M. Pearl (Spragg) Hartt: A Life of Adventure and A Legacy Named Pearl Lake

M. Pearl Spragg (Pearl Hartt) was born in Canada and attended normal schools and then taught school for several years.  She married John Kelly Hartt in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada in 1909.  

Wedding announcement from John Kelly and M Pearl Hartt

M Pearl Hartt moved to Rawlins, Wyoming after her marriage to John Kelly Hartt. After John was able to establish a summer headquarters near Hahn’s Peak, Pearl became a summer resident of Colorado.

Pearl (Spragg) Hartt in her wedding dress 1909
Pearl and John Kelly Hartt – 1909  honeymoon at Niagra Falls, Ontario, Canada
M. Pearl Hartt photo taken in 1950
Pearl and John Kelly Hartt near 
Hahn’s Peak 1945
Grandma’s 80th birthday in the 1960’s at Hahns Peak, Colorado
M Pearl Hartt – the way I remember Grandma!
Pearl (Spragg) Hartt’s family in St. John, New Brunswick, Canada.  From L to R: Grandma Spragg (Minnie Pearl’s mother), Uncle Lou (Minnie Pearl’s brother), Uncle Harold (Minnie Pearl’s brother), 
Minnie Pearl, Granddad Spragg (Minnie Pearl’s father) and Uncle Ernest (brother).    

My Aunt Marjorie Higley once said of her growing up years: “We lead two lives – our life on Maple Street in Rawlins, and our life in the Hahn’s Peak Basin.  (‘Up to the country’ mother used to call it.)  There was a vast difference.  In Rawlins, little ladies wore ruffles and bows, and were supposed to act like ladies.  We ate three meals a day at a table covered by white cloth.  In Rawlins, mother always wore a dress, and she smelled like talcum powder, or sachet. At Hahn’s Peak, we wore slacks, acted like tomboys, and ate at a table covered in oilcloth.  Mother adapted to slacks later, but in those early years she often wore “nickers” tucked into her fishing boots.  And she smelled like citronella oil, which she used to keep the flies away when she fished.”   

After John’s (grandpa’s) death in the early 1950s, grandma began to consider what she would do with the land surrounding the home they built on what is now the shores of Pearl Lake. She became friends with ranger Bud Hurd (who oversaw Hahns Peak Lake). He convinced her to sell the land to the Forrest Service so that recreation (vs. development) would transcend the area.  

Credit: Colorado State Parks and Wildlife: Grandma and Bud Hurd

Construction of Pearl Lake began in the early 1960s. Grandma caught her largest fish ever out of “Mini Pearl” lake, located on the property that remained with the family. Grandma was 90+ years old when she caught that fish.

After the death of John Kelly Hartt in 1952, M. Pearl Hartt moved from Rawlins, Wy to Wheatridge, Colorado. She continued to summer at Hahns Peak throughout her life. She was a member of the PEO, an organization promoting education for women, for 50 years.  

I remember my grandmother mostly from the summers I spent in Hahn’s Peak as a kid growing up.  The “Hartt Family Headquarters” was always full of life with my aunts and cousins keeping the home fire burning and grandma, a prize winning fisherwoman until the very end.  ~ Cathy Hartt