What we know
Rock Island post village, platted 1888; PO 1890-1914. Limon 9 miles east, Mattison 10 west, River Bend 3.5 northeast; Big Sandy Creek half a mile; about 100 people (1890). The report first gave the county as Lincoln, struck for Elbert. Eastern ridge.
Where it was
NW1/4 of Sec. 13, T9S R58W, from William H. Reed's post office site report of July 11, 1890, at the Rock Island depot (NARA M1126, S-0113), via the BLM PLSS survey grid. Good to about a quarter mile. Place Names of Colorado also shows it in Sec. 27.
Placed from a written description, such as a land section, a distance from a landmark or an old survey note.
Sources
- 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-0068: U.S. Postal Bulletin (Post Office Department daily orders), 1880s–1950s issues
- 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.