William Rist was born on April 13, 1853, in Pennsylvania, and moved to Fort Collins in 1881. In addition to working as county surveyor, Fort Collins city engineer, and Division Engineer for Irrigation Division No. 1 of Colorado (appointed in 1904), he was also engineer for Larimer County Ditch Company. He had just completed an […]
John McNabb was a Scotch-Canadian born on November 30, 1859 at Woodville, Eldon Township, Canada. He was an early settler on the Poudre who came to area in 1880 at the age of twenty-one. He first delivered mail to neighboring mining towns, and then began building log structures for a living. In 1889, he and […]
John C. Mathews was a native of Missouri who settled in Laporte in 1866, where he taught the first public school in the town. He also served as county jailer and deputy clerk. Along with A. H. Patterson, Mathews operated a mercantile business in Fort Collins. When Patterson left the firm, William C. Stover joined […]
Harvey Johnson, born on a farm in rural Kansas in 1895, worked as a farmer, ditch company board member, machinery salesman, and city official in the Fort Collins area for over forty-five years. He served on many water boards and was active in irrigation in Northern Colorado. He became a board member of the Water […]
Delphus Emory Carpenter is known as the “Father of Interstate River Compacts.” His parents, Leroy and Martha Carpenter, were among the first settlers in Greeley with the Union Colony. Carpenter grew up in Greeley and after completing law school at the University of Denver in 1899, he returned to his hometown to practice law, particularly […]
Daniel A. Camfield was born in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1860. He came to Greeley in 1878 to farm, and shortly after purchasing his own 160 acres began studying water supply and irrigation. As a result, he became involved with the promotion of Laramie-Poudre Reservoirs & Irrigation Company, particularly concerning its diversion tunnel project. By […]
Franklin C. Avery was born on April 8, 1849, in Ledyard, Cayuga County, New York. He joined the Union Colony and moved to Greeley in 1870. While there, he assisted in surveying and platting the town and its streets as well as locating and laying out ditches. In 1871 he moved to Laporte and began […]
Nathaniel C. Alford was born in Maine on November 29, 1834, and came to Colorado during the Pikes Peak gold rush in 1859. He became involved in mining, farming, ranching and other business ventures in Colorado and other western states. Alford finally settled in Fort Collins in 1880. He continued to be involved in agricultural […]
John C. Abbott was born on January 20, 1841 in Lockport, Illinois. In 1870, Abbott came to Greeley, Colorado as part of the Union colony, and then moved to Larimer County in 1872, where he farmed until moving to Fort Collins in 1881. Abbott was a promoter of agricultural resources and construction of irrigation canals […]
Luminaries, Notables, and Just Plain Folks John C. Abbott Nathaniel C. Alford Franklin C. Avery Daniel A. Camfield Delph E. Carpenter Harvey Johnson John C. Mathews John McNabb William Rist Burton D. Sanborn William C. Stover