History of the State of Colorado, Volume IV, Part 10

Author: Hall, Frank, 1836-1917. cn; Rocky Mountain Historical Company
Publication date: 1889-95
Publisher: Chicago, Blakely print. Co.
Number of Pages: 791

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The first superficial view of Bent county indeed, of all the lower Arkansas valley, gives it the appearance of a boundless undulating plain, covered with short, but exceedingly nutritious grasses, and occasional fringes of trees and shrubbery along the water courses, but more especially observable on the banks of the great river. At various points great ridges of grey and red sandstone, with beds of gypsum and chalk are seen. The soil is chiefly an alluvial sandy loam. and its fertility, where cultivated, has been shown in the production of large crops.

The primitive history of this valley contains some interesting incidents, for it was the theater where were planted the first seeds of modern civilization in Colorado. Most of the material facts have been set forth in the first volume and need not be repeated here. This region was occupied, at least roamed over. primarily by Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Kiowas and Comanches, who made it their favorite hunting and camping ground, for at certain seasons game abounded there. The Bent brothers, Charles and William, and the St. Vrains established trading posts and forts, and among those employed by them in hunting and trapping, and conducting their merchandise trains, were William Bransford, Ben Ryder. Metcalfe, Charles Dubrey, Bill Williams, Old John Smith, Kit Carson, Uncle Dick Wootten, and many others of the old guild of frontiersmen. Charles Bent and Ceran St. Vrain held their headquarters in Taos and Santa Fe. Col. William Bent was the moving spirit of all their enterprises. The firm was dissolved in 1847. When Col. William Gilpin was engaged in his famous campaign against the Navajo Indians, he at one time applied to the mercantile house of Bent, St. Vrain & Co. for a stock of provisions wherewith to supply his men, and, while not

* In compiling the history of Bent county down lo ISS1, an admirable and very complete sketch written by Charles W. Bowman, then editor of the Las Animas "Leader," for Hist. Arkansas Valley, O L. Baskin & Co .. Chicago, has been followed as a guide but with a different arrangement of the facts.

HISTORY OF COLORADO.

actually refused, met with such opposition as to arouse the anger of William Bent, who at once bought out the interest of his brother and conceded to Gilpin the supplies he had applied for, being subsequently paid by the government. Robert Bent died October 20th, 1841, aged 25, and was buried at the old fort on the Arkansas. George passed away soon afterward, and was laid beside his brother, but the remains were subsequently exhumed and taken to their final resting place in the city of St. Louis.

To the first wife of William Bent five children were born-Mary, Robert. George, Julia and Charles. Her death followed soon after the birth of the last. when her husband, after a period of mourning, married her sister. Colonel William Bent was appointed agent for the Cheyennes and Arapahoes in 1859, but held the position less than one year. In the fall of 1859 he leased his new fort (Fort Wise) to the United States for a military station, and it was occupied by federal troops (under command of Colonel, afterward General, Sedgwick, who was killed at Spottsylvania, Va., May 2nd, 1864) until a short time before the new fort, named in honor of General Lyon, was built. (See Vol. 1, page 165.) The same year he erected a picket dwelling at the mouth of the Purgatoire, now known as Judge R. M. Moore's place, where a part of the land was put under cultivation. This was the first improvement in the county ontside of the adobe forts mentioned. In 1860 R. M. Moore, son-in-law of Col. Wmn. Bent, arrived on the scene from Jackson county, Mo., and occupied the picket house, an enclosure 100x100 feet, with rooms on the north and west sides. Then Col. Bent engaged in the business of freighting goods for the federal government from Leavenworth to Fort Union, New Mexico, in which, and in trading with the Indians, he continued until his death, May 19th, 1860.

The principal agency and rendezvous of the Plains Indians was for many years at "Big Timber," a large forest of gigantic cottonwoods, the site of Bent's new fort. and was conducted by Major Fitzpatrick, one of the more prominent of the old plains- men, who died there in 1855. He was held in great veneration by the savages, for he was kind, just and brave, knew them, their language, their customs and needs, and treated them in all fairness, honesty and justice. llis wife was a half-breed Arapahoe, daughter of John Poisal, an interpreter known as "Red Eyes" from the inflamed state of his visual organs. Robert Miller, from one of the Kansas agencies, succeeded Fitzpatrick, and came to Big Timber accompanied by a young and enter- prising man named John W. Prowers, who afterward became one of the more noted of the stock growers, business men and politicians of that section, for whom Prowers county, organized in 1889. was named. He was very energetic, intelligent and broad minded, and in the passing years won a distinguished place in the esteem of his fellow men.

The scout, Indian fighter, and mountaineer, Charley Autobees, formed a small settlement of Mexicans and Indians on the Hueriano, the first in that region, and Uncle Dick Wootten with a few of the same class lived for a time at the foot of the Greenhorn. Both raised crops, and after supplying their own wants sold the surplus to the troops at Fort Union.

At the Big Timber agency, Col. Albert G. Boone succeeded Miller, in 1860, and in that year negotiated the treaty whereby the Arapahoes and Cheyennes relin- (mished their titles to most of the plains country cast of the mountains. In 1863 the agency was removed to "Point of Rocks," where building began on a some- what extensive scale, and the next spring 300 to 400 acres of land were planted and an irrigating ditch taken out. The Indians, becoming restless, were irritated by the increasing immigration of white people, and regretting the surrender of their lands, also incited by the Sioux, began to prepare for a prodigions uprising in 1864. the particulars of which and its consequences, including the battle of Sand Creek, are related in Volume 1, beginning with page 324.

HISTORY OF COLORADO.

John W. Prowers brought in his first herd of cattle consisting of 100 cows, in the year 1861. This proved the inception of the stock-breeding industry in Bent county. In June, 1863, L. A. Allen, with twelve other young men from Missouri, arrived at Fort Lyon with 700 head of stock for Solomon Young of Jack- son county, Missouri. In the fall of the same year came Thomas Rule with three sons and encamped upon the stream that bears his name, where they built a stone house, but its abandonment occurred soon after because of the hostility of the Indians. Thomas O. Boggs, one of the earlier settlers in the county, and, during his lifetime one of the most honored of its citizens, and L. A. Allen, came over from Zan Hicklin's ranch on the Greenhorn, bringing a large herd of cattle, the property of Lucien B. Maxwell, and effected their settlement on the Arkansas in Bent county. Sometime prior to this, however, J. B. Doyle, B. B. Fields, William Kroenig and others had settled on the Huerfano and engaged in farming, marketing their produce at the nearest military posts. A fertile and attractive park known as "Nine Mile Bottom," on the Purgatoire, 30 miles above its mouth, became speedily settled. Uriel Higbee, Samuel T. Smith, William Richards, Robert Jones, John Carson (a nephew of Kit Carson) and James Elkins located there in 1865, and at once began stock raising and farming. Mr. Boggs went to New Mexico, and in 1866 returned with Charles L. Rite and L. A. Allen and founded the town of Boggsville, three miles south of the Purgatoire. Prowers and Robert Bent dug an irrigating ditch, and put one thousand acres of land under tillage with satisfactory results. At that time corn sold for 8 to 12 cents a pound, flour $8 to $12 per 100 pounds, and vegetables in proportion. The same year a number of ranchmen staked out farms on the Purgatoire and the Arkansas, and sheep and cattle were introduced.

The name and fame of Kit Carson are held in profoundest veneration by the people of Bent county. A sketch of his life appears in Vol. I, page 153. At the close of his military career (1867) he settled with his family at Boggsville, having obtained title to two ranches on the Purgatoire from his friend Ceran St. Vrain, on which he made some improvements. Carson's second wife was of the French Beaubien family. Her mother was a Mexican. To her were born six children- William, Kit, Charles, Estiphena, Rebecca and Josephita. At the death of their parents, Thomas O. Boggs became the guardian of these children and administrator of the Carson estate, which was appraised at about $9,000, mainly in live stock.

What is known as the old Las Animas Grant was conveyed to Ceran St. Vrain and Cornelio Vijil of Taos in 1843 by the governor of the Province of New Mexico. It is thus described by Mr. C. W. Bowman, who obtained the boundaries from one of the heirs: "Beginning on the north line of the lands of Miranda and Beaubien, at one league east of the Rio de Las Animas, where there was plowed a corner; thence following a straight line to the Arkansas river, one league below the confluence of the Animas and the Arkansas, made the second corner on the bank of the said Arkansas river; thence continuing to follow up the same Arkansas river to a point one league and a half below its confluence with the San Carlos, made the third corner; thence following a straight line toward the south to the foot of the first mountain, two leagues west of the river Huerfano, and placed the fourth corner: thence continuing on a straight line to the top of the mountain where the Huerfano rises, and placed the fifth corner: thence following the top of the said mountain toward the east until it encounters the line of Miranda and Beaubien, and placed the sixth corner: thence following said line to the beginning corner: within the counties of Pueblo, Huerfano, Las Animas and Bent in the Territory of Colorado, and the county of Colfax in the Territory of New Mexico," (See Vol. II, page 161).

During the construction of the Kansas Pacific railway across the plains in 1868-60, the Indians were extremely active and troublesome, harassing all routes of travel, killing the freighters, and grading parties, attacking ranchies, stealing

HISTORY OF COLORADO.

stock, and murdering and burning wherever the opportunity offered. Troops were sent against them from the east and from Fort Lyon, but it was not until 1870 that their depredations finally ceased.

After the building of Fort Lyon a considerable settlement sprang up on the opposite side of the Arkansas river, three-quarters of a mile distant. A town site was surveyed by Capt. William Craig in February, 1869, and christened Las Animas city. Inhabitants multiplied and the new town grew apace, with flattering prospects for the future. The next year a toll bridge was thrown across the stream and Las Animas city was thus connected with the fort. It soon became the center of a very large freighting traffic between the railroad and towns in New Mexico. In 1873 Charles W. Bowman brought in a printing office and founded the Weekly Las Animas "Leader." Both Bowman and his well-edited journal became valuable acquisitions to that part of the territory, winning the confidence and support of the people. During the progress of the main line of the Kansas Pacific R. R. toward Denver, the town of Kit Carson was founded. Field & Hill erected a building there in the fall of 1869, and stocked it with merchandise. Joseph Perry built a hotel that winter and William Connor another in the spring. It was an active place for a time but soon died out.

In 1873 the Kansas Pacific extended a branch from Kit Carson to the south side of the Arkansas with a view to accommodate Forts Lyon and Reynolds, and with the intention also of continuing on to Pueblo. It reached the site of West Las Animas, October 18th. The town was platted and lots offered for sale by the West Las Animas Town company. The disturbance created by this act has been narrated in our second volume. The first actual settler upon the tract was George A. Brown. One of the first buildings erected was for a whisky saloon. William Carson moved the American house from Kit Carson and reopened it at Las Animas. The Hughes Brothers, dealers in lumber, Shoemaker & Earhart, merchants, followed, and Kehl- berg & Bartels and Prowers & Hough established commission houses. Fort Lyon was abandoned in 1890, the property being left in charge of an ordnance sergeant.

The principal industries of the county have always been cattle and sheep grow- ing, and some of the larger operators who sold out when live stock brought high prices realized handsome fortunes.

Soon after the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railway was extended westward from Kansas into Colorado, the town of Granada was founded. The railway reached it July 4th, 1873, and there halted for a considerable time. Granada and Las Animas became competing points for the trade of New Mexico, which con- tinned with increasing activity until the terminus of the road was moved to La Junta, in December. 1875. The extension of the Denver & Rio Grande road to El Moro, and the completion of the Santa Fe to Pueblo in 1876, literally destroyed the freighting and commission trade of Bent county.

Las Animas, notwithstanding, has grown to be a strong commercial center for stock and wool growers, and for the farming region roundabout. It is an important station on the Santa Fé railway, 83 miles southeast of Pueblo. It has four churches, the Baptist, Catholic, Episcopal and Methodist Episcopal, a bank, two hotels, many stores and private residences, a weekly newspaper, a large and costly court house. city hall, a fine brick school house, a hospital, several secret and benevolent societies, etc. The town is situated near the western boundary of the county as at present the lines are drawn.

To illustrate how the county has been shorn of its taxable property by the organization of new counties from its once vast area, and also by the decline of the range cattle trade, we give the assessment returns from 1877 to 1890 as follows: 1877. $1.950.741.96: 1878, $2.270.376; 1870. $2.732,154: 1880, $2.736,110: 1881. $2,828.531: 1882, $3.282,011: 1883. $3.663.284: 1884. $4.035,110: 1885, $4.149.303: 1886. $4.322.094: 1887. $4.908.231; 1888, $7.824,469. In 1889 three new counties

HISTORY OF COLORADO.

were created, when the total dropped to $1.285,821 ; and in 1890 it was $1,467,617. In the year last named the live stock returned was as follows: Horses, 2,394: mules, 159: cattle, 16,048; sheep, 11,802.

From the report of the assessor for 1891 we abstract the following data: Lands under irrigation, 31,053 acres; pasture lands, 42,392 acres. Of the cultivated lands there were 4,165 acres in wheat which yielded 29,246 bushels; oats 1,442 acres, 22,800 bushels; barley 916 acres, 15,093 bushels; rye 4 acres, 100 bushels; corn 326 acres, 4,449 bushels ; alfalfa 5,467 acres, 11,902 tons, and 4,865 bushels of alfalfa seed gathered. There were 48 acres in sorghum and 187 gallons of syrup made there- from. In grove and forest trees 635 acres. The wool clip for the year was 77,000 pounds.

By the census of 1890 the school population of the county was 452 with an enrollment of 360, and an average daily attendance of 212. There were 9 school houses, with 470 sittings. The total valuation of school property was $20,165.

The officers for 1800-91 were: Clerk, Herman Frey: treasurer, John E. Doulon; county judge, Joseph Bradford: assessor, James H. Martin; sheriff, Thomas J. Hickman: coroner, Dr. John A. Clinger; superintendent of schools, Fred C. Ford; surveyor, J. B. Benton; clerk of the district court, John S. Hough; com- missioners, David S. Elliott, J. F. Minniss, M. H. Murray.

The nearest military post to Fort Lyon was Fort Reynolds in Pueblo county, twenty miles east of Pueblo, on the right bank of the Arkansas river. It was estab- blished in 1867, named for Brigadier-General J. J. Reynolds, and abandoned in 1872.

CHAFFEE COUNTY.

ORGANIZATION, AREA AND POPULATION-GENERAL DESCRIPTION-HARVARD, YALE AND PRINCETON PEAKS-DISCOVERY OF GOLD-RANCHES-ASSASSINATION OF JUDGE DVER-TOWNS-BUENA VISTA-NEWSPAPERS AND BANKS-FIRST SETTLERS- FAMOUS HOT SPRINGS-RAILWAYS AT SALIDA-SCHOOLS AND CHURCHES-PONCHA HOT SPRINGS-MINING CAMPS-MARBLE AND IRON.

This county takes its name from Jerome B. Chaffee, in his lifetime the leader of the Republican party in Colorado, who was elected first U. S. Senator after the ad- mission of our state into the Union. It was segregated from Lake county by an act of the legislature approved February 8th, 1879, taking the latter name, but by an act approved two days afterward it was changed to Chaffee. It is bounded on the north by Lake and Park, east by Park and Fremont, south by Sa- guache and partly by Fremont, and west by Gunnison. It is quite irregular in form owing to the configuration of the Continental Divide, which separates it from Gun- nison, while on the east its line generally follows the eastern watershed of the Arkan- sas river (which flows through the county in a southeasterly direction) known as the Park range. Among the tributaries of the Arkansas are the South branch, Cotton- wood, Chalk, Cache, Brown, Pine, Clear and other creeks of lesser importance. Trout creek rises in Buffalo peaks, and empties into the Arkansas three miles below Buena Vista. Its area is 1,150 square miles, and by the census of 1890 it had a popu- lation of 6,612. A considerable part of its territory bordering the principal streants, otherwise the bottom lands, are susceptible of cultivation, although Chaffee holds an important rank as one of the great mining counties. The first officers after the act of organization were: Commissioners. James P. True, Griffith Evans, and J. E.

HISTORY OF COLORADO.

Cole: county judge, Julius C. Hughes; clerk and recorder, George Leonhardy; treasurer, R. Mat. Jolinson ; sheriff, John Mear, all of whom except True, who held over from Lake county, were appointed to set the government in motion, and to serve until their successors should be chosen by the people at the next ensuing elec- tion. On the first of May, Mr. Johnson died, when Mr. E. R. Emerson was appointed treasurer."

The first meeting of the board of commissioners was held March 18th. 1879, at Granite, the temporary county seat, when Mr. True was elected chairman, the county divided into election precincts and judges of election were appointed. In November following, the people chose the list of officers subjoined: Commissioners, T. 1. Briscoe, J. T. Bray, and W. H. Champ: sheriff, L. J. Morgan: clerk and recorder, James H. Johnston: treasurer, E. R. Emerson: superintendent of schools, George L. Smith; assessor, Daniel D. Vroey; surveyor, W. R. Whipple. W. W. Dunbar was appointed county attorney, but the records are silent as to the county judge. At an election held in November, 1880, to determine the permanent location of the county seat, it was changed to Buena Vista.

The southern part of the Arkansas valley is broad and fertile, six to ten miles wide. bearing traces of glacial action. The eminent geologist, Prof. Louis Agassiz, was of the opinion that many, perhaps the most, of our mountain cañons and deep gorges were plowed out and cut into the various forms in which we find them by enormous glaciers. The marks here are distinct and unmistakable. The lofty peaks, which sen- tinel the ranges hereabouts, are a source of continual wonder and delight to the in- habitants, and are among the marvels of nature's work to the thousands of tourists who annually make the tour from the plains to Leadville and Salt Lake. There are the grand peaks of La Plata, 14, 126 feet; Ilarvard, 14,386: Yale, 14.101 : Princeton, 14, 199: Antero, 14,145: and Shavano, 14.239 feet above tide water. "In the southern boundary line. Mount Ouray, 14,043 feet, stands prominent, and in the eastern line the Buffalo Peaks, 13.541 feet. Timber line ranges at an elevation of 11,000 to 11.500 feet, but above this, and on the southern slopes, almost to the summit of the peaks. may be found grasses and most beautiful flowers, oftentimes close to the snow." This is a characteristic feature of nearly all our mountain ranges, and is a source of joy to cultivated and enthusiastic botanists.

Very soon after the first discovery of gold in Clear Creek, Boukler and Gilpin counties in 1859. prospectors penetrated to the head of the Arkansas valley traveling by different routes, finding gold-bearing gravel bars near the present seats of placer mining in Lake county, which, as will be seen by reference to the history of that county in Volume III, embraced nearly all of western Colorado. Therefore, down to 1879, the primary annals of what is now Chaffee county belonged to Lake. The first work of consequence was performed at Kelley's Bar, situated some four miles below Granite on the river. While the results obtained were by no means equal to those of California and other very rich gulches at a later date, these gravel deposits were profitably operated for several years, by individuals and corporate companies. The Cache creek placers were discovered and opened in the spring of 1860. It was here that H. A. W. Tabor took his initiatory lessons in the labors and uncertainties of mining : also Mr. S. B. Kellogg, who, later on, became a member of the San Juan exploring expedition, the man who aided in outfitting Capt. Baker, as related in our second volume. Cache creek has for more than thirty years been regarded as one of the best placers in the mountains, and though worked almost continuously from 1860 to the present is not wholly exhausted. "Georgia Bar, about two miles below Granite, opposite the mouth of Clear creek, was discovered and taken up by a

* In 1881 Mr. Imerson prepared a very complete and accurate sketch of Chaffee county to that date. for the History of the Arkansas Valley, by O 1. Baskin & Co., Chicago, which is frequently referred 10 by the present author

HISTORY OF COLORADO.

party of Georgians the same season," and this also has been almost continuously productive. Gold in considerable quantities was scattered all through this part of the valley. Just below Buena Vista (a town created by the South Park railway in 1879, but unknown prior to that time), and below the mouth of Cottonwood creek, on the western side, some fine placers were opened. The same is true of Brown creek, and of certain grounds at the head of Squaw creek, on the eastern slope of Mount Shavano.

Numerous hay, grain and vegetable ranches were located and cultivated along the alluvial bottom lands, deltas of the affluents of the Arkansas, and some of them yichled large crops, under irrigation.

Among the first of these claims was that of Mr. Frank Mayol, about eight miles above Buena Vista, now Riverside station, on the Denver & Rio Grande railway, who realized large sums from the sale of his hay and vegetables in the mining camps. It was purchased by Mr. George Leonhardy, who in 1872 "built a road to Chubb's ranch, on the divide, fourteen miles, thereby opening a short line to the South Park," which became the regular mail route until superseded by the Denver & South Park railway. Andrew Bard and Frank Loan in 1864 located a claim on the Cottonwood near Buena Vista, and building an irrigating canal made it highly profitable, growing hay, potatoes, oats and vegetables. "Benjamin Schwander took up a ranch on the east side of the river, near the mouth of Trout Creek; William Bale, John McPherson, J. E. Gonell and others followed in 1865, during which year Galatia Sprague, R. Mat. Johnston, John Gilliland. Mathew Rule and others settled Brown's Creek. In 1866 John Burnett. Nat. Rich and others settled on the South Arkansas, near Poncha Springs." In that year the county seat was removed from Oro City in California Gulch to Dayton, near the upper of the Twin Lakes. The county commissioners, composed of Peter Caruth, William Bale and George Leonhardy, laid out some important wagon roads which afforded better communica- tion between the northern and southern parts of the county. " In the spring of 1868, R. B. Newitt took up a ranch on the divide near the head of Trout creek, which soon became known as 'Chubb's ranch,' and was the favorite stopping place for all com- ing from Denver and Colorado Springs into the valley of the Arkansas. In the same year Charles Nachtrieb, living on Chalk creek, built a grist mill, which for a time was fully supplied with wheat grown on the neighboring ranches."

Meanwhile Granite had become a strong settlement, while the other formerly prominent points had retrograded through loss of population. It still had fair placer grounds, and some excitement had been raised by the discovery and opening of free gold quartz, which at the surface gave fine promise of great yields. Several mills were built to crush these decompositions, but as depth was gained the free milling products were displaced by ores of a refractory nature, and as the processes employed were unequal to handling them, they were gradually abandoned. But the popula- tion had become strong enough to warrant the removal of the county seat from Day- ton to that point, which was accomplished by vote in 1868. "The first meeting of the board of commissioners was held at the new county seat October 8th, Peter Caruth being chairman, Walter H. Jones and J. G. Ehrhart members, and Thomas Keves, clerk and recorder." Mines or lodes were located on Chalk creek as early as 1872, but no systematic mining was done until several years afterward. The coun- try being well adapted to stock raising, the valleys and hills were covered with cattle. But this industry long ago disappeared. The following tragic incident related by Emerson, was one of the most exciting events that occurred in the upper Arkansas. between 1860 and the rise of Leadville in 1879: "The numerous streams coming into the Arkansas from the west afforded abundant water for irrigation, but early in the spring of 1874, a difficulty arose in regard to water and certain ditches from Brown creek, that resulted in the killing of George Harrington, a ranchman, and a neighbor, Elijah Gibbs, with whom he had had a dispute the day before, was arrested

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History of the State of Colorado, Volume IV, Part 10

Author: Hall, Frank, 1836-1917. cn; Rocky Mountain Historical Company Publication date: 1889-95 Publisher: Chicago, Blakely print. Co. Number of Pages: 791

Author: Hall, Frank, 1836-1917. cn; Rocky Mountain Historical Company
Publication date: 1889-95
Publisher: Chicago, Blakely print. Co.
Number of Pages: 791