Hidden History of Routt County

by Rita Herold

Settling Routt County was never easy or safe. Fugitives used the undeveloped landscape as an "outlaw trail" to evade authorities. The inexorable Harry Tracy managed three jailbreaks before being killed by a posse. Conversely, many of the first families left entrepreneurial legacies. Widowed Alice Bartz sold the family homestead to start the Bartz Hotel in her Steamboat Springs' bakery and house, serving three meals a day to locals and guests. Others families, like the Nays and the Laughlins, were able to cut hay and raise enough livestock to pass the land down to future generations. Native author Rita Herold preserves oral histories and nearly forgotten episodes of the county's past.

179 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 10, 2020

Reviews

[Rachel Jackson · Rating 1 out of 5]

A rolodex of names of people living in or near Yampa, Colorado in the early twentieth century—that was all Hidden History of Routt County was. There were some interesting stories about early Routt County residents' encounters with bears, but other than it was a poorly written, random collection of people's names and family members. There was no larger connecting theme about Routt County—considering that Rita Herold didn't even write about all of Routt County, just one area of it—and it was disconnected and random the whole way through. If you're looking for a local history of Routt County, this is not the one for you. Find a real historian for that.

[Christine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting stories early Route settlers