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Lee West
An Early Haigler Resident and Businessman
Lee
West was foreman of the C-C Ranch just across the state line in
Colorado before he came to Haigler. Lee West was also a Civil War
Vet, but because he fought for the south, the local vets branded him a
"rebel" and was not welcome in their circle. Mr. West, was
usually dressed in a long brown coat and wore two six shooters
underneath in his earlier years of residency in Haigler. He was
remembered as a very soft spoken person.
Stories by Emmons Adams as told to Joann Webster, Haigler Centennial Book - 1976
The following collection of quotes taken from the 1976
Haigler Book tell a story about this early Haigler settler.
“Lee West was another man who
figured in the days of the Old West.
Going to Texas
after the Civil War, he b became a cowboy in that land of wide-open spaces and
Longhorn cattle. Then he came to Colorado where he was
foreman on a ranch near Deer Trail. A
number of years ago, I met a man at Wood Lake, Cherry County, Nebraska, who
knew Lee West when he was foreman on that ranch. His estimate of Mr. West was the, to quote
him: “He was the best man to handle a
bunch of cowboys I ever saw.”
Despite the fact that Lee West had,
because of his environment, been in close touch with the rough side of life in
his earlier days, he was, as we knew him, always the courteous considerate type
of man which one usually associates with the South. He was southern-born and his sympathies were
with the South in the Civil War. My
boyhood impression of him was that he was a man of moral character and
especially refined in his attitude toward his fellow man.
It was Lee West who took delight in
teaching the boys of Haigler the art of cattle roping. Whenever there was a branding to take place,
we always knew about it, were on hand with our ropes, and the men permitted us
to do much of the heel roping, under the instruction of Mr. West. It will easily be seen that these experiences
had their influence on the impressionable mind of a boy in his early teens.
--From “Reminiscences
of Haigler,” by Olin O. Wood, 1976, The Haigler Book, p. 22
“When it became evident that the
big cattle ranches were to be no more and the land was all being taken by the
homesteaders, Mr. Lee L. West, who had been riding on the range for 20 years,
saw possibilities for the livery business.
He and his family moved to Haigler in the spring of 1885 and in May of
that year built a small dwelling house on what is now the west side of Porter
avenue where Schmuttes place is now. The
town was not platted out then …” “Mr.
West built a frame livery barn in the fall of 1885. It faced the south and stood on the spot now
occupied by Hoover’s
garage.”
“Mr. West ran the livery barn until
his death in 1910. Lee L. West came west
in the spring of 1872 and engaged in the cattle business and was also foreman
of the ranch owned by Rock Webster of Denver.
He loved the range and worked for the American Cattle Company (which
bought Jake Haigler’s ranch) from the
spring of 1883 to 1885. Then he built
his livery barn.
Mr. West was born in 1844 and died
September 28, 1910. Reverend P. W.
Wethal of the Christian Church at Wray and the Masonic Lodge had charge of the
funeral service.”
“Haigler’s first Sunday school was
organized in the summer of 1887, in the meat market and held in that building
until the school house was built. O. E.
Butterfield was elected Sundy School Superintendent. Regular members of the Sundy School
were Butterfields, Porters, Wests and Dunlaps and others.”
--From “Haigler in
1885 and 1886,” by Leona McAllister, Taken from The Haigler News
“McKay’s garage was the site of the
first livery barn. It was owned and run
for many years by L. L. West.”
“Haigler’s first bride was Mrs. L.
L. West. Amanda Kaufman was working for
Mrs. Gordas at the section house when Mr. West decided he needed to give up
riding the range, as foreman of the 3-ranch, and courted and married her. They spent the remainder of their lives in
Haigler rearing a family of four to manhood and womanhood.
Mae West was the 1first
baby born in Haigler in 1886.
--From “Facts and
Memories of Early Times,” by Mrs. John Roach, Taken from The Haigler News
1. Research
note: First baby was Zora Belle Taylor, born December 25,
1885
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