Berthoud Weekly Surveyor July 25, 2013 Page 5 The historical society and Mark French are interested in obtaining and copying old photos from Berthoud’s past. Please contact Mark at 532-2147 if you have any photos you would like to share.
A LOOK AT BERTHOUD
Old Colonial Entertainment raised funds for school library
I
n the spring of 1897, after Berthoud School Dist. No. 13 built a new school in present-day Fickel Park, the student body raised money to purchase books for the school’s library. When the school was built that year the two-story brick school house consisted of two large classrooms on each floor. It cost the district $5,738.45 to construct the school building that housed over 100 students in lower, intermediate and upper departments. The movement to raise money for the school library got underway in 1896 when a benefit was scheduled for early December. The event was postponed indefinitely after two children who were recovering from scarlet fever returned to school too soon and infected the primary department. A few months later, in March 1897, an epidemic of measles nearly closed the school when attendance dwindled to half of the normal
level. Finally, in May 1897 when the Berthoud School student body was in good health, the benefit event was rescheduled at Tilton’s Hall, a large upstairs room at the C.M. Tilton Lumber & Coal Co. on East Mountain Avenue, Tilton’s Hall was the place where large public gatherings were held in Berthoud. The Berthoud Fire Protection District station presently occupies the site where the lumberyard and Tilton’s Hall was once located. The event came to life on April 29, 1897, when The Berthoud Bulletin announced, “The Berthoud School will give an old colonial entertainment for the benefit of the school library at Tilton’s Hall, Saturday evening, May 15, 1897. The exercises will consist of music, recitations, drills, tableaux, pantomime, etc. Admission 15 cents.” The following week the newspaper followed up with another invitation penned in colonial era flavor when it added, “If ye folks of Berthoud toune and countrie rounde aboute will wend their wey to Tilton’s Hall on the evening of the 15th day of May, MDCCCXCVII, ye children of ye publick school will endeavoure to entertain them for a tyme with speeches, and musick of voice and instrument; with tableaux, pantomime and other amusements. Photo courtesy of the Ludlow Collection. Berthoud Historical Society Many of the exercises will Florence Early (left) and Walter Bimson (right) pretend to provoke ye compasented a tableaux of a colonial era scene at a library nye to mirth. Ye tutors and book fundraising event in May 1897. The event was ye children will be clad in held at Tilton’s Hall on East Mountain Avenue. costumes of ye olden times.
An admission of seven and one half pence will be axed, which will be used to buy bookes for the librarie. Exercises will begin at eight of the clock.” On the night of May 15, 1897, what the Surveyor local tabloid Columnist termed as the “Old Colonial Entertainment” was attended by a large and enthusiastic audience that was distracted by the rumbling of an enormous thunderstorm that made it Mark nearly impossiFrench ble to hear. Still, the proceeds received from the event totaled $21.60. The school principal, O.E. Jackson, took the funds to Denver and used them to purchase library books. The Berthoud Bulletin reported that Professor Jackson also bought a rifle or “lion killer” during his shopping trip to Denver since he intended to “spend the summer months in the mountains prospecting for specimens.” The photograph that accompanies this tale shows two Berthoud School students, Florence Early and Walter Bimson, presenting tableaux (living picture of a scene) during the Old Colonial Entertainment. Years later Florence Early and Walter Bimson, the son of Berthoud blacksmith A.G. Bimson, graduated from Berthoud High School and got married.
Emerald ash borer
By the Berthoud Tree Advisory Committee The emerald ash borer (EAB) was first discovered in S.E. Michigan in 2002, probably having hitched a ride in a wooden packing crate. Native to Asia, it has no known natural controls here in the U.S. The beetles are metallic green in color and are about the size of a sunflower seed. They attack a tree by tunneling under the bark in the conductive layer that transports nutrients up to the rest of the tree, disrupting that flow and eventually killing the tree. Communities all over the upper Midwest have been severely impacted. It has spread to New England, south into Tennessee, and has made it as far west as Kansas City. So far the monetary impact is estimated at $25 billion. With the loss of so many trees in urban areas which provide much needed shade from hot summer temperatures, communities have seen a sharp rise in electricity and water usage, not to mention the huge impact on municipal budgets. This is of great concern to the Town of Berthoud because, according to the latest public tree inventory conducted in 2011, 30 percent of our street and park trees are ash. With over 2,100 public trees, that means at least 630 trees are at risk. This does not include trees on private property. Our biggest threat is that a load of firewood from an infected area, or somehow a live beetle, finds its way to the Front Range, even though infested areas are required to quarantine infected wood. One thing in our favor is the width of the Great Plains and the distance between communities up and down the Front Range. The EAB can only fly approximately one half to one mile. Front Range communities have been proactive the last several years, with the help of the USDA, by setting traps for the EAB. Berthoud participated for two years and no beetles have yet to be found. Loveland is trapping this year. Community foresters and the Colorado State Forest Service think it is just a matter of time before we see the arrival of the devastating pest, and it will surpass the loss of elm trees to the Dutch elm disease of the 1970s. Since 2002 research on chemical treatments has resulted in some success. The most widely used treatment is micro injections to protect trees from the borer. Some can protect the tree for up to two years but can cost upwards of several hundred dollars per tree depending on it’s size. Chemical soil drenches around the base of the tree have also been somewhat effective but are not as safe for the environment, people and pets. So where do we go from here? The Front Range Urban Forestry Council, which is comprised of municipal foresters from Front Range communities and organized by the Community Forestry Program from the Colorado State Forest Service, is working on an action plan. Foresters from Boulder and Fort Collins working on the project and hope a plan that can be shared between comminutes will be ready this fall. Berthoud will then have some direction to take in combating the EAB threat without having to totally design our own plan and, depending on the recommendations, we can adjust it to fit our local needs. One idea is to start planting other species, especially in Old Town, to contemplate potential loss and diversify our urban forest. So now is not the time to plant any more ash trees. Will keep you updated on any further developments.