Oh Say Can You See - Farwell's View

10,776' on July 4th - Happy Birthday America! We thought it was a fun coincidence when we went to get the coordinates and elevation that we were there on July 4th - America's Birthday - and the elevation was 10,776!

This cache will probably only be accessible in the summer - and only by a jeep, side-by-side, 4x4, 2 track, hiking or horse.... Many people ride snowmachines up in the winter, but since I've never personally been up there in the winter, I assume the cache would be under a lot of snow -- but maybe it's windblown enough that you could find it! The cache itself is a large pill bottle that is camoflaged - it will hold lots of small tradables if you are willing to exchange! We only have cell service once we are on the very top, so if you're using a cell phone app, you might make sure you have the cache info downloaded before you go!

There are several trails that lead toward Farwell, but ultimately you'll need to get on FS409 -- just before the top, the road forks -- if coming from the west, stay to the right and you'll make it to the top -- maps show it at 409.2B, but I don't know as I've ever noticed the sign. 409, according to the map, goes from Hahn's Peak Village to Hinman Park and Diamond Park - very near Seedhouse Road. Up to you which direction you come up, although it will take you less time to come from the west! There are other caches in the area including one down in Hinman Park (GC6Q8YX) which we hid a couple years ago, and a couple on top of Hahn's Peak which we do not own!

From the top of Farwell, you are overlooking both Pearl Lake and Steamboat Lake, yet on a clear day, you can see so much more! It's a breath taking view that we've never get tired of!

That big thing on the other end of the mountain -- that's the repeating station/towers, for the communications for all of Routt County government -- yeah, don't mess with those things!

A little bit of history.... During the mining boom around Hahns Peak one of the large companies, the Purdy Mining Company, got the interest of J. W. Farwell of Chicago in 1875. He invested $60,000 to construct a twenty seven mile ditch to bring water from the Elk River to the area for hydrolic mining. Sending Robert McIntosh from Chicago to over see the work, International Camp was developed as a Company town. Farwell spent several summers in the camp supervising the project. Farwell was very religious and no one that lived at International Camp worked on Sunday. In fact, most knew to be in church if they wanted to stay on the payroll.

Farwell's camp was in Way Gulch, often referred to as "Bug Town" by the miners because all of the big bugs from back east lived there when they visited. It was northeast of the town of Hahns Peak. Farwell's properties were on String Ridge. After the flume fed the "giants" that washed the gravel from String Ridge the sluices were checked for the gold that would be lodged in the riffles, but no gold was found. Other areas on String ridge were washed out, and still no gold. Farwell cut his losses. After spending $150,000 on the camp and hydrolics, in 1879 he sold the whole investment to a Rawlins, Wyoming banker named James France for $60,000 and headed back to Chicago.

Rober McIntosh stayed, convinced that there was gold in the area around Poverty Bar. He obtained leases on some placer mines at Poverty Bar and a lease on the String Ridge flume, which he extended a mile and a half around the base of Hahn's Peak. In two months he had washed out $30,000 worth of gold. McIntosh subleased the operation to the firm Cody & Hinman, which after six weeks of work at Nugget Cut on Poverty Bar recovered $60,000 worth of gold.

Most likely Farwell Mountain is named for Mr. Farwell.