Owen Edgar Noland was born in September 1852. He had an adventurer streak that brought him west, where he hauled logs for the Mitchell sawmill over in Thompson Park. He married Caroline Mitchell in 1880.
One day in 1881, Edgar went to Durango with the ingenuity and slyness of a fox. He went directly to Ed Schiffer, whose family owned the Schiffer Mercantile Company. He said he wanted to build a trading post on the San Juan River and stock it with goods from the Schiffer store. Schiffer said, "That country is Hell's own background. It's bad country where white and red men dwell who shun civilization for personal reasons."
Ed decided Noland would be a good risk, providing he was not killed before he had time to pay for the goods. The Schiffer family took out an insurance policy on Noland's life to ensure they would get a return on their merchandise should Noland be killed by the Native Americans. The Schiffers were certain no white man would last in that hostile Native American country. They felt certain they would be collecting the insurance benefits to cover the merchandise and be making a nice profit in the transaction. The amount of the insurance policy was $35,000, much more than the credit Noland was given to build, stock and operate a trading post.
In December 1882, Noland once again went to the Schiffers for a loan. Things had been going well at the trading post and he needed more horses and another wagon. Within two years he had repaid both loans and the Schiffers, seeing there was no profit in the life insurance policy, dropped the insurance.
In November 1909, several years after Noland had owned the trading post, a 50-year-old manager of the trading post named Charles Fritz was shot to death in the store by Zhon-ne, who robbed the store of $36 and some native jewelry that had been pawned. Zhon-ne used a .22 caliber pistol to shoot Fritz in the back of the head, followed by two shots below the left ear. The killer was quickly caught and transported to Salt Lake to await trial since the murder took place in Utah.
O. E. Noland became a director of the Bauer Bank soon after it was formed and stayed on as a director after the First National Bank and the Bauer Bank joined forces in 1914.
Noland's wife, Caroline, died in 1895 at the age of 35. In 1902, he married Lola Kutch. Owen Edgar Noland died in June 1935 at age 83. Among his survivors were Oen Noland, Madeline McCrum, Edgar Noland and Callie Alexander, the mother of Noland Alexander, whose wife Betty has possession of the long history of Owen Edgar Noland.
Darrel Ellis is a long-time historian of the Mancos Valley. Email him at dnrls@q.com.
