History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, Part 117

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

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BENT COUNTY.

out with the party that discovered the rich placer mines in California Gulch, and spent the spring of 1860 in the gulch. In the fall of the same year, he came down to the South Park, hunting deer, antelope and elk, and proceeded as far as where Canon City now stands, and there opened a butcher's shop, remaining during the winter and spring of 1860-61. In 1862, he started with a large party through the San Juan country, down to Arizona, visiting the old mines and many places of interest throughout that section. Dr. Crandall, of Wisconsin, was the instigator of the expedition. Mr. Sizer's experience with the Indians in New Mexico and Colorado would furnish material for a long chapter. During his stay in New Mexico he had seven fights with the Navajoes. At one time while fighting for the Government, having charge of fifteen wagons, he was attacked by the sav- ages who drove away his oxen and burned his wagons. Immediately after this, he came to his present place, July 10, 1865. In 1867, he went with Gens. Wright and Palmer as guide and interpreter, surveying the Kansas Pacific Railroad from Fort Lyon to Las Vegas. In 1868, he had a four days' siege with the Indians at his farm. He had built a fort of adobes near his home in which he, his wife and child took refuge, and there they held the attacking party at bay, Mrs. Sizer doing good execution with a gun. The Indians, numbering 165, destroyed seventy-five acres of corn, plundered his house and drove off his stock. Two of his men were killed. Mr. Sizer raised the first grain in Bent County, dug the first ditch, raised strawber- ries as early as any one, raised and sold the first fruit in the county. He is seeking to raise only the best stock of cattle, and is cul- tivating the Hereford breed, of which he has a small but promising herd. Mr. Sizer was married to Miss Mary Savage in 1867. Has five children living, and has buried two. While Mr. Sizer kept the mail station where he now resides, he entertained a present member of Parliament, the Duke of Somerset, as well as some of the biggest rascals of the country. In 1861, while with a prospecting party he found a pile of dead bodies, eleven white men and twenty-two Indians. He took

from a pocket of one of the whites a Bible, in which is the name of C. S. Benedict, Mo- kena, Ill. The Indians were the Piutes, and the prospecting party named the place the Dead Man's Gulch. Mention ought to be made of the bravery of Mrs. Sizer during their Indian troubles. One day Mr. S. was in the field at work when the savages appeared on the opposite side of the Purgatoire Creek, near their house. Mrs. Sizer was alone with her little baby, but before Mr. S. could return from the field she had loaded twenty rifles and had them at the well curb, holding the Indians at bay. She took her stand behind a tree, and as opportunity occurred would fire at the enemy. One Indian made himself more conspicuous than the rest, and she in- sisted upon the privilege of shooting him if possible. At last the opportunity came and by a well directed aim she fatally wounded him.

BURRELL D. SMITH.

Burrell D. Smith was born in Sheffield, Lorain Co., Ohio, in 1844. He worked on a farm until he was twenty years of age, except- ing such times as he attended school at Oberlin. He attended both the preparatory and colle- giate departments. Mr. S. left college in 1865, and started for Fort Union, New Mex- ico, with a wagon train across the plains, occupying two months in the journey. The train consisted of not less than 500 wagons. On this trip they were attacked twice by the Indians. The first time while "nooning." The Indians killed and scalped two of the men. The second attack was after the train had passed Fort Dodge. They had warning that the Indians were near, and had time to corral their wagons, enabling them to hold the savages at bay. although they made a desperate charge upon the train, accompany- ing it with their usual war-whoop. They were unmolested the remainder of the dis- tance. After a short delay in New Mexico, Mr. Smith returned east as far as Fort Lyon, where he remained two months before. pro- ceeding to Kansas City by wagon train. Late in the fall of 1865, he started again for Fort Union with a train of wagons loaded with Government corn. But the freight was "pressed " by the officer in command and left

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at Fort Aubrey, Kan. From this point Mr. Smith went to Fort Lyon, where he was engaged in supplying the fort with wood under contract. In the spring of 1866, he returned to Fort Aubrey, where he clerked in a sutler's store until the goods were re- moved, June 1, of the same year, to near Fort Lyon reservation, where he clerked for a time. Here he was at one time placed in a trying position. Having been left alone in charge of the stock, suddenly 200 Indians appeared on their way to Fort Lyon, which they in- tended to attack. The store was two and a half miles from the Fort, and all communica- tion was cut off, and Mr. Smith was at the mercy of the red-skins. Finally he was re- enforced by four well armed men. On their return the savages passed them unharmed. After clerking here for two months, he entered the service of Capt. Craig, on the Huerfauo Creek, for a few weeks, in the capacity of a clerk. In the fall of 1866, he returned to Fort Lyon and kept the mail and stage sta- tion during the following winter and spring. Then in company with Messrs. Reynolds and Buttles, he bought the sutler's stock of Mr. Lyman Fields and removed the goods to New Fort Lyon. They were the first storekeepers at this point. At this time the Government was employing 400 men in building the fort, and had stationed there 300 soldiers. After continuing in the business for a few months. the company sold out their stock to Thatcher Bros., and Mr. Smith left mercantile life. Soon after this, he formed a partnership with J: A. Hobson, and entered the cattle business, having taken up a ranch on the half-breed reservation, fifty miles west of Fort Lyon. In the spring of 1868, he bought out his partner and returned to Ohio. On his return to Col- orado, accompanied by his brother, Perry Smith, he bought eighty-five head of cattle in Southern Iowa and brought them to Bent County. He remained on the ranch he first took up until 1869, when the Government made a survey of the reservation and gave it to the Indians. He then moved a mile and a half up the Arkansas River and took up another ranch, where he remained until 1879, engaged in cattle-raising, which business he is now pursuing, and then removed to West

Las Animas, his present residence. In the fall of 1867, Mr. Smith had an unusual expe- rience with a bunch of seventy-five antelope. He saw them drinking at the foot of a steep embankment partially surrounded by water. He alighted from his horse and rushed in among them and killed five with a knife, and captured one alive. He was not absent from his home more than fifteen minutes. In the fall of 1870, be returned to Ohio, and in the following spring was married to Miss Amelia Reynolds, of Monroe, Mich., who was born August 1, 1849, and formerly lived in South Amherst, Lorain Co., Ohio. In 1869, he pre-empted 160 acres and bought 160 more, and in 1870 took a homestead north of the Arkansas River, twenty miles west of West Las Animas. Mr. Smith has four children -Maud B., born January 12, 1872; Sherlock, born March 16, 1873, died June 29, 1873; Cora S., born July 21, 1874; Nellie R., born June 22, 1876; Claude D., born August 22, 1879. Mr. Smith was foreman of the first grand jury ever convened in Bent County, in the fall of 1872, Judge Hallett presiding at court.

GEORGE W. SWINK.

Mr. Swink was born June 30, 1836, in Breckenridge County, Ky. In 1840, he moved with his parents to Schuyler County, Ill. There he worked on a farm and attended such schools as the county afforded. A portion of the time, until 1868, he worked in a saw-mill in Schuyler County. For five years after- ward, he was engaged in farming and in gen- eral merchandising in the town of Bardolph, in McDonough County, Ill. In 1874, he re- turned to Schuyler County and ran a saw-mill for a year; but in 1871, he came to Bent County, Colo., and entered mercantile life and the cattle business at Rocky Ford, with Asahel Russell as partner. At this point he remained until 1876, when he moved his stock of goods to his present location, at Rocky Ford Railroad Station, on the Atchison, To- peka & Santa Fe Railroad. Mr. Swink did not remove his family from Illinois until the spring of 1875. They remained one year at the ford near the Arkansas River. Since coming to Bent County, Mr. Swink has been engaged in mercantile life, and ranching and

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BENT COUNTY.

stock-raising, carrying a stock of general mer- chandise, together with farming implements, grain, feed, etc., etc. He has 1,000 acres of land, which he has obtained by homestead, pre-emption and purchases. The mercantile business is conducted in company with Isaiah Denness. For several years, Mr. Swink has made a specialty of raising watermelons, ship- ping them into the mountains and as far south as Santa Fe. He has a most excellent variety, and is endeavoring to keep it as pure as pos- sible. In 1880, he shipped more than 200,- 000 pounds, and in 1881 had fifteen acres de- voted to melon culture. In October, 1855, he was married to Miss Mary J. Cook. He has eleven children-six boys and five girls. For several years, his oldest son has paid special attention to the baling of hay, taking large amounts under contract to prepare for market. In 1876, he was appointed Postmaster at Rocky Ford, which office he now holds, to- gether with station and express agent.

SAMUEL T. SMITH.

Mr. Smith came from Southern Kansas to Colorado, where he has resided most of the time since 1860. He was born in Oneida County, N. Y., in 1837. Three years after- ward, his parents removed to New York City. He attended the city schools until he com- menced to learn the paper-ruling and book- binding business. His parents died when he was thirteen years old, and left him to care for himself. He made rapid progress in his trade, and, at the age of seventeen, he re- ceived a journeyman's wages. In 1855, he went to Rock Island, Ill., where he was em- ployed at his trade until the spring of 1857, when he removed to Wyandotte, Kan., where he remained most of the time until the spring of 1860. It was during the Pike's Peak ex- citement that he came to Colorado. He pros- pected in the mountains for several months, spending a portion of the time in California Gulch. In the winter of 1860-61, he went to New Mexico and worked a year on a farm. During a short season in the early part of the war, he was drafted into the militia, and was stationed a portion of the time at the Govern- or's house. After he left the service, he re- turned to Fort Union and farmed on shares.

The winter of 1862-63, he went on a hunting expedition for deer, elk, bear and antelope, of which there were great numbers. In 1863, he commenced farming on the Purgatoire Creek, in Nine Mile Bottom. In the fall of 1864, he took care of a bunch of cattle on shares with Uriel Higbee. This business he followed until the spring of 1866. In the fall of the same year, he took up land on the Purgatoire Creek and continued farming and stock-raising. It was during this year that Mr. Smith was elected Assessor for Las Ani- mas County. It extended over a vast terri- tory, and Mr. Smith would ride from one to three days without finding any one to assess. It was at a time when money was not plenty, and county officers were not promptly paid. After his work was finished, he sent in a bill of $188. The payment of it was long delayed. He finally gave it to his partner, Mr. Higbee, and he traded it at Pueblo for two mowing cradles and a gallon of whisky. Since 1864, he has paid all his attention to farming and stock-raising. During his early settlement on the Purgatoire Creek, he had a good deal of trouble with the Indians. The belt with his pistol was buckled on every morning for years. Mr. Smith is a thoroughly educated cattle man, and is carrying on the business on quite an extensive scale. In the palmy days of Nine Mile Bottom, he was Postmaster and Justice of the Peace. Mr. Smith came to West Las Animas in 1876, where he now resides.

GEORGE SPANE.

Mr. Spane was born in East Kent, England, in 1834. He came with his parents to America when quite young. They settled near Cleveland, Ohio. After remaining there a short time, they removed to Richland County, same State. He attended the com- mon schools and worked on a farm until he was seventeen years of age. Mr. Spane at this time went to Johnson County, Iowa, and im- proved a farm for Mr. Mason during the fall and winter of 1851-52. He then crossed the plains to Oregon, on the Columbia River, thir- teen miles east of Portland. He was nearly six months on the road. The party ran out of provisions while on the Blue Mountains. For two days, he was out on a hunting expe-

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dition, and killed only a few grouse. They found a substitute for beef and wild game in an Indian pony, which they killed and lived on for forty-eight hours. Soon after this, they came to an Indian camp, and traded for some corn and potatoes. The following day, they arrived at a place where they traded an odd steer for thirty pounds of flour. The steer was valued at $30. In the winter, flour was worth $50 per hundred pounds in Oregon. Mr. Spane was in the Territory about eight- een months. He had put in a crop of wheat, and, just before harvesting, a gold excitement sprang up in the coast range of mountains in Southern Oregon. He left his fields and did not return to them. He proceeded to Sterling- ville, Ore., and located gold mines. For a time, he worked for. other parties and sold out his claims on account of a lack of water, and went to Applegate, a short distance from Sterlingville. He then proceeded to Ham- burg Bar, Klamath River, in Northern Cali- fornia. There, in company with others, he worked nearly two years in placing a dam across the river in order to turn its course for the purpose of working the river bottom. The scheme was not a paying one. Mr. Spane then went to some southern mines in Tuol- umne County, near Columbia. There he bought an interest in a claim in Martinez Gulch, where he remained until the fall of 1859. He then returned to Ohio, where he remained until the spring of 1860, when he went to Kansas, where he enlisted, June, 1861, in the Second Kansas Volunteer In- fautry; served five months, and was dis- charged, but re-enlisted, December, 1861, in the Third Kansas Volunteers, which was com- posed of cavalry and infantry, but was subse- quently transferred to the Fifth Kansas Vol- unteer Cavalry. During his service, he was wounded four times. At one time, he was wounded and left on the battle-field, near Mount Vernon, Ark. He also received a wound at the time Gen. Lyon was killed at Wilson Creek. For ten months, he was a prisoner, having been captured at Mark's Mill, Ark. He was discharged in April, 1865. On account of being captured, he lost his de- scriptive list, and was consequently detained at Leavenworth for some time before receiving a

duplicate from Washington. After leaving the army, he went to Linn County, Kan., and worked at carpentering. He was married, May 13, 1866, to Miss Sarah Summers. In the spring of 1873, he came to Colorado. His first stop was on the divide, during the sum- mer. In the fall, he went to Red Creek and hauled ties to the river. In the spring of 1874, Mr. Spane moved to Riche's ranch and farmed two years. In February, 1876, he moved to Pueblo and commenced working for the rail- road. In April, 1877, he went to La Junta, in charge of a section; subsequently, was em- ployed at the station, in the transfer, and also in the car and seal record, departments.

AVERY TURNER.

Mr. Turner has spent much of his life on railroads. He has served in various capaci- ties, as civil engineer, conductor and Train Master. Mr. Turner was born in Quincy. Ill., March 8, 1851, where he resided until he was sixteen years of age. He attended, for three years, the Scientific Department of Cornell University, at Ithaca, N. Y. From 1870 to 1874, he followed his profession as civil engineer for different railroads in Mis- souri, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Illinois. In 1874, he entered the service of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé Railroad and stationed at La Junta as Train Master. May 1, 1881, Mr. Turner was elected City Treasurer of La Junta, at the municipal election. His parents came from New England, and were pioneers in the West.

JACOB WEIL.

Jacob Weil is a native of France, born in the town of Soultz-sous-Forets in 1842, where he resided until the fall of 1859, when he landed in the city of New York the day Abra- ham Lincoln was first elected President. He entered mercantile life young, commencing as a clerk in his native town. After arriving in America, in order that he might acquire the English language as rapidly as possible, he spent a few months selling goods about the country, making his headquarters at Wheel- ing, W. Va., where he resided six years, en- gaged in business. Having disposed of his interests in the latter place, he removed to Ohio, where he continued in the mercantile

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trade for two years. Finding his health rapidly failing, he sold out his business and went to Kansas and bought a ranch and a herd of cattle. There he remained for several years, but did not increase his property, hav- ing lost heavily in the winter of 1871, which was a severe one for all cattle men throughout Kansas. He left the State with the full de- termination of visiting Arizona. But in 1875, West Las Animas was having a boom. Busi- ness was good, with a large number of in- habitants, and two railroads running to the town. The place appeared to offer extraor- dinary inducements for Mr. Weil to locate, and he cast his lot in that place, where, for six years, he has been a member of the firm of Jones & Weil, who are conducting a thriving mercantile business. Mr. Weil enjoys a large acquaintance in the county of Bent, by whom he is held in high esteem as an honest and upright merchant. He was married, in Kan- sas, in August, 1874, to Miss Amanda Divel- bess, and has two children, who are both liv- ing. He takes an active interest in stock-rais- ing, though not largely engaged in it at pres- ent.

GILBERT M. WOODWORTH.

Mr. Woodworth is a prominent sheep-raiser in Bent County. He came to Colorado in 1873, to the old town of Las Animas. In the spring of 1874, he engaged in the livery bus- iness at West Las Animas, in which he con- tinued until the fall of 1877, when he sold out and bought a herd of sheep. Mr. Woodworth is improving his herd with the best stock. He has found, from experience, that sheep do

not do well when carried beyond a certain de- gree of fineness. Mr. Woodworth has four ranches in different parts of Bent County. In 1876, he was on the Republican ticket for State Senator. He has been Chairman of the Republican Committee since there has been a party organization in Bent County. He ex- pects to remain in the Arkansas Valley. Mr. Woodworth was born in Lycoming County, Penn., November 5, 1840. His parents re- moved to Wayne County in 1842. There he lived eleven years. For four years afterward, he resided in Virginia, and then removed to Kansas. During his boyhood, he attended school and worked on a farm. In August, 1860, he went to Denver from Atchison and Leavenworth, with a train of freight wagons. From the latter place, he made five trips to Old Fort Lyon. Mr. Woodworth served three years in the war. He enlisted in the Eighth Kansas Volunteer Cavalry, serving his time west of the Mississippi River; was stationed a portion of the time at Helena, Ark. He was iu thirteen general engagements and many skirmishes. During the three years, he was on duty all the time, he was not sick, nor did he have a furlough. He was detailed to carry important dispatches from Springfield, Mo., to Rolla. The route was through the enemy's country, and he was obliged to frequently ride out of the road in order to escape detec- tion. He rode the distance, 110 miles, in twenty-four hours. He was discharged from the service at Pine Bluff, fifty miles below Little Rock, Ark.

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History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, Part 117

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