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Bradley Barlow died at Summit House Courtesy Photo
William ‘Henry’ Edward Davis Described as “one of the most comfortable properties on the Apache” Henry and Louisa Biffen or Bitten Davis had resided in the area since 1873, and had a “fine herd of cattle”. They also raised horses. Henry and Louisa were both born in England; married there in 1858; and had three children: Henry Percy, Maude Louise May and Isabel.
By 1885, Louisa had died and Henry had moved into Pueblo with his two daughters. By 1896, Henry was living in California.
John ‘Jack’ Bond John Palmer “The last ranch on the creek is that of Mr. John Palmer. The late occupant of the place was Mr. J. Bond, who disposed of it a few months ago to the present owner.”
Jack and Annie Bond were both born in England, he in 1845 and she in 1846. They homestead land (awarded in 1889) on Apache Creek, east of current Interstate 25. In 1877, they sold the property and purchased the “Stearns' Summit House, on the Sangre de Cristo (Pass)”. A stage stop on the Barlow & Sanderson line, Bradley Barlow, one of the founders, had died at the Summit House the year before.
In 1877, the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad finished laying narrow gauge track to the top of Sangre de Cristo Pass.
It became the highest train ride in the world. Jack and Annie planned to operate “during the summer season to keep the house open for the reception of tourists, pleasure seekers, sportsmen, and others. The location is an admirable one for a summer resort, being convenient to the railroad and in the midst of some of the finest mountain scenery the state affords.
As Mr. Bond is one of the jolliest of jolly Englishmen, and his wife the most amiable and estimable of ladies, their success as host and hostess is assured.”
The scenic Denver & Rio Grande route operated until 1899, when standard gauge track was laid a few miles to the south. A fire destroyed the Summit House a few years later.
John Palmer purchased John ‘Jack’ and Anne Bond’s sheep ranch in 1877. John and his sister, Mary Bishop Palmer had homestead land nearby; Mary’s patent was awarded in 1887 and 1890; John’s in 1890. John and Mary Bishop Palmer were born in England and arrived in the United States in 1870.
They were living in Huerfano County by 1873.
John married Jane Ann Cannon, also from England, in 1877. Their land was described as “a fine pinon range with good shelter and sufficient water; best adapted ranch on the creek for sheep.” William Speed worked with John, as he had with Jack Bond in the raising of sheep.
John and Jane had eight children, one who died as an infant. John Palmer became the postmaster of Ute in 1892; and again in 1898. In 1900, he became the postmaster at Huerfano.
Most of the Palmer family ended up in California where John died in 1917.
J.R. ‘Hamilton’ Pope “Another well known Apache man is Mr. Hamilton Pope.” Hamilton was born in Kentucky in 1849, the youngest of six children. His mother died either during his birth or shortly after. He spent time as a young man in Louisville, as a clerk for his older brother, Alfred Thurston Pope, an attorney.
The earliest record of Hamilton Pope in Huerfano County is in 1875, when he became Justice of the Peace.
He performed weddings and served until 1877. He ran for and lost a democratic bid for County Commissioner. He did serve on the Butte Valley, Apache and Ute school boards, being elected president of the Ute School Board on May 4, 1893. At the end of his three year term in 1896, he had served 22 consecutive years as a school board member. Hamilton Pope was appointed postmaster of Ute in 1888, 1890 and again in 1895.
Hamilton Pope had three homesteads all east of current Interstate 25; patents awarded in 1888, 1892 and 1895.
There is no record of him being in the sheep business, only cattle. In 1893, he “completed a 21-mile long irrigation ditch for his 3,000 acres in the north part of the county.” In 1897 he received the rights for the Pope and Shomon Reservoir off the Huerfano River and the Bo Boyce/Pope Brothers Ditch.
In 1882, he was president of the Huerfano County Stock Growers Association.
J.R.H. Pope married Julia Hanes in 1889 at El Moro in Las Animas County. There is no record of the couple having children. Hamilton died in 1898 in New Mexico.
(to be continued)
