Idaho Springs siftings., 1903-07-04
City Parks History
The Beautiful Spot Was the
Scene of Revelry Before
Town Was Incor-
pOrated.

our readers will be surprised to learn that
our beautiful little city park, in whose
cool depths many visitors delight each
year, together with the city buildings and
the corner, were secured for the city
through the efforts of Elder Griswold long
before the incorporation of the town OF Ida
ho Springs. 1t seems that a Canadian
Frenchmen by the name of Ben Vieu To-
Gated that piece of ground i'll 1866 and
erected what was called Barracks" at
the rear of what is now the opera house
He nailed signs on the surrounding trees,
notifying the public that he was open for
business. The signs read as follows:
Good eat, so cents; good sleep, so cents
Here he did a rushing business, of course,
but for some reason he ran short of money
and mortgaged his right to the premises to
a hardware merchant of Central City by
the name of Freze. The latter was after
ward notified that the Frenchman refused
to protect the right to the property, and so
Freze hired John Dory to tear down the
buildings and haul the lumber away. In
the meantime, however, the town had been
incorporated in the year 1873 and so had
something to say in the matter. 1t was
thought that under the law, the failure
of Vieu in not protecting his title to the
land, passed the ownership of that and
the lumber to the corporation. Griswold,
while justice of the peace, had started
the matter prior to this time, and now
that F. X. Fitzpatrick had been elected as
his successor, he was importune1 as a
memb ber of the town board, TO bring the
matter before Fitzpatrick and enioin the
moving of the lumber by anyone. He
brought action and employed l.. c. Rock
we'll to properly and scientifically argue
the question before the justice; but upon
the day of trial he was notified by Rock
we'll that it would be impossible for him
to attend, and that Griswold could attend
to the towns interest as we'll as he could.
After some hesitation and the persuasion
OF P1ummer, Beebee and Coddington, Mr.
Griswold made an argument before the
Justice that is spoken of even to this day
as being unequaled in exposition of the
law and the constitution of the land. This
led to a decision tor the town by Fitzpat-
rick, who declared that the lumber be-
longed to the town but he did not care to
give an opinion as to who owned the real
estate. s. Free was frozen out, so to
speak, and the matter and the lumber
rested until three years later, when the
boards were used for a dancing floor at
the instance of the Colorado Central peo-
pie who promised to supply crowds for
dances. The floor was a bout 40xSO feet in
dimensions, and young pines were Sc
cured for surroundings. For lighting
the headlights of the locomotives were
furnished by the trainmen and the effect
was wierdly artistic. When winter ar
rived, however, the need of a shelter was
felt, and so more lumber was added and
the old "cheese box'' or pavilion was
erected. This led to the building of
town hall, or trustees chamber, and the
moving of the Office from where Iisle
Mason's grocery now is to the new quar-
ters. Mr.. Griswold says the big cotton
wood trees in the park were planted in
the year 1881, when Colonel Moore was
mayor.
Bids were .opened Wednesday for the
erection of the new Siftings' building.
Sutherland and Holderness capturing the
prize. There was but few dollars differ
ence in the bids. Excavation for the found
alton has been made and the work will 90