USA > Colorado > History of Colorado; Volume I > Part 61
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In 1911 the amount invested in manufacturing enterprise in Larimer County was $3,500,000 with an annual production of $6,000,000. These in 1917 were more than doubled. In 1914 the county had two sugar factories, two pressed brick-making plants, two large stucco and plaster mills, four flouring mills, a fruit and vegetable canning factory, one cement tile factory, one foundry and several machine shops, one alfalfa meal-mill factory, two planing mills, several cigar factories.
The first iron foundry and machine shop in Boulder was built by J. W. Develine in 1876. At Valmont the five rock quarries were early worked for superior pressed brick.
From the first crude blast furnace built at Marshall in 1864, A. G. Langford, William and Milo Lee and Joseph M. Marshall sold many tons of excellent pig iron made from the brown hematite iron ores of that region.
In the early '6os the first flour mill, run by water power was built at San Luis by St. Vrain and Easterday. They sold it to a Mormon association and later it drifted into other hands and grew into a fine steam-driven industry.
Red Park Canon in El Paso County supplied some of the finest red sand- stone in the country. Among the early buildings of note for which this stone was used were the Board of Trade of Fort Worth and the Union Depot at Des Moines.
With the advent of the railroad in 1870 manufacturing grew, but not to the extent to which the central position of Colorado entitled it. It had the eastern trade powers to combat from the very outset. Thus when the Denver & Rio Grande was sold to the Santa Fe there was an express stipulation that there should be no discrimination in rates against Denver. But Kansas City was powerful enough to effect a discrimination in rates, which might, had it not been met by what was in fact a Colorado uprising, have ended in the commercial ruin of Denver. But this was only the beginning of its efforts to build up its manufac- turing enterprises. The problem of the long and short haul, the apparent neces- sity of meeting water rates by low rates to the Pacific Coast points, discrimina- tion against western inland points-all these entered into the struggle which not even the creation of the Inter-State Commerce Commission was able to set-
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HISTORY OF COLORADO
tle. But despite its trade limitations, Colorado has had a phenomenal growth in manufacturing. In 1873 the total of manufactured products sold was $1,394,000.
SOME EARLY FIGURES
In 1878 the Denver Board of Trade thus reviewed the state manufacturing growth of 1877: "The three large planing mills manufactured lumber to the amount of $350,000. The value of furniture manufactured here is upwards of $45,000, while the value of leather, whips, collars, etc., amounts to the round sum of $103,000. Woolen goods which include blankets, flannels and yarns amount to $20,000; a malt house made 50,000 bushels of malt, a large amount of which was shipped east, west and north. The iron interests employ three large and com- plete foundries and machine shops in the manufacture of boilers, engines, mining and mill machinery. Fifteen engines were constructed here in 1877; value of products, $140,000. There are in Colorado twenty-six first class mills, with sixty-eight burrs, employing over two hundred men and representing an in- vestment of $350,000. The flour made in Denver will aggregate not less than a million dollars. A soap manufactory started in Denver March 14, 1877, now averages 65,000 pounds in sales every month."
The United States Census for 1880 and 1870 gives a fair conception of the growth of manufacturing in Colorado during the first decade after the railroads had reached the territory :
1880
1870
Number of Manufacturing Establishments
599
256
Capital
$4,311.714
$2,835,605
Average Number Employes,
5,074
876
Wages paid in Year
$2,314,427
$258,221
Value of Products
14,260,159
2,852,820
In 1880 Colorado had two firms making awnings and tents, 62 men were employed and the value of the product was $135,000; one baking and yeast pow- der factory made $1,200 in goods in the year. There were 47 blacksmiths, em- ploying 160 men and with a production valued at $287,085. In forty-four boot and shoe shops in the state 158 men were producing goods to the value of $262,- 518. One brass-casting concern employing three men did $7,500 business in the year ; sixteen bakeries employed 117 men and women and had a production valued at $574,552; one broom and brush factory produced $30,000 worth of goods an- nually. Forty carpenter shops employed 262 men and their production was valued at $1,056,400. Ten carriage and wagon shops employing 135 men did a total busi- ness of $475,000; twenty-five charcoal kilns employed 75 men and their production was $81,873. There were two butter and cheese factories; thirty-one brick and tile yards ; nine clothing shops; one coffee and spice mill, six candy factories, one cutlery and edge tool maker, three manufacturers of drugs and chemicals, two dyeing and cleaning establishments, a fertilizer factory. thirty-four grist mills, seventeen foundry and machine shops, one iron and steel rolling mill, seven tan- neries, twenty-three breweries, three lock and gun smiths, ninety-six lumber mills, one pickle and preserve factory, two soap and candle factories, twenty-two firms
550
HISTORY OF COLORADO
in the tinware and sheet iron ware business, ten wheelwrights, ten watch makers, one trunk and valise maker.
. One of the largest industries in the state at this period was that of slaughter- ing and meat packing exclusive of retail butchering establishments. Of these con- cerns there were four in Denver, one in Boulder, four in Clear Creek, two in Custer, one in Gilpin and two in Lake City.
This shows not alone the growth in volume but in industrial diversification as well.
The Board of Trade Annual for 1882 estimates the value of Denver's manu- factured products for 1881 as seven million dollars.
CENSUS STATISTICS-1890-1914
The following United States Census throws further light on the progress made in manufacturing in Colorado from 1890 to 1914:
1890
1899
1904
1909
1914
No. of establishments .....
762
1.323
1,606
2,034
2.126
Wage earners.
9,288
19.498
21,813
28,067
27.278
Capital .
.. $16,811.868 $58,172,865 $107.668.500 $162.667,801 $181,776,339
Total wages.
6.653,585
11,707.566
15,100,365
19,912,342
20.199.754
Value of product.
29,240,747
89,067,879
100,143,999
180,044,312
186,839,321
The value of the manufactured products of Colorado in 1914 was $136,839,- 321 ; the average number of wage earners employed in its manufacturing indus- tries was 27,278; and the value added by manufacture, which is the best measure of the importance of the manufacturing industry, amounted to $47,083,019. In 1914 the state ranked, among the states, thirty-second in value of products, thirty-sixth in number of wage earners, and thirty-third in value added by man- ufacture. The corresponding rankings in 1909 were thirty-first, thirty-sixth, and thirtieth, respectively. The value of the manufactured products of Colorado in 1914 and 1909 represented six-tenths of I per cent of the total for the United States ; the corresponding proportion for 1904 was seven-tenths of I per cent.
From 1899 to 1914 the capital invested in manufacturing industries more than trebled ; the horsepower used in developing these industries increased almost four times ; and the amount paid for salaries and wages almost doubled. The largest percentage of increase for the period 1909-1914 was in the amount paid for contract work (80.7). This increase is not an indication of the growth of the manufactures of the state, but of the method of operation. For the five- year period from 1909 to 1914 the capital invested increased by $19,108,538, or II.7 per cent ; the cost of materials, $9,265,398, or 11.5 per cent ; and the value of products, $6.795,009, or 5.2 per cent. The value added by manufacture de- creased $2,470,389, or 5 per cent.
In rank according to value of products, there were a few changes in 1914, as compared with 1909. Of the more important industries, slaughtering and meat packing, flour milling and grist milling, printing and publishing, and the opera- tions of steam-railroad repair shops held the same relative rank in 1914 as in 1909. Separate statistics for the manufacture of sugar from beets are shown for the first time in 1914 in this state, and as the industry is the most important one in the state for which figures can be given, it takes first place in rank, and the other industries in that year are lowered relatively by one. Bread and other
551
HISTORY OF COLORADO
bakery products, foundry and machine shop products, butter, cheese, and con- densed milk, and the malt-liquor industry, ranking sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively, in 1914, were seventh, fifth, ninth and eighth, respectively, in 1909.
In 1914 Colorado ranked first among beet sugar producing states with 13 establishments employing 2,268 wage earners, which represented 8.3 per cent of all the wage earners employed in manufacturing industries in the state. The value of products was $17,635,556, or 12.9 per cent of the total value of man- ufactures; and the value added by manufacture was $4,278,527, or 9.1 per cent of the total for the state.
In 1914, 16 establishments were reported as engaged in the slaughtering and meat-packing industry in Colorado, as compared with 13 in 1909. During the five-year period 1909-1914 the total value of products increased from $9,656,810 to $12,726,127, or 31.8 per cent ; the average number of wage earners from 659 to 777, or 17.9 per cent ; and the value added by manufacture from $1,362,031 to $2,039,201, or 49.7 per cent. Eight of the 16 establishments reported for the industry were located in Denver, and the value of their output represented 88.2- per cent of the total reported for the industry in the state.
The packing industry shows a remarkable growth from 1904 to 1914. The total cost of materials increased by $7,905,137, or 284.2 per cent, and the total value of products by $9,402,624, or 282.9 per cent. The total number of animals slaughtered almost doubled, and their cost increased nearly four times. Each of the various products shows large increases in both quantity and value, but the increase in value was relatively much greater than the increase in quantity. This is apparent in fresh beef, the chief product, which increased by $2,624,153, or 240.5 per cent in value, and by 17,269,649 pounds, or 110.8 per cent in quan- tity, and the price per pound from 7 cents in 1904 to 11.3 cents in 1914.
Cars and general shop construction and repairs by steam railroad companies represent the work done in car shops operated by steam railroad companies. The operations consist principally of repairs to rolling stock and equipment but includes also shop work done for the track and bridge and building depart- ments. Although there was a decrease of four establishments during the period 1909-1914, there was an increase of 356 in the number of wage earners employed. In 1914 there were 4,349 wage earners employed in the industry, which was 15.9 per cent of the total for all manufacturing establishments of the state, the largest number of wage earners reported for any of the industries shown sep- arately in the census. The value of the work done was $6,821,673.
In 1914 the number of persons engaged in manufacture in the state was 33.715. of whom 27,278, or eight-tenths, were wage earners. A predominating proportion of the total number employed, 90.7 per cent, were males, a decrease, however, since 1909, when the proportion was 92 per cent. During the five- year period 1909-1914, there was a slight increase in the proportion of females employed in the state. The largest number of females, 2,318, were employed as wage earners, but the largest proportion (21.2 per cent) were reported as clerks and other subordinate salaried employes.
Denver, the largest and most important city in the state in respect to value of manufactured products and number of wage earners, shows an increase in value of products at each successive census. In 1914 this city contributed 34.3
552
HISTORY OF COLORADO
per cent of the total value of products of this state and reported 40.6 per cent of the total number of wage earners employed. The principal industries were slaughtering and meat packing, printing and publishing, foundry and machine shops, bakeries, steam railroad repair shops, butter making, and flour mills and grist mills. The principal industries in Pueblo were the manufacture of malt liquors, printing and publishing, steam railroad repair shops, saddlery and har- ness, and brick and tile; in Colorado Springs, printing and publishing, butter making, bakeries, the manufacture of gas, and steam railroad repair shops; in Greeley, flour mills and grist mills, and canning and preserving; in Trinidad, breweries, mineral waters, and bakeries; in Fort Collins, flour mills and grist mills, and printing and publishing; in Boulder, flour mills and grist mills, and printing and publishing.
City
Average number of wage earners
1914
1909
1904
Denver
11,062
11,639
9,672
Pueblo
980
1,065
941
Colorado Springs
538
516
410
Greeley
170
Trinidad
236
220
Fort Collins
85
Boulder
90
One of the noteworthy developments of 1916 and 1917 was the consummation of plans by the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company to erect a by-product coke oven plant at Pueblo. This plant cost approximately $3,000,000 and has for its pur- pose the conservation of coal products which heretofore have gone to waste through the use of the old-fashioned beehive ovens.
The Colorado Fuel & Iron Company had a prosperous year in 1916. It pro- duced 3,800,000 tons of coal as compared with 2,590,000 in 1915; 875,000 tons of coke against 634,443 in the previous year ; 800,000 tons of iron ore as com- pared with 562,843 in 1915; 438,576 tons of iron ore against 281,617 in 1915, and 520,000 tons of finished iron and steel against 378,886 in the previous year. It employed 12,000 people in 1916 against 9,000 in 1915, and its aggregate payroll during 1916 was $11,000,000 against $7,190,000 the preceding year.
The Western Chemical Manufacturing Company experienced prosperity dur- ing the year. It has laid plans for expansion during the next four years through the addition of departments to manufacture dyes and other products. The company increased its capital from $600,000 to $1,000,000 during 1917 and added John C. Mitchell, Tyson S. Dines, and other prominent Denver men to its board of directors.
The sugar industry witnessed substantial progress during 1916. The Holly Sugar Company was reorganized and succeeded by the Holly Sugar Corporation with A. E. Carlton at its head and other prominent Colorado and eastern men associated with him. It took over all the plants of the old company, purchased another plant in Arizona, one in California, leased the Grand Junction sugar plant and by these acts became the third largest producer of beet sugar in the country. .
-
PLANT OF THE COLORADO FUEL AND IRON COMPANY, PUEBLO
554
HISTORY OF COLORADO
The Great Western Sugar Company in 1916-1917 built a new plant at Brigh- ton, one in the Big Horn basin, of Wyoming, and one in western Nebraska. These plants cost approximately $1,500,000 each and add materially to the pro- ducing capacity of the company.
Another important step taken during 1916 was the survey of the resources of Colorado factories by the Government for possible mobilization and use by the Government in the event of war. A strong committee of engineers, with R. B. Moore, of the United States Bureau of Mines, as chairman, took a complete inventory of plant equipment, facilities for turning out products, raw material available, and other data, which information is now in the hands of the depart- ments at Washington.
The old paper mills in Denver were reconstructed during 1916 and occupied by a group of Denver capitalists with a plant for manufacturing chemicals and other products made scarce by the war in Europe.
The American Coal Refining Company put into operation during the year a plant representing an investment of $200,000 of foreign capital for the extraction of coal products from lignite coal by a process developed in its own laboratories.
The Great Western Cement Company was incorporated by the Cement Se- curities Company to operate a $750,000 cement plant at Morrison. Armour & Company spent nearly a million during 1916 and 1917 in doubling the capacity of its packing plant.
Swift & Company appropriated $500,000 for enlarging its packing plant and facilities.
The brewing industry readjusted itself to new conditions following prohi- bition. The Coors Manufacturing & Brewing Company is manufacturing near bear and a malted milk which is finding a ready market. The same interests are manufacturing a pottery product which is enjoying a large sale. The Ph. Zang Brewing Company is manufacturing near beer and working out plans for a cold and dry storage plant, a garage and other improvements. The other plants have either engaged in the manufacture of prohibition drinks, or turned their plants to other uses.
A $200,000,000 valuation is placed on the Colorado factory output for 1917.
The output of fifteen sugar factories in Colorado constitutes 31 per cent of the sugar manufactured in the United States. During the year 1917 these insti- tutions produced over five hundred million pounds of sugar. The factories paid the beet growers $14,212,000. The growers, in turn, paid farm laborers $4,010,000. The factory employes received $3.430,000 and the railroads $3,175,- 000 for transportation services.
The great steel mills of the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company at Pueblo pro- duced, during 1917, 552,500 net tons of finished iron and steel, much of this product going into war uses. Of pig iron, the company produced 404,000 net tons. In producing this output, the big concern used 706,900 tons of iron ore, 451,600 tons of limestone and 4,427,000 tons of coal, the latter from its own mines.
The great packing concerns of Denver, during 1917, reported an output of $21,219,265, as compared with an output of $15,249,710 the year before. Pueblo followed closely in this important industry.
Denver has the second largest saddle tree manufacturing plant in the United
555
HISTORY OF COLORADO
States, a company which is engaged at present in filling an order for 50,000 saddle trees for the United States Government. In connection with war orders, also, it can be disclosed that a million and a half dollars or more in Government supplies, including lathes, engines, tenting and army food stuffs, are being turned out, with many more orders in waiting. Five large machinery firms are at work on these supplies. A branch of one of the nation's great powder concerns, near Denver, meanwhile, is turning out vast quantities of explosives for war use. Benzol and Toluol for high explosives, sulphuric acid, nitric acid and other war materials are produced in important quantities at the works of the Western Chem- ical Company in Denver.
In all, according to Government figures themselves, Colorado manufacturers have received upwards of $10,000,000 in orders for military supplies since the war began.
COLORADO'S GREATEST STRUGGLE
"For the first decade and more after the railroad reached Denver," writes Dr. John B. Phillips of the State University and recently a member of the State Tax Commission, "mining was the leading occupation. No one was paying much attention to manufacturing; the returns from mining were sufficiently large to make that the paramount industry. Therefore the few manufacturing concerns which did start were soon disposed of by the adjustment of discriminatory rates on the part of the railroad companies. After the factories started, the rates were lowered so that goods could be brought in from the east more cheaply than they could be produced in Denver. This matter did not attract any par- ticular attention during the early period, as mining was occupying too prom- inent a place. As Denver increased in population, however, and it was seen that it was destined to be one of the large cities of the country, and as it also became apparent that the cheaper forms of mining were no longer efficient, it was evident that manufacturing in Colorado would be an advantage to the city and state. Therefore, public attention began to be directed toward whatever hindrances there were to the development of this important industry. The freight rate difficulty was at once complained of. Discussion of the injustice which it was alleged the city and state were suffering at the hands of the railroads was carried on in the newspapers and in January, 1885, the Legislature, almost im- mediately after convening, appointed a special railroad committee of the House of Representatives to investigate the freight rate situation and ascertain if pos- sible whether or not the railroads were unfavorable to the establishment of man- ufactures in Colorado. This committee occupied several weeks in examining witnesses, both shippers and railroad agents and officers, in an honest endeavor to ascertain the facts of the existing situation and also the attitude of the rail- roads toward the establishment of manufacturing industries in Colorado. Much important testimony was taken and great light was thereby thrown upon many phases of the question.
"The efforts of the Union Pacific to build up Cheyenne and interfere with the progress of Denver which had been the policy of that railroad in the early days lasted till some time previous to 1885, and the rates enjoyed by the mer- chants in that town were much more favorable than the rates granted to the Denver dealers. Goods shipped to Georgetown and Central City came via
556
HISTORY OF COLORADO
Cheyenne. The Union Pacific would not make the same rate to Denver, as it was a pool point and Cheyenne was not. If goods were shipped to Denver the Union Pacific would get only one fourth of the freight, but if shipped to Chey- enne, this road would get all. Such conditions prevented the increase of man- ufacture and trade in Denver. If the Union Pacific hauled to Denver, it would get one fourth of the freight, but if it hauled to Ogden, it would get all the freight. This condition accounts for the lower rates from the Missouri River to Ogden and Salt Lake than to Denver.
"The true attitude of the railroads toward the growth of manufacture in Colorado during this period is perhaps most clearly shown by the statements of the freight agents before the investigating committee of 1885. The freight agent of the Santa Fe testified that the rate on freight from Denver to points in New Mexico was uniformly more than the rate from Kansas City. He said it av- eraged 40 per cent more on goods made in Colorado. The rate was uniformly more to Denver and from there to destination than was the case if the freight went through direct. The then existing rates were not published in the rate sheet, but were gotten up in a hektograph form and distributed among some of the shippers. The date of the sheet exhibited to the committee was January I, 1882. It showed a pronounced discrimination against Colorado manufacturers.
"The freight rate was usually from 50 per cent to 75 per cent more from Denver to points in Arizona and New Mexico than from Kansas City 600 or 700 miles farther distant. Much the same situation prevailed with regard to the freight rates from Omaha. These rates show that the man with the capital to invest in manufacturing enterprises would be driven out of Colorado and would probably locate his factory at some point on the Missouri River."
The Colorado Manufacturers Association was organized in December, 1905, for the purpose of securing equitable rates to and from Colorado points. Up to 1905 the Interstate Commerce Commission lacked the power to enforce rate- making rulings and when this was given them by the Hepburn Act, Colorado's association became active. It interested itself in the individual cases of rate maladjustments and has accomplished results in thousands of cases.
On December 26, 1911, the association filed its case against all the railroads, claiming discrimination against Colorado in classes and commodities in trans- Missouri rate territory. In 1913 the Inter-State Commerce Commission ordered a reduction on the class rates. Early in 1914 it adjusted commodity rates. This was a victory for the Colorado Manufacturers Association and has greatly ben- efited the growth of manufacturing and jobbing in the state.
George J. Kindel's case against the New Haven road and others, filed August 14, 1907, was decided March 1, 1909. In that the Inter-State Commerce Com- mission granted the first important reduction in class rates from Chicago and St. Louis territories to Colorado points. Many efforts have been made to secure adjustments from southern and eastern points, but as a rule these have not been successful. The most important was that known as the Galveston rate case, which sought to secure the benefit of the partial water haul for Colorado. This failed.
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