canals and reservoirs, through the building of which he greatly promoted and advanced the agricultural interests of the coun- ties of Larimer and Weld. In 1873, associated with John C. Abbott, he constructed what is known as Larimer county Canal No. 2, which waters a large tract of productive land west, south and south- east of Fort Collins. This was one of the first canals built in Larimer county to carry water on to the bluff lands. In the fall of 1878, Mr. Eaton began work on the Larimer & Weld Canal, known as the Eaton ditch, which at that time was the largest and longest irrigating canal in the state. The headgate is situated about two and a half miles northwest of Fort Collins and the canal is about 70 miles in length. He completed this pro- ject in 1879 and then went to Denver and built what is known as the High Line canal for a com- pany of English capitalists. Later he built the Wind. sor reservoir and still later the Sand creek ditch which draws water from Sand creek and brings it over Boulder Ridge and discharges it into the North fork of the Cache la Poudre river. By his second wife he had a son Bruce G. who resides in Greeley, and a daughter, Jennie B., wife of J. M. B. Petrikin, also a prominent citizen of Greeley. Mr. Eaton died in 1906, at Greeley.

HON. THOMAS H. JOHNSON was born in Dixon, Illinois, May 23, 1839. He was a farmer's son and used to hard and honest labor from sunrise to sundown. In those days school houses were few and far between and the opportunity for boys and girls to get the rudiments of an education were scarce. But "Tom" mastered the three R's and worked on the farm, thereby becoming well grounded in the cultivation of the soil and the growing of live stock. After he had reached his majority he became infected with the Western fever, and wanted to be a gold seeker and he joined an imigrant party for Colorado, arriving at Golden on June 29, 1860. But placer mining did not appeal to him when he reached the El Dorado of his hopes, and with a small party of men he came to the Big Thompson valley, arriving there on July 3rd. His brief stay at and about Golden had shown him that hay was a valuable commodity. There was plenty of rich grass on the prairie that could be cut and hauled into the mines, and hay

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at from $100 to $150 per ton at Black Hawk and Central City, was far more profitable than placer mining for it was more sure. The hay was in sight, while the yellow metal was elusive and not to be found where expected. He farmed quite a number of acres, several of them being planted with potatoes, and he and a neighbor, Frank Gard, were first in the valley to raise them in quantities

HON. THOMAS H. JOHNSON

to sell. They hauled them to Forts Laramie and Sanders in Wyoming and Fort Morgan, Colorado. Mr. Johnson also engaged at stock raising while tilling the soil. He got a contract in 1867 from the Union Pacific railroad company to grade the right of way from Cheyenne, west to Ogden, Utah, which was completed in due time. Mr. Johnson is a Republican and from boyhood has always taken an interest in politics. In 1865 or 1866 he with Judge Howes and others, called the first Republi- can mass meeting ever held in Larimer county. It convened in Fort Collins and elected delegates to the Territorial convention held in Denver, and from that day to the present, Tom has been an active participant and one of the chief attendants at county and state conventions. He has also been

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History of Larimer County, Colorado, Part 49

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