Eagle County CO Archives Biographies.....Harris, William ? - ?
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Judy Crook jlcrook@rof.net November 2, 2005, 4:10 pm

Author: Progressive Men of Western Colorado

     Coming as a pioneer into the neighborhood of Basalt, Eagle county, when

wild beasts and savage men still claimed dominion over the wilderness, as it was

then, and devoting his energies, with those of the few other civilized men who

were living there, to the development of the country, William H. Harris has

witnessed all the progress of the region toward productiveness and an advanced

stage of development and has the great satisfaction of having been a potent

factor in bringing about the gratifying results achieved.  It was on July 16,

1858, in Clinton county, New York, that his life began, and his parents were

William and Catherine (Janes) Harris, natives of Monmouthshire, England, who

emigrated to this country in the ‘fifties, and after passing some time in the

state of New York, where the father worked at burning charcoal, moved to

Wisconsin in 1861.  Here they prospered until the great flood of 1859 swept away

all their possessions.  While living in England both parents were members of the

Anglican church, but after coming to this country they became Methodists.  The

father took an active part in American politics and was an ardent member of the

Democratic party.  They had a family of nine children, two of whom met with

tragic deaths.  Cyrus was killed in a railroad wreck in Minnesota, and Louise,

then Mrs. John Killem, was drowned while fording a stream in Wyoming.  The seven

who survive are:  Mary, wife of Charles Elkie, of Seymour, Wisconsin; Eliza,

wife of George Snow, of the same place; Fannie, wife of John Nuenbury, of the

vicinity of Carbondale; Annie, wife of John Carey, of Appleton, Wisconsin; David

and Charles H., living near Carbondale; and William H., the subject of this

brief review.  The last named was reared on the paternal homestead, assisting in

its labors from boyhood, and was educated to a limited extent at the public

schools.  At the age of eighteen he began to earn his own living, devoting his

time to whatever he could find to do.  He worked two years in a stave factory

and one year as a farm hand, then lived a year and a half in Iowa, after which

he came to Colorado in July, 1881, and located a ranch, taking up a squatter’s

claim which he afterwards preempted.  This comprised one hundred and sixty acres

and was the nucleus of his present ranch of eight hundred and sixty acres, the

rest having been acquired by subsequent purchases.  Here he has since resided,

devoting his energies to improving his land and bringing it to an advanced state

of cultivation and productiveness.  He raises good crops of hay, grain and

fruits, and also large numbers of cattle and horses, hay and cattle being the

principal products.  The ranch is well supplied with water from private ditches

belonging to it, and its cultivation is therefore merely a matter of energy and

skill, both of which Mr. Harris supplies in abundant measure.  In political

matters he has not been a blind follower of any party dictation, but he now

firmly supports the Republican principles.  For a period of twelve years he

served as a member of the school board, and when he resigned the position his

wife was elected to succeed him.  He also served as road commissioner nine

years.  During the past eighteen years he has been connected with the Masons,

Elks, Odd Fellows, Knights of Pythias, Daughters of Rebekah and the Rathbone

Sisters.  When Mr. Harris came to this location the land on which he settled was

a part of the Ute Indian Reservation, and deer, elk and all other sorts of wild

game were plentiful.  His mother was the second white woman in the valley, and

the whole region was a veritable wilderness.  In early days he received one

hundred and sixty dollars a ton for hay sold at Aspen.  In July, 1881, in

company with Jack Morgan, commonly known as “Black Jack,” he crossed the

Independence pass with their blankets packed on their backs, and built a cabin

for their shelter.  They were not molested by Indians, but were prepared for

their reception in case of an attack, holes being left on all sides of the cabin

through which to shoot.  The ditches belonging to the place were begun in 1881

and completed in 1884.  There was no coal available at that time, and the picks

with which the digging was done were sharpened at wood fires.  Mr. Harris was

one of the seventeen men who built the road around the mountains near Emma. 

There were only three cabins in the valley at the time, and protection against

marauding Indians was insufficient, many cattle being stolen down to 1898.  Mr.

Harris is considered one of the best and most progressive citizens of this

section and his ranch on the Roaring Fork, between Emma and Carbondale, is one

of the very best in this portion of the state.  On January 31, 1894, he was

married to Miss Mary Carey, a native of Michigan, the marriage license being the

first issued in Garfield county.  Mrs. Harris is the daughter of Michael and

Mary (Gleason) Carey, natives of Ireland, who after their emigration to America

settled in the copper regions of Michigan, where the father acquired valuable

interests.  Some time afterward they moved to Leadville, this state, where he

secured other rich claims, as he did also at Cripple Creek, he being the owner

of the Oplin  mines, which are located on the Little Ella Hill, the mineral

consisting principally of gold quartz.  Both parents are members of the Catholic

church, and in political relations the father is independent.  Three children

were born to them, Mary, wife of Mr. Harris, Timothy, living at Altman,

Colorado, and Margaret, wife of Mert McKenzie, of Cripple Creek.  The parents

live in Denver.  In the Harris family the following children have been born: 

One died in infancy, Irene in February, 1894, and Bryan in February, 1894; the

three living are William A., a graduate of the Basalt high school, and now a

student at the State Agricultural School at Fort Collins, and Ralph C. and

Raymond F., living at home.







Additional Comments:
From Progressive Men of Western Colorado.  Chicago:  A.W. Bowen & Co., 1905.

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