USA > Colorado > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 62
USA > Nevada > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 62
USA > Wyoming > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 62
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602
COUNTIES OF COLORADO.
for reasons which will appear hereafter. In natural resources it is rich, especially in an excellent quality
atory department was opened in May, 1874, with Jonathan Edwards, grad- uate of Yale, as principal. A frame building was temporarily erected, in which the school remained until 1880. A department of inining and metal- lurgy was established about 1877, of which in 1880 William Strieby, a grad- uate of Columbia college, was in charge. This department met with such success that for its better accommodation a wing was erected on the north side, contributed by William J. Palmer, who also offered to add a south wing if the college were first freed from debt. This promise inspired the friends
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of the college to make the requisite effort, and the building now presents a handsome front of over 100 feet. The library embraces 6,000 volumes, in- cluding 1,000 contributed by the El Paso county library association. A collection of natural science specimens and an herbarium of native plants has made a promising beginning. President Tenney did much by his writ- ings and personal efforts, to make both the city and college known in the east. Friends came to the rescue, and in 1886 it was in a fair way to be extricated. Its officers in 1886 were: William Strieby chairman of faculty, W. F. Wilder vice-president, G. H. Parsons secretary, J. H. Barlow treas- urer, and George N. Marden financial agent. The territorial legislature of 1874 located an institute for the education of deaf mutes at Colorado Springs, appropriating $5,000 for immediate application to that purpose, and pro- viding a permanent fund by instituting a tax of half a mill on all the asses- sable property in the territory. A house was rented and the institution opened with a dozen pupils. To this, also, the Colorado Springs company donated 12 acres of land, title to be given whenever suitable buildings should be erected thereon. Thus prompted, the trustees raised $5,000, and started the building. At its next session the legislature appropriated $7,000, inde- pendent of the tax, and additions were made. Subsequently that body added to the institution a department for the blind, $20,000 more being
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COLORADO SPRINGS.
of coal, of which the amount is practically unlimited. Petroleum has also been found. It has gold and sil-
appropriated for improvements. The institution is in a prosperous condi- tion and doing a noble work.
The first religions services were held in the winter of 1871, by the Rev. Edwards, rector of the episcopal church at Pueblo. From this time till 1873 services were held at irregular intervals, conducted by Bishop Randall or by J. E. Liller as lay reader. In 1873, Grace church parish was organized, and soon afterward a church built at a cost of $12,000. The First presbyterian church was organized in 1872, previous to which time services had been held in various places. The M. E. church, which was organized in Colorado City very early in the history of that place, was in 1873 transferred to Colorado Springs. In 1881, an edifice costing $12,000 was built in a central location. The First baptist church was organized in 1872. The congregationalists, Cumberland presbyterians, Roman catholics, christians, and African meth- odists established congregations at later dates. Of the various secret and benevolent organizations, the masons and odd fellows early established lodges in Colorado Springs, and were followed by the knights of pythias, good templars, knights of honor, united workmen, and others. In 1886, there were 20 lodges and encampments of the various organizations.
Previous to 1878, there was no fire department worthy of the name, the only protection against fire being a hook and ladder company, a Babcock engine, and the water from a few wells. When in that year the system of water works was introduced, the organization was begun of a volunteer fire department that for efficiency has no superior in the country. The first bank was established in 1873 by William S. Jackson, C. H. White, and J. S. Wolfe, and called the El Paso. Soon afterward J. H. Barlow became con- nected with it. This was followed the next year by the First National, organ- ized by W. B. Young, B. F. Crowell, C. B. Greenough, G. H. Stewart, F. L. Martin, and others, and two years later James H. B. McFerran started the People's bank. All are sound and prosperous institutions, and in 1886 had deposits of $500,000. The history of journalism in El Paso county began in 1861 with the publication of The Journal at Colorado City. It was edited by B. F. Crowell, and was issued weekly for about a year, when publication was discontinued. After that the county possessed no newspaper until 1872, when the first number of Out West was issued by J. E. Liller. About the same time, Judge Eliphalet Price began the publication of the Free Press. In January, 1873, Out West became the Colorado Springs Gazette, and about a year later the Free Press was merged into the Mountaineer. In 1878, the Gazette became a daily, as did also the Mountaineer in 1881 under the name of the Republic. The Gazette and Republic continue the leading newspapers of the county. Various weeklies appeared from time to time, prominent among which was the Hour, started in 1885. Monument, a town in the northern part of the county, has had at times a weekly paper since 1878.
William J. Palmer, to whom Colorado Springs owes its existence, and the state in large measure its present condition of development, was born in Philadelphia in 1836. Receiving a fair education, he early became confi- dential secretary to J. Edgar Thompson, then president of the Pennsylvania railroad, in which position he evinced marked ability, and at one time was sent to Europe to study methods of iron manufacture and railroad manage- ment. On the breaking out of the rebellion, he raised the Anderson cavalry, of which he was, till the close of the war, the commander. Meantime Thomp- son and his associates had become interested in the Kansas Pacific railroad, and on Palmer's return from the war he was made managing director of that enterprise, and superintendent of construction. While thus engaged, he made the famous survey of transcontinental routes along the 32d and 35th paral- lels. Failing to induce the Kansas Pacific management to adopt one of these, and impressed with the resources of the Rocky mountain region, in 1870, as-
604
COUNTIES OF COLORADO.
ver mines, not yet much developed, also copper, lead, zinc, mineral paint, marble, alabaster, valuable build- ing stone, potters' clay, and one of the few jet mines in the world.40
sociated with William A. Bell and others, he organized the Denver and Rio Grande railway company. In the face of difficulties, physical and financial, he pushed this great enterprise to completion, after first building the Denver and Rio Grande Western, of which he was president until 1883. He was at the head of a majority of the companies organized for the development of southern Colorado, the most prominent among which was the Colorado Coal and Iron company. A few years later he retired from the presidency of the Mexican National, though still remaining at the head of the construction company. He is also president of the reorganized Denver and Rio Grande Western railway company, which is becoming a very important factor in the railroad system of the Rocky mountains.
Doctor William A. Bell, prominently associated with General Palmer in the building of the Denver and Rio Grande railway, was born in Clonmel, Ireland, in 1841. He studied at the London hospital, and took a medical degree at Cambridge in 1865. In 1866-7 he visited the United States, and in the latter year joined the 35th parallel surveying expedition, which brought him into close personal and business relations with Palmer. Re- turning in 1870 from a visit to England, he joined him in the organization of the Denver and Rio Grande railway company, and was its first vice-president.
M. L. De Coursey, who had much to do with the building up of Colorado Springs, was born in Philadelphia in 1842, and served in the civil war in which he was captain. In 1871 he joined his former cavalry commander, General Palmer, in Colorado, and held prominent positions in the national land and improvement and other companies. He afterwards engaged in the real estate business.
The growth and permanent prosperity of Colorado Springs has been very marked. Among the publications that have made known to the world its scenic wonders and famous climate, as well as the merits of its mineral waters, are Charles Dennison's Rocky Mountain Health Resorts, a treatise on pulmonary diseases and their cure; Colorado Springs, a descriptive and historical pamph- let relating to the city of that name and its vicinity, by George Rex Buck- man; Health, Wealth, and Pleasure, a treatise on the health resorts of Colo- rado and New Mexico; Glenwood Springs, a descriptive pamphlet; Mrs Simeon J. Dunbar's Health Resorts of Colorado Springs and Manitou, descriptive; S. Anna Gordon's Camping in Colorado, descriptive and narrative. Dr S. Edwin Solly, of Colorado Springs, has done much by his pamphlets to call attention to the curative value of Colorado's climate and mineral waters. He graduated in London in 1867, and in 1874 came to Colorado Springs, where he has since been engaged in the practice of his profession. He is a member of the royal college of surgeons, England, and of various other medi- cal and scientific societies, both in England and America.
The villages and settlements in El Paso county are Aroways, Bassett's Hill, Bierstadt, Big Sandy, Bijou Basin, Cheyenne Peak, Chico Basin, Colo- rado House, Costello's Rancho, Crystal Peak Park, Easton, Edgerton, El Paso, Florissant, Fountain, Four-mile Creek, Franceville, Franceville Junc- tion, Granger, Gwillemville, Highland Rancho, Hursley's Rancho, Husted, Jimmy Camp, Lake Station, Little Buttes, McConnellsville, Monument, O. Z., Petrified Stumps, Quarry, Sidney, South Water, Suffolk, Summit Park, Table Rock, Turkey Creek, Twin Rocks, Weissport, Wheatland, Widefield, Wigwam, Winfield.
40 It has ranked mainly with the agricultural counties, but it is not emi- nent in that class, although its altitude of less than 6,000 feet gives it a climate better suited to corn than most other counties in the state. In 1883
605
CAÑON CITY.
· The chief town and county seat is Canon City, with a population of about 3 000 in 1884. The Col-
it raised considerable grain, and had 15,000 head of cattle, besides 5,000 other animals, produced $625,000 worth of coal, and $20,000 in bullion. It had 108 miles of railroad within its boundaries, and its population was 4,730. This was not a flattering exhibit for one of the oldest counties with these natural resources. But the hindrance to development had been, first, the want of railroads, and secondly, a war between railroads for possession of the Grand canon pass through the Rocky mountains. This wonderful and awful defile of the Arkansas was the gate of the mountains, its eastern end being situated in the neighborhood of Canon City, named in reference to it. To secure the exclusive right of way through this passage involved a long struggle between two companies, first in personal encounter, and lastly in the courts, where the Denver and Rio Grande prevailed against the Atchi- son, Topeka, and Santa Fé company.
The first organized effort to secure a railroad was made in the autumn of 1867. This was done by a committee consisting of B. M. Adams, B. F. Rockafellow, and Thomas Macon, who appointed A. G. Boone, about to visit Washington, a special commissioner to confer with John D. Perry, president of the Kansas Pacific railroad, in reference to the Arkansas valley transcon- tinental route. Perry promised that his engineers should look into the mat- ter, and the Fremont county people were hopeful. At that time General Palmer was managing director of the Kansas Pacific, and had charge of its construction, and W. H. Greenwood was its chief engineer. Palmer organ- ized and commanded an expedition which surveyed the proposed route. His report, which was made in 1868, recommended that the route from Ells- worth, Kansas, westward should deflect to the south of its former survey, and follow the one by the Arkansas river to its headwaters, and thence via the San Luis valley to intersect the thirty-fifth parallel transcontinental route. This road, had it been built, would have given an outlet eastward to the richest mineral and some of the best agricultural country in Colorado. But the eastern managers decided to build to Denver, a decision which fin- ally threw them into the hands of the Union Pacific. When the Kansas Pacific was about completed, Palmer, remembering what he had seen on his surveys, originated the plan of a narrow-gauge railway, which should run southward from Denver along the base of the mountains. Disappointed in their expectations of a direct road to the east, the people of Fremont county welcomed the thought of communication with Denver and connection with the Union Pacific, and voted the Denver and Rio Grande company-the narrow-gauge line-$50,000 in county bonds, the first contribution of the ' kind received by them, and which through some technicality was finally lost in the courts. In the mean time the Denver and Rio Grande had constructed its road to Pueblo, with a branch to the coal mines at Labran, eight miles from Cañon City, which was completed in October, 1872, and without going to Cañon City, as was expected, was pushing south with the design of reach- ing the extensive fields of coking coal at El Moro, near Trinidad, and of ultimate extension to the city of Mexico, via Santa Fé and El Paso, which latter was, of course, regarded as an achievement of the somewhat remote future. Thereupon, there was a movement made inviting the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fé to come to Canon City and occupy the route formerly suggested to the Kansas Pacific. For this purpose a public meeting was held at Cañon City in Jan., 1873. But the A., T., & S. F. co. proving slow to act, and the people being impatient, the county again voted its bonds to the D. & R. G. co., this time for $100,000, after an exciting canvass, there being a majority of only two in favor of the gift, and the county commis- sioners refusing to issue the bonds. In 1874, however, on demand of the D. & R. G. co., Cañon City voted $50,000 in bonds, and in addition gave deeds to $25,000 worth of property, and the road was soon afterward completed to
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COUNTIES OF COLORADO.
orado penitentiary is located here, and was in charge of the general government until 1874, when the ter-
that place. The next movement in the way of increased railway facilities was in Feb., 1877, when the Canon City and San Juan railway co. was organ- ized, with C. T. Alling president, B. F. Rockafellow secretary, James Clel- land treasurer, and H. R. Holbrook chief engineer. Alling soon resigned, and was succeeded by Frederick A. Reynolds. Meantime the new Leadville mining region began to attract attention, and was seen to offer a promising field for railroad enterprise. Stimulated by this, and it may be also by the appearance of a rival in the field, the D. & R. G. co. proceeded, on April 19, 1878, to resume work on its line from Canon City westward and towards the Leadville region, and on that day took possession by its agents of the narrow portion of the grand canon, known as the Royal gorge, with the avowed intention of constructing its road upon the line of the surveys made in 1871-2, right of way over which had, as it claimed, been secured to it by acts of congress of June 8, 1872, and March 3, 1875. But during the night of April 19, 1878, the board of directors of the C. C. & S. J. co. were con- vened, and elected William B. Strong and A. A. Robinson respectively general manager and chief engineer of the A., T., & S. F. co., to similar positions in the C. C. & S. J. co., giving conclusive evidence that the great Santa Fé co. was behind the local enterprise. These officials made preparations to take immediate possession of the grand cañon on behalf of their company, which was done as early as four o'clock on the morning of April 20th, at which time a small party of men, under the charge of an assistant engineer, swam the Arkansas river, and in the name of their com- pany took possession of the cañon. That party was followed the same day by a large force of workmen under the control of Chief Engineer Robinson. The war was now commenced. Each side had from 500 to 700 men at work. Fortifications were erected by each, beyond which the other was not per- mitted to pass, and for a time the spilling of blood seemed inevitable. These movements were succeeded by a suit instituted the same day in the state court in the name of the C. C. & S. J. co. against the D. & R. G. co., in which an injunction was obtained, afterward sustained by Judge Hal- lett of the U. S. district court, restraining the latter company from occu- pying or attempting to occupy the cañon for railroad purposes, and from interfering with the C. C. & S. J. co. in the construction of its own road therein. By virtue of this decision the C. C. & S. J. co. proceeded with the work of construction through the grand canon, and completed during the following ten months the 20 miles from Canon City, being as far as it was permitted under its charter to build. The work in the grand cañon was difficult, requiring engineering skill of the highest order. In places the blasting could be carried on only by suspending men by ropes down the rocky walls 2,000 feet in height; in others the chasm was so contracted that the road itself was suspended over the river by a hanging bridge, sup- ported from above by braces fixed in the rock and raised in the middle on the principle of an arch. About the time the C. C. & S. J. co. had fin- ished its 20 miles of road, the D. & R. G. co., under stress of the decision against it and the financial troubles which this had served to bring to a climax, executed a 30 years' lease of its entire completed line to the A., T., & S. F. co., which took possession in Dec., 1878. The right of way through the grand canon was expressly excluded from this lease, the A., T., & S. F. co. taking the ground that this was the property of the C. C. & S. J. co., and that a lease thereof from the D. & R. G. co. would be of no effect.
In April, 1879, the U. S. supreme court, to which the case has been ap- pealed by the D. & R. G. co., reversed the decision of the lower court, and confirmed to the D. & R. G. co. its prior right to the grand cañon. The possession of this prior right, however, was not to be understood as pre- venting the C. C. & S. J. co. from afterward building a parallel road of its
607
PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS.
ritory assumed its support. In 1877 it consisted of one cell building with forty-two cells. The state now owns thirty-six acres, five of which are enclosed by a wall of stone twenty feet in height and four in thick- ness, with good buildings, and cell-room for over 400 inmates,41 a boot and shoe factory, lime-kilns, stone-
own through the canon, where the latter was wide enough to admit of two, nor from using the D. & R. G. tracks in common with that company, in the narrow places where but one road could be built, these rights having been generally conferred by act of congress of March 3, 1875. Complica- tions then arose in the affairs of the A., T., & S. F. and D. & R. G. compan- ies which kept them in constant litigation. The latter company, now that its rights in the grand canon had been restored to it, and in view of the great business revival, due to the discovery of new and rich mining regions, natu- rally desired to regain possession of its road. It charged the lessee with non-observance of contract in certain particulars; but the case turned on the point that there was no Colorado law which would perinit a foreign cor- poration to operate a railroad within the state. The prayer of the D. & R. G. co. was granted, and a writ issued by the court, copies of which were placed in the hands of sheriffs in the principal places along the line, the effect of which was to restore the road to the D. & R. G. co. These were served simultaneously at Denver, Colorado Springs, Pueblo, Cañon City, El Moro, and Alamosa, and possession taken in each place by the officers and agents of the D. & R. G. co. Immediately after possession had been gained, on June 15, 1879, Judge Bowen, on application of several of the D. & R. G. bond-holders, appointed one of the company's solicitors, Hanson A. Risley, its receiver. He took possession of the road and operated it for one month, during which time his receivership was attacked in several courts and finally terminated by Chief Justice Miller, who ordered the dis- charge of the receiver, and enjoined him to restore the road to the D. & R. G. co., and that company in turn was directed to restore it to the A., T., & S. F. co., in accordance with a writ previously issued by Judge Hallett and not at that time obeyed. When all this had been done, Judge Hallett fur- ther ordered that, till the equities of the several parties could be determined, both companies be restrained from further work in the grand canon, and appointed L. C. Ellsworth as receiver, to take possession of the property of the D. & R. G. co., and operate it under the direction of the court. While this warring had been going on, the Pueblo and Arkansas valley railroad company, a local corporation of the A., T., & S. F. system, had begun to build westward from the 20-mile point where the Canon City and San Juan company had stopped, and had succeeded in completing about two miles, when the D. & R. G. co. arrested further progress by erecting stone en- filading forts and keeping them manned, besides mining the position in readiness to send the enemy skyward at a moment's notice. Meantime Judge Hallett had appointed a commission to determine what parts of the grand cañon would admit of the construction of but one line of railway. In accordance with the report of this commission, the court, on January 2, 1880, issued a decree giving to the D. & R. G. co. the exclusive right of way through the grand canon from Canon City to South Arkansas-the present town of Salida-and to the Pueblo and Arkansas valley railroad the right of way from South Arkansas to Leadville, either company having the right to build a separate road between the latter points. This practi- cally ended the war, and the two companies, after having spent $500,000 in carrying on the fight both in and out of the courts, concluded a treaty of peace. In accordance with an agreement entered into, all suits were with- drawn, and the A., T., & S. F. co. bound itself for a term of ten years
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COUNTIES OF COLORADO.
quarries, and brick-yards, in which the convicts are . employed. The Colorado collegiate and military institute is located here. It was established by a stock company of citizens in 1881, under the super- vision of E. H. Sawyer.42 There is also a large sil- ver smelter, and a copper smelter. The Arkansas river offers abundant water power; the town is sup- plied with water works; there are cold and hot min- eral springs, and other scenic attractions, all of which promise a not unimportant future for this place when the surrounding country shall be made to yield its corn and wine, its coal, gold, silver, and copper.
not to build either to Leadville or Denver, while the D. & R. G. co. for a like period was to be restrained from building within a specified distance from Santa Fé. The D. & R. G. co. purchased the 20 miles of road con- structed through the grand cañon by the C. C. & S. J. Co., paying there- for, according to the Denver Tribune, of April 2, 1880, the sum of $1, 400, 000. In the same month Receiver Ellsworth was discharged by the court, and the property turned over to the D. & R. G. co. Construction had mean- while been pushed with all speed, and in July, 1880, Leadville was reached, and the golden stream of wealth started which has ever since continued to flow. Thus ended Colorado's most serious railroad war, and one waged for the possession of a prize well worth the struggle.
William H. Greenwood, so conspicuous in railroad affairs in Colorado, was born at Marlboro, N. H. He had purchased property in Canon City when he made his survey of the grand canon. After the railroad war was ended, he settled there with his family. In the summer of 1880 he was em- ployed by the D. & R. G. to go to Mexico, and while near Rio Hondo was assassinated by an unknown person. The Mexican government exhibited much feeling, and made every endeavor for the apprehension of the mur- derer, but in vain.
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