The Perry Park Story

Perry Park, Colorado
1872-1974

"Ye who love a Nation's Legends,
Love the ballads of a people
That like voices from afar off
Call to us to pause and listen…"


These lines appeared in an 1890 publication promoting Perry Park, Colorado- an invitation to the discrimination public to buy property for summer recreation use in the Rock Mountain foothills… "a haven of rest, a breathing place on the wayside of life, that we need in the hurry and rush of this nineteenth Century."

Again, in the Twentieth Century, the public is invited to live in the peaceful beauty of Perry Park. Presently, 150 homes are located at Perry Park in the surroundings described above. Year-round residents have brought changed to an area which, following the white man's appearance there, remained essentially the same for more than 100 years. This is a development which has created controversy between owners of Perry Park and some of their neighbors in Douglas County.

Interestingly, Perry Park has never been typical of the surrounding area in that it was, for the most part, a private retreat for a series of wealthy owners. Perhaps that is the reason the property survived intact for 100 years with little change to its overall beauty.

This booklet was published to preserve written history of the property known as Perry Park for over 100 years. It is presented, as much as is practical, in chronological order and documented whenever possible. The few assumptions made herein are clearly stated as such.

Whereas the Perry Park of 1974 extends over 8,000 acres in Douglas County, Colorado, this chronology will concentrate on the 4,000 acres known as Perry Park since 1872. The ranch is situated in the Bear and West Plum Creek area of Douglas County, bounded on the west by Pike National Forest. The Property is five miles west of Larkspur approximately 35 miles south of Denver.

Early History to 1872

The property's earliest legal records involve water rights dating to 1863. The property was surveyed for the first time by the Hayden Survey in 1869 and named Pleasant Park, hence the occasional references listed under that name.

The spectacular rock formation nestled along the base of the foothills of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado are unique beyond compare. Several such areas may be observed as you travel from north to south in the state. Most prominent are the Red Rocks west of Denver, Roxborough Park southwest of Denver, Perry Park west of Larkspur and the garden of the Gods near Colorado Springs. In this history, it is appropriate to repeat an Indian Legend concerning the origin of the se outstanding rock formations, attributed to the first Indian inhabitants of the area.

Recorded in the late 1800's the legend tells us the Indians believed that "in the beginning of time there were giants and giantesses, who reigned supreme over the land. This all-powerful people too soon refused to acknowledge the power of 'Gitche Manito, Master of Life,' who sent them warning words of counsel, but they would not heed. At last a Prophet, the great Mokahna, came to help them, but they would not listed to his words of wisdom, as they stood about him with their war paint and gaudy weapons. Suddenly the great wrath of their God came upon them, and all living things were instantly but stone images of their former selves. Tumwichits (Toom-pa-Ketis), the great chief and willful leader of this rebellion was reduced form great power and majesty to a dwarf, and condemned to ever gaze from this height at his brave warriors, who lie prostrate or tower above in their majestic height before him. Near by sings the voice of his beloved Wahuneep in the falls of Muaga Canyon where she becomes a fountain of tears at the sight of her silent and stony lover. In this state they must remain, until the veil of the Prophet chief, the great Mokahna, is lifted. Then will they be set free, to the joy and gladness of a new life in this garden of the Rockies."

The Indian Legend explaining the rock formations is indeed interesting to contemplate as you observe the area. Your eyes let you see the dwarfed chief and his warriors, and the falls in Muaga or Bear Canyon can easily be imagined as the tears of the chief's beloved. Geologists, however, would insist on a more scientific explanation, and some have been recorded. A Prof. P.H. Van Diest presented paper on the geology of Perry Park at the annual convention of the Denver Society of Civil Engineers in July 1891. His account was based on information from the first survey of the property made by F.V. Hayden in 1869.

The entire Castle Rock quadrangle was given a detailed description in 1915 when the U.S. Geological Survey published the Castle Rock Folio in its Geologic Atlas of the United States. The geologic record and photographs of Perry Park are printed in detail in this publication. The study noted the similarity of Perry Park to the more famous Garden of the Gods and commented that it actually surpassed the latter in natural beauty. "The outcroppings rock are sandstones and shale's eroded to fantastic forms marked by striking color effects. The park is composed of a group of ridges and intervening valleys which are the result of erosion acting differently on hard and soft tilted strata." Mineral recourses mentioned as existing on the property included building stone, limestone, gypsum, gravel, sand and clay.

Other contributions to the spectacular scenery of the area, in addition to the famous rock structures mentioned above, where the forests of pine, spruce and fir, clear streams, oak-brush harboring abundant wildlife, wildflowers and fruits, and High Rockies as a backdrop.

It is easy to understand how a writer in 1890 could describe as follows:

" 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 skirts of this grand dame's robe, whose train sweeps in majestic foothills far out toward the East, and is lost in the gentle hill and valley of the great plains…So modestly is it hidden away among the ample folds which lie along the Eastern slope of the magnificent mountain range, that but 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 known only the Indian and the smoke of the wigwam…"

Before the white man, the Indians were free to roam the mountains and plains of the mid western section of the United States, bounded only by their tribes' strengths and weaknesses in establishing their rights to certain territories. The Perry Park area was occupied at various times by the Ute, Kiowa, and finally the Arapahoe and Cheyenne tribes. The area was part of the Louisiana Purchase obtained by the United States from France in 1803. What is now Colorado was included in four Federal Territories: Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico and Utah. This portion of Colorado was a part of the Kansas Territory.

Probably the earliest record of white man's entrance into the Perry Park was made by Stephen H. Long's expedition in the summer of 1820. Long was sent by the U.S. government to explore and report on its newly acquired Louisiana Purchase. The expedition traveled along the Platte River to its mouth, and along Plum Creek (named "Defile Creek" by Long). At Palmer Lake, the blue columbine was reported the first time. Near the head of Monument Creek, the expedition's artist sketched "Castle Rock, on account of its resemblance to a work of art" The Long party followed Monument Creek to the site or present-day Colorado Springs. Whether they went through Perry Park is doubtful, but they were close enough to provide some interest in and history of Perry Park.

The area later to become Colorado remained quiet until the discovery of gold in California in 1848. That news brought gold seekers who prospected the Denver area on their way west. Discovery of gold at Cherry Creek in 1858 led to the famous Pikes Peak gold rush. Towns were established and Denver became the major supply center for the territory.

Colorado was made a territory in February 1861 and its economy developed around the products of the mines and agricultural settlements. Good transportation to move these products to the East posed a great economic problem.

No detailed account of the various rail lines that filled this transportation need will be given here, but a brief mention of railroad pioneering is due the reader. The immense transportation problem and its eventual solution produce the names of two men- John D. Perry and gen. Bela M. Hughes- who later were to become involved in on of the most interesting chapters in the history of the area.

John D. Perry

To explain Perry's initial interest in Colorado, we must begin with Gen. Bela Hughes. Gen. Hughes was the first of the two white men to enter Colorado, although he was not concerned with Perry Park until a later date. In 1861, as president of a faltering stage line (later named the Central Overland and Pikes Peak Express), Hughes crossed the plains from Kansas to Denver and remained in Colorado the rest of his life. He became one of the leading criminal attorneys of the west and participated vigorously in the transformation of Colorado into a state. With his contemporaries- John Evans and David H. Moffat- Gen. Hughes fought to bring Colorado into the mainstream of the nation's economic life by establishing the first permanent transportation lines connecting Denver and Colorado with the East. The State Capital dome in Denver contains 16 circular stained-glass windows picturing the state's greatest leaders. Gen. Bela Hughes was so honored.

His early interest in building Colorado transportation brought Hughes into contact with John D. Perry of St. Louis, Missouri, then the president of a rail line chartered by the territory of Kansas to build a railroad across Kansas to Denver.

By August 1867, "General Hughes had opened and maintained a correspondence with Perry, calculated to develop the actual intentions of Perry's company relative to the construction of the road to Denver. He caused a large amount of data to be prepared, showing the state of business, the resources of the country to be developed under the greater advantage of rapid transit, and expressing hope of the people that the Kansas road would come and cooperate with them in the great work the had undertaken."

From Perry, Hughes received the heartiest assurances of reciprocal esteem with the positive declaration that he route from Kansas to Denver was then being surveyed, and Gen. Hughes was instructed to assure the people of Colorado of their desire to reach them as speedily as possible. In April 1869, President John D. Perry announced officially that his Kansas Pacific Railway would build a line to Denver. Direct train service to Kansas Pacific Railway would build a line to Denver. Direct train service to Kansas was inaugurated on September 1, 1870. At the same time, Hughes became the first president of the Denver Pacific Railroad, which completed the connection from Denver to the main Union pacific trunk line at Cheyenne in June 1870. Both Hughes and Perry were recipients of many tributes for their roles in the early railroads' expansion into Colorado.

The grand opening of the Kansas Pacific Railway brought John Perry to Denver, perhaps for the first time. He arrived aboard a special excursion train from St. Louis which bore dignitaries from all over the United States. A news account states: "Denver rejoices and is glad over the completion of this link which connects her with the great central city of this republic- St. Louis- and she will ever delight to honor such men as Perry, Palmer and other worthy names entitled to rank with them in devotion to an interest of national importance and which honors them and a country producing spirits like theirs.

The turbulent years of railroad building in Colorado were to keep John Perry in the area for a number of years following his 1870 visit. He joined with Bela Hughes and other will-known Coloradans in forming several branch railroads in Colorado. In 1872 he began acquiring lands in the West Plum creek area of Douglas County in what was still designated as Pleasant Park. He purchased several ranches and homesteads, and utilized preemption claims until he eventually acquired some 4,000 acres. How he became aware of this secluded area is not known, but in 1869, the Kansas pacific railroad had made a survey for proposed line from Limon, Colorado, south to Palmer Lake, down West Plum Creek and the South Platte River to Denver. It seems highly probable that the president of the line would have been familiar with the survey and learned of the areas it would cross.

By that time the area was being rapidly homesteaded. Among those preceding Perry into the area were Peter Brannan, D. I. Cramer, Allen Dakan, James Gott, N. S. Grout , Alfonso Jarre, Chris Manhart, Ben Quick, George Ratcliffe (whose homestead Perry purchased) and Upton T. Smith. These hearty souls came in the 1860's perhaps originally to mine, but when Douglas County yielded no valuable claims, they turned to ranching, dairying, lumbering and quarrying.

Few women were in the county that early. The homesteaders were young men who worked hard to establish homesteads and build houses before returning East to find a bride. Many of the early settlers were "gentlefolk from the old country, and while the free and easy life was rather a novelty to the men, it was very hard on the women, who had none of the conveniences to which they were accustomed. One Englishmen remarked it was heaven for the men but hell for the women.

The women arrived in the country where roads were merely trails with no bridges over the gulches or creeks, where the houses were of log, and any new comer able to build a frame house was accused of "putting on style." School for their children was held in the settler's homes until 1870, when the first schoolhouse was built for a school term of two to five months. The teacher received $25.00 a month, and free board and room was furnished by the families for two weeks at a time. The course of study varied according to whatever books each family had been able to bring with them as they settled in Colorado. The Glen Grove school (also designated as the Perry Park school on early maps) was built in 1910 but is no longer in use. It still stands a short distance north of the Perry Park entrance.

Relations between the Indianans and settlers varied according to the tribe of Indians involved. The Utes were considered friendlier than the Arapahoe and Cheyenne. Some of the settlers gave extra vegetables from their gardens to friendly Utes. One published account related that the settlers were puzzled that the Utes preferred large ripe yellow cucumbers to the smaller green size which the settlers liked. The same account stated that the settlers kept each other informed on the "temper and location" of all the Indians in that area but that for the most part, the settlers did not live in terror.

However, occasional Indian raids on the settlers in west Douglas County are recorded through the 1860's. Rumors of impending raids as late as 1868 prompted the settlers to build two forts in the vicinity. The Peoples Fort was on East Plum Creek, three miles east of Fort Washington. The latter was located on West Plum Creek on the Benjamin Quick homestead (a part of Perry Park from about 1926 until 1936, and reacquired recently by Colorado Western Development Company, present owner of Perry Park.

Pricilla Allafar Swinney was eight years old at the time Fort Washington was built. In later years she recalled her memories of this event. She was the stepdaughter of homesteader Peter Brannan. A brief description of the location of the homesteads mentioned in her account may help Twentieth Century readers relate to his story.

The Quick homestead was on the west side of the old route of Colorado 105, just northwest of Perry Park, closer into the foothills. In later years, it was known as the Ford place. George Ratcliff's homestead was in Pleasant Park in the area of the rock structure area, later purchased by John Perry as he acquired lands to form Perry Park.

This is Priscilla Swinney's story:

"The settlers build a fort at the Ben Quick place on West Plum Creek. I watched the men build it. All the neighbors moved to the place. Some of the men took teams and wagons and axes and went to the timber and cut long poles and some men dug large post homes and they would set two posts a foot or two apart and some 10 or 12 feet between each set of two posts to the top of the posts. They built it around the new house and the old house. The will was a large one and would furnish water for the people and their horses, if it would be necessary to bring them in the fort. They finished the fort in one week. Then went home and remained one week.

"On a Monday night George Ratcliff came just after dark to Peter Brannans and told us that the Indians has come to a Mr. Wells and Langley's house that live somewhere above Larkspur and commenced shooting. Mr. Langley and Mr. Wells hitched their horses to a wagon and the women lid down in the wagon and an Indian fighter that lived with them kept shooting every time an Indian got close enough. One man held the lines and the other whipped with a black snake whip. The man in the wagon kept shooting when the Indians got in shooting distance. I was this man the next day. He wore a black coat and a wide brim black hat. He had several holes in his coat, top of sleeves and top of shoulders and several in his hat and not one bullet had drawn blood. How they missed him I do not know.

"After George Ratcliff told us how the Indians had chased the Langley's and the Wells, the men at my stepfather's thought as it was several miles to Larkspur from the Brannan place, they would be safe until morning. But about midnight mother heard a man walking. She awakened the men, Pete Brannan, George Ratcliff, a man named Nelson, brother and I. It proved to be Ben Quick. He had walked to warn us that the Indians had run Hoe Desbrow from his cabin at East Plum Creek Canon.

"…The men at our house stood guard while Mother packed our things. Once she had a small light a minute, one Indian whistled and another answered above the house, but they did not come nearer. I don't think I ever saw a darker night. It had been a lovely day and Mother, brother and I picked wild plums, but near midnight a few flakes of snow fell. My stepfather and the hired man, a Mr. Nelson, had been hauling hay and stacking it. They had a hay rack on the wagon and the men piled what they would be able to hold on it of our household goods that we would have to have. The Father loaded a musket with buckshot and said if an Indian shot at him and didn't get him he would shoot back in the direction from which the shot came. Mother held the ballord rifle. Brother and I would hold up our hands to see if we could see them, it was so very dark. George Ratcliff rode ahead as he said his mare would know the road home, and Father would ride behind him and Ben Quick and Nelson each road behind the wagon.

"When we arrived at the fort, Quick's house was crowded with people that had come from their homes. Non one had gone to bed as no on knew where to make their beds to sleep. As we were the latest to arrive lots of questions were asked if we had seen any Indians. Mother said she had seen the campfires in what is called Perry Park. We had come a trail that was closer to the fort than to go on the wagon road, but was in view of the Park. The men said they did not notice the fires. Mother told them she was afraid if she said anything brother and I would cry or make some noise that would attract the Indians, but if they went over there they could see where the fires had been. Sure enough11 campfires had been built and for years the ashes and where the grass was killed showed where the fires had been.

"Several narrow escapes were the talk of the men those exciting times. The stock had to be neglected, the cows were milked on Monday evening and were not milked again until Friday afternoon. The men were after the Indians and the women had no way to go to their homes, to care for the stock.

"The Indians killed some people but mostly took horses. They killed Mrs. Duterman and cut her up. They killed some men, but most everyone got to safety.

"My Mother, Stepfather, brother and myself remained at the fort. Later, George Ratcliff and Peter Brannan went to George Ratcliff's home (now part of Perry Park ranch) to stack hay on wagons and hauled it to where they were stacking. Brother carried Peter Brannan's gun from one haystack to the next and I carried George Ratcliff's gun close enough at all times so he could grab it out of my hands. Pete Brannan could grab the gun out of brother's hand and shoot back at the Indians if they showed up…

Although it was dangerous country, the settlers enjoyed a country so beautiful and so healthful that it was said the only way to start a cemetery was to kill or hang a man… to a country abundant with wild game and berries, fruit trees, honey bees and streams loaded with fish…springtime's so beautiful with the music of birds and fruit trees in bloom that one settler recorded it as "morning of life." It helped balance the long cold winters, smallpox, rattlesnakes and $40-a-sack of flower!

This then was the kind of life in the area when John Perry became a land owner.

The Perrys were not the usual homestead family. They were wealthy and already well established in the social world of St. Louis. John Dietz Perry had made his mark in the business world of banking and railroading. Born May 15, 1815, on the south branch of the Potomac River in Virginia, john Perry by age 25 owned a general store in Fayette, Missouri, and manufactured hemp, bagging rope.

Talton Turner, also from Virginia, was a large grower of hemp near Fayette. Presumably through business relations, Perry met the large turner family. The turners lived the typical southern genteel life, in a palatial home complete with servants. John Perry had two children by a previous marriage… Charles and Mary…and further enlarged his family when he married Talton turner's daughter, Eliza. They had four children: Jennie, Lewis, Richard and Laura.

The Perry family moved to St. Luis in 1854, where John Perry first engaged in the manufacture of tobacco. He became interested in the public affairs of St. Louis, and successfully entered the world of banking and railroading. He became president of the Kansas pacific railroad which brought him to Colorado in 1870 at the age of 55.

Perry Park Ranch

After renaming his Colorado holding Perry Park, Perry proceeded to build a large working ranch. It required time, hard work and much money. Perry was wealth and haired many of the neighboring homesteaders year-round, some to farm part of the property, others to cut the nearby timber for fence rails and posts. This was open-range country and barbed wire was still unavailable, so it was necessary to build all fences of wood. A carpenter built the Perry house and barn. It was a frame house- and as mentioned earlier, a mark of distinction in pioneer circles.

The site Perry chose for this home was an already familiar landmark prior to the 1870's. it was the site of Coberly's Half Way House, one of three well-known refuges for travelers in southern Colorado. When distances between settlements were long, transportation slow and accommodations for traveler's sparse, half-way houses were operated by settlers as a source of income. The Coberly's located there in 1858 and operated a stage stop-tavern.

The original Perry home site was a t the gorge formed by Nanichant Rock and the rock ridge west of Nanichant Rock. The house was moved at some later time to where it still stands, a short distance northeast of the lake and golf course at Perry Park, beyond the high rock ridges. A portion of this house is now the home of Mr. and Mrs. John Paulk, owners of Plum Creek Ranch. The house is easily recognizable from a photograph published in 1890, taken by the famous frontier photographer, W. H. Jackson.

During the years 1872 and 1873, activity reached its peak in the building of Perry Park Ranch. Charles Perry, the eldest son, in partnership with his father, lived there year-round and supervised the ranch and farming operations. Shorthorn cattle were the principal stock raised. John Perry traveled frequently between Colorado and St. Louis. The family wintered in St. Louis in the home they retained throughout their Colorado interlude. Summer and Fall were spent in Perry Park by the family, along with many friends and relatives. The household staff included Negro servants and on Irish washerwomen, and as many as 22 people enlivened the scene in the Perry home. A carriage was sent daily to Larkspur to pick up mail and travelers who arrived from Denver and Colorado Springs by rail. Ponderosa Pine groves on the property were popular picnic spots for people from all over the area.

As a general rule, the doors of settlers' home were always open. Upon presentation of some credentials, any traveler could expect to receive a night's lodging. A most unlikely traveler "toured" the Rocky Mountains in 1873… an English horsewomen, Isabella Bird, who regularly wrote letters of her experiences back to her sister in England. These were eventually published in 1879 as A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains. Miss Bird was a world traveler and as the Prefatory Note of her book states:

"these letters, as their style sufficiently indicates, were written without the remotest idea of publication… I venture to present them to the public in a separate form, as a record of very interesting traveling experiences, and of a phase of pioneer life which is rapidly passing away."

After becoming the second women ever to climb Long's Peak in September 1873, Isabella Bird continued on her solitary horseback ride to Denver. It may have been solitary, for she indeed traveled alone, but she described herself as "fairly independent," carrying her clothing in a saddlebag… even a black silk dress if the occasion called for it. From a ranch on Plum Creek, October 24, 1873, she wrote her sister:

"You must understand that in Colorado travel, unless on the main road and in the larger settlements, there are neither hotels nor taverns, and that it is the custom for the settlers to receive travelers, charging them at the usual hotel rate for accommodation. It is a very satisfactory arrangement."

Miss Bird wrote the following account of her visit to Perry Park in a letter mailed to her sister from Colorado Springs, dated October 28, 1873: on the way south from Denver…

"I experienced 'bad traveling' from the balling of the snow ( on her horse's feet) and the difficulty of finding the track. There was a fearful loneliness about it. The track was untrodden, and I saw neither man nor beast. The sky became densely clouded, and the outlook was awful…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 felt 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, a and at the entrance to a most fantastic gorge I came upon an elegant frame house belonging to Mr. Perry, a millionaire, to whom I had an introduction which I did not hesitate to present, as it was weather in which a traveler might almost ask for shelter without one.

"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, bright vermilion, green, buff, orange and sometime all combined, their 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, and shortly afterwards Birdie put her foot into a prairie dog's hole which was concealed by the snow, and on recovering herself fell three times on her nose… It was too threatening for a long ride, and on returning, we passed into a region of vivacious descriptions of Egypt, Palestine, Asia Minor, turkey, Russia, and other countries, in which Miss Perry had traveled with her family for three years.

" 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…

"It was so odd and novel to have a beautiful bedroom, hot water and other luxuries. The snow began to fall in good earnest at six in the evening, and fell all night, accompanied by heavy frost, so that in the morning there were eight inches of it glittering in the sun. Miss Perry gave me a pair of men's socks to draw on over my boots, and I set out tolerably early and broke my own way for two miles."

(*) Alert readers will note that Miss Bird's mention of Colorado as the "youngest state in the Union, until recently a territory" is a contradiction with fact, if her letters were indeed written in 1873. Colorado did not become a state until 1876.

Isabella Bird's book, from which these quotations were taken, was published in 1879. the first two editions carried no year in the dates of the letters she wrote to her sister. In the preface to the third edition, Miss Bird mentioned this omission and confirmed that she traveled in Colorado in the autumn and early winter of 1873.

It seems probable then, that prior to the original edition of her book based on the letters she had written to her sister, Miss Bird edited them and added explanations she felt would enlighten the reader. In this way she should have referred to events which had not taken place when original letters were written.

Perry Park's distinctive rock formations apparently fascinated the Perry family as much as Miss Bird and other writers who have mentioned them through the years. For they named some of them after the exotic places they had visited on their foreign travels: Castle Ridge, Washington Monument, the vale of Cashmere, Kenilworth Castle and the Walls of Jericho. Others were named for the objects they resembled, such as the Hay Stacks. Nanichant Rock was based on the Indian Legend mentioned earlier. In years to come, the outdoor-loving Chautauquans who studied trees and flowers on their outing, visited Perry Park to view these rock formations.

Among the many visitors to Perry Park, a young man arrived in September 1875 and received a most cordial welcome from the entire Perry family. According to a later account written by Upton T. Smith, a Douglas County homesteader who worked for John Perry at the time , the visitor was introduced by Charles Perry as David Francis form St. Louis. He was to stay for a few days, and Mr. Smith was asked "to have the two best saddle horses ready at once, for Miss Jennie Perry, Charley's half sister, had volunteered to introduce the 25-year-old Mr. Francis to the beauties of Perry Park. And this was the program for several days. The weather was ideal and Mr. Francis and Jennie Perry put in full time as lovers, billing and cooing until business required his departure. About midwinter of 1875, Charley Perry was called to St. Louis to attend the wedding of the happy couple."

From all accounts, Jennie Perry and David Francis continued a happy and interesting life in St. Louis. Francis became mayor of St. Louis within ten years. He was considered progressive, and entertained President Cleveland in their home in 1887, a social event of great significance at that time. By 1889, he was governor of Missouri, and had been described as successful and humane in both business and social life. His hospitality was such that his home was the scene of many great social events. Also receiving her deserved place in Missouri history, Jennie, who was the mother of six sons, is described as having been "a lady whose social and domestic races have contributed not a little to the success of her distinguished husband." And distinguished he became, for he served as Secretary of the Interior during the last six months of President Cleveland's second administration; as president of the Louisiana Purchase centennial Exposition in 1904; and in 1916, he was appointed U. S. Ambassador to Russia by president Wilson. These details are related because the name of David Francis reappears later in Perry Park history.

Upton T. Smith, who reported the above courtship of Jennie Perry by David Francis, was employed by John Perry as his farmer for the year, August 1875 to August 1876. During that year, Mr. Smith and his wife lived in a log house on the Perry ranch. Mrs. Smith kept an interesting diary of their daily activities, including numerous mentions of the Perry family: John Perry visited the Smith home many times, sometimes staying for dinner and an evening of cards, other times bringing his shirts for Mrs. Smith to starch and iron if the household staff was in St. Louis with the family. He went prospecting and fishing with Mr. Smith. Perry's trip to St. Louis were mentioned in the diary, as were trips to Colorado Springs by other members of the Perry family.

Curiously, Mrs. Perry was never mentioned in the Smith diaries. One is reminded of LeRoy R. Hafen's description in Colorado and its People regarding some of the settlers of British heritage in the Colorado Springs area… they "retained a liking for British customs: stopped work for tea at five and 'dressed' for dinner at eight… clung to urban mode of life that set them somewhat apart from their neighbors…"

Isabella Bird's description of her evening at the Perry home coincided with this: the elegantly-dressed daughter who greeted her, the various luxuries on the dinner table, the servants in the Perry home. John Perry obviously enjoyed their life at Perry Park, and the Perry men were well-liked by the neighboring settlers. At one time, according to Mr. Smith's recollections, Perry had plans to build a large brick house on the ranch. He built a line kiln and quarried stone for the foundation and trimmings. However, Mrs. Perry persuaded him not to build, so it seems possible that she never fully enjoyed living at Perry Park.

The kiln remained for many years, covered with a board roof. The eldest son, Charles, was on of the young people on the ranch who had used it as a favored sleeping-out place, and as a "blind" from which to shoot deer as they came nearby to a spring daybreak. Charles Perry's idyllic life at Perry Park ended during the Fall of 1876, when he was kicked by a horse and lived only a few days. He was buried in St. Louis.

Charles Perry had been in partnership with his father and in complete charge of running the ranch. His death, and perhaps Mrs. Perry's desire to return permanently to their more urban life in St. Louis, may have influenced John Perry to offer half of his Perry Park holdings for sale in August 1879. John Perry was now 64 years old and had many other business responsibilities. Newspaper accounts indicate that he still had financial interest in and served as a director meetings. News stories shoe that he was present when a disagreement over rates between the Union Pacific and the Kansas Pacific was settled, and that he remained connected with the Kansas Pacific Railway at this time.

Advertisements of the Perry Park Estate for sale continued to appear in Denver newspapers from August 1879 to July 1881. They read as follows:

"For Sale- The well-known Perry Park Estate, the finest country seat in Colorado. Contains about 5000 acres:
Pleasant Park- 8-room residence, veranda…barn, stone milk house, ice houses.
The Mills- a store house, barn, saw mill, shingle and lath machines, several laborers dwellings.
The Grant Farm, or Hay-stack Farm- cottage of 10 rooms, barn milk houses ect.
The Glen Grove Farm- good log house and barn.
Groves on this estate were used as picnic ground. Owing to the death of one of the owners, all or an undivided a half of this valuable property is offered for sale at a bargain. Estate to be placed in charge of purchaser.
Those ho have to means and can appreciate a really beautiful and romantic country home should call…"

So that present-day readers can identify these properties: "Pleasant Park" was the Perry farm and home, located in the midst of the high rock ridges around lake Wauconda. The "Mills" referred only to the buildings mentioned. These stood on the land just west of the present entrance gate to Perry Park. The "Grant" or "Hay-Stack Farm" owned now by Carl Gross, is south of the present entrance, and is distinguished by rock formations resembling haystacks. The "Glen Grove Farm" is the land north of the present entrance gate.

Apparently, a small hotel for the benefit of travelers was in operation during these early years (preceding the construction of the larger, better-known Perry Park Hotel or Nanichant House). The smaller inn was located near the Boyd Cousins cabin, east of Lake Wauconda. Perry also owned at least one hotel along the route of the Kansas Pacific Railway. An 1870 ad in the Rocky Mountain News solicited Rail-travelers' business for the "John D. Perry House," a hotel in Kit Carson, Colorado. It was described as "elegantly furnished" and was to be made the best house on the line of the railroad.

Reference to the "resort" and the "hotel" at Perry Park can be found in the Castle Rock Journal and Rocky Mountain News editions into the late 1880's Several parties operated the small resort hotel along with a dairying operation, each unsuccessfully attempting to buy the half-interest Perry offered to sell if the purchaser would manage the property.

One hotel operator received scathing criticism in a Castle Rock newspaper for the manner in which he entertained area visitors at a Fourth of July celebration in 1882, when compared with earlier hospitality extended by the Perrys.

The news story told how Douglas County citizens arrived at Perry Park in teams and wagons "to commemorate the anniversary of our nation's birth." They listened to speeches, danced from 3-8 pm, and ate dinner and supper on the grounds. Regarding the meals served by the resort operator, the newspaper had these comments.

"The disappointments which we met in the way of a mock dinner and a worse supper were more to our chagrin than it possibly could have been to any visitor that day. It was no uncommon to hear the older citizens contrasting the reception with that they used to receive at the hands of the gentlemanly Perry boys, when they met there every summer for picnics in the years gone by. It probably is not necessary to say more on this subject at the present but less could not be said. Douglas County may contain thousands of dummies and numskulls, but when the wind is right they can tell a hawk from a hand saw.

The Red Stone Town, Land and Mining Company

After ten years of unsatisfactory partnerships and repeated journeys from St. Louis to Colorado to care for his interests, John Perry sold 3,980 acres to the Red Stone Town, Land and Mining Company in May of 1888. His connection with the property did not end at this time, however. He was a principal stockholder in the new company, capitalized at $100,000, along with Gen. Bela Hughes and Hughes' son in law, Charles A. Roberts; Andrew D. Wilson, Roger W. Woodbury; Mrs. Sarah and Miss Sarah Emmons. Later stockholders were col. William E. Hughes (relationship to Gen. Hughes unknown) and David R Francis, John Perry's son-in-law. Gen. Bela Hughes, whose association with John Perry was mentioned earlier, was elected president of the company.

During the 1880's, Denver had become a Mecca for summer tourists. To men as experienced in business as John Perry and Bela Hughes, the commercial opportunity inherent in the Perry Park property as a summer resort was obvious. Contemporaries in age… in 1888, Perry was 73 years old and Hughes, 71… these men of still tremendous energy envisioned a sophisticated resort at Perry Park which would appeal to the educated and refined. Similar resorts already existed in Palmer Lake-Colorado Springs vicinity served by the Denver & Rio Grande and Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroads.

Convenient transportation was an important ingredient for successful development of a summer resort, second only to a beautiful area that would appeal to people of means. Such people would have to be able to travel conveniently between Perry Park, Colorado Springs and Denver, in order to look after business interests. Transportation seemed easy for the company to supply. They had several options: to build their own rail line from Sedalia directly to Perry Park, or convince the existing railroads, serving Denver and Colorado Springs via Larkspur, of the feasibility of building a branch from Larkspur to Perry Park. They were certain the revenues from the villagers plus the freight returns from hauling stone from the quarries on the property would be sufficient to entice the other rail lines to provide this service.

They optioned for the first choice and the new company commissioned a surveyor to estimate the cost of building a rail line form Sedalia to Palmer Lake, to serve the intended Town of Perry Park and the quarries on the land. With a survey underway, the first year of the company's existence was busy and exciting.

Initially, a large hotel was built and opened during the summer of 1889. it was a two-story frame building contain guest rooms and a second floor, and staff quarters reached by an outside stairway. A large veranda covered the front and one side. The first floor consisted of a large all-purpose from dominated by a massive stone fireplace and a heavily-beamed ceiling supported by roughly-hewn posts, and a dining room and complete kitchen facilities to serve the guests. The hotel cost over $7,000 to build and furnish. Its original location was near the base of 300-foot Nanichant rock, situated with the Rock to the rear of the hotel. The building was moved later (year unknown) to a particularly scenic spot near the entrance to Bear Creek Canyon. There it was placed to face the Nanichant Rock standing across the open meadow.

Company records refer only to Nanichant House as a name for the new hotel, but as its grand opening, described in a series of articles published in The Denver Times in July and August 1889, it was called Hotel Echo. In naming specific landmarks on its property, the company strived to perpetuate the memory of Indian occupation of the land and chose Indian names for the beautiful natural features of the property. Bear Creek became Wahuneep Creek and Bear Canyon, Muaga Canyon. A high protruding rock which resembles a human's facial profile was named for the Indian God, Mokahna. Lake Wauconda (meaning Almighty God) had been originally called Lake Yuanup. The spring was named Oulumpa Spring. The exotic names of Cashmere, Walls of Jericho, Washington Monument (now called Sentinel Rock) and Castle Ridge chosen by the Perry family for the rock formations were retained.

Explaining the use of Hotel Echo as opposed to Nanichant House is easy since they really were the same. "Nanichant" was the Indian word for "echo," and it seems certain the naming of Nanichant Rock related to the Indian Legend in which the Indian Princess' voice became the echo in Muaga Canyon when her lover was turned to stone. Later usage of the spelling "Narrichant House" is a little harder to explain, but may have derived from the pronunciation of the Indian word "nanichant," which was "Narn-ee-charnt." It was Nanichant Inn or Nanichant Hotel. Most newspaper references of the time call the hotel Nanichant, but the published account of a convention held there in 1891 spoke of "Narrichant House."

The unknown author of the Denver Times articles wrote rapturously of the scenery, rock formations and wildlife at Perry Park. There were a number of famous people in attendance at the grand opening of the hotel, but the writer was not allowed to name them because the management wanted them to enjoy complete privacy and relaxation during their stay. They "do not intend to allow fashion and dissipation to rule…their plan is to attract people of culture and refinement, who wish a quiet retreat from the hum, bustle, and worry of social and business cares." A lady artist painting there was reported as experiencing difficulty "on account of the smoke, which I see by the daily papers hung over Denver as well as the mountains." Present-day readers may smile at another entry on this subject: "if one should grow homesick for city life, an immediate cure would be effected by climbing some peak and looking over the plains to the smoke which hangs like a funeral pall over Denver." Smog in 1889?

Hotel Echo, Nanichant House or Inn, Narrichant House and later, Clifton Inn-whichever you choose to call it-became a favorite gathering place. Dances were held in the singing room. Young people went there for oyster suppers following evenings of hayrides and ice skating. It was a place of merriment for high school picnickers as well as sophisticated summer tourists. The hotel's stage went to Greenland and Larkspur to pick up its guests arriving by rail. It was a Concord Stage, pulled by four horses. A bugler accompanied the driver "awakening the hills and dales with his blast."

In 1891, a two-day convention was held there by the members and wives of the Denver Society of Civil engineers. Their publication carries a colorful account of their stay at Perry Park and "Narrichant House": Arriving by carriage, they enjoyed the pleasure of boating on the beautiful Lake Wauconda, an evening of toasting and banqueting followed by mandolin music on the spacious hotel veranda, and ending with a social "hop." The next day the group toured the park and heard a paper on the Geology of Perry Park by Prof. P. H. Van Diest mentioned earlier.

A resort hotel required more than scenic beauty for its guests. A flock of poultry and a dairy herd were maintained to supply the dining room. The carriage service for guests (until the railroad was built) required obvious auxiliary facilities on the property: stables, drivers, horses and the carriages themselves. An "iron cottage" was presumably the blacksmith shop. Horseback riding required saddle horses and riding equipment. Roads and trails which opened new scenic vistas were built in "a rough stubborn country," according to a company report, which also mentioned that they were built with special care to preserve the natural beauty of the area. With the hotel and auxiliary services established, the Red Stone Company continued with its plan for the development of the Park.

In conjunction with the hotel construction, a dam was built across Bear Creek to form Lake Wauconda. The lake was to be the nucleus of the residential area of the new resort town. It not only provided scenic beauty, but also produced tons of ice to be harvested in the winter, stored and used by the cottages and hotel in the summer. A boat house, boats and landings, plus the stocking of 25,000 trout made the lake an added attraction for hotel guests and future residents.

As the Red Stone Company's plans progressed, the property was surveyed and the water tested for purity. Intent on building Perry Park into one of the best resorts in the U.S., the company hired a noted landscape designer, Frederick Law Olmsted, and the architectural firm of Andrews, Jacques & Rantoul to advise and plan. Remembering that in the Nineteenth Century, the term "environmentalist" was unheard of, the foresight of the Red Stone Company officials in hiring a man of Mr. Olmsted's talent seems admirable. In its December 8, 1972 issuer, Life magazine referred to Olmsted, designer of New York City's Central park, as the nation's "first and greatest environmentalist."

The name of the resort village, originally designated as the Town of Perry Park, was re-named the Village of Lake Wauconda. A copy of the original design map of this village is on file in the Western History Division of the Denver City Library. It shows the 82 (50x100-150 foot) lots platted, priced at $500- $1,000 each. Copies of their formal purchase agreement show that the company insisted on strict regulations governing the style and construction of cottages, fence restrictions, landscaping to be entirely native, building material left in their natural color, acceptable sewage disposal, stables located only on certain lots and all plans approved by the company's architect. Other restrictions "favored none, but for the mutual benefit of the residents thereof, the promotions of their health and pleasure in a mountain resort." Much detail of the Red Stone Company's plan is recorded in a booklet, Perry Park, Colorado, printed by George O. Scott and Son of Denver in 1890, and is on file in the Western History Division of the Denver City Library.

How interesting it is to observe their concern with "environmental design" as we know it in 1974. The requirements for acceptable sewage disposal, careful opening of roads and trails and native landscaping testify to a few of the "environmental amenities" the company felt were important. These words form the company secretary's report of 1890 express it well:

"We have a magnificent estate… As a summer, and a winter home as well, its advantages area unsurpassed… Its natural resources are stone, lime, gypsum, and possibly coal and oil… in our development of its resources, one of our chief duties had been and will be to guard against the mistakes that may result in injury to its future… all should be pushed each in harmony with the other…"

The village of Lake Wauconda was to include a casino overlooking the lake, a chapel and library-museum. The latter building would be located on Castle Ridge ( the ride of rocks encircled now by the golf course) near a sculpture in full relief on the ridge itself. The sculpture, Preston Powers, completed a model of his sculpture for the company's approval. It was an Indian and buffalo, entitled "A Closing Era." A separate company under the title of the Rocky Mountain Art, Museum & Science Association would be organized to operate the museum. It would house the sculpture collection of Mr. Powers and a collection of Natural History subjects belonging to a Prof. Carter of Breckenridge.

Public relations were not overlooked by the Red Stone Company. Influential people of the times were introduced to the development through courtesy visits to the hotel. A charming booklet, extolling the attractions of a bucolic life at Perry Park, was published and distributed across the United States and some European countries. It contained the photographs of famous frontier photographer, William H. Jackson, some of which are reproduced in this booklet. The Indian Legend, included at the beginning of this history, and appropriate poetry and text designed to lure buyers to Perry Park completed the publication.

A massive public relations campaign was planned to accompany commencement of work on the Castle Ridge sculpture. One member of the company felt this sculpture was the thing that would distinguish Perry Park from other resorts over the country. With the benefit of hindsight, we may conclude he was correct, in view of the popularity of the carvings at Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota. That same company official advised the installation of a weather instrument to gain favorable publicity from published weather observations.

The Red Stone Company's ambitious plans included two more villages on the property. The Village of Lake Wauconda was the "country club" area. On the north half was to be a residential area for people of means and culture who would erect homes and lay out grounds in keeping with the beautiful surroundings. In the eastern portion near the entrance gate, designs were drawn for the Town of Perry Park. This would be devoted to people of moderate meant not able to carry out the more elaborate designs required in the other two villages. The company felt the employees of their lime and stone quarries could live there handily. The business offices of the company would be located there. A general store and post office actually were put into operation by the company. The building also contained rooms for travelers. It was situated near the present entrance gate to Perry Park.

The Town of Perry was visualized as serving as a buffer zone to cater to the Sunday crowds, who were flocking to other scenic area via popular excursion trains from Denver. With three lakes planned, the company felt it could prove an attractive place for weekend visitors in the town of Perry. And thus, protect the home-owners in their more elite areas in the west. To protect his village from outside competition, the company obtained a strip of land on either side of their rail right-of-way and around the entrance to the Park.

So far, the history of the Red Stone Company's ownership of Perry Park lists only it accomplishments and optimistic plans. But the development failed to progress beyond this point. For the north village was not built. The east village, or town of Perry, did not advance beyond the building of the general store, the production of a design map and the lying of a pipeline from Oulumpa Spring in the Village of Lake Wauconda. The proposed chapel, casino, library-museum and cliff sculpture were never begun, nor was the rail line. The Manor House, a small reservoir in Bear Canyon, Lake Wauconda and the colorful rock structures are all that remain at Perry Park in 1974 from the Red Stone era.

It is worth noting to present-day readers that the statue of the Indian and dying buffalo, serving as the model for the proposed cliff sculpture on Castle Ridge at Perry Park, now stands on the east lawn of the Colorado State Capitol Building in Denver. After plans for the cliff sculpture failed to materialize, the model was cast in bronze in Florence, Italy, an exhibited at the Chicago World Fair in 1893. a group of Colorado women subscribed money to purchase it, and presented it to the State of Colorado for placement on the Capitol Building grounds. The project was completed in 1898.

Why this pre-1900 project failed, when it showed such imagination and such close parallels to the present Perry Park development, is revealed in the official records of the Red Stone Town, Land & Mining Company from 1893 on. This is the story:

The company's plans for the three villages were centered on a relatively small amount of the total land (3,980 acres) the company had purchased from John Perry. Some of the property was of scenic value only, and of course that was desirable for a resort. But included in the property were three farms…the Perry farm, Haystacks and the Willows or Glen Grove farm…as well as other natural resources that the company fully intended would produce profits for them. This did not turn out to be true. They planned for the Perry farm, adjacent to the Village of Lake Wauconda, to be the head quarters for the superintendent of their operations and the livery business. The willows of Glen Grove farm, site of the general store and post office at the entrance gate, was to become the Town of Perry. The Haystacks farm was poor farm land, but the company felt it could be leased and operated as a dairy and/or poultry farm to serve the residents of the Town of Perry.

Initially, all of the farms were rent-plus reasonable upkeep-plus taxes basis. None of the land was well-suited to farming, and reliable tenants proved to be elusive. Rent collection was often impossible, and the company was forced to pay most of the taxes on the properties. The farms became rundown and upkeep was expensive.

Attempts were made to develop the area's mineral resources. The Perry Park Stucco & Lane Plaster Company was begun and operated by one of the stock holders, Charles A. Roberts, the son-in-law of Gen. Bela Hughes. A lime kiln was built. Stone had been quarried on the property for some years and this activity was continued. Timbering rights were leased, but the damage to the roads and bridges from hauling out the timber was repaired at the expense of the company.

The dam and lake served several purposes in the over-all plan of the builders-scenic beauty plus a source of ice for the hotel and cottages, but the expense init construction and subsequent upkeep was staggering. By the end of the first two years, the company had spent over &11,000 on the lake and dam. In the years to follow, the heavy expenses continued. Water leaked form the lake, requiring the bottom to be sealed. At the shallow end, evaporation lowered to water level, and the mud flats created a stench. Islands were built to deepen the lake and solve the problem. And finally, several devastating floods on Bear Creek necessitated extensive and expensive repairs.

Supplying the community with water brought problems they had not dreamed of. Springs and creeks were the only source, and extremely dry years reduced the supply drastically. Water pollution problems were familiar before the turn of the century. Despite building restrictions, the company's records indicate there were lot-owners who put up privies and allowed waste water from sinks to drain into the creek. The spring, unfortunately, was located below the large barn and stables, and the porosity of the soil created a serious health danger to the waster users.

The company planned to build a large mountain reservoir prior to installing a permanent water works. They were pressed into its construction by rumors that others were planning to build reservoirs in the area they had chosen. The law allowed "first come, first served" as far as construction of reservoirs was concerned. So, the company did build a reservoir in Bear Canyon, costing several thousand dollars at a time they could least afford it. Pipes were run to the hotel and cottages, but froze and burst during severe winter weather. This was a constant drain of financial resources intended for other projects.

Seemingly, the hotel was the bright spot, as it came close to fulfilling the company originators' plans for it. There were good years in the beginning, but finding and keeping good operators became the same problem they experienced with the farms. The hotel was leased in the same way…on a rent-plus reasonable upkeep-plus taxes basis. What constituted reasonable upkeep on the large frame building often created differences of opinion between the lessee and the company. For several years, the company received only partial rent, and of course, ended up paying the taxes and repairing wear-and-tear to the building before another lessee could be obtained. Thousands of dollars were spent during the years following 1890 just to keep the hotel operating. It was closed entirely for several years, and this lack of income and continuing expense did not improve the company's financial condition.

It is not known hoe many lots were sold in the Village of Lake Wauconda. There were only two known cottages built. The Manor house was owned by Charles A. Roberts (Gen. Hughes son-in-law) who left his Denver hardware business and moved his family to Perry Park. The other (almost a twin to the Manor House, located at the site of the Boyd Cousins cabin) was designed and built by Herbert Jaques, the company's architect, the engineer and the sculptor. None except those mentioned actually built homes.

It was through the sale of lots that a legal problem emerged that was not to be resolved for over ten years. In 1888, when the Red Stone Company was formed, John Perry presented deeds to the property he sold. After the hotel an dam were built and the Village of Lake Wauconda designed and platted, it was discovered that the deeds were missing to portions of the property. It was on these portions that the hotel, the lake and the Village were located! The Douglas County records showed that, on the acres in question, no titles had ever been made to the Perry family. The acreages were portions of quarters of land with titles complete to Indians originally located by "Half Breed Indian Script." No transfer of title by the Indians or an attorney could be found. A further complication presented itself when it was found that the remaining property was legally recorded in Charles Perry's name. as related earlier, Charles was John Perry's eldest son who had been killed at Perry Park in 1876. no legal record could be found establishing his death or that John Perry was his legal heir with the right to sell the property.

At approximately the same time these legal snags appeared, the company records show that Gen. Hughes sold his stock and resigned from the company, a mere two years after its organization. His stock was sold to his son-in-law, Charles A. Roberts, and to John Perry's son-in-law Gov. David Francis of Missouri. One can speculate that Hughes foresaw the legal problems as lengthy to resolve and left the company while he could still regain his investment. Considering that he was 73 years old and had attained a successful and respected position in life, perhaps he no longer cared for the intrigue in dealings such as these. He did continue as attorney for the company, and was instrumental in drafting and getting a Law of Limitations passed through the legislature, establishing ownership of land if 20 years of possession could be proven.

Gen. Hughes had been the president of the Red Stone Company until his resignation, and John Perry was elected to that position. The secretary-treasurer and working arm of the company became Charles A. Roberts. Acting on Fen. Hughes' advice, Roberts undertook the task of perfecting the company's title to the land. Perry was a resident of St. Louis and traveled to Perry Park only when company business required it. Correspondence from Roberts to Perry about the land title began in rather polite terms in 1893, just four and one-half years after the golden development dream began.

Jan. 4, 1893 Charles A Roberts to John D. Perry
"There is no record that you were ever seized of title to 240 acres originally located by Half Breed Indian Scrip… Nothing appears of record that C. W. Perry ever deed the lands, or that he is dead, or that you are his legal heir…"

June 27, 1893 Charles A Roberts to John D. Perry
"It is very important that he chain of evidence in the County Records be complete…necessary to find the deeds to you and record them or take the evidence of Pete Brannan, Quick and perhaps one other that you were in full possession 20 years ago. Then your relationship as heir to C. W. Perry should be shown and the title, though still not perfect as it would be with the deeds is as perfect as it can be made."

Sep. 12, 1894 Charles A Roberts to Lewis Perry
(son of John D. Perry)
"Four quarters of quarters in the very centre of the Park where the hotel now stands are still standing in the Records in the name of the half-breed who took them up. According to the records the Perry family never owned these at all. You can readily see we could never sell a lot there or build a hotel on borrowed money, or get anyone else to, and these quarters contain one of our town sites…Must complete records of heir ship and establish 20 years possession through law which Gen. Hughes had passes. I have been trying for tow years to get your Father to do this. It is not just to me or to other stockholders to wait longer with you Father in his present condition of health."

This correspondence is still preserved in the records of the Red Stone Company and reveals the gradual breakdown of a man. Charles A. Roberts was the only major stockholder to cast his entire fortune into the development of the park. He was not a wealthy man, as the others were. He had a successful hardware business in Denver which he sold to start a stucco and plaster company at Perry Park. He also built an impressive "cottage" by Lake Wauconda ( the Manor House) and moved his family to love in the Park year-round. As secretary of the Red Stone Company, he had been paid for his services, but this was stopped when disagreements occurred between the stockholders several years earlier. Trapped by his personal financial problems, Roberts reached in every direction to turn the tide of the project. Successful completion of the resort as planned was the only way he could regain solvency.

Relief was not to come to Charles Roberts. The Emmons women both died during these years, leaving their stock to heirs in Chicago. In 1895, John Perry died leaving his stock to heirs in St. Louis.

During the nest three years, the company's finances dwindled hopelessly and Roberts wrote frantic letters to the heirs of both estates pleading for more money.

Feb. 23, 1898 Charles A. Roberts to Lewis Perry
"I have no money and an still borrowing money to live on, hoping to get my plaster business in shape…to stop the drain. The hotel should be painted…it is very hard to rent and the Park is losing its reputation in consequence."

The Perry heirs received additional pleas from Roberts for action to clear the title deficiency. They, and David R. Francis, became so offended by Roberts' persistent letters prior to and following John Perry's death, that they refused to answer, to send money or to instigate the legal proceedings necessary to clear the title.

It was at this time another Hughes, Col. William E., entered the Perry Park story. As quoted in a Feb. 23 1898 letter form Roberts to John Perry's son Lewis:
"The very thing come to pass last summer that I have always predicted. Andrew and Jaques (the architects) sold their house to col. Hughes. The sale fell through on account of the title flaw. No one will knowingly buy any of this property unless title is perfected. The longer you put it off the more trouble and expense it will be to you. You will have to do it sometime, therefore the sooner, the better and cheaper. I have kept the matter from the public until now, hoping something would be done by you, but one real-estate firm in Denver knows it now, and such news spreads rapidly, and after a while it will grow to be a bug bear and frighten everyone form investing…"

The Perry heirs attempted to buy Roberts' stock but he refused to sell. Bitter correspondence continued between them an in 1899, Roberts wrote to the Emmons heirs confiding that he believed the Perrys "haven't the slightest intention of perfecting the title"…that he had heard from several disinterested parties who were well acquainted with Perry, Sr., that he had sold the property several times (before the sale to Red Stone), encouraged cottages to be built by buyers and "quietly laid low and took it back each time at profit, and that he worked the same game with us… it looks on the surface as though Lewis (Perry) and Gov. Francis were pursuing the same practice…"

The Nineteenth Century closed on this somewhat bitter not, but the figure of Col. William E. Hughes was to move into Perry Park's future soon. Hughes was a shrewd and wealthy businessman. After he had attempted to buy Jaques cottage in 1897 and learned of the title deficiency on the property, one can wonder if he sensed an opportunity to buy into the company at low tide and eventually gain control of the choice Perry Park real estate. A Denver Times news note, dated March 3,1900, stated that Col. W. E. Hughes had purchased "the handsome, stone residence at Perry Park for a consideration of $11,000." It is certain that this residence was the cottage of the architect, Herbert Jaques. It stood on the site of the present-day Guest House, now owned by Boyd E. Cousins, and core a strong resemblance to the present-day Manor House, which was the home of the beleaguered company secretary, Charles A. Roberts. These two were the only nice summer homes built at the resort. For the time being, Col. Hughes was willing to overlook on imperfect title on this home, for he had plans in his mind for the Red Stone Company. He bought the large block of Emmons stock and became president of the company.

As the new century began, hope stirred in the hearts of the remaining stockholders of the Red Stone Company that their dream could still be realized. Legal proceedings were initiated to clear the title. Under the law which Gen. Bela Hughes had passed, testimony was taken form earlier residents of the area, establishing that John Perry had bee the possessor of the property in question for 20 years. With the Perry heirs stubbornly refusing to prove John Perry's heir ship the Charles Perry, the company was forced, in 1901, to file suit to establish Charles Perry's death and John Perry's heir ship. One year later, the title was legally cleared.

Then years of disagreement, bitterness and inactivity left a dilapidated hotel and unproductive farms badly in need of repair. Actually, the company's debt was surprisingly small. The $4,500 was assumed by Col. Hughes personally, and the stock holders sat down to make a decision regarding future use of the property.

The title problem had been cleared, but the larger problem of convenient transportation into the Park still existed. So confident were some stockholders in the first years of the development, that they had formed a separate firm, the Perry Park Railroad Company, to build a line from Sedalia to Palmer Lake. The route had been surveyed, but no further action had been taken. The line's charter expired in August 1892. It seems certain that the impasse, caused by the inability to sell lots because of lack of clear title, stopped the investors from proceeding with their won rail line. The condition of the country's economy in the early 1890's was not encouraging for investments of this kind.

At any rate, the developers always believed, if necessary, they could induce the Denver & Rio Grande to build a branch line from the main line at Larkspur into the Park. Company records reveal, however, that this was never seriously considered by the D &R G or others who might have financed it. In a secretary's report to the Red Stone Company, dated May 1, 1892, Charles Roberts mentioned the transportation problem:

"Nothing had been done about our railroad. The charter expires by law on August 26, 1892, unless some work is done. I have visited the leading financiers of both the Denver & Rio Grande and Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe railroads and called their attention to the advantages and profits that would accrue to them in building it. When they learn the name of our president (John Perry), they immediately ask me why he did not built it himself, as they say he is able. I can do nothing but pick up my hat and wish them Good Morning."

Presumably, Perry did plan to build the line originally. However, after the title problem arose and the resulting hostilities within the company became personally insulting, he no wonder was enthusiastic about undertaking such a project at his advanced age. The result was that no rail transportations into Perry Park was ever built.

The dream ended, a sad and ill Charles Roberts filed his last secretary's report in 1902 and died within a month. At the next stockholders' meeting, the following statement made by Roberts to his wife before his death was recorded:

"Tell the stockholders I served them faithfully for 13 years. Their interests were mine. I put in my just claim. I wasn't strong enough to stand the opposition. I leave them to do the right thing by you. I forgive them, for they know not what they do. I send them my regards and I forgive them."

The stockholders realized that further development of Perry Park was impossible. Their company was in debt to another company controlled also by Col. W. E. Hughes. He was president and half-owner of the Red Stone Company, and had only to play his cards shrewdly to gain full control of the choice real estate.

The Perry heirs owned the nest largest block of stock. In a move perhaps designed to antagonize them, Col. Hughes ordered the secretary of the Red Stone Company "to send the Perry heirs an itemized statement of the expenses incurred in perfecting the title of the Perry Park property which if considered by them a just claim they might reimburse the company." At the same time, the company voted to lease grazing privileges at the Park to Col. Hughes for $75.00 per year.

The following year the stock holders acknowledged that the property would have to be sold eventually if they were to recover any of their investment. The improvements on the property had deteriorated and basic repairs were badly needed. Replacement of the water mains from the mountain reservoir to the hotel and individual farms was required. These plans were approved, and pending a buyer for all of the property, the Perry Park land was again leased to Col. Hughes for his "unrestricted use for any purpose" for 1,000 per year plus taxes.

This brought immediate protest from the Perry heirs and Gov. Francis in Missouri, but Col. Hughes was not a man to be reckoned with lightly. The controversy was finally resolved with the sale of the Perry stock to Co. Hughes in 1903. This ended the Perry Family's connection with Perry Park after31 years.

Col. Hughes continued his quest to gain full control of Perry Park. By 1904, he owned 1,356 of a total of 1,500 shares of Red Stone Company stock. The stockholders voted to pay all their bills, sell the property and dissolve the corporation. By October 1904 these actions were completed and Col. Hughes became sole owner of Perry Park for a purchase price of $14,000.

Col. William E. Hughes
Col. Hughes was 58 years old when he came to Denver from Dallas in 1898. In Texas, he was a lawyer, banker and cattleman. As president of the Continental Land and Cattle Company of St. Louis, he was prominent figure in the cattle industry, and traveled extensively through Texas, Missouri, and Colorado. He maintained a home in Dallas as well as in Denver. Col. Hughes utilized Perry Park as a working ranch and successfully raised shorthorn cattle. He employed a foreman to oversee the ranch.

The hotel was renovated and leased as the Clifton Inn (probably named in honor of his daughter, Eliza Clifton, who died in 19804). The stage continued to bring summer tourists twice daily form the rail line at Larkspur.

Col. Hughes was a lover of coaching, the chase, dogs and horses. He was a skilled wing-shot, and he spent his time at Perry Park as a true country gentleman. Area residents remember that he drove his own Concord stage pulled by four dock-tailed horses, accompanied by a boy who sat on the back to blow a bugle and open gates. He was friendly and often stopped to chat and enjoy tea with his neighbors. In 1912, at age 72, he sold his now beautiful country estate to J. George Leyner for $37,000.

J. George Leyner

George Leyner was anther in a long list of interesting people who have owned Perry Park. Described by a friend: "as colorful a character as ever owned Perry Park in it early days…the most typical Coloradan. Physically he was a very powerful man…with a shock of iron-gray hair so firmly attached to his scalp that I have seen him lift a good-sized child off the floor with the child holding on to Leyner;s hair. He had only one good eye…the result of a youthful experiment…firing a 22 bullet into a stick of dynamite…"

At age 52 and president of the Leyner Engineering and Manufacturing Company near Littleton, George Leyner had the distinction of reportedly being the first white child born in Boulder County, Colorado. He spent his youth on a farm there and learned to be a machinist. He invented a minter drill which brought him distinction as one of the great manes in the development of Colorado-made steam and compressed air operated drills.

Leyner had studied the faults of hand operated drills and invented a compressed air driven hammer drill, which rotated in the holes, speeding up the drilling process. He produced hollow drill bits so a stream of water could be injected, allaying the dust which plagued miners. The success of this invention and a device for sharpening drill bits led to the formation of his won manufacturing company. His drills, compressors and hoisting equipment took top prizes in the St. Louis world Exposition of 1904.

The sale of his mining drill patents and manufacturing company to the Ingersoll-Rand Company of Easton, Pennsylvania, enabled George Leyner to purchase Perry Park Ranch. He was retained by the new company owners as chief engineer, and remained a resident of Denver in a new home befitting a wealthy man.

A devotee of the automobile, George Leyner owned many: and "orient," a motorized buckboard; a "Parry" roadster; several Chalmers autos; a 1911 4-cylinder touring car; a larger 1912 roadster with a 50-gallon gas tank on the rear deck; and a1913 6-cylinder touring car.

The Leyner family closed the hotel a t Perry Park to paying guests, and during the early years of their ownership, utilized it only as a gathering place to entertain their friends. Still known as the Clifton Inn, it furnished a perfect setting for entertainment. It contained adequate rooms for guests or by the Leyners' Denver household staff. The guests included business acquaintances, well-known politicians and celebrities from the entertainment world. One of the latter was Sir Harry Lauder. Lauder, who had spent his youth working in Scottish coal mine, met George Leyner through mutual friends in the mining business.

The store at the south entrance gate to Perry Park remained open during these years. Upstairs rooms and meals to accommodate early-day motorists were rented. They were often entertained by the owner's pet raccoons who attempted to snatch food from the table.

Another remnant of the Red Stone Company's ownership of the Park remained J. George Leyner, Jr., who was eight years old at the time his Father owned the Park, recalled that the Buffalo and Indian statue, which was a model for an intended carving on Castle Ridge, stood at the entrance to the cave in Sentinel Rock. It is not known what happened to this model after the Leyner years, but, as mentioned earlier, a statue based upon this model was cast in bronze and now stands on the Grant Street side of the State Capitol Building in Denver.

George Leyner attempted to build the ranch into an economically self-sustaining unit. He wanted to establish a productive farming operation. His foreman and other employees lived year-round on the ranch. The shorthorn cattle herd remaining from Col. W. E. Hughes' former herd was dispersed and hogs were introduced as a replacement stock. An interesting spin-off of the hog operation was the hogs eliminated on of the "unpleasantries" on the property: rattlesnakes. George Leyner had special fences built to contain the hogs, and within a short time, rattlesnakes became a rarity there. Previously they were plentiful enough that the Red Stone Company paid a 50c bounty for each one killed.

Jerusalem artichokes were planted as a source of food for the hogs. These vegetables grew tubers underground, and were reputed to be advantageous because it was unnecessary to harvest them. The hogs could root them out and gain food and exercise simultaneously. By 1914 cholera struck and the hog venture ended in a financial deficit.

A sizable dairying operation followed. The cattle were herded by some of the ranch help to keep them from the patches of alfalfa being raised in the low, flat areas of the ranch. Corn, beans and potatoes were raised. A family friend remembers that a quantity of chokecherry wine was made from the chokecherries which grew abundantly on the ranch. A large flock of 90ducks roamed the farmland.

Leyner's unsuccessful plunge into agriculture at Perry Park depleted his resources after a few years, and some of the lavish living was curtailed. The fashionable Denver home was sold and the family moved to Littleton. The hotel became the home of ranch employees. It was never again used as a commercial hotel. It deteriorated and eventually burned down, probably in the 1920's. The dam forming Lake Wauconda had always been troublesome to maintain. As had happened numerous times in previous years, floods damaged it and Lake Wauconda was non-existent during some of the Leyner years of ownership.

George Leyner's attempts at practical farming apparently led his mechanical talents toward experimentation and development of an improved farm tractor. For this was his next venture. An experimental model was produced at the Littleton tool factory. It operated with steel crawlers in line vertically. Allowing the machine to be jointed in the middle. This feature was to allow easier cultivation of row crops with minimum damage to the plants.

As George Leyner became engrossed in attempting to produce the new farm tractor, a shortage of funds necessitated the sale of Perry Park Ranch in 1918. Within two years, as plans were being made to patent his newest invention, George Leyner died from injuries suffered in an auto accident on the Denver-Littleton road.

Robert P. Lamont, Jr.

The next owner of Perry Park was well known throughout the United States. He was Robert Patterson Lamont, Jr., scion of a wealthy Chicago steel family and recently discharged from military service. He had been a sophomore at Princeton when he enlisted as an ambulance driver in France in 1917. While awaiting delivery of more ambulances, he was asked to lead an ammunition convoy. German shelling stopped the convoy and a shell exploded near Lamont. He was seriously injured, losing one hand completely. He received serous injuries to the other hand, as well as shrapnel wounds that plagued him the rest of his life. The French bestowed high honors upon him before he returned to the United States.

Lamont was interested in ranching, and after seeing Perry Park while visiting a friend in Colorado, the Lamont family purchased the ranch. His father, Robert Lamont, Sr., was president of American Steel Foundries in Chicago and a director in many other large U.S. corporations, who later relinquished all of his positions when he was appointed Secretary of Commerce y President Herbert Hoover in the late 1920's.

The name of Lamont appeared frequently in news headlines during the 20's and 30's. Seemingly, wealth and fame made every move of the Lamont family newsworthy. An unsuccessful first marriage ended in divorce for Robert Lamont, Jr., in 1926. His second marriage to Frances Kent lasted during the remaining years of Lamont's ownership of Perry Park.

Frances Kent Lamont was a sculptress, designer and amateur actress. She had a studio addition built onto the Manor House where they lived, and her bronze sculptures were exhibited at the Chappell House in Denver (predecessor to Denver's Art Museum). She participated in amateur plays in Denver, receiving such rave reviews that she made a trip to Hollywood, apparently to seek a professional acting career. Robert and Frances Lamont were conspicuous at many large social events in Denver and Colorado Springs.

Anyone reviewing the past 100 years of history at Perry Park might well choose the period of Robert Lamont's ownership as the most appealing. With World War I ended and transportation problems relieved by the automobile, Lamont was able to live on his vast country estate year-round, and still enjoy the advantage of easy contact with Denver and Colorado Springs.

Remembered fondly by Douglas County Residents of those years, Lamont did such things as bringing the children from nearby Glen Grove School to Perry Park for special parties. Local residents remember that deer and other wildlife became a common sight due to Lamont's insistence that Perry Park remain a game preserve. The dam was repaired and Lake Wauconda appeared again to further beautify the natural beauty of the Park.

The description should not be interpreted to mean the Perry Park, under Lamont's ownership, was just a playboy's toy. It was a business as well as an attractive place to live for the Lamont's. Robert Lamont was very active on the ranch, doing much of the machine work himself. An attempt to frill fro oil in 1925-26 yielded nothing. The stock market crash in 1929 brought hard times to many previously wealthy people, including the Lamonts.

Eager to realize the greatest financial and yet retain the natural beauties of his property, Lamont asked the Colorado State Forestry Department to prepare a forest management plant in 1933. The purpose was to provide a continuous yield of timber while maintaining good forestry practices.

He raised registered Hereford breeding cows and had about 1,000 sheep on the ranch. He bought additional lands, including the adjoining Benjamin Quick ranch. Perry Park cattle won prizes at the large livestock shows, and Robert Lamont was at various times president of the American Hereford Cattle Breeders Association and the National Western Stock Show Association. He had to resign from the latter post when, in 1932, Stalin's Soviet government invited him to visit Russia and study their livestock industry. He accepted the invitation, creating some controversy relative to possible embracement for the Hoover administration in having the son of one of its cabinet members serve on a mission that could aid the Soviet Government.

Lamont ignored all of this and made the trip to Russia. In a two-month analysis, he determined that Russia needed better breeding stock to improve their poor herds before they could expect to increase in cattle production. He received dark headlines when he further scolded the U.S. for not entering into a business pact with Russia to provide the necessary breeding stock…"Russia is going ahead whether or not we like their form of government…we are destroying a potential market for our cattle." The entire Russian trip had been a prelude to possible employment of Lamont by the Russians as a breeder expert. New Stories from those years do not reveal any further offer by the Russians for Lamont's expertise.

Financial difficulties plagues Lamont throughout the 1930's, and he began efforts to sell the ranch. The 2,250-acre Quick portion was sold in 1936 to Lamont's friend and neighbor, Reginald Sinclaire. The remainder was sold in 1937 to Walter Paepcke, another wealthy Chicagoan.

Walter Paepcke

Many Coloradans associate the name of Walter Paepcke more readily with Aspen, Colorado, than Perry Park. He gained prominence in Colorado for his efforts in directing a cultural re-birth of that silver-mining town. It is not our intention to relate the details of that story here because, for the most part, his Aspen activities followed the years when he owned Perry Park. The Paepckes retained a home in Chicago, and Perry Park was used primarily as a summer home.

Walter Paepcke was 41 years old when he became the new owner. He had graduated from Yale and served in the Navy in World War I, after which he became the president of his father's company, the Chicago Mill and Lumber Company. It became one of the key properties in his own company-Container Corporation of America-which he organized in 1926, and which remains one of the country's corporate giants today.

Even though the Paepckes and their three daughters did not use Perry Park as a year-round home, the ranch activities continued under a foreman and other hired help who live on the property. A dairy her was maintained, as well as some range cattle, sheep, hogs, turkeys and Clydesdale horses. Ice from the lake was cut and stored for use in all the houses on the ranch.

A successful guest ranch business was built up which required rather extensive preparations. The old Jaques cottage was being remodeled in the late 1930's for use as a guest facility, but it burned down just before completion. The Paepckes then built a new Guest House on the site overlooking Lake Wauconda. This very rustic building contained large bedrooms, recreation and dining rooms and kitchen facilities to serve the ranch guests. It remains today, the property of Boyd Cousins, and is located directly north of Nanichant Rock, overlooking the lake.

The guest ranch was the scene of great activity during the summertimes of Paepcke's ownership. Quaterhorses replaced the Clydesdales for the riding enjoyment of the guest. Barn dances and rodeos were held. Citizens of Larkspur and neighbors of the Perry Park ranch were welcomed to the merriment. They, as well as the ranch employees, remember the Paepcke years fondly.

The Perry house, dating back tot the 1870's was in a very dilapidated condition. It was carefully remodeled in 1941 to retain such interior features as the staircase and fireplace, and the same front structure. It contains hand-hewn beams and wooden pegs instead of nails. The house is easily recognizable when compared with an 1890 photograph of the Perry home. This house is located northeast of the Manor House (which the Paepckes retained for their private use) and was used as a hunting lodge for guests who were invited to participate in fox hunts. The Perry house and farm buildings, plus 160 acres, were sold to the present owners, Mr. and Mars. John Paulk, in 1947.

Walter Paepcke was an active horseman and devotee of outdoor exercise. On an outing to Aspen in the mid-1940's he is reported to have fallen in love with that quiet little mountain town, and began acquiring property there. At the same time, he became Chairman of the Board of the Container Corporation of America, which provided him with more leisure time. But "leisure" to Walter Paepcke did not mean "idleness." He believed strongly in cultural and intellectual growth. With the wealth, time and motivation to activate some of his ideas, it seems natural for him to become so involved in developing Aspen as a year-round cultural center that he eventually moved his Colorado headquarters from Perry Park to Aspen. He sold Perry Park in 1951.

Boyd E. Cousins

For the next 16 years Perry Park was owned by Kansas City businessman Boyd E. Cousins. Mr. Cousins was attracted to the property not only by its beauty, but because it offered his family the seclusion and privacy he had been seeking in a vacation retreat.

For the most of the previous 79 years that eh property had been private owned, the general public had been welcomed and encouraged to visit Perry Park. It was a favored picnic spot and was rather well-known to Front Range residents because of the various attempts to build a resort business there. The litter and destruction caused by merry-makers, shooting of livestock and motor boating on the lake eventually caused Mr. Cousins to lock all gates and forbid entry to the ranch by anyone except his family and their employees.

The Cousins family spent summers and some holidays at Perry Park. During one of these visits, the quiet of a night was broken y a frenzied barking of a pet Chihuahua. Mr. Cousins investigated the noises outside the Manor House and was astonished and amused to find a bear rollicking on his children's new trampoline. The furry visitor jumped back and forth from the trampoline to the higher-level ground on the side, and with gay abandon, continued until he ruined the trampoline!

Boyd Cousins was a successful businessman. Like past owners of Perry Park, he found that the Park was not a profitable enterprise. He sought methods to solve the problem. He felt strongly that the natural beauty of this real estate should be preserved. To retain it as a vacation retreat and also establish it as a self-sustaining financial investment was the ideal solution.

Mr. Cousins employed a year-round foreman to oversee the raising of quaterhorses and registered Hereford cattle. He considered subdividing portions of the ranch, along with other possibilities, but always concluded that the beautiful Park would be ruined. He sold a portion of the original 5,000 acres at the time to the Buells of Denver. Haystack Ranch (named in the 1870's because of the large rounded rocks standing in clusters and resembling haystacks) borders Perry Park on the southeast and is now the home of the Carl Gross family.

Personal and health problems caused Mr. Cousins to put the ranch on "millionaires' row" up for sale in 1966. he believed that Lee Stubblefield might be the person to build Perry Park into a well-planned community for families to live in and enjoy, so he sold Perry Park to Stubblefield in 1967. he insisted on certain restrictions regarding usage of the property and retained the Guest House which had been built by the Paepckes as part of the Perry Park Guest Ranch facility, along with the surrounding 78 acres.

Colorado Western Development Company

Lee Stubblefield was a career Air Force pilot stationed at Lowry Air Force Base in Denver in the early 1960's. Sensing the residential appeal of the Front Range of Colorado, Stubblefield retired from the Air Force in 1967 and embarked on a new career in real estate. As president of Colorado Western Development Company, he began the residential development of Perry Park.

The concept of development underway at Perry Park is not, of course, new to that property. Even thought is had remained relatively unchanged during the 100 years since it was designated Perry Park, attempts at transforming the secluded ranch into a popular residential area date back to 1888. it is almost impossible to tell Colorado Western's story at Perry Park without referring back to the Red Stone Company's ambitious plans for a summer resort there before the turn of the century.

The two companies' plans for the property are startlingly similar, considering the 79-year span separating their planning. However, whereas the Red Stone Company could only hope largely for summer residents, because of the lack of good transportation into the Park, Colorado Western can utilize plans of far greater magnitude, and attract permanent residents, because a transportation problem no longer exists. With an interstate highway nearby and a private airport already built, Perry Park is now a year-round residential community.

Both companies master plan for Perry Park continued a common goal: to create sophisticated country-club living with beautiful natural surrounding to be enjoyed for generations to come. The raw material each company began with is the same: and unspoiled wonderland of pine forests, hills and valleys; open pastures, streams and spectacular rock structures. Remainders from the Red Stone Company's ownership were the Lake and the Manor House. To develop this land into an attractive residential community while maintaining its natural beauty, required an appreciation of aesthetics and acceptance of the necessity of preservation of the outstanding natural attributes in the area.

Some changes were inevitable with the creation of a village at Perry Park. Acceptance of these changes has been legal suits to attempt to stop re-zoning efforts by Colorado Western, as well as to establish water rights in that area. Overcoming these obstacles, Stubblefield and Colorado Western Development Company have created changes at Perry Park. In 1974, there are 147 homes, with 44 more under construction and 112 planned. When all are occupied, Perry Park will have a population of approximately 1,100. similar to the Red Stone Company plan, Perry Park Village is the elite area located in the heart of the scenic rock structures. Bear Creek flows into Lake Wauconda, which is reserved for Canoes, small sailboats and fishing. A golf course wind around Castle Ridge and borders the Lake. The manor House overlooks this scene, serving as a dining an club facility for residents. There is a stables complex utilizing the older ranch buildings, and new polo fields. Bridle paths and hiking trails provide diversion for outdoor-loving residents.

High atop Inspiration Point, Echo hills Club commands a breathtaking view of Perry Park and the front Range for its members. Facilities are available there for dining-club activities and outdoor sports. Snuggled in the Walls of Jericho are condominiums offering their owners views over the spectacular tocks, trees and lake- views free of utility lines and the precise grid like pattern of normal city streets.

All of the above is located in central Perry Park. Two additional villages- Meribel and Sage Port- planned by Colorado Western are located outside the 4,000-acre Perry Park ranch and beyond the scope of this history.

it would seem that Colorado Western Development Company has been successful with its plan to create a sophisticated living environment for many while retaining most of the natural beauty of Perry Park. It is a type of development which brings conflict to areas that have been undisturbed for generations. Whichever view is favored, it remains true that Perry Park, with all its beauty, was never productive enough to support itself financially. Wealth from other sources had to sustain the ranch to preserve it in its natural state, and only those few with such wealth could live at Perry Park.

Certainly, the planners of 1888 would nod approvingly if they could see their dream being brought to realization in the twentieth Century.

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