John Ashenfelter

Individual, Ashenfelter, John

About

John Ashenfelter, a native of Pennsylvania, came to Ouray around 1882, establishing a very profitable freighting business. Starting with only six burros, he built an empire consisting of more than 300 head of horses and mules, and employing 50 to 75 men. They packed merchandise, coal, ore, machinery and all kinds of supplies to mines in the rugged mountains before there were any roads. The John Ashenfelter Forwarding and Commission House was located on both sides of Eighth Avenue, a block west of Main Street in Ouray. Ashenfelter became the exclusive freighter to the Camp Bird and Revenue Mines, conducting his successful business until his death in 1910. Ashenfelter established his own “gold mine” in the Uncompahgre Valley near Montrose in 1894 when he purchased 500 acres of land on the edge of Spring Creek Mesa and planted 400 acres in orchard, according to an article in the Ouray Herald. It was stated that by 1903, Ashenfelter was able to sell his entire crop of apples and peaches to a Chicago buyer for more than $12,000. The apple crop was estimated to be around 6,000 bushels and the peaches 16,000 to 17,000 boxes. Not bad for a young orchard with only a third of the trees mature enough to produce. Ashenfelter was also raising pears, prunes, apricots, cherries and strawberries, projecting his gross income from the orchard to be more than $20,000. In 1904, the Montrose Enterprise wrote that the Ashenfelter ranch consisted of 300 acres with 250 acres of trees “thirty feet apart with ample room to drive a hay wagon between each row,” 27,000 trees in rows half a mile in length. The Montrose reporter referred to an indescribable view from the ranch — a charming valley dotted with fields and farm houses, the town of Montrose nestled in the distance with the majestic snow-capped mountain peaks “beyond reach.” Ashenfelter owned priority water rights numbers two and three. There were eight buildings on the ranch, including residences, storage and packing sheds, a bunk house, barns, a blacksmith shop and a large building for drying prunes. There were lots of animals, including 10 horses, 200 head of hogs, lots of chickens and even a few peacocks strutting around. During the down season, 15 employees could handle the work load, but during the busy season, 83 people were hired to pick and pack the fruit. The fruit boxes were constructed at the ranch. Since Ashenfelter maintained his primary residence in Ouray, he relied heavily on Edward Silva, his original horticulturist and foreman. George W. Phillips came to Montrose in 1906 and took over for Silva in 1908. That year, Ashenfelter won 47 horticultural premiums at the Inter-state Fair. At the annual State Fair in Pueblo, he took first premium for the best and largest collection of perfect fruits, second for best collection of apples and first for quinces, 49 premiums in all. Ashenfelter’s crops were sold to wholesale dealers in Chicago and Des Moine, Iowa, as well as many other locations. The produce was shipped by rail via the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad out of Montrose. Source: https://www.montrosepress.com/opinion/a_step_back_in_time/john-ashenfelter-s-orchard/article_49364726-5480-11e2-a797-001a4bcf887a.html

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