by Charles W. Bowman
Chapter IX
Fragments
The first Commissioners
of Bent County were John W. Prowers, Philip Lander and Theodore Gaussion. They
met at Las Animas City March 12, 1870, and organized by electing J.W. Prowers
Chairman. They appointed the following persons as county officers: R.M. Moore,
County Superintendent of Common Schools; Moses R. Tate, Assessor; Harry Whigham,
Clerk; the Governor appointed Thomas O. Boggs, Sheriff; Mark B. Price,
Treasurer; R.M. Moore, Probate Judge.
The county was attached to Pueblo for judicial purposes till 1872, when one
term of District Court a year was provided by the Legislature.
At the fall election, September 13, 1870, L.A. Allen was elected Sheriff;
M.B. Price, Treasurer; R.M. Moore, Probate Judge and County Superintendent of
Schools; M.R. Tate, Assessor; George Hunter, County Clerk; Charles M. Burr,
Coroner. A vote was also taken on the county seat question, resulting in its
removal to Boggsville. By vote taken again in 1872, the county seat was returned
to Las Animas City, where it remained till October, 1875, when it was removed to
West Las Animas.
The County of Greenwood having become so reduced in population by the year
1874 as to be unable to sustain a court or maintain its organization, it was by
act, approved February 6, broken up. At the same time a new county was formed
out of a portion of Greenwood and Douglas, to be known as Elbert. The remainder
of Greenwood, or about half, was added to Bent County.
In March, 1875, a proposition to subscribe to $150,000 worth of stock of the
Pueblo & Arkansas Valley Railroad was submitted to the voters of the county and
carried by a large majority. The bonds of the county for this amount were
accordingly issued, payable in thirty years, with interest at the rate of 8 per
cent per annum. In the winter of 1879-80, the stock commanding a good price, it
was by consent of the people sold, returning the sum of $86,000, which was at
once applied in reducing the bonded indebtedness.
A
private or subscription school was opened at Boggsville in the fall of 1869, by
Miss Mattie Smith, and the next year a school district was organized with R.M.
Moore as President, C.L. Rite as Secretary, and J.W. Prowers as Treasurer. The
next teacher for two terms was Peter G. Scott, present Cashier Bent County Bank.
Upon the accession of Moore as County Superintendent, new districts were formed
at Las Animas and Nine Mile Bottom. Other districts were formed as the
population justified till the number reached nine. At West Las Animas, a bonded
indebtedness of $5,000 was assumed in 1876, for building a schoolhouse, and a
neat two-story building completed the same year.
On the subject of church work there is but little to record. The scattered
situation of the people has been unfavorable to the organization of churches as
well as schools, but the establishment of permanent railroad stations and post
office promises a better state of things in the near future. Ranchmen, as they
find their families growing up, begin to cast about for educational and church
privileges, and to this end many have moved to the railroad stations, thus
rendering organization for social and religious purposes possible. As early as
1872-73, Rev. John Stocks, of the Methodist Episcopal Church, traveled and
preached in the county, and from that time till the present there has been
almost a continuous succession of itinerant preachers of that church in the
county. In 1874-75, the Presbyterians, Methodist Episcopals, Baptists, Southern
Methodists and Roman Catholics were represented at West Las Animas by ministers,
and church buildings were erected by the last four named. Since then, however,
the field has been abandoned by all except the Catholics and Presbyterians.
Sunday schools and occasional preaching services have been held within the last
year at Granada, Nine Mile, La Junta and Catlin, and one or more Sunday schools
have been maintained continuously at West Las Animas from the beginning. As a
whole the people are liberal toward the churches, though if we are to regard
external evidences, the converts made in the last decade have been few. This may
be attributed rather to the unsettled condition of the people than to the lack
of ability or zeal on the part of the messengers of Christ.
The principal industries of Bent County at this writing are cattle, sheep and
hay. The former two have heretofore taken precedence, but the latter within the
last few years has steadily grown in importance. The hay meadows are being
inclosed with fences, and machinery for cutting and bailing has been generally
introduced. Farming is not carried on as extensively as in the early days. Many
of the small farmers and stock-owners have sold out to the more wealthy, so that
the business of the county, though aggregating vastly more in value, is probably
in fewer hands than eight years ago. Considering, however, the unequaled
facilities for irrigation, the fertility of the soil, and the growing demand of
the adjacent mining regions, it is not improbable that the farming industry will
grow. Already a number of cattle men have turned their attention to raising
alfalfa as feed, and the success they have met warrants the belief that it will
in the future be largely produced. Fruit-growing has also proved successful, and
the same causes which shall encourage a return to farming will induce the
cultivation of the grape, plum, currant, apple, cherry and strawberry.
