Adeline Hornbek and her four children took advantage of the Homestead Act passed in May of 1862. The act required the homesteader to be a U.S. citizen, head of a family, and over 21 years of age. Adeline took notice of a clause in the legislation that allowed a homesteader to purchase land after six months of residence for $1.25 acre. In July 1866, for $100 cash, she bought an 80 acre claim outright.
Lori and I know all of that because we took a road trip a few days ago. We headed into the mountains and ended up at the Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument. The 9.37 square miles of the fossil beds include the original two-story homestead cabin built by Hornbek, along with four outbuildings from the same era.
Hornbeck was born in 1833 in Massachusetts. She died in 1905 in Florissant. She married Simon A. Harker at the age of 25. Harker died in 1864 and she married Elliott Hornbek in 1866. She had three children with Harker and one with Hornbek before he disappeared. She married a third time to Fredrick Sticksel but he died five years later.
She and Harker settled in Oklahoma and then moved to the South Platte River near Denver. After Harker’s death, Adeline continued to farm, raise cattle and run a trading post that gold miners frequented.
After her second husband disappeared, mysteriously, Hornbeck moved to the Florissant Valley. She built a fine two-story, four-bedroom log home and several outbuildings including a milk house, chicken house, and stables. Her improvements created an impressive house and ranch. Her teenage children helped with the hard work the homestead required.
It was a beautiful home inside even by today’s standards. Hornbek had over $4000 worth of cattle (money value at that time) and also worked some out of the home at the Florissant General Store. In the summer the cabin and outbuildings are open, although we were able to peer through windows and cracks in the original wood.
As I said, in Oklahoma and again in Colorado, Adeline traded with gold miners. So, we decided to leave the Homestead and head to Cripple Creek. The sign at Florissant said 16 miles. There was one turn where the highway split. Neither way indicated the direction to Cripple Creek. We chose left, partially (I was driving at the time) because the car ahead of me went left. We never found Cripple Creek, but ended up west of Canon City.
Some of you might have let that get you down, but the key to a great adventure is to roll with the punches. We headed for Pueblo.
We hadn’t planned on driving so much and when we got to Pueblo we were searching for R&R – refreshments and restrooms. We stopped at a nearly, brandnew national chain coffee store that starts with an “S”.
Only one of the two restrooms in the relatively new, national coffee chain store was working. Lori went in first. When she came out, I couldn’t help but notice a certain fight or flight look. She told me what she wanted to drink and said she would wait in the car. I was puzzled, where had her adventurous spirit gone? I entered the bathroom. It was dirty. There were no toilet seat covers. There was no toilet paper. There was no paper towel. I fled. I approached the cashier, ordered our drinks and told her there was none of the above in the one lone bathroom that was in working order.
She turned to a young man and asked him to restock the bathroom. He looked at her like he knew what the bathroom looked like, and said he was going on break. She looked at a second young man and asked him to take care of it. He said he would. When I left with our drinks it hadn’t been done.
Lori and I grabbed a sparkling water and wanted two cups of ice as well. I waited long enough that Lori returned to the store to see if something in the bathroom had overcome me. It had not. She returned to the car.
I finally got my ice.
Adeline Hornbek had an outhouse. Wish it had been unlocked, if you know what I mean.
Worry not, the spirit of great adventures can not be doused by anything that Clorox wipes can take care of. We shall take another one soon.