Homesteading Haxtun and the High Plains

Book excerpt: Very little has been written about the "real" northeastern plains of Colorado, the small communities that dot its open, sky-filled, mountainless landscape. Haxtun began as two separate homesteads, "proved up" by Alice Strohm and Kate (Fletcher) Edwards, who sold their land to the Lincoln Land Company in 1887, which led to the founding of the town. The area was generally viewed as useless land in those early days but was promoted as being full of opportunity--neglecting mention of a proclivity toward drought, hailstorms and blizzards and the gamble of the land. The High Plains survived, though. Its settlers, proving to be hardy and industrious, faced the challenges head on. Today, Haxtun and the surrounding communities of Fairfield, Dailey, Fleming and Paoli are filled with the descendants of those early settlers, people with a strong sense of community and pride in their little High Plains towns.