History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, Part 68

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

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became a religious enthusiast, and preached a few times. Discarding all forms, he advo- cated a purely spiritual religion. During the fierce struggle of the rebellion, Mr. Bowring left Missouri, returned to his native State, and then shortly after came to Omaha, and, join- ing a party at Plattsmouth, they started across the plains, with ox teams, bound for Denver, which they reached in fifty-two days. Mr. Bowring was one of the heroes of the Sand Creek fight, serving in the artillery, under Capt. Morgan, of Company C. In the fall of 1869, he went on a ranch, near Longmont, where he remained a number of years. From thence, he removed to Poncha Springs, where he married his third wife, Mrs. Caruth, also thrice married. Mother Caruth, as she was affectionately called in California Gulch ere Leadville was known to fame; was born in Middle Tennessee. Her first husband's name was Maxwell, and their settlement upon its banks gave the name to Maxwell Creek. She has seen 200 Indians encamped about the ranch in summer time, grazing their ponies and hunting. She firmly believes that they are a "treacherous, indolent, heathenish set," and that those in the East, who admire and pity them so much, would soon change their views if once exposed to their brutal conduct. Her experience of frontier life would fill a volume. With a kind husband, a comforta- ble home, and surrounded by her children, she can now take life comparatively easy while passing on to the better land.

EZEKIEL B. BRAY.

Judge Bray, as he is called, was born in Somerset County, Me., May 5, 1835: his school facilities were very limited; at the age of eighteen years, he started for himself, and for the next sixteen years he was engaged in lumbering and ship-building in different parts of Maine and New Hampshire; later on, we find him farming in his native State, till 1874, when, joining the throng moving West- ward, he came to Colorado and located a ranch on Cottonwood Creek, now Chaffee County, then Lake, where he has since resided. In 1877, he was elected Justice of the Peace, and has also been a member of the School Board, at different times. He was married,

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in 1863, to Mary A. Dodge, of Wilton, Me. Mr. Bray is a live, energetic man, highly re- spected by his neighbors.

FRED W. BRUSH.

Fred W. Brush was born in East Consta- ble, Franklin Co., N. Y., January 5, 1853. He was educated in the common schools and the academy. At the age of fifteen years, he went to clerk in a store, which vocation he followed for ten years, and during this time he also acted as telegraph operator. In May, 1879, he came to Colorado. After visiting several camps, he finally located in St. Elmo, Chaffee Co., when there were only three little cabins there. He is engaged in contracting, having built most of the buildings there. In April, 1881, he was elected Town Clerk and Recorder.

JOSEPH J. BURT.

Mr. Burt was born in Wyoming County, N. Y., April 23, 1843. He remained on the farm, with his parents, till the age of twenty- one, and then started across the plains to Col- orado. He located in California Gulch, and was mining there for six years. In 1873, he went to Black Hills, and remained six months. He was one of the discoverers of the 520 Mine, which was supposed to be very rich; they erected a fifteen-stamp mill. In 1874, they sold one-fourth interest for $25,000. He then came to Chaffee County, where he has since been engaged in hotel business in Granite.

ALBERT D. BUTLER.

Among the first to start and build up the town of Buena Vista is the subject of this sketch. He was born in Columbia County, N. Y., July 5, 1839. He worked on the farm and attended the common schools till fifteen years of age; he then went to Batavia, N. Y., and learned the wagon-maker's trade, and re- mained at the same business till the breaking- out of the war, when he enlisted in the Four- teenth New York Volunteers, and at the end of his term of service, he went to Wash- ington and took a position in the Government repair-shops, and remained there three years, after which he went to North Carolina and held a responsible position in the Govern- ment Construction Corps, for six months;

later on, he was employed in a carriage-shop in St. Louis; in 1866, he came to Weld County, Colo., and engaged in farming till January, 1867; he then took charge of the wagon de- partment of the Government Post, at Fort Sanders; was there till August of the same year, when he was transferred to Fort Russell; here he remained till 1870, and then went into the wagon-making and blacksmithing business, in Cheyenne, and remained there till 1879, when he came to Weston, then the terminus of the Denver & Rio Grande Rail- road, and started the same business there. When the road was completed into Buena Vista, he came there, where he has since re- sided, carrying on an extensive business, at both Buena Vista and Silver Creek; he also handles, very extensively, the Bain and Schut- ler wagons by the car load; also is dealer in Trinidad, Elmoro and Canon City coal. He served upon the Board of Trustees, in Chey- enne, and was elected to the same position on coming to Buena Vista.

GEORGE F. BATEMAN.

This gentleman was born in New Ipswich, N. H., October 4, 1839. At the age of twelve years, he went to learn the tinner's trade, and when twenty-two years of age, started the stove and tinware business at Mattoon, Ill., where he remained till 1873, when he came to Pueblo, Colo., and clerked for G. P. Haslip in a hardware store. In May, 1880, he start- ed the hardware business at Salida, Chaffee Co., and has built up a flourishing and paying business. He was married, in Mattoon, Ill., in 1860, to Miss Lizzie Horn, who died June 4, 1879.

CAPT. JOHN T. BLAKE.

Capt. Blake, a prominent merchant of Sali- da, Chaffee Co., was born in Cumberland County, Me., March 28, 1837. He received an academic education, and when only sixteen years of age, went to Ohio and taught school one year. He then attended Milton College, Wisconsin, for one year and a half, after which he went to Missouri and taught school. Later on, he was engaged as agent for the Overland Mail Company, in New Mexico, till the war broke out. He was Captain in the Sixth Kansas Cavalry, and remained with it

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till the war closed, and was on detached serv- ice for six months afterward. He then went into mercantile business, in Kansas City, and was also mail contracting until 1879. His business of mail contracting had often brought him to Colorado and New Mexico, and, in 1878, he concluded to locate permanently in the general merchandising, in Salida, Chaffee Co. He is now Postmaster and member of the Republican State Central Committee. While in Kansas City, he was Assistant United States Assessor. While he is a stanch Republican and very active in politics, he has never sought office. He is very enthusiastic over the State capital, arguing it should be located at Salida, as being the most central portion of the State. He was married, in 1866, to Miss Annie L. Maxwell, daughter of Dr. Joseph L. Maxwell, of Cass County, Mo.

GEORGE H. BOON.

Mr. Boon was born in Holmes County, Ohio, July 27, 1837. His father was a farmer, and he received what education he could get at the common schools. In 1858, he went to Iowa, and, in 1859, crossed the plains to Colorado. He was ranching for two years, and then built a saw mill, on Lake Creek. In 1863, he en- listed in the First Colorado Battery, and was in the army until the close of the war. He then went back to Ohio and remained until 1868, when he removed to Johnson County, Mo., where he was engaged in farming for six years. In 1875, he returned to Colorado, and located upon a ranch, near Poncha Springs, where he has since resided.

JOSIAH T. BRAY.

Among the " old timers" of Colorado, who was a resident of Chaffee County long before there were any towns or railroads there, is to be found Mr. Bray. He was born in Somerset County, Me., April 3, 1833. At the age of sixteen years, he bought his time from his father and ever after that took care of him- self. He worked by the month until 1854, when he went to Wisconsin and worked at lumbering for one year and a half; he then went to Iowa and took up a farm upon which he lived till 1859, when he went to Missouri and worked one winter in a tie camp, near St.

Joseph. In the spring of 1860, he came to Colorado, and spent the next nine years in mining, except three years, that he was farm- ing, near Pueblo. In 1869, he located a ranch on Cottonwood Creek, within three miles of where the flourishing town of Buena Vista now stands. At that time, there were not five families for miles around. Little did he then think, that, in so few years, he would have two railroads within three miles of him, and a market for everything he raised right at his door. But such is the case now.

NOAH BAER.

One of the first settlers in Chaffee County was Noah Baer. He was born in Rockbridge County, Va., March 15, 1820. He remained at home, upon his father's farm, till twenty- six years of age. He then went to Platte County, Mo., and was engaged in blacksmith- ing for three years. In 1856, he went to Iowa, and worked at his trade until 1860, when he emigrated to Colorado and was work- ing at his trade in Fairplay till the fall of 1862, when he removed to Cache Creek. In 1868, he purchased a farm one mile from where Salida now stands. Then all was a wilderness, but now he can see the iron horse pass his door nearly every hour in the day. Mr. Baer was married, in 1877, to Miss Fran ces D. Ball.

MARION BOON.

Mr. Boon was born in Holmes County, Ohio, November 10, 1854. He was reared upon a farm and received a good common school education. In 1864, he came to Colo- rado, and, after spending one year in the cat- tle business, he went to prospecting and had good success. He now owns a ranch, near Maysville, Chaffee Co., and is also one of the owners of the Monarch and Gunnison and the Sage and White Pine Toll Roads. He was married, in October, 1880, to Miss Hartsell, of Park County.

ROBERT B. CHISHOLM, JR.

This gentleman was born in Benton, Wis., May 8, 1849; his father was a miner, being one of the owners of the Emma Mine, in Utah; he took several trips there with his father. In 1879, he came to Colorado, and

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located in Grizzly Gulch, in Chaffee County, and is extensively engaged in mining there. He has been very instrumental in building up the town of St. Elmo; built and owns one of the best stores in the Briscoe Block. He was married, in 1875, to Miss Helen Blish, of Delaware County, N. Y. She died in Febru- ary, 1878.

GEORGE B. CARSTARPHEN.

This enterprising young merchant was born in Louisiana, Mo., in 1856. Mr. Carstarphen, Sr., was a banker in the same town for twen- ty-three years. Being desirous of giving his son a collegiate education, he sent him to a preparatory school, in New Haven, Conn., with a view to entering Yale College. But the young man was bent on business, and so, at the age of sixteen, he was managing a whole- sale grocery in Chattanooga, Tenn. After- ward he went to Taylor, Texas, and engaged in the lumbering business. Still unsatisfied, he came to Colorado, became Cashier of a bank, in Salida, and subsequently Cashier of the Arkansas Valley Bank, in Poncha Springs. This position he shortly resigned, in order to devote more time and energy to the hardware and lumber business, which he was managing at the same time. Mr. Carstarphen has the true elements of success, and is destined to become one of the solid men of Poncha Springs. He is now about to buy himself a home and settle down to the comforts of domestic life.

PITT COOKE.

This genial, open-hearted gentleman resides on one of the pleasantest ranches in the Arkansas Valley. He was born in Sandusky, Ohio, in the year 1857. He is the third son of the late Gov. H. D. Cooke, and a nephew of Jay Cooke, famous in the financial history of the United States Government. Mr. Cooke was educated near Philadelphia, at the Chel- tenham Academy. Early manifesting a fond- ness for machinery, he served about three years in the machine-shop at the United States Treasury, thus becoming a practical machinist and engineer. In 1875, he went to Texas, settled in Mccullough County, where, for a while, he was engaged in the sheep business. This occupation proved dull and monotonous

to a man of his temperament, and, in 1877, he came to Fort Garland, where he visited a brother, who is an officer in the United States army. While here, he witnessed the advent of the Denver & Rio Grande Railway. In 1878, he came to Leadville, and became Chief Engineer of the Adlaide Mining Company. In the fall of 1879, he removed to Poncha Springs, and purchased the Caruth Place, which he has since named Alamocita Ranch, which appellation literally means "Little Cot- tonwoods." The ranch consists of 160 acres of splendid farming land, including a beauti- ful grove of cottonwoods near the dwelling, beside a fine stretch of timber along the South Arkansas River. Here the owner dispenses a bountiful hospitality to his friends, in sum- mer, and, at the end of the season removes to the more desirable city of Washington, to spend the winter. Mr. Cooke is exceedingly fond of horses, of which he has some choice specimens on his ranch. In the summer of 1881, Mr. Cooke brought, from Georgetown, D. C., his newly-wedded wife, the accom- plished daughter of Commodore Somerville, of the United States Navy. Under the bright skies of Colorado they have launched most aus- piciously their matrimonial bark. We bespeak for them a smooth sea, favorable winds, and a safe haven at the end of the voyage.

WILLIAM W. CAMPBELL.

This gentleman was born in Fulton County, Penn., June 26, 1837. When but a few months old, his parents removed to Peoria, Ill. He received a common school education, and, when twenty-one years of age, commenced attending the academy, at Princeville, Ill., When the war broke out, he enlisted in Bat- tery A, Second Illinois Artillery; was very soon made Captain. After his first three years had expired, he re-enlisted, and re- mained till the close of the war, after which he returned to Peoria and remained two years. He then moved to Topeka, Kan., and remained there, engaged in the real estate business and handling agricultural implements, until 1877, when he came to Colorado, and located at Alpine. He located a ranch on Chalk Creek, where St. Elmo now stands, and built the sec- ond house in what is now a thriving young

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city. He is engaged in lumbering and mining, and has been very successful. Mr. Campbell was married, in Peoria, Ill., in 1866, to Miss Anna H. Maxwell.

FRANK J. CAMPBELL.

Among the most enterprising young business men of Chaffee County is the subject of this sketch. He was born upon a farm, in Oneida County, N. Y., December 31, 1855. He at- tended the high school, at Lockport, N. Y., till sixteen years of age, and then clerked in a hardware store for three years. He then started a hardware store for himself, in Medina, N. Y., and did a successful business for three years; his health failing him, in 1878, he came to Colorado, and worked for Alling & Co., Canon City, for one year, and then started a hardware store in Alpine, in connection with his brother. In 1880, they started another store, at St. Elmo, and also one at Tin Cup. Mr. Campbell was married, December 31, 1880, to Miss Ella A. Dearing, of Jackson, Mich. For strict integrity and good business principles no one stands higher in Colorado.

ADELBERT A. CRANE.

Dell Crane, as he is familiarly known, was born in Chautauqua County, N. Y., July 18, 1848. At the age of sixteen years, he went to the oil fields of Pennsylvania, and clerked in a hotel for three years, and then started the hotel business for himself. Later on, he was proprietor of the Planter's House, in Dubuque, Iowa, for one year. In 1868, he came to Denver, Colo., and was engaged in the stock business, supplying meats for the different Indian agencies. In 1878, he spent the summer in Leadville, and in 1879, came to Maysville, and was one of the founders of the city. He was elected on the first Board of Trustees, and re-elected in April, 1881. He was married, in 1874, to Miss Estella J. Morris, of Denver.

ALEXANDER M. CREE.

Mr. Cree was born in Perry County, Penn., July 28, 1842; he received a good common school education. In 1861, when the Presi- dent called for three months' volunteers, he

was one of the first to respond, and went out in the Seventeenth Pennsylvania. After the three months had expired, he re-enlisted in the First Pennsylvania Reserves, and served four years. In the spring of 1868, he emigrated to Colorado, locating in Gilpin County. After five years, he removed to Boulder County, where he spent two years, and afterward three years in Lake City. In 1879, he came to Chaffee County, where he started what has been known since as Cree's Camp. He was one of the founders of Mays- ville, and in April, 1881, was elected one of the City Trustees. He bas been interested in mining since he came to the State, and is now one of the owners of the Columbus Mine, near Maysville. He was married, in 1870, in Gilpin County, to Miss Ella Thomas, of Michigan.

A. B. CHAPLINE.

This gentleman was born in Shepherdstown, W. Va., April 2, 1850. In 1855, his parents removed to Dubuque, Iowa. He graduated from Baylie's Commercial College in 1874. He then studied law, with De Witt C. Cram, of Dubuque, and was admitted to the bar in 1875. In 1876, he went to the Black Hills; he was there, engaged in the practice of his profession and mining, till the fall of 1878. In January, 1879, he went to the new town of Maysville, Chaffee Co. He was very soon appointed City Attorney, and has shown marked ability in his profession and manag- ing the city affairs.

THOMAS CAMERON.

Among the old pioneers of Colorado, the subject of this sketch holds a prominent posi- tion. He was born in Holmes County, Ohio, March 31, 1830. He remained at home upon the farm long after he was twenty-one. His father died in 1855, and his mother in 1856. In 1858, he sold the old homestead and moved to Van Buren County, Iowa, and in the fol- lowing winter moved to Kansas. In the spring of 1860, he emigrated to Colorado; he started a hotel, and sold hay and grain, at Union Ranch, sixteen miles from where Lead- ville is now located. In 1869, he went into the Arkansas Valley, near what is now Salida, and took up a ranch, and has been farming

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and cattle-raising since. He was married, in 1855, to Elizabeth Boon, of Holmes County, Ohio, and has a family of nine children.

REV. THOMAS W. DELONG,

Rev. Mr. DeLong, Pastor of the Con- gregational Church of Buena Vista was born February 12, 1849. His father died when he was seven years of age, and he then went to live with an uncle, near Omaha, Neb. When fifteen years of age, he commenced freighting across the plains to Fort Kearney and other points. At seventeen, he entered Tabor Col- lege, Iowa, teaching during vacations to pay his way. He graduated in 1873, after which he taught school for one year. In 1874, he went to Oberlin College, Ohio, and graduated from there in 1877. In the fall of the same year, he settled over the Congregational Church, in Sheffield, Ohio; his health fail- ing, he resigned his charge, and came to Buena Vista, Colo., in 1879.

JARED R. DEREMER.

This gentleman was born in Luzerne County, Penn., July 2, 1844. At the age of fifteen years, he entered Kingston College, and graduated in 1861. He then enlisted in the Twenty-eighth Pennsylvania Volunteers, and soon rose to the rank of Second Lieuten- ant. After about fourteen months, he was transferred to the Sixth United States Caval- ry; he remained with this regiment fourteen months, and, being sick and wounded, he re- ceived an honorable discharge. After this, he read law with Lyman Hicks, of Wilkes- barre, Penn., for some months; his health gave out and he was unable to study for two years. He then learned telegraphy, at Easton, Penn., and ran the Western Union office there for two years; he was then agent for the Dela- ware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad for sev- eral years. In 1876, he came to Colorado, and accepted the position of agent for the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, at El Moro; was there three years; was then mining, near Silver Cliff, for a year, and in June, 1880, accepted the position of agent again on the Denver & Rio Grande road, and is now located at Buena Vista, where he has built him a nice house and proposes to make this his

home. In October, 1880, he was appointed upon the Board of Trustees, and in April, 1881, was elected to fill the same position.

HENRY DAY.

This gentleman is one of the leading farm- ers in Chaffee County. He was born in Lee County, Va., October 18, 1827; he started for himself, at the age of eighteen years, and worked upon a farm by the month in Van Buren County, Ark. Afterward, he went to Texas and joined the Texas Rangers, and served with them three years. He then re- turned to Missouri, and engaged in lumbering for seven years. In 1857, he went to Utah, as Wagonmaster for the Government; here he remained eighteen months, after which he returned to Missouri, and the following spring went to Mexico. In 1861, he enlisted in the Confederate service, and was with the army one year. He then came to Colorado, locat- ing at Fairplay; was there and at Central City for four years engaged in mining. He then worked at the salt works one year, after which he settled upon a ranch on Cot- tonwood Creek, Chaffee County, where he has since lived; he is extensively engaged in cattle-raising. He was married, in 1867, to Susan Warfield, formerly of Kentucky.

WILLIAM J. DEAN.

Mr. Dean was born in Ohio March 16, 1857; at the age of six years, his parents re- moved to Chicago, Ill. His father being crip- pled for life, he had to depend largely upon his own exertions for an education. After attending the public schools till the age of twelve years, he entered Dyhrenfurth College, spending four years in this institution. He then went to clerk for the hardware house of Hibbard, Spencer & Co., Chicago, and re- mained with them seven years, always doing his duties to the entire satisfaction of his em- ployers, but failing health obliged him to leave their employ, and in January, 1880, he came to Colorado. After traveling over the State for some time in search of a good business point, he finally settled in the new and thriving town of Buena Vista, and built him a store and opened up the hardware business. The firm, Dean & Friedenthal, have, by their

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careful attention to business and honorable dealings, built up a large and paying business.

EDWARD E. ELLIOTT.

Mr. Elliott, the first Mayor of Maysville, Chaffee Co., was born in Ithaca, Yates Co., N. Y., December 23, 1827. When three years of age, his father moved to Willoughby, Ohio. Mr. Elliott has taken care of himself since thirteen years old; he worked upon a farm, for $6 per month summers, and did chores for his board and attended the district school winters. At fifteen years of age, he went to learn the printer's trade at Springfield, Ill. He was there until 1846, when he went into the Mexican war and served one year, after which he was in the milling and stock busi- ness, till December, 1849, when he went to Iowa, and in the following spring to Califor- nia, and engaged in placer mining for ten years. In 1861, he received a position in the San Francisco Mint, and remained there until 1870, when he went to Carson City, and helped to establish that mint; after six months, he went to Utah, and was mining until 1876. He then went back to Illinois for two years, and in 1878 came to Colorado; he spent that winter in Denver, and the follow- ing spring removed to Maysville, or rather, where Maysville now is; he has been very in- strumental in building up the town; he was elected first Mayor, which office he filled ac- ceptably.

E. R. EMERSON.

E. R. Emerson, Treasurer of Chaffee Coun- ty, was born in Cumberland County, Me., and educated at the public schools. In 1858, he was in charge of a party, under Col. A. W. Wildes, Chief Engineer, on the survey of the Marquette & Ontonagon Railroad in Northern Michigan. In the summer of 1859, he accepted the position of resident engineer on the Fort Wayne & Northern Indiana Rail- road, and was stationed at Grand Rapids, Mich., but the company becoming financially embarrassed the following year, he returned to Maine and accepted a position on the Maine Central Railroad, which he held until the summer of 1861. He then accepted the posi- tion of Chief Clerk, in the office of Col. East- man, United States Army, then in charge of

the Department of Maine and New Hamp- shire, which position he held until February, 1866, when he came to Colorado and engaged in mining with his brother, John L. Emerson, at Central City, but in the fall of the same year returned to Maine and occupied a posi- tion on the Portsmouth, Saco & Portland Railroad, till the spring of 1869, when he was appointed Chief Engineer of the Knox & Lin- coln Railroad, from Bath to Rockland, Me., which was completed in 1872, when he accepted a position on the Maine Central Railroad, and had charge of the construction of the two important iron bridges across the Kennebec River, near Waterville, and on completion of these, the following year, took charge of the building of the Lockwood Cotton Mills at Waterville. In the spring of 1877, he re- turned to Colorado, and located at Granite, where he engaged in mining, with his brother, who had remained in Colorado. In the summer of 1879, he was appointed Treas- urer of Chaffee County, and, at the election, in October following, was elected Treasurer, having no competitor. Mr. Emerson was married, in February, 1863, to Miss Ellen Russell, youngest daughter of Dr. Leonard W. Russell, a prominent physician and sur- geon of Maine, and has one child, a daugh- ter. Mr. Emerson is a gentleman of great personal popularity, possessing the unlimited confidence of the public. His extended ac- quaintance throughout the county and State, with his well-known reliability, render the history of Chaffee County in this work, which is from his pen, one of great interest and value. The publishers congratulate them- selves on securing the services of Mr. Emer- son in the capacity of historian for Chaffee County.

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History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, Part 68

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