USA > Colorado > History of Colorado; Volume I > Part 25
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may be found eating with cattle through Adams, Arapahoe and Lincoln counties. In Chico Basin and around Byers the herds number from fifty to a hundred.
The department has spent a great deal of money in stocking the state with various kinds of game birds, such as the Mongolian and ring-neck pheasant, the crested quail, bob-white quail, and Hungarian partridges. Senator E. O. Wolcott was one of the first to bring the Mongolian pheasant to Colorado, stocking his place at Wolhurst with this beautiful bird. W. F. Kendrick followed by turn- ing many thousands of pheasants into the state. While there is no open season for the game, permits to kill are given where the pheasants become too plentiful and are doing damage to crops. The scaly-breast quail, the old Tennessee breed, known better as Bob White, and the crested quail, also known as Gambel's part- ridge, are all protected under the law, and there is no open season in the state for these birds. They are particularly thick along the Arkansas River and on the mesas back of Cañon City and in Garfield and Mesa counties.
The hunting proclivities of the Indians are now kept fairly well in check, the Government at Washington cooperating in the matter with the Colorado authori- ties.
The beaver is again growing plentiful, and the state protection is proving ef- fective, as it has the cooperation of stockmen everywhere.
Under the state law hunting for bear is now licensed by the department, but both bear and mountain lions are rapidly thinning out.
The efforts of the department are confined to the culture, propagation and distribution of three species of fish, namely: the Rainbow trout, the Native, or "Black-Spotted" trout, and the Eastern Brook, or "Red Speckled" trout. The Rainbow spawns first-early in the spring. These eggs are taken in large quan- tities from the adult fish in Electra, Emerald and the Grand Mesa lakes. The natives follow, also in the spring, and thus far it has been possible to secure satis- factory quantities of native eggs at Trappers, Marvine, Cottonwood, Grand Mesa and Emerald lakes. The brook trout spawn in the fall, thus giving two hatches annually. These eggs are secured at Grand Mesa, Electra and Columbine lakes.
The lakes operated for spawn are as follows: Trappers Lake, in Rio Blanco County ; Marvine Lake, in Rio Blanco County ; Cottonwood lakes, in Mesa County ; Grand Mesa lakes, in Delta County; Columbine Lake, in Grand County ; Electra Lake, in San Juan County ; and Emerald Lake, in Hinsdale County.
Trappers, Marvine and Emerald lakes have recently been taken over by the department, which is now in absolute control under long time agreements with the Department of Agriculture. Cottonwood, Grand Mesa, Columbine and Electra lakes are privately owned, and are operated by this department under contracts with those in control.
A total of twenty-one hatcheries, with a combined capacity aggregating 20,- 000,000 eggs, were operated during the last biennial period. During the summer months the entire twenty-one are in operation; however, satisfactory hatches can be made in but eleven of these hatcheries during the winter months. These hatcheries, together with their locations, are as follows:
Owned by the State of Colorado :
Denver Hatchery, six miles north of the city limits, on the Brighton Road. Glenwood Hatchery, Glenwood Springs.
Buena Vista Hatchery, Buena Vista.
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Del Norte Hatchery, Del Norte.
La Plata Hatchery, Durango.
Routt County Hatchery, Steamboat Springs.
Privately owned, leased and operated by this department :
Pitkin Hatchery, Pitkin. Estes Park Hatchery, Estes Park.
Cedaredge Hatchery, Cedaredge.
Privately owned, operated by the department :
Fort Collins Hatchery, Fort Collins.
Molina Hatchery, Mesa County.
Marvine Hatchery, Rio Blanco County.
Antonito Hatchery, on the Conejos River, reached via Antonito.
Emerald Hatchery, Hinsdale County, reached via Durango and Vallecito.
Electra Hatchery, San Juan County, reached via Durango and Rockwood. Aspen Hatchery, Aspen.
Georgetown Hatchery, Georgetown.
Boulder Hatchery, Boulder.
Grand Mesa Hatchery, Delta County, reached via Delta and Cedaredge.
Grand Lake Hatchery, Grand County.
Walden Hatchery (North Park), Jackson County.
Walter B. Fraser, of Denver, is the present Game and Fish Commissioner. His work has been most constructive, and he has in 1918 been honored with a re- appointment for four years.
THE COLORADO TRAVELING LIBRARY
The act creating the Colorado Traveling Library Commission was enacted July 1, 1903.
The aims of the commission are to make the Traveling Library of the great- est usefulness, by finding out the needs of the community or district where boxes of books are to be sent, and as far as possible supply these needs; to help small public libraries in getting on their feet, by supplying recent fiction, thus making it possible for them to invest their funds in reference and other books that are necessary in establishing a permanent library; to lend books to study clubs that cannot get the material for their work; to cooperate with the teacher in the rural school in developing the children's reasoning power by placing in their hands good, wholesome reading matter, thus guiding the children to the right sort of reading and creating in them the love for and the habit of reading good books.
The machinery of the commission makes possible the distribution of reading matter to many who would otherwise be entirely removed from any oppor- tunity of securing it, except through the uncertain and irregular kindness of indi- viduals. Such are not only the dwellers on lonely ranches, many miles from any railroad, but the men in the convict road camps and the inmates of county poor farms.
The officers of the Traveling Library Commission in 1917 are as follows : President, Mrs. Fannie M. D. Galloway, Denver; vice president, Mrs. W. D. Wright, Denver; recording secretary, Miss Ella New, Denver.
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Mrs. Julia von der Lieth Welles, president from 1903 to December 7, 1912, the date of her death, was the founder of the "traveling library" idea in Colorado, and was largely responsible for its growth.
STATE EXAMINING BOARDS
During the past decade various professions and trades have been enabled to secure legislation creating state examining boards, all of which pass upon the eligibility of candidates to practice their respective professions or trades. Thus there are in Colorado: the state board of examiners of architects; a state examining board and a state board of examiners for teachers; a state board of examiners of coal mine inspectors; a state board of barber exam- iners; a state board of dental examiners; a state board of nurse examiners; a state 'board of pharmacy ; a state board of optometric examiners; a state board of accountancy ; a state veterinary examining board; a state board of embalming examiners.
The other boards, commissions, commissioners, are of a minor nature, and were created from time to time as emergencies arose. These are such officers as the inspector of building and loan associations, an appointee under the auditor ; the public examiner, also appointed by the auditor; the state oil inspector, for- merly a fee office, now salaried, and appointed by the governor; the state boiler inspector, appointed by the governor. The superintendent of education is ex officio state librarian. The state geologist in the early years of statehood was in charge of the bureau of mines.
The history of the various boards in charge of state institutions is narrated in chapters on Public Buildings and State Institutions.
THE STATE SEAL By Jerome C. Smiley
The State's Seal is an inheritance from the territory, its design having been adopted by the first territorial assembly in a joint resolution approved Novem- ber 6, 1861. It was said at the time, and has been the understanding ever since, that the seal was designed by Lewis Ledyard Weld, the first secretary of Colo- rado Territory, the assembly giving the form and force of law to his conception. The framer of the resolution (and no doubt Secretary Weld also) dis- tinguished numine from Deo, and it was not the intention that the motto should be translated "Nothing without God," but "Nothing without the Deity," the latter being specifically stated in the resolution, which follows here :
"Joint resolution relative to a territorial seal.
"Resolved by the council and house of representatives of Colorado Terri- tory :
"That the secretary of the territory be, and he is instructed to procure for the use of the Territory of Colorado, a seal, to be two and a half inches in diameter, with the following device inscribed on the same: An heraldic shield, bearing in chief, or on the upper portion of the same, upon a red ground, three snow-capped mountains; above, surrounding clouds; upon the lower part of
PIKE'S PEAK AVENUE, COLORADO SPRINGS
ANTLERS HOTEL, COLORADO SPRINGS
Vol, 1-15
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the shield, upon a golden ground, a miner's badge, being the same badge; pre- scribed by the regular heraldic rules; as a crest, above the shield, the eye of God, being golden rays proceeding from the lines of a triangle; below the crest, and above the shield, as a scroll, the Roman fasces (the insignia of a republican form of government), bearing on a band of red, white and blue the words 'Union and Constitution,' below the whole, the motto, 'Nil sine Numine' (nothing without the Deity), the whole to be surrounded by the words 'Sigillum Territorii Coloradensis' (seal of the Territory of Colorado), and the fig- ures 1861."
As mentioned above, the state retained the territorial design, the only changes made in the seal being the substitution of the words "State of Colorado" and the figures "1876" for the corresponding inscriptions on the old one. This was provided for by section I of an act of the first General Assembly, approved March 15, 1877, and which reads as follows, but omits a translation of the motto :
"Be it enacted by the general assembly of the State of Colorado
"Section 1. That the seal of the state shall be two and one-half inches in diameter, with the following device inscribed thereon: An heraldic shield, bearing in chief, or upon the upper portion of the same, upon a red ground, three snow-capped mountains ; above, surrounding clouds; upon the lower part thereof, upon a golden ground, a miner's badge, as prescribed by the rules of heraldry ; as a crest above the shield, the eye of God, being golden rays proceeding from the lines of a triangle; below the crest and above the shield, as a scroll, the Roman fasces, bearing upon a band of red, white and blue, the words, 'Union and Constitution'; below the whole, this motto, 'Nil sine Numine,' the whole to be surrounded by the words 'State of Colorado,' and the figures '1876.'"
From the heraldic standpoint, the act prescribes red, golden, white and blue as the state's colors, but of course the band of red, white and blue is a direct adaptation of the national colors. The "eye of God," the all-seeing eye, is a conception of unknown antiquity, and was familiar to all the ancient historical peoples in the general region of the Mediterranean. To the Egyptians it was the eye of Ra ; to the Chaldeans, the eye of Anu ; to the Greeks, the eye of Zeus; to the Romans, the eye of Jupiter; and to the Hebrews, the eye of Yahveh, as in Psalm xxxiii., 18: "Behold the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy." The Roman fasces, a bundle of elm or birch rods, bound tightly together by red thongs, and containing a battle ax with its blade projecting from the side, and near one end of the bundle, were borne by a lictor, one of a body of public officials attending Roman emperors, dictators, consuls and other magistrates, as symbols of authority and power, the lictor walking in advance and clearing the way for his superiors. In a time-worn story, a father, seeking to teach his children the importance of living and acting in unity, in the presence of his sons broke with ease a single rod and kept on until he had broken, singly, as many rods as he had sons. He then showed the boys that when he tied up a compact bundle of rods, one for each son, he could not break them. In modern forms of the symbol, which is a familiar one in the United States, the ax handle, carrying a spearhead also, extends entirely through the bundle of rods and projects from both ends, thus exposing the ax to full view, as seen in the Colorado seal. The fasces suggest to us the sentiment
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expressed in the motto of the State of Kentucky: "United we stand; divided we fall." The three snow-capped mountains represent the Colorado ranges, but in the state seal, as in the territorial, as engraved, more mountains are shown than the law requires. The miner's badge, bearing a pick and a sledge hammer, plainly proclaims its significance. In cutting the die for the state seal the engraver slightly flattened the triangle, made a little change in the form of the shield, and shifted upward the flying ends of the streamer bearing the motto.
CHAPTER XII
THE BEGINNINGS OF MINING HISTORY IN COLORADO
MINING BY EARLY EXPLORERS-FIRST GOLD DISCOVERIES-THE RUSSELL EXPEDITION -JACKSON'S DISCOVERIES ON CLEAR CREEK-CLEAR CREEK PRODUCTION-THE FIRST MINING REVIEW-GILPIN COUNTY AND JOHN H. GREGORY-COLORADO'S FOUR MINING EPOCHS-CRUDE METHODS FOLLOWED BY AN EXODUS-PERIOD OF THE FISSURE VEINS-CYANIDATION DEVELOPS PROSPECTS OF MINING DIS- TRICTS-RISE AND FALL OF CHLORINATION-CHANGING FROM A SILVER-PRO- DUCING TO A LEADING GOLD-PRODUCING COUNTRY-ERA OF DEEP MINING -TUNNELING-DREDGING REVIVES PLACER MINING OIL FLOTATION-PRODUC- TION OF BIG PROPERTIES UP TO 1880.
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MINING BY EARLY EXPLORERS
The first reported mining in Colorado, by no means authentic, antedates by more than two centuries and a half the period of the historic discoveries by the Russell Brothers. And while the evidence, like fossil remains, lies in the opened hills, it is not yet certain that the excavations were made at this early period. Don Juan de Onate, an adventurous spirit of the days of the Spanish conquest, in 1591, is reported to have opened gold and silver placer mines on the western side of the Sangre de Cristo Range above Fort Garland in San Luis Park between the Culebra and Trinchera.
The record of the many expeditions and explorations is fully covered in the earlier chapters of this history. Here it is the purpose to record merely the actual and reported beginnings of mining operations, and that of Onate-even if not authentic, should be discussed as it is at least the supposed beginning of the industry in this region. In the Journals kept by Father Francisco Silvestre Velez Escalante, of the journey taken together with Father Francisco Atanacio Dominguez in 1776 there are references to these earlier discoveries, but save for the fact that his work throughout is painfully accurate, there is nothing of a convincing nature to substantiate them.
Escalante states that in the year 1765 Don Juan Maria de Ribera came to the San Xavier (the Grand) at a point a little below what he termed its juncture with the San Francisco. He describes the San Xavier as being formed above this crossing place of four smaller rivers or forks, "and this," says Phillip Harry, writing in 1860 of the Escalante journey, "corresponds remarkably with the Uncompahgre River, Grand River, Smith's Fork and another large fork."
But the period of prospecting which began in 1858 and 1859 brought to light in many parts of Colorado excavations which had undoubtedly been made by
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early Spanish exploring expeditions. Even about Denver and Boulder there were these evidences. Those found on the tributaries of the San Juan and Gunnison were probably made by Ribera and his followers.
Mr. Byers is also the excellent authority for the tale brought to Denver by a prospector named Samuel Stone. His party, in 1859, found evidences of a mining camp near the headwaters of Big Thompson Creek near Long's Peak. They brought back and showed Mr. Byers a small copper distilling outfit which had been used in making brandy from the wild berries that grew so plentiful in that region. Near this find they saw deep excavations made by former pros- pectors. At Santa Fé, later, Mr. Byers was told that this may have been a Portuguese expedition which never returned to Mexico and the members of which were probably killed by the Indians.
More authentic, and yet unverified, except by the testimony of Lieut. Zebulon M. Pike, is the discovery of gold by James Purcell, whom Pike in his narrative calls Pursley. He had gone to the Rocky Mountains from Beardstown, Ken- tucky, in 1802, and Pike thus relates the interview: "He assured me that he had found gold on the head of the Plate (Platte River) and had carried some of the virgin mineral in his shot pouch for months, but that, being in doubt whether he should ever again behold the civilized world, and losing in his mind all the ideal value which mankind had stamped upon that metal, he threw it away."
FIRST GOLD DISCOVERIES
Both Frank Hall and Jerome Smiley after talks with the late William N. Byers assert that "when he traversed this country in 1852, one 'Pike' Vasquez, a trader, informed him (Byers) that 'the hunters and trappers. occasionally brought small quantities of gold from the mountains to the trading post at the mouth of Clear Creek at intervals between 1832 and 1836.'" Rufus B. Sage insisted that he had found gold near Vasquez Fork in the winter of 1843-4.
Reports of discoveries on the Sweetwater and in South Park followed in the early '50S.
Col. William H. Paine, a noted military engineer, later under Grant, while going to California in 1853, relates that he met a large party headed by one Captain Norton, who displayed small quantities of gold found by him in what he asserted was "the Pike's Peak region." The editor of this work in his his- torical sketch of Pueblo County alludes to the report that the children of Wil- liam Bent while enroute from Fort Bridger to Bent's Fort, in 1848, found nug- gets on Cherry Creek.
O. J. Hollister, in his "Mines of Colorado," printed in 1867, says of the early reports :
"There was a story among the mountaineers and traders, that a few years previous an old French hunter named Du Chet had picked up in one of the principal forks of Horse Creek, a piece of rock containing native gold; that he carried it in his hunting pouch until he got tired of it, and suspecting not its value, but only regarding it as an hour's novelty, threw it away. Subsequently, at Santa Fé, the emptyings of his pouch, being in part particles of gold. attracted attention. But the old hunter could not again find the place.
"Rufus B. Sage camped on the present site of Golden City during the winters
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of 1843 and 1844, successively, whence on some of his hunting excursions he penetrated the mountains to a considerable distance; but he records nothing in his published account of particular interest, more than his confirmed belief that it was a mineral region. For instance, crossing from Cherry Creek to the Foun- tain, he remarks: 'The country hereabout for an extent of upwards of one thousand square miles, is much subject to storms of rain, hail, snow, and wind. I can account for it in no way but by supposing it to have some connection with the vast quantities of minerals lying embedded in its hills and valleys.'
"It was the commercial collapse of 1857 that set many adventurous spirits in the then West peering into the obscurity beyond them for a new field of enterprise."
J. E. Wharton in his "History and Directory of Denver" printed by Byers & Dailey in 1866, writes as follows of the first gold discoveries: "The first dis- covery of the precious metal was made on the Cache la Poudre, where its waters leave the mountains and enter upon the valley, by an adventurous hunting party of Cherokee Indians and Georgians. This was in the month of August, 1849. The specimens found were surface quartz, glitteringly spangled with gold, which the party on their return to the States displayed to others, thus causing small parties to venture here in search of the treasure bed."
Historian Wharton goes on to say: "Many small discoveries were made, but nothing of sufficient importance to create an excitement until April, 1858, when a party of traders, headed by John Cantrell, of Westport, Missouri, return- ing from Salt Lake, reported that they had discovered rich deposits of gold on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains, on what is now known as Ralston Creek. This report was heralded by the public print throughout the land, and soon culminated in a wild excitement. Cantrell's party took with them a sack of dirt from what was afterwards known as the 'Spanish Diggings' situated on the south bank of the South Platte about three miles above the present site of Denver. Mining was then being done at these diggings by a party of Mexicans, under John Smith, an old mountain trapper. Cantrell carried this dirt to West- port, where it was 'panned out' by a California miner named Ira Emmons, in the presence of many persons. The yield of gold was very small, being merely sufficient to establish the fact that the country from whence it came was cer- tainly gold-bearing. Additional evidence of this being a gold-producing region was given by a party of Georgians and Cherokees, with whom were Messrs. Russell and McFadden. This caused the first emigration to the Pike's Peak region."
Mr. Wharton's information is, however, not reliable, for it was largely a conglomeration of wild rumors which had grown with the years into what seemed to be historical information, but was later completely disproved. The honor of the first actual authenticated gold discovery belongs to the Russell Brothers.
THE RUSSELL EXPEDITION
The story of the Russell expedition is told as follows by Eugene Parsons in a notable series of articles published in 1915 in the Mining American :
"Among the Argonauts of 1849 was a band of Cherokees who stopped on their way to California and prospected some of the creeks and rivers of the
WILLIAM GREEN RUSSELL
CABIN ERECTED BY MEMBERS OF THE RUSSELL EXPEDITION IN SEPTEM- BER, 1858, AND WHICH WAS THE FIRST CABIN ON THE SITE OF PIONEER DENVER
(Reproduction from pictures of some of Denver's pioneer buildings. The originals of these pictures are among the Historical Society's collection.)
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eastern slope. They found a little gold in Ralston Creek, a tributary of the South Platte.
"William Green Russell, of Georgia, heard of this strike and, with others, he organized an expedition to explore the Pike's Peak country with the hope of running across treasure-trove in the Rocky Mountains. In this company were his two brothers-J. L. Russell and L. J. Russell-and other Georgians. They left home February 17, 1858, and traversed Indian Territory and southern Kansas on the way to Pike's Peak. From time to time they were joined by parties of Cherokees and Kansans. It was considerable of a caravan that jour- neyed up the Arkansas River, consisting of 104 persons at one time. Some of them stopped at Bent's Fort. Most of the other members of the expedition pushed on westward and northward, prospecting Fountain Creek, Cherry Creek, the Platte and other streams they came to without finding colors in paying quantities. As the days passed their spirits sank; they had expected to pick up gold nuggets as big as hailstones. After weeks of zealous seeking they had made no valuable discoveries of gold, and some of the adventurers with Russell were losing heart. On June 24, they camped on the bottom land near the con- fluence of Cherry Creek and the Platte. That is a historic date. To this day the pioneers' annual picnic in Denver is held, in commemoration of this event, on June 24 or the Saturday near it.
"The next few days the men of the expedition scattered and prospected Ralston Creek, Clear Creek and other streams, going north as far as Boulder Creek. Nearly all of them were disappointed and discouraged, for they found only minute particles of the glittering dust ; it was so fine they could do nothing with it. After four days of tramping they worked back to their old camp on the bank of Cherry Creek, some thirty or forty rods from the spot where the City Hall stands today. On June 29 the party broke up; the greater number of fortune hunters then and there gave up the quest for gold and turned back. The Cherokees, thirty-seven in number, disgruntled, left in a body.
"A crisis had been reached. The leader, Green Russell, got the remaining men together and made an eloquent speech. It is said that he drew upon some of his California experiences; he told of the ups and downs of the Argonauts when prospecting ; he urged the malcontents to remain longer, saying he believed it was only a question of time when they would strike rich placers and find valuables mines. Russell had faith, but the majority had not. They deserted and set their faces homeward; the quest was not for them.
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