USA > Louisiana > The province and the states, a history of the province of Louisiana under France and Spain, and of the territories and states of the United States formed therefrom, Vol. IV > Part 42
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COLORADO, FROM MCCOOK TO PITKIN.
of being able to approach under cover and were compelled to take up a position on the bluffs. Here they were so far away that their shots did little or no damage. Their next move was to try drawing the fire of the soldiers by exposing themselves, in the hope of exhausting the supply of ammunition in the fort, but Captain Payne gave orders to fire only when it was actually neces- sary, which blocked that scheme. Toward sunset the Utes tried storming the works, but were repulsed with loss. The warfare then settled down to a siege.
That night Rankin, the scout, stole out under cover of dark- ness, found a horse and started for Rawlins, one hundred and sixty miles away. He arrived at Rawlins on Wednesday morn- ing, October 1, after more than thirty-six hours in the saddle. From Rawlins a telegram was sent to Governor Pitkin conveying the first news of the uprising. About the same time a similar despatch was received from Fort Laramie. The governor imme- diately sent the following telegram to the secretary of war: .
"Dispatches just received from Fort Laramie and Rawlins inform me that White River Utes attacked Colonel Thornburgh's command twenty-five miles from Agency. Colonel Thornburgh killed and all his officers but one killed or wounded, besides many of his men and most of his horses. Dispatches state that whole command is imperiled. The State of Colorado will furnish you, immediately, all the men you require to settle permanently this Indian trouble. I have sent couriers to warn settlers."
When the contents of the despatches received by the governor became known the excitement in Denver was intense. Old pio- neers and substantial business men went in crowds to the gover- nor's office to offer their services to quell the insurrection. Little groups gathered here and there on the streets to talk of the out- break and on every hand could be heard the old cry of "The Utes must go!" It was no longer a meaningless phrase, for the men of Colorado stood ready to make sacrifices if need be to drive the Indians from the state. "The Utes must go!"
At the time Major Thornburgh was ordered to White river Captain Dodge, with a troop of colored cavalry was scouting along the borders of the reservation. On September 27 he received orders to join Thornburgh at the agency. He reached Milk creek October 2, where he found Captain Payne and his men besieged. Breaking through the Indian lines his men rode six hundred yards through a rain of lead, in which not a single man was hit, and joined Payne in his intrenchments. As the IV-28
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Indians withdrew to a safe distance at night the soldiers utilized the opportunity to provide a supply of water, for the next day, from an adjacent spring.
When the war department received Governor Pitkin's telegram Col. Wesley Merritt, with a force of 550 mnen, was ordered to Captain Payne's relief. After a forced march of seventy miles in twenty-four hours he reached Red canon about five o'clock on Sunday morning, October 5. In order to avoid being mistaken for Indians in the dim light of the early morning he ordered the bugles to sound the night signal of the Fifth cavalry, to which Captain Payne and most of his men belonged. The sound was welcome music to the beleaguered for it told them that relief was at liand. A cheer answered the bugles, Merritt marched into the intrenchments, and the six days siege was over. Not a man had been lost after the first attack on the preceding Monday. The total loss to the whites that day was 14 killed and 43 wounded. The exact Indian loss was not ascertained but it is known that 35 were killed.
Soon after the fighting began at Milk creek, on the 29th, an Indian runner started for the agency with the news. He arrived there about one o'clock, but said nothing to the whites of the attack on Thornburgh's forces. Douglas ate dinner that day with Meeker and had left the agent's house only a short time before the arrival of the messenger. Thirty minutes later the agency was attacked by some of the Indians belonging to Douglas' band. Agent Meeker and all the male employes, eleven in number, were immediately killed, and the women carried into a captivity worse than death. The buildings were then robbed and set on fire.
News of the outbreak was carried, as soon as possible, to Ouray. He was out on a hunting expedition when the messen- ger found him, but he returned at once to the Los Pinos agency. From there Joseph Brady, the agency miller, and the chief Sapa- vanari were sent with Ouray's orders to the White river chiefs to stop fighting. Brady arrived at Milk creek just as the Indians were preparing to attack Merritt and delivered the order, which put an end to hostilities. After burying the dead at Milk creek, Merritt marched to the agency and performed the same sad office for those who had been killed there. Meeker's body was found naked, with a bullet through the brain, and a bar- rel stave driven down his throat. The next thing was to resene the women. This task was entrusted to Charles Adams, a special agent of the Indian department. Adams was a personal friend of Ouray, who worked with him to secure the release of the
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COLORADO, FROM MCCOOK TO PITKIN.
prisoners. The hostiles had established a camp on the Grand river. Thither Adams went, under the protection of an escort furnished by Ouray, and after a six hour "medicine talk," in which some of the young men wanted to kill the whole party, the captives were given up to be restored to their friends.
Early in October, while the trouble at White river was still unsettled, a telegram from Lake City announced that Ouray had acknowledged his inability to control the Indians and warned settlers to protect themselves. On the same date despatches from Silverton, to Governor Pitkin, said the Indians were setting fires between the La Plata and the San Juan and threatening to burn the country over. The governor was asked if the peo- ple had the right to drive them back to the reservation. To this question he sent the following reply: "Indians off their reserva- tion, seeking to destroy your settlements by fire, are game to be hunted and destroyed like wild beasts. Send this word to the settlements. Gen. Dave Cook is at Lake City in command of the State forces and General Hatch is rushing regulars to San Jnan."
The arrival of the regulars sent by General Hatch, and the presence of the militia under General Cook, checked further hos- tile demonstrations on the part of the Southern Utes, and gave Ouray the better opportunity to assist in the settlement of affairs at White river. Some time was spent in negotiations, in which the government insisted upon the Indians who had been most active in the uprising being turned over to the authorities for punishment. No positive proof of guilt could be adduced in the case of individual, and the Indians denied all knowledge of who were the leaders. At last General Hatch demanded the sur- render of thirteen, that the evidence pointed to as being guilty, but only a part of them were ever arrested. Douglas was con- fined for awhile in the prison at Fort Leavenworth, where he went insane.
In the congress of 1879-80 Senators Teller and Hill, and Rep- resentative Belford introduced measures looking to the removal of the Utes from Colorado. On March 6, 1880, a delegation of Ute chiefs, in Washington, agreed to relinquish the reservation if the consent of three-fourths of the men in the different bands could be obtained. The consent of the requisite number was secured and, on September 11, the agreement of March was sup- plemented by another by which the White river Utes were trans- ferred to the Uintah agency in Utah; the Los Pinos Indians were
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given a new reservation just east of the Uintah reserve; and the Southern Utes were given lands in severalty in Southern Colo- rado. This settled the Indian question in Colorado.
Early in the morning of May 26, 1880, several hundred miners got together at Leadville and went from mine to mine calling out the men on strike. By the middle of the afternoon 5,000 of the 7,000 men employed in the different mines were out, and those who had not struck quit work and retired to their homes. The demand of the strikers was for an increase of wages from three dollars to four dollars a day and a reduction of hours from ten to eight. The mine owners placed guards at the shafts and took other necessary measures to protect their property. At the end of two weeks matters began to look serious. Threats led to the organization of a citizens committee of one hundred on June 11, and the next day business was suspended while a large procession of citizens marched through the streets for the purpose of demonstrating their solid strength and awing the lawless elements into obedience to established authority. In front of the opera house the procession halted and a proclamation from the citizens committee was read declaring that all who desired to return to work would be protected. An effort was made to adopt a resolution embodying the declarations of the proclama- tion, but the strikers and their sympathizers had gathered in sufficient strength to vote it down. The demonstration of the citizens excited the ire of the strikers and the threats became louder and more frequent. A riot was imminent, when Governor Pitkin was prevailed on to proclaim martial law, and the morn- ing of June 14 found the militia, under command of General Cook, in control of the city. On the 15th Michael Mooney, the president of the strikers' association, was arrested in Denver while attending a political convention. Martial law and Mooney's arrest were too much for the strikers. On the 22d all had returned to work and the civil authority was restored to power.
On May 25th a Republican convention met at Denver and selected delegates to the national convention. They were instructed to support General Grant for the presidential nomi- nation, with James G. Blaine as the second choice. The Demo- crats selected their national delegates on the 3d of June. Both conventions adopted resolutions favoring the free and unlim- ited coinage of silver, and the speedy removal of the Utes. The first party to nominate candidates for the state offices was the Greenbackers. On June 15, a convention was held at Denver,
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COLORADO, FROM MCCOOK TO PITKIN.
resolutions were adopted endorsing the platform and candidates of the national convention, and a state ticket was nominated with Rev. A. J. Chittenden as the gubernatorial candidate. The Demo- cratic State convention was held at Leadville, Angust 18. John S. Hough was nominated for governor; W. S. Stover, for lieuten- ant governor ; Charles O. Unfug, for secretary ; R. G. Bray, for auditor ; A. Y. Hull, for treasurer ; J. C. Stalleup, for attorney- general, and R. S. Morrison, for congress. On the 26th of August, the Republicans met at the same place and nominated the following ticket: For governor, Frederick W. Pitkin ; lieu- tenant governor, George B. Robinson ; secretary, Norman II. Mel- drum; auditor, Joseph A. Davis ; treasurer, W. C. Sanders; rep- resentative in congress, James B. Belford. At the election Pitkin received 28.405 votes; Ilough, 23,547, and Chittenden, 1,408. The entire Republican state ticket was elected by a simi- lar vote. For president, Garfield ran about a thousand votes behind Governor Pitkin, and Hancock ran about the same num- ber ahead of Hough. An amendment to the constitution, that had been adopted by the general assembly of 1879, was ratified at this election. It provided for the exemption from taxation of personal property to the value of two hundred dollars for cach citizen of the state.
On the last day of October an anti-Chinese riot ocenrred in the city of Denver. The immediate cause of the trouble was a fight in a saloon between a Chinaman and a white man, though for some time the workingmen of Colorado, in common with those of other Western states, had felt that the immigration of coolies had a tendency to reduce wages. As a natural result of this feeling the hatred of the Chinese increased as time went on, and an opportunity was only needed to fan the embers of hatred into the flame of riot. That opportunity came when the fight in the saloon occurred. In an incredibly short space of time a mob of fifteen hundred men was on its way to the Chi- nese quarter of the city. There were about one hundred and sixty Chinese in the city at the time. Several were severly beaten and two were killed outright. The mayor ordered two thousand special policemen sworn in and the fire department was called out to drench the rioters. Most of the Chinese were taken to the jail for safe-keeping. The next morning several of the riot- ers were arrested and the rest, concluding that discretion was the better part of valor, gave up the fight.
On November 29 lieutenant-governor elect, George B. Robin-
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son, was shot by one of the guards at his own mine through a mistake, the guard taking him for a mine jumper. His death gave Lieutenant-Governor Tabor another term. The census of 1880 showed a population of 194,649, while the value of taxable property had doubled in the last three years. Notwithstanding the Indian troubles, the miners' strikes and the Chinese riots, the year closed with Colorado on the high road to prosperity.
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COLORADO FROM 1881 TO 1892.
CHAPTER IV
.
Events from 1881 to 1892
G OVERNOR PITKIN'S second administration commenced with the opening of the third session of the state legis- lature, which assembled on January 5, 1881. In his inaugural address he spoke feelingly of the death of Lieutenant- Governor Robinson and recommended legislation that would make the business of mine jumping more hazardous and decrease the necessity for guards to protect mining property. The assembly was in session until February 15. The most important bill passed during the session was one redistricting the state for members of the general assembly. By its provisions the legislature was made to consist of twenty-six senators and forty-nine representatives.
An election was held on November 8 for district judges and district attorneys. In accordance with a constitutional provision the people voted at this election for the permanent location of the state capital. The constitution fixed the capital at Denver until 1881 when the question was to be decided by popular vote. Sev- eral towns entered the contest, for the seat of government, and a lively campaign was conducted, though it was recognized from the start that Denver had an advantage. The vote stood : Denver, 30,248; Pueblo, 6,047; Colorado Springs, 4,790; Canon City, 2, 788; and Salida, 695.
Three tickets were placed in the field in the campaign of 1882. The Republicans nominated Ernest L. Campbell for governor ; William Meyer for lieutenant-governor ; Melvin Edwards for sec- retary of state; John C. Abbott for auditor; Frederick Walsen for treasurer ; D. F. Urmy for attorney-general ; J. C. Shattuck for superintendent of public instruction ; J. B. Belford for con- gress, and Joseph C. Helm for judge of the supreme court, The
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Democratic ticket was as follows: Governor, James B. Grant ; lieutenant-governor, John R. Prowers ; secretary, Frank C. John- son ; auditor, Ansel Watrous; treasurer, Dennis Sullivan ; attor- ney-general, B. F. Montgomery; superintendent, Frank M. Brown; representative in congress, S. S. Wallace; judge of the supreme court, Vincent D. Markham. The Greenbackers nomi- nated George W. Way for governor ; Theodore Saunders for lieu- tenant-governor ; William N. Bachelder for secretary ; Amos K. Frost for auditor; John L. Herzinger for treasurer; A. H. Breman for attorney-general ; Mrs. A. L. Wasliburu for superin - tendent of public instruction ; Leland W. Green for congress, and L. F. Hollingsworth for judge of the supreme court. All parties also nominated candidates for regents of the state university. The Republican candidates, with the exception of governor, were elected by pluralities ranging from 1,200 to 4,500. For governor, Grant received 29,897 votes; Campbell, 27,552, and Way, 1,239. A constitutional amendment, increasing the salaries of the gov- ernor and supreme judges, was adopted by a large majority, and the Republicans elected enough of the legislators to give them a majority of thirty-one on joint ballot.
In April 1882 Senator Teller was appointed secretary of the interior by President Arthur, and a few days afterward Governor Pitkin appointed George M. Chilcott to the vacancy, until the meeting of the legislature. There were three candidates for the appointment, ex-Governor Routt, Lieutenant-Governor Tabor, and Thomas M. Bowen. All three were very wealthy, and the selection of Chilcott aroused their opposition to such an extent that they were largely instrumental in defeating Pitkin for United States senator a year later.
James Benton Grant, the third state governor of Colorado, was born in Russell county, Ala., January 2, 1848. The Civil war brought disaster to his father, who was a large planter and slave owner, and while still a mere boy he left school and went to work on his father's plantation. During the last year of the war he served in the Confederate army. After the war he continued to work on the plantation until 1871 when he went to live with his uncle, James Grant, at Davenport, la. He attended the Iowa agricultural college, and afterward took a course in civil engin- cering at Cornell university. From Cornell he went to Germany and took a two years course in mineralogy, etc., in the famous Freiburg school of mines. He next spent some time in the mines of Australia and New Zealand, studying the different methods of operation, and returned to the United States. Soon after land-
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COLORIDO FROM ISSI TO 1892.
ing at San Francisco, in 1876, he went to Gilpin county, Col., and bought the mining property known as the Clarissa mine. In 1878 he removed to I,cadville, where he and his uncle established the J. B. Grant & Co. smelting works. The company was afterward consolidated with the Omaha company under the name of the Omaha & Grant Smelting Co., and he became vice-president of the new corporation. For a long time he was vice-president of the Denver National bank. He was the first Democrat to be elected governor of the State of Colorado. The education he had acquired by collegiate training and travel made him a man of broad views, and fitted him for the discharge of his executive duties. His administration of state affairs was independent, impartial, and therefore eminently satisfactory.
Governor Grant was inaugurated at the opening of the fourth session of the state legislature, which assembled January 3, 1883. At this session the chief interest was in the election of a United States senator to fill the remainder of the term for which Senator . Teller was elected, and also one for the full term, beginning on the fourth of March, 1883. After a prolonged contest, H. A. W. Tabor was chosen for the few remaining weeks of the short term, and Thomas M. Bowen for the full term. A bill providing for the erection of a state capitol was passed, and a board of com- missioners, consisting of John 1. Routt, Dennis Sullivan, George W. Kassler, Alfred Butters, E. S. Nettleton, and W. W. Webster, was appointed to carry out the provisions of the act. An appropriation of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars was made for the erection of the first wing with the restriction that it should not cost more than two hundred thousand dollars, and the cost of the entire building was not to exceed one million dol- lars: Delta, Mesa, and Montrose counties were created from part of Gunnison ; Eagle and Garfield counties from part of Sun- mit, and the county of Uncompahgre was cut out of Ouray but was not organized. A state bureau of horticulture was estab- lished, and liberal appropriations were made for the support of the state institutions and the expenses of the state government.
On July 17, 1883, the second annual mining and industrial exposition was opened at Denver, and remained open to visitors until September 30. The first exposition was during the months of August and September of the preceding year. During the exposition of 1883 several conventions of note were held in the city. On the opening day began the seventeenth annual encamp- ment of the Grand Army of the Republic; on August 14 the con- vocation of Royal Arch Masons was convened, and during the
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week it was in session several commanderies of Knights Templar stopped over on their way to the triennial conclave at San Fran- cisco. The visitors went away with a favorable impression of the enterprise and hospitality of the Queen City of the Plains, and Denver was widely advertised as a prosperous municipality.
In October a temperance convention was held at Denver, and among the resolutions adopted was one declaring "That steps should at once be taken to prepare a bill providing for an amend- ment to the Constitution of this State, having prohibition for its foundation, and that a committee of five be appointed by this con- vention to further this end." The convention marked the begin - ning of the Prohibition party in Colorado.
Although the campaign of 1884 involved the election of a presi- dent, it was not distinguished by any unusual amount of political activity. Delegates to the national conventions were selected carly by all parties, and later in the season state tickets were nomi- nated. The Republican ticket, which was the one elected in November, was as follows: For governor, Benjamin HI. Eaton ; lieutenant-governor, Peter W. Breene; secretary, Melvin Edwards; auditor, H. A. Spruance; treasurer, George R. Swal- low; attorney-general, Theodore H. Thomas; superintendent of public instruction, L. S. Cornell; representative in congress, George G. Symes. The Democrats nominated Alva Adams for governor and Charles S. Thomas for congress. The Greenback candidate for governor was J. E. Washburn, and for congress George W. Woy was nominated. The election occurred on November 1, and the vote for president was as follows: Blaine, Republican, 36,200; Cleveland, Democrat, 27.723 ; Butler, Green- backer, 1,958; St. John, Prohibitionist, 761. For governor, Eaton received 33,845 votes; Adams, 30,713, and Washburn, 2,104. Three amendments to the constitution were adopted. The first increased the salary of members of the general assembly to seven dollars a day ; the second provided that no act of the legislature should become a law until ninety days after its passage, except in cases of emergency, and that no bill, except the general appro- priation bill, should be introduced after the expiration of thirty days of the session, and the third stipulated that no bill should become a law until after all proposed amendments to it had been printed for the consideration of the members, nor unless the names of the members voting for or against it should be recorded on the journals of the house and senate.
The fifth session of the state legislature met on the 5th of January, 1885. In the election of a United States senator, to suc-
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COLORADO FROM 1881 TO 1892.
ceed Nathaniel P. Hill, the Republicans selected Henry M. Teller for their candidate and the Democratic caucus nominated Dennis Sullivan. The joint ballot was taken on January 21, and resulted in the election of Teller by a vote of 50 to 20. Acts were passed during the session amending the capitol building act of 1883; creating the county of Archuleta from part of Conejos ; amending the charter of the city of Denver; creating thirty-four irrigating districts, and giving the irrigation commissioners jurisdiction in the settlement of questions involving the priority of water rights ; creating the offices of forest and railroad commissioner, and sub- mitting to the people at the next general election several amend- ments to the state constitution. Governor Eaton's inauguration took place at the beginning of the session.
Benjamin Harrison Eaton, the fourth governor of Colorado after its admission into the Union, was born in Coshocton county, O., December 15, 1833. Until he was sixteen years of age he worked on his father's farm and attended the district . schools. He then entered the academy at West Bethford, where he took a three year course, graduating in 1852. In 1854 he removed to Louisa county, Ia., where he engaged in farming and teaching until the discovery of gold at Pike's Peak, when he went . to Colorado. For three years he followed mining and prospect- ing, but in 1862 he went to New Mexico and again engaged in farmning. Two years later he went back to Colorado and began farming near Greeley, in Weld county, where he acquired owner- ship of 14,000 acres of land. He also became interested in the construction of irrigating canals, and Colorado owes much of her splendid irrigation systems to his undertakings. A reservoir, large enough to furnish water for 30,000 acres, was constructed by him on the Cache la Poudre river. His early political career was as justice of the peace, which office he held for a number of years. He also served as school commissioner, and penitentiary commissioner, and in 1872 was elected to the territorial legislature. After serving one term in the council of that body he was elected to the state senate upon the admission of Colorado. For six years he was on the board of county commissioners of Weld county, and was the founder of the town of Eaton, where he erected one of the finest flour mills in the state. He served but one term as governor of the state.
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