Enid Virginia Markey

(February 22, 1894 – November 15, 1981)

Dillon, CO

Enid Markey was born in Dillon and in her youth attended boarding school in Denver. The Summit County Journal often reported on Miss Markey’s attendance at parties, hosting teas, and acting in local performances. She was the first performer to portray Jane in the popular Tarzan movies, in 1918. Ms.Markey turned to Broadway in the 1920’s to “learn to act” , ultimately acting in 29 plays on Broadway. In the 1950’s and 1960’s she appeared in numerous television shows including the landlady to Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show.

Belle Turnbull and Helen Rich

Belle Turnbull (1881-1970)
Helen Rich (1894-1971)

Breckenridge, CO

Ms. Turnbull and Rich moved to a log cabin on French Street in Breckenridge in 1939 and became affectionately known as the “Ladies of French Street”. Both writers, Turnbull was a poet best known for her vivid and realistic depictions of mountain mining towns. Among her notable works are “Goldboat” (1940) a novel told in poetry about gold dredging and “The TenMile Range” (1957) a collection of poems. Helen Rich was a novelist and journalist.

Her first novel “The Spring Begins” (1947), a national bestseller, is a romance set in a Colorado mining camp. Her second novel “The Willow-Bender” (1950) describes the effects of the gold dredging boats.

Lulu Buffington Hogan

(May 6, 1875 – September 14, 1964)

BRECKENRIDGE

Born May 6, 1875, in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, Lulu Buffington moved with her family to Colorado by the late 1880s and was first mentioned in the Summit County Journal in 1887.

She graduated in 1897 from the State Normal School in Greeley, now the University of Northern Colorado, and began teaching in Breckenridge, where she was described as “very popular.” She was active in the community, including the ladies’ glee club, and frequently visited her mother in Kokomo.

In 1899, Buffington was elected Superintendent of Summit County Schools, becoming the first woman to hold the position. She earned $2,000 annually and was re-elected in 1901. In 1902, she married James T. Hogan in Leadville, where the couple later resided.

Susan Badger

(1886-1972)

FRISCO, CO

Born in August, Maine, Susan Badger came West in 1916 seeking relief from tuberculosis and settled in Frisco, Colorado in 1934. Raised for a life of Eastern refinement, she instead became one of Summit County’s most devoted public servants.

As mining waned and the silver-camp town struggled, she helped families in desperate need. When a poor family’s baby died in Frisco, Miss Badger cut up her finest handmade satin lingerie to line the tiny casket.

“Miss Badger” never left home without a hat. She propped her little Scotty dog on a board in the back of her open-air automobile as she delivered food, medicine, or rent money to Frisco’s most deprived citizens. At one time, she held five county positions simultaneously—welfare director, employment service representative, deputy sheriff, humane officer, and chairman of the Red Cross—and also served fourteen months as Justice of the Peace. Believing that people wanted work rather than handouts, she helped many local families secure employment and stability during difficult times.

Little talked about but widely known were her back-room poker parties. There, Miss Badger smoked cigars, ditched her corset, and wore no hat. She is buried in the Frisco Cemetery.

Jane (Janie) Thomas

(1853 – July, 1937)

DILLON

Janie Thomas was an early homesteader in what is now Frisco. She was granted a homestead of roughly 145 acres along the base of Mount Royal in 1910. The land had transitioned from mining to agricultural uses in the early 1900’s as many mines declined. Janie and her family ran a dairy cattle operation on what was known as Thomas Ranch.They provided milk, cream, and butter to local residents and travelers.

Janie and her husband John also bought Frisco’s Leyner Hotel built in 1879 and renamed it Thomas Hotel where they fed travelers from the ranch.

Janie’s reputation was for being “no nonsense” with a heart of gold. She broke up bar brawls but also climbed through snowdrifts to help deliver babies.

Her son Bill later led the dairy, giving rise to what is now known as Bill’s Ranch in Frisco.

Elizabeth Rice Roller

(March 4, 1894 – December 27, 1968)

Snake River Basin, CO

Elizabeth Rice was the second of eight children born to Benjamin and Mabel Carle Rice in 1894 in Montezuma. Her father was granted a homestead in 1898 after completing all of the federal requirements – develop 40 acres, build a house, and lived on the land.

She had many paying jobs over her adult life including teacher, chambermaid, practice nurse, and housekeeper in Yellowstone National Park. Known for her memoirs detailing life in late 19th-century mining camps, particularly Chihuahua, Montezuma, and Sts. John. Her writings serve as one of the few accounts of these early high-alpine, silver-mining towns.

Emma Benson Baliff

(Birth and Death dates unknown)

Dillon and Frisco, CO

Emma Benson arrived in the United States from Sweden in 1886. In 1891 she married blacksmith Adolphus “Tip” Ballif and settled into a home near the Dillon blacksmith shop where she raised two daughters, Anna and Hilda.

In 1905 Emma filed papers to homestead 160 acres between Dillon and Frisco. She built a house and barn, cleared 20 acres for growing hay, oats, and clover, and extended an irrigation ditch to reach her land. By 1907, Emma filed an affidavit in Breckenridge that the work had been done but because of administrative snafus, she did not receive the deed until 1914. Neighbors said that she did all the work herself. Eventually selling the homestead, a new owner sold the land to the City of Denver for the Denver Water Board’s use.

The land now lies under Dillon Reservoir. Immigrant, wife, mother, homesteader—a formidable woman named Emma Benson Ballif.

Anna Ballif Emore

(1892-1974)

Dillon

Anna Ballif Emore was born in Dillon to parents, Adolphus “Tip” Ballif and Emma Benson Ballif, early residents Summit County. She lived her entire life in Summit County and attended the one room 1883 Dillon Schoolhouse.

She was an active member of the Dillon Ladies’ Aid Society and was devoted to the preservation of the rich history of Summit County. She was the first director of the first museum in Summit County, the Dillon Museum in 1960.

She later founded the Summit Historical Society. She was the author of “Dillon, the Blue River Wonderland”. She is buried in the Dillon Cemetery.

Kathleen “Kate” Trotter Briggle

(1869 – 1946)

Breckenridge, CO

Born in Ontario, Canada Kate Briggle moved to Breckenridge after her marriage to William Briggle in 1896. Mr. Briggle was a prominent banker and mine owner and early Breckenridge mayor.

The Briggles had no children, but Kate taught piano to the youth of Breckenridge, produced recitals and “musicales” and was active in social events. She was a central figure in the Victorian era Breckenridge community. It is said that the other women followed her taste in the clothing she wore, the food she served, and how her home was decorated.

Mary Cronin

(1893-1982)

Summit County, CO

Mary Cronin never lived in Summit County, but she spent time in the County as she etched her name in mountaineering history.

Mary was the first woman to summit each of Colorado’s Fourteeners. In the summer of 1934, Mary succeeded in summiting her final two peaks, completing a pursuit that had begun in 1921.

In 1922, Mary ascended Grays and Torreys, both of which are on the border of Summit and Clear Creek Counties. In 1923, Mary began climbing in earnest, frequently accompanied by Agnes Vaille, a veteran climber. Vaille was well on her way to becoming the first woman to summit all the Fourteeners when she died while on a climb in 1925. Mary’s first climb after Vaille’s death was Quandary Peak in Summit County.