People

: Earnest Edward Martin; He was born in Toppenish, Washington and moved with his family to Colorado in 1908. The family homesteaded near Whitewater Creek between Whitewater and Purdy Mesa until 1929. He worked in an ACE Hardware store in Grand Junction. He took over the Gateway-Uravan Stage/Star Postal Route from his father in the 1930s. He continued to win and maintained the postal contract and stage line until 1951 when he sold it to Austin Tindall. He became a mechanic and a government employee. In 1952, he came back and partnered with Austin Tindall on the now-extended stage route. He left the stage/postal business permanently in 1962. He moved to California in 1964.

: Eben "Dean" Massey; He was born in Meeker, Colorado to Eben Lafayette “Son” Massey Jr. and Lillian (Hall) Massey. His father was a rancher and his mother was a homemaker. His parents ran a ranch in Gateway, to which he moved at the age of three or four. He spent the summers there, while spending the school years in Grand Junction. He also spent some summers in De Beque, where his uncle owned a ranch, working as a ranch hand and helping him put up hay. He graduated from Grand Junction High School. He then attended Mesa College before going to the University of Oklahoma Installment and Commercial Lending school. He began working in the financial services field around 1973. He worked as the vice president of commercial loans for IntraWest Bank of Grand Junction before becoming an installment loan officer for the U.S. Bank of Grand Junction. He graduated from the Grand Junction American Institute of Banking in 1978. He became the vice president for commercial loans for United Bank of Grand Junction in 1985 (some information comes from the article “Briefcase,” Daily Sentinel, 7 July 1985). *Photograph of Eben "Dean" Massey from the 1969 Grand Junction High School yearbook

: Eben Lafayette "Son" Massey Jr.; He was born in Colorado to Ebenezer “Eben” Bryan Massey and Lillian (Hall) Massey. His father was a rancher and his mother was a homemaker. The 1930 US Census shows them living in Whitewater, when Eben was seven. By 1940, the family had moved to Gateway, where they lived on a working ranch. He married Helen Valeria Massey, and the 1950 Census shows them living with their two-year-old daughter on Highway 141, with Eben working as a ranch hand. He served in the US Army during World War II.

: Eben McKean "Mac" Miller; He was born in Maryland to Lawrence Miller, a farmer, and to Amelia Miller, a homemaker. All three came to Western Colorado in 1887, when Mac was 21. They shipped their 1,500 cattle by narrow gauge railroad to Montrose and then drove them to Palisade. There, they purchased land in a gulch where they could pasture their cattle. They lived on Fifth and South Streets in Palisade and brought water from the Colorado River by barrel. He also had Angora goats. They sold the gulch and goats in 1918 and moved to Grand Junction. According to his daughter Frieda (Miller) Weaver, Mac Miller was the person who first put a flagpole on Mount Garfield. Apparently, he was also a colorful character. He fought with a man named Bill Buzzard. Buzzard was much taller, and used to pick on Miller while they were ranching. Miller grew sick of this treatment, roped Buzzard, and dragged him through the brush. Buzzard filed suit against Miller and took him to court over the incident. Miller also rode his horse on the boardwalk in Grand Junction one time when he was drunk. Upon paying the fine of $5 to the police, he paid another $5, saying that he planned to do it again.

: Ebenezer "Eben" Bryan Massey; Cattle rancher in the Gateway and Unaweep Canyon areas in the early 1900’s. He was born to Mary Elenor (Bryan) Massey and Eben Thomas Massey in Colorado. He grew up in the Whitewater and Unaweep Canyon areas, where his father was a cattle rancher. His mother, an Irish immigrant, took over the cattle ranching business after Eben Thomas Massey’s untimely death in 1903, when Eben was about five years old. He married Lillian Hall in Grand Junction on January 27, 1920. The 1930 US Census shows them living in Whitewater with their two children in a rented home, with Eben working as a ranch manager. By 1940 they had moved to Gateway, where they owned and occupied ranch land. His grandson Eben “Dean” Massey says that when Eben was younger, he might be out working with cattle for months at a time before returning home.

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