The Frenchmen of Butte Valley - Part l of lll

The tiny community of Butte Valley, located at the base of Huerfano Butte, was one of the earliest settlements in Huerfano County.

The George William May Family

Although members of this family moved in, and out of the Rye area; one of the children married into a long-time local family and recorded the area’s history.George was born in 1899, in Missouri, the oldest son and third child of Amos and Sophenia Morrow May.

History of the Valley

LOCAL HISTORICAL LOREThe Augusta-Keating High Country Homestead District - Part II of IIIn 1890, Edwin Drake was appointed the first postmaster of Augusta. The mail came to Augusta through a few different circuitous routes, until the post office was closed in 1902.

The Augusta-Keating High Country Homestead District - Part I of II

The Augusta-Keating High Country Homestead District is located on both sides of Colorado Highway 165 going south from McKenzie Junction. It starts at Mile Marker 1 and continues to Ophir Creek Road.

Kouba Family

LOCAL HISTORICAL LOREAfter his homestead in Yuma County was awarded in 1916, Reuben took Julie and David to the Apache Valley, in Huerfano County. Reuben operated a dairy farm and ran cattle. He used a green wagon with red trim and yellow painted spokes, to take the milk to Rye every day.

Kouba Family

Richard Bigelow remembered the first vehicle to cross the new bridge, over Greenhorn Creek on Boulder Avenue, after the 1947 Flood. Reuben Kouba, a Czech, who was known to locals as ‘a horse expert’, had one son who lived out near the Clennin Ranch.Mr.

Robert Austin and Beth Laura Thompson Totten

Robert and Beth farmed just east of Rye and owned the land the Rye Fish Hatchery was built on.Robert was born in Ontario, Canada in 1875. He was the sixth of seven children born to John and Isabella McEwen Totten. His father, John was born in Ireland; his mother in Ontario.

The Rye Trout Farm and Fish Hatchery

“To tell the story of Rye properly, we have to talk about the Indians who lived here centuries before a white man ever saw it. One of their favorite camping grounds was near the big spring which makes the state fish hatchery at Rye possible.” (“Old Trails along the Arkansas” by G.A.

The Herron Family

Henry Herron, or sometimes spelled Herren, was born in Union County, Georgia in 1858, the seventh of eight children of Levi and Cloe Ann Picklesimer Herron. They moved to Pickens County Georgia just to the south of Union County where Henry began school.

The William J. Gambell/Gambill Family - Part I of II

This family originated in Ashe County, North Carolina and therefore, is considered part of the ‘Georgia Colony’. The entire family came west, as far as Missouri. Many family members eventually settled in Colorado.William and Nancy Landreth Gambell were both born in Ashe County, North Carolina.