Put your name on your house!!!

They have been doing that for centuries in the northeast.  Sometimes it's a family name.  Other times they would give it a name like "Spring Lake" or "Robin's Peak".  When you drive around in the New England states, you will see the little wood posts on the houses that show you it's name!  Sure makes it easy to find the specific place you are looking for!

At Cotopaxi, there were 2 buildings that we know of that were "named".  One was "Saltiel".  This particular photo has been used to "prove" that the town was once known as "Saltiel".

It's obvious the name is on the building.  So I started my research.....looking high and low to find out when the town was called "Saltiel".  I can find a single reference to a "Saltiel Park".  One reference to it being called "Saltiels".  Absolutely nothing else.

I have gone back to 1876 in the local clerk and recorders office.  No mention of it being called Saltiels in any document ever.  In fact, the first name used other than "Fremont County" or "Arkansas Valley" appears in 1879 in a legal document, calling the place "Cotopaxi."

So why did this building have the name "Saltiel" on it?  Just a carryover of the hundreds-year-old tradition from buildings back east?

I wonder!

In the 1880 census, we see that Emanuel and Elizabeth Saltiel were living in their home with their 3 children....and eight boarders.  Was this a hotel of sorts???  The beginning of a hotel?

and just for clarification.....it's not listed as "Cotopaxi" in the census dated June 23, 1880.  It's still known as Fremont County.  

In the 1880 census, Cotopaxi was a very small place.  The train was just being built through the canyon and the railroad had built a boarding house (maybe 2?) but did not yet have a depot.  There was the first hints of a stagecoach road coming in from the south.....either late 1880 or early 1881....after the train stop was built.

The census verifies this with lists of boarders....and only a very few families:

Richard McCoy, age 43, farmer ("famous father of the McCoy gang" - probably lived east of Cotopaxi in what is now known as McCoy gulch)
Nicholas Owens, age 45, farmer
H. Rogers, age 32, keeping rr boarding house,  family and 16 boarders
J. W. Miller, age 30, farmer
W. H. Murray, age 33, keeping rr boarding house, family and 22 boarders
Levi Bradish, age 75, farmer

(and keep in mind that "farmer" is a term for rancher....these men were cattle ranchers....not farmers like you would think of in the midwest).

It appears that Rogers and Murray were brought in to run the boarding houses built by the railroad.  The timing is perfect for June as the first train was in December, 1880.

That leaves us with McCoy, Owens, Miller and Bradish as the only ranchers in the valley.  Of these, only the McCoy's stayed (from my research thus far).

Once the train stop was built, the town started growing rather rapidly.  

In the 1880 Colorado State Business directory it states:

Cotopaxi - New camp on D&RG RR 34 miles west of Canon City, 

P Brogan, J C North, Carpenters and Builders (not listed in the 1880 census)

JW Harrison, E H Saltiel, Mine Operators (Harrison resided in Canon City)

Cotopaxi Hotel

M Harrison, Blacksmith (not listed in the 1880 census)

North was living in the same boarding house with Gold Tom in Precinct 1.  Cotopaxi was in Enumeration District 46 in the Arkansas River Valley.  I think Precinct 1 might have been Texas Creek, but not sure yet.  More research to do!

Nonetheless, in 1882, Cotopaxi was new, tiny, and truly part of the wild west.  Was Saltiel's house the hotel....and had been a boarding house in 1880?

And then.....I came across this "Saltiel house" photo...and this is probably the original.  It has not been cropped.  Exact same people in the exact same positions:

Notice the street lamp over to the right? I seriously doubt this photo was taken in 1882.  I doubt these were the Jewish colonists in the photo.   There was no electricity or gas power in Cotopaxi in 1882.

I think someone found this photo, cropped it, and then declared that the town was once called "Saltiel"!!!

My next task is to take all the buildings that were present in Cotopaxi in 1882 and determine what was a hotel (might have been 2 of them), what was a store (pretty sure there were at least 2) and what other businesses there were in "town" when the Colonists were there.  

My point - put your name on your house and one day it might just turn into the name of the place where you lived!  OK...just joking!  My point is that one should not take literally what they read or see in print.  Understand that oral histories can evolve because someone wants you to believe something.  Take the time to do the research to prove what someone else writes.

As a final thought on this blog.....do you see the tall cacti in the photo?  Cholla cactus, aka "walking 

stick" cactus.  They cover the hillsides and are everywhere....guess they were here in the 1880s as well!  They grow 2' to 4' tall.  

You can see the areas covered on the ground with this type of cacti,  some call it prickly pear, or elephant ear.  I can guarantee you that you don't want to step on it!  LOL!


Go back and look at the photos....these is the darker areas on the ground...absolutely covered...and still in the area today, just go take a hike in the hills, but be sure to wear leather shoes or boots and watch where you step!  Tennis shoes just won't cut it!

Can you imagine sending a group of Jews to this area to farm?  Ask yourself the same question about your own ancestors....what did they face when they attempted to farm, to build a house, to eek out a living as they moved west across this country.  What do you know about your ancestors??  It's so much more than just putting a name into a family tree.

Maybe we should all put our names on our homes!

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