The Meeker herald., 1915-10-16

DO you recall how, as a child, you
sat on mothers lap at night and with
your chubby arms about her neck,
listened to fairy tales of wonderful
lands; how you pictured In your
childish mind the way the many
poverty-stricken men and women
were magically transformed into
beautiful creatures by the great
fairies; how those creatures cavorted
about the handsomely illumined
palaces and, just as the sandman
grabbed you into his arms and car
ried you of to the Land of Nod, how
you wished the great fairies would
create wings for you that you might
fly to those wonderful lands and live
among those beautiful people? Does
1t not all come back to you IS you re-
call those many happy childhood
hours? Those were simply fairy tales
but they appeased your childish hun
ger for curiosity and it was your
mothers innocent way of lulling to
sleep your tired mind and body.
"Now, then, assume that after all
these years, and when those nights of
happy childhood are being slowly
but surely etfaced from the tablets
of your memory, some one would sit
down and relate to you the tale of q
living, veritable fairiand; a land 30
beautiful that its actuality is almost
beyond description? Can you, in your
minds eye, picture little colony Of
white men ruthlessly massacred by q
band of savage Indians, and then Ia
ter, after details of that horrible mas
sacre had been communicated to the
outside world, the arrival Of uniformed
soldiers determined to preserve peace
at any cost and to protect the lives
of those that survived that awful
catastrophe? Can you, in that pic
ture, see those brave soldiers that
had travelled several hundred miles
overland, establish a cantonment, later
enlarge it to a ten-company post at
cost Of between 5000, 600 and 1900, 600
to the government that those soldiers
might be cared for properly? What
would you think, what would you say,
II some one were to tell you that after
the soldiers had occupied that post
for number Of years, say until about
August, 1888, that after the govern
ment houses and other property had
been sold for an insignificant sum,
that the little colony Of white people,
feeling that future Indian outbreaks
need not be feared, decided to have a
town of their own; a town where
they could live and prosper, be at
peace with the world and at peace
with each other? Would 1t appear
credible to have some one tell you
that In one Of Gods most favored
spots q most beautiful, most pros
porous and most delightfully."- situated
town had sprung into actual being on
October l2, 1885. On the site occupied
by the soldiers and that today the
town is the envy of every town in the
state? Such Is an incontrovertible
fact; that beautiful, living, veritable
fsiryland Is none other than Meeker,
Rio Blanco county, Colorado, the
town Of thousand souls.
ut is the general impression that
the Meeker massacre occurred on the
site of the present town. The White
River agency was located about four
miles below town and it was there
that Mr.. Meeker and his party met
their death at the hands Of the In
dians. 1t is not necessary here to re-
late the details of that historic event;
every longtime resident OF Colorado
remembers the horryfying story.
an the lobby of the Meeker hotel
one Of the unique hotel Hobbies of the
country-is evidence a-plenty of
early-day life in that town. Gruesome
photographs of the dead bodies of
Joe Law and two companions who
attempted to rob the Bank Of Meeker
In 1885 tell a mute story of the &C.
curate aim Of the arly-day residents
Of that town; the mounted hides and
heads of Notwithstanding animals
tell their own story of game as it
abounded In that locality long after
the advent of the white man. 1t
would require several columns of this
paper to graphically describe the
wonders Of the Meeker hotel, all the
handiwork of that pioneer hotel
man, lovable RUDE Ball. 1t is a
pleasure to meet the pioneers of that
splendid Colorado town and listen to
their recitation of early day life in
Meeker and Rio Blanco county. 1t
all Is history; it all is intensely i'll
tensely Interesting and it all Is truth
fully related.
1.-THE town of Meeker is situated on
the north bank of the White river,