i sii Os« UN MAUIONMA Hor yen dy de) rere ueospauctrt Et DUNN MaMa tere in} F CORNELL TPO UNIVERSITY Co LIBRARY H 67t ln : : vers L J HISTORY 4? OF Clear Creek and Boulder Valleys, COLORADO. Containing a brief History of the State of Colorado from its earliest settlement to the present time, embracing its geological, physical and climatic features, its agricultural, stockgrowing, railroad and mining interests; an account of the Ute trouble; a History of Gilpin, Clear Creek, Boulder and Jefferson Counties, and Biographical Sketches. ILLUSTRATED. CHICAGO: O. L. BASKIN & CO., HISTORICAL PUBLISHERS, - 186 DEARBORN STREET. 1880. O. uv. BASKIN. NELSON MILLETT. \ Y es CL He Ls A707 2b Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1880, by O. L. BASKIN & CO., In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. ris: CHICAGO: CULVER, PAGE, HOYNE «& CO., PRINTERS, 118 anp 120 Monnox Starz. WAN \ PREFACE. t, T has seemed eminently proper that the historical facts and data pertaining to the remarkable State of Colorado should be gathered and placed upon record in a permanent form, while those who have: participated in its growth, and to a great extent made, its history, still remain upon the scene of action, to render an authentic account of what might seem in some respects an almost fabulous growth and development. These sources of information have been freely drawn from, and we here desire to express our thanks to the many who have assisted our writers in the com- pilation of this work. The history of Gilpin County was prepared by Capt. James BuRRELL; that of Clear Creek County, by Aaron Frost, Esq.; Jefferson County, by Capt. E. L. Brr- THOUD, and Boulder County by Amos Brxpy, Esq. The biographical department is instructive, as illustrating in numberless instances the career of truly self-made men, and is invaluable as a permanent record. Trusting that this history of the Centennial State, and of these counties with their enormous mining interests, forecasting their still greater possibilities for mineral wealth, will be found of great and increasing value and interest to her citizens, we submit this volume to the approbation of our patrons and the public. 0. L. BASKIN & CO., Publishers. 4 v 4 Vee ae 9. ds + & | + 1) ft CONTENTS PART FIRST. rer PART THIRD. POEM.. a ns HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY. wien CHAPTER L Ringiug 1 up > the Curtain 17 | CHAPTER I.—Grand Opening of the Golden Gate............0..e0 205 CHAPTER II.—Early Discoveries of Gold. CHAPTER II.—Early Dircoveries of Gold Mines—Mining and CHAPTER IlI.—Journalism in Colorado.. Milling and other Treatment of Ores ‘ CHAPTER IV.—EHarly Politics and Organization of the Terri. CHAPTER II1.—Journalism in Gilpin County... tory CHAPTER IV.—Early Organization of Mining Districts—Their CHAPTER V.—Lo! the Poor Indian.. 3e Laws, Rules and Customs—Recognition of Same by Con- CHAPTER VI.—The Mountains of Colorado... .. 38 CHAPTER VII.—Colorado During the Rebellion—Territorial QM CIAL so cn cenivessvancearewnsnooneeasesumsdione ore sens bceneensevennaerarteibsspegy CHAPTER VIII.—Progress of the Country... CHAPTER IX.—Climate of Colorado... CHAPTER VIII.—Miscellaneous Organizations : CHAPTER X.—Agricultural Resources of the State. Masonic Order—Odd F+llows—Good Templars—Knights of CHAPTER XI.—Stock-raising in Colorado......... Honor—Knights of Pythias—Knights of the New World CHAPTER XII.—Leadville and California Gulch.. a —Places of Amusement—Fire Department—Military Com- CHAPTER XIII.—History of the First Colorado Regiment....... 73 panies—Miners and Mechanics’ Institute............-...s000+++-248 CHAPTER XIV.—History of the Second Colorado Regiment...... 77 | GHAPTER IX.—Miscellaneous and Public: CHAPTER XV.—Sketch of the Third Colorado Regiment. Post Offices—Land Office—Banks—Expresses—Telegraph— CHAPTER XVI.—The Geology of Colorado..........--.-.--.++5 Telephone — Railroads oiccccccinnnneniansnsssvcriniariscaasvaanavannidere 257 CHAPTER XVII.—Peak Climbing in the Rocky Mountains. CHAPTER X.—Drstruction of Central City by Fire, May 21, CHAPTER XVIII.—Sketch of the San Juan Country and Do- 1874, and its Subsequent Reconstruction.............:0s0e0 259 lores District... Wiser lZ | CHAPTER XIX.—The University of Colorado... sneuie Tee eerste 119 HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY. CHAPTER I.—Location and Topography, Climate, Sermons in StOMeB ss .. ca sasceeeh ssicsnes when ncd Mgunhiseneee asa aerate eetadeet tess FOBTSCRIET. CHAPTER II.—The Wheels of Progress. x CHAPTER I.—The Ute Rebellion CHAPTER I11.—Towns and Mining Camps.. --286 CHAPTER II.—Affairs at White River Agency: CHAPTER IV.—Mining for the Precious Metals. 299 CHAPTER III.—The News in Denver........ | CHAPTER V.—The Mines of Clear Creek ee CHAPTER IV.—Advance upon the Agency... 35 CHAPTER VI.—Nlills and Milling... i ad CHAPTER V.—Arrival at Agency—The Massacte..............0..:06+ 145 | CHAPTER VII.—The Sublime and the “Beautiful. i acuiiebinek seem ENS 345 CHAPTER VI.—Cessation of Hostilities—Rescue of the Pris- oners.. HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY. CHAPTER VII. —Bad Story of ‘he ‘Ciopeliven: BOUNDARIES OF LOUISIANA CHAPTER VIII.—The Atrocities in Colorado, RELIGIOUS ADVANTAGES.. CHAPTER IX.—The Peace Commission Farce.. EDUCATION... Re CHAPTER X.—The Ute Question in Congress... re SCHOOL OF MINES... CHAPTER XI.—The Present Condition of the Ute Question......176 | DHE PRESS....c0..... HISTORY OF BOULDER COUNTY. PART SECOND. CHAPTER I,—Vision of the Valleys and Hilla RAILROADS. CHAPTER II.—Peculiarities and Advantages of Situation........ 381 CHAPTER III.—First “ Find” of Gold Dust. CHAPTER I.—The Denver Pacific - CHAPTER IV.—The Boulder Coal Measures... CHAPTER II.—The Denver & Rio Grande: (82 | CHAPTER V.—Agricultural Trials and Triumphs. CHAPTER III.—The Denver, South Park & Pacific. «188 | GHAPTER VI.—The Road and Mill Builders......... 392 CHAPTER IV.—The Colorado Central. CHAPTER VII —Early Society,—Courts, Crimes and Schools....396 CHAPTER V.—The Kansas Patific.... CHAPTER VIII.—Conflicts with the Indian......... 2 CHAPTER VI.—The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe.. CHAPTER IX.—Boulder and Valley Towns and Villages......... CHAPTER VII.—The Denver & Boulder Vailley...... CHAPTER X.—Mountain Towns and Mining Camps................ <4— — og Ff ~~ me ‘ @ vi CONTENTS. ; PART FOURTH. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES ALPHABETICALLY ARRANGED BY COUNTIES. GILPIN COUNTY. CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.. JEFFERSON COUNTY. BOULDER COUNTY.... MISCELLANEOUS BIOGRAPHIBG........... ERRATUM—Biography of Hon. H. M. Hale ILLUSTRATIONS. PORTRAITS. PAGE | Hinman, P. T.. AMIGO tig Wel Hove siccsereisessesdssesassaesitiertieaceny 27 | Howell, W. R.. Aikins, T. A..... i Burrell, James.. Bacon, Corbit Berkley, G.... Berthoud, £. L.. 73 | Loveland, W. A. H.. Beverley, W. H. 81 | Merkel, S. B...... Blake, Orris... Mackey, Richard. Berkley, Junius..... aes Marshall, F. J... Barber, Joseph 8S. ...109 | Maxwell, J. P Bixby, A.... . 117 | Macky, A. J.. Brookfield, A. A.. 127 | McKenzie, N. D Crawford, D. C.. 135 | North, James M ... 45 | Jones, A. M... . 55 | Kelly, James. 343 | Wright, Alpheus. Tyler, C. M..... Thomas, Mary.. Van Deren, A. J..... Van Fleet, Charles G Welch, C. C... 351 | Wells, R. C West, George. Wise, Willixm 0.. Wellman, Sylvanus... Williamson, G. R. Wells, B. T NY Carpenter, C. C.. VIEWS. Chatillon, Henry. Bi us eorgetown... Chase, George F. Orahood, H. M.. erton House, Georg Golden Brewery, at Golden. Cornell, L. 8..... Post, Charles C.. : a Hard Money Silver Mine. De France, A. H... Paul, Henry... - 7 i Hidden Treasure Mine...... Davis, Jobn...... Ratliff, J. W.. zs Public School, Boulder Dabney, Charles. Roberts, John G. S 2 Public School, Central City... Everett, F. E.. Rogers, A. N..... A > x Public Schools, Golden....... Fisher, 8. W... Rollins, J. Q. Au... : f 3 Public School, Georgetown.. Fish, Charles R.... Smith, Elmus. és 7 . Residence of Eugene Austin. Green, David S..... Schwartz, B.... : : Residence of Capt. Tyler... Graham, T. J. Stratton, G. W.. : _ : Residence of Maj. Whiteley.. Greenc, 0. F. A. .-253 | Stott, Israel. 5 Smelting Works of Golden. Hale, H. M.. Sargent, N. ‘ = : University of Colorado. Henry, 0. H. Smith, N. K. View of Rollinsvill Hahn, 8. B.. Smith, J. Alden ¥ i ° a Bane ees Holman, J. H. Smith, Eben... SOM A ABR AMO sie Hall, G. W...... Teller, H. M.... Map of North America in 1597... . oe 94 SHIELD with three white peaks in chief, A pick and sledge beneath them crossed ; For crest, an eye with rays; a sheaf Of reeds about an ax; and tossed About its base a scroll I see, That says, “Mil sine numine.” Oh, child of Union, last born State, We read thee well in this device: That which hath made shall make thee great. Between green base and crown of ice Shine golden gifts that dower thee, Yet are “ Mil sine numine.” The ax makes way for fold and field And marching men; and none may bend Thy sheaf of knitted hearts; who wield In caverns dim the blows that rend From earth her treasures; these agree All is “ Wil sine numine.”’ , We sing thy past, we sing thy praise. Not long for thee hath man made song, But hosts shall sing in coming days. , And when thou sittest great and strong, Thy future still, oh, Queen, shall be, Though great, “ Mil sine numine.”’ 12 By running streams that fill the sands That thirsting, prayed so long in vain, The desert children fill their hands With strange, sweet fruits, and deem the pain Of him that tills, its own reward, Nor any meed of thanks accord. So, Princess proud, of infant years, Embowered here in green and gold, Thou hast no trace of all the tears These sands drank up; the hearts of old, That broke to see yon doors unseal, Naught of themselves in thee reveal. Thus doth to-day annul the past ; There is no gratitude at all In Time, and Nature smooths at last The mounds men heap o’er those who fall, However nobly; thus we see It is, hath been, shall ever be. But once shall one rehearse thy days And all the pride of those that made Thy places pleasant and thy ways Sweet with swift brooks and green, gray shade; Lo, memory opens here a book On which our children’s eyes shall look. Turn back the leaves a space, what then Beside this ever-changing stream : The rude scarce camp of bearded men, In guarded sleep they lie, nor dream Of shadowy walls about them set And domes of days that are not yet. The sun looks not upon their rest. IT hear the creak of scorching wheels, I know the hope that fills the breast, I feel the thrill the foremost feels; I see the faces grimly set One way, with eyes that burn, and yet 4 + @. «4 13 I know that when all wearily Their feet have climbed the horizon They may not rest, for there will be The rainbow’s foot still further on, That some shall faint and fall and die, With eyes fixed on that fantasy. And yet the saddest face that turns _ Back from a quest unsatisfied May have more hope than his that burns A beacon in the eyes to guide Those harpies, Luxury and Lust— Lo, how they leave us in the dust. I see the tide rise up and fall, I see the spent waves turn and fly That broke upon that mountain wall, And see where at its bases lie Worn waifs of men that cling and wait, That cling and droop, yet bravely wait. A pean for the brave who wait. Impatience slinks along the wall, And hears afar the battered gate Some day go thundering to its fall. Lo, how the worn host, wan and thin, Like giants rise and enter in. “To him that wills,” the prophet cries, “All good shall come.” Behold! how fair The vision that their eager eyes Deemed unsubstantial as the air. We see fair streets from hill to hill, And by the river many a mill. And temples towering far above, And busy markets crouched between, And bowers beside the hills, for love, As fair as any land hath seen, And fanes for Science reared, and Art, Beautiful, and sacred, and apart. Y 4 14 Yet felt in all men’s lives, to dream Was theirs with faith; they drove the plow And kept their herds, and it did seem : As though the end were even now And here; so all held to their way, And day was added unto day. The wild things of the plain and hill Preyed on them, and were preyed upon. And vengeance had its own wild will, To come and go ‘tween man and man. And might that questioned not of right, And hate, and fear, crept out at night. And blood was cheap upon the street, And gold was dearer, some, than life, And many mornings did repeat The brutal record of the knife; There were worse spirits here, I know, Than Cheyenne and Arapahoe. Yet ever grew the vision plain, And was a wonder, more and more, How day by day the golden grain Spread all the hills and valleys o’er. How wall on wall and street on street Its promised features men might greet. One day a cloud rose in the east, And when night fell it was a flame; And soon across yon treeless waste, With sounds of winds and waters came The steeds of Empire, and her star From each plumed forehead flared afar. The rays of steel before them beam, And close the myriad chariots throng With thunderous wheels, and arms that gleam Are borne by brown hands true and strong. And now, upon her border lands The vanguard of a nation stands. a 15 Swift as those cloud-winged steeds may fly, The stranger journeys to our gates. Swift, day and night, he passes by Long stretches where the gray wolf waits. And lo! on his astonished eyes See Tadmor of the Desert rise. A thousand leagues to yesterday, A thousand to the day before, And, right and left, away, away, Stretch solid seas without a shore, Where porpoise shoals of buffalo Along the sharp horizon go. And now, he deems it half unreal. The sunset glints in golden hues Back from the river’s polished steel, Up from the stately avenues, * And sparkles from the spires, and swells And throbs, with sweet of evening bells. The cows come lowing to the fold, And men throng glad to happy homes. He stands knee-deep in blossomed gold, The distant mountains are God’s domes, And on his lips, in deep content, He tastes His wine of Sacrament. Oh, happy homes, a prophet stands Here all alone on virgin soil, And spreads to you his hardened hands, That here will take their bliss of toil. Be glad; your bow of promise bends And spans all beauty with its ends. Seek not beyond; the happy shores Bend nearer here than othérwhere. The gifts that wait beside your doors, And on the hills, and in the air, Are better than all old conceits, All faded and forgotten sweets. 4. 16 ~ I see the new Arcana rise, Touched with the fire of other days, And Nature, grown more rich and wise, Yield to your prayers her mysteries. Straight be your furrow, look not back, Trust that the harvest shall not lack. Build yet, the end is not; build on, . Build for the ages, unafraid ; The past is but a base whereon These ashlars, well hewn, may be laid. Lo, I declare I deem him blest Whose foot, here pausing, findeth rest. J. HARRISON MILLS. +S HISTORY OF COLORADO. BY W. B. VICKERS. CHAPTER I. RINGING UP THE CURTAIN. OOKING backward over the brief history of the State of Colorado, the youngest and fair- est of our bright sisterhood, is like turning the leaves of some grand romance that has charmed us in the past, and promises to renew the pleasure when we shall address ourselves anew to its peru- sal. To write of such a wonder-land can only be a labor of love for those to whom its rare beauties and eventful history have been revealed. Colorado is a poem, a picture, an embodiment of romance. No fairy tale was ever told in which so many glad surprises entered as have marked like milestones the development of the Centennial State; but still the writer of its history must shrink dis- comfited from the full performance of his duty, discouraged by the incompetence of language to do justice to the absorbing theme. These may sound like grand words; and the his- torian may be accused at the outset of a “gush- ing” tendency, better fitted to the poet’s corner of a country newspaper than to such a work as this. Colorado has the reputation already of having inspired more “gush” than most of the older States. Even New England’s rockbound shores, where the Pilgrim Fathers foregathered in the early -days, has suffered by comparison with the heart and crown of the continent; and Pike’s Peak is at least as well known as Plymouth Rock, beside being much more monumental. National pride _and national enthusiasm have combined to fire the hearts and souls and tongues and pens of Colorado pilgrims, until now the State is so well and favor- ably known that its history may be written with the comfortable assurance that it will find many readers, and perhaps friendly critics, even though its faults are thick as dust in vacant chambers. It may be well enough, perhaps, to confess at the outset that this sketch of the State is intended to be discursive rather than dryly statistical, and, | although facts and figures will enter into its com- position, they are by no means likely to mar the pleasure of those opposed to the Gradgrind school There is no lack, indeed, of interesting historical data, and the material inter- ests of the State deserve more recognition than they are likely to receive here; but there is no room for the long roll of pioneers more than there is for the The most that can be crowded into this contracted space will be a skeleton history, filled out with pictures of the physical, social and business aspects of the State. Chance reference to the pioneers of Colorado carries us back to the days of 59 and the strug- gles and triumphs of the brave men and women who, twenty years ago, sat down before the mount- ain walls to build a State, under circumstances the most discouraging. The Israelitish host who of social economists. almost endless list of paying mines. A or ~— eo. a9 = oi 18 HISTORY OF COLORADO. were forced by their masters to the task of making bricks without straw, had far more to encourage them than the early settlers of Colorado. The real utility of straw in the brick business has been doubted, but there is no doubt that nine- tenths of the men who saw Colorado in 1859, con- itation. The Great American Desert stretched almost from the Missouri River to the Rocky Moun- tains, a rainless, treeless waste, and the mountains themselves, however rich in gold and silver, offered small inducements for men to build themselves homes therein, much less populous and enterpris- ing cities, such as we see there now on every hand. The grand passion of our ’59ers was to get themselves rich, and concurrently to get themselves out of the country. Thousands of them thought the first of less consequence than the second, and so made themselves scarce without waiting for fortune to shower her gifts upon them, preferring the flesh-pots of “ America,” as the East for many years was called, to Colorado’s sunny but unsym- pathetic and lonely skies. No thought had these, or, indeed, the others who remained, of the glori- ous future in store for the incipient State. Beau- tiful scenery, to be sure; but who could live on scenery? A fine climate, too; but that only aggra- vated appetite, when flour was worth $50 a sack. The man who turned his oxen out to die in the fall of ’59, and surprised himself in the spring by rounding them up in good condition, was probably the first one who looked upon Colorado with a view to permanent residence. He was the father of the stock business, and his name ought to be handed down to future generations of cattle-grow- ers as their great original. Although this expansive region was so new and strange and solitary to the settlers of twenty years ago, and although its history may properly date from the last decade but one, historical accuracy demands that mention be made of former races and tribes of men, who lived out their little lives within these very limits where our prosperous State now stands. Colorado can show the mute sidered it nearly, if not quite, unfit for human hab-. yet eloquent records of a race of men, now and for many long ages unknown to those who succeeded them. In the cliff-houses of the Rio Mancos in Southwestern Colorado, there lived once a half- civilized people, probably descended from the ancient Aztecs, though possibly forerunners or rivals of that romantic race. Later still came the Mexicans, who once owned the country south of the Arkansas River, and who are still counted an important element about election times, some thou- sands of them remaining in the southern counties of the State, and as far. north as Pueblo. Con- temporanecous with the latter, and possibly with the former, were the various tribes of American Indians who roamed these then pathless wilds and fought and bled and stole ponies with the same untiring industry which marks their descendants, and makes them the special pets and proteges of the Indian Bureau of to-day. The annals of Old Mexico are silent as to whether or not there was a Mexican Indian Bureau in those days, but it is safe to assume, no doubt, that, if there was, the Indian supplies were stolen long before they reached these outposts of Spanish-American civili- zation. The testimony of history, however, is that the Indians and Mexicans cultivated the Christian grace of dwelling together in harmony and peace, and found the land broad enough for both races. Evidently, the heritage of the soil was consid- ered of little worth by either the Indians or the Mexicans, for the former sat up no barriers against Mexican invasion, and the latter thought so little of the country that immense tracts of land were given away to almost any one who would take them. Old Mexican grants cover some of the best land in Southern Colorado. Meee ate 0 BOaN +4, when Vasquez Coronado led an expedition in this direction, and explored the land thoroughly, as he thought, for gold, finding none If the grim Spaniard could only revisit Cilarady to-day, and view the rich treasures of Leadville and our mining districts generally; if he euuld Se | or ea a) Y HISTORY OF COLORADO. 19 ride into Denver and stop at one of our leading hoteis a few days, long enough to mark the mar- velous growth and activity of the city, what would he think of himself as a prospector and explorer? From Coronado to Captain Pike is a long leap; but history has not bridged the interval with any account of intermediate explorations. Pike dates back only to the opening of the present century, 1806, when Colorado was a part and parcel of the Louisiana purchase. The Captain was sauntering over the State—of Louisiana—in the fall of the year, exploring the valleys of the Arkansas, when his attention was attracted by the famous mount- ain which bears his name. Pike appears to have been, if not an ignorant, at least a superficial observer. He was the first white American tourist who visited Manitou and its mag- nificent surroundings, yet he never discovered the ‘famous springs or noted the monument rocks in the Garden of the Gods. He did not even ascend the peak which he took the liberty of christening. In the account of his travels which he published in 1810, but which is now out of print, may be found the story of his attempt to scale the peak, an attempt which ended in ignominious failure. Like many another tenderfoot, he took the wrong direction, and emerged on a mountain fifteen or more miles distant from the peak proper. The | latter, according to his story, was twice as high as the point on which he stood, and he thought it must be at least 18,500 feet above the level of Louis- jana proper. This exaggerated statement is, however, plainly the result of ignorance and not of boasting. The Captain was no braggart. He did not claim to be the first explorer of “ Western Louisiana,” but mod- estly transfers that honor to one James Pursley, of Bardstown, Ky., whom he met at Santa Fe and with whom he compared notes. But Pursley must have been even more modest than Pike, for it nowhere appears that he claimed any credit for his discoveries, or named a mountain after himself. Long’s expedition, commanded by Col. S. H. Long, next visited Colorado, and Dr. E. James, “surgeon, botanist and historian,” of the party, was the first white man who ascended the Peak. He also discovered the famous springs at the foot of the mountain. Fremont, the Pathfinder, came this way in 1843, and it was the report of his explorations which first awakened public interestin this territory. Although Fremont bore witness to the mineral character of the country, he reported no actual discovery of precious metals, nor did Pike. Pursley, the Ken- tuckian, told Pike there was gold here, but the latter attached little importance to the statement. Fremont’s party passed on to California, but next year returned by another route and explored North, Middle and South Parks, and reported many inter- esting observations. The mountains were full of game and moderately full of Indians, though none of these early explorers appear to have been troubled by the aborigines. Gen. Fremont’s reports regarding the country seem to have attracted no settlers hitherward save a few French and half- breed fur-traders, who came West and settled down to grow up with the Indians. Most of them mar- ried one or more Indian wives, and became, as it were, connecting links between barbarism and civili- zation. The earliest settlers of Colorado found many of these rough-handed but warm-hearted people here on their arrival, and, indeed, many of them remain ‘to this day, though death is decimat- ing their ranks very rapidly. Among these notable men was a grandson of one of the signers of the Declaration of Indepen- dence—Elbridge Gerry, of Connecticut. The pio- neer bore his grandfather’s name, and never dishonored it by a mean or ignoble act. He was the soul of honor and hospitality. His door was always open alike to friend or stranger, and he never would accept money from any one for food or lodging. “Kit” Carson was still more noted than Gerry, although all the early settlers knew the latter as intimately as the former. Carson has now (1879) been dead many years, but Gerry’s death occurred only a few years ago. Carson’s only monument is ; ~~ + e. £, 4 20 HISTORY OF COLORADO. a lonely railway station on the Kansas Pacific road, once for a brief space a flourishing frontier town, but now nearly abandoned. When civilization and fashion began to assert their sway in Colorado, some of the white-shirt aristocracy began to complain that certain white men shocked their sensitive souls by continuing to live with their Indian wives. Gerry was always | wounded by any reference to himself’ in this vein, but refused to be moved by it from what he con- sidered his duty to his family. Said he: “T married my wife when there wasn’t a white woman within a thousand miles of me, and when I never expected to see a white woman here. My wife is as true and my children are as dear to me as those of any man alive, and I will die a thou- sand deaths before I will desert them.” From the day when Capt. John A. Sutter made known the existence of gold in California, a steady tide of travel set across the continent from east to west, and soon certain portions of what is now Colorado, notably the valley of the South Platte and some of its tributaries, became not only well known, but dotted by stations of the great over- land stage company. It was not, however, until after the “Pike's Peak ” excitement of 1858-59, that attention was directed to the natural advantages and mineral wealth of Colorado, and the earliest discoveries of gold here were almost as accidental as those of California, only differing in the fact that fabulous stories of mineral wealth in the Rocky Mountains had prepared people to expect discoveries at any and every point in the mighty chain of peaks. It is believed, however, that the stories of min- eral discoveries prior to 1858 are apocryphal, although apparently well authenticated. There was never a time after the acquisition of Southern Colorado and New Mexico at the close of the Mexican war, that this country was not inhabited by intelligent and educated white men, retired army officers and the like, who would have been quick to recognize the value and importance of such discoveries, and to profit by them personally, if they did not spread the news abroad. Lupton, St. Vrain, Carson, Bent, Boone, Head, Wooten and others were domesticated in Colorado thirty years or more ago, and those sharp-witted gentle- men would have known when and where gold was found, had it been found before Green Russell and his party of Georgians stumbled upon the shining sand in the bed of Dry Creek in the summer of 1858. Russell’s party had looked in vain for gold dig- gings up and down the country from Cafion City to the Cache la Poudre, and were returning home- ward when their patient search was rewarded. Russell returned to the States, carrying the news of his discovery, and also several hundred dollars’ worth of gold dust, which were the first fruits of the now famous gold fields of Colorado. Following closely upon the heels of the Russell party, came a Kansas delegation, which. followed the Arkansas River route, and passed through Pueblo on or about the 4th of July. The place was pretty well deserted at that time, though once it had been a thriving trading-post. The Utes, with characteristic meanness, had so persecuted the white people there that they were compelled to leave; those, at least, who had escaped the worse fate of being murdered. The gold-seekers found the walls of the old fort standing, and some later comers, who established themselves there, built their houses of the adobes which had been used in the walls of the fort. It does not appear that the early Pueblans paid much attention to prospecting. The mount- ains thereabout have never yielded any astonish- ing results in the line of precious metals, and probably the pioneers suffered themselves to become discouraged early in their search for gold. Although “ Pike’s Peak or bust” was the rallying ary of the early prospectors, gold has never been discovered in paying quantities in the vicinity of the Peak, and not until some years after the north- ern mines were yielding large returns was there any bullion produced south of the Pike’s Peak range of mountains. The “ Silver San Juan” oe ~~ aie! HISTORY OF COLORADO. 21 country, which is, perhaps, the richest mineral region of the State, not excepting Leadville, dates back but a few years as a mining center. But if prospecting and other industrial pursuits were dull, Pueblo did not lack life or activity in the summer of 1858. Hon. Wilbur F. Stone, now one of the Justices of the Supreme Court of the State, and an able and versatile writer, some years ago prepared an historical sketch of Pueblo County, in which the incidents of those pioneer days are graphically depicted. The quiet humor of the sketch is quite irresistible, as is shown by the fol- lowing extract: ‘Game was quite plenty in those early days, and the settlers frequently indulged in it during the winter, both for food and pastime. It consisted chiefly of deer, antelope, jack rabbits, monte and seven-up.” But while Pueblo was indulging in her “game” —a characteristic not wholly abandoned to this day—the diggings up north were being developed by parties of prospectors from Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and other convenient localities, though the grand rush was postponed until the next spring, it being late in the fall before Russell had reached the States with his news and nuggets. The emigrants of the fall of 1858 suffered severely in crossing the plains, and, to make matters worse, the Indians early became alarmed at the threatened influx of white settlers, and began to “discourage” immigration after their usual fashion, by theft, rapine and murder—arts in which they were and are adepts. In those days a journey across the plains was far from plain or pleasant sailing. There were but few outposts of civilization, few personal comforts, and, apart from an occasional overland mail or returning California miner, no society worth speak- ing of—not counting Indians or buffalo as society. Now and then a Pike’s Peak pilgrim, wending his weary way back to “America,” met the advance guard of tender feet and established the now time honored custom of filling their ears with such sto- ries as only Coloradoans can tell—the California colloquist being merely an old-fashioned hand- press as compared with the improved Hoe machin- ery propelling the parts of speech in a Colorado pioneer. The returning pilgrims almost invariably followed the Platte route, intersecting the overland at what was then known as the California Crossing, now Julesburg. Few spots in Colorado are the center of more historic interest than this small hamlet in the extreme northeastern corner of the State. From the fall of 1858, when the first surge of emigra- tion swept westward into Colorado, until the Pacific Railroad passed by and left the place a mere wreck of its former self, Julesburg was widely known as the wickedest town in America, a reputation fairly won and well preserved, while it remained a railway terminus. To-day, it is one of the mildest and most quiet stations on the line of the Union Pacific road, except for two or three months of the late summer and fall, when it is busy with the bustle and excite- ment of shipping beef cattle from the surrounding plains. From the California Crossing to the Cherry Creek Diggings was not many days’ travel, and when half the distance was accomplished the grand mountains rose into view, affording one of the finest spectacles in the world. Every new traveler writing about the approach to these mountains went into greater ecstacy than the last, and all vied with each other in complimenting this Amer- ican Switzerland upon its surprising and surpass- ing beauty. Of this mighty mountain view, Mr. Samuel Bowle’, the lamented editor of the Springfield Republican, always a firm friend of Colorado, wrote as follows: ‘All my many and various wanderings in the European Switzerland, three summers ago, spread before my eyes no panorama of mountain beauty surpassing, nay, none equaling that which burst upon my sight at-sunrise upon the Plains, when fifty miles away from Denver; one which rises up before me now as I sit writing by the window = Y enh 22 HISTORY OF COLORADO. in this city. From far south to far north, stretch- ing around in huge semicircle, rise the everlasting hills, one after another, tortuous, presenting every variety of form and surface, every shade of cover and color, up and on until we reach the broad, snow-covered range that marks the highest sum- mits, and till where Atlantic and Pacific meet and divide for their long journeys to their far distant shores. To the north rises the King of the Range, Long’s Peak, whose top is 14,600 feet high; to the south, giving source to the Arkansas and Colorado, looms up its brother, Pike’s Peak, to the height of 13,400 feet. Those are the salient features of the belt before us, but the intervening and succeeding summits are scarcely less com- manding, and not much lower in height.” Mr. Bowles erred in his estimate of the altitude of both peaks, making the first too high and the second too low, but this does not mar the beauty of his glowing tribute to our Colorado mountains. Bayard Taylor, whose world-wide experience of mountain scenery made him an excellent judge of such scenic effects, also admired our mountains above measure, and thought them incomparably finer than the Alps. Said he: “T know no external picture of the Alps that can be placed beside it. If you could take away the valley of the Rhone, and unite the Alps of UT we must not linger too long en route or the impatient reader will sympathize with the impa- tient pilgrim, anxious to reach the “golden sands,” achieve a fortune and retrace his steps, for few, if any, pilgrims expected to remain in the new gold- fields longer than was absolutely necessary. Events showed, however, that their ideas of necessity varied very widely, according to pluck and energy. Some of them started back inside of twenty-four Savoy with the Bernese Oberland, you might obtain a tolerable idea of this view of the Rocky Mountains. Pike’s Peak would then represent the Jungfrau ; a nameless snowy giant in front of you, Monte Rosa, and Long’s Peak, Mont Blane. Tosuch scenes of surpassing beauty were the early settlers of Colorado invited, but, inasmuch as most of them came for gold rather than mountain scen- ery, more interest was felt in reaching the moun- tains than in beholding them afar off. The “light air” which was thenceforth to form one of the most striking of many Colorado peculiarities, had already given rise to numerous fictions touching its decep- tive qualities. The story of the man who started to walk from Denver to the mountains before breakfast, was already old, in fact, it was founded upon Capt Pike’s fruitless effort to reach Pike’s Peak during the day on which he first sighted it. Among the pleasant memories of the early days was the abundance of: game, as already noted in the reference to ancient Pueblo. The Platte Val- ley was even better provided in this respect than the Arkansas, and, at first, neither buffalo nor ante- lope seemed to be much alarmed at the approach of man, though the latter, more alert and intelli- gent than their lumbering companions, soon found that a distant acquaintance with mankind was most profitable though yielding less information. CHAPTER IL EARLY DISCOVERIES OF GOLD. was no gold here, nor anything else worth living for. Others began mining operations, but, meet- ing with only partial or indifferent success, and finding that hard work offered no more attrac- tions in Colorado than elsewhere, concluded that they would do their hard work back East among friends and relations. Others. stil] persevered despite all discouragements, and to these ae men the country is indebted for its marvelous hours, cursing the country and declaring that there | outcome. =o Fe 2 9 \ HISTORY OF COLORADO. 23 All honor to the pioneers. Whether they saw the end from the beginning, or whether they builded “better than they knew,” their labor involved the highest type of moral courage. The discoveries of gold in 1858 were confined to the plains entirely, and mainly to the tributaries of the Platte in the vicinity of Denver. In January, 1859, although the winter’ was cold, the snow deep and circumstances very dis- couraging, the enterprising prospectors ventured into the mountains, and gold was discovered in several localities, among them South Boulder Creek, where the diggings were christened “ Dead- wood.” The original Deadwood failed, however, to create the excitement which has recently been created by its namesake in the. Black Hills of Dakota. Meanwhile, the politicians had not been idle. Auraria, now known as West Denver, was laid out early in November, and soon became the center of population, though numerous towns and “cities” sprang into existence about the same time. Of course, these incipient cities looked first to some form of government, and, as this whole country was then within the dominion of Kansas, a new county was constituted and called Arapahoe, after the neighboring tribe of Indians. On the 6th of November, the first election was held. It was a double-barreled affair, a Delegate to Congress and a Representative in the Kansas Legislature being elected at the same time. H. J. Graham went to Washington, and A. J. Smith to Topeka. Gra- ham’s instructions were to get “Pike’s Peak” set apart as an independent Territory, to be called Jefferson. He was a man of great energy and fair ability, but he must have been looked upon in Washington as a wild sort of lunatic, for the coun- try was then so new that nobody east of the Mis- souri River attached any importance to the scheme of its proposed permanent settlement. Those who had faith in the country remained in it; those who lacked faith went back to the States and denounced it as a miserable fraud. Graham found himself without influence at the National Capital, and the only thing he gained by his trip, besides the fleeting honor of being our first Repre- sentative in Congress, was the privilege of paying his own expenses. Smith was slightly more successful at Topeka. He was recognized to the extent of sanctioning the new county organization, and so Colorado was launched into political existence as Arapahoe County, Kansas. The year 1859 was one of great moment to Col- orado. ‘Though in effect but a repetition of 1858, it was on a scale so much larger as to eclipse the latter, and to assume for itself all the importance of the date of actual discovery and settlement, so that, in the minds of most people, Colorado dates from 1859, rather than from the preceding year. It has already been stated that discoveries of gold were made in the mountains-as early as Jan- uary of this year, but the great excitement of the season did. not begin until May, when Gregory Gulch was first prospected by the famous John H. Gregory, whose name it bears. Gregory does not appear to have been a Pike’s Peak pilgrim. It is said that he left Georgia for the far-away gold mines of British Columbia, and that he passed by Colorado during the excitement of 1858, going as far north as Fort Laramie, where chance or acci- dent induced him to spend the winter. Instead of continuing his northwest journey in the spring, he turned back and inspected the Colorado dig- gings critically, and, without any unbounded faith in their paying qualities. He reached Golden, 4 mere hamlet then, and, still dissatisfied, pushed on through the now famous Clear Creek Cafion to where the town of Black Hawk now stands. He was alone, and nearly perished in a severe snow- storm which came on and found him without shelter. Painfully, he fought his way back to the valley, and laid in a fresh stock of provisions and warmer clothing, and again set out for the Clear Creek country, convinced, from his previous observations, that it was a treasure-house of precious metals. His enthusiasm enlisted the services of one man to v or vo + a eq. 24 HISTORY OF COLORADO. accompany him—Wilkes Defrees, of South Bend, Ind. Of their toilsome journey, and of the discover- ies they made, it is perhaps best to speak in the light of results, compared with which their first prospecting seems tame and commonplace. For more than twenty years already, and giving prom- ise of twenty times twenty years to come, Gregory Gulch and the surrounding country has yielded its rich treasures of gold and silver, and to-day it is increasing in wealth and importance as a mining center. Where poor Gregory so nearly perished in the snow, stands three populous cities and hun- dreds of valuable mines; the smoke of smelters’ and reduction works hang over them day and night continually, and active mining operations and kindred industries make of the narrow valley a very bee-hive, not only of action but of accumu- lation. Within the narrow limits of this review, there is not room for the chronological succession of events which effected this wonderful transforma- tion, but a hasty resumé of the history of Gregory Gulch will be useful as showing how our mining industries struggled through the earlier years of their existence. A not inapt comparison might be found in the induction of an infant into the means and mysteries of human life. It has already been stated that the discoveries of gold in Colorado were made by men ignorant of scientific mining, ignorant, too, of the laws of nature which might have shed some light, at least, on the possibilities of these discoveries. Geolo- gists could have foretold many things which these men learned by the hardest experience, and often at the sacrifice of their fortunes. Even gulch and placer mining, the simplest study of mineralogy, was almost a sealed book to the pioneers, and of | the reduction of ores they were profoundly igno- rant. As depth was gained on their lode claims, the increasing richness of the ore was, under the ory nature. Rude appliances for treating ore, such as had served the early miners while their circumstances, more than neutralized by its refract-. work lay near the surface, and while the quartz was partially decomposed, utterly failed as depth was gained, and, for a time, the mining industries of Colorado came almost to a stand-still. It seems singular, now that mining has been reduced to an exact science in Colorado, as well as in older countries, that so long a time should have elapsed, and so many grave errors should have been committed, before this most reasonable and certain result was attained. Nevertheless, it is undoubtedly true that at one time, and at a very important period of her history as a mining center, Colorado swallowed up more Kastern capital than the sum of her annual bullion product. Rich ores were treated only to be ruined. The precious metals could not be extracted and separated from the mass of worthless material. The tailings and refuse of the mills were more valuable than what was saved from them. Mining companies were formed in the East, which sent out agents and operators taken from all walks of life except the one business of which they should have been mas- ters. The monuments of this folly are still visible everywhere in our mountains, in the shape of abandoned buildings, wasting water-powers, and many other easy and expeditious methods of get- ting rid of the “company’s” money. Fitz-John Porter's “ Folly,” at Black Hawk, now figures asa railway depot, an immense stone structure, costing thousands of dollars, but never utilized by its pro- jectors. Other “Folly” buildings, costing other thousands, have never been utilized at all. But though results were thus unsatisfactory, the same could not truthfully be said of business. It was flush times in Colorado. Money and work were plenty, and thousands found employment at remunerative wages. The placers were yielding up their rich treasures, and little or no skill was required to find and save the gold thus deposited. True to the instincts of their kind, the pros- pectors spread over the whole country in their search for gold. The Indians became alarmed at the encroachments of the miners, and many detached parties of the latter were killed during A ee ~~ + HISTORY OF COLORADO. 25 1860-61. The first party which penetrated into Middle Park was decimated by the hostile savages, but this did not prevent others from following in their footsteps, and very important discoveries of placer mines were made, not only along the bed of ‘the Platte and its tributaries, but also across the Mosquito Range, in the Arkansas Valley. Among the latter was the celebrated find near the present site of Leadville, in California Gulch, of which more will be written in another chapter devoted to the history of Leadville. Though thousands of pilgrims crossed the plains in 1859, few, comparatively, of their number win- tered in the country, fearing the severity of-the weather and a possible scarcity of provisions. By chance, neither fear was well founded. The win- ter was very mild, and trains loaded with goods of all kinds came through safely in midwinter. CHAPTER III. JOURNALISM ERY early in the season of 1859, the printing- press took root in Rocky Mountain soil, where it has flourished since second to scarcely any other industry. What Colorado owes to her live, enter- prising and intelligent newspaper press, no one can tell; but, if the State is debtor to the press, the obligation is mutual, for never were newspapers so liberally patronized as those of Denver and the State at large. By universal consent, Hon. William N. Byers, founder, and for a long time editor of the Rocky Mountain News, has been called the pioneer and father of Colorado’s journalism, though in a late address to the Colorado State Press Association, he modestly disclaimed part of this honor in favor of -an erratic but large-hearted printer named Jack Merrick. It seems that Merrick started for Pike’s Peak with a newspaper outfit, in advance of the Byers party, which consisted of Thomas Gibson, then and now of Omaha, and Dr. George C. Monell, of the same place. Merrick reached Denver first, and to that e&tent was the pioneer publisher, but the superior energy of the Byers party-enabled them to get out the first paper ever published in the Rocky Mountains. It bears date April 22,1859. Merrick issued a paper on the same day, but later. Both were rather rude spec- imens of typography, especially as compared with the elegantly printed sheets now circulating in the IN COLORADO. State, and the Cherry Creek Pioneer—the name by which Merrick’s journal was heralded—was unique in that it was the one lone, solitary issue from his press. Before Jack could collect himself together sufficiently to get out another number, Gibson, of the News, had bargained for his sorry little outfit and consolidated it with that of the News. The latter paper was published with tolerable ‘regularity all that summer, though sometimes under the most discouraging circumstances, and more than once upon brown paper or half-sheets of regular print. The nearest post office was at Fort Laramie, 220 miles distant, and the mails arrived The News, how- ever, was never dependent on its exchanges for original matter, and got along very well without telegraphic dispatches. It was devoted to build- ing up the country, and it gave nearly all its space to reports of mining matters, new strikes, and pictures of the glowing future of Colorado. For all these utterances, and especially for the latter, it was cursed by returning disheartened pilgrims, who poured their own stories into the willing ears of Eastern editors, and soon earned for the Rocky Mountain News the reputation of being edited by one of the most capable and dangerous liars in the country. Looking back over his twenty years of labor for Colorado in the face of every possible there at very irregular intervals. a, aT) Y -_ er ~~ y | a 4 , discouragement, the veteran editor can afford to smile at these ancient assaults upon his veracity asa scribe. More than he predicted of the coun- try has been verified. The second newspaper venture in Colorado was at Mountain City, a mining camp, situated just above the present town of Black Hawk, but not quite as far up the gulch as where Central stands. This was the Gold Reporter, and was published by Thomas Gibson, who had sold his interest in the News to John L. Dailey, now Treasurer of Arapa- hoe County. Gibson published the Reporter only during the summer of 1859. In November, the material was removed to Golden, and a very credit- able newspaper, called the Mountaineer, was printed by the Boston Company which started the town. The idea, at that time, was that Golden should supersede Denver as the metropolis of the mountains, and this newspaper venture was in pur- suance of that sacredly cherished purpose. The lamented A. D. Richardson was one of the earlier editors of the Mountaineer, and Col. Thomas W. Knox, almost as widely known as a successful journalist, was another. Capt. George West, the veteran editor of the Golden Transcript, which succeeded the Mountaineer, was also connected with the latter publication until the war broke out, when he enlisted. The winter of 1859-60 was a hard one upon the journals of the Territory, on account of the stampede back to the “settlements” at the opening of the winter, but the spring brought many of the stampeders back, and not a few “tenderfeet,” as new-comers were already called by those who had wintered in the country. Among the returning prodigals was Gibson, who brought in another newspaper outfit, and, early in May, issued the Daily Herald, the first daily ever printed in Denver. Meantime the proprietors of the News had not been idle, and, very soon after the Daily Herald was started, the Daily News made its appearance. The rivalry between these sheets is one of the liveliest traditions of 1860. The fierce competi- 26 HISTORY OF COLORADO. tion between our great dailies of to-day sinks into insignificance when compared to the News and Herald war of that date. Single copies of each paper sold readily for “two bits,” which was the standard price also for cigars, drinks, and many other necessaries of life in the Far West. Both papers circulated in all the mountain mining camps, being distributed by carriers mounted on the fleet “bronchos” of the plains, whose tireless tramp and sure feet fitted them exactly for, the work, as, in these latter days, the same character- istics fit them equally for chasing wild cattle over the plains or carrying tourists to the very summits of mountain peaks. A year later the telegraph reached Fort Kearney, and journalism took another forward step. The dailies began to furnish telegraphic news from the East, then eagerly sought for on account of the great civil war raging throughout the South. Curiously enough, although Gregory Gulch was, from the first discovery of gold there, a large center of population, particularly during the sum- mer months, no newspaper was permanently estab- lished there until 1862. It was the same Register which still survives, and which has been for many years one of the most important and influential mining and political journals of the State. The Black Hawk Journal, now extinct, but which existed for many years, was established by Capt. Frank Hall and O. J. Hollister, in the same year. Both these gentlemen made their mark in journal- ism, and the former is still an honored and exceed- ingly popular citizen of Colorado. To the latter, Colorado is indebted for the best historical sketch of the State ever published, but the number of years which have elapsed since its appearance, and the wonderful transformation of the country which has marked these later years, have almost destroyed | } the value of “Hollister’s Colorado,” except as a book of reference, in which respect it has been of most invaluable service to the compiler of these pages. It would be interesting, if it were practicable, to follow the fortunes of these and other enterprising oq et ~—a v 4 HISTORY OF COLORADO. 29 : newspapers through succeeding years, but the vicissitudes of journalism in Colorado would make a book in itself. Perhaps a fitting conclusion to this brief review would be the following extract from the address of Mr. Byers before the Colorado Press Association, already referred to elsewhere: “1862, 63 and ’64 were trying years for the two daily newspapers that remained in Denver. Messrs. Rounds & Bliss retired from the News in 1863. The Herald underwent a number of changes in name and management. A harassing Indian war on the Plains prostrated business, cut off the mails and interrupted all commerce. Trains laden with merchandise were robbed or burned, teams driven off and men,killed. During the summer of 1864, when the trouble culminated, Denver and the immediate vicinity lost about fifty citizens, who were murdered by the Indians. Most of them were killed while en route to or from the States. The daily mail route along the Platte was broken up and nearly all the stations burned. As misfortunes never come singly, that season was exceptional for its disasters. On the 20th of May occurred the celebrated Cherry Creek flood, known by that name only because it occasioned more destruction of property and loss of life at Denver than in any other locality. It was no less terrible and proportionately more destructive along Plum Creek, the Fontaine qui Bouille and other streams, than along, Cherry Creek. By it Denver lost a large amount of property. The News office and its contents were destroyed, leaving not a vestige. Three or four weeks after, its proprietors bought the Herald office and resumed the publication of the News. The Indian war thickened, until practically Colo- rado was cut off from the Eastern States. For _weeks at a time, there were no mails, and finally they were sent around by Panama and San Fran- cisco, reaching Denver in from seven to ten weeks. Of course newspapers suffered with everybody and everything else. All supplies were used up. Wrapping paper, tissue paper and even writing ' paper were’used to keep up the daily issues of the News, now the only paper remaining in Denver, if not in the Territory. In August, martial law, was proclaimed, and the Third Regiment of Colorado Volunteers raised in less than a week in order to chastise the Indians. The regiment was equipped and provisioned by the people, but was subse- quently accepted and mustered into the United States Service for one hundred days. The Sand Creek campaign followed. The News office fur- nished , fourteen recruits for that regiment, and thereafter, for a time, the paper was printed by a detail of soldiers. It was very small, and con- tained little besides military orders and notices. The campaign lasted about ninety days, and then followed peace. For two or three years, the News had the field in Denver almost entirely alone, and then new enterprises were started, and the number of newspapers has since multiplied rap- idly, some to become permanent, as the Tribune, Herald, Times and others, and many others to ‘flourish for a brief period and then die. The same has been the case all over the Territory, now State. Newspapers have been among the first enterprises in all new towns of any importance.” It would be unjust to a generous and noble class of men to dismiss this subject without pay- ing a compliment to those who have carried the printing press up and down the mountains and valleys of this broad State, whenever and wherever there was a posssible opportunity to develop some new resources and found some new settlement. There has never been a call for a new newspaper in Colorado to which some one-has not responded. Start a new town anywhere in the mountains, and the moment its success is assured—often much sooner—some enterprising publisher puts in an appearance, and a creditable newspaper is launched in less time than it would take an Eastern commu- nity to make up its mind that a newspaper was a necessity. Who would think in the East, or in the Mississippi Valley, of starting a newspaper in a town of two or three hundred inhabitants ? Yet Colorado can boast of many such, and, what is stranger still, many of them are financially + . oT a a <= 30 HISTORY OF COLORADO. successful. Should the new settlement prosper, | and himself and tries another location. As a the newspaper always shares its prosperity; should | matter of present as well as future interest, the the town fail, the publisher, a little downcast, per- | following list of periodical publications in the haps, but not at all disheartened, picks up his office | State, at the close of 1879, is hereto appended : NAME. PLACE. PROPRIETORS. not NEWS, WOCKLY......0.ssceeceeesee. censesceersseeee: AlamoSa ...eseecessseeee waitedsanead M. Custers.......scccsersscecereees 1878 Independent, weekly. .-..| Alamosa ......- .--.| Hamm & Finley. 1878 Southwest, weekly..... seee| Animas City....ccessccseecsseceeee Engley & Reid... 1879 Post, weekly .....sccerscoeesees wees] Black Hawk.....ccccsscescssceeees J. R. Oliver......... 1876 News and Courier, weekly.. -...| Boulder......... «| Shedd & Wilder... 1869 Banner, weekly.........sscesee -.-| Boulder....... | Wangelin & Tilney... =| 1875 Record, weekly.......sscsecsecessecssceeserseeees Cation City ......ceecesceereceeenes H. T. Blake............ «| 1875 News Letter, weekly.........sssscesseessecsreeees Castle RocK.....csssccersseceeeeees C. E. Parkinson... 1874 Register, daily.........s.cescssceeceseeeseeereeeaeee Central City.......cccceceeseeserees Laird & Marlow........ «| 1862 Gazette, daily and weekly.........e.csscecsesces Colorado Springs.......ccceseeees Gazette Publishing Co...... «| 1878 Mountaineer,.daily and weekly ...........0045 Colorado SpringS.......cecceeeees Mountaineer Printing Co...... 1878 Deaf-Mute Index, monthly...... seoee| Colorado SpringS......0.sceeseees H. M. Harbert.............ceseeee 1875 Prospector, weekly.. .....+0+- «| Del Norte.....cccccoscssseccsssscees Cochran Bros...... 1874 News, daily and weekly..... Denver seiccaswsvsececoesssniexvece News Printing Co.. «| 1859 Tribune, daily and weekly..... -| Denver . ....| H. Beckurts........ --| 1867 Republican, daily and weekly. ..| Denver . «+-| Republican Co.... | 1879 Times, daily and weekly.......cecssescecsceeees DEDVER f.c2.c0esececnesdacetee ponerse R. W. Woodbury... 1872 Colorado Farmer, weekly... ..| Denver .... | J. 8. Stanger .........eee -| 1873 Financial Era, weekly....... oo) DENVER siccoscsccnenieescvosadsndece F. C. Messenger & Co.... -| 1878 Colorado Journal, weekly sal Denver siccsescicnvccccgerescegaeses W. Witteborg............ «| 1872 Colorado Post, weekly... we] Denver ....csccscscoecnecerercenres News Printing Co.... 1879 Herald, weekly........... ..| Denver . --+-{ O. J. Goldrick...... 1860 Presbyterian, monthly.. ie| DON VER scnecnssessisosvvastancvave ves Rev. 8. Jackson. 1871 Journal, weekly .......... oe) EVANS) acacvasrewesiacsecosescerscenee James Torrens..... 1871 Express, weekly.. ae| Fort: Collinsviscissevscccsosstsesees J.S. McClelland... 1873 Courier, weekly... .._ Fort Collins... .| Watrous & Pelton. 1878 || Flume, weekly..... ..| Fairplay ....... ci) dasiaie es seveasnazeecea snes 1879 Miner, weekly.. ..| Georgetown ... ..| Patterson & Bellamy.. 1867 Courier, weekly...... «-| Georgetown ........-s.eeeeseeeeees J. 8S. Randall............ 1877 Transcript, weekly.. os] GOLA OW sic. vecdaveiseccwasvcnmisasiiey George West... 1867 Globe, weekly........ i) AP gece pactsysnavnennneaeisaniar W.G. Smith... 1872 Sun, weekly.. ..... --| Greeley... ..{ H. A. French. 1872 Tribune, weekly ....... ws} Greeleycicssessusetsnnrsaxervvaweces E. J. Carver... 1870 Silver World, weekly... ..| Lake City.. H. C. Olney 1875 Chronicle, daily and weekly.. ..| Leadville.. «-s-| Chronicle Co... 1879 Eclipse, daily and weekly... wa Dead ville’ sccvewseivescecsecceveeese G. F. Wanless......... 1378 Herald, daily and weekly... ..| Leadville..... .-.| Herald Printing Co.. «| 1879 Reveille, daily and weekly. we] Leadville.........cccesseceseecesees R. 8. Allen......... | 1878 Colorado Grange, monthly.. s+] LONgMONt..-..cececeeceeeceeeeeeeee W. E. Pabor... 1876 Press, weekly........ssscseseees oo] Longmont .......escceceeeeeeeeeene E. F. Beckwith... «| 1871 Ledger, weekly... +) Longmont........ccceeesssceseereee Ledger Co........ .| 1877 Mentor, weekly... | Monument .csas ccsiaidscceencecrews A. T. Blachley 1878 Times, weekly..... oi QU ay secsscpicsse sieve secasecsapeawa Ripley Bros.............. 1877 Solid Muldoon.......... 0.00.46 t| QUPAY csossssentecieseipearainseuas’ Muldoon Publishing Co.. 1879 Chieftain, daily and weekly... Pueblo «.| J. J. Lambert... 1868 Democrat, daily and weekly.. Pueblo -| Hull Bros...... 1875 Index, weekly..... ot ROB Asscmenrexe wel deentinwasgun comple 1875 Banner, weekly... -| South Pueblo . «| A. J. Patrick.. Chronicle, weekly.. Saguache....... ..| W. B. Felton..... 1874 Miner, weekly....... of SUWERION . ccaesineseaatani corsariny John R. Curry... 1875 Prospector, daily......... Silver Cliff ........cccceeseeesseeee McKinney & Lacy... 1879 Miner, daily and weekly....... «| Silver Cliff .......ccescscceesseces W. L. Stevens...... ; 1878 Enterprise, daily and weekly .-| Trinidad .. «| J. M. Rice..... i 1875 News, daily and weekly...... . +.| Trinidad ............ --| Henry Sturgis. 1878 Leader, weekly.......se.ce++ oaeeeseseecseassoneee -| West Las Animas................. C. W. Bowman........ 1873 Pm. roe a9 t HISTORY OF COLORADO. 31 three fair dailies; Pueblo, two; Colorado Springs, The preceding shows fifteen daily and fifty weekly | Silver Cliffand Trinidad, two each, and Central, one. newspapers. Denver has four large dailies; Leadville, | The Denver dailies challenge the admiration of every one who appreciates pluck and perseverance. RIEF allusion has been made already to the political movements of the pioneers; their early effort to organize a Territorial Government, and also to extend the jurisdiction of Kansas over this unorganized community. The pioncers were good citizens, but they foresaw the lawless element || which would fall upon them presently, and carn- estly endeavored to provide themselves with prop- er laws and peace officers. But the work of organizing a Territory is at best a tedious process, and, in this case, it was hindered by conflicting interests and opinions. Some wanted to organize || a State at once, claiming in their enthusiasm, that the requisite population could be shown by the time a vote would be taken on the question. Some opposed alike the State and Territorial move- meni, and wanted to remain a dependence of Kan- sas, and the roughs were opposed to any and all forms of government—not very strange, in view of the fact that most of them were fugitives from justice, in one or another of the older States or || Territories. | After the formal establishment of the new county under Kansas administration, the next im- portant step was the State movement. A public meeting, held in Auraria (West Denver), April 11, 1859, had resolved in favor of a State organ- ization, and the scheme advanced so far dur- ing the summer that a Constitution was pre- pared, and submitted to a vote of the people in September. The convention which framed the Constitution, wisely provided that, in case of its rejection, a delegate to Congress, to be voted for on the same day, should proceed to Washington, and again endeavor to have the | CHAPTER IV. EARLY POLITICS AND ORGANIZATION OF THE TERRITORY. ' gold region set off from Kansas, as a new Terri- tory, to be known as Jefferson. The Constitution was rejected by a large majority, the vote in its favor being but 649 to 2,007against it. B. D. Williams was elected Delegate over seven competitors. The election was a very exciting affair. Even at that early day, there were charges and counter-charges of fraud, some of them, prob- ably, well founded. The Returning Board came in for its share of obloquy, too, but, as no “emi- nent citizens,” or Congressional Committee, in- quired into, the matter, it failed to achieve a national reputation. Thus ended the first- effort of the people of Col- orado for admission into the Union. It was renewed on several occasions prior to the final suc- cessful movement in 1875-76. On one occasion, it was so far successful that, in 1864, Congress passed an enabling act under which a Constitution was framed, adopted, and all the machinery of State stood ready to move at a moment’s notice, when President Andrew Johnson vetoed every- thing by refusing to ratify the Constitution, on the ground that it contained an unconstitutional pro- vision restricting suffrage to white inhabitants. This was a terrible blow not only to the people of the State generally, but to the unfledged State officials and Congressional delegation. Hon. J. B. Chaffee and ex-Gov. John Evans had been chosen Senators; Hon. George M. Chilcott, Representative in Congress; William Gilpin, Governor; George A. Hinsdale, Lieutenant Governor; J. H. Gest, Secretary of State, and W. R. Gorsline, Allen A. Bradford and J. Bright Smith, Justices of the Supreme Court. Cn a Oe iecist + “ ® 32 HISTORY OF COLORADO. Upon the failure of the first effort in 1859, the Provisional Government of the Territory of Jeffer- son was organized, by the election of R. W. Steele, as Governor; Lucien W. Bliss, Secretary; C. R. | Bissell, Auditor; G. W. Cook, Treasurer; Samuel McLean, Attorney General, and a full ticket, which | was voted at twenty-seven precincts, and for which some two thousand one hundred votes were cast, pro and con. But in order to be on the safe side, still another election was held on the same day, at which a full set of county officers were chosen, under Kansas rule, and, so the early pilgrims sailed along under triple laws for a time, the Miner’s court having been organized to mete out justice after its crude and vigorous but very healthy fashion. Say what we may of the miners’ laws and their summary method of dealing with litigants and all offenders against law and order, the fact remains that during those troublous times, the Miners’ courts were about the only ones which were thoroughly respected and implicitly obeyed. As to the latter point, indeed, there was no alter- native. When the miners ordered a man out of camp, for. example, he stood not at all upon the order of his going, but went at once. Similarly, if the miners decided between two parties contend- ing over a disputed claim, the side which secured a verdict also secured possession, and that without any delay whatever. The “ Provisional Government,’ asthe Territorial party was called, elected a Legislature, which met in November, and transacted considerable business. The city of Denver was first chartered by this body. Nine counties were represented in the Legislature, and Gov. Steele set out to officer them by appointing Probate Judges and ordering county elections in January, 1860. There was little or no objection to the office-holding part of the pro- gramme, but a poll-tax of $1 per capita, levied by the Provisional Government, was the occasion of much vigorous “kicking,” and went farther toward breaking down than sustaining Gov. Steele’s admin- istration. Meantime, Capt. Richard Sopris, now an hon- ored citizen and Mayor of Denver, represented “Arapahoe County” in the Kansas Legislature, and a complete list of Kansas county officers had been chosen in the valleys, while the mountain counties stood by their Miners’ courts, and as much of the Provisional Government as suited them. If an honest miner failed to secure his rights in one feared to go to trial in one, he took a change of venue to the other. Sometimes cases were tried in both courts, and as the fine art of taxing fees had early penetrated into the country, liti- gants often found themselves as poor after a case was won as they were before. In January, 1860, the Provisional Legislature met again and made some more laws, which were as inoperative as their predecessors. Their failure, however, was due rather to the passivity than resistance of the people. The country was, in fact, peaceable and law-abiding, with the exception of that dangerous class common to the border, to which all laws were alike objectionable, and these roughs were kept in check by the fear of mountains had been supplemented by people’s courts in the valleys. The proceedings of the lat- mer; indeed, they approached the dignity of a regularly constituted tribunal. They were always presided over by a magistrate, either a Probate Judge or a Justice of the Peace. if the latter were within reach. So passed the year 1860, marked by some very exciting criminal history, of which more anon, and, early in December, upon the re-assembling of Congress, the claims of Colorado to Territorial: recognition were persistently pressed, not only by her own delegates, but by many members who had near relatives or friends in the Pike’s Peak country. After a little delay, caused by a press of political business in both Houses, Congress finally took up and passed the Colorado bill, which became a law court, he incontinently rushed inte another; if he | summary punishment. Miners’ courts in the | ter were as open and orderly as those of the for- | The prisoner had counsel and could call witnesses, |. ° ¥ a”. J HISTORY OF COLORADO. 33 February 26,1861. President Lincoln immedi- ately appointed Federal officers for the new Terri- || tory. William Gilpin was the Governor; Lewis || Ledyard Weld, Secretary; B. F. Hall, Chief Jus- | tice; S. Newton Pettis and Charles Lee Armour, || Associate Justices; Copeland Townsend, United States Marshal; William L. Stoughton, Attorney General, and Gen. Francis M. Case, Surveyor | General. Gov. Gilpin reached Denver May 29, following his appointment. A census of the Territory, taken by him soon after his arrival, showed a pop- ulation of 25,329, divided as follows: White || males over age, 18,136; white males under age, 2,622; females, 4,484; negroes, 89. The new Territory was carved out of the public domain lying between the 102d and 109th meri- dians of longitude and the 37th and 41st parallels of latitude, thus forming a compact and nearly square tract, its length, east and west, being 370 | miles and its width 280. It comprises an area of 104,500 square miles, an Emipire in itself and the third largest State in the Union, Texas being the first and California second. But, according to the maps and Hayden’s Survey, fully one-third of Col- {| orado is covered by the Rocky Mountain Range and its spurs, the latter standing out from the former in every direction. The main range or con- tinental divide enters the State from the north, a little west of the center, ranges eastward and south- ward until Long’s Peak is reached, bears almost due south through Boulder County, swings west- ward around Gilpin and Clear Creek, thence leads southwest through many devious turns and wind- ings until it penetrates the very heart of the San Juan silver region, whence it returns eastward by south, and leaves the State nearly due south of the point where it entered. Across this mighty mountain range the State sits, as Mr. Hollister says, like a man on horse- back, a homely but apt comparison. It would be more expressive still if the plains of the western slope corresponded with those of the east, which they do not. The eastern plains occupy more than one-third of the entire State. Though largely arid and apparently unproductive, they are the source of immense wealth, and it is even questioned now whether their reclamation would add to the actual production of the State. To drive the cattle trade and stock interests generally from the State would be to deprive Colorado of its most profitable industry, whereas the production of crops by artificial irri- gation is attended with great expense and not a little risk, and it is doubtful whether Colorado could ever compete with Kansas and Nebraska as an agricultural region. The third grand division of the State is the Park country, and to this may very properly be added thé great valleys over the range, which are really parks, inasmuch as the mountains rise round about them, though not always in circular or semi- circular form. Of the parks proper, there are too many to be enumerated in detail, but the principal ones are North, Middle, South and San Luis, the latter being in fact the Valley of the Rio Grande. ' The park lands are pastoral rather than agri- cultural, but some farming is conducted in South Park, and still more in San Luis. All are well watered, mountain streams flowing through them from the mountains above to the valleys below. They were once alive with game—the happy hunt- ing grounds of the Utes and Arapahoes—and not infrequently the scene of severe conflicts between the rival tribes, although mainly held by the Utes, while the Arapahoes held the plains country. Game, however, has almost entirely disappeared from South and San Luis Parks, and is seldom seen in Middle Park, except in the winter season, when heavy falls of snow on the range drives the game into the Park and adjacent valleys. North Park, however, is still stocked with game. It is almost uninhabited, seldom visited save by hunt- ers, and is more a terra incognita than almost any part of Colorado, outside of the Indian Reserva- tion. This is accounted for by its lack of attract- ive features, and the fact that the country is comparatively valueless either for agriculture or a ~— 4 > 34 HISTORY OF COLORADO. stock-raising. It is said to be the poorest part of the State, and so little is thought of it that even now it is in doubt which contiguous county shall exert jurisdiction over the Park. Hunters, however, find themselves richly repaid for the trouble and expense of reaching the Park. The usual route is from Laramie, on the Union Pacific Railway, though the Park is easily accessi- ble from Denver and all points in Northern Colo- rado. Bear, black-tailed deer, bison, mountain sheep, antelope, mountain lions, etc., are found there. Grouse abound, and the streams are full of trout. The bison referred to above is not the “buffalo” of the plains, but a distant cousin, of a type essentially different, dwelling only in the mountains. Bruin is found in two species—the black and grizzly, the latter being most dangerous when he shows fight, which he is not slow to do if attacked or molested. The amount of game in North Park may be greatly exaggerated, but there is certainly plenty of it upon occasion, and hunters have-even found more than they wanted. A few years ago, some LO! ESTERN COLORADO, though, undoubt- edly, the finest part of the State, is practi- cally unproductive, owing to Indian occupation. The Indian Reservation is an immense body of fine mineral, pastoral, and agricultural land, larger than the State of Massachusetts twice over—nearly three times as large, in fact. It is nominally occu- pied by about 3,000 Ute Indians. Of this land, and those Indians, Gov. Frederick W. Pitkin wrote, in his message to the Legislature of 1879, as follows: “ Along the western borders of the State, and on the Pacific Slope, lies a vast tract occupied by the tribe of Ute Indians, as their reservation. It CHAPTER V. THE POOR INDIAN. contains about twelve millions of acres, and is: Prospectors, however, have explored some portions friends of the writer were crossing the Poudre range into North Park, when they suddenly came in sight of seven bears nearly in front of them. A coun- cil of war was held, and an attack was resolved on. | | The party were to creep forward in single file and as noiselessly as possible to within rifle range, and then fire all together at a signal from the leader. One of the party had no gun, but insisted on bearing the rest company. When the leader turned to give the signal for firing, the gunless individual was the only biped in sight. The rest of the erstwhile brave battalion had turned back | to camp. This example was soon followed by the_ others, and the bears never knew how narrowly they had escaped slaughter. Doubtless, some sanguinary reader will have been terribly disappointed at the tame termination of this story, but long observation on the frontier has shown that bear hunts are usually bloodless. The old settlers seldom bother themselves about Bruin, so long as he leaves them alone, and never attack one without being exceptionally well armed. nearly three times as large as the State of Massa- chusetts. It is watered by large streams and | rivers, and contains many rich valleys, and a large | number of fertile plains. The climate is milder than in most localities of the same altitude on the Atlantic Slope. Grasses grow there in great lux- uriance, and nearly every kind of grain and vege- tables can be raised without difficulty. This tract contains nearly one-third of the arable land of Colorado, and no portion of the State is better adapted for agricultural and grazing purposes than many portions of this reservation. Within its timits are large mountains, from most of which explorers have been excluded by the Indians. oc << “+? + HISTORY OF COLORADO. 35 of the country, and found valuable lode and placer claims, and there is reason to believe that it con- tains great mineral wealth. The number of In- dians who occupy this reservation is about three thousand. If the land was divided up between individual members of the tribe, it would give every man, woman, and child a homestead of between three and four thousand acres. It has been claimed that the entire tribe have had in cul- tivation about fifty acres of land, and, from some personal knowledge of the subject, I believe that one able-bodied white settler would cultivate more land than the whole tribe of Utes. These Indians are fed by the Government, are allowed ponies without number, and, except when engaged in an occasional hunt, their most serious employment is horse-racing. If this reservation could be extin- guished, and the land thrown open to settlers, it will furnish homes to thousands of the people of the State who desire homes.” The picture is not overdrawn. Though not particularly quarrelsome or dangerous, the Utes are exceedingly disagreeable neighbors. Even if they would be content to live on their princely reserva- tion, it would not be so bad, but they have a dis- gusting habit of ranging all over the State, stcul- ing horses, killing off the game, and carelessly firing forests in the dry, summer season, whereby thousands of acres of fine timber are totally ruined. The Utes are actual, practical Communists, and the Government should be ashamed to foster and encourage them in their idleness and wanton waste of property. Living off the bounty of a paternal but idiotic Indian Bureau, they actually become too lazy to draw their rations in the regular way, but insist on taking what they want wherever they find it. But for the fact that they are arrant cowards, as well as arrant knaves, the west- ern slope of Colorado would be untenanted by the white race. Almost every year they threaten some of the white settlers with certain death if they do not leave the country, and, in some instances, they have tried to drive away white cit- izens, but the latter pay little attention to their vaporings. It is related of Barney Day, a well-known Mid- dle Park pioneer, that when a party of Utes vis- ited him at his cabin, and gave him fifteen min- utes to leave the country, he answered not a word, but solemnly kicked them out of doors and off his premises. They not only offered no resistance to the indignity, but, from that time forth, treated Mr. Day with great consideration. It is not every man, though, who has the nerve to act as he did in such an emergency. The degeneration of the Utes has been very rapid ever since the first settlement of the coun- try. Formerly, they were a warlike tribe, and held their own with the fierce Arapahoes of the east and the savage Cheyennes of the north, whether upon the mountains or the plains. As civilization advanced, the plains Indians retreated before it, and after the Sand Creek fight, in 1864, the plains were almost deserted by the wild hordes which, until then, had been the terror of all trav- elers to and from Pike’s Peak and California. The Utes also retreated to the mountains, making occasional forays to hunt buffalo on the plains, but maintaining a wholesome respect for the old Colo- rado Cavalry, which kept them from annoying travelers. They would occasionally stampede a stock train and run off the animals, but they grad- ually abandoned the scalp trade, and devoted all their talents and energies to begging and stealing. They were the original “tramps” of the country, and soon developed all the meanness and utter worthlessness of their white prototypes. As Theo- dore Winthrop wrote of the border savages he met inhis journey ‘On Horseback into Oregon,” “ with one hand they hung to all the vices of barbarism, and with the other they clutched at all the vices of civilization.” The Government might, with almost, if not quite equal propriety, plant a colony of Communists upon the public domain, maintain- ing them in idleness at public expense, as to leave the Colorado Utes in possession of their present heritage and present privileges. | oC { v + 36 HISTORY OF COLORADO. The continuous and ever-increasing intercourse between Colorado and the East has long since dis- pelled the ancient idea that Denver was situated in the heart of the Indian country, but the pres- ence of Indians in the State still constitutes an obstacle to the advancement of Colorado, for even those who do not fear the Utes dislike them, and would be glad to see them banished to some more appropriate retreat than the garden of our growing State. To this end, Congress and the Interior Depart- ment have been, and are continually, besieged to provide for the extinguishment of Indian title to the reservation lands, and in this movement ‘|| the military commanders on our frontier are earn- estly interested. Gen. Pope, commanding the department, is particularly anxious to have the Utes massed at a more convenient point. At present they have three agencies on their reservation. Both the White River and Uncompahgre agencies are remote from railways and supplies, as well as from the military posts, which are so necessary to keep the savages in check. Removed to the Indian Territory, the Utes could be fed and clothed for about one-half what it now costs the Government. Philanthropists down East and abroad may mourn over the decadence of this once powerful tribe of Indians, but even a philanthropist would fail to find any occasion for regret if he came to Colorado and made a study of Ute character and habits. Though better in some high (and low) respects than the Digger Indians of Arizona, or the Piutes of Nevada, the Colorado Utes have nothing in common with the Indians of history _and romance, whose “wrongs” have been so tear- fully portrayed by half-baked authors. The strongest prejudices of Eastern people in favor of the Indians give way before the strong disgust . inspired by a closer acquaintance. Hon. N. C. Meeker, the well-known Superin- tendent of the White River Agency, was formerly a fast friend and ardent admirer of the Indians. He went to the agency firm in the belief that he could manage the Indians successfully by kind treatment, patient precept and good example. With rare fidelity, he labored long and hard to make “good Indians” out of his wards, but utter failure marked his efforts, and at last he reluctantly accepted and acknowledged the truth of the border truism that the only truly good Indians are dead ones. To those who know Mr. Meeker’s kindness of heart and gentle disposition, his conversion to the doctrine of gunpowder treatment will be suf- ficient testimony to the utter worthlessness of the pestiferous tribe which inhabits the best portion of Colorado, to the exclusion of enterprising white settlers, in whose hands the wilderness would soon blossom as the rose, while richer mines than the . . . . ] richest previous discoveries might soon be devel- oped in Colorado’s Utopia “over the range.”* The history of the San Juan silver country, which will be found set forth in detail elsewhere, shows the long and hard struggle of our people to | have that wonder-land thrown open to settlement and development. Very early in the history of Colorado, the San Juan mountains were found to be rich in mineral, but whoever penetrated them took his life in his hands, and generally laid it down before he came back. So many went and so few returned, that even the boldest pioneers pres- | ently abandoned the idea of prospecting south of the Arkansas River. As time went on, however, and as the country became more settled and better protected, the advance in that direction was renewed, and rewarded by the discovery of some of the richest mines in the whole range of mount- ains. Tempted by cupidity, the Utes finally con- sented to sell a slice of their abundant territory. It was long ere the transfer was made, and, when completed, it included only a narrow strip project- ing into the heart of the Indian country, a por- tion of which could only be reached by crossing a corner of the reservation. Happily, no bad effects have yet resulted from this arrangement; but it is easy to see that in the *Since the above was written, Mr. Meeker has been cruelly murdered by the Indians. af oF Livé AMevift Y 8 ae 39) 4 HISTORY OF COLORADO. 37 event of an Indian war or any trouble whatever with the tribe, this road would be blockaded. and the settlers beyond cut off, unless they could escape across an almost impassable mountain range. While there is little or no danger to be apprehended, from this source, the fact remains that no such advantage should have been conceded to the Indians against the white settlers of the new country. The same perplexing questions which attended and obstructed the acquisition of the San Juan country are again presented in connection with the Gunnison region. This new mining center, lying southwest and not very distant from Leadville, has been opened to the 107th Meridian, the eastern limit of the Indian reservation; and the pros- pectors are clamoring for the right to follow their fortunes across the line. Some rich discoveries of both mineral and coal have been made within the reservation. Of course, no title to property can be acquired there until the Indian title is extinguished. The new district has been named after Gov. Frederick W. Pitkin, and that gentleman, gs well as the Colorado delegation in Congress, is besieged with applications to have the Indians removed out of the way of ever- advancing civilization. ‘The Utes must go. Uncle Sam can feed them as well and much cheaper elsewhere, and the income he would derive from their Colorado estate would support them in affluence. Indeed, it is asserted even now that the Utes could be boarded at a first-class hotel in Chicago or New York, cheaper than at the present cost of their subsist- ence. Ouray, Chief of the Colorado Utes, resides at the Los Pinos Agency. He is a man possessed of some ability and native shrewdness, but his power | over the tribe is far from omnipotent. Few of his followers dispute his authority, but his rule is tol- erant rather than vigilant, and, when out of his sight, his people are prone and pretty apt to do as they please. Occasionally, he goes a-gunning for some recalcitrant member of his tribe, and shoots the offender on sight, but this is of rare occur- rence. (Generally, he remains at home, where he lives in good style on an alleged farm, consisting of a few acres of arable land and an immense pony- pasture, well stocked. The farm is mostly tilled by Mexican cheap labor. Ouray is said to be rich, having absorbed the lion’s share of Uncle Sam's liberal contributions to the Ute treasury from time to time. This seems all the more probable from the fact that Ute despotism vests the administra- tion of government entirely in his hands, and dis- - penses with both single and double entry book- keeping in the matter of public finances. The “ central despotism ” and “ one-man power” about which we hear so much of late years, ts here beau- tifully exemplified. Let it not be understood, however, that the Col- orado Utes, useless as they are, are without their uses. They educate Eastern people who come West to a fine abhorrence of Indian character, ° which must soon put a quietus on sentimental mourning over the decay of the ill-fated race. They also tan buffalo hides in better style than the utmost ingenuity of white men can compass. An Indian-tanned robe is the ne plus ultra of the furrier’s art. The secret of their process, if there be a secret, is well kept from the eyes and ears of rival operators, but it is generally believed on the border that there is no secret worth knowing, ‘and that the superiority of their robes is due almost entirely to the patient labor of the gentle but unlovely squaw. She it is who bends her uncom- plaining back over the buffalo skins, day after day for weeks, scrubbing and rubbing them into that soft and pliable condition which is their peculiar char- acteristic, and which appertains to them through all exposure to the elements. Another of their uses is to afford entertainment to strangers from afar, to whom the sight of a lousy Indian is an interesting study. Wandering bands of Utes may be seen, at or near Denver, very- frequently during the latter part of each sum- mer, “ swapping” surplus ponies or the proceeds of their hunt, for supplies, such as they “ hanker ”’ after, generally provisions or clothing, the sale of firearms + a a Y + 38 HISTORY OF COLORADO, and fire-water to Indians being prohibited. An Indian family out shopping is a disgusting picture of connubial infelicity. The poor squaw carries every- thing that is bought, and is usually burdened with two or three children besides. She rides the sor- riest sore-backed pony of the pair that carries the outfit, and, when the purchases are deftly packed upon the pony’s back, she climbs up to her giddy perch atop of the pyramid, pulls up her offspring and distributes them around to balance the cargo, gathers up the reins and sets sail after her lord and master, who rides gaily ahead, carrying naught except it be his gun or a plug of tobacco. Even this poor show is seen less frequently of late years than of yore, and will soon disappear forever from the streets of Colorado’s capital. The buffalo have almost deserted the plains between the South Platte and the Arkansas, with all other kinds of game, and the Indians will prob- ably hunt no more in this direction, even if they: should remain longer in the State, which is doubtful. CHAPTER VI. THE MOUNTAINS OF COLORADO. HE chief charm of Colorado being her magni- ficent mountain scenery, it seems proper to describe, with more particularity, the prominent features of this American Switzerland, though language would fail to give any definite idea of its sublime grandeur. We have already traced the general course of the Sierra Madre Range, through Colorado, from north to south. Its total length is nearly five hundred miles within the limits of the State, and diverging ranges reach a grand total almost as” large, making nearly 1,000 miles of ‘Snowy Range,” so called in Colorado. Jn point of fact, however, there is no snowy range proper in the State, and all the magniloquent utterances touch- ing “eternal snow” on our mountains is figurative, except that patches of snow are visible here and there throughout the year. These, however, occur only in sheltered spots where neither sun nor wind attack them vigorously, clse they, too, would disappear during the summer months, as does the snow from any exposed position. The snow line, in this latitude, would probably be six or seven thousand feet above the line of timber, which averages about 11,800 feet above the sea. The highest peaks in Colorado are less than 3,000 feet above timber line, and none of their summits are enveloped in eternal snow, || though often enough “snowed under” in midsum- mer. In the whole course of his considerable ex- perience in peak-climbing, the writer has never yet ascended an Alpine peak in Colorado, without en- countering a snow-storm of greater or less violence, even in July and August. But the snow which falls in summer is quite ephemeral, often disap- pearing in a day, and never lingering long in exposed positions. The wind, more than the sun, is the author of its destruction. At this great distance from the sea, or any considerable bodies of water, the air is almost destitute of moisture, and every wind that blows seems as thirsty as a caravan crossing the Desert of Sahara. Snow that has successfully defied the direct rays of the sun, often disappears, as if by magic, when a gentle wind blows over it for a few hours, leaving the ground beneath perfectly dry. The Rocky Mountains, as their name implies, are extremely rugged and broken. From the very verge of the spreading plains, where centuries or, perhaps, eons ago, the waves of a mighty sea broke in ceaseless rise and fall, up to the very domegind crown of the mighty peaks which mark the height of our continent, gigantic and fantastic rocks rise higher and higher, wilder and more wild, in every 4 oe cs aw #__9 HISTORY OF COLORADO. 39 direction, save here and there where they sud- denly give place to peaceful parks, whose car- pet of velvet grass is unbroken by the tiniest pebble. Let us imagine ourselves entering the moun- tains for the first time from the eastward-lying plains, As we approach the rocky walls which, ata distance, appear smooth to the eye as the plain itself, we find the foot-hills, for the most part, covered with disintegrated rock, through which a scanty vegetation rises. The grasses have a lean and hungry look, strangely belying their nutritious qualities, and the dwarfed pifion pines grow scrag- gily here and there, or cease entirely, leaving the hillsides bleak and bare. We follow the windings and turnings of some stream, for mountain roads must accommodate themselves to the cafions through which mountain streams seek the valley, as affording about the only means of ingress and egress to and from the heights before us. If the stream be a small one and the road little developed, they cross and recross each other every few rods—indeed, the road often lies in the bed of the stream itself, where the latter rounds some rocky point in a narrow gorge, where bolder and more precipitous rocks rise on either hand. As we go on, the rocks and hills greaten rapidly; new and grander scenes are revealed at every turning; the timber itself, sheltered from sun and storm, stands out more boldly in pristine beauty, and soon we think ourselves at least fairly within the far-famed Rocky Mountains. It is an idle thought, for these are the foot-hills still. Beyond each rocky ridge rises a higher, nobler elevation. ‘“ Alps on Alps arise,” and we go onward and upward still. Ever and anon the hills open to the right and left, and we pass through a pleasant valley, where the grass grows green and tall, and a cabin stands beside the stream, which here glides gently along, in striking contrast to its wild, impatient haste, where it roars and rattles over its rocky bed above and below. Again we climb up a steep ascent, and, looking backward down the valley, see the spreading plains opening out behind us, like a summer sea, all smooth and placid. But for the murmuring waters, the silence would be oppress- ive. Animal life in the mountains is the excep- tion rather than the rule. Some chattering mag- pies herald our approach with characteristic gar- rulity, and pretty little chipmunks scurry away over the rocks, uttering their shrill but feeble cries, and that is all, except on rare occasions, or in remoter regions “over the range,” where beasts and birds abound in many localities. Still ascending, the quiet beauty of the scene changes to wilder grandeur, and the view widens and greatens in every sense. The mountains rise higher and still higher on each hand, and the val- leys open right and left like great grooves wrought out of the mountain sides by centuries of slow attrition. Vegetation, which had attained its greatest luxuriance at an elevation of eight or nine thousand feet above the sea, shrinks again; the stately pines, with trunks “fit for the mast of some great admiral,” give way to dwarfed and stunted trunks, strangely resembling an old fruit orchard in the decline of life. Only the flowers in- crease and multiply—the Alpine flowers which lend to Colorado peaks their wildest, sweetest charm. No language can express the beauty of the flowers which bloom all along the way, lifting their bright faces to the foot of the traveler at almost every step, nestling among the rocks wherever a handful of soil is found, and uplifting their tender petals beside the snow itself. Prim- roses, buttercups, violets, anemones, daisies, colum- bines and many other rare and beautiful flowers are found in the mountains, and the lakes are often almost entirely covered with pond-lilies of regal splendor. One lake on the Long’s Peak trail above Estes Park, is (or was a few years ago) completely hidden under a mass of lily-pads and blossoms, and is known far and wide as Lily Lake. Above timber line, these flowers begin to dwarf and shrink closer to the earth, until they Y ee ~~ + 40 HISTORY OF COLORADO. barely lift themselves above the stunted grass which carpets the patches of earth like a close- shaven lawn. But their beauty is enhanced thereby, and no sense of their insignificance is felt. ‘ Another peculiarity of the mountains is that everywhere away from the streams or springs the peculiar aridity of the plains manifests itself. The same stunted grass grows high up the mount- ain-side, and, after brief exposure to the summer sun, it loses its freshness and assumes the gray, cold color of the rocks themselves. When the gnarled and twisted trees have left off clinging to the rocks, and the bare, bald mountains rise around you on every hand, the wide sweep of vision seems to take in nothing but desolation itself. All is one color, and that color is almost colorless. While the sun illuminates the scene, there is some warmth of light and shade about it, but when the cold gray of the mountains is sup- plemented by the cold gray of the sky, no scene can be less inspiriting, especially to those unaccus- tomed to the overpowering solitude. Few ever forget their advent into such a scene. As if it were yesterday, the writer remembers his first experience in peak-climbing. It was mid- summer, but the air was intensely cold at timber line, and above that point it was almost arctic winter. The solitude was so intense that like cer- tain degrees of darkness, of which we read, it could be felt. Nay, it was felt by at least one of the party, who could hardly dismiss the distressing idea that he was out of the world, and likely to meet another class of mortals at any moment. The very light was unlike anything he had seen before, unless it might have been the wild weird twilight of a total eclipse of the sun, a light that was neither that of day or night, but a curious commingling of both. It seemed impossible to say whether the peak before us was near or far—it might have been both for aught we could say to the contrary. Looking downward, into the awful chasms that yawned below, brought to mind nothing but the “abomination of desolation’ mentioned in Holy Writ, and it was hard to wrest out of the somber surroundings a thought of the sublime beauty which marks most mountain scenery for those who first look upon its grandeur. In later days and under different circumstances the same scenes were revisited and enjoyed, but the memory of that first impression remains unchanged. Perhaps the grandest of all mountain scenery is a near view of the snowy range in winter, when the sun shines fair and bright over the unsullied snow, whose dazzling whiteness challenges the bril- liancy of the diamond itself. A million sparkles meet the eye at every turn, and above timber line’ there is no relief from the oppressive glare, which often produces “snow blindness,” unless the eyes are in some way protected. The mountain view from Denver has beén pro- nounced unequaled by many travelers, but to the older residents of Colorado it presents no special attraction above many other views to be had from other points. So much sentiment has been expended in describing it that description has” grown a trifle stale. The thousand and one news- paper correspondents who “do” Denver every season, always speak of the range extending “ from Long’s Peak on the north to Pike’s Peak on the south,” after which one always knows what is coming—the story of the Englishman who started _ to walk from Denver to the mountains before breakfast. There is a particularly fine view of the mount- ains from Longmont, another from Colorado Springs, still another from Walsenburg in the south, and any number of them from interior points, the finest of which, perhaps, is that from the gateway to Estes Park. The view from Lead- ville is scarcely surpassed. It seems very appro- priate that the finest mining camp in the world should have also one of the finest mountain views, though no doubt men would flock there from everywhere regardless of the view. Following is a list of the principal Alpine peaks in the State, with their approximate altitudes and their elevation above sea level. Average summit eae ~~ } ime: > epee) Feet, Feet. Blanca ....seceeeseeeees 14,464 | Red Cloud............ 14,092 -++. 14,383 | Wetterhorn ........... Massive... -14,368 | Simpson... 14,055 Gray’s..... seoeeel 4,341 | Atolus .. 14,054 Rosalie..... 14,340 | Ouray.. ... +0014,048 Torrey .. +++.14,346 | Stewart... +0001 4,082 Elbert...... .. 14,326 | Maroon.... .14,000 La Plata... +++14,802 | Cameron.. 14,000 Lincoln ... -». 14,297 | Handie,... neal OUT Buckskin.. .-.14,296 | Capitol...... ooee18,992 Wilson.. .14,280 ; Horseshoe Long’s...... .14,271 | Snowmass 13,961 Quandary.... «14,279 | Grizzly......... 00018,956 Antero..... .. 14,245 | Pigeon..... +e. 13,928 DL SVANG.<)isvsaeavcen 14,239 | Blaine .... 13,905 Uncompahgre........ 14,235 | Frustrum. ++013,893 Crestones..... Pyramid........ . 18,885 Princeton..... White Rock...........13,.847 Mt. Bross.... Hague........ 18,8382 Holy Cross... R. G. Pyramid......13,773 Baldy Silver Heels.......... 13,766 Snefiles.. . Hunchback Pike’s.... Rowter......scccessoeee Castle... Homestake.. Yale........ a Of Osssercinesenssseseases San Luis..........0008 +«14,100 | Spanish......13, 620-12, 720 HE early history of Colorado was probably com- pletely changed by the war of the rebellion, which broke out very soon after the new Territory was organized, and, indeed, before Gov. Gilpin had taken hold of the helm of government. This dis- tracted the attention of the East so much that Colorado, though not forgotten, was comparatively ignored during the first years of the war. More- over, the people of the Territory were divided on the issues of the war themselves, and a considera- ble secession element manifested itself in the utter- opposite the present executive offices. The flag, mittee of very determined citizens, who said that Seventy-five peaks, between 13,500 and 14,300 feet in height, are unnamed, and not in this list. ALTITUDES OF PROMINENT TOWNS IN COLORADO Feet. AlaMOSA......ese0er eee 7,000 AlMA.Q... cee eeeee 11,044 Black Hawk.. » 7,975 Boulder...... « 5,536 Breckenridge......... 9,674 Cafion City.........0. 5,260 Caribou... wwe “O905 Cewirall scicssnensoayase 8,300 Cheyenne............. 6,041 Chicago Lakes. ...+.. 11,500 Colorado Springs... 5,023 Del Norte ..... waaay . 7,750 Denver.... wes 6,224 Divide..... 7,210 Estes Park. 8,000 Fairplay .. 9,964 Garland...... «. 8,146 Georgetown........0. 8,400 Golden...........2060. 5,729 Gold Hill.......0.... 8,463 Greeley...... esas eee 4,776 CHAPTER VII. COLORADO DURING THE REBELLION—TERRITORIAL OFFICIALS. either the flag or the house must come down, and they didn’t care which. Joined to these difficulties were the discourage- ment of miners arising out of refractory ores and failing placers, for already the flush days of placer mining in Colorado seemed, at least, to have passed -by.” The Clear Creek placers were abandoned or worked casually, as any claims are worked which yield only bare wages without promise of a richer harvest, It must be borne in mind, too, that not | | only during these years, but until several years ance of disloyal sentiments and by the hoisting of! later, no search was made for silver-bearing ores, | | a secession flag on Larimer street, almost directly | by which means the scope of mining development | | was greatly limited, for Colorado stands pre-emi- however, was soon hauled down, by order of a com- ; nent as a silver-producing State, and her output of gold is light indeed compared to that of silver. — HISTORY OF COLORADO. 41 of range, 11,000 feet; average timber line, 11,800 1 3 es | Buffalo 1 ot a | GUY OC. cae cceveeeveeeeeetd 000 | DUTAIO....- sacresearereL Oy feet: ....13,546 | Arapahoe... 113,520 MOUNTAIN PEAKS OF COLORADO. Kendall ........... 118,542 DUG sevcsavnevsavene 13,502 Feet. : } Green Lake.......... -10,000 | |: Hot Sulphur Spr’gs 7,715 Idaho Springs....... 7,500 Lake City........ weeee 8,550 Leadville... «210,205 Magnolia. 6,500 Manitou... - 6,297 Montezuma 00 -10,295 | fb MOrrisoni.: vesscsssaxns 5,922 ‘Nederland... 8,263 Oro City ... seo 24d Ouray..... . 7,640 Buebloveccsesiadivssvces 4,679 Rosita..... . 8,500 Saguache. 7,745 Silverton. 9,405 Sunshine... .. 7,000 Trinidad...... .. 6,005 Twin Lakes... oe Veta Pass.......0.... 9,339 Y ~ aly Ck 42 HISTORY OF COLORADO. Thousands came and thousands left during 1861-62-63. California Gulch, over which almost if not quite the greatest furor of these years was raised, was soon deserted by all save a few faithful souls like Lieut. Gov. Tabor, the fame of whose riches bas gone abroad far and wide, but who labored long and hard before reaping the reward he so richly merited. It is a curious fact, noted elsewhere but worth duplicating, that the very same sand carbonates which have made_so many poor men rich in, these latter days, were formerly one of the chief obstacles to success in gulch-mining. They were so heavy that they blocked the sluiceways, and had to be shoveled out with painful care, that the gold might be gathered. The Indians, too, were troublesome during the early years of the war. Taking advantage of the withdrawal of the troops from most of the frontier posts, they raided the Plains, and were a continual terror to travelers between the mountains and the Missouri River. Many lives were lost, men, women and children sharing the same fate at the hands of the murderous crew. Then came the celebrated Sand Creek fight between the Colorado Cavalry and a large force of hostile Cheyenne Indians—an event which has evoked a great deal of hostile criticism, but which Coloradoans have no cause to blush for. It is undoubtedly true that | | Indian women and even children were killed upon that occasion, but the former were bearing arms and fighting with the utmost ferocity, leaving their offspring to chance the fortunes of war as best they might. Sand Creek has been called a massacre. If so; it was a massacre of assassins, for fresh scalps of white men, women and children were found in the Indian camp after the battle. In fact, however, Sand Creek was not a massacre, but simply a fight after the most approved Indian fashion, and the Indians themselves never complained of the drub- bing they got on that memorable occasion. It exemplified very clearly the oft-repeated assertion of frontiersmen that, if left alone, they could “ set- ‘grand banquet given by Ford & McClintock on tle the Indian question” very soon, and “ without costing the Government a cent.” The Sand Creek fight occurred November 29, 1864, the Coloradoans being commanded by Col. J. M. Chivington, a Methodist minister and first Presiding Elder of the Colorado Conference. Chivington was essentially a Western man, equally. ready to pray or fight, and at home everywhere, even in the most incongruous associations. Prof. O. J. Goldrick, the well-known pioneer teacher and editor, relates that Chivington attended a the occasion of the opening of their gambling- rooms, up-stairs over the corner of F and McGaa streets, now known as Fifteenth and Holladay. The writer knows nothing of Chivington’s sport- ing proclivities, but that he was a good and suc- cessful fighter the Sand Creek business can attest. He was then military commander of the district, but the troops at his command were only a hand- ful, when word came from Fort Lyon, on the Arkansas River, that the Cheyennes were encamped near there in force, and were inter- cepting every train and every wagon that passed in either direction, so that travel was virtually stopped. Chivington called for volunteers, and led them himself, by forced ‘marches, to the Arkansas, where he and his men fell upon the Indian camp on Sand Creek, before the red devils knew that danger was near. For this, Chivington was severely censured by his superior officers, though warmly applauded by the people. The Government more than once complained of the plucky, enterprising Coloradoans for taking care of themselves without waiting for an “ official” order to do so. It is not generally known in the East that an attempt was made by the Nouth, very early in the war of the rebellion, to capture Colo- rado, but it is an actual fact, and the failure of the enterprise was due to the pluck and energy of the Coloradoans themselves. This stirring episode in the history of the State occurred in March and April of 1862, when Grant was making his first memorable advances + _ 3 v ; \ wh + HISTORY OF COLORADO. 43 upon the enemy. A wmilitary organization, which had been started in the fall of 1860, was revived on the breaking-out of the rebellion and became the First Colorado Cavalry. Col. John P. Slough, afterward Chief Justice of New Mexico, was its commander, and the boys humorously called them- selves Gov. Gilpin’s “Pet Lambs.” Gov. Gilpin had some trouble in getting them mustered into Uncle Sam’s service, owing to their remoteness | from the “front” and the difficulty of commu- nicating with headquarters, but the delay was a happy accident, after all. While the “ Pet Lambs” were waiting for their marching orders, reports came that a force of 3,000 Texans had left San Antonio for Colorado, and were making a clean sweep of the country through which they passed. They had already entered New Mexico and were entirely beyond the reach of the Union armies when the “Lambs” heard of their coming. No time was to be lost, and, without waiting for orders from Washington, Col. Slough ordered an advance. The history of this short, sharp and decisive campaign appears elsewhere at length, but space will only admit of a review in this connection. The Texans were encountered just north of Santa Fe. They. were more than a match for the Colo- radoans in number, but in strategy the latter showed their superiority. While a considerable body of “Lambs” engaged the lean and hungry Texans in front, the rest made a flank movement on the camp and commissary stores of the enemy, and destroyed everything they could not carry away. The result was that the Texans had to fall back in search of something to eat, and, having no “base of supplies,” were forced to abandon the campaign. Bull Run, in the East, was hardly a circumstance compared to Baylor’s retreat from New Mexico, and the “Lambs” returned home, covered with glory. Their success earned for them the recognition of the War Department, but Gov. Gilpin received no credit for his efforts. On the contrary, he was soon afterward superseded by Dr. John Evans, of Evanston, Ill., one of the best Governors Colo- rado ever had, and still an honored citizen of the State. Secretary Weld, for whom Weld County was named, was also removed, and succeeded by Samuel H. Elbert, afterward Governor himself, and now an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the State. Gen. Sam E. Browne was about this time appointed Attorney General, and Gen. John Pierce succeeded Gen. Case as Sur- veyor General. This was the beginning of the numerous changes in official positions which marked Colorado’s Ter- ritorial vassalage. Her list of Governors ran as follows, from 1861 to 1876: William Gilpin qualified July 8, 1861; John Evans, April 11, 1862; A. Cummings, October 19, 1865; A. C. Hunt, May 27, 1867; Ed. M. McCook, June 15, 1869; Samuel H. Elbert, April 5, 1873; Ed M. McCook (again), June 26, 1874, and John L. Routt about May 1, 1875. Routt held until the admission of the State, in 1876, and was the first State Governor, holding the latter office from November, 1876, until January, 1879, when he was succeded by Frederick W. Pitkin, present in- ,cumbent. During the same perioa, an almost equal num- ber of changes were made in the other officers of the Territory, except that Hon. Frank Hall served several terms as Secretary under Govs. Hunt, McCook and Elbert. The Secretarial succession was as follows: Lewis Ledyard Weld, qualified July 8, 1861, with Gilpin; Samuel H. Elbert, April 19, 1862, with Evans; Frank Hall, May 24, 1866, first with Cummings and later with Hunt; Frank Hall again, June 15, 1869, with McCook, and still again with Elbert, April 17, 1873, holding the office honorably for seven years. To him succeeded John W. Jenkins, March 11, 1874, and John Taffe, who came with Routt and remained until the organization of the State. William M. Clark was the first Secretary of State, N. H. Meldrum is the present incumbent. These constant changes of officials, at such irregular intervals, served to keep the Territory in a state of political excitement not unlike that Cr a “Vo Y Tt “revolutions” of Old Mexico. 44 HISTORY OF COLORADO. engendered by the more practical and sanguinary . They also served to beget a feeling of hostility toward the central Government at Washington. Andrew Johnson, poor man, was most cordially hated throughout the length: and breadth of Colorado. Besides vetoing the bill for Colorado’s admission as a State, he sent out one of the most unsatisfactory Governors she ever had, in the person of Cum- mings, whose brief reign was eminently unsatis- factory. Grant, too, was unpopular until the admission of the State, since when, he has been a sort of idol with the Republican element, notwith- standing their former enmity. McCook, one of the fighting family of that name, was sent out as Governor by Grant. He was a gallant soldier but a poor diplomatist, and soon found himself very unpopular with some of the most powerfully influ- ential men in the Territory. Feeling ran high on both sides, and finally resulted in the overthrow of McCook in the spring of 1873. Elbert was appointed Governor, and it was announced that henceforth the offices of the Territory would be intrusted to its citizens; that carpet-bag rule was at an end forever. This announcement was received with great satisfaction. Whether justly or not, it had come to be understood that the Territories generally, and Colorado Territory particularly, were asylums for misfit politicians, who could not be “worked in” anywhere else, but who had to be disposed of somehow and somewhere. That the position was not well taken, is shown by the fact that no less than five of Colorado's seven Territorial Govern- ors are to-day highly honored citizens of the State. The names of Gilpin, Evans, Hunt, Elbert and Routt are household words in Colorado. Better men for the position they held it would have been hard to find, and yet the people chafed under their rule, for the simple reason that they were not called but sent. There is something in the genius of our institutions strangely averse to rulers other than those chosen by the people themselves. Although Gov. Elbert’s regime opened so flat- teringly, it was marked by some of the most stormy incidents of Colorado’s political history. It is not necessary to recapitulate the events of the McCook-Elbert war, which terminated in the removal of the latter and the re-instatement of the former, but the sensation it created at the time will not soon be forgotten by those who partici- pated in it. President Grant was visited with the severest censure for his action in the matter, and especially for his wholesale removal of Federal officials in Colorado at or about the same. time. The immediate result was a total demoralization of the Republican party in the Territory and a Dem- cratic victory in 1874, which showed very conclus- ively that “some one had blundered.” With characteristic manliness, President Grant corrected his mistake by again removing McCook and appointing a Governor who was aceeptable to both factions and all parties. This was the last act in the Territorial political drama. Colorado was admitted to the Union in 1876, just in time to pull President Hayes through the Electoral Commission into the WhiteHouse, and just in time, too, to earn the taking title of the Centennial State. The passage of the enabling act was largely due to the efforts of Hon. J. B. Chaffee, and he was very properly rewarded by an election as Senator of the United States by the first State Legislature. His colleague was Henry M. Teller, a man of com- manding ability, who enjoyed the distinction of never having held an office until he was chosen-} He was also lucky enough to secure the | Senator. long term, and will serve until 1883. Senator Chaffee’s voluntary retirement from politics at the close of his Senatorial term gaye Hon. N. P. Hill an opportunity to grasp the succession, which he | did, defeating half a dozen opponents. Curiously enough, although Colorado made such an cffort to break into Congress at an early day, she was not effectually represented there until 1863, when Hon. H. P. Bennett went to Washing- ton, armed with undoubted credentials, attested by ~~ —?___9 4 +. HISTORY OF COLORADO. 4% .the “broad seal of the sovereign Territory,” as waggish attorneys used to say. Bennett was succeeded by Judge Allen A. Bradford, who served a second term in 1869-70. Hon. George M. Chilcott served a term between the first, and last of Bradford, and Hon. J. B. Chaffee was elected in 1870, and again in 1872. In 1874, the McCook-Elbert war resulted in the CHAPTER VIII. PROGRESS OF URING all these years, the country had been prosperous, more or less, according to cir- cumstances, and the miners had been steadily grow- ing in numbers and increasing their annual produc- tion. New processes of treating ores were intro- duced, which proved more profitable than the old, and the operation of smelting was found particularly adapted to the refractory ores of Gilpin County, where it was first introduced. Denver had been tried both by fire and flood, but her indomitable citizens never faltered in their forward course, and the town grew apace, as did the whole country. It is true that the miners left one locality for another pretty often, leaving large and populous cities almost desolate and without inhabitant, but the people turned up in another part of the State, very soon, and soon had another city under way. Though mining was always the principal industry of Colorado, agriculture and stock-growing kept pace with mineral development, as will be seen by the succeeding chapters specially devoted to these indusiries. It was not, however, until after the close of the war and the disbandment of both armies, that the State entered upon its greatest era of prosperity. Large numbers of old soldiers emigrated at once to the new gold-fields, which bad grown famous while they had been serving in the army, and others followed a few years later. Ex-Gov. John Evans, whose faith in the bright future in store chance election of Hon. Thomas M. Patterson, who served until the admission of the State into the Union. Mr. Patterson also served term as Representa- tive in Congress after admission, although his seat was unsuccessfully contested by, Hon. James B. Belford, the present Representative, who defeated Patterson in 1878 by a large majority. THE COUNTRY. for Colorado was second to that of no man, not even that of his predecessor, Gov. Gilpin, had no sooner laid down his office in 1865, than he began to agitate the question of railway con- nection between Denver and the world outside. The Union Pacific Railroad was working its way westward, and the Kansas Pacific was aiming at the mark which the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe road has since ‘hit, but neither enterprise then on foot looked to Denver either as a terminus or way station. Seeing that the mountain would not come to Mahomet, Mahomet got up and went ‘to the mountain. The Denver Pacific road was built to a connection with the Union Pacific at Cheyenne, 106 miles due north, and in due time a railway route was completed from Denver to each ocean. Then the Kansas Pacific suddenly changed its course from southwest to northwest, and made Denver its western terminus, giving the metropolis of the Rocky Mountains competing lines to the Missouri River, instead of the patient mule and the steadfast ox. Tt was a grand and glorious transformation scene. The city and State at once sprang forward with a mighty bound. Local lines of railway were soon projected from Denver in other direc- tions, and the foundations of Colorado’s present very extensive railway system was laid within three years following the completion of the Union Pacific. Development was a little retarded, but aaa =e oe 48 HISTORY OF COLORADO. not checked by the panic of 1873, and the grass- hoppers of 1875, but there has never been a year since 1864-the year of the Indian war—in which Colorado has not made progress in some direction, if not in all. The panic of 1873 has been mentioned as hav- ing retarded the development of Colorado tempo- rarily, but it is still an open question whether the country was not in the end a gainer by the panic, paradoxical as the proposition may appear. In point of fact, the panic did not extend to Colo- rado. There were no failures in the State worth speaking of. The banks stood firm. A consid- erable shrinkage in real estate was about the only effect of the panic upon the population of Colo- rado, but that only pinched a few luckless opera- tors, who bought high and had to sell low. It is true that a few men, who thought themselves mill- ionaires, found that they were only worth half a million, yet their sufferings were more imaginary than real. On the other hand, the panic drove many active business men from the East to Colo- rado, in the hope of rebuilding lost fortunes, and many of these new-comers in 1874-75 are now among the most enterprising and successful opera- tors in the State. Following fast upon these accessions to popula- -tion came admission to the Union, which served to attract attention and invite further immigration. It was, in effect, a substantial and important recognition of the status of Colorado, and an invitation to capital to come in and develop the undoubted resources of the new State. The result has exceeded the most sanguine expectations of the friends of Colorado, at home and abroad. Within the three years which have elapsed since statehood became an established fact, Colo- rado has doubled in wealth and population, and she is still advancing with even more rapid strides. The future of the State is full of golden possibili- ties. Leadville, the present wonder of the world, is but a page in the history of mineral develop- ment. That Colorado is destined to be the first mining State in the Union seems well assured. It is the habit of ‘some travelers to assert that Colorado cannot sustain a large population, because her agricultural resources are limited. The force of this argument is hard to discover. Mining dis- tricts rarely embrace agricultural advantages too, and, in the East, it is not expected that a mining population shall supply itself with the necessaries of life. So long as Colorado can draw easily and cheaply upon Kansas and Nebraska for her lack of grain and other agricultural products, there is no reason why she may not support a population equal to the New England average. Her gold and silver will buy anything and everything the East has for sale, and she would still be a great and prosperous State, if she did not raise half enough wheat to feed her population. CHAPTER IX. THE CLIMATE OF COLORADO. HE history of Colorado as a sanitarium dates back only to the advent of railways in the State, or about ten years ago. Before that time, overland trips across the Plains were occasionally recommended for the purpose of building up shattered physical systems, but such heroic treat- ment was usually laughed to scorn, and a. sea- voyage substituted. The latter was more easily and cheaply accomplished, and the dangers of the deep were less considered than the danger of los- ing one’s life, or scalp, or both, at the hands of the Indians. Yet every one who returned from Colo- rado concurred in the statement that it was a healthy country, and the first reports concerning the rigors of its climate in winter were soon modi- fied. oF oe a HISTORY OF COLORADO. 49 It was many years, however, ere Colorado began to offer inducements to invalids, such as those for which it is now famous. The first settlers felt themselves banished, as it were, not only from their’ friends and former homes, but also from many of the necessaries and nearly all the com- forts of life. As time went on, and the country grew apace, these conditions changed rapidly for the better. Denver, and some of the other cities, -became comfortable places of residence. The cost of living was high, but a steady reduction followed the opening of railway communication and the develpment of agriculture. In a short time, the trip to Colorado became a pleasure excursion, in- stead of a painful journey, and then the invalid tourist appeared above the horizon, and began his career of usefulness in the State. No record of the resources of Colorado would be complete which did not include the invalid tourist, but, to the credit of the State, it must be said, that she has paid cent per cent, in sound health, for ‘the thousands of dollars which invalids Not in every case, of course, nor in ninety and nine per cent. of them, but in enough of them to make a have poured into her extended palm. | very satisfactory showing. Hundreds and, perhaps, thousands of people are enjoying good health in Colorado to-day who came here confirmed invalids. Many more, coming too late, have died here, but, if the fair warning given by such deaths had been heeded in the Hast, the number would not have increased so rapidly of late years. No one in Colorado, physician or lay- man, pretends to say that consumption, in its last stages, can be arrested, in this climate or in any other climate. The contrary is true. It would be a miracle, indeed, if three-quarters or half a lung could expand in this rarified atmosphere sufficiently to support life ina man or woman, with one foot already in the grave, and the other trembling on the brink. And not only the dry and rarified air contends against nature, in such instances, but elemental disturbances tend to snap the rotten thread of life. - pressure. Colorado has not an Italian climate, and the absurd claims to that effect have brought much contempt on those who make them. She has extremes of heat and cold. The winters are marked by occasional storms of great severity. Dust is a nuisance to diseased lungs at all seasons. The summer sun would be intolerably hot if not neutralized by the refreshing shade. And yet the average of the climate is all that could be desired or expected. The climatic conditions of Colorado are, per- haps, due entirely to the limited rainfall, though altitude has a separate bearing upon the problem. Without entering upon any scientific, or even technical, consideration of the question, it is enough to say that the limited rainfall leaves the sky free of clouds about three hundred days out of every year, and throughout these three hundred days, in winter and in summer, the sun shines bright and warm. With so much sunshine, of course the evaporation of moisture is perfect. The earth and air is dry. Malaria and the diseases incident thereto are practically unknown, save at rare intervals, as the result of defective artificial drainage. The air is not only dry, but full of ozone and electricity, and the altitude reduces its restorative, but the contrary effect is manifested in lungs too weak to accommodate themselves to the increased demand upon their capacity, the volume of air inhaled in Colorado being considerably greater than at lower altitudes east or west. The influence of altitude upon health has been noted, not only by every medical man, but also by every intelligent observer. According to the highest authorities of Colorado, the members of the State Medical Society, the sensations attending a first entrance into this State are always pleasant to persons in good health. ‘The dryness of the atmosphere,”’ says Dr. Edmondson, of Central, “together with the electricity therein contained, combined with perhaps other peculiarities of cli- mate, excite the nervous system to a remark- able degree of tension. The physical functions In healthy lungs, it is invigorating and . v S| + 50 HISTORY OF COLORADO. which, it may be for years past, have been accomplished in a sluggish, inefficient manner, at once assume a vigor of ‘action to which the system has heretofore been a stranger. The appe- tite is keen, the digestion vigorous, and the sleep is sound and refreshing. The result of these manifold innovations on the established routine of the vital economy is, that all those lurking ail- ments to which the civilized man is more subject than he ought to be are swept at once away, and whatever there is in each individual of capacity to enjoy is called into the fullest action. He revels in what might be called an intoxication of good health.” The latter comparison is not inapt. Nothing is more common than for people to say that the air of Colorado invigorates them like new wine. In the very admirable essay from which the foregoing is quoted, Dr. Edmondson goes on to say : ‘“ An unclouded mind partakes of the elasticity of a healthy body, and the unwonted vigor of man’s intellect is manifested by a newly aroused desire for activity and by an increased capability to accom- plish.” Every brain-worker will attest the truth of this assertion, and nowhere in the whole country are the professions and all manner of busi- ness pursuits prosecuted with so much vigor and " success. It has been often said that men are improved mentally and socially as well as physically by com- ing to Colorado. There can be no doubt of this fact. Invalidism always affects mental conditions, and a dyspeptic person or a sufferer from any chronic ailment, however inconsequential, cannot help but lose a little good temper. With restored health comes not only renewed energy but a brighter view of life. The world seems a better place than it was. Companionship becomes pleas- ant, and Colorado is, of all countries in the world, | the place where a hearty good will is most manifest in all classes and conditions of men. This is a curious study, and one which has never yet been pursued with care by scientists. It would be interesting to note the effect of this climate upon mental as well as physical conditions, but this task must be left to some one more capable of elucidat- ing it. The early settlers found the seasons in Colorado at considerable variance with those in the same latitude toward the east. A warm sun in winter was the first peculiarity noted. Earth and air were dry, and the direct rays of the sun were a reminder of summer. It was found, however, that however hot the sun shone in midwinter, even when men went about out-door work in their shirt- sleeves, snow seldom melted in the sunshine, but a soft wind moving across the country would soon carry away on its invisible wings a heavy fall of snow in a few hours, leaving the ground not only bare but dry. Hence the winters were generally pleasant, the exceptions to this rule being occa- sions when the wind blew cold or a northwest snow-storm swept down upon the plains. The snow-fall in Denver has never been excessive since the settlement of the town, but it has been severe at times, generally between the middle of Decem- ber and the first of February. The latter month and the first half of March are usually pleasant. March and November are accounted the worst months in the calendar of the Atlantic and Missis- sippi Valley States, but, outside of the mountains in Colorado, they are very favorable, even to inva- lids. arly in April, the spring snows fall, some- times to a great depth, and doing more damage to the stock interests than any other elemental dis- turbance. When these snows disappear, usually a few days after their fall, grass and grain spring up and summer is at hand, except that foliage 1s often delayed a month or more longer. With the foliage come the rains, varying greatly in different seasons, but no¢ increasing every year, as some ignorantly assert. The “rainy season” in Colorado is a figure of speech merely, being used only to distinguish it from the season when no rain falls. The two are about equal. Rains fall from about May 1 to November 1, but only enough to purify the air and keep the prairie grass alive and green. It is Cr a w=). i ee 4 HISTORY OF COLORADO. 51 no inconvenience whatever to invalids, who have all the sunshine they want even in wet weather. It is this unlimited sunshine that builds up many debilitated systems, which seem to need no other medicine. The average number of cloudy days for each year since 1872, when the Signal Service was first established in Denver, is but a fraction over sixty-three; the days on which rain fell, consider ably less, and those on which snow fell, only forty. As to the range of the thermometer, that erratic instrument should not be quoted officially in Colorado, until corrected for altitude and new climatic conditions. Its apparent range is very broad, and its record would seem to show that Coloradoans freeze up in winter, only to thaw out in summer, when, in fact, the extremes of heat and cold are much more apparent than real. Neither zero weather nor ninety-nine in the shade counts for much in Colorado. When the mer- cury falls ten or fifteen degrees below zero, which it often does, people put on their wraps as they go about their business, but nobody ever heard of a sunstroke in Colorado, when the thermometer was boiling over at the top. Invalids, of course, do not invite exhaustion by much exercise at such times, but, in the delightfully cool mornings and evenings of midsummer, they can get all the air and exercise necessary for them. In the fall of 1873, two well-known gentlemen of Denver—Mr. F. J. B. Crane and Mr. B. F. Woodward—both of whom had been great suffer- ers from asthma in the East, were discussing the best means of making known to their suffering fellow-mortals of other States the wonderfully curative effects of the Colorado climate upon this disorder. The question of giving information through the newspapers and magazines was dis- cussed, but while, by such means, a large number of readers might be reached, it was thought that the message would not have such a convincing and authoritative influence as an authentic statement from a large number of persons. The result of this incidental discussion was the calling of a meet- ing of asthmatics at Denver in October, 1873. The meeting was held. A large number of gentlemen and ladies attended, all of whom reported themselves either entirely cured or vastly benefited by their residence in Colorado. It was then decided to extend the scope of inquiry to the whole State, and, in accordance with that purpose, the newspapers of the State circulated a call for an asthmatic convention, and also for statements from persons unable to attend the meeting. This novel convention assembled at Denver December 18, 1873. The chairman, Mr. Crane, presented over one hundred reports from persons residing in all parts of Colorado, many of them lengthy and quite interesting, giving individual experiences, means of cure and experiments,which had been previously tried without effect, and gen- erally stating that a complete and permanent cure had only been found upon the parties removing to Colorado. A large number of these statements were from gentlemen of means, who had traveled in nearly all parts of the world without deriving material benefit elsewhere than in Colorado. In the spring of 1874, a pamphlet was printed for gratuitous distribution, containing a condensed record of over two hundred and fifty cases cured by Colorado air alone, no other remedy being used. All the walks of life were represented in this list; merchants, physicians, lawyers, clergymen, mechan- ics, laboring men, etc., clearly establishing the important fact that “Colorado cures asthma.” Five years of additional experience and observa- tion have only confirmed and strengthened the tes- timony that in the relief or cure of asthma and kindred diseases, the climate of Colorado is un- equaled by any portion of the known world; also, that there is no recurrence of the disease while the person remains in this climate, though no guaran- tee can be given that a return to a lower altitude will not be followed by a return of the old trouble. So much for asthma. As for other diseases of like character, the same is substantially true. In all cases where the physical and mental systems are worn down by overwork or general debility, the t —~— a s y = +4 ek. ical 52 HISTORY OF COLORADO. ; recovery is marked and rapid. The marked excep- tions to this rule are rheumatism and all purely nervous ailments, none of which are benefited by the climate of Colorado, but are rather aggravated instead. In the mountains of Colorado, pneumonia and kindred diseases are common at certain sea- sons, and often fatal. A form of pneumonia known as mountain fever, is well known throughout the State, but happily it is less dangerous than pneu- monia proper. Taken all in all, with all the other drawbacks properly belonging to it, the climate of Colorado can claim the highest rank as a restorer of health to poor, suffering humanity. The number of in- valids who annually seek relief in the State is con- stantly increasing, and so are the resorts which invite their patronage. Formerly, the mineral springs at Manitou were the only attraction of the kind in the State. Only a few years ago, a rude cabin, on the banks of the famous Fountain qui Boille, close by the great soda spring, was all there _was of Manitou. The writer well remembers a visit there, in the fall of 1871, when the solitude of the spot was overpowering. To-day, there are half-a-dozen hotels there, three of them magnifi- cent structures, and yet, during the season, it is ‘almost impossible to secure quarters in any of them. Idaho Springs, with its fine hotels and famous swimming baths, is scarcely less popular or less crowded. The Hot Sulphur Springs, in Middle Park, are also well patronized, though less access- ible. The hunting and fishing thereaway draws many who would scorn the luxuries of more preten- tious watering-places. Beside these three principal points of attraction, are at least a dozen mineral springs, of greater or less renown, scattered broad- cast over the State, no section being without one or more. The Pagosa Hot Springs, in Southwest- ern Colorado, are pronounced among the finest in the world. The Steamboat Springs, in the North- west, are truly wonderful as a natural curiosity, as well as valuable for their medicinal qualities. They take their name from a peculiar noise emit- ted from one of the largest springs of the group, which gives forth a steady, soughing sound, like a steamboat just starting upon its voyage. The inquisitive may want to know’ what are the medical properties of these numerous springs. It would take a small volume to describe them. They range over the whole gamut of medical lexi- cography, and include, as the miners say, about all the known “stinks.” There is something less than a thousand of them in the State, and the invalid who cannot be suited somewhere in Colo- rado need not look anywhere else for what he wants. With very few exceptions, the surround- ings of these mineral springs are delightfully romantic. The charms of Manitou cannot be enumerated—a whole season is short enough to study its surroundings. It must be confessed, however, that Coloradoans themselves seldom pay much attention to the “healing waters” of these fountains of health, but visit them indiscriminately for pleasure, and often go away without tasting the water more than once, or perhaps twice. The ready excuse of the “native” is that he does not need the water, and does not wish to cultivate a taste for the fluid. Now and then a rheumatic miner tries bathing in a hot sulphur spring to take the stiff- ness out of his joints, and since Leadville was unearthed, an occasional victim of’ lead poisoning puts in at Cottonwood Springs, on the Arkansas River, below the carbonate metropolis, to get the lead out of his system, but, generally, the Colora- doan looks upon mineral springs merely as a good advertisement of the country, and is proud of them merely because they confirm his strong belief’ that his is the most wonderful country in the world. The chance mention of lead-poisoning above brings to mind this new disease—new to Colorado, at least, though common enough in lead minesall over theworld. The mineral deposits af Leadville, as the name of the camp indicates, carry a large propor- tion of lead, and workmen in the mines and smelters are alike subject to lead-poisoning. It would seem that nature had provided a remedy for the disease near at hand, in the mineral springs of Cottonwood Cafion, which are a specific in almost a ne ’ ~—— 9) Y HISTORY OF COLORADO. 53 any stage of the complaint. All the patient has to do is to “lay off” a few days or weeks, at Cot- tonwood, bathe and drink freely of the waters, and go back to his work rejuvenated. Much has been said about the unhealthiness of Leadville, because a good many people have died there from intemperance, exposure, etc., as well as from natural causes. Under right conditions, Leadville would be a healthy city, but the verdict of the Coroner’s jury—“too much whisky and too little blanket”—+tells the story of many a death. The altitude is too great for over-indulgence and reckless neglect. Care and cleanliness have been too much neglected in this magic city, and she pays the penalty by an undeserved reputation for unhealthiness. CHAPTER X. AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES OF THE STATE. GRICULTURE, although of secondary importance among the industries of Colo- rado, has always been more or less prominent. This fact is first due to the magnificent yield and excellent quality of both cereals and vegetables, and, finally, to the high prices usually received by the farmers, or “‘ranchmen,”’ as they are invariably | designated, for every product of the soil. In the early years of the country, when scarcely | anybody expected to stay here more than the few weeks or months necessary to obtain a fortune from the mines, agriculture was something not dreamt of in their philosophy, and no attempt was made to cultivate the soil. As time went on, and one or two “hard winters” came, bringing exorbi- tant prices for produce or cutting off the supply entirely, the idea of raising corn for horse-feed, after the Mexican fashion, was originated by some one, and soon put into practical operation. A few rude and imperfect irrigating ditches were constructed, under which a few acres were planted, corn being the principal crop, alternating with an occasional potato patch. The potatoes were truly a happy thought, for, while the corn, hardly paid for its cultivation, the potatoes yielded largely, and proved to be of superior ‘quality. Such was the small beginning of agriculture in Colorado, and it has advanced wonderfully since that time, especially in view of the difficulties it has had to meet and overcome. A great point had been gained, however, by the discovery that vegetables flourished in the soil of the plains and mountains. The first potato crop paid an enormous profit, and next year many per- sons engaged in the business, some of them only to meet with failure, though others succeeded be- yond their wildest hope. Experiments were made | with other vegetables, and the era of big pump- kins and giant squashes dates from that day. Another year established the fact that Colorado was within the limits of the great wheat-belt of the continent, and, from that time till now, wheat has been and is the staple crop of Colorado farmers. It must not be understood, though, that because Colorado raises the finest wheat, the best potatoes and the biggest squashes and pumpkins in the world, that her agriculturists are clothed in pur- ple and fine linen, and fare sumptuously every day. On the contrary, they work harder and are less repaid proportionately than farmers anywhere else in the country. In the first place, the acquisition of agricultural land in Colorado has for many years involved a considerable outlay of money, and a poor man has had small show to engage in farming. While there are millions of acres of arable land in the State, or land that would be arable if irrigated, there is not an unlimited supply of water for inri- gation, and it is not a question of land, but of a “—~—o8 4 54 HISTORY OF COLORADO. water, with the farmer. To secure the latter, he must expend more or less money, either in build- ing a ditch, or buying a water-right from a ditch already constructed. In either case, his water costs him what would be considered in the East a fair rental for the land. Having secured both Jand and water, he pro- ceeds to make a crop. Wheat is sown very early in the spring, often in February, which is usually a pleasant month in the Colorado climate ; if not, March rarely fails to bring planting weather. In April, there is always more or less light and warm snow, which melts rapidly and “wets down’”’ the new-sown wheat, so that irrigation is unnecessary at that season. May brings spring rains in greater or less abundance, with warm, sunny days, that start the young wheat and early vegetables fairly on their way, and also begin to melt the snow on the mountains, by which the streams are fed, the latter being low or entirely dry during the winter and early spring. By the time the streams are run- ning full of water, the work of irrigation must begin, and be kept up till the crops are harvested. The amount of irrigation required depends largely upon the fall of rain for the summer season, and somewhat also upon the character of the soil, but it is safe to say that during the irrigation season the farmer will be called upon to work at least all day, and perhaps far into the night. Added to all this toil is a tolerable certainty that, at the height of the season, when everybody wants water, the supply will fall short of the demand. To see one’s crops perishing for want of water involves a mental anxiety scarcely less terri- ble than the most intense physical struggle, and this but one of the many drawbacks incidental to the farming operations in Colorado, as developed from year to year in the history of the country. Another serious matter is the plague of grass- hoppers, or locusts, which has several times en- tirely devastated the agricultural sections of the State, and to which the attention of the world has been directed. Experience seems to demonstrate that these visitations occur every tenth year, but this may be a coincidence merely, the only proof substantiating the theory being the fact that the latest visitations followed the first in about that order, the beginning and ending having been marked by a curious correspondence of dates, as well as of characteristics. The grasshopper problem has perplexed the wisest savans of two continents, and the Colorado ° : i ranchman only knows that they come in countless - numbers and depart, leaving his fields as brown and bare as though they had never been planted. Nothing could well be more disheartening, or pro- vocative of profanity in the man of sin. Never- theless, the accounts of their ravages, and the description of their insatiate appetites, are often overdrawn. It is not true that they eat fences, wagons and agricultural implements, if the latter are left out of doors. They chew tobacco, appar- ently, judging from the exudations of their mas- ticatory organs, but proof is wanting that they either smoke or swear. Jesting aside, they are a dreaded scourge, but, under certain conditions, the Colorado farmers can and do successfully contend against them, and of late years, with their im- proved appliances of defense, the ranchmen laugh the young ‘hoppers to scorn, no matter how numer- ously they are hatched out in and around their fields. It is only when swarms of hungry ’hop- pers alight in the midst of the growing crops for a hasty lunch that the heart of the ranchman sinks within his bosom, for then he knows that nothing he can do will save his fields from destruc- tion. It is now four years, however, since the locusts last invaded Colorado, to the damage of the hus- bandmen, and strong hopes are entertained that their visitations have ceased. No particular rea- son can be assigned for this belief, but it is strong in the minds of those most deeply inter- ested and those most naturally inclined to appre- hend further danger from this source. Perhaps prudence would suggest that allowance should be made for grasshopper visitations at least once in ten years, but it is certain that the farmers of Colorado N og ~~ HISTORY OF COLORADO. 55 have lost much of their former fears that they would be driven into other pursuits, and are plowing and planting more vigorously than ever before. Said one of the most experienced husbandmen of the State to the writer, recently : “Nobody can tell anything about the grasshop- pers in Colorado or anywhere else. They have been here and may be here again, savans to the contrary notwithstanding. I may lose my. crop by them next year, but while I am sure of water for irriga- tion, I can stand the grasshoppers and raise bushel for bushel with the Eastern farmers. They have to contend with drouth on the one hand and exces- sive rains on the other, each alike disastrous, while I can regulate my supply of moisture regardless of the rainfall, and with a positive’ certainty that the latter will never be excessive, even during harvest, when the most damage is usually done. Irrigation is an expense, but it is likewise a protection. It is a heavy insurance, but it saves my crops and insures a uniform yield of which Hastern farmers are entirely ignorant. They may have half a dozen poor crops in succession, and then almost a total fail- ure, while I have half a dozen good crops and then a grasshopper year, for which I ought to be pre- pared.” The best farming lands of the State are found to lie along the eastern base of the mountains from north to south, and the best of these, perhaps, as far as development has gone, lie between the Platte and the Cache la Poudre Rivers. Superi- ority of soil is not claimed for this belt, though its proximity to the mountains may have developed certain characteristics not possessed by localities more remote. Abundance of water has given it prominence and importance as a center of agricul- tural industry. The valley_of the Platte River is, of course, the largest single body of agricultural land in the State, extending from Platte Caiion, twenty miles southwest of Denver, to Julesburg, in the extreme northeastern corner of the State. Thousands of aeres of fertile lands line both sides of the river for this entire distance. Above Denver, and below that city for a distance of fifty or sixty miles, there are fine farms; below the junction of the Platte and the Poudre and the State line, there are occasional farms and frequent meadows, but no considerable agricultural settlements. Two causes operate to retard agricultural progress in the lower Platte Valley: first, the absence of railroad facili- ties, and, finally, the character of the river itself, which runs for its entire length, across the plains, over a bed of treacherous, shifting sand, in and through which the channel winds and turns and divides and changes so continually, that it is almost impossible to utilize the waters of the stream for irrigation at certain points, and extremely difficult anywhere. If the current sets into the “head” of an irrigating canal, it carries with it enough sand to soon choke up the canal, but oftener a more serious trouble results from the channel changing to the opposite side of the stream, leaving the mouth of the irrigating canal as dry.as the plains themselves. The smaller streams, particularly those which run over rocky or pebbly beds, are the best reli- ance of the farmers of Colorado, even though their volume of water may be restricted. Of this class, the Cache la Poudre is the principal, and its valley is perhaps the best illustration of what may be accomplished by irrigation in Colorado. From La Porte, where it leaves the mountains, to its confluence with the Platte, four miles below Evans and Greeley, the “ Poudre,” as it is univer- sally called in Colorado, is lined with improved farms, many of which are models of successful enterprise. At Fort Collins, near the head of this rich val- ley, is located the Agricultural College of the State, a fitting location for such an institution, surrounded, as it is, by some of the finest farms and best farming land in the State. ; The early history of this part of the State, apart from its agricultural features, is full of inter- est. The overland route to California led this way, and La Porte, which is now one of the most v A oe Ck sf 4 i =) 56 HISTORY OF COLORADO. peaceful hamlets in all Colorado, was then a min- iature Julesburg, full of life and activity. Fort Collins, near by, was then a military post, though no fort was ever built there, and few soldiers guarded the post. There were Indians in those days, and some of the pioneer ranchmen met with many startling adventures in guarding against or resisting their depredations. To-day, however, and for many years, the valley has been singularly peaceful, bearing, in many respects, the aspect of an Eastern community. It is entirely agricultural, and the handsome towns of Fort Collins and Gree- ley, which nestle at either extremity, are as orderly - as any New England village. Both of: these towns, as well as Longmont, which lies a little south and west of them, the three constituting apexes of a triangle, are notable instances of the success of “colony”’ enterprises in Colorado. The Greeley colony was the best adver- tised, and has been most successful, but in less degree the others show the benefits of co-opera- tion. The history of the Greeley colony, although it deserves a separate chapter, has been written so well and so often by the leading newspapers of the whole country, East and West, that a brief review will be sufficient for the purpose of this volume. Established in 1870, at the suggestion of the lamented Horace Greeley, whose honored name it bears, and whose principles it largely per- petuates, it started with a fund of $150,000, which it invested in lands, irrigating canals, a mill power and a “colony fence” inclosing the entire tract covered by the purchase, thus providing against the necessity of interior fences. A town was laid off at the point where the Denver Pacific Railroad crosses the “Poudre,” and the land was appropriately subdivided, so that each colonist received a tract of land and a town lot, if desired, or an equivalent in either lands or lots, at his option. All this property has advanced in value very largely, and farm property is particularly valuable under the Greeley canals. Some of the farmers were seriously embarrassed at first by the consider- able expense of “making a start’’ in a new coun- try under new conditions, and even with all the advantages of co-operation, a few failures resulted. It is not the purpose of the writer to conceal the truth in regard to farming operations in Colorado, and it must be admitted that not every Eastern farmer can and will succeed in this State, espe- cially if he is hampered by lack of means to enable him to prosecute his work to the best advantage. But the failures at Greeley were generally ac- counted for by some radical defect in the system pursued, and experience, even when dearly bought, was turned to good advantage by all concerned. Wheat, of course, has been the great staple, and its yield has often been enormous. Thirty, forty, or even fifty bushels per acre have been harvested from large fields, and sold at from 90 cents to $1.50 per bushel. etables came next in importance. Corn has not been a prolific crop, though profitable. The soil is well adapted to corn, but the nights are too cold for its rapid growth and full development. Of late years, the Greeley colonists have turned their attention to raising small fruits, with very gratifying success. Their strawberries are simply magnificent, and the yield equal to that of any part of the country, California not excepted. The crop never fails, and, despite the large production, prices have been maintained at high figures’ throughout the entire season. Berries are shipped to Denver and Cheyenne by rail, and these mar- kets, within fifty miles of Greeley, take the entire crop, and almost quarrel over it. The social features of Greeley life are still char- acterized by temperance and intellectual develop- ment. There is not now, and never has been, a saloon in the town of 2,000 inhabitants, and its schools are the best in the land. The schoolhouse is by far the best building in town, though the churches are numerous and not inconspicuous architecturally. More newspapers are taken and read at Greeley than at any place of its size in the country. The town itself supports two weekly Potatoes and all kinds of veg-— a 4 oe ! ~~ = =p Y sll pssst s HISTORY OF COLORADO. 57 papers, and a third, published at Evans, a few miles distant, is liberally patronized. Magnificent as has been the development of the Poudre Valley since 1870, the next few years promises to eclipse the last decade. An immense irrigating canal, capable of watering. 100,000 acres of land, is being built north of the already com- pleted canals on the north side, and thousands of acres of good farming land will soon be brought under cultivation thereby. This canal heads in the mountains, and the country it waters is tribu- tary to Fort Collins as well as Greeley—indeed, the former place, from its proximity to the moun- tains, where the water-supply is more abundant and stable, probably will reap a larger benefit. from the new enterprise than its rival down the valley. This important enterprise demands special men- tion as the first effort to water a vast body of land with a single canal, and because its promoters are, for the most part, non-residents instead of Colo- | | rado citizens. The Colorado Mortgage and Invest- ment Company,of London, of which Mr. James Duff, of Denver, is resident manager, owns most of the stock in this canal, and much of the land to be watered thereby. The English Company, as it is commonly called, has done.and is still doing much for the development of Colorado and Denver, first by loaning capital at lower rates of interest than formerly prevailed, and finally, by its own judicious investments, like the new hotel in Denver, which the Company is building at a cost of nearly half a million, and which will be by far the finest hotel in the West when completed. Another enterprise of great pith and moment to Denver is the pro- posed high-line canal, to water an immense area above the city, which the English Company is about to undertake as a sure and profitable invest- ment. Colorado has derived great benefit already from this influx of English capital, and Mr. Duff seems determined to show his faith in the Centen- nial State by further investments of like character. Fort Collins has achieved its greatest develop- ment since 1877, when the Colorado Central Railroad was extended past that place to a connection with the Union Pacific at Cheyenne. The follow- ying very truthful sketch of the place is copied from the prospectus of the Agricultural College located at that point, and opened September 1, 1879: “Fort Collins is located on the southern bank of the Cache la Poudre, about six miles east of the foot-hills of the snowy range and thirty-five miles south of the State line; it is surrounded by a fer- tile and well watered region, including some of the best agricultural lands in the State. ' “Tts elevation of 5,100 feet above the sea level gives it a pure, dry atmosphere, while its proximity to the mountains brings it within the limit of occa- sional rains, thus rendering the climate pleasant and salubrious, and adapting the soil to the culti- vation of the cereals. This region, comprising the counties of Larimer, Weld, Boulder, and parts of Arapahoe and Jefferson, is rendered accessible from the north and south by the Colorado Central Rail- road, which passes directly through Fort Collins, and by the Denver Pacific Railway, both of which roads connect with the Union Pacific at Cheyenne and with the Kansas Pacific at Denver. The streams draining this region, the Cache la Poudre, Big Thompson, and other tributaries of the South Platte, furnish an inexhaustible supply of water for purposes of irrigation. It is estimated that the great irrigating canal now in process of construc- tion and supplied from the Cache la Poudre, will bring at least 100,000 acres of unproductive land under cultivation. The College has been most judiciously located with reference to this large extent of farming land, in the midst of communi- ties refined and progressive and very fast surround- ing themselves with all the comforts of the most advanced localities in the West.” South of the Poudre, along the base of the mountains, are a number of valleys devoted to ag- riculture, among which the Big and Little Thomp- son, the St. Vrain, Left Hand Boulder and Ralston Creek are chief. Longmont, settled by a Chicago colony about 1870, is located on the St. Vrain, in the midst of a very rich farming country. The A ee ~— Y 58 HISTORY OF COLORADO. ‘St. Vrain is one of the most beautiful of Colorado rivers. It rises at the base of Long’s Peak, and, though boasting of no grandly romantic cajion like Boulder, Clear Creek and the Platte or Arkansas, it flows through scenes of sylvan beauty strangely enchanting to the eye and the esthetic tastes. Boulder Creek waters a fertile valley on its way across the plains, dotted by handsome farms; but its greatest charm is in the mountains. Its cafion has been pronounced the finest in the State, and its falls are famous everywhere. At the point of its departure from the range is located the town of Boulder, an interesting city of considerable conse- quence as an agricultural and mining center. The farmers of Boulder Valley find a market for their crops in the mining camps of their own county, and their county capital reaps the benefit of the exchange. Boulder is also the seat of the State University. The valley of Clear Creek, though limited in extent, is a veritable garden. Lying between Den- ver and Golden, and equally accessible to each (either by rail or private conveyance), it may be called the market garden of those cities. The Bear Creek Valley, a few miles farther south, is similarly situated, and a good farm in either of them may be counted a treasure to its fortunate owner. South of the divide, between the waters of the Platte and the Arkansas, agriculture has not yet advanced to the position it occupies in Northern Colorado, though the conditions are all favorable. In time, no doubt, the arable lands of this district will be developed as well as those of the western slope, which in some respects are superior to those of the Atlantic side. The agricultural future of Colorado is enshrouded in much present uncertainty, and opinions differ very widely concerning it. Some profess to believe that at no distant day the vast plains will become a grand garden ; that monster canals will distribute water for irrigation through a series of lakes or reservoirs from the mountains to the eastern limit of the State, and from Wyoming to New Mexico. Congress has been continually memorialized to aid the State in this matter by grants of arid land under some act similar to the “swamp-land bill,” by which so many States have profited throughout the West. It is argued with great force that instead of ditches for drainage, the arid lands of Colorado only need ditches for irrigation to make them valuable, and it is claimed that the General Gov- ernment, now deriving little or no income or bene- fit from these lands, would be the gainer vastly by their reclamation, while the State, with a mining population constantly increasing, would be enabled to feed its own people without recourse on Kansas for supplies. No doubt there is force in this argu- ment, and the interest of the people in the ques- tion has been repeatedly evinced, not alone by memorials to Congress, but by conventions to con- sider extensive systems of irrigation. In 1873, an irrigation convention was held in Denver which was attended by the Governors of several Western States and Territories, and by the leading agriculturists of the State as well as dele- gates from Utah, where the same system prevails. Beyond an interchange of views and the inevitable memorial to Congress, nothing came of this con- vention, but the address of Hon. S. H. Elbert, then Territorial Governor of Colorado, and now one of the Justices of the Supreme Court, was a compact, logical and in every way admirable state- ment of the case under discussion, which should have had more weight in Washington than was accorded to it, or to the memorial of the conven- tion. There are those, however, and the writer is among them, who have grave doubts whether the benefits to be derived from any system of irrigation under the auspices of the State or General Govern- ment would inure to the benefit of each or either. Though the arid lands of Colorado find no sale at Government prices, and, perhaps, would not bring more than 10 cents per acre at auction, they are all productive in one sense, and the State reaps a large benefit therefrom every year, in its r See ee Oy +___9 “ HISTORY OF COLORADO. 59 production of beef, mutton and wool. The stock | competition. The home demand is enlarged by interests would surely suffer if the plains were | the stock interest, which produces nothing but “reclaimed,” but whether farming, with the added | beef. Reduce the home demand by excluding the expense of costly irrigation, could successfully | bulk of the stock men, and at the same time compete with Kansas cheap production, is not | double the agricultural production, and we may equally certain. have a state of affairs which neither the farmers Kansas, which lies right at the door of Colo- | nor the State will appreciate as a public blessing. rado, is undoubtedly the finest agricultural State These objections, however, may be more than in the Union, and is growing rapidly in our direc- | met by the rapid increase of our mining population | |. tion. The corn and wheat of Kansas are already | in the next five years, creating a home market | |! sold in our markets at prices which tend to dis- | which the present agricultural resources of the || courage our own farmers, though, happily, the | State will be entirely unable to supply. In that || latter still have a home market for their crops | case, more farms and more farmers will be among | |, which affords them protection against Kansas | the actual necessities of the country. i CHAPTER XI. - STOCK RAISING IN COLORADO. NOUGH has already been said in this work On the plains of Colorado and Western Kansas, | | to indicate that the pastoral resources of | cattle succeeded the buffalo as naturally as white |} Colorado are second only to the industry of mining | men succeeded the Indians. It could not have been in point of profit if not of production. The net | any secret to the early settlers that stock would | |i profit of stock-growing exceeds that of agriculture | live and fatten on the nutritious grasses of the | |' every year. Probably during the decade preceding | plains and mountains all the year round, for they | | the eventful year when the mines of Leadville | saw buffalo, antelope, deer, elk and other gram- began to yield up their hidden treasures, the net | niverous animals depending entirely for their sus- | profit of mining over and above the expense | tenance upon the same, but in spite of this “ ocular incurred in its prosecution, was not much greater | proof,” it appears to be a fact, as already stated | than the net profit of the stock business. elsewhere, that the father of the stock business in _ This is a startling statement, and, unfortunately, Colorado turned his cattle out in the fall expecting or fortunately, as the case may be, the figures are | them to die during the winter, and was surprised not at hand whereby it can be supported. It is | to find them fat and flourishing in the spring. 1 equally impossible to say how much money was | Even at this late day, with thousands of cattle | |! swallowed up in unlucky mining enterprises, and | roaming the plains on every hand, winter and sum- ; how much was made by raising stock while the | mer, some stranger is always found willing to swear business was comparatively new and the range not | that they must inevitably starve to death in the overcrowded as it is now in many directions. When | winter. These doubting Thomases, impressed with. | |; cattle could be brought to maturity and market at | ancient heresies regarding the Great American a cost of about $5 per head, and sold at $30, $40, | Desert, are alike incapable of realizing that cattle: or even $50, it requires no arithmetician or “light- | can live on our grasses the year round and that the ning calculator,” or even Col. Sellers, to see that | finest wheat and vegetables in the world cam be there were “ millions in it.” produced from our soil. oe 7 ek. A 60 HISTORY OF COLORADO. However lightly Coloradoans may esteem the intelligence of these people, they do not much care to combat their erroneous ideas by argument, and cattle-erowers are especially indifferent on the sub- ject. On the contrary, they do not care how many people are deterred from entering the business by fears of losing their investments. Wide as the range is, the supply of water is limited in dry sea- sons, and they do not want to be crowded by new- comers out of their chosen localities. Though the “yrange” is free to all, the water front is usually taken up by the home ranches of cattle and sheep growers, who own the land adjacent thereto and thereby control the range back of their respective claims. Encroachments upon these vested rights are rare, but if the country should become more crowded by a decided increase in the number of cattle-growers, trouble might ensue or the interests of the parties might be endangered in other respects. Prior to the advent of railroads in Colorado, the stock business was limited by the home demand and such Government contracts as could be secured for the supply of beef to interior and neigh- boring military posts. The railroads, however, gave a great impetus to each of these demands and also opened up a new trade, which has of late years exceeded the aggregate of both the others combined. More Colorado beef is shipped East every year than is used by the people of the State and by the Government, too, within the limits of Colorado. The magnitude of this business under the new development is something astonishing. Next to Texas, Colorado probably produces more beef than any other State in the Union, and, probably, more sheep and wool than any other State except New Mexico. The business is not confined to any one section of the State, but extends everywhere, even into the Indian Reservation. Some years ago, the Indian Bureau, in a lucid interval seldom duplicated, drove a band of cattle to the White River Agency for the purpose of supplying beef to the Utes, using only the increase of the herd for that purpose. The Indians have been supplied with fresh beef regularly since that time, and the herd has increased despite this constant drain upon it, till even the Government is likely to have “beef to sell,” besides what the Indians use. These cattle are said to yield excellent beef the year round, though knowing no feed except the rich grass of the White River Valley. Denver's best beef, not excepting the corn-fed article, comes from the Snake River country in Northwestern Colorado, and this Snake River beef is often on the market when the Plains cattle are too poor to kill. Nor is Southwestern Colorado one whit behind the North in this particular. The Animas and other valleys of the San Juan country produce the finest beef as well as the best vegetables and other crops. There seems to be no doubt that the entire western slope of the State is a good stock country. It is with the east, however, particularly the great plains, that the pastoral interests of Colo- rado are principally identified. On these almost boundless prairies, thousands upon thousands of horses, cattle and sheep range throughout the year, and maintain themselves in generally good condition without any food save that prepared for them by the bountiful hand of nature. There are numerous methods of engaging in the stock business, of course, but they all resolve them- selves at last into one general system, which cen- ters around a home ranche or camp, and extends pretty nearly over the entire surrounding country. Having secured a ranche and suitable outbuildings, including a large corral, with a strong solid wall seven or eight feet high, the next step is to buy cattle. This may be done occasionally “on the range,” from some party who finds himself over- stocked or who wants to quit the business, but gen- erally it is best to buy from the Texas stock driven up from the South every summer, which comes cheaper and answers admirably for breeding pur- poses when crossed with high grade American bulls. All stock must be branded when bought, and all calves must be branded before they leave their mother’s side. ee at) HISTORY OF COLORADO. 61 The camp should be located near a permanent water-supply, and it is well to purchase or enter 160 acres or more and inclose it with a stock-fence as a kind of gigantic barnyard. Horses kept for use should not be allowed to run loose on the prairie, and to keep them stabled or picketed is troublesome and unsatisfactory. A camp outfit must include wagon and harness suitable for heavy work, tough draft horses and a number of native ponies or bronchos for saddle use. Of the latter, there can hardly be too many. It costs little or nothing to keep them, and, during the entire sum- mer, to say the least, and often in winter, there is enough hard riding to be done to require at least three horses for every herder employed. Leading stockmen almost invariably raise and train their own ponies, finding it profitable as well as con- venient to do so. Their value ranges from $25 to $50, and the trouble of raising them is but slightly ereater than that of raising a steer. The “band” must be looked after a good deal, of course, and carefully “corralled” every night; but, by con- stant handling, they become thoroughly domesti- cated, and seldom or never stray far away from camp, unless stampeded. The use of the word “band” above brings to mind some of the peculiarities of stock nomencla- ture in Colorado. A collection of horses is always a “band.” The cattle owned by one man or firm are, collectively, a “herd,” but. any number of them less than the whole is a “bunch.” A “flock” of sheep, however, may be all or only a part of the number owned by a firm or an individual. To speak of a “herd” of horses or sheep is to betray the tender-foot at once. Given, then, the home ranche, with its stables, corrals, etc., its band of ponies, its foreman and assistants, and all the machinery of a cattle camp is complete. The outfit may cost anywhere from $500 to $1,000, but rarely more than the latter sum, no allowance being made for display and not much for home comfort. Few cattle ranches on a large scale are enlivened by the presence of the gentler sex, and the men crowd together, generally, | in a small cabin or “sod” house of two rooms— one for stores and cookery, and the other for sleep- ing and lounging, whenever opportunity offers. For an ordinary camp, the working force includes about six men. Strict discipline is enforced by the fore- man, who is an autocrat in his way, and who issues his orders with the air and brevity of a drill sergeant. Another important personage is the cook; who is also a sort of “keeper” of the camp and stores, and is likewise charged with numberless little duties, such as mending bridles and harness, doctoring sick horses, going to the post office, and the like. He must be ready to serve a meal at a.moment’s notice, and at times his position is very trying; but when the foreman and herders are away on the round-ups or are shipping beef, he is often left en- tirely alone for weeks, with nothing whatever to do but to guard the camp, cook his own meals, and occasionally turn up a little “grub” for a passing acquaintance or stranger, the ranche being open alike to such without money and without price. Stockmen are the very soul of hospitality, and there exists among them a subtle sort of free- masonry by which they make themselves at home wherever they go among each other, whether on business or for pleasure. After the cook comes the herders, to the num- ber of three or four or more, as the case may be. A herd of three or four thousand cattle can be looked after by half a dozen men, with a little as- sistance during the round-up and branding season. The herder of cattle is essentially different from the sheep-herder. The latter must live with his flock, nor trust it out of his sight, but the former exer- cises only a general supervision over his herd, never undertaking to limit its wanderings, and content if he only knows, in a general way, its whereabouts. The range is wide, but cattle sel- dom stray far from home, save at times when no ndamber of herdsmen could restrain them. Should any or all of them “stampede” from any cause, nothing can be done but to follow them leisurely, and drive them back when found. Y oF 62 HISTORY OF COLORADO. The life of a cattle-herder is wild, roving, ad- venturous. His headquarters, and hindquarters, too, are always in the saddle, and he soon learns to ride like a Centaur. No finer sight of the kind can be scen anywhere, than a “ cow-boy ” mounted on his fleet but sure-footed pony, giving chase to a young and lively Colorado steer, as full of dash and undaunted mettle as the man himself. Away they fly across the prairie, at lightning speed, then, sud- denly, as quick as thought, the bovine turns and doubles on his course, while the pony and rider follow suit with equal celerity. Again and again they turn, the pony following every movement of the animal it is pursuing, and none but a skilled and well-trained rider can keep his seat in the sad- dle throughout the chase. infrequent, even among these champion riders, but in almost every instance they result from an unex- pected stumble of the pony over a hole in the ap- parent dead level of the prairie. The wages paid to these men are not high, ranging from $25 to $50 per month, but, as they include board and lodging and most of the necessa- ries of life, and, as clothing costs them little, they manage to save something every month, and soon find themselves, if they are careful and economical, ahead of the world and in a fair way to become proprietors on a small scale. Accidents are not They are usually allowed to invest their savings in cattle, which are “turned in” with their employers herd, and cost nothing for their keeping, while the herder is em- ployed on the ranch. When he accumulates two or three hundred head, he is ready to begin busi- ness himself, generally taking a second small bunch of cattle to herd “ on shares,” his share being one- half of the increase. Colorado affords few better openings for young men of economical habits than cattle-ranching, but the reckless and improvident spend all their money as fast as it is earned, and not only fail to accumulate anything for themselves, but find that they will not be trusted with the care of stock for other owncrs. Much has been written about the ‘cattle kings” of Colorado, their countless herds and the princely ‘round-ups with his men, eating out of their camp-ket- domain over which they wander. A good deal of this is nonsense, but the operations of some men, now or hitherto engaged in this trade, have been very great. The late John W. Iliff, of Denver, was the most successful cattle man of his time. His stock ranged over the entire eastern portion of the State, and his ranches were scattered up and down the Platte, from Julesburg to near Greeley, but the stories told about his princely domain were true only in part. He did not control the entire range where his cattle roamed, but shared it in common with the smaller operators. It was true, however, that he could travel over the country for a week and always eat and sleep at one of his own ranches. His income was princely, too, and his wealth was immense. He died in 1878, and his business has been gradually closed out since that time, though it will take some years to settle up his _ estate. It is said that $250,000 worth of beef was sold by his executors last year, without making much inroad upon his immense herds. My. Tliff did not commence business a poor man, as is often stated, but his capital was limited, and, in his early days, he devoted himself to Govern- ment contracts and to supplying dressed beef to butchers, at wholesale. At one time, he supplied dressed beef to all the military posts along the line of the Union Pacific Railroad. He was a shrewd, hard-working, thorough man of business, looking closely after every detail and often following the tles and keeping as sharp a watch for the “L. F.” brand as his own foremen. Other cattle kings grew indolent as wealth increased, but Iliff seemed to grow more active and industrious until death stepped in and ended his busy life in its very prime. Had he lived long enough to carry out the grand schemes which inspired him, no one knows to what gigantic proportions his business would have grown. Many other men and firms in Colorado have created: colossal fortunes in stock-raising or are now . in a fair way to become millionaires, but the business is less profitable of late, particularly to new investors. 4 a “ve 1 eas) y HISTORY OF COLORADO. 65 The range is getting crowded about the water- fronts, and sheep-men are driving cattle-growers back from their old ranches into new quarters, north and east. Along the base of the mountains, agriculture is encroaching rapidly upon the former domains of stockmen, almost to the exclusion of the latter, who are moving their herds to a distance. In almost every locality, however, the problem of space is partially solved by the introduction of a better class of stock, a smaller number of which will produce more money than a larger herd of the old “long-horn” variety. Texas cows are kept for breeding purposes, but high-grade American bulls are almost invariably found on every ranche ‘and with every herd. The cross is known as “Colorado natives” in the market reports, and makes excel- \| lent beef, while its Texas blood enables it to stand the rigors of Colorado’s “Italian” climate without too much risk. Blooded stock and thorough American cattle thrive excellently well in Colorado, but they must be cared for in winter, and the expense of handling them is very much greater than that of “ native” cattle. Sheep in Colorado are singularly free from the diseases so common to them elsewhere, and there is much profit as well as much labor in handling them. The losses are sometimes large during heavy storms in winter, and many lambs fall victims to the ravages of the prairie wolves and coyotes—lean and hungry midnight marauders, whose stealthy steps never betray their presence. With proper food and shelter, however, sheep endure the winter storms very well, and their four-footed enemies are fast disappearing. The breeding of a better class of horses is begin- ning to attract much attention throughout the State. The ordinary “ broncho ” is at best a rather valueless investment, save for herding stock, and seldcm brings more than $50, while a good Ameri- can horse seldom falls below double that amount, and it costs but a trifle more to raise the latter. But if the broncho’s cash value is less, he is more reliable for hard and rough riding, whether on the mountain or plain. His sinews are steel, and his i tireless gallop is a marvel of endurance. Yet, in- breeding develops the same characteristics in other horses, and some of the best long-distance racers in the West have been developed among the thorough- breds of Colorado. Thorough-breeding is still in its infancy in Colo- rado, however, and no one can surely say what the “coming horse” of Colorado will be, or whether he will be able to hold his own with Eastern stables. Thus far, but few Eastern horses have been able to compete with Colorado-bred stock in trials of speed on our own turf, but this is accounted for on the very natural and reasonable theory that Colorado air is “too thin” for equine lungs unac- customed thereto, while home-bred horses, on the contrary, are thereby inspired to greater exertions. The reverse would be equally true, no doubt, and Colorado-bred horses would probably fare hard in the air of lower altitudes. Returning to the main question—the breeding of beef cattle for home and Eastern markets—it would be interesting, if it were possible, to give statistics of the enormous trade in Colorado alone, not to mention New Mexico and Wyoming, which, for breeding purposes, are practically parts of Colo- rado itself. A few months ago, an. intelligent cor- respondent of the New York Commercial Bulletin, writing from Colorado, gave the following : “ At the East, we have but an imperfect concep- tion of its value and rapid growth. But the simple fact that the exports from Colorado alone, during the past five years, have exceeded in value the ship- ments of bullion, and the further fact that what is known as the great cattle-raising belt is estimated to-day to contain over fifteen million head, worth upward of $300,000,000, are calculated to very materially expand those conceptions. The corre- spondent states that there are many reasons point- ing to the ultimate absorption of the business on the-plains in the hands of the large owners, whose competition wipes out the profits of the small ranchers. Already the Iliffs, the Bosters, Dorsey, Waddingham, Craig, Hall Brothers, and others, have each nearly as many cattle as existed in either Y oe “ve 1 66 HISTORY OF COLORADO. of the territories a year ago, and together, have more than existed in New Mexico, Colorado and Nebraska combined. Just now there is great alarm on account of the fear that the pleuro-pneu- monia will bankrupt the stockmen of the plains. If it gains a fast hold here, it may be impossible to stop it. There will be strong pressure for such legislation at the next session of Congress as will keep it at a distance. The Western members nearly all favor stringent measures, whatever these may be, and hence it is generally certain that some- thing will be done.” — The “alarm” of which the correspondent writes was more imaginary than real, and yet any fatal disease would work incalculable injury to the industry. The fear of future consolidation is something more tangible. As the big fish invari- ably swallow the little ones, so the large herds must swallow or drive out the smaller ones. The Huerfano Valley, in Southern Colorado, near Pueblo, is almost monopolized by the Colorado Cattle Company, a wealthy corporation which bought the famous Craig ranche and other claims in that locality, and have from 20,000 to 30,000 head of cattle ranging over that country, to the “exclusion of small operators. Should the time ever come when Congress, anxious to “ realize” on the pasture-lands of Colo- rado, offers them in large tracts at low figures, the bone and sinew would be knocked entirely out of the stock business in this State. It is claimed that, under the present arrangement, the cattle ‘range produces no revenue to the General Govern- ment, being free to all comers, and no one being willing or able to pay the Government price of $1.25 per acre for land worth in open market not more than one-fifth of that sum. The cattle kings, however, are willing to buy it in tracts of five or ten thousand acres at its cash value, and Congress is tempted to make that disposition of it, rather than let it lie waste. The arguments in favor of this plan are specious, and well calculated to de- ceive the average Congressman. No doubt the General Government would realize something from the sale of these lands in the manner and on the terms proposed, but it would be at the expense of thousands of poor but honest stockmen, who would be “squeezed” out of the business, thereby. Nor is it altogether certain that the “kings” themselves would be benefited by the working of the plan proposed, although they could protect themselves against its disadvantages better than men with less capital at their command. The weight of opinion among experienced stockmen tends to the theory that the range should remain open rather than be closed. An inclosure of even 50,000 acres would hardly be large enough for a herd of 10,000 cattle, and there are many such herds in Colorado, not to mention many larger ones. The winter storms, which are so fatal to stock interests in this locality, are usually local. On the open range, cattle can drift away from bad weather, and often, by traveling from twenty to fifty miles, they find an open country, with plenty of grass and water for their needs, when their home range is covered with snow. If they were confined within an inclosure, or even stopped by a fence in their stampede before a storm, many of them would perish who might otherwise escape. Of course, the stampeding and consequent scattering of stock during the winter involves considerable trouble and expense, connected with the annual “round-up ” and separation of the intermingled brands, but the very convenient arrangement for rounding up the cattle of the whole State, under the operation of the stock law, reduces this business to an exact science, and leaves little more to be desired. To the stranger in Colorado, nothing connected with the cattle business can be more interesting than a general round-up on the plains, where the cattle are abundant. It is not unusual to see 10,- 000 head gathered together in a compact but mov- ing, animated mass—a forest of horns and heads, tossing up and down like the troubled waves of a sea. Circling around the outside of the immense herd are the well-mounted “cowboys,” holding the cattle in check and position while the process of “cutting out” goes on. To “cut out” + or ~— eae a 'D a HISTORY OF COLORADO. 67 stock means to ride into the herd a little way, sin- gle out an animal bearing your brand, separate it from the herd and head it toward and into your own particular “bunch” on the prairie a short dis- tance away. The process appears simple enough, | but it is easier described than accomplished. The instinct of the beast leads it to circle back toward the main herd, and it must be headed off at every turn and tack. Even this is not sufficient; at every turn and tack it must be edged a little nearer to the group where it belongs. When finally it is joined to its fellows, there is no more trouble, for it will never think of leaving the small herd for the larger one, and it may be driven away with the rest in perfect peace and serenity. When an owner has separated his cattle from the main herd, it is no trouble at all to drive them back to his home range, unless something happens. to stampede them en route. Very curious are the conditions under which Plains cattle are stampeded. Thorough Texans are ' barn, with an occasional meal of vegetables. Only the most timid, the Colorado stock being somewhat domesticated by more handling as they grow up. Whole herds of Texas steers have been stampeded by a rider dismounting from his pony near them. They are accustomed to the sight of men on horseback, and seem to.consider man and horse a sort of compound animal, but when the two sepa- rate themselves from each other the average Texas steer don’t know what to make of the spectacle. Eastern readers may wonder why a chapter on stock interests should not include some mention of pork, but in point of fact, hogs are not a Colorado staple. Some few are produced in the agricultural sections, and with profit, too, but the number is limited to the capacity of the farm for producing suitable feed. They get little corn, and are mostly raised on what they can pick up around house and the best varieties are raised, principally Berkshires, whose capacity for rooting a living out of the ground fits them for Colorado peculiarly. CHAPTER XII. LEADVILLE AND CALIFORNIA GULCH. WRITER, referring more particularly to mining in Park County in the early days, | said that “Colorado has always been afflicted with periodic silver excitements, but has not yet been || able to realize anything from her undoubted silver | deposits.” If he could but retrace the ground he traveled over then and be a witness to the opening up of the vast section of carbonates that to-day, || at Leadville and vicinity, challenge the admiration and awaken the enthusiasm of the people of the entire continent, he would say that the day he pre- dicted had arrived and the silver deposits revealed. The history of California Gulch began as early as 1860, when a band of miners from Central crossed over the Park Range of mountains and entered the gulch that was destined to enjoy a brief season of notoriety as a gold-producing region, and then lapse back for many years into obscurity, only to awaken to a newer history, whose pages are to gleam and glow for ages. The gulch was full of prospectors before the summer was over, and a prosperous camp betokened that the precious metal was there. But the lim- ited water-supply was a great drawback to the development of claims, and the working season was short by reason of the great altitude. For several years, the most available ground was worked over and with returns that were generally satisfac- tory. Up to the close of 1865, it was thought that over three millions were taken out. From that year, miners began gradually to abandon the country, and, in 1869, production had dropped to $60,000, and to $20,000 in 1876. It was the old story, so familiar in mining history, told once more. 4 yo ~— Ou 68° HISTORY OF COLORADO. In 1860-61, placer mining in the gulch formed the great attraction for the major number of adventurers flocking into the country. The towns of Buckskin, Hamilton, Montgomery and Fairplay rose like mushrooms in the night and instantly became centers for that erratic life so peculiar to new mining countries, and so significant of the inborn passion of human kind for greed of gold. Tn such a population as was thus gathered, the ele- ments of permanency were not to be found. But the gold-seeker is intent upon one object only, and all else must remain in abeyance. The restlessness of his nature concentrates on one thing only; and if the grains of glittering gold he seeks are not in such quantities as take the fancy of the moment, it is but the work of another moment for him to pack up his traps and seek newer pastures. The history of California in the matter of stampedes has been repeated in Colorado, with results that have been fully as ruinous to the stability of towns and the permanent prosperity of the State. Few tarried long in one place. Were men making one ounce per day? Shortly came tidings of places where two ounces were being obtained, and straight- way the beehive life of the spot relapsed into the silence of obscurity. Shortly, most of the mining camps in this district met the fate of their kin- dred camps in other parts of the country, and only two or three settled down into any degree of per- manency. And yet, all the while that California Gulch had been worked over for gold, the miners daily threw aside as worthless, a very Ophir of exhaustless treasure. During all the time that gulch mining was going on, the miners suffered much inconve- nience from heavy bowlders that they were obliged to move out of their way. The character of the rock they had no suspicion of, and did not stop to investigate. It was not until 1876, that attention began to be drawn to the peculiar formations now so universally known as carbonates. It is uncer- tain who were the original discoverers or locaters. Messrs. Stevens and Wood, a Mr. Durham and Maurice Hayes & Bro., seem to have been quietly pursuing an examination of the deposits. Each made carbonate of lead locations, and firmly believed in the mineral wealth then so little under- stood. In 1877, miners began to drift in from the camps in the northern counties of the State, and, in June, the first building on the original town site of Leadville was put up. In 1877, the district began to assume impor- tance as a mining center, and, perhaps a thousand men, by the fall of that year, were scattered over the hills that surround the town. Some shafts were sunk, but not much paying mineral was mined. Only four or five mines were paying for the working. In March, 1878, the first sale of mining property that suddenly aroused the attention of the outside world, was made when four claims, owned by poor, hardworking men, were sold to a company for a round quarter of a million dollars. From this time the finger of destiny pointed to Leadville, and is still lifted. The tide of immigra- tion since that time has been on the flood, and there seems to be no possibility of its ebbing back, leaving a barren waste behind. Men came and looked and wondered. Capital poured in, but those who handled it, put to themselves the question of the permanency of the mines, and, for a long time, hesitated. But while the many waited, here and there a more adventurous one—having faith in the Star of Silver shining so splendidly among the hills —invested thousands and reaped millions, and then those who had hung behind pressed eagerly forward. New mines were opened: daily, and pur- chasers for “holes in the ground” that merely gave promise of reaching mineral were readily found. The beggar of one day became the million- aire of the next. The “tenderfoot,” fresh from the States, was as likely to be successful, nay, if anything, more so, than the experienced miner, who for years had trudged over the hills, uncon- sciously kicking fortune, like a football, from beneath his feet. Meanwhile, as a natural consequence, the town grew. From a few small slab cabins in 1876, the oe ~~ —i§_ 9 ee HISTORY OF COLORADO. ‘69 year 1879 sees it a well and substantially built city, having brick blocks, well-laid-out streets, water-works, gas-works, opera-houses, daily news- papers, banks, and all the adjuncts that make up great and prosperous cities. The question of the future is no longer discussed, save only that of the extent to which it will grow. Its voting popula- tion already outnumbers that of Denver. It has one more daily paper already. No week passes but the discovery of new mines adds to its impor- tance, and if their durability and extent has, to a certain degree, become assured, the next few years will work wonders that will make even the expe- rience of the last two years fall into the shade. The town of Leadville is beautifully located on the western slope of Ball Mountain, one of the most elevated peaks of the Mosquito Range, about two miles from the Arkansas River, and directly opposite Mount Massive, one of the most majestic peaks in the main range, known as the Continental Divide. West of this chain, the rivers discharge their waters into the Pacific Ocean. The town is well laid out, with the streets crossing at right angles. It was abundantly supplied, in its earlier days, with water from the Arkansas River, brought many miles in ditches, as well as from the small mountain streams which flow along on either side of the city. But the growth of the town was so great that, in the fall of 1878, a sys- tem of water-works began, which was completed. early in 1879, by which the city now has an inex- haustible supply of pure water for all purposes, and there is but little need of fear from fire. The elevation is 10,500 feet above the level of the sea, or nearly two miles directly up in the air above the capital. It cannot be said of the town that it is the healthiest in the world. Many stig- matize it as the unhealthiest one in the country. It is unquestionably true that a great deal of sick- ness prevails there. But few find that they can remain and breathe the rarefied air year in and year out. The winter months are unusually severe. Pneumonia, erysipelas and heart disease are the prevailing complaints, and death seems to come more suddenly there than elsewhere ; that is to say, there are no lingering weeks of sickness. The work of the Destroying Angel, when once begun, is rapid. On the Ist day of July, 1879, there were prob- ably twenty thousand people in the town. Neces- sarily, buildings sprang up by magic. Business houses, hotels, banks, churches, dwellings, all were boosted up as fast as workmen could push them, and the sound of the hammer of the artisan scarcely ceased from one month’s end to the other, night and day. Points that were covered with the pines of the forest one month, the next became streets of traffic with cabins and frame dwellings in all stages of erection, many of them occupied before being finished. One hundred arrivals per day is a low average estimate of the people who came flocking to the new El Dorado from all parts of the Union; from Maine as well as Texas, from Ore- gon and from Florida. The town was early incor- porated into a city, with a Mayor and Board of Aldermen, an active police department put in order, an efficient fire department organized. Everything in the city grew in proportion to the development of the mines; as these in 1877 would pass from hand to hand for a few thousands, and in 1879 command millions, so town lots that brought but $25 in the spring of 1878, brought $5,000 in the summer of 1879, and many real- estate operators were made rich thereby. The principal business streets, at the present writing, we name in the order of their importance: Harrison avenue, Chestnut, State, Main and Pine streets, Lafayette, Carbonate, Jefferson and Lincoln avenues. The banks, principal public buildings and hotels are located on Harrison avenue and Chestnut street. That Leadville is a lively town may well be imagined ; but one can hardly realize it who has not stood within its borders and witnessed the mighty flood of humanity that, day and night, in a never-ceasing tide, surges through the principal thoroughfares. Its great wealth, its increasing prosperity, naturally make it the point to which + Cr a ~— i 70 HISTORY OF COLORADO. converge all the elements of social and business activity, and all classes are represented, from the Mexican greaser to the son of an ex-President. The man of prominence in public life who has not seen Leadville will soon be set down as being behind the age, and if a United States Senator cannot say to his comrades that he has been impor- tuned to buy (in a quiet way) a gold brick that the owner is compelled to part with because of circum- stances beyond his control, etc., etc., why, he is looked upon as having missed an experience that might have proved valuable to him. Leadville by daylight is a sight to behold. The streets are full of teams of all kinds, the sidewalks of men, mostly, also, of all kinds. Harrison ave- nue and. Chesnut street are the main channels through which the tides of humanity flow. Oftentimes, at the banks, men stand in rows long lengthened out, awaiting an opportunity to deposit rolls of greenbacks or their slips of checks that indicate figures well upinto the thousands. The resonant voice of the auctioneer sounds out upon the air every hour of the day, importuning this one or that one, or the other, to buy at a tre- mendous sacrifice, some article that he has no use for. Under the windows of the hotels, around the corner against the sunny side of the wall, in num- berless other places, can be seen groups of men whose talk of mines is like the chatter of a parrot ceaselessly repeating the one cry it has learned. The changes on the word “assay” are numberless, even as are the webs that are woven by the mining spider for the tenderfooted fly who, in speculative mood, is invited to enter and—be made happy, perhaps, by the purchase of a twenty-million-dollar mine for twenty hundred dollars, because the owner, my dear sir, lacks the money to develop it. If there ever is a point when the thoughtful-minded might stand for hours and find the study of human- ity a fascinating one, it is at the post office at Lead- ville, in watching the countenances of those who come and go, come and go, in one unceasing stream, a living tide, the bubbles of whose feelings seem to float upon their faces as ripples float outward when a pebble drops into a stream. Eager anticipation on arrival gives way to blank, utter despondency on departure, with some. Others hurry in, with box-key in hand, and soon emerge with a handful of correspondence not half’ so highly prized as is the one dirty brown envelope in which you can see the crooked scrawl of some hand of loved one far away at home in the States, that is all unused to frequent correspondence. This, in the hand of the man in the brown garb of the miner, is often worth more to him than a letter would be to another con- taining drafts to an untold amount, for it has come to him from home, that word more blessed than any other word to the wanderer among the hills. But if Leadville by daylight is a sight to be- hold, Leadville by gaslight is still more wonderful and far more suggestive. The teams are absent from the streets, safely housed in corral and stall ; but the men—and a few women—are around, and the streets are fairly alive with excitement. The teamsters are out for “a lark,” and the miners are swarming in to “take in the-sights.” The thea- ters and variety-shows, whose handbills have been scattered over the town during the day, now have their bands out, helping to drum up an audience. The saloons—but who can describe these 2—are full, and painted-faced women are running to and fro from the bar to the different groups at the tables, with their salver, on which rests foaming beer and the more insidious liquors. It is not sur- prising to know that $500 is often taken in one saloon of an evening. Then, the gambling-houses - are in full blast, and the old adage of “‘ Hasy come, easy gone,” is nightly illustrated in these dens of infamy and hot-beds of crime. “ Lifein Leadville,” one writer has observed, “tends to prodigality, be- cause those who come on business or pleasure, or to stay, are all bent on seeing what there is to see, - regardless of expense, and with as little delay as possible.” But life in such a town tends to profli- gacy as well. It is not to be understood that the level of soci- ety in Leadville is wholly low. By no means; but the lower levels undoubtedly predominate. As ed 129) Y HISTORY OF COLORADO. 71 time goes by, and a greater stability is given to the institutions, and permanence to the homes, the ele- ments that go to make up the higher social life will increase and have their due effect. But great lawlessness and vice are prevalent throughout the carbonate camp, and when, after nightfall, one can hardly ride out three miles from the center of the town without running the risk of a bullet, if the demand, “ Hands up!” is not complied with; or if passing along the sidewalk, one is lucky if a stray shot, intended for some one else, does not crash through the windows of a low grog-shop, and reach him, it cannot be said that Leadville has, as yet, settled down to that security of life, limb and property, which prevails elsewhere throughout the State.* . The best grades of society are beginning to clus- ter in Leadville. But at present, money-making is the one idea, and all the energies of the individual are bent in that direction. Church and school facilities are not equal to the demand, and tem- perance organizations do not thrive, as yet, in the carbonate camp. But time, that sets all things even, will eventually remedy the evils that at pres- ent exist, and Leadville will become the home of the wealthy, the cultivated and the refined. A sketch of Leadville can hardly be said to be complete without a brief description, or at least an enumeration, of the mines from whose depths such wonderful mineral wealth has been taken. The first mines discoveréd, which have since proved to be among the richest of the district, were the Iron Mine (better known as the Stevens and Leiter Mine), the Gallagher (now known as the Camp Bird), the Carbonate (formerly called the Hallock and Cooper), and the Little Pittsburgh, These are still among the richest mines in the whole carbonate belt, and have yielded immense sums of money to their fortunate owners. Although the first-named mines were known many months before the discovery of the Little Pittsburgh, it was not until the opening of this %* Since the above was written, the moral atmosphere of Leadville has improved materially, thanks to Judge Lynch. famous lode that public attention was fairly directed toward Leadville. The best mines are located within a radius of four miles from the heart of the city, are easy of access and but a short distance from the reduction works, where all the ore is reduced to bullion. .Fryer Hill, so named in honor of the man who discovered one of the most valuable mines about , the camp, the New Discovery, is one of the lowest ranges of hills surrounding the city and lies about one mile to the northeast of the center of the town. Upon this hill are to be found the mines which have made the name of [Leadville famous. Among those well known and best developed, are the Little Pittsburgh, New Discovery, Winnemuc, Dives, Little Chief, Vulture, Chrysolite, Carbon- iferous, Little Eva, Robert E. Lee, Climax, Dun- can and Matchless, all well-known, producing mines. Besides these, there are many others. Directly to the south of Fryer Hill, and separ- ated therefrom by a small creek, known as Stray Horse, lies Carbonate Hill, upon which are found the Carbonate, Morning Star, Crescent, Pendery, Little Giant, Shamrock, Aitna, Walden, Forsaken, Monto Cristo, Agassiz, Maid of Erin and others. East of Carbonate Hill is to be found Iron Hill, so called because of the famous iron mine, the old- est and best-known mine in the district. Here also are the Bull's Eye, Silver Wave, Law, Camp Bird, Adelaide, Pine, Silver Cord, Jones, Lime, Star of the West and Smuggler, all near California Gulch. Northeast of Iron Hill, and about one mile dis- tant, is Breece Hill, upon which are found the celebrated Breece Iron Mines, consisting of the William Penn, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and Gen. Cadwallader. Also the justly famed High- land Chief, Colorado Prince, Black Prince, Miner Boy, Lowland Chief, Robert Burns, Gilderry, Highland Mary, Fanny Rawlings, Eliza, Daisy, Denver, Idaho and Nevada, all overlooking Evans’ Creek. Scarcely half a mile distant from the last- named mines, lie the Little Ella, Izzard, Virginius, New Year’s, Trade Dollar and Grand View. ‘4 oe A 72 HISTORY OF COLORADO. Directly south from this last-named hill, is Long and Derry Hill, upon which are found the rich mines known as the J. P. Dana, Porphyry and Faint Hope, the property of the two men in whose honor the hill was named. The names of the mines thus far given com- prise only those that are best known, not by any means all of the producing mines in and about Leadville. Scores more could be added were it necessary. A late authority on these mines says, “The pre- dictions that the mines will soon be exhausted, and the prosperity of the camp short-lived, are made only by those who have not considered all sides of the situation. There is no reason why a body of ore inclining slightly below the horizontal should not be as continuous as a vertical vein. The ease and rapidity with which the ore is mined is so much in favor of the mines, for every one is desir- ous of making money in the shortest possible time. Better than all this, continual and rapid enlargement of the ore-producing areas by number- less discoveries, make up many times over for any exhaustion of ground in the older locations. Bet- ter still are the seemingly endless layers or strata of ore, one below another.” Another writer, dis- cussing the nature of lead veins generally, says, “The most important features of lead veins, lodes or beds in all of the rich lead-fields known, are that they are horizontal like coal veins or beds and run one under another, the same as coal veins, and. always extend downward to the very bottom of the lead-bearing rock or stratum or strata, as the case may be. Such is held to be the nature of the carbonate veins of Leadville. And if it be true that these beds extend to the bottom of the lead- bearing rock, how deep does such strata extend ? Upon a careful examination, for several months, of this mining region, I find it running from nearly the top of the highest mountains to the bottom of the deepest gulches. It is a general rule that metallic veins grow richer and larger as they go deeper in the earth. I have no doubt at all that the richest veins or deposits here will be found below the bottom of the gulch, and that the time will soon come when millions of tons will-be raised from below the beds of our deepest gulches.” If this writer should prove a true prophet, what a future lies in store for the great carbonate camp, whose present output of ore averages one thousand tons per day, of an average value of $60_ per ton. Not infrequently ore is found which runs many hundreds. Leadville is well supplied with smelters or reduction works, where ore is reduced to bullion. These works are kept running night and day, the fires in the furnaces never being extinguished except for repairs. These smelters give employ- ment to about one thousand men. In one respect in particular, Leadville has dif- fered from almost every other mining center known. While these have had their periods of great lawlessness and disorder, when the turbulent element in society, which always seeks frontier towns, ran riot and refused to recognize the restraints imposed by the law until the strong hand of the vigilantes brought them into subjection, Leadville has been comparatively free from any organized system of outlawry or disorder. Crimes abound, but they are the result of individual raids, and not of organized and well disciplined ruffian- ism. The authorities are active in their efforts to redeem the name of the town from the odium that attaches even to these cases, that almost daily oc- cur. Lives are lost, property destroyed, valuables stolen, but the general peace has been maintained and order generally enforced. Of course, all kinds of business pursued in the older cities of the West are carried on in the new city. The business houses are now commodious, some of them even imposing, while the amount of business transacted would do no discredit to cities of double the number of inhabitants and scores of years of existence. The denominations that have built churches are the Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian and Catholic. These places are well attended every Sabbath. There are, of course, thousands of people in the oer ses) 4 HISTORY OF COLORADO. 73 city who prefer what is called the sacred concert in the saloons to the sacred music of the choir in the church, and who never are seen inside a place of worship. But this may be said of other cities. The floating class of population in the town is one great reason why this is so in Leadville. If the permanent population is only taken into considera- tion, Leadville, in this particular, probably does not differ much from the older and longer estab- lished cities of the country. The public schools are of but recent growth, but they are well conducted, with teachers able and competent, and the public interest in their suc- cess is increasing. There are four banks, four theaters, one hos- pital, a number of hotels, and an opera house, the finest between St. Louis and San Francisco. During the summer months, from June to Sep- tember, the nights are very rare when blankets will not be found a necessity. Warm woolen clothing is worn at all seasons of the year. The average daily temperature of summer is 60°, while that of winter is 26°. The rainy season is from June to August, when showers may be expected nearly every day. The clear, cold days of winter, when the thermometer marks zero, or even below that point; are not so disagreeable and cold as on the Atlantic Coast or in the Mississippi Valley, with the thermometer at freezing-point. Snow frequently falls to the depth of many feet in a single night. During the winter months, it is no uncommon event to have a snow-storm every day. The air is dry, very thin and rarefied; so much so that persons unaccustomed to such high altitudes feel a sense of oppression about the chest, and experience much difficulty in breathing. Those afflicted with weak lungs or heart disease cannot endure the altitude of Leadville. The air being so much thinner than at the sea level, the pressure is removed, the heart beats faster, and the blood, rushing through the lungs much more rap- idly than usual, causes the delicate air-cells to become severed and hemorrhage is the inevitable result. The heart being diseased, it is unable to perform the functions demanded of it, and it sud- denly ceases to beat. Persons of temperate habit and of strong constitution, taking proper care of themselves, will probably live as long in Leadville as in cities and towns nearer the level of the sea. As a mining town, probably Leadville has no superior on the civilized globe. It has grown from a few miners’ cabins in 1877 to a thriving, pros- perous city, with thousands of inhabitants, and its future seems still bright with abundant promise, The Denver & South Park Railroad is now com- pleted and in operation to a point within thirty miles of the carbonate metropolis, and is going ahead with a prospect of reaching Leadville early in the spring. Work on the railroad up the Arkansas Valley has been suspended by litigation. but it is expected that it, too, will be completed next summer. With two lines of railway, Leadville will take a new lease of prosperity. CHAPTER XIII. HISTORY OF THE FIRST COLORADO REGIMENT. HE question, Is Colorado for the Union, or will it declare for secession? was early forced upon the consideration of the people, far removed though they seemed to be from the scene of active operations. But the war no sooner broke out than it was evident that the emergency was arising. The Southern element was strong in society. Greor- gians had first discovered gold in the country, and this had led to the influx of a large Southern popu- lation. In the latter part of August, 1861, the news of the battle of Bull Run reached Denver. This resulted in the secession element boldly avowing 4 ° ~— 14 HISTORY OF COLORADO. hostility to the Union, raising secession flags, buying up arms, and in other ways making prepar- ations to declare for the Confederacy. But Gov. Gilpin was a stanch Union man, and surrounded himself at once with men who were prominent in public life and alive to the emergency. But a short time elapsed before the first Colorado regi- ment was organized, with the following officers : Colonel, J. P. Slough; Lieutenant Colonel, 8. F. Tappan ; Major, J. M. Chivington. Captains—Company A, E. W. Wynkoop; Com- pany B,8.M. Logan; Company C, Richard Sopris ; Company D, Jacob Downing; Company E, 8. J. Anthony; Company F, 8. H. Cook; Company G, J. W. Hambleton; Company H, George L. San- born; Company I, Charles Mailie; Company K, C. P. Marion. Recruiting offices were opened at various points, and, in two months, the necessary complement of men were secured and they were in barracks on the Platte, about two miles from Denver. The camp was called Camp Weld, in honor of the then Secretary of the Territory. No definite authority had been given the Governor, as yet, to raise troops, but his drafts on the United States Treasury to defray the expense of clothing and sustaining the force were duly honored, and his action thus indorsed by the Government. To this judicious and prompt action of Gov. Gilpin is no doubt due the fact that Colorado escaped the civil convulsions that desolated other portions of the Union. An armed force of a thousand men was well calculated to “ preserve the peace,” even in so isolated a part of the country and among such a scattered population. But months of idleness in such a rough camp naturally brought about a great deal of dissension and many desertions. It was difficult to keep in perfect discipline such a motley set of volunteers, while the doubts as to their acceptance into the service of the Government had its natural ten- dency to cause disaffection. In the first days of the year 1863, an express arrived from the South with the news of the advance on New Mexico of three or four thousand Texans under Brig. Gen. H. H. Sibley, and a call for assistance. If the regiment had promptly started, it would probably have prevented the Tex- ans from entering the Territory.' Put the troops, having been mustered into the service, could only be moved out of Colorado by orders from head- quarters. Application was made to Gen. Hunter for authority to send the regiment to the aid of |. New Mexico, and when the desired orders reached Denver, the regiment received the word to march with a great deal of satisfaction, for idleness, that mother of mischief, had been very busy of late in sowing the seeds of dissension inthe camp. Noth- ing to do had become intolerable to these men, | accustomed to rough, stirring work ; and the news from New Mexico, of Texan invasion, had become as a beacon star of their existence. ‘On the 22d of February—a day hailed as a good omen for the cause in which they were engaged—the regiment left Denver. Companies E and F reached Fort’ Wise—now Fort. Lyon—where an order met them from Gen. Hunter, assigning them to the support of Col. Canby in New Mexico, with New Orleans as the ultimate point of destination, the balance of the regiment meeting them at the foot of the Raton Mountains on the 7th of March. The march to Fort Union, which was a hasty one, caused by rumors that the Texans were threatening the fort, brought them there on the 13th. Here was found some four hundred regulars, who welcomed the arrival of the volunteers with cheers, as it was evi- dent that the Texan forces were triumphantly sweeping the country about them, and the troops at the Fort totally inadequate to check their prog- ress. On the 14th, news from Gen. Canby announced his capture of a large train coming from the South with an escort of one hundred and fifty men. Gen. Sibley was reported at Santa Fe, with recruits rapidly coming in. On the 22d, the regiment, accompanied by two light batteries, Capts. Ritter and Claflin, Capt. Cn a al 19) HISTORY OF COLORADO. 15 Ford’s company of volunteers and two companies of the Fifth Infantry, Col. Slough in command, his force numbering about thirteen hundred, left Camp Union for Santa Fe. When within twenty miles of this point, information was received of the approach of a force of eight hundred Texans. On the night of the 24th, Lieut. Nelson, with twenty men, met and captured a picket guard of the enemy and sent them back to the reserve. The battle of Apache Cafion cccurred on the 26th. (This point had already been made historical in the annals of warfare by the stand made by the Mexi- can General, Armijo, during the Mexican war.) About four hundred men, equally divided into infantry and cavalry, under command of Chiving- ton, here met a force of fully double their number. This force was encountered about six miles inside the cafion at about 2 P. M., and were met by the been made, out of the cafion. The loss was five killed, thirteen wounded and three missing. The rebels lost, as near as could be learned, forty killed, seventy-five wounded and one hundred and eight prisoners, including seven commissioned officers. On the 27th, Col. Slough arrived with the re- serve and camped upon the battle-ground. On the morning of the 28th, Companies A, B, E and H, of the First Colorado, Ford’s company, and A and G of the Fifth Infantry Regulars, were detached from ‘the command and sent to the left to cross the mountains to get in the rear of the enemy. The balance of the command, numbering about six hundred, moved foward toward Santa Fe. When in the cafion of Pigeon’s Ranche, the pickets were driven in. The enemy was approaching. The men, not being aware of their close proximity, were engaged in filling their canteens with water, with their arms stacked in the road. They were called to attention, and Capt. Kaster, of Company I, was ordered to advance on the right; Capt. Downing with Company D, on the left of a narrow caiion, and met the enemy as they approached, in order that the balance of the command could form and give them a warm reception. Capts. Ritter and troops and driven, after three different stands had’ Claflin, of the Regulars, moved their battery in the cafion, advancing and firing, the balance of the command being used as supports. The battle lasted about nine hours, victory finally resting with the Union forces, but with a loss of a large num- ber (134) of killed and wounded. But the enemy’s loss was much greater, as taken from their own Surgeon’s books; two hundred and fifty-one being killed, two huadred wounded, and over one hundred prisoners, out of a force of eighteen hundred. On the evening after the battle, the detachment under Maj. Chivington, that had been sent over the mountains, rejoined the command. He had left camp in the morning, crossed the mountains with no regard to obstacles, routes or aught else save direction, and succeeded in gaining the rear of the enemy. Scattering their rearguard to the winds, he blew up and destroyed their supply-train of seventy wagons, containing all the ammunition, provisions, clothing and other supplies of war that they had in the Territory, spiked one six-pounder with a ramrod and tumbled it down the mountain, and then regained the camp. This was no doubt the irreparable blow that compelled the Texans to evacuate the Territory, and its audacity was one of the main causes of its success. It was the intention to renew the battle the next morning, but daylight dawned upon a retreating foe, and on the 2d of April, the regiment entered Fort Union. An absence of eleven days of travel, in which two battles, redounding to their credit, had been fought, had given the troops a right to the rest that seemed to be before them. But this rest was of short duration. Hardly had two days elapsed before orders reached camp to break up. Gen. Canby had left Fort Craig, and the regiment was ordered south to divert the enemy’s attention or aid in driving him out of the country. About one hundred of the prisoners at Fort Union, released on parole, accompanied them, returning to their own party. On the 10th, the troops reached a little’ town called Galisteo, about twenty miles from Santa Fe. Here information was received of Gen. Canby’s Yv A or ~— Vv shemale
7 >
76 HISTORY OF COLORADO. :
whereabouts. He had come up from Fort Craig, | marched along the other. The foe was constantly
and, making a feint of attacking the enemy, who
' had fallen back on Albuquerque, had reached a
small town at the head of Carnuel Pass, about forty
miles distant. The Texans were reported as 2,000
strong, and, apparently satisfied with the experi-
ence of Apache Cafion and Pigeon’s Ranche, were
not very eager for the fray. About this time,
Col. Slough resigned his command and left for
Gen. Canby’s camp. Upright and honorable, of
unquestioned ability and undoubted integrity, he
seemed to lack in the elements that attract popu-
larity. The movements succeeding the battle of
Pigeon’s Ranche, when, with troops flushed with
victory and ready to complete the destruction of
the enemy, orders were received to stop fighting,
were dictated by an authority higher than his own,
and he had only to obey orders. This he did, but
resigned his commission shortly after, and the fact
that the President at once nominated him for
Brigadier General goes to prove that his services
were appreciated, at least at headquarters.
On the 13th, the regiment joined Gen. Canby
in the densely timbered hills of Carnuel Pass,where
he was camped, with four pieces of artillery and
1,200 men. Here, April 14, Maj. Chivington
was promoted over the head of Lieut. Col. Tappan,
to the coloneley of the regiment, subject. to the ap-
proval of Gov. Gilpin.
The battle of Peralta, occurring April 15, be-
tween the troops under Canby and the force of
Gen. Sibley, was almost a bloodless one. The rec-
ords show that it would have been apparently easy
for the Colorado troops to have attacked and
routed the enemy; but, for some unexplained rea-
son, they were allowed to withdraw their forces,
without any special hindrance from Gen. Canby.
Col. Chivington offered to do battle with his regi-
ment alone, but the offer was declined. A few
artillery shots were fired, the army drawn up in
line of battle for six hours, and then finally or-
dered back, while the enemy took advantage of this
to cross and make good their escape, going down
one side of the stream while the Union army
in sight for twenty-four hours before they finally
disappeared. A few days afterward, while still on
the march, word was brought that the Texans had
buried all their artillery, burned their wagons, and
were marching through the mountains toward
Mesilla. The active campaign was evidently over.
For two months or more, the regiment camped
at Val Verde, awaiting supplies, which had to
come from Fort Union, 300 miles distant. °
On the 4th of July, Col. Howe, Third U.S.
Cavalry, arrived with a squad of officers from the
States, and took eommand of the Southern Depart-
ment, relieving Col. Chivington, who immediately
proceeded to Santa Fe and procured an order from
Gen. Canby for the First to march to Fort Union
as soon as practicable. Thence, via Denver, he
proceeded to Washington to get the regiment
transferred, if possible, to a more active field of
service, or, if he could not succeed in this, to have the
men mounted; with what success will be noted later.
Shortly afterward, preparations were made for
the march of the regiment, in detachments, by
different routes to Fort Union.
Companies A, F and G left the camp on the
16th of August, arriving at Union on the 4th of
September. Here Company F remained while A
and G moved on to Fort Lyon. Companies C and
E started up the river in July, passed by Fort
Union, crossed the Raton Mountains and camped
for a time on the Purgatoire, where they made
some efforts to smoke out the guerrilla Madi-
son, which were unsuccessful. They then pro-
ceeded to Cimmaron to quell some disturbances
among the Indians assembled there to receive their
annuities, and finally marched to Fort Larned.
About this time, news of the following Special
Order arrived :
EXTRACT.
Heapqvuarters DEPARTMENT OF THE MissouRI,
Sr. Louis, Mo., Nov. 1, 1862. }
Srecrat ORDER No. 36.
Pursuant to orders from the Secretary of War and
the election of Gov. Evans of Colorado Territory, the
First Regiment Colorado Volunteers, commanded by
oe
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;
HISTORY OF COLORADO. v7
Col. Chivington, will be converted into a cavalry regi-
ment; to be denominated the First Cavalry of Colorado.
The Quartermaster and Ordnance Departments will
furnish and change equipments to suit the change of
arms. * * * The regiment will rendezvous
in Colorado Territory ; headquarters at Denver.
By command of Maj. Gen. Curtis.
N. P. Cuipman, Colonel and Chief of Staff.
The welcome news soon traveled east and south
to Larned and Union. In consequence, the com-
panies at the former posts received instructions to
report at Colorado City to witness the change from
a regiment of volunteers to that of cavalry. Col.
Clark, of the Ninth Kansas, refusing to recognize
the order, Col. Tappan proceeded to Leavenworth
and had the news confirmed by Gen. Blunt.
December 13, the company left Larned and, travel-
ing about four hundred miles, reached Colorado
City about the end of December. D and G had
also been ordered to Larned in the latter part of
September. They tramped back over that weary
interval in midwinter, destitute of fuel and with
but scant transportation. Their horses met them
on the Arkansas, and on the Ist of January—a
welcome New Year's present—were issued to them.
H, K and B came up the Rio Grande to Santa Fe;
thence the first two went on to Fort Garland,
remained a short time and then marched to Colo-
rado City. B repaired to Fort Union. D and I
were the last to leave the lower country. They
also came up the Grand Valley, halted at Union a
day or two and then proceeded to Fort Lyon. F
was, in connection with B, assigned to garrison
duty at Fort Union.
Gen. Canby was relieved, early in October, by
Gen. Carlton of the California Volunteers, who
established a new post on the Pecos, about one
hundred miles southeast of Santa Fe, and Compan-
ies B, F and L were assigned to that locality ; but
while the preparations for the advance of the expe-
dition were progressing, the news came that the
regiment was to concentrate at Fort Scott, Kan.,
to be mounted. On the 13th of November,
they bade final adieu to Fort Union, crossed the
Raton Range, made the Arkansas, and in due
time arrived at Colorado City instead of Fort Scott.
Early in January, 1863, all the companies had
reached the point of concentration, whence they
marched to Denver, reaching the city on the
13th, into which they were very handsomely
escorted by the Third Regiment of Volunteers and
a large concourse of citizens. Service had some-
what thinned their ranks; they had undergone
many hardships, had borne patiently with the con-
tumely generally heaped upon volunteers by the
regulars, had born their share of the brunt of
battles bravely won and now were welcomed back
by the admiring populace in the principal city of
the State of whose early history they had made
for themselves an imperishable part.
In 1865, the regiment, after doing scout duty
and looking after the Indians, who were occasion-
ally troublesome, was disbanded.
CHAPTER XIV.
HISTORY OF THE SECOND COLORADO REGIMENT.
T seems proper, in giving a full history of: the
Second Colorado Regiment, to prefix it with a
concise sketch of the raising and services of the two
companies that formed the nucleus of the regiment
and did such excellent work in New Mexico before
the other ones were raised. These companies
were incidentally mentioned in our account of the
doings of the First Colorado, with the intention of
doing them more complete justice in their proper
place, which we now proceed to do.
These two gallant companies were recruited
under the order of Gov. Gilpin, principally in
Park, Lake, Summit and Fremont Counties, one
by Capt. Hendrew, with T. H. Dodd as First
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78 HISTORY OF COLORADO.
Lieutenant and J. C. W. Hall as Second Lieuten-
ant, and the other by Capt. James H. Ford, with
Lieuts. De Forest and Clark, in the fall of
1861, and all rendezvoused at Cafion City about
December 1st.
Hendrew, with his company, marched first to
Fort Garland, suffering all the fatigue and hard-
ships of a winter's march over ‘the Sangre de
Christo Range, where Maj. Whiting, of the regular
army, waited to muster them into the service.
Some indiscretions committed by Capt. Hendrew
made the Major refuse to muster him in, and, as
the men had been chiefly enlisted by Hendrew,
they were allowed to choose between remaining
under another Captain or returning to their homes.
Eighty-four out of eighty-seven had come to stay,
however, which speaks volumes for their patriotism
and pluck. They were accordingly mustered into
service on the 22d of December, with Dodd as
Captain and Hall and Piatt as Lieutenants, and
designated as Company B.
About this time, Capt. Ford arrived with his
mén, and Company A was thus mustered into
service.
It was supposed that arms, accouterments, cloth-
ing, camp and garrison equipage awaited them
here. But in this they were mistaken, and, illy
prepared as they were for further marching, two
days after arrival at the fort, Company B was
ordered to Santa Fe. Capt. Dodd started at
once with six men from Company A to act as
teamsters for the scanty ox transportation furnished
him. They crossed the range, experiencing fearful
hardships, and reached Santa Fe, a distance of
180 miles, on the Ist of January, 1862.
Arms, uniforms, etc., were issued here, and the
men drilled for active duty for a few days, when
orders were received’ for all the available troops to
proceed by forced marches to the relief of Gen.
Canby, who was being menaced at Fort Craig by
the secessionists under Gen. Sibley. Company B
was attached to the regular troops for this cam-
paign, and in two days the command reached
Albuquerque. From there, the march to Fort
Craig was rapidly continued, and soon reached
Gen. Canby. On the 15th of February, Gen.
Sibley appeared in force. On the 20th, some
fighting took place, in which private Hugh Brown
was killed.
The battle of Val Verde occurred on the 21st,
in which the boys of Company B participated and
gallantly acquitted themselves. During the battle,
Capt. Dodd encountered a well-equipped and dis-
ciplined battalion of Texan Lancers, under Maj.
Lang, whom the company kept fighting long after
the bugle had sounded a recall. Seventy-two of
the lancers were killed, while Capt. Dodd lost only
four killed and thirty-eight wounded, the most of
whom ultimately recovered from their wounds.
After the battle, Gen. Canby found himself without
men enough to warrant him in following up the
He remained cooped up at Fort Craig
for several weeks, his supplies all cut off, and him-
self and troops suffering severely for want of them.
Company A, meanwhile, started from Cafion
City, reached Fort Garland, and thence took up
the line of march for Santa Fe, with ox trans-
portation. From Santa Fe they pushed on to Fort
Union, enduring the usual amount of hardships.
Here the First Colorado, under Col. Slough, joined
them, and shortly after occurred the battles of
Apache Cajion and Pigeon’s Ranche, of which an
account has already been given. Company A was
with Maj. Chivington in his successful raid on the
enemy’s transportation, which he burned and
utterly destroyed, with all its stores. Afterward,
the command marched to Albuquerque, where a
union was effected with Gen. Canby. At the run-
ning fight at Peralta, Companies A and B both
participated, it being the first time they had met
since the parting at Fort Garland. They partici-
pated in the pursuit of Sibley to the vicinity of
Mesilla, during which there was some skirmishing,
but no regular battles. After the enemy had dis-
persed and made his escape in scattered bands to
the Texan frontier, Companies A and B returned by
easy marches via Santa Fe to Fort Union. They
remained on duty in Gen. Canby’s department
Texans.
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HISTORY OF COLORADO. 79
| Colonel.
until the spring of 1863, when they united with
the balance of the regiment at its rendezvous
at Fort Lyon. The officers and men had already
made for themselves a glorious record, redounding
as well to the honor of Colorado. It was a brill-
iant prelude to the future enviable history of the
regiment. It need not be added that they were
received with open arms by their comrades, whose
laurels were yet unwon. Henceforth the history
of Companies A and B is that of the regiment
itself.
On the 17th of February, 1862, the Secretary
of War anthorized Col. J. H. Leavenworth to raise
six companies of volunteer infantry in Colorado,
which, with four other companies already in service
there, were to form the Second Regiment of Col-
orado Volunteers, of which he was appointed
Reporting to Maj. Gen. Halleck, at St.
Louis, then commanding the department of which
Colorado formed a part, he was assigned at once to
active duty in this department, without being per-
| mitted to proceed at once on his mission of recruit-
ing and completing the organization of his
regiment, and it was not until May, 1862, that he
reached Denver to perform this duty.
In June, the following appointments were made :
Lieut. Col. T. H. Dodd. Captains—Company E,
J. Nelson Smith; Company F, L. D. Rowell;
Company G, Reuben Howard; Company H,
George West; Company I, E. D. Boyd; Company
K, 8. W. Wagner.
Often, before a company was half enlisted, they
would be ordered off on some detached service,
which the critical situation of affairs at Colorado
at this time urgently demanded. We find, from
an examination of a journal kept during the sum-
mer by Lieut. Burrell, such entries as the following:
“ Jan. 16.—Expedition sent to assist authorities
in enforcing civil process in Vraie Run district.
“ July 7.—Gov. Evans orders another expedi-
tion against Little Owl and Arapahoes, at Cache a
la Poudre.
» “July 18.—Capt. Wagoner started to-day on
another Indian expedition, by direction of Gov.
‘ment, and then properly drilled for service.
Evans, taking the Bradford road, Destination,
Middle Park.
“Aug. 3.—Capt. West, with Lieuts Howard
and Roe, and detachments of Companies G
and H, arrived at Fort ‘Union, bringing in lost
horses.”
Under circumstances like these, the recruits were
detached and scattered before being fully organ-
ized, even into companies, much less into a regi-
The
Indian element upon Colorado’s frontier, and, indeed,
within her entire domain, was at that time in
sympathy, to a great extent, with tribes within the
boundaries of Texas, Utah and other Territories,
who were under the influence of rebel emissaries,
and encouraged to believe that the plundering of
Government trains and the stealing of private or
public stock and property was alike free booty for
them as for rebels.
There were at this time, at Camp Weld, the
recruiting station of the regiment, four mountain
howitzers belonging to the Government, which -
Gen. Canby, commanding the department of New
Mexico had, at the request of Gen. Blunt, at the
time in command of the District of Colorado and
Western Kansas, placed in charge of Col. Leaven-
worth, for the protection of the Territory. These
were entirely useless without artillerymen, and, in
accordance with his instructions, he deemed it
right and proper to enlist a company of men, under
promise that, when they should be mustered in, it
should be either as cavalry or a battery, having no
doubt that his course would be approved by the
proper authorities. How this was done will appear
further on.
In the latter part of August, orders were received
for the removal of the headquarters of the regi-
ment to Fort Lyon, and, on the 22d, they were en
route, reaching the fort in seven days, a distance of
240 miles. r
From this time forward until October, Lieut.
Brownell’s journal is full of memoranda relating to
orders and the movements of the regiment in
detachments, showing much escort and scouting
7
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80
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
service, while all the time the enlistment of men
was going forward.
Orders came, under date of October 11, from
the War Department, ordering either the First or
Second Regiment to be mounted, the selection to
be left with the Governor, who chose the First
Colorados. This selection did not weigh so heavily
upon the men of the regiment as the news that
their regiment was to be crippled by the taking-
away of the company formed for cavalry service,
and for doing which Col. Leavenworth seemed
likely to suffer.
The regiment remained at Fort Lyon until April
6, 1863, when Lieut. Col. Dodd, with six companies,
marched to Fort Leavenworth, where they were
shortly afterward joined by the Colonel and his
staff. June 8, Col. Leavenworth, under orders
from Gen. Blunt, assumed command of all the
troops on the Santa Fe road, with headquarters at
Fort Larned.
About this time, military affairs on the frontier
between New Mexico, Colorado and Texas, were
becoming decidedly interesting. Texan troops
with disloyal Indians were again concentrating to
push their successes, if possible, through into Col-
orado.
Companies A, B, E, G, H and I, in connection
with other troops, under command of Lieut. Col.
Dodd, were detached and ordered out to meet the
enemy, and, on the 2d of July, 1863, occurred the
battle of Cabin Creek, in which some forty of ‘the
enemy were killed and wounded, with the loss of
but one killed and twenty wounded on the side of
the Colorado troops.
Shortly after, the command went on duty at |
Fort Gibson until the arrival of Gen. Blunt from |
the north, when preparations were at once made |
On the 16th, the little.
army, numbering about one thousand four hundred, -
rank and file, crossed the Arkansas near the mouth |
of Grand River, and, on the following day, met at
Honey Springs the Confederate forces, numbering |
about six thousand men, under command of Gen.
Cooper. Gen. Blunt attacked him at once, and,
for an advance movement.
' with the service was terminated, reached him at
after a hard-fought battle (lasting some two hours),
succeeded in routing him, with a loss of 400 killed,
wounded and missing, according to his own accounts,
he having been so closely pressed as to compel him
to abandon his dead and wounded and to burn
all his stores to prevent them from falling into
Gen. Blunt's hands. Total loss on the Union side
14 killed, and 30 wounded. The gallant Colorado
Second bore a prominent part in this engage-
ment, being opposed by a rebel battery that was
pouring its deadly missiles into its ranks, when
they charged and succeeded in capturing one of
the guns, and dispersing the Texans after a hard
fight, in which four men were killed, and the same
number wounded.
Gen. Blunt, considering his force insufficient for
pursuit, fell back to Fort Gibson. In August,
having been re-enforced, he started south to drive
the rebels from the country, and retake Fort Smith,
which he succeeded in doing, with but little loss on
his side.
Returning to Col. Leavenworth’s record, we find
him in command at Fort Larned; in July, 1863,
protecting, under Gen. Blunt’s orders, the Santa
Fe road and its approaches from the enemy, fre-
quently sending out scouting parties to reconnoiter,
sometimes leading the scouts himself, and endeavor-
ing to keep the various tribes of Indians in that
section from joining the rebels.
Thus, we find him and the troops under him
engaged, when, on the 19th of October, Special
Order No. 431 of the Adjutant General’s Office,
of September 26, 1863, by which his connection
Fort Larned. He immediately resigned his com-
mand of the post to Capt. James W. Parmeter,
and retired from service. Subsequently, on a re-
view of the facts on which his dismissal from the
service were based, by Judge Advocate Holt, this
unjust order was recalled, and he was honorably
discharged from the service of the United States,
“such recall,” using the words of Judge Advocate
General Holt, “of the previous order, and honor-
able discharge, will operate to clear his record as
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HISTORY OF COLORADO. 83
‘an officer, and will remove any impediment which
may otherwise have existed to his receiving a new
appointment in the military and civil service.”
This recall was formally approved by President
Lincoln, he also adding the wish that, as soon as
consistent, Col. Leavenworth be restored to mili-
tary service.
Lieut. Col. Dodd succeeded to the command of
the regiment.
The succeeding history of the regiment we now
give in the language of Capt. E. L. Berthoud, as
prepared by him for a reunion of the regiment that
occurred in Golden in 1877:
“October 11, 1863, a special order, No. 278,
from the headquarters of the Department of the
Missouri, Gen. J. M. Schofield commanding, or-
dered the consolidation of the Second and Third
Regiments of Colorado Infantry into one cavalry
fegiment, to be known as the Second Colorado
Volunteer Cavalry.
“That portion of the Second Colorado Infantry
| now in the District of the Frontier, the Indian Na-
tion, etc., was ordered to Springfield, Mo., from >
that point they proceeded to Rolla, and thence to
Benton Barracks, at St. Louis.
“ All detachments of men, officers and recruits,
in the District of Colorado, were ordered to
Kansas City, Mo., and there receive further
orders.
“In November and December, 1863, these
orders were executed, and, excepting the headquar-
ters of the regiment, 150 recruits from Colorado,
and Company F, with Capt. Rouell—already
mounted and stationed at Hickman’s Mill, Mo.— were
rendezvoused at Benton Barracks. Col. James FH.
Ford, the Major of the Second Colorado Volun-
teer Infantry, having been promoted in November,
1863, to the command of the Second Colorado
Cavalry, with Theo. H. Dodd for Lieutenant Col-
onel, Smith, Pritchard and Curtis, Majors of the
First, Second and Third Battalions respectively,
Lieut. Baldy, Adjutant, Lieut. Burrell, Commis-
{ sary, Lieut. J. S. Cook, Quartermaster, Pollock,
| Surgeon, and Hamilton, Chaplain.
“ After remaining a certain time at Benton Bar-
racks to recruit, re-organize and rest, the Second
Colorado Cavalry from Benton Barracks proceeded
to Dresden, Mo., and finally, in January, 1864,
reached Kansas City, there to be mounted and
equipped, and thoroughly broken in the new
drill. .
“In February, 1864, Col. J. H. Ford was ap-
pointed to take command of Subdistrict No. 4, |
District of Central Missouri, with the Second Colo-
rado Volunteer Cavalry, its enrolled Missouri
Militia and a regiment of infantry in his command,
to garrison all the smaller posts in his district. In
March, 1864, the Ninth Minnesota was forwarded
to the district, and formed the effective infantry of
his command.
“In January, 1864, 150 recruits having ar-
rived from Colorado, they were distributed among
the twelve companies of the regiment, which then
mustered 1,240 effective men.
“Tn taking command of the Fourth Subdistrict,
embracing the most unmanageable and most ex-
posed counties of Missouri, Col. Ford appointed
his District Staff, consisting of Acting Assistant
Adjutant General, Lieut. Berthoud ; Provost Mar-
shal, Capt. 8. C. W. Hall; Commissary, Lieut.
James Burrell; with Capt. Theodore Case, District
Quartermaster, headquarters at Kansas City, and
Company B, Provost Guard, at Kansas City.
“By March, 1864, several squadrons were de-
tailed to occupy the Fourth Subdistrict, in detach-
ments varying from a half-squadron to two squad-
rons each, and a thorough system of scouting inau-
gurated over the whole district, to prevent the.pas-
sage and the devastation of the border counties by
predatory bands of Todd's, Quantrell’s and Hick-
man’s guerrillas. Capt. Green was stationed at _
Westport, Capt. West at Independence; Maj.
Smith, with one company, the Ninth Minnesota,
was stationed also at Independence, while Maj.
Pritchard, at Harrisonville, and Lieut. Col. Dodd,
at Pleasant Hill, with Capt Moses in the wooded
portion of Jackson County, kept vigilant watch
over the Sny Hills. Capt. Rouell, at Hickman’s :
{
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nate
4
84 HISTORY OF COLORADO.
Mill, patrolling the Kansas boundary, with Capt.
Norton at Pleasant Gap, and Lieut. Rizer near the
Osage River. Thus arranged, our forces could
watch and patrol the whole region thoroughly from
the Osage to the Missouri River, as Widow Bar-
row’s or Papinsville Crossing was a favorite point
for crossing for guerrilla bands from Arkansas to
the Indian Nation.
“Notification of the progress northward of a
small band of guerrillas was received in March.
This band was first struck near Pleasant Hill and
one or two were killed. The rest were dispersed,
our loss being two men wounded, one slightly, and
the other, Freestone, was dangerously shot. This
opened the spring campaign, and when, in April
and May, the foliage covered the trees and the rich
grass clothed the prairie, hardly a day passed but
that, from Pleasant Hill to Independence, skir-
mishes and conflicts raged between the guerrillas,
who continually pushed northward from Arkansas,
and our scouting parties of cavalry.
“Tn April, May and June, the system of patrols
on horseback was also aided in the wooded por-
tions of Jackson and Cass Counties by a system of
foot-scouts, who, taking with them a little sugar,
salt, coffee and bread, would disappear in the brush
and laboriously following up the trail of any scout-
ing detachment of guerrillas, would actually bush-
whack the bushwhackers themselves. This system
was a terror to them, and contributed more to com-
pel the guerrillas to remain in larger bodies, but
helped very materially to rid the roads of all indi-
vidual and isolated efforts at marauding and mur-
der.
“With this system of detachments, who had
each their allotted districts to patrol, and police,
with their permanent headquarters in the different
towns and villages of the border counties, was also
a system of mounted military expresses, who every
two days reported to headquarters by daily reports
from every post under control of the district com-
mander. These reports not only gave the force of
every post in efficient men, horses and guns, but
also information of all scouts performed, the result,
the number of enemy killed and captured, and our
losses. These reports, with also the telegraph, gave
full opportunity to keep the whole force of the dis-
trict well in hand, but also facilitated concentration
at any point with certainty and celerity.
“ Casualties were numerous also, and we lost
several valuable men, such as Sergt. Russel, Corp.
Harrington, Private Ford, and others who died
fighting gallantly.
“In July, 1864, Lieut. Berthoud, Capts. Boyd
and Holloway, with Privates Higley, Whittall,
King, Kellogg and Williams, were ordered on duty
at headquarters of the district at Warrensburg,
Mo.
“ Soon thereafter Capt. Wagoner, then at Inde-
pendence, went out from that town eastward on a
scout with forty picked men of his company.
Crossing the Blue, they ascended a hollow graded
road in the timber and scrub of the hills near the
Blue River, were ambushed and surrounded by a
largely superior force of Todd’s and Quantrell’s
guerrillas. Gallant Capt. Wagoner and nine good
men were killed, the rest, after superhuman efforts
and undoubted courage, succeeded in escaping, but
almost dismounted and in a wretched plight. - The
survivors related afterward that one of the wounded
men in the retreat, while closely pressed by the
guerrillas, was concealed in a hole and covered with ,
flat stones. From this situation, when the enemy
left, he was rescued and brought to Independence.
Todd’s guerrillas had over twenty men killed and
several wagon loads of wounded.
“ Capt. Wagoner, who so gallantly defended him-
self while life remained, was an early resident of
Colorado. He was appointed Probate Judge of
Arapahoe County when it then formed a part of
Kansas. He said to me, some three weeks previ-
ous to his death, that he would be shot from the
brush yet, and he expected he would be buried in
some out-of-the-way corner, and a tombstone
marked “Wagoner” would be placed over him,
and.such was glory. Poor fellow, he met his fate
manfully. Did not his coming fate throw its
shadow on him then? Nor must we forget gallant
—
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HISTORY OF COLORADO.
85
Corp. Baer and eight privates who died, selling
their lives dearly; not one surrendering or asking
for quarter, as none was given or received in the
guerrilla warfare of the border counties.
“The death of Capt. Wagoner and his men
occurred on the 4th of July. Shortly after, defi-
nite information was received of a large number of
recruits for the Confederate service that were being
gathered in Platte, Clay and Ray Counties, under
Col. Coon Thornton, preparatory to making their
way south to the Confederate lines. A dash upon
them was determined upon by Col. Ford, although
the rendezvous was outside of his district, and with
his available companies the Colonel embarked upon
boats at Kansas City on the 13th of July, and
proceeded up the river to Weston, where he was
joined by Col. Jennison, of the Fifteenth Kansas.
Our scouts had brought the information that
Thornton was at Camden Point, and the command
moved forward rapidly. About half a mile west
‘of town, Thornton had posted a strong mounted
picket, while his main command—comprising some
two hundred and fifty men—were making their
final preparations for departure, having on that
day been presented with a handsome flag by their
lady sympathizers of Platte City, and were having
a general good time.
“The picket was struck by our advance, under
Capt. Moses and Lieut. Wise, with M and D
squadrons. As the Confederate picket separated
to the right and left upon diverging roads, and
were followed by the two squadrons of the Second
Colorado; Capt. West with his squadron, F, was
sent forward on the direct road to town, and
pounced upon Thornton just as his command had
mounted, and were moving out, entirely uncon-
scious of the proximity of the Federals. The fight
was ‘short, sharp and decisive,’ and all over be-
fore the main command came up. Thornton’s
total loss was twenty-three killed, while Capt.
West lost but one man killed—private Charles K.
Flannagan—and one wounded—Sergt. Luther K.
Crane—but had six or eight horses killed or so
badly wounded as to cause them to be shot by his
order. The flag that had just been presented to
Thornton’s boys was captured, and now graces
the office of Adjt. Gen. Roe:
“Col. Ford’s command camped at Camden Point
for the night, and, on the following day, proceeded
to Liberty, from which point scouting was contin-
ued for several days.
“Thornton’s command was pursued and com-
pletely broken up, while another detachment under
Capts. Moses and Rouell, scouting near Liberty,
were surrounded and attacked by a greatly supe-
rior force of Anderson’s guerrillas, under Ander-
son himself. Being surrounded and overpowered,
Capts. Moses and Rouell, with their men, took
refuge in the brush, and, with the loss of only
three or four men killed and wounded, were again
re-assembled, and, after scouting over the rest of:
the district, returned to Kansas City, while Ander-
son’s band returned eastward to other scenes of
rapine and murder.
“In this manner passed the months of July,
August and September—continued skirmishes,
pursuits, captures, deaths and losses. The aggre-
gate for the summer was large. The individual
acts of gallantry, fortitude and desperate bravery
were so numerous and so continued that it is im-
possible to individualize acts, as all fought to the
death, surrender to guerrillas meaning death after
capture. Words cannot do justice to the horrors
of such warfare; nor can the tragedies which
cruelty, violence, rapine and the worst passions of
civil war evoked in partisan warfare ever be fully
known. The worst passions had their full un-
licensed range, and in the lawless career of the
leaders of guerrilla bands, such as Todd, Quantrell,
Anderson and Vaughan, pity and humanity were
unknown; slaughter, plunder, arson and murder
followed ever in their van. _
“In the end of September, 1864, news reached
the border counties of Missouri that Gen. Price,
with a formidable force from Arkansas, had
reached the borders of Southeast Missouri, and,
with renewed energy, was marching to capture St.
Louis, overrun the State of Missouri, and, by such
v
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86 HISTORY OF COLORADO. '
a diversion, help the failing fortunes of the Confed-
eracy. At this time, the twelve squadrons of the
regiment were in the District of the Border, under
the command of Cols. Ford and Dodd and Majs.
Smith and Pritchard, while seventeen officers and
some forty picked men were on staff duty in the
Division of the Mississippi, scattered over from
Santa Fe to New Orleans in the Department of
the Gulf.
“In October, 1864, Price, frustrated in his
attempt toward St. Louis by his disastrous victory
at- Pilot Knob, struck off across the country to
capture Jefferson City, which he besieged and
attacked October 8 and 9. Thirteen officers and
men of the Second Colorado were present at this
attack, which being repulsed, and Gen. Price fear-
ing the approach of the overwhelming forces of
Rosecranz and Pleasanton, took the roads leading
west, and hurried on to capture and destroy the
forces in Western Missouri and Eastern Kansas,
reach St. Joseph, recruit his ranks, and, getting
the military stores of Fort Leavenworth, Kansas
City, Glasgow and St. Joseph, retreat again south
with his booty.
“His forces numbered cavalry, light artillery and
mounted infantry. With these he overran the
river counties, capturing Booneville, Glasgow and
Sedalia, and drove Gen. Blunt out of Lexington.
Gen. Blunt, under whose orders Col. Ford, with
the Second Colorado Cavalry and First Colorado
Battery, was placed, had been absent some time
toward Lexington. Capt. West was sent to him
from Independence with dispatches from Gen.
Curtis, who had meanwhile reached Independence
from Leavenworth, and assumed command of the
forces in the field. Capt. West, with his squad-
ron, reached the environs of Lexington, on the
river road, about dusk, and was pushing rapidly
forward in order to reach the town and deliver his
dispatches to Gen. Blunt before dark. He was, of
course, entirely ignorant of the state of affairs at
Lexington, but would doubtless have found out in
a few moments but for a fortuitous circumstance.
When within a quarter of a mile of the outskirts
of the town, he was met by Capt. Jack Curtis, of
the Fifteenth Kansas Cavalry, who, with two
squadrons, had been cut off from his regiment
during the battle that had been raging all the
afternoon, and had gallantly cut his way out of the
enemy’s lines, and was now rather anxiously look-
ing for his friends. Recognizing the commander
of the approaching squadron, he challenged him
with ‘Hello, West, where are you going?’ ‘I’m
going to Lexington!’ was the confident reply, but
his confidence was somewhat shaken by seeing
Jack go down into his pocket in a business sort of
way, remarking, as he pulled out his wallet, ‘T’ve
got a hundred-dollar note that says you ain't!’
Curtis’ explanation of the situation probably saved
West from being taken in by Price bodily, |
although he always claimed that Price was the one
to be thankful for the circumstance of his being
turned back! Most of his old comrades, however,
still persist in the belief that his 52 men would
not have been able to cope with Gen. Price and
his 16,000 veterans successfully.
“ Be that as it may, West didn’t try it, but, fol-
lowing Curtis’ directions, struck Gen. Blunt’s
retreating column about 9 o'clock, and delivered
his dispatches. The night was rainy and extreme-
ly dark, but as soon as a house could be reached
on the line of retreat, Gen. Blunt read the dis-
patch of Gen. Curtis, prepared a hasty reply, and
ordered Capt. West to make all possible haste to
Gen. Curtis at Independence, which point he
reached at about 2 o'clock next morning, having
ridden eighty miles with his squadron since 10
o'clock the day before, without getting out of the
saddle.
“The dispatch from Gen. Blunt informed Gen.
Curtis that the rebels, in strong force, were swarm-
ing westward. Preparations to resist and impede
their march westward were immediately begun. The
Fifteenth and Eleventh Kansas Cavalry, and the
Second Colorado Cavalry, with the First Color-
rado Battery, were marched to a point near
Little Blue River, six miles east of Independence, and
took, under the command of Col. Ford, a position
oe
v8
HISTORY OF COLORADO. 87
on the brow of the wooded hills west of Blue Mills
bridge.
“This position, defective, intersected by rail fences,
and flanked on the north, east and west by thick
woods, was immediately occupied by the cavalry
brigade. Though Col. Ford obeyed the order to
do so from his superior officer with zeal and
alacrity, we have the ~ testimony of field aid-
de-camp, Lieut. Wise, of Col. Ford’s staff, that
this position had in it no feature to recom-
mend itself, and from the first appearance of Gen.
| Price’s steady veterans, who on foot rushed through
the woods on both their flanks, and, by their
| superiority of fire and numbers, the point became
untenable, and all that could be done was to retreat
slowly and re-form to oppose the massed columns
of Price’s men, who knew every inch of the ground
familiarly, and steadily forced the small brigade of
2,500 men to the outskirts of Independence. The
opening of the conflict was fierce, sanguinary and
desperate, Todd leading the Confederate cavalry,
and Smith leading the battalion of the Second Colo-
rado. Almost at the first fire, Maj. Smith fell, shot
through the heart, while Todd at the same time
also fell, killed outright. The firing, at short range,
was murderous and destructive, and, joined to the
shells of a battery that Price had planted near the
edge of the woods, caused a heavy loss to Ford's
command. Here some men, with Maj. Smith,
left their bodies on the field, while the woods on the
east were strewn with dead Confederates. Well
seconded by the First Colorado Battery, the brigade
disputed the ground, making a last desperate stand
near Independence. After a short contest, our
men were overpowered, retreated through Inde-
pendence, and fell back to the main body near Big
Blue River, leaving their wounded in Independ-
ence.
“ Lively skirmishing was kept up all the following
day, with Price’s advance, at and near Big Blue,
until, on the second day, the advance of Gen.
Pleasanton with a heavy cavalry force, drove the
Confederates from Independence, by which several
hundred prisoners, with two pieces of cannon, were
dense masses of cavalry, while close on the rear of
captured by Col. Catherwood, of the Thirteenth Mis-
souri Cavalry, the main force under Price having that
day given up going to Kansas City to give battle
to Gens. Curtis and Blunt, near Westport. The
Second Colorado, with the regular Kansas Cavalry
and the First Colorado Battery, were placed near the
Westport and Brush Creek road, the important
key of the whole position by which the easy
approach to Kansas City was disputed to Gen.
Price's advance. The main brunt of the whole
battle was here during the hotly contested day ; the
whole of Brush Creek prairie was covered with
Price Gen. Pleasanton was driving them from Bry-
am’s Ford.
‘The road at Brush Creek, west of Col. Magee’s
house, runs between parallel solid walls of stone.
Capt. Green's battalion, of the Second Colorado,
held the road, the men dismounted, the Confeder-
ates resolutely charged in the lane en masse; Green
charged them fiercely, broke their ranks, and
though losing very heavily, routed the collected
mass densely crowded between the walls. Here
Col. Magee, of the Confederate forces, was
killed almost in sight of his home. The contest
continued with varying fortune until late on Sun-
day afternoon, when a final charge of the Second
Colorado and the rapid work of the First Colorado
Battery compelled the retreat of Price’s men in a
southerly direction toward Little Santa Fe. The
Second Cavalry camped " that night on Brush
Creek, wearied out, but the Confederates had been
thwarted in their attempt to enter Kansas. Noth-
ing remained to do but to pursue the demoralized
army of Price, now almost surrounded and rapidly
retreating toward Arkansas.
The following day was spent in rearguard
skirmishes, which culminated with the rout of
Price at the Osage, Mine Creek and Mound City.
At Fort Scott the troops rested a few hours, then
the Fifteenth and Tenth Kansas Cavalry, with the
Second Colorado Cavalry and First Colorado Bat-
tery kept on the pursuit. Mile after mile the race
continued, when finally, at Newtonia, Price made
Y
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88 ' HISTORY OF COLORADO.
his last stand. The small brigade of cavalry, with
the First Colorado Battery, pitched in regardless of
numbers and of its cost. To and fro the battle
raged, but with varying success. At one time, a
large portion of the Second Colorado was for
twenty minutes in line without carbine ammunition
the fire was kept up with revolvers, or else they
faced death powerless to act until boxes were filled
again. Late in the afternoon, the Confederates
prepared to make a final charge, and then swallow
up by sheer force of numbers the small brigade
opposed to them. McLean’s Colorado Battery
hammered away and kept up a close, vigorous fire,
yet the odds were against us. At last, Gen. San-
born at the critical moment appeared with re-en-
forcements. One more charge and, the rebels
broken, the battle of Newtonia was won. Col.
Ford displayed rare energy in this contest, while
among the men individual instances of great cour-
age proved the splendid material developed in this
long arduous campaign. The Second Colorado
Cavalry lost here forty-two men besides the wounded.
The regiment joined in the pursuit, which finally
terminated by driving Price over the Arkansas
River.
“Tn December, 1864, after the return from the
Price campaign, the regiment was ordered imme-
diately to the District of the Arkansas to inaugu-
rate a campaign against the Cheyenne, Arapahoe,
Kiowa and Comanche Indians. The regiment was
ordered to concentrate at Fort Riley, Kansas, then to
be refitted and placed on an efficient footing to
inaugurate winter scouts on the Republican, Smoky
Hill and Salina Forks, and on the Arkansas
River ; headquarters to be at Fort Riley, and the
Santa Fe road to be protected as far west as Fort
Lyon.
“Tn the spring, Col. Ford, being promoted to be
a Brigadier General by brevet, took command of
the district. In April, May and June, 1865,
heavy re-enforcements of cavalry and infantry were
sent to the District of the Arkansas, until in June
the effective force of the district amounted to over
5,500 men and two batteries. This large force,
distributed at a multitude of posts and stations,
was fitted out for a summer campaign south of
the Arkansas River, the beginning of the cam-
paign to be July 6, 1865. Three columns of
infantry. and cavalry, with. one battery of horse
artillery to each column, amounting to 1,800 men
in each column, were to meet in the neighborhood
of the Wichita Mountains. After scouring the
whole country from the Little Arkansas to the
Cimarron crossing, one column from the Little
Arkansas moving west and southwest, one column
from above Fort Dodge from either Aubrey or
Cimarron, crossing to move south and southeast,
while the third column was to move from near
Larned, and cross directly toward Buffalo Creek
and the Wichita Mountains.
“ Everything was prepared ; the troops assembled
at Larned, Zarah and Dodge, while large trains of
provisions and forage were loaded and ready. On
the 6th of July, orders came to Gen. Ford to sus-
pend indefinitely the proposed campaign.
“Trritated, disgusted and disheartened, Gen.
Ford left Fort Larned, went to Leavenworth, ten-
dered his resignation and left the service. The
command was turned over to Gen. Sanborn, who,
in August, satisfied that nothing except signal pun-
ishment would answer with the hostile Indians,
prepared again an expeditionary force to chastise
them. Again,on the eve of the military move-
ment contemplated, the Indian Department broke
up the campaign.
“During all the spring and summer of 1865,
the Second Colorado Cavalry was kept incessantly
moving; but, except Capt. Kingsbury’s company and
some small detachments of other squadrons, no
great amount of fighting was done with the treach-
erous skulking redskins. Seven men were killed
and some wounded, but except the privations inci-
dent to a summer campaign over the dry, waterless
prairies of the Arkansas, the troops faired gener-
ally well.
“The death of Corp. Douglass, of Company D,
Second Colorado Volunteer Cavalry, and three
enlisted men of the Thirteenth Missouri Cavalry,
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HISTORY OF COLORADO. 89
murdered, cut to pieces and scalped near Running
Turkey Creek, was the cruelest tragedy of that
summer’s work. Douglass was sent as bearer of
military dispatches from Council Grove to all the
military posts on the Santa Fe road as far as Fort
Dodge. At Cottonwood, he took three men with
him for escort. Near Running Turkey Creek, they
were set upon by a band of Indians, and, within
two miles from the post, were run down, killed,
scalped, maimed and stripped.
“Tn September, 1865, the glad order came that
the regiment, or, rather, what was left of it, should
proceed to Fort Leavenworth and be mustered out.
In October, 1865, the muster-out took place—the
last farewell grasp of hand in soldierly companion-
ship was given. Three cheers for the Second Col-
orado Cavalry, the flags and guidons were furled,
six hundred and seventy-three men stepped out,
and the strife was ended. For the dead, who
peacefully sleep at Honey Springs, farewell.
Apache Cafion, Cabin Creek, Westport, Newtonia,
and on the Osage we can say:
‘«« How glorious falls the radiant sword in hand,
In front of battle for their native land.’ ”’
N August, 1862, Gov. Evans was directed to raise
a regiment to be called the Third Colorado
Volunteer Infantry. On the 22d he appointed a
number of recruiting officers. Recruiting offices
were opened in Denver and elsewhere, but very
few enlisted until the mining season was over.
Headquarters for a long while were on Larimer
‘street, where the First National Bank now stands,
and the camp named Camp Elbert, after Gov.
Evans’ popular and efficient Secretary of the Terri-
tory. In December, headquarters was removed to
Camp Weld. Lieuts. Holloway and Norton opened
offices in Gilpin County, Lieut. Harbour in Sum-
mit, Lieut. Crocker in Lake, Lieut. Elmer in Park,
Lieuts. Moses and Post in Clear Creek, and Lieuts.
Wanless and Castle in Denver. In the latter part
of October, recruiting had become active. ‘By the
1st of February, 1863, troops had been mustered
in and the First Battalion organized with commis-
sioned officers as follows :
Lieutenant Colonel, commanding, S. 8. Curtis.
Company A, R. R. Harbour, Captain; Company
B, E. W. Kingsbury; Company ©, E. P. Elmer;
Company D, G. W. Morton; Company E, Thomas
Moses, Jr.
CHAPTER XV.
SKETCH OF THE THIRD COLORADO.
Company A came mainly from Summit County,
Company B from Arapahoe and Boulder, Com-
pany © from Park and Lake, Company D from
Gilpin, and Company E from Clear Creek.
The announcement for Colonel and Major of the
regiment, when organized, was James H. Ford,
Colonel, and Jesse L. Pritchard, Major.
Orders had been received from department
headquarters as early as January for the battalion
to march as soon as organized. Considerable delay
was caused by want of sufficient transportation,
and it was not till the 3d of March that the troops
left Camp Weld on the march for the States by
way of the South Platte Valley. The command
passed Fort Kearney April 1, reaching Fort Leav-
_enworth on the 23d, where it went into camp, near
the post. On the 26th, orders were received to
go to St. Louis, and, having transportation by
steamboat and rail, were landed at Sulphur Springs,
a station on the Iron Mountain Railroad, twenty
miles below St. Louis, where the men went into
camp for instruction. On the 21st, the command
was ordered to Pilot Knob, where it formed part
| of the First Brigade, Second Division, Army of
|-the Frontier. On the 2d of June, the infantry in
’
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v
90
‘this command were ordered to Vicksburg, but just
as the Third Colorado was ready to march, orders
were received assigning them to post duty at Pilot
Knob, under Brig. Gen. Clinton B. Fisk. Here
the men were put to severe fatigue duty and
assisted very materially in the construction of Fort
Hamilton, a stronghold which the rebels, during
the Price raid, found impossible to carry by assault.
September 8, Companies C and E were ordered
along the line of the railroad, while A, B and D
remained on post and provost.duty at Pilot Knob.
In October, information reached the command
that the Second and Third Regiments were to be
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
consolidated and form the Second Colorado Cavalry,
and the First Battalion was ordered to proceed to
Rolla, Mo., without delay.
The command left Pilot Knob October 23,
marching across the country to Rolla, where it
arrived on the 28th and went into camp near Fort
Wyman. It remained here, performing post duty,
until December 7, when it was ordered to St. Louis,
arriving there on ‘the evening of the 8th, and on
the 9th went into quarters at Benton Barracks
and ceased to exist as the Third Colorado Cavalry,
Companies A, B, C, D and E becoming Companies
H, I, K, L and M of the Second Colorado Cavalry.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE GEOLOGY
EOLOGY, asthescience treating of the struct-
ure of the earth on which we live, is one of
man’s most fascinating studies. The various changes
that have occurred during the vast expanse of
time that stretches into the infinite and dim dis-
tances of the past, attract some minds with mag-
netic influence, and a lifetime is all too short to
complete the study of the rocks wherein we find
traced the gradual but undeviating progress of the
earth from the Azoic Age to that of our own time.
The story, as told by the mighty mountain ranges
whose jagged edges present fire-forged surfaces to
the sun, or by the bowlders whose wonderful
smoothness indicates the powerful action of water
and ice, is an almost unending one. He who can
read it understandingly, can find something more
than a sermon in a stone; he can trace from the
very infancy of the world’s history—almost from
the time when it was “without form and void;”
when but the highest points of the Sierras were as
rocky islands in the midst of an ocean, forward
through its successive stages as the earth’s form
assumed a habitable shape, and life, in its lowest
form, began to appear upon its surface, and sea,
land and air became full of activity, until he
OF COLORADO.
beholds it in its present condition, yet still moving
forward under the mysterious laws of nature, that
so slowly and yet so surely evolve changes, trans-
forming barren wastes into cultivated fields, build-
ing up islands in mid-ocean, lowering the levels of
continents on one side of the globe, and uplifting
vast reaches of mainland on the other. It is a
study in which the mind can find an unlimited
range of facts, illustrating the creative force exist-
ing about us, though one we are hardly able
to grasp in all its infinite variety and illimita-
ble power. He who runs may read a few of the
wonders that are visible upon the face of nature;
but he who stays and ponders, with his hammer
in his hand, unfolds rock-pages one by one, whose
story becomes legible at once, and remains forever
open to the eyes of man. It has been aptly said
that “the structure of the earth has been of inter-
est to man from the earliest times, not merely on
account of the useful materials he obtained from
its rocky formations, but also for the curiosity
awakened by the strange objects presented to his
notice.” Earthquakes have changed the position
of sea and land; volcanoes have added layers of
molten rock to mud and sand filled with the shells
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z HISTORY OF COLORADO. 91
| for all coming ages.
of inland seas; the hills present strata abounding
in evidences of marine life now far removed from
the sea-border. ‘These phenomena could not
escape the attention of the philosophers among the
ancient Egyptian and Indian races, and their influ-
ence is perceived in the strange mixtures of cor-
rect observations and extravagant conceits which
make up their cosmogonies or universal theories of
the creation.”
And of all countries in the world, Colorado
presents within its area of mountain ranges a field
so deep and wide as to seem almost inexhaustible
Its system of parks alone—
once vast inland seas—as they become better known
and ‘their resources made plain to the material eye
—is attracting the attention of scientists more and
more every year. “In this new world, which is
the old,’ one stands within the inner temple of
the world’s history. We note the weird working
of the wind in the fantastic shapes that stand upon
the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountain range,
while here and there we see evidences of volcanic
action ; but on the western slope lies a vast volcanic
region, stretching for three hundred miles and
expanding in some places to one hundred miles in
width, revealing a naked plain, giving indubitable
evidence of the fiery forces that once were in full
play, but have now died out, leaving their story
written in letters of lava over the entire surface.
From the highest peaks to the lowest valleys, the
hieroglyphics of antiquity are far plainer in the
world of nature than are those engraven on obelisk
and wall in the ruined cities, that tell of bygone skill
in the arts and sciences in the cities of the eastern
world. But here Geology opens her wonderful
book and we pause to linger, look and finally long to
know more of that strange, mysterious past, those
ages long gone by, those eons enveloped in mystery
—save as strata after strata are exposed, evoking the
panorama of progress startling in its insignificancy,
stoutly enunciating the truths of science and adding
new force to that expressive sentence of Holy Writ,
that a thousand years are but as a day in His eyes,
who is maker and ruler of the world.
It is but natural that the opinion should prevail
that our State is too young to have much ofa his-
tory. Yet it has one, it will be seen, older than
that of the race which inhabits the globe. It
stretches out through the ages, from the very incip-
iency of the creation of the globe, of which it
forms so uplifted a portion, and is impressed on the
rocks which compose it as with an indelible pen of
fire.
The ranges of Colorado are unquestionably as
old as the Silurian period and doubtless even reach-
ing to the Azoic era. It is not, however, to be
taken for granted that they’ were as high or
as broad as they are at present. The bar-
ren pinnacles—save where crowned with the eternal
snow—of the mighty peaks resting upon the ridges
forming the backbone of the continent, were indi-
cated but did not present the bold front they now
do. The elevation of the mountain chains was
gradual, and the snow-crowned summits and rocky
buttresses give evidence of far-apart geologic ages.
The cooling of the globe and the shrinkage of its
crust had much to do with their formation, and
immense periods of. time must have been consumed
in the task of lifting these stately peaks to their
present position upon the surface of the globe.
The general outline was, no doubt, similar to that
we see to-day, but with features marked by lines
giving clear hints of what they were to be, each
bare, ragged ridge of quartz and granite a mere
indication—as the child is of the man—of the
lordly mountain, now towering into upper space
and forming a part of the crest of a mighty conti-
nent.
As early as the period known as the Silurian,
these mountains consisted of separate chains, and
inland seas marked the spots where the great parks
The ocean swept over what is now the
valley of the Rio Grande, passing up to the head
of the San Luis Valley, then much wider than -it
is now, at the same time laving both eastern and
western slopes, and probably communicating with
the inland seas between the two ranges. It will
now are.
_be thus seen that the Rocky Mountains were long,
Co
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92 HISTORY OF COLORADO.
rocky islands, wearing down continually by the
flow of a thousand streams, caused by incessant
rains. With the ocean on every side, evaporation,
owing to the thinness of the earth’s crust, proceed-
ing much more rapidly than it does now, the rains
must have been constant and violent.
The conglomerates in the Middle Park and San
Luis Valley attributed to the Silurian age, consist
of large pebbles and bowlders, principally of gran-
ite, gneiss and quartz. They are indicative of the
force with which water swept down from some old
mountain chain occupying a position at one side of
that held by the present mountains, and carried
them into the ocean; their fragments constituting
a large portion of their successors. A process of
upheaval and degradation must have been carried
on simultaneously for many millions of years.
Just as in a forest the individual trees die and fall,
and from their dust arise new trees and the forest
continues for ages, so has it been with our broad
Sierra ranges, pulled down, on the one hand, by
torrents sweeping over them with resistless force,
and, on the other hand, continually upheaved by
contraction of the earth’s crust. And as it has
been, so it will probably continue to be, though the
process will necessarily be a slower one in the
future.
During the succeeding period—that of the
Devonian—it would seem as though the earth’s
surface was treated with less violence; smaller peb-
bles are found contained in the conglomerates,
while the limestones and shales indicate seas that
were peaceful in motion and quiescent in action.
To this a more abundant life therein gives indis-
putable evidence. Lucoidal impressions abound in
_a water-line of this age.
The mountains were steatlily growing, princi-
pally in an easterly and westerly direction. Slowly
the great parks lifted their broad, expansive bosoms
to the sunlight; the water drained off, swamps
‘were exposed where only the deep, deep seas had
been, until, in the Carboniferous period that fol-
lowed, an abundant vegetation sprung up, whose
accumulated remains, buried by the inflowings of
the ocean, formed, in the course of time, vast beds |
of carboniferous coal.
During the Permean and Oolitic periods, but
little is as yet known of the history of the mount-
ainous portion of Colorado. But eastward of the
mountains, the sea covered the country, depositing
limestones of great thickness, abounding with char-
acteristic shells.
Of the Cretaceous period we can write more
fully. The ocean waves swept up and down both
sides of the mountains, laving their rugged sides.
The ranges were evidently several miles narrower
than they are at present, for rocks formed at the
sea bottom during this period can be found occupy-
ing summits two and three thousand feet above the
level of the plain. Inland seas once again swept
over the surface of the great parks, for the eleva-
tion of the higher mountains does not seem to
have been by steady uplift; they appear to have
been followed by subsidences many times repeated,
before the ranges settled into permanence. The
Middle Park probably communicated with the
western ocean through Gore Pass, then a strait
similar to the Strait of Babelmandel, between the
Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. Three-fourths of
Colorado was covered by the. waves of ocean, in
which abounded fishes and shells of many species ;
the wonderful profusion of their remains along the
base of the mountains, stretching southward from
Colorado Springs to the Spanish Peaks, abundantly
testify of the life that swarmed in the warm and
shallow waters. The plains to the south and south-
east of Colorado Springs, are strewn for an hun-
dred miles with fossil shells of the Cretaceous period,
especially baculites, better known as fossil fishes by
persons unacquainted with their nature. Near the
Sangre de Christo Pass, thin beds of calciferous
or limy sandstone alternate with the limestones and
contain immense numbers of bones and teeth of
fishes. Weathered slabs may be.’seen at the foot
of the Sierra Mohada or Wet Mountains, on which
a hundred perfect teeth could be counted, many of
them flat and folded teeth, which formed a pave-
ment for the jaws, enabling their possessors to
Cr a
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HISTORY OF COLORADO. 93
crush the shells and crustaceas on which they fed.
The sea which occupied the Middle Park and
communicated with the great Western Ocean, con-
tained many baculites and some conchifers. To-
| ward the latter part of the Cretaceous period, the
parks seem to have been again elevated and the
communication with the exterior ocean cut off,
never to be resumed; brackish lakes, abounding
with fish, took the place of the previous interior
seas, subsequently becoming fresh-water lakes.
During the Tertiary period, where now stand
Denver and Golden, a large swamp existed, extend-
ing for hundreds of miles, north into British
Columbia and south into New Mexico. In this
swamp, a rank vegetation flourished for a long
period, vegetation of a much more modern: char-
acter than that of the coal measures, consisting
largely of coniferous trees. In the course of time,
_as can well be imagined, an immense mass of vege-
table matter accumulated, eventually to be covered
with the clay, sand and pebbles that were swept
down from the neighboring mountains. Thus was
produced the Tertiary coal formations, which may
be seen at Golden, Coal Creek, and other places in
the vicinity, with their coal beds, under-clays and
iron“ ores, bearing a great resemblance to the car-
boniferous coal measures. Here are revealed the
largest development of the Tertiary coal-bearing
strata west of the Mississippi.
_ On the western side of the mountains a similar
condition of things seems to have existed, and coal
beds were formed resembling those on the eastern
slope, but changes of level seem to have caused
the formation of a greater number of coal beds of
less thickness. After the deposition of the coal
measures, lakes of fresh or brackish water covered
most of the western and central parts of Colorado,
as well as the valley at the foot of the eastern
range. At this time, the higher grounds were
adorned with palms and trees indigenous to
a tropical country, many of them resinous and
of a strange aspect, while some were of more
modern appearance, especially those on the moun-
tains.
The quiet of the Cretaceous and of the early
Tertiary periods must have continued for ages.
But there came a change at last. The rocks of
this age show strongly and distinctly the evidence
of a stormy time, in which fire and water united to
leave an indelible impression upon the land. Once
more the mountains were elevated, carrying with
them the beds made at the sea bottom during the
preceding age. Earthquakes rent the mountains
in twain, and volcanoes poured out molten streams
of fire. A greater part of Middle Park was a sea
of fire. During this time were formed the traps
whose frowning battlements are visible near the
Hot Sulphur springs, and that cover so large a por-
tion of the park.
Previous to this, but during the same period,
west of the western range successive beds of lava
were poured out over a large area, some under
water, until their aggregate thickness amounted to
thousands of feet. Largely swept off by denuding
agencies, these beds lie exposed, presenting an
enormous wall, having a height of at least three
thousand feet above the valley and a length of
more than twenty miles. These beds also extend
westward, forming the Gore Range. It would be
interesting to know where the volcanoes, are from
which flowed the lava that formed these immense
beds.
Along the base of the eastern range similar
streams were poured out; but these have been
denuded to a still greater extent. A portion of
‘what must have been an immense bed can be seen
near Golden, forming a small mesa or table-land,
known as Table Mountain. The lava here is 250
feet thick. Similar beds must have extended over
the country between Pike’s Peak and the Spanish
Peaks, though all have utterly disappeared since
that time, save one outlying mass in the valley of
the Huerfano, which is a striking object for a
radius of many miles, looking, as it does, like an
immense pillar erected in the valley. It has given
the name of Huerfano (which is the Spanish name
for orphan) to the stream that glides so quietly
by it, to the lovely park in which the stream
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94 HISTORY OF COLORADO.
rises, and to the pleasant valley through which it
runs. '
Connected with these volcanic disturbances were
numerous hot springs, the water of which, con-
taining silica in solution, traversed the ground
everywhere, and petrified the wood that was buried
in its vicinity. To this source are we indebted for
the beautiful specimens of petrified wood so com-
mon throughout Colorado, and for the solid trees
silicified to the heart.
A large lake covered Western Colorado, extend-
ing into Utah, during the middle part of the Ter-
tiary period. Into it flowed numerous streams,
carrying fine mud, and at one time immense quan-
tities of petroleum issuing probably from numerous
and powerful springs. Trees, bearing great resem-
blance to oak, maple, willow and other modern
trees, together with a large number that are now
extinct, covered the surface of the land. Hosts of
insects filled the air about the margin of this vast
expanse of water, while in it swam turtles and
aquatic pachyderms, somewhat resembling the
tapir in appearance, lived in the rivers that sup-
plied it, and fed upon the plants that grew in
great abundance on the margins. The water of
the lake was, in all probability, brackish in its
character, containing but few mollusks, but abound-
ing in turtles possessing thick, bony shells. Beds
from two to three thousand feet in thickness were
formed at the bottom, so great was the amount of
sediment that was continually being carried into it.
This must have been brought about by the grad-
ual sinking of the lake bottom, giving room for
such enormous deposits, which sinking probably
coincided with the elevatiun of the mountain
ranges upon the east and west of it.
The Glacial or Drift period followed, in due
course of time, the Tertiary period. But there are
little, if any, evidences of drift action upon the
plains proper, and it is rare that unequivocal evi-
dences are met with even along the base of the
mountains, on the eastern side. It is when we
find ourselves far up among the majestic gorges
that we begin to perceive abundant proofs all about
us of “glacial action.” On the Fontain gui
Bouille, eight miles above Colorado Springs, and
at the foot of Pike’s Peak, at what is now known
all over the country as Manitou, are immense
granite bowlders, lying near soda, sulphur and iron
springs, whose healing qualities attract thousands
to them every year. Below there are to be found
| some lateral moraines, principally composed of
large bowlders, left by some glaciers that once
passed down a small valley and joined, near that
point, a larger one which traversed the valley of
the Fontain qui Boutlle. In this latitude, the
highest peaks of the Rocky Mountains are barren
of snow during the months of July and August.
There are bowlder-beds of large extent, and from |-
thirty to forty feet high, in a beautiful park on
South Boulder Creek, in the northern part of the
State. They lie about six miles below the snowy
peaks, cut through and exposed on each side of the:
stream which takes its name from them. The bed
is full of them, running quite down into the val-
ley. On South Clear Creek, not many miles above
the city of Georgetown, many rocks were exposed
at the time the road over the Berthoud Pass was
being constructed. On the surfaces of some of
these, glacial strie are distinctly visible; this is
the only place in the State east of the snowy range
where they have been seen, and their general ab-
sence is remarkable. Evidences of glacial action
increases as one ascends to the higher altitudes.
No longer are the valleys bordered by rocks that
are rough and craggy, as they are in the lower
portions; but they are nearly as rounded and
smooth in their outlines as are the chalk downs of
England or the glacier-planed hills of the old Bay
State.
West of the Middle Park, on the flat summit of
the Gore Range, can be found rocks planed and
plowed into deep furrows with a due westerly
direction. These can be found continuing down
the mountain-side until they reach the valley of
the White River, wherein are to be found numer-
ous terminal moraines, brought by contributary
glaciers proceeding from the highlands on both
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7 HISTORY OF COLORADO. 95
sides, but principally on the south. These moraines
are also abundantly visible at the mouths of the
various small streams that flow into White River,
for a distance of nearly one hundred miles from the
top of the range. :
It would seem to be a fact established beyond
question that, during the Drift period, the vast ex-
panse of the Rocky Mountains was not only cov-
ered with snow on its highest summits, but that
the valleys were filled with ice and snow which
did not melt, but kept continually pressing down
the mountain gorges toward the plain. These
were thickest and most glacial in their character as
they neared the mountains and upon the western
slopes; they became thinner and occupied but the
bottoms of the valleys as the glaciers descended,
melting, at last, into numerous streams laden with
debris that finally found a resting-place upon the
plains below.
But since that icy era, wonderful changes have
been evoked. The climate has been remarkably
modified, especially on the western range has it
changed. Once possessing a most rigorous climate,
now pines grow on it two thousand feet higher up
than they do upon the eastern side. The glaciers
are gone from the valleys and only the snowy
patches upon the highest points remain in witness
of the immense ice-fields of the far-away ages of
the past. i
Passing now from the geological history of the
State to its more positive geology, we begin with
the Granitic formation, which is the oldest forma-
tion of all, resulting from the cooling of the primi-
tive mass of fiery liquid composing the globe.
This formation may be seen upon and beyond the
snowy range of the Rocky Mountains in various
parts of the State, but more abundantly upon the
western slope than upon the eastern. In masses
of true granite, syenite, or porphyry it makes its
appearance, notably on McClellan Mountain, in
the Argentine Silver District, where it is seen
to have been thrust through younger formations
to the prominent position that it now occupies ; it
is found also on the west side of Boulder . Pass,
where massive granitic ranges form the buttresses
of the snowy Sierra, as we descend to the Middle
Park; and also on the western side of the park,
where it forms the grand mountain that encom-
passes it.
Of metamorphic rocks, gneiss is by far the
most abundant, and most of the gold-bearing veins
are formed in gneissoid rocks, though among the
mining people they are generally termed granite.
Fine exposures are to be seen near Black Hawk,
the lines of stratification marking the mountain-
side as stripes mark the body of a zebra.
Resting upon the granite in the Middle Park,
on the banks of the Grand River, are exposures of
conglomerate, probably of Silurian age, overlaid
by sandstones and limestones, probably of Devonian
age, and above this are found the coal measures of
the carboniferous formation. Near the Sangre de
Christo Pass, the granite is overlaid by slates and
limestones, probably of Silurian age, the lime-
stones containing crinoidal fragments, but too small
for the identification of the species. Farther to
the north are to be found mountains composed of
conglomerates, formed of pebbles, bowlders, and
large masses of gneiss, granite, mica-schist and
hornblend-schist, with gneissoid rocks, slate and
limestone, on their flanks. Rocks of the Permean
age have been discovered on the plains in
the eastern part of Colorado, consisting principally
of limestones, some of which abound with the
characteristic fossils of this period.
The Cretaceous formation is well represented,
especially along the base of the mountains on the
eastern side. The shells of the inoceramus are
found in a limestone at Boulder, baculites of large
size and great abundance on the Platte, a few miles
from Denver, while the limestones lying between
Colorado Springs and Pueblo contain the inocera-
mus, scaphites, baculites, ammonites and other
characteristic cretaceous fossils. These beds extend
for a considerable distance to the eastward, and in
wearing down under the action of atmospheric
agencies, masses have been left in conical hills,
looking like gigantic ant-hills; on these fossils can
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96 ’ HISTORY OF COLORADO. .
be picked up in great abundance. Between Pueblo
and the Sangre de Christo Pass, the teeth,
spines and bones of fishes, principally of the
genera Ptychodus and Lamna, so common in the
cretaceous beds of England, are found in remark-
able profusion. There is a ranche on the Green-
horn River where is contained the finest deposit
of fossils of this description that has yet been dis-
covered.
The Cretaceous formation is well represented in
the Middle Park by baculite beds and sandstone,
abounding with the scales of fishes, and the posi-
tion of these beds as they occur on one of the
streams in Middle Park, shows as follows: First.
Two hundred feet of lava, containing agates and
chalcedony. Second. Four hundred feet of white
sandstone and quartzose conglomerate, in which
are to be found fossil woods in fragments, with
some bones of mammals and birds. Third. Four
hundred feet of shaly sandstones full of the scales
of cycloidal fishes. Fourth. Twenty feet of blue
limestone. F%fth. Five hundred feet of shales,
marls and sandstones, containing fish teeth, bac-
ulites, conchifers and tucoids. Of these numbers,
three, four and five are probably cretaceous; the
rest tertiary. From the disintegration of the lava
come the agates and chalcedonies of the park.
Where the lava mingles with the sandstone and
other material of the second, agates and fossil lie
mixed together on the surface. The slabs of shaly'
sandstones are covered with the scales of cycloidal
fishes, that is, of fishes resembling those of the
salmon and the trout. The baculite beds are so
denominated because of the gyeat number and
large size of the baculites found in them.
The Tertiary formation may be said to have a
remarkable development in Colorado. It shows a
thickness of over ten thousand fect on the western
side of the Rocky Mountains, from the Gore Range,
which is composed of tertiary lavas, to the Junc-
tion of White and Green Rivers. Here are to be
found the coal measures, containing many thin
veins of coal, beds of gypsum, thin beds of lime-
stone, and, above these, petroleum shales of at
least a thousand feet in thickness, abounding in
fossil leaves and insects, the shales containing them
oceurring at points sixty miles apart, and, above
them, brown sandstone and conglomerates having
a thickness of from twelve hundred to fifteen hun-
dred feet, and containing silicified wood, turtles,
and bones and teeth of large mammals. They lie
in the following order in the valley of the White
River: About two thousand feet of red and white
sandstone, followed by twelve hundred feet of
brown sandstones, alternating with blue shales and
beds of conglomerate ; in these are found bones of
mammals and turtles, while, particularly noticeable
in the lower shales, deciduous leaves and insects
are found. There are also seen perpendicular veins
of petroleum. Next succeeds a thousand feet of
petroleum shales, varying in color from cream to
black, one bed, twenty feet thick, resembling can-
nel coal. Here, also, are found insects and the
leaves of deciduous trees. The next in the series
is eight hundred feet of white and light-brown
sandstones, white shales on which are to be found
ripple marks, brown shales and shaly sandstones.
To these succeed a thousand feet of thick, white
sandstones, and brown shales, and thick, brown
sandstones weathered into cavities. Then follow
the coal measures, fully twenty-seven hundred feet,
to wit: Sandstone, limestone containing conchs
and small gasteropods, blue, black and brown.
shales, under-clays, beds of coal or lignite; brown
sandstones and shales, very soft; coal in vari-
ous beds, with under-clays; white sandstones,
with alternating blue shales. To the soft shales,
we are indebted for the two wide expansions
in the White River Valley. Seventh in the order
follows fourteen hundred feet of compact red sand-
stones, white sandstones, red sandstones shaly and
micaceous, with thin, fetid limestones containing
fragments of shells. To these succeed three hun-
dred feet of soft, yellow sandstone, and, finally, about
two hundred feet of gypsum. It is to be under-
stood that the foregoing are only estimated thick-
nesses, they having in no case been measured by
the one who examined them. The upper beds are
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' , HISTORY OF COLORADO. 97
formed near the junction of the White and Green
Rivers in Utah; the lower ones near the Gore
range, where they are covered by immense beds of
lava, in some places, especially on the eastern side
of the range, alternating with beds of white and
friable sandstone lying in a perfectly horizontal
position and rising to a height on the top of the
Range of about thirteen thousand feet. The
groups of gypsum, soft, yellow standstone, and thin
fetid limestone make their appearance in valleys
upon the eastern side of the range, the lava having !
been poured out, apparently, during the period of
the lower tertiary coal measure.
Mr. Samuel H. Scudder, an eminent member of
the Boston Society of Natural History, who has
made the study of fossil insects a specialty, had
submitted to him a number of specimens taken
from the petroleum shales; the report he returned
was as follows:
“This is the fifth discovery of fossil insects in
this country, if some tracks and an apparent larva
in the Triassic rocks of the Connecticut Valley
be correctly referred to insects; but it is the
first time that they have been found in the
tertiary beds of America.
by Prof. Denton while on a trip of exploration
west of the Rocky Mountain range, not far from
the junction of White and Green Rivers in Colo-
rado. ;
“The specimens were brought from two local-
ities, called by Prof. Denton Fossil Caiion and
Chagrin Valley, lying about sixty miles apart.
The rocks in both cases are the same; above are
beds of red sandstone, passing occasionally into
conglomerate and thin beds of bluish and cream-
colored shale alternating with the sandstone, all
dipping to the west at an angle of about twenty
degrees. These contain fossil wood of deciduous
trees, fragments of large bones, most of which are
solid, and turtles, some of which are two feet in
length and perfect. Prof. Denton considers this
sandstone as probably of Miocene age. Beneath
these rocks are beds of petroleum shale a thousand
feet in thickness, varying in color from a light
These were obtained
cream to inky blackness; these shales are filled
with innumerable leaves of deciduous trees, and
throughout their extent the remains of insects '
abound. The specimens brought home are about
fifty in number, many of the little slabs contain-
ing several different species of insects upon them.
The number of species amounts to about fifty also,
although some of the specimens are so fragmentary
or imperfectly preserved as to be difficult and often
impossible of identification.
“The most abundant forms are Diptera, and
they comprise, indeed, two-thirds of the whole
number, either in the larval or perfect state; the
others are mostly very minute Coleoptera, and
besides these are several Homoptera, an ant be-
longing to the genus Myrmica, a night-flying
moth, and a larva apparently allied to the slug-
caterpillars or Limacodes.
‘“‘The most perfect insects among the Diptera
are mostly small species of Mycetophilidx, a fam-
ily whose larvee live mostly in fungoid vegetation,
and Tipulide, whose larve generally live in stag-
nant water. There are, besides, some forms not
yet determined, of which some are apparently
Muscidz, a family to which the common house-fly
belongs. The larve of Diptera belong to the
Muscide, and to another family, the latter of
which live during this stage in water only. None
of the larvee, however, belong to the species of
which the perfect insects are represented as these
stones. The Homoptera belong to genera allied to
Lssus Gypena, Deephax and some of the Tettigo-
nid.
“A comparison of the specimens from the two
localities shows some differences. They both have
Mycetophitide, but Fossil Caiion has a propor-
tionately greater abundance and variety of them.
Fossil Cafion has other flies also in greater num-
ber, though there are some in both ; but Myrmica,
the very minute Diptera and the minute Coleopte-
ra, are restricted to Fossil Cafion. On the other
hand, all the larve, both the Diptera and that
which appears to be a Limacodes, were brought
only from Chagrin Valley.
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98 HISTORY OF COLORADO.
“Of course, the number of specimens is too
small to say that the fauna of these two localities
are distinct, although the same species has not been
found to occur in both, and the strata being 1,000
feet in thickness, there is opportunity for some dif-
ference in geological age, for new collections may
entirely reverse the present apparent distinction.
Neither is it sufficient to base any satisfactory—
that is, at all precise—conclusions concerning their
age. Enough is before us, however, to enable us
to assert with some confidence that they cannot be
older than the tertiaries. They do not agree in
the aggregation of species with any of the insect
beds of Europe, or with the insects of the Amber
fauna, and, since they have been found in Europe
in considerable numbers only at rathef wide inter-
vals in the geological record, we should need more
facts than are at our command by the known
remains of fossil insects, to establish any synchro-
nism of deposits between Europe and America.
Much more satisfactory results could probably be
reached by a comparison of the remains of leaves,
ete. Anything more than a very general state-
ment is, therefore, at present quite out of the
question.”
The country in which these are found is a very
remarkable one. Standing upon the summit of a
high ridge on the east, one sees stretched out
before him and distinctly visible, a tract of country
covering five or six hundred square miles. Over
this whole surface one sees nothing but rock, bare
rock. Cut up into weird and wild ravines, mys-
terious cafions, deep, dark and dangerous gorges,
and quiet little valleys, leaving in magnificent relief
terrace upon terrace, pyramid beyond pyramid,
rising to mountain heights, presenting to the aston-
ished beholder amphitheaters that would hold a
million spectators, with stately walls and pillars,
towers and castles on every hand. An abode fit
for the gods of the ancient world, who might well
have held solemn conclave in such a temple, stand-
ing now bare, blasted and desolate, but still inex-
pressibly sublime in its grandeur. Originally—far
back in the ages of the past—it was an elevated
country, composed of a number of soft beds of
sandstone of varying thickness and softness, under-
laid by immense beds of shale. But the run-
ning rill and the flowing stream and the meandering
creek have worn it down and cut it out, until it-
has become a strange, weird country, to be the won-
der of all generations.
In this region is found a deposit of petroleum
coal, scarcely to be distinguished in any way from
the Albertite of New Brunswick. In luster, fracture
and smell, it appears to be identical, and would
yield as much oil as this famous oil-producing coal.
It is in a perpendicular vein, three feet wide, and
was traced from the bottom of Fossil Cafion, near
Curtis Grove on White River, to the summit level
of the country a thousand feet in height and nearly
five miles in length, diminishing in width toward
the ends of the vein. An analysis and description
of this has been given by Dr. Hayes, of Boston,
and we herewith append it:
“Black, with high luster like Albertite, which
it resembles physically ; specific gravity 1.055 to
1.075. Electric on friction ; breaks easily and con-
tains .33 of one per cent.moisture. It affords
39.67 per cent of soluble bitumen when treated
with coal naphtha, and, after combustion of all its
parts, 1.20 per cent of ash remains; 100 parts dis-
tilled afforded bituminous matter, 77.67; carbon
or coke, 20.80; ash left, 1.20; moisture, .33;
total, 100. It expands to five or six times its
volume, and leaves a porous cake, which burns
easily.”
The vein is in an enormous bed of sandstone
with smooth walls; beneath the sandstone are the
petroleum shales, one bed of which, varying from
ten to twenty feet in thickness, resembles cannel-
lite, and would, it is thought, yield from fifty to
sixty gallons to the ton. This bed was traced for
twenty-five miles in one direction and was seen at
points sixty miles apart in another, and it no doubt
extends over the entire distance. If’ so, in that
single bed are twenty million million barrels of oil,
or over five hundred times as much as America
has produced since petroleum was discovered in
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HISTORY OF COLORADO. 101
Pennsylvania. There are few beds of coal that can | easily worked by tunneling. An assay of the
compare with this in the amount of bituminous | Riffenburg coal, which lies. close to that of the
matter which it contains, or in the great value that | other company, gave the following result :
"it possesses as an article of fuel. The tertiary beds Loss at 110° C. (water) ......... 0.26 per cent.
of Colorado are rich in fuel and gas-making Carbon, fixed .....cscsceeeeseeneee 65.76 per cent.
material, though it is more than probable that the Volatile combustible matter... 29.66 per cent.
petroleum now in the shales and petroleum coals ASH ..sceeee aiseceue vanes aad eeeuuenive 4.32 per cent.
came originally from the oil-bearing coral beds of Total Scie. se devsustvalctastuecy 100.00 per cent.
some much older formations. ‘Its specific gravity varies from 1.28 to 1.53.”
On the eastern side of the mountains, mainly, The coke made has a bright, silvery color; is
lie the tertiary coal measures, containing beds | hard and strong, and suitable for all smelting pur-
of coal and of iron ore of excellent quality. | poses.
These coal-bearing lands ‘embrace many thousand Above these coal beds are beds of sandstone and .
square miles of the State’s area. The bulk of these | conglomerate, abounding in fossil palms, firs and
thus far located extend along the plains, east of the | various kinds of resinous and gum-bearing trees,
foot-hills, the entire length of the State. Those | together with modern exogens. Trunks of trees
opened and worked lie principally in the counties | of large size have been found lying far out on the
of Boulder, Weld and Jefferson. These mines | plains, where they have been left when the disin-
have probably yielded nearly two hundred thousand | tegrating rock loosened them from their captiv-
tons this season. In Fremont and Las Animas | ity. Between Denver and Golden, many very fine
Counties, in the southern part of the State, | specimens have been found; still more on a low
the mines are being developed. The Trinidad | range of sand-hills about twenty miles south of
coals, in the latter county, coke equal to any in | Denver, while some very fine specimens have been
the coking districts of Pennsylvania, and this | brought from South Park.
interest is steadily growing in importance, two In the Middle Park, west of the Grand River,
companies having each one hundred ovens in | is also a coarse sandstone passing into conglomer-
active operation. ate, and containing silicified wood. Above it are
These companies are named the Southern Colo- | beds of trap; and where this has disintegrated,
rado Coal Company and Riffenburg Coal Company. | chalcedonies and agates are found; principally ;
To show what an advance has been made in the | moss agates, as they are called, but which are, in
growth of this industry, we have but to state that, | reality, chalcedonies containing oxide of manga-
four years ago, six ovens, producing ten tons per | nese in a deudritic form. The rock originally
day, were capable of supplying the market of Utah | holding them was a lava poured out of some long
and Colorado. Now, Utah consumes about fifteen | extinct volcano; this was full of vesicles or hollow
‘hundred tons per month; Northern Colorado, five | places produced by gas or vapor, and, in process of |
hundred, while Leadville calls for three thousand, | time, these were filled with extremely thin par-
and is likely to demand a constantly increasing num- | ticles of silica, separated from the surrounding
ber. Prof. Hayden, in his report of 1875, relative | rock, forming the ordinary chalcedonies. In some
to the coal deposits in the neighborhood of Trinidad, | cases, a small quantity of oxide of manganese has
calls’ these coals a binding bituminous coal, not | been carried in with the silica, and this, crystalliz-
considering the term “lignite,” as generally used, | ing in an arborescent or tree-like form, has pro-
strictly applicable, from the standpoint of a miner- duced the appearance of moss in the chalcedony,
alogist. The thickness of the seams vary from | and. thus have been formed the beautiful moss
nine to thirteen feet, nearly horizontal, and are | agates which abound throughout Colorado.
‘atin
128 HISTORY OF COLORADO.
about a quarter of a mile from him, but his pony
took a liking to us and attempted to follow us.
Then the savage within him roused, and he talked
Ute to the horse like a father.
“ As we neared White River, we saw fleeting
forms on horseback, and, as long as we had a view
of the road, they were noticeable. Indians dislike
to walk a horse, and even the girls and boys of the
tribe keep their ponies ina lope. We inquired
the distance to the Agency of an Indian girl, and
she told us a mile. It was three, but anything
short of five miles is a mile to an Indian.
“ Large camps lined the river-bank. The camps
were mostly composed of tepees; but once in a
while was a tent, sometimes a log cabin, or shed
with a brush roof.
“All the Indians we met had on paint, a red
smear over their faces; but.we met one that was
got up for pretty. His face was painted a drab
color, from forehead to chin; from ear to ear, his
chin had a pink wash, and his eyelids were a
bright vermillion. His hair was closely gathered
back, and he might have trained for a Humpty-
Dumpty in a theatrical community. He was very
I asked him if
any one was dead, but he did not reply.
“The Agency had been moved since any of the
party had been there, and, as we came in sight of
it, it presented a pretty picture to our eyes. The
White River Valley at the Agency is some half or
three-quarters of a mile in width, and is splendidly
adapted to agriculture, as well by the ease with
which it can be irrigated as by the natural qual-
ities of the soil. Facing the Agency buildings,
under fence, was a field of fifty acres, in which was
growing corn and garden truck, and from which a
good crop of wheat had been harvested. Around
were the signs of a practical farmer, and under the
sheds of the Agency were the latest improvements
in agricultural implements. Here, thought I, is
the model; another generation will find our dusky
neighbors tilling their ranches and pursuing the
peaceful avocations of civilization, and the blessing
will rest upon the head of N. C. Meeker. Buta
quiet—said nothing to us at all.
herd of horses skirted the fenced field, and it
seemed to me they looked with jealous eye upon
the growing crops. On the hills, upon the other
side of the river, were large herds of cattle, and
everything looked pastoral and quiet.
“Tt needed no introduction to tell us that the
tall, angular, gray-headed man who welcomed us
to the Agency was ‘ Father’ Meeker. To look at
him was to see the plows and harrows and fence-
wire. He told us to unsaddle at the corral, and,
after an eight hours’ ride over a rough trail, we
were not unwilling to do so. As we approached
the corral, a figure came toward us from the direc-
tion of the river, that I gazed at with increasing
interest as it approached. Dressed in what I
should call the fall attire of a workman in the
States, I set myself to solve the problem of what
nationality. White, red or black? Once it was
a sunburned white man, then a ‘nigger,’ but when
it reached us the inevitable red smear betrayed it.
It was an Indian, and, moreover, an Indian who
spoke respectable English. There was something
I should describe as a reserved force in his man-
ner (not matter) of speaking. Our conversation
was trivial. I had put my estimate on him, and
it was that he had grown civilized enough to doff
the blanket (emblem of the aborigine) and to
become generally no account. Imagine my sur-
prise when the Sheriff turned to me and told me
our visitor was Douglass. I had expected to find
the great chief in a mud palace, exacting the
reverence and homage of all comers. Instead,
he is an Indian who would be taken for a respecta-
ble negro church-sexton in Kentucky, and’ he
keeps up the likeness by his grave reticence and
respectful curiosity as to what our mission is.
“ A word as to Douglass. I do not put the esti-
mate on him that the dispatches would warrant.
I do not believe that he led the charge on Milk
Creek, mounted on a fiery, untamed pony. He is
the father of a divided house, if those acquainted
with the affairs of the White River Utes know
whereof they speak. Douglass is a chief of ten
years’ standing, and, from intercourse with the
oc” Ff
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HISTORY OF COLORADO. 129
_he the futility of war with the whites.
whites, as well as weight of years, has grown con-
servative and pliable. None can know better than
Since his
chieftainship, the tribe has grown up. The boys
that used to fight the Arapahoes are middle-aged,
and among them is an aquiline-featured stalwart
called Capt. Jack. I am told that Capt. Jack,
while nominally second chief, really commands the
suffrage and good-will of far the larger portion of
the tribe.
“Douglass is about five feet seven inches in
height, medium stature and outrageously bow-
legged. The most noticeable thing about him is
that he shaves, but manages to escape an iron-gray
growth of moustache on the sides of his mouth in
that operation. In his dress, he made no pre-
tence to the gaudy—was satisfied with the sub-
stantial. While I was yet eyeing him, eager to
hear some words of wisdom from this patriarch,
the Agent came out and told him he wanted to
talk to him. Douglass followed him into the
house, as did the Sheriff.
“Mr. Bessey had already acquainted Mr.
Meeker with the object of our visit, and Mr.
Meeker had promised to do what he could to
bring the criminal Utes to account. In the house,
Mr. Bessey again went over the business and
showed his warrant. Douglass said the Utes were
not on the reservation, and that therefore he could
not give them up. Mr. Meeker said they could
not be far away. Douglass did not know about
that. Mr. Meeker then told Douglass that it was
his duty to send Utes with the Sheriff to identify
the Indians specified in the warrant. For some
time, Douglass made no reply to this, but with a
reed which he had made figures on the floor.
Finally, he looked up, and a thunder-cloud was on
his brow. He told the Agent decidedly and
emphatically that he would not do it. This ended
the council, and Douglass soon departed for his
cabin, located near the old Agency, and, therefore,
fifteen miles from the new Agency buildings.
“ During this time, Miss Josie Meeker and Mrs.
Price had been preparing dinner for us, and to
this we were now invited. We had had our break-
fast at 6 A. M., and it was a very slim breakfast
we had. It was now nearly 4 P. M., and the din-
ner was fit for an epicure. It was the unanimous
verdict of the party that the dinner was worth
$10.
“Miss Meeker was a very intelligent young
lady, but she showed marks of the fearful care
and anxiety that had weighed upon her spirits for
months. Besides Mrs. and Miss Meeker, Mrs.
Price was the only lady I saw at the Agency; and
surrounded by Indians, with not even a stockade
for defense, their protectors were a little band of
seven or eight men.
“From Miss Meeker I learned something of
the condition of things at the Agency. Mr.
Meeker’s life had been threatened by one John-
son. Inquiry led to the information that Johnson
lived in the new cabin half a mile below the
Agency; that he was a medicine man; that he
owned the large herd of horses, and that he had a
tame bear. We took Dr. Johnson to be a very
high-toned Ute. If ill has befallen Father Meeker,
Dr. Johnson is his murderer. Miss Meeker had
established a school. She had two pupils from the
multitude of little devils who spend their days in
practicing with bow and arrow or riding ponies.
One was a girl, the other a boy, stepson to Doug-
lass, whose American name was the same as that
of the Marshal of the District of Columbia,
Frederick Douglass. As soon as the girl had
learned a few words of English, she had been
taken away by her parents. Frederick Douglass
still held the fort, and was a bright, though shy
boy of ten.
“T believe that if Meeker’s safety rested with
Douglass, he was not killed. But with Jack and
his crowd howling for Meeker’s blood, Douglass |
would not have dared resist, but would have stayed
at home and kept his crown, while Meeker, his
aged wife and accomplished daughter were offered
up as bleeding sacrifices to the magnificent policy
of the Government—the policy which feeds and
-keeps from year to year the red murderers, and
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130 HISTORY OF COLORADO.
commands its soldiers not to shoot the first shot.
The Government should be instructed that soldiers
mean war, and its grim old General has said,
‘War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it.’
“For the argument, it matters not whether
Meeker and his family have been butchered. He
has told his situation to every one in authority for
more than a month. Had Gov. Pitkin had juris-
diction, he would haye had a host of frontiersmen
at the Agency three weeks ago. He must first
have the consent of the General Government.
But the General Government has a gang of negro
minstrels in Middle Park, 200 miles from the
Agency. They are ordered to march to the
Agency very cautiously, and before they get a
good start, the other Government soldiers are
cleaned out.
“Our business at the Agency was complete.
We saddled up for a return, bade farewell to the
Meekers and started through the villages of tepees
homeward bound. We found great commotion in
every band. At every camp, we were interviewed.
Antelope’s band was camped nearest the Agency,
and his brother Powitz and his squaw Jane hailed
us with the customary ‘How?’ Our reply of
‘How?’ led them to ask ‘What yer come fer?’
We told them we came to see Meeker. Douglass
told them we had come for two Utes, Chinaman
and another (whom they did not seem to recognize
by the name of Bennett). We did not affirm or
deny, but passed on. This conversation wasrepeated
eight or ten times in the three miles our road
bordered the river. It was late when we struck
the trail, and we saw no more Indians till we
reached Peck’s. There we met Capt. Jack and a
companion on their return from their visit to
Denver—the visit they made to have Meeker
“removed.
“Jack is an extraordinary Indian. He was
very friendly, and spoke English well. He reiter-
ated the statement that the Meekers had made,
that the Utes would be glad to have white men
take up ranches on the reservation. He said the
whites and Utes ought to be friends now. The
_ supplies.
whites had killed a Ute, the Utes had killed a
white man. Good. Heap friends.
“The fires and burned forests extended from
the Springs to the Agency. At nightfall, on the
day we left the Agency, we saw a large fire started
not ten miles from the Agency. We constantly
saw the smoke of fires, and many times they were
quite close to our road. A large fire was sweeping
the forests on Gore Range. The atmosphere was
blue with smoke, and on every hand we heard
complaints of the fires started by the Utes.”
As will be seen, this interesting statement was
indited while doubt still remained as to the fate
of Mr. Meeker and his associates, and before the
colored cavalry made that splendid dash to the
rescue of Payne’s command which so effectually
redeemed the ‘negro minstrels’ from the charge of
cowardice implied in the foregoing.
Mr. Coxe’s visit to the Agency was in August.
A month later, Col. John W. Steele, a mail
contractor, of Wallace, Kan., also paid a visit to
White River, and found the state of affairs at the
Agency alarming indeed. Col. Steele has also
written an account of his visit, which throws
additional light upon the direct causes of the out-
break, and is given below as furnishing a faithful
and very lucid account of Mr. Meeker’s manifold
difficulties in dealing with the Indians. No apol-
ogy is made for including, also, Col. Steele’s strict-
ures on Indian mismanagement, and his powerful
argument in favor of transferring the Indians from
the Interior to the War Department—a change
that is favored by 200,000 citizens of Colorado:
“Karly in July last, I was called to Rawlins,
Colo., to look after the mail route from that point
to White River Agency. I remained at Dixon,
on Snake River, several days. While there, Indi-
ans belonging to the Ute chief Colorow’s outfit,
frequent:y came to Dixon to trade buckskin and
furs for Winchester rifles, ammunition and other
I learned that they were camped on
Snake River, Fortification Creek and Bear River,
from fifty to one hundred miles from their reser-
vation. :
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4
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
131
“The Indians seemed to be quiet, but the set-
tlers complained that the Indians were burning
the grass and timber, and occasionally killing their
cattle and doing much damage to the country. I
also heard much complaint from the mining dis-
trict near Hahn’s Peak and Middle Park; that
the Indians were burning the timber, and had
burned the houses of several settlers and killed
one man. Smoke was at that time plainly visible
from large fires on the head-waters of the Snake
and Bear Rivers. On completing my business on
the mail route, I returned to Washington. The
first week in September, I was called (by disturb-
ances on this mail route) to visit it again. Arriv-
ing at Rawlins, Mr. Bennett, the sub-contractor
for the route, told me that he had attempted to
establish his line of mail-carriers on the route ;
that be had gone as far south as Fortification
Creek, where he was met by Utes belonging to
Colorow and Ute Jack’s band; that three Indi-
ans stopped him and told him that he must go
back; that he parleyed with them, and finally
went on as far as Bear River, where he was met
by more Indians of the same tribe, and, though
he fully explained his business to them, he was
so violently threatened that he returned to Raw-
lins without establishing the mail route. Bennett
has freighted Indian supplies to the Ute reserva-
tion for several years, and knows many of the
Indians. He was accompanied by a man who has
lived among the Utes for years, and with whom
they have heretofore been friendly. Both advised
that it would be dangerous to attempt to go to
the Agency.
“On the night of September 4, I arrived at
Snake River, and on the 5th, went to Bear River,
meeting no Indians on the way, but finding the
grass and timber destroyed by fire all the way
along the route. I remained at Bear River sev-
eral days, endeavoring to find parties to carry the
mail to the Agency. Many of the settlers were
alarmed by the hostile action of the Utes. Others
anticipated no trouble, but all complained of the
burning of the grass and the timber. On the
morning of September 10, I started, with two
mail-carriers, for the Agency. We rode over the
route followed by Maj. Thornburgh’s command,
and at noon rested at the mouth of the cajion
where the battle has since taken place. Here, at
a tent occupied by an Indian trader, and two
miles from the reservation, we met a number of
Utes, one of whom asked where I was going. I
told him to the Agency. After a short talk with
other Indians, he told me we must go back. I
made no reply, but, leaving one of the carriers at
the tent, I proceeded up the caiion in which the
Indians laid the ambuscade for Maj. Thornburgh’s
command, toward the Agency. The Indians fol-
lowed us to the Agency. I afterward learned
that they belonged to Ute Jack’s party.
“We arrived at White River Agency about 6
o'clock P. M., and found a nimber of Indians
there, some of whom seemed greatly excited. I
soon learned that the Agent, Mr. Meeker, had, a
short time before my arrival, been violently as-
saulted by a Ute chief named Johnson, and
severely, if not dangerously, injured. The white
laborers told me that they had been fired upon
while plowing in the field, and driven to the
Agency buildings, but that they were not much
scared, as they thought the Indians only wanted
to prevent the work, and fired to frighten them.
'| Finding Mr. W. H. Post, the Agent's chief clerk
and Postmaster at White River, in his office, I
proceeded to transact my business with him.
While engaged at this, the Indians began to con-
gregate in the building. Mr. Post introduced me
to chiefs Ute Jack, Washington, Antelope and
others.
“Ute Jack seemed to be the leader, and asked
me my name and business. I told him. He
inquired if I came from Fort Steele, and if the
soldiers were coming. I replied that I knew
nothing of the soldiers. Jack said, ‘No ’fraid of
soldiers. Fort Steele soldiers no fight. Utes
heap fight.’ He again asked my name and when
I was going away. I replied, ‘In the morning.’
Jack said, ‘Better go pretty quick.’ I offered
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132
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
him a cigar, and repeated that I would go in the
morning. He then inquired for Mr. Meeker, and
said to Post, ‘Utes heap talk to me. Utes say
Agent plow no more. Utes say Meeker must go
way. Meeker say Utes work. Work! work!
Utes no like work. Ute no work. Ute no
school. No like school’—and much more of the
same sort. Jack asked Mr. Post when the
Indian goods would be issued. Post replied, ‘ In
two moons.’ Jack said the goods were issued at
the Uncompahgre Agency; that four Indians had
come from there and told him. Post replied,
‘Guess not.’ Mr. Post said to me, ‘ Every fall
there is more or less discontent among the Indi-
ans, which finally dies out. This year there is
more than usual. Jack’s band got mad last week
because I would not issue rations to some Uinta
Utes who had come here, and all the bucks
refused to draw their supplies. The squaws drew
for themselves and children.’ I asked if the min-
ers were not making trouble with the Indians.
Post replied he had not heard any complaint from
the Indians about miners or settlers; that they
were kept off the reservation and made no trouble.
The whole complaint of the Indians had been
about plowing the land, and being made to work,
and requiring the children to go to school, and
that very recently they had shown great anxiety
to have the Indian goods distributed, and com-
plained about that; that he could not distribute
the goods, as they had not all arrived at the
Agency.
“Mr. Meeker came in for a short time while we
were talking. About 8 o'clock, I went to his
quarters and found him propped up in his arm-
chair with pillows, evidently suffering severely
from injuries received from the assault of Chief
Johnson. After a short talk, we discovered that
we had formerly been fellow-townsmen, which
opened the way for a free conversation about
mutual acquaintances. After which, Mr. Mecker
said: ‘I came to this Agency in the full belief
that I could civilize these Utes; that I could
teach them to work and become self-supporting.
I thought that I could establish schools, and in-
terest both Indians and their children in learning.
T have given my best efforts to this end, always
treating them kindly, but firmly. They have
eaten at my table, and received continued kind-
ness from my wife and daughter and all the em-
ployes about the Agency. Their complaints have
been heard patiently and all reasonable requests
have been granted them; and now, the man for
whom I have done the most, for whom I have
built the only Indian house on the reservation, and
who has frequently eaten at my table, has turned
on me without the slightest provocation, and
would have killed me but for the white laborers
who got me away. No Indian raised his hand to
prevent the outrage, and those who had received
continued kindness from myself and family stood
around and laughed at the brutal assault. They
are an unreliable and treacherous race.’ Mr.
Meeker further said that, previous to this assault
on him, he had expected to see the discontent
die out as soon as the annuity goods arrived; but
he was now somewhat anxious about the matter.
In reply to an inquiry, he said that the whole
complaint of the Indians was against plowing the
land, against work and the school.
“JT told him I thought there was great danger of |
an outbreak, and I thought that he should
abandon the Agency at once. To this he made
no reply. Shortly after, Ute Jack came into the
room where we were sitting, and proceeded to
catechize me nearly as before.
Mr. Meeker and repeated the talk about work,
then asked the Agent if he had sent for soldiers.
Mr. Meeker told him he had not. Jack then said:
‘Utes have heap more talk,’ and left us.
“ During the conversation, Mr. Meeker said that
Chief Douglass was head chief at that Agency, but
that he had no followers and little influence. That
Douglass and his party had remained on the
reservation all the summer, and had been friendly
to the whites; that Colorow, Ute Jack, Johnson
and their followers, paid no attention to his orders,
and had been off the reservation most of the
He then turned to +
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4
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
183
summer. That Chief Ouray was head chief,
but had lost his influence with and control of the
Northern Utes.
“T again urged on him the danger of remaining
at the Agency, when he told me he would send
for troops for protection. During this conversa-
tion, the Indians had remained around the Agency
buildings, making much noise. About 10 o’clock,
I went to the quarters assigned for me for the
night in the storehouse office. Soon after this,
the Indians began shouting and dancing in one of
the Agency buildings and around the Agent’s
quarters. About midnight, Mr. Meeker attempted
to quiet them, but was only partially successful,
and the red devils made it exceedingly uncomfort-
able for me most of the night. I was told in the
morning that the Indians had had a war-dance.
Those who saw and could have described the scene
are all dead now. At daylight, the bucks had all
| disappeared. After breakfast, I called on Myr.
Meeker in his room to bid him good-by. He told
me he had written for troops, and requested me to
telegraph for relief as soon as I reached Rawlins.
After bidding all good-by, I mounted my horse
and, not without many misgivings, started for
Bear River. This was the last I saw of Father
Meeker. A man of the Puritan stamp, an en-
thusiast in whatever work he undertook, he had
given his whole soul to the work of civilizing the
Utes. It is a waste of words to say that he was
honest and honorable in all his dealings with
them, for his life has been public and his character
beyond reproach.
“Mrs. Meeker is one of the gentlest and most
motherly women I have ever met; with a heart
large enough to embrace all humanity. Her
kindly disposition and gentle manner should have
protected her from the assault of the veriest brute.
Miss Josie seemed to me to have inherited much
of the force and enthusiasm of her father. She
appeared to have overcome the feeling of disgust
‘which savages must inspire in any lady, and to
have entered on her duty of teaching with the
highest missionary spirit. Around this family
‘destroyed the property of miners near Hahn’s
were gathered, as help, people peculiarly genial
and calculated to win by kindness the regard of
the Utes. Those who seek palliation for this
bloody massacre must look elsewhere than in
the family or among the employes of Father
Meeker.
‘On the return trip to Bear River, I met many
Indians going to the Agency for the issue of
rations. Several of the bucks hailed me, but I
hadn’t time to stop. At the trader’s in the cafion,
I found several Indians purchasing supplies. At
the crossing of Howard’s Fork, thirty miles from
the Agency, I met three Indians, two of whom I
saw at the Agency the night before. They
stopped me and inquired for ammunition for Win-
chester rifles. I replied, ‘No sabe. After de-
taining me for nearly one-half hour, I persuaded
them to let me pass, and reached Rawlins. without
further incident worthy of mention, and immedi-
ately telegraphed and wrote Gen. Sheridan the
condition of affairs at White River, and received
his reply that aid would be sent at once.
“ Hastern papers, the Secretary of the Interior
and Brooks, are seeking some provocation for this
outbreak. It was not the encroachment of miners,
for there are none nearer than Hahn’s Peak, 100
miles away.
“Tt was not settlers, for there are none nearer
than Bear River, fifty miles from the Agency;
they were few-and scattered, and their only safety
for life and property has been in retaining the
friendship of the Utes. On the other hand, these
Utes have, since early summer, been off their
reservation from fifty to two hundred miles, have
destroyed all the timber and grass they could, have
Peak, and burned the houses and hay of settlers
on Bear River; they have killed ‘cattle belonging
to settlers on Bear and Snake Rivers, and terror-
ized that whole region.
“They complained only that Father Meeker
urged on them the benefits of civilization.
“Tt is about time that our humanitarians recog-
nized the fact that these Indians are savages, and,
” lee
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4
184 HISTORY OF COLORADO.
instead of needing provocation to massacre, require
constant and powerful oversight to prevent it.
“ Finally, our army has all the blame cast on it.
Called to rescue the Agency from danger brought
upon it by an idiotic Indian policy, the command
of Maj. Thornburg went to White River seeking
a peaceful solution of the difficulties there. I had
the pleasure of meeting Maj. Thornburg soon
after he had received his orders, and gave him
full particulars of the situation at the Agency,
advising that, if he went with a small force, he
might expect to be wiped out. I thought his
force sufficient, but am free to confess that I was
mistaken.
“T knew that these Indians meant war. Early
in the summer, they occupied the territory over
which troops must pass to reach them. Slowly
they retreated toward the Agency, burning the
grass to render it difficult for cavalry to operate
against them. They purchased arms and ammu-
nition of the most approved pattern and in large
quantities. Within six weeks of the outbreak, one
trader sold them three cases of Winchesters and a
large amount of ammunition, and the last Utes I
met inquired of me for more. They gathered
disaffected bucks from the Uncompahgre and
Uinta Agencies, and got mad because the Agent
at White River would not feed them. When
everything was ready, they assaulted Agent
Meeker and shot at his employes to provoke an
attack by the troops, and when the troops ap-
proached, with peaceful intent, to adjust the diffi-
culty and right the wrongs of ali parties, they laid
an ambuscade and prepared to annihilate the
whole command.
“The attack on Maj. Thornburg was not war;
it was unprovoked murder, and to the last Indian,
the Utes engaged in it should answer for it with |
their lives.
“During the past week, I have been in the
valley of the Sappa, in Decatur County, Kan. To
this country our Government had invited settlers,
offering them homesteads and protection. Driven
by the stress of times in the Eastern States, some
twenty-five families had located in these valleys
and erected for themselves homes. They had just
finished at the forks of the Sappa, at the little
village of Oberlin, their ‘first. schoolhouse. They
were not boors, but the peers of any like number
of citizens of the country. One short year ago,
on September 30, 1878, the savage Cheyennes,
after receiving from the Government their annui-
ties, unannounced and unprovoked, entered these
valleys and massacred seventeen of the fathers
and brothers of this settlement, and perpetrated
on their corpses the most barbarous indignities.
They inflicted on the mothers and sisters outrages
worse than death. On the evening of the 30th
of September, the bodies of thirteen of the victims
of this bloody massacre were brought to the little
schoolhouse, and there, in that building, erected
by the highest inspiration of civilization, lay in
death and barbarous mutilation the fruits of unpro-
voked and unrestrained savagery.
“Some time next month, some of these mur-
derers will be tried, if their case is not continued.
Had that crime been promptly and properly pun-
ished, the people would not now be mourning for
the dead at White River.
“Our denominational humanitarians have had
their day. Their Congregational Cheyennes,
Methodist Modocs and Unitarian Utes have each
| baptized their newly-acquired sectarian virtues in
the blood of a cruel massacre.
“The Indian policy of the Department of the
Interior has been a humiliating failure. Let the
Indian be turned over to the War Department,
and let the Government, hereafter, use its iron
hand to prevent outrage rather than to punish it.”
Thus it will be seen that for three months prior
to the massacre, Mr. Meeker had been powerless
to control his Indians; that they had been roam-
ing at will off their reservation, devastating the
' country and imposing upon the settlers, and that
| the combined appeals of Agent Meeker and Gov.
| Pitkin were virtually disregarded by the Indian
Aid was promised, indeed, but it did not
reach the Agency in time to prevent the massacre.
Bureau.
a
or
~—
> er mR
ce
Finally, however, affairs became so bad that an
order was issued for the advance of troops, under
Maj. Thornburg, from Fort Fred Steele, to the
Agency—not to punish any Indian, but to inquire
into the causes of trouble there and to restrain the
Indians from further insubordination. | Maj.
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
Thornburg advanced as far as Milk River, near
137
the north line of the reservation, where he was
attacked by a force of several hundred Indian
warriors, while, at the same time, another force
attacked and murdered Father Meeker and all the
male employes at the Agency.
HE first. intelligence of the outbreak was
received in Denver about noon on Wednes-
day, October 1, in the shape of the following dis-
patch:
Laramig Crry, October 1, 1879.
To Guv. Pitkin, Denver:
The White River Utes have met Col. Thornburg’s
command, sent to quell disturbances at the Agency,
killing Thornburg himself and killing and wounding
many of his officers, men and horses, whereby the
safety of the whole command is imperiled. I shall
warn our people in the North Park, and trust that you
will take such prompt action as will protect your peo-
ple, and result in giving the War Department control of
the savages, in order to protect the settlers from mas-
sacres, provoked by the present temporizing policy of
the Government with reference to Indian affairs, in all
time to come. Sen
TEPHEN W. Downey.
This telegram was followed within fifteen min-
utes by the following:
Rawurys, October 1.
T) the Gsvernor of Colorado:
Messengers from Thornburg’s command arrived
during the night. Utes attacked the command at Milk
Creek, twenty-five miles this side of the Agency. Maj.
Thornburg killed, and all of his officers but one
wounded. Stock nearly all killed. Settlers in great
danger. About one-third of command wounded. Set-
tlers should have immediate protection.
J.B. Apams.
There was no hesitation in the action of Gov.
Pitkin. Aware for weeks that such an outbreak
was liable to occur at any moment, his course had,
it might be said, been anticipated, and he sent
a
CHAPTER III.
THE NEWS IN DENVER.
the following dispatch to the Secretary of War,
at Washington :
Denver, October 1, 1879
Geo. W. McCrary, Secretary of War, Washington, D. C.:
Dispatches just received from Laramie City and
Rawlins inform me that White River Utes attacked
Col. Thornburg’s command twenty-five miles from
Agency. Col. Thornburg was killed, and all his offi-
cers but one killed or wounded, besides many of his
men and most of the horses. Dispatches state that
the whole command is imperiled.
The State of Colorado will furnish you, immediately,
all the men you require to settle permanently this
Indian trouble.
1 have sent couriers to warn settlers.
Freperick W. Pirkin,
Governor of Colorado.
It isa difficult matter to describe the excite-
ment which followed the spreading of the tidings
over the city. Denver discusses event and calam-
ity, ordinarily, with serenity and coolness; but
the news of the ambush and the danger which
awaited the whites in and about the Agency at
White River startled the entire community, and
expressions of sadness would be swept frcem the
face by those of anger and determination. The
Governor's office was besieged during the after-
noon and evening, not by the idly curious, but by
strong men—sturdy old pioneers and _hot-blooded
young men, who offered their services to the State’
in defense of her people and in exterminating the
savage horde. At least fifty volunteers made bold to
see the Governor, while everywhere on the streets
men gathered together, and pledged themselves to
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HISTORY OF COLORADO
join any volunteer movement to protect the frontier
and drive the Utes from Colorado soil or into it.
Meanwhile, the Governor had been taking im-
mediate steps for the protection of settlers on the
Indian frontier, first, by sending out couriers to
warn them of their probable danger, and, finally,
by calling the militia of the State to hold them-
selves in readiness for service at the shortest possi-
ble notice. For convenience, the frontier was
divided into three military districts—the north-
west under command of Gen. W. A. Hamill, of
Georgetown; the center in charge of Gen. J. C.
Wilson, of Leadville, and the southwest, or San
Juan country, to be commanded by Capt. George
J. Richards, of Lake City. Dispatches were sent
to each of these gentlemen, instructing them to
notify all exposed settlements of the outbreak, and
to organize companies of minute-men for defense
in case of Indian attack.
_ These instructions were carried out without loss
of time, and very effectually. It happened, how-
ever, that the Indians made no demonstrations
against the settlers, and the only effect of all this
“military activity’ was to awaken a sense of inse-
curity which could not be allayed for some weeks.
There was a frantic demand for arms and ammuni-
tion, which Gov. Pitkin was unable to supply, the
State being almost destitute of military supplies.
Meanwhile, an almost feverish anxiety prevailed
as to the probable course of the Southern or Un-
compahere Utes, under Ouray and Ignacio.
Would they join their White River brethren and
fight, or would Ouray, the known friend of the
whites, succeed in keeping them quiet and peace-
ful? As the telegraph line in that direction was
only extended to Del Norte, at that time, it was
not until Sunday morning, October 5, that news
came from that quarter, and then it was in the
| Shape of the following startling dispatch :
Laxe City, October 3, via
Det Norte, October 5.
Gov. F. W. Pitkin, Denver :
Indian Chief Ouray has notified the whites to protect
themselves; that he is powerless, and can afford no
protection. Capt. Richards, of the Lake City Guards,
has gone to Indian Creek to seize the ammunition
destined for the Agency, now en route. George M.
Darley has just reached here from Ouray City. He
left there this morning. It is reported that Ignacio is
on the war-path in the South. The town of Ouray is
under arms. The country is all on fire. We will do
all we can, but want arms. We must have protection
of some kind. Answer. M. B. Gerry,
: Frev. C. Peck,
and others.
Of course, such a statement, signed by the most
respectable citizens of Lake City, could not fail to
produce a decided sensation, and the Executive
office was more thoroughly aroused that morning
than when the first news of the outbreak came in.
Immediate steps were taken to forward arms and
ammunition to Lake City and Ouray, and the
regular train for the South having left Denver, a
special train was sent out, carrying Gen. D. J.
Cook, of the State Militia, and a quantity of arms
and ammunition. Other dispatches and personal
intelligence received later seemed to confirm the
impression that trouble was imminent in the San
Juan country. It was stated that Ignacio and his
band were on the war-path in La Plata County,
and grave fears were entertained for the safety of
the exposed settlers on that frontier, though reg-
ular troops were being moved in that direction
under command ef Gen. Hatch.
All these fears were happily groundless. Gen.
Cook reached Lake City in due time, and found
the scare already subsiding, Chief Ouray having
asserted his control over the tribe, and Ignacio,
instead of being on the war-path, was disposed to
treat the matter lightly, having no particular love -
for the White River Utes. Before it was definitely
known that no danger need be apprehended from
that source, Gov. Pitkin, in answer to a telegram
from Silverton, sent the celebrated dispatch which
has since caused so much comment and con-
troversy in the press of Colorado and the East,
and, to the end that the message in question may
be fully understood and not misquoted, the entire
correspondence is given below. Mr. A. W. |
Hudson, who signs the first dispatch, is a leading |
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HISTORY OF COLORADO. 189
| lawyer and a most reputable citizen of the town of | where the blow would fall, no one could possibly
Silverton : foresee, and each mining-camp in the mountains
To Gov. F. W. Pitkin: Sinverton, October 5. felt. itself in instant danger of attack. It was a
‘ Your dispatch received at Animas City. Bands of ry ing time. Although, in polne of fact, the hos-
i Indians out setting fires on the line between La Plata tiles were engaged in watching the Hynes of
1 | ard San Juan. They say they will burn the entire | the regular soldiers, and made no advance in the
i} | country over. Chief Ouray, from the Uncompahgre | direction of the white settlements, it could not be
| | band, has sent out a courier warning settlers that his | known that such was the case, and the general
young men are on the war-path, and that he cannot / 41,44 could not be condemned as causeless. The
‘|| control them. The Indians setting out these fires, being ‘ : : a
off their reservation, cannot the people of these two couriers and scouts did not bring any -DeMs of
| counties drive them back? We don’t want to wait till | Indians, but rumors were thick and fast, and no ‘
they have killed a few families, and if they understand | sooner was one scare over than another broke out.
we are prepared, there may be no outbreak. Of these successive sensations, however, it is use-
i A. W. Hupson. legs to write in detail at this late day. Suffice it
The following answer was returned : to say that, by prompt action and a judicious dis-
tribution of arms and ammunition along the
A. W. Hudson, Silverton : Denver, October 8. | border, Gov. Pitkin was presently enabled to sat-
Indians off their reservation, seeking to destroy your | isfy the people that they had little to fear from the
{| settlements by fire, are game to be hunted and des- | Utes, and soon public sentiment perversely set in
| | troyed like wild beasts. Send this word to the settle- | the opposite direction. Instead of fearing the
ments. Gen. Dave Cook is at Ealke: City in command of Indians would come, the miners and prospectors
State forces. Gen. Hatch rushing in regulars to San ; :
Th gaan. eee ee ate pote tees eae leaned back on their guns and prayed for Indians
: : . to come and be shot. When news of the Agency
Gov. Pitkin’s dispatch has been misquoted and | massacre was received, the indignation of the citi-
| | misinterpreted as meaning that the Indians should | zens of Colorado was so great that it was with
be hunted as wild beasts, under any and all | much difficulty that Gov. Pitkin prevented the
|| circumstances, and he has been censured for the | State militia and minute-men from making an
alleged inhumanity of the executive order. Those | advance upon the reservation and the hostile
|) who read the whole correspondence will see that | Indians. The Governor foresaw, however, that
the order was entirely proper under the circum- | such an advance would be the death-signal of the
|| stances, and as it was originally transmitted. In-| captive women and children from the Agency
| stead of referring to Indians in general, it related | who were in the hands of the hostiles, and
|| only to marauders off their reservation seeking the | humanity prompted an effort to secure their re-
destruction of white settlements by fire, and if | lease before any steps were taken toward punishing
such Indians ought not to be hunted like wild | the assassins and murderers.
beasts, they certainly deserve no better fate. The release of the captives could only be effected
Meanwhile, although Gen. Merritt, with a large | through Ouray, who was known to be heartily in
force, had been sent promptly to the relief of the | favor of their surrender as soon as possible. The
remnant of Thornburg’s command, no tidings had | chief had already sent Indian runners from his
been received from that direction, either from the | camp to that of the hostiles, commanding the
Agency or the Indians. It was almost certain | latter to cease fighting. A young man named
that the Agency people were killed, and it seemed } Joseph Brady, an attache of the Uncompahgre:
natural to expect an incursion of hostile savages | Agency, had accompanied Ouray’s runners, and
upon some portion of the Indian border. Just | had gone with a flag of truce into Gen. Merritt's
oc 7
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eq...
140 HISTORY OF COLORADO.
camp to notify him of Ouray’s order. Brady was
not permitted to see the captives, but carried back
assurances that they were alive and well.
Ouray having expressed a willingness to send
another party out to bring in the women and
children, Gen. Charles Adams, special agent of the
Post-Office Department for Colorado, and a former
Agent both at Los Pinos and at White River, was
detailed by the Interior Department to accompany
the Indians and bring in the prisoners. A detailed
account of this thrilling expedition will be found |
in a subsequent chapter.
pean the report had gone out that one of
the attaches of the Agency, while plowing
the land near the new White River Agency, had
been shot at by ambushed Indians, on application
of the Colorado authorities, Agent Meeker and
others, the War: Department at Washington
ordered Gen. Sheridan to send troops to the
Agency, for the protection of the Agency and the
vindication of Uncle Sam’s rights.
Maj. T. T. Thornburg, commanding officer of
the Fourth United States Infantry, and, for the
past year, in command of Fort Fred Steele, on
the Union Pacifie Railroad, in Wyoming, was
placed in charge of the expedition, which con-
sisted of two companies, D and F, of the Fifth
Cavalry, Company E of the Third Cavalry and
Company E of the Fourth Infantry, the officers
included in his command being Capts. Payne
and Lawson, of the Fifth Cavalry, Lieut. Pad-
dock, of the Third Cavalry, and Lieuts. Price and
Wooley, of the Fourth Infantry, with Dr. Grimes
accompanying the command as Surgeon, and a
supply train of thirty-three wagons. The com-
mand left Rawlins on the 14th ult.
When the command reached the place known
as Old Fortification Camp, Company E, of the
the Fourth Infantry, with Lieut. Price in com-
mand, was dropped from the command, the design
of this step being to afford protection to passing
supply-trains, and to act as a reserve in case there
was demand for it.
CHAPTER IV.
ADVANCE UPON THE AGENCY.
Maj. Thornburg turned his force toward the |
Indian country in deep earnest with the balance
of his command, consisting of the three cavalry |
companies, numbering about one hundred and
sixty men.
Having been directed to use all dispatch’ in
reaching the Agency, the Major marched forward
with as great rapidity as possible. The roads
are not well traveled and are mountainous,
and, of course, they did not proceed so rapidly
as they might have done on more familiar high-
ways.
Nothing was seen or heard from the Indians
until Bear River, which runs north of the reser-
vation and almost parallel with the northern line,
was reached. At the crossing of this stream,
about sixty-five miles from White River Agency,
ten Indians made their appearance. They were
closely questioned, but professed great friendliness
for the whites and would betray none of the
secrets of their tribe. They declared that they
were merely out on a hunt, and repeated that they
were friends of the white man and of the Great
Father’s Government, and especially of the Great
Father's soldiers.
After this, nothing more was seen of the Indi-
ans, though a close watch by keen-eyed scouts
was kept up for them, until William’s Fork, a
small tributary of Bear River, was reached,
when the same ten Indians again quite suddenly
and very mysteriously re-appeared. They again
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| HISTORY OF COLORADO. 141
renewed their protestations of friendship, while they Maj. Thornburg’s orders were not to make the
carefully eyed the proportions of the command. | first fire on the Indians, but to await an attack
They made a proposition to the commander that | from them. After two lines had thus faced each
he take an escort of five soldiers and accompany | other for about ten minutes, Mr. Rankin, the scout,
them to the Agency. A halt was called, and | who is an old Indian fighter, seeing the danger in
Maj. Thornburg summoned his staff to consulta- | which the command was placed, hurried’ direct to
| tion. After carefully discussing the matter with | Maj. Thornburg’s side and requested him to open
a due regard for the importance, the advantage | fire on the enemy, saying at the same time that
| and disadvantage of the step, they came to the’ | that was their only hope.
conclusion that it was not wise to accept this. Maj. Thornburg replied: “My God! I dare .
proffer on the part of the Indians, as it might | not; my orders are positive, and if I violate them
lead to another Modoc trap, and to Thornburgh’s | and survive, a court-martial and ignominious dis-
becoming another Canby. His scout, Mr. Joseph | missal may follow. I feel as though myself and
Rankin, was especially strong in opposition to the | men were to be murdered.”
request of the Indians. By this time, the Indians had flanked the sold-
Maj. Thornburg then concluded to march his | iers, and giving the war-whoop, opened fire. The
‘column within hailing distance of the Agency, | wagon-train was corraled about three-fourths df a
where he would accept the proposition of the | mile to the rear of the command, and the Indians
Indians. But he was never allowed to carry out | got between the wagon-train and the command.
his designs. Here it became apparent how thin | The cavalry was dismounted and fighting on foot
the disguise of friendship had been, and Thorn- | and slowly retreating.
burgh was soon convinced how fatal would have Maj. Thornburg, seeing the danger which
been the attempt for him, accompanied by only | threatened his command from the position of the
five men, to treat with them. Indians, at once mounted about twenty men, and
The command had reached the point where the | at the head of them he dashed forward with a
road crosses Milk Creek, another tributary of the | valor unsurpassed by Napoleon at the Bridge of
Bear, inside the reservation and in the limits of | of Lodi, made a charge on the savages between
Summit County, Colorado, about twenty-five miles | the command and the train.
“north of .the Agency, when they were attacked Maj. Thornburg and thirteen men were killed
by the hostiles, numbering, it is believed, between | in this charge.
two hundred and fifty and three hundred warriors, The balance of the command, then in retreat,
who had been lying in ambush. succeeded in reaching the corraled train, which
But the command under the guidance of Scout | was by this time surrounded by Indians. The
Rankin, left the road just above where the Indi- | command then, with much haste, made breast-
ans were in ambush, and thus avoided another | works with wagons and held their position. In
event which would have been, in all respects, equal | the engagement there were twelve killed and forty-
to the Custer massacre. The command took a | two wounded. Every officer‘in the command was
trail after leaving the road, and unexpectedly met | shot with the exception of Lieut. Cherry, of the
the foe. Fifth Cavalry. The Indians also killed from one
Maj. Thornburg at once threw his command hundred and fifty to two hundred head of mules
into position, and the Indians came up in line of | belonging to the Government.
battle to within about three hundred yards and The scene of the attack was peculiarly fitted for
halted, putting a bold face on the matter and | the Indian method of warfare, and showed plainly
showing a decided determination to fight. that it had been chosen by the chiefs in command
“yt
142
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
ee
for the identical purpose to which it was devoted.
When Thornburg’s command entered the cafion,
they found themselves between two rocky bluffs,
about thirteen hundred yards apart and from one
to two hundred feet high. These bluffs were held
by the Indians in force, and some broken ground,
reaching down nearly to the creek, was also occupied
by the savages, so that an advance through the
cafion was impossible, and, by cutting off retreat, the
Indians could effectually “bottle up” the com-
mand in the cafion. In effect, that was accom-
plished, though the bravery of the troops in
entrenching themselves defeated the undoubted
purpose of the Indians to annihilate them.
Capt. Payne, then in command, at once set
about having the wounded horses shot for breast-
works, dismantling the wagons of boxes, bundles
of the bedding, corn and flour sacks, which were
quickly piled up for fortifications. The picks and
shovels were used vigorously for digging entrench-
ments. Meanwhile, a galling fire was concen-
trated upon the command from all the surrounding
bluffs which commanded the position. Not an
Indian could be seen, but the incessant crack of
their Sharp’s and Winchester rifles dealt fearful
destruction among the horses and men. The
groans of the dying and agonizing cries of the
wounded told what fearful havoc was being made
among the determined and desperate command.
Every man was bound to sell his life as dearly as
| possible.
About this time, a great, danger was approach-
ing at a frightfully rapid pace. The red’ devils, at
the beginning of the fight, had set fire to the dry
grass and sage brush to the windward, and it now
came sweeping down toward the troops, the flames
leaping high into the air, and dense volumes of
smoke rolling on to engulf them. It was a sight
to make the stoutest heart quail, and the fiends
were waiting ready to give a volley as soon as the
soldiers were driven from their shelter. It soon
reached the flanks, and blankets, blouses and
empty sacks were freely used to extinguish the
flames. Some of the wagons were set on fire,
which required all the force possible to smother it.
No water could be obtained, and the smoke was
suffocating; but the fire passed, finally, away.
About sundown, the savages charged the works,
but were repulsed, and retired to their positions
on the bluffs, whence firing was resumed early
on the following morning. The men in the
trenches were pretty well protected by that time,
but the horses and mules were constantly falling
at the crack of the sharp-shooters’ rifles.
During the early part of the first night of the
siege, the scout, Rankin, who had warned Thorn-
burg of his great danger on the previous day,
made his way out of the beleaguered camp and,
mounted on a strange horse, his own having been
shot in the fight, started to carry the bloody news
over the 160 miles that stretched between him
and Rawlins. Rankin’s ride bids fair to pass into
history with that of Sheridan, immortalized by
Buchanan’s famous poem. It was a daring
venture at best, and its danger was not the only
feature which marked it as extraordinary. The
way was rough, as well as wild and lonely, and,
ordinarily, the the distance would hardly be cov-
ered in two days; yet Rankin rode it in twenty-
eight hours, leaving the battle-field at 10 o’clock
Monday night and reaching Rawlins Wednesday
morning about 3 o'clock.
Other couriers were sent out from the’camp on
succeeding evenings, through one of whom word
was sent to Capt. Dodge’s company of colored cav-
alry, then approaching from the direction of Mid-
dle Park, informing them of the outbreak and
cautioning them to be on their guard. Capt.
Dodge’s command only mustered about forty men,
and was encumbered with a wagon train; but,
with almost unexampled bravery, they determined
to advance and succor the beleaguered garrison of
the riflepits on Milk River. At the Rawlins
Crossing of the Bear, the wagon train was de-
tached and sent north to Fortification Creek, while
Capt. Dodge and his intrepid followers galloped
into the Indian country, not knowing whether one
of them would ever return alive. All honor to
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HISTORY OF COLORADO.
143
the “colored troops” who rode and fought so
nobly for the defense of their white brethren.
Luck went with them. They escaped, for a
wonder, the watchful eyes of the Indians en
route, and even when they approached the cafion
where Payne’s command was entrenched. The
history of the whole war, thus far, furnishes no
fact more curious than the escape of the colored
troops from destruction, for it is well known that
the Indians hate them tenfold more intensely than
they do white soldiers, and if Dodge’s approach
had been discovered, the whole fighting force of
the Utes, if necessary, would have been detached to
annihilate his command. As it was, he ap-
proached within hailing distance of the rifle-pits
without detection; but then arose a new difficulty
and a new danger. Payne’s sentinels would cer-
tainly discover them if they approached nearer,
and how could they escape being fired upon as
enemies in the guise of friends?
In fact, an alarm was sounded in the trenches
at their approach, and the men sprang to arms
to defend themselves, as they supposed, from a
new attack by the Indians. Dodge halted his
command and sent out his two guides, Gordon and
Mellon, to communicate with Payne. They
called out to the pickets that it was a company of
cavalry, come to the rescue, but the statement was
regarded as a ruse of the Indians. Finally, Gor-
“don’s voice was recognized by some one in the
trenches, and all doubts were at once dispelled.
Capt. Dodge then headed his men for the final
dash necessary in order to reach the shelter of
the trenches.
The distance was 600 yards, and the ride was
made in a rain of rifle-balls from the surrounding
bluffs, the Indians having been made aware at
the last moment of Dodge’s approach. His luck
did not desert him, however, and not a man was
hit. They were not much scared, apparently, for
hardly had they reached the pits and dismounted
than they announced their readiness to storm the
bluffs. As this would have been certain death
they were not allowed to attempt it. Hardly had
they dismounted when the Indians began to pick
off their horses, or, rather, one Indian, evidently
a dead shot, began the work of destruction.
With every crack of his Winchester a horse fell
dead or mortally wounded, and in a short time
forty fine cavalry horses, worth in the aggregate
at least $4,000, lay dead or dying, The paternal
Government which cares so kindly for the Indi-
an is apparently blind to the fact that he is hor-
ridly expensive in peace and much more so in
war. This red devil who cost the Government
$4,000 in half an hour has probably been clothed
and fed out of the public crib ever since he was
‘born, and will continue to draw his rations regu-
larly hereafter, when the cruel war is over.
Dodge reached Payne on the third day of the
siege. His coming was the occasion of much
joy, but he brought no actual relief. The siege
continued, and the Indians only seemed more
alert and watchful. Nothing escaped their obser-
vation. A hat raised on a stick out of the
trenches was sure to have a bullet-hole in it in a
moment. The spring from which water was ob-
tained was at some distance from the trenches,
and the men were forced to sally out occasionally
for water, usually at night.
without being fired at, and several were wourided.
Morever the stench of dead animals became almost
intolerable toward the last, and they were compelled
to work at night hauling off the dead horses or
covering them up where they lay. Happily, the
Indians were too careful or too cowardly to come
out much at night, and the siege was thus robbed
of some of its terrors, although enough remained
to make them pray most fervently for the coming of
Gen. Merritt, who was hastening to their relief.
It was their great confidence in Gen. Merritt
which inspired them with a strong determination
to “hold the fort” at all hazards. The soldiers
said that “Old Wesley’’—Merritt’s army sobri-
quet—would “come with a whirl,” and so he did
come. He marched continuously Saturday night,
not halting for a single moment, making seventy
miles in twenty-four hours. The command left
They seldom escaped -
“—Tv__o@ ae
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, ®
6
+
+
| seventy miles the day previous.
144
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
Rawlins at 10:30 A. M. on Thursday, October 2.
They marched forty miles that day. The second
day they marched fifty miles. The men en-
dured the march splendidly. They realized that
a few of their comrades in arms were surrounded
and that their safety depended upon the quick
movement of this command. Consequently, there
were no complaints. Several horses were so worn
out that they had to be abandoned, and died on
the roadside.
The command arrived at the scene of action at
5:30 A. M., Sunday, October 5, after marching
When Merritt’s
advance guard reached Payne's pickets, they were
commanded by the guards to halt, and Gen.
Merritt then ordered the guards to inform Capt.
Payne that it was the relief column that was
approaching. He caused his trumpeter to sound
the officer’s call, which is the night-signal of
the Fifth Cavalry, and seldom, if ever, did that
signal fall more pleasantly upon listening ears than
it did upon those of the rescued garrison.
The following account of the arrival of Merritt
and the situation of affairs he found awaiting him
is from the pen of one of his staff:
“We arrived with Gen. Merritt's command.
Sunday morning, the 5th inst., at 5:30, after a
march of seventy-five miles yesterday, stopping to
rest only half an hour. Oh! What a happy
crowd Payne’s command was when Merritt
reached them in relief. They had been en-
trenched for six days. Capt. Payne still com-
mands. Lieut. Paddock is wounded in the side.
Capt. Payne is wounded in the arm. Lieut.
Wolf, of the Fourth Infantry, is here. Lieut.
Cherry, the salvator of the command, is unhurt.
Capt. Dodge, with Company I, of the Ninth Cav-
alry, arrived here on Thursday. He fought his
way in. Lieut. Hughes is with him. There is a
horrible stench all around. The wounded men
are hobbling in every direction. One hundred
and fifty dead horses lying thirty feet from the
entrenchments present a horrible spectacle. Poor
Paddock is bright, and will be out in a day or
two. I found him, with three others, lying in a
deep hole. The middle of the entrenchment was
used as a hospital. They have been fired on every
day since Monday, particularly last night: No
more fear is had, as A and M, companies of the
Fifth Cavalry, have reached here. The battle
commenced by the troops charging one dreaded
and commanding point on our right, and I and M,
companies of the Fifth Cavalry, immediately took
charge of a prominence on the left. The appear-
ance of the Fifth Cavalry entering under Gen.
Merritt and Col. Compton was a grand sight.
“The poor fellows in the entrenchment at first
probably thought we were Indians. We were
challenged by a sentinel, and, in reply, answered
that we were friends. Gen. Merritt caused the
trumpeter to sound the officer’s call, and at its end
three big cheers rent the air. They were relieved
at last. The sight was one of the most affecting I
have ever seen, and brave men shed tears. The
hospital wagon has just arrived, and Drs. Grimes
and Kimmel are hard at work, doing good service.
Our march from Rawlins under Merritt was a
grand military effort.”
Gen. Merritt was moved to tears at the sight of
so much suffering and the peril from which the
garrison had been rescued. Capt. Payne em-
braced his superior officer as a child would em-
brace its father. These brave soldiers, who are
familiar with Indian character, knew that it was
almost a miracle that every man of Thornburg’s
command was not massacred; but the Interior
Department has already forgiven the savages en-
gaged in the Thornburg fight, on the ground that
it was an accidental engagement, and the poor
Indians were “not to blame.” Every brave man
should resent this insult to the memory of Thorn-
burg and the brave soldiers who died with him on
that bloody field.
The Indians soon disappeared from the scene
after Merritt’s arrival, and, after a short stop to
arrange matters on the battle-field and to send the
wounded under guard to Rawlins, the march was
continued toward the Agency. Maj. Thornburg’s
A
1 are
4
HISTORY OF COLORADO. 145
body was found by Lieut. Hughes, still lying .on
the battle-field, stripped, and mutilated by wounds
and scalping. The remains were forwarded to
Rawlins, and thence to Omaha for interment.
Maj. Thomas T. Thornburg, whose tragic death
at the hands of the Utes is above noted, was born
in Tennessee, and first saw military duty during
the late civil war. In September, 1861, he enlisted
as a private in the Sixth Tennessee Regiment of
Volunteers. He was in the service ‘from that
time until August, 1863. During this term, he
served for the first five months as a private, for two
months as Sergeant Major, and for the remainder
of his term in the service as Lieutenant and Adju-
tant. He took part in the battle of Mill Spring,
was with our army when Gen. Morgan made his
celebrated retreat from Cumberland Gap to the
Ohio River, and participated in the battle of Stone
River, September 1. He was entered at the United
States Military Academy of West Point, and was
one of the Class of ’66, graduates from there June
17,1867. He was promoted to be Second Lieu-
tenant in the Second Artillery, going then upon
leave of absence till January 1, 1868. He was
first stationed at Presidio, San Francisco, remain-
ing there until February 26, 1868; from there, he
went to Fortress Monroe for artillery practice,
being stationed there from April 13, 1868, to
URING all this time, the fate of Father
Meeker and the Agency employes was
unknown to the public. It was almost certain that
he had been murdered, as it seemed incredible that
the Indians would fight Thornburg and spare
Meeker, who was blamed by them for bringing in’
the soldiers ; still, nothing had been heard to con-
firm the strong suspicions of all frontiersmen as to
the fate of the people at the Agency. Even when
Merritt relieved Payne and marched on the Agency,
May, 1869; then, at Alcatraz, from June to No-
vember 10, 1871, excepting a short while when he
was detached and sent to Sitka, Alaska—August
23 to November 17,1869. From December 6,
1869, till April, 1870, he was Professor of Mili-
tary Science at San Diego, Cal. From April 21,
1870, until he became a Second Lieutenant of
Artillery, he was stationed in his native State, at the
East Tennessee University, as Professor of Military
Tactics. From November 27, 1871, till June 20,
1873 (for two years), he was in the garrison at
Fort Foote, Md. Being ordered away from there
on April 27, 1875, he was then promoted to be
Major of Staff, and July 12, of the same year,
became Paymaster at San Antonio, Texas, being
transferred from there on the 13th of August
following to Fort Brown, in that State, and ordered
away from there January 26, 1870. He next was
stationed at the barracks at Omaha for fifteen
months, being ordered to the frontier from that
post on May 23, 1878. He became Major of the
Fourth Infantry at Fort Steele, Wyoming, holding
this commission to June 29, of last year. Since
that time, he has done scouting duty, his knowl-
edge of the country, which he has scouted and
hunted over, making him especially fitted for this
duty. He was a brother of ex-Congressman Thorn-
burg, of Tennessee.
CHAPTER V.
ARRIVAL AT AGENCY—THE MASSACRE.
he could learn nothing definite touching the trans-
actions there.
On the 9th; however, news reached Denver via
the Uncompahgre Agency, through the medium
of Chief Ouray, that Father Meeker and the male
employes of the Agency had been killed on the
day of the Thornburg fight (Monday, September
29), but that the women and children were safe
and were being cared for by Douglass at his house.
This latter statement turned out to be false, but as
qs
146
Douglass had not then been proved to be the dirty
liar that he is, credence was given to the story, and
Douglass was lauded as a “good Indian,” along
with Ouray, Capt. Billy, ete. A few doubting
Thomases did remark that it seemed strange that
Douglass should be such a good Indian while his
wicked partners were so bad; also, that if he was
the big chief of the tribe, his devotion to the
whites might have been emphasized by protecting
them from murder and assassination. In fact, he
had led the Agency massacre, and the women and
children were the prisoners of himself and his
gang of cowardly cut-throats, instead of being
under his protection. ;
On Monday, October 13, just two weeks after
the first battle, two couriers arrived at Rawlins
from what had been the White River Agency, and
reported that Gen. Merritt had reached the
Agency on the 11th. On his way, he found
many dead bodies. Among others, he found the
body of Carl Goldstein, an Israelite, who left
Rawlins with Government supplies for the Utes
at White River Agency. He was found in a gulch
six miles north of the Agency. He was shot
twice through the shoulder, and was about two
miles from his wagons. A teamster named Julius
Moore, formerly from Bainbridge, Mass., who was
with him when he left Rawlins, was found about
one hundred yards from Goldstein with two bullet-
holes in his breast, and his body hacked and muti-
lated with a knife or hatchet.
As the command advanced through the cafion,
they came to an old coal-mine, and in it was found
the dead body of an Agency employe named Frank
Dresser. He had evidently been wounded, and
crawled in the mine to die. His coat was folded
up and placed under his head for a pillow. Beside
him lay a Winchester rifle containing eight cart-
tridges, and marked “J. Max Clark.” Young
Dresser had succeeded in escaping from the Agency
massacre badly wounded, but could not reach the
troops.
E. W. Eskridge was found about two miles
north of the Agency. He was stripped to an
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
entire state of nudity, and had his head mashed as
though he had been struck with some heavy ap-
pliance. He was formerly in the banking business
at Marshalltown, Iowa. He was a lawyer by pro-
fession, and had only been at the Agency a short
time, having been sent there by Hon. William N.
Byers, of Denver, in response to a request from
Father Meeker for a clerk.
In one of his pockets, a letter was found. which
read as follows:
Wuirte River, September 29,
Maj. Thornburg : 1 o'clock P. M.
"I will come with Chief Douglass and another chief
and meet you to-morrow. Everything is quiet here,
and Deuglass is flying the United States flag. We have
been on guard three nights, and will be to-night—not
that we expect any trouble, but because there might
be. Did you have any trouble coming through the
caiion ? N. C. MeExkerr,
United States Indian Agent.
This note Father Meeker had sent out but a
few minutes before the massacre commenced. Two
Indians accompanied Mr. Eskridge, and, doubtless,
were his murderers. One of them was Chief
Antelope, a worthless rascal.
On entering the Agency, a scene of quiet deso-
lation presented itself. All the buildings, except
one, were burned to the ground, and there was not
a living thing in sight, except the command. The
Indians had taken everything except flour, and
decamped. The women and children were missing,
and nothing whatever could be found to indicate
what had become of them. They had either been
murdered and buried or else taken away as hostages.
The Indian Agent, N. C. Meeker, was found
lying dead about two hundred yards from his head-
quarters, with one side of his head mashed. An
iron chain, the size of which is commonly known
as a log-chain, was found encircled about his neck,
and a piece of a flour-barrel stave had been driven
through his mouth. When found, his body was
in an entire state of nudity.
The dead body of Mr. W. H. Post, Father
Meeker’s assistant, was found between the build-
ings and the river, a bullet-hole through the left |.
Cc fF
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HISTORY OF COLORADO.
147
ear and one under the ear. He, as well as Father
Meeker, was stripped entirely naked.
Another employe, named Eaton, was found
dead. He was stripped naked, and had a bundle
of paper bags in his arms. His face was badly
eaten by wolves. There was a bullet-hole in his
left breast.
Harry Dresser, a brother to the one found in the
coal mine, was found badly burned. He had,
without doubt, been killed instantly, as a bullet
_ had passed through his heart.
Mr. Price, the Agency blacksmith, was found
dead, with two bullet-holes through his left breast.
The Indians had taken all his clothing, and he was
found naked.
The bodies were all buried near the Agency, but -
will be taken up in the spring and re-interred at
Greeley, where a monument will be raised in their
honor.
The complete list of the killed is as follows:
Agent Meeker, Assistant W. H. Post, Frank and
Harry Dresser, E. W. Eskridge, E. Price, Fred
Shepard, George Eaton, W. H. Thompson, E. L.
Mansfield. Another employe and sole survivor of
the males at the Agency was absent at the time,
having left a day or two before.
With the exception of Eskridge, all the em-
ployes were from Greeley, and were members of
the very best families of that excellent community.
The young men had been particularly generous and
just to the Indians, and the latter professed such
friendship for them that, in a letter written by an
employe td his relatives in Greeley only the night
before the massacre, the writer expressed his
confidence in the friendship of the savages by stating
that he felt himself as safe as if he were at home
in Greeley. Whatever complaints the Indians
made against Father Meeker—and they were too
trivial for serious consideration—there was no out-
ward appearance of enmity on their part toward
the employes, and the murder of the latter only
serves to establish the fact that Indian friendship
for the white race amounts to nothing more than a
cloak for treachery.
The desolated Agehcy and the haggard corpses
scattered around the ruins gave nothing but a
ghastly suggestion of how the massacre was ac-
complished, and it was not until some time after-
ward that the wretched story was told by the
rescued captives. It appears that the attack had
been made shortly after noon on Monday, perhaps
half an hour after Mr. Eskridge and his Indian
escort left the Agency with Father Meeker’s letter
to Maj. Thornburg. The Agency employes were
at work upon a building when the savages sud-
denly opened fire upon them. The terror-stricken
women and children hid themselves while the
massacre was in progress, and, consequently, saw
little or nothing of its horrid details. Frank
Dresser hid himself with the women after being
slightly wounded, and, later in the day, made his
escape to the brush, but was afterward found dead
in the coal mine, as already stated. The women
and children attempted to escape at the same time,
but were captured almost immediately after leav-
ing their place of hiding. An account of their
experience while in captivity will be found in a
subsequent chapter.
A
v
148 HISTORY OF COLORADO.
CHAPTER VI.
CESSATION OF HOSTILITIES—RESCUE OF THE PRISONERS.
E come now to the most remarkable feature
of the Ute campaign—the sudden cessa-
tion of hostilities at the very moment when the
power of administering punishment to the Meeker
and Thornburg murderers was in the hands of
Gen. Merritt in the north, and Gen. Hatch in the
south. Nearly, if not quite, three thousand Fed-
eral troops had been rushed into Colorado with
wonderful celerity, and were now distributed within
striking distance of the foe. Officers and men
were alike burning to inflict severe and summary
punishment upon the cut-throat assassins who had
not only made war upon the Government, but had
characterized their revolt by inhuman atrocities
upon non-combatants at the Agency. Colorado, as
with one voice, demanded that the war which had
becn begun by the Utes themselves should be con-
tinued until they cried “Enough!” Although
Ouray protested that his Indians were not impli-
cated, it did not seem necessary, for that reason,
to spare those really and truly guilty. “Let
the troops advance,” said Gov. Pitkin, “and it
will be easy to determine who are the hostile
Indians. Those who get in the way of the troops
and show fight are the ones who ought to be
punished.”
But the high and mighty Moguls of the Interior
Department evolved another scheme and put it
into execution. They said, in effect:
“The troops must not advance upon the
Indians. If they do, some good Indian who did
not fight at Milk River, nor assist in the Agency
massacre,*may be killed or wounded. The war is
over anyhow, since Ouray ordered the Utes to stop
fighting. Ouray says he will surrender the insur-
gents, and a trial by a civil tribunal will cost much |
less than an Indian war. It is a pity that Meeker —
and Thornburg were killed, but if we can find | was to secure the retention of troops in the State,
out who killed them, through Ouray, we will do | whereby the Indians were held in check and the
‘Hon. Carl Schurz, Secretary of the Interior :
something terrible with the murderers—perhaps.
send them to prison.”
Economically considered, perhaps, this was
sound doctrine, but it grated terribly on the
nerves of Coloradoans and the army. Gen. Sher-
idan gave expression to his disgust in very vigor-
ous English. Gov. Pitkin sent the following
ringing telegram to Secretary Schurz:
Srate oF Cotornapo, Executive DEPARTMENT,
Denver, October 22, 1879.
Information from Southwestern Colorado satisfies me
that many of Ouray’s warriors were in the Thornburg
fight. To surrender the criminals, Ouray must surren-
der his tribe, which he is powerless to do. They
adhere to him for protection only, and will not submit
to punishment. Neither will they surrender White
River Utes, who are bound to them by the closest ties,
and are no more guilty than themselves. They whipped
Thornburg’s command, and now Merritt retires. It
cannot be disguised that the fighting men of the tribe
are hostile and flushed with victory. They are say-
ages. They take no prisoners, except women. Their
trophies are not banners, but scalps.
If the policy of military inactivity continues, our
frontier settlements are liable to become scenes of mas-
sacre. Unless the troops move against the Indians,
the Indians will move against the settlers. Must 300
miles of border settlements be subjected to this peril?
The General Government is doing nothing to protect or
defend our settlements. The State cannot defend all
this border except by attacking the enemy. :
In behalf of our. people, I represent the danger to
you, and urge that the Government recognize that a
war with barbarians now exists which involves the
lives of numerous exposed mining settlements. It can
be terminated only by the most vigorous and uninter-
rupted warfare.
(Signed) FrepEnick W. Pitkin, Governor.
The only effect of these and other remonstrances
er
~~
iO. 4:
iid 219)
»
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
149
people of Colorado were preserved from the terrors
of Indian raids. Merritt's command remained
posted at White River, and Hatch’s troops in the
south were disposed at various points, as military‘
prudence suggested. The hostile Indians kept a
close watch on Merritt’s forces, and Lieut. Wier,
of the Ordnance Department, was murdered by
them while out hunting a short distance from the
Agency. A scout named Humme, who accompa-
nied Lieut. Wier as a guide, was also killed. Sub-
sequently, the Utes stole the Government herd of
beef at White River, besides committing numerous
depredations on ranchmen of the reservation ; but
these little eccentricities were kindly overlooked by
the “Peace Commissioners’ who were solving the
problem by diplomacy aad conciliation—two parts
of the latter to one of the former. It is but fair
to say, however, that the Commissioners were only
acting under directions from the Interior Depart-
ment.
But to go back a little. There was just one
good result of the cessation of hostilities for which
the powers that be in Washington ought to receive
credit, and that was the rescue of the women and
children prisoners, from the clutches of the Indi-
ans. These prisoners were not held for safe-keep-
ing and delivery to their friends, but as hostages,
and it was with great difficulty that they were
rescued.
Gen. Charles Adams, a well-known Coloradoan,
was entrusted with this delicate mission. He had
been an Indian Agent, and was well acquainted
with the Utes, besides being a personal friend of
Chief Ouray. It was, in fact, entirely through
the influence of the latter that Gen. Adams met
with his unexpected success in his negotiations.
Ouray is a veritable red Richelieu. Diplomacy is
his delight. Fighting has few charms for him,
though he is brave enough upon occasion. But
his diplomacy has saved his tribe on more than one
‘occasion, when fighting would have been of no
avail. In the matter of the captive women and
children, Ouray was quick to see that, while any
cruel treatment at the hands of their captors
would inflame the country against the Utes, the
release of the prisoners, unharmed, would be the
strongest card the Indians could possibly play, and
so he bent the whole force of his energies to
accomplish their release and delivery to their
friends.
It has been quite the custom to accord the
Indians great credit for surrendering the captives.
When the true history of their captivity comes to
be understood, as revealed by the official examina-
tion, it will be known that the original purpose of
the red rascals was not to surrender their prison-
ers at all, and that they were only talked into it by
the persuasive eloquence of Ouray’s emissaries,
who, doubtless, expatiated largely upon the advan-
tages which would accrue from their surrender.
Gen. Adams, on the other hand, was not author-
ized to offer any terms for their surrender, and it is
entirely safe to say that he could have accomplished
nothing without Ouray’s assistance, and Ouray
could have accomplished nothing without profuse
promises of immunity from punishment, which,
unhappily, bid too fair to be realized at this writing.
The instructions to Gen. Adams from the Inte-
rior Department reached him at Denver on the
evening of October 14. Their purport was to the |
effect that, as the Indians had ceased fighting, in
obedience to Chief Ouray’s orders, and as Ouray
was ready and willing to co-operate with the Gov-
ernment in settling the difficulty, Gen. Adams
should put himself in communication with Ouray,
and together they should proceed to secure, first,
the release of the captives, and secondly, the sur-
render of the guilty Indians. Later, Adams, Ouray
and Gen. Hatch were constituted a commission to
investigate the White River and Thornburg mas-
sacres, but, for the time being, Adams was merely
appointed a special commissioner of the Interior
Department to rescue the white women and children.
Adams left Denver October 15, for the South-
ern Agency, and arrived at Ouray’s camp on the
night of the 18th, where he and Chief Ouray fully
discussed the course to be pursued. The hostile
camp was then located on Grand River, nearly one
v
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150
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
hundred miles to the north, but Ouray was in con-
stant comntunication with the hostiles by means of
Indian runners, who, indeed, had been going and
coming continually. All necessary arrangements
were made, including a strong Indian escort, and
Adams started on the morning of the 19th of
October.
The escort consisted of Sapovanero Shavano,
.the young Chief Colorow—not the celebrated |
Count :
chieftain of that name—and ten Indians.
Von Doenhoff, an attache of the German Legation
at Washington; Capt. Cline, the well-known
frontiersman, and one of the Agency employes,
accompanied Adams. The party was under the
surveillance of Indian runners from the time of
leaving the Agency until its return, These were
sent out by Ouray, and reported to him from day
to day the progress of events. Ouray was not en-
tirely confident of the success of the mission, as it
_appeared, and if it failed, he wanted to know ex-
actly who was responsible for the failure. He had
sent out the expedition himself, and felt responsi-
ble, at least, for the safety of its members.
Not counting the German Count, the commis-
sion was admirably organized. Gen. Adams was
known to all the Indians of the tribe, and to many
of them he was endeared by many acts of gen-
erosity and kindness which had won for him
among them the appellation of ‘“ Washington.”
Capt. Cline was even more highly esteemed by the
Indians. For years, he had been the only white
man living on the reservation. In another place,
it was stated that the wagon road leading to Ouray
City crossed sixty or seventy miles of the reserva-
tion, and, of course, a stage-station and stopping-
place for teams was necessary on that part of the
road lying within the reservation. This station
was kept by Capt. Cline, by permission of the
“lords of the soil,” and they even went so far as”
to mark out a considerable scope of country which
Capt. Cline should have for his own use and ben-
efit. “Mother Cline,” as the Captain’s wife was
universally known, was also greatly respected by
the Indians, and the worthy couple enjoyed, in the
fullest degree, the esteem and confidence of the
whole tribe of Utes.
The expedition followed the old Mormon road
as far as it was practicable, about forty miles be-
yond the Gunnison River. The wagons were then
left behind, and the party struck out on horse-
back. Their first camp was at the Gunnison,
whence Sapovanero sent out two runners to inform
the hostiles of their coming. The second night’s
camp was on Grand River, twenty miles distant
from the hostile camp, which was reached at 10
o'clock of the third day. At Grand River, they
were met by two envoys from the hostile camp—
Henry Jim, the White River interpreter, and
Cojoe, an Uncompahgre Indian. It is a curious
fact that the first hostile Indian who met Gen.
Adams en route, and the first Indian he saw in
the camp of the hostiles, were Uncompahgres,
though it has been long and loudly denied that
the Uncompahgre Utes had anything to do with
the outbreak.
Just before reaching the hostile camp, the com-
mission was met by two other Indians, who in-
formed Adams that he had been graciously
permitted to enter. Nothing was seen, however,
of the captives at first, and it was soon ascertained
that they were in another camp, on Plateau Creek.
Without waiting for “permission” to proceed
further, Gen. Adams and his party rode on to
Plateau Creek, and accidentally discovered Miss
Josie Meeker, in spite of efforts to secrete her.
The other captives had been hidden away, and
were not produced until some hours later.
These hours were consumed in a “medicine
talk,” which lasted five or six hours, and was very
stormy. The young bucks wanted to kill the com-
missioners, but were overruled by their. elders.
This part of the powwow being conducted in
classical Ute, without interpretation, Gen. Adams
never knew, until some time afterward, of the
danger which menaced him. It was finally re-
solved that the commission should be suffered to
depart, but without the white women and chil-
dren.
4
an a
{
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
151
This aroused the ire of Sapovanero, who had
been instructed by Ouray to bring back the cap-
tives without fail, and who felt the importance of
his mission. “He made a lengthy speech, in which
he threated the stubborn chief with Ouray’s sov-
ereign displeasure if they did not obey his com-
mands. Although this speech made a decided
impression, it was not immediately conclusive.
Chief Douglass desired that Adams should go to
White River and have the troops removed from
there, promising to surrender the captives on his
return if he was successful. To this Adams de-
murred, but promised, if the prisoners were at
once surrendered and started south, that he
would go on to White River and use his influ-
ence with Merritt to prevent any advance—an
easy compromise, as Merritt had no orders to
advance.
This arrangement was eventually agreed to, and
shortly the captives were unconditionally surren-
dered, though with evident reluctance.
The joy of the poor prisoners knew no bounds
when assured that they were in the hands of their
friends once more—friends indeed, although entire
strangers as far as previous acquaintance was con-
cerned. They had been captives twenty-two days,
and had almost despaired of succor. Miss Meeker
and Mrs. Price had borne up wonderfully well
under their privations and sufferings, but poor
SAD STORY OF
ROM the moment of their release until long
weeks afterward, the story of the captives
was on every tongue. It filled columns of every
newspaper in the country, and crowds flocked to
hear it from the lips of the heroine of the Agency,
Miss Josie Meeker, who yielded to the solicita-
tions of the public and appeared a few times upon
the rostrum, not to lecture, but to tell the plain,
unvarnished story of the Agency massacre and
Mrs. Meeker was nearly worn out by anxiety, suf-
fering and exposure. The two children of Mrs.
Price had fared better than the elders, and were
enjoying tolerably vigorous health.
Gen. Adams at once departed, with an Indian
escort, for Gen. Merritt’s headquarters, communi-
cated to him the facts above recited, and’ returned
to the Southern Agency, via the hostile camp, and
over the same goad he had followed when going
in, reaching the camp of Ouray on the 29th, and
Denver a few days later.
The women and children, in charge of Capt.
Cline, jhad proceeded directly south, reaching
Ouray’s house on the evening of the second day,
where they received a warm welcome from the
veteran diplomatist, who was greatly elated over
the success of his scheme. Thence they traveled,
by easy stages, to Denver, everywhere being
greeted with demonstrations of joy over their
escape, and at Denver they had quite an ovation.
Their arrival in Greeley, however, was the most
affecting incident of the latter portion of their
trip. There they met their old friends, neighbors
and relatives, whom they had little thought ever
to meet again under such circumstances and sur-
roundings. It was as if the dead had been re-
stored to life, and no language can fitly portray the
feelings of the rescued prisoners, or their friends
who welcomed them “ Home again.”
CHAPTER VII.
THE CAPTIVES.
the experience of the captives during the time they
remained in the hands of the hostiles.
Not even. Miss Meeker herself could give an
adequate idea of their intense and overwhelming
sufferings, not alone from brutal treatment, although
that of itself was bad enough, but from the an-
guish of their hearts over the recent horrid death
of their dear ones, and from anxiety lest they
should share the same or a worse fate by the same
y
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152
HISTORY OF
COLORADO.
cruel hands which killed and mutilated their
friends.
Consider the circumstances: Mrs. Meeker was
an aged and infirm woman, whose husband, the
companion of many years, had been bloodily
butchered, almost before her eyes—indeed, after
her capture she had been driven past the cold and
lifeless body of her husband, lying stark and stiff,
in the embrace of death, upon the ground, yet she
had not been permitted to even touch the remains,
much less to bid them the farewell affection
prompted. Mrs. Price, too, had lost her husband
in the same cruel manner, and her two helpless
little ones were not only fatherless but prisoners,
like her, with savages, who were far more likely
to kill them than treat them kindly. Miss Meeker,
a young lady of education and’ culture, the pet
and pride of her dead father, whom she loved
beyond measure, was in such distress of body and
mind that she might have been expected to break
down entirely, instead of keeping up her courage
with undaunted spirit and compelling the admira-
tion of her inhuman captors. While there is life
there is hope, of course; but in this case it did
not seem that their chances of escape were worth
hoping for. One advantage they had, however,
and that was their intimate knowledge of Indian
nature, acquired during their residence at the
Agency, and to this and Miss Meeker’s courage
they probably owe their lives to-day. =
On emerging from their captivity, they were met
at_ Chief Ouray’s house by Mr. Ralph Meeker,
Mrs. Meeker’s only son, who is an attache of the
New York Herald, but whose visit to Colorado
was in the capacity of special agent of the Interior
Department to assist in the rescue of the prisoners.
Mr. Ralph Meeker arrived out too late to accom-
pany Gen. Adams, and was forced to remain at the
Los Pinos Agency until his mother and sister
reached there in charge of Capt. Cline, as already
stated. During their journey from the Agency to
the railway at Alamosa, little was talked of other
than the experiences of the eventful days of their
captivity and sufferings, and, at the suggestion of
!
her brother, Miss Meeker dictated a letter to the
Herald, detailing the leading features of events at
the Agency before, during and after the massacre,
with an account of her wandering in the wilder-
ness and final rescue by Gen. Adams’ party. The
narrative is too interesting to be abridged, and no
apology need be made for inserting it entire: ,
MISS JOSEPHINE MEEKER’S STORY.
“The first I heard of any trouble with the
Indians at my father’s Agency was the firing at
Mr. Price while he was plowing. The Indians
said that as soon as the land was plowed it would
cease to be Ute’s land. Two or three councils
were held. The Indian woman Jane, wife of
Pauvitts, caused the whole trouble. It was finally
settled by the Agent’s moving her corral, building
her a house, putting up a stove and digging her a
well. But Johnson, who was not at the council,
got angry with the Agent and the Indians when
he found the plowing resumed. He assaulted
father and forced him from his house.
‘‘ Father wrote the Government that if its policy
was to be carried out, he must have protection. The
response was that the Agent would be sustained.
Gov. Pitkin wrote that troops had been sent, and
we heard no more until the runners cam2, and all
the Indians were greatly excited. They said there
were soldiers on Bear River, sixty miles north of
the Agency. The next day, the Indians held a
council, and asked father to write to Thornburg to
send five officers to come and compromise and
keep the soldiers off the reservation. The Agent
sent a statement of the situation of the Indians,
and said Thornburg should do as he thought best.
The Indians who accompanied the courier returned
Sunday to breakfast. A council was held at
Douglass’ camp, and also at the Agency.
“Meanwhile, the American flag was flying over
Douglass’ camp, yet all the women and tents were
moved back, and the Indians were greatly excited.
“Monday noon, Mr. Eskridge, who took the
Agent’s message to Thornburg, returned, saying that
the troops were making day and night marches, and’
oa
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HISTORY OF COLORADO.
155
it must be kept secret, but Thornburg wanted it
given out to the Indians that he would meet five
Utes at Milk Creek, fifteen miles away from the
Agency, on Monday night. He desired an imme-
diate answer. Thornburg expected to reach the
Agency Tuesday noon with the troops. The Indians,
who at first were angry, brightened up, and Doug-
lass sent’ two Indians with one white man, Esk-
ridge, to meet Thornburg. But, secretly, the Utes
were preparing for the massacre, for, just before
Eskridge left with the Indians, a runner was seen
| rushing up to Douglass with news of what I since
learned was soldiers fighting.
“Half an hour later, twenty armed Indians
came up to the Agency from Douglass’ camp and
began firing. I was in the kitchen washing dishes.
It was after dinner. I looked out of the window
and saw the Utes shooting at the boys working on
the new building. Mrs. Price was at the door,
washing clothes. She rushed in and took Johnny,
the baby, to fly from them. Just then, Frank
Dresser, an employe, staggered in, shot through the
leg. I said, ‘Here, Frank, is Mr. Price's gun.’
It lay on the bed. He took it, and just as we were
fleeing out the door the windows were smashed in and
half a dozen shots fired into the room. Frank
Dresser fired and killed Johnson’s brother. We
ran into the milk-room, which had only one small
window, locked the door and hid under a shelf.
We heard firing for several hours. At intervals
there was no shouting and no noise, but frequent
firing. While waiting, Dresser said he had gone
to the employes’ room, where all the guns were
stored, but found them stolen. In the intervals of
shooting, Dresser would exclaim, ‘There goes one
of the Government guns.’ Their sound was quite
different from the sound of the Indian guns.
“We stayed in the milk-room until it began to
fill with smoke. The sun was half an hour high.
I took May Price, three years old, and we all ran
to father’s room. It was not disturbed. The
‘papers and books were just as he left them.
“ Pepy’s Diary” lay open on the table. We knew
that the building would be burned, and ran across
Douglas avenue for a field of sage brush, beyond
the plowed ground. The Utes were so busy stealing
annuity goods that they did not at first see us. -
About thirty of them, loaded with blankets, were
carrying them toward Douglass’ camp, near the
river. We had gone 100 yards when the Utes
saw us. They threw down the blankets and came
running and firing. The bullets whizzed as thick
as grasshoppers around us. I*don’t think it was
their intention to kill us, only to frighten us, but
they tried to shoot Frank Dresser, who had almost
reached the sage brush. Mother was hit by a
bullet, which went through her clothing and made
a flesh-wound three inches long in her leg. As
the Indians came nearer, they shouted, ‘We no
shoot; come to us.’ I had the little girl. The
Indian Persune said for me to go with him. He
and another Ute seized me by the arms and started
toward the river. An Uncompahgre Indian took
Mrs. Price and her baby, and mother was taken
to Douglass’ headquarters. We came to a wide
irrigating canal which father persuaded the Indians
to build. I said I could not cross it. The Indi-
ans answered by pushing me through the water.
I had only moccasins on, and the mud and water
were deep. The baby waded, too, and both of us
came out wet to the skin. As we were walking
on, Chief Douglass came and pushed Persune away,
and, in great anger, told him to give me up. I
understood some of the language. Persune re-
fused to surrender me and hot words followed, and
I feared the men would fight. For a moment, I
thought I would ask Douglass to take me, but, as
both were drunk, I kept silent, and I was after-
ward glad I did not go. Douglass finally went
away, and we walked on toward the river. Before
reaching the stream, not more than two hundred
yards away, both my conductors pulled out. bottles
and drank twice. No whisky was sold at the
Agency. Their bottles were not Agency bottles.
The Indian Persune took me to where his ponies
were standing, by the river, and seated me on a
pile of blankets, while he went for more. Indians
were on all sides. I could not escape. Persune
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156 HISTORY OF COLORADO.
Tee |
packed his effects, all stolen from the Agency, ona
Government mule, which was taller than a tall man.
He had two mules; he stole them from the Agency.
Tt was now sundown. The packing was finished
at dark, and we started for the wilderness to the
south. I rode a horse with a saddle but no bri-
dle. The halter-strap was so short that it dropped
continually. The child was lashed behind me.
Persune and his assistant rode each side of me,
driving ‘the pack-mules ahead. About twenty
other Indians were in the party.
“Mother came later, riding bareback: behind
Douglass, both on one horse. She was sixty-four
years old, feeble in health, not having recovered
from a broken thigh caused by a fall two years
ago. Chief Douglass gave her neither horse, sad-
dle nor blankets. We forded the river, and, on
the other side, Persune brought me his hat full of
water to drink. We trotted along until 9 o'clock,
when we halted half an hour. All the Indians
dismounted, and blankets were spread on the
ground, and I lay down to rest, with mother lying
not far from me. Chief Douglass was considera-
bly excited, and made a speech to me with many
gestures and great emphasis. He recited his
grievances and explained why the massacre began.
He said Thornburg told the Indians that he was
going to arrest the head chiefs, take them to Fort
Steele and put them in the calaboose, and perhaps
hang them. He said my father had written all the
letters to the Denver papers, and circulated wild
reports about what the Indians would do, as set
forth by the Western press, and that he was
responsible for all the hostility against the Indians
among the whites in the West. He said that the
pictures of the Agent and all his family, women
and children, had been found on Thornburg’s body
just before the attack on the Agency, and the
pictures were covered with blood and showed
marks of knives on different parts of the bodies.
The throats were cut, and the Agent had bullet-
holes in his head. I was represented by the pict-
ure as shot through the breast, and Douglass said
father had made these pictures, representing the
prospective fate of his family, and sent them to
Washington to be used to influence the soldiers
and hurry troops forward to fight the Indians.
“This remarkable statement, strange as it may
seem, was afterward told me by a dozen other dif-
ferent Indians, and the particulars were always the
same. While Douglass was telling me this, he
stood in front of me with his gun, and his anger
was dreadful. Then he shouldered his gun and
walked up and down before me in the moonlight,
and said that the employes had kept guard at the
Agency for three nights before the massacre, and
he mocked them and sneered and laughed at them,
and said he was ‘a heap big soldier.’ He sang |
English songs, which he had heard the boys sing
in their rooms at the Agency. He sang the negro
melody, ‘Swing low, sweet chariot,’ and asked me
if I understood it. I told him I did, for he had
the words and tune perfectly committed.
“fe said father had always been writing to
Washington. He always saw him writing when
he came to the Agency. He said it was ‘ write,
write, write,’ all day. Then he swore a fearful
oath in English. He said if the soldiers had not
come and threatened the Indians with Fort Steele
and the calaboose and threatened to kill all the
other Indians at White River, the Agent would
not have been massacred. Then brave Chief
Douglass, who had eaten at our table that very
day, walked off a few feet and turned and placed his
loaded gun to my forehead three times, and asked
me if I was scared. He asked if I was going to
run away. [ told him that I was not afraid of
him and should not run away.
““ When he found his repeated threats could not
frighten me, all the other Indians turned on him
and laughed at him, and made so much fun of
him that he sneaked off and went over to frighten
my mother. I heard her ery ‘Oh!’ and I sup-
pose she thought some terrible fate had befallen
me. I shouted to her that I was not hurt, that
she need not be afraid, that they were only trying
to scare her. The night was still, but I heard no
response. The Indians looked at each other. All
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HISTORY OF COLORADO.
157
hands took a drink around my bed, then they sad-
dled their horses, and Persune led my horse to me
and knelt down on his hands and knees for me to
mount my horse from his back. He always did this,
| and when he was absent his wife did it. I saw Per-
sune do the same gallant act once for his squaw,
but it was only once, and none of the other
Indians did it at all.
“We urged our horses forward and journeyed
in the moonlight through the grand mountains,
with the dusky Indians talking in low, weird tones
among themselves. The little three-year-old, May
Price, who was fastened behind me, cried a few
times, for she was cold and had had no supper,
and her mother was away in Jack’s camp; but the
child was generally quiet. It was after midnight
when we made the second halt, in a deep and
sombre caiion, with tremendous mountains tower-
ering on every side. Mother was not allowed to
come. Douglass kept her with him half a mile
further down the cafion. Persune had plenty of
blankets, which were stolen from the Agency. He
spread some for my bed and rolled up one for my
pillow, and told me to retire. Then the squaws
came and laughed and grinned and gibbered in
their grim way. We had reached Douglass’ camp
of the women who had been sent to the caiion pre-
vious to the massacre. Jack’s camp, where Mrs.
Price was kept, was five or six miles away in an-
other cation. When I had laid down on my newly
made bed, two squaws, one old and one young,
came to the bed and sang and danced fantastically
and joyfully at my feet. The other Indians stood
around, and when the women reached a certain
point of their recital, they all broke into laughter.
Toward the end of their song, my captor Persune,
gave each of them a newly stolen Government
blanket, which they took, and then went away.
The strangeness and wild novelty of my position
kept me awake until morning, when I fell into a
doze and did not open my eyes until the sun was
shining over the mountains. The next day, Per-
sune went to fight the soldiers, and placed me in
charge of his wife, with her three children. That
same day, mother came up to see us, in company
with a little Indian. On Wednesday, the next
day, Johnson went over to Jack’s camp and
brought back Mrs. Price and baby to live in his
camp. He said he had made it all right with the
other Utes. We did not do anything but lie
around the various camps and listen to the talk of
the squaws whose husbands were away fighting
the soldiers. On Wednesday, and on other days,
one of Sufansesixits’ three squaws put her hand on
‘Poor little girl, I feel so
sorry, for you have not your father, and you are
away off with the Utes so far from home.’ She
cried all the time, and said her own little child
had just died, and her heart was sore. When
Mrs. Price came into camp, another squaw took
her baby, Johnny, into her arms, and said, in Ute,
that she felt very sorry for the captives. Next
day, the squaws and the few Indians who were
there packed up and moved the camp ten or twelve
miles into an exceedingly beautiful valley, with
high mountains all around it. The grass was two
feet high, and a stream of pure, soft water ran
through the valley. The water was so cold I could
hardly drink it. Every night, the Indians, some
of whom had come back from the soldiers, held
councils. Mr. Brady had just come up from the
Uncompahgre Agency with a message from Chief
Ouray for the Indians to stop fighting the soldiers.
He had delivered the message, and this was why
so many had come back. On Sunday, most of
them were in camp, They said they had the
soldiers hemmed in in a cafion, and were merely
guarding them. Persune came back wearing a
pair of blue soldier pantaloons, with yellow stripes
on the legs. He took them off and gave them to
me for a pillow. His legs were well protected with
leggings, and he did not need them. [ asked the
Indians, before Brady came, where the soldiers
They replied that they were still in ‘that
cellar,’ meaning the cajion, and the Indians were
killing their ponies when they went for water in
the night. They said: ‘Indians stay on the
mountains and see white soldiers. White soldiers
my shoulder and said:
were.
or
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158 , HISTORY OF COLORADO.
no see Indians. White soldiers not know how to
fight.’ One of their favorite amusements was to
put on a negro soldier’s cap, a short coat and blue
pants, and imitate the negroes in speech and walk.
I could not help laughing, because they were so
accurate in their personations.
“(On Sunday, they made a pile of sage brush as
large as a washstand, and put soldier’s clothes and
a hat on the pile. Then they danced a war dance
aud sang as they waltzed around it. They were in
their best clothes, with. plumes and fur dancing-
caps made of skunk-skins and grizzly-bear skins,
with ornaments of eagle-feathers. Two or three
began the dance; others joined until a ring as
large as a house was formed. There were some
squaws, and all had knives. They charged upon
the pile of coats with their knives, and pretended
that they would burn the brush. They became
almost insane with frenzy and excitement. The
dance lasted from 2 o’clock until sundown.
Then they took the coats and all went home. On
Sunday night, Jack came and made a big speech;
also Johnson. They said more troops were com-
ing, and they recited what Brady had brought
from Chief Ouray. They were in great commo-
tion, and did not know what to do. They talked
all night, and next morning they struck half their
tents and then put them up again. Part were for
going away, part for staying. Jack’s men were all
day coming into camp. They left on Tuesday for
Grand River, and we had a long ride. The caval-
cade was fully two miles long. The wind blew a
hurricane, and the dust was so thick we could not
see ten feet back in the line, and I could write my
name on my face in the dust. Most of the
Indians had no breakfast, and we traveled all day
without dinner or water. Mother had neither sad-
dle nor stirrups—merely a few thicknesses of can-
vas strapped on the horse’s back, while the young
chiefs pranced around on good saddles. She did
not reach Grand River until after dark, and the
ride, for an invalid and aged woman, was long and
distressing. The camp that night was in the sage
brush.
“On the morning of Wednesday, we moved five
miles down the river. A part of the Agency herd
was driven along with the procession, and a beef
was killed this day. As I was requested to cook
most of the time, and make the bread, I did not
suffer from the filth of ordinary Indian fare. |
While at this* camp, Persune absented himself
three or four days, and brought in three fine
horses and a lot of lead, which he made into bul-
lets. Johnson also had a sack of powder. The
chief amusement of the Indians was running bul-
lets. No whites are admitted to the tents while
the Utes sing their medicine songs over the sick,
but I, being considered one of the family, was |
allowed to remain. When their child was sick
they asked me to sing, which I did. The medi-
cine-man kneels close to the sufferer, with his back
to the spectators, while he sings im a series of
high-keyed grunts, gradually reaching a lower and
more solemn tone. The family join, and at inter-
vals he howls so loudly that one can hear him a
mile; then his voice dies away and only a gur-
gling sound is heard, as if his throat were full of
water. The child lies nearly stripped. The doc-
tor presses his lips against the breast of the sufferer
and repeats the gurgling sound. He sings a few
minutes more and then all turn around and smoke
and laugh and talk. Sometimes the ceremony is
repeated all night. I assisted at two of these |
medicine festivals. Mrs. Price’s children became
expert at singing Ute songs, and sang to each
other on the journey home. The sick-bed cere-
monies were strange and weird, and more interest-
ing than anything I saw in all my captivity of
twenty-three days.
“We stayed on Grand River until Saturday.
The mountains were very high, and the Indians
were on the peaks with glasses watching the sol-
diers. They said they could look down upon the
site of the Agency. Saturday morning, the pro-
gramme was for twenty Utes to go back to White
River, scout around in the mountains and watch
the soldiers; but just as they were about to depart,
there was a terrible commotion, for some of the
or
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HISTORY OF COLORADO. 159
scouts on the mountains had discovered the troops
ten or fifteen miles south of the Agency, advancing
toward our camp. The Indians ran in every direc-
tion. The horses became excited, and, for a time,
hardly a pony could be approached. Johnson flies
into a passion when there is danger. This time,
his horses kicked and confusion was supreme. Mr.
Johnson siezed a whip and laid it over the shoul-
ders of his youngest squaw, named Coose. He
pulled her hair and renewed the lash. Then he
returned to assist his other wife pack, and the
colts ran and kicked. While Mrs. Price and my-
self were watching the scene, a young buck came
up With a gun and threatened to shoot us. We
told him to shoot away. Mrs. Price requested
him to shoot her in the forehead. He said we
were no good squaws, because we would not scare.
We did not move until noon. We traveled till
nightfall, and camped on the Grand River in a
nice, grassy place, under the trees by the water.
The next day was Sunday, and we moved twenty-
five miles south, but mother and Mrs. Price did
not come up for three or four days again. We
camped on the Grand River, under trees. Rain
set in and continued two days and thtee nights. I
did not suffer, for I was in camp ; but mother and
Mrs. Price, who were kept on the road, got soaked
each day. Johnson, who had Mrs. Price, went
beyond us, and all the other Indians behind camped
with Johnson. \ :
“Friday, Johnson talked with Douglass. He
took mother to his tent. Johnson’s oldest wife is
asister of Chief Ouray, and he was kinder than
the others, while his wife cried over the captives
and made the children shoes. Cohae beat his wife
with a club and pulled her hair. I departed, leav-
ing her to pack up. He was an Uncompahgre Ute,
and Ouray will not let him return to hisband. The
Indians said they would stay at this camp, and, if
the soldiers advanced, they would get them in a
cafion and kill them all. They said that neither
the soldiers nor the horses understood the country.
“The Utes were now nearly to the Uncom-
. pahgre district, and could not retreat much further.
Colorow made a big speech, and advised the Indi-
ans to go no further south. We were then removed
one day’s ride to Plateau Creek, a cattle stream
running south out of Grand River. Eight miles
more travel on two other days brought us to the
camping-ground where Gen. Adams found us. It
was near to Plateau Creek, but high up and not
far from the snowy range.
“On Monday night, an Uncompahgre Ute came
and said that the next day Gen. Adams, whom
they called Washington, was coming after the cap-
tives. I felt very glad and told the Indian that I
was ready to go. Next day, about 11 o’clock,
while I was sewing in Persune’s tent, his boy,
about twelve, came in, picked up a buffalo robe
and wanted me to goto bed. I told him I was
not sleepy. Then a squaw came and hung a blan-
ket before the door, and spread both hands to
keep the blanket down so I could not push it
away; but I looked over the top and saw Gen.
Adams and party outside, on horses. The squaw’s
movements attracted their attention and they came
up close. I pushed the squaw aside and walked
out to meet them. They asked my name and dis-
mounted, and said they had come to take us back.
I showed them the tent where mother and Mrs.
Price were stopping, and the General went down,
but they were not in, for, meanwhile, Johnson had
gone to where they were washing, on Plateau
Creek, and told them that a council was to be held
and that they must not come up till it was over.
Dinner was sent to the ladies and they were or-
dered to stay there. About 4 o'clock, when the
council ended, Gen. Adams ordered them to be
brought to him, which was done, and once more
we were together in the hands of friends.
“Gen. Adams started at once for White River,
and we went to Chief Johnson’s and stayed all
night.
“The next morning we left for Uncompahgre,
in charge of Capt. Cline and Mr. Sherman. The
Captain had served as a scout on the Potomac, and
Mr. Sherman is chief clerk at Los Pinos Agency.
To these gentlemen we were indebted for a safe
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HISTORY OF COLORADO.
and rapid journey to Chief Ouray’s house, on
Uncompahgre River, near Los Pinos. We rode
on ponies, forty miles the first day, and reached
Capt. Cline’s wagon, on a small tributary of the
Grand. Here we took the buckboard wagon.
Traveled next day to the Gunnison River, and the
next and last day of fear we traveled forty miles,
and reached the house of good Chief Ouray about
sundown. Here Inspector Pollock and my brother
Ralph met me, and I was happy enough. Chief
Ouray and his noble wife did everything possible
to make us comfortable. We found carpets on the
floor and curtains on the windows, lamps on the
tables and stoves in the rooms, with fires burning.
We were given a whole house, and after supper
we went to bed and slept without much fear,
though mother was still haunted by the terrors
she had passed through. Mrs. Ouray shed tears
over us as she bade us good-bye. Then we took
the mail wagons and stages for home. Three
days and one night of constant travel over two
ranges of snowy mountains, where the road was
11,000 feet above the sea, brought us to the beau-
tiful park of San Luis. We crossed the Rio
Grande River at daylight, for the last time, and, a
moment later, the stage and its four horses dashed
up a street and we stopped before a hotel with
green blinds, and the driver shouted ‘ Alamosa.’
“The moon was shining brightly, and Mt.
Blanca, the highest peak in Colorado, stood out
grandly from the four great ranges that sur-
rounded the park. Mother could hardly stand.
She had to be lifted from the coach; but when
she caught sight of the cars of the Rio Grande
Railroad, and‘when she saw the telegraph poles,
her eyes brightened, and she exclaimed, ‘Now I
feel safe.’”
Mrs. Meeker and Mrs. Price also published state-
ments of their individual experiences, but, in the
main, they corresponded with the foregoing, except
that both bore testimony tothe coolnessand unflinch-
ing courage of Miss Meeker in the presence of
every danger, even in the awful ordeal through
which they passed at the Agency on the day of the
massacre, and subsequently when the “brave”
Chief Douglass pointed his gun at her head and
flourished his scalping-knife in her face. Douglass
had sent a magniloquent message to Chief Ouray
that the women and children were “safe” under
his protection, also that the papers and money of
Mr. Meeker had been turned over to Mrs. Meeker.
When the truth became known, it appeared that
Douglass was not only guilty of persecuting the
prisoners but actually had stolen Mrs. Meeker’s
little store of money! Wily old Ouray knew that
such petty meanness would be quoted against his
tribe, and demanded that the money be returned,
but it was not handed over until some time after-
ward. It is generally believed that Ouray, failing
to recover the money from Douglass, paid it out of
his own pocket and represented that it came from
Douglass.
When Miss Meeker told the story of her cap-
tivity to the people of Denver, she introduced
some facts and incidents not noted in her New
York Herald narrative. She was particularly
happy in her description of Indian habits and cus-
toms, upon which topic she enlarged considerably.
She also gave an interesting account of a visit paid
to her in secret by a Uintah Ute, whom she de-
scribed as being aremarkably bright and intelligent
savage, and almost gentlemanly in his demeanor—
quite a romantic savage, indeed. He did not, how-
ever, make any effort or promise to secure her
release, further than that he volunteered to carry,
and did carry, a message from her to the Agent of
the Uintahs. He asked her many questions about
the outbreak, the massacre, her captivity, her treat-
ment by the Indians, and, with the skill of a first-
class criminal lawyer, elicited all the information
she had upon these various subjects. He was law-
yer-like, too, in his own reticence and non-commit-
talism. He simply listened. After hearing her
story, he went off, agreeing to return in the morn-
ing for the letter which he was to carry to the
Agency.
Miss Meeker was not supplied with writing mate-
rials, and the suspicious Indians refused to let her
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HISTORY OF COLORADO. 161
have such as they happened to possess, which were, | would bemoan his unhappy fate, and blame Father
in fact, rather infinitesimal. Finally, Susan, wife | Meeker for bringing on the Agency troubles. The
of Chief Johnson and sister of Ouray, afterward | loss of his Agency supplies seemed to weigh upon
to become famous under her new sobriquet of | him heavily, and frequently he would repeat:
“God bless Susan,” whose kindness to the captives | “ Douglass heap poor Indian now.”
was a bright oasis in the desert of their misery, Brady, the white messenger sent by Ouray with
managed to secure the stub of an old lead pencil | orders to the White River Utes to stop fighting,
for Miss Meeker, and the latter found a scrap of | was not permitted to see the captives at all, or to
paper, upon which she wrote the following message: ) communicate with them. Miss Meeker heard of
Gnanp River (forty to fifty miles from Agency), _} bis arrival, and asked to see him, but was told that
October 10, 1879. he was “heap too much hurry” to make any calls
He the Chatah: Agents of state or ceremony. ;
T send vhs Oy one of your Indians, It yeu getiatdo Taken altogether, the captivity of the Meekers
all in your power to liberate us as soon as possible. I : is
do not think they will let us go of their own accord. and Mra, Price has no redeeming feature, save the
You will do me a great service to inform Mary Meeker, fact that they were ultimately released, and their
at Greeley, Colorado, that we are well, and may get | release, as already shown, was not the willing act
home some time. Yours, ete. of their captors, but a sort of military necessity,
JosePHine MEEKER, : whereby it was hoped not only to check the ad-
U.S. Indian Agent's daughter. | vance of the troops, but also to pave the way for a
The gentle Douglass proved to be an angel of | peaceable solution of the pending difficulty. The
very variable temper. When drunk, he was vapor- | horrors of their captivity were dreadful enough,
ous and insulting; but after a debauch, he was a | even without the crowning horror which they so
whining and insipid savage. At such times, he | narrowly escaped.
CHAPTER VIII.
UPE ATROCITIES IN COLORADO.
i Ge the early days of Colorado’s history, the Utes | individuals. In fact, there scarcely has been a time
were not particularly troublesome. It is re- | since the first settlement of Colorado when they
lated that a small force of United States soldiers, | have not been an annoyance. The greater share
under command of Maj. Ormsby, once had an | of trouble has, however, been due to the southern
engagement previous to 1860, with a band of Utes | bands of the tribe, while the White River Utes
near Pike’s Peak, and that the soldiers were victo- | have been, upon the whole, peaceably inclined.
rious. Fort Garland, in Costilla County, was | Colorow and Piah and their bands have proven
built for the purpose of protecting the country | exceptions, but they did not for years cause serio
against any outbreak of the Utes. Quite a num- | trouble until in 1878. :
ber of them went to war early in the sixties, but The Utes cannot make complaint against the
old Kit Carson, being in command there, succeeded | whites with the force usually brought to bear on
in pacifying them without bloodshed. Since then, | the subject by the aborigines. They have not
the Utes have been moderately peaceable as a | been persecuted by settlers. In fact, the white
whole, though they have always been more or less | settlers have been an actual protection to the Utes.
troublesome, especially in ‘small bands and as | When the white people came into this country,
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HISTORY OF COLORADO.
the Utes and the Plains Indians, the Cheyennes
and the Arapahoes, were deadly enemies, and the
Plains Indians were generally considered the supe-
riors of the Utes as Indian fighters. The whites
were compelled, for their own protection, to rid the
country of the Arapahoes and Cheyennes, and in
doing so they also relieved the Utes. Hence the
latter tribe owe the whites a real debt of gratitude.
The Utes have never made any attack upon
large parties of ‘whites except once. It was in
1872 that a party of eleven white men, under the
leadership of John Le Fevre, ventured into North
Park prospecting. One day, a majority of the
party went out to kill game enough to eat, and,
while out, very unexpectedly ran upon a band of
fifty Utes, under the leadership of the infamous
old renegade Colorow. The party were met face
to face by the Indians, who seemed to have
planned the meeting.
“Here! dam! you shoot my antelope.”
“Qh, no! Only one to eat.”
“Yes, you do; you heap dam lie.”
The whites insisted that they were not unneces-
sarily butchering the antelope. But Colorow said
that if the whites were not out of the park the
next day he would scalp all of them. There was
one sick man with them. Colorow said he could
have twenty sleeps and then he must go. Le
Fevre and one man took the hint and left. None
But eight skele-
tons were found in the locality in which they had
been left, a few years afterward; and some time
after this discovery another pile of bones accounted
for the ninth. A note pinned on the door of the
cabin in which the sick man had been confined,
completed the story. He stated that Colorow had
been about a great deal, that he had threatened to
kill all hands, and that he, the writer, never ex-
pected to see the land of the white man. There is
no doubt in the minds of any of the old inhabi-
tants of North or Middle Park but what Colorow
killed the nine men who were following the
legitimate pursuit of prospecting in a country near
the Ute country, but to which they had no earthly
of the others were seen again.
claim. Many other small parties have been
threatened just as this was, and doubtless would
have met with the same horrible fate had they not
concluded that prudence was the better part of
valor, and left at his command. There is no use
in disguising the fact, the Indians are a drawback
to the State, and people who venture out upon our
frontier, whether they cross the line or not, are in
It has been but a little over two years
since, in La Plata County, the ‘southern half of
the tribe were making demonstrations which, if the
culprits had been white men, would have entitled
them to a term in the penitentiary, or to have their
bodies swinging in the air. It was nothing for a
lone white man to be stopped and threatened- In
1875, a man was killed in cold blood in South
Park.
There are few Colorado people that do not
remember the fate of poor Joe McLane. Joe was
decoyed off and murdered by a band of Utes, near
Cheyenne Wells, over a hundred miles east of
Denver, and three or four hundred miles from the
Ute reservation, showing that people are not safe in
any part of the State when those Indians are
about. This same band, under the leadership of
Shevenau, Washington, Piah and Colorow, fled to
Middle Park, where they continued their devilish |-
work by robbing and threatening, which was only
cut short when one of the Indians had a bullet put
through his body. In their flight, they deliber-
erately stopped on the road and shot an inoffensive,
quiet old man named Elliott, who had for years
lived a next-door neighbor to them, and who had
never done a single act to provoke them. The
whole State was alarmed, and the military was
called out. The result was great fear among the
frontier settlers, a fortnight’s campaign in the
mountains, and heavy expenses. This occurred in
August, 1878—one year ago.
The following meager outline of crimes recently
published, will bear repetition here:
Killing of three miners in North Park in 1860.
Murder of G. P. Marksberry near Florissant,
El Paso Co., Colo., 1874.
danger.
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HISTORY OF COLORADO.
163
Murder of “ Old Man”, Elliott on Grand River,
near Hot Sulphur Springs, 1878.
Burning of house and blacksmith-shop belong-
ing to W. N. Byers, at Hot Sulphur Springs,
Grand Co., Colo., 1875.
Burning of Frank Marshal’s house, corral and
fence at “ Marston Tourrs,” Egeria Park, 1875.
Burning of Richard Weber’s house at foot of
Gore Range, 1875.
Burning of houses, corral and fence belonging
to John Jay and Asa L. Fly, on Bear River,
Colorado, 1875.
Burning of John Tow’s house on Bear River,
1875.
Burning of W. Springer’s house, corral and
fences on Bear River, 1875.
Burning of D. G. Whiting’s house, stable, cor-
ral, fences and hay, on Bear River, 1876.
Burning of T. H. Iles’ hay, on Bear River,
1876. :
Burning of G. C. Smart’s cabin on Bear River,
1879.
Burning of houses and hay belonging to A. H.
Smart and J. B. Thompson, on Bear River,
1879.
Destruction of pine timber in and about North,
Middle and KEgeria Parks, 1879. Estimated
value, $10,000,000.
Destruction of 100,000 acres of grass in the
parks and on Bear and Snake Rivers.
Indiscriminate slaughter of elk, deer and ante-
lope out of season, and merely for the hides.
But the Mecker massacre was the crowning in-
famy, and the most earnest desire of the people of
Colorado is that the assassins should be punished,
and that right speedily. So many crimes of the
Indians have been condoned, or only winked at by
the Government, which assumes the prerogative of
dealing with the Indians directly, instead of leav-
ing them in the hands of the courts, that Colorado
has had enough, and more than enough, of such
business. If any foreign power, however high and
mighty, had massacred Meeker alone, to say noth-
ing of his associates, the United States would have
demanded and exacted instant reparation, instead
of appointing peace commissioners to “ investigate”
the affair, and, if possible, to “arrest” the mur-
derers. Father Meeker was dear to the people of
Colorado, and his untimely and awful taking-off was
a terrible shock even to those long accustomed to
Indian duplicity, treachery and barbarity.
The following sketch of Mr. Meeker’s life will
serve to show that he was no ordinary man, and it
will be found interesting. It was written before
the news of his death was received:
“ Nathan ©. Meeker, the Agent at White River,
is about sixty-four years of age. He was born in
Euclid, Ohio, near Cleveland. The place is now
known as Callamer. At an early age, he began to
write poems and stories for the magazines. When
he was still in his boyhood, he traveled on foot
most of the way to New Orleans, where he arrived
without money or letters of recommendation. He
succeeded in getting work on the local staff of one
of the city papers, which barely gave him a living.
Ina year or two, ke returned to Cleveland, and
taught school until he could earn. enough to pay
his way to New York, whither he went with the
friendship of George D. Prentice, whom he had
met during his Southern trayels. In New York,
he was encouraged by N. P. Willis, and he con-
tributed poems and sketches regularly to the New
York Mirror, a literary journal edited by Willis,
and which attracted considerable attention from
good writers of that day. The young man’s style
was quaint and somewhat melancholy, and his
poems were copied, but he could scarcely earn bread
to eat, and his sufferings were so great that he
abandoned poetry for the rest of his life. He man-
aged to raise money enough to enable him to pro-
ceed on foot to Pennsylvania, where he taught
school and continued his literary studies. After-
ward, he returned to Ohio, and, in 1844, when
about thirty years old, married the daughter of Mr.
Smith, a retired sea captain, at Claridon, and took
his bride to what was known as the Trumbull Pha-
lanx, which was just being organized at Braceville,
near Warren, Ohio. The society was a branch of
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HISTORY OF COLORADO.
the Brook Farm and the North American Phalanx,
of which Hawthorne, Curtis and Greeley were
leading members. The Ohio Phalanx was com-
posed of young and ardent admirers of Fourier, the
socialist. There wasno free love, but the members
lived in a village, dined at common tables, dwelt in
separate cottages, and worked in the community
fields together and allowed the procceds of all their
earnings to go into a common fund. Manufactor-
ies were established, the soil was fertile, and pros-
perity would have followed had all the members
been honest and the climate healthful.
ague ran riot with the weeds, and the most ignor-
ant and avaricious of the Arcadian band began to
absorb what really belonged to the weaker ones, who
did most of the hard labor. Mr. Meeker, who was
one of the chief workers, was glad to get away alive
with his wife and two boys, the youngest of whom
was born shaking with the ague. Mr. Meeker was
the librarian and chief literary authority of the
community, but he lost most of his books, and
when he reached his Cleveland home he had but a
few dollars. In company with his brothers, he
opened a small store and began business on a
‘worldly’ basis; and he prospered so that he was
invited to join another community, the disciples
and followers of Alexander Campbell, a Scotch-
Irishman, the founder of the religious sect the
members of which are sometimes called ‘ Camp-
bellites.” Gen. Garfield is a follower of this
faith, and he became a fellow-townsman of Mr.
Meeker. The ‘disciples’ were building a large
college at Hiram, Ohio, and Mr. Meeker moved
his store thither and received the patronage of the
school and church. While there, he wrote a book
called ‘The Adventures of Captain Armstrong.’
“Tn 1856, when the great panic came, he lost
nearly everything. Then he moved to Southern
Illinois, and, with the remnant of his goods, opened
a small store near Dongola, in Union County. For
several years his boys ‘ran’ the store, while he
worked a small farm and devoted his spare hours
to literature. His correspondence with the Cleve-
land Plaindealer attracted the attention of Arte-
Fever and
mas Ward, and the result was a warm personal |.
friendship. When the war broke out, he wrote a |.
letter to the Tribune on the Southwestern political
leaders and the resources of the Mississippi Val- |.
ley. Horace Greeley telegraphed to A. D. Rich- |.
ardson, who was in charge of the Tribune at Cairo, |:
this dispatch :
“¢ Meeker is the man we want.’
ard Gay engaged him, and, after serving as a war
correspondent at Fort Donelson and other places, |:
at the close of the war, Mr. Meeker was called to
New York to take charge of the agricultural de-. |,
partment and do general editorial work on the |’
He wrote a book entitled “ Life in the |,
West,” and his articles on the Oncida Community | |
Tribune.
were copied into leading German, French and
other European journals. In 1869, he was sent to
write up the Mormons; but finding the roads he-
yond Cheyenne blockaded with snow, he turned
southward and followed the Rocky Mountains
down to the foot of Pike’s Peak, where he was so
charmed with the Garden of the Gods and the un-
surpassed scenery of that lovely region, where
birds were singing and grasses growing in the
mountains, ‘that he said, if he could persuade a
dozen families to go thither, he would take his wife
and girls to live and die there.
dining at the Delmonico when he heard of it.
“¢Tell Meeker,” exclaimed he, ‘to go ahead. I
will back him with the Tribune.’
“ A letter was printed, a meeting held, subscrip- | |
tions invited, and $96,000 were forwarded to the
Treasurer immediately. Mr. Meeker’ was elected
President of the colony, and Horace Greeley made
Treasurer. So many applications were sent in
that it was thought a larger tract of Jand would be
needed than seemed to be free from incumbrance
at Pike’s Peak. Several miles square of land were
bought on the Cache-la-Poudre River, where the
town of Greeley now stands, and several hundred
families were established in what had been styled
‘The Great American Desert.’ Horace Greeley’s
one exhortation was:
“Tell Meeker to have no fences nor rum.”
Sidney How- |
Mr. Greeley was
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: HISTORY OF COLORADO. 165
“On this basis the colony was founded. To-day,
Greeley has 3,000 population, 100 miles of irrigat-
ing canals, a fine graded school, and is the capital
of a county 160 miles long.
“Mr. Meeker’ went to the White River Agency
with his wife and youngest daughter, Josephine,
who taught the young Indians, and was a general
favorite. Mr. William H. Post, of Yonkers, was
his ‘boss farmer’ and general assistant. Mr. Post
had been a competent and very popular Secretary
of the Greeley Colony. He was at the Agency at’
. the time of the outbreak.
“Mr. Meeker’s plan was to have the Indians
raise crops and support themselves in an improved
way. He encouraged them to live in log houses
and have some of the miscellaneous conveniences
of civilization. Mr. Meeker’s family consists of
three daughters and one son. Two of the
daughters, Mary and Rose, are at the homestead
in Greeley, while Josephine, aged twenty-two, is
supposed to have shared the fate of the father
and mother, both of whom are of venerable
years.”
All that could be said against Father Meeker
was, that his rugged honesty and almost Puritanic
devotion to principle, instead of “ policy,” unfitted
him for Indian management on the most successful
plan. He was inflexibly just, rather than preter-
naturally kind. He would not compromise with
wrong, or what he thought to be wrong. Perhaps
his idle, dissolute and vicious wards did find his
words bitter at times, but his heart was softer than
his tongue. He might rebuke them for their mis-
deeds, but he would have shared his last crust
with them with equal pleasure.
It is a singular fact that the foregoing cama of
Ute depredations in Colorado includes but one sol-
itary instance in which the Indians suffered at the
hands of the whites. One Ute was shot in Middle
Park, inthesummer of 1878, by a party of ranchmen,
who had banded together for protection from the inso-
lence of marauding Indians. The rest of the
gang suddenly departed from the Park, but as
they rode past Mr. Elliott’s ranch they saw the
old gentleman standing peaceably in his doorway,
and shot him down as they would a deer or a dog.
CHAPTER IX.
THE ‘“‘PEACE COMMISSION” FARCE.
HIS record closes in the last half of Decem-
ber. Nearly three months have elapsed
since the Thornburg fight and the Meeker mas-
sacre. The captives were released two months
ago. Merritt’s magnificent army still waits at the
ruins of the White River Agency, and Gen.
Hatch’s soldiers are still spoiling for a fight down
south. The hostile Indians are quiescent, but are
still resting on their arms and the laurels of their
late victories. Nothing is being done toward wip-
ing out the miserable murderers, but a “ Peace
Commission” has been taking Indian testimony
at the Los Pinos Agency.
Of all the dreary, disgusting farces ever played
in Colorado, this has been the worst, and the white
members of the Commission have been nearly if
not quite as much disgusted with their work as
have the people of the State. Acting not only
under instructions but by daily direction of the
Interior Department, the Commissioners have had
neither choice nor discretion as to what they should
do or leave undone.
The Commission, as constituted by appointment
of Mr. Secretary Schurz, consisted of Gen. Hatch,
who was elected President of the Board; Gen.
Adams, nominal Secretary, and Chief Ouray, who
represented the Indians. Besides the Commis-
sioners, there was a sort of Judge Advocate Gen-
eral, in the person of Lieut. Valois, of Gen.
Hatch’s staff, and an official stenographer.
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166 HISTORY OF COLORADO.
The Commission was created at the instance of
Chief Ouray, who assured Gen. Adams that, if
permitted an opportunity, he would ferret out
every Indian concerned in the uprising, and turn
them all over to the Government for such punish-
ment as it saw fit to inflict upon them. This
apparently generous offer was well calculated to
satisfy the heads of the Indian Bureau, and was
accepted with a flourish of Schurz trumpets, as an
evidence that the Utes were “good Indians” at
heart, and deeply regretted the unfortunate occur-
rences at the Agency and Milk River.
The Commissioners received notice of their ap-
pointment immediately after the return of Gen.
Adams from his pilgrimage in search of the pris-
ers, and Ouray agreed to have the hostile Indians
in his camp within ten days. The ten days would
expire Saturday, November 8, and the first meet-
ing of the Commission was fixed for that day at the
Los Pinos Agency. Gen. Adams came north in
thesinterim, and took the written and sworn testi-
mony of Mrs. and Miss Meeker and Mrs. Price,
| at Greeley, soon after they had reached home from
their captivity.
Returning immediately south, Gen. Adams
reached Los Pinos about the time for the first
session of the peacemakers, but Gen. Hatch was
detained until the Wednesday following, and the
work of the Commission dates from November 12.
The first sessions of the Commission were not
marked: by any wonderful revelations of fact by
the Indian witnesses, but, on the contrary, their
dense ignorance of what had happened up north
was something fearful to be contemplated. Before’
testifying to anything, they required the dismissal
of Mr. McLane, who had accompanied (Cen.
Hatch to the Agency. Their antipathy to McLane
resulted very Indianaturally from the fact that, last
summer, they had murdered his brother on the
plains, east of Denver, and suspected that his
visit to the Agency boded no good to his brother’s
murderers. It should be borne in mind, too, that
they did not know, except inferentially, what
McLane was there for, but they didn’t want him
there on general principles. Gen. Hatch held that
McLane was there as a witness, and had as much
right to remain as the Indian witnesses, but Adams
and Ouray said that Mr. McLane should go, to
please the Indians. Hewent. First blood for the
Utes.
After the solitary white witness had been
bounced, the Indians began testifying, the Com-
mission sitting with closed doors and most of the
witnesses with closed mouths. They were the
“squaw Indians,” as those engaged in the Agency
massacre were designated to distinguish them from |
the fighting men who, under Chief Jack, defeated
Thornburg. These squaw Indians were the fol-
lowers of Douglass and Johnson, principally. The
testimony of the late captives had directly impli-
cated most of them in the massacre, but when
they took the witness’ stand and the Ute oath (the
latter with great solemnity, to all outside appear-
ances), most of them swore, with equal solemnity,
that they had never heard of the massacre and
didn’t know Mr. Meeker was dead. The following
burlesque report of Johnson’s examination is but a
trifling exaggeration of the actual facts:
THE PEACE COMMISSION.
Grapevine Telegram to Laramie Times :
Los Pros, Colo., November 17, 1879.
Chief Johnson was again called to the stand this.
/ morning, and administered the following oath to
himself, in a solemn and awe-inspiring manner:
“ By the Great Horn Spoons of the Paleface
and the Great Round-faced Moon, round as
the shield of my fathers; by the Great High
Muck-a-Muck of the Ute Nation; by the Beard
of the Prophet; by the Continental Congress and
the Sword of Bunker Hill, I dassent tell a lie!”
When Johnson had repeated this solemn oath,
at the same time making the grand hailing sign of
the secret order known as the Thousand and One,
there was not a dry eye or seat in the house. Even
Gen. Adams, who is accustomed to the most
ghastly, bloody forms of horrible death on the
gory battle-field, sobbed like a little half-fare child.
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HISTORY OF COLORADO.
167
Question by Gen. Adams—What is your name,
and where do you reside?
Answer—My name is Johnson—just plain
Johnson. The rest has been torn off. I am by
occupation a farmer. I am a horny-handed son of
toil, and don’t you forget it. I reside in Greeley,
Colo.
@.—Did you or did you not hear of a massacre
at the White River Agency during the fall, and if
so, how much?
Objected to by defendants’ counsel, because it is
irrelevant, immaterial, unconstitutional and incon-
gruous. Most of the forenoon was spent in arguing
the point before the court; but it was allowed to
goin, whereupon defendants’ counsel asked to have
the exception noted on the court moments.
A.—I did not hear of the massacre until last
evening, when I happened to pick up an old paper
and read about it. It was a very sad affair, I
should think, from what the paper said.
Q.—Were you or were not present at the
massacre ?
Objected to by defendants’ counsel, on the
ground that the witness is not bound to answer a
question which would criminate himself. Objection
sustained, and question withdrawn by prosecution.
@.—Where were you on the night that this
massacre is said to have occurred ?
A,—What massacre ?
Q.—The one at White River Agency.
A—I was attending a series of protracted
meetings at Greeley, in this State.
Q.—Were Douglass, Colorow and other Ute
chiefs with you at Greeley ?
A,.—They were.
Court adjourned for dinner. Gen. Adams re-
marked to a reporter that he was getting down to
business now, and that he had no doubt that, in
the course of a few months, he would vindicate
Schurz’s policy and convict all those Utes of false-
hood in the first degree.
After dinner, court was called, with Johnson
still at the bat, Douglass on deck, Gen. Adams
short-stop, and Ouray center field.
@.—You say you were not present at the
massacre at White River; were you ever engaged
in any massacre ?
Objected to, but objection afterward withdrawn.
A.—No.
Q.—Never?
A.—Never.
Q.—What! never?
A.—Well, dam seldom.
Great applause and cries of “Ugh!”
@.—Did you or did you not know a man named
N. ©. Meeker, or Father Meeker ?
A.—Yes.
Q.—Go on and state if you know where you
met him, and at what time.
A.—I met him at Greeley, two or three years
ago. After that, I heard he got appointed Indian
Agent somewhere out West.
Q.—Did you ever hear anything of him after
that? \
A.—Nothing whatever.
Q.—Did the account of the White River mas-
sacre which you read mention the death of Mr.
Meeker ?
A.—No. Is he dead?
Gen. Adams.—Yes, he is dead.
At that announcement the witness gave a wild
whoop of pain and anguish, fell forward into the
arms of Gen. Adams and is still unconscious as
we go to press.
We do not wish to censure Gen. Adams. No
doubt he is conducting the investigation to the
best of his ability; but he ought to break such.
news to the Indians as gently as possible.
Ridiculous as this nonsense may sound, it was
almost duplicated a few days later by the testimony
of Sowerwick, an Indian upon whom Gen. Adams
relied for “reliable” testimony. Sowerwick said
that he knew nothing and had heard nothing
about any trouble at the Agency; whereupon
Adams asked him how the women and children
happened to be captives in the Indian camp. He
denied all knowledge of the captives, too, though
Adams had met him and talked with him when
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168
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
the prisoners were recovered, and Sowerwick had
taken an active part in the council which was held
before the prisoners were surrendered.
Said Adams, “ Now, Sowerwick, didn’t I meet
you in the captive camp, on Plateau Creek, and /
didn’t I talk with you in your own tent about the
women and children?”
The innocent savage turned half around to look
Adams in the eye, and unblushingly answered,
“No.”
It was a monumental falsehood, for Adams had
known Sowerwick intimately for years, and could
not possibly be mistaken. Moreover, the Indian
had not denied or attempted to conceal his iden-
tity at the time mentioned, but had met Adams as
an old friend whom he was glad to see, even under .
circumstances which, ordinarily, might be embar- ;
rassing.
Of course nothing was gained by such testi-
mony, and finally Gen. Hatch refused to hear any
more of it. Ouray was also terribly disgusted,
but was powerless to compel the Indians to testify.
They were afraid to say anything, lest they should .
give themselves away. They were terribly suspi-
cious of the Commission, and Ouray was com-
pelled to guard the white men at the Agency, to
save them from assassination. Richelieu was com-
pletely nonplused. He begged for time, which
was granted him, and which he used in haranguing
the Indians, but to no avail. The story of the
Agency massacre never passed their lips.
The testimony of the captives was read to
Ouray, and objected to by him as “ squaw-talk.”
Hatch and Adams, however, said the testimony
should stand unless disproved by the Indians im-
plicated. Another lease of time was asked and
granted by direction of Schurz.
Days dragged into weeks and weeks dragged
away. At last Ouray announced a grand coup.
Jack and Colorow were coming in. They came.
They mounted the witness stand. They acknowl-
edged their leadership in the attack on Thorn-
burg, and told the story of the fight—told it
straight, too, but of course laid all the blame on
poor dead and gone Thornburg. They didn’t
want to fight; oh no. They were driven into the
battle by a stress of unfortunate circumstances,
over which they had no control. If they had
been printers, no doubt they would have called it |
a typographical error.
Finally, after exhausting the story of the Milk
River “accident,” they were asked about the
Meeker massacre, and every ear was strained to
hear the first syllable of their reply. The first
syllable was “katch.” It was also the last and
the, middle and the whole answer.
no English synonym ; it is too expressive for that.
It means, in a general way, that the spcaker has
no information on the subject, and nothing to say.
And thus ignominiously was ended the hearing of
testimony by the Ute Peace Commission—testi-
mony as valueless as can be imagined.
There was great curiosity in Colorado to know
why Jack and Colorow came forward and testified so
freely about the Thornburg fight; but curiosity
was soon exchanged for disgust when it became
known that they testified under a guarantee of
immunity from punishment. It appeared that an
arrangement was effected between Schurz, Ouray
and Jack (a sort of tripartite alliance), by which
Jack and his band were to be whitewashed, pro-
vided they came forward and testified and consented
to the surrender of the “ squaw Indians,’ Doug-
lass, Johnson, et al., or, rather, the surrender of
twelve of them named by the captives as partici-
pants in the Agency massacre. But the crafty
savages, as usual, got the best of Mr. Schurz.
They only testified to what he knew already, and
to what everybody knew. They paused at the
very point where their testimony might have
proved valuable.
The next question was in relation to the surren-
der of the twelve assassins already spotted, and
more time was asked, as usual, and, as usual, was
given—by orders from Washington. The Indians
assembled at Ouray’s house and deliberated for
several days, varying the monotony by an occa-
sional war-dance, in which Ouray (although,
“Watch” has |
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HISTORY OF COLORADO. 169
nominally, one of the “Peace” Commissioners)
joined, in full war-paint and feathers.
Finally, the Commission was reconvened to hear
the verdict of the defendants. The Indians came
in heavily armed, and filled the council-room.
Ouray announced the ultimatum. The twelve
would be surrendered, provided they could be tried
at Washington. Colorado justice had no charms
for them. Colorado was all against the Utes.
The Commission was against them. Adams and
Hatch were their enemies. The poor Indians had
no friends this side of Washington. The twelve
must be tried there, and a delegation of chiefs,
headed by Ouray, must go and see fair play, talk
with the President, and have a good time generally.
Adams withdrew in disgust, but that stern war-
rior, Gen. Hatch, opened out on the Indians with
:
EEPLY disappointed, not only with the
results of the negotiations just noted, but
still more deeply at the failure of the Government
to allow the troops an opportunity of settling with
the still hostile Utes, the eyes of the people turned
naturally to Congress, as a court of last resort,
where the foul wrongs which they had suffered
would be atoned in some measure. They were pre-
pared, by the experiences of the past few weeks,
to see the Meeker and Thornburg assassins go un-
punished, but they insisted that Colorado could no
longer shelter the savages whose hands were still
steeped in blood.
Congress assembled on the 1st day of Decem-
ber. Senators Teller and Hill and Representative
Belford were in attendance, and, early in the ses-
sion, introduced several separate measures for the
removal of the Utes from Colorado, claiming, in
general terms, that the Indians had forfeited their
rights under the Brunot treaty, by which they
bound themselvey to live in peace with the whites.
CHAPTER X.
THE UTE QUESTION
undisguised bitterness. His remarks were inter-
rupted by Colorow drawing his knife and throwing |.
it down on the floor—the gauge of battle. Every
other Indian drew a knife or revolver, but as the
whites present made no answering demonstration,
no conflict resulted.
The conference broke up in disorder, and the
Indian demand was telegraphed to Washington,
whence the answer came back that the ignomini-
ous terms must be accepted. Further time
was then demanded for the surrender of the
twelve, and that, too, was granted. It has now
expired, however, and the surrender has not been
made, though Ouray still promises that it shall
be done. Perhaps it will, as the twelve have
little to fear from the results of a trial—at Wash-
ington.
IN CONGRESS.
Judge Belford’s bill for their removal did not sug-
gest any asylum for the assassins, but simply pro-
vided that they must depart from Colorado. Sena-
tor Teller introduced a joint resolution to the same
effeat. Senator Hill’s measure authorized the
President to treat with them, with a view to their
removal. It would have been better, perhaps, if the
three movements had been consolidated in a simple
demand for their removal, leaving all else out of
consideration.
The first opposition to the bill came from West-
ern and Southern members, who suspected that
the design was to remove the Utes to the Indian
Territory. This was met and silenced by a pro-
viso that the Indian Territory should not be
selected for their residence.
Then the real opposition to their removal'to any
point began to be manifested in various forms.
The question was raised as to whether the South-
ern tribes had done anything to demand their
removal from the State. Then somebody wanted
A
oe
“vo
170 HISTORY OF COLORADO.
to know whether the outbreak had not been the
natural result of “encroachments” on the reserva-
tion. Secretary. Schurz and Commissioner Hayt
were each on record with statements that the
miners were crowding the poor Indians uncomfort-
ably on their 12,000,000 acres.
This was, of course, vigorously disputed, not
only by the Colorado delegation but by many
other members who knew, by personal observation,
how false it was. Many Congressmen had visited
Colorado during the summer, and each one of
them sided with our own members.
Senator Teller introduced a resolution requiring
the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to substantiate
his statement that miners were on the reservation
by detailed accounts of the “ encroachments ” to
which he had referred in his report to Congress.
The resolution directed him not only to specify the
violations of the Brunot Treaty by white settlers,
but also to state what steps, if any, the Indian
Bureau had taken to protect the reservation, as
required by the treaty “and such other informa-
tion as was in his possession,” for the information
of the Senate.
To this resolution there has been no response, as
yet, and none is expected—for the sufficient reason
that the Commissioner of Indian Affairs cannot
point to one violation of the treaty by white men.
The Utes have looked out for that themselves. It
has been death for a white man to violate the
treaty.
As a part of the history of Colorado Indian
troubles, and to show the temper of Congress on
the question, the following report of one of the
debates in the House of Representatives is repro-
duced :
“ WASHINGTON, December 19.—In the House
yesterday, the Chairman of the Committee on In-
dian Affairs reported back the Senate bill author-
izing the Secretary of the Interior to negotiate
with the Ute Indians for the relinquishment of
their reservation in Colorado, and their removal
and settlement, with amendments requiring the con-
sent of the Indians to the cession of any part of
civilization had reached the boundaries of the Ute
their reservation, and providing that no agreement
shall be valid unless agreed to by three-fourths of
all adult males who have not forfeited their treaty
rights, and unless confirmed by Congress.
“ Mr. Springer said the time had arrived when
reservation, and all efforts to preserve peace there
would be futile in the future. Congress must Idok,
then, at the question squarely, fairly and plainly,
and must decide it in the interest of justice. He
did not believe in treating with the Indians as
equals; he believed in the policy of regarding the
whole of the lands within the limits of jurisdiction
as public domain, and Indians as citizens of the
United States, and of teaching them to obey the
law, and to understand that, when they killed inno-
cent persons, they were guilty of murder.
“Mr. Belford stated that the Ute reservation, in
Colorado, consisted of 12,000,000 acres, or 4,000
for every man, woman and child, in the Ute tribe.
He was opposed to the committee amendments to
the Senate bill, and he predicted that if they were
adopted, that next year would witness a renewal of
the conflict which had recently attracted the atten-
tion of the country. He challenged Conger, or
any officer of the Interior Department, to point
his finger to a complaint ever made by the
Ute Indians against the people of Colorado. If
those amendments were adopted, as certain as God
reigned above, next spring the teeming thousands
which would pour into Colorado would cross the
line of that reservation, and would prospect the
mountains for mineral wealth, and the Government
would not have the power to arrest the progress of
the vast tribe. If the Government desired to pre-
vent war and protect the people of Colorado, it
must provide some method that would secure the
removal of the Indians from the State. In com-
ing to Washington to take his seat, he had passed
through large States, every acre of which has been
stolen from the Indians; and, the gentleman said, || _...
‘while our fathers robbed the Indians, we want you
to belong to the goody class of people in the West.’
He called the attention of Conger. to the fact that
or
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»
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
173
the report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs
for 1878, showed that more frauds had been com-
mitted against the Indians in Michigan than in any
other State or Territory.
“ Mr. Hooker said that Belford and Springer pro-
posed, in violation of the most solemn treaties, to
rob the Indians of the territory which had been
conceded to them by the Government. If they
were a powerful nation, with a great army at their
backs which could point cannon at their faces and
demand justice, these gentlemen would not dare to
take the position they do. He held the Govern-
ment was powerful enough to do what was right,
and to see that justice was done, even though the
people who demand it demand it in the name of
law and moral right, and not because they have
|| physical power to compel it.
“Mr. Belford said the tide of civilization—of
Anglo-Saxon civilization—is sweeping over the
country, and that the Indians must yield to it.
“Mr. Conger asked what sort of bill this was
which required for its sanction and support a ref-
erence to all the world-renowned rascalities prac-
ticed on the Indians since the discovery of
America. This great nation had made a treaty
eleven years ago with a mountain tribe of Indians,
by which those Indians were permitted to go far
into unknown mountains, supposed to be uninhab-
itable by civilized people, and remain there. They
had been driven away from all the land which it
was then thought the avarice and greed of white
men might desire. But now the enterprise and
avidity of the white man had discovered treasures
of silver and gold in the neighborhood of these
mountains, and one had been found within twenty-
five miles of the Ute reservation. In former
years, men had waited until miners or agriculturists
had stepped over the lines of Indian reservations,
but now they were becoming bolder, and now as
soon as they came in sight of the mountains—as
soon as they came in sight of the foot-hills, twenty-
five miles off, the Commissioners appointed to
protect the Indians in their rights, brought in a
bill to remove the Indians from their territory and
reservation. The whites had not yet passed into
their reservation.
“Mr. Haskell denied the last statement, and
said already the mountains to the east of Leadville
and in the Ute reservation were filled with miners,
and the conflict with those miners brought about
these difficulties.
“Mr. Conger asked why have the miners gone
on this reservation? Why have the citizens of
the United States violated the treaty? Because
‘they have power to go there, and because they can
make a disturbance there and excite the Indians,
and can then rush to Congress and demand that
the Indians be driven from their reservation.
history of the past and the history of the present
run on all fours.
“Mr. Belford—I most emphatically deny that
the people of Colorado have given these Indians
any occasion for the late outrages, and I challenge
the gentleman to point to anything of the kind.
The statement of the gentleman from Kansas,
Haskell, is not correct.
“ Mr. Conger—I thought it was not correct, but
I did not dare to correct it myself. I was feeling
my way.
“ Mr. Haskell—I re-assert what I asserted be- :
fore, that the miners are on that reservation to-
day.
“My, Conger—I do not enter into the question
of veracity between these gentlemen. My friend
from Kansas may, possibly, be able to stand on the
plains of Kansas and know more about what is
taking place on the mountains of Colorado than the
gentleman from that State knows. (Laughter.)
If there be any trouble there, it has arisen from
the violation by the citizens of the United States of
the treaty made within eleven years, and the goy-
ernment, it seems, has taken no pains whatever to
enforce the treaty, and to keep out of this Indian
reservation those who have no right to go there.
The very battle to which allusion has often been
made, the very fight with our troops, was caused
by sending an armed force into the reservation
contrary to treaty stipulations, and without notice.
The.
4
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~—
eq...
4
174 HISTORY OF COLORADO.
“Mr. Belford—They were sent at the request
of the Agent.
“Mr. Conger—That may be; it was because in-
dividual miners went over the bounds of the
reservation and violated the treaty, that all the
trouble had arisen. I venture to assert that fair
investigation will show that more than nineteen-
twentieths of our Indian troubles from the com-
mencement of the Government till now have been
caused by the violation of the treaty on the part of
our citizens. JI assert that the provisions of this
bill are in violation of the treaty itself, which pro-
vides that there shall be no concession of territory
except with the consent of three-fourths of the
male Indians. I condemn the bill because Con-
gress has no right to resolve that no agreement be
made to break a treaty made with any power; I
oppose the bill because it is unjust to the Indians ;
I oppose it because its very advocates say that the
Indians must be removed, because they are in the
way of the white men; I oppose it because it pro-
vides that these Indians shall be located in some
other part of Colorado ; I oppose it because I think
it the duty of the United States, with the strong
arm of its power, to protect the Indians in their
_Teservation.”
Mr. Conger represents a State (Micnigan)
which, more than any other in the Union, has, in
the past, defrauded the Indians of their rights;
but of course that does not matter if Colorado is
no nearer right than Michigan was when she drove
out the Indians, to possess herself of their inher-
itance.
It is not a question of comparison, but of fact.
If the Utes of Colorado have, as Mr. Belford
claims, forfeited their treaty rights by outlawry
and resistance, why should the “strong arm of the
Government ” reach out to “ protect the Indians in
their reservation ?”
The duty of the Government to protect the
Indians existed when the latter were living at
peace: with the Government; and if there had
been, as there were not, any “ encroachments”
upon the reservation by white men, it was clearly
the duty of the Government to have removed the
usurpers. It was also the duty of the Govern-
ment to protect the people of Colorado from
Indian encroachments and outrages, by keeping
the latter on their reservation at the same time the
whites were kept off of it. But the Government
did neither.
It left the Indians free to roam over the entire
State at will, armed and equipped for robbery,
arson and murder, all of which crimes have been
committed from year to year, until the very day
when Mr. Conger rose in his place and demanded
—what? Not that the murderous and trespass-
ing Utes should be restrained, but that they
should be “ protected.” Congress has no power,
says Mr. Conger, to break a treaty. Then the
Utes are more potent than Congress, for assuredly
they have broken the treaty of 1868, and have
defied the “strong arm of the Government,” by
making war upon its army and massacreing its
Agents.
Apparently, however, there is no power on
earth which will convince the East that Colorado
does not want the Utes removed, in order that she
may inherit after them. Even if this were as
true as it is fulse, there would be both reason and
justice in the demand. Their reservation is enor-
mously too large for their diminished numbers,
and its mineral wealth is of no value to them what-
ever. They ceded the rich San Juan country to
the United States for a consideration, and it has
more than repaid the outlay already, while the Utes
themselves are no poorer, or would not be if the
Interior Department would pay them their just
dues. Now the Government might go down into
its pocket ‘a little deeper and buy the rest of the
reservation, with equal or exceeding profit. Pay
the Indians as much or as little as may be neces-
sary for their land. Colorado does not demand
that they shall be robbed, even by the Indian
Bureau.
Congress cannot be expected, however, to rise
above the influences of the Interior Department in
this Ute business, and the people of Colorado
© :
~~
+
Y
+
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
175
expect little from that quarter. A “ delegation”
of Indians is going on to Washington, and
the. average Congressman is no match for the
guileless child of the forest when the latter has a
grievance. Ouray will have a larger, more sym-
pathetic and far more powerful audience at the
Capitol than Teller, Hill and Belford combined.
Capt. Jack will be the hero of the day—the
Indian who whipped Thornburg in a “ fair fight”
—so called by the Ute apologists, although the
brave men who died with Thornburg in that death-
cafion of Milk River may have ‘entertained a dif-
ferent idea as to the fairness of that foul attack.
Capt. Jack will claim that it ‘was a fair fight, of
course. Congress will believe him, and the penny-
a-liners will dilate upon the “ wrongs” of the poor
Indian, ad nauseam. After settling the Ute
question to suit themselves, the Indians will come
back to Colorado and become ten times more
intolerant and dangerous than before, feeling
that they have nothing to fear from the “strong
arm” of the paternal but, apparently, idiotic Gov-
etnment
The Ute war is not over, though a truce is called
for the moment. The inquiry now in progress at
Washington as to the merits of the matter is too
superficial and ex parte to result in anything but a
complete surrender to the Indians. Apparently.
there is no disposition to hear white testimony on
the question. The House Committee on Indian
Affairs was, some time since, notified that Gov.
Pitkin, of Colorado, was a material and competent
witness for his people; but, while a palace car load
of Utes are sent on, at Government expense, to
justify the murders committed by themselves and
their kinsmen, the Governor of the commonwealth °
is not even asked to be present when they are
examined, nor is it known that a single white man,
other than Government agents, will be present
with them in Washington.
The result will be, no doubt, that Congress will
do nothing toward their removal or better manage-
ment, and, in the early spring, there will be more
and greater troubles between the hostile Utes and
the white settlers, but with this difference—the
whites will not get the worst of it in the next
encounters. The misfortune of this will be that,
in addition to the inevitable casualities of these
conflicts, the people of the State will be accused
of waging a mercenary war upon the Utes. In |
that case, they must answer that the “strong arm”
of the Government was not raised for their pro-
tection, and it became a virtuous necessity to
defend themselves. The blood of the martyred
Meeker cried from the ground in vain to the
Government in whose service he was assassinated,
but the brave men of Colorado are not deaf to its
demands.
176
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
CHAPTER XI. ;
THE PRESENT CONDITION OF THE UTE QUESTION.
i carrying out the farce known as the “ Peace
Commission,” appointed to ascertain the guilty
ones implicated in the Ute rebellion and the Meeker
massacre, and to perfect some plan of settlement,
the twelve guilty Indians were at last settled upon.
When this much had been done, their work came
to a halt for several days, and seemed at one time
almost certain to prove fruitless of good. A de-
mand had been made for these guilty wretches, but
it was only after extending the time, during which
they were to deliver over as prisoners these parties,
two or three times, and after making all sorts of
promises as to the fair treatment they should re-
ceive, and using all the persuasive means possible,
that at last a majority of those called for were
‘brought forth and delivered up. It was then pro-
vided by the Government that they should go to
Washington, accompanied by several other promi-
nent members of the tribe, and that the Commis-
sioners’ duties be continued at that place. Accord-
ingly they were taken to Washington in high style,
fed on the fat of the land during the further session
of the Commission. and finally all returned to the
reservation and turned loose, with one exception,
in order that they might be again at liberty to
commit such other outrages as they felt disposed.
Chief Douglass, however, was imprisoned at Leav-
enworth, where he still “ holds the fort,” and thus
it is that the Government has punished the mur-
derers of Col. Thornburgh, Agent Meeker and their
Even Douglass has not had his tiial,
but is kept in a royal manner by the Government,
without even the mention being made of extending
to him that courtesy meted out by the laws of the
country to other murderers—an invitation to a
necktie festival, under the auspices of the civil
authorities.
While in Washington, a basis of agreement, in
settlement of the Ute difficulties, was arranged be-
companions.
tween the Indians and the Secretary of the Interior.
This agreement was drafted in the shape of a bill
and placed before Congress for its adoption. Here
was another delaying barrier to the plan of settle-
ment which must be overcome. This bill dragged
before Congress for several! months, but was finally
pushed through both branches of Congress, and
received the President’s signature about the 10th
of June, 1880. In all this course of handling, it
had received numerous amendments, and its lead-
ing features, as it passed over to the tribe for their
ratification, were as follows :
It removed the White River band of Utes en-
tirely out of Colorado, placing them on the Uintah
Reservation, in the Territory of Utah.
The Uncompahgre: tribe were removed from
their present quarters to the lands in Colorado ad-
joining Utah, on the Grand River, which could be
utilized for agricul:ural purposes. :
The Southern Uies are to be placed upon un-
occupied agricultural lands on the La Plata River,
in Colorads, provided there is a sufficiency of such
lands on that river; otherwise, such other unoc-
cupied agricultural lands as might be found in its
vicinity within the State.
It turned over to the people nearly eleven mill-
ions of acres of the reservation, which constituied
about twelve million acres, all told, and this por-
tion turned over comprised the substance of ail
the mineral land of the entire reservation, while
the best part of the agricultural land was retained
by the Indians.
One clause of the proposed treaty provided that
it should not become valid until ratified by three-
fourths of the male members of the Ute nation.
The treaty set forth that the unpaid annuity, due
from the Government, which had accrued under
the old treaty, and now amounting to something
over $60,000, should be settled immediately upon
C- e
@W4
ae,
HISTORY
OF COLORADO. 177
- vain.
the ratification of the agreement by the Ute nation.
It further provided that the old annuity should be
continued, amounting to $25,000 per annum, and
that under the new treaty an additional sum of
$50,000 should be paid to the tribes annual:y.
Under the stipulations of the new treaty, it set
forth that the head of each family should receive
one hundred and sixty acres of agricultural lands,
surveyed off by the Government, and a like quan-
tity of grazing lands, and for every other Indian
eighty acres. The lands thus apportioned were to
become the property of each Indian, to be held
inalienable for twenty-five years.
Thus the treaty agreement passed Congress, and
a commission was appointed to carry it into effect.
This commission consisted of Col. Manypenny,
of Ohio, Chairman; Hon. W. 8. Stickney, of
Washington, Secretary; Col. John Bowman, of:
Kentucky; Hon. J. G. Russell, of Iowa; Otto
Mears, of Colorado. These gentlemen weat imme-
diately to work, and by the middle of September,
1880, had obtained the signatures of over four-
fifths of the male members of the tribe, being more
than the number necessary to carry the agreement
into effect.
During the sessions of this commission occurred
| the death of Ouray, head chief of the Ute nation.
He died on the 24th of August, 1880, of disease
of the kidneys. Some said, at the time, he was
probably poisoned by a jealous chief, who he'd a
position subordinate to Ouray. This is generally
considered incorrect. As soon as it was known
that he was dangerously sick, the best of medical
assistance was procured to save his life, but all in
Ouray was the greatest diplomat in the
whole tribe, and his cunning and careful watchful-
ness after the interests of his people is often said
to have out-generaled that of an ordinary Secre-
tary of the Interior. He was recognized as the
white man’s friend, and has, in a large measure,
been the means of maintaining peacefu! relations
between the Government and the Utes during
years past. Ouray was a kind-hearted Indian, of
noble instincts, if ever there was such a one. In
point of intelligence his successor, Sapavanaro,
who was chosen on the 26th of August, is far the
inferior of Ouray, but is, nevertheless, at present
the recognized head of the Ute nation.
Ignacio, the head of the Southern Utes, had
never felt very kindly toward Ouray in late years,
and would not recognize him as his superior in au-
thority. It is related that when he learned of
Ouray’s favoring the treaty, he firmly refused to
sign it. In this protest he held out for several
days. About this time Conatche, an old ex-chief
of the Southern Utes, was struck by lightning and
killed. This, taken together with the impression
left in his mind by Ouray’s death, is said to have
brought to the front his Indian superstition that
the Great Spirit was displeased with his actions,
and he very suddenly changed his mind and signed
the treaty, and after him followed all the Southern
Utes.
Tn respect to the sums of money to be paid the
Indians, and the selecting and surveying of their
lands, these portions of the treaty are now being
carried into effect. By those acquainted with the
lay of the country, it is said there will be difficulty
in procuring the requisite quantity of unoccupied
agricultural lands on La Plata River and vicinity,
to take care of the Southern Utes according to
the treaty agreement. But, in regard to the money
part of the agreement, Representative Bedford.
Senators Hill and Teller and Governor Pitkin, of
Colorado, have all united in sending a request to
the Government headquarters that its promises
may be faithfvily kept this time, and thus any
further difficulty with the Utes may be prevented
for a term of years at least. It would have been
better for the Government to remove the whole
Ute tribe from the State, while it was treat-
ing the subject, yet the present agreement is a
gain for Colorado. But ia a few years the new
settlers will again so encroach upon those remain-
ing in the State, and there will be such a demand
made for the use of theiragricultural land—which.
it will be seen, they will not utilize—that the result
may be another Ute war, in years to come,
rr a
+) .
es
aaah
178
HISTORY OF COLORADO. .
the ultimate outcome of which is more than
likely to be the removal of the entire tribe beyond
the borders of the State. With these predictions,
the statement that the Ute nation is found to be
rapidly decreasing, having now only 2,600 Indians
in the entire tribe, and the statement that all
troubles with the Utes may now be considered at
an end, the writer finds that he has set forth all
the important historical points upon the subject
treated up to this date.
Y
PART ITI.
RAILROAD INTERESTS.
CHAPTER I.
THE DENVER PACIFIC.
HE natural desire of a new community for
railroad communication was intensified in the
case of Colorado. The expense of freighting across
the six hundred miles of arid land between the
mountains and civilization, and the impossibility of
utilizing thousands of tons of low-grade ores lying
neglected on the dumps, because the cost of the
transportation of means for their reduction was too
heavy to permit them to be worked at a profit,
rendered the coming of the railroad the most im
portant factor in the development of the State.
Of course, so young and comparatively poor a com-
munity could not be expected to do much in the
way of railroad building, but it was willing to help,
and watched anxiously the western progress of the
rival trunk lines, ready to turn its hands in the
direction that gave the promise of the most speedy
connection with the great Hast. In 1865 came the
first glimmer of hope. The Union Pacific had then
commenced the building of its line, and the faith
of the people of Denver in the future greatness of
their city was so strong that they could not under-
stand how a great transcontinental line could afford
to pass Denver by on the other side, and so they
waited patiently while the northern trunk line
pressed steadily onward, every day coming nearer
and nearer Denver, and raising the hopes of her
citizens. In the latter part of 1866, it began to
be whispered that it was possible that the Union
Pacific would not touch Denver, but would pass a
hundred miles to the north of this city. This sus-
picion became a certainty in the early part of 1867,
and the people commenced looking for relief from
other sources. The Kansas Pacific was then away
down in Kansas, coming westward certainly, but
coming so slowly that it could not be foretold
when it would reach Denver ; besides the managers
of the line were uncertain what to do—whether to
build north, connecting with the Union Pacific, or
to build south to Pueblo. The latter town, even
at that early day, indulged in the hope of becoming
the capital of the future State, and held out strong
inducements to the Kansas Pacific, and between
the several projects then on foot, there seemed to
-be but little hope of a railroad reaching Denver,
unless its own people took the bull by the horns
and compelled respect from the railway magnates,
who acted as if they held the destinies of Denver
in their hands. 4
The first loophole of escape from the threatened
danger to the commercial interests of the city was
afforded by a project to build the Colorado Central
from some point on the Union Pacific road, the
intention being to extend the line to the mountain
towns; and it was then authoritatively stated that
if the Colorado Central would grade the road to
Cheyenne, the Union Pacific would complete the
construction of the line. On this proposition a
meeting was held at the Planters’ House J uly 10,
1867. But few of the leading citizens were pres-
ent at the meeting, and a public meeting was
called for the following evening. At this meeting
a resolution was adopted requesting the County
Commissioners to issue a proclamation calling an
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180 HISTORY OF COLORADO.
election to vote $200,000 in bonds, in aid of the
railroad. On the 13th of July, the Commission-
ers ordered the election for that purpose to take
‘place on August 6, attaching the condition to the
call that the road should be built from some point
on the Union Pacific road by the most direct route
to Denver. Before the day of voting on the prop-
osition, it became apparent that the managers of
thé Colorado Central did not propose to build the
road as stipulated, but proposed building on the
north and west side of the Platte, and to make the
terminus of the road at Golden, sixteen miles west
of Denver. This resolution grew entirely out of
the attitude assumed by Golden toward Denver,
Golden also having aspirations toward becoming
the capital, and contending that its location was
the only point at which the railroad system of Col-
orado could properly center. In this claim it was
supported by the mountain towns, and thus, at the
very outset of her efforts to secure railroad con-
nection with the East, Denver found herself op-
posed by the most thriving of the outside com-
munities. On account of this suspicion, that the
interests of Denver would not be secured by a con-
nection with the Colorado Central, the Commis-
sioners of Arapahoe County so changed the order
of election that the issue of the bonds was made
conditional upon the construction of the road upon
the east bank of the Platte. The result of the
vote was 1,160 for and 157 against the issue of
the bonds.
In September, it became apparent that the Col-
orado Central Company would not accept the bonds
with the condition attached, and for the time the
hope of a connection with the Union Pacific died,
and again the Kansas Pacific seemed to be the de-
pendence of Denver. On November 8, Mr. James
Archer, of St. Louis, one of the Kansas Pacific
Directors, came to Denver and, at a meeting of the
principal business men, gave them to understand
that they could only hope to secure the building
of the Kansas Pacific to Denver by the contribu-
tion of two million dollars in county bonds. Much
as a railroad was desired, such a contribution was
‘election, to be held on January 20, 1868, on the
out of the question, and the only recourse was to
again seek a connection with the Union Pacific.
To facilitate the negotiations, a Board of Trade was
organized on November 13. On the following
day, George Francis Train arrived in Denver, and,
true to his instincts, desired to address the Board
of Trade. Accordingly, a meeting was called for
that evening, at which he spoke, and at which a
provisional Board of Directors for a railroad com-
pany was elected. On the 17th, another meeting
was held, at which estimates for the construction
of the road were presented. A committee was ap-
pointed to select incorporators, and another com-
mittee to learn what changes, if any, were neces-
sary to be made in the incorporation law. On the
18th, the committee reported the organization of a
railroad company, under the name of the “ Denver
Pacific Railway and Telegraph Company,” with a
capital stock of $2,000,000, and a Board of Direct-
ors. On the 19th, at another meeting, the Board of
Directors announced that they had elected Hon. B.
M. Hughes, President; Luther Kountze, Vice
President; D. H. Moffat, Jr., Treasurer; W. T.
Johnson, Secretary ; F. M. Case, Chief Engineer,
and John Pierce, Consulting Engineer. The or-
ganization of the company was now complete, and
the Committee on Subscriptions went out at once.
Before the following night they had secured sub-
scriptions of $225,000. By the 22d, the subscrip- | }
tions had swelled to $300,000.
An effort was then made to induce the Colorado |}
Central to fulfill the original arrangement, and ac-
cept the county bonds, but the offer was refused,
and nothing now remained but for the road to de-
pend on its own resources and the energy of the
gentlemen having it in charge. On December 27,
the County Commissioners issued a call for a special
question of giving $500,000 in county bonds, in
aid of the railroad, for which a like amount in the
stock of the company was to be received by the
county. On the following day, December 28,
1868, the company advertised for proposals for
furnishing ties—the first movement looking to the
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HISTORY OF COLORADO. 181
actual commencement of operations. Before the
election took place, the Kansas Pacific made re-
peated efforts to induce the company to build to
meet them, but, as lines had been established, and
active support of the Union Pacific had been
promised, it was thought they had gone too far to
recede. At the election, the vote was 1,259 in
favor of, and 47 against, the bonds. Soon after-
ward, an arrangement was made with the Union
Pacific, that company agreeing to complete the
road as soon as it should be graded and tied.
On March 9, 1868, a bill was introduced in
Congress granting the road the right of way
through the public lands, and soon afterward Gov.
Evans and Gen. John Pierce, representing the
Denver Pacific, met the Union Pacific Directors
in New York City, and there the promises on the
part of the Union Pacific, which had heretofore
been merely verbal, were reduced to writing. In
this memorandum, which was signed by a majority
of the Union Pacific Directors, it was agreed that
they should execute the contract when, Ist, the
road should be graded and tied; 2d, the Denver
Central and Georgetown Railroad Company should
be organized; and, 3d, an application should be
made to Congress for a land grant to the Denver
Pacific. The contract for the construction of the
railroad was let in Cheyenne to Dr. Durant and
Sidney Dillon, of the Union Pacific, they stipulat-
ing to complete the road when the Denver parties
should have expended $500,000 thereon.
A route was immediately laid out and submitted
to the Union Pacific Directory. They asked for a
change in the northern part of the proposed line,
which was made, but failed to formally approve of
the whole line. This delayed the road some time,
as the construction of the line before approval by
the Union Pacific would render void the contract
existing between the two companies. It was finally
resolved to commence work on the southern part
of the line, which had been accepted by the Union
Pacific, and accordingly ground was broken at the
Denver end of the line on May 18, 1868, several
thousand people assembling to witness the formal
commencement of a road that was inaugurated
solely by Denver enterprise and capital. The
southern half of the road was graded to Evans in
three months. Meantime, nothing was heard from
the Union Pacific in relation to the northern part
of the line, that company being absorbed in the
construction of its own line and being somewhat
embarrassed financially.
Early in the session of Congress for 1867-68,
a bill was introduced in the Senate for the usual
land grant to the Denver Pacific. « Before action
on the bill was had, an agreement was made with
John D. Perry, then President of the Kansas Pa-
cific road, to transfer to the Denver Pacific the
land grant of the former company between Chey-
enne and Denver. The pending bill was amended
in such a manner as to grant a subsidy in bonds
to the Kansas Pacific as far as Cheyenne Wells,
and the bill, thus made satisfactory, passed the
Senate July 25.
In February, 1868, Gen. Hughes resigned the
Presidency, and Maj. W. F. Johnson was elected
his successor.
In September, 1868, the company commenced
grading from Cheyenne, completing the grade along
the entire line during the fall. The Union Pacific
had so far done nothing toward the fulfillment of
its contract, and further progress was necessarily
delayed.
During the session of 1868-69, the Senate bill
was defeated in the House, owing to the popular
feeling against railroad subsidies of all kinds, but
another bill, containing all the important features
of the defeated act, was passed and approved March
3, 1869, and the road was ready to finish the work
which had been fought through, step by step, dur-
ing nearly three years. The line was now graded,
and ties were ready.
December 14, 1868, the first annual meeting of
the company took place, at which W. F. Johnson
was elected President; Luther Kountze, Vice
President; D. H. Moffat, Jr., Treasurer, and R.
R. McCormick, Secretary. The death of Mr.
Johnson, March 5, 1869, caused a vacancy, which
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182 HISTORY OF COLORADO.
was filled by the election of Gov. Evans, under
whose management the road was pushed through
to a successful issue, his associates remaining prac-
tically unchanged.
In the spring of 1869, the Union Pacific was
called on to fulfill its contract and iron the road to
Denver. The reply was made that Denver would
have to wait, as the Union Pacific was still embar-
rassed financially. The officers of the Denver Pa-
cific insisted that Denver could not wait, and Gov.
Evans proposed that if the Union Pacific would
cancel the contract and sell the iron to the Denver
Pacific, the company would complete the road
itself. This proposition was agreed to, and an
agreement was at once entered into with the Kan-
sas Pacific, that company agreeing to build their
road into Denver, and complete the construction of
the Denver Pacific, taking a certain amount of
Denver Pacific stock. From this time, the diffi-
culties of construction appear to have been over-
come, and the building of the road progressed
steadily until the 22d day of June, 1870, when a
silver spike, contributed by the miners of George-
town, completed the first connecting link between
Denver and the outside world.
The road gave promise of great prosperity at the
period of compl! ation, a promise that has not, im all
respects, been fulfilled.
Since its completion, the road has passed through
the vicissitudes that so frequently assail Western
roads, has been the subject of legal contention be-
tween the different claimants, and is now in the
hands of a receiver. In 1877, the Union Pacific,
regretting its failure to make a connection with
Denver, made an effort to obtain a connection,
either by contract or purchase, through the Denver
Pacific, but failed, a circumstance that led to the
construction of a parallel line.
By a recent action of the stockholders, however,
a consolidation has been effected with the Union
Pacific and the Kansas Pacific, and the road now
forms a part of the great Union Pacific system
under the control of Jay Gould and his associates.
The road is now doing a fair business, with good
prospects for the future.
CHAPTER II.
THE DENVER & RIO GRANDE.
oe line, which forms a most important factor
in the railway system of Colorado, enjoys the
distinction of being the pioneer narrow-gauge road
of this country, and the greatest interest was felt
in its success by railroad men both East and West.
Although the Colorado Central had projected a
narrow-gauge line before the Rio Grande road was
begun, the latter made the first actual advance,
work having begun on the first division, between
Denver and Colorado Springs, in the summer of
1870. The “ Baby Road,” as it was then called,
has since grown to be the biggest Zittle road in the
United States.
In the beginning, this road was built almost en-
tirely by Philadelphia capital, and its officers were,
mainly, citizens of the Quaker City. Gen. W. J. |
| years ago, there was no Colorado Springs, nor any
Palmer, its first and last President, is a Philadel-
phian, and many of his subordinates came out with
him to Colorado. Though Philadelphia has not
achieved much fame as a promoter of distant rail-
way enterprises, she deserves credit for having
given Colorado the first narrow-gauge road, and
for building it in the face of apparently insur-
mountable obstacles and discouragements.
Ten years ago, it required some nerve to launch
out southward from Denver, through a new
country, in which a railroad experiment had not
been tried, to develop a region, full of promise, in-
deed, but which might not realize half the bright
expectations of enthusiasts like Gov. Gilpin. Ten
intermediate settlement along the seventy-five miles .
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HISTORY OF COLORADO. 188
. between Denver and Pike’s Peak. Ten years ago,
the silver San Juan was, to a considerable extent,
a terra incognita. ‘Ten years ago, Pueblo and
_ Cafion City, though important trading posts, were
not in any ravenous need of railway connections,
and the whole southern portion of the Territory
was a rough diamond, deeply incrusted with Mex-
ican semi-civilization. Behold how wondrous a
change a decade has wrought! Gen. Palmer and
his associates found no great engineering cbstacles
in the way at the outset of their work. Their line
skirted the base of the mountains, and, though the
ccuntry was rough and broken about the divide
between the Platte and the Arkansas, a passage
was effected with little trouble, and, in 1871, the
road had reached the foot of Pike’s Peak. The
configuration of the country was such as to prevent
the road frum reaching in its course either Mani-
tou Springs or Colorado City, the old town a few
miles below the soda springs. A new town was
laid out on the east bank of Monument Creek,
just above its junction with the Fontaine qui
Boille.
The location was admirable, and events proved
the wisdom of those who projected the new ven-
ture: The Rio Grande Company showed their
faith by their works, and established the general
offices of the road at Colorado Springs, where the
accounting offices have since remained, the general
operating offices having been removed to Denver.
The town thus ushered into existence in 1871 now
numbers 5,000 or 6,000 inhabitants, and is the
center of intellectual and social deveiopment—the
Athens of Colorado. It is the seat of the State
Asylum for the Deaf and Blind and of Colorado
College, and the home of large numbers of wealthy
and cultivated people from all parts of the world,
whose tasty and beautiful homes, surrounded by
well-kept lawns and adorned by a profusion of
flowers, present a scene of cozy comfors unsur-
passed in any city East or West. The salubrious
climate, the magnificent scenery, the broad and
level avenues, lined on either side by double rows
of shade trees, at whose base streams of water of
-limpid clearness constantly flow, all combine to
render Colorado Springs, as a place of residence,
one of the most delightful in the West.
At the time the road was finished to that point,
but one house marked the spot, and that was a low,
flat, mud-roofed log-cabin hotel, kept by Capt.
Richard Sopris, the present Mayor of Denver.
Stages arrived and departed in different direc-
tions, the principal travel being to the southward,
to Pueblo, Santa Fe, Caiion City, ete.
Colorado City was a thinly populated village, and
Manitou was almost without inhabitants. A rude
frame building, elongated like a rope-walk, and
about as imposing in appearance as a bowling-alley,
was the only “hotel” on the spot. It was a poor
and small affair, but large enough to meet the de-
mands of travel at that time. To the chance
traveler from “down East,” it seemed as if the
baby railroad had reached the end of everything,
and would not only stop there, but find it a lonely
stopping-place.
But the scream of the'locomotive whistle was
the “open sesame” to the limitless possibilities of |
Southern Colorado. The new town sprang into
life and action as if by magic, and Manitou took
on another phase of existence almost as suddenly.
Hotels and cottages were built and inhabited, and
the fame of the great watering-place went abroad
through all the earth. Elegant carriage roads were
built in all directions. Gen. Palmer built a sum-
mer residence in Glen Eyrie, near by. Photo-
graphs of the magnificent surrounding scenery
were distributed by tourists, and the Garden of the
Gods and its environs soon became household
words. The little railroad advertised itself by
photographing the scenery along its line, and busi-
ness began to pour in upon it. Its local trade in-
creased continually, and villages sprang up all along —
the line.
Nor did it tarry long at Colorado Springs. Fol-
lowing down the valley of the Fountain about
forty-five miles, it reached Pueblo, and opened up
a new era of prosperity for the southern metropo-
lis. From Pueblo, a branch line was built to
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184 HISTORY OF COLORADO.
Caiion City, forty-one miles, while the main line
was pushed forward toward New Mexico.
At Cucharas Creek another separation was made,
one line leading south, toward Trinidad, and the
other west, toward the Spanish Peaks and the
Sangre de Christo range of mountains, which di-
vide the Arkansas slope from the valley of the Rio
Grande del Norte.
Thus far the energetic little road had passed
through a romantic but not very difficult country.
Henceforward its path lay over mountains, and the
real engineering difficulties of the route were to be
surmounted. A more beautiful country than that
upon which the road now entered, it would be hard
to find in Colorado.
The Spanish Peaks themselves are magnificent
beyond description. Unlike any other mountains
in Colorado, they stand alone, rising abruptly from
the plains, and lifting their heads above the timber
line, almost to the regions of perpetual snow.
They are visible from Pueblo, nearly a hundred
miles distant, and are the most notable land-marks
of the whole country around them. Passing
along the valley at the base of these twin peaks,
the road climbs onward and upward toward Veta
Pass.
Entering the Sangre de Christo Range, it follows
for miles a narrow. winding valley, rich in varie-
gated scenery, and enters upon the herculean task
of scaling the Rocky Mountains. Rounding the
Mule Shoe Curve, the locomotive climbs on and on
and still upward over a grade of 217 feet to the
mile, crawling slowly up the side of Dump Moun-
tain and still onward and upward, higher and still
higher, until Inspiration Point is reached, away
above the clouds—9,339 feet above the sea. This
magnificent triumph of engineering skill was ac-
complished during the summer of 1877, and the
road descended the western slope of the Sangre
de Christo Range, into the vast and beautiful San
Luis Valley, and sped across the level park to
the Rio Grande River, at Alamosa. At the same
time, the branch from Cucharas was pushed for-
ward to El Moro, a few miles from Trinidad, when
the road found itself involved in varied complica-
tions with its broad-gauge rival, the Santa Fe
line. Transferring its forces into the Grand Cajfion -
of the Arkansas, at Cafion City, the Rio Grande
began work on its Leadville extension. The Santa
Fe following, there began the celebrated Grand
Caiion controversy, out of which grew some of the
most important railway litigation known to Colo-
rado or the country, the history of which is fresh
in the minds of the public, and which it is unnec-
essary to recount here. The temporary suspension
of active operations thus enforced, only served to
infuse new life and energy into the “baby” road,
which, as soon as the restrictions which the long
and tedious litigation imposed were removed,
emerged a veritable “little giant” in its strength
and resources. Work was at once resumed with
redoubled energy on both its Leadville and San
Juan extensions, and prosecuted with a vigor and
rapidity which astonished even men accustomed to
the enterprising and energetic spirit of railroad
management in the new West. The Grand Cafion
through which the Leadville extension is built, is
the finest east of the continental divide, and the
entire line between Cafion City.and Leadville leads
through one of the most romantic portions of
Eastern Colorado. The Royal Gorge presents a
scene of stupendous grandeur unequaled by any
similar mountain defile yet penetrated by any rail-
road in the country. Granite precipices rise
abruptly on either hand, to an immense height,
the chasm in many places being so narrow that
the track passes along balconies cut into the face of
the cliff, while in one place an iron bridge of
immense weight is built to carry the road over a
point otherwise impassable. It is at this point the
huge walls of red granite reach their greatest height
—no less than twenty-five hundred feet of perpen-
dicular cliffs, between which dashes and foams the
turbulent Arkansas on its way to the great plains,
from its source amid the perpetual snows. Reach-
ing Leadville in July, 1880, it stopped not in its
course, but at once set out on two extensions, one
to the prosperous mining camps of ‘Kokomo and
to
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HISTORY OF COLORADO. 185
Breckenridge, and the other through Tennessee | the center of the plain, and to the southwest is the
Pass to Red Cliff and the Eagle River country. vast, isolated mountain of San Antonio, smooth
The following descriptive letter from the facile | and regular in shape, like an inverted tea saucer.
pen of J. G. Dillenback, of the Denver Daily | The range of vision can best be understood by the
Times, is such a vivid and faithful pen-picture of | statement that the extent of the park is almost
the new and wonderful country traversed by the | equal to the area of the State of Massachusetts.
San Juan extension of the Rio Grande road, that “ From Alamosa, the road was extended thirty-
we copy it entire: seven miles, west and south, to the Mexican adobe
“Tt is no small matter to build a railroad from | village of Conejos—just as a bit of excursion, ‘ to
the great plains over the Sangre de Christo Moun- | keep its hand in,’ as the saying is. But the Den-
tains, scaling the awful heights of Veta Pass, and | ver & Rio Grande is a romantic, ambitious, ad-
descending into the vast basin called San Luis | venturous road, and must be searching for new
Park. But, the Denver & Rio Grande Railway | fields and greater achievements. From Conejos,
having done that, and justified its name by run- | or San Antonio, as the new station, a mile from
ning its trains to the Rio Grande River, which far, | Conejos, is called, the road runs southward down
far away to the south, on its way to the Mexican | the park into New Mexico. Some fifty miles
Gulf, forms down, it reaches the picturesque Camanche Cafion,
«« * * our southern bound, ‘way down to Mexico.’ | or will reach it, and beyond there is a world of
was not contented to rest in that most beautiful | magnificent scenery. Where the terminus is to
of valleys. be, is as uncertain as the Ultima Thule of the an-
“Tt hardly paused for a breathing spell at Ala- | cients. It is, apparently, a railway hopelessly
mosa, which lies near the center of the park, ap- | gone astray, a sort of knight-errant railway in
parently at the foot of Sierra Blanca, though in | quest of adventures, a new Columbus, with cars
reality over twenty miles distant. And yet no | instead of ships, in search of undiscovered realms.
railroad could have a more beautiful goal. Around | Glancing along its rails, there comes to the mind
it are hundreds of square miles of plain, as level | of the traveler visions of the stately capital of the
as a floor, and sparsely covered with sage brush | Montezumas, and the vast ocean beyond that
and greaseweed, with here and there a winding | covers a third of the earth.
thread of dark green verdure that marks the course ‘But all this is only one episode in the adven-
of the Rio Grande or some of its affluents. To | tures of this wonderful railway. Far to the West,
the southwest, for a hundred miles, are ranged the | across the main range of the Rocky Mountains,
snow-clad peaks of the Sangre de Christo Moun- | lies a region untouched by railroads, in whose
tains, as rugged and fantastic as any that ever | mountains and streams are inexhaustible treasures
delighted the eye of an artist. To the east, rising of silver and gold—the great San Juan country.
sheer upward from the level park, without foot- | The railway heard the tales of the prospectors and
hills, are the sublime heights of Sierra Blanca, | miners, and looked westward from Conejos toward
the Mount Blanc of Colorado. ‘To the northeast, | the new land of promise. The scene could not
for another hundred miles, stretches the Sangre | have been more alluring. Low, smooth, gently
de Christo Range, a long line of serrated peaks, | rising foot-hills, covered with grass, and timbered
the other side of which is seen by the people of | with scattering pines and groves of poplar, extend-
Silver Cliff. To the north and northwest are the | ed as far as the eye could reach, their gentle slopes
Saguache and San Juan Mountains, and to the | and flowery vales looking down upon the park, and
west rises the main range. Southward the park | affording romantic views of the mountains beyond.
is broken by mesas, or high plateaus, that rise near | They seemed to promise a very Eden for tourists.
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186
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
And the railway yielded to the seductive beauty of
the foot-hills, and the travelers’ tales of the riches
of the San Juan, and set out again to the West.
For miles it curved among the hills, keeping sight
of the plains and catching frequent glimpses of the
village. Its innumerable windings along the
brows of the hills seemed in mere wantonness, as
loath to abandon so beautiful a region. Almost im-
perceptibly the foot-hills changed into mountains
and the valleys deepened into cafions, and, winding
around the point of one of the mountains, it found
itself overlooking the picturesque valley or caiion
of Los Pinos Creek. Eastward was the rounded
summit of the great mountain of San Antonio;
over the nearest height could be seen the top of
Sierra Blanca, canopied with perpetual clouds; in
front were castellated crags, art-like monuments and
stupendous precipices. Having allured the railway
into their awful fastnesses, the mountains seemed
determined to baffle its further progress. But it
was a strong-hearted railway, and, although a little
giddy a thousand feet above the stream, it cut its
way through the crags and among the monuments,
and bore onward for miles up the valley. A pro-
jecting point, too high for a cut and too abrupt for
a curve, was overcome by atunnel. The track-
layers are now busy at work laying down the steel
rail at a point a few miles beyond this tunnel. The
grade is nearly completed for many miles further.
From the present end of the track for the next
four or five miles along the grade, the scenery is
unsurpassed by any ra‘Iroad scenery in North
America. Engineers who have traversed every
mile of mountain railroad in the Union, assert that
it is the finest they have seen. Perched on the
dizzy mountain side, at an altitude of 9,500 feet
above the sea—greater than thut cf Veta Pass—
a thousand feet above the valley, with battlemented
orags rising five or six hundred feet above, the be-
holder is enraptured with the view. At one point
the cafion narrows into an awful gorge, apparently
but few yards wide and nearly a thousand feet in
depth, between almost perpendicular walls of gyan-
ite. Here, a high point of gramite has to be tun-
neled, and in this tunnel the rockmen are at work
drilling and blasting to complete the passage, which
is now open to pedestrians. The frequent explo-
sions of the blasts echo and re-echo among the
mountains until they die away in the distance.
“Looking down the valley from near the tunnel,
the scene is one never to be forgotten. The lofty
precipices, the distant heights, the fantastic monu-
ments, the contrast of the rugged crags and the
graceful curves of the silvery stream beneath them,
the dark green pines interspersed with poplar
groves, bright yellow in their autumn foliage, that
crown the neighboring summits—height, depth,
distance and color—combine to constitute a land-
scape that is destined to be painted by thousands
of artists, reproduced again and again by photog-
raphers, and to adorn the walls of innumerable
parlors and galleries of art.
“Beyond the tunnel for a mile or more the
scene is even more picturesque, though of less
extent. The traveler looks down into the gorge
and sees the stream plunging in a succession of
snow-white cascades through narrow cuts between
the perpendicular rocks.
“The track is now laid to within about eighteen
miles of the Pinos-Chama summit. It follows the
Los Pinos Creek,and crosses the summit at an
altitude of about 10,000 feet—9,962 in exact
figures. From there it follows the waters of the
Chama for some distance, through what marvels
of scenery I hope to learn soon after itis completed.
Twenty-five miles beyond the Pinos-Chama sum-
mit it crosses the continental divide, at an altitude
a few feet less than that of the former summit. If
the winter is not too inclement, Durango, a newly
platted town near Animas City, nearly 150 miles
beyond the present end of the track, will be the
next temporary terminus, before next spring, to
which the crowd of track followers will move their
warehouses, hotels and saloons, to build another
magic city.”
From Animas City, which point the road is ex-
pected to reach the coming spring, a branch will
be built north to Silverton, and, eventually, south-
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HISTORY OF COLORADO.
187
west into Arizona, as the development of the coun-
try will warrant. A branch is now in course of
construction from Cafion City, up the beautiful
Grape Creek Cafion, to Silver Cliff, and the pres-
ent autumn will undoubtedly see that thriving city
—the second mining camp in Colorado—con-
nected by iron rails with the outside world, and
its wonderful mineral products adding to the al-
ready enormous receipts of the pioneer narrow-
gauge railway. Already a contract has been let
for the grading of a branch from South Arkansas
via the already famous health resort of Poncha
Springs, through the Marshall Pass to Gunnison
city, thus competing with the South Park road for
the rich productions of the vast and compara-
tively undeveloped region known as the “ Gunni-
son Country.”
An important movement has been the comple-
tion, during the past summer, of a branck from
Colorado Springs to Manitou, and five daily pas-
senger trains’ are now run between those points.
Lying, as it does, in a lovely little nook at the very
foot of Pike’s Peak, whose snow-clad summit tow-
ers majestic above it at a height of over fourteen
thousand feet above the sea, Manitou is justly en-
titled to its pre-eminence as the queen of moun-
tain resorts.
Its climate is pure and salubrious ; its air
dry and invigorating ; its scenery grand and in-
spiring, while its surrounding attractions are so
numerous and diversified, presenting such entire
dissimilarity of scene, that days, weeks and months
may be spent by the lover of nature in exploring
and admiring them, But two miles to the east-
ward lies the famous Garden of the Gods, filled
with its grotesque and fantastic grouping of rocks
and bowlders, and, a little further on, Glen Eyrie,
in which lovely retreat President Palmer has estab-
lished his summer residence. Among its many
famous attractions are Williams’ and Red Rock
Cafions, Ute Pass Falls and the Ridges, each
within easy walking distance, while Cheyenne
Falls and North Cheyenne Cafion are but a little
further away. Monument Park, whose name im-
plies its character, is a beautiful spot but nine miles
away, and a trip of twenty-one miles through the
Ute Pass brings one to Manitou Park, the most
delightful of them all.
Add to these climatic and scenic attractions the
famous mineral springs with their health-giving
waters, whose medicinal properties have been fully
demonstrated, the elegant hotels, its accessibility in
a few hours from all points in the eastern part of
the State, and it is not at all surprising that M’ani-
tou is drawing to itself, with each succeeding
season, an increased number of tourists from all
parts of the world.
The importance of the Rio Grande Railway to
the commercial interests of Colorado, and of Den-
ver in particular, cannot be overestimated. With
its six hundred miles of road now completed, reach-
ing out its various branches to the south and west,
penetrating the rich agricultural and pastoral re-
gions of Southern Colorado and New Mexico,
piercing the mountains and threading the gorgesof
the silver San Juan, connecting with iron rails
the capital of the State with the greatest mining
camp of the world, just tnaking its first bow to the
people of Silver Cliff, reaching over into the unde-
veloped country of the Gunnison and Hagle Rivers
and bringing their combined treasures of gold and
silver and pouring them into the lap of the Queen
City of the Plains, the Rio Grande Railway has be-
fore it a futur- whose greatness is but dimly fore-
shadowed by the successful record of the past.
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188
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
'
CHAPTER IIL.
THE DENVER, SOUTH PARK AND PACIFIC.
NE of the most important roads to Denver and
one which presents some of the mostremarka-
ble instances of the triumphs of engineering skill
over apparently insurmountable obstructions, is the
Denver, South Park & Pacific. Very soon after
the settlement of Colorado, when the marvelous
discoveries of California Gulch, the famous Printer
Boy vein,and other deposits of metalliferous wealth,
filled the world with the fame of Colorado, the
theory was advanced by prospectors and others
who had made the formation of the mountain
ranges and spurs a study, that as yet the surface
had been only skimmed, and that only on the out-
side of the vast deposits. As early as 1864, the
prediction was made that Colorado would develop
one of the largest and richest deposits of precious
metals ever discovered on the globe. The predic-
tion had special reference to gold, for silver was
little thought of then, and many prospectors held that
the only discovery worth looking for was the source
of the gold found in California Gulch and many
other gulches, all heading in the same general lo-
cality. The result of this firm faith in the wealth
of the interior mountain ranges was to give birth
to the idea of a railroad traversing the three great
parks of the Colorado mountain system, and draw-
ing its support from the mines by which those |
parks would be lined. Gov. Evans was one of the
first to recognize the practical value of the idea, if
he did not originate it, and for years urged the
formation of a company to carry it into effect, in
such a manner that whatever benefit was to be de-
rived from it would accrue to Denver; instead of
some other locality favored by situation or circum-
stances. The Governor believed in the extension
of railroads for the development of the country,
and that the presence of a railroad in the heari of
the mountain region would stimulate prospecting,
for, where a miner found a good lode, he would not
be compelled to expend all his profit in getting his
ore to market—the truth of which idea was re-
markably illustrated recently by the re-opening and
profitable working of mines which had been aban-
doned by their owners many years ago, because
the ore could not be taken to the market at a profit.
For several years the road through the Platte
Cafion was urged by the Governor and those of
his business associates who had faith in the project,
but it was hard to convince people that it was pos-
sible to construct a railroad along a mountain
cafion in many parts of which a trail was impossi-
ble and the possibility of a wagon road a myth.
It was urged in opposition to the road, that for a
great part of the route the mountains would have
to be tunneled at an enormous expense, and that,
where the track could be laid along the water-line,
the torrent that sweeps through the cafion every
spring would toss away the embankments like so
many bundles of straw, and cause the entire re-
ceipts ot’ the road to be absorbed in repairs.
Others laughed at the idea of a road ever becom-
ing profitable on a route a great part of which
would lie in sections where the snow lies on the
ground during seven months of the year; as to
the metalliferous wealth of the country proposed
to be traversed, opinions differed—only the few,
however, insisting upon the wealth of the mount-
ains. Another argument advanced was, that the
grades on any route likely to be selected in cross-
ing the high ranges surrounding the plateaus of
the Rocky Mountain system, would be, if not im-
practicable, at least so heavy as to be expensive
beyond all computation, and the treasury of any
company that might undertake the task would be
subject to a constant drain to meet expenses, and
with the most stringent economy would be unable
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HISTORY OF COLORADO. 191
to make both ends meet. The truth or fallacy of
these objections will be demonstrated as we proceed
in the history of this remarkable work.
Notwithstanding these drawbacks, which, to
most men, would seem insuperable, the few gen-
tlemen who had joined their faith to an inter-
mountain line of railroad, continued sanguine, and
with unremitting zeal pressed the idea upon the
public, and, continually gaining accessions to their
ranks until early in 1873, it was thought the
time was ripe to put the project into execution.
On the 14th of June, 1873, a company was organ-
ized and articles of incorporation filed. Arapahoe
County became a subscriber, by voting $300,000 in
bonds, in exchange for a like amount of stock, and
individual subscriptions were secured to an amount
that warranted the commencement of active opera-
tions. Gov. Evans was the first President of the
company, and still holds that position, together
with Charles Wheeler, Secretary.
The projected route was from Denver, via the
Platte Caiion, through Park County, through Trout
Creek Cafion to the Arkansas, at the mouth of
Trout Creek. This latter seemed to be the point
@ appwi for further extensions through the entire
mountain region. From there an easy water-
grade led up the Arkansas to its head, numerous
passes afforded favorable routes to the then newly
discovered San Juan country, and a practicable
route led westward to a connection with the Utah
system of railroads, and through them to the Pa-
cific Coast. It was also decided to build a broad
road to the valuable quarries at Morrison, making
the entire road, as projected, one hundred and fifty
miles in length.
The building of the road was let to a construc-
tion company, consisting of prominent Denver
men, and ground was broken in the fall of 1873.
At the very outset, the company was met by the
most discouraging obstacle that had yet been en-
countered—the financial panic of 1873. Railroads
were the heaviest sufferers thereby, the ill-success
of many heavy railroad enterprises causing all
schemes of this character to be regarded with
doubt and suspicion. The depressed condition of
business and the want of faith of aggregated cap-
ital in all enterprises requiring heavy outlays of
money, very much retarded the progress of the
work ; and it was not until July 1, 1874, that the
first sixteen miles of the road—seven miles of the
main line, and nine miles of the Morrison Branch
—were put in successful operation. Besides this,
the grading of that portion of the main line ex-
tending from Morrison Junction to the mouth of
Platte Cafion had been completed, and the com-
pany was ready to commence work upon the
heaviest portion of the line—that extending
through the cafion and over the mountains into
the South Park. The financial crisis had, how-
ever, not yet been passed ; those who, in the fall
of 1873, had been willing to extend aid to the en-
terprise, refused to contribute further ; and those
who had declined to assist were as firm as adamant
in their refusal. In consequence of this state of
affairs, the further prosecution of the work was
suspended.
During the next two years, nothing was done on
the extension of the road. The Morrison Branch
was successfully operated, and the original pro-
jectors of the road labored hard and incessantly to
induce a renewal of confidence in their enterprise
and its ultimate financial success. At last, in the
spring of 1876, the financial skies, which, for
nearly three years, had spread a pall-like blackness
over the entire country, began to lighten, and a
new, determined and united effort was made to se-
cure the renewal of active operations. The effort
was successful. A sufficient amount of money
was raised on subscriptions to the capital stock to
warrant the commencement of the extension, and
a bold move was made into the cafion, which had
been pronounced impassable, not alone by non-
professionals, but by experienced civil engineers.
Few, except those who have seen the road, or
were on the ground during the progress of the
work, can form a reasonable idea of the physical
difficulties that presented themselves to the con-
structing engineers. In many places walls of per-
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192 HISTORY OF COLORADO.
pendicular rock descended sheer to the water's
edge, presenting a smooth, unbroken surface, worn
by the action of the water until it was impossible
to obtain a foothold for the workmen. Other por-
tions of the route presented an equally difficult
problem—the confining of the torrent within nar-
rower limits, or the turning of the creek in order
to avoid an impassable curve, with all the attend-
ant risks of a freshet, which would sweep away
thousands of dollars’ worth of labor at a single
dash. Men were hung over cliffs ata dizzy height to
drill the holes for blasting. Others were compelled
to stand waist-deep in water fresh from eternal
snows, and rushing past at the rate of six miles an
hour, a pressure against which it was exceedingly
difficult for them to maintain their footing, At
some points, a shovelful of earth would be torn
away by the rushing stream almost as soon as it
was thrown into the.spot it was intended to oc-
cupy, and all of the embankments built in the water
required nearly four times the amount of labor
that would be needed to do the same work on land.
The heaviest part was, of course, that through
the cafion, but when these difficulties had been
overcome, the Kenosha range of mountains, skirt-
ing the eastern edge of the South Park, had still
to be surmounted, and here avain engincering esti-
mates were at fault. Even those who had wit-
nessed the successful operations for more than
three years of a similar piece of work at Veta Pass,
said that the thing could not be done—that no
safe road-bed could be constructed along the route
laid out on Kenosha Hill—that the first storm
would send the road-bed into the cafion below.
Notwithstanding all of these objections, which
certainly seemed insurmountable to most men, the
road has never stopped an instant since the first
day of resumption of active operations. In the early
spring of 1878, it had penetrated the lower cafion
several miles; at midsummer the road had passed
through the lower cafion, and had arrived at
Bailey’s Ranche. In the spring of 1879, it had
reached the foot of Kenosha Hill, and since that
time it has scaled that immense height, crossed the
South Park, traversed the mountains which skirt
the western margin of the park, passed through
the Trout Creek Cafion to Buena Vista, whence its
trains run over the track of the Denver & Rio
Grande to Leadville. From Buena Vista, the line
extends down the Arkansas to the mouth of Chalk
Creek, and up that stream, being already completed
and running trains to Heywood Springs. A tun-
nel under the summit of the Arkansas Range is
now in process of construction, and during the
summer of 1881 it is expected that the road will
reach Gunnison City, thus furnishing a market for
the rich products of the extensive coal-fields and
valuable mines of the Gunnison country.
The discovery of the valuable carbonate deposits
of Leadville was almost providential for the road.
In 1876, upon the renewal of active operations, |
Leadville was unheard of, and carbonates an un-
known quantity. The road was to be pushed for-
ward upon the general principle, steadfastly ad-
hered to by the original projectors, that there was |
wealth in the mountains, and that it would be
found. Almost before they had fairly got their
working forces drilled—certainly before they had
succeeded in building the road through the cafion,
Leadville burst into prominence as a mining cen-
ter, amply -justifying the anticipation of the com-
pany, and travel and freight for Leadville began to
crowd the road to its utmost capacity. The result
is, that not a dollar of the company’s bonds was
placed on the market, the receipts from business
that came of its own accord paying all the expenses
of construction. Day after day, the stream of
Leadville travel increased, and day after day the
company’s platforms at the temporary terminus
were crowded with sacks of ore and pigs of base
bullion, that had to be left behind on account of
the lack of transportation facilities. Nothing in
the history of this wonderful discovery, rivaling in
the splendor of its settings and results the most
extravagant dreams of the hasheesh-eater, conveys
the idea of the reality of the wonderful richness of
Leadville and its outlying camps, more perfectly
than this brilliant achievement in railroading, pay-
ar
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HISTORY OF
COLORADO. 198
ing the expenses of constructing a mountain road
from the receipts occasioned by the never-ceasing
stream of travel and traffic resulting from the de-
velopment of the mines.
The road at its highest point is 10,139 feet
above sea level—the highest railroad point in
, North America, and 800 feet higher than. the
justly celebrated Veta Pass, in the southern por-
tion of this State. The heaviest grade is not
greater than 1'75 or 180 feet to the mile; and, not-
withstanding that for two-thirds of its entire
length it-runs in mountain cafions, the maximum
curvature is twenty-six degrees—two facts which,
taken together, are evidence of the engineering
skill that has governed the construction of the road.
As will readily be gathered from the foregoing,
the financial standing of the company is excellent ;
its bonds are still in its own possession, the money
for its construction was principally raised in Den-
ver, its stockholders are men who have accumu-
lated large fortunes in other branches of business,
and in every instance the company’s obligations
have been met either before or at maturity.
CHAPTER IV.
THE COLORADO CENTRAL RAILROAD.
F Denver's six railway lines, not least in im-
portance is the above-named road, and in
some high respects it is the most noted and best
known of all Denver roads. It was the first to
penetrate the fastnesses of the mountains, and its
sinuous trail in and through Clear Creek Cafion
has made it famous on two continents. Although
other mountain roads now vie with the Colorado
Central in magnificent scenery, the prestige of the
latter has not been diminished in any degree by
rivalry, and it is still sought out by all strangers
coming to Colorado.
Starting from Denver, this line traverses the
entire northern portion of the State, taps the prin-
cipal mining centers of this section, and carries
travelers to some of the spots most famed for
The success of the South Park road is an exem-
plification of the resistless energy that has charac-
terized the successful business men of Colorado
from the first. None but those who had a personal
interest in the company thought it could be built,
or, if it could, that it would be built, or, if it ever
was built, that it could be made to pay. Those
who did believe, however, went to work, apd the
result is a finished enterprise that is not only a
credit to the projectors, but has proved a positive
benefit to every portion of the country through
which it has passed, receiving contributions of
freight from almost every mile of its line, and
demonstrating the truth of the constantly reiterated
assertion of Gov. Evans, that the business along
the line would pay the running expenses.
, By a recent action of the stockholders, the cap-
ital stock of the company has been increased to
$15,000,000, and its charter so amended as to
allow the building of either a broad or narrow
gauge road to Pueblo, Silver Cliff and various
other points.
scenic beauty and natural grandeur. It connects
Denver and other Colorado towns with the Union
Pacific at Cheyenne, and thus affords connection
with trains east and west on the great continental
thoroughfare. The Cheyenne Branch penetrates
the very heart of Colorado’s best agricultural re-
gion, giving the traveler a better idea of our farm-
ing resources than he can gain from any other rail-
way transit, and also connects at Boulder with stages
for the mining camps of that county. Through
Jefferson, Boulder and Larimer Counties this branch
is lined, for a great part of its length, with wheat-
fields, and passes the important towns of Golden,
Boulder, Longmont, Loveland and Fort Collins.
But it is the mountain division of the road
which is the most famous for interesting scenery
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194
7
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
and unexpected physical development. The mount-
ain division is a narrow gauge, and the traveler
must needs change cars at Golden unless north-
ward bound. Taking his seat in the narrow-gauge
train, he is soon swallowed up, as it were, in the
cavernous depths of Clear Creek Cafion, which is
entered at once after leaving Golden. For many
miles the road follows the course of Clear Creek,
often turning curves which seem beyond accom-
plishment, and climbing grades which would tax
the energy of an ox team, but which only serve to
slacken, not stay, the speed of the iron horse.
The scenery in this grand cafion is unparalleled
save in the cafions of the Colorado and Arkansas
Rivers. The rocky walls rise precipitously on
either hand to immense heights, almost shutting
out the sun, and yet there is nothing gloomy about
the scene to mar the pleasure of the traveler. The
tourist rides leisurely and comfortably along on a
railway car and looks out upon scenery which, in
Switzerland, he would have to climb tediously on
foot to see. The wild waters of Clear Creek rush
along at a breakneck speed, foaming and roaring
among the rocks, giving a better idea of the
“down grade” of the road itself than the en-
gineers’ figures, for seeing is believing. Great
granite walls, not hundreds, but thousands of feet
high, rise almost perpendicularly over the train,
‘and in one place a chamber has been cut through
the overhanging rock for the passage of the train,
there being no room elsewhere sufficient for that
purpose.
Anon the train glides swiftly across a little val-
ley dotted by miners’ cabins or more pretentious
ranche houses, but for the most part of the dis-
tance between Golden and Black Hawk, the cafion
is so narrow as to leave no room for side-tracks,
and these turn-outs are forced to occupy the
gulches which enter the cafion almost at right
angles. The effect of this arrangement upon trav-
elers is often astonishing, as these sidings have the
appearance of branch lines leading nowhere. The
scenery is thus varied, in some places rough and
wild, in others soft and beautiful, but, always and
under all circumstances, it is sublime and deeply
impressive.
Although the road is largely patronized by sum-
mer tourists and sightseers, it does not depend en-
tirely upon this class of traffic for support, as one
is speedily convinced upon visiting its mountain
termini. Youtake the Colorado Central for Golden,
an important industrial city and the headquarters
of the Colorado Central Company; for Black
Hawk, a large mining town and former location of
Hill’s extensive smelting works; for Central, the
county seat of Gilpin County, until recently the
largest ore-producing county in Colorado; for
Idaho Springs, a famous watering-place as well as
an important mining center; for Georgetown, the
“ Silver Queen” and the capital of Clear Creek
County; for Boulder, county seat and principal
town of rich Boulder County, famous for its
mines and for its crops; and for numbers of lesser
towns whose tribute of trade is the heritage of the
Colorado Central road, in most cases without com-
petition.
Middle Park, too, the great hunting-ground, and
location of the famous Hot Sulphur Springs, is
reached from Denver via the Colorado Central,
tourists leaving the cars at Empire or Georgetown,
at pleasure, and continuing their journey by stage
over Berthoud Pass, one of the finest mountain
roads in the State. Since Leadville has loomed up
so prominently, a new stage road has been built
from Georgetown to the carbonate camp, and much
Leadville travel follows that line. It is thought
that the Colorado Central will shortly be extended
over the same route, which is at once direct and
practicable.
The inception of this important enterprise dates
back to June, 1861, when the Overland Stage
Company was seeking a nearer outlet from Colo-
rado to Utah and California. Golden was just
then the most ambitious town in Colorado, and
joined with the Stage Company and some public-
spirited citizens of Gregory Gulch and Spanish
Bar in fitting out an expedition to explore and
survey a route for a wagon road from Golden to
4
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HISTORY OF COLORADO.
195
{
Salt Lake. Capt. E. L. Berthoud, now and for
many years engineer of the Colorado Central road,
headed the party, which was absent from June till
September, and explored some 1,100 miles of
country west of the starting-point. It was claimed
for this important survey, that it established two
important facts, viz. :
First, that the main difficulties of a good direct
wagon route were the first ten miles of the cafion
of Clear Creek, and the main central range at the
Berthoud Pass, 10,914 feet above the sea.
Second, that the country traversed west of this
pass was fine valleys, and that excellent coal
abounded, while the total distance from Golden
to Salt Lake was only 458 miles, thus shortening
the overland route fully 200 miles.
Two years later, Hon. W. A. H. Loveland and
E. B. Smith, leading citizens of Golden, went be-
fore the Territorial Legislature and procured a
charter for a wagon road up Clear Creek Cafion to
the mines. Some work was done on the line, but
it was subsequently abandoned as impracticable,
and the old wagon road from Golden Gate contin-
ued to be the great highway between the valley
and the mountains. Loveland never lost faith in
the cafion route, however, and his next scheme
was the building of a railroad where the wagon
road had failed.
In the year 1865, the Colorado Central Railroad
Company was chartered. H. M. Teller, John T.
Lynch, John A. Nye, William A. H. Loveland,
Thomas Mason, A. Gilbert, Milo Lee and E. K.
Baxter, of Colorado, with James Mills, George
Hoyt, John A. Dix, Ebenezer Cook, W. W.
Wright, Thomas Small, L. C. Pollard and Will-
iam Bond, of New York ; M. Laflin, of Chicago ;
A. McKinney, of Boston; Samuel Wheelwright,
George B. Satterlee, W. V. Ogden and Jonathan
Cox were incorporated to build a railroad from
Golden westward to Black Hawk, Central City,
and, by the South Fork, to Idaho and Empire
City ; thence, over the Berthoud Pass, to the west
boundary of Colorado, in the direction of Provo
City, Utah, and easterly, by Denver, to the east
rock work. Narrow-gauge roads were then almost
boundary of Colorado, and northeasterly, by the
coal-fields of Jefferson and Boulder Counties, and
the valleys of St. Vrain, Big Thompson and Cache
la Poudre, and thence to the northeast corner of
Colorado, where the Northern Branch of the Pa-
cific Railroad intersects said boundary.
At that time, and for some years thereafter, the
idea of building a railroad up Clear Creek Cafion
was considered undiluted nonsense, and nobody
thought it would ever be done, except Mr. Love-
land and a few of his friends, who were inspired
by his strong faith in the ultimate success of his
He knew that the trade of the mines
would support a railway ; the only question was
how it should be built. Before he could enlist
active aid in his enterprise, it was necessary for him
to make a preliminary survey, which was done by
private subscription. yen then, when the prac-
ticability of the proposed route was established by
the engineers’ figures, nobody was ready to invest,
and the work waited. A mistake had been made
in providing for a broad-gauge road, which required
several tunnels and a large amount of expensive
scheme.
unknown, and their special fitness for mountain de-
files was still undemonstrated.
To Capt. E. L. Berthoud belongs the honor of
first suggesting a narrow gauge for the mountain
division of the Colorado Central. The Captain
was then stationed at Fort Sedewick, and, at that
distance, could only present his views by corre-
spondence. Mr. Loveland caught the idea at once,
but his associates did not fully share his confidence
in the success of the new idea, and nothing was
done.
In 1866, when the Union Pacific Company was
surveying the passes of the Rocky Mountains, a
party of their engineers went over the old Berthoud
trail and pass, and reported a practicable route from
Golden westward. Every effort was put forth to
induce the company to locate its line in this direc-
tion, but without success. Then the engineering
difficulties were too great. Besides the work in
Clear Creek Cafion, a tunnel over a mile long was
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196
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
deemed necessary in crossing the range, and the
northern route was adopted and built upon.
After the termination of this survey, in 1866,
the subject rested until the spring of 1867, when
the Colorado Central Railroad Company, fully re-
organized, proceeded to inaugurate the construction
of its line. The first work was done between
Golden and Denver, in aid of which Jefferson
County voted $100,000 in bonds.
ordered between Golden and Cheyenne, to connect
with the Union Pacific, but this survey was aban-
doned. The line ran from Golden northeast to
Boulder Creek, down Boulder to the St. Vrain,
thence to Big Thompson and the Cache la Poudre,
crossing the Poudre a little west of the spot where
Greeley now stands, and from there to Cheyenne
direct, a total distance of 118 miles.
Work on the Golden and Denver line was nom-
inally begun in January, 1868, and actively en-
tered upon in May of that year, the design being
to reach Denver simultaneously with the Denver
Pacific from Cheyenne. The co-operation of Den-
ver was diverted, however, by the action of the
company in locating its line not to Denver direct,
but to a junction with the Kansas Pacific two
miles below the city, a mistake since corrected at
considerable expense to the company. The fourteen
miles of road were not finished the first year, nor
the second. It was not until late in 1870 that the
line was opened for business, and then it was com-
pelled to run its trains into Denver over the track
of the Kansas Pacific Company In this, as well
as in other respects, the rivalry between Denver
and Golden has been maintained to the disadvan-
tage of each party.
Though latterly, by force of circumstances, the
Colorado Central has been made a part and parcel
of Denver's railway system, the original plan ig-
nored this system entirely. Denver did not figure
on the first maps of the road, and the building of
the first line was not so much to connect the two
towns as to separate them. It was intended that
the Kansas Pacific should be extended by the Col-
orado Central to Golden, making Denver merely a
A survey was
way-station, and the Union Pacific connection was
planned to avoid Denver entirely. The plan was
admirable enough in conception, but there was a
fatal defect in it, in that it underestimated the
strength of the opposition. Denver built to a con-
nection with the Union Pacific at Cheyenne before
| the Colorado Central was commenced, and, in a
short time thereafter, ‘proj ected a line to the south
which at once made the capital of the Territory
also its railway center. :
In 1870, the Boston managers of the Union Pa-
cific interested themselves in the promotion of the
Colorado Central scheme, with a view to making
that road what it has since become, in a certain
sense, a “feeder” of the main line. At that time,
the Union Pacific had no Colorado connection, the
Denver Pacific having been absorbed by the Kan-
sas Pacific. Chief Engineer Sickles, of the Union
Pacific, became associated with Capt. Berthoud,
Engineer of the Colorado Central, and together
they surveyed and staked a narrow-gauge line
from Golden up the cafion to Gilpin and Clear
Creek Counties, the main line dividing at the forks
of Clear Creek and extending up each branch of
the stream. At the same time, a survey wus made
of a broad-gauge line down the Platte to Jules-
burg, and work was commenced upon each division
of the road. The narrow gauge was pushed up
the cafion as rapidly as possible, but it was not
opened for traffic until 1872. Upon its comple-
tion, work was pushed upon the main line for some
time, but after the whole distance had been either
completely or partially graded, and the track had
been laid to the Boulder County line, a few miles
beyond Longmont; work upon the Julesburg
branch was suspended for several years, but recent-
ly it has been resumed, track being now laid from
Julesburg to Greeley.
About this time another road, called the Golden
City & South Platte Railway and Telegraph Line,
from Golden to form a junction with the Rio Grande
Railroad near Littleton, was projected, but after
grading eighteen miles of the line, to a point near
the town of Acequa, work was suspended for a time,
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HISTORY .OF COLORADO.
197
i haps the less said about them the better.
but it having been recommenced, three miles of
the line are now in operation, with a fair prospect
of the entire work being completed. The delay of
these two enterprises was chiefly due to the panic
of 1873, which proved peculiarly fatal to all new
railroad enterprises.
The history of the Colorado Central for the next
three or four years was eventful, by reason of the
struggles of rival factions for its control. The
Union Pacific held a majority of the stock. In
the spring of 1875, a consolidation agreement was
entered into between the Union Pacific and Kansas
Pacific, by which the Colorado Central was to be
merged into the Kansas Pacific. The minority
stockholders, of whom Mr. Loveland was chief,
opposed the scheme, but were unable to prevent
its consummation, which occurred in December,
1875. Until the spring of 1876, the line was
operated as a part of the Kansas Pacific, but, in
May of that year, the Colorado stockholders met,
threw out a vote of 7,200 shares of Union Pacific
stock, and elected themselves Directors of the road.
A few days later, the officers elected by the new
board took possession of the road. These proceed-
ings, and certain subsequent acts of lawlessness in
holding possession, did not redound greatly io the
credit of Colorado railway management, and per-
It was
undoubtedly true, however, that the immediate
patrons of the line, particularly the counties which
had voted bonds to help build the road, were better
satisfied with the Colorado management than any
other, and public opinion sustained Mr. Loveland
in his possession.
After fighting for a whole year to get control of
the property, the Union Pacific people proposed a
compromise, which was finally effected, and which
resulted in several important extensions of the line.
The long-looked-for outlet to the Union Pacific
was finally completed via Fort Collins to Chey-
enne; the Georgetown Branch of the Mountain
Division was extended from Floyd Hill to George-
town, and the Central Branch from Black Hawk
to Central. About the same time, the Denver line
was straightened from Clear Creek, crossing so as
to run into Denver direct, and depots and their
appurtenances were established at the capital.
From that time forward, the road did a profitable
business. Its traffic contract with the Union Pa-
cific has lately been changed into a long lease to
the latter company, which manages the road as a
part of its main line, and proposes to extend it to
Leadville in the near future.
Mention has already been made of the large and
constantly increasing traffic of this road, but until
one sees its crowded passenger trains and heavily
laden freight cars, no proper idea of its business
can be obtained. Georgetown and Central alone
would give the line profitable employment, and
they are growing every day in population and
commercial importance. Te Colorado Central is
destined to be the most important link in Denver's: |’
chain of railways.
CHAPTER V.
THE KANSAS PACIFIC.
ANSAS CITY—DENVER! Two of the
most active, enterprising and prosperous
young cities of America and of the world,
forming, with Chicago, a great triumvirate, whose
wonderful vitality, marvelous growth and in-
domitable enterprise have astonished the world
and outstripped the most visionary anticipa-
tions of their most confident and enthusiastic
promoters! The one, the metropolis of the
Missouri Valley, and the gateway to the rich
prairies and the plains beyond; the other, the
Queen City of the Plains, and the threshold to the
vast mineral regions of the Rocky Mountains. The
one, less than half a century ago, a small trading-
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198 HISTPRY OF COLORADO.
post on the extreme western frontier, the ren-
: and traders, who plied their trade in the most
primitive manner, between the Missouri River and
the mountains; the other, a quarter of a cen-
tury later, totally unheard of and entirely a
thing of the future. The one, in 1880, a great
and important city of sixty thousand inhabitants ;
the other, six hundred miles distant and separated
from it by a dreary stretch of barren plain, spring-
ing, in a little more than two decades, from a
barren waste, the home of the buffalo and the In-
dian, to a beautiful, proud and wealthy city of
nearly forty thousand people.
To the Kansas Pacific Railway belongs the
honor of being the first to connect these two im-
portant points—the pioneer road between the Mis-
souri River and the Rocky Mountains, and it is
most appropriate that an enterprise of so great im-
portance to the State, and exerting so great an in-
fluence upon its prosperity, should receive more
than a passing notice in a history of Colorado.
With the whole vast territory west of Kansas
City lying undisputed before them; with no rivals
in the field; with the full privilege of choosing
whatever route they would, the originators of the
Kansas Pacific Railway would have shown great
lack of wisdom had they failed to select the best
route, the shortest and most direct, the most easily
constructed, and leading through the most fertile
portions of the State through which their course
must, in any event, lie. Nor did they fail. After
carefully and thoroughly examining the various
lines, they selected the one running westward
through the central and richest part of Kansas,
through a section of country which many of the
most eminent men have not hesitated to denomi-
nate the “ Golden Belt.”
The Union Pacific Railroad bill was passed by
Congress in May, 1862, and in June the following
year, a contract was let to Messrs. Ross, Steele &
Co., to build 350 miles of the Kansas branch, and
Gen. John C. Fremont and Samuel Hallett, about
they soon afterward began work at Leavenworth.
dezvous of a few couriers and voyageurs, trappers |
thesame time, undertook the construction of the main
line of the Kansas branch, afterward known as the
Kansas Pacific Railway, and now denominated the
Kansas Pacific Division of the Union Pacific Rail-
way. They soon afterward bought out the fran-
chises under which Ross, Steele & Co. were at work
at Leavenworth ; and, beginning work at Kansas
City on the 7th of July, 1863, they completed
forty-three miles of the road-bed on the 18th of
the following November. Thus was begun a work
which has contributed more than any other enter-
prise to the rapid progress and permanent great-
ness of the Centennial State and its capital city.
on the 19th of December, 1864, the road was
opened to Lawrence, Kan., and in August, 1871,
was completed to Denver, which city has remained
the western terminus of the road.
The following is a condensed sketch of this great
thoroughfare over the 639 miles of its course from
the Missouri River to Denver:
Leaving Kansas City, it crosses the Kansas River
near its junction with the Missouri, after which its
course lies along the north bank of the Kansas,
traversing a country whose rich and varied scenery
of forest, field and stream, forms a most attractive
panorama.
Thirty-five miles west of Kansas City and near
the city of Lawrence is the junction of the main
line with the Leavenworth branch, which extends
northeast thirty-four miles to Leavenworth. This
is a beautiful and growing city of over twenty-five
thousand people, the seat of Fort Leavenworth, one
of the most important military posts in the West.
Having important railway connections with exten-
sive coal mines in the vicinity, with its fine churches,
elegant public buildings and progressive people, its
future growth and prosperity is assured.
Continuing southwest from its junction with the
main line, this branch extends to Carbondale,
thirty-two miles distant, and in the midst of the
extensive and exhaustless coal-fields of Osage
County. Near the junction of the two lines is
Bismarck Grove, which, during the past few years,
has become famous as the spot where have been
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HISTORY OF COLORADO. 199
held some of the largest and most important out-
door meetings in the West.
In 1859, the principal gatherings in the grove
were the Second Grand National Temperance
Camp-Meeting, presided over by Francis Murphy,
and the Quarter-Centennial Celebration of the settle-
ment of Kansas, participated in by such men as
John W. Forney, Edward Everett Hale and Walt
Whitman, the poet. At this grove was instituted,
during the same year, a church encampment mod-
eled after the celebrated Chautauqua Lake Religio-
Educational Encampment in New York.
The Grand National Temperance Camp-meet-
ing, from the 20th to the 30th of August, and
the first annual fair of the Western National
Fair Association from the 13th to the 18th
of September, were but two of the many im-
portant meetings held at Bismarck Grove during
the present year.
The most important city in the vicinity, educa-
tionally and historically, is Lawrence, the scene of
the initial struggle of the great conflict between
the friends of liberty on the one side and the bor-
der ruffians on the other, whose, history is written
in letters of blood, and whose thrilling events
marked the period from 1855 to 1858. Lawrence
is a beautiful city, the view from College Hill,
where is situated the State University of. Kansas,
being pronounced by Bayard Taylor, one of the
most magnificent he had ever seen in all his ex-
tended travels. The site of Lawrence was fixed in
1854, and it now has a population of ten thou-
sand inhabitants.
From Lawrence to Topeka, the capital of the
State, the road passes through fertile fields, past
cultivated farms and through smiling villages, the
homes of peace and plenty, for a distance of
twenty-one miles.
The writer recently asked a commercial traveler,
who had visited every part of the United States,
what city he would choose as a permanent home,
and his answer was, “ Topeka, Kan., or Denver,
Colo.” Topeka is a beautiful city. “Its streets
are broad, its houses well built, its churches nu-
merous and attractive, its society of a high order,
its newspapers enterprising, its business interests
flourishing, and its political prestige a source of
constant life and activity. Its educational in-
terests are cared for by Bethany College and
Washburne College and a finely managed body of
public schools.” From ‘Topeka, west, the road
continues to follow the north bank of the Kansas
River, to Junction City, a distance of seventy-one
miles, passing through immense corn-fields, and a
number of flourishing towns. Says a visitor to
this section: “I shall not soon forget those amaz-
ing maize-fields—say about 200 miles long, and
width not measurable by vision, and with a soil rich,
strong and bottomless. They are diversified in a mo-
saic work of wheat, oats, barley and varied shades
of grasses—meadow, prairie grass and clover. The
valley is decorated with neat farmhouses and
pretty cities, and the most conspicuous features in
every settlement are the American emblems of pat-
riotic civilization, pretty little churches and com-
modious schvolhouses. I would defy stolidity it-
self to repress imagination or suppress enthusiasm
under the impulse of the magical pictures which
flit through the visual and mental kaleidoscope,
under the inspiration of the electrical atmosphere
and the enchanting picture of the prairie pageant.”
At St. Mary’s, one of the towns passed on the
way to Junction City, is located the largest Catho-
lic school in Kansas, while Manhattan, a town of
about two thousand inhabitants, is the seat of the
State Agricultural College. Junction City is so
called from the fact that the Republican and
Smoky Hill Rivers here unite to form the Kansas.
From this point, the Junction City and Fort
Kearney Branch extends northwest along the
Republican Valley, through several thriving towns
and a most beautiful and delightful section of
country, to Concordia, seventy miles away.
Returning to Junction City, the passenger over
the Kansas Pacific is hurried rapidly along the
north bank of the Smoky Hill River, through
prosperous villages to Salina, one hundred and
eighty-five miles west of Kansas City, and the
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200
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
headquarters of the land department of the Kan-
sas Pacific Railway. Salina contains about four
thousand inhabitants, and, in all that goes to make
up a typical Western town, is fully equal to any of
its size in the West. The Salina & Southwestern
Branch of the Kansas Pacific leaves the main line
here for McPherson, thirty-six miles to the south-
west.
From Salina, the tourist is whirled along
seventy-seven miles to Russell, the next most im-
portant point west, and thence onward a hundred
and fifty-eight miles further, ascending all the way,
to Wallace, the last station of any note in Kansas.
Leaving Wallace, the State line between Kansas
and Colorado is soon passed, and the train rushes
on past a number of small stations to First View.
“Tf the day be clear, the tourist obtains, at this
point, the first view of the Rocky Mountains.
Towering against the Western sky, more than one
hundred and fifty miles away, is Pike’s Peak,
standing out in this rarefied atmosphere with a
clearness which deludes the tourist, if it is his first
experience, into the belief that he is already in
close proximity to the mountains. Henceforth he
feels, in the presence of the mighty peaks which
disclose themselves one after another, that he has
entered another world—a land of unapproachable
beauty and grandeur.”
The train moves on over the plain, past small
stations, the shipping-points for the immense cattle |
trade of Eastern Colorado, and all the while “ the
mountains have been unfolding themselves, as if
the wand of some fabled necromancer held them in
faithful obedience. Peak after peak appears. The
shadowy range takes more definite shape; the
dark rifts in the cafions become visible, and then,
in this transparent air, the whole range foy two
hundred miles bursts full upon the view. Less
and less heed is paid to objects close at hand as the
tourist moves along in sight of this entrancing
Deer Trail, Byers, Kiowa, Box Elder
and Schuyler pass almost unnoticed, for the moun-
tains agerandize as they are approached, and hold
the gaze as the beacon-light enchains the mariner
at midnight. The train rolls on over the swelling
bosom of the prairie, and soon makes its last stop,
at Denver, the unique and beautiful City of the
Plains.”
panorama.
CHAPTER VI.
THE ATCHISON, TOPEKA & SANTA FE.
ANSAS and Colorado were, originally, one,
the county of Arapahoe, then in the former
State, embracing nearly all the territory since in-
cluded in the State of Colorado.
But, although civil boundaries have been drawn
dividing this extended territory, and a new State
has been erected, no legislative enactment could,
if it would, separate or destroy that community of
interest which exists, and must ever continue to
exist, between the two States ; for this mutuality of
interests depends upon natural laws which are
higher and more authoritative in their nature than
any parliamentary act or legislative decree. The
fertile fields of Kansas, producing annually their
millions of bushels of the great cereals of the
country, and the mountains of Colorado, sending ‘
forth their treasures of gold and silver, form the
opposite poles of a natural magnet, mutually at-
tracting each other and producing a complete
commercial circuit, over which the products
of the two States must pass like the opposite cur-
rents of electricity.
Great trunk lines of railway, forming commer-
cial highways, become, therefore, an absolute na-
tional necessity, which shrewd, far-seeing men
were not slow to recognize nor tardy in devising
means to meet. Without the two great railroads
which traverse the entire State of Kansas, and the
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HISTORY OF COLORADO. 201
vast plains of Eastern Colorado, this State would
fall far short of being the rich and prosperous 6 com-
monwealth that it now is.
What the Kansas Pacific is to the Northern and
Central parts of the State, the Atchison, Topeka
& Santa Fe is to Southern Colorado and New
Mexico. It is fast transforming barren wastes into
fertile fields, and vast deserts into rich pastoral and
agricultural domains, the abode of a numerous and
prosperous people. It binds with “bands of iron
and ribs of steel” the rich mineral-producing re-
gions of our country to the great manufacturing
and agricultural sections of the Hast. It brings,
every year, thousands of emigrants to swell the
great, toiling army who annually find homes within
our borders. It transports immense quantities of
food for their sustenance, and machinery for
the extraction of the rich treasures which lie
imbedded in our mountains. It is penetrating
and opening up the vast pastoral and mineral
regions of the Southwest, and will soon form
the eastern portion of the great southern high-
way from the Missouri River to the Pacific
Ocean.
Leaving Kansas City, whose marvelous growth
has kept pace with the development of the country
to the west and southwest, thus demonstrating her
favorable location and the enterprise of her citi-
zens, the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe passes
along the valley of the Kansas River, through the
rich fields and past the fertile farms of Hastern
Kansas, till it reaches Topeka, the capital of the
State, where is located the main office of the land |,
department of the road, to which is due, in a great
measure, the peopling of Southern Kansas with
sturdy and industrious men, who have converted
the old Santa Fe trail into a garden, and made
“the wilderness to blossom as the rose.” Here
it unites with the line from Atchison, which fol-
lows the beautiful valley of the Grasshopper, in a
southwesterly direction, to the common central
point. From Topeka, the road continues south-
westerly through Emporia, until it strikes the
Arkansas River at Newton.
Between these points, numerous lines branch off
to important towns to the north and south of the
main line. From Newton, a branch line extends
south to the young, flourishing and enterprising
city of Wichita, and continuing thence south, with
branches to Arkansas City, Caldwell and Anthony.
From the Rocky Mountain Tourist we quote:
“At Newton we are at the end of the first division
of the road, and at the entrance or gateway, so to
speak, of the Arkansas Valley, the most glorious
domain of rich, fertile and well-watered land on the
Western Hemisphere. * * * Beyond, step
by step, the landscape leads you over swelling plain,
to vast distance, which melts by imperceptible grada-
tions into the gracious sky, and impresses the heart
with a conviction that just beyond your power of
sightis a better, nobler clime—a lovely land whereall
is beautiful. The first sensation of the prospect is
simply one of immensity. The sweep of the vast
spaces is bounded only by the haze of distance.
Opening out at Halstead, to a width of fully fifteen
miles, the valley glows with universal vegetable
profusion, the earth is carpeted with vernal
green, and the prodigality of vegetation reigns
supreme.”
Extravagant and fanciful as this picture may
seem, the truth remains, that the Arkansas Valley,
at this point, and thence in its southeasterly course
to the Mississippi, as well as for some distance up
the river, presents a scene, which, for wealth of
vegetation, beauty of landscape and fertility of
soil, is excelled by no part of our Western domain.
Continuing westward, the road passes along
the northern bank of the Arkansas River, through
Hutchinson, Sterling, Larned, Kinsley and, other
thriving young towns, to Dodge City, the cen-
ter of the cattle-shipping interests of Southwest
Kansas, Northern Texas and Eastern Colorado,
and thence on to the State line between Kansas
and Colorado, a short distance beyond which it
crosses to the southern, or, at this point, the south-
western shore, whence its course lies along the
south bank of the river until it nears Pueblo, when
it recrosses to the northern shore.
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202 HISTORY OF COLORADO.
About midway between the State line and
Pueblo, it passes Fort Lyon, near the prosperous
and growing town of Las Animas.
At this point we copy again:
“With Fort Lyon on our immediate right, and
Las Animas but amile away, we catch, between
the two points, our first glimpse of the mountains,
the outlines of the Greenhorn Range being plainly
discernible, although fully ninety miles distant.
On particularly clear days, and when the peaks
are snow-capped, with the rich evergreen foliage
densely covering the sides of the mountains, the
contrast is exquisitely effective; and later in the
season, when the range is covered with snow, and
stands out bold against the soft, graded light be-
yond, one would scarcely believe the distance
twenty miles. At times, when the intervening
plains are hidden ‘neath one of the wondrously
deceptive mirages characteristic of this elevation,
the mountains appear to double their height, the
hoary-headed old peaks extending so far heaven-
ward as to realize one’s most enthusiastic dreams
of towering grandeur. As we pass on beyond Las
Animas, we strain our eyes forward, catching, for
a moment, faint outlines of higher mountains, so
dark in the blue of the lessening distance as to
cause hesitation as to their being real substance or
mere formations of rapidly changing clouds. A
few moments, and we are satisfied of the fact that
the shadowy outlines are stationary, and we real-
ize one fond ambition, that of beholding Pike’s
Peak, though it may be one hundred miles away.
A few miles more and the symmetrical pyramids
known as the Spanish Peaks, steal out from the
clouds entwining their snowy heads, and bid. us
welcome to the confines of the Spanish Range, over
which they have for unknown centuries stood
faithful sentinels. Nearing Pueblo, the southern
hills, which will soon be mountains, shift rapidly
their wavy outlines, and the thick forest crowth
becomes more and more distinct. Stretching far
away to the left, perfectly outlined in its charac-
teristic smoky blue, appears the Greenhorn Range.
As we approach, the smoky whiteness of the en-
veloping haze is dissipated and gives place to a
more pronounced blue; the billowy hills roll more
sharply clear to the eye; the irregular lines of
the foliage stand out distinct, and here and there
shagey and disheveled pines cut the sky-line upon
the summit ridge.
“ At Pueblo, we have merely reached the foot-
stool, as it were, of the greatness, the sublimity
and immensity of the rock-ribbed heights of Colo-
rado. By and by, when we shall go from
forests of luxuriant splendor to mountains of un-
utterable barrenness and grandeur, from still lake
to roaring cataract, from verdure and cultivation,
into galleries of nature’s strangest fantasies, with-
out the slightest hint of what the next transition
may be, then we shall confess that each picture
has a hundred phases rivaling each other in beauty
and interest, and that all that is exquisitely per-
fect in mountain scenery, in lake, river and valley
scenery, is garnered here.”
Pueblo, the present western terminus of the
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad in Colo-
rado, and the point where that line connects north,
south and west with the Denver & Rio Grande,
making it a railroad center despite the fact that it
has but two principal railways, is the commercial,
political and social metropolis of Southern Colorado.
Though not a handsome town, owing to the mixed
order of its architecture and the absence of shade
trees, except on the mesa of South Pueblo, it
atones for its lack of beauty by abundant enter-
prise, great hospitality, and true Western spirit.
The location of the town is commanding in a com-
mercial view, holding the key to the trade of the
West and South. Its future is foreshadowed by
its past. It has grown steadily since 1859, and
has never failed to advance with the prosperity of
the rest of the State. It was never in a better
position than it is to-day; Leadville has already
been, and Silver Cliff soon will be, connected with
Pueblo by iron rails, and, though Denver has a
strong lead to-day, it is not impossible that Pueblo
will some day prove a successful rival.
From La Junta, near Las Animas, the Colo-
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HISTORY OF COLORADO.
203
rado and New Mexico Division of the Atchison,
Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad passes in a south-
westerly direction up the Las Animas Valley to
Trinidad, the metropolis of the extreme southern
part of the State. Here it met the forces of the
Rio Grande Company, and a race for precedence
occurred, both roads making asimultaneous dash for
the possession of the pags over the Raton Mount-
ains into New Mexico. In this, the Santa Fe was
victorious, and at once entered upon the stupen-
dous engineering task of climbing up through the
Raton Cafion and surmounting the great natural
obstacles of the Raton Pass, nearly eight thousand
feet above the sea level, from which it descends the
southern slope, through Willow Cafion, and out
upon the plains of New Mexico. From Trinidad
to the summit of the pass the distance is a little
over fifteen miles, and the grade, in some places,
one hundred and eighty-five feet to the mile. At
last, after surmounting the stupendous engineer-
ing difficulties in its course, cutting its way
through the solid rock, building riprap to protect
embankments, throwing iron bridges across the
cafion, the road reaches the foot of the crest of the
divide, up whose steep sides no human machinery
can climb. Through this obstacle, it was decided
to run a tunnel two thousand feet to the opposite
side; but, in the meantime, a temporary means
must be devised, and, accordingly, a switch-back
was constructed. “ By it, the cars leave what will
be the direct line, and are carried over a steep in-
clined track running diagonally up the hill;
thence, reversing their direction, they shoot up
another incline ; then, reversing again, they climb
to the summit, thus zigzaging up the steep, they
cannot directly scale. Even by this indirect route,
the enormous grade of 316.8 feet per mile is
attained. Circling around the summit of the pass,
the road descends on the New Mexico side in a
similar manner, and reaches a point where the
direct line comes out of the tunnel, after having
achieved the two thousand feet of what will here-
after be the tunneled distance by going nearly
three miles around.” The tunnel will soon be
completed, when the cost of hauling a train from
one side of the mountain to the other will be but
one-fourth what it now is. Beyond the Raton
Mountains, the engineering difficulties were
comparatively slight, and during the past
summer the road has been completed through
Las Vegas to Calisteo, whence a short “stub”
extends northward to the ancient city of Santa Fe,
the capital of New Mexico, the main line continu-
ing on through Albuquerque and Socorro to Fort
Thorn, whence two proposed branches extend, one
southeast down the Rio Grande River to El Paso
del Norte, in Mexico, and the other southwest to
Tucson, Arizona, where it will connect with the
Southern Pacific for California, continuing its own’
line, however, directly south through the Mexican
State of Sonora to Guaymas, on the Gulf of Cali-
fornia. From Albuquerque, the proposed line of
the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad extends westward
through Arizona and California to the Pacific
Ocean. From Pueblo, a branch is now building
to Silver Cliff, and will thus compete with the Rio
Grande for the trade of that important mining
camp.
From this brief sketch, it will be seen that the
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway is a most
important factor in the development of our coun-
try, and one whose future prospects are most flat-
tering.
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HISTORY OF COLORADO.
CHAPTER VII.
THE DENVER & BOULDER VALLEY.
ff ge question of obtaining an adequate sup-
ply of fuel to meet the increasing de-
mands of a rapidly growing city like Denver,
situated in a treeless plain, 600 miles from the
Missouri River, and fourteen miles from the
nearest foot-hills, early assumed an importance
which led to a search for the immense deposits of
coal which were supposed to underlie a consider-
able portion of the eastern slope of the mountains
in the northern part of the Territory, and resulted
in the opening up of a number of coal mines in
Boulder County and the western par: of Weld.
This demand for fuel was still further increased by
the building of the Denver Pacific Railway, be-
tween Cheyenne and Denver, and the completion,
soon afterward, of the Kansas Pacific across the
plains to the latter city. The Denver Pacific, it is
true, passed through the county of Weld on its way
to Cheyenne, but failed to take in, in its course, the
coal-fields of that county, which lay some distance
to the westward, while those of Boulder County
were still further away and near the base of the
Rocky Mountains.
Prior to 1870, all the coal consumed in Denver,
as well as the supply for the Denver: Pacific Rail-
way, was hauled in wagons from the mines to the
yards in that city, or to the stations along the line
of the Denver Pacific, and cost in Denver about
$8 per ton in summer, while in winter it was not
unusual for the price to reach and even exceed
$15 per ton.
It was to meet this demand and reach the coal
deposits of Northern Colorado that a number of
prominent citizens, embracing Gov. Evans, Walter
S. Cheesman, William E. Turner, William N.
Byers, William Wagner, Joseph F. Humphrey
and Cyrus W. Fisher, met,and organized the Den-
ver & Boulder Valley Railroad Company, with
a capital stock, $825,000. The Trustees for the
first year were John Evans, J. B. Chaffee, Gran-
ville Berkley, Peter M. Housal, Walter S. Chees-
man, Edward C. Kattell and William J. Palmer;
the first officers being: J. B. Chaffee, President;
W.S. Cheesman, Vice President; R. R. McCor-
mick, Secretary, and D. H. Moffat, Jr., Treasurer.
The design was to start from a point of connection
with the Denver Pacific Railway, and proceed by way |
of the coal-fields of Weld County up the valley of
Boulder Creek to Boulder City. The company
was incorporated October 1, 1870, and operations
were begun at once.
Starting from Hughes Station, now Brighton,
on the Denver Pacific Railroad, eighteen miles
north of Denver, the work proceeded without in-
| terruption, and the road was completed during the
fall of 1870, or the succeeding winter, as far as the
Erie Coal mines. Beyond that point its path lay
along the beautiful and fertile Boulder Valley,
through an agricultural district unsurpassed any-
where in Colorado, past comfortable homesteads
and smiling farms, which had been opened up
years before, and whose rich products of grain
and vegetables were to furnish a considerable por-
tion of the revenue of the new road.
Work, however, progressed but slowly during
the next few years, and it was not until 1873 that
the road reached Boulder City, its present termi-
nus, from which point a short feeder, known as the
Golden, Boulder & Caribou, extends to the Mar-
shall coal-banks in ‘the same county, a distance of
six miles. Since its construction, the road has
been operated under a lease, by the Denver Pacific
Company, until recently, when it was turned over
to Messrs. Gould and Sage, under a mortgage, and
now forms a part of the possessions of the great
railroad magnate in Colorado.
|
BOULDER.
Y OF COLORADO.
UNIVERSIT
TUUTUDOU
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PUBLIC SCHOOL BUILDING, CENTRALCITY.
4
PART III.
HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY.
BY JAMES BURRELL.
CHAPTER I.
GRAND OPENING OF THE GOLDEN GATE.
F the early pioneers, wending their way
across the plains to Pike’s Peak, as the
country was then called, could have lifted the
curtain and taken a peep at the Colorado of
to-day, they would not have listened quite so
complacently as they did to the discouraging
tales of returning parties, sometimes outnum-
bering two to one their own “ outfit.”
The writer well remembers that while en-
camped for a night with the ox-train he was
with, on his way here, and near the same place
where some returning stampeders were also
encamped, of listening to their recital of the
discouraging circumstances that had met them
at the outset. They claimed to have seen the
* Blephant,” and were bound for “ America.”
They had evidently become too much im-
bued with the idea that “ yellow dirt” was the
object of their lives, and, not finding it in pay-
ing quantities the first week or month, had
reversed their banners and guidons for “home,
sweet home.”
Some said, that, if they had only been a little
earlier at the place in the mountains where the
gold was found, they might have had some
“show,” but, as it was, others had camped there
before them, driven their stakes, and com-
menced .building their cabins, and, not then
finding evidence in the vicinity equal to the
first discoveries, concluded that they had come
too late.
They told us that at a place called Cherry
Creek we would he likely to hold up, and prob-
ably never get any nearer Pike’s Peak, atter
all,
These things, however, though discouraging,
were not considered by our party “ fast col-
ors,” and did not turn us back.
But, remembering now, as we look back to
those early times, the solicitude with which
those who had made the junction of Cherry
Creek with the Platte River a starting-point for
trade with the mountains, inquired of us when
in town, about our successes in the “ Gregory
diggings,” we can see that the settlers there
were pinning their faith upon the success of
mining industry in the mountains, rather than
upon the shifting sands of Cherry Creek, or
the barren plains, as they were then termed,
that surrounded them, fit only, as was believed,
to be the abode of Indians, buffalo and ante-
lope. |
How these anxieties of the then denizens of
our present great metropolis fiuctuated, in-
creased or diminished, according to the success
or otherwise of the mines discovered, and
4—
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Vv
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208
HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY.
being discovered, in what is now known as Gil-
pin County, may be inferred from the fact, that,
while many pitched their tents where Denver
now stands, others equally as enterprising, in-
telligent and persevering, pushed on to the
Gregory diggings and engaged at once in min-
ing trade, or the various occupations and profes-
sions best suiting them, as opportunity offered.
Gilpin County has sometimes been facetiously
called the mother of Colorado statesmen, but,
whether the soft impeachment has been verified
by the assent of the State at large or not, no
other section has denied her the honor of fur-
nishing more than her full quota in proportion
to her size of enterprising citizens of all classes,
occupations and professions, for distribution
and assistance in other sections as needed, or
for doing duty in behalf of the State or country
at large, as the necessity of the times dernanded.
The year 1857 had been a year of great
financial disturbance all over the country ; men
of intelligence and careful business habits, in
spite of industry and perseverance, had been
wrecked in the storm, and by the years 1859,
1860, had regained the shore with such frag-
ments of the wreck as could be saved, and
were ready for new homes, new enterprises or
new fortunes, if the fickle dame should open up
to them a prospect where she might be wooed
and won. fe
One of the favorable results of all this was,
that, with the influx of the great tide of immi-
gration to Colorado in those early years, came
a better class of men for permanent citizenship
than the chronic rough and roving adventurer,
and Gilpin County got her full share of them.
But to the Golden Gate: Where the stage
road from Golden to Gilpin County enters the
mountains, at the mouth of Tucker Gulch, a
natural gateway,‘of quite limited dimensions,
surprises the traveler, even now, to find that
nowhere else, practically, can he gain access
within the heights on either side.
When we passed through there in the spring
of 1860, we were admonished by parties estab-
lishing a way-station there, that no Divinity
had ever passed its portal, that his Satanic |
Majesty had always held complete control
beyond, and would ever claim supremacy.
How this claim of the mythical old warrior
was afterward contested, and is still held in
abeyance, in these grand old mountains whose
foot-hills we were just then entering upon, will
appear further on,
CHAPTER II.
EARLY DISCOVERIES OF GOLD—MINES—MINING AND MILLING, AND OTHER TREATMENT OF ORES.
E are under great obligations, through -
permission of the authors, for much of |
our subsequent data, and many extracts relat-
ing to the history of Gilpin County—its mines, |
mining, etc.—to the able and reliable authorities
of Samuel Cushman and J. P. Waterman, in a
book published by them in 1876, relating exclu-
sively to Gilpin County, and also to the more |
recent excellent work of Frank Fossett entitled
“Colorado,” published the present year.
~ To discover gold in a region of country like
the county of Gilpin, where its creeks, gulches, |
hill-sides, and apparently solid bed-rocks, are
everywhere permeated more or less with gold,
and where its mineral crevices and true fissure
veins crop out or underlie the debris on its
surface like the network of a trellis, would be
no marvel of skill, when once the practical miner
was on the ground prepared to thoroughly exam-
ine the situation. But the good judgment that
would guide, even the skilled prospector, to the
very best spot in the country, for the inexperi-
enced gold-hunters coming in, seemed to par-
take of more than ordinary human direction.
of
~~
aid)
HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY. 209
Wending his way up the sinuous course of
the Clear Creek Valley, in the spring of 1859,
John H. Gregory, a Georgian by birth, who had.
had some mining experience in his native State
and in California, with only one companion,
William Kendall, might have been seen, the first
discoverer of the riches of Gilpin County.
He examined the various tributaries or
branches of Clear Creek, as he ascended the
stream, by testing the sands and gravel-beds,
with only the miners’ common prospect-pan, and
by that process, determined upon which of two
branches of the stream, when he came to them,
to continue the search for gold. No thought of
silver was in the minds of any of the early pio-
neers.
‘Indications favoring the branch we now call
North Clear Creek induced him to proceed up
its stream to the place where-the town of Black
Hawk now stands.
There he held up to inspect the hillsides of
the gulch now known by his name, which made,
with its confluent branches above, a junction at
that point with North Clear Creek. Here the
indications of that gulch, and its banks, even
among its “grass-roots,” satisfied him that the
sources from which their golden sands had been
drifted, were near, and, if not in “ mass and posi-
tion,” were at least in “ rock in place ” or posi-
| tive environments.
With evidences of his discoveries in hand, and
an April snow-storm at his back, he returned
to the valley for more and better supplies to
further prosecute discoveries. He returned
soon after with a party consisting of Wilkes
Defrees and brother, Dr. Casto, James D. Wood,
H.P. A. Smith, C. H. Butler, James Hunter, C.
Dean, Capt. Bates and Charles Tascher, with
transportation for their supplies, consisting of
two yoke of oxen, a pair of forward wagon-
wheels and some pack animals. They entered
the mountains by a route northerly of Clear
Creek Cafion, and another party, under the lead-
ership of Capt. Sopris, now Mayor of Denver,
came in and joined the Gregory party soon
after, at the same point, Gregory Gulch, by the
way of “Chicago-Bar Diggin’s,” which were on
the South Fork of Clear Creek.
We give the discovery and first operations of
the Gregory lode in the admirable language of
Messrs. Cushman and Waterman in their work
above referred to:
“The discovery of Gregory Lode occurred
on the 6th of May, 1859, the day following the
arrival of the main party. The first panfal
from the lode yielded about $4. Gregory was
greatly excited, and his expressions on see-
ing the gold all over the bottom of the pan
would be pronounced very profane history
indeed, and not altogether delicate. No doubt
he comprehended the value and possibilities
of the discovery better than his associates.
“Tn the seventeen years since this discovery,
scores of wonderful lodes have been discovered
in this and other counties, and, while interested
parties may and will deny that this has never
had a successful rival, none will deny that, con-
sidering the inexperience, isolation and compar-
ative poverty of the pioneers, the Gregory Lode
was the most available spot to which they could
have been directed by the overruling Power.
The same may be truthfully said of this county
as compared with other counties. California
Gulch, and other tributaries of the Arkansas,
Blue, Swan and Snake Rivers, furnished exten-
sive and rich diggings, but were far less access-
ible.
“What could the pioneers have done with the
tellurides of Sunshine and Gold Hill, the sil-
ver ores of Georgetown and Caribou and
Park County, or even with the riches of the San
Juan country ? The large masses of decomposed
surface ore, carrying free gold, the rich placer
mines, the low altitude of about 8,000 feet above
the level of the sea, and 2,000 feet above the
level of the plain, the short distance of twenty-
five miles from the foot of the mountains, and
the abundance of timber and water, conspired
I
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210
HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY.
to make this the most available region yet known.
Neither machinery nor capital nor experience
were essential to success, and, as a result,
immigration commenced to roll in like a flood.
“Returning to details, we find it recorded
that the first forty pans of dirt from the Greg-
ory Lode yielded $40. Representatives of larger
parties returned to the valley for supplies, and
to inform their partners of the welcome facts,
and soon the entire movable population was en
route for Gregory diggings. Mr. EH. W. Hen-
derson, now Receiver in the Land Office at
Central, and his party, had the honor of bring-
ing in the first wagon which was ever ‘snubbed’
down the precipitous declivities of the old
‘Gregory trail.’ The toll-road of later times
was not open for travel until a month or two
later, and the character of the first roads may
be inferred from the fact that twenty yoke of
oxen were required to haul in a small boiler.
“The outcrop of the lodes being strong and
plain, new discoveries took place in rapid suc-
cession. The Bates Lode was found on the 15th,
the Smith on the 20th, the Dean and the Casto
on the 22d, the Gunnell, Kansas and Burroughs
on the 25th, etc., etc. Nearly all the since nota-
ble lodes, and many that have not become
famous, were found and opened before the end
of June. The Bobtail hada less marked outcrop,
and was not discovered until June, when it was
uncovered by a Mr. Cotton. The first pay-dirt
was hauled down to the gulch for sluicing, with
a bobtailed ox in harness, the quartz wagon
being a forked stick, with a rawhide stretched
upon it.
“This unique outfit suggested to the mind of
Capt. Parks the euphonious cognomen of ‘Bob-
tail,” and the name stuck and was so recorded.
“Notwithstanding the facilities with which
lodes were found, Gregory was in great demand
among the inexperienced prospectors, and was
often paid $200 per day for his services.
“Sluicing from the Gregory commenced on
the 16th of May, with five men, and on the 23d
they cleaned up $972. Another run of five days,
by the same parties, yielded $942. Pages of
well-authenticated yields by sluicing might be
given, but it must suffice, for comparison with
other districts, to state, that, before the Ist of
July, there were not less than one hundred
sluices running in Gregory Gulch’and below, and
that the production was from $20 to $30 per
day to the hand. The yield of dirt from the
Kansas, Gunnell, Burroughs, Clay County and
many others, including some in Russell District,
was quite as large. It is well to note these facts
for comparison with the statements from new,
remote and altitudinous camps, which are her-
alded with all the force that striking head-lines,
with many marks of astonishment, can give.
We have no disposition to disparage any sec-
tion of our mining country; neither should it
be forgotten that the mines of this county, in
all the elements that make mines profitable,
have not been equaled by any other discoveries
in Colorado.”
We do not propose to undertake to write the
history of mines. Others may grapple with the
task, and, with praiseworthy efforts, some have
already done so, but none assume to write them
up as we do Gilpin County, from reliable historic
data, from its earliest dates to the present time.
Ifa panorama of the infinite past could be
unrolled to our view, and we were able to com-
prehend it, or even so much of it as relates to
our little earth when it “was without form and
void, and darkness was upon the face of the
deep,” we might, perhaps, understand more of
the primeval causes and laws that formed and
placed gold and silver and other metals, where
we find them. But, whether eliminated from -
the ever-accumulating solids and fluids in na-
ture’s grand laboratory, by sublimation through
her constantly contending elements—cold, grav-
ity and chemical affinity, with their results, in-
cluding solar heat—or by the direct fiat of an
infinite and intelligent Power upholding all—
they seem to be placed here for us to discover,
oF
i
29]
HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY.
211
and as best we can, if we will, to find out the
process of their formation.
This would, indeed, be a history of mines and
of minerals that would not only be very inter-'
esting and instructive, but would settle many a
controverted point in science and theology.
But we must leave to theological and scien-
tific pens to write up and settle these questions
ifthey can, while we proceed to the easier task
of referring to some of the lodes and mineral
deposits of our own county, and to the milling
and other treatment of their ores.
To enumerate all the well-known lodes in Gil-
pin County, especially if we.were to give a par-
tial description of each—its production and
management—would occupy more space, in a
work of which this county is only a part, than
the publishers could allow to be devoted to the
whole history of the county. We must, there-
fore, proceed in a more summary manner with
the subject of this chapter, especially its statis-
tics. They have been well written up by other
authors, whose purpose was more special to that
subject.
Our purpose is more forthe basis of a stand-
ard history that may be relied upon, not only
for our time, but for the generations to come,
and especially for the preservation, in perma-
nent form, of the earliest reliable data of this
portion of the Centennial State.
Again referring to Cushman and Waterman:
“Barly in the fall of 1859, several arastras were
put in operation below Black Hawk, working the
headings from the sluices and the quartz from
the lodes. These were quite successful in saving
the gold, but their speed is only suited to the
Mexican, to whom a day is as a thousand years,
and vice versa. Some unique contrivances for
quartz-crushing might have been seen in those
days. One Mr. Red exhibited the quality of
his genius in atrip-hammer, pivoted on a stump,
the hammer-head pounding quartz in a wooden
trough. For obvious reasons, this was dubbed
the ‘Woodpecker mill.’ The first quartz-mill
was a home-made six-stamper, built by Charles
Giles, of Gallia County, Ohio, run by water-
power, and situated near the mouth of Chase
Gulch. The stamp-stems—shod with iron—the
.cam-shaft, cams, and mortar were of wood.
This rude concern netted the owner $6,000 that
summer and fall.
“The first imported mill was the little three-
stamper of T. T. Prosser; which was set up in
Prosser Gulch, about the middle of September.
Coleman & Le Fevre brought in a six-stamp
mill, which was first set up just above the pres-
ent Briggs mill, and afterward removed to and
ran with the Prosser mill. In November, this
mill was producing from Gunnell quartz from
$60 to $100 per ton, the gold being saved in
riffles supplied with quicksilver. It would be
interesting to know what such quartz would
yield in a modern mill.
got his six-stamp wooden mill into operation on
Clear Creek, below Black Hawk. Then, about
the 6th of December, came the Clark, Vande-
venter & Co., nine-stamp mill, built by Gates
& Co., of Chicago, the first regular foundry-built
millin the country. This was set up at the
junction of Eureka and Spring Gulches, in the
heart of the present city of Central. The suc-
cess of these first mills was sufficient to convince
every man that all he needed to acquire a for-
tune was a quartz-mill. Some notice of the
Placer Mines closes the record of 1859. Green
Russell, who made the discovery of the Montana
Diggings above Denver, in 1858, came in
from the States about June 1, 1859, with 170
followers. His party camped in Central, where
the Welch row now stands, and one fine morn-
ing they ‘folded their tents like the Arabs and
silently stole away’ over to Russell Gulch,
where they had found rich diggings in the main
gulch and its tributaries. By the end of Sep-
tember, there were 900 men in that district,
and all found profitable work. Here parties
produced as high as $35 per day to the hand ;
$5 per day was considered a fair average.
Next, Mr. Ridgeway’
Y
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eq.
4
212 HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY.
This would indicate about $50,000 per week as
the maximum production. At the same time,
over 200 men were gulch-mining on the upper
tributaries of Gregory, with equal results. The
yield of the 100 claims in Gregory Gulch, the
four mills and half-dozen arastras, cannot be
guessed at so closely as the placer production.
There are no means of determining the yield of
the mines in those eight months of 1859, as
nearly all the gold was taken to the States by
private hands. No old settler will estimate the
production at less than $500,000, and some claim
that $1,000,000 is nearer the proper estimate.
We know that John Gregory captured $39,000,
and Green Russell about $25,000. Scores left
in the autumn with dust enough to purchase
and freight out a quartz-mill, and nearly every-
one made a ‘good stake.’
“The necessity of a larger supply of water
than the gulches afforded, was apparent the first
summer. In July, three companies were organ-
ized for building ditches, and three ditches were
commenced, viz., the Metropolitan, the Russell
and the Nevada. The latter was built from
North Clear .Creek to Nevada, and used until
1861, when, after long difficulties with the Black
Hawk mill-owners, the use of the ditch was per-
manently stopped. The two former were con-
solidated and became the Consolidated Ditch,
which is said to have cost $100,000 in labor,
but which did not cost the owners half that sum,
as so much labor and material were donated.
After selling water ever since for $1 per inch
per twelve hours, the ditch is now for sale to
the county for $50,000. The County Commis-
sioners have offered $25,000, and rightly stand
firm upon their offer.
“The outlook for the year 1860 was full of
promise. Mining had been progressing to some
extent during the winter, well-constructed
quartz mills were coming in almost daily, and
the Consolidated Ditch, now about finished,
would supply the gulch-miners with all the
water needed. By the Ist of July, sixty mills
had been brought into the county, and the
immense influx of immigrants made labor cheap
and supplies reasonable. The mill men were
unacquainted with the use of amalgamated cop-
per-plates for gold-saving. There began to be
general complaint that the mills would not save
the gold. Pyrites of iron and copper were
reached in many of the older lodes, and because
little or no gold could be saved in the riffles from
the ‘iron,’ as it was called, it was believed to be
not only worthless, but a material foreign to the
vein matter, that had somehow displaced for a
time the gold-bearing quartz. A subscription
was made and work actually commenced on the
Gregory to sink through the pyrites to the.
brown quartz! Nothing better illustrates the
universal ignorance of the whole business at that
time than the facts above stated. Generally,
when the sulphurets were reached, work was
suspended. Still, 1860 was a prosperous year.
There was still plenty of surface quartz, and
the gulches, being more systematically worked,
with an abundant supply of water, yielded a
very large return. It was the great year of
immigration. Men and families came in, built
houses, shops and stores, until the entire length
of all the gulches was ‘settled’ upon. Thou-
sands came that found no work, and poured out
into new camps, or to find new mines in unpros-
pected districts.
“Notwithstanding the general backset before
the close of the year, on account of the failure
of the mills to save gold from the pyritous ore,
the remarkable sluice yields of the previous
year were supplemented with no less remarka-
ble mill-runs from the same and other lodes.
On Burroughs quartz, an eight-hours’ run with
six stamps, produced $321.55; a twelve-hours’
run produced $400, and 150 tons of the same
produced $4,400. Fisk Lode quartz yielded $20
per ton, which may, perhaps, be taken as an
average, the range being from $7 to $90 per ton.
This, it should be remembered, was realized be-
fore the introduction of amalgamated copper-
4
+
or
— eo
COLORADO.
ROLLINSVILLE,
2—»f
eee
4
HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY.
218
‘plates, or of uniformly fine screens, Will some
San Juan enthusiast try a few tons of Little
Annie quartz, in such a mill, by way of compar-
ison ?
“The most noteworthy event in the milling
business of 1861 was the use of amalgamated
sheet copper for gold-saving. Like many other
things well, understood in mining countries, the
pioneers then first learned its value. So imme-
diately apparent was the advantage in its use,
that copper sold from $4 to $7 per pound for
this purpose. But a fair success was by no
means immediate. No one knew the business,
and the measure of success subsequently ob-
tained was the result of patient and persever-
ing experimenting, which cost in lost treasure
more than was saved. There are no statistics
of yields extant from which the average of these
years can be calculated. We have it recorded,
however, that 180 tons of Gold Dirt ore yielded
$34 per ton; twenty tons of Bobtail ore, $94
per ton; five tons of same, $260 per ton, and
one ton, selected and run upon a wager, over
$600 per ton. The average yield, however, was
probably below $15 per ton. Only a few mills
were doing good work even for that time, and
many were so badly constructed that good work
was impossible.
“Then came another backset. The deeper
mines ‘went into cap.’ This term was applied
indiscriminately to cases where the vein matter
became too lean for profitable working, and
where the vein became ‘pinched’ below a prof-
itable working width. Hundreds gave up all
effort against such a sea of difficulties, and
scattered out to avail themselves of surface
_workings in newer fields. Other hundreds at-
tempted to ‘sink through cap’ with too short
a purse, and failed. Some who had husbanded
their profits, were able to continue until their
‘veins ‘opened out’ or ‘struck pay’ again.
“The gulch mines were not yet exhausted,
and, with the improved methods, were much
more-prosperous as a rule'than lode mines.
“The year 1862 brought a more hopeful
feeling among the lode miners. Several prom-
inent mines passed through the cap, and were
now producing better than ever. The mines
were from 100 to 200 feet deep, and no one
questioned their permanence. Probably twenty
mines could be selected, the ores from which
yielded from $20 to $30 per ton; the others
from $10 to $20. The premium on gold rising
more rapidly than prices of labor and supplies,
further stimulated activity. The mill process
was now generally understood, and the gulch
moines still gave empioyment to hundreds of
men.
“On the other hand, there were ores shown
to be rich by assay, from which the stamp proc-
ess would extract but little gold. The increas-
‘ing depths of the mines made steam power
indispensable. The water was increasing, Un-
skillful timbering must be renewed, and shafts
must be straightened for permanent work.
These things did not diminish faith in mining,
but began to be talked of as evidence that’
‘poor men had no business to pursue mining.’
The year 1863 was a fairly prosperous one.
Lode mining was on the increase, and gulch
mining profitable, though of limited amount.
Gold still advanced more rapidly than prices of
supplies, reaching 172, and averaging 145.
through the year.
“To avoid repetition, it may be remarked
here that the general characteristics of all the
lodes are the same. The country rock, chiefly
granite, with some gneissic varieties; course,
east and west, or from 10° to 15° north of east
and south of west ; dip, nearly vertical, rarely
reaching an angle of 15°, possessing all the
characteristics of true fissure veins, and nota-
bly free from faults.
“The productive portion of the veins com-
monly carries a vein of solid pyrites, inclosed
in or upon the side of the quartzose and felds-
pathic mixture, having pyrites more or less
disseminated through it. The distribution of
-
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i
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(ome
A
214 HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY.
ore, both horizontally and vertically, is not uni-
form, sometimes pinching to a mere seam and
again opening to twenty feet. The existence
of pay chutes or courses of ore, sometimes
nearly vertical, in some localities dipping east
and in others west, is denied by those only
who have failed to make careful observations.
“ All the gold-bearing ores contain more or
less silver. The percentage of silver in the
smelting ores, as compared with the total of
gold and silver, is indicated by the following :
“In 688 tons of Bobtail ore, of the total
assay value in gold and silver, 6 per cent was
silver ; in 428 tons of Burroughs ore, 94 per
cent; in 424 tons of California ore, 28 per
cent, and in 95 tons Prize ore, 44 per cent.
From the statement of the Boston & Colorado
Smelting Company, it appears that of the assay
value of the Gilpin County ores purchased, 20
per cent was silver ; but this doubtless includes
some lots of strictly silver ore.
“Prices of labor and supplies of all kinds
had by that time reached a price corresponding
with the highest price of gold, and, owing to
the distance from the base of supplies, did not
fluctuate and fall with gold. Laborers in all
departments were in great demand, on account
of the immense amount of new work commenc-
ing, and readily commanded, as an average
price, $5 per day, while their desire to earn
their wages was in the inverse ratio. The
prices of supplies were enormous. Mules and
horses sold for $400@$500 each ; wood, $12
per cord ; hay, $120@$250 per ton; corn, 12
@20 cents per pound ; flour, $25@$30 per hun-
dred pounds ; candles $16@830 per box of 40
der, $12(@$15 per keg ; fuse, $4 per 100 feet ;
iron, 30@35 cents per pound ; lumber, $60 per
M, and all other supplies in proportion. It
should be observed that the high prices of 1864
and 1866 were not wholly chargeable to the
_wagon transportation through 600 miles of hos-
war, but were enhanced by the difficulties of
pounds; steel 60@75 cents per pound; pow- |
tile Indian country, the main road through
which was in the sole possession of the Indians
for two months in 1864.
“Tf, then, war prices, a distant purchase
market, Indian war, processes, hard winters,
wet summers, ignorance of the business, and
last though not least, ‘conducting the war from
Vienna,’ were sufficient to break the well-organ-
ized, solid companies, what could be expected
of the ‘kiting’ class? What could be expected
of a company which paid $60,000 for sixty
wildcat claims on as many different lodes?
or what of that numerous class of company’s
agents, the ‘jolly dogs ’—usually nephew of the
president, or son of the head director—excel-
lent masters of the billiard cue, with uncom-
mon pride in high boots and spurs, whose
champagne bills were charged to ‘ candles,’ and
whose costly incense to Venus appeared on the
books as ‘cash paid for mercury’? It was a
charming farce to witness a Gen. Fitz John
and staff of assistants, all finely mounted, re-
viewing the corps of masons on the stone
‘folly, or riding to and from the mine; but
was it business ? And those spectacled ‘ profes-
sors,’ with their heads in the clouds and the
most honest intentions in their hearts—what
good did their costly experiments ever do,
but to show ‘how not to do it’? But whether
agents worked faithfully or played at doing.
business, all plans seemed to end in compar-
ative failure, if not disaster. Company after
company retired from the field disgusted, until
at one time, five or six years after the stock
mania, but one foreign mining corporation was
doing business in Gilpin County. That, the
Bobtail Gold Mining Company, Mr. A. N. Rog-
ers, Manager, never suspended, and is to-day
one of the most prosperous concerns in the
county.
“The capital stock of the mining companies
in this county aggregated about $100,000,000.
A large number of the companies never made
a move toward business. Another large per-
7
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HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY.
215,
centage did business with great spirit, chiefly
in the mill-building line, till the managers un-
loaded their shares. The percentage that tried
honestly and in a business-like way to make a
success was small.
“ Another cause of failure was the absence
of smelting works, or any other reduction
works, for the suitable treatment of the richest
portion of the ore. This brought upon usa
horde of process men. Indeed, the plague
began in 1863, and lasted as long as there was
money to be wasted. Pans of every name and:
pattern were in use in the mills, were piled
around them and garnished the wayside. Keith
desulphurizers loomed up here and there ; Cros-
by & Thompson roasting cylinders, thirty sets
in all, infested every district ; Bertola’s minia-
ture pans and processes delighted ladies and
children ; and the Monnier—but why finish the
list ? Were they not all devourers of green-
backs, giving little or no gold in return ?
“Lyon’s smelting works, upon which the
hopes of the people were wrecked, were built
in 1865, and continued in a state of intermit-
tent operation and change till the end of 1866,
when they were closed permanently, and the
property passed into the hands of the Consoli-
dated Gregory Company. From all these fail-
ures we gladly turn to what has been properly
called a general revival of the mining business,
which had its beginning in 1868. There were
hundreds of miners and workmen of all kinds,
and scores of agents, thrown upon their own
resources. The mines were considerably opened
and provided with machinery. The mills were
idle. Every one saw that it was a country of
great possibilities, and realized the effect of
completed railroads and successful smelting
works. All had learned something from the
failures of the past. As the work of compa-
nies on their own account gradually ceased, the
system of leasing mines came in vogue. The
agents or owners leased the mines or parts of
them to the miners, principally Cornishmen,
‘the business.
“rial legislation in conformity thereto, has re-
for a percentage of the proceeds. Properties
that had steadily absorbed the product, or more,
now began to yield a small revenue to the own-
ers. It was soon discovered, however, that the
short leases worked a damage to the mines.
There was no incentive to open new ground, to |
do permanent timbering or even to conserve
the property. Gradually from that time to the
present, one mine after another has been re-
opened under leases, running from one to five
years, all the time tending to longer leases.
Many of the superintendents and owners who
at first lacked the necessary experience, are
now very successful lessees and are working on
alarge scale. It is believed that one-half or
more of the present bullion product of the
county is from the work of lessees.
“Consolidation of adjoining properties upon _
the same lode has been another fruitful source
of the increased and increasing prosperity of
The Bobtail Gold Mining Com-
pany, which at first owned but 433} feet, have
absorbed by consolidation and purchase, other
properties on the same lode, till now they own
900 feet. The Briggs Brothers, by purchase
of the Black Hawk Gregory and lease of the
Consolidated Gregory, now control and work
1,040 feet of that great lode, and 400 feet of a
smaller vein. The Buell mine, consisting of
3,000 linear feet of lode property adjoining and
contiguous, is an example of consolidation by
purchase. Six hundred feet of the Burroughs
lode, belonging to two different companies, are
under a thirty-two years’ lease to Sullivan &
Company, a good example of consolidation by
leasing. The relocation of abandoned property
under the act of Congress of 1872 and Territo-
sulted in numerous consolidations of detached
claims. Several such properties are now pro-
ducing liberally.”
The building of two railroads to Denver in
1870, and of the Colorado Central into Gilpin
County in 1873, were indispensable to success
A
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216 HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY.
in mining. The reduction in wages, in prices of The segregation of mining from milling, unless
mine and mill supplies, and in the cost of living, | under very favorable circumstances for the com-
due directly to cheaper transportation, will be | bination of both, has been found to be another
seen by an examination of the following table | move in the right direction for the successful
comparing the prices in 1866 (the last year of | management and improvement of each branch.
freighting by wagon the whole distance from The incentives for each in competition with
the Missouri River) with prices at the present | its class have led, and are constantly leading,
time. In 1866, gold, as compared with green- | to greater excellence and improvement in each
backs, was about 140 - division of mining industry.
Frank Fossett, in his “Colorado” of 1880,
saa sa oe second edition, from which we are permitted to
Labor, por day .ccsssscesssesne § 40008500250 to$3o0 | make well-written and reliable extracts, says in
Flour, per sack of 100 pound 20 00 to 24.00, 325 t) 3% | Tegard to the mines of Gilpin County and. its |}
Beet +E qo ogi<| mining and iling indo, ‘hat ing
Rais por pooh oe ee
Biiea! on perms 33) 6?t. 7 | Streets, are a number of lofty hills, among
Quicksilver, per pound. 2 007 = 48 «to 6 60 6! which the mines are located. From Black
Wood, per a 9 00 6 00
Coal oil, per gallon 30) 83 to 35 | Hawk westward to Nevadaville are Bates, Bob-
Lard oil, per gallo 3 00) 35 to 40 5
ee ee ae a 4° | tail, Gregory, Mammoth, Central City, Casto,
, thirty : : : :
oe ao 20 | Gunnell and Quartz Hills, which, with their
Milling ore, per co 35 00 to 50 00) 15 00 to 20 00 intervening gulches, are intersected by num-
Carpenters’ wages 6 00to 600) 300 to 3650 - a
Masone’..... So fo Bh te Aco berless metalliferous veins or lodes, the sources
Miners’... 406to 500) 200 to 250 | of the golden millions of the past and present. | |
my, per ties: 80 00 to 100 00| 25 00 to 30 00 From these lodes, that. are traced along the
Powier ee “]40 0040 12 00 °° 383. | surface for distances of a few hundred feet to
Another important cause of the improvement | one or two miles, gold was washed by the rains
in mining affairs in Gilpin County, has been | and floods of former ages into the recently
that home markets have been established for | profitably mined creeks and gulches. The |}
the direct sale of her ores to purchasers within | lodes are divided among many owners, each of | |
her own limits. whom has more or less extensive underground
It was found that such ores as were known | workings that go to make up a mine.
by assay to be very valuable, but which under “The main rock or formation of Gilpin | |
stamp-mills yielded but small profit, could by | County is a gneissic one, but granite occupies
smelting (though a more expensive mode of | most of the territory where the mineral veins
treatment) be made to yield a larger profit to | are found. Some veins lie between granite and
the miner. This opened competitive sampling | gneiss. Hornblende occurs in dikes, and there
works for the purchase of ores. All galenous | are occasional patches of porphyry. There are
ores especially were compelled to seek such | two main systems of lodes in the gold belt—
markets. those having an east-and-west direction, which
And the improvements made in stamp-mills | are much the most numerous, and those ex-
has been another cause of success which has tending almost northeast and southwest. Of
placed the county in the very front ranks of | the former class are the Bobtail, Kansas, Gard-
the gold-producing sections of the country, and, | ner, California, and of the latter, the Gregory,
it may be said, of the world. Bates, Leavitt or Buell, and Fisk.
QT
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HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY.
217
“Some veins are nearly or quite perpendicu-
lar, and others incline ten} twenty, and even
forty, degrees therefrom. Some dip to the
northward several hundred feet and then
change their course to the opposite direction.
The veins termed gold-bearing are composed of
copper-iron pyrites, or sulphurets of iron and
copper, carrying gold and a less value in silver.
The gangue includes quartz, feldspar, crystals
and other matter. Many veins contain galena,
and some of them in large quantities. The
vein matter is usually decomposed near the
surface and down to a depth of seventy or
eighty feet. This is called surface quartz. The
gold contained therein is more freely extracted
and more frequently visible than in the vein
material of greater depths. Many silver veins
north of. Black Hawk have a south-of-east
strike. This is also the case with many of the
gold lodes. Copper is present to a greater or
less extent in nearly all Gilpin County lodes.
Two or three per cent of some ores are copper,
and more rarely 5,10 and 15 per cent. Gray
copper and ruby silver are found in the richer
ores of the new silver district, and a great deal
of lead in those between Black Hawk and
Clear Creek County.
“The main portion of the gold-bearing veins
is located in an area less than four miles long
by one wide, and in the midst of this is the
almost continuous city known under the names
of Black Hawk, Central and Nevadaville; but
many valuabie gold lodes and all of the silver
district are situated outside of this. This gold
belt continues northerly into and nearly through
Boulder County, and southwesterly into Clear
Creek as far as and beyond the Freeland mine,
on Trail Creek. Of the precious metals con-
tained in the ore, the proportion of gold is
larger as compared with silver in the veins
near Gold Dirt and Black Hawk, and smaller in
those on Quartz Hill, and toward and beyond
South Clear Creek. Thus, on the western end
of Quartz Hill, lodes contain more silver than
they do one mile farther east. There are ex-
ceptions to this, however. This is shown in
assays, in smelting returns, and in the differ-
ence in value per ounce of stamp-mill retort.
Near Idaho Springs and Trail Run, lodes on the
same belt carry nearly as much silver as gold,
and some have increased their silver yield as
depth was gained. It has been ascertained
that the retort gold as it comes from the mills
runs pretty much as follows in fineness: Bates,
.746 in gold, .241 silver; Bobtail, .849 to .8664
gold, .128 to .140 silver; Briggs, .8034 to .816
gold, .172 to .180 silver; Buell, .800 to .860
gold, .120 to .140 silver; Burroughs, .820 to
.833} gold, .158 to .166 silver; Illinois, .7814
gold, .211 silver, and Kansas and Kent County
about the same. The value of Bates retort is
$14.30 ; of Bobtail, $17 to $18 ; Briggs, $16.30
to $17; Buell, $16.70 to $18; Burroughs
$16.50 to $16.90 ; Illinois, $15.90 ; Kansas, $15
to $16; Kent County, $14.50 to $15; Gold
Dirt, Ophir and Perrigo, $17.50 to $18; Dallas,
$14 to $14.50. Continued tests show that the
average of all the Gilpin ‘County gold mill
retort or bullion handled contains about 787
parts of gold, 198 silver.and 15 copper.
“ What is termed the new silver belt of Gil-
pin County extends to the northwest of Black
Hawk, across North Clear Creek and other
hills, from York Gulch, Chase Gulch and Wide
Awake to Dura Hill. The first silver discover-
ies of that locality were made late in May and
in June and July, 1878. Prospecting has con-
tinued since, and hundreds of lodes have been
located, some of them of proved value. One
or two already appear to rank with first-class
silver veins of Georgetown and San Juan dis-
tricts. Silver lodes were worked with profit in
Silver Gulch, near the smelting works of Black
Hawk, from nine to eleven years ago, and more
recently in Willis Gulch and Virginia Mountain.
“Mining in Gilpin County fairly began in the
summer of 1860, with the completion of the
Consolidated Ditch and the introduction of
1
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218
HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY.
many stamp-mills. Before that, work had been
done by sluicing, racking and panning, and by
means of arastas. In a year or two, the more
productive gulches had been worked over, the
decomposed vein matter in the leading lodes
had been exhausted, and the mill men were at
a loss to know how to get gold in paying quan-
tites from the solid ore, or ‘iron,’ as it was
terrhed. At one time, nearly all of these mills
were idle, but afterward the ore was handled
with less difficulty. In 1862-63, many rich
‘strikes’ were made on claims that had shown
nothing but barren rock after the surface pock-
ets were exhausted. The Gregory, Bobtail,
Bates, Kansas, Burroughs, Gunnell, Gold Dirt
and Perrigo were paying enormously for much
of the time up to 1863, when the Eastern com-
panies began operations. The gold product
continued to be large until 1866, when many
companies had discarded the old stamps and
were spending their money in putting up and
testing process mills. On returning to stamp-
mill crushing in 1867-68, business revived.
“At this time, the district possessed a popu-
lation such as has rarely been gathered to-
gether in so small a compass, and remarkable
for enterprise, intelligence and sterling quali-
ties. Operations were carried on by numerous
companies, whether they paid expenses or not,
and lessees and owners of mines were making
money at intervals, all over the hills.
“There was Hastern money as well as West-
ern gold to help matters. A large number of
mills and stamps were in operation in 1868,
and, in the summer of 1869, nearly seven
hundred stamps were operated, but not contin-
uously. In November, 1869, when several water
mills had closed down, there were still twenty-
nine mills and six hundred and twenty-four
stamps at work. Outside of the companies,
the California and Union Pacific Railroad-lodes,
worked by Gilpin miners, were paying largely.
The companies on the Gregory, Bobtail, Bates,
Hunter, Burroughs and other lodes, were sus-
pending operations in 1869, 1870, 1871, and
their employes began to lease some of the
same company properties, and to start up other
mines, new and old, that had been idle. Quartz
Hill and Nevadaville were the most active
localities in 1870-71, when nearly all the mines
or claims on the Kansas, Burroughs, Califor-
nia, Gardner, Flack, Prize, Suderberg, Jones,
Roderick Dhu, Illinois, and some other lodes
were in full blast} From 1871 to 1875, the
Buell mine was the leading producer of the,
lower part of the county.
“In these years, large numbers of the
miners left for the new silver districts of
Georgetown, Caribou and of Park County,
which some of their.own number had been
discovering. Gilpin County has furnished ex-
plorers, settlers and colonists for every new
mining camp that has been started, thereby
earning the title of ‘the mother of Colorado
mining camps.’
“Those who remained at Central and Nevada-
ville finally exhausted the pockets and ore
‘bodies of many leased mines, and left them to
fill with water, and in bad condition for suc-
ceeding operations, as they were poorly tim-
bered, and many of them ‘in cap.’
“The entire district had a dull appearance
in 1873-74, but the previous record and known
value of the lodes caused several Central men
to resume work on their own or leased properties.
The success which rewarded their nerve and
enterprise, caused others to do likewise. Time
and money were required to remove water and
sink or drift into new ore bodies, but a few
years brought about a great increase in pro-
duction and prosperity. When many of these
‘re-opened mines got fairly to producing, in
-1876, the county’s gold yield was larger than at
any former period. Since then, every month
sees great improvement and progress. These
results are largely due to the enterprise of
such Colorado men as Briggs, Fagan, Sullivan,
Buell, Fullerton, Kimber, Mackay, Young,
of
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HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY. 219
Standley, Thatcher, Holman and others, whose
faith in the mines has been proved to have
been well founded.
“Many old properties are now worked under
one management. Some lessees have made
enough money to buy the mines of the owners,
the companies or their successors, and others
have retired in one, two or three years, with a
fortune. These were the mines that the compa-
nies could not make pay. If these company
stocks had been made assessable, as in Califor-
nia and Nevada, the mines would probably
have been worked steadily, and, eventually,
have paid a profit, where the agents were good
for anything. Non-assessable stocks permit of
the dog-in-the-manger policy, for some stock-
holders will not advance money when it is
needed for exploration, development or machin-
ery, while sure to come in for their share of the
dividends if any money is made.”
“ All that is left for these stockholders who
are anxious to have work progress is to pay
for it, and take all the chances on loss, and
only a part of those on gain, or else let the
mine lie idle. The latter has been the course
generally adopted.
“In Nevada, men who will not pay their
assessments are sold out, to give room for those
who will. Had this not been the case, the great
bonanzas of the Comstock, (whose yield and
profits for five years were the grandest in the
history of mining), would never have been
found.
“The best way for these old companies to do
(that are not working their properties), is to
sell out for any price, for their claims are usu-
ally too small to work successfully by them-
selves. The only other sensible move would
be to buy up adjoining claims, and so procure
territory enough to pay for deep mining. It
should be remembered that it takes just as
much machinery and steam-power to work 100
or 200 feet of the vein to a depth of 1,000
feet, as it would to work 1,000 feet of territory
. So uninterrupted has been this outflow of the
to the same depth. The only companies that
have operated since their formation, in 1864,
with hardly an interruption, are the Consoli-
dated Bobtail, and New York and Colorado,
and the reason is largely due to the fact that
they had more than the usual quota of con-
tiguous property on one vein, and have subse-
quently increased it by purchase.
“As to the stocks in the old defunct compa-
nies, they may be considered utterly worthless.
Any mining company organized in 1864-65, in
Gilpin County, which is not now at work, is
never likely to make any money. Stockholders
should consider their stock worthless.
“The permanent and healthy character of
the revival in mining in this district, is shown
by the large number of mines supplied with
steam-hoisting works. Steam machinery indi-
cates deep mining, extensive operations, proba-
bly extensive production, and, at all events, a
high estimation of the value of the property.
No heavy mining work can be carried on without
steam-power. There are now forty-four differ-
ent mines in the district operated in this way.
Some of them have engines of from forty to
one hundred horse-power each. One engine
answers for a long stretch of territory, and for
what was once several separate properties. Out
of these forty-four mines, the Consolidated Bob-
tail, the Briggs-Gregory and the New York and
Colorado-Gregory, the Gunnell and Monmouth-
Kansas are each supplied with one, or several
hoisting engines of great capacity, besides addi-
tional ones for the great pumps with which they
are supplied. In place of three or four active
steam-hoisting works on Quartz Hill, as in most
previous years, there are now twenty, most of
them put up during the past twenty months on
mines that had been idle for years.
‘For twenty years Gilpin County has been
the leading gold district of Colorado. In that
time it has probably turned out more bullion
than any one gold mining locality in America.
¥
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220
HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY.
precious metals, that the county has justly
earned the title so often applied to it of the
‘Old Reliable.’ This production has been going
on ever since the arrival of the pioneers in
Gregory Gulch, in 1859, and is much larger
now than at any former period. There are
more valuable lodes in the immediate vicinity
of Central, Black Hawk and Nevadaville, than
in any section of equal size in the known world,
and there are more mill stamps in operation
than anywhere else. Various causes have pre-
vented all of the profitable or valuable mines
from being operated at any one time, but the
closing of one was usually followed by the
re-opening or discovery of another. No sus-
pensions are reported of late ; but more than a
score of mines have lately resumed. Parts, or
all, of every valuable lode (with a few ex-
ceptions), are now in active operation, and the
time is not distant when every mine on these
lodes will be worked separately, or with con-
solidated properties. The unfailing character
of so many hundred veins, and their combined
and continuous production long ago caused
this, the smallest of Colorado’s counties, to be
considered the richest district of the State.
“Gilpin County ores are treated either by
the stamp-mill or by the smelting process,
Most of them contain too little value to stand
any other treatment than that of stamp-milling.
“Qne smelting process saves very nearly all
of the gold, silver and copper, and another
nearly all of the gold, silver and lead.
“Since the last reduction in smelting charges,
gold ores are bought at a price allowing for a
charge of $25 per ton, and 10 per cent deduc-
tion from the assay for waste, ete.
“Qn ores containing $120 in gold, $30 in sil-
ver and $10 in copper or lead, the miner would
receive $110 for his ton of ore. The same ore
treated by amalgamation in stamp-mills, would
return but $70 or $80, allowing for a saving of
| 60 or 70 per cent of the gold, and very little of
the silver cr copper. But most of the ore
mined contains but $15 or $20 of all the metals
per ton, and the stamp mills that handle it for
$2 or $3 per ton, comprise the only means of
profitably extracting the gold. The ore of a
mine is now divided into separate lots, a few
tons of very rich mineral being sent to the
smelter, to ten, twenty or thirty times as much
crushed in the stamp-mill. By this means as
much money is made in gold mining as on
smaller but richer silver lodes.
“The stamp-mills crushed about 21,000 cords,
or 108,000 tons, of ore in 1875, of an average |
yield of $9.70. The average yield of 1876 was
a little over $10, and that of 1878 was $9.12.
This decrease was not due to growing poverty
of ore, but to closer assorting, and sending a
larger proportion of the rich ores to the smelters.
“ From seventeen to nineteen quartz-mills were
at work in 1878, with from 550 to 630 stamps.
The average number of stamps at work in 1876
was 560, and in 1878 it was about 590; yield
nearly $1,300,000.
“The total number of available quartz-mill
stamps in Gilpin County is 936, besides those
in two concentrating-mills.
“The stamp-mills handled about 140,000 tons
of ore in 1879, and the smelting works 7,000 or
8,000, besides as large a tonnage of mill tail-
ings.
“The removal of ore leaves extensive cavi-
ties. There are mines where this worked-out
ground extends (for the few feet in width be-
tween the walls of the vein) hundreds of feet
vertically and horizontally. There are seven
or eight shafts on the Kansas lode over 300
feet deep, two of them about 600, and one 1,000
feet deep. The Burroughs and California Gard-
ner are opened in a similar manner, and so
are the Gunnell, Gregory and Bobtail.
“About fifteen hundred men have usually
been employed in and about the mines, mills
and works of Gilpin County, and the result of
their labors is a product of over two and a
quarter million dollars in bullion per annum.
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HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY. 221
‘
This, if equally divided, would give $1,520 to
each person directly engaged in obtaining it;
or allowing an expenditure of half a million for
machinery, mining and milling supplies and
other outlays, and there would still be $1,166
to each employe, or nearly $300 for each man,
woman and child in the district. As the opera-
tions in many mines, for a year or two, have
been mainly of a preparatory character prior to
the heavy production now setting in, the results
hereafter are likely to be 20 per cent
better than those given above. The three
banks of Central have very nearly three-quar-
ters of a million of deposits from the miners of
the district, which is avery large sum when
the fact is considered, that so much is continu-
ally expended in opening mines, in expensive
buildings and machinery, and in permanent
town improvements, besides money sent out of
the State to friends and relatives.
“Hivery year there are nearly or quite one
hundred and thirty or forty thousand dollars
sent away in the shape of roney orders through
the post office of Central, and nearly or quite
as much at Black Hawk and Nevadaville. All
of these facts indicate how profitable and en-
during the mines of these mountains are. No
Eastern town or county can show average re-
| | turns to the whole population anywhere nearly
so large as are known in all leading Colorado
mining camps. i
“The Gregory lode stands pre-eminent as the
first found, and the most productive, of Colo-
rado mineral veins. While not yielding as much
at. present as some of the later discoveries, its
| total out-put from first to last still surpasses that
of any American lodes excepting the Comstock
and two or three others on the Pacific Slope. It
has been located and claimed for nearly a mile,
including extensions, but the productive and de-
veloped portion is embraced in 2,440 contiguous
feet of ground. This extends from the sum-
mit of Gregory Hill, northeasterly across Greg-
ory Gulch, into Bates Hill, and embraces what
are now known as the Narragansett, Consoli-
dated Gregory, Briggs and New York and Colo-
rado properties.
“The Gregory vein material has maintained a
width and continuity far above the average,
and has, consequently, yielded immensely. The
width between walls has usually been several
feet, and sometimes ten or twelve,and even
twenty.
“The distribution of the ore is variable, occur-
ring in seams of from a few inches to two or
more feet, with intervening bands of poor rock,
and sometimes for short distances it has
pinched out or given place to vein matter of
barren quartz and feldspar. There have been
huge bodies of ore extending for hundreds of
feet in length and depth, and very broad in
places. The walls are not regular, being some-
times smooth and well defined, and again rug-
ged and uneven.
“The inclosing rock is granitic gneiss, show-
ing much mica in some places and little in
others. The retort gold from the Gregory is of
higher value than the average of the county,
indicating that the proportion of silver is small.
Seams and pockets of ore of surpassing richness
have occasionally been found in both upper and
lower workings, and a large amount of nugget
and wire gold. On the northeastern slope of
Gregory Hill is a parallél and branch vein of
the Gregory, called the Foot and Simmons,
which is evidently the same as that known fur-
ther east by the name of Briggs. This is sep-
arated from the Gregory by a granite wall from
a few feet to seventy in width.
“The lode, like others in the early times, was
staked off in claims 100 feet long. After a time,
the surface dirt was exhausted and the owners
were disconcerted at the appearance of the
solid iron pyrites or barren cap rock. All diffi-
culties were to some extent sooner or later
overcome, and some portions of the lode would
return to ‘pay’ as others grew poor and un-
productive,
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4
222
HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY.
“The following will show how productive and
profitable were the Briggs and Black Hawk
claims at one time, notwithstanding it was in
the era of high prices and heavy expenses. In
1867, the Black Hawk Company obtained
12,1932 ounces of gold, worth, in currency,
$279,647.76, from about 12,000 tons of ore,
showing an average yield of $23.30 per ton,
with an outlay of $194,425.63, or a total aver-
age expense of $11.43 per ton, or over double
the cost at the present time. Gold was $1.37.
The pump then broke down, and the water pre-
vented further mining operations until a new
and powerful pump was placed in the shaft.
During the year ending July 1, 1869, when the
company closed business, the yield was $154,-
135.76 ; the outlay, $92,381.78, and the profits,
$61,753.98. In four years and six months pre-
vious to 1869, the Black Hawk, 300 feet, pro-
duced $1,358,149. In four years and eleven
months the Briggs, 240 feet, yielded $534,615.
During these years gold ranged from $1.33 to
$1.50 in currency. The expenses in the Black
Hawk property in 1867, in coin value, were
$8.17 for mining, $2.48 for milling, and $1.05
for teaming; this makes a total of $11.50, or
$10.45 without teaming. In 1869 the cost was
$11. It is now $4.50.
“The Briggs mine comprises 240 feet, known
as the Briggs claims, and 300 feet formerly
owned by the Black Hawk Company, and in-
cludes the diverging but nearly parallel Gregory
and Briggs veins. Over the Briggs claims and
shafts is a fine brick mill building, containing
powerful hoisting works, pumps, and fifty
stamps, with double-issue batteries throughout,
one-half furnished with automatic ore feeders.
Here is the main shaft, 925 feet deep, driven a
portion of the way, forty feet long and ten wide.
From this shaft levels are being driven at inter-
vals through the entire 1,040 feet, including the.
500 feet of leased ground, called the Consolida-
ted Gregory. The amount of ore in reserve
between these levels, ready to be broken, is im-
mense. Very little stoping has been done in
the lower 450 feet of the Briggs property, and
in the lower 600 feet of the Consolidated Greg-
ory.
“There is ore enough to keep fifty or seventy-
five stamps at work for five years without sink-
ing the shaft deeper. The machinery and ap-
pliances are first-class, and embrace many im-
provements not yet introduced in many mines.
Among the pumps is one which was put in by
the old Black Hawk Company, that is fifteen
inches in diameter. The mine usually makes
140 gallons of water per minute. There are
several shafts between 500 and 600 feet deep.
Both the Briggs and Gregory veins are worked,
and are connected here and there by cross-cuts.
“The Briggs Brothers conduct operations ata
less cost per ton of ore mined than any other
firm or miner in the State. The yield of the
mine for the last year or two has ranged from
$11,000 to $16,000 monthly, and the profits are.
said to average over $6,000 per month for the
entire year. When the expenses reach $9,000
per month, about $5,500 go for labor, $2,300 for
supplies, $1,000 for coal, $300 for powder, and
$175 for candles. The working force, including
both mine and mill, approaches 100 men. A
few men work on tribute, that is, pay a certain
royalty or percentage on ore taken out from a
piece of ground worked by them. Expenses are
very low, the average cost per ton, of mining,
being $1.90, of hoisting, 40 cents, and of milling,
$1.70, or $4 altogether. The hoisting and
pumping machinery of the Briggs mine is of
the most efficient character, and embraces great
engines and boilers of 100-horse power or less,
one of which furnishes power for the fifty-stamp
mill.
“The mines on the Gregory lode yielded
$225,934 in 1875, and $222,405 in 1876. The |
monthly bullion shipments of the Briggs por-
tion of the lode have since increased. Its yield
was about $134,000 in each of the years 1875
and 1876, and $150,000 in 1877.
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HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY. 228
’
“It is reported that the Briggs mine yielded
$31,500 in the months of May and June, 1878,
combined, with $18,000 profit, and that the yield
of August and September together was $34,500.
The sales of smelting ore ran from $6,000 to
$8,000 per month nearly all of the year, and, as
the mill ore generally paid expenses, these fig-
ures may be supposed to represent the clear
profit of the mine. Last year rich pockets and
fine gold specimens were found. Three lots
sold at one time returned as follows : 100 pounds
yielded $32 per pound, or at the rate of $64,000
| per ton ; a few hundred pounds sold at the rate
of $4,000 and $1,200 respectively. Other small
lots have gone at the rate of $7,669 per ton,
$1,541, and $408 ; 156 pounds yielded $1,496,
and $2,350 worth of gold was panned out of
only ninety-two pounds of ore. Such returns
help along the profits, but the thousands of tons
of mill ore yielding less than $8 a ton, witha
profit of $3.50 per ton, and the hundreds of
tons of ore that the smelter buys for $100, or
so, per ton, are the reliances of the mine. As
the mill is directly over the mine, and no haul-
ing is required, nearly or quite all of the crevice
matter is fed into the stamps. This and close
sorting for the smelter, are causes of the low
grade of the mill ore. Of the two veins, the
Gregory avetages the largest.
“The New York & Colorado Company own
some 1,200 feet on the two veins northeast of
the Briggs mine. This company absorbed the
Smith & Parmelee Company, and took in its
property ; 800 feet of the veins are developed
by long levels, extending from a shaft that is
nearly 800 feet deep, and gradually getting
deeper. Over this shaft is a building contain-
ing a forty-stamp mill and fine hoisting works,
propelled by an eighty-horse power engine,
which also furnishes power for the Cornish
pump. The yield of this mine was $76,310.75
in 1875, with a small margin of profit, and mat-
ters have continued in about the same way ever
since. The ore is generally of low grade, but
there is a great deal of it. The company’s
workings extend from “Gregory Gulch, under
Bates Hill. These lower levels can be carried
forward as far to the northeast as the veins
extend.
“The Briggs mine, which includes the old
Black Hawk mine and the adjoining Consol-
idated Gregory, now worked by the Briggs firm,
embrace the 1,040 feet in the central part of the
lode. From the best data at hand, it would
seem that the yield from this 1,040 feet, from
discovery to ‘July, 1879, was not far from
$4,205,000, coin value, or $5,500,000, reckoning
the currency values in which the gold was sold.
This property is now said to have as much ore
above the line of the deepest workings, as has
already been mined and milled by the upper
excavations.
“The Narragansett Company, of New York,
own 400 feet of the Gregory lode, adjoining
the Consolidated Gregory property on the
southwest ; and their buildings, on Claims 11
and 12, are on or near the crest of Gregory
Hill. This mine has been operated only at
intervals, and has never yielded as well as
those described above. Last fall some ‘prac-
tical miners obtained a two years’ lease, and
have since been sinking and drifting with fair
results. The deep shaft is down over 530 feet.
“The Bobtail is one of the great lodes of
Colorado, ranking next to the Gregory in past
production. Its ore has been of a higher grade
than that of its great neighbor, but until
recently a smaller amount of ground has been
worked, owing to unproductiveness near the
surface. This is why the aggregate yield has
been less than that of the Gregory. Yet the
total foots up over $4,500,000. Much produc-
tion was prevented by the closing down of the
company claims with which the lode was too
much subdivided.
“The intersection of the vein by tunnel, the
consolidation of different properties, and the
re-opening of them by deeper shafts and levels,
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224 HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY.
have enabled the Consolidated Bobtail Company
to work to great advantage and profit. From
1875 to the time when the Little Pittsburg mine
began to produce so heavily, the Bobtail was
the most productive of Colérado mines. It
still continues to increase its product, and, now
that it has paid off the purchase price of nu-
merous claims, and of a seventy-five (now
125) stamp mill, besides rebuilding the latter
and furnishing the mine with new shafts and
splendid machinery, it wil! undoubtedly pay
dividends much more frequently than hereto-
fore.
“Tn 1864, Eastern companies purchased most
of the best-developed parts of the lode, in very
small claims, excepting the Bobtail Gold Com-
pany. It survived and prospered when the
others failed at depths of four or five hundred
feet, because it had as many feet of territory on
the lode as all of them combined. In the two
years ending September 1, 1868, the Sensen-
derfer, 128 feet, produced $197,155, which was
mined and milled at a cost of $77,935, leaving
a net profit of $119,220, or of over 60 per
cent. Ten dividends of over $10,000 each were
paid’ previous to November, 1867. At that
time, mining, milling and other expenses footed
up an average expense of $13.50 per ton, coin
value, as against $6 at the present time. The
Bobtail, Field and other claims also paid
largely. In 1872, when most of the mines were
idle, the shaft-houses were burned, and the shaft
timber work rendered useless and unsafe. The
Bobtail tunnel was afterward driven to intersect
the lode, and afford drainage and an outlet for
the product of the mine. The Fisk lode was
penetrated 574 feet and the Bobtail 1,110 feet
from the mouth of the tunnel. This was in 1873.
Superintendent A. N. Rogers, who had charge
of affairs from 1864, then induced the company
to re-open the mine on a large scale, and to pur-
chase the adjoining company properties, and
the great Black Hawk mill. This required time
and expense, but the present yield, the thou-
sands of cords of broken ore on hand, and the
immense ore reserves in sight, show the wisdom
of these movements in place of suspending
work or operating on a small scale. The Bob-
tail Company owned 4334 feet on the vein
originally, and, after many years, bought the
Sensenderfer, 128 feet, separated from the Black
Hawk Company’s 72 feet, the Barstow, 664
feet, the Teller, 110 feet, and the Sterling, 663
feet. Inthe course of several years, these were
all purchased, making 900 feet of territory,
less 334 feet owned by J. F. Field, besides the
Branch lode and other claims.
“A large excavation in the solid rock at the
head of the tunnel and 471 feet below the sur-
face of the hill, contains huge engines and
boilers for propelling the hoisting machinery
and great pumps. A brick and iron smoke-
stack extends up an old shaft to daylight. A
splendid perpendicular shaft has been sunk 400
feet below the tunnel level, 8x16 feet in the clear,
divided into four compartments, one for sink-
ing, one for pump and ladder way, and two for
cage-ways, up and down which ascend the great
iron cars loaded with quartz, men or supplies.
The cars, each loaded with two tons of ore, are
run from the iron tracks of the various levels of
the mine directly into these cages. They are
then hoisted to the tunnel level, and run out on
another track to the ore-building and daylight.
Here, the ore is dumped on to a floor below the
track, by the two halves of the car parting at
the bottom. The hoisting machinery for the
cage is as substantial as wood and ircn can
makeit. Thetwo drums are seven feet in diam-
eter. Upon these are wound the flat steel wire
ropes, of English manufacture, three inches in
width and half an inch in thickness, with break-
ing strain of fifty tons, which are attached to
the cages. These drums are driven by spur-
gear, twelve feet in diameter and twelve-inch
face.
“The engine driving this makes direct con-
nection, and has reversible link motion. This
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HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY. 227
mine drains other lodes, and makes more water
than several of its neighbors combined. It
compares, in this respect, with some of the
Comstock mines. Drainage is one of the big
items of expense, costing in 1879, $36,659.84.
Powerful Worthington pumps have been pur-
chased, and set at work atan outlay of $10,000,
which discharge from the mine 500 gallons of
water per minute, or 720,000 gallons every
twenty-four hours. The main working shaft of
the Bobtail is driven pérpendicularly from the
tunnel level and off of the vein. Several hun-
dred feet below, cross-cuts, from seventy to
ninety feet long, are required to reach the vein.
As the lode has once changed its dip, it may do
so again, and be found at greater depths on the
line of the shaft. The lower workings are over
900 feet below the surface. The company lately
sold its twenty-stamp mill, and added fifty
stamps to its seventy-five stamper.
“This mill is a model of its kind, and no
_ other in the State, and few out of it, are as
large. Early in May, the entire 125 stamps
were at work, crushing nearly 100 tons of ore
daily. With the additional capacity, the mine’s
output should approach $400,000 per annum,
and now that mining and milling and pumping
demands have been complied with, a large mar-
gin will be afforded for dividends. The mills,
ore-buildings, shops, compressors, machine-
drills, hoisting and pumping machinery are
known as permanent improvements, will last for
years, and must. have cost, with adjoining min-
ing claims purchased, over $275,000, all paid
for by the mine in five years, besides $147,781.90
in dividends. This sum of $147,781.90 has
been paid in four dividends—on November 1,
1877, November 11, 1878, in September, 1879,
and March 30, 1880. Thecompany will be able
to pay two dividends per annum hereafter, each
amounting to 15 cents a share, or $34,098.90,
and more if the mine improves. There are over
2,000 tons of quartz broken in the mine ready
for the mill, and vast reserves of unbroken ore
at depths of from 250 to 425 feet below the tun-
nel level.
“The company employs over 200 miners, mill
men, teamsters and shop men. This includes
those working on contract, who generally make
about $2.25 per day, or about the same as those
receive who work for wages. The pay-roll foots
up nearly or quite $13,000 every month for
labor, exclusive of Superintendent and assist-
ants. Five steam-engines, combining 200-horse-
power, are employed at the mills, including one
used for the air-compressor of the machine drills.
There are five engines, combining about 225-
horse-power, in the mine. Two machine drilis
have generally been operated in the under-
ground workings. The expenses for the year
1876, including $156,555.87 for mining, $51,-
154.21 for milling, $14,358.46 for draining and
superintendence, taxes and other expenses,
$9,181.45. Of the mining expenses, mining con-
tracts took $51,386.95 ; day labor, $49,052.98 ;
candles, powder and fuse, $13,165.71; fuel,
$4,853.77 ; timber and lumber, $3,165.94 ; and
hardware, foundry work and machinery, $12,591.
In the mills, fuel cost $9,878.09; hauling ore,
$8,734.51 ; and chemicals, and oil, $1,052.29.
Something like seven-tenths of a ton of coal is
burned for every cord, or seven and a half tons
of ore milled, and the coal consumption of the
mine and mill together probably exceed 3,000
tons per anrum.
“The Consolidated Bobtail Gold Mining Com-
pany has a capital stock of $1,136,630, in 227,-
326 $5-shares. The trustees and officers are
George A. Hoyt, President ; John Stanton Jr.,
Secretary and Treasurer; and E. C. Litchfield,
Jerome B. Chaffee, L. H. Brigham, E. H. Litch-
field, John Ewen, R. J. Hubbard and Walton
Ferguson.
“ Careful and oft-repeated tests and assays in
1878 show that the quartz-mills of the Con.
solidated Bobtail Company made the remarka-
ble savings of 75.8 per cent of the gold con-
tained in the ore, with the stamps and tables,
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228
HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY.
and 87.96 per cent of the gold, and 6 per cent
of the silver, including both the product of the
batteries and tables and of the buddled tailings.
A higher per cent of the gold contents of ores
can be saved when they are of low or average
grade like the Bobtail than when they are very
rich.
“The Bobtail Tunnel Company is distinct
from the Consolidated Bobtail, but embraces
some of the same members. Its tunnel is the
outlet of the mine. Ore transportation brought
it $22,079 in 1879. It helps drainage and ven-
tilation.
“In 1879, the Consolidated Bobtail Company
mined and milled 3,365 cords of ore, returning
$231,074.35. It sold 434.09 tons of smelting
ore for $51,786.70 ; 1,753,849 tons of tailings
for $12,943.85; and received from tributors
(who milled sixty-two cords of ore and sold 110
tons) $1,868.74. The actual returns to the
tributors was $11,736.03, which should be
counted to get the mine’s true receipts, viz.,
$310,562.17. The expenses were $248,471.25,
besides $13,340 for addition to mill, pump con-
nections, etc. The mine or mining cost $155,-
469.50, drainage, $36,659.84 ; milling, $47,287.-
82; and salaries, taxes, etc., $9,027.09. Aver-
age yield of mill ore per cord, including tailings,
$72.76, or about $10 a ton. The entire Bob-
tail Lode yielded in five years up to 1880, $1,-
888,837.23, which, added to the lode’s estimated
previous yield of $3,250,000, gives a total to
1880 of $5,138,837.23.
“ Among the expenses of the Consolidated
Bobtail in 1879 are, transportation through the
tunnel, cost $22,079 ; mining contracts, $46,-
585.59 ; day labor, including mechanics, etc.,
$47,855.80 ; powder, candles, ete., $14,065.22 ;
fuel, $14,080.99 ; timber and lumber, $3,164.80 ;
hardware and foundry work, $5,570.39.
“The East Bobtail is the name applied to
the mine on this vein adjoining the consolidated
company property on the east. Little work
was done there until recent years, because no
ore could be found near the surface. A shaft
was finally sunk, and the vein discovered 400
feet down. Below that a fine ore body has con-
tinued to the bottom of the shaft, 850 feet deep,
and beneath and east of present workings. The
mill ore is often very rich, and the amount of
smelting ore is remarkable, averaging a foot wide
in some localities. The entire vein averages
‘over two and one-half feet, but has opened in
places to five, eight and ten feet. The mine
has shown a remarkably large profit in propor-
tion to the total yield. In 1879 ffom fifteen
to twenty tons of ore were milled daily, yield-
ing from $50 to $150 a cord, or from $7 to over
$20 a ton, and about one ton of smelting ore
was sold daily, at prices varying from $60 to
over $180 per ton.
“West of the Consolidated mine are the
Lake and Whipple Claims, which with others
may be called the West Bobtail. The Whipple
property lies at the point where the Fisk crosses
the Bobtail. Each vein has been employing
about fifteen mill stamps. These claims were
idle for years previous to 1878, when Messrs.
Potter, Pearce and Wolcott leased them. The
ore is of a very good grade.
« Beyond the East Bobtail is the Denmark,
1,425 feet, whose surface ore is said to have
been rich. Not long ago J. W. Holman started |
up work on this with the requisite hoisting
machinery. It is expected that extensive ex-
ploration will make this a valuable and produc-
tive property. The Colorado Central Railway
crosses the patented ground of this claim.
“mHE BLACK HAWK SILVER DISTRICT.
“This includes Silver Hill and the sections
at and near Hughesville, Wide Awake District,
Bald Mountain, and the Harper Ranche. The
first discoveries were made on Silver Hill, near
the close of May, and in June, 1878, by Prof.
8. W. Tyler, assayer and engineer, and E. A.
Lynn, an old-time prospector. During the sum-
mer and fall, while lodes were being opened all
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around them, they worked their mines, and
continued to make an occasional discovery.
They located the Cyclops and Fanny at the
beginning. The St. James was also one of the
earliest: veins recorded.
“Tn August, the Hard Money, at Hughes’
ranche, a mile and a half from the Cyclops, was
discovered ; likewise the Boss Lode, on the
Harper ranche. All of the above have since
preduced regularly, and have paid well ; at the
same time they have attracted many prospect-
ers and miners to their districts, resulting in
new discoveries. There are now over 100 men
at work and some 500 locations have been made.
Among these veins the galena ores seem to be
the most valuable, but some ruby silver and
gray copper are found. The best ore yields
from 400 to over 1,000 ounces of silver per ton.
Most of the silver discoveries are among the
hills and mountains to the east and north of
North Clear Creek. South and west of that
stream is the great gold belt. The Cyclops
was discovered May 29, 1878, and is owned
under the affix of numbers one and two, by
Tyler and Lynn. The first ore was sold July
1. Ten shafts have been opened to depths of
from twenty to one hundred feet. Six of these,
at intervals of 100 feet, have yielded ore, and
three of them are now paying handsomely. The
ore vein varies in width from a few inches up
to three feet, and generally carries from 100 to
900 ounces of silver per ton.
“ Some of it shows streaks of ruby silver min-
eral of unusual size and value. Up to May 3],
1879, the Cyclops had yielded over 20,000
ounces of silver. Good profits.have been di-
vided, besides developing the property into its
present productive condition. The Cyclops
has besides rich vein matter, gangue of quastz
and feldspar, or quartz hornstone and calcspar,
the latter with true silver minerals. The min-
erals or ores proper, are galena, zinc-blende
and iron pyrites, and considerable proportion
of ruby and brittle silver, occurring in solid
streaks from one to eight inches thick, or scat-
tered throughout a foot or more of quartz, in
the latter class making up the second-rate ores.
“The character of the ores of some of the
best and richest of these silver veins is exem-
plified in returns of the Fanny Lode. In the
latter part of May, 1879, 8. W. Tyler sold nine
tons and 358 pounds of ore for $1,832.93, and
in the first week of June four and three-fourths
tons for $1,212.65. Average receipts per ton,
$218 ; average yield per ton, $260. The four
richest lots gave 608 ounces, 605 ounces, 490
ounces and 470 ounces of silver per ton. The
three poorest lots gave 71 ounces, 87 ounces,
and 88 ounces per ton. Total receipts of sales
for less than four weeks, $3,045.58. Expenses
less than $1,000.”
The output and workings of the Cyclops and
Fanny Mines, up to September 30, 1880, is as
follows :
Fanny.—The Fanny is just below the Cy-
clops, and is owned by Tyler, Lynn, Gray and
Pease. The width of the vein is shown by the
development to be from two to six feet, with a
pay streak of from two inches to three feet in
thickness. Working shaft, 190 feet deep ; 110-
foot level, 80 feet in length ; 180-foot level, just
started. Total fathoms removed in mine, 131 ;
value gross silver product, $28,726; net re-
turns, $19,894.95 ; profit divided, $9,100 ; gross
product, per fathom, $219; net receipts, per
fathom, $151; profits, per fathom, $70. No
ground stoped below 110-foot level.
Cyclops.—Deepest shaft now, 235 feet; 120-
foot level is 320 feet in length ; 200-foot level
is 225 feet in length, A large amount of
ground is still standing above the 120-foot
level, in which stoping is now going on. But
little stoping has yet been done helow the 120-
footlevel. Value gross silver product, $58,616 ;
net returns, $38,345. Most of the development
work on the Cyclops has been done by lessees
paying 25 per cent royalty. Four companies
of lessees or tributors are now working in dif-
yo 25
HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY. 229
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HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY.
ferent portions of the mine, employing fifteen
men, and producing about twenty-two tons of
ore per month, for which the net receipts run
from $1,600 to $2,000 per month.
The gross product of the Silver Hill group
of mines, since discovery, would be about as
follows :
2
Cow ee Cyclops s...-8 58,616
58,239.95 elas Fanny... 28,726
St. James...... 8,000
Mary Graham 4,000
Others.......60+ 1,000
$100,842
Again referring to Fossett's “ Colorado :”
“The Silent Friend, Humboldt, Mary Gra-
ham and Joe Reynolds, on this same Silver
Hill, are promising veins, but have not been
opened extensively. The Mary Graham has a
good run of paying ore, which is producing well.
Between Silver Hill and the Hard Money Lode
are many locations, of which the Toronto, Wel-
lington, New York and Emerald are the prin-
cipal ones. The two first named have turned
out much ore, yielding from 80 to 300 ounces
per ton. The Wellington, main shatt, is 50 feet
deep. This lode is of the unusual size of nine
feet, and what are considered average samples
of the crevice assay from 20 to 50 ounces of
silver. Tons of assorted mineral have been
sold, carrying from 200 to 1,000 ounces per ton.
“The Hard, Money is owned by Hunderman
& Locke. Its size, great value and profits are
making it famous. Its product, mainly ob-
tained after October, and from then to July, is
said to have been over $40,000. One report
makes it 50,000 ounces of silver ; another 55,000.
The deepest shaft is 128 feet. The Philadelphia
is nearly parallel with the Hard Money. The
Rough and Ready appears to be nearly on a
line with the Hard Money and Boss Lodes.
Time may prove all three to be parts of one
continuous vein. The Bonanza, a more recent
discovery, bids fair to be a first-class vein.
Many locations were made, and some good
lodes found all through this section too late in
the year to admit of prospecting, or continuous
work. This summer will enable their value to
be tested. The Boss Lode, owned by Sayer &
Owens, pays handsomely. Steam hoisting works
have lately been put on. Smith E. Stevens is
driving the Silver Flag tunnel, from North
Clear Creek toward the silver belt, and veins of
the mountains above and beyond. Many veins
will be crossed at great depth. The Queen
Emma is a valuable lode.
“The Rough and Ready Lode has probably
shown the richest ore in the district, specimens
have assayed from 14,000 to 21,000 ounces,
and small mill runs which yielded at the rate
of several thousand dollarsaton. The Forrester
and Fremont Lodes, on Bald Mountain, have
shown rich ore. There are more than fifty of
these silver-bearing lodes discovered within a
year, that are yielding more or less money.
“The district will add considerably to Gilpin
County’s bullion product, and bids fair to rival
most other Colorado silver camps in import-
ance. The number and value of veins dis-
covered in so short a time is remarkable.
Tunnels—There are a number of tunnels in
Gilpin County that are being driven to intersect
lodes, and to work the same. Some of these
have been pushed forward steadily by the labor
and money of business men and miners for
many years. The Bobtail Tunnel at the Bobtail
Lode has already been noticed. There are sev-
eral that have not been extended for some
time, and others, such as the Centennial, Black
Hawk, German, Quartz Hill and Central City,
are pushed more or less energetically. The La
Cresse Tunnel, owned by the Company of the
same name, passes into Quartz Hill something
like a thousand feet, one hundred and fifty of
which was driven last year. Itis only from
one hundred and eighty to two hundred feet
below the surface above, and consequently can
be of no great benefit in working mines. The
Central City Tunnel was started by D. G. Wil-
o—r-
~_
HARD MONEY SILVER MINE, GILPIN CO., COLORADO.
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HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY. :
231
son, who organized a company on the enter-
prise. It enters Quartz Hill just above the
Quartz Hill Tunnel and the limits of Central,
and is headed in the direction of such main
‘ lodes as the Burroughs, Missouri, Illinois and
Roderick Dhu, which it will intersect some five
hundred feet beneith the surface of the ground.
Steam drills and air compressors are used, and
are thought to do cheaper and better execution
than hand drills. The eastern portion of the
Kansas Lode has been intersected, and the For-
tune and Corydon, Lewis and Columbia, are
some distance ahead. The tunnel had pene-
trated the hill about five hundred feet at last
accounts, The enterprise is a promising one,
as old lodes can be explored, and several blind
lodes may be discovered. For drainage pur-
poses, this tunnel should be of great service.
The German tunnel is a home enterprise of
Central business men, which has been driven
nearly seven hundred feet into Mammoth
Hill. There are many valuable lodes crossing
the territory ahead of it, which will be inter-
sected hundreds of feet in depth. Several
veins have already been reached. The outlook
is good for dividends when the Mammoth and
other lodes have been opened.
“The Centennial Tunnel is in Mammoth Hill,
is about four hundred feet long, and has crossed
several blind lodes that have yielded large
amounts of ore. The enterprise has paid well
at times. The breast of the tunnel must be
near the Tierney Lode.
“Smelting Works.—The smelting works of
Argo are the successors of the Boston & Colo:
rado Company’s long-established operations in
the mountains. Prof. N. P. Hill was the
founder, and has ever been the managing dli-
rector of that company’s smelting establish-
ments. He began work at Black Hawk, in
January, 1868, with one calciner and one smelt-
ing furnace. All around him were wrecks of
preceding attempts at ore reduction, but, while
encountering many difficulties in the earlier
years, there has never been an interruption of
work, general progress or success.
“As the ore-supplying mining districts be-
came more numerous and extensive, the furnaces
and working forces were increased, and, in time,
a corps of assistants had been secured such as is
seldom met with, and whom it would almost be
an impossibility to replace. The rare business
and executive qualifications of the general
manager have been ably seconded by those
whom he has called to responsible positions,
while the State has shown its appreciation of
services rendered its main industry by award-
ing him a seat in the United States Senate.
“This copper-matte method of smelting, old
and tried in other lands, has required many
adaptations to the numerous and varied ores it
has had to deal with, and, as now conducted at
this establishment, can be termed the Colorado,
more appropriately than the Swansea, process.
When Prof. Richard Pearce took charge of the
metallurgical department, away back in 1873,
the production of the first absolutely pure sil-
ver bullion in the West began. Before that, the
valuable metals had been sent from Black
Hawk across the ocean to Swansea, in the form
of copper-matte, where they were purchased,
separated and refined. Since 1875, the gold
has also been parted and refined in Colorado,
and by a method of Mr. Pearce’s own invention.
“In 1873, branch works were started at
Alma, among the Park County silver mines,
and, in 1876, an ore-buying agency was estab-
lished at Boulder. In 1877-78, the capacity
of the Black Hawk works was over fifty tons
of ore daily, instead of ten or twelve, as at the
beginning. The working force had increased
to a hundred men, the annual production of
bullion from a coin value of $193,490 in 1868,
to over one of $2,000,000, and the average
stock of ores on hand represented a value of
three-quarters of a million. Ores were coming
in steadily from almost all parts of the State,
and began to arrive from Montana, even, a
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282
HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY.
/
thousand miles away. But the question of
fuel was becoming a serious one, a more cen-
tral and generally accessible locality was desir-
able, and, as it was necessary to again enlarge
the works, it was deemed best to build entirely
anew, and near the coal measures, and the rail-
way center of the plains.
“ A location was selected two miles from Den-
ver, to which the very appropriate name of
Argo was applied, after the good ship in which a
hero of Grecian mythology is reputed to
have set sail in search of the Golden Fleece.
The new works were so far completed in
December, 1878, that several furnaces were
fired up, and soon after all business, except
roasting ores on hand, and sampling, purchas-
ing and shipping, was discontinued at the old
place at Black Hawk.”
We regret that the space in this history, to
which Gilpin County is equitably entitled, will
not permit us to go into detail in regard to
other prominent and well-managed mines and
operations in the county, showing, as we have
in those alluded to, something of their produc-
tion and management. But, as we have sug-
gested elsewhere in this chapter, our purpose
is more for the basis of a standard history,
covered as far as practicable, by the earliest
reliable data touching matters and things in
general in this portion of our Centennial State,
Such mines, and their management and
workings, as the following, might well fill a vol-
ume, and be quite as interesting as the ones
we have referred to at leagth—the Kansas,
Hidden Treasure, Gunnell, Gardner, Bates,
California, Burroughs, American Flag, Ilinois,
Kent County, Prize, Indiana, Gold Dirt, Ophir,
Perrigo, Winnebago, Foot & Simmons, Gilpin,
Pewabic, Williams, Grand Army, Whiting,
Cashier, Mammoth, Maryland, Boss, White
Cloud, Mountain City, Kip & Buell, New
Boston, Homer, Fisk, Hubert, Irish Fiag, Rod-
erick Dhu, Rolls County, Flack, Alps-Mackie,
Saratoga, Grand View and St. Louis.
We have selected the lodes and managing
proprietors that have been noticed with some-
thing of detail, more because of their priority
in time, in the division to which they relate,
than for any invidious discrimination; and
because that somewhere herein, there should
appear some of the leading principles and
working details of the plans and management,
that especially make mining a successful un-
dertaking.
CHAPTER III.
JOURNALISM IN
S in the discovery of gold, Denver preceded
Gilpin County only a very short period, so
in the introduction of the Press—the next might-
iest engine of a State—she was not far ahead.
To Hon. William N. Byers is due the credit
of establishing the first paper in Denver or Col-
orado. It was published under the name of the
Rocky Mountain News, April 22, 1859, and is
still a leading paper there and bears the same
name.
And to Thomas Gibson belongs the honor of
publishing the first paper in Gilpin County. It
GILPIN COUNTY.
was called the Rocky Mountain Gold Reporter
and Mountain City Herald, but flourished only
during the summer of 1859. It was located at
Gregory Point.
In the early part of the summer of 1862, Al- |
fred Thompson brought out from Glenwood,
Towa, to Central City, a Washington hand-press
and type, and on the 26th day of July, 1862,
he issued the first number of the Miners’ Regis-
ter, as a tri-weekly paper, which to this day,
under different names and management, has
been the leading paper of the county.
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HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY. 233
A few days later, the accidental absence of
the proprietor, introduced David C. Collier, then
engaged in the practice of law, as an editorial
writer. His acquaintance with the local and
‘national politics of the time, seemed to make
him not only a necessity during the heated po-
litical canvass then in progress, but evoked from
his pen many a spirited personal appeal to the
loyalty of his fellow-citizens in the dangerous
situation in which Colorado was finding herself
placed in regard to secession.
His services were therefore continued to the
end of the campaign, and his name then placed
permanently in the head lines of the editorial
columns. :
Another change in the ownership and man-
agement of the Register took place April 9,
1863. Mr. Collier, in company with Hugh Glenn
and George A. Wells, two of the employes of
the concern, bought Mr. Thompson out, and the
firm became Collier, Glenn & Co.
Mr. Collier took charge of the editorial depart-
ment and inside management; Mr. Wells of the
mechanical department, and Mr. Glenn of the
circulation.
On the 30th of the following month, and as
soon as the necessary materials could be ob-
tained, they enlarged it to a twenty-four column
sheet. August 10, 1863, it first appeared as a
morning daily. The issue of September 29,
1863, announced the sale by Hugh Glenn of his
interest to his partners, and the firm then be-
came Collier & Wells. November 7, 1863, the
paper appeared in an entirely new dress, and
assumed a metropolitan appearance, and in its
next issue commenced the regular publication
of telegraphic-news, the telegraph having been
just completed.
The civil war was then the chief matter of
interest, and extras were issued as often as im-
portant news arrived, day or night. When the
carriers appeared with them on the streets, a
shout was raised and people gathered in groups
to read and listen.
As soon as the carrier put in his appearance
at a quartz mill, the engineer would blow the
whistle, and presently the mills of the entire
county would take up the refrain, and thus the
early pioneers of Gilpin County would learn and
discuss the latest news.
October 17, 1865, Mr. Wells sold his interest
in the Register to Frank Hall, afterward Secre-
tary of the Territory, and the firm became Col-
lier & Hall.
July 26, 1868, the name of the paper was
changed to Central City Register.
Excessive mental labor, resulting in broken
health, at length compelled Mr. Collier to seek
such repose as retiring from journalism would
afford, and, June 12, 1873, he sold out his in-
terest to W. W. Whipple, and the firm became
Hall & Whipple, Hall taking sole charge of the
editorial department, and Whipple of the me-
chanical.
This partnership was afterward dissolved,
and Mr. Hall became sole proprietor and editor
until June 1, 1877, when the establishment
went into the hands of James A. Smith and
Den Marlow. They continued to conduct it
until February 1, 1878, when H. M. Rhodes
bought in and conducted the editorial and busi-
ness departments for a short time.
Meanwhile, in February, 1878, another paper
had been started in Central and christened The
Evening Call, under the control and management
of Messrs. G. M. Laird and Den Marlow.
But this continued only until May of the
same year, when Laird & Marlow purchased
the Register establishment and consolidated the
Call with it. They gave to the new publication
the name of the Fegister-Call, publishing a
daily and weekly edition, with Col. John S.
Dormer in charge of the editorial department,
and J. P. Waterman, mining reporter.
This paper has been and still is Republican
in its politics.
The Colorado Miner was the name of a
weekly paper started in Black Hawk in 1863,
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234
HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY.
by W. Train Muyr. After several changes
this became, during the same year, the Black
Hawk Daily Jowrnal,with Hollister & Blakesley,
and afterward Hollister & Hall,as publishers.
A compan, urchased the establishment in
1866, and moved it to Central City, where it
was known as the Times. Henry Garbanati and
O. J. Goldrick were the editors, and the politics
of the paper was Democratic. At the beginning
of 1868, Thomas J. Campbell bought the
property and changed the name to the Colo-
vado Herald, published daily and weekly. Late
in 1870, Campbell was succeeded by Frank
Fossett, who continued to publish the Herald
for nearly three years, or until the publication
ceased.
September 4, 1876, a new weekly paper
named the Post was started in Black Hawk by
William McLaughlin and W. W. Sullivan. Mr.
Sullivan sold out his interest soon after to
Col. James R. Oliver. Mr. McLaughlin soon
after deceased, and the establishment passed
into the hands of Col. Oliver as editor and
proprietor. It is now published by Oliver &
Brandgeest, and has always been Democratic
in its politics.
CHAPTER IV.
EARLY ORGANIZATION OF MINING DISTRICTS—THEIR LAWS, RULES AND CUSTOMS—RECOGNITION
OF SAME BY CONGRESS.
HE first organization of a mining district
in the county, and probably in the coun-
try, is graphically described by Cushman and
Waterman as follows:
“The first organization of Gregory District
took place on the 16th of May, 1859, when
there were but sixteen men in the camp.
Wilkes Defrees was chosen President of the
district. No records are extant, but it is
known that the number and size of lode, gulch
and building claims were thén agreed upon, as
they were afterward established by popular
vote. By June 1, the camp had increased to
eight hundred or a thousand men. The late
arrivals set up a clamor that the first-comers
had ‘gobbled up’ all the good lodes. They
demanded a re-distribution of lode property,
giving each one twenty-five linear feet on the
vein. About the 15th of June, a mass meeting
was held to determine the question. By this
time, the malcontents outnumbered those inter-
ested in maintaining 100 feet as the length of a
lode claim as ten to one. Among the early
pioneers, however, were many old political
wire-workers, men accustomed to lead mass
meetings and manipulate conventions. This
handful of men succeeded in obtaining control :
of the meeting by the election of Wilkes
Defrees, Chairman, and James D. Wood, Secre-
tary. The ‘twenty-five-foot’ men demanded
that the lodes should be re-staked by those who
could reach them first, and, in anticipation of
an easy victory, members of every party or
firm in their number went out in advance with
an ax and stakes in hand, ready to drive them
upon the best ground the moment they got the
signal from their friends that the measure was
carried! But the race was not to the swift.
The adroit and cool-headed pioneers succeeded
in carrying a vote to have a committee of |
twelve on resolutions appointed, and a majority
of their own number were assigned to that
committee. Casto, Gregory, Slaughter, Allen, So-
pris, Barker, Bates, Henderson, Russell and three
others were the committee chosen. Of course,
this committee reported resolutions confirming |.
all the rights they had previously claimed.
The discussion that ensued was, to speak
mildly, a spirited one. Before the vote on
each resolution was taken, the managers took
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HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY. 235
pains to raise side issues, getting their oppo-
nents separated and squabbling among them-
selves, when the resolution would be pronounced
‘carried,’ with great force and dignity. Out-
generaled and angry, the crowd was a turbu-
lent one. Every man had his six-shooter with
him in those days, and no less pluck and
determination were shown in maintaining the
action of the meeting than there had been of
cunning and adroitness in securing the result.
But the occasion passed without a fight, and
soon the malcontents became owners of claims
of their own finding, and were no longer agra-
rians. The segregation of lodes into claims of
100 feet has since been found to be a great
mistake, and the law has been changed; but
those who bemoan the early division as disas-
trous to prosperity will see that it was the best
that could be done. ,
“On the 9th of July, another mass meeting
was held, at which were elected by ballot a
President (Capt. Richard Sopris); a Recorder
of Claims (Dr. C. A. Roberts), and a Sheriff
(Charles Peck), to serve one year. A commit-
tee was appointed to codify the laws, which
had now obtained general consent, and were
adopted without opposition. This code formed
the model of the laws of the several districts
which, during the fall, were set off from Gregory
District, viz., Eureka, Nevada, Central City,
Lake and Quartz Valley. These ‘local laws’
were subsequently confirmed by the first Ter-
ritorial Legislature, and were recognized by
Congressional enactment when not in conflict
with existing statutes.”
It should be remarked here, however, that
Congress reserved the right—when, in its first
enactment of July 26, 1866, upon the subject
of the “mineral lands of the public domain,”
they were formally opened “to exploration and
occupation "—to primarily dispose of the soil,
and to hold all occupants thereupon “ subject
to such regulations as may be prescribed by
law,” as well as “the local customs or rules of
miners” then in force and not “in conflict with
the laws of the United States.”
No right was ever granted to municipal
bodies to interfere with the primary disposal of
the soil as against individual interest, however
public and beneficent the object might be.
The Territorial Legislature of Colorado un-
dertook the very laudable purpose, by statu-
tory enactment, approved August 15, 1862, “ to
create a fund for the benefit of schools” by
setting apart from each lode thereafter discov-
ered one hundred lineal feet in perpetuity for
that purpose, and also February 9, 1866, the
same additional amount “for the use and bene-
fit of the Miners’ Relief and Territorial Poor
Fund.” But in each instance its action was
not only not recognized by Congress, but posi-
tively rejected by the Department of the Inte-
rior when the better right of the individual
came up for patent.
These mining districts and subsequent ones
were generally bounded by natural divisions of
the country, dividing ridges called “ divides,”
and creeks and gulches. Later, Congress re-
quired that applicants for patents to mines and
mining property should designate in their ap-
plications the particular mining district as well
as county in which the claim was located.
These districts could not, therefore, be well
consolidated distinctively into the subsequent
divisions or precincts of the county made for
general election and county purposes.
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HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY.
CHAPTER V.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND SABBATH SCHOOLS.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
E find no data extant that any private
secular schools were being taught among
the earliest settlers of what was afterward Gilpin
County. It is probable that there were not chil-
dren enough coming in with the settlers until
1862, to make the undertaking of public schools
desirable. But October 11, 1862, we find that
Daniel C. Collier, Esq., had been elected Super-
intendent of Public Schools for the county of
Gilpin, and that October 13, 1862, he divided
the county into districts and published a notice
thereof.
Shortly after, meetings were called in the
several districts to organize and establish pub-
lic schools.
Central.—At the first school meeting in Cen-
tral City, being School District No. 1, Mr. Coll-
ier, Hiram A. Johnson and A. Jacobs were pres-
ent. A tax of $800 was then levied upon the
citizens by a vote of the meeting in support of
public schools.
We find that during the winter of 1862-63, a
school of 166 pupils was being taught in Law-
rence Hall, by Thomas J. Campbell, assisted by
Miss Ellen F. Kendall. The next teacher was
James C. Scott, with the same assistant.
In the year 1864, the names of Mr. and
Mrs. M. A. Arnold, and W. F. Richardson and
John IL. Schellenger, appear as teachers in
Central.
In April, 1867, an election for city officers
having been held, there arose a contest respect-
ing fraudulent votes having been cast in some
of the wards, and consequent disqualification of
some members of the Council, claiming seats
therein. The contest came up in Council, and
was for along time in the courts before final
adjudication was had, and some of the questions
involved are said to be still pending, on appeal,
in the Supreme Court, though the main question
at issue—fraudulent votes—was decided and
proven against the Council first organized,
known as the “ Teats Council,” and their pro-
ceedings declared illegal, before the expiration
of their fiscal year. Their warrants were also
declared and adjudged invalid.
There seems to have been no contest in re-
gard to the election of Mayor—Hon. Robert
Teats—but contestants for seats in his Council
drew off and organized another city govern-
ment. Mayor Teats refusing to act with-them,
they elected a Mayor pro tem. This state of
things interfered very materially, not only with
the harmonious action of the city officials gener-
ally, but especially with school matters.
A stranger, looking on, might have supposed
that the country was growing so fast that these
double-headed arrangements had become a ne-
cessity ; or that money was so plenty, and so
easily obtained, that the community did not
know how otherwise to dispose of it. There
being, practically, two separate and distinct
city governments, two school boards were ap-
pointed, and a second public school established
in opposition to the one already running, of
which Jobn L. Schellenger was the Principal.
The new school was opened in the spring of
1868, in the old bowling-alley which stood
where the Teller House now stands, with H. M.
Hale as Principal, and Mrs. James Burrell, as-
sistant. Previous to the organization of this
school, the colored children had been taught in
a separate school. Now they were admitted to
the general school. The suspension of the old
: school after running a few months, caused such
of
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HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY. 237
an increase of attendance at the new, that it
became necessary to provide greater accommo-
dations, and steps were taken toward the erec-
tion of a permanent schoolhouse. At the elec-
tion held April 5, 1869, bonds to the amount of
$15,000 were voted by the district for the pur-
pose of building ; and work was immediately
begun on the first public schoolhouse, worthy of
the name, erected in Colorado.
By September, 1870, the house was ready for
occupancy. The total cost of site, building and
furniture, being about $20,000. Mr. Hale con-
tinued principal of the school, with the excep-
tion of one term taught by N. M. Ambrose, until
the close of the school year 1873, when he was
called to the office of Territorial Superintendent
of Public Instruction. John L. Jerome was
Principal during the following two years. He
was succeeded by a Mr. Brown, who remained
one year, when Isaac C. Dennett was elected
and entered upon his duties in September, 1876.
He was Principal until the close of the year
1877. H. M. Hale was then again elected Prin-
cipal, and took charge in January, 1878, which
position he occupies at this date.
Nevadaville.— Public schools were com-
menced in Nevada District, being School District
No. 2,in 1862. At the first school meeting a tax
was levied for their support, and the following-
named Directors chosen: J. H. Gest, Presi-
dent; J. W. Ratliff, Treasurer, and John Bird,
Secretary. A school building was purchased of
David Ettien for $1,000, and the lower part
rented for a store. In 1872, they sold it to the
Good Templars for $1,500, and erected their
present house, arranged for three departments
—grammar, intermediate and primary.
The school now has an average attendance
of one hundred and twenty-five scholars, and
is taught ten months in each year.
Black Hawk.—The earliest record that we
find of proceedings for public schools in Black
Hawk—School District No. 3—were had at a
" meeting called to organize a school board.
The meeting was held at the law office of
Remine & Marsh, November 7, 1862, and the
following-named persons were then elected as a
board of officers: H. P. Cowenhouen, Presi-
dent; A. Marsh, Secretary, and I. C. Bruce,
Treasurer. The following electors were pres-
ent: H.P. Cowenhouen, 8. W. Bradley, I. C.
Bruce, A. Marsh, G. Germain, Joseph E. Bates,
W. Fitzpatrick, Albert Selak, W. Graham, G.
B. Bachus and John Maroney. They also by
vote authorized the board to provide for, estab-
lish and open at once a public school, to con-
tinue as a term until May 1, 1863.
At an adjourned meeting November 11, 1862,
the Secretary reported the value of the taxable
property in the district to be $250,000. The
meeting thereupon levied a tax of one mill on
the dollar, for a teacher’s fund.
We have not been able to obtain the names
of the first and successive teachers of all the
schools of this county, nor of this district, ex-
cept that, some time in 1863, John L. Schellen-
ger taught a school in Black Hawk of 120 schol-
ars, assisted by Miss Amanda Batchelor, now
Mrs. Butler, of Gold Hill, Colo.
The school census, as taken the present year
(1880), in the various districts of the county, is
as follows: District No. 1, 694; District No. 2,
233; District No. 3,464; District No. 4, 44;
District No. 5, 83; District No. 6, 13; total,
1,531. :
SABBATH SCHOOLS.
Although there seems to be no record extant
of the earliest Sabbath school in Gilpin County,
yet it is well remembered by the old settlers,
that, with the organization of the “Union
Church” in 1859, by Rev. Lewis Hamilton, a
Sabbath school, composed mainly of adults, was
commenced. At that time, but very few fam-
ilies had ventured to cross “the great Ameri-
can desert,” and, when there appeared coming
up into the “Gregory Diggins,” in a “prairie
schooner,” indication of a family—a woman
and children—three rousing cheers for “ calico”
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HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY.
made the welkin ring and echo along the hill-
sides.
At one time in those early days, “right in
meeting,” a lady, it is said, started to leave,
apparently very much distressed because she
could not keep her baby from crying; when
some one in the audience called out, “Let the
baby cry; it reminds us of home.” She then
sat down again somewhat comforted, whether
the baby was or not!
But October 27, 1861, the Central City, Union
Sabbath School commenced a regular organiza-
tion. January 5, 1862, a constitution and by-
| laws had been printed for them by the Rocky
Mountain News, and was then formally adopted,
of which the following is the
PREAMBLE:
Wuereas, We, citizens of Central City (and vicin-
ity), Gilpin County, Colorado Territory, firmly believ-
ing that, to establish upon a permanent basis, and
sustain in a prosperous condition, a union Sabbath
school, to which candid Bible students, of whatever
creed, craft or profession, are admitted with an equal
and cordial welcome, is one of the best means of pro-
moting the public good; and further, believing that
such a school can, and ought to be, established and sus-
tained in this place, and that, to secure the correct and
harmonious action of its official members, w system of
rules and regulations for its government are required ;
therefore, we, a body of teachers, adopt the following
constitution and bv-laws :
The following officers were then chosen :
Rev L. Hamilton, Superintendent ; Mr. Lee,
Assistant Superintendent; F. G Niles, Secre-
tary; F. B. Smith, Treasurer; A. B. Davis,
Librarian ; D. S Green, Assistant Librarian.
Qn the 30th of November, 1862, Superin-
tendent Hamilton, having been appointed
Chaplain of the Second Regiment of Colorado
Volunteers, resigned, and, bidding the Union
Sabbath School and Union Church good-bye
and God-speed, joined the regiment then at
Fort Lyon, taking with him the record of the
Union Church. F. G. Niles was elected to fill
the vacancy, and Luther H. Wolcott to be
Assistant Superintendent. A new library and
Sunday school papers had just been procured
by Samuel Cushman, of Denver.
The school at that time numbered about one
hundred members, and it was no unusual thing
that the number of verses committed to
memory from the Bible, and recited at a session
of the school, would be over five hundred.
At a picnic of the school July 2, 1863, held at
a. bower well fitted up and prepared for the oc-
casion, in Quartz Valley, near Central, over
two hundred children and as many adults were
present to enjoy themselves generally, and par-
take of refreshments upon the well-spread
tables, and to listen to addresses from Revs.
Messrs. Warner and Crawford and others pres-
sent.
Later, Mr. Warner had returned to the Hast
and the school had appointed Rev. William
Crawford its Superintendent.
Later still, the school had been merged into
the different religious denominations that had
been organized in and about Central City.
We have been thus particular in the history
of this Union Sabbath School, and in its con-
nection with the early “Union Church com-
posed of the members of the various evangel-
ical denominations,” first organized in Gilpin
County, that others may compare, if they will,
the present with the past usefulness of both
churches and Sabbath schools in their Master’s
kingdom here, especially in view of the expense
and labor required in sustaining them.
We do not expect to maintain the old maxim
that in “union there is strength,’ as against
the sophistry of theologians, that in diversity
of effort in the moral as in the physical world,
there is more of strength, because the latter
seems to be a foregone conclusion.
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HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY.
239
CHAPTER VI.
RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES AND CHURCH ORGANIZATIONS.
ARLY in the summer of 1859, while others
were wonderfully excited in their discover-
ies of gold in and about the “ Gregory Diggins,”
the Rev. Lewis Hamilton commenced preaching
on the Sabbath in the open air, or wherever op-
portunity offered in the same vicinity.
These labors resulted in the organization by
him,in June, 1859, of a “Union Church, com-
posed of the members of the various evangel-
ical denominations” in what is now Gilpin
County. He also organized, in connection there-
with, the “Union Sabbath School,” to which
reference has already been had in Chapter V
of this history.
In June, 1861, these meetings, both of the
church and Sabbath school, were transferred
from Hadley Hall to Gregory Point, where they
had been previously held, to the hall over the
post office in Central City, and were carried on
there under the united or sometimes separate
management of Revs. Hamilton, George W.
Warner and William Crawford, until the close
of the year 1863.
It is to be regretted that the record of this
early Union Church cannot be found EK. W.
Henderson, Esq., now Receiver of the United
States Land Office in Central City, who not
only assisted in its organization, but was its
Secretary, is our authority that when, on No-
vember 30, 1862, Mr. Hamilton left Gilpin
County to join the regiment of which he had
been appointed Chaplain, he took the record
with him—that when the war was over, and
Mr. Hamilton was residing in Denver, he ad-
mitted to him that he still had the record and
promised to send it to him, he being as Secre-
tary its proper custodian—but that it had never
reached him.
St. James M. EF. Church, Centrat— Although
there seem to be no records extant of the ear-
liest organization of Methodist Churches in
Gilpin County, still, it is well authenticated by
some of the earliest settlers of that persuasion,
that, as early as the spring or summer of 1859,
the Rev. G. W. Fisher, a local preacher of that
denomination, from Missouri, preached in the
open air where their church now stands, and
that in 1860, under the supervision of Rev.
Adriance, of the Kansas Conference, an organ-
ization took place, with twenty-seven church
members, whose meetings were held in the house
of Aunt Clara Brown, the colored pioneer, on -
Lawrence street, and that some time during the
year 1862, services were regularly held in Law-
rence Hall, then recently erected for general
public services. The following-named persons,
members of Quarterly Conference, were mem-
bers of this organization: John Rowen, Rob-
ert Frazier, William Shepherd, W. M. B. Sarrell,
John Reed, D. 8. Green, Charles Fish, Clara
Brown, W. T. Caruthers and John Cree.
In 1862, the lot upon which their church now
stands was purchased and graded, plans were
agreed upon for building, and some preparation
made for the work. But their meetings were
still held in Lawrence Hall until 1865, after
which thew services were held in the court-
room, and continued there until the basement
of the church was completed and they occu-
pied it.
Mr Adriance was the first settled Pastor of
the church, then Rev. W. H. Fisher, then Rev.
B. F. Vincent, of Rock River Conference. In
1867, Rev. G. H Adams was sent here from
the Illinois Conference, and assisted materially
in promoting the interests of the church, and
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240
HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY.
in completing their house of worship. His has
been a continuous work of love and devotion
up to the present time.
In 1869, the main audience-room was fin-
ished, and dedicated by Bishop Calvin Kings-
ley. In 1870, Rev. W. D. Chase, from New
York, was placed over the church, and re-
mained its Pastor three years. Next, Rev. C.
W. Blodgett, from Des Moines Conference, Lowa,
succeeded him, and, in 1874, Rev. R. S. Harford,
D. D., was Pastor ; Rev. L. J. Hall in 1875, and
Rev. J. Edmundson in 1877.
Rev. Matthew Evans, present Pastor, was
transferred from the Wisconsin Conference, in
1879, to Colorado Conference, and stationed at
Central City. During his pastorate, the church
building has been thoroughly improved and
painted, the walls and ceilings frescoed, the
floors carpeted, etc, David S. Green, Esq., a
member of the church, contributing largely to
this outlay, which has made it, at present, the
most commodious and elegant place of worship
in the city. They have a fine organ and an
excellent choir of singers. The total cost of
the building and furnishings must have ex-
ceeded $20,000. They have a church member-
ship of 178, and a Sabbath school numbering
335 members.
THE METHODIST CHURCH OF BLACK HAWK.
This church was set off from the Central M.
E. Church in September, 1862, under the di-
tection or supervision of Rev. B. C. Dennis,
Presiding Elder, and its first settled Pastor was
Rev. D. H. Petifish. There were twenty-two
members in its first organization, and among
their number were Rev. Wm. Shepherd, Harrison
Daily, A.C. Strack and David Jones. A Sabbath
school was also organized at the same time.
Services have been kept up with a good de-
gree of regularity to the present time. They
have a church building worth about $1,200,
which being at present out of repair, their serv-
ices are held in the Presbyterian Church.
Rev. Cyrus A. Brooks is the present Pastor.
They number forty members in the church, and
150 children in the Sabbath school.
METHODIST CHURCH, NEVADAVILLE.
The first Quarterly Conference for Nevada
Station was held August 24,1872. Rev. G. H.
Adams in the chair.
The following-named persons were present: |
H. Nankervis, J. Sowell, M. Roberts, James
Jones, David Ayers and H. Dennis. The Pas-
tor’s salary was fixed at $700.
At this time this point was connected with
others, and formed part of the Circuit including
Tdaho Springs.
From other reliable information we find there
had been stated preaching here of the Method- |
ists much earlier, and the following-named
ministers are mentioned as preaching there,
but without dates: Mr. Swift, George Wallace,
H. Nankervis, McNutt, Sears, Smith, J. H.
Beardsley, H. L. Beardsley, J. P. Treloar, J.
Coffman, B. B. Dundass and the present Pastor,
A. N. Fields. The society have a church
building free from debt, and a parsonage but
slightly encumbered. Seventy members are
enrolled upon their books.
THE BAPTIST CHURCH.
This church was organized April 3, 1864,
under the supervision of Rev. Almond Barrelle,
a missionary sent out for that purpose under
the auspices of the “ American Baptist Home
Mission Society,” and was organized under the
name of the “First Baptist Church of Central
City.”
The following-named persons participated in
its organization, and entered into church re-
lationship with each other. Rev. Almond Bar-
relle, J. C. Royle, Jane Blackwood, Absalom
Van Camp, Ira Elliott, L. Merchant, Priscilla |
Merchant, Allen B. C. Whipple, C. M. Williams,
Grace Williams, Lucy E. Adamson, Cynthia
Buck, Harriet Kelsey, Matilda Kelsey, James
oC ef
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HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY.
241
Holmes, Jane E. Sinclair, Thompson B. Moore
and F. A. Moore.
May 27, 1866, Rev. Mr. Barrelle’s resignation
was accepted, and Rev. Ira D. Clark, on the
10th of June following, was called, and accepted
the invitation to become their Pastor for one
year. Rev. 8. D. Bowker, M. D., was next
appointed by the “ Home Mission,” to begin
his labors in Central City, March 1, 1871. He
succeeded in “ renovating the old church house
owned by the Home Mission Board.”
On or about the month of March, 1874, Dr.
Bowker had resigned as Pastor of the church,
and the Trustees were negotiating with the
mission board for another.
June 26, 1875, Rev. Harvey Linsley, of Buck-
field, Maine, became Pastor of the church. In
the early part of the year 1878, Mr. Linsley had
retired from the Pastorate, and Rev. Ross Ward,
of Boulder, Colo., was occupying the pulpit.
On the 5th of April, 1879, Rev. Lawrence Ever-
ett, under the auspices of the Home Mission
Society, had been regularly ordained and in-
stalled as Pastor. On the 31st of August fol-
lowing, he was called away to the bedside of
his father lying dangerously ill, and who died
soon after. Since that time there has been no
regular service in the church. The Sabbath
school has been merged with the schools of
other churches, and the basement of their church
edifice is rented and occupied as a residence
and store.
THE CATHOLIC CHURCH.
Among the early comers were many Catho-
lics. The first lady to arrive in the new mining
district was a Catholic—Miss Mary York, of
New York, who later became the wife of Mr.
William Z. Cozzens. She arrived on the Ist of
June, 1859. Servicdés were first held in the
summer of 1860, in the hall of the Sons of
Malta, on Main street, by Rev. J. P. Machebeuf,
now Catholic Bishop of Colorado. The con-
gregation then numbered about 200 active
members.
Shortly afterward, Hadley’s building, in
Mountain City, was engaged, and for two years
services were held there by Rev. J. P. Mache-
beuf, or Rev. J. B. Raverdy, who came up from
Denver once a month for that purpose. In 1862,
the Catholics bought a large two-story building
on Pine street, and fitted it up as a church.
Services were held in this house once a month
until September, 1863, when Rev. Thomas A.
Smith was appointed resident Pastor.
Under Rev. Smith’s administration the church
was enlarged, and preparations were begun
for laying the foundation of a larger and more
substantial church, which, however, was not
actually begun until some years later.
Rev. 8. A. Smith was succeeded in 1866, by
Rev. J. B. Raverdy, who remained in charge of
the whole of Gilpin County until July, 1871, :
when he was transferred to Denver, and a few
weeks later Rev. H. Bonrion, of Marquette,
Mich., succeeded him. Rev. Bourion pushed on
the work for the new church, and on the 30th
of August, 1872, the corner-stone was laid by
Bishop Machebeuf, of Denver. The church was
to be of stone, to have a seating capacity of
about 800, with basement, and flanked by two
towers surmounted by two spires 150 feet high.
Want of funds caused the work to be sus-
pended in 1874, after only the basement had
been completed.
In this same year the Academy on Gunnell
Hill was built, and a flourishing school opened
by the Sisters, which still continues to prosper.
The great fire of 1874 destroyed the old
church, and the basement of the new church
was then inclosed and fitted up, and has since
been used for services.
In September, 1877, Rev. Bourion was suc-
ceeded by Rev. J. M. Finotti, who remained un-
til his death, January 10, 1879.
The pastorate of the Catholic Church was
then filled temporarily by Rev. A. Montenar-
ello, from Pueblo, until April, when Rev. Will-
iam J. Howlett, the present incumbent, was ap-
Y
or
“TO
Y
a
has been in charge, the church has been en-
larged to nearly double its seating capacity. A
parochial residence has been built, and the
congregation, now numbering about 500 souls,
are preparing to continue the building of the
new- church, which, when completed, will be
the most imposing edifice in the city.
THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF CENTRAL CITY.
On the 26th of January, 1862, the first or-
ganization of this church took place at Central
City, under the direction of Rev. Lewis Hamil-
ton, a clergyman from the Hast, who had
already established, and then had in the same
place in a very prosperous condition, a union
church and a union Sabbath school, composed
of members of the various evangelical denomi-
nations of the country.
The organization was effected by him through
the co-operation of the following-named persons,
who then enrolled their names as members and
adopted the prescribed articles of faith and
covenant of the church: William L. Lee, E.
W. Wells, F. G. Niles, Mr. Miner, Mary E.
Moore, Mrs. Hobbs and Clara Brown, and
Messrs. Lee and Wells were elected Elders, and
inducted into office.
The organization assumed the name of the
“Tirst Presbyterian Church of Central City”
It does not appear of record by what authority
this organization was effected, but the proceed-
ings are attested to by “Geo. W. Warner, Mis-
sionary.” November 30, 1862, Mr. Hamilton,
having been appointed Chaplain of the Second
Regiment of Colorado Volunteers, resigned all
his relations to churches and Sabbath schools
and entered upon his duty to the country at large.
From that time to near the end of 1863,
Rev. Mr. Warner filled his place. He then
returned Kast, leaving to Rev. William Craw-
ford, who had been sent here by the American
Home Missionary Society, the charge of church
and Sabbath school affairs.
242 HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY.
pointed. During the short time Rev. Howlett During the following summer, the Rev. The-
odore D. Marsh arrived from the Presbyterian
Board, Hast, and took charge of the church
until the close of the year 1865, when he re-
turned East. He was, during his stay in the
country, more especially located over the First
Presbyterian Church of Black Hawk as their
regularly installed Pastor.
November 19, 1871, Rev. Sheldon Jackson,
sent out as Superintendent of Presbyterian
Missions for the Territory, recommenced Pres-
byterian services in Good Templars’ Hall, Cen-
tral City, and with Rev. William E. Hamiiton,
then settled over the Black Hawk Church, sus-
tained the services in Central until January 28,
1872, when Rev. J. G. Lowrie was regularly
installed Pastor. He resigned in September,
1873. During that year, a new church build-
ing had been erected, and was dedicated by
Rev. Mr. Jackson October 13, 1873. Rev. H.
B. Gage was installed September 12, 1873.
His connection continued till February, 1876,
when Rey. J. P. Egbert took his place, filling it
only about one month. From June, 1876, Rev
W. L. Ledwith filled the pulpit for two or three
months. From February 1, 1877, Rev. R. M.
Brown occupied the pulpit until October of that
year, when Rey. J. W. Johnstone was installed,
and remained its Pastor until August 1, 1879.
In November, 1879, Rev. J. H. Bourns was
placed in charge. It does not appear of record
when Mr. Bourns retired, but, March 28, 1880,
a call was extended to Rev. Otto M. Schultz,
who served as Pastor for a few weeks and then
retired. There is at present no regular service
held in the house, except that the Sabbath
school is kept up.
THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF BLACK HAWK.
On the 15th day of February, 1863, this
‘church was organized at Black Hawk, under
the supervision of Rev. George W. Warner, a
missionary of the General Assembly of the
Presbyterian Church.
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HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY. 245
The following-named persons co-operating at
that time, enrolled their names, and adopted the
prescribed articles of faith and covenant: E.
W. Wells, E. W. Henderson, Sarah Henderson,
Harriet J. Judd, Alfred Sawyer, Mary F. Saw-
yer, John H. Kinney, Arminta J. Kinney, Mylo
Lee and Walter Lull.
The name and style assumed by the organ-
izers was, “The First Presbyterian Church of
Black Hawk.”
August 29, 1863, an elegant church edifice,
costing $7,500, had been erected and paid for,
and was that day dedicated. November 28,
1863, the Pastor, Rev. George W. Warner, re-
signed his charge, and May 29, 1864, Rev. T.
D. Marsh, sent out by the Presbyterian Board,
was officiating in his place. In June of that
year, Rev. Dr. Kendal, of New York, Secretary
of the Home Missionary Committee of Presby-
terian Churches, visited the churches of Central
City and Black Hawk.
July 3, Rev. A. M. Keizer, from New York,
commenced supplying the pulpit, but on Sep-
tember 11, following, preached his farewell ser-
mon. February 26, 1865, Rev. T. D. Marsh com-
menced preaching alternately for this church
and the Central City Presbyterian Church. On
February 4, 1866, he was regularly installed
over this church. In June, 1868, he resigned,
and Rev. Albert F. Lyle next took charge, and
remained till July 4,1869. March 7,1870, Res.
|. G. §. Adams was called to accept the pastorate,
but, on account of ill health, resigned in Sep-
tember of that year. In December of the same
year, Rev. W. E. Hamilton took charge of the
church, and remained its Pastor until April,
1872. After that the Sabbath school was main-
tained until 1879, and then merged into other
Sabbath schools. The church edifice is now
rented to the Methodists.
EPISCOPAL CHURCHES.
There are two organizations of this denom-
ination in Gilpin County, one in Central City,
the other in Nevadaville. Both have good
houses of worship, but are at present without
pastors, though their Sabbath schools are still
kept up.
They were established quite early in the set-
tlement of the county, but, not being able to
obtain access to their records, or to reliable
data from individual members, we cannot write
them up as they should be.
THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH.
The first distinctive services of this church,
of which we have any reliable data, “began to
be held in Central City and Nevada, June 28,
1863, by Rev. William Crawford, a missionary
of the Home Missionary Society.” These serv-
ices commenced soon after other rel!gious so-
cieties, considering themselves strong enough
to labor independently, had withdrawn from the
earlier “ Union Church,” composed of members
of all evangelical denominations.
August 23, 1863, an organization took place
under the supervision of Mr. Crawford, called
the “ First Congregational Church of Colorado.”
It was so called, not only because it was the
first Congregational Church in the then embryo
State of Colorado, but that it might be con-
| sidered a church “under which Christians
from all the neighboring villages might unite
on equal footing,” and “to give the church
liberty of working wherever its labors might be
needed.”
The following-named persons then entered
into church relations with each other: E. K.
Baxter, Amos Bixby, Sumner Bixby, Strong
Burnell, D. C. Collier, Samuel Cushman, Jr.,
George Davis, Samuel P. Davis, John I. Day,
Josiah H. Jenney, Seymour Platt, Charles H.
Sweetser, George Walker, H. F. Hobbs, Luther
H. Wolcott, Sarah H. Bixby, Augusta H. Bixby,
J. P. D. Burnell, A. M. W. Collier, Mary A.
Sweetser and Austa Wolcott.
October 5, 1866, the church and society were
incorporated under the laws of Colorado Terri-
Y
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2468 HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY.
tory, and the name changed to “The First Con-
gregational Church of Central City.”
Its first Trustees were Enos K. Baxter, Sam-
uel Cushman and Luther Wolcott.
In October, 1864, the church became self-
supportiug, and voted a salary to Mr. Crawford,
their Pastor, of $2,000. They also, in 1866, set
about building a suitable house of worship,
which was completed and formally dedicated
February 17,1867. Its total cost was $11,700.
December 8, 1867, Rev. Mr. Crawford resigned
the pastorate of the church, and Rev. E. P.
Tenney, of Manchester, Mass., having signified
his willingness to labor with the church for one
year, was invited to come, at a salary of $2,500,
and entered upon his duties January 18, 1868.
On the 25th of January, 1869, Mr. Tenney re-
signed his position as Pastor, and from that
time until Juhe, 1870, only occasional supplies
of the pulpit were had. From June, 1870, to
June, 1871, Rev. 8. F. Dickinson was Pastor.
The next Pastor was the Rev. H. C. Dickinson,
of Appleton, Wis., called and settled in the
early part of the year 1872. He was paid
the same salary, but, his health failing, his
resignation was accepted two months before his
year expired, and his full salary paid him.
In the early part of the year 1873, the Rev.
Theodore 0. Jerome, late of New Bedford,
Mass., was invited, and accepted the invitation,
to fill the pulpit for one year at the same
salary. His successor, and the last to be for-
mally called to become Pastor of the church,
was Rev. Samuel R. Dimock, of Lincoln, Neb.
He was called July 18, 1875, and,on account of
failing health, was compelled to resign his
charge November 1, 1876.
From that time to the present, no regular
services have been held in the church. Its Sab-
bath school and library were discontinued, and
merged into other schools, and the basement of
the house, which had been fitted up at consid-
erable expense by Mr. Dimock as a residence
for himself and family, is now only occupied
for a similar purpose.
The peculiarities.and proclivities of a mining
community are so variable and changing that
no dependence can be put upon its religions, or
even its predominant national, character, for
any considerable length of time in advance.
CHAPTER VII.
COUNTY, CITY AND PRECINCT ORGANIZATION.
ILPIN County is bounded on the north by
Boulder County, on the east by Jefferson
County, on the south by Clear Creek County,
and on the west by Grand County. Its south-
east corner lies at the junction of North and
South Clear Creeks, and its southwest corner
on the summit of James Peak. Its area is
only 158 square miles, the smallest in the
State. Population about 7,000, according to
United States census of 1880.
The organic act of Congress creating the
Berritory of Colorado was approved February
28, 1861, and the first act of the Legislative
Assembly establishing county boundaries
throughout the Territory was approved by
Gov. Gilpin November 1, 1861.
The county has since been subdivided into
ten precincts for general election and county
purposes. Their names are known as Central,
Black Hawk, Nevada, Russell, Lake, Quartz
Valley, Bay State, Mountain House, Missouri
Gulch and Rollinsville Precincts.
Central City—By act of the Territorial Leg-
islature, approved November 1, 1861, the
county seat of Gilpin County was located at
Central City. When afterward the county was
divided into precincts for general election and
county purposes, Central City Precinct was
—
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HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY. 247
subdivided, for municipal purposes and city
elections, into four wards, each controlling the
choice of local officers within itself, and having a
voice in the Common Council of the city, over
which a Mayor, chosen by the qualified electors
in all the wards, presides.
A city survey of streets, lots, alleys, etc.,
was made under the direction of the city au-
thorities, by George H. Hill, in 1866, but, when
application to the Government was made for
town site patent, considerable more land was
included within its boundaries than had ever
been surveyed for such purpose.
The town site act of Congress had author-
ized 1,280 acres to be located and patented for
such purpose, where there were 1,000 or more
inhabitants. Central, therefore, being entitled,
applied for 629,28, acres, and received patent
for 62925, acres, less 51,18, acres already pat-
ented to mines.
The question of superior rights, as between
mine owners and town-lot owners, came up
_very early in the history of the city, and was
not definitely settled until August 7, 1871. At
that time the claim of Theodore H. Becker vs.
Citizens of Central had been in contest in the
Land Office Department for nearly two years.
He claimed fifty feet in width of surface ground
with his lode through the heart of the city,
and, because his claim ante-dated on the rec-
ords, the town lots, in some instances, expected
to obtain patent for the surface ground, as well
as his mine.
This, however, the Secretary of the Interior
decided ought not to be granted unless the
courts so adjudicated. And here the matter
rested until on the application of the city for its
town site patent May 27, 1874, when Mr.
Becker, probably to still further test, and, if pos-
sible, settle the question, objected to its being
granted without a reservation in favor of the
mines to hold the surface.
The Honorable Commissioner of the General
Land Office, 8. 8. Burdett, however, under date
December 23, 1875, granted and issued the
patent to the city, in trust, for the owners of
city property, but with a proviso in the follow-
ing form:
Provided, That no title shall be hereby acquired to
any mine of gold, silver, cinnabar or copper, or to any
valid mining claim or possession, held under existing
laws.
Mining claims within town sites were then
being patented with the following excepting
clause, which is still being inserted in all simi-
lar patents: “Excepting and excluding, how-
ever, from these presents all town property
rights upon the surface, and they are hereby
expressly excepted and excluded from the
same, all houses, buildings, structures, lots,
blocks, ‘streets, alleys or other municipal im-
provements on the surface of the above-de-
scribed premises, not belonging to the grantee
herein, and all rights necessary or proper to
the occupation, possession and enjoyment of
the same.”
This settlement of these questions, which
afterward assumed the dignity of law, was but
in accordance with the policy and custom of
the first settlers. They afterward embodied
these mutual concessions into their “ Miners’
Laws,” and their “ Miners’ Courts” recognized
their binding force, and so afterward did the
Territorial Legislature and Congress.
The most important portion of the land, upon
which Central City now stands, was, by the first
comers, turned topsy-turvy, staked off, and re-
corded as “ gulch claims” and “lode claims,”
while, at the same time, building lots for houses
and stores were also being recorded and occu-
pied upon the same ground, and the miner’s |
laws provided, that, where such was the case,
each should be protected in their particular
rights and purposes, without regard to priority
of record; but, that the miner, while mining
out his gulch or lode claim, should keep all
buildings well propped up and secured, under
which he was excavating.
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248
HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY.
COUNTY RECORDS AND ABSTRACT OFFICE.
By an act of the First Legislative Assembly
of Colorado Territory, approved November 7,
1861, it was enacted,
“That a copy of all the records, laws and
proceedings of each mining district, so far as
they relate to lode claims, shall be filed in the
office of the County Clerk of the county in
which the district is situated, within the bound-
aries of the district attached to the same,
which shall be taken as evidence in any court
having jurisdiction in the matters concerned in
such record or, proceeding.” »
Many of the old miners’ records, therefore,
are still extant in the County Clerk’s office, and
kept there with the same care for their preser-
vation as other county records.
From these records, as far as practicable, and
from all subsequent records, Messrs. Sayr &
Parmelee opened abstract books, in which to
embody and preserve, in compact form, the
titles acquired and to be acquired to property
throughout the county.
They are in the habit of daily taking from
the county records, notes for their abstract
books, of such conveyances and transactions
recorded, as may furnish, in convenient form,
correct chains of title to property within the
county.
This abstract business, in connection with the
county records of a mining community, where
there is so much liability to conflicting interests
upon, and even wider, the surface, would have
been better for the legal rights of all con-
cerned if the responsibility of it had been in
some way connected with that of the county
officials.
CHAPTER VIII.
MISCELLANEOUS ORGANIZATIONS—MASONIC ORDER, ODD FELLOWS, GOOD TEMPLARS, KNIGHTS
OF HONOR, KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS, KNIGHTS OF THE NEW WORLD, PLACES OF
AMUSEMENT, FIRE DEPARTMENT,
MINERS’
MASONS.
Nevada Lodge, No. 4, A., F. & A. M—The
dispensation for this lodge was granted by the
Grand Lodge of the State of Kansas, December
22, 1860. 3
Its charter members were Andrew Mason,
Ira H. Morton, James Dyke, A. J. Van Deren,
John M. Van Deren, J. H. Gest, L. W. Chase,
Willie T. Potter, Asa L. Miller, Wm. L. Sawtell,
Joel Newton, W. D. Perkins, 8. L. Angel, T. S.
Peck, G. A. Smith, 8. M. Hall, E. W. Hen-
derson, John Oster, Charles 8. Abbott, N. R.
Boswell, A. D. Gamble and Charles A. Clark.
The lodge was formally opened for business
January 12, 1861, with Andrew Mason as
Worshipful Master, Ira H. Morton as Senior
Warden, and James Dyke as Junior Warden;
MILITARY COMPANIES,
AND MECHANICS’ INSTITUTE.
John M. Van Deren was appointed Treasurer,
and Asa L. Miller, Secretary. Among those
who first received degrees were J. W. Ratliff,
Edward Sheldon, P. L. Fairchilds, Joseph W.
Bowles, Chase Withrow, John C. Russell,
Leopold B. Weil, Jesse L. Pritchard, Thomas
Newlin, Addi Vincent, J. C. Bradley and
David Dick, who all received their degrees in
the spring and summer of 1861, and were peti-
tioners for the charter which was granted by
the Grand Lodge of Kansas, in September or
October of 1861.
This lodge was opened and its meetings held
in the upper room of the building of Ira H.
Morton, on the lot where F. J. Bartle’s store-
room now stands, and were continued there
| until the burning of the town of Nevada, Nov-
— lS
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HIDDEN TREASURE MINE, NEVADA DISTRICT, GILPIN CO., COLORADO,
hee A AM Trarma in 1289
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HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY. 249
ember 4, 1861, after which the lodge built the
present old lodge-room, over the store of John
C. Russell, and subsequently purchased the
whole property, with the right of about eighty
feet front on Main street, including the land on
which both the old and new lodge-rooms,
dwelling-house and barn now stand. Among
those who assisted and contributed largely to
the building of the present old lodge-room in
1861, were J. M. and A. J. Van Deren, J. OC.
Russell, Willie T. Potter, J. W. Ratliff, Chase
Withrow, Jesse L. Pritchard, and Aaron M.
Jones, who was at the time a visiting mem-
ber.
Nevada Lodge was the first lodge organized
in Colorado, having been organized in January,
1861, under authority of a writ from Kansas,
but later in the year, John M. Chivington, then
Presiding Elder of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, was appointed by the Grand Master
of Nebraska, and supplied with blank warrants
to institute lodges, and instituted Golden, No.
1, at Golden City ; Rocky Mountain, No. 2, at
Gold Hill, Boulder County ; and Park, No. 3, at
Parkville, Summit County, upon which he called
a convention at Golden City, August 3, 1861,
to organize a Grand Lodge. Nevada Lodge,
holding that the action of the Grand Master
of Nebraska, in instituting lodges in Colorado,
was an infringement on the Grand Lodge of
Kansas, under whose jurisdiction it thought the
Territory of Colorado rightfully belonged,
refused (upon an invitation by the other lodges)
to join in the convention for organizing a Grand
Lodge, and returned its warrant to the Grand
Lodge of Kansas, and received its charter from
that body in September or October, 1861 ; but
prior to the adjourned meeting of the Grand
Lodge of Colorado, at Denver in December,
1861, the Grand Lodge, of Colorado, was rec-
ognized by the Grand Lodge of Kansas, and
Nevada Lodge surrendered its Kansas charter
to the Grand Lodge of Colorado, and received
its charter as No. 4, and Andrew Mason, its
Worshipful Master, elected Deputy Grand
Master and J. W. Ratliff appointed Grand
Tiler. Since that time, from the membership
of Nevada Lodge, the following have held
elective offices in the Grand Lodge of Colorado,
viz., Andrew Mason, A. J. Van Deren and
Chase Withrow as Grand Masters; J. M. Van
Deren and Aaron M. Jones as Senior Grand
Wardens, the latter two years. Among those
who were members at the time of receiving the
charter in 1861, only the following still hold
their membership in this lodge, viz., A. J. Van
Deren, J. W. Ratliff, Thomas Newlin. Nevada
Lodge, being the oldest lodge in the Rocky
Mountain region as well as in the State, has
lost its membership largely by the instituting of
new lodges, not only in Colorado but in Wyo-
ming and Montana. The following have been
elected and served as Worshipful Masters of the
lodge in the following order: Andrew Mason,
J. M. Van Deren, A. J. Van Deren, Chase
Withrow, Aaron M. Jones, two years; J. W.
Ratliff, J. F. Philips, Thomas H. Craven, D.
A. Hamor, I. N. Henry, William’S. Haswell,
William M. Finley, Isaac M. Parsons, William
J. Lewis and P. A. Klein.
“The lodge has recently erected a fine two-
story building of stone, with iron and_ brick
front, fifty-five feet on Main street by 100 feet
in depth, at a cost of about $7,000. The first
story is rented for store-rooms, and in a part
of the second story the lodge have their hall,
22x45 feet, where they hold their meetings.
The balance of the second story, is used for
offices and sleeping apartments. The building
is a credit to the contractor, Mr. M. 8. Burhans,
of Black Hawk, and to the lodge, and an orna-
ment to the town. The present officers of the
lodge are A. M. Jones, W.M.; T. M. Parsons,
8. W.; W. C. Fullerton, J. W.; D. A. Hamor,
Treasurer; J. W. Ratliff, Secretary; W. J.
Lewis, 8. D.; J. G. Steele, J. D.; A. W. Tucker
and Thomas T. Warren, Stewards ; and Thomas
Newlin, Tiler.
er
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250
HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY.
. Chivington Lodge, No. 6, A, F. & A. M, of
Central City, was chartered by the Grand Lodge
of Colorado December 11,1861. The first offi-
cers were Allyn Weston, W. M.; Thomas J.
Brower, 8. W., and Henry M. Teller, J. W. In
1866, the Grand Lodge changed the name to
Central Lodge No. 6. The first meetings were
held in the hall in the second story of the Ex-
press Company’s building, at the head of Main
street. In the year 1864, the present hall was
built at a cost of over $10,000. The lodge is
now nearly out of debt, with a membership of
eighty two. Its meetings are held on the
second and fourth Wednesdays of each
month.
Central City Chapter, No. 1, Royal Arch Ma-
sons, received its charter from the Grand Royal
Arch Chapter of the United States, September
9, 1865. Its first officers were A. J. Van Deren,
H. P.; James T. White, K., and Aaron M. Jones,
S. The present membership is sixty-five. Reg-
ular meetings the second and fourth Mondays in
each month.
Central City Council, No. 54, Royal and Se-
lect Masters, was chartered by the Grand Coun-
ceil of Illinois, October 23,1872. Its first officers
were, James V. Dexter, Th. 8. G. M.; A. J.
Van Deren, Dep. 8. G. M., and B. W. Wisehart,
P. C. of W.
Central City Commandery, No. 2, Knights
Templar, was instituted November 8, 1866, and
received its charter from the Grand Encamp-
ment of Knights Templar of the United States,
October 24, 1868, with Sir Henry M. Teller,
Eminent Commander. Present membership,
forty-one ; regular meetings, third Thursday in
each month.
Black Hawk Lodge, No. 11, A. F. & A. M,
was instituted February 17, 1866, under dis-
pensation from the Grand Lodge of Colorado.
Its charter members were Chase Withrow, W.
M.; Harper M. Orahood, 8. W., and J. W. Ne-
smith, J.W. There have been additions by initi-
ations and demits, to the number of 146, and it
now numbers sixty-eight members in good
standing, and is in a flourishing condition.
ODD FELLOWS.
Rocky Mountain Lodge, No. 2, I 0. O. F., of
Black Hawk, was instituted June 14, 1865.
Its charter members were A. C. Marvin, Barnett
Dodd, John W. Ratliff, and Herman H. Heizer.
Their receipts for the first term were $1,700.
The officers for the first term were : N. G., David
Ettien; V.G., A. C. Marvin; Secretary, Her-
man H. Heizer; Treasurer, John W. Ratliff.
Their hall was burned in January, 1873, on
which there was a debt of $2,700. The lodge is
now free from debt, and has $1,800 in its treas-
ury for its various benevolent purposes, and
ninety-three members in good standing. It has
furnished the Grand Lodge with the following
elective officers : Grand Master, Alonzo Fernald ;
Grand Treasurers, H. H. Heizer, George Wirth,
Columbus Nuckolls and Julius Marx.
Colorado Encampment, No. 1, I. 0. O. F., was
instituted May 22, 1867. Its charter members
were L. L. Bedell, J. W. Ratliff, Columbus
Nuckolls, John L. Schellenger, William T. Ellis,
John Day and David M. Richards. It now num-
bers thirty members in good standing. It has fur-
nished the Grand Encampment with the follow-
ing elective officers: Grand Patriarch, J. M.
Fowler; G. High Priest, Alonzo Fernald; G
Junior Warden, Bart Robbins. The first officers
of the above Lodge Encampment were : C. P.,
L. L. Bedell; H. P., W. T. Ellis; 8. W., J. W.
Ratliff; J. W., J. L. Schellenger ; Treasurer, D.
M. Richards ; Scribe, C. Nuckolls.
Colorado Lodge, No. 3, I. O. O. F.,, of Black
Hawk, was instituted May 16, 1866. Its char-
ter members were Herman H. Heizer, Charles
Leitzman, James Mills, Henry B. Snyder and
John 8. Adelman. It now numbers eighty-six
members in good standing. It has furnished
the Sovereign Grand Lodge the following offi-
cers: Grand Master and Grand Representative,
Judge S. H. Bradley, and Deputy Grand Master,
“To
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HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY.
251
Captain Rufus Batchelder. It has about $3,000
in its treasury for the relief of its members.
Nevada Lodge, No. 6,1. 0. O. F., was insti-
tuted September 23, 1868, by Henry E. Hyatt,
Deputy Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of
Colorado. Its charter members were Henry E.
Hyatt, James M. Fowler, J. W. Ratliff, 8. T.
Hale and Frederick Stoermer. The lodge held
its first meetings in a rented hall, for which
they paid $25 per month. Now they own a fine
brick building, free from debt, in the second
story of which they hold their meetings, and
rent the first story for a store. Since the or-
ganization of Nevada Lodge, iNo. 6, this lodge
has furnished to the R. W. Grand Lodge of this
jurisdiction, the following officers: two Grand
Masters, Henry E. Hyatt and James M. Fowler ;
two Grand Secretaries, John W. Ratliff and
Henry E. Hyatt. The Encampment branch has
supplied to the Grand Encampment two Grand
Scribes, J. W. Ratliff and Henry EK. Hyatt.
Bald Mountain Encampment, No. 3, I. 0. 0. F,
was instituted at Nevada, March 18, 1871, by
J. W. Ratliff, Special D. D. Grand Sire of the
Grand Lodge of the United States. Its charter
members were Henry H. Hyatt, J. W. Ratliff,
W. W. Sherick, D. C. Grant, George Wirth and
George W. Brunk. Patriarchal degrees have
been conferred upon the following-named mem-
bers: Rev. R. J. Van Valkenburg, Charles An-
derson, James Beveridge, Thomas Williams and
William E. Musgrove. Bald Mountain En-
campment, No. 3, has furnished one Grand
Patriarch, R. J. VanValkenburg, and two Grand
Representatives to the Sovereign Grand Lodge,
-Rev. R. J. VanValkenburg and J. W. Ratliff.
GOOD TEMPLARS.
In the month of August, 1860, a Good Tem-
plars’ Lodge was instituted at Nevada by A. G.
Gill, who was commissioned by the Grand
Lodge of Kansas. He was assisted by W. M.
B. Sarell. The following were some of the
charter members: Mrs. Sarah Stanton, Mrs.
Maxwell, Dr. Alexander Phinney, Mr. Robin-
son and W. M. B. Sarell.
In the fall of this year, the principal part of
the business portion of the town was destroyed
by fire, including the lodge-room, with its char-
ter, books and regalia. W. M. B. Sarell, who
was the W. C. T. at this time, called the mem-
bers together at Central City. He found them
disheartened on account of the loss they had
sustained, and for some time the lodge was
unable to work. On the 21st of January,
1861, the lodge was re-organized at Central
under the name of Central City Lodge, No. 23,
of Kansas. It continued to work regularly
until the great fire of May 21, 1874, destroyed
Central, when the lodge again suffered great
loss in the destruction of its furniture, a very
fine organ, valuable oil paintings, etc.
M. H. Root, Esq., and his noble wife, who
had been members of this lodge since June,
1864, and who had always contributed very
liberally to sustain the cause of temperance,
came to the front at this time and rallied again
the little band of Templars. They were ably
supported by the Rev. C. W. Blodgett and Mr.
Sarell. They met in the basement of the M.
E. Church, the only available and suitable
place then left from the devouring flames in
Central. After addresses by the above and
others, and mutual consultations by those pres-
ent, the following resolution was adopted :
Resolved, That, although we have lost by the late fire
all property belonging to our lodge, still our principles
are indestructible and immutable, and we will- individ-
ually and collectively do all in our power to retain our
position as a lodge in this place.
The lodge has met from that time to the
present in one of the rooms of the M. E.
Church. There are but few lodges in the juris-
diction of Colorado, Wyoming or New Mexico
but are honored with amember of Central City
Lodge, No. 1. s
The first Grand Lodge of this order was in-
stituted March 17, 1868, in Washington Hall, in
A
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252 HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY.
Central. M. H. Root, Esq., was unanimously
chosen Chairman, and J. E. Wharton, of Silver
Star Lodge, No. 65, Secretary, for the tempo-
rary organization. After the credentials were
acted upon, Mr. Root resigned the chair to G.
S. True, Esq., the G. W. C. T. of the Grand
Lodge of Kansas. At this session,’ fifty-one
members received the G. L. degrees, and the
following officers were duly elected: Rev.
Joseph Casto, G. W. C. T.; R. J. Frazier, G.
W.C.; E. M. Southworth, G. W. V. T.; A.
Loomis, G. W. 8.; Mrs. Lucinda Root, G. W.
T.; Miss Libbie Cree (now Mrs. Curtis, of
Georgetown), G. W. Chap.
The number of members was 788; number
of lodges, 11. John W. Ratliff and W. M. B.
Sarell have attended every session of the
Grand Lodge since its organization but one.
This Grand Lodge is the largest in the world in
territory. The present G. W. C. T., W. M. B.
Sarell, has traveled during the past year nearly
four thousand miles in visiting the lodges of
his jurisdiction, which number thirty-six, and
contain in the aggregate over one thousand
members.
Nevada Lodge No. 8, I. O. G. T., was insti-’
tuted in April, 1866, by the Grand Lodge of
Kansas, and named “ Nevada Lodge, No. 52 ;”
but, owing to the partial destruction of its first
records and original charter, but little of its
earliest history can now be given. The following
names, however, are legible in its damaged rec-
ords, as charter members: J. A.and P. G. Shan-
strom,,Rey. J. F. Coffman, Nellie Coffman (now
Mrs. W. W. Secor, of Longmont, Colo.), O.
F. Rogers, William R. Wren, A. Rierdon, Sol.
Enfield, J. Tucker, Thomas Bird, Sarah A. Stan-
ton and D. L. Harley.
In March, 1868, when the Grand Lodge of
Colorado had been instituted, it applied for and
received a new charter, and took the name of
Nevada Lodge, No. 3. They purchased, in 1872,
a two-story building of the school district for
$1,500, which is all paid, and the lodge (besides
the hall above for their own use) rent the lower
part for about $300 per year. It numbers at
present about fifty members in good standing.
KNIGHTS OF HONOR.
Excelsior Lodge, No. 1202, of Central City.—
This Lodge was installed September 19, 1878.
Its charter members were Mitchell Dawes, H. M.
Hale, R. A. Campbell, P. G.Shanstrom, William
M. Brown, B. E. Seymour, Alex. McLeod, Alex.
W. McMorran, E. H. Teats, I. J. Sprague, E. H.
Lindsay, M. B. Hyndman, J. W. Smith, J. R,
Morgan, James Davidson, A. F. Parker, J. B.
Elrod and G. F. Elrod. The dispensation was
granted by the Supreme Lodge of the Knights of
Honor, J. A. Cummins being at the time Supreme
Dictator,, and J. C. Plumer Supreme Reporter.
They have three degrees in their order, in the
highest of which the designated beneficiaries of
a member receive $2,000 at his death.
KNIGHTS OF PYTHIAS.
Gilpin Lodge, No. 5, of Central City—This
Lodge was organized under a dispensation
granted April 5, 1875, by S. 8. Davis, Grand
Chancellor Commander, attested by Joseph
Dowdall, Grand Keeper of Records and Seal.
The charter members were L. Alexander, Ed-
ward Tippett, John Rice, Philip Edwards, |
James H. Thompson, William Mitchell, Levi
Rochofsky, James Hambly, John O. Williams,
John Trothen, Henry Attwater, William Lehm-
kuhl and Daniel Haas.
The order consists of three degrees and an
endowment rank, wherein designated beneficia-
ries receive on the death of a member $2,000,
and members receive during sickness or disabil-
| ity, $10 per week.
GRAND CAMP OF THE KNIGHTS OF THE NEW
WORLD.
Warren Camp No. 2.—It was installed June
29. 1876, by Past Grand Chiefs of the order,
William H. Crocket, F. C. P. W. Buchta, Ben-
t
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HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY.
253
edict Howard, John Gontrum of P., Richard
Coleman, M. W. G. Chief; James H. Merrick,
R. W. D. G. Chief; Benedict Howard R. W. G.
Scribe ; George A. Atwell R. W. G. Treasurer ;
James Severe R. W.G. 8. at T. The charter
members were J. J. Spracue, John Kruse,
Joseph Earnst, Claus Schlopskohl, Christopher
Uric, William M. Jones, Joseph §8. Beaman,
George Lutz, J. B. Elrod, Jacob C. Franks, Eu-
gene Tranpel, George Hunsacker, Hugh Bailey,
August C. Cabel and Edward Lindsey.
In addition to the above lodges and organiza-
tions, there are several others of considerable
note in the county, but we have not been able
to obtain any reliable data respecting them.
Among them are the Scandinavian Society, the
order of the Foresters, Red Men and perhaps
others.
PLACES OF AMUSEMENT.
Central City is no exception to other commu-
nities in general, or to mining communities in
particular in regard to requiring and sustaining
places of amusement.
The fact that an inordinate desire for amuse-
ment is sometimes, perhaps often, created by
them to the neglect of positive duties by some
persons, is a matter that we will not here dis-
cuss. Itis sufficient as a matter of history to
say, that places of amusement have not been
wanting nor backward in presenting themselves
to the public here in Central. The better por-
tion of her people will patronize (if they do any)
only the places where the company, the occa-
sion and the performance and actors are unex-
ceptionable in their reputation and character, or
at least are so considered. Others, again, are
indifferent as to whether everything is chaste
and reputable or not, so long as they are amused
-or interested at a small expense.
Some time in the latter part of the year 1859,
Hadley Hall was built at what is now the junction
of Lawrence and Gregory streets, then Mountain
City. It was a large log building one-and-a-
half stories high, and is still standing there,
though with additions and improvements since
made.
The lower part was constructed for and used
as a grocery store, and the upper part finished
off roughly as a place for meetings, theatricals,
etc. Here the first theatrical performance of the .
county, and probably of the mountains, was
opened before the close of that year. The com-
pany was called the “ Mlle. Haidee Troupe” con-
sisting mainly of a family known as the “ Wake-
ley Family.”*
Next in succession came John 8. Langrishe
and Michael Dougherty with their company, and
opened what was then named the “ People’s
Theater,” situated on the westerly side of Main
street, in Central City. This was in 1860, and
is believed to have been the first well-ordered
and respectable place of theatrical entertainment
in the county. During all these early years,
the miners were flush with money. They made
it fast, if not easy, and spent it freely.
Langrishe’s troupe was always of the better
caste, for, aside from his own and Mr. Dough-
erty’s natural choice of such associates on the
boards, their estimable wives could never de-
scend to be associated there in any way with
actors of low reputation.
But, when a successful season would be on the
wane, Mr. Langrishe, like other managers of
his profession, would pack up and move on to
“fresher fields and pastures new.” His orches-
tra consisted principally of Allen W. Read,
leader, De Witt Waugh, Edward Gilman and
David Smith.
In 1861, while Mr. Langrishe with his com-
pany were off and on at the People’s Theater,
George Harrison was building and preparing
for better theatrical accommodations at the
head of Main street. He completed and named
it the “National Theater.” It was under his
management until, in a quarrel with Charlie
Snietz, the proprietor of a variety theater near
by, he shot and killed him. The result of this
real tragedy was: that Harrison was tried for
;
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254 HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY.
murder and acquitted—a man by the name of
Benson being on the jury, and the theater soon
after passing into his and his brothers’ hands—
a firm known as Benson Brothers, who changed
its name to that of the “ Montana Theater.” In
1864, the Benson Brothers sold it to Eb Smith,
who, in 1865, sold it to Langrishe, Barnes &
Jones.
With but few changes, if any, in its owner-
ship, and managed principally by Mr. Lan-
grishe, it remained the best place for theatrical
performances in Central, until the great fire of
1874 destroyed it.
The Opera House—In 1877, the citizens of
Central determined upon building an opera
house that should not only surpass anything of
the kind in Colorado, but that should be a place
of resort for amusement or entertainment of
the highest order. And most completely and
successfully were their wishes and plans carried
out in 1878.
The building is of stone, 55x115 feet, with a
stage 43x52. The dress circle and parquette
are furnished with patent opera-chairs, and will
seat about 500 persons. The gallery will seat
about 250 persons, and is furnished very com-
fortably. It is heated with furnaces and hot-
air pipes. Its beautiful fresco work, done by
Mr. Mossman, of San Francisco, is brought out
in bold relief by the scintillations of 100 gas
jets. Its scenic work, drop-curtain, etc., are
admired by all. Its entire cost was about
$25,000.
FIRE DEPARTMENT.
The earliest record that we find of organiza-
tion for protection against fire was that of a
meeting called by citizens of Central, assembled
at the Miners & Mechanics’ Institute, Novem-
ber 22, 1869. Hugh Butler was Chairman, and
James Burrell Secretary. After several ad-
journed meetings and considerable discussion,
an organization was effected December 6, 1869,
and named the Central City Fire Company, No.
1. Its first officers were: M. H. Root, Fore-
man; P. Layden, First Assistant Foreman ;
Robert 8. Wilson, Second Assistant Foreman ;
James Mills, Treasurer ; and Foster Nichols,
Secretary. The roll of membership at that
time numbered seventy-eight. :
There was not, at this time, any good supply
of water for extinguishing fires. The company
were but poorly supplied with buckets, hooks
and ladders and implements for tearing down
buildings. Their dependence for water, in case
of fire, was upon wells, cisterns and stop-gates
in the gulch-flume running through the city,
so that the water running though it might be
obtained with buckets, though generally in very
limited quantities. Many citizens kept at their
own expense what were called the “ Babcock
Fire Extinguishers,” a portable machine charged
(if kept in readiness) with carbonic acid gas,
that was quite effective if used immediately on
an incipient flame. Andeverybody kept spare
buckets on their premises, for all predicted that
it was only a question of time when the whole
town would go up in flame if the greatest pre-
cautions possible were not used. The city also
furnished to the fire company twelve similar
portable machines of the Gardner Patent. The
city also permitted two machines of larger
dimensions, on wheels, of the Gardner-Lithgow
Patent, to be sent out on trial from Louisville,
Ky. When in perfect order and readiness,
they did good service, but not otherwise, and
the city did not buy them.
As an indication of some of the difficulties
attending their use, we find this action of the
company on the record of January 6, 1873. A
committee was appointed “to confer with the
City Council in regard to making the fire room
suitable for the engines, and a place safe and
warm enough to keep the Fire Extinguishers
from freezing.”
October 8, 1874, after the burning of Cen-
tral, a re-organization of the fire department
occurred at the Teller House. The first com-
pany formed was named the “ Rescue Fire and
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HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY.
255
Hose Company, No. 1,” with N. H. McCall,
Foreman ; Henry Goetze, First Assistant Fore-
man ; Robert Campbell, Second Assistant Fore-
man; James Thatcher, Treasurer, and Edward
L. Salisbury, Secretary. William H. Bush was
nominated and afterward appointed by the
City Council, Chief Engineer. Thomas Mullen
succeeded Engineer Bush as Chief Engineer,
and, October 10, 1876, N. H. McCall resigning
as Foreman of Rescue Company, was after-
ward appointed as Chief Engineer.
In April, 1879, W. O. McFarlane had been
appointed Chief Engineer.
At the present time, Alexander Carstens is
Foreman of the Rescues; Chris Uric, First
Assistant Foreman; Jobn Cameron, Second
Assistant Foreman; J. P. Sherry, Secretary,
and J. M. Thatcher, Treasurer.
Rough and Ready Hook and Ladder Com pa-
ny, No. 1,—Central.—This company was organ-
ized March 30, 1875. M. H. Root was elected
Foreman; A. A. McFarlane, First Assistant
Foreman; James A. Ladd, Second Assistant
Foreman; Sylvester Nichols, Treasurer, and
Harvey M. Burrell, Secretary. The following
are the officers of the company at present:
Thomas Hooper, Foreman; W. A. Richmond,
First Assistant Foreman; B. F. Pease, Second
Assistant Foreman; W. O. McFarlane, Treas-
urer; S. W. Tyler, Secretary, and Foster Nich-
ols, Auditing Committee.
Alert Fire and Hose Company, No. 2, of Cen-
tral.—This company was temporarily organized
January 2, 1878. A meeting of the citizens of
the Fourth Ward had been called, and forty-
four citizens then enrolled their names as mem-
bers.
They elected as temporary officers: Richard
Harvey, Foreman; John Truan, First Assist-
ant Foreman; Detliff Martens, Second Assist-
ant Foreman ; Julius Strehlke, Secretary. Per-
manent officers were elected February 11, 1878,
as follows: Thomas Hambly, Foreman ; John
Bunney, First Assistant Foreman; Stephen
Hoskin, Second Assistant Foreman; Robert
Bunney, Treasurer, and Richard Harvey, Secre-
tary. The present officers are Stephen Hoskin,
Foreman ; Stephen Higgs, First Assistant Fore-
man; William Short, Second Assistant Fore-
man; John Truan, Treasurer, and Richard
Harvey, Secretary.
Black Hawk Fire and Hose Company, No.
1—This company was organized May 1, 1879.
Their first officers were W. O. Logue, Foreman ;
Thomas Avey, First Assistant Foreman ; E. F.
Hichings, Second Assistant Foreman; B. 8.
Greathouse, Treasurer ; W. 8. Swain, Secretary.
W. 0. Logue was soon after appointed Chief
Engineer, and A. F. Gritmaker, Assistant Chief.
The present officers are B. 8. Greathouse,
Foreman ; Ed M. Case, First Assistant Fore-
man ; John Tomlinson, Second Assistant Fore-
man; R. 8. Haight, Treasurer ; Wallace Calk-
ins, Secretary.
The hose of all these companies are adjust-
able for connection, each with every other, for
co-operative work. The whole fire department
of the county is now in very efficient working
order, with hydrants at convenient distance,
connected by pipes with reservoirs of water on
high elevations, creating a force sufficient to
throw streams over the highest buildings in
town.
MILITARY COMPANIES.
In November, 1875, Adjt. Gen. Robert 8.
Roe, mustered into service as Colorado Militia,
Company A, Emmet Guards, of Gilpin County ;
James Noonan was commissioned Captain,
James Delahantey, First Lieutenant, and T, F.
Welch, Second Lieutenant. Their present offi-
cers are John §. Dormer, Captain; Robert
Tallon, First Lieutenant, and John King, Sec-
ond Lieutenant.
MINERS’ AND MECHANICS’ INSTITUTE OF GILPIN
COUNTY, COLORADO.
The preliminary meeting of this association
was held in the Baptist Chapel, on Lawrence
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256
HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY.
street, December 13, 1866. It was in response
to a published call of fifty-seven citizens, to es-
tablish a “public library.”
At subsequent preliminary meetings, it was
decided to extend the purposes of the associa-
tion, and to apply to the Territorial Legislature
for a charter. The following-named persons
signed the application for the charter: Will-
iam Crawford, George T. Clark, W. A. Hamill,
H. B. Morse, Samuel Cushman, Henry Garban-
ati, S. H. Wilder, J. A. Thatcher, D. M. Rich-
ards, L. C. Tolles, A. J. Van Deren, W. R.
Thomas, M. B. Hayes, George W. Buchanan,
R. K. Morrison, N. A. Cole, J. L. Schellenger,
M. A. Arnold, E. Humphrey, F. H. Messenger,
Frank Fulton, E. D. Fiske and Frank C. Young.
The charter was granted and approved by
Alexander Cummins, Governor, January 11,
1867, and the purposes expressed in it, read as
follows :
“(1) The cultivation of its members in liter-
ature, science and art.
“ (2) The institution of a system of scientific
lectures, debates and essays.
“(3) The establishment of a library and
reading-room.
“ (4) The collection and preservation of a cab-
inet of minerals, natural curiosities, and speci-
mens in the various departments of science;
and historical matter relating to the history of
this Territory, and,
“(5) The promotion of the interests of the
mechanic arts.”
Subsequently, aconstituition was framed and
adopted in accordance with the charter. Section
3 reads as follows :
“Tt is herein stipulated and declared, that no
political or sectarian question shall be discussed
at any meeting of this association, or shall be-
come a part of any lecture, debate, or essay to
be delivered before the said association; nor
shall the affairs of this association be under the
control, or made to subserve the interests of
any particular denomination, party or sect.”
January 21, 1867, the following-named offi-
cers were elected and entered upon their re-
spective duties: George W. Buchanan, Presi-
dent; Samuel P. Lathrop, Vice President ;
Frank C. Young, Secretary ; Joseph H. Good-
speed, Treasurer ; Charles EH. Sherman, Libra-
rian.
Standing Committees.—Executive—Hugh
Butler, Chairman; Robert Teats, Phil. M.
Martin, A. J. Van Deren, Ezra Humphrey.
Finance—Joseph A. Thatcher, Chairman ;
Columbus Nuckolls, C. R. Bissell, Horace H.
Atkins, L. ©. Tolles. :
Mines and Minerals — Harley B. Morse,
Chairman; Alvah Mansur, Frank J. Marshall,
M. B. Hayes, Charles B. Martine.
Library—Samuel Cushman, Chairman; L.
L. Bedell, Henry Garbanati, N. 8. Keith, D. M.
Richards.
Mechanic Arts—A. N. Rogers, Chairman ;
J. B. Fitzpatrick, 8. H. Wilder, Thomas K. Rod-
man, George R. Mitchell.
Literary Exercises and History—Robert H.
Hare, Chairman ; Thomas R. Tannatt, Charles
A. Mather, Benjamin H. Wisebart, Charles 0.
Post.
The annual dues of members were $10 each
per annum.
We find 152 names signed to the Constitu-
tion, comprising citizens of all political parties, |
denominations and creeds. For several years
the institute was in a very prosperous and
flourishing condition—the pride of all our citi-
zens, and the admiration of visitors from abroad.
There were over 1,000 volumes of well-selected
books at one time in the library, and the most |.
extensive cabinet of minerals, natural curiosi-
ties, fossils, etc., in the Territory, besides papers;
periodicals, public documents and literary es-
says, to interest the tourist, visitor or home
members.
But the departure from the county of some
who had made their fortunes in it, and of others
who had failed to do so, but thought they knew
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HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY.
257
of other places where it was still to be won,
little by little, diminished the membership more
than the incoming population replenished it.
It then began to be uphill work to sustain it in
addition to other calls for religious and benevo-
lent purposes, and it began to decline.
The change of general character in the com-
munity was perhaps a loss more of literary
taste and culture, than of enterprise and en-
ergy in its principal industries—mining and
milling.
The last meeting of the institute was held
January 3, 1873. The executive committee re-
ported at that time, that under authority given
them by the institute, they had sold the library .
to the city of Central, at the nominal value of
$300, “for the use and benefit of the public |
schools, under the direction of the Public |
School Board.”
The election of officers being in order at that
time, and called for, resulted as follows : Hor-
ace M. Hale was elected President ; Samuel
Cushman, Vice President; James Burrell, Sec-
retary ; Thomas H. Potter, Treasurer, and Will-
iam H. Tappan, John Best, Andrew N. Rogers,
Hugh Butler and Joseph A. Thatcher, Execu-
tive Committee.
The building where the library had been
kept was in a few days after destroyed by fire
with all its valuable contents—collections of
minerals, furniture, etc., so that the library thus
saved was fortunate for the public schools
and community. It is still under the guardian-
ship of the School Board, and, with such addi-
: tions as from time to time have been and are
being made to it, is a .great public benefit.
About 1,000 volumes have already been added
to it.
CHAPTER IX.
’
MISCELLANEOUS AND PUBLIC—POST OFFICES—LAND OFFICE—BANKS—EXPRESSES—TELEGRAPH
—TELEPHONE—RAILROADS.
POST OFFICES.
2 ies first post office in Gilpin County, and,
in fact, in the Rocky Mountains, was es-
tablished in 1860. It was designated as “ Moun-
tain City” Post Office, because, although Cen-
tral City was at the time, as it is now, the
most prominent and central point in the county,
the whole country here was then considered by
the Government as a part of the Territory of
Kansas, and in that Territory there was al-
ready a post office by the name of Central City.
Afterward, when Colorado had been organized
as a separate Territory, no objection existing,
the name Mountain City was dropped by the
Government, and Central City adopted.
There are now in the county the following-
named offices: Central City, Black Hawk,
Bald Mountain, Rollinsville and Russell Gulch.
LAND OFFICE.
Fhe President, by executive order, dated De-
cember 27, 1867, directed the creation of an
additional land district in the Territory of
Colorado, to be composed of the counties of
Clear Creek and Gilpin, and all that part of the
counties of Boulder and Jefferson which lies
west of the range line between Townships 70
and 71, with land office at Central City, in Gil-
pin County. Irving W. Stanton was appointed
Register, and Guy M. Hulett Receiver. The
office was formally opened for business May
18, 1868, and the first application for mining
patent therein was filed on the same day by F.
J. Marshall, Esq., of Georgetown, for the Com-
pass and Square lode, in Griffith Mining Dis-
trict, in Clear Creek County. The case was
prepared and filed through James Burrell’s
fr
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258
HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY.
Mineral Land Agency, in Central City, which
for about a year had been operating through
the Denver Land Office.
The present officers are Richard Harvey,
Register, and E. W. Henderson, Receiver. Up
to September 1, 1880, there have been 1,803
applications for mineral patents, and 1,369 en-
tries ; 990 patents for mines have been granted
that were returned to the land office here for
delivery to the claimants, beside others delivered
at Washington to parties there, by request of
claimants. There have been 1,829 declaratory
statements filed, and 318 cash sales made, the
latter embracing 40,246 acres. There were 231
entries for homesteads, and of final homestead
entries made, embracing 9,805 acres, there have
been 82.
BANKS.
The Rocky Mountain National Bank, Cen-
tral City, was organized May 1, 1866. Capital
paid in, $60,000, with authority to increase to
$200,000. This bank succeeded the private
banking house of Kountz Brothers, established
at avery early day. The present officers are
Joshua 8. Raynolds, President; John Best,
Vice President ; T. H. Potter, Cashier.
The First National Bank, Central City, was
organized January 1, 1874. Capital paid in
$50,000, and authorized to increase to $300,000.
This bank succeeded the private banking-house
of Thatcher, Standley & Co., who, three years
before, succeeded Warren, Hussey & Co. The
original incorporators and directors were Joseph
A. Thatcher, Frank C. Young, Otto Saur, Jo-
seph Standley, Samuel Mishler, William Martin
and Hugh C. McCameron. The present officers
are Joseph A. Thatcher, President ; Otto Saur,
Vice President; F. Nichols, Assistant Cashier.
Hanington & Mellor, bankers, Central City.
This banking house was organized January 1,
1875, by the above-named firm, who are still its
proprietors and managers.
There is also a private banking house in
Black Hawk, established June 1, 1880, by Sam
Smith & Co. They do a general collecting and
exchange business, and huy gold bullion.
EXPRESSES.
The first fully equipped express to Colorado,
of which we have any reliable data, was one
established by Russell, Majors & Co., in May,
1859, called the “ Leavenworth and Pike’s Peak
Express.”
They stocked the line with 100 coaches and
1,100 mules, and placed Nelson Sergeant in
charge of it as superintendent.
The route first selected was via the Repub-
lican River ; but in the fall of the same year, on
account of Indian hostilities, it was changed to
the Platte River, where military protection was
being afforded by the Government to trains and
property. Their terminus then was Denver.
This company was succeeded by the Cali-
fornia Overland and Pike’s Peak Express in
the spring of 1860, by the way of Denver, and
extended to Central City.
This arrangement continued until sometime
in the spring of 1862, when it came into pos-
session of Ben Holliday, under whose manage-
ment it continued until some time in 1870,
when it was transferred to Wells, Fargo & Co.,
who continued to run it until 1865, when it
passed into the hands of the Kansas Pacific
Railroad Company.
It was afterward known as the Kansas Pacific
Railroad Express Company ; but, as now organ-
ized and running, it is known as the Pacific
Express Company, with E. Morsman as General
Manager, and J. K. Johnston as Superintendent.
TELEGRAPH.
Telegraph communication was completed to
Gilpin County and Central City, November 7,
1863, and, in the next issue of the Miners’ Regis-
ter, commenced the daily publication of regular
dispatches. The line had been built, and was
owned by the Pacific Telegraph Company. But
in 1865, that company was merged into the
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HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY. 259
Western Union Company, and, since that time,
known as the Western Union Telegraph Com-
pany.
TELEPHONE.
It was not long after the astonished world
had quietly admitted that telephonic communi-
cation was not of supernatural origin before
Gilpin County came in to share its advantages.
Its first introduction in the county was at Cen-
tral City, in September, 1879, by the Western
Union Telegraph Company, who christened it
the Colorado Edison Telephone Company.
The Bell Telephone Company’s Line, under
the superintendence of F. O. Vaille, Esq., was
introdueed about the same time, and for awhile
it was hardly considered safe to think out loud
in sight of their transmitters.
In February, 1880, however, these lines be-
came consolidated all over the country, and the
division in this State was designated as the
Colorado Telephone Company, and placed un-
der the management of Mr. Vaille, with princi-
pal office at Denver. Through the Exchange
at Central City, our citizens can be instantly
put in communication with Black Hawk, Ne-
vadaville, Georgetown, Idaho Springs, Golden
and Denver, and with many of their respective
business houses, mines and citizens.
RAILROADS.
The Colorado Central Railroad reached Black
Hawk, in Gilpin County, in 1873. Although
two roads had reached Denver in 1870, the en-
terprise of extending either up through our
mountain fastnesses was so formidable an un-
dertaking that capitalists hesitated, and engi-
neers and others had their doubts of its feasi-
bility and practical safety.
But, with the Hon. A. H. Loveland, of Golden,
in the van, and Capt. E. L. Berthoud, of the
same city, as Chief Engineer, the Colorado Cen-
tral Railroad Company overcame the obstacles of
the circuitous Clear Creek Cafion, with its falls
and overhanging precipices, until the iron horse
came snorting triumphantly into Black Hawk.
Here was a halt again until 1877-78, to con-
sider, and, if possible, overcome the still greater
difficulties to be surmounted between that point
and Central City. But it was finally accom-
plished, and, on the 21st day of May, 1878,
the last spike was driven and connecting
rail laid that connected Central City with
the whole country — East, West, North and
South.
Central City and the Colorado Central Rail-
road took that occasion to have a gala day, of
which we shall have occasion to speak more at
length in the next chapter.
Although fears were at first entertained for
the safety of travel over this road, yet years of
experience have shown it to be more than
comparatively free from accidents with other
roads.
CHAPTER X.
DESTRUCTION OF CENTRAL CITY BY FIRE MAY 21, 1874, AND ITS SUBSEQUENT RECONSTRUCTION.
7 E are under obligations to the Register-
Call of this city for copious extracts
from their well-written review of the events of
this chapter, intheir issue of May 21 of the pres-
ent year, upon the fourth anniversary of the fire.
It was celebrated mainly by the fire depart-
ment of Gilpin County and its citizens.
They say: “Five years ago to-day the fire-
fiend swept from end to end of the Golden
Queen of the mountains, and left Central a mass
of charred and smoldering ruins.
“Yet, a majority of our citizens, men who upon
that sad day looked through the lurid flames
of the disaster at the destruction of all their
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260
HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY.
worldly possessions, will acknowledge, in that
disaster, the great good which has resulted from
it. Central then, as now, was the pride of the
Rocky Mountains, and the second city of the
State. How well she has held her own, in the
great race for supremacy, the Central of to-day
stands a living witness.
“The narrow, pent-up streets and low frame
buildings of 1874 were swept away in that great
flood of flame, and disappeared before the
destroying monster like mists before a sum-
mers sun. The stately blocks of brick and
mortar, the wide streets and palatial emporiums
and marts of business remain to attest the en-
ergy, the advancement and business capacity
of a community which rose from its great mis-
fortune—a fthisfortune which might well have
swept it from the map of the State. It is not
so much to commemorate the disaster as the
energy of our people in recovering from it, that
this day is celebrated.
“The fire originated in the house of a China-
man on Spring street. Here, on that day, in
accordance with the custom or superstition of
the Orientals, some religious ceremonies were
in progress for the purpose of exorcising an
evil spirit with which the simple inmate im-
agined the house infected. In the performance
of these ceremonies, myrrh and incense were
slowly burned on live embers or coals.
“By some means, these apparently dying em- ,
bers broke out afresh, and, filling the low apart- |
ment with a blaze, speedily communicated with
the building, which, being of a light, dry and in-
flammable material, burned like a tinder-box.
“Tn the immediate vicinity the buildings
were of the lightest materials, and supplied |
willing and appropriate food for the flames,
which, in less time than it takes to write these
words, had got beyond all control.
“The city at that period had no system of |
water-works, not even a fire engine graced Cen- |
tral. With no check on their progress, and
with the rapidity of lightning, the lambent |
flames shot forth on all sides, licking up every-
' thing in their reach and receiving fresh mate-
rial at every instant, until that portion of the
city was a perfect roaring hell of unquenchable
flames, hissing, seething, cracking, and conquer-
ing everything in their reach.
“The citizens fought the flames nobly. Men
of every class, regardless of their own safety or
property, turned out to check the progress of
the fire, but their efforts were useless. The
mines upon the hill-tops and mountain sides
poured out their swarms of brawny, bare-armed
and stalwart miners, who rushed to the rescue,
merely to find every effort to save property
baffled. Disheartened, sick at heart, bafiled at
every step, weary and tired in oft-repeated ef-
forts, many of them bruised, wounded, blistered
and sore, time and again they returned to the
charge, only to be driven back by the flames,
which seemed to have full sway and total pos-
session of the devoted city. *
“Tn an instant, and to the horror of almost
every one, the flames, shooting forth irresisti-
ble tongues, had leaped across Main street.
With the energy of despair the citizens re-
doubled their efforts, still fighting, still strug-
gling, hoping against hope.”
But, when all hope had vanished of saving
the remaining portion of the city, each citizen
' betook himself to his own premises to save
whatever he could of value.
At the beginning of the fire, a telegram had
been sent to Golden for assistance, and, when it
reached J. W. Nesmith, Master Mechanic of
the Colorado Central Railroad there, he bounced
a platform-car and locomotive, for which the
“Excelsior Boys,” with their engine, were all
ready, and ordered the engineer to make his
best time to Black Hawk -(then the terminus of
the road) or ditch the outfit, taking his chances
with it himself.
It is said to have been the quickest time up
Clear Creek Cafion ever made, ancvthe oble
men were of invaluable service in che.uing the
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HISTORY 'OF GILPIN COUNTY. 268
fire, which had just reached the Teller House |. |
and Register building when they arrived.
Again, quoting from the Register-Call: “ But
why rest upon these sad, sorrowful scenes?
Why describe the wild scene of terror that took
possession of all; the rushing to and fro of
men in their vain efforts to save property ;
the wailings of women in their frantic en-
deavors to save some household idol; and the
cries of childhood separated from fathers and
mothers, the pandemonium of voices, weeping
and wailing, which arose above the hissing :of
the flames, the crackling of timbers, and the
falling of buildings? Suffice it, to say,
that, when the shadows of night fell upon
the prosperous mining camp of the morn
ing, a scene of desolation was presented to
the eye which sickened every beholder and
left impressions which all will take to the
grave.
“Throughout the long watches of the night,
huddled together on the mountain sides, small
knots of sad, sorrowing men, women and chil-
dren, sat gazing upon the ruins of their once
happy and domestic fire-sides, some bewailing
the loss of property, and others sorrowing for
the hearthstones around which they and their
children had gathered so happily but a few
short hours previous. And as through the gloom
the fitful and lurid flames would shoot up, and
for a moment illumine the scene, they found
a sad consolation in pointing out the spot where,
the night previous, they had nestled beneath
their own roof, until the sun dawned, and found
them still sleepless watchers over Central in
ruins, Central in ashes.
“Of all the proud mining camp but half a
dozen buildings remained on its business
street—the Roworth Block, on Main street ; the
Teller House, the Register building, on Eureka
street, and the buildings of Lorenzo M. Freas
and Jack Raynolds, on Lawrence street. The
losses ran from $500,000 to $750,000, with but
a small portion covered by insurance. °
“THE REBUILDING OF CENTRAL.
“Tt is a pleasure to turn from such scenes as
we have faintly described above to something
more pleasing. Hven as the blackest cloud
' has a silver lining, so has the darkest night a
bright and glorious morning. After our citi-
zens had become tired re-counting up their
losses, and bemoaning the sad fate which at
one fell swoop deprived them of all the pleas-
ures of home and the savings of years of toil
and labor, a spirit of enterprise and friendly
business rivalry took possession of them.
Where we but yesterday heard but wailings
over hard fortune, we heard words of en-
couragement; tears gave place to smiles, and
nothing was heard in our midst but the pros-
pects of the Central of the future, what it
would be like, and how the Golden Queen of
the mountains, resurrected and arisen from its
ashes, would rival in wealth and magnificence,
in business enterprises and population, any city
west of the Missouri. ,
“The smoldering embers and debris were
removed. New enterprises started, new streets
laid out, and old ones straightened and widened,
and in a short space of time our people threw
off everything like despondency, and laughed
to scorn the iron hand of fortune which threat-
ened to ruin them. Foundations of magnifi-
cent brick buildings were laid, stately walls
of brick and mortar arose on every side, the en-
tire length and breadth of the gulch assumed
the appearance of an elongated bee-hive, and
the angel of prosperity spread its fostering
wings over the blackened and charred ruins,
until Central is what our welcome visitors find
it on this, our fourth anniversary of the confla-
gration—a city of stately business blocks, of
magnificent churches, substantial schoolhouses,
with a hotel and opera house second to none
in the West, and populated with an energetic,
happy and prosperous people, who never
fail to extend the right hand of fellowship
to the touyist or emigrant who may seek
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264 HISTORY OF
GILPIN COUNTY.
shelter or a home within her hospitable bound-
aries.”
After the fire and during the year, the title
to the “town site” of Central was perfected by
the United States to the city authorities, “ for
the use and benefit of the owners and occu-
pants thereof,” and subsequently conveyed by
‘the city to individual claimants, according to
their respective rights.
May 21, 1878, a grand celebration of the
completion of the Colorado Central Railroad to
Central took place. Being, also, the anniver-
sary of the fire, it brought together from all
parts of the State, and even from Cheyenne and
other cities outside the State, thousands of vis-
itors and spectators to witness for themselves
the gala day of the resurrected Golden Queen.
There were quite a number of fire companies
from abroad present, in full uniform, to partic-
ipate in the festivities of the occasion. The
wonderful feat had been accomplished in rail-
road engineering, by which a track had been
laid over the streets and chimney-tops of the
city of Black Hawk, and, surmounting all ob-
stacles, had entered the heart of the city of
Central.
The hospitality of public and private houses
alike was proffered to the visitors. The Teller
House, alone, entertained over 1,800 persons.
Flags floated on the breeze, and citizens and
visitors in regalia, marched along the streets to
bands of music, playing in no minor key, to
cheer and welcome all, and the day passed off
without accident, to the satisfaction and enjoy-
ment of all.
Central now has a well-appointed system of
water-works, with pipes and hydrants in all its
principal streets, and an efficient fire depart-
ment, ever ready to meet the fire king whenever
he visits us.
ROLLINSVILLE.
This is the name of the business point where
John Q. A. Rollins, its founder, resides. It is sit-
uated on the Boulder River, in the Colorado
Mountains, and on the main line of Ea) from
Black Hawk northward to Nederland, Caribou,
and all the mining camps of Northern Colo-
rado. It is, too, the starting-point of the
wagon road over the Continental Divide, by
way of the South Boulder Pass, into the Mid-
dle Park. The town has a good hotel, quite a
number of neat private residences, besides
about twenty dwellings erected for the work-
men of the mining companies that operate
from this point; four gold mills, and here
the Rollins Gold and Silver Mining Company
are building their hydraulic flume for placer
mining. The place is not only the center
of a rich mining region, but of an extensive
scope of arable mountain land, that must event-
ually be improved by a large rural population. |-
The valley in which Rollinsville is located is
exceedingly beautiful, possessing in perfection
the attractions so alluring to summer tourists
in the Rocky Mountains—the pure and not too
light, but: highly electrified air of the altitude of
8,000 feet ; waters, cool and clear as crystal, and
sunshine that is healing without being oppress-
ive; high cliffs and accessible lookout points,
giving views of scenic wonders unsurpassed in
the mountain world. These things have
charmed many a visitor, enchaining him to the
fascinations of this lovely valley.
HUGHESVILLE—-HARD MONEY MINE.
This lode is the property of Messrs. Locke
Bros. & Hunderman, and was discovered in
September, 1878, on the ranche of Mr. Patrick
Hughes, now known and designated by all as
Hughesville, in compliment to that honest old
ranchman. No work, or, rather, development,
was made on the vein until October following
the date of the location. Since that time, the
main shaft has been sunk to a depth of 265
feet, pay having been found from the grass-
roots down tothe present depth. The first
pocket of pay was stoped out to a depth of
fifty feet, which was in pay for a length of 100
pe
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265
HISTORY OF GILPIN COUNTY.
feet. A level east of the fifty-foot level has
been run eighty feet, when a winze was sunk to
connect with the eighty-foot level. The next
levels inaugurated were at a depth of 120 feet,
the one going east, being in from the main
shaft a distance of ninety feet. At this point,
another winze—or shaft—is being sunk to con-
nect with the 200-foot level. This has passed
through a continuous body of pay ore, much
richer than anything heretofore found in the
mine in the upper workings. The writer has
taken out a number of specimens of ore from
this winze literally bespangled with native sil-
ver, leaflet and spiral in form. The west level,
directly opposite, is in seventy feet, where
still another winze has been commenced to
connect with the 200-foot west level. Lest the
reader should not fully understand why these
winzes are sunk, it might not be amiss to
state that they are for the purpose of ventila-
tion, and for the more economical working of
wnines, thus serving a double purpose. After
the sinking of a few feet, a good body of ore
was struck in the west 120-foot level, similar
to that found in the east level. In the bottom
of the main shaft, a level east is being driven
to ascertain the length as well as the depth of
the pay above. This is passing through ore
which assays from 50 to 200 ounces of silver
per ton. Both east and west from present
main shaft, the vein has been opened and
traced for a distance of 1,500 feet. On the
east, the same parties own the Hard Money
No. 2 Lode, which is a continuation of the Hard
Money. West of the westerly end of the Hard
Money, they own an additional 1,500 feet,
which gives them exclusive control of 4,500
contiguous feet of property without any. con-
flicting claimants. Soon after the mine was
opened, and the richness of the ore established,
leases were given of fifty feet each, both sides
of the discovery, now main shaft, at a royalty
of 50 per cent of the gross product. To illus-
trate the high grade of ore taken out, John
Huggard took out $3,600 in six weeks, clear of
his royalty, paid to Messrs. Locke Bros. &
Hunderman. These gentlemen also own the
English-American Lode, north of, and parallel
with, the Hard Money, also the Greenbacker
Lode, south of and parallel with the Hard
Money. This gives them a property 450 feet in
width by 4,500 feet in length, enough territory to
insure them and their heirs and assigns riches
for all time to come, when fully exploited. Over
the mine is a substantial shaft-house, cupping-
room, and-a furnace for the drying of ores. The
main shaft is well timbered, and a substantial
ladder-way has been putin. Adjoining the mine
is an assay office, the Hard Money mine being
the only one in the Golden Queen which can
boast of this facility for testing the quality of
the ore as it is extracted.
The Hard Money is accessible at all times of
the year, by a good wagon-road, over an easy
grade, to the concentration and sampling works
at Black Hawk, the distance being two and
one-half miles. The production of the mine
since 1878, has been between $80,000 and $90,-
000. This mine will amply repay the tourist
or capitalist a visit, as the owners are very
accommodating to all who wish an insight of
the workings of their property.
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
BY AARON FROST.
CHAPTER I.
LOCATION AND TOPOGRAPHY—CLIMATE—SERMONS IN STONES.
LOCATION AND TOPOGRAPHY.
Previous to the unprecedented and marvelous
discoveries at Leadville, Clear Creek County
was the great silver-center of Colorado, and it
still remains the most steadily productive dis-
trict in the State. Its western limit is marked
by a very decided flexure of the main range of
the Rocky Mountains—a spinal curvature of
the North American continent—which sepa-
rates it from Summit County. Its other bound-
aries are Gilpin on the north, Jefferson on the
east, and Park County on the south. Its
greatest length is about thirty-five miles, and
its average width, north and south, is about
fifteen miles. The area thus defined embraces
a number of secondary ranges, which tend east-
ward from the continental divide, and includes
several of the highest and most prominent
peaks in the State.
One of its most distinctive physical features
is the rude magnificence of its scenery. With
the exception of a small area in the southeast
corner, this consists of an unbroken succession
of mountain peaks and ranges. The latter are
usually bold and defiant in appearance, but offer
no serious obstruction to the development of
the rich metalliferous veins that seam their
declivities. Perpendicular precipices are com-
paratively rare. Each mountain side is a pro-
digious escarpment, fringed at its base with a
|-isolated specimens of pines and cedars wher-
talus of granitic rocks. These have yielded to
the tireless persuasions of the elements, and
are more or less covered with vegetation. High
on the mountain slopes, dense forests of pines,
of several species, are abundant, while the
sides of the cafions are dotted with clumps and
ever they can obtain a foothold. Many of the
peaks, even on the subsidiary ranges, tower far
above timber line. The practical limit of the
latter in Clear Creek County is about 11,000
feet, but stunted and wind-twisted pines and
spruces are found as high as 11,500 feet above
tide level. Above this, fringing the ice-cold
streamlets, a dense, scrubby species of willow
is common, and grasses and Alpine flowers
grow to a height of nearly 13,000 feet.
The natural avenue to this region is Clear
Creek Cafion, through which a resistless tide
of gold-seekers surged as early as 1859. By
their untiring industry, they paved the way for
the Cyclopean steed that followed on bars of
iron a dozen years later. Near the eastern
boundary of the county is the union of the
North and South Forks of Clear Creek. The
first of these drains Gilpin County, and the
latter ramifies through ‘the silver districts of
Clear Creek, feeding, at numberless sources, on
the perpetual snows of the main range. The
valley is gradual in its ascent, as the ease of
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268 HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
construction of the Colorado Central Railroad
sufficiently attests. Its width varies from less
than a hundred feet to half a mile or more, the
widest portions commonly resulting from the
confluence of two or more streams. At these
points, husbandry is carried to the extent of
raising a few acres of potatoes, cabbages and
other hardy vegetables. The seasons are too
short for maturing cereals, though oats are fre-
quently grown and cut while in a green state,
to be used as fodder. Several varieties of
coarse but highly] nutritious grasses thrive in
the valleys and on the slopes of the mountains,
affording excellent pasturage for cattle and
horses. This is not extensively utilized, except
by owners of milk ranches and pack animals,
other stock requiring dry feed the year round,
Agriculture is an unimportant industry in this
district, comparatively speaking, as the acreage
of tillable land is exceedingly limited. It is
by no means unprofitable, however, all that can-
be produced finding a ready sale at the vicinal
towns and mining camps, of which the great
silver and gold mines are the sure foundation.
The above description applies entirely to the
country drained by South Clear Creek and its
many tributaries, the principal of which are
Soda, Chicago, Leavenworth, Bard and Mill
Creeks, together with North Fork, West Branch
and Fall River ; their waters all uniting in Clear
Creek Cafion before bidding adieu to the county.
In the southeast corner of the county, there lies
a small district which is naturally distinct from
the preceding. This is on the head-waters of
Bear Creek, which join those of the Platte, a
number of miles above the mouth of Clear
Creek. This is not included in the great min-
eral belt, but comprises more arable and graz-
ing land than all the remainder of the county.
The valley is from half a mile to one and a half
miles in width, and is well watered by streams
that flow from the base of Old Chief Mountain.
At this point a decided attempt at systematic
farming is made. It is situated at the limit at
which cereals can be successfully grown, how-
ever, and its facilities for stock-raising are of
more importance than its agricultural lands.
A number of farmhouses dot the really beau-
tiful valley, among which is one owned by Ex-
Gov. Evans. The district is connected with
Clear Creek Cafion by a good wagon road owned
by the county. This traverses a bold mountain
ridge, follows the windings of Soda Creek, and
terminates at Idaho Springs. Agriculture
forms so unimportant a part of the industries
of Clear Creek County that any further allusion
to it will be considered entirely unnecessary.
CLIMATE.
Much has been said and written about Colo-
rado’s “Italian climate ;” but this expression is
now justly used with a certain degree of irony.
In respect to salubrity and uniformity of tem-
perature, the climate of Clear Creek County
will compare favorably with that of any other
portion of the Centennial State ; but it is rarely
suggestive of the balmy, redolent atmosphere:
that instills indolence into the constitution of
the swarthy Venetian. On the contrary, it is
clear, bright, sparkling and inspiriting. The
sudden variations of altitude in the mountain
region produce a corresponding diversity of
climate. This feature is illustrated in the fact
that at Georgetown, the county seat of Clear
Creek County, the summer season is from three
weeks to a month shorter than at Idaho Springs,
which is located fourteen miles farther down |
the cafion. The difference in altitude causing
this variation is 1,002 feet; the former being
8,514, and the latter 7,512 feet above the level
of the sea.
It isa singular but indisputable fact that the
minimum temperature of the winter season at
Denver is rarely reached at Georgetown ; and it
is equally true, though not at all strange, that
the maximum daily temperature of the summer
months is largely in favor of the mountain town,
averaging about ten degrees less than thatof the
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY. 269
metropolis. The only objection that can be
urged against the climate of Clear Creek County
is the length, but not the severity, of its win-
|| ters. Toward the end of September, the icy
breath of approaching winter transforms the
bright green foliage of the aspens and maples
into still brighter hues of gold, orange and crim-
son, and the first light fall of snow is usually
encountered during that month. Glorious sunny
days and frosty nights are the rule for about
two months succeeding ; and rarely before the
middle of December does the frost-king assume
complete control of the situation and silence the
music of the mountain brooks. During the next
few months there is usually but little snow, but
vigorous gales, playfully termed “mountain
zephyrs,” are by no means uncommon. This
description applies mainly to Georgetown and
the vicinity. Storms of Arctic rigor often visit
the mining camps located near the main range,
and the snow drifts in huge banks and fields,
which disappear only in the middle of June, or
even later. The dryness of the air at this ele-
vation (Georgetown) considerably lessens the
apparent severity of the coldest weather. Dur-
ing April and May, heavy snows maybe expected,
and June is sometimes ushered in in the midst
of a snow-storm, just as the deciduous bushes
are bursting into life and beauty. These do
not remain long, however; nor do they often
fall in sufficient quantity to interfere seriously
with out-door employment.
The ensuing season that completes the circle
is perfectly delectable. A thousand pellucid
runnels leap merrily from the gleaming snow-
|| banks that lurk in the ravines near the summits
of the mountains, and go singing on their jour-
ney to the sea. Numberless varieties of Alpine
flowers awake suddenly from their protracted
slumber, and a placid gladness steals over the
entire face of nature. During the summer
months, showers of rain are frequent, but light,
usually falling in the afternoon. The nights are
deliciously cool and invigorating, and “tired
nature’s sweet restorer” closes the eyelids of
the weary without solicitation.
The sanitary features of the climate are rarely
excelled. Malarial-disorders are entirely un-
known, and fevers of any description are ex-
tremely rare. Incipient consumption and asth-
ma succumb readily to the salubrious influence
of the climate, and many other diseases are di-
rectly benefited. It is not claimed to be a pan-
acea for all diseases, however, as itis detrimental
to some kinds of nervous disorders. On the
whole, though, Clear Creek possesses one of the
most healthful climates on the globe, and, dur-
ing the summer months, one of the most delight”
ful.
“SERMONS IN STONES.”
To the superficial observer ascending Clear
Creek Cafion, via the Colorado Central Rail-
road, there is presented a grand panorama of
mountain scenery—an apparently endless, but
never-wearying succession of rugged precipices
and pine-crowned palisades. Near the lower
end of the cafion, huge cliffs rise vertically or
nearly so, to a height of from 100 to 700 feet
above the creek. Some of these crags are of
the most fantastic shapes, and have received
specific names from their resemblance to human
or animal forms. All these are highly interest-
ing objects, and, if the traveler is a stranger to
mountain scenes, he is almost spell-bound by
the overpowering magnificence of the specta-
cle. As the eastern confine of Clear Creek
County is reached, he sees that the bottom of
the valley is broader, and that the mountain
slopes are less precipitous than they were a
dozen miles back. There is, also, an absence
of the sharp minarets that lent variety to his
first introduction to the ¢afion. He, doubtless,
notes the fact that the ascent is not uniform,
but is interrupted by vast accumulations of
rocks of all sizes, the interstices being filled with
earth, and the whole partially covered with veg-
etation, As the locomotive toils laboriously
through the cuts which these aggregations of
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270 . HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
stones have necessitated, he notices that the
rocks are generally rounded in form, and that
a wheelbarrow, and much larger. At the first
opportunity presented, he very probably secures
an attractive specimen of the vest-pocket series,
and resumes his seat, calmly oblivious of the
fact that the little stone is anything more than
a smooth, shining pebble, and a souvenir of
Clear Creek Cafion.
To the geologist, the little water-worn stone
breathes the prologue of a long and interesting
story. It introduces him to the last act in one
of the most conspicuous and interesting dramas
of prehistoric time, and confesses itself to be
a monument of the era when Clear Creek Caii-
on was furrowed out by the slow but resistless
motion of immense bodies of ice, supplemented
by the erosive action of water. From this
point, the evidences of glacial action are abun-
dant and indisputable, and become more so as
progress is made in the direction of George-
town. The country rock is metamorphic, usu-
ally consisting of several varieties of granite.
Gneiss is also abundant, though not predomi-
nant, as it is on the main range. The bowlders
which everywhere cover the bottom of the
gulch to a depth of from twenty to one hundred
feet, and in some places much more, are almost
invariably gneissic ; but the disparity between
the texture of these and that of the surround-
ing cliffs is not sufficiently marked to convey
decided assurances of remote origin. It is
from their vast accumulations that the geolo-
gist is enabled to draw logical conclusions of
the resistless agencies that were at work many
thousands of years ago, and of the magnificent
scale on which the moraines were formed. At
short distances, level stretches of ground occur,
through which. the creek meanders somewhat
lazily, but it displays its characteristic energy
as it reaches the rocky rim of each flat, and
should here be mentioned, that, although rap-
plunges grandly down to the next terrace. It
they vary in size from that of a pea to that of |
ids are abundant, perpendicular falls are ex-
tremely rare.
Near the lower end of these level places, de-
posits of sand, from a trace to as much as eight
feet in depth, are frequently noticed. This at
once suggests the lacustrine origin of the little
“ parks ””—as they are sometimes called—and if
further proof is needed, smooth water-washed
cliffs, corresponding in level to the arenaceous
deposits just mentioned, testify to the correct-
ness of this theory. At no point is this feature
more conspicuous than it is at Georgetown and
Silver Plume. At Georgetown, the park is two
miles in length, the town being situated at its
upper extremity. At the lower end, the rail-
road cuts through the sand bed and shows it to
be a number of feet in depth and perfectly pure.
On the west side of the cafion, this is piled up
to a considerable height above the principal de-
posit—proving the gradual recession of the
waters that once covered the valley at this
point to a probable depth of from fifty to one
hundred feet. Two small lakes, each of several
acres in extent, lineal descendants of the mag-
nificent sheet of water that once existed here,
still remain a short distance above the moraine
that proves their glacial ancestry.
The site of Silver Plume, two miles above
Georgetown, still further illustrates the subject
of park formation, if such a term is admissible
as applied to the diminutive tracts of land un-
der consideration. A heavy deposit of sand is
present, and several smooth, glossy rocks at the
lower edge of Brownville undoubtedly betray
the polishing action of the waves. Evidences
of its glacial origin, however, are less decided
than in the previousinstance. The obstruction
that dammed the waters in this case appears to
be composed partially, at least, of an immense
land-slide that slipped away from the northern
slope of Leavenworth Mountain subsequent to
the glacial epoch. The channel worn through
the obstruction by the erosive action of the
stream discloses crags of such magnitude that
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
271
the question of their glacial transportation is
almost untenable. The rock is similar in ap-
pearance to that on the mountain slope from
which it is supposed to have fallen, but the
formation of this whole region is so nearly
identical that that feature cannot be relied on
as geologic evidence of any description. It
would naturally be inferred that land-slips must
be extremely rare in a granitic formation, and
this conclusion is perfectly logical. The only
condition under which slides of considerable
extent would be likely to occur is that where a
fissure vein pitches outwardly from a mountain
at a greater inclination from the perpendicular
than the mountain slope itself. A slide in
that case would be not only possible but ex-
tremely probable, and itis by no means unlikely
that this may be one of that class. In the ma-
jority of instances, however, the lake basins of
Clear Creek County are clearly of morainic ori-
gin, and their number and variety render them
one of the most salient traits in the geology of
the county.
Whatever their origin may have been, the
gradual annihilation of the lakes was produced
by two causes which are everywhere manifest,
and which were coeval in their action—the ac-
cumulation of sedimentary deposits and the
erosion of the moraines or other obstructions
that formed a barrier to the flow of the waters.
Lakes are abundant throughout the county, and
these processes may be observed at the present
day. At Clear Lake, three miles above George-
town, on a branch of Leavenworth Creek, the
emergent water flows through a subterranean
passage for more than 300 feet, and the process
of alluvial deposition is well illustrated at the
upper end of the lake. At this point is the
most gigantic evidence of glacial action to be
seen in the county. The whole valley is filled
by an immense moraine more than half a mile
“in width and at some points several hundred
feet in depth. For a large area, huge, naked
gneissic blocks are scattered in the wildest con-
fusion, suggesting the name of the “ Battle
Ground of the Gods.”
Nestling in the midst of this moraine, without
inlet or outlet, is Green Lake. This is a decided
anomaly, and is about sixty feet higher than
Clear Lake, which is less than half a mile dis-
tant. Clear Lake is about sixteen acres in area,
and Green Lake is about'one-third less. The
latter is probably fed by subaqueous springs.
The presence of arenaceous and argillaceous
deposits at its northern end, with the usual evi-
dence of aqueous erosion, and a natural inlet at
its southerly termination, reveal the probability
that at some remote period a stream ran through
it similar to that of Clear Lake, but it is diffi-
cult to account for the changes that have since
occurred.
Lakes of considerable size are frequently
found at, or near, the heads of the streams, to
which the adjective “initial” may properly be
prefixed. Chicago, Summit and Lone Duck
Lakes belong to this class. These are usually
of morainic origin, though they frequently dif-
fer insome respects from those already described.
Another striking peculiarity of Clear Creek
Cafion are the vast aggregations of debris found
at the mouths of the lateral gulches. These
gulches are much steeper than the main valley,
and almost invariably contain a tributary brook.
They were probably grooved out by secondary
glaciers toward the close of the drift period,
but the fan-like accumulations of detritus are
of a later date. These owe their existence to
heavy rain-storms. Bowlders, pine-trees, etc.,
were washed into the gulch at such times, and
formed temporary dams, which, on bursting,
increased the volume of water, which swept
everything before it to the foot of the gulch.
In some instances, these may have dammed the
principal stream ; but this cause of lake basins
does not possess an extensive application.
These deposits are all of comparatively recent
origin, and their formation may be observed at
the present day. In the year 1872, many
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e712 HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
thousands of tons of rocks, pines and other
debris were washed from Silver Gulch on to the
town site of Georgetown, completely covering
clumps of mountain aspens to a depth of sev-
eral feet. A few years later, another “land-
slide,” as it was somewhat erroneously termed,
rushed down a ravine near the foot of Leaven-
worth Gulch, bringing with it huge rocks of
many tons in weight on to the wagon road.
These cases are cited to show the degrading ef-
fects of temporary mountain torrents in general.
The whole Clear Creek Valley is evidently
one of erosion by immense glaciers, the result
of subsequent aqueous agencies being compara-
tively unimportant. Lateral moraines are
plainly discernible at an altitude of several
hundred feet above the present bed of the
creek, between Idaho Springs and Green Lake.
Medial moraines are common at the junction of
the streams, though these are not usually large,
often consisting of several isolated boulders.
Glacial strize are not as common as might be
expected. They are found in several localities,
THE TRAIL BLAZER.
HERE is something peculiarly interesting
in the study of the settlement and growth
of the mining districts in Clear Creek County.
Its colonization was attended by so many disad-
vantages, and the field of operations was so iso-
lated and uncertain that one cannot easily. sup-
press a feeling of admiration for the pioneers of
civilization who first paved and afterward car-
peted the way for the refinement, intelligence
and wealth that has since followed and become
permanently established. Stern, rugged and
persistent as the mountains which surrounded
them, and thoroughly imbued with that feeling of
self-reliance which is one of the essential ele-
ments of success in the settlement of a new
CHAPTER ILI.
THE WHEELS OF PROG ESS.
however, and may be seen within a quarter of
a mile of Georgetown, on the base of Leaven-
worth Mountain.
It is almost impossible for the human m‘ng
to form even an approximate conception of the
immense lapse of time required for the changes
that have been noticed. A cycle of ten thou-
sand years will scarcely serve as a base line for
the measurement of the time occupied in
grooving out these mighty cafions, to say noth-
ing of the subsequent era of fluviatile and lacus-
trine deposition. The colossal footprints of the
great ice-rivers cannot be misinterpreted, how-
ever. Their record is as positive as it is dura-
ble and vast. This abrading agency revealed
the. great repositories of mineral wealth, which
have rendered Clear Creek County famous as a
mining center, and which will be treated of ina
succeeding chapter. Dikes of trap and porphyry
are found traversing the older formation, some
of these being of considerable extent. Speci-
mens of dendritic porphyry are frequently found ;
and some of which are singularly beautiful.
and untried country, they struggled nobly in the
battle for existence and conquered ; and many
of them remain to-day apt illustrations of the
theory of the survival of the fittest. After the
Pike’s Peak bubble had burst, and many of the
victims of that desperate and imprudent race
for the acquisition of wealth had returned east-
ward over the desert waste, or had died by the
wayside, there still remained a few undaunted
spirits whom misfortune could not check, and
who bravely pushed forward into the very heart
of an unexplored mountain region—hoping, toil-
ing, struggling or dying, in their eager search
for the only metal that was then worth a mo-
ment’s consideration—gold.
It was during the year 1859, that Clear Creek
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY. 278
County received its first influx of gold-seekers.
Even at that time, observing men claim to have
seen evidences of the works of pre-existing gold-
miners ; and, indeed, there is a strong probability
that these were genuine traces of the primordial
gulch miner ; but, ifso, his lineage, and the date
and results of his labors, had died into forget-
fulness. In the Western Mountaineer, published
at Golden, and bearing date October 25, 1860, is
along and intelligent description of a human
skeleton found by a party of gulch miners, on
Soda Creek, 200 yards southwest of the mineral
springs, Idaho. This was discovered at a depth
of twenty-two feet below the surface, and,
strange to say, the remains, with the exception
of the skull, which was missing, were in a good
state of preservation, the cellular structure of
the bones being well preserved. Within two
feet of this interesting relic were found the
trunk and roots of a red pine, the woody fiber
being distinct and of its normal color, but some-
what decayed. It 1s a matter of regret that the
skull was not found, as the identity of the race
might have been determined thereby. It is
probable that the cranium might have been pres-
ent; but the men were seeking gold, not skele-
tons, and doubtless considered this an unimpor-
tant “strike.” Whether these remains could
have had any connection with the vestiges of
human labor just cited, is a question that is left
entirely to the speculation of the reader. There
are many reasons for giving credibility to the
statement published in the Mountaineer, and
this discovery is certainly a knotty question for
geologists to solve.
During the spring of 1859, George A. Jack-
son and several partners, all endowed with
energy and a spirit of enterprise, ascended the
South Fork of Clear Creek, and located their
camp on the present town site of Idaho Springs.
This was the nucleus of the gold-mining that
gave employment to hundreds of men for sev-
eral years succeeding. For ages, the limpid
stream had flowed on untrammeled by art
and unsullied by man, but the change had at
length come. The many-hued flowers which
had blushed and bloomed unseen of aught
but the summer sun and the twinkling stars,
were now ruthlessly crushed under the cow-
hide boots of the gold seeker ; and the mur-
muring creek was harnessed up and rendered
subservient to the great aim and object of
his life. He stood, an adopted son of the
mountains, and faithfully he kept his allegiance
to his selected parentage. He was in a strange
land and amid unfamiliar scenes. He had out-
stripped the protection of his Government, and
his liberty and security rested alone in his
quickness of perception and the strength of his
arm. He was a cosmopolite, a pioneer and a
hero. A tent was his only shelter, his“ claim”
his only tangible possession, gold his idol,
wealth his ambition, and his “navy” his tried
and trusty friend. Energy and muscular vigor
were his salient characteristics, and of these,
the course he had chosen was the direct and
natural result. Such is a cursory sketch of
the man who crossed a desert waste, 500 miles
in width, to carve for himself a name, a fortune
and a habitation, in the Rocky Mountains.
INCIPIENT GEORGETOWN.
It was during that season (1859) that George
F. and D. T. Griffith, brothers, followed up the
windings of South Clear Creek to the present
site of Georgetown. Although but twenty-one
years have elapsed since that occurred, it is a
question in history whether they unintention-
ally missed their way on a trip to Middle Park
or were simply out on a prospecting expedition.
This is of little importance—the results are
the same. They remained and prospected for
gold “leads.” They were successful in their
search. The auriferous veins eventually led to
the discovery of silver-bearing lodes; and to-
day a busy, bustling town of 3,000 inhabitants
perpetuates the name of one, a prominent mount-
ain the name of each, and one of the richest
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274
HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
silver districts in the world is a monument to
the enterprise of both. As the Griffith broth-
ers looked into the miniature park for the first
time, they beheld a long stretch of swampy
ground, covered with a dense undergrowth of
willows and fringed by a primeval forest of
pines, where the wildcat and the cougar lay in
wait for the black-tailed deer and the mountain
sheep, and the shaggy cinnamon bear strolled
leisurely around with a feeling of perfect secu-
rity. At the upper end, which now corresponds
to the business part of the town, was a wide,
sunny glade. Throughout the length of the
park, a colony of beavers had industriously
dammed the stream at occasional intervals and
were happy in their semi-aquatic existence, and
the attenuated otter slyly watched for the finny
denizens of the crystalline waters, which at that
time abounded.
The lode discovered by the founders of
Georgetown on their initial visit runs right into
the present site of the town. This was named
the Griffith, and the mining district in which
Georgetown is located also bears that appella-
tion. The surface quartz was panned for gold,
and the rich metallic prize was obtained. It
was essentially a silver-bearing lode, however,
though its argentiferous character was not fully
established until several years later. The dis-
covery of the Griffith lode had the usual effect.
Prospectors came in little armies, and the great-
est excitement prevailed. Many lodes were dis-
covered, and tested for gold. Stamp mills and
arastras were erected for treatment of the ores;
but, as the miners and millmen were on the
wrong track, working silver lodes ignorant of
their real character, the camp had a variable
and uncertain existence for a number of years.
THE COURSE OF EMPIRE,
Union mining district, in which the town of
Empire is situated, was first temporarily organ-
ized in the spring of 1860, by anumber of pros- |
pectors from Spanish Bar, a small mining dis-
trict adjacent to, and contemporaneous with,
Idaho Springs. George Merrill, Joseph Musser,
George L. Nicholls and D. C. Skinner were the
first on the spot—the two former building the
first cabin.' Dr. Bard, whose name is handed
down to posterity in “Bard Creek,” drove the
first wagon into the camp that season. The lo-
cation of the town is one of the most pleasant
in the mountains, and one can easily conceive
the thrill of delight experienced by the hardy
prospectors who first viewed the valley in its
pristine wildness and its natural beauty. They
were seeking gold, however They came, they
sought, they found. Empire was not subject to
the unexpected changes wrought in adjacent
camps by the silver excitement of 1864 and
1865, and gold bullion is still thé predominant
product of the district.
It was about the 1st day of August, 1860,
that Edgar Freeman and H. C. Cowles, two of
the niost persistent prospectors that ever
shouldered a pick, climbed over the mountains
from the diggings about Central and dropped
down into the valley of Empire. They pros-
pected and found two minute bits of wire gold
on Eureka Mountain. The latter generously
credits the discovery to the former, but the
writer is of the opinion that the honor should
fall alike on both. Those miniature specimens
of the precious metal were the glowing sparks
that were fanned by persistence and energy in-
to the fires of prosperity which are burning to-
day. An impetus was at once given to pros-
pecting. The news spread, and the murmur in-
creased to a tumult. In the month of Septem-
ber, the Empire and Keystone Lodes were dis-
covered. The necessity of a district organiza-
tion was immediately felt, and in the following
December this was perfected, resulting in the
election of Henry Hill, President; H. ©.
Cowles, Miners’ Judge; D. J. Ball, Clerk and
Recorder ; James Ross, Sheriff, and George L.
Nicholls, Surveyor, all of whom held their of-
fices until superseded by the Territorial organ-
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
275
ization in 1861. Committees were appointed to
draft laws, define boundaries and confirm the.
names of mountains and streams. Such names
as Columbia, Lincoln, Douglas and Brecken-
ridge, applied to mountains in Union District,
and Republican, Democrat, Sherman, Mc(lel-
lan, Capitol, etc., in adjoining districts, bear wit-
ness to the loyalty and the political proclivi-
ties of the early settlers, whose names are re-
corded in Kelso, Griffith and Ball Mountains,
Irwin’s Peak, Burrell Hill and many others hav-
ing a local and personal signiticance.
A tide of immigration from Gilpin County
poured into the camp, and hastily constructed
log cabins supplied the place of tents. The
second cabin erected was court house, Sheriff’s
office, Recorder’s office and town hall. This is
still extant, and is occupied by “ Uncle Tommy
Hodgkinson.” another old-time prospector.
About this time, Empire City, as it was then
characteristically termed, was laid out and sur-
veyed by George L. Nicholls, Henry Hill, H.
C. Cowles, D. J. Ball and Ed Freeman A
more energetic and tenacious class of men
than the first settlers of Empire never estab-
lished a colony, and no truer type of the original
“trail-blazer ” can be found than that furnished
in the person of Judge H. C. Cowles.
From 1861 to 1865, Empire reveled in a sea-
son of prosperity. Valuable auriferous depos-
its on Silver Mountain (a most unwarrantable
appellation), resulting from the decomposition
of the apexes of clusters of gold lodes, were
sluiced at a handsome profit; a number of
arastras and stamp mills were kept running on
the auriferous quartz, bar mining on the creek
paid well, the town flourished, schools were
organized, roads built, and high-pressure times
prevailed generally, during which, many for-
tunes were made and many were lost. The
wave of prosperity culminated in 1864. The
workings on the veins were getting down to
pyrite, which required different treatment, and
the discoveries made in the adjacent silver dis-
tricts during the fall of that season and the
year following naturally attracted the miners in
that direction. Through the years intervening
from that time to the present date, a number
of the pioneers have steadily developed the
mines of that section, and a recent revival of
mining interests suggests that the tenacity of
the early settlers will, as it should, be prop-
erly rewarded.
EARLY LAWS AND CUSTOMS.
Previous to the Territorial organization,
which occurred early. in the spring of 1861,
each mining district possessed a miniature gov-
ernment of its own. A desire for law and
order was a singularly conspicuous feature
among the first settlers of Clear Creek County,
and the laws framed and adopted at that time,
at the open-air meetings of the gulch miuers,
are living monuments of the strength of char-
acter and integrity of the men who enacted
them. As each district was practically inde-
pendent of the remainder, the laws of the dif-
ferent districts were not necessarily uniform.
The officers usually consisted of a President,
Recorder and Sheriff—the President officiating
in the capacity of Judge in all cases, civil or
criminal, and presiding at all public meetings
of the miners. Occasionally the district organ-
ization included a Judge, in addition to the other
officers. The court was often called to order
under a pine tree, and the subsequent proceed-
ings were short, sharp and decisive. Criminals
were tried, convicted, sentenced and punished
within the space of an hour. The “law's delay
and insolence of office” were then unknown.
As jails were not so much in demand nor so
common as at the present time, the punishment
for minor offenses frequently consisted of a
command to the offender to strike out for other
pastures. Upon rare occasions, a jury was
impaneled, but a majority of the persons pres-
ent usually decided the case. To this decision
there was no appeal, but in some cases a re-
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276
HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
hearing was allowed. How different was this
to the changes of venue, appeals, delays, quib-
bles and technicalities of law, and legal ave-
nues of escape, which an advanced civilization
permits to frustrate the ends of justice at the
present day. George F. Griffith was the first
Recorder, and James Burrell was the first Pres-
ident of Griffith mining district, the one in
which Georgetown is located. Samuel Cush-
man, inhis “Mines of Clear Creek County,” pub-
lished in 1876, writes as follows of the ante-
Territorial laws of Griffith District. “An exam-
ination of the district laws and the proceedings
of the miners’ meetings, will satisfy any one of
the capacity of American citizens to govern them-
‘selves under any circumstances. After revision
and codification in 1861, they were probably
the most complete set of laws adopted in the
then unorganized Territory.”
IDAHO SPRINGS.
Again looking back to the first settlement of
the county, and reviewing the changes that took
place, and the progress made for several years
succeeding, that part of Clear Creek Valley ex-
tending from Fall River down to Floyd Hill, of
which Idaho Springs was the principal camp,
justly claims the attention of the historian. A
straggling line of miners’ cabins, with numerous
devices for washing out the free gold, existed
all along the creek. Spanish Bar, Fall River
Grass Valley and many other points aspired to
the dignity of mining towns, and not without
some foundation. Gulch-mining was pursued
with remarkable vigor for several years, but at
length the camps of minor importance were
| gradually absorbed by Idaho Springs, and now
but little remains of them except ruins of the
old ditches and sluicing operations and their
names; and, in some instances, even the latter,
as is learned from reference to files of the
Rocky Mountain News published at that time,
have fallen into desuetude, or are entirely un-
known.
Idaho Springs possesses many advantages of
location. The valley where the town is built
is at least half a mile in width and over a mile
in length. The first gulching was commenced
on Chicago bar, now within the town limits,
and the fact that the gold-seekers were deserv-
edly successful, soon attracted others who were
thirsting for gold and adventure ; so that when
the mountain maples shed their russet leaves in
the fall, at least 200 prospectors were on the
spot. Many of them remained during the win-
ter, and, in the summer of 1860, Idaho was an
established fact. During that year, Dennis
Faivre, now one of Idaho’s most popular and
successful merchants, occasionally drove a team
of oxen, laden with miners’ supplies, into the
incipient camp. It was then, also, that an un-
pretentious log cabin commenced to cater to
the gastronomic necessities of the gold miners,
under the direction of F. W. Beebee and the
cognomen of the Beebee House. That was the
foundation of the Beebee House of to-day, and,
through all the intervening vicissitudes of for-
tune, and the ups and downs of the town, he
has stood tenaciously at the helm, and acquired
a reputation in this line second to none in the
State. Indeed, tenacity was a notable feature
among the early pioneers of this place. Among
the ’59-ers who are still residents of the town,
may be mentioned A. P. Smith, William Hobbs
and John Needham.
In 1860, Dr. A.M. Noxon, Dr. E. F. Holland,
M. B. Graeff, John Silvertooth, “ Elder” R. B.
Griswold, and a number of others who still
remain here, first migrated to the nascent camp.
In the same year was the first increase of
population not due to immigration, and the first
celebration of Independence Day in the county.
On the latter ovcasion about 100 miners marched
proudly in procession to the mellifiuous strains
of a single fife, carrying the insignia of their
rank—their picks and shovels—on their shoul-
ders. It is claimed that this patriotic display
was entirely free from the stimulating influence
i er)
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
att
of whisky. There is a lingering suspicion in
the minds of many, however, that this unusual
abstinence on the part of the enthusiastic miners
might possibly be due to an unavoidable scarci-
ty of the article.
In 1861, Cedar Creek Cafion, from Spanish
Bar, two miles above Idaho, to Floyd Hill, six
miles below, was alive with gold-seekers, and
“Clear” Creek became a misnomer applied to
the stream that was completely polluted by
gulch-mining. At this time, female society
began to exert its refining influence on the rude
but generous miners. Religious services, con-
ducted alternately by a divine named Bunch,
alias “The Arkansas Traveler,” and the Rev.
_ Mr. Potts, were of weekly occurrence, but the
decorum exacted at the present day was not
always observed. At one time a reckless adven-
turer was shot in a fracas,-and when a number
of miners carried him to his last resting-place,
in the absence of any orthodox ritual, they
lustily sang “Old Rosin the Bow,” over him
hefore consigning him to his untimely grave.
After he was securely “planted,” a quantity of
gold dust which he happened to have on his
person at the time of his death, was first used
to defray his funeral expenses, and a surplus
left over was spent in a bibulous jollification.
In the same year the Seaton mine was dis-
covered and the first stamp mill erected. The
Whale Lode was located at this time—the Hukill
having been discovered a year previous—and
the attention of many of the gulch miners was
diverted to lode mining. In this year the Ter-
ritorial government was organized, and Idaho
Springs became the county seat of Clear Creek
County, but, in 1867, this distinction was trans-
ferred to Georgetown. In the interim the gulch
miners worked along in a rudely felicitous way,
and many stories are told at the present day of
the unpolished manliness and native generosity
of the early pioneers, who traded solely through
the medium of gold dust, and attended church
in indifferent attire.
In 1866, Mr. Harrison Montague took charge
of and commenced to improve the hot soda
springs, which soon became renowned for their
‘curative properties, and since that time hundreds
of tourists have been annually attracted to Idaho
by this feature alone. During the ’70’s a num-
ber of adjacent veins were steadily developed,
and lode mining became a profitable industry.
Mills were built and wagon roads constructed,
and the pioneers began to reap the reward of
their perseverance.
In the fall of 1873, a government patent was
obtained for the town site, and a Board of Trust-
ees organized with “Elder” Griswold at its
head. In the spring of 1879, the town and the
surrounding district commenced to take uncom-
monly rapid and effective strides in the march
of progress. Idaho now possessed railroad facil-
ities, great advancements had been made in the
treatment of its ores, and many of the disadvan-
tages which had militated somewhat against the
prosperity of the camp at an early day, were par-
tially or entirely removed. Capitalists cast sig-
nificant glances at its immense mineral veins,
and among the first to recognize their impor-
tance was a party of Nevada gentlemen. The
result was that two of the most valuable lodes
in the vicinity—the Freeland and the Hukill—
were purchased, and mining was commenced on
a scale hitherto unknown in this county. Now
that the way was so clearly pointed out, other
men possessed of means soon followed, and min-
ing investment and development became gen-
eral. Residences, with claims to considerable
architectural beauty, were speedily erected, and
to-day Idaho Springs is one of the neatest and
most pleasant and progressive mountain towns
in the State.
THE DISCOVERY OF SILVER.
The discovery of silver in Clear Creek and
the State at large is usually dated in the fall of
1864 or the spring of 1865. There are abun-
dant evidences to prove, however, that silver
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278 HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
was known to exist in the State as early as 1859,
and its discovery in Clear Creek County the fol-
lowing year admits of indubitable proof.
In the first volume and thirteenth number of
the Rocky Mountain News, published in “ Aura-
ria and Denver, K. T.,” August 20, 1859, is a
statement of the result of an assay of quartz
taken from the Gregory Lode, Gilpin County.
This shows a yield of sixteen and three-fourths
ounces of silver per ton, in addition to ten and
one-half ounces of gold, the analysis being made
by John Torrey, assayer at the U. 8. Assay Office,
New York.
The Ida “Silver” Lode, as they were first re-
corded in contradistinction to the auriferous
veins, was the first true silver-bearing lode dis-
covered in Colorado. It was found by D. C.
Daley in September, 1860, on Silver Mountain,
near Empire. The mineral was assayed a few
days later by Dr. Day, of Central, in the pres-
ence of a number of deeply interested prospect-
ors, and found to contain 723 ounces of silver
per cord, or about 100 ounces per ton. A pre-
emption certificate in the possession of the wri-
ter is a marvel ofbrevity. It consists of a strip
of legal cap one and a half inches in width. On
one side is the following :
Upper Fat River Disrrict, Oct. 4, 1860.
T claim by pre-emption 100x50 feet on the Morning
Sun Silver Lode, being No. 7 west from discovery claim.
E. H.N. Parrerson.
Qn the opposite side the record is given as
follows :
Filed and recorded October 4, 1860, Book B, Page
189. Witi1aM Piterim, Recorder.
Three other certificates, all signed by E. H. N.
Patterson, and testifying to the record of silver-
bearing lodes, two of which were located in Union
and one in Lincoln mining district, prove that
the former was not an isolated case. These
are interesting, also, in showing the wanderings
and perseverance of the discoverer of the lodes
in question, the lately deceased editor of The
Colorado Miner, who at that time furnished the
Western Mountaineer with lucid descriptions of
the incipient mining camps of Clear Creek
County, told in his own racy and original style,
under the nom de plume of “Sniktaw.” Ina let-
ter published in the Mountaineer November 8,
1860, he speaks of the discovery of several sil-
ver “leads,” as they were then termed in the
parlance of the miners. The Rocky Mountain
News of 1860 and 1861 contains frequent allu-
sions to the silver lodes of this district. The.
News of October 2, 1860, in an editorial on this
subject, says: “The silver veins are not, how-
ever, confined to the district of country named.
All along the main Clear Creek they also abound,
and have been traced clear to the Snowy Range,
and far up its precipitous slope.”
To R. W. Steele (who was at the head of the
provisional government previous to the Terri-
torial organization by the General Government), |
James Huff and Robert Layton, is usually given
the credit of the discovery of silver in the
month of September, 1864. That they discov-
ered the Belmont Lode, in East Argentine dis-
trict, at that time, is a fact which no one dis-
putes. Assays of the mineral made by Prof
Dibbin proved the argentiferous character of
the ore, and this was the immediate cause of
the wide-spread prospecting that established
Clear Creek County’s reputation as a silver cen-
ter. The discovery of silver, however, in this
county was accomylished in 1860, as before
stated. The fact had been determined by
numerous assays, but, in their frantic search for
the more precious metal, the miners of that
day did not give the silver lodes the atten-
tion that they merited. No better proof of the
thorough kifowledge of their existence at that
time can be’ furnished than in the following ex-
tract from Gov. Steele’s message to the “ General
Assembly of Jefferson Territory,” published in
the Western Mountaineer, bearing date Novem-
ber 22,1860. This message, by the way, was
a remarkably able-and interesting document,
reflecting great credit on Gov. Steele and the
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY. 281
founders of the Centennial State. The quota- | An overshot water-wheel was used as the mo-
tion referred to is as follows: tive power, and in the spring of ’61 the clatter
“Numerous leads of a bright and shining | of twelve wooden, iron-shod stamps was echoed
ore of quartz, called “silver ore,” have been | pack from the hills for the first time. In the
discovered in the neighborhood of the summit following year, $2,500 in gold was actually
of the mountains, extending for hundreds of | taken out of the lodes mentioned above, through
miles with the ranges. From numerous assays | the treatment of this first rude, stamp mill.
of this ore, many of the leads promise to be ex- | They were but silver veins in disguise, however.
ceedingly rich, both in gold and silver, equal | Ag depth was gained, their argentiferous char-
even to the celebrated Washoe mines of Carson | acter defeated the object of the pioneers. The
Valley.” most diligent and persistent stamping could not
The decadence of gulch mining in the county | transform silver to gold, and the enthusiasm
probably had a direct influence in determining | attendant on the first discovery of gold died
the development of silver-bearing lodes, by di- | for want of support.
verting the energies of the miners into another At this time the stream was full of trout, and
channel. As a result of this, the discoverers of | the industrious beavers—the original pre-emp-
the Belmont Lode should rather be credited | tors of the ground—diligently pursued their
with first awakening the public to a sense of | nocturnal labors. As late as 1863, John T. Har-
the importance and value of Clear Creek’s ar- | rig was the sole denizen of the town for the
gentiferous veins, than with the original dis- | space of two weeks. Empire, Idaho and Span-
covery of silver in the county. ish Bar were looming, however, and the county,
| taken as a whole, was steadily growing in im-
STEE BY OSLER portance and notoriety.
“Backward! turn backward, O Time! in your flight,” Tn the fall of 1864, an Eastern company im-
and again permit the reader to view the site of | prudently commenced the erection of a stamp
Georgetown in the year 1860. At that period, | mill for the treatment of gold ores. This was
there was nothing but a site to see, but it must | completed in 1865, and the first trial convinced
have been a beautiful site. The Griffith | the owners that this was not a gold district.
. brothers were energetic men, and they immedi- | But now thesilver excitement was fairly under
ately commenced the development of their lode. | way, and gold was no longer an object of special
They also discovered several others on the | search. Miners flocked in from the surrounding
mountains that smiled down on their initial la- | districts, and the hills were literally alive with
bors. The Burrell, Corisannie and Nancy Lodes | prospectors. Silver lodes were discovered all
were among the first discoveries. Griffith min- | the way from Georgetown to the main range.
ing district was organized June 25, 1860. In| The machinery of prosperity was in motion,
that summer a plat of the town was made by | and the wheels of progress spun swiftly round,
D. T. Griffith, but was subsequently lost. under the powerful incentive of hope and the
It is a singular fact, and one which betrays | vitalizing stimulus of industry. Homes were
the perseverance of the Griffith brothers and | established, and the “ hand that rocks the cradle
other early settlers, that a narrow belt of aurif- | and rules the world” gracefully wielded the
erous lodes was found in the center of the sil- | scepter in domestic circles. Georgetown was
ver district. They panned the surface quartz | now built upon a foundation that the whims
and found gold. As soon as possible a stamp | and caprices of fortune could not shake. True
mill was erected near the site of the gas works. | fissure veins of silver were abundant and rich,
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282 HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
and in order to insure complete success, nothing
now remained but the employment of some
practical process for the treatment of the ores.
The average result of the accurate assay of
six different specimens of ore taken from the
Belmont Lode (now the Johnson) during the
winter of 1864-65, was $827.48 per ton, prin-
cipally in silver. This attracted the attention
of Eastern capitalists, some of whom invested
“not wisely, but too well.” This was particu-
larly noticeable in the original attempts at mill-
ing. To C. 8S. Stowel belongs the honor, if
honor it is, of erecting the first mill built in the
county for the treatment of argentiferous ores.
This consisted of an ordinary blast furnace.
The fires had been lighted several weeks, and all
the metallurgical skill of the projector of the
enterprise had been spent in vain. The min-
eral obstinately refused to run. At this junc-
ture, Frank Dibbin, a gentleman extensively
connected with the early milling operations of
Clear Creek County, approached the unsuccess-
ful smelter and said, “ Stowel, I'll bet you $500
I can melt that ore in twenty-four hours.” The
bet was readily accepted and staked in the
hands of a mutual friend.
Next morning, Prof. Dibbin, with three assist-
ants, entered the hastily constructed edifice
and closed the doors from motives of secrecy.
As the success of the undertaking was a matter
of immense importance to the whole silver dis-
trict, a crowd of eager and deeply interested
miners hung around the building all day,
Among the number was Lorenzo M. Bowman,
a gentleman of color from the lead mines of
Missouri. Possessing an observing turn of
mind, Mr. B. availed himself of the advantage
offered by a convenient knot-hole, and carefully
watched the whole proceeding. He soon as-
sured Caleb Stowel that the color of the flame
indicated an improper temperature, resting his
judgment upon a fifteen years’ experience in
smelting operations in Missouri. Stowel told
him to wait until the bet was decided, and then,
if the mineral still proved refractory, which
seemed highly probable, he, too, should have a
chance to display his ability.
Prof. Dibbin worked like a Trojan all day and
brought the advantages of a scientific education
to bear on the subject, but to no purpose. At
11 o’clock that night, his whole store of
metallurgic skill being exhausted, and the ore
still remaining unchanged, he reluctantly aban-
doned the contest.
Early next morning, Bowman took the mat-
ter in hand, and by noon the mineral yielded to
his efforts and fused. This was the first bullion
produced in Clear Creek County. A knowledge
of the fact was received with considerable en-
thusiasm by the assembled miners. The smelt-
er was kept in operation a number of months,
when it was found that to save and separate the
silver was much more difficult than the simple
smelting of the ore. Asa chronological history
of milling will be given in a separate chapter, it
is not necessary to enter into further details at
this place. This occurred in 1866.
In 1865, a simple monument of stones, with a
scrap of paper giving the name of the claim and
its locator, were all that were required to hold
a claim for thirty days, when the date had to be
changed in order to insure its continuance. At
that time the inhabitants of the Clear Creek
County were probably the most enterprising
race of mound-builders that'ever existed. Dur-
ing 1865 the Elijah Hise, Franklin, Guthrie,
O. K., Paymaster, Patten, Nuckolls, Victor and
many other lodes, including the majority of
the Lebanon Tunnel Company’s properties, |
were discovered, and their development was
at once commenced and pursued as actively as
isolation, indifferent roads and high rates of
miners’ wages would permit.
During the following year the Baker, Beecher,
Summit, Silver Cloud and Terrible Lodes were
added to the list, which included hundreds of
others, some of which have passed into obscu-
rity, while many, notably those on the southern
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY. , 283
slope of Leavenworth Mountain are being stead-
ily worked at the present day Silver mining
in that year established a permanent foothold,
and the district steadily earned the reputation
which it still retains.
From 1866 t 1870 was marked by the dis-
covery of what subsequently proved to be the
richest and most productive silver-bearing veins
in the county The Bismarck, Pelican, Dives,
Kangaroo, Mammoth Saxon, Ni-Wot and Com
are among the number. Some of the most im-
pertant tunnel enterprises in the county were
also started at that time. Among these were
the Burleigh, on Sherman Mountain, now the
longest tunnel in the district, the Douglas Tun-
nel, on the mountain of that name, now known
as the Franklin, and the Diamond Tunnel, on
Republican Mountain. In 1866, Ed Bainbridge,
a notorious character, suffered capital punish-
ment, under the efficient jurisdiction of Judge
Lynch, for shooting a man named Jim Martin,
on account of a gambling dispute. Knowing
the folly of procrastination, Bainbridge was
hung by an excited and determined crowd im-
mediately after the shooting occurred, a tree at
the point of rocks below the gas works being
used as a gallows. Although Martin fully
recovered from his wound, and is, probably,
alive to-day, the action of the lynchers does not
appear to have received, or merited, public con-
demnation.
The year 1867 is memorable from the fact
that the second survey and plat of the town was
made by Charles Hoyt, an employe of the Bull-
ion Silver Mining Company, under the direc-
tion of the citizens. Thus far, a thin cluster of
cabins, in the open glade near the foot of Bur-
rell Hill, had been known by the name of Eliza-
bethtown, in honor of a sister of the Griffith
brothers, but, at a meeting of the citizens, held
onthe corner of Rose and Mary streets, the name
Georgetown was chosen, by a three-fourths ma-
comprises an area of 637 acres. The survey
made at that time defines the boundaries of the
streets and blocks at present existing, and is
incorporated in the town charter granted by the
Territorial Legislature, January 10, 1868.
It was in 1867, also, that the growing impor- .
tance and steadily increasing population of
Georgetown determined the removal of the
county seat of Clear Creek County from Idaho
Springs to its presentlocation. The first Police
Judgeand Board of Selectmen under the munic-
ipal organization were as follows: Police Judge -
Frank Dibbin; Selectmen—First Ward, W.
W. Ware, Charles Whitner; Second Ward, H.
K. Pearson, John Scott.
On the Ist day of May of that year, the ini-
tial number of the Colorado Miner, then the
Georgetown Miner, was published in a small
building in lower tcwn. This is about 12x14
feet in size, and is now occupied by Jchn T.
Harris. The first editors and proprietors were
J. E. Wharton and A. W. Barnard, and the
freshness and newsy character of the Miner at
that time and later, is a striking index to the
push and energy of the citizens. From its in-
ception, the Miner has made a specialty of min-
ing news, and, though several changes of owner-
ship have been experienced, it has steadily pur-
sued the object stated in its salutatory, and has
acquired a reputation for accuracy and com-
pleteness of information concerning the mineral
wealth of the region where it is published, sec-
ond to no other paper in the State.
The primary organization of the public school
occurred in 1867. As Georgetown, at that date,
was a long, straggling village, the jealousy in-
cident to the location of schoolhouses in gen-
eral was prevalent among the citizens, and
they squabbled, petitioned and counter-peti-
tioned the perplexed school board in the usual
persistent manner. Miss L. H. Lander, an esti-
mahle, talented, and popular young lady gave
the young ideas of Georgetown their initial les-
sons. School was commenced early in the
spring. On the 29th day of the following June,
jority, for the city as it stands to-day, which
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
Miss Lander, unfortunately, fell from a foot log,
while endeavoring to cross the creek, and was
drowned.
In 1868, the Episcopal Church was organized
by Bishop Randall. The year following the
Presbyterians commenced religious services ;
and about the same time the Roman Catholic
Church, through the medium of Fathers Ray-
erdy and Foley, began to scatter the seeds of
Gospel truth in a soil that was susceptible of
cultivation.
first on the spot. They organized a church as
early as 1864, and a Sunday school the follow-
ing year. The Congregational Church was or-
ganized at a later date.
The Barton House was built in 1867, and, al-
though one or two boarding-houses had pre-
viously existed, this was the first pretension at
anything like a first-class hotel. Mr. William
Barton was the parent of the institution. The
house was burned to the ground in 1871, but
was immediately rebuilt.
On Aprii 15, 1869, Stephen Decatur, better
known as “Commodore” Decatur, and “Old
Sulphurets,” the latter being his nom de plume,
became associated with the Colorado Miner, as
mining editor, and faithfully he performed his
task. Harnest, enthusiastic and energetic, the
friend of the miner, and deeply devoted to his
adopted State, the “Commodore” gained an
enviable popularity, and acquired a large circle
of friends and acquaintances.
The valuation of the property in the county
in 1869, was $962,561 ; in 1870, $1,100,112.
The thrifty and pleasantly situated mining
town of Silver Plume commenced to exist in
the latter year, as will be seen by the following
quotation from the Georgetown Winer, bearing
date July 20,1870: ° A new mining camp is
being built up about two miles west of George-
town, on the Bakerville road. The valley at
this point is quite broad, wood for fuel is
abundant, pasturage for several months in the
year is excellent, and a streamlet of clear cold
Tne Methodists, however, were '
| water tumbles down Cherokee Gulch. Jacob
| Snyder and Daniel Peters will make their head-
‘ quarters at this new mining camp. They are
agents for several mining companies, and now
| have twenty men employed on the Snow-drift,
; Silver Plume and other lodes. What name
shall grace the new town?”
' Silver Plume, then, was evidently named
‘after the mine of that name. The Pelican,
| Pay Rock, Dives, Elm City, Phoenix, Cold-
‘ stream, Dunkirk, Baxter, Eagle Bird and Den-
ver Lodes, with the two mentioned above, are
| all plainly visible, from and within a short
| distance of Silver Plume. The Diamond Tun-
‘nel is nearly on the site of the town, while th
Burleigh Tunnel is a short distance further up
the creek. ~
For several years succeeding, the great
mines of that district, the most productive of
which were the Pelican and Dives yielded im-
mensely, and the district was in a whirl of
excitement. The most unscrupulous cupidity
was fully roused by the fabulous richness of
the mines. Litigation sprang up, and the legal
fraternity reaped a bountiful harvest. In some
instances, judicial restraint was entirely ignored.
Mines were “jumped,” and the miners were
protected at their labors by bodies of armed
men. The Terrible mine was sold to English
capitalists, and its development was vigorously
prosecuted The Saxon mine, .on the mountain
of the same name, was yielding ore of ex-
traordinarily high grade, running many thou-
sands of ounces of silver tothe ton. The Square
and Compass, O. K., Argentine, Colorado Cen-
tral, Saco and Equator Lodes on Leavenworth
Mountain, were paying handsomely; the Ste-
vens and Baker mines, close under the main
range, were the scenes of active development -
the Marshall Tunnel was being rapidly driven
ahead, and the Hukill, Seaton, Victor and a
number of other lodes in the vicinity of Idaho
Springs were remunerating their owners.
This period may truly be termed the “ flush
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
285
‘ing than had been previously employed.
; times ” of Clear Creek County, and particularly
of Georgetown. Attracted by the rich returns,
capital flowed in ‘by wholesale. Numberless
processes for the reduction and concentration
of the ores of the district were introduced,
tried and abandoned with astonishing reckless-
ness and prodigality. Mills were built all over
the county, and there were scarcely two proc-
esses alike. Mine “salters” sprung up and
were summarily punished. The great Pelican-
Dives and Hercules-Roe mining contests, in-
volving many hundreds of thousands of dollars,
So fierce did this conflict.
were in progress.
become that one of the owners of the Pelican
was brained on the streets of Georgetown by a
lessee on the Dives. Fortunes were made in a
few days or weeks, and were nearly as speedily
squandered. The Polar Star, Silver Cloud and
Junction mines, on Democrat Mountain, were
paying royally The town grew rapidly, and
society improved. Green Lake was fitted up
by William H Cushman as a pleasure resort.
A road was built over the main range to the
silver mines of Peru and Montezuma districts,
Summit County The Geneva mines were pur-
chased by an English company, and the lodes
intersected by the Britannic Tunnel. George-
town and Empire were connected by a wagon-
road via Union Pass. A trail was constructed
to the summit at Gray’s Peak for the conven-
ience of tourists. Several churches and a brick
schoolhouse, the latter capable of seating over
300 pupils, were erected. Benevolent and other
societies flourished, and sociality was rife. The
touch of civilization subdued the rudeness of
the earlier days, but left intact the spirit of
gayety und enthusiasm that was born of com-
mercial and financial success. It was a period
of life, vigor and experiments, in which a solid
foundation was laid for the permanence and
prosperity of the district in succeeding years.
From 1875 to the present year, 1880, more
caution was exercised both in mining and mill-
In the
earlier years of the time in question, litigation
had a retarding influence on the development
and production of the Terrible, Hercules and
Roe, Pelican and Dives and Maine and Phoenix
Lodes. Consolidation has been effected in every
case in question, however, and that annoyance
is forever removed from the properties in ques-
tion. In the closing months of 1876, D. E. Du-
laney, after years of search, discovered the
famous Red Elephant mines, the Free America
being the first lode found. There was an im-
mense amount of activity among prospectors at
that point the following spring, and Lawson, a
new mining camp, sprung into existence. The
Boulder Nest and White mines were found, and
the first year of their development these proper-
ties added largely to the output of the county.
This was the Centennial year, and “Commo-
dore” Decatur was chosen as one of the State
Commissioners to represent Colorado at the Ex-
position at Philadelphia. On the 14th day of
August in the following year, 1877, the Colo-
rado Central Railroad was completed to George-
town. As this was a long-expected and much-
desired event, an unusual amount of enthusi-
asm was manifested by the citizens. The last
spike was driven, with considerable eclat, by
some of the prominent men of the town, public
speeches were made, and joyous greetings were
flashed over the wires from other towns. An
elaborately gotten up extra was issued from the
office of the Colorado Miner. After the arrival
of the first train, which brought in hundreds of
passengers, firemen’s races and other amuse-
ments were witnessed by the largest crowd of
spectators ever assembled in Georgetown.
The first number of the Georgetown Courter
was issued May 24, 1877. Publisher and pro-
prietor, J. 8. Randall ; editor, Samuel Cushman.
The paper has steadily increased in prosperity
to the present day, and is a valuable exponent
of the mineral wealth of the county.
On the early morning of the 15th day of De-
cember of that year, a slight ripple of excite-
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286 HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
ment coursed through Georgetown, owing to the
discovery of the dead body of Robert Schramle
hanging by the neck to the frame of an old
building. On the 12th day of the preceding
October, Schramle had wantonly murdered an
industrious butcher named Henry Theide. He
was subsequentiy arrested at Las Animas and
brought back to Georgetown, where he had a
preliminary examination before J. P. De Mat-
tos, Justice of the Peace. There being not the
slightest doubt of his guilt, he was incarcerated
in the county jail to await his trial, but, on the
second night of his prison life, the jailer was
overpowered by a number of determined men
and Schramle was taken out, with the result
given above. The action of the lynchers was
generally approved by the citizens.
During these years, the Little Emma Mine, on
Democrat Mountain, and the Tilden, on Leaven-
worth, were the scenes of two of the most im-
portant strikes. Stewart’s Silver Reduction
works were entirely consumed by fire and speed-
ily rebuilt. The Clear Creek Company’s con-
centrating, sampling and reduction works were
erected. The Geneva mines were developed
with increased energy, and a mill erected for the
treatment of the ores. During the fall of 1877,
the Dunderberg commenced to yield enor-
mously. The product of four months in the
winter of 1877 and 1878 was $112,528.97.
Mining was now reduced to a more perma-
nent and definite basis. Investments were made
CHAPTER III.
TOWNS AND MINING CAMPS.
INTRODUCTION.
c the settlement and progress of a silver or
gold mining region, the rapidity with which | its turn, may change almost as suddenly to its
towns are built up or deserted is especially no-
ticeable. Their growth and decay are deter-
mined by the elements of uncertainty which
surround them. An uninhabited waste may,
with more than ordinary care. Strong com-
panies were formed, and heavy machinery was
introduced. Increased attention began to be
paid to the concentration of ores. The neces-
sity of deep mining and of the systematic and
economic development of properties was recog-
nized by mining men. Silver Plume and
Brownville prospered and grew until they now
aggregate a population of fifteen hundred, which
is essentially composed of miners. The Joe
Reynolds Lodes were discovered on Columbian
Mountain. Theunusual richness of the ore con-
tained in these lodes incited prospecting, and,
as a result, a mining camp sprung up on Silver
Creek. A lively competition among ore buyers
insured the highest market rates to miners. An
excellent system of city water-works was intro-
duced at Georgetown. Hydraulic placer mining
was commenced by a company on the rich aurif-
erous deposits on Silver Mountain, near Em-
pire. Lodes which, years ago, were aban-
doned as unprofitable, owing to high rates of
freight and wages, etc., were re-located and re-
muneratively worked. Miners’ disputes were
left to the decision of judges instead of the
force ofarms. “ Salting” and forcibly “jumping”
claims became matters of history only. A gen-
eral desire to consolidate groups of veins and
work them collectively became a conspicuous
feature. Here the past insensibly merges into
the present.
| within a period of two years, or even less, be
transformed into a miniature city ; and this, in
primeval wildness. No better illustration of
this feature can he given than that furnished by
Leadville. In 1860 and 1861, California Gulch
was nearly as thickly populated as it is at the
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY. 287
present day. For fifteen years subsequent to
this, it was almost uninhabited, when the human
tide again turned and a prosperous and popu-
lous city sprung up as if by magic. ;
Although Clear Creek County furnishes but
a meager comparison, quantitively considered,
with the changes just cited, it has seen many
mutations of this description which have af-
forded uncommon facilities for speculation in
town lots, some of which were mentioned in the
preceding chapter. Several of the mining
camps which were duly surveyed and assumed
metropolitan airs from fifteen to twenty years
‘ago, are now entirely forgotten, the files of the
newspapers published at that time furnishing
the only records of their existence, and of the
blighted hopes of the modern Remuses who
founded them. The sources of their existence
were not permanent, and their inhabitants mi-
grated to other fields. In some instances, the
conditions which produced them were not thor-
oughly understood, and, after a period of com-
parative dormancy, they are again the scenes of
life, activity and progress. A brief descrip-
tion of the towns and villages in the county will
now be given in the order of their importance.
The salient features connected with their growth
were recorded in the general progress of the
county. Nothing but their present condition
remains to be mentioned, casting such retro-
spective glances as unintentional omissions may
have rendered necessary.
GEORGETOWN.
Georgetown is the county seat of Clear Creek
County, and is located at the junction of West
Branch and Leavenworth Creek, which unite in
the center of the town, forming the South Branch
of South Clear Creek. Its altitude is 8,514 feet
above tide level. The town survey includes an
area of a Jittle over 637 acres, and averages over
half a mile in width by about one and a half
miles in length. The central portion of the
town is comparatively level, but the sides, and |
particularly the upper end, rest on the taluses
that flank the bases of the mountains that
bound the town on three sides. These are Grif-
fith on the east, Burrell on the south and Re-
publican on the west. Douglas Mountain, three
miles to the north, limits the view in that direc-
tion. These mountain slopes are barren and
precipitous, both in appearance and reality, ris-
ing to avisible height of from fifteen hundred
to two thousand feet, their summits, which
cannot be seen from Georgetown, running up
and back at least fifteen hundred feet higher.
The best idea of their altitude and proximity
may be formed from the fact that from this
source the average daily duration of sunshine
is curtailed five to six hours.
Compared with those of other mountain towns,
the streets of Georgetown are quite regular,
though they conform, in a few instances, to the
course of the creek. A feeling of seclusion is
usually experienced by strangers on their first
arrival, so deeply is the “Silver Queen” held
in the rugged embrace of the eternal hills. A
beautiful grove of pines decks the talus on the
eastern verge of the town, at the foot of Grif-
fith Mountain. With this exception, however,
the town is almost devoid of arborescent garni-
ture. The buildings, both public and private,
are mainly frame structures; brick is used to
some extent, and stone, the most abundant ma-
terial, still less. The foremost structures of
the latter type are the stables and- business
office recently erected by Gen. W. A. Hamill, in
the rear of his handsome residence on Argentine
street. There are numerous private residences
throughout the town which possess considerable
architectural beauty, but, as a rule, the comple-
ments of gardens and flowers are usually lack-
ing ; the presence of granitic bowlders through-
out the main part of the town rendering this
object unattainable, except at great expense.
Several acres of deciduous shrubs and trees
were carefully fenced in a number of years ago,
by R. O. Old, Esq., at his residence in lower
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288 HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
in a wilderness of rocks and detritus.
Although the summer seasons and the hours
per day of sunshine in Georgetown are compara-
tively brief,it is by no means an undesirable place
forresidence. The air is elastic and bracing, and
the temperature is usually agreeable. For two
hours after the morning sun impinges its first
tosy beams on the apparent summit of Repub-
lican Mountain—which is but an hour’s climb
distant—Georgetown remains immersed in the
shadow of Griffith Mountain, while the clearly
marked line between the light and shade crawls
slowly down the slope of Mount Republican.
In the evening, this is reversed. The sun slips
behind the westerly mountain, and the sunlight
gradually fades on Mount Griffith, until it
dies in a farewell of glory on its bald and
rounded pate. The effect of moonlight on
the crags and peaks is singularly weird and
ghostly.
The principal and most conspicuous building
in Georgetown is the public schoolhouse. This
is built of brick, contains seven rooms, afford-
ing accommodation for more than 300 pupils,
and is a handsome and commodious structure.
It was built in 1874. It is well lighted and
ventilated, and the heating apparatus is perfect.
Its use has proven it to be not a whit too large
for its object. It is a matter of regret to the
citizens of Georgetown, that the next largest
and finest building in town—Cushman’s Opera
House, a large three-story brick building—is
now nothing but a massive monument of inefti-
cient workmanship, the building having been re-
cently condemned by the city authorities as un-
safe for the purpose for which it was designed.
The town hall and court house are both frame
buildings. Utility and convenience have not
been sacrificed to elegance in either instance,
particularly in the former. It serves well
enough, however, for the discussion of the
questions of municipal reform which are occa-
sionally brought before Georgetown’s paternal
town, and the result is a very conspicuous oasis |
guardians. The county jail is another structure
that claims a passing mention. It contains
five sleeping apartments, vulgarly termed
“cells,” and a sitting-room of meager propor-
tions. It is unoccupied at the present time.
The tempting opportunities of escape offered to
its inmates have several times resulted in a
general exodus. The new bell tower on Mary
street, behind the Alpine Hose Company’s house,
is a very conspicuous and useful edifice. Itis
seventy feet in height and supports a 1,200-
pound fire-bell, donated to the city by Gen. W.
A. Hamill. Immediately beneath the bell is a
room for the night watchman. The traveling
theatrical troupes that visit the town perform
in McClellan’s Opera House, which has a seat-
ing capacity of over 300.
Probably the best criterion of the progress
and permanency of a town is furnished by the
reports of its public schools. Without doubt
the Georgetown public school is one of the most
successful institutions of the kind in the State.
From the first little log cabin in which the un-
fortunate Miss Lander ruled over a handful of
young mountaineers to the elegant brick edifice
with corresponding appointments of to-day, the
growth has been steady and permanent: Mr,
Frank R. Carpenter, a gentleman of rare: tuto-
rial ability, was the first Principal of the school
‘after the completion of the present building.
Two years later, he was elected to the office of
County Superintendent of Public Instruction,
which office he held until the installation of Mr.
Harrison Montague, of Idaho Springs, the pres-
ent Superintendent, which occurred in Janu-
ary of the current year. After Mr. Carpenter’s
resignation of the position of principal teacher,
Mr. A. E. Chase officiated in that capacity with
credit to himself, profit to his pupils and satis-
faction to the public, until the past winter, when
he resigned in favor of Mr. Henry Jane, who
was succeeded by Mr. J. B. Baker, the present
Principal. A condensed summary of the report
of the Georgetown Public School for the year
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY. 289
ending August 31, 1879, gives the following re-
sults: School census, 572; pupils enrolled,
450; average daily attendance, 300; average
cost per month for each pupil, $1.79 ; total
receipts, $11,534.61 ; teachers’ wages, $6,539.-
50; current expenses, $1,317.64; balance on
hand, $3,455.34. During the school year just
passed, there has been a slight improvement in
attendance.
Georgetown contains five churches—Method-
ist, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic
and Congregational. The last of these is rented
to the society of Christians, which ' numbers
about twenty-five members ; Elder W. H. Will-
jams, Pastor. The Methodists constitute an
active and prosperous organization. * The fol-
lowing history of this zealous society is fur-
nished by Dr. W. A. Burr, an active member of
the Georgetown church, and is cheerfully pub-
lished, verbatim :
“As early as 1864 the first organization of
Methodists was effected in Clear Creek County.
Characteristic of this body of Christian workers,
they were here with ‘the first pioneers. In 1864,
Rev. B. T. Vincent, then stationed at Central,
came to Georgetown and organized a class with
Mr. Plummer as leader, and James Henwood,
Mrs. George Reynolds, Mrs. Simmons, Mrs.
Plummer, Mrs. Green, Mr. and Mrs. Porrigo, and
Peter J. Smith as members. This class held
weekly meetings in Mr. Plummer’s log dwelling,
on Main street, below Mr. Tucker's store. Of
this pioneer class, Mrs. George Reynolds, only,
is still living in Georgetown.
“During this same year, 1864, the Colorado
Conference meeting in Denver organized the
Empire Circuit, comprising Empire, Upper Kim-
pire, Mill City, Idaho and Georgetown, and ap-
pointed the Rev. Charles King to the work, who
occasionally preached in Georgetown at Plum-
mer’s. He located in Empire, where a small
church building was erected. This same build-
ing was subsequently moved to Georgetown,
and for a short time used by the Baptists, also,
more or less by the Methodists, as a place for
worship. :
“Jn 1865 Rev. George Richardson succeeded
Chailes King, when, Empire declining, George-
town was made the headquarters for the county,
where the pastor moved and took up his resi-
dence. For a few Sabbaths, services were held
in Bramel’s Hall, Rose street, afterward at
Monti’s Hall. During this time William M.
Smith was Presiding Elder.
“The first Sunday school was organized in
1865, in Georgetown, and held in a log cabin
on Rose street. Dr. J. E. Wharton, one of the
editors of the Miner at that time, was the first
Superintendent.
“During these early times Peter J. Smith, a:
local preacher, used to preach occasionally.
Having no bell to summon the people to serv-
ice, it was the custom, of this quaint old man,
to give a few blasts upon a long tin horn ora
conch shell, to call the people together.
«W. A. Amsbary succeeded George Richard-
son, after whom came the Rev. George Murray
in 1869. By this time, the society had become
quite considerable in numbers, including several
prominent business men of the rapidly growing
“Silver Queen” City. At this early day, many,
not actual members, neither professed Chris-
tians of any denomination, lent a helping hand,
re-ognizing the beneficent influence of a church
in the community.
‘While George Murray was Pastor, the pres-
ent edifice was erected at a cost of about $8,000,
everything being very expensive at that early
day. Within the last year, this building was
added to, so that now it has a seating capacity
of nearly four hundred. Just previous to the
completion of this edifice in 1869, services
were held for a short time in what is now
known as Reynolds’ Hall, situated on Main
street—the same building first built in Empire
in 1864.
“During these early days, E. Trudall, John
Cree, James Barton, D. T. Griffith and wife,
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
James Kempton and wife and Mrs. George
Reynolds stood by and aided the church, most
of whom still live in Georgetown.
“Jn 1870, I. H. Beardsley was appointed Pas-
tor ; at which time Rev. B. T. Vincent was Pre-
siding Elder.
“Tn 1872, T. R. Slicer was appointed Pastor,
and G. H. Adams, Presiding Elder. G. H.
Adams was continued as Presiding Elder of the
district until 1876, when he was succeeded by
Dr. B. F. Crary, who filled the position with
_ability until the General Conference of 1880
called him tobe editor of the California Advocate.
“T. R. Slicer, remaining but afew months, was
succeeded in the work at Georgetown by Dr. R.
L. Herford, whose term expiring in 1874, C. W.
Blodgett was pastor for two years; then W. A.
Dotson for a few months, who, being compelled
to leave on account of ill health, was followed
by D. H. Snowdon. In 1877, the Rev. O. L.
Fisher came to Georgetown and remained until
appointed by the Board of Bishops in June,
1880, to succeed Dr. B. F. Crary as Presiding
Elder of the Northern District. During O. L.
Fisher’s pastorate, the society increased in num-
bers and spirituality ; the church building was
enlarged and otherwise greatly improved, and
the beneficent influences of the society extended
generally. At the present writing, June, 1880,
Rev. John Wilson is Pastor, having been ap-
pointed to fill the vacancy occasioned by the
promotion of the Rev. O. L. Fisher.
“During these years of organization and
work, services have been held at other places,
more or less, throughout the county ; at Silver
Dale, Silver Plume and Brownville, at Empire
and Lawson and Mill City and Idaho Springs.
“Tn 1876, a comfortable frame building was
erected in Silver Plume, services held there,
more or less, until 1877, when it became a sta-
tion, and J. F. White was appointed to the work,
succeeded by John Stocks in 1879.
“Also, at Idaho Springs, services were held,
more or less, by O. L. Fisher and others until
1879, when J. F. White was appointed to the
work. Here the society has secured desirable
lots, and is preparing to erect a suitable build-
ing thereon. They formerly worshiped in the
Presbyterian Church.
“In general, the church is prosperous through-
out the county. There are three stationed pas-
tors—one at Georgetown, one at Silver Plume
and one at Idaho Springs—who hold services at
other places more or less. At all these places
there are flourishing Sunday schools. Total
membership in the county, two hundred ; tutal
value of church property, about $10,000.”
The Presbyterian Church was organized in
1869, and in 1874 a stone church was built on
Taos street. This has a seating capacity of
two hundred and twenty-five persons, and is
elegantly furnished. The membership is about
sixty, with an average congregation of from one
hundred and fifty to two hundred worshipers.
The Rey. E. H. Curtis is the present Pastor, and
Prof. A. E. Chase is the Superintendent of the
Sabbath school, which numbers about one_hun-
dred and twenty-five scholars.
The Episcopal Church is a neat frame build-
ing near the Barton House. This organization
commenced its labors in 1867, under the rector-
ship of the Rev. F. W. Winslow. Since .aat
time, the following reverend gentlemen have
officiated as Rectors in the order in which they
are given: Courtland Whitehead, Gustavus
Mayen, T. J. French, Walter H. Moore, S. C.
Blackiston, E. L. Green, Gabriel Johnson, C0. H.
Marshall and W. P. Case, the last named being
the present Rector. The church was first erected
in 1869, but, by a strange fatality and a re-
morseless hurricane, it was blown down on
Thanksgiving Day of the same year.
subsequently rebuilt, however, and, in 1877, a
large pipe organ became a part of the church
property. There are now about seventy-five
communicants.
“The Church of our Lady of Lourdes,” the
Roman Catholic place of worship, is in a very
It was:
oe
Y
=e
oe
~4___9
. HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
291
v
prosperous condition and has a rather interest-
ing history. When Georgetown was first laid
out, a number of prospectors who were believers
in the Catholic faith, secured a block of ground
250 feet square, on each side'of Main street, and
donated the same to their church. The Rev.
Thomas Foley was the first Pastor, and he con-
ducted divine service in different halls in George-
town. In 1872, the Rev. Thomas McGrath was
appointed to this district, and under his admin-
istration a small wooden church was erected.
In 1875, a fine brick church was built atan ex-
pense of $12,000. This has a seating capacity
of four hundred, and is a credit to the associa-
tion, the membership of which is about four
hundred. A suitable residence for the Priest is
now in process of building behind the church.
A new fifteen-hundred-pound bell was placed
in the tower during the month of September of
the present year. The Rev. N. Metz, a most
earnest and persistent worker, is the present
Priest.
Georgetown possesses, without doubt, the
best system of water-works in the State. The
Clear Creek Water Company was organized in
1874, and now owns about two miles of six-inch
and four-inch mains. The clear, cold waters,
direct from the snowy range, furnish a never-
failing supply. At the head of the mains is a
65x75 feet reservoir, and, also, a filter 12x20
feet in horizontal measurement, and sixteen feet
deep. Mr. A. R. Forbes is the President of the
company, having occupied that position since
its inception.
With such a complete system of water-works,
it is natural to expect that the Fire Department
is correspondingly excellent. Such is the case.
It has already earned a world-wide reputation
for speed and proficiency at the annual tourna-
ments which have beenso popular of late years.
The department consists of four companies ;
The Alpine Hose Company ; the Star Hook &
Ladder Company; the Hope Hose Company
and the Georgetown Fire & Hose Company No.
1. The Alpines organized in November, 1874.
In August, 1877, at the first tournament held
under the auspices of the State Association,
which took place in Georgetown, they ran 700
’ feet with a hose cart carrying 250 feet of hose, in
twenty-nine and three-fourths seconds, winning
first prize, consisting of a silver tea-set and a
brass cannon. In October, of the same year,
this race was again run between the Bates Hose
Company of Denver and the Alpines of George-
town, again resulting in a victory for the latter.
Time, twenty-six and three-fourths seconds. On
the 4th of July, 1879, they took first prize at
both the hook and ladder and hose races, win-
ning $150 in gold. This contest was with the
other Georgetown companies. On September
29, 1879, at the State tournament held in Den-
ver, they again took the first prize in the hose
race, running 500 feet to hydrant, making at-
tachment, unreeling 200 feet of hose, breaking,
coupling, attaching nozzle, and getting water in
thirty-five and one-fourth seconds, this being
the fastest time on record for that kind ofa
race.
The Star Hook & Ladder Company was or-
ganized in 1874, and early acquired a reputa-
tion for dexterity and speed. A list of the
prizes won by this company, furnished by the
company’s Secretary, B. C. Catren, Jr., shows a
record that the members can review with unus-
ual satisfaction. Among the prizes is a beau-
tiful silk flag, presented by the ladies of George-
town to the fastest team running in a straight-
away race. A silver trumpet was won two
years in succession. On August 14, 1877, the
company took a prize in the State Tournament
at Georgetown, given to the fastest hook and
ladder team. In July, 1878, they won $50 in
gold at the tournament at Cheyenne, which was
open to Colorado and Wyoming. On August
13, 1878, they gained the champion belt of the
State at the State Tournament, held at Pueblo,
and a prize of $75 in gold. At that time they
also won a prize offered to the slowest team,
oer
Vv
apy o
ek
its)
292
HISTORY OF
CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
which was a very passable “burro.” The boys
won it legitimately, and it was brought to
Georgetown profusely decorated with ribbons.
On July 5 of the present year (1880), they were
tied by the Alpines in the hook and ladder
race at Georgetown, and the prize of $125 was
divided between these two companies.
Secretaries of the Hope Hose Company and
the Georgetown Fire and Hose Company No.1,
have not reported. These are both active com-
panies, however, and are ever on the alert at
the time that is the best test of their proficien-
cy—in case of fire. The Alpines and George-
town Fire Companies each have commodious
hose-houses, while the Stars and Hopes use the
lower story of town-hall.
The ordinary water pressure is about fifty
pounds to the square inch ; but, in case of fire,
the water-power of the Clear Creek Reducing
Company’s works is turned on, and a pressure
of 150 pounds to the square inch is thus gained.
There are sixteen hydrants throughout the
town. The hose companies have a full supply
of hose and material, and more is added as it
becomes necessary. Dr. R. B. Weiser is the
Chief of the Department.
A number of secret and benevolent soci-
eties are represented in Georgetown. Wash-
ington Lodge, No. 12, A.,F. & A. M., dates
from October 7, 1867, and is in a flourishing
condition, possessing about ninety members.
The lodge meets on the second and fourth Sat-
urdays of each month. The following are the
principal officers: Hrnest Le Neve Foster, W.
M.; A. K. White, 8. W.; William E. Barton,
J.W.; Henry C. Bates, Secretary. George-
town Chapter No. 4, R. A. M., was organized
May 11, 1875. It has forty-two members, and
meets the third Saturday of each month. Offi-
cers: George H. Sites, M. E. H. P.; Charles
R. Fish, E. K.; W. W. Criley, E. 8.; Ernest
Le Neve Foster, Secretary. The Georgetown
Commandery of Knights Templar, U. D., is of
recent origin, and numbers twenty-two members.
It is officered as follows: J. R. Hambel, EH. C.; |-
Thomas Cornish, G.; Warren M. Fletcher, C.
G.; R. A. Pomeroy, 8. W.; C. H. Jacobson, I.
W.; Ed C. Parmelee, P.; W. W. Ware, Re- -
corder.
The Georgetown Lodge, No. 5, IO. O. F,,
meets every Saturday evening. Fred G. Gall,
N. G.; BR. B. Glaze, Secretary. Harmony
Lodge, No. 18, I. 0. O. F., convenes every
Tuesday evening. Jacob Snetzer, N. G.; W.
T. Reynolds, Secretary.
Other societies in Georgetown are Columbia
Ledge, No. 7, Knights of Pythias; German
Benevolent Society of Georgetown ; Silver Star
Lodge, No.7, Independent Order of Good Tem-
plars, and Court Silver Queen, No. 6,620, the
latter being a recent organization.
A public hospital was opened in Georgetown
during July of the present year. This was
started and will be supported by voluntary
contributions, nearly $1,000 having been do-
nated by the citizens of Georgetown for this
purpose. It is under the direction of the Sis-
ters of St. Joseph, but is entirely free from
sectarian influence. The sisters in question
have had a long experience in nursing the sick.
The population of Georgetown, as shown by
the census taken in June of the present year,
is 3,256. Of this number nearly one-third are
voters.
The Barton, American and Myton Houses
are the principal hotels of the town. The Bar-
ton ranks first in size and style, and, conse-
quently, in prices, and has accommodation for
125 guests. W. HE. Barton, proprietor. The
American House—Woodward & McGuire, pro-
prietors—can make fifty guests feel perfectly
at home, and has a large patronage, which is
justly merited.
1DAHO SPRINGS.
As a place of residence, Idaho Springs is by
far the most agreeable town in the county. It
is located fourteen miles easterly from George-
9
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4
HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
293
town, and thirty-five miles westerly from Den-
ver. The number of inhabitants is 718, accord-
ing to the official enumeration made in June
last.
population is steadily increasing.
The rugged precipices which characterize
Georgetown scénery are replaced at Idaho
Springs, by hills of less magnitude and auster-
ity. The valley at this point has an east-and-
west course, so that the morning and evening
sun smiles on the town with less interruption
than would otherwise be the case. The little
park in which it is built is one and a half miles
in length, and less than half a mile in width.
At the upper end of the town, and on its south
side, Chicago Creek debouches into Clear Creek,
forming a wide rift in the surrounding hills.
Half a mile lower down, and on the same side,
Soda Creek commingles with the waters of the
main stream. Immediately north of the town
is the foot of Virginia Cafion, through which
a wagon-road, following the sinuosities of the
gulch, leads to Central, a distance of six some-
what attenuated miles. This affords one of the
most delightful drives imaginable, and the head
of the. cafion, looking south, presents to view
a singular amphitheater of mountains of an
endless diversity of shapes, conspicuous among
which are the Old Chief, Squaw and Papoose.
The streets are comparatively level and ree-
ular, and a number of them are beautifully
shaded by colonnades of thrifty aspens and
cottonwoods, which are irrigated by numerous
ditches brought in from Clear Creek. Many
handsome residences have been recently built,
and others are in process of erection. Possibly
no better proof of the desirability of Idaho
Springs as a point of permanent residence can
be urged than the fact that a number of gentle-
men of wealth and culture, from both Hast and
West, have exchanged homes of elegance and
luxury in populous cities for the pure mount-
ain air and pleasant surroundings of the little
town that has been not inaptly termed the
It is growing rapidly, however, and the.
ue Saratoga of the West.” The evident deter-
mination of these gentlemen to make this their
future home, is a compliment to the attractions
of the place, increasing the stability of the
town, and improving its social status.
The principal hotel is the Beebee House,
which is first-class in every respect, and as
homelike as any house for the accommodation
of the public can possibly be. It has accom-
modation for about seventy-five guests, having,
in addition to the main building, a number of
cottages connected therewith, which are stead-
ily occupied by tourists during the summer
season. The Hotel de Paris, a large building
erected during the present summer, was totally
destroyed by fire on the 3lst of August.
The Masonic brotherhood is represented by
Idaho Springs Lodge,*A., F. & A. M., No. 26.
A number of other societies are in existence.
The educational facilities are all that can be
desired under the present circumstances, but,
if the town continues to grow as it has done
for the past year, additional room will be re-
quired. During last school year, 108 pupils
were enrolled, and the average daily attendance
was 70.7, the whole number of school children
in the district being 213.
The Idaho Springs Hook & Ladder Company
is one of the most practical organizations of the
kind in the State. It has never yet attended
a State tournament without winning a prize of
some description, At the State tournament
held at Denver on the 10th day of August of
the present year, 1880, the team sent down by
this company run the hook and ladder race in
twenty-six seconds, this being within half a
second of the fastest time on record in the State.
There is room for improvement in the system
of water-works possessed by the town. It has
been proposed to bring water from Soda or Chi-
cago Creek into a reservoir, to be built on the
base of Flirtation Peak—a bold hill to the south
of the town—whence the town could be thor-
oughly supplied. It is highly probable that
oC
Y
ae
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294
HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
this proposition will shortly be put into execu-
tion, as the necessities of the town require it,
and the citizens of Idaho are keenly alive to
their interests.
The mineral springs that gave the town its
name are of the alkaline-sulphur class. There
are six in number, all located on the banks of
Soda Creek, within a short distance of its con-
fluence with Clear Creek, and but a few min-
utes’ walk from the Beebee House. They were
discovered as early as 1860, though but little
attention was paid to them for a number of
years. In 1863, Dr. E. 8. Cummings erected a
small bath-house and retained possession of the
springs property until 1866, at which time it
passed into the hands of its present owner, Mr.
H. Montague. .
The bathing accommodations at this date
consist of two swimming baths—the Mammoth
and the Ocean—and seven private or tub baths,
fitted up with shower baths and all necessary
appurtenances. The Mammothis 30x50 feet in
size and five feet deep, and the Ocean is 20x40
feet and four feet deep. The different springs
vary in temperature from 75 to 120 degrees,
and the supply of water is sufficient for ten
times the present number of baths. Carbonate
of soda and sulphate of soda are the predomi-
nant minerals held in solution, as will be seen
by the following table of the chemical constitu-
ents contained in a gallon of water :
Grains.
Carbonate of Soda..........seccceseessssececescecsessoesee 30.80
Carbonate of Lime..........csecccccessssesesecceceueseecs 9.52
Carbonate of Magnesia.........cccsccccceeeccneeceeeneee 2.80
Carbonate of Tron.........cccccsecesssecesccsaseccuseevece
Chlorides of Calcium and Magnesium, of each a
trace
107.00
The above analysis was made by J. G. Pohle,
analytical chemist, who says: “ Waters of this
alkaline class occasionally contain iodine and
bromine, but the small amount of water at my
disposal prevented me from making an exami-
nation for these substances. The medicinal
characteristics of this spring are antacid, alter-
ative, and in many cases slightly laxative. Its
external use as a bath will be found beneficial
in cases of rheumatism and diseases of the skin.”
The most exhaustive and scientific work on
the mineral springs of the United States was
compiled, during the last decade, by George H.
Walton, an eminent physician of Cincinnati. A
special mention, in this work, of the springs of
Idaho, says: “They are valuable waters—es-
pecially useful in rheumatism, cutaneous dis-
eases, contraction of joints, etc.”
Of the value of these mineral waters in rheu-
matic affections, indisputable local testimony is
furnished. The exhilarating effect of these
baths renders their use pleasurable and health-
ful at all seasons of the year, and for this rea-
son they are largely patronized by the perma-
nent residents of the town. “In chemical in-
gredients and temperature,” says the author
above quoted, “these waters are of the nature
of the celebrated Carlsbad waters, in-Bohemia.”
They are highly charged with carbonic acid,
and many drink the waters with evident relish,
although to do so the taste must be acquired.
A few hundred feet north of the hot springs
is a cold spring, which is similar in its chemical
composition to those already described. This
water is highly prized as a medicinal beverage,
and is kept at the principal hotel, the Beebee,
for the use of guests of the house. These
springs, both hot and cold, are steadily growing
in public favor, and the day is not far distant
when Idaho Springs will become one of the
most popular watering-places on the continent.
The mines in the immediate neighborhood of
Idaho have been brought greatly into promi-
nence of late. Some of the first discoveries in
the county were made in that vicinity. This
subject will be further treated in a list of the
principal mines in the county.
or
a)
4
4
HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY. 295
SILVER PLUME AND BROWNVILLE.
Although these mining camps differ in name,
their juxtaposition and general similarity,
coupled with their identical interests, renders a
common description appropriate.
Silver Plume is something less than two
miles from Georgetown, in a westerly direction,
lying on the route of the “high line” stage road
to Leadville. Itis built in the heart of one of
the richest silver mining districts in Colorado,
some of the heaviest producing mines in the
county being in plain view of the town.
On the north; Republican Mountain, its southern
slope nearly covered with immense dump-piles,
stretches grandly up into the sky, its rocky peak
being distinctly visible from the streets. To
the south, McClellan Mountain overlooks Silver
Plume with uncommon austerity, its surface,
which is unprofitable, and barren of silver lodes,
being fearfully rugged and precipitous.
Brownville commences farther up the gulch,
where Silver Plume ends, the division of the
two school districts being on the line of the
Burleigh Tunnel. This is near the upper limit
of the lake formation just mentioned, so that
Brownville is considerably narrower in dimen-
sions than Silver Plume, both towns being
strung along the gulch for a length of one and
a half miles.
The population of the two villages is over
1,600. Of this number, 340 are between the
ages of 6 and 21 years. The population is
mainly composed of Cornish miners and their
families—a thrifty and industrious class of peo-
ple. The altitude is about 9,000 feet, yet even
at this elevation a few of the hardiest vegeta-
bles are successfully grown. Many neat, and
even elegant, private dwellings constitute the
homes of miners and others who by patient in-
dustry, often aided by luck, pure and simple,
have amassed competencies.
The Roman Catholic and Methodist denomi-
nations both have neat places of worship, which
are well attended. All the innocent social
gatherings common throughout the country
which tend to break the monotony of every-day
life, are extensively patronized at Silver Plume
and Brownville, where there is a commendable
tendency to take matters happily and make the
most of existence. The educational facilities
are excellent, there being a schoolhouse at each
point. Silver Plume, it must be understood, is
the larger of the two places, where are located
the post office and the principal business houses.
Each has a schoolhouse, however, that at Silver
Plume requiring two teachers, and having an
average daily attendance of one hundred and
‘twenty pupils, against twenty-six at Brown-
ville.
The Odd Fellows, Foresters and Good Tem-
plars have organizations at this point, their
meetings being held in appropriate halls, one or
more of which have been erected solely for this
purpose.
EMPIRE.
The early history of Empire was noticed in
the general review of the county. It now con-
tains about two hundred and fifty inhabitants,
including ranchmen and woodsmen and their
families residing in the immediate vicinity.
It is most delightfully located on a gentle slope
to the south, near the junction of Bard Creek
and the North Fork of South Clear Creek, to-
gether with one or more minor streams ; there-
sult being an irregular park of considerable
extent, a fair proportion of which is cultivated
or fenced in for pasturage. The altitude of
Empire is about the same as that of George-
town, from which it is distant about four miles,
the route crossing a secondary range of mount-
ains via Union Pass, which affords a never-
wearying view of the picturesque valley on
either hand. Itis the home of several of the
earliest pioneers in the county, Judge H. C.
Cowles and David J. Ball being two of the most
prominent. It contains but one hotel, the Peck
House, one of the most home-like and best hos-
telries in the State. Itis kept by Frank L. Peck,
Pp
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296
HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
and during the summer season caters to the
wants of tourists and others who can fully ap-
preciate the comforts of a good hotel situated
in the midst of characteristic Rocky Mountain
scenery. Here is located the County Poor-House,
which is under the direction of Dr. Joseph Van
de Voort, the County Physician, and is but
poorly patronized—the business being, as a
rule, barely a sufficient excuse for keeping the
house open.
Empire does not make any great architectural
display. The private dwellings are as practical
as their tenants, and the public buildings con-
sist of a frame schoolhouse with accommoda-
tions for fifty pupils, and an Episcopal Church,
which is now used as a place of worship by the
Methodists, the active members of this denom-
ination numbering forty-six. The public school
is now in progress, with an average daily attend-
ance of about forty pupils. :
LAWSON
is a small mining camp, located six miles below
Georgetown, on the Colorado Central Railroad.
It owes its existence to tre Red Elephant group
of mines, which were discovered in 1876. Pre-
vious to that date, it consisted solely of a way-
side inn, known by the name of the “Six-Mile
House,” which was well patronized by the nu-
merous teamsters that plied a lively and profit-
able business before the advent of the railroad.
This was kept by Alex. Lawson, to whom the
village is indebted for its name.
Upon the discoveries of the mines just men-
tioned, the town sprung into existence at once.
The following year the railroad was built
through the place. Since its inception, its
growth has been but slight, as the mines in
question, which are less than a mile distant,
gradually drew the population on to Red Ele-
phant Mountain, as being more convenient for
the employes, and, in due time, a post office
was established at that point. In the same
manner, and at the same time, the little camp
on Silver Creek, about one and a half miles
from Lawson, in the opposite direction to Red
Elephant Mountain, had a retarding influence,
so that the village remained about stationary.
It has an excellent schoolhouse, built by sub-
scription of the citizens, with a daily attend-
ance of about twenty-five pupils. This serves
equally well as a place of Divine worship,
which is held there every Sunday. The school
census in this district numbers about seventy-
five. Two to three stores and saloons consti-
tute the business houses.
DUMONT, .
which is located two miles lower down the
cajion, is a rejuvenated municipality under a
new name. Until June, 1880, it was known as
Mill City. Postal facilities having been re-
stored at that time, its original cognomen was
changed to avoid confusion with another camp
of that name in Colorado, its present name
being given in honor of John M. Dumont, one
of the early pioneers and prominent men of the
county. At the ‘present time, the population
is about one hundred. The hamlet comprises
two hotels, one of which is of recent construc-
tion, and a general supply store, such as are
usually found in camps of similar dimensions,
where a little of everything and not much of
anything is offered for sale. Dumont has re-
ceived a vigorous impetus the present season
from the consolidation of, and resumption of
work on, mining claims which had been dor-
mant for years, and an encouraging amount of
building is in progress. 4
Silver Dale is a straggling aggregation of
log cabins and other buildings on the road to
Argentine Pass, about two miles from George-
town. It depends mainly on the great mines
of Leavenworth Mountain, which it closely ad-
joins, for its prosperity. A district school is
sometimes kept, but this can scarcely be con-
sidered a permanent institution. The popula-
tion is about seventy-five.
or
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4
4
HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY. 299
The mining village at the head of Geneva
Gulch is, perhaps, the only remaining camp
worthy of enumeration. It isa mining camp
in every sense of the word, and the principal
part of the population consists of adult males
employed at the surrounding mines. It is
fourteen miles from Georgetown via Argentine
Pass. This route, however, is impassable dur-
ing the winter season. Down through Geneva
Park to Grant, on the South Park Railroad, is
another and more convenient outlet. It is sit-
uated at timber line, and is, therefore, not less
than 11,000 feet above sea level.
This finishes the list. Brookvale, which is
the most intrinsically lovely spot in the county,
can scarcely be classed in this chapter, although
a school district is organized at that point.
“Sisty’s Hotel, kept by State Fish Commis-
sioner W. E. Sisty, is the nucleus of the dis-
trict, and one of the most agreeable summer
residences in the mountains. This place, al-
though lying in Clear Creek County, is not,
strictly speaking, a portion of the Clear Creek
Valley, Bear Creek, on which it is located, run-
ning directly to the Platte River.
CHAPTER IV.
MINING FOR THE PRECIOUS METALS.
FISSURE VEINS.
N preceding chapters, frequent allusion has
been made to the growth and progress of the
mining industry of Clear Creek County. Its
present status and importance, with results of
past operations, and the modus operandi of
mining for the precious metals, have scarcely
been mentioned. It may be well to remark at
the commencement that this is a topic requiring
more scope in its delineation than can be fur-
nished in this work. The reader will, therefore
please consider the restrictions alluded to a
sufficient apology for the cursory manner in
which the subject is treated.
The mineral belt which has given Clear Creek
and several adjoining counties a world-wide rep-
utation as producers of gold and silver, runs
parallel with the main range of the Rocky
Mountains, northeasterly and southwesterly,
and the separate veins, which may be considered
the component parts of one great system, usu-
ally run in the same direction. There are, how-
ever, numerous lodes, which run counter to the
majority, and equally at variance with certain
scientific theories regarding the courses of true,
metalliferous fissure veins. Indeed these rules
are so often and soopenly violated, that science
stands aghast, and feels the necessity of adopt-
ing a new system, or attaching a long list of
exceptions to the old one. This statement is
made with a full appreciation of the great value
of the scientific experiments and appliances
which have aided so materially in the extraction
and subsequent treatment of our ores, without
which the mining interests of Clear Creek
County would have remained embryonic and
unimportant. Notwithstanding this, the vaga-
ries of the mineral veins in this county are often
so extraordinary, and sometimes so unaccount-
able, as to throw dust into the inquiring eyes of
the votaries of science.
The majority of the lodes in this county are
fissure veins, varying widely in width, course,
pitch, density of the crevice material, and in the
quantity, character and value of the ores that
they carry. As the country formation is mainly,
if not wholly, granitic and gneissic, traversed
by numerous porphyritic dykes, there are no
contact veins ; consequently, there are no car-
bonate deposits, a fact that is not to be regretted.
vv
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300 HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
The great variation in the character and qual-
ity of the mineral found in contiguous lodes is
wonderful; so that the proximity of an unde-
veloped lode to one of proven value, is no cri-
terion of its merit, though this is sometimes
held out as a special inducement to investors
when all other means are likely to fail. And
yet, locality is not utterly devoid of significance.
As arule, a certain mountain bears a certain
class of mineral ; but there are so many cxcep-
tions that this feature cannot be relied upon.
In order to give, at the outset, an idea of the
metalliferous properties of the veins, it is con-
venient to state that Clear Creek County’s yield
of the valuable metals prior to January 1, 1880,
was as follows .
Silver.......ccsccsssecersccseeseenecnesseeesecees $ 15,761,907.99
Gold vesasceseccsssesecseserddccneasnteorarnonsense 3,015,661.05
431,000.00
37,000.00
Total posscccssnvevasseces snasrecsrerserecees $ 19,245,569.04
These figures are copied from the latest edi-
tion of Fossett’s “ Colorado,” the most instruct-
ive and accurate work of its kind published.
It will be seen from this that the proportion of
silver produced exceeds that of gold in the ra-
tio of five to one. The true gold lodes carry
pyrite, mainly; while the argentiferous veins
carry galena, associated with which, in small
quantities, are usually the true silver ores, ‘sil-
ver glance, ruby silver, polybasite and gray cop-
per. The last named is not a true ore of silver,
but, in the genuine silver veins of Clear Creek
County, its presence is a sure indication of ore
that will run well up in the hundreds of ounces
of silver per ton. In the gold mines about
Idaho Springs, this mineral sometimes runs as
low as ninety ounces of silver per ton, though
it is always a desirable mineral. This ore is
also found in considerable quantities in the
Geneva mines, but it is of an inferior quality to
Although copper ores are found in the major-
ity of the mines—both gold and silver—they do
not often exist in profitable quantities. They
are almost invariably a good indication, how-
ever, whether occurring in gold or silver veins.
Copper pyrites is the most common form of
the solid ore, but near the surface this is often
decomposed, forming malachite and azurite,
and less frequently, black oxide of copper In
a few instances, this metal is found native. -
Zinc-blende is quite common in some of the
silver mines, and in many others it is entirely
absent. It is usually considered an adverse
indication, though a light-colored variety of
this ore, found in the Terrible, Dives und others
of the most important mines, often runs well in
silver. When of the dark, bluish black variety
termed, in miners’ parlance, “ black-jack,” it is
almost invariably worthless. The galena ores
vary greatly in the percentage of lead, the
maximum being from sixty to seventy. The
latter grade, which rarely occurs, is worth $30
per ton for the lead contained. Copper ores
are worth $2 for each per cent of copper con-
tained therein. The majority of the true ar-
gentiferous veins carry not a trace of gold, but
the gold lodes genetally yield more or less sil-
ver, and the proportion of the latter metal
usually increases as depth is gained.
Although this county possesses what are
commonly spoken of as gold and silver belts,
they should be regarded in a relative rather
than an absolute sense. The gold belt in which
Idaho Springs is located, and which extends to
and includes the great gold mines of Gilpin
County, contains many lodes which are argen-
tiferous in character. The great silver belt in
which Georgetown is situated is traversed by a
narrow belt of gold lodes that can be traced
several miles. Its auriferous character is less
decided, however, than that of the main belt.
Much of the seeming variation and irregular-
ity of the lode deposits is owing in some degree
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that produced by mines in the vicinity of
Georgetown. to the comparatively meager depth which has |||
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
801
been thus far attained. The lowest workings of
the mines in this county will not average more
than two hundred feet deep. It is highly prob-
able that further downward exploration will
result in greater regularity in the mineral de-
posits and in the grade of the ore. Experience
has already proven this. It will also result in
the centralization of numbers of lodes that seem
to have a separate existence at the surface.
This is abundantly proven by actual develop-
ment, lodes often converging toward each other
as depth is gained. af
The great difference in the pitch of Clear
Creek’s fissure veins is a somewhat interesting
study. The majority havea decided dip into the
respective mountains on which they are located,
this varying from ten to forty-five degrees from
the perpendicular, and, in some cases, being more
nearly vertical. Those of variable pitch often
unite in.descending, and, in one well-known
instance, that of the Seaton and Victor Lodes,
on Seaton Hill, near Idaho Springs, the planes
of the lodes cross each other on the dip, contin-
uing indefinitely below the point of contact.
This is of rare occurrence, however, contact
usually resulting in union below that line.
Although placer and gulch mining for gold
is still prosecuted in the vicinity of Idaho
Springs and Empire, itis of but little importance
compared with lode mining. A company is
working over the auriferous deposits on Silver
Mountain, near the latter place, with the Little
Giant hydraulic process. The financial results
of this enterprise have not been given. A
general assumption that it is successful, arises
from the fact that the work is continued from
year to year.
LODE MINING.
Lode claims in Clear Creek County, located
since May 10, 1872, are each 1,500 feet long
and 150 feet in width. Prior to that time,
various laws had been in force, one of which
allowed the locator a strip of ground 3,000
feet long by 50 feet wide. Experience shows
that the dimensions given under the present
law are much better, proportioned than the
3,000-feet claims, as some of the veins in this
district are more than fifty feet in width. Un-
der the present law, the probabilities of cover- |
ing the apex of the lode—a very important
point—are as three to one compared with the
old law, and it is very rarely that,a lode claim
only 1,500 feet long is worked its entire length.
Upon the discovery of the outcrop of a miner-
al-bearing lode, the prospector writes on a board -
or a pine stick shaved smooth for that purpose,
the name that he intends to apply to his claim,
the date of discovery, and its general direction
and dimensions. To this he appends his sig-
nature and leaves it at the discovery-shaft.
The law next requires that he shall, within
ninety days from the date of discovery, sink a
shaft on the vein not less than ten feet in:
depth, and have the claim surveyed and duly
recorded at the County Clerk’s office. Sinking
the discovery shaft costs from $30 to $100,
according to the nature of the ground; and the
surveyors’ fees, which include recording, are
from $10 to $12. After this, $100 worth of
work is required to be done on the property
each year, in order to maintain its possession to
its discoverer.
Upon the determination on the part of the
owner to procure a United States patent on the
property, he engages the services of a United
States Deputy Mineral Surveyor, who, upon an
order from the Surveyor General of Colorado,
resurveys the lode, establishes permanent cor-
ners with bearings to natural objects—a con-
spicuous cliff or pine tree—connects the survey
with a patented claim, and advertises the locat-
or’s application for patent by a notice posted on
the premises, including a plat of the survey,
and by a like notice of application in a local
newspaper. It is thus continuously advertised
for a period of sixty days, when, if no adverse
claims are made, a Receiver’s certificate is speed-
ily secured. The Surveyor’s fees for procuring
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302 HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
a patent are from $160 to $190 according to the
accessibility of the claim. This includes ad-
vertising and all other expenses, the work
involving a considerable amount of red tape
and a surprising number of “proofs” of the
‘legality of the work. Before this work can be
‘accomplished, it must be proven that not less
than $500 has been expended on the property
in labor and improvements. When the Gov-
ernment title is secured, the annual work, of
course, is no longer required. In case of an
adverse claim preferred by owners of conflict-
ing lodes, which is a somewhat common con-
tingency, the question is settled by the courts.
For further information on this subject, the
reader is referred to “ Morrison's Mining Rights,”
which is a complete compendium of the min-
ing laws applicable to this district.
As the lodes of this county are usually dis-
covered on the slopes of the mountains, the
idea of horizontal development, whether by tun
nels cutting through the country rock or by
adits on the vein, is at once suggested. Where
the latter plan can be adopted it is far prefera-
ble to any other method of exploration. The
cost of tunneling in this county ranges from
$10 to $25 per foot. This refers to an ordinary
. single-track tunnel, four or four and a half feet
wide and seven feet high. An adit of the same
dimensions would cost from $4 to $12 per lineal
foot, according to the nature of the vein-filling.
In addition to economy in drifting, an adit pos-
sesses the double advantage of continuous ex-
ploration of the lode, the ore exploited fre-
quently paying for development. As the min-
eral veins usually run parallel to the mountain
rapges on which they are located, adit explor-
ation is less common than might be supposed.
It must be borne in mind that the form of hor-
izontal development just mentioned is only
available under any circumstances, to the level
of the streams that flank the mountains on
which the lodes occur; and, in many instances,
owing to comparatively level stretches on the
sides of the mountains, not even to that depth.
For this reason, where extensive mining opera-
tions are proposed, and the advantages for hor-
izontal explorations are not uncommonly good,
the opening up of the lode by a shaft is the
most feasible and permanent method. It often
happens that a lode is worked by horizontal
avenues to a depth of from 200 to 250 feet, and
when a change is made to vertical develop-
ment it is done at great expense, and usually
necessitates the erection of underground hoist-
ing works, which is objectionable for many rea-
sons. Shaft-mining, considered apart from the
formation of the mountain where it is intended
to commence operations, should be adopted
wherever the value of the property warrants ex-
tensive exploration. Viewed from the same
standpoint, surface exploration that is done
mainly to test the worth of the lode, may often
be more economically accomplished by some
other means.
Within the past two years, several well-ap-
pointed shafts have been sunk vertically, ignor-
ing the dip of the lode. This necessitates a
cross-cut at every level, from the shaft to the
vein. This method possesses a few advantages:
over an inclined shaft sunk on the lode, but it
is not likely to be extensively adopted. In
sinking a shaft, levels are usually run on the
vein at depths of sixty feet apart. Thus far
the work is simply what is termed development.
With the work of stoping commences actual
mining—the ultimate object of all previous
labor. This is accomplished by continuously
blasting out the vein over head from one level
to the next above. The levels, or drifts, are
roofed over by immense stull timbers, fifteen
inches to two feet in diameter, which are fitted
into niches cut into the sides of the drift and
covered with lagging poles. Above this the
miners blast out the mineral and associated
rock, throwing the ore and such of the refuse
as may not be required to stand on while blast-
ing the solid vein above, through mill-holes to
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY. 803
the drift below. These mill-holes are from forty
to sixty feet apart, and are built up with loose
rocks or cribbed with short timbers as the work
of stoping progresses. From the drift, where
the ore falls from the mill-holes, the mineral is
trammed to the shaft and hoisted to the surface,
where it is usually hand-cobbed, and, in many
cases, sorted into two or three grades and
securely sewed in strong canvas sacks, holding
from forty to one hundred.and seventy pounds
of wineral each, the difference in weight lying
in the ore, which varies greatly in this respect
according to its character. It is then packed
on jacks or hauled in wagons, as the facilities
may be, to the mills, where it is crushed, sam-
pled, and thesample assayed. This determines
the silver contents of the whole lot, and a lively
competition among ore-buyers guarantees to
the miner the full market value of the product
of his labor.
Most of the mining corporations of recent
date employ miners by the day or under con-
tract. The rate per day for miners is from
$2.50 to $3. Unskilled laborers, such as tram-
mers, skip-fillers, etc., receive 50 cents per
day less. Contractors receive from $20 to $30
per fathom for stoping, the prices of drifting and
tunneling being as previously given. Sinking
ranges, from $10 to $25 per foot in proportion
to the size and depth of the shaft and the hard-
ness of the rock. A fathom of ground consists
of a section of the vein six feet high and six
feet long, irrespective of the width of the pay
vein, which is supposed to be all taken down,
whether it measures two feet or ten feet in
width.
The leasing system is gradually becoming less
in vogue. This mode consists in leasing a mine
or any portion thereof, to a party of men, gen-
erally two to six, who furnish their own tools
and blasting materials and pay the owners of
the mine from 15 to 60 per cent of the net
proceeds. This system has been ruinous to
many good mines, as, unless strict supervision
| with the farm laborer.
is maintained, it permits the lessees to slight
the proper timbering of the workings, and the
ore is gouged out at the expense of the future
development of the mine. Several valuable
properties are now lying dormant for this very
reason ;.the condition of the mines being such
that they cannot be again worked without a
great deal of expense being incurred in thor-
oughly re-timbering the workings.
There are, perhaps, but few subjects on which
the general public is more ignorant than the
vocation of a miner. There seems to be a gen-
eral belief that the men
‘‘Who open the vaults where the gold dust shines,
And give us the key to the silver mines,”
are engaged in a damp, unwholesome, arduous,
dangerous and somewhat degrading pursuit.
Nothing, however, could be farther from the
truth when applied to Clear Creek County min-
ers. Their occupation contains far less drudg-
ery than that of a. Western farmer, for instance ;
it is equally as healthful and but little more
dangerous. They work from eight to ten hours
per day at an even temperature, where the keen
breath of winter never chills them and the ener-
vating effects of the summer sun are never cx-
perienced. Accidents are quite rare, surpris-
ingly so, considering the conditions under which
some of the men work. With good ventilation
—and the exception to this in the mines under
consideration is almost unknown—stoping is
one of the most agreeable and healthful kinds
of manual labor; one that it is extremely difii-
cult to relinquish when fairly engaged in. In
intelligence, the miner compares very favorably
He has much more time
that can be devoted to intellectual improvement
and recreation, and he generally utilizes it.
The very uncertainty of the business adds to
its attractiveness. Every blast put in is a
source of expectancy, and sudden and startling
changes relieve it of aught savoring of monot-
ony. This feeling is shared to some extent by
the miner working for day’s wages, but is in-
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304
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
tensely active in the breast of a lessee. Faith is
his lode-star, and the mortification of months
of unrequited labor is always quenched in the
fountain of hope until success rewards his per-
sistent efforts.
The annual yield of the gold and silver mines
of Clear Creek County from 1859 to 1879, in-
clusive, is given by Fossett, as follows:
1859 to 1868, gold..........0.-+ .-» $2,000,000.00
1866-67, Silver........sseeeeeeeee 40,500.00
1868, silver. 141,820.35
1869, silver 400,354.00
1870, silver 481,354.08
1871, silver 869,046.34
1872, silver 1,503,891.43
1878, silver. 1,259, 761.06
1874, silver. 2,208 947.97
1875, silver 1,928,161,74
1876, silver 1,982,548.31
1877,, Si] Ver secissseccccsssesncedecresssncacnonens 2,206,577.91
1878, silver é 2,2613105.85
1879, ‘BILVOR: ceserssccsrcenesnessenevacveosessess 1,967,000.00
TOtalid scsi ccestatheuras cacdoneeeeeusetseere $19,245,569.04
After 1867, the production of gold decreased
considerably. In 1879, it was estimated at
$50,000 to $60,000. The falling off in the
total yield for that year is justly attributa-
ble to the fact that many new mining compa-
nies commenced operations here during that
year, and the out-put of several of the heaviest
producing mines was completely suspended,
while jumerous improvements were made and
heavy hoisting machinery was erected.
At the present time, the mining interests of
Clear Creek County are in a better condition
than at any previous period in its history. No
extraordinary “strikes” have been reported
during the current year, but there has been a
steady influx of capital for development, and a
corresponding permanent growth in mining in-
terests generally. The imprudence manifested
heretofore in sacrificing the future to the pres-
ent welfare of mining properties, and the en-
thusiastic prodigality and recklessness exhib-
ited in their development, are features which
are gradually being eliminated from the com-
munity and supplanted by ordinary business
prudence founded on the experience of the past
twenty years. Thus far, mining in this county
has been confined mainly to surface explora-
tion. Now, however, there is .a decided tend-
ency to mine deeply. Heavy hoisting machin-
ery has been erected at many of the principal
mines, and downward exploration has com-
menced in earnest. The solidity and permanence
of the district are its distinguishing characteris-
tics. It has been tested and found genuine. It
is one of the main columns that support that
broad and glorious superstructure—the Centen-
nial State. Faith, energy and labor compose
its triune pedestal; true argentiferous fissure
veins, its massive shaft; and prosperity and in-
telligence, its triumphant capital. And as the
years go by with resolute and measured tread,
Clear Creek County will continue to pour, with
princely munificence, its metallic wealth into
the coffers of the State.
CHAPTER V.
THE MINES OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.
N compiling this chapter the writer has en-
deavored to give a descriptive list of the
Clear Creek County mines, free from personal
_or sectional partiality. Owing to lack of
space, it is necessarily very incomplete, but care
has been taken to insure as great a degree of
accuracy as can possibly be attained. Plain,
simple facts and figures are given without ex-
aggeration or verbal embellishment, as being
best suited to the treatment of so practical a
subject. In some instances it may appear that
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
305
prominent mining properties have been slighted
to admit of the description of others of less im-
portance. The uninitiated reader must bear in
mind the fact that mines are private property,
and that while some of their owners have not
the slightest objection to a published descrip-
tion of their properties, others, for reasons
which it is not necessary to enumerate, prefer
to remain reticent. Their wishes in this partic-
ular have been respected.
In a very few cases, the facility of procuring
information may have determined its insertion,
but never where its accuracy was questioned.
From those who are fully aware of the difficulty
usually experienced in procuring reliable infor-
mation of this class, the author stands in no fear
of censure. Although but an epitome, this chap-
ter will convey some idea of the importance
that the mining interests of this county have al-
ready attained ; anditis hoped that the classifi-
cation of the mines under the sub-heads of the
respective mountains on which they are located,
with the latter arranged in regular order as
they occur in the subsidiary ranges, will tend to
prevent confusion and secure facility in refer-
ence.
McCLELLAN MOUNTAIN.
The first important discoveries of silver bear-
ing lodes in the county, and, indeed, in the
State, the result of which determined the real
value of the argentiferous veins, were made on
this mountain, which is located in Argentine
mining district, and 4s the commencement of an
immense spur of the main range, ending at
Burrell Hill, Georgetown.
The Johnson Lode, which was originally the
Belmont, is located near the summit of the
mountain, a short distance from the range divid-
ing Clear Creek from Summit County, at an
altitude of not less than 13,000 feet. Itisa
patented claim, owned by J. B. Owsley, T. J.
Cantelon and John A. Coulter. It is 1,500 feet
in length, and 1,200 feet of the lode has been
opened by surface developments. A wagon
road within 500 feet of the mine, and a good
trail the remainder of the way, furnishes com-
plete access, except during the winter season,
when this mine and others on the same moun-
tain are partially blockaded by snow. This
contingency is provided for, however. Abun-
dant supplies are taken to the mines before win-
ter sets in, and mining operations are conducted.
with but little interruption from this source.
The Johnson Lode is opened by several adits
running westerly. The lowest of these is 400
feet in length, and two others farther up the
mountain are each about 200 feet in length.
These developments show the lode to be from
four to six feet in width, and the ore vein from
four inches to two feet in width. The ore atthe
depth thus far attained is mainly decomposed,
consisting of the more or less friable quartz
and oxides of ores, classed, in miners’ parlance,
as “sulphurets,” meaning sulphurets of silver.
Frequently, however, this class of mineral car-
ries but little of the precious stuff that its name
indicates, and the term may generally be con-
sidered as indicative of the decomposition of
the ore vein rather than anything else. In the
Johnson, the sorted ore mills from 400 to 800
ounces of silver per ton. The total product of
this mine is estimated by the owners at a
quarter of a million dollars. The developments
already mentioned are on the easterly half of
the property. A 90-foot adit near the westerly
end proves the continuity of the deposit.
The Independence is a 1500-foot patented
claim, owned by Orson E. Clark. It is opened
by an adit running southwesterly a distance of
520 feet, the end of the same being 346 feet
below the surface of the mountain. Commenc-
ing thirty to forty feet from the mouth of the
adit, the back of the level has been stoped to
an average height of fifty feet, for a distance of
400 feet. The other developments are as fol-
lows : 150 feet from the adit’s mouth is an air-
shaft, 110 feet in height, reaching to the surface ;
at 250 feet is Shaft No. 1, reaching to a depth
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306
HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
of eighty feet below the adit level ; at 275 feet
is one sixty feet deep, and at 350 feet is Shaft
No. 3, which is fifty-five feet deep. These shafts
are connected by drifts and stopes. The ore is
principally argentiferous galena, and “sulphur-
ets.” The mine now carries from two to ten
inches of ore in sight. In some places, the
_ Solid ore vein has widened out to two feet. The
quality of the mineral ranges from 150 to 300
ounces of silver per ton for first and second
classes, and from 70 to 100 ounces for un-
classified, or concentrating ore. This prop-
erty has already produced over $300,000,
$280,000 of which is shown on the books of
Georgetown mill men. The property is eight
miles from Georgetown, a wagon-road leading
up to the mine. It is leased by Messrs. De
Voto and Littlefield, who have a force of men
at work stoping and developing.
The Globe and Orient Lodes are intersecting
properties, owned by J. B. Johnson. There
are two levels on the lodes—one on the Orient,
two hundred feet long, and one on the Globe,
seventy feet in length. The mineral in both
veins is a heavy galena, running largely in
lead, but comparatively low in silver. The
solid ore vein is from a few inches to over a
foot in width. The owner is steadily develop-
ing the properties.
The Muldoon is located below the main
group of lodes at this point, which is consider-
ably above timber line, the former lying at
timber line. It is a comparatively recent dis-
covery, and is owned by J. B. Owsley. A
shaft sixty-five feet deep, with a small drift
from it, constitutes the developments. This
shows a soft crevice, which is very easily
worked. The vein carries decomposed sul-
phuret ore with some solid mineral, the quality
of which ranges from two hundred and fifty to
three hundred and fifty ounces of silver per
ton.
The Willis is situated a short distance below
the Muldoon, with which it has joint owner-
ship. This is a large vein, being from ten to
twelve feet in width, and carrying disseminated
mineral throughout its whole width. The solid
ore yields silver at the rate of three hundred
and fifty ounces per ton. There is a shaft on
the property eighty-five feet deep, which paid
for sinking. This mine and the Muldoon are
both undergoing development.
The Wheeling is also situated on the eastern
slope of ‘McClellan Mountain, near the Inde-
pendence. It is owned by H. M. Teller and
James Henshall. A shaft in progress of sink-
ing onthe lode is now forty feet deep. This
vein carries a promising amount of galena and
sulphuret. ore. The developments, however,
are too meager to admit of any estimates of
the value of the property.
The Gray Eagle, a lode owned by W. F.
Kelso, one of the earliest prospectors on this
mountain, is opened by an adit 150 feet in
length, which shows rich ore all the way.
On the western slope of the mountain, situ-
ated in the precipitous cul-de-sac at the junction
of McClellan Mountain and Gray’s Peak, is the
famous Stevens mine. It is owned by the
Stevens Mining Company, of Cincinnati, Ohio.
Messrs. G. Y. Roots and J. R. Murdoch, of
Cincinnati, are respectively the President and
Treasurer of the company, the last-named
gentleman also holding the office of Secretary.
Col. William Moore, of Idaho Springs, is the
mine manager, and Col. Richard A. Pomeroy,
of Georgetown, is the agent. The company is
organized under the laws of Ohio. Capital
stock, $60,000; par value, $100. In addition
to the Stevens Lode proper, the company owns
a strip of ground 350x1,500 feet, which con-
tains other fine lodes, all of which can be
worked through the main tunnel that now
opens up the mine. The course of the Stevens
Lode is north 1° 15’ east. The main avenue
to the workings of the mine is the tunnel just
referred to. This is 12,400 feet above tide
level, and at least a thousand feet above tim-
oc ef
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at a depth of from 400 to 500 feet below the
surface of the mountain. From the mouth of
the tunnel a tramway 1,050 feet in length runs
down to the ore-sorting and boarding-houses,
which are built at the terminus of the wagon
road.
The Stevens Lode was discovered in 1868,
and has been steadily worked since that time.
It is opened by ten levels, which are fifty fect
apart. The tunnel intersects the lode on the
ninth level, and the developments are princi-
pally southerly from that point. The ore vein
will average eight inches in width above the
seventh level and twelve inches below, as far as
explored. This consists of argentiferous ga-
lena, free from zine, rendering it highly valu-
able as a flux for other ores. The mine
produces from one thousand to twelve hundred
tons of ore annually, the whole running about
50 per cent in lead, insuring the highest market
price for the product. During six months of
the year the barbarous-severity of the weather
and the consequent deep snows, necessitates
the use of sleds for hauling the ore from the
mine to Bakerville, where it is transferred to
wagons. The work of development and ex-
ploitation, however, goes on just as in the sum-
mer season.*
The main feature of development in progress
at this time, is the sinking of a shaft on the
Stevens Lode. This contains twenty inches of
ore in the bottom. The mineral is improving
as depth is gained. From forty to fifty men
are steadily employed on the mine. It will be
noticed that the value per ton of the ore, and
the total product are not given. The company,
doubtless, has sufficient reasons for withhold-
* Several of the highest mines on this mountain, including the
Stevens, are frozen to a depth of from two hundred to three hun-
dred and fifty feet. This somewhat unusual feature is accounted
for by some parties on the theory that it is the result of the intense
cold of the glacial epoch. It is far more probable, however, that
the process is still going on at the present day, the brevity of the
summer seasons not permitting the thawing out of the ground
frozen during the long winters, in which case the frost would
gradually extend downward from contact. This subject is worthy
of study, as it presents suggestions as to the ultimate destiny of
the earth.
ew eS
HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY. 807
ber line. It is 320 feet long, and cuts the lode | ing these facts from the public. Be that as it
may, the Stevens mine is one of the most
steadily worked, and, it is highly probable, one
of the most remunerative mines in the county.
The northern part of the Stevens Lode is
owned by other parties, who are not working
their property at the present time. The devel-
opments on this part are unimportant, com-
pared with those already described.
The Jackson Lode is located on the northern
slope of the mountain, near the Stevens. It is
a 150x1500-foot claim, patented. It is owned
by A. A. Healy & Co., of New York, and is
opened by a tunnel running in on a cross-lode.
The tunnel lode carries ore for 200 feet of its
length that mills from 200 to 300 ounces of sil-
ver per ton and carries from two to three ounces
of gold per ton.. An adit about twenty-five feet
in length, which constitutes the discovery of the
Jackson, yields ore that mills 600 to 700 ounces
of silver per ton.
The Cincinnati Lode is a recent discovery,
owned by Messrs Riley & Driefus. This carries
500 ounces argentiferous galena, The owners
are rapidly sinking a shaft on the lode.
The Memphis Mining and Tunneling Com-
pany are developing a number of lodes about
a mile above the Stevens mine. These are the
Memphis, Tanny, Jayhawker, No Name, and
Premium and Henrietta. The Memphis is a
strong cross-lode, upon which a tunnel is being
run to cut the other veins at a great depth.
All these properties are somewhat developed
by shafts and adits which prove their value.
The lodes are owned by Denver, Detroit, New
York and Galveston parties, and the property
is managed by H. Y. Anderson, of Denver.
Work is being actively prosecuted, and, consid-
ering the amount of development done, this is
one of the most promising properties in the
county. ;
The Richmond and Kingston Lodes, asso-
ciated properties, are highly valuable. They
are owned by John Turck, and are cut by the
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308 HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
Richmond Tunnel, which has a total length of
450 feet. The Richmond is intersected at a
distance of 110 feet from the mouth of the
tunnel. It has been opened by a level 250 feet
long, carrying from four to eight inches of min-
eral that mills 200 to 250 ounces in silver.
The Kingston has been drifted 200 feet on the
tunnel level, proving up an ore vein that will
average a foot in width. Average value of the
ore, about 400 ounces of silver to the ton.
The Richmond Tunnel penetrates McClellan
Mountain 500 feet above timber line. Its
development is steadily progressing.
KELSO MOUNTAIN.
This mountain was named in honor of W.
F. Kelso, one of the first prospectors on the
mountain in the spring of 1865. It lies west
of McClellan Mountain, and is almost com-
- pletely isolated, which is an unusual feature in
this district.
\ The Baker mine was one of the earliest and
most important discoveries. It is developed
at about the same altitude as the Stevens
mine, which is about a mile distant, the valley
of Quail Creek lying between. The course of the
lode is north, 80° east, which, it will be observed,
is nearly at right angles to that of the Stevens.
The original discoverers worked the lode
profitably awhile, and then sold it to the Baker
Silver Mining Company, which was less fortun-
ate, developing the mine with that vigorous reck-
lessness characteristic of early silver mining
in this county. The company failed, and the
mine passed into the hands of its present
owner, Charles W. Betts, of Denver. The prop-
erty is developed by three tunnels with con-
nected drifts, the whole aggregating about 300
feet of tunneling, and something over that
amount of drifting. From the lower level, a
shaft has been sunk to a depth of 180 feet, and
a great deal of profitable stoping has been done
at this point by lessees. The ore is usually
rich, the first-class yielding about 500 ounces
of silver per ton, The lode is intersected by
‘an immense porphyry dike, beyond which the
‘vein has not been touched. The mine is at
present operated by lessees. A ‘wagon-road
leads up to the dump.
The Wisconsin Central is located on the
southerly slope of the mountain. The discov-
ery is comparatively recent, and the property
is very promising. It is opened by three adit
levels, which are respectively 50, 150 and 250
feet in length, commencing at the lower one.
The vein carries very satisfactory quantities
of argentiferous galena, milling 183 ounces of
silver per ton and 53 percent lead. Itisa
large lode, in some places carrying three streaks
of ore. The width of the vein has not yet
been determined.
The Protius and the Huldah are owned by
Col. C. P. Baldwin, of Georgetown. They were
discovered in 1865, and have been worked de- |
sultorily since that time. The latter possesses
about 700 feet of linear and vertical develop-
ment. The former is less developed. Mill-runs
from this property run up to 1,100 ounces of
silver per ton.
The Fortunatus and Centennial Star are too
highly promising lodes. The former is owned
by Col. C. P. Baldwin and the latter by George
B. Tyler.
The Flagstaff Lode, situated near the summit
of the mountain, is owned by George B. Tyler,
et al., and the fact that its possession has been
the object of a sharp legal contest for two years
is, doubtless, an indication of its value. The
lode is opened by a shaft 160 feet deep, and an
adit 270 feet long, other openings aggregating
700 linear feet. The lode carries gray and yel-
low copper, with some carbonate of copper—
copper ores showing a marked predominance
in the mine. The solid ore vein averages four
inches in width, and the ore averages 800
ounces of silver per ton. The mine has already
produced over $6,000—more than paying for
the work of development.
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
809
HANNA AND BROWN MOUNTAINS.
Descending Quail Creek to West Branch,
and thence northeasterly in the direction’ of
Georgetown, Hanna and Brown Mountains are
encountered to the left, immediately above
Brownville, in the order in which they are
given,
The Silver Cloud mine, on Hanna Mountain,
jis owned by a Pittsburg company, and superin-
tended by C. T. Bellamy, of Georgetown. The
lode is opened by 233 feet of tunnels, 205 feet
of shafts, and 279 feet of levels. The vein is
argentiferous, carrying gray copper, galena, and
native silver, which is distributed with more
than ordinary uncertainty. It is usually quite
rich, however. The last run of ore taken out
milled 523 ounces of silver per ton, and the
general average will probably be about 400
ounces per ton. The ore streak generally varies
in size from half an inch to two inches. Up to
this date, the mine has produced about $10,000,
and work is still in progress.
The Atlantic is situated in the gulch divid-
ing Hanna from Brown Mountain. It is owned
by W. Ebert, John Driefus and others. Four
tunnels intersect the property, their aggregate
length amounting to 1,050 feet ; and a thousand
feet of drifts have been run on the lode, the lat-
ter being comprised in five levels. This prop-
erty carries remarkably rich ore, so that a very
small streak will pay for working. It has been’
profitably worked by lessees for many years
As near as can be ascertained the mine has
produced $65,000 worth of ore of an average
grade of 700 ounces.
The Pacific, which is located easterly from
the Atlantic, also carries very rich ore, but has
~ not been extensively developed.
The Shiveley mine, situated a short distance
below the Atlantic, is one of the most steadily
productive mines in the county. Itis owned by
the Equitable Silver Mining Company and super-
intended by Warren M. Fletcher, of Georgetown.
The Walton and Sophia are assuciated lodes,
but their development is insignificant compared
with that of the Shiveley. The principal avenue
to the workings of the mine is the Fletcher
Tunnel, which cuts the lode at 260 feet ; 190 feet
further is the hoisting engine for the shaft,
which is now 160 feet deep. The drift runs
250 feet further to the breast, the back of the
drift on this level being sloped to an average
height of fifty feet. The hoisting engine is
fifty-horse-power, and one at the mouth of the
tunnel, used for operating the car on the iron
track tramway of 1,350 feet in length which
runs down to the wagon-road, is ten-horse-power.
The Shiveley is remarkable for carrying a small
but rich and continuous vein of ore, consisting
largely of sulphurets near the surface, and car-
rying ruby silver and tetrahedrite. The aver-
age of the mineral taken from the mine thus
far will not fall short of 400 ounces of silver
per ton. The total product is something over
$100,000. The mine is worked entirely by
lessees, of whom there are now about twenty-
five employed. At this writing, the mine is
looking well and paying handsomely.
The Owasco and Brick Pomeroy mines are
located some distance above the Shiveley, near
timber line. The former is owned by Messrs.
Colvin and Merrick, and has been profitably
worked by lessees for many years. It is opened
by an adit over 600 feet in length. The general
character of the mineral is like that of the
Shiveley. In the Brick Pomeroy, the mineral
is not quite so rich, on an average, as that of
the Owasco, and the property is not so exten-
sively developed; still itis a highly promising
property. It was sold to Hastern parties a few
months ago.
The Duncan mine is a comparatively recent
discovery, and is owned by Charles Fargo. The
developments are a shaft seventy feet deep, a
tunnel of fifty-five feet, and a drift of seventy-
five feet. Notwithstanding its meager develop-
ments, this property has already produced from
$6,000 to $8,000. The ore vein is one to four
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810 HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
inches in width, consisting largely of solid
mineral, and milling from 150 to 900 ounces.
The Baltimore Tunnel is 700 feet long, and
cuts six lodes. It is owned by the Colorado
Territory National Silver Mining Company, of
Baltimore, and is superintended by John
Tomay, under whose direction it has been
steadily and profitably worked for many years.
The most extensive mining property on
Brown Mountain is that owned by the Colorado
United Mining Company, consisting of a num-
ber of lodes, the most prominent of which are
the Terrible and Silver Ore. The total yield of
this company’s preperties, since their discovery,
cannot .be less than $1,500,000. The Union
Tunnel is now the main opening of the Terrible
and Silver Ore Lodes. It is about 600 feet in
length, and the Silver Ore shaft is carried down
several hundred feet below the level of the tun-
nel. The workings are very extensive, and
from 150 to 200 men are usually employed on
the premises. The mineral throughout this
whole group of lodes is alike in its general
characteristics, consisting principally of galena
and zince-blende, with considerable gray copper
in bunches, and milling from 100 to 500 ounces
of silver per ton. There is more development
on this group of properties than on any other
similar group in the county. The company
concentrates all its own ores at its dressing
works, which are located in Brownville, con-
tiguous to the mine. With the exception of the
Freeland works, this is the largest and most
perfect concentrating millin the county. It
contains the most approved crushing and driv-
ing machinery, and six Hartz jigs for the sep-
aration of the mineral from the rock, and there
is no ore in the county better adapted for this
process than that exploited from the Terrible
Lode. Gen. W. A. Hamill is the Superintendent
of the whole property, and under his manage-
ment the different departments are run satis-
factorily. The Chelsea Beach, United States,
Coin, Brown, and other lodes, all belonging to
the Colorado United Mining Company, are sit-
uated alittle higher up the mountain, and are
similar in character to the Terrible Lode—usu-
ally somewhat narrow, but compact and regu-
lar, carrying ore of a good grade. The writer
regrets a lack of sufficient data and space nec-
essary to give these associated properties a
more elaborate notice.
Several hundred feet above the Terrible group
of lodes is the property of the consolidated
Hercules and Roe Silver Mining Company.
This is one of the best-known properties in the
county, and several years ago was the scene of
a furious and persistent conflict for its posses-
sion. Happily, however, a consolidation was
effected between the conflicting claims, and dif-
ficulties of that nature are now settled forever.
The main tunnel that develops the properties
is situated in Brown Gulch, which is the divid-
ing line between Brown and Sherman Mount-
ains and Queen and Griffith mining districts.
The property extends across the gulch on to
Sherman Mountain. It includes six lode claims,
all covered by patents from the Government, the
J. J. Roe, East and West Hercules, J. M. Wil-
son, J. C. McClung and Seven-Thirty.
The property is opened by the Hercules Tun-
nel, which cuts the Hercules Lode at 140 feet
| from its mouth. From the point of intersection,
levels are run both east and west, the whole
amount of development—levels, winzes and
shafts—ranging from 6,000 to 7,000 feet. The
developments are principally west of the gulch,
the tunnel level running over 700 feet in that
direction. The main bulk of the ore is true
argentiferous galena, often carrying gray copper,
and sometimes ruby silver. Taken throughout
the mine, the ore vein will probably range from
three to eighteen inches in width. The average
value per ton of the ore is $225, and the total
product of the properties up to date is upward
of $300,000. The product for the month of
June, 1880, was fifty tons of the quality given
above. From present appearances, the out-put
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
311
-fortunes within the past two years.
| of the mine next year will exceed that of any
previous year The mineis operated principally
by lessees, paying a royalty of from 25 to 50
per cent. Some of these have made snug little
H. M.
Griffin is Superintendent of the property.
SHERMAN MOUNTAIN.
Immediately east of Brown Mountain, and
separated by Brown Gulch, as before stated,
lies Sherman Mountain, another great reposi-
tory of mineral wealth. The mines of this
mountain appear to be less rich than those of
its neighbors on either side, but they carry un-
usually large bodies of ore. This is a general
rule, to which there are a few exceptions.
The most prominent mine on Sherman Mount-
ain at the present timeis the Dunderberg. This
lode was patented at a comparatively early
period by R.O. Old. It remained undeveloped,
however, until the year 1877, when George B.
Tyler and Antoine Libby, while prospecting on
Sherman Mountain, discovered unusual quanti-
ties of rich ore within a foot or two of the sur-
face. This was the apex of the Dunderberg
Lode. Messrs. Tyler and Libby prudently kept
their own counsel until they had seen Mr. Old
and secured a very favorable lease on the prop-
erty ; then they commenced developments with
a vigor worthy of the prize at stake. Their
most extravagant hopes were more than real-
ized. But twelve feet from surface, they en-
countered.a solid vein of ore, sixteen inches in
width, of extraordinary richness, and before an
- ore-house could be built they had sold thou-
sands of dollars worth of the precious mineral.
In a little more than four months they sold ore
amounting to more than $112,000, at an aver-
age price of $237 per ton. In fourteen months,
from the date of discovery, over $300,000 had
been taken from the mine at a cost of 21
per cent for mining and transportation. As
a result, the fame of the Dunderberg reached
the ears of Eastern capitalists, and, on the
30th day of May, 1879, this mine and several
associated properties passed into the hands
of the Dunderberg Mining Company of New
York. Since this change of ownership was
effected, the new company has expended $50,-
000 in permanent improvements, under the
superintendency of G. M. Henly, F. G. 8.
These improvements consist of a concentrating-
mill, containing five Hartz jigs, two stationar
engines, of forty-horse-power each, changing
room, workshop, etc. Developments are pro-
gressing rapidly. Six levels are under way,
and about 160 men and boys are steadily em-
ployed in the different departments. All the
underground work is done under contract at so
much per foot or fathom. The ore ranges in
silver contents from eighty-five to several hun-
dred ounces per ton.
The Frostburg either crosses the Dunderberg
or runs into it. Itis owned by R. O. Old, of
Georgetown, and is developed by numerous
shafts from twenty to one hundred feet deep.
The ore is quite variable in quality, ranging
from thirty to three or four hundred ounces of
silver per ton. The Combs is an adjacent lode
also owned by Mr. Old. The developments on
this vein are meager but promising.
Immediately above the Combs is the Captain
Wells Lode, which is owned by Col. C. P. Bald-
win and W. T. Reynolds. It has a pitch into
the mountain of about thirty-five degrees
from the perpendicular, and is from eight to
ten feet in width, the pay vein being about
fifteen inches in width. The ore is galena, iron
and copper pyrites and zinc-blende. The aver-
age number of ounces contained in first, second
and third classes respectively, are as follows:
450, 120 and 60. There are three shafts on the
lode, the deepest being 170 feet deep. Several
hundred feet of levels have been run, though
but little stoping has been done ; $18,500 is the
estimated out-put of ore to date.
A short distance above the last-named lode
is the Backbone, owned by Snodgrass & War-
| oor :
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812
HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
* ton.
wick. A shaft has been sunk on this property
to several hundred feet in depth, disclosing a
valuable and improving vein of ore.
The Cashier is one of the prominent mines of
this mountain, and is owned by two parties,
both of which are developing the property. It
usually carries a large ore vein of low grade
mineral, in which zinc-blende is often predom-
inant. Occasionally assorted mineral runs two
to three hundred ounces.
The Mendota, a lode owned by R. O. Old,
carries ore similar to that of the Cashier, in
some places amounting to thrze or four feet of
perfectly solid galena. This mineral is profita-
ble for the lead and silver contained, but where
it changes to iron pyrites and zinc-blende its
value is considerably impaired. The develop-
ments are comparatively meager.
The Silver Cloud, owned by Charles R. Fish,
is opened by a shaft somewhere near 200 feet
deep, and several levels running therefrom.
The quality of the ore is very variable, depend-
ing on the character of the mineral—whether
or not blende is predominant. On the whole
this is agood mine. The Cascade, a contiguous
lode, owned by Cincinnati parties, possesses
over one hundred and fifty feet of development,
and has produced some good ore.
The consolidated Phcenix and Coldstream
mines have added considerably to the out-put
of the county in years gone by, and their fu-
ture development will repeat these facts. A
bitter and expensive term of litigation was ended
a couple of years ago by the consolidation of
the conflicting claims. The property is devel-
oped by two shafts, each about 300 feet deep,
and also by numerous levels. The ore is coarse
galena, zinc-blende and pyrite, existing in large
bodies at some points, and ranging from sev-
enty-five to a few hundred ounces of silver per
There are two engines on the premises,
and several necessary buildings.
The longest tunnel in the county, the Bur-
leigh, penetrates this mountain a distance of
2,300 feet. It cuts a number of mineral veins,
the most prominent of which are the New Era
and the I. Phillips. The first of these carries
an unusually large body of galena that runs
from 56 to 70 per cent lead, but is somewhat
low in silver. The I. Phillips carries ore
of a better grade, but the veinis smaller. This
property is managed by Col. Ivers Phillips.
The Mammoth, Virgin, Bismarck, Denver, IIl-
inois, Bush, Ellen Harvey and many other lodes
are found on Sherman Mountain. Lack of
space, however, prevents further description.
REPUBLICAN MOUNTAIN.
This mountain extends from Cherokee Gulch
on the southwest to Democrat Mountain on the
northeast, from which it is separated by Silver
Gulch. The principal mines are located on the
southerly slope of the mountain, which is a net-
work of metalliferous veins.
Lying in Cherokee Gulch are the two mines
which probably have done more than any other
two in the county to render Georgetown famous
as a silver center. These are the celebrated
Dives and Pelican mines, which are now con-.
solidated, entirely removing the litigation which
has militated against their development for sev-
eral years past. The developments on this uni-
ted property are too extensive and complicated
to permit of a description in this work. The
vein was discovered in 1868, but, strange to
say, it was not deemed worthy of recording un-
til two years later, at which time a small amount
of development betrayed its vast wealth—it be_
ing one of the richest and largest surface
pockets over discovered in the State.
Then commenced legal and physical hostili-
ties between the owners of the rival claims.
The prize staked was enormous, and every legal
weapon of offense or defense that could be used
on either side was greedily seized. Armed
men were also hired at an immense expense,
and their efficiency was not permitted to remain
untested. The production of the mine at this
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
313
| about 1,575 feet.
time was enormous, notwithstanding the injunc-
tions and counter-injunctions that were ordered
by the courts. Lessees made comfortable for-
tunes in a few months’ time, and a number of
attorneys realized snug competencies. One
party evaded attachment of the ore by hauling
it away and selling it on Sundays, and in this
manner $65,000 worth of ore was brought down
from the Dives mine one Sunday alone. Then
one of the owners of the Pelican was brained
by a lessee on the Dives, the surface pockets
showed signs of exhaustion, the hostilities be-
came less active and for a number of years the
properties remained in a semi-dormant condi-
tion.
The total product of the Pelican and Dives
mines to date is something over two and a half
million dollars. The consolidated property is
now owned by the Pelican & Dives Mining
Company of New York. Capital stock, $5,000,-
000. The trustees and other officers are all
gentlemen of prominence and influence, Nor-
win Green being the President of the company.
The property includes several veins and feeders,
the ore running from 100 to 500 ounces of sil-
ver per ton. The property has been explored
by several thousand feet of shaft, drifts and
tunnels. The new company possess a large
working capital, and it is understood that devel-
opments will be pushed rapidly, the great ob-
ject being downward exploration.
The Diamond Tunnel, which is the property
of the Diamond Tunnel Silver Mining Company
of Baltimore, Md., is a mammoth enterprise.
It starts into Republican Mountain in Cherokee
Gulch, immediately above Silver Plume, and it
has already attained a length of 1,540 feet, its
further development being continuously prose-
cuted. It already intersects mine lodes, five of
which have been opened by drifts, etc., the ag-
gregate amount of these developments being
The seventh lode intersected
is the Dives—the Diamond Tunnel offering
peculiar advantages for working this property,
which it cuts at a depth of nearly 600 feet.
The great desideratum of the company, how-
ever, is to reach the Corry City Lode as speed-
ily as possible. This is the property of the
company, and has been opened to a depth of
nearly 200 feet, showing it to be an uncom-
monly large vein. Excellent results are antici-
pated when this shall be intersected.
The fifth lode cut by the tunnel is the Bax-
ter, only the western portion of which is owned
by the Diamond Tunnel Company. As this
tunnel is the main avenue to the heart of this
valuable group of lodes, its importance as a
means of working other properties than those
owned by the company cannot be overesti-
mated. Several of the company’s lodes are
steadily undergoing development, proving that
they are veins worthy of the rich locality in
which they are situated. The company has
secured additional and contiguous properties
the present season, and intends to prosecute
their further development with more than ordi-
nary vigor. John A. Fish, Georgetown, is
Superintendent of the tunnel and connected
properties.
The Baxter Lode, east of the Diamond Tun-
nel, is owned by Church Brothers and E. K.
Baxter. The lode is opened by a shaft extend-
ing to a depth of 135 feet below the level of
the Dianond Tunnel. This shaft pierces an
ore body varying in width from six inches to
three feet. As this is the deepest point at-
tained in this vicinity, this feature is considered
of unusual significance in predicating the results
of deep mining inthis section. This mine has
been one of the most steadily remunerative in
the county for many years, and it is, therefore,
extensively opened up, there being not less
than seven or eight levels. It is usually worked
by from fifty to sixty lessees. The out-put of
the property to date is about $300,000. The
ore vein consists of argentiferous galena, prin-
cipally, occasionally carrying zinc and iron
pyrites. Although the ore varies greatly in
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
quality, the mean grade is over the average for
the county. The deep shaft is operated by a
fifteen-horse-power hojsting engine. The lower
levels of the mine will doubtless be worked
through the Diamond Tunnel.
The Dunkirk, which adjoins the Dives to the
east of the last named, is the property of the
Herman Silver Mining Company of New York,
and is superintended by Charles H. Morris.
As an illustration of the persistency sometimes
required in mining, it may be mentioned, the
work was in progress on this mine seven years
before any ore was encountered, and, after that,
$130,000 was exploited in a little more than a
year's time. This occurred about a year ago.
The mine is now yielding large quantities of
ore, of a grade similar to that of the Baxter.
Seventy men are employed. The main shaft is
nearly 600) feet deep, and there are not less than
1,800 feet of levels in the mine. It is rare to
find such perseverance as was manifested in the
opening up of this mine. It met with its re-
ward, however, and the company now possesses
one of the finest properties on Republican
Mountain.
The Pay Rock lies a short distance easterly
from the Dunkirk, and is another of the “old
reliable” mines of the neighborhood. Up to
1880, this mine produced $450,000. The Pay
Rock proper consists of three parallel veins,
called the North, South and Intermediate veins,
these being about seventy-five feet apart. The
principal feature of development is the Silver-
Bank Tunnel, which cuts the ore measures at
right angles. From this tunnel, long levels
have been driven on each vein, and shafts have
been sunk to a depth of over 100 feet. Up to
the summer of 1879, the mine had been worked
almost entirely by lessees, but at that time it
passed into the hands of the Consolidated Pay
Rock Mining Company of New York. Under
the ownership of that company, and the super-
intendency of Charles H. Morris, the develop-
ment of the mine is, progressing rapidly and
successfully. The Hopewell and Silver Point
Lodes, the latter being a cross-vein, are asso-
ciated properties. The developments comprise
1,000 feet of tunnels, 870 feet of shafts: and
winzes, and 5,500 of drifts. The total product
to date is over half a million dollars. The
employes number fifty miners and other work-
men.
The Vulcan, owned by C. W. Pollard and D.
& G. Meyers, has but a short history compared
with those already mentioned, but, for the
amount of development done on it, it has
proved one of the most valuable properties on
this mountain. The vein is vertical and some-
what narrow, and the ore deposit is remarkably
uniform, lean places being rare. It is opened
by a tunnel ninety feet long, a drift 330 feet in
length, and a shaft ninety feet deep. Thre
are also some minor surface develcpments.
The lode carries from two inches to fourteen
inches of fine-grained galena and sulphburet.
ore that mills from 250 to 1,000 ounces of sil-
ver per ton. With the slight developments
mentioned above, the mine has already yielded
over $20,000. The Egan Tunnel is being run
to cut the lode, which it will reach at a distance
of about 280 feet, and the depth at that point:
will be about 125 feet.
East of the Vulcan, a short distance, are the
Snowdrift, Elm City and Silver Plume Lodes,
which were among the first discoveries in the
county. The Snowdrift and Silver Plume yield-
ed immensely at the commencement of the last
decade, both carrying rich ore. The total prod-
uct of the three mines is from $150,000 to
$200,000. The Elm City is noted for the high
grade of its ore. Work is progressing on all
the properties.
Leaving a number of lodes of minor impor-
tance and traveling down the gulch in the direc-
tion of Georgetown, another group of lodes is
encountered. The Consolidated Republican
Mountain Mining Company, J. Warren Brown,
President, owns twelve lode claims at this point,
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4
HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY. 317
four of which have been patented. One of
these, the Edward Everett, has been opened by
a shaft 130 feet deep and several levels of vari-
ous lengths, disclosing a vein of more than aver-
age ‘richness and corresponding uncertainty.
The Morning Star has been opened by a shaft
and tunnel and proved to contain rich ore.
This tunnel, called the Everett Tunnel, is some-
thing over 200 feet in length, and, in its further
continuance, will cut the remaining lodes at a
great depth, as the mountain pitches steeply at
this point. Preparations to work these proper-
ties vigorously are being made. The outlook
for this company is very promising.
A few hundred feet east of the Everett Tun-
‘nel is the Lebanon Tunnel, owned by the Leb-
anon Mining Company of New York, J. G.
Pohle, agent. The tunnel is 914 feet in length,
and its continuation is steadily progressing.
The whole property consists of thirteen lode
claims, all of which can be operated through
the tunnel in course of time and development.
These lodes, which are worked from the surface,
have been opened by 3,000 feet of tunnels,
shafts and drifts, the total product being about
$150,000. The majority of these lodes carry
ore of excellent grade, and the whole group
forms a mining property of immense value.
The tunnel cuts seven or eight lodes, No. 5 pos-
sessing the largest amount of development.
This carries ore of an unusual high grade, aver-
aging 800 ounces of silver per ton for first class,
300 ounces for second class and 70 to 80 ounces
for third class. This lode has produced $75,-
000. Its development has been carried from
the tunnel level up to the surface, insuring per-
fect ventilation. Patents are secured for sev-
eral of the lodes, and applications for the same
are pending onthe remainder. Seven mill-sites
are included in the property, which is one of the
finest in this district. A concentrating-mill,
blacksmith’s-shop, etc., are a part of the assets
of the company.
There are several other lodes on this slope of
the mountain which are very promising, though
none of them have, as yet, gained any promi-
nence as producers.
DEMOCRAT MOUNTAIN.
Continuing on the same range easterly, Dem-
ocrat Mountain is encountered. It lies up
against Republican Mountain, which towers
above it 500 feet. The first mine reached is the
W.B. Astor, which is but a short distance from
the dividing line of the two mountains. It is
owned by Cincinnati parties, Messrs Rogers
& Shillito. It is opened by an adit something
over 600 feetin length, also by a shaft intersect-
ing the same near its breast. At the point of
intersection is a large engine chamber, contain-
ing the most perfect engine and hoisting appa-
ratus in the county. From this point a deep
shaft is being put down as fast as possible.
This mine usually carries rich ore, consisting
largely 6f decomposed mineral. The product
to date is near $100,000. The property is
superintended by A. G. Rogers, who is rapidly
pushing the development of the mine.
A considerable distance below the Astor, on
the southeastern slope of the mountain, are a
number of lodes which are now lying compara-
tively dormant. The New Boston is one of
these. This mine carries a mammoth vein of
galena ore that runs low in silver. Although
concentrating works were built entirely for the
treatment of its ores, the mine and mill have
not been worked for several years. That the
mine will be worked again, and profitably, is not
doubted by those who are acquainted with the
character and quantity of the ore. Recent pros-
pecting in this locality has improved the gen-
eral reputation of this slope of the Democrat
Mountain. }
The main cluster of lodes on Democrat
Mountain are located on its northwestern slope
and near its junction with Columbia Mountain.
Here are the Polar Star, Queen of the West,
Emma, Junction, Lucky-Hesperus, Edgar,
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
Providence, Fred Rogers, Matilda Fletcher,
Silver Glance, Silver Cloud, Jupiter, Clift and a
number of others.
Tne Polar Star is an immense vein, and has
yielded $160,000. Itis identical with the Junc-
tion on the other side of the mountain, and con-
nection has been made between the two claims.
It is conveniently opened by three adits, from
the lower of which a shaft has been sunk to a
depth of about 120 feet. This mine carries
pure argentiferous galena, the ore vein varying
considerably in continuity. An underground
hoisting engine and ventilator are located in
the lower adit. But little work has been done
on the property for two years.
The Emma and Little Emma Lodes have
produced some of the richest ore in the county.
These properties are opened by an adit and
several shafts, and are steadily worked by les-
sees. The ore thus far has been the purest
type of “sulphuret” ore found in the county,
but as depth is gained, it is gradually changing
to copper pyrites and galena. Mill runs have
ranged from 1,000 to 1,500 ounces of silver
per ton, and from 700 to 1000 ounce ore is
quite common.
HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
325
The Wyandotte, several hundred feet west-
erly from the Saxon, has yielded largely from
a surface pocket. The ore is of a lower grade
than that of the Saxon and Federal.
A number of other properties in this immedi-
ate neighborhood promise well, among which
are the Saxon, Extension, Harrington, etc., but
lack of space forbids even a mention of them.
COLUMBIAN MOUNTAIN
adjoins: Saxon Mountain on the northeast, from
which it is separa‘ed by Beaver Creek, which
is simply a little mountain runnel. On the
slope rising from Beaver Gulch, are several
lodes which are slightly developed, the Mauch
Chunk probably ranking first in this respect.
Several lots of fair ore have been milled from
this property.
A short distance farther north, is the Kohi-
noor Lode, once known as the Napoleon. This
property has been developed by a tunnel about
200 feet in length, and a shaft about that num-
ber of feet in depth. A good pocket, of ore
was taken out in sinking the shaft, and the
development of the property still continues.
The ore is generally rich, but is not continuous,
though this might be said of three-fourths of
the mines in the county. The vein is very
decided in its character, and decomposed to a
considerable depth, and it is by no means
unlikely that its further exploration will result
in the discovery of profitable quantities of ore.
It is worked under lease, the ore milling several
hundred ounces.
Down near the base of the mountain, oppo-
site Lawson, is the Murray, an old mine with a
new name, its quondam appellation being the
Live Yankee. It is the property of the Moore
Mining Company, and is undergoing develop-
ment with excellent results. The main feat-
ure of working is a shaft which is now over
200 feet deep, and which is being steadily
pushed downward. This lode differs materially
from the type of the district, in that it carries
large quantities of copper, principally in, the
form of pyrites, this being quite an important
feature in the production of the mine. Since
the present company commenced the develop-
ment of the property, which is being vigorously
prosecuted, the mine has paid a clear profit
over the actual mining costs, which, in the
absence of exact information in regard to the
grade of the ores, is the best proof that can
be furnished of the value of the mine. Col.
William H. Moore, of Idaho Springs, has the
management of the property. /
Ascending the wagon road that runs by the
Murray mine, for the distance of a mile, the
little mining camp of Silver Creek is reached.
This is the scene of the excitement attending
the discovery of the Joe Reynolds properties,
which occurred a few years ago. The most
prominent mines are the Joe Reynolds Lodes,
numbered one, two, three and four—particu-
larly the third—the Dictator, Oshkosh, La
Crosse, Baltic, Hugo, Highland Chief, Native
American, Tom Moore, Nuremberg and Terri-
ble.
The Joe Reynolds No. 3 first gave promi-
nence to this camp. At the point of its discov-
ery, a pocket of sulphuret ore was found that
yielded several thousand dollars at the very
surface, the first-class ore running from 700 to
1,100 ounces of silver per ton. The vicinity
was at once alive with prospectors, and, though
several valuable mines were discovered, the
Joe Reynolds No. 8 still remaihs the most
prominent. It has been steadily worked since
that date, and is developed by three adits run-
ning in on the lode an aggregate length of
more than 1,000 feet. The ore vein is fairly
continuous, and consists of fine-grained galena,
with copper pyrites, sulphurets of silver and
gray copper, the quality ranging all the way
from 150 to 800 ounces of silver per ton. A
considerable amount of stoping has been done
between the different levels, though but little
developments have been prosecuted below the
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326
HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
lower adit. The property is owned by James
I. Gilbert and Joseph Reynolds.
The Joe Reynolds properties, numbered one,
two and four, are contiguous and associated
lodes. No. 2 has produced a considerable
amount of mineral of a grade somewhat infe-
rior to that produced by No. 3. No. 1 carries
ore of good grade, similar to that of the No. 3
Lode; but, judging from the fact that it has
not attained so great prominence as the last
named, it is probable that it does not exist in
such large quantities.
The Highland Chief has been opened-by a
shaft nearly 200 feet deep, with several short
levels connected therewith. This carries a fair
vein of solid, argentiferous galena and copper
pyrites, running somewhat below an average
in silver. This will prove a valuable property
with proper development.
The Hugo is located a short distance below
the Highland Chief. This carries a small vein
of sulphuret ore.
The Baltic is a large lode opened by an adit
several hundred feet in length. It carries an
irregular vein of ore consisting of galena and
copper pyrites, etc., often showing native silver.
The La Crosse is situated on the ridge of the
mountain, and, though not one of the largest
lodes, it has paid handsomely for development.
It usually carries several inches of ore of the
sulphuret class, that mills from 200 to 500
ounces of silver per ton.
The Dictator is an adjacent vein of consider-
able promise, on which several hundred feet of
development have been done. It is owned by
Col. William H. Doe, who is steadily opening
up the vein.
RED ELEPHANT MOUNTAIN.
The Red Elephant mines were discovered
toward the close of 1876, by D. E. Dulaney.
This was one of the most important “ strikes”
of the last decade. Dulaney’s discovery re-
sulted in a considerably increased county pro-
duction, and was a strong incentive to pros-
pecting in that locality. During the following
year, the Free America produced $100,000 in
silver. During the same year, the Boulder
Nest began to be actively developed, and by
the close of January, 1878, this property had
produced $116,000, currency value. Some of
the finest specimens of native silver that the
county has produced were extracted from the
mine at that time. These claims are both on
the same vein—the main shafts being but a
few hundred feet apart. In 1878, the Boulder
Nest yielded not less than $200,000. In the
following year, the ore sales decreased some-
what.
In 1877, the White Lode, which crosses the
Boulder Nest at an acute angle, was opened
east of Young America Gulch. Subsequently :
the course of the lode was followed to its junc-
tion with the Boulder Nest, its development
enriching several parties of lessees. The White
isa large lode carrying variable quantities of
mineral, but sufficient to constitute a profitable
and valuable mine.
These three lodes, comprising 5,550 lineal
feet, by the usual width of 150 feet, became the
property, a little more than a year ago, of the
Red Elephant Mining Company of New York.
Capital stock, $5,000,000 ; par value of share,
$10 each. About 120 men are now employed
onthe mine. The Free America Shaft is down
nearly 600 feet, and the Boulder Nest Shaft is
but a little less. These, with the Stevens Shaft,
on the White Lode, and the Clery adit on the
same vein, are the principal features of devel-
opment. The aggregate amount of drifts and
shafts, in lineal feet, is estimated at from 5,000
to 6,000. There is said to be a considerable
amount of ore in sight in the different stopes.
The great bulk of the milling ore ranges in
silver contents from 125 to 190 ounces per ton.
The first class averages from 100 to 150 ounces
-higher than this, and the concentrating ore from
25 to 65 ounces per ton. The latter class is
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
327
concentrated at A. P. Stephens’ mill, which is
located about a mile distant. The Boulder
Nest is developed by eight levels running from
the shaft.
These are the principal mines on Red Ele-
phant Mountain. Many other veins were dis-
covered during the excitement consequent on
the discovery of the lode just mentioned, but,
in the majority of cases, the songs of triumph
that their owners sung have died into an echo.
Apart from these, some very promising lodes
are being developed, but they are not yet mines.
‘The Young America is a prior location to the
Boulder Nest group. Near the surface, it
yielded $30,000 with very little labor. In its
subsequent development, however, the owners
were less fortunate. A shaft was sunk to a
considerable depth, and, though there existed a
fair vein of ore, water accumulated so fast as to
render its extraction unprofitable.
The Grant Lode is another old location.
This has been worked by different parties of
lessees for a number of years, and this fact is
the only assurance of its merits in possession
of the writer.
Lying apart from the main group of lodes,
and on the slope of the mountain but a short
distance above Clear Creek, is a mining prop-
erty owned by William B. Hood, of Georgetown.
This consists of a group of five lodes, all of
which have been more or less developed.
From a shaft on one of the veins, profitable
quantities of mineral were exploited—the ore
running from 380 to 400 ounces of silver per
ton. The group has been developed by over
700 feet of tunneling and drifting, and more
than 300 feet of shafting. Apart from the in-
trinsic value of the lodes themselves, they are
peculiarly valuable, however, as being the key
to the Boulder Nest and other prominent lodes
on the mountain. Their courses intersect that
of the Boulder Nest, and, by continuing drift-
ing in that direction, the latter lode will be in-
tersected at a great depth.
_among the first found in the county, antedating
A piece of land nine acres in extent at the
base of the mountain, adjoining the lodes in
question, is, in common with the latter, covered
by United States patent, and has the same
ownership. The ground at this point is com-
paratively level and well adapted for the erec-
tion of concentration works or other buildings.
Another advantage is the proximity of the
Colorado Central Railroad, which runs close by
affording unusual facilities for shipping ores.
ABOUT EMPIRE.
The mines in the vicinity of Empire were
the silver excitement of 1865 by several years.
From 1861 to 1865, a large amount of gold was
taken from that district, principally from Silver
Mountain, however inconsistent this may seem.
The surface of the mountain consisted of
“slide” from a few feet to twenty feet in depth,
and a considerable proportion of this was the
result of the decomposition of the apexes of
clusters of gold-bearing lodes, readily yielding
its precious contents to the primitive processes
of sluicing and treatment by arastras—over
$1,000,000 being taken ont in the time
given above. As this was gradually worked
down, many lodes were opened and the Knick-
erbocker Stamp Mill was erected for the treat-
ment of the auriferous quartz. Much of the
pyrite was found to be of too low a grade to
ship out of the county, and it did not yield a
very large percentage of the gold contained un-
der the stamps. Many of the lodes were, there-
fore, reluctantly abandoned, or worked desulto-
rily, in the hope of cheaper transportation and
milling rates. They came, and, as a result, the
mining interests of Empire show a decided im-
provement:
Prominent among the men who were early
wedded to Empire, and who can never be classed
among the unfaithful, are David J. Ball and
Judge H. C. Cowles. No matter how much
the constancy of others might be shaken by the
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328 HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
progress of other districts, they clung tena-
ciously to Silver Mountain and the surround-
ing district, and the result has shown that their
judgment was not at fault. A few years ago,
Mr. Ball built a sixteen-stamp mill, known as
the Pioneer Mill, which has been running with
tolerable steadiness since that date, on ore
from the Pioneer mine, which is also the prop-
erty of Mr. Ball.
The Pioneer mine, in common with a num-
ber of contiguous lodes, carries auriferous iron
and copper pyrites, often in large quantities.
This ore carries but little more than a trace of sil-
ver. Facts regarding the value of the ore are not
accessible. The mine is paying a profit, how-
ever. The mill is located at the entrance of
the tunnel, on which level the lode has been
drifted a considerable distance. From this
level a shaft has been sunk and levels run, all
proving the great value of the mine.
The Silver Mountain Lode lies in proximity
to the Pioneer, and carries ore similar in ap-
pearance to that of the last named. It has re-
ceived a large share of development under the
superintendency of Capt. Thomas H. Bates.
The Great Republic carries an immense vein
of iron pyrites and gangue ; of such a low grade,
however, that it is difficult to make it profitable
under existing circumstances. With cheaper
labor and processes of treatment this obstacle
is gradually becoming less formidable. The
Colorado State and Rainbow Lodes, which cross
the Great) Republic, are also highly valuable
properties. The Great Republic carries ore
that assays $30 in gold, and $5 to $10 in silver,
perton. The ore is suitable for concentration,
and, with proper dressing, machinery this will
undoubtedly prove a remunerative property.
The Grand View is a contiguous vein that has
been opened on the surface a considerable dis-
tance. ‘
The Tenth Legion, Conquerer, Great Equator
Liebig, Livingston County, Humboldt, Pitts-
burg, Keystone, 8. R. Platt, Great Western and
Empire City are among the prominent mines of
this district. These properties usually carry
good bodies of iron pyrites, with some copper.
The ore is generally of a low grade, though
there are some exceptions to this rule, and the
question of their cheap concentration, or other
treatment, is a matter of general and vital in-
terest to that district.
The Neath Lode is a type of the mines of that
section, though over an average in the quality
of its ores. Itis owned by John M. Dumont
and others, and is opened by an adit 270 feet
long and a shaft sunk from the same to a depth
of seventy-two feet. The pay streak is two feet
in width, and consists of iron and copper
pyrites and gangue. Much of this ore is suita-
ble for concentration. A specimen assay re-
cently ran as high as eleven ounces of gold
and fifty-two ounces of silver per ton, and twen-
ty-eight per cent copper. This lode is located
on Covode Mountain.
About two miles from Empire, on Lincoln
Mountain, is the Virginia City Lode, which dif-
fers in some respects from the lodes of the sur-
rounding neighborhood. It has been opened
by two to three shafts, none of which are more
than seventy-five feet in width. These disclose
avery soft crevice about eight feet in width,
consisting ofa thoroughly decomposed material
which shows no solid mineral, but runs, the
whole width, thirty to thirty-five ounces of sil-
ver per ton. Two feet of this material is of a
better grade, averaging from seventy to eighty
ounces of silver per ton. This mine is sur-
rounded with fine timber, and is a very valua-
ble property.
It is impossible to give more than a very
brief description of the mines about Empire.
To do the subject justice would require ten
times the space that can be allotted to it. Suf-
fice it to say, that, while the ore is not of the
highest grade, the mines are of a class that
guarantees permanency and profit if economi-
cally developed.
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY. 329
A
AROUND DUMONT.
The mines in the vicinity of Dumont, late
Mill City, after a season of comparative quietude,
are the scenes of renewed interest and activity.
The mines of this district are gold and silver
bearing, and in the early day the surface quartz
was successfully treated by several stamp mills
‘ built in the vicinity.
The work now in progress is principally one
of development. Last year a couple of shrewd
miners kept an old stamp mill running all sum-
mer on ore from the surrounding dumps which
had been considered as refuse, and the result
was a handsome profit at the end of the year.
This had the effect of inducing others to engage
in prospecting and relocating claims, and the re-
sult was a general awakening to the importance
of the mining interests in that section. ‘Several
new buildings have been erected in Dumont,
including a commodious hotel and a new stamp
mill, owned by the Mansfield Mining and Mill-
ing Company, with a capacity of sixty tons per
day—thirty stamps.
Much of the present activity is due to the
enterprise of the company just named, with oth-
ers of recent organization, among which are the
Unadilla Mining Company, of New York, and
the Panama Mining Company, of Chicago. On
Albro Mountain is the lode of the same name,
which was early worked for gold, and, after a
period of dormancy, is again the scene of active
operations.
The Mansfield Mining and Milling Company
own something over a dozen lodes, the major-
ity of which are of recent location and meager
development. Sufficient work has been done on
them to give some intimation of their value, and
the company, through its agent, Frank L. Down-
end, is vigorously prosecuting their develop-
ment. Some of these are highly promising, but,
on the whole, the value of the properties is pro-
spective. The same may be said of the Unadilla
Mining Company’s properties. These lodes, as
a rule, carry iron and copper pyrites, the sur-
face quartz milling from thirty to several hun-
dred ounces of silver per ton under stamp and
amalgamation treatment. J. E. Dubois, long a
resident of Dumont, is the Superintendent for
this company.
The Monitor Lode, owned by Green & Knabb,
carries ore that yields five to six ounces of gold —
per cord.
The Mackey Lode, situated at the foot of
Spring Gulch, has been developed by a shaft
the past season. This carries a large vein of
solid ore, that mills from $40 to over $100 per
ton, principally in silver.
Among many other lodes worthy of note, are
the Rule and Figure, Panama, Alexander, Chi-
cago, Magnetic, Silver Glance, Silver Rock and
Bonanza. These vary largely in general char-
acteristies, in some, silver being predominant,
and gold in others. In some, the copper is an
important item, but few carry lead in profitable
“quantity.
Lying southerly from Mill City, on Capitol
Mountain, are several good lodes, among which
is the Wall Street, owned by Col. C. P. Baldwin,
etal. This is an old location, 50x3,000 feet.
The lode is not less than fourteen feet in width,
and the ore vein varies from one to ten inches.
The ore is known as gray sulphurets, and there
are also present galena and silver glance; the
average silver contents of this ore are 200
ounces per ton. The writer regrets his inability
to use, for lack of space, a carefully tabulated
b statement of thirty-three lots of ore taken from
this property, which was furnished by the owner.
The property has been opened by a number of
shafts of different depths, all of which proveits
continuity, and the good grade of its mineral.
Mineral, apparently carrying but little solid ore,
runs well in silver, owing to the silver glance
which it contains. This property is undergoing
development with profitable results.
The Capitol and Cape Horn Lodes are con-
‘tiguous properties to the Wall Street, and are
being worked remuneratively.
oe
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY,
830
afr,
Spring Gulch contains a number of lodes
which are receiving development at the hands
of capitalists. The discovery of some of these
dates back twelve to fifteen years, while a num-
ber of locations were made the present season.
Several of these carry galena and iron pyrites
worth allthe way from $30 to $125 per ton. A
’ number have been sold to parties possessed of
the necessary capital wherewith to develop
them, and they are now being opened with sat-
isfaction to their owners.
Traveling down the gulch from Georgetown,
the silver region is left about Dumont, and the
gold belt, which extends down past Idaho
Springs, is encountered. Gold is generally pre-
dominant in these veins, though in some cases
silver is the more abundant metal. In some
instances copper isa profitable mineral. The
ore consists mainly of pyrite and galena, the
former usually determining the preponderance
of gold, and the latter that of silver.
One of the most important mining enterprises
inaugurated in this district during the past two
years, is carried wholly by Mr. Clarence Ste-
phens.
The property is located in Banner district,
three miles aboveIdaho. It consists of sixteen
lode claims, a placer claim of 100 acres and a
mill site of 5 acres, all within a short distance
of the Freeland, though not on the same mount-
ain.
A full description of the whole group cannot
be introduced into these pages. The Big Chief,
which possesses the greatest amount of develop-
ment, is worthy of especial mention. It is
opened by an adit 235 feet long, and a shaft 210
feet deep, these avenues intersecting each other
at a depth of 35 feet, and a length of 60 feet.
The second level is opened 60 feet westerly
’ from the shaft, and is 103 feet below the main
adit. The third level, on which drifting is but
just started, is 60 feet lower down. Each of
these levels is supplied with twelve-pound iron
T-rails. The lode, as far as explored, carries a
solid ore vein of an average width of fifteen |
inches, in addition to which there is usually a
fair amount of scattered ore suitable for con-
centration. The ore is similar to that of the
Freeland in every respect, and there is “no
question in the mind of the writer as to the
identity of these lodes. They both carry un-
usual quantities of carbonate of iron (siderite), | |
their pitch is the same—from 36 to 40 degrees
from the perpendicular—and they have a uni-
form strike, surface irregularities changing the
course of their apexes to some extent. Fair
samples of the ore range from $40 to $167 per
ton in gold, silver and copper, the latter metal
running from 10 to 14 percent. There are 400
tons of this class of ore on the dump. It con-
sists of iron pyrites (pyrite), copper pyrites
(chalcopyrite), gray copper (tetrahedrite), and
black oxide of copper (tenorite). The hoisting
is done by a California whim. The improve-
ments at the surface consist of a whim and ore-
house, assay office and blacksmith-shop. Every
feature of this lode shows it to be one of great
strength and value, the ore gradually improv-
ing with depth.
The Lulu, Chance, Stephens, Mammoth, Na-
than and the First, Second and Third National
Lodes are all excellent properties, on which suf-
ficient development has been done to prove
their value. The product is gold, principally.
The Fourth National, Wide-Awake, Joe Rich-
ardson, Democrat and Ten-Thirty Lodes are but
little developed. They are opened by numer-
ous shafts and trenches aggregating 130 feet in
depth. This proves that they are all strong,
three to four foot crevices, the surface quartz |
assaying from one to two and a half ounces,
gold, and from ten to eighteen ounces, silvey,
per ton, and from 2 to 4 per-cent in copper.
The elevation of this group of lodes is about
9,100 feet. That of the Colorado Central Rail-
road, where a side track has been built for the
economic shipping of the ore, is 8,100 feet
above sea level, so that a tunnel run in from
er
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
331
the pitch of the vein.
this point would cut the lodes at a great depth.
They are now reached by a wagon-road some-
thing over a mile in length. A convenient ore
house has been built by the side of the rail-
road, so that ores can be handled easily and
cheaply.
The principal advantages offered by this
group of mines, are compactness, an abundance
of timber, a clear title—eight of the lodes now
being patented—great accessibility, excellent
railroad facilities and an unlimited supply of
water in Clear Creek. Plans for the full devel-
opment of the property have not yet been per-
fected. This is a matter requiring the most
careful consideration. Whatever may be done,
however, concentrating works for the solid
mineral, and a stamp mill for the auriferous
quartz, both built on Clear Creek, will be a
matter of necessity, and will doubtless be
erected at the earliest convenience of the
owner.
MINES OF IDAHO SPRINGS.
The Freeland is one of the most important
mines in this district, and, therefore, claims
particular notice. It is situated about five
miles from Idaho Springs, the residence of
Col. F. F. Osbiston, the General Manager, and
John N. Palmer, Esq., the mine Superintend-
ent.
The lode is very favorably located for devel-
opment by adits, and John M. Dumont, its
former owner, availed himself of the advan-
tages thus offered. The system of exploration
that he inaugurated, has been faithfully followed
by the Freeland Mining Company up to the
present date. It is opened by three main levels
tending westerly. The two lower ones are
named the Freeland and the Minnie. The dis-
tance between them is 225 feet, measured on
The mouth of the Min-
nie is nearly 450 feet westerly from that of the
Freeland, and the distance from the breast of
the Freeland to the westerly end of the prop-
erty is something over 650 feet. The Platt
level is 245 feet above the Minnie. Two shafts,
near the westerly end of the claim, and the
Diamond level, are now of no value except to
show the continuity of the deposit. The breast
of the Freeland level is now about 925 feet
below the surface, when continued to the end
of the property, it will be nearly 1,100 feet
deep. The average height of the back stopes
in the Freeland level is forty feet ; twenty in the
Minnie and sixty feet in the Platt. Some idea
may be formed from this of the enormous ore
reserves on hand. The chutes running up into
the stopes are forty feet apart, and, for conven-
ience, are always kept a number of feet higher
than the stopes. They are usually four feet
square inside the timbers, and are provided
with doors at the bottom, so ‘that the ore can
be run directly into the car, entirely obviating
the use of shovels in loading, except in the
breasts of the drifts.
The ore vein in the back stopes above the
Freeland Tunnel averages from fourteen to
seventeen inches in width, while the breast of
the drift shows fourteen inches of solid ore,
besides much scattered mineral. This consists
mainly of iron pyrites and copper pyrite.
Bunches of galena are found occasionally, and
carbonate of iron is common. The ore in the
Minnie is similar to that found in the Freeland,
both in quantity and quality. An ore vein
varying in width from six inches to three feet
now exists in the different stopes. The mine
is not now producing sufficient galena to justify
its separation from the pyrites. Tennantite, a
somewhat rare mineral, consisting of copper,
iron, sulphur and arsenic, is a peculiarity of the
Freeland.
It is a gratifying feature of this mine that
the ore steadily improves with depth. , About
ten tons of first-class, worth $80 per ton, are
saved daily. The great bulk of the mineral,
that adapted to concentration, is worth $60 per
ton when dressed, the proportion of dressed to
crude ore being as-one to two and three-tenths.
4
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
One hundred tons of this are concentrated
daily at the company’s works. About two-
thirds of the value of the concentrations are
gold. The remainder is accounted for by an
average of 6 per cent of copper and some silver.
The first-class is sent to the Boston & Colorado
Works at Argo, and runs 20 per cent in copper,
one and a half ounces of gold, and thirty-
six ounces of silver per ton.
The drifting and raising is all done under
contract, at a uniform price of $3.50 per foot,
and this is the only work on which double-hand
drilling is used.
The timber work is of the most thorough
description, stulls of immense size being used
at short intervals. This is another instance in
which the owners of the Freeland are naturally
fortunate. Within a mile of the mine there
exists a practically exhaustless supply of pine
timber suitable for mining purposes, and a saw-
mill owned by the company insures its eco-
nomic utilization.
The general plan for sinking a deep shaft
commencing on the Freeland level, is definitely
arranged. Machinery sufficiently heavy for
sinking 2,000 feet will be used. The shaft will
be 6x16 feetin size, divided into three compart-
ments and solidly cribbed with twelve-inch
timbers. Levels will be made about 100 feet
apart. At the mouth of the Freeland Tunnel
are the concentrating works, the assay and bus-
iness offices, blacksmith and carpenter shops,
two store-houses for supplies, stables, dwelling
houses, etc., and at the railroad at the foot of
Trail Run is an ore-house holding 150 tons of
dressed ore.
The Freeland Concentrating Mill is probably
the largest and best appointed in the State ;
therefore a condensed description will not be
inappropriate. It has been in operation about
a year, and is eminently successful, the only
draw-back being a lack of sufficient capacity to
treat more than one-third of the ore which
could be taken from the mine. The capacity
is 115 tons per day. The dimensions of the
building are as follows: Jig room, 75x62 feet;
ore floor, 48x35 ; engine and boiler floor, 35x-
43. The dumping floor is 85 feet from the
mouth of the Freeland Tunnel, which is the
avenue for every pound of ore taken from the
mine. The crushing machinery consists of two
Blake crushers, 7x10 inches in size, and three
pairs of Cornish rolls, each 14-inch face and
22 inches in diameter. The sizing appliances
are eight revolving screens, in pairs, the first
two sizing the mineral in a dry state, the last
six being supplied with water and another in-
genious device for sizing the finer mineral.
The separation of the ore from the worthless
‘rock, or concentration of the coarser mineral, is
effected by twelve Hartz jigs, and the finest
material, the slime, is divided into pure ore,
seconds and tailings, by a rotary circular bud-
dle. From the dry screens the coarser parti-
cles are returned to the central pair of rolls to
be re-crushed, and the finer material is passed
down to the wet screens, where it is sized for
the jigs. The jigs, like the screens, consist of
two sets, counterparts of each other. Each set
turns out four sizes of dressed ore, and each jig
four grades, the whole forming, when placed in
phials and labeled, an interesting representa-
tion of the efficiency of the Hartz jig. This is
a highly scientific process, and its success de-
pends in a great degree on the amount of “ bed”
carried in each jig compartment and the quan-
tity of water used.
The refuse, denominated “tailings,” is
usually considered -worthless. In the case of
the Freeland, however, where everything is
worked on a large and economical scale, it is
proposed to work the tailings over again and
save as much of the $3.17 per ton that they
contain as human ingenuity can do. For this
purpose the company has recently purchased a
piece of property at the foot of Trail Run,
where a 15-stamp mill will be erected and the
tailings subjected to that mode of treatment,
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
335
Four circular buddles and six jigs will also be
used at that point. This is about two and one-
half miles from the mine, and the crushed ore,
tailings and slimes will be run down a flume to
the point mentioned, where there is an abun-
dance of water.
The cost of concentrating the Freeland ore
is 70 cents per ton, the mineral being reduced
60 per cent during the process. The cost of
hauling to the railroad is $1 perton. Nine men
on each shift are all that are required to run
the mill. Four cords of wood, at an expense of
$2.50 per cord, are consumed daily. This sup-
plies steam for the motive power and for drying
the concentrations. The engine is 100-horse-
power, and the boilers have double that capac-
ity. The boilers are fed by a No.3 Knowles pump
and a No. 5 pump of the same kind is used for
returning the water from the settlers to the con-
centrators. Once in twenty-four hours all the
machinery of the dressing works is carefully in-
spected, and a full supply of water and hose and
a Cameron pump are kept in readiness in case
of fire. The cheap concentration of our ores is
a matter of vital interest to this district, and at
no other place is the business conducted so ex-
tensively, thoroughly and cheaply as at the
Freeland. .
THE HUKILL.
This great vein crosses Clear Creek about
one and a half miles above IdahoSprings. The
Whale and the Hukill are connected claims on
one lode, and have a common ownership.
The total length of the two claims is 3,188
feet, and the horizontal and vertical develop-
ments aggregate about 5,000 lineal feet. The
Hukill was first worked for surface gold, and,
in 1871 it was purchased by John M. Dumont,
who prosecuted its development for a number of
years at a satisfactory profit. Later, it became
the property of the Hukill Gold and Silver Min-
ing Company, which still retains its possession.
The developments thus far were mainly confined
to the north side of the creek, where one of the
finest veins of ore in the county was exploited
to that level.
In 1878, a vertical shaft was started a short
distance south of the creek. In 1879, a party
of Californians purchased a controlling interest
and lent a decided stimulus to the develop-
ment of the mine. This shaft, which is
known as the Delano shaft, is perpendicular
and is 235 feet deep. It was started nearly on
the crevice, but, as this pitches to the west at an
angle of about fourteen degrees, the shaft and
vein are gradually diverging as depth is gained.
The first level was run at a depth of seventy-
seven feet from the surface, and here the shaft
and lode are together. At the second level,
sixty-five feet lower down, they are twenty-two
feet apart, and at the third and lowest level, an
additional depth of eighty-six feet, the interven-
ing distance is fifty-two feet. The first, second
and third levels are open respectively 79, 127
and 60 feet north of the shaft, and 80, 95 and
80 feet south.
The south drift on the first level carries sev-
eral feet of ore of a good quality. In the north
drift, the mineral is more scattered. The sec-
ond level shows an excellent vein of ore at
every point, ranging in width from two to four
feet. The stopes above this level have attained
a height of fifteen feet at one point, showing a
vein of ore from four to seven feet in width.
This consists of iron pyrites and copper pyrites,
carrying streaks and bunches of fine-grained
erubescite, which constitutes the first-class ore
and runs high in both gold and silver. The
lower level carries from two to four feet of an
ore vein throughout its length, and but little
stoping has been done there. The develop-
ments on this level are highly satisfactory, as
the ore is found to be improving with depth.
The surface improvements consist of an
engine-house 83x28, and an ore-house 18x40,
with blacksmith-shop on the dump. The assay,
business and other offices are located in the old
Whale mill. Everything around the mine bears
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336
HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY. ‘
evidence of careful supervision, Col. F. F. Os-
biston having the management.
Due allowance should here be made for recent
drifting. The changes in the ore since the
above was written, denote an improvement in
quality, and confirm statements as to its general
high grade. The Hukill ore is peculiarly rich,
compared with other mines in this district, in
which the mineral is mainly pyritic. The first-
class sometimes carries copper to the value of
$40 per ton, but from 3 to 10 per cent is proba-
bly about an average range. Something over
$600,000 have been taken from the Hukill claim
alone since 1871. ‘The Hukill is, without doubt,
one of the most profitable and reliable mines in
the great mineral belt that traverses Clear Creek
and Gilpin Counties.
The Lone Tree mine is owned and managed
by John M. Dumont, of Spanish Bar, and is
located about 1,000 feet westerly from the Free-
land mine. The property consists of two pat-
ented claims, aggregating 2,800 linear feet. A
placer claim that takes in Trail Creek for a dis-
tance of nearly half a mile, and two mill sites,
each of four acres in extent, are owned in con-
nection with the property. Theground marked
by the apex of the lode is entirely free from the
abruptness so common in this county, render-
ing the construction of wagon roads a matter of
comparatively little expense. More or less pine
timber suitable for mining purposes is scattered
over the whole length of the property.
For a distance of 1,800 feet,a number of
surface shafts, varying in depth from twenty-
five to seventy-five feet, were sunk for the de-
composed auriferous quartz, which was treated
at the stamp mills, and often run as high as
$250 in gold to the cord.
No systematic attempt at development was
made, however, until about a year ago, when a
main shaft was commenced, and an adit run in
to connect with it. The latter is now 750 feet
in length, and the shaft is 110 feet deep. The
breast of the adit will be directly under the
shaft within a further distance of sixty feet,
and the latter will require an additional depth
of seventy feet before reaching the level of the
adit.
The character of the ore is that peculiar to
the mines of this district—auriferous pyrites,
carrying a profitable percentage of copper, with
more or less silver. A large number of assays
taken from different points on the lode show
that the ore ranges in value from $40 to $200
per ton. Past experience in this district proves
that this variety of mineral invariably improves
in quality as depth is gained. The crevice is |
from five to eight feet in width, and is usually
mineralized throughout the whole width. The
lode pitches at an angle of about ten degrees
from the perpendicular, and preserves remark-
able uniformity in course, width, pitch and gen-
eral characteristics as far as explored. This is
undoubtedly one of the strongest fissure veins
in the county.
In the vicinity of the Lone Tree and Free-
land mines, are many others which are under-
going development. Although many of them
are highly promising, with a few exceptions,
they are ‘not now remunerative. The Trail
Creek Tunnel Company sustains a new enter-
prise of “great pith and moment,” late devel-
opments showing a marked improvement.
For reasons already told too often, a descrip-
tion of the mines about Idaho Springs, and in
fact throughout the county, is much more con-
densed than is desirable to the writer, and no
less to the owners of the properties referred to.
Situated a short distance below the Hukill
is the Mayflower mine, owned by a New York
company, and superintended by George Berry.
Its active and systematic development is com-
paratively recent. It was originally opened by
several adits and shafts, but, since it came into
the possession of the company now owning it,
a-vertical shaft, similar to that of the Hukill,
has been commenced, and, at a depth of about
200 feet, this shows up a body of ore of large
oer
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
887
size and good quality. The ore is of the
pyritic class, carrying gold, silver and copper.
Late developments are extremely gratifying to
those interested in the property. The opening
up of the vein is progressing vigorously.
The Idaho Tunnel, which is being driven
into Seaton Mountain by the Consolidated
Seaton Mountain Mining Company, is one of the
most colossal enterprises at present under way
in this vicinity. The consolidated property in-
cludes about twenty-five lodes, which will be
intersected by the tunnel in question during its
continuance, excepting those which have already
been cut. The mountain in which the tunnel
is being driven, is, undoubtedly, one of the
greatest depositions of mineral wealth in the
State, and the present system of exploration
must insure its economic exploitation. The
average grade of the ores of the different lodes
as determined by surface explorations, is from
$100 to $200 in gold and silver. The tunnel
is now about 600 feet in length, and several
of the lodes that have been intersected, among
which are the Inter-Ocean and Carpenter, are
now yielding ore of good grade. The company
is organized on a capital of $50,00,000, and
proposes to carry the tunnel a sufficient dis-
tance to intersect every lode which it owns.
The Colorado Tunnel is owned by the same
company. It commences on Sulphuret Hill,
but its further continuance will carry it into
Seaton Mountain, in a different locality to that
explored by the Idaho Tunnel. It is yet in its
incipiency, hut has a vast store of mineral
wealth ahead. These enterprises are watched
by the county at large with more than ordinary
interest. The property is managed by the Hon.
Thomas B. Bryan, the Mayor of Idaho Springs.
On Seaton Mountain are many lodes which
have been worked for many years, such as the
Seaton, Victor, Metropolitan and Gem, which
were among the first discoveries in the county.
Some of these have yielded enormously and
are still steady producers.
One of the most steadily profitable mines on
this mountain is the Tropic, owned by Gen. J.
I. Gilbert and Joseph Reynolds. The main
shaft of the mine is 180 feet deep. The first
level is reached at a depth of 32 feet and has
been opened a distance of 570 feet easterly.
Fifty feet lower is the second level, which is
opened 210 feet westerly and 390 feet easterly.
The next and lowest level is 80 feet below the
second, and is drifted 60 feet west of the shaft.
On this level no stoping has been done. The
average height of the stopes in the second level
is fifteen feet, and for 300 feet in the first level
the stopes are raised to an average height of ten
feet. . .
The ore vein, taken throughout'the mine,
will average from a foot to a foot and a half in
width, the bottom of the shaft carrying eighteen
inches of nearly solid ore. The ore consists of
galena, gray copper, yellow copper and iron
pyrites. The first-class is worth from $110 to
$180 per ton. The second-class mills from $90
to $110, and the concentrating ore from $40 to
$50 per ton. The first-class ore carries 3 of an
ounce of gold, and 170 ounces of silver per ton,
and contains from 4 to 6 per cent of copper.
Drifting is progressing on the third level
both east and west, and on the second level east
of the shaft. Sinking the shaft is suspended
until the arrival of a 50-horse power hoisting
engine, which is now on the way to the mine.
Twenty men are employed, but four of these
being in the stopes. The monthly output is
about fifty tons of ore of all classes.
From Idaho Springs to the head of Virginia
Cafion are numerous valuable mines—the Spe-
cie Payment, Trio, Lucerne, Kansas City Tun-
nel, and connected properties, Champion, Santa
Fe, German, Clarissa, ete. These are mainly
auriferous, though they usually. carry a small
percentage of silver. The Specie Payment has
been opened to a depth of several hundred feet,
carrying ore adapted to stamp treatment in its
lowest. levels.
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338 HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
OTHER DISTRICTS.
In addition to the mines already described,
there are many others, lying in outside districts,
which are, because of their distance from the
central districts, or owing to their incipiency,
less commonly known than those previously
mentioned. :
Near the head of York Gulch is a cluster of
silver-bearing lodes (carrying some gold, how-
ever), which have been worked steadily for a
number of years with profit to their owners.
The most important of these is the Clifford
mine, which has received a large share of de-
velopment.
Over on Chicago and Cascade Creeks are
several lodes which have yielded handsomely,
and many others on which development has but
recently commenced. The Humboldt has a
shaft 150 feet deep, and an adit 200 feet long.
This carries ore that mills $300 per ton. Other
lodes are the Cynosure, Mayflower, Muscovite,
Charter Oak, Diadem, Peerless, Cascade, Mary
Foster, Exchange, Magna, Marmion and Stella,
These lodes carry both gold and silver, the ore
ranging in value from $30 to several hundred
dollars per ton. The Alps, Twins, Silver Bluff,
Grant, Springfield and Blue Jay are other lodes,
some of them being old locations. This district
is conveniently situated at a comparatively low
altitude, with an abundance of timber and wa-
ter, and is but a few miles from Idaho Springs,
whither its product will naturally tend. A
revival of activity at this point during the pres-
ent season has resulted in the discovery of
several excellent lodes.
The Fall River District has attracted a good
deal of attention during the past year, and many
properties that have been temporarily abandoned
for a number of years are again actively worked.
The largest and most promising enterprise
under way in this district at the present time
is owned and managed by Mr. R. O. Old, of
Georgetown. This consists of thirteen con-
nected lode claims and nine mill sites. The
principal lode is the National Bank, which is
opened by a shaft eighty-six feet deep, which
proves the existence of a large ore vein that
assays up to 500 ounces of silver per ton. In
order to intersect and develop these properties,
the British Tunnel, which will cut the National
Bank at a depth of not less than 400 feet, is
being driven into Deer Mountain, where this
group of lodes is located. It is now 670 feet
in length, and will cut the National Bank in a
further distance’ of about 250 feet. On the
same mountain are three lodes owned by Mr.
Thomas 8. Old, to develop which the Malta
‘Tunnel is being driven into the mountain.
Judging from the results of the meager devel-
opments already bestowed on these properties,
they are decidedly valuable lodes.
Atlantic district, bounded on one side by the
main range at the western end of the county,
is a new mining district, having been formed
but a few months. It is at the present time
the scene of extensive and vigorous prospect-
ing. Its existence is mainly due to the inde-
fatigable exertions of that unwearying pros-
pector, Judge H. ©. Cowles, of Empire. Some
of the newly discovered properties carry ore of
a high grade. The Snowy Range is spoken of
as one of the most valuable lodes in the dis-
trict. A little mining camp named after the
district in which it is situated is already in
existence. Eastern capital is employed in the
development of some of the properties. There
are, undoubtedly, mines of great value in that
section.
Over at the head of Geneva Gulch is a group
of mines, on the main range, which claim a
passing notice. Although in Clear Creek
County, they are not strictly in the Clear
Creek Valley, being at the head of Elk Creek,
which runs into South Park. The principal
mines are owned by the Geneva Mining Com-
pany, and are located somewhat unfavordbly
for working, as they are above the line of tim-
ber and subject to deep snows during the win-
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A
HISTORY OF CLEAR, CREEK COUNTY.
339
"ter season. The lodes are intersected by a long
tunnel, the Britannic, which cuts some of them
at a great depth. The Baltic is the most im-
portant lode in the group, and has been exten-
sively developed. It carries from six inches
to two feet of solid ore, consisting of gray and
yellow copper, iron pyrites and galena. The
| company owns a mill for smelting its ores.
This is located a few miles down the gulch,
where timber is abundant. Snow slides are
common at this point, scarcely a winter pass-
ing without annoyance and loss of life from
this source; but.this is regarded as of little
moment by the eager, resistless searchers for
silver and gold.
CHAPTER VI.*
MILLS AND- MILLING.
THE EARLY DAYS.
HE history of the reduction of ores in Clear
: Creek County embraces a wide range, and
the details of its rise and progress are of interest
to all who are engaged in the mining and mill-
ing of the noble metals. Supposing that no
mill for the reduction of ores had ever been
built in this county, and that our miners had
developed their property to its present stage
and stored up their ores, the first practical met-
allurgist, American or European, who chanced
to visit the camp, would quickly and certainly
arrive at the following conclusions :
“You are here raising yearly fifteen to twenty
thousand tons of silver and gold bearing ore.
You need mills to treat as much as possible
of this ore in this county. Your ores are a
mixture of two or more sulphides, such as
iron and copper pyrites, galena, zinc-blende,
gray copper, and, occasionally, the rarer true
silver ores, with antimony, arsenic and traces
of nickel and bismuth. At the surface, and
to a depth of twenty to sixty feet, the ores are
generally decomposed, showing a _honey-
combed, sulphureted quartz. To reduce eco-
nomically this light argentiferous and aurifer-
ous ore, whether decomposed or quartzose, and
carrying only a light percentage of the above
*The author is indebted to L. F. Oumsrep, Esq., for the prepara-
tion of this chapter.—A. F.
nearest lead smelter or the one that will pay
metals, you should, after stamping, desulphur-
ize and chloridize in Bruckner cylinders, and
finally leach with hyposulphite of soda, and
precipitate or amalgamate with quick-silver in
the good old way. In your heavy ores, the
metals which are valuable intrinsically, or
which may be used as a base for extracting the
silver and gold, are lead, copper and zinc. To
cheapen transportation, raise the value per ton,
and facilitate reduction, you should have mills
for the separation and concentration of galena,
iron, zinc and gangue. Lead being the most
important base, lead smelting works are needed.
Since you are fifty miles from the coal meas-
ures and your district does not produce the
necessary fluxes, ship your galena ores to the
the highest price. The ores containing copper
should be sent to the French Smelting Works,
at Golden, the Boston and Colorado Works, at
Argo, or to lead smelters who will pay equally
as high a rate. If you can supply a sufficient
amount of clean cupriferous ore, a mill should
be running here on the Hunt, Douglas and
Stewart plan. Your zincose ores should be
treated at some establishment in the State
which utilizes the zinc as well as the silver and
gold. Until such works are built, any of the
above reducers will gladly receive zinc ores.
Thus, for all grades of ore containing $15 and
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
340
over per ton, you will be paid the highest rates
which the best methods of treatment and keen
competition have brought about.”
How simple and sensible such reasoning ap-
pears, and yet for fifteen years have men been
buying experience in milling here, and paying
liberally for it, too. How they tried to make
water run up hill will be presently shown.
But in their favor we must state that these
pioneer mill-men did their level best; they
started when little or nothing was known of
the character or extent of the ore veins ; when
the railroad was halting at the Missouri River ;
when Swansea and Freiberg were the nearest
reduction works ; when capital could not be in-
duced to flow into the unknown, savage wilds
of Colorado. They struggled bravely with ad-
verse fortunes, they tried new and old ideas,
holding fast to the good and abandoning the
bad, and part of the practical results they ob-
tained was the introduction of the Bruckner
cylinder and the Hunt and Douglas leaching
process. Their previous experience had been
mostly in the stamp-mills of Gilpin County and
the treatment of gold ores, and the first mills
built in the eastern part of this county actually
saved a little free silver with their amalgam,
and their owners sold it as base metal. But
the fire assay soon (1864) showed the presence
of silver in the veins, and in 1865 there was
silver ore for sale in Clear Creek County.
There was a town, too, which has been steadily
- prospering ever since (Georgetown), and mills
for the treatment of silver ores were springing
up on all sides. No sooner was a mining com-
pany incubated than it demanded a mill, and,
by the time the mill was in operation, the com-
pany had usually arrived at years of discretion
and bankruptcy. It is unnecessary to describe
in detail the stamp-mills erected at Empire and
near Idaho for the treatment of surfacé gold
ores; they answered their purpose as long as
the requisite supply of decomposed mineral was
obtained, and, that failing, they attacked the
solid sulphides and pyrites with boundless con-
fidence and original processes. Everything,
from superheated steam to tobacco-juice, was
tried on those refractory ores, except the simple
old methods, until the miners gradually forsook
the gold districts and the mills fell into decay.
Empire still possesses two stamp-mills, and of
these D. J. Ball’s is usually kept busy. His
courage and perseverance, entitle him to suc-
cess, and that he may live long to enjoy his
gold dust is the wish of all who know the vet-
eran pioneer, miner and mill-man. At Idaho
a few stamps are in operation, but the amount
of ore so treated is small.
SILVER MILLS.
The argentiferous surface ores of this district,
being mostly decomposed, and, therefore, easily
reduced by simple roasting, chloridizing and
amalgamation, were believed to be inexhaustible,
and all who possessed any knowledge whatever
on the subject, considered that little skill was
required in their treatment. For a time all
went well, and results were obtained as high as:
85 and 90 per cent of silver contents ; but the
necessity of buying and using more refractory
ore, the inexperience and ignorance of most
managers, the dishonesty of others and the dis-
advantages incident to every new camp, brought
all in turn to grief. Among the first custom
mills of Georgetown was the What Cheer, which
has had a checkered experience under many
managers. First arranged in 1865 as a stamp-
mill for the raw amalgamation of auriferous
quartz, it was soon ascertained that no supply
of free milling ores was to be had in the district.
Garrott, Martine & Co. then leased the mill for -
five years, and introduced Bruckner cylinders
for roasting, and revolving barrels for amalga-
mating, the silver ores which were being largely
produced. Dry stamping was here first suc-
cessfully attempted. Though laboring under
many difficulties, lack of capital, excessive cost
of mill supplies and the defective condition of
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
341
the entire mill, the firm prospered, saving 80 to
85 per cent of the silver contents of ore treated,
and operated the works for eleven months.
Huepeden & Company purchased their inter-
ests in 1868, and afterward with the honest
miners the outfit was known as the Yuba Dam
Mill. The manager and a considerable sum of
money disappeared together, and Palmer &
Nichols next made a brave but vain attempt to
continue the old methods successfully. After
two years of idleness, the Pelican Company
bought the property in 1873, added three cylin-
ders, engine and boiler, renovated the mill
throughout, and, under the management of B. F.
Napheys, began the reduction of ores from the
Pelican mine, supplemented by occasional pur-
clases outside. Several thousand bars of sil-
ver were produced, but the exact percentage
saved, the cost of working per ton, etc., cannot,
owing to the litigation and confusion prevailing
at that period, be definitely ascertained. Cer-
tain it is, however, that in 1877, the Pelican
Company gladly leased the mill to Ballou,
Napheys & Co., whose operation on custom ores
for ten months resulted in a heavy loss. Since
the purchase of the property by William A.
Hamill, it has been refitted as a sampling works
and leased by the Boston & Colorado Smelting
Company. That it will ever again be employed
in the reduction of ores, is extremely doubtful.
The International Mining Company, Profes-
sor Frank Dibben, agent, built in East Argen-
tine, eight miles above Georgetown, in 1868, a
mill of the same character. Considering that
nine-tenths of the ore from the International
mine carries over 50 percent galena, it would
seem to a casual observer that some one had
blundered in its construction. But by supple-
menting their quartzose ore with liberal pur-
chases from the Belmont and Harris, adjoining
mines which carry a light, honey-combed ore,
and under the careful management of P. Mc-
Cann, the mill did not die its natural death until
four years had elapsed.
The Baker Silver Mining Company, Joseph
W. Watson, Superintendent, was also at this
time indulging in the luxury of a siiver mill, of
the same pattern, in West Argentine. While the
Baker ore, antimonial quartz and galena, is
slightly better adapted to the amalgamation
process, the stockholders of the company are to
be congratulated that before the works were
fairly in operation they were destroyed by fire.
That no attempt to rebuild has since been made
is another cause for congratulation.
The most persistent efforts to reduce the ores
of Clear Creek County in Georgetown was made
by J. Oscar Stewart. Starting ina small way in
1867, with a little reverberatory furnace and a
couple of amalgamating pans, he met with such
success in treating rich surface ores that he
readily induced Eastern capitalists to furnish
him with the money to build a $100,000 mill,
located at the lower end of town. At first the
mill was modeled after his former one, and for
several years a fair degree of success was
attained, and his books showed a handsome
profit. But ina short time, desirable ores be-
came scarce anda heavy percentage of lead and
zine appeared. Then piles of tailings, too low
to utilize, too high to throw away, began to rise
near his mill. Twice he showed the writer
dumps containing each a thousand tons, con-
taining forty ounces of silver per ton, which he
intended to treat. After running these tailings
again through his mill, he acknowledged that
every ounce he had extracted, had cost him
25 per cent more than its currency value.
The Arey and Stetefeldt furnaces, which
allowed too little time for thorough roasting, a
smelting furnace for destroying lead, innumer-
able and unheard-of variations of the old rever-
beratory, a genuine improvement on the Hunt
and Douglas leaching process and an expensive
attempt to adapt it to our ores by mixing cop-
per pyrites from Empire—these are but a few
examples of the misdirected energy and talent.
The burning of the mill on two occasions was
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
a temporary hindrance, but, the loss being fully
covered by insurance, this had no effect in has-
tening the ruin of the company, which three
years ago culminated. But that he acted
throughout from honest convictions, and that
his failure left him with clean hands, all who
know him will acknowledge.
At Masonville, four miles below Idaho Springs,
a plant similar to Stewart’s was operated in
1870-71, and started up for a few months in
1873. The ore supply had to be drawn from
this (Griffith) district. The managers’ experi-
ence was slight, and the mill soon ceased oper-
ations.
The Juad and Crosby mill, in Georgetown,
begun in 1872, was operated for some time but
it did not pay. J. V. Farwell bought it, tore
down Crosby’s patent furnaces, introduced
Bruckner cylinders and amalgamating pans,
and, under the management of 8. J. Learned,
the works are running steadily five to eight tons
daily and saving a high percentage. Knowing
for a certainty that money can be made reduc-
ing light ores in the old way, Mr. Learned is
content to follow the beaten track and let oth-
ers attempt the short cuts of new processes.
The Clear Creek Company, using a modifica-
tion of the Hunt, Douglas and Stewart leaching
process, has an excellent mill, and makes a
specialty of treating low-grade ores, down to
twenty ounces per ton. The capacity of the
mill is ten tons per day. These two mills fur-
nish a good market for the quartzose ores of
this district, are receiving ample supplies, are
managed on business principles, and are making
money for their owners.
That the fittest will survive is an axiom thor-
oughly realized in the mill business, as in all
other departments of human economy.
LEAD SMELTING.
The presence of galena in our ores was early
recognized and its value fully appreciated. If
_ the first efforts to utilize the lead by smelting
were rash and ill advised, they have at least
served as guide-boards for the benefit of later
investors.
Bowman & Company, a party of negroes
from Missouri, were first seized with the smelt-
ing mania, and built, in 1865, on Leavenworth
Fork, a mile above Georgetown, what is known
as the “Nigger Smelter.” With a rude water-
wheel, bellows and ten-foot stack, they reckoned
on melting the silver and lead down as easily
as they had the 85 per cent galena back in the
East. Their mine, the Argentine, furnished a
few charges of antimonial galena, but, when
they had dug out two or three adamantine
“sows,” the negroes concluded to quit the
smelting business, sadder and wiser men. Next
came Caleb S. Stowel, with a Scotch hearth,
which had no better luck. Then the Georgetown
Smelting Company, with more elaborate roasters
and a big stack, entered the field in 1867, and,
while the miners were eager to have their ore
tested in a real lead smelter, and cared little for
returns, ran out a dozen or two bars of base
bullion. Their chimney, branded O. K., was for
many years a prominent landmark in ome,
but has lately been removed.
The Brown Silver Mining Company had been
organized in 1866, and the enormous output of
its mines, the Brown and Coin, induced the
directors to builda mill. With Joseph W. Wat-
son as Superintendent, a large smelting works,
well equipped with reverberatory, blast and
cupeling furnaces, powerful machinery, con-
centrating works and tramways, was erected at
Brownville, within 200 yards of the mines.
Zinc predominating in the ores, galena was
secured from other mines, iron pyrites and fluxes -
imported from outside districts, and, backed by
a wealthy company and very productive mines,
the mill and Brownville enjoyed a boom which
lasted fully one year. Great masses of fine sil-
ver, one over 1,800 pounds in weight, were
shipped to the home office at Philadelphia, and |}
it seemed that the problem of successful smelt-
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY. 348
ing here had been solved. But these works, also,
closed. Three parties have since leased and
cleared up the old mill at different times, the
first realizing about $25,000, the next $12,000,
and the last $8,000. Over 1,000 tons of ref-
use slag was shipped to Golden, at an expense
of $7.50 per ton, and re-smelted at a profit.
Considering the results of these attempts,
we conclude that lead-smelting in this county
has been, and always will be, a failure. The
requisites for successful smelting are low-priced
labor, cheap and abundant fuel, coal, coke, and
charcoal, good . facilities for obtaining fluxes,
pyrites, limestone, etc. a central position to
receive ores of every kind from various dis-
tricts, thus obtaining the most advantageous
mixtures, and skillful and honest management,
backed by a large capital. Our galena ores
now command a high price, and are sought for
by smelting works at Golden, Pueblo, Omaha,
St. Louis, Chicago, Wyandotte, Pittsburgh and
Newark, and we believe the time is not distant
when every pound will be smelted in Colorado.
At Swansea, four miles below Georgetown,
Richard Pearce attempted (1871-1873) to treat
silver and gold ores by roasting and smelting
into copper matte, but lack of pyrites and cap-
ital, and the refractory nature of the silver ores,
caused his failure. At the same time, Samuel
Wann and Hy Williams gained the same
experience om the same process at the Whale
Mill, for another English Company (limited).
CONCENTRATION,
The advantages of concentration were appar-
ent in an early day, and rude Cornish hand-jigs
and buddles have been in general use since the
discovery of our mines. The Washington Min-
ing Association, which had made a futile effort
at smelting, in 1868 introduced the Krom ma-
chines for dry concentrations, and, under Will-
iam Bement’s management, some fair work was
done. Unfortunately, the works were burned
in 1871, before success was clearly shown, and
were never rebuilt. The Clear Creek Company
has a large fifty-ton mill, containing Krom’s
latest improvements, and has been four years
at work.
The company has handled many thousand
tons of low-grade ore, presumably at a profit,
but does not care to publish the records of its
operations. George Teal, while Superintendent
of the Terrible mine, first systematized the work-
ings of Cornish jigs in 1873, and, showing very
favorable results, induced the Terrible Mining
Company to build a twenty-five-ton mill, using
Hartz jigs, settling tanks and slime tables.
The mill paid its cost in the first season, besides
netting a handsome profit, and is still running
on Terrible ore.
Teal, Foster and Eddy, aided by Hastern
capital, next built the Silver Plume Mill on the
same plan, in 1875, and for a time prospered,
but finally failed, and the mill has since been op-
erated and owned by Franklin Ballou. A con-
centrating mill was erected on the same plan
at the foot of Democrat Mountain, in 1875, by
W. W. Rose & Co., to handle the ores of
the New Boston Mine, but, owing to the poor-
ness of the ore, after separation and other
causes, was shut down after a short campaign.
John Collom has been for ten years endeavor-
ing to concentrate ores at Idaho, and, after
trying many processes has at last a mill after
his own designs. ,The Dunderberg Company
have in operation at their mine, a new and
well-equipped mill of forty tons’ capacity,
with five Hartz jigs and a plant of approved
machinery, and are realizing large profits there-
from. A. P. Stephens, at Lawson, is enlarging
his twenty-ton mill, and is doing well at con-
centrating custom ores. Our experience seems
to show the superiority of the old-style wet
process over the Krom in many respects. The
first cost of a Krom plant is twice that of Hartz
jigs, its loss in dust is greater, and it does no
better work. Where a supply of water cannot
be obtained, the Krom machine may be used -
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
with good results. The frue vanner was tested
in the Rocky Mountain Mill, in 1876, when
a set of jigs was erected there, did not give
satisfaction, and was destroyed by the burning
of the mill. The character of our ores is such
that, when they are crushed or stamped to the
uniform fineness required by a frue machine,
not one-half of their silver value can be saved
by its methods. The Bradford jig has been
tried here, and a mill built in Idaho, but it has
not proven a success. At the Freeland mine
is located the largest dressing works in the
State, with a capacity of 100 tons per diem.
A full description of this mill is given in an-
other chapter. In concentration, as in smelt-
ing by lead and copper, and in reduction, aided
by quicksilver and hyposulphite, we have dis-
covered little that is new, but we have bettered
the condition of our great industry by adopt-
ing the old and standard methods, by adding
to them minor and local improvements, and by
gaining the benefits of cheaper labor and trans-
portation brought by the railroad.
PRICES.
Besides the errors in design, location and
‘management already noted as causes of the ruin
of so many milling companies, there has been
at work a powerful though quiet factor which
must not be disregarded—the demand for our
ores from outside. For thirteen years, the Bos-
ton & Colorado Smelting Works have been a
power in our ore market, and have sought to
buy the bulk of the light ores. Their schedule
has always determined the prices paid here.
Smelting works at Golden and other points
have also been represented here, and our home
mills have been obliged to conform their prices
to those offered by these establishments. The
margin for smelters and all ore-buyers was
very great from 1866 to 1872, when F. J. Mar.
shall began shipping rich ore to Europe, and
competition, up to the latter date, was slight.
At that time, silver was worth in coin $1.26 per
ounce, and coin was worth $1.40 to $1.60 in cur-
rency. Although coin is now on a par with
currency, and the price of an ounce of silver
has declined to $1.14, and lead has dropped
from 8 cents to 4cents per pound ; to-day, such
has been the force of progress and competition,
our miners receive from 25 to 33 per cent more
for their ore than they did fourteen years ago,
The time has gone by when home reduction
works could lose 40 per cent of the silver value
in treatment, and still make a large profit. The
charge for reduction has gradually declined
' from $100 per ton to $20, and even to $15 on
some grades. Up to 1871, ore containing less
than 100 ounces per ton was hardly marketable
unless it carried a high per cent of lead. If
zine predominated, the miner was fortunate who
received $30 per ton in Georgetown. To-day
100-ounce ore brings $77 per ton at our
mills. Prof. Hill, at Black Hawk, first gave us
an outfit, and though the freight, $15 to $25
per ton at first, was a heavy tax, it was gladly
borne, for his prices were high enough to com-
pensate. So great has been the advance in
rates on all grades that the most captious miner
ought now to be satisfied that he is being paid
all that his ore is worth. The poorest ores he
raises, down to ten ounces per ton, will be re-
ceived and paid for in cash; no grinding mon-
opoly rules the market, but the keenest compe-
tition prevails, and, if he is dissatisfied with one
mill, he can choose out of a dozen others.
Besides the reduction works of the Clear Creek
Company and J. V. Farwell, are the custom
sampling-mills of G. W. Hall & Co., the
Rocky Mountain Milling Company, W. E.
Martins, Agent; the Boston & Colorado Smelt-
ing Works, with mills here and at Lawson, G.
A. Duncan, Agent; Church Brothers & Com-
pany, and the Washington Mill, L. F. Olmsted,
Proprietor. Other firms, it is intimated, will
shortly be represented here.
pling machines are used in some mills, but the
usual method is to throw the finely crushed
Automatic sam--
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY. 345
ore with a shovel over a scoop 14 inches wide, 12
inches long and 6 inches deep. This is more
expeditious that the old-fashioned way of quar-
tering down, and quite as satisfactory to both
buyer and seller. The utmost care in sampling
and assaying is exercised, and, with ores vary-
ing from 10 to 3,000 ounces per ton, values are
ascertained so accurately that disputes rarely
occur. It is believed that time will develop
even cheaper rates of reduction and higher
prices for the miner, although the smelter’s
margins have been so materially reduced of late
years. The business of milling our ores is now
on a sound, legitimate basis, and the mistakes
of the past are not likely to be repeated. We
may fitly close by stating that the man with a
new process generally meets with a cool recep-
tion in Clear Creek County.
CHAPTER VII. ~
THE SUBLIME AND THE BEAUTIFUL.
MOUNTAIN PEAKS.
“The hills—the everlasting hills!
How peerlessly they rise;
Like earth’s gigantic sentinels
Discoursing in the skies.”
UCH is thestanza that Stephen (Commodore)
Decatur, once connected with the press of
Clear Creek County, loved to use when indulging
in his favorite theme, the mines. The Commo-
dore has moved away to other scenes, but the
grand old mountain peaks that he delighted to
apostrophize, still rear their snowy pates into the
very dome of Heaven, as they will continue to
do, when not only the Commodore, but all those
who now exist, shall have crossed that range
‘ which admits of no returning footstep.
Towering to a height of 14,341 feet above the
level of the sea, Gray’s Peak claims pre-emi-
nence among the peaks of the county, and bows
to but few rivals in the State. Irwin’s Peak,
half a mile distant from the latter, is credited
with an altitude of six feet lower, but the fact
that it is much less accessible has prevented it
from becoming so widely known. The distance
.from Georgetown to the summit of Gray’s Peak
is fourteen miles—twelve miles of the distance
consisting of a wagon road, and the remainder
_ of a well-kept trail, so that the round trip is
readily made from Georgetown in one day. It
is, as may be supposed, a great object of attrac-
tion to the pleasure seekers who visit George-
town during the summer season, as it rarely
happens that a spectacle of such profound gran-
deur can be reached with so little toil.
Three or four miles from the peak, at timber
line, is Kelso Cabin, a hostelry of but little less
celebrity than the mountain whose climbers it
was built to entertain, and inseparably con-
nected with the cabin is the name of Aunty
Lane, who for many years officiated as the host-
ess of the establishment. Parties intending to
ascend the peak usually leave Georgetown dur-
ing the afternoon, stay at the cabin overnight,
and rise in time to greet the first rays of the
morning sun as it apparently emerges from the
sandy surface of the plains. Heavy clothing is
required for this trip, as it is often excessively
cold in the early morning, even during the sum-
mer months. As Kelso Cabin is left, the num-
berless Alpine flowers that there abound grad-
ually become scarcer and more stunted, and, as
the actual ascent of thepeak is begun, they are
supplanted by patches of moss that mark the
courses of numerous little runnels of ice water
that thread their way through the barren and
angular rocks ; and, still higher, by many-hewed
lichens that cling to the stones up to the very
summit.
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The following extract from the Colorado
Miner, written by one of a party that ascended
the mountain during the month of August,
agrees precisely with the spectacle witnessed by
the writer during the same month:
«The sun had not yet risen, though the whole
eastern horizon—comprising an arc of not less
than 110 degrees—was tinted with a rich wine
color that contrasted strikingly with a long,
dark, narrow cloud immediately above it.
Above this the ruby color was less decided, the
colors of rose, orange, gold and a silvery green-
ish hue, blending with each other until they
were lost in the grayish blue tint of the firma-
ment above. But fairer and stranger than all
was the lovely sea-green color of the plains,
which formed the horizon for a distance of one
hundred degrees, save where the highest east
ward mountains reared their purplish heads and
excluded them from sight. This green hue in-
creased in intensity until Sol made his appear-
ance, which occurred at.5:22 o’clock, when the
color and form of’ the plains were entirely lost
in the effulgence of the solar rays. At this mo-
ment an irregular black cloud hung aloft in the
eastern sky and reflected back the light of morn-
ing in an ever-changing variety of tints that
were truly wonderful to behold, while smaller
spots and specks of rapidly accumulating vapor
each lent their own peculiar charm to a specta-
cle that never can be faithfully transferred to
canvas. The colors at this moment were so in-
tense, so rare and so gorgeous as to be at once
bewildering, enchanting and incomparable, and
the whole scene so supernally magnificent that
an attempt at its description is absolutely pre-
sumptuous.”
If preferred, the trip can be made in one
day, as before stated, but this precludes the
possibility of witnessing the wonderful effects
of sunrise. Even when this feature is disre-
garded, the spectacle presented from the sum-
mit of Gray’s Peak is one that the subsequent
events of a lifetime can never efface from the
memory. The vast extent of territory embraced
by the eye; the utter isolation; the strange
effect of sound without the slightest reverber-
ation ; the absence of vegetation and life; the
calm and austere dignity of the immediately
surrounding peaks ; the murror-like appearance
of several lakes visible in the distance; the
creeping clouds upon the mountain slopes far
below ; the deep, half-shaded cafions ; the sud-
den transitions from summer to winter, and
vice versa, caused by passing snow-storms ;, the
holy emblem of Christiamty gleaming in virgin
whiteness on the Mount of the Holy Cross ; the
severe beauty of distant clusters of ragged
peaks embellished with glittering patches of
snow; the strips of somber pine forests; the
chaotic desolation of the Horse Shoe Bend ; the
twin-like majesty of the Spanish Peaks ; the
huge dome of Pike’s Peak, and the broad ex-
panse of the swelling plains beyond; the foam-
ing streams which go dancing down, on the one
hand to the Atlantic, and on the other to the
Pacific, so far below that the ear catches not a
murmur of their tumult; and the lonely beauty
of an almost inaccessible sheet of water on the
flank of Irwin’s Peak—all combine to form a
scene of bewildering magnificence that nothing
but a massive and sympathetic mind can fully
appreciate, and none but a poet can portray.
Republican and Griffith Mountains, both of
which rise from the streets of Georgetown, are
often scaled during the summer season by’ resi-
dents and visitors. The latter is the easiest of
access, and admits of a fine view of the sur-
rounding district, and is usually selected by pic-
nic parties in preference to Republican Mount-
ain. The latter towers considerably higher, how-
ever, possesses greater variety, distinctiveness
and attractiveness, and is almost as accessible.
It is reached by the wagon road over Union
Pass,-and thence to the Astor mine, on the
summit of Democrat Mountain, where the road
ends. After this, the summit can be reached
in less than an hour’s walk or ride. Democrat
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY. 347
Mountain, which leans confidingly against
Mount Republican, runs up to timber line, and
between this and the rocky tiara that caps the
latter mountain, is an expansive plateau, car-
peted with grasses and wild flowers and striped
with bands of willows fringing the streams of
ice water that flow from a huge bank of snow
that usually succumbs to the influence of the
August sun. Skirting the upper limit of the
dense pine forest that clothes the eastern slopé
of the mountain, is a straggling fringe of stunted
pines and cedars, twisted by the elements into
the most fantastic shapes ; and still above this
are the grotesque, barkless and sinuous limbs
of the junipers, etc., that have relinquished the
unequal combat with the rarefied atmosphere
and contending elements, and now strew the
mountain slopes like the bleached bones of a
vanquished army. There is something pecu-
liarly fascinating in timber-line scenes ; whether
occurring on mountain or in gulch, and many of
the most striking paintings of Rocky Mountain
scenery include this feature. From the summit
of the mountain, the view is but little less ex-
tensive than that obtained from Gray’s Peak.
A portion of Denver can be plainly seen, and,
with the aid of an ordinary opera glass, the
farm-houses on the plains—fifty to eighty miles
distant—are distinctly visible. The writer esti-
mates the height of Republican Mountain at
about 12,300 feet above sea level.
Old Chief Mountain, eight miles from Idaho
Springs, is 11,833 feet high, and during the
summer season it is a point of attraction to the
_ hundreds of pleasure-seekers who annually
visit that charming watering-place. It is the
highest of a group, named respectively the
Chief, Squaw and Papoose, and is reached by
a mountain trail of gradual ascent, the summit
affording an extensive view of the surrounding
country.
In addition to those already mentioned, there
are numerous prominent mountains which are
less easy of access, and are, therefore, rarely
visited, except, perchance, by some dauntless
and inquisitive prospector. Mountain climbing
is usually an arduous task, but it results in
scenes of the most impressive grandeur that
nature can bestow.
LAKES.
The many beautiful sheets of water existing
in Clear Creek County lend a never-failing
charm to the rugged scenery that is mirrored
in their depths and of which they form a
part. They are ever beautiful and entertaining
objects to nature’s dutiful children, and the
fact that some of them are stocked with trout
invests them with additional interest.
Green Lake, located two and a half miles
from Georgetown, is an emerald setting in a
confused aggregation of granitic crags. It is
enveloped “in the deep umbrage of a green
hill’s shade” on one side, and on the other it is
hemmed in by the rocks alluded to, which is a
vast moraine, romantically termed “The Battle.
Ground of the Gods.” It has neither inlet nor
outlet of any consequence, but maintains about
a certain height at all seasons of the year.
The color of the lake is a deep sea-green, but
the water is as pure as can be found. Several
theories have been advanced to explain this
phenomenal trait, but the most probable is that
it is caused by a green fungoid growth that
exists on the stones that form the bottom, the
wonderful transparency of the water adding to
its probability.
The area of the lake, which is of an oblong
shape, is about fifteen acres, and its greatest
depth is about seventy feet. Ten years ago,
William H. Cushman realized its importance
as a resort for tourists, and at once commenced
its improvement. An excellent frame house
was built, a hatching house was erected and
dams for the young fry constructed, and pisci-
culture was extensively engaged in. Subse-
quently, several hundred thousand eggs of Cal-
ifornia salmon and Eastern trout were success-
fully hatched out. Large numbers of these
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
succumbed to the ordinary misfortunes attend-
ing an adolescent fish’s career, and at a later
date, thousands of them fell victims to the
voracity of a number of mountain trout which
were previously brought over from Bear Creek,
so that an estimated number of but from 25,-
000 to 30,000 now remain. These are exceed-
ingly tame, feeding readily from the hand. A
few young trout have hatched out in the lake
this season, but the absence of running water
prevents successful breeding.
The property is now owned by D. C. Folsom,
who spares no pains to render it attractive.
Nine row and sail boats await the service of
visitors, and refreshments are provided ; conse-
quently, the place is well patronized. The
riotous confusion of granitic rocks in the Bat-
tle Ground of the Gods is a never-ending source
of wonder, and some of the most elegant pines
to be found in the mountains spring from the
otherwise barren area. This is a spot of pecu-
liar beauty, and will become more popular as
it is better known.
Clear Lake is but half a mile distant, and is
included in the Green Lake property. It is
about one-fifth larger than the last mentioned,
but lacks the beautiful green hue that first
attracted attention to the latter. It is about
sixty feet lower than Green Lake, and a con-
stant stream runs through it. It contains no
fish. The steep pitch of the mountain slopes
running into it, indicates that it is of great
depth. It is a singular fact, considering that
it is within three miles of Georgetown, and
skirted by a wagon-road, that a colony of bea-
vers still retain a home at the upper end of the
lake, where they can often be seen in the even-
ing and early mornirtg. The natural facilities
for trout-breeding in the immergent stream, are
apparent to any one acquainted with the busi-
ness.
Seven miles farther up this gulch, are three
lakes that are rarely visited. They are situ-
ated at timber line, amid the naost romantic
scenery. The largest is about the size of
Green Lake, and the smallest, which is uncon-
nected with the others, is of the color of Green
Lake.
Chicago Lakes, three in number, are about
eight miles from Georgetown and fifteen from
Idaho Springs, and are reached from the latter
point by the way of Chicago Creek. It was on the
banks of one of these that Bierstadt betrayed
the force of his-genius in the production of
that famous picture, “A storm in the Rocky
Mountains.” These lakes are contiguous sheets
of water about 11,500 feet above sea level.
The area of the lowest is estimated at fifty and
the next at twenty acres.
stocked with mountain trout, and form the
head-waters of Chicago Creek. The third and
largest has a surface of about 100 acres in
extent, and is the source of Bear Creek. Fish-
ing parties usually stay several days, as there
is excellent pasturage for saddle and pack
animals. Within from three to five miles
of Chicago Lakes is Mount Evans, 14,330
feet high, one of the highest mountains in the
State.
Between Idaho Springs and Chicago Lakes is
Summit Lake, a generous sheet of water located
at timber line. This has also been transferred
to canvas.
Lone Duck Lake spreads its ample bosom
nearly on the summit of the divide between
Clear Creek Valley and South Park. It is sit-
uated on the South Park Slope, and is very
probably of morainic origin. Fish have never
been seen in the lake, although the stream of.
which it is the source furnishes the best fishing
to be found in the county.
Many other lakes exist in the county, but |
they are of meager proportions, or so secluded
that they are seldom seen.
MOUNTAIN PASSES.
Next to the mountains themselves, the most
salient features of Alpine scenery are the de-
They are both well -
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4
HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY. 349
pressions in the mountain chains that naturally
offer ingress into transmountain districts. The
most important of these, owing to the fact that
they are traversed by routes of travel, are
named Argentine, Loveland and Berthoud.
Argentine Pass is ten miles from Georgetown
and about two miles southerly from Gray’s Peak.
It divides the head of one of the main branches
of Clear Creek from one of the sources of Snake
River. It is 13,100 feet high and is, therefore,
far abovetimber line. It affords direct connec-
tion with the growing mining camp of Chihua-
hua, in Summit County, from which it is distant
about four miles. From the pass, a magnificent
view of hundreds of prominent peaks, including
the Mount of the Holy Cross, is obtained, and
it is often selected as a standpoint of observa-
tion by those who are not sufficiently eager or
active to. engage in the more toilsome ascent of
‘Gray’s Peak. The southern slope is easy of
ascent and affords a delightful drive or ride,
the vast amphitheater being covered with
grasses and Alpine flowers, save where huge
banks of snow repose in glittering whiteness.
The Summit County side is a steep, rugged de-
clivity, down which more than one freight wagon
has rolled to destruction.
Loveland Pass, which is really but a slight
depression in the main range, lies six to eight
miles north of Argentine Pass, at the head-
waters of the Bakerville Branch of Clear Creek.
Its name and usefulness are comparatively re-
cent, dating from the construction of the “high
line” stage road to Leadville. Its altitude is
11,864 feet above tide level, and the ascent is
gradual on bothsides: It is sixteen miles from
Georgetown.
Berthoud Pass is crossed by the stage road
leading to Hot Sulphur Springs, Middle Park,
at a distance of twelve miles from Georgetown,
and at an altitude of 11,349 feet above the sea.
This presents a more decided break in the
range than those previously mentioned: Mount
Flora, standing on the northeast, and Russell
Mountain on the southwest. On both slopes,
the road winds through magnificent forests of
stately pines. On the summit of the pass is a
hostelry, kept by Capt. L. D. C. Gaskill, where
the Middle Park stages stop for meals. Al-
though the view from this point is not very ex-
tensive, the valleys that the pass separates
sweep grandly down on each hand and afford a
fine prospect; the magnificent scenery both
here and en route determining its visitation by
numbers of pleasure-seekers and picnickers dur-
ing the summer season.
Union Pass, between Georgetown and Empire,
although not very lofty, is worthy of mention.
It separates Dougias and Columbia Mountains,
and on the southern slope the wagon road was
in many places blasted out of the solid rock.
To one unaccustomed to mountain roads this
appears somewhat dangerous, as the slope is
not more than forty degrees from the perpen-
dicular, and terribly rocky.
FLOWERS AND FORESTS.
It is a happy feature in the scenery of Clear
Creek County that the awfully sublime and the
delicately beautiful go hand in hand. When
the spectator views the terrific grandeur of
“Snowy mountains rolled
Like mighty billows—sees the gold
Of awful sunsets,”
until the senses become absolutely oppressed
with the majesty of the scene, he can almost in-
variably find a pleasing contrast in some little
floral gem that blooms i
“Lowly and sweet, nor loved the less ,
For flowering in a wilderness,”
Above timber line, excepting on some of the
highest peaks, the slopes of the mountains are
decked, in some places literally covered, with
flowers peculiar to Alpine regions. Among
these, usually at an altitude of from 12,000 to
13,000 feet, is found the minute and exquisitely
beautiful eretrichium villosum. Occupying a
wider range of altitude are the golden blossoms
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350 HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
of the crag-loving sedum; the showy castilleias,
four species; the delicate purplish bloom of
the primula angustifolia ; the silky phacelia ;
the aplopappus pygmeus ; pedicularis Parryit
and racemosa; the retiring blue-bells of the
mertensa alpina; three dwarf species of Al-
pine clover; three species of polemoniums ;
gentian, three species, and the daisy-like ert-
geron. Fringing the streams and moist places
are the royal purple flowers of the primula
Parryti, the cardamine cordata ; a rare species
of ranunculus, two species of pedicularis ; the as-
tragalus Alpinus and the zygadenus, with many
others. Below the line of timber, and in the
valleys, are the elegant liliwm Philadelphicum ;
the clematis Alpinus; the calochortus Gunnisontt ;
several species of oxytropus ; aconitum Fischertt ;
the pale pink blossoms of the gilia aggregata ;
the fragile and redolent evening primrose ; and
many species of pentstemons ; three species of
attenuaria (everlasting flowers) ; larkspurs ; the
showy purple panicles of the epilobiwm angusti-
folium, and that queen of mountain flowers, the
the aquilegia coerulea.
Of the forest trees, the pines, of which there
are about a dozen species, are largely predomi-
nant, frequently covering the mountain slopes
for miles in extent, where not devastated: by
fire; and a number of saw-mills throughout the
county, together with a steady demand at the
mines, insures their utilization. It is to the
straggling groups of pines and spruces which
are common in the valleys, that some of the
finest reproductions of Rocky Mountain scenery
owe their pleasing effects. Most conspicuous
among these is the valley spruce, the species
of which is named in honor of the intrepid ex-
plorer and botanist, Douglas. There are two |
species of juniper, two of poplar, one of birch
and one of maple. The last are mere shrubs,
but their beautiful effects on the mountain,
slopes, particularly when they change color at
the touch of autumn frosts, are particularly
striking and pleasing.
|
v
orks, Jompany’s Works,
THE SMELTING WORKS OF GOLDEN, COLORADO.
‘
fl Nicos portion of Colorado, which, with Gilpin
and Clear Creek Counties, forms the valley
of Clear Creek or the Vasquez Fork of South
- Platte River, lies between 105° and 105° 20’
west longitude, and 40° and 89° of north
latitude, containing about 750 square miles
of area, its average altitude about 6,500 feet
above the sea. Fully two-thirds is comprised
in high mountains and foot-hills, the remaining
third being undulating prairies over 5,000 feet
above sea level, and which to-day are occupied
for agricultural and pastoral purposes. Yet, in
the higher mountains, we find in the fertile, nar-
row valleys of Elk, Cub, Deer, Bear and Beaver
Creeks, numerous farms where the hardier veg-
etables, potatoes, oats, wheat and barley, thrive
to perfection ; while the dairy products of but-
ter and cheese and rich milk cannot be excelled
anywhere, and the fat beef of mountain farms
superior in tenderness and flavor.
The great diversity of altitude between the
prairie portion, extending twelve miles east
from the foot of the main range of the
Rockies, and the higher mountain farms,
gives a corresponding difference in the quality
and degree of production. The grape, pear,
peach, apple, and all the small fruits, such as
strawberries, currants, blackberries, gooseber-
ries, etc., can be raised of excellent quality
and in perfection, while all the garden vegeta-
bles that grow in the latitude of New York
and Philadelphia are produced without diffi-
culty and with more certainty than in the
HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
BY EH. L. BERTHOUD.
valleys of the Platte, Republican and Arkansas,
at a distance of 100,or 200 miles from the
mountains. This can be easily explained, when
we reflect upon the fact that the vast plains of
the Missouri and of the Arkansas enjoy what is
known as an extreme continental climate, where
radiation the entire year is excessive, where
dry winds prevail, and there is an utter absence
of forest growth, where excessively hot days
are followed by cool, clear nights, and the at-
mosphere is almost deprived of humidity.
‘But the moment we enter the foot-hills, these
conditions are modified, the extremes of a con-
tinental climate have lost theirsevere forms, and
we reach a delicious blending of continental and
Alpine climates, without the rude, unpleasant
extremes of either. From a long series of
observations, extending back to 1866, the writer
of this article has obtained a very close approx-
imation to the general character of the climate
of Golden City, which lies at the immediate
base of the tnain mountain range, a character
which can be considered as varying but little
from La Porte, on the Cache La Poudre River,
to the mouth of South Platte Cafion. These
serial observations, taken in good part at the
State School of Mines, and under the rules and
regulations of the Signal office, with the best
standard instruments can be relied upon as
accurate :
We thus get at Golden, latitude 39° 45’ 24”;
altitude, 5,640 feet above the sea; prevailing
winds west and west-north-west ; mean annual
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354
HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
temperature, 51.64° ; mean winter temperature,
36.18°; mean summer temperature, 69.9°;
minimum rainfall observed for year, 1325
inches ; maximum rainfall observed for year,
18,25,, inches ; mean rainfall observed for year,
15,8, inches.
Now, of the above amounts of rain and melted
snow, the months of February, March, April,
May and June, from a mean of four years’
observations, give the following result :
‘February, mean rainfall and melted snow,
14), inches; March, mean rainfall and melted
snow, 23,759 inches; April, mean rainfall and
melted snow, 2,88, inches; May, mean rainfall
and melted snow, 3,84, inches; June, mean
rainfall and melted snow, 1,3, inches; total
of inches, 12,43,. :
At various times since the settlement of this
portion of Colorado, in 1859, 1860 and 1861 it has
been a popular and favorite theory with the set-
tlers, that hereafter, when cultivation and irri-
gation should reach its maximum, i.e., when all
the surplus water of the county was fully util-
ized for irrigation, the great increase of grass
and cereal crops, the planting of trees and
shrubbery, and the construction of a universal
network of irrigating ditches would, part passu,
be accompanied with greater evaporation, and
a consequent greater rainfall. That this is
partially true, we are inclined to suspect is
actually the case; but, unfortunately, it has
been, and is now, in part counterbalanced by
another serious check—the excessive destruc-
tion of our mountain forests by the miner, and
by serious and wide-spread forest conflagrations
which have seriously impaired our water supply
from Clear Creek Valley.
As to the increase, the following table com-
piled for 1867, 1871, 1876, 1877, for the same
months of February, March, April, May and
June, gives us for their rainfall these figures :
From a series of observations taken by gaug-
ing Clear Creek at the same point, beginning on
the 20th of September, A. D. 1860, and ending
on the 22d of March, 1880, we get the follow-
ing areas: Area of Clear Creek, September 20,
A. D.1860, 101 square feet ; September 13, A. D.
1879, 46,5, square feet ; September 15, A. D.
1880, 39332, square feet. These dates are not
the lowest periods of high water. Lowest water
observed : February 20, 1879, total area of wa-
ter, 2649, square feet; February 18 and 19,
1880, 30,58, square feet.
These all show a very notable decrease in
the amount of water discharged by Clear Creek,
and a general proportionate decrease is notice-
able in the volume discharged at period of
highest water, beginning with June, 1872. An
average for the year notably remarkable since
the wholesale clearing of our mountain gulches
that radiate from Clear Creek and North Clear
Creek and their affluents.
Since the advent of man in this region, the
first settlers who to this day remain in this
county, can remark a very great change in the
animal kingdom consequent upon the destruc-
tive habits of civilized man. The aboriginal
inhabitants of Clear Creek Valley (if the mi-
gratory tribes of Arapahoes and Cheyennes
can be so considered) never seem to have made
more than desultory camps, movable from
point to point as soon as grass for their ponies
or the scarcity of game rendered an encampment
undesirable. This non-fixity of residence made,
consequently, no permanent reduction of game
animals, so that, when, in 1859-60, the first
denizens of Clear Creek Valley pitched their
camps from Golden City to the Snowy Range,
antelope, deer and elk abounded, with multitudes
of prairie wolves. And even on Soda and Bear
and Elk Creeks, the mountain buffalo or “bison,”
dark, shaggy and active, could yet be found in
For five months in 1867.........seeceseeeen 10, inches, | small herds, while Middle Park was yet a terra
For five months in 1871............. 102, inches. | ; ita, k nly to Capt. F
For five months in 1876.......... ++ 127%5 inches. LHCOg NI, DOWN. ‘OMY apt. Fremont or
For five months in 1877........sssessesesen 13342, inches. | some hardy trappers. To-day, nearly all these
|
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ill aan
feak.
HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
355
have disappeared from our county, and live in
it only by name. The introduction of irriga-
tion has destroyed the multitude of prairie-dogs
| that once covered our foot-hill prairies, and
singularly enough the rattlesnake, having lost,
generally, his friends or commensals, the prairie-
owl and prairie-dog, is found much more nu-
merous and further in the mountains than ever
seen twenty years ago. It is an indisputable
fact, that, robbed by cultivation and irrigation
of his warm quarters in the prairie-dog holes,
he has been compelled to flee to the rocks for
shelter, while the prairie-owl can yet be occa-
sionally seen perched on a fence or on a clod,
seeming to wonder at the change, and puzzled
how to hatch out its progeny, without the wel-
come shelter of that hole, in which it seemed to
behave more like a joint owner in severalty
with prairie-dog and rattlesnake than as an
unwelcome tenant who paid no rent, made no
repairs, but gave his society as an equivalent for
the space occupied. In respect to birds, we
get Southern visitors every year ; the parrakeet,
the chaparral bird or paisano, the mocking-bird,
the Southern thrush, bobolinks, even birds
and animals common to Northern Mexico and
‘Arizona, appear as far north as our valley ;
witness the gray and the black Arizona squirrel
with tufted ears; and even the lesser Texas
skunk has come northward to invade our hen-
roosts. While, as the Jamestown weed, and the
corn-cockle, crab-grass, milk-weed, silk-grass
and other plants, with the universal plantain
and purslane, follow the white man, and are
harbingers of our peculiar civilization, so,
too, do we have now what old settlers call
“States rats” and “mice,” who have smug-
gled themselves over our plains in the prairie
schooner, and sought westward the “Star of
Empire.” '
The geology of Jefferson County is varied.
The eastern part of the county is sedimentary,
from the Quaternary and Glacial Drift to the
Jura-Trias beds we have the whole series. Up-
lifted near the mountain we have the creta-
ceous, tertiary and Jura-Trias, all contorted or
tilted up by the uplift of the Rocky Mountains,
an event which has, perhaps, happened later
than the Miocene Age. The main range is com-
posed of metamorphic and granitic rocks, i. e.,
rocks composed of various combinations of mica
quartz and feldspar, with granite veins injected,
and also large beds in place, of syenite, mica
schist, hornblende rock, gneiss, etc. The min-
erals that abound sufficiently for profitable ex-
ploitation are coal, fire clay, gypsum, building
stone, lime, iron ore, copper ore, fluor-spar, but
very sparingly of gold or silver ore or of lead.
Coal abounds from the north boundary of the
county to the north of Plum Creek, near Deer
Creek. It is in veins that have been lifted up
and contorted until they are nearly perpendic-
ular.
They occur in the lowest tertiary, or in the
passage between cretaceous and tertiary. There
are to-day ten coal mines worked in the eounty,
and they produce about 45,000 tons of coal
yearly. Placer gold is found in all the gravel
bars of Clear Creek, and has, in years past, paid
the miners very fair wages. The quality of
gold is superior and brings $1.50 to $2 per
ounce more than retort gold.
The manufacture of fire brick, pressed brick,
earthenware pipe, roasted and raw clay, is large,
important and continually increasing, and their
products find ready and constant market at
home.
Jefferson County is justly famed and well
known to be abounding in rare and most inter-
esting fossils of the tertiary and also of the cre-
taceous and Jurassic ages.
Under the auspices of the United States Gov-
ernment, from 1867 to 1878, Prof. F. V. Hayden
and his co-laborers, Profs. Lesquereux, Leidey,
Meek, Peale, Marvine and Holmes have worked
over the ground most diligently from Big Thom-
son to Pike’s Peak, and have given us an im-
mense body of facts, and made many very inter-
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856 HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
esting discoveries. Prominent among them is
the elaboration, by Prof. L. Lesquereux, of a
superb tertiary flora, embracing all the fossil
plants discovered by him and other geologists
in the formations containing the Trinidad,
Cafion City, Golden and Marshall coal banks,
and the tertiary strata far above them in age,
which are so largely developed in the north and
south Table Mountains at Golden, and also
in Green Mountain. ,
From these labors in fossil botanical paleon-
tology, Prof. Lesquereux has developed‘and de-
scribed a varied ancient flora of semi-tropical
facies, in which we find trees and shrubs and
plants whose congeners are to-day found only
in Louisiana, Florida, Mississippi, etc., etc.,
thus proving by undoubted evidence, that, in
the night of ages past, in the Eocene and Mio-
cene tertiary, conditions of climate and temper-
ature then existed totally different in measure
and extent; that is to say, that in those periods
of the earth’s existence the anomalies of latitude,
temperature and the seasons, were not then as
now, and the conditions of existence for vegeta-
ble as well as animal life were more nearly trop-
ical than those of temperate zones. The
tertiary flora of Golden counts seventy-six
species.
One hundred and forty feet in depth in the coal
mine at Golden on north side of Clear Creek,
the miners found adjacent to the large coal
veins, and imbedded in fire clay, a large lump of
charcoal. Microscopical examination proved
this charcoal to be formed from a piece of resin-
ous wood akin to pine.
It was in excellent preservation, while not far
from it was found a whole tree, transformed,
bark, knots and all, into a clear, bright hard
coal, one end of its trunk, some thirteen inches
in diameter, buried in the fire-clay wall, the
other end extending several feet into the coal
bed, the fire-clay bed being originally the floor
upon which was formed the eoal vein here over
nine feet thick.
This piece of charcoal is, we conceive, a good
witness of the then prevailing condition of this
continent’s surface. From its presence we may
predicate :
1st. That where the tree grew that formed the
charcoal there was land, moisture, light, air,
clouds, electrical phenomena, and a certain dis-
tribution of seasons.
2d. That climatic influences then prevailed.
Granting that, from analogy to the present laws
of cause and effect, that, in the tertiary age (the
Eocene), this continent was then in a fully fit
condition for its occupation by the human race,
we do not consider it as an extravagant hypoth-
esis to believe that, in that “dawn of the recent,”
man’s ancestors were already rapidly differen-
tiating, and that, although not yet, perhaps, pos-
sessed of articulate language, yet his actions
were then mostly guided by thought, not moved
by inherited instinct.
Besides the tertiary flora, we have that, also,
of our coal measures, which includes ferns
palms, cycas, cinnamon, magnolia and plane
tree, with gigantic equisetacee and sedges.
Near Morrison and in an out-crop of Jura-
Trias, Prof. Lakes has disclosed to the scien-
tific world, a fauna of dinosaurs that are sim-
ply immense, and of such gigantic proportions
that even our largest rorqual whales would
seem to be exceeded by these voracious deni-
zens of an ancient world.
The thigh bone of an atlantosaurus, the
largest saurian yet discovered, is twenty-eight
inches in diameter and nine feet long. The
whole monster would have been eighty or ninety
feet long, and would, when sitting up, steadied
by his large tail, very much as our present
bull-frog now stands, have been over thirty-five
feet high.
Prof. Lakes, in a lecture delivered by him
some years ago upon his extraordinary discov-
eries, made plain to his audience by his ex-
cellent sketches, the anatomical resemblances
that ally the dinosaurs to birds, and conclu-
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MAP OF NORTH AMERICA IN 1597.
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
859
sively demonstrated that the dinosaurian tail
of large size, with powerful muscular attach-
ments, was in facta very light, handy tail to use,
the bones of the said caudal appendage being
cellular like bird bones, thus lightening and
strengthening it at the same time. With this
giant were found fossil bones of reptiles allied
to crocodiles, and a tiny dinosaur, not larger
than a cat.
In’ other localities have been found fossil
bones of saurians allied to the plesiosaurus, and
at Golden the teeth of a gigantic megalosaur,
probably over sixty feet long.
The glacial debris of Clear Creek valley every-
where produces scale gold; in this drift have
been found mastodon and fossil elephant teeth,
fragments of elephant. tusks eight inches in
diameter, and with the mastodon teeth at Golden
have been found flint or agate tools. Thesame
agate chippings and tools occur in gravels that
are of still older date.
But we will recur to this when we write of
the ancient history of this region for the ages
prehistoric as well as historic.
INTRODUCTORY DISSERTATION ON THE BOUND-
ARIES OF LOUISIANA.
Louis XIV, King of France, in a patent
given to Antoine Crozat, dated 1712, gives us
the first real or ostensible boundaries of Louis-
iana, as then claimed by France.
This patent recites it to be the will of the
King, that all the Territories by him possessed,
bounded by New Mexico, and by the lands of
the English in Carolina, and all the establish-
ments, ports, harbors, rivers, especially the port
and harbor of Dauphin Island, formerly called
Massacre Island, the River St. Louis, formerly
called the Mississippi from the sea-coast to
the Dlinois country, together with the River
St. Philip, formerly called the Missouri, and the
St. Gerome, formerly called the Wabash (the
Ohio), with all the lands, countries, lakes in the
land, and the rivers falling directly or indirectly
into that part of the River St. Louis, shall be
and remain comprised under the name of the
“Government of Louisiana,” which shall be
subordinate to the general government of ‘New
France, and thatall the lands by him possessed
on this side (east) of the Illinois, shall be
re-united to, and form part of, the general gov-
ernment of New France. The King, neverthe-
less, reserving to himself the privilege of in-
creasing the extent of Louisiana, as he may
judge proper.
Mr. Greenhow does not consider that this
description shows how far west of the Great
Lakes or north of 42° north latitude, the linois
country comprehended.
We think that he is in error, and that the
expression in Crozat’s patent, “and the rivers
falling divectly or indirectly into that part of
the River St. Louis shall be and remain com-
prised under the name of the Government of
Louisiana.”
This of course would comprise the whole
basin of the Mississippi, St. Peters, Missouri,
Arkansas, ete.
The peace of Utrecht, in 1713, in its tenth
article, provides that “the limits between the
Bay of Hudson,” then secured to Great Britain,
and the French Colonies, shall be determined
and settled. This boundary seems afterward
to have been the highlands separating the basin
of the Mississippi from the waters of Hudson’s
Bay.
The map prefixed to Father Hennepin’s ac-
count of the “tres grand Pais nowvellement dis-
couvert dans U Amerique Septentrionale, entre le
Nouveau Memique, et la mer glaciale, avec le
cours du grand fleuve Meschasipt,” etc—Leiden,
1704—especially mentions between New Mexico
and the icy sea as the boundaries of that new
country (the Illinois) which he claimed to have
discovered, and the map shows the heads of the
Mississippi, the Missouri, or Atenta, or St.
Philip, and the Rio Grande Del Norte, or River
St. Magdalena. "When, however, the Spanish
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
Government treated with the United States to
settle the limits of Louisiana that had been
purchased by the United States from France,
a convention was partially arranged, but never
finally consummated, in which Spain retained
all the country west of the Sabine River; and
it was also agreed that a line from the source
of the Arkansas, due north or south, as the case
might be, to the 42° north latitude, and thence
west on that parallel to the Pacific Ocean, should
form the southern boundary of the United
States on the west side of this continent. This
agreement was finally concluded by the United
States with the Mexican Republic, that super-
seded and became the de facto proprietor of all
the Spanish Possessions left in North America.
By this treaty, the United States became pos-
sessed of the Spanish title to all the Pacific Coast
from the 42° parallel to the Russian line of 54°
40’ north latitude, by two distinct, incontrovert-
ible titles.
1st. That of the well-known prior discovery of
the northwest coast by Spanish navigators, in
the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth cen-
turies.
2d. By the discovery of the Columbia River
by Capt..Gray, in 1792, and its consequent ex-
ploration by Lewis and Clark, and the posses-
sion of that region subsequently by them at
Astoria five or six years prior to any British
settlement on the Columbia and its branches.
We have been thus particular in our account
of the early history of Colorado, to clearly show
that Colorado east of the summit of the Rocky
Mountains, and north of Arkansas, was, since
1678 to 16890, an integral part of French Louis-
iana. But west of the mountains, it was long
claimed by Spain as forming part of California,
although British geographers claimed it, by an
alleged vague discovery by Sir Francis Drake,
under the name of New Albion, in the end of
the sixteenth century. This claim, however,
was never allowed nor acknowledged.
At any rate, Oolorado, south of 42° north lat-
itude, as well as south of the Arkansas, in New
Mexico, was by the war of 1846-47, and the
treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, surrendered to
the United States.
The history of the foundation of new em-
pires and of new nations, the change from wilder-
ness and solitude into cultivation and occupa-
tion, of those remote regions where nature un-
cultivated existed, and where the beasts of the
field held control, has always been invested with
a certain mysterious interest, fraught with the
glamour of romance and tinged with the tradi-
tion of the marvelous. And, though we in Colo-
rado have but the “simple annals of the poor,”
or the mere prosaic tales of the first inhabit-
ant, yet we believe the history of man’s first
struggle with the brute forces of nature is as
instructive if not so stirring as the revelations
of Numa’s Egeria.
In the early history of this continent, we find
the adventurous Spaniard everywhere; in pur-
suit here of gold and silver mines; in Florida
seeking the fountain of perpetual youth, or
elsewhere, failing to convert the Indian, ruth-
lessly massacreing them by thousands; but
ever seeking the wealth of the Indies—a phan-
tom ever alluring, ever present, but never found.
On the other hand, bold, adventurous spirits,
such as La Salle, Chevalier Tonti, Fathers
Hennepin and Marquette, pushed on in the sev-
enteenth century their discoveries beyond the
Great Lakes, finding, as they claimed, in the vast
Mississippi Valley, another continent of such
boundless proportions—too important to be con-
sidered part of Canada or New France; they
named the region embraced between the Great
Lakes and the western ocean, and bounded on
the south by New Mexico and Santa Fe (even
then one of the oldest towns of North America),
Louisiana, from Louis XIV, then reigning
King of France.
Father Hennepin, in his narration, seems to
ignore the prior discovery of the Meschacelie by
Hernando De Soto, and exultingly claimed its
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
861
discovery by himself, having, by descending the
Illinois River from Fort Creveccur, La Salle’s
Post, entered the Mississippi River, and ex-
plored it southward beyond the Arkansas, and
north to the Falls of St. Anthony, his true dis-
covery. There is no evidence that after Hen-
nepin, La Salle made any farther attempt to
penetrate west of the Mississippi, except the
apocryphal voyage of La Houtan to the head
of the Missouri River.
Early in the eighteenth century, some French
traders ascended the Missouri and the Kansas
River, and came back giving glowing accounts
of the fair regions in the far-distant West,
with accounts from the Indians of the vast
mountains, and the prairies teeming with buf-
falo. In 1734-5, De la Verendrye,a French
explorer, is the first white man that gave a suc-
cinct and true report of the Rocky Mountains
near the head-waters of the Missouri River, not
far from the present town of Helena, Montana.
This exploration, and the accounts of traders who
had penetrated from Louisiana northwesterly
to the Upper Arkansas, was about the sum total
of what the French, to the date of the Ameri-
can Revolution, had ascertained in respect to
the western limits of Louisiana.
Before, however, that we undertake to trace
out and give the early history of the State of
Colorado, or even of Clear Creek Valley alone,
we will venture a few remarks upon the pre-
historic or archeological history of Jefferson
County, a subject that is fraught with deep and
lasting interest, and which, although yet in its
infancy, here offers a wide field for research and
patient investigation.
We consider it an indisputable fact, that
‘the Indian tribes that inhabited or in part
yet inhabit Colorado, although called by us
aborigines, were not the first to people the old
original continent that in the Tertiary Age rose
from the bosom of the deep; that in the Quat-
ernary Age, or in the Glacial Period, or its
termination, a race of human beings contempo-
rary with the mastodon and elephant existed
in the mountains of Colorado, then much lower
in level than at present; that, since the Ter-
tiary Age, our deep mountain cafions or gold-
bearing bars in Jefferson, Gilpin and Clear
Creek Counties, have been eroded or scraped
out by the action of water and ice, and the
bars deposited at the termination of that
period when the large mantle of ice and snow
and its consequent extreme cold climate had
ceased; that a constant, slow but continued
movement of elevation has prevailed in the
Rocky Mountains ever since, and increases
in amount as we approach the main central
or Snowy Range, and is yet at work act-
ively: to-day; that in this region in the
period we call glacial, as understood to-day,
the waters of Clear Creek stood at least 150
feet to 200 feet higher than at present; that
the deep gorge between North and South Table
Mountains was then a comparatively wide, shal-
low valley, in which the water washed the
slopes of the Table Mountains nearly to the
present precipitous cliffs of basaltic rock that
bound the north and south sides of the Table
Mountain Cafion ; that gradually as the foot-
hills rose up, the velocity of the streams aug-
mented, their erosive power increased, and the
glaciers that then existed in the cafions and
foot-hills of Colorado, plowed out the deep
channels that to-day exist in the sedimentary
rocks that overlie the flanks of the last ranges
of eruptive and metamorphic rock, and left their
marks in the smooth rocky bottoms of numer-
ous dry ravines which they once filled, and in
numerous little lakes, the last marks of the
receding ice mantle.
Simultaneously with the last movements of
upheaval, the climate again became warmer,
the last glacial vestiges disappeared, and the
icy masses that once radiated from the central
range totally disappeared, but left witnesses of
their powerful action.
From present evidence known to us, we are
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
inclined to believe that the icy, frozen ground
that comprises Mount McClellan, in Clear
Creek County, and the flanks of Gray’s Peak,
are merely vestiges of a former universal gla-
cial condition such as to-day exists in Alaska,
Greenland and Siberia, but which exceptional
local causes tend to maintain.
Prof. Grote is inclined to believe, that, in the
glacial period, hyperborean nations probably
inhabited the mountain regions of the United
States, but that, with the recession north of
the ice covering North America, they, with
northern animals, as well as plants, kept their
habitat and progressed northward in direct pro-
portion as the increasing temperature rendered
their former places of habitation unfit for
their permanent occupation. We do not doubt
that the various birds of passage seen yearly
passing North in the spring, and South in the
fall, were once permanent inhabitants of a
circumpolar continent in the North Hemi-
sphere ; that when, by the increasing cold of that
region, it finally became in the winter deprived
of all means of support for the feathered tribes,
besides the long, gloomy winter nights of
months’ duration, they were compelled to seek
southern latitudes to preserve their existence.
Admitting Prof. Grote’s hypothesis as true,
we get an explanation, then, of the stone walls
and stone mounds found in numerous places on
the high range at the head of Clear Creek,
Bear Creek and Boulder Creek.
From these hyperboreans, (mayhap, even, we
may call them Esquimaux) come the rude fire-
places, fifteen, twenty, thirty and forty feet
down in drift ; the flint tools found in the gold-
bearing gravel of Clear Creek ; the human skel-
eton buried on the bed or parent rock of Soda
Creek, near Idaho Springs, with twenty feet of
gold-bearing gravei piled upon the bones ; while
in the same beds, but farther eastward, we get
the fossil tusk of an elephant, or the molar teeth
of a mastodon. Man then existed in our
mountains, but the face of the county was dif-
ferent, and ice and snow and the rushing floods
of their accumulated melting were rapidly al-
tering it into its present shape, and fixing the
lines of drainage into the valley of the South
Platte River.
The early history of Eastern Colorado, north
of the Arkansas, is obscure and fragmentary,
and was originally derived from early Span-
ish explorers. The first authentic account we
have of this region is from the expedition of
Vasquez de Coronado, a Spanish officer, who,
by order of the Viceroy of Mexico, started in
the years 1540-43, from Culiacan, in Old Mex-
ico, with a force of several thousand negroes,
Indians and Spaniards. Proceeding northward,
they fought their devious way through Arizona
and New Mexico, and, following the Rio Grande,
they reached the neighborhood of the present
town of Santa Fe. Finally, they proceeded
north and east to the Arkansas and into the
valley of the Platte, when they left the Arkan-
sas River, and proceeded to explore the Great
Plains. They necessarily had to do so either
by the route of the Fontaine qui Bouille and
Plum Creek, or by the Jim Camp road to the
Kiowa and Cherry Creek Divide, over to South
Platte. The narration of this trip is interest-
ing, but its geography and topography are
necessarily obscure, as we have nothing previ-
ous to this date by which to correct and com-
pare it.
In this expedition to the Great Plains of the
Arkansas and Platte, they mention repeatedly
the various Indian tribes met by them, and also
more particularly do they give us the first no-
tice we have of the buffalo, or American bison,
which is described as an ox with a bunch on
its shoulders.
Coronado’s narrative gives many details of
their conflicts with the Indians, their customs,
etc.,and many very questionable stories which
are evidently received on authority, not on act-
ual knowledge.
The valley of the South Platte was explored,
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HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
363
and the expedition, itis pretty generally believed
by modern critical examination, reached as far
northeast as South Fork, in Nebraska. The
prime object of this expedition was a search
for gold and silver mines. Coronado obtained a
little gold from the Indians, but where obtained
we cannot now tell ; but that, even at that time,
the Indian tribes knew of the existence of gold
in the valley of Clear Creek, and in South Park,
we have no doubt, for in several instances on
Spanish Bar, at Chicago Creek, in the Tarry-All
Diggings, and more lately in the Black Hills,
the extensive remains of old washings, with
fragments of implements of iron, etc., have re-
peatedly been found, and we believe that from
Coronado’s expedition came the knowledge
afterward of reputed marvelous gold and sil-
ver mines that were said to exist in New Bis-
cay, and in Apachenia and the mountains of
Anahuac, as the Pike’s Peak region then was
called.
The expedition of Coronado was undertaken
simultaneously with a naval expedition under
the command of Alarcon on the Pacific Coast,
who penetrated by the Gulf of California, and
discovered the great Colorado of the West. It
was never afterward repeated by the Spaniards
until the eighteenth century. It resulted, how-
ever, in the settlement of New Mexico, and the
establishment of Spanish authority to near the
Arkansas River. The jealousy of the Spanish
Government kept the account of their explora-
tions in North America wholly unknown and
inaccessible. And on these various desultory
expeditions over the region west of the Missis-
sippi, they claimed and pretended to the owner-
ship of all that to-day is called Colorado, Utah,
Arizona, New Mexico, California and Oregon,
a pretension that France resisted, claiming this
region as a portion of Louisiana, Following
the expedition of Coronado, afew years passed,
when a Spanish officer named Cardinas was dis-
patched north toward the great river of the
West and into what is now Arizona.
Cardinas explored this country to the Color-
ado Chiquito or Flax River, and may have
reached as far as the southwest corner of Col-
orado. He discovered the great cafion of the
Colorado, which he was unable to pass. In the
following century it is supposed, but not thor-
oughly demonstrated, that Spanish explorers
penetrated to Green River and Grand River.
In the eighteenth century, Father Escalante, a
Jesuit missionary, penetrated Arizona, West-
ern Colorado and Utah, reached the present
Salt Lake country, returning into New Mexico ;
while, between 1715 and 1745, Spanish priests
and Spanish expeditions penetrated from Santa
Fe north and northeasterly into Colorado, Ne-
braska and Kansas. The last military demon-
stration made by the Spaniards, in 1745, re-
sulted in disaster, as the whole force was mas-
sacred in Northeastern Kansas, only one per-
son, a priest, escaping the infuriated savages,
and returning, alone and afoot, after great hard-
ships. Upon the cession and purchase of Lou-
isiana from the French in 1803, in view of the
unknown nature of the whole of Louisiana be-
yond the 94° west longitude, and the preten-
sions of the Spanish Government to the sover-
eignty of the country now embraced in the Ar-
kansas Valley and the head of the Del Norte,
Lieut. Zebulon Pike was dispatched by President
Jefferson to examine the head of the Arkansas,
and generally to obtain accurate data for the
United States Government concerning the ter-
ritory of Louisiana, With a small escort of sol-
diers, Lieut. Pike started from St. Louis,
ascended the Missouri River to the Osage, and
the Osage until he reached a point within the
limits of the present State of Kansas. Here,
taking pack animals and saddle horses, they
crossed to the head of the Neosho and Verdigris,
thence northwest to the Smoky Hill, ascended
this river and Solomon’s Fork, crossed over to
the Arkansas, which he followed until he
reached the Fontaine qui Bouille, where, camp-
, ing, he, with a few-men, went into the mountains
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