Early! Incorporated Feb 5, 1866 by special charter. No. 90. Issued for two shares to George A. Wood in Philadelphia on April 25th, 1866. Signed by Wm. (William) H. Stevens (president) and Ward B. Haseltine (treasurer). Blue artwork and lettering. Vignette of a mining tunnel and a bucket hoist (left). Vignette of an eagle (top center) . Twenty-five cent revenue stamp attached at left. Printed by J.F . Finkeldsy, Philadelphia. 7 x 10" Pinholes, folds. By 1861, when the Laurette/Buckskin Joe Post Office opened, in the newly formed Colorado Territory, the town boasted two hotels, fourteen stores, and a bank. On January 7, 1862 the county seat of Park County moved to Buckskin Joe from Tarryall, now also a ghost town. At its peak, the town was credited with a population of 5,000. After 1866 mining diminished but the American Exploring Company of Philadelphia was formed to explore for more promising ore. The town of Buckskin Joe is well known as where Horace and Augusta Tabor had run a store and the post office there before moving on to Leadville, where Horace amassed a huge fortune. Silver Heels, the prostitute with a heart of gold, had reportedly nursed minors through an outbreak of smallpox here in 1862, then disappeared into legend. Although some of the town's more civilized residents had tried to name it Laurette, it could never shake the Buckskin Joe moniker inspired by Joseph Higgenbottom, the buckskin-wearing prospector who found gold in the area in 1859. Buckskin Joe, Fremont County Colorado 1866