What we know
Butte near Greenland, 'named for the large amount of rattlesnakes found on it' (Larkspur Historical Society, 'Ranch Echo,' S-0045); an old wagon road on it 'was used in hauling out the building stone' (Greenland binder, 1957 students' history, S-0005, pp. 32, 46). The Castle Rock Journal reported a seven-foot rattlesnake killed a mile north of Greenland in 1885 (quoted on the same Larkspur Historical Society page, S-0045).
Where it was
USGS GNIS summit 'Rattlesnake Butte', Douglas County (2021 Colorado file, S-0007). Good to a few hundred feet.
Sources
- S-0005: Larkspur Historical Society, "Historical Site Survey Binders"
- 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)
- S-0045: Larkspur Historical Society website (larkspurhistoricalsociety.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.