History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, Part 116

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

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RESIDENCE OF H.S . HOLLY, HOLLY, BENT CO. COLO

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the train was attacked near the old Santa Fe crossing, a Mexican boy by the name of Eliar Silver was sent on foot to Fort Union for aid, a distance of 400 miles. He made the trip in four days. Afterward, he was employed by Carson and Maxwell as a letter-carrier. Frequently he made a trip of forty miles in four hours, and the round trip of eighty miles between sun-up and sun-down.

THOMAS B. NOLAN.

Mr. Nolan came to Colorado in the spring of 1867, from Junction City, Kan. He ar- rived at Kit Carson, on the Kansas Pacific Railroad, and was employed with Chick, Brown & Co., commission merchants and forwarders, at various stations on the road. In 1873, he came to Granada, in the employment of the same company, as buying and receiving clerk, which position he occupied for several years while engaged with them. Since 1876, Mr. Nolan has had a store at Granada, which has been headquarters for supplies for cattle men for a large extent of territory. Frequently he has sold goods to be taken from a hundred to two hundred miles. Since 1876, he has also been Postmaster, and from the office he dis- tributes mail that is carried 150 miles before it reaches the person to whom it was directed. At the time he commenced trading, he had a herd of sheep, but sold his flock, and is now running only cattle. His herd consists of American stock, which he is improving with short-horn and Hereford breeds. He has 400 head of cattle and a few head of horses; has 7,000 acres of land under fence. While he was employed for Chick, Browne & Co., he had a good deal of experience with the In- dians, who were very troublesome. At Ells- worth, Kan., he was obliged to hold freight teams until a large number had collected, suffi- cient to successfully repel the attacks of the savages. He had several men killed. At Sheridan, he had the same experience. The Indians would receive their annuities of guns and ammunition at this and other points, and afterward commit the same depredations, running off mules and killing unprotected men. His dealings with them has not had a tend- ency to increase his love for the dusky tribe. Granada has been for a number of years the

terminus of a railroad division. In 1881, it was changed to Sargent, Kan., two miles east of the Colorado State line. Notwithstanding the larger portion of the town will move to Sargent, Mr. Nolan will remain in his present location.

CHARLES S. PARSONS.

Louisa County, Va., near Richmond, was the birthplace of Mr. Parsons. He was born in 1850. He attended school and worked on a farm until the spring of 1864, when he entered the Southern army and remained in the service until the close of the war. In 1865, he went to Mississippi, where he remained a little more than a year, raising cotton. In the spring of 1867, he went to Montana, to the head of navigation on the Missouri River, but returned the same year, reaching St. Louis in December on his way to Mississippi. There he spent another ten months in cotton-rais- ing. Having sold out his interests in that State, he removed to Texas in the fall of 1868, where he herded cattle on the frontier, and driving them to Shreveport, La. He came to Colorado in 1871, with a bunch of Texas cat- tle, and stopped at Point of Rocks, on the Ar- kansas. For several years after coming to Bent County, he was employed in herding cattle, working for James C. Jones & Bros. for four consecutive years. In 1876, he relin- quished this occupation and came to West Las Animas, and engaged in the livery business, which he has followed until the present time. Mr. Parsons was married, January 1, 1879, to a daughter of H. W. Jones, now of Pueblo, who has been a resident of Colorado for more than twenty years. He has served the county of Bent three years as Deputy Sheriff, and on several occasions has acted as Deputy Treas- urer.

GEORGE PECK.

To write even the interesting portion of Mr. Peck's experiences in Colorado, commencing as early as 1858, would require a fair-sized volume. Coming, as he did, at that early pe- riod, across the plains and up the Arkansas Valley, in company with fifty men and two women, with a train of fifteen wagons drawn principally by oxen, though they had a few mules and horses, he would naturally have a fund of incidents to relate. The company

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came for gold, and Pike's Peak was their ob- jective point. They made their first camping- ground near the Fontaine Creek and the Garden of the Gods, which they called Red Rocks. Here he remained with the company six weeks, prospecting, but did not find what he came for, like many others who came soon after. They had been told in the East, by a Delaware Indian, of the rich gold fields in the Rocky Mountains. The Indian had a large nugget of gold with which to fortify his state- ments, and he was engaged to accompany the party and point out just the location where gold was to be found, but he could never be persuaded to act as guide, though he had faithfully promised to. After they arrived at the mountains, a Mexican was engaged to act in that capacity. One of the party was a Mrs. Holmes. Although there have been several first white women who have been to the top of Pike's Peak, yet they have claimed their ascent to have taken place five years or more later than the summer of 1858, when Mrs. Holmes act- ually stood on the highest point. For sup- plies, Mr. Peck was obliged to go to Fort Garland, 130 miles south. At this time, there was not a house occupied between Arkansas River and Fort Laramie, and east of the Rocky Mountains to the mouth of Walnut Creek, with the exception of Fort Lyon. After returning from Fort Garland with pro- visions, he abandoned the search for gold. Then, with the party, he proceeded north to the River Platte, and camped five miles south of the present site of the city of Denver. Until this time, the original company re- mained together. Here they separated. A portion surveyed the ground for a town site, where Denver now stands, but the survey was changed when other parties came in from the East and joined the original surveyors. Late in the fall of 1858, Mr. Peck, in company with a Mr. Middleton, wife and child, re- turned by the route they had traveled to the Platte, and stopped for the following winter where East Pueblo now stands. Other parties came from the East about this time, and in- creased their number to 100. On his return from the Platte, in company with a Mr. Mc- Clellan, he laid a rough foundation for a town site, during a driving snow-storm at both

places, where Colorado City and Colorado Springs are now situated, but never went back to them. In the spring of 1860, with a brother, who had joined him from Salt Lake City, he put in a crop of corn on what is now known as the Goodnight ranch. There he re- mained until February, 1865, farming and raising cattle. The following seven years, he was engaged in mercantile business in the States of New York and Massachusetts. In 1872, he returned to Bent County, locating at the old town of Las Animas, but soon after he removed to West Las Animas, where he now resides, engaged in ranching and cat- tle-raising. In the fall of 1880, Mr. Peck was elected Probate Judge for Bent County, on the Republican ticket. He was married to Miss Mary E. Rice in 1871; has four chil- dren-three girls and one boy. When Mr. Peck first came to Colorado, there were thou- sands of buffalo, elk, deer and antelope, which were easily obtained, and, for days together, he lived wholly on fresh meat, the only con- diment being a little salt.

GEORGE W. PHILLIPS, M. D.

In 1877, Dr. Phillips came to Colorado, set- tling in West Las Animas, Bent Co., where he has resided until the present time. He was born in North Adams, Berkshire Co., Mass., November, 1821. His father was a farmer, and for twenty years he remained among the Berkshire Hills, working on the farm and attending school. He spent a num- ber of terms at the Academy in Shelburne Falls, Mass., previous to his father's moving with his family to Aurora, Ill., in 1841. Forty years ago was an early period in the history of rapid transit, and the family came West by the way of the Erie Canal to Buffalo, N. Y., and from thence to Chicago, Ill., by steamboat, making the trip of the lakes via Mackinaw Straits. Like many other young men, Dr. Phillips was obliged to assist him- self in obtaining a medical education. He taught school to enable him to pursue his studies, and he attended his first course of lectures at Rush Medical College, Chicago, in the winter of 1842 and 1843, the first course ever given in that college. He con- tinued his studies with Dr. G. W. Richards,

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of St. Charles, Ill., and after a thorough course of study, he graduated from the Indi- ana Medical College, at La Porte, Ind. Im- mediately after graduating in 1846, he settled in Dodgeville, Wis., where he remained for two years, and then went overland to Califor- nia, where he practiced his profession for four years, after which he returned to Illinois, via Isthmus, and located in Dixon. In 1859, the State Medical Society of Illinois offered a $50 prize for the best written article upon any medical topic, the writer to choose his own subject. The Doctor entered a paper upon the " Effect of Climate on Tuberculous Disease," and took the prize. During the year 1862, the Seventy-fifth Illinois Regiment of Infantry was formed and Dr. Phillips was appointed its Surgeon, and remained with regiment nearly a year, and then resigning only on account of ill health. When he left the army, Gen. Jeff C. Davis indorsed his dis- charge papers with a flattering testimonial as to his ability and faithfulness as a Surgeon. In 1864, he again joined the army, being ap- pointed Surgeon to the One Hundred and Fortieth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, with which he served six months. In both of his enlistments be was Surgeon for the brigade with which he was connected. Though it will be seen that he was not in actual service as long as many others, yet he passed through some of the severest contests of the war, being actively engaged in the battles of Memphis, Perryville and Stone River. After his mili- tary services closed, he returned to Dixon and followed the practice of his profession until 1872, when he removed to Independence in Southern Kansas, where he remained three years. Then moving to Howard City, Kan., he resided two years. From thence he came to West Las Animas, where he enjoys the respect and confidence of his fellow-citizens, being frequently called to the extreme limits of the county to attend to professional duties.

FRED H. POMEROY.

Mr. Pomeroy's parents came from Granby, Conn., to Portage County, Ohio, about 1830, where he was born January 25, 1834; there he lived until he was ten years old. His parents died when he was quite young, and

he was obliged to find a home among stran- gers. This he did until he was seventeen years of age. In 1851, he removed to Ken- dall County, Ill., where he lived with an older sister seven years. Mr. P. then went to Minnesota and remained one year in the lum- bering district. After a short visit to his former home in Illinois, he came direct to Denver, paying $30 in gold for the privilege of driving an ox team across the plains. Soon after his arrival in Denver, he went to the mountains and worked in the mines by the day. He bought a claim in company with other men for which they paid $600. It was not a money-making scheme. He was more successful in a quartz mill, after which he was engaged with others mining in Musquito Gulch. For eighteen months following he was wagonmaster of a train that ran between St. Joseph, Nebraska City and Denver. He then took a train of ox teams and carried corn from Julesburg along the stage line on the Salt Lake road. This work ended in spring of 1864. Mr. P. then went in company with Joshua Guest into general jobbing business in Nevada City, Gilpin Co., Colo. He went to Denver for the purpose of buying a team. It was at the time of the Indian war in South- ern Colorado, and a regiment of 100-day men was being formed. He saw three families that had been brought into Denver in a mu- tilated condition, from the Indians, which stirred his anger to an enlisting point, and he joined the regiment at once, and participated in the Sand Creek engagement. He was dis- charged at the end of the one hundred days, and went to the mountains and freighted the balance of the winter. He was obliged to work horses as the cattle had been killed by the storms. Mr. P. then engaged in the butchering business, wholesaling and retailing beef in Nevada City. In this occupation he was engaged six years. At the end of this period, Mr. Pomeroy went to work for H. S. Holly & Co., as foreman of their cattle ranch. He was married February 6, 1881. For ten years he has been engaged as foreman. Much of the success of handling stock depends upon the men who have the constant care of them while on round-ups and at other times, and the foreman is largely responsible for the

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whole. Mr. Pomeroy has been very success- ful in the position he has held for more than a decade.

HON. JOHN W. PROWERS.

John Wesley Prowers was born near West- port, Jackson Co., Mo., January 29, 1838. The educational privileges of that day and place were limited, but such as the district schools were young Prowers enjoyed their benefits for thirteen months only, after which practical life became his school, and his nat- urally good perceptive facilities, aided by reason, his teacher. In 1856, being then eighteen years of age, he crossed the plains to Bent's New Fort (now known as Old Fort Lyon) with Robert Miller, Indian Agent for the Upper Arkansas Agency. Miller's Agency included the Kiowas, Comanches, Apaches, Cheyennes and Arapahoes, for which tribes, on the occasion referred to, he brought out large stores of annuity goods and employed Prowers as clerk. The distribution of these goods took place at Bent's New Fort, and occupied two months. Mr. Prowers at this time entered the service of Col. William Bent, who was an Indian trader at the same post. He remained with Col. Bent seven years, during which period he made ten trips across the plains in charge of wagon trains, bringing supplies from the Missouri River to the trading-post, and during the same period made several trips to Fort Union, and one to Fort Laramie, making in all twenty-two round trips across the plains, twelve of which were on his own account. After leaving Col. Bent's service, Prowers had charge of the sut- tler's store of Mr. Windsor and his successors Stewart & Shrewsbury, at Old Fort Lyon. From 1865 to 1871, he engaged in freighting Government supplies from Leavenworth to Fort Union. Mr. Prowers was married in 1861, to Amy, the daughter of Chief Ochinee, of the Cheyenne tribe. Ochinee was better known as the One-Eyed Chief. He was at the head of the band and was reputed to be an influential counselor. Ochinee was killed at Sand Creek. It is related of him that he had been instrumental in bringing the Indians into camp there under the impression that they would be protected; that at the first dash

made at the camp, he made his escape from Chivington's men, but seeing all were to die, returned into the thickest of the massacre with the evident intention of dying with his people. In 1868, Mr. Prowers opened up his farm at Boggsville, where Mr. Tom Boggs had already made some improvements. Upon the organization of the county, the county seat was located at Boggsville, and that became an important business point. Mr. Prowers was appointed by the Governor as one of the first Commissioners of the county, and was after- ward returned to the office by the people. In the fall of 1873, upon the founding of West Las Animas, he removed to this point and en- gaged with his brother-in-law, Mr. Hough, in the commission business and general merchan- dise, at which he continues. In 1873, he was chosen to represent the county in the Legisla- ture, having by request come out as an Inde- pendent candidate. In 1880, Mr. Prowers was again elected to the General Assembly as a Representative of Bent County. He was a member of the committees on stock, irriga- tion, and representative apportionment. He was the originator of the bill on apportion- ment, which, after a hard fight, became a law, just before the adjournment of the Legislature. The late Col. Jacobson gave it the title of the "Sliding Scale" bill, and it will be known as such in the future. Mr. Prowers is well known far beyond the bounds of Bent County as a large and successful stock raiser and dealer. He has paid much attention to the improvement of his herds. He is a firm believer in the Hereford stock and was one of the first to introduce it into this portion of the State. In 1871, he bought "Gentle the Twelfth" of Frederick William Stone, of Guelph, Canada. Her increase during the following ten years numbered fifty-seven head. Three met with accidents and died. The remaining fifty-four averaged her owner $200 per head; a sum total of $10,800. He has inclosed 80,000 acres of land in one body, and owns forty miles of river frontage, controlling 400,000 acres of range. He believes the Government ought to lease the various ranges and make them a source of revenue, from which it now receives nothing. Mr. Prowers started in the cattle business in 1862, with a

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cash capital of $234. His first venture was the purchase of a black steer in June from D. B. Powers, of Leavenworth, but before the end of the year he had just 100 head. Nineteen years later, his herd numbers more than 10,000 head, many of which are of the best blood. It will be seen that Mr. Prowers' career has been an eventful one, and is inti- mately connected for nearly twenty-five years with the history of the section which now forms Bent County. The story of his experi- ence on the Santa Fe trail and his experience at Bent's trading-post, then in the midst of a country occupied by Indians, would be suffi- cient for a volume.

ASAHEL RUSSELL.

Mr. Russell is a native of Licking County, Ohio, born August 20, 1829. He attended the common schools of the town in which he lived. When quite young, he spent one year in New York City. Afterward he learned the tanner's trade in Cincinnati. In 1851, he settled in McDonough County, Ill., where he cultivated a farm, though he was largely engaged in mercantile life, buying and ship- ping a large amount of grain, of which wheat was the principal one. He found his market in Chicago, New York and Boston. In this employment Mr. Russell was engaged about eight years. In 1865, he came across the plains with a wagon train from Junction City, Kan. He took the Smoky Hill route. The Indians were exceedingly troublesome. The company were driven in by them. Eleven soldiers were killed by the savages. Mr. R. was not able to reach Denver and so returned to his family who were residing in McDon- ough County, Ill. From 1865 to 1870, he was disposing of his interests prior to coming to Colorado. Mr. R. settled in Rocky Ford, Bent County, and located a ranch on the Spanish Land Grant. In 1871, he removed his family to that point, and entered at once upon mercantile life and stock-raising. In 1870, there were not more than half a dozen families in the valley between Pueblo and Fort Lyon on the south side of the Arkansas River. Soon afterward many families moved into the valley. Mr. Russell's customers were mostly stockmen, and they came from far

and near. His stock of goods consisted of general merchandise. His trade amounted to from $50,000 to $90,000 a year. In the spring of 1871, Mr. Iliff, the late cattle king of Colorado, received at this point a large herd of cattle from Mexico, which he had con- tracted for from a Mr. Tipton. It was at a time before Mr. Russell had any buildings erected, and Mr. Iliff drew his check for $60,000 in payment for the herd while sitting under a tree that now stands on Mr. Russell's grounds. This was the first large business transaction that took place at the Ford. Mr. R. continued in the business until 1875, in company with George W. Swink. The rail- road passing through the valley at a point farther south, together with competition all along the line, and having sustained heavy losses, Mr. R. discontinued mercantile life and paid his whole attention to ranching and stock-raising. With the system of ditches that is being introduced into the Arkanass Valley, Mr. R. believes that agriculture can be made to pay a good per cent on money in- vested. He has been successful in raising large crops of oats. In 1881, he had 100 acres sown with this grain. Mr. R. cuts about fifty tons of hay, and is yearly increas- ing his acreage. Like some of his neighbors, he believes alfalya is going to play an im- portant part in the hay raising portion of Colorado; he is sowing additional ground to this grass every year. Mr. Russell was married in May, 1850, to Miss Ellen Squires, of New Haven, Conn. They have six children, all liv- ing; three daughters married. Mr. R. is a firm believer in the short-horn breed of cattle and is strongly convinced that the time is not far distant when stock will be kept up and fed during the winter, and' controlled by fences during the summer. He is improving his herd by the introduction of thoroughbred cattle.

URIEL SEBREE.

Mr. Sebree was born in Fayette, Howard Co., Mo., January 26, 1836, where he lived and worked on a farm until he was thirty-six years of age. He was married in 1859, to Miss Mary Virginia Saunders, and has six children, four girls and two boys. When he came to Colorado, he settled in Nine Mile

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Bottom, on the Purgatoire Creek, and filed an application for a homestead as soon as the land was open for pre-emption. He fully complied with the law in such cases, making the required improvements, and residing on the land five years. Soon after the expiration of this term, he sold out and moved with his family to the precinct of Higbee, in Bent County, where he now resides engaged in stock-raising. His stock originally consisted of Texas cattle, which he is improving by crossing with a short-horn breed. His ranches are thirty miles south of Higbee, in Smith's Canon, where there is a broken coun- try, well adapted for the protection of stock during inclement seasons. Mr. Sebree was elected County Commissioner in 1878 for three years, and has filled the office accept- ably to the tax-payers of Bent County.

E. R. SIZER.

To write the entire history of Mr. Sizer would be equivalent to writing a large portion of the history of Bent County. His long res- idence in the State of Colorado, and the in- terest he has taken in her welfare from an agricultural point of view, has given his name more than a local prominence among the in- habitants of the southern portion of the State. His early settlement in Bent County and the occupation he has followed has made him perfectly familiar with the possibilities of the State, and he is reasonably enthusiastic over what he sincerely believes can be accomplished with the soil by irrigation, common sense and hard work. He settled on his present farm July 10, 1865, at a time when neighbors were few and Indians were plenty. His ranch is located about six miles south of West Las Animas on the Purgatoire Creek, and is a monument of persistent toil. It is well to give a few facts and statistics at this time, as they speak louder than words. Any one walking over the 320 acres composing his farm, can count 2,500 plum trees, fifteen varieties; 1,700 apple trees, twenty-six varie- ties; 4,000 raspberry plants; 2,000 grape vines; 2,000 currant bushes; 600 gooseberry bushes; 100 cherry trees; and 6,000 shade trees. He has also one-half acre set with strawberry plants, from which he sold, in 1881,

$50 worth of berries. Alfalfa is a never-fail- ing topic of conversation with Mr. Sizer. He believes in it, and is yearly increasing his acreage, which now numbers forty-five acres. He cuts three crops every season, averaging from six to eight tons to the acre. At present the seed crop which is the first cutting of the ' year, is the most profitable one. He estimates the yield to be from 800 to 1,000 pounds to the acre, and as there is a great demand for the seed, a ready market is found. Mr. Sizer's place is the only representation on a large scale of the fruit industry in Bent County. Mr. Sizer was born in Western, Oneida Co., N. Y., February 26, 1833, where he lived twenty years, working on a farm. He never attended school but four terms, and was never twenty miles away from his native place until he went to Monmouth, Ill., in 1852, where he remained a few months before going to St. Paul, Minn. At the latter place, he worked at masonry, being employed by a Mr. Seaton, who was contracting in various parts of the State. He worked at this trade four years; then he went with Lieut. William T. Sher- man and party to establish Fort Abercrombe on the Red River of the North. There he remained a few months and then returned to St. Peters, Minn. In the fall of 1856, he went with Col. Knapp to survey the Transit Railroad from Winona, on the Mississippi River in Minnesota, to the mouth of the Yel- low Stone River. Here they encountered a severe snow storm and were obliged to aban- don the survey. Mr. Sizer returned to Win- terset, Iowa. During the following winter and spring he fitted out an expedition for California, and proceeded as far as Fort Vrain on the Platte River. Here he met Col. St. Vrain and Kit Carson, who persuaded him to remain in Colorado. He went with them to a big Indian camp of Arapahoe Indi- ans at the mouth of Cherry Creek, where they remained a few weeks, trading with the Indians. At this time word came that Gregory and Russell had discovered gold in Russell's Gulch, and he immediately started on a prospecting tour up the Cherry Creek and the Platte River, and the five years fol- lowing he spent in the mountains, mining when the season would permit. He started

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History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, Part 116

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