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JAMES W
GEN WM. LARIMER
GEN.
DENVER
RICHARD E. WHITSITT
THE DENVER HOUSE 1859
Territory of Kansas. And St. Charles became an historical mem- ory. The whole proceeding was JUDSON H DUDLEY an unceremonious jumping, high- ly theatrical and very effective. The cabins of that time were in the prevailing style of round logs and dirt floor, so graphically pictured by the pioneer poet. Greenleaf :
"Inspect we this, built fifty-eight, by one of bluest blood;
The logs are all square-hewn and chinked and plastered o'er with mud;
The roof of poles o'erspread with brush and what you'd call dirt-shingles;
Its chimney square-stones. sticks and mud artistically mingles.
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The earth had been well hardened down to constitute a floor; They hadn't got to windows yet-'twas lighted from the door. 'Twas furnished in Auraria style, and that the very best,
Comprising four three-legged stools, a table and a chest;
The dishes-the prevailing style-were tin; when meals were o'er
What cared he for hot water? 'Twas a step beside the door, To scoop of dirt a handful, and to pluck a wisp of grass,
Some skillful passes, lo! each plate would shame a looking- glass!
That's how he washed the dishes; next he seized each knife and fork,
And found the ground a substitute for rotten-stone and cork. When, late at night, he stretched himself on skins of buffaloes No couch of down held tenant vet who suffered such repose!"
In this Denver City Town Company were E. P. Stout, president; General William Larimer, R. E. Whit- sitt, James Reed, J. H. Dudley, Charles Blake, Norman Welton, A. J. Williams. General John Clancy, Samuel Curtis, Ned Wyncoop, McGaa and Charles Nichols. Most of their names have been perpetuated in the names of the prominent streets of Denver.
The Denver men were great boosters. They claimed the advantages of the more eligible site, and interested the new arrivals at Cherry Creek in their city.
The aggressiveness of these wide-awake Denver peo- ple caused the Aurarians to lose their tempers. A bitter spirit of rivalry soon developed between the two towns. and they put in much time that winter throwing hard words at each other across Cherry creek.
Auraria's partisans boasted of her antiquity, claim- ing that she was a city three or four weeks before Denver was even down on paper.
The rivalry of these ragged little towns in the win- ter loneliness of the great plains may seem absurd to readers of this day and generation, but it goes to prove that human nature is the same the world over, in all times and places.
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RICHENS L. WOOTON
Richens L. Wooton and family arrived in Auraria on Christmas day, 1858. Wooton brought a large stock of merchandise, most of which was contained in barrels. He wanted to make a favorable impression and become popular among his new associates, so he knocked in the head of a barrel and invited his callers to help them- selves with tin cups. No method could have been more effective in attaining the desired end than the one he adopted. All Auraria promptly called. News of the un- usual liquid refreshments spread like wild fire through the city of Denver, and the inhabitants of that town ex- hibited their characteristic energy by a lively dash across Cherry creek. The rivalry and animosity between the two cities were forgotten for that day at least. Before the night closed down Richens Wooton was "Uncle Dick" to every man in both towns. He made that Christmas of 1858 a notable one in the annals of Auraria.
Richens Wooton soon began the erection of his fa- mous business block. This was the most imposing and pretentious edifice in the town. It was a story and a half high, roofed with clapboards. The upper floor was made of boards sawed by hand with a whip-saw and was the first board floor laid in the country. This room was lighted by a four-light glass window, the only luxury of the kind in the city.
Auraria was named from Green Russell's home town in Georgia, but as time went on and new people came in there were many theories in regard to the name. One man suggested that it was derived from Aurora, the Roman goddess of the dawn; another had a vague theory that it was a contortion of the word auriferous, to indi- cate the gold-yielding country around the town. Uncle Dick Wooton, in his book. gives the following: "There must have been some classical scholars among the found-
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ers of the town, because I am told that the name has a Latin origin, the word 'aura' meaning a gentle breeze. I suppose Auraria was intended to mean the town of gentle breezes, and it was a rather pretty and appropriate name."
The pioneers at Montana lost faith in the future of their town and moved, cabins and all, to Denver or Auraria, leaving their townsite to revert to a state of nature.
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DENVER 1859
The little band of pioneers camping beneath the cottonwoods on the banks of the South Platte and Cherry creek in '58-'59 did not realize that they were laying the foundation of a great State. From this little camp the hardy, courageous prospectors scattered, climbed the foot- hills, scaled the mountains, penetrated the wild gorges, stuck pick and shovel into the granite and quartz rocks and washed the sands of streams. The winter was open and the spring came early. While some prospected, others
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were busy platting new towns. They placed on the map. Central. Black Hawk. Idaho Springs, Georgetown, Golden. Boulder, Colorado City. Pueblo and Canon City.
The favorite pastime of the pioneers during the long winter day was writing letters to their friends in the States. These letters were filled with glowing accounts of the scenery and the richness of the land in gold, which as yet they had seen with the eye of faith only.
It was optimism like that and faith in the future of the country that inspired the pioneers in the midst of a lonely wilderness, where the only home lights at night were their camp fires and the camp fires of the Indians. to lay the foundation of this great "city of lights."
CHAPTER V HAPPENINGS AT THE CAMP
RUSH FOR GOLD
While financial depression still ruled the land, and men were without money, credit or opportunity for busi- ness of any kind, fanciful fabrications of the discovery of gold at Pike's Peak caused a wild rush to the new El- dorado-good, bad and indifferent ; the educated and il- literate; the merchant, the speculator, the mechanic, the farmer, the gambler, some of every kind. a sort of human mosaic, marshaled under a banner which bore the force- ful. if inelegant, legend. "Pike's Peak or Bust."
An apparently interminable procession of white cov- ered wagons. christened "prairie schooners." drawn by the contemplative ox and the patient mule, moved across the plains, and, at night their camp fires, like beacon lights, stretched along the Platte Valley route, the Smoky Hill route, and the Arkansas route from the Missouri river to the Rockies.
Nothing like this had ever been seen before: the flight of Mohammed was not a circumstance compared with this hegira. College graduates and city men were among the masters of ox-teams, cooks at camp fires, scul- lions and helpers in the drudgery of the long journey. Some of the white-topped wagons, moving at a snail's pace, bore the inscription, "Lightning Express." "Root. Hog or Die." "From Pike County to Pike's Peak." Strange vehicles of all sorts crawled on the trail to the golden shrine. One man pushed a wheelbarrow laden with supplies, and, it is said. took a boarder to help de- fray expenses : another packed an ox with tools and pro-
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vision and trudged by the animal's side; many made the journey in pairs, with handcarts, alternately pushing and riding, and some cheerily walked the long way with their earthly possessions swung to a pole across their shoulders. Through the large majority of this patient, toiling host was the sanguine, buoyant, determined spirit character- istic of the American pioneer. The fact that they had the courage to face the hardships of the plains showed a trait in their "makeup" superior to those who remained at home.
It was not a holiday outing. A journey from the Missouri river in those days occupied from six to seven weeks. There were no settlements on the way, no oppor- tunity to procure supplies for man or beasts, save at the occasional stations of the Hockaday stage line to Cali- fornia. It was genuine courage that prompted to such a journey through hot sun, fierce winds and drifting sands, across the wide, treeless plains, which, like the Clashing Islands that closed after the Argo and her crew of heroes, would cut them off from any communication with home and friends for months-years, perhaps, they knew not how long. It was by the help of Medea, who was found at the end of the road, that Jason captured the golden fleece. A few of the Argonauts of '59, thinking a bird in the hand worth two in the bush, took their helpmeets with them. They were not adorned society belles, or light- brained coquettes, but women of good, practical sense, of moral and physical strength.
What was the motive of this moving host? To find gold. It is the desire for what gold typifies that has set- tled every country on the globe.
The Old Testament, from Genesis to Malachi, makes frequent mention of gold and silver. "Abraham was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold." Solomon, the great king of the Hebrews, had portions of his temple "overlaid with gold." The followers of Moses made a
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golden calf and worshiped it. Even before the recital of the creation of woman the existence of gold is mentioned. Genesis 2:12 reads: "And the gold of that land was good." All people in all ages have found it to be a good thing to have in the house. It has a wonderful purchas- ing power.
While this wave of humanity was moving over the plains, a very different history was being enacted at Cherry Creek. About three hundred people had spent the winter here. Among them were five women-Mrs. S. M. Rooker and her daughter, Mrs. H. Murat, Mrs. Smoke and Mrs. Wooton.
A. J. Williams and C. H. Blake, for whom Blake street was named, put up the first hotel of the place. It was a log building one hundred feet long, thirty feet wide, and roofed with canvas, to which they gave the name of "Denver House."
Murat and Smoke opened the "Eldorado Hotel" on February 1st. It had a silk flag floating from the top of a lofty pine mast. The flag was made by Mrs. Murat, and so it came about that the first national emblem that waved in Denver was made by a woman.
On March 3, 1859, the first child was born on the site of Den- ver, the son of McGaa and an Arapahoe woman. The couple had married according to the Mrs. Catharine Murat frontier fashion, and McGaa named his son Denver. About this time Smith and Mc- Gaa received from the Kansas Territorial Legislature a charter to run a ferry across the Platte river at the mouth of Cherry creek. The boat was propelled by the current, and the expense of running it small. Its daily receipts
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were from two to three hundred dollars. The pioneers gave Smith and McGaa a liberal share of town lots and made them officers in the town organizations because they claimed. through their Indian associates, the right to all land here. They were both in many ways about as much Indian as white men-migratory in their nature, and having little or no identity with the settlement, they soon drifted away.
Rivalry between the towns ran high. Society was full of "envy. hatred, malice and all uncharitableness." "Are you a Denver man or an Aurarian?" was the one absorbing local question. This intense feeling indirectly gave rise to the quarrel which resulted in Bassett's death. One word led to another until, in his rage, Bassett seized a pickhandle and made at Scudder, who fired and mor- tally wounded him. Scudder left Denver and went to Salt Lake, where he remained nearly a year. In the spring of 1860 he returned to Denver and asked to be tried for his act. A People's Court was organized, with C. A. Lawrence as judge. The testimony presented proved that the killing was in self-defense and he was unanimously acquitted. H. P. Bennet and J. C. Moore defended him, and the prosecution was in the hands of W. P. McClure.
Bassett was the recorder of the Denver townsite and was succeeded by Richard E. Whitsitt. Stout, the presi- dent. resigned because of business affairs in the East de- manding his presence. General Larimer. the secretary and treasurer, resigned and Whitsitt became the entire machine. He was a dominating fellow, vastly energetic. full of resources, and a gifted real estate man. He de- vised all sorts of schemes to make Denver grow. He maintained for twenty years the most extensive real es- tate agency in Denver, and was the first man to make a record for himself in that line. From the day of his ar- rival in the city in 1858 until the day of his death in
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1882, he platted and surveyed, bought and sold lots and blocks. He took an active part in the long fight for state- hood, helped to build up the board of trade, and con- tributed to the completion of the Denver Pacific Railroad.
Frank Hall said: "I have always regarded R. E. Whitsitt as the real founder of Denver. I knew him in- timately. He was the aggressive and progressive head of the original Denver Town Company." It was in the fall of this year that he fought a duel with W. P. Mc- Clure. The fight came off in the presence of two hundred or more people about one mile above Cherry creek. Mc- Clure received a severe wound, from which he recovered.
While the first comers had been building cabins they had not forgotten the main thing that brought them here. They were not after town lots, but gold. And the failure to find it in paying quantities caused a gloom to settle down over the camp. This was the condition when the advance trains of "prairie schooners" arrived. In they came with a "hurrah." They were ignorant of the hard labor of mining : their calculations centered around a sin- gle purpose : Get-rich-quick and get back to civilization. But few of the many thousands who came cherished a thought of building a permanent home here.
A story is told of the Dutchman who was hanged for stealing. Before adjusting the noose he was asked what he had to say for himself. With a quavering voice he said : "I came out mit de spring to stay mit de summer and go back mit de fall. but now I tink I vill stay all de vile."
STAMPEDERS
Many of the new arrivals were mere "surface float." having come with Utopian ideas in regard to the wealth of the country, expecting to find great nuggets of yellow metal lying around loose and streams burdened with golden sand. These romantic fortune-seekers soon returned
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..
OR BUST !!!
OVER THE PLAINS 18.59
East, anathematizing the country and declaring Pike's Peak to be an un- mitigated swindle. Under the inscription, "Pike's Peak or Bust," was writ- ten in large black letters, "Busted, by Thunder."
A "BUSTED"EMIGRANT The routes of travel for six hundred miles were a restless surging wave of humanity. D. C. Oakes' pam- phlet describing and lauding the country was the means of inducing many to emigrate. He had returned to the "States" and was on his way back with a sawmill when he met the stampeders. They said he had "sworn deceit- fully"-in other words, had told outrageous falsehoods, which they spelt with three letters, and they threatened to hang him and burn his mill. He met them bravely by stating the fact of his having invested every dollar he was worth in that mill, which ought to be proof conclu- sive of his faith in the country. They gave him his life, but had the satisfaction of pelting him with vicious epi- thets. A little farther on he came to a new-made grave, and on the headstone, which was the storm-polished shoul- der blade of a buffalo, was written the following epitaph :
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"Here lies the body of D. C. Oakes, Killed for aiding the Pike's Peak hoax."
One of these returning pilgrims, a wag in his way, informed his friends at home that nothing but unpardon- able ignorance stood in the way of his making a fortune in those days. If he had only given the subject a thought he would have known, of course, that domestic animals are always scarce in new countries; but he did not think. and it was another and a wiser man who was far-sighted enough to bring hither a cat which he had taught to fol- low him. The cat easily sold for five dollars, and then it followed its master and was sold again and again as the story goes. The returned pilgrim always insisted that if he had brought out a load of cats in his emigrant wagon, he would have made his fortune.
He also told a story of one of their party who was a man of family, and what is commonly termed a "great homebody," but he had a longing for wealth and started for the new Eldorado. It was not long before he became very homesick, and, one day, when they arrived at a town on the outskirts of civilization where it was hoped letters from home would be found waiting them; finding none, the poor man withdrew to a secluded spot and "lifted up his voice and wept" so loudly that his com- panions at a distance heard, and, hearing, were filled with great alarm. It sounded to them like the voice of some terrible monster of the plains. One of the party, gifted with more bravery than the rest, suggested that it might be a buffalo calf; whereupon they traced the noise to its source. By common consent the afflicted man was granted permission to leave the organization. He went at once, and remained at home, a very contented being, with no desire ever again to roam to the "far ends of the earth."
The army of "go backs" grew greater than the ad-
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vancing host, and they did many a tale unfold declaring there was not a thimbleful of gold in the country; it was all a delusion and a snare. They warned the brave and bold who pushed forward to beware of the man who had buckskin patches on his pants; he was a thief, a liar and a villain ; he was here, there and everywhere, like the Scriptural adversary, "seeking whom he might devour." The pilgrims harassed their minds devising how they would avoid this scoundrel of the Rockies. "Lo and be- hold," said my informer. "upon our arrival, every man in the mountains wore the confounded rogues' patches."
According to Smiley, one hundred and fifty thousand persons left the Missouri river for the Pike's Peak region in the spring and summer of '59, and. of these, not less than fifty thousand were turned back by the senseless panic that prevailed. It was thought that the new coun- try was undesirable for any purpose save that of satis- fying this love for gold.
If gold was the only allurement, the pioneers are entitled to larger credit for laying the foundation of a state where the initial environments were so forbidding.
CHAPTER VI IMPORTANT EVENTS
CHANGES FROM COTTONWOOD TO LUMBER AND BRICK
Away up on the Divide were pine forests. Wyatt and Bennet soon found their way with their sawmill into this "forest reserve." D. C. Oakes, who was buried in effigy, placed his sawmill near Palmer Lake, and the first frame building in Denver was constructed of lumber sawed by Major Oakes. The changes from cottonwood logs to lumber and brick were kaleidoscopic.
Uncle Dick Wooton built the first two-story house. by long odds the most pretentious building in the town. and, as there was no ordi- nance at that time prohib- iting skyscrapers, others soon followed his lead.
Mr. William N. Byers came in with his printing press April 19th. It was speedily placed in the sec- ond story of Uncle Dick Wooton's business block. which made this the first office building here and gave the Aurarians the glory of having the first newspaper. But their feathers fell when the first issue of the News ap-
William N. Byers
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peared with the headline, Cherry Creek, K. T., instead of Auraria City.
The News office was subsequently removed to a frame building constructed expressly for the purpose, in the middle of the creek, on the dividing line between Auraria and Denver, to safely emphasize the neutrality of the press.
The quieting effect of Uncle Dick Wooton's whisky was lost before New Year's day, and the strife went on for ascendency in importance and population.
The very generous townsite companies, who had no legal title whatever themselves. graciously gave each per- son a lot who would build a house on it. and they were having trouble to find people willing to build on donated lots.
About the first of January, 1859, George A. Jackson discovered gold on the south fork of Clear creek. near Idaho Springs. The place is still known as Jackson's diggings. and a stone monument now marks the spot.
On May 6th. John H. Gregory, a Georgian. discov- ered gold on the north fork of Clear creek. This dis- covery occurred at a psychological moment. The news swept like wild-fire over the plains, and the little towns at the mouth of the historic creek gave way to boundless enthusiasm. The excited newcomers rushed through at the rate of five hundred a day to the mountains. The arrival of teams, the loud cracking of whips made "con- fusion worse confounded" of tongues and matter.
The majority of them were ignorant of mining, and the mountains were soon swarming with prospectors who did not know the indications of a true lode. Wherever "blossom rock" showed itself, or a streak of white quartz appeared, stakes were driven and prospect holes dug, with the extravagant expectation that they would soon dig up a fortune and return to "the States" to enjoy it. On May 7. 1859. two Concord coaches. each drawn
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by six galloping mules, rolled into Denver in a swirling mass of dust. A crowd of red-shirted miners assembled to greet this arrival with shouts and a lively firing of revolvers. The office was located on the East side: the alert Denver town company had arranged for that. Mak- ing Denver the terminus of the stage line was the vital move in establishing it as a commercial and financial center, for everyone had to go or send there for letters.
A TALE OF HORROR
"I was in the first coach of the Leavenworth and Pike's Peak Express Company," said Mr. Barney. "It arrived in Denver on the seventh of May, 1859. The sup- ply wagons were sent on ahead, locating the stations, and every twenty-five miles they would drop a tent, a stove and a cook. At that season of the year the twilight is short, so when we drew up at one of the stations for sup- per it was quite dark. When I entered the tent I saw the most soul-sickening sight that my eyes ever rested upon, and the flickering light of the candle added intensity to the horror. At first I thought it was a 'spirit from the vasty deep'-a ghost or hobgoblin from the great un- known. I felt sick-it is real weakening to feel oneself in the presence of the-departed-no, the returned dead.
The poor man, from starvation, was reduced to a living skeleton. Rip Van Winkle himself could not have looked more ghastly. He was in the last stages of ex- haustion when an Indian found him and brought him to the tent. After he was refreshed with food and stimu- lants he told us his sickening story :
"Three brothers set out from Illinois in a one-horse cart for the gold region. From Leavenworth they took the Smoky Hill route. Guided by incorrect ideas of the distance, they were poorly prepared for the hardships of the journey, and the provisions gave out before they were
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half way. They killed their horse for food and loaded their cart with it. taking turn about in the harness of the slaughtered animal. It was tedious and their strength was rapidly going. When the last piece of flesh was gone they sat down in despair to die. for they had wandered away from the trail in search of water and had no hope of being found by a human being. One sank faster than the others. and. when dying, requested the surviving brothers to live upon his flesh and try to get through. He died. and they commenced their cannibalistic feast- ate the body, and again saw starvation staring them in the face. Another died. which furnished food to the re- maining brother. He said that he had even crushed the skull and eaten the brains.
"We took the miserable. famished creature in the coach to Denver. His body regained health and strength. but his mind was gone. He remained always an imbecile. The citizens of Denver made up a purse and sent him to his friends in 'the States.'"
RETURN OF RUSSELL
William Green Russell. the man who pushed the but- ton and turned on the show. returned in May, 1859. bringing with him one hundred and seventy men. He proceeded to Gregory camp and. June 9th, made the third rich discovery in Gilpin County, which was given and still bears the name of Russell Gulch.
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