LaPorte: first in many things

By Kenneth Jessen
Correspondent

LaPorte was Larimer County's first permanent settlement, its first county seat and the site of the county's first courthouse and first post office.

Antoine Janis first saw the LaPorte area as a boy of 12. He was with his father in a wagon train heading from St. Louis to Green River. He later remarked that he had never seen such a beautiful place. In 1844, he returned and staked out a squatter's claim west of the future town of LaPorte.

Janis did nothing with his claim until 1859, when he and his Indian wife, First Elk Woman, moved from Fort Laramie to LaPorte. Here he constructed a cabin and lived on the land. As time passed, his wife wanted to be with her people, and in 1878 Janis sold his property. He and his wife moved to the Pine Ridge Indian Agency.

Ansel Watrous, author of the 1911 "History of Larimer County, Colorado," credits Janis with being the first permanent settler in the vast area of Colorado north of the Arkansas River. This is where Watrous and facts collide. Others had already constructed cabins in both the Big Thompson and Cache la Poudre drainages by the time Janis arrived.

Janis told of buffalo herds that blackened the hillsides and streams that ran high in the spring. He also mentioned the 150 lodges occupied by the Arapahoe Indians. When he told Chief Bold Wolf that he wanted to settle along the river, he was granted land extending from the foot of the mountains east to the mouth of Boxelder Creek.

Prior to the arrival of Janis, Indians had occupied the land for thousands of years. By 1828, French-speaking Canadian trappers lived in the area seasonally. Between trapping beaver, they traded with the area's Indians, including Cheyenne and Arapahoe. They took Indian wives, which solidified their trading relations.

Between 1858 and 1859, with the help of Janis, a settlement called Colona was formed. Those purchasing a share of the Colona Town Co. stock received a lot. The community grew to between 50 and 60 log buildings.

Watrous credits the first cabin in Colona to John B. Provost, where Provost operated a grocery store and saloon. Technically, the Provost cabin was on the south side of the river and not within the Colona townsite.

Alfred F. Howes, while doing a survey, came across Colona in 1860 and described it as a settlement of mountaineers who once worked for the American Fur Co. Howes related how the mountaineers had once been hunters and trappers, then became guides for the military.

He was not impressed with the quality of Colona's citizens, since he remarked, "The principal occupations of the residents consisted of sitting cross-legged, Indian fashion, making cigarettes from plug tobacco cut up fine, for their own personal enjoyment and immediate use, and occasionally regaling themselves with good sized horns of villainous whiskey."

Howes continued, "Their chief amusements were playing cards and raising Indian ponies...Ponies, buckskins and moccasins generally constituted the measures of value of everything they dealt in, even to the purchase of squaw wives."

Larimer County

In 1861, the newly formed territorial legislature defined Larimer County. It extended all the way across North Park into what is today Jackson County. Colona was the only settlement of any size. At this time its name was changed to LaPorte, meaning "the gateway," reflecting its position as the entrance to the mountains. The mountaineers resented the creation of the county, since they had lived without any laws other than those they had originated.

The following year, the Overland Stage Co. moved its route from across central Wyoming south through LaPorte. A stage station was constructed near the best ford across the Cache la Poudre River. Also, LaPorte got a post office.

The settlement of Colona was somewhat west of the center of LaPorte and possibly on the Janis claim. LaPorte had the best place to ford the Cache la Poudre River and, when surveyed, included the Colona townsite.

Across central Wyoming, Indian raids had ravaged the Overland Stage Co. Stage stations were burned, stock run off and some of the agents were killed. At times, all travel was suspended. Now that the Overland had moved its route south through Colorado, the military was ordered to establish a new camp. In July 1862, Capt. Asaph Allen's Company B, 9th Kansas Cavalry marched 154 miles south from Fort Laramie to LaPorte and picked a site next to the town.

Adding to the barracks constructed by the military, a couple of houses belonging to LaPorte resident Joseph Knight were secured as officers' quarters. The place was named Camp Collins in honor of Lt. Col. William O. Collins of the Ohio Cavalry. At the same time, the new Overland route was put into service, knowing that soldiers were standing by ready to protect it and its passengers.

There were several problems with the location of Camp Collins. The troops had easy access to LaPorte's four saloons. The post commander was frequently annoyed by soldiers returning from LaPorte intoxicated and tried to put an end to this behavior by prohibiting sales of alcohol to soldiers. It probably did little good, and there was enough business for a German immigrant to construct a brewery next to the army post. Another problem for Camp Collins was its location in the Cache la Poudre floodplain.

Early LaPorte

Bolstered by the military and the Overland Stage Co., LaPorte grew in size and dominated the region. It was the jumping-off place for exploration of the mountains. LaPorte was where the route south to Denver split from the wagon road along the Cache la Poudre to Latham, east of Greeley. It supported a couple of blacksmith shops and a small hotel. There was a butcher shop and even a shoe store. Charles Clay opened the first barbershop. Dr. T. M. Smith served as the town physician and also as surgeon for the soldiers at Camp Collins. Jerry Kershaw's merchandise store took in as much as $1,000 a day at the inflated prices common to any remote location. In 1866, to add to the importance of LaPorte, Union Telegraph opened an office.

The Overland agents in LaPorte had the pleasure of hosting notables of the day, such as Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. Grant was treated to the best dinner LaPorte could afford consisting of fresh trout, chicken, squash and baked beans. Vice President Schuyler Colfax passed through LaPorte, as well as noted journalist and traveler Samuel Bowles. Horace Greeley, of "go west, young man" fame, spent a night in town.

LaPorte did have social gatherings. Women were in short supply, however. The Indian wives did their best to put on a weekly feast. One of them would pick a healthy dog and slaughter the animal. The hair was singed off in an open fire, and the animal was then boiled in a pot until tender. It presumably tasted like pork, and other than wild game was the only meat available until cattle were introduced into the area. Some settlers could not stand the thought of eating a dog, and the tradition of the dog feast eventually died out.

County commissioners

In 1861, Congress approved Colorado's application for territorial status and newly appointed Gov. William Gilpin picked F. W. Sherwood, John J. Ryan and Alfred F. Howes for Larimer County's first board of commissioners. The commissioners needed to elect a representative to send to territorial meetings. An old camp coffeepot served as the ballot box. By the afternoon of the election, there was a dispute over who was leading. In typical frontier style, this led to a round of betting on the outcome. Someone cleared a table and dumped out the ballots in the coffeepot. The votes were counted, bets were settled and balloting continued.

The new commissioners were also charged with the responsibility of picking a location for the county seat. Howes favored Colona, but Sherwood opposed the measure, possibly wanting the county seat near his ranch. Ryan didn't care. Gilpin pressured the men to settle this issue and finally, in frustration, tossed out the entire board of commissioners.

He then appointed Joseph Mason, William B. Osborn and James B. Arthur to a new board. They quickly agreed on Colona as the county seat and laid out three election districts.

By 1864, Gov. John Evans had replaced Gilpin. Evans appointed a third set of commissioners consisting of Abner Loomis, John Heath and William A. Bean. These men met in October and picked a superintendent of schools, clerk, assessor and treasurer and appointed John E. Washburn as judge. Also that year, the county purchased a small, log building from Henry Arrison for $150. This served as the county's first courthouse and county offices until 1868, when the county seat was moved to Fort Collins. Arrison became the county's first sheriff.

Poudre River flood

What changed the course of LaPorte's history was a flood on June 9, 1864. The Cache la Poudre went over its banks due to a combination of a cloudburst and heavy runoff from snowpack. The flood swept through Camp Collins during the night carrying away tents and some of the cabins in the torrent. Soldiers scrambled to high ground. Some were unable to force the door to their cabin open against the pressure of the water and had to squeeze up through the chimney. Many escaped with only the clothes on their backs, but there was no loss of life. When the sun came up, the entire camp was under water, and only the rooftops of those cabins that survived were visible. The army was unable to function. Overland stagecoaches could not cross the swollen river, and all traffic came to a halt.

During the days following the flood, soldiers went downstream to find a suitable spot for a new post. They encountered Joseph Mason, who pointed out a bluff on the south side of the river where the ground was level and well above water level. There was a stretch of about four or five miles where there were no settlers, and it was far from the temptations of LaPorte.

The land was appropriated by the military as a permanent fort. The commanding officer at Camp Collins was given orders to build quarters at the new location. This included barracks for two companies, as well as officers' quarters and a hospital. All military structures were removed from Camp Collins and what material could be salvaged was used for the new fort.

This loss of a military presence dramatically slowed the economic development of LaPorte. The Overland moved its route to pass through Fort Collins, although the LaPorte stage station remained in operation.

Few Indian raids occurred along the new Overland Trail. By August 1866, the post had only one officer and 25 soldiers. A general recommended that Fort Collins be abandoned and the land be opened to settlement.

After the Army vacated the fort, the citizens that remained converted the military site into a town. In 1868, voters elected to move the county seat from LaPorte to Fort Collins. In 1872, a town government was established and the following year Fort Collins was incorporated. Unlike LaPorte, Fort Collins was safe from floods and quickly took over as the economic center of the region. Its position was solidified with the arrival of the Colorado Central Railroad in 1877, placing Fort Collins along the main line between Denver and Cheyenne.

Author's Note: Conflicting information complicates a definitive history of LaPorte. Dates and times do not agree between historical sources. The author has attempted to piece together a logical sequence of events.