Larimer County, Colorado - The whole text, 1911 (part 9 of 22)

"We rode upward through the gloom on a steep trail blazed through the forest, all my intellect concentrated on avoiding being dragged off my horse by impending branches, or having the blankets badly torn, as those of my companions were, by sharp dead limbs, between which there was hardly room to pass - the horses breathless, and requiring to stop every few yards, though their riders, except myself, were afoot. The gloom of the dense, ancient, silent forest is to me awe-inspiring. On such an evening it is soundless, except for the branches creaking in the soft wind, the frequent snap of decayed timber, and a murmer in the pine tops as of a not distant water-fall, all tending to produce eeriness and sadness 'hardly akin to pain.' There no lumberer's axe has ever rung. The trees die when they have attained their prime, and stand there, dead and bare, till the fierce mountain winds lay them prostrate. The pines grow smaller and more sparse as we ascended and the last stragglers wore a tortured, warring look. The timber line was passed, but yet a little higher a slope of mountain meadow dipped to the south-west towards a bright stream trickling under ice and icicles, and there a grove of the beautiful silver spruce marked our camping ground. The trees were in miniature, but so exquisitely arranged that one might well ask what artist's hand had planted them, scattering them here, clumping them there, and training their slim spires towards heaven. Hereafter, when I call up memories of the glorious, the view from this camping ground will come up. Looking east gorges opened to the distant Plains, then fading into purple grey. Mountains with pine-clothed skirts rose in ranges, or, solitary, uplifted their grey summits, while close behind, but nearly 3,000 feet above us, towered the bald white crests of Long's Peak, its huge precipices red with the light of a sun long lost to our eyes. Close to us, in the caverned side of the Peak, was snow that, owing to its position, is eternal. Soon the afterglow came on, and before It faded a big half-moon hung out of the heavens, shining through the silver blue foliage of the pines on the frigid background of snow, and turning the whole into fairyland. The 'photo' which accompanies this letter is by a courageous Denver artist who attempted the ascent just before I arrived, but after camping out at the timber line for a week, was foiled by the perpetual storms, and was driven down again, leaving some very valuable apparatus about 3,000 feet from the summit.

"Unsaddling and picketing the horses securely, making the beds of pine shoots, and dragging up logs for fuel, warmed us all. 'Jim' built up a great fire, and before long we were all sitting round it at supper. It didn't matter much that we had to drink our tea out of battered meat-tins in which

"Treat 'Jim' as a gentleman and you'll find him one," as I had been told; and though his manner was certainly bolder and freer than that of gentlemen generally, no imaginary fault could be found. He was very agreeable as a man of culture as well as a child of nature; the desperado was altogether out of sight. He was very courteous and even kind to me, which was fortunate, as the young men had little idea of showing even ordinary civilities. That night I made the acquaintance of his dog 'Ring,' said to be the best hunting-dog in Colorado, with the body and legs of a collie, but a head approaching that of a mastiff, a noble face with a wistful human expression, and the most truthful eyes I ever saw in an animal. His master loves him if he loves anything, but in his savage moods ill-treats him. "Ring's" devotion never swerves, and his truthful eyes are rarely taken off his master's face. He is almost human in his intelligence, and, unless, he is told to do so, he never takes notice of any one but 'Jim.' In a tone as if speaking to a human being, his master, pointing to me, said, 'Ring, go to that lady, and don't leave her again tonight.' 'Ring' at once came to me, looked into my face, laid his head on my shoulder, and then lay down beside me with his head on my lap, but never taking his eyes from 'Jim's' face.

"The long shadows of the pines lay upon the frosted grass, an aurora leaped fitfully, and the moonlight, though intensely bright, was pale red, beside the leaping flames of our pine logs and their red glow on our gear, ourselves, and Ring's truthful face. One of the young men sang a Latin student's song and two negro melodies; the other, 'Sweet Spirit, hear my prayer.' 'Jim' sang one of Moore's melodies in a singular falsetto, and all together sang 'The Star-spangled Banner' and 'The Red, White and Blue.' Then 'Jim' recited a very clever poem of his own composition, and told some fearful Indian stories. A group of small silver spruces away from the fire was my sleeping-place. The artist who had been up there had so woven and interlaced their lower branches as to form a bower, affording at once shelter from the wind and a most agreeable privacy. It was thickly strewn with young pine shoots and these, when covered with a blanket, with an inverted saddle for a pillow, made a luxurious bed. The mercury at 9 p. m. was 12 degrees below the freezing point. 'Jim,' after a last look at the horses, made a huge fire, and stretched himself out beside it, but 'Ring' lay at my back to keep warm. I could not sleep, but the night passed rapidly. I was anxious about the ascent for the gusts of ominous sound swept through the pines at intervals. Then wild animals howled, and 'Ring' was perturbed in spirit about them. Then it was strange to see the notorious desperado, a red-handed man, sleeping as quietly as innocence sleeps. But, above all, it was exciting to lie there, with no better shelter than a bower of pines, on a mountain 11,000 feet high, in the very heart of the Rocky Range, under twelve degrees of frost, hearing sounds of wolves, with shivering stars looking through the fragrant canopy, with arrowy pines for bed-posts, and for a night lamp the red flames of a camp fire.

"Day dawned long before the sun rose, pure and lemon-colored. The rest were looking after the horses, when one of the students came running up to tell me that I must come farther down the slope, for 'Jim' said he had never seen such a sunrise. From the chill, grey peak above, from the everlasting snows, from the silvered pines, down through mountain ranges with their depths of Tyrian purple, we looked to where the Plains lay cold, in the blue grey, like a morning against a far horizon. Suddenly, as a dazzling streak at first but enlarging rapidly into a dazzling sphere, the sun wheeled above the grey line, a light and glory as when it was first created. 'Jim' involuntary and reverently uncovered his head and exclaimed, 'I believe there is a God!' I felt as if, Parsee-like, I must worship. The grey of the Plains changed to purple, the sky was all one rose-red flush, on which vermilion cloud-streaks rested ; the ghastly peaks gleamed like rubies ; the earth and heavens were new-created. Surely 'the Most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands.!' For a full hour those Plains simulated the ocean, down to whose limitless expanse of purple, cliffs, rocks and promontories swept down.

"By seven we had finished breakfast and passed into the ghastlier solitudes above, I riding as far as what, rightly or wrongly, is called the Boulder field, an expanse of large and small boulders with snow in their crevices. It was very cold ; some water which we crossed was frozen hard enough to bear the horses. 'Jim' had advised me against taking any wraps, and my thin Hawaiian ridingdress, only fit for the tropics, was penetrated by the keen air. The rarified atmosphere soon began to oppress our breathing, and I found that Evan's boots were so large that I had no foothold. Fortunately, before the real diflSculty of the ascent began, we found, under a rock, a pair of small over-shoes, probably left by the Hayden exploring expedition, which just lasted for the day. As we were leaping from' rock to rock, 'Jim' said, 'I was thinking in the night about your traveling alone and wondered where you carried your Derringer, for I could see no signs of it.' On telling him that I traveled unarmed he could hardly believe it, and adjured me to get a revolver at once.

"On arriving at the 'Key Hole' (a literal gate of rock), we found ourselves absolutely on the knifelike ridge or backbone of Long's Peak, only a few feet wide, covered, with colossal boulders and fragments, and on the other side shelving in one precipitous, snow-patched sweep of 3,000 feet to a picturesque hollow containing a lake of pure, green water. Other lakes, hidden among dense pine woods, were farther off, while close above us rose the Peak, which, for about 500 feet, is a smooth, gaunt, inaccessible-looking pile of granite. Passing through the 'Key Hole,' we looked along the nearly inaccessible side of the Peak, composed of boulders and debris of all shapes and sizes, through which appeared broad, smooth ribs of reddish-colored granite, looking as if they upheld the towering rock-mass above. I usually dislike bird's-eye and panoramic views, but, though from a mountain, this was not one. Serrated ridges, not much lower than that on which we stood, rose, one beyond another, far as that pure atmosphere could carry the vision, broken, into awful chasms deep with ice and snow, rising into pinnacles piercing the heavenly blue with their cold, barren grey, on, on for ever, till the most distant range upbore unsullied snow alone. There were fair lakes mirroring the dark pine woods, canons dark and blue-black with unbroken expanses of pines, snow-slashed pinnacles, wintry heights frowning upon lovely parks, watered and wooded, lying in the lap of summer; North Park floating off into the blue distance. Middle Park, closed till another season, the sunny slopes of Estes Park, and winding down among the mountains the snowy ridge of the Divide, whose bright waters seek both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. There, far below, links of diamonds showed where the Grand River takes its rise to seek the mysterious Colorado, with its still unsolved enigma, and lose itself in the waters of the Pacific; and nearer the snow-born Thompson bursts forth from the ice to begin its journey to the Gulf of Mexico. Nature, rioting in her grandest mood, exclaimed with voices of grandeur, solitude, sublimity, beauty and infinity, 'Lord, what is man, that Thou art mindful of him; or the son of man, that Thou visitest him?' Never-to-be-forgotten glories they were, burnt in upon my memory by six succeeding hours of terror. You know I have no head and no ankles, and never ought to dream of mountaineering, and had I known that the ascent was a real mountaineering feat, I should not have felt the slightest ambition to perform it. As it is, I am only humiliated by my success, for 'Jim' dragged me up, like a bale of goods, by sheer force of muscle. At the 'Key Hole' the real business of the ascent began. One thousand feet of solid rock towered above us, four thousand feet of broken rock shelved precipitously below; smooth granite ribs, with barely foothold, stood out here and there; melted snow refrozen several times presented a more serious obstacle; many of the rocks were loose and tumbled down when touched. To me it was a time of extreme terror. I was roped to 'Jim,' but it was of no use - my feet were paralyzed and slipped on the bare rock - and he said it was useless to try to go that way and we retraced our steps. I wanted to return to the 'Key Hole,' knowing that my incompetence would detain the party, and one of the young men said almost plainly that a woman was a dangerous encumbrance, but the trapper replied shortly that if it were not to take a lady up he would not go up at all. He went on to explore, and reported that further progress on the correct line of ascent was blocked by ice; and then for two hours we descended, lowering ourselves by our hands from rock to rock along a boulder-strewn sweep of 4,000 feet, patched with ice and snow, and perilous from rolling stones. My fatigue, giddiness and pain from bruised ankles and arms half pulled out of their sockets, were so great that I should never have gone half-way had not 'Jim,' nolens volens, dragged me along with a patience and skill and withal a determination that I should ascend the Peak, which never failed. After descending about 2,000 feet to avoid the ice, we got into a deep trough with inaccessible sides, partly filled with ice and snow and partly with large and small fragments of rocks, which were constantly giving way, rendering the footing very insecure. That part to me was two hours of painful and unwilling submission to the inevitable; of trembling, slipping, straining, of smooth ice appearing when it was least expected and of weak entreaties to be left behind while the others went on. 'Jim' always said that there was no danger, that there was only a short bad bit ahead, and that I should go up, even if he carried me.

"Slipping, faltering, gasping from the exhausting toil in the rarified air, with throbbing hearts and panting lungs, we reached the top of the gorge and squeezed ourselves between two gigantic fragments of rock by a passage called the Dog's Lift, when I climbed on the shoulders of one man and then was hauled up. This introduced us by an abrupt turn around the southwest angle of the Peak to a narrow and, to my thinking, the worst part of the climb, one slip, and a breathing, thinking human being would lie 3,000 feet below, a shapeless, bloody heap! 'Ring' refused to traverse the ledge and remained at the 'Lift,' howling piteously.

"From thence the view is more magnificent even than that of the 'Key Hole.' At the foot of the precipice below us lay a lovely lake, wood emhkii..JI«l& n m^ shelf of considerable length, rugged, uneven and so overhung by the cliff in some places, that it is necessary to crouch to pass at all. Above, the Peak looks nearly vertical for 400 feet; and below, the most tremendous precipice I have ever seen descends in one unbroken fall. This is usually considered the most dangerous part of the ascent, but it does not seem so to me, for such foothold as there is is secure, and one fancies that it is possible to hold on with the hands. But there, and on the final.

bosomed, from or near which the bright St. Vrain and other streams take their rise. I thought how their clear, cold waters, growing turbid in the affluent flats, would heat under the tropic sun and eventually form part of that great ocean river which renders our far-off islands habitable by impinging on their shores. Snowy ranges, one behind the other, extended to the distant horizon, folding in their wintry embrace the beauties of Middle Park. Pike's Peak, more than one hundred miles off, lifted that vast but shapeless summit, which is the landmark of Southern Colorado. There were snow patches, snow slashes, snow abysses, snowforlorn and soiled-looking, snow pure and dazzling, snow glistening above the purple robe of pine worn by all the mountains ; while away to the east, in limitless breadth, stretched the green-grey of the endless Plains. Giants everywhere reared their splintered crests. From thence, with a single sweep, the eye takes in a distance of 300 miles - that distance to the west, north and south being made up of mountains ten, eleven, twelve and thirteen thousand feet in height, dominated by Long's Peak, Gray's Peak and Pike's Peak, all nearly the height of Mont Blanc ! On the Plains we traced the rivers by their fringe of cottonwoods to the distant Platte, and between us and them lay glories of mountain, canon and lake, sleeping in depths of blue and purple most ravishing to the eye.

"As we crept from the ledge around a horn of rock I beheld what made me perfectly sick and dizzy to look at - the terminal Peak itself - a smooth, cracked face or wall of pink granite as nearly perpendicular as anything could well be, up which it was impossible to climb, well deserving the name of the 'American Matterhorn.'

"Scaling, not climbing, is the correct term for this last ascent. It took one hour to accomplish 500 feet, pausing for breath every minute or two. The only foothold was in narrow cracks or on minute projections on the granite. To get a toe in these cracks, or here and there on a scarcely obvious projection, while crawling on hands and knees, all the while tortured with thirst and gasping and struggling for breath, this was the climb; but at last the Peak was won. A grand, well-defined mountain-top it is, a nearly level acre of boulders, with precipitous sides all around, the one we came up being the only accessible one.

"It was not possible to remain long. One of the young men was seriously alarmed by bleeding from the lungs, and the intense dryness of the day and the rarification of the air at a height of nearly 15,000 feet, made respiration very painful. There is always water on the Peak, but it was frozen as hard as a rock, and the sucking of ice and snow increases thirst. We all suffered severely from the want of water, and the gasping for breath made our mouths, and tongues so dry that articulation was difficult and the speech of all unnatural.

during the ascent. It was something at last to stand upon the storm-rent crown of this lonely sentinel of the Rocky Range, on one of the mightiest of the vertebrae of the backbone of the North American continent, and to see the waters start for both oceans. Uplifted above love and hate and storms of passion, calm arriidst the eternal silences, fanned by zephyrs and bathed in living blue, peace rested for that one bright day on the Peak as if it were some region.

"We placed our names, with the date of ascent, in a tin within a crevice, and descended to the ledge, sitting on the smooth granite, getting our feet into cracks and against projections, and letting ourselves down by our hands, 'Jim' going before me, so that I might steady my feet against his powerful shoulders. I was no longer giddy, and faced the precipice of 3,500 feet without a shiver. Repassing the ledge and lift, we accomplished the descent through 600 feet of ice and snow with many falls and bruises, but no worse mishap, and there separated, the young men taking the steepest but most direct way to the 'Key Hole' with the intention of getting ready for the march home, and 'Jim' and I taking what he thought the safer route for me - a descent over boulders for 2,000 feet, and then a tremendous ascent to the 'Key Hole.' I had various falls and once hung by my frock, which caught on a rock, and 'Jim' severed it with his hunting-knife, upon which I fell into a crevice full of soft snow. We were driven lower down the mountain than he had intended by impassable tracts of ice, and the ascent was tremendous. For the last 200 feet the boulders were of enormous size and the steepness fearful. Sometimes I drew myself up on hands and knees, sometimes crawled; sometimes 'Jim' pulled me up by my arms, or a lariat, and sometimes I stood on his shoulders, or he made steps for me of his feet and hands, but at six we stood on the 'Key Hole' in the splendor of the sinking sun, all color deepening, all peaks glorifying, all shadows purpling, all peril past.

" 'Jim' had parted with his brusquerie when we parted from the students and was gentle and considerate beyond anything, though I knew that he must be grievously disappointed, both in my courage and strength. Water was an object of earnest desire. My tongue rattled in my mouth and I could hardly articulate. It is good for one's sympathies

"Three times its apparent gleam deceived even the mountaineer's eye, but we found only a foot of 'glare ice,' At last, in a deep hole, he succeeded in bireaking the ice and by putting one's arm far down one could scoop up a little water in one's hand, but it was tormentingly insufficient. With great difficulty and much assistance I recrossed Boulder field, was carried to the horse and lifted upon him, and when we reached the camping ground I was lifted off him and laid on the ground, wrapped up in blankets, a humiliating termination of a great exploit. The horses were saddled and the young men were all ready to start, but 'Jim' quietly said, 'Now, gentlemen, I want a good night's rest and we shan't stir from here tonight.' I believe they were really glad to have it so, as one of them was quite 'finished.' I retired to my arbor, wrapped myself in a roll of blankets and was soon asleep. When I woke the moon was high, shining through the silvery branches, whitening the bald Peak above and glittering on the great abyss of snow behind, and pine logs were blazing like a bonfire in the cold, still air. My feet were so icy-cold that I could not sleep again, and getting some blankets to sit in, and making a roll of them for my back, I sat for two hours by the camp fire. It was wierd and gloriously beautiful. The students were asleep not far o£E in their blankets, with their feet towards the fire. 'Ring' lay on one side of me with his fine head on my arm, . and his master sat smoking, with the fire lighting up the handsome side of his face, and except for the tones of our voices and the occasional crackle and splutter as a pine knot blazed up, there was no sound on the mountain side. The beloved stars of my far-off home were overhead, the Plough and the Pole Star, with their steady light ; the glittering Pleiades, looking larger than I ever saw them, and 'Orion's studded belt' shining gloriously. Once only some wild animals prowled near the camp, when 'Ring,' with one bound, disappeared from my side, and the horses, which were picketed by the stream, broke their lariats, stampeded and came rushing wildly towards the fire, and it was fully half an hour before they were caught and quiet was restored. 'Jim,' or Mr. Nugent, as I always scrupulously called him, told stories of his early youth and of a great sorrow which had led him to embark on a lawless and desperate life. His voice trembled and tears rolled down his cheek. Was it semi-conscious acting, I wondered, or was his dark soul really stirred by the silence, the beauty and the memories of youth ?

"We reached Estes Park at noon of the following day. A more successful ascent of the Peak was never made, and I would not now exchange my memories of its perfect beauty and extraordinary sublimity for any other experience of mountaineering in any part Of the world. Yesterday snow fell en the summit, and it will be inaccessible for eight months to come."

Pleasant Valley is a beautiful park lying just back of the first ridge of hogbacks, six miles northwest of Fort Collins. It is penned in between the high hills of the Front Range on the west, the hogbacks on the north and east, and is crossed from west to east by the Cache la Poudre river, which debouches from the canon at the extreme west end of the valley. It is about two miles long from east to west and varies in width from one-fourth of a mile to a mile. This beautiful valley early attracted the attention of the first settlers on the river and all the farm and pasture lands were squatted upon in 1858-59 and '60. One of the first settlers of which there is any record was G. R. Sanderson, who located on the farm owned by Mrs. Joshua H. Yeager. Sanderson built the first irrigating ditch that took water from the Cache la Poudre river, and it was the first ditch built in Larimer County, its priority being dated June, 1860. It was also the second irrigating ditch built in Northern Colo- rado, the first having been built just below Denver and took its water from the Platte. Its priority of appropriation is dated a few days ahead of tlie Sanderson, or Yeager ditch, as it is now called. J. H. Yeager purchased Sanderson's claim in 1864 and took immediate possession. Samuel Bingham located on what is now the Doty place, situated at the foot of the west slope of Bingham hill, in 1860. Bingham hill took its name from the oldtimer. One of his daughters, Mrs. William Gardner, is still living at Laporte, but the old pioneer was gathered to his fathers more than thirty years ago. In 1862 Abner Loomis settled on a ranch in Pleasant Valley, being followed the following year by Benjamin T. Whedbee. Perry J. Bosworth came a little later and C. W. Harrington and Louis Blackstock in 1867. Capt. William M. Post and James H. Swan came from Connecticut in 1870 and purchased land in the west end of the valley, on which they lived several years. William P. Bosworth became a resident of the valley in 1870 and he was followed a few years later by Charles E. Pennock and Perry Willis.

In the fall of 1872 Jacob Flowers and a man named Laidlaw came West from Wyandotte, Kansas, in search of a location for a colony, and after looking over the state quite thoroughly, decided that Pleasant Valley and the Cache la Poudre valley afforded the best opportunities for their project. They returned to Kansas soon after the holidays and submitted such a flattering report that twentyfive families decided to leave the Sunflower State and journey westward. Some of these colonists stopped in Greeley and the remainder came on to Fort Collins in the spring of 1873. Among the latter were Jacob' Flowers and family, James Ne-

ville and family, George Ismert and family and Querin Schang, then a young unmarried man. Mr. Flowers purchased of Joseph Mason a farm in Pleasant Valley, which he owned and occupied until his death a few years ago. In addition to making

other improvements on the farm, he set out an orchard and was among the first to demonstrate that fruit could be grown in Northern Colorado. In 1882 he built a fine stone residence on his farm and also a large stone building which was occupied several years by himself and son, B. F. Flowers, dealers in general merchandise. That year he also laid out and platted the town of Bellvue, one of the most attractive little towns in the county. Since then Bellvue has made a steady growth, and Pleasant Valley is now thickly settled by enterprising and prosperous farmers, fruit growers and truck gardeners. There are now two stores in Bellvue, postofSce and shops of various kinds, including meat market, wagon shop, blacksmith shop and other public conveniences. There were 131 votes polled in Bellvue precinct, which embraces Pleasant Valley, in 1908.

Virginia Dale was one of the most noted localities in the western country in the early days. It was known far and wide, its name and fame being spread from ocean to ocean by Overland stage travelers, described by magazine writers and newspaper correspondents and discussed in public places all over the country, often in terms of praise and again with awe and superstition. It was the first division point northwest of Denver on the Overland stage line and was established as such in June, 1862, when the stage company moved down from the North Platte route. Joseph A. Slade, better known in those days as "Jack" Slade, was appointed division agent and had charge of the station the first year. He had been transferred from the North Platte route, where he was known and recognized as the most efficient division agent on the entire line. It is said of him that he never failed to get the United States mails through on time on his division, and that stage robbers and road agents had a hearty fear of him.

Virginia Dale is located in the Black Hills in the northern part of Larimer county, about forty miles northwest of Fort Collins. It remained a division point on the Overland stage route until the Union Pacific Railroad was completed to Cheyenne, in 1867, and was then abandoned. The station house, stage stables and other buildings were erected by Slade, and the old station house, its walls scarred by bullet holes, is still standing. Slade had the reputation of being a gambler and desperado, but he never neglected his duty as division and station agent. He was a strict disciplinarian and ruled his drivers with an arbitrary hand, never permitting his orders to be evaded or disobeyed. At times he drank heavily, and when under the influence of liquor was a terror to his associates. It is said that he made Virginia Dale station a rendezvous for gamblers and road agents. Liquors of all kinds were kept and sold there and it soon became noted as being a resort for some of the hardest and most abandoned characters of the west; in fact it is claimed that stage robbers or road agents, as they were called, made their headquarters at Slade's place on Dale creek. He named the station Virginia Dale in honor of his wife's maiden name. Slade remained in charge of the division and station for little more than a year and was then discharged by the stage company. His conduct during his drinking bouts became intolerable and the reputation of the station so bad that the company was compelled to make a change. Slade went to Montana and was hung by the vigilaJils in the fall of 1864 at Virginia City. The story of his career is told elsewhere in this volume.

After Slade's dismissal, the late William S. Taylor was placed in charge of the Virginia Dale station. He had early that year (1863) returned from Illinois, where he married his first wife, whom he installed as housekeeper. She was a handsome, intelligent, cultured and a very amiable lady and was much admired for her tact and ability as a cook and entertainer by all stage going travelers who passed that way on their journey to and from Salt Lake and the Pacific coast. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor kept the station until 1866 when they were given the Laporte station which they kept until the Overland stage line was abandoned on the completion of the Union Pacific railroad to Cheyenne. Mrs.

Taylor died in Fort Collins in 1886, sincerely mourned by all who knew her. Mr. Taylor married Miss Mary Murch for his second wife and they soon afterward moved to Pasadena, California, where he died in 1895.

In 1864-5-6 Virginia Dale was a noted camping place for emigrant trains. By order of General Connor, commander of the Department of the Plains, this route from Julesburg to Denver and thence on west through Laporte and Virginia Dale to Fort Steele, where it joined the old Oregon trail, was the only route that emigrants were permitted to travel during those years, owing to the hostility of the Northern Indians who infested the old North Platte route and raided and harrassed all who went or came that way. It was not an unusual sight to see fifty or one hundred emigrant wagons with their loads of human freight and merchandise in camp array at the Dale. It was a favorite camping place and caravans frequently stopped there for days at a time to rest the stock.

To the east of the stage station is a high hill upon the summit of which Slade had erected a stone lookout in which he kept a watchman most of the time, when there was threatened trouble with the Indians in that vicinity. From the top of this hill there is a good view of the station and the Plains far to the east and to the northwest in which direction the road led, and if the sentinel saw danger approaching the station he would signal to men there to that effect, and if he saw that danger threatened emigrant trains or the stage coaches he would signal the station, thus often averting Indian massacres which have dotted the Plains with the graves of their victims. To the northeast of the station is a mountain called Robbers Roost. On the top of this mountain, it is said, the stage robbers and road agents who made their headquarters at Slade's, hid the plunder they had taken from stage coaches and emigrant trains, which they had succeeded in robbing. It is charged that Slade himself often engaged in these forays and hid the plunder thus secured on Robbers Roost until he had an opportunity to dispose of it elsewhere.

To the southwest of the station and on the opposite side of the road, is a small cemetery in which there are three graves. One of these is that of a white man who was killed by the Indians. While out hunting the stranger killed a deer at no great distance from the station, and while in the act of skinning his game, he received an arrow in the back which penetrated one of his lungs. He turned about but could see no one. Mounting his horse he rode to the station and told what had happened, dying soon afterwards. He was buried in the little graveyard, which the traveler may yet see as he passes along the road. One of the other graves contains the remains of Mrs. S. C. Leach, whose husband bought the station property of the Overland stage company and lived in the house and kept the postofEce for many years. Mr. Leach went to Wyoming in the early '80s and died there a few years later. Who the occupant of the third grave was is unknown. He may have been the victim of Slade's drunken anger, or that of a sick and weary traveler whom death claimed ere he reached his journey's end.

To the southeast of the old station house and close to the main traveled road, there is a rock which has a perpendicular height of 500 feet. In connection with this rock there is a legend to the effect that a Cheyenne Indian warrior who became enamored of a young Ute squaw, but because of a tribal law of the Utes no member of that tribe was allowed to marry out of the tribe, he was refused her hand. Despairing of ever gaining the consent of the Utes to a violation of their tribal law, the warrior lover stole the Ute maiden and being pursued, both fled to the top of this rock. The rock was surrounded by Utes and seeing no way to escape the vengeance of their pursuers, they locked themselves in each others arms and leaped from the summit of the mountain and were dashed to pieces on the rocks below. This incident gave rise to the name "Lovers' Leap" which still clings to the rock.

Albert D. Richardson, in his book, "Beyond the Mississippi", gives a different version of the romance from which the rock derives its name. In company with Schuyler Colfax, who was elected Vice- President of the United States in 1868, Lieutenant- Governor Bross of Illinois and Samuel Bowles, editor of the Springfield, Massachusetts, Republican, while going west in June, 1865, in an Overland coach, spent one Sunday at Virginia Dale. Mr. Richardson tells the story as follows :

"The Indians did not catch us ; but a hundred miles west of Denver the troubles grew so serious that we waited for trustworthy information from the front, remaining one day at Virginia Dale station, in a lovely little valley imprisoned by towering mountains. One of their precipitous walls is known as 'Lovers' Leap'. The legend runs that an emigrant, whose mistress had abandoned him and married another, threw himself from it and was dashed to pieces in full view of the woman for whom he had flung away his life. The Secession founder of the station, not daring to call it Virginia Davis in honor of Mrs. Jefferson Davis, found solace in Virginia Dale."

Mr. Samuel Bowles, editor of the Springfield, Massachusetts, Republican, who, with others, accompanied Mr. Richardson on this trip across the continent,- in a letter published in his paper, tells why the party spent a day at Virginia Dale, and also gives his impressions of the station, its occupants and their surroundings at that time. That was when Mr. and Mrs. W. S. Taylor kept the station. He says in a letter dated Virginia Dale, June 5 th, 1865: -

"There was no aristocratic distinction between the days of the week, west of the Mississippi. The Broad church rules here are so broadly kept that even St. Burleigh of your modern Florence would find hearty welcome, particularly from our red brethren, who would rate his scalp with its ornaments at .the value of a dozen of the ordinary sort. Sundays are as good as other days, no better. Stages run, stores are open, mines are dug, and stamp mills crush. But our Eastern prejudices are not altogether conquered by the 'spirit of the age'; and so, on reaching here yesterday morning at sunrise, we commanded a twenty-four hours halt. Possibly our principles had a point put to them by learning from the down stage that 'Mr. Lo, the poor Indian,' had got loose up the line, stolen horses, and interrupted communications. At any rate the motive fear for our scalps or fear for our souls - we followed the fashion of our forefathers, and slept through the day, some of us in the coach, the rest stretched out on the piazza of the only house in Virginia Dale; clambering up a high rock in the evening to view the landscape o'er the valley, streams, snow-clad mountains, and far-distant Plains, and closing out our observances with a more hearty than harmonious rendering of our small repertoire of psalm tunes.

"Lodgings are not extensive in this locality ; the Speaker borrowed a bed ; two slept in the coach ; and two of us rolled ourselves up in our blankets and took the floor. I hit upon a board whose hard side was accidentally put up ; and what with this and hungry and dry and noisy stage drivers coming in at from 2 to 4 a. m. and less vociferous but quite as hungry invaders of our bodily peace in the form of vermin, the night brought more of reflection than refection - to us. But we are off early this morning, having satisfied our Christian consciences, and learning that the Indians were certainly still one hundred and fifty miles away, but leaving behind for a Monday's rest a fresh stage load of eager gold seekers and Salt Lake merchants, whom our scruples on the subject of Sunday traveling had thrown one day behind. But they were solaced by the arguments that we would make the path straight for them above, that they must stop somewhere, and that here was the best food and the prettiest cook on the line.

"Virginia Dale deserves its pretty name. A pearly, lively-looking stream runs through a beautiful basin of perhaps one hundred acres, among the mountains - for we are within the entrance of the great hills - stretching away in smooth and rising pasture to nooks and crannies of the wooded range; fronted by rock embankment, and flanked by the snowy peaks themselves; warm with a June sun, and rare and pure with an air into which no fetid breath has poured itself - it is difficult to imagine a more loveable spot in Nature's kingdom. It is one hundred miles north from Denver, half of the way along the foot of the hills, crossing frequent streams, swollen and angry with melting snows, and watering the only really green acres we have seen since leaving Kansas; and half the road winding over and around and between the hills that form the approaches to the Rocky Mountains. Only the station of the stage line occupies the dale ; a house, a barn, a blacksmith shop; the keeper and his wife, the latter as sweet, as gentle and as lady-like as if just transplanted from Eastern society, yet preparing bountiful meals for twice-daily stage loads of hungry and dirty passengers ; the stock tender and his assistant - these were all the inhabitants of the spot, and no neighbors within fifteen miles. For the day, our party and its escort - the soldiers lying off in the grass by the watdr with their camp fire and their baggage wagon - made unusual life, and gave a peculiar picturesqueness to the sequestered spot.

Joseph A. Slade was the first white man to locate in what is now known as Virginia Dale. He built a division station on Dale creek for the Overland stage company in 1862 and had charge of the station for the company for about one year. He was succeeded by William S. Taylor and he by S. C. Leach. When the station was abandoned by the Overland stage company in 1868, Mr. Leach purchased the property and lived there until 1885, when he sold out to W. C. Stover and moved to Wyoming, where he died several years ago. It was not until the spring of 1872 that other settlers be- gan to come and locate along the streams and establish homes. Among the first of these were Andrew Boyd and Joseph H. George who took up ranches on Dale creek a few miles below the old station. Peter Gealow took up a ranch that year on Deadman creek, a tributary of Dale creek. Thomas B. Bishopp located on Dale creek about a mile below the old station in 1873 and still lives on the ranch he took up then. Andrew Boyd and Peter Gealow also still occupy the ranches they settled on in 1872. Joseph H. George remained on his ranch until 1909 when he sold it to John Muse. These early settlers were followed soon afterwards by I. G. Stafford, D. C. Young, C. B. Mendenhall, J. M. McCain, Moses Morrison, W. B. Woodruff, Frank Kibler, W. H. Harriman, Daniel Heckart, Mrs. HoUiday, Alexander Murchland, Fred Christman and W. T. Webber. Some of the first settlers have since died and others have moved away, but their ranches are occupied by new comers.

Many others have located in Virginia Dale since then, so that in 1908, 38 votes were polled in that precinct. The first school house built at Virginia Dale was erected in 1874 and it is still in use. C. B. Mendenhall and W. H. Harriman were members of the board of school directors at that time, and a school was taught in the new building that year. Miss Emma Stafford and Joseph and Alex Murchland were among those who attended the first school. Frank Kibler and his wife were the first couple married in Virginia Dale, and Rachael Boyd, daughter of Andrew Boyd, was the first child born there. The first settlers of Virginia^ Dale were attracted there by its superior advantages as a stock country and the opportunities for dairying, an industry that is still carried on with excellent success. The parks and hillsides afford fine grazing and the valleys along the streams have been converted into splendid meadows, gardens and orchards. It is a well watered region, its principal streams being Dale creek, Fish creek, Deadman creek, and Six and Ten Mile creeks. These streams furnish an abundance of water for stock and for the irrigation of meadows, gardens and orchards.

A church has been erected at Deadman crossing of the Laramie road, in which services are held once in two weeks the year round, the pulpit being supplied by Rev. Franklin Moore of Fossil Creek. The finding of the body of a man who had evidently been killed near the stream by the Indians, gave rise to the name "Deadman", by which the creek has since been known. The bones of the unfortunate unknown rest in the soil of a knoll im-

The first religious work done at Virginia Dale was the organization of a Sunday School in 1878. The first preaching was by Rev. D. E. Finks, pastor of the Fort Collins Presbyterian church. He held services in the school house. The church was first built as a union church near the present home of Daniel Heckart in 1880. In 1881 it was dedicated as a Methodist church by Rev. Merritt, Presiding Elder. The congregation was served thereafter by Revs. Allen, Coyle, Long and Trowbridge. In 1885 the church building was moved to its present site on Fred Christman 's ranch on Deadman creek, Mr. Christman donating the site. In 1889 the Methodists abandoned the field and for three years no services were held there. In 1893, Rev. Franklin Moore took charge of the work and a Presbyterian church was organized. Rev. T. C. Kirkwood, ofiBcating. The work has since been carried on by Rev. Moore, with the exception of three years when he was stationed at Hillsboro. He resumed services in 1907 and is still in charge of the work.

Livermore derives its name from a combination of the names of two of its earliest permanent settlers, Adolphus Livernash and Stephen Moore - ^who built a cabin in 1863 on the ranch recently owned by Andrew Brooker, one fourth of a mile south of the present Livermore hotel, store and postoffice, and engaged in prospecting for coal and precious minerals. Livernash, then a sixteen year old boy, a native of Wisconsin, remained only a few months with Moore, returning to Laporte where he secured employment. In 1874 he married Sarah E. Isard, James H. Swan, a Justice of the Peace, performing the ceremony. Later Mr. Livernash moved to Boulder county and engaged in mining. He was killed by lightning in 1883, while working in a mine. His widow and three children, two daughters and son, are residents of Fort Collins, the son Edward J. Livernash being associated with his brother-in-law, Walter P. Hurley, in the drug business, and proprietors of the Owl Drug Store. Moore held on to his claim in Livermore until 1871 when he sold it to Russell Fisk. Shortly after that Moore disappeared and his present whereabouts, if he is still living, is unknown. At the time Moore and Livernash built their little oneroom cabin on the banks of the North fork of the Cache la Poudre, what is now known as Livermore, extended from Laporte west to the Continental Divide and from the southern boundary of Larimer county north to the present state line between Colorado and Wyoming, and the human occupants of that vast extent of territory were a band of Ute Indians who made their home in North Park. It was a vast unsurveyed and, save for the Overland stage road, an untracked wilderness. The smile of a white woman had never been seen and the prattle of a child had never been heard within its borders. Game and fur bearing animals were numerous and it was the hunter's and trapper's paradise. As early as 1824 hunters and trappers in the employ of the Hudson Bay Fur Company built their cabins along the streams in the fall of the year and carried on their operations of trapping beaver and killing other fur bearing animals during the winter season, leaving in the spring with their packs of furs for their Northern rendezvous, only to return the following fall to resume operations. These annual invasions of hunters and trappers from the North continued until about 1850 and until they had practically exhausted the supply of beaver and were then known no more.

In the fall of 1861, N. C. Alford of Fort Collins, Jacob Cornelison of Virginia Dale, and the late William Calloway, established a hunters' camp on Meadow creek, fifteen miles north of the present Livermore postoffice, where they spent the succeeding winter hunting game for the Denver market. That same fall another hunting party established a camp at the mouth of Lone Pine canon on the ranch now owned by Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Bellairs. The country was rich at that time in meat producing wild animals, such as deer, antelope and elk, and these hunting parties were very successful.

Out of that portion of the country named Livermore by Livernash and Moore in 1863, has since been carved the entire county of Jackson, also the following election precincts in Larimer county: Home, Laramie, St. Cloud, Virginia Dale, Estes Park, Pinewood, Buffum, Stratton Park, Drake, Buckhorn and Livermore, containing in 1908, a voting population of 663. It must be remembered that these are all mountain precincts and do not include any part of Jackson county.

The Livermore country was early recognized as the best grazing and stock raising section in Northern Colorado and nearly all of the first settlers were stockmen interested in either horses, cattle or sheep. It is bountifully watered by the Cache la Poudre river, the North fork, the North and South Lone Pine, Dale, Trail, Meadow, Rabbit and Stonewall creeks, besides numerous small branches of these streams, while numbers of open parks and grass covered hills and blufEs afEord splendid pasturage. The bottom lands along the streams make fine meadows, from which thousands of tons of hay are cut annually. These advantages were not to be overlooked by the stockmen, hence they were the first to locate there and establish homes. Next to the arrival of Moore and Livernash in 1863, came Cyrus Godwin, a hunter, who located on what is now the Jack Currie ranch, in 1865. Jacob Cornelison, who spent the year 1863 in the Livermore country, says there were two Irishmen on the Milne place (now covered by the Halligan reservoir) who raised a crop of oats and potatoes and sold their products at Laporte for fabulous prices. William Calloway, who hunted here in 1861-2 and then went to Idaho, returned in 1867 and located on what is now known as the Cradock ranch, and in the spring of 1869 his brother, Martin and family came out from Indiana and settled on a ranch in Boxelder canon. Mrs. Calloway was the first white woman to venture into that section of the country. Her nearest white woman neighbor lived sixteen miles away. Mrs. Calloway is now a resident of Fort Collins. Her husband died January 7, 1879, and she later married William Calloway, who died in 1891.

Horace and Charles Emerson spent the winter of 1869-70 in Coe & Carter's employ getting out railroad ties above the Rustic. Coe & Carter built the wagon road to the tie camp over which camp supplies were hauled. At this time Steve George, or "Dutch" George, and 'Trench Pete" were truck gardening on what is now the Roberts Bros, ranch at the mouth of Lone Pine creek. Later "Dutch" George moved to the mouth of Elkhorn creek where he lived until 1878, when he was killed by a bear near Laramie Peak. His real name was George Neare.

In the spring of 1870, John Hardin and Fred Smith moved from Pleasant Valley into the, mountains and settled on the ranches they still own on South Lone Pine creek, twenty-four miles west of the Livermore postoffice, both engaging in the cattle business and lumbering. Obenchain built a saw mill near them in 1872 and sold it to Smith in 1875. Quite a number of settlers located in the Livermore county in 1870 to engage in the stock raising business, including Charles Emerson, H. A. Keach, Solomon Batterson, John W. Calloway, Jacob Mitchell and others. In 1871, Stephen Moore sold the claim he and young Livernash located in 1863 to Russell Fisk. Just before that a weekly mail route had been established from Greeley to Livermore, and Moore was appointed postmaster, but had not received his commission when he transfered his property. Mr. Fisk was appointed in his place and was, therefore, Livermore's first postmaster. John Gordon of Greeley, was the first mail carrier. Before that the people of the Livermore country had to go to Laporte for their mail. Peter Huffsmith of Greeley secured the contract for carrying the mail after Gordon's time was out, and he put on a stage for the convenience of passengers, making three trips a week.

The Livermore school district was organized in 1871 and Mrs. Fisk taught the first school. She did not have many pupils, for the reason there were not many children in the country. Andrew Gilchrist located on the ranch at the mouth of Lone Pine canon now owned by Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Bellairs, in 1871. He sold it later to a Mr. Spencer who, in time, sold to George Burnham and from him it passed to Harry Gilpin-Brown, whose widow is the present Mrs. Bellairs. Gilchrist later went to Wyoming where he amassed a fortune in the sheep business. That year the Emerson Bros, embarked in the cattle business, in which they have continued to the present time with marked success. George Barlow started a blacksmith's shop at Stonewall crossing in 1872. Lewis Wetzler settled on the Lone Pine in 1874 and he and Russell Fisk and R. O. Roberts were members of the school board that year. T. A. Gage bought the Crystal Springs ranch in 1874, and in 1876 he taught the Livermore school.

Mr. Fisk built a hotel and store on the ranch he bought of Moore and otherwise improved the property, and in 1874 leased the hotel to R. O. Roberts for one year. When the time was up Mr. Roberts built a hotel at the Forks. Clerin Woods kept bachelor's hall on the McNey place in 1874-5 and in 1876, John McNey, John H. Sargisson, and J. S. Sloan located in Livermore. Among the new comers between that time and 1880 were Alson Weymouth, George Burnham, L. H. Chase, D. W. Harned, Pierce Riddle, Asbury Riddle, M. L. Landes, S. B. Chaffee, F. K. Chaffee, A. H. Mor- gan, D. M. Halligan, C. M. Chase and Andrew and John Brooker. The most prominent stockmen then were Emerson Bros., H. T. Miller, T. A. Gage, Asbury and Pierce Riddle, S. B. ChafFee, S. Batterson, A. H. Morgan, R. O. Roberts, Alson Weymouth, L. H. Chase, Moody & Buzzell, John S. Williams, John McNey, Bennett Bros., William Calloway, James and Daniel Hardin, John Hardin and D. M. Halligan. Some of these were operating dairies, some engaged in horse raising and others in wool growing, but most of them were in the cattle business. Among those who settled in the Livermore country in the decade following 1880 were W. E. Tibbetts, J. Cornelison, George W. Seibert, William Parcell, William Poland, Harry Gilpin-Brown, A. H. Aldrich, Dayton Robinson, George Clark, B. A. Griffith, Levi Weymouth, John Pearce and Samuel Stearley. A hotel was built on the Elkhorn in 1876, and it was quite a famous summer resort for several years. The venerable Henry T. West, one of the pioneers of Greeley, kept the hotel in 1879-80. The building was burned down in 1886. In the fall of 1886, W. P. Keays leased the Livermore hotel of Russell Fisk and managed it until 1890. That year the County Commissioners laid out a new road which crossed the North fork a quarter of a mile above the old Fisk crossing. William Brelsford built a new hotel, store and barn at the new crossing and the old Fisk hotel was abandoned. In 1891 James H. Swan bought the Brelsford property and soon afterwards built a hall where public gatherings were held. In 1898 a telephone line was extended to Livermore from Fort Collins and an exchange established in the store. Between the years 1890 and 1900, Frank Jones, H. A. Keach, Leslie Horsley, Charles Cradock, C. E. Peters and A. L. Johnson become residents of Livermore. In 1901 C. W. Ramer bought the hotel and store and kept them until December, 1909, when he sold them to Malcom Bellairs, the present proprietor.

On May 20th, 1904 a cloudburst on the Stonewall watershed caused an unprecedented flood which did many thousands of dollars damage. It carried away a number of bridges, the North Fork ditch flume over Stonewall creek, and inundated all the bottom lands from the mouth of that stream to the mouth of the North Fork. Water three feet deep poured through the hotel and the public hall was carried away bodily and completely wrecked. A piano that was used in the hall was afterwards found near Bellvue, having floated down stream with the flood more than twenty miles. The bridges were soon replaced and Mr. Ramer built a larger and better hall.

The first couple married in Livermore was William Calloway and Mrs. Keach, but the date of the wedding is not recalled. It probably took place in the early seventies. The honors of being the first child born lies between a son of Mr. and Mrs. John Gordon and a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Hardin, named Anna.

Among the Livermore Pioneers who have passed on to their reward are William Calloway, John Weymouth, S. B. Chaffee, John McNey, W. W. Lowery, A. H. Aldrich, D. M. Halligan, William Batterson, Dayton Robinson, Harry Gilpin-Brown, Charles Gilpin-Brown, C. R. Bullard, Robert Royston and Mrs. S. Batterson.

I am indebted for much of the data concerning the early history of Livermore to an excellent paper read before the Livermore Woman's Club by Mrs. A. H. Aldrich, March 10th, 1910.

In 1895, the General Assembly of Colorado appropriated $16,000 for use in constructing a State road from Bellvue, via Livermore and Ute Pass, to Walden, North Park, now the county seat of Jackson county. The road was built in 1896 and opened for travel in 1897. That year a mail route with a daily line of stages, was established between Fort Collins and Walden, but the stage line only remained in operation about a year and was then discontinued. A postoffice, with S. J. Peery as postmaster, was established at Westlake on the South Lone Pine about 25 miles west of Livermore, and this, too, was discontinued when the stage was pulled oiiE the road.

The stream known as the Little Thompson rises at the base of two mountains, called the Twin Sisters. By their position they entirely cut the creek off from the waters of the Snowy Range, hence, as is well known in the summer months the Little Thompson furnishes but a meagre supply of water. This supply is now, however, supplemented by immense reservoirs in which the spring floods are stored for use later in the season, so that, at the present time, the entire valley, from the foothills to the east county line, is under a high state of cultivation, yielding prodigious crops of grain, potatoes, fruit.

hay and sugar beets. From the base of Twin Sisters, whose position is directly east of Long's Peak, the stream follows a winding course, the general direction of which is east until it crosses the line dividing Larimer and Weld counties and is soon thereafter merged in the Big Thompson, which empties into the South Platte a little south of the town of Evans. It follows a broad, natural basin, which is noted above all the country around for its deep, rich and very productive soil. Through this basin the creek has cut its crooked way, often to a depth of six and eight feet, without reaching the limit of the soil. In the early days, the Little Thompson was noted, too, on account of the large trees lining its banks, some of them attaining the dimension of 18 feet in circumference. For a decade or more after the first settlement the Little Thompson valley was an excellent stock range, the grasses here being unusually plentiful and nutritious. Among the first settlers of the valley were W. R. Blore and Culver & Mahoney. These men and David Lyken located in the valley near the course of the Little Thompson in 1866 and engaged quite extensively in the cattle business. At one time Culver & Mahoney had as many as 3,000 head of cattle and horses on the range,' tut later, owing to the taking up of land by settlers and the narrowing of the range, they disposed of their herds and engaged in raising high grade cattle. They were brothers-inlaw and came to the Little Thompson valley from the Home Falls mine in Boulder county. Mr. Lyken later became a noted live stock thief detective and had much to do in the early days in ridding the country of a class of undesirable citizens, many of whom found long homes in the state penitentiary. Culver & Mahoney's house was in Boulder county, but their barns, corrals and the most of their land was in Larimer county. Four miles down the creek from their ranch one William Stagg opened out a small cattle ranch, which later became the property of George Zweck of Longmont. Two miles further down the stream James M. Eaglin located on a half section of land, on which he raised a crop of wheat, the first grain grown in the valley. Eaglin was quite a prominent man in the county, serving as County Superintendent from 1870 to 1872. In the summer of 1875 he sold his farm to John C. Ish, who shortly afterwards sold the west half of the tract to his brotherin-law, John W. Everhard. Mr. Ish early in the 90's sold his farm and moved to Fort Collins, which has since been his home, although he owns large stock and ranch interests in North Park. The Everhard farm still remains in the family. Eaglin went to North Park after selling his farm and reengaged in mining. Later he was drowned while trying to ford Eagle river.

Mr. Ish came to Larimer county in 1869 and started a cattle ranch on the Buckhorn. Up to 1875 but few settlers located on land in the eastern part of the Little Thompson valley, but at that time there were quite a number west of the present railroad line. Among them was Lewis Cross, who was County Commissioner from 1878 to 1881; Preffer Bros; Krueger & Son; Hamlin; Henry and Hugo Hupp; Charlie Meining; Mr. Cronk and others, whose names we have been unable to obtain. Up to this time the principal industry was the running of cattle, only a few of the settlers giving any attention to farming, but since that time no part of the county has developed more rapidly as a farming country than the Little Thompson valley. In 1876 there were about 2,000 bushels of grain raised in the valley; in 1877 about 6,000 bushels of wheat and oats, and in 1878 about 16,000 bushels. From this on the production of farm crops increased rapidly and within a decade thereafter of the wheat crop alone more than 200,000 bushels were marketed from the farms of the Little Thompson valley.

The Overland stage crossing was about a mile and a half up the stream from where the Colorado & Southern railroad bridge is now. Lewis Cross located in 1873 on a farm on the creek bottom immediately west of the railroad and the house he built on it is still standing. He was appointed the first postmaster of the Little Thompson postoffice, an office he held for several years. In the fall of 1877, after the completion of the Colorado Central railroad (now the Colorado & Southern) from Denver to Cheyenne, the name of the postoffice was changed to Berthoud, in honor of Capt. E. L. Berthoud of Golden, chief engineer, who laid out and established the line for the railroad. In 1877, Peter Turner, a Colorado pioneer, who had been successful at mining in Gilpin and Boulder counties, came to the Little Thompson valley and purchased a track of land on the blufE north of the creek, on which, in 1880, he laid off and platted the present town of Berthoud. The postoffice was soon afterwards moved to this point. To Mr. Turner belongs the honor of founding one of the prettiest as it is one of the most thrifty and prosperous towns in Northern Colorado. It is the market town of a wide extent of very productive farming country and has for more than twenty years, been the most extensive primary wheat market in Colorado. It has a population of about 800, with churches, high school, public halls, a newspaper, splendid water works and sewer system, flour mill, elevator, well graded streets and numerous handsome business houses and many fine private residences. Every line of business is represented, and it is the shipping point for thousands of head of fat cattle, hogs and sheep annually, in addition to grain, flour, foodstuffs, fruit and other farm products. Berthoud is situated 18 miles directly south of Fort Collins, the county seat.

Brusque, big-hearted Peter Turner, the founder and guardian spirit of Berthoud, builded better than he dreamed of when he erected the first frame cabin on the present site of the town, and it must be gratifying to him now to look back and note the changes that have since taken place ; to glance up and down its busy streets and see the large well-filled blocks, the handsome homes, churches, schools and hotels that have clustered about that lonely spot on the open prairie which he named Berthoud thirty years ago. Mr. Turner is still living in the enjoyment of rugged health and loves to tell of the days when Berthoud was born. In the country immediately tributary to Berthoud there are annually produced 500,000 bushels of wheat, 65,000 bushels of oats, 30,000 bushels of barley, 75,000 to 100,000 sacks of potatoes, thousands of tons of sugar beets, and from 40,000 to 50,000 tons of hay. The surplus of all these products, in addition to the tons and tons of fruits and vegetables, is sold on the streets of Berthoud and the money spent or banked in that town. The surplus hay is converted by the thrifty farmers into beef and mutton for the Eastern markets. About 25,000 sheep and lambs and from 2,000 to 3,000 head of cattle are annually fattened in the feeding pens of the Little Thompson valley and mainly shipped and sold to Eastern consumers. The feeding and fattening of live stock helps to keep up the fertility of the soil and thus increase the yield of farm products and the value of the farms. Good farm land, having stable water rights, ranges in value from $100 to $200 per acre and very few of them are ever offered for sale.

The Free ]\lasons, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Woodmen of the World, Daughters of Rebecca, and several other secret fraternal orders are represented in Berthoud by flourishing lodges.

The bank of Berthoud, established in 1892, with T. C. Bunyan as President, does a large, safe and constantly increasing business. The First National Bank established in 1905 with Guy E. Loomis as Cashier, is also a stable and flourishing financial institution, while the Bulletin, an up-to-date weekly newspaper, furnishes mental pabulum and the current neighborhood news to the reading members of the community.

"The thriving little city of Berthoud is situated on the Colorado & Southern railroad in the southeast corner of Larimer county. The first store was started in old Berthoud in 1880 by Snyder & Grill. This was a general merchandise stock and was bought by J. Y. Munson & Company in 1881. In 1883 the stock of goods was moved to the present Berthoud and located in the building where J. H. McClung's meat market now is.

"The first blacksmith shop was started by W. C. Fenton's father on the lots where the U. B. church is situated. The second store was commenced by Bowman & Day where L. M. Walker has his pool hall. The first church that was organized was the Presbyterian, which held services in the building now occupied by M. D. Whipple as an office. The U. B. church erected the first church edifice which is now owned by the Baptist denomination and is in first-class condition. Berthoud's splendid public school was commenced in a two-room building on the ground which is now Sixth street. Afterward additional ground was purchased just west, and the new school building was erected where it is now. Since that time there has been an addition which doubles the capacity of the structure and gives Berthoud ample facilities in the school line.

"The pioneer lumber yard was started in 1886 and was purchased the next year by the Fairbairn Lumber Company, which is still doing business in town.

"The first newspaper was launched in July, 1890, and was known as the Blade, which name was afterwards changed to the Berthoud Bulletin. This paper has had a rival at times, but it was found that the field was too small for two papers, so the rival papers were moved elsewhere.

"The original grain business was commenced by F. A. Crane in the building where C. A.. Williams now has his garage. As this country has always been a great grain producing district the warehouse was entirely too small and the wheat in sacks

"At no time in its history would this town tolerate a saloon for more than a year at a time. Sometimes one would be started, but at the next election it would be voted out. As water is of prime necessity the people early, about 1887, put in what was known as the Berthoud Ditch and Reservoir water works at a cost of $12,000 to supply water for the town. Since that there has been expended $33,000, making the plant cost $45,000.

"The sewer system on which the health of the town depends was originated in 1900 and is known as the public sewer, which starts one mile south of town and comes up Second street to Mountain avenue, then west to the Presbyterian church. This sewer was constructed by J. B. Ware. Since that time there has been constructed nine district sewers and two sub-sewers. The entire cost of Berthoud's sewer system has been $12,000.

"Among the catastrophes of the early times was the fire of the Davis-Hartford Merchandise Company, which burned them out entirely, but they rebuilt and are among our most prosperous merchants today. The next fire was the burning of a hotel on the east side of the railroad track. J. C. Shull conducted on Third street the pioneer restaurant in the town. Uncle Sam first had the mail delivered by Lewis Cross in the J. Y. Munson & Company's store, while the C. & S. railroad affairs at the depot were attended to by L. H. Kelly, one of the townsmen. These were some of the pioneers, and from their efforts and that of many others the hustling town has grown to its present size."

The Presbyterian church was organized in 1884. It was the second religious denomination to occupy the field in the town of Berthoud, then but four years old. The first pastor was Rev. John Wilson, and the present pastor is Rev. C. A. Wilson. The church has a membership of 85 and the value of church property is $6,000.

Christian Church. - This church was organized in 1894 with Rev. E. F. Harris as pastor. The name of the present pastor is Rev. M. P. Goodykountz. The membership roll contains the names of 60 persons, and the church property is valued at $3,000.

Methodist Church. - ^Those of the Methodist Episcopal faith living in Berthoud and vicinity perfected a church organization in 1902, and Rev. Rigdon was assigned to the pastorate by the Colorado Conference. There are now 70 members in the organization and Rev. W. J. Kidd is the present pastor. The church property is valued at $7,000.

Baptist Church. - This denomination perfected a church organization in 1904, with Rev. W. H. Whittier as its first pastor. There are now 46 members, and Rev. J. A. Partee ministers to the congregation. The value of church property is $2,000.

German Congregational Church. - ^This church was organized in 1909. It now numbers 100 members and the present pastor is Rev. J. H. Eckert. The first pastor was Rev. Peter Krejar. The church property is valued at $3,000.

United Brethren Church. - This organization was first known as the Little Thompson Mission and it was served by Rev. E. J. Lamb. Services were first held in the school house in old Berthoud, but soon after the completion of the Colorado Central railroad from Denver to Cheyenne, the congregation met in what is now the town of Berthoud. The U. B. is the first and oldest church organization in the Little Thompson valley. The first pastor, as appears by the record, was Rev. H. Archaret, who was appointed June 18, 1875, to take charge of the Big Thompson Mission. The present pastor is Rev. T. A. Reiser and the membership list contains the names of 192 persons. All the departments of the church are well organized and doing efficient work.

The Berthoud National Bank. - This bank opened its doors for business on April 1st, 1892, and its nearly twenty years of usefulness has been productive of good results. It was started as a private institution by T. C. Bunyan, who is still its executive head. It was incorporated as a National bank on November 16th, 1905, and opened for business as such on January 2nd, 1906. Its capital stock is fixed at $50,000 and its circulation amounts to $50,000. Its resources at the present time amount to $318,290.61, its deposits to $198,587.71, and its surplus and profits to $18,897.79. The officers and directors of the bank are: President, T. C. Bunyan; Vice-President, Thos. Kerley; Cashier, John Bunyan ; Assistant Cashier, J. A. Bunyan.

full paid capital stock of $25,000, with Guy E. Loomis filling the position of cashier. Its resources at the present time amount to $74,805.78; its deposits to $40,935.86, and its surplus and profits to $3,220.92. The present officers and directors of the bank are: President, F. A. Bein; Cashier, Guy E. Loomis; L. H. Fagan and L. W. Hendershott.

The Buckhorn creek, from which the valley derives its name, heads in the foothills about thirty miles northwest of Fort Collins, flows a southeasterly course and empties into the Big Thompson river about eight miles west of Loveland. Before the country was settled up, the valley and the range of low, grass covered hills bordering the stream, was a favorite feeding ground for deer, antelope and mountain sheep. The stream no doubt takes its name from the numerous horns shed by the males of these animals that were scattered up and down the valley. In places the stream canons up and at others it widens out into grass covered meadows and parks and is one of the most beautiful of the small streams that flow out from the hills. The fine grazing grounds along its banks early attracted the attention of stockmen and they were the first to settle in the valley, and large herds of cattle were pastured there in the late 60's and early 70's. The land along the stream is now all taken up and occupied by thrifty farmers, whose well cultivated fields and orchards are in striking contrast with conditions as they prevailed when the first settlers located in the Big Thompson valley. I have been unable to learn the name of the first white settler in the Buckhorn valley or the date of his settlement. B. F. Milner and family probably made one of the first settlements, and he is still a resident of the valley. He was followed by George Lawrence who located on what is now known as the Neville place, a Mr. Oliver who lived on the place now owned by Samuel Steele, Buck Piatt, S. H. Gransbury, and Alex McWhorter settled on the Thompson place. John C. Ish with a herd of cattle occupied what is now the Henderson place. Other early settlers were Joseph McFadden, C. C. Hayes, J. B. Fletcher, Hank Steward, William Trowbridge and George W. Buffum. These were all stockmen and beyond putting up hay, paid but little attention to cultivating the soil. Now there are many fine farms in the valley with comfortable dwellings and outbuildings, good orchards and other evidences of progress and prosperity. Among the most notable of these are the farms of J. R. Mason, the Smith Brothers and others. C. G. McWhorter has one of the finest orchards in the county, from which in favorable seasons he derives a good income. He has been successful in growing peaches, for which he finds a ready home market.

Masonville is the trading point in the valley. Here is established a general store, postoffice, school house and other public conveniences. A church was erected there last fall and has since been duly dedicated. There is probably as much intelligence, culture, wealth and comfort centered in the Buckhorn valley as can be found in the same limited suburban area in the State of Colorado.

This church was organized October 10th, 1909, by Rev. Franklin Moore, with 20 members, and on February 18th, 1911, the corner-stone of an attractive place of worship was laid with appropriate ceremonies. The church building, completed, is estimated to cost $2,100. Christian work had been carried on in the Buckhorn valley for about 30 years, beginning with the organization of a Sunday school in 1880, with Mrs. Elizabeth Carter as Superintendent. The school was conducted several years under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal church, George E. Trowbridge being the local preacher. In the meantime the Dunkard denomination conducted religious services in J. R. Mason's new barn. Rev. T. S. Flag being the preacher. In 1897 the Methodists temporarily abandoned the field and Rev. J. S. King, a Congregationalist, took charge of the work. In 1902, Rev. L. J. Lamb, a Methodist, served the little flock as pastor until death called him hence in 1903. The church was then supplied by Rev. L. C. Woodford for six months and he was succeeded by Rev. Pearl Symes who served the congregation for two years. Rev. R. S. Wallace, assistant pastor of the Fort Collins Baptist church, preached for the congregation in 1908. In June, 1909, Rev. Franklin Moore, former pastor of the Fossil Creek Presbyterian church, took charge of the work at Masonville and in October of that year organized a Presbyterian church. The congregation now supports a flourishing Sunday school and a Christian Endeavor society. The officers of the church are Pastor, Rev. Franklin

Redstone creek, a tributary of the Buckhorn creek and it in turn of the Big Thompson, rises in the niountains near Stove Prairie, about twenty miles west of Fort Collins. It flows in a southeasterly course and empties into the Buckhorn near Masonville. It derives its name from immense red sandstone cliffs which line its banks for miles and the valley takes its name from the stream. In places the stream canons up closely and at other places the valley widens out into beautiful meadows, parks, groves of timber and cultivated fields, affording the visitor a variety of charming views and beautiful landscape scenes. The drive along the stream for ten or twelve miles is one of the most charming in the mountains. High, timber-covered hills rise to the east and to the west of the valley, whose summits range from 7,000 to 7,500 feet above sea level. Horsetooth " mountain, seen so plainly from the Plains, shows off to much greater advantage when seen from its western base, which rests in the Redstone valley.

In the early days the Redstone valley and the grass covered slopes of the hills which encompass it on the east and on the west, was the favorite grazing ground of many herds of cattle and they waxed fat on the nutritious grasses found here. Sawmills came in later and stripped the hills of merchantable timber and hundreds of thousands of feet of pine timber were manufactured into lumber and then hauled to either the Fort Collins or Loveland markets. Here, also, in this secluded vale, a number of families built themselves homes and engaged in stock raising, lumbering, mining, or timber hauling. Among the first of these were Ex-Sheriff James Sweeney, John Deaver, Adam Blackhurst, Nicholas Patterson, Albert Yale, Sam West, Ben Johnson, Miss Gloria Norcross, Lewellyn and Frank Bartholf. But few of the original settlers of the valley are to be found there today, the most of them having moved either to Loveland or Fort Collins. Miss Gloria Norcross, a Virginia lady, who came there with her uncle, the late Nicholas Patterson, in 1879, has lived there the longest of any one as a continuous resident. The Redstone valley has been her home for 31 years and she has no desire to move away or to change her abode. Among the present residents of the valley are J. C. Brown, Des Ames, Bayard Thompson, Miss Norcross, William Nightingale, Sr. and his son William Nightingale, Jr. and John Nightingale. William Nightingale, Sr. and family located in a beautiful park known as Happy Hollow, in 1883, and his brother John and family settled close by them in 1887. Happy Hollow derives its name from an incident that occurred in the early 70's. A party of Eastern tourists camped there for several weeks one summer and they were so charmed with the surroundings and had such a good time that they named the park "Happy Hollow". One among the number was a contributor to Harper's Magazine, and he perpetuated the name in an illustrated article descriptive of the charms of

"Happy Hollow," that was published in the magazine. Happy Hollow is reached by wagon road from Fort Collins or Loveland over one of the pleasantest eighteen-mile drives in the county, and it is becoming a favorite mountain vacation resort. Scores of people from the valley towns and Plains country have found this to be a delightful place in which to spend a few weeks in the summer time, camping out, gaining rest and storing up strength for life's arduous duties at home.

The whole country in the vicinity of Happy Hollow is mineralized and a great deal of prospecting with varying results has been done, and it would not be surprising if rich gold, silver and copper veins are found here. Indeed, the Nightingales have already a mine near their homes that promises to become a regular bonanza.

What is known as the Alford District embraces a section of the mountains lying between Livermore on the south and St. Cloud on the north. It is watered by three branches of Rabbit creek, which head in the hills several miles to the west and northwest, and is an excellent stock and dairy region. The valleys of the three streams afiEord good meadows and considerable tillable land. In the early days it was almost inaccessible on account of the high hills surrounding it and the difficulty the settlers experienced in making roads suitable for travel. In the early 80's the county built a good road over Calloway hill, since which time the district has become better known.

The first settlers in this district were N. C. Alford who settled on the North branch in 1867, after whom the district takes its name, J. W. Calloway, John S. Williams, Joseph Harden and his four sons, David, Charles, James and M. B. Harden, who settled on Middle Rabbit creek at about the same time. William Calloway settled on North Rabbit in 1867, but later took up and improved what is known as the Cradock ranch on the North fork of the Poudre. A. R. Milne settled in the valley of the North fork above the canon in 1874, and his neighbors, D. M. Halligan and family in 1880. H. A. Keach located on North Rabbit in 1882. Mr. Keach came to Colorado in the 70's, but went back to his native state, Vermont, where he married and soon after returned to Colorado. In September of the present year he sold his ranch and stock and is now a resident of Seattle, Washington. Among the later settlers in that district were W. W. Lowery, C. R. Bullard, William Stewart, S. H. Birdsall and C. R. Salisbury. Mr. Lowery and Mr. Bullard both died several years ago. All of these early settlers were engaged in stock raising or dairying.

N. C. Alford was engaged in horse breeding and brought from Iowa the first registered Percheron stallion ever introduced in the county. He sold his ranch and stock to Henry T. Miller in 1880, and moved his family to Fort Collins, which city has since been his home.

The Hardens disposed of their holdings on Middle Rabbit in 1873 and took up a fine ranch on Meadow creek, nearly two miles east of the foot of Cherokee hill that year, where they engaged in the horse business. Joseph Harden, the father, died on this ranch a good many years ago. A postofKce was established at Alford along in the 80's, but was discontinued about two years ago for the reason that no one wanted to be bothered with its duties. The settlers now depend upon the Livermore postoffice for their mail.

Tamerlane Forrester, one of the first white men to locate permanently in that part of the Laramie river valley situated in Larimer county, has kindly furnished me with the following account of the early settlement in that valley :

"Although one of the old timers in Larimer county, I was born in the State of Missouri, where I spent the days of my childhood. When quite a youth, I moved with my family, to Kansas, where, after attaining riper years, I served in various campaigns against the Cheyennes, Arapahoes and Sioux. Later the Indians becoming less hostile and offensive, I, with the energy and ambition of youth, decided to push farther west, and seek my fortune in that mountainous country. With that object in view I traveled overland as far as California, passing through all the perils and hardships that visited those early pioneers of this great Western country.

"The Golden State, however, did not offer me the inducements I anticipated, so in 1876, I drifted back, and took up my headquarters about fifty-two miles northwest of Fort Collins, at a place known as Tie Siding, a short distance over the Wyoming border. I here spent a year occupied in making ties, before I moved to the Laramie river, where, with the exception of numerous pleasure trips to

"During my year's stay in Tie Siding, I made many trips to Fort Collins, which was then a small town of some hundred and fifty souls. The surrounding country at the time was given up mostly to farming on a small scale, and on account of the small population one was acquainted with all the inhabitants.

"I have been a regular visitor to Fort Colins ever since, in fact not a year has gone by without I have enjoyed a short stay there, and strange as it may seem, the only individual I remember as having lived there in the early days, and who is still a resident, is James Sweeney. Jim Sweeney was Sheriff in the old days, serving in that capacity for four terms, with praiseworthy zeal and efficiency. His well deserved popularity was enormous, his friends were legion, and his enemies very few.

"My parents, my three brothers, and my five sisters took up our abode on the Laramie river in 1877, in a house, long since destroyed, situated some four and a half miles from the Wyoming line near Grace creek. After a short time however, we moved up the river to one of its tributaries, since known as Forrester creek, and the site of my present ranch.

"Here my mother died in 1884, and my father followed her some five years later, both being buried in a little private graveyard on one of the pretty hills overlooking the river, and within sight of their earthly home. After the death of our parents, the children, one by one drifted elsewhere, with the exception of myself. The five girls married, four are still living, Mrs. Peck having died at Fort Collins in 1905. Mrs. Falkenstein and Mrs. Detro are in Alberta, Canada; Mrs. C. J. Sperr and Mrs. Z. Zinn reside in Fort Collins. My brothers, C. C. and W. L. Forrester live in Denver, Colorado, and A. C. Forrester in Taplen, Idaho.

"At the time of my arrival on the Laramie river, the life, customs and conditions were far difEerent from those existing at the present time. The population, which was much greater then, was occupied in the cutting, hewing and floating of ties for the U. P. railroad. All the way up the different creeks on either side of the river were tie camps and the hills were dotted with the cabins of the tie makers. Dawson, who had the contract for the U. P. railroad, had his headquarters near the junction of the Mc- Intyre and Laramie rivers, which in recent years has been named Gleneyre. Dawson's headquarters ran a commissariat for all the tie makers, and there could always be found some one with whom to pass the time of day. The surrounding hills abounded in antelope, elk, and deer and on Dawson's pay roll were several paid hunters employed to furnish game for the difFerent camps. The ties were gotten out during the winter, piled along the river banks, and in the spring pushed into the river and floated to Laramie in drives of from 35,000 to 250,000, taking from ten days to three weeks to make their destination, according to the flow of water. When Dawson gave up the contract, he was succeeded by Coe & Carter, which firm through the able management of O. P. Yelton, continued to supply the railroad with the necessary ties. Besides the men connected with the tie camps, one was frequently meeting with jolly, sociable cow-punchers riding for some of the big outfits on the Laramie Plains.

"At one time from 15,000 to 40,000 head of cattle ranged on the hills above the river. The feed for the stock was far better than now, and looking back it seems as if the seasons were more favorable. We were not visited with such early frosts in the fall and our springs seemed not so late. More snow fell in the mountains, but the grass on the sidehills was of such a standard that stock could always forage, and it was only during the most severe winters that there was any material loss of cattle. One could find beef fat enough to butcher any time in the year, and feeding was unheard of. Irrigation was done in a small way for a kitchen garden, and a little hay was cut for a few saddle horses or milch cows; what since has given way to meadowland, was then sage brush and high bunch grass.

"In the early days, on the Laramie river in Colorado, the ranchmen started their herds from a few milch cows and mavericks, gradually increasing their stock, and with the small expense incurred in raising cattle at that time, many of the early settlers retired from business in the course of ten or twelve years with an ample competence.

"In the 70's there were but six ranches on the Laramie river from the Wyoming line to its source near Chambers Lake, a distance of some thirty odd miles. Mr. Bliler's ranch was the first from the line; Capt. Hance, who introduced the buck and pole fence on the river, was located near Grace creek; Wm. Mansfield's cabin and buildings stood close to the river between Capt. Hance and the Forrester family. A few miles above Forrester creek was Hutton's horse ranch at the foot of Horse Ranch pass, while some three miles up the river from Dawson's headquarters, and about twenty miles from its source, Oscar and Kelly Martin

"North Park was then as Nature made it, and probably one of the finest antelope countries in the world, with one sole occupant living in the extreme north end, or what is known as the neck of the Park. This trapper, prospector and hermit was a man by the name of Pinkham, hardy of nature and rustic of habit."

At the present time the Laramie River valley is settled all the way from the Capt. T. H. Davy's big ranch at the State road crossing clear down to the State line, and stock raising and dairying are the principal industries of the people. There are two postoffices in the valley, one at Capt. Davy's ranch, known as Glendevey and the other six miles down the river, known as Gleneyre. The Laramie river valley is one of the most attractive valleys in the state and is a favorite resort for summer tourists, who come from all parts of the country to spend a few weeks during the heated term. It is the fishermen and hunters' paradise, as the river and its affluents abound in native, rainbow and German brown trout, and among the adjacent hills may be found deer, elk, bear and mountain lion on which the sportsman may display his markmanship during the open season. ,