D.C. Oakes : Family, Friends & Foe

The adventures of Daniel Chessman Oakes begin with the California Gold Rush. D.C. Oakes, Aylett Cotton and others left DeWitt, Iowa, in 1849 as part of the Sacramento Mining Company. He returned to Iowa, built a town called Pacific City and after the financial crash of 1857 was asked to check out rumors of gold in Colorado. He wrote a guidebook and was buried in effigy. D. C. was related to Hiram P. Bennet, Colorado's first delegate, and Buffalo Bill Cody. His life intertwined with Kit Carson, Jim Baker, George Eayre, Silas Soule, William Byers, Charles Stobie, Lafayette Head, A. C. Hunt, Colonel Chivington, John Evans and others. He was a vigilante, a member of Denver's first city council and a legislature. He was also the first postmaster of Douglas County and the first president of the pioneer society known as the 59'rs. As Indian agent for the northern Utes he maintained peace for five years. In his later years he surveyed much of Colorado including the much-disputed Sangre de Christo grant.