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Stories about the people, places, community, culture of the Cache la Poudre River National Heritage Area.

Feb 06
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Just Add Water: Benjamin Eaton’s Life Experiences before Settling in the Poudre River Valley

By Historic Stories

Benjamin Eaton grew up in Ohio in the 1830s and 1840s.  Upon reaching adulthood, he undertook a series of tasks and adventures that prepared him well for the future role he would play in settling the Poudre River Valley.  While still in Ohio, he was a surveyor assistant on the new railroads passing near his family’s farm.  He moved to Oakland Township in Louisa County, Iowa, in 1854 where he taught school and initially farmed on shares.  He joined the Columbus City, Iowa, Pikes Peak Expedition in spring 1859 that departed for the Colorado gold fields.  The group followed the South Platte River into Colorado, camping one night at the mouth of the Poudre River. 

That summer, the Iowans searched for gold, encountering the rules and technology being used in the mining districts which permitted everyone to join the search for gold.  The Miner’s Codes allocated land and water in a first-in-time, first-in-right manner, making sure that each took only the amount of land and water that he/she could actively utilize.  Ditches were dug to move the water out of the streams to the sluiceways.  The mining camps had a great need for hay (fuel) for the horsepower needed to keep the mining operations active.  Observing this scene and noting its function and needs would serve Eaton well later in life.

After six months, all members of the Columbus City Expedition, except Eaton, returned to Iowa.  He decided to check out other mining camps and met another Iowan, Jim Hill, from Wappelo, Iowa – a community less than 20 miles from Eaton’s Iowa farm.  In December 1860, Eaton and Hill joined the Second Baker Expedition to search for gold in the San Juan Mountains in southwestern Colorado.  The effort was unsuccessful with miners dispersing.  Eaton and Hill passed through Fort Garland on their way south where they observed the Hispanic irrigation developments.  They begin farming on shares at the Maxwell Land Grant, in Cimarron, New Mexico, working within the acequia system for constructing, maintaining and operating an irrigation ditch. 

In late summer 1863, Eaton and Hill departed Cimarron, heading toward Denver, with the intent of visiting Iowa (and, for Eaton, Ohio) before returning to Colorado to homestead.  Where to homestead?  Before heading east, employed as drivers of freight wagons, they returned to the mouth of the Poudre and camped, again.   About 12 miles up the Poudre, where the valley widened and natural hay meadows existed, they staked their claims with a hastily constructed claim ‘shack’. 

In March, 1864, Eaton marries Rachel Hill, Jim Hill’s sister.  Early summer they depart Iowa for Colorado via covered wagon, to take up the homestead claims made the previous fall.  As they travel up the Poudre River in July 1864, Eaton notes the extremely lush native hay meadows at their homestead.  Their arrival occurred a little more than one month after the flood that forced the military to move their camp from Laporte to a new site – Fort Collins.  Eaton realized, that July, that he could make a large sum of money transporting the large supply of hay from his farm to mining camps – camps he knew well. 

Over the next six years, Eaton constructs the B.H. Eaton ditch to water his hay meadows at times other than nature’s one natural irrigation each spring.  He establishes a prosperous farm and helps the growing community build its first schoolhouse along the banks of the Whitney Ditch, just north of the Poudre River, southwest of today’s downtown Windsor. 

In late 1869 Eaton learns of Nathan Meeker’s and Horace Greeley’s plans to create the Union Colony in the general area of the Poudre River.  Eaton suggests the broad area around where the Box Elder Creek enters the Poudre River (near the Council Tree).  However, Meeker decides to locate the Colony where the new train tracks cross the Poudre River, and about five miles from where it empties into the South Platte River. 

Thus, Eaton had experience with surveying, moving water away from rivers via canals/ditches, and procedures Hispanics and miners use to allocate water among competing users.   This, along with his strong initiative, puts him in an excellent position make major contributions to Colorado’s water infrastructure and, in turn, creation of Colorado water law. 

Photo Credit:

Archive at Fort Collins Museum of Discovery c. 1911

References:

Norris, Jane E. and Lee G. 1990. Written in water: the life of Benjamin Harrison Eaton.  Ohio University Press, Athens.  

Hobbs, Greg. 1997. Colorado Water Law: An Historical Overview. Vol 1(1): Water Law Review, University of Denver, Denver Colorado [http://duwaterlawreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/1UDenvWaterLRev1.pdf]

Jan 22
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Just Add Water: Pre-settlement Water, Land, People Relationships in the Poudre River Valley

By Historic Stories

The Poudre River’s recorded history, prior to gold seekers and settlers arriving in the late 1850s and early 1860s, is scarce.  There were fur trappers’ and explorers’ writings of the area, but these were very limited regarding the Poudre River.  It was during this period that the river obtained its name, but the exact reasons and timing are uncertain.  It is generally agreed that fur traders/trappers needed to stash some of their supplies (including gun powder – in French it becomes ‘Cache la Poudre’), for a short time, during the 1820s or 1830s, for some reason, and the river was named for this action. 

As gold seekers and settlers encountered the Poudre River Valley in the mid-1800s, I often wonder what they saw.  We know that the river today is not like the natural stream before it was adapted to support permanent settlement of large numbers of people.   

Before permanent settlement in the Poudre River valley, the river meandered in a shallow, braided fashion through the bottomlands.  Each spring, runoff flooded (i.e. ‘irrigated’) the valley bottomlands in such a manner that there was an excellent stand of native grasses growing across the valley floor from the mouth of the canyon to the mouth of the river, east of Greeley.  One place, open to the public, to visualize this low, flat, bottomlands is the Arapaho Bends Natural Area.  As you stand near the remains of the Strauss Cabin, you can gaze across the valley floor (removing Rigden Reservoir from visualization) toward the west and see the bluff with Ziegler Road on top.  Look east to the bluff where I-25 is now located with the town of Timnath on the east side of the interstate.  Looking upstream the valley widens as the Box Elder Creek enters the Poudre River.  Imagine the entire bottomland area covered with native grasses and trees growing along the river meandering through the valley. 

The lushness of grasses drew buffalo into the valley.  It becomes rather obvious why the Native Americans used the area to camp – food, water, fuel – all in abundance.  Just north of the Strauss Cabin, across the railroad tracks, is where the Council Tree was located.  Large numbers of Native Americans could camp in the vicinity to ‘Council’, as the early setters called Native American gatherings, – i.e. transact business, socialize, and conduct ceremonies – while living comfortably on the resources provided by the river. 

This lushness did not escape the attention of earlier settlers to the area.  George Strauss (1858) and Benjamin Eaton (1859), traveling through the area on other missions, noted the lushness and both returned to settle in the valley when their missions were completed.  The Coy family decided to over-winter in the valley on their way to California in 1862, but did not continue their trip when spring arrived.  The Valley is a beautiful place where many people, over the years, have chosen to settle. 

The Northern Arapaho, under the leadership of ‘Chief’ Friday, were the last band of Native Americans to live/visit the Poudre River Valley, being forced out in the late 1860s.  Before leaving, they requested a reservation on the north bank of the Poudre River, on which to live, but were denied.  Friday’s band eventually was assigned to live on the Wind River Indian Reservation in central Wyoming. 

References:

Silkensen, G. 1993. South Platte River Observations: Historical Clues to the Evolution of a River’s Ecology. Published in the Proceedings of the 1992 South Platte Conference, Information Series Number 72, Colorado Water Institute, Colorado State University, pages 41-56. http://www.cwi.colostate.edu/publications/IS/72.pdf

Simmons, Marc. 2004. Friday: the Arapaho Boy – a Story from History. Children of the West Series, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque. 

Burris, Lucy. 2006. People of the Poudre: An Ethnohistory of the Cache la Poudre River National Heritage Area, AD 1500-1880. (Published through a cooperative agreement between the National Park Service, Friends of the Poudre, and the Cache la Poudre River National Heritage Area)

Jan 10
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Just Add Water: Why is there a National Heritage Area associated with the Cache la Poudre River?

By Stories

The main answer to this question is WATER!  The Poudre River’s water history is not unique in the western U.S. – many western rivers have similar stories about human attempts to survive in arid and semi-arid western river valleys.

What makes the Cache la Poudre River worthy of designation as a National Heritage Area is the manner in which its water history is interwoven into the broader fabric of western water law and technology.  The Poudre River’s history, in many ways, is an illustrative microcosm of western settlement that captures the essence of the struggles people faced in living in the dryness that defines the West and, in particular, how they adapted to survive, and thrive, in the dry landscape.  And further, the Poudre’s history shows how people continue, to this day, to adapt to new challenges, such as improving the ecological health of the river and providing for recreation on, and in, the river.       

As historian David McCullough notes:

History is the story of people. 

Water history in the Poudre River valley is no exception.  The series of stories that follow explains the role of the people of the Poudre in establishing western water law, water development strategies, new water management technology, and initial recognition of the need to create a sustainable relationship with the limited water environment that exists in much of the West.  Again, this need continues today as the population of the Poudre Valley continues to grow rapidly. 

The people did not set out to establish new water law, create new technology to manage water, or determine how to divide the limited waters of western rivers.  They set out to survive in a dry and harsh climate. As the people of the Poudre adapted to the dry climate, their efforts were innovative enough to be of assistance and use to other western States and many foreign countries. 

Organizing and presenting a large sweep of western water history, if even in only one valley, can be daunting if the presentation focuses on each discipline’s (i.e. law, engineering, agriculture, etc.) evolutionary path.  The approach used here will chronologically follow the people of the Poudre, explain the water challenges they faced in their day, and describe the manner in which they solved each challenge.  The solutions they created for each challenge, when combined over time, will help to explain how we arrived, collectively, at the system of western water management in use today and why there is a National Heritage Area associated with the Poudre River. 

Water history in the West is, in very general terms, about subsistence in the 1800s (the frontier was deemed ‘closed’ in 1890), development in the 1900s (the Bureau of Reclamation was created in 1902 and is now managing 180 projects), and sustainability as the 21st Century dawns (as ecosystem health, instream flows and recreational uses are debated, acknowledged, and incorporated into water law).  This overarching framework provides a background against which the people of the Poudre lived their lives and confronted water challenges facing each generation. 

Read the first story.  

References:

‘The Story of People’

National Park Service. 1990. Resource Assessment: Proposed Cache la Poudre River National Heritage Corridor. Prepared by the NPS Rocky Mountain Regional Office at the request of the City of Fort Collins, December  [Appendix B of this report is entitled: Historical Context – The History of Water Law and Water Development in the Cache la Poudre River Basin and the Rocky Mountain West]  Report can be accessed at:  https://archive.org/details/resourceassessme00nati

Information Source: These stories were prepared by Robert C. Ward, a professor and administrator at Colorado State University for 35 years, to assist in training volunteers on the history behind designation of the Poudre River as a National Heritage Area. [In particular, the information permits water history-related sites along the Poudre River to be explained through the lives of people who adapted their use of water to match the semi-arid nature of the landscape.]

Dec 20
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Just Add Water: What is a National Heritage Area?

By Stories

We see signs announcing the Cache la Poudre National Heritage Area when we drive across bridges over the Poudre River and along the Poudre Trail by irrigation ditches.  What is a national heritage area?  Why is there one along the Poudre River?  What does the heritage area encompass?

First, let’s define a National Heritage Area.  According to the National Park Service, that oversees National Heritage Areas:

National Heritage Areas are places where historic, cultural, and natural resources combine to form cohesive, nationally important landscapes.  Unlike national parks, National Heritage Areas are large lived-in landscapes. Consequently, National Heritage Area entities collaborate with communities to determine how to make heritage relevant to local interests and needs. 

In 1984, the first National Heritage Area, Illinois and Michigan Canal National Heritage Area, was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan. In his dedication speech, Reagan referred to National Heritage Areas as “a new kind of national park” that married heritage conservation, recreation, and economic development.

National Park Service. 1990. Proposed Cache la Poudre River National Heritage Corridor: Resource Assessment.

The Cache la Poudre landscape was examined by the National Park Service, in 1990, for consideration as a National Heritage Corridor.  This study was requested by Fort Collins and considered only that portion of the Poudre near Fort Collins.  The recommendations of the study suggested a broader definition of the area covered and, eventually, led to Congress, under the leadership of Senator Hank Brown, establishing the Cache la Poudre River National Heritage Corridor in 1996. 

Implementation of the legislation ran into problems regarding who appointed the Board to oversee the Heritage Area. This problem was not corrected by Congress until 2009.  A Management Plan was prepared in 2013 and the Cache la Poudre River National Heritage Area became a fully funded, and, thus, functioning, National Heritage Area at that time. 

The Cache la Poudre River National Heritage Area’s ‘landscape’ includes the 100-year flood plain of the river from, roughly, the mouth of the Poudre River Canyon, northwest of Bellvue, to the mouth of the river, east of Greeley.   National Heritage Area designation does not affect private property rights. 

References:

National Park Service. 1990. Proposed Cache la Poudre River National Heritage Corridor: Resource Assessment.  Study funded by City of Fort Collins. (https://archive.org/details/resourceassessme00nati) [Appendix B of this document is an excellent overview of the water history behind establishment of the Cache la Poudre River National Heritage Area.]

National Park Service

Information Source: These stories were prepared by Robert C. Ward, a professor and administrator at Colorado State University for 35 years, to assist in training volunteers on the history behind designation of the Poudre River as a National Heritage Area. [In particular, the information permits water history-related sites along the Poudre River to be explained through the lives of people who adapted their use of water to match the semi-arid nature of the landscape.]

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