Historical Tidbits
The first land filings were made by Tracy T. Tyler where Kremmling is
located in 1865. Hilary Harris for a ranch in 1874, John Himebaugh,
the Humphrey family, the Green family and the McQueary family also placed
claims. In 1875 land along the Troublesome Creek was claimed by Henry
King and Barney Day who was the father of the first European child to
be born in Middle Park in July, 1876.
Lewis
Gaskill discovered gold in the northern portion of the county and in
1879 a minor gold rush occured until 1885 when mineral deposits had
been depleted. Due to the deminishing gold deposits and the threat of
Ute Indians in the area in 1885, the population of Grand County was
only 15 people according to US Census information.
The
first post office in Grand County was established in Fraser in 1876
by William Cozens.
The
first telephone service provided by the Colorado Telephone Company in
January, 1904, and the first telephone was installed in the Hot Sulphur
Springs courthouse for a fee of $60.00 per year.
Routt
National Forest was established in 1905. On July 1, 1908, President
Theodore Roosevelt made an executive order creating the Arapaho National
Forest from portions of the Medicine Bow, Pikes Peak and Leadville forests.
On
July 25, 1921 the Grand River was officialy renamed as the Colorado
River.
Bibliography
Frederic J. Athearn "An Isolated Empire." BLM Cultural Resource
Series 1981
Mary Lyons Cairns "The Olden Days." Denver, CO 1954
Robert C. Black III "Island In The Rockies." Grand County
Pioneer Society 1969
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