“She once employed the whole town”
A history of Red Feather Greens
from the 1940s to 1980
by
Jean Drake Emond, daughter of Bonnie and Hugh Drake
Introduction:
This 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.
“She once employed the whole town”
was the headline above an article in the Fort
Collins Review by Mary Hagen, published
July 27, 1983
. The article described “Bonnie Drake Day” in Red Feather
July 22, 1983
, and told some of the history of the greens project.
Many years earlier, Wallace Biggs, a journalism professor at the
University
of
Wyoming
who had a cabin in Red Feather, wrote an article that covered two pages in the
Sunday Empire section of the Denver Post
on
Nov. 30, 19
52. It was headlined “
Christmas
Village
, a
Colorado
mountain community does a thriving business selling Yule cheer to the whole
nation.”
Most
of the wreaths were sold wholesale to church groups as fundraisers for their
annual holiday bazaars, and a number were sold to florists and other businesses.
The headline from the Fort Collins Review
was correct: The business really did employ almost everyone in Red Feather at
one time, as well as people from other areas, shipping as many as 6,000 wreaths
during one or more seasons, but for historical purposes, let’s go back to the
beginning of the Drake family in Red Feather:
In
1924 Hugh and Oscar Drake came to Red Feather with their father, R. P. Drake,
from
Kearney
,
NE
, where they had their own law firm. Hugh and Oscar bought property east of the
Ramona dike at 176 Minnehaha Rd. and began building a one-room cabin in 1925.
Hugh married Bonnie Hess of
Wayne
,
NE
, in 1925. They lived in
Kearney
and then moved to
Lincoln
in 1928 where Hugh worked for the state government. In 1930, he was elected to
a 6-year term on what was in those days the equivalent of a Public Utilities
Commission. Hugh and Bonnie moved to
Greeley
,
CO
, in 1938. Oscar married Miriam Eckhardt of
Viroqua
,
WI
, in 1927. He remained in the family law firm in
Kearney
. Hugh and Bonnie had two children, Hugh (nicknamed “Bud”) and Jean.
The
cabin was expanded several times, and the two families traded off using it
during the summers. In the late 1930s Oscar bought a smaller cabin next door at
132 Minnehaha Rd. In exchange for Hugh’s expanding the small cabin, Oscar and
Miriam turned over title of the larger cabin to Hugh and Bonnie. Hugh also built
or expanded several other cabins in Red Feather.
The
beginning of the wreath project
Bonnie
was active in Trinity Episcopal Church in
Greeley
, including making Christmas wreaths for the church’s annual holiday bazaar in
the 1940s. The wreaths became so popular that the minister, the Rev. Charles V.
Young, suggested she and Hugh turn it into a business for themselves—so in the
late 1940s, Hugh and Bonnie spent much of their time summers and each fall
working on the wreath business.
After
Jean graduated from
Greeley
High School
in 1950 and headed for CU Boulder, they extended their stay at the cabin to
full-time from Memorial Day into the first week of December. This enabled them
to increase the wreath business significantly and hire many helpers who were
paid on a piecework basis.
The
most popular wreath was a 12” door wreath, woven on a wire coat hanger that
had been bent into a round shape. The hook on the hanger served as the hook for
hanging the wreath on a front door. There were also small “table” wreaths,
often used with a candle inside them, as well as extra-large “double”
wreaths with a second frame around the outside of the coat hanger. Those were
bought by many businesses such as the First National Bank in
Fort Collins
to display outside their offices each December.
The
greens were Alpine fir, a balsam that grows best above 9,000-feet elevation. It
stands up much longer than other evergreens and is fuller in texture. The U.S.
Forest Service sold permits to Red Feather Greens each year allowing them to cut
the greens.
In
order to find good greens, Bonnie came to know the forest above Red Feather in
detail. She always knew where the sweet spots were. Many people helped her cut
the greens or they went out in the woods by themselves in areas suggested by her
and covered by the permit.
They
made wreaths at their homes and brought them to the Drake cabin. Bonnie would
inspect and weigh them to make sure they met her standards. The wreaths were
hung on racks in a shed north of the cabin located in a damp area so they stayed
fresh. Some weavers also built their own storage sheds.
Each
wreath included several types of pinecones. The Drakes paid many people,
including children, to bring cones to the cabin. Hugh would “wire” and store
them in boxes in a shed on the property. He wound a few inches of stovepipe wire
around each cone with the other end of wire sticking out so it could be inserted
in the wreaths. A variety of pinecones were used including Douglas Fir, Limber
Pine, Lodgepole, and Ponderosa.
Early
each fall, several people gathered cedar, with blue and silver berries, and Kinikinik,
a mountain ground cover with red berries, and made small bouquets, tying them
with fine wire and storing them in large cans to keep them fresh. Others cut red
plastic ribbon and tied it into large bows. The bows were wired in advance for
quick assembly during “trimming” at the Drake cabin.
Before electricity came to Red Feather people used kerosene lamps for light. It
was a big day at the Drake cabin in the fall of 1952 when they turned on the
lights for the first time. The cabin had been wired by Bud Drake who graduated
in 1950 from CU Boulder in electrical engineering. No more need for kerosene
lanterns or blocks of ice in old-style iceboxes. The Drakes got their first well
(and inside bathroom) in 1954.
In
the early 1950s, two rangers and their families lived year-round in homes at the
U.S. Forest Service offices on
West
Lake
, and a game warden for the Division of Wildlife and family lived year-round at
Parvin
Lake
. They were typical of many families who worked on the greens project. Their
regular jobs paid minimal salaries in those days. Many others who worked on the
greens project were retired and living on Social Security or World War I
benefits or had small businesses or other work that did not bring in much
income, especially from fall to spring. Several ranchers and other Forest
Service workers were also active in the project.
The
extra money from the project helped a lot of people pay for refrigerators,
freezers, inside bathrooms, and other modern conveniences. The extra income for
one family with young children helped them pay for a well and cold running
water.
One
Girl Scout troop in
Texas
sold wreaths for several years. The money they made covered some of their costs
for a trip to
Europe
.
Making
the wreaths
There
were some years In the late 1950s and early 1960s when Pat Barker made more
wreaths than anyone else. She taught at the
Red
Feather
Elementary School
during the day and spent much of her time nights and weekends each fall on
wreaths.
From
1965 to 1980, Carol Vannorsdel probably made more wreaths than anyone else,
sometimes 1,000 to 1,200 door wreaths and 500 doubles. She and her husband Dick
lived in Glendevey for 38 years before moving to Stove Prairie 5 years ago. She
described how their goal at first was to make enough money on wreaths to pay for
their children’s Christmas gifts and their car registrations in January. Dick
worked for the highway department and made frames for the wreaths and rolled
wire. They would fill their vehicle with wreaths and drive over Deadman to Red
Feather, if the road was still open. If Deadman was closed, they drove north to
Wyoming
and then to Red Feather.
Before
each season, Bonnie would call Carol and remind her how many wreaths she made
the year before, asking whether she could make X more than last year. “I never
intended to make that many but Bonnie needed them,” she said. She added that
Bonnie insisted on the use of balsam, rejecting wreaths made of Douglas Fir or
Spruce because those needles would not last long.
Others who worked on the project from the Glendevey area were Helen Elliott,
Buck Elliott’s wife, who made 200-300 for a few years, and Diane Rivas
Elliott, married to Helen and Buck Ellliot’s son John at that time, made some
wreaths.
Louann
Aughinbaugh who lived at
Spencer
Heights
in the
Poudre
Canyon
made about 800 wreaths each year in the early 1960s, and Bonnie Rogers, who
lived at the Boy Scout Camp, also made many wreaths. Among others who lived
outside Red Feather and made wreaths, collected cones or helped in other ways
were Dee and Red Ashby and their children from
Cherokee
Park
and Jessie and Wes Swan from
Livermore
.
Carol
Arent, who moved to Red Feather in 1971, made as many as 1,000 wreaths during
the years she worked on the project, and Shirley Boyd Koenig made up to 500 plus
decorative “rope.” Rose Worth often made 350 doubles. Among other weavers
were Sugarbabe Carnival, Bernice Gilmore, June Krakel, Erica Maxwell, Margaret
McPherson, Kathy Morissette, Dolly Nelson, Kathy Rose, and Vi Stevens.
Again,
Bonnie needed to make sure that she could fill all of the orders, as many as
6,000 wreaths some years.
Trimming
the wreaths
From
November into the first week in December, workers gathered at the Drake cabin to trim the
wreaths, inserting the pre-wired cones, cedar and Kinikinik bouquets, and red
bows. The cabin was a well-organized factory with most trimming done in
designated areas of the living room and boxing, labeling, and shipping
activities in the east “sun” room below the kitchen. Each person had
assigned duties. Bonnie provided a hot lunch, the highlight each day. The cabin
was the social center of Red Feather each fall.
Among
those who worked during the trimming, some of them for many years, were Ruth
Anderson, Carol Arent, Betty Benson, Maxine Benson, Marge Bickhaus, Pauline
Casey, Jerry Dalton, Mildred Denning, Karen Edstrom, Jane Fender, Bernice
Gilmore, Emma Grauberger, Barb Hartman, Georgia Hurd, Dee Maxwell, Margaret
McPherson, Carolyn Morgan, Kathy Morissette, Dolly Nelson, Nita Rainey, Audrey
Robinson, Marge Scott, and Muriel Taylor. Marguerite Snyder cooked the hot
lunches for as many as 20 people.
For
many years Joe Bickhaus would unload wreaths brought by weavers to the Drake
cabin. Also helping were Charley
Arent, Carl and Bee McCarthy and children Bunny and Butch, and the Glenn Scott
family. In the early years, Ted Dunning, Hans Schmalzreid, and Lou Young were
involved.
Bernice
George worked on the project with Hugh and Bonnie at first. She was active in
the same church and had a home in
Greeley
and a cabin in Red Feather. She was the fire lookout on the
Deadman
Lookout
Tower
in 1943 and 1944 and returned there in 1951 and 1952.
There
are undoubtedly many others not listed here, but it is obvious that it was a
community effort, benefiting many residents.
Most
of the church groups that bought the wreaths were located in
Colorado
,
Nebraska
,
Kansas
,
Arizona
, and other nearby states. Bonnie also sold gift boxes that included a door
wreath plus extra greens. The gift boxes and wreaths went to as many as 47
states some years.
Some
customers came to Red Feather with trucks to pick up the wreaths. Many were
mailed from the Red Feather Post Office. Hugh Drake did the bookkeeping,
supervised the boxing, and scheduled the shipments. He knew just how many boxes
would fit on the back of the pickup driven by Ernie Rowe, the long-time mail
carrier who brought the mail to Red Feather.
In
the early years, the Post Office provided mail delivery only 3 days a week in
the winter. The additional business from the greens project helped the Post
Office expand to 6 days a week. In later years UPS was used for much of the
shipping.
After
Hugh died in 1967, Jerry Dalton, who owned the Red Feather Trading Post with her
husband Jack, took over the bookkeeping duties.
In
1980 Bonnie sold the business to Linda Gorton and Jody Dahlstrom who had bought
the Red Feather Trading Post from the
Daltons
. Linda and Jody rented the Drake cabin each fall for several more years for
trimming sessions.
They
and others wanted to give special thanks to Bonnie so on
July 22, 1983
, many people came from near and far to the High Country Inn to celebrate
“Bonnie Drake Day” in honor of what her business had done for residents of
the greater Red Feather area over so many years.
Bonnie
died on
March 1, 1994
.
Linda
Gorton and Jody Dahlstrom sold the business in 2003 to Joan and Dick Rosecrans
and Joan’s son Ed Niebur and wife Tina. Dick Rosecrans died in 2008. Joan
Rosecrans and Ed Niebur continue to make and sell wreaths as Red Feather Greens.
Additional
information:
Hugh Drake was a leader in organizing
the Red Feather Lakes Fire District, spending much of the summer of 1958
knocking on doors all over Red Feather, encouraging residents to approve a mill
levy to establish a district. He pointed out that their fire insurance premiums
would probably decrease more than their property taxes would increase.
Oscar
Drake died in 1981 and Miriam Drake died in 2001.
Bud
Drake married
Florence
(Flo) Steele in 1953, earned a law degree in 1957, and worked as a patent
lawyer in the
Chicago
area until 1967. He and Flo moved to
Fort Collins
where he opened a patent law practice. In the early 1970s Bud and Flo bought
204 acres in
Livermore
between Haystack Butte and Green Mountain Meadows on the north side of 74E,
across from the Glacier View Meadows fire station. They built a home there in
1973 and called it “Monadnock Ranch.” Bud commuted to his
Fort Collins
law office until retiring in 1994. He died in 1999 and Flo died in 2002. Their
land has been subdivided and is now called “Drake Ranch.”
Jean,
who came to Red Feather the first time in 1934, and Mark Emond were married in
1953 and graduated from CU Boulder in 1954. They lived in
Cheyenne
and the
New York City
area before moving to
Anaheim
,
CA
, where they lived 33 years. Both worked in the journalism field. They came to
the Red Feather cabin with their children for vacations almost every summer and
some hunting seasons in the fall. In 1972 they bought 130 acres not far east of
Bud’s. They left
Anaheim
in 1994 and moved to Red Feather, living in the main cabin until 1996 when
their new home was completed just north of Green Mountain Meadows.
The
two Red Feather cabins were sold in 2000. The east “sun” room on the main
cabin at 176 Minnehaha where much of the work took place each fall, is now only
a memory, having been torn down by a subsequent owner.
(Submitted
by Jean Drake Emond
Sept. 28, 2009
.)
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