Early mountain Christmas feasts had to make do

By Kathy Hatfield
Correspondent

Though the Pilgrims didn't allow Christmas celebrations during our country's early history, by the middle of the 18th century, Yuletide festivities were well established in the eastern United States. But here in the Rocky Mountain West, Christmas traditions were barely beginning.

Initially, probably the only people in the area with any knowledge of Christmas were explorers and mountain men, but few, if any, families. One of the earliest Christmas celebrations in Colorado was in 1806. Lt. Zebulon Pike and his men were traveling up the Arkansas River, headed towards the Rocky Mountains. They camped along the river and probably would have starved without the eight buffalo they killed on Christmas Eve.

Pike reported that his men "appeared generally to be content, although all the refreshment we had to celebrate that day with was buffalo meat, without salt, or any other thing whatever." On Christmas day they dried the rest of their buffalo meat and relaxed, reminiscing about past Christmases: "Having been accustomed to some degree of relaxation, and extra enjoyments; but here 800 miles from the frontiers of our country, in the most inclement season of the year; not one person clothed for the winter, many without blankets...we spent the day as agreeable as could be expected from men in our situation."

Almost half a century later and a bit further north, Col. John Frémont, in his fourth expedition to the West, took 33 men with him, trying to find a possible railroad route to the west through the mountains. They crossed the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, passed through the San Luis Valley and headed into the San Juan Mountains. But as they attempted to climb the Continental Divide and approached 12,000 feet in elevation, the snow deepened and the temperatures plummeted. They never reached the divide or accomplished their mission. Eleven men and all their mules perished in the process. The Christmas dinner of 1848, as reported by Thomas E. Breckenridge, a member of the expedition, consisted of fried mule, mule chops, boiled mule, scrambled mule, French fried mule and numerous other mule dishes. They even had mule on toast (without the toast) and short ribs of mule with applesauce (without the applesauce). Beverages were snow, snow water and water.

In a more civilized part of the state, the discovery of gold at Cherry Creek brought fortune seekers to Colorado. Determined to celebrate their future wealth, they planned a Yuletide feast. The Platte River Gold Diggings Bill of Fare for Christmas of 1858 offered buffalo tongue, grizzly bear, elk, mountain sheep, pheasant, mountain rat, sand hill crane, squirrel and white swan as well as more common meats. Vegetables included potatoes, pumpkins, beans, beets and squash. For dessert, the choices were six types of pies, three kinds of puddings, plus fruits and nuts. To accompany the food, there were 13 different wines and spirits, including Monongahela whiskey and Taos Lightning. After dinner, into the late evening, the miners toasted friends and family, sang and danced around a bonfire.

In the little town of Fort Collins, Christmas parties often included both a dinner and dance in lavishly decorated houses. Many families carried on the tradition of putting up a Christmas tree in their homes, often heading into the mountains to cut a fresh one. By 1910, the tree-cutting practice was quite popular and in some areas it was becoming unmanageable. The Forest Service reminded people that they had to get permission to cut trees and they requested that people thin the trees, rather than cut down large swaths of forest.

The corner of College and Mountain avenues was decorated with a huge city Christmas tree. The people of the community gathered around the tree to enjoy music and sing Christmas carols. In 1912, the Fort Collins Express newspaper requested that all Fort Collins residents follow the old English custom of burning a candle in the window on Christmas Eve to "speak your message of Christmas cheer to the passer-by." The newspaper proclaimed "...with the gigantic city Christmas tree at Mountain and College; with the people of the city gathering in the open for an hour of song and music about this tree; Fort Collins will present a sight the like of which is new, particularly in the West."