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Gc 978.8 F41s v. 1 1502854
M. L.4
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
n
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01066 9403
Sketches of Colorado
IN FOUR VOLUMES
Being An Analytical Summary and Biographical History of the
STATE OF COLORADO
As portrayed in the lives of the pioneers, the founders, the builders, the states- men, and the prominent and pro- gressive citizens who helped in the development and history making of Colorado
VOLUME -
-
I
ILLUSTRATED
PUBLISHED BY
The Western Press Bureau Company DENVER, COLORADO
- 1911 -
Copyrighted by THE WESTERN PRESS BUREAU COMPANY 1911
WILL C. FERRIL, A. M. EDITOR Curator of the State Historical and Natural History Society of Colorado, 1896-1910 and Secretary of the Colorado Academy of Science, 1898-1909.
Press of THE AMERICAN PRINTING AND PUBLISHING CO. Denver. Colorado
1502854
DEDICATION
TO the pioneers of Colorado, "Who Builded Better Than They Knew".
THE PUBLISHERS.
PREFACE
S ytrict adherence has been had in the publication of this work, to its primary purpose, namely, the production of an. analytical summary, and biographical history of Colorado. The history will be found to be more complete than any pre- vious history so far published and, to better conserve the pur- pose for which it has been prepared, it has been written in narrative form. In every feature of the book, accuracy, above all things else, has been striven for. In the biographical sketches much historical data naturally appears. These biographies have not been prepared with a view to praising nor of inflicting adulation upon the subjects thereof, but have been written in as concise and concrete form as was pos- sible, and accuracy of detail has been the key note.
It is not claimed for this history that every detail in Colo- rado's up-building has been covered therein, but all the leading events and salient points relative to the progress of the state are presented. With regard to the first chapters of the history, treating of the period before the advent of man, the deductions therein contained have been arrived at by ap- plying scientific principles to that which has been previously treated with in history, and the result thereof is set forth as an entertaining story. All of the facts which pertain to the periods from and after the explorer's advent are authenti- cated and succinctly stated in chronological order.
THE WESTERN PRESS BUREAU CO.
COLORADO STATE CAPITOL
Corner Stone Laid July 4th, 1890
History of Colorado
CHAPTER I.
Physical Features-The Colorado Islands of the Ancient Ocean.
HE history of Colorado be- gins with the geological story of a strip of land, or cluster of islands, which comprised an eastern group of the west- ern archipelago of the old Paleozoic Ocean of North America. Linked with these islands was land extending northward into Wyoming, and also to the south, into New Mexico. In the eastern part of the continent, the Archaean rocks, the oldest known to science, had been upheaved in the region of the St. Lawrence river and the Great Lakes, in a hook or V shaped form, exposing a large area, one arm or branch of which extended northeast into Labrador, and the other and larger, bending northwest to the Arctic Ocean. This land, also known as the Lauren- tian Hills, is supposed by some to have been the first to appear above the surface of the great deep.
If not at the same time-and it is well to remember that "Archaean" means "begin- ning" -- at least contemporary with these an- cient islands from which Colorado was formed, there had appeared in the east, also, other islands corresponding with the Adirondacks and the Appalachians; while to the west, was another strip, or islands, along the line of the present Sierra Nevadas. Between these is- lands of the east, and those of the west, ex- tended the Paleozoic Ocean, covering the Mississippi valley, and the entire continent, with the exception of the exposed surface de- scribed. These primordial Colorado islands- so named for convenience-extended more or less in a line with the present continental crest, and the waters of this old ocean, still covered the site, where Denver now stands.
The Archaean time or age, the first in geological history, was lifeless. It was with- out flora or fauna, but, it has been claimed, there was a diminutive form of life in the lat- ter part of that age. Hence some would di- vide the Archaean into two periods; first, the Azoic, meaning without life; second, the
Eozoic, thus named for the eozoon, the "dawn animal," although some deny that it had or- ganic structure. The Paleozoic time or age, which followed the Archaean, begins the au- thentic "life story" as told in the rocks. It is divided into the Cambrian and Silurian, the age of invertebrates, the Cambrian being more transitional in character; the Devonian, the third period, the age of Fishes; and, the fourth and last, the Carboniferous, or the age of Coal Plants.
Now, apply this geological condition to these ancient Colorado islands, already de- scribed as they appeared on the earth's sur- face, at the opening of the Paleozoic age. They were simply islands of Archaean rock, which consisted of granite, quartzites, gneisses, and those mostly of crystalline structure. They were barren, desolate, lifeless. Proba- bly there was little, if any sunlight, for it was but the dawn, in the beginning. There was no climate as now known, for continents had not been formed, nor the great mountain ranges upheaved. The atmosphere was hum- id. Vapors, storm clouds and tempests, with the torrential rains, shut out the sun's rays. Warm or highly heated waters beat upon the rock bound coast. Nothing lived to crawl, creep, walk, or fly along its desolate shores. There grew not a tree, plant, shrub, nor flower. No fish nor living thing, glided through the waters, nor even a seaweed floated in its eddies. Nothing died- there was no life. This was the beginning of Colorado in that ancient ocean-probably millions of years ago. It was a lifeless sameness, shrouded in gloom and darkness. Great bodies of iron accompanied the archaean rocks, and as the precious metals were stored from that age, and until the Tertiary, the foundation for our mining industry was laid in those Colorado islands "of the long ago," but not until ages after, was coal, their hand- maid in the industries of man, formed and hid away for future use.
The Cambrian, Silurian, and Devonian rocks, as found in Colorado, tell but little of
life during these first three periods of the Paleozoic. But, from similar rocks, either more advantageously or freely exposed, in contiguous regions of the west, together with the meager information afforded by the same in Colorado, the story of the development of life on these islands may be told with reason- able assurance. There were the lowly and humble beginnings of invertebrate and plant life. Crustaceans and mollusks could now be found. There were sponges, sea worms, trilobites, star fish, and kindred forms. The trilobites had eyes with which "to see" and the sun's rays must have been piercing the darkness of the waters for these new creatures. It was the beginning of the now famous Colo- rado sunshine. Animal life was aquatic, but probably club mosses represented land plants. Such were conditions through the Cambrian and the Silurian. With the De- vonian, that followed, and known as the age of Fishes, the life line is but dimly told in Colorado, as the rocks of that age are but little represented in this state. It was the beginning of the vertebrates. It is reason- able to suppose that fishes, covered with bony scales and plates, and Devonian sharks, infested these islands, with myriads of other forms of animal life. Verdure had now come to these once barren rocks. Ferns, conifer- ous trees, and other forms of vegetation glad- dened the lansdeape, the beginning of the luxuriant growth of the Carboniferous age. The rains, and unknown streams, had been eroding and cutting. Detrition was aiding botanical growth. Land was changing and extending, and at times, these islands may have been united, and then again separated by straits. But during upheaval and subsi- dence that came with the ages, it is not proba- ble that all of the original masses first thrown up, were ever submerged at one time, as shown by the debris that has accumulated. Colorado, once above the waves, had come to stay.
The Carboniferous, the last of the Pale- ozoic age, is more liberally represented in the Colorado rocks, than the preceding periods. There is a paucity of coal in the true coal strata. The Cretaceous period which came later, corresponds with the Carboniferous age in the Appalachians in the east, for coal making in the west. Nevertheless, during the Carboniferous period, which was largely marine in the west, the Colorado islands were filled with swamps, and rank vegetation, and there was some coal making. Reptiles now appeared, and there were changes in animal life, hitherto aquatic, to amphibious and land species. The Devonian fishes had foreshadowed the coming of reptilian life, and the marshes of the Carboniferous age afforded
conditions most favorable to their develop- ment and growth, but they did not reach their culmination until a later age. This period closed with the great plains of the west still under water.
The Paleozoic was followed by the Meso- zoic time or age, which is divided into three periods; first, the Triassic; second, the Ju- rassic; third, the Cretaceous. It was the great age of reptiles, in the evolution of life. Mesozoic means the "middle-life," as the Paleozoic typified the "ancient life" of the earth. These two ages or time epochs, were followed by the Cenozoic, meaning "recent life," culminating with man.
The Mesozoic age not only witnessed the zenith of reptilian life but the marvelous de- velopment of continent making in north America. In the Triassic, the Appalachian system, more commonly known as the Alle- ghany Mountains, which had already been slowly rising, was upheaved, and large areas raised east of the Mississippi river. In the Jurassic that followed, being the second per- iod of the Mesozoic, the Sierra Nevadas were thrown up. Great ranges on the Atlantic and the Pacific slopes were born, but still there were no Rocky Mountains. The Colo- rado islands were still surrounded by an in- land sea. It was in the latter part of the Cre- taceous, which succeeded the Jurassic, and in the Tertiary, the first period of the Ceno- zoic, that the Rocky Mountains were up- raised. As the Quatenary, or the Age of Man followed the Tertiary, the Colorado land remained as islands from that uncounted and countless time, when the waves of the Paleozoic Ocean washed its rocky, barren shores, until within one period of the era when man came. In a geological sense, the Colo- rado islands had a maritime ambition. Had it been realized? Let historians speculate on the possible effect of her fleets, commerce, and navies.
In the Triassic, reptiles continued their marvelous development. In marshes and shallow seas, they thrived, and dominated the animal kingdom; reached their culmi- nation in the Jurassic, and began to decline and disappear in the Cretaceous. In the Colorado islands there were some insects, and mammals were represented by marsupials. The monsters of the Mesozoic were the Dino- saurs, their remains being especially abundant in the exposed Jurassic of Colorado and Wyoming. These huge, uncouth creatures, the largest known to have existed on the earth, herbivorous and carnivorous, were reptilian beasts of enormous bulk, but with small cranial capacity. It is reasonable to suppose that similar terrible creatures of this age, whose remains are found in Wyoming and
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Kansas, and contiguous regions to Colorado, were also associated with those monsters that once lived in this state. No more wonder- ful story of animal life is told by the rocks than is here revealed by geology. The Cama- rasaurus, a gigantic dinosaur, eighty feet long, more than sixteen feet high at the hips, weighing 90,000 pounds, obtained in southern Wyoming, has been mounted and placed in the Museum of Natural History, in New York City. Another huge animal of this species, 130 feet long, and thirty feet high at the hips, has been discovered. Colossal remains of dinosaurs have been found especially in Colo- rado and Wyoming. Strange and uncanny creatures abounded. The Ichthyosaurus was a lizard-fish thirty to forty feet long. There was a Pterodactyl, a flying lizard, with bat- like wings, that measured twenty-five feet between the tips of the wings. The Moro- saurus, with paddle appendages, was the longest reptile known. There were monster crocodiles, and turtles fifteen feet across. Reptile birds were becoming more bird than reptile. Huge devouring sharks, more than 100 feet long, lived in the waters of adjacent seas. The Colorado islands were teeming with life, and from the size and nature of the wonderful and gigantic beasts, there must have been a ferocious struggle for existence on land, in the rivers, lakes and marshes, and surrounding sea. Vegetation was beginning to reveal more modern types. The "Red Beds" of the Triassic are much used in Colo- rado for building. They are of common occur- ence, and form one of the attractive features in the Garden of the Gods. The Cretaceous period was especially bountiful in storing away immense quantities of coal in this state.
The Cenozoic time or age, meaning "re- cent life," the last of the grand geological divisions, came next, and is divided into two periods; first, the Tertiary; second the Quaternary or Post-Tertiary in which man made his appearance. In the Tertiary, the Colorado islands became a part of the main land, and the Rocky Mountains continued their formation, during which many of the rich fissure veins of the precious metals were made in Colorado, adding their store to the mineral wealth that had been accumulating during the ages. The first division of the Tertiary is known as the Eocene, meaning "dawn" or "daybreak" plus "recent." That is, the types of the animal and botanical kingdoms were approximating those that ex- ist at the present time; as the old Paleozoic in its meaning, stood for the early or first life on the earth. During the Eocene, Colo- rado abounded with great fresh water lakes. There were dense forests. Had man then lived in this region, it would have been a
sportsman's paradise, and down through the Oligocene, Miocene, and Pliocene, the last three of the four divisions of the Tertiary. There was the Coryphodon, allied to the tapir and rhinoceros, and of enormous bulk; the Dinoceras of elephantine size, with three pairs of horns on the head, and with power- ful tusks curving downward and backward; other huge beasts of tapir and rhinoceros like form; Tillodonts, known as the "gnawing hogs," not hogs, but mammals with power- ful incisors like the rodents; horses of the earliest, and later, like the modern type; the gigantic two-horned brototherium, a kins- man of the tapir and rhinoceros; beavers, making their first appearance; monkeys and rodents; and a queer animal, the Oreodon, related to the camel, deer and hog. In the pliocene, the closing of the Tertiary, came the first mastodon, and associated with it were the elephant, rhinoceros, camel, horse, deer, tiger, with others of the feline family, all near- ing the present type of those that survived. While these animals roamed the plains, val- leys and plateaus, or in the forests along the rivers and lakes, the Rocky Mountains were, at times, in violent eruption, and volcanoes were belching forth their fiery fluids. These animals either become inured to the terrible convulsions which then must have shaken this region, or lived terror stricken at the dangers which threatened. The Florissant beds of Colorado tell the story of the wonderful plant and insect life that prevailed towards the middle of the Tertiary.
Now comes the Quaternary-the age of Man-with its three divisions; first, Glacial; second, Champlain; third, Recent. The mammoth, which had appeared a little earlier, the rhinoceros, horse, and camel, all lived in Colorado at the close of the Glacial, but be- fore the second glacial, so called, they dis- appeared and later other species took their place. The Quaternary opens with the Gla- cial Epoch, when the northern part of the United States was invaded by a great ice crust or glacier from the Arctic region. Mo- raines, boulder drift, and other indications tell the story of its work in Colorado. After the ice age, and the changes in the Champlain, and the Recent in the terrace making by the rivers, Colorado was evolved as known to man-but just as to when man appeared- there are different opinions. Cope, Marsh, and Le Conte, with others, have been promi- nent in the study of the fossils of this region.
After the geological work of the ages, Colo- rado now has the following physical features, which, in their natural divisions are, moun- tains, plateaus, and plains. The Rocky Mountains, a part of the great Cordilleran system, is composed of several ranges which
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occupy the central or middle third of the state. The Sawatch Range, with the waters of its western slope flowing to the Pacific, and the eastern, draining its waters to the Atlantic, forms the Continental Crest or Divide in Colorado, Extending northward from Sagua- che county to the Mount of the Holy Cross, it includes Mt. Elbert, 14,436 feet high, and now said to be the highest mountain in Colo- rado; Mt. Massive, near Leadville; Mt. Shavano; the College Peaks-Princeton, Harvard and Yale. The Front range, also known as the Colorado Range, is the most eastern, bordering on the edge of the great plains. It extends from Wyoming, and passes just west of Denver, reaching to the Pikes Peak region, where are clustered Colo- rado Springs, Colorado City, and Manitou, and then to Cripple Creek. It has many peaks reaching an elevation of more than 14,000 feet, and among them are those bear- ing the historic names of Long, Gray, Evans, Torrey, and Pike. The Park Range, west of the Front Range, and running parallel with the Sawatch from 15 to 20 miles east of the latter, also enters Colorado from Wyo- ming, reaching to the Arkansas Hills, a few miles west of Cripple Creek. Bross, Lin- coln, Sherman, Sheridan and other peaks of this range, reach an elevation of more than 14,000 feet. The Sangre de Cristo Range dividing the San Luis and Wet Mountain Valleys, extends from the Arkansas river into New Mexico. Sierra Blanca, once considered the highest in Colorado, and Humbolt, and Crestone are peaks of this mountain system that exceed an altitude of 14,000 feet. The Wet Mountains in Custer and Fremont coun- ties are about 20 miles east of the Sangre de Cristo. The San Juan Mountains, commonly called the "Switzerland" of America, and forming the southern part of the Continental Crest, are situated in southwestern Colo- rado. Railroads encircle these mountains, thread their canons and reach timber line, but here is a range, which the iron horse has never crossed. Among the peaks of these mountains over 14,000 feet, are Uncompahgre, Eolus, Simpson, Red Cloud, Sneffles, Stewart and San Luis. The San Miguel Mountains, a near group of the San Juan, contain the famous Lizard Head. The Elk Mountains, the Medicine Bow, Snowy Range, Gore Range, Rabbit Ear Range, La Plata Moun-
tains, Eagle River Mountains, and other ranges are included in the Rocky Mountains, that extend through Colorado. East of the Front range, extend the Great Plains to the borders of Kansas and Nebraska, while the western part of the state, reaching to Utah, is broken into plateaus, valleys, and hilly regions.
The park systems of Colorado include several of large area. The San Luis Park, one of the largest, is known as the San Luis val- ley. The North Park, in the northern part of the state, lies between the Front and Park ranges. South of it, encircled by mountain ranges, is Middle Park. Below the latter, in Park County, between Leadville and Crip- ple Creek is situated South Park. Estes, a smaller park, has many scenic attractions. Egeria and Animas are also well known parks.
The principal rivers in Colorado, the South Platte and the Arkansas, rising in the mountains, and fed by numerous tributaries, flow through the plains in the eastern part of Colorado. In the southwestern section of the state, are the Rio Grande, San Juan and Dolores, and in the western and northwestern, the Gunnison, Grand, White, Yampa, and other streams, well fed by many smaller, from the mountains. Mineral springs abound and have led to the founding of towns and popular resorts, Manitou and Glenwood Springs being the larger and better known. Many lakes are nestled in the higher ranges, the plateaus, valleys and plains, and among the principal ones are Twin Lakes, Grand Lake, San Luis, San Cristobal, Evergreen, Barr-a list of an hundred might be given- popular for resorts or sportsmen. The great reservoirs now constructed or building for irrigation, rival some of the natural lakes in size, and in alluring, ducks, geese, and water fowl in their migrations.
The physical features of Colorado are most attractive. The nature building of the ages, made beautiful landscapes, picturesque valleys, broad extending plateaus and parks, grand mountain ranges, the home of eternal snow, whence come the rivers cutting the deep and awe inspiring canons. The Rocky Mountains, though the last of the great ranges, were so wonderfully constructed and with such variety of view and scenery, that this state has become the popular mecca of the tourist.
CHAPTER II. Cliff Dwellers-Prehistoric Peoples in Colorado-The Indians.
ATURE had completed her grand work, and Colorado was now ready for man. When he first came to thisre- gion is not known. In the southwestern part of the United States, in what now comprises Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Arizona, are found the ruins and remains of unknown tribes or races. Whence they came or where they went, or the fate that may have befallen them, is a mystery that history has not yet solved. Evi- dences of their culture and civilization were found by the early explorers, but there were no survivors, at least in Colorado, to tell the story of what may be considered a lost race. They lived in the cliffs, where their ancient dwellings remain, but in ruins, and filled with many articles used in that period. Hence, the Cliff Dwellers, as they are commonly designated, are known as the prehistoric people of Colorado. This does not neces- sarily mean that they lived here at a time that was prehistoric with the human race, for written history may have come down from a period in the new world, or old, long before the Cliff Dwellers were inhabitants of this state. They were prehistoric in the sense, that there is no authentic account concerning them. But, as the geologist writes the story of the past life from the fossils found in the rocks, so the historian, from the ruins and relics of this ancient race, may evolve some facts with reasonable assurance.
The Cliff Dwellers may have been nomadic tribes that once inhabited the plains and val- leys. Through the misfortunes of war, or other adverse conditions that may have threatened their very existence, it is supposed that they sought homes and protection in these cliffs. The evidences of their culture in Colorado, are found in the southwestern part of the state, in the Mesa Verde region of the Mancos and its tributaries. Here, in the cliffs, they built, between the shelving rocks, stone houses, some of the material used being hewn rock, put together with mortar. They were only accessible by means of ladders and ropes. Corn, beans, pumpkins and other products of the soil, together with evidences of the chase, show that they were farmers and
hunters. Towers lower down, would indi- cate that when cultivating the land, they probably stationed guards to watch for the approach of possibly new or old time foes. The dead were found buried in the rear of their houses, or under shelving rocks, or some- times sealed up in the rooms in which they may have died. Upon the walls, some of which were plastered, have been discovered pictographs, telling in a crude way, something of their life, legends and beliefs. They probably worshipped the sun. Bone, stone, and wooden implements, but no metal, to- gether with pottery of higher type, have been taken from these ruins. Many of the stone implements are beautifully polished, and at least, so far as the use of stone on this conti- nent is known, they had reached the age of polished stone. Without evidences of the use of a potter's wheel, the vessels made by them are remarkable for symmetry. There were two types of their pottery; the coiled or indented; and the smooth polished ware, decorations being confined to the latter. The ornamentation consisted principally of geometrical figures, with occasional crude pictures of birds, or other animals, or of man. Although the horse was common in what is now Colorado, in the Tertiary Age, that pre- ceded man, yet that animal seems to have disappeared after the ice period, not to re- turn until the time of European exploration. No horses are found in the decorations of the Cliff Dweller pottery and when the early Spaniards came, the then native races, at first considered the rider and horse as one animal. Prehistoric man in this region seems to have known nothing of the horse, or at least, left no evidences that it then existed here.
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