Edward L. Thayer
The name that appears again and again in relation to immigrants from China residing in Colorado, especially Park County, is Edward L. Thayer. Thayer was born on the east coast but moved to California during the gold rush.[1] Most notably, Thayer developed a special rapport with the immigrants from China that he worked with in the United States. He became a trusted friend and advisor to many, including Chin Lin Sou.[2] Thayer openly advocated for the people from China who lived in Colorado and defended them against the press as free men who did, in fact, contribute financially to the United States. For this he was accused of leading “a Tartar invasion” of cheap laborers into the state.[3]
Thayer was a renowned Chinese language interpreter across the western United States and travelled to many locations to assist in various matters involving people from China. Throughout his life, Thayer remained an entrepreneur and took advantage of many different business opportunities. His primary focus was on procuring mining real estate that he could then lease to laborers from China, since they were legally unable to do so themselves in America.[4]
Edward Thayer resided in Gilpin County from 1873 until he relocated to Park County in 1875.[6] He was loosely involved in the placer operations in Hamilton but especially distinguished himself for his work in Fairplay, Como, and King.[7] In 1875, he was hired to supply two hundred miners from China for Clark and Smith’s placer mine in Fairplay.[8] Thayer remained with the Clark and Smith placer, also known as the Fairplay placer, until a natural catastrophe destroyed much of the workings. Having lost major monetary investments, Thayer abandoned the operation and went seeking other opportunities in the county.[9]
Thayer relocated to the town of Como after being hired by the president of the Denver, South Park, and Pacific Railroad Company and the South Park Coal Company to supply laborers and oversee operations in the coal mines there.[10] Thayer was superintendent in Como at the time of the “Battle of Como” and suffered a violent altercation for defending the Chinese miners.[11] Concurrent with the operations in Como, Thayer was also pivotal in acquiring the land for the coal mines and settlement at King.[12] His efforts at King with the Union Pacific Coal Company elevated it to one of the most prosperous coal-producing mining complexes in the state.[13] Thayer remained working at the Como and King coal mines until he sustained a stroke while traveling to Fairplay during a blizzard that left the left side of his body paralyzed.[14] Shortly afterward, he left Colorado to seek medical help back on the east coast, which drained his remaining finances.[15] He returned to Denver in 1893 and was cared for by a Chinese merchant whom he had previously worked with.[16] Soon after, Thayer died at the age of sixty-two on June 3, 1893, and was interned at Fairmount Cemetery.[17]
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[1] “E L Thayer in the U.S., IRS Tax Assessment Lists, 1862-1918,” AncestryLibrary, accessed September 18, 2023; “E Thayer in the U.S., IRS Tax Assessment Lists, 1862-1918,” AncestryLibrary, accessed September 18, 2023; Henry G. Langley, The Pacific Coast Business Directory for 1867 (San Francisco, CA: Henry G. Langley, 1867), https://spl.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15015coll2/id/6272.
[2] Gerald E. Rudolph, “The Chinese in Colorado, 1869-1911” (dissertation, 1964), 10, 34, 47-48, 53; Virginia McConnell Simmons, Bayou Salado: the Story of South Park (Colorado Springs, CO: Century One Press, 1982), 158-159; Laura Van Dusen, Early Days in South Park: Parked in the Past (Como, CO: Vandusenville Publications, 2016), 84-85; “The Chinaman's New-Year,” Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO), Feb. 10, 1875, Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection, https://www.coloradohistoricnewspapers.org/; “Another Pioneer at Rest,” Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO), Jan. 4, 1893.
[3] “John Chinaman in Colorado,” Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO), Apr. 29, 1874, Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection.
[4] Simmons, 158-159.
[5] Michala Whitmore, “Chin Lin Sou,” Colorado Encyclopedia, 2021, https://coloradoencyclopedia.org/article/chin-lin-sou; William Wei, Asians in Colorado: a History of Persecution and Perseverance in the Centennial State (Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press, 2016), 78; Rudolph, 34.
[6] Simmons, 158.
[7] Rudolph, 64-65; Simmons, 159; Fairplay County Clerk, “E. L. Thayer with T. S. Butts Agreement,” 1880-1882; “Mining Matters,” Fairplay Flume (Fairplay, CO), Jul. 19, 1888, Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection.
[8] Simmons, 158.
[9] Rudolph, 50-53.
[10] Rudolph, 50-53; Simmons, 159.
[11] “The Como War,” Fairplay Flume (Fairplay, CO), Nov. 13, 1879, Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection.
[12] Fairplay Flume (Fairplay, CO), August 28, 1879, Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection; Fairplay County Clerk, E. L. Thayer with T. S. Butts Agreement, 1882; Fairplay County Clerk, “Ephraim L. Thayer to South Park Coal Company Warranty Deed,” 1882.
[13] “Mining Matters,” The Fairplay Flume; “Another Pioneer at Rest,” The Rocky Mountain News.
[14] Rudolph, 50-53; Simmons, 159.
[15] Rudolph, 50-53; “Another Pioneer at Rest,” The Rocky Mountain News.
[16] Van Dusen, 85; “Another Pioneer at Rest,” The Rocky Mountain News.
[17] According to the Fairmount Sexton Records, there is an “F. L. Thayer” who died in June 1893; “Another Pioneer at Rest,” The Rocky Mountain News; “Local Brevities,” Rocky Mountain News (Denver, CO), Jun. 7, 1893, Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection; “Fairmount Sexton's Records, 1891-1953, Fairmount Cemetery, Denver, Colorado,” Digital Collections: Cemetery Indexes (Denver Public Library, 2020), https://digital.denverlibrary.org/digital/collection/p16079coll14/id/3578.