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CONRAD FREDERICK WILLIAM UNFUG Contributed by: Karen Mitchell
In memory of Edith Christine Todd.
Conrad Frederick William UNFUG born 5 Sep 1850 Bielefeld, Westphalia,
Germany. Arrived Denver 1874. Married 4 March 1889 Pueblo, Colorado to
Zerelda E. BOONE.
Conrad celebrated his 15th birthday on the high seas while enroute to St.
Louis in 1865. Here he worked until the dream of finding his fortune in
Colorado led him to the boom town of Denver, arriving there in 1874.
Hearing of the gold excitement in the Black Hills of South Dakota, he
communicated with a brother, William and the two formed a partnership to
establish a trading post to serve as an outfitting point at Cheyenne,
Wyoming. The venture, however did not meet expectations and he returned to
Denver the following year. When he reached Denver excitement was centered
on California Gulch, which was later to become Leadville. There he went
with high hopes, but after a years hard toil and disappointment he decided
on making his stake elsewhere.
On 5 Feb 1879, Conrad and several others established the gold mining camp
of
Kokomo which was later to be in Park county. During the spring of that
yearhordes of miners swept over the range from Leaddville. The following
year the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad was to make Kokomo its terminal
and
the camp thus became one of the embryo cities of the famous Ten Mile
Mining
District. Fire destroyed a large part of Kokomo during the winter of 1881.
It was then that Conrad decided to come to Walsenburg, although he kept in
touch with his mining interests in the years that followed.
In the meantime, during the '80s, he was engaged by the D&RG Railroad to
help survey the lines being extended from Garland City (now Alamosa) to
the
points in the San Luis valley. With the completion of the work he returned
to work with his brother in the UNFUG store. Later after his marriage in
1889, he moved to Pueblo where he engaged in business until 1904. He and
his family then returned to Walsenburg to remain permenently..
CONRAD FREDERICK WILLIAM UNFUG
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