Colorado History - Littleton in the Early 1860s, Founding Fathers

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Colorado History

- Colorado History -
The History of Littleton, Colorado

Littleton in the Early 1860s
The Founding Fathers of Littleton, Colorado

1859 - 1860s
Ranches and farms were established by settlers in the South Platte River valley.

November 30, 1859
The Capital Hydraulic Company was organized as a ditch / canal building enterprise to supply water to the growing settlements near Cherry Creek. The company planned a ten-mile ditch to carry water from the South Platte "for mechanical, agricultural, mining and other purposes." This project was later known as the Highline Canal.

1860
Richard Sullivan Little moved to Colorado in 1860. Born in Grafton, New Hampshire in 1829, Little had been educated as a civil engineer in Vermont. During the 1850s, Little did surveying for the expanding railroads, first in New Hampshire then later throughout southern and central Wisconsin. Little had trouble collecting his fees due to an economic depression in the late 1850s, so he moved to booming Colorado. Richard Little then found work surveying land claims for farmers along the South Platte River.

Richard S. Little; Angeline Little
Richard Sullivan Little and his wife, Angeline

February 28, 1861
The Territory of Colorado was created during President Buchanan's administration. Later, President Lincoln appointed Major William Gilpin of Missouri as the first Governor of the Colorado Territory. After serving for only one year, Governor Gilpin was removed from office for issuing unauthorized drafts.

1861
The Capital Hydraulic Company canal project - By early 1861, only a few miles of the ditches had been constructed even though $30,000 had been spent. Engineer John Clark had not allowed a sufficient fall line making the water supply inadequate. Clark was soon replaced by Richard Little, who became the chief engineer for the Capital Hydraulic Company in February 1861.

1861 - 1862
Richard Little claimed a hundred and sixty acres of land just east of the South Platte River, near the head of the Capital Hydraulic ditch. Little filed his initial claim with the Arapahoe Claim Club, establishing his "squatter's rights." Later, Little purchased additional acreage and made a homestead filing of his own in 1862. Richard Little traveled Chicago to bring his wife, Angeline, to Colorado - the return trip took two months.

March 19, 1862
President Lincoln appointed Dr. John Evans of Chicago the second Territorial Governor of Colorado.

1862
Farming along the South Platte proved to be quite a challenge. The Denver Republican reported:
"The grasshoppers are now making their appearance in innumerable numbers. Last year they were a source of great annoyance to our farmers, but this season they are grounds for serious apprehension..."

Joseph Bowles Cynthia Bowles
Joseph W. Bowles and his wife, Cynthia

1862
Joseph W. Bowles settled the land across from Little, just west of the South Platte. Bowles was a Fifty-Niner from North Carolina who had spent three years working in the Nevada mining district. While there, Bowles had had served two terms as sheriff. One of Colorado's most successful farmers, Bowles was worth more than $500,000 in land, stock and mining property at the time of his death in 1906.

The History of Littleton, Colorado
1. | History of Littleton: Prehistory - 1859 Colorado Gold Rush |
2. | Littleton in the Early 1860s / Founding Fathers |
3. | 1860s: Lewis Ames, Littleton's First Teachers and School,
Indian Troubles and Early Buildings in Littleton |
4. | Littleton 1870 - 1879: Railroads, 1st Church, Highline Canal |
5. | Littleton in the 1880s: Avery Gallup, First Newspaper |
6. | The City of Littleton in the 1890s: First Mayor, Pickletown |
7. | 1900s: South Arapahoe County, Littleton Named County Seat |
8. | Littleton 1910 - 1920s: Town Improvements / Industry |
9. | Littleton, Colorado in the 1930s and 1940s |
10. | The Boom of the 1950s and 1960s in Littleton, Colorado |
11. | Littleton: 1970s to Present, Concrete Pods and All |
12. | Littleton Trivia and Stuff You've Always Wondered About! |

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- Colorado History In Depth -
Lecture Notes, Reading, and Information:

| The Cheyenne Migration to Colorado |
| The Gratlan Affair, Massacre, Fort Laramie Treaty |

Fort Union
| The Sante Fe Trail and Fort Union |
| Sumner - Ninth Military Department / The First Fort Union |
| Early Arrivals to Fort Union, Daily Life at Fort Union |
| Captain Grover - The New Fort Union, the Confederate Threat |
| Fort Union Arsenal, William Shoemaker, End of Fort Union |

Cripple Creek District Labor Strikes
| The Western Federation of Miners / State Militia |
| The 1893 - 1894 Strike | The Strike of 1903 - 1904 |
| The Mine Owners Association |
| Crimes and Military Rule in the Cripple Creek District |
| Marshall Law in Cripple Creek District / End of the Strike |
Early Cripple Creek District
| Photos, Fire, and Life in Cripple Creek |
| Other Colorful Towns in the Cripple Creek District:
Gillett - Colorado's Only Bullfight, Victor, Independence |
| A Guide to the Miners' Gritty Lingo |

More Colorado History Information
| Bent's Fort Photos, Personalities, Plans, and More |
| What Was Easter Like at Bent's Fort? |
| Colorado Trivia, Miscellaneous Old Photos,
Western Personalities, Forts, and More |
| Lullabies for Jittery Cows - Cowboy Ballads |
| Heraldry of the Branding Iron |
| Project Aims to Clear Infamous Cannibal, Alferd Packer |
| Lead Gives Alferd Packer's Story More Weight |
| Legendary Colorado Love Stories: Baby Doe Tabor & More |
| Colorado Pioneer Women: Elizabeth Byers |
| Early Denver Jokes / The History of April Fools' Day |
| History of the US Memorial Day Holiday |

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Highlands Ranch High School 9375 South Cresthill Lane Highlands Ranch, Colorado 80126 303-471-7000