USA > Colorado > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 37
USA > Nevada > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 37
USA > Wyoming > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 37
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25 I find mention of a number of the pioneers of 1858 belonging to the set- tlement of Denver who have not been here recorded. William M. Slaughter, from Plattsmouth, Neb., later mayor of Central City, was one of the early arrivals. John J. Reithmann, born in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1838, came to the U. S. at the age of 10 years, and was educated in the public schools of Indianapolis, where he was employed in the bank of the capital. In 1858 the family removed to Council Bluffs, from which place he soon after emi- grated with his brother, L. D. Reithmann, to Colorado. They did not go to Cherry creek, but the latter wintered at a place known as Rough and Ready, 23 miles below the mouth of Cherry creek, on the Platte, while the former returned to Council Bluffs, carrying the first mail between Colorado and Iowa. In the spring of 1859 he recrossed the plains to Denver, where he engaged in manufacturing crackers; and in 1868 began selling drugs. He made a for- tune, and spent it freely in travel and the education of his children. He was president of the German bank-later the German National bank-of Denver, which position he resigned to go abroad. Louis D. Reithmann was also a Swiss, although not of the same family. Brought up in Ohio, he lived after- ward near Indianapolis, and removed to Council Bluffs in 1856, whence he came to Colorado in 1858. He mined until 1865, went to Salt Lake, and thence to Montana, where he opened a bakery in company with Frank Hogert, but three years afterward returned to Colorado and engaged in dairy farming, and later in the grocery trade in Denver. Henry Reitz, a German by birth, learned the trade of a baker in London, after which he came to the U S., working as a painter for a time. On arriving in Colorado, he sold his ox- team, and with the money, opened a bakery, making $3,500 in a few months,
373
THE PIKES PEAK COUNTRY.
But I will not further anticipate. D. C. Oakes having obtained possession of a journal kept by W. Green Russell, who returned with him late in the autumn to the states, published the same with a way- bill, under the title of Pike's Peak Guide and Journal; and although it was printed in the little town of Pacific City in Mills county, Iowa, it was widely cir- culated with similar publications, causing a large emi- gration to set out for the mountains as soon as the grass began to start in the spring, and even before. On the white covers of thousands of wagons was inscribed "Pike's Peak," often with the addition of some jocose legend;26 this conspicuous landmark, in the absence of an official name for this region, stand- ing for all the country from which this mountain was visible.
In April 1859 there were ten or twelve hundred persons encamped at Auraria and Denver, the advance of that army stretching across the great plains from the Missouri river in different lines, but principally up the Platte valley. Among the first to arrive was D. C. Oakes, with a saw-mill, which he placed on
after which he went to mining, and accumulated a comfortable fortune by that means, and by painting. Edmund A. Willoughby, son of Gen. Frank- lin Willoughby, was born in Groton, N. Y., Jan. 6, 1836, and removed in 1857 to Omaha, Neb. In 1858 he joined a party for Pike's peak, which ar- rived Oct. 27th at Cherry creek, where he associated himself with M. A. Avery in contracting and building, erecting, among other structures, Denver hall, famous in early times. He manufactured the Willoughby brick. He was sheriff of Arapahoe county in 1873, and two years alderman of the 4th ward of Denver. Andrew Sagendorf was born in N. Y., Aug. 26, 1828, and bred a farmer. In 1856 he removed to Neb., and in 1858 he left Omaha for Pike's peak, and arrived at Cherry creek November 5th, remaining there over winter. In the spring he went prospecting, and with others discovered Spanish bar, where he mined until July. Returning to Auraria he was elected secretary of the town company, which office he held for two years. He was also weighing clerk in the mint at Denver in 1863. In 1866 he was appointed postmaster for Denver, holding the office three years. He subse- quently erected the government buildings at the White River Ute agency, and afterward engaged in stock raising in Douglas county. In 1874 he re- moved to Colorado Springs, and for two years ran the express and transfer line, and finally went into the drug business in this place.
26 One wagon bore the inscription, 'Pike's Peak or bust !' The disap- pointed gold seeker returned soon after with his addenda: 'Busted, by Thunder !' emblazoned on his wagon cover. Elbert's Public Men and Measures, MS., 2; Ingersoll's Knockiny around the Rockies, 6; Sopris' Settlement of Denver, MS., 1.
374
GOLD DISCOVERIES.
Plum creek, twenty miles south of Denver, and which furnished the first lumber for the improvement of that town on the 21st of April.21 On that same day there arrived from Omaha a newspaper company with a printing press, which was destined to do as much toward building up the town of Denver as the saw- mill, though in a different way. The head of the company was William N. Byers, who, like Oakes, had published a Guide to Pike's Peak, which had been extensively sold to the immigrants.28 It happened that before he arrived at Cherry creek signs of a panic began to appear, and he encountered persons who threatened to have satisfaction of him for having raised expectation by his Guide which had not been fulfilled. Oakes was regarded with still greater dis- favor, because he had been the first to represent Pike's peak as a mining region, and his name was mentioned with execrations.29 Henry Allen and William Lari-
27 The first lumber was purchased by Richard Wooten, who came to Colo- rado in 1838, and Thomas Pollock, who erected the first frame houses. Den- ver Hist., 186. Wooten was living in Trinidad in 1882. Denver Colorado Antelope, April, 1882. The 2d saw mill was erected by Little, and the 3d by Whittemore. Sopris' Settlement of Denver, MS., 12.
28 Mr Byers had a most important influence in shaping the history of Col- orado. I am indebted to him for very valuable material, collected during a tour through the state of Colorado in 1884, in four different manuscript con- tributions; namely, History of Colorado, The Newspaper Press of Colorado, The Sand Creek Affair, and The Centennial State, each filled with the very essence of history. Byers was born in Ohio, Feb. 22, 1831. At the age of 19 he removed to Iowa, and joined a government surveying party for Cal. and Or. in 1851, returning to Washington in 1853, after which he settled at Omaha, then in its infancy. He continued surveying until he came to Colo. In changing his occupation he followed the natural bent of his mind, and made the best use of his talents. He founded the Rocky Mountain News, the first newspaper issued in Colorado. The first number appeared April 22d, the day after his arrival, and proceeded by 20 minutes the Cherry Creek Pioneer, owned by Jack Merrick of St Joseph, who, being beaten in the race, sold to Thomas Gibson, also of the News, and never issued a second number of his paper. This left a clear field for Byers and Gibson, which they im- proved. George C. Monell of Omaha had an interest in the News, but turned back on his way to Denver, and sold it. Byers' Hist. Colo, MS.
29 The following distich was made familiar to thousands on the plains:
' Here lies the body of D. C. Oakes, Killed for aiding the Pike's Peak hoax.'
Hill's Tales of Colo Pioneers, 27. His effigy was buried by the wayside, and on a buffalo skull planted at the head was written:
' Here lies the bones of Major Oakes,
The author of this God damned hoax.'
375
ANGRY GOLD SEEKERS.
mer came in for a share of blame also. There was as little reason in this revengeful feeling as there had been in the unbounded credulity which had led them on the first unproved statement of a bookmaker to hasten to place themselves in the front rank of gold- seekers.
But their panic was not groundless. Gold had not yet been found in amount to justify any excitement, although it was the belief of old miners on the ground that it was there. Very few of those who came to mine knew anything of indications, or the methods of mining. They needed to be taught; but until mining had been begun they could learn nothing. Other employments there were none at that early date. The last argument for quitting the country was fur- nished on the 16th of April, when a man named John Scudder killed another named Bassett in a quarrel. If a course of outlawry was about to commence, they would none of that country ; so away they went like senseless steers-senseless in coming or in returning -- stampeding down the Platte sixty or seventy strong, swearing they would kill D. C. Oakes and W. N. Byers if peradventure they could lay hands on them.
On foot, unfurnished with transportation or pro- visions for a journey of such length, the backward moving men kept on. The stories they told of Pike's peak affairs were at least as exaggerated as the rep- resentations of the guide-books which they condemned, big lies in their minds seemingly being neccessary to. counteract the effect of big lies. And every man they turned back added to the apparent weight of evidence, gaining like a rolling snow-ball. If sixty could turn back sixty, twice sixty could turn back their own number at least, and 240 might be able to influence not only 480, but, by that power which crowds have to create a state of feeling, a much larger number could be made to share in the alarm. Of the 150,000 persons on the plains in the spring
376
GOLD DISCOVERIES.
and summer of 1859, not less than 50,000 were thus turned back. This was doubtless the greatest suc- cess these sixty men ever achieved ; and their reward was free transportation for themselves, and provisions for the journey. The return began far up the Platte, and many who had loaded their wagons with mer- chandise to sell in the mines, or property for their own use, threw it away rather than tax their tired oxen to drag it back five or six hundred miles to the Missouri river. The route was strewn with goods of every description for hundreds of miles, and of the 100,000 that pushed on to the mountains, less than 40,000 remained there. Some tarried but a few weeks, and others remained all summer, going home when cold weather approached.
But there was really something back of all this running to and fro, this seemingly wasted effort. It was slow in appearing, revealing itself little by little in a tantalizing fashion which is sufficient apology for the discontent of those who imagined gold could be picked up like pebbles. On the 15th of January 1859, gold was discovered in a small affluent of Boulder creek, to which the name of Gold run was given; and about the end of January a discovery was made in a gulch filled with fallen timber, on the south Boulder, and called Deadwood diggings.30 In the spring J. D. Scott discovered a gold-bearing quartz vein, and named it after himself, the Scott, and the place Gold hill. Out of these discoveries grew the town of Boulder
On the 6th of May a party of Chicago men, headed by George Jackson, a California miner, made a rich discovery on a branch of Clear creek. The diggings took the name of Chicago bar, or Jackson diggings, and soon overflowed with anxious miners, many of
30 Compare Moore's Early Days in Denver, MS .; Sopris' Settlement of Den- ver, MS .; Byers' Hist. Colorado, MS .; Bradford's Hist. Colorado, MS .; and Hollister's Mines of Colorado.
377
MINING CAMPS.
whom were compelled to look further for want of room. A short distance above the mouth of Fall river and Chicago bar was Spanish bar, so called because there were evidences of former mining at that place ; in the vicinity were Fall river and Grass Val- ley mining camps. But the principal camp on this part of Clear creek was opposite Jackson diggings, and became the foundation of the town of Idaho Springs, which began to take shape the following year.
On the 10th another party, led by John H. Greg- ory, a Georgian,31 made a discovery just over the
31 Gregory was a lazy fellow from Gordon county, Georgia, and drove a government team from Leavenworth to Fort Laramie in 1858, intending to go to Fraser river, but being detained at Laramie by want of means had drifted off to Clear creek, and with some others had encamped at a point between Denver and Golden, and called the place Arapahoe. It is said by Hollister, in his Mines of Colorado, 63, that he prospected in January, and found the color in the north fork of Clear creek; and that being out of pro- visions he was forced to return to camp. It does not appear that he made any further effort for several months. He was finally 'grub staked ' (furnished with provisions for an interest in his success) by David K. Wall, and induced to lead a party, consisting of Wilkes De Frees, his brother, and Kendall, to the mountains and the stream where he had seen the color. The party set out in April, proceeding from Arapahoe up the north forth of Vasquez or Clear creek, climbing many successive ridges, and floundering through snow banks, until they came to the mouth of a gulch near the head of the creek, and consequently well up in the mountains. Here Gregory suggested that it would be well to dig and look for float gold. While the other men dug he looked on. They obtained a fair prospect, and went on excavating. Then said Gregory to Wilkes De Frees, who had grub staked him, 'Bring your shovel, and come with me.' They went about 300 feet further up the side of the gulch, when Gregory pointed to the ground and said, 'Here is a good looking spot; stick your shovel in there, Wilk.' De Frees obeyed, turning over a few shovelfuls of earth. 'Give me some in the pan,' said Gregory again, and De Frees filled the pan half full of dirt, which the Georgian pro- ceeded to wash at the little stream running through a gulch close at hand. Tl e product of that half pan of dirt was half an ounce of gold ! Gregory went back for another panful, with the same result. Claims were immediately staked off. The effect of his extraordinary fortune crazed the weak brain of poor Gregory. All through the night sleep deserted him, and his companions heard his self-communings. He sold his discovery claim, under the impres- sion that he could easily find another as good. The price he obtained, $22, - 000, was a fortune to him. At length, in 1861-2, he disappeared from a hotel in Illinois, and was never seen again. The man to whom Gregory sold his mine was Edward W. Henderson. He was born in Austinburg, Ohio, Nov. 29, 1818, and bred a farmer, receiving a common school education. In 1844 he removed to Iowa, and from there he went to Pike's peak, where he arrived in April 1859. After prospecting for a few weeks, he went to Greg- ory gulch on the 16th of May, and on the 29th, in company with Ainos Gridley, he purchased the Gregory claims, paying for them out of the pro- ceeds of the mine. It was a fortunate venture, although he lost some of the money he made in other ones. He erected a quartz mill in 1861, where the Eureka foundry later stood, in company with D. A. January, Ely R. Lack- land, and Judge Lackland, in which was a loss. He afterward purchased a
*
378
GOLD DISCOVERIES.
mountains west of Jackson bar, on the north fork of Clear creek, the richest ever found in Colorado, and one of the richest in the world. These discoveries arrested the backward flow of immigration to some extent. Not less than 30,000 persons hastened after Jackson when they heard of Chicago bar, and when Gregory point was made known they threw them- selves in there pell mell, each striving to be first.
But the Gregory party had taken the precaution before giving their discovery publicity to admit their friends and organize a district, with rules and regula- tions by which all future claimants should be gov- erned.32 Comparatively few of those who came found ground to work;33 for which reason much discontent was exhibited, and a mass meeting was called to change the laws of the district. 34 The new-comers were unable to cope with the more experienced miners, and were surprised to find that the committee appointed by themselves to revise the laws made no material change in them. They had failed to perceive that the pioneers were mingling with the assemblage in every part, nominating their men on the committee. Not knowing the nominees, the malcontents voted mill at Gregory point in company with Gridley, but lost in this transaction also. He finally consolidated his claims with four others, and sold out to a New York company, his share of the price obtained being $100,000, In 1873 he was appointed receiver of the U. S. land office at Central City. Clear Creek and Boulder Val. Hist., 454-5.
$2 The mining laws adopted were nearly identical with those of California, defining the boundaries of the district; forbidding the taking of more than one claim of a kind, except by purchase properly attested; fixing the extent of a mountain claim at 100 feet on the lode and 50 feet in width; and of a gulch or creek claim at 100 feet along the creek or gulch, and extending from bank to bank; limiting the time of holding without working to 10 days; giv- ing the discoverer a 'discovery claim,' in addition to his working claim, which he could work or not as he chose; dividing the water of a stream equally be- tween miners, etc. Disputes were to be settled by arbitration. On the 9th of July another meeting was held, at which it was resolved to elect by ballot a president of the district, a recorder of claims, and a sheriff. Richard Sopris was chosen president, C. A. Roberts recorder, and Charles Peck sheriff. A committee was also appointed to codify the laws of the district. Hollister's Mines of Colo, 77-9.
33 Bates and Taschuer hired Gregory at a high price to prospect for them, and together they found the celebrated Bates lode. Colo Gazetteer, 174.
34 Byers, who was present at this meeting, describes it as looking like a ' flock of blackbirds,' so thickly were the sides of the gulch covered with men. Hist. Colo, MS. 34.
379
GOLD FIELDS.
them into office, and accepted their report because they had done so, with a suspicion that they had been outwitted.
Prospecting continued in the mountains, a number of discoveries being made on the headwaters of north Clear creek, Boulder, south Clear creek, and the Platte. Early in June W. Green Russell commenced mining on a tributary of north Clear creek, a little south of, but parallel with, the Gregory claims, in a ravine which took the name of Russell gulch. Six men in one week took out seventy-six ounces of gold, worth from sixteen to eighteen dollars to the ounce. 35 Something over 200 men were at work in Nevada and Illinois gulches and Missouri flat, tributaries of Gregory and Russell gulches, who were producing an average of $9,000 a week. In the latter part of Sep- tember there were about 900 men at work in Russell gulch, taking out an average of $35,000 a week. Water becoming scarce, ditches were constructed to bring it from Fall river to Russell and Gregory gulches, which cost the miners $100,000. The dis- tricts discovered in 1859 in what were later Clear creek and Gilpin counties were, besides Gregory, Russell, Spanish bar, and Jackson, Nevada district, Lake gulch, Griffith, Illinois Central, Enterprise, Central, Eureka, and Virginia. The discoveries in these districts were numerous enough to employ many, 86 but by no means all who sought for claims.
35 William Green Russell remained in Colorado until 1862, and made con- siderable money. On his way east he was arrested for a confederate at Santa Fé, but he was released and returned to Colorado, where he remained until 1875, when he removed to the Cherokee country, his wife being a woman of that nation, and died a few years afterward. Bradford's Hist. Colo, MS., 4; Sopris' Settlement of Denver, MS., 2.
36 I give herewith the names of mines and their discoverers in IS59: In Gilpin county, the Alger, by William Alger; American Flag; Barrett, by Wesley Barrett; Burroughs, Benjamin Burroughs; Briggs, Briggs Brothers; Butler, James D. Wood; Connelly and Beverly, Connelly and Beverly; Dean- Castro, Dean and Castro; Gaston, James Gaston; Gunnell, Harry Gunnell; Hill House, Payne & Co .; Ingles, Webster & Co .; Indiana, Thomas Brothers; Jennings, Thomas Jennings; Kansas, James Madison; Kentucky, Jones and Hardesty; Miller, A. Miller; Mack, W. Mack; Missouri; Roderick Dhu, Stevens and Hall; Smith, A. A. Smith; Snow, James Snow; Tarryall; To- peka, Joseph Hurst; Tucker, John Nichols; Virginia, J. Oxley; Whiting,
380
GOLD DISCOVERIES.
A rumor of discovery, and they swarmed at that place, alighting like locusts upon a field which could not furnish ground for one in a thousand of those who came. Finding themselves too late, they swarmed again at some other spot, which they abandoned in a similar manner.
Out of this ceaseless activity grew worthy results. From Araphoe 3 at the mouth of Table mountain canon, where they had gathered during the winter,
Chase
New York Gul
NE BAGO
en
GIL
ProsseryGut
Hill
unne
SURROUGHS
Gulch
CARDNER
ike
Nevada
MERCER CY.
Lake Gulch
FLACKS
Quartz Hill
ALPS
Ditch
Cle
Consolida
PERRI
Virginia Canon
Road to Idaho
Gulch
MINES OF GILPIN COUNTY.
Whiting & Co .; Wood, Robert Wood; Leavenworth, Harsh Brothers; Cali- fornia, Hutchinson; French F. Terndull; St Louis. In Clear creek county the Griffith, George F. Griffith, and the Virginia. These were discoveries which proved to be real lodes, called at first ' mountain diggings' to distin- guish them from the gulch and bar diggings; but these were not all. There seems to have been a good uniform yield, but never an extraordinary pro- duction as in some parts of Idaho and Montana. Hollister, in Mines of Colo, 66-7, gives the yield of the decomposed quartz in these mountains digging3 as follows: the highest day's income from the Gregory, working it with a sluice, was $495, and the lowest $21. Zeigler, Spain, & Co. cleaned up in three weeks on the Gregory $2,400. De Frees & Co., cleaned up $2,080 in 12 days with one sluice. Keller, Patton, & Fletcher averaged with 5 hands $100 a day on the Bates lode. From $125 to $450 a day were obtained from single sluices, working four men: and so on.
37 Arapahoe was staked off by George B. Allen. It contained in 1859 nearly 100 houses, but was soon after deserted and converted into farms. Clear Creek and Boulder Val. Hist., 547. Allen became a resident of a farm near Golden. He was born in Albany, N. Y., May 17, 1825. In 1846 he removed to Akron, Ohio, and subsequently to Defiance, where he remained
Eureka Gulch
North
381
TOWN-BUILDING.
went the founders of Golden, 38 Golden Gate, Mount Vernon, Central City, and Nevada,39 all on the afflu- ents of Clear creek. Golden Town company was formed in the spring of 1859, and was an afterthought of its organizers, who were encamped at the Gate of the Mountains, or the mouth of the canon of Clear creek. The trail to the mines crossed the creek here,4º and the water being high, J. M. Ferrell con- structed first a foot-bridge and then a toll-bridge for teams, and improved the road, making his bridge a good piece of property, as well as the first of its kind in Colorado. Many persons gathered there, attracted by the natural beauties of the scenery, or encamped preparatory to entering the mountains, suggesting thereby a town, when a company was formed, consist- ing of D. Wall, J. M. Ferrell. J, C. Kirby, J. C. Bowles, Mrs Williams, W. A. H. Loveland, H. J. Carter, Ensign Smith, William Davidson, F. W. Bee- bee, E. L. Berthoud, Stanton, Clark, and Garrison. They called themselves the Boston company ; and having selected two sections of land laid out half a section in lots and blocks, the remainder not being surveyed until the following year. A saw-mill and five years. Having lost a stock of goods by fire he engaged in brokerage and then in buying and selling stock. In 1857 he removed to Doniphan, Kansas, but on account of failing health determined to cross the plains. After laying out Auraria and Arapahoe, he became interested in quartz and lumber mills. He moved his saw mill across the mountain into California Gulch in 1861, and 'blew the first whistle across the range.' In 1864 he took 160 acres of land on Clear creek where he made himself a home.
38 The first settlers of Golden were W. A. H. Loveland, John M. Ferrell, Fox Deifenderf, P. B. Cheney, Dr Hardy, George Jackson, Charles M. Fer- rell, John F. Kirby, T. P. Boyd, William Pollard, James McDonald, George West, Mark Blunt, Charles Remington, E. B. Smith, J. C. Bowles, Daniel McCleary, I. B. Fitzpatrick, and W. J. McKay.
39 J. M. Beverly built the first cabin in Nevada, and was elected recorder of the district in the autumn, besides being sheriff and justice of the peace. During the winter he located Beverly's discovery on the Burroughs lode. In 1852 he erected a quartz mill in Nevada gulch. He returned to Chicago in IS68 and was married there; but in the great fire of 1871 he lost all his accu- mulations and began the study of the law. After being admitted to the bar hc revisited Colorado, where he located and purchased a number of mines, which were profitably worked. Beverly was born in Culpepper county, Vir- ginia, in 1843.
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