USA > Colorado > Arapahoe County > History of the city of Denver, Arapahoe County, and Colorado > Part 14
USA > Colorado > Denver County > Denver > History of the city of Denver, Arapahoe County, and Colorado > Part 14
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JARVIS HALL , DENVER, COL.
WOLFE HALL, DENVER, COL.
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gloomy spell, for you stand in a hopeless confusion of dull stones piled upon each other in somber ugliness, without one softening influence, as if Nature, irritated with her labor, had flung her con- fusion here in utter desperation.
" But soon again your sensitive nervės, which vibrate fiercely as with a fever, your palpitating heart, which thumps like a bounding bowlder down the unseen declivity, your throbbing pulse, that leaps impetuously, suddenly restore you to consciousness and admonish you of the little time you have to waste in delirious dreams. A sudden dizziness confuses your brain, whose nerves ache with painful tension, and miserable nausea meanly reminds you that you are mortal. Nevertheless, the eye escaping constantly from its local fetters, soars away to the bright canopy above, and then to
* *
* The hills,
Rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun; the vale, Stretching, in quiet pensiveness, between ; The venerable woods; rivers, that move In majesty, and the complaining brooks, That make the meadows green.'
"You contemplate the mighty scene with admi- ration and amazement. No human pen or tongue can word or voice the wondrous spectacle. Mount- ains rise upon mountains, like heaving billows, and o'ertop each other far as eye can scan, and broad plains spread out below like a shoreless sea. Yonder in the blue distance, Long's lofty peak, in snowy grandeur, leaps, and, in the illusive haze, Grey's sky-piercing summit, clad in eternal white, glistens in the neighboring sun. Beneath your feet, a wild rabble of broken rocks, that seem tumbling downward, noiselessly, forever, into an unseen abyss, and a mystery of somber forests, through which the untamed winds revel in ribald harmony. And now, far away, in the mingled shadows and dazzling sunshine, in a secluded basin, inclosed with cliffs and fringed with ever- greens, a cluster of little lakes-the ‘Seven Lakes'-that glisten like mirrors and reflect the shadows which make them beautiful. Red granite and gray sandstone, bare cones and glittering
pyramids and verdant valleys everywhere, fill up the unmeasured amphitheater of nature.
" Long, sinuous lines of green, that describe the course of wandering streams, far off, with lit- tle villages and a city on the sea-like plains that frame an artistic horizon for Colorado Springs, a new metropolis, lie prettily away below, and seem to swell from a basin to a line of the sky, which the imprisoned eyes indistinctly define. And then, down precipitately, far down below, into unseen depths, the crater of the mountain :
" 'Steep in the eastern side, shaggy and wild,
* * * with pinnacles of flint, And many a hanging crag.'
" Into it you heave a bowlder, that bounds nois- lessly into space, and sinks, with scarce a sound, to where it lands.
" Where we stand, good reader, our eyes com- mand the mysteries of the continent. Far south- ward, a soft line of verdure describes the valley of the Arkansas; northward, the Platte chases through the plains a thousand miles, flows into the turbid Missouri, rushes, in wild volume, down through the Mississippi and kisses waters at the mouth of the Arkansas, which it left, long ago, at the continental divide in the table-lands of Col- orado, under the shadow of this mighty peak. Southerly, again, the vision sweeps the course of the Rio Grande, which winds, in crooked current, into the waters of the ' Bay of the Holy Spirit ' -Gulf of Mexico-and then, at last, the Colo- rado, which drains the southwestern water-shed into the Pacific Ocean. Kansas is within your ken, Nebraska too, Utah and New Mexico. A thousand miles of mountains break the vast sur- face west of you, and fifteen hundred north and south. And eastward, ranging north and south, the spreading plains. There is no more splendid masterpiece in nature.
" The surface of the Peak is indescribably rude. It embraces a rugged though regular area of per- haps fifty acres, of serrated oval form, on its face, sinking southward into a narrow, rocky ridge, when it skips off skyward. The rocks are
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CHAPTER XVIII. SKETCH OF THE SAN JUAN COUNTRY AND DOLORES DISTRICT.
D OWN in the southwestern portion of Colorado lies the country known as San Juan. It con- tains within its boundaries the present counties of Hinsdale, Rio Grande, San Juan, La Plata, Conejos and Ouray. San Luis Park and the counties of Sagauche and Costilla are also commonly included in the district. Within the last few years and up to the time of the advent of the carbonates upon the scene of mining activity, San Juan was a syn- onym for the Silver Country, and though for two or three years it has been retarded in its progress, yet the gradual approach of railroads to its immediate vicinity is a sign of promise to the future not easily to be overlooked.
The early history of this country is but little known. The Spanish expedition that visited it iu the sixteenth century found it inhabited by savages. In its valleys, however, are the indica- tions that they were inhabited long before the appearance of the Indians, by a people that under- stood something of the arts of civilization, but whose history is wrapped up in the unknown past. The ruins of cities are found scattered over a large section of country. Large rooms are often found cut out of the solid rock, and the locations were evidently selected and arranged for the purpose of successful defense. Pottery and other useful implements are found in great per- fection. The work and style of manufacture indicate a civilization equal to that which pre- vailed among the ancients, or in Peru or Mexico at the time of the discovery of the American Continent. It may be that these are the ruins of the Aztec race, that was supplanted by the savage Indians who swept down upon them from the north. It may be that they are the ruins of a race as civilized as the people of the Old World, and who had a history, if it were known, as long and wonderful as that of Greece or Rome.
This vast region of many thousand square miles is abrupt and broken, with an average ele- vation of 13,000 feet above the sea, with some of their peaks reaching the altitude of 14,500 feet. The scenery of such a section must necessarily verge nearer to the sublime than any known in the world. Nature must have been in wild riot to have produced such a "wreck of matter " as is here found. If the ruins of ancient cities impress the beholder with wonder and amazement, what must be the emotions in viewing what one might easily imagine to be an exploded world, with its sharp broken fragments piled, in strange confusion, 14,000 feet high? The molten peaks are tinged with a red and sulphurous hue, which tells of a period at which the chemical properties of the earth were made to gild each crest with rare, enduring colors. It presents a scene of aban- doned nature, with garbs of living green cast recklessly below, into the parks and valleys, two miles away, that her charms might be the sub- ject of man's conquests to gain her golden treas- ure.
The center of the great voleanic upheaval seems to have been between the present cities of Silver- ton and Ouray, in the western center of the San Juan country proper. In La Plata County, the ruins of this extinct race of which we have written are found, scattered at intervals over an area of over 6,000 square miles. W. H. Holmes, in the Hayden Government Survey reports, classes these under heads of lowland or agricultu- ral settlements, cave dwellings and cliff houses, the latter used, probably, as places of refuge and defense in time of war and invasion.
It is in this locality that the mountains reach their greatest height, and here is the land of eter- nal snow that supplies the water for the five great rivers and their tributaries that have their
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source in this immediate vicinity. The Rio Grande del Norte runs east, to the Gulf of Mex- ico ; the Umcompahgre, north ; Rio San Miguel, west; Gunnison, northeast, and Rio Animas, south-these last flowing into the Colorado and Gulf of California.
Up to the year 1860, the Indians held undis- puted possession of this country. Then Capt. Baker, with a few prospectors as adventurous as himself, made his appearance on the San Juan River. Working their way up the Animas, they came to what is now called Baker's Park. These men were gulch miners, who knew little and cared less for silver lodes. They were disappointed in finding gold in any great quantity, though they pursued their search diligently until the approach of winter. Then the band broke up, but those who undertook to leave for lower latitudes and civilization were compelled to succumb to the rigors of an early winter; while those who remained had, in addition, to fight the Indians, who warned them out of the country. For many years after, the San Juan country was left to soli- tude and the savages.
In 1868, the treaty was made, giving the Indians the reservation known as the Ute Reser- vation, embracing 30,000 square miles.
In 1870, however, a party of six prospectors came up the Rio Grande into the Animas Valley and located several lodes. Late in the fall, they returned to the States with accounts of their rich discoveries, and the result was, that in the spring of 1871, a large number of adventurous spirits had found their way into the country. The many rich discoveries of this season increased the excite- ment to fever-heat, and San Juan became a name familiar upon the lips of thousands. But this inroad upon their reservation was looked upon with great disfavor by the Indians, and it was feared that trouble would follow. Troops were sent into the country in 1872, to keep out the miner. This course of the General Government but added fuel to the fire of excitement already burning in the breasts of the people, but the
matter was partly settled to the satisfaction of all parties concerned, by the adoption of the Brunot Treaty, whereby the Indians relinquished their title to 5,600 square miles.
Then the great army of treasure-seekers sought the solitudes of the San Juan, and silence no longer reigned. These early settlers were men of energy, who had listened to the accounts of rich ores obtained from Southern Colorado. They were lawyers, ministers, doctors, engineers, mer- chants and miners from all parts. Some of them were men who had made the trip from the Mis- souri River to the Pacific Slope in 1849, and the later years of that remarkable exodus. They had seen and known of the stampede to Gold Bluff and to Frazer River; to the Caribou mines in British America, Washoe, the Comstock, Reese River, White Pine, Eureka, Cottonwood, and now to San Juan.
These waited until the land was given up to them by treaty, and then they came to prospect. Others, who had no knowledge of mining, were early to ford the rivers and brave the crossing of dangerous ranges that, in many places, were almost perpendicular. From all classes of society, the adventurous and energetie wended their way to the new discovery, and there met with the usual fortune of miners in hard fare and many discom- forts. But the "prospects " were there, and they were found. A rich country was opened to the world, and the yield of precious minerals vastly increased.
From this time until 1878, when Leadville became the great center of attraction, the San Juan mining fever burned in the veins of thou- sands. More than ten thousand silver mines were located during this period, and yet it can hardly be said that the country has begun to be pros- pected. As will be seen by our account later on, a large number of mines are now being worked with good returns. What portion of this large number would have been successfully opened up in addition to the newer discoveries that would have been made had not the star of Leadville risen
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as the Mineral Farm. It might be called one of the latest wonders of the world, even in view of the deposits being revealed in the camps of the carbonates. The locations cover over forty acres of ground; the actual amount covered by the de- posit is twelve acres. Fourteen different openings all showed mineral. This property was located in 1875, and sold in the fall of 1878 to a company who had built reduction works at Ouray. One lode on this claim has "a very rich gray copper vein in a gangue of quartzite, often milling from $400 to $700 per ton." Another has "a streak of bright galena, with heavy spar, carrying over a hundred ounces of silver, with 40 per cent of lead." It will thus be seen that this can be made a very productive " farm."
Belle of the West, on Yellow Mountain, yields 150 ounces; Byron, on Engineer Mountain, 260 ounces ; Chief Deposit and Caribou, on Buckeye Mountain, with a vein of from three to eight feet, 200 to 1,500 ounces ; Circassian, Denver, Eclipse, 500 ounces; Fidelity, 400 ounces ; Free Gold, Geneva, Gold Queen, Mineral Farm, Norma, Mountain Ram, Imogene, on Buckeye Mountain, yielding from 56 to 1,370 ounces; San Juan, Silver King, Staatsburg, Virginius and Yankee Boy, on Mount Sneffels, yielding each from 200 to 400 ounces.
It would be simply impossible to make any- thing like a close estimate of the wealth that lies imbedded in these mountains, where constant de- velopments show that only the beginning of it has been found. When the tinie comes that trans- portation can be offered, these mountains will again tempt the hopeful prospector and the hardy miner, and they will go to stay. The production from these districts is considerable, and is grad- ually growing. A few years from now will show as remarkable a change from the present status of affairs in the San Juan Valley as the year 1876 showed in comparison with that of 1870. The inhabitants of this section of Colorado need have no fears. Those whose faith in the future of the San Juan mining country has led them to invest
their all there will yet see their most sanguine ex- pectations realized. Messrs. Keyes and Roberts, two celebrated mining experts from California, visited the San Juan country last summer with Gov. Pitkin, and stated publicly that it was the richest mining country they ever saw. Said Mr. Keyes: "If this country was located anywhere in California, $100,000,000 would be invested in it immediately by our capitalists."
Rich and extensive as the early discoveries in this country have proven to be, it is possible that a recent development there will eventually out- strip all former ones. Reference is had, of course, to the late carbonate find on the Dolores River, in the western part of Ouray County. These car- bonates are pronounced identical with the Lead- ville deposits, possessing every peculiarity of the latter, even down to the facility with which they yield to treatment by smelting.
The rush to the Dolores country has continued pretty much all summer, and a new town, named Rico, has been organized in the wilderness, with a newspaper and other adjuncts of civilized life. Rico means " rich," and undoubtedly the town is rightly named, for the camp is far in advance of what Leadville was at the same age. Of course, nobody knows what an undeveloped mining town will amount to one, two or three years hence ; but at present the Dolores country is looking up, and its promise is all that could be desired. It is still comparatively inaccessible except by the rough mountain roads of the southwest; but there will eventually be a railroad in that direction, and carbonate ores, especially the higher grades, can be treated on the ground.
Among the mining experts who visited Rico last summer was Senator Jones, and the fact that he invested in several claims during his sojourn shows that his faith in the future of the Dolores mines amounted to a tolerable certainty.
The new mines are reached via Ouray, Silver- ton or Animas City ; but neither route is over a prairie road, by any means. Better roads will be among the first results of development in the
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mines, and by next summer it may be confidently expected that arrangements will be made not only to accommodate the large travel which will set toward the mines, but also to take in supplies and smelting machinery. That there are genuine lead
carbonates there is not doubted, and it is thought they are rich enough to pay for working them even at that distance from a railroad. If so, this country has justly earned its title of "The Silver San Juan."
CHAPTER XIX. THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO.
A FTER two years of hard work, the Univer- sity of Colorado, at Boulder, has been placed on a footing with the largest and best educational institutions in the country. When Prof. Joseph A. Sewall, M. D., LL. D., first took the Presi- dent's chair, the University existed merely in name. To be sure, the building was there, but there was little else. Nothing had been done to improve the grounds, and the interior of the building 'was barren and desolate. Many pre- dicted that the undertaking would be a failure, and spoke disparagingly of it. But, notwith- standing these discouraging surroundings, Prof. Sewall started in earnest, and the beautiful grounds and the standing of the school are the result of his energetie labors. For two years he and his accomplished wife have labored assidu- ously, and their efforts have been bountifully rewarded.
The University is beautifully situated upon the high grounds on the south side of Boulder Creek, and overlooks the city of Boulder. Standing, as it does, alone, a view of the scenery of the sur- rounding country can be obtained from either side of the building. To the west are the boldest and highest foot-hills of the range, and, far away, the ever snow-capped summit of Arapahoe Peak. On the north and east, as far as the eye can reach, extend the fertile plains, dotted with lakes, while on the south rise the beautiful mesas or table- lands. Two years ago, the grounds immediately surrounding the institution were entirely barren and covered almost completely with rocks, of all
sizes. Now these rocks have been removed, and, in their place, has been cultivated a beautiful lawn on the west side, irrigated by two small paved ditches ; while in front of the building is a beau- tifully arranged flower-garden, handsomely orna- mented, with stone walls surrounding the different plats. This spot alone is the result of much toil and perseverance, for every stone in the winding walks had to be laid by hand. Last spring there were just 219 plants set out, and, owing to the watchful care of the President's wife, only one of that number has succumbed to the enervating influence of the weather, while the remaining 218 are in a flourishing condition. Among these plants, which at present are in full bloom, is a cinnamon geranium nearly five feet high, having grown to its present dimensions in two years, from a slip of but a few inches. Verbenas, lohelias, geraniums and hosts of other choice plants have been beautifully arranged in plats, and the com- binations of their rich colors tend to greatly enhance the beautiful scenery around, while the air is redolent with their sweet perfume. A sprig of clematis has been planted, and is now entwin- ing its branches around the jagged edges of the stone walls of the foundation, and next summer will cover the wall of the building. The water used to irrigate the ground is supplied by a ditch company, in which the University is interested to the extent of ten shares of stock.
The building is a large square structure, three stories in height, built of brick and surmounted by a tower and observatory. There are over
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seventy windows in the house, and thus all the apartments are well lighted and are always cheer- ful. There are two entrances, one from the north and the other from the south side, by means of double doors, reached by cight steps of stone. Exclusive of the basement, there are twenty-four rooms, and a large hall to the upper story.
On the first floor there are seven spacious rooms, four of which are occupied by the Presi- dent and his family. The left-hand side of the hall, entering from the north side, is devoted to school purposes. Immediately in front is the teachers' dressing-room, in which are neatly arranged a stationary wash-stand, clothes-racks and everything necessary to the comfort of the instructors upon arriving at the institution on a wet or disagrecable day. Adjoining this is the Normal school room, seating forty pupils. Next comes the chapel, which is also to be used as a general assembly room, where the scholars will congregate every morning to attend devotional exercises, prior to entering upon the duties of the day. It is a large room, its measurement being 40x60 feet and 32 feet in height. At present, the room does not present a very prepossessing appearance, but when the alterations are com- pleted it will be one of the most attractive depart- ments in the institution. A new floor of ash-wood is to replace the old one, the walls and ceiling are to be frescoed and there are to be inside blinds to the windows. Chairs will be used, and ample accommodations will be provided for all the schol- ars. The building is all piped, and it is expected before long there will be a small gas generator put in operation, for lighting purposes.
From the first floor there are two broad stair- ways, heavily balustraded, one of which leads to the third floor and the other terminates at the second. The former is used exclusively by the male scholars, while the girls hold possession of the latter one. The members of the Sophomore Class have a classroom in the northeast corner of the second story. This is furnished somewhat
differently from the regular style of schoolrooms ; in the place of the ordinary desks are four walnut tables, covered with fine billiard cloth, around which sixteen students can sit with ease.
Comfortable chairs are provided and a neat car- pet covers the floor, while around the walls are arranged blackboards, for illustrating purposes. This is one of the most cheerful and bright rooms in the establishment, and from the windows one can look down on the beautiful garden, and also view the surrounding country for miles.
Next to this is the classroom of the pupils in the third year of the preparatory course, which will accommodate thirty scholars at its desks. On the opposite side of the hall an apartment has been provided for the girls, to be used by them as a dressing and bath room. This is a large, com- modious place, and has been supplied with all the modern conveniences.
Next comes the classroom for pupils in the sec- ond year of the preparatory department, furnished with a Centennial desk, which is considered the finest and best manufactured. From this room a door leads out into a side hall, in which is another flight of stairs, in the middle of the building on the west side. Opposite the stairs is the room occupied by the first year preparatory scholars, with thirty desks in it and cheerfully lighted by two large windows. A ten-foot room separates it from the library, in the southwest corner of the building.
Too high praise cannot be bestowed upon the library department of the University, for, without exception, it is the finest and best-selected west of the Mississippi River. There are about fifteen hundred books, neatly arranged in three cases, and among their number there cannot be found a sin- gle volume which does not tend to cultivate the mind and impart instruction. Among the works of history are twelve volumes of "Grote's History of Greece," Mommsen's, Gibbon's and Merivale's Histories of Rome, " Knight's History of England," "Guizot's History of France," " Bancroft's History of the United States," the Netherlands and Dutch
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Republic by Motley, as well as all of his other works. Among others are Johnson's, the Brit- ish, and the new American Encyclopedias. There is also a complete line of reference and classical works, and the poets are represented by Shaks- peare, Scott, Byron, Shelley, Tennyson and Long- fellow, with Schiller and Goethe in the original, in six volumes each. The entire International series also occupies a place. Scientific works abound in large numbers, and among others are " Mitchell's Manual of Practical Assaying," "Crooke's and Bohrig's Practical Treatise on Metallurgy," and the two volumes of "Musprat's Chemistry as Applied to Art." The library is a regular subscriber to all the leading magazines, both of this country and Europe, and includes works printed in English, French and German.
This department is elegantly furnished through the kindness and interest of the scholars. The girls provided the lambrequins and curtains for the four large windows; a fine bordered Brussels car- pet was presented by a gentleman of Boulder. There are three walnut writing-tables, and a number of substantial walnut chairs; also, a com- fortable, large easy-chair. The library hall is fitted up for a reading-room, and is open through- out the day for study, reading and consultation of authorities. One of the attractive features is the elegant style in which all the books are bound, and this adds greatly to the richness of the room.
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