History of the city of Denver, Arapahoe County, and Colorado, Part 3

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 3
USA > Colorado > Denver County > Denver > History of the city of Denver, Arapahoe County, and Colorado > Part 3

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The winter of 1859-60 was a hard one upon the journals of the Territory, on account of the stampede back to the "settlements " at the opening of the winter, but the spring brought many of the stampeders back, and not a few "tenderfeet," as new-comers were already called by those who had wintered in the country. Among the returning prodigals was Gibson, who brought in another newspaper outfit, and, early in May, issued the Daily Herald, the first daily ever printed in Denver.

Meantime the proprietors of the News had not been idle, and, very soon after the Daily Herald was started, the Daily News made its appearance.

The rivalry between these sheets is one of the liveliest traditions of 1860. The fierce competi-

tion between our great dailies of to-day sinks into insignificance when compared to the News and Herald war of that date. Single copies of each paper sold readily for "two bits," which was the standard price also for cigars, drinks, and many other necessaries of life in the Far West. Both papers circulated in all the mountain mining camps, being distributed by carriers mounted on the fleet "bronchos" of the plains, whose tireless tramp and sure feet fitted them exactly for the work, as, in these latter days, the same character- istics fit them equally for chasing wild cattle over the plains or carrying tourists to the very summits of mountain peaks.

A year later the telegraph reached Fort Kearney, and journalism took another forward step. The dailies began to furnish telegraphic news from the East, then eagerly sought for on account of the great civil war raging throughout the South.

Curiously enough, although Gregory Gulch was, from the first discovery of gold there, a large center of population, particularly during the sum- mer months, no newspaper was permanently estab- lished there until 1862. It was the same Register which still survives, and which has been for many years one of the most important and influential mining and political journals of the State. The Black Hawk Journal, now extinct, but which existed for many years, was established by Capt. Frank Hall and O. J. Hollister, in the same year. Both these gentlemen made their mark in journal- ismn, and the former is still an honored and exceed- ingly popular citizen of Colorado, To the latter, Colorado is indebted for the best historical sketch of the State ever published, but the number of years which have elapsed since its appearance, and the wonderful transformation of the country which has marked these later years, have almost destroyed the value of "Hollister's Colorado," except as a book of reference, in which respeet it has been of most invaluable service to the compiler of these pages.

It would be interesting, if it were practicable, to follow the fortunes of these and other enterprising

EVANS CHAPEL, DENVER, COLORADO.

RESIDENCE OF HON. JOHN EVANS. DENVER, COL.

HISTORY OF COLORADO.

newspapers through succeeding years, but the vicissitudes of journalism in Colorado would make a book in itself. Perhaps a fitting conclusion to this brief review would be the following extract from the address of Mr. Byers before the Colorado Press Association, already referred to elsewhere:

"1862, '63 and '64 were trying years for the two daily newspapers that remained in Denver. Messrs. Rounds & Bliss retired from the News in 1863. The Herald underwent a number of changes in name and management. A harassing Indian war on the Plains prostrated business, cut off the mails and interrupted all commerce. Trains laden with merchandise were robbed or burned, teams driven off and men killed. During the summer of 1864, when the trouble culminated, Denver and the immediate vicinity lost about fifty citizens, who were murdered by the Indians. Most of them were killed while en route to or from the States. The daily mail route along the Platte was broken up and nearly all the stations burned. As misfortunes never come singly, that season was exceptional for its disasters. On the 20th of May occurred the celebrated Cherry Creek flood, known by that name only because it occasioned more destruction of property and loss of life at Denver than in any other locality. It was no less terrible and proportionately more destructive along Plum Creek, the Fontaine qui Bouille and other streams, than along Cherry Creek. By it Denver lost a large amount of property. The News office and its contents were destroyed, leaving not a vestige. Three or four weeks after, its proprietors bought the Herald office and resumed the publication of the News. The Indian war thickened, until practically Colo- rado was cut off from the Eastern States. For weeks at a time, there were no mails, and finally they were sent around by Panama and San Fran- cisco, reaching Denver in from seven to ten weeks. Of course newspapers suffered with everybody and everything else. All supplies were used up. Wrapping paper, tissue paper and even writing paper were used to keep up the daily issues of the

News, now the only paper remaining in Denver, if not in the Territory. In August, martial law was proclaimed, and the Third Regiment of Colorado Volunteers raised in less than a week in order to chastise the Indians. The regiment was equipped and provisioned by the people, but was subse- quently accepted and mustered into the United States Service for one hundred days. The Sand Creek campaign followed. The News office fur- nished fourteen recruits for that regiment, and thereafter, for a time, the paper was printed by a detail of soldiers. It was very small, and con- tained little besides military orders and notices. The campaign lasted about ninety days, and then followed peace. For two or three years, the News had the field in Denver almost entirely alone, and then new enterprises were started, and the number of newspapers has since multiplied rap- idly, some to become permanent, as the Tribune, Herald, Times and others, and many others to flourish for a brief period and then die. The same has been the case all over the Territory, now State. Newspapers have been among the first enterprises in all new towns of any importance."

It would be unjust to a generous and noble class of men to dismiss this subject without pay- ing a compliment to those who have carried the printing press up and down the mountains and valleys of this broad State, whenever and wherever there was a posssible opportunity to develop some new resources and found some new settlement. There has never been a call for a new newspaper in Colorado to which some one has not responded. Start a new town anywhere in the mountains, and the moment its success is assured-often much sooner-some enterprising publisher puts in an appearance, and a creditable newspaper is launched in less time than it would take an Eastern commu- nity to make up its mind that a newspaper was a necessity. Who would think in the East, or in the Mississippi Valley, of starting a newspaper in a town of two or three hundred inhabitants ? Yet Colorado can boast of many such, and, what is stranger still, many of them are financially

HISTORY OF COLORADO.

Upon the failure of the first effort in 1859, the Provisional Government of the Territory of Jeffer- son was organized, by the election of R. W. Steele, as Governor ; Lucien W. Bliss, Secretary ; C. R. Bissell, Auditor ; G. W. Cook, Treasurer; Samuel McLean, Attorney General, and a full ticket, which was voted at twenty-seven precincts, and for which some two thousand one hundred votes were cast, pro aud con. But in order to be on the safe side, still another election was held on the same day, at which a full set of county officers were chosen, under Kansas rule, and, so the early pilgrims sailed along under triple laws for a time, the Miner's court having been organized to mete out justice after its crude and vigorous but very healthy fashion.

Say what we may of the miners' laws and their summary method of dealing with litigants and all offenders against law and order, the fact remains that during those troublous times, the Miners' courts were about the only ones which were thoroughly respected and implicitly obeyed. As to the latter point, indeed, there was no alter- native. When the miners ordered a man out of camp, for example, he stood not at all upon the order of his going, but went at once. Similarly, if the miners decided between two parties contend- ing over a disputed claim, the side which secured a verdict also secured possession, and that without any delay whatever.

The " Provisional Government," as the Territorial party was called, elected a Legislature, which met in November, and transacted considerable business. The city of Denver was first chartered by this body. Nine counties were represented in the Legislature, and Gov. Steele set out to officer them by appointing Probate Judges and ordering county elections in January, 1860. There was little or no objection to the office-holding part of the pro- gramme, but a poll-tax of $1 per capita, levied by the Provisional Government, was the occasion of much vigorous "kicking," and went farther toward breaking down than sustaining Gov. Steele's admin- istration.

Meantime, Capt. Richard Sopris, now an hon- ored citizen and Mayor of Denver, represented "Arapahoe County" in the Kansas Legislature, and a complete list of Kansas county officers had been chosen in the valleys, while the mountain counties stood by their Miners' courts, and as much of the Provisional Government as suited them. If an honest miner failed to secure his rights in one court, he incontinently rushed into another; if he feared to go to trial in one, he took a change of venue to the other. Sometimes cases were tried in both courts, and as the fine art of taxing fees had early penetrated into the country, liti- gants often found themselves as poor after a case was won as they were before.

In January, 1860, the Provisional Legislature met again and made some more laws, which were as inoperative as their predecessors. Their failure, however, was due rather to the passivity than resistance of the people. The country was, in fact, peaceable and law-abiding, with the exception of that dangerous class common to the border, to which all laws were alike objectionable, and these roughs were kept in check by the fear of summary punishment. Miners' courts in the mountains had been supplemented by people's courts in the valleys. The proceedings of the lat- ter were as open and orderly as those of the for- mer; indeed, they approached the dignity of a regularly constituted tribunal.

They were always presided over by a magistrate, either a Probate Judge or a Justice of the Peace. The prisoner had counsel and could call witnesses, if the latter were within reach.

So passed the year 1860, marked by some very exciting criminal history, of which more anon, and, carly in December, upon the re-assembling of Congress, the claims of Colorado to Territorial recognition were persistently pressed, not only by her own delegates, but by many members who had near relatives or friends in the Pike's Peak country. After a little delay, caused by a press of political business in both Houses, Congress finally took up and passed the Colorado bill, which became a law

S.36, Event

HISTORY OF COLORADO.

February 26, 1861, President Lincoln immedi- ately appointed Federal officers for the new Terri- tory. William Gilpin was the Governor; Lewis Ledyard Weld, Secretary; B. F. Hall, Chief Jus- tice; S. Newton Pettis and Charles Lee Armour, Associate Justices; Copeland Townsend, United States Marshal; William L. Stoughton, Attorney General, and Gen. Francis M. Case, Surveyor General.

Gov. Gilpin reached Denver May 29, following his appointment. A census of the Territory, taken by him soon after his arrival, showed a pop- ulation of 25,329, divided as follows: White males over age, 18,136; white males under age, 2,622; females, 4,484; negroes, 89.

The new Territory was carved out of the public domain lying between the 102d and 109th meri- dians of longitude and the 37th and 41st parallels of latitude, thus forming a compact and nearly square tract, its length, east and west, being 370 miles and its width 280. It comprises an area of 104,500 square miles, an Empire in itself and the third largest State in the Union, Texas being the first and California second. But, according to the maps and Hayden's Survey, fully one-third of Col- orado is covered by the Rocky Mountain Range and its spurs, the latter standing out from the former in every direction. The main range or con- tinental divide enters the State from the north, a little west of the eenter, ranges eastward and south- ward until Long's Peak is reached, bears almost due south through Boulder County, swings west- ward around Gilpin and Clear Creek, thence leads southwest through many devious turns and wind- ings until it penetrates the very heart of the San Juan silver region, whence it returns eastward by south, and leaves the State nearly due south of the point where it entered.

Across this mighty mountain range the State sits, as Mr. Hollister says, like a man on horse- back, a homely but apt comparison. It would be more expressive still if the plains of the western slope corresponded with those of the east, which they do not.

The eastern plains occupy more than one-third of the entire State. Though largely arid and apparently unproductive, they are the source of immense wealth, and it is even questioned now whether their reclamation would add to the actual production of the State. To drive the cattle trade and stock interests generally from the State would be to deprive Colorado of its most profitable industry, whereas the production of crops by artificial irri- gation is attended with great expense and not a little risk, and it is doubtful whether Colorado could ever compete with Kansas and Nebraska as an agricultural region.

The third grand division of the State is the Park country, and to this may very properly be added the great valleys over the range, which are really parks, inasmuch as the mountains rise round about them, though not always in circular or semi- eircular form. Of the parks proper, there are too many to be enumerated in detail, but the principal ones are North, Middle, South and San Luis, the latter being in fact the Valley of the Rio Grande.

The park lands are pastoral rather than agri- cultural, but some farming is conducted in South Park, and still more in San Luis. All are well watered, mountain streams flowing through them from the mountains above to the valleys below. They were once alive with game-the happy hunt- ing grounds of the Utes and Arapahoes-and not infrequently the scene of severe conflicts between the rival tribes, although mainly held by the Utes, while the Arapahoes held the plains country. Game, however, has almost entirely disappeared from South and San Luis Parks, and is seldom seen in Middle Park, except in the winter season, when heavy falls of snow on the range drives the game into the Park and adjacent valleys. Nortlı Park, however, is still stocked with game. It is almost uninhabited, seldom visited save by hunt- ers, and is more a terra incognita than almost any part of Colorado, outside of the Indian Reserva- tion. This is accounted for by its lack of attract- ive features, and the fact that the country is comparatively valueless either for agriculture or

HISTORY OF COLORADO.

stock-raising. It is said to be the poorest part of the State, and so little is thought of it that even now it is in doubt which contiguous county shall exert jurisdiction over the Park.

Hunters, however, find themselves richly repaid for the trouble and expense of reaching the Park. The usual route is from Laramie, on the Union Pacific Railway, though the Park is easily accessi- ble from Denver and all points in Northern Colo- rado. Bear, black-tailed deer, bison, mountain sheep, antelope, mountain lions, etc., are found there. Grouse abound, and the streams are full of trout. The bison referred to above is not the "buffalo" of the plains, but a distant cousin, of a type essentially different, dwelling only in the mountains. Bruin is found in two species-the black and grizzly, the latter being most dangerous when he shows fight, which he is not slow to do if attacked or molested.

The amount of game in North Park may be greatly exaggerated, but there is certainly plenty of it upon occasion, and hunters have even found more than they wanted. A few years ago, some

friends of the writer were crossing the Poudre range into North Park, when they suddenly came in sight of seven bears nearly in front of them. A coun- eil of war was held, and an attack was resolved on- The party were to creep forward in single file and as noiselessly as possible to within rifle range, and then fire all together at a signal from the leader. One of the party had no gun, but insisted on bearing the rest company. When the leader turned to give the signal for firing, the gunless individual was the only biped in sight. The rest of the erstwhile brave battalion had turned back to camp. This example was soon followed by the others, and the bears never knew how narrowly they had escaped slaughter.

Doubtless, some sanguinary reader will have been terribly disappointed at the tame termination of this story, but long observation on the frontier has shown that bear hunts are usually bloodless. The old settlers seldom bother themselves about Bruin, so long as he leaves them alone, and never attack one without being exceptionally well armed.

CHAPTER V.

LO! THE POOR INDIAN.

W ESTERN COLORADO, though, undoubt- edly, the finest part of.the State, is practi- cally unproductive, owing to Indian occupation. The Indian Reservation is an immense body of fine mineral, pastoral, and agricultural land, larger than the State of Massachusetts twice over-nearly three times as large, in fact. It is nominally occu- pied by about 3,000 Ute Indians. Of this land, and those Indians, Gov. Frederick W. Pitkin wrote, in his message to the Legislature of 1879, as follows:

" Along the western borders of the State, and on the Pacific Slope, lies a vast tract occupied by the tribe of Ute Indians, as their reservation. It contains about twelve millions of aeres, and is

nearly three times as large as the State of Massa- chusetts. It is watered by large streams and rivers, and contains many rich valleys, and a large number of fertile plains. The elimate is milder than in most localities of the same altitude on the Atlantic Slope. Grasses grow there in great lux- uriance, and nearly every kind of grain and vege- tables can be raised without difficulty. This tract contains nearly one-third of the arable land of Colorado, and no portion of the State is better adapted for agricultural and grazing purposes than many portions of this reservation. Within its limits are large mountains, from most of which explorers have been excluded by the Indians. Prospectors, however, have explored some portions

HISTORY OF COLORADO.

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of the country, and found valuable lode and placer claims, and there is reason to believe that it con- tains great mineral wealth. The number of In- dians who occupy this reservation is about three thousand. If the land was divided up between individual members of the tribe, it would give every man, woman, and child a homestead of between three and four thousand acres. It has been claimed that the entire tribe have had in cul- tivation about fifty acres of land, and, from some personal knowledge of the subject, I believe that one able-bodied white settler would cultivate more land than the whole tribe of Utes. These Indians are fed by the Government, are allowed ponies without number, and, except when engaged in an occasional hunt, their most serious employment is horse-racing. If this reservation could be extin- guished, and the land thrown open to settlers, it will furnish homes to thousands of the people of the State who desire homes."

The picture is not overdrawn. Though not particularly quarrelsome or dangerous, the Utes are exceedingly disagreeable neighbors. Even if they would be content to live on their princely reserva- tion, it would not be so bad, but they have a dis- gusting habit of ranging all over the State, steal- ing horses, killing off the game, and carelessly firing forests in the dry, summer season, whereby thousands of acres of fine timber are totally ruined.

The Utes are actual, practical Communists, and the Government should be ashamed to foster and encourage them in their idleness and wanton waste of property. Living off the bounty of a paternal but idiotie Indian Bureau, they actually become too lazy to draw their rations in the regular way, but insist on taking what they want wherever they find it. But for the fact that they are arrant cowards, as well as arrant knaves, the west- ern slope of Colorado would be untenanted by the white race. Almost every year they threaten some of the white settlers with certain death if they do not leave the country, and, in some instances, they have tried to drive away white cit-

izens, but the latter pay little attention to their vaporings.

It is related of Barney Day, a well-known Mid- dle Park pioneer, that when a party of Utes vis- ited him at his cabin, and gave him fifteen min- utes to leave the country, he answered not a word, but solemnly kicked them out of doors and off his premises. They not only offered no resistance to the indignity, but, from that time forth, treated Mr. Day with great consideration. It is not every man, though, who has the nerve to act as he did in such an emergency.

The degeneration of the . Utes has been very rapid ever since the first settlement of the coun- try. Formerly, they were a warlike tribe, and held their own with the fierce Arapahoes of the east and the savage Cheyennes of the north, whether upon the mountains or the plains. As civilization advanced, the plains Indians retreated before it, and after the Sand Creek fight, in 1864, the plains were almost deserted by the wild hordes which, until then, had been the terror of all trav- elers to and from Pike's Peak and California. The Utes also retreated to the mountains, making occasional forays to hunt buffalo on the plains, but maintaining a wholesome respect for the old Colo- rado Cavalry, which kept them from annoying travelers. They would occasionally stampede a stock train and run off the animals, but they grad- ually abandoned the scalp trade, and devoted all their talents and energies to begging and stealing. They were the original "tramps" of the country, and soon developed all the meanness and utter worthlessness of their white prototypes. As Theo- dore Winthrop wrote of the border savages he met in his journey " On Horseback into Oregon," " with one hand they hung to all the vices of barbarism, and with the other they clutched at all the vices of civilization." The Government might, with almost, if not quite equal propriety, plant a colony of Communists upon the public domain, maintain- ing them in idleness at public expense, as to leave the Colorado Utes in possession of their present heritage and present privileges.

HISTORY OF COLORADO.

The continuous and ever-increasing intercourse between Colorado and the East has long since dis- pelled the ancient idea that Denver was situated in the heart of the Indian conntry, but the pres- enee of Indians in the State still constitutes an obstacle to the advancement of Colorado, for even those who do not fear the Utes dislike them, and would be glad to see them banished to some more appropriate retreat than the garden of our growing State.

To this end, Congress and the Interior Depart- ment have been, and are continually, besieged to provide for the extinguishment of Indian title to the reservation lands, and in this movement the military commanders on our frontier are earn- estly interested. Gen. Pope, commanding the department, is particularly anxious to have the Utes massed at a more convenient point. At present they have three agencies on their reservation. Both the White River and Uncompahgre agencies are remote from railways and supplies, as well as from the military posts, which are so necessary to keep the savages in check. Removed to the Indian Territory, the Utes could be fed and clothed for about one-half what it now costs the Government.

Philanthropists down East and abroad may mourn over the decadence of this once powerful tribe of Indians, but even a philanthropist would fail to find any occasion for regret if he came to Colorado and made a study of Ute character and habits. Though better in some high (and low) respects than the Digger Indians of Arizona, or the Piutes of Nevada, the Colorado Utes have nothing in common with the Indians of history and romance, whose "wrongs" have been so tear- fully portrayed by half-baked authors. The strongest prejudiees of Eastern people in favor of the Indians give way before the strong disgust inspired by a closer acquaintance.

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History of the city of Denver, Arapahoe County, and Colorado, Part 3

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