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To Drink or Not to Drink
Colorado Springs has had a tipsy history with alcohol. Pioneer settler, Sylvester M. Buzzard, described trading posts located every 10 to 15 miles along the Platte River route across the plains in 1862. The principal stock was 40-acre whiskey, brandy and wine, all drawn from the same barrel. Buzzard recalled that the first thing he did upon arriving in the Pikes Peak region was to get drunk on a canteen of 40-rod fire water, purchased at a saloon in Colorado City. Recipes for 40-rod varied, some called for plug tobacco, black molasses and red peppers added to water and as little alcohol as the market would bear.
Colorado City, known as “sin city,” was awash in saloons; however the 1871 founding covenants of its eastern neighbor, Colorado Springs, prohibited the manufacture, sale, or disposal of intoxicating liquors on town lots. If the covenants were violated the property reverted to the town company. Luckily for the thirsty crowd, residents and visitors to Colorado Springs could easily travel to its free-wheeling neighbor to quench their thirst at one of the many saloons of the town.
Colorado City’s populace was not entirely fond of the “sin city” appellation. One sober citizen complained, “As for drunkenness and licentiousness . . . I have personally seen more drunkards who were Colorado Springs residents than residents of this town.” In 1911, prohibitionists called for an election for the city to go dry. They lost by one vote. Another election was called and the region’s “sin city” voted to go dry in early 1913. In August 1913, the town of Ramona, established for the express purpose of drinking, was incorporated six blocks north of Colorado City.
Mr. David A. Cowell, owner of “The Spiritual Wheel,” had a Colorado Springs storeroom with nothing in it except a hole in a wall containing a partitioned tray turning on a wheel. A drink of whiskey could be purchased by placing a coin on the tray, the wheel turned and a jigger of whiskey replaced the coin. In February 1876, town constable Delos Durfee instructed Cowell to remove the “wheel” from his premises before noon of the next day. Cowell delayed, and constable Durfee confiscated the wheel. There was no objection or resistance made, but a new wheel took the place of the old one within a few minutes. Mr. Cowell proved determined to distribute distilled drinks and the Colorado Springs Company moved to recover possession of the property. In 1876, the local court upheld the no liquor clause on behalf of the Company. Cowell appealed as far as the Supreme Court of the United States, which upheld the ruling and allowed the Company to reclaim Cowell’s property in February 1880.
Colorado City, known as “sin city,” was awash in saloons; however the 1871 founding covenants of its eastern neighbor, Colorado Springs, prohibited the manufacture, sale, or disposal of intoxicating liquors on town lots. If the covenants were violated the property reverted to the town company. Luckily for the thirsty crowd, residents and visitors to Colorado Springs could easily travel to its free-wheeling neighbor to quench their thirst at one of the many saloons of the town.
Colorado City’s populace was not entirely fond of the “sin city” appellation. One sober citizen complained, “As for drunkenness and licentiousness . . . I have personally seen more drunkards who were Colorado Springs residents than residents of this town.” In 1911, prohibitionists called for an election for the city to go dry. They lost by one vote. Another election was called and the region’s “sin city” voted to go dry in early 1913. In August 1913, the town of Ramona, established for the express purpose of drinking, was incorporated six blocks north of Colorado City.
Mr. David A. Cowell, owner of “The Spiritual Wheel,” had a Colorado Springs storeroom with nothing in it except a hole in a wall containing a partitioned tray turning on a wheel. A drink of whiskey could be purchased by placing a coin on the tray, the wheel turned and a jigger of whiskey replaced the coin. In February 1876, town constable Delos Durfee instructed Cowell to remove the “wheel” from his premises before noon of the next day. Cowell delayed, and constable Durfee confiscated the wheel. There was no objection or resistance made, but a new wheel took the place of the old one within a few minutes. Mr. Cowell proved determined to distribute distilled drinks and the Colorado Springs Company moved to recover possession of the property. In 1876, the local court upheld the no liquor clause on behalf of the Company. Cowell appealed as far as the Supreme Court of the United States, which upheld the ruling and allowed the Company to reclaim Cowell’s property in February 1880.
In April 1911, the rules changed and voters decided upon a plan of restricted liquor selling by hotels of 75 rooms or more and allowed drug stores to handle bottled goods. The question of to drink or not to drink, however, was obviated on January 1, 1916, when the citizens of Colorado voted to go “bone dry,” four years before the 18th amendment which on January 17, 1920, established national prohibition. Finally, in April 1963, the Supreme Court of Colorado ruled that due to the changed character of Colorado Springs from a “small insulated community” to “a cosmopolitan city” that the grantor of real property had waived and relinquished the right to enforce the liquor restriction clause and the covenant was no longer enforceable.
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