Backwoods Blog

LEADVILLE STORY (PART ONE)

Backwoods Blog;

in the woods and on the road…

The Story of Leadville, Colorado (part one)

From my earliest years I remember hearing the family story about how my grandfather went to Leadville, Colorado to work the mines back in the Wild West days. This is “part one” of a few recollections from family members who heard parts and pieces of the Leadville story as told over the years. In 1994 (over a hundred years after my grandfather headed west) I was in Denver, Colorado at the downtown Greyhound bus station. I had a one hour layover so I decided to walk around, and as I did, I was well aware that my grandfather had (most likely) walked the same streets as he passed through Denver on his way to Leadville. This was as close as I would get to Leadville, but other family members have retraced my grandfather’s journey and visited Leadville to see the places that he spoke about in his splendid stories. When my grandfather arrived in Leadville in 1889 the local economy was booming, but with the repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act in 1893 the silver market collapsed and Leadville was hit hard. Leadville’s famous silver baron Horace Tabor lost his entire fortune practically overnight. My grandfather worked hard while he was in Leadville, but he never got rich. After ten years he returned to northern Maine. Oh yes, there is a love story that happens along the way too…For that I have an excerpt from The Wotton Family History booklet. As you will see, the Hutchinson family and Wotton family share branches on the same tree; Howard Wotton married Velma Hutchinson (see family photo above) in 1928 and Charlie Hutchinson married Lottie Wotton (Howard’s sister) that same year. Here’s the story.

In 1889, at nineteen years of age George Hutchinson went to Leadville, Colorado to join his brother Jim. There wasn’t much work in Mars Hill in those days and plenty of work in Leadville. He was very excited to travel out west. His family and friends had a big party for him the night before he left and his father took him to the train, traveling by team. George worked at lumbering, hauling ore and in the gold mines. He stayed in Leadville for ten years. He loved the nature and the beautiful lakes around the mountains.

On one of his trips back home he met Mae MacPherson. They wrote to each other after meeting and in January, 1898 Mae’s family took her to Debec, New Brunswick to get on a train for Leadville. The train ride took about a week. George and Mae were married in Leadville February 12, 1898. (We have a copy of the marriage license.) George had a little cabin ready for them and Mae took in boarders for extra money. She received $20 a month and was paid in gold pieces. Alta was born there and then two years later Mae was expecting again with Orpha. She was having trouble with the pregnancy because of the climate and altitude so the doctor advised her to go back to Maine. George promised her that he would come meet her before the baby was born. On the train home they reached a river in Missouri where the bridge had been washed out. They were taken to a town called Robinson and Mae and Alta had to stay there alone for a couple of weeks until they could cross the river. During that time, George lost contact with her and was really worried. Mae and Alta lived with his parents in Mars Hill until George came home. He arrived in the spring and built them a home in Mars Hill and worked on the railroad. He eventually bought a farm in Blaine and then sold it in 1910 and moved to Monticello. They had nine children together – Alta, Orpha, Charley, Vera, Velma, George, Malcolm, John and Merle.

Next week “part two.”

In the woods,

Dave

August 31, 2022