History Of Perry Park Ranch
A Historical Journey:
Kansas Pacific went south to the headwaters of Plum and Monument Creeks on a pleasure ride. Their intention though pleasurable, was pf utmost seriousness, for they had to decide by the end of the year which route across the Kansas Pacific was to take into Colorado territory-this foothills route or the more direct route across the eastern plains. John Perry and William Palmer were captivated by the magnificent scenery along these foothills. Both acquired extensive property with a view to future capabilities for agriculture, stock-raising, and a country home. John Dietz Perry began buying ranches, homesteads, and pre-emption claims, and by 1971, he had amassed some 4000 acres in the Pleasant Park area, which he renamed Perry Park. This splendid domain remained in the hands of an elite few for almost a hundred years.
John Perry and his sons, Charles and Lewis developed a working ranch where Charles remained the year round supervisor and foreman. They introduced the Shorthorn strain of cattle in the area; they were to gradually replace many of the wily, rangy Longhorns of the early settlers. Extensive buildings were constructed. Newton Grout, the carpenter of the valley, built an impressive frame house, barn, and servant's quarters in the shadow of 300 foot Nannichant Rock. An ice house, milk house, chicken house, and corrals were added. The Perry's generosity extended to their neighbors as well; they employed them to cut timber for fences and posts; they purchased produce from their gardens, and they improved their herds with the Shorthorn breed. These were welcome gestures for the often "money-poor" pioneers.
Irrigation ditches spanned the hay meadows with the first alfalfa raised in Douglas County grown at Perry Park. "One time Mr. Perry came to see his son after he had been traveling in Egypt. He brought alfalfa see with him and gave it to his son to plant. Young Mr. Perry planted it, and grew such a good crop that he had Mr. Pete Brannan and Albert Dakan come to see it. Mr. Walter Starr told us that he always looked first in Mr. Perry's Alfalfa when his hog got out. He would ride the hog home." Lewis Perry's celebrated thoroughbred stallion, Cyclone, stood for the season at Perry Park; his prize-winning conformation was acknowledged throughout the state.
Perry's named the beautiful sandstone formations in the park for the many exotic places where they traveled. Northeast of the house were the walls of Jericho; the line of multicolored rocks rising vertically to the west which included Sentinel Rock was called Cashmere Ridge; the entire ridge running northeast to southeast was Unkartump Ridge, and the road leading to the falls of Bear Creek was Archean Road. Castle Ridge, Grand View, Washington Monument, Kenilworth Castle, Heidelburg, and the Vale of Cashmere-all suggested exotic, faraway places:
Who has not heard of the Vale of Cashmere,
With its roses the brightest the ear ever gave,
Its temples, and grottoes, and fountains as clear
As the love-lighted eyes that hand over their waves
When the Spirit of fragrance is up with the day.
Isabella Bird in her travels along the foot hills in 1873, found Perry Park a luxury amidst the pioneer simplicity and frugality:
The Great Divide of the Arkansas was in front looming vaguely through a heavy snow cloud, and snow began to fall, not in powder, but in heavy flakes. Finding that there would be risk in trying to ride til nightfall, in the early afternoon I left the road and went two mile into the hills by an untrodden path, where there were gates to open, and a rapid steep-sided creek to cross, and at the entrance to a most fantastic gorge I came upon an elegant frame house belonging to Mr. Perry, a millionaire…Mr. Perry was away, but his daughter, a very bright-looking, elegantly-dresses girl, invited me to dine and remain. They had stewed venison and various luxuries on the table, which was tasteful and refined, and an adroit, coloured table-maid waited, one if five attached Negro servants who had been their slaves before the war.
After dinner, though snow was slowly falling, a gentle man cousin took me for a ride to show me the beauties of Pleasant Park, which takes rank among the finest scenery of Colorado, and in good weather is very easy of access. It did look very grand as we entered it by a narrow pass guarded by two buttes, or isolated masses of upright rock, bright red, and about 300 feet in height. The pines were very large, and the narrow canyons which came down on the park gloomingly magnificent. It is remarkable also from the quantity of 'monumental' rocks form 50 to 300 feet in height, bright vermilion, green, buff, orange, and sometimes all combined, the gay tinting a contrast to the disastrous-looking snow and the somber pines. Bear canyon, a gorge of singular majesty, comes down on the park, an we crossed the Bear Creek at the foot of this on the ice, which gave way, and both our horses broke through into pretty deep and very cold water…
Perry's Park is one of the great cattle-raising ranches in Colorado. This, the youngest State in the Union, a Territory until quite recently, has an are of about 68,000,000 acres, a great portion of which, though rich in mineral wealth , is worthless either for stock or arable farming, and the other or eastern part is so dry that crops can only be grown profitably where irrigation is possible… the prospects of cattle-raising seem at present practically unlimited… the climate is so fine and the pasture so ample that shelter and hand-feeding are never resorted to in the case of imported breeding stock from the eastern States, which sometimes in severe wint4ers need to be fed in sheds… Mr. Perry devotes himself mainly to the breeding of graded shorthorn bulls, which he sells when young for 6 per head. The cattle run at large upon the prairies; each animal being branded, they need no herding, and are usually only mustered, counted, and the increase branded in the summer. In the fall, when three or four years old, they are sold in lean or tolerable condition to dealers who take them by rail to Chicago or elsewhere…
The Perry's hospitality was renowned throughout the region, not only by their neighbors, but also by frequent visitors. The entire family spent the summers and fall at the park; Negro servants, an Irish washerwoman, and a retinue of twenty-two persons accompanied them. Their elegant carriage and horses were sent daily to Larkspur and the railroad depot to pick up guests. Frank Dakan drove the galloping "four-in-hand" through the pine-covered hills and valleys with a pomp and flourish which delighted the visitors.
The magnificent beauty of the park was described by a traveler in 1876:
About half way from Denver to Pikes Peak we struck a spur of mountains, shooting out into the plain and dividing the waters of the Platte from those of the Arkansas. We heard of a lovely spot of earth situated somewhere in this locality, a few miles from the road. So ere the departing sun drew through the mountain gap her golden ribbons, we turned up a green valley which, though miles in length, was as straight as the last threads of light that stream down this magic way. It was so regular, so lovely, I imagined an angel had inverted a rainbow and with it plowed his course far into the mountains.
Along the bottom ran a careless Indian Trail through the carpet of green, while far up the curving sides were groves of evergreen with inviting retreats almost inducing us to leave the path. By and by the forms of monuments appeared among the evergreens on our left, as though rocks, like trees, could grow from the green unbroken turf. At the end of the valley we halted. Below us lay Pleasant Park, surrounded by lofty rocks, stony fortifications, within whose walls were towering ruins as a might city shaken down by the hands of God. Some the standing walls were red like brick, others white like marble. Long we watched the fitful lights and shadows of the moon play their wondrous charms among those eternal remains. In that green and level valley from which they arose stood groves of lofty pines, like tender household plants in the door-yards of a deserted city.
Surrounded by natural beauty and luxuries, John Perry planned to build a more elaborate brick house using stone form a nearby quarry, and brick fired in a large kiln on the ranch. These dreams did not materialize. His wife, Eliza, a lady of the genteel south, disapproved of the individualistic, often harsh environment of the west, which was so alien to her , and discouraged the building of the brick mansion. Their son, Charles used the roof of the kiln for a shooting blind; whenever they wanted venison, bedding was placed on the roof, where he and his cousin spent the night. "They never failed to see a band of deer coming down the trail one behind the other to the salt lick as it was called-a mineral spring which was just a nice shot from the top of the kiln. These pleasures were to be short-lived however. In 1876 Charles Perry was kicked fatally by a horse. With the death of their son who had supervised the entire operation of the ranch, and the apparent dislike of the western environment by his wife, John Perry offered "all or part of' the vast holdings for sale in 1879. This decision was the beginning of a series of legal entanglements and litigations which plagued the Perry family until 1903.
Advertisements in the Rocky Mountain News extolled its beauty as "the finest country seat in Colorado…Nowhere in the whole Rocky Mountain chain can there be found a more charming bits of landscape…This estate embraces Pleasant Park, the Grant of Haystack farm, and the Glen Grove farm, forming altogether one of the most charming and desirable pieces of property in the state…Some parts of it rival the Garden of the Gods in the number and picturesque appearance of the rock formations."
Throughout the 1880's, unsatisfactory partnerships and rental arrangements ensued. The Castle Rock Journal noted in 1882 that "Mr. Rickard, who bought Perry Park, has moved his family up to the park, and is fitting it up for a summer resort. He will have accommodations for about one hundred tourists this summer and next year he will erect a larger hotel there for those who desire a retreat where nature ahs so lavishly contributed to the beauty of the scenery…This Park is far in advance of Monument Park or Garden of the Gods." Four years later another purchaser…"Mrs. Oliver Wright, of Denver, has lately purchased with is known as Perry Park, but which will now assume the name of Chautauqua Park, and which she intends the coming summer to fit up as a resort for pleasure seekers, invalids, excursionists, ect. She will spare no pains in having suitable accommodations to accommodate all who wish to visit the place interest, and there will be a stage line between this place (Larkspur) and the park which will connect daily with the passenger trains." Chautauquans were frequent visitors to Perry Park, as were picnickers, who regaled in the magnificent, natural scenery. Palmer Lake was also a favorite gathering place for Chautauquans, a popular social and cultural diversion of the day.
Red sandstone quarries and gypsum bed located in the Perry Park area provided an additional source of revenue as well as employment for crews of men over the years. In 1886, at the time when Mr. Wright was developing the resort hotel, a gang of twenty men was engaged at the rock quarries at Glen Grove. The following year the installation of a new stream drill necessitated the hiring of additional men, and still the demand for the red sandstone continued. The Harvey brothers were shipping from Larkspur "all the rock they can load with 4-horse teams everyday and will have to put on more teams in order to supply the demand for stone." Charles A. Roberts later owned the sandstone quarries in Perry Park, and supplied the stone for the foundations of numerous barns and homes along West Plum Creek, notably the Nickson's barn in 1899.
Extensive gypsum beds lined the Perry Park area as well. A three mile long ridge of gypsum contained an estimated ten million tons of the mineral with one million tons on the surface. The Perry Park Stucco and Plaster Company was organized, and a kiln built on the Cantril ranch near an outcropping of the gypsum. Stucco wagons pulled by four horses made two trips a day to Larkspur and the railroad terminal with their five ton loads. In 1890, a gentleman from Denver interested in manufacturing plaster of Paris and cement examined the gypsum beds and commented that the "gypsum there is of very superior quality and there is no end of it." The Robinson brothers later acquired these extensive deposits, and their factory promised to be one of the greatest industries on the Divide. The stucco or plaster was used almost exclusively in the East. And had advantages over ordinary plaster in that it could be used in the coldest weather, it set up quickly, and was offered at a price within the reach of all.
With the extensive beds of gypsum, the red sandstone quarries, and the proposed development of Perry Park as one of the "fashionable resort areas of America," a railroad branch line from Sedalia to Perry Park and Palmer Lake, and a spur line from Larkspur to Perry Park, were outlined on paper. Even though the branch line from Sedalia to Palmer Lake was surveyed in June of 1888, its $200,000 price tag proved to be a deterrent, and it did not become a reality not did the grandiose development of Perry Park as a fashionable resort area.
In 1888, after ten years of unsatisfactory business arrangements, John Perry undertook extensive plans for the development of Perry Park. The May 23rd edition of the Castle Rock Journal noted that "Perry Park had been sold to a syndicate of Denver industrialists, who intend to make a grand resort of the place. The park will be surveyed in a very short time and laid off in clocks and lots. The company will ask a round sum for lots, probably $500 for a starter, having in view the building up of a beautiful place and keeping out of all objectionable buildings. This deal and its results will create a 'boom' in Western Douglas County, in fact the whole county. A railroad to the Park from Sedalia is among the possibilities."
This syndicate of industrialist included General Bela Hughes, who like John Perry, was associated with the railroad expansion in Colorado Territory and served as president of the Denver Pacific Railroad. Other stockholders included Hughes' son-in-law Charles M. Roberts. Together they organized the Redstone Town, Land and Mining Company; they hoped to capitalize on the emerging tourists and health-seekers boom of the 1880's an 1890's as invalids and travelers sought the invigorating climate and beauty of the Colorado Rockies.
An extensive advertising campaign was undertaken in the United States and Europe in which they printed the beautiful booklet, Perry Park, Colorado. They used Indian lore, poetry, and the spectacular photographs of William Henry Jackson to entice the prospective buyer:
Among the many parks that gem the base of the Rocky Mountains with their beauty is Perry Park, one of the loveliest and fairest that nestles in the shirts of this grand dame's robe…So modestly is it hidden among the ample folds which lie along the Eastern slope of this magnificent mountain range, that but a few have known of the beauty of this wild mountain retreat; few have tasted of the rest and bliss of these solitudes of nature that have so lately only their romance and legends to tell the story and enrich the literature and poetry of a new land. It is a haven of rest, a breathing place of the wayside of life, that we need in the hurry and rush of this Nineteenth century… it is filled with mountains and valleys, while groves of pine and quaking aspen cluster about the base of the rocky walls and crags…Canons, wild and rugged, waterfalls and cascades abound 'like the gleam of quick falling stars'…Here pictures repeat themselves, of forest and rock, of bluest sky and wonderful cloud land, white trunks, while rose, columbine, and hare-bell add their wealth of color to the scene. Among the characteristics of this beautiful park, and that which the story deals, are the curious, bright-colored sandstone rocks, that remind one of the Indian love of color, as he stands in his war-paint and gorgeous blanket…So perfect are these rock forms, that they constantly suggest the artificial forms of palaces, towers, and cathedrals…Animal forms are abundant, while profiles and images give us again the musical names which are fast being lost to history, and in a most beautiful and romantic way have the past and present been united in the unique and picturesque spot.
This expansive resort area of 3,980 acres was to include three villages. The Village of Lake Wauconda was the country club area with a casino, chapel, library-museum, and crowned by a full relief sculpture atop Castel Ridge. The northern residential area was designed for the well-to-do and the culturally prominent. The Town of Perry was located at the eastern entrance opposite George Robinson's ranch; it appealed to people of moderate means and menial employees as well as serving as a buffer zone between the affluent north residential area and the general public.
To launch this ambitious project, a large two-story frame hotel of 18-20 rooms was built in 1889. A grand reception room with a massive stone fireplace and rustic, wooden-hewed ceiling and support columns served as a dining room and dance hall. A spacious veranda sheltered the front and sides of the hotel. And earthen dam was constructed across bear Creek forming the twenty acre lake Yuanup or Lake Wauconda. The lake became an idyllic counterpart for the hotel. In the summer the boat house and landing, thousands of transplanted trout, and numerous boats canoes lured the visitors and guest; in the winter, it was used for ice-skating, and hundreds of tones of ice were harvested for use in the resort during the summer. The hotel and lake became a favorite gathering place for the young and old alike---banqueting and dancing, relaxing on the veranda to the strains of mandolin music, canoeing on the lake, drinking mineral waters from the Tiappo and Oulupa mineral springs, fishing, hunting, swimming, horseback riding, ice skating, picnicking, oyster suppers, social hops, hiking, Forth of July celebrations---all appealed to the tourist, the health seeker, the convention goer, and the party goer. It was an eagerly anticipated outing for many thought-out the country. Charles Nickson recalled that "with the hotel going in the summer it made for lively times in the neighborhood. The large dining room afforded a good place in which to dance and there were parties and hayrides and it was always a thrill to be in the large lobby with rustic finish and large fireplace." It also afforded a ready sale for eggs, milk, chickens, and garden vegetables from the nearby ranches. The hotel's Concord stagecoach, pulled by four horses and accompanied by a bugler, and horse drawn buggies traveled to Larkspur and Greenland to pickup visitors and guests.
The Red Stone Town, Land and Mining Company strived to perpetuate than my beautiful Indian Names such as Lake Wauconda (Almighty God) and Hotel Narrichant, or Nannichant Inn as it was sometimes called, which meant echo in the Indian language. It recalled the Indian legend of the Indian maiden whose voice became an echo in Muago Canyon (Bear Creek Canyon) when her lover was turned to stone. Bear Creek was Wahunheep Creek (Spirit of the Cedar).
Limited development began at the eastern entrance gate at the Town of Perry opposite George Robinson's ranch. Perry Park Grocery and Hotel, commonly known as Gray's Store, and the post office, Perry of Perry Park, were located here. John Gray's ,motto, "Save the pennies, and the dollars will take care of themselves" was very much in evidence in his small store where one could buy No. 2 Lamp Chimneys for 5c; three pounds of soda crackers for 25c; best uncolored Japan tea for 40c a pound; and Horse Shoe and Star Tobacco for 45c a pound.
The Village of Lake Wauconda which was platted and designed as the exclusive country club are did not materialize beyond two elaborate manor house cottages which were occupied by Charles Roberts and the company's architect, Herbert Jaques. Although numerous lots were sold and also donated to all the stockholders, the entire project was beset by legal litigations concerning the original title of the land, and financial problems. Charles A. Roberts, the only stockholder to invest his entire fortune in the venture, felt it mandatory that eh company gain clear title to the 240 acres of land which had not been legally registered in the Perry family's name; the land still was recorded as "Half Breed Indian Script" in the Douglas County records. Nor was there any legal record found which established John Perry as the legal heir to the property after the death of his son, Charles. A personal animosity developed between the Perry family and the Hughes family and was to continue for nearly ten years concerning these title deficiencies.
In 1900 William E. Hughes (no known relation) purchased the Jaques cottage, "the handsome, stone residence at Perry Park for a consideration of $11,000." This began his slow but deliberate acquisition of the Red Stone Company and Perry Park. Innovative plans for Perry Park once again appeared. "An organization known as the Denver Coaching Club, and auxiliary of the gentlemen's Driving Club, is planning the establish a well-equipped coaching line between Denver and Colorado Springs with Perry Park as the central point between the two cities. Colonel W. E. Hughes, John W. Springer, and other prominent horsemen are interested and with this end in view Colonel Hughes has purchased the Jaques residence in Perry Park. The plan is to spend thousands of dollars in beautifying the park and making it an attractive summer residence for members of the club and their guests."
Through persistent maneuvering among the stockholders, W.E. Hughes became president of the Red Stone Company, and in 1903, after the title deficiencies of the Perry family were cleared in the courts, and after much protest from the Perry family, he bought the Perry stock. One year later with Colonel Hughes in control of 1,356 shares of the total 1,500 shares of the Red Stone stock, the stockholders voted to dissolve the company. Colonel William E. Hughes became the sole owner of the Perry Park for a purchase price of $14,000. The fabled Perry Park, steeped in Indian lore and mysterious, aloof exquisite natural beauty, was to remain in the hands of the elite few until the 1970's.