What we know
Keystone (Ranch) post office, 1863-65 and 1869-72. Bear Cañon 7 miles south, Littleton 14 north, Frankstown 12 east (1869). A mile south of Sedalia. North edge of the study area.
Where it was
SW1/4 of Sec. 24, T7S R68W, from postmaster John H. Craig's site report of June 3, 1869 (local name 'Craigs Ranch'), half a mile north of Plum Creek and nine miles south of the Platte (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.