HomeMy WebLinkAboutUpdate MemoJanuary 4`h, 2006
TO: Landmazks Preservation Advisory Board
FROM: James ~-Iewat, Chris Meschuk
SUBJECT: Update Memo
Code Changes
Staff visited the Martin Acres Neighborhood Association of January 2"d, 2006 and is
scheduled to visit the i3niversity Hill Neighborhood Association on January 5`h, 2006 to
talk about proposed changes to the historic preservation code. A Code Change open
house is scheduled for Januazy ll`h, 2006 at 7PM at the Senior Center West. Detailed
information regarding the code changes can be accessed on the web at:
httq://www.ci.boulder.co.us/buildingservices/historicpres/desienation chanoes.htm.
Historic Preservation and Environmental Sustainability Integration Project
Marie Zuzack has been hired as a consultant to coordinate the policy analysis. A joint
session with the Landmarks Board and Environmental Advisory Boazd will occur at the
EAB's regularly scheduled meeting at 6PM on January 11`h, 2006. A packet for this
meeting will be sent to Board members on January 6`n, 2006.
University Place Historic District Designation:
The application for district designation will be reviewed for land-use implications by the
Planning Boazd at their January 5`h, 2006 meeting. First reading of the application by City
Council will occur on February 7`h, 2006 with second reading and public hearing
scheduled for February 2151
Depot
Discussions are underway with owners of the propedy regarding possible sites for the
relocation of the Depot within the next 21/2 years.
Certified Local Government Grant
Staff was successful in securing a$5000 CLG Grant to send staff and three Board
members to the National Alliance of Preservation Corrunission's Forum, 2006 to be held
in Baltimore.
Board Training
Staff is looking into setting up a Board training session.
Washington School
Five responses to the Requests for Qualifications for the redevelopment of the property
have been recieved. The RFQs will be reviewed and qualified developers will be invited
[o submit proposals.
Nelson House Listed in the State Register of Historic Properties
_` _ ----~.-•
- - ~ _,.-, • - _
The 1951 James M. Hunter designed Usonian Nelson house at 1818 Baseline Avenue
was listed in the State Register on December 16`h, 2005. Owners Jim and Estella Cole
intend to restore the house using state tax credits.
ARTICLES AND INFORMATION:
Pending Stay's of Demolition and current sta[us.
Current code violations on historic properties.
Historic Context Report, Roads of the Mountains and Plains Within the Boulder Historic
Context Area, (this is for your binder, entry L)
Landmarks Preservation Advisory Board
Stay of Demolition Status Summary, January 4`h, 2005
Address Date of
Construction " Date Steq ,
` `Im sed ~ Date of :
` ~lration `~
Current Status . . ,
The applicant met with the historic
design review committee of
11/30/O5 with preliminary plans to
preserve the fagade and 15 feet
2224-2226 Pearl c. 1900 8/3/2005 2/13/2006 of side walls with new
construction in rear. Proposai
included removing roof of
preserved building to provide
interior courtyard
The applicant has received
several quotes to move portions
1227 High Street c.1870 10/05/2005 03/08/2006 of the house forward on the lot to
provide the opportunity for
redevelopment at the rear.
~~--- - - -- -- ---~- -
f'' ',~
~h~ ~ ~
i ' '~
R~c ~rted Historic Preservation Ordinance Violations 2004-2005 ~
; Street Violation Application Signed by
Uistrict # Street Name Violation Date Date Planning Status L.A.C. Approved Commenks
h1aplGUn Rcpointing without a I
~
i
~,
M~3 IC1U17 Hi~l ~~~~
~
A lai~~m~rk ulterution ,
l I/..81.,(wi f cnding
cenue.
crrif'ic~te
-- _ - -
-
--
...--
- ----
- i
i
- -- ----
- --
- - --
-- - -
~ -~~ ~ ~ ~ ~ - ~ NfL`-ll"1;1~ (~OIIfCCC'I7C'C ~7C~~
OG/16/O5. Cuirently a~v~itfiig
2d-i I
Ma
leton Hill
Gih Si. u~,~,u~n~~~le~ µ'~"~~w
7/12/2004
Sunmwns Issued
Restoration af win~ows
inlomiation as io whcthcr
p repl~cement
resiorauvr justice process will
- procc~d.
j - - --- -- -- - Applicant submitted for review by
Mupletun
~ the Jesign review committce
,.,
itl
005
11
ill
h
k
/
3/
Notice of vii~lation and stop work
Mapleton Hill 7~5 Avenue Sandblastiug of slone I I/7/..005 Resnlved iey w
w
ec
i
11
_
_
.
c ~~'~~r lifted 1 I/'3/OS
staff as they proceeJ wiih no-
desiructive cle~ni~~g.
-----
- --
---- - - -- - ---- - --- - - 5'-tall wood fence ut ihc rear o(
the propeny nnd conceptually
Maplet~m Hi I I -"-'-~ g~~~ S~. Pence Under Investigution approved ~he conshtiction of' a
ret~ining wall at the xouthcust
corner of thc silc
- - - Mudificalions per full hoard ~
aPproval dated 4. I i.01 inclu~ing '
Mapietc~n Hill 2515 ~70~L~W'~Y L:IIICISC:lplll~' R. (I15817I~
rm Un~er Investig~iion C~~(710 Of WO~~i (~OI1t :llll~ ~(~111~1011
np
Of ~I~l lOt4'Ci ~CCOIl7~l01C(! ~~Y
-
-- ---- rework of walkway and stair
- - - -
- - - -
- _ _--
Rcmoval of historic - -
Mapletun Hifl G33 M~xwell Ave. trackmounted garagc 7l]"'I'_001 ~ l)ndcr Invcstigation No LAC issued Sumurons to bc issued.
Joor
- -
- ~ -- --
----- ' -
~~Il.lllL~lOi1LC'.l~ -- - -- --- - -- - --
~)KC fl'VIL`Wl'd :1111~ ~~~LOVI'lj
SOllle ~~Il[~SC~~l~fla f1:15 OCCIIfTC(j.
Mapleton H ill `x)0 Maxwell Avc. lan~scaping & water 7/12/2004 Pending removal o( nine boulders in sta(F will dxck as to whcther
(rawres Octuhcr. work is a appravcd.
Mapletun Hill 735 Pinc St. Fence Under [nvcstigation
3~7
MapletonHill S iucc St.
u~ Unauthorizc~ Undcr Invesli ~tion
~~ Consiruction of readtiide addilion
His~oo3-oo~ia
d~„~~i~uo~,~rnous~ ~
~
- - -- - - - -- --- - - -
Reh~hiliwtion unti u~dition to
-- - ~
Maplctc~n Hill aoe sE,~~,~~~ s~. ~
k~~,,,,~~i orcn~~»~,~y k~s~i~~~ no~~5r. i.,ac~~~~~„~~~~:,~,~,~~5
included remo~~al of chinmcy.
IRchahililatiun uf cxisling ulley
DOWntOWA I'16 Uetcriuratiug alle~
Pc.irl S~. ' building; constniclion of new
Pcn~iu,~,
~ Applicant is in process of
huil~ing resiJrnce ahove Revicw in resulviug zoning issucs.
'~proeress. I
~~I
~ E~~
~~rJ
~
'1
`{ i . C
~,~ ~. ~
~~s:!=, ~
{i,
,
j;
`~i ! ~ ~ d;,
~ii
~I~ i~~'.~~i 7
~: % N. ~
1
ROADS OF THE MOUNTAINS AND PLAINS
Within the Boulder Historic Context Area, 1859-1996
INTRODUCTION
The settlement of any new community is dependent on its roads. So it
was with early Boulder. The first roads on the pla.ins were merely wagon
tracks from which the largest rocks had been removed. Travellers
themselves often made the improvements in order to be able to continue on
their way. The first people to arrive made it easier for others to follow,
and encouraged the growth of their new town.
The legendary account of the settlement of Boulder began, in 1858,
with a band of gold prospectors who separated from the main group at
Fort St. Vrain, a fur-trading post on the Platte River Trail. The small
group headed west instead of continuing on to the Denver area. They
followed the St. Vrain Creek to its juncture with Boulder Creek,l then
followed Boulder Creek to the edge of the mounta.ins, and pitched their
tents at Red Rocks near the mouth of Boulder Canyon.2
This discussion of roads, from 1858 to the present, will concentrate
on the area within the Boulder Historic Context boundaries, as defined as
Areas I-III of the City of Boulder's Comprehensive Plan, 1989.
1 Just east of present-day Longmont.
2Bixby, Amos, "Hislory of Boulder County," in History of Clear Creek and
Boulder Valleys, Colorado. Chicago: O.L. Baskin & Co., 1880, p. 379. Now Settlers
Park between Pearl Street and Sunshine Canyon.
- _ .~----~.~
,.s~ - - -- _- _ -
- --=-~-~---- _ . - _ _- --- - :-~,.
- - ~, .__ _ . ~.~
~
INTO THE MOUNTAINS FOR GOLD AND SILVER
Early Toll Roads, Beginning in 1859
Gold Discovered at Gold Hill --
Boulder's first settlers came to find gold. The mountain roads, out of
topographical necessity, followed the winding earlier routes of animal and
Indian trails. The prospectors walked and/or rode pack animals as they
followed one of these trails up Sunshine Canyon. They soon discovered
gold in a creek they named Gold Run, at a camp they named Gold Hill,
twelve miles west of Boulder. Find.ing gold was the first step. Next they
needed to move in their equipment and supplies. They needed a road.
Boulder to Gold Hill, via Left Hand Canyon --
In Gold Hill and other early mining districts, the first roads were
built by the miners themselves who agreed to take time out from
prospecting. Gold Hill minutes stated ..."the President shall draw up a
subscription that every one is willing to do work on the road to Left
Hand..."3
As mining increased, the men were too busy mining to work on their
roads. Once a route became established, toll companies, who hoped to make
a profit, took over the building, improving, and maintenance of the '
heaviest travelled roads. Their charters normally ran for twenty-four
years, after which the road became free.
3Gold Hill minutes, October 15, 1859, as quoted in Fritz, Percy, The Mining
DistriCts of Boulder Countr. Colorado. Unpubli5hed thesis, University of
Colorado, 1933. The road to Left Hand Canyon from Gold Hill was Aikens (Lick
Skillec) Gulch.
` - - --- -- .~ ,..~~_ - - ~ . ~ - _-__. _`: ~
~~~ _ ~ a~ - - - ~ ~ __ . r ~=
3
On December 7, 1859, the Boulder City, Gold Hill, and Left Hand
Creek Wagon Road was incorporated. Three hundred shares of capital
stock were issued at $25 per share. The toll road probably followed the
route of the miners' earlier road and went up Left Hand Canyon to Ai~ens
(Lick Skillet) Gulch to Gold Hi11.4
Boulder to Black Hawk, via Gregory Canyon --
The Gold Hill discoveries, however, were soon outshadowed by
those made by John H. Gregory at Black Hawk. In 1859, Gregory had
managed to haul the first of his machinery up "a sort of road" in what soon
became known as Gregory Canyon, between Flagstaff and Green Mountain,
then by today's Kossler Reservoir, and across a Ute Indian trail to South
Boulder Creek and on to the site of more gold finds at Black Hawk.S
Meanwhile, in the summer of 1859, one hundred men per day were
reported to have followed the Platte River Trail to areas of mining activity
in what is now Colorado. In order to turn the tide through Boulder, and
thus give some profit to the town's early merchants, Henry Clay Norton
built a toll bridge across the Platte River near Fort St. Vrain. He also
improved the road to Boulder and planned to continue the road John H.
Gregory had started up Gregory Canyon. Norton raised funds by
subscription, but did not get enough for the road to go into the mountains.6
In the 1870s, the Gregory Canyon road was rebuilt by residents of
Magnolia as an alternative to the toll road built up Magnolia Hill from
4Provisional Laws and Joint Resolutions Passed at the First...General Assembly
of Jefferson Terricory, 1859, pp. 285-286, as quoted in Fritz.
SParsons, Martin, "Toll Road History of Boulder County," Daily Camera, July 31,
1945.
6Bixby, p. 392.
..~, .~k,- ._ ~:~.::=.::~;~~-- -- _ . -
- - -- - - __ _ _ -- ~+ •~ - .- - - •~-~~-.
~_ _...
_~ir - = - - -------~-- -- ! __ _. _.~_. . '_.~
; ,.
~ ; ~~ ~I
I
,
f,
~
~i '~
, i ~J
i '~;
' ;
4~ y
i ~i
, I~'.
I ~
~
~ ~
~ O
~ ~
b
'~
. ~ ~
~ ~
. ~
~
~
ti
~ -
L '` ~
~' ~
~
~
0
~
~
~
, ,i,
, . 'P
~4 ;.~'~i
4
Boulder Canyon. On April 5, 1881, Gregory Canyon was declared by the
Boulder County Commissioners to be a free county road. It was in use until
the Flagstaff road was built in 1906-1907.7
Today one can still drive a short d.istance up Gregory Canyon from
the base of Fla~staff Mountain. The rest is a hiking uail. Since the road
was improved several times over the years, it is not known if the current
trail exactly follows the original road.
Boulder to "over the range," via Sunshine Canyon --
One of the earliest roads built from Boulder into the mountains was
the Gordon and McHenry road of 1861.g In his "History of Boulder
County," Amos Bixby called it "another early attempt to make a direct
wagon-road connection between Boulder and Black Hawk," but teamster
Martin Parsons and author ponald Kemp referred to the Gordon and
McHenry road as a"military" road.9 Although it was used by miners, it
was said to have been built by the U.S. Army in order to be able to respond
to Indian uprisings in Middle Park.
~Boulder County Commissioners Journal 3, p. 519. (April 5, 1881). Gregory
Canyon became (old) County Road #217 (Boulder Counry Road Book C, p. l7.)
gBixby, p. 392. Date of 1861 from Parsons' handwritten notes.
9The Gordon-McHenry road went up Sunshine Canon, down Ritchie (Pobrman)
Gulch, on the east side of Poorman Hill, to Four Mile Creek to Orodel (now the
junction of Four Mile and Boulder Canyons.) It then headed west through what
now is the Betasso Preserve, and roughly paralleled the current Sugarloaf
Road to the Sugarloaf townsite. Continuing to the southwest, the road went
through Gordon Gulch, through Switzerland Park, then along I~lorth Boulder
Creek, and west through the Tucker (Caribou) ranch where it was abandoned
north of the townsite of Caribou. (Kemp, Donaid, Silver, Gold and Black Iron.
Denver: Sage Books, 1960, p. 28. To see this route mapped on a cunent
topographical map, see Weiss, Manuel, Boulder County Historical Inventory,
1980, Carnegie Library, Boulder.) It was originally planned to cross Arapahoe
Pass into Middle Park, but, by then, easier routes over Berthoud and Rollins
Pass had come into use.
- --~
- - = - - -- -- ' ~c _,~._._.- ._ ~ _ _ -~__~-~,.~
:. ._ ~:~ :. ." - _ J - ._. ~ _ ~.~
S
By 1874, the route was already called the "Old Gordon-McHenry
Road."10 In 1894, Sugazloaf residents used this route an an outlet to
Boulder when they were marooned by a the "hundred-year" flood. In
1915, the route was still traversable by horse-drawn wagons.l l
Boulder to Black Hawk, via Bear Canyon --
In addition to local roads built by residents, and the Gordon and
McHenry road built by the Army, investor-financed toll roads were
necessary to open up routes to the gold mining areas. Several Boulder
entrepreneurs formed their own toll road companies. Between 1861 and
1870, seven of the forty-three toll-roads authorized by the Colorado
Territorial legislature were in Boulder County.lz
Bridge-builder Henry C. Norton built a road up Bear Canyon with
money fumished mainly by gold mine owner George R. Williamson.13
The road, incorporated on November 7, 1861, was the first of several toll
roads to be constructed from the present Table Mesa area south of the
Nauonal Center for Atmospheric Research. The Bear Canyon road
intersected the Gregory Canyon road near today's Kossler Reservoir.
Norton and Williamson were oppmistic about reaching Black Hawk, but a
cloud-burst soon washed out the first Bear Canyon road.la
lOBoulder Counry News, September 18, 1874, p. 2, c. 4, as quoted in Weiss.
ll~yeiss, Manuel, Boulder Counry Hisrorical Inventory, 1980, Carnegie Library,
Boulder.
12Daily Camera, Februazy 7, 1952.
13Williamson owned the Yellow Pine mine and later was President of the
Boulder National Bank.
14Ridgway, Arthur, "The Mission of the Colorado Toll Roads," Colorado
Magazine, vol. IX #5, September, 1932, p. 165. Also, Bixby, p. 392.
--~ -- e~'se~ e =---_____ -------"•' -'~""'---. -• -..__. _' L
- -r-.~"r ~~rt ""+.~=,~,s,. -,Y_"., _- ..-. . _ ,~ - . '--- - ~'y'it-
6
Boulder to Gold Hill, via Left Hand Canyon, again --
The owners of the St. Vrain, Altonia (Altona), Boulder Mines (Gold
Hill) & Gregory Wagon Road Company also had high hopes of reaching
Black Hawk.ls T'his road, which followed the earlier routes up Left Hand
Canyon, also was incorporated on November 7, 1861.16 Either because of
a lack or money or because there was enough activity to keep the
prospectors occupied at Gold Hill, the road abruptly ended at Gold Hill
rather than continuing on to its original destination.l~
Boulder to Black Hawk, via Magnolia --
Despite the Boulder road builders' intentions, the most heavily-
travelled route from the plains to Black Hawk and the mines near Central
City was the Enterprise Road from Golden thru Golden Gate Canyon.18
Since Boulder investors wanted to direct the traffic their way, and their
own toll roads had not been financially successful, they recognized the
importance of connecting with the Enterprise road.19
This connecting road is what Bixby called "the first successful toll
road from Boulder to Black Hawk." The Boulder Valley and Centrai City
Wagon Road Company was incorporated February 8, 186520 with a capital
15gixby, p. 392.
16Ridgway, Arthur, "The Mission of the Colorado Toll Roads," Colorado
Magazine, vo1. IX #5, September, 1932, p. 165.
17Finally, in 1873, the Snyder-Corson road was built from 3alina up Gold Run
and extended westward along the ridge [o west of Wazd. There it branched,
with one branch north to Ward and the other to Nederiand. The latter route,
completed in 1874, was considered "the best possible route from Black Hawk to
Gold Hill." Boulder County News, July 3, 1874.
~gRidgway, p. 164. The Enterprise Road was incorporated on October 3, 1861.
19parsons.
Z~Ridgway, p. 167. Also Bixhy, p. 393.
- ~ = `°~° "--~-~ ~--
- ' _ .. - y - - - - - _ ~ ~
7
stock of $50,000. Sawmill partners, James A. Maxwell21 and Clinton M.
Tyler each subscribed $10,000. Other prominent Boulderites, including
brothers Henry L., Luther C., and Sylvanus Wellman; Charles Dabney;
Anthony Arnett, Jonathan A. Tourteliote, Frederick A. Squires, and
Daniel Pound also contributed. Consiruction began in March, 1865.
This well-financed toll road went up the previously impenetrable
Boulder Canyon to the foot of Magnolia Hill. It then went up and over
Magnolia Hill, where it crossed the road started by John H. Gregory, and
then continued across South Boulder Creek, near the mouth of Beaver
Creek, joined the Enterprise Road, and continued on to Black Hawk. The
toll for a vehicle with one span of horses, mules, or cattle was one dollar.
A horse or mule with a rider was 25¢. Travel to funerals was free.22
Lee and Walter Smith began operating a daily stage line to the town
of Magnolia. Their coaches were specially designed for steep mountain
roads and were drawn by mules instead of horses23
Boulder to Black Hawk, via Left Hand Canyon, again --
In 1866, the Niwot and Black Hawk Wagon Road Company built a
road which also went up Left Hand Canyon.24 One branch went north to
Ward, but the main route followed California Gulch to Sunnyside, Brown's
Ranch (Nederland), Rollinsville, and on to Black Hawk roughly paraltel to
today's Peak to Peak Highway.25
zlson of James P. Maxwell.
ZZRidgway, p. 168. Also, Daily Camera, lanuazy 25, 1976.
23Gladden, Sanford, The Early Days of Boulder, Colorado. Boulder: Sanford
Gladden, 1982, p. 402.
Z4Ridgway, p.168. The road was incorporated on February 6, 1866.
ZSKemp, Donald, Silver, Gold and Black Iron. Denver. Sage Books, 1960, p. 28.
- ---- - -- -~~-~"„" -.- -- ==-_~~s
= - -- '
~~~~._ _ _ ~ - - -- - -- -- -- / -- ~--_ ..,.~
~~s.~: ' e _.~.,._ --
s
Boulder to Caribou, via Boulder Canyon and Nederland --
Boulder Canyon, past the Magnolia turn-off, was the last canyon
out of Boulder into the mountains to be conquered. In 1869, Wells Fargo
and Company came up with the idea of running its stages from Boulder to
Black Hawk if a road would be built up Boulder Canyon to Brown's Ranch
(Nederland). During the following winter, when the water in Boulder
Creek was low, C. M. Tyler, William Pound, and others surveyed the route
from the e~sting road at the bottom of Magnolia Hill to Nederland,26
where the Niwot and Black Hawk road already crossed Boulder Creek.
They found that the new route was six miles shorter between Boulder and
Black Hawk than the one which went over Magnolia hill.27
By May 20, 1871, the completed Boulder and Cazibou Wagon road
connected Boulder with what is now Nederland, and continued on to
Cazibou. While the road was under construcaon, Caribou conveniently
boomed with a major silver discovery. Laborers hurried to get the road
done in order to capitalize on the freight traffic that would soon come. A
toll gate was located at the mouth of Boulder Canyon. Another at Eagle
Rock replaced the stadon formerly located at the foot of Magnolia hill. The
road up Boulder Canyon soon became a financial success as well as a
tourist atuaction.28
The Boulder News stated,
"The road now building up the canon we have feebly described, is
the most ambidous piece of work that has ever been, to our
knowledge, attempted upon a wagon road in Colorado. The work is
Z6Besides being called Brownsville, Nederland also was called Middle Boulder
in its eazly days.
Z~Kemp, pp. 28-29.
28Kemp, p. 29.
_-~ _. _ ........ ....._.,...-F~ . _ _ _
= - ~-- ="-
~__ . ._ -- - -
~.,.° -- -~-~,?-'~.~ - - -_ =-ti`_ ~3~
- -'°-
. . .__ __ «... ._ . ~ -. -_ - -
_ ' - -. -.- _.. _... ~ --.._~-..:~c
~+- :~~ o-- -`-__ . y- `- -_
9
stupendous and nothing less. The line necessarily crosses the creek
often, how many times we did not count, but guess the number of
bridges at 30. These are ail substantially built, with a height and
water way sufficient to make them permanent....An immense amount
of blasting has been necessary to break up the great irregular masses
of loose rock, and to cut down the solid points to a grade. In one
place a spur of the mountain has been blasted down 20 feet, still
leaving the road 15 feet above water."29
Wells Fargo and Company never ran its stages between Boulder and
Caribou as promised, but Lee and Walter Smith oransferred Wells Fargo
express and made tri-weekly trips.30 In 1871, these four-horse Concord
coaches charged $3.50, about the equivalent of a good day's wage.31 A
branch line ran from Caribou to Black Hawk and Central City.
The sturdy Concord coaches, costing one thousand dollars each, also
carried passengers and mai1.32 Instead of having shock absorbers, they
were suspended on broad leather straps. Author Mark Twain called the
Concords "a great swinging and swaying stage of the most sumptuous
description -- an imposing cradle on wheels."33
In Boulder Canyon, stage drivers changed horses and had a meal at
the American House, just above the "narrows." Jim Sewell, who drove the
Caribou route, later told Forest Crossen in an interview that he left '
29Boulder News, May 20, 1871.
30Kemp, p. 29. Also, Fritz, Percy , Mining Districts of Boulder County, Colorado.
Unpublished thesis, University of Colorado, 1933, p. 197, and Boulder News
August 16, 1878.
31Gladden, p. 402, from Boulder County News, May 27, 1871.
3zGladden, p. 402.
33Noe1, Mahoney, and Stevens, Historical Atlas of Colorado. Norman: University
of Oklahoma Press, 1993, p. 27. Mazk Twain's quo[e is from Roughing I[.
m~e_ _ _ -~=-"`~ ' - __. .. =~
-- _ _ - -~__~:~ ~ --- ,y ---- -+¢'
~o
Boulder at 7 am with six passengers inside and another on the seat on top
with him. The coach would arrive in Caribou around dusk. His passengers
were mostly miners going back to work.3a
The Boulder Canyon road was narrow and had few turnouts. If two
vehicles met where there was no tumout, the lighter of the two had to
unhitch its horses and be lifted off the roadway so that the heavier vehicle
could pass. Bells fastened on the hamesses alerted the driver of oncoming
traffic. At night, a lantern was suspended from the front of the wagon
box.3s
In 1874, tolls included $1 for each two-horse wagon, $1.25 for each
four-horse wagon, 75¢ for each one-horse wagon, and 20¢ for a rider on a
saddle horse. The section between Boulder arid Bouider Falls had been
reduced so tourists and others from Boulder could "visit the famous Falls
and wonderful scenery of the canyon without feeling that the rates are
exorbitant."36
The Boulder County News, on August 11, 1876, stated, "The road uo
the [Boulder] Canon is in excellent condition, and no more pleasurable ride
can be had in the state for the same money."37
Conditions had deteriorated by 1878 when freighter Richard Crow
angrily wrote to the Boulder News. He claimed his tolls averaged over one
hundred dollazs per month, yet "other travellers have [had] to assist me at
34Daily Camera, April 29, 1948.
35Kemp, p. 29. Also, Crossen, Forest, Switzerland Trail of America. Boulder:
Pruett Publishing, 1962, p. 12.
36Boulder County News, July 10, 1874.
37Gladden, p. 402. By 1878, daily stages left livery barns in Boulder for Caribou
and Magnolia, as well as to Sunshine, Delphi (Walistreet), Springdale,
Jamestown, and Balazat. (Boulder News, August 16, 1878.)
- F~.,. -~ __ -_- - -.._r °._-~:x=.:~.r__ _'_ _"--~
__`~s_-`~--_- _ - - - - _
~ ~~.Ti"~.~--~~ _ _ . "' - J` - . _ .__.-.- :,,,~
11
times in making the roads passable, for my teamsters have been compelled
to carry a~ces and shovels to get through."3~
While those trying to make a living may have grumbled, author
Helen Hunt Jackson, who rode down Boulder Canyon on horseback in
1878, praised its beauty. Of the canyon she wrote,
"Its gray stone walls rise up, fortresslike from the meadow -- the
left hand wall bare and gray, the right hand one thick set with fir
from the base to the top. It is a picture of vivid contrasts -- the green
meadow with ranks upon ranks of yellow and red willow bushes
making belts of bright color upon it, [and] between the yellows and
reds, gleams of white foam flashing, and beyond the high bumess
fronts of the canyon mouth, adomed with evergreens."39
Tolls were discontinued in Boulder Canyon in 1887, nine years after
teamster Crow complained, and six years after Magnolia residents had
found another way to get home 40 The section from the foot of Magnolia
Hill to Nederland, however, remained under the ownership of banker
Charles G. Buckingham until 1893 when he sold all rights and title to
Boulder County.al
When Mart Parsons came to Bouider in 1897, he drove four-horse
stages made by the Studebaker Company. Eldora's gold mining boom had
just begun, and there was a lot of traffic in Boulder Canyon. These newer
stage coaches had steel springs and hauled nine people inside, and three,
38Boulder News, August 30, 1878.
39Jackson, Helen Hunt, Bits of Travel at Home, 1878.
40gaulder County Commissioners lournal 8, p. 36.
41Boutder County Commissioners Journat 6, p.207 (3une 6, 1893).
°--g-•=~--~`~.- -
-- ~---_ - .-,-r..--~--a~-= - - - --' . '='a~'
_ ° :-: ~- _. -_ _. _._~.c
'---~~---"~'~-`r+e.w.~~=E°~~..~__.. .__. ~. . .._._~~ _
! YG-f`F i C 1 4 r+\ ~•t ~o uX~( e r ~Q n L O s~.
J V
~Q. ~ 9~J
_~-,~,--~~~_=-~ = -:--.--~--=°~
- w ~ - --___-_.:~-
~
>>
including the driver, on top. A storage "boot" in the front held mail and
another in the back held trunks and baggage.4~
When John W. Valentine rented a team and buggy in 1906 to drive
to Nederland to drum up some business for his Boulder hardware store,
Boulder Canyon was still a one-track road with turnouts.a3
Bear Canyon, Again and Again --
Meanwhile, determined road builders kept trying to establish a road
in Bear Canyon, but each one was washed out. G. D. Harmon and Onsville
C. Coffin, who had a sawmill at the mouth of Bear Canyon, were the first
to rebuild. Then, in 1868, Peter M. Housel and Ed Donneliy, both of
Valmont, organized the Bear Canon and Black Hawk Road Company. The
last two tries were made by Hannon, Coffin, and a new partner, Eli
Metcalf, in 1873, and by the Bear Canon and French Gulch Wagon Road
Company, in 1885. Each of the road companies had toll gates at the
entrance of the canyon.
In 1907, the road was rebuilt by the Colorado Power Company and
used until 1910 for the erection of power lines. It remained passable until
1919 when the same flood that wiped out the narrow gauge railroad also
washed out the road. In 1935, the Civilian Conservation Corps worked to
make the trail walkable?~ The only way to follow Beaz Canyon today is on
foot.
4zDaily Camera, February 7, 1955.
43Daily Camern, February 22, 1955.
44Ament, Pat, and Cleveland McCarty, High Over Boulder, 1970. Boulder. Pruett
Publishing Co., p. 130.
~±+'_~--_~=-__ --- - _-_ _ ~=~,'. _ -- ._ - -- _~.
- - - ~ ~ ,~ ~___ .~~
13
ON THE PLAINS
County Roads and the End of the Stage Coach Era, 1858-1871
When the first settlers arrived, all land south of the 40th parallel,
now Baseline Road, was in Kansas Territory, and land to the north was in
Nebraska Territory. In the Boulder area, Colorado Territory was formed,
in 1861, from parts of both. Boulder County also was created at this time.
As in the early settlement of Gold Hill, the first residents, in both the
mountains and the plains, worked on their own local roads. Informal
preferences of teamsters decided where streams wauld be crossed.
Neighbors cooperated in grading down steep banks in order to make
fording possible.as
After Boulder County was organized, any group of citizens who
wanted a road presented a petition to the County Commissioners. They, in
turn, appointed "viewers" to examine the request. If the viewers' report
was favorable, the Commissioners established the route as a free county
road. On the plains, roads were straight lines until something interfered.
The earliest ones witlun the historic context area are as follows:ab
County Road #1 (Pearl Street) had been the first road in Boulder
established by the early settlers. As they waited out the winter of 1858-
1859, they formed the Boulder City Town Company and built log catrins
around the intersection of what is now Pearl and Broadway. A stick was
driven into the ground in the middle of the intersection. Peazl Street
became a straight route from a sighting across the stick to Valmont Butte.
45Large, Dorothy, Old Burlington, First Town
Longmont: St. Vrain Historical Society, p.28.
46Boulder Counry Commissioners Journal 1,
on rhe St. Vrain, 1860-1871, 1984.
p.57.
-- ~'-~ ` -° _- --- .
~<-~--_._.--,-.- ___--~-~- ~'
~ _~.Sr___.._,~._«.
- ~ ,_ ~ -~`'"~
Id
The other downtown streets either ran parallel to or at right angles to Pearl
Street.47 Valmont was the area's major agricultural center, and Boulder
was a supply center for the mining activities in the mountain mining towns.
A straight road was the logical way to connect these two earliest
communities.
On April 10, 1862, Pearl Street was named County Road #1. The
Commissioners stated that it "started at Boulder City and [ran] in a direct
course in the direction of the Butte (Valmont)," then along various
farmers' boundazy lines "on the most practicable route to the east line of
the County."48
County Road #2, or 12th Street (Broadway), was established the
same day. It extended from "Boulder to the Foundry," and was commonly
called the "Boulder-Furnace road."49 It followed the current route of
Broadway and South Broadway to just past Chambers Drive (south of the
light at Greenbriar Boulevazd) where it then followed what is now called
Mazshall Road into the town of Marshall. Mazshall was the site of the
earliest coal discoveries which fueled a blast furnace for the production of
pig iron.
This foundry, at Marshall, was described by joumalist Bayazd
Taylor, who visited it in 1866:
"On dropping into a little winding hollow, we soon saw the -
massive smelting furnace surrounded by clustered cabins. Mr.
47The Saturday Truth, March 28, 1903, p. 3. In later yeazs, the streets outside of
the downtown Peazl Street area were laid out in north-sou[h and east-wes[
directions.
48Boulder Counry Commissioners Journal 1, p. 57-58. The rest of the eazly
numbered roads differed from those planned in this entry. In 1902, the section
from the Housel and DeBacker mill in Valmont through Canfield [o the east
county (ine was vacated (Journal 8, p.24.)
498oulder Counry Commissianers Road Book B.
"" ---=- - - ..: --~r"--4----_...~...-- - -=----... ~
_ _ ~x ~ _: _ = - __-_ ' . -..- .
_.,.. _.~-W :_ .. - ,f - - '~",~
1~
Marshall, the proprietor, received us at the door of his residence,
and after dinner, piloted us to the fumace and the mines. There are
eleven veins of coal, varying from four to twelve feet in thickness, in
the space of a mile; iron ore of a richness of fifty per cent just
beyond it, and the best limestone, in almost ine~chausdble quandaes.
Mr. Marshall, however, has only experimented with the native ores
sufficiently to establish their value. He finds it more profitable to
buy up abandoned machinery at a trifling cost, and recast it. T'he
furnace is not only substantially but handsomely built, and has thus
far done a thriving and successful business for its owner."so
County Roads #1 (Peazl) and #2 (Broadway) were laid out in the
direction which seemed practical at the time -- Boulder to Valmont, and
Boulder to Marshall. Outside of the downtown Boulder area, the remaining
early roads followed north-south and east-west grid lines.
A petition was circulated in January, 1865 to make the road to the
north, from Boulder to Left Hand Canyon, County Road #3. It was located
"as near as the base of the mountains as practical," and joined the toll road
at Altona, at the mouth of Left Hand Canyon. It appears to be in the same
location as North Broadway and the Foothills Highway, but it is not known
if this was the same as the the eazly Left Hand Canyon toll roads.
County Road #4 was part of today's Colorado 287, considered -
"almost identical"51 to the "Salt Lake and California [stage] Road."5z
Previously it was known as the Cherokee Trail.
50Taylor, Bayazd, Colorado: A Summer Trip, originally published in 1867,
reprinted, Niwot: University Press of Colorado, 1989, p; 157.
S 1 Lazge, p. 19.
52Boulder News, June 26, 1874.
- .,~ _ °_.-" T,~-T- -_ ~ - -
---_ - ~ ---
_ ,_ --_ - - - - ~-
- - ~=~ - ~- r
"'~ ~ ~w~~~E.s:-f~~._..- - - , --- __ _ ~.-T ~y -- -. _.._.».: ~
16
This stage coach route was declared a public highway on February 5,
1866.53 Although its main route was out of the historic context area, its
impact on Boulder makes it too important to leave out of this report.
The stages rushed travellers from Denver to Wyoming and points
west. They stopped for meals and/or to change horses at various points
including George Church's ranch (south of Broomfield) and John Boone's
fann (called Boulder Station54) on Boulder Creek. Continuing north, they
reached Alonzo Allen's home, and later hotel, in Burlington (on
Longmont's Main Street),55 and on to Berthoud, Loveland, LaPorte,
Virginia Dale, and Lazamie 56
At Boone's farm there was no bridge across Boulder Creek, so in
order to find the best place to ford the creek, stage coaches sometimes
detoured to the west to cross on today's 95th Street. During high water,
they had to be ferried across at Valmont.57 'The coaches then travelled on
the Gunbarrel road (see County Road #8) to reach their next scheduled
stage coach stop at Burlington. There, mail for Boulder was picked up by
Edward Viele who rode out from Boulder on horseback.58
53Boulder County Commissioners Journal 4, p.506.
54Jackson, W. Turrentine, Wells Fargo in Colorado Territory. Denver: Colprado
Historica] Society, 1982, p. 64 (from Brown's Gazeteer, ]869, pp. 26-27.)
55Allen, Alonzo H., "Pioneer Life in Old Burlington, Forerunner of Longmont,"
Colarado Magazine, Vol. XIV #4, July 1937, p. 146.
56Dyni, Anne, Pioneer Voices of die Boulder Va[ley, Boulder County Pazks and
Open Space, 1989, p.45-47.
S~Valmont became a regular stop, in 1867, for the Denver and Boulder County
Stage, a feeder line operated twice a week by C. B. Akins between Denver,
Valmont, and Iames Creek (Jamestown]. (Denver Daily, Mazch 3Q, 1867.) The
trip, however, was not without its dangers. The April 4, 1868, issue of the
Denver Tribune stated simply, "The hack from Denver co Boulder was lost
during the big storm."
58Fetter, Richazd, Frontier Bouider. Boulder: Johnson Books, 1983, p. 27.
.
~,,;--._ .,_ t ~".`-~~.._° __ _- -- -°- ,~`
~. . ,
_ - ~ -~ - _. -
s:~~ ~.,.,,-.,-._~.. --- =s.- ~----- -- _ ~...,~-~-,~ . __ - ~.~_:~i`r~
y~se~se i - -.~„_,.~.~. -- ----
17
Beginning in 1862, the stages were operated by Ben Holladay as part
of his Overland Stage Line. In 1866, the same year that the road was
declazed a county road, Holladay sold his business to the Wells Fazgo and
Company which continued to operate it until the line was replaced by
railroads.s9
When the Union Pacific reached Cheyenne from the East in
November, 18b7, Wells Fargo coordinated its Denver-Cheyenne schedule.
Stage coaches that left Denver at 7 am arrived in Cheyenne at 3 am the next
morning. Passengers from Denver could get to Chicago in three days. The
$25 fare in 1867 was reduced to $5 in 1869.60
When journalist Taylor travelled on horseback in the Boulder area in
1866, he had left Denver "on the Salt Lake stage road, which runs
northwazd, parallel with the mountains, for near a hundred miles."61
Others on the road were "large freight trains on their way to Salt Lake,"
and "many emigrants bound for Montana and Idaho [who] have been
obliged to make a detour of two hundred miles, through Denver, in order
to get over the swollen Platte [River]."62
The rest of the early county roads were:
County Road #5, the secdon of Jay Road between 28th and 75th
Streets. County Road #6, 75th Street north and south of Niwot. County
Road #7 is now Airport Road west of Longmont, and out of the histotic
context area.
59Dyni, Pioneer Voices of the Boulder Valley, p.45-47.
60Jackson, W. Turrentine, WeUs Fargo in Colorado Territory. Colorado
Historical Sociery, 1982, p. 44, 64.
61Taylor, Bayard, Colorado: A Summer Trip, originally published in 1867,
reprinted, Niwot: University Press of Colorado, 1989, p.154.
62Taylor, p. 155.
~ "
x _- _ =~~°`
' _ _
-x-
~F
'--~
~~
_
'°'~".3.-°`
~,
IS
County Road #8 extended from just north of the town of Valmont to
Mineral Road (today's Colorado 52), east of 95th Street, and on to
Burlington. Alonzo Alien stated that it was called the "gunbarrel" route
"on account of its straightness."63 Today's Gunbacrel Hill was named for
this road. When the area was settled by homesteaders, the road, which cut
across squaze and rectangulaz land parcels, was discontinued.
County Road #9 extended from Peter Housel's flour miil at Valmont
east to Louisville. County Road #10 was 63rd Street north of Valmont.
The Comrnissioners, who later renumbered all of these roads, stated,
"All of the above-mentioned roads aze to be four rods64 wide and to be
located with a view to economv. and also so as to damage farms and every
other class of property as little as possible, the most fordable crossings of
the creeks are to be taken in to consideration."bs
In 1865, the Boulder County Commissioners required an annual road
tau of two dollars per person. A road overseer was appointed for each road
district to see that money was collected and the work accomplished.66
Those who could work or pay more, did so. In 1880, Amos Bixby, in his
History of Boulder County, wrote,
"Few, in after years, realize how much of a drain upon the
eaznings of pioneers is the indispensable expenditure for roads, in a
rough, roadless mountain region, where, at first, it was difficuit tcr
cut a foot-path or a pack-trail. In this direction, some of the pioneers
were liberal and enterprising beyond their means."67
63Allen, p. 157.
64A cod is 16.5 feet, so 4 rods = 66 feet
65Boulder Counry Commissioners Journal 1, p.61.
66Boulder County Commissioners Journal 1, p. 138 (April 8, 1865).
67Bixby, p. 393.
- - Riti~ii`3'ir - - - - - - -' ~ ~~`~ ~. "- - ---- ' - '~'.- -
^°~q.-• ~. ~. . . - r~=-_ _ _ _ ``"~J~
_ _ _ _ ~ _ - " . ~ .__~ a!.~C'
ew~~la~'~~ °`--°'-' -
19
As homesteaders took up their claims, farmers built a grid of
straight intersecting county roads which ran along their property
boundaries. In 1866, New York Tribune conespondent Bayard Taylor
visited Belmont (Marshall), then rode on to Valmont. Frustrated by the
layout of the roads on the plains he wrote,
"We were full two hours in reaching Valmont, on account of the
very independent habits of the Colorado farmers. The second
bottoms [defined by Taylor as "rolling table land"] being devoted to
grazing purposes, they have found it necessary to fence the outer
edge of the farm land; and, in so doing, they cut off the road with
the most utter disregard of the public."
"If there are laws in relation to roads, they seem to be a dead
letter. That which should be the first business of a tenitorial
govemment is left to a time when it can only be regulated by a great
deal of trouble and expense. Our National Govemment acts in the
most niggardly manner toward its incipient States. 'There should be
at least a million of dollars annually spent in each Territory between
Mississippi and the Pacific, on roads and bridges. In spite of the
tedious zigzags we were forced to make, the views of the broad,
prosperous, and thickly-settled Boulder region, made our ride very
enjoyable. "68
In 1874, the Longmont Press wrote an editorial, which was reprinted
in the Boulder Counry News on the above subject. The people in Longmont
were upset about not having a direct route to Boulder. It was stated,
68Taylor, p.158.
. v ~_.-==. - - _-> = ~
- _. --
~ - ---°-"~t
20
"The farmers are not wholly to blame for fencing up the roads
ar~d making people zig-zag around two miles, to go a distance of one
mile; the most blamable pardes are the County Commissioners. They
have formed a policy that has not only been detrimental to the
advancement of the welfare of the country, but has, by the inordinate
sdnginess of the County Commissioners in regard to road matters,
increased the expense ten times by delaying till the land has become
so much more valuable, over which the roads run."
"To illustrate a case in point. A few years ago, a petition was
circulated and numerously signed, praying the boazd of County
Commissioners to appoint viewers to lay out a road from this town
[Longmont] to Boulder. The viewers were appointed, the road laid
out, but some farmer on Left Hand [Creek], whose farm the
proposed road crossed, was damaged to a more or less extent, and
rather than pay the damages that might accrue to him, the
Commissioners revoked the whole thing, and today there is no
legally laid out road to Boulder."69
The road to Longmont, now known as the Longmont Diagonal,
would not become a reality for over eighty more years!
Railroads brought an end to the early road era. Historian Frank Hall
reminisced, "None who lived in the period from 1859 to 1870 will fclrget
the gaudily painted and rather imposing Concord coaches, drawn by six
splendid horses, guided by the most expert reinsmen in all the land..."~~
69Boulder County News, Iune 26, 1874.
~~Hall, Frank, History of the State of Colorado in Four Volumes, VoL IL Chicago:
Blakely Printing Co., p. 105.
,_ ~ -_- - - - -~"~" ~ --_ _-_ - --: ~
"°- ~ ~ -- - - •-
_ -___ ~ __ - __.~.~.
~1
In 1871, a reporter noted that "The Denver and Boulder stage is
defunct." Using the term "rapid transit" perhaps for the first time in the
Boulder area, he continued,
"Since the increase of service on this route to a daily, Walt Smith
meets the mail at [the railroad at] Erie. Thus old institutions are
giving way to the rapid progress now appazent all around us. We
have enjoyed the old stage line so long that a shade of sadness comes
over us as we part with it forever, but console ourselves with the
reflection that the age of steam and raikoads brings improvements
which compensate us amply for the loss. Mr. Smith makes close
connections at Erie, so that passengers to and from Denver can rely
upon rapid transit. To those who have not seen the iron horse for
yeazs we would recommend a pleasant ride to Erie with Walter."71
71Gladden, p. 401. From Boulder County News, May 20, 1871.
_ ~, : . -= -"-~"
- . / _ _ ~-_.,.;~-
~~
THE AUTOMOBILE ERA
And the Need for Better Roads, 1900-1996
The turn of the twendeth century ushered in a new era of
transportation -- automobiles. According to historian Sanford Gladden, the
first in Boulder was a ca. 1900 Locomobile owned by Charles B.
Culbertson, manager of the Colorado & Northwestern Railroad.72
Either this "first" automobile, or another early one was tested in October,
1900, by a drive up the steep road to the town of Magnolia.73 It soon
became obvious that automobiles required an improvement in the area s
roads.
Paving was on everyone's minds in 1905 when a"Good Roads
Convention" was held in Boulder. On exhibit were paving bricks from Che
Alumina Clay Company's deposits in Bear Canyon. Mayor Lou Johnston
favored using the bricks to pave parts of Peari, 13th, and 14th Streets.
Boulder Canyon granite, in a gravel form, was the preferred material for
residential streets.74
Apparently a majority of property owners did not approve, as no
brick laying was ever done. Instead, a steam roller packed Pearl Street with
grave1.75 On Apri14, 1908, six-horse teams were "plowing up the hard
surface of Peazl Street" in preparation for the rails of the Denver &-
Interurban railroad.~b By 1911, the Boulder County Commissioners
ordered the gravelling of the Mazshall Road (South Broadway and
~ZGladden, p. 408.
73Boulder County Herald, October 2, 1900.
74Daily Camera, May 17, 1905 and July 26, 1905.
75Daily Camera, June 16, 1906.
76Daily Camera, April 4,1908.
~~ ~~ G'i.'~~°"~ ~ --- _ _~r._ ~^/ ~ - _- _~- ~
~3
Marshall Road) from Baseline Road. Additional gravelling of County roads
was done with horse-drawn dump wagons and convict labor.
Of the convicts, who came from the state penitendary, Commissioner
Clark Gilbert was not enthusiasuc. He stated, The convicts "have been fed
in Brown Palace style and work about as hard at road building as would the
average guest of that hosteky." He also complained that for a gang of thirty
men, there were three foremen who "do nothing," and "others who eat but
don't shovel dirt."~~
Another "Good Roads Conference" was held on January 13 and 14,
1911. The general consensus was that better roads would bring in tourists.
It was stated,
"Every summer hordes of wealthy people from all parts of the
United States would ship their cazs to this state to indulge their
penchant for motoring, and to enjoy in this way the salubrious
climate which now brings to us a less opulent class of visitors...There
is little use in kicking about our wealthy class going to Europe each
year when they should spend their money at home. When they are
ready to take care of them as well, or nearly as well, as they are
looked after abroad in these matters of material comfort and
convenience of travel, they will come -- and giadly."78
The mood toward convict road builders had improved in 1915 -By
then they were camped in, and improving the road up, Boulder Canyon.
For Thanksgiving that yeaz, the "good people of Boulder City and vicinity"
treated the men to games and music and then a mid-day Thanksgiving
dinner complete with an after-dinner cigar. In the afternoon they had
77Daily Camera. April 17, 1911.
78Daily Camera, January 15, 1911.
- --~ _~_> --=- __~
---,.,---- l - -- =-'-.,_~...,ir-
/ER PASS ~~ ~ b ro fr. cacuNS ro Fr. cotciNs
797 F7 \ O e/' G n C~ THOMA~y.~N
n~Q ) •~/ ~A NON ~¢
~ O T" ~fl »'~/~'~4 r C~+ ~/ 9 T W T~ oueL~e TO GREELEY
~'T~2
.~~ ~be~Ora ~u~n~;ka ~~a~,~22~ ~
~ r LOVEL N Z~
~GE L !V- • - - ~
ROAD r~ 0~.~ ~:
~ NTAIN _ tio ~
p~ 11 ~
's o ~ ~
, ~ ~~ 7 ~
;J/iPrsCvdE . L-~ /0 L, ~ U
~ev ~
;~_ _
}' N" ..~i Z,
='~'=" ~ ~~';=Tw~N S/ST£RS 1'i~~o 8 RTHOUD
F~ r R,.
L;~=`,PARK --~ ~GS PEAK INN fw
- rRpiG__ . ~+ e~ Fo o a,ta~sor~
-.:~-::~: ..rw ~ s z
~ ~ - :'~ ~ c~,.~. ~
' ~' •,'~OIVGS PK i Z
,-;i~%„~~~~/4 55FT. I e ~, LYONS $7
~n);~ ~ Nor St ~rra
,;;,- j e ; i u
'~ ~ A LENSPARK
"=1 ,~ ~ ,.;pef u'~
_~_l~_-_ ~ ___J 6 /6 7 'Y`r L LONGMONT
' 9 r{ ~e'z
aC%?~ ~~ YMONOS ~/t~v Gr`~'~
~ •• '~
~;?;r~s;^;\:;;~:= ~P`S'f Yr~n 5~ 2 f ~ZUer
PEAC F VALLEY ALTONA
`' ti!~","Robe~fs G/aci /' ESTOw ~P Gt G
`;-~:SAWTOOTH MTN. fL°Jzq~' 9f '~
~ch La.Pe;'.::~z :• ~
~ ;_:~=c+~~.AUOUBONO A~0 ~y NIWOT /2 (e
~~~I .•,~~ ~ S ROM~NA C GLENDALE ~ G
c a~.•:`='j:;:,= AR LEfTN~M 9~
i~i~',.-. 11 SUNSHINE ~
~~~e~~~~/sabe/%G/acie~ ~~ ~ o t,t,1,d'~r ERIE
\.,.. ey°)``L G~Lp ~'` ~ ~~
~ ~~~'i"~' 0~ Jy~rL ~. ALMONT
O, P!(.^;i t::: G iG~`d ~
T .;.`;: ; ~~:`:- ~ l.er 5tP-~i' t~`P
/O
Q:.~K+,... A~c,poho o /3 ~AN ~ T
~~,:,,: o SSA6/acie~ ``~ cTeek 119 (!ree~ uNOF C~ ORA00
Z~'~= ~p' c/TAPMAN , LAFAYETTE
W;~~_ CARIBO e~J~f ORIVE FtwGSrqF LOUISVILIE
~ ~~~ ~~~ CARDINAL 0 ```y ORiVE
Z~~= NEDERLAND gOVS MARSHAL (
~\~' ° ELDOR ' ~ P~NEG~, ~ Bo~,~~ Gt
2 • :=., 1"1 6 ~E ~t ~T <
:~~'; _ ~ '1 ELDORADO SPR~NGS
ROLLINSVILL pE 'fE
U~=~% ~ A ~ BROOMFIELD
Tt!/'~ Q A
~ ; = ~ O~.
APEX COAI CREEK ~
~' ~ q,
,r~,::3/AMES.P.~r " ~ . N /6
:i~`.; i3. 26i Fr /0
4,i,
2
NEVADAVILLE LACKHAWK ~ r,
~ CENTRAL CiTY - -' ~_.
~ ip 7 ~ 1NGS f~Y. i
SP
~e ~~P• ~O T-~fRf~ LDEN ~
~'~ ~ DENVtR
& SOV /3
- -,>._:,. -- - - ~. ~2 f ..,;: - - _~ = y~F E
- -=-f O~tt Cre e k% LOO/(p MTN. ' ~--~_ G.~P/TOL
/5 ' eufF.etQ'~p/~ L'1 BRAY! L- _~ 32SD0~ ~
LVER PLUME ~ ~ pENVER MT n/ P.Q~` 1 ~i 8.~ !
~q
boxing matches, then more turkey and the trimmings, another cigar, and a
"moving picture show."79
In 1917, the convicts were still working on the Boulder Canyon
road. The Boulder Commercial Associacion, forerunner of the Boulder
Chamber of Commerce, treated the road gang to a noonday dinner in the
main dining room of the Hotel Boulderado g~
By ttus time, Hickox and Son started a Stanley Steamer automobile
line between Boulder and Eldora.Their busiest yeazs were during the
tungsten mining boom of 1915-1917.51
Speed limits were set for the first ume in 1920. Drivers could go 35
mph on "prairie" roads and 20 mph in the mountains. All turns were
limited to 18 mph.82
In 1926, Boulder opened the first of its free auto camps at what is
now Eben G. Fine park. The Daily Camera reported, "It is expected that
several thousand motoring tourists wiil stay one or more nights at the auto
camp this summer, and ample accommodations are provided for them to
cook, wash, sleep, and enjoy their stay."83
After the railroad tracks through Marshall and the University were
removed in 1932, South Broadway was extended to Marshall on the
existing railroad grade. (See Railroads, "black" tracks.) The road
(Colorado 93) was completed in 1936. In 1954, after the opening of the
Rocky Flats Atomic Energy Commission plant, a section of this road was
rerouted to bypass the town of Marshail.
79Daily Camera, November 27, 1915.
g~Pettem , Silvia, Legend of a Landmark. Boulder: Book Lode, 1986, p. 46.
g ~ Daily Camera, Ianuary 31, 1971.
82Daily Camera, August 10, 1920.
83Daily Camera, May 27, 1926.
_ - ~_,~„~,._...~.,~..~.~ • _ -._-~
_ ~ -_-._.~..+~.,~-
?_5
By 1940, the only paved roads out of Boulder were the Foothills
Highway to Lyons and Arapahoe Road east to Colorado 287.8a The right
angle turns through Lafayette and Broomfield into Denver remained from
the early homesteading days. The old stage route was still the main road
north from Denver. Drivers turned west on Arapahoe to get to Boulder.
After many years of free county, state, and federal roads, one final
toll road was built -- the Denver-Boulder turnpike. The government
appropriated land so that the road could go basically in a straight line, just
like the eazliest roads before the land was homesteaded. Beginning January
19, 1952, tolls of 25¢ were charged at the toll-gate under the Broomfield
interchange. The road paid for itself thirteen years ahead of schedule. The
last toll was collected on September 14, 1967.85
The Colorado Department of Highways submitted plans in 1959 for
the Diagonal Highway between Boulder and Longmont. Like the Denver-
Boulder turnpike, properties had to be condemned in order to obtain the
right of way. One lane of the divided highway was completed in 1965 when
the IBM plant first opened. The other lane, which was not begun until
1972, sliced through Niwot's commercial district, destroying a segment of
the town.86 The Diagonal became a reality neazly a century after county
residents requested it!
84Noel, Mahoney, and Stevens, Historical Arlas of Colorado. Norman: University
of Oklahoma, 1994, p. 31.
85Daily Camera, January 25, 1976.
86Dyni, Anne, Niwot, Catorado, Echoes From a Railraad Town, 1994. Boulder:
Book Lode, p. 45.
.~,~.__ -- - _.~.. _. . - =u-+•~
ii e~ 'o~~~ e'~°°~~-~.=_--- - - - .- -•-~~ 'y __ ~~-_ _~ ~ ~
26
SUMMARY
Boulder's early main thoroughfares, Pearl Street between Boulder
and Valmont and the Broadway/Marshall Road between Boulder and
Marshall were surveyed before the land was fenced into square and
rectangular homesteads. The roads were laid out as suaight as possible.
The azea's latest highways, the Boulder-Denver turnpike (US 36) and
the Longmont Diagonal (Colorado 119)> also follow straight lines, but only
after land was appropriated from the property owners. "The editor of the
Longmont Press was conect, in 1874, when he stated that the longer the
Commissioners wait to acquire the land, the more expensive it will be.
Most of the rest of the Bouider area s roads still follow right-angle
property boundary lines.
In a 1952 interview, Martin Pazsons, the elderly former teamster
recounted his poem, "Trails vs. Turnpikes," as follows:
"You boast of your graded highways done in gravel and cement;
Where you can ride in a limousine, with pleasure and content.
But somehow it don't seem natural for an old cowhand, like me,
To sit on a padded cushion, Glassed in, so I cannot see.
I long for a gQOd old cow trail, and a trusty saddle horse, _
The hills and plains of a cattle range, where a man is his own road boss.
Out there in God's open spaces you can dream when the sun gets low,
As you ride along you can hum a song just as slow as you want to go.
You've naught to feaz as the shadows fall, your cow horse will not
stray.
And you need no glaring headlights to push the dark away.
- -~_--=~.-=="`~: __ _~-;--"`."`.~
_-:. _ ~ - _
__ _ ,_,..~
?~
They say there's a path of glory that leads to a great white throne,
A gleaming, polished highway with angels to bear you home.
But I seem to feel, when I get my pass, foc a trip to the judgmen[ seat,
A winding dust blown cattle trail will guide my erring feet."87
Within the historic context azea, interpretive signs should be located
at the base of the hiking trails into Gregory Canyon and Bear Canyon, as
well as at the first turn-out in Boulder Canyon.
$~Daily Camera, undated clipping, 1952.
~~,~iU~i~~~==°_'_;- _: --_--^^-`e"~^s"~--~ __ ~
~ --_ -- -~ _ . ~__ =-
2S
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Allen, Alonzo H., "Pioneer Life in Old Burlington, Forerunner of
Longmont," Colorado Magazine, Vol. XN #4, July 1937.
Ament, Pat, and Cleveland McCarty, High Over Boulder, 1970. Boulder:
Pruett Publishing Co.
Bixby, Amos, °History of Boulder County," in History of Clear Creek and
Boulder Valleys, Colorado. Chicago: O.L. Baskin & Co., 1880.
Boulder Counry Commissioners Journals and Road Books.
Brown's Gazeteer, 1869.
Crossen, Forest, Switzerland Trail of America. Boulder: Pruett Publishing,
1962.
Dyni, Anne, Niwot, Colorado, Echoes From a Railroad Town. Boulder:
Book Lode, 1994.
Dyni, Anne, Pioneer Voices of the Boulder Valley. Boulder County Pazks
and Open Space, 1989.
Fetter, Richard, Frontier Boulder. Boulder: Johnson Books, 1983.
Fritz, Percy, The Mining Districts of Boulder Counry, Colorado.
Unpublished thesis, University of Colorado, 1933.
Gladden, Sanford, The Early Days of Boulder, Colorado. Boulder: Sanford
Gladden, 1982.
Hall, Frank, History of the State of Colorado in Four Volumes. Chicago:
Blakely Printing Co., 1889.
Jackson, Helen Hunt, Bits of Travel at Home, 1878.
Jackson, W. Turrentine, Wells Fargo in Colorado Territory. Denver:
Colorado Historical Society, 1982.
Kemp, Donald, Silver, Gold and Black Iron. Denver: Sage Books, 1960.
Large, Dorothy, Old Burlington, First Town on the St. Vrain> 1860-1871.
Longmont: St. Vrain Historical Society, 1984.
Noel, Mahoney, and Stevens, Historical Atlas of Colorado. Norman:
University of Oklahoma Press, 1993. -
Parsons, Martin, "Toll Road History of Boulder County," Daily Camera,
July 31, 1945.
Pettem, Silvia, Legend of a Landmark. Boulder: Book Lode, 1986.
Provisional Laws and Joint Resolutions Passed at the First...General
Assembly of Jefferson Territory, 1859, pp.285-286, as quoted in Fritz.
Ridgway, Arthur, "The Mission of the Colorado Toll Roads," Colorado
Magazine, voi. IX #5, September, 1932.
Taylor, Bayazd, Colorado: A Summer Trip, originally published in 1867,
reprinted, Niwot: University Press of Colorado, 1989.
-- •-a_- - -_ ----= - ~
~ - _ _ __ _ -.i.:~
29
The Saturday Truth, March 28,1903.
Weiss, Manuel, Boulder Counh• Historical Inventon~, 1980, Carnegie
Library, Boulder.
Miscellaneous articles in various newspapers:
Boulder Countv News
Dailv Camera
Denver Dailv.
Denver Tribune
J
=".-~s_~ ~~
. _-. .- ~_.
..\~ Ic - - 'e;w.'~ ' . --" ~ - .. . , .. . . - -~~ 't _ .. .
~ ~,,,,~~ ...,~~ ~i ~ u , ,,,~y~~-~ .a.,va~ 1 'v ~~
~. , r. . ',~.•' .~ivD ru~f `~i~o • ~,.na~o~ o~arie~a .. ~ ~
: ~ +•~ F
i
. -..,. , . . 1 ~ -' ~ ~ ~,~ V ~I^'~ n~inV. ) n.~ v~~V ~'J~• o
, S . ; - ... .. ~ . ,i~v , . ,.
~_ ~ ~
~ '_.___ ~ _
.. ' '___' __ _ ' _
' ~a -an--,,. _~o vav ~ ~,~-- ~-Tn-- ~~-- 'P/"'0+ ea-~~e. k/ ~>~we ,~ . . J ' .~ • .
, if ~ _ { J,3,C .+,'_. Ni~; ,; ~~s. ~~~f~l'Dll~)~PbOJ~IOJ ~~c--~-
, J/.~ e,~,~}wa~oHU~a 3smia~~' ~ ~w~no~~y~, ~`f~o ~pw '~/91Sy~ ~~'.~ <C£b~ - ~Pl~ )
e0U311511Yi~ vl~ ", . ~/ .b, ,~ -~SP;~q Pbo~~:v~
- /: ` • ~ ~ ~~~~„~, u
o v~ lti n~~ ~'o..» '~ I A~0 ~~ w ~V9 ~
~~ , .. ~ i,.~ ~ ~. ,,.n i3.a~, y , u0.- ]. U ~A .,; .~r~e ..o ~,»iJ ~aPa-.,<
~, io,.rtna~i ~. I I-' , e m~M ~~., u
'"awi ~3 _~~ ~~, 3ariw~ ~s~uu~wa~ r~ ~n. _ `~ JinO aSP;~p ^vD~~}Ci~l)~
~ ;.. ,,~, : N. ~, ,~.L i 1 ~ ` ,~ ~ ~
. 1.'11'F~ J ~ ~o; a3. ~ •• i ~ , m " ~ " " * ~ ~ ~ ~~, _
~r,~~~~-~{ Sro in> a ,.. . u ' ~~ .. I... (, ~ _ \\
~~~_ ^ y Lw'IUO~ u0 uf`~ 1~ ~• 1 .
! ~:f , l .H.d,:~yp ~~ _ r,_3vvn 1~ ,,. -; ~.v. ~ , ..
~ ~ ? 3e ~ ' n „l~'I ~ "l,~ :a x.~, " ~ ~ .
~ •\ ltlV]J ~ ` .~. I^~ . ]'... y .. ~ a
'n ~~ no~ni.~ ~~~.0 l•E •."`- ~.. q n
l;' ~ ..:r...~n. ~ ,,; ,.,, ,
r - - ':_., ~ T u~, _ ~s , ~ ~~, .. :, ~
• •• ~• /~ W - eP~l 310~ i V
Q Ili N ].W yil~• .. s.
n.'YJi~.JO~/ ^V~YY/~.iD(:i j. , d ~r ~': • ,F1(,,' l. W •
[/ iY /pyiMp S 15 Ml. tlW0 ~IV db Nv r 1- _~
Nb9d»J~v~-A .iinvip ~ i y ume ~s e~ v~'~ . ~ -~~.~ ' _ _ ~_av i ~i
t m i in . .;3 ti~ _ I : i
'v~~ .~adol aJ.~wo/.J L m ' c.nxr ; i' ;, ,
~I7-~ ~ ~ -~ r e" -` ~ ',ol nl
. o-,.,~~,..,,,~~ ~ f,,od ,,,,,.,~ .; :. ~ _ , ..r ~,;.~~.. ,~
1 va • o~ • o ~ dtl 1NOWlVA a~~ - 3. '
/ ~"° ~ J P / J '; - ; ~ ,:~., .,;., . m ,~.,
- POq.i ~'CpV~ ] q v, /~,~r )pVJt~ ~ ~S m • f,~ ~ .ii,, ~, ^.•,. r
/ 6 ~ / ~ ~w • r ^ ae. ;t t. :r,."' n>1..,'~V $ t~
~ ti.v3 Iv'b . ~ i wa u~ _' _ . - . . . i ~
' -..1 __--~ -~T : . Bh s i ~~~ y , ' = tl
r' • O~~o Ma oe .,~ ~, ^ _ 6• = et. Jiv: , ~ x
' _ _ ___ _ _ _ _ -~ ~' ,~~. i nois3m~ ~ ~ r ao~~. - s ~wii l x' °n _'_ ~ ~ ~ ( ~ ( / ,
~1. ~ ~.w' ' ~ O u~ Ja :,inr~i~ n '.~~i~.~Cl~ ~ - : , l~l7 ~ )
t .s:,u A :: l~rlslbr~l ' .~pv...~
- _ _ 'J;G l ~-l ' ' ..w... L ~ ri • f .i ~ no'wnn ~ ~ ~ '• .3 e:~ ,
.i.li:ly ~/"_" ~~~ 1•-_ ' N ,.n. : N G tl r~~~L~ 3nv r ah9"G p,)rvnYi: .
• I t'JIJbIV ~ n~ ( e~. V.15 ~J ~~01 1! ~SVIVW rvWNIFrN ftl L y r~{~n ti Wlll ' ~r';'• ~~
w
Ilaoauiv 1 ~ ' ••'~ ~veo~,v~a .i,,, ,,scwn~ .+o t~ - „" e.,
• .. . .. u
•'s' o
I I ~"~S' g i ~ ^ " '' ~r r~ecinMVn ne
• S' avw • ~ ~ ~ e
, . ' n
lvai~vwrv ~ 3,IV~ 3n~ ~ r sini 3AV a~. nn~ I.1. ~~ ~ ;
' : • as
~ ~ .viJ~vi~ O ~ owms lnv - ~..o~ $IHI ~~'~.-OLf~~:G ' ,~,,,.i\w~~ ~ ~ ,~~.
tl3alnGtl ~ e;i~ , i3d , anrM u n =: pc'r ~ ' ;
-~--~---~-~ -I'fU~l... ':6 an~n '; ~ .vc.. ~ `, 1 . .,i ~;~', ~~ lna \'~ u3a~n `~~
~ + ~ /e . i ~~nena ivm~rvni ~ i • d e.n..m~ .i,..r '_. .,~, ~i~~~ .~~Y'~ n~~~~n ~.. ^ i ,' ^ ,.
I 3i( LC~S~1. ~ li •:i .+~ / \ ~(
J MN~ N~OIIYIJW t { 'Y 1~ '- . ~ ~ L,. ~
~' " y . I 1 f 'S i 3;1 • " . ,~•_ _'Uw.r'Jn' ~ p~Yi . „ ~~.
. 3O113M YIYII~x ~ ~ I ~ ~~~i, ...,~ ` vM~lv+ ~ ~ ~
' ~ x ~ " ~ _ .,,o . .~~,....., U~ 1 ' , ~ , ~
o t ie5rnny~~ "~o ~~~ nnv~ ~rina~ut - v~i' i„-"~., „~~i •l ..v n ii ~~ ~~w
~I ` ~n • ' P ' ,l~ ~tl rl1(F! V)YI ^ ~f •bV4~YT ~~'.~J ~ • ~I- ^ ~l '1 -~
I ~ i r. ~J f I ~ i'r'n~~y I 1
~ ~ ~ (~ ~ i::y ~, ~Ww~u ; ~I ~~ 411VI1tl: ~ _ f. ~ \4
. WBI' ; S j•u~ 4Mxtl OTJ l'~ O . Ytl.ll, ~~~ „'••lin . i~~
~ '`I ~ . ~'"~~ tP. O . . '~, Q+ a .h1 ~,,~ ~ Z ilONra~li . i ~ \.
~ ~~ -- .. .~~' ='o.'~'`~on;$ - '~ :n~ e> vo~ - ~nn.
, `.vmi 3~1f~U ,~ ui .~^ 'F. ... 3r.. i.ni..ii. ": ~s - •~ .... ,., _ e`'a~ ° i.`+' ' '~
' un~7 3i~u' a:l.~ra r. . , ~ ennu4 ~'1
~~i m ~%.Y 'l UMIC ~ J \ ~.r J~~~ ' 1~ V tlV lu iJ ~, ^ IIV
~ ~ i " ' L - JvIJ~~ ~,` ~
, ' (; u~u•u5lva~ u ~~lu v]rr~.~\' wilk ~ ~~~ ' I
' ,~~_-___' ~axo~ E Yi~reo.~ db - ~_~. ~ a
~ ,~;v~na~ ° ~n ~,~n,a
~) ~ ~ eai3iO •~p»„aw t ~~' ~.~ x- n n~nxnlu .,~.`I --~ ~~~ i. ~~~~:~.. . .
'f~ ~' ~ eie0a I""' ' ~Fyy.\~ u~:v~.~ n:~ ij~ ci..:
' i~'. ~ I 1 ~ aly„ln~ ~ w.,.e...,. •
~ ~~ 0!1 v.,fi AVP •_-_ ~~~Jb~ J~/,~~. i»(~ i ~.,~ n ~ .
: I y ix. ' r.M ic~ ~. V P Y TwL•U nv ..i~~vHr ::'. Y~ .
3'ua • ~ Ifu~. ~\
~ ~ .. „ ~,~ dew , „ „~ , .
~ ~ '~ lul " ~ `~- , `, , ,. _- .,, ..
t111 ~
~ ~ `4 ~~` ~rl "~ 1''" A ~
~ ,~ .. ~i~.~o~ <~c..~~r
~i ~ ~4
~ ~
'_i
~ ~ :.. :~
, ,'.. '-1 A ,.'_ l
r ~ 1 ~~,
(~ J7 : hRs
n~enbu u cv~x.,-~
° ~1~, "I °`~
~In~DR~ ~ _
r~c
BOULUER, COLORADO'S RAILROAD AND STREETCAR TRACKS
' ' ~ (IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER)
GREFN ~ ~~ BUILT 1873, GOLDEN TO LONGMONT .`~t
€ ~ 9
DARK BLUE ~~ BUILT 1873
BRIGHTON TO BOULDER ~^ W~ ~' `
F~D ~ ,
~ BUILT 1877, EAST OF BOULDER TO MARSHALL ~
PINK ~
~ BUILT 1883, DOWNTOWN BOULDER TO MTS., ; ~~ ~~i ria~~
^`~"~ ;
ALSO CONNECTION TO DARK BLUE TRACK. ~~~
BLACK~ ~ BUILT 1891, FIRST USED 1886, DENVER TO ,
'
'~
DOWMTOWN BOULDER jros
"
YELLOW BUILT BEGINNING 1899
STREETCARS ~
-
-
-
, ~,~
,
,.,,
,,
LIGHT BLUE ~~ BUILT 1908, PEARL STREET CONNECTION ~<~~~~.~~-
' '" e
'
Y
S
.
DEP
T Y
XIEF
M
O
S , , ~
1 BUILT BY COLORADO CENTRAL, 1873 'as~ ,c.,,
2 BUILT BY DENVER 8 BOULDER VALLEY, 1873 °ti`
3 BUILT BY GREELEY, SALT LAKE & PACIFIC, 1883 "
4 BUILT BY UNION PACIFIC, 1890 ~
.•
5 BUILT 8Y COLORADO 8 SOUTHERN, 1910 ,
;`~~ ~•'
6 FIRST NATIONAL BANK, USED BY OENVER & INTERURBAN, 1908
~
7 l.11LT BY COLORADO 6 SOUTHERN, 1957 '` ~r„.,=
~ '
MAP REF
ENCES: ~ ~^^E
Colorado Southem Engineer's Map ol Boulder, Colorado, 1947, 1952. '. t;
"`
Drumm, „ Drumm's Map ol City ol Boulder, 1926. ~,;,;" ~<
Drum~c, Ht, Drumm's Map ol the Boulder Oil Fields, 1927. ,
~,P
Fenneman$ N.M., Geology ol the Boulder Disirict, Coloredo, USGS "' +", '~ ~
~~
Bulletin~N265,1905. /
'~~+
,
Freeze Samuel Freeze Map 1880-1881 ,,
~
~,'.: ~°~
Hayden, F.V., USGS Topographical Survey of Cdlorado, 1878. °t,,, '`'
Hotchkiss;,Hotchkiss Historical Railroad Map of Coloredo, 1913. ,
Public Ut' i ies Commission ol Colorado, Denver & Inlerurban maps.
Sanborn ~ urance Maps ol Boulder, Colorado.
Union ,Pa ~ic Railroad Company's Map ot Boulder, Coloredo, 1956.
Variou5 ~lulder newspapers (1873•1985).
}
~~Silv'~'~~ lem, 1996. The base map is by the Arwyn Map Co. and is
not subjec lo copyrigh~. Tlie railroad inlormation has been copyrighted
•
c~
~
,-! r~
~~~;~_~:
~ '~. ~
~ ~
..n~~~v
' y ~ ...~~~~~~~ ..~~'Y. ~ ~..~y
."'
r : i ' y ~
l
,
.
r x
N =
.
~/ r ~ N ' „ ~ .
.rop
~ ~i
~
~
rtioo m
~n m
• O
.
M F
~ 4
~ L
,~ :
~'i Gn rn
•
:
_~ ~ f~Nx I
_
.PN PO o 1. pv Q IN y {
•
~ b ^
,
~`F }
Mnn i W45VIL f WI(.LIA11i Q
sc
I ~8 atl
~ ~~ O
c VI ~K$ ~
a f
r
~ viiin.[
~ o i ~~ ' ' i f i
P o
tanm~p.
I~ - I ~
n~M011
e
! .t
+~ a
u~ N FLN O
IIIIIV : I• i ^ ~
'
~
4 o~ . ~ N ,,
t
~ < <a~~ i
9
a ~
e ..
^°r.
_
-
ax \
.°~ M r.
•
: p
m~
` ~ :
`` •
`
~ _
z
5.,~
r '~ ;I r
p; ma t, • ,:
q
~ ~
~ ~
C
~
~ ~~ r 3
n' p ~
4
' ~'
l
~
~
4 .
> ,
a
~ ~
~
" d ,
~~ ` ~u-~
~~
,.,.,
,
,
~
;
y ~ i. ~
. _
:
~
. .
,
~
.o ' ; ~ .
\
.wa
:. /
,,,
~ [4
_
. c j
rt,
mmr or 1
> '' i
! C r ~
'
.
`
. ~~ . ~ _ . - ,,. n
•
Qt[r11rInLOGV ~ ~ ' ~,. ' f~~ ~ ~ _
i~ in ~ i9N ~. ~ rnnxt~ry f .~:ih
/ i• - i _ "
. ~ ~ ~ i ~ 1'I.IiN,
f S ~: , ~p
~ ~
f0
~
' ~ ~ y
~ 4V 1 pl fH ~
i
M9
~
~
__"
_-_'
_ 1
- ,mnrm "
:~
ar . >Ha ~~
~
t ~q [ tjrH ;
^
.
Iw $ : '
~~ c° r
a
. •
; ~ _
~
. "
:,
y~ „ c ..
4. ,
' q
' ` to
_t ~
P ~ ny
,~~ o .
StAblOP
~E < F
~ R!a n F~~1 A BL E IC 5~ DN ~~ U
°
q ~ ,~~..»., ~, ~.; ;
~ u q,~~~
L9 '
~
~9~ ' ~.ne~, . ~` ~~' ~ •
N
ifOR0 DP
o
'~,. a
imn^
'P
}'
~ rnni F
~ _
_
. ir •.~
~
, . ~ r~~ q
o~,F,> «o£ . ~.,~ ;
e .
6
a 7
L
' ~~ nl:
~ ~~
ilNat> i§
' r
Q
y +f' ~
:
EPH(IISY~ a F~
.~ronc. iP~l F n nqp'`(u 3 .! i~~on
S
;!y'
~ d~
'< erlrTP~f
•
• !M ie.. 1
s
f .
HtE T
<
~ Ro k ~ r
v:r i
~
[
v tP ~
* i
~ /'~
rriv`~ wr
g
n
nn
o .~m.~r .~.
',p.~
°,<a
.a~ -
,. .. , - puu[r np
l[
, . ~' .
,i,m ~cnrcw
' ~/ia;6ltJf9J rat~e aQ ~a ~G//e~..:n4
'
I
P~
Cµ
' 1
Ai
G - /~~0~ ~. ~1
/OAY] ~ /
';
•°
~" •^°~ L~e~oe
~ /Llo.~da32 ~ Be~..Qd~r
,
~ !f
~.Ih.bn rscl~i~ L~
~nuer Y (~i,/~
•.•~~.,, ~ - :"~
i o
~e/arnt/e • ,/~
010KTM/ti
, .~ "G
~ + '' \ T
U!A/Pr Y.[6~141~Qi1..
~rn..i~
~
_ w[;n
' _ p
~ ~~ i ~~~~' .... ,,.. , 1l
~... - -
~« :~
,:,, ;
. ,~. ~ « M0.p *3
,
ti j'4 L„~r TOI' ~Qf,~~
,;
.. .. ~
`~ ri ~. X;
`
~;
ZII~ ~
,~
~ ~
~ ,
~
~-
°
~l -
'
~, „
-
,
~~5 2FC~r~~ r7 7-ra~ ~G~5i4rc7' ~onq'S
~ o4.,.clC~ !-~;(r 7iarl " ~SS3V K,sf(~r (~'c
IV. THE OVERLA\D TR~IL
THE ZCESTER:~ DIVISI0~1 I\T COLOE3D0.
1
ti. S. 87 Denver to Fort Collins, and U. S. 28i to 4irginia
Dale.
FTER the main line of the Overiand
~ Stage Line was changed to include
Denver, it ran over the Fort liorgan Cut-off to the croas-
ing of the South Platte in Denver. It then turned back,
north, along the west bank of the Platte to Longmont and
Loveland Beyond it passed west of Fort Collins to
Laporte on the Cache la Poudre River. The earlier Trail
had crossed the South Platte between Latham and
Greeley and ascended the Pondre to Laporte.
There were two stage roads between Laporte and
Stonewall Stage Stations. The westbound stage ran north
from Lagorte on the east side of II. S. 287 and descended
a steep grade to Stonewall Valley. Going south, the eas~
bonnd stage passed west of the highway, between it and
the Cache la Poudre River, and came down from the hills
to Laporte. These routes avoided the steepest up-grades
whether east or westbound, according to the Old Timer's
legends.
The Overland stages were pulled by sia horses,
matched in size and color. The big coaches accommodated
twentp-two passengers. There was a deep boot below
the driver's feet, which was used for mail bags, espress
packages and treasure bos. At the back of the coach was
a four foot platform where trunks were piled and covered
with a large leather apron and buckled down ~sith a-ide
straps. One of the seats neSt the driver was reserved
for the guard or messenger. '~Zany long strings of oa-
TIIE SMOKY IIILL TIZAIL
'" ' s with big freight wagone, and long strings of mule
ghtera consiating of six to ten mulea driven with one
, g jerk line, went over the etage roud. Soldiera traveled
,~er it between Fort Russell, Wyoming, and Denver, and
a~ge herda of longhorn cattle from Texus trailed over it
~~4 ~Wyoming and Montana t
~,';.' Alonzo Ii. Allen describea the route of the Overland
T„~sil.x "In the good old staging days, tl~e main line ran
from Atcl~ison, Kansae to Sucramento, California. Our
eide line came from the nortliwest, througl~ Little Lara-
mie, Wyoming, Virgic~ia Dale, Colorado, through La-
porte, Spring Canyon, Maria~io Modena on the Big
Thompaon;° crosaed the Little Tl~ompeon at Dick Bow-
er's' and the St. Vrain at old Pclla ° or on south into
Burlington,° then through Vnlmont to (~lolden City, und
then to Denver. Wheu Boulcler Creek, Clear Creek, or
South Platte were not too LigL, coaches traveled by Bu-
ford's; Itock Creek, Itawhide or Churchee,e and thence 11
milca into Denver, and pulled up ut the old Planter's
Hotel at the foot of Fifteenth street." [id.J Sigteenth.
; The Allen account in thc COI.OIIADO MA~AZINE de-
sa~ibea the towi~ of Burlington, acroas the St. Vrain from
Lo rmont. The firat post officc wns in the Allen ca•bin,
jn t west of the D. A. I~. monument on U. S. 87. The rest
of e town, including two general stores, wae south of
th llen cabin, all on tlie weat eidc of tl~e present high-
wa ~ Burlington was moved across thc river in 1870,
,,
~ Co deneed [rom the eccoant 1n The Cotorrsdo MaYazlne. XIV. 116.
P4ohter Lye in Oid IIurlinpton. Aloozo H. Alle~.
~ Allem OD. clt.
a Lo~eland.
+ Dict Bower'e etation wea nenr Berthoud.
s Pe la on the St. Vratn, a[ew mflee above Longmont. Now cslled
H~ 10ne, ~/~~ rO~n
d B Iinqton wen acroee the 81g.T3~on trom becalaad.G•~A ~.. ~.
'+. B rd'e etege slatlon wse nn Rouldar Creek, In the eame Ioc4Uon ae
ae'e etage etatlon, deecriAed at reading 26.2, Dage 213. An accovnt
~ ofj utord'e le given !n The CoJOrudo ala0aafine, September, 19~8,
~~CI~ h21s between Arvada aad Broomlleld on Colorado Hfghwsy 121.
~~;!~
IV. TIIP OVERLAND TRAIL 213
and estaUliahed on higher ground nt Longmont to avoid
the Hoods in thc St. Vrnin.
BoU Spottswood, who became auperintendent of t.he
Overland Stago Company in 1864, contracted with Mre.
Allen to opernte n stuge l~ouse or hotel. TLis was a
board and grout building, erected on the east eide of
the present highwap opposite the Allen cabin. In 18G5 a
two-atory frame addition was Uuilt upon tLe nortL et~d
of the old house. Tl~e office, diuing room, living room, nnd
two large double bed roome were m~ the ground floor.
Upataire there were four more bedrooms, Inrge enough
for two beds encL. Sometimes tl~nt wae not enough and
eatra gueats were accommodated by 'apreading binnketa
and buffnlo raUes on tlie dining room Hoor, The guests
could not go to bed before the departure of the midnight
coaches, and they ]~ad to get up before the tables were
aet for breakfast.
Mr. Allen says: "For regulnr meals to etnge coach
paesengera mother wae paid $1.50. Maybe tl~at sounJfl a
little eteep, but when you consider tLnt tlour cost ~25.00
per hundred pound sack, t1~at egga were $2.00 a dozen,
and butter often $2.00 a pound, you can see that there
was some expense in serving meuls. Thc nvernge meal
would coneist of a Uig bowl of good soup ns n etnrter;
the main couree, served family style, Lnving plenty of
ment-usually beef, bufi'alo, antelope, or deer; vege-
tablea, such as potatoes, squnah and beuna oooked with
plentg of salt pork; light bread; fruit, usunlly apples
dried on atrings; home-made pastries; cotl'ce or ten.
"It is probably impossib]e for the present-dny houee-
wife to have much idea of t6e work required of my mother
operating such an estnUlisLment without any modern con-
veniences. t1t the time shc wns feeding passengers, driv-
ers, and etock tendcrs and re~,nilar town hoarders, ehe
was using pitch pine wood for fuel in a large sheet irr~n
~
\
~ TIIE SMOI{Y IiILL TItAIL
~ in water from barrels thnt hud been hauled
~ Be; ~PP g
~' om the river on sleds; doing her laundry out of doore,
~ ing wooden tuUs and washbonrda; ironing with l~eavy
c~st flatirons; with no inodern Uathrooms, nnd with all
pLitbuildings quite a d~stnnce from the house."
;I' The main part of D4rs. Allen's IIotel was moved to
the southenst corner of 7'hird Avenue and I~imUark
street in Longmont and renamed tl~e City IIotel °
The other stage stationa on the Overland Truil are
$eecribed in the following automobile Log.
OVEILLAND AND CHEIZOK~E TItAILS
LO(3 OF TIIli OV~IZI.ANll DiAIL STA(3E from Den-
ver to Virginia Dale. Ti~is short log of Itoot and Con-
nelley10 is g~ven Uefore tl~c ai~totnoLilc Log on the present
hi hwuys.
a~~~,
0.0 Denver.
11.0 Cltilds (Or ChurcL).
23.0 Boone's. (On Boulder Creclc),
41A Little Thmnpson.
49.0 Big Thompson. (Loveland}.
63A Laporte (On the Cache la Poudre).
l75.0 Boner (Near Owl Canyon).
187.0 Cherokee. (On Stonewall Creek).
99.0 Virginia Dale. (On Dale Crcek. The last atation
in Colorado).
~ TOMOBILE LOC~. The Overland and Cherokee
tails. Denver to Virginia Dale. U. S. 87 and U. S. 287.
~~0.0 Denver at Larimer and Fourteenth streete. (#o
,s weat acrose the Fourtcenth Street Vinduct, and
~ northwest on Speer Boulevard to Federal Boule-
a vard. Turn north on Federal or U. S. 87.
~32 Junction of Federnl I3oalevard witl~ W. 4Gth Ave-
nue. .do west on W. 46th or Colorado 72.
1 6.G Arvada. Intereection of Colorado Nos. 72 and
~ 121. (~o north on No. 121.
(~ 6.8 Bridge over Italston Creek:
Colorado MaO~i~. XIV. 193. Aiten. "Early Daya {n Lonp.
~OverJand EtaDe to Oat4/ornta. R~rot snd Connelley. p. 102, The
~ntheees In the above log o[ Root end Conneliey have bceu edded.
IV. TfI~ OV~ItLAND TRAIL 215
11.G Cnuncx's STATION or Twelve niile House.' Thie
was a lnr~e twenty-room hou9e, on the west eide
of the highway and tLc south bnnk of Dry Creek.
Tl~e high emUunlcment of the Colorado nnd South-
ern I~nilway ruas betwcen the site of the l~ouse to
thc east and the sites of tl~e two barns to tl~e west.
The l~ouse was burned do~vu a few years ago.
Whero iE etood n Uare spot witL pileF of brick and"
plaster is still separated from the higliway Uy a\
row of fine aottonwood trecs.
12.6 Underpass, Colorado ~ Southern I~.Ii.
13.3 Take tl~e rigl~t fork wl~ich ~occ to the overpnss.
13.u Overpnss, above tLe Boi~lder Turnnike.
14.G Brooiuficld. Turn west on Colorndo 121, on t~e
Jefferson-Boulder Cow~tp Line.
14.9 Turn nortlt mi Colorado 121. Thc enfrance and exit
roada to and frmn tlie I3oulder Turnpike go west
from Colorndo 121 in tl~e neat quarter of n mile.
15.1 Cross tl~e railroad tracks.
15.2 Jui~ction of Colorado l21 & U. S. 87. Qo north on
U. S. 87, which turns from northwest to north at
this reading. The Overland Trail ran north witl~
U. S. 87 acrosa I;oulder Connty.
17.6 Rridge over Iiock Creek.
19.4 Bridge over Coal Creek.x
21A Lnfnyette. Enst jmiction of U. S. 87 and Colorado
7. `Purn west on tl~e combined higliways, wl~ich run
m~ the Bnse Line or 40th Purallel.
21.5 Turn nortl~,
22.6 Weat jtmction of U. S. 87 aud Colorndo 7. No. 7
goes west to Boulder. Qo north on U. S. 87.
25.2 BooxE's STex~ox sitc' o~i the enst side of the Ligl~-
way and the soutl~ aide of Roulder Creck. This
statimi site l~as bcen Iocnted by N. Rothrock of
Longmont.
25.7 Bridge over Boulder Creek.
27.8 Junetion of U. S. 87 and Colorndo Ci2. Continue
north mi U. S. 87.
1 S. W. ya, Sec. 14, T, 2 9., R. 69 N,
~ T6fe etream, named Cosl Creek, comes down trnm lhe mouotaine.
Another Coal Creek, eometlmen called Sand Creek, hendv tn lhe
eoutheent near Hllllop• Rolh xre tribulety to the Soulh I'lalle.
a N. E. y~, Sec. 16, T. 1 N., R. 69 ~V.
THE SMORY ffiLL TIi,AIL
~ 8 Bridge over Left fInnd Creek.
0 Site of one of the stores in tl~e vnniehed town of
~. "; ~ I3urlington on the west side of the highwny. It
+X ie now occupied by a lnrge red bnrn.
~'32.2 Road west. Continue nortli on U. S. 87.
~~2.4 Tas ST. VRAIN STAQF, STATION 91YC.~ Mre. Allen's
iii„ Hotel wae opposite, on the east side of the higliwny.
~ ~~~ A monument on the wcet aide hae the following
'~ inscription:
1860-1928. The site of the first log cabin ,
in St. Vrain valley lics 200 feet west of
the marker. Tlie cnbin wns built Uy Almizo
N. Allen and used as a et.age station on the
Overland Trnil. Ylaced by tl~e Long's
Peak Chaptcr, Daughters of the Americnn
Revolution.
32.u 13ridge over St. Vrain Crcek.
32.8 Crosa the tracks of the C. I3. & Q. and the C. & S.
ra~lroads in Longmont.
34.0 North city limits of Longmont.
34.7 Junction of U. S. 87 and Colorado 6G to Lyone nnd
Eates Park. (3o north on U. S. 87.
39.7 Larimer-Boulder county line.
40.8 Bridge over the Little Thompson.
41.0 Lrrr~ TnoMrsox STnc~E SreTCOx° or Dick Bower's
Station according to t~lonzo II. Allen. The etation
was a qi~arter of n mile west of the highwny on
~; the north bank of the Little Thompson. IIarold
~ Dunning of Lovelnnd obtained the location of thie
etation from an Old Timer, Louia Brandt, also of
Lovelnc~d.
.7 Junetion of U. S. 87 and Colorado 56. C~o east on
;~~ U. S. 87. The Overlnnd Trail continued north and
ran weat of the highwt~y to LaPorte.
43.9 I3erthoud. Cross tl~e Colorado & Southern rail-
road tracka.
44.0 Cross rouda. Turn nortl~ on U. S. 87.
47.3 JuncLion of U. S. 87 and Colorudo G0. Continue
north on U. S. 87.
'~,S Bridge over the 23ig Thompson.
f~ ~ W, y~, Sec. 10, T. 2 N., R. 69 N.
~ i . W. y~, Sec. 27, T. ~ 9., R. 69 N.
i,~~ ~
IV. THE OVERLAND TRAIL 217
50.5 Loveland. Intersection of U. S. 87 and Fourth
street, the Uuainesa center of town. Continue north
on U. S. 87.
51.5 Lovclnnd. Intersection of U. S. S7 and U. S. 34.
(~o west on U. S, 34.
54.3 Lenve U. S. 34 nnd go south througl~ C. Rc S. Rnil-
way Underpass.
54.G FonT NAMAQUA, TIIE I;IG TIIODIPSON STAOF. STA-
Tiox° was on the west eide of tlie road and tlie north
bank of tl~e Big Thompson. Tl~cre wns n smnll,
equnre stone fort witl~ loop holea on all sides. The
building had n penked roof whicli was Ulown olf
in a wind etorin nud replaced Uy u(lat rooF. The
fort was burned down iu tl~c summer of 193G. Tl~e
original unpaiuted, wooden bnrn is standing in the
yerd near tl~e site of the I~~ort. It wna Uuilt by tUe
Wells-Furgo Compnny.
54.7 Bridge over the Big Thompaon.
54.8 A monument stande on tl~e west side of the rond,
in Front of the Modena enbin. The solid block of
grnnite in which the tnblet ie placed wna brought
from Estes Ynrk. 'Phe legend reade:
NAMAQUA. F~ome, trading post and fort
of Mariano nZodena, early trapper, scout
and pioneer. First settlement in Big
Tl~ompson Valley. Stfltion on thc Over-
Iand stnge route to California 18G2.
Erected by the State IIistoricfll Society of
Colorado from the Mrs. J. N. IIall Foun-
dation und by the Nnmaqun Chaptcr
Dnughters of tl~e Americau Itevolutiai.
1931.
55.2 End of tlie road. Turn et~st.
58.5 Interseetion of U. S. 87 nnd F'ourtL strect in Love-
]nnd. Same rending ae 50.5 aUove.
51.5 Loveland Interrection of U. S. 87 nnd U. S. 34. (~o
north on U. S. 87.
59.5 Cross ronds. Continuc north on U. S. 87.
60.5 Croas roads nt n fillin~ efntion. 1,enve U. S. 87
and go west on a sectimi line rood.
e N. N. ~/, Sec. 16, T. 6 N., R. 69 W.
\
TH~ SMOI{Y IIILL TIi~AIL
;rr
62 PRINO C~xrox STAOE STnTiox.' Tlie section line
oad west ends on tl~e bank of Spring Creek. 'Phe
(~ tation site is in a wlicat field at the Trail cross-
~'i. mg of the creek, ncar the moutL of Spri~~g Cnnyon.
Fi ~~t hns been locteted Uy Clyde II. I3rown of 1~ ort
~r~'Collins wLo has found an iron bar for locking the
;'',, etable door and otlier relics on tliis atation aite.
''r, ~ialf a mile soutL of lhe road intersection at thie
;~''reading, a road goes west into Spring Canyou and
passes (7reen (3ables Filling Station and tl~e eite
of vanished Stout City.
1lfter the Overland Trail up tlie Cacl~e la
Poudre from Latham to Lnporte wns abandoned
in 18G2, the Overland, as descriUcd Uy Root and
Connelley, ran north from Denver. I3eyond Spring
Canyon it passed west of tl~e future site of Fort
Collins and croased the Cache la Youdre ut Laporte.
There ~vae a change of route for a ehort time
before the Ovedand ceased to operate. According
to Clyde H. Brown, Namaqua Station, weat of
Loveland, and Spring Canyon Station, southwest of
Fort Collins, were abandoned and the Trail swung
eastward. A new station was established on the
VVashburn Ranch at the trail erossing of the Big
, Thompson, aUout three milea below Namaqua.° The
Washburn atatimi site ie a mile soutl~ of Loveland,
,on the south bank of tlie river and the euet eide
': f U. S. 87 as it approacl~es the highway bridge.
~'~ rom Waehburn the Trail ran northeast to the
w', ~ econd Sl~erwood lianch on the south Uank of the
~, `' ache lu Poudre at ita junction with Bo% Llder
' reek. Thence it ascended the Youdre, for about
+~ve miles, to Fort Collins and croased the river
t~ear the present highway bridge (U. S. 87) on
PTorth College Avenue. It then continued up the
north bank of the Poudre to Laporte.
After the CacUe la Poudre flood of 1864 Camp
C,~ollins, the military cnmp at Laporte was moved
i Fort Collina. At that time, tents, clothing, build-
! gs and equipment were carried away and de-
( ~
T 8~ W. ~4 Sec. 28, T. T N., A. 69 W.
e 8N'.W, ~X Sec. 24, T. 6 N., R. 69 W.
, `~~~a
r
IV. TIiE OV~RLAND TRAIL 219
etroyed ° The Uarracks nt Fort Collins were on
the south side of tt~e Poudre, a few blocks eset of
College Avenue, according to John McI~iesick of
Fort Lupton. T)ie old grout house nt the soutl~-
west corner of Linden nnd Jefferson streets, near
the originfll barracks, ia thougLE to have been the
ata~e rtop for passengers aud mnil. The home
etntion wna nt Laporte.
60.5 Return to the cross ronds flt the filling etntion, and
go north on U. S. 87.
62.5 Fort Collins. North city limits. Continue north
on U. S. 87 or College Avenue.
63.8 Intersection of College Avenue nnd Olive atreet
at the Armstrong Hotel. Lincoln Park is two blocke
eset on Olive street. The Park occupies a city
block, bounded on the north Uy Olive atreet. The
entranco to the Carnegie Library ia on the west
eide of the Park, and tlie entrance to the Pioneer
Museum is on the east side. Continue north.
64.0 Intersection of College and Mountain View Ave-
nuea.
64.2 Esat junction of Colorado 14 with U. S. 87. Crose
the railroad tracks juet north of this junetion.
64.5 Bridge over the Cache la Poudre River.
66.0 Junetion of U. S. 87, to Clieyenne, witl~ U. S. 287.
Qo northwest on U. S. 287.
68.4 Crose roade. The Lareen Rnnch ie half n mile
south, on the west eide of tlie section line roud.
The house is the original atuge etation Uuilding nt
Laporte, whicli Bill Taylor moved to ite present
poaition in 1871. It is n large two-storp housc,
painted wl~ite. There are two large rooma with n
hall between, containing an old fnsliioned etair case,
on the ground fioor of the mnin building. There
are eeveral more rooms on the ground tloor in the
addition of u later dnte. (~o west on U. S. 287.
89.7 LAPORTE. TI119 was a trndinq poAt for Freneh
trappera as long ago as 1828. Bnxter's store is just
eouth of this reading, on the west side of the road
lending south to the I,aportc Uridge over the Poudre.
o The Cotorado MaOazlne. X. 47.
\
THE SMOKY IIILL TRAIL
k~` The atage atation buildinga were on the weat side
"" of the road between Baxter's atore and tl~e river.`o
TLe etation house wae moved to the Larsen Ranch,
;' and later the otl~er Uuildings at Laporte were
;;.~ Uurned. The memorial tablet wns recovered nfter
i the Sre and ie now on exhibition at the Pioneer
`~I Museum in Fort Collins. The legend reads:
In 18G2 thi~ log houae wae uaed ne a eta-
' tion house for tl~e OVEIi,LAND STA(1~
COMPANY.
Erected by the Cache la Poudre Chapter
Daughtere of tl~e American Revolution.
1916.
73.2 `Vest junction of U. S. 287 and Colorado 14. No.
14 aseenda the Cache la Poudre. (~o north on U. S.
287, following the east side of the ridge. The Over-
land Trail ran on the weat eide of the ridge.
51.0 Owl Canyon. Filling station. C. E. Roberts of
Laporte ~a in charge of thia atation. He has lo-
cated the following stationa ua far as Virginia
Dale. Leave U. S. 287 and go eaet.
81.1 Turn northeset.
84.0 The road turna southeast. There are high, red
eandetone clilt's on the north eide of the road. Thie
ia reported to Ue an inscription rock on which
the emigranta csrved names and datea as the~y
~ paseed on tlieir way to California in the 186~'e. `
85 , Roade eouthenst and south. Turn aouth on ee~
~ ~ tion line road.
87 ~ Turn east on a aection line road.
87r ~ Prues Cnsr-x STeTiox eite'Z on the weat bank of Park
~' Creek and the south eide of the scetion line road.
','~ A few holea in the ground mark the etation eite.
; The etage barn has been moved acroes the road
and ia one of the buildings on the Ripples, formerly
the Minor Itanch. The Unrn has been painted and
~' ie in good repair. Park Stntion ie called the Pol-
~' lock I~anch on the Colorado townehip plat of 1872.
10 '~tatlon slte In IdDOrte fe In the 8. W. ya, 9ea E9, T. 8 N., R. 89
i W ~,
~t T Colo+ndo MaOazine. XVII. T2.
~= N. , y~, 8ec. 36, T. 8 N., R. 69 W.
.p':,~ ~
~~
IV. TIIE OVERI,AND TRAIL 221
This is one of tLe stage stntione located Uy C. E.
I~oberts of Ingleaide nnd Laporte.
87.3 Bridge over Pnrk Creek.
58.0 Itoads east m~d south. Qo soutL on n seclion line
road. '
97.0 Crosa roads. Same rending as 68.4 above. U. S.
287 goea weat to Lnportc nnd enst to Fort Collins.
81.0 Return to the Roberts Filling Station nt the mouth
of Owl Canyon und go northwest on U. S. 287. The
Overland Trail ran close to U. S. 287 from Owl
Canyon to Virginia Dnle.
81.3 Bridge over Owl Creck.
81.4 Leave U. S. 287 uud go soutli on nn unimproved
road.
82.4 BoxES SPAIN6 STAOE STATION.I~ The O[IgIi1R~
etation house ie a wooden building whiah is rapidly
falling to pieces. It hns been moved from tl~e
southeast to the northwest quarter of tLe aection in
wLich it atanda.
A grave at the nearby Boner Spring hae been
marked, L. E. Hale, 18G4. It is reported that a
little bop ie buried here. He ate aome ground
glasa at Lnporte, nnd died ae a reault Uy the time
the emigrant train hnd made its elow way to Boner
Spring. The Musgrove Corrala, headquartera for
horee thievea, were also at Boner Spring. This
informution about Boner Spring has Ueen given Uy
C. F.'. Itoberta.
81.4 Iteturn to U. S. 28T and go northwest.
84.8 The Forke Aotel. Weat to Cameron Pase. Con-
tinue northwest on U. S. 287.
87.7 Bridge over Stonewail Creek, below its junction
with Ten Mile Creek.
9O.B STONEWALL SZ'ATION site." Alsn cttlled Cherokec
Station and, aometimes, Ten Mile Station. ThiA
stage etation site is southeast or below the junetion
~a The Honer 9pr4ng statlon e5te fe fn the S. E. 12, Sac. 13, T. 9 N., H
70 W.
~~ Near the middle ot Sec. 10, 'f. 10 N., R. 70 W.
\
i~ ' T73E SMOKY IIILL TI~AIL
z 91~ ~!
Ij, "of Stonewull and Ten Mile Creeke, at the upper or
p~ western end of Stonewall Cnnyon. The highway,
~~; on the west eide of the creek, runs over the hill
rr,, which once sheltered the vaniahed stage atation at
,I',~ ite base. Saloons were evidently not countenanced
' ~; i at the stations, but there wns one less than a mile
i~;', up the creek. Steambont Mesa ie a]nndmnrk to the
;; ~, north, which can Ue seen miles awuy from any
i, direction.
WIIF.Ei.ES Sraixa16 The westbound stagee from
Park Station came down the hills on a steep grade
to the •blucksmith shop at Wheeler Spring en route
to Stonewall Station. The junction of the Trails
from Boner and Stonewnll Stations wae about three
miles above or northweat of the lntter atntion, near
the junction of Stonewall and Ten Mile Creeke.
Thie junction is ehown on the Colorado lsnd plats
of the late 1860's, nnd ie juet eust of the present
highway.1e
Charlee E. Roberts bae given the informution about
Stonewall Station and Wbeeler Spring.
95.6 Highway bridge over Six Mile Creek.
98.4 Virginia Dale Poet Of~ice, atore and filling etation.
98.7 Leave U. S. 287 and go north. A monument has
been placed at thie road ~unction, on the eaet side
~ 1 of the highway. TLe legend reade:
Threc-quartera of n mile northwest from
this point is the original VIRQINIA
61 ~ DALE, famoue stnge etation on the Over-
land route to Californiu, 1862-1867. Es-
~ tablished by Joseph A. (Jack) Slade and
i~'~ named for hie wife, Virgmia. Located on
Cherokee Truil of 1849. Favorite camp
ground for emigrants. Vice President
': a Colfas and party were detained here by
Indian raids in 1865. Ii~obert J. Spots-
wood replaced Slade. Erected by the State
~ Historical Society of Colorado from the
~ Dsrs. J. N. FIall P'oundation and by the
i`~ Fort Collina Pioneer Society. 1935.
~~le ~ the 8. E. 'k. 9ec. 10, T. 10 N., R. 70 W.
fs e trap lunctlon wee in Sec. 6, T. 10 N., R. 70 W., ae ahowu on the
4 ~~ loredo townehlp D1at•
~ ~~
IV. THI: OVERLAND TRAIL 223
99.5 Bridge over Dnlc Creek.
SOO.S VIROINIA DALE STAOE STATION.~T T}1C OTl~lil81 Stfl-
tion houae stands on the west side of Dale Crcek,
at the sonthern extremity of the Black IIilla or
Luramie Mountains. ~ A dr~wing, mnde Uy n sol-
dier atationed nt Virginia Dale,ie on exLiUition at
tLe Pioneer Muaeum in Fort Collins. It sLowe n
group of buildin~a surromiding U~rce sides of a
square, open to the south to~vurde the Trnil. '1'Lc
etnge barn soulh of the l~ouse, und ot.Ler buildings
forming tLe enst and west sides of tl~e squarc linve
disappenred, but the stntion l~ouae etill occupies tlie
north sida TLe followi»g legend l~as Uceu paint.ed
mi a Uoard nnd plnced nUove tl~e frout door ~cLich
facee the inside of tl~e former square.
Virginin Dr-le, Colorndo, alt. 6977 feet.
Thia building built by the United Statea
(~overnment 18G2. TLe flrat ehinglea were
freighted from St. Joseph, bio., at a cost
of $1.50 per pound. Joaeph Slnde, the
notorioue outlaw, wae a diviaiom m~ater of
thie old etage divieion, which wns located
at thie place.
The station house ie a one-etory building, 20
bp 60 feet. The squnre cut log walls nre now cov-
ered by clnpUonrda, painted white. T6ere ere mnny
bullet holes in the loga at tl~e northenetern corner,
' and the great rock chimney ia in the east wall. The
walled-in cellar beneath the liouee was used ne a
etable for livestock in times of Indian troubles.
The well, and the preeent windmill, are at the eouth-
west corner of the houae. The etagee entered one
end of the barn, chnuged Loreea, and drove out of
the other end up the elope to tl~e etation honse,
etanding on a eligl~t elevation.
According to local legend, there was a etone
watch tower on a l~ill to the caet where a eentinel
could give warning eignnls of Indinn attucke, or
of the approacliiug etagea. Anot6er hill nearby is
known se RobUer's ILoost. A cemetery witli three
graves is reported to be south of tLe rond, opposile
the etation house.
~7 N. W. y~, 8ec. 33, T. 12 N., R. 71 W.
~ THE SMOKY IIILL TRAIL
~! !~ Yirginia Dale wae the firet divieion point west
~;: of Denver. The etage wliicL left Denver in the
' morning, stopped for dinner nt Boone's etation on
; Boulder Creek, passed througli Laporte in t1~e
~*^ evening, and arrived ut Virginia DAIc at midnig]it.1°
t~ ~; It wus n etnge trip of some eigLteen ]~oure with re-
~~' ; lays of horeca. Now it is nn automobile trip over
i'' ;; oiled highwnye in two or tl~ree Loure, depending
4~' ~, i on the apeed limit enforoed Ly tl~e State.
p' ~~ Harold Dunning and Cl~arles E. ItoUerte have
publiahed necounte of Virginia Dule in the local
newepapere. Tl~e following is Unsed on their etories :
Joaeph A. Slade or Juck Slade wae uppointed
tlie Srst divieion ngent. He erected t}ia house,
etablee and other buildinge. WLile he was the agent
in eharge, the mail eeldom failed to come through
on time. fIe drank l~eavily at times, and ie eaid to
have made tl~e etntion a rendezvoua for gamblera
and bad citizena. For this reuson l~e wna diamiseed
at tLe end of the Srst year.
William S. Taylor or Bill Tnylor aucceeded
Slade. Taylor and liie wife kept the hotel and Bob
Spotewood wns tUc divieion agent. Taylor, ao the
atory goee, once stood off tho Iucliane with camou-
ilageci cannone made out of etove pipes and wagon
' whecle. Taylor moved to Laporte in 1866. At eome
; time in hie enreer ]ie wae in charge of other Over-
]and Statione, Pnrk Creek in Golorndo nnd Willow
~~ Creek over the border in Wyoming. S. E. Leach wae
,;Bill Taylor'e eucccaeor at Virginia Dale.
~ ~ When the Union Pacifia Railroad was eom-
'; Epleted to Cheyemie in 18G7, the Virginia Dale etage
~"etation wAS nbnndoned. Succesaive ownere have
' Ilived there since that time. After the highway wae
rebuilt in the 1920's end no longer paesed by the
etntion, the present owner moved the Virginia Dale
Poet Ofl'ice to tLe new Lighwny. The old etation
, houee ie in good replir and is eometimea uaed as
i'a dance hall.
I.
~e ~TA ~ocky Mountatn Newa ot Nov. 13, 1963.
w
wj~~ ~ ~
~~
IV. TIIE OVERLAND TRAIL 225
98.7 Return to U. S. 287 and go northweet.
99.3 Iiighway bridge over Dule Creek.
103.5 Tlie Colorudo-Wyoming li~ie. tl monument o~t tlie
eaet aide of the l~ighway, at the etate line, has the
Following legend:
TUis atone mnrks the place wLere tlie
OVERLAND STA(3E LINE on ite way
to the west, June 18G2-18G8 crosaed the
Colorado-Wyoming line. Erected by TFIE
ST11TE OF Wi'OMIN(i nnd eLaptera of
TI3E DAU(3FITERS OF TI3E A14LEItI-
CAN RIPVOLUTION. The Cnche ln
Poudre, Fort Colline, Colurndo. The Gen-
tennial Qreeley, Colorado. The Jaquee
Laramie, Luramie, Wyoming. 1917
Tlie actuul Overland Trnil croesing of tLe
state line was one mile eaet of tl~e state line monu-
ment, ae shown on tlie Colorndo to~anehip pla~1°
THE DENVER^CIIEYENNE STA(3E 1ZOAD
In 1867 the Overlnnd stage between Denver
and the euet cume to an end, but a etnge line con-
nected Denver with the railroad at Cl~eyenne. The
new line foliowed the old one from Denver to Ln-
porte. Beyond to Cheyenne, the etnge station eitee
have been located Uy Clyde Ii. Brown, Curator of
tLe Fort Colline Pioneer Muaeum, and Carl Ander-
eon and Richard S. Bnker, also of Fort Colline. Mr.
Brown auys: "For many yeara there had been n
trail through Larimer Coutity (Colorado) whic6
etarted at Santa Fe going northward to Fort
Laramie." Between Denver and Park Creek, the
neat station beyond Laporte, the Cheyenne etage
road and tl~o Old Cl~erokee Trnil followed the old
trail from Santa Fc.
The Denver-Cheyenne atage road cnn be traced
on the Colorado townehip plnte. It ran cloee to the
now abandoned grade of the Denver Pncific Rail-
way or Colorado Central I3ranch of the Union
Pacific. Wl~en the railrond entereci Denver in 1877
it superseded the etage rond. Between Fort Col-
lins and CLeyenne, Highway U. S. 87 rune enet of
to Th6 Overland Trafl ecoeaed the ntate flne nearer Data Creek eod
the Old Hlghway, In Sea 19, T. 12 N.. R. 71 W.
\
' ~ TIIE SMOI{Y IIILL TIZAIL
'~ ~ the Colorado & Soutl~ern I~ailway and both the
~,i
~~,, Highway and the Colorado & Sontl~ern nre east of
;, t.l~e old etage road nnd lhe aUandoned Colorado
, ~ Central or Denver Pacific.
~' ~~ Bet~vee~i Denver and Lnporte, Namaqua Stn-
~''~~' lion wne ou tl~e Che emie sta re line ~a it hnd Ueen
~',~, on the Ovcrland linc, Uut tLe tation~at Spring Can-
~:!k yon wae not used ngain. ]3y 1Lie time I~'ort Colline
;!! I wna important enough to be included on the way to
~,. I.aporte. Bnt thc only reference to a etage eta-
, tion at Fort Colline ie found in the follow~ng aa
comit of u stuge trip Uy (Ieorgc A. Itiug. Here is
tl~e liet of stagc etatioue Uclwec~i Lnporte and
Clieyenne.
Penx CREEK STATION. T}l19 wae n trnil junetion.
Onc Uranch of the old Overland Trail, w1~icL cnme
from Laporte, went northwest to Virginia Dale
Stntion in Colorado and on to Wyoming, Utnh and
Cali£ornia. Tlie other old trnil went northeast to
Fort Laramie, Wyoming. Between tl~em the later
etnge line ~vent nortl~ (or more necurntely N. N. E.)
to Cl~eyenne. The Deuver-Cheyenne etage etation,
ueed by the Welle Fargo Co., wns jaet south of the
. earlier Overland etage etation on Park Creek.
TE~F. WHITWMB RANCSi~ n mile or two weat of Bris-
tol on the old Colorndo Central 1~. It., wne nt the
'~ truil croseing of Box Elder Creek, n tributary to the
Cache ]n Poudre. Another Box Elder Creek in
p Colorado ie a triUutary to tl~e South Platte.
~ BvnNr IZANCFI wae n swing etntion. Beyond, the
~;~ trail paseed west of . n cm~spicuoue mesa called
p ~ ; Round Butte.
Jecx Srnixa R.exca wns at or ncar Tnylor on the
`"i old Colorado Central It. lt.
' SroTTSwoon ST~aE ST~Tiox'0 was practically on the
`~ Colorado-Wyoming line and Sprmg etation near
' Taylor was only u short way south of the atate line.
Both atations were Uctween SpotLswood or Spottle-
~I ~ppttsaood, SDOlewood or Spotllewood wne on the norlhern boundary
I 11 ot the Hal[ SecUon 23, T. 12 N., R. 68 W. In other worde oa
~ t~ W7~tng efde o[ the etate llne, ~aet eaet o[ lhe 106th Merldlen
~ w ch paeees t6rouqh Denver. Nell'e mepe of Colorado [or the 1880'e
~~h ~ meoy ot the vanlehed towne and eettlements mentloned In thle
, Among them le lhe rallroad etaUon o[ Lone 7Yee, whlch fe not
Idp ~Ucal wllh the Lone Tree Stage SLaUon.
1 ~'i`!
IV. TIIE OVERLAND TItAIL 227
wood and Lone Trec Creok. Clyde Brown of Fort
Collins snys: "It (Spottswood) is not over 150
yards north of LLe statc line in Wyonung. This rta-
tion wns Uuilt of rock and was not used merely for a
Atntion, but as a fo~t by tl~e enrly aettlera, as wcll."
A1r. T3ro~an hR~ locat~d ihc sintion sites on the stnge
line betwcen Fort Collins aud CLcyenne.
LoxF Trie~ nxo IInznnu S1naE STnTrorrs nre in
Wyomin~ nnd are forgotten in all but the nnmes.
They may Ue t~~~o ~iamcs for Lhe same rtation, ns
tl~e dist~ncc bet~veen SpoLLs~vood tuid Cheycnne is
only twelve ruiles. TLc I~one Tree st~~gc atntion
evidently t.ook ils nnmc from Lmie Trec Creek in
Wyomiug. Lone Tree Stage Station muat not Ue
confueed wilh l,one Tree linilrond Stnlion on Uw
old Colorndo Centrnl lt. lt. `l'he railrond S(R~1011
ie on Lone Trec Creck mi U~e Colorado eidc of tLe
etate line and cust of tl~e Dcuvcr-Fort Collins-CLey-
enne atnge rond nnd atnqc atntiona.
CIIF,YENNE. TIIC CIl(~ OF tI1C 3fl1gC III1C.
A TR1P IN A CONCORU STAOE
Qeorge A. ]Cing went from Colden to CLe~~ennc by
etage iu 1868." Thia ia the alory of hia trip. "TLc first
day wns apent on lhc wny to N'ort Collins, whicl~ ~~~e
reached a little aftcr dark. 'Chcre ~cc were to hnve dinner
at the etage elation nenr LLe bank of tl~e Cnchc In Youdre.
After driving nll tLrougli tl~e nigLt we rencLed Chc~~ennc
eometimc tl~e next day."
Bnt tl~ey Lad an udventurous uigLt on tLe wny to
Cheyenne. King relates tlmt juat after crossing the Cnche
la Poudre Uridge n frmit wheel enme off. TLe etnge turned
on ite aide and wae drngged eome disfnnce. No one wnn
badly nijured and miotl~or etage was sent out from tl~e
atation on the Uanke of thc Poudre. Tl~e paeecngcre, the
mnil, the Uullimi carried by nir. ICing's fnther, and three
of the four soldiers who were riding on top of the stage tus
gunrde againet I»dinne and robbers, nrrived in Cheyenne
without further misl~np. T6ere was eome anspicion that
~~ The Colorado Mnpazlne. XIV. 54.
\
228 THE S1i0I~T HILL TRAIL
the ~cheel had been tampered a-ith ~chile the stage Ras in
the corral. But if the accident ~•ae inspired bS the bnllion
on board the stage, the robber~- did not occur.
Sidnec, I~ebraska, ~cas then the ~•estern terminus of
the regular passenger serciee. After a stage trip of thirtp- a~e~e Ranch. 24, 37
sia hours to Cheyenne, the passengers rode to Sidnep in a Alderdice, Mre.. 17fi
A77en, Alonso x., xiz
"
5
Anderson, Carl. :
eonstruction train, and thec arrived in Omaha the nest ^raD•noe c~~>'. 1'6
n
wurar», ss, i~~, i~s: asoat
day. There were no bridges across the 9Sissouri between
(
Omaha and Council Bluffs in those days. Tir. ging's trip n~ Ranch
835
B
~m
was in the winter. The river a-as frozen, but the ice aas ,
ac
a
Baker. Nst~anlel. 131
Baker, Ricnard S.. :.5
too thin to be safe and too heacy for the little ferry boats. Barran. ..CaO•• 76. 61
se~x. .ron,,, ~a9
So the passengers a-alked in single file ocer a line of heavy B I~S s Few Fori, ~3, 139,
planks from bank to banl:. The bullion arrived safely at Bent's O1C Fort. 125, 130, 1:
Beuck, H. O. RancR. 21, ll
Hlrge, Sullue C.. 307
the Philadelphia Dfint and :~r. Piing ~cas paid cash for i~ s~hoa. R E.. ~x.'s, :~.
Blue. Danlel, 14-16
sz
•
}
Pioneer Trails are becoming a dream of the past so
~ soocn, u.
i.
Bo: Elder Creek, Runnln
much of the stor has been for otten. The trails to Den-
S g Te~=om Creek, 11~
Boyd. E D., Surveyor, 6
ver, ~chich meant to the gold fields, came from the south Boyd's Loc. S8
Bradfield, Judge c~o~~• x
up the ArL-ansas and the Smol.-S I3i11 Rivers and from the Brcerc, (,ylde H.. 2' S
Brown, JoDn ~w~:
north up the Platte River. Browntng. O. H., 5. of
? va. 7+. ea
The emigrants traceled sloticly, day after day, in the s u°ac~~oo °cio~~~.na, co
suffering hardship, prication
oa-draa-n eovered ~cagons 214
Butterfleld. D¢vid A, 19,
'
, erland D~st
HutterBeld O~
and often danger. There ~cere no bridges at first rivers 59, 74
on
k
C
~ ravee
,
Byers, Fran
ticere crossed bc ford or bp ferrS, and too often droR-nings uon cw<n, zi, zs
occurred. Storms disorganized ~cagon trains and Indians •` c~nn~r, oW~n, vi
threatened them. The graces beside the trail tell the storp. c~ n ycn a~ one~isu
The e~ening camp fires in the circle of the ~cagons on the Cattle Tnlle, VII. 87. 115.
Ctwker, Mre. Mary. 62
vast prairie brought relasation from the day's ~cork and °'ie ~en o in' s Pikes ~
offered ~c-hat little social life there was in the company. yreaa Co.
com•, wm~.m F. ~susaio
Tracel b~ stage R•as less slo~c than bc cocered ~-agon Comatock. BIl1Y. 306. 10~
5615~' S
m
~
.
but ~ras cram ed and uncomfortuU]e at the best. E~entu-
p -ia
mot
.
Corral
cn~raxee CIt)'. 162
135-1
125
Trafl
k
Ch
allc the stage and the gallant Ponc Express R-ere replaeed .
.
ee
ero
C29~300 reek Dam S F.es~
bS the "railroad cars" and the telegraph. cno~eau, nususte Pierre.
Todac ~ce tra~el s~ciftl~- ocer the same countr~- ID Daughert)•, J~mmp. S e
I11Sll2'10U5 Pll11II1237S OI' SIIOtOT ocer fine TOa(IS~ R'tlll@ 31T J~mmp
Da~•IS. Theodore H.. 50
113
me
7
ships soar aUo~-e us. Let us hope tL•at, in spite of tbe ease .
ero
,
R de H¢rpor[,
Denv~er155. 58-59. SI: '~In2
and comfort of tra~•el in this mecl:anical age ~ce can still
r Denver xo~se. s,. ss, sr•
Dlekineon, Hon. Jo~n. Il
measure up to the hard~ pioneer oF cesterdac. no~a`i? i~a ~°+'s `+"e 's
Dow. Afre. W. A., Lti
_- --,-=~~-
"_ ' __ _ °"+'"+°~ ' - -~.--_~_