Do You Know This Building?
Answers: 1. b) east of Toponas; 2. a) early to mid 1880s; 3. d) all of the above This large two-story log building is located about five and a half miles west of Gore Pass at 8,640 feet elevation. (Gore Pass was named for Sir St. George Gore, an Anglo-Irish baronet, who traveled through the area on a hunting trip guided by Jim Bridger in 1854.) Sometime in the early- to mid-1880s, James P. Gates moved his family from Nebraska to Rock Creek in Routt County to homestead along the stage route from Denver to Steamboat Springs. Gates thought the location would be good for a stage stop as horses had a very hard pull in both directions over the pass, and by the time they reached Rock Creek they would need to be switched out. He built a large, two-story log building that would serve as the family home as well as a stage stop and hotel. It appears that the building was constructed in two phases, as the logs of the ground floor have “inverted V” or “House” notching, while the upper log walls have square notching. It is believed that Gates may have built the main floor as his house and later added the upper story when he received the stage contract. Passengers and the stage spent the night at the Rock Creek Stage Stop, but the horses needed more than one night to recuperate. There were large horse pastures and corrals around the station to accommodate replacement horses. This allowed the recently arrived horses to fully rest before being hitched to another stage. The difficulty of transportation in this isolated part of the state made the presence of the station an important factor in the settlement of the area. The building also served as a halfway station on the first mail route into the Yampa Valley that was established in 1878. Gates did not rely solely on the stage company, as he also was involved in a hunting and guide operation. Deer and elk hunters would use the “Rock Creek Hotel” as a staging area. The Rock Creek Stage Station, a rare Colorado example of a two-story
log building, was listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
The property received State Historical Fund grants for a building
assessment followed by stabilization and restoration work. |
