Bayou Salado by Virginia McConnell Simmons

Author:Virginia McConnell Simmons
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University Press of Colorado
Published: 2002-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

FAIRPLAY

Fairplay had long since settled into being a permanent—if raw—frontier town with a population that usually numbered three or four hundred and with enough variety in its economic life to keep it going. It served freight and passenger traffic coming or going across the park on the Denver route, but it also had become the established trading center for all of the mining and ranching districts that ringed Fairplay. Furthermore, it was secure in its role as the county seat of Park County.

In the early 1870’s Fairplay was served by a dozen or more stage runs. Three came in weekly from Denver on the Colorado Stage Company line which continued on to Santa Fe. Coaches came in three times a week from Colorado Springs, and twice a week from San Luis “Park” and Lake County on Frank Logan’s line. W. H. Berry, who had been in the express business during the Reynolds Gang affair, ran one stage a week to Canon City. And once a week a coach ran across Hoosier Pass. Spotswood and McClelland had the South Park Stage Company, which was not only the longest line but also owner of the best equipment and service. Wells Fargo and Company had an express office in Fairplay which served all of South Park with the exception of the upper Tarryall, for which Hamilton still maintained an office. McLaughlin and Hall kept a large livery stable at Fairplay for the great number of animals relayed in traffic.

For the travelers Fairplay also provided two hotels, Hugh Murdock’s South Park House and Miller’s Clinton House. Although the more celebrated of the two, the South Park House set a table that left much to be desired in both cuisine and atmosphere. Tourists with camping outfits still preferred to set up tents outside of town, as had the Colfax party. The handful of businesses, including A. M. Janes’ general store and Valiton’s drugstore, provided their immediate needs.

A. M. Janes, who also was Fairplay’s postmaster, ran his store in the same building where William H. Berry had his express and stage office. Berry bore a chipped shoulder about his neighbor next door, because he wanted the contract for carrying gold out of Oro City by express, but Oro’s postmaster, H. A. W. Tabor, persisted in sending dust and nuggets with the regular mail dispatches.

In 1869 two bags of gold as well as some letters had been stolen by a fellow named Farnum, one of the carriers between Oro City and Fairplay. When a posse had searched his stable in Fairplay, they had found the stolen items under some manure. Although Farnum seemed to think that the gold should be his as payment of back wages, he was, nevertheless, found guilty of embezzling and stealing from the mails. In 1872 the ruling was reversed on the grounds that gold was not classed as mailable matter.

In the meantime, Tabor, as was still his custom despite the Farnum episode, put in the mail for Denver a buckskin bag containing a thousand dollars’ worth of gold.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.