What is History? What Can You Find on This Website? and What Can You Find In Our Community?
Contents
Types of Evidence physical, written, spoken
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Direct Physical Evidence - the artifacts of the community. There are many structures in the community more than one hundred years old including three that are on the National Registry of Historic Places: the Virginia Dale Stage Station for the Overland Trail/Overland Stage Line (mail and passenger service, established 1862, placed on the Register 1985), the Livermore Hotel and Post Office (built in 1890 and placed on the Register in 2002) and the Batterson Barn and Ranch (homesteaded by the Battersons in 1870, barn built/completed in 1890, placed on the Registry in 2010).
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Historic Photos post cards of the Red Feather Village, painting of Princess (Tsianina) Red Feather
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Roadside Tours what you see as you drive along the roads, with brief histories of the structures. Print the appropriate web pages to take with you on a self-guided tour.
Written Evidence - books which inform us of our past, including natural history.
The Spoken Word - Oral History - Personal Histories - memories of those who lived here.
Tours & Programs to promote awareness of our local history we take tours to historic sites and and provide events which include history talks and friendly get togethers.
What is History? What Can You Find on This Website? What Can You Find Traveling Through Our Community?
I presume most readers are not professional historians, I am not. I have no formal training in how to do history. The sources used to create the history on this website were not written by historians, with one exception, Dr. Evadene Burris Swanson, who wrote Red Feather Lakes: the first hundred years, 1871-1871. The rest were written by people from various walks of life: the publisher of the Fort Collins Courier (Ansel Watrous, 1911), ranchers and their wives, descendents of pioneers, CSU faculty and others with some academic education (thus they have explicit scholarship standards to shape their work). I fall into this later group having undergraduate and graduate education in philosophy, psychology, and a little known area, Higher Education Research & Evaluation.
History is
known as a "soft" science with physics anchoring the "hard"
end of the continuum, and my areas of discipline falling in the middle. They
were good preparation for my life and for the history writing which has engaged
me for the past several years. In addition I have read a lot of history in my
life time (60 years worth) and I love watching Book TV on C-SPAN. I also have the
good fortune of a wife with an undergraduate major in history and the current
(2011) President of the Livermore Woman's Club. She was a contributor to the Among
These Hills, Second Edition writing the second chapter "Landmarks and
Other Points of Interest" which
is similar to my Roadside Tours which I did (and am still working on) for this
website. We were working on these endeavors in the same time frame so we took
many trips together taking photographs and becoming familiar with the territory,
discussing issues. She was updating material from the first edition of Hills
while I was building my own tours, based upon information in Hills and other
books.
The source material for the website comes with a variety of perspectives, thus type and reliability of information vary largely as a result. In this essay I discuss the nature of history, how we describe and make meaning from investigations into the past, and in particular I discuss my approach to writing history, the tools and techniques which I have employed to produce this website.
Writing history is similar to being a journalist, and some historians consider journalists as the people who write the first draft of history. The products of journalists, newspaper stories, are a prime source for our history. You will see that a journalist, the editor of the Fort Collins Courier, Ansel Watrous, is the first and basic resource for subsequent authors. Further, those early newspapers were placed into an on-line archive, an enormous benefit for contemporary writers.
I have at times felt like a police detective investigating a crime scene, finding conflicting data, not finding data I wanted, having to go to some place else to get the data I wanted. Conflicting data there is a-plenty. Some examples to wet your appetite if you like detective stories. Which trapping or fir company discovered and gave the name to the Cache la Poudre? Pause and write your answer. Among the sources all three companies are credited: the American, Hudson Bay, and the Rocky Mountain. When did the fir trade begin in these hills and how long did it last? There are multiple answers among the sources. Like a journalist when you have multiple sources you search for agreement: I think the journalistic guideline is three independent sources. Independent is important. Sometimes it was obvious that later sources were repeating a story reported by an earlier source, so the later one didn't count as confirmation. In one case the second source used the exact same words as the earlier source, without giving credit!! Maybe you can find out if your read all the sources. A good memory is what's required to do that sleuthing. Frequently you encounter contradictory information which you have to reconcile somehow. That makes it fun for me. I will discuss this issue more later.
I have been an educator for the majority of my life, so it is natural that I developed this website to be educational as well as entertaining. One of my subjects I taught college students was called Critical Thinking, so I will illustrate that skill as applied to reasoning about history.
Defining History
History is a human creation, it is based upon the past, but it is not the same as the past; it is a version of the past. The past consists of an infinite amount of events, or data, only a small portion is left as a record. For example, only a tiny, tiny fraction of the animals which lived on the earth left a fossil record because it took very special conditions to preserve the bones and other remains. History is what humans record or report (write) about the past. This includes documentary films, such as Ken Burn’s The National Parks: America’s Best Idea and Prohibition, which are mixtures of text (spoken scripts) and photographs which are sometimes made to look animated, as though they were video.
Note that I
have used record now in two ways: the
physical record, and the human record, and both are incomplete representations
of the past.
From Wikipedia:
History
(from Greek ἱστορία
- historia, meaning "inquiry, knowledge acquired by investigation") is
the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about
past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was
invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians. It is a field
of research which uses a narrative to examine and analyse the sequence of
events, and it sometimes attempts to investigate objectively the patterns of
cause and effect that determine events. Historians debate the nature of history
and its usefulness. This includes discussing the study of the discipline as an
end in itself and as a way of providing "perspective" on the problems
of the present.
Traditionally,
historians have recorded events of the past, either in writing or by passing on
an oral tradition, and have attempted to answer historical questions through the
study of written documents and oral accounts. For (sic) the beginning, historians have also used such sources as monuments,
inscriptions, and pictures. In general, the sources of historical knowledge can
be separated into three categories: what is written, what is said, and what is
physically preserved, and historians often consult all three. But writing is the
marker that separates history from what comes before.
Types of Evidence
Lets look at the types of evidence mentioned in the above definition - physical, written, and spoken - in the process illustrating (1) what you will find on this website, and (2) what you can discover in your travels throughout our community. Later I will use the Batterson Barn as a case study to show how these different types of evidence can be woven together to construct a historical narrative, and the challenges of trying to get it right when the information is confusing.
Direct physical evidence is the most basic, generally the most objective, and extends farthest back in time. But it is not always easy to interpret. Physical evidence is of two types. One is the natural record such as stream beds and animal trails. The second is human produced, referred to as artifacts such as tools, ornaments, broken china or nails in the earth near a bunch of rocks which might be a house foundation. I would also include land which has been evidently modified by humans, for example an old railroad bed, raised from the surrounding land, very level, that is, having the characteristics we associate with a railroad track. It would include stone foundations of former houses or barns, and also in tact houses of which there are many in our community.
Sometimes this physical evidence has a direct, immediate meaning, as in the photo above which shows a dirt road in front of the Batterson barn. The road thus, is an artifact, because it is evidence of prior human presence. When we moved here little did we suspect that the Old State Road ran right through the property. It took some investigating to discover that.
The rock wall in this photo is also very direct and obvious evidence for the location of a homestead - in this case it is the remains of the Batterson home which burned in 1918, but fortunately not the barn.
Our community actually is replete with artifacts or evidence of human presence and activities from the past when you know what to look for.
The above photo, March 2009, in the Elkhorn drainage area, shows clearly two tracks of a former wagon road. Wherever people homesteaded they created roads, so if you ride your horse or hike in the Elkhorn area you will find plenty of such evidence as many people homesteaded in the Elkhorn area. You can also find small rock walls and small wooden structures in various stages of neglect. A drive down Boy Scout and Manhattan Roads will reward you with many historic structures, some in decay, others still functional.
This photo, May 2007, of a road along the Lone Pine Creek is both historic and current. It once was part of the John Elliot Ranch see the book Rabbit Creek Country by Jon Thiem and Deborah Dimon.
This area is now part of Lone Pine State Wildlife Area and and open to the public for hiking and horseback riding. You can readily reach this road by parking in the area on the right (north) side of 74E before you go up McNey Hill, You can then hike up the canyon many miles until you reach the Maxwell Ranch, which will be the end of your trip, that is, you will then need to turn around. It is easy to imagine that this road was the way the homesteaders who preceded Maxwells reached their properties before the County established formal roads. There are ample places to picnic and since you are beside the creek there is always water for dog or horse. Current use of the road is very occasional by Parks and Wildlife officials to do maintenance on the bridges. If you go to Google Earth you will be able to locate this road and you will find that it is labeled, guess what, Maxwell Ranch Road, but no map that I have does this.
Google Earth
has been a wonderful tool. It helped me to determine the route for the
Overland Trail which I knew (believed) went generally from LaPorte to Virginia Dale
and thence to Laramie and eventually joined up with the Oregon/California/Mormon
Trails. I went to Google Earth and peered down on suspected sites from 15,000
feet. I learned how to work their process so I could act like a helicopter
looking down at a 45 degree angle while gradually flying along a suspected
route. I wondered whether the Laramie Highway, US 287, is a modern day version
of the Trail. Did the Highway Department simply put asphalt over the Trail? From
driving the road I knew that could not be completely true because .... The story
picks up later in my essay
Along the way going up the Lone Pine Creek you will find the structure shown in the photo above, May 2007, which was part of the John Elliot Ranch. Before that it was Ismert Ranch ( page 41, Reminisces of Robert J. Swan in Among These Hills, 2nd Edition; and page 195 of Rabbit Creek Country). Ismert was probably a homesteader, but maybe a squatter.
There are three of these homestead cabins, similar to this one, in Glacier View Meadows, two still intact and usable. The oldest is the Morrison cabin, built sometime in 1870s, presently in severe neglect, barely standing. Second is the Ayers cabin, built 1908, owned by Biglers (in 2011) who lovingly restored it and added on. Located on Iron Mountain Road, it is partially visible from 74E. The Bush homestead, built in 1912, is still intact, in good shape, serving as an art studio (pottery) for Diane Lustig. Take the roadside tour 74 E McNey Hill to Red Feather Lakes to see these photos and more information.
Further up the creek you can see remains of a wooden structure for carrying irrigation water – a piece is visible in the center of the picture resting on a rock. More structure is visible farther up the trail.
This haying implement above is one of many on the Lady Moon Ranch, which is not open to the public, but some can be seen at the Robinson Cabin in Red Feather Lakes. These are good examples of what are typically considered artifacts. This was included on one of our tours, good reason to become a member, see Membership.
This photo is the Robinson Cabin which was built in 1889 and resided in the Elkhorn area until it was moved in 1995 to it's present location in Red Feather Lakes Village, across from the Library. Inside are artifacts from the early years, many small objects and some large ones: stove, dinning table, sewing machine, and a cabinet. The museum is locked but open to the public. A key is available from the Hilltop General Store, just up the road behind the Cabin.
In 2006 the Society produced three post cards in celebration of the
founding of Red Feather Lakes. They can be viewed and purchased at Hill
Top General Store where you get the key to visit the Cabin/museum.
The back of the card says: Red Feather Lakes, Colorado
was founded in 1924 as a resort community, surrounded by pristine lakes and
forests of the beautiful Roosevelt National Forest. Ruth Kevan was the
artist.
The back side of the card says: Starting for a row on Hiawatha, July
1924. Each enthusiastic lady tucked a red feather in her hair in loyal
support of the new community.
The back side of this card says: The Hardin family on a tranquil summer
outing at Hiawatha Lake in the 1890s. The Three Sisters Rocks form the
background.
Painting of Princess (Tsianina) Red Feather.
For origins of the Red Feather name, go to Red Feather Lakes Community.
Roadside Tours
There
are so many historic structures in our community such as the Forks, the
Livermore Hotel & Post Office, the many ranches of the Livermore Valley, and
the Batterson Barn, dating back to the 1880s and 1890s and even a few to the
late 1860s - early 1870s when homesteading got into full gear. To acquaint you with these structures and their histories I
produced a series of roadside tours which
are a set of pictures of what you see as you look
out the window driving from one point to another, with a brief description of
the structure or object and its history.
These tours are patterned after Roadside History of
Colorado, and Roadside Geology of Colorado (see Books for complete reference). Roadside History of Colorado, however
thoroughly it covers Colorado, unfortunately does not include our area which we
are remedying with the information provided on this website. The book's only
reference to our area is on Page 61 where it describes the Overland Stage Trail
as follows:
The transcontential Overland Stage line until then had been running from Julesburg (see I-76 itinerary) to South Pass in western Wyoming by way of the North Platte River Valley. The stretch from Julesburg to the Sweetwater River in central Wyoming was Sioux country, and the depredations forced the Overland to detour. The new route went from Julesburg to Denver and back north via the Cherokee Trail, which paralleled today's I-25 from Denver to Fort Collins, Exit 269, before angling to the northwest along a path that coincided roughly with modern U.S. 287.
My research disagrees a bit with this description: one branch of the Overland Stage did drop south to Denver, while another one stayed north and went straight to LaPorte, then up to Virginia Dale, etc. as discussed in Transition Time.
Before taking a roadside photo tour, go to Roadside
Tours Overview. This site provides maps and descriptions of the roads
and rivers for the entire area. Note that the tour on 74E, Red Feather
Lakes Road is in two parts, the Forks to McNey Hill, and McNey Hill to Red
Feather Lakes, because of the number of pictures, to reduce downloading time.
I don't have a roadside tour for 287 because it is mostly open land. However I do have information on Virginia Dale as it was one of the Historical Society' s Tours.
The second category in the Wikipedia definition is written evidence which can be subdivided into primary and secondary. Primary written evidence would be records produced at the time as part of ongoing human activities such as a mortgage document or homestead filing patent (indicating ownership of a specific home and it’s location, etc.) and newspapers. In the early days most information in the newspapers was local, almost like a gossip paper, but not negative. The Fort Collins Courier regularly reported on who had come to town from the mountains, what they were selling (how many cattle for how much, what provisions they were buying. They had extensive coverage (by our standards) of dances and other social events, who came, what they wore, even excessive drinking if that should occur. Of course because a newspaper reports something, does not mean it is true, and conversely, some important things may have been neglected. And all reporters are selective about what interests them, or their editor, or publisher.
In the modern electronic-digital age we are fortunate to have so much of this information on websites such as www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org. From that website: The Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection (CHNC) currently includes more than 500,000 digitized pages, representing 163 individual newspaper titles published in Colorado from 1859 to 1923. Due to copyright restrictions, CHNC does not generally include newspapers published after 1923. This was a major source for Linda Adams research into the Batterson Barn and Ranch. She filled several binders full of information.
Photos would also be considered primary evidence.
We are fortunate to have a number of authors who have written about this area. These books are available in the Red Feather Lakes Library, and those published by the Livermore Woman's Club are still in print and available for purchase (call Linda at 970-224-4567). Those which I consider most important I have included in this website, see Books for a list of these books with summaries of their contents and in some cases key facts. Here are some most important.
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Among Theses Hills, (Hills) Livermore Woman's Club, 1995, Second Edition, 2008.
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Cache la Poudre, Howard Ensign Evans and Mary Alice Evans, 1991.
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Centennial, James Michener, 1974.
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Crazy Pioneers, Lafi Miller, 2000.
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Marmalade & Whiskey (Remittance Men), Lee Olson, 1993
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Memories of an Old Timer, Wesley Swan,1972
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Poudre A Photo History, Stanly Case, 1995
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Rabbit Creek Country: Three Ranching Lives in the Heart of the Mountain West
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Ranch Histories of Livermore and Vicinity, 1884 - 1956, Livermore Woman's Club, 1956
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Red Feather Lakes: the first hundred years (1871 - 1971, Evadene Burris Swanson, 1971
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Wikipedia
The earliest
source,
and to a degree the "bible" upon which many subsequent books depended,
was History of Larimer County Colorado, by Ansel Watrous, written in 1911. He
was the publisher of the Fort Collins Courier for several years. He was thus a
journalist in the days before schools of journalism, so he did his job according
to standards he thought appropriate. The major portion of his book was several
hundred biographies for which the
subject paid $40 to be included. The Roberts family and Battersons were among
these biographies. Additionally he wrote a number of essays on
subjects of interest to him, including the naming of Livermore.
The next two older sources are Ranch Histories and Among These Hills, both published by the Livermore Woman's Club (LWC). They are collections of essays and personal histories by a number of people, thus in effect they need to considered as multiple sources. There are inconsistencies within and between these books that have to be reconciled. In Ranches the contributors are the ranchers and their wives, but no chapters have identified authors. Originally published by the Larimer County Stockgrowers Association in 1956, it was reprinted in 1993 by LWC with a number of improvements such as corrected spelling of names and an index, but no identification of authors. It was known as the brand book because it showed every ranchers' brand and it had a pull-out map in the back which showed the locations of 80+ ranches with identification for Section, Township and Range. This was very useful for me when I was trying to locate a specific ranch. Text was a discussion of who lived where, when they arrived, buying and selling of ranches, reminisces, stories, lots of entertainment. The first chapter is a summary of why the ranchers organized and the types of issues dealt with over the years. At the back is the Constitution and Bylaws and Officers from 1917 - 1956. Go to the link above if you want to see the table of contents.
Hills probably has an even greater number of contributors, the women members of LWC over 100 years (for the first edition). They wrote papers and gave talks to one another based on their experiences and their memories. These were accumulated over years since its founding in 1896 and made into a book published in 1995. In 2008 LWC produced a Second Edition which included some editing of original stories, more photographs, and new stories based on research done in the intervening decade, including the history of the Batterson Barn and Ranch; a photo of the barn is shown on the new front cover. The map locating the ranches was improved.
The book by Dr. Evadene Burris Swanson, Red Feather Lakes: the first hundred years 1971-1971, the only person trained as a historian, was inspired by Ted Dunning based on lots of primary documents, much collected by Dunning who came to Red Feather Lakes in 1940. This book is clearly focused on Red Feather Lakes and deals not at all with the ranching community, in contrast to the two previous books whose focus is clearly the ranching community.
The books by Wesley Swan and Lafi Miller are by descendents of pioneers, so the stories in their books are very similar to the stories told in Ranches and Hills which are stories by the participants and descendents. Here is what I said in my introductions to their books on this website:
Wesley Swan is a descendent of a pioneer family who came by train to
In his preface Lafi says that he became interested in the history of this area
“because of my marriage into a ranching family.
My wife, Juliana Jo Sloan, was raised on a cattle ranch not too far from
Cherokee
The Poudre: A Photo History, by Stanley Case is an outstanding example of a book based upon extensive primary evidence with historic photos and narrative explaining them. He lived much of the life he describes - it is focused on the Poudre Canyon but covers so much more.
Also strongly based upon primary documents is Rabbit Creek Country by John Thiem, a CSU English professor emeritus, who developed an interest in the lives of John Elliot, a large landowner-rancher in the Livermore Valley, Ida Meyer (John's wife) and Josephine Lamb, a teacher who roomed at the Elliot Ranch (she taught his children), and eventually became a business partner with John. She was also a major force in the Livermore Woman's Club. It was an amazing three-some and endless source of gossip among ranchers' wives.
The Evans' book Cache La Poudre, principally focused on natural history, is also based upon primary research as both are professional and academic biologists. It includes information on Gordon Creek which I found personally fascinating as the Creek runs beside and through my property.
James Michener's book is classified as fiction, but it has so much fact and provides so much insight into the development of the ranching community that it has to be on this list. The Library has a DVD of the movie.
The Spoken Word - Oral History - Personal Histories
My first teaching job at Sangamon State University in 1970 (now the University of Illinois, Springfield) had an Oral History Program where faculty and students interviewed the "common folk" such as coal miners and the like. For example to understand what coal mining strikes were like from the strikers' perspectives as a counter balance to those of the mine owners. Today it is called People's History, as in the title to Howard Zinn's famously popular book of that name (full title, A People's History of the United States) which has sold millions in many languages. Most history is written about the "important" people: presidents, generals, captains of industry, people who are famous in some fashion, including because they killed lots of people or did other horrendous acts. Traditional history gives a biased sense of human nature.
This website is a people's history, as it reflects the people's lives discussed in the books above. A substantial amount of the material in the books discussed above I would call oral histories, even though they were not the product of an interview. The essence of an oral history -- whether obtained by an interview, or a record of a talk, or a paper written and read to an audience, or a paper given to a group -- the essence is the person is presenting a personal perspective on events. That is why my title is Personal Histories.
In 2008 the Red Feather Historical Society began collecting oral histories, primarily from interviews conducted by Linda Bell (at this point in 2011), commissioned by the Board of Directors. These interviews range from actual dialogues to monologues (nothing negative intended with the term monologue, the interviewee needed no prompting). Transcripts of the interviews are placed in the Red Feather Lakes Library as well as being posted on this website. What follows is a brief characterization of the interviews obtained thus far.
Both
interviews with Dennis Frydendall - Frydendall water
and Frydendall Meadow - took no prompting
since Dennis, even at his advanced age, is still a very focused, organized and
disciplined person. Dennis Frydendall
was a Principal in the Greely school district who bought a cabin in
Red Feather Lakes in 1962 and soon joined the Board of Directors of
the Red Feather Storage & Irrigation Company. Dennis knows the water
issues and his twenty page interview will probably tell you everything you
want to know about water law and the development of the Red Feather lakes. In
the second interview he described the tour he gave Society members for many years to see the
locations of places described in James Gavin's book The Meadow. At the
end of that interview is the map of the trip and photos of various locations
which should enable you to take a self-guided tour now that Dennis is no longer
able to guide us.
The Grauberger interview also needed no prompting for the story to come out about Emma running the Alpine Lodge, the RV site which you see as your turn off Red Feathers Lake Road into the Village.
In some cases the interview involved several related people, such as mother & daughter Tamlin, Evelyn & Amy, mother and son Reid, Margaret and Ross, uncle and niece Robinsons, Rick & Zella.
The Ted
Dunning interview is an example of a very
interactive interview conducted by Jonathan
Anderson
A different style was the Higley family interview in which Pat Clemens summarized a conversation with Earl Higley and Diane Higley Senecal.
Miller, Lafi & Juliana Sloan is a story about their marriage written by Linda Bell when she was a correspondent for the North Forty News, reprinted by permission.
Written Personal Histories
In some cases, instead of an interview, the person prepared a written document reflecting memories of a person (grandfather, R. C. McConnell) or events (Red Feather Greens). Thus I call this category Personal histories.
McConnell is a record of memories and photos of the area's first Forest Ranger prepared by his grandson Lee. F. McConnell.
Red Feather Greens was written by Gene Drake Emond, describing the tradition which developed whereby the "entire" Red Feather Lakes community created Christmas wreathes which were sold locally and to other nearby states.
Wexielman
is
the unpublished notes of real estate developer Don
Weixelman who converted the 17,000 acres of the Currie Ranch into the residential subdivisions of Hewlett Gulch,
Glacier View Meadows, Green Mountain Meadows, Rim Rock, and Crystal Lakes.
The Batterson Barn and Homestead is a history of pioneers (1870) Solomon and Mary Batterson by Linda Adams based on extensive library research of archived newspaper information mentioned previously. It also includes facts and photos obtained from Batterson descendents through many hours of phone conversations and some personal visits.
This website is intended to be collaborative along the lines of Wikipedia, the web-based encyclopedia where anyone can be an author and post their material directly on-line. However, with this website you can not directly post your material. You have to contact me if you wish to contribute to this website in writing or with pictures: juddadams@att.net or 970-224-4567. Of course let me know of any errors, or suspected errors.
Awareness of Local History: Tours and Programs
Tours: In addition to providing historical information on this website we also travel to historic sites. These are usually all day events involving lunch and sometimes a fair amount of walking, but you are warned in advance. We encourage car pooling in part to promote sharing of historical knowledge, and because it is just fun to meet people (and good for the environment). Some of these tours become part of our history when we have someone who will take pictures and write some description of the tour. Tours which are part of this website include:
Owl
Canyon Pinyon Pine Grove (May, 2008) is a State of Colorado Natural
Resource Area of 658 acres protecting dense
population of thousands of Pinyon pine, many in the 200 - 500 year range. The
tallest is 25 feet with a crown spread of 37.5 feet and trunk diameter of 11
feet at 3 feet above the ground. The
grove is at the northeastern extremity of its range in North America . Its
status as a Natural Area is due to the efforts of the Livermore Women’s Club
over a 2 ˝ decade effort.
Lake
Parvin Fishery (July 2008) is a Division of Wildlife research station at Lake
Parvin, and fishing is allowed on the lake.
Fox
Acres
(July 2008) is a private gated residential community and destination resort in
the Red Feather Lakes area. It once a commercial fox raising enterprise.
Trails
End, June 2007: This is the
former home of Frank Miller who owned the property from 1920 to 1938 and made it
famous because of his collection of wild animals who he “tamed” in varying
degrees, witness his kissing bear. He
was a marksman and entertainer, including time with the Buffalo Bill Show of
Col. William F. Cody where he traveled throughout the
Pingree
Park (August, 2006) is a mountain campus of
Colorado State University situated on the South Fork of the Cache la Poudre in
the Mummy Range at 9,053 ft (2,759 m).
It is named after George W. Pingree, who had a tie-hack camp (est. 1868)
there and built the Pingree Hill Road which was the main way from Fort Collins
to the upper Poudre Canyon until 1920 when the road up CR 14 Poudre Canyon was
completed to Rustic.
Ranch
Tour
(July 2005): Al Johnson, Roberts, Stonewall, Rennels.
Glacier
View Meadows (July 2004): Batterson Barn & Homestead (1870), Morrison
Homestead (1870s) Ayers Homestead (1908), Bush Homestead (1912), Currie Ranch
(1906) buildings: LOX House (ranch headquarters) and Western Ridge Restaurant
(formerly a feed, livestock and machinery shelter) – these places, and photos,
are part of the 74
E McNey Hill to Red Feather Lakes to Red Feather Lakes.
Cemeteries visited: Adams, Manhattan, Livermore,
Bingham Hill (Laporte & Bellevue)
Programs
We get together twice a year for our Annual Holiday Dinner (winter) and Annual Meeting (summer) and at other times where we have speakers who talk about historical topics, or re-enactors who portray historical figures, such as Lady Moon or Jack Slade, the Virginia Dale Division Superintendent.
The Greening of Red Feather Craft Fair is held every December at the Red Feather Lakes Village in the POA building and Fire Barn. It brings people together in celebration of the season by providing a place for booths specializing in original arts and crafts and promoting community holiday activities.
You do not have to be a member of the Society to participate in these activities, although we encourage membership as a way to provide support to the Society and to provide you with timely information. While not expensive, we do have to pay for this website, so donations are appreciated.
Essays and Data Summaries
Most of what I have produced for this web have been pieces where I synthesized material from a variety of sources. Essays, as I use the term, are "original" pieces, or narratives where I have done an analysis and placed my own interpretation ("spin" in contemporary language) on a collection of historic facts. Narratives are like movies, they show how things change, they provide explanations, they are answers to the questions and they are my attempt to make sense of puzzling data and reconcile contradicting facts.
Data summaries are collections of data such as Pioneers which is table listing settlers and homesteaders by date in the first column. The second column is drainage and nearest road, third column is homestead name, subsequent owners, acquisition of properties, and what ever else I find interesting. I do not try to include all information from the sources, I am abstracting what I consider important. It is the basis for an essay which will discuss the dynamics of settlers and homesteaders flowing onto the landscape, the order and timing of exploring and settling the waterways and road systems. It is my attempt to answer Don Weixelman's question: My thoughts wondered how the area was settled?
Go to Essays and Data Summaries for specific essays and summaries.