History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, Part 98

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 98

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ROSITA BREWING COMPANY.

This company was established at Rosita, with a capital of $1,500, in 1874, has grown to be one of the large manufacturing enter- prises of the county, it being now one of the largest breweries in the State. The establish- ment consists of a three-story concrete build- ing, 40x60 feet, with iron roof and capacious cellar, besides a large granary, engine-house, boiler-house, large vats for freezing ice and an ice-house, capable of holding 200 tons, bot- tling-house, etc. Recently, a new boiler, 30- horse-power, has been added. The brewery has a capacity of twenty barrels at a brew, which could be made daily, but, at present, only two brews (forty barrels) are made per week. The quality of the beer is excellent, equaling the best Milwaukee beer, the cli- mate and water being favorable to the manu- facture of an extra article. This beer was

shipped in large quantities to Leadville and to Saguache County, until recent home com- petition in these places has taken away the profit. The establishment is worth $70,000.

BENCH AND BAR.

There are three terms of District Court held annually in Custer County, on the fourth Tuesdays in March, July and November. Judge Charles D. Bradley is Judge of this Sixth Judicial District, including Fremont, Custer, Saguache, Rio Grande, Costilla and Conejos Counties. J. W. Brewster is Clerk of the District Court for Custer County. Previous to the recent establishment of this Sixth Judicial District, Custer County was in- cluded in the Third Judicial District, since the organization of the county, John W. Henry being Judge of that district. There are four terms of County Court held annually in Cus- ter, a well as in other counties in Colorado. Terms commence on the first Mondays of March, June, September and December. George S. Adams was the first County Judge, having been appointed to that office soon after the organization of the county, in May, 1877, by Gov. John L. Routt. He was succeeded, in January, 1878, by William A. Offenbacher, who was elected in the previous October, and he was succeeded by Joseph W. Brewster, who "donned the judicial ermine" in January, 1881.

Cases arising under the revenue laws, or in which titles to public, lands are concerned, or cases of crime committed on Indian or mili- tary reservations, or in cases arising between citizens of different States, etc., in which the amount involved exceeds $500, etc., come under the jurisdiction of the United States Courts. Custer County is in the Southern or Pueblo Division of the district of Colorado, in the Eighth United States Circuit, which includes the States of Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota and Colo- rado. Judge Samuel F. Miller, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, is assigned to this circuit. John W. McCrary, late Secretary of War, is the present Circuit Judge, and Moses Hallett is the Untied States Judge for the District of Colorado. These Judges are all appointed by the President of

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY.

the United States, and confirmed by the United States Senate. They hold their offices during life or a term of good behavior; they cannot be removed, except for cause, and by impeach- ment, and their salaries cannot be dimin- ished while in office; so they are practically above the influence of popularity, fear of dis- missal, or having their salaries cut down, and their impartial decisions regardless of the parties interested or the clamors of the peo- ple, as exemplified in the late struggle for possession of the Grand Canon of the Arkan- sas River, by two powerful railroad corpora- tions (the Denver & Rio Grande and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé), gave a fine illustration of those wise provisions imbedded in the Constitution of the United States, while at the same time it exposed the weak- ness of our State and county authorities, who are elective and dependent, to a certain ex- tent, with short terms of office, and are kept busy figuring for the future; they allowed both parties to keep an armed force in the cañon for months.

The first lawyer who flung his war-like banner to the mountain breeze in Custer County, and " for a consideration proportioned to the merits of the case," offered to assist and hasten, or to delay and defeat, the course of justice, according to the statutes, in such cases made and provided, was William H. Thurber, of Kansas, who arrived in Rosita in the summer of 1873, and immediately began to instigate a paying case; but times were too dull, and undeveloped mining property hardly worth the cost of litigation in any in- stance, where there was a prospect of a case being worked up. Finding the practice of law unprofitable, Mr. Thurber secured a posi- tion as chief manipulator on a windlass, until, by "actual manual labor," he had secured the means to convey himself further East, where there were greener legal fields, with better picking for men of genius, well versed in the intricacies of the law. The next to arrive and hang out his shingle as attorney at law was George S. Adams, who arrived at Rosita on the 22d of February, 1874, and he came to stay. He built up a good practice from the start, and has taken up his abode perma- nently at the county seat.

Among the other leading lawyers and law firms of Rosita, are Judge John W. Warner, and his son, Frank P. Warner, M. M. Kellogg and Judge W. A. Offenbacher.

At Silver Cliff are A. J. Rising, Col. B. F. Montgomery, Lee R. Seaton, Sampson & Adams, J. T. McNeely, Paren England, C. E. Moreman, J. K. Smith, W. D. Kiddoo and J. J. Rowen. It has been truly said that the practice of law was a sure stepping-stone to political preferment. In Colorado, it seems to be a sure stepping-stone to mineral wealth. There is hardly one of our prominent lawyers who has not secured valuable mining inter- ests, as "contingent fees." Instance: Rising & Montgomery, who hold large amounts of stock in the Bull-Domingo and other noted mining claims.

At present, the Justices of the Peace are: For Precinct, No. 1, "Com." Stephen Decatur, one of the Commissioners from Colorado to the Centennial Exposition; Precinct No. 2, none; Precinct No. 3, M. M. Kellogg and J. I. Council; Precinct No. 4, none; Precinct No. 5, Art Wallers and Eli Gill; Precinct No. 6, J. P. Gavin; Precinct No. 7, Alex Stewart and C. F. Berry; Precinct. No. 8, R. H. Hoffman; Precinct No .. 9, Daniel Todd; Precinct No. 10, Addison Law; Precinct No. 11, none.

MEDICINE MEN.

Dr. Perry, who could hardly have stood up as an M. D. against the iron-clad provisions of the "act to regulate the practice of medi- cine " passed at the last session of the State Legislature, was a free genius, untrammeled by the prejudices of the old school, or any other school of medicine. He arrived in Ros- ita early in the fall of 1873, and, by way of introduction to the public, gave a series of free lectures in the town hall, on "Hygiene," which were both amusing and startling. He displayed a wonderful ignorance of the pro- nunciation of the most ordinary chemical terms, was perfectly at home among theories he did not comprehend, and, like Columbus, or Napoleon, he scattered accepted theories to the winds, and planted his own conclusions proudly on their ruins. Still, with all his originality and disregard for old fogyism, somehow he didn't take. He was probably

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY.

considered a little too advanced in his ideas, and then it wasn't a good time for doctors anyway. Times were too hard to indulge in any sickness or other extravagance. There was very little whisky drank, and no killing going on. After awhile, the doctor concluded he could manufacture nitro-glycerine as well as anybody else, from a receipt he had cut out of a scientific newspaper, and was negotiating for the raw material, with the intention of introducing its use among the miners, which might have given him and the county seat a raise, when some one told him of a fine chance for a talented lecturer, in Kansas, and he left. The last heard of him, he was lecturing on Phrenology and Kindred Sciences, and exhib- iting the wonders of a magic lantern to the benighted inhabitants of that region.

Shortly after his departure, Dr. O. E. Sperry, of Virginia, located at Rosita, and, in September, 1874, Dr. W. Sharp Camp, of Denver, located at Rosita also. Dr. D. M. Parker, of Vermont, arrived in 1878, and Dr. P. L. Rice, of Georgetown, Colo., located here in November, 1879. All of those physicians still reside and have a good practice at the county seat; most of them have acquired val- uable mining interests in this vicinity.

At Silver Cliff, Dr. H. C. James, who is one of the appointed State Board of Medical Ex- aminers, has had an extensive practice since his arrival in the metropolis in 1879. Among others who have located there since are Drs. George H. Russell, D. T. K. Deering, F. A. Limberg, H. B. Pinney and E. T. Shoemaker. There are only two dentists, and not a single new-school practitioner in the county, as yet, neither hydropathic, botanic nor mag- netic healers, which leaves a good opening for competition in the life-prolonging line.

SECRET SOCIETIES.

Masonic-Rosita Lodge, U. D. (under dis- pensation), was instituted on the 8th of April, 1879, with George S. Adams, W. M .; H. G. Dickson, S. W .; and Richard Lloyd, J. W. It was chartered as Rosita Lodge, No. 36, A., F. & A. M., in September, 1879. The char- ter members were George S. Adams, H. G. Dickson, Richard Lloyd, R. N. Daniels, F. A. Tuttle, William S. Schoolfield, George W.

Wheeler, George S. Hafford, William Yeo- mans, Moses Blancett, Ellis Sergeant, James Duncan and A. H. Titus.

The first officers under the charter were privately installed on St. John's Day, Decem- ber 27, 1879, for the ensuing year, and were George S. Adams, W. M .; H. G. Dickson, S. W .; k. N. Daniels, J. W .; Ellis Sergeant, Secretary; James Duncan, Treasurer; and William Rumpf, Tiler. The first jewels used were made of tin, which were soon replaced by more costly material. Meetings were held on the first and third Tuesdays of each month, in the Odd Fellows Hall, which was rented for that purpose. This hall was burnt up, and everything, excepting the charter belong- ing to the lodge, was burned. However, there was no interruption of the meetings; new furniture and new jewels were pur- chased, and meetings. held, temporarily, in the schoolhouse, until the new fire-proof Masonic Hall, now being built, which will be an ornament to the town and a credit to the order, shall be completed and dedicated. There are now twenty-four members of this lodge in good standing. The present officers, privately installed last St. John's Day, are: George S. Adams, W. M .; Ellis Sergeant, S. W .; F. A. Tuttle, J. W .; A. W. Manning, Sec- retary; Charles F. Nelson, Treasurer; and A. H. Titus, Tiler.

Sangre de Christo Lodge, A., F. & A. M., U. D., was instituted at Silver Cliff in April, 1880, with William R. Frisbee, W. M .; O. A. Henry, S. W .; and Benjamin C. Adams, J. W. It was chartered as Silver Cliff Lodge, No. 38, A., F. & A. M., in September, 1880, and O. A. Henry elected W. M., in December, 1880. There are about forty members of this lodge, which is in a flourishing condition. Meetings are held on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month, in Odd Fellows Hall. It is expected that a Chapter will soon be organized at Rosita.

ODD FELLOWS.

Rosita Lodge, No. 21, I. O. O. F., was in- stituted in February, 1875, with Samuel V. Vernon, N. G., and C. W. Rash, V. G. It now consists of some sixty members in good standing, and is well sustained in all works

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY.

of benevolence connected with the order. This lodge is probably better off financially (though they lost their hall by the fire of the 10th of March, 1881) than any other lodge in the county. Meetings are held every Wednesday evening. They are now building a good fire- proof lodge as an upper story to Slavick Bros.' new granite building on Tyndal street.

Silver Cliff Lodge, No. 35, L O. O. F., was instituted. The charter members were B. C. Parcells, George J. Hanley, John Daily, W. A. Staples, Edward A. Mitchell, W. E. Howe, J. J. Mitchell, S. Spahn, George Fairchilds, George Turner and Andrew Gormley. There are, at present, about fifty members in good standing. The following officers were elected for the present year: B. C. Parcells, N. G .; George J. Hanley, V. G .; John Daily, Record- ing Secretary; W. A. Staples, Permanent Secretary; Edward A. Mitchell, Treasurer. Meetings are held every Tuesday evening, in their hall over Stebbins, Post & Co.'s Bank.

KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS.

Silver Cliff Lodge, Knights of Pythias, No. 14, was organized in November, 1880, with the following officers: H. A. Whitney, P. C .; J. T. McNeely, C. C .; Hy Zeigler, V. C .; E. T. Clarke, Prelate; Frank Shur, K. R. S .; J. J. Vetter, M. E .; W. Terry, M. F. This lodge has fifty-two members, and meets every Friday evening over Stebbins, Post & Co.'s Bank. They are now organizing a Uniform Division of Knights of Pythias.

ANCIENT ORDER OF UNITED WORKMEN.

A branch of the Ancient Order of United Workmen has lately been organized at Silver Cliff.

PATRONS OF HUSBANDRY.

In October, 1877, Colfax Grange was organ- ized at the upper end of Wet Mountain Val- ley, with O. F. Sanford, Master; Benjamin Worth, Secretary; W. Louther, Chaplin; Daniel Baker, Treasurer; Mrs. Sanford, Po- mona; Mrs. Worth, Ceres; and Mrs. Freeman, Flora. This Grange had twenty-eight mem- bers, and, being the means of much social en- joyment among the settlers in the valley, until it was disbanded in 1879. It also was the means of furnishing, without the charge

of "the middle man," any goods purchased through the Grange agencies that were estab- lished in Eastern cities. A Grange was also established at Hardscrabble Park, in 1879, which did a great deal of good in bringing neighbors together for frequent social amuse- ment and mutual improvement; but this Grange, we understand, was also allowed to die out.

PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

Custer County is divided into twenty school districts, the principal ones being Silver Cliff, No. 13, with 490 enrolled scholars; Rosita, No. 1, with 288 enrolled scholars; Querida, No. 12, with 100 enrolled scholars; Ula, No. 5, with fifty-five enrolled scholars; and Wet- more, No. 9, with 50 enrolled scholars. There are about 1,400 of school age, in the county, that is, between six and twenty-one years old, of which number some 1,100 are enrolled, and about 600 is the average attend- ance. Rosita has a new schoolhouse, with three departments, costing $4,000, for which bonds have been issued, payable at the option of the School Trustees of that district (No. 1), in from five to twenty years, and drawing 12 per cent per annum interest. Silver Cliff has a schoolhouse with four departments, costing $2,000, and almost every school district in the county is well provided with the means of a good common-school education for those who seek it.

The first public school taught, in what is now Custer County, was in School District No. 8, in Fremont County, in Wet Mountain Valley, about four miles southwesterly from Silver Cliff; a five months' term was taught here in the winter of 1871-72, by Miss Louisa V. Virden, in a log cabin, with an average attendance of about a dozen scholars. There had previously been a school taught in con- nection with the German Colony, for a short time. The school fund is kept up by a county tax of 5 mills on each dollar's worth of prop- erty-amounting, this year, to about $4,000- that will be collected, in the different school districts, by the share of apportionment of the State School Fund, which, at present, amounts to about $600 per annum, in the case of Cus- ter County, by fines collected for crimes com- mitted, and from sales of "mavoricks," that

James The Sigafup

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY.

is, the unknown and unbranded stock collected in the round-ups, are supposed to be sold at auction for the benefit of the public schools.

Mr. Fowler, of Canon City, was the first County Superintendent of Public Schools, having jurisdiction over the public schools of Wet Mountain Valley, from 1870 to 1872. He was succeeded by Dr. J. W. Bell, and he by Rev. Mr. King. Dr. J. M. Hoge was elected County Superintendent in 1875; was ap- pointed by Gov. Routt on the organization of the county of Custer; he was succeeded, in January, 1878, by J. H. Tebbs, who was suc- ceeded, in January, 1880, by Dr. D. M. Par- ker, the present incumbent, who has system- atized the affairs of his office, and is evidently the right man in the right place.

POST OFFICES.

Ula was the first post office established within the present confines of the county; it was established in the spring of 1870, J. A. Davis, Postmaster. J. P. Falkenburg is the present Postmaster. Colfax, at the upper end of the valley, for the accommodation of the German Colony, was established in June, 1870, with Mr. Judd, President of the Colony, and successor to Carl Wulsten, as Postmaster, who was succeeded in the fall of 1870 by Mr. Danforth, and he by Mr. Todd in 1871, and he by Azor Palmer in 1872, and the post office was removed, after the breaking-up of the colony, to the Palmer ranch, lower down, but still in the upper end of the valley. After Mr. Palmer's death, in 1875, Daniel Baker was appointed Postmaster. In 1878, the name of the office was changed to Blu- menau, and it was removed to Grape Creek, back toward its original location, and Mr. Haynes was appointed Postmaster. He was succeeded by Carson Kanruth, the present incumbent.

Rosita Post Office was established on the 8th of July, 1874, with Toner Thomasson as Post- master, who was succeeded by his Deputy, James A. Gooch, in April, 1878, who is the present incumbent, with W. R. Samuels, Deputy. It was made a money order office in July, 1877. The business of the office from January 1 to May 1, 1881, was: Re- ceipts from stamps, etc., $3,441.52; box rents,

$124; number of money orders issued, 1,654, amounting to $24,633.90.

Silver Cliff Post Office was officially estab- lished on the 28th of January, 1879, with A. M. McEl Hinney as Postmaster. W. L. Ste- vens, of Alamosa, had got the appointment, but Mr. McEl Hinney was determined that no "stranger from a foreign strand," should oust him from the office he had started, and the fight began, which Mr. McEl Hinney won, but has had to keep up the fight against odds, and Gen. McNeely, Chairman of the County Republican Committee ever since, even to this day. At last accounts, Mr. McEl Hinney was monarch of all he surveyed in the post office, and the opposition somewhat discour- aged, but still in the field. The receipts of the office, which is also a money order office, for the last quarter of 1880, were $2,779.37; number of money orders issued, 947; total receipts for the year 1880, $9,456.06, making it the third post office in the State, in amount of business, and the position of Postmaster worth striving for.

Greenwood Post Office, in Hardscrabble Park, was established in 1873, with J. Q. A. Monroe as Postmaster, who still retains the. same official position. Querida Post Office was established in February, 1880, with D. McKee as Postmaster, who was succeeded by Daniel Todd, the present Postmaster, on the 12th of November, 1880. Dora Post Office was established December, 1879; I. Mears is Postmaster. Clinton Post Office (seven miles easterly from Silver Cliff), Clayton Naylor, Postmaster, and Wetmore Post Office, below Greenwood Post Office, in Hardscrabble Park, S. H. Callen, Postmaster, have lately been established. Rosita, Silver Cliff, Querida, Dora and Ula have daily mails both ways; Blumenau, Clinton, Greenwood and Wetmore, have tri-weekly mails. Camargo Post Office, situated about three miles easterly from Ros- ita, was established about July, 1880; W. H. Smith is Postmaster. It has no established mail route, since the coaches were taken off between Pueblo and Rosita.

THE PRESS.

In September, 1874, Charles Baker, of Col- orado Springs, started the weekly Rosita

HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY.

734

Index, with Ben Lane Posey, of Mobile, Ala., as editor, who left, in 1876, and went to Den- ver to practice law. The paper was a success from the start. At first, it was neutral in politics, but soon became thoroughly Demo- cratic, and aided materially in carrying the countyfor that party. In the spring of 1879, Mr. Baker sold out the Index to Charles F. Johnson, who changed the name of the paper to The Sierra Journal, and its politics to the Republican extreme. It has been ably man- aged under the new regime, and has done a great deal to advertise the camp and to keep its party down to the old Republican princi- ples.

The Silver Cliff Prospect, daily and weekly, is one of the best conducted papers in the State. Its tone is always spicy and refined, its politics liberal Democratic, and its col- umns well filled with local, business, social and mining items. It was started on the 5th of May, 1879, as the weekly Silver Cliff Pros- pector; on the 5th of June, 1879, it came out as a daily. After changing hands a couple of times, it became the property of the pres- ent management, on the 11th of February, 1880, when the paper came out as the Daily Prospect. W. S. Montgomery is now editor; W. B. Mckinney, city editor, and J. L. Lytle, business manager. Its circulation is large, and its job office equal to the demands of the business.

The Silver Cliff Republican was started April 1, 1880, by the Custer County Publish- ing Company, Dr. G. W. B. Lewis, manager, and came out as a daily (evening) and weekly on the 27th of April, 1880; on the 1st of Jan- uary, 1881, N. H. Lacey assumed charge as manager of the new company, styled the Cus- ter County Printing Company. On the 4th of March, 1881, the issue was changed from evening to morning. It is a live paper, full of local news, and takes an active part in local politics.

The Mining Gazette, of Silver Cliff, is one of the best mining papers published in the State. It is a weekly, started on the 13th of November, 1880, and is fast attaining a high reputation under the able management of C. E. Hunter and H. W. Comstock (editor) for its able and accurate summary of mining news.

On the 9th of August, 1881, he added, by way of postscript, that the daily Prospect, has been purchased "by a committee of citizens," and will be edited by J. H. McDevitt; it is to be, at least, for a season, run on a Re- publican political basis.

CHURCHES.

Services were occasionally held in the early days, at Ula and Rosita, by the Rev. Stokes, a Methodist minister, stationed as a mission- ary, on an insufficient salary, in Wet Mount- ain Valley. A Methodist Church was estab- lished at Rosita, in 1874, with L. W. Smith, Pastor in charge, who was succeeded, in 1875, by A. Warren; he by H. C. Langley in 1877; he by J. H. Scott in 1878, and he by the present Pastor, J. A. Smith. This Methodist Church may be said to be the only live church organization in Rosita at present. They have a comfortable church building, with a pleas- ant-toned bell to wake the late Sunday sleep- ers; a Sabbath school of some forty scholars, and the church is well supported and at- tended. There was a Presbyterian Church in good running order at Rosita a few years ago, but, for some reason, it sank to rest, and quietly died, as it were, over a year ago. Rev. W. P. Teitsworth, the Pastor, subsequently organized a church at Silver Cliff; also one at Ula.

The Episcopal Church society have a fine building, painted, ornamented and dedicated in 1876, as St. Matthew's Church, with a good organ in it, at Rosita. It flourished for awhile under the pastorate of "Parson" Hoge, but has been as quiet as a whited sep- ulcher for lo, these two years, with the excep- tion of an annual visit from the Bishop, or an occasional service by the Rector from Silver Cliff.

There is a small but neat Roman Catholic Church at Rosita (built, in 1877, through the generosity of the Hon. William McLaughlin and other citizens of the town). Father Fin- neran, the Roman Catholic priest, stationed at Silver Cliff, performs vesper services and preaches there every Sunday evening at pres- ent; but his present parish is too large a field to do justice to his several congregations. It is to be hoped he will soon have assistance.

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HISTORY OF CUSTER COUNTY.

Churches flourish at Silver Cliff. The first Episcopal services were held by Rev. A. D. Drummond, in March, 1879. A commodious church building was erected the following months, and services held there on the 29th of June, 1879, by Rev. A. D. Drummond (the Rev. O. E. Ostenson acting as his assistant), until the following spring, when he was suc- ceeded by Rev. W. W. Estabrook, and he by the Rev. S. G. Gaynor in May, 1881. The parish was "canonically organized" on the 27th of September, 1880, as St. Luke's Church. The present Vestry is composed of W. S. Smith, Senior Warden; W. H. Nicholls, Junior Warden; J. R. Smith, William Sanders, W. E. Cox, G. W. Lawrence and J. W. Ellis. Present number of communicants, forty-four.

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History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, Part 98

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