USA > Colorado > History of the State of Colorado, Vol. I > Part 33
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of Alexander Cummings, a difficult task, which often exhausted his diplomacy and his patience as well. Both candidates were strong in the southern division of the Territory, but Chilcott had a much larger following in the north than his opponent.
The election, which occurred on the 7th of August, gave Chilcott a clear majority, but to what extent could only be determined by the official count, as the race had been a close one and the balance between the aspirants so nearly even as to leave the result for some time in doubt. At length as the returns came in and were published in the papers, Chilcott's election was generally conceded, hence the Governor, who was profoundly interested, began to take measures for changing the count to read the other way. He resolved in his own mind that Hunt should be declared elected, no matter what the face of the returns might develop, but to insure a reasonable show of right, he set on foot an investigation of certain precincts in the south, and there obtained a number of ex parte affidavits and statements relating to the manner of conducting the election at those places, all of course alleging fraud and corrupt practices, and giving a result widely different from that shown in the official papers returned to the Secretary of the Territory. The Republican newspapers of the day openly charged Col. John Wanless with having procured the affidavits, but in a letter to the Secretary some time afterward he declared that his only part in the transaction had been to receive and present them, and that he never saw the papers until they were handed to him in Denver.
His Excellency returned soon after the election, The Secretary was in Central City supervising his business affairs at that place. When the returns began to demonstrate the defeat of Mr. Hunt, I was repeatedly interviewed by different parties from Denver who seemed anxious to be informed of the position which I, as chairman of the Ter- ritorial Board of Canvassers, would probably assume. In due course I went to Denver, where I was sharply interrogated by the Governor on the same subject, in the evident hope at the outset, that I would be willing to make concessions, and not conduct the count wholly accord-
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ing to the face of the documents then locked up in the safe, awaiting official action. Discovering that nothing could be gained in that direc- tion, an attempt was made to secure a postponement of the canvass, Cummings pleading for a week or two, in order that he might in the meantime visit the southern part of the Territory to look after treaties with the Ute Indians. This being also resisted, and the canvass insisted upon, to take place the following day (September 5th), the Governor and his principal adherents proceeded to the telegraph office about midnight and sent dispatches to President Johnson, then on his famous "swing around the circle," in other words, en route to Chicago to dedicate the Douglas monument in that city, stating the facts and declaring in positive terms that the immediate removal of the Secre- tary of Colorado was imperatively demanded in order to insure the election of Mr. Hunt, the administration candidate.
The next morning, while passing down Fifteenth street, I was accosted by a stranger who thrust into my hands a small bundle of papers, saying, "Here are some original messages which I sent to the President last night. They concern you deeply. I am night operator in the Western Union office. All I ask is that you will not betray me until after I have left the city, which will be in a few hours. You do not know me, but I know you, and realizing that you ought to be advised of the plot against you, I have taken this method of doing it." He then turned and left me. I have neither seen nor heard of the man from that time to the present, nor had I ever seen him before to my knowledge.
At the first opportunity I read the dispatches which had come thus mysteriously to my hand, finding them to be of great importance, as stated by the operator, and in substance as stated above,-demanding of the President my immediate removal from office. I summoned the Board of Canvassers to meet in the executive office at 2 o'clock the same day, notified the Governor of such action, and invited him to be present, since the law required that the returns should be canvassed in his presence, though he was in no legal sense a member of the board.
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This provision of the organic act was intended to advise him, as a witness of the proceeding, that the votes as returned were correctly counted, so that he might issue the certificate of election to the person who, upon the face of the returns, should be shown to have received a majority of the votes cast, upon the certificate of the canvassers, nothing more or less.
The board, as provided by law, comprised the Secretary, Territo- rial Auditor, and Territorial Treasurer. Mr. Hunt being the Treasurer, and therefore incompetent to sit upon his own case, he resigned, when Col. John Wanless was appointed his successor. The auditor was Richard E. Whitsitt. At the hour appointed the board assembled, the returns were taken from the safe and counted, to ascertain if all the counties had reported. Quite a delegation of citizens was present. The Governor attempted to lock them out of the room, but was prevented by Mr. Whitsitt. It having been ascertained that the reports were complete, the count began in regular order. When several of the papers had been checked off, the governor, under pre- tense of looking at the last one read, came from his desk at the oppo- site side of the room and, adjusting his glasses to see more clearly, bent over the mass of documents on the table as if to scrutinize certain figures, but instantly seized the entire collection, and taking them to his private secretary, Major Thompson, said, "Prepare to tabulate these returns as I give them to you; I propose to make this canvass myself." The board protested strenuously against this outrageous and wholly unlawful proceeding, but in vain. There was no way in which they could regain control of the papers save by force, and this they did not feel warranted in employing. Cummings inti- mated very emphatically, on several occasions that no matter what the returns might show, the certificate of election would be given to Mr. Hunt. On reaching the counties in which the affidavits referred to heretofore had been obtained, he changed the returns for that county to correspond with the figures given in the affidavits. When he had finished the count, Major Thompson presented the figures he had put
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down for each candidate, showing Hunt to have received a majority of about eighty-seven, whereas the official returns gave Chilcott a majority of one hundred and eight.
Hon. J. Q. Charles, Amos Steck and several other prominent law- yers who were indignant witnesses of the Governor's act, remonstrated against it, showing that he had no right whatever to make a personal count of the votes ; no right to introduce and accept as part of the returns this ex parte evidence. The territorial board was the only body authorized to make the count, and even it had no power to go behind the returns as rendered. This power belonged to Congress, and could not be usurped by a lesser authority. But their protests and argu- ments were of no avail. The Governor, intensely satisfied with the shrewdness of his coup, remained obdurate to all appeals for justice. He had made his point and would issue the certificate, and that was the end of it, so far as he was concerned.
The Secretary after great difficulty recovered the papers, and, the hour being late-nearly 6 o'clock-announced that the board would meet and make its canvass at 8 o'clock that evening. The Governor having accomplished his design, offered no objection and consented to be present. Meanwhile, the report of what had occurred in the after- noon spread over the city, exciting great indignation. At the evening session a large crowd was present, and many were armed, anticipating serious difficulty. While the canvass proceeded the Governor inter- jected sneering remarks, which only intensified the bitterness against him. On one occasion Mr. Whitsitt threw off his coat and made a plunge at Mr. Cummings as if to strike him for his insolence, but he was caught by the bystanders, and a collision prevented. The feeling of those present was that an outrage had been committed. To them it was a defiant challenge to do their worst. Either that night or the next day the Governor telegraphed the Johnson con- vention, then sitting in Philadelphia, that the administration candidate for delegate to Congress from Colorado had been declared elected.
It was stated, but with how much truth I am unable to say, that
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Cummings, fearing the storm he had raised would result in violence to himself, was secreted by his friends for several nights succeeding the events narrated above.
On the 6th the Board of Canvassers drew up, by the advice of J. Bright Smith and Amos Steck, whom they consulted, a certificate stating the result of the count. This, with other documents relating to the subject, was transmitted to the house of representatives in Washington, where, after a full examination of the evidence, Mr. Chil- cott was seated, and Mr. Hunt granted the right to contest. Some time afterward there came up from one of the southern counties a petition addressed to the senate and house of representatives, stating that at an election held on the 7th of August "for delegate to repre- sent our Territory in the Fortieth congress, many of us cast our votes for George M. Chilcott under the erroneous impression that he was disfavorable to the admission of said Territory as one of the sovereign States of the Union. We therefore wish to offer our united protest against such admission, and beg that we may be spared this new and additional burthen that now seems more than we can bear."
In October the Governor bundled all the executive records, archives and other movable property of the Territory into wagons and carted them up to Golden City, where headquarters were established on the upper floor or loft of a rickety frame building. Here he was at least out of reach of the tempest he had so wantonly incited, and as the feeling against him in the actual capital was less pronounced than at Denver, a short respite of peace was afforded him.
November 3d he took coach for the States, to be present at the December session of Congress, and further prosecute his aims against the State movement, when it should again appear before that body. By virtue of an act of the legislature, a census of the population of the Territory was taken in 1866, which returned a total of twenty-seven thousand, nine hundred and thirty-one. The city of Denver was cred- ited with about three thousand, five hundred souls.
The President acted promptly upon the advice given him by
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Governor Cummings in his nocturnal message, and at once removed Mr. Hall, appointing a Mr. Hood, a nephew of the famous Confed- erate general of that name, but the Senate refused to confirm. One or two other nominations were sent in, but the Senate refusing to act upon them, the incumbent was thereafter left in undisturbed possession.
George M. Chilcott was sworn in as the sitting delegate from Col- orado March 20th, 1867. On the 2 Ist the Congressional "Globe" con- tained a full account of the investigation made of this case by the committee having the matter in charge, from which we reproduce the following summary : The majority report favored the seating of Chil- cott, while the minority declared for Hunt. The majority report stated, among other things, that "while the case was being argued, Mr. Hunt introduced Governor Cummings as his counsel, or his friend, to argue the case. The Governor undertook to explain to the committee why no allusion was made in his certificate to the count of the canvassers. He informed us that he considered himself one of the Board of Canvassers ; that when the Secretary and Auditor agreed to this" (which was wholly false, for no such agreement was made or pro- posed), "the Treasurer not agreeing to it " (another falsehood, though the Treasurer sustained the Governor as against the Secretary and Auditor), "he counted himself one of the board and united with the Treasurer, which made a tie of the board, having no legal canvass, therefore he was at liberty to make the certificate upon the facts as he understood them,"-in other words, as he manufactured them. Mr. Cook, of the committee, stated in substance that Cummings, in pre- senting Hunt's credentials, made such a statement of facts as in his (Cook's) opinion rendered the paper of no validity whatever. He (Cummings) admitted that it was given in direct contravention of the finding of the Board of Canvassers of the Territory who canvassed the votes cast for the candidates for delegate ; that the majority of the board decided that Mr. Chilcott had received a majority of one hundred and eight, and that he (Cummings) had taken it upon himself, despite the decision of the Board of Canvassers, to give the certificate
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to Mr. Hunt. " It is said," proceeds Mr. Cook, "that Governor Cum- mings was not sworn as a witness, and could give no evidence before the committee. But, Mr. Speaker, he could make an admission, and he did so before the committee. If a man should come into court with a note of hand, that note might be prima facie evidence of good cause of action ; but if he should admit that the note of hand was a forgery, or had been stolen, I apprehend that it would destroy his cause of action. I look upon this paper of Mr. Hunt's, with the accompa- nying admission of Governor Cummings, very much in the same light."
Mr. Wilson, of the committee, stated that Cummings appeared in behalf of Mr. Hunt. "The question being propounded whether the certificate was issued before the canvass was made, he replied that no canvass of the vote was declared or made. He then went on of his own suggestion to state the fact that two of the board were for Mr. Chilcott and one for Mr. Hunt, and that he coincided with the one for Mr. Hunt. The question was then put to him, 'If that was so, what right had you to issue the certificate to Mr. Hunt?' He then, finding himself embarrassed by his statement, said that he was not there as a witness. The recklessness with which he trampled upon all law in giving the certificate to a man who had not a majority of the votes, was only equaled by the unblushing coolness with which he appeared before the committee and attempted to justify his palpable violation of the law. In this case Mr. Chilcott has the only certifi- cate in accordance with the decision of the Board of Canvassers, and the first certificate does not show that it was given to the man who received the highest number of votes. The Governor admits that he gave it in violation of law. It was perhaps necessary at the time, in order to send a telegraphic dispatch to give encouragement to the cele- brated Philadelphia convention, I do not know of any other reason."
After this explanation, the vote was taken by the House, and Mr. Chilcott seated by a vote of ninety-one yeas to thirty-six nays, thirty- seven members not voting. Though there was much talk of a contest, none was made About the 21st of April, Governor Cummings
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resigned his office and was appointed to the collectorship of Internal Revenue for the Fourth District of Pennsylvania, to the great rejoicing of his enemies in Colorado. In May, A. C. Hunt being then in Wash- ington, by an agreement with Cummings, who exerted his influence with the President to that end, was appointed to succeed him as Gov- ernor. The Senate having adjourned, he simply filled a vacancy until it should meet again. Governor Hunt arrived in Denver by coach May 19th, and at once entered upon the duties of his office. A large deputation of citizens paid their respects to him at his residence on the West side-now Lincoln Park.
It has been noted in a previous chapter that the Butterfield Over- land Dispatch company had received a charter from the legislature, and had adopted the route to Salt Lake City via Berthoud Pass, substan- tially the same line built by General Bela M. Hughes, on which some forty thousand dollars had been expended. This fact caused the Over- land Mail company to refuse to proceed any further with the work, consequently it was abandoned. The Butterfield company in due course fell into financial embarrassment from its unprofitable operations in Colorado, and withdrew from the field, hence the route intended for the Union Pacific railroad was never used.
To illustrate the value of the commerce of our Territory in 1866, the following extract showing the shipments of freight to Colorado, is taken from the report of a committee appointed at a railroad meeting called for the purpose of influencing the construction of the Pacific railway through Berthoud Pass, and over Gen. Hughes' route, thence to Salt Lake :
POUNDS.
Provisions, groceries, etc
40,000,000
Clothing.
4,000,000
Hardware, mining and agricultural implements 10,000,000
Moving families.
6,000,000
Machinery.
14,000,000
Government stores 20,000,000
Grain
10,000,000
Total
104,000,000
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The report also states that "the average cost of transportation has been, for the last three years, ten cents per pound, making a total cost to the Territory and the government of ten millions, four hundred thou- sand dollars for freight on the above, summer and winter, ranging from eight to thirty cents per pound." It was estimated by the compilers of this report, that by the expiration of one year from the completion of the Pacific railroad through our Territory, and a consequent reduction in the price of labor, that three times that amount of freight would be required, or three hundred and twelve million pounds, at a cost of three cents per pound, which would yield a revenue of nine million, three hundred and sixty thousand dollars, and would be sufficient to load forty cars daily with freight for Colorado, to say nothing of the travel.
But the committee go further into detail, presenting as an induce- ment to the company, this tempting estimate of the productions of the soil and their value. During the year mentioned, the amount of land under cultivation in Colorado was estimated at one hundred thousand acres. The yield of wheat, corn and oats for the three years preceding was-wheat twenty bushels per acre, corn twenty, and oats thirty bushels. The prices of these products in the same period had averaged about as follows : Wheat, six dollars per bushel ; corn, five dollars; rye, five dollars ; barley, four dollars, and oats three dollars and thirty cents.
On the 19th of June, 1866, the Senate passed an amendment to the Pacific railroad bill, providing for the construction of the eastern division-now known as the Kansas Pacific, and requiring the company to designate the general route of its road and file a map thereof as required by law, on or before December Ist of that year ; also that the company should connect its line with the Union Pacific at a point not more than fifty miles westward from the meridian of Denver.
This measure passed the House and was approved June 26th. The route selected was directly west up the Smoky Hill Fork to this city. This bill received the ardent support of Senators Evans and Chaffee, who used all the influence they possessed in that behalf, being then
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pretty thoroughly convinced that the main line would be deflected to the north, and that the eastern division would be certain to come straight through.
By the unremitting labors of Mr. W. A. H. Loveland, the Colo- rado and Clear Creek railroad company, which had been granted a charter by the legislature of 1864, began to assume a good deal of prominence. The route defined was “ up Clear Creek Cañon to Empire and Central City, and from Golden City to Boulder, and via Denver to Bijou." The charter was subsequently amended in the matter of title, to read "The Colorado Central Pacific railroad," and the company required to make a survey and finish a certain amount of construction in a given time. The survey was made in good order and time, but the next phase of the problem, the raising of means to build, was rather more difficult. Mr. Loveland devoted the greater part of his time to it. He succeeded finally in enlisting the co-operation of Dr. W. H. Laman of New York in the enterprise, who went to Europe, and, it was reported, secured subscriptions to the amount of thirty millions in the stock of the road. The amended charter per- mitted the company to build from Golden City via Clear Creek to the western boundary of Colorado, and from the same point eastward by two branches, to the eastern boundary, and to meet the Omaha and Kansas Pacific roads. Meanwhile, legislation pending in Congress looking to the revocation of the charters granted by the territorial legislatures, alarmed capitalists, consequently there was no farther advance for some time. This bill did not pass, however. The next move at Washington came in the form of an amendment to the original Pacific railroad bill, to permit the junction of the main line and the eastern division, at or immediately west of Denver, instead of on the one hundredth meridian. This seemed to indicate a choice of Ber- thoud's instead of the South Pass, as the route of the transcontinental line. The Union Pacific, by virtue of an agreement, proposed to build the road from Denver to the western line of the Territory if the Colo- rado Central would turn over the government subsidy for that distance,
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the latter company to have the use of the road by paying its propor- tionate share for maintenance, repairs, etc. At this early period of railway building in the West, capitalists entertained a dread of the great cost, much exaggerated in their minds, of constructing lines in the mountains, yet the feasibility of surmounting the difficulties between the plains and Middle Park, as presented to them, together with a pretty strong assurance that the main line would take this route, inclined them to give the enterprise some earnest consideration. The vast distance saved by this route over that via the South Pass, was an additional inducement. The expense of building over the high range would be greater, but it would be compensated many times over by the shorter line. I may here interpolate the observation, that if ever a transcontinental road shall be built by the Berthoud route, as originally outlined by Mr. Loveland and E. L. Berthoud, it will take the lion's share of the through traffic between the Missouri river and the Pacific ocean for the reason given, that it is shorter by nearly four hundred miles than the present line of the Union Pacific; a consideration that would weigh heavily against all competitors. The Union Pacific com- pany by adopting this route in the beginning, would not perhaps have reached Ogden quite so early as it did, but its road would have cost less money, and its future would have been so strongly fortified as to insure it the control of transcontinental traffic for all time. But, at this epoch, the managers were led to believe the scheme impracticable, notwith- standing the demonstration of its practicability laid before them by Berthoud, Loveland and General F. M. Case. What were deemed insurmountable obstacles then, have since become, through greater engineering skill and experience, mere trifles, as witness the roads now in operation all through the mountain ranges.
At length, in August, 1866, the Union Pacific engineers were directed to accompany Capt. Berthoud over his surveyed line up Clear Creek to the pass which bears his name. On the 15th of September following, General G. M. Dodge, Chief Engineer of the Union Pacific, attended by Colonel Seymour, consulting engineer, Jesse L. Williams,
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government director, and Col. Cheesborough, arrived in Denver with the view of making a tour of inspection of the Rocky Mountains, for the purpose of enabling them to report fully and finally as to the advantages and disadvantages of the projected routes, on their return to New York. In the. course of this mission they examined Clear Creek Canon and Berthoud Pass, but a short time afterward public announcement was made of the fact that the company had formally selected the route up Lodge Pole Creek to the Cheyenne Pass, through the Black Hills and Bridger's Pass. It was a bitter disappointment to all our people of course, for until this blow fell, they cherished the hope that the company would be compelled to adopt either the Clear Creek line, or that through Boulder Cañon. But we were consoled to some extent by the promise given simultaneously, that Denver and the mountain towns would be connected by a branch, and thus ended for the time being, all uncertainty as to our prospects for direct intercourse by rail with the East.
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