$40,000 of Gold missing

In a dramatic story retold by Elsie Keeton, and later published in Larson's History of the Fountain Valley, and in a bicentennial newspaper in Fountain, a stage coach was robbed of $40,000 in gold payroll, which was never recovered.   Here is the story as it ran in the Fountain Valley Centennial Review Souvenir Edition, Advertiser and News, Sep 15, 1976.  

 

In the 1860s, the old stage road ran from Deming, NM, to Colorado City, then the state capital.  It crossed Little Fountain Creek just west of this old post [Lincoln Trading Post], and continued to the Charter Oaks Ranch, then a government feeding station and stage stop.  According to a story written by Elsie Keeton on Oct 13, 1941, the site for the ranch was selected because of its meadows.  There was a cook house, corral and shed, all surrounded by an 8-foot concrete wall.  It had a gate on the east side.  At the time, there were only 4 white families living on the east side of Fountain Creek between Pueblo and Colorado City.  The stage road ran along the west bank of the creek because the land to the east was considered neutral territory.  It was used as hunting grounds by the Utes and the Plains tribes.  The stage road came to a point east of the Charter Oaks station, and then proceeded down (Little) Fountain Creek to the trading post to deliver goods.  The stage then went back up the (Little) Fountain Creek to Charter Oaks, and on to Colorado City on the west bank of the creek. 

Somewhere southeast of Fountain near the site of a stagecoach robbery, $40,000 in gold is rumored to be buried under the hot sands and cholla. 


On top of the arid hills, east of the Mike Christian ranch on Rock Creek, are graves of Indians killed in a raging battle with angry white settlers.  Rumor has it that not all of the attackers were Indians, as the Utes didn’t care for gold, but were instead renegade whites and Mexicans dressed as Indians.  The rock-ringed graves remain as testimony.  Christian’s ranch was ½ mile from Little Fountain Creek and a few miles southeast of Fort Carson’s Golf Course. 

Pettengill's Epitaph

On a recent visit to Fairview Cemetery we tried to decipher the epitaph on the headstone of Anna Pettengill, her son James, and his wife Gertrude.  All that was visible was "Our Hero". 

A rubbing of the poem, made with plain typing paper and a graphite crayon, produced marginal results.  Much of the rubbing seen here has been enhanced with photoshop.

Once a few strings of words were deciphered, we would have been able to trace this poem to its origin, using the internet.  This is what I found.

The Terrells - Fountain Pioneers

This story is based on census data, newspaper articles from the Colorado Springs Gazette, and land records.

Amos Terrell was issued a homestead patent for land in T16SR65W sections 5 and 8, in September, 1869, making his one of the earliest grants in the Fountain Valley, and reflecting his settlement here before 1865.  His property in the W½SW¼ of section 5 represents the land along and east of Main St. in Fountain, and some of this was subdivided into town lots in 1871.  They sold lots 5 and 6 of Block 11 to OS Loomis for $50 in 1877.

This map is of the 1862 survey of T16SR65W, available online at www.glorecords.blm.gov.  It shows the trail or stage coach route leading along the east bank of the Fountain Creek, much as the road does today, with the solid line being the addition of the Denver & Rio Grande railroad line in 1872.  It is interesting to note that the Terrell house does not appear on the map.  The only inhabitants shown in this part of the Fountain Valley are farther south, such on Tom Owens.

The Earliest Burials in Fairview Cemetery, with a little genealogy thrown in

This article identifies some of the earliest burials at Fairview Cemetery, but it also shows how the census and other records can help you track families, one piece of evidence at a time.

Florence Faith was the daughter of Samuel John Liston and Hulda Mable Imes.  She was born in Colorado and died there are at the age of 9 months in 1875.  Her father Samuel appears on the 1870 census in Fountain as a farmer, with $2000 in land and $750 in personal property.  He was single and seems to be living south of the Lock family along Fountain Creek.  Samuel was born in Ohio in about 1833.  By 1880, he had married and then moved his family back onto the plains of Sedgwick County, Kansas.  

From the Mormon website, http://www.familysearch.org/ we learn that Samuel and Hulda married in Fountain in September 1871.  Hulda was the daughter of Moses Imes and Mary Davis, and was born in Iowa in 1852. Hulda's son Willie was born in Colorado in July 1872, and Pearl was born there in 1876.  Between these two children, they lost Florence. 

Fountain - Main Street

 

The Sears House: 11190 Old Pueblo Road

As you drive south on Old Pueblo Road, the newish Ventana subdivision is on the east side of the road, and a very unique "kit house" is on the west side. Built by Joe Wilson in about 1919, he ordered the "Westly" model for about $1000, and the pieces and parts were delivered in a railroad car (s). Joe was in the concrete business, so he is probably responsible for the sturdy foundation. The Wilsons only lived here for about 2 years. His father, SA Wilson, was a early resident of Security/ Widefield.

The Fountain Valley Preservation Association, defunct circa 2020, did background research on the home and presented documentation to the state to have it placed on the State Register of Historic Places in 2010.

When a terrible hail storm hit Fountain in the summer of 2018, the owners used some of the insurance damage settlement to restore the house closer to its original form. The vinyl siding was removed, and a greenish paint scheme adopted, based on old photos.

 

 

The home was owned by Toby Wells in 2010. He passed along information that the Wilson family lived in the tiny single room "bunkhouse" behind the main house while it was being built. The Wells family had owned the Sears house wince 1958. 

Juan Flores told the Fountain Valley News that this was the first house in the Fountain Valley to have modern indoor plumbing. There is a bathroom upstairs, and since this was built before the area was electrified, the water would have been transported to the house, and upstairs, by gravity.  A windmill once stood across Old Pueblo Road from the house.

 1916

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of the many older houses along Main Street, a number were built by LA Toothman.  The county assessor [ land.elpasoco.com ] dates these between about 1910 and the mid-1920s.  The owners of each house over time are not known.  Other houses in town attributed to him, based on interviews, include 214 S Fountain, 316 N Main and 316 W Illinois.





Nettie Toothman's Home Cafe, Fountain
ca. 1920-30s



Pioneer Essay July 1976, Security Advertiser & Fountain Valley News

by Clarissa W “Toots” Toothman Wilson

This essay is not, by any means, all in chronological order.  The events have come to my mind and, since I am not sure of all the dates, I have just written about them. 

My father, Louis A Toothman, came to Fountain from Mount Hope, Kansas, in 1895.  Since he was a carpenter, he built a few houses and then returned to get my mother, Nettie P (Haskins) Toothman, and my sister.  They came back to Fountain in the Spring of 1896.  My eldest sister, Mrs. Coral Miller of Colorado Springs, was six months old at the time.  In 1900, another sister, was born in Fountain, Mrs. Daisy Torbit.  My brother RB was born in 1902.  I was born August 3, 1910 at 310 W Illinois.  The cottonwood tree at the east corner of the yard was planted by the parents the day before I was born.

           


RB and Toots Toothman, 1914

The County Poor Farm

The El Paso County Poor Farm was built in 1900.  It was located where Bear Creek Park is today, north of the community garden.  I found additional information on this early social service on..
http://www.poorhousestory.com/poorhouses_in_colorado.htm

LG Niles served as the Poor Farm Superintendent for a time, and his wife Catherine was the matron.  She died at the county farm while they were working there, and her daughter completed the remainer of the term as the matron.  LG's granddaughter Donna Koop furnished these photographs of the county farm.  The family believes that he served two terms at the farm, during the 1930s and 1940s.

Grandma Niles

Churches of Fountain, Colorado

The 1871 plat of the town of Fountain shows two churches, or at least the lots reserved for them.  One may have been a Society of Friends or Quaker meeting house.  More detail and the interesting 1871 diagram can be found on the About Town page.

These Daily Rocky Mountain News articles, found in an online historic newspaper index (ask your librarian how), show that a Friends meeting house had been built in Fountain by 1875.


Dec 5 1875



Jun 1 1875

The Last Run of the D&RG 638

Coal powered steam engines were phased out in the early 1960s.  This photo was taken in Fountain in December, 1962 and shows the last run of the D&RG 638, as it passed through town.  The engine was donated to the town of Trinidad.  Read more about this in the Dec 17, 1962 article in the Gazette, found on the Pikes Peak Newsfinder index at PPLD.org.

Why do so many people think Fountain is haunted?

The blogger service allows me to see what you are searching for when you query google or another site for information, and are directed to this website.  A number of searches each week are related to ghosts and murders.  Now historically there were not many murders here, but there were a number of tragic deaths.  These deaths can likely be attributed to the times and not the place, and with changes in modern medicine and safety, such events are less likely to occur.

In modern times, the number of murders in El Paso County is at an all time high, even when adjusting for the population growth.  

Regarding ghosts, its not something that you learn about from newspaper articles.  But when talking to people who live or used to live in Fountain, there is no lack of stories. I'll try to add some here...

Weekly Gazette Sep 26, 1901

What is a chivarii? and other fun photographs

"Back in the old days"... when a couple was married, their friends would host activities to celebrate the wedding.  True, these events were often planned to keep the new couple apart for the day, and the evening, but it was all meant in fun.  I've heard of grooms being kidnapped.  What other stories have you heard?

Here Tobie Wells pushes his new wife Jill down Main Street in a wheelbarrow.  With any luck, and a beautiful smile, well wishers gave her nicer gifts than the customary toilet paper!
[Fountain Valley News Aug 15, 1973]

The cause of all her troubles…

Anna K. Pettingill is buried in Fountain’s Fairview Cemetery.  A tall monument marks the family plot and bears the names of Anna, James Arthur Pettengill and Gertrude Lawrence.  Who was Anna?  The monument notes that she was born in 1859 and died in 1896.  James died in 1902 and Gertrude in 1950.

Anna Pettengill was not found on the federal census, though this is not surprising as she died before the 1900 census and may not have been married at the time of the 1880 census.  A review of historic newspaper indexes provides the details.  Anna had been married to AM Pettingill, and after several unhappy years, secured a divorce in early 1896.  She committed suicide, leaving four children. 



Denver Evening Post, (Denver, CO) Monday, March 23, 1896

An article published the same day in the Post’s rival, the Rocky Mountain News, relates that:

…since her divorce was finalized in January, Anna had plotted to take her life, but had been stopped by her friends.  Mrs. Steen, a boarder, had grown accustomed to these suicide threats.

The inquest into Pettingill’s death, reported in the Rocky Mountain News on March 27, 1896, reveals a more suspicious circumstance.

Fearful Wreck Narrowly Averted and other train deaths



Rocky Mountain News Dec 10, 1897



Weekly Rocky Mountain News
Sept 15, 1898

The Fountain Herald - 1888 and 1903



Rocky Mountain News 6-7-1888

 Soon after the great explosion of 1888 and the destruction of the AT&SF depot, the D&RG was petitioned to build a depot in Fountain. 

Note that person requesting this was Mr. Reed, secretery of the Fountain Town and Improvement Company.  If he could secure a depot northeast of town, he would be better about to sell his new town lots there.  








The Fountain Herald 1888

Although the source of these news items is not known, it is likely that an issue from 1888 was reprinted in a later newspaper (after 1936) and comments added.

Advertisements

Residential lots and garden tracts in Warren and Hop- a Fountain addition, were being sold for $100-200 each by FJ Warren in the Ames Bldg.

The Fountain City Investment Company has 400 lots, which sell for $50-75, and several 2-5 acre tracts.  Business lots are $100-250.  Offered by JC Denny.

Curtis and Patton of Colorado Springs were advertising lots in the Hutchins Addition.  Joseph Patton is the agent, with an office in Fountain just west of the Santa Fe tracks on Missouri.

Pikes Peak News Finder

Did you know that the Pikes Peak Library has indexes of local newspapers, dating back to 1872, online?  The Security Advertiser and Fountain Valley News index currently includes 1958 to 1972.

http://more.ppld.org:8080/SpecialCollections/index/article_search.asp

Marguerite Spicer Bulkley

Marquerite's papers, which contain stories about Fountain and sketch maps of early residences, are housed in the Carnegie Library/ Special Collections Department at Penrose Library, Pikes Peak Library District.  These are being transcribed by a guest editor, who will also contribute stories here from time to time.  These will be posted on the Bulkley research page file.  For more information see:

http://sites.google.com/site/lifeandlegendofthelocks/