Page 27 - AreaNewsletters "Aug 2022" issue

The Murder at Jimmy Camp truthfulness of this story is that the school in Castle Rock didn’t burn down until 1896, at least 10 years later than Mr. Dakan’s story claimed. Shaun Boyd, who was the Assistant Archivist for the Douglas Public Library District Local History Collection when she wrote this article, ends by writing, “The local legend has stood in Douglas County for at least 125 years. I found no evidence to support it, but further research needs to be done to disprove it completely. Anyone who wants to is invited down to the Philip S. Miller Library in Castle Rock to further research the topic and get a little taste of what it must be like to be a detective.” Here’s another story I found: – Reprint from “Folklore – Pioneer Encounters with Indians – Colorado Writers Project, 1936- 1942.” Some 50 miles southeast of Parker at the junction of the El Paso County Road, known as the Farmers Highway, and the Jimmy Camp Road, also known as the Santa Fe Cut-o Trail, is a place called Jimmy Camp. There is nothing left now except a spring and a water tank in a cow pasture, but it marks the homesite of Jimmy Hayes, who was the rst legal resident of El Paso County. Also, the Jimmy Camp Road, which junctioned at the Twenty Mile House with the South Smoky Hill Trail, was named for him. Hayes was an established trader in 1883 and his store and cabins stood near the springs in the grove of cottonwood trees. He was on very friendly terms with the Indians of the region and supplied them with plenty of grain and the forbidden “ rewater”. When he had gifts to dispense, Hayes would build a re on top of the ridge, and the Red Men would come in for the presents. One night a group of 11 Mexican nomads murdered Hayes and looted his post, setting re to one or more of the buildings. About 48 hours later, the rst of the Indians arrived to discover the murdered Hayes, and that the re was not his signal. Immediately, the warriors read the sign of what had happened, and picked up the trail of the Mexican marauders. Relentlessly, they tracked down the Mexicans, killed all 11 of them and hung their bodies by the necks from the high tree limbs. After avenging the murder of Hayes, the Indians returned to the post and buried the trader’s body under the dirt oor of his cabin, thus writing an end to a “di erent” type of Indian story. Now you’ve read two stories that are somewhat similar, but what are your thoughts having also read the “History Can Be Murder?” article by Shaun Boyd. Are these stories true or ction? And if they are ction, what was the purpose of starting the tale in the rst place? Anyone want to join me at Philip S. Miller Library in the Archives section to hunt for Dan Hopkins, the elderly rancher who lived two miles north of Palmer Lake? 27 Castle Rock “AreaNewsletters” • August 2022