Homesteading in Colorado

Since many of Lou's childhood and young adult memories are about spending time at the Davis ranch in Haswell, I'll set the stage for those posts with his summary of his Davis grandparents. I have included some of this information in a previous post, but this entry from Dad's history is a good overview and adds some interesting details.

Harker went to live with his Uncle Norman Patterson in Pueblo after his mother (re)married in 1880 to John Arnold, and he was working as a “cowpuncher” when he met and married Della. They then traveled by covered wagon, a trip of two weeks duration, to reach his Uncle Norman’s home in Pueblo, Colorado with the intent of spending the winter before going on to the Northwest. Harker worked at the CF&I Steel Mill and helped his uncle in the dairy business. Liking the latter, he bought an interest in the dairy and they decided to remain in Colorado and start their family.

By the fall of 1890 they were living in a large tent which they had floored and built the walls up about six feet. In 1898 there was government land to be homesteaded east of Colorado Springs, so Harker filed on 160 acres northeast of his brothers’ places at Ramah. Charles and Della stayed with Jim in his two bedroom house while they finished their adobe building. Harker called for the square dances which they would hold in their home; this was the only social life in the area.

After their eighth child was born, Harker decided he needed a more profitable means of making a living, so he bought a band of sheep and moved to Kendrick while Della took the children to Pueblo to stay for the school year. The ranch was 7 miles north west of Haswell, about 90 miles east of Pueblo on Highway #96. Starting in the spring of 1906, herding, lambing and shearing became a way of life for the family for years to come. Harker built a one room cement building and hired a school teacher for two years. He and Della always had room for others to live with them. Her 15 year old sister, a 9 year old distant cousin of Harker’s and Jack all shared their home at various times.

The land is fairly flat with gentle rolling hills, and it is quite often very arid land. Some years they would get good rainfall in the spring, and invariably someone would decide it was a good place to farm and would plow up a lot of the prairie. Maybe they would get a good crop that year, but the next year it would be very dry again and the wind would blow all of the top soil into Kansas and Oklahoma. I remember seeing the tumble weeds pile up against the fences and then the sand fill in around the weed so you could drive a car right over the fences. My, how Grandpa used to get upset when some farmer would buy a good piece of prairie grassland and plow it under. I can’t print the words he had for them!

Harker and his model T - 1915

In 1910 they sold the place at Kendrick and settled at Fountain, Colorado to be near schools and church. On 1 April 1914 Harker sold out at Fountain and moved to a sheep ranch at Haswell, Kiowa County, Colorado. They became pillars of the community, worked with the school and helped build the Community Methodist Church. The home they built at Haswell was of adobe covered with plaster. They purchased their first automobile in 1915, a Model T Ford touring car. I remember hearing my mother talk about learning to drive this new car to take the younger children to school. It was quite a trust for a young girl at that time. There were very few cars at that time, and to have one was quite a big deal. Of course, I do not remember this car, but I can remember the Model A Ford which he used to drive to Pueblo when he and Grandma came to visit.

House at Haswell - about 1920

After arriving at Haswell, their 14th child arrived, Rachel Caroline, in 1915. Their family was now complete and in spite of all the difficulties and the lack of doctors at times, they managed to raise 13 children to be adults. So Haswell was a time for raising the children and seeing them become independent and out on their own.