This is the 3rd in a series of articles in review of the history of Pioneer Town, how it came to be here, how it grew, and some of what the museum contains. It is also a tribute to the many hard-working volunteers who have made and continue to make a dream, a reality.

The old Cedaredge City Jail was built ninety-one years ago, 1907, by Lewis Dolf. The location was across from Cedaredge Lumber Yard on the present site of the new fire station.

Jack MacAdams, as a kid, recalls, "The jail was fenced in -- not only was it a jail, the fenced area served as a 'pound' for cattle that had been found loose on the streets in town. Cattle had to be claimed by owners for release."

Several stories have been told about the jail. One, related in Surface Creek Country, by Hazel Austin tells of, "a Cedaredge visitor who was picked up on a drunk charge and put into the little jail. Because the building was so well constructed, the prisoner could neither tear down the bars or break down the door". He did, somehow, manage to escape through a hole in the roof, perhaps by removing a stove pipe or chimney. He escaped before daylight and apparently left the area, not to be seen again.

Scorched timbers inside the building are said to be caused by another prisoner. This 'guest' started a fire inside the building to warm up the place. The fire got out of hand. Billowing smoke was spotted, the fire department responded and the flames were extinguished. Evidence is still visible inside the structure.

Eventually the building was moved several miles north of Cedaredge to the 'intake' where Cedaredge took its water from Surface Creek. It housed the water meter. Ed Watson, Town Marshall, was also in charge of the town's water system. He had a cot in there and set it up as a kind of headquarters. The nearby grounds became a popular picnic area. Later this part of the water system was bypassed and the building was abandoned.

Cedaredge gave the structure to Pioneer Town in 1981. All they had to do was move it. Archie and Dode Peterson, Jack MacAdams and other volunteers went up early to get the building jacked high enough to put it onto Archie's flatbed trailer that he used for hauling heavy equipment. It took a full day's hard work. "It was sitting down by the creek bank." Jack said, "I can remember Archie had to give it every thing he had to get it up out of that hole, around a sharp corner and up onto the road."

The historical building is relocated at the south end of the boardwalk in Pioneer Town. The heavy iron bars remain on the door and the two small windows. The construction of the building (2 x 6's, spiked together the same as the silos) was solid enough that very little had to be done to it after moving it to the site.

Volunteers Vinetta Butcher and Verda Schafer created the 'drunken dummy' draped across the cot inside.