Personal Histories
This section contains histories of our
community as seen through the eyes of the participants (for example, real estate
developer Don Wexielman), history as passed on through
the family (for example Lee McConnell, grandson of the first district ranger), or through library
research (e.g. the Batterson Barn and Homestead, prepared by Linda Adams).
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Batterson Barn and
Homestead: Solomon and Mary Batterson
were part of the Westward migration to California, but decided not to
continue on. Like others, they first settled in Greeley (1870) until
they could find a place to homestead, which they did in 1873, being one of
the first families to do so in this area. The barn, completed in 1890,
still stands and is used by the current owners, Judd and Adams. Linda
prepared this history from newspaper archives. The article has
historic photos of the
Battersons and current pictures of the barn and homestead
remains.
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Dennis
Frydendall - water, is an interview by Linda Bell, focused on western,
state, and local water issues and early growth of Red
Feather
Lakes
Community. Dennis bought a cabin in Red Feather Lakes in 1962, and
has been coming every summer since. Soon after his arrival
he became a member of the Board of Directors of the Red Feather Storage & Irrigation
Company which governs the water in Red Feather Lakes. In this
interview Dennis provides his
valuable perspective on water issues in our community.
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Dennis Frydendall -
The Meadow
Tour - is an interview by Linda Bell wherein
Dennis recounts how he first read the The Meadow by James Galvin and
how his interest in the book turned into a Historical Society Tour which we
hope soon to make into a virtual tour.
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Don
Wexielman, is the memoirs of the real estate developer who created Glacier View Meadows, Green Mountain Meadows,
Crystal Lakes, and Beaver Meadows. Don is still currently active in real estate
development, and managing the Beaver Meadow's Resort http://beavermeadows.com/indxmain.htm.
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Lafi and Juliana,
a Linda Bell article, reprinted from the North
Forty News, February 1999, about the lives of Lafi and Juliana “Jo”
(Sloan) Miller. Jo is a descendent of three Livermore pioneer
families: Sloans, Swans and Roberts. The title of the article is
"A love story, a feud, and ties to 100 years of Livermore
history."
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Margaret Reid,
is an interview by Linda Bell. Margaret's family bought a cabin in Red
Feather Lakes in 1926; she still lives here, and in the interview Margaret
tells what is was like to grown up in the community and she it change.
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R. C. McConnell, was the first Red Feather Lakes Area Forest Ranger and built the ranger station at
Manhattan in 1909. The article was written by Lee F.
McConnell, his grandson and includes two historic photos of ranger station and trail construction, along with a
location map.
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Red Feather Greens,
by Jean Drake Emond, is
a story about a small business whose owners did not make a lot of money, but
whose efforts and dedication, as well as the involvement by others, enriched
the lives of many people in a mountain community and other nearby
communities.
Jean is the daughter of Bonnie
and Hugh Drake who came to RFL in
1924. In
the 1940s Bonnie began
making wreaths as a fund raiser for Trinity Episcopal Church in
Greeley. It grew in size employing the whole town at one point.
The wreathes were sold sold
at wholesale to church groups for fundraising purposes. The article
describes the origins and growth of the business, including names of major
wreath makers some making up to 1,000 wreaths.
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