Palmer Divide Research

Dead Man's Creek (an 1860s 'bloody tragedy')

Dead Man's Creek (an 1860s 'bloody tragedy') is a historic site in El Paso County, Colorado, on the Palmer Divide, listed here under murders, lynchings and killings.

Also: Deadmans Creek

Murders, lynchings and killingsHistoric or vanishedEl Paso County

What we know

'Nearby is the canon of Dead Man's creek, so named from a bloody tragedy …' (Rocky Mountain News, May 19, 1872). A 1956 Husted reminiscence mentions 'a skull from Dead Man's Canon' (News, Feb. 19, 1956). No name or date for the deaths.

Where it was

USGS GNIS stream 'Deadmans Creek', El Paso County (2021 Colorado file, S-0007), the point GNIS gives for the creek, beside Husted. Where on the creek the tragedy happened is not stated.

See it on the map

Sources

  • S-0006: USGS Geographic Names Information System, Colorado file, 2021-08-25 edition
  • S-0007: USGS GNIS DomesticNames, Colorado (current edition)
  • S-0016: Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection (coloradohistoricnewspapers.org)

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.

Know more about Dead Man's Creek (an 1860s 'bloody tragedy')?

Corrections, family stories, photographs, deeds, letters and maps are all welcome. Messages and files come to Michael Christensen privately; nothing appears on the site until it has been checked, and you'll be credited the way you ask.