USA > Colorado > History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado > Part 94
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698
HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY.
southeast " corners." In this porphyry belt, and along its northeastern edge, most of the rich mines in the county are found, and in this belt the towns of Silver Cliff, Rosita, Querida and Ula are situated. Other mines in the granitic rocks, all along the Sangre de Christo Range, and also east and north, all along the porphyry belt, give promise of yielding well with development, and there seems to be no reason why they should not. They are fissure veins, and carry a little gold and silver. The mines of Boulder, Gilpin and Clear Creek Counties are all found in a similar formation. The drainage of Custer County is to the Arkansas River. Grape Creek (which heads in the south end of the county) gets most of its waters from the San- gre de Christo Range, and drains Wet Mount- ain Valley. It empties into the Arkansas River about a mile above Canon City, in Fre- mont County, after passing through a narrow and deep canon of twelve miles in length, through which the cars of the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad now run on the road from Can- on to Westcliff. Oak Creek and Hardscrabble rise among the low hills of the Sierra Mojada, a few miles east of Rosita, and each cutting its separate way through the granite barrier of ten to fifteen miles in length, reaches the Plains and empties into the Arkansas River; Oak Creek, seven miles below Canon City, and Hardscrabble about eight miles lower down. There are no streams of any importance on the eastern side of Wet Mountain Valley. Antelope Creek the only one that "makes pretensions," has quite a living stream in the early spring, but "runs dry" when most needed in the summer. Rosita is supplied by springs, the water being hauled in "tanks," for domestic purposes where there are no wells, while Silver Cliff is furnished from Grape Creek two miles distant, by Holly water works. The Hardscrabble Park could comfortably sustain a population of 10,000 if there was sufficient water to irrigate the soil, which is rich and abundant. But Hardscrab- ble Creek, which is a noisy torrent in early spring, almost " ceases to exist " in the later summer months, and every acre that can be safely cultivated is now under ditch and fence, while thousands of acres equally as
good, lie useless for want of water. It has been proposed to collect the waste water of the winter and the surplus of the spring, in reservoirs, and artesian wells are occasionally talked of, but as yet nothing has been done. The upper (or southern) portion of Wet Mountain Valley is in a similar neglected and desolate condition, owing to scarcity of water. The farming lands, and the food- producing population of the county could be rapidly increased if water could be had to irrigate with. The climate, soil, and markets are so good that the artesian well project, though expensive in the start, will probably be solved within a short time. Notwithstand- ing the general dryness of this region there are occasional experiences of too much water, when sudden deluges of rain fill the dry gulches from the hills, and change them into rushing torrents, which pour down the valleys in an irresistible and devastating flood. In August last, such a freshet tore along the bed of Grape Creek, the water reaching fifteen feet above the banks and completely filling the canon. Great logs were swept along the stream, huge pine trees were uprooted; every bridge was swept away. Sections of ties with the iron rails attached, were carried down the torrent and away out into the Arkansas River. Bridge timbers forty feet long were hurled end over end down the stream for miles below where they had been wrenched from their place. The bridges were literally torn to pieces, and scarcely one stick of tim- ber could be joined to another. Stout timbers were splintered like rotten reeds, and the bolted joints were cleft asunder. In the front of the flood the railway embankment melted away, and miles of the road were entirely effaced, the rails with an occasional tie attached being swept into the middle of the stream. Traffic was delayed for many days; the toll-road completely collapsed. Provi-
dentially, no lives were lost.
POLITICAL.
While Custer was still a portion of Fremont County, William H. Hull (Democrat), of Wet Mountain Valley, was elected Assessor in 1871. W. J. Schoolfield, one of the oldest settlers in the valley (Democrat) was also
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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY.
699
elected County Commissioner in 1871, which office he ably filled until his successor, V. B. Hoyt (then President of the Hoyt Mining Company of Rosita, and now Superintendent of the Del Norte Mining Company of the same place), was elected in 1874. By the creation of the new county of Custer, all the old officials of Fremont County living within the new county, were legislated out of office, and a new set " in harmony with the party in power," was appointed by the then Gov. J. L. Routt. The Rev. William Amsberry came to Wet Mountain Valley in 1873, from Georgetown, Colorado, and was elected on the Democratic ticket as Representative from Fremont County, to the Territorial Legisla- ture in 1874. The Hon. James Clelland (Democrat), representing the county in the Territorial Council, under the State Govern- ment; he was re-elected State Senator in 1876; and Hon. Charles R. Sieber (Democrat) and Richard Irwin (Democrat), both of Rosita, were elected as Representatives. They were succeeded in 1878 by Hon. Thomas C. Parrish (Republican), of Rosita, State Senator; and Hon. William McLaughlin (Democrat), of Rosita; and Hon. James McCandless (Repub- lican), of Fremont County, Representatives. They were succeeded, in 1880, by Hon. J. J. Rowen (Republican), of Silver Cliff, and Hon. James McCandless (Republican), of Fremont County, re-elected. Hon. Thomas C. Parrish holding over through the four year term in the Senate, Fremont County, until April, 1877; and since that date Fremont and Cus- ter have constituted the Fourteenth Senatorial District, entitled to one State Senator and two Representatives. By the last apportion- ment (of 1881), Custer County becomes the Seventeenth Senatorial District, and is enti- tled (until further change shall be made), to one State Senator and two Representatives in the Lower House of "the General Assembly." The first appointed officers of Custer County were: H. T. Blake, Sheriff; J. A. Davis, County Clerk; William F. Gowdy, Treasurer; George S. Adams, County Judge; T. W. Hull, R. S. Sweetland and H. E. Austin, County Commis- sioners; Dr. J. M. Hoge, County Superintend- ent of Public Schools; and A. J. Davis, Assessor. Ula was selected by the Governor as the place
at which the records should be kept and courts held, etc., until the county seat should be established by a majority vote at the next election, which was held the ensuing fall, and Rosita established as the county seat, "by a large majority." The following county offi- cers were also elected at that time: William D. Schoolfield (Democrat), Sheriff; John H. Leary (Democrat), County Clerk; James A. Melvin (Democrat), Treasurer; W. A. Offen- bacher (Republican), County Judge; George E. Blake (Republican), Alex Thornton (Dem- ocrat), and James Waltz (Democrat), County Commissioners; James H. Tebbs (Democrat), County Superintendent of Public Schools; and B. H. Kennedy (Democrat), Assessor. They were succeeded on the first of January, 1880, by William D. Schoolfield (Democrat), Sheriff (re-elected); John H. Leary (Demo- crat), County Clerk (re-elected); Ellis Ser- geant (Republican), Treasurer; Joseph W. Brewster (Republican), County Judge; W. W. Draper (Republican), George Hanley, and G. H. F. Meyer (Republican), County Com- missioners. W. W. Draper had previous to his election been appointed to fill a vacancy in the last board, caused by resignation of George E. Blake. Dr. D. M. Parker (Republican), County Superintendent of Public Schools, and B. H. Kennedy (Republican), Assessor, which office he resigned and Larne Barton was appointed to fill the unexpired term. These last are the present incumbents.
At the first assessment of taxable property in Custer County (made in May, 1877), there was a valuation of $549,845. In 1880 (the last assessment), it had increased to $1,594,- 191. This is exclusive of the value of mines, which by a constitutional provision adopted in 1876, in conformity with the organic act of the State, are to be exempted from all State or county or school taxes for a term of ten years from the date of the adoption of the constitution. This was to foster the growth of one of our main industries, and conciliate many who opposed State government with its additional taxation at that time as premature. When Custer County was organized and its financial connection with Fremont ceased (by agreement of the majority of both Boards of County Commissioners), on the 15th of April,
1
700
HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY.
1877, the portion of Fremont County indebt- edness to be assumed by the new county of Custer was agreed upon as about $6,000. The present indebtedness of Custer County is: Warrants' outstanding, $24,603.28; still due Fremont County, $4,202.20; and Custer County bonds, $651.44; (making a total of $29,456.92. County warrants sell readily at 90 cents. Taxes average about 3 per cent.
POLITICAL STATUS.
Custer is one of the doubtful counties, though so far the balance of power has seemed to be with the Democracy, who still hold the two principal offices of the county, but have lost in the State offices. The independent voter is a powerful element in Custer County elections, and the politician (of either party) is rather reckless with " what doesn't belong to him," when he pledges the vote of Custer County to his party, "in convention assem- bled." The Greenback vote "on the face of the returns," amounted to but thirty-four, at the last election in this county, though many of Greenback tendencies voted for the man of their preference in either of the older parties, rather than throw their votes away "for prin- ciple's sake." The vote for Governor, by pre- cincts, in 1880, was:
Dem.
Rep. Gb.
No. 1. Greenwood in Hardscrab-
hle Park.
26 29
. .
No. 2. Silver Park (six miles east of Rosita) 8 20
No. 3. Rosita ..
219
270 2
No. 4. Colfax and upper end of the valley
28
56
No. 5. Ula
36
64 3
No. 6. Lower end of Wet Mount- ain Valley.
25
38
3
No. 7. Silver Cliff
West Div ..
240
354
5
No. 8. Dora
23
31
No. 9. Querida.
80
127
14
No. 10. Clinton.
37
31
No. 11. Bull Domingo.
39
32 1
1,026 1,321 34
Total vote of the county, 2,381.
The Republican vote for Governor was a majority of 261, over the Democratic and Greenback vote, but can hardly be considered a fair criterion to judge by, as Gov. Pitkin is very popular, and ran about 5,000 votes ahead of his party ticket in the whole State.
The resources of Custer County in addition to the mines (which have yielded over two millions and a half of dollars since their dis- covery nine years ago, and of which one-half has been taken out in the last three years), consist of valuable hay lands in Wet Mount- ain Valley, corn, wheat and vegetables, from Hardscrabble Park, and live stock (cattle, horses, etc.), all over the county besides the improvements on the surface of the earth in towu, on farm, and on the mines. In Wet Mountain Valley, 2,000 tons of choice "upland" hay, valued at $20 per ton; total, $40,000; 400,000 pounds of potatoes of fine quality, valued at 2 cents per pound, $10,000; and oats, barley, turnips, peas, etc., valued at $15,000, are raised annually; total in the val- ley from farms, $65,000. In Hardscrabble Park, 20,000 bushels of wheat, valued $1 per bushel, and 10,000 bushels of corn, valued at $1 per bushel, a total value of $30,000 of grain is raised annually; besides which gar- den vegetables, honey, chickens and pork, valued at $10,000, are raised annually, and sell readily in the Custer County mines, or in adjacent towns. Under the present im- petus of a good home cash market, in which three-fourths of the articles of food are im- ported from the East, it is reasonable to expect that the farming land of Custer County will soon be utilized if it is possible and eco- nomical to procure water from below, or to hoard it up in reservoirs for the time of need. There may be another change, now slowly occurring, that may become sufficient to dis- pense with both artesian wells and reservoirs. This change is in the increased rainfall, traces of which may be seen along the eastern side of Wet Mountain Valley. Natural ditches have been washed out since the coun- try was settled, and where, a few years ago; only smooth flats or gentle slopes were to be seen, and the traveler could "lope" his horse with safety, he now must look well to the ground lest he fall into a deep and narrow ditch washed out by the recent rains. The springs have been commencing earlier than they used to, this season (1881), fully a month earlier than usual. If the seasons should continue to improve and the rains increase in the next ten years, as they have in the last
.
East Div ... 265
269
6
1
Daniel Dayen
G
703
HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY.
decade, the area of available farming land will be greatly increased by nature. Accord- ing to the last assessment, there were only 16,612 acres of land purchased from the Gov- ernment in Custer County, valued at $112,844, and the improvements on the land at $25,- 805. Improvements on public lands not yet purchased were valued at $74,970.
LIVE STOCK.
The assessment rolls for 1880 show that there were in May of that year, in the county, 13,802 head of cattle, valued at $164,386, an average of less than $12 per head. With few exceptions, these are a hardy half-breed cross, between Texas and American cattle. They range over the valley and among the sur- rounding hills during the whole year until "rounded up" or gathered together and the young stock branded. The round-ups gen- erally commence about the 20th of May and last all summer, after which, until November, those who have beef cattle to ship or sell make extra round-ups, and may be said to keep in the saddle all through the summer season. The losses from severe weather, dis- ease, etc., average about 5 per cent annually; sometimes an unusually severe winter and late cold spring, carries the percentage of loss to twice that amount. The annual increase is from 15 to 25 per cent, as a gen- eral rule. Most of those who came into Cus- ter County at an early day with cattle, have become wealthy from sales of their stock, or have their wealth in larger herds of "beef on foot."
In the valley, but few cattle are fed over winter for spring beef, it having been found cheaper to buy Kansas-fed beef during the late winter and spring months, and sell hay at $20 per ton. The compliment is returned, however, and the balance of trade kept largely in our favor, by heavy shipments East every fall, of cattle that have fattened during the summer, without any cost to their owners. According to the last assessment, there were in the county 1,890 horses, valued at $90,817, an average of nearly $50 apiece. Horse-raising is a very profitable business, as they winter much better than cattle, though more " prone to wander," and more liable to be stolen.
However, this last is a light risk to take, at the present time, as Indian raids are among the incidents of the past, and no organized gang of horse-thieves could long survive in this changeable climate. "Loco" is more dreaded. This is a poison weed, which causes, in horses that eat it, a nervous affection that renders them useless and unreliable for years, and, often, for life. It affects horned cattle in the same manner, but in a lighter degree. It has caused so much injury that the State Legislature passed an act, ordering a premium of 12 cents per pound, to be paid on delivery of the dried weed, to the County Clerk, if dried out to the depth of three inches below the surface of the ground, during May, June or July, and presented within two months of the time it was dried. There is a great deal of it in Custer County. Probably $2,000 will be required to pay for what will be dried next year, but its destruction will be a great bene- fit to stockmen.
The number of mules in the county is re- turned as 304, and only 178 sheep could be found in the county when the Assessor made his last annual pilgrimage. The average stock of merchandise was assessed at $125,- 596. Taking it all together, it seems rather a light assessment for a county containing three banks, four newspapers, twelve miles of railroad, ten large reduction works, about twenty steam-hoisting works, a large brewery, Holly Water Works, a telegraph and a tele- phone line, a stage line and about one hun- dred business houses, besides all the improve- ments in Hardscrabble Park and on farms in Wet Mountain Valley; also the improvements and real estate in the towns of Silver Cliff, Rosita, Querida, Ula, Dora and Westcliff, and the horned cattle, the horses, mules and sheep that feed upon a thousand hills.
CATTLEMEN, HORSE-OWNERS AND ROUND-UPS.
The cattlemen having the largest herds in Wet Mountain Valley, commencing at the upper end of the valley, are W. T. Frink & Co., Hudson & Sieber, W. J. Schoolfield, William H. Hall, and on the eastern side of the valley, Reuben Spaulding, Ed Gould and "Com." Johnson, and at the lower end of the valley, Richard Houle and the Beckwith Bros.
0
704
HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY.
(Edward and Elton), who have the largest herd in the county. In Hardscrabble Park the principal cattlemen are W. W. Draper, Betts & Pierce and William A. Watkins.
The principal horse-owners in the county are the Hunter Rros., Caldwell Bros., W. T. Frink & Co., Hudson & Sieber and Beckwith Bros., in Wet Mountain Valley, and in the Sierra Mojada, east of Rosita some ten miles, Sol Wixon and Ed Lobach. In Hardscrabble Park, J. A. Betts and W. W. Draper own large herds.
Hardscrabble Park is in Round-up District No. 3, which extends from the St. Charles Creek to Grape Creek, and from the Arkansas River to the summit of the Sierra Mojada, taking in all the eastern slope of that range. Wet Mountain Valley is in Round-up District No. 4, which includes all of Custer County not embraced in District No. 3, and that por- tion of Fremont County lying south of the Arkansas River between Grape Creek and the west line of the county (which crosses the Arkansas River a short distance above Badger Creek); so that District No. 4 includes all of Wet Mountain Valley, Texas Creek, Oak Grove and Pleasant Valley. The latest laws provide for a State Board of Inspection (to be appointed by the Governor of the State), consisting of five members, who have authority to appoint eight inspectors, who shall take measures to prevent illegal sale, slaughtering or shipping of cattle, to support which a gen- eral State tax of one-fifteenth of a mill shall be levied, etc. The law also provides for the appointment of three Commissioners for each round-up district, who shall appoint captains, or foremen, of round-ups, and designate the times and places of rendezvous for round-ups. It also provides for the sale, by foremen of round-ups, of all " mavoricks," or unbranded stock, the proceeds of which sales are to be turned over to the general fund of the stock association of that round-up district, if not claimed and proven within six months after the time of such sale (in which case the own- er receives the amount for which his stock was sold). In case there should be nostock association in such round-up district, the re- sults of such sales are to be paid over to the Treasurer of the County, and credited to the
general county fund. Until recently, the law required that all moneys, derived from the sale of "mavoricks," should be paid into the gen- eral school fund.
HISTORY OF THE MINES.
The first discovery of mines was made by the Smith or Pueblo party in 1863. Not pay- ing, they were abandoned as soon as located. The next discovery was by Daniel Baker, who, while riding in the hills on the east side of the valley, to look after his cattle, in the fall of 1870, picked up some pieces of bright galena croppings, near the Senator Mine within the present town limits of Rosita. He took "Pap" Grimes and Dick Allen, of Gil- pin County, who happened to be in the valley, up to show them his discovery. They didn't think much of it, though a hole about a foot deep was dug on the vein, and some speci- mens taken down and put in Mr. Baker's cabin window to await results.
The writer, while passing through the val- ley, in June, 1870, on a trip to New Mexico, picked up some pieces of " good-looking float," which, on panning out, showed a few specks of gold, and concluded to come in and try it a little more that fall. So, in company with Jasper Brown, of Georgetown, Colo., who traveled with him from Fort Garland, they came over into the valley. It was a very stormy night, in December, 1870, and the snow was nearly a foot deep, as they crossed the dividing ridge with pack-animals, and, fortunately, got to the house of Daniel Baker, in time to get a good supper and shelter for their animals. The Remine brothers, living near by, volunteered to go up into the hills in a couple of days, and Mr. Baker, who at first refused to tell where he had got his speci- mens that sparkled in the cabin window, finally concluded to show the place, and the whole party went up and made camp at the Rosita Springs, where, in two weeks, the G. W., Lu- cille, Virginia and Alabama, near Rosita, and a couple of copper and gold-bearing veins, in the granite east of Rosita, were located, and specimens sent to the Denver Mint to be as- sayed. The results were to be telegraphed to Pueblo. The writer went down there, and, after waiting a day, and telegraphing for
705
HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY.
them, finally got the returns: The G. W., twenty-seven ounces of silver; the Sena- tor, three to eleven ounces of silver, and the rest from $2 to $7 in silver and gold. This would hardly do to start a new camp on, outside of the mineral belt, at that season of the year. The excitement about the Little Cottonwood Mines, of Utah, was then at its height, and Coloradoans who had gone out there, had sent back encouraging news; so the writer settled with Jasper Brown for what work he had done, sent $20 to sink a ten-foot shaft on the G. W., which was four feet deep in loose dirt, and, putting his horses on a ranch, near Denver, took the cars for Salt Lake City and the mines beyond. Jasper Brown took up a ranch in the valley, which he, after a couple of years' occupancy, sold to Hon. Charles Sieber.
In 1871, Louis Wilmers, a member of the " segregated " German Colony, who had, with his family and brother, located on the first gulch east of Rosita (or, rather, where Rosita was afterward built), and in which the Game Ridge Mining Company's forty-stamp mill is now being built, located some mining claims near the G. W., one of which was on the " Dia- mond X" ground, a claim recently located in contact, between the granite and porphyry, and now owned and worked by the Orr Bros., with flattering prospects. Louis Wilmers got some Pueblo parties interested with him, but did not get anything rich, though he dug several other holes near his ranch, and finally he moved out with his cattle to the San Juan country, after Rosita got to be quite a town.
While out in Utah mining, the writer met V. B. Hoyt, of Pueblo, Colo., who was then (July, 1872) taking a drove of cattle through to Idaho Territory. During the conversation, these old discoveries in Wet Mountain Valley came up for discussion, the writer stating that he believed there were some good inines there, and it was agreed that, if the writer returned to Colorado that fall, and, if he should make any locations at the old camp in Wet Mount- ain Valley, Mr. Hoyt should be "located in," and the writer was also authorized to draw on him (through Ferd Barndollar & Co., of Pueblo), for Hoyt's share of the expenses of locating, development, etc.
In September, 1872, the writer came from Utah and went on a prospecting trip, with William J. Robinson and James Pringle, through Western Colorado, from California Gulch to Washington Gulch and to Grand River, then up Blue River to its head, and over the range to Fairplay and down Currant Creek to Canon City, in Fremont County; then up Hardscrabble Canon, to the old camp, in Wet Mountain Valley, where he arrived again, very late, on a cold, stormy night in November (the 14th). The next day, the Hard- scrabble Mining District was organized, the old claims relocated and a cabin commenced. The abandoned Senator claim was opened out, after paying Mr. Baker a few dollars for his claim, and a new shaft was commenced on a parallel vein to the one first opened, which, at the depth of twenty feet, the next spring, yielded ore that ran 145 ounces of silver per ton by the car-load. The Cymbeline, Levia- than, Tennessee, M. T. and Stephen, were located early in the spring of 1873. The Remine Bros., Joseph Schoolfield, Thomas Barrett, Bill Dorman and others came up from the valley and made locations; and Charles F. Rognon, from Pueblo, and Nick Mast, from Ten Mile, came in, and thus the camp started at that time .(April, 1873), con- sisting of one cabin, two windlasses and a dug-out. Bill Bobinson gave free musical entertainments nightly, on the violin, which were attended by the elite, haut ton and the other fellows of the camp, his loudest efforts being received with great eclat and vociferous cheers. We lived a happy life of contented luxury, regardless of the charges of fashion, the mistakes of politicians, or the probabili- ties of another panic. So long as the pitch- pine was convenient, and venison could be had on short notice, we were happy, and borrowed no trouble. Satisfied with our lot in life, we laid off and rested up half the week, and, out of regard to the superstitions inherited from our ancestors and the customs of their more ceremonious descendants, we rested on Sun- days also.
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