History of the State of Colorado, Volume IV, Part 51

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 51

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Akron has a beautiful but not a picturesque site, for it has no scenery. There is but one general widely-sweeping prospect of open plains from the center to the horizon. The streets are regular. the business houses chiefly frame, with here and there one of brick, the dwellings comfortable but unpretentious. The place has not been favored with real estate and building booms. It is just what an industrious but sometimes unfortunate people have made it, chiefly from means gathered from the soil. It was incorporated in 1888. H. G. Pickett was the first mayor. The first residence outside of "claim" houses was erected by Louis Bartlett, and the first store by Patrick Dougherty. The members of the first school board were W. H. Sherman, D. W. Irwin and A. A. Earl. Miss Hettie Irwin was the first school teacher. Mrs. S. Cordeal was also a contemporary in educating the young. Soon afterward the town built a fine brick school building at a cost of $12,000. Dr. Bragg was the first postmaster. He was succeeded by W. H. Sherman, who became clerk of the district court, and later county clerk. Mr. Sherman came to Akron in 1883, and for four years was the agent of the railroad company at that place. It was then a wild and almost uninhabited country. Herds of antelope grazed where Akron now stands. Among the pioneers were D. W. Irwin, W. H. Sherman, Louis Bart- lett, P. H. Prindle, Wm. Sturdevant, Patrick Dougherty, J. E. and C. N. Yeamans, Chas. E. Flaney, Geo. McMillan, A. F. Abbott, M. F. Vance, L. C. Stephenson, Win. Little, Joseph Hilty, J. C. Irwin, H. L. Buck, Nelson Miller, T. C. Bean, A. H. Rob- inson, W. C. Harris, A. F. Rexroad, Miss Alice Ilorner, Mrs. Mary J. Etner, Mrs. Horner, Miss Bowman, A. A. Pratt, S. Cordeal, Perry Highshew, Mrs. L. B. Beaver, Charles L. Pulver, Charles Cornwell, E. S. Carl, Ira Thompson, J. Deal, L. W. Hud- son, John Hudson, John Graham, George Sheldon, Joseph Bender, C. W. Ballard, E. A. Eaton.

Akron has a fine system of water works, costing about $25,000, but the supply is from wells. The fire department consists of Akron Hose No. 1 and a hook and ladder company. The city hall, of stone, cost $1,800. Here, as elsewhere in new and flourishing towns, many newspapers have been established. Passing over the list of births and deaths in this field, we note the fact that the "Pioneer Press " was founded by D. W. Irwin, the present postmaster. November Ist, 1885. H. G. Pickett has been the associate editor about two years. The "Star" was established in 1886 by C. W. Ballard and E. A. Eaton. The latter soll in 1888. The Colorado "Topics," at Ilyde, by Forbes & Powers, was moved to Burdette, in the northeastern part of the county, and later became the property of Mark Little. The Weld County "Argus," at Hyde, is said to have been the first paper in that town. The Otis " Enterprise " is published by Dr. W. D. Otis.

Banks .- The State Bank of Akron was opened December 26th, 1887, by Wm. Sturdevant, George Murray, R. H. Northcott and S. Cordeal, succeeding the Bank of Akron, which was founded in 1886, by D. M. Tomblin and W. B. Colvin. The

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present officers are: George Murray, president; R. H. Northcott, cashier, and Mrs. Lavinia Northcott, assistant cashier.

The Farmers' and Traders' Bank, which suspended in December, 1890, was started in 1886, by J. E. Phillips and H. A. Lewis. The Washington County Bank began business in 1887, founded by C. W. Smith. J. E. Phillips is now the president and R. J. Robertson, cashier. The Bank at Hyde was started by H. A. and J. T. Hardin, who sold to W. C. Perry and J. A. Houston. The Bank of Otis, started by J. W. Pruyn, and later owned by C. W. Smith, is now managed by C. C. Chapman.

Churches .- The Presbyterians erected a church building at Akron in 1888, a frame structure, 32 x 50, at a cost of $2,000, under the pastorate of the Rev. J. L. Lower. The M. E. church was organized in September, 1886, by the Rev. J. E. Rippetoe. When the Presbyterians had finished their building, the Methodists oc- cupied it on alternate Sundays, but since have erected one of their own. The Cath- olics, Baptists and Congregationalists occasionally hold services in the town. There is a Congregational church at Hyde, of which the Rev. George Dungan is pastor, who also ministers to the church at Otis. At the latter place the Rev. J. E. Rippe- toe is pastor of the M. E. church and the Rev. A. F. Randolph of the Presbyterian. The German Lutheran church society has a building at Curtis, a small town about twelve miles northeast of Akron, of which Rev. J. W. Kimmel is pastor.

Business of all kinds, as well as the various professions, is well represented in Akron, according to the needs of the community. The Masons, Odd Fellows, G. A. R. and Women's Relief Corps have flourishing organizations.

The U. S. land office at this place was opened August Ist, 1890, with A. J. John- son, register, and George C. Reed, receiver. James L. Petot, the first chiet clerk, was succeeded by W. J. Kram. Akron land district includes the castern half of Arapahoe county, part of Morgan, and the greater part of Washington and Yuma counties.

Hyde and Otis are the principal points on the Burlington railroad east of Akron. Hyde is near the Yuma county line and was surveyed March 5th, 1886, by A. B. Smith, for the Lincoln Land Company, the plat being filed March 18th, 1886. D. H. Garey, afterward county clerk, went to Hyde in 1886, when that town had only a depot, section house and two small frame buildings, one a store built by Harman & Dixon, and the other a grocery by D. B. Simmons. Among other early settlers at Hyde were W. O. Hall, C. A. Doggett, W. H. Doggett, H. N. Lund, E. E. Teel, J. A. Lisle, Win. Tacke. Miss Daisy Jeffries taught school there in 1886. A school building was erected in 1888 at a cost of $4,500, and Mrs. S. L. Petty became its principal. The town has a number of business houses, hotels, etc., and a bank.

Otis is a little east of half way between Akron and Hyde. It was laid off in 1886, by George W. Dade. There is a good frame school house. A. B. Craig was one of the pioneer teachers. Among its early settlers were E. O. Seeley, Geo. W. Dade, J. W. Pruyn, Thos. Merrill, Geo. F. Work and Arthur Brady.

Pinneo is a small post office station about thirteen iniles west of Akron, on the Burlington railroad, situate near the Morgan county line. It was surveyed May 25th, 1888, by A. B. Smith, for the Lincoln Land company, and the plat filed Septem- ber 10th, 1888.

Leslie is in the far northeastern part of the county, on the Washington and Yuma county line. The town site is said to be divided by this line, a part lying in each. It was surveyed June 4th, 1888, by A. B. Smith, for the Lincoln Land com- pany, and platted October 20th, 1888. There are several business houses and a weckly newspaper at this point.

Rock Springs, about three miles northwest of Akron, has a very hard, flinty rock that is used for buildings The springs are credited with fine medicinal properties. Fremont's Butte is some four miles north of Rock Springs. Curtis, northeast of

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Akron, and Burdette, in the northeastern part of the county, are small farming set- tlements.

The Union Pacific railroad and the South Platte river run through a small sec- tion of the northwest corner of the county. Nearly the entire drainage of the county forms a part of the Republican system. The soil is a brown sandy loam. Good water is found by sinking twenty to eighty feet, and windmills, so numerous in Kansas and Nebraska, are now quite extensively employed here to raise the water to the surface for various uses.

In 1800 the school population of Washington county was 540. There were twenty-six school districts, nineteen school houses, with 508 sittings. The value of this property was $24,988. In the graded schools 221 were enrolled, in the un- graded 381. Five teachers were employed in the first and forty-six in the second. In 1887 the assessed valuation of taxable property in Washington was $1,733,124; in 1888 it was $1.777,500.88 and in 1889, $999,004.10, the decrease caused by the segregation of Yuma county from the eastern part. In 1890 the assessed vahi- ation was $1, 172,091.14. In the list were 181,374 acres of agricultural land, valued at $410,850; 1,305 horses, 87 mules, 3,504 cattle, 4,474 sheep and 631 hogs.

WELD COUNTY,

INTERESTING OLD RECORDS-ST. VRAIN'S FORT-DOINGS OF THE PIONEERS-FOUNDING OF UNION COLONY-ITS TRIALS AND VICISSITUDES-BEGINNING OF IRRIGATION- SPLENDID DEVELOPMENT OF GREELEY-HISTORY OF ITS ENTERPRISES-FATHER MEEKER-HORACE GREELEY-THE STATE NORMAL SCHOOL.

At this late day, thirty years after its primary organization, the belief is general that Union Colony, with the beautiful town of Greeley as its center, founded in 1870, was the beginning of settlement and enterprise in Well county. As a mat- ter of fact, however, an important part of the record antedates that interesting event by more than ten years. It was named for Lewis Ledyard Weld, first territorial secretary of Colorado. Its organization was effected under an act of the Legisla- tive Assembly, approved November Ist, 1861, and as then constituted embraced an area of about 10,494 square miles in northeastern Colorado, with old Fort St. Vrain, an Indian trading post, established by the Bents and St. Vrains about the year 1835, as its county seat. Early in July, 1842, John C. Fremont visited this fort and spent some days there. Indeed, next to Bent's Fort, it was the earliest trading post in Colo- rado of which any distinct record has been preserved. The Platte river is the principal stream, but the Cache-la-Poudre with the Big and Little Thompson creeks are the most useful to the settlers, since they provide most of the water employed in irrigat- ing farming lands. Among others are Lone Tree, Terrapin, or Box Eller, and Crow creeks. The county covered a sweeping expanse of open plains, extend- ing from the northern line of Arapahoe eastward to the state of Nebraska, bounded by Larimer and Boulder on the west, and on the north by Wyoming and a part of Nebraska.

Its chief industries have always been agriculture and stock growing. Ranch- men settled along the St. Vrain, Thompson and Platte in 1859, but, from the close of the civil war down to the founding of Union Colony, in 1870, stock raising occu- pied a considerable part of this vast field. Although not the first, the development of the larger and better systems of irrigation, and the practical solution of many

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problems incident to the method of producing crops by the Union Colonists in and about Greeley, laid the foundation and furnished the examples that have given Colo- rado its enviable prestige in that line of action.

For sixteen years Weld county remained undivided, but in 1887 the counties of Logan and Washington were created from the eastern part of its territory. The northern part of this strip was called Logan, and the southern, Washington. In 1889 Weld, Logan and Washington were subdivided, and the counties of Morgan, Yuma, Phillips and Sedgwick established. It will thus be seen that seven counties now occupy the area originally assigned to Weld. The latter still has an area of 4,075 square miles. By the census of 1890 its population was 11,736, having gained 6,090 in the previous decade. It is now bounded on the north by the states of Wyoming and Nebraska, east by Logan and Morgan, south by Arapahoe and west by Boulder and Larimer counties. The nucleus of the first settlement was at Fort St. Vrain, situated directly east of the base of Long's Peak, near Thompson's creek, about six miles northwest of where Platteville now stands. Fort Lupton, another old trading post, built of adobes, was an important landmark on the frontier (also visited by Col. Fremont on one of his exploring expeditions). Fort Vasquez, stationed near the mouth of Clear creek, was the resort of hunters and trappers years anterior to the Pike's Peak immigration. Around these points settlers began to congregate in small numbers in 1859, simultaneously with the occupation of the gold mining districts and with the founding of Denver, Boulder and Golden. Fortunately an old musty and time-stained book has been preserved among the records of Weld county which affords much information relating to early settlement there. It contains the records of St. Vrain county, the original name under the provisional government. On the flyleaf of this book is the following entry:

"Meeting of the settlers and those wishing to hold claims near St. Vrain's Fort when the following named persons were present and took part in establishing the Claim Club: C. P. Hall, S. H. Moer, H. J. Graham, William N. Byers, C. E. Miller, Dr. Cook, P. G. Lowe, R. B. Bradford, George Trowbridge, James Steck and J. Y. Jones." On page 1 of the record it is stated that "at a meeting of the citizens of St. Vrain held October 6th, 1859, C. P. Hall was duly chosen chairman and H. J. Graham, secretary. The object of the meeting, as stated by the chairman, was for the purpose of organizing a 'claim club,' laying off St. Vrain county and electing a recorder for the same, after which Mr. Byers moved that each claimant be entitled to 160 acres of the public land, the same to be staked and plainly marked and re- corded, which shall be sufficient to hold it valid until June Ist, 1860, when further improvement must be made." The motion was adopted. Next, Mr. Byers moved "that the jurisdiction of this club shall be co-extensive with the county of St. Vrain (in Nebraska Territory), to embrace not less than twenty-four miles square, with the town of St. Vrain near the center." This also was adopted.

The first claim of record was that of S. H. Moer and was recorded at Denver City July 15th, 1859.

Claim No. 2, adjoining Moer's, was located by H. J. Graham July 21st, 1859, and recorded at Denver the same month. J. Y. Jones' claim adjoined Graham's, located September 30th. On the same date C. E. Miller staked a claim adjoining Jones.' C. P. Hall took his land at the southwest corner of the town of St. Vrain, September oth: W. W. Castle, October 12th, on the north side of the Platte and north of the fort. C. Nuckolls made his selection at a point one and a half miles below, on the South Platte, October 12th; John W. Jones. September 9th, adjoining C. P. Hall; B. Mont- gomery on the same date, also adjoining Hall. In an entry without date, it appears that H. J. Graham bought eighty acres of C. P. Hall for $50. Abram Walrod's claim was staked October 12th, adjoining Nuckoll's: A. L. Hall on the same date located on an island, one and a half miles below St. Vrain; Joseph Howe October 12, ad- joining C. E. Miller: James Patterson October 13th, also adjoining Miller; J. E.

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Biglow same date, next to Miller; Lewis Vasquez October 28th, adjoining A. P. Vasquez; the latter, October 28th, claimed 160 acres in St Vrain county, Nebraska Territory, the survey of which was tied on to a stake on an island in the river, thence south and running to a stake on the Platte river, claiming old Fort Vasquez in its boundaries. W. L. Hopkins staked October 22nd, adjoining Howe's; James Me Wade October 25th, eighty rods above the mouth of St. Vrain; George Hox- hurst December 10th, eighty rods from the bank of the Platte; J. H. Overton Decem- ber Ioth, one mile south of St. Vrain; George French October - -, on the Platte; Mrs. Ellen D. Graham January 7th, 1860, adjoming French's; Patrick Dalton December 15th, 1859, near where the road strikes the bottom north of Fort Lupton; William N. Byers October 12th, 1859, adjoining George French; Charles M. Con- nolly September 15th, including three islands; Wm. Scourfield a claim May 10th, 1860, which had been improved by a log cabin built in November, 1858; also John Cassity May 10th, 1860; Burton Wakely March Ist, 1860, about two miles below St. Vrain; Albert Thorne August 28th, 1860, south of St. Vrain.

The foregoing entries have been set down in brief to indicate the number and ex- tent of the pre-emptions made-without other than the self constituted authority of the Claim Club, of course-upon eligible lands along the Platte and the St. Vrain, beginning in July, 1859, and extending to August, 1860. On page 20 of this record is the following:

"Recorded plat of the town of St. Vrain, recorded by order of the company, October, 1860." But there is no such plat in the book.

The next meeting of citizens was held October 23rd. 1860. J. Reddick was made chairman and A. H. Smith, secretary. On motion of H. J. Graham, Mr. Thomas, J. F. Rhodes, George French, John Overton and S. H. Smith were ap- pointed to examine the records of the Claim Club of St. Vrain, who reported that they had been properly kept. In the case of H. J. Graham vs. Hawkins and Heenan, the first case of litigation in Weld county, they reported a resolution in favor of Graham as to the ownership of a certain claim, which was adopted. George French then introduced a resolution, which in substance pledged the support of the club to Graham as against Hawkins and Heenan, which was also adopted. Then, to make a summary disposal of the contest, the chair appointed a committee of five to give those obnoxious trespassers fair and timely warning of the wrath to come, in case of persistence in evil doing. The following was therefore written out and read to them:

"Notice .- We, the undersigned, acting as a committee for the citizens of St. Vrain county, do hereby notify you, Hiram Hawkins and Jeremiah Heenan, that you are now occupying the premises of H. J. Graham, much to his detriment, and that you are hereby requested to quit possession of the same within the next twenty- four hours."

The result is not given, but as the penalty of disobedience to mandates of this nature meant serious disaster to the culprits, it may be assumed that Hawkins and Hleenan vamosed the ranch without further controversy. On the same day a meet- ing of the Claim Club was held, when a committee was appointed to draft rules and Jaws for the club.

The rules then adopted became the first laws in and for what is now Weld county.

On page 50 of the volume already quoted appears the first recorded mention of Weld county, although it was established in 1861. The commissioners met Jan- uary 5th, 1863, at the residence of D. P. Hopkins in St. Vrain; present, C. B. Far- well and M. P. Wills, commissioners, and M. V. Boughton, clerk. Mr. Farwell was made chairman, and the following officers were appointed for Weld county:

Assessor, D. J. Hopkins; surveyor, Ernest Tcideman; probate judge, F. W. Hammitt; constable, Jay Thomas.

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A little later on D. W. Seotten appears as a member of the board of commis- sioners. At a meeting held January 9th, 1863, a petition bearing the names of A. J. Williams, Moses Hallett and M. C. Keith was read, asking for the right of way for a wagon and toll road from Julesburg to Fort Lupton via Antelope station, Spring Hill station, etc., the same not to interfere with the Fremont Orchard, Plank Road and Turnpike company. The petition was granted. April 6th, 1863, S. W. Fore- man and D. P. Bailey were granted permission to incorporate the St. Vrain Ditch company. Their certificate of incorporation states that water is to be taken " from St. Vrain creek, commencing at a bend in the creek on the east side, one half mile from S. W. Foreman's house, and ending at P. J. Sowder's ranch, for the purpose of irrigation." The capital stock was $1,000. The rate of water tax was not to ex- ceed four dollars per acre. While the settlers at that period possessed very little knowledge of irrigation, they comprehended the fact that erops could not be assured without it. With few exceptions all our farmers were forced to learn the method of applying water by years of experimenting.

Among the old records we find the marriage certificate of Richard Shaw and Miss Sarah Ann Stover. The wedding took place at the house of the father of the bride in Weld county, April 19th, 1863, and the ceremony was performed by Rev. L. B. Statelin of the Methodist church. This appears to have been the first marriage in the county, at least it is the first of record. Another was that of E. B. Lewis and Miss Harriett H. Bernard, by Elijah Hiett, a justice of the peace, June 5th, 1864.

From 1859 to 1863 inclusive, the records were kept in the old St. Vrain book. The first regular volume begins with the July session of 1864, the board consisting of C. B. Farwell, Roger Ireland and B. F. Johnson, M. V. Boughton, clerk, and A. Lumry, deputy. The board held their meetings at the houses of John Paul and A. Lumry for some time, and in 1868-69 at Latham, which had been made the county seat in 1869, D. B. Bailey having furnished county office rent free at that place during 1868. A meeting was held July 4th, 1864, at the house of John Paul, and another July 5th, at which Mr. Peter Winne was compensated for thirty-four days' services as county assessor and as county superintendent of schools for the year end- ing July Ist, 1864.

The records show that W. W. Newell and James Hill of the Hawkeye Ditch com- pany located their ditch on the north side of the Cache-la-Poudre, on the west line of Miss Carter's and Forsythe's elaims, and running through said claims; also those of W. W. Newell. J. Newell and James Hill, the water to be used exclusively for farming purposes. The capital stock was divided into 500 shares.

September 21st, 1863, W. H. Jones, M. V. Boughton and James G. Robinson were, under the title of the Platte Valley Ditch company, permitted to take water from the Platte river east of the claim of Peter Davis. The capital stock was $500. These were the modest beginnings of irrigation enterprises in Weld county, since developed to vast proportions. January 4th, 1870, by virtue of a certain proposi- tion advanced by W. H. Pierce, agent of the Denver Land Association, the com- missioners ordered the county seat located in Evans. In 1874 it was changed to Greeley, and in 1875 back to Evans again, but in 1877 Greeley became the perma- nent county seat, under circumstances which will more fully appear as we proceed.

July 26th, 1864, the commissioners appointed judges of election for the ten vot- ing precincts previously designated, and in November following the subjoined list of officers were chosen:

Commissioners, R. Ireland, B. F. Johnson and E. Garvey; sheriff. B. J. Ogle; clerk and reeorder, A. Lumry: assessor, C. M. Thomas. November 15th, following, the board appointed M. P. Wills treasurer; January 2nd, 1865, John S. Wheeler, probate judge, and February 24th, Robert Wilkinson, county attorney. At a later period Ilon. Benjamin H. Eaton (late governor of Colorado) served some years as a member and chairman of the board of commissioners.

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From 1865 to 1870 there was a steady but not extensive development of farming and stock growing. It was not until the settlement of the Union Colony in 1870, however, that the land became a splendid, fruitful garden, when the desert was made to rejoice and blossom as the rose, by the impulse of new blood and unified effort, operating under a beneficent system of laws and harmonious cooperation. A rapid digest of this eventful movement, the grandest that has been made upon Colorado soil, appears in Chapter XXX, Volume I, of our general history. Then began a long and at times a spirited contest between the rival interests of farming and stock growing which, after many years, eventuated in the surrender of the cattle ranges and the removal of the long-horned Texas herds to other quarters.

Greeley is the principal town in the county, beautiful, peaceful and prosperous, orderly and well-built, reminding one of the lovely hamlets or villages of New Eng- land, whence many of its inhabitants sprang. Evans, Platteville, Fort Lupton, Erie, New Windsor and Eaton are among the larger exterior towns. These are supple- mented by Highland Lake, Whitman, Carr, Dover, l'ierce, Grover, Keota, La Salle, Hardin, Hudson, Roggin, Raymer and Stoneham, railway stations and small farming settlements. The towns of Brush, Akron, Fort Morgan, Julesburg, Ster- ling, Hyde, Wray, Yuma, Holyoke and others, at one time situated in Weld, have been more fully mentioned in connection with the histories of the new counties of which they now form a part.

Following are the dates of town plats filed in the county clerk's office:

Evans, November 22nd, 1869, certified to by David H. Moffat, Jr., trustee of the Denver Land association; signed also by Samuel P. Ashcraft and A. H. Smith, Erie, January 25th, 1871, laid off by Ranson Balcom, president of the Colorado Coal company, and John S. Wells, secretary.

Greeley, June 29th, 1871, laid off by N. C. Meeker, president, and W. H. Post, secretary, of the Union Colony.

Platteville, July 5th, 1871, laid off by the Platte River Land company, B. F. Johnson, president.

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History of the State of Colorado, Volume IV, Part 51

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