Weld County CO Archives Biographies.....Eaton, Benjamin Harrison 1833 - 1904
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 December 14, 2008, 4:25 am

Author: Wilbur Fiske Stone (1918)

HON. BENJAMIN HARRISON EATON.

    Time constitutes the perspective that places every individual in his true
relation to his generation and his age and as the years pass on the value of the
life work of Governor Benjamin Harrison Eaton is more and more widely recognized
until he is regarded as a colossal figure on the pages of Colorado's history. He
was the founder of the town of Eaton and the promoter of several of its
enterprises; was a member of the state legislature and governor of Colorado, and
yet it was not these things which contributed most largely to his greatness but
the fact that he saw the opportunity for the reclamation of thousands of acres
of arid land which he made to bloom and blossom as the rose through the
development of irrigation projects which each year add thousands of dollars to
the wealth of the state.

    Governor Eaton was born in Coshocton, Ohio. December 15, 1833, and the blood
of English ancestry flowed in his veins, his great-grandfather being the first
of the family to cross the ocean. His son Benjamin was a sea captain for many
years but finally established his home in Ohio. He was the father of Levi Eaton,
a farmer of Coshocton county and one of the pioneers of the Buckeye state, who
married Hannah Smith, also a representative of pioneer ancestry. Upon the borne
farm of his father Benjamin H. Eaton was reared and lie always exemplified in
his life the principles impressed upon him by his parents-principles of
simplicity and honesty. In days of prosperity with the future filled with
promises he was the same gentle, kindly, hard-working man. When ruined fortunes
and adversity threatened to darken the evening of his long and honorable career
it was the same noble character that faced and bravely fought the tribulations
which almost overwhelmed him until his determination and indefatigable energy
again won the victory. His educational opportunities were those afforded by the
common schools and he afterward divided his time between farming and teaching.

    Following the discovery of gold at Pike's Peak, Mr. Eaton in 185S joined a
party made up in Iowa for the long and dangerous trip across the plains to
Colorado. He met with the usual stirring experiences of such a journey,
including frequent encounters with the Indians and other adventures which tested
the mettle and proved the courage of the young man. After reaching their
destination the party first explored the Boulder and Clear creeks for diggings
and finally went from California gulch to the San Juan, where it disbanded.
Governor Eaton at that time proceeded to New Mexico, where he rented land under
the Maxwell grant and at once engaged in farming upon an extensive scale. In
1863, however, he returned to Colorado, where he took up a small tract of land
just twelve miles west of the present town of Greeley. It was a dreary, isolated
spot, without water and without promise. That Mr. Eaton had notable sagacity is
indicated in the fact that he had the courage to take up land amid such
conditions, for the section of the country was then largely sand dunes covered
with cactus. There is no man, however, in all Colorado to whom the state owes so
much for its advancement along the lines of agriculture and irrigation.

    From early manhood Mr. Eaton had been identified with pioneer experiences.
It was in the year 1854 that he had removed from Ohio to Louisa county, Iowa,
where he taught school for two years. He then returned to his native state and
was there married on the 1st of May, 1856, to Miss Delilah Wolfe, a daughter of
James Wolfe, after which he settled down to farming in Ohio for two years. His
wife there passed away May 31, 1857, leaving a son, Aaron J., and in the spring
of 1858 he started again for Iowa, but becoming dissatisfied, he joined a party
of miners en route for Colorado. The unsuccessful attempt to find gold in the
vicinity of Pike's Peak led him to go to New Mexico, from which territory he
afterward returned to Colorado. In 1864 he once more went to Louisa county,
Iowa, where he wedded Miss Rebecca J. Hill, a daughter of Abraham Hill, and they
became the parents of a son and a daughter: Bruce G., a well known ranchman of
Eaton; and Jennie B., the wife of J. M. B. Petrikin, who is cashier of the First
National Bank of Greeley.

    Following his second marriage Mr. Eaton brought his bride to Colorado and
they took up their abode upon the land which he had secured between Greeley and
Fort Collins. He then turned his attention to stock raising. They endured all of
the hardships and privations incident to frontier -life and with resolute spirit
faced the conditions which were to be found upon the western frontier. To his
foresight is due probably more than to that of any other man the advancement of
agriculture and irrigation in Colorado. He began studying the problem of
irrigation with the result that in the face of almost insurmountable
difficulties he brought from the Cache La Poudre a supply of water to the sandy
waste that converted it into one of the garden spots of Colorado and constituted
the beginning of one of the greatest and most successful irrigation systems of
the west. His efforts were the result of close study and thorough investigation
of the subject and he evolved the gigantic scheme for making productive a vast
area of arid land lying along the Union Pacific grant. Securing early rights to
the waters of the Poudre, he purchased of the railway more than twenty-six
thousand acres lying along the line contiguous to the present town of Eaton,
which he secured for the sum of four dollars per acre, with long time payments.
This land was divided by him into farming tracts of from one hundred and sixty
to six hundred and forty acres and he then began the development of the vast
system of irrigating ditches and waterways to render fertile the hitherto sandy
waste. The consummation of his plans involved long years of weary waiting and
hard work. The settlement of the land was slow and the development of the
irrigation project required vast sums of money and years of unremitting toil. It
is a long road, however, that has no turning and ultimately settlement was
pushed into the district which he had reclaimed. For thirty-five years he
devoted much of his time to the development of irrigation and before his death
had the satisfaction of having completed the largest irrigation system in the
state of Colorado. Moreover, he continued to hold extensive acreage and became a
leading farmer of the state.

    The early home of Governor and Mrs. Eaton was a log house, in which they
lived at a time when the country was yet full of Indians and buffalo, and during
that period he was engaged in raising stock and growing hay. In 1870, when Union
Colony made its location and settlement and laid the foundation of the city of
Greeley, he joined the enterprise and was active in the promotion of its
interests. In 1871 he built the Millpower canal, which was used for milling as
well as irrigation purposes. He was also active in the building of Canal No. 2
and its waters were used in irrigating large areas of land. In 1880 he built the
Highline canal above Denver for the Northern Colorado Irrigation Company. In
1877-8 he formulated the plans for building the Larimer and Weld canal to
provide for the irrigation and cultivation of fifty thousand acres of land lying
above the canals of the Union Colony. This canal was fifty-two miles in length.
Many people in northern Colorado, when the plan became known, believed that the
water supply of the Cache La Poudre river was so exhausted by the demands of
other ditches already built that the canal would prove a failure. Many
discouragements came to Governor Eaton, but his persistency of purpose prevailed
and the venture finally was crowned with success. He gave much attention to the
reclamation and development of the lands which he had acquired, and in the
conduct of his farming interests, as he did in the irrigation work, followed the
most progressive system and became a most extensive agriculturist of Colorado.
At the time of his death he had an estate of over twenty-two thousand acres with
an almost perfect system of irrigation, being by far the largest owner of
cultivated land in the state. Governor Eaton was also the first to advocate and
promote the construction of storage reservoirs which could be drawn upon in the
fall when the waters of the rivers were low, and about 1888 he began the
building of what is now the largest reservoir in the Cache La Poudre valley. It
is located about three miles north of Windsor, from which it takes the name of
Windsor reservoir.

    It is but natural that Mr. Eaton should be called upon for public service.
In politics he was always a stalwart champion of republican principles and as
early as 1866 he became justice of the peace and filled that position for nine
years, in which connection he rendered decisions that were strictly fair and
impartial and "won for him golden opinions from all sorts of people." For six
years he filled the office of county commissioner and during four years of that
time was chairman of the board. For a number of years he was a member of the
penitentiary commission and in 1872 his district prevailed upon him to represent
them in the territorial legislature and there his ability and statesmanship at
once commanded attention. In 1875 he was chosen to represent his district in the
senate and served for one term, doing effective committee work and aiding in the
promotion of much constructive legislation. In 1884 his party nominated him as
its candidate for governor and he was elected by a good majority, filling the
gubernatorial chair for a term of two years. He gave to the public a
businesslike and progressive administration and the character of the man is
indicated in the fact that he was throughout the state termed "Honest Ben." He
felt, however, that farming and not politics was his real life work and upon his
retirement from the office of governor he resumed the task of developing his
extensive landed interests and in promoting the irrigation projects with which
he was connected. In the meantime he had founded the town of Eaton and was
actively identified with many interests and enterprises which contributed to the
growth and development of the community. In the development of the beet sugar
industry of the state he was also one of the most important factors. For years
he conducted an experimental garden and was one of the first to discover the
adaptability of Colorado soil to beet raising. Then he began agitating the
subject of establishing sugar factories at Eaton and Windsor with the result
that these towns became the centers of the sugar industry in Colorado. Moreover,
he gave freely and generously to every public project of the town that would
promote the welfare of, or benefit the community. It has been said that no more
fitting epitaph could be placed upon his tomb than the words "truly a builder."

    Governor Eaton was a Mason and attained the Knight Templar degree in the
commandery. He was also long a consistent member of the Methodist church, but
all churches and peoples united to pay tribute to his memory when death called
him on the 29th of October, 1904, when he was in the seventy-second year of his
age. The Eaton Herald said of him: "This grand old man was beloved by every one
living in the great agricultural empire of northern Colorado, the development of
whose great resources only he could make possible. At his bidding the mountains
were made to give up their stores of water and the life-giving fluid was spread
over thousands of acres of desert land, which in return have yielded crops of
wheat, potatoes, alfalfa and sugar beets that astonish the world. Hundreds of
men owe their large fortunes to the possibilities opened up by this master mind.
Thousands of happy homes occupy the country that before the 'Governor' saw it,
was known only to prairie dogs and coyotes. As a mark of the regard and respect
in which Mr. Eaton was held by the people of Eaton, every business man in the
town closed during the funeral services Monday afternoon and many citizens went
to Greeley to attend the services. He builded well and his memory will live long
in the country he loved so well. A noble man has laid down his work, but a great
and prosperous land stands as a monument to Benjamin Harrison Eaton." An eminent
American statesman said: "In all this world the thing supremely worth having is
the opportunity coupled with the capacity to do well and worthily a piece of
work, the doing of which shall be of vital significance to mankind." The
opportunity and the capacity were Governor Eaton's. He grasped the former and
his powers made his service of the greatest possible worth to his people' and
his state. "An honest man is the noblest work of God," and Benjamin Harrison
Eaton was known throughout Colorado as "Honest Ben." He was a man great in
spirit, in his ideals and in the accomplishment of his purposes, and his
greatness was matched by the simplicity of his daily life and the beauty of his
character. The Denver Times wrote of him: "An honest, upright man, a silent
plodder, shrinking from the vanities of the world, pursuing a life of simplicity
and righteousness, Benjamin H. Eaton toiled beyond the allotted three score
years and ten, going to his final reward with his name indelibly engraved upon
Colorado's tablet of fame." As a tribute to his business integrity and success
he was one of the sixteen men whose pictures were selected to adorn the dome of
the state capitol.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

HISTORY OF COLORADO

ILLUSTRATED

VOLUME III

CHICAGO
THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY
1918



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