History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, Part 3

Author: O.L. Baskin & Co
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 1080

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But though results were thus unsatisfactory, the same could not truthfully be said of business. It was flush times in Colorado. Money and work were plenty, and thousands found employment at remunerative wages. The placers were yielding up their rich treasures, and little or no skill was required to find and save the gold thus deposited.

True to the instincts of their kind, the pros- pectors spread over the whole country in their search for gold. The Indians became alarmed at the encroachments of the miners, and many detached parties of the latter were killed during

HISTORY OF COLORADO.

1860-61. The first party which penetrated into Middle Park was decimated by the hostile savages, but this did not prevent others from following in their footsteps, and very important discoveries of placer mines were made, not only along the bed of the Platte and its tributaries, but also across the Mosquito Range, in the Arkansas Valley. Among the latter was the celebrated find near the present site of Leadville, in California Gulch, of which

more will be written in another chapter devoted to the history of Leadville.

Though thousands of pilgrims crossed the plains in 1859, few, comparatively, of their number win- tered in the country, fearing the severity of the weather and a possible scarcity of provisions. By chance, neither fear was well founded. The win- ter was very mild, and trains loaded with goods of all kinds came through safely in midwinter.

CHAPTER III. JOURNALISM IN COLORADO.

V ERY early in the season of 1859, the printing- press took root in Rocky Mountain soil, where it has flourished since second to scarcely any other industry. What Colorado owes to her live, enter- prising and intelligent newspaper press, no one can tell; but, if the State is debtor to the press, the obligation is mutual, for never were newspapers so liberally patronized as those of Denver and the State at large.

By universal consent, Hon. William N. Byers, founder, and for a long time editor of the Rocky Mountain News, has been called the pioneer and father of Colorado's journalism, though in a late address to the Colorado State Press Association, he modestly disclaimed part of this honor in favor of an erratic but large-hearted printer named Jack Merrick. It seems that Merrick started for Pike's Peak with a newspaper outfit, in advance of the Byers party, which consisted of Thomas Gibson, then and now of Omaha, and Dr. George C. Monell, of the same place. Merrick reached Denver first, and to that extent was the pioneer publisher, but the superior energy of the Byers party enabled them to get out the first paper ever published in the Rocky Mountains. It bears date April 22, 1859. Merrick issued a paper on the same day, but later. Both were rather rude spec- imens of typography, especially as compared with the elegantly printed sheets now circulating in the

State, and the Cherry Creek Pioneer-the name by which Merrick's journal was heralded-was unique in that it was the one lone, solitary issue from his press. Before Jack could collect himself together sufficiently to get out another number, Gibson, of the News, had bargained for his sorry little outfit and consolidated it with that of the News. The latter paper was published with tolerable regularity all that summer, though sometimes under the most discouraging circumstances, and more than once upon brown paper or half-sheets of regular print. The nearest post office was at Fort Laramie, 220 miles distant, and the mails arrived there at very irregular intervals. The News, how- ever, was never dependent on its exchanges for original matter, and got along very well without telegraphic dispatches. It was devoted to build- ing up the country, and it gave nearly all its space to reports of mining matters, new strikes, and pictures of the glowing future of Colorado. For all these utterances, and especially for the latter, it was cursed by returning disheartened pilgrims, who poured their own stories into the willing ears of Eastern editors, and soon earned for the Rocky Mountain News the reputation of being edited by one of the most capable and dangerous liars in the country.

Looking back over his twenty years of labor for Colorado in the face of every possible

HISTORY OF COLORADO.

discouragement, the veteran editor can afford to smile at these ancient assaults upon his veracity as a scribe. More than he predicted of the coun- try has been verified.

The second newspaper venture in Colorado was at Mountain City, a mining camp, situated just above the present town of Black Hawk, but not quite as far up the gulch as where Central stands. This was the Gold Reporter, and was published by Thomas Gibson, who had sold his interest in the News to John L. Dailey, now Treasurer of Arapa- hoe County. Gibson published the Reporter only during the summer of 1859. In November, the material was removed to Golden, and a very credit- able newspaper, called the Mountaineer, was printed by the Boston Company which started the town. The idea, at that time, was that Golden should supersede Denver as the metropolis of the mountains, and this newspaper, venture was in pur- suance of that sacredly cherished purpose. The lamented A. D. Richardson was one of the earlier editors of the Mountaineer, and Col. Thomas W. Knox, almost as widely known as a successful journalist, was another. Capt. George West, the veteran editor of the Golden Transcript, which succeeded the Mountaineer, was also connected with the latter publication until the war broke out, when he enlisted.

The winter of 1859-60 was a hard one upon the journals of the Territory, on account of the stampede back to the "settlements " at the opening of the winter, but the spring brought many of the stampeders back, and not a few "tenderfeet," as new-comers were already called by those who had wintered in the country. Among the returning prodigals was Gibson, who brought in another newspaper outfit, and, early in May, issued the Daily Herald, the first daily ever printed in Denver.

Meantime the proprietors of the News had not been idle, and, very soon after the Daily Herald was started, the Daily News made its appearance.

The rivalry between these sheets is one of the liveliest traditions of 1860. The fierce competi-

tion between our great dailies of to-day sinks into insignificance when compared to the News and Herald war of that date. Single copies of each paper sold readily for "two bits," which was the standard price also for cigars, drinks, and many other necessaries of life in the Far West. Both papers circulated in all the mountain mining camps, being distributed by carriers mounted on the fleet "bronchos" of the plains, whose tireless tramp and sure feet fitted them exactly for the work, as, in these latter days, the same character- istics fit them equally for chasing wild cattle over the plains or carrying tourists to the very summits of mountain peaks.

A year later the telegraph reached Fort Kearney, and journalism took another forward step. The dailies began to furnish telegraphic news from the East, then eagerly sought for on account of the great civil war raging throughout the South.

Curiously enough, although Gregory Gulch was, from the first discovery of gold there, a large center of population, particularly during the sum- mer months, no newspaper was permanently estab- lished there until 1862. It was the same Register which still survives, and which has been for many years one of the most important and influential mining and political journals of the State. The Black Hawk Journal, now extinct, but which existed for many years, was established by Capt. Frank Hall and O. J. Hollister, in the same year. Both these gentlemen made their mark in journal- ism, and the former is still an honored and exceed- ingly popular citizen of Colorado. To the latter, Colorado is indebted for the best historical sketch of the State ever published, but the number of years which have elapsed since its appearance, and the wonderful transformation of the country which has marked these later years, have almost destroyed the value of "Hollister's Colorado," except as a book of reference, in which respect it has been of most invaluable service to the compiler of these pages.

It would be interesting, if it were practicable, to follow the fortunes of these and other enterprising

HISTORY OF COLORADO.

newspapers through succeeding years, but the vicissitudes of journalism in Colorado would make a book in itself. Perhaps a fitting conclusion to this brief review would be the following extract from the address of Mr. Byers before the Colorado Press Association, already referred to elsewhere:

"1862, '63 and '64 were trying years for the two daily newspapers that remained in Denver. Messrs. Rounds & Bliss retired from the News. in 1863. The Herald underwent a number of changes in name and management. A harassing Indian war on the Plains prostrated business, cut off the mails and interrupted all commerce. Trains laden with merchandise were robbed or burned, teams driven off and men killed. During the summer of 1864, when the trouble culminated, Denver and the immediate vicinity lost about fifty citizens, who were murdered by the Indians. Most of them were killed while en route to or from the States. The daily mail route along the Platte was broken up and nearly all the stations hurned. As misfortunes never come singly, that season was exceptional for its disasters. On the 20th of May occurred the celebrated Cherry Creek flood, known by that name only because it occasioned more destruction of property and loss of life at Denver than in any other locality. It was no less terrible and proportionately more destructive along Plum Creek, the Fontaine qui Bouille and other streams, than along Cherry Creek. By it Denver lost a large amount of property. The News office and its contents were destroyed, leaving not a vestige. Three or four weeks after, its proprietors bought the Herald office and resumed the publication of the News. The Indian war thickened, until practically Colo- rado was cut off from the Eastern States. For weeks at a time, there were no mails, and finally they were sent around by Panama and San Fran- cisco, reaching Denver in from seven to ten weeks. Of course newspapers suffered with everybody and everything else. All supplies were used up. Wrapping paper, tissue paper and even writing paper were used to keep up the daily issues of the

News, now the only paper remaining in Denver, if not in the Territory. In August, martial law was proclaimed, and the Third Regiment of Colorado Volunteers raised in less than a week in order to chastise the Indians. The regiment was equipped and provisioned by the people, but was subse- quently accepted and mustered into the United States Service for one hundred days. The Sand Creek campaign followed. The News office fur- nished fourteen recruits for that regiment, and thereafter, for a time, the paper was printed by a detail of soldiers. It was very small, and con- tained little besides military orders and notices. The campaign lasted about ninety days, and then followed peace. For two or three years, the News had the field in Denver almost entirely alone, and then new enterprises were started, and the number of newspapers has since multiplied rap- idly, some to become permanent, as the Tribune, Herald, Times and others, and many others to flourish for a brief period and then die. The same has been the case all over the Territory, now State. Newspapers have been among the first enterprises in all new towns of any importance."

It would be unjust to a generous and noble class of men to dismiss this subject without pay- ing a compliment to those who have carried the printing press up and down the mountains and valleys of this broad State, whenever and wherever there was a posssible opportunity to develop some new resources and found some new settlement. There has never been a call for a new newspaper in Colorado to which some one has not responded. Start a new town anywhere in the mountains, and the moment its success is assured-often much sooner-some enterprising publisher puts in an appearance, and a creditable newspaper is launched in less time than it would take an Eastern commu- nity to make up its mind that a newspaper was a necessity. Who would think in the East, or in the Mississippi Valley, of starting a newspaper in a town of two or three hundred inhabitants ? Yet Colorado can boast of many such, and, what is stranger still, many of them are financially

HISTORY OF COLORADO.

successful. Should the new settlement prosper, the newspaper always shares its prosperity; should the town fail, the publisher, a little downcast, per- haps, but not at all disheartened, picks up his office

and himself and tries another location. As a matter of present as well as future interest, the following list of periodical publications in the State, at the close of 1879, is hereto appended :

NAME.

PLACE.

PROPRIETORS.

When Estab'd.

News, weekly

Alamosa

M. Custers ..

1878

Independent, weekly

Alamosa

Hamm & Finley 1878

Southwest, weekly

Animas City ..

Engley & Reid. 1879

Post, weekly

Black Hawk.

J. R. Oliver.

News and Courier, weekly.

Boulder

Shedd & Wilder

1876 1869

Banner, weekly

Boulder.

Wangelin & Tilney

Record, weekly

Canon City

H. T. Blake ..

News Letter, weekly

Castle Rock.

C. E. Parkinson

Central City

Laird & Marlow.

Gazette, daily and weekly.

Colorado Springs

Mountaineer, daily and weekly

Colorado Springs.

Deaf-Mute Index, monthly.

Colorado Springs.

Prospector, weekly ..

Del Norte.

Cochran Bros.

News, daily and weekly

Denver

Tribune, daily and weekly.

Denver

Republican, daily and weekly

Denver

Times, daily and weekly.

Denver

Colorado Farmer, weekly ...

Denver

J. S. Stanger

Colorado Journal, weekly

Denver

W. Witteborg

Colorado Post, weekly

Denver

News Printing Co

O. J. Goldrick

Rev. S. Jackson

Journal, weekly

Evans

James Torrens

Express, weekly

Fort Collins

Courier, weekly

Fort Collins.

Watrous & Pelton.

Patterson & Bellamy ..

J. S. Randall.

Transcript, weekly

Golden

Globe, weekly

Golden

Sun, weekly ..

Greeley

Tribune, weekly

Greeley

Silver World, weekly

Lake City

H. C. Olney

Chronicle Co.

G. F. Wanless.

Herald Printing Co

R. S. Allen

W. E. Pabor

E. F. Beckwith

Ledger Co.

Mentor, weekly

Times, weekly

Ouray.

Ripley Bros.

Solid Muldoon.

Ouray.

Pueblo

J. J. Lambert.

Hull Bros.

A. J. Patrick.

Chronicle, weekly.

Saguache

Miner, weekly.

Silverton.

Prospector, daily

Silver Cliff

Miner, daily and weekly

Silver Cliff

W. L. Stevens

Enterprise, daily and weekly.

Trinidad

J. M. Rice.

News, daily and weekly ..

Trinidad

Henry Sturgis

Leader, weekly.

West Las Animas.

C. W. Bowman

1873

1875 1875 1874 1862 1873 1873 1875 1874 1859 1867 1879 1872 1873 1878 1872 1879 1860 1871 1871 1873 1878 1879 1867 1877 1867 1872 1872 1870 1875 1879 1378 1879 1878 1876 1871 1877 1878 1877 1879 1868 1875 1875

George West .. W. G. Smith

H. A. French.

E. J. Carver

Chronicle, daily and weekly

Eclipse, daily and weekly.

Leadville

Herald, daily and weekly ..

Leadville

Reveille, daily and weekly

Leadville.

Colorado Grange, monthly.

Longmont

Press, weekly.

Longmont

Ledger, weekly

Longmont

Monument

A. T. Blachley

Muldoon Publishing Co

Democrat, daily and weekly .. Index, weekly ..

Pueblo

Rosita

Banner, weekly

South Pueblo

W. B. Felton. John R. Curry Mckinney & Lacy.

... 1874 ... 1875 1879 1878 1875 1878

Financial Era, weekly.

Denver

F. C. Messenger & Co

Herald, weekly

Denver

Presbyterian, monthly

Denver

J. S. McClelland

Flume, weekly Miner, weekly

Fairplay

Georgetown

Courier, weekly.

Georgetown

Gazette Publishing Co.

Mountaineer Printing Co

H. M. Harbert

News Printing Co

H. Beckurts ...

Republican C'o.

R. W. Woodbury

Leadville

Chieftain, daily and weekly

HISTORY OF COLORADO.

The preceding shows fifteen daily and fifty weekly newspapers. Denver has four large dailies; Leadville, three fair dailies; Pueblo, two; Colorado Springs,

Silver Cliff and Trinidad, two each, and Central, one. The Denver dailies challenge the admiration of every one who appreciates pluck and perseverance.

CHAPTER IV. EARLY POLITICS AND ORGANIZATION OF THE TERRITORY.

B RIEF allusion has been made already to the political movements of the pioneers; their early effort to organize a Territorial Government, and also to extend the jurisdiction of Kansas over this unorganized community. The pioneers were good citizens, but they foresaw the lawless element which would fall upon them presently, and earn- estly endeavored to provide themselves with prop- er laws and peace officers. But the work of organizing a Territory is at best a tedious process, and, in this case, it was hindered by conflicting interests and opinions. Some wanted to organize a State at once, claiming in their enthusiasm, that the requisite population could be shown by the time a vote would be taken on the question. Some opposed alike the State and Territorial move- ment, and wanted to remain a dependence of Kan- sas, and the roughs were opposed to any and all forms of government-not very strange, in view of the fact that most of them were fugitives from justice, in one or another of the older States or Territories.

After the formal establishment of the new county under Kansas administration, the next im- portant step was the State movement. A public meeting, held in Auraria (West Denver), April 11, 1859, had resolved in favor of a State organ- ization, and the scheme advanced so far dur- ing the summer that a Constitution was pre- pared, and submitted to a vote of the people in September. The convention which framed the Constitution, wisely provided that, in case of its rejection, a delegate to Congress, to be voted for on the same day, should proceed to Washington, and again endeavor to have the

gold region set off from Kansas, as a new Terri- tory, to be known as Jefferson. The Constitution was rejected by a large majority, the vote in its favor being but 649 to 2,007against it.

B. D. Williams was elected Delegate over seven competitors. The election was a very exciting affair. Even at that early day, there were charges and counter-charges of fraud, some of them, prob- ably, well founded. The Returning Board came in for its share of obloquy, too, but, as no "emi- nent citizens," or Congressional Committee, in- quired into the matter, it failed to achieve a national reputation.

Thus ended the first effort of the people of Col- orado for admission into the Union. It was renewed on several occasions prior to the final suc- cessful movement in 1875-76. On one occasion, it was so far successful that, in 1864, Congress passed an enabling act under which a Constitution was framed, adopted, and all the machinery of State stood ready to move at a moment's notice, when President Andrew Johnson vetoed every- thing by refusing to ratify the Constitution, on the ground that it contained an unconstitutional pro- vision restricting suffrage to white inhabitants. This was a terrible blow not only to the people of the State generally, but to the unfledged State officials and Congressional delegation. Hon. J. B. Chaffee and ex-Gov. John Evans had been chosen Senators; Hon. George M. Chilcott, Representative in Congress; William Gilpin, Governor; George A. Hinsdale, Lieutenant Governor ; J. H. Gest, Secretary of State, and W. R. Gorsline, Allen A. Bradford and J. Bright Smith, Justices of the Supreme Court.

HISTORY OF COLORADO.

Upon the failure of the first effort in 1859, the Provisional Government of the Territory of Jeffer- son was organized, by the election of R. W. Steele, as Governor ; Lucien W. Bliss, Secretary ; C. R. Bissell, Auditor ; G. W. Cook, Treasurer; Samuel McLean, Attorney General, and a full ticket, which was voted at twenty-seven precincts, and for which some two thousand one hundred votes were cast, pro and con. But in order to be on the safe side, still another election was held on the same day, at which a full set of county officers were chosen, under Kansas rule, and, so the early pilgrims sailed along under triple laws for a time, the Miner's court having been organized to mete out justice after its crude and vigorous but very healthy fashion.

Say what we may of the miners' laws and their summary method of dealing with litigants and all offenders against law and order, the fact remains that during those troublous times, the Miners' courts were about the only ones which were thoroughly respected and implicitly oheyed. 'As to the latter point, indeed, there was no alter- native, When the miners ordered a man out of camp, for example, he stood not at all upon the order of his going, but went at once. Similarly, if the miners decided between two parties contend- ing over a disputed claim, the side which secured a verdict also secured possession, and that without any delay whatever.

The " Provisional Government," as the Territorial party was called, elected a Legislature, which met in November, and transacted considerable business. The city of Denver was first chartered by this body. Nine counties were represented in the Legislature, and Gov. Steele set out to officer them by appointing Probate Judges and ordering county elections in January, 1860. There was little or no objection to the office-holding part of the pro- gramme, but a poll-tax of $1 per capita, levied by the Provisional Government, was the occasion of much vigorous "kicking," and went farther toward breaking down than sustaining Gov. Steele's admin- istration.

Meantime, Capt. Richard Sopris, now an hon- ored citizen and Mayor of Denver, represented " Arapahoe County " in the Kansas Legislature, and a complete list of Kansas county officers had been chosen in the valleys, while the mountain counties stood by their Miners' courts, and as much of the Provisional Government as suited them. If an honest miner failed to secure his rights in one court, he incontinently rushed into another; if he feared to go to trial in one, he took a change of venue to the other. Sometimes cases were tried in both courts, and as the fine art of taxing fees had early penetrated into the country, liti- gants often found themselves as poor after a case was won as they were before.

In January, 1860, the Provisional Legislature met again and made some more laws, which were as inoperative as their predecessors. Their failure, however, was due rather to the passivity than resistance of the people. The country was, in fact, peaceable and law-abiding, with the exception of that dangerous class common to the border, to which all laws were alike objectionable, and these roughs were kept in check by the fear of summary punishment. Miners' courts in the mountains had been supplemented by people's courts in the valleys. The proceedings of the lat- ter were as open and orderly as those of the for- mer; indeed, they approached the dignity of a regularly constituted tribunal.

They were always presided over by a magistrate, either a Probate Judge or a Justice of the Peace. The prisoner had counsel and could call witnesses, if the latter were within reach.

So passed the year 1860, marked by some very exciting criminal history, of which more anon, and, early in December, upon the re-assembling of Congress, the claims of Colorado to Territorial recognition were persistently pressed, not only by her own delegates, but by many members who had near relatives or friends in the Pike's Peak country. After a little delay, caused by a press of political business in both Houses, Congress finally took up and passed the Colorado bill, which became a law

073 2 X SMELTING WORKS OF THE ROBINSON CONSOLIDATED MINING COMPANY, ROBINSON COLO. -----

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HISTORY OF COLORADO.

February 26, 1861. President Lincoln immedi- ately appointed Federal officers for the new Terri- tory. William Gilpin was the Governor; Lewis Ledyard Weld, Secretary; B. F. Hall, Chief Jus- tice; S. Newton Pettis and Charles Lee Armour, Associate Justices; Copeland Townsend, United States Marshal; William L. Stoughton, Attorney General, and Gen. Francis M. Case, Surveyor General.

Gov. Gilpin reached Denver May 29, following his appointment. A census of the Territory, taken by him soon after his arrival, showed a pop- ulation of 25,329, divided as follows : White males over age, 18,136; white males under age, 2,622; females, 4,484; negroes, 89.

The new Territory was carved out of the public domain lying between the 102d and 109th meri -. dians of longitude and the 37th and 41st parallels of latitude, thus forming a compact and nearly square tract, its length, east and west, being 370 miles and its width 280. It comprises an area of 104,500 square miles, an Empire in itself and the third largest State in the Union, Texas being the first and California second. But, according to the maps and Hayden's Survey, fully one-third of Col- orado is covered by the Rocky Mountain Range and its spurs, the latter standing out from the former in every direction. The main range or con- tinental divide enters the State from the north, a little west of the center, ranges eastward and south- ward until Long's Peak is reached, bears almost due south through Boulder County, swings west- ward around Gilpin and Clear Creek, thence leads southwest through many devious turns and wind- ings until it penetrates the very heart of the San Juan silver region, whence it returns eastward by south, and leaves the State nearly due south of the point where it entered.

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History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, Part 3

Author: O.L. Baskin & Co Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co. Number of Pages: 1080

Author: O.L. Baskin & Co
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 1080