Cobweb Express

Going West?
by Mel McFarland

Fountain was mainly on the road to Pueblo. It is a modern frustration for the newer people in the area that not many roads go east and west. In fact a common north and south road was new a hundred years ago. What we know as Colorado 115 was built in 1908. Much of the construction was done by convict labor from the prison in Canon City. It was supported in part by Spencer Penrose, who had just opened up his new town called Penrose. The area was being developed as a fruit growing area.

There were several trails along the east face of Cheyenne Mountain that were accessible from Fountain as well as south from Colorado Springs. Looking at my 1909 map it is clearly visible that even 115 is not where it is now. The reason is obvious to most of us, Fort Carson. In the early 1940’s when the Camp was built the roads were all redone to be off the post. Fountain’s roads west were all cut then. A few of these were still in place, but realigned regularly over the years. I remember when teachers who lived in Penrose, or even Canon City could drive across the Fort to get to Fountain.

To go west from Fountain you went west on Illinois, mainly, to Seneca, and south before heading west on what was known as Carter Oak which went straight west. In the 1920’s this area was projected as a new community and a big reservoir was planned, but for the most part it died out. There is rough country that runs from the heart of Fort Carson south to a spot which was once Stone City. This was northwest of what is now Pueblo west. The early ranches often lost cattle in some of the canyon. Once the road west of Fountain hit these hills they quickly became trails, which mainly went northwest toward Cheyenne Mountain, Rock Creek and the Dead Man’s Canyon area. This area was the main source for Fountain’s water up until the 1960’s. A pipe carried water right across Fort Carson.

If you wanted to go to Canon City your best bet was to go all the way to Pueblo and take what is now Highway 50, but the best way was to take the train. Even though it took most of a day to get from here to there by train, it took days by horse! Back a hundred years ago it was easy to understand that if you could not go by train it was hardly worth the trip!

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