February 5, 1942 Diary

Thursday, 36th day - 329 Days to Follow

Written by Margie Arbuthnot

28 degrees above at 7 A.M.

Rather a disagreeable day - a cold west wind.

Don and Dad fixed the fence around Haystack.

Mrs. Clarke and Ella Davies called this P.M.

Flo[erence] here this P.M. late afternoon.

Club met with Mrs. Thorne this P.M.

I didn't go, had too much of a cold.

Cold this evening, still a west wind.

Temp 30 degrees above at 8:30 P.M.

Haystack Mountain and the fencing around it.

This large hill has been important to the Arbuthnot family since they first arrived in 1859.  It is the highest peak before you get to the Rocky Mountains.  So it served well as a lookout, as you could see who was coming from miles away.  The Arapaho camped here as the Left Hand Creek flows to the south side of the mountain, this was one of their winter camps.  For the gold miners, when it was too cold to be in the mountains, up in the mining camps at Gold Hill, the men would come down to Haystack and live in a small miner's cabin there near where the Arapaho were camped.   After Fred's father, William, had returned from going back to Iowa, he brought with him a special kind of ax that cut holes into the wood fence.  There is no count of how many of these fence posts that were cut, but there were many that were used around Haystack Mountain and other of the old pioneer's farms. You can see these fence posts today at the Haystack Mt. Golf club house where they are used as a room divider.  In the 1950's, Fred donated the ax to the Boulder Historical Society, along with other items that his family had brought with them.  In later years, may farm women would use these fence posts as an edge to their garden by laying down the log.  They would plant flowers in the holes of the post.  You can see this done at the Old Mill Park in front of the Affolter Cabin in Longmont.

Home of Fred and Margie Arbuthnot on Niwot Rd.
You can see Haystack Mt, where Fred was born, to the left of the house.
Photo taken in the 1970's.

The old fence post made by Fred's father, William Arbuthnot.
At Haystack Mt. Photo taken in the 1970's.