History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, Part 59

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

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Waco-mish almost burst with rage as the other spoke, but his coward heart alone prevented him from provoking an encounter with the calm Sho- shone. He, made thirsty by the words he had spoken-for the red man is ever sparing of his tongue -again stooped down to the spring to quench his thirst, when the subtle warrior of the Comanche sud- denly threw himself upon the kneeling hunter, and, forcing his head into the bubbling water, held him down with all his strength, until his victim no longer struggled, his stiffened limbs relaxed, and he fell for- ward over the spring, drowned and dead. Over the body stood the murderer, and no sooner was the deed of blood consummated than bitter remorse took possession of his mind, where before had reigned the fiercest passion and vindictive hate. With hands clasped to his forehead, he stood transfixed with horror, intently gazing on his victim, whose head still remained immersed in the fountain. Mechanic-

ally he dragged the body a few paces from the water, which, as soon as the head of the Indian was with- drawn, the Comanche saw suddenly and strangely disturbed. Bubbles sprang up from the bottom, and, rising from the surface, escaped in hissing gas. A thin vapory cloud arose, and gradually dissolving, displayed to the eyes of the trembling murderer the figure of an aged Indian, whose long, snowy hair and venerable beard, blown aside hy the gentle air from his breast, discovered the well-known totem of the great Wau-kau-aga, the father of the Comanche and Shoshone nation, whom the traditions of the tribe, handed down by skillful hieroglyphics, almost deified for the good actions and deeds of bravery this famous warrior had performed while on earth. Stretching out a war-club toward the affrighted mur- derer, he thus addressed him:

"Accursed of my tribe! this day thou hast severed the link between the mightiest nations of the world, while the blood of this brave Shoshone cries to the Manitou for vengeance. May the water of thy tribe be rank and bitter in their throats!"

Thus saying, and swinging his ponderous war-club (made from the elk's horn) round his head, he dashed out the brains of the Comanche, who fell headlong into the spring, which from that day to the present moment remains rank and nauseous, so that, not even when half dead with thirst, can one drink the foul water of that spring.

The good Wau-kau-aga, however, to perpetuate the memory of the Shoshone warrior, who was re- nowned in his tribe for valor and nobleness of heart, struck with the same avenging club a hard, flat rock, which overhung the rivulet, just out of sight of this scene of blood, and forthwith the rock opened into a round, clear basin, which instantly filled with bubbling, sparkling water, than which no thirsty hunter ever drank a sweeter or a cooler draught.

Thus two springs remain, an everlasting memento of the foul murder of the brave Shoshone and the stern justice of the good Wau-kau-aga; and from that day the two mighty tribes of the Shoshone and the Comanche have remained severed and apart; although a long and bloody war followed the treach- erous murder of the Shoshone chief, and many a scalp torn from the head of the Comanche paid the penalty of his death.

With such a tragic origin it is not surprising that they are potent to interest the white man equally with the red, through other than their medicinal properties.

These springs were an important feature in the plans of the colony company, and improve- ments were commenced there simultaneously with those at Colorado Springs. During the winter of 1871-72, the Manitou Hotel was com- pleted and made ready for the anticipated guests of the following season. But its accom- modations were found to be entirely inadequate to the occasion, so that when the summer came, the banks of the streams were literally thronged by the dwellers in tents, and almost every pri-

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HISTORY OF EL PASO COUNTY.

vate house was forced to become a house of en- tertainment. Thus were the rosy hallucinations of Fitz Hugh Ludlow, indited ten years pre- vious to this time, prematurely realized. He said : "When Colorado becomes a State, the Springs of the Fountain will constitute its Spa. In air and scenery no more glorious summer residence could be imagined. The Coloradoan of the future, astonishing the echoes of the Rocky foot-hills, by a railroad from Den- ver to the Colorado Springs, and running down on Saturday to stop over Sunday with his fam- ily, will have little cause to envy us Easterners our Saratoga, as he paces up and down the piazza of the Spa Hotel, mingling his full- flavored Havana with that lovely air, quite un- breathed before, which is floating down upon him from the snow-peaks of the Range."

Other improvements followed from time to time, including hotels, churches, stores, res- taurants, stables, school-building and the grad- ing of streets, until the incipient village began to assume the airs of a fashionable resort. During the summer of 1880, a branch of the Denver & Rio Grande Railway was extended from Colorado Springs to this point, and, at the present time, the citizens of Manitou and her guests are accommodated by a train running to Denver and returning daily.

There are now there three first-class and other minor hotels, numerous boarding houses and cottages for the accommodation of guests, and a permanent population of about six hundred.

A system of water works, competent to sup- ply every house, is fed from Ruxton Creek, near the western limit of Manitou, and extends thence through Colorado City to Colorado Springs, a distance of five miles or more. These important works were inaugurated by Colorado Springs, in 1879, and successfully carried through during that year, at an ex- pense approximating to $100,000.

THE PRESS.

The press constitutes an insignificant feature of the early history of El Paso County. In 1861, a small sheet-the Colorado Journal -- was published, nominally, at Colorado City, but printed in Denver. It was rather a spicy affair during its fitful career, as might well be presumed, with the name of B. F. Crowell figuring prominently as its editor ; but it shared

the common fate of precocity, and perished during the year.

Several considerable attempts were subse- quently made to obtain a press and issue a paper to aid the development of local interests, but all failed through financial impotency:

In 1872 the colony company commenced the publication of the Out West, issuing the first number on the 23d of March of that year. Mr. J. W. Liller, an able and facile writer, as editor, conducted this journal with such tact as to render it at once popular.

Under the same auspices the Gazette (week- ly) became an entity on the first Saturday in January, 1873, and soon assumed position as one of the prominent papers of the Territory. Its neat appearance and scholarly editorials elicited general admiration.

The Miner and Advertiser appeared in March, 1875, and the Free Press in the following April, but both were of short duration.

The Deaf-Mute Index, edited and printed by pupils of the institute, was first issued in 1875, and still abides-a credit to both institute and pupils.

The Mountaineer, under the patronage of citizens who desired a journal independent of corporate influence, was ushered into existence some time during the year 1876, to have a checkered experience, until it fell into the hands of the present editor and proprietor, Mr. Abe Roberts, some two years since, who is making of it both a financial success and a live journal.

The Magnet is an advertising sheet published by A. H. Connan.

The Capital City was published during the latter part of 1880, but is now no more.

There was a spicy little paper published at Monument during several months, but it died for the want of financial support, though it should have been continued.

CONCLUSION.

In the foregoing paragraphs it has been our aim to be brief and yet to put the leading facts in our history as clearly before the reader as practicable. If we have failed in this, or in any other particular, we crave to be judged leniently.

Beginning with the whimsical incident which led to the organization of a party of adventurers I to search for gold in the then mystic region of

H. MLake -

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HISTORY OF EL PASO COUNTY.

far away Pike's Peak, we have faintly traced their wanderings, seen them endenizened as citizens on the hither margin of the "Great. `American Desert," seen their systematic method in the "foundation of empire " in the wilder- ness, their struggles for existence against pov- erty-the usual concomitant of the early pioneer-against those ordinary infelicities inseparable from such enterprises, against the Indian and his fellow scourge, the grasshopper, until we find them reinforced by their fellow countrymen, in a measure triumphant, and generally enjoying a just reward for their pro- tracted efforts.

A summary of the result of these efforts so far as it has inured to the development of El Paso County would seem to be a fitting finale to our record. It is not sufficient to say, that so much of the wilderness has been con- quered to civilization, that so considerable a com- munity has been added to the productive ele-

ments of the country, that so many homes have been achieved to the homeless by that praise- worthy exertion which forever endears the sense of possession, to impress the average mind that anything of value has been accom- plished ; but when we are enabled to present all these facts in terms of the Federal currency, all the essential features of the case are clearly rendered.

We therefore submit the following statistics of the taxable property of El Paso County for the year 1880: Land, 250,434.11 acres ; railway, 49 miles ; value of town-lots, $1,369,- 840 ; value of merchandise, $268,930 ; value of stocks, $30,000 ; manufacturing capital, $18,- 380 ; money and credits, $394,390 ; gold, silver and other property, $300,350 ; horses, 4,235 ; mules, 4,235 ; cattle, 23,984 ; sheep, 122,153 ; swine, 374 ; total valuation, $4,320,320 ; popu- lation, 7,903.

-0

BIOGRAPHICAL.

ROBERT W. ANDERSON.

Mr. Anderson, of the firm of Anderson & Gaby, contractors and builders, of Colorado Springs, was born near Ottawa, Canada, Decem- ber 17, 1840. The early portion of his life was spent at working on the farm and in attend- ing public school. At the age of twenty-seven he went to Henry County, Mo., where he began work at the carpenter's trade and remained at it one year. He then removed to Eastern Kansas, where he carried on contracting and building for the subsequent six years. In the spring of 1874, he came to Colorado and located in Colo- rado Springs, where he worked at his trade one year. He then began contracting and building and in 1878, formed a partnership with W. D. Gaby, in which business he is still engaged. Mr. Anderson was married in October, 1871, to Miss Mary C. Scott, of Zanesville, Ohio, and has a family of four children-one son and three daughters.

DR. W. A. BELL.

Dr. W. A. Bell was born in Clonmel, Tipper- ary, Ireland, on April 26th, 1841. His father is an eminent physician, well known in London, having resided in Hartford street, Mayfair, for twenty years. With the view of following his father in the medical profession, he went from school to the University of Cambridge, where he graduated in arts, with first-class honors in the natural science tripos, and took his M. A. degree in 1863. After completing the usual course of medical studies at the London Hos- pital he took his medical degree at the Univer- sity of Cambridge in 1865, and in the winter of 1866-67, visited the United States for the first time, on a tour of recreation. In the spring of 1867, through the influence of Philadelphia friends, he became attached to the Kansas Pacific Railway Surveys, which were organized under the protection of the United States Gov- ernment to determine the best route for a southern trans-continental railway. These sur- veys were extended through New Mexico and Arizona, both by the thirty-second and thirty-

fifth parallels to San Francisco, and the results obtained therefrom are contained in a valuable report made by Gen. W. J. Palmer, in 1868, who had sole charge of the expedition. It was during this long course of western travel and exploration that strong attachment first showed itself between Gen. Palmer and Dr. Bell, which has since developed into a life-long friendship and the closest business relations. Returning to England at the close of the ex- pedition in 1868, Dr. Bell commenced the prac- tice of his profession in London, but failing in health again joined Gen. Palmer in Colorado for a six-weeks trip in the summer of 1869. In the summer of 1870, the doctor made his third trip to Colorado, and then the first step was taken towards inaugurating the great system of narrow gauge railways throughout the Rocky Mountains, with which his name has since been associated. This step was the incorporation early in the fall of 1870 of the Denver & Rio Grande Railway Company, after which Gen. Palmer returned with the Doctor to England to study the narrow gauge systems in Europe, and to decide upon the practicability of a cheaper system than that of the standard, 4.8} gauge, and one better adapted to the necessities of a mountainous region. The result of their inves- tigations was the adoption of the three-foot gauge, which gauge has since been followed by all subsequent builders of narrow-gauge rail- ways throughout the United States. With Gen. Palmer as President head, with the subject of this as Vice President and Lieutenant, assisted by a small, though most efficient staff of steadfast men, men of whom Colorado will ever be grateful and proud, this great public work, the Denver & Rio Grande Narrow Gauge has prospered and grown to be the most marvellous, as well as one of the most successful railway enterprises on the continent. On the 8th of May, 1873, at St. James' Church, Picca- dilly, London, Dr. Bell married Cora Georgina Whitmore, elder daughter of Whitmore Scovell, Esq., of Weddon, Surrey. Returning with his

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bride to Colorado, he made his permanent home at Manitou, where he erected the first private house which was built in that lovely glen, now so well known and admired as the Valley of Maniton. The house is a comfort- able and unpretentious English home trans- ferred to the foot of Pike's Peak. The native shrubbery and trees have been protected and cared for, shady walks have been cut through them, the dashing mountain brook, the Fon- taine Qui Bouille, has been crossed with rustic bridges, and four acres of land cap- tured from a state of rugged wildness, have been tamed and beautified, and made a bloom- ing garden. The collateral enterprises in which Dr. Bell has been engaged, and with which his name is and has been associated, are many, and are distributed all over the State. In 1869, he negotiated the bonds of the Denver & Pacific Railway Company in Europe, and assisted in the sale of the Maxwell estate, but withdrew from that company when the con- troling interest in 1871 opposed the immediate extension of the Denver & Rio Grande Railway into it, which he considered vital to the near success of that large property. In the estab- lishment of the Colorado Central Improvement Company, which has now grown into such a vast undertaking under its new name of Col- orado Coal and Iron Company, Dr. Bell took an active part, his English clients furnishing about half the capital. From 1870 to 1877, financial matters connected with this and the railway company obliged him to spend much of his time in Europe. In mining affairs, Dr. Bell has never taken a prominent part, but he has been the means of directing much well- expended capital to Colorado. The founders of the Colorado Mortgage and Investment Company were induced to chose Colorado as the field of operations through the representa- tions of Dr. Bell, at a time, too, when it re- quired confidence, pluck and wise foresight to venture as boldly as they did into vast invest- ments so far from home. With the characteris- tic instincts of his nationality, Dr. Bell became a large land-owner almost immediately upon his settlement in Colorado, and his landed estates are among the most beautiful in the State. He is the owner of Manitou Park, an estate of 10,- 000 acres, situated among the mountains some nineteen miles northwest of Manitou, and well known to tourists. He also owns the Clifton

Hay Farm of 2,000 acres in the Wet Moun- tain Valley, opposite Westcliffe-a farm that has probably no equal in the State. He is also part owner and trustee of two patented land grants in New Mexico, containing respectively 95,000 and 413,000 acres. In private life he is known to be a lover of music, painting, and especially of architecture. It has always been a source of pleasure and recreation for him to erect a picturesque cottage or villa, or an ar- tistic railway station, such as that at Manitou. He is the owner of that priceless modern art treasure, Moran's picture of the Mountain of the Holy Cross. Manitou, his home, he has steadily promoted in every possible way, for- warding its interests by the erection of its two finest hotels, and in beautifying the place with buildings, fountains, ornamental lakelets, parks and shade trees. Among those who have been prominently connected with the many large enterprises for developing the natural resources of Colorado, none have entered into the work with a greater zeal and enthusiasm, or more untiringly and devotedly at all times to for- ward its progress, having its best interests at heart, than the subject of this sketch.

COL. JOHN H. BACON.

Col. Bacon is of New England parentage, and was born in Tioga Co., N. Y., June 27, 1828. At the age oftwelve he removed with his parents to Coldwater, Mich., where he resided two years, thence to Hillsdale Co., same State. At the age of sixteen, after receiving a limited education in the public schools, he began an apprenticeship at the printer's trade. From 1847 to 1852, he traveled over the Southern States, and worked at his trade. In 1852, he married Miss Mary A. Weaver, of Princeton, Ill. In 1854, he removed to Washington, Washington Co., Iowa, where he was engaged in the hotel and livery -business twenty-one years. During the late war of the rebellion, he was appointed Provost Marshal of the First District of Iowa. In 1875, he came to Colora- do, located at Colorado Springs, and again en- gaged in the hotel and livery business. During the first year of his residence here, he ran the hotel known as Bacon's Exchange, and from that time until May of the present year, when he sold out to his son, he devoted his attention to the livery business. In 1878, he built a livery stable on Pike's Peak avenue which,

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BIOGRAPHICAL:

at the time of its completion, was the largest in the State. He is at present devoting bis attention to the breeding of fine horses, of which he has a large herd on Four Mile, in the western part of El Paso Co. Col. Bacon was for twenty years an active member of the State Agricultural Society of Iowa, and during that time held various official positions in that so- ciety. He was also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Iowa State College. In the spring of 1880, he was elected Mayor of Colo- rado Springs, which office he honorably filled one year. Col. Bacon is a member of the Re- publican party, and an active politican, but has never sought political emoluments. He is also a strong Prohibitionist.

HON. CHARLES W. BARKER.

Mr. Barker is a native of New York, and was born in Jefferson Co. of that State, February 1, 1839. He attended public school until eighteen years of age, and subsequently completed his education at Oberlin College, in Oberlin, Ohio. In 1861, he went to Indianapolis, Ind., and in June of that year enlisted in the First Indiana Cavalry, and served three years as scout. After being honorably mustered-out of the service, he returned to Indiana, and during the succeeding four years taught school in that State and in Ohio. In 1869, he re- moved to Kansas City, Mo., and was there engaged in the real estate and insurance business six years. In 1875, he came to Colorado, located at Manitou Springs, the famous " health resort," and leased the Manitou House for a term of five years, and entered the hotel business. He then bought and enlarged the hotel, now known as the Barker House, which he has since conducted. Mr. Barker has served on the Town Board of Trustees of Mani- tou Springs two years, and as Secretary of the School Board one term. In the fall of 1880, he was elected a member of the Lower House of the State Legislature from El Paso County. Mr. Barker was married in 1865 to Mrs. Rebecca S. Rand, of Philadelphia, Penn.

PETER E. BAINTER.

Mr. Bainter, the enterprising groceryman at Monument, El Paso Co., was born in Henry Co., Ind., July 29, 1848, and is of Holland-Dutch descent. At an early age he removed with his parents to Jefferson Co., Kan., where he remain-

ed on a farm and in attending school until six- teen years of age. He then completed his edu- cation at Lane University, at Lecompton, Kan., in 1871. He subsequently engaged in the mer- cantile business in the latter place one year, then clerked in a store at Perryville, Kan., two years. In 1874, he married Miss Jennie E. Hinton, of that place, and the following year devoted his attention to farming. He then re- moved to Lawrence, same State, and clerked in a store two years, and followed farming one year. In November, 1878, he came to Colorado, located at Monument, and the following spring engaged in the grocery business, to which he has since added flour, hay and grain. Mr. Bainter has a family of two daughters.

WILLIAM W. BRYAN.

Mr. Bryan is of French and German descent, and was born in St. Louis, Mo., June 15, 1854. He completed his education in the high schools of that city. In 1875, he came to Colorado, and after spending two years as clerk of the bar at the Grand Central Hotel, at Denver, he went to Leadville, where he was engaged in business one year. In 1878, he came to Manitou, and leased the bar and billiard-hall in the Beebee House for a term of five, years. He has large mining interests at Red Cliff and Leadville, and is one of the Directors of the Golden Cornet Silver Mining Company, and of the Iowa Gulch Gold and Silver Mining Company, both operat- ing at the last-named place.

T. A. BENBOW, M. D.

Dr. Benbow was born in Guilford County, N. C., November 7, 1830. His early life was spent on a farm. At the age of seventeen, through his own efforts, he had acquired suffi- cient education to teach school, at which he was engaged the succeeding fifteen years. During this time he applied himself to reading medicine. In 1862, he was conscripted and taken to Camp Holmes, at Raleigh, N. C., where he was kept for three months, and during his stay there he was assigned a position with the Surgeon of the camp. During this time the rebel Congress passed a law exempting all non-combatants by paying a fine of $500. Dr. Benbow determined to pay the fine and thus free himself and get away from the rebel camp. He returned home the following November, 1862, and again taught school and continued

RESIDENCE OF DR. W. A. BELL, MANITOU, COLO.

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EL PASO COUNTY.

the study of medicine until the 19th of July, 1864, when he started with his family through the rebel lines, and arrived at New Providence, Harden Co., Iowa. At this place he entered into the old school practice of medicine, but only continued this system for a short time, when he was converted to the Hahnemann theory of practice, which he immediately took up and practiced. In 1866-67, he attended the Hahne- mann Medical College, at Chicago, where he received a thorough medical education in the theory and practice of homeopathy. Soon after returning home to his professional duties, he was elected a member of the State Medical Society of Homoeopathic Physicians of Iowa, and also Vice President of said society. In June, 1873, he came to Colorado and com- menced practice, and in August, 1874, moved his family to Colorado Springs, where he has been actively engaged in his profession.

GERRITT S. BARNES.

Mr. Barnes, the well-known wholesale and retail dealer in hardware, agricultural imple- ments, etc., in . Colorado Springs, was born in Oneida County, N. Y., in 1818. In 1831 he removed to Jefferson County, same State, and subsequently completed his education at Court- land Academy, in Homer, N. Y. From 1836 until 1854 he followed farming, then went to Dodge County, Wis., where he was engaged in the hardware business nineteen years. In 1873, owing to failing health, he came to Colorado, located at Colorado Springs, and again em- barked in that business, and at present carries the largest stock of hardware and agricultural implements in the State.

GEORGE C. BANNING.

Among the pioneers of El Paso County who have endured the hardships and deprivations of frontier life and become familiar with the his- tory and growth of the State, is the above named gentleman. He was born in Lorraine County, Ohio, July 9, 1836. His early life, until his fifteenth year was spent on the paternal farm. In 1851, he went to Henry County, Ill., where he worked on a farm three years. From there he went to Iowa City, and there drove a hack until 1858, then returned to Illinois where he remained one year. In the spring of 1859, when the news of the rich discoveries of gold at Pike's Peak were heralded throughout the

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History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, Part 59

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