PRESENTED BY N THE BREAT WEST A VAST EMPIRE. COMPREHENSIVE HISTORY OF THE TRAXS- MISSISSIPPI STATES AND TERRITORIES. CONTAINING DETAILED STATISTICS AND OTHER INFOEMATION IN SUPPORT OF THE MOVEMENT FOR DEEP HARBORS ON THE TEXAS-GULF COAST. HYyr- F. L. ''DANA. SECRETARY OF THE INTER-STATE DEEP HARBOR COMMITTEE AND EDITOR OF THE COLORADO EXCH.\NGE JOURNAL. 25712 ^^W DE^VER, COLORADO:*.^,* ExcELsiox^ Printing Company. « 1889. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year ISHi), hi/ F. L. Dana, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. P. ^*?*« Qeol.S'r, 2IJ|'03 Ver:/ tr-aly j/ou rs |Ho^ DEDICATION. This work is respectfully dedicated to the Inter-State Deep PIarl)or movement; to the Prairie Schooner Pilots and Pioneers, who discovered a new America; to the Promoters of this Yast Western Empire; and to the "Star of Empire'' which has "westward had its way," until it has paused, never to renew its journey, (there is no other West). It stands fixed, perched upon the crown of the Mighty Monarch of the Kockies — Pike's Peak — the geograpliical center of the Great West. The Star shines with added lustre, as if happy to find its perpetual resting spot; its brilliancy encouraging the toiling millions of the West to persevere in the Avork of "building an Empire," (Gov. Gilpin's familiar expression early in the '60's), and here will it shine until the Great West shall become the center of the world's supply of breadstuffs. meats, cotton and woolen fibre, gold, silver, copper, zinc, tin, lead, iron, coal, oil and liuildino; material. rr THE BREAT WEST." PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE GEE AT WEST PUBLISHING COMPANY, F. L. DANA, Editor. Price Fifty Cents Per Number; Six Dollars Per Annum — Cash in Advance. Advertising Rates Furnished on Application to the Puhlisliers. J. W. Nevatt, Manager Publishing Department. August, 1889. Denver, Colorado. Part Third. IN presenting this the third edition of The Great West to our readers, we do so with a marked degree of pride. We are proud of our success with the first two numbers; we are proud of the multitudinous press opinions that our first effort brought forth; we are proud of this issue, which contains a graphic descrip- tion of Pueblo, Colo., the " Pittsburg of the West," a city in which every citizen of Colorado takes pride. Likewise do we devote considerable space to Canon City and Monte Vista, Colo., two enterprising, progressive cities, that are destined to be a power in this our magnificent commonwealth. In connection with Monte Vista, we publish an original poem by Mrs. Clara Troth, to whom we acknowledge our indebtedness, etc.; it is a brilliant production, and worthy a place in the annals of that charming valley of which Monte Vista is the capital. OUR next number. The fourth edition of this work will contain a complete history of Kansas and descriptions of several of her wonderful cities, and will be dedicated to the Deep Harbor Convention, which assembles in Topeka October 1st next. deep harbor engineers. The Inter-State Deep Harbor Committee has succeeeed in getting a board of United States engineers appointed to survey the Texas-Gulf coast, with a view of reporting to the next session of Congress the most feasible point on that coast to construct a deep harbor. The engineers are 'now on the coast, and have visited nearly all of the prospective harbor sites, and will be able to report to Congress, even if called in extra session in October next. Their report will form a basis upon which the Inter-State Deep Harbor Committee will work during the coming winter, to have Congress appropriate sufficient money to accomplish the work in the shortest possible time, let the report favor whichsoever part it may. ~ Since our # 6 The Great AVest, last number an Inter-State Convention has been arranged for, to assemble at Topeka, Kansas, at 4 o'clock p. m., of the 1st day of October next. The basis of representation is such as to ensure an extraordinary convention, composed of the most representative politicians and business men west of the Mississippi River, and is as follows: APPORTIONMENT. The following are hereby designated as delegates to the Inter-State Deep Harbor Convention, to be held at Topeka, Kansas, October 1, 1889, and are all earnestly requested to attend: The Governor of each State and Territory west of the Mississippi River, who shall be authorized to make all appointments from his State or Territory hereby designated not otherwise selected. Four delegates at large from each State, two of whom shall be its United States Senators. Pour delegates from each Congressional district, one of whom shall be the member of Congress or Territorial Delegate-elect. The Republic of Mexico shall be entitled to Ave delegates, to be appointed by the President thereof, who is also earnestly invited to head the delegation. The president of each Chamber of Commerce or Board of Trade west of the Mississifpi River, who is authorized to appoint an alternate if he is unable to attend. It is earnestly requested that all members of the Permanent Inter-State Deep Harbor Committee, and including the secretary, will attend the convention and participate in its deliberations. All correspondence in relation to the convention should be addressed to P. L. Dana, secretary, Topeka, Kansas. In behalf of the Permanent Inter-State Deep Harbor Committee. P. L. Dana, Secretary. Jonh Evans, President. The Governor of Kansas, Lyman M. Humphrey, issued his proclamation, upon the invitation of the Permanent Inter-State Deep Harbor Convention, calling the convention together, and has written each of the several governors west of the Mississippi to be present at the convention. Topeka is making elaborate prepara- tions to entertain the delegates, and will not leave one stone unturned to make of this the second Inter-State Deep Harbor Convention one of the greatest that ever assembled in the West. The Kansas corn and wheap crop this year is "simply immense." Of corn, 250,000,000 bushels; of wheat, 32,000.000 bushels: surplus corn, 150,000,000 bushels: surplus wheat, 25,000,000 bushels; surplus cattle, 8CK).000 head, or 1,.")00,000 tons; surplus pork, 1,000,000 head, or 100,000 tons; surplus of corn, wheat, cattle and pork, 5,200.000 tons. With a Gulf port as is proposed, Kansas would save S1.88 per ton of surplus, which amounts to S25,37G,000 per annum. That accounts for the extraordinary interest displayed in that state toward the movement. INDEX. Page Chapter I. The Great West 9 Chapter II. Lousiana 13 Chapter III. Missouri 15 Chapter IV. Arkansas 1" Chapter V. Iowa 19 Chapter VI. TexfiB 26 Chapter VII. California 34 Chapter VIII. Minnesota 39 Chapter IX. Oregon 42 Chapter X. Kansas 45 Chapter XI. Nevada 49 Chapter XII. Nebraska 51 Caapter XIII. Colorado 54 Chapter XIV. Pueblo 83 Arkansas Valley 88 Climate 89 Health Attractions 91 Coal and Oil 92 Railroad Advantages 94 Pueblo Buildings , 97 Pueblo Banks and Banking 98 The First National h ank 98 Stockgrowers' National Bank 99 Western National Bank 99 Manufactures 100 Colorado Coal and Iron Company 100 Smelters 101 Pueblo Street Railvi^ay 103 Business Conveniences 103 Schools 104 Lioretto Academy 106 Social Life in Pueblo 107 Pueblo City Government 108 Andrew A. Grome 110 T. S. Smythe Ill W. P. Gartley HI A. T. Stewart HI George F. West HI J. H. Elspass 112 Charles H. Larakin 112 Thomas P. Lloyd 112 Hotels 113 Pueblo Journals 113 The Chieftain 115 The Daily Pueblo Press 115 Manufactories and Business Firms 117 Monte Vista 121 Poem by Clara Troth 124 Canon City 126 Chapter XV. Utah ' 129 Delegate Cain, on Irrigation 131 # ^ The Geeat "West. Chapter XVI. New Mexico ^^o^- ChapterXVIL Washington ff? Chapter XVIII. Dakota |t- Chaptek XIX. Idaho '.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.]'.'..[ I47 " XX. Arizona , -r> II XXI. Montana '.'■'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'..'.'. 150 XXII. Wyoming t -7 " XXIII. Alaska t- XXIV. Oklahoma '■'■'.'.''.'■'■'.'.' 1'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.'. I60 INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS. Wharf Scene, Galveston oi Fishing on the Rio Grande ^o Long's Peak " .ip Entering Boulder Canon '. ' ei Central Block, Pueblo oa Fremont Pass [ ' '' ^* Colorado Smelting Company, Pueblo. . . too Central High School, Pueblo T^T Hinsdale High School, " '.'.'.'.'.'.'. in* Loretto Academy, " jx2 Pueblo Citv Hail |Xq Daily Chieftain Building .'..'.'.'.'."."." JU Residence of J. J. Lambert 77^ Wilson & Barnard t\^ Bird's Eye View of Salida tT^'f. The Hotel Blanca, Monte Vista.. . Too Toitec Gorge ::'.:::.::::::: hi Mount of the Holy Cross.... 1^2 Mother Grundy '■■;■; j^' Round-Up Scene in New Mexico ...............!...!..! I39 INDEX TO APPENDIX. A summing up of the Resources and Possibilities of the Great West : Food Production and Distribution, (table) Tv Export and Surplus, (table) v)r Distance, (table) , " X Distance, (table) ".^....^^.....[^^...... VT Inter-State Deep Harbor Convention .......!.!." tv Committee of Arrangements v Governor Adams' Address .."..!."...!!!!! v Convention Resolutions XTT Permanent Committees '....!..!....!!..! XTV Commercial Congress ,,... vjv Irrigation Reservoirs and Duty of Water, bv theSt'ate Eng'ineer.'.'.".'.'."."!'.".'.' ^XV Duty of Water ^ :^Y Major Powel's Report ...............]^. XXT Measurmg Flow of Water, fillustration) ...'.'.'.. XXTTT Opennigthe Ditches, (illustrated) XXV Burlington .t Mi.ssouri River Railway XXV1TT Flume in Main Canal, (illustratedl ..".. XYTY Mileage and Traflic of the Great West XXX St. Louis it San Francisco Railway vvvt Northern PaciHc Railway .' .'.'.'.'.".'."."""" XXXT Chicago ;t North western'Rail way ........!!!."...!!.!..!!"!!.""! XJOQI THE BREAT WEST. CHAPTER I. A k/HAT is the " Great West V It is not " Buffalo Bill's Wild »^V West," as is generally supposed in the East and in England. It is all of that portion of the United States lying west of the Missis- sippi Eiver, and is usually understood to include Illinois and Wis- consin. Without the last two States, it comprises in area nearly two- thirds of the United States of America, and nearly one-third of the present population of the United States. In wealth the great West is nearly equal to one-half of the entire United States; in natural resources it is equal to its area — two-thirds of the natural resources of the Union. Contrary to all heretofore published authorities, barring Dr. Strong in his work entitled " Our Country," the Great West is capable of sustaining a population in proportion to its vast area, and will ere many years dominate the Union. Its political, its financial and its social features — the significance of which is growing upon the civilized world, is having the effect that will bring about, within a few years, the greatest political revolution the world ever witnessed. Ten or twenty years will probably witness the West in control of the government. The West has been accustomed to have its wishes, and demands for justice in the apportionment of appropriations disre- garded,^ its financial interests forced into Wall Street, and represen- tation in national affairs denied. That is gradually being changed. The East is slowly relaxing its severe discipline of the West; the citizens of that division begin to feel the public pulse beating time to the onward march of progress, and in truth very soon will we realize that "Westward the Star of Empire hath its sway." Tliis mighty empire is well defined — the Mississippi river on the east, the Pacific ocean on the west, the Gulf of Mexico and the Mexican Republic on the south, and the British possessions on the north; and if the signs of the times be true, the northern boundary will ere long Idb the Arctic ocean and the southern line the Panama canal. Erastus Wiman, of R. G. Dun & Co., has a communication in the January, 1889, number of the I^orth American Review, upon the » Greater Half of the Continent." Referring to Canada, he attempts « 10 The Great West. to justify commercial union, and at tlie same time combat political union between the United States and that British province. We commend the spirit of union, but believe it should be both political and commercial, agi'eeing with that eminent American statesman, John Sherman. The greater half of the continent lies west of that line of demarcation M'hich is genei-ally applied when speaking of the Eastern or Western States of the Union, viz : the Mississippi River. The line extends south to the Gulf, and, extended north to the Arctic Ocean, would give the greater half of the continent to the West, the East representing less than one-fourth of the Xorth American con- tinent. Long east and west lines are unnatural boundaries betweeen peoples, and by actual comparison one may see how very remarkably true to this theory have the nations of Europe applied their map mak- ing. An east and west boundary line in either American continent is repugnant to nature. The Creator made these continents to lay length- wise, north and south, connected by a narrow strip of land, which, pestilence ridden, forms a boundary almost impassible between the two continents. Hon. T. F. Sorrells, of Arkansas, in a recent speech referred to the interchange of commodities as naturally belonging between zones, north and south; that the natural channels of trade were from north to south, and vice versa. This is quite easy of comprehension. The same zones have similar products, and consequently have no legitimate interchange. Unnaturally, however, the great east and west trunk lines have diverted traffic through a combination of capital and circum- stances to the positive detriment of the Western people. IS^ature is gradually gaining the ascendancy in the matter of ti-affic, and these monster monopolies see the hand writing uj)on the wall ; the centre of population and wealth is gradually creeping westward ; the time approaches when the West will not pay tribute to New York or the railroad kings. The Santa Fe has a north and south line which con- nects their immense system with the Gulf; the Denver, Texas tfe Gulf railway connects Denver with the Gulf, mIucIi opens up a vast country north and w^est to the natural ©ourse of trade. Already the good effect of conforming to Nature's law of traffic is felt, though the great east and west trunk lines are dissipating as much as possible the bountiful blessings the Great West is sure to enjoy. The 49th parallel of north latitude divides a people and outrages nature. It forms a barrier to traffic. As Mr. Winian states: "The American has limitations on the north by a line drawn at the St. Lawrence and the lakes, and along the 49th parallel, against which his commerce beats as against-an impenetrable wall, and like a wave rolls back upon itself. A night's journey fi-om Boston or New York, and the limit of his boasted areas towards the north are reached ; two Jiights and a day, even from Chicago, in the centre of his territory, The Gkeat West, 11 and tlie ground to the north covered by the trade of that great city is exhausted." Therefore, political and commercial union will speedily follow the p-esent agitation ; otherwise, annexation will he forced by the com- mercial demands of the great marts referred to by Mr. Wiman. There is growing a West that can not be trilled with. The Is'orth and South has disappeared in smoke and death. The East and West have taken their places. The South, like the East, were for a time masters; their power waning, they resorted to violence to retain their ascendency. Even now the power of our Eastern masters begins to wane, and they, too fond of their money bags to even resort to violence to retain their power, have been practicing extortion upon us, exacting excessive toll for transporting our persons, our products and necessities, demanding exhorbitant interest for the use of their gold, and, Shilock like, exact- ing the pound of flesh nearest the heart for the least deviation from their own heathenish laws. A Western Empire is forming; a financial centre (Denver) is established at the base of the Eocky Mountains, where nearly thirty millions of gold and silver annually concentrate, gathered from the everlasting treasure vaults of the Kocky Mountain range ; where money goes begging for borrowers at from six to eight per cent, per annum interest ; where palaces are being erected for the homes of the Western millionaires; where massive stone and brick blocks are being constructed to acconmiodate the present urgent demands of a constantly increasing commerce, made inevitable by the revolution taking place — natural currents of trade dominating the artificial, unhealthy and vicious channels formed by a greedy, grasping East, aided by monopo- listic carriers. Mtm can conceive of no mightier empire than the "Great West." That empire must have a capital. That capital must be central and accessible. The Star of Empire in its westward march has paused at Denver, and smiles upon that city, which it has christened and desig- nated the empire's capital. Here wealth and learning, social and moral culture, have l)econie firmly planted, and distinguished travelers have dubbed this city the "yllEEN CITY OF THE PLAINS," — founded by tried men and true — men who waded in blood to reach this delightful mecca — travelled across the then great American desert, almost every step being disputed by the savage. Thousands of lives were lost in those trying days, and the prairies were strewn by bleach- ing human bones. It required a hardy, determined people to reclaim this Great West from the savage. It is accomplished, and many are now living who should receive the hero's badge of honor, having braved the hardships of explorers, that future generations might occupy in peace and plenty this grand empire destined to rule the nation. 1 Q ^ The Great "West, The progress of the West stands as one of the marvels of the age. Prior to 1859, except the states bordering on the Mississippi and Cali- fornia, this immense interior was regarded as a great desert, barren of vegetation and abounding in great useless mountain ranges of per- petual snow, Thii-ty years has Avitnessed a wonderful transformation, beo-innino- in 1859, by discoveries of gold where Denver now stands. The greed of gold stimulated the hardy pioneer to penetrate this track- less plain, and all at once it dawned upon the world that this plain M'as not a desert, but fertile and desirable public lands. Tliese began to appreciate in value, until the land between the Mississippi and Mis- souri Rivers was practically appropriated by the western flow of popu- lation. The same irresistible tide of immigration moved westward, and is still moving westward at tine rate of 25 to 30 miles per annum. Meanwhile a hardier class has outstripped the slow tide of immigra- tion, and the coast and mountain states have been peopled, thougli sparsely, with a sturdy, progressive population, whose numbers are daily augmented, and whose wealth (especially Colorado) is greater per capita than any other people on earth. Colorado is the central state of this vast "Western Empire, and might be said to concentrate within her borders the essence of wealth, contained Avest of the Missis- sippi River, which is equal to saying the entire Union. Denver is the capital of the state, and admirably situated to be- come the capital of the Great "West; (we accede to Pueblo the manu- facturing business of this vast region.) Fuller descriptions of states and cities will claim our attention later oa in this article, which has an ultimate bearing upon the great subject of commerce and transportation, which is soon to occupy the undivided attention of this New "West, and compel the National Con- gress to appropriate our share of the public "pap" to construct deep harbors upon the Gulf coast of our sister state — Texas, and otherwise improve transportation facilities, opening up to the entire west a direct and short line to the sea, and consequently to the markets of the world. Appropriately the first AVestern Commercial Congress assem- bled in Denver (the Inter-State Deep Harbor Convention), the latter part of last August. The movement was perpetuated, and by a happy arrano-ement the managing officers reside in Denver, and consequently the headquarters are firmly established here. The Gkeat West. 13 CHAPTEK 11. LOUISIANA— 1541 TO IBBS. TAKIjS'G -^p the Great West in detail, we naturally turn to Loui- siana first. "Louisiana" was the name given by La Salle in 1682 to all of that portion of the United States west of the Mississippi Eiver (except Texas and New Mexico, then a part of Mexico), that lies between that river and the Rocky Mountains, including Idaho and Washington Territories and the State of Oregon. This portion of the Great West was first discovered by De Soto in 1541, who, however, did not ascend the Mississippi beyond Kew Orleans. He died the following year, and was buried in the waters of that mighty stream. His followers were scattered, and no permanent settlement was effected until 1682, when La Salle descended the river from the Canadian settlements and took possession of this vast region in the name of Louis XIV, in Mdiose honor he named the country Louisiana. It is generally believed, however, that no settlement- of importance was effected before 1699, and not until 1706 was JSIew Orleans established. The little colony, headed by Bienville, in that year unfurled the flag of France. The French crown retained posses- &]%)! of this territory until 1762, when it fell into the hands of the Spanish crown, and was severely ruled until 1800, when it again fell into the possession of France, and in 1803 was purchased from the French by the United States for $15,000,000. In 1804 the United States divided this territory and named what is now known as Louisi- ana, the Territory of Orleans, which was admitted in 1812 as a state, under the name of Louisiana. In the same year war with Eno-land was declared, and in 1814 New Orleans became famous because of its noble defense by General Jackson, with 5,000 men, against Sir John Packenham, with 12,000 Britishers. The state grew rapidly there- after, and to-day ranks very high, New Orleans being second only to New York in amount and value of domestic and foreign exports, amounting to about |100,000,000 per annum. The inward bound coastwise cargoes to New Orleans are valued at about ^200,000,000 per annum, imports about 120,000,000. The coastwise and foreign trade together amounts to nearly $500,000,000 per annum. The Eads Jetty system has made it possible for deep-draught ocean-going vessels to enter the port at New Orleans. The only draw- back to New Orleans as a port is the necessary towage of ninety-five miles from the jetties. The establishment of deep harbors on the Texas # 14 The Great "West. coast will not affect the importance of ^^ew Orleans as a port of entry, as many suppose. The traffic that the proposed Texas ports will at- tract will be of a different class, affecting New York more than any other eastern port. Louisiana contains 41,34:6 square miles, or 26,461,440 acres. Much of the State is lower than the high- water level of the rivers, and is protected by dykes or levees from inundation. The land is generally of great richness, produces sugar cane, cotton, rice, corn, tobacco, oranges, figs, bananas, peaches, etc. Louisiana produces annually about 200,000 hogsheads of sugar, about 10,000,000 gallons of molasses, and about 500,000 bales of cotton, which is most all exported from the State. Other crops are most all consumed at home. The forests are extensive, containing several kinds of oak, hickory, locust, sassafras, mulberry and pine. Louisiana has 1,256 miles of coast on the Gulf of Mexico; the Mississippi River flows through and along the State border for nearly 800 miles, and floats the commerce tributary for nearly 2,000 miles, and the Red and Washita Rivers are also navigable for quite a dis- tance, bringing wealth to the great city of New Orleans. The school facilities of Louisiana are second to no other South- ern State, and are gaining rapidly upon some of the Northern States. Rail connection has opened up a traffic between New Orleans and Denver which heretofore came by rail from New York, and has placed tropical fruits and sugar into Denver as cheaply as into Chicago. Denver and New Orleans are closely allied. We take their fruits, sugar and molasses, while they take our gold and silver, and the inter- vening sections our coal. The opening of the proposed Texas depp harbors will not materially affect the relations of New Orleans to Denver, but will materially affect Denver, as it opens up an European and South American trade to Denver which the disadvantages of New Orleans as a port of entry has heretofore barred us from. Texas deep harbors are a necessity, and we demand the immediate attention of Congress in their institution. Soon after the completion of the Denver, Texas tt Gulf Railroad, the direct rail connection, the Ne\v Orleans merchants held an exposi- tion of their resources in Denver Chamber of Commerce. Their favor- able reception caused the establishment in Denver of branches or agencies of tlieir large mercantile houses, the result of which has been beneficial to both commercial cities. The Gkeat "West. 15 CHAPTER III. MISSOURI — 1BB2 TO IBBE. WE take up Missouri second in our review of States and Terri- tories, in the order of her seniority of State-hood. We will conform to that rule in our treatise of the sister-liood comprising "The Great West." LaSalle descended the Mississippi River in 1682 and took posses- sion of the country west of the Mississippi River i» the name of Louis XIY, naming it Louisiana. Missouri was included in the cessions made by France to Spain in 1762, and by Spain retroceded to France in 1800, and purchased by the United States in 1803. St. Louis was known as a fur-trading point as early as 1755, and had less than 1,000 inhabitants, and St. Genevive had about 500 in- habitants. St. Louis was the capital of the District of Louisiana of the Territory of Orleans. When the State of Louisiana was admitted into the Union (1812) the Territory of Orleans was obliterated, and the Territory of Missouri was organized with St. Louis as its capital, which in 1817 contained about 5,000 inhabitants, while the Territory contained about 60,000. In that year the Territory knocked at the door of Congress for admission as a State, and precipitated a fierce ex- citement regarding the extension of slavery into the unorganized terri- tory of the United States, and that came near disrupting the Union. A compromise was, however, effected, and the State admitted in 1820 under conditions set forth in what has ever since been known as " the Missouri compromise." The President's proclamation was not issued completing the admission, however, until August 10, 1821. The State prospered, and at the breaking out of the rebellion in 1861 contained upwards of one million people, which has been aug- mented until the State contains nearly or quite 2,500,000 population. The State contains 69,415 square miles, or 44,425,600 acres, and has 114 counties. Its chief cities are St. Louis, Kansas City, Hanni- bal, St. Joseph, Springfield and Jefferson City (the capital). The Mississippi River runs the entire length of the State on its eastern boundary line (470 miles). The Missouri River forms a por- tion of the west boundary line, and deflects above Kansas City to the east, and flows across the State from west to east near its middle, and empties into the Mississippi River just above St. Louis. Both streams are navigable throughout their entire course through or along the State, the Missouri for 450 miles, and the Mississippi for 470 miles — over 16 The Great West. 900 miles of navigable waters available to the commerce of this great State. The prolitable use to which this great natural commercial facility has been utilized, one need only point to the magnificent com- mercial centers, St Louis and Kansas City. Missouri contains immense natural resources in the form of the baser metals and coal, the south half of the State being rich in coal, iron and lead, also timber. Notwithstanding the fact that the great swamp 100 miles wide starts in about Cape Girardeau and extends into Arkansas, Missouri produced more lead than any other State in the Union, until recently. Colorado now takes the lead by many thou- sand tons. The north half is rich in agriculture and some coal. In 1880 there were in Missouri 215,575 farms, averaging 129 acres each, a total of 27,879,276 acres. Of these 1(). 745,020 acres were improved. Estimated value of farms, |375, 633,037. In 1887 Missouri had in corn 6,406,785 acres, producing 140,- 949.000 bushels, valued at 352,151,135. ^Mieat, 1,712,603 acres, pro- ducing 27,744,000 bushels, valued at 317,201.280. Oats, 1,358,119 acres, producing 39,793,000 bushels, valued at 310,346,185. All other field crops amounting to a value approximating 3200.00,000, or in round numbers, Missouri produced in 1887 from field crops a value approximating 3100,000,000. On January 1st, 1888, Missouri had 782,124 head of horses, valued at 345,040,996; 225,563 head of mules, valued at 315,019,534; milch cows, 737,259 head, valued at 314,344,215; oxen and other cattle, 1,429,453 head, valued at 326,077,367; sheep, 1,087,690 head, valued at 31,894,973; hogs, 3,7,98.799 head, valued at 315,043,246. Total value of live stock, 3117,420,331. The total value of farms, farm animals and farm products of Missouri January 1st, 1888, amounts to 3572,752,228. Such vast resources deserve competitive seaboard markets, and is one good argument for the establishment of a. Chilton, Secretary of the Texas State Bureau of Immigration, and can be relied upon: The permanent free school fund, invested in state and county bonds, is 15,873,174.02; 40,000,000 acres of land controlled by the state, and four leagues, or 17,712 acres, to each county organized and unorganized, controlled by the counties, making a total of 47,288,676 acres, which at 83 per acre would bring 3141,806.028, added to the above makes a grand total of ^147, 739, 202.02. The interest on the bonds and land notes for which school lands, have been sold, rentals from the lands leased, one-third of the state tax, and one dollar on each poll, forms the available fund which is used each year for the mainte- nance of public free schools. The availal)le fund is increasing rapidly each year. In 1881 the amount appropriated for maintenance of public free schools was |103,933.44; in 1885 it was ^2,050,000; in 1887 it was ^2,285,415; a letter from the treasurer of the state says, the appropriation for 1888 will be about §2,300,000. This fund will soon be sufficient to give free education to ten times as many children and persons as now live in Texas, between the ages of five and twenty years. We have a State University located at Austin, the capital, which is one of the best endowed educational institutions in the United States. It is open to both sexes; tuition free. The Constitution of the state provides for the establishment of a university for the educa- tion of colored youths; steps have been taken to put it in operation. The University lands will permanently endoAV these institutions, mak- ing them in time the cnpuil of any in America. The University Per- nuxnent Fund is at present §523,411, invested in bonds; this with an available fund of |21,680, and cash on hand of $10,825, makes a total University Fund of $555,916. Besides this, it has 2,221,400 acres of land, most of which was located at an early day, and is very A-aluable, worth from $3 to $20 per acre. At an average of $6 it would bring $13,328,400, making a grand total of $13,884,316 for university purposes. The State Agricultural and Mechanical College, located near the City of Bryan, Brazo County, is endowed with $209,000. in- vested in bonds, also a large endowment from the United States Gov- ernment. Ninety-four students, one-half of whom take a mechanical, and one-half an agricultural course, receive free board and tuition. The cost of board and tuition for other students is $130 for the school- astic year. The Sam Houston Normal School for the education of white teachers, and the Prairie View Nonnal School for the education of colored teachers, are supported by the state, and 155 white and 45 colored students receive tuition and board free, in proportion to Avhite and colored population. The Great "West. 31 32 The Great West. Texas produced, in 1886, 69,213,000 bushels of corn on 4,417,- 688 acres, valued at ^38,759,280; wheat on 529,104 acres producing 5,383,000 bushels, valued at $4,844,700 ; oats, on 552,966 acres, pro- ducing 11,369,000 bushels, valued at |5,684,500; cotton, on 3.771,. 740 acres, 1,499,698 bales, valued at 361,102,188; other field crops, on 125,444 acres, products valued at 11,524,686; or a total value of field products, $111,915,354. January 1st, 1888, Texas had the following live stock: horses, 1,225,803 head, valued at $38,115,135; mules, 193,488 head, valued at $10,032,254; milch cows, 772,716 head, valued at $10,972,567; other cattle, 6,336,504 head, valued at $63,077,993; sheep, 4,523,739 head, valued at $6,864,744; hogs, 2,279,082 head, valued at $6,436,128; a total live stock value of $135,498,821; grand total of agricultural and live stock products amounting to $247,414,175. The total of assessed values of all properties in Texas for 1888, $730,225,123. The total commerce of Texas, imports, exports and coastwise trade, amounts to nearly $200,000,000^ per annum, even with the limited harbor facilities now enjoyed. Deep harbors would add from 100 to 200 per cent, and make Texas second to no state in America in comuierce, etc. The following recapitulation of Texas statistics we glean from Hon. F. B. Chilton's reports of January 1st, 1888. They are, some- what, but not materially at variance with United States statistics, owing probably to the fact that the following is one year later than the government reports: Area of Texas, square miles ; 274,356 Area of Texas, in acres 175,587,'840 Area of mineral lands, acres 20,000 000 Area of timbered lands, acres 46,000^000 Of which tnere are pine and cypress, acres 26,000,000 Number of acres of public free' school lauds, controlled by the State . . . 40,000,000 " " " " counties. 4.237,596 State University lands 2,221,400 Other school interests '839^680 Asylum lands (Deaf and Dumb, Lunatic, Blind and Orphan), 100,000 acres each 400,000 Number of counties (none less than 30 miles square) 293 And enough terncory to organize an additional 60 Number of bales of cotton raised, 1887 1,352,377 " bushels of corn raised, 1887 63,416.:300 " " of oats raised, 1887 10.000,000 " " of wheat raised, 1887 4.374,000 Estimated live stock in 1887 12,000,000 Shipped live stock in 1887 l]50(UX)0 Exported pounds of wool 8.000.000 " " of hides, 1887, about 60,000,000 Estimated population of 1887 3,000,000 Number of miles of railway, 1887 9,500 And number of miles to be built in 1888 1,280 Taxable values of 1887 S650.225 J23 Rate of taxation 37i^cts. on the SlOO Value of farm products $172,000,000 The Gkeat West. 33 Value of live stock $150,500,000 " stock shipped $10,000,000 " hides shipped, 1887 §5,400,000 " wool exported, 1887 $1,600,000 •' free school fund, bonds and lands $147,769,202 Available school fund, 1887 $2,285,451 Probable fund for 1888 $2,300,000 Value of State University fund, lands and bonds $13,884,316 Available fund for 1887 §32,505 Endowment fund of the State Agricultural and Mechanical College . . . $500,000 Value of Asylum lands $12,000,000 Estimated value of railways $215,600,000 While Mr. Cliilton estimates the value of railways in the state at over $200,000,000, it is a remarkable fact that no Texas railways have ever yet paid a dividend, accounted for probably in the marvelous amount of railroad extensions indulged in by the various railroads, and the vast mileage necessary to traverse the state, some of which must unavoidably pass through large stretches of unoccupied territory. Texas is almost an empire within itself, and forms no small por- tion of the vast empire that stretches from the "Father of Waters" on the east, to the Pacific Ocean on the west. It is the key to the great treasure vaults of the Great West. The establishment of deep harbors on the Texas coast will open the door which will admit of the AVest; "the greater half of the continent" interchanging commerce with the world without the intervention and extortion of the east, and build up a Texas such as the early Texas fanatic never dreamed of, or the most sanguine of present sages ever conceived. In size and resources Texas surpasses almost any European country, and the Great West collectively surpasses all of Europe combined. 34 The Great "^^est. CHAPTER YII. CAUFDRNIA-1542 TD IBBE. PTIIOR. to 1542 California was practically unknown, and the name^ 'probably, originated througb a Spanish romance, published in 1510, in which the author speaks of an island which he called Cali- fornia Island, a place M'here an abundance of gold and precious stones was to be found. The Spaniards, the great explorers, fitted out a fleet in qiiiest of the island of so much abundance, under the command of one Cabrillo, and in 1542 they coasted along what is known as California, as far north as Cape Mendocino, in 42 degrees north latitude. In 1579 Sir Francis Drake, in command of an English fleet, plundering Spanish commerce, coasted along California as far as 48 degrees north latitude and it is believed sailed into San Francisco bay to overhaul his vessels; he claimed the country in the name of England, and named it New Albion. The country, however, remained unoccupied, except by a few Jesuites, until 1707, when the Franciscan friars entered and occupied California, driving out the Jesuits with the aid of a proclamation of the King of Spain, backed by armed coadjutors. They succeeded in establishintr various missions, succeedincr in bringing; under their sub- mission the mass of the aborigines, and prospered well until Mexico became independent (in 1822) ; that marked the turning point in the Franciscan rule, and their power gradually waned until 1840, when they were entirely broken up. The Indians were treated by these missions as little better than slaves; they were, however, taught frugality, and prospered in a wordly way, intellectually they were very little aided by the missions. In all there were twenty-one missions, the first being established in 1769, the last in 1820. TLey were all well located, the priests having dis- played excellent judgment in selecting the best garden spots for their settlements. The Indian population was large, even up as late as the cecession of California to the United States by Mexico in 1848. The mission Indians numberino; at that time about 30,000. In 1880 there were but 11,()80 Indians in the entire state. Just prior to the United States coming into possession of Cali- fornia, there was great rivalry between England, France and the United States over this Mexican possession, and in 1842, Commodore Jones, of the American navy, captured the fort at Monterey, and raised the stars and stripes; the next morning, however, he hauled down his flag The Great West. 35 and made satisfactory apology for the mistake. Both European countries were charged with attempting to wrest this country from Mexico; such a thing the United States would not tolerate. The result being that when war was declared with Mexico by the United States, that General Fremont, who had been upon a scientific investi- gation on the Pacific coast, abandoned his explorations in May, 1846, and made his way to Sonoma, where he organized a battalion of mounted riflemen, and on the 5th day of July recommended a declara- tion of independence. Commodore Sloat, on a United States frigate, put in at Monterey on July 2nd, and on the morning of the 7th, in- vested and took possession of the fort, and hoisted the stars and stripes, with no intention of imitating Commodore Jones' example, by hauling them down again. He immediately issued a proclamation declaring California to be a part of the United States. General Fre- mont in obeying the orders of Commodore Stockton, (who had super- ceded Sloat), instead of those of General Kearney, who ranked the Commodore, and assumed command, got himself into trouble and was court-marshaled, found guilty of "mutiny and disobedience." The President rejected the finding as to mutiny, and remitted the penalty on the other count, but General Fremont refused the clemency and re- signed. He afterwards conducted several successful expeditions over- land to California, and served the government most faithfully in his explortaions in the Rocky Mountains, and he is regarded almost uni- versally as the conqueror of the territory. At the close of the war with Mexico California was ceded to the United States in the treaty of peace ratified May 19th, 1848, and im- mediately the question came up whether it should be admitted to the Union as a free or a slave state. Congress adjourned March 4th, 1849, without settling the question, or even forming a territorial government. San Francisco was, however, made a port of entry and the customs laws were extended over the country. Meanwhile, in 1848, gold had been discovered, and a grand rush had been made to the new Eldorado; the population had increased rapidly, the matchless harbor at San Francisco had attracted the com- merce of every nation, presenting a centre of attraction for the restless and energetic of every race and clime. September, 1849, the people held a convention, which framed a State Constitution, in which slavery was expressly forbidden. September 7th, 1850, congress passed a bill admitting California as a free state, but as a compromise left N^ew Mexico and Utah, (organized on the same day as territories), open to its introduction. The gold ex- citement was now at its height, fortunes were made in a day, and a constant stream of gold flowed eastward, intensifying the excitement. Speculation ran rife, and property in San Francisco was held at fabulous prices; lots were worth gold coin enough to carpet them; all forms of gambling were regarded as legitimate business ; adventurers and crimi- 36 The Great "West, nals flocked in, and society was in a chaotic state. Self-preservation being tlie first law of nature, order became necessary, which could only be enforced by stringent measures, and Avas the direct cause of the for- mation of the celebrated vigilance committee, which soon assumed the proportions of a regular government, and successfully resisted the state authorities up to 1850, when they formally resigned, after having liano-ed several and driven liundreds of the worst characters from the state. The vigilantes held their courts and pronounced judgment which was speedily executed, while their judgment was often severe, it has never been charged that injustice was done, while such methods are to be deplored, the exigencies of the times demanded speedy justice and a general fear of the consequences of sin, California is one of the largest states of the Union, being 750 miles long by an average of 200 in width, containing 155,980 square miles. The state is blessed with several line harbors, the best being at San Francisco; the others at San Diego, Humboldt, Santa Barbara, Monterey, Bodega, San Luis, Obispo and Tomales; the first named being the best harbor on the Pacific coast, if not the best in the world. The bay is completely land-locked and of ample room to float the com- bined navies of the world, California has but two prominent rivers, the Sacramento and the San Joaquin, both empty into San Francisco Bay, one from the north- east and the other from the southeast, both are navigable for consider- able distance. There are two great mountain chains in the state, the Sierra Xevada and coast range. The state is interspersed with moun- tains and large fertile vallevs. The principal mountain peaks are Shastar Tyndall, Brewer and Dana, ranging in height from 13,000 to 14,500 feet. The valleys have the appearance of having been at one time immense lakes that would compare with Lakes Superior and IVIichicran, havino- been drained into the ocean, left a rich sediment which axicounts prol)ably for the remarkable fertility of these valleys. The state is noted for its wonderful scenery, especially that in the great Yosemite valley, which is world renowned. The valley is al)out 150 miles southeast of San Francisco, at an elevation of 4,000 feet above sea level, in the center of the Sierra Nevada mountains, hemmed in by almost perpendicular walls or cliffs, from 2,000 to 3,000 feet high. The great falls of Yosemite creek are the most wonderful in the world; the creek falls 2,000 feet in three leaps, tlie highest being 1,500 feet. Mt. Dana, which towers above and dominates the Yosemite valley, is over 13,000 feet high, and is easily ascended; from its summit a mag- nificent panorama of the Sierra Nevada range and Yosemite valley is obtainable. "The big trees" also attract much attention; these giants of the forest may be seen in groups, the most imj)ortant being near Visalia. The common name for these trees is giant red wood; they vary in height from 100 feet to 400 feet, and in circumference at five feet from the ground, varying from 25 to more than 100 feet; one now Thk Great "West. 37 standing measures 104 feet in cireuniferance, and 376 feet in height, remains of fallen trees indicate that much larger trees ha^-e grown there. The other native species of timber are pines in large variety, black oak, ash, hickory, elm, beach, vidiite cedar, spruce, iir, laurel, tamarack, cypress, yew, juniper, chestnut, acacia, poplar, cottonwood, walnut, maple, buckeye, and innumerable varieties of shrubs, the most remarkable being the "chaparral." The wild animals of California are varied and quite extensive, although they are being gradually exterminated, especially those animals valuable for theii- fur or flesh. The largest and fiercest of the animals of this state — the grizzly bear — is now almost extinct; next comes the black, brown and cinna- mon bears, followed by the less harmful wolves, badgers, coyotes, foxes, wild cats, otter, beaver, gopher, skunks, martins, weasels, elk, deer, rabbits and other minor animals, probably the most attractive of all California animals is the sea lion, which frequents seal rock at Golden Gate in countless numbers, whose noise and gambols attract thousands of sight seers daily. Birds of every variety, indigenous to the varied climate, are in great abundance, the California quail and sage hen being remarkable for plumage and food qualities, other species being; not unlike those found all over the "Western States. Fish in great abundance and variety are found in the rivers, bays and in the ocean, and their catch and preservation form the important industries of the state. The precious metals are all found in the Sierra Nevada mountains in the northeast portion of the state, gold being the most prominent and found in greater abundance than in any other field in the world, the average annual output for thirty years being upw^ards of |20,000,000, approximating in the thirty years nearly $1,000,000,000. It is mined principally by placers, although some good quartz lodes have been dis- covered and worked. Quicksilver is largely used in placer mining, and is found near at hand in great abundance, and one mine has yielded as high as 3,500,000 lbs. quicksilver per annum, and is the largest mine of the kind in the world. The volcanic character of California is manifest in the formation of the mountains, and there are occasionally earthquakes now of more or less violence, upheaving and cracking the ground. In consequence of this uncertainty, the traveler will see that the great majority of houses in California are of frame, or if of stone, the foundation and upper walls are of unusual width and strength. The state boasts of a very superior climate, the leading feature being the remarkable uniformity of temperature, the mean summer temperature of San Francisco is 60 degrees, and mean winter tempera- ture 51 degrees; there are but two seasons, the dry and rainy, corre- sponding with the eastern summer and winter, the dry season being from May to N^ovember, and the rainy season from November to April. 38 The Gkeat AVesi Isot mnch more than one-third of the state is adapted to agricul- ture, and only about one-half of that is being cultivated. In 1886 California had 3,104,64:0 acres of wheat, producing 36,165,000 bushels, valued at $26,400,450; 722,450 acres of barlev, producing 16,038,000 bushels, valued at ^10,424,700; hay,967,479 acres, producing 1,296,234 tons, valued at §10,564.807; other crops, 328,489 acres, producing crops valued at 87,076,300; a total value of crops amountino; to ^54,- 4do, ^ Bushels. Value. Bushels. Value. Bushels. Value. 1879 108,701,927 §26,562,674 20,550,936 818,448,711 13,326,637 83,397,416 1880 101,421,718 24,926,079 25,279,881 20,980,667 11.483,796 2,918,689 1881 80,760,542 44,859,963 20,479,679 21,705,275 9,900.768 3.855,749 1882 157,005,722 51,838,306 35.734,846 24.003,820 21,946,284 5,706,579 1883 182,084,526 47.492,663 30,025.936 22,322,119 30,987,864 6,135,788 1884 190,870,686 39,512,734 48,050,431 20.516,560 20,087,294 5,568,332 1885 177,350,703 40,428,327 10.772,181 6,829,945 31 561,490 6,558,303 1886 139,569,132 37,966,031 14,579,093 8.482,503 35,777,365 8,860,603 1887 75,791,454 26,836,422 9,278,501 5,759,548 46,727,418 12,232,243 1888 168,754,087 16,720,719 54,665,055 Toil 1,382,313,497 $340,423,259 231,472,206 8149,049,147 276,579,591 855,293,702 I hereby certify that the above is correct as taken from tlie official reports of this office. Dated, Topeka, Kansas, M. Mohler, October 30th, 1888. Secretary. The following statistics are compiled from the official reports of the Secretary of the State Board of ^Agriculture for the state of Kansas, for theyear^lSSS: Population, 1,518,552. Horses Mules and Asses, Milch Cows Other Cattle . . . . Sheep Swine LIVE STOCK, 1888. 700,723 head. 92,435 " 742,639 " 1,619,849 •' 402,744 " 1,433,245 " LIVE STOCK, 1887. 648,037 head 858,323,330 89,957 692,858 1,568,628 548,767 1,847,394 Total No. 1888. 4,991,635 8,995,700 13,857,160 31,372,560 1,077.534 12,931,758 1887, 8126,558,042 1887, 5,385,641 Value, I hereby certify that the above is correct as taken from the official reports of this office. Dated, Topeka, Kansas, M. Mohler, October 29th, 1888. Secretary. < The Great WesTo 49 CHAPTER XI. WEVADA-1B4B TO 1BB3, PRIOR to 1848 Nevada had no white settlements, the only inhabi- tants being aborigines; not even a mission had been established within the borders of the state. In 1848 the United States acquired by treaty with Mexico the territory embraced within the limits of the state, together with Cali- fornia, Kew Mexico and Utah. The Territory of Nevada was not established until 1861, up to that time it was included within the Territory of Utah. At that date Nevada contained 17,000 inhabitants, attracted thither by the discovery of rich silver mines. The Comstock lode, in Storey County, was discovered in 1859, its annual output of silver for several years averaged |15,000,000. It made and lost fortunes within a short space of time by stock jobbing operations, and finally, having practically exhausted the rich ore, the mine was aban- doned. At times since, it has been operated on low grade ore, but has yielded only insignificant returns. The other principal mines are the Consolidated Yirginia, California and Sierra Nevada, two of which have been worked to a depth of 2,870 feet, men being able to work at that depth not more than an hour or two at a shift. The State of Nevada was admitted into the Union in October, 1864. It is bounded by California on the west, Oregon and Idaho on the north, east by Utah, and south by Arizona, contained 110,700 square miles. The surface is an elevated valley or basin, which stretches from the Rocky Mountains to the Sierra Nevada range, inter- spersed with mountains of minor importance, and varies in altitude from 2,000 to 7,000 feet, average being about 4,000 feet above the sea level. Extensive forests are encountered in the mountains, affording an abundance of the best pine lumber ; several varieties of pine, spruce and fir are the principal growth. No hard wood timber in the state, none being found on this slope of the Sierra. A few mountains reach the height of 10,000 feet, none above timber line, the very summit being covered with a heavy growth of timber. The lumber interest is destined to become one of the state's principal industries. The precious metal output is still quite large, though insignificant as compared with the palmy days early in the '60s. The decrease in that industry has caused the agricultural and stock raising interests to receive more attention, and while inconsiderable as compared with some of our more advanced states, yet its increase and development is an evidence of progress, and adds hope to the already substantial worth of the state. 50 The Great AVest. In 1886 there were 192,013 acres in crop, value of product amounting to $1,955,280. January 1st, 1888, the state contained 47,701 head of horses and mules, valued at ^2, 505,098; 18,037 head of milch cows, valued at $631,295; 323,400 head of oxen and other cattle, valued at $5,819,648; 660,996 head of sheep, valued at $1,259,660; and 21,087 head of hogs, valued at $111,846; a total of 1,071,221 head of live stock, valued at $10,327,547, which, with the lield crops, aggregates $12,282,827, the value of farm products January 1st, 1888. There are no considerable cities in the state, Virginia City and Carson City (the Capital), are the principal ones. The climate is not as severe in winter as would be supposed at such an altitude; the summers are delightful, and on the whole the climate is regarded as very healthy. The educational advantages are very good, comparing with equally populous sections in the East. Society averages well, but can not be said to compare with adjoining states. Nevada should join in the progressive movement for deep harbors on the Gulf coast, and ultimately the firm establishment of a '^Western Commercial Congress." The Great "^Test must have inter-state recip- rocity, a partial success at that has just been accomplished by the Grand Inter-state Deep Harbor Convention, which brouglit together in Denver, in August last, over 700 delegates from thirteen of the twenty- two states and territories west of the Mississippi River. The Great West. 51 CHAPTEE XII. NEBRASKA- IB B2 TO IBBE. NEBRASKA was included within tliat territory discovered by La. Salle in 1682, and by him named Louisiana. This tract was purchased from the French by the United States in 1803, and was successively a portion of the Louisiana and Missouri Territories up to the time that Missouri was admitted as a state, with its present boun- daries, in 1821. From 1821 until 1854 it was within the limits of that vast unorganized territory, which has since become rich and populous states ; we refer to that portion of the United States which lies between the Missouri River and the Continental Divide. In 1854 Nebraska Territory was organized under Douglas' Kan- sas -Kebraska Bill. It extended north to the British line, west to the main range of the Rocky Mountains, east to the Missouri River, and south to the 40th parallel of north latitude, which included all of l^Torth and South Dakota, part of Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and its present dimensions. In 1863 it was reduced to its present limits, the Missouri River on the east, Kansas and Colorado on the south, Colorado and Wyoming on the west, and South Dakota on the north. The state is 420 miles long by 138 to 207 miles in width, and contains in area 76,855 square miles. Exclusive of a few soldiers who were stationed in Nebraska to protect the overland freight teams, this state, in 1854, contained no white settlers, and not until the building of the Pacific railroad was there any settlements formed of any consequence; that stimulated im- migration to a large extent, but not until Nebraska had been admitted as a state did she experience any very decided or rapid increase of population. From that time since, the state has progressed with won- drous strides, and to-day not less than 1,000,000 people find homes within her borders. The surface resembles Kansas' gently rolling prairies, beginning at the Missouri River, at an altitude of about 800 feet, it rises gradually as you proceed westward until, at its western boundary line, it reaches an altitude of upwards of 4,000 feet, the ascent being so gradual as to be unobservable without the use of an instrument. There are no mountains in the state. The Missouri, Platte and Niobrara Rivers are the only considerable rivers in the state, the Missouri being navi- gable throughout its entire course along the eastern border of the state, about 350 miles. The other two extend through the state from the 52 The Great "West. western border to their confluence with "biie Missouri; they are not navigable ; their special benefit to the state being their supply of water for stock, and in the western section for irrigation. They are sluggish, and in no portion of the state have sufficient fall for any considerable water power. Their valleys are broad and very fertile, producing an abundance of all cereals, and grass for hay grows luxuriantly. The up- lands in the eastern portion of the state are almost as productive as the rich bottom lands, while the up-lands in the western section furnish rich grazing for the many thousand herds of cattle that are ranged there. The state contains no minerals of commercial value. Coal in small quantities and of a very inferior grade has been encountered by boring for water in a few loealities. A fair quality of building material is found; sand-stone and a soft lime-stone, whicli hardens by expt)sure. Nebraska has been noted for its immense live stock interests, grazing and shipping. Ogallala, on the Union Pacific railroad, was for some years the objective railroad point for stuck men, and it is estimated that some seasons have witnessed the shipment, east from this point, of upwards of 200,000 head of cattle. The numerous rail- roads that now extend from the Missouri westward have intercepted the inclination to concentrate the great range interests in anyone point, and Ogallala has lost nrost of her old time prestige. Kebraska also produces many head of hogs per annum, besides vast supplies of grain Omaha has become a great cattle, hog and grain market, and is fast rivalling her sister city (Kansas City) lower do^vn the Missouri River. Here, too, is centered the manufacturing interests of the state, which is not inconsideral)le. The other cities of importance are Lin- coln (the Capital), Hastings, Grand Island, Fremont, Beatrice and Nebraska City. The climate is mild and dry, drought, however, rarely affects the crops, owing to the strength of the soil which retains the moisture longer than the soil of eastei-n states of the same latitude, and in this respect 2>i ebraska is a better state for agricultural pursuits than Kansas directly south. The temperature in summer rarely reaches 100 degrees Far., and in winter it seldom drops below zero. In 1886 Kebraska had in crops as follows: 3,87U,123 acres of corn, producing 106,129,000 bushels, valued at $21,225,800; 1,579,727 acres of wheat, producing 17,449,000 bushels, valued at $8,201,030; 742,051 acres of oats, producing 21,865,000 bushels, valued at $4,- 154,350; 172,088 acres of barley, producing 3,786,000 bushels, valued at $1,173,660; 54,630 acres of potatoes, producing 3,278,000 bushels, valued at $1,311,200; 960,000 acres of hay, producing 1,392,000 tons, valued at $5,220,000; other field crops, 72,089 acres, valued at $303,- 480; total value of field crops, 1886, $41,589,520. The state contained January 1st, 1888, 454,145 head of horses and mules, valued at $34,033,331; 357,202 head of milch cows, The Gee at West. 58 valued at $9,108,651; 1,979,646 head of oxen and other cattle^ vahiedat $22,763,600; 422,112 head of sheep, vahied at $852,456; 2,334,526 head of hogs, vahied at $18,341,813; total, 4,647,630 head live stock, valuedat $80,099,851, which added to the Held crops, makes a total of farm products January 1st, 1889, aggregating $121,689,317. The educational and social advantages of the state are exception- ally good, comparing with Illinois or Ohio. jNebraska produces a very large surplus of farm products that go to foreign markets, exported via New York. Eleven dollars per ton could be saved to the producer if facilities were provided for exporting via the Texas Gulf coast. An interest has been awakened, as was evidenced in the late Inter-state Deep Harbor Convention, wherein [Nebraska was represented by a large delegation of distinguished men, and is now represented on the Permanent General Committee by Hon. Champion S. Chase, of Omaha, Chairman of State Committee; Hon. O. E. Goodell, of Lincoln, Secretary; Hon. Herman Kountze, and Hon. W. N. i^ason, of Omaha, and the Hon. Joel Hull, of Miuden. 54 The Great Wesi W^ CHAPTEE XIII. COLORADO 1BB2 TO IBBB. ^E now come to tlie Centennial State, so called because it was in the Centennial year (1876) that the state was admitted to the Union. Colorado is the central state of "The Great West," and is appropriately the seat of the grand movement for a Western Commer- cial Congress, the first session of which was held in Denver, Angust 28th, 1888, lasting three days, and was designated "The Inter-State Deep Harbor Convention." The state derived its name from the Colorado Eiver, which river was so named owing to the color of the water; Colorado being the Spanish for red. The territory embraced within the boundary of the state from 102 to 109 degrees west longitude, and from 37 to 41 de- gi'ees north latitude. Was originally about equally divided between Spain and France, the United States coming into possession of the eastern half in 1803, through the great Louisiana Purchase, and the western half in 1848, by treaty with Mexico. That portion which was included within the Louisiana Purchase was successively a portion of Louisiana District (1804), Louisiana Territory (1805), Missouri Terri- tory (1812), unorganized until 1854, when it was nearly equally divided betM^een Kansas and Nebraska Territories. In 1861 the State of Kansas was admitted into the Union, and the Territory of Colorado created, including the present boundaries, taking in a portion of the Territoi-y of Utah, and some of the Texas cession oi 1850. The first Governor of the Territory was William Gilpin, a pioneer, and sometimes called the founder of Colorado. Wlien he was asked what he was doing out this far west, his answer was invariably, '^•'oundino- an Empire." While but a phrase, and used more than half in jest, the venerable Governor Gilpin is living to-day, and views an empire so vast in extent and resources that it promises to outshine the whole world besides. (The Governor referred to all that territory west of the Mississippi River, there was no Colorado then.) Governor Gilpin may be seen any day walking the streets of Denver, a hale and hearty old man, esteemed by all. He is sufiiciently well off in this M-orld's goods to make him independent. His favorite pastime is to visit old acquaintances, and talk over reminiscences of the early days of "The Great AVest," or discourse upon his proposed map of the M'orld. in which, as he says, he proposes "to blot out the d — m The Gkeat West. 55 Atlantic Ocean from off the face of the earth." The Governor builded better than he knew, and the West has outstripped his prophecy, which, in 1860, or even fifteen years later, was regarded almost universally as the utterances of an enthusiast and incredible. Gradually the day be- gan to dawn, and in 1880, the sun began to shine. The day had ar- rived when "The Great West" could justly claim to be an Empire; its natural products were then balancing the East, (the Mississippi River the dividing line), while the center of population was scarcely leaving Ohio on its steady march westward. Hon. John Evans was the War Governor of Colorado, appointed by President Lincoln to succeed Governor Gilpin, and was, therefore, the second Governor of the state. Wliile Gov. Gilpin is generally called the founder of Colorado, it is universally conceded that Gov. John Evans is the father of the state and its greatest benefactor, having inaugurated more and greater enterprises than any other citizen of this great state. Governor Evans still survives, and is in good health, abounding in wealth created by his own energies and successful enter- prises. His home is in Denver, where an eight- story stone block, and several lesser ones, stand as monuments of his great worth to Colorado. "The Star of Empire," attracted by a Colorado sky, and the load- stone of western natural wealth, is gradually creeping westward; in fact, it might be said to have passed even now to the central state of this new empire, and paused to move no more, being unable to pass that massive wall which nature has erected Just west of Denver, and which extends north and south through the state, dividing it quite equally into east and west. This unsurmountable wall is variously named, "the Backbone of the Continent," "the Continental Divide," ''the Water Shed of America," or more properly, "the Rocky Mountain Rancre." o The sources of the streams of Colorado are high up in the moun- tains, varying from 10,000 to 12,000 feet above sea level. The North Platte and South Platte Rivers, have their source in the north central part of the state, only separated by a mountain range; the north fork flows out of the state on the north boundary, in a northeasterly direction; the south fork flows south and east, the two streams being separated where they issue upon the plains by some 300 miles; they approach each other until they are united a few miles east of the northeast corner of Colorado. The Kansas' and Grand Rivers have their sources near the center of the state, and within a few feet of each other ; the Ar- kansas flowing south and east to the Mississippi River, and thence into the Gulf of Mexico, while the Grand flows west and south into the Colorado River, and thence into the Gulf of Lower California. The Rio Grande River has its source in the southern part of the state, flows almost directly south into the Gulf of Mexico, forming the boundary line between Texas and Old Mexico. Thus it will be seen that Colo- rado micrht well be termed the central state of "The Great West." 56 lEE Gkeat West. Colorado's chief industry is mining. Gold was first discovered in 1859, near Avliere Denver now stands, and every year since tlie precious jnetal output has been on the increase. The record for 1887 surpasses the first ten years of Colorado mining by some thousands. The fol- lowing is a record l)y years from the first discovery up to January 1st, 1889: Year. Gold. Silver. Lead. Copper. 1859-69 827,200,000 2,0(W,000 2,000,000 1,725,000 1,750,000 2,000,000 2,150.000 2.725.000 3,150,000 3,500,000 3,200,000 3,200,000 3,300.000 3,250,000 4,000,000 4,300,000 4,200,000 4,450,000 4,500,000 5,700,000 8 330,000 650,000 1,000,000 2,000,000 2,190,000 3,096,000 3.125.000 3,323,000 3,725,0)0 6,340,000 12,375,000 18,615,000 17,160,000 16,600,000 17,370,000 16,000,000 15,300,000 18,250,000 16,292,000 23,500,000 1870 8 20,000 1871 30,000 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 8 5,000 25,000 75.000 60.000 80,(XT0 250,000 625,000 525,000 1,675,000 3,250,000 4,400,000 4,100,000 3,750,000 3,850.000 4,675,000 5,000,000 5,000,000 45,000 65,000 90,000 190,000 170,000 300,000 275,000 315,000 480,000 425,000 520,000 490,000 475,000 450,000 510,000 1,000,000 900,000 Total . . . 888,300.000 8199,792.000 837.365,000 86.745.000 A grand total to January 1st, 1889, of |332,202,000. The first quarter of 1889 shows a decided increase over the same time in 1888, and, if continued, will place Colorado's metal output for the year close on to $50,000,000. Another important and growing industry is the petroleum fields being discovered. OIL WELLS. Oil was first discovered in 1862, near Canon City. No practical use was made of it until 1880. "When a well was put down 1,225 feet boring for water, at that depth a flow of petroleum was struck, yielding about 40 barrels per day; since then about twenty wells have been bored, and the daily flow has been increased to 1,000 per day. The total output of these wells to date is probably upwards of $2,000,000, which, added to tlie coal and metal output, makes $359,202,000. Then add the building stone output to date, about $11,000,000, and we have the enormous amount of $370,202,000 wealth extracted fi-om the mountain regions of Colorado through mining alone, nearly the entire amount extracted within the past 20 years. It is almost incredible, but nevertheless indisputable figures show it. The iron industry, although in its infancy, would probably increase the wealth extracted from Colo- The Great West. 57 rado mountains by nearly or quite $5,000,000, making a grand total o£ 1375,000,000. Colorado combines the essence of wealth which requires nearly all of the states east of the Mississippi Eiver united to compare with it. In this connection the following regarding the industries of the Great West, and of Colorado, will prove interesting to the reader, and may induce some idle capital to be invested in the field of industry that this Great West offers to the wealth of the East. English journals have already conceded that the World's Exchange is destined soon to be drawn on New York, rather than London, and with the single exception of iron products, the United States have far exceeded Great Britain in every staple manufacture; and what is more to the point, has almost illimitable resources, yet undeveloped for future growth. It is this certain prospect of remunerative industries, such as the Standard Oil Co. presents, that is l:)ringing foreign capital here for investment in manufacturing and mining industries. For more than ten years some thirty alien landlords and foreign syndicates have owned over 20,000,000 acres of our arable lands; but now the inquiry is for good stone quarries, iron and coal measures, oil lands, tin, mica, and copper plants, as well as gold and silver properties, all of which are found in abundance in Colorado. Wliere the great metal deposits are, there must the furnaces come, the foundries be opened, and the pro- duct worked to its highest commercial form. The West will excel in the manufacture of woolen goods, as the South must in the- merchan- dise of cotton fibre. And the sugar and rice of Southern commerce will be met by such vast Western values in lumber and metal products as the world's market never saw before, from Puget Sound to the Gulf ; such a highway of riches wall yet annually pour, as will heavily tax our freight ships' bottoms to carry. Men and money are all the ele- ments required to effect more than any mercantile prophet can now foresee. Already in the markets of the world American calicoes and cutlery successfully compete in price with the British; while our wheat, cotton, meat and lumber make the price for all other countries in similar staples. But the day of l)ulky export of raw products must soon merge into a brighter one, when the American artisan and mill shall convert the bulk of our crude material and crops into the highest commercial form for inter- state and inter-national export, and multiply our sixty billion dollars worth of United States exchange in 1888, into one hundred billion dollars, and more by 1892, with such overwhelming advantage to American production, that the French, Belgian and English chemist, mechanic and manufacturer will l)e forced,^ from self-interest, to emigrate hither, and combine his skilled labor with our material resources. American industries are not exactly in their in- fancy, needing an exhorbitant tariff to protect them; but a better eco-nomy is requisite in their manipulations. Raw products must be 58 The Great AVest. taken, as near as possible, to tlieir original site, and manufacturinor facilities applied. The eastern states now having a monopoly of home manufactures, so called, may object to this, but the Middle and West- ern states, especially the latter, are sure to win in this controversy, even as Southern cotton mills have proposed paying 20 to 30 per cent, dividend annually, where In ew England factories could scarcely net 5 per cent; so the Great West, with her boundless cheap food supplies and unlimited deposits, will bring the wool, stone, lumber and metal workers of the world eventually to develop her quarries, forests and mines. Other things being equal, the land that has the largest land- crops and smallest population is ahead in the race for independence. Our population is from sixty-three to sixty-four millions, and our agricultural, forest and live stock products of all kinds amount annu- ally to about nine billion dollars worth; this is about $140 to every man woman and child. No other country is so well fed and has so much food products for export. Kowhere is the class of high livers so large. No other nation eats seven hundred millions in animal food alone annually. Our average citizen buys daily in meat 22 cents' worth, of bread 5 cents' Avorth, and in coffee, tea, sugar, fruit and vegetables, 9 cents' worth. The population of the globe is carefully estimated at very nearly fifteen hundred millions, no hundred millions of that number are living upon such a wonderful area for productive resources as are the citizens of the United States. According to the brilliant and eccentric Ex-Gov. Gilpin, of Colorado, "we straddle the axis of the temperate zone;" and we certainly have developed during the past one hundred years as no country within the zone has. Asia has yet four-sevenths of the earth's population, about 52 to the square mile, and many millions periodically stai-ving. Europe has one -fifth of the earth's population, and most of them poorly nourished, and thousands half starved. She is crowded with a population of nearly 90 to the square mile, and represents the extremes of poverty and wealth, as no other country does. Africa has one-seventh of the earth's population, or about 17 to the square mile. Two hundred and fifteen cities of the world number over 100,000 population each; thirty number over 500,000; the most populous in the order named, being London, Paris, New York, Vienna, Berlin and Canton; each a million and upwards; the great British metropolis swarming with four and a half millions, all but half a mil- lion or them pauperized to a greater or less degree. Wliat wonder then that the tides of emigration to our country are so larcre, or that the proper advertising of the Great West and her ad- vantages should be regai'ded as philauthropy upon the broadest scale. The Great West, 59 Every state and territory west of the Mississippi River, except eight, being watered by streams which have their sonrce within this state. The fall is very 3'apid in these streams; waterfalls and rapids are common, and the water in its mad course has, in past ages, worn deep channels in aud through the mountains, which cuts or canons often measnre from 1,0;)0 to 2,000 feet in perpendicular depth. The most notable probivbly of all being the Grand Canon of the Arkansas, which canon has been compelled to yield to the almost superhuman skill of the civil engineer, and the whistle of the locomotive of that great pio- neer railroad, the Denver <& Rio Graiide, is heard in shrill discord with the music that has been made for thousands of years by the laughing, sparkling waters of the noted Arkansas,. The wonderful engineering feats performed in this grand canon are only equalled by the same enterprising railroad in building their line over Marshall Pass, Yeta Pass and the line through the Black Canon of the Gunnison River. Much praise is due the Denver & Rio Grande management for the rapid development of Colorado and her mineral resources. It is the greatest narrow gauge system in the world. The third rail is being put down, and standard gauge cars can be run over much of the system. The extensive irrigation system of Colorado is due entirely to the rapid fall of streams, and their everlasting supply of water taken from the perpetual snow banks high up in the mountains above timber line. The Platte and Arkansas Rivers fall several thousand feet from their source before emerging upon the plains, and through considerable of their course they flow through large parks, or valleys, several miles in extent, which have only a slight fall, consequently tne average fall for 40 to 50 miles would be 200 feet per mile. The power capable of being developed by water wheels in these two streams alone would siiffice to turn the wheels of e\-ery factory in Xew England. The day is approach- ing when electric wires will be utilized to distribute this power equit- ably throughout the state, to dri \'e the loom and spindle of the cloth manufactnrers which are sure to be established sooner or later, where raw material is cheap and native to the soil; where power can be sup- plied at a minimum of cost, and where consumption is greater per capita (owing to the nature of employment, mining) than any other people on earth. All of these are concentrated in Colorado. The state produces annually over 10,000,000 ponnds of wool, every pound of Avhicli, if manufactured here, would go rapidly into home consumption. The greatest cotton state in the Union joins us on the south, viz., Texas, which for lack of cheap power must export her entire crop. Add to the above the boot aud shoe indnstry, the same conditions govern cheap leather, taniied with a native weed, said to be superior to any other tanning material in America. Here, too, are hides almost without number, taken from the hundreds of thousands of cattle marketed per annum. Cheap water power obtainable, and cheap fuel Go The Great West. if preferred, coal as low as 80c. to $1 per ton, owing to proximity of mines. Cheap fuel has stimulated the iron and smelting industries of state to a "wonderful degree. Side by side with the best grades of iieatiug and cooking coal in this state lies immense iron deposits, suffi- cient in amount to supply the world for a century, and coal to manu- facture the same, beside furnishing the world with coal for heating and manufacturing purposes for a thousand years to come. Hayden's sur- vey for the United States Government developed the fact several years ago, that Colorado contained 80.000 square miles of coal area, veins varyincr in tliickness from 3 or 4 feet to 14 feet in thickness, often ten or iifteen veins lying one above the other, with only a tliin shale be- tween, and varying in quality from common lignite to the best bitu- ininous and cooking coals, and in quite a large area anthracite coal, unsurpassed by the famous Pennsylvania hard coal. Hayden's survey defined the coal limits then known; subsequent developments and dis- coveries have proven that Hayden overlooked the small amount of 10,- 000 additional square miles of coal area in tlie state, of equally as good if not better quality of product than was included Avithin the 80,000 square miles establishea by his survey. TVe quote from tlie March number of the Commonwealth extracts from an article by Alfred Dexter, which will pi'ove of considerable interest in connection with Colorado's coal interests: OUR COAL measures. '•Xo more conspicuous example than the State of Pennsylvania can be found showing the wealth in coal mining. Next to food and raiment, shelter and fuel are necessaries of daily life, and the state that has coal })i-oducts in all-sulficient abundance, both for home consump- tion and export, is sure of a royal revenue therefrom. Pennsylvania has long been on record as producing half the coal mined in the United States ; but it is now oflicially announced that the area of the coal beds of Colorado is nearly e(pial to the entire territory of the Keystone State, cr fully 40,000 square miles. Meager as are our appliances for getting the product out and to market, yet the output for 1888 was between 2,000,000 and 8,000,000 tons ; and it is rationally asserted that this state has de])osits sufiicient to supply the increasing population of the entire Union for centuries to come. "One hundred years ago, and Pennsylvania stood only third in point of population ; but 50 years past she has ranked easily as second — Xew York, of course being first. Pennsylvania ranks first in coal and petroleum, iron and steel; second in rye, buckwheat and potatoes, also in printing and publisliing Aalues; third in milcli-kine, hay, and also in soap manufacture and in railroad-lines mileage; fourth in to- bacco and oats; fifth in malt and distilled liquors, and in the manu- facture of silk goods; sixth in the production of salt and copper, and The Great West, 61 the same in agricultural implements; and eighth in the breeding horses and sheep. She produces about 5,000,000 tons of pig iron annually, and fully 50,000,000 of tons of coal, which certainly must mean as many millions of dollars yearly revenue. In these immense resources of diversilied and staple values, Pennsylvania, more than any other state, is the pro- totype of the Centennial State; and in no feature so particularly like this as in her great coal fields. Great Britain still yields double the quantity of coal produced in the United States, and over one-half the product of the world, and holds very nearly the same superiority in its annual output of pig-iron. Without her coal resources England could never have* so excelled in iron and steel values produced, and the logic of like conditions there must bring the same results finally to Colorado. For, in addition to coal, iron and tin, this state will find her home market largely in the endless and constantly increasing local industries involved in the re- duction of metal and coin of our precious ores. And to secure this end most successfully we import nothing, but find all the necessary elements within the state. With the past fifteen years Colorado has made an output of 13,- 000,000 of tons of coal, at the very minimum estimate; and this has figured immensely in the economy of her aggregate production of gold, silver and base bullion products during that time, which products very considerably exceed |330,000,000 in value. As illustrated by the cases cited of iron and steel production in England and Pennsylvania, so, through the fuel possibilities of this modern Aladdin, coal, we have transformed seemingly barren and worthless mountain rock into the shining and perpetual tokens of com- merce, by which the barter of the world's merchandise is effected, It is undeniable that in estimating the great natural resources of Colorado, her coal fields, which range throughout an area of about 100,000 square miles, and comprise coal-bearing strata of 40,000, must ever stand among the first and most important certainly known; and these figures are likely to be exceeded, rather than cut down, by devel- opments constantly being made. The working veins run on an average six feet in thickness, at the cost of mining at present is from $1 to ^2 per ton, according to locality and conditions. According to the following statement Colorado coal, at the mines, is worth $2.29 per ton, a very handsome figure wdien compared with Ohio coal, but still admitting of a favorable comparison with Pacific Coast coal, Tlie figures doubtless may be accepted when apportioned among the mines, but would scarcely hold good if tonnage was taken as a basis. In nearly all the leading producing districts, good coal at the mines can be secured at from 75 cents to ^1.25 per ton, the price at Trinidad varying from 50 cents to $1.00 per ton. (32 The Great "West. PRODUCTION OF COAL IN THE UNITED STATES IN 1888. States and Territories. Pennsylvania, Anthracite. . Bituminous. Ohio Illinois AVest Virginia . . Iowa Maryland Indiana Missouri Kentucky Alabama Tennessee Colorado Kansas Wyoming Virginia Washington Indian Territory- New Mexico Georgia Utah Arkansas Texas Michigan California Oregon Dakota Montana Rhode Island . . . Nebraska Idaho Quantity Short. Toils. 43,578,000 32,500,000 11,950,000 11,855,188 5.198,81X) 4,812,220 3,179,170 3,110,979 3.909,967 2,570,000 2,900,00:) 1.907,297 2.185,477 1.850,000 1,480,487 1.073,000 1.215,750 891,000 635,042 230,000 205,000 193,000 90,000 05,000 85,000 50,000 25,000 41,467 7,500 1,.500 600 Value at Mines. Per Ton, $84,977,100 30,875,000 11,114,000 11,309.030 6,048,680 6,304,110 3,293,070 4,397,370 8,650,000 3.084,000 3,335,000 2,104,026 4,808.049 2,775,CKH) 4,811,583 1,073,000 3,647,250 1,737,450 2,063,887 345.000 430,500 289,500 184,500 104,01)0 .340.000 150,000 43,750 155,;501 17,875 3,375 2.700 81 95 95 93 1 12 1 10 1 30 95 1 40 2 21 1 20 1 15 1 10 2 29 1 50 3 25 00 00 95 25 50 2 10 1 50 2 05 1 60 4 00 3 00 1 75 3 75 2 75 2 25 4 50 The Great West. 63 colorado industries. The story of tlie cranky old Bay State farmer, who had a son graduate from Harvard College, at an expense of thousands of dollars, and on the return home of the expensive hopeful, bluntly asked him at the dinner table: Wall, John, what's the good of all your larniiiT' "What kin ye make?" is a good story for Colorado; till lately the youngest of states, and richest naturally in variety and value of crude products ; but what can she make out of them ? Our worthy Labor Commissioner, and the Secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, have displayed a good deal of well-directed activity in collecting much accu- rate information from year to year, concerning our already established manufacturing institutions: also, the occupations followed by our working classes, male and female ; number of hours employed ; wages by day and piece work ; expense of board or housekeeping ; sanitary condition of their dwellings, etc., etc. ; but still the cry comes up from the ranks of the unemployed: "Who will give us work? What can we earn? and at what?" and while this mountain air sharpens the appe- tite, promotes digestion, and run^ the nervous system at a higher rate of speed, food is its nutritious fuel, and labor must be in harness to obtiiin it. Eastern workmen and their families are coming by the thousands from their over-crowded conditions there to this land so highly reputed for health, and with so many industries to institute and develop. Fortunate will it be for us as a state if sufficient capital shall come with the skilled labor, and which will turn aside and occupy the favorable sites for maunfacturing, to be found here on the right hand and the left, and so materially add to our practical and revenue- bearing productions. Arizona copper waits to be compounded with Colorado aluminum for bell metal. Steel cutlery and tools, axles and springs should be made to supply carriage works with material for further manufacture, and the public generally with home products. Window glass and household wares of that crystal material have been made here to a small extent, but have not been encouraged as they should have been in a country that has the superabundant and superior character of sillica deposits that Colorado has. All our own consump- tion of clay, iron, lead, water and gas, and oil piping, should be sup- plied from and through our own manufacture, with tens of thousands of car loads for export throughout the adjacent states and territories. Bronze and spelter founders and moulders should find welcome con- ditions here for the prosecution of their specialties. The City of New- ark, ]Sr. J., has a surplus of those who are perfectly familiar with all the diversified industries that may be based upon these metals. We have for years been advocating the establishment of oil, paint and glass works here, which should employ the native mineral paint rock which lies in immense deposits throughout the state. One local manufacturer is worth to a city a dozen mere merchants in foreign 64 The Gee at "WfesT, productions. A better field for a large leather tanning mannfactorv than this is was never known in this or any other country ; for tanning, for tawing, for coloring and setting the dyes with mordants in the shortest possible time, and in the most effective way. The reports made from time to time on the'kaolin and kindred deposits about Canon City, and other points in Colorado, have had the result of interesting eastern pottet-y manufacturers to investigate, and having done so to their satisfaction, we may- expect from correspon- dence had, that branch manufactories will be eventually established here, and certain it is that Avith practical management they can sustain themselves with very handsome profits. A company should be able to put up a series of two and three story buildings in which to do all the fine finish and decorative work in the best modern style of the art, with a proportion of four decorating kilns, to eight burning kilns, and take the highest standard of porcelain and semi-porcelain for the products. There is also large profits in manufacturing sanitary earthenware, and which consists of all the goods entering into the plumber's trade. Ordinary brick can also be faced with one porcelain side, so that when laid in a wall with porcelain face exposed, like it should be in hotel courts, or naturally dark passage ways, the light reflected from the porcelain surface would illumine the spaces. Our iron casting works should comprise every form of iron ma- chinery that could be utilized in this western country, and aft'ordeu at E rices that would dismay eastern competitors; not only engines and oilers, but cold rolled shafting, and pullies of every size, hangers to suit; presses and dies to cut sheet metal patterns of every thickness, and stamp out pressed metal goods of every description ; machinery to work as clay and pottery presses, plungers, shakers, agitators, pressure pumps, and every appliance for turning out glass and color paints. Nowhere throughout the most fertile districts of the world does a dairy country exist so thoroughly equipped by natural conditions of grasses, water springs, cool nights, bright sunny days the year round, and better grazing facilities than exist in the Colorado series of valleys, from the lampa Valley, in Routt County, bearing due south, to the line of New Mexico, and into the valley of the Cliama Kiver, N. M. ' The dairy products of the United States are of nearly a billion dollars annual values; and Colorado, for butter and cheese factories, should come towards, if not at the very front at once. IRRIGATION, BY F. L. DANA. This brings us to a subject of more than usual importance — that of irrigation. Very little can be added to the article written by the author of this work, and published in the February 4th, 1888, issue of the "Exchange Journal,'" except the system is still more extended. We quote from it as follows: The Great West. 65 According to the Constitution of the State, the waters of the rivers and streams are the property of the public, and while every person has a right, within certain statutory limitations and restrictions, to as much water as he can consume, and not interfere with rights previously ac- quired by others ; yet he has no right, neither can he claim more water, than he can consume. In the older irrigation districts, the irrigation of hfty acres of land is taken as the standard duty of a continuous flow of one cubic foot of water per second during the irrigation season of 100 days. In other districts traversed by larger canals the standard has been raised to sixty acres per cubic foot par second, which is equal to an annual rainfall of about twelve feet. After two or three years, when the soil becomes thoroughly saturated and settled, the duty of the water grows greater, and, j udging from the history of older countries, the continuous flow of one cubic foot of water per second for the irrigating season will be sufficient to irrigate 120 acres. It is almost incredible that water in some of our main canals has a fall of only six inches in one mile, and the carrying capacity of one we have in our mind — the Citizen's canal, near Del Norte, is 1,000 cubic feet per second. The Del Norte canal, probably the largest in the United States, has a carrying capacity of over 2,500 cubic feet per second. It is 65 feet wide at the bottom and 98 feet wide at the top, carries water five and a half feet deep, and for some distance has a fall of 30 feet per mile. This canal is 56 miles long (main canal) ; it cost over $300,000, and irrigates over 50,000 acres of land. There were 1,750,000 cubic yards of gravel, rock and earth excavation to form the channel, requiring 3,500 men and 2,000 teams to perform the great task, wdiich was completed in the unprece- dented short period of four months. The largest canal in Italy — the Naviglio ^-rande — is only half as large as the Del Norte canal, cost more than 112,000,000. By practical experience the cost of construction of canals in Colo- rado varies from 75 cents to $2 per acre, and makes land, otherwise practically worthless, worth from |50 to $100 per acre; such land, however, is on the market at from $10 to $100 dollars per acre. The art of irrigation is older than history, and is extensively practiced in every country of the world, and yet in the United States it is scarcely understood, except in Colorado ; here we know its beauties and utility. About twenty-five years ago a few persons turned their attention from gold hunting to the more profitable industry of agricul- ture, and were forced by the scanty fall of rain to adopt the irrigation system, which proved a blessing in disguise. Many of our w^ealthy citizens laid the foundation for their present millions in the early pioneer days by tilling the soil without contending with drought or failure, and alternately supplicating and imprecating Divine Provi- dence, as Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, and most of the eastern, middle and western states have been doing these many years. A farm of 20 acres 66 The Gkeat AVest. in Colorado "under ditch'' is as capable of sustaining a family as 160- acres in Illinois or "Indiana; then why do farmers of moderate means re- main in a drought- stricken, cyclone-ridden, pestilential and malarial section of the United States, when Colorado offers health, wealth and happiness? A climate unsurpassed by even Italy. A health-giving atmosphere with the zej)hyrs laden with ozone from the highly electri- fied pine and spruce covered mountains; protected from the blizzards by the same mountains; a country that for the fifteen years last past had an average annual temperature of 49.5 degrees; average annual wind velocity of 6.3 miles per hour; average annual rainfall, 14.98 inches; average annual number of sunny days, 345, only 32 days in thirteen years (July 20th, 1872, to February 22d, 1885.) that the sun was not visible, and within that time, from October 30tli, 1879, to February 5th, 1881, fifteen months, the sun was not obscured all of one day; average death rate, 10.5 per 1,000 inhabitants, 5 per cent, of the deaths are consumptives who have come here too late for the climate to do anything for them. We have transgressed somewhat our subject in our zeal to picture Colorado's ad^^antage climatically. To recur to our subject. The first efforts at irrigation in Colorado were of necessity very crude and less effective than the improved sys- tems in vogue to-day. About one-fourth of the water of the streams the state is now appropriated, and the system is said to have redeemed of from two io three million acres of land, which means that with the present water supply, we can hope to redeem at least ten million acres of land, and with the proposed reservoir system to be instituted, we can treble the present capacity of our streams. "We have in this state lands on the Divides, and adjoining the Foot-hills, and in the Foot- hills that do not require irrigation, the precipitation is sufiicient f or all purposes, and on our eastern border three successive crops have just been raised without irrigation. This will foot up in the millions of acres in all within our state, either in the rainbelt or capable of irrigation. This state has nearly 25,000,000 acres of such land, which would form an agricultural area nearly as large as the entire agricultural state of Illi- nois, nearly one-half of which is capable of sustaining a population, per acre, several times in the excess of the acreage of Illinois, and the rest at least as much, and it is fair to presume that the time is near approaching when Colorado will be more populous than Illinois, even viewed from an agricultural standpoint. Added to that, its mountains of gold, silver, copper, lead, zinc, iron and coal, natural gas and oil, which will require a million of population to develop, and furnish a home market for the agriculturist who inhabits the land which produces most abundantly. The soil is naturally warm, being rich sand and gravel, and with the assistance of a small amount of water, grows in equal or greater abun- dance any crop or fruits that can be raised in any state in the Union, except those states bordering on the Gulf of Mexico, or Southern California. The Gee at West. 67 The following is an estimate of tlie number of miles of ditches constructed in Colorado, and of the number of acres irrigated thereby ; this estimate is made from the reports of Water Commissioners of Water District 2, 3, 4, 5 and 8, These reports were made at the re- quest of the State Engineer, for the purpose of securing data from which to determine the duty of Avater, and will be required of all the Water Commissioners of the State next year. Five out of nine Districts in Division 1, report as follows: District JN'o. 2. miles of ditches 126.25; acres irrigated 43.998. " '- 3. " " 330.5; - '^ 107.045. " ^' 4. " " 235.75; " " 69.908. >' '' 5. " " 225.5; " '' 86.655. « " 8. " " 121.5; " '' 32.010. Estimated in Division 'No. 1, 1,532 miles of ditches, 506,000 acres. Estimated for the state, 3,000 miles of ditches, and 2,000,000 acres being; irrigated. From reports of Prof. Blount, of the State Agricultural College, we quote some of the experiments made during 1887, on the state farm, which farm is probably kept in better order than the average farms in the state, and allowance should be made therefor: Buckwheat, average 33 bushels per acre; barley, 31 varieties, averaging 30 to 60 bushels per acre; oats, 47 varieties, range from 15 up to 101 bushels per acre; wheat, 12 varieties, averaging from 16 to 32 bushels per acre ; all vegetables grow here in the greatest abundance, likewise all small and large fruits not tropical. No record of fruits or vegetables appear in Prof. Blount's December report. It is safe to say, however, that fruits and vegetables of every variety, except tropical, are raised here in as great abundance as any- where in the United States. Colorado vegetables command a premium wherever marketed. Not one-tenth of the fruit used in the state has been raised here; prices are exceedingly good, and the fruit and berry culture is prohtable, and will be continued until the home market is supplied. Tlie states immediately east of Colorado are as much interested in this subject of irrigation as is Colorado,* not because they should use the irrigation system, but it has been practically demonstrated that eastern Colorado has benefited from the irrigating system in use nearer the mountains; it comes from moisture in the air, caused by the evaporation made possible by the water — 4,320,000,000 cubic feet in 24 hours — being spread over millions of acres of ground. Nearly 40 per cent of that vast volume of water is evaporated, and comes down on Eastern Colorado, Western Kansas and Nebraska in the shape of rain, which nature distributes in such an equitable manner as to make fertile millions of acres of land, hitherto known as the arid desert *See Major Powell's Report in Appendix, for page see Index. 68 " The Great AVest, region. The west lialf of Kansas and Kebraska can thank Colorado for their fertility, and their comparative exemption from drouglit. The extension of the Colorado irrigating system by the proposed reserv^oirs will not only exempt Kansas and jS^ebraska from droughty but will exempt the Lower Mississippi and Mississippi Valley States from the damaging and dangerous floods known as the June rise in the rivers. The June rise in the Missouri and Mississippi is due wholly to the melting snows in the mountain regions coming down at that time, and no provision being made to store it. The United States Government* should appropriate the necessary money to successfully control the torrents of the mountains, to spread a bounteous blessing over the arid region of the United States, and avert the calamities usual in the Lower Mississippi during the June rise of the Father of Waters. It would appear that from our estimates, that during 100 days (the irrigating season) of the summer, there is carried to our eastern borders, by means of clouds formed from the evaporation Tisual during that period, from the irrigation section of Colorado, about 1,- 728,000,000 cubic feet of water per day, or the enormous amount of 172,800,000,000 cubic feet in 100 days, sufficient water to be equal to a rainfall of 36 inches per annum, covering an area of 4,000,000 acres. With the present water supply, if properly controlled and cared for during the remaining period of 265 days of the year (the volume of water being nearly twice as great out of the irrigating season as in it) would increase the irrigated section by 330 per cent., or about 10,000,- 000 acres in total; that would then increase the amount of water evaporated equal to four times the present amount, or the amount of water possible to have evaporated from the waters of the state by the storage system would amount to the incredible sum of 691,200,000,000 cubic feet, or sufficient water to equal an annual rainfall of 36 inches spread over 16,000,000 acres. The amount is hardly comprehensible, and to simplify the figures, it would amount to a column of water in height of one and three-fifth miles, covering one section of land of 610 acres. The extension of the irrigation system in Colorado may be some- what gauged by the number of plats of new ditches filed with the State Engineer since July 17th, 1887, being 210 in six months, or 33 per month. That is a greater number than was filed from the early settle- ment of the state to July last. The present year promises nearly as great extensions, j- and the good work is expected to continue until every drop of water of the state has been made to perform its duty in the de- velopment of this great state. In the San Luis Valley there is said to be 50,000 acres of the best prairie land under ditch that is awaiting the homesteader and pre-emptor, and many thousands of acres that is not under ditch at present, but can be brought under by the construe- *Se6 Major Powell's Report in Appendix, for page see Index. fDuring 1888 the number of new ditches filed amounted to 611, at a rate of 51 I)er month, exceeding our prediction of a month ago. \ The Great West. 69 tion of other canals. The Colorado Land and Loan Company own the two great ditches that irrigate this vast fertile valley, containing nearly 7,000 square miles. They own some 80,000 acres, a large portion being cultivated, that they offer for sale at from $5 to $10 per acre, and charge for water for either their lands or homestead properties under their ditch $1 per acre per annnm, which is eqnal to an insur- ance of the most abundant crops. Wliat fanner in Illinois or any other Eastern state wonld not give $5 per acre per annnm to be in- sured a large crop each year. All crops raised in Colorado have a liome market. There is not one cereal raised in tlie state that sup- plies the home demand and only three vegetables that approaches the demand, these are the potato, cabbage and celery; these three vegeta- bles are sliipped to Eastern markets, and are celebrated for their excel- lent qualities. No celery or cabbage in the United States approaches our product. We ship cabbage loose in the cars as far as St. Louis without injury. Our celery finds its way to the best hostelries in New York City and other Eastern cities. The Committee of the Ileal Estate Exchange, appointed to inves- tigate our vegetable and canning facilities and demands, reported that our three factories put up last season 20,000 cases of tomatoes and 25,000 cases of other vegetables, al)out one-third of the quantity ac- tually sold in Denver. Tomatoes brought seventy-tive cents per 100 lbs. Dealers expect to shave that price a little this season, prob- ably to about sixty cents per 100 lbs. ; even at that price the producer is well repaid. One person, from one-half acre near Denver, raised the almost incredible amount of 22,000 ll)s of tomatoes, at the rate of $330 per acre. In connection with the foregoing, written over one year before the State Engineer's report, it will be interesting to follow how closely they compare, and for that purpose we introduce here the preface to the last biennial report by State Engineer J. S. Green: A brief reference to the physical features of Colorado, to her rapid development in irrigation matters, and to the governing doctrine in her irrigation laws, may not be a improper preface to this report. Situated on both sides of the Continental Divide, and including many ranges of a secondary order, Colorado presents a most diversiiied surface of mountains, plains and valley lands, aggregating in area some 66,560,000 acres, not five per centum of which is void of vege- tation, and more than half of which will, in return for the quickening qualities of water, yield the most abundant harvests. To secure this water, Colorado rears the summits of her ipoun- tains to the clouds, and solicits and receives therefrom the rain and snow from which she feeds the great rivers, which, grouping their sources in the center of her boundaries, course thence to the north and south, the east and west, inviting in every direction that union with the soil wdiich it is the province of man to effect and profit by. The Great West In the early territorial days it was the [Mexican population of the south which purchased from the thirsty soil its birthright for a little water. This water was conveyed to the land in small channels, irreg- ular in section, fall and alignment. These channels were seldom car- ried above the highest level of the low bottom lands immediately ad- joining the streams, and usually wound around the toe of the slope of the hitvli adjacent lands. From these humble constructions, with but a few square feet of cross-section, step by step, with the advent into the state of each increment of energy, skilled labor and wealth, Colo- rado has seen her irrigating canals multiply in numbers, and with more and more perfection of construction, develop into great channels, some of which carry a body of water 70 feet wide and feet deep, far out onto the rich mesa lands. Since that period when the pioneers found within the confines of Colorado, but a few miles of irrigating ditches, and, at the most, but several thousand acres of cultivated lands, three decades are draM'ing to a close; but such has been the progress of irrigation development in the state during that period, that water in 4,000 miles of ditches, holding sway over 2,000,000 of acres of lands, is accounted to its credit. That energy wdiich has accomplished so much seems undimin- ished in strength and purpose, and to aim at no less an achievement than the economic use of all of the waters of the state in the irrigation €f lands. How much land can then be irrigated? is an unsolved problem. There enter into the consideration thereof so many un- known quantities and variable functions, that it is carried beyond the sphere of calculation. The only solution of the problem would seem to be a practical one; yet year by year, as irrigation statistics are gathered and assimilated, the estimates of the area of land which can eventually be brought under cultivation will the more nearly ap- proach the truth. As perhaps of interest in them>selves, as well as in- dicative that the supply of water in Colorado is sufficient, if made to supplement properly the rain-fall, to bring under cultivation no incon- siderable portion of the lands of the state, the following facts are pre- sented, prefaced by the statement, however, that though drawn from the best sources of information attainable, they can only, with one or two exceptions, be considered as close approximations to the truth, and are only called facts by courtesy. As the waters falling west of the Continental Divide cannot, to any considerable extent, be brought to the east thereof, the portions of the state separated by the Divide, offer separate problems for consideration. On the west of the Continental Divide it is found: That the area of mountain lands is 16,360,000 acres. That the mean annual precipitation over that area is 33 inches. That the area of plateaus and rollinj? and valley lands is. . .9,4:00,000 acres. That the mean annual precipitation over that area is 10.70 inches. I The Great West. 71 That the total area is 25,760,000 acres. That the mean annual precipitation would average for that area. .25 inches. On the east of the Continental Divide it is found: That the area of mountain lands is 10,200,000 acres. That the mean annual precipitation over that area is 30 inches. That the area of plains and rolling and valley lands is 30,600,000 acres. That the mean annual precipitation over that area is 15 inches. That the total area is 40,800,000 acres. That the mean annual precipitation would average for that area . 18.7 inches. Let it be considered in connection with tlie areas east of the Con- iinental Divide, and with the precipitation thereover, that the limit of remunerative farming, without irrigation, is drawn at an annual pre- -cipitation of 22 inches; that the quantity of water passing through the canons of the Cache la Poudre River, as measured by this depart- ment in the year 1884, was equivalent to a precipitation of 13.367 inches over the entire water-shed of that stream above its canon; that the total precipitation over that water- shed, though not exactly known for that year, was about 33.4 inches; that about 40 per centum, then, of the snow and rain-fall over the water-shed of the Cache la Poudre River above the canon, flowed through the canon of that stream and was available for irrigation direct, or for storage for irrigation ; that the application of this deduction to the precipitation over the entire area of the mountain lands east of the Continental Divide would indicate that about 40 per centum of the mean annual precipitation over that area would be the portion available for supplementing the rain and snow- fall on the irrigable lands east of the Divide, and that this would, if it could all be utilized and evenly distributed, afford with the rain-fall a mean annual depth of water of 27 inches over 10,200,000 acres of plains and valley land. But it is evident on the one hand that the water of the streams could not, by reason of the contour of the country, be quite equally distributed; that a considerable portion of the water drawn from the streams for direct irrigation, as well as that stored in reservoirs, is lost by evaporation and seepage before it is placed upon the land, while a portion of the water in the streams themselves is by the same cause dissipated. On the other hand, it should be borne in mind that much of the water drawn from the streams near their sources, or canons, and carried in ditches and distributed to the land, returns to the streams directly, r by percolation, and can be drawn therefrom again by ditches diverting water below, and thus portions of the water of a stream be used for irrigation several, perhaps many times; that much of the ob- served loss in reservoirs, through seepage, returns to the water courses and may be diverted therefi-om ; that while the annual rain-fall esti- mated as necessary to the profitable raising of crops without irrigation falls at haphazzard times, irrigation works enable the cultivator of the 72 XKE Great "West. soil to apply water to liis crops at the times when they most need it; that less water, on some lands and with some crops at any rate, is needed for irrio-ation after the first few years of application of water thereto, and that the rain-fall on that belt of the plains near the base of the mountains furnishes some water to the streams, not accounted for in their estimated discharge at their canons, which can be used on the lower lands to the east. These considerations are not repeated in connectioii with the west- ern portion of Colorado. A glance at the statements gi\'en and relat- ino- to that portion of the state indicates that the ratio of movmtains to tlie plateau and valley lands is much greater there than is tlie case east of the Di\'ide, and that the water supply there, notwithstanding the light rain-fall on the plateaus and in the valleys is greater, both actually and in proportion to the needs thereof, than- in the eastern portion of Colorado. While this brief reviev/ of tlie natural conditions governing irrigation development in Colorado shows that any attempt to foretell accurately the area of the land in the state which may be brought under irrio-ation must be fruitless, a conclusion rendered more apparent when it is recocrnized that the annual precipitation, both in the mountains and on the plains, varies greatly; it, nevertheless, plainly supports the confidence that the achievement aimed at by her people will make of Colorado a great agricultural commonwealth. But, however energetic her people may have been, however skill- ful in construction and fruitful in resources, it was in the legislative halls, and the court rooms that they fostered best Coloi-ado's wonder- ful development in irrigation enterprises. This is not to be considered, however, as indicating that the irrigating laws of the state are by any means perfect, or complete, or that the actions of tlie courts have been universally satisfactory. Indeed, more matters of importance in con- nection with this art of irrigation are now demanding attention at the hands of the law makers of Colorado than has been the case at any- previous period. But the demand is now for a systematic arrangement of the laws, the extension thereof, and the modification of those enact- ments which are not clearly consistent with the fundamental doctrines of the courts governing the use of water for irrigation in the State. The result of the agitation of the subject of irrigation about one year ao-o was a reservoir convention in Denver in March, 1888, at which the subject was discussed and resolutions passed, which were the direct cause of the National Government taking hold of the sub- ject. Major Powell was directed by Congress to view proposed sites for reservoirs in the Rocky Mountain region and report to that body the practical)ility, etc., of the same. His report appears in the ap- pendix (see index). Col. Itichard J Hinton, under the direction of the Commissioner of Ao-riculture, jSTorman J. Coleman, compiled a mass of information regarding- '♦ Irrigation in the United States," which was printed in The Grkat AVkst,, 73' 74 The Great West. pamphlet form at the Govermnent Printing Office in 1887 and dis- tri])uted thronghout the arid region. The book is out of print and not obtainable from the department; it is a valuable treatise upon the subject, and should be reproduced with correct data to the present time. We look for Major Powell to get out a very exhaustive report upon the subject, probably in time to submit at the next session of Congress, and, in the Government's good time, be available to the hungry public, in book form, some time within the following year. "Western Senators and Congressmen should insist upon an unlimited number of copies of that report being published for general information. The puldic in general are entirely ignorant of what irrigation is, its l)enelits, its utility and its delights. AVhy not delightful^ We have seen old crusty farmers in Illinois, in drought years, who would have been delighted if they could have opened a iiood-gate from an irrigat- ing ditch and sav^ed their M'ithering crops and parched meadows. Yes, we believe they Avould have stopped shaking with ague long enough to have smiled at their independence of old Prob. or the clerk of the weather. Irrigation is not so expensi ve as is generally believed. The average cost to construct canals in Colorado is about $1.50 per acre of ground thus reclaimed. The annual cost of putting the water on the land is about $2 per acre, which includes needed repairs of ditch and cost of water; therefore a farmer in Illinois who raises about one good crop in three, owing to either drought or flood could afford to give away his Illinois farm to secure one in Colorado. Let us compare Illinois' yield and prices in farmer's hands with Colorado, the following taken fi-o«n United States reports for crops of 1886: ILLINOIS. COLORADO. Product. Bushels per Acre. Price per Bushel. Bushels per Acre. Price per Bushel. Indian Corn 24.5 13.7 12. 31.8 23. S .31 .69 .57 .26 .52 31.5 19.8 22. 33. '"^8 1 $ .50 70 Wheat Rye 72 Oats 42 Barlev 62 Al)Out one-half of the agi'icultural area included in above averages of Colorado yield per acre is without irrigation. Irrigated fields aver- age a yield of from 50 to 100 per cent, greater than the above table, and would bring the l)alance much greater in Colorado's favor; by the table, however, the average o;ain bv farminor in Colorado over Illinois, IS shown to i)e o bu.shels per acre, at an average value of 50 cents per bushel; $2.50 and 14 cents per bushel on the amount of product, which averages 21 bushels per acre, making a difference in price in ^ The Great West, TT) favor of Colorado of |2.94, to be added to the $2.50, makes approxi- mately $5.00 per acre per annum in favor of the Colorado farmer in yield and price; in addition, he has absolute certainty of a crop each year, with only $2.00 per acre to charge up against Colorado for cost of irrigation, leaving a net gain of $3.00 per acre per annum, besides the healthiest climate in the world to live in. The land can be obtained at government price and terms in many instances, in others it may be purchased, all rights attached, at $10 per acre. No fear of the home market being over-stocked; the mining and industrial interests are rapidly increasing, and the health-seeking population is rapidly improving, all much out of proportion to the in- crease of farms and farmers. Grain, provisions, fruit and berries are mainly shipped in from other states; even hay, chickens and eggs are largely imported. Denver is the best market for all the above farm products of any city in America of less than 200,000 population; for statistics in sup- port of which we cite you to the article on Denver, later on in this work. Col. Hinton, in his report before referred to, estimates the arid region of the United States to be 1,000,000 square miles, one-third of the entire area of the United States, exclusive of Alaska, one-half of which is mountainous, and incapable of being cultivated, owing to its altitude, or nearly perpendicular sides. This vast area, however, re- ceives more than its proportionate share of annual precipitation by natural humidity, twice to three times, and the water only requires to be properly stored and distributed to furnish an abundance to reclaim the other 500,000 square miles. The mountain region is valuable for grazing, coal and precious metals, which, in value of annual produc-. tion, exceeds the same area in agriculture, and is capable of employing .a much larger population. 7«) The Great "West. m-'-'^'^flvyuyAw. < ^^ < ^..^_^, " :j(si^ ' The Gkeat West. 77 AGRICULTURE. COLORADO'S agricultural possibilities luive never been fully tested, as far, however, as experiments have been made success has ex- ceeded expectations, as we jireseutly show. In 1886, Colorado had in Held crops 332,018 acres. The article on irrigation which preceded this, gives the area of irrigated lauds at this time to be 2,000,000 acres. Colorado crops in 1886 were as follows: 29,778 acres, producing 938,- 000 bushels of corn, valued at |169,000 ; 122,152 acres, producing 2,119,000 bushels of wheat, valued at |1,693,300; 1,909 acres, pro- duciug 42,000 bushels of rye, valued at |30,240; 48,207 acres,' pro- ducing 1,591,000 bushels of oats, valued at |668,220; 6,876 acres, producing 198,000 bushels of barley, valued at $119,660; 8,096 acres, producing 631,000 bushels of potatoes, valued at $359,670; and 115,- 000 tons of hay, valued at $1,127,000, making a total of 332,018 acres, producing in value |4,467,090; or each acre yielding in value |13.45, a greater yield per acre than any state in the Union ; Ohio ranking next, with a yield per acre amounting to $11.40. Colorado consumes largely in excess of her agricultural product, and has furnished a splendid market for the surplus product of West- ern Nebraska and Kansas; and with the millions of acres awaiting the plow in Colorado, with full water rights, we cannot see wliy this state will not attract a large farming population. The farm and mineral lands of the state are so equitably distributed tliat each support the other, and never will the state be an exporter of anything except gold, silver, lead, copper, zinc, iron, coal and oil; the workers in which must be supplied with food and raiment by tlie farmci-. We now turn to Colorado's live stock industry. January 1st, 1888, the state contained 127,483 head of horses, valued at $7,437'',086; 8,247 head of mules, valued at $759,697; 63,023 head of milch cows, valued at $2,345,086; 1,040,353 head of oxen and other cattle, valued at $20,918,327; 1,137,686 head of sheep, valued at $2,257,169; and 23,149 head of hogs, valued at $153,103; a total of 2,409,211 head of live stock, valued at |33,810,468; which, added to the agricultural out- put, makes a grand total of farm products, January 1st, 1888, ao-ore- gating $38,337,558; add to this the metal, coal and oil output- -metals, gold, silver, lead and copper, $34,500,000; iron, $2,000,000; coal, $5,000,000; oil, $500,000, and we have a grand total of produced wealth from native material, per annum aggregating $80,337,558. From the late returns of the assessor, the total assessed valuation of tlie state May 1st, 1888, amounted to $169,000,000, which repre- sents but one-third of the actual value; therefore, Colorado one year ago contained $507,000,000 of wealth, which has undoubtedly increas- ed 20 per cent during the past year. Every dollar of that vast sum has either been ducr out of the monntains. or has been made from the 78 Tin-: Great Wes'i large herds that range the Colorado plains, or extracted from the soil by the sturdy husbandman. Colorado's action in the movement for deep harbors on the Texas Gulf coast is the most disinterested of any western state, since she never hopes to have grain or provisions to export: home consumption will absorb all Colorado's grain product, the only export of value to the state is gold and silver. The Government purchases all of the gold in Denver. The silver, of course, is very valuable compared with weight, hence the bullion is all expressed east, to be absorbed in the arts, or in the United States mint, freight charges being of small consideration. Deep Harbors on the Texas Gulf, however, will have the effect to build Denver up in the wholesale business, to rival Kansas City and Omaha, and generally benefit the whole state. The late Colorado General Assembly, through the intluence and perseverance of Senator Adair Wilson, appropriated ?^2,50O to assist in paying the expenses of the Deep Harbor Committee. No other legis- lature contributed a dollar, not even Texas, where the people should be most interested. The Colorado Committee on Deep Harbors is composed of excep- tionally strong men, Ex-Governor John Evans being at the head ; asso- ciated with him we find Ex-Governor Alva Adams; State Senator Adair Wilson; Hon. C. C. Davis, of Leadville; and Hon. W. S. Jackson, of (^^olorado Springs. IMPORTANT CITIES OF COLORADO. Denver, population, 130,000; Pueblo, 80,000; Leadville, 20,000; Colorado Springs, 12,000; Trinidad, 11,000; Aspen, 8,000; Boulder, 5,000; and numerous others of less than 5,000 inhabitants, but of con- siderable commercial importance, among which we mention Golden, Idaho Springs, Georgeto^vn, Glenwood Springs, Greeley, Longmont, Fort Collins, Grand Junction, Fort Morgan, Akron, La Junta, Las Animas, Lamar, Walsenburg, Canon City, Salida, Buena Vista, Gunni- son, Montrose, (^uray, Silverton, Telluride, Alamosa and Durango. STATE FINANCES. A tittintr close to our artic-le on Colorado is an exhibit of the state finances, and we quote from the late reports of the State Auditor and Secretary of State: alihtok's keport. "Frqm the last biennial report of the Auditor of State, the finances of the state are clearly epitomized, showing the total receipts and dis- The Great "West. 79 biirsemeiits for two years, ending November 30tli, 1888, to have been: receipts, 12,280,179.85 which, with tlie cash on hand December 1st, 1886, 1181,885.64, and cash invested in state warrants on that date, 1352,617.08, make a total of $8,114,682,57. The total disburse- ments were $1,721,830.31, which with cash invested in state warrants, $575,047.92, and cash balance in treasury, $817,804.34, make a total of $3,114,682.57. The receipts by biennial terms from the admission of the state to the close of 1888, were as follows: 1877-78 $ 307,893.53 1879-80 625,617.08 1881-82 953,286.60 1883-84 1,483,468.00 1885-86 1,837,395.24 1887-88 2,280,179.85 At last we have an intelligent and straight forward analysis of the state debt, and an explanation of the causes of its magnitude, which as a matter of fact is surprising to the tax-payer not much accustomed to investigating the disposition made of the public funds, and it will also be discovered that much of the indebtedness is due to the operation of imperfect laws, otherwise the license permitted by loosely worded statutes, perhaps designed to be liberally and not literally construed. Auditor Kingsley, after making a brief reference to the statement of his predecessor, published in advance of the decision of the Supreme Courfe to the effect that only four mills on the dollar could be levied by the State Board of Equalization for all purposes, whereby that official proceeded on the theory that the general fund was entitled to a four mill tax, says the state debt November 30th, 1888, aggregated $952,544.41, and only consisted of outstanding warrants drawn by direction of the legislature in its several appropriations against the general revenue fund, and bearing 6 per cent; certificates of indebted- ness issued by direction of the Governor and Attorney General, bear- ing 6 per cent interest, and loco weed certilicates unredeemed. In detail as follows: Outstanding interest-bearing warrants 8839,824.17 Certificates of indebtedness 86,879.10 Loco weed certificates 31,363.00 Total $958,066.27 Less cash available 5.511.86 State debt November 30th, 1888 $952,554.41 As against this rather respectal)le del)t for a state twelve years old, we have an offset in available delinquent taxes of $435,160.38, leaving the debt in excess of revenue, Noveml)er 30th. 1888. at 1517,394.03. so The Grkat Wesi, ABSTRACT OF ASSESSAIENT FOR YEARS 1887 AND 1888. Arres of land ' . . . Improvements on lands Miles of railroad and value .... Average value of merchandise. Amount of capital employed in manufactures Town and city lots Horses Mules Asses Cattle Sheep Swine Goats All other animals Musical instruments Clocks and watches Jewelry, gold and silver ijate . . Amount of money and credits . Carriages and vehicles Household property All other property Bank stock and other shares . . Mines 6,697,915 '2,954 151,084 7,637 2,327 900.912 795,592 15,181 11,008 4,312 4,523 11,565 26,071 Grand total valuation of state VALUATION. 17,035.180.88 16.762.937.13 25,412,039.02 6,565,688.00 .5.55,783.00 48,431,436.50 5,157,430.00 465,379.00 29,233.t)0 11,469,326.(X) 862,877.00 46,288.50 11,012.0( 27,902.00 388,121.50 205,765.00 58,349.00 2,722,909.89 991,993.00 656,183.0ti 2,337,714.95 1,329,136.00 144..323.681.3: 1888. 9,343,539 '3,7.39 170,056 10,452 1,002 911.989 747.679 16,236 10,403 3,967 5,685 13,253 28,612 VALUATION. S 29,896.028.50 11,155,210.50 31,240.602.11 7,062,647.00 707,541.00 60,722,365.00 5,611,699.00 523,886.00 9.340.(X) 10,292.877.00 751.377.00 50,165.(X) 10,617.a) 29,531.00 426,708.00 215,820.00 66,303.00 2,570,057.00 880.663.00 781,969.00 2,653,990.20 1,469,260.00 1,683,540.00 8168.812,246.93 The state valuHtioii, as shown hy tlie assessment j-olls, lias heen as follows: 1877 S 43,453,946.66 1878 43,072,648.26 1879 58,315,389.30 1880 73,698,746.29 1881 96,135,305.48 1882 104,440,683.57 1883 110.759,756.21 1884 115,675,014.51 1885 115,420.193.90 1886 124.209.710.06 1887 141.323,684.37 1888 168,812,246.93 K.\TKA(T FK<):\[ KKI'oKT OF SKCi; i:'!"A]iV OF The revenue of the state from this office have heen for the last two fiscal years nearly three times as much as for any two previous years in the history of Colorado. The receipts derived fi-om this office, commencing with the admission of the state up to the time I came into office, amounted to $52,259.60. Durino- my tei-m of office the iwenue Thi-: Grkat West. 81 82 TiiK Great West. for the two years, ending November 30tli, 1888, has amounted to- 170,652.12. The amount is sufficient to pay the salaries of Secretary of State, his Deputy, and the salaries of the Go^•ernor and his Secretary, Treasurer of State and his Deputy, Auditor of State and his Deputy, Attorney General, School Superintendent and their Clerks; in short, it pays the full salaries of the Executive Department and their Depu- ties for the two years. There are in the state 924 corporations for pecuniary gain, em- hracing 218 for mining and milling ores. 147 ditch and canal com- panies, and 559 miscellaneous associations. The capital stock of these various corporations amounts to $373,742,485 divided as follows; Mining and Milling Corporations $ 181,938.000 Ditch and Canal Corporations 22,474,995 Miscellaneous Corporations 209.329,490 §373.742,485 CLIMATE. THE climate of Colorado is varied, owing to altitude and shelter of the mountains and ranges in winter, from mild in low altitudes sheltered by mountains, to extremely severe in high altitudes unpro- tected. The actual difference within a liundred miles in temperature in winter, is frequently 1)0 degrees. The telegrams to eastern papers from Colorado often quote the temperature at from 40 to 50 degrees below zero. This is taken from some exposed point, probably 10,000 feet above sea level, the distinction being rarely noted, and throughout the east Colorado is looked upon as a frigid climate in Avinter, M-ken the reverse is the case. In the valleys and along the foot-hills the thermometer rarely falls below zero, and in summer rarely rises above 90 degrees. In our article on Denver, and on Colorado Springs follow- ing, we give more of a detail regarding climate, which may be con- sidered as a fair average for the state. The following table of altitudes will give the reader an idea of the difference of temperature, at the same time of observation: ALTITUDES ABOVE THE SEA. Argentine Pass 13.000 Breckenridge Pass 11,8(K) CJanon City 4,700 Colorado Springs 5,915 Denver 5,364 Fort Garland 9,764 Georgetown 8,466 Gray's Peak 14,5(i6 Greeley 4,779 Leadville 10.025 Long's Peak 14.300 Manitou 0,124 Middle Park 8,000 Mt. Lincoln 14,183 Ouray 6,000 Pagosa Springs 6,800 Pike's Peak 14,336 Pueblo 4,400 Sangre de Cristo 9,395 Sierro Blanco Peak 14,402 South Park 9,842 Uncompahgre Mountains 14,540 Veta Pass 9,339 The Great "West. bH CHAPTER XIV. PUEBLO, COLORADO. GEOGRAPHICAL. PUEBLO is tlie capital of Pueblo County, situated upon the Arkansas River, 500 miles west of Kansas City and 120 miles southeast of Denver, connected with Kansas City by three direct rail routes — the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe; Missouri Pacitic and Chi- cago; Rock Island & Pacitic. Connected with Denver by the Denver & Rio Grande; Denver, Texas & Fort Worth; Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe; Missouri Pacific, and Chicago, Rock Island & Pacitic rail- roads. Jt is admirably situated for a great distributing point, which accounts for its amazingly great increase of wholesale and jobbing business in the past year, which is referred to later on in this chapter. HISTORICAL. Pueblo (Spanish), meaning originally " people," was applied in the early conquests of America by the Spaniards to the people, who livetl chiefly in villages or cities, and thereby became confounded with the cities themselves, and, later, became the accepted term for a village in which people resided, and, in modern times, has been applied to particular villages or cities, as in the case of this busy, enterprising city that we now present to our readers, which is rapidly gaining the appellation of the " Pittsburg of the West," richly deserving the same, from its manifold manufacturing and smelting industries, of which we shall have more to say later on in this chapter. The Spanish conquerors of New Mexico did not establish settle- ments north of Santa Fe; hence the settlement of thQ Arkansas valley did not begin until after this territory had been acquired by the United States from Mexico in 1850, with the exception of Bent's Fort, established in 1826 by Bent, St. Vrain & Co., at a point in Bent County, on the Arkansas River, which Col. Bent himself destroyed in 1852 by fire and explosion, refusing to sell it to the United States Government for $12,000, when his price was $16,000. In 1853 he erected another fort forty miles east, which he after- wards leased to the Government, and which was by them named Fort Wise. In 1806 Captain Pike started out upon an exploring expedition. Proceeding up the Arkansas to where Pueblo now stands, he turned aside and followed up the Fountain to the foot of the mountain peak The Grkat AVest. 85 which has since l)orne his name. At that early day it is said Captain Pike realized and expressed himself regarding the importance of the site of Pueblo as a stratagetic point for future commerce. The next great explorer who passed this particular spot was Fre- mont, the Pathfinder, who followed in the footsteps of Pike to Pike's Peak in the year 1843. Fremont, however, proceeded further, passing through the Ute Pass, ov^er Fremont Pass and on to California. This latter great explorer did not fail to note the importance of Pueblo as a future seat of commerce. Probably the first settlement of Pueblo was about 1850, by the establishment of a trading post or fort, rudely constructed of adobe, and Cottonwood pickets, called Fort Nepesta, the Ute name for the Arkansas River, at a place near where the Santa Fe depot now stands. A small Mexican settlement had been established by Charles Antobees, an old hunter and trapper, near the mouth of the St. Charles. Agri- culture was attempted upon a small scale, and with fair success. In 1854 the Ute Indian insurrection completely annihilated the small settlement, and no permanent habitations were re-established until about 1858, when the Pike's Peak gold excitement revived the hopes of the early settlers. About this time adventurers began to come in great numbers to Colorado; among the number were Si. Smith, Otto Winneka, Frank Dorris and George LeBaum, who, when they reached the junction of the Fountain with the Arkansas, turned aside from their search for gold and camped at a point about the north line of Shaw's addition to the present city. Wisely they concluded that the most profitable branch of mining was to furnish supplies to the gold hunters and make exchanges with the natives. They therefore concluded to start a town and call it Fountain City. No sooner thought of than executed. They were soon joined by Wm. II. Green, of Green Bay, Wisconsin, George Peck, Robert Middleton, Anthony Thomas, William Kroenig and George McDougal. About this time came two men, Cooper and Wing, from Missouri, bringing a small stock of goods, and with them were two surveyors, Shaffer and Brown, who made a survey and plat of the town site. Robert Middleton's wife accompanied him, and was the first white woman of the settlement. The Arapahoe Indians (about eighty lodges) camped alongside of the whites in the winter of 1858, trading in furs, dressed skins, etc. The following spring a ditch was taken out from the Fountain for the pur- pose of irrigation. The successful raising of crops in the Arkansas dates from that year, 1859. It was in this year that a rival town was started on the west side of the Fountain, and called Pueblo, established by Dr. Belt, Dr. Catterson, Wesley Catterson, Si. Warren, Ed. Cozzens, Jack Wright and Albert Bereau. The same year Hon. George M. Chilcott, since United States Senator from Colorado, and O. 11. P. Baxter came to Colorado, removing to Pueblo in the fall of 1860. Jack Wright, a brother-in-law of £d. Cozzens, built the first house in S() The Great AVesi Pueblo, followed soon after by another, erected by Aaron Sims, another brother-in-law of Ed. Cozzens. Dr. Catterson built a house in the rear of Avhere now stands Jenner's store. Thus was a fair start made toward building up the great metropolis that Pueblo is to-day. A notorious character by the name of Jack Allen, from Fort AYise, believing that a town expecting to become a city, must be duly christened, proceeded to move his "gin jnill" from that place to Pueblo. He was the first person to establish a ^\•hisky shop in Pueblo; he named it "The Taos Lightning factory," and began to dispense " good liker" to the settlement and to the poor aborigines. How he compounded his liquids always remained a mystery to the Puebloites. One thing certain, it Mas fire water, and Mould paralyze the most hardened frontiersman and lay out an Indian in double quick order. Fountain City soon decayed under the greater civilizing influ- ences exerted by Jack Allen, and finally became a portion of the city of Pueblo. Colonel Boone built a frame tenement house on Santa ¥e aveniie soon after the toM'n was fairly started, and opened a store therein. Not long thereafter he M'as called away from Pueblo on business, leaving Dr. Catterson to keep the store. Tradition has it that he not only kept the store, but the money as m'cII, and that, upon the breaking out of the M^ar, the colonel's riches took to themselves M'ings and flcM' M'itli Dr. Catterson to "Dixey." Like all M^estern toM'us, Pueblo had its bap- tism of blood ere it became a settled community; the terrors of Avhich it is not our purpose to relate. After the flight of Dr. Catterson, Pueblo M'as M'ithout a store for nearly one year; at the end of that time John A. Thatcher, noM' one of Pueblo's M^ealthiest merchants, arrived at the foot of Santa Fe avenue from Denver with a small load of store goods. M-hicli he had bought on credit. He soon established himself in a 10x10 log cal)in, very shortly disposing of all his stock. He returned to Denver and brought back a more pretentious stock. From that small beginning he gradually M'orked himself up to be the leading merchant in Colorado. Messrs. Baxter and Thatcher erected in 1804 a grist mill, M-hich was the first noted event in the progressive history of Pueblo. The first hotel M^as kept by Aaron Sims, mIio M-as also the first postmaster. From the erection of the Baxter-Thatcher mill and the close of the Indian M'ar of that year, Puehlo progressed quite rapidly. In 18(58 St. Peter's Episcopal Church M'as built, (the fii-st in Pueblo), folloM'ed soon after by the Methodist, Presbyterian and Catholic societies; THE FIRST newspaper. Probaby the most important event in the early history of Pueblo M^as the estal)lishment of the Puel)lo CJiieftain^ M'hich made its first appearance June 1st, 1868. The paper M-as edited by (lov. George A. Hinsdale (since deceased) and Judge Will)er V. Stone; published Thk Gkp:at West. 87 iWlilPi gg The Great AYest. by Dr. Beshear and Sam. McBride. The first issue contained a notice of the death of tlie famous scout, Kit Carson, at Bogg's lianch, tlien in Pueblo County, together with resolutions of respect passed by a club of his friends in Pueblo. (The progress of the Chieffaii) will be fully set forth further on in this work.) Pueblo then commenced to make rapid strides, and in 1870 became an incorporated town, with a full complement of ofHcers, Louis Conley being the first president of the Bonrd of Trustees. In 1872, the Denver & Rio Grande Railway was completed to Pueblo, and marked the next great epoch in the progress of the place. Tlie advent of the first railroad was appropriately celebrated, and the town rapidly changed to a city, and necessitated the change in 1878 from town to city government. The year 1874 witnessed the con- struction of the Holly system of waterworks, and in 1875 the second railroad was completed to Pueblo, — the Pueblo tfe Arkansas Valley road connecting with the Atchison, Topeka