Buck Conner1
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HERE'S AN OLD FASHION CHRISTMAS
Dec. 19, 2000 - The first Christmas anyone of European
descent spent in the Colorado Territory was far from merry.
Miserable is more like it.
In 1806, explorer Zebulon Montgomery Pike and 22 soldiers -
tattered, inade quately dressed for the bitter cold in cotton
overalls and no stockings - wandered lost and hungry for days.
When they first saw the Rocky Mountains on Nov. 15, they
cheered because they thought they had found the Mexican
Mountains. Twelve days later they struggled through the snow
in an attempt to climb what they thought was Grand Peak. We
now call it Pikes Peak. Their luck changed on Dec. 24, when
they killed four buffalo and had a Christmas feast. Still lost,
they wandered around in a foot of snow and temperatures of
17 degrees below zero, finally building a stock ade in the San
Luis Valley. Spanish troops seized them as intruders in
February, and took them to Mexico where they were held until
July.
Half a century later, another wave of explorers held a more
hospitable celebration. In 1858, after gold was found at the
confluence of Cherry Creek and the South Platte River, small
clusters of mining settlements were scattered along the rivers
that marked the treeless plains.
It was a pleasant day, so guests at the various celebrations held
at Denver City and Auraria, and at settlements such as The
Spooners, enjoyed the holiday's warmth and feasting in relative
comfort outdoors.
There are several accounts of that first Christmas. Some tell of
50 men at dinner, others say perhaps 500 to 700 men were in
the area.
Turkey wasn't a tradition yet. In this frontier territory, food was
what the hunters bagged, and that year it was plentiful. The
menus included deer, antelope, venison, rabbit, duck,
pheasant, ham, trout, prairie chicken, white swan, squirrel,
mountain pig and sheep, quail, buffalo and elk tongue, roast
beef, baked and boiled potatoes and beans, rice, beets, fried
squash and stewed pumpkin, tapioca, bread and rice puddings;
mince, current, apple, rice, peach and mountain cranberry pies;
nuts, dried fruit and a wine list that included champagne,
sherry, cherry bounce, scotch, bourbon and Jamaica rum. And
there was "Uncle Dick" Wootton's infamous Taos Lightning,
"guaranteed to kill at 40 yards." The party lasted past midnight,
with the men laughing, singing popular songs of the time and
dancing around the fire, watched by groups of silent, and
undoubtedly perplexed, Indians.
In the midst of campfire toasts hoping for prosperity in mining
was a fervent plea for "an abundance of the genuine article of
genus female during the coming summer."
Shortage of women
Gen. William Larimer Jr. gave a rousing speech about the
profitable prospects of the territory, enthusiastically listing the
great opportunities, and wound up with, "And now, with the
blessings already enumerated, what more do we want?" To
which a voice in back replied, "Woman and the consequent
responsibilities!" There were a few families in Denver City and
four log cabins at what is 15th and Larimer streets today. The
indoor celebration there had a more traditional spirit, although
it was a first for the territory.
A miner friend brought a lovely spruce tree from the
mountains for Count and Countess Henri Murat. The countess
decorated this first Christmas tree with the ends of candles she
had been saving. She made gingerbread cookie dough, and
with a paring knife cut out shapes of boys, girls, animals and
stars. She baked and iced them and hung them on the tree.
Two families with children came that evening, and the candles
were lit (the count on alert with a bucket of water in case the
tree caught fire). They sang carols, and Countess Katerina told
stories of Germany. The cookies went home with the
youngsters.
Denver grew from 4,759 in 1870 to 35,629 by 1889, and
133,857 at the turn of the century: Many of the new arrivals
were women and children. Later celebrations centered on the
children in frontier Denver, and the communal tree was most
often found in a church. Programs were held at churches on
Christmas Day, with caroling, recitations, tableaux and sermons
(preferably short).
The day's high point was the stripping of the gift-laden tree.
Families and friends exchanged gifts by placing them in the
church tree, trimmed with chains of brightly colored paper,
strings of popcorn and cranberries. Best of all were red and
green net stockings with an apple and an orange for every
child, a rare treat indeed on the frontier.
By the 1870s, individual homes began to have their own
decorated trees.
The poor were remembered with special dinners and gifts
given by church people or rich individuals. Mrs. Margaret Tobin
( "Unsinkable Molly'') Brown gave warm mittens and other gifts
to youngsters in Leadville. Mining magnate Simon Guggen
heim provided thousands of Denver's poor children with dinner
on the eighth floor of the Brown Palace in 1900. Holiday
pastimes
After church there were buggy or sleigh rides and horse races
between owners with especially fast steeds. Bird shooting was a
popular Christmas Day pastime, though one 1877 reporter
noted, "There are signs that the birds don't enjoy it."
The final gorgeous gala was the Christmas evening ball, the
most fashionable event of the holiday. The Denver Hook and
Ladder Company, from 1866 on, was considered the ultimate
in glamorous socializing, with the fire laddies in bright red
shirts, the ladies in their most fetching gowns and dancing till
the rosy dawn.
Copyright 2000 The Denver Post. All rights reserved.
I think I'll stick with what we have today, the old ways are interesting to read about but a lot hardier to deal with.
Colorado's first days of Christmas Explained
By Joanne Ditmer Denver Post Staff Writer
Dec. 19, 2000 - The first Christmas anyone of European
descent spent in the Colorado Territory was far from merry.
Miserable is more like it.
In 1806, explorer Zebulon Montgomery Pike and 22 soldiers -
tattered, inade quately dressed for the bitter cold in cotton
overalls and no stockings - wandered lost and hungry for days.
When they first saw the Rocky Mountains on Nov. 15, they
cheered because they thought they had found the Mexican
Mountains. Twelve days later they struggled through the snow
in an attempt to climb what they thought was Grand Peak. We
now call it Pikes Peak. Their luck changed on Dec. 24, when
they killed four buffalo and had a Christmas feast. Still lost,
they wandered around in a foot of snow and temperatures of
17 degrees below zero, finally building a stock ade in the San
Luis Valley. Spanish troops seized them as intruders in
February, and took them to Mexico where they were held until
July.
Half a century later, another wave of explorers held a more
hospitable celebration. In 1858, after gold was found at the
confluence of Cherry Creek and the South Platte River, small
clusters of mining settlements were scattered along the rivers
that marked the treeless plains.
It was a pleasant day, so guests at the various celebrations held
at Denver City and Auraria, and at settlements such as The
Spooners, enjoyed the holiday's warmth and feasting in relative
comfort outdoors.
There are several accounts of that first Christmas. Some tell of
50 men at dinner, others say perhaps 500 to 700 men were in
the area.
Turkey wasn't a tradition yet. In this frontier territory, food was
what the hunters bagged, and that year it was plentiful. The
menus included deer, antelope, venison, rabbit, duck,
pheasant, ham, trout, prairie chicken, white swan, squirrel,
mountain pig and sheep, quail, buffalo and elk tongue, roast
beef, baked and boiled potatoes and beans, rice, beets, fried
squash and stewed pumpkin, tapioca, bread and rice puddings;
mince, current, apple, rice, peach and mountain cranberry pies;
nuts, dried fruit and a wine list that included champagne,
sherry, cherry bounce, scotch, bourbon and Jamaica rum. And
there was "Uncle Dick" Wootton's infamous Taos Lightning,
"guaranteed to kill at 40 yards." The party lasted past midnight,
with the men laughing, singing popular songs of the time and
dancing around the fire, watched by groups of silent, and
undoubtedly perplexed, Indians.
In the midst of campfire toasts hoping for prosperity in mining
was a fervent plea for "an abundance of the genuine article of
genus female during the coming summer."
Shortage of women
Gen. William Larimer Jr. gave a rousing speech about the
profitable prospects of the territory, enthusiastically listing the
great opportunities, and wound up with, "And now, with the
blessings already enumerated, what more do we want?" To
which a voice in back replied, "Woman and the consequent
responsibilities!" There were a few families in Denver City and
four log cabins at what is 15th and Larimer streets today. The
indoor celebration there had a more traditional spirit, although
it was a first for the territory.
A miner friend brought a lovely spruce tree from the
mountains for Count and Countess Henri Murat. The countess
decorated this first Christmas tree with the ends of candles she
had been saving. She made gingerbread cookie dough, and
with a paring knife cut out shapes of boys, girls, animals and
stars. She baked and iced them and hung them on the tree.
Two families with children came that evening, and the candles
were lit (the count on alert with a bucket of water in case the
tree caught fire). They sang carols, and Countess Katerina told
stories of Germany. The cookies went home with the
youngsters.
Denver grew from 4,759 in 1870 to 35,629 by 1889, and
133,857 at the turn of the century: Many of the new arrivals
were women and children. Later celebrations centered on the
children in frontier Denver, and the communal tree was most
often found in a church. Programs were held at churches on
Christmas Day, with caroling, recitations, tableaux and sermons
(preferably short).
The day's high point was the stripping of the gift-laden tree.
Families and friends exchanged gifts by placing them in the
church tree, trimmed with chains of brightly colored paper,
strings of popcorn and cranberries. Best of all were red and
green net stockings with an apple and an orange for every
child, a rare treat indeed on the frontier.
By the 1870s, individual homes began to have their own
decorated trees.
The poor were remembered with special dinners and gifts
given by church people or rich individuals. Mrs. Margaret Tobin
( "Unsinkable Molly'') Brown gave warm mittens and other gifts
to youngsters in Leadville. Mining magnate Simon Guggen
heim provided thousands of Denver's poor children with dinner
on the eighth floor of the Brown Palace in 1900. Holiday
pastimes
After church there were buggy or sleigh rides and horse races
between owners with especially fast steeds. Bird shooting was a
popular Christmas Day pastime, though one 1877 reporter
noted, "There are signs that the birds don't enjoy it."
The final gorgeous gala was the Christmas evening ball, the
most fashionable event of the holiday. The Denver Hook and
Ladder Company, from 1866 on, was considered the ultimate
in glamorous socializing, with the fire laddies in bright red
shirts, the ladies in their most fetching gowns and dancing till
the rosy dawn.
Copyright 2000 The Denver Post. All rights reserved.
I think I'll stick with what we have today, the old ways are interesting to read about but a lot hardier to deal with.
