History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, Part 85

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

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Jim Briner and John Larley, living at Canon, in 1860, two jolly bachelor black- smiths, who worked for light compensation, making hoes, much needed by the settlers, out of old shovel-blades, for all their acquaint-

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ances, frequently hunted in the vicinity of Castle Rock, opposite Uncle Jesse's. At one time, he brought a young Connecticut Yankee out with him to let him kill a bear. The Yankee started in the brush on a bear's trail, while Larley run around the thicket and suc- ceeded in starting up a cinnamon bear that happened to run in on the very same trail to get out of the way, and met our Yankee friend, face to face, where the thicket was too close for him to handle his gun, so he decided he was the one to give the path, and, as he crowded into the brush as far as he could, he had to thrust his hand out as the bear was passing, in order to preserve his balance, or fall directly in front of his antagonist. The bear grabbed it, giving it a terrible tearing, and passed directly on. Larley took his companion back to town, where Dr. Reed, who would do anything in the world for a man, carefully dressed it, and cured him up without charge, as he was suspicious that Larley had a private arrangement with that bear to take that trail. In other words, did not properly consider the consequences of starting up a bear who might go in the thicket by the trail his companion took. But the Yankee had seen enough of Western ways, and hied himself for the clam-clad coast of the East in early spring.

Col. Ebenezer Jolinson sold Uncle Jesse his bear-trap in 1865. He set it in the thicket on the bottoms of John T. Smith, who went with him on one occasion on his one-eyed mule he called Dick. Arriving at the thicket, through which there was a good trail, it was arranged that John T. should enter on old Dick, one way, toward where the trap was set, and Uncle Jesse another. But a few moment's elapsed before Uncle Jesse heard a terrible thrashing in the bush, and John Smith call- ing out, "Dick! Dick!" at the top of his voice.

He turned and saw Dick plunge out of the brush like a tiger from his lair in which a hornet's nest may have dropped, and away they went, with John jumping so high above the saddle that he could get glimpses of the hill tops between them. Old Dick, who had always heeded his master's command before, paying no more attention to the stern call of Dick! Dick! than if deaf. The trouble proved

to be that a black bear caught in the trap had broken the chain, and appeared before Dick at an angle in the trail where the chain and trap became tangled in the brush and held him directly in their road. He went one eye on him for a second, then came to conclusion to vamose, and could never again be got within gun-shot of that trail. Uncle' Jesse got the bear, but his tall, slightly stooping frame quivers with suppressed mirth when he recalls the incident. In later years, the chances of the bear not returning from their trips to the lower valleys, in wild fruit sea- son, seem to have been calculated by them, and their forays have nearly ceased; but not so with Uncle Jesse's on them. In autumn of 1866, he in company with Hon. J. A. Mc- Candless and Jeff Lester, who also have great fondness for hunting and are crack shots, went on a hunt to Oak Grove Creek, between Texas Creek and Pleasant Valley. They camped near Dr. W. K. Eggleston's ranch. Mr. Lester soon got his eye on a large buck which he shot. It ran down in a thicket of Quaker asps to the creek and Mr. Lester stopped to load, during which time the deer kept up an unusually loud bawling. Soon as ready Mr. Lester pushed through the close timber and nearly to the buck, when he heard by the crackling underbrush a heavy animal running. An instant more he saw across on opposite hillside a monster black bear, which with his never-failing aim he brought down at a single shot. He found that in the short time he was loading his gun, the bear had attacked the wounded deer and actually eaten out one of his hams while yet alive. Mr. Lester finished dispatching the buck, when they got the bear down to the creek, and their trophies of the chase were witnessed lying peacefully side by side, by Dr. Eggleston and the neighbors, all of whom were bountifully supplied with bear and ven- ison steaks.

They then took the head of the buck, and, at a secluded place, put it up and between two trees, at foot of which they set Uncle Jesse's bear trap, to which was attached a ten-foot log chain. The next morning the trap was gone, and the head of the deer down. They trailed a bear about half a mile, finding

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him entangled in underbrush. William Voris and party hunting from Wet Mountain Valley with good hunting dogs, having come up, one of the dogs rushed up to the plucky beast that scarcely had room to stir in; the dog [was soon twirling in the air fifteen feet away, and never got over the blow. They were soon ready for furnishing more steaks out of this one, which proved to be a cinnamon bear weighing 300 pounds.

The closing event of this series was not told by Uncle Jesse, but as it relates to his household, and his doings impressed visions of bear upon them, so we must give Mrs. Fra- zier a chance to tell one story. Bear had been very thick, and fresh encounters with them were eagerly and anxiously listened to. Uncle J.'s stepson, Will Ash, while irrigating in the corn-field, came upon fresh bear tracks in great number. He hurriedly went to the house, his father being absent, and persuaded his mother to take Unele J.'s big gun, while he had the other, and to go out and assist him kill the bear, saying we'll show father we can hunt, too, as well as he. Word was sent to Stephen Frazier's, when hurriedly loading their guns they joined the search for Will's bear. He acting as guide, they soon struck the tracks in the freshly irrigated sand, and tracing them all about, in their windings among the corn, came back toward the house to a little mound where Will had taken off his moccasins to irrigate barefoot. The tracks were his own.

In the fall of 1863, a Mr. Henderson wounded a large bear on Beaver Creek, and followed it into the thick underbrush, when the bear turned upon him, tearing his scalp and one ear off at a single stroke, and bit through his cheeks, left arm, and thigh. He lived in this terrible condition two weeks, being tenderly cared for by Mr. and Mrs. Morey. His sad fate did not in the least check the sport of hunting the bear, which is regularly engaged in to this day by some of the earlier settlers.

In the fall of 1867, Dr. B. F. Smith, of Canon, and Reuben and Gid B. Frazier went on a hunt on Newlan Creek. They decided on a position toward the head of the creek to surprise the bears as they returned from their forays in the valleys to the mountains in the

night. About daybreak they were gladdened by the approach of a large bear with two cubs. They waited until the animals were within a short distance, when they gave them such a salute as to startle even themselves, as the echoes reverberated through the cañon fastnesses behind them. Yet this was not so bad as the action of the old she bear at bay, who made directly for the huge rock where the hunters were concealed.

It leaked out that Dr. Smith, who is rather portly, made a blunder in attempting to clam- ber up the rock and fell back almost on the bear. As the boys tell it, no sooner had the bear got a drug store snuff of the doctor, than he turned away in utter disgust, leaving him with a barked shin and broken gun stock. The doctor told the story that the boys were so excited in shooting at the bear and cubs, that the bullets banged against the rocks about and above him so that he fell back to keep from being shot. At all events, that time they missed their game, for the bear and cubs got to the underbrush along the creek, and got away before the Doctor's condition was ascertained.

One of the most exciting of these tales con- cerns our last member of the Legislature, Hon. James A. McCandless, who, with a party of friends, in the fall of 1874, sought their lost bear in this locality. McCandless wounded a fine fat fellow at short range, who turned on his assailant, forcing him to "leave this world and climb a tree " in such haste as to leave his gun behind. Bruin was about gathering for a bound up the tree when oth- ers of the party came within range and relieved Mr. McC., who soon found his gun and brought down the gamy brute, that stood back striking and grinning defiance at them, even after he received the death shot.

Another bear adventure in which Mr. Will- iam Cooper came very near losing his life: Bruin made regular nocturnal visits to his corn-fields and that of his neighbor, Hon. A. D. Cooper, and was stripping his fields of corn when it was very valuable. Mr. Cooper had wounded a bear, and was following him into a plum thicket, gun in readiness to fire. Suddenly he came upon the bear, or rather the bear upon him, and was so close that he

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could feel his breath upon his cheeks, and had his clothing torn by a stroke of his pon- derous paw. The next stroke perhaps would have scalped him quicker than a Cheyenne or an Arapahoe could have done it; but quicker than lightning, with steady nerve, Mr. Gibson, his companion, drew a bead on bruin and sent a bullet through his brain. Mr. Gibson deserves much praise for his extraordinary presence of mind and bravery, which saved the life of Mr. Cooper. This feat of Mr. Gibson has never been excelled, even by the bravest of mountaineers, for one instant's indecision, or the slightest unstead- iness of nerve, would have been death to his friend by the bear, for his jaws were already open to maim Mr. Cooper. Bits of the bear was distributed among the settlers of the Park, who rejoiced over the deliverance of their friend, and over the fat morsels of the bear he hunted for and found.

Mr. Frazee, one of the first settlers of Pleasant Valley, with three or four men, was out prospecting on Hayden Creek, a new mining district, some two years since. They came on to an old bear and her two cubs, who did not see them. The cubs were not very large-about the size of coons, and Mr. Fra- zee proposed to shoot the bear with a navy revolver, their only weapon. They all said it was too dangerous, but Mr. Frazee insisted and finally seized the revolver and fired. The ball struck the old bear and the boys yelled like a bloody pack of Indians; it was not without its effect, for she set off down the creek as fast as she could go; cubs tried to keep up, not succeeding very well, she turned around and gave each of them a box on the ear, which meant, scatter and, hide. They did so, climbing trees. Frazee followed one up the tree with a slipping noose, but as fast as the noose was put over his head he would knock it off with his paw. Mr. Frazee then tickled the bottom of his foot until he straight- ened his leg out, which was quickly noosed. They captured the other cub in same manner, the creek making such a noise that the old bear could not hear her cubs bawl, or she probably would have made it hot for the " bear " prospectors that day.

In 1875, Dr. J. F. Lewis, on return from

Texas Creek, drew his pocket pistol, saying "I have shot a bear with that since I left home." Mr. Talbot looked incredulous and said: "Now Doc!" Doc answered true! Mr. Duck- ett's sons saw an old bear and cubs and set their bear trap. They caught a cub and shot it in the trap. The next day, several went with them to see the sport; they found another cub in the trap, and the old cinnamon bear mother about. I dispatched the cub, and the young man Duckett shot the old bear, which fell. His father coming up, he cautioned him to look out. The old gentleman said: "I'll bring him if he stirs." The bear raised his head, and the old gentleman gave him a shot in it, which glanced, going over and down the bear's spine. This staggered him, but he rallied directly, setting up, and there was a great scattering among the party. Young Duckett climbed a Quaker asp, and going too high where it was too limber, it came over with him, while Chancy Hayden says he went at Maud S. speed, and in attempting to jump a swampy place came down in the mid- dle of it leg deep. Dr. L. said he found a soft spot too, but not so with old gentle- man Duckett, whom the bear grabbed by the leg and was gnawing it awfully, when his son John , whose heavy gun was empty, came up. He struck the bear, breaking its jaw and his gun-stock all to pieces. Then taking the barrel, he beat the bear's head to a jelly, relieving his father, who was seriously injured for life. It was most fortunate that the bear did not ward off John's blow, which he certainly could have done had he not been so bloodthirsty.

SOME OF THE PIONEER MERCHANTS AND RESIDENTS.

Dold & Co. opened the first store of any importance in what is now the first story of the Centennial saloon. The stock was quite an extensive one for so young a community. A complete outfit could here be obtained by the miner or prospector, "or any other man." Wolfe Londoner was then in his glory, and presided over the destinies of the establish- ment with his usual grave, dignified and sedate manner.

Then followed Doyle & Co., represented by Solomon Bros., located in a log building,

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standing where Ed Paul's restaurant is now located, with a large stock of general mer- chandise.

C. W. Ketchen & Bro. occupied the build- ing in which the Record is now printed. Their stock was similar to the others named.

Stevens & Curtis were located in the stone building occupied by Humphrey & Tapping. Majors & Russell built and occupied what is now the lower story of the Sanderson House Block. The building was of stone, well and massively built, over 100 feet in length, and was stored with goods from floor to roof. It was the largest stock of goods in the Territory at that time, and sold almost exclusively wholesale. It was presided over by Thomas G. Waggaman.

R. O. Old was located in a log building opposite the new Methodist Church, and Mr. J. A. Draper in what is now the Fremont House, and a number of others followed, whose names cannot be obtained.

Then followed James Gormly, James Ketchen, G. D. Jenks, Paul Bros., Harrison & Macon, D. P. Wilson, et al., all of whom, as they said, kept a "general assortment of merchandise, merely to accommodate the wants of their friends."

In fact, we think we can be safe in saying that at that time the stocks of merchandise in Canon City would aggregate as large an amount as that of Denver; and certain it is that the prospects of the town were far supe- rior to any other place in the Territory. War, however, cut off the " Arkansas route," caused the depopulation of the Southern mines, and the consequent collapse of Canon City, the then "Future Great " of Colorado.

The advent of the first, billiard table was caused by Billy Gamble (what a name for keeper of such a table!), and its location was in the old post office building, up-stairs.

The first meat market was opened by Cus- ter & Swisher, in 1860, and E. B. Southerland established the first bakery.

W. C. Catlin was the distinguished author of the first brick-yard, the first production of which was used for the purpose of confining obstreperous rapskallions in the cells of the penitentiary for defying the laws of God and man.

G. D. Jenks, now of Salt Lake City, was the first to open a hotel in the place, and gave the best accommodations to be found south of the divide. He set a table that was far in ad- vance of the county. It was apparently a Godsend to many members of the town com- pany, as there were very few sales of lots, and many of them had run short of money, and, as Jenks would take lots for boarding, he soon became one of the heaviest lot-owners in the place. But in a short time he had to engage in other business to gain a livelihood. He was the last of the company to abandon the town, and reluctantly shook the dust of Canon from his feet.

Harry Youngblood was quite a noted char- acter here in an early day. He was a man of powerful physical organism, but was generally on the side of law and order, and of a gener- ous and good-natured disposition, and, being generous, of course was brave and magnani- mous. His prominence in the community was in a great degree owing to his supposed con- nection with the death of Jo Smith, the founder of Mormonism, at Warsaw, III. His real name was known to but few, but it cer- tainly was not Youngblood. He came here with Robert Middleton in 1859.

As is elsewhere stated, Mr. Middleton intro- duced the first white woman (his estimable wife) in June, 1859, and the first white chil- dren, and also the first milch cows that we have any knowledge of. In fact he came to stay. We cannot refrain from giving what "Uncle Jesse" Frazer says about it. Here are his own words: " Then Canon was somewhat like it is now, had some bachelors, but had no wash-tubs or paper collars; then they had to pop round the cornere to see the lady pass up the street to her residence, around the point about the Soda Springs." Although it may be a little out of place, we will insert the next para- graph following the above, taken from a letter from the old gentleman: "Finally, a train loaded with flour arrived (the first flour in the county), but, the owner of the flour not being along, the wagonmaster would not sell any for some days, but finally let the poor, starved inhabitants have a few sacks at $18 per sack. I got a sack and packed it on my shoulder to where I now live (ten miles). About the 1st of

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July, another lady came in the county, a Mrs. Smith, but stopped but a few weeks and went back to the States."

James Alfred and George H. Toof came from Ohio to Illinois in 1847; Illinois to Colorado in April, 1860 ; mined in Georgia Gulch that sea- son, coming that winter to this county, and locating on Adobe Creek ; moved spring of 1862 six miles below to ranch, now occupied by George Kendrick. Winter of 1864, they bought of William Burdick the ranch they now own at mouth of Beaver Creek. About this time the Utes spent much of the fall and winter there. Their ranch, beautifully located in the deep valley, is one of the best conducted in the county. From the day they moved to it, it has been the favorite stopping-place on the road between Canon and Pueblo. George H. was appointed Postmaster of the Beaver Creek Post Office in 1866. They are unusually robust men, who attend strictly to business at home ; they have not of late years taken much interest in politics, though their preference is decidedly to see the Republican party nominate and elect the best men.

Hon. Thomas Macon may be called the " leader" (as he, like the two children of Israel, had previously been here to spy out the land of promise) of a party of about twenty, which came here September 16, 1864, and gave quite an impetus toward the process of resurrecting the dead Canion City, which was then commencing. This party was quite a valuable acquisition to the settlement. In Pike's Peak parlance at that time, they were " well-heeled," being well provided with horses, cattle and live stock of various kinds, wagons, farming implements, household goods, provisions, cash, good sense, and hos- pitable and refined manners. In short, they came to stay."

Mr. Macon, on his arrival, at once took an active part in everything which tended to promote the speedy recuperation of the once dead or "badly wounded " Canon, and has ever since occupied a leading position in the community. Whilst a member of the Legis- lature, he procured the location of the peni- tentiary at Cañon, though meeting the strong- est opposition from most of the principal places in the then Territory. He is now among the most prominent lawyers in the

State, and although, for the present, a resi- dent of Denver, yet he has large real estate interests in Canon and Fremont County gen- erally, and is still claimed as belonging to Cañon, the "Ancient Southern Metropolis."

S. W. Humphrey came to Canon about the year 1872, and engaged in the grocery busi- ness. He is an old resident of Colorado, be- ing among the original "Pike's Peakers." For many years before coming to Canon, he was known to the writer in Gilpin County, where he engaged in mining, and was known throughout the mining regions of Northern Colorado as one of the most thorough practical miners and millmen in the State. For a long time, he managed the extensive works of the Barrett Mining Company, during which time it was always successful. Mr. Humphrey built up a fine trade in Cañon, by. pursuing a systematic, impartial, plain, blunt and honorable business manner; has his own way in doing things, and " if you don't like it, you can lump it;" has been very successful, and has shown confidence in the future of Canon City by building some of the finest business houses in the city, and is always liberal with an enterprise which he thinks will improve the town or county; is Repub- lican through and through.

H. W. Saunders came to Colorado for his health, from St. Louis, having regained it while actively engaged in business, in which he has been quite successful, being owner of several fine. pieces of property in the city. He is a member of the Baptist Church; in politics, Democrat; is a Southern gentleman of extensive acquaintance and pleasant ad- dress.

Capt. William H. Green, from Chicago, one of the founders of Canon, was widely known as an energetic, aspiring young man. He en- listed in the early stages of the war, and was elected Captain, and afterward distinguished himself beyond any other of his rank in Southern Colorado, both for skill and valor, at the battles of Apache Canon and Pigeon's Ranch. He now lives in the San Juan country.

Mr. Folsom, one of Canon's former officials, is a true gentleman, who early enlisted and was terribly mangled in the war, and made an

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invalid and cripple for life. He now lives in Michigan.

Judge Piatt, an early settler in Canon, was well known as a good-hearted man. He has .

been, ever since 1860, an industrious worker in the development of Southern Colorado.

Dr. J. Reid was the first to establish a drug store in this place. He arrived in the summer of 1860, and with his own hands built the small stone house which formerly stood where now stands Humphrey & Co.'s new block. Dr. Reid will ever be remembered by the old settlers in this county with the kindest of feel- ings, and, by many, with gratitude. He was a good physician, a perfect gentleman, and a man of unbounded charity and kindly feel- ings toward all. In principle, he was a strong sympathizer with the South, but was ever ready to go to the relief of the sick Union soldier, and many no doubt owe their lives to his kindness and medical skill. On one occasion, failing to procure a horse, he walked to the Greenhorn, a distance of fifty miles, to minister to a sick man, when he knew there was no prospect of reward; and this, too, when he was in quite feeble health. He is now, and has been for years, the leading physician in Black Hawk; has a very exten- sive practice, and is called the "poor man's doctor and friend."

Benjamin F. Griffin was born in Ohio in 1811; moved 10 Kansas in 1857. He came to Colorado from Anderson County, Kan., in July, 1860, and, passing through Denver into the mountains, located in California Gulch and engaged in mining, which he prosecuted successfully for two or three seasons, spending his winters in Canon, having made a home there in the fall of 1860. He now owns a good farm, claim bought of Mr. Bassett; is well improved, adjoining South Cañon, to- gether with quite a large herd of cattle. He enjoys hunting very much, and is known as one of the most successful hunters in the country. On such trips, he wears a buckskin suit and moccasins, that he may not be easily seen, and move about noiselessly, his hunting- grounds usually being Upper Beaver Creek and Oak Creek. As late as 1866, he killed an extraordinarily large silver-top, a species of grizzly bear. on Oak Creek. The fat was

nine inches thick over the backbone, and the hide eight feet long. He first put a ball through the shoulder into vital parts, and another into his foot. The bear made toward him, but, a steep bank intervening, he could not climb with broken shoulder, gave Mr. Griffin chance to reload, and, when the grizzly, about five rods below, found a lower place in the bank, he was ready for him, and, as soon as he got on the same level, shot him through the heart, after which the bear went some dis- tance down the gulch before giving up. Mr. Griffin is extremely agile, and, even at bis present age, has never been outjumped. His son, George W., was born in Ohio in 1847, and is one of the first citizens in the county. He resides now at Yorkvale, where he settled long before the road was built to places that now bear the names of Rosita and Silver Cliff. He married Miss Sarah Shepherd, daughter of Rev. William Shepherd, then of Cañon, whose death he was called to mourn from disease of the heart, leaving them a promising son. He follows the business of stock-raising, and has a herd of fine cattle. Both father and son are steadfast Republicans in politics.

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History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, Part 85

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