Pioneer and Founder, E. P. Wilber was a member of the Meeker Townsite Company. This is an abbreviated version of his obituary published April 23, 1958: Rio Blanco County lost its oldest and one of its most loved and respected Pioneer, when Mr. Edwin P. Wilber passed away last Friday evening at the Mt. View Nursing Home in Glenwood Springs.
He was born Sept. 22, 1861 in Schoharie County in New York State, the son of Monemica [SIC] and David Wilber. Mr. Wilber left his home in 1880 when just a young man, first going to Schenectady and later that spring to Troy, New York, where he worked in the steel mills. Moving west Mr. Wilber worked in Buffalo [NY] then got a job on a freighter and headed across the Great Lakes to Chicago.
In the spring of 1881 Mr. Wilber came to Denver, having bought what the railroads called immigration tickets which were sold to prospective new settlers who were heading West. The next year found Mr. Wilber on the Union Pacific headed for Rawlins, Wyoming, where he took a job as a mule skinner on the freight run between Rawlins and the military Post on the White River. The freight outfit was owned by Hugus & Company which had the military trading store in what is now Meeker.
In 1884, Mr. Wilber, Sam Fairfield and Frank Sheridan ran the line and built the town ditch which brought water to the new town (this same ditch runs through the town today). Mr. Wilber spent the winter of 1883 in town working at the Meeker Hotel for Mrs. Wright, then in the spring of 1884 he hired out to the LO7 which was the biggest cattle outfit in the valley. A bunch of cowboys were sent to western Utah where they took delivery and branded 3,500 head of cattle. It was quite a trip tailing that many cattle for over 700 miles. Mr. Wilber next went in partnership with Harry Goff and started the first feed stable in Meeker. The next year Mr. Wilber sold the feed stable and went to work for Niblock Bros., working fived years for the NV outfit which ran between 3,000 and 4,000 cattle.
Shortly after Mr. Wilber first came to the valley he preempted 160 acres of land seven miles east of Meeker. It was while he was working for the Niblock Brothers that he was married to Miss Mary Watson, daughter of another of our pioneer families. They were united in marriage on Christmas Day, 1888. It was the first wedding performed by a minister of St. James Church in Meeker.
In 1890 Mr. Wilber was elected town marshal, serving for three years. In 1893 he was elected county sheriff, serving in this office for two terms. It was while Mr. Wilber was sheriff that the attempted bank robbery took place. After completing two terms as sheriff, he moved the family to the ranch. Mr. Wilber added to the ranch and built up on the finest ranch and cattle businesses in the valley.
NOTE TO OUR READERS: We are seeking photos and personal stories on the Rope Ski Tow on Nine Mile during the ’60s.
