POUDRE CANYON MUSEUM

       Construction of the Eggers School (Elkhorn District No. 53) was a WPA project.  For those of you who don’t remember the Great Depression, a brief explanation:  On May 6, 1935, the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) was created to help provide economic relief to the citizens of the United States who were suffering through the Great Depression. It is this legacy of the thousands of workers who labored at their craft for little money but great pride which we have to inspire us today.

     The Eggers School was built in the spring and summer of the mid 1930s.  Logs from trees cut in the Chambers Lake area were peeled by workers wielding draw-knives on the school site.  Local residents assisted in the work.  The chinking was a mixture of sawdust and cement, which fell out as the green logs dried.  It had to be replaced on several occasions over time.

       Jesse Ault from Fort Collins, the first teacher, stayed in a cabin at the confluence of Fish Creek and the Little South Fork of the Poudre River.  He would rise at 6 a.m.; drive six miles to pick up children at Pingree Park and others on the way to the Poudre.  Seven students rode to and from school in his Model T Ford. 

      The Old Log School House was moved to its present Poudre City site, and as many canyon residents had hoped, now houses the Poudre Canyon Museum.  It is located approximately 1 mile west of Archer’s Poudre River Resort.  Open from 9:30 to 2:30 on Saturdays you will get a glimpse of days gone by.  A one half mile trail leads to Poudre City’s 1890 gold ore stamp mill and historic marker.