History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, Part 57

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

USA > Colorado > History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado > Part 57

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The horses and equipments, rifles, revolvers, spears, hatchets and bows and arrows were brought in and held for several weeks, subject to official demand, and afterward distributed among the captors.

This transaction excited great indignation in Denver, where only the interests of Denver were worthy of consideration, and it was there gravely proposed that the captors should be ar- rested and turned over to the tender mercies of the savages. But a.correspondence between a citizen here and the Governor fully established the fact that the captured party was of the enemy, and was here on hostile intent, and so our neighbors graciously left us to struggle with the Indians without molestation.

Soon the citizens in the country began to gather into towns for safety, and a stockade fort was constructed for more perfect protec- tion. A military company was organized, arms were procured of the Governor, and scouts put in the field to look after the enemy. On the 21st of August, a dispatch arrived from Denver stating that several hundred Indians were marching to attack ns. and the excite- ment became intense, though not a man evinced a disposition to shrink from the strug- gle. Each one went to his duty with alacrity. Videttes were posted on the adjacent bluffs, and a strong guard on each road, and every precaution was taken to provide against sur- prise, but the night wore away and the follow- ing day, and no attack was made. Indeed, from this time forth, less and less was heard of the enemy, and in two or three weeks all had returned to their respective homes.

The promptness and vigor of the first en-

WILLIAMS' CANON.

427

HISTORY OF EL PASO COUNTY.

counter had, no doubt, produced a salutary ef- fect in rendering the Indians more wary, and thus, perhaps, preventing a bloody struggle for the life of the settlement. Such. at least, was the opinion of those who were the best situated to judge of it.

During this summer an organized attempt was made to open the canon of the Ute Pass for a highway to the mountains, and, in the conrse of this and the following season, some $10,000 or $12,000 were expended to that end. The farmers and business men had been rea- sonably prosperous, and their enterprise and public spirit rationally grew with their pros- perity. But another invasion, more devasta- ting than that of the Indians, befell them, and the fall of 1865 found them virtually impover- ished. The Indian could be encountered and resisted, but the grasshopper was ubiquitous, and his name was legion. It seemed as rea- sonable to attempt to battle with the north wind as to resist him. The visitation of these voracious insects at this time was general throughont the Territory, and the entire crop was virtually consnmed.

The peculiar glamour with which the imagi- nation of the '59er had colored Colorado and her environments is something incomprehensi- ble to the new-comer, and it needed just this experience to teach that '59er that his chosen one was " of the earth, earthy."

One of the many unfortunate consequences of this great calamity was the suspension of work on the Ute Pass road. Each one was too much concerned in ways and means for sub- sistence to think of works of a public charac- ter. Several attempts were made to procure county aid for the enterprise, but the little town of Fontaine was just then budding into life as a' rival to Colorado City, and actively opposed it on the ground that the latter would receive the greater benefit from the road when it was completed, and nothing came of them, as a two-thirds vote was requisite to authorize the connty to issne bonds, and there was no surplus money in the treasury. And so, for several years, this important enterprise was permitted to slumber.

The grand scheme for the construction of a railway to the Pacific Ocean, first advocated by Whitney, began to challenge public attention in 1862 and '63, and every settled point along the base of the mountains began to cherish the

laudable ambition to be profited by its con- summation. Soon after the organization of the Union Pacific and the Kansas Pacific Railway Companies a correspondence was begun by citizens of Colorado City with the Directors of these companies to divert their attention to the great advantages offered by the Ute Pass as the gateway to the Pacific. Some very favor- able responses were received from directors of these companies but nothing more came of it, save a reconnaissance of Hoosier Pass, which was made in the interests of Denver.

Nevertheless the people continued to be ex- ercised alternately with hope and with disap- pointment until the final location of the two roads left them to adjust their exasperated mood to the sullen fact that nothing had been gained for them.

During 1866 and 1867, little- transpired of sufficient importance for registration. The farmer seemed to be generally prosperous, and to have concluded that he was here to remain, and that his surroundings should begin to in- dex this conclusion. Thus improvements be- came the order of the time. Honses which had hitherto served indifferently as shelter, were repaired, enlarged and made comfortable ; out- buildings were erected and fences began to mark the boundaries of the improved lands. Many also began to turn their attention to the raising of stock, so that the spring of 1868 wit- nessed the presence of very considerable herds of cattle and horses, and some small flocks of sheep in various parts of the county. In- deed, during these years the stock business may be said to have germinated here.

But this pastoral quiet was doomed, in 1868, to a tragic interruption. Early in August of that year, a roving band of Cheyennes and Arapahoes, seventy-five in number, sauntered into town and demanded provisions. They were friendly Indians, for they said so, and, moreover, they carried certificates from officers at Forts Larned and Wallace corroborating the fact, and, further, stating that they were simply whiling their idle hours in a hunting expedi- tion to the neighborhood of the mountains, and should under no circumstances be molested.

The amiable characteristics of a friendly In- dian our early settlers had readily learned to appreciate, and their prompt recognition of the genial qualities of their guests was sig- nalized by the formation of a plot to consign

428

HISTORY OF EL PASO COUNTY.

every Indian of them to the happy hunting- grounds.

It having been learned that their course lay through the Ute Pass, a plan was formed to ambuscade them on their way at a point where escape would have been practically impossible ; and had this been consumated it is hardly doubtful that the terrible events which followed would never have become matter of history. But some one more cautious than his fellows telegraphed-for the telegraph from Denver to Santa Fe had then been recently completed- the situation to Acting Gov. Hall, who prompt- ly responded that the Indians were friendly and must not be disturbed, and, as the memory of the manner in which the summary transaction of 1864 was received in Denver was still fresh, the project was abandoned.

The savages continued their course into the mountains, where they surprised and murdered a small party of Utes, and, after several days, cautiously returned over an unfrequented trail by way of West Monument Creek and took shelter in the " Pinery," a little east of the Den- ver road. For several days subsequent general quiet prevailed and the people seemed to have settled to a sense of security, when the first overt act of war occurred. A herd of 120 horses, mostly the property of Harlow Trach- out, were stampeded from the herders on the afternoon of September 1st, near what is now called Edgerton, and driven to some rendezvous east of the " Pinery."

A scouting party was at once organized and sent in pursuit, but none of the stock was re- captured.

Hasty preparations for defense were made, the old stockade fort of 1864, which was still standing, was repaired and put in order, and such arms as were available were prepared for service. The country became literally de- populated, as all found it necessary to gather at different places for the common safety, Col- orado City, Cheyenne Creek, and McShane's be- ing the chief points of rendezvous.

The scouting party had been absent some three days, when a scout returned and reported that they were hemmed in by the Indians. Others were sent to their aid, who met the first party returning, a few miles distant from town. They had encountered a large body of Indians somewhere east of the Bijou Basin, and taken position on an elevated mound, as

the best point of defense, where they remained for twenty-four hours, virtually surrounded, with a moderate supply of provisions, but no water, forty men against five hundred. The Indians opened fire on them at a comparatively safe distance, circling the camp after the man- ner of Indian tactics, and bantering the be- sieged to come and fight them. "Damn you ! You have been spoiling for a fight-why don't you pitch in ?" was called out in true Anglo- Saxon accent, showing conclusively that white renegades were masquerading under the guise of Indians. The scouts reserved their fire, pre- ferring to economize their amunition until it could be made more effective, and busied them- selves in throwing up such breastworks as were possible with knives, ram-rods and the butts of their rifles. Jim Simms, who availed himself of the kindly shelter of a soap-weed, afterward facetiously remarked, " that he never properly estimated the dimensions of his per- son until he attempted to gather it within the limits of that soap-weed." At night a man known by the sobriquet of " Texas Bill," volunteered to ride through the enemy's lines in quest of assistance. A shower of bullets greeted him as he passed them, but he escaped with only a slight wound in the ankle.

During the night several attempts were made by the savages to scale the hill, by stealthily creeping up its slopes, but the besieged were too watchful to be thus taken. Some time dur- ing the following day the Indians suddenly de- camped, and the scouts moved cautiously homeward. Some miles distant they encoun- tered a party of scouts from Denver, which suf- ficiently explained the sudden stampede of the Indians.

Their return to Colorado City without loss, even though they had inflicted no punishment on the enemy, was greeted with as much satis- faction as though they had swept the plains, as their presence increased by so much the home strength, and induced a confidence with the major part that they were then strong enough to meet successfully, any body of In- dians likely to attack them. But it was yet to be learned that only the isolated and unpro- tected, the unsuspecting and the unarmed, that were seriously liable to attack-that armed bodies, exercising a rational precaution, unless outnumbered ten to one, were rarely interfered with.

429

HISTORY OF EL PASO COUNTY.

As no Indians had been seen near the town for several days, many began to think that they had been needlessly alarmed, and to return to their vocations, which was precisely what the sly savages had sought to accomplish. Taking advantage of this temporary sense of security, a war party swept down the valley of Monu- ment Creek, taking such horses as they could find on their way, killed and scalped Charley Everhart, who was herding his father's cattle on the mesa, now occupied by Colorado Springs, shot and left for dead " Judge Baldwin"-whom they could not scalp because that heroic achieve- ment had already been artistically performed by the savages of South America-and, nearer the Fontaine Qui Bouille, killed and scalped two boys, sons of Mr. Robbins, in plain view of their frantic mother, whose watchful care was impotent to protect them, gathered up some valuable horses belonging to George Banning and others, and then disappeared in the mazes of the plains.

The following journal entry for that day (Sept. 3.) will serve to illustrate in some degree the spirit of that terrible occasion : "While at Colorado City, intelligence came that the In- dians were driving off stock from Monument Creek. My wife being alone, I started, running, to save her. My feelings were indescribable when, half way home, I was informed that she was already in town. I breathed again. I needed my rifle, however, and went on, and, before reaching town again, learned that Charley had been killed and scalped by the scoundrels. Everybody was arming, and, as fast as horses could be procured, rushing in pursuit. The wildest rumors were afloat, and wives and mothers were wringing their hands in painful anxiety for their absent friends. Families hur- ried to town for shelter, and hasty preparations were made for defense. And so the day pass- ed away. Two children of Robbins' were killed and a herder wounded.

"Sept. 4. A sober day. Attended the last sad obsequies to the victims of yesterday. The cocah brings news of four more victims on the Divide.

"Sept. 6. Sunday. Everybody armed. Gill brings intelligence that the Indians have stam- peded his horses on Sand Creek. Forty-one men are sent in pursuit.

"Sept. 7. Various parties organized and sent to harvest grain. * * A great many rumors afloat, and Indians everywhere."

- The various pursuits were withoutany benefi- cial results, for strange to say, whenever the Indians were sighted, and the chase was joined, they seemed to fade like phantoms into the distance. Our best horses, for some canse or other, proved unable to cope with the speed of those of the Indians. Doubtless their habitude to the plains would sufficiently explain it. Our scouts, after ranging seventy-five iniles or more to the eastward, returned, driving back some fifty head of cattle, their horses jaded, and themselves content to fight the Indians at home rather than hunt him for that purpose.

The aspect of the country was very discour- aging. The homes were still there, with their garniture, and all the appliances of domestic life, but the genius of Waste, in the guise of Silence, seemed to mock their emptiness. The tranquil light of heaven was as serenely shed, as genially dispersed, as hitherto; but it was like the lavishment of love on hatred-there was no responsive receptiveness to make it effective. A painful sense of loneliness seemed to weight the atmosphere. Splendid fields of ripening grain were shedding their harvests on the ground ; fences were thrown down, and the growing corn and the gardens were become the spoil of the neglected herds. It might be con- ceived that Desolation had possessed the land, and conjured it with a grimly expressed satis- faction. The most unreflecting, who, through necessity, traversed the road, was awed by the situation, and could not find language to ex- press his sense of it. Throughout the month of September this condition lasted, and yet the sun never smiled more genially, nor was earth more potently fascinating. It seemed incon- sistent with the generous scheme of Nature, that the interests of man and his surroundings should be so adversely related.

Though the air was full of rumors of the proximity of large bodies of Indians, no authentic verification of them could be had, and it is probable they were mostly the off- spring of active imaginations. No hostile Indians were afterward seen in the immediate vicinity of Colorado City.

On the Divide, however, particularly in the region now graced by Monument, their depre- dations were continued, and several victims were added to the sad list already enumerated. It had been a remarkable feature of the strug- gle that, though so many houses had been left

430

HISTORY OF EL PASO COUNTY.

unoccupied, not one, as yet, had been burned ; but, in these closing raids, the brand was ap- plied to the house of Mr. Walker, one of the finest in that neighborhood, and it was reduced to ashes, together with all his grain and valua- bles. Here, also, several valuable horses were taken, and considerable stock was wantonly killed.

By the 1st of October, the county was free from Indians, and its people had returned to

their homes, and were busily engaged in saving what was left to them of the product of their summer's labor, and in gathering up the rem- nants of their scattered stock.

During the following year, some sporadic excursions were made by the savages through the northeastern border of the county, and some stock was wantonly killed, but no farther serious disturbance of our people oc- curred.

CHAPTER III.

COLORADO

SPRINGS.

THE year 1870 marked the dawn of a new era for El Paso County. The isolation and pastoral quiet which had characterized the preceeding years were now to give place to the activities which arise from a more fascile inter- course with the external world. The energiz- ing effect of capital, under the direction of as- sociated effort, was now to supplement the in- efficient struggles of single-handed labor, and to achieve at once that current of success which hitherto had seemed so eminently possi- ble, and yet had proved so persistently de- lusive. A railway was projected, which, by its connection with the great arteries of trade, was to bring the county in relation to the great com- mercial world.

Prominent among the names in the organi- zation of the company for the construction of this railway, are found Gen. William J. Palmer, R. H. Lamborn, George E. Gourand and William A. Bell, and that they have been potent names to conjure with the magical trans- formations which have resulted from their ef- forts, can most satisfactorily attest. Accesso- rily to this company, the National Land and Improvement Company was organized " for ` the purpose of purchasing and selling lands along the line of the Denver & Rio Grande Railway," with R. H. Lamborn, President ; W. S. Jackson, Treasurer ; and George E. Gou- rand, W. A. Bell and F. H. Jackson, as Trustees. About 9,000 acres of land were purchased in El Paso County, and the major part of it was located at Colorado Springs and Maniton.

The present site of Colorado Springs was then held, under the pre-emption laws, by citi-

zens of Colorado City, and occupation cabins were there to attest the fact of ownership ; but, so anxious were these people to encourage any enterprise which looked to the development of the neighborhood, tliat they surrendered them to the purchasing company without any de- mands for compensation. These lands were subsequently sold to the Colorado Springs Company, organized May 20, 1871, with R. A. Cameron, General Manager ; and William E. Pabor, Secretary. A subsidiary organization, under the name and style of the Fountain Col- ony of Colorado, then appeared, with Gen. Robert A. Cameron, Vice President; William E. Pabor, Secretary ; William P. Mellen, Treas- urer; Maurice Kingsley, Assistant Treasurer ; E. S. Nettleton, Chief Engineer ; and, as Trus- tees, Gen. William J. Palmer, Dr. Robert H. Lamborn, Josiah C. Reif, Gen. Robert A. Cam- eron, Col. W. H. Greenwood and William P. Mellen, with the following intimation of its aims and functions :

By arrangements with the Colorado Springs Company, the Fountain Colony is to have two- thirds of all the lots and lands owned by said com- pany ; also, two-thirds of all the villa sites on 480 acres about the famous Mineral Springs, with the exception of 100 acres, reserved for the Springs proper. A town is being laid out in the center of the larger tract, under the name of Colorado Springs, which will be the present terminus of the Denver & Rio Grande Railway. The town will be sub-divided in' , business and resident lots, varying in price from 'x to $200. The adjoining lands next to the town wil. he cut into small sub-divisions for gardening and fruit-growing, at an average of $200 for each tract. The profits arising from the sale of lots and small sub-divisions of land will be devoted exclu- sively to general and public improvements-such as

Jim Jones

433

HISTORY OF EL PASO COUNTY.

building irrigating canals, ornamenting public parks, improving streets, building bridges, building a town hall and schoolhouses, construction of roads to mountain scenery, with the payment of survey- ing and necessary current expenses.

Any person may become a member of the Foun- tain Colony of Colorado, who is possessed of a good moral character and is of strict temperate habits, by the payment, to the Treasurer or the Assistant Treasurer, of $100, which will be credited to him in the selection of such lots and lands as he may desire.

As fast as the lands are surveyed, one-fourth of the lots and lands will be open for selection by members actually on the ground. A second fourth will be opened for a drawing on the first Tuesday in September, 1871 ; the third fourth at a drawing on the first Tuesday in March, 1872, and the remainder to be open for a drawing on the first Tuesday in May, 1872 : Provided, no selections shall be made except by persons actually present. Each certificate of membership will entitle the holder to select either a business and resident lot, or a resident lot and a piece of outlying gardening or farming land under the colony canals ; or, in lieu of the above-named selections, a villa site at La Font, in the immediate neighborhood of the Springs.

Within four months from the date of selection, every memher will be obliged to make such improve- ments on some portion of his land as his means will justify, such improvements to be satisfactory to the Board of Trustees. or an Executive Council here- after to be chosen from among the members of the colony. If such improvements are not made at the expiration of four months, the locations will be considered abandoned ; but the member will have the privilege of making a new location, subject to the same conditions as before ; and if, on a third lo- cation, at the end of the year from the first location, said memher makes no improvements, his or her money will be returned, without interest, if de- manded. * * * * * *

Reservations will be made for seminary, graded school, church lots for each religious denomination, and for other public buildings. It will be the espe- cial care of this colony to foster public instruction, making this point a superior one for educational facilities.

Titles will be given to members whenever their improvements are made, according to the conditions heretofore mentioned, said titles to contain a clause forever prohibiting the manufacturing, giving or selling of intoxicating liquors in any place of pub- lic resort as a beverage.

Such were the conditions and limitations which marked the birth of Colorado Springs. The general features of the plan of operations seemed to be philanthropic and liberal, and well devised to achieve success ; but it may yet be questioned, whether the sweeping reser- vation in the promised titles was to accomplish its object, which was, beyond question, of a benevolent character, or, whether it was not to

prove an instrument, if not to plague its in- ventors, yet to embarrass a long line of poster- ity which should become subject to it. The device partakes of the nature of experiment, and it is of questionable polity that the inter- ests of succeeding generations should be ham- pered by irrevocable conditions to which they have never been consenting parties. Any form of entail has ever been repugnant to the Amer- ican mind; and such as this, unless it have the sanction of utility, through the various compli- cations of commercial and social relations, is liable to become the most opprobrious, as by the weakness or perversity of a trusted party, there might result the jeopardy and loss of the accumulations of years.

The town site of Colorado Springs was sur- veyed during the summer, the first stake being driven under what is now the northwest corner of the Colorado Springs Hotel, August 1, 1871 and the Denver & Rio Grande Railway was, completed to the embryo town on the 27th of October of that year, the first train being wel- comed with that measure of jubilation which characterizes the advent of a first circus.

The citizens of Colorado City had made great exertions, as measured by their financial strength and good will, to secure the location of the road through that place. They had offered one half of all the property of the town com- pany, and several parties owning lands adjacent to the town site, had offered one half of their lands to secure that object, but without avail ; the road had passed them by, and a rival town was to be fostered by its agency. Yet, it was believed, that with an energetic use of those advantages which naturally inured to its bene- fit, Colorado City might still retain a position of prominence to which Colorado Springs and the railway should be subsidiary. It was, at once, directly benefitted by the first influx of business men and adventurers which usually follow the progress of a railway, and the com- mencement of several buildings seemed to give assurance of permanent prosperity, until it was discovered that there was like to be embarrass- ment in obtaining titles to such property as was offered for sale therc. If there is any one particular wherein the Anglo-Saxon demands reliability, assurance beyond the shadow of question, it is in the tenure by which he is pos- sessed of realty ; and therefore no greater bug- bear could have been evolved to the detriment

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, Part 57

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