Former state senator.
Born in South Hope, Knox County, Me., the son of Nathaniel and Deborah (Cushman) Alford.
His mother, who was born in Warren, Me., was a daughter of Nathaniel Cushman, and a descendant of Robert Cushman, one of the passengers on the "Mayflower."
At the age of seventeen he began an apprenticeship to the carpenter and joiner's trade, which he completed. In 1855 he settled in Rockford, Ill., where he engaged in contracting for a number of years.
In March, 1859, he went to St. Joseph, Mo., where he and four others outfitted with an ox-train and followed the Platte route to Denver. In the fall he went with a company of sixty on a prospecting tour in Middle Park and the Gunnison country.
While there the food gave out and it was impossible to secure anything to eat, except berries. Game was scarce and besides Indians lurked around and rendered hunting a dangerous pastime. For a week he had nothing but berries to eat. Finally, in South Park, they met a freight wagon en route from a mine to Canon City for flour, and there secured enough to satisfy their hunger for a few days. After a hard trip of two months he reached Idaho Springs. The party was successful in finding gold at Breckenridge and fifteen miles below Leadville, at Kelly's bar.
In the fall of 1859 Mr. Alford returned to St. Joe, where he wintered ox-teams and in the spring of 1860 he drove them across the plains, via the Platte. For two years he engaged in freighting, making two trips each year.
He then went to Oregon and spent the winter of 1862-63 there. In the spring, upon the Boise City gold excitement, he went to that place, where he engaged in mining, and also carried on market gardening. Indians were troublesome there, but were effectually driven out through the efforts of the miners and settlers. In 1866 he returned to Maine, but the next year came back to Colorado, overland, and went on to Cheyenne, where he manufactured the first brick in Wyoming and sold it to the government, for the erection of Fort Russell.
He also built the first brick store in Cheyenne, a building used as a drug store. In the spring of 1868 he went to the Elizabethtown mines in New Mexico, where for three mouths he engaged in freighting, and bought a drove of cattle (one thousand head), which he wintered on the Arkansas and drove to Nevada and sold in 1869.
Going east again he bought a herd of horses in Ottawa, Ill., and one hundred and fifty head of brood mares, which he shipped to Cheyenne, thence drove to Rock Creek, Boulder County. In 1872 he moved into Larimer County and put his cattle on the range in the mountains; also brought his horses up to Rabbit Creek, thirty miles northwest of Fort Collins, where he had his ranch for nine years, meantime building fifteen miles of fencing, and having a range fifteen miles long and three miles wide.
He brought the first full-blooded Norman horses ever in Colorado and shipped the first train load of horses into the state, and the first the Union Pacific ever hauled as freight. The company treated him in a princely manner and ran an extra train for him, directly following the regular passenger train.
In 1877 Mr. Alford started a cattle ranch in Wyoming, with Messrs. Emerson, Baker and Kennedy. In 1881 he sold out his interest in the business and settled in Fort Collins, where he has since engaged in farming, irrigating and the stock business.
At the time of the building of the Larimer County ditch he was president of the company, in which he is still interested. He is also interested in the Sky Line ditch. He owns one section of land on Box Elder, an eighty-acre tract, and one of one hundred and sixty acres that are irrigated, and one hundred and sixty acres northeast of LaPorte.
He feeds four or five hundred head of cattle and a large number of sheep. On the incorporation of the Poudre Valley Bank as a state institution he became a director, in which capacity he has since served. Since 1881 his home has been in Fort Collins.
In Maine, January 14, 1872, Mr. Alford married Miss Annie E. Hobbs, who was born in Hope, that state. She was a daughter of Josiah and Sarah (Brown) Hobbs, natives respectively of Hope and Belfast, Me., the former a farmer, who died at sixty-nine years, and the latter deceased in 1872, at sixty-nine years.
Mr. Hobbs served for twenty-five years as justice of the peace and was also town clerk for some time. In religion he was a Universalist. His father, Micah, was born in Massachusetts, but moved to Maine, where he carried on farm pursuits.
Four children: Fred, a graduate of the Agricultural College in 1896 and now assistant in the chemical laboratory of that institution; Lore, at home; Abbie, who is a student in the Agricultural College; and Anna, at home.
Politically a silver Republican, Mr. Alford takes an active interest in public affairs. In 1876 he was elected to represent Larimer County in the general assembly, where he served as chairman of the engrossing committee and the committee on appropriations, and as a member of various committees. Through his efforts was passed what was known as "Alford's Pumpkin Bill," providing the first appropriation for the building of the Agricultural College.
While he was a member of the legislature he assisted in securing the election of Senators Chaffee and Teller. In 1878 he was solicited to become a candidate for the state senate, but declined to accept the candidacy. For one term he served as a councilman. He was made a Mason while in Maine, but is now demitted.
(Biographical info provided by FindAGrave Volunteer ♫)
From: The Real Pioneers of Colorado (1934)
Vol. 1
Page 13
NATHANIEL C. ALFORD (1859)
Nathaniel C. Alford was born at South Hope, Maine, November 29, 1834. Until 18 years of age he worked on a farm and then served 3 years learning the carpenter trade, receiving during this apprenticeship no other wages than his board. At 21, he started west, arriving at Rockford, Illinois; he remained there 3 years, working at his trade.
In the spring of 1859, the Pikes Peak gold excitement being at its height, he was seized with the fever, which at that time drove so many young men to the West. Joining with three others he went to St. Joseph, Missouri; on the first of May, the party started on the overland trip with an outfit of two yoke of oxen and one yoke of cows and a wagon. They arrived in Denver in June 1859.
His first work after his arrival was the pulling of one end of a whipsaw in the manufacture of lumber that was sold to the miners to be made into sluice boxes. In August 1859 he went with a party of 60 to Middle Park, where they discovered the Breckenridge mines. They then went down the river through Eagle and Pitkin Counties and, finding themselves getting short of provisions, were obliged to return to Idaho Springs. Later he was engaged for 2 years freighting between Denver and the Missouri River points in the summer season.
During the winter of 1861-62, he wintered his oxen at a place 7 miles above Livermore, Larimer County, and hauled game for a band of six hunters to Denver. The vigor of the life he led at this time is evidenced by the fact that Mr. Alford camped during the entire winter without tent or other shelter.
In 1862 he crossed the plains to Oregon and to the Boise mines in Idaho. He returned to Colorado in 1867. When the town of Cheyenne, Wyoming, was started, Mr. Alford was there and burned the first kiln of brick ever made in that State. The following winter found him conducting a grocery business at the Elizabeth mines in New Mexico. Selling out, he went to Texas in 1868 and bought a herd of cattle that he drove to the Arkansas River and wintered there; he later moved them to Nevada where he sold them and returned to Colorado.
In 1870 he went with A. C. Goodhere to Illinois, purchasing a train load of brood mares and shipping them to Colorado; this being the first team load of horses ever shipped over the Union Pacific road. He again returned to Illinois where he purchased and brought to Colorado the first Norman draft stallion ever brought to the State. In 1871 he drove his horses and about 100 head of cows into Larimer County and settled on Rabbit Creek, a few miles north of Livermore. His wanderings were now about at an end.
In the winter of 1871-72 he returned to Maine and was married to Ann E. Hobbs of the town of Hope. They arrived in Colorado in March 1872 and went to their home on Rabbit Creek. A log cabin with a single room was erected and served as the family mansion until the fall of 1880 when they moved to Fort Collins. In 1877 Mr. Alford served as a member of the first State Legislature of Colorado.
He was interested in the building of the ditch known as the Water Supply and Storage Company ditch. He was a stockholder in the Poudre Valley Bank. Born to Mr. and Mrs. Alford were five children: George, who died in infancy; Fred C. born May 22, 1875; Lore E., Nov. 28, 1876; Abbie A., July 19, 1878; and Anna Helen, Sept. 12, 1885.
Mrs. Alford died in November 1910.
(Above paragraphs provided by Ron West)
Additional biographical material can be found at
http://www.alfordassociation.org/BIOS/bio_nathanielc.html
Born in South Hope, Knox County, Me., the son of Nathaniel and Deborah (Cushman) Alford.
His mother, who was born in Warren, Me., was a daughter of Nathaniel Cushman, and a descendant of Robert Cushman, one of the passengers on the "Mayflower."
At the age of seventeen he began an apprenticeship to the carpenter and joiner's trade, which he completed. In 1855 he settled in Rockford, Ill., where he engaged in contracting for a number of years.
In March, 1859, he went to St. Joseph, Mo., where he and four others outfitted with an ox-train and followed the Platte route to Denver. In the fall he went with a company of sixty on a prospecting tour in Middle Park and the Gunnison country.
While there the food gave out and it was impossible to secure anything to eat, except berries. Game was scarce and besides Indians lurked around and rendered hunting a dangerous pastime. For a week he had nothing but berries to eat. Finally, in South Park, they met a freight wagon en route from a mine to Canon City for flour, and there secured enough to satisfy their hunger for a few days. After a hard trip of two months he reached Idaho Springs. The party was successful in finding gold at Breckenridge and fifteen miles below Leadville, at Kelly's bar.
In the fall of 1859 Mr. Alford returned to St. Joe, where he wintered ox-teams and in the spring of 1860 he drove them across the plains, via the Platte. For two years he engaged in freighting, making two trips each year.
He then went to Oregon and spent the winter of 1862-63 there. In the spring, upon the Boise City gold excitement, he went to that place, where he engaged in mining, and also carried on market gardening. Indians were troublesome there, but were effectually driven out through the efforts of the miners and settlers. In 1866 he returned to Maine, but the next year came back to Colorado, overland, and went on to Cheyenne, where he manufactured the first brick in Wyoming and sold it to the government, for the erection of Fort Russell.
He also built the first brick store in Cheyenne, a building used as a drug store. In the spring of 1868 he went to the Elizabethtown mines in New Mexico, where for three mouths he engaged in freighting, and bought a drove of cattle (one thousand head), which he wintered on the Arkansas and drove to Nevada and sold in 1869.
Going east again he bought a herd of horses in Ottawa, Ill., and one hundred and fifty head of brood mares, which he shipped to Cheyenne, thence drove to Rock Creek, Boulder County. In 1872 he moved into Larimer County and put his cattle on the range in the mountains; also brought his horses up to Rabbit Creek, thirty miles northwest of Fort Collins, where he had his ranch for nine years, meantime building fifteen miles of fencing, and having a range fifteen miles long and three miles wide.
He brought the first full-blooded Norman horses ever in Colorado and shipped the first train load of horses into the state, and the first the Union Pacific ever hauled as freight. The company treated him in a princely manner and ran an extra train for him, directly following the regular passenger train.
In 1877 Mr. Alford started a cattle ranch in Wyoming, with Messrs. Emerson, Baker and Kennedy. In 1881 he sold out his interest in the business and settled in Fort Collins, where he has since engaged in farming, irrigating and the stock business.
At the time of the building of the Larimer County ditch he was president of the company, in which he is still interested. He is also interested in the Sky Line ditch. He owns one section of land on Box Elder, an eighty-acre tract, and one of one hundred and sixty acres that are irrigated, and one hundred and sixty acres northeast of LaPorte.
He feeds four or five hundred head of cattle and a large number of sheep. On the incorporation of the Poudre Valley Bank as a state institution he became a director, in which capacity he has since served. Since 1881 his home has been in Fort Collins.
In Maine, January 14, 1872, Mr. Alford married Miss Annie E. Hobbs, who was born in Hope, that state. She was a daughter of Josiah and Sarah (Brown) Hobbs, natives respectively of Hope and Belfast, Me., the former a farmer, who died at sixty-nine years, and the latter deceased in 1872, at sixty-nine years.
Mr. Hobbs served for twenty-five years as justice of the peace and was also town clerk for some time. In religion he was a Universalist. His father, Micah, was born in Massachusetts, but moved to Maine, where he carried on farm pursuits.
Four children: Fred, a graduate of the Agricultural College in 1896 and now assistant in the chemical laboratory of that institution; Lore, at home; Abbie, who is a student in the Agricultural College; and Anna, at home.
Politically a silver Republican, Mr. Alford takes an active interest in public affairs. In 1876 he was elected to represent Larimer County in the general assembly, where he served as chairman of the engrossing committee and the committee on appropriations, and as a member of various committees. Through his efforts was passed what was known as "Alford's Pumpkin Bill," providing the first appropriation for the building of the Agricultural College.
While he was a member of the legislature he assisted in securing the election of Senators Chaffee and Teller. In 1878 he was solicited to become a candidate for the state senate, but declined to accept the candidacy. For one term he served as a councilman. He was made a Mason while in Maine, but is now demitted.
(Biographical info provided by FindAGrave Volunteer ♫)
From: The Real Pioneers of Colorado (1934)
Vol. 1
Page 13
NATHANIEL C. ALFORD (1859)
Nathaniel C. Alford was born at South Hope, Maine, November 29, 1834. Until 18 years of age he worked on a farm and then served 3 years learning the carpenter trade, receiving during this apprenticeship no other wages than his board. At 21, he started west, arriving at Rockford, Illinois; he remained there 3 years, working at his trade.
In the spring of 1859, the Pikes Peak gold excitement being at its height, he was seized with the fever, which at that time drove so many young men to the West. Joining with three others he went to St. Joseph, Missouri; on the first of May, the party started on the overland trip with an outfit of two yoke of oxen and one yoke of cows and a wagon. They arrived in Denver in June 1859.
His first work after his arrival was the pulling of one end of a whipsaw in the manufacture of lumber that was sold to the miners to be made into sluice boxes. In August 1859 he went with a party of 60 to Middle Park, where they discovered the Breckenridge mines. They then went down the river through Eagle and Pitkin Counties and, finding themselves getting short of provisions, were obliged to return to Idaho Springs. Later he was engaged for 2 years freighting between Denver and the Missouri River points in the summer season.
During the winter of 1861-62, he wintered his oxen at a place 7 miles above Livermore, Larimer County, and hauled game for a band of six hunters to Denver. The vigor of the life he led at this time is evidenced by the fact that Mr. Alford camped during the entire winter without tent or other shelter.
In 1862 he crossed the plains to Oregon and to the Boise mines in Idaho. He returned to Colorado in 1867. When the town of Cheyenne, Wyoming, was started, Mr. Alford was there and burned the first kiln of brick ever made in that State. The following winter found him conducting a grocery business at the Elizabeth mines in New Mexico. Selling out, he went to Texas in 1868 and bought a herd of cattle that he drove to the Arkansas River and wintered there; he later moved them to Nevada where he sold them and returned to Colorado.
In 1870 he went with A. C. Goodhere to Illinois, purchasing a train load of brood mares and shipping them to Colorado; this being the first team load of horses ever shipped over the Union Pacific road. He again returned to Illinois where he purchased and brought to Colorado the first Norman draft stallion ever brought to the State. In 1871 he drove his horses and about 100 head of cows into Larimer County and settled on Rabbit Creek, a few miles north of Livermore. His wanderings were now about at an end.
In the winter of 1871-72 he returned to Maine and was married to Ann E. Hobbs of the town of Hope. They arrived in Colorado in March 1872 and went to their home on Rabbit Creek. A log cabin with a single room was erected and served as the family mansion until the fall of 1880 when they moved to Fort Collins. In 1877 Mr. Alford served as a member of the first State Legislature of Colorado.
He was interested in the building of the ditch known as the Water Supply and Storage Company ditch. He was a stockholder in the Poudre Valley Bank. Born to Mr. and Mrs. Alford were five children: George, who died in infancy; Fred C. born May 22, 1875; Lore E., Nov. 28, 1876; Abbie A., July 19, 1878; and Anna Helen, Sept. 12, 1885.
Mrs. Alford died in November 1910.
(Above paragraphs provided by Ron West)
Additional biographical material can be found at
http://www.alfordassociation.org/BIOS/bio_nathanielc.html
Former state senator.
Born in South Hope, Knox County, Me., the son of Nathaniel and Deborah (Cushman) Alford.
His mother, who was born in Warren, Me., was a daughter of Nathaniel Cushman, and a descendant of Robert Cushman, one of the passengers on the "Mayflower."
At the age of seventeen he began an apprenticeship to the carpenter and joiner's trade, which he completed. In 1855 he settled in Rockford, Ill., where he engaged in contracting for a number of years.
In March, 1859, he went to St. Joseph, Mo., where he and four others outfitted with an ox-train and followed the Platte route to Denver. In the fall he went with a company of sixty on a prospecting tour in Middle Park and the Gunnison country.
While there the food gave out and it was impossible to secure anything to eat, except berries. Game was scarce and besides Indians lurked around and rendered hunting a dangerous pastime. For a week he had nothing but berries to eat. Finally, in South Park, they met a freight wagon en route from a mine to Canon City for flour, and there secured enough to satisfy their hunger for a few days. After a hard trip of two months he reached Idaho Springs. The party was successful in finding gold at Breckenridge and fifteen miles below Leadville, at Kelly's bar.
In the fall of 1859 Mr. Alford returned to St. Joe, where he wintered ox-teams and in the spring of 1860 he drove them across the plains, via the Platte. For two years he engaged in freighting, making two trips each year.
He then went to Oregon and spent the winter of 1862-63 there. In the spring, upon the Boise City gold excitement, he went to that place, where he engaged in mining, and also carried on market gardening. Indians were troublesome there, but were effectually driven out through the efforts of the miners and settlers. In 1866 he returned to Maine, but the next year came back to Colorado, overland, and went on to Cheyenne, where he manufactured the first brick in Wyoming and sold it to the government, for the erection of Fort Russell.
He also built the first brick store in Cheyenne, a building used as a drug store. In the spring of 1868 he went to the Elizabethtown mines in New Mexico, where for three mouths he engaged in freighting, and bought a drove of cattle (one thousand head), which he wintered on the Arkansas and drove to Nevada and sold in 1869.
Going east again he bought a herd of horses in Ottawa, Ill., and one hundred and fifty head of brood mares, which he shipped to Cheyenne, thence drove to Rock Creek, Boulder County. In 1872 he moved into Larimer County and put his cattle on the range in the mountains; also brought his horses up to Rabbit Creek, thirty miles northwest of Fort Collins, where he had his ranch for nine years, meantime building fifteen miles of fencing, and having a range fifteen miles long and three miles wide.
He brought the first full-blooded Norman horses ever in Colorado and shipped the first train load of horses into the state, and the first the Union Pacific ever hauled as freight. The company treated him in a princely manner and ran an extra train for him, directly following the regular passenger train.
In 1877 Mr. Alford started a cattle ranch in Wyoming, with Messrs. Emerson, Baker and Kennedy. In 1881 he sold out his interest in the business and settled in Fort Collins, where he has since engaged in farming, irrigating and the stock business.
At the time of the building of the Larimer County ditch he was president of the company, in which he is still interested. He is also interested in the Sky Line ditch. He owns one section of land on Box Elder, an eighty-acre tract, and one of one hundred and sixty acres that are irrigated, and one hundred and sixty acres northeast of LaPorte.
He feeds four or five hundred head of cattle and a large number of sheep. On the incorporation of the Poudre Valley Bank as a state institution he became a director, in which capacity he has since served. Since 1881 his home has been in Fort Collins.
In Maine, January 14, 1872, Mr. Alford married Miss Annie E. Hobbs, who was born in Hope, that state. She was a daughter of Josiah and Sarah (Brown) Hobbs, natives respectively of Hope and Belfast, Me., the former a farmer, who died at sixty-nine years, and the latter deceased in 1872, at sixty-nine years.
Mr. Hobbs served for twenty-five years as justice of the peace and was also town clerk for some time. In religion he was a Universalist. His father, Micah, was born in Massachusetts, but moved to Maine, where he carried on farm pursuits.
Four children: Fred, a graduate of the Agricultural College in 1896 and now assistant in the chemical laboratory of that institution; Lore, at home; Abbie, who is a student in the Agricultural College; and Anna, at home.
Politically a silver Republican, Mr. Alford takes an active interest in public affairs. In 1876 he was elected to represent Larimer County in the general assembly, where he served as chairman of the engrossing committee and the committee on appropriations, and as a member of various committees. Through his efforts was passed what was known as "Alford's Pumpkin Bill," providing the first appropriation for the building of the Agricultural College.
While he was a member of the legislature he assisted in securing the election of Senators Chaffee and Teller. In 1878 he was solicited to become a candidate for the state senate, but declined to accept the candidacy. For one term he served as a councilman. He was made a Mason while in Maine, but is now demitted.
(Biographical info provided by FindAGrave Volunteer ♫)
From: The Real Pioneers of Colorado (1934)
Vol. 1
Page 13
NATHANIEL C. ALFORD (1859)
Nathaniel C. Alford was born at South Hope, Maine, November 29, 1834. Until 18 years of age he worked on a farm and then served 3 years learning the carpenter trade, receiving during this apprenticeship no other wages than his board. At 21, he started west, arriving at Rockford, Illinois; he remained there 3 years, working at his trade.
In the spring of 1859, the Pikes Peak gold excitement being at its height, he was seized with the fever, which at that time drove so many young men to the West. Joining with three others he went to St. Joseph, Missouri; on the first of May, the party started on the overland trip with an outfit of two yoke of oxen and one yoke of cows and a wagon. They arrived in Denver in June 1859.
His first work after his arrival was the pulling of one end of a whipsaw in the manufacture of lumber that was sold to the miners to be made into sluice boxes. In August 1859 he went with a party of 60 to Middle Park, where they discovered the Breckenridge mines. They then went down the river through Eagle and Pitkin Counties and, finding themselves getting short of provisions, were obliged to return to Idaho Springs. Later he was engaged for 2 years freighting between Denver and the Missouri River points in the summer season.
During the winter of 1861-62, he wintered his oxen at a place 7 miles above Livermore, Larimer County, and hauled game for a band of six hunters to Denver. The vigor of the life he led at this time is evidenced by the fact that Mr. Alford camped during the entire winter without tent or other shelter.
In 1862 he crossed the plains to Oregon and to the Boise mines in Idaho. He returned to Colorado in 1867. When the town of Cheyenne, Wyoming, was started, Mr. Alford was there and burned the first kiln of brick ever made in that State. The following winter found him conducting a grocery business at the Elizabeth mines in New Mexico. Selling out, he went to Texas in 1868 and bought a herd of cattle that he drove to the Arkansas River and wintered there; he later moved them to Nevada where he sold them and returned to Colorado.
In 1870 he went with A. C. Goodhere to Illinois, purchasing a train load of brood mares and shipping them to Colorado; this being the first team load of horses ever shipped over the Union Pacific road. He again returned to Illinois where he purchased and brought to Colorado the first Norman draft stallion ever brought to the State. In 1871 he drove his horses and about 100 head of cows into Larimer County and settled on Rabbit Creek, a few miles north of Livermore. His wanderings were now about at an end.
In the winter of 1871-72 he returned to Maine and was married to Ann E. Hobbs of the town of Hope. They arrived in Colorado in March 1872 and went to their home on Rabbit Creek. A log cabin with a single room was erected and served as the family mansion until the fall of 1880 when they moved to Fort Collins. In 1877 Mr. Alford served as a member of the first State Legislature of Colorado.
He was interested in the building of the ditch known as the Water Supply and Storage Company ditch. He was a stockholder in the Poudre Valley Bank. Born to Mr. and Mrs. Alford were five children: George, who died in infancy; Fred C. born May 22, 1875; Lore E., Nov. 28, 1876; Abbie A., July 19, 1878; and Anna Helen, Sept. 12, 1885.
Mrs. Alford died in November 1910.
(Above paragraphs provided by Ron West)
Additional biographical material can be found at
http://www.alfordassociation.org/BIOS/bio_nathanielc.html
Born in South Hope, Knox County, Me., the son of Nathaniel and Deborah (Cushman) Alford.
His mother, who was born in Warren, Me., was a daughter of Nathaniel Cushman, and a descendant of Robert Cushman, one of the passengers on the "Mayflower."
At the age of seventeen he began an apprenticeship to the carpenter and joiner's trade, which he completed. In 1855 he settled in Rockford, Ill., where he engaged in contracting for a number of years.
In March, 1859, he went to St. Joseph, Mo., where he and four others outfitted with an ox-train and followed the Platte route to Denver. In the fall he went with a company of sixty on a prospecting tour in Middle Park and the Gunnison country.
While there the food gave out and it was impossible to secure anything to eat, except berries. Game was scarce and besides Indians lurked around and rendered hunting a dangerous pastime. For a week he had nothing but berries to eat. Finally, in South Park, they met a freight wagon en route from a mine to Canon City for flour, and there secured enough to satisfy their hunger for a few days. After a hard trip of two months he reached Idaho Springs. The party was successful in finding gold at Breckenridge and fifteen miles below Leadville, at Kelly's bar.
In the fall of 1859 Mr. Alford returned to St. Joe, where he wintered ox-teams and in the spring of 1860 he drove them across the plains, via the Platte. For two years he engaged in freighting, making two trips each year.
He then went to Oregon and spent the winter of 1862-63 there. In the spring, upon the Boise City gold excitement, he went to that place, where he engaged in mining, and also carried on market gardening. Indians were troublesome there, but were effectually driven out through the efforts of the miners and settlers. In 1866 he returned to Maine, but the next year came back to Colorado, overland, and went on to Cheyenne, where he manufactured the first brick in Wyoming and sold it to the government, for the erection of Fort Russell.
He also built the first brick store in Cheyenne, a building used as a drug store. In the spring of 1868 he went to the Elizabethtown mines in New Mexico, where for three mouths he engaged in freighting, and bought a drove of cattle (one thousand head), which he wintered on the Arkansas and drove to Nevada and sold in 1869.
Going east again he bought a herd of horses in Ottawa, Ill., and one hundred and fifty head of brood mares, which he shipped to Cheyenne, thence drove to Rock Creek, Boulder County. In 1872 he moved into Larimer County and put his cattle on the range in the mountains; also brought his horses up to Rabbit Creek, thirty miles northwest of Fort Collins, where he had his ranch for nine years, meantime building fifteen miles of fencing, and having a range fifteen miles long and three miles wide.
He brought the first full-blooded Norman horses ever in Colorado and shipped the first train load of horses into the state, and the first the Union Pacific ever hauled as freight. The company treated him in a princely manner and ran an extra train for him, directly following the regular passenger train.
In 1877 Mr. Alford started a cattle ranch in Wyoming, with Messrs. Emerson, Baker and Kennedy. In 1881 he sold out his interest in the business and settled in Fort Collins, where he has since engaged in farming, irrigating and the stock business.
At the time of the building of the Larimer County ditch he was president of the company, in which he is still interested. He is also interested in the Sky Line ditch. He owns one section of land on Box Elder, an eighty-acre tract, and one of one hundred and sixty acres that are irrigated, and one hundred and sixty acres northeast of LaPorte.
He feeds four or five hundred head of cattle and a large number of sheep. On the incorporation of the Poudre Valley Bank as a state institution he became a director, in which capacity he has since served. Since 1881 his home has been in Fort Collins.
In Maine, January 14, 1872, Mr. Alford married Miss Annie E. Hobbs, who was born in Hope, that state. She was a daughter of Josiah and Sarah (Brown) Hobbs, natives respectively of Hope and Belfast, Me., the former a farmer, who died at sixty-nine years, and the latter deceased in 1872, at sixty-nine years.
Mr. Hobbs served for twenty-five years as justice of the peace and was also town clerk for some time. In religion he was a Universalist. His father, Micah, was born in Massachusetts, but moved to Maine, where he carried on farm pursuits.
Four children: Fred, a graduate of the Agricultural College in 1896 and now assistant in the chemical laboratory of that institution; Lore, at home; Abbie, who is a student in the Agricultural College; and Anna, at home.
Politically a silver Republican, Mr. Alford takes an active interest in public affairs. In 1876 he was elected to represent Larimer County in the general assembly, where he served as chairman of the engrossing committee and the committee on appropriations, and as a member of various committees. Through his efforts was passed what was known as "Alford's Pumpkin Bill," providing the first appropriation for the building of the Agricultural College.
While he was a member of the legislature he assisted in securing the election of Senators Chaffee and Teller. In 1878 he was solicited to become a candidate for the state senate, but declined to accept the candidacy. For one term he served as a councilman. He was made a Mason while in Maine, but is now demitted.
(Biographical info provided by FindAGrave Volunteer ♫)
From: The Real Pioneers of Colorado (1934)
Vol. 1
Page 13
NATHANIEL C. ALFORD (1859)
Nathaniel C. Alford was born at South Hope, Maine, November 29, 1834. Until 18 years of age he worked on a farm and then served 3 years learning the carpenter trade, receiving during this apprenticeship no other wages than his board. At 21, he started west, arriving at Rockford, Illinois; he remained there 3 years, working at his trade.
In the spring of 1859, the Pikes Peak gold excitement being at its height, he was seized with the fever, which at that time drove so many young men to the West. Joining with three others he went to St. Joseph, Missouri; on the first of May, the party started on the overland trip with an outfit of two yoke of oxen and one yoke of cows and a wagon. They arrived in Denver in June 1859.
His first work after his arrival was the pulling of one end of a whipsaw in the manufacture of lumber that was sold to the miners to be made into sluice boxes. In August 1859 he went with a party of 60 to Middle Park, where they discovered the Breckenridge mines. They then went down the river through Eagle and Pitkin Counties and, finding themselves getting short of provisions, were obliged to return to Idaho Springs. Later he was engaged for 2 years freighting between Denver and the Missouri River points in the summer season.
During the winter of 1861-62, he wintered his oxen at a place 7 miles above Livermore, Larimer County, and hauled game for a band of six hunters to Denver. The vigor of the life he led at this time is evidenced by the fact that Mr. Alford camped during the entire winter without tent or other shelter.
In 1862 he crossed the plains to Oregon and to the Boise mines in Idaho. He returned to Colorado in 1867. When the town of Cheyenne, Wyoming, was started, Mr. Alford was there and burned the first kiln of brick ever made in that State. The following winter found him conducting a grocery business at the Elizabeth mines in New Mexico. Selling out, he went to Texas in 1868 and bought a herd of cattle that he drove to the Arkansas River and wintered there; he later moved them to Nevada where he sold them and returned to Colorado.
In 1870 he went with A. C. Goodhere to Illinois, purchasing a train load of brood mares and shipping them to Colorado; this being the first team load of horses ever shipped over the Union Pacific road. He again returned to Illinois where he purchased and brought to Colorado the first Norman draft stallion ever brought to the State. In 1871 he drove his horses and about 100 head of cows into Larimer County and settled on Rabbit Creek, a few miles north of Livermore. His wanderings were now about at an end.
In the winter of 1871-72 he returned to Maine and was married to Ann E. Hobbs of the town of Hope. They arrived in Colorado in March 1872 and went to their home on Rabbit Creek. A log cabin with a single room was erected and served as the family mansion until the fall of 1880 when they moved to Fort Collins. In 1877 Mr. Alford served as a member of the first State Legislature of Colorado.
He was interested in the building of the ditch known as the Water Supply and Storage Company ditch. He was a stockholder in the Poudre Valley Bank. Born to Mr. and Mrs. Alford were five children: George, who died in infancy; Fred C. born May 22, 1875; Lore E., Nov. 28, 1876; Abbie A., July 19, 1878; and Anna Helen, Sept. 12, 1885.
Mrs. Alford died in November 1910.
(Above paragraphs provided by Ron West)
Additional biographical material can be found at
http://www.alfordassociation.org/BIOS/bio_nathanielc.html
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