History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, Part 9

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

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In March, 1878, the first sale of mining property that suddenly aroused the attention of the outside world, was made when four claims, owned by poor, hardworking men, were sold to a company for a round quarter of a million dollars.

From this time the finger of destiny pointed to Leadville, and is still lifted. The tide of immigra- tion since that time has been on the flood, and there seems to be no possibility of its ebbing back, leaving a barren waste behind. Men came and looked and wondered. Capital poured in, but those who handled it, put to themselves the question of the permanency of the mines, and, for a long time, hesitated. But while the many waited, here and there a more adventurous one-having faith in the Star of Silver shining so splendidly among the hills -invested thousands and reaped millions, and then those who had hung behind pressed eagerly forward. New mines were opened daily, and pur- chasers for " holes in the ground " that merely gave promise of reaching mineral were readily found. The beggar of one day became the million- aire of the next. The "tenderfoot," fresh from the States, was as likely to be successful, nay, if anything, more so, than the experienced miner, who for years had trudged over the hills, uncon- sciously kicking. fortune, like a football, from beneath his feet.

Meanwhile, as a natural consequence, the town grew. From a few small slab cabins in 1876, the

MAIN SHAFT OF THE LITTLE CHIEF MINE, LEADVILLE, COLO.

HISTORY OF COLORADO.

year 1879 sees it a well and substantially built city, having brick blocks, well-laid-out streets, water-works, gas-works, opera-houses, daily news- papers, banks, and all the adjuncts that make up great and prosperous cities. The question of the future is no longer discussed, save only that of the extent to which it will grow. Its voting popula- tion already outnumbers that of Denver. It has one more daily paper already. No week passes but the discovery of new mines adds to its impor- tance, and if their durability and extent has, to a certain degree, become assured, the next few years will work wonders that will make even the expe- rience of the last two years fall into the shade.

The town of Leadville is beautifully located on the western slope of Ball Mountain, one of the most elevated peaks of the Mosquito Range, about two miles from the Arkansas River, and directly opposite Mount Massive, one of the most majestic peaks in the main range, known as the Continental Divide. West of this chain, the rivers discharge their waters into the Pacific Ocean.

The town is well laid out, with the streets crossing at right angles. It was abundantly supplied, in its earlier days, with water from the Arkansas River, brought many miles in ditches, as well as from the small mountain streams which flow along on either side of the city. But the growth of the town was so great that, in the fall of 1878, a sys- tem of water-works began, which was completed early in 1879, by which the city now has an inex- haustible supply of pure water for all purposes, and there is but little need of fear from fire.

The elevation is 10,500 feet above the level of the sea, or nearly two miles directly up in the air above the capital. It cannot be said of the town that it is the healthiest in the world. Many stig- matize it as the unhealthiest one in the country. It is unquestionably true that a great deal of sick- ness prevails there. But few find that they can remain and breathe the rarefied air year in and year out. The winter months are unusually severe. Pneumonia, erysipelas and heart disease are the prevailing complaints, and death seems to come

more suddenly there than elsewhere; that is to say, there are no lingering weeks of sickness. The work of the Destroying Angel, when once begun, is rapid.

On the 1st day of July, 1879, there were prob- ably twenty thousand people in the town. Neces- sarily, buildings sprang up by magic. Business houses, hotels, banks, churches, dwellings, all were boosted up as fast as workmen could push them, and the sound of the hammer of the artisan scarcely ceased from one month's end to the other, night and day. Points that were covered with the pines of the forest one month, the next became streets of traffic with cabins and frame dwellings in all stages of erection, many of them occupied before being finished. One hundred arrivals per day is a low average estimate of the people who came flocking to the new El Dorado from all parts of the Union; from Maine as well as Texas, from Ore- gon and from Florida. The town was early incor- porated into a city, with a Mayor and Board of Aldermen, an active police department put in order, an efficient fire department organized. Everything in the city grew in proportion to the development of the mines ; as these in 1877 would pass from hand to hand for a few thousands, and in 1879 command millions, so town lots that brought but $25 in the spring of 1878, brought $5,000 in the summer of 1879, and many real- estate operators were made rich thereby.

The principal business streets, at the present writing, we name in the order of their importance: Harrison avenue, Chestnut, State, Main and Pine streets, Lafayette, Carbonate, Jefferson and Lincoln avenues. The banks, principal public buildings and hotels are located on Harrison avenue and Chestnut street.

That Leadville is a lively town may well be imagined; but one can hardly realize it who has not stood within its borders and witnessed the mighty flood of humanity that, day and night, in a never-ceasing tide, surges through the principal thoroughfares. Its great wealth, its increasing prosperity, naturally make it the point to which

HISTORY OF COLORADO.

converge all the elements of social and business activity, and all classes are represented, from the Mexican greaser to the son of an ex-President. The man of prominence in public life who has not seen Leadville will soon be set down as being behind the age, and if a United States Senator cannot say to his comrades that he has been impor- tuned to buy (in a quiet way) a gold brick that the owner is compelled to part with because of circum- stances beyond his control, etc., etc., why, he is looked upon as having missed an experience that might have proved valuable to him.

Leadville by daylight is a sight to behold. The streets are full of teams of all kinds, the sidewalks of men, mostly, also, of all kinds. Harrison ave- nue and Chesnut street are the main channels through which the tides of humanity flow. Oftentimes, at the banks, men stand in rows long lengthened out, awaiting an opportunity to deposit rolls of greenbacks or their slips of checks that indicate figures well upinto the thousands. The resonant voice of the auctioneer sounds out upon the air every hour of the day, importuning this one or that one, or the other, to buy at a tre- mendous sacrifice, some article that he has no use for. Under the windows of the hotels, around the corner against the sunny side of the wall, in num- berless other places, can be seen groups of men whose talk of mines is like the chatter of a parrot ceaselessly repeating the one cry it has learned. The changes on the word "assay" are numberless, even as are the webs that are woven by the mining spider for the tenderfooted fly who, in speculative mood, is invited to enter and-be made happy, perhaps, by the purchase of a twenty-million-dollar mine for twenty hundred dollars, because the owner, my dear sir, lacks the money to develop it. If there ever is a point when the thoughtful-minded might stand for hours and find the study of human- ity a fascinating one, it is at the post office at Lead- ville, in watching the countenances of those who come and go, come and go, in one unceasing stream, a living tide, the bubbles of whose feelings seem to float upon their faces as ripples float outward when

a pebble drops into a stream. Eager anticipation on arrival gives way to blank, utter despondency on departure, with some. Others hurry in, with box-key in hand, and soon emerge with a handful of correspondence not half so highly prized as is the one dirty brown envelope in which you can see the crooked scrawl of some hand of loved one far away at home in the States, that is all unused to frequent correspondence. This, in the hand of the man in the brown garb of the miner, is often worth more to him than a letter would be to another con- taining drafts to an untold amount, for it has come to him from home, that word more blessed than any other word to the wanderer among the hills.

But if Leadville by daylight is a sight to be- hold, Leadville by gaslight is still more wonderful and far more suggestive. The teams are absent from the streets, safely housed in corral and stall ; but the men-and a few women-are around, and the streets are fairly alive with excitement. The teamsters are out for "a lark," and the miners are swarming in to " take in the sights." The thea- ters and variety-shows, whose handbills have been scattered over the town during the day, now have their bands out, helping to drum up an audience. The saloons-but who can describe these ?- are full, and painted-faced women are running to and fro from the bar to the different groups at the tables, with their salver, on which rests foaming beer and the more insidious liquors. It is not sur- prising to know that $500 is often taken in one saloon of an evening. Then, the gambling-houses are in full blast, and the old adage of " Easy come, easy gone," is nightly illustrated in these dens of infamy and hot-beds of crime. " Life in Leadville," one writer has observed, "tends to prodigality, be- cause those who come on business or pleasure, or to stay, are all bent on seeing what there is to see, regardless of expense, and with as little delay as possible." But life in such a town tends to profli- gacy as well.

It is not to be understood that the level of soci- ety in Leadville is wholly low. By no means ; but the lower levels undoubtedly predominate. As

HISTORY OF COLORADO.

time goes by, and a greater stability is given to the institutions, and permanence to the homes, the ele- ments that go to make up the higher social life will increase and have their due effect. But great lawlessness and vice are prevalent throughout the carbonate camp, and when, after nightfall, one can hardly ride out three miles from the center of the town without running the risk of a bullet, if the demand, " Hands up!" is not complied with ; or if passing along the sidewalk, one is lucky if a stray shot, intended for some one else, does not crash through the windows of a low grog-shop, and reach him, it cannot be said that Leadville has, as yet, settled down to that security of life, limb and property, which prevails elsewhere throughout the State .*

The best grades of society are beginning to clus- ter in Leadville. But at present, money-making is the one idea, and all the energies of the individual are bent in that direction. Church and school facilities are not equal to the demand, and tem- perance organizations do not thrive, as yet, in the carbonate camp. But time, that sets all things even, will eventually remedy the evils that at pres- ent exist, and Leadville will become the home of the wealthy, the cultivated and the refined.

A sketch of Leadville can hardly be said to be complete without a brief description, or at least an enumeration, of the mines from whose depths such wonderful mineral wealth has been taken.

The first mines discovered, which have since proved to be among the richest of the district, were the Iron Mine (better known as the Stevens and Leiter Mine), the Gallagher (now known as the Camp Bird), the Carbonate (formerly called the Hallock and Cooper), and the Little Pittsburgh; These are still among the richest mines in the whole carbonate belt, and have yielded immense sums of money to their fortunate owners.

Although the first-named mines were known many months before the discovery of the Little Pittsburgh, it was not until the opening of this

* Since the above was written, the moral atmosphere of Leadville has improved materially, thanks to Judge Lynch.

famous lode that public attention was fairly directed toward Leadville.

The best mines are located within a radius of four miles from the heart of the city, are easy of access and but a short distance from the reduction works, where all the ore is reduced to bullion.

Fryer Hill, so named in honor of the man who discovered one of the most valuable mines about the camp, the New Discovery, is one of the lowest ranges of hills surrounding the city and lies about one mile to the northeast of the center of the town. Upon this hill are to be found the mines which have made the name of Leadville famous. Among those well known and best developed, are the Little Pittsburgh, New Discovery, Winnemuc, Dives, Little Chief, Vulture, Chrysolite, Carbon- iferous, Little Eva, Robert E. Lee, Climax, Dun- can and Matchless, all well-known, producing mines. Besides these, there are many others.

Directly to the south of Fryer Hill, and separ- ated therefrom by a small creek, known as Stray Horse, lies Carbonate Hill, upon which are found the Carbonate, Morning Star, Crescent, Pendery, Little Giant, Shamrock, Ætna, Walden, Forsaken, Monto Cristo, Agassiz, Maid of Erin and others.

East of Carbonate Hill is to be found Iron Hill, so called because of the famous iron mine, the old- est and best-known mine in the district. Here also are the Bull's Eye, Silver Wave, Law, Camp Bird, Adelaide, Pine, Silver Cord, Jones, Lime, Star of the West and Smuggler, all near California Gulch.

Northeast of Iron Hill, and about one mile dis- tant, is Breece Hill, upon which are found the celebrated Breece Iron Mines, consisting of the William Penn, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia and Gen. Cadwallader. Also the justly famed High- land Chief, Colorado Prince, Black Prince, Miner Boy, Lowland Chief, Robert Burns, Gilderry, Highland Mary, Fanny Rawlings, Eliza, Daisy, Denver, Idaho and Nevada, all overlooking Evans Creek. Scarcely half a mile distant from the last- named mines, lie the Little Ella, Izzard, Virginius, New Year's, Trade Dollar and Grand View.

HISTORY OF COLORADO.

Directly south from this last-named hill, is Long and Derry Hill, upon which are found the rich mines known as the J. P. Dana, Porphyry and Faint Hope, the property of the two men in whose honor the hill was named.

The names of the mines thus far given com- prise only those that are best known, not by any means all of the producing mines in and about Leadville. Scores more could be added were it necessary.

A late authority on these mines says, "The pre- dictions that the mines will soon be exhausted, and the prosperity of the camp short-lived, are made only by those who have not considered all sides of the situation. There is no reason why a body of ore inclining slightly below the horizontal should not be as continuous as a vertical vein. The ease and rapidity with which the ore is mined is so much in favor of the mines, for every one is desir- ous of making money in the shortest possible time. Better than all this, continual and rapid enlargement of the ore-producing areas by number- less discoveries, make up many times over for any exhaustion of ground in the older locations. Bet- ter still are the seemingly endless layers or strata of ore, one below another." Another writer, dis- cussing the nature of lead veins generally, says, "The most important features of lead veins, lodes or beds in all of the rich lead-fields known, are that they are horizontal like coal veins or beds and run one under another, the same as coal veins, and always extend downward to the very bottom of the lead-bearing rock or stratum or strata, as the case may be. Such is held to be the nature of the carbonate veins of Leadville. And if it be true that these beds extend to the bottom of the lead- bearing rock, how deep does such strata extend ? Upon a careful examination, for several months, of this mining region, I find it running from nearly the top of the highest mountains to the bottom of the deepest gulches. It is a general rule that metallic veins grow richer and larger as they go deeper in the earth. I have no doubt at all that the richest veins or deposits here will be found

below the bottom of the gulch, and that the time will soon come when millions of tons will be raised from below the beds of our deepest gulches."

If this writer should prove a true prophet, what a future lies in store for the great carbonate camp, whose present output of ore averages one thousand tons per day, of an average value of $60 per ton. Not infrequently ore is found which runs many hundreds.

Leadville is well supplied with smelters or reduction works, where ore is reduced to bullion. These works are kept running night and day, the fires in the furnaces never being extinguished except for repairs. These smelters give employ- ment to about one thousand men.

In one respect in particular, Leadville has dif- fered from almost every other mining center known. While these have had their periods of great lawlessness and disorder, when the turbulent element in society, which always seeks frontier towns, ran riot and refused to recognize the restraints imposed by the law until the strong hand of the vigilantes brought them into subjection, Leadville has been comparatively free from any organized system of outlawry or disorder. Crimes abound, but they are the result of individual raids, and not of organized and well disciplined ruffian- ism. The authorities are active in their efforts to redeem the name of the town from the odium that attaches even to these cases, that almost daily oc- pur. Lives are lost, property destroyed, valuables stolen, but the general peace has been maintained and order generally enforced.

Of course, all kinds of business pursued in the older cities of the West are carried on in the new city. The business houses are now commodious, some of them even imposing, while the amount of business transacted would do no discredit to cities of double the number of inhabitants and scores of years of existence.

The denominations that have built churches are the Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian and Catholic. These places are well attended every Sabbath. There are, of course, thousands of people in the

26. T. Blake

HISTORY OF COLORADO.

city who prefer what is called the sacred concert in the saloons to the sacred music of the choir in the church, and who never are seen inside a place of worship. But this may be said of other cities. The floating class of population in the town is one great reason why this is so in Leadville. If the permanent population is only taken into considera- tion, Leadville, in this particular, probably does not differ much from the older and longer estab- lished cities of the country.

The public schools are of but recent growth, but they are well conducted, with teachers able and competent, and the public interest in their suc- cess is increasing.

There are four banks, four theaters, one hos- pital, a number of hotels, and an opera house, the finest between St. Louis and San Francisco.

During the summer months, from June to Sep- tember, the nights are very rare when blankets will not be found a necessity. Warm woolen clothing is worn at all seasons of the year. The average daily temperature of summer is 60°, while that of winter is 26° The rainy season is from June to August, when showers may be expected nearly every day. The clear, cold days of winter, when the thermometer marks zero, or even below that point, are not so disagreeable and cold as on the Atlantic Coast or in the Mississippi Valley, with the thermometer at freezing-point.

Snow frequently falls to the depth of many feet in a single night. During the winter months, it is no uncommon event to have a snow-storm every

day. The air is dry, very thin and rarefied; so much so that persons unaccustomed to such high altitudes feel a sense of oppression about the chest, and experience much difficulty in breathing. Those afflicted with weak lungs or heart disease cannot endure the altitude of Leadville. The air being so much thinner than at the sea level, the pressure is removed, the heart beats faster, and the blood, rushing through the lungs much more rap- idly than usual, causes the delicate air-cells to become severed and hemorrhage is the inevitable result. The heart being diseased, it is unable to perform the functions demanded of it, and it sud- denly ceases to beat. Persons of temperate habit and of strong constitution, taking proper care of themselves, will probably live as long in Leadville as in cities and towns nearer the level of the sea.

As a mining town, probably Leadville has no superior on the civilized globe. It has grown from a few miners' cabins in 1877 to a thriving, pros- perous city, with thousands of inhabitants, and its future seems still bright with abundant promise, The Denver & South Park Railroad is now com- pleted and in operation to a point within thirty miles of the carbonate metropolis, and is going ahead with a prospect of reaching Leadville early in the spring. Work on the railroad up the Arkansas Valley has been suspended by litigation. but it is expected that it, too, will he completed next summer. With two lines of railway, Leadville will take a new lease of prosperity.

CHAPTER XIII.

HISTORY OF THE FIRST

COLORADO REGIMENT.

T THE question, Is Colorado for the Union, or will it declare for secession ? was early forced upon the consideration of the people, far removed though they seemed to be from the scene of active operations. But the war no sooner broke out than it was evident that the emergency was arising. The

Southern element was strong in society. Geor- gians had first discovered gold in the country, and this had led to the influx of a large Southern popu- lation. In the latter part of August, 1861, the news of the battle of Bull Run reached Denver. This resulted in the secession element boldly avowing

HISTORY OF COLORADO.

hostility to the Union, raising secession flags, buying up arms, and in other ways making prepar- ations to declare for the Confederacy. But Gov. Gilpin was a stanch Union man, and surrounded himself at once with men who were prominent in public life and alive to the emergency. But a short time elapsed before the first Colorado regi- ment was organized, with the following officers :

Colonel, J. P. Slough ; Lieutenant Colonel, S. F. Tappan ; Major, J. M. Chivington.

Captains-Company A, E. W. Wynkoop; Com- pany B, S. M. Logan ; Company C, Richard Sopris ; Company D, Jacob Downing; Company E, S. J. Anthony ; Company F, S. H. Cook; Company G, J. W. Hambleton ; Company H, George L. San- born ; Company I, Charles Mailie; Company K, C. P. Marion.

Recruiting offices were opened at various points, and, in two months, the necessary complement of men were secured and they were in barracks on the Platte, about two miles from Denver. The camp was called Camp Weld, in honor of the then Secretary of the Territory. No definite authority had been given the Governor, as yet, to raise troops, but his drafts on the United States Treasury to defray the expense of clothing and sustaining the force were duly honored, and his action thus indorsed by the Government.

To this judicious and prompt action of Gov. Gilpin is no doubt due the fact that Colorado escaped the civil convulsions that desolated other portions of the Union. An armed force of a thousand men was well calculated to " preserve the peace," even in so isolated a part of the country and among such a scattered population.

But months of idleness in such a rough camp naturally brought about a great deal of dissension and many desertions. It was difficult to keep in perfect discipline such a motley set of volunteers, while the doubts as to their acceptance into the service of the Government had its natural ten- dency to cause disaffection.

In the first days of the year 1863, an express arrived from the South with the news of the

advance on New Mexico of three or four thousand Texans under Brig. Gen. H. H. Sibley, and a call for assistance. If the regiment had promptly started, it would probably have prevented the Tex- ans from entering the Territory. Put the troops, having been mustered into the service, could only be moved out of Colorado by orders from head- quarters. Application was made to Gen. Hunter for authority to send the regiment to the aid of New Mexico, and when the desired orders reached Denver, the regiment received the word to march with a great deal of satisfaction, for idleness, that mother of mischief, had been very busy of late in sowing the seeds of dissension in the camp. Noth- ing to do had become intolerable to these men, accustomed to rough, stirring work ; and the news from New Mexico, of Texan invasion, had become as a beacon star of their existence. On the 22d of February-a day hailed as a good omen for the cause in which they were engaged-the regiment left Denver.

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History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, Part 9

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