Gould is a small

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in northwestern Jackson County,

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

, United States.

Description

The community is located on State Highway 14, southeast of

Walden ''Walden'' (; first published as ''Walden; or, Life in the Woods'') is an 1854 book by American transcendentalism, transcendentalist writer Henry David Thoreau. The text is a reflection upon the author's simple living in natural surroundings. T ...

in North Park. The community is situated in the valley of the Middle Fork of the Michigan River between Owl Mountain and Gould Mountain. The landscape is a patchwork of wetlands, pine forest,

aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species in the Populus sect. Populus, of the ''Populus'' (poplar) genus. Species These species are called aspens: * ''Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (China, south of ''P. tremula'') * ''Populus da ...

groves, and

sagebrush Sagebrush is the common name of several woody and herbaceous species of plants in the genus ''Artemisia (plant), Artemisia''. The best-known sagebrush is the shrub ''Artemisia tridentata''. Sagebrush is native to the western half of North Amer ...

. A tavern, campgrounds, community center, and several other businesses cater to local residents, campers and sportsmen. The largest public attraction is the

Colorado State Forest State Forest State Park is a Colorado State Park located in Jackson and Larimer counties east of Walden, Colorado, United States. The park was established in 1970 in the Medicine Bow Range of the Rocky Mountains. Facilities include a visitors ...

Headquarters and Moose Visitor Center. Located at 40.526°N, 106.026°W, the community lies at an elevation of 8913 feet (2717m). A post office called Gould was established in 1937, and remained in operation until 1973. Luke Jones is currently the Mayor of Gould. The community has the name of Edward Bradley Gould, a cattleman.

Climate

Gould has a

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a continental climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''Dfc'').

History

The North Park basin was inhabited by Native American for thousands of years. In the late 19th century white settlers moved into the area. The

Ute Indians Ute () are an Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin, Indigenous people of the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau in present-day Utah, western Colorado, and northern New Mexico.Pritkzer''A Native American Encyclopedia'' p. 242 Historically, their t ...

were subsequently forced to distant reservations at the orders of Gov.

Frederick Walker Pitkin Frederick Walker Pitkin (August 31, 1837 – December 18, 1886) was an American politician who served as the List of governors of Colorado, second Governor of the state of Colorado from 1879 to 1883. He was a member of the Republican Party (Unit ...

.History of Colorado State Forest State Park Some Indians remained in the region until the 1920s. In 1886, the LaFever saw-mill opened and in 1887, Edward Bradley Gould, for whom the town is named, homesteaded 640 acres.Bradley, Earlene (2005?). "Timber Times and Tales" His only son, Eddy Gould, was the town's first mailcarrier. Life at the turn of the 20th century was centered on the timber industry. In 1939 the town of Gould and the Bockman Lumber Camp built simple log cabin schools. A post office and gas station/hotel were also built as well as a general store, known as Belle and Earl's. The population peaked at ~300 in 1949. A popular "sportin' house" was run by two older women by the name of Meryl and Maude. It was later known as M&M Lodge. "During the early 1930s, two Civilian Conservation Corps Camps were built on the state land. The camp south of Gould was later converted into a Prisoner of War Camp during WWII for Germans as well as American conscientious objectors. The German Prisoners of War were used as timber laborers. In the Spring of 1945, a few prisoners escaped the camp and broke into E.B. Shawver's summer home. They had maps drawn of plans to escape to Mexico, but were discovered the next morning, having had too much to drink from the wine cabinet the night before and were walked back to camp barefoot." "After the German POW's departed, the cabins were used as a

4-H 4-H is a U.S.-based network of youth organizations whose mission is "engaging youth to reach their fullest potential while advancing the field of youth development". Its name is a reference to the occurrence of the initial letter H four times ...

camp and by various other groups in the summer." In the 1950s the

was created and the headquarters were built on the grounds of a former fish hatchery. The restaurant in town was owned by Carl Berwald of Stillwater, Minnesota. It was known as Berwald's Cookhouse in the 1970s when Belle and Earl were running their general store and renamed Drifter's Cookhouse by a new owner in later years. In the 1990s plans to convert the town of Gould and neighboring

into a ski resort were defeated.

Common wildlife

* Birds:

broad-tailed hummingbird The broad-tailed hummingbird (''Selasphorus platycercus'') is a medium-sized hummingbird species found in highland regions from western United States and Western Canada to Mexico and Guatemala. Description Medium in size, the broad-tailed hum ...

rufous hummingbird The rufous hummingbird (''Selasphorus rufus'') is a small hummingbird, about long with a long, straight and slender bill. These birds are known for their extraordinary flight skills, flying during their migratory transits. It is one of nine s ...

Steller's jay Steller's jay (''Cyanocitta stelleri'') is a bird native to western North America and the mountains of Central America, closely related to the blue jay (''C. cristata'') found in eastern North America. It is the only crest (feathers), crested jay ...

Clark's nutcracker Clark's nutcracker (''Nucifraga columbiana''), sometimes referred to as Clark's crow or woodpecker crow, is a passerine bird in the family Corvidae, native to the mountains of western North America. The nutcracker is an omnivore, but subsists mai ...

* Fish:

brook trout The brook trout (''Salvelinus fontinalis'') is a species of freshwater fish in the char genus ''Salvelinus'' of the salmon family Salmonidae native to Eastern North America in the United States and Canada. Two ecological forms of brook trout h ...

brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a species of salmonid ray-finned fish and the most widely distributed species of the genus ''Salmo'', endemic to most of Europe, West Asia and parts of North Africa, and has been widely introduced globally ...

cutthroat trout The cutthroat trout (''Oncorhynchus clarkii'' clade) is a clade of four fish species of the Family (biology), family Salmonidae native to cold-water Tributary, tributaries of the Pacific Ocean, Rocky Mountains, and Great Basin in North America. ...

* Insects:

mosquito Mosquitoes, the Culicidae, are a Family (biology), family of small Diptera, flies consisting of 3,600 species. The word ''mosquito'' (formed by ''Musca (fly), mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish and Portuguese for ''little fly''. Mos ...

longhorn beetle The longhorn beetles (Cerambycidae), also known as long-horned or longicorns (whose larvae are often referred to as roundheaded borers), are a large family of beetles, with over 35,000 species described. Most species are characterized by Antenn ...

* Mammals:

beaver Beavers (genus ''Castor'') are large, semiaquatic rodents of the Northern Hemisphere. There are two existing species: the North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') and the Eurasian beaver (''C. fiber''). Beavers are the second-large ...

cougar The cougar (''Puma concolor'') (, ''Help:Pronunciation respelling key, KOO-gər''), also called puma, mountain lion, catamount and panther is a large small cat native to the Americas. It inhabits North America, North, Central America, Cent ...

(mountain lion),

lynx A lynx ( ; : lynx or lynxes) is any of the four wikt:extant, extant species (the Canada lynx, Iberian lynx, Eurasian lynx and the bobcat) within the medium-sized wild Felidae, cat genus ''Lynx''. The name originated in Middle Engl ...

elk The elk (: ''elk'' or ''elks''; ''Cervus canadensis'') or wapiti, is the second largest species within the deer family, Cervidae, and one of the largest terrestrial mammals in its native range of North America and Central and East Asia. ...

American marten The American marten (''Martes americana''), also known as the American pine marten, is a species of North American mammal, a member of the Family (biology), family Mustelidae. The species is sometimes referred to as simply the pine marten. The n ...

, black bear,

mule deer The mule deer (''Odocoileus hemionus'') is a deer indigenous to western North America; it is named for its ears, which are large like those of the mule. Two subspecies of mule deer are grouped into the black-tailed deer. Unlike the related whit ...

pronghorn The pronghorn (, ) (''Antilocapra americana'') is a species of artiodactyl (even-toed, hoofed) mammal indigenous to interior western and central North America. Though not an antelope, it is known colloquially in North America as the American ante ...

moose The moose (: 'moose'; used in North America) or elk (: 'elk' or 'elks'; used in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is the world's tallest, largest and heaviest extant species of deer and the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is also the tal ...

* Plants:

blue spruce The blue spruce (''Picea pungens''), also commonly known as Colorado spruce or Colorado blue spruce, is a species of spruce tree native to North America in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. It is noted for its blue-green co ...

lodgepole pine ''Pinus contorta'', with the common names lodgepole pine and shore pine, and also known as twisted pine, and contorta pine, is a common tree in western North America. It is common near the ocean shore and in dry montane forests to the subalpin ...

quaking aspen ''Populus tremuloides'' is a deciduous tree native to cooler areas of North America, one of several species referred to by the common name aspen. It is commonly called quaking aspen,

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, of the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 350 species (plus numerous hybrids) of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions. Most species are known ...

References

External links