USA > Colorado > History of the State of Colorado, Volume IV > Part 27
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ranch some seven miles below Colona at the junction of Box Elder creek with the river."
The foregoing, with one other, a freighter, named Jones, whose ranch Gov- ernor Eaton afterward occupied, embraced all the settlers and settlements on the Cache-la-Poudre, down to the time mentioned therein. Some time later, Captain Sylvester and son, Hal Sayr, a civil engineer, John Peabody and Thomas Price came in and located on ranches. Up to that time the settlers at Colona had evinced great anxiety to have a new town company organized to relocate Colona, inasmuch as the Denver parties interested in the old organization had abandoned them, and, after consulting with Sayr, Peabody, Price and Sylvester and son, a new company was formed including in its membership the last five named, Mr. A. F. Howes and most of the resident members of Colona, and named it "The Laporte Town Site company," under which the site was located, covering two sections of land, which were surveyed into blocks and lots, with streets and alleys and platted under the supervision of Hal Sayr. The new town site included Colona and was rechristened Laporte ("the door").
Late in 1860, or early in 1861, Jesse M. Sherwood and his brother, F. W. Sherwood, with a few others located on the stream. The former died some years ago. The latter married and now resides in Fort Collins.
The territorial legislature of 1861 divided the territory into counties, designat- ing the boundaries thereof. The section which embraced nearly all of the valleys of Big and Little Thompson creeks, the greater part of the Cache-la-Poudre and Estes and North Parks was named Larimer, in honor of General William Larimer, one of the founders of Denver. The establishment of law and order and the intro- duction of the rudimentary elements of civilization at first was highly distasteful to the mountaineers, who had so long lived without other than self constituted laws, and grew suspicious lest the new order of things might infringe upon some of their rights and privileges, but they soon fell into amiable acquiescence.
In 1862 Laporte was garrisoned by United States troops that were encamped at Point of Rocks a short distance west of the town to keep the Indians in check. During that year the Overland stage company changed its route from North Platte to the Denver and Laporte route, and in September, 1864, the garrison was removed to the military reservation on which the town of Fort Collins now stands. Colonel William (). Collins, of the 11th Ohio regiment, located the camp and established the reservation, which embraced a tract four miles square. The original camp was located near the spot where Antoine Janise had driven the stakes of his homestead eighteen years before. Colonel Collins died in Hillsborough, Ohio, October 26th, 1880.
When the post was abandoned, and the reservation opened to settlement in 1874, the lands were immediately taken up and settled upon.
The growth of population and the development of agriculture were slow, not- withstanding the great attractiveness of the region, until after its abandonment by the military, which occupied the choice lands of the valley. The county is bounded on the north by the state of Wyoming, on the east by Weld county, on the south by Boulder and Grand counties, and on the west by Grand and Routt counties, having a length of ninety-six miles by fifty-one miles in width, embracing an area of 4,100 square miles. By the census of 1800 its population was 9.712, an increase of 4,820 in the preceding decade. Its elevation ranges between 4,500 and 12,000 feet above the sea. From the base of the foot-hills to the cast line the plains vary in width from twelve to twenty miles, according to the trend of the mountains. The center of the county from east to west is high, broken and mountainous, inter- spersed with numerous beautiful parks, caverns and rocky gorges. The extreme western part included in North Park is a high plateau having an elevation of about 9,000 feet and surrounded by snow-capped Cordilleras.
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Agriculture, stock raising, wool growing, dairying, mining and the quarrying of superior paving and building stones constitute the principal industries. Agri- culture is mainly confined to the plains east of the mountains, but all the hardier vegetables are grown to a considerable extent in the mountain parks. The original settlers were stock growers. These were succeeded by farmers who constructed irrigating canals, and began sowing and planting the virgin soil, which gradually pushed aside the stock growers, who sought the broad plains as feeding grounds for their large herds.
The first farms were confined to the first and second bottoms of the streams, the uplands being considered worthless for tillage. The occupants of the lowlands were engaged in growing hay and marketing the same by hauling it in wagons, at first, to the mining towns of Gilpin, county, where tremendous prices were obtained. After a time it was demonstrated that the uplands were among the best grass lands of the world, after which capital to build ditches and canals for them was easily raised.
According to the census report of 1870, the population of Larimer county was 838. Ten years later it had increased to 4,892, and the growth was steady and quite strong during the succeeding decade. Most of the productive farms are in the valleys of the Cache-la-Poudre, and on Big and Little Thompson creeks and their adjacent table-lands.
The county is widely renowned as the agricultural garden of the state, un- surpassed in fertility of soil and the abundance of its harvests. An infinite variety of cereals, vegetables, grasses and fruits are grown. The soil, while no better, per- haps, than that of Boulder and Weld counties, is rich and enduring. Some of the farmns have produced sixty bushels of wheat per acre, and the same crops have been grown on the same land for fifteen years in succession without any appreciable deterioration.
The first irrigating canal was taken out of the Cache-la-Poudre in 1859 by a man named A. E. Lytton, afterward the first sheriff of the county. It was a diminu- tive affair, surveyed by Hal Sayr, scarcely worthy to rank among the great water ways of later times, nevertheless it served well the needs of its builder, who used it to fructify and render fruitful his small garden. It was, moreover, one of the first, possibly the original, efforts in that direction in this part of the Rocky Mountains, and to-day stands first on the list of priorities in Water district No. 3, in the great system since created by legislative enactments for the advancement of husbandry throughout the state. It is now known as the "Yeager ditch," and the several "appropriations" equal 176.06 cubic feet of water per second of time. To illustrate the advances made, it may be stated that the total appropriations of water claimed in district No. 3, and taken from the Cache-la-Poudre and its tributaries, aggregate 4,442.73 cubic feet per second .*
Says Lagrange, perhaps our highest authority on irrigation: "Frequent in- quiries are made of how much water is required to irrigate an acre of land. In my opinion, there have not at this time been sufficient data collected to determine the quantity necessary to irrigate any given area. That the ultimate duty of water can be determined upon in any case is not, in the nature of things, possible at the present.
As a general thing the duty of water is increasing in the older sections of the state where irrigation has long been practiced. Climatic and atmospheric in- fluences incident to a high mountain region, and the variableness in the character of our soils, place all calculations at fault. Improved methods in preparing land and increasing skill in the application of water, all have a tendency to lessen the
* The next ditch was surveyed by Hal Sayr on the Big Thompson, for J. L. Brush. Judge Osborn, Wm. Stover. Bruce Johnson and others, and he also surveyed and sectionized all their lands on the Thompson after the government had surveyed the 40th parallel.
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amount necessary to the growth of crops. The duty of water might be expressed by an announcement of the quantity required to irrigate an acre of land. Thus in the case of a ditch that delivers water at the rate of two cubic feet per second through the season, and accomplishes the irrigation of 200 acres of land, it is said that the water performs a duty of 100 acres per second foot; that is, a continuous flow of one cubic foot per second for the season will irrigate 100 acres of land. From my experience and observation, the duty of water in this district varies from one and a half to two cubic feet per second, necessary to irrigate a growing crop of wheat on 80 acres of land, and that the highest duty of water is only attained where its scarcity compels the utmost economy in its use."
The first regular organization of Larimer county and the beginning of local government occurred, as previously stated, in 1861. Governor Gilpin appointed Abner Loomis, John Heath and W. A. Bean, county commissioners. Up to 1864 no serious difficulties with the aborigines occurred, although many threats of massacre were uttered by a few malicious half-breeds, evidently for the sole 'object of spreading alarm among the settlers. In the year named, when Mr. Loomis was on his way to Denver for a supply of provisions, he met near St. Vrain's creek a man named Fackler, with a number of beef cattle owned by his employer, named Reed, who had taken a contract to supply Fort Sanders, near Laramie City, with beef. Loomis informed Fackler that the Indians were becoming troublesome in the region beyond the Cache-la-Poudre, and strongly advised him not to proceed without re- inforcements. He went on, however, without assistance and was killed.
Fort Collins, situated on a plateau fifty feet above the river, is the seat of Larimer county, and according to the census of 1890 had 2,011 inhabitants. It is a well established and prosperous community with an excellent system of graded schools, an agricultural college that is the pride of the state; a system of water works for fire and domestic purposes, built in 1883 at a cost of about $150,000; perfected sewerage; an electric light plant; two large flouring mills, each ca- pable of producing 500 sacks of flour daily; two railroads, and the promise of others; fine hotels; solid blocks of brick and stone business houses occupied by enterprising merchants; sidewalks of stone; well established and substantial banks: grain elevators capable of storing great quantities of grain; a cheese factory equal to the production of 3,000 pounds of cheese daily; a superb court house erected in 1887 at a cost of about $50,000; a city hall and engine house of brick ; six beau- tiful churches; two newspapers with commercial printing offices attached; many handsome residences, in short, everything requisite for a brisk and growing town. It was organized in 1872. The assessed valuation of property in 1880 was $388,000. and in 1889 it had increased to $1,000,000. The first newspaper, the "Express," was established in April, 1873, by J. S. MeClelland. Later in the same year the "Standard" was founded by Clark Boughten, who survived the birth of the paper only a few months, when it passed into other hands and soon after suspended. In 1878 the "Courier" was established by Ansel Watrous, and in 1885 the "Bee," by S. W. Teagarden. This latter venture expired soon after the first year. At present the "Express" and the "Courier," the former Republican, the latter Democratic. occupy the journalistic field.
The Odd Fellows, Masons and A. O. U. W. have strong lodges, the Masons having a Royal Arch chapter and a commandery of Knights Templar.
The State Agricultural college is an institute of great value to the agricultural interests of the entire state. It may be said to exert a controlling influence upon that industry through its extensive and well-ordered experiments in the propagation of various plants and seeds, whereby it has demonstrated what can be successfully cultivated in the various soils, and the better methods to be employed. Since its introduction it has measurably relieved the farmer from the necessity of experiment- ing on his own account, by taking that branch of labor and inquiry to itself. and
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developing by intelligent effort the conditions by which crops of all kinds may be raised. The facts show that the knowledge thereby imparted has been of incal- culable benefit to the entire field of husbandry, and that it will long continue to be of paramount importance will not be denied.
The college, in common with those of like character in other states, had its origin in the act of Congress of 1862 which granted 90,000 acres of land as an en- dowment fund for a college "where the leading objects shall be, without excluding other scientific and classical studies, and including military tactics, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions of life." No benefit was derived from this grant, until by a subsequent act of April 24th, 1884, it was confirmed to the state. The land has now been located, and a small part sold, the proceeds to form a perpetual endow- ment fund. The state has generously supported the college by providing for the levy of a tax of one fifth of a mill annually on each dollar of valuation, which gives it a steady endowment but does not greatly foster its growth.
This institute was incorporated by the legislature in 1870. The act was amended in 1872, and again in 1874, but no steps were taken toward the erection of a college by the board in charge. In 1877, by the death of the president of the board and the removal of other members from the state, an emergency was de- clared to exist, and a new law was enacted and given immediate effect. To the state board of agriculture, then reorganized, was intrusted the work of building a college. Fort Collins was selected as the site, and at a meeting held February 27th, 1878, it was determined to erect a building suited to college purposes. The corner- stone was laid July 29th in that year, by the Grand Lodge A. F. & A. M., of Colorado, Grand Master C. J. Hart, of Pueblo, officiating. Before the end of the year, the building was completed, but was not opened for the reception of students, however, until September Ist, 1879. The dormitory was built in 1881, and the chemical laboratory a year later, though not thoroughly fitted for work until May, 1883. In 1882 a small propagating house was built for experiments in horticulture. The present elaborate and complete greenhouse, equipped with all modern appli- ances, was completed September Ist, 1883, and simultaneously the mechanical department was finished, ready for the students.
At this time the college comprises the following distinct departments: Agri- culture, chemistry and geology; horticulture, botany and entomology; history, liter- ature and modern languages; mathematics and military science; mechanics and drawing: physics and engineering; veterinary science and zoology. During the first year-1870-but twenty students attended. In 1887 the number was one hundred and forty-five.
The development of the school is best shown by the growth of departments. At first there was but the single department of agriculture, with the regulation English education, with a smattering of the sciences. This continued until Septem- ber Ist, 1882, when mechanics and drawing were added, and the chemical depart- ment put into active operation. Within a year mathematics and engineering were made a distinct line, as also was horticulture, merged with botany; then came veterinary science. In this manner a comprehensive foundation was laid for the education of each young person who might seek it here. Labor, two hours daily, is enjoined by law upon all not exempt by reason of physical disability. Military drill is also obligatory.
That the Colorado Agricultural college is one of the best in the Union is attested by the reports of numerotts committees of inspection from foreign lands. that were sent to the United States with instructions to visit and examine all such in- stitutions founded by our government. The educational work is, to take young people, and, by a four or five years' course, familiarize them with the sciences on
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which agriculture, horticulture and other industries depend, and at the same time impart a good English education and training for useful citizenship. Much in- telligent effort has been employed in experimental work, first, for three years, on the farm, then adding horticulture, and, at a later period, experiments in the flow of water and evaporation, with studies of the diseases of animals.
Here in Colorado the conditions are found to be so different from those of older states, new experiments must be instituted, and those of other states re- peated, to attain results of value to occupants of the arid region. In 1887 the Ilatch "experiment station" bill passed Congress, and in February, 1888, an appro- priation was made to carry out the provisions of the act. This gives the sum of $15,000 annually to support an "experimental station" in Colorado in connection with the State Agricultural college.
The state board met February 20th, 1888, and proceeded to organize such a station as the law contemplated, and make it one department of the college. It was named "The Agricultural Experiment Station," and is governed by an exe- cutive committee of three members, but experiments are decided by a council composed of the officers and workers of the station, and are afterward ratified by the committee in charge. This department has auxiliary stations in other parts of the state, viz .: At Rocky Ford, Bent county ; near Eastonville, El Paso county, and in the San Luis valley, near Del Norte. Experiments at these stations are in consonance with those of the college department as named above and under the same management.
In the conditions that exist in Colorado no more important field for experi- ment can be found, and the determination of the adaptability of certain crops to the soil and climate by the experimental stations will be worth to the people far more than maintaining the school and station for a quarter of a century. The determination within the past three years of the value of the tobacco plant as a crop to be raised will be of great value, and especially since it has been demon- strated by the experiments thus far conducted that our soil is capable of pro- ducing tobacco equal to the best raised in any of the American states. The Seventh General Assembly appropriated $25,000 for the construction of an addi- tion to the main college building and a horticultural hall, both of which have been completed.
The business of quarrying stone for building and street paving is rapidly assuming vast proportions. It is the basis of what will soon become an extensive commerce, exceeding in tonnage our annual traffic in coal. About the year 1876, a few enterprising residents in and about Fort Collins conceived the idea-then re- garded as the height of folly-of utilizing the immense deposits of flagging stone found in the first series of foothills west of the town. Pursuing this idea to a practical conclusion through many difficulties, first in opening the quarries, and next in getting the products to market by wagon transportation, since there were no railways, the work proceeded slowly until the year 1881, when the Greeley, Salt Lake & Pacific railway company built a track from its main line to the quarries that are now owned and operated by the stone department of the Union Pacific railway company. Since that time the traffic in stone has been augmented steadily through the stimulus furnished by the constant demands from the builders of Denver, and those of towns and cities to the eastward, along the Missouri river, and the in- terior towns of Kansas and Nebraska. In 1886 the Union Pacific built a branch from its Colorado Central road, at Loveland, to its quarries a few miles west, where immense quantities of stone are produced and shipped to various points. It is an extremely hard, compact and durable. pinkish-gray sandstone, equal to the better granites for building and street paving, in fact, it has no superior in all the broad range of our resources in that line. In 1886 the company employed about three hundred and fifty men, and the amount expended for quarrying,
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dressing and loading on the cars was $250,874.78 for the single item of labor. The company shipped from that point during that year 4,645 carloads of stone for curbing, paving, sidewalks, etc., in Omaha, Kansas City, Salina and Topeka, Kan- sas; Lincoln, Nebraska, and other points along its lines. In 1889 it shipped about 12,000 carloads.
The redstone quarries near Belleview also are extensively operated, and from which many beautiful buildings have been constructed. About fifteen miles north- west of Fort Collins a large deposit of fine white marble has been discovered, and will, at no distant day, be extensively utilized for various purposes to which it is peculiarly adapted, in the state and elsewhere.
The mineral resources of Larimer county are as yet but imperfectly developed, though in the mountainous portion a number of gold and silver bearing lodes have been found and partially opened. The Teller district, at the head of Jack creek, in North Park, has many veins that contain galena ores, bearing silver in paying quantities, and near them are large deposits of excellent coal. Manhattan dis- triet, about forty miles west of Fort Collins, has some veins of gold ore that, when fully developed, may become profitable mines. Again, in the vicinity of the North Fork of the Cache-la-Poudre, some forty miles northwest of the town named, are some deposits of copper ore, samples from which yielded by assaying sixty per cent. of metallic copper.
The history of Fort Collins and its immediate neighborhood having been thus briefly sketched, it is proper to turn our attention to the other towns and settlements of this rich and beautiful section of country embraced within the boundaries of Larimer county.
Away back in early days, so runs the story, when the California gold fever swept over the land, a train of immigrants, in which we are especially interested, was winding its way toward the Pacific slope, gathering to its numbers as it slowly advanced, until more than a hundred and twenty men were included. One day, while on the Platte river, a short distance west of the turbid Missouri, this train overtook a solitary wagon drawn by two mules and occupied by two men, one a veritable giant in stature, the other small and insignificant in appearance. They gave the names of Thompson, and said they were brothers. Uniting with the band first mentioned, they came to be commonly designated as "Big and Little Thomp- son." Journeying on together, no incident of importance occurred until the stream now known as Big Thompson creek was reached, when the larger of the brothers, astride one of the mules, went hunting for game after camp had been made for the night. An hour later the mule returned with Thompson clinging to the saddle, and three or four Indian arrows sticking in his back. He said he had been ambushed while endeavoring to ride around a bunch of antelope. Seeing no Indians, he was not aware that there were any in that vicinity until sharply apprised of the fact by being struck by two arrows at once. He died that night and was buried on the banks of the stream, and from that day it has been known as Big Thompson creek, and its neighbor took the pseudonym of his brother, "Little Thompson."
Taking its rise among the rocky precipices of Long's Peak, flowing down through picturesque Estes Park and on through mountain gorge and cañon, until it debouches upon the plain, it is one of the most attractive affluents in all Colorado. The valley it traverses, though not wide, is of remarkable fertility, and is divided into farms, all of which bear unmistakable evidence of great thrift and pros- perity, dotted with substantial houses, and in the fields graze herds of sleek, fat cattle and horses. The first stage station of the Overland Stage and Express com- pany on this creek was at the ranch of a noted mountaineer, trapper and guide named Mariano Modena, a Mexican of the better class, who was as well known to, and as profoundly respected by all the early settlers of this region as Carson, Bent, Baker and other celebrities of the guild.
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The first white man to take up a residence on the Big Thompson, however, was William MeGaa, known far and wide as "Jack Jones," who had much to do also with the founding of Denver and Auraria. He built in 1859 a cabin on the place now designated the "Abe Rist ranch." The following year quite an influx of settlers came and located upon the inviting lands. In 1860, or 1861, the first irrigating ditch was built, taking the rather ostentatious title of "The Big Thompson Irrigating and Manufacturing Ditch company." The "Chubbuck ditch" was the first taken out to convey water to the bluffs or uplands, in 1867. As every in- habited region where considerable numbers are congregated must have a town or mail and trading post, it was established at Modena's ranch, where all the stages stopped, but the town of St. Louis, a mile, or so from the site of Loveland, suc- ceeded. In 1877 the Colorado Central railway was built across the valley and the town of Loveland established, which became the trade center of all the valley. It is one of the most beautiful little towns along the base of the mountains, claims a population of about one thousand, maintains two banks, quite a number of busi- ness houses, excellent schools, several churches, etc. Its one weekly newspaper, the "Reporter," was founded in 1882, and is devoted to the interests of that section of country. It has a system of water works that are supplied from the mountain canon about seven miles distant. The town was named for Hon. W. A. H. Love- land, under whose supervision the Colorado Central railway was extended from Longmont to Wyoming Territory.
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