I would like to thank CFA Member, Ed Stapleton for sharing with us the article he wrote about his ancestor, Zachariah Callaway. The article was published in the Palmetto Patriot and you can read it on our web site here. Additional information from Ed about his family line was published in the August 2009 Newsletter. Zachariah is Ed's 6th great grandfather and the line of descent is as follows:
Peter Callaway
William Callaway
William Callaway, Jr.
Zachariah Callaway
Joshua Moses Callaway and 1st wife Rebecca Campbell
Garner Callaway
Joshua Moses Callaway and 2nd wife Melinda B. Wills
Macy "Macie" Callaway

The following article was submitted to CFA by CFA Member, Nyda Dell Callaway, (Mrs. Leon H. Marx) and published in the 1999 CFA Journal. It was written by her uncle, William Amos Callaway, and it's a wonderful description of the people and places in the early 1900s in Colorado. Following is Part 1 of the article. The final part will appear in next month's newsletter. This family's line of descent is as follows:
Peter Callaway
John Callaway
Edward Callaway
Job Callaway, Sr.
Joseph Callaway
Abraham Aaron Callaway
James Wiley Callaway
William Stone Callaway
William Amos Callaway

More Memoirs of William Amos Callaway (Part 1)

Post Civil War
When the Civil War ended in 1865, the slaves were freed by their owners with no reimbursement from the Government. As a result of that action, the Callaway family sustained some financial loss. However, the most severe blow of all, for our branch of the Callaway family, occurred when by the deciding vote of "One Yankee Carpet Bagger" the capital of Alabama was moved from Wetumpah to Montgomery. The thriving little city of Wetumpah had been their home since the early 1840s, when they had purchased a plantation with a beautiful home.

The Homestead Act opened vacant lands of America's vast public domain for settlement to citizens of the United States on January 1, 1863. After a five-year residence, on the property, title could be acquired for a $15.00 filing fee for a quarter section of land (160 acres).

Horace Greeley, a noted journalist of the time, had been writing almost daily in his column about the opportunities that were available to young men, if they would go west.

Great-grandfather (Abraham Callaway) and his family felt so keenly about changing the capital of Alabama from Wetumpah to Montgomery that they arranged to sell their plantation and move westward. The family first moved, by covered wagons, from Wetumpah to Batesville, Mississippi, where they purchased another plantation, which they farmed for approximately 10 years. During that period of time a large portion of grandfather's (James Wiley's) children were born. About 1873 the plantation at Batesville was sold and all members of the family, except Uncle Albert Hill Callaway and his family, moved on, first to Arkadelphia, Arkansas, where grandmother's (Emily Lucy-Ann Boseman's) parents lived. After visiting there for a period of time, the family again moved on to Pueblo, Colorado. Uncle Joseph Willis and his family, Uncle Eugene Lloyd together with great-grandfather and his wife remained in Pueblo.  Great-grandfather passed away in Pueblo in May 1875, after which Uncle Joseph Willis and his family, together with great-grandmother moved, farther south in Colorado and later to New Mexico, where great-grandmother passed away.

Two large areas, comprising practically all of the Uintah Basin in the state of Utah, were set aside as reservations for the Ute Indians, in accordance with a bill signed by President Abraham Lincoln, in the year 1861. The Uncompahgre Utes were moved, bag and baggage, from their lands in southwestern Colorado to the new reservation in Utah about 1880, and western Colorado was opened for white settlement in 1882.

Grandfather (James Wiley) together with his brothers, David Abraham, Xenophon R. and D. Robert Lee, with their families continued on from Pueblo, first locating at Westcliff, then on to Lake City. They ultimately settled in 1882, with the first settlers, on the Uncompahgre River, just a few miles south of where Montrose is now located, when the land was first opened for white settlement by the government of the United States.

The land was cleared of brush, rocks, trees, etc., leveled and irrigated with water taken from the Uncompahgre River. The land produced sufficient crops to sustain their families. The children attended an elementary one-room school at a place known as Oak Grove, on the mesa just west of their homesteads. The children all received a few years' schooling. Grandfather sold his place about the turn of the century and they all moved into Montrose, where most of the boys had already located employment. Uncle Dave and Uncle Dock, followed suit shortly afterward, and they too moved into Montrose. Conditions were somewhat more difficult in Montrose at that time and coupled with the fact that their 10-year-old, Cora Beatrice, had passed away a short time before, resulted in Uncle Dave moving to Pueblo with his family. Uncle Dock remained in Montrose, where he was very active in the Eastern Star organization. He served as Grand Worthy Patron for the Colorado organization, early in the century. A short time after Grandfather passed away, Uncle Dock moved to San Francisco where he and Aunt Alice operated a store at the intersection of 17th Avenue and Irving Street until they passed away.

Uncle "X" (Xenophon) was murdered in a saloon brawl while visiting in Montrose, on November 13, 1898. His brothers refused to prosecute his assailant because of the strong Civil War sentiment that still prevailed in the community at that time. They desired to avoid any further feelings of that nature. The family refused to discuss the matter with anyone, and even members of the family were not acquainted with the details for some 50 years afterward.

My mother, Nyda Maggie Thomas, was born at East Brady, Pennsylvania, March 9, 1874, and grew up in that vicinity. She was a professional seamstress having learned the trade in Cleveland, Ohio, where she worked for a time, until she earned sufficient money to pay her passage to Montrose. Her father's brother, William Amos Thomas, owned a grocery store and was moderately wealthy, being one of the Directors of the Montrose First National Bank. Uncle Amos' wife was ill at the time of her arrival in Montrose in 1897 which resulted in mother taking over the housekeeping duties in their home. Father was working as a grocery clerk in the Thomas store. Following a proper courtship they fell in love and were married on June 1, 1898. I was their first born and also the first grandson in the James Wiley Callaway family.

Shortly after my birth, Uncle Amos built a new home for mother and father on South First Street which we moved into about the turn of the century. I have several very vivid recollections regarding matters that occurred while we resided at that location, over 75 years ago. My sister, Agnes Minetta, passed away on January 10, 1903. I still remember riding to the cemetery in the buggy with the little white casket on my mother's lap and the distress she felt regarding her loss. A very heavy rain flooded the basement. All of the trunks and other items in storage there were afloat when the cellar door was opened. We had some dried figs for Christmas that were exceptionally good to eat. After they were all gone, I was crawling around under my parents' bed one day, and found another fig, which I ate. It turned out that it was a piece of thin climax chewing tobacco, that had fallen from father's pocket. Boy, did I get sick, and was Dad in trouble with mother when he got home that evening.

Father bought a burro (donkey) named Bluch from George Castle for me that was to be delivered on Sunday. I was awake shortly after dawn that morning, and looked out of the window. Three or four burros were grazing along the ditch bank. I hurriedly dressed, got a rope and tied one end around my waist, then I walked over to the burros and tied the other end around one of the animals' neck. The burros took off, dragging me at the end of the rope. Some three blocks away a Mexican lady saw me being dragged and ran out and caught hold of the rope. She also fell but with her added weight also dragging, the animals soon stopped. She untied the rope from my waist, sent me home minus one good rope, a dirty, but a much wiser lad. With the lesson of that day still in my mind, I have never tied myself to another animal.

With the investment Uncle Amos had made in the house he built for mother and father, he fully expected father to continue working for him, I guess, for the rest of his life. However, father was an ambitious young man and wanted to get into business for himself. He purchased the Pastime billiard parlor and bowling alley on Main street which he successfully operated for the next few years. Uncle Amos, being a Scotchman direct from Glasgow, let his feeling be known about father leaving his job with him after he had made such a large investment in the new home. As a result, and much to Uncle Amos' surprise, our family moved out of his house, as quickly as another place could be located. Incidentally, a new home was located on the same street, just two blocks west, and within one block of the center of town.

After living at that location for a few months we moved again, to another rented home on South Fourth Street. During the move which was done with a team of horses and wagon, Father placed brother Albert and me on the seat of the wagon, to get us out of his way. In some way or other the horses, which were rather wild, ran away but instead of going straight down the street they ran in a circle in front of the home we were moving from, and were soon stopped with no damage being done. Don't think that father got by that one, without getting a piece of mother's mind, for putting us on the wagon and leaving with no one to attend the horses.

We lived in the house on South Fourth Street in 1904 and 1905. As I remember, the following incidents occurred while we were living there. One day, I went out to the barn where Bluch was quartered. I discovered that one side of the building was afire, and beginning to burn pretty good. I immediately ran into the house screaming to mother. The fire was extinguished with very little damage and no harm to my faithful donkey, Bluch. The town of Montrose was installing its first sewer system at that time. A very large (steam-operated) ditch-digging machine had been imported to excavate the earth, and deep trenches, six to ten feet in depth, were cut in the streets. Iron pipe a foot or more in diameter was installed and then the trenches were refilled with loose earth. About the time the trenches had been refilled, in the fall, it began to rain and it continued to rain for several days. This resulted in the trenches becoming a quagmire. Each time a horse attempted to cross one of the trenches, or even got close to them the earth would give away and they would become mired in the mud. Many got in so deeply only their heads were showing and almost all of them had to be extracted by brute force.

I started school while we were living at that location. The school was located on Cascade Avenue between, South Second and Third Streets, with a privy for the boys on one side in the school yard, and the girls on the other side. When the sewer system was completed water closets were installed, but most of us were afraid to use them. My teacher was Miss Amy Wilson.

We had a two-wheeled cart that we hitched Bluch to, and Albert and I drove all over town in that outfit. In so doing, we learned all of the words that were necessary to make a burro go. Every time visitors, from the east, came to Montrose they had to take pictures of those quaint little animals and their drivers. One of the town's most prominent ladies asked mother if she would have her sons drive over to her house for pictures. Albert and I were washed, dressed in our Sunday best, and sent over. When we arrived two or three very pretty young ladies came out with some of the town's local dudes. The pictures were taken with a great deal of hilarity among the group. The dudes decided that they would have some fun with the young ladies and began to question us with regard to the burro. Shortly thereafter we were asked to explain in detail just how we made the burro go. In all sincerity and very honestly we replied, " Say, get up you son of a bitch, jab her in the ass with a stick, and keep doing it, until she moves along." The boys laughed, the girls blushed, picture taking time was over for that day and we went on our merry way.

Mother and father purchased their first completely modern home in Montrose in 1906, on North Third Street. Until that time, we, like almost everyone else, lived in homes with inside water, used coal oil lamps, toilets were in the back yard, baths were taken on Saturday night in a wash tub in the kitchen. We were very proud of our new home, and we continued to live there until we moved to Dragon in the fall of 1911. We also lived for short periods of time at Telluride and Ridgway, but during our absence Uncle Joe and Aunt Sadie always occupied our home while we were away. When we moved into the home in 1906 it was on the very edge of town. Herds of cattle and sheep would pass to the rear of our house in the fall, in route to the railroad stock pens, where they would be loaded into railway stock cars for shipment to market. I used to watch over our back yard fence by the hour as the cowboys and sheepherders pushed their stock toward the railway stock yards. Our family was content and happy at that location. One thing occurred that was very disturbing to me, however. Mother decided to sell our donkey, Bluch. Mrs. Bormey, who purchased the animal, lived on a farm but she didn't have the $5.00 to pay for her. Mother was so determined to sell the animal that she arranged with Mrs. Bormey to take vegetables in lieu of the money. She maintained a book record of her purchases from Mrs. Bormey, and it required the entire summer to complete the transaction.

Cosmopolitan Cafe to Open Sunday.
M. D. Kemper and W. S. Callaway,
of Montrose, have associated them-
selves together under the firm name
of Kemper and Callaway, for the pur-
pose of operating the Cosmopolitan
Cafe. They expect to get opened up
and ready for business by March 15th.
Mr. Kemper, the senior member of
the firm, is an old and experienced
steward and chef, having filled the po-
sition of steward at the west portal
of the tunnel at Montrose ever since
work was begun thereon by the gov-
ernment. Prior to his service at the
Montrose tunnel Mr. Kemper was in
the service of the Santa Fe eating
house system, and is recognized as
a man at the top of his trade.
Mr. Callaway has been engaged in
business at Montrose and at the west
portal of the tunnel for some years
past and is known to some of our
Telluride people.
Messrs. Kemper & Callaway intend
to run a first class place and will
cater to the very best trade, feeling
sure that they will be able to please
their patrons.

Daily Journal
Telluride, San Miguel County, Colorado
Thursday, March 12, 1908

M.D. Kemper, senior member of
the firm of Kemper & Callaway,
accompanied by his wife, arriv-
ed in Telluride Saturday evening.
Messrs. Kemper & Callaway opened
the Cosmopolitan Cafe to the public
yesterday afternoon with a fine tur-
key dinner

Daily Journal
Telluride, San Miguel County, Colorado
Monday, March 16, 1908

Following the sale of the pool hall, father purchased the Cosmopolitan restaurant, in Telluride, and we moved there for a few months until father discovered he was not a restaurant man. While there, we lived next door to a gambler. Mother became acquainted with his wife one day, when she was disposing of some of his old suits, by casting them into a trash barrel. The suits were of excellent material, and with mother's knowledge of dressmaking, she recovered the material, ripped the suits apart and made new suits for Albert and me. We were the best-dressed kids in town. When we left Telluride, father secured employment with the Denver and Rio Grande Railway Company as a clerk, and he was sent to Ridgway, where he worked in the freight office. We lived in the Agent's quarters, above the office in the depot. When the passenger train was late Mother would make sandwiches that we would sell to passengers in route to Telluride for 25 cents each. The price was excessive, but we always sold all she made because there was no other source of supply, and passengers were faced with another four-hour ride before reaching Telluride.

The first automobiles began to arrive at Montrose in 1907 or 1908. Only the rich, or others in the class with bankers, who had sufficient means to purchase such vehicles could afford them. Such cars were touring cars. That meant the top was open except when it was raised in case of rain. Roads at that time were not paved, very few graveled, which made automobiles extremely dusty to travel about in. Those who purchased such cars found it necessary, if they were to keep up with the Joneses, to also outfit themselves with such dust protecting items as goggles, caps for men and large ladies' hats with veils, and light weight overcoats, all of which were known as dusters.

Albert and I were playing in a ditch that was used to irrigate the newly planted trees on South Cascade Avenue one evening about six o'clock, when the President of the Montrose National Bank, Mr. Gilbert, and his family pulled out of their driveway in a new car, taking their first family spin. The entire family was all decked out in new dusters, sitting up very erect as though desiring to attract attention to their newly acquired wealth. Albert had picked up a paper bag, of medium size, during the course of our playing in the ditch, and it just so happened that at the precise moment the Gilbert car passed us, at a speed of about 10 miles per hour, the bag was filled with dirty ditch water. He was only seven or eight years of age, so it was more or less accidental, but the bag of water struck the back of the front seat and sprayed dirty ditch water over everybody in the automobile.

We ran, but the damage had already been done. Mr. Gilbert drove straight to the home of our grandparents and members of the Gilbert family all vented their feelings on grandfather, as though he was responsible for it. He in turn called our mother on the telephone, while he was still irritated, and demanded that she thrash us to within an inch of our lives. Never once had mother ever seen grandfather tell her how or when to punish her children. Albert and I benefited from mother's resentment, to the extent that we were not spanked, but we were restricted, and not permitted to leave the yard for one whole week as punishment for our atrocious act. I know that grandfather forgave me for that deed, before his death a short time later, because, while on his death bed, he asked father to bring me to him. He smiled and patted my hand, and we both knew and understood how very much we loved one another.

Many who dug the tunnel were Appalachian coal miners.
photo from the Denver Post, Denver, Colorado, Sept 22, 2009

When the construction of the Gunnison Tunnel was assigned to the United States Bureau of Reclamation, shortly after the turn of the century, it was the largest project yet assigned to that Bureau. It provided for the construction of a tunnel some six miles in length and in addition thereto some 50 or 60 miles of large canals, with smaller tributaries, that would be required to carry the water to the various locations throughout the Uncompahgre valley. Before construction of the tunnel began, a small village known as La Juana was erected some nine miles east of Montrose, where the tunnel would exit from the mountain and the canals begin. This village was used as headquarters for the operation and miners were close to their work. It consisted of several large bunk houses and also one-room shacks for men who wished to batch. The canals were constructed by men who drove teams of horses or mules that pulled fresno scrapers. Large quantities of earth were moved from one location to another as directed by inspectors of the operation. The tunnel was driven through granite rock from one end to the other . Rock was first loosened by explosives then loaded into small dump cars by men with shovels (muckers). Dump cars were moved by small electric trains to slag dumps at the end of the tunnel where they were unloaded. Following those operations, forms were set in place and these were filled with reinforced concrete. Each and every aspect of the construction was uniform and appealing to the eye and it required some six years to complete. When the village of La Juana was started, father obtained permission to construct a billiard room and ice cream parlor on the premises and was assigned a location in the center of the village, adjacent to the bunk houses and the tunnel offices. Because of the increased business at two locations, father was unable to supervise the business alone and he took Uncle Joe into business at La Jauna. Business flourished and the operation continued until the tunnel was completed, then the building was torn down and material returned to Montrose and sold as scrap. No gambling or ungentlemanly conduct was allowed on the premises during the entire operation. Uncle Joe and Aunt Sadie became very close friends with the McConnels, he being the Chief Engineer of the tunnel project, and it was he who was responsible for drilling the tunnel from both ends simultaneously. When both ends of the tunnel came together the survey was less than one-half-inch from being dead center. I spent considerable time at La Juana with Uncle Joe and Aunt Sadie. Each evening was always thrilling for me because two or three narrow-gauge freight trains would go by, each of them having several little steam locomotives, with sparks flying in all directions, as they ascended the steep grade in route to Cero Summit. That particular sight never failed to thrill me and it set the spark in my young life for a career of almost 50 years on the railroad.

Each year in late September, Montrose County held a fair that attracted visitors from throughout that section of the state. The greatest of all these fairs occurred when President Taft made a personal visit to Montrose in 1909 for the purpose of opening the Gunnison Tunnel. However, his visit occurred before the tunnel was actually completed and he saw only seepage water that had been retained within the tunnel, which was released when he rang the golden bell, that had been especially designed for that purpose. Thousands of people crowded into Montrose that day, many like me, got their very first glimpse of a President of the United States. He was a very large President, with a flowing white mustache, almost too large to fit in the back seat of the Cadillac automobile that drove him from the depot along Main Street to the County Fair Grounds. There the program was altered, so that he could see the ladies' relay race. Following which, he was whisked away, much to the disgust of approximately 5,000 people in attendance who had seen very little, if any, of the President of the United States.

Editor's Note - Part 2 in next month's newsletter.