The Greeley tribune., 1909-10-28


Gen. Cameron The and l were the
only ones In authority then ON the
ground). who thought one block suf-
ficient. but on my plea that the land
didn't cost much tIf ! remember
correctly the south part $S per acre
and the north part $40 per acrs) he
acquiesced and the map was 20
drawn.
In the early printed maps OF the
town 1t will be seen that there was .
lake n each division of this park.
These were named by T.. s. Nettleton.
our principal engineer. in laying out
the town, the south one Lake Luna
and the other Auricular Lake. These
lakes were afterwards filled az the
water from them seeped into the Gel
lars OF the store buildings on the lots
to the east +. T. Nichols and Ovid
Plumb started business very early
In the history OF Greeley. moving
buildings from Evans to do SO.
After the top map had been made
and the streets located by stakes, Mr..
James III. Orr was hired to plow a
furrow each side OF every street,
thus defining them.
This he did with an OK team, max
Ing perfectly straight furrow which
has always been surprise to me.
for don't believe l couid have done
1t with the best span of horses, to
say nothing of oxen, and have
plowed with both. l understand that
the plow with which he did the work
Is still in possession of his son. The
oxen, l presume, are dead.
One of the very first things done
after making our location was the
survey for lrrigating Canal No. )
which was done by ". ii. Mcdonald.
a civil engineer with experience in
such work, and the contract for CON
structing was let to Mr.. howard
Sebree, who did the work principally
: with OK teams from Robert Boyd's
& freighting outfit.
The canal was finished and water
; brought into the town June 10, 1870.
Mr.. Sebree is still living at Cald-
y we'll, Idaho, and remembers the good
> work he did for us. He has since
= built many other irrigating canals.
II During the first rev days after get
F, ting our office on the ground we re-
y ceived our mail through the Evans
u postoffice, and someone rode over
"a there every day to get it, but VIC
= soon had our mail addressed to Gree
l. ley and arranged with the postmaster
II at Denver to sort out our mail and
'e send in sack direct, until our petit
~ tion for a postoffice at Greeley could
10 be acted upon, which was very quick
'd ly done, Gen. Cameron being appoint
''e ed postmaster and | acted as assist
H. ant In fact, for a while | did all
~ the work as Gen. Cameron was, for
le quite Il while, nearly blind, so much
le so that | had to read his letters Ia
him.
l,~ l,.,l
u it was dumped upon the office ta
to BILE and assorted alphabetically, eacl
~ address being called out loudly, nns
most of the mail was so delivered
w A cigar box ives used to hold letter:
~ u, uncalled for.
~ Although he had been in hospita
' for treatment he was then using com
mon table salt as a remedy, making
~ a solution of it and moistening
~ io' handkerchief with it and binding thi
~ ~ over his eyes every night. and thi
'rs treatment cured his eyes. Our ma
ls lao soon became very heavy, in fact
w. remember receiving 400 letters on
:, day. and as soon as the general
ue father-in-law, ]. B. Flower, came
sa quit acting as assistant postmaste
.i ~ and he took charge.
or The next trouble was banking ia
arc cilities, there being no bank neare
an than Cheyenne 54 miles, or Den"e'
i'm SO miles away, and. although it W.
,ts my intention to go into the catt;
,ro business l was induced to open
,id bank. which did May IL, 1870 ur
w, ha der the name of H. T. West & Co
No doing business under this name u
n, til Dr. Charles Emerson and Charlie
W. G. Buckingham arrived with the in
,a tention of doing banking busineS
No and we united and did business '
IN, wears under the iirm name OF Emr'
of son. West & Buckingham.
na Among the first colonists | ca
~ only remember three now residin
: here who were here on the first dt
, of MAY, 1870. viz. |. ID. Miller, VIII
,h ot reached here April so, II. c. Watsor
s a. who came May /, and myself. Apr
cb /, for though | was here in Februa:
no date my residence from the time
n came intending to stay.
~ | have now given you the prom
~. nent points IN the early history i
~ Greeley. excepting the naming OF ia
'as place and that has been printed s
w. often that 1 left it out, but as som
49,, may have ,orgotten l will say tina
Wv Wv the question arose one day while M:
W Meeker, Mr. Cameron and mysel
were looking over the land, and Whl:
Mr.. Cameron and myself were anx
Wv ious to call it Meeker, he would Nc
~ consent, and we finally agreed upo
~ the name il now bears-Greeiey, an
II If. from what | have now written
- from what others know, Histori
- Pageant can be brought about, l shal
y be very glad Yours truly,
-, HENRY T. WEST,
~ President OF the Union Colony q
"a Colorado.