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The Books |
Additional diaries and accounts of Oregon & California emigration, Mormon Missionaries & converts, cattle drives from Texas, Arkansas, Missouri & the Cherokee Nation have prolonged the use of this trail, and prompted the writing of another book. ONE HUNDRED FIFTY YEARS after the trails were pioneered-- fifty years of use and nearly a century of speculation as to the trails' exact locations--the route has been solved. After thirteen years of research through county records to National Archives, the authors of the book have been able to locate diaries, letters home and newspaper accounts of the blazing of the 1849 & 1850 Cherokee Trails. Additional diaries and accounts of Oregon & California emigration, Mormon Missionaries & converts, cattle drives from Texas, Arkansas, Missouri & the Cherokee Nation have prolonged the use of this trail, and have prompted the writing of another book, tentatively titled Cherokee Trail Diaries, Book Two, 1851-1885. IN THEIR FOUR TIMES over the trail from Fayetteville, Arkansas to Fort Bridger, Wyoming the authors were able not only to trace the route but to find the ruts and many of the campsites. The authors (Fletcher, Fletcher & Whiteley) have combined two volumes into one book entitled: Cherokee Trail Diaries Vol. 1 1849 A New Route to the California Gold Fields and Cherokee Trail Diaries Vol. II 1850 Another New Route to the California Gold Fields . This book is well documented, heavily footnoted and contains a series of modern topographic maps showing the route and campsites of both the 1849 & 1850 routes from Fayetteville, Arkansas, southwest Missouri, and Tahlequah, Cherokee Nation to California. It is a must for those interested in western history and migration. And great for those in genealogy interested in routes taken by their ancestors who migrated (1849-1910) from the southeast United States and Texas to the West, including Utah. |
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Cherokee Trail Diaries Vol. III 1851-1900 TRAVEL, beginning in 1851, to 1900, is fully documented by diaries, letters, newspaper accounts, and military and congressional records. As the main north-south corridor from the southern frontier states (first toCalifornia and later the Oregon Territory) emigrant traffic prior to the Civil War is documented each year. The numerous pre-Civil War cattle drives to California from Arkansas & Missouri and east Texas are given considerable detail. Many were strictly cattle drives; others included emigrating extended families, such as the Baker-Fancher party that was massacred at Mountain Meadows. Little known until now was the trail’s use as a Mormon missionary and emigrant route to the Cherokee and other Indian Nations, and to and from east Texas, including the Lyman Wight colonies. All of the above and the 1858-9 Pike’s Peak gold rush over the Cherokee Trail also contributed heavily to the prolonged use of the Santa Fe Trail. The last documented wagon train from east Texas was in 1883 for Washington State. The 1858 military building of the Bridger Pass route during the “Mormon War” is given considerable detail and includes a never before published dairy of Bryan’s 1857 expedition. The Bridger Pass route immediately became the newest “cutoff” documented and heavily used and known as the “Cherokee Trail.” In 1862 the Overland Stage Line moved onto the route, by then a long-used road. The other documented and popularly-used “cutoff” was from Rawlins north to the Sweetwater or Oregon/California Trail. It was heavily used by goldseekers from Pike’s Peak and elsewhere to the mines of Idaho and Montana. The 1868 Mormon “Out and Backer” wagon trains used it to pick up newly-arrived Saints at Laramie and Benton, Wyoming. The 1870s & 80s Cattle & Sheep drives east from Oregon Territory to upgrade stock on the ranges of Wyoming and Colorado, equalled the earlier 1850s cattle drives to California. Lower Powder Springs on the 1850 southern Cherokee Trail was used as a headquarters and hideout by Butch Cassidy and up to 100 members of the Wild Bunch. Some later pulled off the Wilcox and Tipton Union Pacific Railroad robberies before fleeing the west. |
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 Gravesites of Robert Davidson and child of Hiram Allen on the 1850 Southern Branch of the Cherokee Trail near Shell Creek. |
 Gravestone “R. Davidson died July 1852”. Robert Davidson died while on an emigrant cattledrive to California. Cause: Mountain Fever. |
| Thanks to Tom McCutcheon for location and Terry Del Bene for photos | |
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Printable
Order Form Vol. I-II * Vol. III * Historic Windsor Farm |
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THE HISTORIC WINDSOR FARM (Denver, Colorado)
Starting with Bill Bush who had met H.A.W. Tabor in Leadville, "It was noted in the Newspapers of 1883, that after the initial association with Tabor in 1878, Bush and Tabor were partners in many schemes." "Mining money (Tabor's)" and "English" money were both spent lavishly on Denver's future. In June 1880 the colossal Windsor Hotel opened, built by the Denver Mansions Company (English investor group) for $350,000 on property that cost $100,000. Manager Bill Bush spent another $200,000 for furnishings. Bill would also manage the Tabor Grand Opera House; and would later establish the Windsor Farm; a showcase farm for the Plains and an example used by the Union Pacific in their promotions. The farm supplied fresh produce and dairy products, first to the Windsor Hotel and later the Brown Palace. The English Group, a Corporation, not only owned the Denver Mansions Company, but also eight other companies. Among them were: The Colorado Mortgage and Investment Company, financing company for the Northern Colorado Irrigation Company, builder of the Highline Canal; The Platte Land Company, real estate arm of the Union Pacific Railroad (plus an additional five). All played an intertwining role in the Windsor Farm; from the "selection of the section of land" by the Platte Land Company to the building of the Highline Canal. An adjoining section of land "section 16 school land" was assessed at $1/acre in 1878 (before the Highline Canal) by Levi Booth. Booth was the owner of the Four Mile House. Concerned about English money ownership of the Highline Canal, Levi would later involve the Colorado State Grange in protecting water rights for farmers. In 1885 that section 16 (640 acres) was appraised at $7,731. One of the appraisers was Donald Fletcher, one of the founders of Aurora, Colorado. The section was sold that same year to Bush and Morse for $13,170. On February 20, 1890 Bush and Morse sold this now 560 acre piece to the newly-formed Fairmount Cemetery Association for $196,000. Bill Bush was also one of the Cemetary Association organizers and board members. Bush leveraged the Windsor Farm in both the U.S. and England several times for money to maintain his high lifestyle, before he died broke and deep in debt. The farm was used as security for borrowing money as far away as Massachusetts and London in at least seven transactions in fourteen years. Brown Cannon, former Colorado State Dairy Inspector and Arapahoe County Commisioner, was also a manager of the Windsor Farm. "Probably no man influenced the Denver milk business so much as Brown Cannon. Every dairy driver, every independent dairyman, every tavern owner, every Meadow Gold and Beatrice Employee, every person who was ever associated with him in any way has a story to tell about him." Portions of the farm were deeded away: in 1923 land for Cunningham School, (now in Cherry Creek School District); in 1939 Lowry Army Airforce Base; and again in 1944 for runways and expansion. In 1949 the Windsor Farm Dairy was bought by (Valdemar) Walter and Annie Gallagher Andersen the author's grandparents. Under Andersen's ownership the farm became the largest independent milk producer in the Denver Milk Shed. Walter had managed farms for some of Denver's noted professionals, including Arthur Ponsford's Willow Springs Ranch near Morrison. As a condition for leaving Ponsford,Walter had to find a replacement. He found and brought in Paul Pattridge; later important in Golden. In Littleton Walter had managed the Bates Place at Broadway and Belleview; and the Benedict Place, now the site of the Carmelite Monastery and the Littleton Museum. In 1934 Andersens had purchased their own farm on Ridge Road in Littleton, continuing their dairy business. In 1960 the Andersens sold the now 144-acre Windsor Farm for $360,000 to Mr. Farkas and Mr. Livingston, the Developers of Windsor Gardens. Walter and Annie Andersen had sold a dream; Farkas and Livingstone had bought one. |
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Order Form |
This illustrated seventy-three
page book gives a brief but vivid account of the Historic Windsor Farm by
one who lived there and whose grandfather sold it to the developers of Windsor
Gardens.
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