Chasing the traces, in tracks of time

Pioneer town of Gwillimville out to pasture now

But still remembered, part of the local chamber legacy fabric

 

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com


I wrote this post several years ago after attending one of many Chamber functions out at Searle's ranch.


Last week, Tri-Lakes Chamber of Commerce members armed with cellphones and other cameras, as well as a bucket (quarter-full of cattle feed pellets), braved the ankle-deep-in-places bogs of Searle Ranch lower pasture. The feeders, while trying to avoid “Longhorn Landmines,” were all the time, in sight of the last few remaining vestiges of the pioneer town of Gwillimville.

"In 35 years of putting on Texas Longhorn Sales, we've learned that the most successful ones offer good cattle and a memorable social experience," says Stan Searle, Charlie's father.

Stan (and the rest of the family, as a result) have been involved in the Longhorn business since the early 1970s and formerly founded and published the Texas Longhorn Journal. Charlie worked as editor, and Shelley worked alongside. Stan's wife, and Charlie and Shelley's mom Lorna, was Ad Manager.

For the last 15 years, it has been a local Longhorn operation out at Cherry Springs Ranch (with other grazing ground out in Ellicott) on the former site of Gwillimville. Founded in 1869 by Gwillim R. Gwillim, originally from South Wales, and six miles east of Monument on Highway 105.

"The cabin and hay shed in the bottom of the pasture dates back to the time of the town," noted Stan in recent tour during a Chamber event. Gwillimville was never incorporated. In its heyday, a cheese factory, creamery, store, blacksmith shop, several saloons, a post office, school, church and worker's quarters sprang from the earth around Cherry Springs and the source of Cherry Creek. The Gwillimville School was eventually moved to Monument, becoming Sunday school for the Presbyterian Church and in the 1980s, the former Tri-Lakes Chamber of Commerce building on Highway 105 in Monument.

In January of 1880, a Diphtheria epidemic broke out affecting brother of the founder's family Richard Gwillim's two daughters.

"In spite of all efforts, the two little girls passed away within a few days of each other. These girls are buried in the Spring Valley Cemetery," wrote Lucile Lavelett in her Monument's Faded Neighboring Communities. "Avery strange and sad coincidence happened that two children in every family in the neighborhood died of Diphtheria during that epidemic."

In 1895, Richard Gwillim's home burned, pretty much spelling the end of Gwillimville.

Stan Searle's career in the media business was not confined to Longhorns however and had fingers reaching out in several directions. Locally, he was the founder and manager of Tri-Lakes Cable, which was sold to Adelphia in 2000, (later becoming part of Comcast) and managed other trade magazines related to cable and other business.

Named among the top 100 Pioneers of the cable industry, Stan's heart however, was in the cattle business. Suggesting that some of his inspiration comes from legendary trail founder Charles Goodnight, Stan co-founded International Texas Longhorn Association and is a recipient of their prestigious "Charles Goodnight Award. The Goodnight-Loving Trail beginning with the "Gather" in Texas after the Civil War, goes through Monument, on into Denver. Charlie, a noted musician, photographer, writer, began his musical career at Alamo Village working for Happy Shahan, former partner of actor John Wayne in development of Alamo Village for the film.

Legacy, tradition, local activism, and a history of reaching out.

With much fanfare, the Tri-Lakes Chamber of Commerce moved into the Highway 105 location in 1985, but the building itself has quite a storied history. It's been a bit transient.

According to a letter dated March 15, 1985, from long-time Monument historian Lucille Lavelett, the building has been bopping around Monument since perhaps as early as 1869.

"The C.E. (Christian Education) Building was once a one-room Gwillimville School. Gwillimville was once a small, thriving community five miles east of Monument on Highway 105. It was founded by Gwillim R. Gwillim in 1869."

Lavelett relates the following story:

"During a period of a few years, a dozen or more families had come from Wales and several from England, and settled in the community. Church services were held in the one-room Gwillimville School until the Gwillimville Church was built in 1893. This Church was built on the northwest corner of (Highway) 105 and Highway 83," wrote Lavelett.

"On Aug. 6, 1919, Monument School consolidated with three smaller districts which were Pring, three miles south of Monument, Husted, six miles south (Husted is now part of the United States Air Force Academy), and Stout, which was east of Husted. The following year, Gwillimville joined the new district (1920)," she wrote.

"It was in the late 1920s or early 1930s, Rev. R.J. Hassted, minister of the Presbyterian Church, and Earl Thompson moved the little white school into Monument and put it south of the Presbyterian Church to be used as a Sunday School and community services. To help the church, the Monument Homemakers Club in 1938, and 1939, paid for having ceiling and walls re-plastered and painted, built a new flue in the west end, bought a large coal circulator heater to heat the building and put linoleum in the kitchen area. The east end had a cook stove, sink and cupboards. Cook stove did not give enough heat to warm the building, so the new flue was built," Lavelett said.

"In the late 1940s, the church built the new kitchen and Sunday School room on the north side of the building. Also a restroom. The town, at that time, had natural gas, so a gas heater was installed," she said.

At the time of the 1985 move to its present location, Lavelett noted that this was third move for the old Gwillimville School.

"When it was built, its home was about one and a half miles north of (Highway) 105 where the children had to walk through a cattle pasture. Children were afraid of the cattle, so it was move close to 105. Moved then to Monument, and in 1985 to home of the Chamber of Commerce," according to historian Lavelett.

Then County Commissioner Frank Klotz and Chamber President Sandy Smith turned a spade-full of dirt in honor of the new building in February, and actual move took place in April of that year, reported the forerunner of the Tribune at the time. The chamber had been organized nine years prior to spearhead efforts to attract business and industry to the Tri-Lakes area.

Experience of fire

I wrote this a little less than a year ago, as we once again marked the anniversaries of three devastating fires I experienced in the Pikes Peak area. Drought conditions through much of the state and fires already realized on the Western Slope and elsewhere, indicates we might be in for a rough fire summer.  As always, I am grateful for those that answer the call and fight those fires on our behalf.

Thank you for answering the call

By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

Fighting fire is something I am familiar with. My dad fought them all of his life. My younger sister spent years battling them for the United States Forest Service. I mark various watershed events in my own life by the experience of fire.

All the time I was growing up in a small town in southwestern Colorado, a strange, faceless phone with no dialing mechanism hung right on my dad’s side of my parent’s bedroom. I think there might have been as many as eight of them (exactly alike) hanging in various locations (homes and businesses) around the small town of 800 residents.

All of them were the property of the local volunteer fire department.

Whether it be night or day, the loud, unremitting, urgent ring would sound continuously at the breakout of a fire -- until someone picked up and answered the call.

If the call was judged not to be a prank, or false alarm, then the lever on the black box next to the phone was shoved over, all the way to the right, and the fire siren down at the town hall would begin its mournful summons of the 25 or 30 volunteer firefighters in the area.

Later, of course, heavy, boxlike pagers were worn on volunteers’ belts and the siren (that also served as the noon whistle, because it was necessary to test each day), became obsolete. I am not sure what they use today in that town.

The volunteers serving on that department – all by choice – and all continuing to work their regular jobs or at businesses to pay the bills and feed their families, would drop everything when the siren wailed.

I considered that carefully this week, as we continued to evaluate how fortunate we are, and what a debt we owe, regarding firefighter’s response and effectiveness when called to serve. When everyone else is running out, they are unselfishly, and usually anonymously, running in.

Of course, this month we are marking the 15th anniversary of Hayman Fire, the fifth anniversary of the Waldo Fire and fourth anniversary of the Black Forest Fire, three of the most destructive fires in the history of Colorado.

I suppose we should be out lining the roads, making signs and remembering to mark the firefighters recent efforts, as well.

Wouldn’t it also be appropriate to also recall the locals, and on a regular basis, the efforts of people like Pineville Hot Shots Kathi Beck, Tamera Bickett, Scott Blecha, Levi Brinkley, Douglas Dunbar, Terri Hagen, Bonnie Holtby, Rob Johnson, Jon Kelso or Missoula smokejumper: Don Mackey, and McCall Smokejumpers: Roger Roth, Jim Thrash and Helitack Robert Browning, Jr., and Richard Tyler who all perished on Storm King Mountain in 1994?

Or perhaps Oregon wildland firefighters: Zach Zigich, Retah Shirley, Jacob Martindale, Danial Rama, and Bart Bailey who suffered the same fate, in the van crash near Parachute, as they were coming to help us out during Hayman?

After all, it might be night or day, and they may have to drop what they are doing to hear our urgent ring.

Much like that faceless phone of my youth, we might forget about them for the most part, and never remember their names, or what kind of sacrifices they may have to make.

Be careful with those bees

Swarm on the rocks gets moved without incident

It can be somewhat unnerving when swarm of bees show up, flying all around on your front porch. Marianne Roane had that problem last week when the little buzzers started relocating on rocks near her front porch at her townhome in Monument.

Neighbor Bob Jackson helped her out by calling a bee guy to come and take a look.

The bee guy, Ed Buckley of Buckley Homestead Supply, came by that afternoon and moved the swarm into a cardboard box, with the help of Hadley Buckley and a younger Ed Buckley.

“It’s all very natural,” said the older Ed Buckley. “Half of hive stays with the old queen, and half goes with a new one.”

He said it wouldn’t be much of a chore to move them into the box, because as soon as he found the queen, all the rest would follow.

Sure enough. After scooping several hand-fulls into the box, as Buckley said, the bees started to signal “in here, she’s over here.”

The rest followed, and as far as anybody could tell, no one was stung in the process.

As I walked out in the streets of Norpaso ...

Because we can’t describe where we live, let’s rename it

“I’m not my name. My name is something I wear, like a shirt. It gets worn. I outgrow it, I change it.” ― Jerry Spinelli

I think there once was one of the those green signs on I-25 that said something about Gleneagle Drive, right on the highway. Now, of course, Gleneagle Drive never touches I-25. You have to take North Gate Blvd., go through two roundabouts headed east to the light to Struthers Road, take a left, and then turn right on Gleneagle Drive. Thursday, local fire departments set fire to the old Gleneagle Golf Clubhouse. Donald Wescott Fire Protection District was in charge of the training exercise.

That is the thing about names around here —if you wait long enough, some change.

That can create confusion. Last week, I thought about that when considering the various districts and jurisdictions, and responsibilities.

In my 20+ years in the area, I have seen quite a bit. It is possible to recall when you could count the total population in the Tri-View Metropolitan District, on your fingers, and maybe even one hand. Town (meaning Colorado Springs) was miles away to the south. Woodmoor was sort of out in the country then, Black Forest was just that, Palmer Lake and Monument were the only real towns.

And of course, Gleneagle was sort of like the Gaza Strip, a small, self-governing territory with a golf course and pool, east of the United States Air Force Academy, with several homeowners associations including Gleneagle Civic, Gleneagle North, Academy View, Sun Hills, and several others. It relied on service by Donala Water, fire protection by Donald Wescott Fire Protection District, your choice of gas companies (several options), power from Mount View Electric, policing by El Paso County Sheriff, education through Academy District 20, and mail service through the Colorado Springs Post Office in Briargate.

Areas to the North were similar, Woodmoor having its own security and fire service, a restrictive homeowners association, and other such elements of responsibility and jurisdiction. But, though it was close, Woodmoor, was not part of Monument, and relied on Lewis Palmer School District 38, that originally served Monument and Palmer Lake. Baptist Road was the dividing line between District 20 and District 38.

So let's complicate this with a few more things. Palmer Lake's rural postal routes originate out the Monument Post Office, the Douglas County line is right at the top of Monument Hill, Tri-View Metro District was created to take care of roads, water, and parks in Jackson Creek, one of the newer areas of Monument, the Monument Town water system just takes care of the part of town west of I-25, and there are several different other districts between there and Palmer Lake. Fire service is handled by Tri-Lakes Monument Fire Protection District (which now also includes Woodmoor). The city of Colorado Springs recently annexed about half of Donald Wescott Fire Protection District. Other residential areas have developed east of Woodmoor including Kings Deer, Bent Tree, Ridge at Fox Run, etc...

And what is the Tri-Lakes? Maybe about seven or eight old-timers can tell you what the three lakes are.

It is not necessarily surprising when someone has to call around to see who takes care of a problem with the neighbor's pet. Just a few weeks ago, I chuckled a little when the Drug Enforcement Agency described a marijuana grow as being at Monument home, when it was nearly five miles northeast of the city limits. But the El Paso County Sheriff labeled a problem last week at the Brewery on Woodmoor Drive as being a Colorado Springs address.

I would like to petition you folks right now to change the name of this area. We have outgrown it. And we can't even describe where we do live. Let's do something that reflects the combinations that we have become. Something that accurately reflects our diversity, and history. Yet, it needs to be simple and all-encompassing. May I suggest Norpaso.