Nothing Daunted

by Wickenden, Dorothy

  Their granddaughter recalled, “Survival was tough”: Audrey Galambos, e-mails, September 16–17, 2009. Galambos’s grandparents were Earl and Vella Rice.

  Ultimately, over one and a half million homesteads were granted: The National Parks Service and the Homestead National Monument of America: http://www.nps.gov/home/historyculture/bynumbers.htm.

  The Harrisons’ first ranch, between Hayden and Craig, had been a headquarters: Lewis Harrison, “Sketch of the Life,” 68; Jan Leslie, e-mail, February 12, 2010.

  Ann took it upon herself to fight off the cattle barons’ “devouring invasion”: McClure, 97–106. As Jan Leslie put it in a January 20, 2010, e-mail, “It wasn’t her perceived role as a rustler that made her a heroine when she was acquitted—this was the classic western movie plot that pitted the small rancher against the powerful cattle baron.”

  Nevertheless, the Harrisons shared with other Elkhead homesteaders: The Routt County Republican reported about Elkhead on May 31, 1912: “The land is unusually rich in the hills and valleys there and will produce wonderful crops. It is a wonder how that country is settling up.”

  CHAPTER 10: TURNIPS AND TEARS

  the stone was streaked, as if, one Routt County resident said, by the paintbrushes of God: Paul Bonnifield, e-mail, July 7, 2010.

  The entire field was estimated to be eight square miles: Ninth Biennial Report of the Inspector of Coal Mines, State of Colorado 1889–1900, 87–88.

  “You didn’t want to build a little wooden shack there”: Ferry Carpenter, interview by Belle Zars, August 12, 1973.

  “All the windows were made big, and all the light came in over the child’s shoulders”: Ibid.

  One of Ros’s ninth-graders, Leila Ferguson, had come west with her family: Richard Ferguson, in History of Hayden & West Routt County, 179.

  “We had brand-new desks”: Leila Ferguson Ault, interview by Zars, July 16, 1973.

  “That consolidated point”: Carpenter, interview by Zars.

  He admired the teachers as “good sports from start to finish”: Frank Harrison, Jr., interview by Zars, July 18, 1973.

  “Mrs. Harrison told me she couldn’t say which one she liked best”: Letter dated August 29, 1916.

  he “gave a demonstration in corn bread making”: Routt County Republican, February 7, 1917.

  In class, Rudolph Morsbach, age ten: Rudolph’s classmates also were amused by his comments in class. The graduates of the class of 1920 wrote in their yearbook, “Rudolph was telling a story in English class, of an accident which happened to a couple of deer-hunters. He was getting along nicely with his story, until he came to the most important part—when he became mixed and said: ‘After the man was shot, his partner built a fire, but, it was so cold that the wounded man froze to death. Then he got a pair of skis and went to find help!’ ”

  He asked whether he could set up an account: Farrington R. Carpenter to Harrick’s bookstore, October 26, 1916.

  “and four-year-old Herbie didn’t survive”: “Death of Herbie Jones,” Routt County Republican, August 19, 1910.

  As Carpenter recalled, he and Mrs. Murphy: Confessions, 79–80.

  Minnie’s granddaughter Penny Turon told me that many decades later, the Jones family had a reunion in Elkhead on the schoolhouse steps. They went to the site of the old homestead, and looked for Herbie’s gravesite, but it had disappeared under the grass.

  CHAPTER 11: THE MAD LADIES OF STRAWBERRY PARK

  A couple of Swedish descent who had arrived from Nebraska in 1909: Christy Fredrickson, in History of Hayden & West Routt County, 182.

  One of its maxims was “A customer is not a cold statistic”: Lockhart, 18.

  A & G. Wither Mercantile offered everything: Dorothy Wither in “Everything Seemed to Center Around the Railroad,” Three Wire Winter, 20th Issue, Spring 1985.

  The town’s founding father: James Crawford, “Steamboat Springs: The Promised Land,” 1923 interview with Thomas F. Dawson, Colorado State Historical Society, in Frontier Magazine, April 2000.

  Mrs. Peck, formerly Emma Hull, first taught school: “Some Notes on the Life of Emma Hull Peck and Her Work in Routt Co., As Told to an Inquiring Reporter,” April 13 and 27, 1984; “Emma Peck Dies; Was Pioneer in Routt County: Did Much to Develop Schools in This Section,” paper unknown, in Tread of Pioneers Museum. “Story of Routt County Schools Is the Story of Emma Peck,” Steamboat Pilot, 1959.

  She liked to tell a story: Ibid.

  A reporter made the same observation a century later: Ibid.

  As one friend described her: T. Ray Faulkner, letter, July 27, 2010.

  The first performing-arts camp in the country: Tricia Henry, “Perry-Mansfield School of Dance and Theatre,” Dance Research: The Journal of the Society for Dance Research, vol. 8, no. 2 (Autumn 1990), 49-68.

  When she told her parents that she and Portia: “A Divine Madness,” 1979 documentary on the Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts School & Camp.

  but Lottie, more indulgent and open-minded: Pam Wheaton, “Charlotte Perry—Grand Lady of Theatre,” Steamboat Pilot, September 18, 1975.

  Charlotte gave Bible lessons and taught basketball: Lucile Bogue, Dancers on Horseback, 42–43.

  “He told us to soak the potatoes in grease, over-cook the meat”: Portia Mansfield, “Charlotte Perry Honored,” Steamboat Pilot, September 24, 1970.

  In Omaha, she saw Anna Pavlova . . . in The Dying Swan: Bogue, Dancers, 30–31.

  She was also strongly influenced by Sergei Diaghilev: Ibid., 39. Diaghilev hired the best choreographers, dancers, and composers in Europe. Stravinsky, Debussy, and Ravel wrote ballet scores for him; Picasso designed his sets. Portia went on to study dance in Paris and Milan as well as Chicago and New York, where she worked with Mikhail Mordkin.

  Portia borrowed from many art forms: Ibid., 31, 34.

  “She grew straight and had never been twisted”: Ibid., 44.

  In coming years, the camp became nationally known: Portia filmed some of the early dances. Her films are now part of the collection of the Perry-Mansfield Camp at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

  CHAPTER 12: DEBUT

  Ferry wrote more graphically: Confessions, 84.

  said that it was the fastest music he had ever “stepped to”: August 16, 1916.

  “young fellows with tail feathers blooming”: Frank Harrison, Jr., interview by Zars, July 18, 1973.

  Lefty had proved that Colorado: Flynn’s bride didn’t like ranch life; nor, it turned out, did he. He ended up in Hollywood, acting in and directing westerns, finding himself well suited to perpetuating a vision of the West that Americans wanted to believe in. He also, reportedly, became close to F. Scott Fitzgerald and his daughter Scotty, who visited him after he moved to South Carolina (“Maurice Flynn Heads for Hollywood . . . and back . . . and back,” Craig Daily Press, May 10, 2008).

  always “shaved and barbered to a hair”: “Tribute to Sam Perry Is Paid by Annie Laurie,” Denver Post, July 29, 1929.

  “Wilson’s life sunk into the lives of many people who were fortunate enuf to know”: Carpenter, letter to Henry Bragdon, November 29, 1967, Woodrow Wilson Collection, Princeton University.

  “You know, after the frost had hit this country, we never thought anything about those quakers”: Frank Harrison, Jr., interview by Zars.

  CHAPTER 13: THE CREAM OF ROUTT COUNTY

  In 1916 workdays for the miners: Paul Bonnifield, e-mail, September 4, 2010.

  was built “to meet the needs of the men who dug the coal”: Bonnifield, “Oak Creek,” 3.

  “Man Beats Aged Miner”: Oak Creek Times, September 30, 1915.

  “Mexican Meets Death by Severe Blow in Abdomen”: Ibid., April 20 1917.

  “Harry Gray . . . A Rope Rider”: Ibid., July 26, 1917.

  In June 1917 a young woman was attacked: “Italian Resident Shoots Greek Who Attacks Wife,” Ibid., June 22, 1917.

  In 1902 Moffat’s railway company: Black, 256.

  four years later, it wa
s bigger than Steamboat Springs: Oak Creek Times, October 13, 1912.

  A sign was erected on the road heading south: Bonnifield, e-mail, June 28, 2010.

  featuring a photograph of a wooden coal car loaded with blocks of coal the size of boulders: Photo courtesy of Kennard Perry, Ros’s son.

  But miners were paid in scrip: Bonnifield, e-mail, December 29, 2010.

  as they carried powder, caps, and fuses: Interview with Bonnifield, Oak Hills, June 14, 2010.

  Although the company was known to be “one of the most careful and considerate”: “Five Killed in Explosion at Perry Mine Last Saturday,” Oak Creek Times, February 19, 1921.

  The Moffat Coal Company hired experienced shot-firers to place the explosives: Interview with Mike Yurich at Tracks and Trails Museum, Oak Creek, July 3, 2009.

  “it threw cars, rails, and the tipple”: Annual Report of the Colorado Coal Mine Inspection Department, 1921.

  In 1910, when the miners in a coalfield: “A Strike Is on at the Perry Coal Mine,” Routt County Republican, July 1, 1910.

  Baldwin was notorious: Martelle, Blood Passion, 95.

  In Oak Hills, for a short time: Bonnifield, “Oak Creek,” 4–6.

  “First we have to think about production”: Earnest “Dude” Todd, interviewed by Bonnifield, April 6, 1978.

  Todd worked for Bob Perry and subsequently served as the town manager of Oak Creek for eleven years. Bob helped him resolve disputes when he could. In an e-mail on June 24, 2010, Bonnifield wrote: “The town of Oak Creek was controlled by Andy Black, who ran the gambling, drinking, and prostitution. Earlier, Dude saw Andy shoot a man. Yet he successfully challenged Andy on many issues. The only way that Dude could have succeeded was with the unflinching support of someone out of sight. That person had to be Bob Perry. There is no other person with the power, the personal courage, or sense of fair play.”

  They passed the shower rooms, the mess hall, and the mine office: This description of the Oak Hills mines and the workers’ jobs was derived from e-mails and interviews with Yurich and Bonnifield between July 2009 and December 2010.

  CHAPTER 14: “UNARMED AND DEFENSELESS”

  The previous Wednesday, October 4: The details of Bob’s kidnapping were reconstructed from the records of the district court, Routt County, Colorado, filed November 24, 1916, January 3, 1917, and February 17, 1917, and from contemporaneous newspaper articles and letters.

  “Wearing a heavy flannel shirt and chaps”: Denver Post, October 8, 1916.

  One year she returned: “Bear Cub Captured as Trophy of Hunt by Marjorie Perry.” From Marjorie Perry’s scrapbook, newspaper and date unknown.

  (As an older woman, when her two favorite dogs died): Interview with Kennard Perry, June 10, 2010.

  “Denver society girl and experienced bear hunter”: “Miss Perry Heading Posse for Kidnaper” Denver Post, October 8, 1916.

  as an item in the Oak Creek Times put it: “Does Not Want Bandit in Oak Creek Cemetery,” October 10, 1916.

  and went on, “I presume you know it, that the town is against to me”: Letter from John Frangowlakis to R. M. Perry, Oak Creek, October 11, 1916.

  The next day the Oak Creek Times reported: “One Kidnaper of Robt. M. Perry Dead and Others in Jail,” October 12, 1916.

  “The Greek greeted Bob with a smile”: Confessions, 86.

  knifed to death: Interview with Mike Yurich, July 3, 2009.

  CHAPTER 15: “THE DARK DAYS ARE VERY FEW”

  Dr. D. L. Whittaker, the new doctor in Hayden: Zars, e-mail, October 4, 2010.

  Ros’s mother spoke at a monthly meeting of the King’s Daughters: “Colorado Mountain School, Where Miss Underwood Teaches, Described,” Auburn Citizen, December 1, 1916.

  Robin Robinson’s father mined the anthracite coal on the hillside: Interview with Bobbie Robinson, Robin’s son, December 9, 2010.

  the choice of grades: From an Elkhead report card of 1918–19; Zars, e-mail, October 4, 2010.

  There were very few deer and elk at the time: Penny Howe, e-mail, November 6, 2010.

  “That school lunch at noon was about the greatest thing in our lives”: Bobbie [Robin] Robinson, “In Memory of Rosamond Underwood Carpenter.”

  Soon after Thanksgiving: Maddeningly, Ros or her mother must have removed the letter she sent about her engagement. Her collection of correspondence contains only her family’s response to it, and an anguished letter from the New York lawyer Billy, who had hoped to marry her. He wrote that the news “sort of broke me up (to put it mildly),” and went on, “Now I must lock up in my heart the thoughts of the past years which have been the happiest of my life, come what may, no one will ever be equal to them. . . .” These letters were neatly bundled and tied with a red ribbon.

  CHAPTER 16: THREE-WIRE WINTER

  “In the morning there were always at least a dozen”: Manahna, 1920.

  After leaving Chicago: Herbert P. White, interview with Farrington Carpenter, July 11, 1970, Denver Public Library.

  In derailments on the Moffat Road, train cars sometimes: Dave Naples, e-mail, July 18, 2010.

  Several years earlier, she had become friendly with Carl Howelson: Jean Wren, “The Gypsy Life & Loves of Marjorie Perry,” Steamboat Magazine, Winter/Spring 1991.

  After learning of the Germans’ intention: Cooper, 357–89.

  CHAPTER 17: COMMENCEMENT

  “I fell in love with that beautiful country”: Dorothy Woodruff Hillman, letter to Belle Zars, August 20, 1973.

  “one of the most attractive”: “Reception Given Former Auburn Girl in Denver,” Auburn Citizen, October 10, 1917.

  she wrote to her sister-in-law, “I think the chief joy in the whole situation”: Letter from Eunice Pleasant to Gertrude Pleasant, August 27, 1919.

  woven rugs, baskets, clay modeling: Routt County Republican, May 28, 1920.

  and Mrs. Harrison pointed out: Letter to Mrs. Underwood, June 10, 1920.

  EPILOGUE

  A century after Ferry chose the spot for his homestead, the view was virtually unchanged: There was one difference. A plume of white smoke rose in the distance, from the coal-fired power plant in Hayden. The Hayden Station is across the street from the Carpenter Ranch. Much as J. B. Dawson made way for the Moffat Road train tracks in front of his door, Ferry sold the land to the power plant, then owned by Colorado-Ute Electrical Utility, in September 1962. “He felt it represented progress, in the classic frontier sense,” Reed told me. In 1993, Reed was the lead attorney for the Sierra Club when it sued over air pollution violations at the plant in Hayden. In 1995, the court cited the plant for thousands of violations of the Clean Air Act. The EPA joined the action in 1996, and the owners of the plant settled, agreeing to major upgrades. The air in the valley is much cleaner now: emissions of sulfur dioxide from the plant have dropped by 85 percent, particulate matter by 70 percent, and nitrogen oxides by 50 percent.

  He hung a white sign at the end of the driveway: The Carpenter Ranch was sold in 1996 to the Nature Conservancy, which runs it as a working ranch and a research and education center.

  Cattle arriving in Denver from Routt County: Cows, Cattle, and Commerce: 100 Years of the Railroad in Steamboat Springs, Tread of Pioneers exhibition, June 8, 2007–May 9, 2008.

  The homesteaders were paid well during the Great War: Zars, 74.

  “Something had to give”: Lewis Harrison, “Sketch of the Life,” 73–75.

  Roosevelt was impressed, writing to Ickes: Hubbard, “Butting Heads,” 22–31.

  Another was Isadore Bolten: Sylvia Beeler, “County Profile: Isadore Bolton, the West’s Outstanding Stockman,” first of a series in the Daily Press, January 23, 1974.

  one of the largest singly owned tracts: Ibid., January 28, 1974; February 5, 1974; February 14, 1985.

  “There was nothing for me in Russia”: “Isadore Bolten Dies of Heart Failure in Rawlins Home,” Rawlins Daily Times, February 17, 1951; “Bolton died at 66 after an Horatio Alger Life,” first of a series in the Daily Press, September
2, 1993.

  Other early businesses also went under: Still, in recent years, the city has had a renaissance in some quarters. In 2009 the heavy-metal band Manowar rented space in the Button Works’ early brick building on Logan Street. By the time I got there to look around, carpenters and electricians were at work turning the abandoned factory into condos.

  Ros’s comments in the reunion book: Smith College, Class of 1909 Reunion Book, June 1934, Smith College Archives.

  Oak Creek’s depot, a former headquarters for the Moffat Road: Mike Yurich e-mail, November 9, 2010.

  In the summer of 1960, her great-nephew arrived from Auburn: Chuck Underwood Kruger, e-mail, July 17, 2009.

  A no-trespassing sign was posted: Eunice Carpenter, “On Thinking It Over: The Passing of the Elkhead School,” Routt County Republican, October 19, 1938.

  “Ros joins me in sending love”: In a letter to my mother three years later, in shakier handwriting, Ferry wrote about Dorothy, “She & I have a bond that never gets weaker—I guess it’s the joint venture we both partook of & whose echoes never died out.

  “I’ve undertaken to write an autobiography—not just a series of happenings & events, but of what kind of ride you are in for, when you’re willing & anxious to get into the battle & try to make it conform to your ideals even tho they may not be 100% right.

  “Good bye, dear, as time rolls on we become more & more family. With love, Ferry.”

  her “great friend,” as she invariably referred to her: Dorothy died five years later, on May 13, 1979. On her ninety-second birthday, her son Douglas thanked her for handing down a good set of genes. She replied, “Douglas, you are welcome. I only wish it could have been something a little more tangible!” (From Douglas Hillman’s remarks at Dorothy’s memorial service at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Grand Rapids.)

  The windows were covered with yellowing paper that was designed to resemble stained glass: Jan Leslie, e-mail, February 9, 2010.

  At a time when only 10 to 15 percent of students in the country: U.S. Commissioner of Education, Annual Report 1915, Washington, D.C.: 1915, quoted in Zars, 44.