,''V ■'■■ a >■■ mU ' '■ ■'■. ■■■'■ H MJJI '■:' '■■•■•■■' — ■••.■■■.. .;,,- tSJOfii ■ i ■ HJfl ■ ' ,: ^ctAj*»Tw; MPS ^IHHIHHIHHH ! MHWH WIBWIIII HHHHaBHBB ■'"'■■ ,; ':':^v- ; •:■/',«/■/•■■■■.■..-•:•... ' : - n "- '...,.;"•.-'.'■■-. ": ']■ -i; -- : '■"■-■*-^': '■•:■..•,■.;■■'■■■' '■■'..■; ■•• 1HL ■■•■■'•• §881 RftMlSKr REfjnUl • Ha Ifi ,...•'.:■ ii BgM .%■-.;:• nj I ;:':;•,■'•.•.'■ ■■". i ''- ■■■•'!'.' L .'.' '»;- (!, n;r. ! ^ ! ';:; r :i'. :;'•;•""■•'• •' i - ; COLORADO CY A. E. LEGARD. LONDON: CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. 1872. LONDON : TAYLOR & CO., PRINTERS, LITTLE QUEEN STREET, HOLBORN. L5Z c^ PREFACE. The writer of this Journal would remind those to whom it is sent, that it is printed ; entirely for private circulation. He would also request those possessing | copies, not to part with them, as, for obvious • reasons, he would not like the book to get 1 into the hands of those with whom he is un- acquainted. COLORADO. Arrived here yesterday, about 6 a.m., just a Denver week from St. John, N.B. March The latest account you have had of me is 18 7 2 '. a few days before landing at New York, so I must try to pick up my story from there. All you will probably hear is a few short lines at times from different places, just to say where and how I am, and this journal will have to supply the place of long letters, and be sent round after I get home again. On the night of Saturday, March 2nd, we March had a very heavy gale from the N.E., which*"" eventually worked round to N.W., and began A COLOEADO. to moderate before morning. We were run- ning before it at about 10 p.m., and doing fifteen knots. The sea was not rough, as it had not had time to get up. We were nearing the American shore, and the night being very- dark, owing to the heavy snow storm, the Captain wanted to sound. This he thought to do by turning the engines astern, whilst the vessel remained before the wind. The conse- quence was, that as soon as she lost steerage way, she ran up head to wind, and carried away every sail in her with one bang. She was unmanageable for a time, until she got weigh on again, but as the sea had not had time to rise, there was no danger. One poor fellow was killed by falling from the yard, in attempting to gather in the remnants of the March main topsail. The next day we got a pilot on 3rd board, and without further incident worthy of March note, arrived in New York on Monday, 4th. about 1 p.m. The Custom-house authorities examined our baggage, but were very civil and no trouble. My friend Mr. Shackleton, the American farmer mentioned in my letters, 4 COLORADO. O introduced me to a railway agent on the wharf, who relieved me of all my luggage, except what I carried in my hand, and checked it right through to Denver, also clearing me of any expense for what over-weight I had, thus saving me about 11 dollars. He also supplied me with a ticket and secured sleeping berths for H. P. B. and me. I took the street cars and got to the Hoffman House all safe. The first thing I did was to ask for H. P. B., and to my surprise and disappointment found him not there. Then I asked if there were any letters, and got two, both from H. P. B. and to the same purport, namely, that he was not coming. " Guess I was riled some." "Well, here was a mess. I all by myself, H. P. B. positively de- clining coming even as far as New York, and saying that he had sent young Ommanney, who had been entrusted to his care, on to Denver by himself. I inquired at the Eailway Agency, and was told that both the Pacific railways were blocked by snow, so I determined to go to St. John; but all my things had probably b2 4 COLORADO. left for Denver. I took to the street cars again, went off to the Baggage Office, and was just in time to get back one portmanteau, which was a work of great trouble, for by this Yankee checking system, the Company become responsible for your things from the time you check them, until you get them again at the other end, and for that time they almost cease to be yours. March At 3 o'clock the next afternoon I left New 5th. York for St. John. Passing through a rocky and uninteresting country I arrived at Boston at 12 o'clock midnight. I went to the American House (i. e. Hotel) which was re- commended to me as being the best, and found it beastly. I was nearly frozen in a most un- comfortable bed. I tried to find out from the man at the Hotel Office, when the train left in the morning going East, but all I could get out of him was that he could tell by looking at the time-table, but he had no inclination to March look. I got up early, as I always do when travelling, breakfasted at 7 a.m., and again attacked the man at the office, who this time COLORADO. b looked, so I got off by the 8.30 a.m. train. Stopped at Portland for dinner ; and here an American gentleman got on the train, of whom I shall have more to say. His name is Mr. W. "W. Thomas, Commissioner of Emigration for the State of Maine, and he is by far the best specimen of an American I have seen. Arrived in Bangor about 8.30 p.m. and had to remain there for the night. I paid an extra dollar and travelled in a Pullman's parlour car, which was the best I have ever seen, and puts even our royal saloons far in the shade. Mr. Thomas took me to the Bangor House, which was comfortable for a Yankee Hotel. Left Bangor again 8.30 a.m., Thursday, March 7th. March 7th ; got as far as M'Adam junction, just inside the Dominion boundary ; here we found we could get no further in any direc- tion. The St. John train had been snowed up since Monday, and all the other trains the same. We found all the few houses in the place crowded with people who had been waiting several days. A train from Houlton that had been several days on the road, about G COLORADO. forty miles — got through, consisting of three engines, one carriage, a snow plough and scraping-machine. The Bangor train went back, but the Houlton train could not get back. March The Bangor track snowed up in the night, so 8th. & r . c ' here we were some 150 people in a place consisting of six houses, cut off from all communication with the outer world. The Houlton train made a start on the following March Saturday, and got through on Sunday. The St. John train got through on Sunday ; the St. Stephen's to within two miles on Satur- day, consisting of one car, three engines, and a plough ; here it ran off the track, smashing two engines and the plough, and killing one man. The St. John train would not have got through so soon but for help from Bangor. March We got through to St. John on Sunday, 10th. 8 8 . , and on Monday all the lines were jammed again. Now, I will just say how we passed the time at this lively spot. Those with whom I made friends were Mr. Thomas, two young Blacks, of Halifax, ex Southerners, a Mr. COLORADO. i Brooks, of Liverpool, who came out with H. P. B., and a Mr. Hines, a Custom-house detective, of Portland, Maine. On Friday, 8th, Mr. Thomas gave a short lecture on Sweden to a crowded audience in the dining-hall ; he was employed by the State Government to import a Colony of Swedes which he did successfully, and has now the management of it. "What he told us was of interest and made the time pass. "We afterwards had much amicable discussion on the Alabama question ; the American views generally on this question are very characteristic of the race. They would like to get all that England is fool enough to pay, and the more they can get the smarter they will think themselves ; they think that they have some claim, just in about the same vague way that we think they have none, and they are just as willing to take any small item to settle matters as we are to pay it for the same purpose. The Canadians present were in rather a majority to the Yanks, who had " quite a hot time " to defend their cause. At the end of the proceedings 8 COLORADO. "God save the Queen" was sung, and an American song about " Liberty " to the same tune. The following day, one train of the usual make up of more engines than cars made a start, and we passed the afternoon by getting two old cocks, and having a fight ; the meet- ing was largely attended. A few days after we had left, and all communication was again stopped, the refugees at M'Adam had a free fight of a more serious nature, — with pistols, spades, picks, etc. ; nine men were seriously injured, and two not likely to recover. I am happy to say that this mode of relieving the pent-up feelings is peculiar to America. March On Sunday we got through to St. John, and on Monday all was snowed up again. There is a beautiful mammoth hotel at St. John now, which is most reasonable in its charges. I, however, left it, and took up my quarters at a boarding-house with young Ommanney, who had been entrusted by his confiding parents to the care of H. P. B. Had March many and long talks with H. P. B., but failed COLOEADO. 9 to impress upon him that his conduct was in any way strange or different from what it should have been. Made the acquaintance of March "I Oil. the distinguished family to a member of which he has declared his intention of giving his heart and hand. Had some very cold weather at St. John : the old place is not much altered. I was glad to see it again, but would rather have been on my way to Denver. Ommanney and I left St. John by steamer for Portland on March 14th. On this steamer March we again met Mr. Hines, the Custom-house detective, who did us a good turn by passing all our baggage at Portland without having it March opened, thus enabling us to catch the first train. At Boston we had to change stations, and just got across in time to see our train going out ; we took the Stonington boat train in the afternoon, and by so doing travelled all night in a comfortable cabin, had good meals and good rest, and arrived at New York in plenty of time to catch the train going West on the Erie railroad next morning. At 10 COLORADO. Hornellsville we changed cars and got into a sleeping-car, where we slept peacefully until aroused to turn out for Kent, at which noble city we were doomed to pass Sunday. We started after breakfast with the intention of taking a short walk and then going to church, but we found that we were objects of such absorbing interest to this enlightened popula- tion, that we concluded not to disturb the usual decorum of their simple worship by- obtruding our evidently conspicuous persons into their primitive temple. After dining at the little hotel (Franklin House) which we found comfortable, we went for an after- noon walk. We sprung a mine of butternuts which had been preserved under the snow, and also one of pea-nuts ; the snow was pretty well gone off here. March Arrived at Cincinnati about 6.30 a.m., changed 18th. depots, and left at 7.45. Got some nasty break- fast at the refreshment room, and bought a newspaper, which I began to cut in the usual manner, whereupon the boy from whom I bought it, after staring in a most perplexed COLORADO. 11 manner for sometime, said, " Say, are you going to tear that paper up, Mr. ? " Cincinnati is a place celebrated in American fable. A Yankee was once travelling by cars and using very bad language : a Quaker said to him, " Friend, do you know you are going to h — 1 ?" — " Just like my darned luck, when I took a ticket for Cincinnati," replied the Yank. Got to St. Louis at 10.45 p.m. No train through by North Missouri, by which our tickets ran, so we had to stay the night. We were recommended to a first-class house — The Planters — but found it first-class in price only, in all other respects beastly. Left St. Louis at 7.45 a.m. Had, of course, March no opportunity of seeing anything of the town beyond driving from the hotel to the depot, but my impression was that it was the finest town I had seen in Yankeedom. I was not favourably impressed by New York, but I hope to see it to better advantage on my return, and have, therefore, not attempted any description of it yet. A Pullman car was attached to us on the 12 COLORADO. way, so we went into it, having previously made out that the extra charge for the rest of the day was only 50 cents. The conductor of it, a vile young whipper-snapper, came up to us, and instead of giving us tickets and being paid in the usual manner, said, " It seems to me you are taking great liberties." Which, being interpreted, means that he had settled satisfactorily in his own mind that we had come into the car without any intention of paying, and he had, therefore, not thought it worth while to ask us. Having paid our fare and given this young gentleman a high moral lecture, we became better friends, and indulged in a most refreshing wash. The washing-rooms in these Pullman cars are the greatest luxury possible to the dusty traveller who can spare a dollar, but I should' say that it was a luxury en- tirely thrown away upon the travelling Yankee. Arrived at Kansas City at 9.30 p.m., and left for Denver at 10.45 p.m., in a Pullman sleeping-car. March Woke up in the morning to find ourselves going over the endless prairie. Long grass COLORADO. 13 there was none, and no sign of there ever having been any. All the grass seemed to be the short, tufty buffalo grass. All along the line of the railroad, strewn over the prairie, were the remains of endless numbers of buffaloes in every stage, from the freshly killed animal to the bleached skeleton crumbling into the ground. At one watering-station I could count, on one side of the line, fifty dead carcases, all recently killed. We did not see any of the enormous herds of buffaloes, as they had passed South shortly before, but we saw thirteen altogether — three in one lot quite close to the train, and ten in another, further off. When the large herds are crossing the track, it is not uncommon to have to stop the train for them ; and on these occasions some people are so fond of wanton destruction that they shoot them from the cars, leaving the bodies to increase the already too plentiful signs of the thoughtless destruction of these valuable animals. Such, though, is the fate of all wild game on this continent. The ever-shoving Yankee comes pressing on, self and the present time his only 14 COLORADO. thought, and his only sentiment, "The d — 1 take the hindermost." In years to come people will suffer for the improvidence of the present generation. Men of sense see these things, and many laws are passed, and more being brought forward, to try to put some check to them, but without as yet the slightest avail. We passed herds of antelopes constantly, vary- ing in number from three to a hundred. Went through endless prairie dog villages, and of all the comical little cusses I ever saw, the prairie dog is the most comical. Directly anything frightens them, they scuttle off to the mouths of their holes (and their way of moving makes you laugh) ; then they put themselves in an attitude of defiance, and bark at you, their little tails going bob-bob-bob to each bark, which is just a shrill whip, whip, whip, and pop ! down they go as soon as they think you are near enough to be dangerous. Some get so tame that they will sit up on their tails and look at you as you pass, and not run into their holes. They are said to make good pets. March Another night in the cars, and we arrived at 21st. COLORADO. 15 the long-wished-for place, Denver City, having been just a week from St. John. It was about 6 a.m. when we got in. Here there was snow remaining in places. There was a thick fog, so we could see nothing at first ; but as it cleared away we found ourselves in a decent little town at the foot of the Eocky Mountains, which stretch away north and south as far as you can see. They appear quite close, but are really twelve miles off. When I got my things from the station, which had been sent through from New York at first, I found that they had all been opened, and that my guns had evidently been an object of particular attention, and no doubt put through many experiments, to satisfy the insatiable curiosity of the Yank. Nothing, however, had been stolen, except out of my hat-box, from which all my gloves except two odd ones, a gold pin, tobacco, and other insig- nificant articles had been taken. My silver pin was left me, but broken to pieces. Interviewed Judge Bond, to whom I had a March 22nd. letter of introduction. Found him a nice kind man. lie took us "around" to hunt up 16 COLORADO. horses, and eventually succeeded in getting for us two which were supposed to be about the best for the purpose in Denver, and at a price which everybody thinks remarkably cheap. Mine, 'Weaver' by name, 150 dollars; Om- manney's, < Baldey,' 125 dollars. We were introduced to Mr. Evans, an ex-governor of the territory. The judge is a shrewd man, and not specu- lative in his ideas for a Yankee. He was free with his information, and I will now give the pith of all he said. Investments in real property, or what we should call loans on property, pay two per cent, per month, on small sums, in the city of Denver. The security is of the very best, with absolutely no risk for a person living on the spot and attending to his own business carefully. In fact, twenty-four per cent, per annum is the regular interest paid on all small sums borrowed, and eighteen per cent, on large, just as five per cent, is the regular rate with us. The way these loans are managed is this. Men in business and owning property in the COLORADO. 17 city, often require to borrow money to erect buildings, or lay in a stock of goods. If you have money to invest, you employ an attorney to look into the matter, see that the title-deeds are correct, and that there is no other loan on the property. Having made out satisfactorily the value of all the man has, you may safely lend him any sum up to about one-third of what he is worth. The transaction is made by a deed of trust, not a mortgage. The deed of trust is more summary. The interest is paid monthly. If not paid when due, the principal becomes due at once, no matter for what period the loan may have been made, and the borrower is immediately sold up as a matter of course. I said I thought that seemed rather hard, but Judge Bond laughed at me, and said, " No, sir, he expects to be." In case his stock should be burnt out, and nothing left to pay off what he has borrowed, when you make the loan you have the property insured in your name, for the amount, at the owner's expense, and hold the insurance policy in your own hands, naving c 18 COLORADO. it regularly renewed at his expense whenever it falls in. Nothing can be more secure than invest- ments of this sort, but you will see that they approach rather too nearly to the dealings of a money lender to be of a particularly inviting class. Such scruples, however, are entirely English. Here it is an ordinary business trans- action to lend money in this way. To carry on such things with any hope of success, you must live on the spot, and look carefully to your ac- counts, seeing that all interest is punctually paid and all insurance policies regularly renewed. With regard to the farming business, Judge Bond thinks sheep are more paying than cattle, though both are very paying. During the winter storms both sheep and cattle suffer much from want of food and shelter. If you house and feed cattle through a storm, when the snow is gone, they will stay round the house and starve to death rather than go off and graze again. Hence it is an immense ex- pense to feed them, for if fed at all they must be fed entirely. When the new grass COLORADO. 19 comes in the spring, they will go off again. It is also' impossible to get hay enough to feed a large herd through the winter. Sheep may be driven in during a storm and fed, and the moment it is over they will go off and graze of their own accord. They also produce every year a regular income from their wool. I may as well mention now a few other things which the Judge told me, but you must not imagine that I am thinking of going in for any such speculations, or that he recommends them to me. They were just mentioned in conversation, and noted down accordingly. There is in New Mexico an old Spanish grant of 70,000 acres, made to one San Duval, and now confirmed to his four sons by the United States' Government. It contains some of the best salt lakes in the country. These salt lakes dry up every year, leaving about two feet of the most perfectly pure clean salt on the bottom. The salt is much used in the silver mines, and is now fetched away in large quantities for that purpose. Every year when fche water rises, the salt that has been taken away is replaced. c2 20 COLORADO. The valley is well watered, and a splendid grazing country. The lines of the Denver and Rio Grande Railway and Southern Pacific must both run through it. It is now managed by an old priest who wants to sell it, and asks 100,000 dollars, with a bonus of 5000 dollars for himself, or in all £21,000 nearly. Anybody, by applying at Washington, can find out whether this grant is really a ratified one ; and no doubt, if it is, any one buying it for £21,000 would in about three years be worth untold millions. Such is the mineral worth of the Rocky Mountains that almost any smelting- works or quartz-crushing machinery established at Den- ver would pay well. Ores are now sent to Chicago to be worked. If a man with capital were to start a smelting factory for about £20,000, retaining sufficient capital to buy up ore, he would make 100 per cent. To do this, he must be a man who thoroughly understands the business, and bring skilled labour with him. A very large portion of the ore now taken out from the Rocky Mountains is sent to COLORADO. 21 England for reduction. The reason is this. In England the reduction is so much better done that a larger quantity of pure metal is extracted, and nothing is charged ; the lead, copper, and other metals found in the ore, are kept by the reducers, and are sufficient to pay them for the trouble. We have determined to make the rest of our March 23rd. journey on horseback, so to-day we have oeen going in heavily in the saddle line ; that is to say, we have selected a light Mexican saddle (35 lb.) for Ommanney, with a pole in front and two handles behind, which may come in useful as he has not ridden much before. Called again on Judge Bond and were introduced to General Chambers and a Captain somebody, from the latter of whom we got a great deal of informa- tion, which I must here put in as shortly and concisely as possible. In these short sketches of different ways and means of investing profit- ably, I am merely giving the opinions of reliable men to whom I have been favourably introduced, and shall hereafter have to make my own comments on the districts and places of which they speak. 22 COLORADO. Well, Captain (whose name I forget) has been much in the Southern part of the Territory and in New Mexico, and is of opinion that as yet there is no chance for capitalists in the Northern part of New Mexico. The whole of the Mexican population, and many others, white and Indian, are such thieves that no profit can be made on stock. The stock raised are Texan cattle, wild as deer, and require a staff of herders to keep them together at all. A few Indian or white thieves get amongst them and stampede them. They go off in all directions, gallop nearly as fast as a horse, and though the owner may turn out and shoot a thief or two, which he would do without blame, yet he loses a lot of cattle, and such losses, combined with the expense of collecting his herds again, are quite sufficient to absorb the greater part of the profits. An English company, Skinner and Co., started large flocks, with large capital some three years ago, but, owing to this state of things, were only too glad to sell off at a sacrifice. The most suitable district, he believes, for COLORADO. 23 large profit, to be on the Denver side of the Divide, i. e., north of the Divide. The Divide is a ridge of hills dividing the water shed of the Platte Eiver and the Arkansas. The chief reason he has for thinking so is, that he does not believe in being further from the market. He describes this country as being now entirely taken up by squatters living from hand to mouth in mud huts, and only half clothed. They can be bought out, but that would cost on an average over five dollars an acre. All those that now farm these Texan cattle are, in his opinion, not doing well, with very few exceptions. The cows average about 15 dollars a head. A good American cow would be worth 75 dollars. The sheep are of a poor sort, about 30 lb. in weight, and produce a poor 1\ lb. of wool, which brings a low price in the market. The surest and only way to make a good thing of it, would be to buy a piece of land, within, say three miles of Denver. Cultivate this under irrigation, and raise feed enough to keep 24 COLORADO. a small quantity of sheep and cattle through the winter. Erect comfortable sheds to house them in, and here raise nothing but the best of both. During the summer they will graze on the plains and fatten. Select in the mountains a place where you can run your herds winter and summer, and keep improving them by crossing from your stock-farm. Mutton is now the dearest meat in Denver, and butter and cheese are brought all the way from the Eastern States at great prices. The combined profits of selling stock cattle to other farmers, and of making cheese and butter, to- gether with supplying the market with good beef and mutton, would be immense. An undertaking of this kind on a sufficiently large scale to pay well, would require a great deal of capital to start. Mr. ITartman, from whom we got our horses, is a man bearing a good name for integrity of character, and is a man of large property. Judge Bond introduced us to him, and spoke highly of him. He is an owner of, and con- COLORADO. • 25 sequently a believer in, cattle. Speaking of the Wet Mountain Valley as a cattle range, lie says there is nothing like it in the territory. At present there is room for more stock there, but in a few years the herds now owned there will become more than the valley can support. There is a splendid supply of water and many small trout streams. The climate is very good. For stock-raising purposes he would prefer being further out, for though further from the market, by the time the cattle had increased enough to sell largely, the railway to Canon City would be completed, and the market brought near. The valley is specially suited for agriculture, because crops can be raised without irrigation, but should any season be so dry as to require it, there is a supply of water always at hand for the purpose. With regard to the broncho, or wild ponies, there is no doubt about their being very hardy, and capable of doing more work than any horse; but unless worked all day and every day, they are useless. If allowed a few 26 , COLORADO. days' rest, or turned out for a time, they be- come as wild as ever, and have to be re-broken. For cattle-herding they are perfect, for they seem by an inborn instinct to take to it. In cutting out a cow from a flock, the pony when once put on to it, will follow it and turn it out without any guiding, and do the work better than any dog could. March Being Sunday, we went to the Episcopal Church. The chief impressions left on our minds were the alterations and omissions of some passages in the Prayer Book, and the remarkably irreverent and improper behaviour of the congregation, especially the female portion of it. In a hymn-book which we found in the pew, was written a piece of the most awful blasphemy possible to conceive ; far too bad to be repeated here, and quite beyond the com- prehension of anybody but a Yankee atheist. The darkest blot in the national character of this people, is the absence of any national re- ligion. The fact of there being no Church established by law, appears to have resulted COLORADO. 27 in the people having no religion at all. The foul language and blasphemy used by the majority of the people in ordinary conversation, is most striking to an Englishman, to say the least of it. Left Denver at seven a.m. on horseback. March • • 25th - About eight inches of snow had fallen during the night, but the day was bright. We rode to Xew Memphis, about thirty miles, and were nearly all day doing it, the road was so bad. "When we got in every atom of skin was blis- tered off our faces, and Ommanney was nearly snow blind. Found a comfortable house to put up at, kept by an Englishman with his wife and niece — Devonshire people. They took good care of us, and made us veils for our eyes. When we awoke in the morning our faces JgT 11 were so swollen up and disfigured that we hardly knew each other, which made us burst out laughing, but we found this so painful that we stopped as quickly as we began. All that day the water from the blisters on my face was running off the end of my beard in 28 COLORADO. a cheerful little rivulet. We rode out and found Ommanney's cousin at the saw-mill, and made the acquaintance of a Mr. Smellie (Scotch), and two brothers Mclnroy of the same nationality. They are all engaged in stock raising, and owing to the severe winter are losing heavily. All the stock here are like scarecrows. Many are dead and more dying. All those that have strength for the journey, seem to have gone clean down the Arkansas. I would not own a herd of cattle here if given me. New Memphis is on the Divide before spoken of, i.e., that of the Platte and the Arkansas. March Ommanney's eyes very bad, so we had to remain here, and he stayed in the house all day, and was well cared for by kind old Mrs. Harris. I went out hunting up dead cattle with Smellie, and found no scarcity of sport. Passed the evening by playing chess with Mr. Harris. March L e ft New Memphis at 8.30 a.m., and arrived at Colorado Springs at 7.30 p.m., having ridden fifty-eight miles, the direct distance being COLORADO. 29 about fifty-five miles, but we lost our way. For about twenty miles of the distance over the Divide, we had to go through snow from six inches to two feet deep. This was a very hard day on the horses, which had to carry our kits besides ourselves. Once over the Divide we came on to the prairie, and there was not a bit of snow anywhere. On the road we met a Mr. 13evan, an English Gentle- man, of whom more hereafter. Found Colorado Springs a nice little village March . f . . ° 2yth. on the prairie, situated on a rising ground facing the Eocky Mountains, which are about eight miles distant, and very pretty, Pike's Peak being exactly opposite the village, and the range ending abruptly a short distance to the left, in the Cheyenne Mountain. Rode over to Colorado City, about two miles, to inquire for letters and some things which were to have been sent through from Denver, but found neither. Met Captain dc Courcey, a most pleasant American, and found that he had Letters for us addressed to care of Dr. Bell, whose business he is attending to, whilst he (Bell) is in England. 30 COLORADO. March u a{ i to go to Denver about the things, as I 30th. ° ii could make nothing out about them here. Found that they were in charge of a man whom I had twice inquired of for them. Such is the idleness and incivility of these Yanks, that for a stranger they will not stir a finger. Provi- ded myself with a letter to this individual. March Returned to the springs in a car attached to a train laden with railway irons. A more lively sensation than running down these steep mountain inclines behind a train of railway irons, I have never experienced. Shooting the Sault de St. Marie rapids was nothing to it. At one station we were signalled to stop for two cars of lumber, but with all the brakes on every car, and the brakesman, conductor, and even one of the engine-drivers flying about frantically from truck to truck screwing them on, the train refused to stop, and had eventually to be brought up by reversing the engine. The conductor consoled me by quietly remarking, " Rather dangerous work running these grades." I did not reply to this remark. COLORADO. 3 1 Kode out to see Mr. Bevan and the sheep April 1st. owned by him and Dr. Bell. After much riding round the prairie and coming across several flocks of sheep belonging to other people, we found him with his sheep. Stopped the night with him at the ranche, and found there, in the capacity of cook and general hand, a fellow of the name of Sweetland, who was captain of the Blackheath Proprietary School football fifteen, and against whom I had played many a football match when at Pritchett's. Bevan has been eight years in New Zealand, aud learned all about sheep management there, where it is carried on in a much more syste- matic and scientific way than any Yank would ever aspire to. lie is of opinion that sheep well managed are a most certain and profitable investment. This country has two advantages over New Zealand. A man here can start well on £2000 and a man there cannot start with any chance of success under £10,000. The other advan- tage is, that there is no poison weed here. He thinks the district about Colorado City over- 32 COLORADO. crowded with, sheep and the climate too severe. Sheep put out on the Share Principle ought, if well managed, to pay about 33 per cent, to the owner. The Share Principle is this. Say I buy 1000 sheep and hand them over to Bevan to manage. He takes all expenses and and gets half the profit and half the increase of the flock for doing so, the remainder being mine, and that remainder should pay about 33 per cent, per annum. Sheep that have become acclimatized do well, but freshly imported sheep suffer se- verely during the winter and spring storms. No owner of sheep should be unprovided during winter with sufficient hay to feed his sheep through the storms. A few acres of bottom-land or land under irrigation, would grow hay enough for many sheep, and any left over in the spring would pay well. Hay is at this moment selling for 60 dollars a ton at Colorado Springs. Should I determine to go into sheep to the extent of about £2000, Bevan offers to get COLORADO. 65 me a managing man from New Zealand, who was partner with him for a long time. He is an English gentleman who went out as a boy, and has been brought up amongst sheep. He thinks him a first-rate hand, and does not deny that he knows far more about the busi- ness than he does himself. He would expect his percentage on the profits to be guaranteed up to about <£150 a year, so it would take a capital of quite £2000 to employ such a man. He would himself, if others were willing, put in about £500 to the business. In Be van's opinion such a man would make sheep pay to a certainty. He can be here by the autumn, and start the business at once. I must now make my own observations on the sheep in this district. All the sheep here are suffering severely from scab, and have con- sequently shed a great deal of their wool, which gives them a miserable look. They are very thin, and the fleeces I saw would not weigh over two pounds. The sheep which Bevan brought through from the States last autumn are also very thin and some have died. When D 34 COLORADO. paying a second visit to his ranche, we found many dead and dying sheep in the stable and about the house. If sheep in such a state pay, well then, indeed, sheep in a more suitable climate must pay enormously. After this a more severe storm than ever came, and sheep, already tried to the utmost, suffered very severely. One herder was frozen to death. April Came in to Colorado Springs again, with 2nd. ... . . . Bevan m his waggon towmg our horses be- hind. Met an Englishman, Howard Gilliat by name, on his voyage round the world. Found him a most gentlemanlike fellow, and enjoyed his society immensely while he stayed, he was such a change from the perpetual Yank, and reminded us of home people. April Have determined to go on from here in a 3rd. waggon, as we can get over so much more ground in the time than we can riding, and we can carry our guns and a few comforts of life more easily, without killing our horses. We therefore put our horses into harness to try how they would do, and found that they were perfect. COLORADO. OO Drove Gilliat round to General Palmer's nice place, at the Garden of the Gods, near the soda springs, and on round to all the springs. We took a flask of brandy in our pockets, and drank brandy-and-soda to our hearts' content. Strange to say, it was good, and not beastly, as when made from manufactured soda water. Here the soda water comes rushing out of the ground as it does out of a bottle when the cork is drawn. The taste is very nice, and more like seltzer than soda water. I am told that the analysis proves it to be much the same as seltzer. Snow fell heavily all morninor, and it had A P ril . . 4th - been snowing all night, so when it cleared up in the afternoon there was a good foot of nice soft snow. Gilliat, Ommanney, and I built a fine snow-man, about nine feet high. He greatly astonished the Yanks, who had never seen such a thing in their lives, for he really was a noble structure. They, however, soon pulled his head off to see how he was made, such is their insatiable curiosity. Gilliat went on his journey. We got a few ; v y nl d2 oG COLORADO. things in the way of camp kettles, a ham, tea, etc., for our journey, and meeting Bevan who asked us to go to his camp again, we saddled up and went. A P ril Came in early from Bevan' s ; completed our camping outfit, intending to start next morning, having already lost time here in hopes of seeing Colonel Greenwood and others to whom we had introductions, but who failed to turn up. Called on De Coursey to say good-bye before he left for Philadelphia. I must here give a short sketch of what he told me about the Kailway Company and Colorado Central Im- provement Company, which arc pretty much the same thing, and the way they set about making towns in this country. The railway people send exploring and sur- veying parties through the country where the proposed railway is to run. T*hey discover the resources of the country and its capabilities. Then they survey a line through the richest districts in mineral and agricultural wealth. The Railway Company have a land grant ex- tending a certain distance on both sides of the COLORADO. 37 road. They arc followed by the Central Im- provement Company, i. e. themselves under another name, who employ private agents to buy any piece of land or mine or other valu- able property outside the land grant, thus securing everything of value within reach of the railway. The railway is then run through, and the Improvement Company develope their agricultural lands by taking out large irrigating ditches, by means of which each buyer of a lot can place it under irrigation at once. These lands are thus sold for large sums, 1 laving been bought at Government rate of 1.25 dollars an acre, or perhaps in the case of buying up an old Spanish grant rather more. The amount of land capable of cultivation in Colorado is very small, as no crops can be raised except by irrigation, and the water supply is small. The Improvement Company have therefore secured much of the land, and will take out from the rivers large ditches en- circling all the land they have and making it capable of cultivation. The mining wealth is immense, especially in 38 COLORADO. coal and iron, on the line of the railway. The Improvement Company have therefore secured the mines. These mines when developed will draw a large population, which will not be able to produce one atom of food for themselves. Thus the value of the limited supply of land capable of cultivation will be further increased in value, and it is expected will sell for fabu- lous prices. The coal is of very good quality, as also the iron ; and as the proximity of the former will greatly assist the working of the latter, the mining of both will be a sure thing. All the soda springs have also been bought by the Improvement Compauy. Tracts of otherwise useless land, which happen to be conveniently situated, are laid out for towns. These may or may not exist over a year or two, but they answer the purpose of the company, and also of the first buyers of lots, but beyond that comes the usual Yankee sentiment, " The d — 1 take the hindmost. " These towns are started where the terminus of the railway is temporarily situated. That point necessarily becomes for the time the dis- COLORADO. 39 tributing point for the country beyond. A considerable number of merchants and others find it necessary to be there. The Company put up a wooden hotel which affords them temporary shelter and also pays. The town being laid out, portions of the lots are put in the market at a time and sold for small prices of from 50 dollars to 150 dollars, according to how they are situated. This, where the land has been bought of Govern- ment at 1.25 dollars an acre, is enough to pay the Company immensely, and yet the price is small enough to tempt any speculator. A lot sold by the Company for 100 dollars one day, may not unfrequently be sold next day for 1000 dollars, and perhaps to a third comer for more. When the railway moves on, these towns often vanish as fast as they grew up, and then — take the unfortunate who last paid two or three thousand dollars for his town lot. Another way of selling these lots is by paying 100 dollars and becoming a member. Once a month the members draw numbers, and are then allowed to select each a business and 40 COLORADO. a residence lot, in tnrn, according to the num- bers drawn. These lots are secured to them for four months, at the end of which time if they have not put up some small house, their lots are forfeited, and the 100 dollars returned to them. If an improvement has been put up, they are then required to pay for them, the 100 dollars paid for membership being part of the payment. In this way, men knowing in such things, secure the best lots at first cost. Mr. De Coursey says, " If a man has some capital and gets in with the railway men, there is no excuse for his not getting rich in from five to ten years." Maurice Kingsley, for instance, is now get- ting on with these people, and will no doubt be worth a large fortune in a few years. I wish I might have the same luck. I had introduc- tions to all these bosses from his father Canon KiDgsley, and have found them most kind and obliging, and willing to give me every assist- ance in their power. I do not see any chance of getting employment from them such as he COLORADO. 41 has, but I may get great help. I expect he has great advantages over me in being a very- clever young chap, and understanding survey- ing, besides being able to speak Spanish. Colorado Springs, or Fountain Colony, is a good specimen of one of these railway towns, but it is one under the special patronage of the Improvement Company, and is meant to be permanent, and to become a resort for tourists and invalids. Its situation is greatly in its favour, and the Company have spent much money on it. Irrigating ditches have been run along each side of every would-be street, and rows of cotton-wood trees are being planted along each ditch. Every purchaser of a lot will find nice shady trees in front and rear of his house, and can have a garden under irriga- tion which will not cost him anything. The water has been brought for several miles, and from two different sources, at great expense ; reservoirs have also been constructed, but there is some doubt whether the supply will hold out during the dry seasons. If it does, this little place may become one of the favour- 42 COLORADO. ite watering-places of the country. It has, how- ever, one great disadvantage, which, I think, is hardly outweighed by its beautiful and healthy situation, namely, it is three miles from the actual soda springs, which are of course the great attraction at this place. I am already in possession of three facts concerning this railway which greatly concern me, and are not known to the outside world. One is that the line will be run down the valley of the Arkansas as far as Huerfano, and that within a year ; another, that it will be through to the City of Mexico in five years ; and a third that the Mexican Government have granted it no less than sixty miles of land on each side of the road. A more ab- surdly large grant was never heard of, but of course it will be accepted, and should the present or any future Mexican Government attempt to interfere with the legal rights of the Company, the United States' Government will protect them. This is looked upon, by persons interested in politics as well as rail- ways, as the stepping-stone to the annexation COLORADO. 43 of Mexico. Everybody knows the unsettled state of affairs in that country, and it is more than probable that any government which may upset the present, would repudiate such a rash grant of land to a foreign Company, and such an act on their part, would be just the excuse the United States' Government would jump at to annex the whole country. Violent gale and snow all day, such as IfjJ" 1 have never seen before. Called on Mr. and Mrs. Mellen, and presented my letter of intro- duction. They are very nice people, and belong to that upper class of Americans who take no active part in politics, but feel most strongly on the subject. They are like English people, and think and feel as we do, but are excluded from any share in the govern- ment of their country by the mob of roughs into whose hands it has fallen. I had a long and most interesting conversa- tion with Mr. Mellen, mostly on politics, and the views he expressed were much the same Bfl those of all Americans of the better class that I have fallen in with, and are also 44 COLORADO. held by many intelligent men who do not be- long to the upper class As American politics at the present time are of much interest to English people, and some men in our House of Commons are trying to remodel us on the worst American plan, it may be of interest if I try to state as fairly as I can what sensible Americans think of their Government as com- pared with ours, and then make a few remarks as to what we really have to learn from the Americans. Such remarks, coming from me, are not likely to have much weight, but may, I hope, serve to interest those for whom these gleanings of my travels are intended. To use their own words, they "think that our Government is far ahead of theirs in many respects." They, of course, have no wish to imitate us with respect to our monarchy, but they admit that with us it is what holds us together. They admire the justice and entire incorruptibility of our law courts, and respect the manner in which the law is enforced and respected ; for these are blessings unknown here. They look upon our Government as COLORADO. 45 more truly republican than their own. If our Ministry attempt to pass obnoxious mea- sures, they are generally thrown out. If the people are bent on any measure of reform, they elect Parliaments that eventually carry them, and through all the storms of politics, overthrow of ministries, and elections of Parliaments, power is still represented by our monarch, and that representation of power ensures our never being left for one moment without a head. Our Government is abso- lutely freer than theirs, for we, by those means already mentioned, do really govern ourselves, and that without uproar and confusion. With their form of Government, in which the Presi- dent and governing bodies are elected for a term of years, that term is a short despotism, and the overthrow of one despotism and election of another, is little short of a revolution. Ameri- cans have lived long enough under their present form of Government to find that a re- volution every four years is not conducive to the good of any country. The class of men who are for steady and progressive government 46 COLOKADO. are increasing largely and becoming very- strong. They even fear that when the day comes that they can stand still no longer, hut must for their country's good make an attempt to break through mob-law, that the break- down will be a great one, and probably come to war. One thing alone is the tie of this country, inborn with every American, and is the life and soul of the nation. That one thing is Union. Their motto is Union is Strength. Fight as they may over politics, eveiy man has the spirit of union in him. It is this that makes the country what it is. That doctrine of America for the Americans is the same thing. This is the spirit which developes the country, which makes men strive to make the most of it. I do not say that the almighty dollar and a touch of avarice are not mixed with it, but Union is the spirit and bond of the people. This is the only thing we have to get from Americans. The rest they have to learn from us. Cannot our people make Uirion the desire COLORADO. 47 of their hearts. If they will, it is theirs. We do govern ourselves, and if we wish for Union we shall have it. "We have here, on this very continent, not to mention Australia or other possessions, territories far surpassing Colorado, yet they lie unopened, while here under the American flag, Englishmen and English money are de- veloping the resources of the country, simply because we have no Unify. Our colonies are the source of our commerce, and our commerce is our wealth. They are the producers, we are but the workshop. They have not riches enough to open out their own resources, and we, who are daily growing richer through their instrumentality, allow our capital to go and develope foreign countries for want of unity. We can recognize no middle course. We have found that men who have never been out of the British Isles, and are entirely ignorant of our colonies, cannot govern them, so we say, Govern yourselves and be independent ; we will have nothing to do with you." 48 COLORADO. "We are one people, under one rule, speak- ing one language, and having all things in common. Why then are the British Isles, because they cannot govern the whole abso- lutely, to hold aloof entirely? Our wealth, our power, all we have is derived from the greatness of our empire. We do not seem to realize our greatness. Our Government does not see beyond the British Isles; they are content to govern them, and do it well. We do not seem able to open our minds to the fact that we are that vast empire on which the sun never sets. We are contented to sit down and say that we are too widely scattered — we cannot be united. California is further from New York than Quebec from London. If we had but Union — one Federal empire, what nation in the world would ask us for Alabama Claims ? Would America want indirect damages if she knew that in case of war with the British Empire, she would be invaded by the armies of England, Canada, India, and Australia ? If each of our colonies were pro- vided with proper means of offence and defence, COLORADO. 49 I naval and military, provided from Federal re- sources, to which each province contributed according to its means, would any nation in the world go to war with us ? Our policy is peace, and we talk of securing it by protecting our small isolated islands, while we leave our whole empire a temptation to any avaricious power. We might indeed rest in peace — if united, few nations, I think, would care to attack us. I have heard Americans express a strong desire to see a union of the English speaking race under the stars and stripes. They do not see that they are the only portion of that race not under the English flag. We have that union in our hands to strengthen or to throw away. We may throw it away, possibly for them to pick up, but not probably. The task is comparatively simple to us, to them almost if not entirely impossible. Let our policy then be wiion, and let no man I speaking the English language support a Government whose policy is disunion. I here give an extract from a Canadian newspaper E 50 COLORADO. giving the views of a prominent Canadian politician on this subject : — "Mr. Howe's lecture before the Young Men's Christian Association of Ottawa has been suppressed. It was all printed in pamphlet form ready for distribution, but at the request of the Government the whole issue was suppressed. By order of the Govern- ment the Ottawa papers refrained from making the slightest allusion to the most remarkable speech ever made by a Cabinet Minister in this country. Yet the Toronto ' Globe,' ever suspicious of Sir John A. Macdonald, insists that the speech was made at his instance, to divert attention from his neglect of his duty as representative of Canada on that commission, and from his misconduct generally. It will give some colour of truth to this accusation if, when the Government meet Parliament, Mr. Howe still holds his place in it. The ' Globe ' publishes the following as the full and accurate report of the more important part of the lecture : — " ' We could not afford to have a laggard, an COLORADO. 51 idler, or a coward ; there were not four mil- lions of us all told, and we had undertaken to govern half a continent, with forty millions of ambitious and aggressive people on the other side of the frontier three thousand miles long. If each British American could multiply him- self fivefold, we should not have more than half the brain power and physical force neces- sary to keep our rivals in check, and to make our position secure. To enable them correctly to estimate their true position, it would only be necessary to inquire into the reasons why France, with a warlike population of thirty millions, studded with fortresses, and with its capital elaborately protected by engineering skill, was during the last summer overrun beaten down, and stripped of hundreds of millions of pounds by the victorious Prussians. What was the explanation of the extraordi- nary military phenomena which had startled the whole world in '71 ? Why, simply that thr Prussians contrived to have one man and a half, and sometimes two, to one on nearly every battle field where they met their enemies. e 2 52 COLORADO. Whether they were better prepared, whether their combinations were more scientific or their strategy was more perfect, may be a matter of controversy, but as far as he had been enabled to study the aspects of the war, the French were overpowered because they had been outnumbered. In any contest with our neighbours, assuming that we were united to a man, if the enemy knew his business, we must expect to have ten men to one against us, — ten needle-guns, or Sniders, or Enfields, whatever the weapon might be, — so that they would perceive that they must face at least five or six times the odds by which the French were overpowered. But that was not the worst of it. Ten children were born on the other side of the line for one that was born on this ; and, however we might change the pro - portions by increased energy, five emigrants went to the United States for every one that came to Canada, so that at the end of every decade the disproportions would be multiplied to our disadvantage. We might overlook these inequalities, and live in a fool's paradise of COLORADO. 53 imaginary security, but if we were wise we would face our dangers and prepare for them with a clear appreciation of their magnitude. But it might be said, were we not a part of the great empire upon which the sun never sets, which contains three hundred millions of people, whose wealth defied estimate, whose army was perfect in discipline, and whose great navy dominated the seas? What had we to fear when such an empire protected us ? This was our ancient faith and proud boast. Under every trial, in the full belief that they were British subjects, that the allegiance which they had to the Crown of England entitled them to protection, our forefathers helped to conquer and organized these provinces. But of late new doctrines had been propounded in the mother country. The disorganization of the empire had been openly promulgated in leading organs ; our brethren within the narrow seas had been counselled to adopt a narrow policy ; to call home their legions and leave the Provinces without sympathy or pro- tection, and under the influences of panic and 54 COLORADO. imaginary Battles of Dorking, troops were to be massed in the British Islands, and their shores were to be surrounded by iron-clads. One British Minister told them that British America could not be depended upon ; another that he hoped the whole continent would peace- ably repose and prosper under republican insti- tutions ! and a third, on the eve of negotia- tions that were to involve our dearest interests, stripped Canada of every soldier, gathered up every old sentry-box and gun-carriage that he could find, and shipped them off to England. He did not desire to anticipate the full dis- cussion which Parliament would give to England's recent diplomatic efforts to buy her own peace at the sacrifice of our interests ; or to that comedy of errors into which she had blundered. But he might say that the time was rapidly approaching when Canadians and Englishmen must have a clear understanding as to the obligations of the future. If Imperial policy is to cover the whole ground upon the faith of which our forefathers settled and im- proved, let this be understood. We will know COLORADO. 55 then what to do. But if shadows, clouds and darkness were to rest npon the future ; if thirty millions of Britons were to hoard their rascal counters within two small islands, gather around them the troops and war ships of the Empire, and leave four millions of Britons to face forty millions, and to defend a frontier of 3,000 miles, then let us know what they are at, and our future policy would be governed by that knowledge. No Cabinet had yet dared to shape this thought and give it utterance. Leading newspapers had told us that our presence within the Empire was a source of danger, and the time for separation was ap- proaching, if it had not already arrived. Noble lords and Commoners had sneeringly told us we might go when we were inclined. As yet neither the Crown, Parliament, nor people of England had deliberately averred this policy of dismemberment, although the tendency of English thought and legislation daily deepened the conviction that the drift was all that way. llis young friends must wait for further development, not without 56 COLORADO. anxiety for the future, but with a firm re- liance on the goodness of Providence and our own ability to so shape the policy of our country as to protect it by our wit, should Englishmen, unmindful of the past, repudiate their national obligations.' " April The heavy drifts of snow prevented our 8th. getting away. Called on the Mellens again. Amused ourselves by digging a path to the stables through snowdrifts five feet deep. Met two parties of Britishers. English seem more plentiful than Americans out here. April Left the springs. Made rather a late start, 9th. as the lazy Yank who had had a week to "fix up " our waggon had not done it. Had a shot or two at wild ducks, but got none. Eoads bad. Drove as far as Lincoln's, twenty-five miles, and stopped there. April Left Lincoln's early, shot some small plover 10th. J ' l and cooked them for lunch. Baldey objected to having his bridle put on again, and threw himself with the lasso. Got to Pueblo 5.30 p.m. Stopped at Chilcot House, where we had compa- ratively good beds and bad food. Pueblo is a COLORADO. 57 small town of ancient origin, but is in reality only just out of the cradle. Store-keepers have not yet learnt the principle of small profits and quick returns. They work the old plan of large profits and slow returns to perfection, but much to the disadvantage of themselves and their customers. I here give a history of Pueblo from Sam M'Bride's ' Advertiser ' : — "Pueblo is the metropolis of Southern Colorado. Just now it is prominent in the eye of the public as one of the most promising points in the entire West. A short sketch of its history and prospects of future growth will, we trust, not be without interest to our readers. "This town is a place of historical interest in Colorado. Its mild climate and the configu- ration of the surrounding country, attracted the notice of trappers and Indian traders, long before the permanent settlement of our terri- tory. It was at first a favourite camping- ground ; then it became the seat of an Indian trading-post. On its site the waves of civi- lization have ebbed and flowed for nearly two 58 COLORADO. generations. Where it now stands, those of its settlers who first projected the town found the graves of the aborigines, the graves of trappers, of Mormon emigrants, of California emigrants, of soldiers of the army ; but those graves and the ruins of adobe walls and log huts were all that remained to indicate the former presence of either savages or civilized men. The place had been the scene of a brutal massacre, by the Ute Indians in 1854, of the inmates of a trading-house. A regiment of Mormons had wintered here on their return from the Mexican war. The place had been occupied by government troops at different times. It was an old and favourite resort of the Indians while they held undisputed pos- session of the country. It had been occupied by Mexican pioneers who were unable to maintain the unequal struggle with their savage neighbours, and had been forced back. Every little mound of earth which marked the last resting-place of some human waif, was the mute witness of some wild scene of border strife. COLORADO. 59 " The permanent settlement of this place commenced with the advent of the gold seekers in 1859. But even then the struggle to main- tain a foothold was not won without a pro- longed and determined effort. It required time to discern the agricultural capacity of the country. Many experiments were necessary to demonstrate its productiveness. Capital was necessary to stock the plains with cattle. The Indian tribes were disposed to theft, and some- times were hostile. The civil war, following immediately upon the opening of the country, closed the route of travel by way of the Ar- kansas. Every omen seemed unpropitious. As the result of all these drawbacks, the growth of Pueblo languished until about three years since. At the time last mentioned, considerable of a trade had grown up with the surrounding country, and the town had a po- pulation of about three hundred souls. Then a new era commenced. The attention of new business men was attracted thither. The surrounding country began to be settled with accelerated rapidity. A large trade 60 COLORADO. in Texas cattle was established. Larger and better buildings for business purposes and residences were erected. The prospect of railway communication began to stimulate the growth of town and country. To briefly state the results thus far apparent: Pueblo has a population of not less than eighteen hundred souls. Its constantly increasing trade reaches far into the surrounding country. A railway from the north is at our doors. Another road, from the East by way of the Arkansas valley, is in the near future. It will be from this time forward the point of re-shipment of government good and Indian goods, for the supply of New Mexico and the entire south- western country. The entire supplies of Eastern merchandise consumed in New Mexico will reach their destination by way of Pueblo. It is surrounded by the best agricultural and grazing district in Colorado or the West. Under the stimulus of this far-reaching and extended commerce with the surrounding country, new improvements are springing up in every quarter of the town. Expensive COLORADO. 61 blocks of buildings for business purposes, which are rising on every hand, attest the confidence of her business men in the perma- nence and stable character of her present prosperity. Enough is already known to assure us, beyond peradventure, that by the first of May, 1873, Pueblo will have a popu- lation of four thousand souls. Her ratio of increase for the last two years has been greater than that of any other town or city in Colorado ; and unless the signs of the times are at fault, it will continue to be gneater for a period of years to come. If her place is not the first among Colorado cities, it cannot under any circumstances be lower than the second. Her growth will be noted from time to time in our future issues, and her advantages will form the subject of additional articles." Left Pueblo early. Took up an old fellow April of the name of Home, who lives in the Wet Mountain Valley, and who knows every inch of these mountains, having trapped in them for ral years. He was very useful in showing us the way, and telling yarns about the dif- 62 COLORADO. ferent places. Anything more barren than the country we passed through, it is impossible to conceive. Stopped at one Toof's, on Beaver Creek, for lunch and to rest the horses. Mr. Toof and his brother "zventup" in Chicago a few years ago, and came here without a dollar. They are now well to do, and have made their money off a small farm on the creek, and the passengers coming this way by stage. His house is where they change mules, so naturally becomes a hotel. The day was very cold, and a violent gale was blowing which threatened to upset our waggon, but we got to Cafion City at 4 p.m., distance forty-five miles. My horse Weaver had a pretty bad attack of colic, but a pint of gin, prescribed and administered by the oldest inhabitant, cured him. All the hotels were full, but we got a bed between us in a room with a German miner ; and the food was good. April Could not go on, as "Weaver was weak and 12th ' ill after his colic, so we took our rod and gun and went up the river. The scenery was very COLORADO. 63 pretty and repaid us for our trouble, but we got neither fish nor game. In the afternoon we went out again with similar result. Weaver still not well ; rode him out to a a p™i lake four miles off for exercise, and took our guns ; got one duck each. Dr. Proudfoot, a Canadian whom we met at the hotel, came with us, and took us to see a collection of birds which a Tank living in a small tent near the lake was making for a museum. There were many very uncommon ones, and they were beautifully stuffed and set up. Sundav; and a gale of wind blowing ; so, as April Weaver is still not himself, we must waste another day. There happened to be service here to day, so we went to church morning and evening to make the most of the oppor- tunity. Went round the Penitentiary with our room-fellow, who had a friend there. Our room-fellow is a nice respectable man. The man he went to see at the gaol got a year for trying to shoot his partner at the mines. Called on Mr. Rockafellow, to whom I had a letter of introduction. Found we had 64 COLORADO. called on the wrong man, but he was father of the right one, so our letter did double service. April Left Canon City early. Met young Mr. ' Rockafellow on the road, and gave him a lift on his way. He told us of a small park which lies between Canon City and the Wet Moun- tain Yalley. He recommended it to us as good pasturage, but the supply of water is small. Cattle can get down to the Arkansas at the mouth of Grape Creek for water, or at the ford on the "Wet Mountain Eoad. The " park " is called "Webster's Park, and is not yet taken up. Four people could take it all, and the cost would be eight hundred dollars for the whole. Mr. Rockafellow offered to do the whole business for me if I wanted it, and would give him the names of the four people who would take it, but I declined. It is, however, good pasturage, but would have to be fenced to keep the roving herds of cattle off it. I have no doubt that if I had a dairy in the Wet Mountain Yalley, that it would be a good speculation to buy this whole park to pasture the cattle that were not in milk. COLORADO. 05 Took old Home with us, and be was again very useful, for poor "Weaver gave out before we got halfway. Here we camped to feed and rest ourselves and horses. Weaver seemed refreshed after lunch, but soon shut up again, and could not be got out of a walk. We got to the next stopping-place at 9.30 p.m., and had to pull the old man out of bed. The mountain pass we came along was very pretty, and some of the hills afford good grazing. Mr. Voorhies was not cross at being pulled out, but most kind and hospitable. If we had not had old Home with us, we should have had to camp out for the night, which, with Weaver ill, would have been bad for us all round. When we got up in the morning and could April see where we were, we found ourselves at the end of the Wet Mountain Valley ; and very pretty the large grassy plain looked, stretching away to the south, surrounded by the snow- covered peaks. Over the distant horizon of the valley, we could see the white tops of the Spanish Peaks. Yoorhies's Eanchc is nicely p 66 COLORADO, situated on Grape Creek, which is a beautiful little trout stream. We went on after breakfast to Mr. Neave's. He is an English gentleman, and is setting up a cheese factory in partnership with Dr. Bell. Here we were hospitably received by his managing man, another Englishman, Mr. Archdall. Mr. Xeave was away after his cattle, which he is bringing from the States. The afternoon we spent in duck shooting, but I could not hit anything, or our bag should have been large. April Eode up to old Home's house. We found that the old man had not got home, but he soon arrived and explained his absence, by having been tempted to stay duck shooting on the creek, until too late to get home the evening before. Had dinner with him in his dirty little log cabin, where he lives in com- pany with a large torn cat. Old Home wants to sell his place. As we brought him along with us, he gave most flourishing accounts of it, and said it was worth twenty thousand dollars. COLORADO. 67 Whilst staying at Mr. Voorhies', that gentle- man rather let the cat out of the bag by asking him if he was not asking 3000 dollars which reduced the old fellow's price to 10,000 dollars, and ultimately to 3000 dollars cash. When at his house we asked the young man who was looking after it, what he thought Home would take, " Wall, he asks 500 dollars, but would take less." 1S\B. This is the way you have to make a bargain with a Yank. To reduce the thing to a rule, halve the sum he asks, and divide the result hy three, you will then get pntty near what he will take. In the afternoon we rode down to the creek and had a couple of hours duck shooting. I was rather more on the spot, and shot ten. Rode over two claims that were for sale, April and having found them good and cheap, and seen the owner, concluded to buy. They con- sist of 320 acres of beautiful grass land, with lour mountain streams running through it. A good two-roomed log house, a log stable and stock corrals, price 100 dollars. Ommanney went bull whacking to get a p2 68 COLORADO. sack of flour, and encountered a ditch and a surly Yank. The former he had some diffi- culty in getting over. The latter utterly floored him, for seeing that he was new at work, with Yankee generosity stubhornly ignored the idea of helping him. He pointed out the bag of flour, and then collected his family to witness his (Ommanney's) frantic struggles to get it to the waggon, while he indulged in sneering and vulgar remarks upon once having been an English gentleman himself, and the necessity of being able to work hard in this country. Ommanney, however, got the flour on to his waggon and safe home. I fear if I had been in his place, I should have been apt to indulge in sarcastic and uncompli- mentary remarks upon his present degenerate condition. N.B. I am happy to be able to state on good authority that his statement was false. He never was an English gentle- man. ^p 1 : 11 Eode a long way up the valley, and on our way back stopped to lunch with a Mr. Aldrich and family. They are Yanks of a better sort COLORADO. 69 who have wasted their fortunes in mines, and are now reconstructing it by agriculture. Hode over my intended purchase again, and while looking after a fence, old Weaver, who generally follows me like a dog, and is per- fection of goodness, left me, and went off to the stable. When I caught him I got on his back and gave him a real good whipping, for which I afterwards felt very sorry, he was so frightened and penitent; but I think it did him good, as he has never run away from me since. Having finished the diary of the few days spent in exploring the valley, I will now give a description of it. Since the above dates I have spent some time in the valley, but will make this description final. The Wet Mountain Valley is situated in the spur of the Eocky Mountains, between the head waters of the Arkansas and Rio Grande. It lies at a very high altitude, and is entirely surrounded by ranges of mountain peaks. In extent it is about thirty miles in length, running north and south, and about fifteen in width at the widest part. 70 COLORADO. To tlie north lies the large range of Snowy Mountains, in which the Arkansas finds its source; to the east the Greenhorn Mountains, rich in iron and coal. To the south appear the white tops of the great Spanish Peaks, just showing over the smooth grassy ridge of that end of the valley, and to the west the snow-capped peaks of the great Divide between the Arkansas and Eio Grande from which endless clear and sparkling moun- tain rivulets run down to the larger stream which drains the valley, running from its southern extremity in a north-easterly direc- tion, and finally emptying itself through a canon over one hundred feet in depth, into the Arkansas. At the foot of this range lies my small property, with four of these little rivulets running through it. They run their hardest during June and the beginning of July, then in dry seasons some dry up for a month or so. From my house you can see Pike's Peak toweling above the Greenhorn Eange. It is nearly one hundred miles distant, but I COLORADO. 71 have seen it as clearly by moonlight as on the brightest day. Naturally, the valley is a grassy plain, all the centre part being almost boggy, the higher land being a beautiful mould, and more stony. The ends and the foot hills are stony, but beautiful grazing. On the bottom land grows a rank, luxurious, sweet-scented grass wi+h a broad leaf, and a complete sod of wild onions. They do not in the least injure the hay, but they have such an effect upon the cattle that eat them in the spring, as to make even the meat uneatable. They come up before the grass, and the cattle eat them greedily, and get fat on them, but are unfit for beef or milking. On the higher land the grass is a beautiful tough sod, more like English grass. There are no onions, but here and there are patches of mouldy soil with little or no grass, but a bunchy growth of what is called Colorado brush, which looks, but does not taste, like thyme. The grass here does not grow such heavy hay without irrigation, but it is of a much better quality, and with irrigation, 72 COLORADO. grows a good heavy crop. The land here aj>pears by nature to be divided into strips suited for pasture and agriculture alternately. Some is too stony to plough, but is good pas- ture, and the stones do not crop up. Other is mouldy, with but few stones and not much grass, but willows and Colorado brush in- stead. The only crop that has had a fair test is potatoes, and they grow to the greatest per- fection. "Wheat has been tried by some, and with remarkable success. No farmer has as yet used irrigation for any crop but hay. Oats and other crops have been sown, but have had bad results from hail and the ravages of cattle. One farmer has lost his crop three years run- ning, by heavy hail storms threshing it out just as it was ready to cut. My own opinion is that root crops of any description can be successfully raised, and also wheat if sown in the autumn, Indian corn cannot be raised on account of the short- ness of the season. The valley seems to me to be best suited COLORADO. 73 frr dairy and gardening purposes. The onions on the bottom lands are against dairying, but there is plenty of land with no onions. Fruit cannot be grown unless it is gooseberries and currants, and they are said to grow wild in abundance, also cherries and plums. Left the Wet Mountain Valley about 8 a.m. April 20th. Camped for two hours to feed ourselves, and our horses, and arrived at Canon City about 5.30 p.m., distance forty-five miles. Met Colonel and Mrs. Greenwood there and spent, the evening with them. Left Canon City about 6.45 a.m., missed ^P ril our way, and went about eight miles round. People seemed purposely to misdirect us, and when we came to the halfway house, and ex- plained how we had been directed and who had directed us, it really looked as if we had. I should be sorry to say positively that I had ever met a Westerner mean enough to pur- posely misdirect a traveller, but I have often, when I have lost the way, felt much tempted to think so. However, the prairie roads, with no special objects to make any place remark- 74 COLORADO. able, and no guide posts at any turning, are rather difficult for a stranger to find. One thing I will say against the natives who travel these roads, and that is, that they pull down every guide post the moment it is put up. We arrived in Pueblo about 7 p.m., having made our drive fifty -three miles instead of forty-five miles. I may as well note here a little incident about the hotel at Pueblo. When we were strangers, and they thought they should never see us again, they charged us 3.50 dollars a day. When we reappeared, and rumour said we were likely to "locate around" they charged us two dollars, and were conceding at that. This will serve as an illustration of all Yankee hotels, livery stables, and all such land sharks. April w e remained one day in Pueblo to rest 22nd. J the horses, and called on a Mr. Pinckney, to whom I had an introduction. We found him most kind and obliging, and full of informa- tion, the pith of which I give here, and will afterwards make a few comments upon it. COLORADO. 75 Personally he would prefer the Valley of the Arkansas to the Wet Mountain Valley for dairy purposes. He is also of opinion that good hay is easily and abundantly grown on the Arkansas. For sheep, he says, it is un- deniably good. To start a dairy he would suggest about fifty of the best Alderney cows, as a sufficient stock. They would cost seventy- five dollars each, and the carriage from Kansas City to Denver is from 175 dollars to 200 dollars a car, which will hold twenty cows. Each cow may be taken to give an average of two pounds of butter a day for three months of the year, and that butter may be sold at an average rate of forty cents a pound. The following calculation from the above data, shows simply enough how profitable such an undertaking would be : — Cost of 50 cows at 75 dollars a head . . . Dollars 3750.00 3 cars from Kansas City to Denver . . . „ 600.00 Costs of driving, etc. . . ,, 200.00 76 COLORADO. Cost of ranclie fenced and complete Dairy outfit Dollars 1500.00 500.00 Total capital require 1 . Dollars 6550.00 Butter given in 90 days 9000 lb. at 40 cents . Dollars 3600.00 Interest on capital . Dollars 3600.00 or over fifty per cent., supposing that sufficient butter is made during the remainder of the year to cover all expenses, and it is sure to do that. I see that I have mistaken the figure in my note-book. Mr. Pinckney says that cows will give two pounds of butter a day for five months of the year, which will make the rate of profit rather over 75 per cent, per annum. There are on the Valley of the Arkansas Indians living on land granted them by Government, and they are glad to sell it at about nine dollars an acre. First-rate sheep COLOKADO. 77 ranges are open, and wool is selling at 40 cents a pound. A friend of his has just sold his clip, clearing 20,000 dollars. Ute Indians are killing cattle for food, and cause extra annoyance by not being able to tell a good American cow value 75 dollars, from an ordinary Texas cow, value 15 dollars. They kill cattle because they cannot kill game enough on their reservation to support them. Government profess to feed them but do not. If Government will not keep them quiet, the settlers will take the law into their own hands and shoot them. The argument is that if a white man came and shot cattle, he would be shot at once as a matter of course, and looked upon as a good riddance of bad rubbish. Why not treat an Indian the same, if he is a man and a brother? but he is not, he is under special Government protection. Mr. Pincknoy's remarks are moderate and sensible. From what I have gathered, I think it would be difficult to get fifty cows of Yankee breeding at 75 dollars a head, from which tw> pounds of butter a-day could be squeezed 78 COLORADO. at any time of year. But, on the other hand, I think a ranche in the Wet Mountain Valley which would cost 1500 dollars could, by growing turnips, mangold, hay, etc., be made to support one hundred cows, and keep fifty in milk all the year round, thus making twice the quantity of butter, at about one-third more cost of production. What he says about sheep is simple truth. I shall have so much to say on that head directly, that anything I said of it now would only have to be repeated hereafter. The Ute Indians are likely to give trouble this year, but more of that by-and-by. I here give a copy of a Colorado cattle law, given me by Mr. P. : — ' ' We publish below the stock law passed at the recent session of the Legislature, not verbatim, as we have not a certified copy of the statute as it passed, and the laws are not yet officially published. As the season for rounding up stock is close, we deem it a matter of great importance to stock men that they should know the provisions of this law, in order that they may guide themselves COLORADO. 79 accordingly. We are under obligations to James M 'Donald, Esq., for information in regard to this statute in places where it varies from the printed bill, of which we gave our readers a synopsis several weeks since " : — Pueblo People. A BILL FOR AN ACT REGARDING THE BRANDING, HERDING, AND CARE OF STOCK. Be it enacted by the Council and House of Eepresentatives of Colorado Territory : — Sec. 1. — Any person not being the owner, nor having the right of possession, who shall be found driving away any animal from its usual range, may be arrested by any person with process, and carried before any court in the county for examination or trial on charge of larceny, and if found guilty shall be punished as for larceny, and shall bo fined five times the value of the animal or animals n. Sec. 2. — No person shall take up an estray animal, except in the county wherein he and is a householder, nor unless the same be found in the vicinity of his residence. 80 COLORADO. Before it shall be lawful for any person to take up an estray, not a vicious or unruly or trespassing animal, he or she shall first make out a written description of said animal or animals, as the case may be, setting forth all marks and brands apparent, and other marks of identity, such as colour, age, size, and in duplicate, and present the same to the county clerk of the proper county, who shall endorse thereon the date of presentation of the same, and return one copy to the taker-up, and the other copy he shall place upon record in the Estray book. After filing said notice, it shall be lawful for the said taker-up to herd and take charge of said stock, until the same shall be claimed, and proved, and taken in charge by the owner thereof, or his duly authorized agent. The county clerk shall be entitled to twenty-five cents from the party presenting the same for recording each certificate of estray, and five cents per head for each ad- ditional number more than one contained in said certificate, and the taker-up of said estray COLORADO. 81 shall be entitled to twenty-five cents for each original certificate of description, with ten cents per head for each additional number more than one contained in said certificate, and mileage to and from clerk's office, at the rate of ten cents per mile. Sec. 3. — Before the owner of an estray so taken up and posted shall be entitled to the possession of the same, he shall notify the taker-up of the time and place before the most convenient magistrate, probate judge, or justice of the peace, as the case may be, when and where he will prove his right to said property, and shall procure an order in writing from said magistrate to the taker-up to deliver the same over into the possession of the owner, upon payment to said taker-up of all the costs in the case, including the costs of taking- up and ranching the said stock, at the rate of fifty cents per month ; provided that where the taker-up is fully satisfied that said estray or cstrays is the property of the claimant, and that lif is entitled to the possesion of the same, he may, upon payment to him of his legal G 82 COLORADO. costs and charges, deliver the same to the claimant, and take his receipt therefor for the stock so delivered, but the taker-up shall be held liable for the value of said stock, if he shall deliver the same to any one, not the owner, or entitled to the same. At the expi- ration of twelve months from the date of filing description of any estrays, and before the taker-up or other person, not the rightful owner thereof, shall gain any title to said estrays, it shall be the duty of the taker-up to file a notice with the county clerk, which shall be placed upon record in the Estray Book, setting forth a minute description of the estray to be offered, and the time and place, when and where the same will be offered at public sale to the highest bidder for cash in hand, and shall put up a copy of the same at the court-house door, and in three other con- spicuous places in the county, and one at the residence of the taker-up, said notice to be posted up for ten days before the day of sale. The sale shall be at public auction, to the highest bidder for cash in hand, and the pro- COLORADO. 83 ceeds of the same, after deducting all legal costs, fees, and charges, shall be paid into the hands of the county treasurer, for the benefit and use of the school fund of the school district in which the said estray stock was taken up. If the said district shall not be organized, then the same shall be paid into the general school fund of the county ; provided that no one shall have the right for twelve months after the appearance of said stock to advertise any animal which is branded with a brand re- corded in the county where the animal is run- ning. Any justice of the peace of the county, who is duly satisfied that the provisions of this Act have been complied with by the taker-up in all substantial parts, may, by order under his hand and seal, authorize the sale to be conducted by any constable or disinterested householder of the county, who shall execute and deliver to the purchaser a bill of sale of said stock, setting forlh a description of the same and the price paid, and that the same was estray stock, which certificate shall vest a good and perfect title in the purchaser. g2 84 COLORADO. Sec. 4. — If any person shall conceal or attempt to conceal any estray or lost goods, found or taken up by such person, or shall efface or change any mark or brand thereon, or carry the same beyond the limits of the county where found, or knowingly permit the same to be done, or shall neglect to notify or give information of estray animals to the county clerk of his county, every such person so offending shall be deemed guilty of larceny, and may be fined in any sum at the discretion of the court. Sec. 5. — ~No stallion over fifteen months old, nor any Texan or Mexican bull, nor any inferior bull, ram, or boar shall be permitted to I run at large, except in the counties of Huer- fano, Las Animas, Costilla, and Conejos. The owner or person having the same in charge may be fined for each offence not less than fifty dollars, nor more than two hundred dollars. And it shall be lawful to castrate any such animal running at large ; provided that if any person shall castrate such animal or animals, and it shall, on proper evidence COLORADO. 85 before any competent court in said county, be proven to the satisfaction of said court that said animal was not of inferior stock, said part}- shall be held liable for damages to the amount of treble the value of said animal so castrated, and costs of suit. Sec. 6. — Any dog found running, worrying, or injuring sheep or cattle may be killed, and the owner or harbourer of any such dog shall be held liable for any damage done by it. Sec. 7. — When any stock is driven into a county for the purpose of grazing therein, at any time previous to the last day of December in any year, it shall be liable to be assessed for all taxes leviable in the county for that year, the same as if it had been in the county at the time of the annual assessment ; and it shall be lawful for the proper officers to assess and collect the same at any time after the usual time of assessment and collection, pro- vided that the county commissioners shall have power to remit such tax, when proof shall be made that such stock has been taxed in some other county of the territory, and that such taxes have been paid. 86 COLORADO. Sec. 8. — Animals, such as are usually branded, may bo branded on either side with the owner's brand. All brands shall be re- corded in the county where the owners reside. No evidence of ownership by brands shall be permitted in any court in this territory, unless the brands shall have been recorded, as pro- vided in this Act. Each drove of cattle, horses, or sheep, making two hundred or over, which may be driven into or through any counties of Colo- rado, shall be plainly branded or marked with one uniform brand or mark. The cattle or horses shall be so branded with the dis- tinguishing brand of the owner, as to show distinctly in such one place as the owner may adopt ; sheep shall be marked distinctly with such mark or device as may be sufficient to distinguish the same readily, should such sheep become intermixed with other flocks of sheep owned in the territory. Any such owner or owners, or persons in charge of such drove, which may be driven into Colorado after the enactment of this law, who shall fail COLORADO. 87 to comply with the provisions of this Act, shall be fined not less than fifty dollars, nor more than three hundred dollars, at the discretion of the court. Sec. 9. — Any person desiring to use any brand, shall make and sign a certificate, set- ting forth a facsimile and description of the brand which he desires to use, and shall file the same for record in the office of the county clerk of the county wherein he resides, who shall record the same in a book kept by him for that purpose, and from and after the filing of said certificate, the person riling the same shall within such county have the exclusive right to use such brand for the purpose afore- said. Sec. 10. — If any person shall wilfully brand or mark with his own brand any animal, being the property of another, or shall efface, deface, or obliterate any brand upon any animal, with intent to convert such animal to his own use, or to prevent the owner thereof from recover- ing the same, every such person so offending shall be deemed guilty of larceny. 88 COLOEADO. Sec. 11. — Animals affected with any con- tagious disease shall be removed by the owner or person in charge thereof to some secure en- closure, or they shall be herded six miles away from any farm or other herd of cattle or sheep. Every person who shall neglect or refuse to remove diseased stock, or herd them away from any farm or other herd of cattle, shall be liable for treble damages sustained by any person whose animals be- come infected by such contagious diseases. And the person claiming to be so damaged shall have authority to call to his assistance some disinterested party and proceed to exa- mine said herd, and the parties so examining said herd shall be competent to testify on the trial of said cause. Sec. 12.— When the stock of any resident of the territory of Colorado shall intermix with any drove of animals, it shall be the duty of the drovers or persons in charge of such drove to cut out and separate such stock from said drove immediately ; every person, either owner, drover, or otherwise connected with COLORADO. 89 the said drove, who shall neglect to comply with the provisions of this section shall be fined in any sum not exceeding one thousand dollars, and shall be liable to indictment as for larceny. Sec. 13. — When the stock of any person in Colorado shall be driven off its range against his will by the drovers of any drove, and the same shall be found among such drove, every person engaged as drovers shall be liable to in- dictment as for larceny, and may be fined in any sum not exceeding one thousand dollars, and shall be liable for damages to the amount of two hundred dollars for each herd so driven off, together with all costs accruing in the trial of said cause, and said herd or stock shall be held liable for the same or a sufficient number to cover all damages and costs. Sec. 14. — Any person owning or having charge of any drove of cattle, horses, or sheep, numbering two hundred (200) head or moro than that number, in any such drove of cattle, horses, or sheep, and shall drive the same into or through any county of Colorado, of which 90 COLORADO. the owner is not a resident or landowner, and where the land in said county is already occu- pied and improved by settlers on ranches, it shall be the duty of said owner or owners, or persons in charge of said cattle, horses, or sheep . to prevent the same from mixing with the cattle, horses, or sheep, belonging to the actual settlers, and also to prevent the said drove of cattle, horses, or sheep, from trespass- ing on such land as may be the property of the actual settler, and used by him for the grazing of animals, or the growing of hay or timber, or of doing injury to ditches made for the irrigation of crops. If any owner, or owners, or person in charge of any such drove of cattle, horses, or sheep, shall wilfully injure any resident in this territory, by driving said drove of cattle, sheep, or horses from the public highways, and herding the same on the lands occupied and improved by settlers in possession of the same, it shall constitute a misdemeanour, and shall be punished by a fine of not less than twenty-five dollars, nor more than one hundred dollars, at the discretion of COLORADO. 91 the court, and render the owner or owners, or person in charge of the drove or cattle, horses or sheep, liable for such damages as may be done to the property of said settler ; provided that the driving of a less number of cattle, horses, or sheep, shall not be construed to per- mit a trespass on land occupied and improved as aforesaid. Sec. 15. — No hogs shall be allowed to run at large, and any hog or swine trespassing on the property of any person, the owner shall be liable for treble damage, and fined not less than five dollars, nor more than ten dollars for each and every offence. Sec. 16. — The said county commissioners shall have power, on ample notice given, to order that cattle be gathered together or rounded up, at such times and places as shall be convenient and desirable to the stock- owners within the county, and under such rules and regulations as the said county com- missioners shall provide, and under their care and supervision ; provided that said round- ups shall not occur oftener than twice in each 92 COLORADO. year. The said commissioners shall have authority to appoint a suitable person or per- sons to take charge of all unclaimed stock that may be in said round-up and unclaimed, and said person or persons so appointed shall be allowed a reasonable compensation for the care and charge of such unclaimed stock. April Left Pueblo on our way to Fort Lyon ; 23rd. J i stopped for lunch at a Mr. Fosdick's, whose hospitality knew no bounds. He charged us 1*50 dollars. The day was very hot. Towards evening we saw a coyote looking anxiously after a calf; I stalked him, and had a splendid broadside shot. I had been so much warned about distances seeming much shorter than they really are, that I put my sight up to 120 yards, though he seemed closer. I hit the ground about twenty or thirty yards beyond him, in a line just over his shoulder. He was in reality not more than eighty yards off. I was very sorry not to get him, for their skins are pretty. A coyote is a wolf, about the size of a large COLORADO. 93 sheep-dog, and is of a darkish-grey colour, with a brush like a fox. They do a good deal of damage sometimes to sheep and also to calves, especially those of American cattle ; the Texas cows guard their young better. We reached Mr. Cronk's house about half an hour after dark, distance forty-five miles, and very long ones. Mr. Cronk lives in a miserable little log shanty, but is a man in a large way in the cattle-raising line. He was not a man of many words, but, as we had an introduction to him, he told us a few facts about how cattle do on the Arkansas. Dur- ing the spring and summer, when the new grass is growing, and the calves are young, they graze near the river ; they cannot, in fact, go far from it for want of water. By the time winter comes, and there is water in the holes and creeks on the prairies, the grass has become dried as it stands, and in that state forms even more nourishing food than the young spring grass. During the winter, the grass gets eaten off as far as fifteen miles back on either side of the water, but further than 94 COLORADO. that the cattle seem unable to go. Sometimes they go great distances for water. Texas cows before doing so collect all the calves in a bunch, and leave one trusty old mother in charge, who is quite enough to keep off the coyotes. American cattle, which are tamer, do not seem to have the same sense of danger, but leave their calves separate and no old cows near when they go for water ; the consequence is that the coyotes destroy a good many. As all the cattle run wild together, calves are dropped all the year round, but most nume- rously in April and May. The bottom lands on the river banks grow hay if fenced to keep the cattle off. The water rises in the ground as the river rises, which it does in June and July, with the snow melting on the Eocky Mountains. The annual " round up " of cattle was go- ing on in the valley of the Arkansas as we passed up and down it, so we had a good op- portunity of seeing the cattle and something of cattle herding. Cattle-men, even here, were complaining of feed being scarce, but COLORADO. 95 cattle, as compared with those on the Divide, were looking very well ; they were not fat, in fact I have never seen a Texas cow that was, but they were in good healthy condition, though not so good as those in the "Wet Moun- tain Valley. During ten months of the year many owners never see their cattle at all ; they hear from passers-by of some being here, some there, perhaps fifty or sixty miles from home or more, but with that they are well contented. In the spring the county commis- sioners appoint times in different districts when cattle will be " rounded up." Then every cattle-owner in the county, and every herder that can be hired, mounts his trusty broncho, and starts on the " round up." All the cattle in the first-named district are col- lected from all points of the compass and driven into one vast herd. Each owner is there with his troop of herders, and then comes the " cutting out." All the cattle are branded; an owner sees a beast bearing his brand in the crowd, he rides in after it, his pony is well trained to follow any beast he is 96 COLORADO. put on to, and, once started, he follows that beast in and out, and round about, turning and twisting with most astonishing rapidity, until he has separated it from the herd. Some ponies get so clever, that you would really think they knew the brand. In this manner each man separates his own cattle, and, when separated, they are herded together. It sometimes takes several days to cut out a large herd, and in that case those not sepa- rated are driven during the night into a large corral, built for the purpose, those separated are driven off in opposite directions to a dis- tance and watched. One district finished, the troop pass on to the next, and so on through the county. The "round up" takes about a month, during which time every man is in the saddle from daylight to dark, every day, Sun- day not excepted, not even known. I have heard a man boldly assert, " we have no Sun- day here," as if he despised the idea. Few of these men have more than one pony, and that one is lucky if he gets anything to eat beyond what he can pick up during the night. Yet COLORADO. 97 these ponies stand it. They are as hard as iron, never seem to tire, go unshod all the time, but don't get lame, although thin they do get before the " round up " is over. When all the " round ups" are done, and each owner has attended them all, he can make a rough guess at how many cattle he has, and what he has lost or gained, and that is near enough for most men. Made a fairly early start, and drove thirty £ PjJ miles to Bent's old fort before we could find a place to halt and feed; here we fed the horses, but got nothing ourselves. Met an old Lin- colnshire man from near Wytham, who was much amused when I told him I had had a good ducking in the river of that name near his home this year. His name he did not tell me, and not being a Yank I did not ask it. Drove on to Mr. Prowers' at Fort Lyon, get- ting in about 6.30 P.M., another very long forty-five miles. Mr. Prowers, to whom I had an introduc- tion, received us most hospitably, and showed us round his stock-yard that evening. Here u 08 COLORADO. we saw, for the first time in Colorado, some really fine stock. Mr. Prowers has long been engaged in stock-farming and also agriculture ; he has always tried to get the best stock, and despises Texas cattle. Facts speak for them- selves. From being a clerk in a small Govern- ment office at Fort Lyon, he has become a man of great wealth ; he has a large, comfort- able, well-furnished house, a beautiful garden, and every comfort. His fine stock he bought in Canada last year, in the neighbourhood of London. They are all bred direct from im- ported cattle, and have their pedigrees traced directly back to their ancestors in England. The chief desire he seems to have now is to possess some cattle, actually bred in England from the real stock, without any chance of a drop of Yankee blood in their veins. He is anxious, if I bring any sheep for myself, that I should put in two calves for him. He will pay all expenses, and stand all risks, and, in return for my trouble, will give me every as- sistance with my sheep, will send his waggons across to Kit Carson to meet them at the rail- COLORADO. 99 way and bring them across, and will take care of them for any time for nothing. We had a real good night's rest in the only civilized beds we had seen for some time. We passed a few antelopes on the way, close to Mr. Prowers' house, but could not get near them. He is married to an Indian squaw, which is rather a pity, as he is a well-educated and gentlemanlike man. You do not see much of Mrs. Prowers, except now and then at the kitchen-door, with a fat brown baby in her arms, but little P.'s are running about all over the place ; they are not very black, but their deep brown eyes betray them at once, and I guess they will colour with age. Started off with the horses and waggon to April try and find Mr. Boggs' shearing camp, but were directed to the wrong place and failed ; the horses were tired, so we did not stay hunt- ing about, but came back. Mr. Boggs is Mr. Prowers' neighbour, and has made his money in sheep instead of cattle. Their houses arc exactly alike, and they live in very similar style; Mrs. Boggs is a Mexican. He is a de- h2 100 COLORADO. scendant of the great American pioneers, Boon and Kit Carson, being a grandson of the for- mer, and a nephew of the latter. He is him- self a frontier man ; but the days of pioneers have gone by. All Kit Carson's family are Jiving with him, and nice little boys and girls they are. A P ril Had intended to start back, but we met Mr. 26th p ' Boggs, who had come in from the shearing camp, and he offered to drive me out and show me the camp, and then give me a mount and take me round some of his flocks. Such a chance was not to be refused, so I went : found Mr. Boggs a very nice man and a hot Southerner. On our way to the camp Mr. Boggs had a shot at an antelope about 200 yards off, but did not get it. We talked chiefly about sheep, and the cost of raising, herding, etc., as we went along, so I will here note down what I gathered from conversation and then what I saw of the sheep. The cost of improved sheep is now high, being fiom 2.50 dollars to three dollars a head, but COLORADO. 101 they may be lower in the autumn, or if things go on increasing in value as they have done lately, they may be much higher. Mexican sheep can be bought in Mexico at about one dollar a head. A better class of sheep are now being got by a few people from Texas, and I believe at small cost, but what exact price I have not been able to find out. The cost of grazing is simply nothing ; the cost of herding is small ; Mexican boys are employed, who get from fifty dollars to a hundred dollars a year, live with the sheep, and find themselves. A "boss herder " is required, also a Mexican, who gets about 150 dollars or 200 dollars a year and a pony found him. The " boss herder," if you make him appear a little king amongst the boys he rules, and in small ways tickle his vanity, will in all probability serve you well, for the 6ake of the position which it gives him. Herders, taken all round, are fairly honest, but must be looked after, and some are great rogues. Mmy Mexicans leave their families in Mexico and come up into these outlying parts 102 COLORADO. of the U. S. to work for the summer, return- ing with their wages to support their families through the winter. Such men are generally- steady hands; and if they find themselves well treated will come year after year, but it is im- possible to induce them to bring their families and remain. Mexicans seem to think more of kind treatment than high wages ; this I attri- bute to their universal enthralclom at home, and invariable ill-treatment at the hands of Yan- kees. It is part of a Yankee's creed to detest any man who will work for reasonable wages, and to maltreat any one that does so to the utmost of his power. For this reason Mexi- cans and negroes share a common fate at the hands of the labouring class in America. Many negroes, however, have long since been forcibly taught better manners, but many have also come to an untimely end for no worse crime ; and there are many men in Colorado and New Mexico to-day who would think no more of getting rid of a Mexican because he got employment before them, on account of working cheaper, than they would of shooting a deer. COLORADO. 103 To return to the subject again, these itine- rant herdsmen are most useful during lambing and shearing time, and some are required all through the summer, for then water is scarce and only to be found in small quan- tities at once, so the sheep have to be di- vided into smaller* flocks, and require more herders. Host of the land along the banks of the Arkansas is taken up, so that sheep cannot be driven down to the river for water always. Besides, they require a wider range than they could get if always taken to one stream for water. In summer they require water once a day. There are numbers of what are called dry creeks on the prairies. These, when the snow goes, or after sudden thunderstorms, are raging torrents for an hour or so. There are places up and down these creeks where the water remains in ponds, some formed by natu- ral causes, others made by beavers, and I see * 1000 to 1500. 104 COLORADO. no reason why, if those provided by nature are not enough, more should not be made by man. These are the places where the sheep are watered. A herder who knows the range knows every puddle in it, and every evening in summer he collects his sheep at one or other of them, and the following morning directs them so that by evening they will come to another. During winter equal care has to be taken to have the sheej) near a place of shelter in case of a storm. There are ranges of rocky hills with stunted trees on them, and many deep, sheltered places into which the sheep can be driven. This is their winter range, and on the threatened approach of a storm, the herder drives his flock into one of these gorges. These storms seldom last long, but they are often very severe. On these immense open plains there is nothing whatever to check their course, and they sweep across them almost with the force of a hurricane. Cattle are driven for miles by them; and if sheep are unsheltered, they break and run, COLORADO. 105 and are scattered to the four winds in no time. A man on the Platte and Arkansas Divide, lost eight hundred this spring, by their run- ning over a precipice when driven by a storm. The herder was frozen to death. Such acci- dents are uncommon anywhere, and have never yet happened on the Valley of the Arkansas. Care for himself, as well as his sheep, quickens the wits of even a Mexican. The wits of an American might be too much quickened, and he would flee to the hills and leave his sheep, but in this respect the Mexican is his supe- rior, for he loves his sheep, and will not desert them. These men are born and reared among sheep, they take entire charge of them at all seasons of the year, and do their work kindly and well, and in their own way are really clever at it. They are said to be really fond of tho sheep. As yet disease among acclimated sheep is unknown in this district. Amongst newly imported ones, " snuffles " is the only one. It is a sort of cold in the nose of which some die, 106 COLORADO. but not many. It is cured by putting tar on their noses. On the Divide, where the weather is more severe, snuffles kills many unacclimated sheep, and they have also got scab very badly in the flocks in that district. Care is taken that the lambs shall all be born about May, as that month is found by ex- perience to be the most healthy for lambing. The only complaint Mr. Boggs has against things in general is that, owing to the dryness of the climate, the natural oil of the wool dries in clots near the skin, causing an irritation which makes the sheep shed their wool a little ; but this is so little that I could hardly find one sneep in all I saw, in which I could see that the wool had come off. A great disad- vantage it is in this way, however. A sheep bought by Mr. Boggs in Canada, sheared there seventeen and a half pounds of wool ; here, in Colorado, the following year, he sheared seven and a half pounds. The quantity of wool was not thought to be any less, nor was the quality any worse, but there was no yoke in it. Buy- ers of wool will do well to go to Colorado, for COLORADO. 107 there they get double the bulk of wool to the pound. All the fine rams and other sheep imported by Mr. Boggs from Canada, are kept in a flock by themselves, and driven into the farm every evening. His great ambition now is to get some pure bred merino rams. The Mexican sheep were originally Spanish merinos. They have now been allowed to degenerate by run- ning wild, and the wool has, from the influence of climate and want of regular shearing, grown light and hairy. The quality is restored more rapidly by crossing with the pure merino than with any other sheep, though a cross of Lei- cester or Cotswold is afterwards desirable to increase the quantity of wool. The sheep are never washed before shearing. At different times during the summer, they are made to swim across a creek if the op- portunity offers. The first thing that strikes yoiij however, is their extraordinary whiteness. They looked as if they had been bleached. When sheared they disappoint you rather: all the wool next the skin is discoloured with 108 COLORADO. dust sticking to what little yoke there is. This is a slight drawback in shearing, for it blunts the shears very quickly. Another curious thing is, that ticks are al- most unknown. I saw several hundred sheep sheared, and never saw a tick. The shearers said they did find one now and then, but not one could be found for my inspection. This is the more remarkable, because the rabbits that live on the plains are infested with every sort of parasite, and many of the human beasts are little better. Mr. Boggs has 12,000 head of sheep. This year he has sold all the wool he can cut off them at forty-five cents a pound. He expects, judging from the result of the first 3000, that his sheep will shear about four and a half pounds each on the average. Shearing costs about five cents a fleece. His expenses of herding may be put down at about 600 dollars, from which data I make the following calculation which explains itself : COLOEADO. 12,000 sheep at 4^ lb. wool each= 54,000 lb. wool. 4 109 48 G 54,000 lb. wool at 45 cents pound= 24,300.00 dollars. 45 270 216 24,300.00 dollars. Cost of shearing 12,000 sheep at 5 cents each .... 600.00 Cost of herding 12,000 sheep . 600.00 1,200.00 dollars. Clear profit from wool . 23,100.00 dollars. The average rate of increase is about 800 lambs to 1000 ewes; about one third of the increase; will be wethers. There is a steady market for all wethers at two dollars a head. This data supplies another little calculation which also explains itself. Increase from 12,000 ewes, at 800 lambs per 1000=0600 lambs. One third of 9600=8200 wethers. 110 COLORADO. 3200 wethers at 2.00 dollars a head =6,400.00 dollars=profit from increase. Add profit on wool . 23,100.00 Total profit. . 29,500.00 dollars. So you see Mr. Boggs' 12,000 sheep bring him in between five and six thousand pounds clear profit this year ; and next year, if wool is at the same figure, he will get much more. Past experience has taught him that wool will pay at twelve cents a pound. In face of the above facts, I need hardly say that at the present time sheep are paying well. In spite of this exceptionally severe winter, sheep -owners in this district have suffered no losses. The sheep as I saw them were quite fat and well ; and after the starvation and misery I had seen further north, the sight was refreshing. They are small, even the half breeds, but some of the specimens of wool I have got will show that another cross or two will make the quality very good. At the shearing camp every man was armed COLOEADO. Ill with a repeating rifle. The Indian territory borders this part of Colorado, and they are never to be trusted, though they may profess and apparently carry out the most peaceful intention. They do not do much damage to sheep when they are at war. They may kill a herder or two if they get the chance, but they do not care for sheep, because they can- not drive them quick enough to get them away without being caught. Cattle they do not trouble much for the same reason, though they will shoot them sometimes. Horses, however, they never miss a chance of stealing. Hiding round the flocks we came across two rattlesnakes, which were despatched as a matter of course. They are vile beasts. The mules we were riding jumped on one side, and fairly trembled when they sprung their rattles. They bite the sheep sometimes, and a few die from the bite, but the majority recover. Met Captain Ripley at the shearing camp, and he rode home with us. I had a letter of intro- duction to him and his partner, a Mr. Thomas. They arc Largely interested in cattle. I de- 112 COLORADO. termincd not to go down as far as their place, as time was getting on, and I still had hopes of getting to the St. Lnis Park ; hopes which had to be abandoned for want of cash, that want of cash arising from H. P. B. not being with me to share expenses and young Omman- ney being thrown on my hands. Ommanney, not being able to come out to the sheep camp with me, employed his time by taking the horses to graze. He tried riding his own, but found that the poor beast had so lost flesh as to make bare back riding rather hard. He then tried mine, but he set off at a gallop, forcing him to leave go of the other's halter and hang on like grim death. The horse made straight for the river, and just as he was contemplating what a ducking would be like, he was relieved by the interposition of a bough under which Mr. Weaver chose to go, which left him gracefully deposited on his back. Old Weaver stopped at once, and began quietly eating as if nothing had happened. The other horse joined them here, and they got on well after that. COLORADO. 113 I see I have omitted to give the conditions on which the share system is worked here. They are entirely different from those on which sheep are put out further north, so it is import- ant that I should give them. The owner of the sheep gives them entirely over to whoever takes them on shares. He (the owner) pays half the cost of shearing and gets half the wool. At the end of three years he picks from the flock double the number which he put in. The taker pays the taxes and the labour. Taxes amount to about 1^- per cent, per annum. Mr. Boggs puts down the largest number of sheep a man can possibly do with, at 50,000. I wish I was the happy owner of that number for one year ; I would then sell out my flock and retire. I think I have now entirely exhausted my store of information about sheep. I visited no more sheep after this, but April started on my return journey to the Wet 2 ' Mountain Valley. Camped in the middle of the day, and fed ourselves and horses as usual, 114 COLORADO. reaching Mr. Cronk's again by evening, forty-five miles, and all as long as when we came. April Drove the remaining fortv-five miles to 28th. p & * Pueblo, stopping at Mr. Fosdick's for lunch, and this time his hospitality reached the still higher sum of two dollars, or if paper was at par, about 8s. id. About 7s. 6d. perhaps is near the mark. •V* u Remained at Pueblo for the sake of the 29th. horses. Called on Mr. Pinckney again. "Wrote what I could of this journal and several letters. April Baldey was a little lame from a cut in his heel caused by getting the larriat round it, and we also were expecting letters, so we stayed on here. Ma y Got our letters at last, the first we had re- lst. , . ' ceived since we left Denver. May Left Pueblo at 8.15 a.m., this time going by -nd. a road taking us in at the opposite end of the valley. We dare not go the way we went before, because the Arkansas had risen a great deal, and we funked fording it. Stopped at COLOEADO, 115 the u Widow's," a favourite stopping place on the Huerfano road, for lunch, and reached Scot's at 6.45 p.m., another very long forty-five miles. The country over which we passed was deci- dedly barren, and very uninteresting. "We passed through a herd of several thousand cattle, which were being driven from the St. Luis Park to Salt Lake City. They seemed in only moderate condition. Left Scot's 6.45 a.m. Arrived at Mr. Neave's } l 7 3rd. house at 7 p.m., having driven fifty-seven miles, stopping two hours and a half to rest and cook dinner. Met a young man on the road whom we had met several times before on our travels. lie seems to be English and looking out for a chance to make a good in- vestment in sheep. lie said if I would bring out some stag-hounds, he for one would give me 50 dollars for a pup as soon as it could see. Captain Ripley offered me as much for a pup as it would cost me to bring out the parents. I believe stag-hounds would pay as well as sheep. Went to sec the owner of the propi ity JJ*? i2 116 COLORADO. which I thought of buying, but found him absent. Spent an idle day. May Being Sunday, we put on our best clothes " and lounged about. There is service at the Store every other Sunday, but this happened not to be one of the days. Our horses are great friends ; unless you tie one up, you can- not separate them. I rode off in the evening to call on the Alriches, who are nice Yankee people, living in the valley. Baldey followed me all the way there and back like a dog, sometimes running by my side, sometimes following at a short distance. May Was riding nearly all day from one place to another. Could not get the old fellow to move off the property until he had his money ; and as possession is the whole law here, of course I would not pay the money till I had posses- sion. I left him in disgust at his obstinacy, distrust, and fearful oaths, and rode down to Mr. Alriches' to know what was to be done. He approved of my not giving the money, and proposed that I should offer to deposit it in the hands of a third person of whose honesty COLORADO. 117 he was convinced. This I agreed to propose. I found Mr. Alriches' wife's sister taking advantage of my dear old Weaver's extreme good nature, by riding him, sitting side-saddle- ways on my saddle, with her foot in the stirrup- leather. The old beast seemed to know that he had a delicate charge, and looked quite proud and pleased. Proposed the above-mentioned compromise M to the cursing old Yankee fool, and he accepted 7th ' it, but not without pleading much injured innocence, and that with as many oaths as would destroy all innocence in fifty people. However, he moved out that morning, and we moved in the same afternoon. All we found was the two log rooms, one stinking so that we could not go into it. However, we soon made a bench and a table, and established ourselves with the small camping kit which we carried with us. We rode to the Store, and got a few such necessaries as we wanted, and were very well off. Made a bed on the floor with some hay, which was quite comfort- able. 118 C0L0KAD0. *J»y I left with the waggon and horses, to take the empty waggon back to Colorado Springs, where we had hired it. The Arkansas being unfordable, and the road by Pueblo just one hundred miles round, I determined to try my luck over the Indian trail across the mountains, known as the "Oak Creek trail." Waggons had been taken through that way, but I believe I am the only individual who ever took one through by himself. I was warned of the nature of the road and its dangers, but I preferred to risk breaking the waggon over a precipice to drowning my- self in the Arkansas. The waggon was light, and I had confidence in my horses; I knew them, and I knew that they knew me. They would obey my voice, and answer to their names like dogs. My only fear was that Master Baldey might get scared, but I knew that if he did, his only anxiety would be to run to me or huddle up to old Weaver for protection. The miseries and vexations of this road I will describe now, for it was on this journey with the waggon that I experienced them. COLORADO. 119 The beauty of its scenery I will describe with my ride back, when I had more opportunity and better temper to appreciate it. Eoad there is really none. There is a track which is easy enough to follow all the way. It leads over the centre of the Greenhorn Moun- tains, nearly direct from the Wet Mountain Valley to Canon City, striking the head of a small stream named Oak Creek, about half- way, and from there following its course, as nearly as possible, through the canon, down which it finds its way to the Arkansas. Near the mouth of the canon it becomes impossible to follow the stream further, and here the trail strikes straight across the mountains. Being warned that I should have to hold my waggon up to prevent it rolling down some of the hills, as I drove on along the sides of them, I fastened my lasso to the top of the covering for that purpose. Up to where I struck the valley of Oak Creek, I had only to hold up the waggon in a few places, and those only a few yards long. I stopped and fed here, and after lunch my troubles began. 120 COLORADO. I entered the mouth of the canon, found tho road leading over beds of huge stones, and amongst trees and scrub through which I crammed the waggon. Further on the caiion became narrower, the brush thicker, and the road almost impassable from boulders. I had to keep shoving the undergrowth to one side to let the top of the waggon through, constantly stopping to clear the way. Things got worse and worse, but I had got so fairly wedged in that it was impossible to go back. The road lay over loose boulders, from three to four feet in diameter. The horses scrambled, rolled, jumped, and otherwise got over them, making it im- possible to guide the waggon clear of them. When I got fairly wedged in I would shout at the good beasts, and they invariably stopped, though one would be sitting on a big rock, and the other nearly standing on his head, with his tail pointing out somewhere at right angles to the waggon. So we got on slowly, and in bad temper, my face scratched with the boughs, and my hands bruised with the stones and wheels, until at last the canon became so COLORADO. 121 narrow that there was only just room for the stream and the waggon. Here the slope was so great that the waggon was likely to upset into the stream, the rocks on either side were perpendicular for hundreds of feet. I got out, left the horses to themselves, and taking the lasso held the waggon up from behind. Just as we had got round this point, which was only a few yards, I spied a rock on the side of the waggon to which I had gone up arid taken the reins, over which I could not get, and between which and the waggon there was not room. I shouted to the horses, but they either could not stop or did not hear me in time, and dragged me by the reins and lasso clean over the rock, barking my knuckles well. My temper was about exhausted, but we came out on a beautiful little open space with clear road, and I thought my difficulties over, so I re- covered it a little, which was well, for I yet had the hills to encounter. When I readied them I saw that the ascent was nearly perpendicular for about 150 yards. I never would have believed it possible for 122 COLORADO. horses to draw even an empty waggon up such a place, but I saw that waggons had been, so I got out and put them at it. They dug their toes into the ground, scrattled and slipped, and rolled about, but up they went at a pace which was nearly too much for me. I had the reins in my hand, and dare not use them for fear of pulling the horses backwards over. I hung on to the side of the waggon and ran on. When we reached a small resting-place I was quite blown, utterly unable to say a word, so I lay on my back until I was recovered. The worst of the ascent was over but the crossing and descent had yet to be done. In two places, each about 100 yards long, the road ran along the side of a hill so steep that the waggon would have rolled over and over to the bottom, probably dragging horses with it, if it had not been held up. One of these I avoided by driving clean over the top of the hill. The other had to be faced, so I had re- course to my lasso again and got down safely, thanks to the perfect behaviour of the horses. Finally, I had to go down as steep a place as I COLORADO. 123 went up, and the deed was done, without acci- dent of any kind, but I guess this cuss won't do it again if he knows it. Arrived in Canon City in good time and called on Mr. Rockafel- low. Eained so hard all day that I could not get May away. I caught the man at the livery stable 9th ' giving my horses Indian corn, when he had promised to give them oats. As a rule I have looked after my horses entirely myself, as no Yankee can be trusted, and this little incident will make it my invariable rule to do so. Corn is almost poison to Weaver. He nearly died from the effects of it •in this very stable before. Left Canon City, lunched at M'Clure's, a May house on the way. Meant to go through to Colorado Springs, but old Weaver was so ill from the Indian corn that I could only get to Lincoln's, thirty-six miles. Ten miles out of (anon City not a drop of rain had fallen. Drove on to the Springs, got in at 11 A.M., May twenty miles. Rained hard, so I did not go until next morning. 124 COLORADO. May Having paid off the waggon, I left the Springs on horseback, Baldey following with what things I had packed on his back. Lunched at Lincoln's and from there rode Baldey on. Weaver would not follow, and would not lead. I tried all I could, coaxed him, licked him, got on his back and rode him, which last he seemed to like, but lead he would not. I got the reins round my leg and in that way fairly hauled him all the way to M'Clure's. I would have ridden him, but I did not want to tire him out, and I had too much respect for his other good qualities to be very hard on him. Stopped the night at M'Clure's, and had some very startling revelations of the yankee notions of England. Mr. M'Clure is an edu- cated man and, judging from outward appear- ances, a man of some wealth. He lives in a grand large stone house, with good stables, etc., near. He says, " How is the Queen over there; is she pretty lenient or very tyrannical ? Have been told she was very tyrannical." I tried to COLORADO. 125 explain that her Majesty was a most excellent Queen, and not in the least tyrannical. That she could not be even if she would. I tried to show that our Government was freer than that of the United States, and that English- men enjoyed more freedom than Americans, owing to having the law better enforced. He listened, smiled, evidently pitied me, but was not convinced on any point. His next question showed that he was not ; and having failed to get a direct confession to the general tyranny, sought to make me confess it bit by bit. " Guess the poor people over there are pretty tally taxed?" "No, by no means ; the rich pay the greater part of the taxes, each man being taxed as near as possible according to his means." This was too much for a full-blooded Yank to swallow " right off;" he fairly laughed and said, " Why, where do the nobility get all their money from then ? " I set to work patiently to explain that they 126 COLORADO. got it just as he or I or any other man. Some from their land, some from money saved and put out to interest, and some commercially, while some even now had to work for it. To prove my statement I told him of a young Scotch nobleman in an office now in New York. I have now forgotten who it is, and can find no note of it in my book. Gilliat told me, and he had met him there, but I have heard of him from others also. Dropping this subject he said, " Guess the roads there are all made ? " " Yes." Here roads are not made at all. " Suppose there are houses all along them, just like a street?" I said there were not, and strongly recom- mended him just to run over and take a look, and then he would see something very different to what he expected. I mention this little conversation just to show that there are persons amongst this highly educated and enlightened people not far removed from the much abused rustic of our own country ; but the fact is rather more COLORADO. 127 peculiar from the person being a man of edu- cation and position. Kode to Canon City, fifteen miles, getting May f in by 10.30 a.m. Passed the time by reading 13th ' a novel by Charles Reade, a book quite unfit to be put on the table of any gentleman's house, and one that I should be sorry to think was much read by English ladies. I believe this is the first sensation novel of the class that I have read ; if others are like it, I regret my want of reading less than I did. Left Canon City at 8.15 a.m. Took the May Oak Creek trail, and reached Mr. Neave's house by 5 p.m., stopping one hour and a half to feed. This alas ! was the last feed of oats my poor horses were to get for a long time. I could not carry more on horseback, and in the valley none could be had. The good beasts follow me just like dogs, but I fear when I have no more oats they will care less for me. Baldey followed me all the way laden with my few things and some that I had bought at Canon City for the house. Sometimes he 128 COLORADO. would stop a little behind, then run up to my side to get his neck rubbed, and be otherwise noticed, when he would arch his neck and look quite pleased ; then he would run ahead a little, get frightened at some old stump or rock, and come back squeezing up against me. All he did wrong was to tumble on his head twice, rub himself against a burnt tree once, blacking all my things, and finally lie down and try to roll in a mud hole. When I got back I turned them both out to graze, having no other food for them. They came up to the house at dark and stood looking over the fence, asking for their oats. There they remained until we went to bed. May When we got up no horses were to be seen. ' We hunted all day, Mr. Neave's foreman lend- ing me a mule to ride, but we could neither hear nor see anything of them. May Mr. Neave's foreman lent me a mule again, and I hunted all day. First, I searched the willows and woods at the foot of the moun- tains, then the whole northern half of the valley for a distance of 16 miles from home. COLOEADO. 129 In the ^willows I came within ten or twelve yards of some deer, and on the plain saw eight antelopes, but not a trace could I find of our horses. Put Mr. Neave's mule into our corral for the night, as it was too late, and I was too tired to take it home. No mule in the corral. Heavy snow storm. May Walked down to Mr. Neave's to see if the mule had come home, and to my relief found it had. Dined there. The weather cleared up, and we went off and got ourselves some chickens. Yet no horses. Being tired of horse hunting, and also of May ° ... 18th. living in one room, which was neither wind nor water tight, we turned our energies to building an addition to our house, and to making our other room habitable. We took up the floor, dug out all the mess that was under it, and sprinkled it well with chloride of lime. I was on the roof working when I saw our two horses being driven home by one of the neighbours. I was so delighted that I jumped K 130 COLORADO. off the roof to meet them. "We tied Master Weaver to a big log, and left them to graze round the house. At night we put them in the corral. Our friend found them by mere accident. The annual " round-up " was going on in the valley, and he was hunting cattle up in the mountains. Some of his cattle had strayed far up, farther than he had ever known any go before by two miles. When he got to these he saw, about two miles furthur up, two horses, on a nice little grassy spot. Knowing that we had lost ours, he went to see if they were them; and finding they were, drove them back to us. But for this accident we should probably not have seen them again for months. Sunday, "We had contemplated a good long lay in May 19th. bed, and breakfast at nine instead of six a.m. About half-past five, however, we were roused by hearing one of the corral poles go down. Out we jumped, but too late, the horses had cleared both fences, for they were in the inner corral, and were off at a hard gallop up to the mountains. Ommanney kept COLORADO. 131 his eye on them while I jumped into my things, and started in pursuit. At this eleva- tion it is impossible to run for want of breath. I pursued as fast as I could, and caught them about three miles from home. Ommanney came up soon, and we took advantage of being where we were to examine the source of our water supply, and ride round the estate. Found an old Englishman and his family, one of our neighbours, just getting breakfast ready. They invited us to stay, which we did, undressed and unwashed as we were, our sole attire consisting of shirts, trowsers, and boots — our sole horse-trappings, one lasso be- tween us. Here we stayed the morning. Came home about noon, and tied Weaver to his log again. By this time he had discovered that he could draw it, so off they both went at a quick trot. I ran after them, but it was no good, they were soon out of sight in the woods. I tracked them for some distance, then lost the tracks over a piece of hard ground. After hunting the woods and wil- lows for three hours, alternately running and k2 132 COLORADO. walking, and having gone about fifteen miles, I was coming home very tired, when a faint winney was wafted on the breeze. I stopped but could hear no more. I was now near the place where I had first lost the tracks. I made a cast in the direction of the sound, soon hit off the tracks, and following them about a mile and a half, found Weaver tied to a stump with his log, the rope having got round it, and the faithful Baldey close by. They were in the centre of a piece of dense cotton-wood forest, about four miles from home, and might have stopped there to starve if I had not had the luck to find them. Got on Weaver's back and rode him home, where I tied him to a very heavy log, with which, however, after a few days, he escaped, though he could not go fast. A friend lent Ommanney a horse to pursue them on. Soon wearing the rope through against the ground, they 'led Om- manney a good chase for about six miles up into the mountains, but he eventually got them again. This time they were tied (that is, Weaver was, for as long as he is fast Baldey COLOEADO. 133 will not go away) to a log which could not be moved, and by a thick new rope thirty yards long. Up to my departure they made no more mountain tours. Between these dates I kept no diary. Our JJay time was occupied with continued hard work, to my object being to get the place into comfort- 29th. able order for Ommanney to live in. We built a third room to the house, which is by far the largest and best of all. We put down a new floor to the bed-room, made bedsteads, benches, tables, washstand, dressing table, mattresses, sheets, etc. etc. etc., and by the time I left were as cosily and neatly housed and furnished as you could wish to see, much more so than you often do see in a log cabin. We kept our house always clean and tidy, and those who came to see us were much surprised to find the luxury we lived in. We got a few more chickens, and benefited greatly by the eggs. One Tod, a Highlander and a gentleman, whose acquaintance I made at the Springs, came to me to get work. Poor fellow, he is not clever, and little stronger in body than in 134 COLORADO. mind, but I have given him and his pony a home, on conditions he holds my claim for me, and is generally useful. He will be a dull companion for Ommanney, but better than none if the mental debility is not catch- ing. His friends are much to blame for allowing him to come out to a country like this, for the least harm that can happen to him is to go home relieved by the Yanks of what- ever he may have. On the 25th, five fine elk passed within easy shot of the house, but I was busy making a bed inside, so missed seeing them. We got up every morning between four and five o'clock, and worked hard all day until dusk. "We cooked all our own food, and did all our own household work ; in fact, had not a single person to help us in anything. During the last two days we irrigated the whole estate, the natural ditches being so plentiful and well situated as to require little alteration. One of these days we had a neighbour with his "plow" to help us, and plowed and dug about a mile of ditch during the afternoon. COLORADO. 135 Plough, is always spelt plow in America. One day Ommanney took the two horses to the store to get a number of things. Baldey got frightened, nearly upset Weaver by rush- ing up against him, frightening Ommanney till he thought it better to get off before he was quite rolled over, and finally skedaddled, distributing his load all over the plain, and eventually running into the stable with the saddle underneath him, and a hind leg through each stirrup leather. When I came up to him he was shaking with fright. My voice con- soled him a little, and I got him clear of the saddle, which I re-adjusted, and getting on his back went in search of the lost beef and potatoes, etc. We found everything 'after a short time, and had no more trouble. Left for England on horseback, via Oak May ._ X ■ i 30th - ('nek trail — Ommanney coming with me to bring back the horses, and to be legally em- powered to act for me. I omitted to give any description of the scenery of these mountains when mentioning my return journey by this road, so I will just describe it as well as I can 136 COLORADO. now ; but you must turn yourself round and imagine that you are coming from Canon City, and not following us on our journey. I was so much taken with it on that ride that I made a few notes of its description in my pocket-book as I went along. On horseback the road is quite passable — if your horse is a native, and you have got used to rough travel- ling, so the temper is not severely tried — and the great beauty of the scenery strikes you. When you reach the mountains after leaving Canon City, you commence the steep ascent at once. After about three miles of very tiring scrambling and climbling (I walking between my two horses, and each one looking out chiefly for himself), you reach the top of the first mountain and your real difficulties are over. Here you have before you the apparently impenetrable range of the Greenhorn Moun- tains. To your left is the mouth of the Oak Creek canon. Through this gap you see, extending like the ocean, the endless prairies. Behind you is the great range, of which Pike's COLORADO. 137 Peak is the most prominent feature. To your right the canon of the Arkansas, and the great mountains through which it runs. At your feet is growing the sweetest wall-flower, and a thousand other beautiful flowers, — lovely, but scentless. To your front again, looking down the almost perpendicular cliff over which your road runs, and about one hundred feet below you, is a beautiful little green valley, nearly circular, and about a quarter of a mile in diameter, surrounded on every side by moun- tains hundreds of feet high. Large pine trees are growing picturesquely here and there, and, along the left edge, a strip of cotton-wood trees and wild cherries. Descending into this little valley, and riding for about a quarter of a mile under the shade of the pine trees, which scent the air with their peculiarly refreshing smell, you come to the mouth of a great moun- tain gorge, which you would think no living creature could penetrate. The granite walls rise perpendicularly for hundreds of feet on both sides. You are surrounded by wild cherry trees, whose sweet blossoms scent the 138 COLORADO. whole air. At your feet runs a clear, rushing, gurgling mountain stream. It is here that you enter the caiion of Oak Creek, following up the course of the stream, crossing it every five minutes, cramming your way through the undergrowth of scrubby oak and wild cherries. Through these walls your road runs for eight miles, and then again opens on to a grassy valley, but of no particular beauty. On our journey this time, Baldey cast both his fore shoes, which made him lame before we got in, and knocked his feet about a good deal on the stones. We could not afford time to stop because he chose to fall about and pull his shoes off over the stones. We had him shod the moment he arrived at Caiion City. May Both the horses were rather stiff. Poor 31st ' beasts, three times the work would not have hurt them if they had had proper food. How- ever, here they can get oats, and I see that they have all they can eat. Hired a waggon and harness, and started off for Lincoln's. Got a box of Wheeler and Wilson's sewing machines for freight, for which we received three dollars to take to Denver. Lunched at C0L0EAD0. 139 M'Clure's as usual, and got into Lincoln's about dusk, thirty-six miles, having to drive slow on account of the horses. Here we could get nothing for them in the way of hay or fodder ; but oats we could get, and gave them their fill. Drove on to Colorado Springs, twenty-one June miles. Found quite a town grown up there lst " since we first saw it. Here I bought a prairie dog for one dollar. He had just been caught. I put a collar and chain on him, got a box and fitted it up for his reception, and hope he may live to become civilized, and amuse the Britishers. Took leave of my poor horses, worn now to June 2nd scarecrows, though still well and sound, and " capable of much hard travelling. I am sorry to leave them, for I like them, and they have been good and faithful servants. I hope if ever I see them again, to find them fat and sleek. At last we are back in Denver. Went to the bank and wound up what busi- June 3rd ness I had to do there. Got a buffalo rug for old Postic, and a few Indian curiosities for other friends. 140 COLORADO. June Got power of attorney correctly fixed up for Ommanney to act for me, and deposited it at the bank. Left by the 9 p.m. train, having taken my ticket via Chicago and Canada, thereby saving one dollar fifty cents. Sorry to leave Ommanney to such a lonely occupation, but I think he really likes it. He is a very good lad. He thanked me for kindness, but I think I owe the thanks for having the luck to get a companion, and one willing to make himself so useful to me. Now safely launched on my return journey, the real object of my journal is finished. All the information I have been able to gather about Colorado and its resources is contained in these pages. However, having given the thing the form of a journal, and written on other subjects besides those which I was commissioned to inquire into, I may as well carry it out, and give a short sketch of such incidents of my homeward journey as may seem worth relating. Before I leave Colorado for good, I will make a few general remarks upon it, which I COLORADO. 141 believe have not been mentioned in the course of my narrative. Taken as a whole, it is the most barren part of the United States I have seen, and, with the exception of some of the sandy heaths round Aldershot, the worst land I have ever come across. Nothing can be raised without irriga- tion, and water for the purpose is scarce. Much of the soil is very inferior, though here and there patches are good. Strips of land at intervals along the banks of the streams is all that is capable of cultivation throughout the territory. Nevertheless, it offers greater advantage to the farmer than any part of the country, and for this reason. Its mineral wealth is enormous and but little developed. This draws, and must continue to draw a large population, and sets a great deal of money moving. The very scarcity of agricultural land makes it immensely valuable. The population must be fed. The territory is now unable to support it, though a very large proportion of the agricultural land is now taken up and farmed. Every article of 142 COLORADO. food not produced in the territory has to be brought either over the Kocky Mountains, or across the great plains. The cost of transport makes the price of everything enormous. The man that can produce at home has a greedy market always at hand, and benefits by the high prices. Of course it is impossible to say whether, as the country opens up, prices will rise or fall. That is a question of supply and demand that can only be guessed at. The introduction of railroads lessens the prices of ail merchandise, but the supply of all agricultural produce is so far below the demand that all which can be brought in by rail at the present rate of freight does not lessen the price. My own opinion is that the railroads will also open the mines, and bring in a mining population of many thousands. They will not produce one single article of food for themselves, and the consequence is that prices will even get beyond the present extravagant rate, and the value of land rise proportionately. The climate is undoubtedly healthy for man and beast. It is hot and dry, and probably COLORADO. 143 not invigorating. There is always the moun- tains as a resort for those who cannot stand the plains. You can vary your climate from half- tropical to frost at any time by a few days' ride. It is said to be a very good climate for con- sumptive and asthmatical people ; but of this I can only speak from hearsay. The scenery is very fine, but not, I should fancy, in any way to be compared with that of the Alps. I have never seen the Alps ; but, judging from photo- graphs, I should say it would puzzle the cleverest artist to find scenes in the Eocky Mountains equal to those which I have seen of the Alps. A more delightful place for an invalid to spend the summer than the Soda Springs under Pike's Peak I do not know. As a grazing country, for which it is so much extolled, it is, I suppose, good. A grazing country I take to mean a country utterly incapable of tillage, and yet producing a herbage sufficient to support cattle. This it undoubtedly is. 1 believe also that the theory of the buffalo grass curing on the stalk is per- fectly correct, for iu no other way can I possibly 144 COLORADO. account for the good condition of the cattle on the valley of the Arkansas at the time of year when I saw them. The grass then, except on some of the bottoms by the river, was as dry and yellow as you could wish to see, and had been so since the autumn before, probably for about ten months. If the enormous plains would also preserve a little water for the autumn and winter supply, at moderate intervals through- out their immense extent, then Colorado would really be a great grazing country. At present, however, cattle are dependent on the large rivers for water greater part of the year, and, therefore, a great portion of the grazing land is useless for want of water. June Passing over the prairies this time they were all green and beautiful, like one vast meadow, and wet with abundant rain. This last state- ment may seem simple enough, but, if what I am told is true, it is what has never been known in the memory of man. Eain on the Great Desert was a thing unheard of, beyond a passing thunder shower. I would as soon believe the old gentleman himself as believe the COLORADO. 145 ordinary Yank, so this may be taken for what it is worth. I do believe, however, that much rain is really a very unusual thing on these plains, and I can speak to the fact of the ground being regularly soaked when I passed over them, and everything growing as if in a hot bed. It has been a wet season all through Colo- rado, and as yet no irrigation has been re- quired. Prophets are not wanting, who say that at last the presence of man and the culti- vation of the soil has brought a plentiful rain- fall to this country. Tradition in America says that where no rain fell before the settle- ment of the country, the cultivation of the land and planting of trees, etc., has always brought a regular rainfall. A rainfall is the montezuma of the population of Colorado. We passed two herds of buffalo to-day, nearly running into the second, having to blow the whistle furiously and put on the breaks to prevent doing so. There wore about a hundred in each herd. Arrived at K'ansars City about 5.30 a.m., .i,„, 6th. L 14G COLORADO. got a bad breakfast at a bad hotel, and left again, at 7.30 a.m. by the Hannibal and St. Joseph line. We ran over four cows, sending them one after the other head over heels down an embankment. The first we hit was put liors- de-combat, but the others got up and ran off. June Arrived at Chicago about 7.30 a.m., got an indifferent breakfast at the refreshment room, and then took a stroll round part of the burnt district. Splendid houses are now building rapidly all over it again, and in such plenty as to prevent a clear view of how much was burnt. Judging from what I saw as I came up in the train and in the part that I explored, accounts have been in no way exaggerated. Some ruins are standing, but very few. The greater part have been long since pulled down and the foundations cleared out to make room for new buildings. The destruction has been complete, not one house being left as a memo- rial of the original Chicago. If any impressions still exist that Chicago was a wooden town or in any way flimsily COLORADO. 147 built, because it has sprung up in the last thirty years, they are entirely erroneous. The ruins prove it to have been solidly built of brick and stone, and any city in the world might share the same fate. The burnt district lies along the shores of the lake, so the supply of water was not short. Taking with me a relic of the fire, I left by the 9.30 a.m. train on the Michigan Central. Eeached Detroit about 7.30 p.m. Here I had determined to stay a day or two, to look up some people whom I knew in Canada. My baggage was only checked as far as here, as this was the farthest place they had checks for at Denver. My adventures at the station in endeavouring to get it rechecked and sent on to New York were rather amusing, and ended in total failure. I handed in the checks and requested that the things might be rechecked to New York, pro- ducing my through ticket as proof of my right to do so. They were unchecked, put on a track and whisked nil', no reply being given to my questions. Knowing thai unchecked Luggage in Yankee- l 2 148 COLORADO. dom is like a coin in a conjuror's hand' — it vanishes the moment you take your eyes off it, but unlike the coin, never reappears — I pur- sued, remonstrated, and stopped the truck. A Yank shouted to the man "Go on ;'' I resis- ted furiously, and the man hesitated. The Yank, ignoring me again, shouted " Go on" in my face, for I was between him and the truck - ster, who now removed off in spite of my energetic demonstrations. Seeing my situa- tion growing more desperate every moment, I looked around in wild despair. My eyes rested on a guardian angel, as I thought, in the form of the Baggage Master. I appealed to him. He stopped the truck, ordering my things off, and saying, apologetically, " We are busy, sir." For the moment I blessed him as my deliverer, and vented my exultant rage on the Yank who had said " go on," but he still ignored alike my words and very presence, with a look of supreme contempt. I now turned, pacified and smilingly, to my deliverer, requesting, now, that my things might be put away in the baggage room, and checks be given me for them. COLORADO. 149 " Where are you going, sir ? " "lam going to stay here for a time." " Where are you going after that ? " I did not like being so cross-questioned, but as he was civil I told him " To New York." " We cannot take care of them." He was at once converted in my mind into an inquisitive Yank, as bad as the rest of his species. I now applied at the baggage room. " Where are you going ? " Having learnt caution from the result of my conversation with the Baggage Master, I replied decidedly — "lam going to remain here." " Where are you going next ? " Indignant at being thus catechised, and knowing the result of owning, I replied — " What the d— 1 is that to you ? " " Cannot take care of your boxes." " Then why could you not say so at once without asking a lot of impertinent questions ?" I returned to my boxes, and was accosted 150 COLORADO. • by an elderly man of Irish extraction, with the invariable question — " Where are you going ? " "Detroit." "You are there now." " I know that as well as you do." He said no more, but seemed to pity me, so I asked him if he knew where I could deposit my baggage for safety. " You should not have given up your checks, then the Eailway would have been obliged to take care of them." I should have liked to give him the same answer as before, but held my tongue. " They have got them now, and that is all they want. You must take them to the hotel with you." I looked about me again, and found myself alone, the 'bus for the hotel gone. Seeing some " express waggons " outside, I called the first driver I saw. A second cam- paign was opened at once. The man of my choice was a gentleman of colour, not much, but yet coloured. I was at once surrounded by six or eight COLORADO. 151 expressmen with a chorus of " What, prefer a nigger to a white man ! " howled from every throat. I heeded not, but pointed out my boxes, and told the man to take them. I turned towards the excited multitude, and was about to address them, when I was inter- rupted by my sable driver nearly tumbling over me as he beat a hasty retreat, backwards, hotly pursued by a gentleman in loose blue serge clothes, and straw hat. By the badge on the front of his coat, and the threatening wand of office in his hand, I recognised in him the majesty of the law. I felt awed, but in my desperation sought his protection, and humbly requested that I might be allowed to retain the man of my choice, and regain pos- session of my boxes. He allowed me to do so ; and such was now my frame of mind, that I was thankful for even such a concession. Whilst my things were being conveyed to the waggon I had to withstand the taunts of the crowd, and my chosen black was exposed to threats of present and future chastisement. 152 COLORADO. The present, however, was restrained by the majesty of the law at the corner, and for the future I cared not. As my departure became imminent shouts arose of " Better pay a white man fifty cents extra than ride with a nigger." Unable to restrain my wrath longer I addressed to the assembled multitude (about a dozen in number) a high moral lecture, but couched in terms more suited to the ready comprehen- sion of my audience, than to the sentiments propounded. We drove off amidst profound silence. Found a good hotel — which is not a common thing in the United States. I afterwards dis- covered that the two proprietors are Englishmen. Thanks to the postal system, by which let- ters are not delivered, but put in boxes to remain until called for, the only address I had of my friends was simply " Detroit." I had written to say I was coming, but my letter had not been called for, so I now set to work to try and discover where they lived. I got a direc- tory and a map of the town, and went to the house of every person of the name, hunting sth. for two days and a half without success. COLORADO. 153 My hunting on this the second, day was not June very vigorous, for thanks to my own foolish- ness in leaving off flannel shirts and wearing a white one to look swell in, I got a sharp feverish attack, and had awoke in the middle of the night shivering hard. I put on a flan- nel shirt and had a bottle of quinine and iron made up according to a prescription by one of the regimental doctors, and was quite well the next day. After hunting all the morning unsuccess-Jj™ fully, I was setting out again after dinner on a journey to the last resort, when who should I see as I was going in a street car but the objects of my search. They were just return- ing from the Post Office, where they had got my letter. At their house they have rather a curiosity in the shape of a white rabbit. It runs all over the house like a dog, and is on terms of friendship with a spaniel they have. The beast came and jumped up againsl me, so I toot it up and nursed it. Finding that I was disposed to be friendly it took a fancy to me 154 COLORADO. and often came to bo potted. At tea time it came and begged. I was so long in finding my friends that I stayed a day longer in Detroit than I had originally intended. It is a very nice town, very clean, and the streets well planted with trees. The public buildings are fine, and on the whole I think it is the nicest American town I have seen. Left for New York, via the Great "Western of Canada, at 8 p.m., passing through London, Ontario, where I was quartered for a year, but as it was night I was fast asleep in bed. Juno 12th. Jemmy's birthday, which I hope is a happy A little # „ error in one. I have a present for him, which he will my offer- get when I arrive. Got to New York at 9 in time. e p.m., and went to the Cosmopolitan Hotel. June 13th. The Cosmopolitan Hotel is very large. It does not profess to be first-class, but I think it is very good. It is conducted on " the Euro- pean Plan." This is a plan I have never seen out of America, but as I have not travelled much in Europe it may be in use somewhere without my knowing. The charge for a bed COLORADO. 155 is one dollar a night, your meal you get at the Eestaurant attached, and pay according to what you order, the prices being not unreasonable for America. In the morning I thought I would go and see Central Park, so having secured my ticket by the ' Weser,' North German Lloyd, I took the street car and went there. I walked about 150 yards into the park, down a broad smooth road, which showed but small signs of traffic. The park seemed nice, the grass was in good order, and it was thickly planted with trees ; but at the end of my 150 yards I was attacked by a gentleman in grey uniform, whose aspect was so warlike to myself and the only other people that I saw in the park, that I was scared, and left as quickly as I had come, though not without a sarcastic remark about being in a free country. I have not quite clearly discovered what my crime was, but I suppose I was on forbidden ground, though I had followed the broad gravel path from the entrance. The other people were on a narrow path close by, and branched 156 COLORADO. off on to the grass in my direction. I thought at first that he was admonishing them for walking on the grass, but finding that his wrath was equally turned against me, and was so vehement and threatening, I determined to retire sooner than run the risk of again com- mitting some unknown crime, which seemed to be of so serious a nature, and of being locked up in a strange country with no one to help me, and but little money in my pocket. Central Park, therefore, I may say I have not seen, but if the other wild beasts which are said to be kept there, are half as ferocious as the one I encountered, and not more attractive in appearance, I do not consider that I have missed much. June The afternoon I spent in writing my journal. Saw in a shop window some very ingenious mechanical toys, and immediately got some for my nephews and nieces. Supplied myself with a few necessaries, such as tobacco, pills, and the paper that I am writing on. The morning was intensely hot, but a thunder shower came on in the afternoon, which cleared COLORADO. 157 the air. The afternoon I devoted to the journal. In one of this morning's papers the thunder J" n <» 15th. shower of yesterday is described as a " dis- astrous hurricane," and a long list of its depredations published. A hurricane has been reported farther west, and it would not do for Chicago or Detroit to have its hurricane, and New York not, so our innocent and cooling thunder shower has been made to do duty as such for the credit of New York. I went to get my remaining greenbacks converted into gold before going down to the steamer. I called at the first brokers I came to in Broadway, and asked him what gold was at to day. Suspecting my purpose he asked whether I wanted to buy or sell. I knew very well that if I said sell he would tell me about five per cent, less than if I wanted to buy, so I declined to answer his question. He turned his back on me, sat down in his chair and took up the paper. I turned on my heel and left the shop. I had no better luck at the next, but I had 158 COLORADO. the pleasure of getting a real good rise out of a Yankee, which was delightful. I put the same question as before, and being equally suspected got the same question in reply, so I said very civily, had not made up my mind to do either, but I wanted to know how gold stood. " I cannot tell you, sir." " Oh ! I am sorry to have troubled you, but I thought, being a broker, you might know." He jumped up, stamped violently, and said, "I do know, sir." Bowing as I went out, I said, "Then many thanks, sir, for not telling me." He went quite wild and ran to the door, but I was walking down the street, well out of his reach, and laughing, which made him worse. I dare say all these little incidents are very dull and boring to those that have to wade through this ; I put them in because they amused me at the time, and I made notes of them accordingly. They are intended also to give an idea of how different everything is in America to what it is in England. How com- COLORADO. 159 plctcly you have to depend on yourself, and cannot trust any one on any account, and how diffident and uncivil many that you meet are, about helping you in any way. To ask for information from a Yank is to expose your- self to a strict cross-examination for the grati- fication of his curiosity, and to be no wiser when it is over. The next place I went to was the office of an Insurance Company. Here I met with civility, and was recommended to a firm in Wall-street, and strongly advised not to go to any broker. Here I saw coin of all sorts, and gold and silver in blocks handed across the counter in exchange for dirty greenbacks. Got a carriage and went on board the steamer at about one o'clock. We sailed at 3.15 p.m. Before leaving America and Americans en- tirely, to write the simple incidents of my return voyage, I must give the promised ac- count of my impressions of New York, and as my impressions of Americans are not what I exported they would be, a word about thorn may aol be entirely uninteresting. 160 COLORADO. New York I really have not seen. I was there but a short time, and entirely alone. I did not exert myself to see the place, so all I know about it is just what I observed as I wandered about on the few errands I had there. It is different from any town I have seen before, but I find it difficult to put the dif- ferences into any form to give an adequate description of the impressions left by them. Americans talk so largely, and the simple Briton believes readily so much of what he hears, and reads, that he is doomed, when his clearer sense of observation is called into the question, to be disappointed in all he sees in America. Broadway, of which we hear so much, and of which the very name gives an idea of gran- deur, is not as wide as the Strand, and the traffic about the same. It is the only street in New York that has a traffic to compare with our London streets. I don't think New York can be called a handsome town. Ornamental is more the word COLORADO. 1G1 to use. That is to say, the houses are not fine handsome buildings, but the majority have "bogus " fronts of an ornamental character pecu- liar to America. Every American that builds a shop, if it is in the smallest village, whether built of brick, stone, wood, or adobe, puts on a quantity of useless " shoddy " attempt at or- nament in front. New York houses are no exception, and that gives a peculiar American look to the streets. New York is as white as London is black. The streets are badly paved and badly kept in repair. The street railways destroy the streets and stop the traffic. The omnibuses are all painted white, are very high, and the driver perched up some- where in the skies under a huge umbrella. These umbrellas, odd looking enough in them- selves, are made still more conspicuous by being converted into advertising mediums. Americans have a mania for advertising. Every available thing is made to do duty as an advertisement. I should hardly be sur- prised if every pair of trowsers were made to 162 C0L0EAD0. print their maker's name, and the patentee of the invention, on all the chairs they came in contact with. I feel that I have given no idea of New York, but this is all I know about it. Americans I have seen a little of, and, being interested, have tried hard to make out what their faults and merits are. I went out greatly prejudiced in favour of Americans, but I return with an inward loathing of the very thought of some of them. The more I think the more I am utterly bewildered. To account for an Englishman ever having become what an American is, is hopelessly impossible ! To continue to think that Americans are des- tined to carry farther west the stream of civilization which has gone out from England, is to defy one's own convictions, in face of what one sees. Can it be possible, after all, that our ideas of honour, honesty, truth, re- ligion, self-restraint, and moral conduct, which we have cherished at home and in all our pos- sessions, are but relics of antiquity ; and that the American that casts them off is really a COLORADO. 163 being advanced in civilization, that is destined to improve, and carry on to the regions of the old world again, the advance of the Anglo- Saxon race and religion ? I think I am getting into too deep water here. It is one thing to see and think about these problems of the world, but quite another to write intelligibly about them. This is a hobby of mine very closely allied to my po- litical views, but I find that it is less easy to write what I think than it is to think it, so I must content myself with noting down what my small opinion of the Americans is, and their fitness to play their apparent part in the future history of the world. Physically, they are far inferior to the exist- ing English race ; morally, they are equally degenerate — but I need not enter into the par- ticulars of that. Such Americans as think on the subject, and whose ideas go beyond the ordinary self-conceit of a Yankee, confess to both, and lay the blame entirely on the Ameri- can women. Their share in the degeneration of the race is very large, but I do not think they are entirely responsible. 164 COLORADO. The American Government upholds no re- ligion in particular. The result on the people is just what might be expected. They have no religion in particular. They go to church to show their dresses and look at each other as much as many young English people do, but they disregard the restraint even of outward appearances. This may be taken in their favour, to prove that they are no hypocrites ; but practically it is very catching and puts an end to the benefit of public religious observ- ance. If they are good religious people at home, they only come to church to disown it in public. I do not want to prove that Americans are all bad and have no redeeming points, and that English are all good. There are, of course, plenty of bad in both countries. The conclu- sion which my observations have caused me to form, in my own mind, is that the American institutions tend to hold the people less to good habits and proper self-restraint than ours do, and that the result is proportionate. Their much -boasted freedom is a myth. COLORADO. 165 There can be no real freedom where the laws are not properly enforced and respected. The law courts of America are notoriously corrupt, and the result is that money and private in- fluence rule the day. When the law does not uphold the good, and punish the bad, with even-handed justice, there can be no freedom. Again, let the laws be ever so good, if they are not enforced, the bad element will get the upper hand, and true freedom ceases to exist. Such is the present state of things in America. Looking at the future prospects of England and America in the history of the world's advance, and looking at them in a thoroughly English point of view, it is impossible to help feeling that the balance is entirely in our favour, and that we ought to take advantage of it, if we are to do our duty to the world. The stream of civilization has hitherto gone west. We carried it to America, and having started it, lost control of it for the future. Having failed in this direction, we did not give in, but have gradually carried our influence round the world in the opposite direction. 166 COLORADO. America has developed so rapidly into a great power in the world's affairs, as to lead to a natural belief that she was destined to take up and carry on the work of civilization, as we took it up and carried it on from those that brought it to us, and that she would sup- plant us in our premiership of the world, as we supplanted others. To look at things, however, as they really are, leads one to a different conclusion. "We have in America a race of men physically and morally degenerate, professing no religion: their progress as a nation maintained by a continual flow of emigration. The original Yankee is fast disappearing, and it is the expressed opinion of many think- ing men in America, that, but for the fresh blood imported annually, the American race would become so degenerate, as to cease to be a nation of any consequence. On the other hand, we have the British Empire, throughout which the race maintains its physical and moral standard, progressing steadily and well, though not with the mush- COLORADO. 167 room growth of America, but indirectly sup- porting American development. The progressive influence of the British Empire does not diminish as that of America increases. The two now meet in Japan, and between them that nation has dropped her ancient politics, and is anxious to join the stream of progressive civilization. Such are the data afforded by past and pre- sent events. The problem to be solved is, Which nation is to take the direct lead in the future ? Had I attempted to answer such a question before I went to America, I should have said that she was. I cannot now bring myself to believe that she is. Unless all our ideas of what true civilization consists of are false, she is on the down-hill road. There are other questions to be taken into account. Will the continual flow of emigration so regenerate America as to put her in the first place ? And will the foreign element so modify the English race in America, as to form B people more fitted to lead the world ? 168 COLORADO. The whole question appears to me to hang on a thread. We have long held the first place in the world, and it is ours to hold for much longer, if we do our duty in it. God will not help us if we do not help ourselves. If we still go on with energy we shall maintain the position in which we have been placed. To sit still under an assumed destiny that we are to be superseded, is to wilfully neglect the duty which is imposed upon us. Our present policy seems to lead too strongly to such a course. The result will be that we shall be justly punished, by displacement from our high posi- tion, and ourselves made the instrument to give it to another. Once on the downward course, we shall sink into as deep oblivion as those that have gone before us. It is not for us to decide whether we will hold such a place or resign it. We did not take it up of our own free will and pleasure, neither have we any right to lay it down. It is our duty to maintain it with energy and determination, until a better is found to take COLORADO. 1G9 our place. When we are no longer required to hold it we shall lose it without our own consent. Until then to resign it is to betray our trust. Here ends all I have to say about sheep, cattle, America, or Americans. I hope all I have written will not prove too dull to read. I have touched on subjects far too deep for me, but they are those which naturally come to the mind of an Englishman travelling in America. The result of my thoughts as jotted down is meant to convey as far as possible to my friends what my journey in America brought chiefly to my mind. They may seem absurd, and I may soon see good cause to think them so myself, but as I undertook an account of my travels, I have noted down the impressions formed in my mind, as part of what I have found to relate. It is now June 24th. My sea voyage has June icti been so fine, and entirely undisturbed by any 2°iti'." incident of note as to afford matter for the enlargement of this, already too huge, letter. The time has passed quickly, thanks to my N 1 70 COLORADO. being able to keep employed by the regular routine "which I have laid out for myself. In the morning I read a book until lunch. From lunch to dinner I write this journal. From dinner to tea I lounge on deck. From tea to bed-time I read again. To-morrow we are to see England again. In place of my journal I shall have a few letters to write. Some time during the night I shall land at Southampton, and on Wednes- day, June 26th, expect to be in London, leaving the good ship ' "Weser ' and most of my fellow passengers to continue their voyage to Bremen. My prairie dog still thrives. Landed in Southampton about 5 a.m., June 26th. TAYLOR AM) CO., PRINTERS, LITTLE QUEEN STKEl'.T, UoLliOKN. ; : V ;•:;;;■ ••;•• HimiTli i j|plii '■)'■''■'.,'■ '■•■■■•'■' '■■••' ..•:•■'■' Haws!!?] >■■•-■'.; •■■-..•..»■ - : ;..'"-■ '.■•.■■ . Mi&IAim mW •; v c ' I '.^Jif.11