Bellvue tales embody rich history of 20th century

By Marilyn Colter
Correspondent

When David and Alice Clark bought their home in Bellvue in 1974, they found themselves set squarely down in the middle of a community rich in stories and history.

Part of their new house was rumored to have been built by the first licensed woman carpenter in Colorado, and many of their elderly neighbors had lived in the community their entire lifetimes. Their stories intrigued the Clarks.

David Clark, a former journalism professor and administrator at Colorado State University, realized he was hearing about another way of life that was quickly disappearing, so the Clarks set out to preserve history and save the stories for another generation.

The result was a series of oral histories placed in the Fort Collins Library, and a tape and slide show produced in 1979 with the help of a grant from the Colorado Humanities Program. But even after those were finished, and the Clarks went on to other things, the stories continued to pull at Clark. So after retirement, he decided to get the stories out to new readers. Released this fall, "A Horse Can't Buck in Sand: Accounts of Western Country Life in the Early 20th Century," is the result.

"Initially, we just wanted to get to know our neighbors," the book's editor, David Clark, said, but the stories began to take on a life of their own.

The book includes edited oral histories of 23 people who told their stories of joy, struggle, tragedy and stoicism in the early 1900s. They were rodeo cowboys, homemakers, teachers, homesteaders, loggers, storekeepers, prospectors and railroad workers. Most had little formal education but were well versed in survival. As Clark writes in the introduction:

"Near the ends of their lives, what stood out in their minds were the personal triumphs or hardships (especially those): broken bones, eyes put out, deadly sickness endured with little or no medical help available or expected. Most of all, they treasured their experiences of their early years, well aware that the world in which they were born, grew to adulthood, and lived most of their lives had vanished forever."

Their experiences are the stuff of which western films were created. For example, Loyce "Shorty" Creed was a rodeo cowboy who found his chosen way of life as a kid at the Fourth of July picnics where riding bucking horses was usually part of the celebration. The riders looked real prosperous to Shorty.

"I was kind of a small shaver," he told Clark, "but I could see them with them nice boots on and that hat, you know, and then they'd be riding bucking horses, for a hat collection or just for fun... So I thought: Oh-oh. That's for me. That is for me."

Although nearly all the people have died since they were first interviewed, their stories bear witness to a way of life most will never know. "A Horse Can't Buck in Sand" is both history and human drama.

Books are available for $16.95 (plus $5 for shipping and handling) from Bingham Hill Press, P.O. Box 87, Bellvue, CO 80512.