Gunnison news-champion., 1923-03-23
Recluse of PaOnia
Said to Have Once
Lived Near Pitkin

Interest has been aroused BY an
article concerning Reuben Dove, =
resident Of this locality in the early
days, which appeared in last weeks
faonian. The story which follows re-
lates OF some trouble sir. Dove had
with the railroad company here in SIS.
The interesting records Of this case
are on file al the court house under
3 the file number 374
Dove was ordered arrested by the
f railroad company December 10, 1855,
and was kept in jail until April {, So
His case was tired before n grand
jury J. 5. Barbar, who resided at
White Pine at that former time, acted
a. foreman. II. VI. Eogg was prose
cutting attorney The jury acquitted
Dove.
When the story appeared, some old
timers around here stated that the
incident occurred arouhd Pitkin, but
John Chance Of Sapinero, who was in
town last week, recalls the incident Is
taking place at the mouth of Red
Greek, not far from Sapinero, since il
was the c. a s. and not the Grande
that ran 10 Pitkin in those days.
The article in the Paonian states
that Dove could not be found and the
papers were never served on him, but
the above records disprove this.
3 Persons whose names appear in the
papers frequently are naturally ex-
psected TO be given more than an ordin-
Any local item of a few lines The APP
pearanee Of Reuben Dove in Paonia
the las; Of the week stirred alike the
imagination of the small boy and the
reminiscent Of the early-day settlers
of this community.
] Mr.. Doves home is a rocky cavern
Z in the mountain foothills of the Hub
bard Park region. His food. roots
and herbs, the flesh of such wild game
as he is able to take by primitive
methods, and his clothing in part at
times is said to have consisted of such
! fabrics as are easily contrived from
[ the animal and vegetable sources
which appease his hunger. Although
I for thirty years he has followed this
extremely simple life almost within
sight OF the valley that has in that
time developed amazingly and inten-
I sively, few have seen him and still
( fewer have communicated with HIM.
/ The report that a glimpse Of the her
NIT had been boasted by homesteaders
or sportsmen in the hills, furnished
material for lively speculation for
days and even weeks and months.
Some two or three years ago the
/ Beezley brothers, John and William.
encountered Mr.. Dove in the course
of excursions from their Hubbard
| Park ranch. The -four with which
they supplied him at that time was
/ said by him to have been the first he
/ had tasted in three years. Since that
time they have occasionally taken it
upon Themselves to see that he was
supplied with some of the goods We
of less secluded habitation have come
to look upon as the necessities of life.
/ As young man of %, so the story
goes, as narrated by those who re-
member the incident, Dove engaged
in what promised to be very lucra-
tive tie-cutting contract with the old
Denver d Rio Grande railroad in the
vicinity of Pitkin, in Gunnison county.
When the purchasing agents repre-
/ sentative inspected the seasons out
put prior TO making payment, he
ruthlessly culled and rejected until
only about one-fourth of the winters
work was to be accounted for. "W hat
are you going to do with these 2"
Dove is said to have inquired, survey
ing the pile of culls. '0h, we'll take
them all right" the inspector assured
I him, "but we won't pay for them"
Then and there Dove registered a
solemn vow that he would never do an
other days work. So far as is known,
he has faithfully kept the vow. To
make sure the railroad company would
not profit by their inspectors con-
scienceless reflections, he set fire to the
Gull pile. Forthwith the outraged
company swore out a warrant for his
arrest on the grounds of malicious de-
struction of property. The officer
who attempted TO serve the papers
suddenly and Unexpectedly found him
self holding painless communion with
the milky way. When he "came to"
Dove had vanished He is known to
have had few hundred dollars in his
possession at the time, because for
years some here who knew of the
/ reason for his withdrawal from society
and sympathixed with him in his
shameless treatment by the railroad
company, were occasionally commits
stoned by him to replenish his scanty
store of food and his supply of cloth
ing. The manner of his life the past
decade or more is taken to indicate
that this cash reserve long since reach
ed the vanishing point. At SO, after
more than a quarter of a century near
err nature than humanity, he is still
not without friends and they all were
keenly interested in knowing that the
passing years have dwelt kindly with
him and that he has not forgotten his
old-time associates.