Another of Rifle's earliest pioneers was James Porter. He
came over the Continental Divide from Golden with his
brother Frank in 1882 and settled a 160-acre ranch near
Divide Creek. The area had just been opened to settlers
after the Ute Indians were removed in June of 1882.
James Porter married 18 year old Coral Wendell in Morrison
in 1885, then when they came back from Morrison, they herded
400 head of cattle and 30 horses with them. That trip and
stock drive took almost two
months. Note, his headstone says it was by covered wagon,
and has such etched onto one side.
James eventually bought another 120 acres and earned a
40-acre parcel for improving on his land. All told, he
had a 360-acre ranch. But, it was covered with sagebrush
and had to be cleared by hand. Coral went to Denver to
have the first of 10 Porter children. When she returned,
she came back on the narrow-gauge railroad.
By
1898, James had sold his ranch and purchased 106 acres
on Mamm Creek. There he began raising mules and in 1903
shipped a carload out to the east on the train.
There
were 8 girls and 2 boys in the family. The girls were
Nellie, Lillian, Emma, Bessie, May, Edith, Myrtle, and
Cora. The boys were Charles and Carl. The children all
went to school at the Little Blue Schoolhouse on Divide
Creek. It wasn’t big, but it accommodated the families
in the area.
A
reference says that when the children wanted to go to
town, they would often just go to the railroad tracks
and flag the train down for a ride. The tracks were on
the other side of the river, so probably used the silt
bridge?
In
1905, President Theodore Roosevelt went hunting with
James, stayed on the ranch and spoke at the Little Blue
Schoolhouse.
James
organized the Citizens National Bank in Glenwood Springs
in the late 1890s. He started the Union State Bank of
Rifle in 1905. In 1908, he grew tired of the hard
country life and moved himself and family into Rifle,
where they lived in a big brick house on Whiteriver
Avenue.
He was
made president of Rifle's Union State bank in 1910.
Another record says he was later a county commissioner.
There
are many descendants of this family in the area.