Early education was tended to in a church in the Colfax colony and a log cabin four miles southwest of Silver Cliff. As the county grew, so did the demand for education and in the fall of 1879 the first school districts were formed.  It was decided that schools should be no more than five miles apart so that each child had a school within walking distance. This resulted in twenty-four one room schools and two classrooms in private homes.

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