Larimer County, Colorado - The whole text, 1911 (part 10 of 22)

St. Cloud precinct embraces all of Township 11, Ranges 72, 73 and 74; South half of Township 12, Ranges 72, 73 and 74 and all of Township 10, Range 74. It is mountainous and broken with intervening parks and small valleys along the streams tributary to the North fork of the Cache la Poudre river, which crosses the precinct from west to east. Portions of it are well timbered. In the late 60's and early 70's, thousands of railroad ties and a great deal of lumber were cut from its mountain sides and hauled by teams to the Union Pacific railroad. In those days the precinct was known as Diamond Peak, and the voting place was at a tie camp boarding house on Trail creek, its name being changed to St. Cloud in the 80's. Joseph Harris and Clerin T. Woods were the first permanent white settlers, both locating on stock ranches on the North fork, near the mouth of Trail creek in 1874. They were followed shortly afterwards by C. I. Woods, a brother of C. T. Woods. Mr. Harris and C. I. Woods disposed of their holdings there in 1880 and moved to Fort Collins, but C. T.

Woods continued to live on his ranch, engaged in the cattle business, until about ten years ago, when he sold to Frank L. Watrous and moved to Fort Collins, where he still resides. Mr. Harris and Mr. C. I. Woods died several years ago.

In 1883, Henry T. Miller, having sold the Alford horse ranch on Rabbit creek, which he purchased in 1880, bought a preemption relinquishment of H. E. Tedmon to the tract of land now owned and occupied by William Campton and known as the Cherokee Park summer resort. Mr. Miller built a house on this tract and occupied it until 1890, when he sold the property to Mr. Campton and came to Fort Collins, where he still resides. After H. E. Tedmon, then State Senator, sold his hardware business in Fort Collins to E. R. Barkley in 1884, he moved his family to a stock ranch situated about a mile up the river from the Miller place, where he still resides engaged in the cattle business. In 1886 T. J. Montgomery bought a claim some two miles farther up the river and lived there several years caring for a herd of cattle. E. R. Barkley and A. C. Kluver own stock ranches on Sheep creek, but they have never lived there with their families. There are also settlers now on the headwaters of Sheep creek. One of them, Mr. Wooster, has been there a good many years.

Mr. Miller secured the establishment of a postofKce at his place to which he gave the name of St. Cloud, which it still bears. C. T. Woods was postmaster at St. Cloud for several years, being succeeded by F. L. Watrous and he by Noah Bristol. The office is now located at Campton's summer resort and Mr. Campton is the postmaster. There were thirty votes cast in the precinct in 1908. The distance from Fort Collins to St. Cloud is forty miles, and in the summer time an automobile stage makes tri-weekly trips between the two points for the accommodation of mountain tourists.

Boxelder creek is formed by several smaller streams, notably one rising in Wyoming and another in Larimer county. The upper portion of this creek runs a clear stream of water, winter and summer, but when it comes out on the Plains it sinks in the sand to rise again further down and for some distance forms a running stream, then again loses itself in the sand, making what is called an underflow. The headwaters of this stream afford good trout fishing, especially in the pools, and the locality is a favorite one for picnic parties from Cheyenne and the surrounding country. The surface is rolling with here and there timber covered hills and fertile valleys. It is an excellent grazing district and large herds of cattle, flocks of sheep and bunches of horses feed and fatten on the nutritious grasses that abound in the parks and on the hillsides. Isaac Adair was the first permanent white settler in Upper Boxelder, locating there in March, 1875. He came to Colorado in the 60's and lived for several years in Pleasant Valley, near the present town of Bellvue, but wishing a wider range for his stock, took up a ranch on Upper Boxelder, where he lived until he moved to Fort Collins in 1905. Edward Adams, who now lives in Montana, came a little later. Among the first squatters to locate in Upper Boxelder in the early 70's was Hank Wise, but he did not remain long. William J. Logan, now of Virginia Dale, was the next settler. He was followed a little later by Miss Maggie Williams, Henry Held, Mrs. Gooding, Alexander Webster, J. M. Autrey and Anthony Barriaut, who was the first postmaster. Barriaut was killed in 1886, by James Robertson in a quarrel which grew out of family trouble concerning a window and door to a dance hall. The coroner's jury returned a verdict of justifiable homicide. Barriaut was a well educated man and was said to have been a lawyer in France before he came to the United States. Robertson left the country soon afterwards and went to Texas, where, it is said, he died with his boots on, being killed in a saloon brawl. It is still believed by many Upper Boxelder people that the killing of Barriaut was a case of murder in the second degree.

E. W. Whitcomb and Oliver Goodwin ranged their cattle on Upper Boxelder in the late 60's and early 70's, controlling a large range in the foothills and on the Plains. Whitcomb lived at that time on the ranch later owned by Noah Bristol and now owned by the Buckeye Ranch Company. Mr. Whitcomb is still living in Cheyenne. One of Fort Collins' principal residence streets is named for him.

The first school in Upper Boxelder was taught in 1883 by Miss Daisy Runyan. A colony of Mormons squatted there in 1882 and helped to supply pupils for the school. They left shortly afterwards, however, some going to Missouri and others to Utah. Isaac Adair, the first permanent settler on Upper Boxelder, died in Fort Collins in 1907, his wife following him to the spirit land two years later.

The history of the city of Loveland begins with the completion, in the fall of 1877, of the Colorado Central railroad from Golden to Cheyenne. Just prior to that time the site the city occupies was covered with growing wheat belonging to David Barnes, and the town was not laid out and platted until after the wheat had been harvested and removed. Old St. Louis, situated one mile further down the Big Thompson river, was the commercial center and distributing point for the entire valley, but when lot selling began at Loveland many of the buildings were moved from the old town to the new, thus forming the nucleus of the present city of Loveland. The postoffice was moved from St. Louis and the name changed to Loveland. John Buchanan was shortly afterwards appointed postmaster. The beginning of the winter of 1877-8 found quite a number of dwellings and business houses in the new town, and since then Loveland has steadily increased in population, in importance as a shipping and distributing point, until now it is the fourth city on the Colorado & Southern railroad north of Denver, in point of size and the amount of business done. It is the center of a very rich and quite extensive agricultural and stock feeding section and its growth is of a substantial character. In 1874 a stage line was established between Greeley and Old St. Louis by George W. Foote, who abandoned it shortly after the completion of the railroad.

The first newspaper, the Loveland Reporter, was issued in June, 1880, by G. N. Udell, who a short time afterward sold the plant to Frank A. McClelland, son of the pioneer newspaper editor of Fort Collins. The paper has had several different owners since then, but has always remained true to its mission - that of doing all it could to advance the material, social and moral interests of its chosen home. It is now owned and conducted by Ira O. Knapp.

Harrison, J. T. Wagner, H. Cone, William Richardson, Isaac Grewell, Joseph Shellenberger, J. J. Youtsey, W. B. Osborn, J. B. Middleton, and J. L. Herzinger, Judge Jay H. Bouton of the County Court appointed Sherman W. Smith, W. S. Russell, John L. Herzinger, W. B. Osborn and J. M. Aldrich Commissoners to conduct an election to determine the wishes of the people concerning incorporation. The election was held April 11, and resulted in fifty votes being cast for incorporation and one vote against it. Then followed an order of the County Court incorporating the town. The formal organization of the town took place May 11, when the following named officers were sworn in and entered upon their official duties: J. M. Aldrich, Mayor; E. S. Allen, Recorder, and W. B. Osborn, James Coffield, J. B. Harbaugh and W. S. Russell, Trustees.

Water rights for the town were obtained from Francis E. Everett of Golden, and the trees planted on every street by David Barnes were taken charge of by the municipality. In 1880, Ferguson and Harrison built the Loveland Mills, having a capacity of 125 sacks of flour per day, and an elevator holding 50,000 bushels of grain. The mill and elevator were destroyed by fire in 1885, and subsequently rebuilt. In 1885, the town authorities let a contract to Swan Brothers to sink an artesian well. The well is 2,742 feet in depth, and cost about $14,000, the result being a small flow of water impregnated with iron and other subtances rather unpleasant to the taste. As a means of supplying the town with good soft, wholesome water, the well was a lamentable failure, though the water is said to possess excellent medical properties.

The failure of the well to meet expectations led to a demand for a system of water works that would afford water for domestic use and fire purposes, and on October 11, 1886, an election was held to bond the town in a sum sufficient to construct a municipal water plant. The proposition carried and a contract was entered into with the Michigan Wood Pipe Company to construct the plant. The works were completed in the spring of 1887 and since then Loveland has had an abundant supply of excellent water both for domestic use and fire protection.

Loveland is essentially a city of homes, churches and schools. Its private residences are the pride and the admiration of its citizens and the surprise of strangers. Its churches are large, handsome structures, whose pulpits are supplied by able and co!-scientious preachers of the gospel, and they are well supported ; and the public schools are the equal in point of efficiency and relative standing with the best in the state. A thoroughly organized and well conducted High school has been maintained for about ten years, and its graduates are eligible to admission to any of the higher institutions of learning in Colorado. Three banks, two national and one state, judiciously officered and conservatively managed, represent the financial interests of the city and surrounding country. The reports of these banks, dated March 27, 1910, show in the aggregate, the prosperous financial condition of the community in which they are located, as follows:

Loveland supports a thoroughly organized and well disciplined and finely equipped fire department, under whose efficient direction and management and with the aid of an excellent system of water works, the losses of property by fire are kept at a minimum, and a well officered police force serves to prevent crime and turbulence and disorder. Saloons and the selling of intoxicating liquors are prohibited under the operation of the state local option law, and the community is one of the most law abiding and God-fearing in the entire country.

Though situated in one of the best and most productive agricultural regions in the west, Loveland is not dependent altogether upon the products of the farm, the dairy and the orchard for its prosperity and future growth, though these alone would be sufficient to foster and support a much larger city. Great and important as these resources are and much as they have contributed to the growth, importance and influence of Loveland, they are not entitled to all the credit. Manufacturing, live stock raising and stock feeding have been material aids in the upbuilding and maintenance of the city, and will continue to be important factors in advancing its future growth and prosperity. There is not another city in Colorado of the same population and influence that has done as much to promote the establishment of manufacturing enterprises as Loveland, and no other city of the same size can boast of a greater number of important productive industries. These include a beet sugar factory with a capacity for converting from 1,200 to 1,500 tons of sugar beets every twenty-four hours into the finest granulated sugar, employing about 400 men during the sugar making season; extensive flouring mills and elevators; canning factories for putting up fruits and vegetables of commerce, besides numerous other smaller manufacturing enterprises. In addition to these are two immense plaster mills and the Arkins stone quarries, both situated a few miles west of the city and are directly tributary to it. The plaster mills and the quarries employ a large amount of capital and hundreds of men are kept busy the year around in producing plaster and in quarrying and cutting stone. These industries are so important that the railroad company deemed it advisable to build a branch line of track from Loveland west past the plaster mills to the quarries. Thousands of car loads of plaster and stone are annually sent to Loveland over this branch road and forwarded by the Colorado & Southern Railway to their destination. The manufacturing industries are steadily growing in importance and are annually adding millions of dollars to the trade and commerce of Loveland. The city also possesses another great advantage. It is the natural market center and distributing point for all of the mountain country west of it, as far back as the Continental Divide, in whose parks and valleys are numerous stock ranches, and whose mountain sides furnish timber for several saw mills. These mills convert the huge pine trees into merchantable lumber, which finds a ready market at Loveland.

Estes Park, the famous Rocky Mountain summer resort, where thousands of visitors annually spend the heated term amid scenes of unparalleled beauty, is only thirty-two miles distant from Loveland, the nearest railroad point, and passengers destined for the Park are whirled through the canon of the Big Thompson in large steam propelled automobiles which land them at their journey's end in two hours and a half. The views presented along the route through this wonderful canon are sublime beyond comparison and one never tires looking at them and admiring the wonderful works of Nature. The road follows the stream, crossing and re-crossing it a score of times and goes winding around past awe-inspiring cliffs and _ walls of granite which lift their heads thousands of feet in the air, past timber and grass covered slopes and by small but beautiful parks, until all at once it opens out upon the meadows of Estes Park. A very large share of the Park trade comes to Loveland whose merchants, with their mammoth store houses, are at all times prepared to supply, and nearly all of the travel to and from the Park leaves or boards the trains at this enterprising city. The trade with Estes Park and the mountain country, add materially to the commercial importance and prosperity of Loveland.

The Colorado Nursery Company, which has the largest nursery in the State and which supplies fruit, shade and ornamental trees, shrubs and plants to nearly all of Colorado, and whose trade amounts to hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, has its home in Loveland and is a leading factor in the business life of the city, so that altogether there are few communities in the county that have a more promising future than the commercial center of the Big Thompson valley.

For the following specific mention of the manufacturing interests of Loveland I am indebted to John N. Gordon, secretary of the Chamber of Commerce of that city, who has also kindly furnished data relating to the churches, theatres and to the public library, in all of which the people take just pride:

"The Buckhorn Plaster mill, situated six miles west of Loveland, was built and established in the early 80's by Alfred Wild. It was the first plant in the state to produce plaster of paris which, owing to its superior quality, is in great demand all over the Western country. The plant has been enlarged several times until at this time, under the management of the Buckhorn Plaster Company, the mill is operating with a capacity of 1,200 sacks of plaster per day. Owing to the immense quantity and superior quality of the gj-psum found in the locality and the constantly increasing demand for the manufactured product, another mill, having a capacity for turning out 1,000 sacks of plaster per day, has been erected about one mile west of the original plant, which is operated under the same management. The gypsum is found in accessible ledges and is easily and cheaply quarried, the mills and the quarries furnishing employment for a large number of men.

"The Empson Canning factory was built by the Empson Packing Company in 1907, with an operating capacity, when fully equipped, of 20,000 cans per hour, and can handle the crop from 3,000 acres of peas alone. At present the products of the factory are limited to peas and beans, but additions will be made as fast as the raw material can be secured. The factory furnishes employment to a number of operatives during the canning season and is the means of distributing a large sum of money annually to the farmers and working people.

"The beet sugar factory, the first one to be built in Larimer county, was erected in 1901, by the Great Western Sugar Company, at a cost of $1,000,000. It is capable of extracting the sugar from 1,200 to 1,500 tons of beets every twenty-four hours, and requires beets grown on from 10,000 to 12,000 acres of land to keep it in operation during the sugar making campaign, which usually lasts about 100 days. An average of about 40,000,000 pounds of refined sugar is annually produced, requiring the labor of about 2,000 field beet workers and 400 men employed in the factory while it is in operation. The Great Western Sugar Company annually pays out more than $1,000,000 for sugar beets and labor. The sugar making industry has been of great material benefit to the city of Loveland and the farming district surrounding it.

"An electric lighting system was installed in Loveland in 1901 by the Loveland Light, Heat and Power Company, which was succeeded, in 1907, by the Northern Colorado Power Company, which transmits the electric fluid from its mammoth power plant situated at Lafayette. A sewer system was inaugurated in 1903 and now the city is divided into nine sanitary sewer districts.

"The first public place of amusement, known as the Bartholf Opera House, was built and opened in 1884 and it is still used for that purpose. The new Loveland theatre was built in 1903 and is known as the Majestic Theatre.

"The Loveland public library was organized in 1903, with Mrs. A. V. DufEeld as Librarian. In 1908 Andrew Carnegie donated $10,000 for a library building and this was erected on a site costing $3,500. The library now contains 2,500 volumes, which are constantly being added to by purchase and donations of new books. The building is a handsome one and the interior arrangements are nicely adapted to the purpose for which it was erected. The present board of directors is composed of Mayor J. W. McMuUen, President; B. R. Bonnell, Vice-President; A. V. Benson, Secretary; O. H. Egge, J. M. Cunningham and Mrs. J. R. Anderson.

"Not the least among Loveland's list of productive industries is that of fruit growing. This industry gives pleasant and profitable employment to a large number of people - men, women and children - and its products add to the health and pleasure of consumers. The district has raised a variety of fruit in a sort of a desultory, haphazard way for the past twenty-five years, but not until during the past decade has much attention been given to raising fruit for commerce. Apples, plums, cherries and all kinds of small fruits do especially well, but until recent years there were only a few commercial orchards and these were limited to a few acres each. They were sufficient, however, to demonstrate that the Loveland district was a reliable fruit section and that a large and profitable industry could be built up in fruit growing. This demonstration served its purpose and now large commercial orchards, particularly of apples and cherries, are being planted and it is freely predicted that in a very few years the production of apples and cherries will be a leading industry in the Big Thompson valley. Loveland's special distinction in the fruit line during the past fifteen years, has come from the production of red raspberries in which, quantity and quality considered, it leads all other competitors in the state. As high as 30,000 crates of red raspberries have been produced in the vicinity of Loveland in a single season. Currants, gooseberries and other small fruits are also largely grown in that district.

"The present officers of the city of Loveland are : Mayor, J. W. McMuUen; Aldermen, First Ward, A. E. Sprague and W. C. Moore; Second Ward, E. O. Hile and O. D. Shields; Third Ward, C. E. Clark and Jared Craig; Fourth Ward, H. M. Mc- Clure and F. W. Loomis; Attorney, Ab. H. Romans; Treasurer, I. G. McCreery; Street Commissioner, O. B. Ford ; Physician, Dr. S. A. Joslyn ; Superintendent of Water Works, J. D. Lease; Clerk, S. J. Krouskop; Marshal, Luther Hagler; Police Magistrate, H. R. Smith; Police Officer, S. T. Querry.

"The religious orders are represented in Loveland by sixteen separate and distinct church organizations. These organizations, with two exceptions, each have resident pastors and each a place of worship ranging in cost from $1,000 to $40,000. They have an aggregate membership of 2,650, equal to about one-half the entire population of the city. The Methodist was the first church organization founded in the county. The three charter members of the Methodist church are still living, viz: Judge and Mrs. W. B. Osborn of Loveland and David Hershman of Boulder."

The following data relating to the Loveland churches, gathered by J. N. Gordon of that city, will be of interest not only to the present generation but to those that shall succeed the living:

"First Methodist Episcopal. - Organized in 1866; number of members three ; cost of first church building $800 ; name of first pastor,Rev. O. P. McMains ; church rebuilt in 1887 and in 1901; present value of property $25,000; name of present pastor, Rev. W. D. Phifer; present number of members 400; number in the Sunday school, 290. Special missionary work carried on with regular service at the Weldon school, eight miles west of town. Rev. Antes preached the first sermon in 1863, at which the entire population of the Big Thompson valley, numbering 13, was present. This was the first religous service held in Larimer county.

"First United Presbyterian. - Organized in 1875, with a total of 16 members, cost of first building, $1,600; name of first pastor, Rev. W. H. Mc- Creery; church rebuilt in 1893 and in 1905 ; present value of church property, $40,000; name of present pastor. Rev. R. C. Gibson ; present number of members, 374; number in Sunday school, 250. The first service of this denomination was held in the old Weldon log school house, and the church was organized in the Rist school house south of the Big Thompson river.

"First Baptist. - Organized in 1878, with 12 members ; cost of first building $2,000 ; name of the first pastor. Rev. J. C. Cline; church rebuilt in 1902; present value of property, $15,000; name of the present pastor. Rev. L. H. Coffman; present number in Sunday school, 250; present number of members, 403.

"United Brethren. - Organized in 1872 with two members; cost of first building, $1,500; name of first pastor, Rev. E. J. Lamb; church rebuilt in 1906; present value of church property, $12,000; pastorate vacant at- present; present number of members 140; number in Sunday school, 90.

"First Christian. - Organized in 1879; cost of building $2,000; name of first pastor. Rev. James McMillen; church rebuilt in 1904; present value of property, $18,000; name of present pastor, Rev. C. L. Dean; number of members, 210; number in Sunday school, 200.

"St John The Evangelist (Catholic) - Organized in 1890; name of the first Priest, Rev. Edward Downey; present value of property, $10,000; name of the present priest. Rev. W. J. Howlett; number of members, 150; number in Sunday school, 85.

"First German Congregational. - Organized November 24th, 1901, with 26 members; name of first pastor, Rev. Phillip Bechtel; present value of property, $7,000 ; name of present pastor, Rev. John

"Evangelical Association (German). - Organized in 1901 with 25 members; name of first pastor, W. Mengedaht; present value of property, $6,000; name of present pastor, W. Noerenberg; number of members at the present time, 56; number in Sunday school, 85.

"All Saints Episcopal Mission. - Organized in 1902 writh 20 members; cost of building $2,500; name of first Rector, Rev. Maurice J. Bjrwater, Archdeacon of Colorado ; name of present Rector, Rev. Edgar Jones; present number of members, 35.

"Seventh Day Adventist. - Organized in 1904 with 12 members; cost of building, $2,000; name of first pastor. Rev. Watson Ziegler; pastorate vacant; number of members at the present time, 28 ; number in Sunday school, 45.

"First Presbyterian. - Organized in 1904 with 26- members; Rev. Reuben S. Smith, first pastor; present value of property, $5,000; name of present pastor. Rev. Melvin L. Laybourn; present number of members, 183; number in Sunday school, 176.

"Swedish Lutheran. - Organized in 1905 with nine members ; name of first pastor, F. O. W. Gustafson; present value of property, $5,000; name of present pastor. Rev. John H. Nelson; present number of members, 75; number in Sunday school, 12.

"Zion Lutheran (German). - Organized March 8th, 1905; number of members, 300; name of first pastor, Rev. F. H. Besel ; present value of property, $7,000; name of present pastor. Rev. F. H. Besel; present number of members, 300 ; number of members in Sunday school, 75. Special missionary work carried on at Johnstown and Evans.

"German Reformed. - Organized in 1906 with 17 members; name of first pastor, Rev. Peter Bauer; present value of property, $3,500; name of present pastor, Rev. C. G. Zips; present number of members, 40.

"First Free Methodist. - Organized in 1906 with 1 4 members ; name of first pastor, Rev. James Glazier; present value of property, $1,500; name of present pastor, Rev. Charles Glazier; present number of members, 20; number in Sunday school, 25.

"German Congregational Zion. - Organized in 1908 with 40 members; name of first pastor. Rev. Phillip Bechtel; present value of property, $3,000; name of present pastor, Rev. J. H. Eckhardt; present number of members, 62 ; number in Sunday school, 40."

The Boxelder valley extends from where the Boxelder creek empties into the Cache la Poudre river to the canon where that stream debouches on to the Plains, a distance of twenty miles. In places the valley proper is from two to three miles in width between bluffs narrowing down in other places to one-half a mile in width, and the soil is rich, very productive and easily worked. The surface in the main is level and smooth with just enough pitch to the south to make irrigation practicable and easy. The bluff lands bordering the valley are rich and pliable and produce enormous crops on the application of water. As the valley and bluff lands were, in the early days, supposed to be beyond the possibility of ever being brought under irrigation, they remained unoccupied, except for pasture, for nearly twenty-five years after the settlements were made along the Cache la Poudre river. The Boxelder creek is a small stream, except during flood periods, and soon after the water leaves the canon it sinks into the sand to reappear miles further down, so that for a greater part of the year, it is a dry stream on the surface for several miles of its length. Even if it kept up a constant flow the year around it would not afford sufficient water to irrigate more than a small fraction of the land along the border of the stream.

E. W. Whitcomb, now a resident of Cheyenne, was probably the first settler in the valley. He located a stock ranch on the creek near the canon in 1867 or 68, and pastured a large herd of cattle and a band of horses on the rich and succulent grasses of the valley and adjacent bluffs. Mr. Whitcomb sold his ranch in 1875 to Noah Bristol. John Arthur established a cattle camp in the valley about four miles below the canon in 1861 and controlled a portion of the range for twelve or fifteen years. Lower down, William Brandis established a cattle ranch in the 60's where he made his home for nearly thirty years. All the rest of this beautiful valley, except a few farms near the mouth of the stream, remained unoccupied by settlers until about 1880. In 1879, Benjamin H. Eaton and his associates began construction work on what is known as the Larimer and Weld Canal. This canal tapped the river about two miles northwest of Fort Collins and is one of the largest irrigating canals in Northern Colorado. It has an appropriation of 720 cubic feet of water per second, and is about seventy miles in length, extending down into Weld count>' for a long distance. It carries water out on to the bluff lands and covers many thousand acres of fine farm lands. Soon after the project was gotten under way, all the lands in the Boxelder valley that could be irrigated from it were taken up and occupied by thrifty farmers who brought them under cultivation, producing a wonderful change in the face of the country.

In 1881, F. C. Avery, N. C. Alford and their associates organized the Larimer County Ditch company for the purpose of constructing what is known as the Larimer County Canal. This canal takes its water from the north side of the river, a short distance below the canon, and, keeping on grade, carries it far out on to the bluff lands some three or four miles north of the Larimer and Weld canal, which it parallels, and thence on east into Weld county. It is nearly 100 miles in length and furnishes water to irrigate between, 30,000 and 40,000 acres of very productive land. It has an appropriation of approximately 500 cubic feet of water per second and by reason of its mountain feeders, which bring water from the Grand and Laramie water sheds, and its extensive system of reservoirs, is conceded to be the best irrigation system in Northern Colorado. It covers a large body of land in the Boxelder valley lying north of the Larimer and Weld canal, and the land was taken up and occupied by settlers soon after construction work was started on the canal. But there still remained a large body of excellent farm land in the Boxelder valley lying north of the Larimer County canal and which could not be watered from it.

The subject of putting water on these lands and bringing them under cultivation engrossed the serious thought and consideration of Fort Collins people for several years and as early as 1878 a company composed of John C. Abbott, W. C. Stover and John C. Matthews was formed for the purpose of making a survey for a ditch from the canon of the North Fork out among the hills on to the Plains. The survey was made and the project was demonstrated to be a feasible one, but being unable to enlist sufficient capital to put through the enterprise, nothing further was done at that time. Three years later, in the spring of 1881, Francis L. Carter-Cotton and his associates organized the North Fork Ditch Company, having for its object the construction of a ditch and system of reservoirs by means of which these lands could be irrigated. Mr. Carter-Cotton succeeded in enlisting the co-operation of what was known as the English Company with large capital, and the work of building the ditch was started. The company bought up or contracted to buy all the railroad lands in the district sought to be irrigated, some 16,000 acres. These lands laid in the odd numbered sections and were a part of the Union Pacific land grant. As soon as the work on the ditch had gotten well under headway, settlers came in and took up the government land. Among these first settlers were Joseph Mefford, S. R. Wasson, Harvey Caverly, John Gray, C. Goodrich, George Jameson, R. Q. Tenney, P. G. Terry, James W. McGinley, John Cameron, J. L. Smith, V. Demmel, Gustave Wich, William Fertig, Frank Haeckel, John Jones, John Mc- Millan, M. Durand, John Bee, A. K. Morse, Phillip Lariviere, Eugene Kerr, I. N. Thomas, I. B. Harris and others whose names have escaped me. They built houses, fenced their tracts and otherwise improved them, expecting to be supplied with water from the ditch for irrigation. The ditch was completed to Boxelder creek in 1884, but being decreed a late water appropriation, the ditch company could only draw water from the river during flood time when there was more than enough to supply all of the older ditches. The settlers did not get any water for their crops that year. They fared but little better in 1885-6, and the result was the crops burned up and the farmers denied a harvest and many of them became discouraged and abandoned their farms. The construction of the ditch was costing so much more than the original estimates that the English Company, which had been furnishing the capital, surrendered its interests in the project to the Travelers' Insurance Company, which owned and controlled the enterprise for several years. Mr. Carter-Cotton abandoned the enterprise in 1886 and left the country. While owned by the Travelers' Insurance Company, it was able, now and then a year, to fill some of the reservoirs connected with the ditch system from which a few farmers drew sufficient water to irrigate and produce a crop, but, as a whole, the ditch proposition was a lamentable financial failure, so far as the company and most of the farmers in the Boxelder valley were concerned.

In the spring of 1901, the North Fork ditch, reservoirs, rights of way, lands and franchise passed by purchase into the possession of the North Poudre Irrigation Company, a strong combination of farmers, business men and capitalists, who at once set about improving the property by enlarging and putting the ditch in thorough repair, constructing new reservoirs and increasing the capacity of the old ones. This involved the expenditure of a large sum of money, but the changes and improvements re- suited in bringing the company's irrigation system up to a high state of efficiency, so that in the spring of 1902, the company was in position to supply water for irrigation to a greatly increased area of choice tillable land. That year the Fossil Creek reservoir, holding 550,000,000 cubic feet of water, was built and filled that fall and the following spring. Not a drop of the water stored in this reservoir could be applied to any of the Boxelder valley land, but by a system of exchange through which ditches in Weld county with old appropriations were supplied from the reservoir, the North Poudre company was given the right to take an equal quantity into its ditch from the river and apply it to lands under its ditch. The water thus acquired through exchange was utilized for direct irrigation of Boxelder lands and for filling reservoirs that could be drawn upon to supplement the supply from the ditch as the stored water was needed. The enterprise and energy shown by the North Poudre company soon attracted the attention of settlers and during the following year all of the government lands were taken up and occupied and the company had sold nearly all of its land, so that at the opening of 1904, there was a family on almost every quarter section in the valley, and during that year there were under cultivation nearly 30,000 acres of land. The ditch and reservoirs of the company were able to supply all of these new farms with water for irrigation and domestic use and the farmers began to raise good crops of grain, beets and alfalfa, and were prosperous. At the present time the Boxelder valley is recognized as among the best and most productive farming and stock feeding regions of Colorado. The moving spirit in the reclamation and upbuilding of the Boxelder valley was Francis C. Grable, to whose enthusiasm, wise foresight and resistless energy is due the most credit for the great work accomplished.

The town of Wellington, situated in the heart of the Boxelder farming district, was founded in the winter of 1902 and at once took on surprising growth. The inhabitants were mainly from Kansas, Iowa and Nebraska, intelligent, thrifty and enterprising and took a great deal of pride in the town. It now boasts of a population of about 500 with almost every line of business represented. Its streets are broad, clean and well kept, being paved with gravel. Its numerous pretty homes, substantial business blocks, churches, fine school house, bank, hotels, elevator, telephone exchange, town hall and public assembly room and other up-to-date public conveniences, including a weekly newspaper and municipal water works system, all bear the impress of stability, showing that the people are prosperous, happy and contented. In 1903 the Colorado & Southern Railroad company extended its line of track from Fort Collins to Wellington, a distance of twelve miles, and from that town northwest to the town of Waverly, a distance of five miles, over which two daily passenger trains are operated. The town is incorporated and has its mayor, board of trustees, clerk, fire department and full set of town officials, public park, sidewalks, etc. Thousands of fruit and shade trees were early set out so that the town is now nearly hidden by trees and foliage in the summer season. The Denver, Laramie & Northwestern railroad, now in course of construction, will pass through the town, making it a junction point. Wellington is already an important shipping point and thousands of car loads of grain, live stock, sugar beets, potatoes, etc., are sent away from the town every year, and it is the supply and distributing point for a large extent of country. All this has been accomplished during the past eight years through the development of the North Poudre Irrigation company's system of ditches and reservoirs, by means of which an extensive body of splendid farming land has been brought under cultivation. In 1908 the number of votes cast at Wellington was 321, all of the voters being residents of the Boxelder valley.

First Methodist Church - This church was organized in December, 1904, with a class of 22, and Rev. G. A. Spence was assigned as the first pastor. A building for church purposes was erected in the summer of 1905, and the present value of church property is $6,000. Rev. Robert Titmarsh is now serving the congregation. The membership has largely increased and there are 100 children enrolled in the Sunday school.

First Congregational Church - Rev. Horace Sanderson organized this congregation of 22 members on September 18th, 1904. Rev. Arthur Morrison was the firsj pastor, being called September 25th. A place of worship was completed in March, 1905, and the present value of church property is placed at $5,500. The membership roll now contains the names of 58 persons, and Rev. Ernest Jones is the pastor. A Sunday school was organized on May 28th, 1905, and there are now 78 pupils.

and Rev. George W. D. Dixon was the first pastor. In the summer of 1907, a house of worship was built and the present value of church property is $3,500. The membership has increased to 33, and Rev. J. J. Earp is the present pastor. There are 25 children enrolled in the Sunday school. The church has been closed for the past two years, but about two months ago a pastor was called and the congregation is being reorganized.

Christ (German) Congregational Church - This church was organized in the spring of 1905, with Rev. Paul Burkhardt as pastor. A house of worship was built that summer and the present value of church property is estimated at $1,500.

The First National bank of Wellington was organized June 12th, 1905, with a capital stock of $40,000. Its resources amounted to $169,882.64 in November, 1910; its deposits to $65,481.08 and its surplus and undivided profits to $4,917.41. The bank serves a rich and growing agricultural and stock feeding district in a town of about 500 inhabitants, which was founded in 1902. The present officers and directors are: President, P. Anderson; Vice-President, F. M. Wright; Cashier, John S. Cusack; Assistant Cashier, Miss A. B. Wilson; C. Cusack, C. R. Geith.

Stove Prairie was the name given in the early 60's to a beautiful little park situated in the Front range of mountains about twenty-five miles west of Fort Collins. The name originated in the following manner: Two prospectors traveled up Buckhorn creek in search of placer ground and finally wandered into a grass covered meadow, believing themselves to be its discoverers and the first white men to step foot within its borders. Their felicitations were short lived, however. They had not completed their explorations ere they came upon an abandoned camp in which the former occupant had left his camp stove. From this circumstance originated the name "Stove Prairie".

The first white settler in Stove Prairie was a man named Williams of Greeley, who about 1875, established a horse camp and pastured a band of horses there for several years. He built a cabin at the foot of the hill near the entrance and made his home there while looking after his horses. He was followed a little later by a Mr. Ripperdam with a hunch of cattle. Then came Charles Havens who took up the place now owned by Thomas Morgan, and J. W. Rutherford who settled upon the place now owned by Harlan Bosworth. A man named Beals first located the Harlan Bosworth place. The Graham brothers, Mat and Al, settled there along in the 80's. Mat was found dead in his cabin at the foot of Stove Prairie gulch a few years later, and Al is now an inmate of the State insane asylum. Other settlers on Stove Prairie were Jehiel Shull, Wm. P. Bosworth, the Hollemans, Henry Mc- Ginness. A school district was organized in 1893 and a comfortable and well furnished log school house was built in 1894.

The Stove Prairie country is essentially a stock region and nearly all of the settlers own herds of cattle. It is too high for general farming, only coarse grains for stock food and potatoes and hardy vegetables are grown. The hills about the park are covered with timber and in the early days saw mills cut a great deal of lumber in that vicinity.

The foot of Stove Prairie gulch offers fine camping grounds for fishermen and picnic parties and not a summer passes that the banks of the river at that point are not alive with camping parties. The river for a few miles above and below the mouth of the gulch is the trout fisherman's paradise.

The Utes in their forays on their hereditary enemies, the Cheyennes and Arapahoes and later on the white settlers in the Big Thompson, used to come down from North Park over Ute Pass and thence down Huleatt and up Stove Prairie gulches and across Stove Prairie park to the Buckhorn creek, down which they traveled to the Big Thompson valley. In places their trail was worn down into the soil several inches and its outlines are still visible.

Fort Collins, the county seat and principal town in Larimer county, owes its origin and final place on the map to the intervention of a flood in the Cache la Poudre river. This flood occurred on the last days of May and first days of June, 1864, and is said to have been the worst known by white men. The water poured out of the banks of the stream and inundated the valley from bluff to bluff with a torrent that carried everything not firmly attached to the soil with it. It carried out the toll bridge at Laporte at a time when the movement of emigration westward was the heaviest, and more than

200 emigrant wagons were stalled on the bluffs south of Laporte, being unable to ford the stream because of high water. The Overland stages could not make their regular trips for several days, and as a result many travelers east and west bound, were flood held at Laporte. On the first appearance of the flood and after the bridge had been washed away, John B. Provost sent to Denver for a heavy cable and, constructing a rude flat boat, established a ferry across the stream at his place. The stages and emigrant wagons were taken across on this flat boat and proceeded on their way. The charge for ferrying a team and wagon across the river was $10 and for a few days Mr. Provost did a thriving business, making money hand over fist, as the saying is. The river was turbulent and unsafe to ford through almost the entire month of June and Mr. Provost used to say afterwards that "it was the biggest month's work he ever did."

In the fall of 1863, Company B of the First Colorado Volunteer Cavalry was sent to Laporte to patrol the Overland stage line and guard and protect the coaches and emigrant trains from Indian raids and attacks, also to protect the lives and property of the few settlers in the valley at that time from the thieving and murderous savages who were making a great deal of trouble on the Plains. The soldiers established their encampment on the bottom lands near the river on Antoine Janis' claim a short distance up the stream from the present village of Laporte. The land on which the soldiers camped later passed into the ownership of Tobias Miller, who sold it to Joseph Hammerly, the present occupant. Log cabins for the officers and men and stables for the horses were built that fall and Company B remained here through the winter. In April, 1864, General Schofield, commanding the Department of the Missouri, ordered Colonel Chivington of the First Colorado to send four companies of his regiment to proceed west on the Overland stage line as far as Fort Bridger and co-operate with General Connor's forces in a campaign against the Indians, which were becoming very troublesome, threatening to break up the Overland mail and make the emigrant road impassable. Colonel Chivington ordered Major Wynkoop to proceed west to the aid of General Connor and to have Captain Logan of Company B join him with his troop at Laporte. On arriving at Laporte Major Wynkoop found that Captain Logan's troop was poorly mounted and indifferently armed, consequently there was considerable delay before the soldiers were ready to march westward. This delay resulted in giving the Southern Utes an opportunity to attack the Overland stage on the Laramie Plains. On the 5th of July, these Indians raided the stage company's station at Cooper Creek and ran off all the stock, and the same night they visited Medicine Bow station and carried away all the provisions and stripped the keepers of the station, Hazzard and NichoUs, of their clothing.

In the meantime Lieut. Col. W. O. Collins of the 11th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, commanding the post at Fort Laramie, was ordered to send two companies of his regiment to take the place of the Colorado troops sent to join General Connor's forces at Fort Bridger. Companies B and F of the Ohio troops in command of Capt. William H. Evans, were sent to Laporte in pursuance of this order, arriving the latter part of May, 1864. The camp or post, which before this had no distinction, was christened Camp Collins in honor of Lieut. Col. W. O. Collins. A portion of Capt. Evan's troops occupied the cabins left by the Colorado soldiers and the remainder lived in tents.

Laporte at the time was the county seat of Larimer county, a station on the Overland stage line and the most important trading and distributing point north of Denver. Quite a large settlement of white people had centered there and nearly all lines of business were represented. The duty of the Ohio troops was the same as that performed by the Colorado soldiers, the patroling and guarding the Overland stage line and protecting emigrants and settlers from Indian depredations. It was because the Indians had become more daring and more troublesome with the opening of the spring and their raids and depredations more frequent, that General Schofield, commander of the department, deemed it wise in the interest of safety, to send two companies of cavalry here at that time to take the place of the one company of Colorado troops. The new comers found plenty to do and none of them ate the bread of idleness that summer. They were required to patrol the stage line and escort the coaches and emigrant trains every day from Laporte to Virginia Dale; were detailed on detached duty at Fremont's Orchard, Latham, Camp Mitchell, Big Laramie station. Cooper creek. Willow Springs and Virginia Dale.

A great body of snow fell in the mountains in the winter of 1863-4, filling the gulches and ravines to the depth of several feet, and the snow was from four to six feet deep in the timber on the hillsides. From the barren mountain tops above timber line the snow had blown off into the timber, gulches and ravines where it became packed and as hard as an ice-bed, almost. The foothills near the Plains were covered with a heavy growth of timber which held the snow in place, preventing it from drifting, so that back in the hills there was an immense quantity of water making material.

"The summer of 1863," says Gen. Frank Hall in his History of Colorado, "was marked by a protracted drouth which dried up the smaller streams, and prevented the growth of crops in the limited area then cultivated. Earlier than usual, about the middle of October, one of the severest winters ever known in this latitude set in, with frequent heavj snows and very cold weather. Those who had stock on the range lost it, supply trains were blockaded, and many abandoned. It seemed impossible to maintain any sort of communication with the States. The stages, under ordinary circumstances would push through when it was possible for any living force to face the bitter blasts, were delayed; the drivers, bewildered and lost in the furious windblown snows, wandered about wildly on the trackless prairies."

In the spring of 1864, under the influence of the sun's warm rays the great masses of snow melted on the foothills and torrents of water came pouring down from the slopes into the channel of the Cache la Poudre, swelling the stream even with its banks. On the 9th of June, an extraordinary rain storm set in on the water shed of the upper part of the river, melted the snow in the higher altitudes and an enormous volume of water laden with drift-wood, poured into the already swollen channel, and the sullen roar of the rushing stream as it burst out of the canon was heard for a long distance. On reaching the Plains, the water spread out and submerged the bottom lands from bluff to bluff, to a depth of several feet. The storm occurred in the afternoon and the raging torrent, plunging like the waves of the sea under the impulse of a gale, swept down through the soldier's camp in the night almost without warning. Tents, clothing, accoutrements, ordinance and ordinance stores and some of the cabins were carried away and the soldiers, awakened from sleep, fled for their lives to the nearest bluff. Some of them sleeping in the cabins and unable to open the doors because of the pressure of water against them, crawled out through chimneys and jumping from the roof into the water, waded to dry land. The poor fellows were in a sorry plight the remainder of the night without shelter and many of them with only the clothes they slept in to protect them from the chilling rain which was still falling. When morning broke a scene of desolation presented itself to view. The camp grounds were completely submerged and only the roofs of cabins that had withstood the on-rush of water were visible, while as far as the eye could reach up and down the river nothing but a surging sea of muddy water could be seen. Fortunately no lives were lost, but there were several narrow escapes by the settlers on the bottom lands. In Laporte all the cellars and floors of the buildings were deluged, and the inhabitants had to seek higher ground. Several lost everything they possessed.

The storm which brought on the flood in the Cache la Poudre was general in the northern part of the Territory and Denver, the Boulder, St. Vrain and Big Thompson valleys suffered severely from its effects. Great waves of muddy water came down Cherry creek and poured over and submerged West Denver, doing a vast amount of damage. Among the buildings which were wholly destroyed and carried in fragments down the Platte river were the Methodist church, the office of the Rocky Mountain News and the City Hall. Portions of the heavy machinery of the News office were carried down the river and never recovered. The low lands in the Big Thompson valley were submerged, settlers' cabins were washed away and gardens and meadows destroyed.

Soon after the storm ceased and the sun came out from behind the clouds, the waters began to recede and it was not long until they had fallen back to the channel, leaving the bottom lands uncovered. The channel ran bank full, however, through a good part of the month of June. A report of the disaster that had overtaken the soldiers was sent to Col. Collins at Fort Laramie, and he directed Capt. Evans, commander of the post, to look up a new location for the camp, one that would be beyond danger of floods in the future. Capt. Evans sent Lieut. James W. Hanna with a detail of soldiers down the river in the month of July in search of the desired location. The party followed the river on the north side down to the mouth of Boxelder creek, forded the stream there and returned to camp via the south side of the stream, fording again at Laporte. In coming up the south side of the river they met Joseph Mason, who then lived on the place so long owned and occupied by the late William F. Watrous. Mr. Mason called Lieut. Hanna's attention to the site now occupied by the city of Fort Collins, and describing its advantages, urged a favorable report of the ground to Col.

Collins. This Lieut. Hanna promised to do. He kept his promise and sent through Capt Evans, a flattering description of the site, giving its proximity to the river, situation on the high dry land vi'ith good drainage and a fine view of the surrounding country for miles in each direction. One great objection to the old camp grounds at Laporte, in addition to its liability to be flooded in times of high water, was that it was hemmed in by bluffs and hog backs so that the view was restricted in each direction, making it possible for Indians to swoop down upon the camp unseen and run off the troopers' horses.

At the time Lieut. Hanna made his survey there was not a house nor even a cabin on the south side of the river from Joseph Mason's home to the Sherwood place, a distance of about five miles, and thousands of prairie dogs had possession of the site selected for the new camp. Soon after receiving Lieut. Hanna's report, Col. Collins left Fort Laramie with a guard of soldiers, for Camp Collins for the purpose of a personal inspection of the location recommended. He arrived at Laporte on the 13th of August. He remained there a week, leaving on on the return to Fort Laramie via Fort Halleck, August 21st. On the way down from Fort Laramie, Col. Collins kept a daily journal noting number of miles traveled each day, the stopping places at night and describing the character of the country and the road traversed. At the request of Mr. Francis C. Grable of Fort Collins, Mrs. Catherine W. Collins, widow of Col. Collins, sent him from her home in Hillsboro, Ohio, this jdurnal and several other papers of historical value, which have, with Mrs. Collins' consent, been presented to the Association of Pioneer Women of the Cache la Poudre valley for preservation. The list of papers include :

It enters into details concerning roads, grass, water and wood. No doubt such a record was required by the army regulations in those early days so that all movements of troops might be made

"Friday, August 12th, left camp about 6 a. m. ; road hilly and circuitous, water in one or two small branches, especially on Little Crow creek. A few miles from camp where party with prisoners from Camp Collins had camped last night; met them two or three miles from our camp. Road thence broken, circuitous and latter part muddy to Jack Springs, when stopped for noon; distance about twenty-two miles. Road generally good; no wood or water. Grasshoppers appeared in swarms as we left camp. Camped for night on Boxelder. Fine running stream, plenty of flood wood, good grass; distance fourteen miles. Total 36 miles in day."

"Saturday, August 13th, left camp' at 7 o'clock; got to Camp Collins on Cache la Poudre about 11 o'clock. Road good but no water or wood, but grass plenty. Cache la Poudre fine stream coming out of mountains just above camp; distance about fourteen miles. Summary:

While at old Camp Collins, Col. Collins inspected the new site for a post, the condition of the troops and his report of the way he found things and what he did is embodied in a report to General R. B. Mitchell, commanding the district of Nebraska, which follows :

"I respectfully report that I have arrived at this Post, on the 14th inst. Found companies B and F 11th O. V. C. stationed here partly in quarters upon detached service, health of the troops excellent and the discipline creditable to officers and men.

"On careful examination and inquiry, I became satisfied that the good of the service required a change in the location of the post. The present site is within the town of Laporte, where the claims of lot holders seriously interfere with military interests, the ground is subject to overflow, the whole having been under water and much public property

"I therefore determined to select new grounds in the vicinity and fortunately was able to find a locality having superior advantages in the way of wood, water and grass without danger of overflow and where sufficient territory could be obtained without interfering with the claims of any citizens. "I enclose a copy of an order appropriating the ground and directing the removal of the troops and stores to the same and respectfully ask its approval. This post is likely to be an important one and I find a contract for the delivery of 2,000 tons of hay by the order of the Quartermaster of the Department which indicates an intention to winter a large number of troops and stock in the vicinity. The great alarm existing from attacks made and threatened by the Indians seemed to make it proper that I should visit Denver to consult with the authorities, and I made a hasty trip to that place, being absent from this post but three days. I found martial law proclaimed, business suspended and a regiment of volunteers rapidly raising which is to take the field in a few days. Its destination is the valley of the South Platte and the country south towards the waters of the Republican and Arkansas, where the Cheyennes, Kiowas, Apaches and other Indians have recently been committing serious outrages and depredations. No part of these volunteer forces will probably go north of the valley of the South Platte.

There is a considerable number of Arapahoes in the neighborhood of this post, but they profess friendship and as yet have committed no acts of hostility. Several parties of Utes have recently crossed the Overland stage road west of this post, going north to 'look for Sioux' as they say, but who protest they will harm no white men. Gov. Evans and Maj. Whiting (Indian Agent) assure me they have full confidence in their professions, and suggest that they be permitted to make war upon the Cheyennes and Arapahoes and Sioux who are their hereditary enemies. At this time all the Indians need watching and I shall care that they are carefully observed. Capt. Evans' Company F, commanding the two companies stationed at this post, is ordered to hold them in readiness to pursue Indians at any moment and detachments are constantly out scouting, escorting and garrisoning points supposed to be liable to attack. Most of the settlers on Cache la Poudre river, Thompson and other streams are abandoning their ranches and gathering into this post for protection. I think much of the alarm unnecessary and hope the panic

Mrs. Wm. O. Collins

The date of the foregoing report corresponds with the date of the birth of Fort Collins, for on that date Col. Collins issued an order appropriating the ground for military purposes and directing the removal of the troops and stores to the new Camp Collins, although it does not appear that any of the soldiers occupied the new site until a few days later. The active work of constructing the new camp was immediately begun, however, by sending men into the hills to cut and prepare timbers for quarters for the officers and men and for the stables. Col. Collins had, on his first visit, directed that a military reservation four miles square be set off and that a description, giving metes and bounds, be sent to the war department at Washington for approval. On the 12th of November the acting Secretary of the Interior addressed the following letter to President Lincoln, recommending the establishment of the reservation :

"I have the honor to recommend that a reservation for military purposes be made of a tract of land situated in township number 7, north range 69 west, in the territory of Colorado, and described as follows:

"Beginning in the center of the main channel of the Cache la Poudre river where the east line of the claim of Joseph Mason crosses the same, thence south four miles, thence east four miles, thence north about four miles to the center of the main channel of the Cache la Poudre, thence with the center of the main channel of the said river following its meanderings' to the place of beginning.

"The letter of the Secretary of War of the 3rd and the report of the Commissioners of the General Land Office of the 12th inst. relative to this subject I respectfully submit herewith.

"November 14, 1864. "Let the tract of land within described be set apart as a military reservation pursuant to the recommendation of the acting Secretary of the Interior. A. Lincoln."

James L. Allen, who sold it to W. F. Watrous. The reservation was relinquished by the government and thrown open to homestead and preemption entries in 1872, under the provisions of an act of Congress, approved May 15th, of that year.

While Judge M. E. Hocker was dealing in drugs in Laramie, Wyoming, in 1876, a man came to him with a book containing the morning reports and orders of the commanding officer at Camp Collins, and asked the Judge what he should do with it. The Judge looked the book through and saw that it contained records of events of historical value that would be of special interest to the people of Fort Collins, so he said to the man "Leave the book with me and I will send it to Frank Stover". He did so and Mr. Stover has been in possession of the book ever since. Through his kindness, I am permittted to copy from it as freely as I wish. The book is well preserved and the hand-writing in which the reports and orders are recorded is clear and distinct, showing but little the effect of age. The special orders issued by the commanding officers are numbered from 1 to 187. These are followed in the book by a new series of general and special orders, the last one being numbered 16 and dated June 25th, 1865.

"Serg't B. F. McClermont Company E 11th O. V. C. and temporarily assigned to Company F 11th Reg't O. V. C. is released from duty at this camp and is hereby ordered to Fort Halleck D. T. to report without delay to Major Mackey for duty. "By order,

As most of the orders relate to details of soldiers to act as escorts to stage coaches, to the U. S. Paymaster or for guard or camp duty, only those having special bearing on conditions as they existed at that period or are of historical interest will be quoted, some of them at length and others by reference :

Order No. 2, signed by Capt. Evans gives notice that "any citizen who shall be detected in Larimer county of giving or selling liquor to soldiers of Company F 11th Ohio Cavalry, without the written permit of the commander of Camp Collins, will be visited with the severest punishment."

Order No. 3, dated July 4th, 1864, assigns Acting Assistant Surgeon T. M. Smith to duty at the camp. Dr. Smith was the pioneer physician and surgeon of Fort Collins and is kindly remembered by many of those who lived here as late as 1882, when he went to Virginia, where he died a few years later. Dr. Smith remained in the Cache la Poudre valley for several years after the soldiers left and was elected County Treasurer in 1872.

quarters and barracks for private soldiers and the Post Quartermaster had the logs hauled to the new camp grounds by government teams. Here the logs were fitted and put in place by other details of soldiers under the direction of Private Harold F. Elborn, post carpenter. The doors, windows and hardware for the buildings were procured at Denver and the lumber for the floors and roof and the shingles were obtained at Obenchain's saw-mill,

Camp Collins In 1865

By an order issued July 1st, Antoine Janis was appointed to act as guide and interpreter for the post. Mr. Janis located on the claim on which the soldiers were camped at the time this order was issued in 1844, and could speak the language of the Indians fluently. He was an educated man who, by reason of having an Indian woman for his wife, was on friendly terms with the natives.

An order issued August 21 directs that no enlisted men of this camp will be permitted to engage themselves to work for citizens without special permission from the commanding officer, owing to the additional labor that will be required in the construction of the new camp. Sergeants of companies were directed to see that all axes and other tools were put in order.

The quartermaster's and the commissary's quarters were placed on the west side and the guard house on the east side, while the hospital stood west of the parade grounds on a site selected by Drs. Underbill and Smith. The laundry was placed at a point northwest of the post near the river. The stables were built near the river bank a little to the northwest of parade grounds ; caves dug in the river bank were also used for stables. The blacksmith shop stood on the bottom land east of the Linden street bridge. All buildings except the blacksmith's shop were erected on parallel lines and at right angles with the parade grounds. The south line of the parade grounds was about where the mill race is now.

The work on the buildings progressed rapidly and on September 28th Capt. Evans ordered Lieut. E. L. Pettijohn to take command of the new camp and all troops and government property, and on the

The Old Grout Building

2nd of October Lieut. James W. Hanna was ordered to go to the new camp and take command of detachment of Company F 11th O. V. C. On the same day Lieut. Hanna was ordered to go down the Cache la Poudre with a detachment of soldiers and arrest "Gov. Briggs" with his wagon and all stores in his charge. In executing the "Gov. Briggs" order Lieut. Hanna seized seven kegs of sour lager beer and four gallons of wine. The beer was poured on the ground and the wine turned over to Dr. Smith for hospital uses.

On the 5th of October Capt. Evans appointed Capt. Wesley Love, Lieut. E. P. Drake and Lieut. E. L. Pettijohn a board of survey to convene at the new camp for the purpose of ascertaining and reporting claims set up by citizens to any land within the reservation and whether any of the claims are valid and what the value of all labor and material expended upon the same prior to August 20th, 1864. The board reported the same day that there was not a valid claim within the limits of the reservation nor any occupant or improvement of any value on said reservation on August 20th.

Notwithstanding the report of the board of survey, Capt. Evans on the 12th of October issued orders to two trespassers on the reservation to vacate and remove beyond the limits of the four miles square, giving one of them ten days and the other twenty-four hours to get off. The names of these spurious claimants are not given. They had probably squatted on the reservation for the purpose of selling liquor to the soldiers.

On October 7th Capt. Evans appointed Joseph Mason and Henry Chamberlin acting sutlers for the post, giving them the privilege of erecting proper buildings at. or near the new camp and the keeping and vending to the soldiers such goods as were usually kept and sold by army sutlers. In accordance with their appointment and the privileges granted them, Messrs Mason & Chamberlin erected a log building on the site now occupied by the Horn block at the corner of Linden and Jefferson streets, in which to keep their goods. This was Fort Collins' first mercantile establishment, and it proved to be a great convenience not only for the soldiers but for the settlers as well. Louis B. Taft, a brother-in-law of Mr. Chamberlin, clerked in the store for the firm in the fall of 1864 and part of the winter of 1865. In the spring of 1865, Air. Chamberlin sold his interest in the store to Major Asaph Allen, former commandant at Fort Halleck, and the firm became Mason & Allen. That year the firm built the "Old Grout," which stood where Frank Stover's drug store now stands, fronting Jefferson street. This building not only afforded the camp sutlers more room in which to carry on their business but it also contained a hall which was used for public purposes for many years and in fact until 1878, when Wilson's hall was built. Harris Stratton was the architect and superintendent of construction of the "Old Grout". The old building was torn down in the spring of 1882 to make room for Frank Stover's drug store. The "Old Grout" had a remarkable history, which if written up in its entirety, would read almost like a romance. It was a large tuo story building, with a porch and balcony across the front end. The first floor contained a large store room,, a warehouse and living rooms in the rear. The second floor contained a public hall which was reached by an outside stairway. This was the only public hall on the reservation and it was used for many different purposes, including church services, Sunday schools, theatres, lectures and dances. When the county seat was moved down from Laporte in the fall of 1868, the hall was converted into a courtroom and county offices. The old building served a splendid purpose in its day and when it was razed to the ground, one of the principal landmarks noting the early history of Fort Collins disappeared. Judge Lewis Stone, a recent comer from Minnesota, was given permission on the 8th of October, 1864, to build and keep a mess house at the post for the accommodation of the military officers stationed here. A log building for this purpose was erected that fall, on the site now occupied by the stone hotel on Jefferson street. Here, after the death of her husband, Mrs. Elizabeth Stone affectionately called "Aunty" Stone, boarded the officers while they remained at the post, and after they left in June, 1866, she threw the house open to the public as a hotel. This was the first dwelling house, and also the first hotel built in Fort Collins. Mrs. Stone sold this building in 1873 and it was moved to where the Express printing office now stands and attached to the rear of and used as a kitchen for the old Agricultural hotel, built that year by Capt. Marcus Coon. O. C. Peck then erected the stone hotel on the site of the old log building. After the front part of the old Agricultural hotel was moved to the corner where the Northern hotel now stands in 1878 by D. M. Harris, "Aunty" Stone's old mess house was used as a dwelling until 1907, when it was converted into a paint shop. In 1909, the Association of Pioneer Women of the Cache la Poudre Valley bought the building, had it moved to a site on Mason street, between Oak and Olive streets, where it is being fitted up for a museum in which to preserve historical relics of pioneer days and as a meeting place for the association.

It is difficult to fix the exact day of the month when the old camp at Laporte was abandoned and , the new camp occupied by all the troops stationed on the Cache la Poudre, but it must have been somewhere about the middle of October. Part of the force had been occupying the new camp doing guard duty and constructing the new buildings for several weeks prior to the middle of the month, but the order to Lieut. Pettijohn to have guard mounting at the new camp was dated October 18th. While the site for the camp was located August 20th, 1864, and the boundaries of the military reservation were established shortly after that date, the soldiers were not all removed from the old camp west of Laporte to Camp Collins until in October. At this latter date the officers' quarters, the soldiers' barracks, the guard house, magazine and stables had practically been completed and made ready for occupancy. All the camp stores, quartermaster's supplies, horses, guns and ammunition had already been moved to the new camp, so that when the troops, left at the old camp doing guard duty while the new camp buildings were being erected, joined their comrades at Camp Collins on October 18th, y the post became fully established and occupied. On the 23rd of October Capt. Evans issued an order directing Lieut. C. W. Waters of Company B, 11th Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, to proceed to Fort Kearney, Nebraska, with the veterans of Company B whose term of enlistment had expired. Four / days later Sergeant W. A. Wagner was detailed to have charge of the Quartermaster's trains dispatched to Fort Kearney with the veterans and their supplies. Beginning with October 23rd, 1864, all orders issued by the commandant of the post were dated at Fort Collins instead of Camp Collins, as had heretofore been the practice, indicating that, in the opinion of Capt. Evans, the post had outlived the title of "camp" and had risen to the dignity of a fort.

The book of morning reports heretofore referred to contains 187 special orders issued by Capt. W. H. Evans while in command, including a few issued during the temporary absence of Capt. Evans. On May 5th, 1865, Capt. Luther Wilson of Company D 1st Veteran battalion, Colorado Cavalry, suc- ceeded Capt. Evans as commander of the post, remaining until June 23rd, when all the Ohio troops were ordered home for discharge. Capt. Wilson issued two general orders and sixteen special orders. The most of these orders related to the detailing of soldiers for guard duty on the line of the Overland stage, details for camp duty and as guards for supply trains, for the arrest of deserters and for various other duties such as wood cutting, hauling hay, etc. A few of them are of general interest in that they seem to throw a side light on conditions as they existed in the Cache la Poudre valley at the time the orders were issued, and these are herewithreproduced. At that time there were about a ' dozen settlers along the river between Laporte and the east county line. The most of these were engaged in stock raising and their cattle and horses roamed at will over a wide expanse of unfenced and unbroken plains. Those not engaged in the stock business cultivated truck gardens on the river bottom or cut and put up hay, selling their products either to the government or to the stage stations along the Overland line. Captain Evans, although a good soldier and a strict disciplinarian, is reported to have been something of a military martinet and assumed to dictate and control the acts and movements of the settlers as well as the soldiers. This the former resented, which resulted in a good deal of bad blood between them and Captain Evans. They didn't get along well together at all, and there was much rejoicing among the settlers when he was transferred to another field of action.

On November 5th, T. M. Smith, acting assistant surgeon, was granted permission to proceed to Denver for the purpose of procuring medical supplies for the post. When the Eleventh Ohio troops were withdrawn from the post and sent home to be discharged. Dr. Smith remained in Fort Collins and was the first physician to locate permanently in the county. He afterwards became a prominent citizen, and in 1872 was elected County Treasurer and was also one of the charter members of the Collins lodge No. 19 of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons. He went to Virginia in 1882 and died there a few years later.

"It having been reported to these headquarters by the Quartermaster that cattle belonging to citizens in this vicinity are now and have been destroying government hay at this post, and that it is impossible to erect substantial corrals around said hay; in consequence of this due notice is given to all whom it may concern that on or after Nov. 11th, 1864, the Quartermaster is authorized to dispose of any cattle destroying hay at this post to the best interest of the government."

The government hay was stacked on the open prairie near the post and was not protected by fence or any kind of enclosure. As a result the range cattle wandered on the reservation and helped themselves to the hay. The order confiscating cattle caught eating government hay stirred up a good deal of indignation among the settlers owning cattle, and they did not hesitate to show it. They had no facilities for yarding and feeding their herds, and they resented the order as an imposition. They felt that if the government couldn't fence and protect its hay stacks the post commander should detail a few of his soldiers to guard the stacks and keep the cattle away, instead of confiscating the animals. The ill-feeling engendered between the settlers and the commanding officer by this order was intensified by other arbitrary and uncalled for acts of what the settlers called oppression, and while Captain Evans remained in command there was much bitter feeling towards him by citizens. Fortunately no serious outbreak occurred between the belligerents and nobody received any personal injuries because of the feud, but the settlers were all glad to have Captain Evans leave for good and all.

The commander of the post was frequently annoyed by soldiers returning from Laporte in an intoxicated condition, and to prevent these annoyances he issued the following order on November 10th: "In consequence of soldiers from this post returning from Laporte and that vicinity intoxicated, due notice is hereby given to all venders of liquors in the vicinity that they are prohibited from selling liquor of any kind, to any soldier or soldiers or giving in trade to them, either personally or through any citizen. For violation of this order, the party or parties so offending will without distinction of person be arrested and their stock confiscated."

This order is supposed to have been intended for the government of John B. Provost and Henry Arrison, both of whom conducted drinking places at Laporte. Arrison had been Sheriff of the county and the phrase "without distinction of persons" was thought to be aimed at him.

On the 14th of November Major Thos. L. Mackey arrived from Fort Halleck and took temporary command, and he at once issued an order modifying Captain Love's order, directing the con-

"So much of special order No. 72 from these headquarters as authorized the sale of stock belonging to citizens found trespassing, is hereby rescinded and the following substituted: 'AH cattle belonging to citizens found at the hay stacks will be put in the corral and the owners can there get the stock only by applying to the acting assistant quartermaster and paying $1 for each animal so coralled and $1 each for each subsequent day the stock is kept in the corral.' "

This order had a mollifying effect upon the settlers and created a better feeling between the citizens and the post, although the latter at no time had any use for Captain Evans.

On November 22nd, Lieut. James W. Hanna was ordered to proceed to Fort Laramie in charge of recruits and to take with him two quartermaster teams for the purpose of bringing back camp supplies. It was while returning from Fort Laramie that Lieutenant Hanna and his command were caught in a blizzard and nearly lost their lives by freezing, as detailed elsewhere in this book.

That the camp sutlers were not allowed to make their own prices on their goods is evidenced by special order No. 88, issued by Major Mackey on November 28th, as follows:

"A post council of adrninistration to consist of Lieut. O. S. Glenn and Lieut. E. L. Pettijohn will convene immediately for the purpose of fixing the tariff of prices on the sutler's goods at this post."

It appears from these post records that details of soldiers were frequently sent out to arrest and bring in deserters who had attempted to get out of the service by the back door, not only from this post, but also from other regiments of soldiers stationed on the frontier. That desertions were frequent is not to be wondered at when one recalls the circumstances surrounding the soldiers. They were penned up in military posts away out on the frontier, encompassed by dangers, seen and unseen, subject to arduous and perilous duty in an inhospitable region, deprived of the privileges they were accustomed to enjoying and hundreds of miles from their homes and loved ones, it is not surprising that some of them violated the terms of their enlistment and made breaks for liberty. Major Mackey gave over the command of the post on the 29th of November to Captain Evans and departed with a detail of soldiers for Fort Laramie. On December 4th, Captain Evans issued an order detailing Sergeants and their men to visit an east-bound caravan a few miles east of the post and arrest as deserters A. Douty, N. J. Bales, J. F. Bales and John Snyder of Company D, Seventh Iowa Cavalry, and bring them to the post. This is only one of many such orders as appears from the records, showing that attempts to get away from a soldier's life were quite frequent.

By order of Captain Evans, Mrs. Catherine Wiseman was appointed hospital matron at the post. This is the first time that a woman's name is mentioned in connection with hospital duties. Who Mrs. Wiseman was or where she came from is not stated. She was, however, probably the wife of one of the soldiers who had followed her husband into the wilderness.

The deserters, A. Douty, N. J. Bales,, J. F. Bales and John Snyder, were evidently caught by Captain Evans' detail sent out December 4th, for on the 14th of that month they were sent to Fort Laramie in charge of Corporal Ettinger and three men and turned over to Colonel Collins for trial. Acting Assistant Surgeon T. M. Smith went with the detail to get hospital supplies for the post. \

On the 2nd of January, 1865, Company B, Eleventh Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, was relieved from duty at Fort Collins and ordered to report to i the commanding officer at Fort Laramie without de- / lay, Lieut. E. L. Pettijohn to take command of the company and Lieut. E. P. Drake, Acting Assisting Quartermaster, was ordered to furnish transportation for the men. On January 6th, Capt. Thos. P. Clark was ordered to proceed with Company C, Eleventh Ohio Volunteer Cavalry, to Fort Laramie and report to the commanding officer at the fort. Colonel Collins was at that time concentrating all the troops not required for duty at the outlaying posts at Fort Laramie for the purpose of securing a sufficient force to enable him to attack and punish Chief Man-Afraid-of-His-Horses and his band of Sioux who were committing depredations along the North Platte, capturing government trains loaded with clothing, blankets, ammunition, subsistence and supplies, robbing stage stations and interfering with travel. That was what is known as the bloody year on the Plains, and Colonel Collins determined to do what he could to put a stop to the fiendish work of the Indians, and that is why he called in Companies B and C from Fort Collins. Colonel Collins came up with about 2,000 warriors near Mud Springs on Feb. 8th, 1865, and gave them battle, defeating the Indians and killing 150 of them. Colonel Collins was an experienced Indian fighter and knew just how to dispose of his troops in a manner to get the best results. His loss in the engagement was two killed and sixteen wounded. He had only 125 men in his command when this engagement took place, but they had the advantage of position and were able to resist every assault of the Indians and finally compelled the latter to leave the field and flee northward. Julesburg was burned on the 7th of January by the Indians, about a month before Colonel Collins' signal victory at Mud Springs.

On January 9th, Lieutenants Ewell P. Drake and James W. Hanna were appointed a board of survey to meet for the purpose of examining into the amount and causes of the loss of certain ordnance and ordnance stores, said to have been lost in the month of June, 1864, by reason of the overflow of the Cache la Poudre river. This board met January 10th and made an investigation of the matters referred to it and reported that the loss of government property mentioned in the special order of Captain Evans was caused by the sudden overflow of the Cache la Poudre river, whereby the articles reported as lost were washed away or otherwise destroyed. On the 15th of January, on the complaint of Zacharia Thomason, Edward Hathaway and William Dunnars were arrested on the order of the commanding officer, charged with stealing cattle, the property of said Thomason. At the hearing before a military court martial the accused pleaded guilty, and in extenuation of the act claimed that they were prompted to steal and kill the cattle from dire necessity, and further that they were under the impression that they were merely taking Joseph Mason's cattle, for whom they had been working. At the close of the investigation Lieut. Ewell P. Drake, commanding the post in the absence of Captain Evans, issued the following order :

"Having the welfare and safety of government property at heart, also the protection of citizens in the county in the absence of civil law, hereby make known to all whom it may concern that the safety of everyone, both military and civil, requires that no person or persons should be tolerated in this county who are unable to discriminate between their own and other persons' property, it is therefore ordered that Edward Hathaway and William Dunnars, within ten days from this date, leave this county not to return either as residents or visitors, without permission from the commanding officer of this post.

In view of the fact that in those days and for many years afterwards cattle stealing was a crime punishable with death at the command of Judge Lynch, it must be conceded that Hathaway and Dunnars got off easy. That they were undesirable citizens is evidenced by the fact that their deportation gave rise to no protest or opposition from the settlers. They left the county within the specified time and, so far as is known, have never since stepped foot within its borders.

On January 25th, Captain Evans, by special order, directed the sutler to give enlisted men credit at his store, to the amount of $5 per month, to be charged to the man making the purchase. On February 2nd, another order was issued directing the sutler to open his store at guard-mounting in the morning and to close the same at retreat. From this it would appear that the post sutler could not be a law unto himself.

About the 1st of February, 1865, Col. Thomas Moonlight of the Eleventh Kansas Cavalry, who had been made commander of the District of Colorado, proclaimed martial law in his district, for the purpose, as he explained, of enabling him to raise men and horses to go out and open the Overland stage line. This line had been closed by the Indians, who burned all the stations between Denver and Fort Kearney except one, killing or capturing the station tenders and running off all the stock. There was a period of several weeks in the winter of 1865 when Denver was cut off from communication with the East by stage. Transportation trains were captured and robbed and Denver and the whole territory was threatened with famine, as the food supply was becoming short. Flour rose to $25 per one hundred pounds, and all other food supply in proportion. The Indians raided all the thoroughfares, cutting off merchandise trains. Colonel Moonlight's order proclaiming martial law provided for shutting up all places of business, stopping every department of industry, including the mines and the mills, in brief, suspending every branch of industrial life until the troops needed to subdue the Indians and open the Overland stage line should be furnished. In Governor Elbert's proclamation calling for troops, Boulder, Larimer and Weld counties were required to raise one company of sixty men. Colonel Moonlight's proclamation of martial law was sent to all commanders in the district with the request that they press into service both men and horses. Complying with this request Captain Evans, on February 9th, issued the following special order. No. 140:

"The exigency of the occasion has required the commander of the district of Colorado to proclaim martial law and has furthermore requested that men and horses be furnished from this district to operate

"It is hereby ordered for the mutual protection of all concerned that every male person between the ages of eighteen and fifty years residing on Cache la Poudre creek, convene at Fort Collins, Colorado Territory, on Feb. 11th, 1865, at 10 o'clock a. m., and those of Big Thompson at Judge Washburn's on February 12th at 1 o'clock. A failure to conform to the above order will be met with the severest penalty."

When the settlers of the Cache la Poudre met on the 11th as directed, Captain Evans, standing on a whiskey barrel near the flag pole, is reported to have addressed them as follows :

"Denizens of the wilderness ! It becomes my duty as a United States officer to address you. Do you see that flag? (pointing to the top of the flag pole, where all eyes were quickly turned). That flag is the emblem of my native country ! And under the stars and stripes of that old banner, I proclaim martial law in your midst; and it also becomes my duty to inform you, as commander of this region, that in the future I will hold you firmly, as I would a wine glass, in the hollow of my hand.

"War is now breaking out in all directions, and the various Indian tribes who inhabit these Western territories have shown marked degrees of rebelliousness by which the peace and safety of my country is greatly threatened. At this hour of my speaking part of my troops are doubtless under fire at Fremont Orchard. I therefore call you to arms as reserve militia to co-operate with my warriors in suppressing the ruthless invaders, and any man who refuses to obey my commands, I will make wolf's bait of his carcass, by God, sir."