HISTORY OF
JUCHEM DITCH

     In 1858, Frederick Wilhelm the IV became worried about the crops. There had been many days without rain. The parched fields, the cloudless skies and the intense heat were an omen of impending disaster. The King, in his usual impervious manner, was looking for someone to blame. A small party of soldiers was dispatched to the vine-covered home of the Royal Gardener summoning him to the presence of His Highness. Young John Juchem, the gardener, rode to meet the King, a quarrel ensued and John was fired. He was told he would be conscripted into the Prussian Army.

​

     That night John Juchem packed a few belongings, sent word to his brother, a mathematics professor at Heidelburg University, and left Prussia in a load of hay. On reaching the coast he sailed for the United States and headed west into Kansas Territory. He settled at the confluence of Cherry Creek and the Platte River. John wasn't interested in gold. He was a gardener by heart and by trade. He soon found the land he wanted in the Clear Creek valley.

​

     John Juchem, born in Alsace-Lorraine March 5, 1831, became, by circumstance and choice, a gardener in the New World in 1859. Using a fork as a spade, Mr. Juchem tilled the soil and raised beans and other vegetables. He built a log cabin north of the present Wadsworth Ditch in present day Arvada, CO, between Garrison and Kipling Streets.

​

     Mr. Juchem bought land, built ditches and acquired one of the first water rights in the area. He dug what is now known as the Consolidated Juchem Ditch and Reservoir Company near Golden, just below Arapaho City, with the earliest record of water rights dating from 1861. There are also priorities dated 1862 and 1863.

​

     By 1863 Mr. Juchem believed he had accumulated the necessary assets to marry. He left for Alsace-Lorraine to seek a wife. It is not known if he had anyone in mind. But it is known that he did not return to Alsace. He journeyed to St. Joseph, Missouri, where he met and married Anna Woeber, a relative of the Woeber Carriage people of St. Louis. She was born in Hesse, Germany, in 1835.

​

     The newlyweds returned to Colorado Territory. They traveled by covered wagon and took six weeks for the trip. To this union were born five children: Henry; Anna; Lena (Pauline); Mary; and Flora.

​

     Mr. Juchem continued gardening and acquiring land. His ranch grew to 400 acres, bounded on the south by West Forty-fourth Avenue, on the west by Kipling Street, on the north by Grandview Avenue and on the east by Garrison Street. Some of the land was homesteaded and some was purchased.

​

     There were three land patents or grants. Two were signed by President Andrew Johnson and one by President Ulysses S. Grant. The first patent signed by Johnson was issued directly to John Juchem (Guchem) on December 1, 1865. The second patent was issued to Christian Habersaat on July 1, 1868, and the third patent was issued to a George W. Nelson on December 10, 1869, and signed by President Grant. Both properties were purchased by Mr. Juchem. Eighty acres of preempted land given to Mr. Juchem was recorded in October of 1873. On this land he had built his first crude log cabin in 1859. During the 1860s he built a large frame house, in the vicinity of West Fifty-second Avenue and Garrison Street, that became the family home.

 

     In 1862 Mr. Juchem donated land to the Arvada Cemetery. Later the Arvada Cemetery Association purchased the front 10 acres on Independence Street. He also donated land for the right-of-way of the Colorado and Southern Railroad and the Denver and Interurban Tramway to Golden through his property. Juchem Station, located where Juchem Lane (now Garrison Street) crossed the tracks at Cottage Lane (now West Fifty-first Avenue) was an important stop on the Tramway line.

​

     Mr. Juchem was a successful farmer. His ranch at Juchem Gardens was locally famous for its produce. He transported vegetables by horse and wagon to Golden Gate Canyon, to the "Diggin's" in Gregory Gulch, and in Central City and Blackhawk where he sold potatoes and carrots for $1.00 a pound.

​

     A clue to the independence of Mr. Juchem is shown in the following anecdote: When he came to America from Alsace, he was a devout member of the Roman Catholic Church. He gave generously to its support. One day in the 1860s, while John was busy in the fields, Father Machebeuf, the first Bishop of Colorado, rode by and decided to stop. Mr. Juchem didn't like to be disturbed while at work so he was angry at the start. Father Machebeuf wanted money. John had given all he intended at the time. Father Machebeuf threatened to excommunicate him if he didn't give more. John replied to this threat, "You can't excommunicate me, because I quit."And he did!

​

     Mr. Juchem died January 24, 1911, and Mrs. Juchem died March 6, 1906. Both are buried in the Arvada Cemetery.

​