History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, Part 6

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

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Following fast upon these accessions to popula- tion came admission to the Union, which served to attract attention and invite further immigration. It was; in effect, a substantial and important

recognition of the status of Colorado, and an invitation to capital to come in and develop the undoubted resources of the new State. The result has exceeded the most sanguine expectations of the friends of Colorado, at home and abroad.

Within the three years which have elapsed since statehood became an established fact, Colo- rado has doubled in wealth and population, and she is still advancing with even more rapid strides. The future of the State is full of golden possibili- ties. Leadville, the present wonder of the world, is but a page in the history of mineral develop- ment. That Colorado is destined to be the first mining State in the Union seems well assured.

It is the habit of some travelers to assert that Colorado cannot sustain a large population, because her agricultural resources are limited. The force of this argument is hard to discover. Mining dis- tricts rarely embrace agricultural advantages too, and, in the East, it is not expected that a mining population shall supply itself with the necessaries of life. So long as Colorado can draw easily and cheaply upon Kansas and Nebraska for her lack of grain and other agricultural products, there is no reason why she may not support a population equal to the New England average. Her gold and silver will buy anything and everything the East has for sale, and she would still be a great and prosperous State, if she did not raise half enough wheat to feed her population.

CHAPTER IX.

THE CLIMATE OF COLORADO.

THE history of Colorado as a sanitarium dates back only to the advent of railways in the State, or about ten years ago. Before that time, overland trips across the Plains were occasionally recommended for the purpose of building up shattered physical systems, but such heroic treat- ment was usually laughed to scorn, and a sea- voyage substituted. The latter was more easily

and cheaply accomplished, and the dangers of the deep were less considered than the danger of los- ing one's life, or scalp, or both, at the hands of the Indians. Yet every one who returned from Colo- rado concurred in the statement that it was a healthy country, and the first reports concerning the rigors of its climate in winter were soon modi- fied.

HISTORY OF COLORADO.

It was many years, however, ere Colorado began 'to offer inducements to invalids, such as those for which it is now famous. The first settlers felt themselves banished, as it were, not only from their friends and former homes, but also from many of the necessaries and nearly all the com- forts of life. As time went on, and the country grew apace, these conditions changed rapidly for the better. Denver, and some of the other cities, hecame comfortable places of residence. The cost of living was high, but a steady reduction followed the opening of railway communication and the develpment of agriculture. In a short time, the trip to Colorado became a pleasure excursion, in- stead of a painful journey, and then the invalid tourist appeared above the horizon, and began his career of usefulness in the State.

No record of the resources of Colorado would be complete which did not include the invalid tourist, but, to the credit of the State, it must be said, that she has paid cent per cent, in sound health, for the thousands of dollars which invalids have poured into her extended palm. Not in every case, of course, nor in ninety and nine per cent of them, but in enough of them to make a very satisfactory showing.

Hundreds and, perhaps, thousands of people are enjoying good health in Colorado to-day who came here confirmed invalids. Many more, coming too late, have died here, but, if the fair warning given by such deaths had been heeded in the East, the number would not have increased so rapidly of late years. No one in Colorado, physician or lay- man, pretends to say that consumption, in its last stages, can be arrested, in this climate or in any other climate. The contrary is true. It would be a miracle, indeed, if three-quarters or half a lung could expand in this rarified atmosphere sufficiently to support life in a man or woman, with one foot already in the grave, and the other trembling on the brink. And not only the dry and rarified air contends against nature, in such instances, but elemental disturbances tend to snap the rotten thread of life.

Colorado has not an Italian climate, and the absurd claims to that effect have brought much contempt on those who make them. She has extremes of heat and cold. The winters are marked by occasional storms of great severity. Dust is a nuisance to diseased lungs at all seasons. The summer sun would be intolerably hot if not neutralized by the refreshing shade. And yet the average of the climate is all that could be desired or expected.

The climatic conditions of Colorado are, per- haps, due entirely to the limited rainfall, though altitude has a separate bearing upon the problem. Without entering upon any scientific, or even technical, consideration of the question, it is enough to say that the limited rainfall leaves the sky free of clouds about three hundred days out of every year, and throughout these three hundred days, in winter and in summer, the sun shines bright and warm. With so much sunshine, of course the evaporation of moisture is perfect. The earth and air is dry. Malaria and the diseases incident thereto are practically unknown, save at rare intervals, as the result of defective artificial drainage. The air is not only dry, but full of ozone and electricity, and the altitude reduces its pressure. In healthy lungs, it is invigorating and restorative, but the contrary effect is manifested in lungs too weak to accommodate themselves to the increased demand upon their capacity, the volume of air inhaled in Colorado being considerably greater than at lower altitudes east or west.

The influence of altitude upon health has been noted, not only by every medical man, but also by every intelligent observer. According to the highest authorities of Colorado, the members of the State Medical Society, the sensations attending a first entrance into this State are always pleasant to persons in good health. "The dryness of the atmosphere," says Dr. Edmondson, of Central, "together with the electricity therein contained, combined with perhaps other peculiarities of cli- mate, excite the nervous system to a remark- able degree of tension. The physical functions

HISTORY OF COLORADO.

which, it may be for years past, have been accomplished in a sluggish, inefficient manner, at once assume a vigor of action to which the system has heretofore been a stranger. The appe- tite is keen, the digestion vigorous, and the sleep is sound and refreshing. The result of these manifold innovations on the established routine of the vital economy is, that all those lurking ail- ments to which the civilized man is more subject than he ought to be are swept at once away, and whatever there is in each individual of capacity to enjoy is called into the fullest action. He revels in what might be called an intoxication of good health."

The latter comparison is not inapt. Nothing is more common than for people to say that the air of Colorado invigorates them like new wine.

In the very admirable essay from which the foregoing is quoted, Dr. Edmondson goes on to say :

" An unclouded mind partakes of the elasticity of a healthy body, and the unwonted vigor of man's intellect is manifested by a newly aroused desire for activity and by an increased capability to accom- plish." Every brain-worker will attest the truth of this assertion, and nowhere in the whole country are the professions and all manner of busi- ness pursuits prosecuted with so much vigor and success.

It has been often said that men are improved mentally and socially as well as physically by com- ing to Colorado. There can be no doubt of this fact. Invalidism always affects mental conditions, and a dyspeptic person or a sufferer from any chronic ailment, however inconsequential, cannot help but lose a little good temper. With restored health comes not only renewed energy but a brighter view of life. The world seems a better place than it was. Companionship becomes pleas- ant, and Colorado is, of all countries in the world, the place where a hearty good will is most manifest in all classes and conditions of men.

This is a curious study, and one which has never yet been pursued with care by scientists. It would be interesting to note the effect of this climate upon

mental as well as physical conditions, but this task must be left to some one more capable of elucidat- ing it.

The early settlers found the seasons in Colorado at considerable variance with those in the same latitude toward the east. A warm sun in winter was the first peculiarity- noted. Earth and air were dry, and the direct rays of the sun were a reminder of summer. It was found, however, that however hot the sun shone in midwinter, even when men went about out-door work in their shirt- sleeves, snow seldom melted in the sunshine, but a soft wind moving across the country would soon carry away on its invisible wings a heavy fall of snow in a few hours, leaving the ground not only bare but dry. Hence the winters were generally pleasant, the exceptions to this rule being occa- sions when the wind blew cold or a northwest snow-storm swept down upon the plains. The snow-fall in Denver has never been excessive since the settlement of the town, but it has been severe at times, generally between the middle of Decem- ber and the first of February. The latter month and the first half of March are usually pleasant. March and November are accounted the worst months in the calendar of the Atlantic and Missis- sippi Valley States, but, outside of the mountains in Colorado, they are very favorable, even to inva- lids. Early in April, the spring snows fall, some- times to a great depth, and doing more damage to the stock interests than any other elemental dis- turbance. When these snows disappear, usually a few days after their fall, grass and grain spring up and summer is at hand, except that foliage 1s often delayed a month or more longer. With the foliage come the rains, varying greatly in different seasons, but not increasing every year, as some ignorantly assert.

The "rainy season" in Colorado is a figure of speech merely, being used only to distinguish it from the season when no rain falls. The two are about equal. Rains fall from about May 1 to November 1, but only enough to purify the air and keep the prairie grass alive and green. It is

LA PLATA MINING /S SMELTING COS WORKS, LEADVILLE COLO.

HISTORY OF COLORADO.

no inconvenience whatever to invalids, who have all the sunshine they want even in wet weather. It is this unlimited sunshine that builds up many debilitated systems, which seem to need no other medicine. The average number of cloudy days for each year since 1872, when the Signal Service was first established in Denver, is but a fraction over sixty-three; the days on which rain fell, consider ably less, and those on which snow fell, only forty.

As to the range of the thermometer, that erratic instrument should not be quoted officially in Colorado, until corrected for altitude and new climatic conditions. Its apparent range is very broad, and its record would seem to show that Coloradoans freeze up in winter, only to thaw out in summer, when, in fact, the extremes of heat and cold are much more apparent than real. Neither zero weather nor ninety-nine in the shade counts for much in Colorado. When the mer- cury falls ten or fifteen degrees below zero, which it often does, people put on their wraps as they go about their business, but nobody ever heard of a sunstroke in Colorado, when the thermometer was boiling over at the top. Invalids, of course, do not invite exhaustion hy much exercise at such times, but, in the delightfully cool mornings and evenings of midsummer, they can get all the air and exercise necessary for them.

In the fall of 1873, two well-known gentlemen of Denver-Mr. F. J. B. Crane and Mr. B. F. Woodward-both of whom had been great suffer- ers from asthma in the East, were discussing the best means of making known to their suffering fellow-mortals of other States the wonderfully curative effects of the Colorado climate upon this disorder. The question of giving information through the newspapers and magazines was dis- cussed, but while, by such means, a large number of readers might be reached, it was thought that the message would not have such a convincing and authoritative influence as an authentic statement from a large number of persons. The result of this incidental discussion was the calling of a meet- ing of asthmatics at Denver in October, 1873.

The meeting was held. A large number of gentlemen and ladies attended, all of whom reported themselves either entirely cured or vastly benefited by their residence in Colorado. It was then decided to extend the scope of inquiry to the whole State, and, in accordance with that purpose, the newspapers of the State circulated a call for an asthmatic convention, and also for statements from persons unable to attend the meeting.

This novel convention assembled at Denver December 18, 1873. The chairman, Mr. Crane, presented over one hundred reports from persons residing in all parts of Colorado, many of them lengthy and quite interesting, giving individual experiences, means of cure and experiments, which had been previously tried without effect, and gen- erally stating that a complete and permanent cure had only been found upon the parties removing to Colorado.

A large number of these statements were from. gentlemen of means, who had traveled in nearly all parts of the world without deriving material benefit elsewhere than in Colorado.

In the spring of 1874, a pamphlet was printed for gratuitous distribution, containing a condensed record of over two hundred and fifty cases cured by Colorado air alone, no other remedy being used. All the walks of life were represented in this list; merchants, physicians, lawyers, clergymen, mechan- ics, laboring men, etc., clearly establishing the important fact that "Colorado cures asthma." Five years of additional experience and observa- tion have only confirmed and strengthened the tes- timony that in the relief or cure of asthma and kindred diseases, the climate of Colorado is un- equaled by any portion of the known world; also, that there is no recurrence of the disease while the person remains in this climate, though no guaran- tee can be given that a return to a lower altitude will not be followed by a return of the old trouble.

So much for asthma. As for other diseases of like character, the same is substantially true. In all cases where the physical and mental systems are worn down by overwork or general debility, the

HISTORY OF COLORADO.

recovery is marked and rapid. The marked excep- tions to this rule are rheumatism and all purely nervous ailments, none of which are benefited by the climate of Colorado, but are rather aggravated instead. In the mountains of Colorado, pneumonia and kindred diseases are common at certain sea- sons, and often fatal. A form of pneumonia known as mountain fever, is well known throughout the State, but happily it is less dangerous than pneu- monia proper:

Taken all in all, with all the other drawbacks properly belonging to it, the climate of Colorado can claim the highest rank as a restorer of health to poor, suffering humanity. The number of in- valids who annually seek relief in the State is con-' stantly increasing, and so are the resorts which invite their patronage. Formerly, the mineral springs at Manitou were the only attraction of the kind in the State. Only a few years ago, a rude cabin, on the banks of the famous Fountain qui Boille, close by the great soda spring, was all there was of Manitou. The writer well remembers a visit there, in the fall of 1871, when the solitude of the spot was overpowering. To-day, there are half-a-dozen hotels there, three of them magnifi- cent structures, and yet, during the season, it is almost impossible to secure quarters in any of them. Idaho Springs, with its fine hotels and famous swimming baths, is scarcely less popular or less crowded. The Hot Sulphur Springs, in Middle Park, are also well patronized, though less access- ible. The hunting and fishing thereaway draws many who would scorn the luxuries of more preten- tious watering-places. Beside these three principal points of attraction, are at least a dozen mineral springs, of greater or less renown, scattered broad- cast over the State, no section being without one or more. The Pagosa Hot Springs, in Southwest- ern Colorado, are pronounced among the fiuest in the world. The Steamboat Springs, in the North- west, are truly wonderful as a natural curiosity, as well as valuable for their medicinal qualities. They take their name from a peculiar noise emit- ted from one of the largest springs of the group,

which gives forth a steady, soughing sound, like a steamboat just starting upon its voyage.

The inquisitive may want to know what are the medical properties of these numerous springs. It would take a small volume to describe them. They range over the whole gamut of medical lexi- cography, and include, as the miners say, about all the known "stinks." There is something less than a thousand of them in the State, and the invalid who cannot be suited somewhere in Colo- rado need not look anywhere else for what he wants. With very few exceptions, the surround- ings of these mineral springs are delightfully romantic. The charms of Manitou cannot be enumerated-a whole season is short enough to study its surroundings. It must be confessed, however, that Coloradoans themselves seldom pay much attention to the " healing waters " of these fountains of health, but visit them indiscriminately for pleasure, and often go away without tasting the water more than once, or perhaps twice. The ready excuse of the " native" is that he does not need the water, and does not wish to cultivate a taste for the fluid. Now and then a rheumatic miner tries bathing in a hot sulphur spring to take the stiff- ness out of his joints, and since Leadville was unearthed, an occasional victim of lead poisoning puts in at Cottonwood Springs, on the Arkansas River, below the carbonate metropolis, to get the lead out of his system, but, generally, the Colora- doan looks upon mineral springs merely as a good advertisement of the country, and is proud of them merely because they confirm his strong belief that his is the most wonderful country in the world.

The chance mention of lead-poisoning above brings to mind this new disease-new to Colorado, at least, though common enough in lead mines all over the world. The mineral deposits af Leadville, as the name of the camp indicates, carry a large propor- tion of lead, and workmen in the mines and smelters are alike subject to lead-poisoning. It would seem that nature had provided a remedy for the disease near at hand, in the mineral springs of Cottonwood Cañon, which are a specific in almost

HISTORY OF COLORADO.

any stage of the complaint. All the patient has to do is to " lay off " a few days or weeks, at Cot- tonwood, bathe and drink freely of the waters, and go back to his work rejuvenated.

Much has been said about the unhealthiness of Leadville, because a good many people have died there from intemperance, exposure, etc., as well as from natural causes. Under right conditions,

Leadville would be a healthy city, but the verdict of the Coroner's jury-"too much whisky and too little blanket"-tells the story of many a death. The altitude is too great for over-indulgence and reckless neglect. Care and cleanliness have been too much neglected in this magic city, and she pays the penalty by an undeserved reputation for unhealthiness.

CHAPTER X.

AGRICULTURAL RESOURCES OF THE STATE.

A GRICULTURE, although of secondary importance among the industries of Colo- rado, has always been more or less prominent. This fact is first due to the magnificent yield and excellent quality of both cereals and vegetables, and, finally, to the high prices usually received by the farmers, or "ranchmen," as they are invariably designated, for every product of the soil.

In the early years of the country, when scarcely anybody expected to stay here more than the few weeks or months necessary to obtain a fortune from the mines, agriculture was something not dreamt of in their philosophy, and no attempt was made to cultivate the soil. As time went on, and one or two "hard winters" came, bringing exorbi- tant prices for produce or cutting off the supply entirely, the idea of raising corn for horse-feed, after the Mexican fashion, was originated by some one, and soon put into practical operation.

A few rude and imperfect irrigating ditches were constructed, under which a few acres were planted, corn being the principal crop, alternating with an occasional potato patch. The potatoes were truly a happy thought, for, while the corn hardly paid for its cultivation, the potatoes yielded largely, and proved to be of superior quality. Such was the small beginning of agriculture in Colorado, and it has advanced wonderfully since that time, especially in view of the difficulties it has had to meet and overcome.

A great point had been gained, however, by the discovery that vegetables flourished in the soil of the plains and mountains. The first potato crop paid an enormous profit, and next year many per- sons engaged in the business, some of them only to meet with failure, though others succeeded be- yond their wildest hope. Experiments were made with other vegetables, and the era of big pump- kins and giant squashes dates from that day. Another year established the fact that Colorado was within the limits of the great wheat-belt of the continent, and, from that time till now, wheat has been and is the staple crop of Colorado farmers.

It must not be understood, though, that because Colorado raises the finest wheat, the best potatoes and the biggest squashes and pumpkins in the world, that her agriculturists are clothed in pur- ple and fine linen, and fare sumptuously every day. On the contrary, they work harder and are less repaid proportionately than farmers anywhere else in the country.

In the first place, the acquisition of agricultural land in Colorado has for many years involved a considerable outlay of money, and a poor man has had small show to engage in farming. While there are millions of acres of arable land in the State, or land that would be arable if irrigated, there is not an unlimited supply of water for irri- gation, and it is not a question of land, but of

HISTORY OF COLORADO.

water, with the farmer. To secure the latter, he must expend more or less money, either in build- ing a ditch, or buying a water-right from a ditch already constructed. In either case, his water costs him what would be considered in the East a fair rental for the land.

Having secured both land and water, he pro- ceeds to make a crop. Wheat is sown very early in the spring, often in February, which is usually a pleasant month in the Colorado climate ; if not, March rarely fails to bring planting weather. In April, there is always more or less light and warm snow, which melts rapidly and "wets down" the new-sown wheat, so that irrigation is unnecessary at that season. May brings spring rains in greater or less abundance, with warm, sunny days, that start the young wheat and early vegetables fairly on their way, and also begin to melt the snow on the mountains, by which the streams are fed, the latter being low or entirely dry during the winter and early spring. By the time the streams are run- ning full of water, the work of irrigation must begin, and be kept up till the crops are harvested. The amount of irrigation required depends largely upon the fall of rain for the summer season, and somewhat also upon the character of the soil, but it is safe to say that during the irrigation season the farmer will be called upon to work at least all day, and perhaps far into the night.

Added to all this toil is a tolerable certainty that, at the height of the season, when everybody wants water, the supply will fall short of the demand. To see one's crops perishing for want of water involves a mental anxiety scarcely less terri- ble than the most intense physical struggle, and this but one of the many drawbacks incidental to the farming operations in Colorado, as developed from year to year in the history of the country.

Another serious matter is the plague of grass- hoppers, or locusts, which has several times en- tirely devastated the agricultural sections of the State, and to which the attention of the world has been directed. Experience seems to demonstrate that these visitations occur every tenth year, but

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History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, Part 6

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