Virginia
Dale
The Historical
Society visited Virginia Dale, July, 2009, as guests of the Virginia Dale Community
Club, who maintains the historic site.
The information herein comes from the following sources: Club handout, Wikipedia, Google Earth, An Ear In His Pocket: The Life of Jack Slade (Roy Paul O'Dell & Kenneth C. Jessen), and Virginia Dale, the Community: Yesterday and Today on the website http://www.over-land.com/virginia/vdale.html, created and maintained by Elizabeth Larson.
The
club’s official website is http://virginiadalecommunityclub.org/.
From Wikipedia (Virginia Dale)
The memorial says the following:
THIS
MEMORIAL IS THE PROPERTY OF THE STATE OF COLORADO.
---
THREE-QUARTERS
OF A MILE NORTHWEST FROM THIS POINT IS THE ORIGINAL VIRGINIA DALE. FAMOUS STAGE
STATION ON THE OVERLAND ROUTE TO CALIFORNIA, 1862-1867. ESTABLISHED BY JOSEPH A.
(JACK) SLADE AND NAMED FOR HIS WIFE, VIRGINIA. LOCATED ON THE CHEROKEE TRAIL OF
1849. FAVORITE CAMP GROUND FOR EMIGRANTS. VICE PRESIDENT COLFAX AND PARTY WERE
DETAINED HERE BY INDIAN RAIDS IN 1865. ROBERT J. SPOTSWOOD REPLACED SLADE.
---
ERECTED
BY THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF COLORADO FROM THE MRS. J. N. HALL FOUNDATION
AND BY THE FORT COLLINS PIONEER SOCIETY, 1935.
Photo from
Wikipedia, this structure along side 287, visible from the highway, is not the
historic Virginia Dale stage station, rather it was built by Bert and Mable
Bashor in 1932, called the Virginia Dale Store & Post Office, including café.
There are therefore two Virginia Dales, the historic Stage Station on the
Cherokee/Overland Trail and this more modern one, now no longer in service. More
story below.
Virginia Dale
is located in the northern part of
Six-horse stage, photo from Wikipedia.
The post became widely known around the country by newspaper writers and other travelers. The town was described by Mark Twain in his novel Roughing It. Slade was certainly notorious, was called a "desperado", and with good cause. When he wasn't drunk, he was shooting up the countryside, riding wild mustangs, and was probably responsible for the stage hold-up a mile from the station which claimed about $60,000, and was never found. [This is the popular image of Slade. A different, more whole and sympathetic story can be found in An Ear In His Pocket: The Life of Jack Slade, 1996, by Roy Paul O’Dell & Kenneth C. Jessen, J.V. Publications, Loveland, CO. What is left out of the popular accounts is he had a very kind and generous aspect as well as being firm and effective in his management responsibilities.]
1863 Slade fired for repeated misconduct; later hanged in Montana.
1864 - 1866
area served as a camping place for emigrant trains going west because
the Bozeman Trail through the Powder River Country in
1869 Station abandoned with the completion of the Union Pacific Railroad which put the Stage out of business, also most emigrants to Oregon, California and Utah converted to travel by rail. Mr. & Mrs. Seymour Leach purchase the Station from US Government and run it as a stage stop for a few years.
1872 first homesteader to arrive in Virginia Dale area is Andrew Boyd & family members from Greeley. (Note William Richard Williams further north on Wyoming border had established the XX Ranch in 1868.)
1874 the first school was established and in 1880 first church constructed.
1909 Emil Hurzeler buys Station and builds log cabin to be known as the “Club House”.
1914 Augustus & Florence Lawson buy Station to operate as store and community building; Florence becomes Postmistress.
1921 Virginia Dale Home Demonstration Club formed by nine local women, latter to become Virginia Dale Community Club, to provide care for the Station and promote community values.
1932 road realignment: old 285 which followed the Overland Trail past the Station due north along the Dale Creek, replaced by a new road, present day US 287, with a northwest orientation directly towards Laramie. Old 285 is now called CR 43F in Colorado and Table Mountain Road in Wyoming, still follows the Dale Creek and generally the earlier Overland Trail. This is visible from Google Earth.
Bert & Mable Bashor, who had purchased the Stage Station from Lawsons in 1929, build new structures along the new 287, called Virginia Dale Store & Post Office, (since travelers would no longer go by their Station). The name Virginia Dale is now “transferred” from the Stage Station to these new structures.
1943 Fred & Maude Maxwell purchase the Station and log home from Bashors, allowing community use of Station for socials, dances, and special events. They donate log cabin and 4 acres in subsequent years.
1964 Maxwells transfer title to Station and Hurzeler House to the Club.
1985 Stage Station, the only one on the Overland Stage Line still standing, is added to the National Register of Historic Places.
1990s
Virginia Dale Store closes for lack of business. The area is now part of the
Livermore postal area.
_______
The Stage Station, its walls scarred by bullet holes, is still standing on private property, and is cared for by an organization of neighbors Virginia Dale Community Club who provide visits to organizations (call Sylvia, 970-495-1828), Over the years they have received a number of grants for maintenance.
The Station is
not visible from 287 as it is on 43F ~ ½ mile further along 287 and then ~ 2
miles north. It can be seen from the road without trespassing.
A
school visible from 287 is the Adams school (from the Livermore area) brought
here in 1957 as a home for the teacher.
The
U.S. Post Office at
Today
largely nothing remains of the original settlement.
Exterior view of the old stage station
Interior view of stage
