by Charles W. Bowman

Biographies

DAVID CLARK

   The gold excitement of 1859 induced Mr. Clark to leave his home in Illinois. where he had resided twenty-five years. He was born in Sangamon County, and lived there ten years. He then removed to the adjoining county of Logan, where he remained until the fame of Pikes Peak reached his native State. He was raised a farmer. He attended the common schools a portion of several years until he was eighteen years of age. When he came West, he went directly to Denver, arriving there June 14, 1859. After remaining there a short time, he engaged in mining on South Clear Creek. In company with a number of men, he built a dam across the stream, and, by cutting a channel, changed the course of the creek, with the view of working the bed. He was employed in mining for four years in various portions of the State. In 1860, he was in the famous California Gulch, near Leadville, and then in Breckenridge and vicinity. He enjoyed a fair success in his mining operations. After concluding his search for gold in the mountains, he went up the Platte eighteen miles north of Denver, and worked a ranch of eighty acres of his own, together with some land he had leased. The hay crop was an important one with him. He remained there until the spring of 1867, when he went to New Mexico and located on the Cimmaron, where he farmed one year on the Maxwell Land Grant. At the expiration of this time, he went to work in the Moreno Mines, noted for their rich yield of gold. These mines were rented for $1 a year. Here he remained until the spring of 1872, and then removed to Pueblo. Colo., where he freighted for a year. In 1873, he located at the mouth of Big Sandy Creek, in Bent County, and took up a homestead, where he now resides. Mr. Clark has a bunch of 150 head of graded cattle and a small herd of horses. He was elected County Commissioner in October, 1879, for a term of three years.