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Early prospectors in Elbert County creeks didn't have much luck at finding the gold they came for. Too broke to return East, they took up farming or found work at the sawmills. They were joined by "go-backs" coming from the mountains, or newcomers coming along the Smoky Hill Trail, which split into three paths through Elbert County. The north branch shot up through Arapahoe County. Colorado highway 86 would later be built over the south branch, through Elizabeth and Kiowa. The middle trail, bisecting the county, was the merciless Starvation Trail. Billed as the best route from Kansas City to the Pikes Peak gold fields, Smoky Hill proved to be one of the most difficult trails. Although migrants were assured there was plenty of water, there wasn't. But there were plenty of Indians taking a very dim view of the stream of trespassers.

Reality, in the form of serious negative reports back to Kansas was not a deterrent. Stories about lack of water and forage, trails without markings, and bodies, hastily dug graves and abandoned wagons and equipment littering the road were plentiful--and ignored. There was also at least one report of cannibalism; the survivor was rescued by an Indian.

Newspaperman Henry Villard, who traveled over the route in a stagecoach in late spring 1859, filed a story for the Cincinnati Daily Commercial:

It is doubtful whether such scenes of human misery, as were enacted on the Plains last spring, were witnessed even at the height of the California excitement. But although hardships and privations of every description were the experiences of nearly all that ventured upon the inhospitable vastness of the Plains...it is nevertheless true that they could in justice blame but themselves, and not the routes, for whatever endurances....The intense thirst for gold caused thousands to disregard the repeated and earnest warnings [and set out too early or unprepared]...it is suicidal folly to undertake [the journey] hitched to hand-carts, loaded with a scanty supply of provisions and clothing, or, a still greater infatuation, worrying along afoot with their all on their backs. Outright madness as it must appear....[I saw men with only the clothes on their backs] twenty pounds of corn-meals and $1.68....fancy clerks with the remnants of broadcloth and patent leather; the young lawyer and incipient medical practitioner....footmen...hungry, in rags, shoeless with sore and swollen feet, without shelter from the [ever-changing elements.] Not a few had to meet death in its most awful form, by starvation, and, what was still worse, were driven by the maddening pangs of hunger to acts of cannibalism....

Lt. John Charles Fremont led one of the first U.S. Government expeditions into the county in 1842. Besieged by Indians, he and his men sought shelter in a rocky promontory accessible only by a narrow pass. Now called Fremont's Fort, the site is near the southern border of Elbert County.

Arapaho, Kiowa, Comanche, and Southern Cheyenne freely roamed the land before the onslaught of settlers. They made their presence known for years afterwards. Many were curious about the unfamiliar foods eaten by the settlers. Ute Chief Colorow, fond of biscuits and bacon, visited Elbert County's first judge so often he wore out his welcome. But he was allowed to sit on the doorstep with his biscuits and bacon. Aggrieved at the breach of etiquette, Colorow rose to full height, raised his arm and said: "My white friend makes the great Colorow feel bad; when he come to my house, coffee, bacon, biscuit, when I come to his house, bread and milk."

The friendliness between Indians and settlers evaporated with the heinous Hungate slayings just north of Elizabeth in June 1864. Nathan Hungate, a ranch manager, and his family "were brutally murdered by Indians, the ranch burned to the ground, and about 30 head of horses and mules driven off." Mrs. Hungate had been stabbed, scalped and showed "signs of being violated." Her four-year-old daughter and infant had their throats cut, their heads were "nearly severed from their bodies." Mr. Hungate was "horribly mutilated and the scalp torn off."

The bodies of the Hungates were taken to Denver, where, according to the Rocky Mountain News:

[The corpses were] placed in a box, side by side, the two children between their parents [were] shown to the people from a shed....Everybody who viewed the family showed signs of anger and revenge....This display sent off a panic in the city and the people cried out for protection from the savages.

Ranchers and farmers fled to Denver for protection. The phrase "The Indians are coming" emptied the streets as people scurried for cover, barred the doors, and loaded their guns. The governor asked "the friendly Indians of the plains" to report to areas where they would be protected from white retribution. When that failed, the governor issued a proclamation allowing citizens to "kill and destroy [the Indians] as enemies of the country...." Two more men and a child were killed in Elbert County, others were ambushed but escaped. The terror ended in November, 1864, with the infamous Sand Creek Massacre.

Originally part of Arapahoe County, Kansas Territory, and then Douglas and short-lived Greenwood counties. Elbert County was split off Douglas County in 1874. Middle Kiowa (now just Kiowa) was named county seat, and retains the position in spite of efforts by Elizabeth and Elbert to get the designation. The two latter towns fought each other for position while Kiowa built a courthouse. Douglas County had to divide courthouse property--said to consist of "18 chairs, two stoves, one set of leg irons and six handcuffs"--with the new county.

Elbert County is named for Samuel H. Elbert, former Territorial Secretary (1862-1866) and Territorial Governor (1873-1874). During the 1864 Indian scare he had been in charge of Denver's military preparations. A lawyer by profession, he was a member of the 1869 Territorial Legislature and an ardent supporter of Colorado statehood. There was "no man more sincere in his efforts to give the Territory a capable and good government...." Judge Elbert was one of the first three Justices elected to the Colorado Supreme in 1876 and served for eight years, five of them as Chief Justice. His wife, the daughter of Gov. John Evans, and only son died in 1868; he never remarried.

Gov. Elbert was the honored guest and speaker at his namesake town's first annual potato bake and barbecue.

Samuel Elbert died in 1899.

In recent years, although the county roads are dotted with horse trailers, and cattle ignore increasing traffic, some of the agricultural land has been turned into housing developments for the expanding Denver metro area

The population of Elbert County in 1880 was 1,798. By 1900 the count was 3,101; in 1950, it was 4,477; and in 1990, 9,646.