By Mabel Shell Cavender

From The Colorado Historical Encyclopedia, Colorado Historical Society, 1960

IN 1739 THE MALLET brothers, French traders, with six companions from a French settlement in Illinois, went as far west as the point where Jules-burg, Colorado, was later located, followed the South Platte River for some distance, thence turned south to the Arkansas River, and on to Santa Fe. These may have been the first white men to cross Sedgwick County. It is claimed they gave the river its name—Platte. Later Ezekiel Williams, Robert Stuart, Etienne Provost, Jedediah Smith, William Sublette, Stephen Harriman Long, and Jim Bridger were but a few of the leaders who traveled what now is known as the Oregon Trail, making it a well-defined highway before Fremont set out as a pathfinder. Then came Bonnerville and his wagons to deepen the trail in 1832; and two years later Campbell and Sublette built old Fort Laramie on Laramie Creek, a branch of the Platte.

This section of the country was in those times inhabited by Indians, mostly Cheyennes, but it is interesting to note that their favorite hunting and living grounds were around the Lodgepole Creek and the South Platte River, near where the Lodge-pole empties into the Platte. Just west of the mouth of the Lodgepole Creek was the crossing known as the "Mormon Crossing," and east of the mouth of the Lodgepole Creek there was a natural crossing in the Platte. This east crossing became the historic Upper California Crossing, and near this crossing the travelers to the West met the Indian inhabitants. Jules Beni, in about 1850, established his trading post on the south bank of the South Platte River, which by common use took the name of its founder, as Jules Station and later Julesburg. Tradition tells us that Jules was a half-breed Frenchman, a man of keen native shrewdness and fierce, peppery disposition, becoming more dangerous as he grew older. He owned the town, a saloon, a grocery store, and blacksmith shop, and later he established a route from Jules Station up the Lodgepole thirty miles to Sidney, Nebraska, and then to Mud Springs, thirty-two miles north of Pole Creek Crossing, and eight miles east of Court House Rock. This was the short line which Jules had laid out so as to change the route and bring the pilgrim travel past his ranch. This particular strip of road was called "Jules Stretch."

Following the discovery of gold, the first Overland stage to California was put into service in 1859, and Jules was superintendent of the station established at his post. The time for mail from New York to Sacramento, by the "Butterfield Stage Route," was twenty-one days.

On April 3, 1860, the first start of the Pony Express was made, Jules Station was made a home station of the Pony Express, and Jules was made its agent for a 25-mile stretch. The first rider from Jules Station west was Jim Moore, and he rode to Scottsbluff Station. Colonel W. F. Cody rode the Pony Express, and he was first hired by Jules Beni and put in Bill Trotter's division. He was the youngest rider on the entire two thousand miles of the road.

The Western Union Telegraph Company, coping with the exigencies of the Civil War period, strung a line in 1861 from Omaha to San Francisco. This line ran through Julesburg. Denver's messages for sometime were relayed by Pony Express from Jules-burg, as the telegraph wires at no other point touched the new territory. When Abraham Lincoln was elected, the 'Pony Express carried a letter to Denver as follows: "Election News—Lincoln Elected —Pony Express, November 8, St. Joseph. A. Benham, Esq., Julesburg—For The Rocky Mountain News." The original envelope is in the Denver Museum at Denver.

When in 1859 the Jones and Russell Company abandoned the route between Leavenworth and Denver, called the "Leavenworth and Pike's Express," they were forced to change it to the north along the old road on the south bank of the Platte River from Fort Kearney to Denver. Among other stations put up along this road was one built at Jules Beni's trading post. Jules was put in charge. This station was the end of the division, a junction on the stage line, and having a telegraph office in the southeast corner of the station, it made in the early 1860s one of the most important points on the Overland Trail. After the discovery of gold in the Rocky Mountains in 1859, the Denver Route, about two hundred miles in length, of which Jules Station was the end, was much used.

In 1863 the travel over the Overland Trail through the Platte Valley had been so heavy and the inroads upon the game, which the Indians thought belonged to them, were so great that they began to object seriously. Many were the invasions on trading posts and travelers and upon the very few ranches that were being established. The Indians were numerous and powerful at this time, and though there were several fortifications along the lines of western travel, still there were miles and miles of unguarded roads and country which had never been explored. It was thought best to further protect western travelers and settlements from the Indian invasions. Twelve companies of the Seventh Iowa Cavalry were sent out on this mission in September 1863, with N. J. O'Brien as captain. These companies traveled from Fort Kearney along the Platte Valley to Fort Laramie, strengthening fortifications and building new ones. A fort was much needed at Old Julesburg so Captain O'Brien and his company were ordered to pick out the place and make the necessary arrangements. They came down from Laramie, where they had been located, and camped near Julesburg Station September 4, 1864.

About a mile west of Julesburg Station, a man named Samuel Bancroft had started a ranch. He had an adobe house and storeroom and two good wells, just opposite the mouth of the Lodgepole Creek, on the south side of the South Platte River. The telegraph station was used, and Captain O'Brien got permission from the government to buy this ranch and fortify it. They went to work at once to enlarge it and to make a sod corral with stables. Soon they had quite an imposing array of fortifications, mostly sod, and fireproof. The fort was called "Rankin" at first and then Fort Sedgwick, named after Major General John Sedgwick, who served in the Civil War.

On January 7, 1865, some Indians were seen around Julesburg, and a squad of soldiers pursued them and soon the whole garrison, about sixty men, were out. The number of Indians kept increasing until there were about a thousand Cheyennes and Araphoes against sixty soldiers. About fourteen soldiers were killed, including some of the best men and officers. There were, however, fifty-six, or one hundred Indians, as the Indians claimed, killed.

Immediately General Mitchell ordered Captain O'Brien and all his able men to join him in an Indian campaign to the south. It was bitter cold January weather. The march went far down into what is now Kansas, but they found no large Indian trails, only a few scattered ones. General Mitchell was greatly disappointed at not finding the Indians. He and his men were out in the bitter weather twelve days. He decided on a prairie fire to burn the Indians out. This was arranged by telegraph. At sundown, prairie fires were to be simultaneously set all along the route from Fort Kearney to Denver. Ranchers were instructed and orders carried out. Small bales of hay bound with chains were fired and dragged while burning along the ground till the fire connected with the one ahead. At dusk the whole country was ablaze, and the next morning the sun rose on black desolation. This forced the Indians to the north of the Platte River.

Soon after the great fire Captain O'Brien, who was then at Cottonwood Springs, now Fort McPherson, received news by telegraph that there were Indian troubles around Julesburg. He and a few soldiers set out for Fort Sedgwick. When they arrived in sight of the fort, they saw Julesburg Station and the little town about it in flames. Under cover of the smoke they were able to get very near to the fort before they were seen. They made a dash for it, using their howitzer and the fort answered in the same way. This cleared a track through the Indian forces and through this path, the soldiers made their way into the fort. The Indians were too numerous for the little band of soldiers to battle, it being estimated that there were about five thousand. This was on February 2, 1865. All night the Indians danced about the big fire they had made by cutting down ten miles of telegraph poles on each side of the station. All night they carried away corn, flour, whisky, and all kinds of supplies which were stored at the station. They killed cattle and had a barbecue and shrieked and yelled terrifyingly. Suddenly, near morning, no Indians were in sight and the watching force at the fort thought there was to be an attack and had everything in readiness; but dawn came, showing the Indians had slipped away under cover of darkness. The sun rose on the smoking ashes of the little town of Old Julesburg. The picture of this conflagration is on exhibition at the State Historical Society building in Denver.

The town of Julesburg had to seek a new location outside of the military reservation, so it moved east down the river four miles, just outside of the reservation boundary, east of the Carlson Ranch buildings, now the Reichelt Ranch. This town was laid out and platted March 26, 1866, through the county court of Weld County, Greeley, Colorado Territory, in the regular way. The town grew in some proportions, having stores and blacksmith shops as well as saloons and dance halls, and still it was on the Overland Route to Denver, Oregon, and the Pacific.

When the Union Pacific Railroad was built in 1867 to the point where Weir now is, construction stopped for two years on account of some difficulty over funds to complete the road. The town moved to the north side of the river to this point and kept its name, Julesburg. This was then an important station for it was the place where freight and passengers were transferred from railroad trains to stagecoaches and thus taken to Denver or the West. It was a shipping point for herds of cattle from the South as well as a hangout for hunters, trappers, and adventurers, at one time having a population of over 5,000 to 7,000 people. Saloons, dance halls, and gambling houses flourished. Shootings and killings were daily occurrences. A graveyard was one of the first requirements. Julesburg became known from coast to coast as the toughest town in the West. The completion of the Union Pacific in 1869 put an end to the stage business, and the importance of Julesburg waned.

Fort Sedgwick was kept up as a fort for a number of years, but there seemed to be little account of Indian fighting during the time. The fort was abandoned in May 1871, and the government reservation was turned over to the Interior Department and later occupied by settlers.

In the spring of 1880, the Union Pacific decided to build a branch from Julesburg (which is now Weir) to Denver, but was unable to get a right of way from the government over the intervening territory and was forced to lay out a new town about six miles east, which was called Denver Junction. Nearly all the residents of Julesburg moved to Denver Junction. There had been a Julesburg for so long that the people clung to the name and the new town went by the name of Julesburg more than by Denver Junction. The Union Pacific Company platted Denver Junction into lots, blocks, and streets on April 23, 1884.

James Weir, a railroad man who worked with the construction gang on the main line of the Union Pacific from Omaha to Julesburg (Weir) was made foreman at Weir in 1866. He moved his family there in 1867. The Weir family lived at Weir fourteen years, and then they moved to Sterling, Colorado. The railroad company named this station Weir for James Weir after the town of Denver Junction was established in 1880. When the Denver branch was completed in 1881, the eldest son of James Weir was conductor of the first train through from Denver Junction to LaSalle.

Another son of James Weir, Andrew Weir, married Edna Propst, of Buffalo (now Merino), in Weir, July 1, 1880. They operated a grocery store in Weir until the building of the branch to Denver; then they moved to Denver Junction and built a two-room house, just east of the present agent's house. The front room of their new home was a store and post office, and they lived in the other room. Mrs. Edna Weir was appointed postmistress of Denver Junction in 1881 by President James A. Garfield. Later the family moved to Sterling, where she became first postmistress of Sterling. The first railroad agent of Denver Junction was R. J. Clark, and he was followed by W. W. Beck, who was transferred from Weir. The second postmaster of the Town of Denver Junction was David B. Morgan, appointed during Cleveland's first administration in 1885.

As the years passed by, the country became a vast cattle range, and large ranches were established through Sedgwick County, such as the A. C. Sterling Ranch, Keline Ranch, the "100" Ranch, the J. B. or Brush and A. J. Walrath Ranch. During the early eighties the southern range men of Texas and nearby states delivered their cattle to the northern range men, at the present site of Ovid, near where the Lodgepole enters the Platte, and the Upper California Crossing, Jules Station, and old Fort Sedgwick were located. From there the herds were driven into Wyoming and Montana. At one time a shipment of 28,000 head of cattle arrived at Jules-burg (then Denver Junction) and then trailed 150 miles to their headquarters on the Nebraska-South Dakota state line. But the rapid settlement of range land by men who devoted their time to agricultural pursuits caused the passing of the big cattle herds and the old-time cowboy.

September 6, 1886, a petition was sent to Honorable James C. Scott, County Judge of Weld County, to incorporate the Town of Denver Junction and change its name to Julesburg. Among the signers for incorporation were the names of August Fischer, P. Petersen, H. A. Petersen, E. M. Hungerford, T. R. Liddle, F. M. Johnson, W. S. Ball, George W. Gordon, Hiram Sapp, E. E. Armour, D. B. Morgan, Wm. Dye, Fred Dye, Dewit C. Polly, and C. S. Bang-hart. The order was signed by the judge December 3, 1886. Peter Petersen was the first mayor.

The following year, April 7, 1887, the townsite of Sedgwick was laid out by John Casey, who owned the land. Hiram Sapp was the surveyor.

At the first session of the Colorado Territorial Legislature in 1861, all the northeastern part of Colorado was formed into Weld County. February 25, 1887, Logan County was cut off from Weld County, and Sedgwick and Phillips Counties were then a part of Logan County. By an act of the Seventh General Assembly of Colorado, Sedgwick County was created April 9, 1889, and Governor J. A. Cooper appointed the following officers for the new county: William H. R. Phillip (chairman), Samuel H. Carlson and Philo B. Upson, commissioners; William H. Strohm, county clerk; Oscar Liddle, county treasurer; James S. Carnahan, county judge; William H. Kortz, county superintendent; James H. Russell, county sheriff; Lloyd N. Adamson, county assessor; William S. Babcock, county surveyor; George S. Foster, county coroner; and S. H. Spery, county physician. At the November 5, 1889, election the first elected officers of Sedgwick were as follows: county commissioners, Philo B. Upson, S. G. Davis, and George D. White, who was made chairman; James S. Carnahan, county judge; David B. Morgan, county clerk; James A. Scott, county sheriff; George S. Foster, county coroner; Oscar Liddle, county treasurer; E. H. Stevens, county superintendent of schools; H. M. Woolman, county surveyor; and Malkholm H. Wadhams, county assessor. Julesburg was made the county seat of Sedgwick County.

The first school in Sedgwick County dates back to 1884, when Sedgwick was a part of Weld County, and was organized in the town of Sedgwick and taught by Miss Mary Weiand in an upstairs room of the Sedgwick depot. The Sedgwick County Public School District dates back to April 17, 1885. This school was taught by Miss Amelia Guy in a frame building between two railroad tracks west of Julesburg. A number of schools were organized in the spring of 1886 and 1887.

The first census taken after Sedgwick County was organized in the spring of 1889 showed a school population of 336 pupils and 19 districts. The census taken in 1957 showed a school population of 1136 pupils, eight rural schools and three high schools, a high school established in each of the three towns, Julesburg, Ovid, and Sedgwick. The county high school was organized in 1903, with Mr. and Mrs. C. V. Parker, first high school principal and teacher. The first graduates in 1903 were Grace Polzin, Albert McNew, and Blain Flora. The first large brick high school was built in 1909 in Julesburg, the county seat. The Sedgwick High School was built of brick and modern in 1920, and at the same time dormitories were added to the Julesburg High School to accommodate the students who came from the other towns. However in 1927, Ovid built a $90,000.00, completely modern in every way, high school and their old high school building was turned over to the grade school.

The Western Union ran through Julesburg from Omaha to San Francisco. Julesburg was the only place where the telegraph wires touched Colorado territory.

The Julesburg Irrigation District was organized August 23, 1904, and the following men were instrumental in building the first district formed under the irrigation district law of Colorado: Peter Petersen, H. C. McNew, W. E. Vaughn, Albert E. Pfau, L. E. Loveland, Mark Burke, C. W. White, B. F. Clayton, C. F. Parker, E. B. Davis, E. J. Frederick, John Hiatt, Frank Herfert, John L. Elhart, D. A. Camfield, formerly of Greeley, Colorado, and A. V. S. Saunders, of Fort Morgan, Colorado. The reservoir has a storage capacity of 28,000 acre-feet of water and covers about 1500 acres of land. It has been granted reservoir priority No. 1 (as of February 12, 1904) and is the earliest reservoir priority on the South Platte River below Kersey. The acreage of land within the Julesburg Irrigation District proper is a little less than 20,000. The district is free of debt.

The Great Western Sugar Company built a new million dollar factory at Ovid, Colorado, in 1925. Sedgwick County has grown beets for this company since 1905, the industry developing from a small beginning in that year to its present majestic proportions.

The Town of Ovid was platted by The Ovid Land Company, with R. M. Handy, of Boulder, Colorado, as the president and R. K. Marsh, of Denver, (director of the Great Western Sugar Company of Denver) as secretary, June 6, 1908. John 0. Thistle was the surveyor. The Ovid townsite was organized in 1907, by A. V. S. Saunders, broker of Fort Morgan. Ovidwas named for the birthplace of the superintendent of U.P. Railroad who first superintended the building of the branch line to Denver in 1880, and whose birthplace was Ovid, Michigan. The superintendent's name was Ree Parks. The Town of Ovid was incorporated December 10, 1925. Ovid is a nice town with lighting system, water system, concrete walks, good stores, lumber yard, drug store, cafes, dormitory built by the Great Western Sugar Company, many beautiful homes, trees, The M. E. Church, and the Ovid Woman's Club. Of course, the Great Western Sugar Company is the main industry. Ovid has a mayor-council type of government, the council consisting of six members.

The Town of Sedgwick was laid out and surveyed by Hiram Sapp, April 7, 1887. John Casey donated the land for the townsite. The town was named after Fort Sedgwick, which is just across the South Platte River west from Ovid, Colorado. Captain N. J. O'Brien was ordered by the government to build a fort, and the place he picked out was at the mouth of the Lodgepole Creek, south side of the Platte River. On September 4, 1864, Captain O'Brien of the Seventh Iowa Cavalry laid out Fort Sedgwick, which was christened in honor of General John Sedgwick, killed in battle in 1864. General Sedgwick had led Indian campaigns into the region of Colorado in 1857 and 1860. Sedgwick County (1889) was named from Fort Sedgwick (1864-71).

Sedgwick has a modern hotel, two cafes, barber shop, electric appliance shop, a large storage plant, including potato washing and sorting, and an insurance office. A vapor lighting system illuminates the town. Sedgwick is situated on the Denver branch line of the Union Pacific Railroad Company.

On May 26, 1905, Certificate of Incorporation was formed as Sedgwick Land and Investment Company by R. M. Handy, a wholesale lumber company, Boulder, Colorado, president; R. K. Marsh, a director of the Great Western Sugar Company, as vice-president; and A. V. S. Saunders, a real estate broker of Ft. Morgan, Colorado, secretary, with office in- Fort Morgan, Colorado. Then on February 25, 1906, Articles of Incorporation was filed, of the Sedgwick Townsite Company, to cultivate and improve the same by irrigation, erection of buildings, etc.

Julesburg is on the main line of the Union Pacific Railroad and on Highway 138. It is known as Colorado's "Gateway City." This is the town's fourth location. It was first named for a half-breed Frenchman, who established a trading post at the Indian crossing of the South Platte River in about 1852, six miles west of the present location. This trading post was burned by the Indians February 2, 1865. The second location, about five miles east of the trading post, existed only about six to eight months. When the Union Pacific Railroad Company reached a point about five miles north, across the South Platte River, the town moved to that point. The Union Pacific ran out of funds and that point was the end of the railroad for about two years, and again called Julesburg. In 1880-1881, a branch road to Denver was built joining the main line about six miles east of the town of Julesburg's third location, and again a new town was laid out by the Union Pacific and first called Denver Junction, but in 1886, at an election, the name was changed back to Julesburg and the town was incorporated, and Julesburg was made the county seat.

Julesburg has a population of about 2200 and is a trade center of a large area. Julesburg has an 18-bed hospital, very modern, and can be expanded to a 36-bed hospital by the addition of two wings; a new court house; new grade school, recently built costing $350,000 and having the latest features of school construction, including a lunch room, kindergarten, and a combination auditorium-gymnasium. A new gymnasium-auditorium was completed in 1957 of ultra-modern design to be used for all types of public gatherings, and its facilities include a well-equipped kitchen for serving large banquets. A municipal airport, located a short distance from the town, is one of the largest in eastern Colorado. The Julesburg Library building serves a three-fold purpose: the library; a hall and kitchen, built and furnished by the Julesburg Woman's Club; and it also houses the community museum. The town has two hotels and two new modern motels. The town just finished a two-block recreation area, including lighted football and baseball fields, a new completely modern swimming pool, picnic area, playground equipment and ample parking space. The Thompson Park in the southwest part of town is beautifully landscaped and provided with picnic facilities.

Twenty-four blocks of paving, and ninety additional blocks have been oiled just recently.

Church facilities include Methodist, Church of Christ (Christian) Lutheran, Assembly of God, Baptist, Christian Science, Seventh-day Adventist and Catholic. One bank serves the county. Natural gas is furnished from Julesburg Basin. Vapor street lighting serves the town.

In 1930 the county commissioners, together with a committee of which Mrs. Maud E. Parker was chairman, placed an Oregon Trail marker in Jules-burg and also a Pony Express plaque at the site of Old Julesburg. Dr. and Mrs. J. N. Hall, of Denver, donated a plaque for the Old Julesburg site. A monument in Ovid, on Highway 138, is property of the State of Colorado, in honor of General John Sedgwick, who was killed at Spottsylvania May 9, 1864, and for whom the Fort of Sedgwick was named as mentioned previously. It was erected by the State Historical Society of Colorado from the Mrs. J. N. Hall Foundation and by Julesburg Historical Society. From this fort Sedgwick County derived its name.

In 1930 a new depot was dedicated, costing $80,000.

On Sunday afternoon, September 23, 1956, over a thousand people celebrated the dedication ceremonies for the new bridge across the South Platte River, and on Highway 51, costing around $400,000.00.