History of the State of Colorado, Volume IV, Part 39

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

USA > Colorado > History of the State of Colorado, Volume IV > Part 39

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The town of Hamilton, three-fourths of a mile above Tarryall City, near the head of and in the western edge of the park on Tarryall creek, was named for a member of the original company, mentioned at the outset of this sketch. All the claims then located proved quite rich, some of them yielding fortunes to their owners. Reports of the find soon reached Denver, Gregory, Russell and other camps to the eastward, hence in a short time a multitude came pouring in. The later comers, however, finding that all the paying ground had been absorbed by the original company, and that they stoutly opposed all proposals to divide up with the new crowd, the latter in derision changed the name to "Graball," and proceeding further west, at length discovered gold-bearing placers on the South Fork of the South Platte where Fairplay now stands, so designated to indicate their opinion of the Tarryall miners who had declined to admit them to close com- munion. This discovery occurred August 19th, 1859. During 1860 both Tarry- all and Hamilton grew rapidly, expanding by increased numbers and the location of many business houses, into a commercial center for all neighboring settlements on Jefferson, Michigan and other creeks where mining was carried on. George Wing was the first recorder of claims in Tarryall, but resigned, and at a special election, held in 1862, George W. Lechner was elected to the vacancy.

Some large and substantial log structures were erected, many well-assorted stocks of merchandise, suited to the locality and trade, established. Hotels. board- ing houses, with several saloons; a huge gambling tent running twenty tables oc- cupying the large plaza, a theater and finally a newspaper became brisk acces- sories to the newly-fledged metropolis, the latter founded by Byers, Dailey & Bliss of the Rocky Mountain "News," printed in Denver, but dated and circulated in Hamilton and the region round about, as an influence in the first political cam- paign, which came on in 1860.

In the second year eight to ten thousand people, chiefly men, inhabited the northwestern section of the South Park. Denver being then, as now, the chief depot of supplies, communication therewith was opened by the construction of rude wagon roads. But the throng of prospectors and camp followers became too numerous for the limited resources of Tarryall, hence the surplus scattered abroad into the other sections, on to Ten Mile, Breckenridge, Georgia Gulch, up and down the forks of the Platte, across the range into the upper Arkansas valley, and even into the distant mountains of the San Juan.

In due course, Buckskin Joe, Montgomery, Mosquito and other encampments were made. In the absence of trustworthy records, it is impossible to state the amount of gold extracted by the early settlers, but certain estimates have been collected which will appear in the course of our narrative. None of the placer districts were largely inhabited after 1863. In 1861 appeals for volunteers by

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Governor Gilpin took away some hundreds into the Colorado regiments. Some returned east to unite with the Union or Confederate armies, a few engaged in agricultural pursuits, stock raising, etc., hence the first flush of prosperity endured only about three years. At the time of my first visit there in the summer of 1864, Hamilton, Buckskin Joe and Mosquito contained each only a few families, Fair- play being the only town which gave any signs of permanency. In 1873-4 corporations with capital began purchasing, relocating and consolidating the old 100-foot placer and lode claims, which were thereafter operated under improved methods. Tarryall creek was worked for a distance of five miles. Leland Peabody, Curtice and Hibbard, Barrett, Hall & Rische and the Leibelt Bros. were among the larger owners at that time. William Liebelt has been working for twenty years at the head of Glacier channel near Bower's Point. In 1879, Peabody em- ployed fifteen men from May to October, the usual season, and cleaned up nearly $7,000. Some large nuggets, with much coarse and fine gold, were taken out by Barrett, Hall & Rische, but the scarcity of water was a serious obstruction to ex- tensive mining by modern methods. Nevertheless, considerable quantities of gold have been obtained at different times since 1874. Much of the unworked ground would pay well if a plentiful supply of water were accessible. In 1860, at Nelson's bar, some twelve miles below Hamilton, just above the junction of Michigan and Tarryall creeks, a number of miners congregated and engaged in placer mining with quite satisfactory returns. Lodes containing both gold and silver were prospected, but not extensively opened. In 1880 the town of Hamilton had a population of less than fifty souls. In the near vicinity are a number of productive hay ranches.

Tarryall City was laid out in 1861 by J. W. Holman, but for twenty years not a vestige of the town has remained, save here and there a pile of stones to indicate where the chimneys of the cabins once stood. Governor Gilpin was accorded a reception at Hamilton in 1861 under the auspices of the Free Masons of that town.

Buckskin Joe .- The discovery of gold which led to the founding of this dis- trict occurred in August, 1860, when Joseph Higginbottom, known as "Buck- skin Joe," W. H. K. Smith, M. Phillips, A. Fairchild, D. Berger, David Greist and others found precious metals in the margins of the creek and along the gulch where the town is located. These men formed a district, adopted laws for its govern- ment, and proceeded to develop their find. The place was named in honor of Higginbottom, taking his pseudonym of "Buckskin Joe." The stream was named for Mr. Fairchild. The Phillips lode, which subsequently proved extraordinarily rich, was discovered in September following and named for Mr. Phillips. Dur- ing the two years of its operation it yielded something over $300,000 froni the surface decompositions. These extended to a depth of fifteen to forty feet, when iron and copper pyrites supervened, which, in due time put a stop to mining on that lode for the reason that the pyritiferous ores could not be successfully treated by the stamp mills located there. This deposit was the largest and most profitable that has been found in Park county.

Winter descends upon that region in October and prevails until May, hence little beyond preparatory work was done until late in the spring of 1861, when the district was reorganized, new laws were framed and adopted. I. W. Hibbard was elected president. David Griest, who had been elected recorder of claims in 1860, being absent, Jacob B. Stansell was chosen in his stead. Later on Griest re- turned, when much controversy arose over the office of recorder. It was settled by the resignation of both claimants and a new election, which resulted in the reinstatement of Stansell by a large majority. During this year all the neighbor- ing gulches and mountain slopes were prospected, and many lode claims staked.

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The original location certificate of the Phillips, filed in June, 1861, ran as follows: "Know all men by these presents, that we, Buckskin Joe & Co., claim 1,800 feet on the Phillips lead, and I, Buckskin Joe, claim the right of discovery."

Recorder Stansell was presented with claim No. 6 because he recorded the certificates without fees, and this proved the richest section of the lode. In October, 1861, a town company was formed, composed of I. W. Hibbard, J. B. Stansell, Miles B. Dodge and J. D. Stewart.

When the selection of a name for the town came under discussion, Mr. Stansell proposed that it be named for the only ladies in the camp, Mrs. M. B. Dodge and her sister, Mrs. Allen Dodge, and it was at once agreed to. The first was named Laura and the other Jeanette, therefore, to compliment both, they made a combination of the two, thus-"Laur-ette." The town designated Laurette was afterward made the county seat, and the same title given to the post office. In 1862 the post office was changed to Buckskin. The first county officers were: WV. L. McMath, probate judge; J. L. Lewis, sheriff: George Wing, recorder; L. W. Dorsett, Azel Slaght and L. L. Robinson, county commissioners.

The mining district has retained its original title to the present time. In June, 1862, still another reorganization took place, and a new code of rules and regulations was adopted. N. J. Bond became president, and George De Alby, recorder. The latter afterward enlisted in the Union army, served during the war, became a prominent officer and was transferred to the regular army at the final windup of the rebellion.

The extraordinary richness of the Phillips attracted about 1,000 people to Buckskin. In September, 1861, Charles M. Farrand brought in a stamp mill and began crushing surface quartz from No. 6 on the Phillips. Stansell sold a half interest in the claim to N. J. Bond, whom he had induced to locate there, for a like interest in a pair of mules, harness, wagon and a stock of provisions, the latter being then the more valuable consideration. They subsequently bought claims No. 3, 5 and 7, which also proved quite productive. Hart Harris, who came in about that time, bought a half interest in those of Stansell and Bond, and made considerable money. Stansell and Bond commenced sluicing from the surface on the 18th of June, 1861, and from that time to October 19th took out $30,000 in gold. Claims under the old mining law were 100 feet in length, the discoverer being entitled to 200 linear feet of the vein, with suitable allowance for dumpage. Between September, 1861, and the summer of 1862 there were nine stamp mills, with a total of seventy-eight stamps, and ten or twelve Mexican arastras at work crushing surface ores, and some three hundred men were employed in and about the town. In January, 1862, a small weekly newspaper, which had been published at Tarryall by Matt Riddlebarger and W. L. MeMath, was moved to Buckskin and there issued until November following, when it suspended. The first capital of Park county was cstablished at Tarryall, in 1861, by Governor Gilpin, but was never held there, the offices being located at Laurette and their business con- ducted there. The first term of the district court was held in a building owned by Stansell, Bond and Ifarris; Chas. Lee Armour presiding. The town of Laurette had fourteen stores, two hotels, many saloons, a theatre, and other lively institu- tions.

This epoch of prosperity continued until the fall of 1863. when the exhaustion of the richer decomposed quartz caused general desertion, and a year later it was almost depopulated. It was here, in the summer of 1864, that ] first met H. A. W. Tabor, who, then the proprietor of a small grocery store, fifteen years later became one of the celebrities of the nation, under circumstances that have been recounted in another part of our history. In 1866 the county court was removed from Laurette to Fairplay.

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Fairplay .- After the discovery of gold in the deep gravel bars of the Platte river at this place, in August, 1859, much the same course of events marked their progress as has just been related, except that no lodes were found in the vicinity, all the gold being taken from the margins and channels of the streams. The mul- titude of diggers increased as the reports spread abroad, and a strong, substantial town was built, mostly of logs, which, though still sparsely populated, has, unlike its contemporaries, maintained its original prestige. The diggings were rich, but the. gold not so easily obtained as at Tarryall, owing to the great number of enormous boulders. In our first volume, page 235, will be found an account of a romantic duel which is said to have occurred there in 1860. R. S. Allen in his review of early days, published serially in his paper, the Fairplay "Sentinel," says the richest gravel paid from $5.00 to $15.00 per day to the man. The entire gulch was worked under great disadvantages, since none of the miners possessed sufficient means to run a bedrock flume, by which alone the gravel could have been profitably operated, and even then the consolidation of almost numberless claims would have been necessary.

In 1864 Fairplay was a quiet, peaceful, law-abiding settlement, where only a little mining was done, but, as it was the chief center of supplies for all neigh- boring camps, a fair degree of prosperity obtained. The first two or three winters in the park were long and severe, causing many of the inhabitants to seek the lower altitudes, most of them quartering in Canon City. It is still the principal town in Park county, and its commercial as well as political center.

The discovery of gold placers at the base of Mount Lincoln by John H. Smith, Cornelius Griswold, Willis Bryant and George W. Lechner, in June, 1861, caused the organization of Independent district, and the founding of the town of Mont- gomery, named for one of the pioneers, which, like its contemporaries, Tarryall, Hamilton, Fairplay and Buckskin, soon became largely populated. The first impor- tant lodes opened were the Putnam, Price and a few others. In the fall of that year Montgomery district was organized out of Independent district. The first cabin built in the town was by J. H. Smith, Cornelius Griswold and Geo. W. Lechner. In the summer of 1862 Montgomery cast a larger vote than any other town in the county. The Cooper brothers and Wilbur F. Stone were among the pioneers in this section. The latter built the first Mexican arastra and ran it a year. Robert O. Old (now residing in Georgetown, Colo.) claims to have been the second man to reach this camp, and afterward built the first frame house erected there. At one time, probably in 1862, the population of Montgomery was about 1,000, and six quartz mills were crushing surface quartz from the several lodes then opened .*

* Certain incidents associated with the christening of Mount Lincoln, from whose rocky slopes flow three of the largest streams in Colorado-the Grand to the Pacific, and the South Platte and Arkansas to the Atlantic-were related to me by Hon. Wilbur F. Stone, who at the time noted was a placer miner in Montgomery .- In June, 1861, he ascended to the highest point of the mountain, and by thermometer tests estimated its height to be about 17,000 feet above the sea. (Some years later Prof. Alfred du Bois made it 17,300 feet). Its actual height is 14,297 feet. Profoundly impressed by the grandeur of the scenic spectacle witnessed from the summit, on his return to Montgomery he called a meeting of citizens for the purpose of selecting an appropriate name for it. There were present Alexander Hatch, Robert O. Old, W. R. Fowler, J. B. Cooper, Dr. Dunn and others. After explaining his tour, Mr. Stone advised the selection of a comprehensive title that would indicate its position as one of the great landmarks of the country. One or two Spanish and Latin names were suggested. One mentioned Washington, another Adams, another Jefferson, when, as by a common inspiration, all shouted the name of Abraham Lincoln, which signified unanimous adoption It was then resolved that this magnificent promontory should for- ever thereafter be known as "Mount Lincoln."

After the assassination of the President in 1865, Mr. Stone, being in Denver, entered the newspaper office of Mr. F. J. Stanton, editor of the "Gazette," when he was asked to write an editorial for the next issue. Consenting, he picked up a New York exchange, in which he found an appeal for a national monu- ment to perpetuate the memory of the martyred President. Then came to his mind the reflection that here, at the head of the South Park, stood a monument created by God, the creator of all things, one that will endure while our planet exists, mightier and grander than any work ever built by human hands. Under this inspiration he began to write, and within the hour produced an article that excited universal attention.

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At present writing there are but few residents besides actual miners. One of the finest machinery plants in Park county is located there on mines owned by the Green Mountain Mining company, which succeeded to the estate of the Sovereign Mining company. The company first named control, and in the summer months actively operate, much of the placer ground between Montgomery and Alma, in conjunction with numerous lode claims. The gravel beds along the river are from 15 to 70 feet deep, and, as demonstrated by results obtained, contain from 27 to 68 cents per cubic yard. By washing these beds or bars on a large scale with hydraulic apparatus, satisfactory profits are realized. Some of the lodes at and above Mont- gomery are yielding fair returns, the ores being reduced in stamp mills.

The most majestic promontory in this remarkable mountain chain is Mount Lincoln, standing at the very head of the South Park, snow crowned, bleak and dreary above timber line, its apex 14,207 feet above the level of the sea. From its slopes run innumerable tiny rivulets in the melting season, which pay tribute to rivers that find their way on the one side to the Pacific, and on the other to the Atlantic oceans. A great many mines have been discovered there, some, under proper development, paying their owners liberally for their efforts in opening them. The ores found there carry gold and silver, galena, gray copper, sulphurets, brittle silver and copper pyrites.

Dr. F. V. Hayden, in his report for 1873, gives the following account of what he saw from the top of this lofty sentinel:

"The view from the summit of Mount Lincoln is wonderful in its extent. To the east, far distant, is distinctly seen Pike's Peak with contiguous ranges which border the east side of the park, and extend northward toward Long's Peak, all of which are granitoid. On the west and northwest sides of the park is a vast group of high mountains, gashed down on every side with deep gorges with vertical sides revealing the strata of quartzite and limestone resting on the schists, with dikes of trachyte. To the southward can also be seen the granite nucleus, a remarkable range of mountains, the Sawatch, which, with its lofty peaks-among them Mounts Yale and Harvard-looms up like a massive wall, with a wilderness of conical peaks along its summit. To the east and southeast the park lies spread out to the view with its variety of low ridges and meadows. These ridges are composed of all the sedimentary beds uplifted known in this region. Some of them, covered with basalts with a trend nearly north and south, extend in regular order far across the park eastward. From the top of Mount Lincoln more than fifty peaks rising to the elevation of 13,000 feet and upwards, and above 200 over 12,000 feet, can be seen. Probably there is no portion of the world accessible to the traveling public where such a wilderness of lofty peaks can be seen within a single scope of the vision."

The district called Mosquito Gulch, rightly christened from the clouds of mosquitoes that swarm there in early summer, was organized in June, 1861, the Sterling lode, discovered by Dr. Pollock, being the first recorded. It runs parallel to and a mile south of Buckskin, a ridge intervening. At that time, and for a short time afterward, some placer mining was done. It is said the name was given when a large mosquito alighted on the recorder's book while the question of a suitable title for the district came under discussion. found in the Lulu lode brought an influx of prospectors. The third discovery was

A small pocket of gold the Orphan Boy, made in July. 1861, by S. Sheppard, who started out with Il. W. Dorsett and a man named Webber to search for the extension of the Phillips lode, and found it. This property after years of varying fortune is now operated by the South Park Gold Mining company, and through the well-ordered and very exten sive developments directed by Hon. James Moynahan has become the most valu- able gold mine in the county. The town of Sterling was laid out in 1862, by Dr. Pollock, John W. Smith and their associates. At one time it had five stamp mills. The title of the post office is Park City.

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The first silver-bearing mineral was discovered in Mosquito Gulch after the Ten-Forty had been found within the corporate limits of Buckskin, by Charles W. Mullin and Geo. W. Lechner many years prior to the finding of that metal on Mounts Bross and Lincoln .*

The area of the South Park is about 1,200 square miles ;; its greatest length is northwest and southeast-some 45 miles-irregular in shape, being widest at the southern end, where it is about 40 miles wide. As the drainage shows, there is a gradual slope from the northwest toward the southeast. At the northwest end the elevation is from 9,327 to 9,981 feet above the sea. The elevation of Fair- play is 9,764 feet. There are numerous ridges here and there upon its surface, running generally parallel to each other. Almost the entire southern end is volcanic. The outlet of a great lake which existed here in early Tertiary times was proba- bly in this direction. The lake must have extended further to the southward than the present outlines of the South Park would seem to indicate. The mountains on the east side of the park are composed of schistose rocks which extend westward some distance into the park. Along the road toward Fairplay appear the entire series of sedimentary beds. Long ridges extend across the basin composed of black shales of the Cretaceous. The entire series of the Cretaceous, Jurassic and Red or Triassic group are well shown. Toward the center of the park are some long ridges of trachyte. The sedimentary beds are exposed more or less all along the east side of the park. They slope up close to the east side of the Park Range, but the wash or drift from the mountains has so covered the slope that the beds in contact with the metamorphic rocks can seldom be seen. Along the valley of the Platte the drift material, consisting mostly of water-worn boulders, is immense. The entire mass of drift-deposit in which the placer diggings are located has been washed down from the valleys of the little streams of the South Park. The entire origin of the drift, so far as the Rocky Mountain districts are concerned, is here illustrated in a remarkable manner.

It is Prof. Hayden's opinion that the division known as the Park Range, as distinguished from the main range, is a portion of a gigantic Anticlinal, of which the Sawatch range is the central axis; that the Park Range is a part of the east side of the Sawatch, and that the great valley of the tipper Arkansas is mostly the result of erosion through granite rocks, accomplished by the action of water and ice. The subject of earth sculpture is illustrated nowhere in the West on a grander scale than in the mountains of Colorado, and is especially marked in the South Park. All along the east side of the Park Range are numerous gorges, all of which point to a common origin, the work of water and ice. The morainal matter brought down by the old glaciers is shown most abundantly in the lower portions of these gorges. The evidences of ancient glacial action are quite abundant all through the Park Range, but far more remarkable proofs are found in the Sawatch Range.

In general the park is not watered, nor has irrigation been resorted to for farming purposes. Nevertheless it is a fine grazing region, the bunch grass of superior quality making it an excellent range for cattle, horses and sheep during the summer months. Great quantities of native hay are produced upon the well- ordered ranches about Jefferson, Hartsell and Bordensville. On the northern and western sides there is plenty of water, but throughout the interior of the park it is scarce. Timber, pine and spruce, covers the mountain sides.

The Beaver Creek placers, that have been worked at intervals for the last thirty

* In Chapter XXI, page 323, Volume I, will be found an account of a remarkable raid through portions of Park county by a band of Texas guerrillas in 1864. Also in the same volume, page 378, and in Volume II, page 254, a description of a series of mysterious murders committed by the Espinosas in 1863. It is ufinecessary to repeat them here.

+ Hayden's Geographical and Geological Survey, 1873.

TABOR BLOCK . PROPERTY OF THE HON.H A.W. TABOR DENVER

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years, were christened "pound diggings" by the earlier miners "for the reason," says Allen, "that they yielded a pound of gold each day." The original owners were Scotchmen who transferred their claims to Messrs. Freeman & Pease, who in turn sold to Geo. A. Sidel in 1875. They are now owned and systematically worked by the Beaver Creek Placer Mining company. They are located on Beaver creek, one of the affluents of the Platte, which unites with the latter near Fairplay. In 1862 the owners eut a ditch and built a flume, the whole nearly a mile in length. The company as then constituted sold a large interest in the property to "The Pennsyl- vania Gold and Silver Mining company," organized in Philadelphia, in 1866, by Governor Alexander Cummings, the successor of Governor John Evans. The stockholders were mostly Philadelphia men, and the capital stock was $250,000. Capt. E. L. Thayer's placer mining transactions on the bed and bars of the l'latte at Fairplay were at one time, and for a series of years, the most extensive in the country. The ground embraced a strip of five miles along the stream, with dams and miles of ditches and flumes: about one hundred Chinamen were employed. Mills. Hodges & Co. worked a large placer claim on the Platte at Alma, and took out large quantities of gold.

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History of the State of Colorado, Volume IV, Part 39

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