USA > Colorado > History of the State of Colorado, Volume II > Part 16
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private consultation, Mr. Moffat, Mr. Kountze and others, after consid- ering all contingencies, decided that if a plunge was made at either bank, all would instantly close their doors, await the arrival of their funds, then reopen and meet every demand as it should come. Said Mr. Moffat, " If the associated press dispatches to the leading papers, relating to the effects of the panic and the ruin wrought can be suppressed for a few days until our currency arrives, there will be no financial distress in Denver. It would save the city and Territory. If we are compelled to close, you can readily see what the consequences will be." I agreed to visit the newspaper offices and present the matter to them as he had given it to me, and immediately started on the errand. The proposition to suppress and destroy matter which is always most valuable to a public journal, when advanced was met by Mr. Byers of the "News" and the manager of the "Tribune," with this indignant inquiry: "Do you comprehend the extent of the deception you ask us to perpetrate on the public ? to suppress intelligence which every reader is most anxious to see ; keep the people in ignorance for three or four days of the most striking events in the history of the country ? We cannot do it, sir. It would be fatal to us as publishers ; much can be done in a newspaper office which the public need not know, but telegrams of importance such as we are receiving by columns hot from the great centers of information, cannot be thrown into the waste basket and the secret hidden." I then entered upon a full explanation of the case, the heroic effort the banks were making to prevent a financial and commercial crash in Colorado, for if it struck Denver its breakers would inevitably sweep over the Territory causing widespread calamities, arguing that it was better to cut out the more alarming dispatches for the reasons given, than by their publi- cation bring a long procession of failures, from the effects of which it would take years to recover. Colorado was not then in a condition to endure even a temporary obstruction of established business. It was weak and feeble, just entering upon systematic development after years of depression. The sudden stoppage of needed supplies would have plunged it back into confusion, entailing vast damage to every interest.
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At length, after much argument, the editors assented to the proposal, and the dispatches were set aside. The funds expected by the banks arrived on time, a gigantic burden was lifted from the managers, and they experienced feelings of hope and joy that now every obligation could be met in full. This incident unquestionably saved Denver and the Territory from many of the catastrophes which befell other cities and States to the eastward.
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CHAPTER IX.
HAYDEN'S GEOLOGICAL SURVEYS IN THE WEST-TREATY WITH UTE INDIANS-SUR- RENDER OF THE SAN JUAN MINING REGION-MESSAGE OF CHIEF OURAY TO GOVERNOR ELBERT-BAKER'S EXPEDITION AND HIS THRILLING ADVENTURES- LATER EXPLORATIONS FROM ARIZONA-SETTLEMENT OF THE SAN JUAN COUNTRY IN 1872-FOUNDING OF LAKE CITY.
In our first volume, pages 454 and 468, brief reference was made to the preliminary geological surveys of the Western Territories by Prof. F. V. Hayden. Very extended examinations occurred in the suc- ceeding years, resulting in the publication by the general government, of several volumes of useful information, which led to the exploration and development of many rich mineral-bearing sections until then wholly unknown, or but crudely defined. The U. S. Geological Survey, now so important a branch of government work, appears to have been primarily established in the spring of 1867, and was the outgrowth of the strong personal interest taken by delegate,-afterward Senator, --- Hitchcock of Nebraska, who secured the appropriation by Congress, of the unexpended balance of about five thousand dollars of the appro- priation for legislative expenses left over at the time of the admission of that Territory into the Union, to aid in defraying the cost of a geo- logical survey of Nebraska. The young and already eminent geologist, Dr. F. V. Hayden, was made chief director under the act. During the year 1867, a general examination of that Territory had been made, and a report furnished the General Land office at Washington, which was incorporated in its next ensuing report. In the spring of 1868, Congress appropriated a like sum for continuing the survey, and extending it into Wyoming. The year following, the amount was
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doubled for the further extension of the investigations under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, to embrace Colorado and New Mexico. The area was too great, however, for anything more than a hasty observation of the chief points. Reports of all this work were rendered, covering the meteorology, agriculture, zoology and palæon- tology of this region and a large edition published, which, owing to the great demand for copies, was soon exhausted. In 1870 the appro- priation was increased to $25,000 and a more accurate examination of Wyoming made by a corps of skilled assistants. In 1871 a careful survey of the Yellowstone was undertaken, and an exceedingly in- teresting account given of the geysers and other marvelous natural features of that region, which excited the liveliest interest in Europe and the United States, and induced Congress to appropriate the whole area, comprising 3,575 square miles, as a National Park. Within a few months from the date of its publication, this report, or much of it, had been translated into German, and extracts were printed in many languages. In the summer of 1872, the survey was extended further into that Territory, organized into two corps, each provided with a topographer, geologist, mineralogist, meteorologist and naturalist.
In the spring of 1873 the survey was reorganized by act of Con- gress as the "United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories," with Mr. J. T. Gardner as geographer, when the operations were extended to Idaho and Montana. In 1873, Colorado and Utah were more fully investigated, and on its completion in 1876, an area of about seventy thousand square miles had been included in the survey. Said one who accompanied some of these expeditions,-"The scientific results of major importance were the geological features of the reports, the delineation of the boundaries of the cretaceous and tertiary seas and lakes that occupied many of the great basins west of the Missouri, and the very extensive collection of fossil vertebrates gathered from them. Over an area of many hundred thousand square miles there were found beds of great extent and thickness of all ages from the Trias onward, containing the well preserved remains of so great a multitude
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of flying, creeping and walking things referable to so many orders of plants and animals, and often of such gigantic proportions, that the palæontologists of the States with their immense museums, were over- crowded with them."
The publication and wide distribution of Hayden's reports, though many of his earlier conclusions have since been overturned or modified by more minute examination in some of the States and Territories, attracted universal attention among the scientific schools, and were in active demand among the miners and prospectors of the regions treated. They were placed in all the scientific libraries of America and Europe, where Hayden was highly honored for his learning, the patience and skill with which his explorations had been conducted, and the grand results achieved in revealing the hidden wonders of this portion of the American continent, which, until then, had been a sealed book to all except the tireless miner and prospector ; and even to them, until he came to their aid with the light of his deeper knowledge and pointed the way to the more valuable secrets of nature.
In 1872, a government commission consisting of Hon. John D. Long, Gen. John McDonald and Governor E. M. McCook, was appointed, under a resolution of Congress introduced by Mr. Chaffee, with instructions to negotiate a treaty with the Ute Indians for a reduction of their immense reservation in the southwestern division of the Territory, and covering the rich mineral-bearing section known under the general term of the "San Juan country." This extensive grant had been ceded to the Indians under a treaty negotiated by Ex- Governor Hunt in 1868, and embraced an area nearly three hundred miles long by two hundred in width, adjoining New Mexico on the south and Utah on the west, a large portion mountainous, where a great number of gold and silver mines had been found and located, and a numerous white population established. The commissioners were authorized to conclude the treaty, for the reason that, according to representations, the rapid influx of miners must sooner or later produce a conflict between the races, unless measures were taken to adjust the
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relative rights of both upon the portion wherein valuable mines had been discovered. The savages, knowing these men to be trespassers upon their lands, opposed their incursions, yet under the advice of their grand old Chief Ouray, who fully comprehended the nature of the case, they were restrained from violent demonstrations. He realized that they could have no use for the mountainous portion, except as a hunting ground, and very little game ever made its way into those solitudes. But the valleys they could cultivate, and these the miners did not covet.
The commission came to Denver, went south to Fort Garland and thence to the Los Pinos agency beyond the San Juan Mountains. They brought with them a large quantity of goods to be distributed as induce- ments to favorable action. The terms proposed to the Indians were unsatisfactory to them, and after a long time spent in endeavors to overcome their objections, without effect, the councils terminated in September with nothing accomplished.
On the 19th of September, 1873, Felix Brunot, chairman of the Peace Commission, came out to exert his influence toward the con- clusion of a treaty. Conferences had been going on for some time. The council embraced delegations from the Capote, Muache, Winne- muche, Tabeguache, White River and Uintah bands. At the outset the Indians were averse to surrendering any portion of their reservation. Ouray presided, on behalf of his people. Personally he expressed no objection to yielding the mining region, but under no circumstances would he give up the agricultural valleys. In due time, after much argument and a distinct understanding of all the terms, the Indians agreed to the cession, upon certain conditions, of all that portion from the eastern line of the reservation to within a few miles of the San Miguel River, covering a section sixty miles wide by seventy-five in length, which included the principal mines. Even after this concession there still remained to them 15,577,120 acres.
After the treaty had been executed and harmonious relations estab- lished, Ouray dictated to Felix Brunot the following message to be delivered to Governor Elbert at Denver, for whom he entertained high
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regard, and with whom he had conversed freely upon matters relating to his tribe. Said he :
"We want you should tell Governor Elbert and the people in the Territory, that we are well pleased and perfectly satisfied with everything that has been done. Perhaps some of the people will not like it because we did not wish to sell our valley and farming lands, but we think we had good reasons for not doing so. We expect to occupy them ourselves before long for farming and stock raising. About eighty of our tribe are now raising corn and wheat, and we know not how soon we shall have to depend on ourselves for our bread. We do not want to sell our valley and farming lands for another reason. We know if we should the whites would go on them, build their cabins and drive in their stock, which would of course stray upon our lands, and then the whites themselves would crowd upon us till there would be trouble. We have many friends among the people, and want to live at peace and on good terms with them, and we feel that it would be better for all parties for a mountain range to be between us. We are perfectly willing to sell our mountain lands, and hope the miners will find heaps of gold and silver. We have no wish to molest or make them any trouble. We do not want they should go down into our valleys, however, and kill or scare away our game. We expect there will be much talk among the people and in the papers, about what we have done, and we hope you will let the people know how we feel about it.
Truly your friend, OURAY."
To advise the people of the great chief's desires, and to give the fullest expose of his reasons for acceding to the modified terms of the treaty, the Governor published the letter. But the distinguished leader of all the Ute nation, whose life and character, with an outline of the service he rendered to our people on numberless occasions, we shall present at the proper time, had no need of any further or more elab- orate explanation of his acts. The people even thus early had learned his worth, ability, honesty and broad enlightenment upon the relations existing between his dusky warriors and the immigrants who were absorbing the country. He said to the Governor on one occasion, in substance : " I realize the ultimate destiny of my people. They will be extirpated by the race that overruns, occupies and holds our hunting grounds, and whose numbers and force, with the government and the millions behind it, will in a few years remove the last trace of our blood
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that remains. We shall fall as the leaves from the trees when the frosts of winter come, and the lands which we have roamed over by countless generations will be given up to the miner and the plowshare. In the place of our humble tepees, the white man's towns and cities will appear, and we shall be buried out of sight beneath the avalanche of the new civilization. This is the destiny of my people. My part is to protect them and yours, as far as I can, from violence and bloodshed while I live, and to bring both into friendly relations, so that they may be at peace with one another." The treaty thus negotiated was ratified by the Senate, April 22d, 1874.
The account subjoined, of the earliest explorations of the San Juan mining region, is taken from notes collected in 1876 by Mr. William N. Byers, while traveling among its mountains and valleys, who obtained the particulars from the surviving members of the famous Baker expedi- tion. Since this is the only authentic account of which we have knowl- edge, and as at this late day when nearly all have disappeared, it would be extremely difficult, if not wholly impossible, to secure a more complete and accurate narrative, it is reproduced as a proper introduction to the later annals of that now populous and prosperous section of our State.
The early explorations of what is now the "San Juan country," were attended with more hazard, and the story is surrounded by more romance, perhaps, than attaches to the development of any other portion of the State. Its first exploration is generally credited to Captain Baker. The true story of the Baker expedition is about as follows, as gleaned mainly from S. B. Kellogg of Lake City. The history of the settlement in the Animas Valley is from Mrs. Thomas Pollock.
In 1860 California Gulch was swarming with placer miners ; among them were S. B. Kellogg & Co., who owned some of the rich ground and took out large amounts of gold, and Charles Baker, a restless, adventurous, impecunious man who was always in search of something new. He entertained extravagant opinions of the richness of the country beyond, and at last prevailed upon Mr. Kellogg and F. R. Rice to outfit him for a prospecting expedition. He set out in July, 1860, to explore
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the San Juan country,-meaning the country along the San Juan River. Six men went with him, of whom three were Cunningham, Bloomfield and Mason. The names of the others are forgotten. Baker reported to Kellogg from time to time, and finally that they had found diggings which paid twenty-five cents to the pan. In the fall Kellogg went to the States for his family, and returned to Denver with them in November. On the 14th of December, 1860, they left Denver to join Baker, accom- panied and followed by others, their party ranging at different times on the journey all the way from one hundred to three hundred persons. Among them were S. B. Kellogg, Henry Allen, Thomas Pollock, F. R. Rice, F. A. Nye, Mr. Heywood, Mr. Cunningham, and their families ; Andrew Peedee, B. H. Eaton, C. L. Hall, Mr. Arnold, Abner French, William Williams, and many others whose names cannot be recalled. They traveled south by way of Colorado City and Pueblo, crossing the Sangre de Cristo Mountains through Sangre de Cristo Pass. Here they suffered greatly from inclement weather and the difficulties of travel. Roads had to be built, and there was no feed for their stock except that obtained by cutting down trees for them to browse upon. They were fourteen days crossing the mountains. After getting down into San Luis Park, they were overtaken by a terrific storm of wind and snow that scattered their stock and caused intense suffering to many of the people. Wagon boxes and other property were burned for fuel. On the 4th of March they passed Conejos and traveled thence via Abiqui, Chama River and Pagosa Springs. April Ist they reached Cascade Creek, a branch of the Animas River about twenty-five miles south of where Silverton was subsequently located, where they went into camp. Kellogg and several others went in search of Baker and found him and his party in Baker's Park, now Silverton. They were living in brush shanties where they had wintered. Their diggings were nine miles up the river, at the point later known as Eureka. They had cut out lumber with whip-saws and made some sluices, but had collected very little gold. A thorough trial for weeks after proved that the diggings would not 13 II.
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pay for working, the best returns never exceeding fifty cents per day to the man.
Men passed back and forth constantly between the camp at Cascade Creek and Baker's Park. Kellogg, Baker and Rice explored the country east, north and west, passing over the high mountains to the headwaters of the Gunnison, Uncompahgre and San Miguel Rivers, prospecting all their head tributaries and gulches, but they were searching only for gulch, or placer gold diggings, knowing nothing about lodes or quartz veins.
About the Ist of May the camp at Cascade Creek was broken up, and they moved down the Animas River to where the valley or park opens out and becomes fertile, where they laid out a town and built a great number of cabins, naming the place "Animas City." Exploring and prospecting were actively continued, but without satisfactory results. Dissatisfaction ensued. Baker was severely censured as the cause of all their misfortunes, trials and suffering, and there was strong talk of wreaking vengeance upon him, but better counsels prevailed. Baker was, in fact no miner, and the glowing accounts of rich finds he sent out were entirely upon the reports of others with him. Yet Baker as the captain of the party, was held accountable for these false reports.
On the 4th of July, 1861, Animas City was abandoned by nearly all its people, who set out to find their way back to a civilized country. Pollock remained until fall. He had taken from Denver eleven wagons loaded with provisions and goods, and nearly a hundred head of oxen, mules and horses. There was no money among the adventurers, and he had to feed many of them. When they reached the Animas Valley the Utes flocked around them and threatened hostilities, which were averted only by Pollock's furnishing them such provisions and goods as they demanded. In exchange, however, he purchased four Navajo children who were held as captives, and for whom he gave $1,500 worth of goods. When his stock became exhausted Pollock set out for Santa Fé for another supply, and was absent two months. On his return, war had broken out between the Mexicans and Utes, which
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impelled him to turn the train back, he finally making his way through to Animas City alone. Of the white settlers, only his wife and an inva- lided prospector remained, and they were surrounded by a camp of Ute Indians. Soon after the savages warned all the white people out of the country. Pollock and his wife took the direction of Denver, where they arrived in September. Baker, Peedee, with a few others, remained at Eureka Gulch until late in the fall, when they passed out to Fort Gar- land, where they received the first intelligence that had come to them of the War of the Rebellion. Baker at once started for his native State, Virginia, where he entered the Confederate army and served during the war.
Meanwhile, during the summer of 1861, so eventful to this little band of men, women and children, who were huddled together in the distant wilderness on the banks of the Animas, surrounded by hostile Indians, and often suffering the pangs of hunger, most exaggerated reports of their discoveries were finding their way back to the mining camps of the Upper Arkansas and the South Park, and thence all through the country, growing as they traveled. One stampede followed another, until hundreds of men were scattered all through the mountains and valleys of Southwestern Colorado. Between the 5th and roth of July several hundred men left California Gulch alone, stealing away by night, one party followed by another, in the belief that the leaders had secret information of Baker's fabulous discoveries of gold. Many of them never crossed the mountains, but winter caught hundreds scat- tered through that inhospitable region. All through the fall and winter they came straggling in to the military posts, and to the towns and set- tlements of New Mexico and Colorado. Some were almost naked, or clothed in the skins of animals; others nearly starved, and doubtless never returned at all, perishing by the wayside.
In the summer of 1868 Charles Baker again returned to Colorado, camping for a short time on the Upper Arkansas, near the mouth of Chalk Creek. With several other men he started south from there. and wandered through the mountains of the Gunnison, Animas, San
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Juan and La Plata Rivers, prospecting. Their numbers dwindled down until only Baker, with a man named White, and a third whose name is forgotten, remained together. They had reached the Colorado River of the West at a point not far from the mouth of the Colorado Chiquito, (Little Colorado) in the Great Cañon. The Indians had followed and harassed them constantly, and they were reduced almost to the last extremity. On the river bank where they had clambered down to the water, there was a quantity of driftwood, from which they constructed a raft upon which they intended to risk their lives and float down the turbulent and dangerous stream. All was ready for the start, when a volley poured down upon them from the cliffs. Baker fell, crying out to his companions, "Boys, I'm killed ! look out for yourselves." White and the other man sprang upon the raft and cut the thongs that held it to the shore. Soon they were plunging madly over the falls and shooting through the boiling rapids of that tempestuous torrent. White tied himself to the raft and urged his companion to do likewise, but the warning was unheeded, and eventually he was swept away and drowned. Days after, White and the death raft were discovered floating on the river below the cañon, in Southwestern Utah. He was unbound and taken off, almost dead. In time he recovered, when his story found its way into the newspapers, only to be ridiculed and dis- credited. In May, 1877, White was in Lake City (Colorado) and later took up his residence somewhere,-precise locality unknown,-in the southern part of the State. He was then about thirty-five years of age, a plain, matter-of-fact, practical and adventurous man. There is not a shadow of doubt about his wonderful adventures and his marvelous escape through the awful cañons of the Colorado.
Such was the untimely end of Capt. Baker, who has been credited with much romantic heroism, but really accomplished very little ; who has also been censured for much of the sorrow and suffering that befell his associates, was threatened with shooting and hanging for leading men upon "fool's errands," but actually never intentionally deceived any one.
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Tom Pollock, one of the principal actors in this dramatic chapter of chronicles, died in the Animas Valley in the month of August, 1877. Of the Navajo children he rescued from the Ute Indians, one, a girl, was adopted by a German family in New Mexico, and at last accounts was still living with them ; another girl was adopted by Col. Pffieffer, and murdered with the rest of his family by Indians at Pagosa Springs, some years ago ; a boy was taken by R. E. Whitsitt of Denver, who endeavored to raise and educate him, but he passed away a few years afterward. The fourth, named John Pollock, was raised by Pollock.
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