USA > Colorado > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 59
USA > Nevada > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 59
USA > Wyoming > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 59
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16 The Boulder bank was established in 1871 by George C. Corning of Ohio; discontinued in 1877. The National State bank was founded in 1874 by Charles G. and W. A. Buckingham of Ohio, but did not take the present name until 1877. The First National bank of Boulder was opened in 1877 by Louis Cheney.
17 Boulder built the first school-house in Colorado in 1860, costing $1,200. It was occupied until 1872, when a large public school edifice was erected, costing $15,000, and the graded system was adopted. Since that period ad- ditions have been made as required.
18 The churchies of Boulder were founded as follows: methodist in 1860, by Jacob Adriance; congregational in 1864, by William Crawford; presby- terian in 1872, by J. E. Anderson; protestant episcopal, 1873, by Henry Baum; reformed episcopal, 1874, by James C. Pratt; catholic, 1876, by A. J. Abel; baptist, 1872, by J. G. Maver. After these came the christian and adventist churches, liberalists, and spiritualists.
19. The library was founded by Charles G. Buckingham.
20 Robert Culver and Charles F. Holly were active in influencing the loca- tion. The first board appointed consisted of D. P. Walling, J. Feld, A. O. Patterson, A. A. Bradford, William Gilpin, Edwin Scudder, C. Dominguez, Bryon M. Sanford, William Hammind, J. B. Chaffee, B. F. Hall, Amos Steck, Jesse M. Barela, G. F. Crocker, J. S. Jones, and M. Goss. Colo, Sess. Laws, 1861, 144-8. The first meeting of the board was held in Jan. 1870, when it was duly organized. The citizens had donated 61 acres of land, valued at $10,000, but there was as yet no cash found available. Application was made to the legislature, which not until 1874 appropriated $15,000, condi- tional upon an equal amount being subscribed in Boulder, and $16,656.66 being raised, the contract was immediately let to McPhee and Keiting of Denver. A second appropriation by the legislature was sufficient to furnish and start the institution. Provision was made for the permanent support of the university by the annual assessment of one fifth of one mill on the valu- ation of the state, and also for the election of regents by vote of the state. The first board elected were L. W. Dolloff and Junius Berkley of Boulder, George Tritch and F. J. Ebert of Denver, W. H. Van Geisen of Del Norte, and C. Valdez of Conejos. They chose Joseph A. Sewall president of the university. The regular collegiate course began in 1878, and in 1880 there were 121 pupils in attendance. The college edifice was placed on high ground overlooking the city, and surrounded by well cultivated and ornamented grounds. It was built of brick, three stories high, and surmounted by an ob- servatory. The library, furnishing, and finishing were all that could be ex- pected of a university school while in its infancy, and shows that Boulder has done well in selecting this one of the state institutions for its own.
21 The towns and settlements of Boulder county not mentioned are Altona,
581
CHAFFEE.
Chaffee county was created out of the southern portion of Lake in February 1879.22 Its area is about 1,189 square miles, situated between the Mus- quito range and Arkansas hills on the east, and the great divide on the west. It is peculiarly a mining region. The districts of as yet comparatively unde- veloped Chalk creek, one of the earliest discoveries on the east side of the range, Granite,23 Monarch, south Arkansas, Cottonwood, and Hope are the most extensively developed. The discoveries at Lead- ville, and conse uent railroad building, were the first causes of the re ent developments in Chaffee county, as they were of ts organization. The Monarch dis- trict, lying twenty-six miles west from the town of Salida, contains some of the most remarkable mines in Colorado. They are lead carbonates orargentifer- ous galena ores, and yield from 20 to 1,500 ounces of silver, and forty to sixty per cent of lead to the ton.24
Balarat, Blue Bird, Brownsville, Burlington, Camp Tellurium, Cardinal, Cove Creek, Crisman, Davidson, Eagle Rock, Erie, Four-mile Creek, Highland, Jamestown, Jim Creek, Lakeside, Langford, Left Hand, Logan Mine, Mag- nolia, Marshall, Mitchell, Modoc, Nederland, Nerkirk Mill, Ni Wot, North Boulder, Orodelfan, Osborn, Pella, Pleasant Valley, Queen City Mills, Rock- ville, Salina, Springdale, Sugar Loaf, Sumnerville, Sunbeam Gulch, Sunny- side, Sunshine, Tellermin, Ward District, White Peak, Williamsburg. Charles Dabney settled in Boulder in 1860 at mining and blacksmithing. He was postmaster in 1861-2, justice of the peace, and in 1863 county commis- sioner. In 1878 he engaged in mining and brokerage, and added real estate and lumbering. John J. Ellingham, miner, cattle-dealer, and owner of a quartz-mill, settled same year. Also William H. Dickens, farmer; and Por- ter T. Hinman, son of Anson Hinman, Alleghany co., N. Y., of which he was judge. He resided in Ohio and Iowa before coming to Colorado, and was assistant in the U. S. land office at Des Moines. He secured a farm of 320 acres on Left Hand creek.
22 It was first allowed to retain the name of Lake, that portion of the ori- ginal organization north of it, and containing Leadville, being named Carbon- ate. But the Leadville people protested-they were permitted to retain their county name of Lake, Carbonate was abandoned, and the new organization was called after a favorite senator. Colo Sess. Laws, 1879, 4.
23 Stephen B. Kellogg, a pioneer of 1859, and who was one of the discov- erers of Chalk Creek mines in 1860, was born in Vt in 1816. He had been in South America and Cal. before coming to Colorado. He changed his resi- dence often afterward, but without leaving the state. He was a member of the provisional legislature, has been police justice, and has held several other official positions. Arkansas Val. Hist., 520. Of Granite and its early history I have already spoken.
24 The large-paying mines of Monarch district were Madonna, Silent Friend, Wilson, Oshkosh, Fair Play, Monarch, Eclipse, Rainbow, Little Gem, Den- ver, Wonder, Michigan, and Silver King. Descriptive America, May 4, 1884. In Chalk Creek district the Murphy mine yielded 50 or more tons of ore daily
582
COUNTIES OF COLORADO.
The Madonna mine, discovered by the Boon broth- ers, had cut 300 feet, in May 1884, through solid ore of this description without finding the end of the deposit. Other districts contain copper and silver, some gold and silver, and some free-milling gold. The bullion product of the county in 1883 was about $300,000, nearly half of which was in gold.
The Calumet iron mine, the most valuable in the state, was a deposit of magnetic and hematite ore con- taining between seventy and eighty per cent pure iron. Ten car-loads daily were taken by railroad to Pueblo, where it was smelted and manufactured by the Colorado Coal and Iron company, who owned it. The other mineral resources of the county are numer- ous. Poncho hot springs and Wellsville hot springs 25 are extensively known for their medicinal qualities. Charcoal-burning is an important industry, being made from the pinion which covers the foot-hills. Lime, also made in large quantities, is used as a flux at the smelting works of Leadville and Pueblo, twenty-six car-loads daily going to those places.2 Marble is also quarried near Salida, black, white, and colored, of excellent quality, and granite as fine as that of New England. Coal deposits just being opened in 1885 promised well. Agriculture, while worth $60 per ton, net value. The Columbus, in the South Arkansas district, was one of the largest silver mines in the state, and yielded 100 ounces to the ton. These are only named as samples of the best mines in the county. The Hortense mine, on Mt Princeton, though of low grade ore, was one of the best developed and most productive.
25 Poncho Hot springs are 6 miles southwe from Salida. They are 13 in number. Alongside of thein are cold springs. rhur and soda predominate, although it is said that 60 different mineral water are flowing constantly from these fountains, with wonderful curative qualities. At Cottonwood creek, north of Salida, are similar springs. Horn's Rept on Mineral Springs of Colo, in State Board of Health Rept, for 1876, p. 62.
26 These statements are furnished by W. W. Roller of Salida, who has contributed his Colorado Sketches, MS., to my library. He was born at Tona- wanda, Erie co., N. Y., in 1842, and came to Colorado in 1877. After spend- ing two years at Colorado Springs as a furniture-dealer, he removed to Salida and went into the more remunerative business of cattle-dealing. Roller is supplemented by E. H. Webb's Salida and its Surroundings, MS., which deals more particularly with the town. Webb was born in N. Y. in 1844. He came to Cleora, Colorado, in 1878 to engage in mercantile pursuits, but re- moved to Salida when it was founded, and opened business there in 1880, as the pioneer merchant.
583
CHAFFEE.
still unrecognized as of importance, exists and in- creases, the soil being rich and warm in the valleys.21 The great San Luis valley in the adjacent county of Saguache furnished in 1886 a convenient grazing ground for cattle.
27 In 1863, when Chaffee was part of Lake county, Frank Mayol took land claim 8 miles north of Buena Vista, where he raised potatoes at 50 c. per pound, realizing $5,000 from 5 acres. He soon accumulated a fortune. George Leonhardy leased the farm in 1871, and purchased it the following year, paying $3,750. He also opened a 'cut-off' into South park, which became the mail route. A post-office was established at his place called Riverside. Leonhardy added to his land from time to time, and being engaged in other business became wealthy. In 1864 Andrew Bard and Frank Loan took up land near where Buena Vista now stands, which they watered from Cotton- wood creek, and which roduced large crops of hay and vegetables, all of which found a ready market. The next settlers were Benj. Schwander, William Bale, afterward sheriff, Tohn McPherson, and J. E. Gonell, who took claims on the creek, and in 18. 5 Cottonwood was made an election precinct, and Bale, Bard, and Gonell were appointed judges of election. The same year Galatia Sprague, R. Mat. Johnson, Matthew Rule, and John Gilliland settled at Brown creek, where the agricultural and mining town of Brownsville grew up. Gilliland, John Weldon, and G. M. Huntzicker were appointed judges of election in that precinct, which extended from Chalk creek to the south end of the county. In 1866 John Burnett, with Nat. Rich and others, settled near the present town of Poncho Springs. Soon another election precinct was declared, embracing the county south of Sand creek, and Burnett, Rich, and W. Christison were appointed judges of election. At the election this year the county seat was removed from Oro to Dayton, near the upper Twin lake. Leonhardy, Bale, and Peter Caruth were county commissioners. At their first meeting in Dayton the Trout creek road was declared a public highway, and the following year a road was opened from the summit of the divide at Poncho pass to the Arkansas river above Trout creek, via the claim of George Hendricks and Brown creek. This gave communication between the north and south portions of the county, and was a difficult piece of work, as the road passed through the narrow defiles of the Arkansas river. Granite was made an election precinct in 1867. In 1868 R. B. Newitt took a claim on the divide, since known as Chubb's rancho, which became the centre of a min- ing camp, and Charles Nachtrieb erected a grist-mill on Chalk creek, which was proof of the grain capabilities of this region, although when transportation from Denver and other business centres became easier, wheat-raising was abandoned for other cereals. In 1868 Granite was made the county seat, and continued such until after the separation of the northern portion from what became Chaffee. Cache creek, where placer mining had been carried on since 1860, 300 persons being gathered at that camp previous to the rise of Granite, became again in 1865 active, the claims having been purchased by a company with means to work them by hydraulic process. The company obtained gov- ernment patents to 1,100 acres of placer ground, from which they have taken over $1,000,000. Lost Cañon placer mines, owned by J. C. Hughes, were discovered in 1860, and lie in the mountains of that name at an elevation of from 11,009 to 12,000 feet. Red Mountain district, on the head waters of Lake creek, was discovered in 1864, and created a great excitement, the mineral belt being very extensive, although the ore was .f a low grade. It took its name from the color given to the quartz by the decomposition of the sulphurets of iron. Other richer districts soon drew away the mining popu- lation. La Plata district, discovered in 1867, embraced the country on the head waters of Clear creek, and all the territory between the Arkansas river and the heights along the stream. Finding less gold than lead and other
.
584
COUNTIES OF COLORADO.
Salida, that is to say junction, twenty-eight miles south of Buena Vista, was laid out in May 1880 by Ex-governor Hunt, who owned the land, and was at that time connected with the Denver and Rio Grande railroad.28 When it was three months old it had 1,000 inhabitants. It was for a short time the terminus of the railroad, which was being extended to Leadville, and was the shipping-point of freight and passengers for the Gunnison country, and points beyond. With the completion of the road to these points much of
metals for which they were not searching, the district was abandoned by its discoverers. In 1860 a revival of interest took place, the town of Vicksburg was laid off on Clear creek at the entrance to the cañon, and several farms located. Cottonwood district, on Cottonwood creek, is a silver-producing region of more recent development, with some rich mines on the north-east side of Mt Princeton, and on Jones and Fox mountains. Trout creek dis- trict was discovered after the Leadville mines, and includes Chubb's settle- inent before mentioned. It contains both gold and silver mines. Buena Vista, the county-seat, founded by the Buena Vista Land company, at the junction of the Railroads, is on Cottonwood creek, six miles east of Mt Princeton, in the midst of a plain surrounded by lofty peaks, and having a finely tempered climate. The company has made many improvements in the way of parks and irrigating ditches, and has donated land for school purposes. The town was incorporated in 1879. The population in 1884 was 3,000. There were good schools, several churches, and two newspapers, with a considerable and growing business. Cleora was founded in the interest of the Atchison, To- peka, and Santa Fé railroad, when it was expected that this road would have secured the right of way through the Grand canon of the Arkansas river, which was finally granted to the Denver and Rio Grande company. Having refused any patronage to the bantling of its rival, the latter company laid out the town of Salida, two miles above Cleora, to which the inhabitants and business of the abandoned town immediately removed. Smith, in his State- ment, MS., says: 'When Cleora was deserted, two brothers called Raglin went to Oriental, where they discovered a mine, near where Villa Grove now is .. . Fletcher Taylor went to Bonanza, in Saguache co. Dr Brien went to the Monarch district .. . Judge Hawkins built a hotel (at Cleora) which prospered until the town was abandoned ... In 1879 Capt. Blake was one of the prominent merchants in Cleora. There were three lumber yards in Cleora, one belonging to Allen & Mack, who afterward moved to Salida.'
28 Miss Millie Ohmertz, in her Female Pioneering, MS., states that she went to the Arkansas valley, 6 miles above Salida, in 1878, and for three years lived on a farm; but in 1881 moved to Salida to take charge of Gov. Hunt's real estate, he having left the Rio Grande company to undertake the development of extensive coal mines near Laredo in Texas, and to assist in the Mexican National railroad enterprise. In 1884 George Sackett, from Ohio, came to Salida and invested in real estate in and about the town, all of which he placed in Miss Ohmertz' hands as his agent. She is also manager of the landed interest of several Denver owners.
J. W. O'Connor, county physician of Chaffee co., was born in Ill. in 1852, and educated at the Rush medical college, Chicago, graduating in 1879. He came immediately to Denver, where he was appointed resident physician of the Arapahoe co. hospital. In 1880 he removed to Chaffee co., and the fol- lowing year was appointed surgeon of the railway. He superintended the construction of the railroad liospital at Salida.
585
CHAFFEE.
the business of the place was removea, and its growth was thenceforth slower. The railroad company in 1886 had extensive buildings and works; the town was well watered, and had a bank, an opera-house, churches, schools, good hotels, a public reading-room,
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SALIDA AND VICINITY.
pleasant drives, and was generally prosperous, being in the centre not only of rich mining districts, but of a good farming region, which was being rapidly set- tled.29
29 In Ohmertz' Female Pioneering, MS., 2, it is said that a large oat-meal mill would be erected in 1865 by M. Sackett, and that a large smelter was talked of by other capitalists. A coal mine, 6 miles below Salida, owned by Davis, Carstarphan, and Craig Brothers, was about to be opened. J. H. Stead,
MONARCH MINING
COAU
SANGRE DE CRISTO
586
COUNTIES OF COLORADO.
Clear reek county, not large, but important, was the scene of some of the earliest mining discoveries after the slight indications of Cherry creek, and one of the original seventeen counties organized by the first legislature. The early history of this portion of Colorado has been quite fully given.3º Its name was taken from the creek which flows through it, the high- lands along which for thirty-seven miles are filled with veins of silver. Another silver belt extends from Idaho springs up Chicago creek to Argentine
born in Albany, N. Y., in 1827, came to Colorado from Chicago in 1880, locating at Maysville, and remaining there for 4 years, when he removed to Salida. He was engaged in mining and merchandising. In a manuscript by him entilled Town-building are the following notes on Chaffee co. and Salida; 'Near Salida is the Sedalia copper mine, producing silver and copper, a very valuable mine. In Chalk creek district, 15 miles from Salida, is the Mary Murphy mine, valued at $3,000,000, besides several others of prospective great value.' On Monarch hill he mentions the Monarch, the Madonna, pro- ducing 100 tons per day, owned by the Pueblo and Colorado Mining and Smelting company at Pueblo, the Magenta, the Eclipse, Paymaster, Silent Friend, Robert Wilson, Fairplay, and Lexington. He represents the Arkan- sas valley between Salida and Maysville as being a fine agricultural region, with many valuable farms growing all kinds of grain, apples, and small fruits, while the mesas or table-lands north of them are also productive along the streams, which means that they only need irrigation to become fertile.' See also Frank Earle's Salida, its Mineral, Agricultural, Manufacturing, Railroad, Resources, Location, Society, Climate, Business, etc., a pamphlet containing a map and a directory: Colorado, The Press and People, MS., a dictation taken from M. R. Moore, postmaster of Salida in 1884. Moore was born in Indiana, in 1846, and came to Colo from Kansas in 1875, locating himself in San Juan co., whence he removed to Salida in 1880. He published a number of newspapers which will be mentioned elsewhere, and established the Mountain Mail at Salida. L. W. Craig came to Salida in 1880 and engaged in merchandising for five years. In 1885 he sold out and opened a private bank, known as the Continental Divide bank. He had previously made a fortune in the cattle business in Montana, and was owner in some Colorado mines. There were several other aspiring new towns in Chaffee county, in 1886, all owing their existence primarily to mining, but gradually develop- ing other resources of the conntry. These were Alpine, Arborville, Ameri- cus, Arkansas, Columbus, Chaffee, Carmel, Cascade, Centreville, Chalk Mills, Cove Rock, Crees Camp, Crazy Camp, Divide, Foose's Camp, Forrest City, Free Gold, Garfield, Green Gulch, Hancock, Herring's Park, Helena, Hor- tense, Junction City, Knoxville, Kraft, Lake Fork, McGee, Mahonville, Mears, Midway, Nathrop, North Fork, Pine Creek, Sharano, Silverdale, Spaulding, St Elmo, Taylor Gulch, Trout Creek, Wellsville, Winfield. The population of the county in 1884 was 10,000.
30 O. E. Lehow was discoverer of the Spanish bar diggings, and sold his mine for $4,000, receiving his pay in cattle and horses with which he began stock-farming on Cherry creek. In 1860 he located with his brother, C. L. Lehow, a rancho at Platte cañon where he resided until 1870, securing in the mean time 1,600 acres in San Luis valley, which he fenced and stocked with cattle. Then he became a resident of Denver, with an interest in mines at Silver Cliff, in Custer county.
: :
587
CLEAR CREEK.
pass. The principal gold district was immediately surrounding Empire, in the vicinity of which there were also some rich silver mines. Clear Creek county was the scene of the first successful milling and smelting of silver ores, as well as of the manufacture of the first silver brick by Garrett, Martine, & Co. 31
31 Among the stamp-mills so freely introduced from 1860 to 1864 was the What Cheer mill at Georgetown, arranged at first for the crushing and amal- gamating of auriferous quartz. When it was ascertained that no supply of free-milling ores were to be found in that district, the mill was leased to Garrett, Martine & Co. for 5 years, who introduced Bruckner cylinders for roasting and revolving barrels for amalgamating silver ores. In spite of the many difficulties to be overcome, this firm saved 80 to 85 per cent of the silver treated. This was in 1867. In 1868 they sold to Huepeden & Co., but the superintendent, embezzling the funds of the firm, Palmer & Nichols next came into possession of the mill, and failed. In 1873 the Pelican company purchased the property, and having renovated and added to its machinery, made several thousand bars of silver from the ores of the Pelican mine. In 1877 the mill was leased to Ballou, Napheys & Co., who operated it for 10 months at a loss, after which it was used as sampling-works by the Boston and Colorado Smelting co. The next experiment, by Prof. Frank Dibdin of the International Mining co., began in 1868, at East Argentine, 8 miles from Georgetown, and has already been spoken of. This mill ran for 4 years on the company's ore, mixed with the lighter ore from the Belmont and Harris mines, under the superintendence of P. McCann. At the same time the Baker Silver Mining co., Joseph W. Watson, superintendent, erected a mill at West Argentine, which was destroyed by fire. Meanwhile, J. Oscar Stewart, of Georgetown, was experimenting with a small reverberatory furnace, and two amalgamating pans, erected in 1867, and achieved sufficient success to induce eastern capitalists to furnish money to erect a $100,000 mill, which was mod- eled after his experimental works. But the ores that could be reduced soon became scarce, and while he had thousands of tons of tailings on the dump, containing 40 ounces of silver each, he could not extract this without loss. Next the Arey and Stetefeldt furnaces were tried, which gave too little time for thorough roasting, then a smelting furnace for getting rid of the lead, and many variations and adaptations of the reverberatory furnace, and of the Hunt & Douglas leaching process, but all in vain. In the meantime the mill was twice burned, and a total failure was the result. In 1870-71 a mill was erected at Masonville, 4 miles below Idaho springs, which also failed after a short time. A mill was started in 1872 at Georgetown by Judd & Crosby, who soon abandoned the attempt at making it pay. J. V. Farwell purchased it, took down the patent furnaces, and placed in their stead Bruckner cylin- ders and amalgamating pans, which, under the management of S. J. Learned, saved a high percentage of the ores treated. The Clear Creek company, by using a modification of the Hunt, Douglas, & Stewart leaching process, made a successful specialty of treating low-grade ores. In this costly school was the knowledge acquired which was to benefit the future miner.
Among the early experiments was that of smelting for lead. The first effort was made by Bowman & Co., negroes from Missouri, who knew some- thing about lead-mining in that state, and thought to put their knowledge to practical use. They erected a small smelter a mile above Georgetown, on Leavenworth fork. It consisted of a rude water-wheel, a bellows, and a 10- foot stack. It was charged a few times with antimonial galena from their mine, the Argentine, but this class of ore soon gave out, and their smelter became worthless. Caleb S. Stowel tried the Scotch hearth with no better results. In 1867 the Georgetown Smelting company erected a lead smelter
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