What we know
Bear Cañon PO 1863-1867 and Bear Canyon 1869-1879, 'same location' (Place Names of Colorado). Keystone 8 miles north, Huntsville 7 south (1871). St. Philip-in-the-Field, the Bear Cañon church, is three-quarters of a mile west-northwest. Northwest edge of the study area.
Where it was
SE1/4 of Sec. 12, T8S R68W, from M. L. James's post office site report of Feb. 6, 1871 (local name 'James Ranch'), a mile east of Plum Creek (NARA M1126, S-0113), via the BLM PLSS survey grid. Good to about a quarter mile.
Placed from a written description, such as a land section, a distance from a landmark or an old survey note.
Sources
- S-0064: Wikipedia, "List of post offices in Colorado" (A–F, G–O, P–Z) and town articles
- S-0065: Colorado Council of Genealogical Societies, Place Names of Colorado (1999), PDF hosted by the Denver Public Library
- S-0066: Jim Forte Postal History, U.S. post office database (postalhistory.com)
- S-0113: U.S. Post Office Department, Reports of Site Locations, 1837–1950 (NARA microfilm M1126), Colorado rolls 73 and 74: Douglas, Elbert and El Paso counties
- S-0120: Bureau of Land Management, National Public Land Survey System (PLSS) data: CadNSDI section and quarter-section polygons, Colorado
Sources are named in the text above. Numbers such as S-0080 refer to our source list. Most newspaper quotations were read in the Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection. Long quotations from recent books are shortened here.