History of Larimer County, Colorado, Part 9

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

USA > Colorado > Larimer County > History of Larimer County, Colorado > Part 9

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office, the first established in the county, was opened at Laporte in June, 1862. In the old record book from which these entrees are copied are 99 filings, the 98th and 99th being placed on record October 24th, 1863. These papers were convey- ances from Jesse M. Sherwood and F. W. Sher- wood to Ben Holladay, in which the grantors deeded to the grantee all their rights and interests in and to their farms at and near the mouth of the Boxelder creek, along the Cache la Poudre.

The first Territorial Legislature met in Denver September 9th, 1861. Larimer and Weld counties were included in one, the First Council and Rep- resentative district. H. J. Graham was elected to represent the district in the council and Daniel Steele as representative. Steele was a man of some education, but his opponent could neither read nor write and based his claim to the office on the fact that he had good common sense and wore a hand- somely trimmed and decorated suit of buckskin. The election was held at Laporte and A. F. Howes and F. W. Sherwood were the judges. An old camp coffee pot served the purpose of a ballot box. Along in the afternoon a dispute arose among the adherents of the two candidates as to which had polled the greater number of votes up to that time. Money flashed and bets were made and to settle the controversy the table was cleared of books and loose papers, the votes turned out of the coffee pot and counted, when it was found that Steele was ahead. This was a frontier way of doing, but in those days the art of ballot box stuffing had not been intro- duced and an honest ballot and a fair count was the rule. In 1862 Joseph Kenyon was elected repre- sentative. For the third Territorial Legislature, which assembled in 1864, Boulder, Larimer, and Weld counties sent Amos Widner to the council and Larimer and Weld selected A. O. Patterson'as representative, but he did not appear during the session. For the fourth Legislature, which met in 1865, the council and representative districts re- elected Widner and Patterson. In 1866 J. M. Marshall went to the council and B. F. Johnson to the lower house, from Larimer and Weld, Mr. Johnson being replaced in 1867 by Peter Winne. In the seventh Legislature James H. Pinkerton was councilman and Harris Stratton representative; in the eighth, 1870, Jesse M. Sherwood was council- man and M. S. Taylor, representative. W. C. 'Stover represented Larimer county in the council of the 9th Legislature in 1872, and B. F. Eaton in the lower house; in the 10th Legislature, R. G. Buckingham and D. H. Nichols were the county's

HISTORY OF LARIMER

COUNTY,

COLORADO

representatives in the council and lower house re- spectively, and in the 11th Legislature which con- vened in Denver Jan. 1876, B. H. Eaton and N. H. Meldrum had seats in the council and house re- spectively from Larimer county. The 11th Legisla- ture was the last of the Territorial Legislatures. John E. Washburn and Capt. C. C. Hawley were members from Larimer county in the Constitutional convention which met in Denver on the second Monday in July 1864, to frame a state Constitu- tion. At the election held on the second Tuesday in October of that year, the Constitution framed by this convention was rejected by the people on the score of economy. The following year another con- vention was held which submitted a draft of a Con- stitution to the people and it was adopted. William Gilpin was elected Governor. The Legislature met and elected John Evans and Jerome B. Chaffee United States senators. Congress consented to ad- mit the state of Colorado into the union, but Presi- dent Johnson vetoed the bill. The matter was re- vived periodically for ten years. On the 3rd of March, 1875, Congress passed an enabling act, authorizing the electors to vote, in July, 1876, upon a Constitution to be formed in a convention to be held at Denver before that time. This convention met in Odd Fellows hall in Denver on Monday,

HORSETOOTH MOUNTAIN, NEAR FORT COLLINS

the 20th day of December, 1875, and organized by electing J. C. Wilson of El Paso county, president, and W. W. Coulson, secretary. Larimer county was represented in this convention by William C. Stover, father of F. W. Stover, the present county .judge, and A. K. Yount of Fort Collins, repre- sented Larimer and Weld counties. The conven- tion completed its labors on Wednesday, March 15th, 1876, and adjourned, having fixed July 1st,

1876, as the day on which an election should be held to approve or disapprove of the Constitution sub- mitted. The election was held on the day named and the Constitution was adopted by a vote of 15,443 for, to 4,039 against its acceptance. On the the first of August, 1876, President U. S. Grant issued a proclamation admitting the state of Colo- rado into the Union.

Denver had long been working to have the regu- lar Overland state route laid up the South Platte, and when Ben Holladay became proprietor of the line, he agreed upon a route running through Den- ver and from that point west, and to discontinue the North Platte route. The fact that the Indians had become troublesome on the North Platte route in 1862, had also some weight with him in deciding to make the change. The change was made in the month of June, 1862, and remarkable to relate, the transfer to the new line was so successfully accom- plished that not a mail was missed or a coach de- layed. From Denver the route followed the old Cherokee trail just outside the hogbacks to Laporte, thence through Virginia Dale to the Laramie plains and on to Salt Lake. Troops were stationed along the line to guard against attacks by the savages. Stage stations were established at Mariana's on the Big Thompson, Laporte and Virginia Dale. James Boutwell was the first keeper of the station on the Big Thompson, and the notorious Slade opened the station at Virginia Dale, and A. R. Chaffee, father of County Commissioner Frank Chaffee, had charge of the Laporte station in 1863. When it became advisable for the desperado Slade to leave the country for the country's good, he was succeeded by W. S. Taylor, who later took charge of the Laporte station. The stage line across the country north from Denver was frequently changed. First it fol- lowed the hogbacks from the Big Thompson to Laporte, where it left the plains and entered the mountains. Then the route was changed so as to pass through Fort Collins. At one time the cross- ing of the Big Thompson was at the Washburn ranch near where Loveland is now, and J. E. Wash- burn was the agent. From there it crossed the divide to the Sherwood ranch on the Cache la Poudre and thence across the country to Park sta- tion, where it entered the mountains. For a short time the stage crossed the South Platte at Latham and then followed the Poudre river to the moun- tains.

The real history of the white settlement of Lari-

J mer county begins when Antoine Janis located a squatter's claim on the Caché la Poudre river a short

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HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO

distance west of Laporte. Whether he continued to live on the claim from that time until the arrival of the Colona colony in 1858, we have no means of knowing as the records are silent on that point. But that he called it his home and remained in possession of it until 1878, when he sold it to Tobe Miller, there is no doubt. At that time and for many years before, the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians claimed and occupied all of Larimer and adjoining counties and it was through sufferance that the whites were allowed to gain a foothold on the plains immed-

Steamboat Rock

STEAMBOAT ROCK, LIVERMORE

iately east of the mountains. Antoine Janis tells us that these Indians ceded to him all the land in the Caché la Poudre valley lying between the moun- tains and the mouth of Boxelder creek,-a princely estate even in those wild days. In 1861, a treaty was made with these Indians at Bent's fort, by which all of their lands east of the mountains was ceded to the United States. From that time on white settlers were entitled to all the protection the government could afford them. They had a right to file upon, occupy and improve claims to public land regardless of Indian protests. These protests were frequent and often mandatory, as the Indians had no sooner signed away their lands than they re- gretted it. They had been persuaded to make the treaty, which dispossessed them of their ancient heritage by the usual means, presents, promises of annuities and mystification. The more the act was contemplated, the more determined they became to expel the settlers and regain what they had so fool- ishly surrendered. This led to frequent outbreaks, raids upon the settlers and the shedding of much blood in subsequent years.

"It seems eminently proper," says Gen. Frank Hall in his history of Colorado, "to submit a brief statement relating to such of the Indian tribes-the aboriginal owners of the territory lying between the Missouri river and the Rocky Mountains, as may

have a bearing upon the prehistoric annals of the country. To attempt anything like a history of all the tribes would lead us too far from the general purpose of this work, besides, occupying space that may be more profitably devoted to other matters. But the subject is at least one well worthy of pass- ing consideration. The enlightened emigrant of 1858-and his followers in subsequent years, given to close observation, naturally expended some earnest thought upon the natives he encountered, and natu- rally enough, wondered how and whence they came, or, if they had always roamed up and down the country spending their time in war and the chase. He met the remnants of once numerous and power- ful nations now decimated and degraded to mere fragments, stripped of power and reduced to beg- gary. What were they in the zenith of their strength? Their destiny was already manifest; re- quiring no prophetic vision to foretell the closing scene. Overborne by the surging tide of an irresist- ible movement, there could be but one result-their extinction. If men sow not, neither shall they reap. The redmen stubbornly refused to accept the con- ditions held up to them by modern law, so they were plowed under and forgotten. The whirlwind of civilized force swept over and blotted them out. Though renowned in war with their own species, they became helpless as babes before the resistless torrent. Humanitarians call it harsh, barbarous and cruel, but it was predestined. The march of progress from Plymouth Rock to the western rivers had been marked by trails of fire and blood. The Christian fathers carried their guns and torches, as we ours, and aimed to kill. There was no middle course. The crusade begun from the anchorage of the Mayflower, was not ordained to stop until it had mastered the continent. We could not halt at the Mississippi or Missouri and declare that all east of that line should belong to the white man and all west of it to the red; that half of the continent should be devoted to the pursuits of civilization, and the balance permitted to continue unimproved and under the rule of savages who would neither toil nor spin. And so the sanguinary procession advanced, the white man took possession and the barbarians disappeared.

"The Cheyenne, Arapahoes and Kiowas of whom the early emigrants had most intimate knowledge through frequent encounters were strong, warlike and cruel. There was a report that the Arapahoes were descended from the Blackfeet; that a hunting party accompanied by their families came down from the North to the Platte about eighty-five years ago,

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HISTORY OF

LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO

and being cut off by a severe snow storm, wintered here. The season in this latitude being mild and pleasant, the country abounding in game, and gen- erally a better region to live in than the one they had left, they decided to remain. How much truth there may be in the story, if any, we are unable to say. We found them here and know that they roamed the plains in large numbers from the coun- try of the Pawnees to the base of the mountains and down into the valley of the Arkansas river. The Cheyennes were pushed westward from Dakota by : the more powerful Sioux, and located first in the Black Hills, where they divided and scattered, the larger portion uniting with the Arapahoes, a union which continued unbroken to the last. Intensely warlike, of robust physique, scarcely less skilful than the Sioux, these two tribes were in almost con- stant conflict with their enemies of other nations, but more especially with the Utes, whom they hated with unquenchable malevolence and by whom the feeling was fully reciprocated.

"The Utes, members of the Snake family, have held the parks and the valleys of the mountains to be their exclusive property from time immemorial, and contended for these rights successfully against all comers. Though attacked periodically and in force by other nations, they were never dislodged, and never yielded an inch of their domain until com- pelled to part with it under recent treaties."

The settlers in the valley of the Cache la Poudre previous to 1861, were few and far between if we exclude those who located at what is now Laporte in 1858. They could almost be counted on the fingers of the two hands, the most prominent of them being James B. Arthur, Joseph Mason, John Arthur, Jeseph Prendergast, E. B. Davis, Dwight Scoutten, Ranger Jones, Thos. Earnest, J. M. and F. W. Sherwood, G. R. Strauss and a few others, all of whom located on the river bottoms southeast of the present city of Fort Collins in 1860. Joseph Mason purchased a claim located on the south side of the river about a mile above Fort Collins, and Rock Bush filed on a claim on the north side of the river in 1859, which he still owns and occupies. After the title to the Indian lands passed to the United States, settlers came in faster and at the close of 1861, nearly all of the bottom lands along the river from Laporte down to where Greeley now stands had been taken up. Among the settlers who filed on claims that year were the following: Hal Sayr, E. W. Raymond, E. Reed, John C. Peabody, C. J. Randall, A. J. Ames, Joseph Newton, Sus Lewis, E. D. Fritts, Nathaniel Perkins, A. Sprague, C. S.

Fassett, William Halford, A. F. Howes, B. Syl- vester, G. R. Strauss, A. L. Snodderly, Mahlon Smith, M. S. Warder, H. B. Blevins, Paul Donan, Francis Belange. John G. Coy filed on his claim in August, 1862. In 1862, John B. Larster, Frank Long, W. W. Wyner, Samuel Heffner, William McGaa, Joseph Voore, N. Levine, John P. Martin, Andrew Lamarch, John A. Lattie, Hiram Harmon, filed on claims in the Big Thompson valley: Thomas McBride, G. R. Sanderson, Isaac W. Mor- ris, J. Bradstreet, W. N. Fallis, A. C. Kenyon, A. C. Griffin, Joseph Filthian, Joseph Merivale, Will- iam J. Parker, A. F. Woodward, D. W. Buell,

FISHING SCENE ON THE CACHE LA POUDRE

Joseph Bocus, E. C. McGinnes, J. M. Aker, George Luce, T. B. Farmer, J. G. Farmer, R. E. Lawrence, Frank Lacy, Selma Watson, and Will- iam Ebersole on claims in the Cache la Poudre valley. But few of these became permanent set- tlers. They located claims for the purpose of selling out to new comers and when they had disposed of their holdings, moved on to other fields. The transfer of the Overland stage route in 1862 from the North to the South Platte and the running of daily coaches through here had the effect of direct- ing attention to the advantages offered homeseekers in the Cache la Poudre and Big Thompson valleys, with the result that there were many new-comers during the years 1862, 1863 and 1864, so that be- fore the end of the year last named the Cache la Poudre valley boasted of quite a large community.

By this time so beneficial had been found the climatic influences of Colorado and her fame as a sanatarium having become wide-spread, that the in- flux of health-seekers grew larger year by year. The dryness and lightness of the air and its invigorating

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HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO

character together with the almost constant preva- lence of sunshine, imparted new vigor and energy to the well, and gave a new lease of life to those whose constitutions were impared. Here on this great plateau, a mile above the sea, far removed from the fogs, chilling winds and damp atmosphere of either ocean, all the conditions of life to the new-comer were fresh and inspiring. But all those who came in the early days were by no means invalids. For the most part they were men in the prime of life, with strong, vigorous constitutions, level-headed, brave of heart, energetic and enterprising, possess- ing great capacity for work and filled with a desire to help plant the banner of civilization in the wilder- ness. That they builded better than they knew is now evident by a teeming and prosperous popula- tion, with villages, towns, and cities dotting the plains, with their churches, schools and higher in- stitutions of learning; by the rush of the iron horse and by social conditions that are not excelled in any of the older states.

In the rush for gold in the earlier years of Colo- rado but little attention was paid to agriculture. That was thought to be too slow a method for ac- cumulating wealth. Most of the pioneers expected to garner a fortune in the mines and return to their homes in the east and enjoy their gains, surrounded by more civilizing influences than were to be found in the Rocky Mountains. Many accomplished their ends and did return eastward, but by far the greater number either lacked the means to recross the plains or attracted by the climate and the great dormant possibilities of the country, remained and engaged in farming or stock raising. They were incited to do this from the high price of provisions, and in view of the fact, since everything consumed came from the eastern states and was often months on the way, that a scarcity might sometimes bring with it high prices to the farmers. It was not long until the lands bordering the streams on the plains and the valleys of the mountains were found to be extremely fertile and capable of producing enormous crops. At first farming was, in the main, limited to the raising of vegetables and the cutting and curing of the native grasses, for hay, for which there was a great demand in the mining camps, at highly re- munerative prices. Native grasses grew luxuriously over the bottom lands of the streams and this was cut and cured by the settlers, hauled to Denver, Central City and Blackhawk and sold to the miners and livery men. Hay at times commanded as much as $150 per ton, and vegetables of all kinds were much sought after. The story is told that small

cabbages sold in Denver in 1861 for $5 per head, but it is not vouched for. While the area of cul- tivated land was small during the first decade and confined altogether to the margins of the streams, farming had become an important industry in the Big Thompson and Cache la Poudre valleys in 1867 -8, the cultivation of wheat having been successfully introduced, due to irrigation, and then came the de- mand for mills to convert the wheat into flour. This demand was promptly met in the Cache la Poudre by Mrs. Elizabeth Stone and H. C. Petterson who built the Linden Mills in 1868. A mill was built the same year in the Big Thompson valley by An- drew Douty. From this time a more rapid move- ment took place in the way of peopling the county, so that when the first federal census was taken in 1870, the population had grown to 838. Ditches to carry water from the streams to irrigate what was called the bench or bluff lands were built, and it was found that larger yields of wheat of a better quality could be produced on these lands than on the river bottoms. Fifty, sixty and even seventy bushels of the finest wheat in the world were often har- vested from the bench lands, so that in a few years the farmers of Colorado began to produce more wheat than was needed for Colorado consumption, causing a decline in the price. In the late seventies and early eighties the price of wheat fell to 50 and 60 cents a bushel, which left the farmer little or no profit. Meanwhile the county kept settling up so that in 1880 it had a population of 4,892. In 1890 this had increased to 9,712, in 1900 to 12,168, and in 1910 to 25,270.

But it was not all fair sailing with the pioneers. They had many obstacles and difficulties to over- come in addition to years of toil, hardship and priva- tion. Irrigating canals had to be built, homes to be erected consisting more often of log cabins than otherwise, with the timbers they and the fences and corrals were made of far up in the mountains a day's journey away ; with farm implements and seed to be obtained from the Missouri river, six hundred miles away. They were also surrounded by unfamiliar conditions, often terrorized by blood thirsty savages, frequently limited in food supplies and went hungry. But the pioneers, those who remained and continued the struggle were active, earnest, true-hearted men and women who set themselves to work with a spirit that deserved and achieved success. Among the dis- couragements and disappointments that would have disheartened and demoralized men made of less sterner stuff, was the grasshopper visitation that came upon them just before harvest time in 1873.

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HISTORY OF LARIMER COUNTY, COLORADO

These destructive insects came down upon the fields of the growing grain in vast clouds and consumed every green thing in their paths. Fields that gave promise of rich yields of golden grain, nearly ready for the sickle, were swept away as if by fire, leaving nothing but desolation for the farmers to gaze upon after all his toil and labor. Hope nearly gave away to despair. The visitation was not confined to one section, but spread itself over the grain fields in all portions of the Territory, so that the bread supply of the settlers was practically all wiped out. What

RESTAURANT !!

CHINIL

PIONEER RESTAURANT

made the situation still worse was that there was but little money in the country, for a financial panic had struck the entire nation and banks everywhere went toppling to the wall. Those able to withstand the wave of business depression were afraid to loan money, so that the out-look was truly disheartening. But, with Spartan courage and indomitable wills, men and women alike kept up the fight for suprem- acy against what seemed at times like insurmount- able obstacles and difficulties, and finally won the victory. Development of the country was retarded by the grasshopper plague which tormented the set- tlers for two successive years, though people con- tinued to come from the east in search of homes in the Golden west, though not in such large numbers however, until after conditions began to improve. How the pioneers subsisted during those trying years, only those who passed through the disappoint- ments, privations and hardships they endured, can form an adequate conception.

Stock growing early became an important industry in Larimer county and in the late 60's and early 70's, thousands of head of cattle, great bands of horses and flocks of sheep grazed upon the rich pasture

lands of the plains and the valleys of the mountains. The mildness of the climate, the vast grazing ground on the plains, the ranges in the mountain parks and valleys all tended to make stock growing profitable as well as pleasant. Large fortunes were acquired in this industry and many of the new comers engaged in it. At one time Larimer county ranked second in the state in the number of head of live stock owned and run upon its ranges. Nearly 50,000 head of cattle and 75,000 sheep were assessed for taxation in 1878, but as settlers came in and took up farms the range became restricted so that many of the cattlemen moved their herds to Wyoming where there was a wider scope of unoccupied coun- try for stock to range over and feed upon. Though there are still many thousands of domestic animals in the county, the herds are not as large as they were in the early days. The character and quality of these animals have greatly improved in recent years by the introduction of registered Hereford, Shorthorns, Jerseys, and other high bred cattle, so that prize takers at the stock shows of the country are now being produced.

We will now resume the story of the early set- tlements from which digression has taken us off to allied subjects.

In the spring of 1860, the Seventh United States infantry came down over the Cherokee trail and passed through Colona (now Laporte) on the way to Bent's fort. This regiment had been sent to Utah in 1858, to assist in quelling an anticipated Mormon uprising and to compel an obedience to the law of the government. Its mission ended, the regiment was called back to the Arkansas valley. Part of the command encamped over night at Spring canon. Joseph Prendergast, chief of the wagon train, had received his discharge on expiration of term of ser- vice and when the regiment reached the Cache la Poudre valley he became and remained a valued citi- zen of the county. G. R. Strauss was another mem- ber of General Sidney Johnston's expedition to Salt Lake, who tarried here on his way east and set about building himself a home in the Cache la Poudre val- ley. He located first on the A. J. Ames place, now known as the Slockett farm, later moving to the Strauss farm near Timnath, where he lived until his death in 1904. Joseph Lariviere took up a piece of land adjoining Rock Bush's claim on the west, and Phillip Lariviere filed on what is now known as the Inverness farm. In 1860 Abner Loomis, Joseph Whitsall and William Faith purchased adjoining claims in Pleasant valley for stock ranches. Mr. Loomis was then engaged in freighting from the

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History of Larimer County, Colorado, Part 9

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