Children of Frontier Widow Recall Early Town History

Transcribed from the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel September 15, 1957

Footnotes by Helen R. Hawkins - Granddaughter of Rowena Victoria Hull

            A tent pitched at Colorado Ave. and First St. was the first Grand Junction home for two sisters, now Delta residents, who were among the earliest residents of the new town.

             Mrs. J.H. (Victoria) Wear , and Mrs. Mary Watkins. They were five and 14 years old when they arrived with their parents, John and Sarah Hull, on Nov. 28, 1882.

            Mr. Hull had previously visited the town site and purchased four city lots, soon after the Utes had been escorted out of the Valley by General McKenzie on Sept. 1, 1881. His family had waited near Montrose, while the valley was cleared of Indians. Traveling by covered wagon drawn by oxen and horses, they had come overland from the Midwest, crossing the state line on Mrs. Wear’s first birthday, in 1878.

            During the trip, the family saw Chief Ouray at his home west of Montrose, and saw Chipeta many times.

            Arriving at the Grand River, they crossed on a raft built from trees cut along the stream. The horses and cattle had to swim for it but one old oxen was swept away in the current and drowned.

Wintered in Tent

            The worst of the winter was spent in the tent. Meanwhile the head of the household, a carpenter by trade, cut cottonwood logs along the Grand River at the foot of First St., to build a cabin. It served as a dwelling until he completed a real house in 1883, at the same location. Later the cabin was torn down and the wood burned as fuel.

            Tragedy struck soon after the home was completed. The father became ill and died , leaving his wife with four children, the two daughters, another girl, Alice, and Tom, both of whom are now gone.

            The widow managed somehow to rear her family, working at almost anything that presented itself. She nursed, sewed, washed and ironed.

            During the 14 years the family lived in Grand Junction, they came to know virtually all the early residents. Mrs. Watkins worked in the hotel where Governor George Crawford lived.

Business Development

            When the Hulls arrived, there was already a small business center located on Colorado Ave., between Fourth and Fifth Streets.

            All these establishments freighted in their merchandise by wagon from Pueblo or Leadville. They carried a good supply of staple goods, although the grocers didn’t try to keep fresh meat, only the salt variety. There was practically no demand for the fresh goods for awhile, since the townspeople had an ample supply of beef, venison and fish as their doorstep.

            P.A. and W. A. Rice operated the first lumber yard, procuring their merchandise from their own sawmill on Pinon Mesa. The Rice men came in 1882, their families in 1883. Job Payne and George Shackleton opened the Payne and Shackleton butcher shop before long, and Steve Scovil started an ice business. He cut huge blocks of ice in winter from the Grand River. The chunks, three or four feet square, were often two feet thick. They were stored in an ice-house near the river, carefully packed in sawdust, and peddled to the townspeople by wagon during the summer.

            John Gordon was the first boatman for the Grand River ferry. He was the son of a Mr. Gordon, a cattleman, who drowned in the river during the spring of 1882. With a companion, Gordon was dumped into the river when their skiff overturned as they were attempting a crossing. The companion reached shore safely, reporting the spectators that he had “sure heard the angels singing.”

First Hospital

            Mrs. Mary Briley was the community’s first nurse. She arrived before the Hull family. Originally the operator of a boarding house, she later enlarged her house to take care of sick folks, and it developed into what amounted to the first hospital. Mrs. Briley was part Choctaw Indian.

            Favoarite picnic spot was known as Wurtz’ grove, about a mile below town on the river. The owner, Henry Wurtz, was a German, and had a fine orchard of fruit trees.

             Mrs. Wear married Joseph Napoleon (Poly) Davis in 1896 and moved to Lake City. They came back in 1904 for three years then moved to Cripple Creek. Mr. Davis died in 1916. After 27 years of widowhood, she married Mr. Wear in 1943.

            Mrs. Watkins married Lawrence S. (Larry) Heath. He was killed in a snowslide near Ironton on March 21, 1892. Mary lived with her mother until her death in 1896, then she too moved to Lake City.