Craig Daily Press / Road’s end

Early Craig resident found permanent home in Moffat County

January 12, 2008

Forgery suspect arrested, record library circulation reported

Moffat County Sheriff’s officers apprehended a man wanted for forgery Jan. 7, 1938, The Craig Empire-Courier reported.

Gerald Harp, 22, of Meeker, was taken into custody in Los Vegas for passing forged checks at Craig businesses the previous October.

“The spurious checks totaled approximately $400,” according to The Empire-Courier. “They were drawn on the DeBeque bank and were made out on specially printed checks belonging to Henry Shore, contractor, who was at the time completing construction of a bridge project near Hamilton.”

Craig residents Mr. and Mrs. Henry Shore discovered the forgeries.

In other news:

On Jan. 12, 1938, The Empire-Courier reported that patrons had drawn more than 1,000 books from the Craig Public Library during the previous month, setting a record high for book circulation.

“Of these books, 513 were for adults, 469 for juveniles and 29 from the pay shelf,” according to The Empire-Courier.

New books added to the library’s shelves December 1937 included:

• “Wake and Remember” — Gray

• “Useful Lady” — David

• “Pengant Appointment” — Collins

• “Nitchey Tilley” — Helton

• “Solomon, My Son” — Erskine

• “The Lindberghs” — O’Brian

• “Marie Dressler” — My Own Story

Complements of The Museum of Northwest Colorado

Craig — John Mack — carpenter, ranch hand, wayfarer and, eventually, one of Craig’s earliest residents.

His arrival to the Yampa Valley coincided with Craig’s formative years. Still, Mack claimed many other homes before arriving in Moffat County.

For him, the road leading to a permanent home was a long one.

Born in Germany, Mack came to America seeking refuge from his country’s military draft, his obituary in The Empire-Courier reported.

He arrived first in the American Midwest, taking work in Ohio for approximately one year, according to The Empire-Courier.

But Mack couldn’t resist the urge to move west.

“Handicapped on account of speaking a ‘foreign’ tongue, he had to accept any kind of work that offered,” V.S. Fitzpatrick reported in his book, “The Last Frontier.” “He knew he wanted to ‘go west,’ so he headed that way.”

His travels were varied — as were the jobs he took.

First, he worked as a bartender in Central City.

“His English improved rapidly among men who frequented the saloon, although much of what he heard and learned might not have been approved in the best society,” Fitzpatrick wrote. “But it helped him to gain confidence, to win friends and to influence people of the kind with whom he was to work and progress.”

Later, he went north to the Dakotas, hoping to cash in on the mining opportunities there.

When his mining partners deserted him, he took a job as a railroad laborer, earning 65 cents a day, Fitzpatrick reported.

Mining drew Mack’s attention again to Colorado. In the summer of 1874, Mack arrived at a point near the Bear River — later named the Yampa River — where Hayden now stands.

In subsequent years, Mack divided his time between Northwest Colorado and Laramie, Wyo., often encountering American Indian tribes that lived in the area.

In 1883, Mack returned to the Bear River area.

“John Mack did not settle at once,” Fitzpatrick reported. “He went to the White River country and looked it over. He saw there nothing to equal the Bear River Valley so came back and took the ranch near Craig.”

Mack settled his homestead in 1883 and filed his homestead claim three years later. Other early Craig residents, including Lewis H. Breeze and Alvor M. Ranney witnessed Mack’s homestead application in 1886, The Routt County Pilot reported.

The German-born rancher received the deed for his homestead in 1890.

Mack found his permanent home at his ranch near Craig. In 1894, he married Effie Wooley and had three sons by her.

Mack remained on the homestead for 62 years until his death in 1945.