Category Archives: Denver, Colorado Territory

Denver, Colorado Territory, Pikes Peak Gold Fever

1861: Lydia (Thompson) Olney to Israel Thompson

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This letter was written by Lydia (Thompson) Olney (1818-1867), the first wife of Ephraim Zelotus Olney (1816-1892). The letter was penned in late June 1861 from Superior, Boulder county, Colorado Territory. The couple were still enumerated there in 1865 though Lydia died two years later. That census informs us that Lydia was born in New York State, probably in the vicinity of her husband who came from Tioga county. The couple were farming in Potter county, Pennsylvania, before coming to Kansas. Lydia’s parents were Isaac C. Thompson(1794-1874) and Keziah Wicks (1797-1876). They had numerous children; the letter was directed to one of the youngest, Israel Thompson (1841-1909) who lived in Harrison, Potter county, Pennsylvania in 1860.

Lydia does not give us much information about her husband’s occupation but the mention of wagons to and from Pikes Peak suggests to me that he was likely transporting supplies to the mining regions. It’s curious that Lydia datelined her letter from Superior. Though the first settlers arrived in this area of the foothills between present day Boulder and Denver, a coal seam was not discovered here until 1864 and local lore claims the town derived its name from the “superior” quality of the coal mined in the area. The town itself was not platted and officially named until 1896. Native Americans of the Arapahoe and Ute nations still frequented the area in the 1860s.

T R A N S C R I P T I O N

Superior [Boulder county, Colorado]

June 29, 1861

As I was alone today, I was thinking of you & I thought I would write to you & I want you to answer it. We are all well. I have been [well] all winter and summer. It is a general time of health. There has been but two deaths in this county this year. One is the man we bought of hurt him lifting at a raising. The other was Mr. Fish [who] fell from his wagon & the wheel run over his head & breast.

Oh, about our dog. We have got the best one we ever had. There is not an Indian or squaw that dare come near the house unless we speak to the dog for if we let him alone, he will act as though he would eat them up. Now when Ephraim went to the Peak, he brought home some current bushes that bore red, black and yellow currants bigger than ours & he see droves of buffalo every day—sometimes 5 in a drove & sometimes a thousand. It was prairie so he could see them a great way off. But sometimes they would [be] close to the wagons. One day the men had all gone with the guns but Ephraim, he lay down in a ravine a little ways off from the wagon & an old big fellow come cantering along very slow till he came within 5 yards of him & he could see just how they acted. He also saw flocks of antelope. [They] look like a deer only not quite so big & the mountain sheep bigger than our sheep—some black some white—[and] go in flocks from 20 to a 100 in a flock. And the Jackass rabbit lives out there that is twice as big as your rabbits & no dog can catch them unless they run in a hole.

Israel, please send me some seed of the cotton milkweed & spearmint if there is any. 1 Goodbye, — Lydia Olney

1 It’s hard to imagine today why anyone would want these plants but they were most likely desired for their medicinal properties. Cotton milkweed roots were used to treat respiratory illnesses and Spearmint was used to treat colic, indigestion and stomach aches, among other uses.

Denver, Colorado Territory

1873: Phineas Talcott to Frederick Talcott

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The following letter was written by Phineas Talcott (1845-1940), the son of Allyn Talcott (1800-1863) and Martha Goodrich Robbins (1808-1896) of Vernon, Tolland county, Connecticut. He addressed his letter to “Friend Fred” whom I feel certain was actually his younger brother Frederick Talcott (1850-1919), despite his use of the word “friend.” From the envelope we learn that Fred was working as a clerk for the Gorham Manufacturing Company in Providence, Rhode Island at the time. It was the largest American manufacturer of sterling and silverplate.

Phineas was 28 years old when he wrote this letter, describing his existence as “a Mark Twain Life.” He was likely alluding to the recently published work by Samuel Clemens titled “Roughing It,” which detailed the realities of western mining camps with a comedic lens. Phineas’ challenges as a sales agent for the Howe Sewing Machine Company are treated with a degree of levity, a style characteristic of Mark Twain.

The letter is dated December 12, 1873—just weeks following the Panic of 1873, which instigated a national economic crisis particularly detrimental to frontier enterprises. The loss of his own employment compels him to state, “I have got to skin out,” a phrase that reflects both the urgent necessity to depart swiftly and the prevailing culture of constant movement and activity that characterized many young men on the frontier after the Civil War, who generally bore minimal responsibilities.

Census records inform us that after his western adventures, Phineas returned to Vernon, Connecticut, where he started a dry goods store.

Denver, Colorado Territory, in the early 1870s.

T R A N S C R I P T I O N

Addressed to Frederick Talcott, Esq., Providence, Rhode Island

Denver [Colorado Territory]
December 12, 1873

Friend Fred,

Well Old Boy, how do you do after so long? I suppose you will think me a hard crowd for not writing before. Well, Fred, all excuses are foolish so here I go. I am well. As you see by my heading, in site of Pike’s Peak, and have been Bust and Rebust and am getting use to it. 

I cannot tell you much of my experience in so little a space as this letter allows me, but I will try and give you a few points. I have been in Denver one month and I tell you, Fred, have passed through the Wars and yet I am not happy. I have been Agent for the Howe Sewing Machine but they have Bust too and, to use the phrase [in common use] here, I have got to skin out.

I expect to leave here in two days. Am going up the Platt River a number of miles to a ranch to go hunting with a man who has been rooming with me. He is a Brick and has been a gunner in the army four years so you see he is prepared for war while there is yet peace. Lots of deer & antelope are brought in here every day. I have seen about 200 antelope on the plains coming here but was not near enough to hit any—but expect to soon.

You ought to have seen me talking with an Indian Chief the other day. I made slow work of it. But [I] am getting use to it some. I wish you could see some of them red devils in their war paint. This is their phrase for anything large: “Ug, heap Indian,” or “Heap building.” Everything is “heap” when large.

Well Fred, I have led a Mark Twain life. I wish you were with me. There is no better country for health than here. The view of the Rocky Mountains is grand. No words of mine can do them justice or convey to you the Grand sight of them. Send greeting to our friends. — P. Talcott

Denver, Colorado Territory, Joel McKee

1861: DeForest Hedges to Friend Samuel

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This letter was penned by DeForest Hedges (1831-1921), the son of Christopher E. Hedges (1801-1883) and Mary Newell (1806-1881) of Waverly, Tioga county, New York. DeForest attended the Charlottesville Seminary in Schoharie county and then in 1859 he drove a freight wagon for Clark & McCormick from Omaha to Denver so that he could get the gold fields of Colorado. He did some placer mining in 1860 but then returned to freighting to make a living, driving the route from Denver to Virginia City, Montana. He eventually got into ranching in Montana.

No better place to raise recruits than the local beer hall next door to the “Denver City Home Guards Headquarters” (Denver Public Library)

Transcription

Denver [Colorado Territory]
October 9th 1861

Friend Samuel,

I now take the opportunity to write a few lines to you again hoping that I will after a while receive a letter from you. This is the second that I have written to you without receiving a solitary line in return and now this is the last that I shall write to you until I receive one from you. I really think judging from the letters that I receive that I have but few friends in the vicinity of home if I have not received a letter, excepting from Father’s family, from anyone in the neighborhood since H. P. Crane left. Well, if the folks don’t feel disposed to write to me, they can do the other thing—they can let it alone. But Sam, I hope that you are not one of the number that feel disposed to write.

This has been a cold and stormy day—a harbinger of approaching winter. It has snowed all day and the consequence is that the ground wears a snow mantle. There has at least a foot of snow fallen today & the air this evening is quite cold. I tell you, Sam, that I have seen some rough times in this country but still I have not yet seen enough of the country yet. I shall not come home until a year from this fall.

There is nothing of importance transpiring here excepting the military movements. They have received orders here to raise two regiments of soldiers. One regiment is already full and the second is in progress. They have been building barracks near the town for the soldiers’ winter quarters. It is expected that the Rebels & Indians will attack this town this fall. They will meet with a warm reception if they do. We will give them the best that our guns afford. We have got a secession Captain by the name of McKey 1 in prison here charged with treason. He was raising a company of secession Rebels but his plans did not work & he may get his cotton neck stretched if he don’t look out.

Times are better than they were last spring. Write soon and tell me all the news. This in friendship from your friend, — DeForest Hedges

1 It was Captain Joel McKee that was arrested by order of William Gilpin, Governor of Colorado Territory and placed in jail by Copeland Townsend, US Marshal. Gilpin’s executive order read: “Information having reached me that a Texan named McKee is raising troops within this Territory for an unlawful purpose, I deem it incompatible with the public safety for him to be suffered longer to be at large. You are, therefore, directed to arrest and detain him until further orders.” When McKee petitioned for a Writ of Habeas Corpus, it was denied with the argument by the court that it does not apply to persons who engage in open rebellion or invasion of public safety. According to one source, Joel McKee was born in 1824 in Indiana, father was born in Kentucky, and his mother was born in Pennsylvania. “He was in CO in 1861, described as a “frontiersman” or ” old Indian fighter,” probably mining gold, who was a leader of the pro-South forces around Denver according to the (Yankee dominated) newspapers. They had a secret camp at the ghost town of Russellville in 1861. He led a group of about 45 men toward TX in Oct. 1861. They were captured near Ft Wise, held in Denver, charged with treason. They busted out 28 Feb 1862 and made their way South.” (Civil War Message Board)