On the Backside of Pikes Peak - Divide, Colorado

 


By Davalynn  Spencer

Look for an image of Divide, Colorado, and you’ll likely find grand photographs of Colorado’s Great Divide or Continental Divide – the place in the Rocky Mountains where river systems run either toward the Pacific Ocean or toward the Atlantic and/or Gulf of Mexico, depending upon which side of the “divide” they originate.

Sunrise over Pikes Peak. Image from author's collection.

But that’s not the town of Divide, Colorado, population less than 150 souls in 2010, located 25 miles west of Colorado Springs on the north slope of Pikes Peak in Teller County. The little town was named for the dividing point of the South Platte and Arkansas rivers and is today billed as the Center of the Known Universe.

At 9,165 feet atop the summit of Ute Pass, that claim might not be far off.

The pass, first used by the ancient Ute tribes, is one of the oldest routes in the United States. Its general line remains a transportation artery today as thousands of tourists scale the mountains west of Colorado Springs via Highway 24.

In 1859, gold was discovered in the South Park area. Settlers and prospectors considered the rough and rugged Ute trail a viable route, in spite of the need to leave their wagons and teams in Colorado City and pack in their tools and food for the final 75-mile stretch. A more passable “Wagon Road” was cut in 1872, increasing the ease of reaching the gold rush to Leadville.

The Ute Pass area was acknowledged as Ute hunting grounds until it was surveyed by the U.S. government in 1870 and settlers began moving in on 160-acre plots in 1873. However, many ranches had already been established by that time.

The mountainous area was unsuitable for farming other than the open land around Divide where potatoes, lettuce, and hay crops excelled, in addition to cattle and sheep ranching. Lumbering also became a lucrative business with demand for timber increasing with mining operations and the approach of the railroad.

Many area ranchers survived by hunting, opening inns, and setting up small, portable sawmills that cut rough timber. 

In 1871 Divide served as the Spotsweed and McClellan Stage stop where teams were changed while on their way to mining camps Tarryall, Fairplay, and Leadville. 

Sixteen years later, the Colorado Midland Railroad laid tracks through Divide, bringing boarding houses, saloons, and restaurants to service railroad workers.

In my recent novella, Just in Time for Christmas, I note in the author remarks that I took creative license with the development of Divide for the purpose of my story set in 1875. At that actual time, the Divide area was more of a crossroads in El Paso County (no Teller County until 1899), and Colorado was not yet a state.  

Therefore, my novella opens with "The Catamounts, El Paso County, Colorado Territory, 1875."

Did you catch that – The Catamounts? My imagination soared when I read about ranches, lakes, and creeks bearing this name. A place like that had to be named Catamount for a reason. 

From the Mountain Lion diorama, Denver Museum of Nature and Science

 Avrand6, Wikimedia Commons

And in case you’re wondering, catamount is another word for mountain lion.

Mueller State Park, image courtesy Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

Today, the beautiful 5,000-acre Mueller State Park draws visitors to the Divide area, as does the historic Midland Depot Complex, the Catamount Recreation Area, and America’s mountain, Pikes Peak (no possessive apostrophe in the name). 

If you’re looking for a high time, try visiting Divide, Colorado, and travel along the early migration route of the Mountain Utes that was later used by Spanish, French, and American explorers, settlers, miners, and ranchers of the Old West.

Davalynn Spencer

Davalynn Spencer can’t stop #lovingthecowboy. As the wife and mother of professional rodeo bullfighters, she writes romance for those who enjoy a Western tale with a rugged hero, both historical and contemporary. She holds the Will Rogers Gold Medallion for Inspirational Western Fiction, teaches writing workshops, and plays the keyboard on her church worship team. When she’s not writing, teaching, or playing, she’s wrangling Blue the Cowdog and mouse detectors Annie and Oakley. Learn more about Davalynn and her books at www.davalynnspencer.com. Become a newsletter friend and receive a free historical novella: http://eepurl.com/xa81D.

MONTANA CATTLE BARON CONRAD KOHRS

"They were a rugged set of men, these pioneers, well qualified for their self-assumed task. In the pursuit of wealth a few succeeded and the majority failed,...the range cattle industry has seen its inception, zenith, and partial extinction all within a half-century. The changes of the past have been many; those of the future may be of even more revolutionary character." —Conrad Kohrs, 1913

Conrad Kohrs and his friends in the parlor of the main ranch house.

Once a sprawling 10-million-acre cattle ranch, the Grant-Kohrs Ranch National Historical Site is now open to the public to explore. It is not a petting zoo for cows and horses, nor is it a dude ranch. Nope, it’s a working cattle ranch where cowboys still have chores and work hard every season of the year. The ranch is a unique opportunity to take a glimpse into an important period in taming the Old West.

The Montana gold rush of the 1860s lured many a man to stake his claim, but few realized the lucrative potential of selling beef to the miners in butcher shops at the camps. Miners would pay in gold for a nice, juicy steak after eating beans morning, noon, and night.

Carsten Conrad Kohrs, an immigrant from Germany, may have followed his gold fever from California, to Canada, and finally to Montana in 1862, but he soon discovered the motherload of gold on the hoof and became one of the first Montana cattle barons. He had learned the butcher trade from relatives in New York and Iowa and set up a butcher shop, at first taking advantage of the herds of longhorns driven up from Texas.

The main ranch house was built in 1862 by Johnny Grant
and known as the most beautiful home in Montana Territory.
Conrad Kohrs bought the property in 1866 and added a brick addition in 1890. 

Starting small, Kohrs purchased his first ranch in 1866 from Johnny Grant near Deer Lodge in Montana Territory. At first, he only grazed the cattle sold in his butcher shops, but then his business grew until he was shipping 10,000 head of cattle every year to the Chicago stockyards that supplied beef to most of the country. Eventually, he amassed a cattle empire that ranged over four states and two Canadian provinces.

The range was unfenced, and by the 1870s, the bison had almost been wiped out, and the Native Americans couldn’t fight the onslaught of settlers and cattle ranchers. Cattlemen bred the longhorns that came from a Spanish strain with English shorthorns and helped multiply Kohrs herds.

Cowboys herding cattle on the Kohrs Ranch in 1910

The open grasslands of Montana Territory offered unlimited grazing land. Once a herd overgrazed an area, the cowboys simply moved the herd to new pasture. Feed was plentiful.

By the mid-1880s, raising cattle was so lucrative that foreign investors and Eastern opportunists rushed to Montana to make their fortunes. Raising cattle was big business. Ranches multiplied and herds grew larger until there was not enough grazing land to feed them all.

Then came the deep snows and bitter-cold winter of 1886-87 that wiped out almost half the cattle in Montana. When homesteaders started fencing their 160-acre plots of land with barbwire, it was the beginning of the end for the cattle barons.

Even though the cattle “gold” rush only lasted less than half a century, the pioneering spirit of the cattle ranchers changed the industry forever. Much like small farms, there are still cattle ranchers in Montana who take the risk of making money off the range, but there are none who can rival the cattle barons, especially Conrad Kohrs.

All photos in this post are courtesy of the 

National Park Service and are public domain.

***

Will my hero Buck McKean in Dreams of My Heart become a cattle baron in The Reluctant Brides series? Stay tuned for book 2, Love of My Heart, that releases February 1, 2019.

My feisty Irish bride Kate O'Brien McKean asks her Texas cattleman husband Buck for an annulment in Dreams of My Heart, book 1 of The Reluctant Brides series, setting off a chain reaction of events that endangers them both. The historical romance set in 1875 Montana Territory releases April 1 from Mountain Brook Ink. The e-book is available for preorder on Amazon.

After a career spent acquiring and editing books by numerous bestselling Christian authors, Barbara J. Scott has returned to her true love—writing. Barbara and her husband Mike live in the Nashville area, with their two Chihuahuas, Riley and Sissy, both rescued from puppy mills. Reading, writing, and research are her passions. Want to know more? Connect with Barbara at www.BarbaraJScott.com.

Inside a Sod House

This post is brought to you by Janalyn Voigt.

Traveling the Oregon Trail Backwards, a Road Trip Adventure, Part 8

Our small family group had the day before us and miles passing beneath our tires. Farmlands stretched on either hand, a fitting approach to our destination. A red barn with white letters spelling out “Sod House Museum” beckoned to us from behind a gas station. We pulled into the parking lot and went inside. Admission was free. With the prospect of seeing an accurate replica of a soddy, that most iconic of pioneer homes, I didn’t pay much attention to the pictures and memorabilia in the small museum.

Sod House Museum in Gothenburg, Nebraska, boasts the world's largest plough. Image by Ammodramus (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons

Outside the barn a wooden windmill lifted six sets of fan blades against the sky. Beneath it a wagon with four wooden bows waited for occupants who would ride in it no more.  A path led past a grazing buffalo. An Indian on horseback watched us. It took a moment to realize both were crafted of barbed wire. While I usually dislike anything that smacks of tourism, these life-sized figures looked natural in the grassy setting.

The sod house squatted with its back to a stand of trees. At first sight, it seemed like something a hobbit might live in. Built from rectangular bricks cut from the prairie sod, it has retained its integrity long after many wooden frame dwellings have collapsed. Prairie grass has thicker and tougher roots than the grasses we use in modern landscaping, which made it durable, although sometimes rains caused damage. The settlers often cut the bricks to measure 2'×1'×6" (60×30×15 cm). If you’ve ever moved fresh-cut sod, you know that size is heavy to lift. Two wooden windows sat below lintels on either side of a doorway. The front door stood open, revealing the rustic interior. Just inside the doorway, the day’s heat eased a little. One of the benefits of a sod home was its ability to regulate temperatures. However, pioneers mainly built soddies to compensate for a lack of timber.

As you'll recall, I lost the images from this trip, and I couldn't find one of the sod house that I could post to this site. However, I've pinned several images shared by others to my Wild West board on Pinterest.

The interior walls were stuccoed, lending it a more civilized appearance. A pot-bellied stove backed against one wall. A wooden bench covered in a blue gingham tablecloth flanked it. Rough shelves held pots and pans, and a rocking chair sat in one corner. A wooden trunk stood beneath a window, and a rifle hung on pegs above it, ready for any emergency. A rope bed covered in a bright quilt rested in one corner. The place seemed to small for all the living it would have to contain.

I left the Sod House Museum with a better appreciation for the hardihood of western pioneers. Many of the images from the trip have blended together and become fuzzy at the edges, but visiting the sod house remains sharp in my memory. I didn’t know it at the time, but this experience would later color my writing of the Montana Gold books.

Note from Janalyn on this series:

I seem to approach everything backwards, and traveling the Oregon was no exception. A few years ago I set off from Washington state to a family reunion in Missouri, following the route of the Oregon Trail backwards. The trip sparked an idea for an Oregon Trail series which finally came to fruition with the release this spring of Hills of Nevermore (Montana Gold 1). My historical romance series is set in Montana during its gold rush, and each of the heroines travels part of the Oregon Trail.

Hills of Nevermore (Montana Gold, book 1)

Can a young widow hide her secret shame from the Irish circuit preacher bent on helping her survive?

In an Idaho Territory boom town, America Liberty Reed overhears circuit preacher Shane Hayes try to persuade a hotel owner to close his saloon on Sunday. Shane lands face-down in the mud for his trouble, and there’s talk of shooting him. America intervenes and finds herself in an unexpectedly personal conversation with the blue-eyed preacher. Certain she has angered God in the past, she shies away from Shane.

Addie Martin, another widow, invites America to help in her cook tent in Virginia City, the new mining town. Even with Addie’s teenage son helping with America’s baby, life is hard. Shane urges America to depart for a more civilized location. Neither Shane’s persuasions nor road agents, murder, sickness, or vigilante violence can sway America. Loyalty and ambition hold her fast until dire circumstances force her to confront everything she believes about herself, Shane, and God.

Based on actual historical events during a time of unrest in America, Hills of Nevermore explores faith, love, and courage in the wild west.

Read the first two chapters free.

About Janalyn Voigt

My father instilled a love of literature in me at an early age by reading chapters from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Robinson Crusoe and other classics. When I grew older, and he stopped reading bedtime stories, I put myself to sleep with tales I 'wrote' in my head. My sixth-grade teacher noticed my interest in storytelling and influenced me to become a writer.

I'm what is known as a multi-genre author, but I like to think of myself as a storyteller. The same elements appear in all my novels in proportions dictated by their genre: romance, mystery, adventure, history, and whimsy. Visit http://janalynvoigt.com

Josefa Segovia - Pretty Juanita

With Nancy J. Farrier

Josefa Segovia, known by many names such as Juanita, or Pretty Juanita, would have lived and died with not much notice, except for one life-changing event. She became the first, and only, woman to be hanged in California.

There are as many accounts of what happened to Josepha as she has names. Many are conflicting. Some are obviously biased. I will try to relay what I learned about her when I stumbled across her story while doing research.

Downieville, CA 1851 - By William Downie

In 1851, Josefa lived in the town of Downieville, California, one of the popular towns during the gold rush. Josefa lived with Jose Loaiza, who was either her husband or her boyfriend. Josefa would have been around mid-twenties, but little is known of where she grew up or her family. Jose worked in a saloon dealing cards for the gamblers.

On July 4^th, some of the towns gentlemen celebrated a little too much. One miner named Cannon, along with a couple of companions, were stumbling down the road. Cannon staggered into the door of Josefa and Jose’s cabin. He hit the door so hard that it broke off the hinges and he fell inside. With his friend’s help he got back up, leaned the door against the frame, laughed and stumbled on down the roadway.

The next morning, Jose demanded payment from Cannon for the damaged door. Cannon became angry. Josefa pushed between the men and Cannon began to call her names. She became angry, went inside and when Cannon followed her in, she stabbed him with a knife, killing him.

There are several conflicting accounts. Some say Cannon was accosting Josefa, or had in the past. Others say her attack of the man was unprovoked. Either way, Cannon ended up dead and the men of Downieville were angry.

A mob grabbed both Josefa and Jose. They wanted to hang the pair, but someone suggested they needed a trial first. A jury was chosen and the trial began right then. They held the mock trial on the very platform where the previous day’s celebration of Independence Day had been held.

As word spread, the crowd swelled from 600 to more than 2,000. Cannon’s body was on exhibit with his shirt pulled open to reveal the fatal wound. Josefa insisted she had acted in self-defense, but no one would listen. One of the town’s doctor’s spoke up in her behalf and the crowd wanted to hang him too.

The jury deliberated the case in a few minutes and pronounced Josefa guilty of murder. She was given two hours before she would be hanged. Jose was given twenty-four hours to leave town and not return. When Josefa said she was pregnant, three doctors were called on to examine her, but determined that she was not pregnant, so they could continue with the lynching.

Josefa's Hanging - By William Downie

About 4:00 pm, Josefa was taken to the bridge over the Yuba River. She refused to wear a mask. She put the noose around her own neck and tied her skirts down for modesty. Turning to the crowd, she gave a jaunty salute and stepped off.

In a editorial in the Daily Times and Transcript, the paper said, “…the violent proceedings of an exited mob are a blot upon the history of the state…” They went on to state that these actions of the men shamed their race and themselves.

It is hard to say what is truth in this story, but most of them that I read, agreed with the fact that Josefa was brave to the end. She refused to cower and beg, and she maintained her innocence of murder, even as she admitted to killing Cannon.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this story. I find it sad that the mob mentality meant the death of a young woman who may have been innocent. It’s hard to believe all this happened over a broken door and too much to drink.

Nancy J Farrier is an award winning author who lives in Southern California in the Mojave Desert. She loves the Southwest with its interesting historical past. Nancy and her husband have five children and two grandsons. When Nancy isn’t writing, she loves to read, do needlecraft, play with her cats, and spend time with her family. Nancy is represented by Karen Ball of The Steve Laube Literary Agency. You can read more about Nancy and her books on her website: nancyjfarrier.com.