History of Colorado; Volume I, Part 64

Author: Stone, Wilbur Fiske, 1833-1920, ed
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 954

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Very little change has been made in the old Santa Fé Trail. The Smoky Hill route followed what is now known as the "Golden Belt" route as far as Oakley, Kansas, thence followed directly west to Cheyenne Wells, Hugo, Limon, Deertrail and Bennett to Denver. It is exactly the Kansas Pacific Railroad route, or the Union Pacific Railroad of the present day. The old Leavenworth and Pike's Peak stage route is now practically extinct. The Overland Trail has been changed somewhat; it now starts from Omaha and is partly on the north side of the Platte, while in the stage-coach days it ran from Atchison and kept on the south side of the river through Julesburg to a point near Greeley, thence to Laporte, near Fort Collins, thence to Virginia Dale, thence to Rock Springs, Wyoming. Three branches connected the Overland Trail with Denver, one across the plains to a point near Fort Morgan, another connecting at Latham, near Greeley, another connecting at Laporte near Fort Collins. These old roads are practically the same as the present roads.

The Overland roads, the Arkansas River route to Pueblo and Buckskin Joe, were so good that in 1860 a man by the name of Fortune built a steam wagon twenty feet long with driving wheels eight feet in diameter intended to run be- tween Atchison and Denver. It worked well on its trial trips, making eight miles per hour. Its first trip to Denver was scheduled for July 4, 1860. Then something went wrong with the steering gear, and the excited driver in attempt- ing to get out of town ran it through a building, wrecking both the building and the wagon. The disgusted Mr. Fortune concluded his name was "misfor- tune" and abandoned the scheme.

The "wind" wagon was another product of the times, but the inventor, who conceived the idea of propelling his wagon by sails, found he could not "tack" upon the prairie and consequently he and his wind wagon finished at the bottom of a gulch.

With the immigration into the mountains there soon came a pressing need for wagon highways, the mule-pack soon exhausting its utility. Heavy material was needed for even the crudest mining operations, and as the population in- creased, supplies were called for in quantities that required wagon traffic. Through the Ute Pass to South Park the natural road, improved by the early settlers, was comparatively easy for wagon travel. But the first actual roads built into the mountains were two routes to the Clear Creek gold fields, one by Mount Vernon to the diggings at Chicago Creek, and the other was by way of Rocky Moun-

PIKE'S PEAK AUTO HIGHWAY

COG ROAD UP PIKE'S PEAK

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tain Gulch to the North Clear Creek gold field. There were two roads that led to the Arkansas River, one part of the old Fort Laramie Trail via a point near Colorado City, the other known as the "Plum Creek" road. From Cañon City the early settlers built a good wagon road to the camp at Tarryall. Denver men, too, built a fairly good road to Bergen Park and to Tarryall soon after the camp was opened. Later it was extended to the western slope to the Blue River mining district over Breckenridge Pass. It was not long before the enterprising citizens of Golden City took a hand in the fight for wagon roads, as they took a prominent part in the contest for railroads a little later. They soon had their own road to Tarryall by way of "Bradford Hill" and even into some camps in what is now Grand County. Bridges, too, built of logs, but well constructed were now put in on all these toll roads, the most important being that over the Arkan- sas River at the site of the future Fowler City. Thus did these pioneers pave the way for the crude traffic of those early days.

William L. Campbell, afterwards surveyor general of Colorado, came to the gold diggings in 1860, and after building the Virginia Cañon wagon road from Idaho Springs to Russell Gulch, did much tc survey and build many of the best of the later mountain highways of the state.

From Hayden's record of this period the following is taken :

"The original stage route from Denver to the South Park entered the moun- tains via Bear Creek, (crossing the creek eight miles from Denver) crossed the divide to Turkey Creek, (over Bradford Hill) followed that stream to Elk Creek, thence across the high divide to the North Fork; followed the latter nearly to its head, and across into the park at Kenosha Summit; thence skirted the northwestern border to Hamilton and Fairplay. A branch left it at Michigan Creek and crossed the main range at Georgia Pass and thence to Breckenridge. Still another branch left it at Hamilton and connected with Breckenridge via Tarryall Pass and Swan River. From Fairplay a road ran up the South Platte, connecting Fairplay with the mining towns above, and, crossing by Hoosier Pass, ran down the Blue to Breckenridge.

Colorado City was connected with. Fairplay by a road which followed closely the Ute Pass, now the Midland route, as far as the crossing of the South Platte ; thence northwest to the Tarryall fork of the Platte, where the road forked, one branch going to Tarryall and one to Fairplay. A branch left it in the southern part of the South Park and ran to the Arkansas Valley over the Canon City road. From Fairplay a road skirted the western side of the park, a branch of it crossing the Park Range at Weston's Pass to the California Gulch, while the main road continued on down to the salt works and thence to the Arkansas Val- ley via Trout Creek Pass and Trout Creek. The direct route from Fairplay. and Buckskin Joe was by a pack trail up Mosquito Gulch and over Mosquito Pass to California Gulch.

By an act approved February 8, 1865, the Legislature authorized county commissioners to fix the toll rates and made the legal distance between toll sta- tions ten miles.

In 1865 the Denver & San Luis Valley Wagon Road Company was organized, with authority to build south by way of Canon City to the mouth of the South Arkansas, now Salida, thence up the South Arkansas to the mouth of Poncha Creek, thence to Poncha Pass and over into the San Luis Valley. The ferry rates

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across the Rio Grande were fixed at $1 for wagon and two horses, mules or oxen, 25 cents for each additional animal; a "one animal" vehicle was 75 cents ; "loose" animals, 10 cents per head ; footmen, 10 cents.

In 1865 the wagon road from Boulder to Central City via North Boulder Creek, and via South Boulder, was incorporated, constructed and operated as a toll road.

In 1868 the Legislature by enactment declared "the most usually traveled roads between the following-named places to be territorial roads." This list by no means covers the road construction up to this period, for there were many toll roads and ferries still operating under prior "thirty-year" enactments. But in a general way it is a fairly complete list of main-traveled lines. The list follows :

"From Denver to Pueblo via Colorado City ; from the Denver & Pueblo road where it diverges from the Platte, to a point near the mouth of Plum Creek, up Plum Creek Valley to Monument Creek, thence to a point (Colorado Springs) on the Denver & Pueblo road in El Paso County; from Fort Lyon by way of Pueblo, Cañon City, Platte Valley ranch; from Fairplay by way of Tarryall City and Hamilton to Jefferson; from Hamilton to Platte Valley (Hartsell's) ranch; from Denver by way of Boxelder station and Bijou station to the "Junc- tion" (near Fort Morgan) ; from Denver down the Platte River by way of St. Vrain's to Julesburg; from Denver to Golden; from Denver by way of Boulder to Laporte; from Denver to Bradford (Hill) ; from Denver up Cherry Creek to "Fountaine qui Bouille" (River). From St. Vrain to Golden; from Denver to Golden by way of Boyd's ranch on Clear Creek; from the mouth of the Cache la Poudre to Laporte through Cherokee Pass to the western boundary of the ter- ritory ; from Pueblo by way of "Greenhorn's Ranch" (the Greenhorn ranch) to Fort Garland ; from Cisco and Head's ferry across the Rio Grande and from Fayette's Head to the southern boundary of the territory; from Fort Garland to Culebra, Costilla, Red River, Osage House; from Greenhorn's Ranch to the Cimarron, on the south line of the territory; from Hayne's (Hoyne's) ranch up the Huerfano by way of the Mosca Pass to Fort Garland; from Cañon City to Greenhorn's Ranch; from Denver to the south boundary of Weld County."

It may be stated that the preceding paragraph is quoted verbatim from the legis- lative record. This record was officially written by a misinformed clerk and so numer- ous were his mistakes that a bill was brought up in the Legislature to have the errors in spelling, etc., corrected. One member of the assembly, who might have been from the innermost fastnesses of the Ozarks, prevented the bill from being effected by the stand that the record was "law," mistakes and all. Some effort has been made to correct errors by the use of parentheses in the foregoing quotation.

This is interesting as it covers in a general way the trend of the system of state roads since established. The changes are largely due to the discovery of lower passes.

In 1867 the state began dispensing its road funds in considerable sums, voting in 1868 about five thousand dollars for highway improvement on the line of the Georgetown and Snake River wagon road in Clear Creek and Summit counties, for a bridge over the Arkansas in Lake County at the point where the South Park and San Luis Valley wagon road crossed it, and for improvements on the wagon road from Colorado City to Hamilton.

In 1870 the Legislature made "territorial" the road from Evans in Weld Vol. I -- 37

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County to Boulder, with a branch to Golden. In 1872 the road already built from Walsenburg by way of Veta Pass to the San Luis Valley was made a ter- ritorial road. In 1874 the road laws of the territory were completely revised, all acts of county commissioners in the construction of roads were legalized, and the manner of bonding towns and counties for road work was carefully defined.

Between 1876 and 1886 the state passed through a notable road building era, particularly in the southern and western part of the state.

The road over Marshall Pass, a continuation of the Salida road, opened up the entire Western Slope. The railroads, however, followed quickly and greatly accelerated development. The wagon road between Silverton and Ouray, for a distance of ten miles from the latter place, was constructed under the super- vision of Otto Mears. This was the original "Rainbow route" in the state.

In the period when the Rio Grande was making its surveys and building to Alamosa, enterprising men in the San Juan built a wagon road between Animas City and Alamosa, utilizing a large part of the Government pack trails between Fort Lewis and Fort Garland. The wagon road from Durango to Fort Lewis, however, was not built until some years later.

While this Alamosa-Durango road was under way the San Juan men also built a toll road from Silverton to Durango, realizing that this gave them an easier and quicker outlet for their ore for treatment in the Durango smelter.

In 1878 the Denver & Rio Grande reached Alamosa and heavy freighting in all directions over new and old wagon roads began immediately. Judge C. D. Hayt, who was the first postmaster of this San Luis Valley center, estimates the number of freighters leaving Alamosa weekly in this period at several thousand. The Mexicans used oxen almost exclusively, at times driving one wagon and trailer with fourteen yoke. The wagon could take three or four tons and the trailer a ton and a half. From this point freight brought in by the narrow gauge was sent to Santa Fé and even as far south as Texas. All freight for Gunnison and Montrose went via Alamosa and through Saguache. The wagon road up the Rio Grande to Silverton and the roads to Animas City and the La Plata placer fields were all utilized, and Alamosa became one of the busiest points in the state,

The road from Lake City to Animas Forks was built in the early '8os. The John J. Crook smelter was then in operation at Lake City. Crook had mining properties in Animas Forks and Mineral Point besides his holdings in Lake City, and he aided in the construction of a wagon road to facilitate the move- ment of his ores to his smelters. Until this time there had been only a pack trail between these points.

The original mountain road into the San Juan was built from Wagon Wheel Gap up the Rio Grande River, over Stony Pass, down Cunningham Gulch to Sil- verton. It was on this road-the Cunningham Gulch side of Stony Pass-that the precipitous nature of the country made down travel exceedingly difficult. This was so steep that loaded wagons were held back by heavy ropes tied to trees. These were slowly "snubbed" down the incline about a thousand feet. Trees eighteen inches in diameter were cut in two. These old "snubbing" posts are still to be seen, the road having been abandoned. The state about twelve years ago appropriated moneys for the construction of a less dangerous road by the use of a switchback.

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Between 1880 and 1902 the General Assembly used the Internal Improve- ment fund, the Federal Government's contribution to internal improvements, for the building of bridges, most of them built for permanency. In 1889 this fund amounted to $341,000. While it was divided between the counties for bridge and road building, and was called the "Pork Barrel" fund because it was too often "traded off" and used to bring recalcitrant members to terms by an anxious ma- jority, yet it was practically always used for a real and economically constructed improvement. Many of the best country roads and finest bridges in the state came out of this period. The great trouble was that the work was not done in unison with other counties and followed no general state plan. The further draw- back was that in the division money was voted in some instances in such small amounts that the greater projects of a county had to be sidetracked for minor betterments. This of course is now changed, as the entire expenditure is under the supervision of the State highway commission.

The advent of the automobile had much to do here as elsewhere with the "good roads" movement, which became effective in Colorado in 1902, when the owners of motors first combined to secure better "traveling" conditions. The Colorado Automobile Club, of which D. W. Brunton was president and Dr. F. L. Bartlett, the latter one of the most ardent advocates for good roads in the state, vice president, was formed in 1902. In 1905 Doctor Bartlett, who was then its president, with the assistance of the National Good Roads Association, arranged the first state good roads meeting. This was held in Denver July 27th and 28th, and was attended by sixty-five authorized delegates. It was at this meeting that the Colorado Good Roads Association was formed, with J. A. Hayes, of Colorado Springs, as president ; Dr. F. L. Bartlett, of Denver, vice president ; and Henry R. Wray, of Colorado Springs, as secretary.

The second convention was held December 4th to 6th, 1906, in Denver, and was an enthusiastic gathering, to which President Roosevelt and Secretary of Agriculture Wilson sent telegrams of congratulations, and which was addressed by the Government heads of the Public Roads Bureau. The Denver Chamber of Commerce shouldered the burden of the expense of conducting this great gath- ering.

William R. Rathvon of Boulder was elected chairman, and many notable good roads speakers attended, among them the late Sam Houston, road commis- sioner of Ohio.

The bill for a State Highway Commission was drawn up and adopted by the convention, and committees were appointed, headed by S. A. Osborn of Denver, to get it through the Legislature. A fight was made, but the "Pork Barrel" con- tingent was too strong, and the bill failed even to be considered on the floor of either House or Senate.

Not discouraged, the Good Roads Association immediately lined up for a campaign of education all over the state. They were ably seconded by the Rocky Mountain Highway Association, formed early in the spring of 1908, incorporated by Charles A. Johnson, Harold Kountze and Gerald Hughes of Denver, with C. A. Johnson as president. F. L. Bartlett, vice president and W. H. Emmons, secretary.

In order to gain strength for the legislative fight, the Colorado Good Roads Association and the Colorado Auto Club, with all its affiliated clubs, were in the

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fall of 1908 consolidated into the Rocky Mountain Highway Association, and the Highway bill was finally pushed through and became a law in 1909, but with no adequate appropriation for effective work. C. F. Allen, William M. Wiley and Thomas Tully were appointed State Highway Commissioners. During 1909- 1910 state roads were mapped and laid out and considerable preliminary work was accomplished but no funds were available for anything more than a begin- ning of the work.

In January, 1911, under the auspices of the Rocky Mountain Highway Asso- ciation and the Denver Chamber of Commerce another good roads conference was called in Denver for the purpose of making another attempt to secure funds for the Highway Commission. At this convention four road bills were drawn and presented to the Legislature, the two most important ones being for a ten million bond issue and the turning over of the Internal Improvement fund to the Highway Commission. The ten million bond issue passed, was referred to a vote of the people and was lost. The Highway Appropriation bill was amended and, after the Legislature had passed ninety-three special improvement bills, the remainder of the Internal Improvement fund was turned over to the Highway Commission. Governor Shafroth vetoed the ninety-three special road bills, thus turning over the entire Internal Improvement fund to the highway commission. Immediately the validity of the bill was assailed and the bill was fought through the courts and finally pronounced invalid by the Supreme Court. Thus again the State Highway Commission was left without funds and the money then amount- ing to over eight hundred thousand dollars was left in the banks. The bill was then initiated and referred to a vote of the people and lost by only a few votes.

Meantime the Good Roads Association of Colorado, having become a perma- nent association, took up and by its various committees succeeded in finally se- curing, in 1913, adequate road legislation, thus ending a fight which was waged for eight years by good road enthusiasts.

The present state highway commissioner, T. J. Ehrhart, is responsible for the first bill for convict labor on the state roads. This was in 1899, for a convict built state road between Pueblo and Leadville.

The Lewis bill, however, with some amendments, is the one under which convicts are now successfully working. Work began under the Lewis bill in the summer of 1905, on the famous "Sky Line" drive at Canon City, and to Warden John Cleghorn belongs the credit of beginning the system of working convicts without gun guards. I quote from his letter dated September 18, 1906, read at the Denver Good Roads convention, of that year :

"We have been working on an average of seventy-five convicts on the roads in this county (Fremont), under the provisions of the Lewis road law, for more than a year, without gun guard or other protection aside from the overseers in charge of the work. Not one attempt to escape has been made by any member of these road gangs during this period, and it seems to be the ambition of a large percentage of the inmates to attain a place on the road gang. In accordance with the terms of the Lewis law the penitentiary commissioners adopted rules allowing additional good time to each prisoner employed on the roads, and this fact, to- gether with the change from prison conditions afforded by the outside work, seems to serve as a great incentive both for faithful service and good conduct."

The famous highway to the top of the Royal Gorge was opened May 12, 1911,

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by Governor Shafroth. Prisoners from the state penitentiary in Cañon City, working in gangs of from twenty-four to forty, completed the road within eight months. From its highest point Pike's Peak, nearly a hundred miles away, can be seen to the east, and the Sangre de Cristo Range to the south, while 3,000 feet below, like mere streaks, the tracks of the railroad running through the can- yon can be seen.

Work on the "Sky Line" was followed by work on the state road between Trinidad and the New Mexico state line in 1908. The present warden, T. J. Tynan, took charge of the work in 1909, and under his energetic and progres- sive management convict road work has been extended until Colorado now ranks above all other states in this class of work. The record of road building by convicts will be found in the chapters on State Institutions.

The state highway commission now consists of a highway commissioner, ap- pointed by the governor, and an advisory board of five members, holding office from one to five years, respectively. The commission is required to meet four times a year and to appoint a secretary, who is required to be a civil engineer and a practical road builder, to hold office at the pleasure of the commission. The commission is required to prepare a map showing the public roads in each county connecting the roads of sufficient importance to receive state aid and form a connecting system of state roads. The commission is given authority to designate the most important roads as the first to be improved. They are also authorized to make investigations to ascertain the location of road material, etc. The commission is given authority to apportion the state road fund among the counties, taking into consideration area, amount of money expended in con- struction, difficulty and extent of such construction, and extraordinary expenses in connection with the development of new territory. The counties receiving such aid are required to raise an amount equal to the amount set aside by the state, unless the state highway commission should desire to extend further aid to poorer counties, in which case they may extend it to the amount of $5 of state money to $1 of the county's. All money apportioned to counties and not ac- cepted by them is distributed to other counties. The county commissioners are to designate the roads to receive state aid, subject to the approval of the state highway commissioner. The county commissioners must make surveys, prepare plans and specifications, and make estimates and submit them to the state high- way commissioner for approval. Contracts are let by the county commissioners after approval by the state highway commissioner. Construction and mainte- nance are under the supervision of the county commissioners, subject to the ap- proval of the state highway commissioner. The money apportioned by the state highway commission shall be paid to the treasurer of the county on estimates from the state highway commissioner as the work progresses. Annual reports must be made by the county commissioners to the state highway commissioner of all moneys expended on roads during the current year.

Appropriations for state highways are made directly by the Legislature.

In each county a board of three county commissioners serving four-year terms has jurisdiction over local roads. They may appoint a general overseer for all such roads or divide the county into districts and appoint a district overseer for each.

Automobile registration with the secretary of state is required. The fees

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are as follows : 20 h. p. and less, $2.50; 21 h. p. and 40 h. p., $5; 41 h. p. and over, $10; motorcycles, $2; chauffeur's license, $1.

Revenues are divided equally between the state and the county from which the revenue is received. The state's portion is credited to the state road fund, to be expended in improving and maintaining state roads, and the county's por- tion is credited to the road fund of such county. Fines and forfeitures are divided equally between the state and the county and credited in the same way as the registration fees.

The highway officials in 1918 are: State highway commissioner, T. J. Ehr- hart, of Denver. There is an advisory board of five members, composed at this time of Lafayette Hughes, Denver; Leonard E. Curtis, Colorado Springs; Fred J. Radford, Trinidad; L. Boyd Walbridge, Meeker; Frederick Goble, Silverton; and J. E. Maloney, of Littleton, secretary and engineer.

The total length of roads in the state in 1916 was estimated to be thirty-one thousand miles, of which 550 miles were hard surfaced. No roads are completed entirely at the expense of the state, but it is estimated that fifty-five hundred miles had in 1917 been improved partly at the expense of the state and partly at the expense of local subdivisions.

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History of Colorado; Volume I, Part 64

Author: Stone, Wilbur Fiske, 1833-1920, ed Publication date: 1918 Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke Number of Pages: 954

Author: Stone, Wilbur Fiske, 1833-1920, ed
Publication date: 1918
Publisher: Chicago, S. J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 954