You are currently viewing
Photo Postcard of Nettie M. Hornback, Montrose, Colorado, ca. 1911
Photo Postcard of Nettie M. Hornback, Montrose, Colorado, ca. 1911

This is a photo postcard of Nettie Hornback, which Nettie mailed to her father, Ross W. Hornback of Gardner, Colorado, on Valentine’s Day, 1911.  Nettie wrote: “Dear Papa, Here is a picture of myself and pony on which I won first prize at the fair last fall.  Ever your daughter, Nettie M. Hornback.” 

[Ross Hornback served as postmaster for Gardner, Colorado, from 1913 to 1916, and was elected as Huerfano County Surveyor in 1916 and again in 1924.  Gardner sits about 27 miles northwest of Walsenburg, Colorado, which is the county seat of Huerfano County.]

Nettie, an accomplished poet, equestrian, hunter, and miner, would have been 27 or 28 years old when this photo was taken.  She was born in 1883 in Nebraska to Ross and Phoebe Hornback.  Ross and Phoebe divorced in Colorado in November 1905, and it appears they had already separated at the time of their divorce, for in 1904 Phoebe and Nettie were shown as the sole residents at 724 West Huerfano in Colorado Springs.   At some point following the divorce, Phoebe was known as Mrs. P.J. Thomas. 

According to the 1910 Census, Phoeba and Nettie were living in Denver on East 19th Ave, where they rented a house.  It was in this Census report that I learned that Nettie was a poet, for she is listed as a self-employed “poetess” writing for magazines. 

Nettie and Phoebe became known as the “Mining Queens” of San Juan County, where they owned and worked a number of mining claims from as early as 1907.  The claims, known as the Copper Queen group, produced copper, gold, and silver and were located about four miles outside of Silverton along South Mineral Creek. The ground holding these claims was previously owned by mining millionaire Thomas Walsh, whose main interest was apparently in silver, because when silver prices went down, he discarded the land as unprofitable.  Phoebe observed later that when she and Nettie examined the old workings on this property, “we found copper hanging to the walls” with yields up to 19 percent.”  Later excavations yielded a four-foot vein of copper ore with yields up to 21 percent.   Copper was good to them. 

When not at lower altitudes in places like Denver during the winter, Nettie and Phoebe spent most of their time at their home in Montrose.  When actively working their mines, though, they made use of  a small cabin next to South Mineral Creek.   They usually had men working the mines for them but were also adept at performing the mining work themselves, taking “their turn with the pick, or drill, or ore car.”  When at their cabin on South Mineral Creek, Nettie was drawn to the fishing there.  With poet’s cap on, she wrote the following poem, titled “Trout Fishing in South Mineral:”

When you hook that fish

With a swirl and a swish,

You can see it in the skillit.

In stomach’s place

Is an empty space

And you wonder if he’ll fill it.

Then he makes a dart

That will rend your heart,

And hook and leader follow

While you’re left on the bank,

And you feel so lank

With Oh that awful hollow. 

Nettie and Phoebe were not shy about cultivating a good relationship with the press.  For example, in 1912 they had picture postcards printed featuring them in miners’ garb at their cabin on South Mineral Creek.  On the reverse was a poem by Nettie describing Nature’s offerings at their location by the creek.

In researching Nettie’s competitive pursuits in horse racing, I encountered a reference to a “goblet race,” which I’d never heard of before.  In this race, each rider carries a glass full of water over a half-mile course, and the winner is the one with the most water left in their glass at the end.   Nettie took first in the goblet race held at the Western Slope fair in September of 1910.  The horse ridden by one of her competitors became unmanageable, causing the rider to throw her glass away in order to stop her horse!  

Nettie suffered misfortune in a relay race featured at the 1912 Colorado Western Slope Fair.  As best I can tell from newspaper accounts, in the last lap of the race against two other riders, Nettie was violently thrown from her horse when it unexpectedly turned and jumped a gate leading to the inner field of the track.  Nettie was knocked unconscious, whereupon approximately one hundred people rushed toward her and a doctor was summoned.  She regained consciousness but was badly bruised.  It was a full hour before she was able to re-mount the horse, which had been retrieved, and ride past the judges’ stand to collect her prize money for third place.   Claiming she had sustained permanent injuries from the accident, Nettie would file suit in district court against the Western Slope Fair Association for $2500.  I was unable to find any information on the outcome of her suit.  

Nettie died in Denver in November 1918 after a brief illness with the flu. Given the year she died, she was most likely a victim of the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918-1919, which infected 500 million people worldwide and caused up to 50 million deaths.  Nettie’s remains are Interred in an unmarked grave at Crownhill Cemetery in Denver. 

Phoebe died in 1926, and her remains are interred at the Cedar Creek Cemetery in Montrose.  Like Nettie’s, her remains lie in an unmarked grave. 

Nettie’s father. Ross, died in Walsenburg, CO, on January 6, 1931.  His remains are interred in the  Gardner cemetery.

[NOTE:  If you wish to do more research on the Hornbacks, be aware that in a great number of cases the Hornback surname is misspelled as “Hornbeck.”]

REFERENCES:

  • Denver,  CO, Obituary Index (at www.ancestry.com )

Leave a Reply