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Following is an interview
conducted in the mid 1930s by Civil Works Administration
employees who gathered reminiscences from citizens who had
lived in this area since the early days. All
interviews are on file at the Colorado Historical Society's
library, 1300 Broadway St., Denver, Colorado. William Henry Yale Dated Jan. 3, 1934 I was born in Iowa on Dec. 23, 1882, and came to Colorado with my parents in the fall of 1886, and father took up a pre-emption in Sec:-12 Twp. 7-S of Rge. 45. There were no railroads here then, and we traveled in a covered wagon, and brought our household goods with us. Father plowed the land with a team of oxen. Father came out in February, 1886, filed on this homestead, and built a small sod shack. Later we built a sod dugout at the back of the soddy, and this gave us more room. The lumber needed for our home was hauled from Benkelman, Neb. Water was hauled from Lostman Creek, two and one-half miles east of us. Later we had a well dug, I.D. Messenger and his brother doing the work, and digging the 170 feet with shovels. Then water was hauled up by a windlass. We used this well almost two years before we put up a windmill. Father got a contract to carry the mail, and did this for the first three years for $300 per year. The route was from Jacqua, Kan. to Friend, Colo. In 1889 a post office was established in our home, and named the "Yale" Post office; then the mail route was from Burlington to Goff, then to Landman, and then to Yale, a distance of fifty-two miles. He made three trips a week, using a horse and buggy, and in all carried the mail for eleven years. When father got busy at farming, mother would carry the mail. Later mother was appointed Post Mistress at Yale post office, a position she held until 1906, when the post office was discontinued, and rural routes established. I went to school in a sod schoolhouse one and one-half miles from where we lived. Jas. T. Gilmore was my first teacher, and I rode horseback to school.. When thirteen years of age I started riding for the Bar-T Ranch, and worked there for a number of years. Burt Ragan was foreman at that time, and we had about one thousand head of cattle on the range then. I helped drive a herd of one thousand Texas longhorn steers from Lama r to the Bar-T Ranch. I remember we had quite a time finding water for such a herd, as the only water to be had was in the lagoons. It took us about ten days to make the trip. Our supplies at that time were brought from Bird City, Kan. We made about two trips a year, so always got enough to last awhile. We were always fearful of prairie fires, for the prairie was always so dry. I well remember one fire that came in from the north and burned clear down to the river. We had such hard work keeping it away from our haystacks, and we ruined a good team plowing fireguards to turn it. My father was elected county assessor in 1902, and I helped him for a while in the office. I think my family was among the earliest settlers here. But father, having the mail contract, gave us money to live on, and we did not suffer the hardships that others did. |
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