USA > Colorado > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 45
USA > Nevada > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 45
USA > Wyoming > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 45
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POLITICAL AFFAIRS.
resentative to the forty-fourth congress, while the democrats elected a representative to the forty-fifth congress.42 John L. Routt was chosen governor, Lafayette Head " lieutenant-governor. William G. Clark " secretary of state, D. C. Crawford " auditor, George C. Corning 4G
treasurer, A. J. Sampson 47
42 It is not a little singular that, for the second time, Patterson was elected to represent Colorado in congress through a blunder of the dominant party. The territorial secretary had ordered an election for representatives for the 44th congress, to be held on the 3d of Oct., and another election for the 45th congress on the 7th ot Nov. But the people voted for James B. Belford for both congresses on the 3d of Oct thinking to save themselves trouble. On the 7th of Nov., however, the democrats voted, and elected Patterson by almost the entire vote The canvassing board refused to count it, but after a long contest in congress, Patterson gained his seat, and was, as he had been before, a useful representative
43 Lafayette Head was born in Mo. in 1825, enlisted in the 2d regt, Mo. vol., and fought in the battles of La Canado, Embudo, Taos, and Santa Clara springs. After the peace he settled in New Mexico as a merchant at Abiquiú, and was appointed U. S. marshal of the northern district of that territory for three years. In 1861 he was sheriff of Rio Arriba co. for two years, and was elected to the legislature from that co. in 1863. In 1855 he was commissioned a lieut in Col St Vrain's regt of volunteers, which served 6 months against the Utes and Apaches. The following year he was elected from Taos to the legislature, and was subsequently chosen to fill a vacancy in the council, of which he was president in 1857. He received the appoint- ment of special agent for the Utes and Apaches in 1859, holding the office 9 years. He was elected councilman in the Colorado legislature from Conejos co. in 1874, and delegate to the constitutional convention in 1875. He re- ceived 14, 191 votes, against 13,093 given to the opposing candidate, Michael Beshoar, for lieut-gov.
44 William G. Clark was born in Pa, enlisted in 1861 as a private in com- pany F, 28th regt, afterward E of the 47th regt, Pa volunteers. He was cap- tain of his company when he was mustered out in 1865. He came to Colo- rado in 1866, settling in Clear Creek co., and engaging in mining, soon becoming known, and being elected to be supt of schools, appointed clerk of the district court, elected member of the legislature, appointed brig .- gen. of militia, and elected a member of the constitutional convention. He received at the first state election 14,582 votes, against 12,843 for James T. Smith, democrat.
45 David C. Crawford was a native of Canada, removed to Mich. and Wis., and in 1860 came to Colorado. He first engaged in mining in Gilpin and Boulder counties, in 1862 in merchandising in Park co., and in 1865 in farm- ing in Jefferson co. He was elected clerk and recorder for the latter county in 1867, and afterward opened a real estate and insurance office, becoming in 1875 proprietor of the Crawford house at Colorado Springs. He married Amanda J Thornton of Golden. His opponent for the office of auditor was J. F. Benedict, whom he beat by 922 votes.
46 George C. Corning was born in Ohio in 1837, organized the bank of To- peka, Kansas, in 1868, and in 1870 settled at Boulder in Colorado, where he opened a bank. The republican vote for treasurer stood 14,038 against 13,310 for Thomas M. Field, democrat.
47 Archibald J Sampson was born in Ohio, and entered the union army in 1861. He was promoted to a captaincy, but at Hatcher's Run, Va, was dis- abled for life and discharged. He then studied law in the Cleveland law school, beginning to practise in 1866 at Sedalia, Mo,, and married the
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STATE OFFICERS.
attorney-general, Joseph C. Shattuck 48 superintend- ent of public instruction. James B. Belford " was elected representative in the forty-fourth and forty- fifth congresses, although his seat in the latter was successfully contested by Thomas M. Patterson, owing to a misapprehension concerning the day of election.
On the Ist of November the General Assembly of the state of Colorado convened at noon. On the 3d, Judge Brazee administered the oath of office to the executive officers. Early in the session two United States senators were chosen-Jerome B. Chaffee and Henry M. Teller 50-and three presidential electors, Herman Beckurts, W. L. Hadley, and Otto Mears. The assembly did not adjourn until March 20, 1877.
Three judges of the supreme court were elected by the people ; namely, Henry C. Thatcher, Samuel H. Elbert, and Ebenezer T. Wells, Thatcher drawing the short term of three years, which made him the first chief justice,61 Elbert the six years' term and the
daughter of Judge Allen C. Turner of his native town the same year. He declined office in Mo., and the consulate of Palestine, but was presidential elector in 1872. He came to Colorado in 1874, settling at Cañon City in the practice of his profession, until elected attorney-general of the new state, against G. Q. Richmond, by 963 votes.
48 Joseph C. Shattuck was born in N. H. in 1835, and educated at the Westminster seminary, Vt, and Wesleyan ;university, Conn., but without completing the course. He married Hattie M. Knight of Marlborough in 1838, and migrated to Mo., where he was a teacher. In 1870 he came to Colorado with the Greeley colony, of which he was vice-president and mana- ger. He was elected to the legislature from Weld co. in 1874. His majority over G. B. Groesbeck, democrat, in 1876, was 1,831.
49 James B. Belford was born in Pa, and came to Colorado in 1870, having been appointed associate justice of the supreme court, which position he held until the admission of the state.
5) U. S. Oficial Register, 1877, 2. Teller drew the long term ending 1883. He was born in N. Y. in 1830, and practised law in Ill. He had been a re- publican since the organization of the party, and taken part in the campaign of 1860 for Lincoln. In 1861 he came to Colorado, settling at Central City in the practice of his profession, in partnership with H. A. Johnson, and sub- sequently with his brother, Willard Teller. He was appointed by Gov. Evans maj. - gen. of the territorial militia in 1863. He organized in 1865 the Colorado Central railroad company, of which he was for five years president, and has promoted many business enterprises. In the U. S. senate he distin- guished himself, while laboring for Colorado, by his report on the election frauds in southern states, which he, as chairman of a committee, was forced to investigate. He was also chairman of the senate committee on civil ser- vice reform.
51 Henry C. Thatcher was born in Pa in 1842, completed his law studies in the Albany university, from which he graduated in 1866, coming directly
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POLITICAL AFFAIRS.
chief justiceship for three years, and Wells the term for nine years. Wells was a man of fine character and ability, but resigned soon after election. The bar of Colorado, in convention, nominated Wilbur F. Stone to fill the vacancy, a nomination which met the hearty approval of the public, and which was con- firmed at the next general election. Four district judges were elected for six years ; namely, William E. Beck, Victor A. Elliott, John W. Henry, and Thomas M. Bowen, in the order in which they are here given. The attorneys for the four districts were Edward O. Wolcott, David B. Graham, James M. Waldron, and Columbus W. Burris. A full set of regents for the university, trustees of the school of mines, managers of the penitentiary, trustees of the deaf and mute institute, and members of the state board of agricul- ture, were also elected, such was the care of those having affairs in charge that the state should com- mence its career in the possession of all its dignities.
The population of Colorado, when admitted, was 135,000, the disproportion of the sexes remarked upon a decade earlier having in a great degree be- come adjusted. Its boundaries remained the same. Its assessed valuation, exclusive of untaxable mining property, amounted, in real and personal property, to $44,130,205. Upon this the legislature fixed the limit of taxation, for all purposes, at twenty-three mills. In 1879 the state tax had been reduced to one and a half mills on the dollar, while the local taxes were correspondingly reduced. There was no funded debt, and the floating indebtedness was small, owing to a clause in the constitution prohibiting the state,
to Colorado, and settling at Pueblo. He was appointed, in 1868, U. S. atty for the district of Colorado, holding the office but little more than a year, when he resigned. He was an active member of the constitutional conven- tion in 1875, being chairman of several of the most important committees. In person he was six feet in height, with bright blue eyes, and possessed of genial manners. 'Thatcher,' says Pitkin, 'made one of the ablest judges ever on the bench. He declined reelection. He died at San Francisco, while on a visit there, at the age of 41, of Bright's disease.' Political Views, MS., 8; Hallett's Courts, Law, and Litigation, MS.
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PUBLIC LANDS.
counties, or cities from loaning their credit. These were magnificent measures for a young commonwealth to adopt.
The public lands received through the enabling act were the 500,000 acres granted to all the new states by the law of 1841; 50 sections for the erection of public buildings ; 50 sections for a penitentiary ; 72 sections for a state university ; six sections adjacent to twelve salt springs ; the sixteenth and thirty-sixth sections for common school purposes, besides the usual five per centum of the 'proceeds of the sale of agricultural public lands to be applied to internal im- provements. I have shown how this dower of some of the north-western states was wasted. Governor Routt had witnessed the same fraudulent use of the school and other lands in Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska, The constitution of Colorado made the governor and secretary a board to select the state lands. To their everlasting honor, instead of squandering these lands upon party favorites, they labored to make them pro- duce the highest amount for the purposes for which they were intended. The plan adopted was not to offer the school lands for sale, the chief part being so situated as not to be irrigable, and therefore not worth more than the minimum price of $2.50 an acre, but to lease them for an amount equal to the interest on their present value, and hold them for pasturage, or for any purposes. It was found they brought between $40,000 and $50,000 annual rental. Seventy- eight miles of land along the Republican river was also entered for the state. The legislature then passed a bill authorizing the sale of alternate sections of state land, the purchasers contracting to construct ditches of sufficient capacity to water their land and the state land through which the ditch was carried. By this means also the value of the unsold land was raised in some situations to $30 per acre, and the school lands of Colorado acquired a value of many millions more than they were worth when the state
448
POLITICAL AFFAIRS.
received them. Wisely the public institutions of the state, instead of being supported by legislative appro- priations offering temptations to jobbing members, are sustained by a direct tax for the purpose designed. The result of this care for the public funds is the rapid accomplishment of those beneficent objects for which the gifts of the general government were intended or for which the state is taxed.
The successor of Routt in the executive office was Frederick W. Pitkin, during whose administration the Ute war took place, of which I shall speak in another place. A serious riot in Leadville and an- other in Denver were the chief events in 1879-80. In the former instance martial law was proclaimed in Leadville to bring to reason the miners who had organized a strike, and suspended every branch of business. It was expected that the governor's action would destroy all chance of his reelection ; but such proved not to be the case. During his first term he had become a sort of Admirable Crichton to the people, and if he lost any of his former influence in his second term, it was through being a candidate for the United States senatorship and having active rivals in the race. The lieutenant-governor during his adminis- tration was Horace A. W. Tabor,52 and the secretary of state N. H. Meldrum. 53 Belford was elected rep-
52 Tabor was elected lieut-gov. in 1878, and became such for Pitkin's second term by succession, the vice-governor elect, George B. Robinson, having been assassinated, and the president of the senate by law succeeding him.
53 Frederick W. Pitkin was born in Manchester, Conn., in 1837 of an hon- orable line of ancestry, the Pitkins and Griswolds of Conn., and educated at the Wesleyan university of Middleton, from which he graduated in 1858. He studied law at the Albany law school, and after graduating removed to Mil- waukee, Wis., in 1860, where he enjoyed a lucrative practice until failing · health compelled him to seek a change of climate. He visited Europe in 1873, and subsequently Florido without benefit, and in 1874 came to Colorado, where he has obtained a degree of health which has enabled him to reëngage in business pursuits. George B. Robinson was assassinated Nov. 27, 1880, a few weeks after his election, under the following circumstances: Some miners had taken offence at certain tyrannies practised by the manager of the Rob- inson consolidated mine in Summit co., aud Robinson had been appealed to for the removal of the obnoxious manager without effect, he having no power to remove without the consent of the other trustees. On the evening of the 27th Robinson, with two other men, visited the mine, and was challenged by the guard, who hearing no answer, discharged his gun. An autopsy, how-
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REPRESENTATION AND APPROPRIATION.
resentative to congress in 1878, by a majority of more than 2,000 over the democratic candidate, Patterson, and twice reelected, his majority at his last election being 2,737 over the democratic candidate, Wallace. In 1884 George G. Symes was elected representa- tive in congress.
The governor who succeeded Pitkin was James B. Grant, a man of large means, fine ability,5* educated, methodical, even-tempered, and strong enough to act upon his own convictions. He was the first demo- crat honored with an election to the executive office.55 The lieutenant-governor elected with him was Wil- liam H. Meyers. Grant was succeeded by Benjamin H. Eaton, elected in 1884,56 a man of strong and quiet character, and acquainted with the history and the requirments of the country. The lieutenant-gov- ernor elected with Eaton was P. W. Breene. Na-
ever, revealed a number of wounds from bullets and shots fired from a posi- tion in the rear, while the guard swore that he fired upward in such a man- ner as not to have hit the murdered man. Other testimony confirmed the suspicion of foul play. He came to Colorado in 1877 from Mich., and engaged in wholesale and retail grocery business. He was a man of educa- tion and culture, and was worth $2,000,000. Denver Tribune, Nov. 28, 1880.
^^ James B. Grant was born in Ala, in 1848. On the breaking out of the civil war, although but 13 years of age, he joined the confederate army, spending several months in the field, after which he went to reside with his uncle, Judge Grant, of Davenport, Iowa, who sent him to the agricultural college of that state, where he spent 6 years, subsequently taking a course at the university of Cornell, and finishing his education by travel and study in a German university.
55 Routt's Territory and State, MS., 6. Grant's opponent, E. L. Campbell, was defeated by political legerdemain, though it was said it was on account of unfitness. He was fairly nominated in the republican convention. Among the candidates for nomination was H. R. Wolcott, asst manager of the Argo Smelting works, of which N. P. Hill was manager. Chaffee was chairman of the republican state committee, and Hill, who was in the U. S. senate, and who had been opposed by Chaffee, wished to defeat his measures and lessen his power, in order to get an enemy out of the way before the next senatorial contest. Hill and Wolcott, with their friends, bolted from the republican party with the object of weakening Chaffee, rather than with regard to the fitness of the candidate for governor. It was fortunate that their antagonism elected so good a man, and unfortunate that the reason they gave for it was prejudicial to the defeated candidate.
56 Benjamin Harrison Eaton was born in Ohio in 1834, and brought up on a farm. Being ambitious he studied and taught school until the Pike's peak fever carried him to Colorado. He began mining in California gulch, but soon turned his attention to farming, being the first settler near the town of Greeley. He later owned and cultivated 7,000 acres of land, all of which he irrigated. Irrigation in Colorado owes much to him. He was also interested in cattle raising and mining.
HIST. NEV. 29
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POLITICAL AFFAIRS.
thaniel P. Hill was chosen in 1879 to succeed Chaffee in the United States senate.57 His services to the state during six years in the senate were not unim- portant. He secured the removal of the White river and Uncompahgre Utes to Utah, and the opening of the reservation to settlement, which added 12,000,000 acres of land to the wealth of the state. He obtained a land office at Gunnison for the convenience of set- tlers on these lands ; an appropriation of $20,000 to bore artesian wells in the arid regions of the state ; the exchange of such sixteenth and thirty-sixth sec- tions of school land as fell in the mineral regions for agricultural land; $300,000 to erect a United States court-house in Denver ; improvements in the mining law, enabling miners to make adverse claims before the clerk of the district where they happened to be, instead of in the district where the claim was located, as before, and also enabling them to take the oath of citizenship without the trouble and expense of a jour- ney to some distant point ; made Denver a port of delivery, enabling merchants to import direct from foreign countries through the seaports ; secured the Hot Spring reservation to settlers ; procured authority for the postmaster-general to extend mail facilities in rapidly increasing settlements without waiting for congressional action ; and secured on increased rate of fees in certain cases where the old law worked a hard- ship to witnesses in the United States courts. Nor was his labor given altogether to local affairs, but he combatted the great land stealing corporations, which upon one pretense and another were wheedling con- gress out of the public domain; he labored for the
51 Colo Jour. House, 1879, 111-12. Hill was born in Orange co., N. Y., in 1832, and brought up on a farm, of which he was left in charge at the age of 16 years. He was the son of an old-time democrat, who had represented his county in the general assembly, and held the office of county judge, and not- withstanding unusual responsibilities for his years, found time to fit himself for college which he entered at the age of 21, at Brown university, Provi- dence, R. I. In 1856 he was made tutor in the chemical department, and in 1860 professor of chemistry, a calling which led directly to his usefulness in and his connection with Colorado, as has already been indicated in the history of mining.
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EXECUTIVE AND JUDICIARY.
postal telegraph bill, for a tariff on wool, and for a better national financial policy. But nothing more commended him to the people of Colorado than his attitude on the silver question, as the advocate of a bi-metallic currency. Upon this subject he became the peer of senators Stewart and Jones of Nevada, and many republicans desired his reelection in 18845 58
on this ground. But having in 1882 used some polit- ical weapons against a rival, these were turned upon himself at last, cutting him off from a career for which he was well qualified. Henry M. Teller, senator from 1877 to 1883, was appointed to the cabinet when Arthur came to the presidency. To fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Teller, Governor Pitkin appointed George M. Chilcott, who had been prom- inently before the legislature in 1879 as candidate with Hill for the senatorship. In the contest for the appointment in 1883 the principal candidates were Routt, Tabor, and Bowen, three millionaires, and each fought hard for the position, but Pitkin chose Chil- cott. Pitkin himself was an aspirant, and the politi- ical gossips said that a strong pressure was brought to bear upon the governor by the others, they promising that if his choice should fall upon one of them for the appointment they would use their influence with the legislature when it met to have him elected to the senate. Pitkin, however, resisted the combination, which punished him by defeating him when he became openly a candidate. Tabor was elected for the thirty days remaining of the Teller-Chilcott term, and
58 Denver Tribune, Oct. 26, 1884; Senate Miscel., 47th cong. 2d sess., i. no. 8, p. 10. A silver congress was held at Denver in January 1885, to which Belford and Symes were delegates from Colorado. The points laid down in the resolutions were Ist the doctrine of bi-metalism, as embodied in the U. S. laws previous to 1873; 2d that the interests of trade demanded free coinage at the existing standard; 3d a demand that congress should withdraw from circulation $1 and $2 bills; 4th censure of the secretaries of the treasury for unlawful evasions of the provisions of the Bland bill; 5th a demand for amendments to the National bank act, compelling them to keep 15 per cent of their legal reserve in silver; 6th that congress should restore silver to its ancient and rightful equality with gold in respect to coinage, and asking protection for the silver industry,
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POLITICAL AFFAIRS.
Thomas M. Bowen of Del Norte for the term from 1883 to 1889.59 The legislature in 1885 elected Teller to succeed Hill, who had now a strong combination against him. A large amount of money was used in the struggle for place, and the people of Colorado begun to question whether it was well that the capi- talists of the state should decide political preferment. The election of 1884, which gave the first democratic president in twenty-four years was strongly republi- can, the plurality for Blaine being nearly 9,000. The presidential electors chosen were F. C. Goudy of Gunnison, F. F. Obiston of Idaho Springs, and B. F. Crowell of Colorado Springs. Goudy was chosen as the messenger to carry the certificate to Washington. Some amendments were made to the constitution of the state at this election by a majority of nearly 11,000.
Of the justices of the supreme court elected in 1876, only Elbert in 1886 was on the bench. Wells, who drew the nine years' term, resigned after serving one year, and Wilbur F. Stone was elected to fill the vacancy. Elbert, whose term expired in 1882, was elected in 1885 to succeed Stone. He will go out of office in 1897. Thatcher, whose term expired in 1879, was succeeded by William E. Beck. The judge who took the bench at the expiration of Elbert's first term was Joseph C. Helm, who will go out of office in 1891. The supreme judges are not nominated by political parties, but by the bar association, and the character of the Colorado courts has seldom been as-
59 Thomas M. Bowen, born in Iowa in 1835, elected to the lower house of the legislature at the age of 21 years. He served in the union army from 1861 to 1865, first as captain of Neb. volunteers, Ist regiment, afterward as colonel of the 13th Kansas infantry, and lastly as brevet brigadier-general in the army of the frontier, and later in the 7th army corps. After the war he was justice of the supreme court of Arkansas for four years, and accepted the executive appointment for Idaho in 1871, but resigned and returned to Arkansas, where he was defeated for the U. S. senate by S. W. Dorsey. He came to Colorado in 1875, resumed the practise of law, and was elected judge of the 4th judicial district on the admission of the state, and held the office for 4 years. He engaged in large mining enterprises and became wealthy. In 1882 he was elected to the state legislature which made him senator.
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MISUSE OF WEALTH.
sailed. The most serious accusation ever made was against the United States judges in the case of a strike among the employés of the Denver and Rio Grande railroad, in May 1885, under the direction of the knights of labor, some members of which order had been dismissed from the company's service. Arms were carried by a part of the strikers, when persuading their associates to desist from labor, and although no violence was offered, the fact of arms having been shown was considered as sufficient evi- dence of the intent. The men were arrested, tried for contempt, and imprisoned from three to six months. The charges brought by the knights of labor against the judges were that the receiver of the road was appointed by one of them; that the men arrested were not allowed to call witnesses, unless they paid the expenses, which would be over $160 each, or swore that they were paupers, neither of which could they do. That they had not been tried by a jury ; but that in fact the judge had made the complaint, tried, and sentenced them without a hear- ing, being at the same time concerned in the road, thereby construing the law in the interest of a rich corporation against the constitutional rights of other men. The order made threats of impeachment when congress should meet.
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