USA > Colorado > History of the State of Colorado, Vol. I > Part 35
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48
July 8th, 1867, a meeting was held in Cole's hall, on Larimer
408
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
street, to organize a Republican club. P. P. Wilcox, the veteran Police Magistrate, Webster D. Anthony and E. C. Holmes were appointed a committee on permanent organization, and Major Jacob Downing, Gen. John Pierce and W. R. Thomas a committee on reso- lutions. The committee on permanent organization reported the following : For President, John Pierce ; Vice-Presidents, Amos Steck, Dr. F. R. Waggoner and O. A. Whittemore ; Recording Secretary, J. E. Wurtzebach ; Corresponding Secretary, M. A. Rogers; Treas- urer, Major Peabody ; Executive Committee, C. C. Clements, Dr. F. J. Bancroft, J. Q. Charles, Jacob Downing, Capt. R. W. Woodbury.
This was the first well organized and equipped Republican club formed in Arapahoe county. Up to this time no regular organization of the party for the Territory had been perfected. Henry M. Teller was made chairman of the Territorial executive committee.
409
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
CHAPTER XXV.
THE BUILDING OF OUR FIRST RAILWAYS-GENERAL HUGHES AND THE OVERLAND STAGE LINE-BUTTERFIELD'S LINE THROUGH THE SMOKY HILLS-LOVELAND AND CARTER'S PROPOSITION TO DENVER-ARRIVAL OF COLONEL JAMES ARCHER- ORGANIZATION OF A BOARD OF TRADE-HISTORY OF THE DENVER PACIFIC RAILWAY-REMOVAL OF THE TERRITORIAL CAPITAL-INAUGURATION OF WORK ON THE COLORADO CENTRAL-GOVERNOR EVANS UTTERS A PROPHECY-GENERAL WM. J. PALMER-SKETCH OF THE UNION PACIFIC RAILWAY.
While in New York and Washington, Governor Evans lost no opportunity to freely advocate the location of the Pacific railroad through Colorado via Clear Creek Cañon and Berthoud Pass. In September, 1865, Gen. B. M. Hughes, the pioneer stage manager, had constructed a wagon road from Salt Lake City via Green river to Middle Park, and as far as the western base of the pass named above, and while not fully completed, it was an excellent route for either a stage or railroad. Knowing this to be the shorter, and, all things considered, much the better line, he had pushed the work with all possible speed. Though never utilized, its practicability had to be admitted, and it was hoped that the railway engineers would recom- mend it if they could ever be brought to a careful examination. Almost simultaneously D. A. Butterfield & Co. had built a new stage line from Atchison, Kansas, via the Smoky Hills to Denver. The first coach arrived September 23d, 1865. A delegation of citizens headed by Mayor George T. Clark, went out on the road to meet and tender the proprietor of this competing stage line a cordial welcome. Mr. Butterfield was transferred from the coach to a carriage and escorted to the Planter's House, where James M. Cavanaugh, the
410
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
" Irish orator of the Rockies," delivered to the hero of the hour the hospitalities of the embryonic metropolis. The legislature of 1865-6 passed an act incorporating the " Butterfield Overland Dispatch Com- pany," and on the 30th of January, 1866, a meeting of the incorporators was held for organization. E. P. Bray, General Wm. R. Brewster, Wm. A. H. Loveland, Wm. H. Fogg, George E. Cook, J. H. Messinger, George A. Hinsdale, Wm. H. Gale, and Charles A. Cook were elected Directors. The company selected Berthoud Pass as the point through which their route across the Snowy Range should be constructed, and General Brewster was authorized to commence at the earliest practicable moment the erection of a telegraph line from the eastern boundary of the Territory to Central City, agreeably to the provisions of the act of incorporation.
At a meeting of the Directors held on the 23d of January, 1866, Wm. R. Brewster was elected President; W. A. H. Loveland, Vice- President ; George E. Cook, Treasurer, and Frank Hall, Secretary. A resolution was adopted to the effect that this company adopted and claimed the right to use the pass through the Snowy Range known as the Berthoud Pass, and that the construction of said road be commenced at the earliest practicable date. And that was about as far as it ever proceeded.
Having pursued his one absorbing idea of building a railroad to the mines, and with the further purpose of extending it through the Middle Park to Salt Lake, along the line suggested by Engineer Berthoud's reconnaissance of 1861, Mr. Loveland secured an amended charter from the legislature in 1865, and began immediately to lay his plans for carrying it into effect. He clung with unwearying pertinacity to this enterprise. To him it was the keystone in the arch of the future, realizing that if it could only be seen by the capitalists of the East as he saw it, it could not fail, and it would, moreover, be the beginning of a grand system of railroads penetrating to every desirable point in the Territory. Though the route up Clear Creek Cañon was pronounced wholly impracticable by the old school railway builders, owing to the
411
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
heavy grades and innumerable curvatures of the stream it must neces- sarily follow, he held resolutely to its entire feasibility, and went forward.
In the course of events he succeeded in organizing in New York the Colorado and Clear Creek railroad company, and received satisfac- tory assurances that the means would be forthcoming to build the road. General Dix, then President of the Union Pacific, had examined the sur- veys and maps, and it was said, was favorably impressed and would probably give it connection with the main trunk from the eastern boundary of the territory. The matter progressed very encouragingly. One of the directors of Loveland's company wrote, "I had, apart from the General (Dix) a pleasant interview with Mr. Seymour, and from him learned that he would be well pleased to find our route every way prac- ticable for them (the U. P.) to adopt. I told him it would be satisfactory to us to have them unite with us and make ours a part of the great national line, and I trusted they would find inducements sufficient to justify them in deciding upon the Clear Creek route as being in every way the most practicable one." The plan embraced the lines now (1889) in operation from Golden City to Black Hawk and Central City, with the proposed main line via the junction of north and south Clear Creeks to Berthoud Pass. J. B. Chaffee had been chosen one of the directors of the company, and being also one of the directors of the Pacific railroad company, it was believed that he would exert a salutary influence in directing the main trunk through the mountains by this route.
Governor Evans too, wrought unceasingly to impress its importance upon the President and Directors of the National road, but all to no purpose. At one time the decision for the construction of the Colorado and Clear Creek line was so nearly accomplished in New York, Mr. Loveland was telegraphed to go there at once and close the contracts.
Notwithstanding all these schemes went down in failure, they sowed the seeds and prepared the way for new and successful under- takings in the not remote future. In February, 1866, Governor Evans addressed a letter to General Dix, inviting his careful attention to the
412
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
importance of examining the Clear Creek and Middle Park route, reiter- ating former accounts of its advantages, insisting upon its feasibility, and asking that it be examined by competent engineers in the employ of the Pacific company, before finally locating the main line. To this appeal, General Dix replied on the 12th of July, stating in substance that their engineers had examined the route and pronounced against it. Besides the enormous cost of cutting the long tunnels, the length of time required would prevent its adoption. While the route had not been definitely fixed as far west as the one hundredth meridian, it was his impression, based upon maps of surveys in his office, that the Cache la Poudre Cañon was the most favorable thus far presented, and should it be adopted, there was little doubt but that Denver would be connected with the main line by a branch. So that scheme went down with the rest. Possibly the admission of the Territory as a State in 1865, with a full representation in Congress, could it have been consummated, might have had some effect upon the definite location, but it is very doubtful if the Pacific Construction Company would ever have been induced to accept the Clear Creek route by any influence which could have been brought to bear. They were afraid of the mountains and the tunneling, but above all, of the delay involved in this difficult work.
General Dodge and his associates who had been sent out to inves- tigate, having completed their examination of all the proposed railway routes across the mountains, on the 23d of November, 1866, submitted a detailed report on the same to the directors of their company, embracing also the resources, advantages and disadvantages of each, and unquali- fiedly recommending the Lone Tree and Crow Creek route, on which the road was subsequently built. In all his estimates General Dodge included a branch to Denver, strongly urging the importance of such connection at the earliest practicable date, in order to secure the increasing trade of Colorado, and its supplies of superior fuel.
The report having been fully considered by the directors, its recommendations were adopted by unanimous vote, and the "Com- mittee on Location " instructed to report upon the branch to Denver.
413
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
In due time the committee made answer that in their judgment a connection with the mining regions of Colorado was of supreme interest to the company. The branch as projected, would be about one hundred and twelve miles in length, and would be further important as a base line of railway parallel with the main range, from which lateral branches could be built to the mining centers ; for example, up Clear Creek, through Boulder Canon and other valleys. The coal lying in great profusion and of a fine quality at the base. and the gold bearing quartz lodes on the slopes of the mountains, such lines of railway would become essential, not only for general trans- portation, but to bring the ores and the fuel together when the scanty supply of timber should have been exhausted. These suggestions forecast the future with great accuracy, and the results predicted have been largely verified. The report was signed by Sidney Dillon, John Duff, Jesse L. Williams, Oliver Ames and Thomas C. Durant.
On the IIth of July, 1867, T. J. Carter, one of the government directors of the Union Pacific, arrived in Denver to confer with the citizens respecting plans for the construction of the branch contem- plated by the Colorado Central & Pacific railway company. The object was to build a line via Denver and Golden City to the mines of Gilpin and Clear Creek counties. The road as thus defined would be about one hundred miles in length, and under arrangements made, or at least very generally and favorably considered, would be ironed and stocked by the Union Pacific company, provided our people would grade the bed and lay the ties. The cost of this part of the work was placed at about six hundred thousand dollars, which it was proposed to raise by an issue of county bonds, the company agreeing to accept and dispose of the same. Therefore, in order to place the matter in definite shape, a meeting was held the same evening in Cole's Hall, and called to order by General Bela M. Hughes, who eloquently advocated the necessity of uniting upon this or some other proposition for immediate connection with the trunk line then under rapid progress. He advised that in considering Mr. Carter's plan, all
414
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
differences and prejudices be laid aside, and the citizens of Denver urged to work in absolute harmony for the general welfare. He then nominated Governor Hunt for chairman of the meeting, and he was chosen, R. W. Woodbury of the "Tribune," acting as secretary. Governor Evans addressed the assemblage in much the same strain as Gen. Hughes had done, and closed by inviting Mr. Carter to state his proposition.
This was presented in the form of a statement that the Union Pacific company had spent three years in preparatory surveys to determine which was the most practicable route through the Rocky Mountains. Their charter, greatly to their regret, compelled them to locate their main line north of the great mineral deposits of Colorado. A meeting had been held in January, at which a committee to inves- tigate and report upon the best means of reaching Denver by a branch, had been appointed. He (Carter) was made chairman. To ascer- tain the facts, he had come to this city for a searching examination of all the conditions. The topographical features of the mountains were such that the main line could not be located here, but a branch was entirely feasible, and direct connection would be thereby secured. Under the charter the Union Pacific company had no right to build branches; they could construct nothing but the main trunk, but a charter had been granted the Colorado Central company by the terri- torial legislature, and they proposed to avail themselves of the rights therein conceded. Accordingly, in June last an arrangement had been effected in Boston with this company, the Colorado Central & Pacific railway organized, and a certain amount of stock subscribed. To obtain the requisite means, various methods had been proposed, one suggesting individual subscriptions, another an issue of county bonds, and still another State or Territorial bonds. At length the scheme of county bonds had been decided upon, as the charter clearly authorized them. But the question must be submitted to the people. Therefore, it was for them to determine the result. The Union Pacific company, at its meeting held in June, had agreed to place the iron and rolling
415
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
stock on every twenty miles of road as soon as graded. The surveys were being made to discover the most practicable route. He then presented a general review of the condition of affairs here and throughout the country. Business was stagnant, transportation slow and very expensive. Many people were in doubt whether to remain and take the chances, or emigrate to more favorable lands. The remedy for this deplorable state of things was-railway communication, which could only be had through some such plan as he had set forth.
The proportion of bonds allotted to Arapahoe county was fixed at two hundred thousand dollars, which, when issued, the company would undertake to negotiate. In return the county would receive stock to the full amount of the issue of bonds. In answer to a question by General Pierce, concerning the intentions of the "Eastern Division," Mr. Carter said that company had decided to go south by Santa Fé and through Arizona to the Pacific. Mr. Loveland had the same understanding, which-assuming these impressions to be well founded-left Denver no alternative but to strike hands with Carter and himself, and aid them in completing the branch.
The matter having been fully digested, Governor Evans offered a resolution to the effect, that whereas the Colorado Central & Pacific railway company propose to locate and construct their road so as to connect with the main line of the Union Pacific at some eligible point on the same, running thence by the most feasible route direct to the city of Denver and thence to Golden City, Black Hawk, Central City and Georgetown, in the mountains, completing the same to this point at an early day, provided that Arapahoe County will give suitable aid in bonds, therefore resolved, that the County Commissioners of Arapahoe County be respectfully requested to submit the question of issuing two hundred thousand dollars of the bonds of said County at the approaching election, etc., etc. After some further discussion the reso- lutions were adopted. Dr. Morrison, M. M. De Lano, Governor Evans, F. J. Stanton, L. M. Koons, Bela M. Hughes and Governor Hunt were appointed a committee to confer and act with the County Com-
416
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
missioners, when the meeting adjourned, with rather jubilant feelings over the prospect of having a railroad.
These proceedings having been published, met the interested eye of Isaac E. Eaton, agent of the Eastern Division railway, who immedi- ately replied in a card to the public, saying that Messrs. Carter and Loveland had created a false impression as to the intentions of the E. D. Company. He was authorized by the President and Directors to say, that they would build direct to Denver at the earliest possible date; that a corps of engineers under charge of Colonel Greenwood were then locating a line from the western boundary of Kansas, fifteen miles north of Pond Creek to Denver. The company wanted neither legislative nor other aid, but were coming anyhow, because this project had been incorporated among their fixed plans. They intended to accommodate the trade of Colorado with the East, and would adopt proper means to secure it.
For some days succeeding the events just narrated, the staple topic of conversation everywhere was the possible construction of a railroad, with some diversity of opinion as to which should be encour- aged, Carter or the Eastern Division. And the time had arrived for something more tangible and forceful than mere talk. With the rapid advance of the Union Pacific and its final deflection to the North through the Black Hills, Denver's position was seriously threatened, and many of its sagacious business men contemplated removing to more favorable points. Later, the emigration to the new towns springing up in Kansas, Nebraska and Wyoming was very large. These constant drains of population awakened the aggressive forces to prompt action. They realized that something positive must be undertaken, or the fabric must fall. Those who possessed fixed interests here which could not be abandoned without ruinous consequences to themselves, based all their hopes of the future upon the promise afforded by the facts developed at the meeting in Cole's Hall. Upon this shred, flimsy as it proved to be, the people anchored their confidence, and began agitating with all their strength.
417
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
The County Commissioners were readily persuaded to submit the proposition of voting twenty-year eight per cent. bonds, with the pro- viso that the road should be built to Denver, which indicated some dis- trust of Carter and Loveland's ulterior purposes. It was felt that they might, unless restricted, carry the road off to Golden City which had been from the date of its founding, an aggressive though not very for- midable rival. Intermingled with the general excitement were all manner of conjectures, reports and rumors respecting the aims of the Eastern Division, which figured prominently in the problem. While the Colorado Central party circulated reports that this line was making for Santa Fé, its officers exerted themselves to induce the belief that it had no such intention. Shortly, sentiment changed in favor of two railroads, when the possibility of securing the Eastern Division be- came apparent. Denver was but a feeble, struggling, inchoate frontier metropolis then, with great aspirations based upon rather insecure foun- dations, but it had some strong men who, as the sequel proved, were equal to the emergency of building and fortifying a great prestige. It possessed the same spirit in 1867-8 which in later times made it famous throughout the country, and those who were foremost in promoting railway enterprises when the Union Pacific was rushing along the con- tinent at the rate of three or four miles a day, are still among the leaders of the present epoch. They had very little money, it is true, but they possessed the energy and fertility of resource which, rightly applied, brings mighty consequences.
To increase the ferment, Major Eaton produced a letter from John D. Perry, President of the Eastern Division, who, upon being ad- vised as to the state of affairs, announced that two surveying parties would be sent out from Pond Creek, one to survey the route to Santa Fé or Albuquerque, via the Purgatoire and Fort Union, the other to proceed up the valley of the Huerfano and down the Rio Grande. A third party in charge of Col. W. C. Greenwood would make the survey from Pond Creek to Denver, and thence in the direction of the Union Pacific railway of the Platte. As all railway news was good news, this
27
418
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
announcement caused much rejoicing, though it was somewhat chilled by the contemplated detour of the main line southward to New Mexico.
The town of Cheyenne was established, in other words, organized under its charter, August 7th, 1867, as the terminus of the Union Pacific east of the mountains, and here large numbers of people con- gregated with the expectation that it would develop wonderful power, and become the great commercial emporium of the West. In the early stages it was a heterogeneous crowd of railroad followers, ambitious merchants, saloonkeepers, gamblers, dance house people, etc, the in- variable conglomerate which characterizes the founding of most phe- nomenal towns in the West. It grew with amazing rapidity; money was abundant, and trade brisk and profitable, while in Denver stagnation prevailed to an extent which persuaded all who could leave, to join the procession just over the northern boundary. The railway movement dragged exasperatingly. In addition to the other advantages pos- sessed by the new metropolis, a large military post was erected there. The promise of large machine and repair shops by the Pacific company lent an air of stability to the town, especially as the company contem- plated spending large sums in other improvements. The disburse- ments for labor soon found their way into the magic city, where pros- perity and crime walked hand in hand. It became the center of the mountain trade, drawing heavy tribute from Colorado at the expense of our own mercantile houses.
Meanwhile, as the surveys under the auspices of the Colorado Central progressed from Cheyenne southward into Colorado, the direction taken and a combination of other circumstances revived the old suspicion that Carter and Loveland had resolved to so locate the line as to make it of much greater advantage to Golden City than to Denver. Consequently the ardor of the voters here toward the bond proposition began to cool. But it was amended to provide that before the bonds were issued the road must be located on the east side of the Platte river, and come direct to Denver. This proviso quieted
419
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
public apprehension, which was caused in large degree by the fact that Boulder county had submitted the question to its electors of voting to subscribe fifty thousand dollars to the stock of the road, conditioned upon its location through that town. Notwithstanding the evident change of plans by the Colorado Central managers, the citizens' committee here strongly urged the people to vote for the bonds, as the change made in the proposition removed all danger of their being issued for use against the supreme interest of the city. Therefore, at the election held August 13th, the proposition was carried by a large majority.
In the meantime, Gen. Hughes had opened and maintained a correspondence with President Perry, calculated to develop the actual intentions of the Eastern division company relative to the construction of its road to Denver. He caused a large amount of data to be pre- pared, showing the state of business, the resources of the country to be developed under the greater advantages of rapid transit, and expressing the' earnest hope of the people that the Kansas road would come and cooperate with them in the great work they had undertaken. He received the heartiest assurances of reciprocal esteem, with the positive declaration that Colonel Greenwood was then surveying the route from Pond Creek straight to Denver, and Gen. Hughes was instructed to assure the people of Colorado of their desire to reach them as speedily as possible.
Col. Greenwood's party arrived about the Ist of September, 1867, and soon afterward began surveying the return line via Cedar Point. As the Colorado Central persisted in its determination to follow the west side of the Platte, whereby it was seen that it had no intention of making this its terminal or principal station, it was abandoned by Den- ver, and left to its own devices. The Eastern Division kept alive the interest already excited in its favor, by frequent correspondence, con- veying every evidence of encouragement that could be desired. Noth- ing definite occurred, however, until November 8th of the year men- tioned, when a new impetus was imparted to the movement by the
420
HISTORY OF COLORADO.
arrival of Colonel James Archer, a prominent citizen of St. Louis, largely interested in great enterprises there and also in the Kansas road, who came as the representative of the Eastern Division Company to labor with our people in that interest. The road had been stranded, so to speak, at Pond Creek, where its government subsidy ceased. The com- pany realized that it must go somewhere, and as all attempts to carry it south to Santa Fé had failed, its only hope lay in the Denver Extension. The main question was how to raise the money, and this formed one of Col. Archer's purposes in visiting this city.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.