#1 % IJ ^m CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND GIVEN IN 1 89 1 BY HENRY WILLIAMS SAGE F 78404 H67 ^^ oenver .^1°' Histoi o< tSSuS I '"fS 879 4S8 oHn Date Due -sm^ HOTMP ^ (WJ t Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028879488 ^^ _^5^rsfi ^ 't" ^ -*ta-_*«;'5'. -t-^isr."!?-' PIKE'S PEAK. ARCO SMELTING WORKS. HISTORY OF THE CITY OF DENVER, AKAPAHOE COUNTY, COLORADO Containing a History of the State of Colorado, from its earliest settlement to the present time, embracing its geological, physical and climatic feattcres, its agricultural, stock-growing, rail- road and mining interests, (s'c. ; a condensed sketch of Arapahoe County ; a History of the City of Denver, giving an account of its early settlement and growth, its improvements, its business and industries, churches, schools, &'c. ; Biographical Sketches; Portraits of some of the Early Settlers and Prominent Men ; Views of Public Buildings, Private Residences, Business Houses, iSr'c. , 6^ 316 Field, T. M 324 Fryer, G. H Fisher, C. W Gilpin, William.. Goss, 0. J Gordon, W. A.... Greenleaf, L. N.. Hill.N. P Hittsop, J Hall, F . 333 . 16 . 338 . 346 351 , 64 , 366 . 360 Iliff, J. W 364 Jacobson, B. P 374 Jones, J. H 378 Johnson, B. F 382 Jensen, F 387 Kinsey, W. J 392 Loveland, W.A.H 400 Lothrop, W.C 405 Lathrop.C.C 410 Londoner, Wolfe 414 Miller, G. W 423 Morrison, J. H 432 Morrison, A. A 436 Markham, V. D 441 Moffat, D. H., Jr 446 Machebeuf, J. P 459 Oakes, D. C 464 Pitkin, F. W 45 Patterson, T. M 81 Palmer, F „ 468 Parker, C. M 472 Eoutt, J. L 36 Reed, G. B 477 Boss, St. Clair 482 Eiethmann, J. J 486 Stone, W. F 76 Sampson, A. J 490 Smedley, William 495 Steele, H. K 600 Sopris, E 504 Stanger, J. S 608 Smith, E. L 513 Scherrer,J 518 Symes, G. G 522 Strelght, H. A 626 Schindelholz, A 536- Stock, Amos 540 Teller, H. M 68 Thatcher, S. H 72 Tritch, George 544 Teller, Willard 649 Vlckers, W. B 654 Williams, W. H 662 Whitehead, W. B 667 Woodbury, K.W 672 Wright, C. W 580 Wall, D. K 685 Wilson, W.B jgg Walrod, A jg^ Willoughby, B. A jgg Walker, J. M Williams, A. J Tounker, J. T 603 fc p That SHIELD with three white peaks in chief, A pick and sledge beneath them crossed; For crest, an eye with rays ; a sheaf Of reeds about an ax ; and tossed About its base a scroll I see, "iV«7 sine numine." Oh, child of Union, last born State, We read thee well in this device : That which hath made shall make thee great. Between green base and crown of ice Shine golden gifts that dower thee, Yet are " Nil sine numine." The ax makes way for fold and field And marching men ; and none may bend Thy sheaf of knitted hearts; who wield In caverns dim the blows tha,t rend From earth her treasures ; these agree All is "iWZ sine numine." We sing thy past, we sing thy praise. Not long for thee hath man made song, But hosts shall sing in coming days. And when thou sittest great and strong. Thy future still, oh, Queen, shall be. Though great, "iVi7 sine numine." 9 ^ g 4.,. - ' ^ [>^, 13 By running streams that fill the sands That thirsting, prayed so long in vain, The desert children fill their hands With strange, sweet fruits, and deem the pain Of him that tills, its own reward. Nor any meed of thanks accord. So, Princess proud, of infant years, Embowered here in green and gold, Thou hast no trace of all the tears These sands drank up; the hearts of old. That broke to see yon doors unseal. Naught of themselves in thee reveal. Thus doth to-day annul the past ; There is no gratitude at all In Time, and Nature smooths at last The mounds men heap o'er those who fall, However nobly ; thus we see It is, hath been, shall ever be. But once shall one rehearse thy days And all the pride of those that made Thy places pleasant and thy ways Sweet with swift brooks and green, gray shade; Lo, memory opens here a book On which our children's eyes shall look. Turn back the leaves a space, what then Beside this ever-changing stream : The rude scarce camp of bearded men. In guarded sleep they lie, nor dream Of shadowy walls about them set And domes of days that are not yet. The sun looks not upon their rest. I hear the creak of scorching wheels, I know the hope that fills the breast, I feel the thrill the foremost feels; I see the faces grimly set One way, with eyes that burn, and yet ■^ ~® %* i^rZ* ■»!>-a 'A HISTORY OF COLORADO. 23 All honor to the pioneers. Whether they saw the end from the beginning, or whether they builded "better than they knew," their labor involved the highest type of moral courage. The discoveries of gold in 1858 were confined to the plains entirely, and mainly to the tributaries of the Platte in the vicinity of Denver. In January, 1859, although the winter was cold, the snow deep and circumstances very dis- couraging, the enterprising prospectors ventured into the mountains, and gold was discovered in several localities, among them South Boulder Creek, where the diggings were christened " Dead- wood." The original Deadwood failed, however, to create the excitement which has recently been created by its namesake in the Black Hills of Dakota. Meanwhile, the politicians had not been idle. Auraria, now known as West Denver, was laid out early in November, and soon became the center of population, though numerous towns and "cities" sprang into existence about the same time. Of course, these incipient cities looked first to some form of government, and, as this whole country was then within the dominion of Kansas, a new county was constituted and called Arapahoe, after the neighboring tribe of Indians. On the 6th of November, the first election was held. It was a double-barreled aiFair, a Delegate to Congress and a Representative in the Kansas Legislature being elected at the same time. H. J. Graham went to Washington, and A. J. Smith to Topeka. Gra- ham's instructions were to get "Pike's Peak" set apart as an independent Territory, to be called Jefierson. He was a man of great energy and fair ability, but he must have been looked upon in Washington as a wild sort of lunatic, for the coun- try was then so new that nobody east of the Mis- souri River attached any importance to the scheme of its proposed permanent settlement. Those who had faith in the country remained in it; those who lacked faith went back to the States and denounced it as a miserable fraud. Graham found himself without influence at the National Capital, and the only thing he gained by his trip, besides the fleeting honor of being our first Repre- sentative in Congress, was the privilege of paying his own expenses. , Smith was slightly more successful at Topeka. He was recognized to the extent of sanctioning the new county organization, and so Colorado was launched into political existence as Arapahoe County, Kansas. The year 1859 was one of great moment to Col- orado. Though in efiect but a repetition of 1858, it was on a scale so much larger as to eclipse the latter, and to assume for itself all the importance of the date of actual discovery and settlement, so that, in the minds of most people, Colorado dates from 1859, rather than from the preceding year. It has already been stated that discoveries of gold were made in the mountains as early as Jan- uary of this year, but the great excitement of the season did not begin until May, when Gregory Gulch was first prospected by the famous John H. Gregory, whose name it bears. Gregory does not appear to have been a Pike's Peak pilgrim. It is said that he left Georgia for the far-away gold mines of British Columbia, and that he passed by Colorado during the excitement of 1858, going as far north as Port Laramie, where chance or acci- dent induced him to spend the winter. Instead of continuing his northwest journey in the spring, he turned back and inspected the Colorado dig- gings critically, and, without any unbounded faith in their paying qualities. He reached Golden, a mere hamlet then, and, still dissatisfied, pushed on through the now famous Clear Creek Canon to where the town of Black Hawk now stands. He was alone, and nearly perished in a severe snow- storm which came on and found him without shelter. Painfully, he fought his way back to the valley, and laid in a fresh stock of provisions and warmer clothing, and again set out for the Clear Creek country, convinced, from his previous observations, that it was a treasure-house of precious metals. His enthusiasm enlisted the services of one man to S -r- ^1 .^ 24 HISTOEY OF COLOEADO. accompany him — Wilkes Defrees, of South Bend, Ind. Of their toilsome journey, and of the discover- ies they made, it is perhaps best to speak in the light of results, compared with which their first prospecting seems tame and commonplace. For more than twenty years already, and giving prom- ise of twenty times twenty years to come, Gregory Gulch and the surrounding country has yielded its rich treasures of gold and silver, and to-day it is increasing in wealth and importance as a mining center. Where poor Gregory so nearly perished in the snow, stands three populous cities and hun- dreds of valuable mines ; the, smoke of smelters' and reduction works hang over them day and night continually, and active mining operations and kindred industries make of the narrow valley a very bee-hive, not only of action but of accumu- lation. Within the narrow limits of this review, there is not room for th'e chronological succession of events which effected this wonderful transforma- tion, but a hasty resume of the history of Gregory Gulch will be useful as showing how our uiining industries struggled through the earlier years of their existence. A not inapt comparison might be found in the induction of an infant into the means and mysteries of human life. It has already been stated that the discoveries of gold in Colorado were made by men ignorant of scientific mining, ignorant, too, of the laws of nature which might have shed some light, at least, on the possibilities of these discoveries. Geolo- gists could have foretold many things which these men learned by the hardest exj)erience, and often at the sacrifice of their fortunes. Even gulch and placer mining, the simplest study of mineralogy, was almost a sealed book to the pioneers, and of the reduction of ores they were profoundly igno- rant. As depth, was gained on their lode claims, the increasing richness of the ore was, under the circumstances, more than neutralized by its refract- ory nature. Eude appliances for treating ore, such as had served the early miners while their work lay near the surface, and while the quartz was partially decomposed, utterly failed as depth was gained, and, for a time, the mining industries of Colorado came almost to a stand-still. It seems singular, now that mining has been reduced to an exact science in Colorado, as well as in older countries, that so long a time should have elapsed, and so many grave errors should have been committed, before this most reasonable and certain result was attained. Nevertheless, it is undoubtedly true that at one time, and at a very important period of her history as a mining center, Colorado swallowed up more Eastern capital than the sum of her annual bullion product. Kich ores were treated only to be ruined. The precious metals could not be extracted and separated from the mass of worthless material. The tailings and refuse of the mills were more valuable than what was saved from them. Mining companies were formed in the East, which sent out agents and operators taken from all walks of life except the one business of which they should have been mas- ters. The monuments of this folly are still visible everywhere in our mountains, in the shape of abandoned buildings, wasting water-powers, and many other easy and expeditious methods of get- ting rid of the '-company's" money. Fitz-John Porter's "Folly," at Black Hawk, now figures as a railway depot, an immense stone structui'e, costing thousands of dollars, but never utilized by its pro- jectors. Other "Folly" buildings, costing other thousands, have never been utilized at all. But though results were thus unsatisfactory, the same could not truthfully be said of business. It was flush times in Colorado. Money and work were plenty, and thousands found employment at remunerative wages. The placers were yielding u]( their rich treasures, and little or no skill was required to find and save the gold thus deposited. True to the instincts of their kind, the pros- pectors spread over the whole country in their search for gold. The Indians became alarmed at the encroachments of the miners, and many detached parties of the latter were killed durino- ^c >V" '-^ HISTORY OF COLORADO. 25 1860-61. The first party "which, penetrated into Middle Park was decimated by the hostile savages, but this did not prevent others from following in their footsteps, and very important discoveries of placer mines were made, not only along the bed of the Platte and its tributaries, but also across the Mosquito Range, in the Arkansas Valley. Among the latter was the celebrated find near the present site of Leadville, in California Gulch, of which more will be written in another chapter devoted to the history of Leadville. Though thousands of pilgrims crossed the plains in 1859, few, comparatively, of their number win- tered in the country, fearing the severity ,of the weather and a possible scarcity of provisions. By chance, neither fear was well founded. The win- ter was very mild, and trains loaded with goods of all kinds came through safely in midwinter. CHAPTER III. JOURNALISM IN COLORADO. VERY early in the season of 1859, the printing- press took root in Rocky Mountain soil, where it has flourished since second to scarcely any other industry. What Colorado owes to her live, enter- prising and intelligent newspaper press, no one can tell; but, if the State is debtor to the press, the obligation is mutual, for never were newspapers so liberally patronized as those of Denver and the- State at large. By universal consent, Hon. William N. Byers, founder, and for a long time editor of the Rochy Mountain News, has been called the pioneer and father of Colorado's journalism, though in a late address to the Colorado State Press Association, he modestly disclaimed part of this honor in favor of an erratic but large-hearted printer named Jack Merrick. It seems that Merrick started for Pike's Peak with a newspaper outfit, in advance of the Byers party, which consisted of Thomas Gibson, then and now of Omaha, and Dr. George C. Monell, of the same place. Merrick reached Denver first, and to that extent was the pioneer publisher, but the superior energy of the Byers party enabled them to get out the first paper ever published in the Rocky Mountains. It bears date April 22, 1859. Merrick issued a paper on the same day, but later. Both were rather rude spec- imens of typography, especially as compared with the elegantly printed sheets now circulating in the State, and the Cherry Creek Pioneer — the name by which Merrick's journal was heralded — was unique in that it was the one lone, solitary issue from his press. Before Jack could collect himself together sufficiently to get out' another number, Gibson, of the News, had bargained for his sorry little outfit and consolidated it with that of the News. The latter paper was published with tolerable regularity all that summer, though sometimes under the most discouraging circumstances, and more than once upon brown paper or half-sheets of regular print. The nearest post office was at Port Laramie, 220 miles distant, and the mails arrived there at very irregular intervals. The News, how- ever, was never dependent on its exchanges for original matter, and got along very well without telegraphic dispatches. It was devoted to build- ing up the country, and it gave nearly all its space to reports of mining matters, new strikes, and pictures of the glowing future of Colorado. For all these utterances, and especially for the latter, it was cursed by returning disheartened pilgrims, who poured their own stories into the willing ears of Eastern editors, and soon earned for the Rocky Mountain News the reputation of being edited by one of the most capable and dangerous liars in the country. Looking back over his twenty years of labor for Colorado in the face of every possible ®~ r^ 26 HISTOKY OF COLOBADO. discouragement, the veteran editor can afford to smUe at these ancient assaults upon his veracity as a scribe. More than he predicted of the coun- try has been verified. The second newspaper venture in Colorado was at Mountain City, a mining camp, situated just above the present town of Black Hawk, but not quite as far up the gulch as where Central stands. This was the Gold Reporter, and was published by Thomas Gibson, who had sold his interest in the News to John L. Dailey, now Treasurer of Arapa- hoe County. Gibson published the Reporter only during the summer of 1859. In November, the material was removed to Golden, and a very credit- able newspaper, called the Mountaineer, was printed by the Boston Company which started the town. The idea, at that time, was that Golden should supersede Denver as the metropolis of the mountains, and this newspaper venture was in pur- suance of that sacredly cherished purpose. The lamented A. D. Richardson was one of the earlier editors of the Mountaineer, and Col. Thomar. W. Knox, almost as widely known as a successful journalist, was another. Capt. George West, the veteran editor of the Golden Transcript, which succeeded the Mountaineer, was also connected with the latter publication until the war broke out, when he enlisted. The winter of 1859-60 was a hard one upon the journals of the Territory, on account of the stampede back to the "settlements" at the opening of the winter, but the spring brought many of the stampeders back, and not a few " tenderfeet," as new-comers were already called by those who had wintered in the countiy. Among the returning prodigals was Gibson, who brought in another newspaper outfit, and, early in May, issued the Daily Herald, the first daily ever printed in Denver. Meantime the proprietors of the News had not been idle, and, very soon after the Daily Herald was started, the Daily News made its appearance. The rivalry between these sheets is one of the liveliest traditions of 1860. The fierce competi- tion between our great dailies of to-day sinks into insignificance when compared to the News and Herald war of that date. Single copies of each paper sold readily for "two bits," which was the standard price also for cigars, drinks, and many other necessaries of life in the Par West. Both papers circulated in all the mountain mining camps, being distributed by carriers mounted on the fleet "bronchos" of the plains, whose tireless tramp and sure feet fitted them exactly for the work, as, in these latter days, the same character- istics fit them equally for chasing wild cattle over the plains or carrying tourists to the very summits of mountain peaks. A year later the telegraph reached Fort Kearney, and journalism took another forward step. The dailies began 'to furnish telegraphic news from the East, then eagerly sought for on account of the great civil war raging throughout the South. Curiously enough, although Gregory Gulch was, from the first discovery of gold there, a large center of population, particularly during the sum- mer months, no newspaper was permanently estab- lished there until 1862. It was the same Register which still survives, and which has been for many years one of the most important and influential mining and political journals of the State. The Black Hawk Journal, now extinct, but which existed for many years, was established by Capt. Frank Hall and 0. J. Hollister, in the same year. Both these gentlemen made their mark in journal- ism, and the former is still an honored and exceed- ingly popular citizen of Colorado. To the latter, Colorado is indebted for the best historical sketch of the State ever published, but the number of years which have elapsed since its appearance, and the wonderful transformation of the country which has mai-ked these later years, have almost destroyed the value of "Hollister's Colorado," except as a book of reference, in which respect it has been of most invaluable service to the compiler of these pages. It would be interesting, if it were practicable, to follow the fortunes of these and other enterprising S ■f- EVANS CHAPEL, DENVER, COT-ORADO. JSfS ESIDENCE OF HON. JOHN EVANS. DENVER, COL. i^ HISTOBY OF COLORADO. 29 newspapers through succeeding years, but the vicissitudes of journalism in Colorado would make a book in itself. Perhaps a fitting conclusion to this brief review would be the following extract from the address of Mr. Byers before the Colorado Press Association, already referred to elsewhere: " 1862, '63 and '64 were trying years for the two daily newspapers that remained in Denver. Messrs. Rounds & Bliss retired from the News in 1863. The Herald underwent a number of changes in name and management. A harassing Indian war on the Plains prostrated business, cut off the mails and interrupted all commerce. Trains laden with merchandise were robbed or burned, teams driven off and men killed. During the summer of 1864, when the trouble culminated, Denver and the immediate vicinity lost about fifty citizens, who were murdered by the Indians. Most of them were killed while en route to or from the States. The daily mail route along the Platte was broken up and nearly all the stations burned. As misfortunes never come singly, that season was exceptional for its disasters. On the 20th of May occurred the celebrated Cherry Creek flood, known by that name only because it occasioned more destruction of property and loss of life at Denver than in any other locality. It was no less terrible and proportionately more destructive along Plum Creek, the Fontaine qui Bouille and other streams, than along Cherry Creek. By it Denver lost a large amount of property. The News office and its contents were destroyed, leaving not a vestige. Three or four weeks after, its proprietors bought the Herald office and resumed the publication of the News. The Indian war thickened, until practically Colo- rado was cut off from the Eastern States. For weeks at a time, there were no mails, and finally they were sent around by Panama and San Fran- cisco, reaching Denver in from seven to ten weeks. Of course newspapers suffered with everybody and everything else. All supplies were used up. Wrapping paper, tissue paper and even writing paper were used to keep up the daily issues of the News, now the only paper remaining in Denver, if not in the Territory. In August, martial law was proclaimed, and the Third Regiment of Colorado Volunteers raised in less than a week in order to chastise the Indians. The regiment was equipped and provisioned by the people, but was subse- quently accepted and mustered into the United States Service for one hundred days. The Sand Creek campaign followed. The News office fur- nished fourteen recruits for that regiment, and thereafter, for a time, the paper was printed by a detail of soldiers. It was very small, and con- tained little besides military orders and notices. The campaign lasted about ninety days, and then followed peace. For two or three years, the News had the field in Denver almost entirely alone, and then new enterprises were started, and the number of newspapers has since multiplied rap- idly, some to become permanent, as the Tribune, Herald, Times and others, and many others to flourish for a brief period and then die. The same has been the case all over the Territory, now State. Newspapers have been among the first enterprises in all new towns of any importance." It would be unjust to a generous and noble class of men to dismiss this subject without pay- ing a compliment to those who have carried the printing press up and down the mountains and valleys of this broad State, whenever and wherever there was a posssible opportunity to develop some new resources and found some new settlement. There has never been a call for a new newspaper in Colorado to which some one has not responded. Start a new town anywhere in the mountains, and the moment its success is assured — often much sooner — some enterprising publisher puts in an appearance, and a creditable newspaper is launched in less time than it would take an Eastern commu- nity to make up its mind that a newspaper was a necessity. Who would think in the East, or in the Mississippi Valley, of starting a newspaper in a town of two or three hundred inhabitants ? Yet Colorado can boast of many such, and, what is stranger still, many of them are financially >v lii^ 30 HISTOKY OF COLORADO. successful. Should the new settlement prosper, the newspaper always shares its prosperity ; should the town fail, the publisher, a little downcast, per- haps, but not at all disheartened, picks up his office and himself and tries another Jocation. As a matter of present as well as future interest, the following list of periodical publications in the State, at the close of 1879, is hereto appended : PBOPKIBTOES. When EBtab'd. News, weekly Independent, weekly Southwest, weekly Post, weekly News and Courier, weekly Banner, weekly Record, weekly News Letter, weekly Register, daily Gazette, daily and weekly Mountaineer, daily and weekly Deaf-Mute Index, monthly Prospector, weekly News, daily and weekly Tribune, daily and weekly Republican, daily and weekly... Times, daily and weekly Colorado Farmer, weekly Financial Era, weekly Colorado Journal, weekly Colorado Post, weekly Herald, weekly Presbyterian, monthly Journal, weekly Express, weekly Courier, weekly Flume, weekly Miner, weekly Courier, weekly Transcript, weekly Globe, weekly Sun, weekly Tribune, weekly Silver World, weekly (■hronicle, daily and weekly Eclipse, daily and weekly Her.ald, daily and weekly Reveille, daily and weekly Colorado Grange, monthly Press, weekly Ledger, weekly Mentor, weekly Times, weekly iSolid Muldoon Chieftain, daily and weekly Democrat, daily and weekly Index, weekly Banner, weekly I ,'hronicle, weekly Miner, weekly Prospector, daily Miner, daily and weekly Enterprise, daily and weekly... News, daily and weekly Leader, weekly Alamosa Alamosa Animas City Black Hawk Boulder Boulder Canon City Castle Bock Central City Colorado Springs.. Colorado Springs.. Colorado Springs.. Del Norte Denver Denver Denver Denver Denver Denver Denver Denver Denver Denver Evans Fort Collins Fort Collins Fairplay Georgetown Georgetown Golden Golden Greeley Greeley Lake City Leadville Leadville Leadville Leadville Longmont Longmont Longmont Monument Ouray Ouray Pueblo Pueblo Rosita South Pueblo Saguache Silverton Silver Cliff Silver Cliff Trinidad Trinidad West Las Animas.. M. Custers Hamm & Finley Engley & Reid J. R. Oliver Shedd & Wilder Wangelin & Tilney H. T. Blake C. B. Parkinson Laird & Marlow Gazette Publishing Co Mountaineer Printing Co. H. M. Harbert Cochran Bros News Printing Co H. Beckurts Republican Co R. W. Woodbury J. S. Stanger F. C. Messenger & Co W. Witteborg News Printing Co 0. J. Goldrick Rev. S. Jackson James Torrens J. S. McClelland Watrous & Pelton Patterson & Bellamy J. S. Randall George West W. G. Smith H. A. French E. .J. Carver H. C. Olney Chronicle Co G. F. Wanless Herald Printing Co R. S. Allen W. E. Pabor E. F. Beckwith Ledger Co A. T. Blachley Ripley Bros Muldoon Publishing Co. J. J. Lambert Hull Bros A. J. Patrick W. B. Felton John R. Curry McKinney & Lacy. W. L. Stevens J. M. Rice , Henry Sturgis C. W. Bowman 1878 1878 1879 1876 1869 1875 1875 1874 1862 1873 1873 1875 1874 1859 1867 1879 1872 1873 1878 1872 1879 1860 1871 1871 1873 1878 1879 1867 1877 1867 1872 1872 1870 1875 1879 1378 1879 1878 1876 1871 1877 1878 1877 1879 1868 1875 1875 1874 1875 1879 1878 1875 1878 1873 V i^ HISTOEY OF COLORADO. 31 The preceding shows fifteen daily and fifty weekly newspapers. Denver has four large dailies; Leadville, three fair dailies; Pueblo, two; Colorado Springs, Silver Clifi"and Trinidad, two each, and Central, one. The Denver dailies challenge the admiration of every one who appreciates pluck and perseverance. CHAPTER IV. EARLY POLITICS AND ORGANIZATION OP THE TERRITORY. BRIEF allusion has been made already to the political movements of the pioneers ; their early efibrt to organize a Territorial Government, and also to extend the jurisdiction of Kansas over this unorganized community. The pioneers were good citizens, but they foresaw the lawless element which would fall upon them presently, and earn- estly endeavored to provide themselves with prop- er laws and peace officers. Rut the work of organizing a Territory is at best a tedious process, and, in this case, it was hindered by conflicting interests and opinions. Some wanted to organize a State at once, claiming in their enthusiasm, that the requisite population could be shown by the time a vote would be taken on the question. Some opposed alike the State and Territorial move- ment, and wanted to remain a dependence of Kan- sas, and the roughs were opposed to any and all forms of government — not very strange, in view of the fact that most of them were fugitives from justice, in one or another of the older States or Territories. After the formal establishment of the new county under Kansas administration, the next im- portant step was the State movement. A public meeting, held in Auraria (West Denver), April 11, 1859, had resolved in favor of a State organ- ization, and the scheme advanced so far dur- ing the summer that a Constitution was pre- pared, and submitted to a vote of the people m September. The convention which framed the Constitution, wisely provided that, in case of its rejection, a delegate to Congress, to be voted for on the same day, should proceed to Washington, and again endeavor to have the gold region set ofi' from Kansas, as a new Terri- tory, to be known as Jefferson. The Constitution was rejected by a large majority, the vote in its favor being but 649 to 2,007against it. B. D. Williams was elected Delegate over seven competitors. The election was a very exciting affair. Even at that early day, there were charges and counter-charges of fraud, some of them, prob- ably, well founded. The Returning Board came in for its share of obloquy, too, but, as no " emi- nent citizens," or Congressional Committee, in- quired into the matter, it failed to achieve a national reputation. Thus ended the first effort of the people of Col- orado for admission into the Union. It was renewed on several occasions prior to the final suc- cessful movement in 1875-76. On one occasion, it was so far successful that, in 1864, Congress passed an enabling act under which a Constitution was framed, adopted, ;iiid all the machinery of State stood ready to move at a moment's notice, when President Andrew Johnson vetoed every- thing by refusing to ratify the Constitution, on the ground that it contained an unconstitutional pro- vision restricting suffrage to white inhabitants. This was a terrible blow not only to the people of the State generally, but to the unfledged State officials and Congressional delegation. Hon. J. B. Chaffee and ex-G-ov. John Evans had been chosen Senators; Hon. George M. Chilcott, Representative in Congress; William Gilpin, Governor; George A. Hinsdale, Lieutenant Governor ; J. II. Gest, Secretary of State, ;iiid W. R. Gorsline, Allen A. Bradford and J. Bright Smith, Justices of the Supreme Court. _® n. 33 HISTORY OF COLORADO. Upoa the failure of the first efifort in 1859, the Provisional Government of the Territory of Jeflfer- son was organized, by the election of E,. W. Steele, as Governor; Lucien W. Bliss, Secretary; C. R. BLssell, Auditor ; G. W. Cook, Treasurer; Samuel McLean, Attorney General, and a full ticket, which was voted at twenty-seven precincts, and for which some two thousand one hundred votes were cast, pro and con. But in order to be on the safe side, still another election was held on the same day, at which a full set of county officers were chosen, under Kansas rule, and, so the early pilgrims sailed along under triple laws for a time, the Miner's court having been organized to mete out justice after its crude and vigorous but very healthy fashion. Say what we may of the miners' laws and their summary method of dealing with litigants and all offenders against law and order, the fact remains that during those troublous times, the Miners' courts were about the only ones which were thoroughly respected and implicitly obeyed. As to the latter point, indeed, there was no alter- native. When the miners ordered a man out of camp, for example, he stood not at all upon the order of his going, but went at once. Similarly, if the miners decided between two parties contend- ing over a disputed claim, the side which secured a verdict also secured possession, and that without any delay whatever. The " Provisional Government," as the Territorial party was called, elected a Legislature, which met in November, and transacted considerable business. The city of Denver was first chartered by this body. Nine counties were represented in the Legislature, and Gov. Steele set out to officer them by appointing Probate Judges and ordering county elections in January, 18C0. There was little or no objection to the office-holding part of the pro- gramme, but a poll-tax of $1 per capita, levied by the Provisional Government, was the occasion of much vigorous " kicking," and went farther toward breaking down than sustaining Gov. Steele's admin- istration. Meantime, Capt. Bichard Sopris, now an hon- ored citizen and Mayor of Denver, represented "Arapahoe County" in the Kansas Legislature, and a complete list of Kansas county officers had been chosen in the valleys, while the mountain counties stood by their Miners' courts, and as much of the Provisional Government as suited them. If an honest miner failed to secure his rights in one court, he incontinently rushed into another ; if he feared to go to trial in one, he took a change of venue to the other. Sometimes cases were tried in both courts, and as the fine art of taxing fees had early penetrated into the country, liti- gants often found themselves as poor after a case was won as they were before. In January, 1860, the Provisional Legislature met again and made some more laws, which were as inoperative as their predecessors. Their failure, however, was due rather to the passivity than resistance of the people. The country was, in fact, peaceable and law-abiding, with the exception of that dangerous class common to the border, to which all laws were alike objectionable, and these roughs were kept in check by the fear of summary punishment. Miners' courts in the mountains had been supplemented by people's courts in the valleys. The proceedings of the lat- ter were as open and orderly as those of the for- mer; indeed, they approached the dignity of a regularly constituted tribunal. They were always presided over by a magistrate, either a Probate Judge or a Justice of the Peace. The prisoner had counsel and could call witnesses, if the latter were within reach. So passed the year 1860, marked by some very exciting criminal history, of which more anon, and, early in December, upon the re-assembling of Congress, the claims of Colorado to Territorial recognition were persistently pressed, not only by her own delegates, but by many members who had near relatives or friends in the Pike's PeaTc country. After a little delay, caused by a press of political business in both Houses, Congress finally took up and passed the Colorado bill, which became a law i^ HISTORY OF COLORADO. 33 -7 February 26, 1861. President Lincoln immedi- ately appointed Federal oiEcers for the new Terri- tory. William Gilpin was the Governor; Lewis Ledyard Weld, Secretary; B. F. Hall, Chief Jus- tice ; S. Newton Pettis and Charles Lee Armour, Associate Justices; Copeland Townsend, United States Marshal; William L. Stoughton, Attorney General, and Gen. Francis M. Case, Surveyor General. Gov. Gilpin reached Denver May 29, following his appointment. A census of the Territory, taken by him soon after his arrival, showed a pop- ulation of 25,329, divided as follows : White males over age, 18,136; white males under age, 2,622; females, 4,484; negroes, 89. The new Territory was carved out of the public domain lying between the 102d and 109th meri- dians of longitude and the 37th and 41st parallels of latitude, thus forming a compact and nearly square tract, its length, east and west, being 370 miles and its vridth 280. It comprises an area of 104,500 square miles, an Empire in itself and the third largest State in the Union, Texas being the first and California second. But, according to the maps and Hayden's Survey, fully one-third of Col- orado is covered by the Rocky Mountain Range and its spurs, the latter standing out from the former in every direction. The main range or con- tinental divide enters the State from the north, a little west of the center, ranges eastward and south- ward until Long's Peak is reached, bears almost due south through Boulder County, swings west- ward around Gilpin and Clear Creek, thence leads southwest through many devious turns and wind- ings until it penetrates the very heart of the San Juan silver region, whence it returns eastward by south, and leaves the State nearly due south of the point where it entered. Across this mighty mountain range the State sits, as Mr. Hollister says, like a man on horse- back, a homely but apt comparison. It would be more expressive still if the plains of the western slope corresponded with those of the east, which they do not. s ^ The eastern plains occupy more than one-third of the entire State. Though largely arid and apparently unproductive, they are the source of immense wealth, and it is even questioned now whether their reclamation would add to the actual production of the State. To drive the cattle trade and stock interests generally from the State would be to deprive Colorado of its most profitable industry, whereas the production of crops by artificial irri- gation is attended with great expense and not a little risk, and it is doubtful whether Colorado could ever compete with Kansas and Nebraska as an agricultural region. The third grand division of the State is the Park country, and to this may very properly be added the great valleys over the range, which are really parks, inasmuch as the mountains rise round about them, though not always in circular or semi- circular form. Of the parks proper, there are too many to be enumerated in detail, but the principal ones are North, Middle, South and San Luis, the latter being in fact the Valley of the Rio Grande. The park lands are pastoral rather than agri- cultural, but some farming is conducted in South Park, and still more in San Luis. All are well watered, mountain streams flowing through them from the mountains above to the valleys below. They were once alive with game — the happy hunt^ ing grounds of the Utes and Arapahoes — and not infrequently the scene of severe conflicts between the rival tribes, although mainly held by the Utes, while the Arapahoes held the plains country. Game, however, has almost entirely disappeared from South and San Luis Parks, and is seldom seen in Middle Park, except in the winter season, when. heavy falls of snow on the range drives the game into the Park and adjacent valleys. North Park, however, is still stocked with game. It is almost uninhabited, seldom visited save by hunt- ers, and is more a terra incognita than almost any part of Colorado, outside of the Indian Reserva- tion. This is accounted for by its lack of attract- ive features, and the fact that the country is comparatively valueless either for agriculture or l^ 34 HISTORY OF COLORADO, stock-raising. It is said to be the poorest part of the State, and so little is thought of it that even now it is in doubt which contiguous county shall exert jurisdiction over the Park. Hunters, however, find themselves richly repaid for the trouble and expense of reaching the Park. The usual route is from Laramie, on the Union Pacific Railway, though the Park is easily accessi- ble from Denver and all points in Northern Colo- rado. Bear, black-tailed deer, bison, mountain sheep, antelope, mountain lions, etc., are found there. Grouse abound, and the streams are full of trout. The bison referred to above is not the "buffalo" of the plains, but a distant cousin, of a type essentially different, dwelling only in the mountains. Bruin is found in two species — the black and grizzly, the latter being most dangerous when he shows fight, which he is not slow to do if attacked or molested. The amount of game in North Park may be greatly exaggerated, but there is certainly plenty of it upon occasion, and hunters have even found more than they wanted. A few years ago, some friends of the writer were crossing the Poudre range into North Park, when they suddenly came in sight of seven bears nearly in front of them. A coun- cil of war was held, and an attack was resolved on- The party were to creep forward in single file and as noiselessly as possible to within rifle range, and then fire all together at a signal from the leader. One of the party had no gun, but insisted on bearing the rest company. When the leader turned to give the signal for firing, the gunless individual was the only biped in sight. The rest of the erstwhile brave battalion had turned back to camp. This example was soon followed by the others, and the bears never knew how narrowly they had escaped slaughter. Doubtless, some sanguinary reader will have been terribly disappointed at the tame termination of this story, but long observation on the frontier has shown that bear hunts are usually bloodless. The old settlers seldom bother themselves about Bruin, so long as he leaves them alone, and never attack one without being exceptionally well armed. CHAPTER V. LO! THE POOR INDIAN. WESTERN COLORADO, though, undoubt- edly, the finest part of the State, is practi- cally unproductive, owing to Indian occupation. The Indian Reservation is an immense body of fine mineral, pastoral, and agricultural land, larger than the State of Massachusetts twice over — nearly three times as large, in fact. It is nominally occu- pied by about 3,000 Ute Indians. Of this land, and those Indians, Gov. Frederick W. Pitkin wrote, in his message to the Legislature of 1879, as follows : " Along the western borders of the State, and on the Pacific Slope, lies a vast tract occupied by the tribe of Ute Indians, as their reservation. It contains about twelve millions of acres, and is nearly three times as large as the State of Massa- chusetts. It is watered by large streams and rivers, and contains many rich valleys, and a large number of fertile plains. The climate is milder than in most localities of the same altitude on the Atlantic Slope. Grasses grow there in great lux- uriance, and nearly every kind of grain and vege- tables can be raised without difiiculty. This tract contains nearly one-third of the arable Land of Colorado, and no portion of the State is better adapted for agricultural and grazing purposes than many portions of this reservation. Within its limits are large mountains, from most of which explorers have been excluded by the Indians. Prospectors, however, have explored some portions ) fy L^ HISTORY OF COLORADO. 35 of the country, and found valuable lode and placer claims, and there is reason to believe that it con- tains great mineral wealth. The number of In- dians who occupy this reservation is about three thousand. If the land was divided up between individual members of the tribe, it would give every man, woman, and child a homestead of between three and four thousand acres. It has been claimed that the entire tribe have had in cul- tivation about fifty acres of land, and, from some personal knowledge of the subject, I believe that one able-bodied white settler would cultivate more land than the whole tribe of Tltes. These Indians are fed by the Government, are allowed ponies without number, and, except when engaged in an occasional hunt, their most serious employment is horse-racing. If this reservation could be extin- guished, and the land thrown open to settlers, it will furnish homes to thousands of the people of the State who desire homes.'' The picture is not overdrawn. Though not particularly quarrelsome or dangerous, the Utes are exceedingly disagreeable neighbors. Even if they would be content to live on their princely reserva- tion, it would not be so bad, but they have a dis- gusting habit of ranging all over the State, steal- ing horses, killing off the game, and carelessly firing forests in the dry, summer season, whereby thousands of acres of fine timber are totally ruined. The Utes are actual, practical Communists, and the Grovernment should be ashamed to foster and encourage them in their idleness and wanton waste of property. Living ofi' the bounty of a paternal but idiotic Indian Bureau, they actually become too lazy to draw their rations in the regular way, but insist on taking what they want wherever they find it. But for the fact that they are arrant cowards, as well as arrant knaves, the west^ em slope of Colorado would be untenanted by the white race. Almost every year they threaten some of the white settlers with certain death if they do not leave the country, and, in some instances, they have tried to drive away white cit- izens, but the latter pay little attention to their vaporings. It is related of Barney Day, a well-known Mid- dle Park pioneer, that when a party of Utes vis- ited him at his cabin, and gave him fifteen min- utes to leave the country, he answered not a word, but solemnly kicked them out of doors and off' his premises. They not only off'ered no resistance to the indignity, but, from that time forth, treated Mr. Day with great consideration. It is not every man, though, who has the nerve to act as he did in such an emergency. The degeneration of the Utes has been very rapid ever since the first settlement of the coun- try. Formerly, they were a warlike tribe, and held their own with the fierce Arapahoes of the east and the savage Cheyennes of the north, whether upon the mountains or the plains. As civilizati(]n advanced, the plains Indians retreated before it, and after the Sand Creek fight, in 1864, the plains were almost deserted by the wild hordes which, until then, had been the terror of all trav- elers to and from Pike's Peak and California. The Utes also retreated to the mountains, making occasional forays to hunt buffalo on the plains, but maintaining a wholesome respect for the old Colo- rado Cavalry, which kept them from annoying travelers. They would occasionally stampede a stock train and run off the animals, but they grad- ually abandoned the scalp trade, and devoted all their talents and energies to begging and stealing. They were the original "tramps" of the country, and soon developed all the meanness and utter worthlessnes.s of their white prototypes. As Theo- dore Winthrop wrote of the border savages he met in his journey •' On Horseback into Oregon," " with one hand they hung to all the vices of barbarism, and with the other they clutched at all the vices of civilization." The Government might, with almost, if not quite equal propriety, plant a colony of Communists upon the public domain, maintain- ing them in idleness at public expense, as to leave the Colorado Utes in possession of their present heritage and present privileges. (2 :^ 36 HISTORY or COLORADO. The continuous and ever-increasing intercourse between Colorado and the East has long since dis- pelled the ancient idea that Denver was situated in the heart of the Indian country, but the pres- ence of Indians in the State still constitutes an obstacle to the advancement of Colorado, for even those who do not fear the Utes dislike them, and would be glad to see them banished to some more appropriate retreat than the garden of our growing State. To this end, Congress and the Interior Depart- ment have been, and are continually, besieged to provide for the extinguishment of Indian title to the reservation lands, and in this movement the military commanders on our frontier are earn- estly interested. G-en. Pope, commanding the department, is particularly anxious to have the Utes massed at a more convenient point. At present they have three agencies on their reservation. Both the White River and Uncompahgre agencies are remote from railways and supplies, as well as from the military posts, which are so necessary to keep the savages in check. Removed to the Indian Territory, the Utes could be fed and clothed for about one-half what it now costs the Government. Philanthropists down East and abroad may mourn over the decadence of this once powerful tribe of Indians, but even a philanthropist would fail to find any occasion for regret if he came to Colorado and made a study of Ute character and habits. Though better in some high (and low) respects than the Digger Indians of Arizona, or the Piutes of Nevada, the Colorado Utes have nothing in common with the Indians of history and romance, whose "wrongs" have been so tear- fully portrayed by half-baked authors. The strongest prejudices of Eastern people in favor of the Indians give way before the strong disgust inspired by a closer acquaintance. Hon. N. C. Meeker, the well-known Superin- tendent of the White River Agency, was formerly a fast friend and ardent admirer of the Indians. He went to the agency firm in the belief that he could manage the Indians successfully by kind treatment, patient precept and good example. With rare fidelity, he labored long and hard to make "good Indians" out of his wards, but utter failure marked his efforts, and at last he reluctantly accepted and acknowledged the truth of the border truism that the only truly good Indians are dead ones. To those who know Mr. Meeker's kindness of heart and gentle disposition, his conversion to the doctrine of gunpowder treatment will be suf- ficient testimony to the utter worthlessness of the pestiferous tribe which inhabits the best portion of Colorado, to the exclusion of enterprising white settlers, in whose hands the wilderness would soon blossom as the rose, while richer mines than the richest previous discoveries might soon be devel- oped in Colorado's Utopia "over the range."* The history of the San Juan silver country, which will be found set forth in detail elsewhere, shows the long and hard struggle of our people to have that wonder-land thrown open to settlement and development. Very early in the history of Colorado, the San Juan mountains were found to be rich in mineral, but whoever penetrated them took his life in his hands, and generally laid it down before he came back. So many went and so few returned, that even the boldest pioneers pres- ently abandoned the idea of prospecting south of the Arkansas River. As time went on, however, and as the country became more settled and better protected, the advance in that direction was renewed, and rewarded by the discovery of some of the richest mines in the whole range of mount" ains. Tempted by cupidity, the Utes finally con- sented to sell a slice of their abundant territory. It was long ere the transfer was made, and, when completed, it included only a narrow strip project- ing into the heart of the Indian country, a por- tion of which could only be reached by crossing a corner of the reservation. Happily, no bad effects have yet resulted from this arrangement; but it is easy to see that in the * Since the above was written, Mr. Meeker has been cruelly murdered by the Indians. au^^^!^ i>^ HISTORY OF COLORADO. 37 event of an Indian war or any trouble whatever with the tribe, this road would be blockaded and the settlers beyond cut off, unless they could escape across an almost impassable mountain range. While there is little or no danger to be apprehended from this source, the fact remains that no such advantage should have been conceded to the Indians against o the white settlers of the new country. The same perplexing questions which attended and obstructed the acquisition of the San Juan country are again presented in connection with the Gunnison region. This new mining center, lying southwest and not very distant from Leadville, has been opened to the 107th Meridian, the eastern limit of the Indian reservation ; and the pros- pectors are clamoring for the right to follow their fortunes across the line. Some rich discoveries of both mineral and coal have been made within the reservation. Of course, no title to property can be acquired there until the Indian title is extinguished. The new district has been named after Gov. Frederick W. Pitkin, and that gentleman, as well as the Colorado delegation in Congress, is besieged with applications to have the Indians removed out of the way of ever- advancing civilization. The Utes must go. Uncle Sam can feed them as well and much cheaper elsewhere, and the income he would derive from their Colorado estate would support them in affluence. Indeed, it is asserted even now that the Utes could be boarded at a first-class hotel in Chicago or New York, cheaper than at the present cost of their subsist- ence. Ouray, Chief of the Colorado Utes, resides at the Los Pinos Agency. He is a man possessed of some ability and native shrewdness, but his power over the tribe is far from omnipotent. Few of his followers dispute his authority, but his rule is tol- erant rather than vigilant, and, when out of his sight, his people are prone and pretty apt to do as they please. Occasionally, he goes a-gunning for some recalcitrant member of his tribe, and shoots the offender on sight, but this is of rare occur- rence. Generally, he remains at home, where he lives in good style on an alleged farm, consisting of a few acres of arable land and an immense pony- pasture, well stocked. The farm is mostly tilled by Mexican cheap labor. Ouray is said to be rich, having absorbed the lion's share of Uncle Sam's liberal contributions to the Ute treasury from time to time. This seems all the more probable from the fact that Ute despotism vests the administra- tion of government entirely in his hands, and dis- penses with both single and double entry book- keeping in the matter of public finances. The " central despotism " and " one-man power" about which we hear so much of late years, is here beau- tifully exemplified. Let it not be understood, however, that the Col- orado Utes, useless as they are, are without their uses. They educate Eastern people who come West to a fine abhorrence of Indian character, which must soon put a quietus on sentimental mourning over the decay of the ill-fated race. They also tan buffalo hides in better style than the utmost ingenuity of white men can compass. An Indian-tanned robe is the ne plus ultra of the furrier's art. The secret of their process, if there be a secret, is well kept from the eyes and ears of rival operators, but it is generally believed on the border that there is no secret worth knowing, and that the superiority of their robes is due almost entirely to the patient labor of the gentle but unlovely squaw. She it is who bends her uncom- plaining back over the buffalo skins, day after day for weeks, scrubbing and rubbing them into that soft and pliable condition which is their peculiar char- acteristic, and which appertains to them through all exposure to the elements. Another of their uses is to afford entertainment to strangers from afar, to whom the sight of a lousy Indian is an interesting study. Wandering bands of Utes may be seen, at or near Denver, very frequently during the latter part of each sum- mer, " swapping" surplus ponies or the proceeds of their hunt, for supplies, such as they " hanker ' ' after, generally provisions or clothing, the sale of firearms i 'y ±^ 38 HISTORY or COLOBADO. and fire-water to Indians being prohibited. An Indian family out stopping is a disgusting picture of connubial infelicity. The poor squaw carries every- thing that is bought, and is usually burdened with two or three children besides. She rides the sor- riest sore-backed pony of the pair that carries the outfit, and, when the purchases are deftiy packed upon the pony's back, she climbs up to her giddy perch atop of the pyramid, pulls up her ofiFspring and distributes them around to balance the cargo, gathers up the reins and sets sail after her lord and master, who rides gaily ahead, carrying naught except it be his gun or a plug of tobacco. Even this poor show is seen less frequently of late years than of yore, and will soon disappear forever from the streets of Colorado's capital. The bufi'alo have almost deserted the plains between the South Platte and the Arkansas, with all other kinds of game, and the Indians will prob- ably hunt no more in this direction, even if they should remain longer in the State, which is doubtful. CHAPTER VI. THE MOUNTAINS OF COLORADO. THE chief charm of Colorado being her magni- ficent mountain scenery, it seems proper to describe, with more particularity, the prominent features of this American Switzerland, though language would fail to give any definite idea of its sublime grandeur. We have already traced the general course of the Sierra Madre Range, through Colorado, from north to south. Its total length is nearly five hundred miles within the limits of the State, and diverging ranges reach a grand total almost as large, making nearly 1,000 miles of "Snowy Range," so called in Colorado. In point of fact, however, there is no snowy range proper in the State, and all the magniloquent utterances touch- ing "eternal snow" on our mountains is figurative, except that patches of snow are visible here and there throughout the year. These, however, occur only in sheltered spots where neither sun nor wind attack them vigorously, else they, too, would disappear during the summer months, as does the snow from any exposed position. The snow line, in this latitude, would probably be six or seven thousand feet above the line of timber, which averages about 11,800 feet above the sea. The highest peaks in Colorado are less than 3,000 feet above timber line, and none of their summits are enveloped in eternal snow, though often enough "snowed under" in midsum- mer. In the whole course of his considerable ex- perience in peak-climbing, the writer has never yet ascended an Alpine peak in Colorado, without en- countering a snow-storm of greater or less violence, even in July and August. But the snow which falls in summer is quite ephemeral, often disap- pearing in a day, and never lingering long in exposed positions. The wind, more than the sun, is the author of its destruction. At this great distance from the sea, or any considerable bodies of water, the air is almost destitute of moisture, and every wind that blows seems as thirsty as a caravan crossing the Desert of Sahara. Snow that has successfully defied the direct rays of the sun, often disappears, as if by magic, when a gentle wind blows over it for a few hours, leaving the ground beneath perfectly dry. The Rocky Mountains, as their name implies, are extremely rugged and broken. From the very verge of the spreading plains, where centuries or, perhaps, eons ago, the waves of a mighty sea broke in ceaseless rise and fall, up to the very dome and crown of the mighty peaks which mark the height of our continent, gigantic and fantastic rocks rise higher and higher, wilder and more wild, in every ) >y -^ HISTORY or COLORADO. 39 direction, save here and there where they sud- denly give place to peaceful parks, whose car- pet of velvet grass is unbroken by the tiniest pebble. Let us imagine ourselves entering the moun- tains for the first time from the eastward-lying plains. As we approach the rocky walls which, at a distance, appear smooth to the eye as the plain itself, we find the foot-hills, for the most part, covered with disintegrated rook, through which a scanty vegetation rises. The grasses have a lean and hungry look, strangely belying their nutritious qualities, and the dwarfed piiion pines grow scrag- gily here and there, or cease entirely, leaving the hillsides bleak and bare. We follow the windings and turnings of some stream, for mountain roads must accommodate themselves to the caiions through which mountain streams seek the valley, as afibrding about the only means of ingress and egress to and from the heights before us. If the stream be a small one and the road little developed, they cross and recross each other every few rods — indeed, the road often lies in the bed of the stream itself, where the latter rounds some rocky point in a narrow gorge, where bolder and more precipitous rocks rise on either hand. As we go on, the rocks and hills greaten rapidly ; new and grander scenes are revealed at every turning; the timber itself, sheltered from sun and storm, stands out more boldly in pristine beauty, and soon we think ourselves at least fairly within the far-famed Rocky Mountains. It is an idle thought, for these are the foot-hills still. Beyond each rocky ridge rises a higher, nobler elevation. " Alps on Alps arise," and we go onward and upward still. Ever and anon the hills open to the right and left, and we -pass through a pleasant valley, where the grass grows green and tall, and a cabin stands beside the stream, which here glides gently along, in striking contrast to its wild, impatient haste, where it roars and rattles over its rocky bed above and below. Again we climb up a steep ascent, and, looking backward down the valley, see the spreading plains opening out behind us, like a summer sea, all smooth and placid. But for the murmuring waters, the silence would be oppress- ive. Animal life in the mountains is the excep- tion rather than the rule. Some chattering mag- pies herald our approach with characteristic gar- rulity, and pretty little chipmunks scurry away over the rooks, uttering their shrill but feeble cries, and that is all, except on rare occasions, or in remoter regions " over the range,'' where beasts and birds abound in many localities. Still ascending, the quiet beauty of the scene changes to wilder grandeur, and the view widens and greatens in every sense. The mountains rise higher and still higher on each hand, and the val- leys open right and left like great grooves wrought out of the mountain sides by centuries of slow attrition. Vegetation, which had attained its greatest luxuriance at an elevation of eight or nine thousand feet above the sea, shrinks again; the stately pines, with trunks "fit for the mast of some great admiral," give way to dwarfed and stunted trunks, strangely resembling an old fruit orchard in the decline of life. Only the flowers in- crease and multiply — the Alpine flowers which lend to Colorado peaks their wildest, sweetest charm. No language can express the beauty of the flowers which bloom all along the way, lifting their bright faces to the foot of the traveler at almost every step, nestling among the rooks wherever a handful of soil is found, and uplifting their tender petals beside the snow itself Prim- roses, buttercups, violets, anemones, daisies, colum- bines and many other rare and beautiful flowers are found in the mountains, and the lakes are often almost entirely covered with pond-lilies of regal splendor. One lake on the Long's Peak trail above Estes Park, is (or was a few years ago) completely hidden under a mass of lily-pads and blossoms, and is known far and wide as Lily Lake. Above timber line, these flowers begin to dwarf and shrink closer to the earth, until they ~® ^ e 9 i> 40 HISTORY OF COLORADO. barely lift themselves above the stunted grass which carpets the patches of earth like a close- shaven lawn. But their beauty is enhanced thereby, and no sense of their insignificance is felt. Another peculiarity of the mountains is that everywhere away from the streams or springs the peculiar aridity of the plains manifests itself. The same stunted grass grows high up the mount- ain-side, and, after brief exposure to the summer sun, it loses its freshness and assumes the gray, cold color of the rocks themselves. When the gnarled and twisted trees have left off clinging to the rocks, and the bare, bald mountains rise around you on every hand, the wide sweep of vision seems to take in nothing but desolation itself. All is one color, and that color is almost colorless. While the sun illuminates the scene, there is some warmth of light and shade about it, but when the cold gray of the mountains is sup- plemented by the cold gray of the sky, no scene can be less inspiriting, especially to those unaccus- tomed to the overpowering solitude. Few ever forget their advent into such a scene. As if it were yesterday, the writer remembers his first experience in peak-climbing. It was mid- summer, but the air was intensely cold at timber line, and above that point it was almost arctic winter. The solitude was so intense that like cer- tain degrees of darkness, of which we read, it could be felt. Nay, it was felt by at least one of the party, who could hardly dismiss the distressing idea that he was out of the world, and likely to meet another class of mortals at any moment. The very light was unlike anything he had seen before, unless it might have been the wild weird twilight of a total eclipse of the sun, a light that was neither that, of day or night, but a curious commingling of both. It seemed impossible to say whether the peak before us was near or far — it might have been both for aught we could say to the contrary. Looking downward, into the awful chasms that yawned below, brought to mind nothing but the " abomination of desolation " mentioned in Holy Writ, and it was hard to wrest out of the somber surroundings a thought of the sublime beauty which marks most mountain scenery for those who first look upon its grandeur. In later days and under different circumstances the same scenes were revisited and enjoyed, but the memory of that first impression remains unchanged. Perhaps the grandest of all mountain scenery is a near view of the snowy range in winter, when the sun shines fair and bright over the unsullied snow, whose dazzling whiteness challenges the bril- liancy of the diamond itself A million sparkles meet the eye at every turn, and above timber line there is no relief from the oppressive glare, which often produces " snow blindness," unless the eyes are in some way protected. The mountain view from Denver has been pro- nounced unequaled by many travelers, but to the older residents of Colorado it presents no special attraction above many other views to be had from other points. So much sentiment has been expended in describing it that description has grown a trifle stale. The thousand and one news- paper correspondents who " do " Denver every season, always speak of the range extending " from Long's Peak on the north to Pike's Peak on the south," after which one always knows what is coming — ^the story of the Englishman who started to walk from Denver to the mountains before breakfast. There is a particularly fine view of the mount- ains from Longmont, another from Colorado Springs, still another from Walsenburg in the south, and any number of them from interior points, the finest of which, perhaps, is that from the gateway to Estes Park. The view from Lead- ville is scarcely surpassed. It seems very appro- priate that the finest mining camp in the world should have also one of the finest mountain views, though no doubt men would flock there from everywhere regardless of the view. Following is a list of the principal Alpine peaks in the State, with their approximate altitudes and their elevation above sea level. Average summit ~a> 7t m 0) □ n 2 O m o ■n N O ^ o • I z r Id c H i^ HISTORY OF COLORADO. 41 of range, 11,000 feet; average timber line, 11,800 feet : MOUNTAIN PEAKS OP COLORADO. Feet, Blanca 14,464 Harvard 14,383 Massive 14,368 Gray's 14,341 Rosalie 14,340 Torrey 14,346 Elbert 14,326 La Plata 14,302 Lincoln 14,297 Buckskin 14,296 Wilson 14,280 Long's 14,271 Quandary 14,279 Antero 14,245 Shavano 14,239 Dncompahgre 14,235 Crestones 14,233 Princeton 14,199 Mt. Bross 14,185 Holy Cross 14,176 Baldy 14,176 Sneffles 14,158 Pike's 14,147 Castle 14,106 Yale 14,101 San Luis 14,100 i Feet. Red Cloud 14,092 Wetterhorn 14,069 Simpson 14,055 Molus 14,054 Ouray 14,043 Stewart 14,032 Maroon 14,000 Cameron 14,000 Handle 13,997 Capitol 13,992 Horseshoe 13,988 Snowmass 13,961 Grizzly 13,956 Pigeon 13,928 Blaine 13,905 Frustrum 13,893 Pyramid 13,885 White Rock 13.847 Hague 13,832 R. G. Pyramid 13,773 Silver Heels 13,766 Hunchback 13,755 Rovcter 13,750 Homes take 13,687 Ojo 13,640 Spanish 13,620-12,720 Feet. Guyot 13,565 Trinchara .13,546 Kendall 13,542 Feel. Buffalo 13,541 Arapahoe 13,520 Dunn 13,502 Seventy-five peaks, between 13,500 and 14,300 feet in height, are unnamed, and not in this list. ALTITUDES OF PROMINENT TOWNS IN COLORADO Feet. Alamosa 7,000 Alma 11,044 Black Hawk 7,975 Boulder 5,536 Breckenridge 9,674 Canon City 5,260 Caribou 9,905 Central 8,300 Cheyenne 6,041 Chicago Lakes 11,500 Colorado Springs... 5,023 Del Norte 7,750 Denver 5,224 Divide..- 7,210 Estes Park 8,000 Fairplay 9,964 Garland 8,146 Georgetown 8,400 Golden 5,729 Gold Hill 8,463 Greeley 4,776 Feet. Green Lake 10,000 Hot Sulphur Spr'gs 7,715 Idaho Springs 7,500 Lake City 8,550 Leadville 10,205 Magnolia 6,500 Manitou 6,297 Montezuma 10,295 Morrison 5,922 Nederland 8,263 Oro City 10,247 Ouray 7,640 Pueblo 4,679 Rosita 8,500 Saguache 7,745 Silverton 9,405 Sunshine 7,000 Trinidad 6,005 Twin Lakes 9,357 Veta Pass 9,339 CHAPTER VII. COLORADO DURING THE REBELLION— TERRITORIAL OFFICIALS THE early history of Colorado was probably com- pletely changed by the war of the rebellion, which broke out very soon after the new Territory was organized, and, indeed, before Gov. Gilpin had taken hold of the helm of government. This dis- tracted the attention of the East so much that Colorado, though not forgotten, was comparatively ignored during the first years of the war. More- over, the people of the Territory were divided on the issues of the war themselves, and a considera- ble secession element manifested itself in the utter- ance of disloyal sentiments and by the hoisting of a secession flag on Larimer street, almost directly opposite the present executive ofiices. The flag, however, was soon hauled down, by order of a com- mittee of very determined citizens, who said that either the flag or the house must come down, and they didn't care which. Joined to these diificulties were the discourage- ment of miners arising out of refractory ores and failing placers, for already the flush days of placer mining in Colorado seemed, at least, to have passed by. The Clear Creek placers were abandoned or worked casually, as any claims are worked which yield only bare wages without promise of a richer harvest. It must be borne in mind, too, that not only during these years, but until several years later, no search was made for silver-bearing ores, by which means the scope of mining development was greatly limited, for Colorado stands pre-emi- nent as a silver-producing State, and her output of gold IS light indeed compared to that of silver. ■f- ' i\ 43 HISTOKY OF COLORADO. Thousands came and thousands left during 1861—62-63. California Gulch, over which almost if not quite the greatest furor of these years was raised, was soon deserted by all save a few faithful souls like Lieut. Gov. Tabor, the fame of whose riches has gone abroad far and wide, but who labored long and hard before reaping the reward he so richly merited. It is a curious fact, noted elsewhere but worth duplicating, that the very same sand carbonates which have made so many poor men rich in these latter days, were formerly one of the chief obstacles to success in gulch-mining. They were so heavy that they blocked the sluiceways, and had to be shoveled out with painful care, that the gold might be gathered. The Indians, too, were troublesome during the early years of the war. Taking advantage of the withdrawal of the troops from most of the frontier posts, they raided the Plains, and were a continual terror to travelers between the mountains and the jMissouri River. Jlany lives were lost, men, women and children sharing the same fate at the hands of the murderous crew. Then came the celebrated Sand Creek fight between the Colorado Cavalry and a large force of hostile Cheyenne Indians — an event which has evoked a great deal of hostile criticism, but which Coloradoans have no cause to blush for. It is undoubtedly true that Indian women and even children were killed upon that occasion, but the former were bearing arms and fighting with the utmost ferocity, leaving their offspring to chance the fortunes of war as best they might. Sand Creek has been called a massacre. If so, it was a massacre of assassins, for fresh scalps of white men, women and children were found in the Indian camp after the battle. In fact, however, Sand Creek was not a massacre, but simply a fight after the most approved Indian fashion, and the Indians themselves never complained of the drub- bing they got on that memorable occasion. It exemplified very clearly the oft-repeated assertion of frontiersmen that, if left alone, they could " set- tle the Indian question " very soon, and " without costing the Government a cent." The Sand Creek fight occurred November 29, 1864, the Coloradoans being conunanded by Col. J. M. Chivington, a Methodist minister and first Presiding Elder of the Colorado Conference. Chivington was essentially a Western man, equally ready to pray or fight, and at home everywhere, even in the most incongruous associations. Prof. 0. J. Goldrick, the well-known pioneer teacher and editor, relates that Chivington attended a grand banquet given by Ford & McClintock on the occasion of the opening of their gambling- rooms, up-stairs over the corner of F and McGaa streets, now known as Fifteenth and Holiaday. The writer knows nothing of Chivington's sport- ing proclivities, but that he was a good and suc- cessful fighter the Sand Creek business can attest. He was then military commander of the district, but the troops at his command were only a hand- ful, when word came from Fort Lyon, on the Arkansas River, that the Cheyennes were encamped near there in force, and were inter- cepting every train and every wagon that passed in either direction, so that travel was virtually stopped. Chivington called for volunteers, and led them himself, by forced marches, to the Arkansas, where he and his men fell upon the Indian camp on Sand Creek, before the red devils knew that danger was near. For this, Chivington was severely censured by his superior officers, though warmly applauded by the people. The Government more than once complained of the plucky, enterprising Coloradoans for taking care of themselves without waiting for an " official " order to do so. It is not generally known in the East that an attempt was made by the South, very early in t-he war of the rebellion, to capture Colo- rado, but it is an actual fact, and the failure of the enterprise was due to the pluck and energy of the Coloradoans themselves. This stirring episode in the history of the State occurred in March and April of 1862, when Grant was making his first memorable advances -^ HISTORY or COLORADO. 43 upon the enemy. A military organization, which had been started in the fall of 1860, was revived on the breaking-out of the rebellion and became the First Colorado Cavalry. Col. John P. Slough, afterward Chief Justice of New Mexico, was its commander, and the boys humorously called them- selves Gov. Gilpin's "Pet Lambs.'' Gov. Gilpin had some trouble in getting them mustered into Uncle Sam's service, owing to their remoteness from the "front" and the difficulty of commu- nicating with headquarters, but the delay was a happy accident, after all. While the " Pet Lambs" were waiting for their marching orders, reports came that a force of 3,000 Texans had left San Antonio for Colorado, and were making a clean sweep of the country through which they passed. They had already entered New Mexico and were entirely beyond the reach of the Union armies when the "Lambs" heard of their coming. No time was to be lost, and, without waiting for orders from Washington, Col. Slough ordered an advance. The history of this short, sharp and decisive campaign appears elsewhere at length, but space will only admit of a review in this connection. The Texans were encountered just north of Santa Fe. They were more than a match for the Colo- radoans in number, but in strategy the latter showed their superiority. While a considerable body of " Lambs " engaged the lean and hungry Texans in front, the rest made a flank movement on the camp and commissary stores of the enemy, and destroyed everything they could not carry away. The resnit was that the Texans had to fall back in search of something to eat, and, having no " base of supplies," were forced to abandon the campaign. Bull Run, in the East, was hardly a circumstance compared to Baylor's retreat from New jMexico, and the " Lambs " returned home, covered with glory. Their success earned for them the recognition of the War Department, but Gov. Gilpin received no credit for his efforts. On the contrary, he was soon afterward superseded by Dr. John Evans, of Evanston, 111., one of the best Governors Colo- rado ever had, and still an honored citizen of the State. Secretary Weld, for whom Weld County was named, was also removed, and succeeded by Samuel H. Elbert, afterward Governor himself, and now an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the State. Gen. Sam E. Browne was about this time appointed Attorney General, and Gen. John Pierce succeeded Gen. Case as Sur- veyor General. This was the beginning of the numerous changes in official positions which marked Colorado's Ter- ritorial vassalage. Her list of Governors ran as follows, from 1861 to 18*76: WiUiam Gilpin qualified July 8, 1861; John Evans, April 11, 1862; A. Cummings, October 19, 1865; A. C. Hunt, May 21, 1867; Ed. M. McCook, June 15, 1869; Samuel H. Elbert, April 5, 18*73; Ed M. McCook (again), June 26, 1874, and John L. Routt about May 1, 1875. Routt held until the admission of the State, in 1876, and was the first State Governor, holding the latter office from November, 1876, until January, 1879, when he was suceeded by Frederick W. Pitkin, present in- cumbent. During the same perioa, an almost equal num- ber of changes were made in the other officers of the Territory, except that Hon. Frank Hall served several terms as Secretary under Govs. Hunt, McCook and Elbert. The Secretarial succession was as follows : Lewis Ledyard Weld, qualified July 8, 1861, with Gilpin; Samuel H. Elbert, April 19, 1862, with Evans; Frank Hall, May 24, 1866, first with Cummings and later with Hunt ; Frank Hall again, June 15, 1869, with i\Ic('ook, and still again with Elbert, April 17, 1873, holding the office honorably for seven years. To him succeeded John W. Jenkins, March 11, 1874, and John Taffe, who came with Routt and remained until the organization of the State. William M. Clark was the first Secretary of State, N. n. Meldrum is the present incumbent. These constant changes of officials, at such irregular intervals, served to keep the Territory in a state of political excitement not unlike that -^ ^1 44 HISTORY OF COLORADO. engendered by the more practical and sanguinary "revolutions" of Old Mexico. They also served to beget a feeling of hostility toward the central Government at "Washington. Andrew Johnson, poor man, was most cordially hated throughout the length and breadth of Colorado. Besides vetoing the bill for Colorado's admission as a State, he sent out one of the most unsatisfactory Governors she ever had, in the person of Cum- mings, whose brief reign was eminently unsatis- factory. Grant, too, was unpopular until the admission of the State, since when, he has been a sort of idol with the Republican element, notwith- standing their former enmity. McCook, one of the fighting family of that name, was sent out as Governor by Grant. He was a gallant soldier but a poor diplomatist, and soon found himself very unpopular with some of the most powerfully influ- ential men in the Territory. Feeling ran high on both sides, and finally resulted in the overthrow of McCook in the spring of 1873. Elbert was appointed Governor, and it was announced that henceforth the offices of the Territory would be intrusted to its citizens ; that carpet-bag rule was at an end forever. This announcement was received with great satisfaction. Whether justly or not, it had come to be understood that the Territories generally, and Colorado Territory particularly, were asylums for misfit politicians, who could not be "worked in" anywhere else, but who had to be disposed of somehow and somewhere. That the position was not well taken, is shown by the fact that no less than five of Colorado's seven Territorial Govern- ors are to-day highly honored citizens of the State. The names of Gilpin, Evans, Hunt, Elbert and Routt are household words in Colorado. Better men for the position they held it would have been hard to find, and yet the people chafed under their rule, for the simple reason that they were not called but seilt. There is something in the genius of our institutions strangely averse to rulers other than those chosen by the people themselves. Although Gov. Elbert's reffime opened so flat- teringly, it was marked by some of the most stormy incidents of Colorado's political history. It is not necessary to recapitulate the events of the McCook-Elbert war, which terminated in the removal of the latter and the re-instatement of the former, but the sensation it created at the time will not soon be forgotten by those who partici- pated in it. President Grant was visited with the severest censure for his action in the matter, and especially for his wholesale removal of Federal officials in Colorado at or about the same time. The immediate result was a total demoralization of the Republican party in the Territory and a Dem- cratio victory in 18*74, which showed very conclus- ively that " some one had blundered." With characteristic manliness, President Grant corrected his mistake by again removing McCook and appointing a Governor who was acceptable to both factions and all parties. This was the last act in the Territorial political drama. Colorado was admitted to the Union in 1876, just in time to pull President Hayes through the Electoral Commission into the WhiteHouse, and just in time, too, to earn the taking title of the Centennial State. The passage of the enabling act was largely due to the efforts of Hon. J. B. Chaifee, and he was very properly rewarded by an election as Senator of the United States by the first State Legislature. His colleagTie was Henry M. Teller, a man of com- manding ability, who enjoyed the distinction of never having held an office until he was chosen Senator. He was also lucky enough to secure the long term, and will serve until 1883. Senator Chaffee's voluntary retirement from politics at the close of his Senatorial term gave Hon. N. P. Hill an opportunity to grasp the succession, which he did, defeating half a dozen opponents. Curiously enough, although Colorado made such an effort to break into Congress at an early day, she was not effectually represented there until 1863, when Hon. H. P. Bennett went to Washing- ton, armed with undoubted credentials, attested by — ® ^ *.YVj-", ,^^^ ^^^^^zzz_ .^ HISTORY OF COLORADO. 47 tlie "broad seal of the sovereign Territory," as waggish attorneys used to say. Bennett was succeeded by Judge Allen A. Bradford, who served a second term in 1869-70. Hon. George M. Chilcott served a term between the first and last of Bradford, and Hon. J. B. Chaffee was elected in 1870, and again in 1872. In 1874, the McCook-Elbert war resulted in the chance election of Hon. Thomas M. Patterson, who served until the admission of the State into the Union. Mr. Patterson also served term as Representa- tive in Congress after admission, although his seat was unsuccessfully contested by Hon. James B. Belford, the present Representative, who defeated Patterson in 1878 by a large majority. CHAPTER VIII. PROGRESS OF THE COUNTRY. DURING- all these years, the country had been prosperous, more or less, according to cir- cumstances, and the miners had been steadily grow- ing in numbers and increasing their annual produc- tion. New processes of treating ores were intro- duced, which proved more profitable than the old, and the operation of smelting was found particularly adapted to the refractory ores of Gilpin County, where it was first introduced. Denver had been tried both by fire and flood, but her indomitable citizens never faltered in their forward course, and the town grew apace, as did the whole country. It is true that the miners left one locality for another pretty often, leaving large and populous cities almost desolate and without inhabitant, but the people turned up in another part of the State, very soon, and soon had another city under way. Though mining was always the principal industry of Colorado, agriculture and stock-growing kept pace with mineral development, as will be seen by the succeeding chapters specially devoted to these industries. It was not, however, until after the close of the war and the disbandment of both armies, that the State entered upon its greatest era of prosperity. Large numbers of old soldiers emigrated at once to the new gold-fields, which had grown famous while they had been serving in the army, and others followed a few years later. Ex-Gov. John Evans, whose faith in the bright future in store for Colorado was second to that of no man, not even that of his predecessor. Gov. Gilpin, had no sooner laid down his ofiice in 1865, than he began to agitate the question of railway con- nection between Denver and the world outside. The Union Pacific Railroad was working its way westward, and the Kansas Pacific was aiming at the mark which the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe road has since hit, but neither enterprise then on foot looked to Denver either as a terminus or way station. Seeing that the mountain would not come to Mahomet, Mahomet got up and went to the mountain. The Denver Pacific road was built to a connection with the Union Pacific at Cheyenne, 106 miles due north, and in due time a railway route was completed from Denver to each ocean. Then the Kansas Pacific suddenly changed its course from southwest to northwest, and made Denver its western terminus, giving the metropolis of the Rocky Mountains competing lines to the Missouri River, instead of the patient mule and the steadfast ox. - It was a grand and glorious transformation scene. The city and State at once sprang forward with a mighty bound. Local lines of railway were soon projected from Denver in other direc- tions, and the foundations of Colorado's present very extensive railway system was laid within three years following the completion of the Union Pacific. Development was a little retarded, but 'I \2J ^- 48 HISTORY OF COLORADO. not checked by the panic of 1873, and the grass- hoppers of 1875, but there has never been a year since 1804 — the year of the Indian war — in which Colorado has not made progress in some direction, if not in all. The panic of 1873 has been mentioned as hav- ing retarded the development of Colorado tempo- rarily, but it is still an-, open question whether the country was not in the end a gainer by the panic, paradoxical as the proposition may appear. In point of fact, the panic did not extend to Colo- rado. There were no failures in the State worth speaking of. The banks stood firm. A consid- erable shrinkage in real estate was about the only effect of the panic upon the population of Colo- rado, but that only pinched a few luckless opera- tors, who bought high and had to sell low. It is true that a few men, who thought themselves mill- ionaires, found that they were only worth half a million, yet their sufferings were more imaginary than real. On the other hand, the panic drove many active business men from the East to Colo- rado, in the hope of rebuilding lost fortunes, and many of these new-comers in 1874-75 are now among the most enterprising and successful opera- tors in the State. Following fast upon these accessions to popula- tion came admission to the Union, which served to attract- attention and invite further immigration. It was, in effect, a substantial and important recognition of the status of Colorado, and an invitation to capital to come in and develop the undoubted resources of the new State. The result has exceeded the most sanguine expectations of the friends of Colorado, at home and abroad. Within the three years which have elapsed since statehood became an established fact, Colo- rado has doubled in wealth and population, and she is still advancing with even more rapid strides. The future of the State is full of golden possibili- ties. Leadville, the present wonder of the world, is but a page in the history of mineral develop- ment. That Colorado is destined to be the first mining State in the Union seems well assured. It is the habit of some travelers to assert that Colorado cannot sustain a large population, because her agricultural resources are limited. The force of this argument is hard to discover. Mining dis- tricts rarely embrace agricultural advantages too, and, in the East, it is not expected that a mining population shall supply itself with the necessaries of life. So long as Colorado can draw easily and cheaply upon Kansas and Nebraska for her lack of grain and other agricultural products, there is no reason why she may not support a population equal to the New England average. Her gold and silver will buy anything and everything the East has for sale, and she would still be a great and prosperous State, if she did not raise half enough wheat to feed her population. ^■ CHAPTER IX. THE CLIMATE OF COLORADO. THE history of Colorado as a sanitarium dates back only to the advent of railways in the State, or about ten years ago. Before that time, overland trips across the Plains were occasionally recommended for the purpose of building up shattered physical systems,, but such heroic treat- ment was usually laughed to scorn, and a sea- voyage substituted. The latter was more easily and cheaply accomplished, and the dangers of the deep were less considered than the danger of los- ing one's life, or scalp, or both, at the hands of the Indians. Yet every one who returned from Colo- rado concurred in the statement that it was a healthy country, and the first reports concerning the rigors of its climate in winter were soon modi- fied. •> fy liL^ HISTORY OF COLORADO. 49 It was many years, however, ere Colorado began to offer inducements to invalids, snob, as those for which it is now famous. The first settlers felt themselves banished, as it were, not only from their friends and former homes, but also from many of the necessaries and nearly all the com- forts of life. As time went on, and the country grew apace, these conditions changed rapidly for the better. Denver, and some of the other cities, became comfortable places of residence. The cost of living was high, but a steady reduction followed the opening of railway communication and the develpment of agriculture. In a short time, the trip to Colorado became a pleasure excursion, in- stead of a painful journey, and then the invalid tourist appeared above the horizon, and began his career of usefulness in the State. No record of the resources of Colorado would be complete which did not include the invalid tourist, but, to the credit of the State, it must be said, that she has paid cent per cent, in sound health, for the thousands of dollars which invalids have poured into her extended palm. Not in every case, of course, nor in ninety and nine per cent of them, but in enough of them to make a very satisfactory showing. Hundreds and, perhaps, thousands of people are enjoying good health in Colorado to-day who came here confirmed invalids. Many more, coming too late, have died here, but, if the fair warning given by such deaths had been heeded in the East, the number would not have increased so rapidly of late years. No one in Colorado, physician or lay- man, pretends to say that consumption, in its last stages, can be arrested, in this climate or in any other climate. The contrary is true. It would be a miracle, indeed, if three-quarters or half a lung could expand in this rarified atmosphere sufficiently to support life in a man or woman, with one foot already in the grave, and the other trembling on the brink. And not only the dry and rarified air contends against nature, in such instances, but elemental disturbances tend to snap the rotten thread of life. Colorado has not an Italian climate, and the absurd claims to that effect have brought much contempt on those who make them. She has extremes of heat and cold. The winters are marked by occasional storms of great severity. Dust is a nuisance to diseased lungs at all seasons. The summer sun would be intolerably hot if not neutralized by the refreshing shade. And yet the average of the climate is all that could be desired or expected. The climatic conditions of Colorado are, per- haps, due entirely to the limited rainfall, though altitude has a separate bearing upon the problem. Without entering upon any scientific, or even technical, consideration of the question, it is enough to say that the limited rainfall leaves the sky free of clouds about three hundred days out of every year, and throughout these three hundred days, in winter and in summer, the sun shines bright and warm. "W'ith so much sunshine, of course the evaporation of moisture is perfect. The earth and air is dry. Malaria and the diseases incident thereto are practically unknown, save at rare intervals, as the result of defective artificial drainage. The air is not only dry, but full of ozone and electricity, and the altitude reduces its pressure. In healthy lungs, it is invigorating and restorative, but the contrary effect is manifested in lungs too weak to accommodate themselves to the increased demand upon their capacity, the volume of air inhaled in Colorado being considerably greater than at lower altitudes east or west. The infiuence of altitude upon health has been noted, not only by every medical man, but also by every intelligent observer. According to the highest . authorities of Colorado, the members of the State ^Medical Society, the sensations attending a first entrance into this State are always pleasant to persons in good health. " The dryness of the atmosphere," says Dr. Edmondson, of Central, " together with the electricity therein contained, combined with perhaps other peculiarities of cli- mate, excite the nervous system to a remark- able degree of tension. The physical functions -^ ^- 50 HISTOEY OF COLORADO. which, it may be for years past, have been accomplished in a sluggish, inefficient manner, at once assume a vigor of action to which the system has heretofore been a stranger. The appe- tite is keen, the digestion vigorous, and the sleep is sound and refreshing. The result of these manifold innovations on the established routine of the vital economy is, that all those lurking ail- ments to which the civilized man is more subject than he ought to be are swept at once away, and whatever there is in each individual of capacity to enjoy is called into the fullest action. He revels in what might be called an intoxication of good health." The latter comparison is not inapt. Nothing is more common than for people to say that the air of Colorado invigorates them like new wine. In the very admirable essay from which the foregoing is quoted. Dr. Edmondson goes on to say : "An unclouded mind partakes of the elasticity of a healthy body, and the unwonted vigor of man's intellect is manifested by a newly aroused desire for activity and by an increased capability to accom- plish." Every brain-worker will attest the truth of this assertion, and nowhere in the whole country are the professions and all manner of busi- ness pursuits prosecuted with so much vigor and success. It has been often said that men are improved mentally and socially as well as physically by com- ing to Colorado. There can be no doubt of this fact. Invalidism always affects mental conditions, and a dyspeptic person or a sufferer from any chronic ailment, however inconsequential, cannot help but lose a little good temper. With restored health comes not only renewed energy but a brighter view of life. The world seems a better place than it was. Companionship becomes pleas- ant, and Colorado is, of all countries in the world, the place where a hearty good will is most manifest in all classes and conditions of men. This is a curious study, and one which has never yet been pursued with care by scientists. It would be interesting to note the effect of this climate upon mental as well as physical conditions, but this task must be left to some one more capable of elucidat- ing it. The early settlers found the seasons in Colorado at considerable variance with those in the same latitude toward the east. A warm sun in winter was the first peculiarity noted. Earth and air were dry, and the direct rays of the sun were a reminder of summer. It was found, however, that however hot the sun shone in midwinter, even when men went about out-door work in their shirf> sleeves, snow seldom melted in the sunshine, but a soft wind moving across the country would soon carry away on its invisible wings a heavy fall of snow in a few hours, leaving the ground not only bare but dry. Hence the winters were generally pleasant, the exceptions to this rule being occa- sions when the wind blew cold or a northwest snow-storm swept down upon the plains. The snow-fall in Denver has never been excessive since the settlement of the town, but it has been severe at times, generally between the middle of Decem- ber and the first of February. The latter month and the first half of March are usually pleasant. March and November are accounted the worst months in the calendar of the Atlantic and Missis- sippi Valley States, but, outside of the mountains in Colorado, they are very favorable, even to inva- lids. Early in April, the spring snows fall, some- times to a great depth, and doing more damage to the stock interests than any other elemental dis- turbance. When these snows disappear, usually a few days after their fall, grass and grain spring up and summer is at hand, except that foliage is often delayed a month or more longer. AVith the foliage come the rains, varying greatly in different seasons, but not increasing every year, as some ignorantly assert. The "rainy season" in Colorado is a figure of speech merely, being used only to distinguish it from the season when no rain fldls. The two are about equal. Rains fall from about May 1 to November 1, but only enough to purify the air and keep the prairie grass alive and green. It is ^- V 'A HISTOEY OF COLORADO. 51 no inconvenience whatever to invalids, who have all the sunshine they want even in wet weather. It is this unlimited sunshine that builds up many debilitated systems, which seem to need no other medicine. The average number of cloudy days for each year since 1872, when the Signal Service was first established in Denver, is but a fraction over sixty-three ; the days on which rain fell, consider ably less, and those on which snow fell, only forty. As to the range of the thermometer, that erratic instrument should not be quoted officially in Colorado, until corrected for altitude and new climatic conditions. Its apparent range is very broad, and its record would seem to show that Coloradoans freeze up in winter, only to thaw out in summer, when, in fact, the extremes of heat and cold are much more apparent than real. Neither zero weather nor ninety-nine in the shade counts for much in Colorado. When the mer- cury falls ten or fifteen degrees below zero, which it often does, people put on their wraps as they go about their business, but nobody ever heard of a sunstroke in Colorado, when the thermometer was boiling over at the top. Invalids, of course, do not invite exhaustion by much exercise at such times, but, in the delightfully cool mornings and evenings of midsummer, they can get all the air and exercise necessary for them. In the fall of 1873, two well-known gentlemen of Denver— Mr. F. J. B. Crane and Mr. B. F. Woodward — both of whom had been great suifer- ers from asthma in the East, were discussing the best means of making known to their sufi'ering fellow-mortals of other States the wonderfully curative effects of the Colorado climate upon this disorder. The question of giving information through the newspapers and magazines was dis- cussed, but while, by such means, a large number of readers might be reached, it was thought that the message would not have such a convincing and authoritative influence as an authentic statement from a large number of persons. The result of this incidental discussion was the calling of a meet- ino- of asthmatics at Denver in October, 1873. The meeting was held. A large number of gentlemen and ladies attended, all of whom reported themselves either entirely cured or vastly benefited by their residence in Colorado. It was then decided to extend the scope of inquiry to the whole State, and, in accordance with that purpose, the newspapers of the State circulated a call for an asthmatic convention, and also for statements from persons unable to attend the meeting. This novel convention assembled at Denver December 18, 1873. The chairman, Mr. Crane, presented over one hundred reports from persons residing in all parts of Colorado, many of them lengthy and quite interesting, giving individual experiences, means of cure and experiments,which had been previously tried without effect, and gen- erally stating that a complete and permanent cure had only been found upon the parties removing to Colorado. A large number of these statements were from gentlemen of means, who had traveled in nearly all parts of the world without deriving material benefit elsewhere than in Colorado. In the spring of 1874, a pamphlet was printed for gratuitous distribution, containing a condensed record of over two hundred and fifty cases cured by Colorado air alone, no other remedy being used. All the walks of life were represented in this list ; merchants, physicians, lawyers, clergymen, mechan- ics, laboring men, etc., clearly establishing the important fact that " Colorado cures asthma." Five years of additional experience and observa- tion have only confirmed and strengthened the tes- timony that in the relief or cure of asthma and kindred diseases, the climate of Colorado is un- equaled by any portion of the known world; also, that there is no recurrence of the disease while the person remains in this climate, though no guaran- tee can be given that a return to a lower altitude will not be followed by a return of the old trouble. So much for asthma. As for other diseases of like character, the same is substantially true. In all cases where the physical and mental systems are worn down by overwork or general debihty, the "V7 2i: ■^ 53 HISTORY OF COLOEADO. recovery is marked and rapid. The marked excep- tions to this rule are rheumatism and all purely nervous ailments, none of which are benefited by the climate of Colorado, but are rather aEraTavated instead. In the mountains of Colorado, pneumonia and kindred diseases are common at certain sea- sons, and often fatal. A form of pneumonia known as mountain fever, is well known throughout, the State, but happily it is less dangerous than pneu- monia proper. Taken all in all, with all the other drawbacks properly belonging to it, the climate of Colorado can claim the highest rank as a restorer of health to poor, suffering humanity. The number of in- valids who annually seek relief in the State is con- stantly increasing, and so are the resorts which invite their patronage. ' Formerly, the mineral springs at Manitou were the only attraction of the kind in the State. Only a few years ago, a rude cabin, on the banks of the famous Fountain qui Boille, close by the great soda spring, was all there was of Manitou. The writer well remembers a visit there, in the fall of 1871, when the solitude of the spot was overpowering. To-day, there are half-a-dozen hotels there, three of them maonifi- cent structures, and yet, during the season, it is almost impossible to secure quarters in any of them. Idaho Springs, with its fine hotels and famous swimming baths, is scarcely less popular or less crowded. The Hot Sulphur Springs, in Middle Park, are also well patronized, though less access- ible. The hunting and fishing thereaway draws many who would scorn the luxuries of more preten- tious watering-places. Beside these three principal points of attraction, are at least a dozen mineral springs, of greater or less renown, scattered broad- cast over the State, no section being without one or more. The Pagosa Hot Springs, in Southwest- ern Colorado, are pronounced among the finest in the world. The Steamboat Springs, in the North- west, are truly wonderful as a natural curiosity, as well as valuable for their medicinal qualities. They take their name from a peculiar noise emit- ted from one of the largest springs of the group, which gives forth a steady, soughing sound, like a steamboat just starting upon its voyage. The inquisitive may want to know what are the medical properties of these numerous springs. It would take a small volume to describe them. They range over the whole gamut of medical lexi- cography, and include, as the miners say, about all the known "stinks.'' There is something less than a thousand of them in the State, and the invalid who cannot be suited somewhere in Colo- rado need not look anywhere else for what he wants. "With very few exceptions, the surround- ings of jthese mineral springs are delightfully romantic. The charms of Manitou cannot be enumerated — a whole season is short enough to study its surroundings. It must be confessed, however, that Coloradoans themselves seldom pay much attention to the " healing waters " of these fountains of health, but visit them indiscriminately for pleasure, and often go away without tasting the water more than once, or perhaps twice. The ready excuse of the " native " is that he does not need the water, and does not wish to cultivate a taste for the fluid. Now and then a rheumatic miner tries bathing in a hot sulphur spring to take the stiff- ness out of his joints, and since Leadville was unearthed, an occasional victim of lead poisoning puts in at Cottonwood Springs, on the Arkansas River, below the carbonate metropolis, to get the lead out of his system, but, generally, the Colora- doan looks upon mineral springs merely as a good advertisement of the country, and is proud of them merely because they confirm his strong belief that his is the most wonderful country in the world. The chance mention of lead-poisoning above brings to mind this new disease — new to Colorado at least, though common enougli in lead mines all over the world. The mineral deposits af Leadville, as the name of the camp indicates, carry a large propor- tion of lead, and workmen in the mines and .smelters are alike subject to lead-poisoning. It would seem that nature had provided a remedy for the disease near at hand, in the mineral springs of Cottonwood Canon, which are a specific in almost "^Fp— — ^ J te ^ ^ \Ts — >^ A HISTORY OF COLORADO. 53 any stage of tlie complaint. All the patient has to do is to " lay oiF" a few days or weeks, at Cot- tonwood, bathe and drink freely of the waters, and go back to his work rejuvenated. Much has been said about the unhealthiness of Leadville, because a good many people have died there ft-om intemperance, exposure, etc., as well as from natural causes. Under right conditions, Leadville would be a healthy city, but the verdict of the Coroner's jury — " too much whisky and too little blanket" — tells the story of many a death. The altitude is too great for over-indulgence a;nd reckless neglect. Care and cleanliness have been too much neglected in this magic city, and she pays the penalty by an undeserved reputation for unhealthiness. CHAPTER X. AGRICULTUEAL RESOURCES OF THE STATE. AGRICULTURE, although of secondary importance among the industries of Colo- rado, has always been more or less prominent. This fact is first due to the magnificent yield and excellent quality of both cereals and vegetables, and, finally, to the high prices usually received by the farmers, or "ranchmen," as they are invariably designated, for every product of the soil. In the early years of the country, when scarcely anybody expected to stay here more than the few weeks or months necessary to obtain a fortune from the mines, agriculture was something not dreamt of in their philosophy, and no attempt was made to cultivate the soil. As time went on, and one or two "hard winters" came, bringing exorbi- tant prices for produce or cutting off the supply entirely, the idea of raising corn for horse-feed, after the Mexican fashion, was originated by some one, and soon put into practical operation. A few rude and imperfect irrigating ditches were constructed, under which a few acres were planted, corn being the principal crop, alternating with an occasional potato patch. Ihe potatoes were truly a happy thought, for, while the corn hardly paid for its cultivation, the potatoes yielded largely, and proved to • be of superior quality. Such was the small beginning of agriculture in Colorado, and it has advanced wonderfully since that time, especially in view of the difiiculties it has had to meet and overcome. A great point had been gained, however, by the discovery that vegetables flourished in the soil of the plains and mountains. The first potato crop paid an enormous profit, and next year many per- sons engaged in the business, some of them only to meet with failure, though others succeeded be- yond their wildest hope. Experiments were made with other vegetables, and the era of big pump- kins and giant squashes dates from that day. Another year established the fact that Colorado was within the limits of the great wheat-belt of the continent, and, from that time till now, wheat has been and is the staple crop of Colorado farmers. It must not be understood, though, that because Colorado raises the finest wheat, the best potatoes and the biggest squashes and pumpkins in the world, that her agriculturists are clothed in pur- ple and fine linen, and fare sumptuously every day. On the contrary, they work harder and are less repaid proportionately than farmers anywhere else in the country. In the first place, the acquisition of agricultural land in Colorado has for many years involved a considerable outlay of money, and a poor man has had small show to engage in farming. While there are millions of acres of arable land in the State, or land that would be arable if irrigated, there is not an unlimited supply of water for irri- gation, and it is not a question of land, but of ^ 54 HISTORY OF COLOEADO. water, with the farmer. To secure the latter, he must expend more or less money, either in build- ing a ditch, or buying a water-right from a ditch already constructed. In either case, his water costs him what would be considered in the East a fair rental for the land. Having secured both land and water, he pro- ceeds to make a crop. Wheat is sown very early in the spring, often in February, which is usually a pleasant month in the Colorado climate ; if not, March rarely fails to bring planting weather. In April, there is always more or less light and warm snow, which melts rapidly and "wets down" the new-sown wheat, so that irrigation is unnecessary at that season. May brings spring rains in greater or less abundance, with warm, sunny days, that start the young wheat and early vegetables fairly on their way, and also begin to melt the snow on the mountains, by which the streams are fed, the latter being low or entirely dry during the winter and early spring. By the time the streams are mn- ning full of water, the work of irrigation must begin, and be kept up till the crops are harvested. The amount of irrigation required depends largely upon the fall of rain for the summer season, and somewhat also upon the character of the soil, but it is safe to say that during the irrigation season the farmer will be called upon tp work at least all day, and perhaps far into the night. Added to all this toil is a tolerable certainty tha:t, at the height of the season, when everybody wants water, the supply will fall short of the demand. To see one's crops perishing for want of water involves a mental anxiety scarcely less terri- ble than the most intense physical struggle, and this but one of the many drawbacks incidental to the farming operations in Colorado, as developed from year to year in the history of the country. Another serious matter is the plague of grass- hoppers, or locusts, which has several times en- tirely devastated the agricultural sections of the State, and to which the attention of the world has been directed. Experience seems to demonstrate that these visitations occur every tenth year, but this may be a coincidence merely, the only proof substantiating the theory being the fact that the latest visitations followed the first in about that order, the beginning and ending having been marked by a curious correspondence of dates, as well as of characteristics. The grasshopper problem has perplexed the wisest savans of two continents, and the Colorado ranchman only knows that they come in countless numbers and depart, leaving his fields as brown and bare as though they had never been planted. Nothing could well be more disheartening, or pro- vocative of profanity in the man of sin. Never- theless, the accounts of their ravages, and the description of their insatiate appetites, are often overdrawn. It is not true that they eat fences, wagons and agricultural implements, if the latter are left out of doors. They chew tobacco, appar- ently, judging from the exudations of their mas- ticatory organs, but proof is wanting that they either smoke or swear. Jesting aside, they are a dreaded scourge, but, under certain conditions, the Colorado farmers can and do successfully contend against them, and of late years, with their im- proved apphanoes of defense, the ranchmen laugh the young 'hoppers to scorn, no matter how numer- ously they are hatched out in and around their fields. It is only when swarms of hungry 'hop- pers alight in the midst of the growing crops for a hasty lunch that the heart of the ranchman sinks within his bosom, for then he knows that nothing he can do will save his fields from destruc- tion. It is now four years, however, since the locusts last invaded Colorado, to the damage of the hus- bandmen, and strong hopes are entertained that their visitations have ceased. No particular rea- son can be assigned for this belief, but it is strong in the minds of those most deeply inter- ested and those most naturally inclined to appre- hend further danger from this source. Perhaps prudence would suggest that allowance should be made for grasshopper visitations at least once in ten years, but it is certain that the farmers of Colorado . e^ - -^, :^ ^.^£Miii ^f: -^ HISTOEY OF COLORADO. 55 have lost much of their former fears that they would be driven into other pursuits, and are plowing and planting more vigorously than ever before. Said one of the most experienced husbandmen of the State to the writer, recently : " Nobody can tell anything about the grasshop- pers in Colorado or anywhere else. They have been here and may be here again, savans to the contrary notwithstanding. I may lose my crop by them next year, but while I am sure of water for irriga- tion, I can stand the grasshoppers and raise bushel for bushel with the Eastern farmers. They have to contend with drouth on the one hand and exces- sive rains on the other, each alike disastrous, while I can regulate my supply of moisture regardless of the rainfall, and with a positive certainty that the latter will never be excessive, even during harvest, when the most damage is usually done. Irrigation is an expense, but it is likewise a protection. It is a heavy insurance, but it saves my crops and insures a uniform yield of which Eastern farmers are entirely ignorant. They may have half a dozen poor crops in succession, and then almost a total fail- ure, whUe I have half a dozen good crops and then a grasshopper year, for which I ought to be pre- pared." The best farming lands of the State are found to lie along the eastern base of the mountains from north to south, and the best of these, perhaps, as far as development has gone, lie between the Platte and the Cache la Poudre River.s. Superi- ority of soil is not claimed for this belt, though its proximity to the mountains may have developed certain characteristics not possessed by localities more remote. Abundance of water has given it prominence and importance as a center of agricul- tural industry. The valley of the Platte River is, of course, the largest single body of agricultural land in the State, extending from Platte Caiion, twenty miles southwest of Denver, to Julesburg, in the extreme northeastern corner of the State. Thousands of acres of fertile lands line both sides of the river for this entire distance. Above Denver, and below that city for a distance of fifty or sixty miles, there are fine farms; below the junction of the Platte and the Poudre and the State line, there are occasional farms and frequent meadows, but no considerable agricultural settlements. Two causes operate to retard agricultural progress in the lower Platte Valley: first, the absence of railroad facili- ties, and, finally, the character of the river itself, which runs for its entire length, across the plains, over a bed of treacherous, shifting sand, in and through which the channel winds and turns and divides and changes so continually, that it is almost impossible to utilize the waters of- the stream for irrigation at certain points, and extremely difficult anywhere. If the current sets into the "head" of an irrigating canal, it carries with it enough sand to soon choke up the canal, but oftener a more serious trouble results from the channel changing to the opposite side of the stream, leaving the mouth of the irrigating canal as dry as the plains themselves. The smaller streams, particularly those which run over rocky or pebbly beds, are the best reli- ance of the farmers of Colorado, even though their volume of water may be restricted. Of this class, the Cache la Poudre is the principal, and its valley is perhaps the best illustration of what may be accomplished by irrigation in Colorado. From La Porte, where it leaves the mountains, to its confluence with the Platte, four miles below Evans and Greeley, the "Poudre," as it is univer- sally called in Colorado, is lined with improved farms, many of which are models of successful enterprise. At Fort Collins, near the head of this rich val- ley, is located the Agricultural College of the State, a fitting location for such an institution, surrounded, as it is, by some of the finest farms and best farming land in the State. The early history of this part of the State, apart from its agricultural features, is full of inter- est. The overland route to California led this way, and La Porte, which is now one of the most ^1 ■4v 56 HISTORY OF COLORADO. peaceful hamlets in all Colorado, was then a min- iature Julesburg, full of life and activity. Fort Collins, near by, was then a military post, though no fort was ever built there, and few soldiers guarded the post. There were Indians in those days, and some of the pioneer ranchmen met with many startling adventures in guarding against or resisting their depredations. To-day, however, and for many years, the valley has been singularly peaceful, bearing, in many respects, the aspect of an Eastern community. It is entirely agricultural, and the handsome towns of Fort Collins and Gree- ley, which nestle at either extremity, are as orderly as any New England village. Both of these towns, as well as Longmont, which hes a little south and west of them, the three constituting apexes of a triangle, are notable instances of the success of "colony" enterprises in Colorado. The Greeley colony was the best adver- tised, and has been most successful, but in less degree the others show the benefits of co-opera- tion. The history of the Greeley colony, although it deserves a separate chapter, has been written so well and so often by the leading newspapers of the whole country. East and West, that a brief re\'iew will be sufficient for the purpose of this volume. Established in 1870, at the suggestion of the lamented Horace Greeley, whose honored name it bears, and whose principles it largely per- petuates, it started with a fund of $150,000, which it invested in lands, irrigating canals, a mill power and a "colony fence" inclosing the entire tract covered by the purchase, thus providing against the necessity of interior fences. A town was laid off at the point where the Denver Pacific Piailroad crosses the "Poudre," and the land was appropriately subdivided, so that each colonist received a tract of land and a town lot, if desired, pr an equivalent in either lands or lots, at his option. All this property has advanced in value very largely, and farm property is particularly valuable under the Greeley canals. Some of the farmers were seriously embarrassed at first by the consider- able expense of "making a start " in a new coun- try under new conditions, and even with all the advantages of co-operation, a few failures resulted. It is not the purpose of the writer to conceal the truth in regard to farming operations in Colorado, and it must be admitted that not every Eastern farmer can and will succeed in this State, espe- cially if he is hampered by lack of means to enable him to prosecute his work to the best advantage. But the failures at Greeley were generally ac- counted for by some radical defect in the system pursued, and experience, even when dearly bought, was turned to good advantage by all concerned. Wheat, of course, has been the great staple, and its yield has often been enormous. Thirty, forty, or even fifty bushels per acre have been harvested from large fields, and sold at from 90 cents to $1.50 per bushel. Potatoes and all kinds of veg- etables came next in importance. Corn has not been a prolific crop, though profitable. The soil is well adapted to corn, but the nights are too cold for its rapid growth and full development. Of late years, the Greeley colonists have turned their attention to raising small fruits, with very gratifying success. Their strawberries are simply magnificent, and the yield equal to that of any part of the country, California not excepted. The crop never fails, and, despite the large production, pricey have been' maintained at high figures throughout the entire season. Berries are shipped to Denver and Cheyenne by rail, and these mar- kets, within fifty miles of Greeley, take the entire crop, and almost quarrel over it. The social features of Greeley life are still char- acterized by temperance and intellectual develop- ment. There is not now, and never has been, a saloon in the town of 2,000 inhabitants, and its schools are the best in the land. The schoolhouse is by far the best building in town, though the churches are numerous and not inconspicuous architecturally. JMore newspapers are taken and read at Greeley than at any place of its size in the country. The town itself supports two weekly -4^ HISTOBY OF COLORADO. 57 papers, and a third, published at Evans, a few miles distant, is liberally patronized. Magnificent as has been the development of the Poudre Valley since 1870, the next few years promises to eclipse the last decade. An immense irrigating canal, capable of watering 100,000 acres of land, is being built north of the already com- pleted canals on the north side, and thousands of acres of good farming land will soon be brought under cultivation thereby. This canal heads in the mountains, and the country it waters is tribu- tary to Fort Collins as well as Greeley — indeed, the former place, from its proximity to the moun- tains, where the water-supply is more abundant and stable, probably will reap a larger benefit from the new enterprise than its rival down the valley. This important enterprise demands special men- tion as the first effort to water a vast body of land with a single canal, and because its promoters are, for the most part, non-residents instead of Colo- rado citizens. The Colorado Mortgage and Invest- ment Company,of London, of which JMr. James Duff, of Denver, is resident manager, owns most of the stock in this canal, and much of the land to be watered thereby. The English Company, as it is commonly called, has done and is still doing much for the development of Colorado and Denver, first by loaning capital at lower rates of interest than formerly prevailed, and finally, by its own judicious investments, like the new hotel in Denver, which the Company is building at a cost of nearly half a million, and which will be by far the finest hotel in the West when completed. Another enterprise of great pith and moment to Denver is the pro- posed high-line canal, to water an immense area above the city, which the English Company is about to undertake as a sure and profitable invest- ment. Colorado has derived great benefit already from this influx of English capital, and Mr. DufF seems determined to show his faith in the Centen- nial State by further investments of like character. Fort Collins has achieved its greatest develop- ment since 1877, when the Colorado Central Railroad was extended past that place to a connection with the Union Pacific at Cheyenne. The follow- ing very truthful sketch of the place is copied from the prospectus of the AgTicultural College located at that point, and opened September 1, 1879 : " Fort Collins is located on the southern bank of the Cache la Poudre, about six miles east of the foot-hills of the snowy range and thirty-five miles south of the State line ; it is surrounded by a fer- tile and well watered region, including some of the best agricultural lands in the State. " Its elevation of 5,100 feet above the sea level gives it a pure, dry atmosphere, while its proximity to the mountains brings it within the limit of occa- sional rains, thus rendering the climate pleasant and salubrious, and adapting the soil to the culti- vation of the cereals. This region, comprising the counties of Larimer, Weld, Boulder, and parts of Arapahoe and Jefferson, is rendered accessible from the north and south by the Colorado Central Rail- road, which passes directly through Fort CoUins, and by the Denver Pacific Railway, both of which roads connect with the Union Pacific at Cheyenne and with the Kansas Pacific at Denver. The streams draining this region, the Cache la Poudre, Big Thompson, and other tributaries of the South Platte, furnish an inexhaustible supply of water for purposes of irrigation. It is estimated that the great irrigating canal now in process of construc- tion and supplied from the Cache la Poudre, will bring at least 100,000 acres of unproductive land under cultivation. The College has been most judiciously located with reference to this large extent of farming land, in the midst of communi- ties refined and progressive and very fast surround- ing themselves with all the comforts of the most advanced localities in the West." South of the Poudre, along the base of the mountains, are a number of valleys devoted to ag- riculture, among which the Big and Little Thomp- son the St. Vrain, Left Hand Boulder and Ralston Creek are chief Longmont, settled by a Chicago colony about 1870, is located on the St. Vrain, in the midst of a very rich farming country. The ^- -^ 58 HISTORY OF COLORADO. St. Vrain is one of the most beautiful of Colorado rivers. It rises at the base of Long's Peak, and, though boasting of no grandly romantic cafion like Boulder, Clear Creek and the Platte or Arkansas, it flows through scenes of sylvan beauty strangely enchanting to the eye and the aesthetic tastes. Boulder Creek waters a fertile valley on its way across the plains, dotted by handsome farms ; but its greatest charm is in the mountains. Its canon has been pronounced the finest in the State, and its falls are famous evei-jTvhere. At the point of its departure from the range is located the town of Boulder, an interesting city of considerable conse- quence as an agricultural and mining center. The farmers of Boulder Valley find a market for their crops in the mining camps of their own county, and their county capital reaps the benefit of the exchange. Boulder is also the seat of the State University. The valley of Clear Creek, though limited in extent, is a veritable garden. Lying between Den- ver and Golden, and equally accessible to each (either by rail or private conveyance), it may be called the market garden of those cities. The Bear Creek Valley, a few miles farther south, is similarly situated, and a good farm in either of them may be counted a treasure to its fortunate owner. South of the divide, between the waters of the Platte and the Arkansas, agriculture has not yet advanced to the position it occupies in Northern Colorado, though the conditions are all fiivoraljle. In time, no doubt, the arable lands of this district will be developed as well as those of the western slope, which in some respects are superior to those of the Atlantic side. The agricultural future of Colorado is enshrouded in much present uncertainty, and opinions differ very widely concerning it. Some profess to believe that at no distant day the vast plains will become a grand garden ; that monster canals will distribute water for irrigation through a series of lakes or reservoirs from the mountains to the eastern limit of the State, and from Wyoming to New Mexico. Congress has been continually memorialized to aid the State in this matter by grants of arid land under some act similar to the " swamp-land bill," by which so many States have profited throughout the West. It is argued with great force that instead of ditches for drainage, the arid lands of Colorado only need ditches for irrigation to make them valuable, and it is claimed that the General Gov- ernment, now deriving little or no income or bene- fit from these lands, would be the gainer vastly by their reclamation, while the State, with a mining population constantly increasing, would be enabled to feed its own people without recourse on Kansas for supplies. No doubt there is force in this argu- ment, and the interest of the people in the ques- tion has been repeatedly evinced, not alone by memorials to Congress, but by conventions to con- sider extensive systems of irrigation. In 1873, an irrigation convention was held in Denver whifth was attended by the Governors of several Western States and Temtories, and by the leading agriculturists of the State as well as dele- gates from Utah, where the same system prevails. Beyond an interchange of views and the inevitable memorial to Congress, nothing came of this con- vention, but the address of Hon. S. H. Elbert, then Territorial Governor of Colorado, and now one of the Justices of the Supreme Court, was a compact, logical and in every way admirable state- ment of the case under discussion, which should have had more weight in Washington than was accorded to it, or to the memorial of the conven- tion. There are those, however, and the writer is among them, who have grave doubts whether the benefits to be derived from any system of irrigation under the auspices of the State or General Govern- ment would inure to the benefit of each or either. Though the arid lands of Colorado find no sale at Government prices, and, perhaps, would not bring more than 10 cents per acre at auction, they are all productive in one sense, and the State reaps a large benefit therefrom every year, in its ^1 -V 'A HISTORY OF COLORADO. 59 production of beef, mutton and wool. The stock interests would surely suffer if the plains were " reclaimed," but whether farming, with the added expense of costly irrigation, could successfully compete with Kansas cheap production, is not equally certain. Kansas, which lies right at the door of Colo- rado, is undoubtedly the finest agricultural State in the Union, and is gi'owing rapidly in our direc- tion. The corn and wheat of Kansas are already sold in our markets at prices which tend to dis- courage our own farmers, though, happily, the latter still have a home market for their crops ! which aifords them protection against Kansas competition. The home demand is enlarged by the stock interest, which produces nothing but beef. Reduce the home demand by excluding the bulk of the stock men, and at the same time double the agricultural production, and we may have a state of aifairs which neither the farmers nor the State will appreciate as a public blessing. These objections, however, may be more than met by the rapid increase of our mining population in the next five years, creating a home market which the present agricultural resources of the State will be entirely unable to supply. In that case, more farms and more farmers will be among the actual necessities of the country. CHAPTER XI. STOCK RAISING IN COLORADO. ENOUGH has already been said in this work to indicate that the pastoral resources of Colorado are second only to the industry of mining in point of profit if not of production. The net profit of stock-growing exceeds that of agTiculture every year. Probably during the decade preceding the eventful year when the mines of Leadville began to yield up their hidden treasures, the net profit of mining over and above the exj)ense incurred in its prosecution, was not much greater than the net profit of the stock business. This is a startling statement, and, unfortunately, or fortunately, as the ease may be, the figures are not at hand whereby it can be supported. It is equally impossible to say how much money was swallowed up in unlucky mining enterprises, and how much was made by raising stock while the bu,siness was comparatively new and the range not overcrowded as it is now in many directions. When cattle could be brought to maturity and market at a cost of about f 5 per head, and sold at $.30, $40, or even $50, it requires no arithmetician or "light- ning calculator,'' or even Col. Sellers, to see that there were " millions in it." 'On the plains of Colorado and "Western Kansas, cattle succeeded the buffalo as naturally as white men succeeded the Indians. It could not have been any secret to the early settlers that stock would live and fatten on the nutritious grasses of the plains and mountains all the year round, for they saw buffalOj antelope, deer, elk and other gram- niverous animals depending entirely for their sus- tenance upon the same, but in spite of this " ocular proof," it appears to be a fact, as already stated elsewhere, that the father of the stock business in Colorado turned his cattle out in the fall expecting tliem to die during the winter, and was surprised to find them fat and flourishing in the spring. Even at this late day, with thousands of cattle roaming the plains on every hand, winter and sum- mer, some stranger is always found willing to swear that they must inevitably starve to death in the winter. These doubting Thomases, impressed with ancient heresies regarding the Great American Desert, are aUke incapable of realizing that cattle can live on our grasses the year round and that the finest wheat and vegetables in the world can be produced from our soil. ^1 ^ 60 HISTORY OF COLOEADO. However lightly Coloradoans may esteem the intelligence of these people, they do not much care to combat their erroneous ideas by argument, and cattle-growers are especially indifferent on the sub- ject. On the contrary, they do not care how many people are deterred from entering the business by fears of losing their investments. Wide as the range is, the supply of water is limited in dry sea- sons, and they do not want to be crowded by new- comers out of their chosen localities. Though the " range '' is free to all, the water front is usually taken up by the home ranches of cattle and sheep growers, who own the land adjacent thereto and thereby control the range back of their respective claims. Eneroacliments upon these vested rights are rare, but if the country should become more crowded by a decided increase in the number of cattle-uTOwers, trouble might ensue or the interests of the parties might be endangered in other respects. Prior to the advent of railroads in Colorado, the stock business was limited by the home demand and such (}-, )vernment contracts as could bo secured for the supply of beef to interior and neigh- boring military posts. The railroads, however, gave a great impetus to each of these demands and also opened up a new trade, which has of late years exceeded the aggregate of both the others combined. ?Iore Colorado beef is shipped East every year than is used by the people of the State and by the Government, too, within the limits of Colorado. The magnitude of this business under the new development is something astonishing. Ne.xt to Texas, Colorado probably produces more beef than any other State in the Union, and, probably, more sheep and wool than any other State except New 3[exico. The business is not confined to any one section of the State, but extends everywhere, even into the Indian lieseivation. Some years ago, the Indian Bureau, in a lucid interval seldom duplicated, drove a band of cattle to the White Kiver Agency for the purpose of supplying beef to the Utes, using only the increase of the herd for that purpose. The Indians have been supplied with fresh beef regularly since that time, and the herd has increased desi^ite this constant drain upon it, till even the Government is likely to have "beef to sell," besides what the Indians use. These cattle are said to yield excellent beef the year round, though knowing no feed except the rich grass of the White River Valley. Denver's best beef, not excepting the corn-fed article, comes from the Snake River country in Northwestern Colorado, and this Snake River beef is often on the market when the Plains cattle are too poor to kill. Nor is Southwestern Colorado one whit behind the North in this particular. The Animas and other valleys of the San Juan country produce the finest beef as well as the best vegetables and other crops. There seems to be no doubt that the entire western slope of the State is a good stock country. It is with the east, however, particularly the great plains, that the pastoral interests of Colo- rado are principally identified. On these almost boundless prairies, thousands upon thousands of horses, cattle and sheep range throughout the year, and maintain themselves in generally good condition without any food save that prepared for them by the bountiful hand of nature. There are numerous methods of enaaoino- in the stock business, of course, but they all resolve them- selves at last into one general system, which cen- ters around a home ranche or camp, and extends pretty nearly over the entire surrounding country. Having secured a ranche and suitable outbuildings, including a large corral, with a strong solid wall seven or eight feet high, the next step is to buy cattle. This may be done occasionally "on the range," from some party who finds himself over- st(jcked or who wants to quit the business, but gen- erally it is best to buy from the Ti'xas stock driven up from the South every summer, wdiich comes cheaper and answers admirably for breeding pur- poses when crossed with high grade American bulls. All stock must be branded when bought, and all cah-es must be branded before they leave their mother's side. *7'; ■f^ -^ HISTOEY OP COLORADO. 61 The camp should be located near a permanent water-supply, and it is well to purchase or enter 160 acres or more and inclose it with a stock-fence as a kind of gigantic barnyard. Horses kept for use should not be allowed to run loose on the prairie, and to keep them stabled or picketed is troublesome and unsatisfactory. A camp outfit must include wagon and harness suitable for heavy work, tough draft horses and a number of native ponies or bronchos for saddle use. Of the latter, there can hardly be too many. It costs little or nothing to keep them, and, during the entire sum- mer, to say the least, and often in winter, there is enough hard riding to be done to require at least three horses for every herder employed. Leading stockmen almost invariably raise and train their own ponies, finding it profitable as well as con- venient to do so. Their value ranges from $25 to 850, and the trouble of raising them is but slightly greater than that of raising a steer. The "band" must be looked after a good deal, of course, and carefully "corralled" every night; but, by con- stant handling, they become thoroughly domesti- cated, and seldom or never stray far away from camp, unless stampeded. The use of the word "band" above brings to mind some of the peculiarities of stock nomencla- ture in Colorado. A collection of horses is always a "band." The cattle owned by one man or firm are, collectively, a "herd," but any number of them less than the whole is a "bunch." A "flock" of sheep, however, may be all or only a part of the number owned by a firm or an individual. To speak of a "herd" of horses or sheep is to betray the tender-foot at once. Given, then, the home ranchc, with its stables, corrals, etc., its band of ponies, its foreman and assistants, and all the machinery of a cattle camp is complete. The outfit may cost anywhere from $500 to $1,000, but rarely more than the latter sum, no allowance being made for display and not much for home comfort. Few cattle ranches on a large scale are enlivened by the presence of the gentler sex, and the men crowd together, generally. in a small cabin or "sod" house of two rooms — one for stores and cookery, and the other for sleep- ing and lounging, whenever opportunity ofi'ers. For an ordinary camp, the working force includes about six men. Strict discipline is enforced by the fore- man, who is an autocrat in his way, and who issues his orders with the air and brevity of a drill sergeant. Another important personage is the cook, who is also a sort of "keeper" of the camp and stores, and is likewise charged with numberless little duties, such as mending bridles and harness, doctoring sick horses, going to the post office, and the like. He must be ready to serve a meal at a moment's notice, and at times his position is very trying; but when the foreman and herders are away on the round-ups or are shipping beef, he is often left en- tirely alone for weeks, with nothing whatever to do but to guard the camp, cook his own meals, and occasionally turn uj] a little "grub" for a passing- acquaintance or stranger, the ranche being open alike to such without money and without price. Stockmen are the very soul of hospitality, and there exists among them a subtle sort of free- masonry by which they make themselves at home wherever they go among each other, whether on business or for pleasure. After the cook comes the herders, to the num- ber of three .or four or more, as the case may be. A herd of three or four thousand cattle can be looked after by half a dozen men, with a little as- sistance during the round-up and branding season. The herder of cattle is essentially different from the sheep-herder. The latter must live with his flock, nor trust it out of his sight, but the former exer- cises only a general supervision over his herd, never undertaking to limit its wanderings, and content if he only knows, in a general way, its whereabouts. The range is wide, but cattle sel- d( >m stray far from home, save at times when no number of herdsmen could restrain them. Should any or all of them " stampede " from any cause, nothing can be done but to follow them leisurely, and drive them back when found. ■^ 63 HISTORY OF COLORADO. The life of a cattle-herder is wild, roving, ad- venturous. His headquarters, and hindquarters, too, are always in the saddle, and he soon learns to ride like a Centaur. No finer sight of the kind can be seen anywhere, than a " cow-boy " mounted on his fleet but sure-footed pony, giving chase to a young and lively Colorado steer, as full of dash and undaunted mettle as the man himself Away they fly across the prairie, at lightning speed, then, sud- denly, as quick as thought, the bovine turns and doubles on his course, while the pony and rider follow suit with equal celerity. Again and again they turn, the pony following every movement of the animal it is pursuing, and none but a skilled and well-trained rider can keep his seat in the sad- dle throughout the chase. Accidents are not infrequent, even among these champion riders, but in almost every instance they result from an unex- pected stumble of the pony over a hole in the ap- parent dead level of the prairie. The wages paid to these men are not high, ranging from |25 to $50 per month, but, as they include board and lodging and most of the necessa- ries of life, and, as clothing costs them little, they manage to save something every month, and soon find themselves, if they are careful and economical, ahead of the world and in a fair way to become proprietors on a small scale. They are usually allowed to invest their savings in cattle, which are "turned in" with their employer's herd, and cost nothing for their keeping, while the herder is em- ployed on the ranch. When he accumulates two or three hundred head, he is ready to begin busi- ness himself, generallytaking a second small bunch of cattle to herd " on shares," his share being one- half of the increase. Colorado afi'ords few better openings for young men of economical habits than cattle-ranching, but the reckless and improvident spend all their money as fast as it is earned, and not only fail to accumulate anything for themselves, but find that they will not be trusted with the care of stock for other owners. Much has been written about the "cattle kings" of Colorado, their countless herds and the princely domain over which they wander. A good deal of this is nonsense, but the operations of some men, now or hitherto engaged in this trade, have been very great. The late John W. IliflF, of Denver, was the most successful cattle man of his time. His stock ranged over the entire eastern portion of the State, and his ranches were scattered up and down the Platte, from Julesburg to near Greeley, but the stories told about his princely domain were true only in part. He did not control the entire range where his cattle roamed, but shared it in common with the smaller operators. It was true, however, that he could travel over the country for a week and always eat and sleep at one of his own ranches. His income was princely, too, and his wealth was immense. He died in 1878, and his business has been gradually closed out since that time, though it will take some years to settle up his estate. It is said that $250,000 worth of beef was sold by his executors last year, without making much inroad upon his immense herds. Mr. IliiT did not commence business a poor man, as is often stated, but his capital was limited, and, in his early days, he devoted himself to Grovern- ment contracts and to supplying dressed beef to butchers, at wholesale. At one time, he supplied dressed beef to all the military posts along the line of the Union Pacific Railroad. He was a shrewd, hard-working, thorough man of business, looking closely after every detail and often following the round-ups with his men, eating out of their camp-ket- tles and keeping as sharp a watch for the "L. F." brand as his own foremen. Other cattle kings grew indolent as wealth increased, but IlifF seemed to grow more active and industrious until death stepped in and ended his busy life in its very prime. Had he lived long enough to carry out the grand schemes which inspired him, no one knows to what gigantic proportions his business would have grown. ^ Many other men and firms in Colorado have created colossal fortunes in stock-raising or are now in a fair way to become millionaires, but the business is less profitable of late, particularly to new investors. -f^ Iili|»ii|iii, I i $ "lllpllll'l'l"' 1 „,, II lIj I 'ii»'lifi'Wii'«ii' iii|jiili^¥/( '■*' @_^ l±^ HISTORY OF COLORADO. 65 The i-ange is getting crowded about the water- fronts, and sheep-men are driving cattle-growers back from their old ranches into new quarters, north and east. Along the base of the mountains, agriculture is encroaching rapidly upon the former domains of stockmen, almost to the exclusion of the latter, who are moving their herds to a distance. In almost every locality, however, the problem of space is partially solved by the introduction of a better class of stock, a smaller number of which will produce more money than a larger herd of the old "long-horn" variety. Texas cows are kept for breeding purposes, but high-grade American bulls are almost invariably found on every ranche and with every herd. The cross is known as " Colorado natives'' in the market reports, and makes excel- lent beef, while its Texas blood enables it to stand the rigors of Colorado's "Italian'' climate without too much risk. Blooded stock and thorough American cattle thrive excellently well in Colorado, but they must be cared for in winter, and the expense of handling them is very much greater than that of " native" cattle. Sheep in Colorado are singularly free from the diseases so common to them elsewhere, and there is much profit as well as much labor in handhng them. The losses are sometimes large during heavy storms in winter, and many lambs fall victims to the ravages of the prairie wolves and coyotes — lean and hungry midnight marauders, whose stealthy steps never betray their presence. With proper food and shelter, however, sheep endure the winter storms very well, and their four-footed enemies are fast disappearing. The breeding of a better class of horses is begin- ning to attract much attention throughout the State. The ordinary " broncho " is at best a rather valueless investment, save for herding stock, and seldom brings more than |50, while a good Ameri- can horse seldom falls below double that amount, and it costs but a trifle more to raise the latter. But if the broncho's cash value is less, he is more reliable for hard and rough riding, whether on the mountain or plain. His sinews are steel, and his tireless gallop is a marvel of endurance. Yet, in- breeding develops the same characteristics in other horses, and some of the best long-distance racers in the West have been developed among the thorough- breds of Colorado. Thorough-breeding is still in its infancy in Colo- rado, however, and no one can surely say what the " coming horse " of Colorado will be, or whether he will be able to hold his own with Eastern stables. Thus far, but few Eastern horses have been able to compete with Colorado-bred stock in trials of speed on our own turf, but this is accounted for on the very natural and reasonable theory that Colorado air is " too thin " for equine lungs unac- customed thereto, while home-bred horses, on the coitrary, are thereby inspired to greater exertions. The I'everse would be equally true, no doubt, and Colorado-bred- horses would probably fare hard in the air of lower altitudes. Returning to the main question — the breeding of beef cattle for home and Eastern markets — -it would be interesting, if it were possible, to give statistics of the enormous trade in Colorado alone, not to mention New Mexico and Wyoming, which, for breeding purposes, are practically parts of Colo- rado itself. A few months ago, an intelligent cor- respondent of the New York Commercial Bulletin, writing from Colorado, gave the following : " At the East, we have but an imperfect concep- tion of its value and rapid growth. But the simple fact that the exports from Colorado alone, during the past five years, have exceeded in value the ship- ments of bullion, and the further fact that what is known as the great cattle-raising belt is estimated to-day to contain over fifteen million head, worth upward of $300,000,000, are calculated to very materially expand those conceptions. The corre- spondent states that there are many reasons point- ing to the ultimate absorption of the business on the plains in the hands of the large owners, whose competition wipes out the profits of the small ranchers. Already the Ilifis, the Bosters, Dorsey, Waddingham, Craig, Hall Brothers, and others, have each nearly as many cattle as existed in either V^s ■^ ^1 t^ 66 HISTOEY OF COLOEADO. of the territories a year ago, and together, have more than existed in New Mexico, Colorado and Nebraska combined. Just now there is great alarm on account of the fear that the pleuro-pneu- monia will bankrupt the stockmen of the plains. If it gains a fast hold here, it may be impossible to stop it. There will be strong pressure for such legislation at the next session of Congress as will keep it at a distance. The Western members nearly all favor stringent measures, whatever these may be, and hence it is generally certain that some- thing will be done." The " alarm " of which the correspondent writes was more imaginary than real, and yet any fatal disease would work incalculable injury to the industry. The fear of future consolidation is something more tangible. As the big fish invari- ably swallow the little ones, so the large herds must swallow or drive out the smaller ones. The Huerfano Valley, in Southern Colorado, near Pueblo, is almost monopolized by the Colorado Cattle Company, a wealthy corporation which bought the famous Craig ranche and other claims in that locality, and have from 20,000 to 30,000 head of cattle ranging over that country, to the exclusion of small operators. Should the time ever come when Congress, anxious to " realize " on the pasture-lands of Colo- rado, oifers them in large tracts at low figures, the bone and sinew would be knocked entirely out of the stock business in this State. It is claimed that, under the present arrangement, the cattle range produces no revenue to the General Grovern- ment, being free to all comers, and no one being willing or able to pay the Government price of $1.25 per acre for land worth in open market not more than one-fifth of that sum. The cattle kings, however, are willing to buy it in tracts of five or ten thousand acres at its cash value, and Congress is tempted to make that disposition of it, rather than let it lie waste. The arguments in favor of this plan are specious, and well calculated to de- ceive the average Congressman. No doubt the General Government would realize something from the sale of these lands in the manner and on the terms proposed, but it would be at the expense of thousands of poor but honest stockmen, who would be " squeezed " out of the business thereby. Nor is it altogether certain that the " kings " themselves would be benefited by the working of the plan proposed, although they could protect themselves against its disadvantages better than men with less capital at their command. The weight of opinion among experienced stockmen tends to the theory that the range should remain open rather than be closed. An inclosure of even 50,000 acres would hardly be large enough for a herd of 10,000 cattle, and there are many such herds in Colorado, not to mention many larger ones. The winter storms, which are so fatal to stock interests in this locality, are usually local. On the open range, cattle can drift away from bad weather, and often, by traveling from twenty to fifty miles, they find an open country, with plenty of grass and water for their needs, when their home range is covered with snow. If they were confined within an inclosure, or even stopped by a fence in their stampede before a storm, many of them would perish who might otherwise escape. Of course, the stampeding and consequent scattering of stock during the winter involves considerable trouble and expense, connected with the annual " round-up " and separation of the intermingled brands, but the very convenient arrangement for rounding up the cattle of the whole State, under the operation of the stock law, reduces this business to an exact science, and leaves little more to be desired. To the stranger in Colorado, nothing connected with the cattle business can be more interesting O than a general round-up on the plains, where the cattle are abundant. It is not unusual to see 10,- 000 head gathered together in a compact but mov- ing, animated mass — a forest of horns and heads, t<:],ssing up and down like the troubled waves of a sea. Circling around the outside of the immense hc]-d are the well-mounted "cowboys," holding the cattle in check and position while the process of "cutting out" goes on. To "cutout" ^: ^1 HISTORY OF COLORADO. 67 stock means to ride into tlie herd a little way, sin- gle out an animal bearing your brand, separate it from the herd and head it toward and into your own particular "bunch" on the prairie a short dis- tance away. The process appears simple enough, but it is easier described than accomplished. The instinct of the beast leads it to circle back toward the main herd, and it must be headed off at every turn and tack. Even this is not sufficient; at every turn and tack it must be edged a little nearer to the group where it belong.s. When finally it is joined to its fellows, there is no more trouble, for it will never think of leaving the small herd for the larger one, and it may be driven away with the rest in perfect peace and serenity. When an owner has separated his cattle from the main herd, it is no trouble at all to drive them back to his home range, unless something happens to stampede them en route. Very curious are the conditions under which Plains cattle are stampeded. Thorough Texans are the most timid, the Colorado stock being somewhat domesticated by more handling as they grow up. Whole herds of Texas steers have been stampeded by a rider dismounting from his pony near them. They are accustomed to the sight of men on horseback, and seem to consider man and horse a sort of compound animal, but when the two sepa- rate themselves from each other the average Texas steer don't know what to make of the spectacle. Eastern readers may wonder why a chapter on stock interests should not include some mention of pork, but in point of fact, hogs are not a Colorado staple. Some few are produced in the agricultural sections, and with profit, too, but the number is limited to the capacity of the farm for producing suitable feed. They get little corn, and are-mostly raised on what they can pick up around house and barn, with an occasional meal of vegetables. Only the best varieties are raised, principally Berkshires, whose capacity for rooting a living out of the gi'ound fits them for Colorado pecuUarly. CHAPTER XII. LEADVILLE AND CALIFORNIA GULCH. A WRITER, referring more particularly to mining in Park County in the early days, said that " Colorado has always been afflicted with periodic silver excitements, but has not yet been able to realize anything from her undoubted silver deposits." If he could but retrace the ground he traveled over then and be a witness to the opening up of the vast section of carbonates that to-day, at Leadville and vicinity, challenge the admiration and awaken the enthusiasm of the people of the entire continent, he would say that the day he pre- dicted had arrived and the silver deposits revealed. The history of California Gulch began as early as 1860, when a band of miners from Central crossed over the Park Range of mountains and entered the gulch that was destined to enjoy a brief season of notoriety as a gold-producing region, and then lapse back for many years into obscurity, only to awaken to a newer history, whose pages are to gleam and glow for ages. The gulch was full of prospectors before the summer was over, and a prosperous camp betokened that the precious metal was there. But the lim- ited water-supply was a great drawback to the development of claims, and the working season was short by reason of the great altitude. For several years, the most available ground was worked over and with returns that were generally satisfac- tory. Up to the close of 1865, it was thought- that over three millions were taken out. From that year, miners began gradually to abandon the country, and, in 1860, production had dropped to $60,000, and to $20,000 in 1 876. It was the old story, so familiar in mining history, told once more. :^ -^ 68 HISTORY OF COLORADO. In 1860-61, placer mining in the gulch formed the great attraction for the major number of adventurers flocking into the country. The towns of Buckskin, Hamilton, Montgomery and Pairplay rose like mushrooms in the night and instantly became centers for that erratic life so peculiar to new mining countries, and so significant of the inborn passion of human kind for greed of gold. In such a population as was thus gathered, the ele- ments of permanency were not to be found. But the gold-seeker is intent upon one object only, and all else must remain in abeyance. The restlessness of his nature concentrates on one thing only ; and if the grains of glittering gold he seeks are not in such quantities as take the fancy of the moment, it is but the work of another moment for him to pack up his traps and seek newer pastures. The history of California in the matter of stampedes has been repeated in Colorado, with results that have been fully as ruinous to the stability of towns and the permanent prosperity of the State. Few tarried long in one place. Were men making one ounce per day ? Shortly came tidings of places where two ounces were being obtained, and straight- way the beehive life of the spot relapsed into the silence of obscurity. Shortly, most of the mining camps in this district met the fate of their kin- dred camps in other parts of the country, and only two or three settled down into any degree of per- manency. And yet, all the while that California Gulch had been worked over for gold, the miners daily threw aside as worthless, a very Ophir of exhaustlcss treasure. During all the time that gulch mining was going on, the miners suffered much inconve- nience from heavy bowlders that they were obliged to move out of their way. The character of the rock they had no suspicion of, and did not stop to investigate. It was not until 1876, that attention began to be drawn to the peculiar formations now so universally known as carbonates. It is uncer- tain who were the original discoverers or locators. Messrs. Stevens and Wood, a Mr. Durham and Maurice Hayes & Bro., seem to have been quietly pursuing an examination of the deposits. Each made carbonate of lead locations, and firmly believed in the mineral wealth then so little under- stood. In 1877, miners began to drift in from the camps in the northern counties of the State, and, in June, the first building on the original town site of Leadville was put up. In 1877, the district began to assume impor- tance as a mining center, and, perhaps a thousand men, by the fall of that year, were scattered over the hills that surround the town. Some shafts were sunk, but not much paying mineral was mined. Only four or five mines were paying for the working. In March, 1878, the first sale of mining property that suddenly aroused the attention of the outside world, was made when four claims, owned by poor, hardworking men, were sold to a company for a round quarter of a million dollars. From this time the finger of destiny pointed to Leadville, and is still lifted. The tide of immigra- tion since that time has been on the flood, and there seems to be no possibiUty of its ebbing back, leaving a barren waste behind. Men came and looked and wondered. Capital poured in, but those who handled it, put to themselves the question of the permanency of the mines, and, for a long time, hesitated. But while the many waited, here and there a more adventurous one — having faith in the Star of Silver shining so splendidly among the hills — invested thousands and reaped millions, and then those who had hung behind pressed eagerly forward. New mines were opened daily, and pur- chasers for "holes in the ground" that merely gave promise of reaching mineral were readily found. The beggar of one day became the million- aire of the next. The " tenderfoot," fresh from the States, was as likely to be successful, nay, if anything, more so, than the experienced miner, who for years had trudged over the hills, uncon- sciously kicking fortune, like a football, from beneath his feet. Meanwhile, as a natural consequence, the town grew. From a few small slab cabins in 1876, the r^ 4i/^G£^^^- -4^ HISTORY OF COLORADO. 69 year 1879 sees it a well and substantially built city, having brick blocks, well-laid-out streets, water-works, gas-works, opera-houses, daily news- papers, banks, and all the adjuncts that make up great and prosperous cities. The question of the future is no longer discussed, save only that of the extent to which it will grow. Its voting popula- tion already outnumbers that of Denver. It has one more daily paper already. No week passes but the discovery of new mines adds to its impor- tance, and if their durability and extent has, to a certain degree, become assured, the next few years will work wonders that will make even the expe- rience of the last two years fall into the shade. The town of Leadville is beautifully located on the western slope of Ball Jlountain, one of the most elevated peaks of the Mosquito Range, about two miles from the Arkansas River, and directly opposite Mount Massive, one of the most majestic peaks in the main range, known as the Continental Divide. West of this chain, the rivers discharge their waters into the Pacific Ocean. The town is well laid out, with the streets crossing at right angles. It was abundantly supplied, in its earlier days, with water from the Arkansas River, brought many miles in ditches, as well as from the small mountain streams which flow along on either side of the city. But the growth of the town was so great that, in the fall of 1878, a sys- tem of water-works began, which was completed early in 1879, by which the city now has an inex- haustible supply of pure water for all purposes, and there is but little need of fear from fire. The elevation is 10,500 feet above the level of the sea, or nearly two miles directly up in the air above the capital. It cannot be said of the town that it is the healthiest in the world. Many stig- matize it as the unhealthiest one in the country. It is unquestionably true that a gi-eat deal of sick- ness prevails there. But few find that they can remain and breathe the rarefied air year in and year out. The winter months are unusually severe. Pneumonia, erysipelas and heart disease are the prevailing complaints, and death seems to come more suddenly there than elsewhere ; that is to say, there are no lingering weeks of sickness. The work of the Destroying Angel, when once begun, is rapid. On the 1st day of July, 1879, there were prob- ably twenty thousand people in the town. Neces- sarily, buildings sprang up by magic. Business houses, hotels, banks, churches, dwellings, all were boosted up as fast as workmen could push them, and the sound of the hammer of the artisan scarcely ceased from one month's end to the other, night and day. Points that were covered with the pines of the forest one month, the next became streets of trafiio with cabins and frame dwellings in all stages of erection, many of them occupied before being finished. One hundred arrivals per day is a low average estimate of the people who came flocking to the new El Dorado from all parts of the Union ; from Maine as well as Texas, from Ore- gon and from Florida. The town was early incor- porated into a city, with a Mayor and Board of Aldermen, an active police department put in order, an efiicient fire department organized. Everything in the city grew in proportion to the development of the mines ; as these in 1877 would pass from hand to hand for a few thousands, and in 1879 command millions, so town lots that brought but $25 in the spring of 1878, brought $5,000 in the summer of 1879, and many real- estate operators were made rich thereby. The principal business streets, at the present writing, we name in the order of their importance : Harrison avenue. Chestnut, State, Main and Pine streets, Lafayette, Carbonate, Jefferson and Lincoln avenues. The banks, principal public buildings and hotels are located on Harrison avenue' and Chestnut street. That Leadville is a lively town may well be imagined ; but one can hardly realize it who has not stood within its borders and witnessed the mighty flood of humanity that, day and night, in a never-ceasing tide, surges through the principal thoroughfares. Its great wealth, its increasing prosjJerity, naturally make it the point to which ^'- , > 70 HISTOKY OF COLORADO. converge all the elements of social and business activity, and all classes are represented, from the Mexican greaser to the son of an ex-President. The man of prominence in public life who has not seen Leadville will soon be set down as being behind the age, and if a United States Senator cannot say to his comrades that he has been impor- tuned to buy (in a quiet way) a gold brick that the owner is compelled to part with because of circum- stances beyond his control, etc., etc., why, he is looked upon as having missed an experience that might have proved valuable to him. Leadville by daylight is a sight to behold. The streets are full of teams of all kinds, the sidewalks of men, mostly, also, of all kinds. Hariison ave- nue and Chesnut street are the main channels through which the tides of humanity flow. Oftentimes, at the banks, men stand in rows long lengthened out, awaiting an opportunity to deposit rolls of greenbacks or their slips of checks that indicate figures well up into the thousands. The resonant voice of the auctioneer sounds out upon the air every hour of the day, importuning this one or that one, or the other, to buy at a tre- mendous sacrifice, some article that he has no use for. Under the windows of the hotels, around the corner against the sunny side of the wall, in num- berless other places, can be seen groups of men whose talk of mines is like the chatter of a parrot ceaselessly repeating the one cry it has learned. The changes on the word "assay" are numberless, even as are the webs that are woven by the mining spider for the tenderfooted fly who, in speculative mood, is invited to enter and — ^be made happy, perhaps, by the purchase of a twenty-million-dollar mine for twenty hundred dollars, because the owner, my dear sir, lacks the money to develop it. If there ever is a point when the thoughtful-minded might stand for hours and find the study of human- ity a fascinating one, it is at the post oiSce at Lead- ville, in watching the countenances of those who come and go, come and go, in one unceasing stream, a living tide, the bubbles of whose feelings seem to float upon their faces as ripples float outward when a pebble drops into a stream. Eager anticipation on arrival gives way to blank, utter despondency on departure, with some. Others hurry in, with box-key in hand, and soon emerge with a handful of correspondence not half so highly prized as is the one dirty brown envelope in which you can see the crooked scrawl of some hand of loved one far away at home in the States, that is all unused to frequent correspondence. This, in the hand of the man in the brown garb of the miner, is often worth more to him than a letter would be to another con- taining drafts to an untold amount, for it has come to him from home, that word more blessed than any other word to the wanderer among the hills. But if Leadville by daylight is a sight to be- hold, Leadville by gaslight is still more wonderful and far more suggestive. The teams are absent from the streets, safely housed in corral and stall ; but the men — and a few women — are around, and the streets are fairly alive with excitement. The teamsters are out for " a lark,'' and the miners are swarming in to " take in the sights." The thea- ters and variety-shows, whose handbills have been scattered over the town during the day, now have their bands out, helping to drum up an audience. The saloons — but who can describe these ? — are full, and painted-faced women are running to and fro from the bar to the different groups at the tables, with their salver, on which rests foaming beer and the more insidious liquors. It is not sur- prising to know that $500 is often taken in one saloon of an evening. Then, the gambling-houses are in full blast, and the old adage of " Easy come, easy gone," is nightly illustrated in these dens of infamy and hot-beds of crime. " Life in Leadville," one writer has observed, " tends to prodigality, be- cause those who come on business or pleasure, or to stay, are all bent on seeing what there is to see, regardless of expense, and with as little delay as possible." But life in such a town tends to profli- gacy as well. It is not to be understood that the level of soci- ety in Leadville is wholly low. By no means ; but the lower levels undoubtedly predominate. As ^\ -V -^ HISTOEY OF COLORADO. 71 time goes by, and a greater stability is given to the institutions, and permanence to the homes, the ele- ments that go to make up the higher social life will increase and have their due effect. But great lawlessness and vice are prevalent throughout the carbonate camp, and when, after nightfall, one can hardly ride out three miles from the center of the town without running the risk of a bullet, if the demand, " Hands up ! " is not complied with ; or if passing along the sidewalk, one is lucky if a stray shot, intended for some one else, does not crash through the windows of a low grog-shop, and reach him, it cannot be said that Leadville has, as yet, settled down to that security of life, limb and property, which prevails elsewhere throughout the State.* The best grades of society are beginning to clus- ter in Leadville. But at present, money-making is the one idea, and all the energies of the individual are bent in that direction. Church and school facilities are not equal to the demand, and tem- perance organizations do not thrive, as yet, in the carbonate camp. But time, that sets all things even, will eventually remedy the evils that at pres- ent exist, and Leadville will become the home of the wealthy, the cultivated and the refined. A sketch of Leadville can hardly be said to be complete without a brief description, or at least an enumeration, of the mines from whose depths such wonderful mineral wealth has been taken. The first mines discovered, which have since proved to be among the richest of the district, were the Iron Mine (better known as the Stevens and Leiter Mine), the Gallagher (now known as the Camp Bird), the Carbonate (formerly called the Hallock and Cooper), and the Little Pittsburgh; These are still among the richest mines in the whole carbonate belt, and have yielded immense sums of money to their fortunate owners. Although the first-named mines were known many months before the discovery of the Little Pittsburgh, it was not until the opening of this * Since the above was written, the moral atmosphere of Leadville has improved materially, thanks to Judge Lynch. famous lode that pubHc attention was fairly directed toward Leadville. The best mines are located within a radius of four miles from the heart of the city, are easy of access and but a short distance from the reduction works, where all the ore is reduced to bullion. Fryer Hill, so named in honor of the man who discovered one of the most valuable mines about the camp, the New Discovery, is one of the lowest ranges of hills surrounding the city and lies about one mile to the northeast of the center of the town. Upon this hill are to be found the mines which have made the name of Leadville famous. Among those well known and best developed, are the Little Pittsburgh, New Discovery, Winnemuc, Dives, Little Chief, Vulture, Chrysolite, Carboa- iferous. Little Eva, Robert E. Lee, Climax, Dun- can and Matchless, all well-known, producing mines. Besides these, there are many others. Directly to the south of Fryer Hill, and separ- ated therefrom by a small creek, known as Stray Horse, lies Carbonate Hill, upon which are found the Carbonate, Morning Star, Crescent, Pendery, Little Giant, Shamrock, ^tna, Walden, Forsaken, Monto Cristo, Agassiz, Maid of Erin and others. East of Carbonate Hill is to be found Iron Hill, so called because of the famous iron mine, the old- est and best-known mine in the district. Here also are the Bull's Eye, Silver Wave, Law, Camp Bird, Adelaide, Pine, Silver Cord, Jones, Lime, Star of the West and Smuggler, all near California Gulch. Northeast of Iron Hill, and about one mile dis- tant, is Breece Hill, upon which are found the celebrated Breece Iron Mines, consisting of the William Penn, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and Gen. Cadwallader. Also the justly famed High- land Chief, Colorado Prince, Black Prince, Miner Boy, Lowland Chief, Robert Burns, Gilderry, Highland Mary, Fanny Rawlings, Eliza, Daisy, Denver, Idaho and Nevada, all overlooking Evans Creek. Scarcely half -a mile distant from the last- named mines, lie the Little Ella, Izzard, Virginius, New Year's, Trade Dollar and Grand View. ^ ^1 ■^ 73 HISTORY OF COLORADO. Directly south firom this lasf>named hill, is Long and Derry Hill, upon which are found the rich mines known as the J. P. Dana, Porphyry and Faint Hope, the property of the two men in whose honor the hill was named. The names of the mines thus far given com- prise only those that are best known, not by any means all of the producing mines in and about Leadville. Scores more could be added were it necessary. A late authority on these mines says, "The pre- dictions that the mines will soon be exhausted, and the prosperity of the camp short-lived, are made only by those who have not considered all sides of the situation. There is no reason why a body of ore inclining slightly below the horizontal should not be as continuous as a vertical vein. The ease and rapidity with which the ore is mined is so much in favor of the mines, for every one is desir- ous of making money in the shortest possible time. Better than all this, continual and rapid enlargement of the ore-producing areas by number- less discoveries, make up many times over for any exhaustion of ground in the older locations. Bet> ter still are the seemingly endless layers or strata of ore, one below another.'' Another writer, dis- cussing the nature of lead veins generally, says, " The most important features of lead veins, lodes or beds in all of the rich lead-fields known, are that they are horizontal like coal veins or beds and run one under another, the same as coal veins, and always extend downward to the very bottom of the lead-bearing rock or stratum or strata, as the case may be. Such is held' to be the nature of the carbonate veins of Leadville. And if it be true that these beds extend to the bottom of the lead- bearing rock, how deep does such strata extend ? Upon a careful examination, for several months, of this mining region, I find it running from nearly the top of the highest mountains to the bottom of the deepest gulches. It is a general rule that metallic veins grow richer ^ J^l l^ 74 HISTORY OF COLORADO. hostility to the Union, raising secession flags, buying up arms, and in other ways making prepar- ations to declare for the Confederacy. But Gov. Gilpin was a stanch Union man, and surrounded himself at once with men who were prominent in public life and alive to the emergency. But a short time elapsed before the first Colorado regi- ment was organized, with the following officers :' Colonel, J. P. Slough ; Lieutenant Colonel, S. F. Tappan ; Major, J. M. Chivington. Captains — Company A, E. W. Wynkoop ; Com- pany B, S. M. Logan ; Company C, Richard Sdjivis ; Company D, Jacob Downing ; Company E, S, J. Anthony; Company F, S. H. Cook; Company G, J. W. Hambleton ; Company H, George L. San- born ; Company I, Charles Mailie ; Company K, C. P Jlarion. Recruiting offices were opened at various points, and, in two months, the necessary complement of men were secured and they were in barracks on the Platte, about two miles from Denver. The camp was called Camp Weld, in honor of the then Secretary of the Territory. No definite authority had been given the Governor, as yet, to raise troops, but his drafts on the United States Treasury to defray the expense of clothing and sustaining the force were duly honored, and his action thus indorsed by the Government. To this judicious and prompt action of Gov. Gilpin is no doubt due the fact that Colorado escaped the civil convulsions that desolated other portions of the Union. An armed force of a thousand men was well calculated to " preserve the peace,'' even in so isolated a part, of the country and among such a scattered population. But months of idleness in such a rough camp naturally brought about a great deal of dissension and many desertions. It was difficult to keep in perfect discipline such a motley set of volunteers, while the doubts as to their acceptance into the service of the Government had its natural ten- dency to cause disaffection. In the first days of the year 1863, an express arrived from the South with the news of the advance on New Mexico of three or four thousand Texans under Brig. Gen. H. H. Sibley, and a call for assistance. If the regiment had promptly started, it would probably have prevented the Tex- ans from entering the Territory. Put the troops, having been mustered into the service, could only be moved out of Colorado by orders from head- quarters. Apjilieation was made to Gen. Hunter for authority to send the regiment to the aid of New jMexico', and when the desired orders reached Denver, the regiment received the word to march with a great deal of satisfaction, for idleness, that mother of mischief, had been very busy of late in sowing the seeds of dissension in the camp. Noth- ing to do had become intolerable to these men, accustomed to rough, stirring work ; and the news from New Mexico, of Texan invasion, had become as a beacon star of their existence. On the 22d of February — a day hailed as a good omen for the cause in which they were engaged — the regiment left Denver. Companies E and P reached Fort "Wise — now Fort Lyon — where an order met them fi-om Gen. Hunter, assigning them to the support of Col. Canby in New Mexico, with New Orleans as the ultimate point of destination, the balance of the regiment meeting them at the foot of the Raton Mrmutains on the 7th of March. The march to Fort Union, which was a hasty one, caused by rumors that the Texans were threatening the fort, brought them there on the 13th. Here was found some four hundred regulars, who welcomed the arrival of the volunteers with cheers, as it was evi- dent that the Texan forces were triumphantly sweeping the country about them, and the troops at the Fort totally inadequate to check their prog- ress. On the 14th, news from Gen. Canby announced His capture of a large train coming from the South with an escort of one hundred and fifty men. Gen. Sibley was reported at Santa Fe, with recruits rapidly coming in. On the 22d, the regiment, accompanied by two light batteries, Capts. Ritter and Claflin, Capt. ^- "m v It^ HISTORY OF COLORADO. 75 Ford'.s company of volunteers and two companies of the Fiftli Infantry, Col. Slougli in command, his force numbering about thirteen hundred, left Camp Union for Santa Fe. When within twenty miles of this point, information was received of the approach of a force of eight hundred Texans. On the night of the 24th, Lieut. Nelson, with twenty men, met and captured a picket guard of the enemy and sent them back to the reserve. The battle of Apache Caiion occurred on the 26th. (This point had already been made historical in the annals of warfare by the stand made by the Mexi- can General, Armijo, during- the ^Mexican war.) About four hundred men, equally divided into infantry and cavalry, under command of Chiving- ton, here met a force of fully double their number. This force was encountered about six miles inside the caiion at about 2 P. M., and were met by the troops and driven, after three different stands had been made, out of the canon. The loss was five killed, thirteen wounded and three missing. The rebels lost, as near as could be learned, forty killed, seventy-five wounded and one hundred and eight prisoners, including seven commissioned officers. On the 27th, Col. Slough arrived with the re- serve and camped upon the battle-gTOund. On the morning of the 28th, Companies A, B, E and H, of the Fir.st Colorado, Ford's company, and A and G of the Fifth Infantry Regulars, were detached from the command and sent to the left to cross the mountains to get in the rear of the enemy. The balance of the command, numbering about six hundred, moved foward toward Santa Fe. "When in the canon of Pigeon's Ranche, the pickets were driven in. The enemy was approaching. The men, not being aware of their close proximity, were eno-ao-ed in fillins? their canteens with water, with their arms stacked in the road. They were called to attention, and Capt. Kaster, of Company I, was ordered to advance on the right; Capt. Downing with Company D, on the left of a narrow caiion, and met the enemy as they approached, in order that the balance of the command could form and give them a warm reception. Capts. Ritter and Claflin, of the Regulars, moved their battery in the caiion, advancing and firing, the balance of the command being used as supports. The battle lasted about nine hours, victory finally resting with the Union forces, but with a loss of a large num- ber (134) of killed and wounded. But the enemy's loss was much greater, as taken from their own Surgeon's books ; two hundred and fifty-one being killed, two hundred wounded, and over one hundred prisoners, out of a force of eighteen hundred. On the eveniue: after the battle, the detachment under Maj. Chivington, that had been sent over the mountains, rejoined the command. He had left camp in the morning, crossed the mountains with no regard to obstacles, routes or aught else save- direction, and succeeded in gaining the rear of the enemy. Scattering their rearguard to the winds, he blew up and destroyed their supply-train of seventy wagons, containing all the ammunition, provisions, clothing and other supplies of war that they had in the Territory, spiked one six-pounder with a ramrod and tumbled it down the mountain, and then regained the camp. This was no doubt the irreparable blow that compelled the Texans to evacuate the Territory, and its audacity was one of the main causes of its success. It was the intention to renew the battle the next morning, but daylight dawned upon a retreating foe, and on the 2d of April, the regiment entered Fort Union. An absence of eleven days of travel, in which two battles, redounding to their credit, had been fought, had given the troops a right to the rest that seemed to be before them. But this rest was of short duration. Hardly had two days elapsed before orders reached camp to break up. Gen. Canby had left Fort Craig, and the regiment was ordered south to divert the enemy's attention or aid in driving him out of the country. About one hundred of the prisoners at Fort Union, released on parole, accompanied them, returning to their own party. On the 10th, the troops reached a little town called Galisteo, about twenty miles from Santa Fe. Here information was received of Gen. Canby's -\^ 9 > 76 HISTORY OF COLORADO. whereabouts. He had come up from Fort Craig, and, making a feint of attacking the enemy, who had fallen back on Albuquerque, had reached a small town at the head of Carnuel Pass, about forty miles distant. The Texans were reported as 2,000 strong, and, apparently satisfied with the experi- ence of Apache Cafion and Pigeon's Eanohe, were not very eager for the fray. About this time. Col. Slough resigned his command and left for Gen. Canby's camp. Upright and honorable, of unquestioned ability and undoubted integrity, he seemed to lack in the elements that attract popu- larity. The movements succeeding the battle of Pigeon's Ranohe, when, with troops flushed with •victory and ready to complete the destruction of the enemy, orders were received to stop fighting, were dictated by an authority higher than his own, and he had only to obey orders. This he did, but resigned his commission shortly after, and the fact that the President at once nominated him for Brigadier General goes to prove that his services were appreciated, at least at headquarters. On the 13th, the regiment joined Gen. Canby in the densely timbered hills of Carnuel Pass,where he was camped, with four pieces of artillery and 1,200 men. Here, April 14, Maj. Chivington was promoted over the head of Lieut. Col. Tappan, to the colonelcy of the regiment, subject to the ap- proval of Gov. Gilpin. The battle of Peralta, occurring April 15, be- tween the troops under Canby and the force of Gen. Sibley, was almost a bloodless one. The rec- ords show that it would have been apparently easy for the Colorado troops to have attacked and routed the enemy ; but, for some unexplained rea- son, they were allowed to withdraw their forces, without any special hindrance from Gen. Canby. Col. Chivington offered to do battle with his regi- ment alone, but the ofier was declined. A few artillery shots were fired, the army drawn up in line of battle for six hours, and then finally or- dered back, while the enemy took advantage of this to cross and make good their escape, going down one side of the stream while the Union army marched along the other. The foe was constantly in sight for twenty-four hours before they finally disappeared. A few days afterward, while still on the march, word was brought that the Texans had buried all their artillery, burned their wagons, and were marching through the mountains toward Mesilla. The active campaign was evidently over. For two months or more, the regiment camped at Val Verde, awaiting supplies, which had to come from Fort Union, 300 miles distant. On the 4th of July, Col. Howe, Third U. S. Cavalry, arrived with a squad of officers from the States, and took command of the Southern Depart- ment, relieving Col. Chivington, who immediately proceeded to Santa Fe and procured an order from Gen. Canby for the First to march to Fort Union as soon as practicable. Thence, via Denver, he proceeded to Washington to get the regiment transferred, if possible, to a more active field of service, or, if he could not succeed in this, to have the men mounted ; with what success will be noted later. Shortly afterward, preparations were made for the march of the regiment, in detachments, by different routes to Fort Union. Companies A, F and G left the camp on the 16th of August, arriving at Union on the 4th of September. Here Company F remained while A and G moved on to Fort Lyon. Companies C and E started up the river in July, passed by Fort Union, crossed the Raton Mountains and camped for a time on the Purgatoire, where they made some efibrts to smoke out the guerrilla Madi- son, which were unsuccessful. They then pro- ceeded to Cimmaron to quell some disturbances among the Indians assembled there to receive their annuities, and finally marched to Fort Lamed. About this time, news of the following Special Order arrived : EXTHAOT. Headquarters Department of the Missouri, 1 St. Louis, Mo., Not. 1, 1862. / Special Order No. 36. Pursuant to orders from the Secretary of War and the election of Gov. Evans of Colorado Territory, the First Regiment Colorado Volunteers, commanded by D "V \iL HISTORY OF COLORADO. 77 Col. Chivington, will bo converted into a cavalry regi- ment, to be denominated the First Cavalry of Colorado. The Quartermaster and Ordnance Departments will furnish and change equipments to suit the change of arms. * * * The regiment will rendezvous in Colorado Territory ; headquarters at Denver. By command of Maj. Gen. Curtis. N. P. Chipman, Colonel and Chief of Staff. The welcome news soon traveled east and south to Larned and Union. In consequence, the com- panies at the former posts received instructions to report at Colorado City to witness the change from a regiment of volunteers to that of cavalry. Col. Clark, of the Ninth Kansas, refusing to recognize the order. Col. Tappan proceeded to Leavenworth and had the news confirmed by Gen. Blunt. December 13, the company left Larned and, travel- ing about four hundred miles, reached Colorado City about the end of December. D and G- had also been ordered to Larned in the latter part of September. They tramped back over that weary interval in midwinter, destitute of fuel and with but scant transportation. Their horses met them on the Arkansas, and on the 1st of January — a welcome New Year's present — were issued to them. H, K and B came up the Rio Grande to Santa Fe ; thence the first two went on to Fort Garland, remained a short time and then marched to Colo- rado City. B repaired to Fort Union. D and I were the last to leave the lower country. They also came up the Grand Valley, halted at Union a day or two and then proceeded to Fort Lyon. F was, in connection with B, assigned to garrison duty at Fort Union. Gen. Canby was relieved, early in October, by Gen. Carlton of the California Volunteers, who established a new post on the Pecos, about one hundred miles southeast of Santa Fe, and Compan- ies B, F and L were assigned to that locality ; but while the preparations for the advance of the expe- dition were progressing, the news came that the regiment was to concentrate at Fort Scott, Kan., to be mounted. On the 13th of November, they bade final adieu to Fort Union, crossed the Raton Range, made the Arkansas, and in due time arrived at Colorado City instead of Fort Scott. Early in January, 1863, all the companies had reached the point of concentration, whence they marched to Denver, reaching the city on the 13th, into which they were very handsomely escorted by the Third Regiment of Volunteers and a large concourse of citizens. Service had some- what thinned their ranks; they had undergone many hardships, had borne patiently with the con- tumely generally heaped upon volunteers by the regulars, had born their share of the brunt of battles bravely won and now were welcomed back by the admiring populace in the principal city, of the State of whose early history they had made for themselves an imperishable part. In 1865, the regiment, after doing scout duty and looking after the Indians, who were occasion- ally troublesome, was disbanded. CHAPTER XIV. HISTORY OF THE SECOND COLORADO REGIMENT. IT seems proper, in giving a fall history of the Second Colorado Regiment, to prefix it with a concise sketch of the raising and services of the two companies that formed the nucleus of the regiment and did such excellent work in New Mexico before the other ones were raised. These companies were incidentally mentioned in our account of the doings of the First Colorado, with the intention of doing them more complete justice in their proper place, which we now proceed to do. These two gallant companies were recruited under the order of Gov. Gilpin, principally in Park, Lake, Summit and Fremont Counties, one by Capt. Hendrew, with T. H. Dodd as First 19 ^1 i^ 78 HISTOKY OF COLORADO. Lieutenant and J. C W. Hall as Second Lieuten- ant, and the other by Capt. James H. Ford, with Lieuts. De Forest and Clark, in the fall of 1861, and all rendezvoused at Canon City about December 1st. Hendrew, with his company, marched first to Fort Garland, suffering all the fatigue and hard- ships of a winter's march over the Sangre de Christo Eange, where Maj. Whiting, of the regular army, waited to muster them into the service. Some indiscretions committed by Capt. Hendrew made the Major refuse to muster him in, and, as the men had been chiefly enhsted by Hendrew, they were allowed to choose between remaining under another Captain or returning to their homes. Eighty-four out of eighty-seven had come to stay, however, which speaks volumes for their patriotism and pluck. They were accordingly mustered into service on the 22d of December, with Dodd as Captain and Hall and Piatt as Lieutenants, and designated as Company B. About this time, Capt. Ford arrived with his men, and Company A was thus mustered into service. It was supposed that arms, accouterments, cloth- ing, camp and garrison equipage awaited them here. But in this they were mistaken, and, illy prepared as they were for further marching, two days after arrival at the fort. Company B was ordered to Santa Fe. Capt. Dodd started at once with six men from Company A to act as teamsters for the scanty ox transportation furnished him. ' They crossed the range, experiencing fearful hardships, and reached Santa Fe, a distance of 180 miles, on the 1st of January, 1862. Arms, uniforms, etc., were issued here, and the men drilled for active duty for a few days, when orders were received for all the available troops to proceed by forced marches to the relief of Gen. Canby, who was being menaced at Fort Craig by the secessionists under Gen. Sibley. Company B was attached to the regular troops for this cam- paign, and in two days the command reached Albuquerque. From there, the n*,rch to Fort Craig was rapidly continued, and soon reached Gen. Canby. On the 15th of February, Gen. Sibley appeared in force. On the 20th, some fighting took place, in which private Hugh Brown was killed. The battle of Val Verde occurred on the 21st, in which the boys of Company B participated and gallantly acquitted themselves. During the battle, Capt. Dodd encountered a well-equipped and dis- ciplined battalion of Texan Lancers, under Maj. Lang, whom the company kept fighting long after the bugle had sounded a recall. Seventy-two of the lancers were killed, while Capt. Dodd lost only four killed and thirty-eight wounded, the most of whom ultimately recovered from their wounds. After the battle. Gen. Canby found himself without men enough to warrant him in following up the Texans. He remained cooped up at Fort Craig for several weeks, his supplies all cut off, and him- self and troops suffering severely for want of them. Company A, meanwhile, started from Caiion City, reached Fort Garland, and thence took up the line of march for Santa Fe, with ox trans- portation. From Santa Fe they pushed on to Fort Union, enduring the usual amount of hardships. Here the First Colorado, under Col. Slough, joined them, and shortly after occurred the battles of Apache Caiion and Pigeon's Kanche, of which an account has already been given. Company A was with Maj. Chivington in his suecessfnl raid on the enemy's transportation, which he burned and utterly destroyed, with all its stores. Afterward, the command marched to Albuquerque, where ^ HISTORY OF COLOKADO. 101 Pennsylvania. There are few beds of coal that can compare with this in the amount of bituminous matter which it contains, or in the great value that it possesses as an article of fiiel. The tertiary beds of Colorado are rich in fuel and gas-making material, though it is more than probable that the petroleum now in the shales and petroleum coals came originally from the oil-bearing coral beds of some much older formations. On the eastern side of the mountains, mainly, lie the tertiary coal measures, containing beds of coal and of iron ore of excellent quality. These coal-bearing lands embrace many thousand square miles of the State's area. The bulk of these thus far located extend along the plains, east of the foot-hills, the entire length of the State. Those opened and worked lie principally in the counties of Boulder, Weld and Jefferson. These mines have probably yielded nearly two hundred thousand tons this season. In Fremont and Las Animas Counties, in the southern part of the State, the mines are being developed. The Trinidad coals, in the latter county, coke equal to any in the coking districts of Pennsylvania, and this interest is steadily growing in importance, two companies having each one hundred ovens in active operation. These companies are named the Southern Colo- rado Coal Company and Kiffenburg Coal Company. To show what an advance has been made in the growth of this industry, we have but to state that, four years ago, six ovens, producing ten tons per day, were capable of supplying the njarket of Utah and Colorado. Now, Utah consumes about fifteen hundred tons per month ; Northern Colorado, five hundred, whDe Leadville calls for three thousand, and is likely to demand a constantly increasing num- ber. Prof Hayden, in his report of 1875, relative to the coal deposits in the neighborhood of Trinidad, calls these coals a binding bituminous coal, not considering the term "lignite," as generally used, strictly applicable, from the standpoint of a miner- alogist. The thickness of the seams vary from nine to thirteen feet, nearly horizontal, and are easily worked by tunneling. An assay of the Riffenburg coal, which lies close to that of the other company, gave the following result : Loss at nO" C. (water) 0.26 per cent. Carbon, fixed 65.76 per cent. Volatile combustible matter... 29.66 per cent. Ash 4.32 per cent. Total 100.00 per cent. " Its specific gravity varies from 1.28 to 1.53." The coke made has a bright, silvery color; is hard and strong, and suitable for all smelting pur- poses. Above these coal beds are beds of sandstone and conglomerate, abounding in fossil palms, firs and various kinds of resinous and gum-bearing trees, together with modern exogens. Trunks of trees of large size have been' found lying far out on the plains, where they have been left when the disin- tegrating rock loosened them from their captiv- ity. Between Denver and Golden, many very fine specimens have been found ; stOl more on a low range of sand-hills about twenty miles south of Denver, while some very fine specimens have been brought from South Park. In the Middle Park, west of the Grand River, is also a coarse sandstone passing into conglomer- ate, and containing silicified wood. Above it are beds of trap ; and where this has disintegrated, chalcedonies and agates are found; principally moss agates, as they are called, but which are, in reality, chalcedonies containing oxide of manga- nese in a deudritio form. The rock originally holding them was a lava poured out of some long extinct volcano ; this was full of vesicles or hollow places produced by gas or vapor, and, in process of time, these were filled with extremely thin par- ticles of silica, separated from the surrounding rock, forming the ordinary chalcedonies. In some cases, a small quantity of oxide of manganese has been carried in with the silica, and this, crystalliz- ing in an arborescent or tree-like form, has pro- duced the appearance of moss in the chalcedony, and thus have been formed the beautiful moss agates which abound throughout Colorado. ^1 'a - Jkl^ ■4v ^ 102 HISTORY OF COLOEADO. We can see in the lava beds of the plains, run- ning northward from Golden, and also to be found in other localities, the witness to terrible volcanic eruptions, that at no very distant period, geologi- cally speaking, devastated the country. These lava beds seem to be the most recent tertiary deposits in Colorado. There are also other wit- nesses to this stormy time in the hot springs that abound at various points. Some -of the principal of these may be named as follows: Hot Sulphur Springs, in Middle Park, with a temperature of 121° F.; Hot Springs at Idaho, 110° F.; at Canon City, 102° P.; Arkansas Hot Springs, 140° F.; at Wagon Wheel Gap, 148° F.; Pagosa Springs, 150° F. This last ranks among the greatest mineral springs of the country. The Drift period has left its unquestionable rec- ord in the immense accumulation of bowlders and gravel in the valleys of almost every mountain stream, although the ice does not seem to have produced as much effect during that period as the height of the mountains and their latitude would naturally lead us to expect. The above description of the geology of Colo- rado is necessarily very disconnected and incom- plete. It would be impossible to gather within the scope of a work like this, a thorough and comprehensive analysis of the various formations. We have only endeavored to give to the general reader an idea of the field, so vast in extent, of geological research within the limits of the State, and refer the student, who enters it as a special field of investigation, to the various reports, nota- bly those of Clarence King and Professor Hayden, made of late years, to the Government of the United States. The mineral resources of the soil are so closely connected with its geological features that a list of these is a proper addition to our chapter on geol- ogy. This list is compiled from the most authentic sources. The catalogue is not a complete one, some of the minor minerals being left out for want of room, but is well adapted to the needs of the general reader. METALS AND MINERALS. Agate. — A mineral familiar to the Greeks and Romans, who found it near Achates, a river in Sicily, now known as the Dorillo. Fine speci- mens lined with amethyst have been found on the summit of the range, east of the Animas. In the lower trachytic formations of the Uncom- pahgre group, a cloudy variety is found, of white and gray color ; at the Los Pinos Agency in various forms, cloudy, banded, laminated and variegated ; in the South Park in the drift, in the lower Arkansas Valley, all through ' Middle Park and in the Gunnison country. Actinolite. — Found in radiated form, of light green and bluish-green color, on Mount Ouray, on Buffalo and Sopris' Peaks ; in crystallized shapes in the Bergen district near Bear Creek, and on Boulder Peak. Alabaster. — This is found in small quantities near Mount Vernon. Is of brownish color, lack- ing that pure snowy whiteness and fine texture so necessary when cut into ornaments. Alhite. — Occurs sparingly in Quartz Hill near Central City, and in Gold Hill in Boulder County. Altaite. — Occurs in various mines in the Sun- shine district. Minute crystals obtained from the Red Cloud mine at Gold Hill, when analyzed, gave the following result : Quartz, 0.19; gold, 0.19 ; silver, 0.62; copper, 0.06; lead, 60.22; zinc, 0.15; iron, 0.48; tellurium, 37.90. Alum. — Found native on the foot-hills near Mount Vernon. Amalgamite. — Occurring in connection with coloradoite in the Keystone mine, Boulder County. Amazon Stone. — A green variety of feld-spar ; when pure and of a clear, bluish-green color, very much resembles turquoise. Derives its name from the female warriors near the head-waters of the Amazon River, where it was found in their pos- session as a charm, many of them engraved with the symbols of Aztec worship. Abundant in New Mexico ; found in Colorado on Elk Creek, with orthoclase, smoky quartz, aventurine, micaceous iron and anhydrite. (sr a fy l£. HISTORY OF COLORADO. 103 Amber. — -Found near the head of Cherry Creek ; not clearly defined ; may be only one of the numer- ous resins occurring in lignitic coal. Amethyst. — Found in small crystals at Nevada and neighboring localities ; on Rook Creek, in Clear Creek County ; on the summit of the range east of the Animas; a bluish-violet variety of quartz crystal, of great beauty, whose color is due to a trace of the oxide of manganese. AmpMholite. — Occurs at numerous localities in the dikes traversing granite. Small ocicular crys- tals can be obtained from the porphyritic and San- idinitio trachytes. Good crystals are exceedingly rare. Found on Buifalo Peaks ; Montgomery ; in volcanic breccia at the head of Ohio Creek ; in trachytes on the Gunnison. Anglesite. — In crystals at the Horse-Shoe Lead Mine in South Park ; Freeland Mine on Trail Creek ; Clifton Lode at Central City ; Prospector Lode, in Arastra Gulch, near Silverton. Anhydrite. — Crystallized at the Salt Works in South Park. Found of a very beautifiil wine-red color, and very transparent, near the head of Elk Creek. Anthracite. — This anthracite coal is of lower and upper cretaceous age ; found in Anthracite Creek, "0,Be Joyful" Creek, in the Elk Mountains, in Uncompahgre canon. Its greater age has proba- bly given it its character. Dr. Peale, in his report of the United States Geographical Survey of 1874, says of it : " The eruption of the trachyte found near the coal first mentioned, probably so treated it as to deprive it of the bituminous matter. An average taken from seven analyses of the Elk Moun- tain anthracite furnishes the following: Water, 2.757 ; fixed carbon, 77.360 ; volatile combustible matter, 13.620 ; ash, 6.291 ; specific gravity, 1.740. Antimony. — Associated with the sulphurets of copper, iron, lead, zinc, etc., in gold and silver mines. Argonite. — Occurring in the form usually termed flos ferri, in Marshall's Tunnel, George town ; on Table Mountain ; in the trachytes near Del Norte ; on the Rio Grande, above Fir Creek ; Idaho Springs. Arvedsonite. — Occurs in quartz in El Paso County. Argentite. — Usually in small, irregular particles or seams, rarely crystallized. Decomposition results in the formation of native silver. Found in the Colorado Central Mine, Terrible and other mines near Georgetown ; in the No Name and Caribou, at Caribou ; in some of the silver lodes at Nevada ; in the Senator lode of the Hardscrabble district ; in many of the lodes of the San Juan mining region associated with fahlerz and pyrargyrite ; at the Silver Star, Moore and other mines in the neighborhood of Fair Play. Arsenopyrite. — Crystallized and massive in the Bobtail and Grinnell mines ; intimately associated with pyrite and chalcopyrite there ; generally aurif- erous ; together with silver and copper at the Park lode, Bergen's ranche ; occurs also in the Priest mine, near Fair Play ; with Franklinite on Rio Dolores, in Nevada District, Gilpin County. Asbestos. — Occurs in small quantities, partly radiated, on the snowy range, between Boulder and Berthoud Passes. Asphalt. — Pound in the White River country. It occurs in veins ; is very compact and brittle; Found in springs near the summit of the Book cliffs ; also at Canon City. Several of the petrole- oid products of Colorado have been termed asphalt. Astrophyllite. — Occurs in quartz on Cheyenne Mountain and at other points in El Paso County. Aventurine. — Found in Elk Creek. Sometimes called gold-stone ; specimens show white scales in- stead of yellow, which is the usual color. Azurite. — Generally, the azurite is regarded as " blossom rock" by miners. If resulting from the decomposition of fahlerz, it usually indicates sil- ver-bearing ore. Small, but very brilliant crystals have been found on Kendall Mountain near How- ardsville. Found in the No Name, together with malachite, the result of decomposition of fahlerz, at Caribou ; in the Rosita mines of the Hardscrab- ble district ; around Fair Play and Idaho ; on Trail Creek ; Crater Mountain ; in the mines of the Elk Mountain District, Malachite Lode, Bear Creek, 9 \> ^ iS_ li. 104 HISTORY OF COLORADO. G-endhemas Lode, Tucker's Gulch. No crystals of any size, however, have been found, the largest scarcely measuring 0.5 millimeter. Barite. — In clear, yellow, tabular crystals in the Tenth Legion Mine at Empire ; colorless crystals in the Terrible at G-eorgetown, while near Canon City, transparent crystals are found in the arena- ceous shales of that region. Crystals occur in the limestones near Fair Play, and are found with fine terminations on the Apishapa Eiver. Basanite. — Is found, together with flint, in some of the trachytes, east of the salt works on South Park. Beryl. — A crystal of a pale, yellowish-green variety, colored by the oxide of iron. Found on Bear Creek, in JeiFerson County. Biotite. — Found on Buffalo Peak. "When de- composed, it becomes splendent brown ; otherwise, it is very dark green, brown or black. Several of the trachytes, more particularly the porphyritic, contain small crystals of biotite. It is also found in some of the basalt. Bismuth. — Like arsenic and antimony, occurs in many of the mines, but has never been found native. Bloodstone. — Found sparingly, and very inferior specimens, in Middle Park. A deep green variety of jasper, slightly translucent, containing spots of red, caused by iron. Calaverite. — Good crystals have been obtained from the Sunshine District. Found in the Key- stone and Mountain Lion Mine, Boulder County. Associated with other tellurides in the Red Cloud. Cairngorm Stone. — A smoky, tinted quartz crystal, formerly used by the ancient Scots as a jewel. Found at the head of Elk Creek. Calcite. — In small crystals, scalenohedra, at the Monte Cristo mine. Central. Rhombohedral crys- tals on Cheyenne Mountain, in the limestones of the South Park, in the carboniferous limestones near the Arkansas River; scalenohedra in the Elk Mountain District ; fibrous in Trout Creek Park, on Frying Pan Creek; brown, rose-colored, yellow and white on Table Mountain at Golden ; scaleno- hedra and combinations of rhombohedra in quartz geodes near Ouray. Caolinite. — The product of decomposed oligo- clase. The white, chalk-like bluffs on Chalk Creek, near Mount Princeton, owe their appearance to the presence of caolinite. Carnelian. — ^White and very fine in the South Park. Red and somewhat rare in Middle Park. A very common stone in many other localities in the country. Cerargyrite. — Small, compact quantities in the Wade Hampton mine, Argentine, Caribou. Small specimens have been obtained from the Red Cloud mine. Gold Hill. It is also found in the Rosita mines and in the Upper Animas region. Cenissite. — In very small crystals at Central. In the Horse Shoe mines, it occurs earthy, and is found throughout the Elk Mountain District, at Carion City, and in the Prospector lode, Arastra G-ulch, near Silverton. Chalcedony. — South Park furnishes specimens in the mammillary, botryoidal and stalactitic form. Frequently met with, of a flesh-red color, lining cavities in some of the deep mines. Is frequently found in drift accumulations. At the following places is met with : Chalk Hills, lying south of Cheyenne; Los Pinos Agency ; on the bluffs near Wagon Wheel Gap; along the Upper Rio Grande Valley ; in Middle and South Parks, Buffalo Park, Fair Play and in the Gunnison country. Ghalcopyrite. — Pound in every paying mine in Gilpin County. It also occurs in the Terrible, Pelican, Cold Stream and other mines near Georoe- town, as well as of those at Caribou. It is aurif- erous in the mines around Central ; is found in the Trinidad gold mining district, in the gold and sil- ver mines of Fair Play and the Elk Mountain Dis- trict, and on the Dolores, near Mount Wilson. Chlorite. — At most localities, chlorite replaces the mica either in granite or schists. The mineral generally occurs in very thin flakes only, without crystalline faces. Foliated and radiated varieties are found on Trail Creek, on Mount Princeton, and on Soper's Peak, rV ^y^ti^i-^ ^CMl ^- HISTORY or COLORADO. 105 Coal. — (See Anthracite). -Coal occurs and is worked at a number of localities in the State. Two horizons, mainly of coal beds, can be distin- guished — the cretaceous and the post-cretaceous. With the exception of the anthraeitic coal of the Elk jNIountains and adjacent regions, the Colorado coal is mostly a coking or binding bituminous coal. Some of the banks, however, furnish coal that can- not be utilized for coking purposes. All of this is the kind to which the term " lignite " has been applied. Cretaceous coal is found on the divide between the Uncompahgre and CeboUa, Elk Mountains, on the lower Animas, the Florida, and on the La Plata. Post -cretaceous coal occurs along the Front Range, near Boulder, at Golden, Colorado Springs, Canon, near Pueblo and Trini- dad, and westward from that town. In the region of the White River, a number of coal veins have also been found, belonging to this group. A total average prepared from thirty -four analyses, of Col- orado bituminous coal, furnishes a good idea as to its position in mineralogical classification : Water, 6.436 ; fixed carbon, 52.617 ; volatile combustible matter, 34.096; ash, 6.835. Specific gravity, 1.325. Copper. — Native; arborescent in the Gregory lode and on Jones' Mountain ; in almond-shaped nuggets in placers of Rio San Miguel. Dolomite. — Occurs as rock in a number of the formations of the State. Very rarely crystallized. Small geodes in middle cretaceous shales are some- times lined with dolomite crystals. ^jsifZofe.— Crystals associated with garnet on Gunnell Hill, Central ; throughout the metamor- phies of the Front Range in minute crystals. A large number of the hornblendio dikes contain massive epidote together with quartz. Found on the summit of Mount Bross, in Lake Creek Canon, on Elk jMountain Range, and on Trail Creek. Fahlerz. — Argentiferous, mostly antimonial, sometimes arsenical, in the silver mines of the San Juan region. Crystals are very rare. Fluorite. — Light green tubes in the Terrible mine at Georgetown ; in small crystals and massive. of violet color, on Mount McClellan and Gray's Peak. Galenite. — Throughout the San Juan mines, galenite is one of the principal ores. Invariably argentiferous, though the quantity of silver it con- tains changes greatly. In small, scattering quanti- ties, it is found almost throughout the State. At the Coldstream mine, very fine crystals are found, combinations of cube and octahedron, rarely rhombic dodecahedron. In the mines near George- town, it occurs in large quantities. Garnet. — Once found in quantities in the sluice- boxes of the gulch mines in the South Park, and also west of the range, about Breckenridge and other places. Ferruginous garnets occur in great abundance at Trail Creek, in Bergen district, head of Russell Gulch, and other places, associated with epidote, white quartz, calc spar and copper pyrites. It is met with in various colors. The deep clear red variety is called Almandine ; the deep brown is called aplome; two varieties of black are termed melanite and pyrenaite ; a light cinnamon yellow is denominated essonite, and contains from 30 to 40 per cent of lime ; an emerald green variety is called oiwarovite, and another of a paler color, grossulm'ite. Gold. — Native gold, in small, distinct crystals, in the Bobtail, Gunnell, Kansas, and on Quartz Hill near Central ; in the gold gulches of Gilpin County; on Clear Creek; placer diggings near Fair Play, in imperfect crystals and lamin» ; in Washington Gulch ; in the placers of Union Park, and many other localities ; in the Elk Mountains ; on San Miguel, on the Mancos and La Plata ; near Parrott City ; in the Little Giant mine near Silver- ton, associated with ripidolite. Occurring as the result of decomposition of the tellurides in the Red Cloud, Cold Spring, and other lodes on Gold Hill, in the Ward and Sugar Loaf district ; in the Sun- shine district ; impregnated in volcanic rock in the Summit district, where it is very finely distributed, and contained in pyrite, which, upon decomposi- tion, sets the gold free ; at Oro City, in rhyolite ; in some of the South Park mines, in Potsdam t «) ^ 106 HISTOEY or COLOKADO. sandstone ; at the Nevada lode, in azurite. The G-unnell, near Central, yielded gold in fine, small crystals ; they are bright, on black sphalerite, and show combinations of cube, octahedron and rhom- bic dodecahedron. Mixtures of gold and silver are found as the result of decomposition of tellu- rides containing both metals. GypmiH. — Occurs in various locaUties. Halite. — Found at the various salt licks through the State, and especially at the salt works in South Park. Found also in springs along some parts of the Platte River. Hematite. — Specular, micaceous and fibrous. Henryite. — Found first at the Red Cloud and Cold Spring mines. Later, in all the telluride districts of the State. Fine crystals are very rare. Hi'xdtt'. — Gold Hill, Boulder County; on the divide between the Uncompahgre and Animas Rivers ; in the vicinity of Parrott City, on the La Plata. Lead. — Native at Hall's Gulch and at Breoken- ridge. Occurs in many of the gold and silver bearing lodes. Finely crystallized specimens come from the Calhoun lode, Leavenworth Gulch, jfrom the Running lode, Black Hawk and Gardner, at Quartz Hill. Rich specimens of the fine granular variety come from Spanish Bar ; also, mixed with copper and iron pyrites, from the Freeland at Trail Run. Magnetite. — In loose nodules, near Central ; in the granites of various localities ; in the dolorite rocks generally ; in octahedral crystals on Quartz Hill. On Grape Creek, near Canon City, is an extensive deposit of magnetite, which is mined as iron ore. Mdlacliitc. — Is found as the result of decompo- sition of fahlerz and other minerals, in numerous mines near Central, Caribou, Georgetown, Fair Play and Elk Mountain district. Mica. — Abundantly distributed throughout the mountains. A mine not far from Cafion City is producing large quantities. Onyx. — Found in Middle Park, on the west side of Grand River and Win(_)w Creek, associated with jasper, chalcedony and fortification agates. Opal. — Occurs in- narrow seams in the granite at Idaho Springs. Is mostly brownish, milk-white at Colorado Springs. Semi-opal found with the chalcedonies at the Los Pinos Agency, and in trachyte north of Saguache Creek. Wood opal is found on Cherry Creek, near Florissant, South Park. Nyalite in the trachytes near Los Pinos Agency, at the hot sulphur springs in Middle Park, and sometimes occurs in very fine specimens in the trachorheites of the Uncompahgre groups. Orthoclase. — Occurs in very fine, though small crystals in mines near Central ; is found in very large pieces in some of the coarse-grained granites. Large tablets of flesh-colored orthoclase can be found near Ouray. Crystals of large size, simple and in twins, occur in the porphyritic dikes at Gold Hill, Boulder County ; at the head of Chalk Creek, interlaminated with oligoclase in the por- phyritic protoginyte ; crystallized in Jefferson County ; greenish in South Park, west of Pike's Peak ; reddish on Elk Creek ; brown and gray at various localities jiear Central City. Beautiful green crystals of orthoclase are found on Bear Creek, near Pike's Peak, associated with smoky quartz. An analysis of specimens from this local- ity furnishes the following result: Silicic acid, 67.01; alumina, 19.94; protoxide of iron, 0.89; soda, 3.15 ; potassa, 8.84. Total, 99.83. There were also traces of lime and magnesia. To the small percentage of protoxide of iron is due the coloring of this orthoclase, though another author- ity regards the coloring matter of this green orthoclase as dependent upon a ferric compound, probably an " organic salt." Pegmatite. — At several localities in the vicinity of Georgetown, Bear Creek, and Gold Hill, in Boulder County. Petrolt'inn. — In Oil Creek Cafion, to the east of Caiion City, and on Smoky Creek, ten miles south of Golden, also near Pueblo. Petzite. — In the gold mines of Gold Hill, occurring in narrow seams and veins ; also in other telluride districts. An analysis gives the following result : Quartz, 0.62 ; gold, 24.10 ; silver, 40.73 ; s -%" ^^ HISTORY OF COLOEADO. 107 bismuth, 0.41 ; copper, a trace ; lead, 0.26 ; zinc, 0.05; iron, 0.78; tellurium, 33.49. Total, 100.44. Pickeriiigite. — Found crystallized in thin nee- dles, near Monument Park. Pyrargyrite. — Associated with galenite, fahlerz and sphalerite, in the mines of Georgetown. Fine crystals occur in INIount SneiFels district, San Juan. Pyrite. — One of the most widely distributed minerals of the State. It is mostly auriferous, and associated with chalcopyrit?. Found both massive and crystallized. Large bodies of it ap- pear in the lodes near Central. Pyroxene. — In a number of localities in younger volcanic and metamorphic rocks. Crystals in the basalts of southern San Luis Valley. Porpliyry. — Found in the agate patches of IMid- dle and South Park, and on the Arkansas River, above Cache Creek. Quartz. — This very common and abundant mineral is found in all our mines. Very many beautiful groups of crystal, with cubes of iron pyrites, have been taken from them. Many of the quartz veins are almost or totally devoid of ore, in which case, the quartz is generally milk- white and pure. Quicksilver. — Associated with mercury-tellu- ride in the Sunshine district, Boulder County. Roscolite. — A greenish mineral, intimately asso- ciated with quartz, found at some of the mines in Boulder County. Sanidite. — Occurs, throughout the trachor- heites, sometimes in very handsome crystals. "Whereever the trachytes have been reheated, the sanidite is adularizing. Sardonyx.— Sonndi in Middle Park, near Gol- den and Mount Vernon. Satin, >%.ar.— Associated with alabaster and arrow-head crystals of gypsum, near Mount Vernon. gil^uer. — A silver mineral belt extends almost across the entire State, following the general course of the mountains, but appearing in the flankino- ranges and outlying foot-hills east and west of the great divide. From North Park southward through Gilpin, Clear Creek, Summit, Park, Lake, Chaflfee, and the counties of the Gun- nison country, a belt, showing but slight interrup- tions, has been traced. The San Juan Mountains, forming the continental divide in the south, are peculiarly rich in silver veins. The hills and valleys of the Sangre de Christo Range are full of deposits. Silver is the predominating metal in the Sawatch Range. The Park Range is enormously productive. The carbonate deposits of veins of Leadville are world renowned as being immeasura- bly rich. Sphalerite. — Occurs in almost every mine, but more abundant in lead-silver mines than in gold mines, ^'aries in color from greenish-yellow to brown and black. Sulphur. — In small crystals on galenite from the mines near Central. Found in Middle Park, and near Pagosa Springs. Sometimes in narrow seams in galenite, the result of decomposition of the latter. Sylvanite. — Occurring in fohated masses and thread-like veins in the mines at Gold Hill. In crystals and crystalline masses in the Sunshine dis- trict. An analysis shows its composition as fol- lows: Quartz, 0.32; gold, 24.83; silver, 13.05; copper, 0.23 ; zinc, 0.45 ; iron, 3.28 ; tellurium, 56.31; sulphur, 1.32, with a trace of selenium. Total, 100.29. Talc. — Occurs to a nearly all our mines less extent in fine scales among the greater or In gangue-rock of the mines near Central ; in light pink scales in the Hardscrabble district ; in Mosco Pass ; of a fine dark green color, very hard, and having crystals of sulphuret of iron disseminated through them, at Montgomery. Tellurium. — Native tellurium at the Red Cloud mine. Gold Hill, in crystalline masses, belong- ing to the hexagonal system. A specmien from this mine, on examination, was found to contain 90.85 per cent, with small quantities of selenium, iron and bismuth, with traces of gold and silver. Tetrahedite. — Crystals in Buckskin Gulch; near Central City ; in the San Juan district, where it also occurs massive in a number of mines. ^- 'V ^\' 108 HISTOEY OF COLORADO. Tourmaline. — Black or dark brown in color. Found in quartz near Central, and on the Arkansas. Uraninite. — Occurs in large quantities near Nevada district. An analysis furnishes the following result: Uranoso-uranic acid, 11.37; sulphides of iron and copper, 45.81 ; langen, 42.82. Wheelerite. — A resin, related to amber. Occurs in the coal of Colorado. An analysis furnishes carbon, 73.07 per cent; hydrogen, 7.95; oxygen, 18.98. Wollastonite. — Occurs in small quantities in some of the limestones in the Pair Play district. Zinc. — Occurs more or less in nearly all our gold-bearing veins. Sometimes found associated with chalcedony, and resembling moss agate. Fine specimens have been found in the mines about Black Hawk and Central City. Zarcon. — Crystals of zircon have been found in the feldspar of Pike's Peak ; in small crystals on Bear River ; in Middle Park, and in quartz in El Paso County. CHAPTER XVII. PEAK CLIMBING IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. ~|y /TUCH fine writing has been indulged in by -'-'-L delighted tourists after ascending some one of the thousand Alpine peaks of Colorado, but the following, from the pen of Maj. W. D. Bickham, the well-known editor of the Dayton (Ohio) Journal, descriptive of an ascent of Pike's Peak in 1879, is, perhaps, the most lucid recital in the language, and no apology will be required for inserting it entire. The Major is too old and true a journalist to spoil the "rat story" by even inti- mating that the lonely grave on the lonely peak is a fraud upon unsuspecting travelers — Norah O'Keefe and her baby and the rats being alike supposititious and non-existent personages and rodents. Passing over his description of the slow and toilsome ascent, which is well written but not particularly pertinent in this connection, we come to the "supreme moment" when the writer finds himself upon the summit, surveying the wonderful panorama which lies spread around him : " ' Those who would see the lovely and the wild I Mingled in harmony on Nature's face, Ascend our Rocky Mountains. Let thy foot Fail not with weariness, for on their tops The beauty and the majesty of earth Spread wide beneath shall make thee to forget The steep and toilsome way.' ^-. "Standing on the desolate, echoless peak, the swift-glancing vision is abject servant of all it sur- veys. A gold-hunter in my careless youth, tramp- ing in reckless happiness over the stately peaks of gold-ribbed California, dallying in gay and hopeful fancy with an imaginary sweetheart, or dreaming of the evanescent vision of nights on summits that coquetted with Orion, seeking wild adventure and the most savage haunts of Nature for its own delights, and camping under the moon, courting companionship with the wildest solitudes, I had not even imagined a wilderness of loneliness com- parable with the absolute desolation of this awfiil summit. I stood for the moment oppressed with the ma-jesty that enveloped me. And even when self-possession slowly returned with the compara- tive restoration of convulsed physical nature, the stupendous realism of the wondrous scene rivaled the tumult of super-stimulated fancy. For a little period before your wandering faculties are remoralized, while staring with dazed eyes upon the glaring sky and confused maze of mountains all around, and plains which spread out below in misty vagueness, chaos seems to have come again. Even the dreary realism of the dismal prospect of the desolate peak itself scarcely dissipates the WOLFE HALL, Denver, COL. liL^ HISTORY OF COLOEADO. 109 gloomy spell, for you stand in a hopeless confusion of dull stones piled upon each other in somber ugliness, without one softening influence, as if Nature, irritated with her labor, had flung her con- fusion here in utter desperation. " But soon again your sensitive nerves, which vibrate fiercely as with a fever, your palpitating heart, which thumps like a bounding bowlder down the unseen declivity, your throbbing pulse, that leaps impetuously, suddenly restore you to consciousness and admonish you of the little time you have to waste in delirious dreams. A sudden dizziness confuses your brain, whose nerves ache with painful tension, and miserable nausea meanly reminds you that you are mortal. Nevertheless, the eye escaping constantly from its local fetters, soars away to the bright canopy above, and then to * * * The Mils, Rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun ; the vale, Stretching, in quiet pensiveness, between ; The venerable woods ; rivers, that move In majesty, and the complaining brooks. That make the meadows green.' " You contemplate the mighty scene with admi- ration and amazement. No human pen or tongue can word or voice the wondrous spectacle. Mount- ains rise upon mountains, like heaving billows, and o'ertop each other far as eye can scan, and broad plains spread out below like a shoreless sea. Yonder in the blue distance. Long's lofty peak. In snowy grandeur, leaps, and, in the illusive haze. Grey's sky-piercing summit, clad in eternal white, glistens in the neighboring sun. Beneath your feet, a wild rabble of broken rocks, that seem tumbling downward, noiselessly, forever, into an unseen abyss, and a mystery of somber forests, through which the untamed winds revel in ribald harmony. And now, far away, in the mingled shadows and dazzling sunshine, in a secluded basin, inclosed with clifis and fringed with ever- oreens a cluster of little lakes — the ' Seven £,a]jes ' — that glisten like mirrors and reflect the shadows which make them beautiftil. Red granite and gray sandstone, bare cones and glittering pyramids and verdant valleys everywhere, fill up the unmeasured amphitheater of nature. " Long, sinuous lines of green, that describe the course of wandering streams, far off, with lit- tle villages and a city on the sea-like plains that frame an artistic horizon for Colorado Springs, a new metropolis, lie prettily away below, and seem to swell from a basin to a line of the sky, which the imprisoned eyes indistinctly define. And then, down precipitately, far down below, into unseen depths, the crater of the mountain : " ' Steep in the eastern side, shaggy and wild, * * * with pinnacles of flint, And many a hanging crag.' " Into it you heave a bowlder, that bounds nois- lessly into space, and sinks, with scarce a sound, to where it lands. " Where we stand, good reader, our eyes com- mand the mysteries, of the continent. Far south- ward, a soft line of verdure describes the valley of the Arkansas; northward, the Platte chases through the plains a thousand miles, flows into the turbid Missouri, rushes, in wild volume, down through the Mississippi and kisses waters at the mouth o5p the Arkansas, which it left, long ago, at the continental divide in the table-lands of Col- orado, under the shadow of this mighty peak. Southerly, again, the vision sweeps the course of the Rio Grande, which winds, in crooked current, into the waters of the ' Bay of the Holy Spirit ' — Gulf of Mexico — and then, at last, the Colo- rado, which drains the southwestern water-shed into the Pacific Ocean. Kansas is within your ken, Nebraska too, Utah and New Mexico. A thousand miles of mountains break the vast sur- face west of you, and fifteen hundred north and south. And eastward, ranging north and south, the spreading plains. There is no more splendid masterpiece in nature. " The surface of the Peak is indescribably rude. It embraces a rugged though regular area of per- haps fifty acres, of serrated oval form, on its face, sinking southward into a narrow, rocky ridge, when it skips ofi' skyward. The rocks are ■V^ -4- 110 HISTORY OF COLORADO. comparatively regularly formed bowlders of porphy- ritic granite, of somber, reddisb hue, with soil enough in the crevices between them to nourish exquisite little mountain mosses, which are the only relief to the utter sterility of the summit. A drift of perpetual snow, Kke a silver helmet, which the eye catches in the glitter of the sun- shine miles upon miles away, upon the distant plains, lies in a glittering mass upon the very apes of the mighty pile. While skipping about from bowlder to bowlder, drinking in the mighty pano- rama with unappeasable appetite, stopping now and then to gather the pretty moss that bloi^somed under the very eyes of the snow heap, a chance companion, one Isaac Rothimer, of Chicago, picked off the snow itself a Uvinghumlilehce. I took it in my hands and examined it carefully, ruminating upon the Democratic ridicule which enlivened the poli- ticians during the Presidential campaign of the " Pathfinder ; " for many of you who remember that stirring summer will, perhaps, not forget with what eagerness the Democratic organs and orators ridi- culed the report of Fremont recording the fact that he had found a living bumblebee upon a snow-capped peak of the Rocky Mountains. Rothimer's bumblebee was in a semi-torpid state ; nevertheless, it crawled, and being apprehensive that its business end might be warmed into ani- mation by too much familiarity, I tenderly depos- ited it upon the soft side of a bowlder, and left it to gather what honey it might from the shining- granite. Rothimer was careful to give me his name, that it might be perpetuated as the emula- tor of the " Pathfinder.'' It was a pleasing inci- dent in contrast with our gloomy surroundings, for hard by is a solitary little cross, marking the grave of an infant, the child of Sergt. O'Keefe, which was destroyed by mountain rats, in the Signal Station, while its mother was occupied with her domestic duties. " The United States Signal Station, a stone tenement of three little apartments, is at once the capitol and metropolis of the Peak. Alexander Selkirk, in his solitude, was beset with company. compared with the utter loneliness of this desolate habitation. Two signal officers, who relieve each other at intervals of thirty days, wrestle with the elements in this dreary eyrie through the dismal cycle of the months, and profess themselves con- tented. Telegraphic connection with the (sub)- terrestrial world keeps them in instantaneous communication with their fellows, and daily chat over the wires with operators at Colorado Springs, relieves the wearisome tedium. They live chiefly upon canned food, and substitute tobacco smoke for the pure ether of the Peak. This reminds me, by the way, that, although an inveterate smoker and enjoying perfect general health, cigars were utterly distasteful to me on the summit, and for an hour or two after I fled precipitately to the caverns below. My fumigating companions re- ported a similar experience, and those who par- to(jk of luncheon in the station represented that good bread and butter tasted like dry chips. One editor, who took a square drink of whisky to re- lieve nausea, paid an almost instant penalty. Prom his experience and that of others, I infer that spirits are uncongenial to the human stomach in sublimated atmospheres. "A strong wind whistles over the Peak perpet- ually. It is cooling, but not penetrating, in sum- mer, excepting upon occasion. I was clad in ordinary winter garments, without an overcoat, and felt no cold, excepting a benumbing sensation in my ungloved bridle-hand when approaching the summit. The atmosphere resembles the chilliness of a March wind blowing over a surface of snow in the Miami Valley. Immediately after reaching the Peak, the majority of persons become con- scious of dizziness, light-headednoss, and presently confusing headache, with accompanying nausea strangely resembling sea-sickness. To some it be- comes utterly unendurable, and they fly from the the summit as rapidly as they dare. Rut few cai-e to linger long. "Without exception, those who made the ascent this day returned with strangely pallid faces, and several of them halted by the wayside and wretchedly paid tribute to the ■V- HISTOEY OF COLORADO. Ill Olympian Peak. The violent action of tlie blood in this high altitude was indicated by the pulsa- tion of strong men running as high as 125 beats to the minute, and some even higher. One of the young ladies naively confessed that hers beat as high as 140, but it was observed that an ardent widower kept time for her. Some of our party bled freely at the nose. ' When near the Peak, ascending, a sudden cloud lifted above it and powdered us with a flurry of snow, but in a few moments all was clear again. A half-hour later, while peering over the cliff into the abyss, we were sharply startled by a glittering flash of lightning and a mutter of thun- der far below. A little later, the cloud had grown black, and streaks of lightning vivified the dark- ness, and the deep diapason of thunder seemed to shake the summit. Heeding the advice of the signal officer, who discovered an approaching gust, the party hurried from the Peak, the tardy catch- ing a dash of rain and hail mingled with flecks of snow, as they carefully stepped over the edge of the Peak and laboriously climbed down the de- clivity to their horses. By this time, the mount- ain was shrouded in the blackness of darkness, the lurid lightning disported with the clouds da'n- gerously near us, and the rolling thunder savored of the majesty of Sinai. " And now we go down, down, down, painfully but more rapidly than we ascended, through the rabble of bowlders. The splendid scenery grows upon the dilating vision, for in the descent the forms of nature magnify, or rather resume their true relations to the plane of vision. The cliffs grow more rugged and higher, and stand out more boldly, the mountains swell into grander outlines, and scenes which before had excited only passing admiration in an endless gallery of wonders now expand into surpassing pageants. And now, too, you become suddenly surprised at the unimagined activity of your faithful horse. An improving atmosphere proves a hippotonic, perhaps, but you are apt to suspect that he knows that his head is turned homeward. Unlike a man, too, he prefers descending to climbing. Perhaps, it is because he has a load to carry. Anyhow, he ambles along gaily when the narrow trail is not perilous, nor thinks of halting for a breathing spell until you reach the Lake House, when he stops to let you spend a quarter for a wretched cup of coffee. You take time to ponder, too, upon the unconscious perOs of the morning, but you trust your horse and fear no danger. He warns you, even, if a bear or a badger lurks in the fastnesses, for he snuffles and snorts, shies, and then halts if there is necessity. At length, you return to the head of the grand canon, one of the noblest in all Col- orado, and you descend it rapidly, with increasing admiration, to the terminus of the toilsome jour- ney. It opens and keeps enlarging like a mam- moth telescope, continuing to display to your admiring vision a panoramic pageant of wondrous beauty — stupendous clifis, tall turrets and graceful pinnacles ; bastions and battlements ; noble castles and solemn cathedrals, whose steeples prop the clouds ; human forms on the crags, and mysteri- ous images on mighty pedestals, and far beyond the undulating plains, like a lilac-colored sea sweeping off in one mighty billow, until earth, and air, and sky blend together in dreamy har- mony. " Halting at the Iron Spring once more, we quaffed again to Olympian Jove, and felt like boasting as him who taketh his armor off." <5 S \' SI s.. 'A 112 HISTORY OF COLORADO. CHAPTER XVIII. SKETCH OF THE SAN JUAN COUNTRY AND DOLORES DISTRICT. DOWN in the southwestern portion of Colorado lies the country known as San Juan. It con- tains within its boundaries the present counties of Hinsdale, Rio Grande, San Juan, La Plata, Conejos and Ouray. San Luis Park and the counties of Sagauche and Costilla are also commonly included in the, district. Within the last few years and up to the time of the advent of the carbonates upon the scene of mining activity, San Juan was a syn- onym for the Silver Country, and though for two or three years it has been retarded in its progress, yet the gradual approach of railroads to its immediate vicinity is a sign of promise to the future not easily to be overlooked. The early history of this country is but little known. The Spanish expedition that visited it in the sixteenth century found it inhabited by savages. In its valleys, however, are the indica- tions that they were inhabited long before the appearance of the Indians, by a people that under- stood something of the arts of civilization, but whose history is wrapped up in the unknown past. The ruins of cities are found scattered over a large section of country. Large rooms are often found cut out of the solid rock, and the locations were evidently selected and arranged for the purpose of successful defense. Pottery and other useful implements are found in great per- fection. The work and style of manufacture indicate a civilization equal to that which pre- vailed among the ancients, or in Peru or Mexico at the time of the discovery of the American Continent. It may be that these are the ruins of the Aztec race, that was supplanted by the savage Indians who swept down upon them from the north. It may be that they are the ruins of a race as civilized as the people of the Old World, and who had a history, if it were known, as long and wonderful as that of Greece or Rome. This vast region of many thousand square miles is abrupt and broken, with an average ele- vation of 13,000 feet above the sea, with some of their peaks reaching the altitude of 14,500 feet. The scenery of such a section must necessarily verge nearer to the sublime than any known in the world. Nature must have been in wild riot to have produced such a " wreck of matter " as is here found. If the ruins of ancient cities impress the beholder with wonder and amazement, what must be the emotions in viewing what one might easily imagine to be an exploded world, with its sharp broken fragments piled, in strange confusion, 14,000 feet high? The molten peaks are tinged with a red and sulphurous hue, which tells of a period at which the chemical properties of the earth were made to gild each crest with rare, enduring colors. It presents a scene of aban- doned nature, with garbs of living green cast recklessly below, into the parks and valleys, two miles away, that her charms might be the sub- ject of man's conquests to gain her golden treas- ure. The center of the great volcanic upheaval seems to have been between the present cities of Silver- ton and Ouray, in the western center of the San Juan country proper. In La Plata County, the ruins of this extinct race of which we have written are found, scattered at intervals over an area of over 6,000 square miles. W. H. Holmes, in the Hayden Government Survey reports, classes these under heads of lowland or agricultu- ral settlements, cave dwellings and cliff houses, the latter used, probably, as places of refuge and defense in time of war and invasion. It is in this locality that the _ mountains reach their greatest height, and here is the land of eter- nal snow that supplies the water for the five great rivers and their tributaries that have their ^ ^ V .^y/(y^. liL^ HISTORY OP COLORADO. 113 source in this immediate vicinity. The Rio Grande del Norte runs east, to the Grulf of Mex- ico ; the XJmcompahgre, north ; Rio San Miguel, west; Grunnison, northeast, and Rio Animas, south — these last flowing into the Colorado arid Grulf of California. Up to the year 1860, the Indians held undis- puted possession of this country. Then Capt. Baker, with a few prospectors as adventurous as himself, made his appearance on the San Juan River. Working their way up the Animas, they came to what is now called Baker's Park. These men were gulch miners, who knew little and cared less for silver lodes. They were disappointed in finding gold in any great quantity, though they pursued their Search diligently until the approach of winter. Then the band broke up, but those who undertook to leave for lower latitudes and civilization were compelled to succumb to the rigors of an early winter; while tliose who remained had, in addition, to fight the Indians, who warned them out of the country. For many years after, the San Juan country was left to soli- tude and the savages. In 1868, the treaty was made, giving the Indians the reservation known as the Ute Reser- vation, embracing 30,000 square miles. In 1870, however, a party of six prospectors came up the Rio Grande into the Animas Valley and located several lodes. Late in the fall, they returned to the States with accounts of their rich discoveries, and the result was, that in the spring of 1871, a large number of adventurous spirits had found their way into the country. The many rich discoveries of this season increased the excite- ment to fever-heat, and San Juan became a name familiar upon the lips of thousands. But this inroad upon their reservation was looked upon with great disfavor by the Indians, and it was feared that trouble would follow. Troops were sent into the country in 18Y2, to keep out the miner. This course of the General Government but added fuel to the fire of excitement already burning in the breasts of the people, but the matter was partly settled to the satisfaction of all parties concerned, by the adoption of the Brunot Treaty, whereby the Indians relinquished their title to 5,600 square miles. Then the great army of treasure-seekers sought the solitudes of the San Juan, and silence no longer reigned. These early settlers were men of energy, who had listened to the accounts of rich ores obtained from Southern Colorado. They were lawyers, ministers, doctors, engineers, mer- chants and miners from all parts. Some of them were men who had made the trip from the Mis- souri River to the Pacific Slope in 1849, and the later years of that remarkable exodus. They had seen and known of the stampede to Gold Bins' and to Frazer River; to the Caribou mines in British America, Washoe, the Comstock, Reese River, White Pine, Eureka, Cottonwood, and now to San Juan. These waited until the land was given up to them by treaty, and then they came to prospect. Others, who had no knowledge of mining, were early to ford the rivers and brave the crossing of dangerous ranges that, in many places, were almost perpendicular. From all classes of society, the adventurous and energetic wended their way to the new discovery, and there met with the usual fortune of miners in hard fare and many discom- forts. But the " prospects " were there, and they were found. A rich country was opened to the world, and the yield of precious minerals vastly increased. From this time until 1878, when Leadville became the great center of attraction, the San Juan mining fever burned in the veins of thou- sands. More than ten thousand silver miiies were located during this period, and yet it can hardly be said that the country has begun to be pros- pected. As will be seen by our account later on, a large number of mines are now being worked with good returns. What jSortion of this large number would have been successfully opened up in addition to the newer discoveries that would have been made had not the star of Leadville risen \) "V ^1 \i\ 114 HISTORY or COLORADO. on the horizon of the prospector, it is diifieult to estimate ; but at least one-fourth of those located would have become paying property. To some, this might seem an extravagant estimate ; but here it must be taken into consideration that no blind leads are prospected, mineral being found in nearly every instance at or near the sur- face. The San Juan mining region is divided into districts, of which the Animas district, lying in what was formerly La Plata, but is now San Juan County, is one of the oldest named, and lies along the Animas Eiver and its tributaries. The lodes, with a few exceptions, occupy positions from 11,000 to 12,000 feet above the sea. The veins nearly all take the usual course, northeast and southwest, and the greater part of the ore is argen- tiferous galena, highly impregnated with gray copper. The veins are large and well defined in almost every instance. Outcropping and large deposits of iron ore are found in Baker's Park, and blue carbonate of lime on Sultan Mountain. The first mine worked to any extent was the Lit- tle Giant, discovered in 1870, located in Aras- tra Gulch. The smelter run of the ores treated from mines in this district, in 1877, varied from $150 to $2,000 per ton. We mention a few of the first-class, paying leads in the neighborhood : The Highland Mary, Mountaineer, North Star, Tiger, Thatcher, Chepauqua, Comstock, Pride of the West, Philadelphia, Susquehanna, Pelican Gray Eagle, Shenandoah, Bull of the Woods, Lit- tle Giant (gold). Prospector, McGregor, Aspen, Seymour, Letter G, Empire, Sultana, Hawkeye, Ajax, Mollis Darling, Silver Cord, Althea, Last of the Line, Boss Boy, Crystal, King Hiram Abiff (gold), Ulysses, Lucky, Eliza Jane, Silver Wing and Jennie Parker. Poughkeepsie Gulch, in this district, is a famous mining locality. It contains 250 lodes, on which assessment work is done each year ; a number are being steadily worked, while a few are paying handsome profits. Among these may be noted the Alaska, Bonanza, Alabama, Acapulco, Red Roger, Saxon, St. Joseph, Poughkeepsie, Gypsy King and Kentucky Giant. Silverton is the principal town in the district. From this point, most of the miners from the La Plata and the Uncompahgre districts obtain their supplies. It lies in Baker's Park, one of the love- liest bits of nature, hidden away in the mountains, and is destined to be a town of no small impor- tance in the near future. The Eureka district joins the Animas on the north. The character of the ores does not differ materially from those in the Animas district, gran- ite being the prevailing character of the rock formations in each. It takes in all the territory on the east side of the mountains that divide the waters of the Animas from those of the Gunni- son and the Uncompahgre. The town of Eureka is nine miles from Silverton. No larger bodies of ore are found anywhere than in this district. Among the principal mines may be mentioned the McKinnie, Tidal Wave, Boomerang, Crispin, Sun- nyside. Yellow Jacket, Golden Fleece, Venus, Emma Dean, American, North Pole, Jackson, Grand Central, Big Giant, Little Abbie, Belcher and Chieftain. The Uncompahgi'e district has " no end to the number of rich mines." Nearly all the water- courses in the northern portion of San Juan have their source within the limits of the Uncompahgre district, or in that immediate neighborhood. There is a nest of mines on the summit of these mount- ains, perhaps included in one and one and a half ■miles square, whose best grade of ores will run from 1500 to |1,000 to the ton at the smelter. Among the notable mines in this district may be named the Mother Cline, Fisherman, Silver Coin, Adelphi, Scottish Chief, Lizzie, Royal Albert, Micky Breen, Gypsy Queen and Little Minnie.' The ores of this district are said to carry less galena and more of the sulphurets of silver than in any other district named. The Lake district, in Hinsdale County, of which Lake City is the chief town, is the most accessible, by good roadways, of any of the silver-bearing ^\ ,^ HISTORY or COLORADO. 115 districts in the San Juan country. There are some six hundred and fifty mines located in it, and it possesses the only tellurium lodes of any note in that section of country. Two sacks of ore from one lode, the Hotchkiss, weight 150 pounds, brought at the rate of $40,000 per ton in San Francisco. The celebrated concentration work of Crookes Brothers are located at Lake City ; the Ute and Ule mines were bought by these parties and are extensively worked. This region is laboring under other disadvantages, at present, than the car- bonate excitement that drew its mining population away from it two years ago. It is made up of almost inaccessible mountain ranges, and is so remote from railways as not to be an inviting field for capitalists. But a 5'ear or two will work won- derful changes, when the advent of a railroad (the Denver & South Park, probably) will bring the ore within easy distance of a market, and the rich mineral veins that now lie idle will be better known to the world at large. We give the names of some of the leading lodes in this district and county, as follows : Accidental, in the Galena district, yielding an average of 300 ounces. American, same district, 100 to 600 ounces. Belle of the East. Belle of the West. Big Casino. Croesus, Dolly Varden. Gray Copper, in the Lake district, 200 ounces. Hidden Treasure. Hotchkiss, 400 ounces silver. Melrose, in the Galena district, 400 ounces. Ocean Wave and extension. Plutarch. Ule. Ute and Wave of the Ocean. Ouray County contains within its borders some of the most rugged and almost perpendicular mountains and deeply cut ravines and river-gorges known. Its inaccessibility has, of course, retarded its rapid growth ; but the unusual value of the mineral in this section has enabled its miners to dispose of their products. Some of the districts in this county — notably the Mount Sneffels — have no superiors among the silver-bearing sections, and are gradually growing in importance as their great mineral wealth is demonstrated. In this county lies the San Miguel gold district, occupying the mountains and streams of a tract of country forty miles broad by some seventy |ong, and, doubtless, running as far north as the Gunnison River. This region began to be developed in 1875, at which time the attention of miners was drawn thereto by successful discoveries of rich placer diggings, creating a lively excitement. All along the San Miguel River and its forks and tributaries are extensive gravel deposits, rich in gold. These are being worked, some by companies on a large scale. One company has been putting in all the newest discovered machinery for economic work- ing of gravel, by which 2,000 cubic yards are manipulated in one day. Some claims contain several million yards of gravel, estimated, from tests, to average $1 per yard. A late authority on this subject says: "Some idea of the value and extent of these grand deposits of an ancient river- bed, from fifty to one hundred and fifty feet above the present bed of the river, can be obtained from the fact that it costs from $25,000 to $100,000 to bring water upon them and to construct ditches and flumes. These immense deposits, like those of California, have been attracting the attentioii of capitalists, and it is safe to say that in a few years the yield of gold-dust will be enormous." But it is in the adjoining mountains, seamed with silver veins, where the immense treasure-vaults lie, scarcely concealed from common gaze — a silver belt of from twenty to forty miles wide and per- haps eighty long, in which lie an hundred thou- sand silver veins, many of huge size and of sur- passing richness. Take the silver-ribbed King Solomon Mountain, for instance, rearing its mass- ive front high in air, between Animas River and Cunningham Gulch, in San Juan County. Here you can trace the veins upon its very face, the mother lode averaging forty feet in width. " This enormous mass of crevice matter is composed of nearly vertical streaks of decomposed ferruginous quartz in contact with great seams of argentiferous mineral. It can be seen for a distance of two miles." We give the names of some of the leading lodes in this county, beginning with the Begole, known ^1 l^ 116 HISTOEY OF COLOKADO. as the Mineral Farm. It might be called one of the latest wonders of the world, even in view of the deposits being revealed in the camps of the carbonates. The locations cover over forty acres of gTOund ; the actual amount covered by the de- posit is twelve acres. Fourteen different openings all showed mineral. This property was located in 1875, and sold in the fall of 1878 to a company who had built reduction works at Ouray. One lode on this claim has " a very rich gray copper vein in a gangue of quartzite, often milling from $400 to $700 per ton." Another has "a streak of bright galena, with heavy spar, carrying over a hundred ounces of silver, with 40 per cent of lead." It will thus be seen that this can be made a very productive " farm." Belle of the West, on Yellow Mountain, yields 150 ounces; Byron, on Engineer Mountain, 260 ounces ; Chief Deposit and Caribou, on Buckeye Mountain, with a vein of from three to eight feet, 200 to 1,500 ounces ; Circassian, Denver, Eclipse, 500 ounces; Fidelity, 400 ounces; Free G-old, Geneva, Gold Queen, Mineral Farm, Norma, Mountain Kam, Imogene, on Buckeye Mountain, yielding from 56 to 1,370 ounces; San Juan, Silver King, Staatsburg, Virginius and Yankee Boy, on Mount Sneffels, yielding each from 200 to 400 ounces. It would be simply impossible to make any- thing like a close estimate of the wealth that lies' imbedded in these mountains, where constant de- velopments show that only the beginning of it has been found. When the time comes that trans- portation can be oflFered, these mountains will again tempt the hopeful prospector and the hardy miner, and they will go to stay. The production from these' districts is considerable, and is grad- ually growing. A few years from now will show as remarkable a change from the present status of aifairs in the San Juan Valley as the year 1876 showed in comparison with that of 1870. The inhabitants of this section of Colorado need have no fears. Those whose faith in the future of the San Juan mining country has led them to invest their all there will yet see their most sanguine ex- pectations realized. Messrs. Keyes and Roberts, two celebrated mining experts from California, visited the San Juan country last summer with Gov. Pitkin, and stated publicly that it was the richest mining country they ever saw. Said Mr. Keyes : " If this country was located anywhere in California, $100,000,000 would be invested in it immediately by our capitalists." Rich and extensive as the early discoveries in this country have proven to be, it is possible that a recent development there will eventually out- strip all former ones. Reference is had, of course, to the late carbonate find on the Dolores River, in the western part of Ouray County. These car- bonates are pronounced identical with the Lead- ville deposits, possessing every peculiarity of the latter, even down to the facility with which they yield to treatment by smelting. The rush to the Dolores country has continued pretty much all summer, and a new town, named Rico, has been organized in the wilderness, with a newspaper and other adjuncts of civilized life. Rico means " rich," and undoubtedly the town is rightly named, for the camp is far in advance of what Leadville was at the same age. Of course, nobody knows what an undeveloped mining town will amount to one, two or three years hence ; but at present the Dolores country is, looking up, and its promise is all that could be desired. It is still comparatively inaccessible except by the rough mountain roads of the southwest ; but there will eventually be a railroad in that direction, and carbonate ores, especially the higher grades, can be treated on the ground. Among the mining experts who visited Rico last summer was Senator Jones, and the fact that he invested in several claims during his sojourn shows that his faith in the future of the Dolores mines amounted to a tolerable certainty. The new mines are reached via Ouray, Silver- ton or Animas City ; but neither route is over a prairie road, by any means. Better roads will be among the first results of development in the -® ~>y A 4^ HISTOEY or COLORADO. 119 mines, and by next summer it may be confidently expected that arrangements will be made not only to accommodate the large travel which will set toward the mines, but also to take in supplies and smelting machinery. That there are genuine lead carbonates there is not doubted, and it is thought they are rich enough to pay for working them even at that distance from a railroad. If so, this country has justly earned its title of " The Silver San Juan." CHAPTER XIX. THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO. AFTER two years of hard work, the Univer- sity of Colorado, at Boulder, has been placed on a footing with the largest and best educational institutions in the country. When Prof Joseph A. Sewall, ^I. D., LL. D., first took the Presi- dent's chair, the University existed merely in name. To be sure, the building was there, but there was little else. Nothing had been done to improve the grounds, and the interior of the building was barren and desolate. Many pre- dicted that the undertaking would be a failure, and spoke disparagingly of it. But, notwith- standing these discouraging surroundings, Prof Sewall started in earnest, and the beautiful grounds and the standing of the school are the result of his energetic labors. For two years he and his accomplished wife have labored assidu- ously, and their efforts have been bountifully rewarded. The University is beautifully situated upon the high grounds on the south side of Boulder Creek, and overlooks the city of Boulder. Standing, as it does, alone, a view of the scenery of the sur- rounding country can be obtained from either side of the building. To the west are the boldest and highest foot-hills of the range, and, far away, the ever snow-capped summit of Arapahoe Peak. On the north and east, as far as the eye can reach, extend the fertile plains, dotted with lakes, while on the south rise the beautiful mesas or table- lands. Two years ago, the grounds immediately surrounding the institution were entirely barren and covered almost completely with rocks, of all sizes. Now these rocks have been removed, and, in their place, has been cultivated a beautiful lawn on the west side, irrigated by two small paved ditches ; while in front of the building is a beau- tifully arranged flower-garden, handsomely orna- mented, with stone walls surrounding the difi'erent plats. This spot alone is the result of much toil and perseverance, for every stone in the winding walks had to be laid by hand. Last spring there were just 219 plants set out, and, owing to the watchful care of the President's wife, only one of that number has succumbed to the enervating influence of the weather, while the remaining 218 are in a flourishing condition. Among these plants, which at present are in ftiU bloom, is a cinnamon geranium nearly five feet high, having grown to its present dimensions in two years, from a slip of but a few inches. Verbenas, lobelias, geraniums and hosts of other choice plants have been beautifully arranged in plats, and the com- binations of their rich colors tend to greatly enhance the beautiful scenery around, while the air is redolent with their sweet perfume. A sprig of clematis has been planted, and is now entwin- ing its branches around the jagged edges of the stone walls of the foundation, and next summer will cover the wall of the building. The water used to irrigate the ground is supplied by a ditch company, in which the University is interested to the extent of ten shares of stock. The building is a large square structure, three stories in height, built of brick and surmounted by a tower and observatory. There are over ^ ^ f* -^ 130 HISTORY OF COLORADO. seventy windows in the house, and thus all the apartments are well lighted and are always cheer- ful. There are two entrances, one from the north and the other from the south side, by means of double doors, reached by eight steps of stone. Exclusive of the basement, there are twenty-four rooms, and a large hall to the upper story. On the first floor there are seven spacious rooms, four of which are occupied by the Presi- dent and his family. The left-hand side of the hall, entering from the north side, is devoted to school purposes. Immediately in front is the teachers' dressing-room, in which are neatly arranged a stationary wash-stand, clothes-racks and everything necessary to the comfort of the instructors upon arriving at the institution on a wet or disagreeable day. Adjoining this is the Normal school room, seating forty pupils. Next comes the chapel, which is also to .be used as a general assembly room, where the scholars will congregate every morning to attend devotional exercises, prior to entering upon the duties of the day. It is a large room, its measurement being 40x60 feet and 32 feet in height. At present, the room does not present a very prepossessing appearance, but when the alterations are com- pleted it will be one of the most attractive depart- ments in the institution. A new floor of ash-wood is to replace the old one, the walls and ceiling are to be frescoed and there are to be inside blinds to the windows. Chairs will be used, and ample accommodations will be provided for all the schol- ars. The building is all piped, and it is expected before long there will be a small gas generator put in operation, for lighting purposes. From the first floor there are two broad stair- ways, heavily balustraded, one of which leads to the third floor and the other terminates at the second. The former is used exclusively by the male scholars, while the girls hold possession of the latter one. The members of the Sophomore Class have a classroom in the northeast corner of the second story. This is furnished somewhat difierently from the regular style of schoolrooms ; in the place of the ordinary desks are four walnut tables, covered with fine billiard cloth, around which sixteen students can sit with ease. Comfortable chairs are provided and a neat car- pet covers the floor, while around the walls are arranged blackboards, for illustrating purposes. This is one of the most cheerful and bright rooms in the establishment, and from the windows one can look down on the beautiful garden, and also view the surrounding country for miles. Next to this is the classroom of the pupils in the third year of the preparatory course, which will accommodate thirty scholars at its desks. On the opposite side of the hall an apartment has been provided for the girls, to be used by them as a dressing and bath room. This is a large, com- modious place, and has been supplied with all the modern conveniences. Next comes the classroom for pupils in the sec- ond year of the preparatory department, furnished with a Centennial desk, which is considered the finest and best manufactured. From this room a door leads out into a side hall, in which is another flight of stairs; in the middle of the building on the west side. Opposite the stairs is the room occupied by the first year preparatory scholars, with thirty desks in it and cheerfully lighted by two large windows. A ten-foot room separates it from the library, in the southwest corner of the building. Too high praise cannot be bestowed upon the library department of the University, for, without exception, it is the finest and best-selected west of the Mississippi River. There are about fifteen hundred books, neatly arranged in three cases, and among their number there cannot be found a sin- gle volume which does not tend to cultivate the mind and impart instruction. Among the works of history are twelve volumes of "Crete's History of Greece," Mommsen's, Gibbon's and Meri vale's Histories of Rome, "Knight's History of England," " Guizot's History of France," " Bancroft's History, of the United States," the Netherlands and Dutch 'A HISTOllY OF COLORADO. 121 Republic by Motley, as well as all of his other works. Among others are Johnson's, the Brit- ish, and the new American Encyclopedias. There is also a complete line of reference and classical works, and the poets are represented by Shaks- peare, Scott, Byron, Shelley, Tennyson and Long- fellow, with Schiller and Groethe in the original, in six volumes each. The entire International series also occupies a place. Scientific works abound in large numbers, and among others are " Mitchell's ^Manual of Practical Assaying," " Crooke's and Bohrig's Practical Treatise on Metallurgy,'' and the two volumes of "Musprat's Chemistry as Applied to Art." The library is a regular subscriber to all the leading magazines, both of this country and Europe, and includes works printed in English, French and German. This department is elegantly furnished through the kindness and interest of the scholars. The girls provided the lambrequins and curtains for the four large windows ; a fine bordered Brussels car- pet was presented by a gentleman of Boulder. There are three walnut writing-tables, and a number of substantial walnut chairs ; also, a com- fortable, large easy-chair. The library hall is fitted up for a reading-room, and is open through- out the day for study, reading and consultation of authorities. One of the attractive features is the elegant style in which all the books are bound, and this adds greatly to the richness of the room. Ascending another flight of stairs, the third story is reached, and here is the chemical labora- tory. In the northwest corner is a small but remarkably bright room, in which the scales are to be placed and used as a weighing-room, and adjoining it will be the chemical storeroom. The laboratory is forty by fifty-two feet, in the center of which is placed the working-table, so arranged as to accommodate twenty-four students at once. There is a rack running the entire length and in the middle of the table, placed in position to hold the re-agents. Each scholar will also have a drawer and closets for the apparatus. Standing ofi' by itself is an assaying and cupelling furnace, designed by and built under the personal super- vision of Prof. Sewall. He considers it a furnace of very superior order. As there are always obnoxious gases arising from a department of this character, provision has been made by which they will be immediately carried off, and thus be pre- vented from generating through the building. A double trap-door has been ingeniously constructed, to open in the ceiling. This creates a draft, and the fumes are drawn into the north tower of the building, which is only protected from the outside elements by means of open blinds, and through these the gases will readily find an exit. This is one of the great advantages of having the labora- tory in the top of the house. About $5,000 worth of apparatus has been ordered from New York and Germany for this department, and some of it is expected to arrive by the first of next month, and, by the first of the year, everything will be in working order. This includes a complete outfit of a working laboratory ; also, an Urtling assay balance and Backer's analytical balance. Several of the rooms have had to be changed in order to meet the requirements of the Univer- sity, and, to forward the business of the institution, the Legislature at its last session appropriated the sum of $7,000. Of this amount, the State Board retained $3,000, and allowed the remainder to be used for the purposes above specified. Nearly all of that amount has been well invested, for now the school is in excellent working order. '^ J^l l^ 123 HISTORY OF COLORADO. POSTSCKIPT. CHAPTER I. THE UTE REBELLION. SINCE the preceding pages were written, Col- orado has been convulsed by a sudden, unexpected and causeless uprising of the Utes. Strictly speaking, only a portion of the tribe par- ticipated in the outbreak ; but the confederated bands of Colorado are so intermingled by marriage and bound together by so many ties of consan- guinity and interest that it would be hard to dis- sociate the innocent from the guilty, and a war upon the White River Utes, the band directly responsible for the outbreak, would almost inev- itably result in drawing the whole tribe into the conflict, sooner or later. The story of the outbreak has been so graphic- ally told in the journals of the day throughout the country that there seems to be no present demand for an authentic history ; but, on the other hand, now is the time to summarize the whole wretched business for the enlightenment of future genera- tions. The bloody incidents of the campaign and the fatal blunders of the "powers that be'' in dealing with the red-handed murderers are all fresh in *he minds of our people, and it is not im- possible that a calm review of the matter may aid the public in arriving at some correct conclusions on the vexed question of Indian management, at least as far as the Colorado Utes are concerned. It was stated at the outset that the rebellion was causeless. In some sense, the accusation is well founded ; but away back in the past history of the Utes may be found some shadowy excuses for their ingratitude and treachery to Agent Meeker and the Agency employes, to say nothing of the Thornburg massacre, which, no doubt, seemed a proper thing for Captain Jack and his warriors. As between the Utes and the Indian Bureau, the people of Colorado think there is not much room to choose. A few years ago, the writer was conducting a daily newspaper in Denver, the policy of which was by no means friendly to the Utes; but, for a' time, its columns were devoted to the unpleasant task of showing how Indian afiairs were misman- aged in Colorado. It was no secret then that our people feared the worst results from the state of affairs at the Northern Agency. They could not have been much worse. All the supplies for the White Eiver Indians were at Rawlings, ware- housed at Government expense, awaiting trans- portation. Nothing had been done toward getting the supplies from the railway to the Agency, and nothing was done for many months. The Indians were simply destitute. They had neither pro- visions nor clothing. In their despair, they .went to Rawlings, where a train load of clothing,, pro- visions and annuity goods were stored, and which should have been distributed long before ; but the meshes of "red tape" entangled them, and not a pound of flour nor an article of clothing could be issued at that point. Rev. B. P. Crary, Presiding Elder of the Methodist Conference for Northern Colorado and Wyoming, made a thorough investigation of the matter, and wrote some stinging articles upon the subject, which were printed in the newspapers of the day ; but the goods still rotted in the ware- house, and the Indians went hungry and naked. For a wonder, however, they did not murder the Agent and go upon the war path. Indian nature is an anomaly. >^ s~ V HISTOEY OF COLORADO. 123 While the White River Utes were suffering from the neglect and general incompetency of the Indian Bureau, the Southern or Uncompahgre Indians were being treated to a mild manifestation of financial repudiation on the part of the parental Government at Washington. By the Brunot Treaty, the Southern Utes surrendered the San Juan country for a valuable consideration, the money to be invested for their benefit and the interest to be paid for their use. There was never any reason why this interest should not have been paid. There was every reason why it ought to have been paid. Nevertheless, it was not paid. The Indians grumbled a good deal, of course, as they had a right to do ; but Chief Ouray's clear head and guiding hand prevented serious trouble. Colorado owes so much to this Indian statesman that the debt bids fair to remain uncanceled. But an Indian never forgets or forgives an injury, and all these slights and injustices were treasured up against a day of reckoning with the whites. All whites are the same to all Indians. If a horse-thief steals an Indian pony, the Indian gets even with the first white man whose stock is attainable. If the Indian Bureau fails to furnish supplies, the Indian forages on the white settlers, begging what he can and stealing the rest. An Indian with a grievance is worse than a bear with a sore head. He is never quite satisfied with any atonement, vicarious or direct. Indeed, his griev- ance grows by what it feeds on of that character, and the more he is placated the more implacable he becomes. That was Father Meeker's error, perhaps. Still, in the main, the Government was good to the Utes. They got cattle and sheep and ponies, and these multiplied amazingly, until now the tribe is rich in flocks and herds, and their princi- pal occupation, as well as their favorite amuse- ment, is horse-racing. As befits the " true lords of the soil," they toil not, neither do they spin, nor labor with aught but their jaws. Latterly, too they have been well fed and well clothed. Their Agents have been scrupulously careful to give them no just cause for complaint, having good reason to fear an outbreak if they did so, for the Utes have been growing more and more dissatisfied of late, and more imperious and unjust in their demands. Yet, while they were well- treated no one looked for a rebellion, and the massacre at MOk Creek and White River was as great a surprise to the people of Colorado as it was to the Indian Bureau itself. Mr. Meeker had been in charge of White River Agency since early in 1878. He found matters in bad shape when he reached his post of duty ; but, by determined effort and untiring industry, he soon brought order out of chaos, and made the Indians more comfortable than they had been for years. Mr. Meeker was eminently a man of affairs, highly educated, intelligent, thoroughly honest and conscientious withal, so that his treat- ment of the savages would have been strictly just, even if he had not been a lifelong devoted friend of the Indian. As it was, he was enthusiastic in his devotion to the Indians, and did everything in his power to promote their interests. Bred in the humanitarian school of Horace Greeley, whose colleague he had been on the New York Tribune, and in the Greeley Colony, of Colorado, Mr. Meeker — or Father Meeker, as he was almost uni- versally known — was the last man who would or could have been suspected of imposing upon the wards of the Government, in any particular. Yet it appeared during the spring of 1879 that Father Jleeker was making poor headway with his Indi- ans, and, later on, it became evident that he had lost all control over them. They wandered away from the Agency, making mischief as they went ; and on being remonstrated with and threatened with the Agent's displeasure, they paid no atten- tion to threats or remonstrances. During the summer months, numerous depreda- tions were reported as having been committed by the White River Utes, while off their reservation. Forest fires were started by them in every direc- tion, burning away millions of acres of timber and frightening the game out of the country. } \> 124 HISTORY OF COLOEADO. Property was stolen or destroyed, and at least two liouses, on Bear River, were burned by rene- gade Utes from Mr. Meeker's Agency. Mr. Meeker did what he could to keep his Indians at home, and appealed to the Grovernment and mili- tary to restrain the depredating Indians. Noth- ing came of his appeals. When a white man accidentally crosses the line of an Indian reserva- tion, he may expect to find a cordon of United States bayonets surrounding him and soldiery enough to escort him back ; but marauding Indi- ans, off their reservation, burning hay and houses and forests, find nothing in the way of their enjoy- ment, unless the long-suffering settlers rise to pro- tect their rights. Immediately following the outbreak at White River, came the customary cry in the Eastern humanitarian press that the Utes were fighting to protect themselves against the aggressions of white settlers; that the latter were overrunning the reservation against the will of the Indians, and the latter were forced to fight or fly. No baser calumny was ever printed against any people. The reverse was true. The white settlers were forced to flee from Routt and Grand Counties because they could not live near the reservation. The insolent Utes were master of the whole northwest- ern country, far outside of their reservation. In the mean time, a curious thing hapj)ened, or, at least, a thing that would have seemed curious had it related t(j any other people than the noble red men of the mountains. At the very moment when these Utes were almost in open rebellion, they began to find fault with Agent Meeker and to ask his removal, not because he was incomjie- tent or dishonest ; not because he was trying to make them behave themselves ; not for any of the many stock reasons the Indians have for becoming dissatisfied with their agents, but only because he was carrying out the humanitarian idea of treating the Indians well and instructing them in letters and the arts of peace. On this point, there can be no doubt, whatever, for the testimony of the Utes themselves is conclusive upon the question. About two months before the massacre, Gov. Pitkin was visited at Denver by four chiefs from White River — Capt. Jack, Sahwitz, Musisco and Unkumgood — ^who came on a mission in behalf of the tribe, said mission being to secure the removal of Agent Meeker through the influence of Gov. Pitkin. The Governor gave them two audiences, each lasting two or three hours, and listened to all their complaints. Press reporters were also present and noted carefully what was said on both sides. Capt. Jack, who afterward led the attack on Maj. Thorn- burg, was the spokesman of the Utes, his command of the English language being sufficient to make him easily understood. He talked a good deal about one thing and another, but at no time did he ever intimate that the Indians were not well clothed, well fed and well cared for, or that the whites were making encroachments on the reser- vation. Neither did he complain about the non- payment of interest due, or any other neglect to deal justly with the Indians. The burden of his complaint was humanitarianism. He had a holy Indian horror of hard work, and the strongest possible prejudice against education. The Agentwas teaching school and plowing land — two unpardona- ble sins, according to Jack's decalogue. Jack also had some fault to find with minor details of man- agement at the Agency, none of which in the least affected the condition of his tribe ; and he was also very severe on Chief Ouray, whose authority he openly denied and defied. When asked if he and his associates would consent to let the white men dig gold on the reservation, his refusal was prompt and vigorous, and gave un- doubted evidence that the prospector who set foot across the line would almost certainly find it a veritable dead-line. At that time, however, no one supposed that the hostility of the Indians to Agent Meeker would lead them to murder him and his associates, and little attention was paid to the trivial complaints of the White River delega- tion, though their visit was duly reported to the proper authorities at Washington and elsewhere. :V »oked up, and a thunder-cloud was on his brow. He told the Agent decidedly and emphatically that he would not do it. This ended the council, and Douglass soon departed for his cabin located near the old Agency, and, therefore, fifteen miles from the new Agency buildings. « During this time. Miss Josie Meeker and Mrs. price had been preparing dinner for us, and to this we were now invited. We had had our break- fast at G A. M., and it was a very slim breakfast we had. It was now nearly 4 P. M., and the din- ner was fit for an epicure. It was the unanimous verdict of the party that the dinner was worth $10. '' Miss Meeker was a very intelligent young lady, but she showed marks of the fearful care and anxiety that had weighed upon her spirits for months. Besides Mrs. and Miss Meeker, Mrs. Price was the only lady I saw at the Agency ; and surrounded by Indians, with not even a stockade for defense, their protectors were a little band of seven or eight men. " Prom Miss Meeker I learned something of the condition of things at the Agency. Mr. 3Ieeker's life had been threatened by one John- son. Inquiry led to the information that Johnson lived in the new cabin half a mile below the Agency ; that he was a medicine man ; that he owned the large herd of horses, and that he had a tame bear. We took Dr. Johnson to be a very high-toned Ute. If ill has befallen Father Meeker, Dr. Johnson is his murderer. Miss Meeker had established a school. She had two pupils from the multitude of little devils who spend their days in practicing with bow and arrow or riding ponies. One was a girl, the other a boy, stepson to Doug- lass, whose American name was the same as that of the Marshal of the District of Columbia, Frederick Douglass. As soon as the girl had learned a few words of English, she had been taken away by her parents. Frederick Douglass still held the fort, and was a bright, though shy boy of ten. " I believe that if Meeker's safety rested with Douglass, he was not killed. But with Jack and his crowd howling for Meeker's blood, Douglass would not have dared resist, but would have stayed at home and kept his crown, while Meeker, his ao-ed wife and accomplished daughter were offered up as bleeding sacrifices to the magnificent policy of the Government — the policy which feeds and keeps from year to year the red murderers, and s "V ^1 l^ 130 HISTORY OF COLORADO. commands its soldiers not to shoot the first shot. The G-overnment should be instructed that soldiers mean war, and its grim old Greneral has said, ' War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it.' " For the argument, it matters not whether Meeker and his family have been butchered. He has told his situation to every one in authority for more than a month. Had Gov. Pitkin had juris- diction, he would have had a host of frontiersmen at the Agency three weeks ago. He must first have the consent of the General Government. But the General Government has a gang of negro minstrels in Middle Park, 200 miles from the Agency. They are ordered to march to the Agency very cautiously, and before they get a good start, the other Government soldiers are cleaned out. " Our business at the Agency was complete. "We saddled up for a return, bade farewell to the Meekers and started through the villages of tepees homeward bound. We found great commotion in every band. At every camp, we were interviewed. Antelope's band was camped nearest the Agency, and his brother Powitz and his squaw Jane hailed us with the customary - How ? ' Our reply of 'How? 'led them to ask ' What yer come fer?' We told them we came to see Meeker. Douglass told them we had come for two Utes, Chinaman and another (whom they did not seem to recognize by the name of Bennett). We did not afiirm or deny, but passed on. This conversation was repeated eight or ten times in the three miles our road bordered the river. It was late when we struck the trail, and we saw no more Indians till we reached Peck's. There we met Capt. Jack and a companion on their return from their visit to Denver — the visit they made to have Meeker removed. "Jack is an extraordinary Indian. He was very friendly, and spoke English well. He reiter- ated the statement that the Meekers had made, that the Utes would be glad to have white men take up ranches on the reservation. He said the whites and Utes ought to be friends now. The whites had killed a Ute, the Utes had killed a white man. Good. Heap friends. ■ " The fires and burned forests extended from the Springs to the Agency. At nightfall, on the day we left the Agency, we saw a large fire started not ten miles from the Agency. We constantly saw the smoke of fires, and many times they were quite close to our road. A large fire was sweeping the forests on Gore Range. The atmosphere was blue with smoke, and on every hand we heard complaints of the fires started by the Utes." As will be seen, this interesting statement was indited while doubt still remained as to the fate of Mr. Meeker and his associates, and before the colored cavalry made that splendid dash to the rescue of Payne's command which so efiectually redeemed the ' negro minstrels ' from the charge of cowardice implied in the foregoing. Mr. Coxe's visit to the Agency was in August. A month later, Col. John W. Steele, a mail contractor, of Wallace, Kan., also paid a visit to White River, and found the state of afiairs at the Agency alarming indeed. Col. Steele has also written an account of his visit, which throws additional light upon the direct causes of the out- break, and is given below as furnishing a faithful and very lucid account of Mr. Meeker's manifold difiiculties in dealing with the Indians. No apol- ogy is made for including, also. Col. Steele's strict- ures on Indian mismanagement, and his powerftil argument in favor of transferring the Indians from the Interior to the War Department — a change that is favored by 200,000 citizens of Colorado: "Early in July last, I was called to Rawlins, Colo., to look after the mail route from that point to White River Agency. I remained at Dixon, on Snake River, several days. While there, Indi- ans belonging to the Ute chief Colorow's outfit, frequently came to Dixon to trade buckskin and furs for Winchester rifles, ammunition and other supplies. I learned that they were camped on Snake River, Fortification Creek and Bear River, from fifty to one hundred miles from their reser- vation. '\ ./^:?^yf^^ (^AM^n^,^^ HISTORY OF COLORADO. 131 " The Indians seemed to be quiet, but the set- tlers complained that the Indians were burning the grass and timber, and occasionally killing their cattle and doing much damage to the country. I also heard much complaint from the mining dis- trict near Hahn's Peak and Middle Park ; that the Indians were burning the timber, and had burned the houses of several settlers and killed one man. Smoke was at that time plainly visible from large fires on the head-waters of the Snake and Bear Rivers. On completing my business on the mail route, I returned to Washington. The first week in September, I was called (by disturb- ances on this mail route) to visit it again. Arriv- inc at Rawlins, Mr. Bennett, the sub-contractor for the route, told me that he had attempted to establish his line of mail-carriers on the route ; that he had gone as far south as Fortification Creek, where he was met by Utes belonging to Colorow and Ute Jack's band ; that three Indi- ans stopped him and told him that he must go back ; that he parleyed with them, and finally went on as far as Bear River, where he was met by more Indians of the same tribe, and, though he fully explained his business to them, he was so violently threatened that he returned to Raw- lins without establishing the mail route. Bennett has freighted Indian supplies to the Ute reserva- tion for several years, and knows many of the Indians. He was accompanied by a man who has lived among the Utes for years, and with whom they have heretofore been friendly. Both advised that it would be dangerous to attempt to go to the Agency. " On the night of September 4, I arrived at Snake River, and on the 5th, went to Bear River, meeting no Indians on the way, but finding the grass and timber destroyed by fire all the way along the route. I remained at Bear River sev- eral days, endeavoring to find parties to carry the mail to the Agency. Many of the settlers were alarmed by the hostile action of the Utes. Others anticipated no trouble, but all complained of the burning of the grass and the timber. On the morning of September 10, I started, with two mail-carriers, for the Agency. We rode over the route followed by Maj. Thornburgh's command, and at noon rested at the mouth of the canon where the battle has since taken place. Here, at a tent occupied by an Indian trader,, and two miles from the reservation, we met a number of Utes, one of whom asked where I was going. I told him to the Agency. After a short talk with other Indians, he told me we must go back. I made no reply, but, leaving one of the carriers at the tent, I proceeded up the canon in which the Indians laid the ambuscade for Maj. Thornburgh's command, toward the Agency. The Indians fol- lowed us to the Agency. I afterward learned that they belonged to Ute Jack's party. "We arrived at White River Agency about 6 o'clock P. M., and found a number of Indians there, some of whom seemed greatly excited. I soon learned that the Agent, Mr. IMeeker, had, a short time before my arrival, been violently as- saulted by a Ute chief named Johnson, and severely, if not dangerously, injured. The white laborers told me that they had been fired upon while plowing in the field, and driven to the Agency buildings, but that they were not much soared, as they thought the Indians only wanted to prevent the work, and fired to frighten tflem. Finding Mr. W. H. Post, the Agent's chief clerk and Postmaster at White River, in his office, I proceeded to transact my business with him. While engaged at this, the Indians began to con- gregate in the building. Mr. Post introduced me to chiefs Ute Jack, Washington, Antelope and others. "Ute Jack seemed to be the leader, and asked me my name and business. I told him. He inquired if I came from Fort Steele, and if the soldiers were coming. I replied that I knew nothing of the soldiers. Jack said, ' No 'fraid of soldiers. Fort Steele soldiers no fight. Utes heap fight.' He again asked my name and when I was going away. I replied, ' In the morning.' Jack said, 'Better go pretty quick.' I offered :^ ^± liL 132 HISTORY OP COLOEADO. him a cigar, and repeated that I would go in the morning. He then inquired for Mr. Meeker, and said to Post, ' Utes heap talk to me. Utes say Agent plow no more. Utes say Meeker must go way. Meeker say Utes work. Work! work! Utes no like work. Ute no work. Ute no school. No like school ' — and much more of the same sort. Jack asked Mr. Post when the Indian goods would be issued. Post replied, ' In two moons.' Jack said the goods were issued at the Uncompahgre Agency ; that four Indians had come from there and told him. Post replied, 'Guess not.' Mr. Post said to me, ' Every fall there is more or less discontent among the Indi- ans, which finally dies out. This year there is more than, usual. Jack's band got mad last week because I would not issue rations to some Uinta Utes who had come here, and all the bucks refused to draw their supplies. The squaws drew for themselves and children.' I asked if the min- ers were not making trouble with the Indians. Post replied he had not heard any complaint from the Indians about miners or settlers ; that they were kept off the reservation and made no trouble. The whole comjJaint of the Indians had been about plowing the land, and being made to work, and requiring the children -to go to school, and that very recently they had shown great anxiety to have the Indian goods distributed, and ccjm- plained about that ; that he could not distribute the goods, as they had not all arrived at the Agency. " Mr. Meeker came in for a short time while we were talking. About 8 o'clock, I went to his quarters and found him propped up in his arm- chair with pillows, e\idently suffering severely from injuries received from the assault of CUiief Johnson. After a short talk, we discovered that we had formerly been fellow-townsmen, which opened the way for a free conversation about mutual acquaintances. After which, Mr. Meeker said : ' I came to this Agency in the full belief that I could civilize these Utes; that I could teach them to work and become self-supporting. I thought that I could establish schools, and in- terest both Indians and their children in learning. I have given my best efforts to this end, always treating them kindly, but firmly. They have eaten at my table, and received continued kind- ness from my wife and daughter and all the em- ployes about the Agency. Their complaints have been heard patiently and all reasonable requests have been granted them ; and now, the man for whom I have done the most, for whom I have built the only Indian house on the reservation, and who has frequently eaten at my table, has turned on me without the slightest provocation, and would have killed me but for the white laborers who got me away. No Indian raised his hand to prevent the outrage, and those who had received continued kindness from myself and family stood around and laughed at the brutal assault. They are an unreliable and treacherous race.' Mr. Meeker further said that, previous to this assault on him, he had expected to see the discontent die out as soon as the annuity goods arrived ; but he was now somewhat anxious about the matter. In reply to an inquiry, he said that the whole complaint of the Indians was against plowing the land, against work and the school. " I told him I thought there was great danger of an outbreak, and I thought that he should abandon the Agency at once. To this he made no reply. Shortly after, Ute Jack came into the room where we were sitting, and proceeded to catechize me nearly as before. He then turned to Mr. Meeker and repeated the talk about work ; then asked the Agent if he had sent for soldiers. Mr. Meeker told him he had not. Jack then said : ' Utes have heap more talk,' and left us. " During the conversation, Mr. Meeker said that Chief Douglass was head chief at that Agency, but that he had no followers and little influence. That Douglass and his party had remained on the reservation all the summer, and had been friendly to the whites; that Colorow, Ute Jack, Johnson and their followers, paid no attention to his orders, and had been off the reservation most of the ^- ■^ -4- HISTORY OF COLORADO. 133 summer. That Chief Ouray was head chief, but had lost his influence with and control of the Northern Utes. " I again urged on him the danger of remaining at the Agency, when he told me he would send for troops for protection. During this conversa- tion, the Indians had remained around the Agency buildings, making much noise. About 10 o'clock, I went to the quarters assigned for me for the night in the storehouse office. Soon after this, the Indians began shouting and dancing in one of the Agency buildings and around the Agent's quarters. About midnight, JMr. Meeker attempted to quiet them, but was only partially successful, and the red devils made it exceedingly uncomfort- able for me most of the night. I was told in the morning that the Indians had had a war-dance. Those who saw and could have described the scene are all dead now. At daylight, the bucks had all disappeared. After breakfast, I called on Mr. Meekur in his room to bid him good-by. He told me he had written for troops, and requested me to telegraph for relief as soon as I reached Rawlins. After bidding all good-by, I mounted my horse and, not without many misgivings, started for Bear River. This was the last I saw of Father Meeker. A man of the Puritan stamp, an en- thusiast in whatever work he undertook, he had given his whole soul to the work of civilizing the Utes. It is a waste of words to say that he was honest and honorable in all his dealings with them, for his life has been public and his character beyond reproach. ' 31 rs. Sleeker is one of the gentlest and most motherly women I have ever met ; with a heart laro-e enough to embrace all humanity. Her kindly disposition and gentle manner should have protected her from the assault of the veriest brute. Jliss Josie seemed to me to have inherited much of the force and enthusiasm of her father. She appeared to have overcome the feeling of disgust which savages must inspire in any lady, and to have entered on her duty of teaching with the hio'hest missionary spirit. Around this family were gathered, as help, people peculiarly genial and calculated to win by kindness the regard of the Utes. Those who seek palliation for this bloody massacre must look elsewhere than in the family or among the employes of Father Meeker. " On the return trip to Bear River, I met many Indians going to the Agency for the issue of rations. Several of the bucks hailed me, but I hadn't time to stop. At the trader's in the canon, I found several Indians purchasing supplies. At the crossing of Howard's Fork, thirty miles from the Agency, I met three Indians, two of whom I saw at the Agency the night before. They stopped me and inquired for ammunition for Win- chester rifles. I replied, ' No sabe. After de- taining me for nearly one-half hour, I persuaded them to let me pass, and reached Rawlins without " further incident worthy of mention, and immedi- ately telegraphed and wrote Gen. Sheridan the condition of afiairs at White River, and received his reply that aid would be sent at once. '' Eastern papers, the Secretary of the Interior and Brooks, are seeking some provocation for this outbreak. It was not the encroachment of miners, for there are none nearer than Hahn's Peak, 100 miles away. " It was not settlers, for there are none nearer than Bear River, fifty miles from the Agency ; they were few and scattered, and their only safety for life and property has been in retaining the friendship of the Utes. On the other hand, these Utes have, since early summer, been ofi" their reservation from fifty to two hundred miles, have destroyed all the timber and grass they could, have destroyed the property of miners near Hahn's Peak, and burned the houses and hay of settlers on Bear River ; they have killed cattle belonging to settlers on Bear and Snake Rivers, and terror- ized that whole region. " They complained only that Father Meeker urged on them the benefits of civilization. " It is about time that our humanitarians recog- nized the fact that these Indians are savages, and. r\^ ^1 ■4v 134 HISTOKY OF COLORADO. instead of needing provocation to massacre, require constant and powerftil oversight to prevent it. " Finally, our army has all the blame oast on it. Called to rescue the Agency from danger brought upon it by an idiotic Indian policy, the command of Maj. Thornburg vrent to White Kiver seeking a peaceful solution of the difficulties there. I had the pleasure of meeting Maj. Thornburg soon after he had received his orders, and gave him full particulars of the situation at the Agency, advising that, if he went with a small force, he might expect to be wiped out. I thought his force sufficient, but am free to confess that I was mistaken. " I knew that these Indians meant war. Early in the summer, they occupied the territory over which troops must pass to reach them. Slowly ■they retreated toward the Agency, burning the grass to render it difficult for cavalry to operate against them. They purchased arms and ammu- nition of the most approved pattern and in large quantities. Within six weeks of the outbreak, one trader sold them three cases of Winchesters and a large amount of ammunition, and the last Utes I met inquired of me for more. They gathered disaffected bucks from the Uncompahgre and Uinta Agencies, and got mad because the Agent at White River would not feed them. When everything was ready, they assaulted Agent Meeker and shot at his employes to provoke an attack by the troops, and when the troops ap- proached, with peaceful intent,"" to adjust the diffi- culty and right the wrongs of all parties, they laid an ambuscade and prepared to annihilate the whole command. " The attack on Maj. Thornburg was not war ; it was unprovoked murder, and to the last Indian, the Utes engaged in it should answer for it with their lives. " During the past week, I have been in the valley of the Sappa, in Decatur County, Kan. To this country our Government had invited settlers, offering them homesteads a.nd jprotection. Driven by the stress of times in the Eastern States, some twenty-five families had located in these valleys and erected for themselves homes. They had just finished at the forks of the Sappa, at the little village of Oberlin, their first schoolhouse. They were not boors, but the peers of any like number of citizens of the country. One short year ago, on September 30, 1878, the savage Cheyennes, after receiving from the Grovernment their annui- ties, unannounced and unprovoked, entered these valleys and massacred seventeen of the fathers and brothers of this settlement, and perpetrated on their corpses the most barbarous indignities. They inflicted on the mothers and sisters outrages worse than death. On the evening of the 30th of September, the bodies of thirteen of the victims of this bloody massacre were brought to the little schoolhouse, and there, in that building, erected by the highest inspiration of civiKzation, lay in death and barbarous mutilation the fruits of unpro- voked and unrestrained savagery.- " Some time next month, some of these mur- derers will be tried, if their case is not continued. Had that crime been promptly and properly pun- ished, the people would not now be mourning for the dead at White River. " Our denominational humanitarians have had their day. Their Cdngregational Cheyennes, Methodist Modocs and Unitarian Utes have each baptized their newly-acquired sectarian virtues in th« blood of a cruel massacre. " The Indian policy of the Department of the Interior has been a humiliating failure. Let the Indian be turned over to the War Department, and let the Government, hereafter, use its iron hand to prevent outrage rather than to punish it." Thus it will be seen that for three months prior to the massacre, Mr. Meeker had been powerless to control his Indians ; that they had been roam- ing at will off their reservation, devastating the country and imposing upon the settlers, and that the combined appeals of Agent Meeker and Gov. Pitkin were virtually disregarded by the Indian Bureau. Aid was promised, indeed, but it did not reach the Agency in time to prevent the massacre. *7-, ;^ ^1 ^ HISTORY or COLORADO. 137 Finally, however, affairs became so bad that an order was issued for the advance of troops, under Maj. Tliornburg, from Fort Fred Steele, to the Agency — not to punisli any Indian, but to inquire into tbe causes of trouble there and to restrain the Indians from further insubordination. Maj. Thornburg advanced as far as Milk Eiver, near the north line of the reservation, where he was attacked by a force of several hundred Indian warriors, while, at the same time, another force attacked and murdered Father Meeker and all the male employes at the Agency. CHAPTER III. THE NEWS IN DENVER. THE first intelligence of the outbreak was received in Denver about noon on Wednes- day, October 1, in the shape of the following dis- patch : Laramie City, October 1, 1879. To Gov. Pitkin, Denver: The White River Utes have met Col. Thornburg' s command, sent to quell disturbances at the Agency, killing Thornburg himself and killing and wounding many of his officers, men and horses, whereby the safety of the whole command is imperiled. I shall warn our people in the North Park, and trust that you will take such prompt action as will protect your peo- ple, and result in giving the War Department control of the savages, in order to protect the settlers from mas- sacres, provoked by the present temporizing policy of the Government with reference to Indian affairs, in all time to come. Stephen W. Downey. This teleoram was followed within fifteen min- utes by the following: Rawlins, October 1. To the Governor of Colorado : Messengers from Thornburg' s command arrived during the night. Utes attacked the command at Milk Creek, twenty-five miles this side of the Agency. Maj. Thornburg killed, and all of his officers but one wounded. Stock nearly all killed. Settlers in great dann-er. About one-third of command wounded. Set- tlers should have immediate protection. J. B. Adams. There was no hesitation in the action of Gov. Pitkin. Aware for weeks that such an outbreak was liable to occur at any moment, his course had, it might be said, been anticipated, and he sent the following dispatch to the Secretary of War, at Washington : Denver, October 1, 1879 Geo. W. McOrary, Secretary of War, Washington, D. O.: Dispatches just received from Laramie City and Rawlins inform me that White River Utes attacked Col. Thornburg' s command twenty-five miles from Agency. Col. Thornburg was killed, and all his offi- cers but one killed or wounded, besides many of his men and most of the horses. Dispatches sts,te that the whole command is imperiled. The State of Colorado will furnish you, immediately, all the men you require to settle permanently this Indian trouble. I have sent couriers to warn settlers. Feedekick W. Pitkin, Governor of Colorado. It is a difficult matter to describe the excite- ment which followed the spreading of the tidings over the city. Denver discusses event and calam- ity, ordinarily, with serenity and coolness; but the news of the ambush and the danger which awaited the whites ' in and about the Agency at White Eiver startled the entire community, and expressions of sadness would be swept from the face by those of anger and determination. The G-overnor's office was besieged during the after- noon and evening, not by the idly curious, but by strong men — sturdy old pioneers and hot-blooded young men, who offered their services to the State in defense of her people and in exterminating the savage horde. At least fifty volunteers made bold to see the Grovernor, while everywhere on the streets men gathered together, and pledged themselves to ;^ ^1 -4* 138 HISTOEY OF COLOEADO. join any volunteer movement to protect the frontier and drive the Utes from Colorado soil or into it. Meanwhile, the Governor had been taking im- mediate steps for the protection of settlers on the Indian frontier, first, by sending out couriers to warn them of their probable danger, and, finally, by calling the militia of the State to hold them- selves in readiness for service at the shortest possi- ble notice. For convenience, the frontier was divided into three military districts — the north- west under command of Gren. W. A. Hamill, of Georgetown; the center in charge of Gen. J. C. Wilson, of Leadville, and the southwest, or San Juan country, to be commanded by Capt. George J. Richards, of Lake City. Dispatches were sent to each of these gentlemen, instructing them to notify all exposed settlements of the outbreak, and to organize companies of minute-men for defense in case of Indian attack. These instructions were carried out without loss of time, and very efi'ectually. It happened, how- ever, that the Indians made no demonstrations against the settlers, and the only effect of all this " military activity" was to awaken a sense of inse- curity which could not be allayed for some weeks. There was a frantic demand for arms and ammuni- tion, which Gov. Pitkin was unable to supply, the State being almost destitute of military supplies. Meanwhile, an almost feverish anxiety prevailed as to the probable course of the Southern or Un- compahgre Utes, , under Ouray and Ignacio. Would they join their White River brethren and fight, or would Ouray, the tnown friend of the whites, succeed in keeping them quiet and peace- ful ? As the telegraph line in that direction was only extended to Del Ncjrte, at that time, it was not until Sunday morning, October 5, that news came from that quarter, and then it was in the shape of the following startling dispatch : Lake City, October 8, via Del Norte, October 5. Gov. F. W. Pitkin, Denver : Indian Chief Ouray haa notified the whites to protect themselves; that he is powerless, and can afford no protection. Capt. Richards, of the Lake City Guards, -f has gone to Indian Creek to seize the ammunition destined for the Agency, now en route. George M., Darley has just reached here from Ouray City. He left there this morning. It is reported that Ignacio is on the war-path in the South. The town of Ouray is under arms. The country is all on fire. We will do all we can, but want arms. We must have protection of some kind. Answer. jj_ £_ Geket Fred. C. Peck, and others. Of course, such a statement, signed by the most respectable citizens of Lake City, could not fail to produce a decided sensation, and the Executive office was more thoroughly aroused that morning than when the first news of the outbreak came in. Immediate steps were taken to forward arms and ammunition to Lake City and Ouray, and the regular train for the South having left Denver, a special train was sent out, carrying Gen. D. J. Cook, of the State Militia, and a quantity of arms and ammunition. Other dispatches and personal intelligence received later seemed to confirm the impression that trouble was imminent in the San Juan country. It was stated that Ignacio and his band were on the war-path in La Plata County, and grave fears were entertained for the safety of the exposed settlers on that frontier, though reg- ular troops were being moved in that direction under command ef Gen. Hatch. All these fears were happily groundless. Gen. Cook reached Lake City in due time, and found the scare already subsiding, Chief Ouray having asserted his control over the tribe, and Ignacio, instead of being on the war-path, was disposed to treat the matter lightly, having no particular love for the White River Utes. Before it was definitely known that no danger need be apprehended from that source. Gov. Pitkin, in answer to a telegram from Silverton, sent the celebrated dispatch which has since caused so much comment and con- troversy in the press of Colorado and the East, and, to the end that the message in question may be fully understood and not misquoted, the entire correspondence is given below. Mr. A. W. Hudson, who signs the first dispatch, is a leading rv A^ HISTORY or COLORADO. 139 lawyer and a most reputable citizen of the town of Silverton : To Gov. F. W. Pitkin : Silverton, October 5. Your dispatch received at Animas City. Bands of Indians out setting fires on the line between La Plata and San Juan. They say they will burn the entire country over. Chief Ouray, from the Uncompahgre baud, has sent out a courier warning settlers that his young men are on the war-path, and that he cannot control them.. The Indians setting out these fires, being off their reservation, cannot the people of these two counties drive them back? We don't want to wait till they have killed a few families, and if they understand we are prepared, there may be no outbreak. A. W. Hudson. The following answer was returned : ^ TT7 rr J c-j J Denver, October 8. A. W. Hudson, oilverton : Indians off their reservation, seeking to destroy your settlements by fire, are game to be hunted and des- troyed like wild beasts. Send this word to the settle- ments. Gen. Dave Cook is at Lake City in command of State forces. Gen. Hatch rushing In regulars to San Juan. Frederick W. Pitkin, Governor. G-ov. Pitkin's dispatch has been misquoted and misinterpreted as meaning that the Indians should be hunted as wild beasts, under any and all circumstances, and he has been censured for the alleged inhumanity of the executive order. Those who read the whole correspondence will see that the order was entirely proper under the circum- stances, and as it was originally transmitted. In- stead of refening to Indians in general, it related only to marauders off their reservation seeking the destruction of white settlements by fire, and if such Indians ought not to be hunted like wild beasts they certainly deserve no better fate. Meanwhile, although Gen. Merritt, with a large force had been sent promptly to the relief of the remnant of Thornburg's command, no tidings had been received from that direction, either from the Ao'ency or the Indians. It was almost certain that the Agency people were killed, and it seemed natural to expect an incursion of hostile savages upon some portion of the Indian border. Just where the blow would fall, no one could possibly foresee, and each mining-camp in the mountains felt itself in instant danger of attack. It was a trying time. Although, in point of fact, the hos- tiles were engaged in watching the movement of the regular soldiers, and made no advance in the direction of the white settlements, it could not be known that such was the case, and the general alarm could not be condemned as causeless. The couriers and scouts did not bring in any news of Indians, but rumors were thick and fast, and no sooner was one scare over than another broke out. Of these successive sensations, however, it is use- less to write in detail at this late day. Suffice it to say that, by prompt action and a judicious dis- tribution of arms and ammunition along the border, Gov. Pitkin was presently enabled to sat- isfy the people that they had little to fear from the Utes, and soon public sentinient perversely set in the opposite direction. Instead ot fearing the Indians would come, the miners and prospectors leaned back on their guns and prayed for Indians to come and be shot. When news of the Agency massacre was received, the indignation of the citi- zens of 'Colorado was so great that it was with much difficulty that Gov. Pitkin prevented the State militia and minute-men from making an advance upon the reservation and the hostile Indians. The Governor foresaw, however, that such an advance would be the death-signal of the captive women and children from the Agency who were in the _ hands of the hostiles, and humanity prompted an effort to secure their re- lease before any steps were taken toward punishing the assassins and murderers. The release of the captives could only be effected through Ouray, who was known to be heartily in favor of their surrender as soon as possible. The chief had already sent Indian runners from his camp to that of the hostiles, commanding the latter to cease fighting. A young man named Joseph Brady, an attache of the Uncompahgre Agency, had accompanied Ouray's runners, and had gone with a flag of truce into Gen. Merritt's i> 'V ^'. l±. 140 HISTORY OF COLORADO. camp to notify him of Ouray's order. Brady was not permitted to see the captives, but carried back assurances that they were alive and well. Ouray having expressed a willingness to send another party out to bring in the women and children, G-en. Charles Adams, special agent of the Post-Office Department for Colorado, and a former Agent both at Los Pinos and at White River, was detailed by the Interior Department to accompany the Indians and bring in the prisoners. A detailed account of this thrilling expedition will be found in a subsequent chapter. CHAPTEE IV. ADVANCE UPON THE AGENCY. A PTEE the report had gone out that one of -^-*- the attaches of the Agency, while plowing the land near the new White River Agency, had been shot at by ambushed Indians, on application of the Colorado authorities, Agent Meeker and others, the War Department at Washington ordered Gen. Sheridan to send troops to the Agency, for the protection of the Agency and the vindication of Uncle Sam's rights. Maj. T. T. Thornburg, commanding officer of the Fourth United States Infantry, and, for the past year, in command of Port Fred Steele, on the Union Pacific Railroad, in Wyoming, was placed in charge of the expedition, which con- sisted of two companies, D and P, of the Fifth Cavalry, Company E of the Third Cavalry and Company E of the Fourth Infantry, the officers included in his command being Capts. Payne and Lawson, of the Fifth Cavalry, Lieut. Pad- dock, of the Third Cavalry, and Lieuts. Price and Wooley, of the Fourth Infantry, with Dr. Grimes accompanying the command as Surgeon, and a supply train of thirty-three wagons. The com- mand left Rawlins on the 14th ult. When the command reached the place known as Old Fortification Camp, Company E, of the the Fourth Infantry, with Lieut. Price in com- mand, was dropped from the command, the design of this step being to affijrd protection to passing supply-trains, and to act as a reserve in case there was demand for it. Maj. Thornburg turned his force toward the Indian country in deep earnest with the balance of his command, consisting of the three cavalry companies, numbering about one hundred and sixty men. Having been directed to use all dispatch in reaching the Agency, the Major marched forward with as great rapidity as possible. The roads are not well traveled and are mountainous, and, of course, they did not proceed so rapidly as they might have done on more familiar high- ways. Nothing was^ seen or heard from the Indians until Bear River, which runs north of the reser- vation and almost parallel with the northern" line, was reached. At the crossing of this stream, about sixty-five miles from White River Agency, ten Indians made their appearance. They were closely questioned, but professed great friendliness for the whites and would betray none of the secrets of their tribe. They declared that they were merely out on a hunt, and repeated that they were friends of the white man and of the Great Father's Government, and especially of the Great Father's soldiers. After this, nothing more was ^eafrof the Indi- ans, though a close watch by keen-eyed scouts was kept up for them, until William's Fork, a small tributary of Bear River, was reached, when the same ten Indians again quite suddenly and very mysteriously re-appeared. They again ■%" 30 PI 0) D nt ^ 2 O w • 01 z HISTORY OF COLOEADO. 141 renewed their protestations of friendship, while they carefully eyed the proportions of the command. They made a proposition to the commander that he take an escort of five soldiers and accompany them to the Agency. A halt was called, and Maj. Thornburg summoned his staff to consulta- tion. After carefully discussing the matter with a due regard for the importance, the advantage and disadvantage of the step, they came to the conclusion that it was not wise to accept this profi'er on the part of the Indians, as it might lead to another Modoc trap, and to Thornburgh's becoming another Canby. His scout, Mr. Joseph Rankin, was especially strong in opposition to the request of the Indians. Maj. Thornburg then concluded to march his column within hailing distance of the Agency, where he would accept the proposition of the Indians. But he was never allowed to carry out his designs. Here it became apparent how thin the disguise of friendship had been, and Thorn- burgh was soon convinced how fatal would have been the attempt for him, accompanied by only five men, to treat with them. The command had reached the point where the road crosses Milk Creek, another tributary of the Bear, inside the reservation and in the limits of Summit County, Colorado, about twenty-five miles north of the Agency, when they were attacked by the hostiles, numbering, it is believed, between two hundred and fifty and three hundred warriors, who had been lying in ambush. But the command under the guidance of Scout Rankin, left the road just above where the Indi- ans were in ambush, and thus avoided another event which would have been, in all respects, equal to the Custer massacre. The command took a trail after leaving the road, and unexpectedly met the foe. Maj. Thornburg at once threw his command into position, and the Indians came up in line of battle to within about three hundred yards and halted, putting a bold face on the matter and showing a decided determination to fight. Maj. Thornburg's orders were not to make the first fire on the Indians, but to await an attack from them. After two lines had thus faced each other for about ten minutes, Mr. Rankin, the scout, who is an old Indian fighter, seeing the danger in which the command was placed, hurried direct to Maj. Thornburg's side and requested him to open fire on the enemy, saying at the same time that that was their only hope. Maj. Thornburg replied: "My God! I dare not ; my orders are positive, and if I violate them and survive, a court-martial and ignominious dis- missal may follow. I feel as though myself and men were to be murdered." By this time, the Indians had flanked the sold- iers, and giving the war-whoop, opened fire. The wagon-train was corraled about three-fourths of a mile to the rear of the command, and the Indians got between the wagon-train and the command. The cavalry was dismounted and fighting on foot and slowly retreating. Maj. Thornburg, seeing th§ danger which threatened his command from the position of the Indians, at once mounted about twenty men, and at the head of them he dashed forward with a valor unsurpassed by Napoleon at the Bridge of of Lodi, made a charge on the savages between the command and the train. Maj. Thornburg and thirteen men were killed in this charge. The balance of the command, then in retreat, succeeded in reaching the corraled train, which was by this time surrounded by Indians. The command then, with much haste, made breast- works with wagons and held their position. In the engagement there were twelve killed and forty- two wounded. Every officer in the command was shot with the exception of Lieut. Cherry, of the Fifth Cavalry. The Indians also killed from one hundred and fifty to two hundred head of mules belonging to the Government. The scene of the attack was peculiarly fitted for the Indian method of warfare, and showed plainly that it had been chosen by the chiefs in command ;f^ ^1 D^ 143 HISTORY OF COLOEADO. for the identical purpose to which it was devoted. When Thornburg's command entered the canon, they found themselves between two rocky bluffs, about thirteen hundred yards apart and from one to two hundred feet high. These bluffs were held by the Indians in force, and some broken ground, reaching down nearly to the creek, was also occupied by the savages, so that an advance through the canon was impossible, and, by cutting off retreat, the Indians could effectually "bottle up" the com- mand in the cafion. In effect, that was accom- plished, though the bravery of the troops in entrenching themselves defeated the undoubted purpose of the Indians to annihilate them. Capt. Payne, then in command, at once set about having the wounded horses shot for breast- works, dismantling the wagons of boxes, bundles of the bedding, corn and flour sacks, which were quickly piled up for fortifications. The picks and shovels were used vigorously for digging entrench- ments. Meanwhile, a galling fire was concen- trated upon the command from all the surrounding bluffs which commanded the position. Not an Indian could be seen, but the incessant crack of their Sharp's and Winchester rifles dealt fearful destruction among the horses and men. The groans of the dying and agonizing cries of the wounded told what fearful havoc was being made among the determined and desperate command. Every man was bound to sell his life as dearly as possible. About this time, a great danger was approach- ing at a frightfully rapid pace. The red devils, at the beginning of the fight, had set fire to the dry grass and sage brush to the windward, and it now came sweeping down toward the troops, the flames leaping high into the air, and dense volumes of smoke rolling on to engulf them. It was a sight to make the stoutest heart quail, and the fiends were waiting ready to give a volley as soon as the soldiers were driven from their shelter. It soon reached the flanks, and blankets, blouses and empty sacks were freely used to extinguish the flames. Some of the wagons were set on fire. which required all the force possible to smother it. No water could be obtained, and the smoke was suffocating ; but the fire passed, finally, away. About sundown, the savages charged the works, but were repulsed, and retired to their positions on the bluffs, whence firing was resumed early on the following morning. The men in the trenches were pretty well protected by that time, but the horses and mules were constantly falling at the crack of the sharp-shooters' rifles. During the early part of the first night of the siege, the scout, Rankin, who had warned Thorn- burg of his great danger on the previous day, made his way out of the beleaguered camp and, mounted on a strange horse, his own having been shot in the fight, started to carry the bloody news over the 160 miles that stretched between him and Rawlins. Rankin's ride bids fair to pass into history with that of Sheridan, immortalized by Buchanan's famous poem. It was a daring venture at best, and its danger was not the only feature which marked it as extraordinary. The way was rough, as well as wild and lonely, and, ordinarily, the the distance would hardly be cov- ered in two days ; yet Rankin rode it in twenty- eight hours, leaving the battle-field at 10 o'clock Monday night and reaching Rawlins Wednesday morning about 3 o'clock. Other couriers were sent out from the camp on succeeding evenings, through one of whom word was sent to Capt. Dodge's company of colored cav- alry, then approaching from the direction of Mid- dle Park, informing' them of the outbreak and cautioning them to be on their guard. Capt. Dodge's command only mustered about forty men, and was encumbered with a wagon train ; but, with almost unexampled bravery, they determined to advance and succor the beleaguered garrison of the rifle-pits on Milk River. At the Rawlins Crossing of the Bear, the wagon train was de- tached and sent north to Fortification Creek, while Capt. Dodge and his intrepid followers galloped into the Indian country, not knowing whether one of them would ever return alive. All honor to ^ (T" "V •V. __2) ^ HlSTOllY OF COLORADO. 143 the " colored troops " who rode and fought so nobly for the defense of their white brethren. Luck went with them. They escaped, for a wonder, the watchful eyes of the Indians en route, and even when they approached the canon where Payne's command was entrenched. The history of the whole war, thus far, furnishes no fact more curious than the escape of the colored troops from destruction, for it is well known that the Indians hate them tenfold more intensely than they do white soldiers, and if Dodge's approach had been discovered, the whole fighting force of the Utes, if necessary, would have been detached to annihilate his command. As it was, he ap- proached within hailing distance of the rifle-pits without detection ; but then arose a new difficulty and a new danger. Payne's sentinels would cer- tainly discover them if they approached nearer, and how could they escape being fired upon as enemies in the guise of friends ? In fact, an alarm was sounded in the trenches at their approach, and the men sprang to arms to defend themselves, as they supposed, from a new attack by the Indians. Dodge halted his command and sent out his two guides, Gordon and Mellon, to communicate with Payne. They called out to the pickets that it was 9. company of cavalry, come to the rescue, but the statement was regarded as a ruse of the Indians. Finally, Gor- don's voice was recognized by some one in the trenches, and all doubts were at once dispelled. Capt. Dodge then headed his men for the final dash necessary in order to reach the shelter of the trenches. The distance was 600 yards, and the ride was made in a rain of rifle-balls from the surrounding blufis, the Indians having been made aware at the last moment of Dodge's approach. His luck did not desert him, however, and not a man was hit. They were not much scared, apparently, for hardly had they reached the pits and dismounted than they announced their readiness to storm the bluff's. As this would have been certain death they were not allowed to attempt it. Hardly had they dismounted when the Indians began to pick off their horses, or, rather, one Indian, evidently a dead shot, began the work of destruction. With every crack of his Winchester a horse fell dead cr mortally wounded, and in a short time forty fine cavalry horses, worth in the aggregate at least $4,000, lay dead or dying, The paternal Government which cares so kindly for the Indi- an is apparently blind to the fact that he is hor- ridly expensive in peace and much more so in war. This red devil who cost the Government $4,000 in half an hour has probably been clothed and fed out of the public crib ever since he was born, and will continue to draw his rations regu- larly hereafter, when the cruel war is over. Dodge reached Payne on the third day of the siege. His coming was the occasion of much joy, but he brought no actual relief The siege continued, and the Indians only seemed more alert and watchful. Nothing escaped their obser- vation. A hat raised on a stick out of the trenches was sure to have a bullet-hole in it in a moment. The spring from which water was ob- tained was at some distance from the trenches, and the men were forced to sally out occasionally for water, usually at night. They seldom escaped without being fired at, and several were wounded. Morever the stench of dead animals became almost intolerable toward the last, and they were compelled to work at night hauling off' the dead horses or covering them up where they lay. Happily, the Indians were too careful or too cowardly to come out much at night, and the siege was thus robbed of some of its terrors, although enough remained to make them pray most fervently for the coming of Gen. Merritt, who was hastening to their relief. It was then- great confidence in Gen. Merritt which inspired them with a strong determination to " hold the fort " at all hazards. The soldiers said that "Old Wesley "—Merritt's army sobri- quet would "come with a whirl," and so he did come. He marched continuously Saturday night, not halting for a single moment, making seventy miles in twenty-four hours. The command left 144 HISTOKY OF COLORADO. Eawlins at 10:30 A. M. on Thursday, October 2. Ttey marched forty miles that day. The second day they marched fifty miles. The men en- dured the march splendidly. They realized that a few of their comrades in arms were surrounded and that their safety depended upon the quick movement of this command. Consequently, there were no complaints. Several horses were so worn out that they had to be abandoned, and died on the roadside. The command arrived at the scene of action at 5:30 A. M., Sunday, October 5, after marching seventy miles the day previous. When Merritt's advance guard reached Payne's pickets, they were commanded by the guards to halt, and Gen. Merritt then ordered the guards to inform Capt. Payne that it was the relief column that was approaching. He caused his trumpeter to sound the ofl&cer's call, which is the night-signal of the Fifth Cavalry, and seldom, if ever, did that signal fall more pleasantly upon listening ears than it did upon those of the rescued garrison. The following account of the arrival of Merritt and the situation of afiairs he found awaiting him is from the pen of one of his stafi" : " We arrived with Gen. Merritt's command Sunday morning, the 6th inst., at 5:30, after a march of seventy-five miles yesterday, stopping to rest only half an hour. Oh ! What a happy crowd Payne's command was when Merritt reached them in relief They had been en- trenched for six days. Capt. Payne still com- mands. Lieut. Paddock is wounded in the side. Capt. Payne is wounded in the arm. Lieut. Wolf, of _the Fourth Infantry, is here. Lieut. Cherry, the salvator of the command, is unhurt. Capt. Dodge, with Company F, of the Ninth Cav- alry, arrived here on Thursday. He fought his way in. Lieut. Hughes is with him. There is a horrible stench all around. The wounded men are hobbling in every direction. One hundred and fifty dead horses lying thirty feet from the entrenchments present a horrible spectacle. Poor Paddock is bright, and will be out in a day or two. I found him, with three others, lying in a deep hole. The middle of the entrenchment was used as a hospital. They have been fired on every day since Monday, particularly last night. No more fear is had, as A and M, companies of the Fifth Cavalry, have reached here. The battle commenced by the troops charging one dreaded and commanding point on our right, and I and M, companies of the Fifth Cavalry, immediately took charge of a prominence on the left. The appear- ance of the Fifth Cavalry entering under Gen. Merritt and Col. Compton was a grand sight. " The poor fellows in the entrenchment at first probably thought we were Indians. We were challenged by a sentinel, and, in reply, answered that we were friends. Gen. Merritt caused the trumpeter to sound the ofiicer's call, and at its end three big cheers rent the air. They were relieved at last. The sight was one of the most aifecting I have ever seen, and brave men shed tears. The hospital wagon has just arrived, and Drs. Grimes and Kimmel are hard at work, doing good service. Our march from Rawlins under Merritt was a grand military effort." Gen. Merritt was moved to tears at the sight of so much suffering and the peril from which the garrison had been rescued. Capt. Payne em- braced his superior officer as a child would em- brace its father. These brave soldiers, who are familiar with Indian character, knew that it was almost a miracle that every man of Thornburg's command was not massacred ; but the Interior Department has already forgiven the savages en- gaged in the Thornburg fight, on the ground that it was an accidental engagement, and the poor Indians were "not to blame.'' Every brave man should resent this insult to the memory of Thorn- burg and the brave soldiers who died with him on that bloody field. The Indians soon disappeared from the scene after Merritt's arrival, and, after a short stop to arrange matters on the battle-field and to send the wounded under guard to Rawlins, the march was continued toward the Agency. Maj. Thornburg's ±1 1^ HISTOEY OF COLOEADO. 145 body was found by Lieut. Hughes, still lying on tbe bfittle-field, stripped, and mutilated by wounds and scalping. The remains were forwarded to Rawlins, and thence to Omaha for interment. Maj. Thomas T. Thornburg, whose tragic death at the hands of the Utes is above noted, was born in Tennessee, and first saw military duty during the late civil war. In September, 1861, he enlisted as a private in the Sisth Tennessee Regiment of Volunteers. He was in the service from that time until August, 1863. During this term, he served for the first five months as a private, for two months as Sergeant Major, and for the remainder of his term in the service as Lieutenant and Adju- tant. He took part in the battle of Mill Spring, was with our army when Gen. Morgan made his celebrated retreat from Cumberland Gap to the Ohio River, and participated in the battle of Stone River, September 1. He was entered at the United States Military Academy of West Point, and was one of the Class of '66, graduates &om there June 17, 186Y. He was promoted to be Second Lieu- tenant in the Second Artillery, going then upon leave of absence till January 1, 1868. He was first stationed at Presidio, San Francisco^ remain- ing there until February 26, 1868 ; from, there, he went to Fortress Monroe fpr artillery practice, being stationed there from April 13, 1868, to May, 1869 ; then, at Alcatraz, from June to No- vember 10, 1871, excepting a short while when he was detached and sent to Sitka, Alaska — August 23 to November 17, 1869. From December 6, 1869, till AprU, 1870, he was Professor of Mili- tary Science at San Diego, Cal. From April 21, 1870, until he became a Second Lieutenant of Artillery, he was stationed in his native State, at the East Tennessee University, as Professor of MOitary Tactics. From November 27, 1871, till June 20, 1873 (for two years), he was in the garrison at Fort Foote, Md. Being ordered away from there on April 27, 1875, he was then promoted to be Major of StaiF, and July 12, of the same year, became^ Paymaster at San Antonio, Texas, being transferred from there on the 13th of August following to Fort Brown, in that State, and ordered away from there January 26, 1870. He next was stationed at the barracks at Omaha for fifteen months, being ordered to the frontier from that post on May 23, 1878. He became Major of the Fourth Infantry at Fort Steele, Wyoming, holding this commission to June 29, of last year. Since that time, he has done scouting duty, his knowl- edge of the country, which he has scouted and hunted over, making him especially fitted for this^ duty. He was a brother of ex-Congressman Thorn- burg, of Tennessee. CHAPTER V. ARRIVAL AT AGENCY— THE MASSACRE. DURING all this time, the fate of Father Meeker and the Agency employes was unknown to the public. It was almost certain that he had been murdered, as it seemed incredible that the Indians would fight Thornburg and spare Meeker, who was blamed by them for bringing in the soldiers ; still, nothing had been heard to con- firm the strong suspicions of all frontiersmen as to the fate of the people at the Agency. Even when Merritt relieved Payne and marched on the Agency, he could learn nothing definite touching the trans- actions there. On the 9th, however, news reached Denver via the Uncompahgre Agency, through the medium of Chief Ouray, that Father Meeker and the male employes of the Agency had been killed on the day of the Thornburg fight (Monday, September 29), but that the women and children were safe and were being cared for by Douglass at his house. This latter statement turned out to be false, but as 9 fy 'A 146 HISTORY or COLOEADO. Douglass had not then been proved to be the dirty liar that be is, credence was given to the story, and Douglass was lauded as a "good Indian," along with Ouray, Capt. Billy, etc. A few doubting Thomases did remark that it seemed strange that Douglass 1 should be such a good Indian while his wicked partners were so bad ; also, that if he was the big chief of the tribe, his devotion to the whites might have been emphasized by protecting them from murder and assassination. In fact, he ■ had led the Agency massacre, and the women and children were the prisoners of himself and his gang of cowardly cuf^throats, instead of being under his protection. On Monday, October 13, just two weeks after the first battle, two couriers arrived at Rawlins from what had been the White River Agency, and reported that Gen. Merritt had reached the Agency on the 11th. On his way, he found many dead bodies. Among others, he found the body of Carl Goldstein, an Israelite, who left Rawlins with Government supplies for the Utes at White River Agency. He was found in a gulch six. miles north of the Agency. He was shot twice through the shoulder, and was about two mUes from his wagons. A teamster named Julius Moore, formerly from Bainbridge, Mass., who was with him when he left Rawlins, was found about one hundred yards from Goldstein with two bullet- holes in his breast, and his body hacked and muti- lated with a knife or hatchet. As the command advanced through the caiion, they came to an old coal-mine, and in it was found the dead body of an Agency employe named Frank Dresser. He had evidently been wounded, and crawled in the mine to die. His coat was folded up and placed under his head for a pillow. Beside him lay a Winchester rifle containing eight cart- tridges, and • marked "J. Max Clark.'' Young Dresser had succeeded in escaping from the Agency massacre badly wounded, but could not reach the troops. E. W. Eskridge was found about two miles north of the Agency. He was stripped to an entire state of nudity, and had his head mashed as though he had been struck with some heavj ap- pliance. He was formerly in the banking business at Marshalltown, Iowa. He was a lawyer by pro- fession, and had only been at the Agency a short time, having been sent there by Hon. William N. Byers, of Denver, in response to a request from Father Meeker for a clerk. In one of his pockets, a letter was found, which read as follows : , White Rivee, September 29, Maj. Thornburg: 1 o'clock P. M. • I will come with Chief Douglass and another chief and meet you to-morrow. Everything is quiet here, and Douglass is flying the United States flag. We have been on guard three nights, and will be to-night — not that we expect any trouble, but because there might be. Did you have any trouble coming through the canon ? N. C. Meekek, United States Indian Agent. This note Father Meeker had sent out but a few minutes before the massacre commenced. Two Indians accompanied Mr. Eskridge, and, doubtless, were his murderers. One of them was Chief Antelope, a worthless rascal. On entering the Agency, a scene of quiet deso- lation presented itself. All the buildings, except one, were burned to the ground, and there was not a living thing in sight, except the command. The Indians had taken everything except flour, and decamped. The women and children were missing, and nothing whatever could be found to indicate what had become of them. They had either been murdered and buried or else taken away as hostages. The Indian Agent, N. C. Meeker, was found lying dead about two hundred yards from his head- quarters, with one side of his head mashed. An iron chain, the size of which is commonly known as a log-chain, was found encircled about his neck, and a piece of a flour-barrel stave had been driven through his mouth. When found, his body was in an entire state of nudity. The dead body of Mr. W. H. Post, Father Meeker's assistant, was found between the build- ings and the river, a bullet-hole through the left ^