A new book called “Only Connect” has just been released by author Belle Zars. She is a third generation resident of the Elkhead area, north of Hayden. Her grandparents were homesteaders: Ferry Carpenter and Eunice Pleasant Carpenter. They helped build the Rock School House in the Elkhead area.
Zars had a book signing Friday at the Museum of Northwest Colorado in Craig.
Zars said the homesteaders realized they needed a school so they worked together to build it. It was also a community center for those on the homesteads. The first graduating class of five was in 1920, which was also during the Spanish Flu pandemic. Zars also addresses the Ute Indians in the area in the first five chapters of the book. Then it’s about the homesteaders from about 1900 through the 1930s.
FULL INTERVIEW WITH BELLE ZARS:
