Taken from A History of the State of Colorado 1895
GRAND COUNTY.
Middle park—taken from Ute Indians—a famous hunting ground—general
DESCRIPTION—GLOWING ACCOUNT BY BAYARD TAYLOR—SCENIC SPLENDORS— STREAMS—HOT SULPHUR SPRINGS—EARLY SETTLERS—DETAILS OF AN AWFUL MASSACRE—ONE OF THE MOST HORRIBLE TRAGEDIES EVER COMMITTED IN THE STATE.
Grand County, which takes its name from the Grand River, was created by an act of the territorial legislature, approved February 2nd, 1874. It was severed from the northern part of Summit County, and the seat located at Hot Sulphur Springs, on Grand River. It is now bounded on the north by Larimer, south by Clear Creek, Summit and Eagle, east by Gilpin, Boulder, Clear Creek and Larimer, and west by Routt. Its area is 2,100 square miles, and, by the census of 1890, had a population of 604, an increase of 187 in the preceding decade. Originally, this county embraced both Middle and North Parks. In 1877 the western part was segregated and Routt county organized. The Middle Park, or the present county, was the favorite home and hunting ground of the northern Ute Indians. In 1868, by treaty previously concluded, these lands were relinquished. The Utes parted with this country very reluctantly, and it was only after a long struggle that they were induced to relocate on a reservation provided for them on White river. Prior to the invasion of the Park by white settlers, quadruped and other game abounded, elk, deer, mountain sheep, antelope, buffalo and all varieties of bear, including grizzlies; grouse, sage hens, ducks, geese, turkeys, etc., whereby it will be readily understood that the savages were extremely averse to its abandonment. It was, in reality, the best hunting range in all the mountain region. It is watered by Grand River, a large and noble stream, fed by many strong tributaries; a beautiful and picturesque basin well grassed, and the mountains which surround it on all sides are heavily timbered. It is a lovely place in summer, and the winters are not rigorous except upon the ranges; there the snows fall to great depths. But one of the principal attractions to the Indians was the large hot sulphur spring, to which they resorted for the cure of various ailments: a broad circular pool of hot steaming water, strongly impregnated with sulphur, soda and other minerals. It ’s fed by a constant flow from smaller springs in the neighboring hillside. The temperature is no degrees Fahrenheit. Trout swarmed in all the streams, and Grand Lake, in which Grand river takes its rise, contains thousands of these beautiful fish.
In the melting seasons, Grand river runs full to the height of its banks. The Park being a sheltered retreat, well nigh inaccessible to their enemies, the Plains Indians, and possessing all the advantages which an Indian desires, it is not surprising that the Utes should have made vigorous efforts to retain it. When the Pike’s Peak immigration came, and towns and trading posts were established, they brought out the furs and skins of animals they captured to exchange for coveted goods. Nevava, a brave and wise old man, was the chief of these tribes.
The valley of the Grand is very fertile, a fine grazing region, but not well adapted to agriculture because of the altitude, shortness of growing season and cool nights. Yet in certain quarters considerable tracts have been put under cultivation, ditches having been taken out to irrigate them. In 1889 there were about 1,500 acres in grain and vegetables, wholly for local consumption. The Park is approximately fifty miles wide from east to west, by ninety miles in length north to south, embracing, in addition to agricultural and grazing lands, large deposits of iron, coal, petroleum, lime, granite and sandstones, with considerable belts of lodes bearing gold, silver, lead and copper, with some extensive placers. On all the mountain slopes are immense forests of pine and spruce timber. No part of this region has been touched by a constructed railway, though the Burling ton & Missouri River company have surveyed and partly graded a line along the Grand Valley. The first railway line surveyed and located in the Territory of Colorado was by engineer Edward L. Berthoud, who, in May 1861, began at Golden City, twelve miles west of Denver, passed up Clear Creek, or Vasquez river, to Berthoud Pass, down the western slope into the Park, and thence to Hot Sulphur Springs. During the same year he ran another line, but practically over the same route, to Gores Pass, thence to Bear and Snake rivers, to Williams Fork and on to Salt Lake City, as more fully set forth in the history of Jefferson County, Volume III, page 503. In 1865 General Bela M. Hughes partly constructed a stage road for Holiday’s Overland Express from Salt Lake, via Green river to Middle Park, but it was never occupied, indeed never completed.
Grand county unquestionably is the better-unoccupied portion of Colorado for railway purposes, including local traffic. It forms the shortest route front Denver to Salt Lake and Ogden. When penetrated by steel thorough fares, it will become one of the great centers of production. The fact that it has no connection with the outer world, no outlet for its native resources except by long and rugged wagon roads over lofty ranges, has prevented multitudes from settling there. The main tributaries of Grand river are the Troublesome, Muddy, the Blue, Williams and Frazier. As already stated, the Grand heads in Grand Lake, a large sheet of pure, cold water, situated in the northeasterly part of the county, and, flowing southwesterly, unites with the Gunnison at Grand Junction in Mesa County.
As early as 1859 the hot sulphur springs were located, and in some sense claimed by William N. Byers, founder of the Rocky Mountain “News,” who still retains them. In future time when the Park shall be traversed by railway trains, it will be made one of the chief sanitariums of the state. Mr. Byers has covered the main spring with a stone bathhouse. It is a superb fount of health-giving waters, where many remarkable cures have been affected. In 1866 Bayard Taylor made a pedestrian tour of this region and thus describes it in one of his letters:
“The sun came out, the clouds lifted and rolled away, and one of the most remarkable landscapes of the earth was revealed to our view. The valley of the Blue, which for a length of 30 miles, with a breadth ranging from five to ten, lay under our eyes, wore a tint of pearly silver-gray upon which the ripe green of the timber along the river and the scattered gleams of water seemed to be enameled. Opposite to us, above the sage color, rose huge mountain foundations, where the grassy openings were pale, the forests dark, the glens and gorges filled with shadow, the rocks touched with lines of light, making a checkered effect that suggested cultivation and settlement. Beyond this were wild ridges, all forests; then bare masses of rock streaked with snow, and highest, bleak snow pyramids piercing the sky. From north to south stretches the sublime wall of the western boundary of Middle Park, and where it fell away toward the canon by which the Grand river goes forth to seek the Colorado, there was a vision of dim, rosy peaks a hundred miles distant. In the breadth of effect, in airy depth and expansion, in simple yet most majestic outline, and in originality yet exquisite harmony of color, this landscape is unlike anything I have ever seen. There is a great vertical grandeur among the Alps; here it is the vast, lateral extent which impresses you, together with atmospheric effect occasioned by great elevation above the sea.”
Blue River, a magnificent stream, it may be observed in passing, rises under the shadow of Mount Lincoln, in the extreme south end of the Park. For twenty- five miles its tributaries are numerous, among them the Snake, Swan and French on the right, and Ten Mile on the left. The latter and the Snake empty into the Blue opposite one another, twenty-four miles from its source and ten miles below Breckenridge.
The first officers of Grand county were: Clerk and recorder, C. H. Hook; treasurer, W. N. Brown; county judge, David Young; sheriff, John Baker; assessor, Charles Fuller. The other offices were not filled.
A great belt of gold and silver mines, a few of which have been opened, are situated in the Rabbit Ear range, northwesterly from Hot Sulphur Springs. Some gold placers above Hahn’s Peak, now in Routt County, have been worked with very profitable results in past years. The silver mines on Rabbit Ear, especially the Wolverine, Endomide and a few others, have been sufficiently developed to demonstrate the strength of the veins and the value of the ores. These mines, however valuable they may be, can not be made profitable until facilities for reach ing markets by rail shall have been supplied, and the same is true of all the other resources.
William N. Byers and a trapper named Charles Utter, a bright, handsome and rather lively little fellow, known to all the early residents of the territory, were among the first to build cabins on Grand River. John S. Jones, whose family resided at Empire, owned some land near Utter’s place. Byers built a small log house at Hot Sulphur Springs in 1859. Another pioneer named J. L. Wescott went from Empire to these springs in 1865 and has ever since made Middle Park his home. He built the first cabin at Grand Lake in 1867.
We are now impelled to record a series of events filled with contention, bloodshed, and horror. In approaching the subject I am aware that no account, how ever accurate, written at this late day, will be accepted by all parties as a true narrative of the appalling tragedy, owing to the irreconcilable divisions of public sentiment that led up to it, traces of which exist to this day although many, indeed most, of the surviving actors, have removed from the county.* Nevertheless, the particulars following will be found correct in the main.
In 1874, when the county was created, Hot Sulphur Springs was the only settlement, and that a very small one. There were some herds of cattle and horses and a few widely separated cabins along Grand River below the springs. In that year, however, a prospector, named Sandy Campbell, discovered a belt of excellent gold and silver mines in the Rabbit Ear range. From these developed, in due course, a considerable degree .of activity which lasted a few years, then, because of their extreme isolation, died away. Rumors of Campbell’s find brought numerous accessions to the population. Among the residents at this time were Charles W. Royer, Charles H. Hook, Wm. S. Chamberlin, and John H. Stokes. Among the later arrivals were William Redman, his brother, Bass Redman, Cap t. J. Dean and others.
The personal feuds, political and factional disturbances which led to fearful disorders and finally to wholesale murder began in 1877 and raged with constantly increasing bitterness until after the closing act in the awful drama, July 4th, 1883. In 1879 certain parties conceived and executed a plan to establish a rival town at Grand Lake in nearer proximity to the mines. Among them were William Redman, a savage, brutal character, John H. Stokes and others who were not especially interested in the town of Hot Springs. The location of the new town became a fresh cause of malignant dissension. In the year last mentioned, eastern capitalists purchased the Wolverine mine, whose development gave promise of great value, and, in 1880, E. P. Weber came out as their representative and manager. He also bore a conspicuous part in hastening events to a tragical issue.
Out of the mining boom came the founding of the town of Lulu on the North Fork, 12 miles from Grand Lake, which ultimately became a strong ally of Grand Lake in the contest against Hot Springs. Meantime, the town of Teller had been established in North Park, on the west side of the range six miles westerly from Lulu, the seat of a mining district with a considerable population. It may be stated in passing, that both Lulu and Teller, as well as that of Gaskill, are now almost wholly deserted.
The Grand Lake people now felt strong enough, numerically, to change the county seat from Hot Springs to their town. The question was brought to a vote and carried in their favor by a small majority. Hot Springs, humiliated and embittered by the act, appealed to the courts, which decided against it The records and offices were removed to Grand Lake early in 1881. About this time E P. Weber entered the lists as an aggressive factor, when he and his friends came into violent collision with Bill Redman and his clan, through a dispute over a mining property.
Joseph L. Wescott, the first settler, claimed 160 acres of land as a homestead but was not permitted to file upon it for the reason that the township had not been surveyed. The claimant of the adjoining section, a Mr. Anderson, had sold his improvements to Mrs. M. J. Young. Weber attempted to jump a portion of these claims, causing Wescott and Mrs. Young great annoyance, which, with other aggressions, rendered him extremely unpopular in the town, and he was equally out of favor at Hot Springs.
Among others to settle in the mining town of Teller was John G. Mills, a brave but reckless man who had left Mississippi because of the killing lie had done there. He had been well educated, possessed much ability as a writer, had studied law, and served some time as an editor. In 1880 the North Park was claimed by both Larimer and Grand counties. In the election of that year a majority of its votes were cast with Grand, and Mills, being a candidate for county commissioner, was elected. In 1881 a factional quarrel split Teller into two distinct parties, a very large majority being hostile to Mills. His adversaries, supported by the North Park “Miner” published at Teller, and the only newspaper in the county, fiercely attacked him and a wordy and threatening war resulted. Grand Lake, however, was almost unanimously favorable to Mills, which created intense feeling between the two towns. In 1881 a general political disturbance occurred.
In the county election, Grand Lake came out victorious, re-electing Charles W. Royer, sheriff, W. S. Chamberlin, treasurer, both Democrats and Lew W. Pollard (Republican), clerk. The superintendent of schools, the county judge (Hoyt) and one commissioner also resided there. Royer remained at Hot Springs and ap¬ pointed Bill Redman undersheriff. Soon afterward the North Park “Miner” blazed with charges of malfeasance, speculation and mismanagement against the Grand Lake officials. This induced the latter to establish a paper of their own the “Prospector” edited by Bailey & Smart, who took up their defense.
From the beginning of the campaign of 1882, the factional disturbances grew more and more violent. Hot Springs hated Grand Lake because of its rivalry, and Teller hated it through the popularity of Mills in that quarter. The balance of the population were about evenly divided in sentiment. This year a commissioner was to be elected, and also two delegates to the Republican state convention. A mass meeting was held at Grand Lake which nominated J. R. Godsmark, of Lulu, for commissioner, and J. G. Mills and Charles F. Caswell for delegates to the state convention. As will be remem bered, Henry R. Wolcott was brought forward for the governorship by Senator N. P. Hill and his friends, and was opposed by Jerome 5. Chaffee, as the leader of the Republican party, and chairman of the central committee, consequently E. L. Campbell, of Lake, received the nomination after a heated contest Mills and Caswell favored Wolcott Shortly after the mass meeting just mentioned, a small number (only seven), it is said) met at Grand Lake and nominated E. P. Weber and Capt. T. J. Dean as delegates to the Republican convention. Being anti- Wolcott, they were admitted to seats. During the discussion of the Grand county contest, Weber made a speech in which he charged Mills with being a murderer and a fugitive from justice. This was one of the direct causes of the impending crisis in which both lost their lives. Other personal and political outbreaks occurred in which most of the principal characters were involved, but it is unnecessary to dwell upon them.
In January 1883, that fateful year, the board of county commissioners consisted of John G. Mills, chairman, Wilson Waldren, of Grand Lake, whose term was expiring (and in whose stead H. B. Rogerson had been elected), and Barney Day. The latter had been appointed in December to fill a vacancy caused by the resignation of John Kinsey. In January 1883, Rogerson resigned and E. P. Weber was appointed in his place. This was a severe blow to the Grand Lake faction, which had no love for Weber. Matters went on from bad to worse, until public feeling reached a very dangerous stage.
At length, a report was sent broadcast that Weber and Day proposed holding a special meeting for the purpose of ousting the county clerk and treasurer, upon an alleged insufficiency of their official bonds, but without notifying chairman Mills. The meeting was held next day but a discussion arose between Weber and Pollard, the clerk, as to its legality, the latter finally refusing to produce the records or to act as their clerk. Weber admitted the informality, and it was at length decided to fix a date for a special session, and the clerk was instructed to advise Mr. Mills thereof. Again the two newspapers broke out in charges and counter-charges; other events occurred to inflame the public mind, some arrests were made, etc.
On Monday, July 2nd, 1883, the full board of commissioners met in the office of the clerk at Grand Lake. Many people had arrived from neighboring towns. The clerk (Pollard) being absent, his duties were performed by his deputy, Mr. C. F. Caswell. The room was crowded with interested observers. The session passed off quietly.
At nine o’clock next morning (3rd) the board re¬ convened. Mills, however, stated that Mr. Caswell and himself had been retained as counsel in a divorce suit to be tried that day before the county court, and asked that they be excused. Mr. Weber, who had met while being chairman, assented, saying that he and Day would merely look over the assessment schedule and make notes of any matters they might consider necessary to be brought before the full board. Weber and Day, in company with Capt. Dean and E. M. Harman, who acted as their clerk, spent the day in consideration of matters before them. About dusk, an order was handed to Sheriff Royer directing him to appear before the board and show cause why his bond should not be declared insufficient. This was the first intimation of bad faith on their part, and naturally led to great excitement among the factions. This was increased when it became known that orders of like import had been prepared for service upon the county clerk, treasurer and judge, with certain precinct officers, for it then became only too apparent that Weber and Day and Dean had taken advantage of the absence of Mills and Caswell to accomplish their long threatened purpose. Everyone realized that nothing but a miracle could prevent bloodshed.
We now come to the final act, and, in order that it may be made entirely clear to the reader, quote the description of the battleground and the events of the tragedy direct from the article in the “Sun” here to fore mentioned, because it is correct in every essential particular: “Grand Lake is, in shape, nearly elliptical. The townsite is situated on the north shore. From the shore the land rises moderately, forming a ridge, and descending again extends into a flat expanse. This ridge extends around the west shore of the lake to within about 200 yards of the Fairview house, at that time the leading hotel, owned by Mrs. Young. It was situated on the property which Weber had endeavored to jump. At this place Weber, Dean, Day and many Teller and Gaskill people were stopping. The distance from the hotel to the courthouse is about three-fourths of a mile.
On the townsite the ridge mentioned is situated between the road and the lake, but, on turning to follow the western shore, the road crosses the ridge and lies between it and the lake. It has been said that this ridge ends about 200 yards from the Fairview house. It would be perhaps a better description to say that the ascending shore gradually grew more level, thus obliterating the ridge. In consequence, in traveling from the Fairview house toward the town, at a distance of about 200 yards the road began to descend into a hollow, and at an equal distance farther the traveler finds on his left a wooded ridge, and close on his right the lake. On the summit of the ridge is a mass of rocks, and from that rocky point the hotel and surroundings are in full view. At that time in the hollow by the roadside, and touched by the waters of the lake during the spring, was an old claim cabin used as an icehouse.
“The Fourth of July, 1883, dawned bright and clear at Grand Lake. It was one of the most beautiful days ever seen in the mountains. Before and after breakfast the guests of the Fairview house were indulging in much revolver shooting in honor of the day. The cracking of cartridges was also heard from all other parts of the lake. Consequently, when, about nine o’clock, a sudden fusilade of a dozen or fifteen shots was heard, it created no comment until a man rushed up to Deputy Sheriff Max James, of Teller, who was at the Fairview house, and exclaimed that Weber had been shot. Just where the road commenced its descent Weber was found lying on his face. He had been shot through the right lung. Further on in the hollow Dean was found lying in a pool of blood. He had been shot in the bridge of the nose, the ball lodging in his head; a second ball had completely shattered his hip-bone. In addition, his head was badly cut by blows from some instrument, probably the butt of a revolver. At the corner of the ice house, with his head in the lake, was the body of Barney Day. He had been shot through the heart.
In the center of the road was a second corpse, afterward recognized as John G. Mills. He had been shot through the head and the brains were oozing out into the road. The mask covering his face had been burned by the shot that killed him. By his side was a single shot Sharpe’s rifle containing an empty shell. His clothing was covered with a suit of ducking, the coat being so fastened by pieces of rope that it would have been impossible for him to get at his revolver which was strapped to him under the ducking. A flour sack with holes cut for the eyes and mouth was drawn over the head and fastened around the neck with a piece of rope. Behind the rock on the ridge was found a rope, and the indentations in the soil showed that several persons had been standing or kneeling there. A trail of blood was found and followed for about 300 yards to the outlet of the lake, where it was lost. In following the trail a second mask, similar to the one on Mills, was picked up, and there were evidences that a horse had been fastened there.
“The bodies of the dead men were removed to town and the wounded taken to the Fairview house. Dr. H. F. Frisius, an able physician and surgeon, happened to be at Gaskill, and he was sent for. Weber never spoke after being placed in bed, and sank steadily till about midnight, when he died. Dean made a strong fight for his life, but the severe wounds he had received were too much even for his undaunted pluck and strong constitution, and he died on the 17th following. Soon after the shooting, nearly the entire population of Grand Lake and the visitors were on the scene. There was one notable exception, Undersheriff Redman did not appear.”
It was afterward made clearly evident that the sheriff, Charles W. Royer, had been with the assassins and had taken part in killing Barney Day. “A messenger was immediately dispatched to Hot Springs with the horrible intelligence, which created the wildest excitement.” From a resident of Hot Springs, I learn the following details. Charley Royer immediately after the murders rode to the springs and had been there an hour or more before the messenger reached the place. He stopped at the house of Walker McQueary, four miles above the springs, and when he rode up to Walker’s door his horse was literally reeking with perspiration, showing that he had been urged to his utmost speed. Royer talked with McQueary, who asked him whence he came in such hot haste, referring to the distressed condition of his horse. Royer said he came from Grand Lake. McQueary then inquired: “What news from that section; what are the county commissioners doing?” He replied that there was no special news, everything was quiet, the commissioners were holding a meeting, etc. But through it all, he exhibited great nervous excitement. After resting his horse, he rode on to the springs, where he answered similar questions in about the same manner. An hour or so later came the messenger from Grand Lake, bearing the details of the fight, which set the town in a fearful uproar. Royer at first endeavored to discredit the report, but soon after became sullenly silent, refusing to talk about it. Another messenger proceeded across the range to Georgetown and there telegraphed the horrible in telligence to Denver, where it created an intense feeling.
“At the coroner’s inquest very little light was thrown on the affair. Dean made a statement to the effect that the three had reached the ice house when a shot was heard. Weber exclaimed, ‘I am shot,’ when Day and Dean caught him and were lowering him to the ground when they also were attacked by three masked men, and the fight became general. Day’s revolver showed four empty shells and Dean’s one.”
Royer, in his anxiety to conceal the facts, gave a number of theories as to the manner in which the killing was done. All the circumstances indicated that there were from six to nine men in the attacking party, although only three took active part in the shooting. It was also among the theories that Royer stood near the ice house, and that when Day, after being shot by his assailants, ran in that direction, he was finished by a shot from Royer’s rifle. Charles H. Hook was charged with complicity in the murders, but he was in Denver at the time, hence the charge was without foundation in fact. That the wounded man whose trail had been strewn with blood was Bill Redman no one for a moment doubted. Long afterward, from information furnished by detectives and others who followed his traces in the hope of a large reward, it was made known that Redman fled to the mountains and was concealed in a prospector’s cabin about four miles northwest of Grand Lake, and that his wounds were dressed by a doctor who had been taken from the latter place by Redman’s friends and kept there until his patient was able to travel. He was then taken by his brother, Bass Redman, through Middle and Egeria Parks to a hiding place on the northern foot of the Flat Top mountain, where he remained some time and then went further west into the edge of Utah, where an unknown man was killed or committed suicide (which, was never known), and his body left to represent that of Redman. There they left one of the saddles that had been taken away from Grand Lake on the day of the murders, and also a worn out pony. Written in the sand with a stick was the name “William Redman,” and the same, scrawled upon a scrap of paper, was pinned to the saddle. After careful investigation, the body was found to be that of a man who had wandered to the place had either been slain by others or by his own hand, and Redman, passing that way, used it to check further search ior himself. He was next heard of in a hiding place between the Yampa and White rivers in the southwestern part of Routt County, where he spent a part of the following winter. In the spring he went north to the Sweetwater mining country in western Wyoming, and thence south through western Colorado and New Mexico into Arizona. His brother, Bass, returned to Missouri.
Although some attempts were made by the district attorney and the courts to develop all the facts of this frightful affair and bring the guilty to punishment, nothing ever came of them.
On the 16th of July, eleven days after the massacre. Sheriff Royer, being in Georgetown, committed suicide by shooting himself through the head, making the fifth victim of the tragedy. He was not a bad man at heart, and was generally popular in both communities. Redman, on the contrary, was a large, muscular man, six feet tall, “with a great deal of the savage in his nature. He was faithful to his friends, but his hatred of his enemies was of a type that caused him to commit the most brutal deeds when an opportunity for revenge presented itself.”
Such is the story in brief of one of the most terrible crimes that has reddened the records of our commonwealth. Three county commissioners and their clerk assassinated in the broad daylight of our national anniversary, the sheriff slain by his own hand, the others immediately concerned in the plot fugitives from justice, and all the result of political animosities that might easily have been adjusted by the ordinary exercise of rational judgment.
On the 19th of July, Grand county being virtually without officers, a deputation of citizens from that section, composed of L. C. Pollard, W. S. Chamberlin and C. H. Hook with Wm. N. Byers, waited upon Governor James B. Grant to suggest the names of parties for appointment to the vacant offices. In due course the governor appointed Samuel Moffett in place of J. G. Mills, G. W. Hertel in place of E. P. Weber, and T. Webb Preston in place of Barney Day, and these commissioners were authorized to select a sheriff.
The county seat was removed back to Hot Springs, December 16th, 1888, as the result of a vote taken at the November election of that year.
In 1890 the total assessed valuation of taxable property in Grand County was $432,707. In the schedule then returned to the auditor of state there were 27,867 acres of agricultural land, 1.843 horses, 9,973 cattle, and 2,208 sheep.
The school census of 1890 shows a total school population of 129, with an enrollment of 59. There were six school districts and five buildings, the latter valued at $2,025.
The officers for 1890-91 were: Clerk, J. N. Pettingell; treasurer, Wm. P. Farris; county judge, David Bock; assessor, N. N. Buttolph; sheriff. Walker McQueary; coroner, John O. Feltcrs; superintendent of schools, Oliver Neidham; surveyor, L. D. C. Gaskell; clerk of the district court, David Bock; commissioners, Henry Lehman, Frank M. Smith and Frank S. Byers.
The principal route to Middle Park is by a wagon road from Georgetown via Empire and Berthoud Pass. It was commenced July 16th, 1874, and the first stage passed over it to Hot Sulphur Springs November 18th following. It was built by a company of which W. H. Cushman was president, and Thomas Guanella, secretary, nearly all the funds being furnished by residents of Georgetown.
Here is the URL to the book History of the State of Colorado published in 1895 by Frank Hall. Early Grand County part of document is on page 136.
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