USA > Colorado > History of the State of Colorado, Volume III > Part 30
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In the autumn of 1865 the fame of the new region, from the great value of the surface ores, as demonstrated by numerous assays, spread to all quarters, causing hundreds of prospectors and the miscellaneous class that always embraces such oppor- tunities, to flock to the scene. The town plat below was covered with tents and other temporary habitations, and the hillsides above with homes of prospectors. As a con- sequence, the events enacted there were such as are the natural outgrowths of sudden and widespread excitement. While the tumult was not so great as that which followed the discovery of carbonate mines at Leadville thirteen years later, much the same order of things prevailed, but on a smaller scale.
C. S. Stowell is credited with the honor of having erected the first mill designed for the treatment of argentiferous ores. It was an ordinary blast furnace, built without much scientific knowledge of the requirements, hence proved a failure. Neither the owner nor the self-constituted experts called to his aid could bring out bullion from it in proper form. At last after repeated trials the problem was solved and the first bul- lion made to issue from this furnace, by the skill of a colored man named Lorenzo M. Bowman, who had gained experience from long service among the lead mines and smelters in Missouri. This event transpired in 1866, and was an important episode, watched with keenest anxiety by the people, for upon the success of this experiment all their hopes depended, and measurably their future. Smelting by any method was a wide departure from the old process of stamping and amalgamating.
It will be understood without elaborate explanation, that in the first flush of prospecting hundreds of claims were recorded, but very little practical mining done upon intelligent and effectual methods; very little ore produced. They were busy and remunerative times for the recorder, who reaped a golden harvest from his fees. We cannot undertake to enumerate even the more important of the locations taken and worked, for many that were famous through their yields, long ago passed out of the list of celebrities, while scores that then and for years after were simply prospects without marketable value, have since risen to the head of the corner. It is interesting, however, to look over the writings of Hollister, Fossett, Cushman and Frost who compiled and published when the districts about Georgetown were in their prime, and compare the conditions of that epoch with those of the present. We find in the interval whole ceme- teries of crushed, ruined and buried hopes, millions of capital squandered in sinking, drifting, tunneling; millions more in the launching of ill-digested inventions for extracting the precious metals; still other millions in legal contests, with here and there crimson stains, the record of fortunes made and dissipated. Georgetown was a mighty camp in its day, but of the many who assisted in the revelation of its marvels, only a small remnant remains. Yet in many respects its mines are in better condition to-day
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
than ever before, through the adjustment of titles, the settlement of a thousand problems, the institution of economic methods, the application of the best principles of science to the business of mining and concentration. All human effort has been sys- tematized, and the results achieved are more certain and profitable.
Having explored the present site of Georgetown long in advance of the vandals who destroyed its pristine beauty in their reckless haste to make room for a metropolis, I have a lively remembrance of its original charm. Clear Creek had not then been pol- luted by the sewage from a score of mills and sluices, streams of offal that flow from numberless human habitations. Its waters were almost transparent, and every pebble in its depths could be seen. Its banks were adorned with nature's loveliest mantle, shaded by little forests of evergreens. It was as rural and peaceful a spot as the most devoted lover of the picturesque could desire. When the deluge of immigration came in 1865-66, on its mission to redeem the wilderness, the greater part of its splendor dis- appeared before the relentless front of the newer civilization.
The original town site was surveyed and platted by the Griffith Brothers. Two distinct plats were made prior to the era we have been considering, half a mile apart- Georgetown just below the forks of the creek, and Elizabethtown above. The second survey and platting occurred in 1867, executed by Charles Hoyt, when the two were united under the title of Georgetown, covering an area of 637 acres. These men were modest, They did not include the whole of Clear Creek County in their calculations. January roth, 1868, a town charter was procured from the Territorial legislature. The county seat was removed from Idaho to this place in 1867. The first organization of two wards was as follows: Councilmen from the First Ward-W. W. Ware and Charles Whitner. From the Second Ward, H. K. Pearson and John Scott. Police judge, Frank Dibben. The sheriff of the county took supervision of the public morals and offences against the laws.
On the ist of May, 1867, appeared the first edition of the Colorado " Miner," a neat and respectable weekly paper, edited by Dr. J. E. Wharton and A. W. Barnard, which gave special attention to mining news. They were succeeded by E. H. N. Pat- terson. The next was the Georgetown "Courier," by J. S. Randall, established in 1877, Samuel Cushman editor. Both were excellent representatives of mountain jour- nalism. Only the "Courier" survived all the changes and vicissitudes of the time. Mr. Randall is still its editor and proprietor. Mr. Frank J. Hood, formerly of the "Miner," is now mining reporter for the "Courier." The mineral cabinet found in this office is one of the finest in the State.
After some years of suspension, the "Miner" was re-established in October, 1890, by Messrs. Wirt & Davis. Idaho Springs has two newspapers-the "News," John D. Douglas, editor and proprietor, and the Colorado "Mining Gazette," R. D. Blair, owner and editor. Silver Plume, two miles above Georgetown, is represented by the "Stand- ard," edited by Fred Miner.
Soon after the great influx of 1865-66, came the foundation of schools, churches, civic and benevolent orders, the invariable accompaniments of modern civilization. The first school was instituted by Miss L. H. Lander in the spring of 1867. This lady lost her life in the waters of Clear Creek. In 1874 one of the finest school buildings in the Territory was erected, with Frank R. Carpenter as principal in charge.
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
Georgetown has at this epoch (1890), five church edifices: Grace Episcopal, the Presbyterian, Methodist Episcopal, the Catholic and Swedish Lutheran.
The Methodists were the Christian pioneers in this, as in most other of the early fields. Their organization was formed in 1864, by the Rev. B. T. Vincent. In 1868 Bishop George M. Randall founded the Episcopal Church, with Rev. F. W. Winslow rector. The Presbyterians organized in 1869, and in 1874 built a stone church. The Catholics formed the basis of their church, named for "Our Lady of Lourdes," when the first town was laid out, Rev. . Thomas Foley pastor. The Congregationalists and the Society of Christians also had places of worship.
The Barton House, which is now and has been from the beginning one of the finest hostelries in the county, was built by William Barton in 1867. This building was destroyed by fire in 1871, but immediately rebuilt. Mr. Charles W. Pollard is the pres- ent proprietor. A superior system of waterworks conveys in pipes from Clear Lake pure cold water supplied from a series of springs situated on one of the mountains above the town where a large reservoir has been constructed, which furnishes the inhabitants with abundant supplies for domestic purposes, and for the extinguishment of fires. The descent being 270 feet, gives a pressure of 50 to 120 pounds to the square inch. No town on earth is more completely blessed in this respect than Georgetown, for it is the coldest and most delicious water conceivable.
The town is lighted by gas. In 1870 the town of Silver Plume was built; situated about two miles by wagon road distance, west of the county seat, near the terminus of that marvel of railway engineering called the "Loop," whose tortuous windings up and down the intervening gulch is the wonder of all beholders, attracting thousands of visi- tors every season, and exciting universal admiration for the genius that conceived and built it. It is one of the remarkable achievements of the age. It cannot well be described. Like many other signal triumphs of the nineteenth century, "it must be seen to be appreciated." Silver Plume is the most productive mining camp in Clear Creek County, a town built mostly of wood, and occupied by mining operatives and their families; perched just under the shadows of mighty mountains, upon whose crests snow falls every month in the year, yet strange as it may seem, the inhabitants are rarely visited by heavy snowfalls even in the midst of winter, the regular course of mining and other industrial economies seldom impeded. Here are some of the deeper shafts and tunnels, the larger and richer mineral veins, the most extensive development.
Says Frost, "For several years succeeding the discovery of the great mines of that district, the most productive of which were the Pelican and Dives, they yielded enor- mously." But litigation ensued, costly and protracted, which threw everything into confusion, checking development, and bringing stagnation in its course. In short, the title to nearly every prominent claim in the district was contested. Nevertheless, capi- tal flowed in with almost reckless prodigality. Most of the leading properties were sold to eastern and foreign capitalists. "Numberless processes for the reduction and concentration of ores were introduced, tried, found wanting, and abandoned. Mills were built all over the county, and scarcely any two of the processes were alike. The great Pelican-Dives and Hercules-Roe mining contests, involving many hun- dreds of thousands, were in progress. So fierce did this conflict become, one of the
21 III.
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
owners of the Pelican-Jacob Snider-was killed in the public streets of Georgetown. Fortunes were made in a few days or weeks, and nearly as speedily squandered."
Stimulated by the tremendous activity in the mines, the town grew rapidly, but only a few brick or stone houses were built. Merchants brought in large stocks of goods and sold them quickly at great profit. Banks and opera houses were opened. Saloons multiplied on every hand; gamblers plied their pernicious trade, fleecing hundreds of the innocent and unwary. Notwithstanding the great numbers of rough and idle men and their tendency to lawlessness, the better element never lost the supreme control.
The Colorado Central Railway (narrow gauge) was completed to Georgetown August 14th, 1877, when the happy event was duly celebrated. Gradually all lines of commerce were readjusted to the new conditions, from wagon to rail transportation. Many mills and reduction works of various kinds were built along Clear Creek, but unable to contend against the standard process of smelting established elsewhere, they one by one went down and are mostly in ruins now.
All the adjacent mountains have been christened, as Mcclellan, Kelso, Brown, Sherman, Republican, Democrat, Columbia, Leavenworth, Griffith, Saxon, Douglas, Columbia. The precious ores are found in "true fissure" veins, usually narrow but well defined, and rich in silver and lead, with occasional large deposits of zinc. The State geologist, J. Alden Smith, says: "The geology of this region is simple; the rocks gen- erally are granitic, with occasional patches and dikes of the eruptive varieties, here and there in different sections. The granitic series embrace all the diversified forms, from the true massive granite, running through all gneissic grades, down to highly stratified mica schists. The veins are true fissures."
Following is a list of the active mills and reduction works in Clear Creek County, at this writing: The concentrating works of the Colorado Silver Mining Company (Ter- rible Group), at Brownville near Silver Plume; Pay Rock concentrating works at Silver Plume; the old Clear Creek mill now run as a concentrator by John H. Woodward; G. WV. Hall's sampling works at Georgetown; W. S. Duncan and M. A. Wheeler, public sampling works at the same place ; C. E. Dewey's concentrating works, formerly known as the Farwell mill, Georgetown.
At Idaho Springs and vicinity, W. J. Chamberlain & Co., sampling works; The Kohinoor & Donaldson concentrators and stamp mill ; the Oneida stamp mill; Free- land concentrating works; Plutus concentrator; The Mixsell stamp mill, owned by Philip Mixsell; The Idaho stamp mill by Pettit & Holmes; The Silver Age concen- trating works; Salisbury concentrating works and stamp mill; the Dove's Nest concen- trating works; the Mattie concentrating works; the Kittie Clyde mill, and the Mans- field mill at Dumont.
Among the paying mines in the vicinity of Georgetown and Silver Plume are the Terrible group, the Dives-Pelican, the Seven-Thirty, Cora City, Pay Rock, Colorado Central, Aliunda, Silver Glance, Stevens, Mineral Chief, Mendota, Backbone, Virginia City, Mammoth, Park, Centennial, Saxton, Extension west, Belleview, Burrell, Inde- pendence, Paymaster, Commonwealth, Belmont, Magnet, Sequel, Equator, the Everett group, Kirtley, Troy, McClellan, Dunderberg, Comet, Polar Star, Junction, Emma,
J'und
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
Fred Rogers, Pickwick, Sunburst, White Pine, Bonanza Tunnel, Wide West, Black Prince, Baltimore and Duncan.
In the neighborhood of Idaho Springs, and generally tributary to that point for treatment or shipping, are the Freeland, Plutus, Lamartine, Pulitzer, Dove's Nest, Little Mattie, Silver Age, Brazil, Lucerne, Little Albert, Little Casino, Financier, Kittie Clyde, Mary Foster, Lexington, Champion, Cleveland, the Foxhall group, Salisbury, Metropolitan, and others.
At Lawson and vicinity are the Joe Reynolds group, Orient, Tabor, Franklin, Boulder Nest, Moose, Free America, Red Elephant Group, American Sisters and some others of lesser importance. At and near Dumont, the Albro, West Albro, Syn- dicate and Senator.
Georgetown and Idaho Springs are the two points in the county around which there is greatest activity and greatest productiveness. The output of valuable ores in this county is estimated at one hundred and fifty carloads per month, the larger part marketed at the smelters in Denver.
While exact figures are not at hand, the mines of this county have contributed about $40,000,000 in gold, silver and lead to the material wealth of the world, the greater part during the last two decades. The annual product is from two to two and a half millions per annum.
The total population, according to the census of 1890, was 7,157, a decrease of 666 during the decade.
Banks and Bankers .- The pioneer banking house was that of George T. Clark & Co., opened in the first years of Georgetown's prominence as a great mining center. The business was transferred to J. B. Chaffee & Co., and finally to W. H. Cushman and associates, who established the First National. This bank failed in 1876. Then the Miners' National came into being, and after a time failed also. It was succeeded by the Merchants' National, which was changed to a private bank, and later closed out.
At the present time there are two State institutions- the Bank of Clear Creek County, established in 1876 by Charles R. Fish & Co. Charles Reuter was its first cashier, and was succeeded by A. H. Boreman, and he by J. M. Copeland, who has held the position since January, 1880. Fred. C. Dewey has been assistant cashier since 1879.
The Bank of Georgetown was founded in 1882 by Henry Seifried, J. F. Tucker, Col. C. P. Baldwin and others. Mr. Tucker has been its president, and Henry Seifried cashier from the beginning.
Idaho Springs has one bank, the First National, conducted by Henry Plummer, president, and George McClelland, cashier.
Georgetown has a number of strong business houses, among them the Clear Creek foundry, A. Blackman, superintendent ; S. Strousse, clothing; Wilson & Henderson, lumber dealers; Henry Kneisel, grocer; J. M. Lesser, clothing; W. S. Brown, the same; Carlson & Hancock, grocers; Forbes & Stromberg, druggists; C. B. Bullock, grain; E. Curtis, hardware; Henry Morganthau, C. W. Pollard and George Pease, grocers; E. S. Wright, drugs; Frank Wood, books and stationery; A. R. Kinney and D. F. Milleham, livery; S. Rachofsky, clothing.
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
The Hotel de Paris is managed by Louis Dupuy: the Ennis House by Miss K. Ennis, and the City Hotel by J. D. Griffith.
Secret Societies .- Washington Lodge No. 12 A. F. & A. M. was organized October 7th, 1867; Georgetown Chapter No. 4 Royal Arch Masons May 11th, 1875.
The Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Good Templars, Modern Woodmen, Patriotic Order Sons of America, Knights of Pythias and others are well organized with large memberships.
Schools .- Henry Bowman, superintendent for Clear Creek County, in his report for 1890 shows that there are thirteen school buildings; three of logs, eight frame, and two of stone. The value of public school property is $40,932. There are eighteen school districts, with sittings for 1,303 pupils, and an enrollment of 1,314, with an average daily attendance of 853.
Valuation of Property .- The assessment roll of taxable property for 1890 gave a total of $2,013,429.40. The mines, which form so large a part of the actual value, are not taxed, and but a slight revenue is obtained from the net output of bullion. Of the gross amount Georgetown is credited with $542,218; Idaho Springs, $396,899; Silver Plume, $132,945, and Empire, $16,175. It must be understood that most of the buildings and other improvements in this county are of wood, and that the exhibit of $2,013,429.40 represents only a small part of the richer resources, for unlike the valley counties, there are no agricultural lands, and but little live stock.
Green and Clear Lakes .- These are the magnificent suburbs, so to speak, which attract hundreds of tourists to Georgetown each year. I cannot do better than adopt the eloquent tribute paid to them by the editor of the Georgetown "Courier," who writes as follows:
"Facing to the south, Leavenworth Mountain seems to point thus far and no farther; but a noisy, rushing stream invites you to the left, and around the sharp point that Leavenworth and Alpine Mountains have thrown over the way, as though jealous of the beauties they still held unrevealed, opens a magnificent roadway that leads to the summit of the range. Up, through the broad slopes where the mountains join, now, close to the cliffs, and again, on the level ground, bending and conforming to the way of the hills, the majesty of the nearing range holds the. view. But there are beauties that the impetuous, tell-tale stream is trying loudly to proclaim, and impatient lest, on the way to the range, the lovely lakes that give it birth should be passed over, it frets and foams and rushes by the immense boulders that impede its way and break it into continuous cataracts and cascades of sparkling water, too full and excessive not to be noticed, until the road leads to the left. With sharp grades and quick turns, over the wooded knoll, through an avenue of heavy pine trees, Green Lake spreads before you in all its mystic beauty and soundless calm, secure in its height of ten thousand feet over and above the stream of fret and worry of the work-a-day world-a picture of exquisite loveliness, which words have no compass to describe, caught up and held by the rugged majesty of the mountains, its beauty subdnes and softens the great heart of the Rockies, and gives a touch of tenderness and watchfulness to the great peaks that guard its loveliness.
"On the near shore stand comfortable and convenient houses, a good wharf well
C. R. FISH.
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HISTORY OF CLEAR CREEK COUNTY.
supplied with boats, while its serene and untroubled depths give a home to thousands of the mountain trout.
"While the lake is clear and translucent, clearer than any simile of crystal can express, the basin that holds it is green, the sand is green, the moss that clings to the rocks or idly floats to the sport of the ripples, is green, and even the tiny drops that fall from the feathering oar bear the same, unexplainable tinge that has given this wondrous lake its name.
" Just beyond the further shore of the lake is the Battle Ground of the Gods, where great boulders, cast down from the surrounding peaks, lay as though hurled by the wrath of warring powers.
"Always beautiful, yet it is only in the declining hours of the day that Green Lake gives a gleam of its spectral and wondrous depths. Then, through its clear waters, is seen the buried forest, with its stately trees turned to stone, still erect, but the tall heads and branches that once bended only to the mountain breeze, now lie in the depths of the lake in the unutterable stillness of the dead.
"Only a few rods to the south, across the Battle Ground of the Gods, is Clear Lake, the contrast and antithesis of Green Lake. Its icy cold waters, so white and clear, give no suggestion of the marvelous play and change of color of its neighbor on the north.
"As was said, from Clear Lake comes the city supply of water. Lying just below timber line, fed by the snows of the peaks on the range, it is a reservoir that the greatest engineer could not better have conceived or located."
This with the famous " Loop" which connects Georgetown with Silver Plume, one of the most wonderful exemplifications of highly scientific railway engineering in the world, is well worth a day's journey to behold, for the traveler will find nothing in all the tours of the old or the new continents to eclipse them. Beyond the Loop stands Gray's Peak, named for Professor Asa Gray, the celebrated botanist of Massachusetts, rising to the height of 14,441 feet above tide water, its summit covered with everlasting snow, the highest peak in Colorado, save the Sierra Blanca in the San Luis Valley. Hundreds have mounted the long sinuous trail that leads to its apex to behold the marvelous view there afforded of the larger part of the stupendous and far-reaching sweep of the Rocky Mountain chain. To the westward, approached through Berthoud Pass, lies the vast basin called Middle Park, once undoubtedly the bed of an inland lake or sea, in area about 4,000 square miles, encircled by a tremendous range, "the sur- face diversified by gently rolling hills, with alternate stretches of grass covered valleys." This park is watered by Grand and Fraser Rivers, and contains a larger number of mineral springs than any other one section of the State.
Some further notes of Georgetown, with illustrations of three or four of its more productive mines, will appear in a subsequent volume, owing to our inability from lack of space and some important data, to include them in this chapter.
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HISTORY OF COSTILLA COUNTY.
COSTILLA COUNTY.
BOUNDARIES AND MOUNTAIN PEAKS-AGRICULTURAL LANDS-GEOLOGICAL FEATURES -MINERAL DEPOSITS-FIRST SETTLERS IN THAT REGION -HISTORY OF THE SANGRE DE CRISTO GRANT-VALUATION OF TAXABLE PROPERTY-A FEW NOTED CITIZENS-PROSPECTS FOR THE FUTURE.
Costilla County having a general altitude of 7,600 feet, is situated in the Southern Central portion of Colorado-its eastern boundary being the summit of the Sangre de Cristo Range, its southern the southern boundary line of the State of Colorado, its west- ern the Rio Grande River, to a point a few miles northwest of Alamosa, thence north along a township line, for a distance of twelve miles, its northern boundary being a township line and the tenth correction line north, N. M. Mer., extending east and west. This county is located in the southern portion of the far famed San Luis Valley, and embraces 1,800 square miles or 1,152,500 acres, of which about one-third are moun- tain lands, the remaining two-thirds being prairie lands.
Within its limits are some of the highest peaks in Colorado, the Sierra Blanca, almost isolated from the main range, stands unrivaled among the promontories of the great range for grandeur and beauty, while its summit, usually capped with snow, pro- jects into the clouds, higher than any other, with an altitude of 14.464 feet. Among the others worthy of mention is the Culebra Peak 14,049 feet in height, the fifth highest in the State, while the range itself is over 6,000 feet in general altitude above the prairie lands west of it, abounding in beautiful valleys, parks and picturesque cañons, make a part of Costilla County, the fairest of the San Luis Valley. The section de- voted to agriculture up to the present time, consists only of the river and creek bottoms, except in the northern portion where the whole prairie has been taken up, under home- stead or pre-emption claims, and part of each claim cultivated by means of the exten - sions of the Farmer's Union Canal, the San Luis Valley Canal and others. The culti- vated area of the county embraces nearly 19,000 acres, planted in almost every crop; wheat, oats and potatoes taking the lead in the northern and southern portions, Mexican beans being the most profitable crop in the southern. Besides the above, barley, rye, cabbage, onions, corn, etc., all sorts of small vegetables yield very good results, an inferior class of tobacco being also grown by the Mexicans. The soil over the entire southern part was produced by the disintegration of basalt and trachyte, forming a very rich land, covered everywhere by a growth of sagebrush, more or less dense and high, according to the accessibility of water.
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