USA > Colorado > History of the State of Colorado, Vol. I > Part 22
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May 7th Miss Indiana Sopris opened a select school on Ferry street, and on the same date " Professor " Goldrick, with Miss Miller as
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assistant, began a course of juvenile instruction in the then well estab- lished Union School.
On the 19th of the same month, Rev. John M. Chivington, pre- siding elder of the Methodist Episcopal Church North for the Rocky Mountain District, Kansas and Nebraska Conference, made his first appearance upon a scene in which he was destined to assume roles then undreampt of. He began at once with irresistible energy to institute a thorough system of church work, with results that will appear in the progress of this history.
On the 23d arrived Messrs. Lee, Judd & Lee with the famous Black Hawk quartz mill, which became the leading pulverizer of its class, and, as reconstructed years afterward by Jerome B. Chaffee,- then with Eben Smith, the owner and manager of a separate mill located in Lake Valley-is still the largest and perhaps the finest that has been erected in this country.
June 2d the Jefferson Medical Association was founded, Dr. Drake McDowell in the chair.
July 20th Clark, Gruber & Co. opened a coinage mint, the only one we ever possessed, upon the spot and in the building now owned and used as an assay office by the Federal government, at the corner of Sixteenth and Holladay streets. Only ten dollar gold pieces were struck. These coins were of pure gold taken from the neighboring mines, bearing upon the face a well engraved representation of Pike's Peak, at its base a forest of pines, and beneath the legend, "Pike's Peak Gold," and below this the words " Denver " and " Ten D." On the reverse side the American eagle, encircled by "Clark, Gruber & Co.," and beneath, the date "1860." Some thousands of these coins were issued, but they are rare curiosities now, and worth to numis- matists many times their face value. Other mints were established in the gold regions, one in Georgia Gulch, and another in Tarryall, in both of which the gold was coined into slugs as taken from the ground. It contained more or less silver, but no alloys were used.
August Ist Rev. A. T. Rankin arrived to establish the Presbyte-
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rian Church. His initial sermon was delivered in the hall over Gra- ham's drugstore, on the east bank of Cherry Creek (opposite the pres- ent City Hall), on Sunday, the 12th.
The first United States mail arrived August 10th, to the general rejoicing, though it was then unknown whether its transmission was intentional and to be continuous, or only accidental. About the same time J. S. Langrishe came down from Laramie to engage the Apollo Theater for a season of dramatic entertainments.
During the summer the mining excitement received new impetus from reported discoveries of silver in the Gregory district, on the Blue, near the head waters of the Platte, and in divers .other localities. Miners in Georgia Gulch frequently took from their toms and sluices small pieces of apparently pure silver, intermixed with the coarse gold. This was especially true of the Fairplay and Buckskin Joe diggings, and naturally awakened new interest in the already brilliant prospects for the future.
In November the Western Union Telegraph was extended west to Fort Kearney, with the design of completing it to Salt Lake and California. Press telegrams and private messages were brought thence to Denver by coach. Those for the East were transmitted by D. H. Moffat, the telegraph agent.
Late in the fall, through the circulation of sensational reports, a rush was made for the San Juan Mountains, where it was said some valuable mines had been found. All who undertook the hazardous journey suffered severely, and some men lost their lives in the snows which fell to great depths.
Toward the close of the year the Denver Chamber of Commerce was organized, with Frank J. Marshall as President. Like many other associations formed in this memorable year, it was short lived.
A census of the population taken in the autumn returned a total of about 48,000 souls within the Territory of Jefferson. The incom- ing tide diminished rapidly after July, its height having been reached in June. From that time there was a steady outpouring of disen-
OR. Burchard
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gaged pilgrims who had been unwilling or unable to abide in the wilderness. When the waves receded only a fraction remained to hold and develop the empire it had conquered. Henceforth there were few material accessions of permanent strength until the arrival of the first railway in 1870.
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CHAPTER XVIII.
1861-ORGANIZATION OF THE TERRITORY OF COLORADO-DEBATES IN THE SENATE AND HOUSE-OVERSHADOWING INFLUENCE OF THE SLAVERY QUESTION-STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS VEHEMENTLY OPPOSES THE BILL-SYNOPSIS OF HIS ARGUMENTS- PASSAGE OF THE ORGANIC ACT-OFFICERS APPOINTED BY PRESIDENT LINCOLN- ARRIVAL OF GOVERNOR GILPIN-PUBLIC MEETINGS-CENSUS OF THE POPULATION -ORGANIZATION OF THE SUPREME COURT-BENCH AND BAR-UNION OR DISUNION -MOBILIZATION OF TROOPS-GILPIN'S DRAFTS ON THE NATIONAL TREASURY- THEIR FINAL PAYMENT-BIOGRAPHY OF OUR FIRST GOVERNOR.
February 2d, 1861, Senator James S. Green of Missouri, moved to take up the bill organizing the Territory of "Idaho" for the purpose of having it placed upon the files as unfinished business. On the 4th it was explained that a slight change of boundary had been made, and the same, with some minor amendments having been accepted, Senator Wilson of Massachusetts moved to amend the name of the Territory by striking out "Idaho" and inserting "Colorado." This was done at the suggestion of Delegate Williams, for the reason that the Colorado River arose in its mountains, hence there was a peculiar fitness in the name. The amendment being agreed to, the new name was inserted, when the bill passed.
The next day Mr. Nicholson of Tennessee moved a reconsid- eration of the vote on the passage of the bill, but after some discus- sion further proceedings were deferred until the 6th, when Stephen A. Douglas opened a general debate upon the slavery question by moving to take up the motion to reconsider the vote whereby the bill to organize the Territory of Colorado was passed. Thereupon Benjamin Wade of Ohio arose with an emphatic protest. The bill
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had passed, been sent to the House for its action, and therefore was beyond reach of reconsideration. But Mr. Douglas was not to be deprived of another opportunity to overhaul and dissect the entire sub- ject of the organization of new Territories, until the paramount issue of slavery involved in every measure of that nature should be fully dis- cussed and adjusted. He felt that the Senate had acted discourteously, to put it mildly, in taking advantage of his temporary absence from the Chamber, and thereby preventing him from offering a substitute for the pending bill, on which he was entitled to the floor. The substitute, he explained, embraced a provision allowing the people to elect such officers as were not Federal, but purely Territorial in their duties, but when in the act of presenting it he was called out, and before he could return the bill had passed. It irritated his pride to realize that both sides of the Senate should have come to an agreement upon the polit- ical and judicial features of this measure without his knowledge or con- sent, hence he determined to have it recalled.
This awakened Senator Green, who announced that the bill as passed was very simple in its provisions, containing nothing which infringed upon anybody's peculiar views. But Mr. Douglas was not to be pacified, and vehemently renewed his motion. While Mr. Wade was not unreservedly favorable to the bill, it was, nevertheless, a com- promise on which both parties had agreed, and for that reason he voted for it. Again Mr. Douglas inveighed passionately against the com- promise for the sole reason, apparently, that it had been effected without his knowledge. He objected also to the change of boun- dary, because it cut off a large portion of New Mexico, and annexed it to Colorado. The land titles of that portion were derived from the Republic of Mexico, the inhabitants were mostly Mexi- cans, governed by laws and usages totally foreign, and incompatible with those made by and for Americans. Again, by the laws of New Mexico, that had been made slave territory; slavery existed there at that moment, and by detaching that portion of slave terri- tory, a strip of country occupied by people of Mexican birth
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and habits, identified with the old country and not with Colorado, there could be no such thing as proper assimilation. "Is the effect of this bill to abolish slavery in that part of the territory thus cut off, and make it free territory?" he asked. "Is that the compromise that has been made?" If so, he was not disposed to interfere. But "I find that after it is cut off, a peculiar provision is inserted that the Territorial Legislature (of Colorado) shall pass no law destroying the rights of private property. What is the meaning of that ? Does it mean that the Territorial Legislature shall pass no law whereby the right to hold slaves according to the laws of New Mexico shall be abolished? Is that the object? Certainly there is some object in inserting that provision. If it had been the result of a compromise by which the Republican side agreed that this slave territory shall be incorporated into the other territory, and that the legislature shall never exclude slavery from it, I do not wish to interfere with it."
But this was not all. He had still another objection which was, in effect, that in providing that the legislature should pass no law destructive of the rights of private property, it was thereby deprived of the power to lay out roads railroads, or any description of highway. He had encountered opposition for years to the Kansas-Nebraska bill on the ground that the people should not be permitted to elect their own local officers. In his substitute for the Colorado bill he had provided that they should elect such of their officers as were Terri- torial, and have the President and Senate appoint only such as were Federal, etc.
Senator Green replied to Mr. Douglas and his substitute, deny- ing that any discourtesy was intended or implied. He declared his pur- pose to vote against reconsideration. Respecting the objection to the strip taken from New Mexico, said he, "It does not cut off five inhabitants, and not a single nigger. The idea, therefore, of throw- ing slave property into a new organization where it is doubtful whether it will be protected or not, 'is all in my eye.' Now, Mr. President,
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here are Union loving and Union saving people petitioning for 36° 30', to be the line between slave and non-slaveholding territory. The line of this Territory is 37°. This bill does not prohibit slavery anywhere, and it does not establish slavery anywhere; it is a perfect carte blanche, without expression on the subject either way." The power to elect officers was opposed solely because the administra- tion according to all precedents since Jackson's time, should enjoy the patronage. Besides, the privilege would give the Territories a larger degree of independence than it was safe to permit, bringing them, in fact, too near the exalted dignity of statehood.
Mr. Wade took the floor, and declared in so many words that the bill to organize the Territory of Colorado was the result of a com- promise between the slavery and anti-slavery divisions of the senate. It was a well-known fact, he said, that the two sides of the cham- ber differed on the provisions of the bill. They could not organize it upon the principles that either party held, yet it was very essential that some form of government be provided. The contestants could not agree in carrying out the principles they maintained, for one side desired to make it a slave Territory, while the other insisted upon a prohibitory clause. Finally, they agreed to say nothing about slavery one way or the other. In this form it had been submitted to the senate and passed without controversy, the only way it could have been passed.
Toward the last Senator Gwin of California sustained the mo- tion to reconsider, because he wanted to abstract the name out of the bill and give it to Arizona. He unhesitatingly affirmed that it was "the handsomest name that could be given to any Territory or State," and he desired to have it stricken out so that it might be presented as a supreme compliment to the newer candidate. Senator Gwin was disappointed. The motion to reconsider was refused; yeas, Io, nays, 31.
On the 9th of February the House passed the senate bill with an amendment offered by Galusha A. Grow of Pennsylvania, to the
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clause relating to the courts, as a further concession to the sensitive- ness of the South, which read as follows: "Except only that in all cases involving titles to slaves, the said writs of error or appeal shall be allowed and decided by the said Supreme Court without regard to the value of the matter, property or title in controversy ; and except also that a writ of error or appeal shall also be allowed to the Supreme Court of the United States from the decision of the said Supreme Court created by this act or of any judge thereof, or of the district courts created by this act, or of any judge thereof, upon any writ of habeas corpus involving the question of personal freedom."
Mr. Green moved to concur, which brought Mr. Douglas to his feet again with the remark that the amendment involved a very import- ant principle in the Territorial system. So far as these bills were predicated on the principle of non-interference by Congress with the slavery question, he fully concurred in them. The pending bill appeared to have been based on the theory that the words "slavery" or "slave" should be stricken out wherever they appeared, and in pursuance of that theory they had stricken out in the first section the words, "and that when the said Territory shall be admitted into the Union as a State, it shall be received with slavery or without, as its constituents may prescribe at the time of admission." Then another provision had been inserted in the sixth section, to the effect that the Territorial, Legislature shall pass no law abolishing or impairing the rights of private property. That would be understood by the senator from Missouri (Mr. Green) and others thinking with him as prohibiting such legislature from abolishing or prohibiting slavery. He could well conceive why the other side of the chamber were willing to make the decision of the Territorial courts final so long as they appointed the judges. They were to be appointed by Mr. Lincoln, and it was a natural presumption that therefore they would be in accord with the Republican theory of the slavery question. Judges would be appointed who held to the doctrine that there was no such thing as a right of property in slaves, hence the decisions on all matters involving such
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right would be adverse to slavery. It was his desire to base these Territorial measures on sound principles which could be applied alike under a Republican or a Democratic administration. He felt that the law should stand as it was, giving an appeal to the Supreme. court of the United States in such cases, instead of making the decision of the Territorial judges final, and depriving the party aggrieved of the right of appeal .*
After some further discussion, in every case reverting to the com- promise of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska controversy, a vote was taken, and the House amendment concurred in by twenty-six to eighteen. President Buchanan signed the bill on the 28th, when it became a law. He did not avail himself, however, of the opportunity thereby afforded to forestall his successor by appointing the officers. His mind was just then too deeply occupied with more important affairs.
On the 4th of March intelligence of the adopted organic act arrived in Denver. At this time Edward M. McCook was representing the County of Arapahoe in the Kansas legislature and Judge Morgan the people generally as a lobby member of Congress. March 22d the Pres- ident sent the following nominations to the Senate :
*Schuyler Colfax writing of the matter, subsequently said: "They organized three Territories-Colo- rado, Nevada, Dakota-without a word about slavery in either of the bills, because, under a fair adminis- tration, which would not use its armies and its influence for slavery, and with Governors and judges who were not hostile to free principles, they felt willing to risk the issue and to waive a positive prohibition, which would have only inflamed the public mind, and thwarted the organization by a veto from Mr. Buchanan. To answer the clamor about Personal Liberty bills, they voted for a resolution in which Re- publicans as radical as Mr. Lovejoy joined, recommending the repeal of such as were not constitutional. To show that they had no designs on slavery in the States, as was so falsely charged upon them by their enemies, they voted unanimously that Congress had no right or power to interfere therein. When it was urged that possibly but seven slave States might remain in the Union, and that the North, with Pike's Peak-Colorado and Nebraska, might soon number twenty-one free States, and that then, by a three-fourths vote, the constitution might legally be so amended as to enable them to exercise that power, a large propor- tion of the Republicans aided in proposing to the States, as a proffer of peace, a constitutional amendment, declaring that under all circumstances the constitution shall remain on that question exactly as it came from the hands of Washington and Madison-unchangeable, thus assuring to the border States absolute pro- tection against all interference. But when demands were made in the shape of the Crittenden and of the Border State Compromise, that it should be declared that in all Territories south of 36° 30', slavery should exist and slaves be protected as property irrespective of and even in opposition to the public will, by con- stitutional sanction, which should also be irrepealable, and that thus the constitution should absolutely prohibit the people of the Territories in question from establishing freedom, even if they unanimously desired it, the answer was, No !
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For Governor-William Gilpin of Missouri.
For Secretary-Lewis Ledyard Weld of Colorado.
For Attorney General-William L. Stoughton of Illinois. For Surveyor General-Francis M. Case of Ohio.
For Marshal-Copeland Townsend of Colorado.
For Judges of the Supreme Court-B. F. Hall of New York ; S. Newton Pettis of Pennsylvania, and Charles Lee Armour of Ohio, and they were immediately confirmed.
General William Larimer had been a candidate for Governor, and his claims were presented, but mainly through the influence of Frank P. Blair, then a prominent member of the House, Gilpin secured the prize.
Mr. Weld, a young lawyer of fine attainments, came out with the early emigrants, remained in Denver for a time, and then located in the Gregory mines with the intention of practicing law ; but when it was discovered that the Territorial organization would be granted, he left at once for the national capital to advance his aspirations to the office which he received.' Townsend had been in business on Blake street and was well known to the people here and in the mines. The balance of the appointees were strangers.
On the 15th of April, anticipating the early arrival of the Governor elect, and considering it a solemn duty to accord him a hearty welcome ; rejoicing that here upon the eve of the threatened rebellion by the slave- holding States, presaging a possible dissolution of the Union, Congress had conceded a fixed and stable government, about which the loyal ele- ment might rally for its own defense and that of the constitution, the leading spirits called a meeting to be held in the City Council Chamber for the consideration of measures to that end. H. P. Bennett presided. A committee of arrangements was appointed, consisting of H. P. Ben- nett, Col. A. G. Boone, Amos Steck, R. B. Bradford, Charles A. Cook, T. J. Bayaud, Dr. Hobbs, A. C. Hunt, J. C. Moore, Edward Bliss, Thomas Gibson, Matt Taylor, Richard Sopris, William R. Shaffer, George T. Clark and J. B. Jones.
These gentlemen had ample time in which to perfect the most elab-
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orate preparations for the event, since the Governor's arrival was post- poned for nearly two months.
In the meantime, as the news from the east grew more and more exciting, public sentiment began to find expression upon the momentous issues distracting the country. The entire continent was beginning to feel the pulsations of the impending crisis. Toward the last of April a great Union mass meeting convened in front of the Tremont House and organized with Richard Sopris as Chairman and Scott J. Anthony as Secretary. Judge Bennett and other orators delivered speeches which awakened the depths of patriotism. In the general confusion there were many whose views had taken no distinct form. They were bewil- dered by the suddenness of the gigantic upheaval, but scarcely compre- hending that it really meant a dissolution of the Union, a complete rev- olution of the order under which they had been bred and schooled. These men were aroused from their torpor and made to feel that they must instantly declare to themselves and their fellows where they stood upon the issues presented. It is needless to say that a very large major- ity declared for their country, one and indivisible. Among these were many staunch Democrats, who aligned themselves shoulder to shoulder with the most ardent Republicans, and thus the Union sentiment crys- tallized into a solid phalanx. Bennett, Slaughter, Wildman, Williams, Waggoner, Whitsitt and Hunt were appointed a committee to draft res- olutions, which when formulated declared unfaltering devotion to the old flag and all it represented or implied. The chairman, Captain Sopris, sent this dispatch to President Lincoln :
" The eyes of the whole world are upon you ; the sympathies of the American people are with you; and may the god of battles sustain the stars and stripes."
Like meetings were held in Central City, Boulder, and other points in the mountains, heralding fealty to the constitution and the laws, leav- ing no doubt that the youngest of the territories was in full accord with the oldest and most patriotic of the states.
On the :7th of May Marshal Townsend arrived, and on the 20th
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Governor Gilpin. The same evening a reception was held at the Tre- mont House, which the greater part of the inhabitants attended. The hotel was illuminated and handsomely decorated with flags. Judge Ben- nett introduced His Excellency to the multitude from the balcony, say- ing, "We accept you as Governor of Colorado under the palladium of the Union and the principles of the Constitution. Our people, situated on the domain of the United States, having been, like the people of old, without law or protection, claimed for themselves the birthright of Amer- ican citizens-the right of government-and so formed themselves under a protective system of legislation," referring to the Provisional scheme. It was hoped that the Governor would so construe the laws thus enacted as to give the people all the rights of liberty consistent with the funda- mental law.
The Governor responded in a characteristic address of great length, reminding them that he had explored this region in 1843, and returning thanks "from a heart strong with profound emotions for the cordiality of their greeting." While traversing what is now Colorado and as far west as the Pacific, he had then regarded it as the most attractive and inter- esting section of "our glorious country," and was proud to return to it now as a legitimate representative of our constitutional government. He alluded briefly to the troubled condition of the Union, but felt that it would soon be amicably adjusted through the patriotism of the people.
Upon the advent of Governor Gilpin, his provisional predecessor Governor Steele, issued a proclamation in which, after announcing the changed status of affairs, he says, "I deem it but obligatory upon me by virtue of my office to 'yield unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's,' and I hereby command and direct that all officers holding commissions under me, especially all judges, justices of the peace, etc., etc., shall surrender the same, and from and after this date, shall abstain from exercising the duties of all the offices they may have held, and yield obedience to the laws of the United States, and do it by attending to their proper and legitimate avocations whether agriculture or mining." Done at Denver June 6th, 1861.
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