William Columbus Proctor, a Missourian by birth, was known as “The Land Man” in Vernon, Colorado, because of his success as a real estate agent.  He also farmed several miles southwest of Vernon, and the accompanying picture depicts the third cutting of alfalfa in one of his fields.   Note the horse-drawn hay rake at the left and the two men wielding hand rakes at the right. 

Vernon sits in the northeast corner of the state, 14 miles southeast of Wray, in Yuma County.   It sits less than 15 miles away from the Colorado/Kansas border.   The town, which had a population of 29 in the 2010 Census, still has a post office.  It was named for a Free Methodist preacher who resided in the area before the town was laid out.  The town was first called Condon’s Corner, for Byron Condon, a homesteader from Missouri and founder of the “Wray “Rattler” newspaper.

REFERENCES:

• COGENWEB Yuma County, Colorado photographs at https://www.cogenweb.com/yuma/photos/pioneer/vernon/Proctor.htm

• Colorado Place Names at http://genealogytrails.com/colo/placenametz.html

• Distance Between Cities at https://www.distance-cities.com/distance-wray-co-to-vernon-co

• Mapquest at https://www.mapquest.com/us/colorado/vernon-co-282087711

• Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vernon,_Colorado

• “Yuma County Pioneer Photographs”  at http://www.cogenweb.com/yuma/photos/pioneer/CondonByron.htm