History of the city of Denver, Arapahoe County, and Colorado, Part 26

Author: O.L. Baskin & Co. cn; Vickers, W. B. (William B.), 1838-
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 844

USA > Colorado > Arapahoe County > History of the city of Denver, Arapahoe County, and Colorado > Part 26
USA > Colorado > Denver County > Denver > History of the city of Denver, Arapahoe County, and Colorado > Part 26

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Of the thousand and one incidents, actual and exaggerated, that have been borne on the breeze of rumor since the flood, we shall mention here but few, since they would not prove of any special interest to our readers at a distance, for whose sat- isfaction this cursory sketch was scribbled. The fortunate finding alive of the young man Schell, after buffeting the billows of three miles, the heroic and happy escape of Martin Wall, after encountering the distress of a deck passage on the jail roof for an equal distance, and the remarkable presence of mind and power of perseverance shown by the colored woman, Mrs. Smith, while tossed on the waters with her family of five children for a couple of miles, afterward effecting a safe land- ing-place for them and her till morning, are deserving the pen of an Irving to only do them justice. The perilous condition of Mr. William N. Byers and family, also, together with the consider- ate coolness displayed by them while dangerously surrounded, would deserve no less congratulatory mention than the kind efforts of Gov. Evans, Col. Chivington, and those skiff-contriving soldiers would demand a corresponding complimentary one. Of the various persons who proved them selves kind and humane to assist, it would be invidious to individualize, where each did all he could.

" The number of persons drowned, as well as the amount of property, real and personal, that was lost and damaged, has been variously esti- mated by varying approximations. Some think there has been about $1,000,000 worth of goods and property laid waste and lost in the city and country surrounding, and between fifteen and twenty lives lost, or, at least, that many persons started Statesward via the Platte. Our opinion inclines us to the belief that the total amount of pecuniary loss will leave a very big breach in $1,000,000.

" Not knowing for certain the number of tran- sient folks in the town, or those in the upper ranches, who are missing, we will waive expressing an opinion at present on the latter, but doubt not for a moment that a few hundred thousands' worth of loss and damage was sustained by our merchants and citizens of town and country. The following are the fatal effects, so far as heard from up to date :

" C. Bruce Haynes, late of the Quartermaster's office ; Gumble Rosebaum, clothier ; Otto Fisher (four years old) ; Henry Williamson, who herded stock for Gen. Patterson down the Platte; a woman and two children from Plum Creek, and a Mr. and Mrs. I. R. Lyson and two children. August Metz, of Blake street bridge, who was carried along with the torrent eighteen miles to Henderson's Island, is the only person found whom we have yet heard of. Among the heavy suffer- ers in property are Byers & Dailey, publishers and proprietors of the Rocky Mountain News, who lost their entire all, with the building and the lot it stood ou ; A. E. & C. E. Tilton, house, lot and $6,000 worth of goods damaged ; also F. A. Clark, Gen. Bowen, William McKee, Mr. Charles, Messrs: Hunt, Metz and others, lost all they had in store or office, together with the buildings and sand-sub- tracted lots on which they stood. Esquires Hale and Kent lost nearly all their office books and papers. The probate records, city records, Com- missioners' Court records, Judge Odell's old dock- ets, Judge Wilcox's dockets, and the city safe

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itself, all, all are gone, and whither the deponent saith not.

" In the country, Messrs. Gibson Arnold, Schlier, Lloyd and Stover, ranchmen, and scores of others, lost stock and had their well-trimmed farms deso- lated into wastes of sand and gravel. D. C. Oakes lost his saw-mill, part of which was impelled down the current for a few miles. Messrs. Reed, Palmer and Barnes lost, collectively, over four thousand sheep off their ranches up Cherry Creek.

"There have been portions of the heavy machinery of the News office found fast and deep in sand-bars, several miles down the Platte. The strangeness of the fact of machinery moving so far distant in a watery current will be lessened by remembering that the water, loaded with hail and sand, made bodies float whose specific gravity in the clear element would have immediately fixed them to the bottom of the stream.

"Several sacks of flour which floated down the Platte have been discovered lying high and dry on sand-bars, four to six miles from the city ; also, many things that were given up as lost, were yesterday found, free from damage by the action of the watery element, or from the wan- dering thieves that practiced prowling around for days past, seeking what they might pick up and pilfer. In some of the storages of the town there was an amount of clothing and dry goods drenched, so that the owners might materially make more money selling it by the pound avoirdu- pcis than by the stick-yard lineal measure. But we must beg an apology of our distant readers for our tediousness this time and will conclude this account with the lesson it teaches :

" Men are mere ciphers in creation ; at least the chattels of the elements and the creatures of cir- cumstance and caprice. While worldly fortune favors, they think of naught but self, care little for the laws of nature and care less for nature's God ! Providential warning will alone affect them, when their well-being and their wealth are affected at the same time. As ' the uses of adversity are sweet,' so the interpositions of the Almighty are found eventually salutary and gracious. That the great clouds and eternal fountains are the Lord's and will obey His fixed laws forevermore. That His kind purposes are as high above our selfish comprehensions as are those of the physician above the understanding of the infant he inocu- lates. Had we continued settling Cherry Creek as we commenced, and thoughtless of the future, see what terrible destruction would have been our doom, in a few years more, when the waters of heaven, obeying the fixed laws, would rush down upon us and slay thousands instead of tens.

"One good effect of the flood was the washing away of all that remained in the shape of hostile or sectional feeling between the East and West Divisions of the city. It also put a stop to all building on the treacherous sands of Cherry Creek, and as West Denver, being on the lowest ground, suffered most, it subsequently led to the abandon- ment of many of its business houses, the pro- prietors establishing themselves in new places in the East Division of the city, which rapidly acquired prominence and importance. Many frame residences for the three years following the flood were removed from the West to the East Division of Denver."

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CHAPTER VIII.

AFTER THE FLOOD.

THE summer of 1864 was in many respects a very eventful one. After the flood in Cherry Creek, and long before the serious damage occa- sioned by it had been repaired, the Indians on the Plains commenced the series of atrocities which ended only with the bloody battle of Sand Creek, of which mention was made in a previous chapter. Among the first victims of savage barbarity that summer were the members of a family named Hungate, who lived on Running Creek, about twenty-five miles from the city. The bodies of these poor victims, horribly mutilated, were brought into Denver, where the sight aroused the highest indignation of the populace, and stern threats of retaliation were indulged in. The Indians were not then in force, however, the murders having been committed by a small party of strolling Cheyennes, and no steps were taken to organize a pursuit. A few days later, however, word came to Denver that a large party of Cheyennes were murdering settlers and driving off stock east of the city.

This announcement was followed by an Indian scare of the first magnitude. Terror seized upon almost every inhabitant of Denver, and, although preparations for defense were active, no one seemed to care about taking the field to avenge the mur- murder of the Hungate family. But an Indian scare is a serious matter, and is certainly no respecter of persons, often attacking the bravest as well as the most timid. There was not in point of fact any Indian near the city, and no danger men- aced the people, yet they rushed hither and thither through the darkness of the night for places of safety, while alarm bells rang out wildly and pan- demonium appeared to have broken loose. The women and children were crowded together into fire-proof buildings, and a good many men who were too badly scared to be of any service were shut up with them. The rest organized for

defense, mounted guard throughout and around the city, and awaited the arrival of the Indians, who, of course, never came. The cooler-headed citizens Soon went to work to investigate the ground of the scare, and, after scouting the country for a few hours, came in and reported no Indians anywhere, nor any occasion for alarm, and so ended the great Indian scare in Denver. Very few of those who were here, however, will ever forget the scenes and incidents of that night.

But, although the scare was over, the Indian troubles had just begun. The Cheyennes and Arapahoes hung upon the overland route all sum- mer, raiding ranches, stages and trains, robbing and murdering right and left, and almost cutting off communication between Denver and the Mis- souri River. The army was insufficient to maintain order among the tribes, and the Indians practi- cally went unpunished until the Third Colorado Regiment, organized at Denver for the hundred- day service, started after the murderous savages who had been committing countless murders along the Arkansas as well as the Platte route.

Col. Chivington was then in command of the military district of Colorado. In August, when the hostile Indians had cut Denver entirely off from communication with the States, and when stocks of provisions as well as other merchandise were all running low, and the people were almost distracted, martial law was declared in Denver, and business was almost entirely suspended for a sea- son, while no one was allowed to leave the city except by permission. Every able-bodied citizen was enrolled for militia service, and block-houses were erected throughout and about the city. Sup- plies ran low generally, and " short rations" be- came the rule among all classes. The newspapers ran out of white paper, and during the blockade they were printed on almost every imaginable kind

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of paper. Those were Denver's dark days, in- deed, and but for the gallantry of the Third Reg- iment there would have been darker days in store for Colorado. Had not communication been opened in time for supplies to come in before win- ter commenced, the people of Denver would have been compelled either to leave or starve. For- tunately they were succored in time, and yet for its gallant services the Third Colorado has had little praise and much blame at the hands of Eastern critics.

During all this troublous time, however, the " arts of peace " were flourishing in and about the city, although the demands of the military service made it difficult to secure or retain laborers. The crops of 1864, though large, were not harvested until late in the season. The water-power canal in West Denver dates back to this season, as does also the larger cual which waters East Denver, though the latter was not finished for several years. The first flouring-mill in West Denver was erected by Mr. J. W. Smith, immediately after the com- pletion of the canal. Whittemore & Co. soon fol- lowed Mr. Smith's example, and they in turn were followed by others, until now the banks of the canal are tolerably well lined.

Col. Chivington, having been removed from command of the district after the Sand Creek cam- paign, was succeeded by Col. Thomas Moon- light, who was rather more earnest than effective in his efforts to keep the Indians out of the coun- try. It is stated that on one occasion, when Moonlight's command was in hot pursuit of the savages, the latter facilitated their escape by steal- ing all of Moonlight's horses, leaving his cavalry on foot in the enemy's country. During the early months of 1865, the hostiles attacked nearly every stage station between Denver and the California crossing of the South Platte, now Julesburg. At the American Ranche the people were murdered, the stock stolen, and all other property destroyed.

Mr. Holen Godfrey, still a respectable citizen of Weld County, was among the number attacked by Indians, but he made a heroic resistance and kept

the savages at bay until assistance arrived from Denver, and the siege was raised. Godfrey's Ranche was christened " Fort Wicked," from the brave fight its defenders made on that occasion, which resulted in the death of numerons Indians.

Gov. Evans, during all the troublous times of 1864-65, was zealous in his efforts to end the wars which were doing Colorado so much damage. He had previously been instrumental in negotiating the treaty of Conejos, by which the Utes were restricted to the valley of the Gunnison, with their full consent. The enlargement of their reserva- tion followed this Sand Creek affair, when the Government made every effort to " pacify " the Indians by extraordinary liberality. Gov. Evans also undertook to treat with the Plains Indians, at or about the time the treaty of Conejos was con- cluded, but without avail.

At that time, the Plains Indians included about all the Northern tribes who ranged north and south at will, and numbered thousands of warriors. Sitting Bull was a leader in those days, and his voice was always for war. He used to say that, while the white men were fighting among them- selves, the Indians conld unite and drive them out of the country ; that the Washington Govern- ment was "played out." Sitting Bull seems to have been a secessionist on a small scale. Anxious to have a talk with these Plains Indians, Gov. Evans sent the well-known Elbridge Gerry to invite the chiefs to a conference on the Republi- can. Gerry, who was well known and universally liked by all the Indians, who called him " Little Gerry," had no difficulty in communicating with them, but they strennously and persistently opposed any " peace " conference. Gerry reported to Gov. Evans, who was then in camp, on the Re- publican, waiting for the Indians to come in. Evans advised him to return to the Indian camp and ask for a delegation to come in, not to make peace but to hear what he had to say.

Even this mission was unsuccessful. Sitting Bull and others objected, and Little Gerry was about to depart, when one of the minor chiefs

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volunteered to return with him. But he didn't come. The other Indians said they would kill him if he started on such an errand, and this strong argument against his coming caused an entire failure of the peace negotiations at that time. Nor were the Indians ever peaceable until the Pacific Railway came and introduced a new era. The Plains Indians have disappeared with the buffalo, and Colorado will probably see neither any more.

Cotemporary with the Indian excitements of 1864 were a couple of mountain scares, proceeding from entirely different causes. A large party of road agents, or " guerrillas," as they styled them- selves, claiming to be rebel soldiers, organized a raid in the South Park, under the leadership of a dare-devil by the name of Reynolds. The Reynolds raid will long be remembered by old set- tlers, many of whom have good cause to remem- ber it by reason of losses inflicted thereby, either of property or friends. Reynolds threatened to sack Denver, and actually headed this way, but came to grief at the hands of an attacking party in the Platte Canon, on the evening of July 30, 1864. Jack Sparks, of Gold Run, led the attack, the most of his followers being from that camp. Instead of making a desperate fight, Reynolds and his gang fled without firing a shot, leaving their plunder and the dead body of one of their number on the field. A hot pursuit of the fugitives was immediately instituted, during which five of the robbers, including a brother of Reynolds, were killed. This summary action settled the guerrilla business in Colorado.

Even more exciting was the Espinosa raid of robbers and murderers in Southern Colorado. According to all accounts, Espinosa was the most diabolical scoundrel who ever infested Colorado, and more murders were charged to his account than the worst Texas pirate could boast of. His mission was murder and robbery, and his adroit- ness in eluding arrest or retributive justice was something remarkable. At last a price was put upon his head, and he was hunted down by a

party of miners, organized for the purpose, who brought his ghastly head into camp and received their reward. There is no doubt about their hav- ing earned it. The man who shot Espinosa is still living in Colorado, and it is said the skull of the great robber is in the possession of a citizen of Denver to-day.

Beyond the Indian war in the carly spring of 1865, not many exciting events marked that year, although some fine buildings were erected in Den- ver that season, prominent among which was the National Block, as it was then called, on the north corner of Fifteenth and Blake streets, which was a fine structure for those days. The banking office in the corner, now used by the Exchange Bank, was then, and for many years after, occu- pied by the First National Bank of Denver, of which ex-Senator Chaffee was then President, hold- ing office until 1880. George T. Clark was cashier iu 1865, D. H. Moffatt, Jr., having entered the bank as cashier in 1866. Mr. Clark was elected Mayor of Denver at the municipal election in April, 1865, succeeding Hon. H. D. Brendlinger, who had served during the preceding year. Mayor Clark's administration was most successful, and Denver enjoyed a season of quiet but uninter- rupted prosperity under his fostering care.

The State movement, brought to an untimely end afterward by President Johnson's veto, started in the fall of 1865. In an incredibly short space of time a Constitutional Convention was held, a constitution framed and adopted, a Legislature clected, and two United States Senators chosen by the latter body. The lots fell upon Gov. Evans and Hon. J. B. Chaffee. Hon. George M. Chilcott was elected Representative. Subsequent- ly, Messrs. Evans and Chaffee resigned, in the hope that their resignation might aid the move- men in favor of Statehood by removing a possible obstacle, each of them preferring the admission of the State before their personal advancement. The whole movement failed, however, and it was ten years before the Territory was given its political freedom.

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Agriculturists in Colorado have great reason to remember the summer of 1865, and with the most painful reflections, too. It was " the grasshopper year." These terrible pests descended upon the farmers in countless numbers, and ate up nearly every green thing in the Territory. No one was prepared for their coming and there were no ap- pliances for fighting them, such as have been introduced so successfully of late years. The consequence was, that all crops were destroyed and country produce as well as provisions had to be brought in from the States. Prices were high during the fall and winter, and the hardest times ever known in Colorado, outside of the blockades, were experienced, but the faith of the people never departed for one moment.

Golden being still the Territorial capital, the Legislature of 1866 assembled there pro forma, early in January, and straightway adjourned to Denver, as usual. The Legislature of 1866 seems to have been remarkable mainly for its virtue. Appalled at the progress of gambling in Denver and throughout the Territory, the Legislature passed a law prohibiting all manner of games, from monte down to seven-up. It also amended all municipal charters so that no town or city could sanction gambling by ordinance or license, or even by leniency.

The statute fell like a bombshell in the ranks of the sporting fraternity. Hitherto they had met with few obstacles in the prosecution of their industry, and had waxed wealthy by the profits of their business. The gambling houses of Denver were among the finest in the country, and the suppers and refreshments served were of the finest, while the hospitality of the proprietors was freely extended to all " producers," whether they bought white or blue chips of the game. It speaks well for the incorruptible honesty and in- tegrity of the Legislature of 1866, that its mem- bers could withstand the seductive influences of champagne suppers, free of cost, and probably more pointed bribes, but they did, and the anti- gambling bill was engrafted upon the fundamental

law. The cry of 1866 was, "The gamblers must go !" And they went-at least some of them did. Their honses were closed. It was not long, however, before the inevitable and always recurring de- mand for these roads to ruin renewed itself in such shape and with such force that public sentiment modified the terrors of the anti-gambling law, and left it like many other prohibition statutes, practi- cally a dead letter. It was used thereafter merely as a restriction, and, doubtless, served a good pur- pose. Open and demonstrative gambling was denied, and the private club-rooms were tolerated only under such police restrictions as the authori- ties might suggest. The power to close a gam- bling-house at pleasure, however liable to abuse, was, nevertheless, a great point gained in the en- forcement of law and order, and the city of Den- ver began at once to take rank with those of the East, in respect to efficient government.

Mayor Clark was succeeded in April, 1866, by Hon. M. M. Delano, a prominent business man of Denver, who is now filling a diplomatic position in the service of our Government in China. Mayor Delano, like his predecessor, was a pro- gressive man, and took pride in prosecuting im- provements for the use and benefit of the city. Bridges were built, streets improved, and the planting of shade-trees enconraged, for which lat- ter work the present population of Denver can never be too grateful to the pioneers.

It was during Mayor Delano's administration that the name of McGaa street was changed to Holladay, in honor of the immortal overland stage man of that name, whose coaches had car- ried so many people in and out of Denver.

Otherwise, 1866 was a prosperous year, and about three hundred houses were erected during the building season, some of them being substan- tial structures. Prices of real estate began to advance, in anticipation of railway connection with the East. The grasshopper was not a burden in 1866, as it had been in 1865, and farming opera- tions were resumed with unwonted activity around Denver, which had become the recognized center

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of business activity. The entries of public lands in 1866, up to November, were 250,000 acres, nearly double that of any previous year, and all entries were made by actual settlers.

No mention has been made of mining in these latter pages, because the history of Denver is separ- ate from that of the mines, but it seems proper to state that the prosperity of the city always depended, in great measure, upon the success of mining enterprises. Both were checked by the Indian troubles of 1864-65, but, in 1866, the mines yielded double the production of 1865, and Denver almost doubled in population. The war of the rebellion was ended, and people and capital

were looking around for employment. Colorado had passed from an uncertainty into a fixed fact, and men came hither to engage in business enter- prises with as much confidence as they would carry with them into any of the Western States. Some of them, indeed, were over-sanguine in regard to mining investments, and injudicious in the expenditure of money, but the men who care- fully invested money in Denver have never re- gretted the step.

The only political event of importance to Den- ver, which marked the year 1866, was the appoint- ment of Frank Hall as Secretary of the Territory, vice S. H. Elbert, whose commission had expired.

CHAPTER IX.

COMING OF THE RAILROADS.

T THE opening of the year 1867 saw two lines of railway reaching out for Colorado, and as the gap between Denver and civilization gradually closed up, the citizens and merchants of the Queen City began to take fresh courage, and a new era of prosperity was opened. A new journalistic era was also begun, by the establishment of the Den- ver Tribune, which has since grown to metropol- itan proportions. Previous to the advent of the Tribune, the Denver News had outlived all oppo- sition, and had been, in all respects, the leading and most influential paper of the city and State. Nor did it lose much prestige by the establishment of the Tribune. The latter paper, though ably edited by Capt. R. W. Woodbury, now proprietor of the Times, and Mr. John Walker, better known as " Deacon," was smaller than the News, and its efforts to deserve success were rather slowly recog- nized.

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History of the city of Denver, Arapahoe County, and Colorado, Part 26

Author: O.L. Baskin & Co. cn; Vickers, W. B. (William B.), 1838- Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co. Number of Pages: 844

Author: O.L. Baskin & Co. cn; Vickers, W. B. (William B.), 1838-
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 844