History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, Part 112

Author: O.L. Baskin & Co
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 1080

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HISTORY OF BENT COUNTY.

845

CHAPTER VIII. NEW TOWNS AND RAILROADS.

A FTER the establishment of the present Fort Lyon, a town was soon begun on the opposite side of the Arkansas, three- fourths of a mile distant. In February, 1869, Capt. William Craig, previously Post Quarter- master at Fort Union, had the site surveyed and platted, and named it Las Animas City. Craig had large possessions of lands under the title derived from Vigil and St. Vrain, and it was under this title that he laid claim to the site of Las Animas City. By the next winter, the place had a store, by Richard Simpson; a livery stable, by J. B. Smith; a hotel, by John Coplin; a restaurant, by H. S. Gilman; and saloons, by Bob Brown, Tim Ballou, O. M. Mason and Charley Rawles. A toll bridge was built across the Arkansas during the summer, connecting the town with the Fort. R. M. McMurray, from Cheyenne, and A. E. Reynolds & Co., from Fort Lyon, opened stocks of goods in 1870. From this time forward for four years, the town contin- ued to grow and prosper, enjoying a large and valuable trade.

An immense freighting business between the termini of the railroads and New Mexico was carried on from 1867 forward. Wagons were constantly in sight during the summer. The entire bottom around West Las Animas was at times covered with camping trains.

In 1873, a printing press was taken to Las Animas City, by C. W. Bowman, and on May 23 the first number of the Las Animas Leader issued. The paper met with a generous recep- tion, and has since come to be regarded as one of the permanent institutions of the county.

Upon the organization of Bent County by legislative enactment in February, 1870, Las Animas was designated as the county seat. The territory had previously been included in Las Animas and Pueblo Counties. The establishment was due in considerable meas- ure to the efforts of Capt. Craig. At the first

general election, however, the county seat was removed to Boggsville.

THE TOWN OF KIT CARSON.

Field & Hill put up a small building on the site of Kit Carson late in the fall of 1869, and opened a store there. They came with the grading outfits of the Kansas Pacific Railway, which were scattered along the line in camp that winter. Joe Perry built a hotel that winter, and William Connor followed with another in the spring. During the win- ter, also, James Dagner started a wholesale liquor house, Frank Fageley, of Denver, a livery stable and Luke Whitney a dance hall. The Kansas Pacific track reached the spot on the 4th day of April, 1870, and within ten days thereafter Carson had a population of 1,500. Immediately upon the arrival of the railroad, large commission houses were estab. lished by the firms of Otero, Sellar & Co., W, H. Chick & Co., and Webster, Music & Cu- niffe. A stage line to Denver was established by the Kansas Stage Company; another to Pueblo via Antelope Springs, of which Sam Carpenter was a proprietor; and the Barlow & Sanderson line to Santa Fe moved up from Sheridan and connected at Carson. Among the more prominent business men of Carson, not already mentioned were Marcus Bidell, merchant; Abram Rhoads, railroad beef con- tractor and builder; John H. Jay, blacksmith and repairer; H. R. Johnson, merchant; J. A. Soward, Postmaster; Buttles & Logan and Pat Shanley, grading contractors.

Kit Carson and the grading camps to the west were raided by the Indians June 24, 1870, and fourteen men killed. Two Mexican herders were killed within half a mile of town. The Indians drove two teams out of Billy Patterson's grading camp at Wild Horse, with the scrapers attached. A man named Aleck Irwin was run down and received three spear wounds in the head, but still suc-

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HISTORY OF BENT COUNTY.

ceeded in knocking his pursuer from his horse with the butt of his whip and making his escape.

Greenwood County was erected in Febru- ary, 1870, by legislative act, the same bill which established Bent County. It was named in honor of Col. Greenwood, engineer in charge of the construction of the Kansas Pacific Railway. Kit Carson was designated as county seat, and remained as such till the abolishment of the county in February, 1874, when the town with a large portion of terri- tory was included in Bent County. The first Commissioners of Greenwood County were John F. Buttles, John J. Bush and A. C. Clements.

WEST LAS ANIMAS.

In 1873, the Kansas Pacific Company built a branch road from Kit Carson to the south side of the Arkansas, reaching the site of West Las Animas October 18. The town was plat- ted and lots offered for sale by the West Las Animas Company, consisting of Robert E. Carr, of the Kansas Pacific, and D. H. Moffatt, Jr., of Denver. There was at the same time a popular distrust about titles, inasmuch as the land on which the town was laid out, as well as a large body adjacent had been fraud- ulently pre-empted, and patents issued there- for in the names of persons entirely unknown in the country, while actual settlers on the same tracts were ignored by the land depart- ment. The first actual settler on the town site was George A. Brown, who took it up as a pre-emption, before it was known that a town would be located there. Among the first builders in the town were Hunt, a saloon keeper; William Connor, who moved the American House over from Carson; Hughes Brothers, lumber dealers; Shoemaker & Ear- hart, merchants. Commission houses were very shortly established by Kihlberg & Bartels Bros., and Prowers & Hough.

GRANADA.

In the meantime the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé was extended twelve miles westward from the State line to the site of Granada, where it arrived July 4, 1873. A town had already been laid out there by the commission firm of Chick, Browne & Co. Upon the com-

pletion of the road, the two prominent com- mission firms of Chick, Browne & Co., and Otero, Sellar & Co., moved from Kit Carson to Granada, transferring at the same time their influence and business to the new road instead of the Kansas Pacific. This fact and the extension of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé no doubt prompted the building of the Carson branch by the Kansas Pacific.

Within two weeks from the time the cars reached Granada the place had three restau- rants, a hotel and about a dozen other busi- ness places. The hotel was by Mr. Winram; a complete hardware store by Mitchell & Smith.

LA JUNTA.

In the fall of 1873, Granada and West Las Animas became competing points for the New Mexico trade, or rather freight business, and this relation continued until the extension of the competing railroads to La Junta, in 'De- cember, 1875. During that winter a lively commission business was done at La Junta by both roads. On the 26th of February, 1876, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe road reached Pueblo, from which point the exten- sion of the Denver & Rio Grande road to El Moro was then well under way. The com- pletion of the Denver & Rio Grande to that point, April 15, finally removed the southern commission business from Bent County. La Junta, while enjoying this trade, had a popu- lation of from 300 to 500, and cast a vote in 1876, of 109. After the railroad extensions, it gradually declined, and within a year its buildings had been mostly moved away. In June, 1878, the Kansas Pacific track was taken up from La Junta to Kit Carson, and about the same time the Santa Fé began its extension southward from La Junta. This gave the point a new interest, and since that date it has regained somewhat of its original importance. The railroad company has erected a handsome two-story depot, an en- gine house, repair shops, and several cottages for employes, and the Superintendent of the Colorado division has his headquarters there. In the "spring of 1881, La Junta became an incorporated town under the laws of Colorado, and elected a Mayor and Board of Trustees. To J. C. Denny, the station agent, belongs

Thomas & Wello

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HISTORY OF BENT COUNTY.

the honor of being the first Mayor of the place.

ROCKY FORD.

About the time Las Animas City was laid out in 1870, a village was begun at Rocky Ford, a point forty-five miles further up the river. A large store was opened by Russell & Swink, at which a post office was kept. The settlers were more numerous along the Arkansas in the next three or four years succeeding than at present, and Rocky Ford received a liberal ranch trade. Upon the completion of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé road to Pu-

eblo, the post office was removed from the river to the railroad, where a town was laid out by Messrs. Denness & Swink, retaining the old name. Surrounding this point is a community engaged largely in farming, ren- dering it perhaps the most homelike neigh- borhood in the county.

Other stations in the county of growing importance are Catlin, ten miles west of Rocky Ford; Caddoa, near Caddo Creek, and Prow- ers, about midway between Granada and West Las Animas.

CHAPTER IX.

FRAGMENTS.

T THE first Commissioners of Bent County were John W. Prowers, Philip Lander and Theodore Gaussoin. They met at Las Animas City March 12, 1870, and organized by electing J. W. Prowers Chairman. They appointed the following persons as county officers: R. M. Moore, County Superintendent of Common Schools; Moses R. Tate, Assessor; Harry Whigham, Clerk; the Governor ap- pointed Thomas O. Boggs, Sheriff; Mark B. Price, Treasurer; R. M. Moore, Probate Judge.

The county was attached to Pueblo for judicial purposes till 1872, when one term of District Court a year was provided by the Leg- islature.

At the fall election, September 13, 1870, L. A. Allen was elected Sheriff; M. B. Price, Treasurer; R. M. Moore, Probate Judge and County 'Superintendent of Schools; M. R. Tate, Assessor; George Hunter, County Clerk; Charles M. Burr, Coroner. A vote was also taken on the county seat question, resulting in its removal to Boggsville. By vote taken again in 1872, the county seat was returned to Las Animas City, where it remained till October, 1875, when it was removed to West Las Animas.

The County of Greenwood having become so reduced in population by the year 1874 as to be unable to sustain a court or maintain

its organization, it was by act, approved Feb- ruary 6, broken up. At the same time a new county was formed out of a portion of Green- wood and Douglas, to be known as Elbert. The remainder of Greenwood, or about half, was added to Bent County.

In March, 1875, a proposition to subscribe for $150,000 worth of stock of the Pueblo & Arkansas Valley Railroad was submitted to the voters of the county and carried by a large majority. The bonds of the county for this amount were accordingly issued, payable in thirty years, with interest at the rate of 8 per cent. per annum. In the winter of 1879- 80, the stock commanding a good price, it was by consent of the people sold, returning the sum of $86,000, which was at once applied in reducing the bonded indebtedness.

A private or subscription school was opened at Boggsville in the fall of 1869, by Miss Mattie Smith, and the next year a school dis- trict was organized with R. M. Moore as President, C. L. Rite as Secretary, and J. W. Prowers as Treasurer. The next teacher for two terms was Peter G. Scott, present Cash- ier Bent County Bank. Upon the accession of Moore as County Superintendent, new dis- tricts were formed at Las Animas and Nine Mile Bottom. Other districts were formed as the population justified till the number

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HISTORY OF BENT COUNTY.

reached nine. At West Las Animas, a bonded indebtedness of $5,000 was assumed in 1876, for building a schoolhouse, and a neat two- story building completed the same year.

On the subject of church work there is but little to record. The scattered situation of the people has been unfavorable to the organ- ization of churches as well as schools, but the establishment of permanent railroad stations and post offices promises a better state of things in the near future. Ranchmen, as they find their families growing up, begin to

by the last four named. Since then, however, the field has been abandoned by all except the Catholics and Presbyterians. Sunday schools and occasional preaching services have been held within the last year at Gra- nada, Nine Mile, La Junta and Catlin, and one or more Sunday schools have been main- tained continuously at West Las Animas from the beginning. As a whole the people are liberal toward the churches, though if we are to regard external evidences, the converts made in the last decade have been few. This

PUBLIC SCHOOL, WEST LAS ANIMAS.

cast about for educational and church priv- ileges, and to this end many have moved to the railroad stations, thus rendering organ- ization for social and religious purposes pos- sible. As early as 1872-73, Rev. John Stocks, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, traveled and preached in the county, and from that time till the present there has been almost a continuous succession of itinerant preachers of that church in the county. In 1874-75, the Presbyterians, Methodist Episcopals, Bap- tists, Southern Methodists and Roman Catho- lics were represented at West Las Animas by ministers, and church buildings were erected

| may be attributed rather to the unsettled con- dition of the people than to the lack of abil- ity or zeal on the part of the messengers of Christ.

The principal industries of Bent County at this writing are cattle, sheep and hay. The former two have heretofore taken prece- dence, but the latter within the last few years has steadily grown in importance. The hay meadows are being inclosed with fences, and machinery for cutting and bailing has been generally introduced. Farming is not car- ried on as extensively as in the early days. Many of the small farmers and stock-owners

HISTORY OF BENT COUNTY.

849

have sold out to the more wealthy, so that the business of the county, though aggregating vastly more in value, is probably in fewer hands than eight years ago. Considering, however, the unequaled facilities for irriga- tion, the fertility of the soil, and the growing demand of the adjacent mining regions, it is not improbable that the farming industry will grow. Already a number of cattle men

have turned their attention to raising alfalya as feed, and the success they have met war- rants the belief that it will in the future be largely produced. Fruit-growing has also proved successful, and the same causes which shall encourage a return to farming will induce the cultivation of the grape, plum, currant, apple, cherry and strawberry.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

ALBERT J. ANDERSON.

Mr. Anderson and family are among those who have had strange experiences on the fron- tier of Texas. Indians were numerous as well as troublesome, and for many years they were constantly surrounded by them. In or- der to protect his stock, as well as himself, Mr. Anderson was obliged to go thoroughly armed. He buckled on his pistol every morn- ing while he resided in Texas. Mr. Ander- son was born in Arkansas February 15, 1836, where he lived until he was eleven years of age. His schooling was limited. When he left Arkansas, he removed to the eastern por- tion of Texas, and afterward went to the west- ern portion, where he remained until he set- tled in the Arkansas Valley, near La Junta. From the time he left his native State, Mr. Anderson has been engaged in stock-raising, and, notwithstanding the Indians frequently ran off his cattle and horses, he was reason- ably successful in his enterprise on the fron- tier. When the war broke out, he enlisted in a Texas regiment, and served in the army four years. October 1, 1865, Mr. Anderson was married to Miss Nancy Wilson, a sister of Billy Wilson, who is well known in Texas as having many narrow escapes of being killed by the Indians. Mrs. Anderson has spent most of her life on the frontier of Texas. In the spring of 1871, Mr. Anderson came to the Arkansas Valley and located on a home- stead claim, and afterward added a pre-emp- tion right. A portion of this land he has since cultivated, though he has paid most of his at- tention to stock-raising. He commenced with a herd of Texas cows and steers. In the fall of 1875, Mr. Anderson moved his whole stock to the Pan Handle District of Texas, where he remained until June, 1879. He then sold out to Mr. Charles Goodnight and returned to the Arkansas Valley. He then bought another

herd of American graded cattle. He had, in 1881, about five hundred head. Mr. Ander- son believes in the Hereford stock as being well adapted for the plains. Mr. Anderson has also a herd of 100 horses. He is making a specialty of raising trotting and saddle stock. His stallion, Bullet, has gotten some of the finest colts in the Arkansas Valley. They are noted for their gentle and quiet dis- position.

A. H. H. BAXTER.

Mr. Baxter is located on a ranch in the Ar- kansas Valley, a few miles east of Granada, in Bent County, Colo. Mr. Baxter is a native of Indiana; was born August 31, 1845, in Jeffer- son County, where he worked on a farm and attended school until he entered the army, in October, 1861. He enlisted in the Twelfth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, a one-year regi- ment. After serving his time, he was dis- charged, but immediately re-enlisted in the Fifty-fourth regiment. In this he served his time, and again enlisted in the First Indiana Heavy Artillery, serving two years and two months. During his army life, he was engaged in many heavy battles in the Department of the Gulf, and others to which he belonged. In the first attack on Vicksburg, December.25, 1862, the Twelfth Indiana Volunteer Infan- try had left Indianapolis, Ind., only two weeks previously, with full numbers; it sus- tained a loss of 660 men in an engagement of three hours' duration. Mr. Baxter was finally discharged from the army as a veteran, Jan- uary 21, 1866, having served his country faithfully for four years and two months. After the war closed, he returned to his home in Indiana, where he remained until 1872, employed in farming. About this time, he went to Pueblo to learn from his brother, O. H. P. Baxter, the best location for agricult- ural pursuits and stock-raising. He selected

fostmea

CATTLE "ROUND-UP" OF JAMES C. JONES, BENT COUNTY COLO.

***

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BENT COUNTY.

his present site. He has 160 acres of land, mostly in grass, which he cuts and bales for market. Mr. Baxter was married, in 1868, to Miss Elizabeth Robinson, of Jefferson County, Ind. He was School Director of District No. 8, and Secretary of the Board for three years, before the district was divided in 1879. Since then, he has been a Director and Secretary of the Board of District No. 9. He is much pleased with Bent County, and expects to make it his perma- nent residence.

JAMES W. BEATY.

Mr. Beaty has been successful in his enter- prises in the Arkansas Valley as a ranchman and stock-grower. He has relied upon him- self for support since he was but a boy, and has always been a hard worker. He was born in Carroll County, Mo., April 6, 1843. He was raised on a farm, and attended school for a few terms. In 1862, he removed to Fre- mont County, Iowa, where he remained but a short time. During 1863, he made a trip to Fort Hallock, W. T., and from there to Den- ver, where he remained a brief period. About this time, he commenced the lifeof a freighter. Denver was the point he started from, and to Denver he frequently returned. He spent some months in a saw-mill on Running Creek, and also a short time at Fort Lyon, Bent Co., Colo. The winter of 1863-64 he spent in Denver, and from there he proceeded to Fort Union, N. M. He returned to his starting- point before going to Council Grove, Kan. He again returned to Denver. On a trip be- tween Council Grove and Fort Lyon, while with a wagon train belonging to John Pol- lock, he had three tribes of Indians follow him. He passed five wagon trains where the stock had been run off and the men were powerless to move. In 1864, when passing between the same points, after corraling their teams, seventy-five Indians appeared, but the train was so well protected they re- treated. From Omaha he went to Iowa, op- posite Plattsmouth, on the Missouri River. Here he spent a few months feeding mules. After he had finished this engagement, he went to Nebraska City. Up to this time, his brother, Jasper N., had been with him. It

was in 1863, during his first trip from Den- ver to Fort Lyon that Mr. Beaty saw three men who belonged to a Government train who had been scalped by the Indians. . It was at a place called Wolfe Bend, thirty-five miles below Pueblo. While at Nebraska City, Mr. Beaty, in company with his brother, bought five yoke of oxen and a wagon, and com- menced freighting for themselves. After mak- ing several trips to Cottonwood, Neb., and to Fort Carney, they bought another team, con- sisting of four yoke of oxen and a wagon. They then freighted between numerous points, including Nebraska City, Fort Laramie, Cot- tonwood, Neb., and Julesburg. They had a contract with the Government to haul 125 tons of hay thirty miles, unloading it at Jules- burg. From the latter point they went to Fremont County, Iowa, and bought forty acres of land, well timbered. The timber they cut off and sold, and afterward they disposed of the land. They then began freighting again, with six teams, to and from various places in Colorado. In 1868, they bought four more wagons and twenty yoke of oxen. Their whole outfit now consisted of ten wagons and 100 head of cattle. They freighted for two years more, a portion of the time for the Union Pacific Railroad Company, going as far west as Salt Lake City, wintering, during 1869-70, 125 miles south of the latter place. In January, 1870, they sold out and went to Bent County, Colo., and bought 400 head of Texas and American cattle. Since coming to Bent County, they have taken up Government land and acquired by purchase until they had, in 1881, 2,000 acres, mostly under fence. They also have bought many head of cattle; together with the natural increase, they now have 10,000 head. In addition to the above, they have a bunch of 250 horses, which they claim to be as well bred as any in the State of Colorado. Their stallion is a half brother to the dam of Iroquois, the winner of the En- glish Derby in 1881, the only American horse that ever won that race. They bought the stallion of Alexander, of Kentucky. He is thoroughbred running stock. James W. Beaty was married, January 26, 1872, to Miss Laura M. Gerde, of Missouri. They have two chil- dren.

854

BIOGRAPHICAL:

CHARLES W. BOWMAN.

Charles Wesley Bowman, editor and pro- prietor of the Leader, West Las Animas, Colo., was born near Jackson, Cape Girardeau Co., Mo., February 23, 1840. His parents, Joshua Bowman and Elizabeth Bowman, née Spencer, were natives of North Carolina, and trace their ancestry to one of the London colonies which settled at Jamestown. Joshua Bow- man was the son of Shepherd B., born in Vir- ginia in 1770. Shepherd's father, named Edward, was born in the same province in 1690, and was a son of one of the original colonists. About the year 1847, Joshua Bowman removed with his family to Muscatine, Iowa, and thence, in 1851, to Northwestern Missouri, where he entered the ministry of the Method- ist Episcopal Church. As a result, his chil- dren had only such educational advantages as could be obtained from district and private schools while moving about the country from year to year. These limited advantages were, At

however, well improved by his five sons.

the age of seventeen, the subject of this sketch had acquired a pretty thorough English course, and was considered competent to take charge of a public school, which he did for a term of three months. About this time his literary bent began to be manifested in sundry con- tributions to the local press. His initial at- tempt at journalism was a manuscript paper with a head engraved by himself on wood. This publication had one paid-up subscriber. The labor of printing it with a pen in small italic letters was too laborious to have justified a larger circulation at the ruling prices. His next step was to enter the office of the Holt County News, Oregon, Mo., as printer's devil, August 3, 1858. He proved an enthusiast in the art. In six months, he had advanced to the foremanship, and, at the end of two and a half years, was made a partner with a new proprietor. He left the office at the expiration of the usual term of apprenticeship, August 3, 1861, at which time the war flame began its devastating work. Entering the Union serv- ice on the 7th of October, 1861, he served in the several capacities of private, Corporal, Hospital Steward, Sergeant Major and First Lieutenant and Adjutant, till May 18, 1865, when he was honorably discharged, having

received, in the meantime, recommendations from his superiors for further promotion. Returning to his former home at Oregon, he was enabled, by the kindly aid of the citizens and the savings from his salary, to start in the newspaper business on his own account, and, on the 30th of June, 1865, issued the first number of the Holt County Sentinel. The pa- per occupied conservative Republican ground, and received a cordial support from all par- ties. September 11, 1865, Mr. Bowman was married to Miss Nettie G. Morgan, of West Virginia, a graduate of the Academy of the Visitation, St. Louis. He disposed of his in- terest in the Sentinel in February, 1869, with a view of establishing a paper at Sedalia, for which inducements had been held out to him by prominent citizens of that place. In this enterprise he was disappointed, and abandoned the undertaking, but not without considerable loss of time and money, besides being thus thrown entirely out of business. His next move was to Pleasant Hill, Mo., where he purchased the type and material of an effete advertising circular called the Journal. Here he estab- lished, on the 14th of May, 1869, the Pleasant Hill Leader. This proved a prosperous venture for a time, but the trade of the place began, after a year or so, to decline, and it soon became apparent that there were too many newspapers in the county. In 1870, Mrs. Bowman was taken with consumption, which resulted in her death February 3, 1871. The personal care of three children was thus added to that of an expensive printing office. His domestic calamities, together with the decline of busi- ness, compelled Mr. Bowman to look for a new location for his office. This he found at Las Animas, Colo., where he removed his press in the spring of 1873, and began the publication of the Las Animas Leader. The paper was removed to West Las Animas in February, 1874. where it is now published. The nota- ble features of Mr. Bowman's editorial career have been the advocacy of advanced ideas.

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History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, Part 112

Author: O.L. Baskin & Co Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co. Number of Pages: 1080

Author: O.L. Baskin & Co
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 1080