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By Terry W. Blevins
 A few miles west of Limon, in Elbert County, the Big Sandy River makes a wide turn. In the earlier days, only the Indians knew that bend in the river, but later, the big cattle outfits came to know it, as well, and it eventually was included as a welcome oasis along the Smoky Hill Trail.
Still later, a stage station was located near there, between the bend and Cedar Point to the west, along with an underground military fort and canvas barracks quartering Company F of the Fifth Regiment of the regular army, and a small camp of woodchoppers. With the coming of the railroad, the area became a major cattle holding and shipping facility.
Now, it's known locally for its pioneer cemetery and (on some old road maps) for a freeway exit named "River Bend."
During the second half of the 19th Century, prior to the coming of "sodbusters," the River Bend country was open range. Most of the cattle operations were huge, with one, owned by a man named H. H. Metcalf, reportedly extending as far south as Mexico. Metcalf based his ranch about three miles of River Bend. A local historian, the late Kittie Holt, said Metcalf came from Scotland and introduced the Angus breed of cattle to eastern Colorado. Metcalf's ranch, the "Heart M," is credited with stringing the first barbed wire fence to be seen in the land, she said.
Another pioneer cattleman and prominent politician, John P. Dickinson, who came to this area in 1875, wrote in 1939 that Metcalf was a New Englander...possibly from Rhode Island. Dickinson said Metcalf ran 10,000 to 15,000 head of cattle and employed 12 to 15 riders during the summer seasons.
Other stories say Metcalf maintained an entire township for his herd of 300 cow ponies, and kept riders on his payroll based in Texas, just to watch for his stray cows.
And one of Metcalf's contemporaries, a railroad man named John Edwards, remembered the "Heart M" as a dude ranch.
Another old-time cattleman in the River Bend country was Charlie Merrick, who lived nearer the Resolis community. Merrick originally was from Missouri, and his spread became known as "Merrick Meadows."
Other ranches of the time were owned by W. T. Holt and Company, Brown, Dodd and Company, Dowling Brothers, the Liptraps, A. C. Middlemist, William McVeigh, the OZ - Ranch, F. 0. C. Moore, and D. W. and W. W. Towse.
Stage station established
During the 1860s, a stage station was established near the bend in the river, with the stage traffic protected by a company of soldiers from the small fort situated northwest of there.
Then, July 17, 1870, the Kansas-Pacific Railroad (now the Union Pacific) arrived from the east, en route to Denver. The community, now known as "Old River Bend," moved about two miles southeast to accommodate the railroad (some say the town burned, necessitating the move), and when the track crews arrived, it already boasted six houses at the new location.
For the next couple of decades, River Bend boomed. The town had a post office, a grocery store, a general merchandise store, a school house, a railroad depot, section house and shipping facilities. And at one time, it's reported, River Bend had upwards of 20 operating saloons, all but one or two in wagons, tents or lean-tos, designed to move with the advancing railroad to cater to any Kansas-Pacific gandy dancers eager to part with their pay.
Kittie Holt said River Bend was the largest shipping point between Kansas and Denver during this period, with thousands of sheep and cattle loaded out there each year.
But toward the end of the following decade, another railroad came through eastern Colorado. The Chicago, Kansas and Nebraska Railroad, later to become the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific, crossed the Union Pacific east of River Bend in 1889, and went through Resolis and Simla toward Colorado Springs. That crossing of the rail lines was named "Limon," after a Rock Island employee, and during the next 20 years, River Bend's business and population gradually shifted to the new town to the east.
Another of the early settlers in the River Bend area was Smith Harper, who homesteaded north of River Bend after coming west from Pennsylvania. Harper became a large rancher in the area, and he served as a deputy sheriff for a time. His most lasting contribution proved to be his donation of land for a cemetery for the community.
Early stories say the need for a cemetery became urgent after a group of soldiers from the fort came to town to partake of the pleasures offered by the saloons. An altercation ensued, and a couple of the rowdies became deceased... and thus became the first inhabitants of the new cemetery. The names of those "good time Charleys" don't appear on the list of persons buried in the cemetery, but the story still might be true, as the cemetery does contain 13 unmarked graves.
A typical "boot hill"
A typical "boot hill," the cemetery lies atop a windswept hill north of River Bend, accessible by a rutted trail which winds through a pasture. It can be seen from the freeway today, only because of the small trees growing there.
River Bend's decline began when Limon was born, but the little town continued to exist well into the 20th Century. The town was platted by the Union Pacific in 1909, and in 1913, a community hall was built through public subscription, to be used for Sunday School, dances and other public activities. It later was sold to the Kontour family and was moved to their ranch.
During the 1930s, the school house continued to be used for community meetings, but it, too, eventually was moved away. Walter Case was the final rail agent, operating the depot until it was closed permanently in 1932. The depot was moved to the Jim Butler ranch near Agate. The post office continued to operate into the 1940s, and Cecile Kesler was the postmaster when it closed in 1942.
For the next several decades, only the railroad stock pens remained to mark the place where River Bend had been, but even those were removed in 1975.
Now, only the River Bend cemetery remains, with its 53 inhabitants. The earliest marked grave in the cemetery is that of Susanna Mooney, who died in 1880 at the age of 18.
Other markers are representative of the community's history: early rancher Dan Towse, who died in 1911; John Monahan, the first section boss on the railroad there and father of the first child born in River Bend; Fred McIlhenney, rancher, River Bend mercantile proprietor and Elbert County Treasurer; and Lilly Hudson, a nurse in the Spanish-American war who became River Bend's postmaster in 1915. She died in 1955, at the age of 95.
Information for this article was taken from: Historical Vignettes of River Bend, Colo., by Kittie Holt; Ghosts of the Colorado Plains, by Perry Eberhart; The Eastern Colorado Leader, April 21,1939; Colorado Records & Resources, Vol. 1-Elbert County Cemeteries, 1981; MVEA Hot Lines, July 1973; The Smoky Hill Trail, by Margaret Long; and The First Five Years of the Railroad Era in Colorado, by E. 0. Davis.
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