Frank Marvin the Trapper of Idlewild

One of the first persons to be documented living in the Big Thompson Canyon was a trapper by the name of Frank Marvin. Frank was born in Ohio around the year 1829.¹“Colorado State Census, 1885,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939N-XSL8?cc=1807096&wc=M83M-T3V%3A149197401%2C149197402%2C149200101 : 1 April 2016), Pueblo > 5 > Population > image 3 of 14; citing NARA microfilm publication M158 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.). At the age of 29 he made his first venture into the west, as the chief engineer of an oxen team heading from the Missouri River to Fort Laramie.²Fort Collins Courier, 19 Jan. 1882. Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection. Colorado State Library. Frank was awestruck by the Rocky Mountains, and each time his job took him across the Great Plains his desire to live near the mountains grew. After working for several years he decided to try his luck and set up a camp in the Big Thompson Valley in 1863.³The Colorado Transcript, 4 Oct. 1882. Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection. Colorado State Library.

He lived a simple life as a trapper hunting “beaver, mink, muskrat, and skunks” in the Buckhorn and Big Thompson canyons.⁴Neville, Frend. (1956). Marvin Flats. Harold M. Dunning (Author), Over Hill and Vale; In The Evening Shadows of Colorado’s Longs Peak. Boulder, CO: Johnson Publishing Company. While trapping the Buckhorn he lived in an abandoned potato cellar near the confluence of the Buckhorn Creek and the Big Thompson River.⁵Neville, Frend. (1956). Marvin Flats. Harold M. Dunning (Author), Over Hill and Vale; In The Evening Shadows of Colorado’s Longs Peak. Boulder, CO: Johnson Publishing Company. The exact location of this cellar was described as being “just above where the Louden Ditch (or Sullivan ditch) leaves the Buckhorn” and on the property of George Galucia.⁶Neville, Frend. (1956). Marvin Flats. Harold M. Dunning (Author), Over Hill and Vale; In The Evening Shadows of Colorado’s Longs Peak. Boulder, CO: Johnson Publishing Company. Below is a map that shows the hypothesized location of Frank’s home in the Buckhorn, near the intersection of the Louden Ditch and the Buckhorn Creek and by the homestead of George Galucia.

While trapping the Big Thompson River Frank had a different base of operation “one half mile south and east of Loveland’s municipal dam.”⁹Neville, Frend. (1956). Marvin Flats. Harold M. Dunning (Author), Over Hill and Vale; In The Evening Shadows of Colorado’s Longs Peak. Boulder, CO: Johnson Publishing Company. Loveland municipal dam, also known as the Idylwilde Dam, was located just upriver of Idlewild Subdivision until 2013. Coincidentally, “one half mile south and east” of where this dam once stood, is right in the middle of the Idlewild Subdivision, meaning Frank Marvin was the first resident of Idlewild.

Within this area, the exact location of Frank’s home is described as being “under a projecting rock in a small, deep canon.”¹⁰Neville, Frend. (1956). Marvin Flats. Harold M. Dunning (Author), Over Hill and Vale; In The Evening Shadows of Colorado’s Longs Peak. Boulder, CO: Johnson Publishing Company. Furthermore his home was described as being below the proposed route of John Rannells Toll Road. Specifically, from the article below, the road would go “down with a gentle grade into the canon above Marvin’s cabin.”¹¹Loveland Reporter, 15 Dec. 1892. Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection. Colorado State Library.

These descriptions of Frank Marvin’s home narrow its location down to a 400ft section of land below Rannells old toll road and within Idlewild’s deepest valley. The most livable area within this 400ft stretch of land has been redeveloped several times since the 1940s and its more than likely Marvin’s rock shelter was carved away to make room for the buildings that stand there today. However there is a small chance its still there, hidden in the overgrowth.

This valley and region being Frank Marvin’s stomping grounds led to people using his namesake to describe this area. The earliest recorded mention of this was in 1894, when John Rannells was building his toll road through Idlewild.¹⁴Loveland Reporter, 19 Jul. 1892. Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection. Colorado State Library. The local papers used the name “Marvin Flats” to describe this portion of the toll road.¹⁵Loveland Reporter, 19 Jul. 1892. Colorado Historic Newspapers Collection. Colorado State Library.

Frend Neville, who would later purchase a large portion of the Idlewild homestead in the 1920s, wrote extensively on Marvin Flat’s in the book Over Hill and Vale. Within the book he recalls that the name “Marvin Flats” was used not only in reference to where Idlewild is today but also all of the region “from what is now Mont Rose Inn up to Crozier Mountain.” In other words Marvin Flats was the name used for all of the land from present day Cedar Cove to Drake.