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Photo postcard of C. F. Wheeler store and warehouses, Vilas, CO, ca. 1910.

Vilas, in Baca County, sits in the southeast corner of the state, about 11 miles east of Springfield, the county seat.   The town was named for William Freeman Vilas, a U.S. Senator from Wisconsin, who served in the Senate from 1891 to 1897. The Vilas post office opened in 1887.  In 2010, the population of Vilas was 114.

Referred to in the local area press as “the merchant prince of Baca County,” Charles F. Wheeler, known as “C.F.,” was very successful in the mercantile trade.   Born in 1854, he hearkened from Illinois.  By 1897 he had established a store in Vilas.    He thought in big terms —   the Herald newspaper in Springfield reported in November of 1900 that “Mr. Wheeler’s trade increases every year and now, although having several houses full of merchandise of all kinds, he is forced to build additions. Mr. Wheeler is evidently an expansionist.”  The article goes on to say that Wheeler was making preparations to build “a large furniture house which may also be used as a dancing hall when required.”  Perhaps the building referred to is the large building shown in the photo.    

Wheeler served a wide region, with customers coming to buy from as far away as Garrett, Oklahoma (a 305 mile distance),  and Cimarron, New Mexico (a 150 mile distance).  A 1904 issue of the Herald reported that “the Cimarron people are buying a great deal of goods from C. F. Wheeler these days.”

The scale of Wheeler’s business is reflected in reports by the Herald describing incoming inventory.  One, dated June 24, 1904, reported that “six four-horse loads of freight and lumber for C. F. Wheeler came in Friday morning.”  A 1909 article informed readers that “there are nine wagons loaded with shingles on the way to Vilas, for C. F. Wheeler.” 

That Wheeler ran a true general mercantile business is evident by the range of items he sold – e.g.  buggies, wheat, lumber, wire, furniture, hay,  apples, melons, cream, women’s hats, household necessities and  windmills.  He made his store available for customers to drop jewelry and watches for repair by jeweler Oscar Cox of the town of Stonington, Colorado, which sat about 14 miles south-southeast of Vilas.  (Stonington is populated but is no longer an incorporated, census-designated town.)

In a May 1901 news report, the Herald, in reporting that Wheeler had gone to Kansas City, Chicago and St Louis on his semi-annual purchasing tour, gave him what could be considered some free advertising:  “Mr. Wheeler buys in large quantities, for spot cash and cheap and generously gives his customers the benefit of the bargains.”

Wheeler was no layabout.  The Herald reported on April 29, 1904, that “Wheeler was digging wind mills out of sand banks last Saturday in hopes of selling one to ‘E.,’ who was unfortunate in having one blown to pieces by the wind storm last Thursday.”

Note the double-fronted store at the far left of the photo, which comprises two buildings set together.  There is an interesting story attached to the building on the right, i.e., the one topped with the half-moon shape.   This building was originally a saloon in the town of Boston, Colorado.  Boston, also known as Old Boston and named for Boston, Massachusetts, probably sat about 8 miles southeast of Vilas.   Wheeler moved the saloon building to Vilas following Boston’s demise.   

Founded in 1886, Boston wasted no time in trying to capture the title of county seat (it failed) and lure the railroads, which would bring the homesteaders and commerce.   By the spring of 1887, Boston had a thriving downtown and over 70 houses.  However, a harbinger of things to come was the issuance of a town ordinance in the fall of that year on the subject “To Prevent Removal of Town Property.”  By the spring of 1889, Boston had been abandoned and thoroughly picked clean– even the wooden sidewalks were gone.  The cause of its demise:  lawlessness and violence. 

Boston’s demise appears to have been at least partially rooted in the actions of three men — Bill Thompson, a fellow named Maxwell and Bill’s friend, Frank Bradley.  Thompson and Maxwell were “regulators,” the term given to men hired by big cattle companies to do away with rustlers.     As “regulators,” Thompson and Maxwell were a law unto themselves and had the perfect mindset for meting out justice as they saw fit. 

Subsequent to Thompson’s murder of two men, i.e., Henry “Frenchy” Savoy and a man named Phillips, the town of Boston hired a marshal named Cornelius Smith to keep order.   Things started to come apart on the day Thompson’s friend Bradley went into a store to order some canned goods.  After the cans were placed on the counter, Bradley decided he wanted to eat the contents.  There being no can opener handy, he pulled out his revolver and started shooting the tops off the cans, spraying other customers with the contents.  When Marshal Smith tried to arrest him, a shootout followed, and a bullet parted Smith hair but did not kill him.  Smith took off.  At this point, two citizens took action, with Bradley ending up dead by gunshot.

About two months after this incident, Thompson, Maxwell and two other men were playing cards next to a window in one of the town’s saloons, when a man came in, ordered a drink and warned them there was going to be trouble that night.   He advised them to get away from the window.  No sooner had they and the other two players done so when two shotgun blasts shattered that window.  Two of the card players headed for the door when Thompson, smelling an ambush, warned them they would be shot to pieces by whomever was waiting for them outside.  Thompson then pulled out his revolver and borrowed one from the bartender.  He said, “follow me!” to the others and went out the door with both guns blazing, whereupon the ambushers waiting outside took off.

The next morning the citizens of  Boston learned that Thompson and Maxwell would be running things.  Thompson and Maxwell began to patrol the town looking for the ambushers.  They proceeded to confiscate guns from newcomers, destroyed all the guns for sale in the hardware store and even denied the townspeople the use of the town’s well.   With Marshall Smith nowhere to be found, it was inevitable that people would start leaving Boston.  I doubt that everyone in town left, but enough did to cause the town’s collapse.    

One existing remnant of Boston is the Boston Cemetery.  It’s located on County Road V west of County Road 39 in Baca County.  Here is a link to a Leon Barton photo of it:   https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/57183/boston-cemetery#view-photo=10979533

The old Boston saloon building that C.F. Wheeler moved from Boston to Vilas to serve as part of his store was, as of 2017, still standing.   Here is a link to a Wikimedia Commons photo of it at https://www.google.com/search?q=vilas+old+building+from+boston+colorado&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwi_vIGa0bbyAhWTmp4KHWEwDFUQ2-cCegQIABAA&oq=vilas+old+building+from+boston+colorado&gs_lcp=CgNpbWcQA1D8M1jRVGDvVmgAcAB4AIABzgGIAa4PkgEGMTguMi4xmAEAoAEBqgELZ3dzLXdpei1pbWfAAQE&sclient=img&ei=gOwaYb_8MJO1-gTh4LCoBQ&bih=750&biw=1536#imgrc=XH3Vxda8vFbiUM .

It appears that Charles Wheeler lived out his life in Vilas.  He died May 9, 1932, at age 78, and is buried at the Vilas Cemetery.  His gravestone reads, “Pioneer Merchant of Baca County.” 

REFERENCES:

  • Springfield Herald (at https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org ), issues dated June 4, 1897; April 29, 1898; November 16, 1900;  May 3, 1901; November 13, 1903; December 18, 1903; April 29, 1904; June 10, 1904;  June 24, 1904; September 9, 1904; November 17, 1905; May 24, 1907;  August 7, 1908; January 22, 1909;  July 28, 1911; January 28, 1916;  and March 1, 1918.        

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