James L. McHatton was a member of the Meeker Townsite Company. He was president of the Townsite in July 1885 when he, Mayor Clark and Thayer went to Glenwood Springs to apply for a patent on the land.
James was a well-known rancher in early White River valley. The outfit McHatton and Dreifuss owned the brand, Bar 7. At one time the McHatton and Dreifuss owned 500 to 600 horses on the Little Beaver ranch. Some were pure bred Norman and Percheron stallions which he used to improve bloodlines in our area. The July 3,1886 issue of the Meeker Herald reported that “Cap Webb and Donald, the imported Norman Stallions of McHatton & Dreifuss would stand the remining part of the season at their barn in Meeker. Mares can be left on pasture at the rate of $3 per month.”
Although unmarried, J. L. McHatton’s legacy lives on through his sister’s family. Joanna McHatton Wash’s daughters, Adalaide Wash and Nellie Wash came to Meeker along with their maiden aunt, Mary E. McHatton. Readers of the July 17, 1886, Meeker Herald learned that “A merry party consisting of Miss [Mary] McHatton, Miss Addie, and Miss Nellie Wash, Mrs. Miller, and Mac, left town Friday morning in two-seated wagon for a trip up on the South Fork of the White River. They took a camp outfit and will be gone several days.”
Nellie Wash later married Frank E. Sheridan, J.L. McHatton’s business partner. Adalaide Wash married Lewis Boyd Walbridge. These families have connections all over our area. Young James L. McHatton, his sisters Mary, Joanna and four other siblings lost their mother, Parmelia Perina Price in June of 1850. She died of “consumption,” which was later called tuberculosis.
Their father, John Green McHatton, a farmer in Rushville, Illinois, was left with seven children under the age of 13 to care for. All seven children were placed with friends and relatives nearby. Two of the youngest lived with their widowed grandmother, Elizabeth Nicholas Price. James L. McHatton and F.E. Sheridan arrived in the Camp on the White River in Summer of 1883, before the Army left. They became stockholders in the Meeker Townsite Company. James L. McHatton and F.E. Sheridan are attributed to having the first sawmill here. I believe that White River Agency had a sawmill previously, but this was a much larger scale and in 1886 added upgrades like a planer, matcher, resawer and lathe. Meeker builders relied on the McHatton and Sheridan lumberyard until they sold out to G. S. Allesbrook in September of 1886. James also had ranching interests in Uintah County, Utah. He brought the first alfalfa seeds from Utah to the Meeker area, giving us another winter feed source and improving our economy. James L. McHatton, born February 1845 Schuler County, Illinois, died at the age of 65 February 4, 1910 in Denver while in route to visit relatives. He left his extensive estate in trust for his grandnieces and grandnephews to be distributed at the age of 25. The Bar 7 brand continues in use today with the Sheridan family.
Sources: Rio Blanco Historical Society; This Is What I Remember books; 1850 Illinois Federal Census; 1850 Illinois Mortality schedules; BLM GLO; Coloradohistoricalnewspapers.org; Buckshot Sheridan; Note: McHatton’s partner was Hiram Morris Dreifuss (1863-1896). Driefuss had his own cattle brand, X-l