Irish History

 The seventy-one acre parcel that the River Dance complex sits on has been in the owner’s family since 1882. John Patrick Quinlan and his wife Elizabeth, like many Irish immigrants, came to America in the hopes of finding a better life and raising a family. Once settled, Elizabeth sent for her sister Sarah Dougherty in Donegal County,  Ireland. Upon her arrival to her sister Elizabeth’s ranch Sarah wrote, “The lava beds and the crater began to come in sight from the points along the road. The place where the farm should have been was the most uninviting spot one could imagine. A little ways ahead was a crude mail box nailed to a stake close to a chunk of crystallized gypsum. Nothing else was in sight. Reluctantly I got down off the stage and sat on the rock dazed and dumfounded. The stage moved on, apparently alone in a forbidding country, I completely broke down and sobbed as though my heart would break. A little child hardly more than old enough to walk, clad in the cleanest garments, with her hair in two braids tied with strings, her face beaming, toddled up to my side, put her chubby hands on my knee and lisped in her childish way, “A-u-n-t S-a-r-a-h?” Could I believe it? Was I in my right mind? When the child repeated, “A-u-n-t S-a-r-a-h?” Looking through tears and there before me was a miniature image of myself. I folded the child in my arms and blindly followed the trail through the tall sage brush to a small dirt floor cabin, were Elizabeth and four more children awaited.

 The  hard way of life took a toll on Elizabeth, and she died at a young age leaving John and Sarah with five children to raise. Years later John moved to McCoy and passed away in 1933 at the age of 84. John never realized his life’s ambition of mining the “pot of gold” beneath the Dotsero volcano crater; which we know today never existed. Sarah, a nurse by profession, cared for the settlers and their families until the day she died. Sarah also started raising cattle and later became known as the “Cattle Queen of the Bad Lands.” The name “River Dance” was adopted to honor Sarah, as she loved to sing and dance along the river bank. At the age of 74,  Sarah passed away in her cabin in 1917. By Sarah’s side was Agnes Agatha Quinlan - the little girl that lisped, “A-u-n-t S-a-r-a-h?” Title of the property then passed to Agnes. Without question, Agnes Agatha Quinlan (owner’s grandmother) was a woman of intelligence and determination. Agnes and her sisters: Elizabeth, Mary and Florence served as school teachers in the valley.  At the age of 26, Agnes become the Superintendent of Eagle County Schools in 1912. In 1917 Agnes married a young carpenter, James Lawrence Mosher. James Mosher was the son of Marcus F. Mosher, the second Mayor of Gypsum. Marcus F. Mosher, a ship builder from New York, suffered the loss of his wife and five of his nine children. Marcus then packed-up his remaining four children: James, Edna, Lucy and Marion in a covered wagon and moved to Gypsum. Marcus later became the second mayor of Gypsum. In 1923 at the age of 73 Marcus was laid to rest. Agnes was still teaching school at the age of 68 upon her death in 1954. Lawrence Mosher passed away in 1965 at the age of 86. In the year 2000 the present owners Rusty and Ron Mosher (4^th generation) purchased the remaining family’s interest in the property. John, Elizabeth, Sarah, Agnes, James and Marcus were laid to rest in the nearby Gypsum cemetery.

 Many historical family sites still remain. The John Quinlan cabin still stands on the north side of I-70 just west of the resort’s location. The remains of Sarah’s cabin are on the hill just a few hundred yards west of the resort’s location. Family pictures and copies of letters from Sarah Dougherty and Agnes Quinlan are proudly displayed throughout the buildings here at River Dance. One of our family stories involves great grand father’s first sighting of an automobile. Great grandfather had no idea what had a hold of that young man— but it let him go when he shot it!  

John Quinlan's Cabin

Sarah Dougherty's Cabin

The landscape has not changed since then.