USA > Colorado > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 63
USA > Nevada > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 63
USA > Wyoming > History of Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, 1540-1888 > Part 63
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41 New buildings were added for the second time in 1883. Fowler re- marks that there are over 400 convicts confined here, 'and more life-prison- ers among them, in proportion, than elsewhere in the world.' This may be accounted for by the further statement that there are throughout the state drinking-saloons in the proportion of one to every 67 inhabitants-only a little behind Nevada, which has one to every 56-and the prevalence of gambling.
42 The board of trustees consisted of F. A. Reynolds pres .; D. G. Pea- . body vice-pres .; W. R. Fowler sec .; J. F. Campbell treas .; E. H. Sawyer, J. L. Prentice, A. Rudd, Samuel Bradbury, and J. J. Phelps. It had be- sides a ' collegiate committee,' and a 'military committee. E. H. Sawyer was president, commandant, and professor of moral, mental, and military science and engineering. The other instructors were H. S. Westgate, Frank Prentiss, J. M. Willard, and C. Uttermochlem.
CHAPTER XIII.
COUNTIES OF COLORADO CONCLUDED.
1859-1886.
GARFIELD COUNTY-ITS GREAT POSSIBILITIES-GILPIN COUNTY AND CEN- TRAL CITY-EXPRESS, TELEGRAPH, NEWSPAPERS, BANKS, SCHOOLS, AND CHURCHES, LIBRARY, FIRE DEPARTMENTS, MILITARY AND BENEVOLENT INSTITUTIONS-BIOGRAPHY- GRAND COUNTY-GUNNISON AND HUER- FANO COUNTIES-VARIETY OF PRODUCTS IN JEFFERSON COUNTY-GOLDEN, LAKE, AND LA PLATA COUNTIES-BIOGRAPHY-LARIMER, LAS ANIMAS, 'MESA, MONTROSE, OURAY, PARK, PITKIN, PUEBLO, RIO GRANDE, ROUTT, SAGUACHE, SAN JUAN, SAN MIGUEL, SUMMIT, AND WELD COUNTIES- SOCIETY-RETROSPECT.
GARFIELD county was organized in February 1883 out of Summit, one of the original divisions of 1861. At that time the county seat was temporarily located at Parkville, but removed soon after to Breckenridge. On the organization of Garfield and Eagle counties little of Summit remained, and the county seat of the former was located at Carbonate, near the eastern boundary. It lies wholly on the western slope of the Rocky mountains, and is chiefly an agricultural and grazing region, but has mines of silver and enormous deposits of coal. It was vacated by the Utes as late as 1882, and has little history. Carbonate was one of the earliest settlements, and Glenwood springs, located at the junction of Roaring fork and Grand river, with its mineral waters and rich tributary re- gion, is becoming the commercial centre of north- western Colorado.
1 M. L. De Coursey, who furnished me a manuscript on Glenwood, in 1884, and whose biography is briefly related on p. 604 of this vol., is manager for the town company, in connection with Glenwood springs. Though containing much that is of interest, it is impossible to devote to it in these pages the HIST. NEV. 39
(609)
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COUNTIES OF COLORADO.
The population is between 300 and 400. The other towns are Axial, Gresham, Barlow, and Ferguson. The valuation of the county in its first year was $136,781.
Gilpin, named after the first governor has an area of twelve by fifteen miles. It is purely a mining region, and not exceeded in mineral productions except by the county of Lake. Within its limits mining has been carried on for twenty-four years, dur- ing which time it has produced $43,208,988 in bullion, of which $38,500,000 was in gold, being about one- fourth of the production of the state in precious met- als. In a previous chapter I have sketched the beginning of Gilpin's history, when John H. Gregory there discovered gold, and was followed by a rush of miners, who soon exhausted the surface deposit, and after impoverishing themselves in milling experiments abandoned mining or sought new fields of exploita- tion. The gold-bearing lodes occupy an area one mile wide and four miles long, in the midst of which are the closely allied towns of Black Hawk, Central, and Nevadaville. The silver belt extends across north Clear creek and other hills from York gulch to Dory hill. It was not discovered until 1878.
The first improvement of the gold district was by the construction of the Consolidated ditch in 1860. More than 100 small mills were taken to Gilpin county in its early years. In 1868 there were over thirty
space that the subject might seem fairly to demand. Suffice it to say that by many excellent authorities there are claimed for the waters of these springs properties as valuable as any in the state. Great stress is laid by all the local writers, and by many transient ones, on the merits of the vari- ous mineral waters of Colorado, their variety and excellence, especially as to their curative properties. To discuss the statements of each one, or indeed to make other than passing mention of the various pamphlets and treatises, would be altogether apart from the purposes of this work. Among others, in addition to those already mentioned, are T. G. Horn's Scientific Tour, MS., descriptive and historical, concerning the various springs of the country; Mineral Springs of Colorado is a pamphlet by the same authority. . Horn came to Colorado in 1874, being a graduate of medicine in St Louis, and a native of Va, born in 1832. He is a member of the state board of health, to which he made a report at considerable length on the mineral springs of the state in 1882.
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GARFIELD, GILPIN.
mills at work operating 700 stamps. In 1874 mining was dull. Soon after large operators began purchas- ing small mines and consolidating, by which means a new impulse was given to this industry. The gold ores of Gilpin are of a low grade, and do not pay for any other treatment than by stamp-mill or smelting. There are fewer mills of larger capacity than formerly, and although the increasing depth of the mines makes the extraction of the ore more expensive, the returns are satisfactory. The entire bullion output of 1883, for instance, was $2,208,983. The assessed valuation of the county for that year was $1,871,244, and its population 7,000.2
Central City,3 which, next to Denver, has been the seat of money, political influence, and brain power,
" Some account of the earlier and later operations in this county seems im- perative, although it should but repeat the experiences of others. In 1859 several arastras were constructed to pulverize quartz. A miner named Red fixed a trip hammer, pivoted on a stump, the hammer pounding quartz in a trough. His invention was called the Woodpecker Mill. Charles Giles, of Gallia, Ohio, made a 6-stamp wooden mill, run by water power, in Chase gulch, which pounded out $6,000 in a season. T. T. Prosser imported the first mill not home made. It was a 3-stamp affair, and was set to work in Prosser gulch in Sept. 1859. Coleman & Le Fevre brought in a 6-stamp mill the same season, which was iun with the Prosser mill on Gunnell quartz, saving from $60 to $100 per ton. Ridgeway next set up a 6-stamp mill on Clear creek, below Black Hawk, and soon after Clark, Vandewater, & Co. imported a veritable foundry made, 9-stamp mill at the junction of Eureka and Spring gulches, where now is the centre of Central City. This was all accomplished in 1859. The Gregory lode has maintained its preeminence. The Bobtail was reckoned second; the Gunnell third. There are several mines on each of these. They all have a history, but for which I have not space. Few of the mines are down more than 1,500 feet; but this depth requires tunnelling, of which a good deal has been done. The British-American tunnel, beginning on south Clear creek below Fall river, extends 4 miles northerly, through Quartz hill to the silver district, and is not yet finished. The Union tunnel cuts through Maryland mountain. The European-American tunnel begins a mile below Black Hawk and runs westerly, being incomplete. There are numerous other shorter tunnels. The first iron-works set up in Colorado was by Langford & Co. of Denver, in May 1861, who manufactured iron from the bog ore found 16 miles north-west of Denver. After making the trial they removed their works to Black Hawk, where they continued to make iron and manufacture mining machinery.
3 Although early settled, Central City was not surveyed into lots until 1866, when George H. Hill laid it off. The town-site act of congress author- ized the location of 1,280 acres where there were over 1,000 inhabitants, and Central being entitled by population to half that amount, obtained it, less a little over 50 acres already patented to mines. The question of superior rights necessarily arose for settlement, the town being upon mining ground. Theodore H. Becker contested the claim of the city to a strip of surface ground 50 feet wide lying through the centre of town, on the supposition
612
COUNTIES OF COLORADO.
which was at one time the capital of the territory, and is the county seat, is the principal of the three towns
that the prior record of his mine would secure him in his claim. The secre- tary of the interior decided adversely to Becker, but referred the case to the courts. The city obtained its patent without reservation of the ground claimed by Becker, but with a proviso again referring the question to 'exist- ing laws.' The existing laws granted mining patents in towns, excepting all rights to the surface, or anything upon it, which decision was finally estab- lished and order restored. Black Hawk was incorporated in 1864. The first post-office in the Rocky mountains was located here, in 1860, and designated Mountain City, to distinguish it from another Central City in Kansas, of which Colorado was then a part. The name was dropped when the territory was organized. The second land office in Colorado was opened at Central City in 1868, for the district composed of Clear creek, Gilpin, and parts of Jefferson and Boulder counties, Irving Stantan register, and Guy M. Hulett receiver. The first application for a patent was for the Compass and Square lode, in Griffith mining district, Clear Creek co. The first express company which extended its line to Central City was the Central Overland and Pike's Peak express, in the spring of 1860. It came into the possession of Holladay in 1861, and in 1865 was transferred to Wells, Fargo, & Co., after which it passed into the hands of the Kansas Pacific Railroad company in 1871, when that road was completed to Denver. It was then known as the Kansas Pa- cific Railroad Express company, but later became the Pacific Express com- pany.
The telegraph line was completed to Central City Nov. 7, 1863, by the Pacific Telegraph company, which two years later was merged in the West- ern Union company.
The first newspaper started in the county was the Rocky Mountain Gold Reporter and Mountain City Herald, published in 1859, by Thomas Gibson, at Gregory point. It suspended the same year. The Miners' Register, pub- lished by Alfred Thompson, was the second, in 1862, which went through several changes, and suspended in 1873. In 1876 the Post, democratic, was first issued at Black Hawk, by William McLaughlin and W. W. Sullivan. It soon came into the hands of James R. Oliver.
The first banking in Central City was done by the private firm of Kountz Brothers. In 1866 the Rocky Mountain National bank was organized, Joshua S. Reynolds president. In 1874 the First National Bank of Central City was organized, which succeeded the private banking house of Thatcher, Standley, & Co., successors of Warren, Hussey, & Co. Hanington & Mellor organized a banking house in Central City in 1875. There is also at Black Hawk a private banking house, owned by Sam Smith & Co., established in 1880.
Public schools were organized in Central City in 1862, Daniel C. Collier superintendent; first teachers, Thomas J. Campbell and Ellen F. Kendall. Schools were organized the same year in Black Hawk and Nevadaville. The first public school-house erected by the county was completed in 1870, at a cost of $20,000, at that time the best school building in Colorado.
Religious services were held in the open air in 1859, at Gregory Diggings, by Lewis Hamilton, resulting in the formation of a union church, composed of all denominations. The hall over the post-office at Central City was used as a meeting house. In 1862 Hamilton went as chaplain to a Colorado regi- ment, and the records of the church were lost. G. W. Fisher, methodist, also held open-air meetings in 1859, and organized a church in 1860, afterward holding meetings in a public hall. A lot was purchased in 1862, but no church edifice was completed before 1869, when the first methodist church at Cen- tral was dedicated by Bishop Calvin Kingsley. The society in due time had a church, costing $20,000, and a membership of over 300. Its first settled pastor was Mr Adriance. A methodist church was also organized
613
RELIGIOUS AND BENEVOLENT ORGANIZATIONS.
before mentioned as occupying the heart of the gold district. It was named in reference to its central
at Black Hawk in 1862, and a small church edifice erected. The first set- tled pastor was D. H. Petfish. It was not until after 1872 that a church was built for the Methodist society at Nevadaville. The first woman to arrive in the gold district of Gilpin county was Mary York, afterward Mrs William Z. Cozzens, in 1859. She was a catholic. There were plenty of her faith in the mines, and services began to be held in the following year in a public hall by J. P. Machebeuf, afterwards bishop of Colorado. In 1862 a building was purchased and converted into a church, which continued to be used until the present large edifice was erected, the corner-stone of which was laid by Bishop Machebeuf in 1872. It was first used for religious services in 1874, though still incomplete. During this year an academy was opened on Gunnell hill by the catholics, under the charge of the sisters of charity. The presbyterians were organized into a church in 1862 by Lewis Hamilton, before mentioned, under the name of First Presbyterian church of Central City, George W. Warner, missionary, being its first pastor, succeeded by William Crawford, Theodore D. Marsh, Sheldon Jackson, J. G. Lawrie, H. B. Gage, J. P. Egbert, W. L. Ledwith, R. M. Brown, J. W. Johnstone, J. H. Bourns, and Otto Schultz, covering a period of about 20 years. The church building waserected in 1873. The First Presbyterian church of Black Hawk was organized in 1863 by George W. Warner. A church was erected the same year costing $7,500, and dedicated Aug. 28th, Warner pastor. He resigned in Nov., and was succeeded by T. D. Marsh, Dr Kendal, A. M. Keizer, Albert F. Lyle, G. S. Adams, and W. E. Hamilton. The church was closed in 1872, and subsequently rented to the methodists. The congregationalists organized in 1863, under William Crawford's ministrations, as the First Congregational church of Colorado, being whatits name indicated in reality, and wishing to be general in its efforts to do good. It was incorporated in 1866, however, as the First Congregational church of Central City. In that year a church edifice costing $11,700 was erected. Crawford remained with the society until 1867, when he resigned, and was succeeded by E. P. Tenney, after whom came S. F. Dickinson, H. C. Dickinson, Theodore C. Jerome, and Samuel R. Dimock. The church was closed in 1876. A baptist church was organized in 1864 by Almond Barrelle, a missionary from the American Baptist Home Mission society, and a house of worship erected, which in 1871 was repaired, and in 1879 closed, being since occupied as a store and dwelling. The epis- copal churches also have closed their doors. Why Central City so often closes its churches seems to require explanation. Probably the attempt to support too many in the three contiguous municipalities rendered abortive the effort to support any. In this matter the protestant churches would do well to imitate their catholic brethren.
In 1866 was organized the Miners and Mechanics' Institute of Gilpin county, Colorado, which association was chartered in 1867, but did not remain permanent. The library of 1,000 vols which it collected was sold to the city of Central at a nominal price, for the use of the public schools. The school board soon added another 1,000 volumes to the public school library. The cabinet of minerals and other valuable matter was burned in 1874.
The fire department of Central City was organized in 1869, when the Cen- tral Fire company No. I was formed, with 78 members, M. H. Root foreman. The city was not then supplied with water for extinguishing fires, and the department was otherwise wanting. After the fire of May 1874, which burned the greater part of the business portion of the town, it was reorganized. The Rescue Fire and Hose company No. I was first formed, N. H. McCall fore- man. In 1875 the Rough and Ready Hook and Ladder company No. I was organized, M. H. Root foreman. In 1878 the Alert Fire and Hose company No. 2, Thomas Hambly foreman. In 1879 the Black Hawk Fire aud Hose
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COUNTIES OF COLORADO.
position between Black Hawk and Nevadaville. The other towns are but its suburbs, and together make a
company No. 1 was organized, W. O. Logue foreman. There was soon an etfi- cient fire department, with hydrants at convenient distances, and reservoirs at a sufficient elevation to throw water over any building in the town. There was mustered into service as Colorado militia a military company, known as the Emmet Guards of Gilpin county, in Nov. 1875, James Noonan captain, James Delahanty Ist lieut, T. F. Welch 2d lieut.
Of secret and benevolent orders there are a number in Gilpin county. Nevada Lodge No. 1, of Free and Accepted Masons, was granted a dispensa- tion by the grand lodge of Kansas Dec. 22, 1860, and formally opened for business Jan. 12, 1861. Its lodge-room being burned in the autumn, steps were taken to rebuild, and 80 feet of ground fronting on Main street pur- chased. Nevada lodge was the first organized in Colorado, but later in the same year John M. Chivington, appointed by the grand master of Nebraska, instituted lodges as follows: Golden No. 1, at Golden City; Rocky Moun- tain No. 2, at Gold Hill; and Park No. 3, at Parkville, in the counties of Jefferson, Boulder, and Summit respectively. He then called a cenvention at Golden, to institute a grand lodge, Aug. 3, 1861. This action of the Nebraska grand lodge was regarded by the Nevada lodge as an infringement of the privileges of the Kansas grand lodge, under whose jurisdiction Colo- rado, it was claimed, properly came. The Kansas grand lodge, however, rec- ognizing the Colorado grand lodge, removed the difficulty, and Nevada lodge surrendering its first charter, was rechartered by the Colorado grand lodge as Nevada lodge No. 4. Its building was of stone, brick, and iron, and cost $7,000. Chivington lodge was chartered Dec. 11, 1861. Central City Chap- ter No. 1, Royal Arch Masons, received its charter from the grand royal arch chapter of the United States, Sept. 9, 1865. Central City Council No. 54, Royal and Select Masters, was chartered by the grand council of Ill., Oct. 23, 1872. Central City Commandery No. 2, Knights Templar, was insti- tuted Nov. 8, 1866, and received its charter from the grand encampment of the United States Oct. 24, 1868. Black Hawk lodge No. 11, A. F. & A. M., was instituted Feb. 17, 1866. The Rocky Mountain lodge No. 2, Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, was chartered June 14, 1865. Colorado Encampment No. 1, I. O. O. F., was instituted May 22, 1867. Colorado lodge No. 3, of Black Hawk, instituted May 16, 1866. Nevada lodge No. 6 was chartered Sept. 23, 1868. Bald Mountain Encampment No. 3 was instituted at Nevada March 18, 1871. The first lodge of Good Templars in Gilpin county was instituted at Nevada in August 1860, by A. G. Gill, commissioned by the grand lodge of Kansas. The fire of 1861 having destroyed their lodge- room, the order was reorganized at Central under the name of Central City lodge No. 23, of Kansas, and prospered until the fire of 1874 again destroyed its property. The lodge did not disband, but continued to meet in hired rooms. The first grand lodge of this order was instituted in Washington hall, Central City, March 17, 1868, with 788 members and 11 lodges. Ne- vada lodge No. 52 was instituted by the grand lodge of Kansas in April 1866; but in March 1868 it applied to the Colorado grand lodge for a new charter, and received the name of Nevada lodge No. 3. It owns a building, and is in good circumstances.
The Knights of Honor, Knights of Pythias, Knights of the New World, Foresters, and Red Men have their organizations in Gilpin county, as well as the Scandinavian and other benevolent societies. Not to be behind the rest of the world in amusements, Central is provided with an opera house of stone, 55 by 115 feet, which will seat 500 persons in the dress-circle and parquette, and 250 in the gallery. It is warmed by hot- air furnaces, is finely frescoed, lighted with gas, and cost altogether $25,- 000. It was begun in 1877, and completed in 1878, and furnishes a strong contrast to Hadley Hall, the large log building, still standing, in the upper story of which, in earlier times, theatrical representations were wont to be given.
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GRAND.
population of 5,500. It has excellent schools, and a generally progressive and refined society. The other towns and camps in the country are Rollinsville, Rus- sell's gulch, Black's camp, Cottonwood, and Smith hill.“
4 Among the pioneers of Gilpin county are the following: Corbit Bacon, who came to Colorado from Pontiac, Mich., in 1858 with a small party con- sisting of James A. Weeks, Wilbur F. Parker, and Alverson and son. Arriving late in the year he encamped 30 miles above Denver, and the follow- ing spring began mining on Quartz hill. He has continued in the business in Gilpin county ever since. J. M. Beverly, born in Va, in 1843, came to Colorado from Ill. in 1859 in company with J. R. Beverly, his father. They went at once to Gregory gulch, and thence to Nevadaville, where they erected the first cabin. J. M. Beverly was elected recorder, sheriff, and jus- tice of the peace in the autumn of 1859. During the winter he discovered a mine, named after him, on the Burroughs lode, which he sold in 1864. He built the Beverly mill in Nevada gulch in 1862, which he sold after running it 5 years, and built another. Having accumulated a fortune, he returned to Chicago, but suffered a loss of his property in the great fire of 1871, and began the study and practice of the law in that city. Later he invested in mines in Lake and Gilpin counties. Chase Withrow, born in Ill., in 1839, came to Colorado in 1860, and settled at Central City, where he followed mining for two years, after which he engaged in lumber-dealing for 6 years. He then returned to the study of the law, commenced before leaving Ill., was admitted to the bar, and practised until 1875, when he was elected clerk of the district court, which position he held for 6 years, when he returned to the practise of his profession. Soon after he was elected city attorney. Wil- liam H. Beverly, his brother, came to Colorado in 1860, and settled at Neva- daville. Hugh A. Campbell, born in Pa, in 1826, was brought up in Ohio. In 1850 he joined a party of adventurers going to California, and mined in Nevada co. 8 years. He had no sooner returned to Ohio than the rush to Pike's peak began, which he immediately joined, arriving in Central City in June 1859, where he opened a store with Jesse Trotter, in a brush tent. During the summer they erected a log cabin, on what is now Lawrence street, and removed their goods to it. They put a sign over their door with Central City on it, and so fixed the name, not recognized by the P. O. department. Campbell discovered the Cincinnati lode on Casto hill; owned 40 acres of placer ground on the south side of Quartz hill; 30 acres on Pine creek; the Globe, Progressive, and Centennial lodes on Gunnell hill; Greenback lode on Casto hill; Inter-ocean and Gettysburg on Quartz hill, and other mining property.
D. D. McIlvoy, born in Ky, in 1824, was the son of a farmer. He crossed the plains to Cal. in 1850. He joined a militia company during the Pah Ute outbreak, and was commissioned a lieutenant by Gov. McDougal. In 1851 he returned home by sea, meeting at Habana with the filibustering army of Lopez, recruited at New Orleans, witnessing the shooting of Capt. Crittenden and 50 men by Lopez, for insubordination and desertion. In 1859 McIlvoy came to Colorado with his family, and settled on Missouri flats near Central City. Soon after he discovered Lake gulch, and engaged in mining and farming, having 160 acres of land on the flats.
David D. Strock, born in Ohio, in 1832, raised a farmer, and educated at Hiram, came to Colorado in 1859, mining at Gregory gulch that summer, when he returned to Kansas, but finally settled at Black Hawk, in this state, in 1863, as a millwright and carpenter. He owned 50 feet on the Gunnell lode, which he leased to the Gunnell company.
Anthony W. Tucker, born in Pa, in 1837, reared in Ohio, a machinist by trade, came to Colorado in 1859, and mined at Gregory and Russell diggings.
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COUNTIES OF COLORADO.
Grand county, organized in 1874, included the North park, and most of the Middle park, and all of
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