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Gc 978.8 H55c 1282558
M.C.
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01066 9494
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018
https://archive.org/details/coloradopioneers00hill_0
ALICE POLK HILL
COLORADO PIONEERS IN PICTURE AND STORY
BY
ALICE POLK HILL
978,8 H55C
COPYRIGHT 1915, BY ALICE POLK HILL ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
BROCK-HAFFNER PRESS DENVER
1282558
TO
JOSEPH ADDISON THATCHER
Colorado's Oldest Banker and a Prominent Figure in the History of the State
THE AUTHOR
PRIVATE SUBSCRIPTION EDITION OF COLORADO PIONEERS
IN PICTURE AND STORY
LIMITED TO TWO THOUSAND COPIES, OF WHICH THIS IS
No.
Alice Folke Biff
Author
PREFACE
In presenting this revised edition of my book, entitled "TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS," I have given it the title of "COLORADO PIONEERS IN PICTURE AND STORY."
It has been my effort to weave around a thread of history the legends, traditions and reminiscences of the Pioneers, which accentuate the great phases in the development of Colorado, from its earliest history to the time it became a State in 1876.
Ever since I journeyed into Denver in a Pullman car, in 1872, I have been interested in the people who "blazed the way." I have listened to their tales of how they "won the West," and have found in the real incidents in the lives of real people a charm to which fiction can never attain.
The labor of the Pioneers involved the highest type of moral as well as physical courage, and by placing their brave deeds in an historical setting I hope to preserve their intensely interesting human side and show how the isolated settlement, in a dreary desert, found its way into the sisterhood of states.
My first book had a favorable reception. Its success en- couraged me to write this larger work, in which most of the earlier features are included.
In preparing the thread of history, I found help in Frank Hall's "History of Colorado;" Fossett's "Colorado;" Hollis- ter's "Mines of Colorado;" Parson's "Making of Colorado;" J. C. Smiley's "Story of Denver;" William L. Visscher's story of "The Pony Express," and to A. E. Pierce for many pioneer stories.
I am especially indebted to Judge Wilbur F. Stone-a scholarly pioneer who has been a part of every phase of Colo-
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vii
VIII
Preface
rado to the present time-for his careful reading and helpful criticism of the manuscript.
I wish also to express my obligations to Mr. Chalmers Had- ley, of the Denver Public Library; Mr. E. B. Morgan, for use of his valuable collection of books in the "State Historical Soci- ety;" Hugh Steele, secretary of the "Colorado Pioneers' Soci- ety;" Mr. Will C. Bishop, of the "Trail;" Mr. A. E. Car- son's "Colorado, Top o' the World," and Harry Ruffner, secretary of the "Sons of Colorado," through his big "scrap book." I have drawn heavily from "The Rocky Mountain News," "The Denver Republican," "The Times" and "The Post."
I have given facts about people, some tinged with humor, some filled with pathos; I have given incidents relating to the organized beginnings of Denver in 1858-'59-'60, so that my readers may understand the dangers and difficulties the Pioneers had to meet and overcome in order to carve a state out of the wilderness and establish good government.
The last part of the book is devoted to the pioneer state builders of today. I make no attempt to treat in detail the recent phases of our social, political and industrial history, but merely emphasize the factors in our development which appeal to me as most vital from the standpoint of today.
ALICE POLK HILL.
CONTENTS
PARTI
THE WILDERNESS OF THE WEST
Page
CHAPTER I-THREE MYSTERIES 3
The Cliff Dwellers 3
The Indian 9
The Buffalo 13
CHAPTER II-ENTERING THE GREAT AMERICAN DESERT 16
Coronado's Expedition
16
The Purchase of Louisiana. 18
The Explorers 20
Captain Zebulon M. Pike, Stephen H. Long,
John C. Fremont, John W. Gunnison.
CHAPTER III-TRAPPERS, TRADERS AND HUNTERS. 27
The Bent Brothers, Ceran St. Vrain, Christo- pher ("Kit") Carson, Richens L. Wooton, Jim Bridger, Jim Baker, Scout Wiggins.
PART II
THE ARGONAUTS
CHAPTER IV-THE FOUNDING OF DENVER 39
Montana City 41
Auraria 41
St. Charles 46
Denver 47
ix
Y
Contents
Page
CHAPTER V-HAPPENINGS AT THE CAMP 53
Rush for Gold 53
Stampeders 58
CHAPTER VI-IMPORTANT EVENTS 61
Changes from Cottonwood to Lumber and Brick 61
The State Convention 65
Horace Greeley 66
PART III
THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT
CHAPTER VII-THE CRITICAL PERIOD 71
The First Legislature 71
The People's Court. 79
The Attack on the News 79
The Fourth of July 85
The Unwritten Law
87
CHAPTER VIII-CLOSE OF PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT. 93
Permanent Population in 1860 93
Auraria and Denver United.
96
How Colorado Territory Was Created. 99
CHAPTER IX-SOME PIONEERS OF THAT DAY 103
Henry M. Porter, J. F. Brown, Rodney Curtis,
Dennis Sheedy, John Good, Wilbur F. Stone, James M. Wilson, Daniel Witter, George Tritch, Wolfe Londoner, Joseph B. Donavan, Dr. O. D. Cass, Cyrus H. Mclaughlin, O. P. Baur, Captain Richard Sopris.
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PART IV
THE DEVELOPMENT OF PIONEER ENTERPRISES
CHAPTER X-ESTABLISHING FORCES OF CIVILIZATION 131
Churches 131
Schools 139
Newspapers 146
Contents
xi
Page
CHAPTER XI-SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC CONDITIONS. 153
Denver a Culture Center 153
The Society of Colorado Pioneers
156
Pioneer Ladies' Aid Society 159
The Pioneers' Picnic. 159
Real Estate's Rise in Value. 164
Wheat 166
Banks 169
Boulder 175
Colorado State University
178
PART V
THE TERRITORY OF COLORADO
CHAPTER XII-ESTABLISHING LAW AND ORDER 181
The Migratory Legislature 181
H. C. Brown's Gift. 184
The Civil War 188
The Removal of Gilpin. 189
CHAPTER XIII-UNDER EVANS' ADMINISTRATION 193
Fire
193
Denver's Volunteer Fire Department 194
Cherry Creek Flood. 197
CHAPTER XIV-THE INDIAN WAR 202
The Reign of Terror 202
Capturing Spotted Horse 205
Taking the Baby to His Father 208
Battle of Sand Creek 212
Treaty With the Indians 215
CHAPTER XV-THE GROWTH OF DENVER. 218
The Lot Question 218
How Broadway Was Laid Out 218
Early Day Amusements. 222
Society 223
Founding of Daniels & Fisher's Stores 228
XIV
Contents
Page
CHAPTER XXV-GUNNISON 437
Frontier Banking 437
The Royal Gorge 442
PART IX
THE TOWNS OF THE PLAINS
CHAPTER XXVI-THE GARDEN SPOT OF COLORADO 444
Canon City 444
The Religious War 446
The Hunt 449
CHAPTER XXVII-MANUFACTURES AND EARLY SETTLERS
454
Pueblo 454
John A. Thatcher, Mahlon D. Thatcher. Governor Alva Adams.
Colorado Springs 462
Colorado College, Irving Howbert, William J.
Palmer, The Cog Road.
Colorado City 471
Manitou 473
Landmarks Knocked Away. 476
PART X
THE GREAT STATE BUILDING EPOCH
CHAPTER XXVIII-PERSONAL GLIMPSES OF STATE BUILDERS. 479
The Queen City of the Plains 479
H. A. W. Tabor, John C. Mitchell, William H. James, David May, Dennis Sullivan, J. J. Brown, Thomas F. Daly, Henry Bohm, Judge Luther M. Goddard, O. E. Le Fevre, James B. Grant, Mrs. James B. Grant, John F. Campion, Charles Boettcher, Dr. Lewis Lemen, Charles S. Thomas, Isaac N. Stevens, John W. Springer.
Contents
Page
Denver's Clubs 505
How Denver Was Made City of Lights 506 Dr. Pfeiffer's Prophecy 510
CHAPTER XXIX-A GREATER COLORADO 512
Chamber of Commerce and Board of Trade. 512
The Moffat Tunnel 515
Library 519
CHAPTER XXX-PIONEER WORK OF TODAY 524
Present Day Pioneers. 524
Chester S. Morey, Verner Z. Reed, Tyson S. Dines, Lawrence C. Phipps, John F. Shafroth, Mrs. John F. Shafroth.
Some Present Day Activities 534
Denver's Mountain Parks 539
Estes Park 541
Good Roads 543
Motoring in Colorado 543
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COLORADO PIONEERS IN PICTURE AND STORY
2
PART I THE WILDERNESS OF THE WEST
CHAPTER I
THREE MYSTERIES
THE CLIFF DWELLERS
An interesting story of Colorado's "first settlers" is told by the ruined homes of an extinct race in the south- western part of the state.
America is called the "New World," yet some anti- quarians believe that these laboriously built dwellings, with roofs, doors and windows, were abandoned long before the time of Columbus. There is every indication of great age in what remains of that bygone people. They were not savages, as were our American Indians: they farmed by irrigation and their reservoirs were high up near the mountain tops.
The cliff dwellings were discovered by accident. The Wetherill boys were wintering their cattle in this region. and one day, following their herd, they found themselves among the lofty cliffs of Cliff Canyon. Looking up. they saw what seemed to their surprised vision a palace in the sky.
The cowboys left their cattle grazing in the valley and went to explore this strange building. They found one hundred and twenty-four rooms on the ground floor -three hundred and fifty rooms in all-with the re-
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Colorado Pioneers in Picture and Story
mains of twenty round and square towers. The discov- erers named it Cliff Palace, because this wonderful struc- ture, with its towers, ramparts, and strong walls, had the appearance of a palace-fortress, where might have dwelt the ruler of a powerful nation. When seen from the top of the opposite cliff on a bright morning, with the sunshine flooding its recesses and bringing out the lines of the ruined building, it presents a picture of mar- velous beauty. For a long time the Wetherills acted as guides to this land of the past.
In the valley of the Mancos, and on the Mesa, many ruins have been found in groups, in isolated and barren places, along ridges, and some are perched five hundred to eight hundred feet above the bottom of the canyon, reached by steps cut or built in the cliff. hence the name "Cliff Dwellings."
In these ruins have been found cotton thread, frag- ments of blankets. robes made of feathers which are singular pieces of handiwork; cloth made of milkweed fiber ; sandals plaited from various fibers; mats made of coarse grass and reeds; hampers and other wicker work, and pottery of various kinds. Much of their pottery bears geometric figures, put on in colors, some of their decorative patterns being artistic in design and execu- tion.
The perfect absence of metallic substance from the relics of these people convinced me that the dwellings were abandoned before the coming of the explorer in 1492. for had they lived at that time they certainly would have known of metals.
A German antiquarian who visited Denver several years ago said that in our Historical Society's collection of pottery from the cliff dwellings are vases and bowls ornamented with designs identical with those upon simi- lar objects found in India and attributed to the Aryan
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The Wilderness of the West
people, in which case their antiquity reaches back to the dawn of the history of the human race.
Since the discovery of these ruins carloads of treas- ure have been taken away by people who cared little or nothing for scientific knowledge and were led on simply by a desire for relics.
At a meeting of the State Federation of Women's Clubs in Pueblo, October, 1897, Mrs. Mahlon D. Thatcher of Pueblo, president of the federation, appointed a com- mittee of fourteen women to act in whatever way would best serve the interest of this cause. The ladies ap- pointed were: Mrs. Gilbert McClurg, Colorado Springs; Mrs. William F. Slocum, Colorado Springs; Mrs. C. A. Eldredge, Colorado Springs; Mrs. W. S. Peabody, Den- ver; Mrs. John L. McNeil, Denver; Mrs. Frederic J. Bancroft, Denver; Mrs. Henry B. Van Kleeck. Denver: Mrs. E. G. Stoiber, Denver; Mrs. J. J. Burns. Denver : Mrs. B. Austin Taft. Denver; Mrs. Gordon Kimball. Ouray : Mrs. C. B. Rich, Denver; Mrs. J. S. Gale, Gree- ley; Mrs. Thomas A. Lewis. Pueblo. This committee was afterwards increased to twenty by Mrs. James A. Baker when president of the State Federation.
In May, 1900, it was felt that more effective work could be done if there was an organization for that sole purpose ; accordingly, the Cliff Dwellings Association was incorporated. A legislative committee was appointed. with Mrs. W. S. Peabody, chairman.
Through the untiring efforts of Mrs. W. S. Peabody the plea of science reached the heart of the United States government. For six years she gave of her time. her strength and her money in the work of securing the pres- ervation of the prehistoric relics for the state and for the country.
Congressman Shafroth was the first to lend a help- ing hand. He came to Denver long after Colorado was admitted into the Union and has devoted his remarkable
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Colorado Pioneers in Picture and Story
energies to the service of the State. He has been Con- gressman, Governor twice, and is now United States Senator. When Mrs. Peabody was pushing forward her
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CLIFF PALACE
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SPRUCE TREE HOUSE
i
MRS. W.S. P
EABODY
MRS. H. M . V
HIXSON
work, he was in Congress, and gave his fine ability to help her carry out her ideas. Against the most violent opposition he introduced the measure to Congress session
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The Wilderness of the West
after session to have the Mesa Verde placed under gov- ernment control. Finally he educated his fellow mem- bers sufficiently to secure its passage.
Senator T. M. Patterson then interested himself in the bill in the Senate. He pushed it at once to the public lands committee. The opposition in the Senate was over- come and January 15, 1906, Colorado stood possessed of a great national park containing 38,966 acres. By the establishment of a national park the tortuous trail to this marvelous mystery will be changed to a system of good roads dotted with modern, comfortable hotels. Then the Mesa Verde National Park will be second to none in this country, not even the far-famed Yellowstone Park.
In appreciation of Mrs. Peabody's valuable service in securing the passage by Congress of the bill creating the park, the American Anthropological Association passed the first public vote of thanks which has ever been tendered to anyone by that noted scientific organi- zation. Colorado is proud of her and she has aptly been named the "Mother of Mesa Verde National Park."
The "Peabody House" is a magnificent cliff ruin which Edgar L. Hewitt, director of the School of Amer- ican Archaeology of the Archaeological Institute of America, named for her.
Through the shadows of many years has come to us a glimmering light of this old race, but no record of any kind has ever been found that might suggest who they were, where they came from, how long they stayed. and when they vanished. There are theories in plenty-some think they see reasons for associating the Lost Tribes of Israel with the race which erected and used these build- ings. There is an old tradition of the Utes that the Moquis had the Cliff Dwellers for ancestors. and they have a superstition that evil will follow the disturbance of the homes and bones of the ancient race.
It would not be in keeping with my purpose to take
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Colorado Pioneers in Picture and Story
up this subject with any attempt at detail. I am seeking legends and stories. and, with this in view, I found my- self conversing with Mrs. Helen M. Wixson. a pioneer of the San Juan country.
"Are you interested in the Cliff Dwellers?" I asked.
"Indeed I am." she quickly replied. "Surely all the inhabitants of Colorado are interested in the first settlers of their state. The study of these queer people so fas- cinated me that some years ago I joined a party on a trip to this land of the past. We had with us the usual archaeologist, who assured us that the early inhabitants of these ruined homes had been of a dark race. I think we were quite agreed upon that point, but one day we found a mummy in a secluded. remote room of a cliff house. We hastened to the light with our treasure and carefully removed the outer wrapping of matting. then a wrapping of soft feather cloth, and lo. we had before us a red-headed mummy. So much for the theory of a dark race-and our archaeologist!" She laughed, and continued :
"We went there fully determined to ascertain some- thing of the origin, progress and disappearance of these people, and what relation they were to the Toltecs. Az- tecs. the Mokis and Zuni. We saw for ourselves the ruined homes of this extinct race: we looked upon a spruce tree, fully a hundred feet high and nearly ten feet in circumference. that we found growing in one of the deserted homes: we dug into the accumulated dust of ages and found relics of value, but we returned with our question still unanswered. Those long-departed peo- ple seem to have been without any record-making intelli- gence, for, as yet, no recording picture writing has been found."
There is a legend which tells us that the Toltecs. with a civilization older than the pyramids, came from a remote country to our own: that theirs was followed
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The Wilderness of the West
by an Aztec dynasty which, in turn, was overthrown by a fairer, larger people. The overthrow occurred about 900 A. D., when a primitive civilization extending from the lakes of the North to the Gulf was wiped out and the stricken survivors fled to establish homes and defenses among the cliffs.
Such may be the story of the people who were mak- ing American history before the time of Columbus. But it is only a legend, and some scientific excavation in the future may reveal the secrets of this early chapter in our history.
THE INDIAN
A strange contrast to that earlier and unknown peo- ple, the Cliff Dwellers, was the Indian. for he constructed no permanent habitation. The wild untrammeled life seemed to him the only one worth living. He had mag- nificent ideas as to his rights, and wanted the vast plains for his buffalo range and the whole mountain region for his deer park. His vigorous resistance to boundary lines defined by the white man was one cause of his swift downfall.
The old school books taught that the red man and his descendants were the aborigines, but modern investi- gation reveals the fact that the Indian came upon the stage in the world's drama centuries after the actors in the earlier scenes had made a final exit.
Columbus supposed he had reached India when he landed on the American shore and gave the inhabitants the name of Indians; ever since they have been known by that inappropriate name. The Indian's peculiar copper color made him one of the distinctive races of the world.
In 1879 our government established a Bureau of Ethnology for the careful study of the Indian. But his origin is still a mystery; as yet there is nothing to tell
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Colorado Pioneers in Picture and Story
where he came from and why he migrated; even his lan- guage betrays no affinity to any other tongue.
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Indians
In his native state he was thoroughly a savage-a cruel, un- relenting foe and a merciless cap- tor. He subsisted almost entirely upon the result of the chase; the successful hunter and the great warrior were the big men of the tribe. He knew little of agricul- ture; indeed, any and all kind of manual labor was, in the opinion of an Indian brave, positively de- grading and only to be done by squaws. The squaws strung the "wampum." took care of the chil- dren and did all of the hard work, while the men basked idly in the sun, unless when in council or oc- cupied with war or the chase.
A tribe included a number of families or clans and a totem was the coat-of-arms of the family or clan to which the individual belonged; out of this a curious and complicated system of totems was formed.
The Indian's religious belief included many super- stitions that centered around a vaguely defined theory of a Great Spirit. They lived in teepees, and an Indian village, when viewed from a distance, was picturesque. It held the eve by the charm of being unlike the habita- tion of any other race.
The Utes occupied all the mountain region of what is now Colorado. They were the enemies of the tribes of the plains and often dashed down upon them in fierce war. They were brave, crafty and cruel fighters, and their wicked deeds fill many bloody chapters in the his- tory of Colorado, which I will touch upon later.
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The Wilderness of the West
Was the Indian an intruder in the sense that the white man later became one, or was he an indigenous product of the country ? These are questions the ethnol- ogist has not yet been able to answer.
According to Smiley, the New England colonists, in their effort to account for the origin of the Indian, de- cided, according to their serious way of thinking, that he was a descendant of the Lost Tribes of Israel. This theoretical association with the religion of these straight- laced folks was no advantage to the red man, for when he interfered with their practical plans and purposes they went bravely to work to exterminate Israel's alleged descendants. An old chronicler said the New England pioneers first fell on their knees and then on the abo- rigines.
A legend of the origin of the red man is found in the report of Lewis and Clark's exploring expedition. made nearly a hundred years ago. Lewis and Clark say: "Their belief in a future state is connected with this theory of their origin: The whole nation resided in one large village, underground near a subterranean lake. A grapevine extended its roots down to their habitation and gave them a view of the light. Some of the most adventurous climbed up the vine and were delighted with the sight of the earth, which they found covered with buffalo and rich with every kind of fruit. Returning with the grapes they had gathered, their countrymen were so pleased with the taste of them that the whole nation resolved to leave their dull residences for the charm of the upper region. Men, women and children ascended by means of the vine, but, when about half the nation reached the surface of the earth, a corpu- lent woman, who was clambering up the vine, broke it with her weight, and closed upon herself and the rest of the nation the light of the sun."
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Colorado Pioneers in Picture and Story
That is an amusing variation of the old story that woman brought trouble into the world.
Among the Tabeguache Utes. as related by Governor Lafayette Head, their agent. there was a deluge legend which landed the ark near Palmer Lake. Their tale was to the effect that when their ancestors found a landing place for their big canoe on a mountain eminence near Palmer Lake, and got the various animals they had un- dertaken to save from the all-pervading freshet safely on the ground again, the men went to look over the coun- try, leaving the disembarked menagerie in charge of the squaws. The animals becoming hungry and restive made the women so much trouble that they got angry, and. with brandished sticks and waving blankets, attempted to make the unruly creatures behave. But. instead of this. the animals were so badly frightened by the fear- less and menacing squaws that they all turned tail and fled. From that time they have so feared mankind that they have remained wild and must be hunted by all who want any of them for food or other purposes-a conse- quence much deplored by the braves. and. by them. held to be sufficient cause for their general bad opinion of womankind and for the harsh treatment they bestow upon the squaws.
For a long time the power in handwriting was a mystery to the Indians. In later years they often ob- tained a "talking paper" introducing them to white men with whom they desired social recognition. And. some- times, the "talking paper" entered into truthful particu- lars not in keeping with the desire of the red man. Richardson relates that when he and Greeley were near- ing Denver in 1859 a Cheyenne brave approached him and complacently presented a document probably pro- cured at Denver which conveyed the following frank bit of compact information: "This Indian is a drunkard, a liar. a notorious old thief: look out for him."
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The Wilderness of the West
In the museum at the State Capitol can be found a variety of skulls. There are "long heads," "round heads," "short heads," and "flat heads," but whether round, long or short they tell no story of the origin of the Indian.
THE BUFFALO
In the early part of the nineteenth century the prai- ries of what is now Colorado were literally covered with buffalo. Their large, shaggy heads presented an exag-
ـدعاء
R. R. Fuller's Narrow Escape
gerated appearance of ferocity, but they were not com- bative animals, and at the first intimation of danger the clumsy, lumbering creatures would start off in a slow bumping gallop, often tumbling in a blind sort of way over a precipice, crushing and trampling to death many of their numbers.
A stampeded herd of buffalo meant destruction to the unfortunate man or beast in the way. R. R. Fuller, a division superintendent of the Leavenworth and Pike's
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Colorado Pioneers in Picture and Story
Peak Stage Company, made a narrow escape. While riding the route of the stages the plains became suddenly black with a stampeded herd of buffalo; the surging mass bore down upon him; his mule, with the beastly stubbornness peculiar to his kind, refused to move. A buffalo gave the balking animal a ripping blow with his short horns and he fell dead, Fuller still astride him. Fuller quickly drew his revolver and fired in rapid suc- cession at the buffalo jumping over him. Scared by the report and the smoke, the herd divided and passed on each side, leaving him unharmed.
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