County, Meeker, Stories

What the White River Valley and Bel Air, Calif., have in common

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The Buford school house was donated by Minewa Bell Roosevelt (wife of Elliott Roosevelt) to the White River community in 1953, in memory of her father, Alfonso Bell. Bell not only owned a significant amount of land in the White River valley, he founded the prestigious Bel Air community in California. Today the school house is used by the White River Community Association for their annual fish fry. Photo by Bobby Gutierrez

MEEKER I Taking…

2 Comments

  1. Melissa
    October 3, 2016 at 4:53 pm

    Hi Hallie,

    I found the above article that your wrote very interesting and informative. I am researching a painting by Frank Tenney Johnson that probably depicts the area around Alfonzo Bell’s Colorado ranch which the artist visited in the summer of 1929. The two were friends. I’m trying to figure out where in Colorado it is — the northwest part of the state? Would it have been on or near a National Forest?

    Thank you for your help with this.

  2. Niki Turner
    October 3, 2016 at 6:16 pm

    Hi Melissa,
    Alphonzo Bell’s ranch was in the northwest corner of Colorado, in Rio Blanco County, in or near the White River National Forest. You might email the White River Museum here in Meeker, as they have quite a bit of history related to Mr. Bell. ([email protected]) You can also check out this link, which has a map for Mr. Bell’s land patent: https://thelandpatents.com/owners/336343
    Good luck!
    Niki

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