Help us find these places

These 39 places turn up in post-office records, old newspapers and family histories, but we can't yet say where they stood. A deed, a photograph with a landmark in it, a family story or a visit to the spot may be enough. If you know, please tell us.

Godfrey's

Station and Holon Godfrey's residence (Crofutt 1881); PO 1908-1916, then Buick. Location: Kansas Pacific, 74 miles east of Denver.

Black Forest Silver Fox Ranch (Dr. Frank Shelby)

'On the southeast edge of the Forest on Ayer's Road' (von Ahlefeldt p. 92); Ellett's 'fox farm over near Ayers' (p. 66) is probably the same. Ayer Road runs about two miles, so not placed. Lavelett puts Shelby's farm off Baptist Road instead (see William Brown fox farm).

Edgar Lumber and Box Company mill

Three locations: 'built in 1922 and was on the Allen Ranch, now called Shamrock Ranch' (Ellett p. 3); 'for several years … located near the Shoup residence', about half a mile south of the Shoup-Black Forest crossroads (von Ahlefeldt p. 79); 'Shoup Rd., west side of Forest' (von Ahlefeldt's sawmill chronology, p. 113). The company bought 12,047 acres of the old Pinery in 1918.

Divide Experiment Station (1887-96)

Colorado State's dryland station on 'forty acres of Sam Hill's Ranch about a mile west of Table Rock' (von Ahlefeldt p. 46); her 1979 map marks D.E.S. near 39.10, -104.69 (one author); the 1896 annual report gives only a Monument address and its tenant, W. A. Diebold of Table Rock (archive.org agriculturalexpe0000unse_f9g2); the 1888-92 reports are on HathiTrust, not yet read; weather records 1889-96; the Sinton family owned the old Hill ranch in 1979. Which Table Rock (the mesa or the settlement) is meant is unclear; the station's annual reports (Breninger, 1888-96) should give the section.

Santa Fe bridge collapse (July 17, 1895)

The 300-foot Santa Fe bridge 'a quarter of a mile south of Monument' fell under a 22-car freight; five killed (von Ahlefeldt p. 40, citing the Evening Telegraph of July 17, 1895). Possibly the Dirty Woman Creek crossing, where the 1976 survey photographed a stone arch; not confirmed.

Alfred Peterson's homestead cabin (1879)

'West of State Highway 217 just north of the El Paso County Line' (von Ahlefeldt p. 74). His brothers Andrew (shot by Evan Hall near Gomer's Mill, 1872) and Ephraim (shot in 1874 over strayed mules) died violently (p. 73). Highway 217's 1979 route needs checking.

Dave Gibbs's fox farm

Gibbs, first manager of the Baptist Road fox farm in Lavelett's account, 'later owned his own fox operation east of Monument on Highway 105' (Lavelett, as quoted by Carrigan, 2008); von Ahlefeldt (p. 92) lists 'Dave Gibbs' large farm east of Monument'.

Breitweiser fox farm

Still operating in 1951, when the Lincoln Fur Farm's new owners may have sold it their last ten pairs; Hamling counts three fox farms in Douglas and northern El Paso counties in the mid-20th century (Larkspur Historical Society binder 9 p. 60). Location not found.

Kilgore family fox farm

Log-cabin fox farm of the mid-1930s to the late 1940s described in Hermina Gertrude Kilgore's memoir Rough Road in the Rockies (quoted by the PLHS fox-farms page). John and Hermina Kilgore were 'fox farmers and residents of Palmer Lake during the 1940s' (von Ahlefeldt p. 126). Location not found; the memoir is not in the archive.

Jack Duckels's turkey and fox farm, Palmer Lake

Duckels 'first raised turkeys and foxes near Palmer Lake in the 1920s' before moving to Aurora in 1932 (William J. Convery, Colorado Heritage, as quoted by Carrigan, 2008).

Elliott Store, Monument

Two-and-a-half-story frame store of about 1880 'on Front Street'; R. C. Elliott sold general merchandise, harness, plows and wagons; it operated until 1963 (PPLD records of survey B61). No street number; Front Street runs about five blocks.

Lierd's Store, Monument

Built in 1888 as Lierd's Store, later the Monument Volunteer Fire Department building, 'on Washington Street' (PPLD record of survey B63). No street number.

W. B. Walker's store (Walker Warehouse), Monument

Walker sold general merchandise here from 1885 at the west end of 2nd Street; the building was moved to Highway 105 in 1928 as a restaurant and to the east end of 2nd Street in 1974 as an Episcopal church; gone by 2026 (PPLD record of survey B65).

Woodmen Hall and the old town hall, Monument

Woodmen of the World hall of 1896 on 2nd Street, sold in 1929 to W. E. Higby, given to the Monument Homemaker Club in 1941 and to the town in 1965; gone by 2026; a smaller frame building of about 1900 next to it was an early town hall (PPLD records of survey B66, B67). No street numbers.

McIntyre House, Palmer Lake

House of about 1885 on Glenside Road, bought in 1898 by Henry McIntyre of the D&RG's 1871 survey party; later a school and community center (PPLD record of survey B50). No street number.

Falcon Hotel

Two-story frame hotel of 1890 at 'Fort Worth and Fifth Streets in Falcon', with a 30-foot hand-dug well (PPLD records of survey A32). OpenStreetMap has Fort Worth Road but no Fifth Street in Falcon; the old townsite plat would settle it.

Holden ranch house, Bijou Basin

Two-story frame house of the 1870s or 1880s built by D. M. Holden, who came in 1860 and by 1878 ran 2,700 sheep and 1,500 cattle; 'at Bijou Basin [ghost town] located north-west of Calhan' (PPLD records of survey B3).

Lindley Homestead on the Packard Ranch

Two-story frame house of the late 1880s 'south of Elbert on Kiowa Creek in El Paso County' (PPLD records of survey B7).

Edith and Ira Wolford's house(s), Black Forest

Edith Wolford taught at the Black Forest log school from 1936 (still there in 1945; New Falcon Herald); the Wolfords are on the Black Forest Community Church's charter list. No house location found in the archive, PPLD's index or the 1976 survey.

Monument Station; Stanley Camp

'On the south end of the Academy' (Carrigan); Stanley Camp appears only in Carrigan.

Breed

Santa Fe station (1906).

Sommers

Santa Fe station between Pring and Breed (1906).

Plateau

D&RG siding (1906).

Hathaway, Struby, Gann, King

Douglas County stations, 1906.

Kelly's

D&RG station 20 miles from Denver. Outside, north.

John Irion's fort (the Spring Valley fort, 1860s)

Scott's trail map: 'about a mile south of Giles Ranch at Spring Valley in the middle N 1/2 sec. 34, T10S R66W'. The Larkspur binders give five other spots; a surviving stone ruin at Spring Valley Rd and Lorraine Rd dates to about 1900-1910. Scott's 1999 map draws 'John Irions Fort 1864 (Fort Lincoln)' in that section, 0.9 mile south of his Gile Ranch swing station; it is in the Scott places layer, kept off the main map until a source independent of Scott agrees.

Frost's Ranch

Post office Feb. 8, 1871 to Feb. 1872, between Virginia and Rock Ridge; 'Frost's Rancho — Douglas; stock; population 15' (1874 list). Who Frost was is unknown.

Bear Cañon, Keystone, Bennet Springs, Colfax

Early Douglas County post offices (Golddale was Russellville renamed; see Russellville).

Oakes' Mill, Happy Canon, Melvin's

Early Douglas County settlements (Hall).

Sidney

D&NO/C&S station at 7,032 feet, listed between Elbert and Easton in 1885.

Cameron, Bellevue

D&NO stations (1885 list).

Bierstadt

C&S station (1906).

Fairview, Pleasant Prairie, Bradshaw, Spencer, Log District, Forest View, Elton, Columbine, Stout

School-district communities.

Chenoweth, Laketon, Melville, Kanza, Graceland, Bland, Clemmons/Schley

Elbert County post offices. Scott (1999) marks Chenoweth, Bland and Clemmons/Schley, but Schley and Clemmons fall 1.2-1.4 miles from their Place Names of Colorado sections, and Chenoweth and Bland have none to check against.

Tip Top

Rock Island station at 6,887 feet (1906).

Resolis

Rock Island post village; PO 1890-1914.

Amo, Sun View, Suffolk, Squirrel Creek, Albano, Curtis, Halfway, Surber, Burt, Mosby, Gleneath, Majors, Dragoo, Bardeen

Eastern El Paso post offices.

Keysor, Yoman, Benko, Buick, Lowland

Elbert and Lincoln post offices.

Woodmen, Templeton Gap, McFerran

South edge.