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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/37182-8.txt b/37182-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..808eaa8 --- /dev/null +++ b/37182-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5174 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Colorado--The Bright Romance of American +History, by F. C. Grable + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Colorado--The Bright Romance of American History + +Author: F. C. Grable + +Illustrator: Allen True + +Release Date: August 23, 2011 [EBook #37182] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COLORADO--THE BRIGHT ROMANCE *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +[Illustration: A Portion of Estes Park, with Long's Peak in the Distance. + (See Page 91.)] + + + +COLORADO + +THE BRIGHT ROMANCE OF AMERICAN HISTORY + + +BY + +F. C. GRABLE + + +PAINTINGS BY + +ALLEN TRUE + + +COPYRIGHT 1911 +F. C. GRABLE +ALL RIGHTS RESERVED + +THE KISTLER PRESS +DENVER COLO. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE +CHAPTER I. +The Old, the New, and the Ocean Between 1 + +CHAPTER II. +Coronado 14 + +CHAPTER III. +Light in the East 40 + +CHAPTER IV. +Lieutenant Pike 54 + +CHAPTER V. +The Lost Period 75 + +CHAPTER VI. +Major Long 85 + +CHAPTER VII. +The Pioneers 99 + +CHAPTER VIII. +Christopher Carson and His Contemporaries 106 + +CHAPTER IX. +General Fremont and the Mormons 125 + +CHAPTER X. +Opportunity 143 + +CHAPTER XI. +A Vanishing Race 153 + +CHAPTER XII. +The Lustre of Gold 171 + +CHAPTER XIII. +Some Men of Visions 184 + +CHAPTER XIV. +The Stone Which the Builders Rejected 222 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS. + + +A Glimpse of Estes Park Frontispiece + +CHAPTER I. Face Page +The Ocean Explorer 1 + +CHAPTER II. +Coronado Before a Zuni Village 16 + +CHAPTER IV. +(_a_) Pike and His Frozen Companion 66 +(_b_) One of the Approaches to Cheyenne Mt. 74 + +CHAPTER V. +The Trapper 78 + +CHAPTER VI. +The Buffalo Hunter 94 + +CHAPTER VII. +Pioneers and Prairie Schooner 110 + +CHAPTER VIII. +A Government Scout 126 + +CHAPTER IX. +Indians Watching Fremont's Force 134 + +CHAPTER X. +Ventura, Historian of Taos Indians 142 + +CHAPTER XI. +(_a_) Indian Chief Addressing the Council 158 +(_b_) Winnowing Grain 166 + +CHAPTER XII. +Making a Clean-up 174 + + + + +DEDICATED + + +TO THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO: + +Whose work in laying the foundation of the magnificent superstructure +of our great State, as Abraham Lincoln said of the heroes of +Gettysburg, "is far beyond our poor power to add or detract." + + + + +PREFACE. + + +It is Emerson's beautiful thought that all true history is biography, +and that men are but the pages of history. In felicitous language the +author has pictured a period that is indeed the bright romance of +American history. It is the story of the discovery of a new Continent +in the Western Seas; the story of a graceful and cultured people of a +mighty world-power in the Fifteenth Century; the story of the dream of +a great Western Empire to be founded in the New World, where would be +revived all the pomps and chivalries of Castile's ancient court; the +story of the fading of that dream in the splendor of the great +world-idea of the self-government of man carried by the Pilgrim +Fathers to Plymouth Rock in 1620; the story that in the great drama of +life man is ever changing from the old into the new, and from the bad +into the better in unceasing, unchanging, inevitable evolution; the +story of early Colorado, whose ancient Capital, Santa Fe,--in the +sense that Colorado is a part of the old Spanish country--was the +first white settlement west of the Floridas upon all this Western +Continent within the present domain of the United States. + +But more than all, it is a story of the human touch of those still +living and of great empire builders not long since passed away, whose +"hands bent the arch of the new heavens" over our beloved State of +Colorado; whose eyes were filled with far-away visions and their +hearts with sublime faith; pioneers and history makers of whom we +would say as Cinneas said when asked by his master Pyrrhus after his +return from his Embassy at Rome, "What did the Roman Senate look +like?" + +"An assembly of Kings!" replied Cinneas. + +Wendell Phillips, in the greatest of all his lectures, pictures the +"Muse of history dipping her pen in the sunlight and writing in the +clear blue" above all other names the name of his hero "Toussaint +l'Ouverture." The author in these pages which so graphically portray +the early history of our State would not write the name of Colorado +above any sister state; but we can catch between his lines the deep +undertones of the music of the Union, which overmaster all sectional +notes in the thought, that Colorado is a glorious part of it all. + +And so it is enough that we read in the title of this book these magic +words, as if traced in the clear sunlight of our mountain skies, +"Colorado--The Bright Romance of American History." + +J. F. TUTTLE, JR. + + + + +COLORADO--THE BRIGHT ROMANCE OF AMERICAN HISTORY + + +[Illustration: The Ocean Explorer.] + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE OLD, THE NEW, AND THE OCEAN BETWEEN. + + +[Sidenote: 1504] + +The great Queen Isabella was dead. She had died amidst the splendor of +the richest and most powerful Court on earth, beloved by some for her +noble qualities, and execrated by others for her tyrannical laws, for +the heartlessness and cruelty she had practiced, for the wars she had +kindled, and for the lives she had sacrificed. Because of the +turbulence of the elements, the superstitious believed that her +unconquerable spirit refused to be tranquilized even by death. +Darkness lay upon the world, and the slowly moving funeral cortege +made its way the three hundred miles to Granada, menaced by the +lightning's flash, and accompanied by the thunder's roar, the rain and +the hurricane, and the floods which swept men and horses to their +death. At last, after thirty years of a masterful and memorable reign, +Isabella lay at rest in the marvelously beautiful Alhambra, the burial +place of her choice which she had wrested from the Moorish Kings. And +Ferdinand ruled in her stead. + +[Sidenote: 1506] + +Less than two years, and there was another notable death in Spain. The +far-seeing eyes of a kingly man looked out upon the world for the last +time. The active hands of a great navigator lay still, folded over the +courageous heart that had long been broken; the heart that had been +thrilled by the acclaim of the populace, and then chilled by the +frowns of its sovereigns; the hands that had been bedecked with jewels +by Ferdinand and Isabella, and later laden by them with chains. +Columbus, the admiral of the ocean, who had joined two worlds by his +genius and accomplished an event whose magnitude and grandeur history +can never equal, and who had filled the center of a stage, brilliant +with the famous actors of his time, had died; died in poverty and +neglect; instead of chimes chanting a requiem in his praise, there was +the rattle of the chains his hands had worn, as they went down into +his sepulchre for burial with him according to his wish. Even his +grave remained unmarked for ten years, until public opinion forced +Ferdinand to a tardy recognition of his duty in the erection of a +monument in honor of one of the greatest men of any age; a man great +in thought and great in action; a man with such a mighty faith that we +stand appalled at its mightiness! + +Isabella left a united country; a country at the pinnacle of +greatness. She left a highly organized army; an army wrought out of a +fragment of incompetency. She raised the standard of science and the +arts, and advanced the cause of morality. But the greatest and most +enduring monument she erected was the result of the slight +encouragement and scant help that she gave to the enthusiastic Italian +mendicant, who became the founder of a New World and whose fame will +continue undimmed to the end of time. + +[Sidenote: 1516] + +"The King is dead" fell upon Ferdinand's unhearing ears. "Long live +the King" greeted the advent of Charles, his successor. Charles, who +was the son of the unfortunate Joanna, daughter of Ferdinand and +Isabella; Charles I, King of Spain; Charles V, Emperor of Germany; +Ruler over the kingdom of Naples; Monarch of the New World. Power, +such as the world has seldom seen, centered in this man; an empire so +vast that it encircled the globe, and upon whose domain military +activities never ceased. The cruelties of Spain are proverbial, and +they reached their climax under the rule of Ferdinand, Isabella and +Charles; and under them the decadence of their nation began, which in +four hundred years has never ceased. Now, shorn of every dependency, +its power forever destroyed, it lies crushed, humiliated and broken by +the greatness of its fall. + +And here this sketch leaves Old Spain and we sail away across the +ocean five thousand miles, to the New Spain of that period, in a ship +whose sails flap lazily in the breeze, taking more weeks then than +days now by the modern methods of this enlightened age. + +[Sidenote: 1519] + +Hernando Cortez sprang from a noble but impoverished family. Educated +for the law, he chose an adventurous life instead, and at the age of +nineteen left Spain for San Domingo to try his fortunes in the New +World, resulting in his brilliant conquest of Mexico; a country whose +early history we can only imagine. The unknowable is there; for its +secrets lie buried beneath the weight of centuries. Tragedy is there; +for what derelict, never heard of more, dropped in from over the seas +and cast its human wreckage on those unknown shores for the beginning +of a nation? Who were those who may have been lost to home and friends +and wandered in from Asia over that narrow strip of land long ago +submerged? Whence they came, whatever their nation or color, they were +human beings, with thoughts and affections like ours, whose beginnings +we can never fathom. They grew in numbers, had flocks and herds, and +gold and jewels. They had tribal governments, with differing customs +and languages. They had the wandering habit. The streams, the +mountains, and the plains beckoned them and they came and went, happy, +care-free and prosperous. Some one among them said: "Let us all come +together and unite as a people; establish a uniform government; build +a city, and select some one of our number to rule over us." And it was +done. Mexico City was built and became the Capital. Montezuma was made +the ruler. They had laws and Courts of Justice; they had +well-constructed and highly-decorated buildings, with architectural +features the equal of some European structures prized for their beauty +and durability. Their streets were laid out symmetrically, and their +parks and landscape gardening added to the city's attractiveness. They +had a system of canals and well-developed agriculture; an organized +army and thoroughly equipped ships. Whence came this high +civilization? We can never know. We only know that it existed. Two +million people lived in and adjacent to Mexico City. They were rich, +intelligent and contented, until the coming of Cortez; and when he +reached the shores of Mexico in the Spring of 1519 it was a memorable +day for them. He came in ten ships with six hundred Spanish soldiers. +He disembarked, and when the last man was ashore and all the +ammunition and guns and supplies were landed, he performed a feat of +courage bordering on the sublime. He set his ships on fire, and he +stood with his resolute men and saw them burn to the water's edge, +knowing that the flame and smoke and destruction meant for each that +he must conquer or die. And they marched away, a handful against a +host, and they won! + +But the fall of Mexico, like the fate of most nations, came from +within and not from without. What could six hundred do against a +united two million. That was where Cortez shone. To create discord, +distrust and jealousy; to make them fight each other; to unite the +disaffected under his own banner, was the work of a diplomat and +general, and he was both. To their everlasting disgrace, the +dissatisfied of the native race accomplished for Cortez the downfall +of their own nation. And when, two years after he began his +destructive warfare, the City of Mexico had been utterly destroyed; +when a race had been subjugated; had been stripped of its vast +treasure of gold and jewels for the greater glorification of the +luxurious Court of Spain; had lost thousands by slaughter; then, and +not till then, did the insurgents know that they had encompassed their +own ruin. They were enslaved by the Spaniards. The last chapter in +their national life was written. The Aztecs, as a people, were no +more. They were given the name of Mexicans by the Spaniards, for +"Mexitl" the national War God of the native race. Mexicans they have +continued to this day, and Cortez as Captain General ruled over the +Mexican Territory which he called "New Spain." He set four hundred +thousand of the enslaved natives to rebuilding the City of Mexico, but +their hearts were in the ruins of the old city, and not in the +building of the new--for Cortez saw to it that there should be nothing +in the new Spanish city that would remind them of the ancient grandeur +of the old. Ten years after its completion there were not a thousand +people in it. The old population was melting away, dying off from +over-work in the mines to which they had been driven, and where they +sickened from disease and hunger and heart yearning for the families +from whom they had been forcibly separated, while nearly seven million +dollars a year of their earnings were being sent to Spain, taken from +the richest silver mines in all the world. + +You were great Empire builders, oh Spain! But your wanton cruelty to +mankind will forever cloud your glory as the eclipse darkens the sun! +You permitted the Inquisition! You pitted strength against +helplessness, burned thousands alive, and confiscated their property! +You permitted the slaughter of twelve hundred thousand human beings in +the West Indies, and never heard their pitiful cry, until the lack of +earnings ceased to swell the income of the Crown, and then you carried +captives from the mainland to take the place of the dead! You +permitted the institution of the American slave trade, which only +ended at Appomattox, with the destruction of hundreds of thousands of +American soldiers, and millions of money! + +The power and fame of Cortez had grown beyond the limit set by the +Crown of Spain. Every forceful and successful man in the Dominion of +Spain was a marked man; not marked for preferment and encouragement, +but marked for humiliation and disgrace. The battles that Cortez had +won for the King were forgotten; the treasure he had sent home counted +for naught; and for the territory he had subjugated, there was no +appreciation. His authority was ended. An officer and soldiers came +from Spain to take him back, not with honor, but in ignominy. He +arrested the officer, and induced the soldiers to join his army. He +was so powerful that he thought he could be King of the New World. +Finally, threats and promises secured his peaceable return to Spain, +where all promises were broken, and his life was tempest-tossed until +he died. + +[Sidenote: 1528] + +Then Nuno de Guzman was named Governor General of New Spain. He +started out to duplicate the successes of Cortez, whose ability he +lacked, as well as the opportunity. He hunted in vain for another +Mexico City to conquer and despoil. He pushed Northward hunting for +riches, slaughtering the natives, burning their villages, and laying +waste their country. He conquered a great territory on the western +coast of Upper Mexico, along the Gulf of California, which he called +"New Gallicia." His rule was so ruthless, cruel and desolating, that +even Spain, hardened as she was to suffering, was shocked with his +barbarous persecution of the natives, and after seven years, a warrant +was sent out from Spain for his arrest and trial, on charges of +inhuman cruelty. He was deprived of his office, taken to Mexico City, +held there a prisoner for several years, and was then returned to +Spain. + +[Sidenote: 1535] + +Don Antonio de Mendoza, known as the "Good Viceroy," succeeded to the +rule of Mexico, and put in practice a new policy, one not before tried +in the New World, that of kindness. It had come too late for many, for +the dead were everywhere, and the living had settled into a degree of +hopelessness that a whole decade of kind treatment could do little +toward counteracting. Three hundred and seventy-six years have passed +since that day, and the scars of those sixteen years of Spanish murder +and plunder have not yet been removed. + +With which our narrative ends as to the mis-rule of New Spain. + +[Sidenote: 1536] + +Pamfilo de Narvaez had been made Governor of Florida in 1527 by the +Spanish Government, with a grant to explore and colonize a vast +territory bordering on the Gulf of Mexico. He outfitted in Spain, +sailed to Cuba where he repaired his vessels, thence into the Gulf of +Mexico, meeting with storms that drove him out of his course, and so +confused his mariners that they lost their reckoning. Consequently, he +was left by his ships with his three hundred men and horses on the +coast of Florida, instead of on the coast of Texas, as he thought. +They rode away into the wilderness and nearly all to their death. +Their wanderings, hardships and sufferings, the mind cannot conceive +nor the pen describe. They worked to the West and North, crossing +rivers and swamps, plains and mountains, through heat and cold, hungry +and finally starving when their last horse had been used for food, +mistreated by hostile Indians, lost and in despair. Beating their +spurs into nails, they made boats, and using the hides from their +horses for sails, they were borne down one of the Gulf Rivers, and out +into the swift ocean current where they were carried to sea and +drowned--all save four. Eight years after they had disembarked on the +Florida Coast, these four were found by some slave catchers, away up +on the Coast of California, whither they had wandered, and taken to +Mexico City. Their sufferings had been so great, that when they +reached civilization, they could no longer appreciate comforts. They +continued to sleep on the ground, to eat unwholesome food, and to +cling to the primitive habits they had formed. Slavery had in the +meantime become so common, that Mendoza bought of the three Spaniards +the negro, Estevanico, to act as guide to the far North, to which +country Mendoza proposed to send an expedition. + +[Sidenote: 1539] + +Fray Marcos, a Priest from Italy, had been a participant in the +conquest of Peru, was a historian and theologian, picturesque in +appearance and language, and was next to Mendoza in power. He was +selected to go North on a visit preliminary to the proposed +expedition, with the negro as guide. Rumors were in the air, and +growing all the time, of wonderful cities and untold treasure in the +North. Even the three returned Spaniards, rested from their +wanderings, hinted at the fabulous wealth of which they persuaded +themselves they had heard. The tales grew with the telling, so that +Fray Marcos felt that he must be able to verify these reports, which +he did, with the result that when the Coronado expedition found they +did not exist, he had the great misfortune to ever after be called the +"Lying Monk." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +CORONADO. + + +[Sidenote: 1540] + +About four years after the death of Columbus at Valladolid, there was +born at Salamanca, about sixty miles away, one who was to become an +explorer in the world that Columbus had discovered. Francisco Vasquez +de Coronado grew up to have ambitions of his own. He removed to New +Spain, where he married Beatrice, the beautiful and accomplished +daughter of King Charles' cousin. Her father, Alonzo Estranda, was the +royal treasurer of the New Country. Even at that remote period those +Spanish gentlemen had a way of coming across the seas and weighing +their titles in the scales against the money, bonds and lands of the +relatives of the prospective wife, in the process of which the wife +did not apparently seem to be taken into account. Coronado received +from the mother of Beatrice, a great landed estate that had come to +her as a grant from the Crown. Then, too, they had a law in New Spain, +that confiscated the property of a man if he failed to marry by a +certain time. One who preferred poverty to matrimony, had his vast +fortune taken from him, and given to Coronado, which was very bad for +one, and very pleasant for the other. So Coronado started out on his +career very rich. He was made an officer in the Spanish army, and +almost immediately attracted attention to himself. The negroes in the +mines at Ametepeque mutinied, and set up a king for themselves, in +order that the wealth which they were producing might become the +property of their own king and themselves, instead of being sent to +the Court of Spain. The promptness with which Coronado shot many of +them to death and took their king away, shows that he was neither +lacking in decision nor initiative even at the very early age of +twenty-seven. A year later, 1538, he received the appointment of +Governor of New Gallicia, the country in the subjugation of which, +Guzeman the Viceroy of New Spain, had accomplished his own undoing. +Coronado had helped Fray Marcos and his negro guide on their way +through his territory as they passed northward. They went unattended +and unprotected. It had seemed to Mendoza that Fray Marcos, in his +priestly capacity, might accomplish more for the Crown than could the +royal troops; alone he could gain the confidence of the Indians and +learn of their strength and treasure. So he went without weapons, and +with only a few friendly Indian carriers. + +Spring turned to summer, and summer to autumn, and Estevenico, the +negro guide, had become a memory only. The man who had so successfully +faced the dangers of the wilds in his eight years of wanderings, was +not to be so fortunate this time. He had an idea that he might become +a person of importance himself, an explorer instead of guide, and reap +the glory of the success of the trip. So at the first opportunity, he +put his plans into practice. Fray Marcos had sent him on ahead for a +few days of reconnoitering and then to wait. He reconnoitered, but he +did not wait. Gathering an ever increasing number of the natives about +him, he pressed on and Fray Marcos never did overtake him. He grew +more arrogant all the time, until finally he was made prisoner by the +Chief of one of the tribes, was tortured, put to death, his body cut +into pieces and distributed as souvenirs among the tribes. Three +hundred of his followers were killed, one escaping and bringing the +news to Fray Marcos, who quickly began to retrace his steps, the +Indians all the time becoming more threatening as he passed southward. + +Coronado met the Monk as he returned, and accompanied him to Mexico +City where he went to make what proved to be a much over-drawn report. +Coronado had by this time become so enthusiastic over the +possibilities of his own aggrandizement, and the wealth to be reaped +from an expedition of conquest, that he proposed to Mendoza to pay the +entire cost of the expedition himself, if he were allowed to head the +party and share in its results. Mendoza was too guardful of his own +prestige and prospects, and of the interests of the Crown, to accept +the offer. But he appointed Coronado, General of the Army, to the +disappointment of a number of its prominent members who desired the +position for themselves. Acting upon the suggestion that had come from +Coronado, Mendoza mortgaged all of his estates and joined his money to +that of the Crown to pay the tremendous expense of the expedition. +Because of the number engaged, the extent of the preparations, the +time involved and the distance traversed, this is counted as the most +notable exploration party ever engaged in exploiting the North +American Continent. It comprised a picked company of three hundred +Spanish soldiers and horsemen, eight hundred seasoned Indian warriors, +and two ships under Alercon carrying extra supplies of food and +ammunition, which were to take the ocean route and be subject to call. +All being in readiness, the army marched, the ships sailed, the +trumpets sounded and the people shouted, all on that memorable morning +of February 23, 1540. + +[Illustration: Coronado Before One of the Zuni Villages.] + +Up from Compostela, their starting point, northwest of Mexico City; up +along the Pacific Coast; up through New Gallicia and on by the shore +of the ocean they pushed, bearing inland to the east and away from +their ships which they were never to see again. At last they passed +through Sonora, across the northernmost boundary of Mexico, and were +swallowed up in the wilderness of Arizona. Like the hunter traveling +far for his prey, the expedition on July 7th found its quarry, and +began the slaughter by the capture of the first of the "Seven cities +of Cibola." Coronado named the captured city Granada, the city in +Spain that was the birth place of Mendoza, and the burial place of +Queen Isabella. The remaining six cities were much like the first; +inhabited by the Zuni Indians, poor, ignorant and uncivilized. These +were the cities which Fray Marcos had reported to be the rivals of the +famous City of Mexico. They proved to be simple adobe houses, instead +of imposing structures with classical architecture. The people were +numbered by hundreds instead of by thousands, and were living in +abject poverty instead of wealth. The outraged and indignant army +brought Fray Marcos before them, and told him "Annanias estaba hambra +vere fies a lado di te." The Monk was greatly chagrined and +crest-fallen; his punishment consisted only in his being banished from +the army and sent back to Mexico in disgrace. But would he have +returned northward with the army if he thought he was deceiving them? +Doubtless as he viewed the country of Cibola from a distance, what he +described seemed to him true, though he may not have scrupulously +controlled his imagination. The name Cibola is from Se-bo-la, meaning +cow or buffalo. These seven cities were located in Upper New Mexico +about one hundred miles west of Albuquerque. + +General Coronado having been badly injured in battle, the army went +into camp pending his recovery, and detachments were sent out on trips +of discovery. + +Alvarada with a party went east and found the Rio Grande River, lined +with eighty native villages, and about 15,000 Indians. Crossing the +river, he came out upon the great buffalo plains of northern Texas, +and then made his way back to the army. + +Maldonado had previously gone with a party to the ocean in fruitless +search of the ships, but found marks made by Alercon on a tree, at the +foot of which was a letter; in it they told of their arrival, of their +sailing quite a distance up the Colorado River, of their finding that +they were in a Gulf instead of on the Ocean, and that, not finding the +army, they were starting on their return trip. There is no record of +their ever having reached home. If they had been on the Ocean instead +of in the Gulf of California, and could have sailed on North, and had +discovered the mild climate of California and its luxuriant foliage, +unquestionably Spain would have colonized that country, the Rocky +Mountains would have been the dividing wall between Spanish Territory +and that of the United States, and Dewey, instead of going to the +Philippines to fight the Spanish fleet, would have bombarded the +Spanish City of San Francisco and have sunk their ships at the Golden +Gate. The Pacific Ocean was then unknown. It had only been discovered +twenty years before, when Magalhaes in 1520 sailed into its South +American waters, and called it "Pacific" because of its calmness as +compared with the storms which he had just encountered. + +Field Marshal Garcia Cardenas led a party westward, and found the +Colorado River at the point now known as the Grand Canon of Arizona, +where the river is seven thousand feet deep in the ground, and where +the mighty rushing torrent is so far below, that it seems like a +thread winding its way at the bottom of that wonderful gorge, to which +the party tried in vain to descend. He was gone eighty days, and +reported, upon his return, that the river was a barrier so frightful +and insurmountable, that it would bar investigations to the westward +forever. + +It is a river that is eleven hundred miles long, and is formed by the +union in Utah, of the Green River from Wyoming, and the Grand River +from Colorado. It is navigable for five hundred miles, and its mighty +volume pours unceasingly through a channel fifty feet deep, and +thirteen hundred feet wide at the point in Mexico where it hurls its +turbulent waters into the Gulf of California. The stupendous gorge +where Cardenas touched the river, is two hundred and fifty miles long, +and is made up of a maze of giant gorges. It is the most sublime +spectacle on earth. Below the Niagara Falls is a tempestuous +whirl-pool, seething, roaring, and dashing against the towering walls +of granite that vie with the turbulence of the waters for the mastery. +A thousand whirl-pools, more majestic and more inspiring, are gripped +within the walls of the canons of the Colorado River. It is for this +King of Rivers, that our State is named; a Spanish name, meaning +"ruddy." In the naming of the river and the state, two extremes have +met. In the river Colorado--is the labyrinthian terrifying chasm, +filled with the terrific rush and deafening roar of the pounding +waters, of the turbulent tidal waters laboring under the mighty swells +from the tempestuous ocean. While in Colorado the State--there is +peace, peace everywhere; the silent mountains, the quiet plains, the +mellow skies, the sunny lakes, the balmy air, the murmuring +streams--all soothe and charm and thrill, and life is all too short +for the enjoyment of its perfections. + +[Illustration: A map.] + +The army moved to the Rio Grande River and went into winter quarters, +occupying the best of the houses of the natives whom they inhospitably +turned out of doors to pass the winter. One of the Indians who had +been taken prisoner by the Spaniards was a talkative person and told +of a rich country far to the northeast, a country "filled with gold +and lordly kings." It sounded good to the army, as just what they were +seeking, and their enthusiasm grew as the winter passed. With the +coming of Spring, April 23, 1541, Coronado began the march to the +northeast with his whole excited army, guided by the Indian with the +vivid imagination, whom they called the "Turk." After many days of +travel with no result, and meeting different Indian tribes who said +the guide's stories were untrue, and being repeatedly assured by other +Indians that there was nothing to Turk's tales, the suspicions of the +army became a certainty, and upon their insistent questions their +guide yielded up his secret. To save his people, he was leading the +army away on a far journey, in the hope that they would never get +back, and if they did return, would be so weak and their horses so +worn, that the natives could easily fall upon and destroy them. The +work of the infuriated soldiers was cruel, swift and certain, and when +it had ended, there on the ground lay the Indian, dead. + +As die the heroes of all ages, so died this Indian guide. He died for +his people. Coronado's army had invaded his country, turned his people +out of their homes in midwinter, confiscated the supplies of their +families, had killed some and imprisoned many. Leading the army away, +out of reach of water and food, hoping to encompass its destruction, +knowing that every step took him nearer to the death sure to be meted +out to him, he moved stoically and unfalteringly to his fate. "Make +way for liberty," cried Winkelreid, as he fell pierced by a dozen +bayonets pinning him to the earth, while through the gap in the solid +ranks of the enemy, poured his compatriots, sweeping Switzerland to +its freedom--and his name will live forever. Just as nobly died the +Indian on the western plains, but the wind that scattered his dust, +blew into oblivion the remembrance of the heroic act of a humble, +courageous, and self-sacrificing martyr! + +The bewildered army halted for consultation. It was decided by +Coronado that he would take thirty picked horsemen and proceed +northeasterly on a tour of investigation, while the main army would +return to the Rio Grande, to the point that had been the place of +their winter quarters. He proceeded into Northern Kansas, and is +supposed to have passed the boundary line between Nebraska and Kansas, +and to have crossed the Platte River, whence he retraced his steps to +the army, then at a place near the site of the present City of +Albuquerque. + +Upon his arrival he wrote a letter to the King of Spain, which is +hereafter quoted. It is interesting to note how highly he regards the +country of Quivira, which afterwards was called "Kansas," and which he +likens to the soil of Spain. His description of the products of that +section gives much information. The "cows," so frequently referred to +in his letter, were the buffalo which we found just as plentiful when +we came to settle the country. The Indians moved with the buffalo, and +lived upon them, moving their tents along with the herds as they +grazed northward in summer to escape the heat, mosquitoes and flies, +and journeying south together in the winter, to escape the cold. The +Indians knew no such word as buffalo, but called this greatly +appreciated animal Ni-ai, which meant shelter or protector. The +distance travelled by the expedition was measured by a footman +trudging along beside a horseman, his steps being counted by the +riders, seventeen hundred and sixty steps making a mile. They traveled +forty-two days on their way to the Northeast, shortening the distance +to thirty-five days for their return, and were twenty-five days in the +country of Quivira. The distance traveled was three hundred leagues, +which is about seven hundred miles. The same year that Coronado was in +Eastern Kansas, the eminent Spanish warrior and explorer De Soto, back +from his conquest of Peru with Pizarro, had discovered the Mississippi +River, the Father of Waters, and ascended it from the Gulf of Mexico; +there was only the State of Iowa between his exploring party and that +of Coronado, though neither of them were aware of the fact. + + "Holy Catholic Caesarian Majesty: + + "On April 20 of this year (1541) I wrote to your Majesty from this + Province of Tiguex, in reply to a letter from your Majesty, dated + in Madrid June 11 a year ago * * * I started from this Province on + the 23 of last April for the place where the Indian wanted to + guide me. After nine days march I reached some plains so vast that + I did not find their limit anywhere that I went, although I + traveled over them for more than 300 leagues, and I found such a + quantity of cows in these plains * * * which they have in this + country, that it is impossible to number them, for which I was + journeying through these plains until I returned to where I first + found them there was not a day that I lost sight of them. And + after 17 days' march, I came to a settlement of Indians who are + called 'Querechos,' who travel around with these cows, who do not + plant and who eat the raw flesh and drink the blood of the cows + they kill and they tan the skins of the cows with which all the + people of this country dress themselves here. They have little + field tents made of the hides of the cows, tanned and greased, + very well made, in which they live while they travel around near + the cows, moving with these. They have dogs which they load, which + carry their tents and poles and belongings. These people have the + best figures of any that I have seen in the Indies. They could not + give me any account of the country where the guides were taking me + * * * + + "It was the Lord's pleasure, that after having journeyed across + these deserts 77 days, I arrived at the province they call Quivira + to which the guides were conducting me and where they had + described to me houses of stone with many stories and not only are + they of stone but of straw, but the people in them are as + barbarous as all those whom I have seen and passed before this. + They do not have cloaks nor cotton of which to make these, but use + the skins of the cattle they kill which they tan, because they are + settled among these on a very large river * * * The country itself + is the best I have ever seen for producing all the products of + Spain, for besides the land itself being very fat and black, and + being very well watered by the rivulets and springs and rivers, I + found prunes like those of Spain * * * and nuts and very good + sweet grapes and mulberries. I have treated the natives of this + province and all the others whom I have wherever I went as well as + was possible, agreeably to what your Majesty had commanded and + they have received no harm in any way from me or from those who + went in my Company * * * And what I am sure of is, that there is + not any gold nor any other metal in all that country and the other + things of which they had told me are nothing but little villages + and in many of these they do not plant anything and do not have + any houses except of skins and sticks and they wander around with + the cows; so that the account they gave me was false, because they + wanted to persuade me to go there with the whole force, believing + that as the way was through such inhabited deserts, and from the + lack of water, they would get us where we and our horses would die + of hunger * * * I have done all that I possibly could to serve + your Majesty and to discover a country where God our Lord might be + served and the royal patrimony of your Majesty increased as your + loyal servant and vassal. For since I reached the province of + Cibola, to which the Viceroy of New Spain sent me in the name of + your Majesty, seeing that there were none of the things there of + which Fray Marcos had told, I have managed to explore this country + for 200 leagues and more around Cibola and the best place I have + found is this river of Tiguex, where I am now and the settlements + here. It would not be possible to establish a settlement here, for + besides being 400 leagues from the North Sea and more than 200 + from the South Sea, with which it is impossible to have any sort + of communication, the country is so cold as I have written to your + Majesty that apparently the winter could not be spent here because + there is no wood nor cloth with which to protect the men except + the skins which the natives wear and some small amount of cotton + cloaks. I send the Viceroy of New Spain an account of everything I + have seen in the countries where I have been, and as Don Garcia + Lopez de Cardenas is going to kiss your Majesty's hands who has + done much and has served your Majesty very well on this expedition + and he will give your Majesty an account of everything here as one + who has seen it himself, I give way to him. And may our Lord + protect the Holy Imperial Catholic person of your Majesty with + increase of greater kingdoms and powers as your loyal servants and + vassals desire. From this Province of Tiguex, Oct. 20 in the year + 1541. Your Majesty's humble servant and vassal who would kiss the + royal feet and hands. + + (Signed) "FRANCISCO VASQUEZ CORONADO." + +On August 5, 1540, Coronado wrote to Mendoza, the Viceroy of New +Spain, a letter, of which a portion is introduced in these pages +because of its reference to local conditions where the army wintered. +The spelling in the letter to the King was changed for easier perusal, +but the original quaint translation is preserved in the following, +that the style may be observed. Both letters have been translated from +the Spanish: + + "It remaineth now to certifie your Honour of the seuen cities, and + of the kingdomes and prouinces whereof the Father produinciall + made report vnto your Lordship. And to bee briefe, I can assure + your honour, he sayd the trueth in nothing that he reported, but + all was quite contrary, sauing onely the names of the cities, and + great houses of stone: for although they bee not wrought with + Turqueses, nor with lyme, nor brickes, yet are they very excellent + good houses of three or foure or fiue lofts high, wherein are good + lodgings and faire chambers with lathers instead of staires, and + certaine cellars vnder the ground very good and paued, which are + made for winter, they are in maner like stooues: and the lathers + which they haue for their houses are all in a maner mooueable and + portable, and they are made of two pieces of wood with their + steppes, as ours be. The seuen cities are seuen small townes, all + made with these kinde of houses that I speake of: and they stand + all within foure leagues together, and they are all called the + kingdome of Cibola, and euery one of them haue their particular + name: and none of them is called Cibola, but altogether they are + called Cibola. And this towne which I call a citie, I haue named + Granada, as well because it is somewhat like vnto it, as also in + remembrance of your lordship. In this towne where I nowe remaine, + there may be some two hundred houses, all compassed with walles, + and I thinke that with the rest of the houses which are not so + walled, they may be together fiue hundred. There is another towne + neere this, which is one of the seuen, & it is somewhat bigger + than this, and another of the same bignesse that this is of, and + the other foure are somewhat lesse: and I send them all painted + vnto your lordship with the voyage. And the parchment wherein the + picture is, was found here with other parchments. The people of + this towne seeme vnto me of a reasonable stature, and wittie yet + they seem not to bee such as they should bee, of that judgment and + wit to builde these houses in such sort as they are. For the most + part they goe all naked, except their priuie partes which are + couered: and they haue painted mantles like those which I send + vnto your lordship. They haue no cotton wooll growing, because the + countrye is colde, yet they weare mantles thereof as your honour + may see by the shewe thereof: and true it is that there was found + in their houses certaine yarne made of cotton wooll. They weare + their haire on their heads like those of Mexico, and they are well + nurtured and condicioned: And they haue Turqueses I thinke good + quantitie, which with the rest of the goods which they had, except + their corne, they had conueyed away before I came thither: for I + found no women there, nor no youth vnder fifteene yeres olde, nor + no olde folkes aboue sixtie, sauing two or three olde folkes, who + stayed behinde to gouerne all the rest of the youth and men of + warre. There were found in a certaine paper two poynts of Emralds, + and certaine small stones broken which are in colour somewhat like + Granates very bad, and other stones of Christall, which I gaue one + of my seruants to lay vp to send them to your lordship, and hee + hath lost them as hee telleth me. Wee found heere Guinie cockes, + but fewe. The Indians tell mee in all these seuen cities, that + they eate them not, but that they keepe them onely for their + feathers. I beleeue them not, for they are excellent good, and + greater then those of Mexico. The season which is in this + countrey, and the temperature of the ayre is like that of Mexico: + for sometime it is hotte, and sometime it raineth: but hitherto I + neuer sawe it raine, but once there fell a little showre with + winde, as they are woont to fall in Spaine. + + "The snow and cold are woont to be great, for so say the + inhabitants of the Countrey: and it is very likely so to bee, both + in respect to the maner of the Countrey, and by the fashion of + their houses, and their furres and other things which this people + haue to defend them from colde. There is no kind of fruit nor + trees of fruite. The Countrey is all plaine, and is on no side + mountainous: albeit there are some hillie and bad passages. There + are small store of Foules: the cause whereof is the colde, and + because the mountaines are not neere. Here is no great store of + wood, because they haue wood for their fuell sufficient foure + leagues off from a wood of small Cedars. There is most excellent + grasse within a quarter of a league hence, for our horses as well + to feede them in pasture, as to mowe and make hay, whereof wee + stoode in great neede, because our horses came hither so weake and + feeble. The victuals which the people of this countrey haue, is + Maiz, whereof they haue great store, and also small white Pease: + and Venison, which by all likelyhood they feede vpon, (though they + say no) for wee found many skinnes of Deere, of Hares and Conies. + They eate the best cakes that euer I sawe, and euery body + generally eateth of them. They haue the finest order and way to + grind that wee euer sawe in any place. And one Indian woman of + this countrey will grinde as much as foure women of Mexico. They + haue no knowledge among them of the North Sea, nor of the Western + Sea, neither can I tell your lordship to which wee bee nearest: + But in reason they should seeme to bee neerest to the Western Sea: + and at the least I thinke I am an hundred and fiftie leagues from + thence: and the Northerne Sea should bee much further off. Your + lordship may see how broad the land is here. Here are many sorts + of beasts, as Beares, Tigers, Lions, Porkespicks, and certaine + Sheep as bigge as an horse, with very great hornes and little + tailes, I haue seene their hornes so bigge, that it is a wonder to + behold their greatnesse. Here are also wilde goates whose heads + likewise I haue seene, and the pawes of Beares, and the skins of + wilde Bores. There is game of Deere, Ounces, and very great + Stagges: and all men are of opinion that there are some bigger + than that beast which your lordship bestowed vpon me, which once + belonged to Iohn Melaz. They trauell eight dayes journey vnto + certaine plaines lying toward the North Sea. In this Countrey + there are certaine skinees well dressed, and they dresse them and + paint them where they kill their Oxen, for so they say themselves. + + (Signed) "FRANCISCO VASQUEZ CORONADO." + +Emerging from the second wintering of the army on the Rio Grande, +Coronado started in the Spring of 1542 with his disappointed soldiers +on their return to Mexico City, where they arrived that Fall, and +where they found grief corresponding to the gloom of the returning +soldiers. Many had built their hopes on the result of the expedition, +had borrowed money and given to those who were of the exploring party +to make filings upon mines, and to pre-empt such treasure as could be +found, as was the custom of those times. Mendoza was impoverished by +the debts he had incurred in behalf of the expedition. Coronado +instead of being a conquering hero, was greatly criticized, though not +responsible for the disappointment attending his efforts. He reported +to Mendoza who received him coldly. He returned to his province of New +Gallicia, where he remained as Governor for a time and then resigned. +Later we learn of the King sending a Commission over, to investigate +the rumor that Coronado had vastly more than the allotted number of +slaves working on his plantations. + +Did Coronado discover Colorado? On the bench of the Supreme Court of +the United States, there are nine judges, and the decision of five is +final. If we were to apply that principle to this case, then we would +unhesitatingly answer that the feet of Coronado were the first of any +white man to tread the soil of Colorado and Kansas. Students of +history differ in their opinion, but the majority believe that +Coronado is the discoverer of Colorado. Much that has been written of +this expedition has been lost. At the time of the massacre of the +whites, and the destruction of the Missions at Santa Fe by the +Indians, a great many Spanish manuscripts are supposed to have been +burned, which might now throw light upon this question. In the +monasteries of Old Spain there are many papers bearing upon the +history of the New World, that are worn with age and buried in the +dust and mould of cellars, many stories deep underground, that have +not seen the light for centuries. These may someday be unearthed to +answer positively our question. Scientific investigation is going on +at this time under the direction and expense of Societies of Research +of both Worlds. A map was issued by the Interior Department of the +United States in 1908, that gives the supposed journeyings of Coronado +and shows that he both went and returned through Colorado on his trip +to Kansas. Other maps of writers give his journeyings both ways as +following the old Santa Fe trail, which runs northeast and southwest +along the Cimarron River, through the southeast corner of Colorado. So +in either event, it is to be supposed that he was within the +boundaries of our State, following either the Arkansas River or the +Cimarron. + +Wonderful to contemplate are the possibilities that might have arisen +had the Coronado expedition been a success! Our country might have +been settled by the Spaniards, and we might have been a Spanish +speaking race, even after becoming strong enough to throw off our +allegiance to the Crown of Spain; and Washington would not have been +the Father of our Country. Government might have centralized between +the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains, where the Capital might +have been established. The Pilgrim Fathers might not have landed on +the forbidding shores of New England, eighty years after Coronado's +expedition started out from Compostela, and there might have been no +tea thrown overboard into the harbor at Boston. Those grand forests of +the middle and eastern states, of value now beyond computation, might +have remained standing, instead of being devastated by fire and axe. +Irrigation would have been early developed, the country would have +been covered with cement-lined ditches, and every depression would +have been a storage reservoir. + +Coronado might have been the greatest man in the New World, and +Coronado might have been King! + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +LIGHT IN THE EAST. + + +[Sidenote: 1776] + +Two hundred and thirty-six years had passed since Coronado's gaily +caparisoned army moved out from Compostela. The bright yellow leggings +and rich green coats of the soldiers, their waving white plumes and +coats of mail, had long since turned to rags and rust, while the bones +of the troopers had crumbled to dust. With the defeat of their +expedition, the curtain of silence descended upon this vast Rocky +Mountain region. The Indian Chiefs whom Coronado fought had long been +wrapped in the mantle of death, and their places had been filled by +the children of their children's children. The buffalo herds and the +Indian bands still roamed the plains together, and the tender calves +grew strong and became the leaders of the herd. It was the endless +procession of life and death, of strength and weakness, of growth and +decay. The wild flowers bloomed, and shed abroad their fragrance; the +trees budded and blossomed, and their leaves withered and fell; the +earth was clothed in its carpet of green, that yellowed with the +autumn's frosts; the period of seed time and harvest came, but there +was no seed time and there was no harvest. The summer rains fell upon +valley and plain, and the rivers ran unceasingly to the sea, as they +had done for centuries, and as they will do until time shall be no +more; rivers, born on the dome of the Great Divide, and nurtured by +the clouds amongst which they nestle. Each season, the stately peaks +stretched their arms aloft towards the heavenly orbs to receive their +snow's feathery drapery that fell like a benediction over them. +Mountains, radiant in their ever-changing hues of yellow and green, of +purple and gold; mountains, whose breath was fragrant with the +delicate perfume from their carpet of a thousand species of wild +flowers; mountains, kissed by pearly rain drops, glowing with morning +sun baths, draped in slumber-robes of silvery moon-beams--glorious, +sunlit, sky-communing mountains, standing in their grandeur, silent, +proud, eternal. + +In Macaulay's eloquent and elevated treatment of the thirteenth +century of English history, we find this pleasing sentiment, +applicable to Colorado's rivers and mountains: + +"The sources of the noble rivers which spread fertility over +continents, and bear richly ladened fleets to the sea, are to be +sought in the wild and barren mountain tracts, incorrectly laid down +in maps and rarely explored by travelers." + +We find similarity in our own uncharted streams and mountains; in the +unapplied wealth of waters that our rivers bore to the seas; in the +unwritten history of the Jesuit Fathers; in the romance of Spanish +glory and Spanish defeat; in the tragedy of the red men; in the +civilization that perished; in half a century's attainments in good +government, in refining domestic influences, in Christianity, in +intellectual growth, and in riches almost beyond computation. + +Again we face the mysterious. Once more the names of Cortez and +Montezuma meet, not as on the battle fields of Mexico that left one a +conqueror and the other a prisoner; not as aliens and rivals, but in +the friendly attitude of mutual interest and mutual trust. Montezuma +led into battle a people whose beginnings can never be known. +Montezuma County, Colorado, with Cortez as its County Seat, sheltered +a pre-historic race, whose beginning and end we can never fathom. At +the southwestern corner of our State, at the only spot in the United +States where four states come squarely together, we find Utah, +Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado, equally sharing in this unfathomable +mystery. There, covering a stretch of country equal in extent to about +eighty miles square, had lived a civilized people who followed the +peaceful pursuit of agriculture, who farmed by irrigation and whose +reservoirs were high up near the mountain tops. Their dwellings were +amidst the cliffs along the canons tributary to the San Mancos and San +Juan Rivers, as well as in the rocky and almost inaccessible gorges of +those rivers themselves. The abandoned houses built of hand-dressed +stone, are falling into ruins, but they still show painstaking care in +their construction, and in their well-planned architecture. The +decaying towns, towers and fortresses give every evidence of a state +of preparedness for war. Whether these people were conquered, enslaved +and carried into exile; whether they were warred upon by the marauding +bands, and so weakened that they scattered and became lost; whether +they may have been the very Aztecs, who, becoming more civilized and +more prosperous, moved South, were finally subdued by Cortez and +became the Mexican nation, are conjectures only, for those ancient +foot prints have been forever submerged by the passing years. + +A vast area of the country of the Cliff Dwellers has been made into a +National Park and given the name of Mesa Verde. For three years the +restoration of the principal ruins has been carried on by eminent +scientists under direction of the General Government. Spruce Tree +House, one of the restored dwellings, is over two hundred feet long +and it is estimated that when inhabited, it sheltered about four +hundred people. + +In the East the light is breaking. A ray here and a ray there, at +first, just the faintest touch of the awakening before the glorious +bursting of the dawn. A voyager crossed the trackless seas, following +Columbus; then another and another, all carrying the advance lights +that were finally to illuminate the darkness and unfold the mysteries +of a New World. It took one hundred years for nine voyagers on tours +of discovery, scattered through the entire century, to sow the seeds +of colonization along the Coast, which, when planted, failed to grow, +withered and died. Much of the time of these navigators was spent in +sailing up and down the eastern coast, seeking a channel through our +Continent in search of the unknown, lying beyond. + +Came John Cabot, an Italian Mariner, bearing the English Flag, +authorized to take possession of any lands he found. Four of his ships +went to the bottom and the son continued the discoveries started by +his father. Came Cortereal from Portugal in 1501, who left signs of +his visit along our Coast at various points between the Bay of Fundy +and the coast of Labrador, and then his vessels and all on board +plunged to the bottom. The following year a brother came with a +searching party and they all found graves beneath the waves that for +four hundred years have been sweeping over them. Another brother about +to start to seek the others, was prevented by command of the King. + +Came Ponce de Leon from Spain in 1512, having been with Columbus on +his second voyage in 1493. He bore a patent from the King to what was +supposed to be the marvellous Island of Bimini, which he renamed +Florida, from "Pascua Florida," meaning in Spanish "Easter Sunday." +Instead of finding a spring that the Indians claimed to possess great +curative properties and supposed to be a fountain of perpetual youth, +he found his death in an arrow wound from the Indians. Here he passed +over the site of St. Augustine, which later became the oldest +community in the United States, having been located in 1565. + +Came Pineda from Spain in 1519, entering the Gulf of Mexico, sailing +all along the Florida Coast, by Louisiana, past Texas, searching for +the "Western Passage." Here he met Cortez, the Governor-General of New +Spain. Came Narvaez in 1520, the Spanish slave gatherer, who lost his +life on the trip, lost it in a bad cause. And then in 1524 came +Verrazano, the Spanish Pirate and outcast. One hundred years later, +when Spain sought to establish her claim to the country he had visited +which might inure to her through his discovery, she said he was a very +honorable gentleman, that her colors were flying at his prow, instead +of the black flag of the Freebooter. Oh, Spain! Spain! The more I +study you, the less I admire you! Then came Gomez in 1525 from +Portugal commissioned to sail all the way along our coast from +Newfoundland to Florida, in search of a channel through the American +Continent to the Western Sea. + +He was followed sixty years later by Greenville, a cousin of Sir +Walter Raleigh, flying the English Flag. Raleigh's eyes were filled +with visions of a golden future--a man of whom we would say in these +days, that he always had an eye to the "main chance." "Whosoever +commands the sea," he said, "commands the trade; whosoever commands +the trade of the world, commands the riches of the world, and +consequently the world itself." For a little practical expression of +that philosophy, he threw his cloak down in the mud one day for his +proud Queen to step upon. Even he little realized the wealth-product +beneath its soiled folds, for from that little incident came the +introduction of the potato into England. Raleigh became a great +favorite of the Queen, and what he asked she granted. He asked of her +a royal charter for his cousin, Sir Richard Grenville, and funds for +an expedition to the New World. It resulted in those ships taking back +to England the potato and tobacco. Forty-three years before, we sent +them their Christmas dinner in the delectable wild turkey; we now gave +them as an accompaniment, the mealy and nutritious potato. Came Davis +in this same year of 1585, who discovered the Straits named for him, +and also Falkland Islands, which he found in 1592. + +And the century closed, with the lights going out all along the +Atlantic Coast, for the attempts at colonization were failing. The +roots of home-making would not take hold, with the buccaneers stirring +up the savages to fight the colonists on one side, and the loneliness +of the impassable sea terrifying them on the other. + +The next century found Champlain in 1603, making his voyage to Canada, +starting the French settlement at Quebec, in 1608, and sailing up the +St. Lawrence and around the lakes, hunting for locations for +settlements, and for a way to China. There was Lord de la Warr, coming +over in 1607, and finding a little English settlement on the mainland +at Jamestown in Virginia. The same year came the capable Captain +Smith, a soldier of fortune, who killed his Turkish task master, and +whose life was saved by a Senorita, to be saved again by Pocahontas. + +There was the distinguished Sir Henry Hudson in 1607, trying to find +another Cape Horn above Greenland; failing, he sailed south, entered +New York harbor, thence up the Hudson River seeking China. Up past the +monument of Grant, past the beautiful Palisades, by West Point and +Poughkeepsie, beyond Albany, and all the time the water becoming more +shallow and the banks narrower, until he had gone one hundred and +fifty miles, sailing north instead of southwest to Southern +California, which would put him opposite the country he was seeking. +Turn back! Sir Henry, turn back! Your prow will soon be fast in the +mud, your vessel's sides will scrape the river's banks, your boat will +dam up the waters of the Hudson, and all the surrounding country will +be inundated! It is not yet the day of the airship, so that you can +sail over the Rocky Mountains, nor is it the time of tunnels, so that +you can find a passage beneath them! Just north of you, at that very +moment, sixty miles away, Champlain has turned back, and neither of +you know it. This country is not for you, nor for him. There are no +great waterways along which you both may sail, touching the shores, +planting the flags of your countries, and claiming this Continent for +your Kings. Go back! Sir Henry, and when Champlain has colonized +Canada, and established Quebec, sail in and take it away from him! +Which was the very thing that was done twenty-one years later. Where +might seemed right then, so sometimes it seems right now, after all +these years of Christianization. + +The settlements are coming fast now. All up and down the Coast, the +people are gathering; the Plymouth Fathers have come; the Scotch are +at Nova Scotia; the Swedes and Dutch are at Delaware and New Jersey; +the French are in Virginia and Louisiana; the English are in New +England; the Spanish have killed all the Huguenots and are in Florida. +Then there is the conscientious William Penn, Quakerlike, out among +the Indians buying their lands, and we are saying to him "why buy, +when you can take all without asking?" And there is Daniel Boone, the +native-born American explorer, hero of every boy and girl, who has +made his way through the wilderness and with an axe blazed his way, as +later he marked his path by rocks and mounds of earth, all the way to +the Mississippi River. + +The echoes of Liberty Bell, ringing out our independence and ringing +in the Continental Congress, had not ceased their reverberations, when +the curtain that Coronado's defeat had rung down more than two +centuries before, was again lifted, and we behold a new stage with a +new setting, that had been prepared by the Church of Rome. Padre +Junthero Serra who, as President of the California Missions, had for +so long urged upon the Church the importance of laying out a route +from the settlement of Santa Fe to the West, finally prevailed. Friar +Francisco Andasio Dominquez, and Friar Sylvester Velez de Escalante, +were selected for this undertaking, and on July 29, 1776, started from +Santa Fe with eight soldiers and guides. Their route took them out of +New Mexico, into Colorado, Nevada, Arizona and Utah. They were gone +one summer, passed through the present site of Salt Lake City and laid +out a route that could be followed. Otherwise their trip was wholly +unproductive of any beneficial or permanent results. There are +stations adjoining each other on the Rio Grande Railroad between Delta +and Grand Junction named "Dominquez" and "Escalante" for these two +explorers. If the laurels of Coronado's discovery are ever +successfully removed from his crown, his mantle will fall upon the +shoulders of these two Friars. + +So we come to the close of the century with the glorious dawn breaking +all along the East, glowing in the heavens, shining over the people, +over the farms and the mills, over the towns and the country, bringing +prosperity and contentment to thousands. Its beams are resting on our +own Declaration of Independence; on our own Continental Congress; on +the benign countenance of the revered Washington, as he bids the +people an affectionate adieu in the stirring words of his great +farewell address, from which we quote this noble sentiment--and may it +abide with us forever: + +"Profoundly penetrated with this idea, I shall carry it with me to the +grave, as a strong incitement to unceasing vows that heaven may +continue to use the choicest token of its beneficence--that your Union +and brotherly affection may be perpetual, that the free constitution +which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly maintained, that its +administration in every department may be stamped with wisdom and +virtue, that in fine the happiness of the people of these states under +the auspices of liberty may be made complete by so careful a +preservation and so prudent a use of this blessing as will acquire to +them the glory of recommending it to the applause, affection and +adoption of every nation which is yet a stranger to it." + +How rapidly we have passed over these three hundred years, from the +days of the great Queen Isabella, to the time of the immortal +Washington! How lightly we have moved along, flitting here and there, +as the bee gathers honey for the comb, picking out events that seemed +essential in the preparation of the frame work for our picture; +passing by the great events of history, past the smiling and the +weeping, past the feasting and the hungering, past the living and the +dying--of all those who smiled and wept, who feasted and hungered, who +lived and died, in that crowded three hundred years of human endeavor! + +And now for our picture: A simple picture of simple events, simply +painted, with touches of human nature colorings, of the everyday joys +and sorrows, of the hopes and disappointments that came to us out of +the great West beyond the Mississippi River--in that portion of the +marvellous century just closed, the most wonderful century of this +most wonderful world! + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +LIEUTENANT PIKE. + + +[Sidenote: 1803] + +Enters the great Napoleon. He is in the midst of his never-ending +wars. He is fighting England and having a hard time. Spain has ceded +the Louisiana Territory to France, Louisiana as it was then, with its +one million square miles of territory, and not Louisiana as it is now, +with less than fifty thousand square miles, only one-twentieth its +original size. Napoleon sold us Louisiana in 1803, because he needed +the Sixteen Million Dollars we paid him for it, and it is said that he +stated, that in this transfer of territory he would make us so +powerful as a nation, that we would accomplish the downfall of +England, his hereditary enemy, after he was in his grave. St. Louis +had been started by the early French Fur Traders in 1764, and it took +it forty-one years to reach a population of two hundred and fifty +families. They had called it "Pain Court," which means, "short of +bread." + +It was in 1804, that the formal transfer of the Louisiana Territory +had been made at St. Louis, first from Spain to France, and then from +France to the United States. Time was unimportant in those days, and +although France had owned her possessions in the New World for two +years, she had not taken formal possession until the day of the +transfer to the United States. This was accomplished on the morning of +March 9, 1804, with such ceremony as was possible in that primitive +community. Down came the Flag of Spain! Up went the Flag of France! +Down came the Flag of France, and up went the Stars and Stripes to +float forever! So at last, after three hundred years, was launched on +its brilliant career, the country that Pope Alexander VI had given to +Spain, and which she had lacked the ability to develop, and the +capacity to govern. One hundred years later, the incident of the +lowering and raising of the flags was celebrated on that very spot, by +one of the greatest displays of modern times. To make it a fitting +centennial celebration, St. Louis voted Five Million Dollars in bonds; +there was a stock subscription of Five Million Dollars; the Government +appropriated Five Million Dollars; and the State of Missouri donated +One Million Dollars, making a total of the exact sum that was +originally paid for a territory, out of which fourteen states and two +territories have since been carved, that now contain the homes of +18,222,500 people, nearly a fifth of the 92,972,267 population of the +United States, a population that in 1804 was but 6,081,040. + +In all these years, the Spanish did little in New Spain to extend and +colonize the country. The Spanish race seemed to have lacked the +pioneer instinct; they were a luxury loving people, and did not +possess the hardy qualities and stout hearts that could conquer +unmurmuringly nature's comparatively insurmountable barriers. They +liked the plunder that had intoxicated them under the rule of Cortez, +and the enslavement of the humble and effeminate natives of a +territory whose climatic surroundings sapped their strength and made +them weak. The subjugation of the active and warlike northern Indians +was a very different thing, much to the surprise and disappointment of +the Spanish. They would fight. Large in stature as Coronado states in +his letter to the King, they were made of stern stuff, and their +fierce attitude interposed a permanent barrier to the encroachments of +the Spaniards from the south. They were never meant to be enslaved. +Think of making a menial of a Comanche, or an Apache! Think of old +Geronimo, a body servant! Think of taming a full-grown wild cat, with +its glaring eyes, its tearing teeth, and scratching claws! + +When the Apaches found that the Spaniards were repopulating the West +Indies with slaves from the mainland of this Continent, and had +captured some of their own tribe and carried them into captivity, the +indignation and wrath of these natives knew no bounds. They could +fight like demons, and when cornered they could destroy themselves, +but they could never be taken alive and enslaved. If this country had +been inhabited by the docile and easily subdued negroes, we would have +felt the domineering blight of Spain to this day. The reason Spain +failed to rivet its paralyzing hold upon this nation was because the +negro was not a native of this country, but a transplantment from +Africa. + +So the Spaniards made no further efforts to penetrate northward into a +territory which they claimed to be uninhabitable for civilized man. +They had made but one settlement--Santa Fe in 1605, which, next to St. +Augustine, Florida, is the oldest town in the United States. Near +Santa Fe, Coronado twice wintered his army on the Rio Grande, in the +Province of Tiguex. For eighty-five years the Spaniards possessed +Santa Fe, when, in 1690, there was an uprising of the Indians, who +captured the town, burned the buildings, and massacred or drove out +its inhabitants. It was at this time that valuable manuscripts are +supposed to have been burned, that might have had to do with +Coronado's expedition. The Spaniards always made triplicate copies of +their State papers, for their better preservation, and it is copies of +these papers that the Archæological Society hopes to unearth, in the +mouldy and cob-webbed cellars under the monasteries of Old Spain. For +two years, the Indians held Santa Fe, when, defeated in battle, they +again gave way to the Spaniards, who later on, were to abdicate in +favor of the United States. + +[Sidenote: 1805] + +Washington made history at Trenton, New Jersey, in 1776, by the +capture of a body of Hessian soldiers. About two years afterwards a +child was born in that village whose name must have been given it by a +pious mother with her Bible on her knee, and not, I ween, by the +father, Captain Pike, of the Revolutionary Army, who would have +doubtless called his son after one of the great generals of that time. +It is in the thirtieth chapter of Genesis, we learn of a Zebulun for +the first time, in the story of the sisters Leah and Rachael. + +Zebulon Montgomery Pike went to school at Easton, Pa., and before he +was twenty-one was made a Captain in the Army, which shows that it is +a good thing to have a father with influence. In 1805, Pike started, +under the authority of President Jefferson, on an expedition to +discover the source of the Mississippi River. His trip, lasting nine +months, was successful, and upon his return, he started almost +immediately with a party to explore geographically the Louisiana +Purchase. He outfitted at St. Louis, which was the last western point +where supplies could be obtained. + +In Lieutenant Pike's party there were twenty-four, including a guide +and interpreter, and he had in his care fifty-one Indians whom he was +to return to their tribe, the Government having rescued them from +other tribes who had made them prisoners. He went by sail boats up the +Missouri River from St. Louis, while the Indians traveled by land, the +two parties camping near each other at night. He kept a journal in +which he made a daily record of events, which he copied and sent in +with his report of the expedition to the Government after his return. +Some excerpts are given to help the reader to a better and closer +knowledge of the man and the times. He records, as he passed through +Missouri, his impression of that State in this language: + +"These vast plains of the Western Hemisphere may become in time as +celebrated as the sandy deserts of Africa, but from these immense +prairies may arise one great advantage to the United States, the +restriction of our population to some certain limits and thereby a +continuance of the Union. Our citizens being so prone to rambling and +extending themselves on the frontier, will, through necessity, be +constrained to limit their extent on the West to the borders of the +Mississippi and the Missouri, while they leave the prairies incapable +of cultivation to the wandering and uncivilized aborigines of the +country." + +With regard to the Indians placed in his care, we read this: + +"* * * Every morning we were awakened by the mourning of the savages, +who commenced crying about daylight and continued their lamentation +for the space of an hour. I made inquiry of my interpreter with +respect to this practice and was informed that it was a custom not +only with those who had recently lost their relatives, but also with +others, who recalled to mind the loss of some friend, dead long since, +who joined the mourners purely from sympathy. They appeared extremely +affected, tears ran down their cheeks and they sobbed bitterly, but in +a moment they dry their cheeks and cease their cries." + +Of these same Indians, upon being turned over to their tribe, he says: + +"Lieutenant Wilkinson informed me that their meeting was very tender +and affectionate. Wives throwing themselves into the arms of their +husbands; parents embracing their children and children their parents; +brothers and sisters meeting--one from captivity, the other from the +towns; at the same time returning thanks to the good God for having +brought them once more together." + +In Missouri, he records his first sight of a slaughter of animals by +the Indians: + +"After proceeding about a mile, we discovered a herd of elk which we +pursued; they took back in sight of the Pawnees who immediately +mounted fifty or sixty young men and joined in the pursuit; then for +the first time in my life, I saw animals slaughtered by the true +savages by their original weapons, bows and arrows. They buried the +arrow up to the plume in the animal." + +The Indians called the prairie dog the "wish-ton-wish" because of +their shrill bark. He says, in part, of these little animals: + +"Their holes descend in a spiral form, on which account I could never +ascertain their depth; but I once had 140 kettles of water poured +into one of them in order to drive out the occupant but without +effect. * * * We killed great numbers of these animals with our rifles +and found them excellent meat after they were exposed a night or two +to the frost by which means the rankness acquired by their +subterranean dwelling is corrected." + +While still in Missouri we read from his diary this: + +"Friday 12th of September.--Commenced our march at 7:00 o'clock and +passed some very rough flint hills; my feet blistered and were very +sore. Standing on a hill, I beheld in one view below me, buffaloes, +elks, deer, cabrie, and panther. Encamped on the main branch of Grand +River which has very steep banks and was deep. Doctor Robinson, +Bradley and Baromi arrived after dusk, having killed three buffaloes, +which with one I had killed and two by the Indians, made in all six. +The Indians alleging it was the Kansas Hunting Ground, said they would +destroy all the game they possibly could. Distance advanced eighteen +miles." + +In Missouri also, in addition to the many species of game which he +daily describes in his journal, he speaks of the wild turkeys. A +mistaken idea exists among some as to how this bird found its way to +the western plains and mountains. In the Eastern States, before the +time of easy transportation or cold storage, dealers would go through +the country gathering the turkeys from the farmers, and driving them +along the public highways to market, in great droves like sheep. From +that, an impression went abroad that later, a drove of turkeys, +crossing the plains to California, became scattered and wild. The +facts are, wild turkeys were plentiful in New Spain and had been +domesticated by the Aztecs before the conquest of Mexico by Cortez. +They were never seen in England until 1541, when they reached there +from New Spain, the very year Coronado was marching with his army +towards Colorado. The highly ornamented head dresses of the Indians, +which were first made from the feathers of the eagles and the owls, +were later made from the glossy and richly hued feathers of the wild +turkey. + +Lieutenant Pike and his party passed on westward into Kansas and +followed the Arkansas River into Colorado. Soon after he entered our +State, near the place where the Purgatoire River empties into the +Arkansas, he discovered the Rocky Mountains, then known as the Mexican +Mountains. A legend containing a note of sadness comes to us out the +buried centuries. Soldiers going from Santa Fe to St. Augustine with +gold for the army were never heard of beyond the junction of the +Arkansas and Purgatoire Rivers. As the months and years passed with no +tidings of the soldiers, a Priest named one of the rivers El Rio de +las Animas Perdidas--the River of Lost Souls. The French trappers +later changed the name to Purgatoire. Long afterwards it is said that +an Indian confessed to a Priest that the Indians had surrounded the +men and killed every one. Much gold has been spent since that day +searching for the gold the soldiers were supposed to have buried when +they knew they were to be attacked. + +It was on the afternoon of November 15, 1805, that, looking to the +northwest, Pike saw what he took to be a small blue cloud. Then with a +glass he discovered that it was a peak, towering above all the +surrounding heights, and which then and after, his party spoke of as +the Grand Peak. It was known by all the Indian tribes for hundreds of +miles around, and the early hunters and trappers told that it was so +high, the clouds could not get between it and the sky. It later became +known as "Pike's Peak." Two days after the discovery of this Peak, +whose altitude is 14,147 feet, he tells in his journal of the feast of +marrow bones, and how deceptive distance is in this rarified air: + +"Monday, 17th November.--Marched at our usual hour; pushed on with an +idea of arriving at the mountains but found at night no visible +difference in their appearance from what we had observed yesterday. +One of our horses gave out and was left in a ravine not being able to +ascend the hill, but I sent back for him and had him brought to the +camp. Distance advanced twenty-three miles and a half. + +"Tuesday, 18th of November.--As we discovered fresh signs of the +savages, we concluded it best to stop and kill some meat for fear we +should get into a country where we could not obtain game. Sent out the +hunters. I walked myself to an eminence from whence I took the courses +to the different mountains and a small sketch of their appearance. In +the evening found the hunters had killed without mercy, having slain +seventeen buffaloes and wounded at least twenty more. + +"Wednesday, 19th of November.--Having several carcasses brought in, I +gave out sufficient meat to last this month. I found it expedient to +remain and dry the meat for our horses were getting very weak, and the +one died which was brought in yesterday. Had a general feast of marrow +bones. One hundred and thirty-six of them furnishing the repast. + +"Saturday, 22d of November.--* * * We made for the woods and unloaded +our horses, and the two leaders endeavored to arrange the party; it was +with great difficulty they got them tranquil and not until there had +been a bow or two bent on the occasion. When in some order, we found +them to be sixty warriors, half with fire arms and half with bows and +arrows and lances. Our party was in all sixteen * * * Finding this, we +determined to protect ourselves as far as was in our power and the +affair began to wear a serious aspect. I ordered my men to take their +arms and separate themselves from the savages; at the same time +declaring I would kill the first man who touched our baggage. * * *" + +It was on November 27th that he arrived at the base of Pike's Peak, +and because of the lateness of the season could not ascend it. +Instead, he reached the summit of Cheyenne Mountain, and looked up to +the grand pinnacle that stood out so grandly majestic, seeming so +close, yet estimated by him to be fifteen or sixteen miles away. He +looked down on the billowy clouds below, that rose and lowered like +the tossing of mighty waves in a storm at sea. He stood speechlessly +gazing on such grandeur as his eyes had never yet beheld, and he felt +the awe, and immensity, and sublimity of it, down to the end of his +life. It was the same Cheyenne Mountain where Helen Hunt, the writer, +so loved to be. Here, she was enthralled with the beauty and majesty +that surrounded her, and here she received the inspiration for those +glowing descriptions of nature as she saw it in its restful moods, and +as she pictured it in its times of frenzy. Her love for that mountain +was so great, that on its bosom, high up near the stars, beneath the +trees that spoke to her as they rustled in the summer's breeze, her +grave was made and there she was buried according to her wish. + +All winter, Pike prospected the mountains and the rivers, in the midst +of such suffering as few people endure and survive. These few notes +from his diary tell the story: + +"Wednesday, 24th of December.--* * * About eleven o'clock met Dr. +Robinson on a prairie, who informed me that he and Baromi had been +absent from the party two days without killing anything, also without +eating * * * + +"Thursday, 25th of December.--* * * We had before been occasionally +accustomed to some degree of relaxation and extra enjoyments; but the +case was now far different; eight hundred miles from the frontiers of +our country in the most inclement season of the year; not one person +properly clothed for the winter; many without blankets, having been +obliged to cut them up for socks and other articles; lying down, too, +at night on the snow or wet ground, one side burning, whilst the other +was pierced with the cold wind; that was briefly the situation of the +party; while some were endeavoring to make a miserable substitute of +raw buffalo hide for shoes and other covering. * * * + +[Illustration: Pike Leaving the Two Comrades with Frozen Feet at the +Log Fort They Built Near Canon City.] + +"Tuesday, 20th of January.--The doctor and all the men able to march +returned to the buffalo to bring in the remainder of the meat. On +examining the feet of those who were frozen, we found it impossible +for two of them to proceed, and two others only without loads by the +help of a stick. One of the former was my waiter, a promising young +lad of twenty, whose feet were so badly frozen as to present every +possibility of his losing them. The doctor and party returned toward +evening loaded with the buffalo meat. + +"Tuesday, 17th of February.--* * * This evening the corporal and three +of the men arrived, who had been sent back to the camp of their frozen +companions. They informed me that two more would arrive the next day, +one of them was Menaugh, who had been left alone on the 27th of +January; but the other two, Dougherty and Spark, were unable to come. +They said that they had hailed them with tears of joy and were in +despair when they again left them with a chance of never seeing them +more. They sent on to me some of the bones taken out of their feet and +conjured me by all that was sacred not to leave them to perish far +from the civilized world. Oh! little did they know my heart if they +could suspect me of conduct so ungenerous! No, before they should be +left, I would for months have carried the end of a litter in order to +secure them the happiness of once more seeing their native homes and +being received in the bosom of a grateful country. Thus these poor +fellows are to be invalids for life, made infirm at the commencement +of manhood and in the prime of their course; doomed to pass the +remainder of their days in misery and want. For what is the pension? +Not sufficient to buy a man his victuals! What man would even lose the +smallest of his joints for such a trifling pittance?" + +The Louisiana Purchase had left a disputed boundary, which, with other +things, threatened war between the United States and Spain. When Pike +crossed over the Rocky Mountains to the West side, he was exploring +disputed territory, though he was lost and thought he was on the Red +River, instead of the Rio Grande, the former being within the limits +of the Louisiana Purchase. He had passed that River, however, above +its source, and had gotten over on the Rio Grande, which territory was +still claimed by Spain. Had he found the Red River, it was his +intention to build rafts and follow it towards its junction with the +Mississippi, landing on his way at Nachitoches in Louisiana, which is +about one hundred and fifteen miles west of Natchez--that being the +Military Post to which he was to report. Notice of his presence in the +Mountains had reached Santa Fe, where Spanish soldiers were stationed. +The Governor sent an officer and fifty dragoons to bring him out. He +was taken south to Santa Fe, going peaceably, but all the time +protesting in the name of his Government at the indignity. Here he was +questioned, his papers examined, and those in authority being +undecided as to how to handle the matter because of its national +character, they sent him far away to the south, to Chihuahua in New +Spain, the headquarters of the Military Chief of Upper Mexico, where +he arrived April 2d. After being detained for some days, all his +papers again gone over in a vain endeavor to find something +incriminating, it was determined to send him East to his destination, +with an escort, his party, however, not to be permitted to accompany +him, but to be sent after him. + +In July, 1806, he arrived at Nachitoches, where he was warmly welcomed +by his fellow officers. A little later he received a letter of thanks +from the Government. He was made a Major in the Army in 1808; +Lieutenant Colonel in 1809; Deputy Quartermaster-General and Colonel +both, in 1812; Brigadier General in 1813. In that year he was sent by +the Government on an expedition against York in Upper Canada, at the +time of our second war with England. Here a magazine of the Fort +exploded, a mass of stone fell on him and crushed him, and he died at +the age of thirty-five. In his pocket was found a little volume +containing a touching admonition to his son. He urged that he regard +his honor above everything else, and that he be ready to die for his +country at any time. + +Lieutenant Pike had a pleasing personality, and had he lived, he would +doubtless have been prominent in the affairs of the Government. He had +strong features, keen kindly eyes, firm chin, high forehead, a nose +that showed breeding, was clean shaven, had closely cropped hair +combed straight back, and his picture somewhat resembles the portrait +of Thomas Jefferson, once President of the United States. His modesty +would not permit the giving of his own untarnished name to the great +Peak that through the ages will proudly bear his name. The name came +from a popular demand of the people, who were here at an early date, +and who did away with the name of "James Peak" which Major Long gave +it in honor of one of his own exploring party. + +[Illustration: One of the Approaches to Cheyenne Mountain, Pike's Peak +in the Background.] + +There is a singular coincidence attached to the name of this Peak. A +pike in former times was the name given to anything with a sharp +point. A road with toll gates was called a pike, because the gate +consisted of a pole that swung up with the small end pointing towards +the sky. In olden times the name of pike, instead of peak, was given +to all summits of mountains. Gradually the word pike gave way to peak, +and the former finally became obsolete. So in the name of Pike's Peak, +we have it so securely named, that even the highest legislation in the +land could not take away from it the name of Pike. And in this +towering peak and its companions, if Prof. Agassiz is right, we have +the first dry land that was lifted out of the great world's waste of +waters. Colorado is to be congratulated that it has a monument in its +midst that will forever commemorate the memory of a good man, who was +intellectually, physically and morally clean and strong; who was +faithful to every trust; tender in his sympathies; lofty in his ideals +and character; and who loved his country so much, that he was willing +to give it all he had--his life. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE LOST PERIOD. + + +As footprints on the sands of the ocean's beach are blotted out by +winds and waves, so a Chapter of Colorado's History has been torn from +its pages and can never be reproduced--the hunter and trapper. +Exploring parties sent out by the Government were required to make +careful observations, and a minute record of all they saw. It is by +this we can follow them through their wanderings amidst primeval +scenes, and can picture them moving slowly over the plains, solitary +or in little groups, struggling forward, often hungry, lame, sick and +desolate. But there will ever remain an untold story of those early +times; as it can never be written by the hands long stilled, nor ever +spoken by the lips long silenced. In that buried period are blended +the romance, tragedy and adventures of the hunters and trappers who +frequented Colorado in the beginning of the last century. They were +few in number, mostly of French extraction, with St. Louis as their +home. They were a type whose like will never be seen again, for the +reasons for their existing can never again be duplicated. They were +Indian Traders, who went at first to the outskirts of civilization, +exchanging inexpensive articles for the rich furs of the Indians. As +their acquaintance grew with the natives, they crowded into the +Indians' country, and following the streams, took the otter and beaver +at first hand. Because of their being so few in number, they were +rarely molested; then, too, they were a medium by which the natives +could realize on their furs, pittance though it was. + +Some of these trappers would remain out on their expeditions for +several years at a time, often living with the Indians and adopting +their ways. As their clothes fell to pieces from age and use, they +would replenish from the primitive blanket costumes of the Indians, +whom in time they came to resemble. Often they would marry Indian +wives and settle down to the nomadic life of the aborigines. Sometimes +there would crowd upon them such stirring memories of the experiences +they had once enjoyed, that the wives and children would be left to +tears and loneliness, while the trapper with his face set toward the +East, with his pack on his back, would tramp to the settlements, +sometimes to remain, sometimes to return. We know some of the men who +visited the mountains and streams of Colorado; knowledge of their +presence here has floated down to us in various ways. When Major Long +came on his exploring trip in 1819, he secured as guides two French +Trappers, then living with the tribe of Pawnee Indians in southeastern +Nebraska, who had trapped in the region of the Rocky Mountains. + +James Pursley was here in 1805 and traded among the Indians; +Lieutenant Pike in his report, speaks of him as the first white man +who ever crossed the plains. He made the first discovery of gold in +Colorado, which he found at the foot of Lincoln Mountain, doubtless at +Fairplay on the Platte River, where once extensive placer diggings +existed. As late as 1875, the Company operating there had a large +number of Chinamen at work. The immense grass-grown gulch, wide and +deep and long, at the edge of Fairplay, is the excavation out of which +hundreds of thousands of dollars were taken. Colorado has done well to +commemorate the name of Abraham Lincoln in one of its loftiest +mountains. + +A Frenchman named La Lande was sent out by an Illinois merchant in +1804, to make an investigation of the country and report. He came +along the Platte Valley, crossed over to Santa Fe, where he concluded +to remain. There was a party of French Trappers known to have been +here about 1800 who went South into Arizona, in search of untouched +territory to ply their avocation. Philip Covington in 1827 passed up +the Cache La Poudre Valley with a pack train, on his way to Green +River with supplies. He returned in 1828 and established a colony of +trappers at La Porte, one of the oldest settlements in Colorado, and +which is located near Ft. Collins. He was in the employ of the +American Fur Company. + +[Illustration: The Trapper.] + +The trappers would often go alone into these vast solitudes, with pack +horses to carry their supplies in, and their furs but. Sometimes they +would die in their lonely retreats, and never be heard of again, only +as some sign of the fate that had overtaken them would be found years +later. After a time, there were wagon routes of travel along the +Arkansas River, with a trading post at Fort Bent and one at Santa Fe; +also up the South Platte River, with trading centers at Ft. St. Vrain +and at Ft. Lupton; and up the North Platte River, with the business +centering at Ft. Laramie. Sometimes trappers who were brought out in +the freighting wagons in the Spring from St. Louis by the Fur-Trading +Companies, would be left with supplies along the streams, and in the +Fall they would be picked up and taken with their peltries back to St. +Louis. + +The Astor Trail was made in 1810 through South Dakota west to the +Coast. A great impetus was given to the fur business by the Lewis and +Clark Exploring Party in 1804. They opened up the first Coast to Coast +trail, and were the first white men to cross the Continent between the +British operations on the North, and the Spanish on the South. Lewis +had been President Jefferson's Private Secretary, and Captain Clark +was his friend. They traveled eighty-five hundred miles, and they +nationalized the fur business which grew to such proportions that +years after they had opened up the line of travel, we were selling in +London, alone, two million one hundred and seventy thousand furs +annually. The rich peltries then were what gold and silver were later, +and what grain, alfalfa, fruit, sugar beets and potatoes are now, and +will be as long as water, soil, and sunshine blend. Buffalo and otter +skins brought in the western market three dollars each; beaver skins +four dollars; coon and muskrat twenty-five cents; deer skins +thirty-eight cents per pound. + +The early trappers could have been of inestimable benefit to the +Government, had they been called upon to help solve the perplexing +Indian problems that for so many years confronted us. They knew the +Indians, their languages, habits and customs; and had their knowledge +and influence with the natives been utilized, we might have peaceably +settled many of the difficulties that required the sacrifice of so +many lives and the unnecessary expenditure of so much money. + +The fur industry, however, depended upon the keen perception of an +awkward, unlettered, German boy for its growth and quick development. +He came to London from Germany, with his bundle under his arm, to help +in his brother's music store. John Jacob Ashdoer was his name, which +by evolution became "Astor." With great frugality and unceasing +industry, he saved enough in two years to pay his passage on a sailing +ship to America, and there was enough left of his little hoard to buy +seven flutes of his uncle, his sole stock in trade. When he reached +this country, he traded one of his flutes for some furs; and that +particular flute, and those particular furs, made history. It turned +his attention to the fur trade, and laid the foundation for the +greatest landed estate in America. With his pack on his back, he +traveled among the Indian tribes of the Eastern States, and got their +furs in exchange for gaudy trinkets, such as beads and ribbons. He +personally took the furs to London, so as to realize the highest +possible price for them and rapidly grew rich. In 1800 when he had +only been in this country fifteen years, he was clearing fifty +thousand dollars on a single trip of one of his sailing vessels. + +It was at this time that Astor founded Astoria as a fur trading point, +on the Columbia River, expecting to operate by ship, as well as +freighting overland by the way of Ft. Laramie, and thus control the +fur traffic along the tributary rivers. The destruction of Astoria by +the British kept him from realizing his dream of becoming "the richest +man in the world." Washington Irving and John Jacob Astor were +friends, and the latter placed in Irving's hands all the records of +his Company's operations, from which Irving gathered much interesting +data, and many thrilling experiences from the lives of the early +trappers and hunters. He wrote "Astoria" as a compliment to his +friend. In this book he pictures the Rocky Mountains as having an +elevation in places of twenty-five thousand feet, but frankly states +that it is only conjecture, since their altitude had never been +measured. The average height of the Rocky Mountains exceed that of the +famous Alps, a number of the noted peaks being above thirteen thousand +feet. + +Some of Irving's interesting and pleasing prophecies of our country +follow: + +"It is a region almost as vast and trackless as the ocean, and at the +time of which we treat, but little known, excepting through the vague +accounts of Indian hunters. A part of their route would lay across an +immense tract, stretching North and South for hundreds of miles along +the foot of the Rocky Mountains, and drained by the tributaries of the +Missouri and the Mississippi. This region, which resembles one of the +immeasurable steppes of Asia, has not inaptly been termed 'The Great +American Desert.' It spreads forth into undulating and trackless +plains and desolate sandy wastes, wearisome to the eye from their +extent and monotony, and which are supposed by geologists to have +formed the ancient floor of the ocean, countless ages since, when its +primeval waves beat against the granite bases of the Rocky Mountains. + +"It is a land where no man permanently abides; for, in certain seasons +of the year, there is no food, either for the hunter or his steed. The +herbage is parched and withered; the brooks and streams are dried up; +the buffalo, the elk and the deer have wandered to distant parts, +keeping within the verge of expiring verdure, and leaving behind them +a vast uninhabited solitude, seamed by ravines, the beds of former +torrents, but now serving only to tantalize and increase the thirst of +the traveler. Such is the nature of this immense wilderness of the far +West, which apparently defies cultivation, and the habitation of +civilized life * * * Here may spring up new and mongrel races * * * +Some may gradually become pastoral hordes, like those rude and +migratory people, half shepherd, half warrior, who, with their flocks +and herds, roam the plains of Upper Asia; but, others, it is to be +apprehended, will become predatory bands, mounted on the fleet steeds +of the prairies, with the open plains for their marauding ground, and +the mountains for their retreats and lurking places. Here they may +resemble those great hordes of the North; 'Gog and Magog with their +bands,' that haunted the gloomy imaginations of the prophets, 'A great +Company and a mighty host all riding upon horses, and warring upon +those nations which were at rest, and dwelt peaceably, and had gotten +cattle and goods.'" + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +MAJOR LONG. + + +[Sidenote: 1819] + +Fourteen years have passed since Lieutenant Pike sold his two little +sail boats to the Osage Indians as he left the Missouri River and +started on his overland journey. Within this brief period a great +invention has marked the progress of the century. After years of +experiments, failures and disappointments; after sinking one vessel +and abandoning others; Robert Fulton has returned from his trip to +France, bringing with him his steam engine with which he had perfected +water navigation, and by his genius linked together all the nations of +the earth, increased the wealth and commerce of the world, and won for +himself enduring fame. + +The next exploring party was to start in a steamship owned by the +Government of the United States, and under the leadership of Stephen +Harriman Long. Born at Hopkington, New Hampshire, December 30, 1784, +Long had graduated at Dartmouth College, and entered the corps of +Engineers of the U.S. Army, in 1814; had been a professor of +mathematics at the Military Academy at West Point, and had been +transferred to the Topographical Engineers in 1815, with the +brevet-rank of Major. + +James Monroe was President, and John C. Calhoun Secretary of War, and +they gave Major Long elaborate instructions as to his duty. We had +owned the vast Louisiana Territory for sixteen years, and knew but +little more about it than when it came into our possession. So, Long +was to explore it and make a very thorough investigation of the +"country between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains, the +Missouri and its tributaries, the Red River, the Arkansas River, and +the Mississippi above the mouth of the Missouri." + +On May 3, 1819, the party of nine started from the arsenal on the +Allegheny River just above Pittsburgh, at which point they entered the +Ohio River. Their steamer carried them down the Ohio to its junction +with the Mississippi, a distance of about nine hundred miles, where +they arrived May 30th. Here they turned north up the Mississippi +River, about one hundred and seventy-five miles to St. Louis, which +they reached June 9th. Then they steamed West up the Missouri, over +the course that Pike had sailed fourteen years before, to the same +point where the Osage River enters the Missouri, near the present +location of Jefferson City and one hundred and thirty-three miles from +the Mississippi River. The party divided; part of the number +disembarked and proceeded with horses through Missouri, Kansas and +Nebraska, meeting those of the party who remained on the boat at +Council Bluffs on September 19th. There they established their winter +quarters on the banks of the Missouri, about five miles below the +present City of Council Bluffs, and so named because of a Council held +with the Indians by the Government at that point. In the log houses, +built by Pike and his party, and with the supplies they had brought on +the ship, the party passed a comfortable and leisurely winter. On June +6, 1820, they started from Council Bluffs, the party then consisting +of twenty men and twenty-eight horses. It is interesting to know what +their pack ponies carried. Here is an invoice: + + 150 lbs. pork + 500 lbs. biscuit + 10 cannisters + 300 flints + 25 lbs. coffee + 30 lbs. sugar + 5 lbs. vermilion + 2 lbs. beads + 30 lbs. tobacco + 2 doz. moccasin awls + 1 doz. scissors + 6 doz. looking glasses + 1 doz. gun worms + 1 doz. fire-steels + 2 gross hawks bells + 2 gross knives + 1 gross combs + 2 bu. parched corn + 5 gal. whiskey + Bullet pouches + Powder horns + Skin canoes + Packing skins + Canteens + Forage bags + Several hatchets + A little salt + A few trinkets + Pack cards + Small packing boxes for insects. + +They followed along the Platte River, and stopped for a time at the +junction of the North Fork of that River with the South Fork, where +North Platte is now situated. Here they tell of watching the beavers +cut down a cottonwood tree. They observed that when it was nearly +ready to fall, one of the beavers swam out into the river and posted +itself as a sentinel. As soon as it saw the tops of the branches begin +to move, it gave the signal by giving the water a resounding slap with +its flat tail, when every beaver scampered out of reach of the falling +tree. It must have been a moonlight night when they were there, +otherwise they would not have seen the beavers at work, for they +reverse nature's order and sleep in the daytime, working at night. +They sleep in their houses, with their bodies in the water, and their +heads resting out of the water on a stick. At twilight, a wise old +mother beaver comes out and swims all around the pond or river, +looking and smelling. Their sense of smell is very keen, and those who +wish to observe them do so from treetops near the water. If after a +careful investigation, the sentinel decides there are no man people, +or wild animals around, one slap of the tail on the water is given, +and out pops the nose of every beaver of the band, and all proceed +with their work, exactly where it ended at sunrise. If the one on +picket duty sees or hears anything that seems suspicious, three sharp +resounding strokes of the tail sends every beaver in a flash to his +hiding place, and nothing will tempt them out again that night. They +have an instinct for making a tree fall in exactly the place where +they want it, and it is used as a foundation for the numerous dams +they build in the streams. + +On June 30th, Long's party got their first glimpse of the Rocky +Mountains. Later on, when they were camped near Ft. Lupton, opposite +the Peak, they gave it the name of Long, its altitude being fourteen +thousand two hundred and seventy feet. + +None of the party were ever near the Peak. Two of them, more +courageous than the others, rode out one memorable morning, under a +cloudless sky, with their faces towards the snowy range--rode away to +defeat and oblivion. As morning turned to noon and they seemed no +nearer to the pinnacle than when they started, they retraced their +steps across the silent plain. Thus they lost an opportunity of +forever linking their names to undying fame. Had they proceeded, they +could have electrified a nation by writing into their report a page +that would have remained undimmed to the end of time. It was theirs, +had they embraced it, to have discovered Estes Park, the gorgeous +setting that crowns the approach to the King of Peaks. But they turned +back; back from the snow-white mountains beckoning them onward; from +the purple tints that veiled the mystic summits in a mellow haze; from +the lights and shadows playing over hill and dale, under a canopy of +fleecy clouds. + +Beautiful Estes Park! Rarest gem of all the sparkling jewels that +adorn the bosom of this fair world! In you the Divine Hand has created +the masterpiece of all earthly beauty! You are so freighted down with +scenic blessings that the mould was broken in your formation and there +can be no duplication! Glorious is your resting place under the +cloudless sky, as you lie in the embraces of the soft and balmy air +that envelops you! Beautiful are your grassy slopes and velvet +meadows, asleep beneath the gleaming stars, awake under the mellow +skies, reaching away in a panoramic view of exquisite colorings! +Faultless are Nature's highways as they wind in and out among your fir +and spruce, your pine and aspen, through silvery glades and leafy +dells, by rocky gorges and towering cliffs! Lovely are the azure lakes +that rest against your mountain sides, reflecting in their limpid +depths your rocks and trees, your lights and shades, your fleecy +clouds and snow-clad peaks! How gentle is the flow of your sounding +streams; how they eddy and fall; how they tumble and roar, as they +hurry along to their far-away home in the sea! How grand and terrible +are the awe-inspiring storms that gather in the mountains high above +you, as cloud rolls upon cloud, black, dense, lowering; how the +terrific peals of thunder crash from peak to peak, like the duel of +artillery meeting on the field of carnage in the mighty shock of +battle! + +As light follows darkness, as sunshine comes after the rain, as peace +succeeds strife, the clouds unveil, the tempest is calmed, the glory +of the sun dispels the gloom, and the storm lashed pinnacles robed in +eternal snow, light up under the glow of the lingering twilight. The +tiny throated songsters warble their simple evening notes, ever old +and forever new, rivaling the music of the streams, as they flood this +paradise of parks with an ecstasy of melody. The eagle mounts skyward, +rising higher and higher, in ever widening circles, standing out +against the sky, then soaring away beyond the vision to his eyrie in +the gaping gorge of the lofty crest. + +The opalescent hues envelop the mountain rims. The fiery red, flames +into a glow, melts to the softest purple, blends to the rarest gray, +and in a delirium of rich colors the sun goes down in a cloud of +glory. The sublimity of the scene clings like a halo around the +sky-piercing summits. The day darkens, and the rosy tints of sunset +fade into a flood of moonlight that mirrors the shining stars in the +rivers, flowing far below under the mysterious shadows of the mighty +cliffs. + +Long and his party followed along the Platte River by the place where +Denver is located, and on to Colorado Springs, at which point some of +them attempted to climb Pike's Peak, but did not succeed. Greatly to +their discredit, they named that Peak for "James," one of their +number, instead of for "Pike," its discoverer. The people saw to it, +however, that the name thus given it, should not be permanent. The +people are nearly always right. The party proceeded on to Canon City +and Pueblo, and then this exploring party made a discovery; they +discovered that their biscuits were running short, so they immediately +started home. They had left Council Bluffs, June 6th; they knew how +long five hundred pounds of biscuits would last twenty men; so they +knew they were on a pleasure trip and would have to start back July +19th, just one month and thirteen days after they set out, and ten +days after they reached Colorado. When we think of the faithful Pike +and his loyal men, freezing, starving, persisting; think of them with +worn-out cotton clothing in winter, instead of warm flannel; of making +shoes out of raw buffalo hides; of persevering in the face of every +obstruction, and then read Long's report of starting back in +midsummer, for the want of biscuits, our admiration grows for +Lieutenant Pike and his devoted party of courageous men. + +[Illustration: The Buffalo Runner.] + +Major Long's report to the Government was of such a discouraging +nature that it retarded the settlement of the country for nearly half +a century, and it should never have been written. He was quoted in the +newspapers, and people everywhere read of a "desert inhabited by +savages," a sentiment that became so firmly fixed in the minds of many +in the Eastern States that the prejudices of the people have only in +recent years been wholly removed. He often refers in his report to the +enormous herds of fat buffalo that "darken the plains." How this +queer-shaped animal with its powerful front and slender hind parts +originated, or where it came from, will forever remain an unsolved +mystery like the beginning of the race of Indians. They were here in +immense droves. Ernest Seton Thompson thinks that there were seventy +millions within the compass of their range, which was from the +Allegheny Mountains on the East, to Nevada on the West; and that fifty +millions of them were west of the Mississippi River. He bases his +estimate on the amount of acreage they grazed over, and the number of +animals the pasturage would sustain. I think he is far too low in his +estimate. If we assign forty feet of space to each buffalo they would +occupy an area, if bunched together, of but sixty-four thousand two +hundred and eighty acres, or only one hundred square miles, which +would be equal to a herd twenty-five miles long and four miles wide. +The Government reports give an estimate of two hundred and fifty +millions killed, from 1850 to 1883. + +All the reports of explorers, scouts and emigrants dwell on the +magnitude of these immense herds, which were so numerous that "the +earth as far as the eye can reach, seems to be alive and to move." +Coronado was never out of sight of them in traveling the seven hundred +miles from New Mexico to Kansas, according to his letter to the King. +Along every pioneer trail the prairies were covered in every direction +with them, and away up in the Wind River Country, in the land of the +Wyoming, Longfellow sings of the + + "Billowy bays of grass ever rolling in shadow and sunshine, + Bright and luxuriant clusters of roses and purple amorphas, + Over them wander the buffalo herds, and the elk and the roebuck." + +These peaceful herds, as they roamed over the plains, had their +Nemesis at their heels, in the vast number of Indians trailing behind +them and living upon them; while on all sides were thousands of hungry +grey wolves devouring the calves or attacking the old, at will. In +spite of these decimating influences, and their companion, the +blizzard, the buffalo herds multiplied, and the Great Plains +themselves seemed to be "alive and to move," as the countless numbers +slowly grazed over them. Buffalo steak was good eating, and so +adaptable that J. M. Bagley of Colorado, the veteran wood engraver, in +relating early experiences tells how he started a restaurant on one +buffalo ham, from which he served veal, beef, mutton, bear, venison, +and all other wild game! + +The first telegraph line reaching out over the plains, was a very +primitive one. The posts were short and light, and they carried but +one wire. A great deal of trouble arose from the cattle rubbing +against the poles and wrecking the line. This was remedied by driving +long heavy spikes into the poles at the point where the cattle would +do the rubbing. But the workman got out of the cattle plague, only to +get into worse trouble from the buffalo. They liked the spikes, and +used the sharp points to scratch their rough hides. There seemed to be +a buffalo language, for those shaggy and amiable animals flocked to +the spikes from all sections. They reveled in the luxury of having +their backs scratched, and to show their appreciation rubbed so hard +that they completely demolished the line. Telegraph wire entangled in +the horns of a buffalo was found as far away as Canada when it was +killed. Only the rebuilding of the line with heavy poles and leaving +off the scratching comforts, enabled business to proceed. + +It seems strange that everyone lost sight of the productiveness that +must lie in land that would sustain such quantities of grass-devouring +animals; and that in the instructions given by Congress, the +Presidents of the United States, and the Secretaries of War, to the +leaders of these various exploring parties, the important question of +irrigation should have never been considered, nor mentioned by the +explorers themselves. It is true, irrigation was wholly unknown in our +country at the time, but Egypt and China had been artificially watered +for centuries, and it is strange that no Congressman or Government +official, or enterprising newspaper editor called attention to this +vital question. + +The Long party divided as it started East. Captain Bell with eleven +men went down the Arkansas River, while Major Long with nine, went +farther south in search of the Red River. They all met at Ft. Smith, +in western Arkansas, the middle of September; thence the united party +crossed through Arkansas to the Mississippi River, where their trip +ended. + +Major Long looked like a college professor. He wore glasses over very +black eyes; had thin, firm lips; high cheek bones; long wavy hair, and +was close shaven, except for a little tuft of side whiskers back close +to his ears. He later explored the source of the Mississippi River for +the Government, and then became Engineer in Chief for the Western and +Atlantic Railroad in Georgia. + +When Major Long in 1805 turned the prow of his steamer into the mouth +of the Missouri River, the first that ever ploughed its waters, he +little thought that just above the junction of those two rivers would +some day, on the Illinois side of the Mississippi, be built a City +that would be named Alton; and little did he think that, fifty-nine +years later, at the age of eighty, his grave would there be dug, and +there would he be buried. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE PIONEERS. + + +Of all those to whom we owe honor and loyalty, and affection; to whom +belongs the first place of honor at the banqueting board; the highest +monument to mark their passing; whose memory should be longest +cherished, and beside whose grave we should tread most lightly; in all +the generations of the past and future, we owe our allegiance first +and always to the old settler! The very name marks the whole span of +life. We see its spring time--youth and strength, teeming with energy; +we see its autumn--the last leaf upon the tree, clinging, poised, +ready to float away into eternal silence. Twilight, the lengthening +shadows, the old settler; they blend into a harmonious setting for the +slowly descending curtain upon the drama of life, ere the "silver cord +is loosened or the golden bowl broken at the fountain." The old +settler--what a train of thought the words suggest! He is the corner +stone of civilization. He it is who pushes out beyond the confines of +safety; out into scenes of privation and hardships; into conditions +calling for sacrifices and disappointments; into danger and ofttimes +death. Through it all he is so brave and so loyal, so earnest and +capable, so patient and cheerful, so tender in his sympathies, so +strong in his forceful grasp, so superior in his principles, that his +name deserves to be written high up on the walls of the Temple of +Fame! Nationally and locally, as a people, we have a feeling of +veneration for those who clear the way and conquer the formidable +obstacles that stand in the path of progress. They develop the highest +type of rugged manhood and womanhood--strong, fearless, independent +and self-sustaining. For nearly three centuries history has been +repeating itself in this country of ours. As the Pilgrim Fathers +endured and conquered, so in each succeeding generation have there +been those who have given the days of their lives to labor, in the +midst of loneliness, and the nights to vigil, surrounded by danger, +that security and prosperity might come to those who followed them. +They are the battle scarred veterans who fought for a foothold in a +hostile country, and through their untiring efforts and indomitable +courage made possible the enjoyment of others in the midst of +congenial and ennobling surroundings. + +Napoleon, as all the world knows, instituted the Order of the Legion +of Honor in recognition of merit, civil or military. To be a member of +that Order was an honor so great that the decorations were cherished +long afterwards by the descendants of the recipients. History records +that a French Grenadier, returning from a leave of absence, was +astonished to find the Austrian Army secretly advancing through the +mountains by a comparatively unknown path. Hastening forward to give +warning to the handful of soldiers stationed in a strong tower to +defend the path, he found to his dismay that they had fled, leaving +their thirty muskets behind. Undeterred by such a calamity, he entered +the tower, barricaded the door and loaded his muskets, determined to +hold the post against the whole Austrian Army. This he succeeded in +doing for thirty-six hours. Every shot told. Artillerymen were killed +the moment they appeared in the narrow path, and cannon were useless. +Assaults were repulsed with great loss in killed and wounded. Finally, +when not another round of ammunition was left, the Grenadier signalled +that the Post would be evacuated if the garrison could march out with +its arms, and with its colors flying proceed to the French Army. This +was agreed to; and when the old Grenadier came staggering out under +all the muskets he could carry, and it developed that he was the whole +garrison, the admiration of the Austrians was boundless; they sent him +with an escort and a note to the appreciative Napoleon, who knighted +him on the spot. When, later, he was killed in battle, he was +continued on the roll call of his regiment, and when the name of +Latour d'Auvergne was called, the ranking sergeant stepped forward, +saluted the commanding officer, and answered in a loud voice, "dead on +the field of honor." + +To such a class belong the courageous, vigilant and enthusiastic +advance guard of civilization everywhere. They placed the plowshare +and the pruning hook where the rifle and the tomahawk long held sway. +They worked with rough hands and stout hearts to solve the problems +that beset the West, and to make gardens bloom where the desert had +cast its blight for centuries. They brought order out of chaos and +from the woof of time wove the lasting fabric of justice and good +government. Such were the old settlers of our own beautiful mountain +land. They came, many of them, in the slow, monotonous, wearisome, +creaking, covered wagon drawn by heavy-footed oxen; through midday +heat and wintry blasts, through blinding storms of sand and snow, they +wended their way for months from far-off countries, sometimes leaving +their dead in unmarked graves by the wayside, and with set faces and +leaden hearts, pushed on to unknown scenes. + +Half a century has wrought wonderful changes! Now, the traveler sees +the sun go down upon the middle west, with the Missouri winding its +way to the sea; the morning's radiance glints the summit of the Great +Divide, and unrolls a picture of rare beauty and majesty! Five hundred +miles in a night; sleep, comfort, luxury; no hunger, or thirst, or +fear, or discomfort; cushioned seats, soft carpets, fine linen; dining +cars shining with polished woodwork, beveled mirrors, solid silver; a +moving palace such as was unknown even in the days of luxurious Rome. + +I have listened to many pathetic stories of our old pioneers that +touched me deeply. The history of those distant days is full of +interest. An air of romance envelops those early western scenes. Many +a troth was plighted in the long trip across the plains, and many a +friendship was formed that ended only in death. The novelist clothes +his characters with the imaginary joys and griefs of imaginary people; +but imagery never was and never can be as interesting as real +incidents in the lives of real people. A dignity crowns the memory of +the men whose feet were set where never human feet were placed before; +honors cling around the names of those who lived in the days when the +buffalo roamed the plains unmolested, when the skulking savage lurked +in hiding, and when the weird bark of the hungry coyote penetrated the +solitude of night. Out of such experiences empires are born. The +founders of our prosperous state little knew that here they were +opening up the richest mineral and farming country in all the world! +Nor did they realize that they would here plant the future metropolis +of the Great Rocky Mountain Region. We honor them--the living and the +dead--for what they are, and what they did! Their ranks are rapidly +thinning. It will not be long until at Old Settlers Roll Call there +will be no response--save only from out the stillness will be heard, +like an appreciative echo, the voices of their successors as they +answer, "Dead on the field of honor." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +CHRISTOPHER CARSON AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES. + + +_Christopher Carson._ + +[Sidenote: 1826] + +Down in the blue-grass region of Kentucky; down in the land of the +cotton, the corn and the banjo; where the tiny feathered warblers +carol their sweetest roundelays; where perennial flowers unceasingly +bloom, and the trees are early at their blossomings; where silvery +streamlets are kissed by the moonlight, and linger in the embraces of +the warm southern suns; in that land, the home of lovely women, +splendid men and fine horses; that has sent out its great generals, +polished orators and renowned statesmen--two children were born, +nearby, in the very memorable year of 1809. Abraham Lincoln grew to an +uncrowned kingship. Christopher Carson won the highest place in the +hearts of the empire builders of this wonderful West; and their names +will never die. Lincoln was splitting rails by day, studying by the +light of a log fire by night, and climbing hand over hand to his bed +on the floor of the loft, by means of pegs driven in the logs of the +cabin, as later he went hand over hand straight into the confidence +and hearts of his countrymen. + +Carson, the father, had apprenticed Kit, the son, to a saddler, as was +the custom of those times. He rose before the break of dawn, made +saddles and bridles all day and far into the night and was paid with +poor food, a comfortless bed, and cheap and scanty clothing. Such was +to be the lot of this unhappy boy until he was twenty-one. But he +rebelled. Out into the blackness of the night, and to the light of +freedom, crept the friendless youth, without a penny in his pocket or +a bundle under his arm! And to such freedom! The limitless West with +its stirring scenes beckoned him and he sped away, ahead of the +advertisement that called him back, and in which the munificent reward +of one cent for his return was offered by the man who had the legal +right to call himself the master. At Franklin, where he lived, he had +absorbed the spirit of the widening West that was calling him thither, +and he quickly became an important factor in its upbuilding. Along +that memorable Santa Fe trail, he crossed and re-crossed the +southeastern part of Colorado. + +Kit Carson became noted as a fearless hunter, trapper, miner, +stockman, farmer, scout, guide, Indian fighter, Indian pacificator, +treaty maker, Indian agent--all culminating in his Brigadier-generalship +in the Civil War. In every capacity, he was faithful, persevering, +energetic and capable. He learned the languages of the different tribes +with painstaking study. He grew to understand the Indians as +individuals, their ways, and their thoughts; he became their advisor +and counselor, settled differences between tribes, and between the +tribes and the Government; was the Government's advisor in treaty +making, and was the first man to urge the attempt to domesticate the +Indians. He knew the Spanish language as well as the Mexican and Indian +patois; and he aided the Government in the solution of its troubles +with the Indians as well as with the Mexicans and Spaniards. His +influence for good stretched across a country, beginning with the +Missouri River on the East and ending where the restless waves of +civilization listened to the beating of the surges on the shores of the +Pacific. He was a Lincoln sort of man with malice toward none. He had +few enemies, and many friends. He was for peace, when peace was +possible, but how he could fight when nothing else would do! Abbott, +who does not realize that the towering peaks, the murmuring streams and +the boundless plains, develop high ideals through the silent language +that is all their own, says of Carson, "It is strange that the +wilderness could have formed so estimable a character." + +In Christopher Carson I see a serious man, modest and retiring, soft +spoken, with quiet manners, medium in height, blue eyes and broad +shouldered. I see a priestly looking man, with thoughtful mien, with +face clean shaven; high, broad forehead, with receding hair flowing +toward his shoulders, long and wavy; thin, firmly compressed lips; in +all, very like the strong, splendid face of the world-famed artist, +Liszt. I see a domestic man, adoring his amiable Spanish wife. I see +him lying on his buffalo robe, with his children playing over him, and +hunting the sugar lumps out of pockets that were never empty. I see +him standing, gazing into the eyes of the Indian whose hand he clasps, +vieing with each other in erectness, while at their feet lie the idle +guns and cartridges, the broken bows and arrows, and the pruning hooks +into which their swords have been beaten. I see him dying, two score +and three years ago, with his honest homely face illuminated, as he +smiles his "adios" to all about him and sinks gently into his last, +long, dreamless sleep. + + +_Richens Wooten._ + +[Sidenote: 1838] + +Seventy-five years have come and gone since Richens Wooten joined a +wagon train at Independence, Missouri, and came out over the Santa Fe +trail. Until 1859 he felt that he was temporarily in the West; that he +would go back to his old Missouri home and end his days in the midst +of the peaceful scenes of boyhood joys, the memory of which had clung +to him through all the exciting years of his frontier life. Then when +he had achieved success; had money and property; had loaded his +belongings on his wagons; had turned the heads of the horses to the +East; looked into the faces of the friends who had surrounded him all +the years, at the plains he knew and loved, at the magnificent +mountains, silent, majestic, eternal, at the rivers murmuring to him +as they went by--his courage faltered! He awoke from the dream he had +dreamed for years, unhitched his horses, unloaded his wagons, and +lived and died in the country from which his heart-strings could not +be severed. + +[Illustration: Pioneers and a Conestogal Wagon or Prairie Schooner.] + +Like those of his day, he was everything he should be. He hunted and +trapped; he was a Government scout; he raised stock; he farmed; +everyone knew him as "Uncle Dick," and they knew him wherever a trail +was laid. He lived at the junction of the Huerfano River with the +Arkansas River about twenty miles East of Pueblo. He farmed there by a +process of simple irrigation, as far back as 1854, which made him the +Pioneer farmer of Colorado. He had a mill that was built by his own +hands, that was run by water power in a sleepy sort of way. He would +empty a couple of sacks of grain into the hopper at night and the +flour would be ready for breakfast in the morning. He trapped mostly +along the streams of Colorado and New Mexico. By handling his furs +himself, at St. Louis, he realized as high as Fifteen Dollars for a +beaver skin. He says "robes" were the cause of the disappearance of +the vast buffalo herds; that those killed for meat by the whites and +Indians would have made no appreciable inroad on the numbers that +inhabited the Great Western Plains, but desire for hides caused their +ruthless slaughter by the tens of thousands; that while they were +gentle at first and had to be driven out of the way of the emigrant +trains, they were hunted so much that later they became savage and +would fight. He started a buffalo farm in 1840 where Pueblo is +located, and sold the young to menageries. Wooten hated the Indians +with exceeding great hate. There was a reason. He had chased them many +and many a time; shot at them, hit them, had seen them fall, and their +riderless ponies flee over the prairies, while a form lay silent +beneath the sun and beneath the stars. But sometimes the tables were +turned, and sometimes the chaser was chased! Ah! There's the rub, for +Wooten could never look defeat in the face and be happy. + +The Indians, he says, had a system of long distance communication, +carried on among themselves by means of fire and smoke signals from +the mountain tops. A puff of smoke was like a telephone message, and +as easily understood; a second puff had its own peculiar meaning, and +a blaze carried its special message to distant tribes. The whole +country could be aroused in a day and night--the signals being taken +up and repeated from mountain top to mountain top. The Indians spread +themselves out to sleep in their tents, on buffalo robes or willow +mattresses, with their feet towards a common fire in the center. They +would place their dead in trees, or on a platform built on the top of +four poles planted in the ground. The dead would be placed in a +blanket, a buffalo robe wrapped around it, and then all bound together +with strips of hide; the dead would thus lie for years. It was +gruesome to happen upon these graveyard scenes at night, with the +uncanny owls hooting in the treetops, and the wolves howling their +warning notes. The Indians rode bareback with a rope for a bridle that +would be fastened around the under jaw of the pony, which was trained +to obey the slightest pressure of the knees or swaying of the body. + +One of the feats of which Wooten was proud, and with good reason, was +taking a great drove of sheep through to California. To do this +successfully in the face of possible depredations from the Indians, to +whom the sheep is a savory morsel; to escape the bands of thousands of +aggressive grey wolves; to swim unbridged rivers when sheep so dislike +to swim; to follow narrow mountain paths where overcrowding would +precipitate the herd into the chasms below; to get by the crops of the +Mormons who were all the time hunting for trouble; to reach his +destination with every sheep fatter than when he started--that, says +Uncle Dick, was the work of an artist. + +Wooten came to Denver in 1858, where a few cabins had been built, and +where a handful of people had centered. He started a store and built a +two-story log house, the first pretentious building ever erected in +Denver. Later, he built a frame residence when the saw mill came, a +mill that had been stolen in the East and brought to this +out-of-the-way country, where it was thought it could never be +traced--in which, however, the plunderers were disappointed. + +But Uncle Dick felt crowded. He could not breathe. He was elbowed by +the people who were settling here. The wilds called to him. He wanted +to get out alone, under the quiet stars; to have the glories of the +setting sun all to himself; to see the wonderful moonlight shadows in +the rivers; to feel the great orb creeping up in the morning, as he +had seen it out on the broad plains and from the mountain tops nearly +all the years of his life. So he went away; off to New Mexico, upon +whose mountains he got a Government Charter for building a toll road +by the abysses and along the over shadowing crags to shorten the +trail. And there, with the years creeping on, he set himself down by +the side of his toll gate, which was never shut down for the Indians, +for they could not understand that in all this great free world, a +road was not as free as sunshine or air. But is not this all told by +Richens Wooten himself, in his very own book, in the picturesque and +forceful style of a picturesque and forceful pioneer? + +And finally, the toll that is taken from all mankind was collected +from him, and he passed out alone by the road that every one must +travel, and over which no one has ever traveled twice. + + +_Oliver P. Wiggins._ + +[Sidenote: 1838] + +Straight as an arrow, towering six feet and three inches, stands +Oliver P. Wiggins, the oldest living pioneer of all the "winners of +the West." Eighty-nine years have brought a dimness to the eyes and a +slowness to the steps, but they have not touched the keen intellect, +trained by such experiences as no other living man will ever acquire. +He remembers distinctly every event that has occurred during all the +years of his life on the plains. He talks slowly and impressively, and +you feel as you leave his presence that you have been in touch with +another age and another race of people. He will tell you his story as +he told it to me. + +"I was born on the Niagara River; that is, on an Island just above +Niagara Falls, where my father had taken up some land. His father had +selected his own land near by the American side of the Falls, and it +became later on very valuable. Boylike, I wanted to fight Indians, and +I dreamed about scouts and tomahawks, and the war dance, for I was a +reader of the blood-curdling cheap Indian novels of that day. So I +left home when I was fifteen and went by sailboat from Buffalo to +Detroit, where I found some French emigrants just starting to +Kankakee, Illinois, where they were going to take up land. I went with +them as far as Ft. Dearborn, which afterwards became Chicago; it had +but about three hundred people then and as many soldiers; there was +one short street just South of the Chicago River, and among the houses +was one they called a hotel that had nine rooms. A squaw man, that is, +a white man with an Indian wife, was sent from the Fort with a paper +to St. Louis, that had something to do with paying the Indians their +annuities by the Government. I went along in the canoe down the +Illinois River, and the Indians, knowing what we were going for, kept +joining us in their canoes, until there must have been two thousand +following us when we reached St. Louis. There was not a single house +all the way from Chicago to St. Louis, which was not known as St. +Louis then. Later my uncle settled there, and had the Wiggins Ferry, +and four acres of land on what was known then as 'Bloody Island.' He +sold it recently for Three Million Dollars. The Indians had some +flour, bacon and blankets apportioned to them, and they traded a good +deal of it off for whiskey, and many of them got drunk and had an +awful time. + +"The following Spring, which was 1838, I went by steamer up to +Independence, Missouri, which is just above where Kansas City was +located later. It was the Eastern end of the Santa Fe Trail, while +eight hundred miles away, Santa Fe was the Western terminus. At +Independence, all the outfitting was done for the great overland +freighting business, which at that early period had assumed important +proportions. I joined a train, consisting of one hundred wagons and +one hundred and twenty men. There were five yoke of oxen to each +wagon, which made one thousand oxen; then there were a large number of +extra oxen along to rest those that got sick or sore footed. By +following close after each other, our wagon train stretched out about +three miles. I was still on behind driving the cavy-yard, which was +the name given to the sore-footed oxen. When we got to the Arkansas +River where the trail crossed, which was very swift, we made boats out +of two of the prairie schooners; calked them so they wouldn't leak, +and loaded into these two boats all the loads that were on the rest of +the wagons. A prairie schooner is a long deep wagon bed with flaring +sides, about eight feet high and twenty feet long. The oxen swam +across; then we chained all the empty wagons together, one behind the +other, and hitched the oxen to a chain that reached back across the +river to the wagons, pulled the wagons into the stream and on to the +other side, where, as fast as one reached the bank, it was unchained +from the rest, run up on the dry land, and the work of reloading +began. It took four days to get all our outfit across. Our wagons were +loaded mostly with merchandise for the stores to sell to the Mexicans, +and with mining machinery. The wagons would carry on an average about +seventy-five hundred pounds and the price of freight for the eight +hundred miles from Independence to Santa Fe was generally eight +dollars per hundred-weight, so the cost to the shippers of that +trainload of freight run into the thousands. It would take from ten to +sixteen weeks to cross the plains, owing to storms and the condition +of the roads. We would shoe our own oxen and some of them had to be +shod every morning. We would rope them and throw them for that +purpose. It was not like a horseshoe, for the hoof of the ox is split +and it requires a piece for each half of the hoof. We would make from +fifteen to twenty miles a day. The dust was so great, that we traveled +in a cloud of it all the time and the teams and drivers would change +off; those who were ahead to-day, were behind to-morrow, all but me; I +never got to go ahead with my cavy-yard, and I have never forgotten +those weeks of frightful dust. They wouldn't let me stay back far, for +fear the Indians would pick me off and run the cattle away. + +"About a day and a half after we left Big Bend, we met a friendly +Indian, who was much excited when he saw us. He said we must not try +to go on, for we would all be killed, as the Kiowas were on the war +path. Be we couldn't stop, so we kept right on, knowing that Kit +Carson was coming with an escort to meet us. We brought up the rear +half of the wagon train, however, and put two abreast, thus shortening +the train to about a mile and a half. Pretty soon Carson met us with +forty-six men, who were all well armed and mounted on good horses and +then we felt easy once more. When we reached the Kiowa country, where +we were most likely to be attacked, Carson and his men all got inside +the covered wagons and led their horses behind. After awhile we saw +the Indians coming charging down upon us, yelling and shooting with +their bows and arrows; all the drivers in the meantime having gotten +on the other side of their wagons. Carson kept his men quiet until the +Indians were close enough, when every man shot from the wagons, and +about forty-six Indians tumbled off their ponies dead or wounded at +the first shot. Then Carson's men mounted their horses and there was a +great fight. About two hundred of the three hundred Indians were +killed. Not one of Carson's men or of our party were killed. 'Did we +bury the Indians?' No, we left them where they were; they made good +coyote beef. + +"When we got opposite where Carson lived, which was at Taos above +Santa Fe, he left the train, for there was no further danger and I +went with him to his home about twenty miles off the trail, losing my +pay because I did not go through with the party, this being a rule of +freighting. I stayed with Carson two years. I became a guide and +Government Scout and got eighty dollars a month. I was with General +Fremont on his first and second trips. He wasn't liked by any of the +men. He was very dictatorial and it didn't seem to us that he knew +much. He had a German Scientist along whom all liked, and who knew his +business. When we were with Fremont on his second trip, it was so late +in the season when we reached the eastern foot of the Sierras, that +twelve of us refused to go with him for we felt it was certain death. +The snow falls in those mountains seventy feet deep at times, and it +was the season for snows. Carson was along and had to go on because he +had signed an agreement to go through, and he went, knowing he was +taking his life in his hands. We were arrested for mutiny and put in +charge of a sergeant, but soon got out of his reach, made a detour of +several miles through the mountains, got on the back track and reached +a place of safety after several days, thoroughly chilled from sleeping +in that high cold country with no blankets, but glad to escape with +any sacrifice. Fremont's party then consisted of fifteen, and they had +a terrible time. They froze, and starved, and suffered, so that three +men lost their minds and never recovered. Carson finally went on +ahead, so weak he could hardly walk or crawl, and sent help back just +in time to save the party. + +"The first gold discovered in Colorado, was in August or September, +1858, by Green Russell. He had stopped here on his way to California +where he was going to mine. He came from Georgia and knew about gold +mining there, and said there must be gold in Cherry Creek. He found it +up at the head of that Creek at a place called "Frankstown" where the +trail from Ft. Bent on the Arkansas River crossed over to Ft. Lupton. +Russell and Gregory and others came together, and Russell stayed here +a year and located Russell Gulch at Central City, which became a great +paying property. I did a great deal of hunting and trapping in those +early days and made money until 1858, when the fur business died down, +as silk had taken the place of fur. I was the first white man to visit +Trappers Lake, which is about thirty miles north of Glenwood Springs +and was considered inaccessible, because of the density of the fallen +timber. We brought out in one season about two thousand dollars worth +of furs and hides. The elk covered that country and was comparatively +tame as they had not been hunted. We took Indians along for guides, +and their squaws to tan the hides. This they did by boiling the brains +of the animals we killed and rubbing the soft brain powder into the +pores of the skin, folding the hides together, and in a week they were +cured and were soft and pliable. The brains were used because of +certain properties they possessed, and because of their pliant nature. +To catch the beaver we would set our steel traps in the water about +seven inches below the surface so the young could swim over them and +not get caught. Then just above where the trap was set, we would +fasten a branch from the limb of a tree into the bank, the bark of +which the beaver lives on. We would rub beaver oil into the bark of +the limb, so the beaver would think others of his kind had been there +ahead and found no harm; they are a very suspicious little animal. The +trap would have a spring that would close on the hind legs of the +beaver, as they would swim above it. + +"Until 1857, the trappers recognized the claim of the Indians, that +one-half of all game and hides belonged to them. It was changed in +that year by Government Treaty. In dividing with them they were very +insistent, and they usually got the biggest half of the meat and the +largest hides. We used to take hot mud baths at Glenwood Springs which +is a very pleasant sensation. I fought the Indians and fought them +hard, but had many friends among them and I did them many good turns +which they appreciated. I have had an eventful life, had many +thrilling experiences, saw life held very cheaply, and have seen such +developments as I never dreamed I should witness." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +GENERAL FREMONT AND THE MORMONS. + + +_John C. Fremont._ + +[Sidenote: 1842] + +This noted explorer so prominently identified with our early Colorado +history, was educated at Charleston College. He then became a teacher +on a United States Sloop of War on board of which was detailed a young +Lieutenant who later became famous as Admiral Farragut. Afterwards, +Fremont was employed as a surveyor for a railroad in South Carolina. +In 1838 he was made a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Topographical +Corps--the same corps that gave us Major Long. He was selected to make +a trip of geographical research and observation into Iowa, Minnesota +and Dakota with a noted French Scientist named Nicollet, who had been +sent to this country by his Government. In 1840 Fremont headed an +expedition for the establishment of Military Posts in the West, and to +definitely fix the position of South Pass on the head waters of the +North Platte River, which was on the line of travel to the western +coast. He was a long time getting ready, and did not leave Washington +for St. Louis until May 2, 1842, from which point he took a public +steamer up the Missouri River. On board he met Kit Carson, with whose +personality he was so pleased that he dismissed the French trapper he +had already engaged as guide, and selected Carson instead. Carson was +then on his way back to the West, from having given his little girl +into the care of the Sisters at a Convent in St. Louis; her mother, +who was an Indian woman, having recently died. They left the steamer +at the mouth of the Kansas River, which empties into the Missouri +where Kansas City is now located. It was then a little settlement of a +few rude houses, known as Kansas Landing, and later became Westport. A +little way above was Roubidoux Landing, named for a French Fur Trapper +and Trader who operated in Colorado. This Landing afterwards became +St. Joseph. Fremont says, as they started out across the prairie to +the westward, "It was like a ship leaving the shore for a long voyage, +and carrying with her provisions against all needs in its isolation on +the ocean." + +[Illustration: A Government Scout.] + +They traveled northwest until they reached the Platte River where the +City of Kearney is now situated, near which a Fort was established, +called "Fort Kearney." From this point they proceeded west along the +south bank of that stream, one hundred miles to the junction of the +two Platte Rivers. Here they divided, Fremont with three others +following the South Platte, the remaining nine going by way of the +North Platte to the fur-trading station that later became Fort +Laramie, at which point the Laramie River joins the Platte. On the +way, Fremont was entertained one night by the Indians at a feast. It +was a banquet with no suggestion of fairyland, such as so often +delights us now; no subdued strains from a hidden orchestra pouring +forth its entrancing harmonies; no myriads of electric lights dazzling +with their splendid brilliancy; no wealth of roses filling the air +with their rich perfume; no polished mahogany, damask linen, glowing +glassware or priceless silver; no well groomed men or richly gowned +women, radiant in their loveliness. There were none of these +accessories, but there was princely hospitality. There was the +ushering of the guests to their places by the Chiefs, with the courtly +dignity that white men might equal but never excel. In honor of the +occasion the choicest robes were spread upon the ground for seats. +There was the rich soup of fat buffalo meat and rice, served in deep +wooden bowls, with tin spoons, by the women. There was the dog boiling +in the pot for the second course, in token of a state occasion, while +the disconsolate puppies moaned pitifully in the corner of the wigwam. + +On July 10th Fremont reached Fort St. Vrain on the Platte, established +about ten miles south of where the Cache la Poudre River and the +Platte unite. He remained here a few days and then headed north to +Fort Laramie, getting too far East, however, over on Crow Creek, where +he had to travel forty miles without water--the first and only +hardship on his trip going and coming. He found the rest of the party +waiting for him, and they proceeded west up the Platte to the South +Pass, the point of his destination when he started from Washington. He +found the Pass a well-established thoroughfare, made so by the +fur-trading companies. He ascertained its height to be seven thousand +eight hundred and seventy-three feet. There was no pass anywhere about +of so low an altitude. It is about two hundred miles due west of Fort +Laramie--which is not, however, the Laramie City located on the Union +Pacific Railroad northwest of Cheyenne. + +Fremont saw to the perpetuation of his name in the highest mountain +peak, about forty miles northwest of the Pass, and just east of Green +River, having an elevation of thirteen thousand seven hundred and +ninety feet. He then started on his return to St. Louis, where he +arrived October 10, 1842, his journey both ways being without special +value or interest. + +Fremont's second trip was made in 1843, and seems to have been +principally for the purpose of establishing a shorter route through +the mountains than the Oregon Trail by the way of South Pass. He came +in from the east, up one of the branches of the Republican River to +Fort St. Vrain on the Platte, where he arrived July Fourth. On his way +he no doubt approached the Platte between Akron and Fort Morgan, where +there is a Butte named for him. He tried to learn from the hunters, +trappers and Indians, of a trail west through the great range of +mountains, but there was no one who could give him any information. +Following the Platte from Fort St. Vrain, he reports finding a Fort +Lancaster about ten miles up the river, which was the trading post of +Mr. Lupton and had then somewhat the appearance of a farm. He passed +through a village of Arapahoe Indians, probably near the mouth of +Clear Creek, camped a little above Cherry Creek, and followed the +Platte River to its entrance into the mountains at the canon. Needing +meat, he went east on to the plains in search of buffalo; crossed +Cherry Creek and the road to Bent's Fort; reached Bijou Creek, thence +up to its head on the divide where he reported an elevation of +seventy-five hundred feet--being the same altitude as at Palmer Lake, +twenty-three miles west. Altitudinal ascertainings are taken by the +simple process of looking at a watchlike, vest-pocket instrument, +whose delicately adjusted mechanism is affected by air-pressure. From +this place, he made a sketch of Pike's Peak, and is "charmed with the +view of the valley of Fountain Creek," on which Manitou and Colorado +Springs are located, and which he reached a little north of its +junction with the Arkansas River. He speaks of finding at this point a +"Pueblo" where a settlement of mountaineers were living, married to +Spanish wives, "who had collected together and occupied themselves +with farming, and a desultory Indian trade." They had come from the +Taos Valley settlements, the Valley that was later named the Rio +Grande. "Pueblo" was the name given by the Mexicans to their civilized +villages. Taos is taken from the name of the Taos tribe of Indians. +Returning he followed up Fountain Creek to Manitou Springs, thence +north over the Divide to Fort St. Vrain. + +Fremont then decided to go up the Cache la Poudre Valley and cross the +Divide to the Laramie River. He describes the buttes he saw on this +trip "with their sharp points and green colors"; the same so clearly +defined now, on the automobile road beyond Dale Creek, between Fort +Collins and Laramie City, one of the most picturesque scenes in the +whole State of Colorado. He followed the Laramie River down to the +present line of the Union Pacific Railroad, then west to the North +Platte River and beyond, where, getting tangled up in the hills, he +finally recognized the Sweetwater Mountains to the north to which he +proceeded; thence to the familiar Oregon Trail which he followed to +Salt Lake and on to California. + +On his return he entered Colorado near the mouth of Green River, went +northeast and encountered some branch of the White River, possibly the +Snake River, which he followed over the Divide to the North Platte +River, and thence up into North Park. While in Middle Park, a number +of squaws came to his camp greatly excited and made known the fact +that nearby a great battle was in progress between two Indian tribes, +and they wanted him to go with his party to help their side. He +declined and hurriedly departed. He passed over into the Cripple Creek +country, where after a few days of aimless traveling he descended a +branch of the Arkansas River to Pueblo. + +Fremont's memoirs are very rambling, and contain such a mass of +undigested material that it requires much reading and study to follow +him in his wanderings through Colorado. The streams, mountains and +localities had no names, and he gave them none. We can only trace his +journeyings by his camping places where he gives his latitudes and +longitudes, and which is only incidentally given and not in its +regular order. He ascertained latitude and longitude by the use of a +scientific instrument in its application to the sun, moon and fixed +stars, as the Indians often found their own locations by the study of +these same heavenly bodies, from centuries of observation without an +instrument, the knowledge being passed down from father to son, +generation after generation. + +On one of his trips, as he came in sight of Bent's Fort, the three +cannon mounted on its parapets, belched forth a greeting that sounded +sweet to the ears of the trained soldier, as the reverberating music +of the booming of the guns rolled down the Valley of the Arkansas to +meet him. + +A storm in the mountains is a frightful thing in winter and more than +one was encountered by General Fremont and his party. A number of the +men sacrificed their lives through the mistaken judgment of a leader, +who ordered them forward to breast the fury of those icy blasts of +snow and sleet. Oh! The terror of such a death! The awe of those cold, +bleak, snow-capped pinnacles; how cruelly they look down upon the lost +and helpless victim, prostrate at their feet, snow-bound, hopeless and +in despair! How subtly and menacingly the sharp wind moans; how it +shrieks and roars through the gulches, and how the giant pines creak, +and writhe, and groan, as they bend before the gale! How the blinding, +biting, swirling snow falls through the freezing air, burying the +trail and filling the icy gorges with ever deepening drifts! And at +last, the shivering sufferer meets his doom as he sinks in utter +exhaustion on his bed of snow, and drifts away into the stupor of +death. The inanimate form is buried deeper and deeper under its white +shroud, and heedless of the tempest raging above, sleeps the sound, +dreamless sleep of death. + +Fremont tells little of his last three trips; some being on secret +missions for the Government; one was for his own benefit and that of +Senator Benton of Missouri, whose daughter, Jessie Benton, he had +married--a lady of many fine womanly qualities and personal charms. On +one of his trips, William Gilpin was along, on a visit to the +settlements of Oregon. Gilpin later became Colorado's first Governor. +One expedition took him up the Rio Grande to Salt Lake and on to the +Coast. + +[Illustration: Indians Watching Fremont's Force Fording the Platte.] + +When representing the Government, Fremont's work was along military +lines principally, his operations leading up to the conquest of +California in 1847. The name California appears in an old Spanish +romance as an Island, where innumerable precious stones were found, +and Cortez applied the name to the Bay and to the country that is now +California which he thought was an Island. Fremont's work, however, +was not all military, for at the same time he was mapping streams, +taking altitudes, and making reports that would assist in ascertaining +facts about a country then little known or understood. Colorado has a +County named for him, of which Canon City is the County Seat. There +are Counties in Wyoming, Idaho and Iowa, similarly named. Eighteen +states of the union have towns bearing his name. "Fremont Basin" +covers the western part of Utah, all of Nevada, and a part of the +southeastern portion of California--in all, a region about four +hundred and fifty miles square. "Fremont Pass" in the Rocky Mountains +has an elevation of eleven thousand three hundred and thirteen feet +and is in the Gore Range, about ten miles northwest of Leadville. + +General Fremont occupied many positions of trust under the Government. +He was Governor of California when there was much trouble that +diplomacy might have averted. He was Governor of Arizona from 1878 to +1882. His exploring trips had made him famous and he secured the +Republican nomination for the Presidency in 1856, but was defeated by +Buchanan. In 1864 his name was put in nomination for the Presidency +but Lincoln's popularity so overshadowed him that his name was +withdrawn. He was Major-General of the Army in the Civil War, with +headquarters at St. Louis, where he promulgated the unauthorized order +freeing the slaves of those in arms against the Government, which so +embarrassed the Administration that the order was repealed and he was +relieved of his authority. Later, reinstated, he refused to take part +in a battle because command of the army had been given to General Pope +whom he claimed to outrank. + +Fremont journeyed all over Colorado and failed to find anything worthy +of note. While camped on the sites of Cripple Creek and Leadville, he +saw no signs of the enormous gold deposits of the greatest gold mines +in Colorado. While at North Park he did not observe the coal +outcroppings there--probably the most extensive coal fields in the +United States. While traveling through our valleys he could not look +into the future and see them groaning under a diversity of crops, the +most valuable ever raised in any country. He drank from our cool +sparkling streams, but he did not see how that wealth of water could +be supplied to the thirsty crops. He saw millions of fat buffalo on +the plains, but he failed to realize that the same nutritious grasses +would make beef equal to the corn-fed product of the East. He viewed +the most sublime scenery ever looked upon by the eyes of man, but his +reports contained no adequate description of the majestic outlines of +the mountains whose grandeur thrills the beholders from all the +countries of the world. + + +_The Mormons._ + +[Sidenote: 1847] + +The Mormons as a religious body, attempting to get beyond the reach of +the power of the United States Government which they claimed was +persecuting them, sought solace in the bosom of the Dominion of +Mexico, which then owned much of our country west of the Rocky +Mountains, wrested by them from Spain in their war for freedom. At +this very time the United States was fighting Mexico, and the Mormons +had no more than gotten out of the United States before they were in +again by Mexico ceding to our Government in 1848, the very territory +which these much persecuted people had chosen for a new settlement. +The Mormons had gathered from all quarters at Florence, Nebraska, just +above Omaha, where the water works of that City are now located. They +had wintered at this point in great discomfort, with much sickness, +and so many deaths that the country seemed to be one vast grave yard. + +In January, 1847, Brigham Young started West with one hundred and +forty-two in his party to find a location to which the rest should +follow. They had seventy-three wagons which moved two abreast for +protection, and they had a cannon and were well armed. They reported +seeing hundreds of thousands of buffalo grazing along the Platte +Valley, and were obliged to send outriders ahead to make a way through +the herds for their caravan. They traveled on the north side of the +Platte River so as to have an exclusive trail of their own, and it +became known as the "Mormon Trail"; the fur traders having made their +trail along the south side of that river. When they reached Fort +Laramie, they ferried across to the south side of the river where the +Government Post had been located; the change from the north to the +south side being necessary because of the physical difficulties on the +side of the river where they had been traveling. Here on June 1, 1847, +they were joined by a party of Mormons who had started from +Mississippi and Illinois; had wintered where Pueblo now is; had passed +north through Colorado, and doubtless over the ground occupied by +Denver following the Platte River to Greeley where they would travel +almost due north to Fort Laramie. These Mormons at Pueblo were the +very beginning of anything approaching white citizenship in Colorado, +for no other white families had ever spent so long a time within the +present limits of our State. + +General Fremont had passed by Salt Lake in 1843 on one of his +expeditions, and doubtless the Mormons knew of that Valley from his +report as well as of other points of the West. But the Mormons did not +know where they were going to settle, and had started north-westerly +from South Pass in search of a location and then turned to the south +to Salt Lake Valley. Upon their arrival there, the first day, they +planted six acres of potatoes because of the necessity of having food +for the vast numbers who were to follow them. The rest of the people +started from Florence July 4, 1847, and consisted of nearly two +thousand persons, about six hundred wagons, over two thousand oxen, +and many horses, cows, sheep, hogs and chickens. Following later, came +hundreds with push carts, who started too late to get through before +winter set in. Their suffering, starving, sickness, and the death of +nearly a quarter of their number on the way is a sad story, and is the +toll exacted in the settling of a new country. + +For many months, the Mormon Trail was lined with the traffic of +thousands of emigrants from all parts of the United States and Europe. +There were wagon trains hauling supplies of all kinds, such as +merchandise, machinery, seed and building materials. There were the +two-wheeled carts into which food and a small allowance of necessary +apparel were placed for the trip; and those carts were pushed all the +way across the plains by both old and young. It was said that every +step of the way was marked by a grave. No such sight and no such +suffering has ever been witnessed before in the settlement of any part +of the world. + +Ten years afterwards, the Church, grown arrogant, defied the power of +the United States Government and proposed war. General Albert Sidney +Johnson was sent on an expedition against them. Starting too late to +cross the mountains, the army became storm bound and was compelled to +winter at Fort Bridger in the southwest corner of Wyoming, at a +tremendous loss of lives, both of men and horses. They were short of +supplies, and an expedition was sent to New Mexico for food. It was +successful, and returned north through Colorado, skirting the eastern +base of the mountains and, no doubt, passed through the site of Denver +just before the gold excitement broke out in Colorado. They doubtless +followed the trail taken by Fremont to Fort Laramie in 1842, and by +the Mormons in 1847. + +[Sidenote: 1849] + +The rush for the new gold discoveries in California began in 1849 and +in a year it became a panic, so great was the hurry to reach there +from the East. It is estimated that seventeen thousand persons passed +Fort Laramie in June, 1848, coming up the Platte from Omaha; while +from Kansas City, Leavenworth and St. Joseph, many thousands passed +through southeastern Colorado on the Santa Fe Trail, and thence to +Salt Lake where the Mormons grew rich in their trade with these +excited gold seekers. Nothing has ever been seen resembling the gold +developments of California. Fortunes were made in a day when a +treasure house was unlocked, and poverty claimed the affluent in a +night, when a pocket pinched out. The wealth that was poured into the +laps of the fortunate prospectors was fabulous. The Comstock Mine +alone, named for the man who opened it up and lost it, yielded a solid +mass of treasure, amounting to one hundred and eight million dollars +to the four fortunate owners. It sent to the United States Senate, +Fair, Stewart and Jones, three of the partners, and gave the Atlantic +Cable Line to Mackey, the fourth, whose son still controls it. + +So, having been discovered by General Coronado and his army with their +brilliant cavalcade and martial music; by the two black-robed Friars +with their noiseless followers; by Lieutenant Pike and his loyal band; +by Major Long and his associates; and last, by General Fremont with +his five exploring parties; while the tidal wave of travel and +excitement is sweeping by us to its destiny on the sunny western +slope, and we are left in solitude, awaiting the bright awakening ten +years hence; let us take an introspective view of the people whose +history is forever interwoven with ours, whose race is nearly run, +while ours is just begun. + +[Illustration: + + Ventura, Historian of the Tribe of Taos Indians, Garbed in His + White Buffalo Robe--Made White by Tanning. + + Indian History was Transmitted Orally to the Youth, the + Brightest of Whom Became in Turn the Historian.] + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +OPPORTUNITY. + + "Master of human destinies am I, + Fame, love and fortune on my footsteps wait, + Cities and fields I walk; I penetrate + Deserts and seas remote, and, passing by + Hovel, and mart, and palace, soon or late + I knock unbidden once at every gate! + If sleeping, wake--if feasting, rise before + I turn away. It is the hour of fate + And they who follow me reach every state + Mortals desire, and conquer every foe + Save death; but those who doubt or hesitate, + Condemned to failure, penury and woe, + Seek me in vain and uselessly implore-- + I answer not, and I return no more." + + --_Ingalls._ + + +_A Fortune Won and Lost._ + +Hanging in a room of the White House when the magnetic, able and +masterful Roosevelt was President, was this beautiful poem of Senator +Ingalls. A gem of rarest value in word painting; a literary production +beyond criticism; but in sentiment, harmful and discouraging! It is +not true! Opportunity has knocked repeatedly at the door of countless +numbers, and future generations will hear its call again and again. +Only one chance to be given us? No! Life is too fine and means too +much for "the hour of fate" to hang on so slender a thread as a single +opportunity. It comes many times to some; it comes but once to others; +it does not come to all. To Antoine Janis, a French Trapper, it +knocked unbidden at his door but once; he failed to answer, and he +lived to appreciate his great loss, for he had fortune placed within +his grasp and did not realize it. Once, all the beautiful Cache la +Poudre Valley was his; every acre of land from La Porte to the Box +Elder; every lot in Fort Collins; wealth which would run into the +millions. It was the gift of the Indians, and was his as absolutely as +though it had come by Deed of Warranty with all its covenants, clear +and indefeasible. The Government in its Treaties with the Indians +recognized their grants, and had Janis asserted his rights to this +vast property, his claim would undoubtedly have been recognized by the +Government as in many similar cases. He continued his residence in +Larimer County for thirty-four years, going then to the Indians at the +Pine Ridge Agency and remaining there until his death. The close +friendship, early formed between him and the Indians, was never +broken, and they buried him with honors. + +I like to imagine that famous meeting at La Porte, when that Valley, +then nameless, changed hands. The Indians as a race were dignified, +serious, and on formal occasions acted with great deliberation. They +were a generous people, and were about to make a present to the White +Brother who had come to dwell among them. Bold Wolf, the Chief, called +his counsellors together. From out the seven hundred tepees they came, +in their brilliant dress of state. They gathered around the camp fire, +seated on their feet, with Antoine Janis as their honored guest. They +smoked the pipe of peace; not a pipe for each, but one for all, that +would draw them closer in lasting friendship. Resting their painted +cheeks on the palms of their hands, they listened with the utmost +respect to those who spoke. The oratory of the Indian is proverbial. +His dignified and serious bearing, his simple words and brief +sentences, his profound earnestness and apt illustrations, made him a +master of eloquence. It was an occasion for thrilling discourse. The +land where they were assembled was theirs. It was the land of their +fathers. It was theirs by right of discovery, by right of occupancy. +Here they had lived their lives; here their children had been born; +here their dead were buried, and here they had worshipped the Great +Spirit to whom their ancestors had bowed. And they were to give away +the best of their heritage; the luxuriant meadows of the richest and +most beautiful valley in their vast domain were to go to the White +Brother forever. Thereafter, every man, woman and child of the tribe +recognized that the country they looked out upon, over which their +ponies grazed, across which the buffalo roamed, even the very ground +upon which their wigwams stood, was the property of Antoine Janis. + + +_The Call of the Blood._ + +About the year 1800 some French trappers and hunters were passing out +of Colorado, into New Mexico, in quest of new streams in which to ply +their avocation. The pack ponies which they were driving on ahead +suddenly stopped and centered about an object at which they sniffed +intelligently. The trappers coming forward to investigate looked at +each other in amazement as they gathered around a deserted child lying +on the bosom of the unfeeling earth, hungry and helpless. These +bronzed and bearded men were heavy handed, but not stony hearted; and +they met the responsibility as best they could. Moses had been left in +the bullrushes of a stream for his preservation. This child had been +left in the tangled weeds on the bank of a stream for its destruction. +Moses lived to become the leader of a nation. This child was +saved--but let us see. It was taken by the trappers, named Friday for +the day upon which it was found, as in the tale of Robinson Crusoe, an +Indian youth was named Friday for the day of his discovery. Friday +grew and thrived, was adopted by one of the party, and at the age of +fourteen was taken along to St. Louis, where he was sent to school, +and shared in the joys and griefs of other boys of his age. When he +was twenty-one, the cry that had long been suppressed gave utterance. +He wanted to see his people. Leaving home, he came to Colorado, and to +the tribe of the Arapahoes, who had crossed the path of the trappers +twenty-one years before. It was a new life to which he was admitted. +During his visit a buffalo hunt was organized in his behalf. He +watched the preparations, saw the gathering of the ponies from off the +prairies, the testing of the bows and arrows, the night of feasting +and dancing before the start at earliest dawn. Wending their way over +the plains, they finally spied the herd. At once the dullness of the +hunters gave place to trained alertness; absolute quiet reigned; the +ponies crept forward slowly and softly, step by step, with their +riders clinging to their sides to give the appearance of a band of +grazing horses. At last they were near enough, and then the signal. +Away went the horses and riders in a whirlwind of excitement, the eyes +of the riders blazing, the nostrils of the horses dilating. Away went +the herd, shaking the earth with the thunders of their flight; away +flew the arrows to the twang of the bows, as they sped straight and +true into the heaving sides of the struggling animals. Down went the +buffalo, down on their trembling knees, down on their quivering sides, +as they stretched themselves out for their final death struggle. Down +went the Indians to dance in glee around the prostrate bodies of their +trophies. + +And Friday? No one ever hunted as Friday hunted! The thirst of blood +was upon him. He had plunged into the midst of danger, and knew no +pity, no compunction, no fatigue. The instinct of his race that had +been sleeping for years surged to the surface at a bound, never again +to be dormant. That night he threw off the garb that stood for the +civilizing influences of the past, donned the yellow blanket of his +race and adopted the life of his people. That day of daring, and his +education, marked him as a leader, and he became a Chief of the +Arapahoe nation. + +Chief Friday had a son. He was called Jacob after that Patriarch, who, +when asked his age by Pharaoh, replied so poetically "the days of the +years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years; few and evil +have the days of the years of my life been, but have not attained unto +the days of the years of the lives of my fathers in the days of their +pilgrimage." There is a superstition among the Indians that if they +have lost a battle, they must sacrifice some member of another tribe +as an offering to the Great Spirit. Jacob had been chosen for the +sacrifice. Hearing of it he fled. Returning two years later when he +supposed there was no further fear of his destruction, he was set upon +and left dead upon the ground. Friday loved Jacob with a very great +love, and so did he love the good of his people. He counseled peace, +and instead of plunging two nations in war, he buried his son with a +breaking heart, hidden by the stoicism of his race. + +Chief Friday had a daughter. A winsome lass. Light of foot, with a +singing voice and dancing eyes. She was called "Little Niwot" by her +father, because she used her left hand, and Niwot in the Indian tongue +means "left hand." I asked a doctor once, those wisest of wise men, +why it was that out of fifteen hundred million of the earth's +inhabitants, so few used the left hand prominently, and this was his +reply: "Upebanti manusinistra ob herededitatum." + +Niwot's education was not alone like that of the other Indian +children, whose eyes were trained to see the beauty in the sun, the +moon and the stars; whose ears were attuned to catch the voices in the +murmuring brooks, the music in the rustling trees, the melody in the +warbling birds; but she had learned of her father as well, who taught +her from the remembrances of those far-off days in the St. Louis +schools. Little Niwot loved an Indian youth, who was not the choice of +her mother. So she ran away with her dusky mate and became the wife of +the man of her choice. Friday was left alone. Jacob was dead and Niwot +was gone; he grieved for them, and could not be comforted. Niwot +became the name of a Creek near Longmont, and of a near-by station on +the Colorado and Southern Railway. So in station and stream, the +memory of a little Indian maiden is to always be kept green. + +And Friday died; died in the happy thought that in the civilizing +processes that had been going on about him, he had always tried to +stay the hand of his people when raised to check the white wave that +was sweeping them to their destruction. Chief Friday was well known to +the early settlers, and from them has come this story, here a little +and there a little, and now woven into print for the first time. The +unhappy ending of his life is like that of Chief Logan, whose +heart-breaking plea has been handed down to us in this great burst of +touching eloquence: + +"I appeal to any white man to say if ever he entered Logan's cabin +hungry and he gave him not meat; if ever he came naked and he clothed +him not. During the course of the last long and bloody war, Logan +remained idle in his camp, an advocate of peace. Such was my love for +the whites that my countrymen pointed as I passed and said, 'Logan is +a friend of the white man.' I had even thought to have lived with you +but for the injuries of one man; Col. Cresap, who, the last Spring, in +cold blood and unprovoked, murdered all the relations of Logan, not +even sparing my women and children. There runs not a drop of my blood +in any living creature. This called on me for revenge. I have sought +it. I have killed many. I have fully glutted my vengeance. For my +country, I rejoice at the beams of peace; but do not harbor a thought +that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn +on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan? Not +one." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +A VANISHING RACE. + + +There was a white man once with an idea. So modest was this man that +he was unwilling that even his name and the idea should be linked +together. He wanted the Indians to become better known to the whites, +to themselves, to their children, and to the future generations of +children. So he passed from one tribe to another and made known his +plan to them. They were to write a book; a book that would contain a +record of their thoughts and ideals, their songs and unwritten music, +their folk-lore, their views of the past, and their beliefs in the +mysterious future. The idea pleased them, grew on them, and ended in +their becoming deeply interested. The book was prepared and printed +and it contains the following touching and stately introduction by the +High Chief of the Indian Tribes. It moves forward so like a majestic +anthem, so solemn in its unspoken sorrow, so full of gentle dignity +that it sweeps into our souls like the cadence of a great Amen: + + "To the Great Chief at Washington, and the Chief of Peoples Across + the Waters: + + "Long ago, the Great Mystery caused this land to be, and made the + Indians to live in this land. Well has the Indian fulfilled all + the intent of the Great Mystery for Him. Through this book may men + know that the Indian was made by the Great Mystery for a purpose. + + "Once, only Indians lived in this land. Then came strangers from + across the Great Waters. No land had they; we gave them of our + land; no food had they; we gave them of our corn; the strangers + have become many and they fill all the country. They dig + gold--from my mountains; they build houses--of the trees of my + forests; they rear cities--of my stones and rocks; they make fine + garments--from the hides and wool of animals that eat my grass. + None of the things that make their riches did they bring with them + from across the Great Waters. All comes from my lands--the land + the Great Mystery gave unto this Indian. + + "And when I think on this, I know that it is right, even thus. In + the heart of the Great Mystery, it was meant that the + stranger--visitors--my friends across the Great Waters should come + to my land; that I should bid them welcome; that all men should + sit down with me and eat together of my corn; it was meant by the + Great Mystery that the Indian should give to all peoples. + + "But the white man never has known the Indian. It is thus: there + are two roads, the white man's road, and the Indian's road. + Neither traveler knows the road of the other. Thus ever has it + been, from the long ago, even unto to-day. May this book help to + make the Indian truly known in time to come. + + "The Indian wise speakers in the book are the best men of their + tribe. Only what is true is within this book. I want all Indians + and white men to read and learn how the Indians lived and thought + in the olden time and may it bring holy--good upon the younger + Indian to know of their fathers. A little while and the old + Indians will no longer be and the young will be even as white men. + When I think, I know it is the mind of the Great Mystery that the + white man and the Indians who fought together should now be one + people. + + "There are birds of many colors, red, blue, green, yellow--yet it + is all one bird. There are horses of many colors, brown, black, + yellow, white--yet it is all one horse. So cattle, so all living + things--animals, flowers, trees. So man; in this land where once + were only Indians and now men of every color--white, black, + yellow, red--yet all one people. That this was to come to pass was + in the heart of the Great Mystery. It is right thus, and + everywhere there shall be peace." + + (Sgd.) By HIAMOVI (High Chief), + Chief among the Cheyennes and Dakotas. + +Who is the Indian? This question has been asked for more than four +hundred years, and from out the buried silence of the past has come no +answering voice. Columbus asked it as approaching the border of a New +Hemisphere he gazed thoughtfully upon the features of another race of +beings. Ferdinand and Isabella asked it, as these strange men doomed +to vassalage stood proudly before them speaking in an unknown tongue. +Cortez asked it, as he riveted the chains of servitude upon two +million of them in the Conquest of Mexico. Coronado asked it, as his +army moved among the wandering tribes with their differing languages +and customs. The Pilgrim Fathers asked it with varying emotions, as +they viewed the curious natives waiting for them on the bleak New +England shores. France asked it, and trusted its most highly cultured +scientist to bring reply. "Nothing," he said as he returned, +"Nothing." He had visited many tribes, studied their languages, +customs and character, read everything ever written about them, and he +knew nothing and nothing ever will be known. + +May not human life have had its very beginning on this hemisphere? May +there not in the remote past have been a Columbus who sailed East and +discovered the Continent of Europe making it the New World and leaving +this the Old? The pendulum of the clock swings in seconds. The +pendulum of the growth and decay of continents swings in centuries, in +eons. The meteor of Rome blazing through the heavens took one thousand +years to fall. Like the Ocean's tide is the ebb and flow of nations. +That there was a prehistoric race on this continent and an extinct +civilization, we know. We read it in the Valleys of the Ohio and the +Mississippi, in the copper beds by the side of Lake Superior, along +the shores of Ecuador, and in the country to the southward. From time +immemorial, from generation to generation, from father to son, has +been handed down a tradition among the once powerful tribe of the +Iroquois Indians, that their ancestors, overflowing their boundaries, +had moved down from the northwest to the Mississippi; that on the east +side of that river they had found a civilized nation with their towns, +their crops and their herds; that permission was obtained to pass by +on their way to the East; that as they were crossing the river, they +were treacherously assailed, a great battle ensued, followed by a +continuous warfare, until the enemy was totally destroyed and their +civilization blotted out. + +[Illustration: An Indian Chief Addressing the Council.] + +The bones of human beings are dust by the side of mammals estimated by +geologists to be fifty thousand years old. The allotted period of a +man's life is three score years and ten. He could be born seven +hundred times, live seven hundred lives, die seven hundred deaths in +those five hundred centuries. It is not within the compass of the +human mind to grasp the infinite detail in the rise and fall of +nations within such a period. Read the story of nine generations of +men, from Adam to Noah in the first five Chapters of Genesis, for the +multiplication of the human race from just two people, and the +destruction of a population so numerous that they were like the sands +of the ocean's beach. Following on but a few pages, we find that out +of the Ark had "grown many nations and many tongues," and they were so +crowded that the Lord said unto Abram, "Get thee out of thy country, +and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I +will show thee, and I will make of thee a great nation." Abram went, +and he took his nephew Lot along, and directly we read that "the land +was not able to bear them that they might dwell together," and they +separated, one going to the right hand and the other to the left hand. +With this historical data before us, do we ask whence came these +millions of Indians and their confusion of tongues? There is a touch +of similarity between the wandering tribes in early Bible history, +with their many languages, their patriarchs, their flocks and herds, +their peaceful lives and their dissensions and wars--and that of our +Indians, with the earth before them, with their tribal Chiefs, their +many dialects and their nomadic lives. If the North American Indians +had possessed a written language; if after their discovery, they had +been able to make recorded conveyances of vast tracts of lands to the +subjects of the different Powers of the Old World; if international +law could have been appealed to for the protection of these individual +rights, there might have been a world war on this continent that would +have made our rivers run red with blood. + +When we close our minds to months and years and think in centuries, it +is easy to understand the diversity of languages. Tribes going off by +themselves, drop words from their vocabulary as time goes on, and use +other words that mean the same; after the passing of generations there +is an entirely new dialect. It is so in nearly all the countries of +the Old World; people living under the same government, neighbors, +cannot talk to each other. Climate too has something to do with +language. Russians and Eskimos use a speech that requires very little +lip movement, so as not to inhale the cold air of those cold regions. +In a mild climate there is the open language with many vowels. + +When we discovered the Indian, we found a character the like of which +has no parallel in all history. It was the untutored mind of a child +in the body of an adult; there was respect for each other and +scrupulous honesty in their dealings among themselves; there was +government by a Chief and his council, comprising the oldest of the +tribe, to whom all questions of importance were submitted, the Chief +being such because of inheritance, or daring, or possessions; there +was the love of the parent for the child, and the teachings that +developed the highest efficiency in hearing, tasting, smelling, seeing +and touching, for upon these faculties thoroughly trained, depended +success in war, and sustenance in peace; there was pride of ancestry +and a reverence for the Great Spirit, the maker and ruler of the +universe. It seems almost a pity that this Arcadia could not have +remained untouched. We asked for a little land to pasture our cows and +to use for gardens. It was given by them grandly. We asked for more, +and it came cheerfully; we demanded still more, and it came +gracefully. Then we quit asking and took it; took it with shot and +shell, as we hungrily pressed on, doubling one tribe back upon +another; bayonets in front, bows and arrows in the rear, and they +fought each other, and they fought us. We called them savages; and +they were savage, and so would we all be under like treatment. Justice +and diplomacy would have saved thousands of lives and millions in +money. We made many treaties with the Indians which were broken by us +and this occasioned most of our Indian wars. Canada had the Indians +and no wars. Her dealings with them were on principle and along +steadfast and unchanging lines. Men grew old and died in the Indian +Service, and those next in line took their places. They understood the +Indian nature, and knew they possessed a high sense of honor and the +dealings were fair to each side. Our politics have been at the bottom +of nearly all our troubles. As parties have changed, men have changed. +A promise made one day has been broken by the men who came on the +morrow. The Interior Department failing to handle the perplexing +question, the Indians were turned over to the various church +organizations, who failed to get the right proportions in their +mixture of morals and business. Then the War Department tried it; and +all the time the lands of the red men diminished, and the land of the +white man increased. Up to the year of Colorado's admittance into the +Union as a Territory, 1861, there had been three hundred and +ninety-three treaties made with the one hundred and seventy-five +tribes of Indians embraced within the Territory of the United States, +by which 581,163,188 acres of land were acquired. + +As tribes differed in their languages, so they differed in their +customs; and the following traits are applicable to some tribes and +not to others. + +The stoicism of the Indian is well known; but that trait of his +character has its qualifications. He shows the taciturn side of his +nature to strangers, but the world is not so serious as his austere +countenance would indicate. Among his own people he is a fun-loving, +story-telling, game-indulging human being. There are degrees in their +social status measured by what they have done and the property they +have accumulated. They have their ideas of propriety, and are shocked +that a man and woman should dance together. The men dance in a ring by +themselves, and the women dance in an outer ring, while a drum gives +accents to their movements. Usually they sing something mournful, its +weird rhythm following one for days. + +A child is usually named by its father, who walks abroad from the tent +for that purpose, selecting the name of what he sees first that +impresses him most. So they have such peculiar names as Rain in the +Face, Yellow Mag-pie, Sleeping Bear, Thunder-cloud, Spotted Horse and +White Buffalo. However, there are no white buffalo. They are black +until the hot sun of each season fades the black to brown, which later +sheds, to come out black again. When a buffalo hide is tanned on both +sides, it becomes white, which gives rise to the name White Buffalo. +They have but one name other than their tribal name. The name "squaw" +was first found in the language of the Naragansett tribe of Indians +and is doubtless an abbreviation of the word "Esquaw." Other tribes +have their own peculiar name for women. The name squaw came into +general use and spread all over the United States and Canada, was +carried to the western tribes of Indians by the whites, and was used +by all whites and all Indians. A squaw man is one who does a woman's +work, or a white man who marries an Indian woman. + +A youth does not tell a maiden of his love for her. That is told and +answered by heart telepathy in the old, old way. He tells his father, +who calls his relatives to a council and a feast, to consider the +matter. Then the young man's mother carries the proposal to the mother +of the maid, who tells it to the girl's father, and a meeting is +called by him of his relatives and friends, where there is much +feasting and speaking. The two mothers then meet, and accept for their +children. The girl prepares a dish and carries it to the tent of the +young man daily as a token of her intention to serve him all her days. +When the tepee is ready, and the presents accumulated, and house +keeping begins, they are husband and wife, all the former +preliminaries having constituted the wedding ceremony. + +An Indian never touches a razor to his face, for they are a beardless +race. The tribes who occupied the eastern part of the United States, +wore their hair clipped short like the Chinamen, excepting that +instead of a queue, there was a scalp lock which they adorned with +feathers. It was worn in defiance of the Indians of other tribes, who +were thus dared to come and take their scalp. The picturesque and +warlike appearance of the Indians that comes from painting their faces +with deep and varying hues, originated in the preservation of the skin +from burning and chapping in the sun and alkali dust. They used +compounds made from roots or earth which they ground or baked and +mixed with grease. There were many kinds of earth that had different +tints which they liked, so this became a permanent custom which made +their appearance seem fierce and warlike. They believe that the red +men are made of earth, and the white men are made of sea foam. + +In surgery they had rude skill and in disease they had a limited +knowledge of the proper application of roots and herbs. But they knew +nothing of the science of medicine in its complicated form as +practiced by the learned of the profession at the present time, who so +thoroughly understand prophylaxis, serum therapy, and the role of +antibodies in passive immunization. Dentistry was unknown among them; +their simple food and outdoor lives kept them well, and the food they +ate was thoroughly ground between their well-preserved teeth. The game +that was formerly so abundant was their principal food, and its +destruction by the whites took from the Indian his chief mode of +existence, and occasioned his menacing attitude toward our people. +Other food consisted of wild berries, sweet potatoes, rice and nuts, +which they would gather and bury. As they had a practiced eye, they +found the buried food of the squirrel, the otter and the muskrat, +which they would dig up and appropriate to their own use. + +[Illustration: "Behold, he winnoweth barley to-night in the threshing +floor." Ruth 3:2. + +As they did in biblical times, so do some of the Indian tribes to this +day. They beat out the grain with a stick and then pour it out gently +for its cleansing by the wind.] + +They mourn noisily with each other in case of death. Likewise did the +tribes of the patriarchs, who "mourned with great and very sore +lamentation." The Indians think that it takes four days for the soul +to reach the land of the dead. So a light burns on the grave nightly +for four nights, that the disembodied may not get lost. They believe +that there are two souls, one that soars away in dreams, while the +other remains in the body. In the absence of a clock in the wigwam and +a watch in the pocket, they measure time in their own way; a sun is a +day, a moon is a month, and a snow is a season. + +It is said the "hand that rocks the cradle is the lever that moves the +world." If this be true, then the Indian mother takes no part in the +world's movement, for she never has rocked a cradle. The cradle of a +child is an oak board two and one-half feet long, and one and one-half +feet wide, to which the babe is strapped in a way that the arms and +legs are free for exercise and growth. This board lies on the ground, +leans against the wigwam or a tree, is carried on the mother's back, +or placed between tent poles like the shafts of a vehicle, to which a +pony or dog is attached, leaving two of the ends dragging on the +ground. The child is sometimes rocked by the wind when fastened high +up among the branches of the trees; and that is where the little song +comes from that the mother sings to her child to this day; "Rock-a-bye +baby in the tree-top; when the wind blows the cradle will rock." + +The speeches of the Indians are always impressive. Their words are +simple and direct, and there were developed great orators among them +in the days when war between the tribes, and against the United States +prevailed. Some of the simple pleas which they made for the land of +their fathers, were as fine as could be produced by a higher education +and a finer civilization. When the French demanded of the tribe of the +Iroquois that they move farther back into the wilderness, the eloquent +reply of their Chief has been pronounced by Voltaire to be superior to +any sayings of the great men commemorated by Plutarch: "We were born +on this spot; our fathers were buried here. Shall we say to the bones +of our fathers, arise, and go with us into a strange land?" + +The same cannot be said of the Indian literature. Here is one of their +classics: "Nike adiksk hwii draxzoq. Geipdet txanetkl wunax. Nike ia +leskl txaxkdstge. Nike lemixdet. La Leskl lemixdet, nike haeidetge." +Interpreted this means: "Then came the tribes. They ate it all the +food. Then they finished eating. Then they sang. When they finished +singing then they stopped." It is characteristic of the Indians for +their feasting to end when their food is all gone, and for their +singing to cease when it stops. + +A century ago Malthus, in his great work on the "Principle of +Population," prophesied the extinction of the North American Indians. +His theory was, that subsistence is the sole governing cause in the +ebb and flow of the population of the world. That given pure morals, +simple living, and food to support the increase, the inhabitants of +any country would double every twenty-five years. He therefore +predicted that it was an inevitable law of nature that the Indians, +failing to take advantage of the bounties of nature, must of necessity +give way before the needs of an ever increasing population. + +The Indian had the misfortune to have been improperly named. Columbus +had sailed over the trackless ocean for many days; water in front of +him, water behind him, to the right and to the left. He had gone so +far that finally when he anchored, he thought he had sailed entirely +around the world, and had come upon the eastern coast of the very +country he had left behind when he sailed west out of Spain. Believing +that he had reached the eastern coast of India, he called the Islands +where he landed the "West Indies," and the inhabitants thereof +"Indians." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE LUSTRE OF GOLD. + + +[Sidenote: 1858] + +In the incident of nearly sixty centuries ago, when Joseph's brothers +came down two hundred miles from Canaan to Egypt with their sacks to +be filled with corn, and of the money being put back with the grain, +we have the first record in the civilized world of the ownership of +gold. "How then should we steal out of thy Lord's house silver and +gold." So its value was then known, though no doubt for decorative +purposes only, from which it in time grew into use as money. Cortez +found the Aztecs using domestic utensils made of copper, silver and +gold. + +What made Gold? What deposited it in some parts of the earth's surface +and not in others? Why is there not more of it? We do not know. We +know it was one of the primitive elements; that it is held in solution +in the waters of the ocean; that men have tried to make it and have +always failed. It derives its name from its lustre. Though gold and +yellow are in a measure synonymous, their difference is best seen in +the glory of the sunset which is always golden, never yellow. It is +the lustre that makes the lure of gold. Its value arises from the +permanency of its lustre; from its imperishable properties; from the +fact that so much can be done with it; because it is so limited in +quantity; and because it requires so much time and money to find and +refine it. If it would corrode it would be valueless for many of the +uses to which it is put. Its soft beauty never tires the eye, nor +becomes monotonous. It is the only metal that can be welded cold, as +we can all testify from our experiences in painless dentistry. It can +be spun out like a spider's web, or beaten so that a single grain of +it can be spread over a space of seventy-five square inches. If it +were as plentiful as earth or sand, it would still have great value +because it is so permanent and malleable. The sawing and chiselling of +the great blocks of marble and granite that are lifted by derricks +into our public buildings, cost much more in their preparation than +would the shaping of gold into similar blocks. If it were plentiful, +our houses would all be built of gold; they would never burn; never +rust; never decay; never need paint; they would endure forever; for +even earthquakes that would destroy every other material, would not +affect them; the mass of gold would not be destroyed and could be +re-shaped and refitted together. However, if it were so plentiful that +we could all live in it, it would be so common that its beautiful +lustre would probably be debased by ordinary paint. + +Mining comes down to us through the centuries. The Romans were +operating mines in England before the organization of that country +into the British Empire. Africa produces the most gold of any country, +and the United States next. Colorado produces the most gold of any +state in the union. There is but little gold found in the eastern part +of the United States and that mostly in Tennessee and North Carolina. +It exists in paying quantities in the Black Hills of South Dakota, in +the Rocky Mountains, and in California. Gold is found under two +conditions: in veins and in placer formations. As the veins in our +bodies are almost endless in their ramifications, so imbedded in the +rocky fastnesses deep down in the earth, are the veins of gold which +are mined and hoisted to the surface through shafts, or brought out +through tunnels; the process of smelting sends the gold to the Mint +for its refinement. Deep mining is expensive and requires costly +machinery. Shafts are sunk down thousands of feet, sometimes through +solid rock, and powerful pumping plants are often necessary. Sometimes +hundreds of men are at work in one mine. + +[Illustration: Miners Making a "Clean-up" from Their "Jig-box."] + +Then there is placer mining, so-called because it is a place on the +bank of a river where the gold is found. "Placer" is Spanish and means +"pleasure." A prospector's outfit for finding gold by the latter +process is very crude. He goes into the mountains with two pack +ponies. These pack animals learn to climb over the rocks and along the +precipitous mountain sides like Rocky Mountain sheep. On their backs +are strapped his tent and simple belongings, among which is a wash +basin. The prospector seldom uses it for the purpose for which it was +made. He bathes in nature's basin--golden basin; that which a King +might envy him--the stream, the rushing, tumbling stream, clear, cold +and pure; fortunate man! he bathes in liquid gold. The pan he fills +two-thirds full of dirt, then with water, rocks it gently with his +hands, letting the water run over the sides, carrying the dirt away +and leaving the particles of gold, which are heavy, at the bottom of +the pan. When the miner finds it there, he does not call it gold, he +calls it "color." This rude device that is simply motion, water, and a +receptacle for the particles of gold, is the same process elaborated +upon by expensive machinery, that tears up and runs through the mill +thousands of tons of material found along streams, and in gulches, +where streams ran ages ago, and which, changing their channels, have +left their deposits of gold containing the wash from the lump or +quartz gold, found in the veins of ore. + +A sluice is where water is made to run through a ditch into a trough +that has cleats nailed across the bottom to check the water and form +ripples. Into this the pay-dirt is shoveled, and the water flowing +through it leaves the gold at the bottom and carries the dirt away. +Gold dust is not fine like flour. A piece weighing less than a fourth +of an ounce is called "dust." Above that it becomes a "nugget." Small +counter-scales were kept in the early days by all business men, who +weighed the money in, and weighed the flour and bacon out. An ounce of +gold was taken over the counter from the miners at sixteen dollars, +but when it left the Mint refined, which meant the elimination of all +impurities, it brought twenty dollars. It is never entirely pure until +refined. + +The nearest approach we now have to the hunter, trapper and scout, is +the prospector hunting for gold. We find him wandering alone through +the mountains, a silent figure, the pack pony, his only companion, +sometimes driven ahead, sometimes following on behind. This quiet +spoken, unobtrusive, hermit-like man is usually tall, gaunt, bearded, +hopeful, always believing in the lucky find that is sure to be +his--soon. Mining laws vary with different states and mining +communities. But ordinarily they are the same in effect, that a miner +must show good faith, do the work required to establish his claim, and +must post a notice on the ground claimed by him; the spelling in the +notice does not seem to matter. We do not hear that the following were +rejected on account of errors or threats: + + "Notis--to all and everybody. This is my claim, 50 feet on the + gulch. Cordin to Clear Creek District law backed up by shot gun + amendments, + + (Sgd.) "THOMAS HALL." + + "To the Gunnison District: + + "The undersigned claims this lede with all its driffs, spurs, + angels, sinosities, etc., etc., from this staik. a 100 feet in + each direcshun, the same being a silver bearing load, and warning + is hereby given to awl persons to keepe away at their peril, any + person found trespassing on this claim will be persecuted to the + full extent of the law. This is no monkey tale butt I will assert + my rites at the pint of the sicks shuter if legally Necessary so + taik head and good warnin accordin to law I post This Notiss, + + (Sgd.) " JOHN SEARLE." + +Singular it is that the laws governing mining claims originated with +the miners themselves, and found their way through the Courts and +Congress for ratification, which was done with hardly any changes, +while the laws covering all other forms of ownership of Government +lands originated in Congress. The author of much of our early land +legislation, to whom our country can never be grateful enough, was +that eminent statesman Alexander Hamilton. + +Gold started Colorado's growth; gold kept it growing; but gold is only +one of many factors that will forever keep it growing. What busy +scenes were enacted here in those memorable years when the attention +of the entire country was centered on this region! Pike's Peak was the +objective point of the gold seekers--not Denver which was then +unknown. When James Purseley, Colorado's earliest white inhabitant, +first found gold in 1805, at the foot of Lincoln Mountain, it did not +assume the importance of a discovery. He had no use for the gold +nuggets he picked up; the Indians did not know or appreciate the value +of gold, and there was no one with whom he could utilize it, as he +could in the exchange of ponies and furs. It is said that he finally +threw the nuggets away because of the uncomfortable weight in his +pockets. No doubt he thought he would live his life among the Indians, +the wild, free life that was so fascinating, and would never return to +the East, and perhaps never see a white man again. He was content with +his lot, had no use for gold and why should he hoard it, when the +Indian blanket he was now wearing had no convenient place in which to +carry it. + +Green Russell is said to have found gold on Cherry Creek in August or +September, 1858, just ten years after its discovery in California. It +was also found by a party of six men on January 15, 1859, on a branch +of Boulder Creek, which occasioned the location of the present City of +Boulder. George Jackson went into the mountains on January 7, 1859, +and discovered gold at the mouth of a branch of Clear Creek, and on +April 17th organized at that point the first mining district; later, +on May 1st, he found gold at Idaho Springs. But it remained for John +H. Gregory to fan into a never dying glow the flame that had been +gathering volume by these desultory discoveries. He found gold on +Clear Creek, near the sites of Black Hawk and Central City, in +February, 1859. Lacking provisions, he went to Golden for supplies, +returned May 6th, and started a sluice on May 16th, from which he took +as much as nine hundred dollars a day. He sold his discovery for +twenty-one thousand dollars and set the country afire with excitement. +From nearly every eastern community, the people came, and from many +parts of the world. It is estimated that fifty thousand people poured +into this mountain region the first year after the discovery of gold. +Many of those who remained, and many who came later, made fortunes, +some to keep them, some to lose them. Those who hurried out of the +country did not witness the growth of Cripple Creek, of Leadville, of +Camp Bird or of the San Juan and Clear Creek Districts. + +There are two smelters in Denver and one each in Golden, Leadville, +Canon City, Pueblo and Salida. None but zinc ores are sent out of this +State. The annual output of gold in Colorado is about twenty-two +million dollars, or about six million dollars a year greater than +California. There are three operated Mints in the United States: +Denver, Philadelphia and San Francisco. At Denver there are six +hundred million dollars of gold deposited in the vaults beneath the +foundations of the Mint, and upon this reserve the paper currency of +the Government has been issued. No such amount of gold is stored in +any other building in the world. The Denver Mint will always remain +the storage depository for the gold reserve of the nation, because of +its inland location, where it is remote from attack by sea. Colorado +has already produced in gold four hundred and eighty-eight million +five hundred thousand dollars, and there is no indication of a +diminution in the supply. Of the seven billions of the world's gold, +nearly one-fourth, or approximately one billion six hundred million is +held by the United States. + +When Columbus first started on his voyage of discovery there was less +than two hundred million dollars of gold in the world; now, more than +double that amount is produced in a single year. In 1500 the annual +gold production was four million dollars, and it took two hundred +years before the yearly output was doubled. Now, nearly five hundred +million dollars in gold is taken out of the earth each year. Only in +the past few years has the production of gold assumed such gigantic +proportions as to be alarming. In 1800 it was but twelve million +dollars annually. In 1900 it was two hundred and sixty-two million +dollars yearly, and in the past ten years it reached the enormous +output of more than four hundred and fifty-seven million dollars every +year. The Transvaal country alone turns out over one hundred and fifty +million yearly. This great increase is due to improved methods of +mining. Machinery unknown ten years ago, has done away with the +primitive methods that kept the production of gold constant and within +bounds. In the Transvaal, the hills and valleys are being ground up by +powerful machines that separate the gold from the earth and rock. +Then, too, a giant stream of water is now turned against the base of a +mountain that melts away like mist before the sun, and sends a stream +of gold to the mint. + +Gold has always been the standard of values among all civilized +nations. But its quantity is increasing so fast that its purchasing +power is diminishing, and prices of all commodities are increasing +correspondingly. When we will be producing one billion dollars of gold +annually, which will be in about ten years at the present rate of +increase, there must be a new standard of values agreed upon among the +nations of the earth to fit the purchasing power of gold, or there +will be an upheaval in the financial affairs of the world that will +shake it to the very foundations, and affect the lives of every one of +its inhabitants. + +The over-production of gold is relieved in a measure by the utter +disappearance of a part of it. What becomes of all the gold? Nearly +one million five hundred thousand dollars a day is taken from the +mines of the world. Only a portion of this output is consumed by the +arts and in jewelry, and in the natural legal reserve of Governments. +From the best information obtainable, much of the surplus goes into +the hoarding places of all classes. The people in poor and medium +circumstances hide it away, and it is treasured in the vaults of the +rich princes of India, and the dynasties of China and Egypt, who for +centuries have been building vast burglar proof receptacles +underground, where it is stored, and its hiding places are never +allowed to become known. It is wrested from out of its hidden recesses +in mountain fastnesses, by pick, drill, dynamite and arduous toil, +flows through the arteries of trade, and again goes into its burial +places to remain hidden for ages. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +SOME MEN OF VISIONS. + + +[Sidenote: 1859] + +In this story of Colorado it has been the aim of the writer to leave +the present, crowded with the interesting events that are passing +before us in kaleidoscopic changings, to the enviable writers of a +future period; and to keep well within the boundaries of the remote +past, touching but briefly, if at all, upon those subjects so ably +covered by the historians of the State. They have fully recorded the +growth of the country, the towns and cities; the beginning of the +railroads and telegraph lines that were such important factors in the +development of the state; and the part that men of prominence, living +and dead, took in the upbuilding of our commonwealth. It is all found +in detail in the following histories: + +Frank Fossett's "Colorado," published in 1876; "History of Denver," +compiled by W. B. Vickers in 1880; Frank Hall's Four Volumes which +began to appear in 1890; Hubert Howe Bancroft's "History of Colorado," +published in 1891; William N. Byers "Encyclopedia Biography of +Colorado," in 1901; Jerome C. Smiley's elaborate "History of Denver," +in 1901; Eugene Parsons "The Making of Colorado," in 1908. + +A few names have been selected for mention in these pages which appear +in the above publications. Sketches of the lives of these men are here +presented in order that the older civilization may be merged into the +new, and to bring to the present generation a realization of the charm +of the interesting personalities with which the history of our early +days are replete. So the sketches in this Chapter will be like unto +"Twice Told Tales." + + +_William N. Byers._ + +Eighty years! Then, the frontier of this country had moved only a +little beyond Ohio, the State that in 1831 was the birth place of +William N. Byers. As we stand to-day in the midst of all that makes +life comfortable and inspiring, and look back to the crude +civilization and primitive methods of those early days in our +country's history, it is difficult to believe that even in such a +progressive age there could have been such developments in the +lifetime of some now living. Then, the little hand printing press had +only eight years before emerged into its perfected form after four +centuries of struggle. Then, the first railroad in the United States +had only been built for two years--built of wooden rails to connect +Albany and Schenectady, seventeen miles apart. Then, telegraphing was +unknown; it was not until 1837 that Morse perfected the first +telegraphic instrument, and later listened to the little girl, his +child friend, as she reverently touched the key and spelled out the +message that went reverberating around the world: "What hath God +wrought?" + +A United States surveying party enroute to Oregon took with it William +N. Byers, a youth of twenty. They were five months crossing the +plains. The next year, 1853, saw him starting West from Oregon +homeward bound, instead of East. Down the Columbia River by boat, out +on the Pacific Ocean and South to Cape Horn he sailed, up through the +Atlantic waters North to New York, West by railroad, canal boat, stage +coach and horseback, and he was at home in central Iowa on the very +edge of western settlements. + +But much to the surprise of every one there was still to be a newer +West. Out beyond the Missouri River had come a knocking which became +so loud and persistent that finally they heard it at Washington, and +Nebraska was admitted as a Territory in 1854. It is a short move now +from Iowa to Nebraska, but Omaha then seemed far away to the young man +who reached there when it comprised "one lone cabin surrounded by +savage people." The savages grew less and the town grew more, and +Byers, who was a surveyor, was soon at work platting it into a town +site. When the gold excitement broke out in California in 1848, and +Omaha became the outfitting point for the immense trading business +that grew constantly, it kept him busy laying out additions to the +town. Thus he experienced the rough side of life in a frontier +village. He saw, too, how the Pacific Slope mines made great fortunes +and built cities, so when the Colorado mining excitement started, he +concluded to be a part of the new country's development and growth. In +the early Spring of 1859, he started to Denver, after the fashion of +that day, with an ox team and covered wagon. + +One of the most pleasing fables in Mythology, is that of Pandora and +the box into which every god had put some blessing for her, and which +she opened incautiously to see the blessings all escape--save hope. In +this covered wagon, drawn by the slow-moving oxen, was a Pandora box +containing two blessings, a little printing press which could not fly +away--and hope. All the long weeks of journeying across the plains, +this far-sighted man was thinking. He thought of the little six +hundred pound press that he had with him, which with close work could +print twenty-five hundred copies of a small newspaper in a day. He +thought of the type that would be used over and over until it was so +worn that it would blur the pages. He thought of his paper going to a +few scattered strangers in a strange land. He looked ahead out over +the plains and saw that strange atmospherical condition that produces +the mirage, and which is so clear in its outlines and so misleading in +its impressions, that the man on the desert dying of thirst sees a +lake of pure water so near him that he seems to hear its waves dashing +on the shores. Byers gazed with delight and awe as the mirage seemed +to take form and resolve itself into a city; we can imagine that he +saw a gilded dome on a towering building of symmetrical form and +solidity that was set on an elevation of commanding beauty; that he +saw streets and trees and parks; life, movement, bustle, prosperity; +thousands of people each with a newspaper. And in imagination he stood +beside the giant printing presses of that magic city, presses that +were so capable and powerful as to seem endowed with life; so large +and heavy that a freight car could not haul one, and which needed a +double story beneath all other stories to house it. He sees himself +standing beside this mammoth mass of mechanism at its home, while it +is resting, at the time of polishing, oiling and testing, like the +grooming of the horse at the meet, ere it starts on its +record-breaking race. He listens to the telegraphic instruments +clicking the news from every portion of the known world. He goes to +the composing rooms where the copy grows into the newspaper pages of +type, under the skillful fingers of the capable men playing over the +keys of the intricate linotype. He follows the locked forms of type to +the stereotyping department, where a matrix made of the most perfect +and delicate paper that India can produce, is laid over the page of +type and pressure sends its minutest imprint transversely into the +paper which thus becomes an exact copy of the page of newspaper that +is soon to appear. He sees this impress copy bent half way around a +cylinder mold, with its duplicate on the other half of its cylinder +into which the hot metal flows; pressure transfers from the India +paper sheet every detail of the type, and the metal hardens into the +exact shape to fit a roller of the great press to which it is to be +transferred. He sees the type that was made an hour ago and used, now +cast into the glowing furnace, and a minute later becomes a melted +mass of metal. And we can imagine his soliloquy. + +"Oh! type! I see you boiling, and seething, and dissolving as if in +expiation of your sins, for you are cruel and relentless. To-day you +tell of men's sins that wreck their lives and they end their struggles +in self-destruction. You tell of sickness and death, of poverty and +defeat, of misery and crime; but in your purification by fire may all +be forgotten, for tomorrow you tell of births and flowers, of love and +marriage, of victory and success, and you crown your efforts by the +advocacy of wise laws, of good government, of equal justice to all; +for right will prevail while the liberty of the press can be +maintained." + +We imagine that he looks again and sees the electric button pressed; +the cogs of the great press begin to turn, the wheels to move, the +different colored inks high up in the metal troughs to flow over the +rollers that bathe the type, the immense roll of paper begins to +unreel into the machine and over the cylinders which are each covered +with their mold of type. Faster, faster, as the race horse speeds to +victory. Faster, faster, as the colossal machine bends to its work. +The folding attachment inside is busy doubling the paper into its +proper shape as each printed page flies past. The knife descends like +a flash, quicker than thought, and separates the page from the one +following. Faster, faster, the completed folded papers drop from the +machine into the endless chain elevator that sends them to the +distributing room overhead at the rate of forty thousand an hour, +where the restless newsboys are crowding, where the express deliveries +are waiting, where the warning signals of the locomotives at the depot +are heard, ready to hurry away with the papers over the mountains, +across the plains, into the valleys--the news for each and all, news +of the communities, news of the states, news of the world--this, this +is the present-day experiences of the present century's civilization, +the finest the world has ever seen, and which William Byers may have +seen in the mirage, but which he did not live to see in its perfected +form. + +He came at a time known as the "days of the reformation," when a +handful of peace-loving citizens of Denver were trying to bring order +out of that chaotic condition that seems to belong to a settlement on +the frontier made up of people from all over the world attracted by +the lure of gold. He was the pioneer editor of Colorado, and became +spokesman through his paper for those associated with him in the +preservation of property rights and in the protection of life. He was +fearless as a writer and unsparing in his criticism of the lawless in +the community. His editorial in the first issue of his paper shows the +character of the man: + +"We make our debut in the far West, where the sunny mountains look +down upon us in the hottest summer's day as well as in the winter's +cold. Here, where a few months ago the wild beasts and wilder Indians +held undisputed possession, where now surges the advancing wave of +Anglo-Saxon enterprise and civilization, where soon we fondly hope +will be erected a great and powerful state, another empire in the +sisterhood of empires. Our course is marked out, we will adhere to it, +with steadfast and fixed determination, to speak, write, and publish +the truth, and nothing but the truth, let it work us weal or woe." + + +_Horace W. Tabor._ + +From Vermont, that land of stone and marble, it was fitting that Tabor +should come to our mountains where similar conditions prevail. He came +by the way of Kansas where he farmed with indifferent success from +1855 to 1859. His entrance there into the political arena had a +disastrous ending. There used to be the Free Soilers, a party whose +battle cry was "free soil, free speech, free labor and free men." No +state had more troubles in the way of political happenings than +Kansas. One consisted in having this Free Soil party, to which Tabor +belonged and which made him a member of the Legislature of that State +in 1857, just after its admission into the Union. As Cromwell +prorogued the Parliament, so did the Federal Troops under orders of +the Secretary of War send every member of that Free Soil Legislature +to their homes, robbed of their law-making prerogatives and relegated +to common citizenship. + +Tabor came to Denver in 1859 and from this point his career reads like +a story from the Arabian Nights. In the Spring of 1860 he started to +California Gulch, which name gave way later to Leadville; he drove an +ox team to a covered wagon that was six weeks in the going. With the +close of the first season he had five thousand dollars of gold dust in +his pocket. That amount of money suggested merchandising, which he +followed in the winters, alternating to the mines every summer. At the +end of the second year he had wrested fifteen thousand dollars more in +gold from the mines. He was a likeable man, generous, and known to be +such, always doing his fellowman a good turn. Two prospectors down on +their luck, proposed that he should help them by "grub-staking," as it +was called in those days. He was to give them what they would eat and +wear, furnish them with tools for digging and powder for blasting. In +return they would share with him if they won, while if they lost, it +would be his sole loss. It turned out to be a most fortunate alliance +for them all. They had no more than started to digging, having reached +a depth of only twenty-six feet, when they struck a rich vein of ore, +and every inch they went down after that, the rich deposit grew in +extent, both in quantity and quality. "Little Pittsburg," they called +it, and it began turning out eight thousand dollars a week to the +three fortunate owners. In a little while Hook sold his share to his +partners for ninety thousand dollars, that being all the money he said +he needed. Soon Rische reached the limit of his money-making ambitions +which was two hundred and sixty-two thousand dollars, and that sum was +paid him by David H. Moffat and J. B. Chaffee. The three new partners, +which included Tabor, purchased other mines in the vicinity and +consolidated them, taking out over four million dollars in the two +years from 1878 to 1880. The other two partners now bought out Tabor +for one million dollars, that being as much he thought as he could +ever spend. It seemed that these original partners only had to figure +out how much they would need to be comfortable on the remainder of +their lives, which fixed the price of their investment. + +Tabor, however, found that he could not quit this fascinating life, so +he bought the Matchless Mine at Leadville for one hundred and +seventeen thousand dollars, and in a year he had added nearly seven +hundred thousand dollars to his wealth. Field, Leiter & Company of +Chicago joined him in a number of mining ventures, all of which were +immensely profitable. + +In 1879 he began to make purchases in Denver that had much to do with +the rapid growth of this city. He paid thirty thousand dollars for the +lots at the corner of 16th and Larimer Streets, upon which he erected +what was the finest building of that time, known now as the Nassau +Block. He sent all the way to Ohio for the sandstone that went into +the building, the quarries of beautiful marble and stone in our +mountains not then having been opened, or he would have used it, for +he always wanted the best. He paid forty thousand dollars for the +residence and block of ground, on a portion of which the Broadway +Theater now stands; the ground alone so purchased is now worth one +million dollars; its value in another thirty years--but that is +another story, and it will be told when the hand that moves this pen +lies silent. He purchased the location at 16th and Curtis Streets for +a Theater Building, and sent Chicago Architects abroad to study the +plans of the theaters of the Old World and their furnishings, with the +result that a building was erected and equipped that was the talk of +the entire country. + +The opening of the theater was one of the greatest occasions held in +the West up to that time. Emma Abbott came all the way across the +Continent with her Opera Company for the event. The newspapers +everywhere devoted space to it and Eugene Field celebrated it in +verse. The picture of Horace Tabor was placed just over the inner +entrance, where it hangs to this day and where it should remain while +the building stands. At the time of its erection it was considered to +be the most perfect and convenient in arrangement of any theater in +the United States. The boxes and proscenium were all finished in solid +polished cherry wood. The drop curtain was painted by an eminent +artist who came to Denver for that purpose; it was adorned with a +picture of moldering ruins of Ancient Temples with a motto underneath +containing a sermon in the following impressive quotation from +Kingsley: + + "So fleet the works of man; + Back to the earth again + Ancient and holy things + Fade like a dream." + +All these improvements inaugurated and completed by him alone, +attracted almost world-wide attention and advanced Denver to an +important place in her business standing throughout the entire East. +He became Lieutenant Governor in 1878, and U.S. Senator in 1882, to +which position he was appointed to fill out the term of Henry M. +Teller, who was invited by President Arthur to enter his cabinet as +Secretary of the Interior. Tabor only lacked one vote of being elected +to succeed himself, Judge Bowen winning the prize. + +Tabor's financial rise was meteoric; his decline was equally rapid +when it started. Unfortunate investments, mostly in distant locations, +swept his entire fortune away. Though poor indeed, in material things +towards the close of his life, it is given to few men to be so rich in +experiences. His accomplishments in behalf of Denver will always be +held by her citizens in grateful remembrance, and when he died in 1899 +there was wide-spread sorrow. + + +_William Gilpin._ + +[Sidenote: 1861] + +One thousand years of traceable ancestry! They spelled it "Guylphyn" +in those far-away days of the Roman Empire, and in two hundred years +it was softened to "Gilpin." One of this illustrious line was a great +General and won a noted battle for Oliver Cromwell. One was Minister +Plenipotentiary to The Hague, appointed by Queen Elizabeth. Queen Mary +ordered one beheaded because of his religious teachings, but she died +herself, after which he was pardoned and went on with his preaching. +The ancestors of our own Washington were proud to form a union with +the Gilpins by marriage. A meeting-house was erected by one of them +and given to William Penn who used to preach in it. The home of one of +them was turned over to LaFayette for his headquarters during the +Battle of Brandywine. And there was that one who owned the mill that +ground the grain for Washington and his army at Valley Forge. + +Colorado is to be congratulated that she had for her first Governor +one who came bearing such an illustrious name. But no one thought of +family, least of all Abraham Lincoln, when he signed the Commission +that made William Gilpin Governor of the Territory of Colorado. His +selection was under advisement at the first Cabinet meeting and he was +chosen in recognition of his signal ability. + +As a youth he was tutored by his father who possessed more than +ordinary culture. He pursued special studies under the author, +Hawthorne; he learned under Lawrence Washington, when the latter was a +resident of Mt. Vernon; then he was sent abroad for instructions at +Yorkshire; he had the pick of masters at Liverpool; was graduated +later at the University of Pennsylvania, and then won high honors in +his later graduation from West Point. Such a course of study had made +of him an intellectual athlete. + +Then he traveled abroad, hurrying home to fight the Spanish in the +Everglades of Florida. This chivalrous disciplinarian was Major in the +Army of twelve hundred that defeated the Mexican Army of over five +thousand at Sacramento City, California, on February 28, 1847. He was +an officer in the army, under General S. W. Kearny, that marched into +Santa Fe on the 14th of August, 1846, and ran up the Flag of the +United States for the first time. Soon after, Charles Bent, who was +first Governor of New Mexico, was killed at Santa Fe in an up-rising +of the natives. He had built Bent's Fort on the Arkansas River where +he had his residence for years. It was at Santa Fe that Gen. Lew +Wallace, while Governor of New Mexico from 1878 to 1881, wrote the +concluding chapters of his great book Ben Hur. + +Gilpin's home was at Independence, Mo., where he practiced law. That +place being near the end of the Santa Fe Trail, he often met Kit +Carson. Gilpin possessed so much bravery that he started across the +plains in 1843, a solitary horseman. Happening in with Fremont, he +accompanied him to the Pacific Coast, it being Fremont's second +expedition. The next year Gilpin returned by the way of Bent's Fort, +thence down the Santa Fe Trail to his home. He was bearing a memorial, +from the Oregon people, which he had helped to formulate, and which he +was to present to the Administration at Washington. It set forth in +detail the resources of the Great Northwest, the desire of the handful +of people located there to be taken under the shelter of the +Government and to be embraced within the limits of the Territory of +the United States. He proceeded to Washington and presented this +petition in person to President Polk, and urged in glowing terms, with +all the eloquence he possessed, the future value and prospects of that +unknown region. He had the freedom of both Houses of Congress and took +a prominent part in turning the tide in favor of the Oregon movement. + +When President Lincoln started from Springfield to Washington to +assume the reins of Government in February, 1861, Gilpin was one of +thirteen who made the entire journey in the President's private car. +He was a brilliant man and Lincoln recognized his mental gifts and +learned minutely from him of his varied experiences, especially of his +knowledge of the far West. So it was natural that his name should come +before the very first meeting of the cabinet for appointment to the +high place of Governor of the territory of Colorado. The next month he +was hurrying westward with his commission in his pocket and with his +appointment as well of Brigadier-General of the Army. + + "Long ago at the end of the route, + The stage pulled up and the folks stepped out; + They have all passed under the tavern door. + The youth and his bride and the gray three-score; + Their eyes are weary with dust and gleam + For the day has passed like an empty dream. + Soft may they slumber and trouble no more + For the weary journey, its jolt and its roar + In the old stage over the mountains." + +[Illustration: A stagecoach being pulled by six horses] + +So entered William Gilpin into the little City of Denver. It was the +days of the stage coach, and the Denver end of the line was kept at +the highest point of efficiency. Six horses were used, as fine as +money could buy, high stepping and so well groomed that they shone +resplendent under their costly harness glittering in the sun. The +starting of the stage on its journey East and its return into Denver, +was always an interesting event. It came dashing into town with the +horses galloping, the whip cracking, the dogs barking and the people +shouting. And they cheered when their new Governor stepped out. They +cheered again when he stood before them tall and erect, with eyes +flashing and head thrown back, and spoke in that matchless flow of +language that was the gift of this eloquent and picturesque man. The +character of his thought and its style of presentation is best seen in +the following, taken from one of his many interesting speeches: + +"* * * These events arrive. We are in the midst of them. They surround +us as we march. They are the present secretions of the aggregate +activities and energies of the people. You, the pioneers of Colorado, +have arched with this glorious state the summit ridge and barrier +between two hemispheres. You bring to a close the numbered ages of +their isolation and their hostility. You have opened and possess the +highway, which alone connects, fuses, and harmonizes them together. Of +this state, you are the first owners and occupants. You have displayed +to the vision, and illustrated to mankind, the splendid concave +structure of our continent, and the infinite powers of its august +dimensions, its fertility, its salubrious atmosphere and ever +resplendent beauty. You have discovered the profound want and +necessity of human society, and your labor provides for its relief; +gold, I mean; the indefinite supply of sound money for the people by +their own individual and voluntary labor. You occupy the front of the +pioneer army of the people, absolutely the leaders of mankind, heading +the column to the Oriental shores. * * * + +"Hail to America, land of our birth; hail to her magnificent, her +continental domain; hail to her generous people; hail to her +victorious soldiers; hail to her matrons and her maidens; hail to the +sacred union of her states; all hail to her as she is! Hail to the +sublime mission which bears her on through peace and war, to make the +continent her own and to endure forever." + +What did he do for Colorado? Much. He confronted unusual conditions; +he was the Chief Executive of the Territory at the very beginning of +its history when there was not one single beaten path for him to +follow, and when there was no money and no credit. There was danger of +the territory slipping away from the union through an armed incursion +from the South. There were no weapons for either a defensive or an +aggressive warfare. He posted notices along the trails, calling for +the purchase of fire arms of any kind no matter what the age or +condition, if there was accompanying ammunition. There were no +soldiers not even a home guard. So as quickly as possible he began to +muster in the soldiers, putting into their hands the weapons he had +gotten together, bad though they were. The drilling of the men was +carried on just outside of Denver; soon he had one Company of Infantry +and ten Companies of Cavalry. + +The troops that had been in Utah during the Mormon war were returning +East, and at Gov. Gilpin's request turned over to him at Laramie +eighteen wagons containing eighteen hundred new rifles and a large +supply of ammunition. Thus equipped, he marched down on Gen. Sibley +and his army who had come up from the South and had captured Santa Fe. +The battle of Glorietta was fought, resulting in Sibley's entire wagon +train of ammunition and supplies being captured and his army destroyed +or scattered. + +The expense of the year's military activities was paid by the Governor +drawing drafts direct upon the Government at Washington, amounting to +two hundred and twenty-seven thousand dollars, all of which drafts +were returned unpaid, which occasioned a great deal of trouble, +confusion and criticism. They were, however, paid in course of time. +Governor Gilpin always claimed that he had verbal instructions from +Simon Cameron, the Secretary of War in the beginning of Lincoln's +Administration, to handle the payments in this way. No doubt the +Governor made the mistake of not having vouchers regularly drawn, +itemized, certified and forwarded in the regular course of business, +leaving the creditors to await their acceptance, approval, and the +remittance of the funds. In extenuation it might be said that we were +remote from the center of supplies and money, communication was slow, +time was pressing, and he did the best he could. It may be that any +other course at that time would have resulted disastrously, not only +to this Territory, but the Government as well. Even at this late date, +the Legislatures of some states handle in a most informal manner the +finances of the State Government, which requires years for adjustment. +Because of these financial complications, Gilpin was relieved from his +position as Governor in 1862, but he remained true to his State all +his life, had no higher ambition than to see it grow, sounded its +praises wherever he went, and said on all occasions: "It is the +backbone of the Continent, protect and encourage it." + +He was one of the first to open up beautiful Capitol Hill, and used to +say "I will give you two lots if you will build on one of them." He +never valued money, but lived far above the ordinary affairs that +surround us. There were times when he did not have the money to pay +for a meal, but his interest in his fellowmen, in his State, and in +the enjoyment of his mental gifts continued unabated to the end of his +life. + +Governor Gilpin gave us the beautiful name of Colorado. He was in +Washington in the Spring of 1861 when the Bill was before Congress for +fixing the boundaries of this new Territory. The name of Jefferson had +been proposed, also Idaho and other names. He preferred Colorado and +gave that name to Senator Wilson of Massachusetts, on whose motion it +was adopted. The name was taken, not from the river of that name in +Texas, whose length is nine hundred miles, but from the great river to +the west of us that is longer than the distance between Omaha and +Ogden and is the King of the Rivers of the West. + + +_John Evans._ + + "Build me straight, O worthy master! + Staunch and strong, a goodly vessel, + That shall laugh at all disaster, + And with wave and whirlwind wrestle." + +[Sidenote: 1862] + +Like the perfect ship was the perfect Quaker stock that came to our +shores and was absorbed into the body politic, to permeate the +arteries of business and statesmanship of our whole country for +generations. It was a stock built on simple lines; straight, strong, +clear and pure; founded on morality, sobriety, integrity and +frugality; and as simple in garb as it was simple and strong in faith. +Soon after the arrival of the Plymouth Fathers, there entered at our +eastern gateway, a Quaker who invented for us the screw auger; how +could our present high civilization have reached its enviable position +without that screw auger! Evans was the name of the man to whom we owe +this great debt of gratitude and he it was who was the progenitor of +Colorado's second Governor, a man of whose memory our State is justly +proud. + +John Evans reached the zenith of his power and influence through the +slow stages of solid preparation and ever broadening experiences. He +was born in 1814 in Ohio, the State that is so prolific of good men. +He graduated from the Clermont Academy in Philadelphia in 1838, when +he was twenty-four years old, and immediately began the practice of +medicine. His success was so pronounced, and he attained such +standing, both as humanitarian and physician, that he was able at the +early age of twenty-seven to impress upon the Legislature of the State +of Illinois by his masterful arguments before them, the necessity for +the establishment by the State of an institution for the insane. Four +years later he was a conspicuous member of the faculty of the Rush +Medical College of Chicago, which he served with devotion for eleven +years. He founded the "Illinois General Hospital of the Lakes"; was +editor of the Northwestern Medical and Surgical Journal; first +projector of the Chicago and Fort Wayne Railroad and of its Chicago +Terminals; member of the Republican National Convention that nominated +Lincoln for the Presidency in 1860; was offered the Governorship of +Washington Territory by Lincoln, which he declined. + +He was one of the prominent figures in the advancement of Methodism +and was always prominent in its councils, both national and local. The +writer, once in an eastern City where the general conference of the +Methodist Church was being held, attended a session of that +interesting assembly. One of the conspicuous members on the floor was +pointed out as Governor Evans, who led the delegation from Colorado. +At the time, this incident was related of him: + +He had settled at Denver in 1862, and having faith in its future, +decided, after mature deliberation, the direction the City would take +in its growth. He then purchased one hundred and sixty acres at the +point where he thought the most benefit would accrue. A friend hearing +of his investment and its reason, sought him out, commented on his +mistaken rashness in coming to such an unwise decision, and advanced +many reasons why the City would grow in exactly the opposite +direction. The arguments were so strong that a purchase was made of +another one hundred and sixty acres on the side of Denver suggested by +his friend; the Governor, however, strong in his faith, clung to his +original purchase as well. Friends continued to advise him of his +mistakes in these two ventures and he continued to buy where they +suggested, until he owned outlying farms on every side of Denver, and +the City growing in all directions, his profits were fabulous. + +He was conspicuous in establishing the Methodist Episcopal Book +Concern and the Northwestern Christian Advocate of Chicago; was one of +the original promoters of the Northwestern University at Evanston and +the first President of its Board of Trustees in which position he +continued for forty-two years. He founded the beautiful City of +Evanston, a suburb of Chicago, which was named for him, and he +suggested the setting apart of one-fourth of every block in that city +as a fund for the University, a movement that resulted in an enormous +endowment for that great school; he brought about the purchase of +ground in the center of Chicago that grew into millions in value and +greatly enriched the University. His contributions to the Church +throughout his long, successful and busy life, amounted to hundreds of +thousands of dollars in addition to the generous donations made by him +to the Denver University located at University Park. + +A Territory is under the direct control of the Administration at +Washington and its officers may be selected from outside its +boundaries. President Lincoln in looking for a suitable successor to +Governor Gilpin in 1862, centered on John Evans of Chicago, who was +such a marked success as a business man. He received the appointment +of Governor and gave to Colorado a most excellent administration. He +was a leading factor in the building of the Denver-Pacific Railroad +from Denver to Cheyenne, our first railroad, and was its President for +years. One of his most gigantic undertakings was the building of the +railroad up the South Platte River by the way of South Park to +Leadville, in which he had the splendid help of Walter Cheesman, +General Bela Hughes, J. W. Smith, William Barth, Brown Brothers, +General D. C. Dodge and others. It was not easy to build railroads in +those days; money was scarce, there was not much business for a +railroad when constructed, and in this remote country whose future was +not established, bonds were hard to sell. Many a man would have been +discouraged by the efforts necessary for the financing of these +railroads. Governor Evans worked unceasingly and showed his faith by +putting in large sums of his own money, a fact that finally brought +these undertakings to a successful consummation. Always he talked and +worked for a line to the Gulf from Denver which would mean cheap +freight rates and growth for Colorado, and now it has come and more, +for we are to connect the Gulf with the far northwest, an ocean to +ocean link. + +All his personal investments were so wisely made that his life's work +went on smoothly to its close in 1897. In Denver, where he made his +home to the end of his eighty-three years, his thoughts were always of +the City and State of his choice. His wise counsel and untiring +devotion has left its imprint upon many of the successful industries +of the State, as well as upon the social, moral and æsthetic life of +the community. By his untiring devotion and unflagging loyalty to the +Union, he placed himself in the class of War Governors in the great +struggle of '61 to '65. He was preeminently a business man and +possessed of exceptional ability. He was in the Methodist Church the +some powerful factor for good and moral uplift, that William E. Dodge +of New York was in the Presbyterian Church. In fact, in sterling +business integrity and high quality of christian manhood, the finest +thing perhaps that could be said of these two men, is that each was +the beautiful complement of the other. + + +_George Francis Train._ + +[Sidenote: 1863] + +A child stared a tragedy in the face as he looked wide-eyed from the +window of the family home in New Orleans and saw the rude box +containing the body of his little sister pitched into the "dead wagon" +with like boxes. There were no undertakers: all were dead. No +tenderness or sympathy; only haste and roughness. No flowers; just +tears. An epidemic of Yellow Fever was raging and the "dead wagons" +were rattling through the streets and stopping at the desolate homes +everywhere. Each time the child saw one stop at his home, which would +have been eight times if he could have counted, there was one less in +the household. And at last a big box was carried out, in which they +had placed his mother, and little George Francis Train, a child of +four, was left alone. He was put on board a Mississippi River Steamer, +with his name and destination pinned to his coat, and was sent on his +long journey to relatives near Boston. That was eighty-two years ago. + +That child, grown to manhood, became one of the picturesque figures in +American History. He absorbed an education while working sixteen hours +a day as a grocer's clerk. Then by sheer force of will and capability, +he took a man's place in his uncle's shipping house in Boston, when he +was but sixteen years of age, and in four years became a partner in +the firm and was making ten thousand dollars a year. He revolutionized +the shipping industry of the world by increasing the capacity of the +largest ship then known, of seven hundred tons, to what then seemed an +incredible size of two thousand tons. He had a fleet of forty vessels +under him, mostly built up by his own energy. Then he went to +Liverpool and at the age of twenty was the resident partner of the +firm at that point where he doubled the business in a year. He then +enlarged his horizon by going to Australia and establishing a similar +business from which his commissions were ninety-five thousand dollars +the first year. + +He was a man with ideas. They used to cut postage stamps apart with +scissors; "perforate the paper," he said, and it was done. In London +when the Grande Dames stopped their carriages, a footman appeared with +a short step ladder to aid them in their descent; "attach a folding +step to the carriage" he advised, and it has been in use ever since. +He saw a man write something with a lead pencil, then reach into his +pocket for a rubber to make an erasure; "fasten the rubber to the +pencil," he told them, and the perfected idea is in the hands of +everyone to-day. A dozen men were shoveling coal into sacks and +carrying it from the wagon; "use an appliance to raise the front end +of the wagon and let the coal run out," he suggested, and the idea +carried into effect made a company of millionaires. A man spilled some +ink as he poured it from a large bottle into a small one; "give the +bottle a nose like a cream pitcher," he told them and the idea gave +the man who patented it more money than he could ever use. He saw the +Indians spearing salmon out of the Columbia River; "can them," he +said, and it started a great industry that is still under way. He +accompanied the officials of the Northern Pacific Railroad when they +were locating the terminus of that system; "end the line here," he +told them and Tacoma will stand on that spot forever. He prophesied, +that as much of the soil of the East rested upon a rocky base and was +intermixed with stone, it would become inert and of decreasing value; +while from the western plains so vast in extent, with their great +depths of rich soil, would come the supply for the nation, and an ever +increasing value to the farms. The prediction has come true. Today, +with one-tenth of the population, we are furnishing one-half the +supply of the food of the nation. + +He was an observing man always and a student. Besides his own native +language, the English, he spoke fluently French, German, Italian, +Spanish and Portuguese. His newspaper articles from all over the world +were read everywhere. He was an editor, author, and lecturer, speaking +at times to houses that netted him in one instance five thousand +dollars. He knew many of the greatest men of his own country: Daniel +Webster, Henry Clay, Rufus Choate, Zachary Taylor, Abraham Lincoln, +Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Nathaniel P. Banks--they +were all his friends. He met Queen Victoria, the Duke of Wellington, +and many more of the great of the earth. Judges, Bishops and +Ambassadors were his intimates. He was offered the Presidency of the +Australian Government which he declined. He headed the French Commune +and when the government troops were ordered to fire on him, he wrapped +himself in the Stars and Stripes and dared them to kill an American +citizen protected by the American Flag--and they did not shoot. He led +a Third Party against two presidential aspirants for the Presidency, +Ulysses S. Grant and Horace Greeley, in the campaign of 1872, and was +defeated. He was a great traveler and visited nearly every country on +the globe. He went around the world in eighty days, which gave rise to +the Romance by Jules Verne, that is read in every language. He kept +going around the world just to shorten the time. He had a villa at +Newport and his annual expenditure for entertainment there was one +hundred thousand dollars. Toward the close of his career he lived on +three dollars a week, because he had no more, and he claimed that it +was the happiest period of his life. + +The first street car lines in England, Switzerland and Denmark were +built by him. He was the first to suggest similar enterprises for +Australia and India. Maria Christina was Queen of Spain, and +Salamanca, a banker, was the Rothschild of that country. They backed +him for two million dollars that started the building of the Atlantic +and Great Western Railway which was followed later by the construction +of a railroad to the Adirondacks. The banker Salamanca was descended +from the long line of that name for which the Spanish City Salamanca +was named that gave us Coronado. On the line of railroad which +Salamanca helped to finance, a City is located in New York State named +for him. + +All these experiences brought Train gradually to the accomplishment of +his life's greatest achievement, the building of the Union Pacific +Railroad which he began on December 3, 1863, at Omaha, but which was +completed by others May 10, 1869, at Ogden. It was the missing link +needed in the welding of the West to the East, and in the development +of Colorado, a country rich in every natural resource. Later, when the +Kansas Pacific was threatening Denver, and planning to build their +road elsewhere if a large amount of money was not raised, the citizens +of Denver in their dilemma sent for Train. He came, and made one of +his characteristic addresses to a crowded house. "God helps them that +help themselves," Benjamin Franklin had poor Richard say; Train said, +"Build a line of railroad yourselves to connect with the Union Pacific +Railroad at Cheyenne or Julesburg," the road that he had projected. +And they did the very thing he told them to do. In the course of time, +the Kansas Pacific Railroad was also built to Denver. + +Erratic, always. Egotistical, very, Crazy, many said he was. It may be +that all his life he saw the "dead wagon" at the door, and heard it +rattling through the street; early impressions have their effect upon +the character of the mind. He was imprisoned fifteen times and said +that he never committed a crime in his whole life. He was fearless as +a speaker and writer, and much of his trouble was political. A +peculiarity of this many-sided man was, that he would never shake +hands with any person--be he king or plain man of the people. In +retirement he frequented Madison Square in New York where the birds +all knew him and would light upon him and feed out of his hands; where +the children all loved him and flocked about him, sitting upon his +knee while they listened to his wonder tales of every people of every +clime; where memories of his brilliant career filled his thoughts as +he saw again his bright vision of a coast to coast line, now fully +realized--for the glistening sunlight was glinting the rails from the +foot of the Statue of Liberty to the sunny calm of the Golden Gate. He +was never without a flower in the lapel of his coat. The wearing of +the flower in this way by men everywhere originated with him; he +introduced the custom into London, Paris and New York, from which +cities it spread all over the world. The idea came to him while in +Java, that beautiful country of rare flowers and delicate odors. + +On a cold stormy day of January, 1903, the end came to a stormy +career; the birds hungrily called to him, but he did not come; the +children waited for him, and could not understand; a flower that was +alive, was pinned to the shroud of its friend who was dead, and they +went away together forever and aye. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED. + + +Colorado was once a waif; a child without parentage; no older brothers +and sisters wanting it about; an outcast, unclaimed, lonely, wretched +and friendless. No state in the union has had a career anywhere +approaching that of Colorado. It was the center of more undefined +boundaries, and a part of a greater number of countries, than any +other portion of the world. + +This is the genealogy of Colorado that has never before been traced, +and which has been gleaned with infinite care from many sources. It +belonged in turn to each of the following potentates or powers: + +The Indians, Pope Alexander VI, Spain, New Spain, France, Louisiana +District, Louisiana, No Man's Land, Missouri, The Indian Country, +Texas Republic, The Unorganized Territory, Mexico, New Mexico, Upper +California, Utah, The Arapahoe and Cheyenne Tribes, Nebraska, Kansas, +Jefferson Territory--Colorado. + +King Solomon took the child and when he offered to divide it between +the two mothers, he found to whom it belonged. + +[Sidenote: 1492] + +Pope Alexander VI took an imaginary map, drew an imaginary line across +it, and parcelled out most of the New Hemisphere, giving one side to +Portugal and the other to Spain, but he did not know that he had given +Colorado to Spain. + +[Sidenote: 1521] + +When a Government was established on these shores in 1521 and called +"New Spain," Colorado became a part of that country and slumbered for +two hundred and eighty years. + +[Sidenote: 1801] + +La Salle, a French Explorer, in 1762, went on a tour of discovery and +found a rich but weed-grown section that Spain was neglecting, which +he claimed for France and called it the "Louisiana District" for Louis +XIV, a name used by nearly every other King of France in those +centuries. Spain expostulated and then became violent. Agitation went +on. War was threatened. The trouble was not ended until 1801 when +Napoleon, while strangling Spain, forced her to cede the disputed +territory to him; it being the tract lying east of the Arkansas River +up to a certain point, then crossing the Divide south to the Red River +which it followed to its source, thence along the eastern foot-hills +of the Rocky Mountains. This divided Colorado, leaving with Spain that +portion lying west of the Rocky Mountains, and giving to France what +was located east of the mountains. Thus was left "No Man's Land" out +of the reckoning, which included these majestic, wealth-producing and +health-yielding mountains. They seemed to be too inconsequential to be +claimed by either country. Mountains, that by their impassive quietude +have soothed into tranquility the restless nerves of thousands of +sick; mountains, that brew unceasingly nature's healing balm for +ailing lungs; that are the home of twenty-four rivers, whose never +ending flood of life giving waters, lure riches from the farms, like +the touch of an Aladdin's Lamp; that have produced in furs, lumber, +gold, silver, lead, copper, zinc, iron, stone, marble, oil, live stock +and agricultural products, nearly five billion dollars. + +"The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of +the corner." + +[Sidenote: 1803] + +Two years passed, and for the first time Colorado began to be +appreciated. 1803 saw sixteen million dollars in gold flowing to +France, and the Louisiana District, which included the eastern half of +Colorado, coming to the United States. This brought under the flag of +our Government for the first time, that part of Colorado lying east of +the mountains. + +[Sidenote: 1812] + +Louisiana in 1812 was admitted into the union as a territory according +to the State boundaries that exist at the present time. Missouri +Territory was the name given to what was left of the Louisiana +Purchase. Thus Colorado lying east of the mountains fell heir to +Missouri. The name is taken from the Missouri's tribe of Indians. + +Next to the priceless heritage that came to us as a nation and as +individuals in the vast domain that we received from the Indians, was +the rich transference of Indian words into our language. It was like +the transfusion of new corpuscles into blood emaciated and +impoverished by disease. Here was a vacant world. Rivers, mountains, +states, cities, towns, boundaries--all a blank. Ready at hand was a +new language. It possessed crispness, freshness, strength, romance. We +absorbed it and never awoke to the full appreciation of its beauties +until Longfellow charmed and thrilled us with his matchless songs. + +[Sidenote: 1823] + +It was in 1521 that Cortez placed the foot of Spain on the neck of +Mexico. Three hundred years later, Mexico rebelled. She had to fight, +and succeeded in establishing her independence in 1823. This carried +into the fold of Mexico, that part of Colorado lying west of the +mountains, which had continued all these centuries to belong to Spain. +When Mexico came from under the Dominion of Spain, she wanted to be +free from slavery and objected to Texas bringing slaves into Mexican +Territory and selling them. This quarrel between Texas and Mexico +really brought about the war between Mexico and the United States. + +[Sidenote: 1834] + +In 1834 that portion of the Missouri Territory lying west of the +Missouri River became the Indian Country, which was the official +title; presumably "country" because there was no territorial +government and it so remained for twenty years. So to the Indian +country went all of Colorado east of the mountains, and north of the +Arkansas River. + +[Sidenote: 1836] + +Texas was once a Republic. In 1836 it had a Government of its own +separate from both Mexico and the United States, and independent of +both. She proceeded to reach into and through Colorado, and claimed +that part above the Arkansas River lying between Mexico's line on the +west of the mountains, and the Missouri line on the east of the +mountains. This made a home for "No Man's Land." + +[Sidenote: 1845] + +Texas was admitted into the Union in 1845, as a territory in her +present form. This threw back into chaos all she had claimed of +Colorado, and left it as "Unorganized Territory." In 1846 Texas +plunged the United States into War with Mexico, supposedly over the +western boundary of Texas. In two years twenty-three noted battles +were fought, including Palo Alto, Buena Vista and Vera Cruz. Only +twenty-three years after Mexico threw off the yoke of Spain, we +marched into Mexico City and took from her practically all the +territory north of her present boundary. It was ceded to the United +States in 1848, and in 1850 became New or Upper California. It was +divided in 1855 into three parts, named California, New Mexico and +Utah, the latter called after the tribe of Utah Indians. This brought +under the United States Flag for the first time, that portion of +Colorado west of the mountains, which had been Mexican Territory, and +which now became a part of the Territory of Utah, whose western +boundary was California. New Mexico received that part of Colorado +lying south of the Arkansas River, and east of the Rio Grande. + +[Sidenote: 1851] + +In 1851, by the Treaty of Fort Laramie, it was stipulated that the +part of Colorado east of the Rocky Mountains and north of the Arkansas +River should belong to the tribes of the Arapahoe and Cheyenne +Indians, which title was later extinguished by the Treaty of Fort +Wise. + +[Sidenote: 1854] + +Another turn of this endless chain, and 1854 saw the Indian Country +legislated out of Colorado, and Nebraska and Kansas ushered in to take +its place. Colorado east of the mountains was divided on an east and +west line into Kansas and Nebraska, about one mile south of Boulder. +So at this time we stood as follows: Utah on the west of the +mountains, Nebraska in the northeast, Kansas in the central east, and +New Mexico in the southeast. Here the cloud of Civil War, not much +larger than a man's hand at first, became ominous, and the rumblings +and mutterings grew louder each year until at last the storm broke. +Missouri was for the perpetuation of slavery, and jealous of the +territory that had been taken from her and given to Nebraska and +Kansas, tried to compel those territories to continue pro-slavery, +making a strong fight to force it into their Constitutions, which, on +account of her work and influence, she succeeded in changing three or +four times. Those states strongly objected to slavery, and there were +fierce political conflicts, especially in Kansas, which at last broke +out in endless raids. Quantrell with his guerillas massacred one +hundred and fifty at one time at Lawrence, Kansas, and destroyed two +million dollars worth of property. It has been said that every foot of +eastern Kansas soil was reddened with the life blood of her +anti-slavery citizens. This gave to that State the name of "Bleeding +Kansas," and the bleeding did not cease until the close of the Civil +War. The Legislature of Kansas created Arapahoe County, a stretch of +country several hundred miles long, which included a part of Colorado, +which then went by the name of the County. + +[Sidenote: 1859] + +The early settlers of Colorado, concluding to have a Government of +their own, met in 1859, organized a temporary government which they +called "Jefferson Territory," but which was never made a permanent +government or recognized at Washington. + +[Sidenote: 1861] + +In the year that the clouds hung low and heavy over the Union; the +year that saw the first gun belch forth the shot that cleaved the line +between the North and the South; when brother was going to war against +brother, father against son, and mothers with blanched faces were +wringing their hands in an agony of despair; when the whole civilized +world stood breathlessly apart to witness the fiercest human struggle +of modern times; in that the most memorable year in our National +history, here on this peaceful spot far removed from the noise of the +conflict, from the flame and smoke, from the tears and death agonies, +there was enacted a scene, picturesque, glorious, historical. Utah, +Nebraska, Kansas and New Mexico, generously and loyally stepped aside, +going to the east, to the west and to the south, bidding us adieu +forever. In their place, Cinderella-like, there burst from its +chrysalis the waif of centuries, smiling, gracious, brilliant, like a +bride bejeweled and bedecked for her wedding, the fairest and gentlest +in all the sisterhood of the Union; and may she bless the land +forever--Colorado. + + +THE END. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Colorado--The Bright Romance of +American History, by F. C. 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C. Grable</title> +<style type="text/css"> + + body {margin-left: 12%; + margin-right: 12%;} + + p {text-indent: 0em; + text-align: justify; + margin-top: .85em; + margin-bottom: .85em; + line-height: 1.25em;} + + .padtop {padding-top: 5px;} + + .ctr {text-align: center;} + + .indent {margin-left: 30%;} + + .sc {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .person {text-align: center; + margin-top: 2.5em;} + + span.asterisk {letter-spacing: .25em; + padding-left: .25em; + padding-right: .25em; + white-space:nowrap;} + + .sig {margin-left: 63%; + text-align: left;} + + .dedication {margin-left: 15%; + margin-right: 15%;} + + .sidenote {width: 5%; + padding-bottom: .25em; + padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: 1em; + padding-right: 1em; + margin-left: 1em; + float: right; + clear: right; + font-weight: bold; + border: dashed 1px;} + + .section {margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2.5em; + text-align: center; + font-size: 108%; + font-weight: bold;} + + .firstchapter {margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + text-align: center; + font-size: 120%; + font-weight: bold;} + + .chapter {margin-top: 3.5em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + text-align: center; + font-size: 120%; + font-weight: bold;} + + .head {margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 2.5em; + text-align: center; + font-size: 110%; + font-weight: bold;} + + .blockquote {text-align: justify; + margin-left: 7%; + margin-right: 7%; + font-size: 98%; + margin-top: 1.6em; + margin-bottom: 1.6em;} + + .caption {font-size: 95%; + text-align: center; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-top: .3em; + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%;} + + .figcenter {margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + text-align: center; + margin-bottom: 0em; + margin-top: 2em; + width: auto;} + + h1 {text-align: center; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + line-height: 1.3em; + letter-spacing: 4px;} + + h2, h3, h4, h5, h6 {text-align: center; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + line-height: 1.3em;} + + hr.med {width: 65%; + height: 1px; + margin-top: 2.5em; + margin-bottom: 2.5em;} + + table {margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto;} + + td.chpt {vertical-align: top; + text-align: center; + padding-top: 20px; + padding-bottom: 5px;} + + td.txt {vertical-align: top; + text-align: left; + padding-left: 5px;} + + td.pg {vertical-align: bottom; + text-align: right;} + + ul {list-style-type: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:12%; margin-right:4%; + margin-bottom: 1.5em; margin-top: 1.5em; text-align: left;} + .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem p {margin: 0; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;} + .poem p.i2 {margin-left: 1em;} + + a:link {color:#0000ff; + text-decoration:none;} + a:visited {color:#6633cc; + text-decoration:none;} + +</style> +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Colorado--The Bright Romance of American +History, by F. C. Grable + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Colorado--The Bright Romance of American History + +Author: F. C. Grable + +Illustrator: Allen True + +Release Date: August 23, 2011 [EBook #37182] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COLORADO--THE BRIGHT ROMANCE *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="frontis"><img src="images/frontis.jpg" alt="A Portion of Estes Park, with Long's Peak in the Distance." width="287" height="450"></a></div> +<p class="caption">A Portion of Estes Park, with Long's Peak in the Distance. +<br>(See Page 91.) +</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/titlepage.jpg" alt="Title page" width="306" height="450"></div> + +<h1> +COLORADO +</h1> + +<h1> +THE BRIGHT ROMANCE OF AMERICAN HISTORY +</h1> + +<br> +<h3> +BY +</h3> + +<h2> +F. C. GRABLE +</h2> + +<br> +<h3> +PAINTINGS BY +</h3> + +<h2> +ALLEN TRUE +</h2> + +<br> +<h4> +COPYRIGHT 1911<br> +F. C. GRABLE<br> +ALL RIGHTS RESERVED +</h4> + +<h4> +THE KISTLER PRESS<br> +DENVER COLO. +</h4> + +<hr class="med"> + + +<p class="section"> +CONTENTS. +</p> + +<table summary="Contents"> + +<tr> +<td class="txt"> </td> +<td class="pg"><small>PAGE</small></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER I.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt">The Old, the New, and the Ocean Between</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#I">1</a></td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER II.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt">Coronado</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#II">14</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER III.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt">Light in the East</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#III">40</a></td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER IV.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt">Lieutenant Pike</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#IV">54</a></td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER V.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt">The Lost Period</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#V">75</a></td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER VI.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt">Major Long</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#VI">85</a></td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER VII.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt">The Pioneers</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#VII">99</a></td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER VIII.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt">Christopher Carson and His Contemporaries</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#VIII">106</a></td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER IX.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt">General Fremont and the Mormons</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#IX">125</a></td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER X.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt">Opportunity</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#X">143</a></td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER XI.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt">A Vanishing Race</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#XI">153</a></td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER XII.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt">The Lustre of Gold</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#XII">171</a></td> +</tr> + + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER XIII.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt">Some Men of Visions</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#XIII">184</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER XIV.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt">The Stone Which the Builders Rejected</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#XIV">222</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + + + +<br><br> +<p class="section"> +ILLUSTRATIONS. +</p> + +<table summary="Illustrations"> + +<tr> +<td class="txt">A Glimpse of Estes Park</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#frontis">Frontispiece</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt"> </td> +<td class="pg"><small>Face Page</small></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER I.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt">The Ocean Explorer</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#ocean">1</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER II.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt"> +Coronado Before a Zuni Village</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#zuni">16</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER IV.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt"> +(<i>a</i>) Pike and His Frozen Companion</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#frozen">66</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt">(<i>b</i>) One of the Approaches to Cheyenne Mt.</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#one">74</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER V.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt"> +The Trapper</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#trapper">78</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER VI.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt"> +The Buffalo Hunter</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#hunter">94</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER VII.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt"> +Pioneers and Prairie Schooner</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#schooner">110</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER VIII.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt"> +A Government Scout</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#scout">126</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER IX.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt"> +Indians Watching Fremont's Force</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#force">134</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER X.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt"> +Ventura, Historian of Taos Indians</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#ventura">142</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER XI.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt"> +(<i>a</i>) Indian Chief Addressing the Council</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#chief">158</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt">(<i>b</i>) Winnowing Grain</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#grain">166</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="chpt" colspan="3">CHAPTER XII.</td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td class="txt"> +Making a Clean-up</td> +<td class="pg"><a href="#cleanup">174</a></td> +</tr> +</table> + + +<hr class="med"> +<div class="dedication"> +<p class="ctr"> +DEDICATED +</p> + + +<p> +<span class="sc">To the Pioneers of Colorado</span>: +</p> + +<p> +Whose work in laying the foundation of the magnificent superstructure +of our great State, as Abraham Lincoln said of the heroes of +Gettysburg, "is far beyond our poor power to add or detract." +</p> +</div> + +<hr class="med"> + +<p class="section"> +PREFACE. +</p> + + +<p> +It is Emerson's beautiful thought that all true history is biography, +and that men are but the pages of history. In felicitous language the +author has pictured a period that is indeed the bright romance of +American history. It is the story of the discovery of a new Continent +in the Western Seas; the story of a graceful and cultured people of a +mighty world-power in the Fifteenth Century; the story of the dream of +a great Western Empire to be founded in the New World, where would be +revived all the pomps and chivalries of Castile's ancient court; the +story of the fading of that dream in the splendor of the great +world-idea of the self-government of man carried by the Pilgrim +Fathers to Plymouth Rock in 1620; the story that in the great drama of +life man is ever changing from the old into the new, and from the bad +into the better in unceasing, unchanging, inevitable evolution; the +story of early Colorado, whose ancient Capital, Santa Fe,—in the +sense that Colorado is a part of the old Spanish country—was the +first white settlement west of the Floridas upon all this Western +Continent within the present domain of the United States. +</p> + +<p> +But more than all, it is a story of the human touch of those still +living and of great empire builders not long since passed away, whose +"hands bent the arch of the new heavens" over our beloved State of +Colorado; whose eyes were filled with far-away visions and their +hearts with sublime faith; pioneers and history makers of whom we +would say as Cinneas said when asked by his master Pyrrhus after his +return from his Embassy at Rome, "What did the Roman Senate look +like?" +</p> + +<p> +"An assembly of Kings!" replied Cinneas. +</p> + +<p> +Wendell Phillips, in the greatest of all his lectures, pictures the +"Muse of history dipping her pen in the sunlight and writing in the +clear blue" above all other names the name of his hero "Toussaint +l'Ouverture." The author in these pages which so graphically portray +the early history of our State would not write the name of Colorado +above any sister state; but we can catch between his lines the deep +undertones of the music of the Union, which overmaster all sectional +notes in the thought, that Colorado is a glorious part of it all. +</p> + +<p> +And so it is enough that we read in the title of this book these magic +words, as if traced in the clear sunlight of our mountain skies, +"Colorado—The Bright Romance of American History." +</p> + +<p class="sig"> +<span class="sc">J. F. Tuttle, Jr.</span> +</p> + + +<hr class="med"> + +<p class="indent"> +<b><big>COLORADO—</big></b> +</p> + +<p class="ctr"> +<b><big>THE BRIGHT ROMANCE<br>OF AMERICAN HISTORY</big></b> +</p> + +<br> +<div class="figcenter"><a name="ocean"><img src="images/001.jpg" alt="The Ocean Explorer" width="291" height="450"></a></div> +<p class="caption">The Ocean Explorer. +</p> + + + +<a name="I"> </a> +<p class="firstchapter"> +CHAPTER I. +</p> + +<p class="head"> +THE OLD, THE NEW, AND THE OCEAN BETWEEN. +</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">1504</span> +The great Queen Isabella was dead. She had died amidst the splendor of +the richest and most powerful Court on earth, beloved by some for her +noble qualities, and execrated by others for her tyrannical laws, for +the heartlessness and cruelty she had practiced, for the wars she had +kindled, and for the lives she had sacrificed. Because of the +turbulence of the elements, the superstitious believed that her +unconquerable spirit refused to be tranquilized even by death. +Darkness lay upon the world, and the slowly moving funeral cortege +made its way the three hundred miles to Granada, menaced by the +lightning's flash, and accompanied by the thunder's roar, the rain and +the hurricane, and the floods which swept men and horses to their +death. At last, after thirty years of a masterful and memorable reign, +Isabella lay at rest in the marvelously beautiful Alhambra, the burial +place of her choice which she had wrested from the Moorish Kings. And +Ferdinand ruled in her stead. +</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">1506</span> +Less than two years, and there was another notable death in Spain. The +far-seeing eyes of a kingly man looked out upon the world for the last +time. The active hands of a great navigator lay still, folded over the +courageous heart that had long been broken; the heart that had been +thrilled by the acclaim of the populace, and then chilled by the +frowns of its sovereigns; the hands that had been bedecked with jewels +by Ferdinand and Isabella, and later laden by them with chains. +Columbus, the admiral of the ocean, who had joined two worlds by his +genius and accomplished an event whose magnitude and grandeur history +can never equal, and who had filled the center of a stage, brilliant +with the famous actors of his time, had died; died in poverty and +neglect; instead of chimes chanting a requiem in his praise, there was +the rattle of the chains his hands had worn, as they went down into +his sepulchre for burial with him according to his wish. Even his +grave remained unmarked for ten years, until public opinion forced +Ferdinand to a tardy recognition of his duty in the erection of a +monument in honor of one of the greatest men of any age; a man great +in thought and great in action; a man with such a mighty faith that we +stand appalled at its mightiness! +</p> + +<p> +Isabella left a united country; a country at the pinnacle of +greatness. She left a highly organized army; an army wrought out of a +fragment of incompetency. She raised the standard of science and the +arts, and advanced the cause of morality. But the greatest and most +enduring monument she erected was the result of the slight +encouragement and scant help that she gave to the enthusiastic Italian +mendicant, who became the founder of a New World and whose fame will +continue undimmed to the end of time. +</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">1516</span> +"The King is dead" fell upon Ferdinand's unhearing ears. "Long live +the King" greeted the advent of Charles, his successor. Charles, who +was the son of the unfortunate Joanna, daughter of Ferdinand and +Isabella; Charles I, King of Spain; Charles V, Emperor of Germany; +Ruler over the kingdom of Naples; Monarch of the New World. Power, +such as the world has seldom seen, centered in this man; an empire so +vast that it encircled the globe, and upon whose domain military +activities never ceased. The cruelties of Spain are proverbial, and +they reached their climax under the rule of Ferdinand, Isabella and +Charles; and under them the decadence of their nation began, which in +four hundred years has never ceased. Now, shorn of every dependency, +its power forever destroyed, it lies crushed, humiliated and broken by +the greatness of its fall. +</p> + +<p> +And here this sketch leaves Old Spain and we sail away across the +ocean five thousand miles, to the New Spain of that period, in a ship +whose sails flap lazily in the breeze, taking more weeks then than +days now by the modern methods of this enlightened age. +</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">1519</span> +Hernando Cortez sprang from a noble but impoverished family. Educated +for the law, he chose an adventurous life instead, and at the age of +nineteen left Spain for San Domingo to try his fortunes in the New +World, resulting in his brilliant conquest of Mexico; a country whose +early history we can only imagine. The unknowable is there; for its +secrets lie buried beneath the weight of centuries. Tragedy is there; +for what derelict, never heard of more, dropped in from over the seas +and cast its human wreckage on those unknown shores for the beginning +of a nation? Who were those who may have been lost to home and friends +and wandered in from Asia over that narrow strip of land long ago +submerged? Whence they came, whatever their nation or color, they were +human beings, with thoughts and affections like ours, whose beginnings +we can never fathom. They grew in numbers, had flocks and herds, and +gold and jewels. They had tribal governments, with differing customs +and languages. They had the wandering habit. The streams, the +mountains, and the plains beckoned them and they came and went, happy, +care-free and prosperous. Some one among them said: "Let us all come +together and unite as a people; establish a uniform government; build +a city, and select some one of our number to rule over us." And it was +done. Mexico City was built and became the Capital. Montezuma was made +the ruler. They had laws and Courts of Justice; they had +well-constructed and highly-decorated buildings, with architectural +features the equal of some European structures prized for their beauty +and durability. Their streets were laid out symmetrically, and their +parks and landscape gardening added to the city's attractiveness. They +had a system of canals and well-developed agriculture; an organized +army and thoroughly equipped ships. Whence came this high +civilization? We can never know. We only know that it existed. Two +million people lived in and adjacent to Mexico City. They were rich, +intelligent and contented, until the coming of Cortez; and when he +reached the shores of Mexico in the Spring of 1519 it was a memorable +day for them. He came in ten ships with six hundred Spanish soldiers. +He disembarked, and when the last man was ashore and all the +ammunition and guns and supplies were landed, he performed a feat of +courage bordering on the sublime. He set his ships on fire, and he +stood with his resolute men and saw them burn to the water's edge, +knowing that the flame and smoke and destruction meant for each that +he must conquer or die. And they marched away, a handful against a +host, and they won! +</p> + +<p> +But the fall of Mexico, like the fate of most nations, came from +within and not from without. What could six hundred do against a +united two million. That was where Cortez shone. To create discord, +distrust and jealousy; to make them fight each other; to unite the +disaffected under his own banner, was the work of a diplomat and +general, and he was both. To their everlasting disgrace, the +dissatisfied of the native race accomplished for Cortez the downfall +of their own nation. And when, two years after he began his +destructive warfare, the City of Mexico had been utterly destroyed; +when a race had been subjugated; had been stripped of its vast +treasure of gold and jewels for the greater glorification of the +luxurious Court of Spain; had lost thousands by slaughter; then, and +not till then, did the insurgents know that they had encompassed their +own ruin. They were enslaved by the Spaniards. The last chapter in +their national life was written. The Aztecs, as a people, were no +more. They were given the name of Mexicans by the Spaniards, for +"Mexitl" the national War God of the native race. Mexicans they have +continued to this day, and Cortez as Captain General ruled over the +Mexican Territory which he called "New Spain." He set four hundred +thousand of the enslaved natives to rebuilding the City of Mexico, but +their hearts were in the ruins of the old city, and not in the +building of the new—for Cortez saw to it that there should be nothing +in the new Spanish city that would remind them of the ancient grandeur +of the old. Ten years after its completion there were not a thousand +people in it. The old population was melting away, dying off from +over-work in the mines to which they had been driven, and where they +sickened from disease and hunger and heart yearning for the families +from whom they had been forcibly separated, while nearly seven million +dollars a year of their earnings were being sent to Spain, taken from +the richest silver mines in all the world. +</p> + +<p> +You were great Empire builders, oh Spain! But your wanton cruelty to +mankind will forever cloud your glory as the eclipse darkens the sun! +You permitted the Inquisition! You pitted strength against +helplessness, burned thousands alive, and confiscated their property! +You permitted the slaughter of twelve hundred thousand human beings in +the West Indies, and never heard their pitiful cry, until the lack of +earnings ceased to swell the income of the Crown, and then you carried +captives from the mainland to take the place of the dead! You +permitted the institution of the American slave trade, which only +ended at Appomattox, with the destruction of hundreds of thousands of +American soldiers, and millions of money! +</p> + +<p> +The power and fame of Cortez had grown beyond the limit set by the +Crown of Spain. Every forceful and successful man in the Dominion of +Spain was a marked man; not marked for preferment and encouragement, +but marked for humiliation and disgrace. The battles that Cortez had +won for the King were forgotten; the treasure he had sent home counted +for naught; and for the territory he had subjugated, there was no +appreciation. His authority was ended. An officer and soldiers came +from Spain to take him back, not with honor, but in ignominy. He +arrested the officer, and induced the soldiers to join his army. He +was so powerful that he thought he could be King of the New World. +Finally, threats and promises secured his peaceable return to Spain, +where all promises were broken, and his life was tempest-tossed until +he died. +</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">1528</span> +Then Nuno de Guzman was named Governor General of New Spain. He +started out to duplicate the successes of Cortez, whose ability he +lacked, as well as the opportunity. He hunted in vain for another +Mexico City to conquer and despoil. He pushed Northward hunting for +riches, slaughtering the natives, burning their villages, and laying +waste their country. He conquered a great territory on the western +coast of Upper Mexico, along the Gulf of California, which he called +"New Gallicia." His rule was so ruthless, cruel and desolating, that +even Spain, hardened as she was to suffering, was shocked with his +barbarous persecution of the natives, and after seven years, a warrant +was sent out from Spain for his arrest and trial, on charges of +inhuman cruelty. He was deprived of his office, taken to Mexico City, +held there a prisoner for several years, and was then returned to +Spain. +</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">1535</span> +Don Antonio de Mendoza, known as the "Good Viceroy," succeeded to the +rule of Mexico, and put in practice a new policy, one not before tried +in the New World, that of kindness. It had come too late for many, for +the dead were everywhere, and the living had settled into a degree of +hopelessness that a whole decade of kind treatment could do little +toward counteracting. Three hundred and seventy-six years have passed +since that day, and the scars of those sixteen years of Spanish murder +and plunder have not yet been removed. +</p> + +<p> +With which our narrative ends as to the mis-rule of New Spain. +</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">1536</span> +Pamfilo de Narvaez had been made Governor of Florida in 1527 by the +Spanish Government, with a grant to explore and colonize a vast +territory bordering on the Gulf of Mexico. He outfitted in Spain, +sailed to Cuba where he repaired his vessels, thence into the Gulf of +Mexico, meeting with storms that drove him out of his course, and so +confused his mariners that they lost their reckoning. Consequently, he +was left by his ships with his three hundred men and horses on the +coast of Florida, instead of on the coast of Texas, as he thought. +They rode away into the wilderness and nearly all to their death. +Their wanderings, hardships and sufferings, the mind cannot conceive +nor the pen describe. They worked to the West and North, crossing +rivers and swamps, plains and mountains, through heat and cold, hungry +and finally starving when their last horse had been used for food, +mistreated by hostile Indians, lost and in despair. Beating their +spurs into nails, they made boats, and using the hides from their +horses for sails, they were borne down one of the Gulf Rivers, and out +into the swift ocean current where they were carried to sea and +drowned—all save four. Eight years after they had disembarked on the +Florida Coast, these four were found by some slave catchers, away up +on the Coast of California, whither they had wandered, and taken to +Mexico City. Their sufferings had been so great, that when they +reached civilization, they could no longer appreciate comforts. They +continued to sleep on the ground, to eat unwholesome food, and to +cling to the primitive habits they had formed. Slavery had in the +meantime become so common, that Mendoza bought of the three Spaniards +the negro, Estevanico, to act as guide to the far North, to which +country Mendoza proposed to send an expedition. +</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">1539</span> +Fray Marcos, a Priest from Italy, had been a participant in the +conquest of Peru, was a historian and theologian, picturesque in +appearance and language, and was next to Mendoza in power. He was +selected to go North on a visit preliminary to the proposed +expedition, with the negro as guide. Rumors were in the air, and +growing all the time, of wonderful cities and untold treasure in the +North. Even the three returned Spaniards, rested from their +wanderings, hinted at the fabulous wealth of which they persuaded +themselves they had heard. The tales grew with the telling, so that +Fray Marcos felt that he must be able to verify these reports, which +he did, with the result that when the Coronado expedition found they +did not exist, he had the great misfortune to ever after be called the +"Lying Monk." +</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/decoration.jpg" alt="Decoration" width="50" height="52"></div> + + +<a name="II"> </a> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER II. +</p> + +<p class="head"> +CORONADO. +</p> + + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">1540</span> +About four years after the death of Columbus at Valladolid, there was +born at Salamanca, about sixty miles away, one who was to become an +explorer in the world that Columbus had discovered. Francisco Vasquez +de Coronado grew up to have ambitions of his own. He removed to New +Spain, where he married Beatrice, the beautiful and accomplished +daughter of King Charles' cousin. Her father, Alonzo Estranda, was the +royal treasurer of the New Country. Even at that remote period those +Spanish gentlemen had a way of coming across the seas and weighing +their titles in the scales against the money, bonds and lands of the +relatives of the prospective wife, in the process of which the wife +did not apparently seem to be taken into account. Coronado received +from the mother of Beatrice, a great landed estate that had come to +her as a grant from the Crown. Then, too, they had a law in New Spain, +that confiscated the property of a man if he failed to marry by a +certain time. One who preferred poverty to matrimony, had his vast +fortune taken from him, and given to Coronado, which was very bad for +one, and very pleasant for the other. So Coronado started out on his +career very rich. He was made an officer in the Spanish army, and +almost immediately attracted attention to himself. The negroes in the +mines at Ametepeque mutinied, and set up a king for themselves, in +order that the wealth which they were producing might become the +property of their own king and themselves, instead of being sent to +the Court of Spain. The promptness with which Coronado shot many of +them to death and took their king away, shows that he was neither +lacking in decision nor initiative even at the very early age of +twenty-seven. A year later, 1538, he received the appointment of +Governor of New Gallicia, the country in the subjugation of which, +Guzeman the Viceroy of New Spain, had accomplished his own undoing. +Coronado had helped Fray Marcos and his negro guide on their way +through his territory as they passed northward. They went unattended +and unprotected. It had seemed to Mendoza that Fray Marcos, in his +priestly capacity, might accomplish more for the Crown than could the +royal troops; alone he could gain the confidence of the Indians and +learn of their strength and treasure. So he went without weapons, and +with only a few friendly Indian carriers. +</p> + +<p> +Spring turned to summer, and summer to autumn, and Estevenico, the +negro guide, had become a memory only. The man who had so successfully +faced the dangers of the wilds in his eight years of wanderings, was +not to be so fortunate this time. He had an idea that he might become +a person of importance himself, an explorer instead of guide, and reap +the glory of the success of the trip. So at the first opportunity, he +put his plans into practice. Fray Marcos had sent him on ahead for a +few days of reconnoitering and then to wait. He reconnoitered, but he +did not wait. Gathering an ever increasing number of the natives about +him, he pressed on and Fray Marcos never did overtake him. He grew +more arrogant all the time, until finally he was made prisoner by the +Chief of one of the tribes, was tortured, put to death, his body cut +into pieces and distributed as souvenirs among the tribes. Three +hundred of his followers were killed, one escaping and bringing the +news to Fray Marcos, who quickly began to retrace his steps, the +Indians all the time becoming more threatening as he passed southward. +</p> + +<p> +Coronado met the Monk as he returned, and accompanied him to Mexico +City where he went to make what proved to be a much over-drawn report. +Coronado had by this time become so enthusiastic over the +possibilities of his own aggrandizement, and the wealth to be reaped +from an expedition of conquest, that he proposed to Mendoza to pay the +entire cost of the expedition himself, if he were allowed to head the +party and share in its results. Mendoza was too guardful of his own +prestige and prospects, and of the interests of the Crown, to accept +the offer. But he appointed Coronado, General of the Army, to the +disappointment of a number of its prominent members who desired the +position for themselves. Acting upon the suggestion that had come from +Coronado, Mendoza mortgaged all of his estates and joined his money to +that of the Crown to pay the tremendous expense of the expedition. +Because of the number engaged, the extent of the preparations, the +time involved and the distance traversed, this is counted as the most +notable exploration party ever engaged in exploiting the North +American Continent. It comprised a picked company of three hundred +Spanish soldiers and horsemen, eight hundred seasoned Indian warriors, +and two ships under Alercon carrying extra supplies of food and +ammunition, which were to take the ocean route and be subject to call. +All being in readiness, the army marched, the ships sailed, the +trumpets sounded and the people shouted, all on that memorable morning +of February 23, 1540. +</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="zuni"><img src="images/002.jpg" alt="Coronado Before One of the Zuni Villages" width="291" height="450"></a></div> +<p class="caption">Coronado Before One of the Zuni Villages. +</p> + +<p> +Up from Compostela, their starting point, northwest of Mexico City; up +along the Pacific Coast; up through New Gallicia and on by the shore +of the ocean they pushed, bearing inland to the east and away from +their ships which they were never to see again. At last they passed +through Sonora, across the northernmost boundary of Mexico, and were +swallowed up in the wilderness of Arizona. Like the hunter traveling +far for his prey, the expedition on July 7th found its quarry, and +began the slaughter by the capture of the first of the "Seven cities +of Cibola." Coronado named the captured city Granada, the city in +Spain that was the birth place of Mendoza, and the burial place of +Queen Isabella. The remaining six cities were much like the first; +inhabited by the Zuni Indians, poor, ignorant and uncivilized. These +were the cities which Fray Marcos had reported to be the rivals of the +famous City of Mexico. They proved to be simple adobe houses, instead +of imposing structures with classical architecture. The people were +numbered by hundreds instead of by thousands, and were living in +abject poverty instead of wealth. The outraged and indignant army +brought Fray Marcos before them, and told him "Annanias estaba hambra +vere fies a lado di te." The Monk was greatly chagrined and +crest-fallen; his punishment consisted only in his being banished from +the army and sent back to Mexico in disgrace. But would he have +returned northward with the army if he thought he was deceiving them? +Doubtless as he viewed the country of Cibola from a distance, what he +described seemed to him true, though he may not have scrupulously +controlled his imagination. The name Cibola is from Se-bo-la, meaning +cow or buffalo. These seven cities were located in Upper New Mexico +about one hundred miles west of Albuquerque. +</p> + +<p> +General Coronado having been badly injured in battle, the army went +into camp pending his recovery, and detachments were sent out on trips +of discovery. +</p> + +<p> +Alvarada with a party went east and found the Rio Grande River, lined +with eighty native villages, and about 15,000 Indians. Crossing the +river, he came out upon the great buffalo plains of northern Texas, +and then made his way back to the army. +</p> + +<p> +Maldonado had previously gone with a party to the ocean in fruitless +search of the ships, but found marks made by Alercon on a tree, at the +foot of which was a letter; in it they told of their arrival, of their +sailing quite a distance up the Colorado River, of their finding that +they were in a Gulf instead of on the Ocean, and that, not finding the +army, they were starting on their return trip. There is no record of +their ever having reached home. If they had been on the Ocean instead +of in the Gulf of California, and could have sailed on North, and had +discovered the mild climate of California and its luxuriant foliage, +unquestionably Spain would have colonized that country, the Rocky +Mountains would have been the dividing wall between Spanish Territory +and that of the United States, and Dewey, instead of going to the +Philippines to fight the Spanish fleet, would have bombarded the +Spanish City of San Francisco and have sunk their ships at the Golden +Gate. The Pacific Ocean was then unknown. It had only been discovered +twenty years before, when Magalhaes in 1520 sailed into its South +American waters, and called it "Pacific" because of its calmness as +compared with the storms which he had just encountered. +</p> + +<p> +Field Marshal Garcia Cardenas led a party westward, and found the +Colorado River at the point now known as the Grand Canon of Arizona, +where the river is seven thousand feet deep in the ground, and where +the mighty rushing torrent is so far below, that it seems like a +thread winding its way at the bottom of that wonderful gorge, to which +the party tried in vain to descend. He was gone eighty days, and +reported, upon his return, that the river was a barrier so frightful +and insurmountable, that it would bar investigations to the westward +forever. +</p> + +<p> +It is a river that is eleven hundred miles long, and is formed by the +union in Utah, of the Green River from Wyoming, and the Grand River +from Colorado. It is navigable for five hundred miles, and its mighty +volume pours unceasingly through a channel fifty feet deep, and +thirteen hundred feet wide at the point in Mexico where it hurls its +turbulent waters into the Gulf of California. The stupendous gorge +where Cardenas touched the river, is two hundred and fifty miles long, +and is made up of a maze of giant gorges. It is the most sublime +spectacle on earth. Below the Niagara Falls is a tempestuous +whirl-pool, seething, roaring, and dashing against the towering walls +of granite that vie with the turbulence of the waters for the mastery. +A thousand whirl-pools, more majestic and more inspiring, are gripped +within the walls of the canons of the Colorado River. It is for this +King of Rivers, that our State is named; a Spanish name, meaning +"ruddy." In the naming of the river and the state, two extremes have +met. In the river Colorado—is the labyrinthian terrifying chasm, +filled with the terrific rush and deafening roar of the pounding +waters, of the turbulent tidal waters laboring under the mighty swells +from the tempestuous ocean. While in Colorado the State—there is +peace, peace everywhere; the silent mountains, the quiet plains, the +mellow skies, the sunny lakes, the balmy air, the murmuring +streams—all soothe and charm and thrill, and life is all too short +for the enjoyment of its perfections. +</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/map.jpg" alt="a map" width="500" height="481"></div> + +<p> +The army moved to the Rio Grande River and went into winter quarters, +occupying the best of the houses of the natives whom they inhospitably +turned out of doors to pass the winter. One of the Indians who had +been taken prisoner by the Spaniards was a talkative person and told +of a rich country far to the northeast, a country "filled with gold +and lordly kings." It sounded good to the army, as just what they were +seeking, and their enthusiasm grew as the winter passed. With the +coming of Spring, April 23, 1541, Coronado began the march to the +northeast with his whole excited army, guided by the Indian with the +vivid imagination, whom they called the "Turk." After many days of +travel with no result, and meeting different Indian tribes who said +the guide's stories were untrue, and being repeatedly assured by other +Indians that there was nothing to Turk's tales, the suspicions of the +army became a certainty, and upon their insistent questions their +guide yielded up his secret. To save his people, he was leading the +army away on a far journey, in the hope that they would never get +back, and if they did return, would be so weak and their horses so +worn, that the natives could easily fall upon and destroy them. The +work of the infuriated soldiers was cruel, swift and certain, and when +it had ended, there on the ground lay the Indian, dead. +</p> + +<p> +As die the heroes of all ages, so died this Indian guide. He died for +his people. Coronado's army had invaded his country, turned his people +out of their homes in midwinter, confiscated the supplies of their +families, had killed some and imprisoned many. Leading the army away, +out of reach of water and food, hoping to encompass its destruction, +knowing that every step took him nearer to the death sure to be meted +out to him, he moved stoically and unfalteringly to his fate. "Make +way for liberty," cried Winkelreid, as he fell pierced by a dozen +bayonets pinning him to the earth, while through the gap in the solid +ranks of the enemy, poured his compatriots, sweeping Switzerland to +its freedom—and his name will live forever. Just as nobly died the +Indian on the western plains, but the wind that scattered his dust, +blew into oblivion the remembrance of the heroic act of a humble, +courageous, and self-sacrificing martyr! +</p> + +<p> +The bewildered army halted for consultation. It was decided by +Coronado that he would take thirty picked horsemen and proceed +northeasterly on a tour of investigation, while the main army would +return to the Rio Grande, to the point that had been the place of +their winter quarters. He proceeded into Northern Kansas, and is +supposed to have passed the boundary line between Nebraska and Kansas, +and to have crossed the Platte River, whence he retraced his steps to +the army, then at a place near the site of the present City of +Albuquerque. +</p> + +<p> +Upon his arrival he wrote a letter to the King of Spain, which is +hereafter quoted. It is interesting to note how highly he regards the +country of Quivira, which afterwards was called "Kansas," and which he +likens to the soil of Spain. His description of the products of that +section gives much information. The "cows," so frequently referred to +in his letter, were the buffalo which we found just as plentiful when +we came to settle the country. The Indians moved with the buffalo, and +lived upon them, moving their tents along with the herds as they +grazed northward in summer to escape the heat, mosquitoes and flies, +and journeying south together in the winter, to escape the cold. The +Indians knew no such word as buffalo, but called this greatly +appreciated animal Ni-ai, which meant shelter or protector. The +distance travelled by the expedition was measured by a footman +trudging along beside a horseman, his steps being counted by the +riders, seventeen hundred and sixty steps making a mile. They traveled +forty-two days on their way to the Northeast, shortening the distance +to thirty-five days for their return, and were twenty-five days in the +country of Quivira. The distance traveled was three hundred leagues, +which is about seven hundred miles. The same year that Coronado was in +Eastern Kansas, the eminent Spanish warrior and explorer De Soto, back +from his conquest of Peru with Pizarro, had discovered the Mississippi +River, the Father of Waters, and ascended it from the Gulf of Mexico; +there was only the State of Iowa between his exploring party and that +of Coronado, though neither of them were aware of the fact. +</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + "Holy Catholic Caesarian Majesty: +</p> + +<p> + "On April 20 of this year (1541) I wrote to your Majesty from this + Province of Tiguex, in reply to a letter from your Majesty, dated + in Madrid June 11 a year ago <span class="asterisk">* * *</span> I started from this Province on + the 23 of last April for the place where the Indian wanted to + guide me. After nine days march I reached some plains so vast that + I did not find their limit anywhere that I went, although I + traveled over them for more than 300 leagues, and I found such a + quantity of cows in these plains <span class="asterisk">* * *</span> which they have in this + country, that it is impossible to number them, for which I was + journeying through these plains until I returned to where I first + found them there was not a day that I lost sight of them. And + after 17 days' march, I came to a settlement of Indians who are + called 'Querechos,' who travel around with these cows, who do not + plant and who eat the raw flesh and drink the blood of the cows + they kill and they tan the skins of the cows with which all the + people of this country dress themselves here. They have little + field tents made of the hides of the cows, tanned and greased, + very well made, in which they live while they travel around near + the cows, moving with these. They have dogs which they load, which + carry their tents and poles and belongings. These people have the + best figures of any that I have seen in the Indies. They could not + give me any account of the country where the guides were taking me + <span class="asterisk">* * *</span> +</p> + +<p> + "It was the Lord's pleasure, that after having journeyed across + these deserts 77 days, I arrived at the province they call Quivira + to which the guides were conducting me and where they had + described to me houses of stone with many stories and not only are + they of stone but of straw, but the people in them are as + barbarous as all those whom I have seen and passed before this. + They do not have cloaks nor cotton of which to make these, but use + the skins of the cattle they kill which they tan, because they are + settled among these on a very large river <span class="asterisk">* * *</span> The country itself + is the best I have ever seen for producing all the products of + Spain, for besides the land itself being very fat and black, and + being very well watered by the rivulets and springs and rivers, I + found prunes like those of Spain <span class="asterisk">* * *</span> and nuts and very good + sweet grapes and mulberries. I have treated the natives of this + province and all the others whom I have wherever I went as well as + was possible, agreeably to what your Majesty had commanded and + they have received no harm in any way from me or from those who + went in my Company <span class="asterisk">* * *</span> And what I am sure of is, that there is + not any gold nor any other metal in all that country and the other + things of which they had told me are nothing but little villages + and in many of these they do not plant anything and do not have + any houses except of skins and sticks and they wander around with + the cows; so that the account they gave me was false, because they + wanted to persuade me to go there with the whole force, believing + that as the way was through such inhabited deserts, and from the + lack of water, they would get us where we and our horses would die + of hunger <span class="asterisk">* * *</span> I have done all that I possibly could to serve + your Majesty and to discover a country where God our Lord might be + served and the royal patrimony of your Majesty increased as your + loyal servant and vassal. For since I reached the province of + Cibola, to which the Viceroy of New Spain sent me in the name of + your Majesty, seeing that there were none of the things there of + which Fray Marcos had told, I have managed to explore this country + for 200 leagues and more around Cibola and the best place I have + found is this river of Tiguex, where I am now and the settlements + here. It would not be possible to establish a settlement here, for + besides being 400 leagues from the North Sea and more than 200 + from the South Sea, with which it is impossible to have any sort + of communication, the country is so cold as I have written to your + Majesty that apparently the winter could not be spent here because + there is no wood nor cloth with which to protect the men except + the skins which the natives wear and some small amount of cotton + cloaks. I send the Viceroy of New Spain an account of everything I + have seen in the countries where I have been, and as Don Garcia + Lopez de Cardenas is going to kiss your Majesty's hands who has + done much and has served your Majesty very well on this expedition + and he will give your Majesty an account of everything here as one + who has seen it himself, I give way to him. And may our Lord + protect the Holy Imperial Catholic person of your Majesty with + increase of greater kingdoms and powers as your loyal servants and + vassals desire. From this Province of Tiguex, Oct. 20 in the year + 1541. Your Majesty's humble servant and vassal who would kiss the + royal feet and hands. +</p> + +<p> + (Signed) "<span class="sc">Francisco Vasquez Coronado.</span>" +</p></div> + +<p> +On August 5, 1540, Coronado wrote to Mendoza, the Viceroy of New +Spain, a letter, of which a portion is introduced in these pages +because of its reference to local conditions where the army wintered. +The spelling in the letter to the King was changed for easier perusal, +but the original quaint translation is preserved in the following, +that the style may be observed. Both letters have been translated from +the Spanish: +</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + "It remaineth now to certifie your Honour of the seuen cities, and + of the kingdomes and prouinces whereof the Father produinciall + made report vnto your Lordship. And to bee briefe, I can assure + your honour, he sayd the trueth in nothing that he reported, but + all was quite contrary, sauing onely the names of the cities, and + great houses of stone: for although they bee not wrought with + Turqueses, nor with lyme, nor brickes, yet are they very excellent + good houses of three or foure or fiue lofts high, wherein are good + lodgings and faire chambers with lathers instead of staires, and + certaine cellars vnder the ground very good and paued, which are + made for winter, they are in maner like stooues: and the lathers + which they haue for their houses are all in a maner mooueable and + portable, and they are made of two pieces of wood with their + steppes, as ours be. The seuen cities are seuen small townes, all + made with these kinde of houses that I speake of: and they stand + all within foure leagues together, and they are all called the + kingdome of Cibola, and euery one of them haue their particular + name: and none of them is called Cibola, but altogether they are + called Cibola. And this towne which I call a citie, I haue named + Granada, as well because it is somewhat like vnto it, as also in + remembrance of your lordship. In this towne where I nowe remaine, + there may be some two hundred houses, all compassed with walles, + and I thinke that with the rest of the houses which are not so + walled, they may be together fiue hundred. There is another towne + neere this, which is one of the seuen, & it is somewhat bigger + than this, and another of the same bignesse that this is of, and + the other foure are somewhat lesse: and I send them all painted + vnto your lordship with the voyage. And the parchment wherein the + picture is, was found here with other parchments. The people of + this towne seeme vnto me of a reasonable stature, and wittie yet + they seem not to bee such as they should bee, of that judgment and + wit to builde these houses in such sort as they are. For the most + part they goe all naked, except their priuie partes which are + couered: and they haue painted mantles like those which I send + vnto your lordship. They haue no cotton wooll growing, because the + countrye is colde, yet they weare mantles thereof as your honour + may see by the shewe thereof: and true it is that there was found + in their houses certaine yarne made of cotton wooll. They weare + their haire on their heads like those of Mexico, and they are well + nurtured and condicioned: And they haue Turqueses I thinke good + quantitie, which with the rest of the goods which they had, except + their corne, they had conueyed away before I came thither: for I + found no women there, nor no youth vnder fifteene yeres olde, nor + no olde folkes aboue sixtie, sauing two or three olde folkes, who + stayed behinde to gouerne all the rest of the youth and men of + warre. There were found in a certaine paper two poynts of Emralds, + and certaine small stones broken which are in colour somewhat like + Granates very bad, and other stones of Christall, which I gaue one + of my seruants to lay vp to send them to your lordship, and hee + hath lost them as hee telleth me. Wee found heere Guinie cockes, + but fewe. The Indians tell mee in all these seuen cities, that + they eate them not, but that they keepe them onely for their + feathers. I beleeue them not, for they are excellent good, and + greater then those of Mexico. The season which is in this + countrey, and the temperature of the ayre is like that of Mexico: + for sometime it is hotte, and sometime it raineth: but hitherto I + neuer sawe it raine, but once there fell a little showre with + winde, as they are woont to fall in Spaine. +</p> + +<p> + "The snow and cold are woont to be great, for so say the + inhabitants of the Countrey: and it is very likely so to bee, both + in respect to the maner of the Countrey, and by the fashion of + their houses, and their furres and other things which this people + haue to defend them from colde. There is no kind of fruit nor + trees of fruite. The Countrey is all plaine, and is on no side + mountainous: albeit there are some hillie and bad passages. There + are small store of Foules: the cause whereof is the colde, and + because the mountaines are not neere. Here is no great store of + wood, because they haue wood for their fuell sufficient foure + leagues off from a wood of small Cedars. There is most excellent + grasse within a quarter of a league hence, for our horses as well + to feede them in pasture, as to mowe and make hay, whereof wee + stoode in great neede, because our horses came hither so weake and + feeble. The victuals which the people of this countrey haue, is + Maiz, whereof they haue great store, and also small white Pease: + and Venison, which by all likelyhood they feede vpon, (though they + say no) for wee found many skinnes of Deere, of Hares and Conies. + They eate the best cakes that euer I sawe, and euery body + generally eateth of them. They haue the finest order and way to + grind that wee euer sawe in any place. And one Indian woman of + this countrey will grinde as much as foure women of Mexico. They + haue no knowledge among them of the North Sea, nor of the Western + Sea, neither can I tell your lordship to which wee bee nearest: + But in reason they should seeme to bee neerest to the Western Sea: + and at the least I thinke I am an hundred and fiftie leagues from + thence: and the Northerne Sea should bee much further off. Your + lordship may see how broad the land is here. Here are many sorts + of beasts, as Beares, Tigers, Lions, Porkespicks, and certaine + Sheep as bigge as an horse, with very great hornes and little + tailes, I haue seene their hornes so bigge, that it is a wonder to + behold their greatnesse. Here are also wilde goates whose heads + likewise I haue seene, and the pawes of Beares, and the skins of + wilde Bores. There is game of Deere, Ounces, and very great + Stagges: and all men are of opinion that there are some bigger + than that beast which your lordship bestowed vpon me, which once + belonged to Iohn Melaz. They trauell eight dayes journey vnto + certaine plaines lying toward the North Sea. In this Countrey + there are certaine skinees well dressed, and they dresse them and + paint them where they kill their Oxen, for so they say themselves. +</p> + +<p> + (Signed) "<span class="sc">Francisco Vasquez Coronado.</span>" +</p></div> + +<p> +Emerging from the second wintering of the army on the Rio Grande, +Coronado started in the Spring of 1542 with his disappointed soldiers +on their return to Mexico City, where they arrived that Fall, and +where they found grief corresponding to the gloom of the returning +soldiers. Many had built their hopes on the result of the expedition, +had borrowed money and given to those who were of the exploring party +to make filings upon mines, and to pre-empt such treasure as could be +found, as was the custom of those times. Mendoza was impoverished by +the debts he had incurred in behalf of the expedition. Coronado +instead of being a conquering hero, was greatly criticized, though not +responsible for the disappointment attending his efforts. He reported +to Mendoza who received him coldly. He returned to his province of New +Gallicia, where he remained as Governor for a time and then resigned. +Later we learn of the King sending a Commission over, to investigate +the rumor that Coronado had vastly more than the allotted number of +slaves working on his plantations. +</p> + +<p> +Did Coronado discover Colorado? On the bench of the Supreme Court of +the United States, there are nine judges, and the decision of five is +final. If we were to apply that principle to this case, then we would +unhesitatingly answer that the feet of Coronado were the first of any +white man to tread the soil of Colorado and Kansas. Students of +history differ in their opinion, but the majority believe that +Coronado is the discoverer of Colorado. Much that has been written of +this expedition has been lost. At the time of the massacre of the +whites, and the destruction of the Missions at Santa Fe by the +Indians, a great many Spanish manuscripts are supposed to have been +burned, which might now throw light upon this question. In the +monasteries of Old Spain there are many papers bearing upon the +history of the New World, that are worn with age and buried in the +dust and mould of cellars, many stories deep underground, that have +not seen the light for centuries. These may someday be unearthed to +answer positively our question. Scientific investigation is going on +at this time under the direction and expense of Societies of Research +of both Worlds. A map was issued by the Interior Department of the +United States in 1908, that gives the supposed journeyings of Coronado +and shows that he both went and returned through Colorado on his trip +to Kansas. Other maps of writers give his journeyings both ways as +following the old Santa Fe trail, which runs northeast and southwest +along the Cimarron River, through the southeast corner of Colorado. So +in either event, it is to be supposed that he was within the +boundaries of our State, following either the Arkansas River or the +Cimarron. +</p> + +<p> +Wonderful to contemplate are the possibilities that might have arisen +had the Coronado expedition been a success! Our country might have +been settled by the Spaniards, and we might have been a Spanish +speaking race, even after becoming strong enough to throw off our +allegiance to the Crown of Spain; and Washington would not have been +the Father of our Country. Government might have centralized between +the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains, where the Capital might +have been established. The Pilgrim Fathers might not have landed on +the forbidding shores of New England, eighty years after Coronado's +expedition started out from Compostela, and there might have been no +tea thrown overboard into the harbor at Boston. Those grand forests of +the middle and eastern states, of value now beyond computation, might +have remained standing, instead of being devastated by fire and axe. +Irrigation would have been early developed, the country would have +been covered with cement-lined ditches, and every depression would +have been a storage reservoir. +</p> + +<p> +Coronado might have been the greatest man in the New World, and +Coronado might have been King! +</p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/decoration.jpg" alt="Decoration" width="50" height="52"></div> + + + + +<a name="III"> </a> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER III. +</p> + +<p class="head"> +LIGHT IN THE EAST. +</p> + + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">1776</span> +Two hundred and thirty-six years had passed since Coronado's gaily +caparisoned army moved out from Compostela. The bright yellow leggings +and rich green coats of the soldiers, their waving white plumes and +coats of mail, had long since turned to rags and rust, while the bones +of the troopers had crumbled to dust. With the defeat of their +expedition, the curtain of silence descended upon this vast Rocky +Mountain region. The Indian Chiefs whom Coronado fought had long been +wrapped in the mantle of death, and their places had been filled by +the children of their children's children. The buffalo herds and the +Indian bands still roamed the plains together, and the tender calves +grew strong and became the leaders of the herd. It was the endless +procession of life and death, of strength and weakness, of growth and +decay. The wild flowers bloomed, and shed abroad their fragrance; the +trees budded and blossomed, and their leaves withered and fell; the +earth was clothed in its carpet of green, that yellowed with the +autumn's frosts; the period of seed time and harvest came, but there +was no seed time and there was no harvest. The summer rains fell upon +valley and plain, and the rivers ran unceasingly to the sea, as they +had done for centuries, and as they will do until time shall be no +more; rivers, born on the dome of the Great Divide, and nurtured by +the clouds amongst which they nestle. Each season, the stately peaks +stretched their arms aloft towards the heavenly orbs to receive their +snow's feathery drapery that fell like a benediction over them. +Mountains, radiant in their ever-changing hues of yellow and green, of +purple and gold; mountains, whose breath was fragrant with the +delicate perfume from their carpet of a thousand species of wild +flowers; mountains, kissed by pearly rain drops, glowing with morning +sun baths, draped in slumber-robes of silvery moon-beams—glorious, +sunlit, sky-communing mountains, standing in their grandeur, silent, +proud, eternal. +</p> + +<p> +In Macaulay's eloquent and elevated treatment of the thirteenth +century of English history, we find this pleasing sentiment, +applicable to Colorado's rivers and mountains: +</p> + +<p> +"The sources of the noble rivers which spread fertility over +continents, and bear richly ladened fleets to the sea, are to be +sought in the wild and barren mountain tracts, incorrectly laid down +in maps and rarely explored by travelers." +</p> + +<p> +We find similarity in our own uncharted streams and mountains; in the +unapplied wealth of waters that our rivers bore to the seas; in the +unwritten history of the Jesuit Fathers; in the romance of Spanish +glory and Spanish defeat; in the tragedy of the red men; in the +civilization that perished; in half a century's attainments in good +government, in refining domestic influences, in Christianity, in +intellectual growth, and in riches almost beyond computation. +</p> + +<p> +Again we face the mysterious. Once more the names of Cortez and +Montezuma meet, not as on the battle fields of Mexico that left one a +conqueror and the other a prisoner; not as aliens and rivals, but in +the friendly attitude of mutual interest and mutual trust. Montezuma +led into battle a people whose beginnings can never be known. +Montezuma County, Colorado, with Cortez as its County Seat, sheltered +a pre-historic race, whose beginning and end we can never fathom. At +the southwestern corner of our State, at the only spot in the United +States where four states come squarely together, we find Utah, +Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado, equally sharing in this unfathomable +mystery. There, covering a stretch of country equal in extent to about +eighty miles square, had lived a civilized people who followed the +peaceful pursuit of agriculture, who farmed by irrigation and whose +reservoirs were high up near the mountain tops. Their dwellings were +amidst the cliffs along the canons tributary to the San Mancos and San +Juan Rivers, as well as in the rocky and almost inaccessible gorges of +those rivers themselves. The abandoned houses built of hand-dressed +stone, are falling into ruins, but they still show painstaking care in +their construction, and in their well-planned architecture. The +decaying towns, towers and fortresses give every evidence of a state +of preparedness for war. Whether these people were conquered, enslaved +and carried into exile; whether they were warred upon by the marauding +bands, and so weakened that they scattered and became lost; whether +they may have been the very Aztecs, who, becoming more civilized and +more prosperous, moved South, were finally subdued by Cortez and +became the Mexican nation, are conjectures only, for those ancient +foot prints have been forever submerged by the passing years. +</p> + +<p> +A vast area of the country of the Cliff Dwellers has been made into a +National Park and given the name of Mesa Verde. For three years the +restoration of the principal ruins has been carried on by eminent +scientists under direction of the General Government. Spruce Tree +House, one of the restored dwellings, is over two hundred feet long +and it is estimated that when inhabited, it sheltered about four +hundred people. +</p> + +<p> +In the East the light is breaking. A ray here and a ray there, at +first, just the faintest touch of the awakening before the glorious +bursting of the dawn. A voyager crossed the trackless seas, following +Columbus; then another and another, all carrying the advance lights +that were finally to illuminate the darkness and unfold the mysteries +of a New World. It took one hundred years for nine voyagers on tours +of discovery, scattered through the entire century, to sow the seeds +of colonization along the Coast, which, when planted, failed to grow, +withered and died. Much of the time of these navigators was spent in +sailing up and down the eastern coast, seeking a channel through our +Continent in search of the unknown, lying beyond. +</p> + +<p> +Came John Cabot, an Italian Mariner, bearing the English Flag, +authorized to take possession of any lands he found. Four of his ships +went to the bottom and the son continued the discoveries started by +his father. Came Cortereal from Portugal in 1501, who left signs of +his visit along our Coast at various points between the Bay of Fundy +and the coast of Labrador, and then his vessels and all on board +plunged to the bottom. The following year a brother came with a +searching party and they all found graves beneath the waves that for +four hundred years have been sweeping over them. Another brother about +to start to seek the others, was prevented by command of the King. +</p> + +<p> +Came Ponce de Leon from Spain in 1512, having been with Columbus on +his second voyage in 1493. He bore a patent from the King to what was +supposed to be the marvellous Island of Bimini, which he renamed +Florida, from "Pascua Florida," meaning in Spanish "Easter Sunday." +Instead of finding a spring that the Indians claimed to possess great +curative properties and supposed to be a fountain of perpetual youth, +he found his death in an arrow wound from the Indians. Here he passed +over the site of St. Augustine, which later became the oldest +community in the United States, having been located in 1565. +</p> + +<p> +Came Pineda from Spain in 1519, entering the Gulf of Mexico, sailing +all along the Florida Coast, by Louisiana, past Texas, searching for +the "Western Passage." Here he met Cortez, the Governor-General of New +Spain. Came Narvaez in 1520, the Spanish slave gatherer, who lost his +life on the trip, lost it in a bad cause. And then in 1524 came +Verrazano, the Spanish Pirate and outcast. One hundred years later, +when Spain sought to establish her claim to the country he had visited +which might inure to her through his discovery, she said he was a very +honorable gentleman, that her colors were flying at his prow, instead +of the black flag of the Freebooter. Oh, Spain! Spain! The more I +study you, the less I admire you! Then came Gomez in 1525 from +Portugal commissioned to sail all the way along our coast from +Newfoundland to Florida, in search of a channel through the American +Continent to the Western Sea. +</p> + +<p> +He was followed sixty years later by Greenville, a cousin of Sir +Walter Raleigh, flying the English Flag. Raleigh's eyes were filled +with visions of a golden future—a man of whom we would say in these +days, that he always had an eye to the "main chance." "Whosoever +commands the sea," he said, "commands the trade; whosoever commands +the trade of the world, commands the riches of the world, and +consequently the world itself." For a little practical expression of +that philosophy, he threw his cloak down in the mud one day for his +proud Queen to step upon. Even he little realized the wealth-product +beneath its soiled folds, for from that little incident came the +introduction of the potato into England. Raleigh became a great +favorite of the Queen, and what he asked she granted. He asked of her +a royal charter for his cousin, Sir Richard Grenville, and funds for +an expedition to the New World. It resulted in those ships taking back +to England the potato and tobacco. Forty-three years before, we sent +them their Christmas dinner in the delectable wild turkey; we now gave +them as an accompaniment, the mealy and nutritious potato. Came Davis +in this same year of 1585, who discovered the Straits named for him, +and also Falkland Islands, which he found in 1592. +</p> + +<p> +And the century closed, with the lights going out all along the +Atlantic Coast, for the attempts at colonization were failing. The +roots of home-making would not take hold, with the buccaneers stirring +up the savages to fight the colonists on one side, and the loneliness +of the impassable sea terrifying them on the other. +</p> + +<p> +The next century found Champlain in 1603, making his voyage to Canada, +starting the French settlement at Quebec, in 1608, and sailing up the +St. Lawrence and around the lakes, hunting for locations for +settlements, and for a way to China. There was Lord de la Warr, coming +over in 1607, and finding a little English settlement on the mainland +at Jamestown in Virginia. The same year came the capable Captain +Smith, a soldier of fortune, who killed his Turkish task master, and +whose life was saved by a Senorita, to be saved again by Pocahontas. +</p> + +<p> +There was the distinguished Sir Henry Hudson in 1607, trying to find +another Cape Horn above Greenland; failing, he sailed south, entered +New York harbor, thence up the Hudson River seeking China. Up past the +monument of Grant, past the beautiful Palisades, by West Point and +Poughkeepsie, beyond Albany, and all the time the water becoming more +shallow and the banks narrower, until he had gone one hundred and +fifty miles, sailing north instead of southwest to Southern +California, which would put him opposite the country he was seeking. +Turn back! Sir Henry, turn back! Your prow will soon be fast in the +mud, your vessel's sides will scrape the river's banks, your boat will +dam up the waters of the Hudson, and all the surrounding country will +be inundated! It is not yet the day of the airship, so that you can +sail over the Rocky Mountains, nor is it the time of tunnels, so that +you can find a passage beneath them! Just north of you, at that very +moment, sixty miles away, Champlain has turned back, and neither of +you know it. This country is not for you, nor for him. There are no +great waterways along which you both may sail, touching the shores, +planting the flags of your countries, and claiming this Continent for +your Kings. Go back! Sir Henry, and when Champlain has colonized +Canada, and established Quebec, sail in and take it away from him! +Which was the very thing that was done twenty-one years later. Where +might seemed right then, so sometimes it seems right now, after all +these years of Christianization. +</p> + +<p> +The settlements are coming fast now. All up and down the Coast, the +people are gathering; the Plymouth Fathers have come; the Scotch are +at Nova Scotia; the Swedes and Dutch are at Delaware and New Jersey; +the French are in Virginia and Louisiana; the English are in New +England; the Spanish have killed all the Huguenots and are in Florida. +Then there is the conscientious William Penn, Quakerlike, out among +the Indians buying their lands, and we are saying to him "why buy, +when you can take all without asking?" And there is Daniel Boone, the +native-born American explorer, hero of every boy and girl, who has +made his way through the wilderness and with an axe blazed his way, as +later he marked his path by rocks and mounds of earth, all the way to +the Mississippi River. +</p> + +<p> +The echoes of Liberty Bell, ringing out our independence and ringing +in the Continental Congress, had not ceased their reverberations, when +the curtain that Coronado's defeat had rung down more than two +centuries before, was again lifted, and we behold a new stage with a +new setting, that had been prepared by the Church of Rome. Padre +Junthero Serra who, as President of the California Missions, had for +so long urged upon the Church the importance of laying out a route +from the settlement of Santa Fe to the West, finally prevailed. Friar +Francisco Andasio Dominquez, and Friar Sylvester Velez de Escalante, +were selected for this undertaking, and on July 29, 1776, started from +Santa Fe with eight soldiers and guides. Their route took them out of +New Mexico, into Colorado, Nevada, Arizona and Utah. They were gone +one summer, passed through the present site of Salt Lake City and laid +out a route that could be followed. Otherwise their trip was wholly +unproductive of any beneficial or permanent results. There are +stations adjoining each other on the Rio Grande Railroad between Delta +and Grand Junction named "Dominquez" and "Escalante" for these two +explorers. If the laurels of Coronado's discovery are ever +successfully removed from his crown, his mantle will fall upon the +shoulders of these two Friars. +</p> + +<p> +So we come to the close of the century with the glorious dawn breaking +all along the East, glowing in the heavens, shining over the people, +over the farms and the mills, over the towns and the country, bringing +prosperity and contentment to thousands. Its beams are resting on our +own Declaration of Independence; on our own Continental Congress; on +the benign countenance of the revered Washington, as he bids the +people an affectionate adieu in the stirring words of his great +farewell address, from which we quote this noble sentiment—and may it +abide with us forever: +</p> + +<p> +"Profoundly penetrated with this idea, I shall carry it with me to the +grave, as a strong incitement to unceasing vows that heaven may +continue to use the choicest token of its beneficence—that your Union +and brotherly affection may be perpetual, that the free constitution +which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly maintained, that its +administration in every department may be stamped with wisdom and +virtue, that in fine the happiness of the people of these states under +the auspices of liberty may be made complete by so careful a +preservation and so prudent a use of this blessing as will acquire to +them the glory of recommending it to the applause, affection and +adoption of every nation which is yet a stranger to it." +</p> + +<p> +How rapidly we have passed over these three hundred years, from the +days of the great Queen Isabella, to the time of the immortal +Washington! How lightly we have moved along, flitting here and there, +as the bee gathers honey for the comb, picking out events that seemed +essential in the preparation of the frame work for our picture; +passing by the great events of history, past the smiling and the +weeping, past the feasting and the hungering, past the living and the +dying—of all those who smiled and wept, who feasted and hungered, who +lived and died, in that crowded three hundred years of human endeavor! +</p> + +<p> +And now for our picture: A simple picture of simple events, simply +painted, with touches of human nature colorings, of the everyday joys +and sorrows, of the hopes and disappointments that came to us out of +the great West beyond the Mississippi River—in that portion of the +marvellous century just closed, the most wonderful century of this +most wonderful world! +</p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/decoration.jpg" alt="Decoration" width="50" height="52"></div> + + + + +<a name="IV"> </a> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER IV. +</p> + +<p class="head"> +LIEUTENANT PIKE. +</p> + + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">1803</span> +Enters the great Napoleon. He is in the midst of his never-ending +wars. He is fighting England and having a hard time. Spain has ceded +the Louisiana Territory to France, Louisiana as it was then, with its +one million square miles of territory, and not Louisiana as it is now, +with less than fifty thousand square miles, only one-twentieth its +original size. Napoleon sold us Louisiana in 1803, because he needed +the Sixteen Million Dollars we paid him for it, and it is said that he +stated, that in this transfer of territory he would make us so +powerful as a nation, that we would accomplish the downfall of +England, his hereditary enemy, after he was in his grave. St. Louis +had been started by the early French Fur Traders in 1764, and it took +it forty-one years to reach a population of two hundred and fifty +families. They had called it "Pain Court," which means, "short of +bread." +</p> + +<p> +It was in 1804, that the formal transfer of the Louisiana Territory +had been made at St. Louis, first from Spain to France, and then from +France to the United States. Time was unimportant in those days, and +although France had owned her possessions in the New World for two +years, she had not taken formal possession until the day of the +transfer to the United States. This was accomplished on the morning of +March 9, 1804, with such ceremony as was possible in that primitive +community. Down came the Flag of Spain! Up went the Flag of France! +Down came the Flag of France, and up went the Stars and Stripes to +float forever! So at last, after three hundred years, was launched on +its brilliant career, the country that Pope Alexander VI had given to +Spain, and which she had lacked the ability to develop, and the +capacity to govern. One hundred years later, the incident of the +lowering and raising of the flags was celebrated on that very spot, by +one of the greatest displays of modern times. To make it a fitting +centennial celebration, St. Louis voted Five Million Dollars in bonds; +there was a stock subscription of Five Million Dollars; the Government +appropriated Five Million Dollars; and the State of Missouri donated +One Million Dollars, making a total of the exact sum that was +originally paid for a territory, out of which fourteen states and two +territories have since been carved, that now contain the homes of +18,222,500 people, nearly a fifth of the 92,972,267 population of the +United States, a population that in 1804 was but 6,081,040. +</p> + +<p> +In all these years, the Spanish did little in New Spain to extend and +colonize the country. The Spanish race seemed to have lacked the +pioneer instinct; they were a luxury loving people, and did not +possess the hardy qualities and stout hearts that could conquer +unmurmuringly nature's comparatively insurmountable barriers. They +liked the plunder that had intoxicated them under the rule of Cortez, +and the enslavement of the humble and effeminate natives of a +territory whose climatic surroundings sapped their strength and made +them weak. The subjugation of the active and warlike northern Indians +was a very different thing, much to the surprise and disappointment of +the Spanish. They would fight. Large in stature as Coronado states in +his letter to the King, they were made of stern stuff, and their +fierce attitude interposed a permanent barrier to the encroachments of +the Spaniards from the south. They were never meant to be enslaved. +Think of making a menial of a Comanche, or an Apache! Think of old +Geronimo, a body servant! Think of taming a full-grown wild cat, with +its glaring eyes, its tearing teeth, and scratching claws! +</p> + +<p> +When the Apaches found that the Spaniards were repopulating the West +Indies with slaves from the mainland of this Continent, and had +captured some of their own tribe and carried them into captivity, the +indignation and wrath of these natives knew no bounds. They could +fight like demons, and when cornered they could destroy themselves, +but they could never be taken alive and enslaved. If this country had +been inhabited by the docile and easily subdued negroes, we would have +felt the domineering blight of Spain to this day. The reason Spain +failed to rivet its paralyzing hold upon this nation was because the +negro was not a native of this country, but a transplantment from +Africa. +</p> + +<p> +So the Spaniards made no further efforts to penetrate northward into a +territory which they claimed to be uninhabitable for civilized man. +They had made but one settlement—Santa Fe in 1605, which, next to St. +Augustine, Florida, is the oldest town in the United States. Near +Santa Fe, Coronado twice wintered his army on the Rio Grande, in the +Province of Tiguex. For eighty-five years the Spaniards possessed +Santa Fe, when, in 1690, there was an uprising of the Indians, who +captured the town, burned the buildings, and massacred or drove out +its inhabitants. It was at this time that valuable manuscripts are +supposed to have been burned, that might have had to do with +Coronado's expedition. The Spaniards always made triplicate copies of +their State papers, for their better preservation, and it is copies of +these papers that the Archæological Society hopes to unearth, in the +mouldy and cob-webbed cellars under the monasteries of Old Spain. For +two years, the Indians held Santa Fe, when, defeated in battle, they +again gave way to the Spaniards, who later on, were to abdicate in +favor of the United States. +</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">1805</span> +Washington made history at Trenton, New Jersey, in 1776, by the +capture of a body of Hessian soldiers. About two years afterwards a +child was born in that village whose name must have been given it by a +pious mother with her Bible on her knee, and not, I ween, by the +father, Captain Pike, of the Revolutionary Army, who would have +doubtless called his son after one of the great generals of that time. +It is in the thirtieth chapter of Genesis, we learn of a Zebulun for +the first time, in the story of the sisters Leah and Rachael. +</p> + +<p> +Zebulon Montgomery Pike went to school at Easton, Pa., and before he +was twenty-one was made a Captain in the Army, which shows that it is +a good thing to have a father with influence. In 1805, Pike started, +under the authority of President Jefferson, on an expedition to +discover the source of the Mississippi River. His trip, lasting nine +months, was successful, and upon his return, he started almost +immediately with a party to explore geographically the Louisiana +Purchase. He outfitted at St. Louis, which was the last western point +where supplies could be obtained. +</p> + +<p> +In Lieutenant Pike's party there were twenty-four, including a guide +and interpreter, and he had in his care fifty-one Indians whom he was +to return to their tribe, the Government having rescued them from +other tribes who had made them prisoners. He went by sail boats up the +Missouri River from St. Louis, while the Indians traveled by land, the +two parties camping near each other at night. He kept a journal in +which he made a daily record of events, which he copied and sent in +with his report of the expedition to the Government after his return. +Some excerpts are given to help the reader to a better and closer +knowledge of the man and the times. He records, as he passed through +Missouri, his impression of that State in this language: +</p> + +<p> +"These vast plains of the Western Hemisphere may become in time as +celebrated as the sandy deserts of Africa, but from these immense +prairies may arise one great advantage to the United States, the +restriction of our population to some certain limits and thereby a +continuance of the Union. Our citizens being so prone to rambling and +extending themselves on the frontier, will, through necessity, be +constrained to limit their extent on the West to the borders of the +Mississippi and the Missouri, while they leave the prairies incapable +of cultivation to the wandering and uncivilized aborigines of the +country." +</p> + +<p> +With regard to the Indians placed in his care, we read this: +</p> + +<p> +"<span class="asterisk">* * *</span> Every morning we were awakened by the mourning of the savages, +who commenced crying about daylight and continued their lamentation +for the space of an hour. I made inquiry of my interpreter with +respect to this practice and was informed that it was a custom not +only with those who had recently lost their relatives, but also with +others, who recalled to mind the loss of some friend, dead long since, +who joined the mourners purely from sympathy. They appeared extremely +affected, tears ran down their cheeks and they sobbed bitterly, but in +a moment they dry their cheeks and cease their cries." +</p> + +<p> +Of these same Indians, upon being turned over to their tribe, he says: +</p> + +<p> +"Lieutenant Wilkinson informed me that their meeting was very tender +and affectionate. Wives throwing themselves into the arms of their +husbands; parents embracing their children and children their parents; +brothers and sisters meeting—one from captivity, the other from the +towns; at the same time returning thanks to the good God for having +brought them once more together." +</p> + +<p> +In Missouri, he records his first sight of a slaughter of animals by +the Indians: +</p> + +<p> +"After proceeding about a mile, we discovered a herd of elk which we +pursued; they took back in sight of the Pawnees who immediately +mounted fifty or sixty young men and joined in the pursuit; then for +the first time in my life, I saw animals slaughtered by the true +savages by their original weapons, bows and arrows. They buried the +arrow up to the plume in the animal." +</p> + +<p> +The Indians called the prairie dog the "wish-ton-wish" because of +their shrill bark. He says, in part, of these little animals: +</p> + +<p> +"Their holes descend in a spiral form, on which account I could never +ascertain their depth; but I once had 140 kettles of water poured +into one of them in order to drive out the occupant but without +effect. <span class="asterisk">* * *</span> We killed great numbers of these animals with our rifles +and found them excellent meat after they were exposed a night or two +to the frost by which means the rankness acquired by their +subterranean dwelling is corrected." +</p> + +<p> +While still in Missouri we read from his diary this: +</p> + +<p> +"Friday 12th of September.—Commenced our march at 7:00 o'clock and +passed some very rough flint hills; my feet blistered and were very +sore. Standing on a hill, I beheld in one view below me, buffaloes, +elks, deer, cabrie, and panther. Encamped on the main branch of Grand +River which has very steep banks and was deep. Doctor Robinson, +Bradley and Baromi arrived after dusk, having killed three buffaloes, +which with one I had killed and two by the Indians, made in all six. +The Indians alleging it was the Kansas Hunting Ground, said they would +destroy all the game they possibly could. Distance advanced eighteen +miles." +</p> + +<p> +In Missouri also, in addition to the many species of game which he +daily describes in his journal, he speaks of the wild turkeys. A +mistaken idea exists among some as to how this bird found its way to +the western plains and mountains. In the Eastern States, before the +time of easy transportation or cold storage, dealers would go through +the country gathering the turkeys from the farmers, and driving them +along the public highways to market, in great droves like sheep. From +that, an impression went abroad that later, a drove of turkeys, +crossing the plains to California, became scattered and wild. The +facts are, wild turkeys were plentiful in New Spain and had been +domesticated by the Aztecs before the conquest of Mexico by Cortez. +They were never seen in England until 1541, when they reached there +from New Spain, the very year Coronado was marching with his army +towards Colorado. The highly ornamented head dresses of the Indians, +which were first made from the feathers of the eagles and the owls, +were later made from the glossy and richly hued feathers of the wild +turkey. +</p> + +<p> +Lieutenant Pike and his party passed on westward into Kansas and +followed the Arkansas River into Colorado. Soon after he entered our +State, near the place where the Purgatoire River empties into the +Arkansas, he discovered the Rocky Mountains, then known as the Mexican +Mountains. A legend containing a note of sadness comes to us out the +buried centuries. Soldiers going from Santa Fe to St. Augustine with +gold for the army were never heard of beyond the junction of the +Arkansas and Purgatoire Rivers. As the months and years passed with no +tidings of the soldiers, a Priest named one of the rivers El Rio de +las Animas Perdidas—the River of Lost Souls. The French trappers +later changed the name to Purgatoire. Long afterwards it is said that +an Indian confessed to a Priest that the Indians had surrounded the +men and killed every one. Much gold has been spent since that day +searching for the gold the soldiers were supposed to have buried when +they knew they were to be attacked. +</p> + +<p> +It was on the afternoon of November 15, 1805, that, looking to the +northwest, Pike saw what he took to be a small blue cloud. Then with a +glass he discovered that it was a peak, towering above all the +surrounding heights, and which then and after, his party spoke of as +the Grand Peak. It was known by all the Indian tribes for hundreds of +miles around, and the early hunters and trappers told that it was so +high, the clouds could not get between it and the sky. It later became +known as "Pike's Peak." Two days after the discovery of this Peak, +whose altitude is 14,147 feet, he tells in his journal of the feast of +marrow bones, and how deceptive distance is in this rarified air: +</p> + +<p> +"Monday, 17th November.—Marched at our usual hour; pushed on with an +idea of arriving at the mountains but found at night no visible +difference in their appearance from what we had observed yesterday. +One of our horses gave out and was left in a ravine not being able to +ascend the hill, but I sent back for him and had him brought to the +camp. Distance advanced twenty-three miles and a half. +</p> + +<p> +"Tuesday, 18th of November.—As we discovered fresh signs of the +savages, we concluded it best to stop and kill some meat for fear we +should get into a country where we could not obtain game. Sent out the +hunters. I walked myself to an eminence from whence I took the courses +to the different mountains and a small sketch of their appearance. In +the evening found the hunters had killed without mercy, having slain +seventeen buffaloes and wounded at least twenty more. +</p> + +<p> +"Wednesday, 19th of November.—Having several carcasses brought in, I +gave out sufficient meat to last this month. I found it expedient to +remain and dry the meat for our horses were getting very weak, and the +one died which was brought in yesterday. Had a general feast of marrow +bones. One hundred and thirty-six of them furnishing the repast. +</p> + +<p> +"Saturday, 22d of November.—<span class="asterisk">* * *</span> We made for the woods and unloaded +our horses, and the two leaders endeavored to arrange the party; it was +with great difficulty they got them tranquil and not until there had +been a bow or two bent on the occasion. When in some order, we found +them to be sixty warriors, half with fire arms and half with bows and +arrows and lances. Our party was in all sixteen <span class="asterisk">* * *</span> Finding this, we +determined to protect ourselves as far as was in our power and the +affair began to wear a serious aspect. I ordered my men to take their +arms and separate themselves from the savages; at the same time +declaring I would kill the first man who touched our baggage. <span class="asterisk">* * *</span>" +</p> + +<p> +It was on November 27th that he arrived at the base of Pike's Peak, +and because of the lateness of the season could not ascend it. +Instead, he reached the summit of Cheyenne Mountain, and looked up to +the grand pinnacle that stood out so grandly majestic, seeming so +close, yet estimated by him to be fifteen or sixteen miles away. He +looked down on the billowy clouds below, that rose and lowered like +the tossing of mighty waves in a storm at sea. He stood speechlessly +gazing on such grandeur as his eyes had never yet beheld, and he felt +the awe, and immensity, and sublimity of it, down to the end of his +life. It was the same Cheyenne Mountain where Helen Hunt, the writer, +so loved to be. Here, she was enthralled with the beauty and majesty +that surrounded her, and here she received the inspiration for those +glowing descriptions of nature as she saw it in its restful moods, and +as she pictured it in its times of frenzy. Her love for that mountain +was so great, that on its bosom, high up near the stars, beneath the +trees that spoke to her as they rustled in the summer's breeze, her +grave was made and there she was buried according to her wish. +</p> + +<p> +All winter, Pike prospected the mountains and the rivers, in the midst +of such suffering as few people endure and survive. These few notes +from his diary tell the story: +</p> + +<p> +"Wednesday, 24th of December.—<span class="asterisk">* * *</span> About eleven o'clock met Dr. +Robinson on a prairie, who informed me that he and Baromi had been +absent from the party two days without killing anything, also without +eating <span class="asterisk">* * *</span> +</p> + +<p> +"Thursday, 25th of December.—<span class="asterisk">* * *</span> We had before been occasionally +accustomed to some degree of relaxation and extra enjoyments; but the +case was now far different; eight hundred miles from the frontiers of +our country in the most inclement season of the year; not one person +properly clothed for the winter; many without blankets, having been +obliged to cut them up for socks and other articles; lying down, too, +at night on the snow or wet ground, one side burning, whilst the other +was pierced with the cold wind; that was briefly the situation of the +party; while some were endeavoring to make a miserable substitute of +raw buffalo hide for shoes and other covering. <span class="asterisk">* * *</span> +</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="frozen"><img src="images/003.jpg" alt="Pike and His Frozen Companion" width="450" height="280"></a></div> +<p class="caption">Pike Leaving the Two Comrades with Frozen Feet at the +Log Fort They Built Near Canon City. +</p> + +<p> +"Tuesday, 20th of January.—The doctor and all the men able to march +returned to the buffalo to bring in the remainder of the meat. On +examining the feet of those who were frozen, we found it impossible +for two of them to proceed, and two others only without loads by the +help of a stick. One of the former was my waiter, a promising young +lad of twenty, whose feet were so badly frozen as to present every +possibility of his losing them. The doctor and party returned toward +evening loaded with the buffalo meat. +</p> + +<p> +"Tuesday, 17th of February.—<span class="asterisk">* * *</span> This evening the corporal and three +of the men arrived, who had been sent back to the camp of their frozen +companions. They informed me that two more would arrive the next day, +one of them was Menaugh, who had been left alone on the 27th of +January; but the other two, Dougherty and Spark, were unable to come. +They said that they had hailed them with tears of joy and were in +despair when they again left them with a chance of never seeing them +more. They sent on to me some of the bones taken out of their feet and +conjured me by all that was sacred not to leave them to perish far +from the civilized world. Oh! little did they know my heart if they +could suspect me of conduct so ungenerous! No, before they should be +left, I would for months have carried the end of a litter in order to +secure them the happiness of once more seeing their native homes and +being received in the bosom of a grateful country. Thus these poor +fellows are to be invalids for life, made infirm at the commencement +of manhood and in the prime of their course; doomed to pass the +remainder of their days in misery and want. For what is the pension? +Not sufficient to buy a man his victuals! What man would even lose the +smallest of his joints for such a trifling pittance?" +</p> + +<p> +The Louisiana Purchase had left a disputed boundary, which, with other +things, threatened war between the United States and Spain. When Pike +crossed over the Rocky Mountains to the West side, he was exploring +disputed territory, though he was lost and thought he was on the Red +River, instead of the Rio Grande, the former being within the limits +of the Louisiana Purchase. He had passed that River, however, above +its source, and had gotten over on the Rio Grande, which territory was +still claimed by Spain. Had he found the Red River, it was his +intention to build rafts and follow it towards its junction with the +Mississippi, landing on his way at Nachitoches in Louisiana, which is +about one hundred and fifteen miles west of Natchez—that being the +Military Post to which he was to report. Notice of his presence in the +Mountains had reached Santa Fe, where Spanish soldiers were stationed. +The Governor sent an officer and fifty dragoons to bring him out. He +was taken south to Santa Fe, going peaceably, but all the time +protesting in the name of his Government at the indignity. Here he was +questioned, his papers examined, and those in authority being +undecided as to how to handle the matter because of its national +character, they sent him far away to the south, to Chihuahua in New +Spain, the headquarters of the Military Chief of Upper Mexico, where +he arrived April 2d. After being detained for some days, all his +papers again gone over in a vain endeavor to find something +incriminating, it was determined to send him East to his destination, +with an escort, his party, however, not to be permitted to accompany +him, but to be sent after him. +</p> + +<p> +In July, 1806, he arrived at Nachitoches, where he was warmly welcomed +by his fellow officers. A little later he received a letter of thanks +from the Government. He was made a Major in the Army in 1808; +Lieutenant Colonel in 1809; Deputy Quartermaster-General and Colonel +both, in 1812; Brigadier General in 1813. In that year he was sent by +the Government on an expedition against York in Upper Canada, at the +time of our second war with England. Here a magazine of the Fort +exploded, a mass of stone fell on him and crushed him, and he died at +the age of thirty-five. In his pocket was found a little volume +containing a touching admonition to his son. He urged that he regard +his honor above everything else, and that he be ready to die for his +country at any time. +</p> + +<p> +Lieutenant Pike had a pleasing personality, and had he lived, he would +doubtless have been prominent in the affairs of the Government. He had +strong features, keen kindly eyes, firm chin, high forehead, a nose +that showed breeding, was clean shaven, had closely cropped hair +combed straight back, and his picture somewhat resembles the portrait +of Thomas Jefferson, once President of the United States. His modesty +would not permit the giving of his own untarnished name to the great +Peak that through the ages will proudly bear his name. The name came +from a popular demand of the people, who were here at an early date, +and who did away with the name of "James Peak" which Major Long gave +it in honor of one of his own exploring party. +</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="one"><img src="images/004.jpg" alt="One of the Approaches to Cheyenne Mountain" width="430" height="264"></a></div> +<p class="caption">One of the Approaches to Cheyenne Mountain, Pike's Peak +in the Background. +</p> + +<p> +There is a singular coincidence attached to the name of this Peak. A +pike in former times was the name given to anything with a sharp +point. A road with toll gates was called a pike, because the gate +consisted of a pole that swung up with the small end pointing towards +the sky. In olden times the name of pike, instead of peak, was given +to all summits of mountains. Gradually the word pike gave way to peak, +and the former finally became obsolete. So in the name of Pike's Peak, +we have it so securely named, that even the highest legislation in the +land could not take away from it the name of Pike. And in this +towering peak and its companions, if Prof. Agassiz is right, we have +the first dry land that was lifted out of the great world's waste of +waters. Colorado is to be congratulated that it has a monument in its +midst that will forever commemorate the memory of a good man, who was +intellectually, physically and morally clean and strong; who was +faithful to every trust; tender in his sympathies; lofty in his ideals +and character; and who loved his country so much, that he was willing +to give it all he had—his life. +</p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/decoration.jpg" alt="Decoration" width="50" height="52"></div> + + + + +<a name="V"> </a> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER V. +</p> + +<p class="head"> +THE LOST PERIOD. +</p> + + +<p> +As footprints on the sands of the ocean's beach are blotted out by +winds and waves, so a Chapter of Colorado's History has been torn from +its pages and can never be reproduced—the hunter and trapper. +Exploring parties sent out by the Government were required to make +careful observations, and a minute record of all they saw. It is by +this we can follow them through their wanderings amidst primeval +scenes, and can picture them moving slowly over the plains, solitary +or in little groups, struggling forward, often hungry, lame, sick and +desolate. But there will ever remain an untold story of those early +times; as it can never be written by the hands long stilled, nor ever +spoken by the lips long silenced. In that buried period are blended +the romance, tragedy and adventures of the hunters and trappers who +frequented Colorado in the beginning of the last century. They were +few in number, mostly of French extraction, with St. Louis as their +home. They were a type whose like will never be seen again, for the +reasons for their existing can never again be duplicated. They were +Indian Traders, who went at first to the outskirts of civilization, +exchanging inexpensive articles for the rich furs of the Indians. As +their acquaintance grew with the natives, they crowded into the +Indians' country, and following the streams, took the otter and beaver +at first hand. Because of their being so few in number, they were +rarely molested; then, too, they were a medium by which the natives +could realize on their furs, pittance though it was. +</p> + +<p> +Some of these trappers would remain out on their expeditions for +several years at a time, often living with the Indians and adopting +their ways. As their clothes fell to pieces from age and use, they +would replenish from the primitive blanket costumes of the Indians, +whom in time they came to resemble. Often they would marry Indian +wives and settle down to the nomadic life of the aborigines. Sometimes +there would crowd upon them such stirring memories of the experiences +they had once enjoyed, that the wives and children would be left to +tears and loneliness, while the trapper with his face set toward the +East, with his pack on his back, would tramp to the settlements, +sometimes to remain, sometimes to return. We know some of the men who +visited the mountains and streams of Colorado; knowledge of their +presence here has floated down to us in various ways. When Major Long +came on his exploring trip in 1819, he secured as guides two French +Trappers, then living with the tribe of Pawnee Indians in southeastern +Nebraska, who had trapped in the region of the Rocky Mountains. +</p> + +<p> +James Pursley was here in 1805 and traded among the Indians; +Lieutenant Pike in his report, speaks of him as the first white man +who ever crossed the plains. He made the first discovery of gold in +Colorado, which he found at the foot of Lincoln Mountain, doubtless at +Fairplay on the Platte River, where once extensive placer diggings +existed. As late as 1875, the Company operating there had a large +number of Chinamen at work. The immense grass-grown gulch, wide and +deep and long, at the edge of Fairplay, is the excavation out of which +hundreds of thousands of dollars were taken. Colorado has done well to +commemorate the name of Abraham Lincoln in one of its loftiest +mountains. +</p> + +<p> +A Frenchman named La Lande was sent out by an Illinois merchant in +1804, to make an investigation of the country and report. He came +along the Platte Valley, crossed over to Santa Fe, where he concluded +to remain. There was a party of French Trappers known to have been +here about 1800 who went South into Arizona, in search of untouched +territory to ply their avocation. Philip Covington in 1827 passed up +the Cache La Poudre Valley with a pack train, on his way to Green +River with supplies. He returned in 1828 and established a colony of +trappers at La Porte, one of the oldest settlements in Colorado, and +which is located near Ft. Collins. He was in the employ of the +American Fur Company. +</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="trapper"><img src="images/005.jpg" alt="The Trapper" width="293" height="450"></a></div> +<p class="caption">The Trapper. +</p> + +<p> +The trappers would often go alone into these vast solitudes, with pack +horses to carry their supplies in, and their furs but. Sometimes they +would die in their lonely retreats, and never be heard of again, only +as some sign of the fate that had overtaken them would be found years +later. After a time, there were wagon routes of travel along the +Arkansas River, with a trading post at Fort Bent and one at Santa Fe; +also up the South Platte River, with trading centers at Ft. St. Vrain +and at Ft. Lupton; and up the North Platte River, with the business +centering at Ft. Laramie. Sometimes trappers who were brought out in +the freighting wagons in the Spring from St. Louis by the Fur-Trading +Companies, would be left with supplies along the streams, and in the +Fall they would be picked up and taken with their peltries back to St. +Louis. +</p> + +<p> +The Astor Trail was made in 1810 through South Dakota west to the +Coast. A great impetus was given to the fur business by the Lewis and +Clark Exploring Party in 1804. They opened up the first Coast to Coast +trail, and were the first white men to cross the Continent between the +British operations on the North, and the Spanish on the South. Lewis +had been President Jefferson's Private Secretary, and Captain Clark +was his friend. They traveled eighty-five hundred miles, and they +nationalized the fur business which grew to such proportions that +years after they had opened up the line of travel, we were selling in +London, alone, two million one hundred and seventy thousand furs +annually. The rich peltries then were what gold and silver were later, +and what grain, alfalfa, fruit, sugar beets and potatoes are now, and +will be as long as water, soil, and sunshine blend. Buffalo and otter +skins brought in the western market three dollars each; beaver skins +four dollars; coon and muskrat twenty-five cents; deer skins +thirty-eight cents per pound. +</p> + +<p> +The early trappers could have been of inestimable benefit to the +Government, had they been called upon to help solve the perplexing +Indian problems that for so many years confronted us. They knew the +Indians, their languages, habits and customs; and had their knowledge +and influence with the natives been utilized, we might have peaceably +settled many of the difficulties that required the sacrifice of so +many lives and the unnecessary expenditure of so much money. +</p> + +<p> +The fur industry, however, depended upon the keen perception of an +awkward, unlettered, German boy for its growth and quick development. +He came to London from Germany, with his bundle under his arm, to help +in his brother's music store. John Jacob Ashdoer was his name, which +by evolution became "Astor." With great frugality and unceasing +industry, he saved enough in two years to pay his passage on a sailing +ship to America, and there was enough left of his little hoard to buy +seven flutes of his uncle, his sole stock in trade. When he reached +this country, he traded one of his flutes for some furs; and that +particular flute, and those particular furs, made history. It turned +his attention to the fur trade, and laid the foundation for the +greatest landed estate in America. With his pack on his back, he +traveled among the Indian tribes of the Eastern States, and got their +furs in exchange for gaudy trinkets, such as beads and ribbons. He +personally took the furs to London, so as to realize the highest +possible price for them and rapidly grew rich. In 1800 when he had +only been in this country fifteen years, he was clearing fifty +thousand dollars on a single trip of one of his sailing vessels. +</p> + +<p> +It was at this time that Astor founded Astoria as a fur trading point, +on the Columbia River, expecting to operate by ship, as well as +freighting overland by the way of Ft. Laramie, and thus control the +fur traffic along the tributary rivers. The destruction of Astoria by +the British kept him from realizing his dream of becoming "the richest +man in the world." Washington Irving and John Jacob Astor were +friends, and the latter placed in Irving's hands all the records of +his Company's operations, from which Irving gathered much interesting +data, and many thrilling experiences from the lives of the early +trappers and hunters. He wrote "Astoria" as a compliment to his +friend. In this book he pictures the Rocky Mountains as having an +elevation in places of twenty-five thousand feet, but frankly states +that it is only conjecture, since their altitude had never been +measured. The average height of the Rocky Mountains exceed that of the +famous Alps, a number of the noted peaks being above thirteen thousand +feet. +</p> + +<p> +Some of Irving's interesting and pleasing prophecies of our country +follow: +</p> + +<p> +"It is a region almost as vast and trackless as the ocean, and at the +time of which we treat, but little known, excepting through the vague +accounts of Indian hunters. A part of their route would lay across an +immense tract, stretching North and South for hundreds of miles along +the foot of the Rocky Mountains, and drained by the tributaries of the +Missouri and the Mississippi. This region, which resembles one of the +immeasurable steppes of Asia, has not inaptly been termed 'The Great +American Desert.' It spreads forth into undulating and trackless +plains and desolate sandy wastes, wearisome to the eye from their +extent and monotony, and which are supposed by geologists to have +formed the ancient floor of the ocean, countless ages since, when its +primeval waves beat against the granite bases of the Rocky Mountains. +</p> + +<p> +"It is a land where no man permanently abides; for, in certain seasons +of the year, there is no food, either for the hunter or his steed. The +herbage is parched and withered; the brooks and streams are dried up; +the buffalo, the elk and the deer have wandered to distant parts, +keeping within the verge of expiring verdure, and leaving behind them +a vast uninhabited solitude, seamed by ravines, the beds of former +torrents, but now serving only to tantalize and increase the thirst of +the traveler. Such is the nature of this immense wilderness of the far +West, which apparently defies cultivation, and the habitation of +civilized life <span class="asterisk">* * *</span> Here may spring up new and mongrel races <span class="asterisk">* * *</span> +Some may gradually become pastoral hordes, like those rude and +migratory people, half shepherd, half warrior, who, with their flocks +and herds, roam the plains of Upper Asia; but, others, it is to be +apprehended, will become predatory bands, mounted on the fleet steeds +of the prairies, with the open plains for their marauding ground, and +the mountains for their retreats and lurking places. Here they may +resemble those great hordes of the North; 'Gog and Magog with their +bands,' that haunted the gloomy imaginations of the prophets, 'A great +Company and a mighty host all riding upon horses, and warring upon +those nations which were at rest, and dwelt peaceably, and had gotten +cattle and goods.'" +</p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/decoration.jpg" alt="Decoration" width="50" height="52"></div> + + + + +<a name="VI"> </a> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER VI. +</p> + +<p class="head"> +MAJOR LONG. +</p> + + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">1819</span> +Fourteen years have passed since Lieutenant Pike sold his two little +sail boats to the Osage Indians as he left the Missouri River and +started on his overland journey. Within this brief period a great +invention has marked the progress of the century. After years of +experiments, failures and disappointments; after sinking one vessel +and abandoning others; Robert Fulton has returned from his trip to +France, bringing with him his steam engine with which he had perfected +water navigation, and by his genius linked together all the nations of +the earth, increased the wealth and commerce of the world, and won for +himself enduring fame. +</p> + +<p> +The next exploring party was to start in a steamship owned by the +Government of the United States, and under the leadership of Stephen +Harriman Long. Born at Hopkington, New Hampshire, December 30, 1784, +Long had graduated at Dartmouth College, and entered the corps of +Engineers of the U.S. Army, in 1814; had been a professor of +mathematics at the Military Academy at West Point, and had been +transferred to the Topographical Engineers in 1815, with the +brevet-rank of Major. +</p> + +<p> +James Monroe was President, and John C. Calhoun Secretary of War, and +they gave Major Long elaborate instructions as to his duty. We had +owned the vast Louisiana Territory for sixteen years, and knew but +little more about it than when it came into our possession. So, Long +was to explore it and make a very thorough investigation of the +"country between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains, the +Missouri and its tributaries, the Red River, the Arkansas River, and +the Mississippi above the mouth of the Missouri." +</p> + +<p> +On May 3, 1819, the party of nine started from the arsenal on the +Allegheny River just above Pittsburgh, at which point they entered the +Ohio River. Their steamer carried them down the Ohio to its junction +with the Mississippi, a distance of about nine hundred miles, where +they arrived May 30th. Here they turned north up the Mississippi +River, about one hundred and seventy-five miles to St. Louis, which +they reached June 9th. Then they steamed West up the Missouri, over +the course that Pike had sailed fourteen years before, to the same +point where the Osage River enters the Missouri, near the present +location of Jefferson City and one hundred and thirty-three miles from +the Mississippi River. The party divided; part of the number +disembarked and proceeded with horses through Missouri, Kansas and +Nebraska, meeting those of the party who remained on the boat at +Council Bluffs on September 19th. There they established their winter +quarters on the banks of the Missouri, about five miles below the +present City of Council Bluffs, and so named because of a Council held +with the Indians by the Government at that point. In the log houses, +built by Pike and his party, and with the supplies they had brought on +the ship, the party passed a comfortable and leisurely winter. On June +6, 1820, they started from Council Bluffs, the party then consisting +of twenty men and twenty-eight horses. It is interesting to know what +their pack ponies carried. Here is an invoice: +</p> + +<ul> +<li>150 lbs. pork</li> +<li>500 lbs. biscuit</li> +<li> 10 cannisters</li> +<li>300 flints</li> +<li> 25 lbs. coffee</li> +<li> 30 lbs. sugar</li> +<li> 5 lbs. vermilion</li> +<li> 2 lbs. beads</li> +<li> 30 lbs. tobacco</li> +<li> 2 doz. moccasin awls</li> +<li> 1 doz. scissors</li> +<li> 6 doz. looking glasses</li> +<li> 1 doz. gun worms</li> +<li> 1 doz. fire-steels</li> +<li> 2 gross hawks bells</li> +<li> 2 gross knives</li> +<li> 1 gross combs</li> +<li> 2 bu. parched corn</li> +<li> 5 gal. whiskey</li> +<li>Bullet pouches</li> +<li>Powder horns</li> +<li>Skin canoes</li> +<li>Packing skins</li> +<li>Canteens</li> +<li>Forage bags</li> + <li> Several hatchets</li> +<li>A little salt</li> +<li>A few trinkets</li> +<li>Pack cards</li> +<li>Small packing boxes for insects.</li> +</ul> + +<p> +They followed along the Platte River, and stopped for a time at the +junction of the North Fork of that River with the South Fork, where +North Platte is now situated. Here they tell of watching the beavers +cut down a cottonwood tree. They observed that when it was nearly +ready to fall, one of the beavers swam out into the river and posted +itself as a sentinel. As soon as it saw the tops of the branches begin +to move, it gave the signal by giving the water a resounding slap with +its flat tail, when every beaver scampered out of reach of the falling +tree. It must have been a moonlight night when they were there, +otherwise they would not have seen the beavers at work, for they +reverse nature's order and sleep in the daytime, working at night. +They sleep in their houses, with their bodies in the water, and their +heads resting out of the water on a stick. At twilight, a wise old +mother beaver comes out and swims all around the pond or river, +looking and smelling. Their sense of smell is very keen, and those who +wish to observe them do so from treetops near the water. If after a +careful investigation, the sentinel decides there are no man people, +or wild animals around, one slap of the tail on the water is given, +and out pops the nose of every beaver of the band, and all proceed +with their work, exactly where it ended at sunrise. If the one on +picket duty sees or hears anything that seems suspicious, three sharp +resounding strokes of the tail sends every beaver in a flash to his +hiding place, and nothing will tempt them out again that night. They +have an instinct for making a tree fall in exactly the place where +they want it, and it is used as a foundation for the numerous dams +they build in the streams. +</p> + +<p> +On June 30th, Long's party got their first glimpse of the Rocky +Mountains. Later on, when they were camped near Ft. Lupton, opposite +the Peak, they gave it the name of Long, its altitude being fourteen +thousand two hundred and seventy feet. +</p> + +<p> +None of the party were ever near the Peak. Two of them, more +courageous than the others, rode out one memorable morning, under a +cloudless sky, with their faces towards the snowy range—rode away to +defeat and oblivion. As morning turned to noon and they seemed no +nearer to the pinnacle than when they started, they retraced their +steps across the silent plain. Thus they lost an opportunity of +forever linking their names to undying fame. Had they proceeded, they +could have electrified a nation by writing into their report a page +that would have remained undimmed to the end of time. It was theirs, +had they embraced it, to have discovered Estes Park, the gorgeous +setting that crowns the approach to the King of Peaks. But they turned +back; back from the snow-white mountains beckoning them onward; from +the purple tints that veiled the mystic summits in a mellow haze; from +the lights and shadows playing over hill and dale, under a canopy of +fleecy clouds. +</p> + +<p> +Beautiful Estes Park! Rarest gem of all the sparkling jewels that +adorn the bosom of this fair world! In you the Divine Hand has created +the masterpiece of all earthly beauty! You are so freighted down with +scenic blessings that the mould was broken in your formation and there +can be no duplication! Glorious is your resting place under the +cloudless sky, as you lie in the embraces of the soft and balmy air +that envelops you! Beautiful are your grassy slopes and velvet +meadows, asleep beneath the gleaming stars, awake under the mellow +skies, reaching away in a panoramic view of exquisite colorings! +Faultless are Nature's highways as they wind in and out among your fir +and spruce, your pine and aspen, through silvery glades and leafy +dells, by rocky gorges and towering cliffs! Lovely are the azure lakes +that rest against your mountain sides, reflecting in their limpid +depths your rocks and trees, your lights and shades, your fleecy +clouds and snow-clad peaks! How gentle is the flow of your sounding +streams; how they eddy and fall; how they tumble and roar, as they +hurry along to their far-away home in the sea! How grand and terrible +are the awe-inspiring storms that gather in the mountains high above +you, as cloud rolls upon cloud, black, dense, lowering; how the +terrific peals of thunder crash from peak to peak, like the duel of +artillery meeting on the field of carnage in the mighty shock of +battle! +</p> + +<p> +As light follows darkness, as sunshine comes after the rain, as peace +succeeds strife, the clouds unveil, the tempest is calmed, the glory +of the sun dispels the gloom, and the storm lashed pinnacles robed in +eternal snow, light up under the glow of the lingering twilight. The +tiny throated songsters warble their simple evening notes, ever old +and forever new, rivaling the music of the streams, as they flood this +paradise of parks with an ecstasy of melody. The eagle mounts skyward, +rising higher and higher, in ever widening circles, standing out +against the sky, then soaring away beyond the vision to his eyrie in +the gaping gorge of the lofty crest. +</p> + +<p> +The opalescent hues envelop the mountain rims. The fiery red, flames +into a glow, melts to the softest purple, blends to the rarest gray, +and in a delirium of rich colors the sun goes down in a cloud of +glory. The sublimity of the scene clings like a halo around the +sky-piercing summits. The day darkens, and the rosy tints of sunset +fade into a flood of moonlight that mirrors the shining stars in the +rivers, flowing far below under the mysterious shadows of the mighty +cliffs. +</p> + +<p> +Long and his party followed along the Platte River by the place where +Denver is located, and on to Colorado Springs, at which point some of +them attempted to climb Pike's Peak, but did not succeed. Greatly to +their discredit, they named that Peak for "James," one of their +number, instead of for "Pike," its discoverer. The people saw to it, +however, that the name thus given it, should not be permanent. The +people are nearly always right. The party proceeded on to Canon City +and Pueblo, and then this exploring party made a discovery; they +discovered that their biscuits were running short, so they immediately +started home. They had left Council Bluffs, June 6th; they knew how +long five hundred pounds of biscuits would last twenty men; so they +knew they were on a pleasure trip and would have to start back July +19th, just one month and thirteen days after they set out, and ten +days after they reached Colorado. When we think of the faithful Pike +and his loyal men, freezing, starving, persisting; think of them with +worn-out cotton clothing in winter, instead of warm flannel; of making +shoes out of raw buffalo hides; of persevering in the face of every +obstruction, and then read Long's report of starting back in +midsummer, for the want of biscuits, our admiration grows for +Lieutenant Pike and his devoted party of courageous men. +</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="hunter"><img src="images/006.jpg" alt="The Buffalo Runner" width="450" height="284"></a></div> +<p class="caption">The Buffalo Runner. +</p> + +<p> +Major Long's report to the Government was of such a discouraging +nature that it retarded the settlement of the country for nearly half +a century, and it should never have been written. He was quoted in the +newspapers, and people everywhere read of a "desert inhabited by +savages," a sentiment that became so firmly fixed in the minds of many +in the Eastern States that the prejudices of the people have only in +recent years been wholly removed. He often refers in his report to the +enormous herds of fat buffalo that "darken the plains." How this +queer-shaped animal with its powerful front and slender hind parts +originated, or where it came from, will forever remain an unsolved +mystery like the beginning of the race of Indians. They were here in +immense droves. Ernest Seton Thompson thinks that there were seventy +millions within the compass of their range, which was from the +Allegheny Mountains on the East, to Nevada on the West; and that fifty +millions of them were west of the Mississippi River. He bases his +estimate on the amount of acreage they grazed over, and the number of +animals the pasturage would sustain. I think he is far too low in his +estimate. If we assign forty feet of space to each buffalo they would +occupy an area, if bunched together, of but sixty-four thousand two +hundred and eighty acres, or only one hundred square miles, which +would be equal to a herd twenty-five miles long and four miles wide. +The Government reports give an estimate of two hundred and fifty +millions killed, from 1850 to 1883. +</p> + +<p> +All the reports of explorers, scouts and emigrants dwell on the +magnitude of these immense herds, which were so numerous that "the +earth as far as the eye can reach, seems to be alive and to move." +Coronado was never out of sight of them in traveling the seven hundred +miles from New Mexico to Kansas, according to his letter to the King. +Along every pioneer trail the prairies were covered in every direction +with them, and away up in the Wind River Country, in the land of the +Wyoming, Longfellow sings of the +</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Billowy bays of grass ever rolling in shadow and sunshine,</p> +<p>Bright and luxuriant clusters of roses and purple amorphas,</p> +<p>Over them wander the buffalo herds, and the elk and the roebuck."</p> +</div></div> +<p> +These peaceful herds, as they roamed over the plains, had their +Nemesis at their heels, in the vast number of Indians trailing behind +them and living upon them; while on all sides were thousands of hungry +grey wolves devouring the calves or attacking the old, at will. In +spite of these decimating influences, and their companion, the +blizzard, the buffalo herds multiplied, and the Great Plains +themselves seemed to be "alive and to move," as the countless numbers +slowly grazed over them. Buffalo steak was good eating, and so +adaptable that J. M. Bagley of Colorado, the veteran wood engraver, in +relating early experiences tells how he started a restaurant on one +buffalo ham, from which he served veal, beef, mutton, bear, venison, +and all other wild game! +</p> + +<p> +The first telegraph line reaching out over the plains, was a very +primitive one. The posts were short and light, and they carried but +one wire. A great deal of trouble arose from the cattle rubbing +against the poles and wrecking the line. This was remedied by driving +long heavy spikes into the poles at the point where the cattle would +do the rubbing. But the workman got out of the cattle plague, only to +get into worse trouble from the buffalo. They liked the spikes, and +used the sharp points to scratch their rough hides. There seemed to be +a buffalo language, for those shaggy and amiable animals flocked to +the spikes from all sections. They reveled in the luxury of having +their backs scratched, and to show their appreciation rubbed so hard +that they completely demolished the line. Telegraph wire entangled in +the horns of a buffalo was found as far away as Canada when it was +killed. Only the rebuilding of the line with heavy poles and leaving +off the scratching comforts, enabled business to proceed. +</p> + +<p> +It seems strange that everyone lost sight of the productiveness that +must lie in land that would sustain such quantities of grass-devouring +animals; and that in the instructions given by Congress, the +Presidents of the United States, and the Secretaries of War, to the +leaders of these various exploring parties, the important question of +irrigation should have never been considered, nor mentioned by the +explorers themselves. It is true, irrigation was wholly unknown in our +country at the time, but Egypt and China had been artificially watered +for centuries, and it is strange that no Congressman or Government +official, or enterprising newspaper editor called attention to this +vital question. +</p> + +<p> +The Long party divided as it started East. Captain Bell with eleven +men went down the Arkansas River, while Major Long with nine, went +farther south in search of the Red River. They all met at Ft. Smith, +in western Arkansas, the middle of September; thence the united party +crossed through Arkansas to the Mississippi River, where their trip +ended. +</p> + +<p> +Major Long looked like a college professor. He wore glasses over very +black eyes; had thin, firm lips; high cheek bones; long wavy hair, and +was close shaven, except for a little tuft of side whiskers back close +to his ears. He later explored the source of the Mississippi River for +the Government, and then became Engineer in Chief for the Western and +Atlantic Railroad in Georgia. +</p> + +<p> +When Major Long in 1805 turned the prow of his steamer into the mouth +of the Missouri River, the first that ever ploughed its waters, he +little thought that just above the junction of those two rivers would +some day, on the Illinois side of the Mississippi, be built a City +that would be named Alton; and little did he think that, fifty-nine +years later, at the age of eighty, his grave would there be dug, and +there would he be buried. +</p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/decoration.jpg" alt="Decoration" width="50" height="52"></div> + + + + +<a name="VII"> </a> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER VII. +</p> + +<p class="head"> +THE PIONEERS. +</p> + + +<p> +Of all those to whom we owe honor and loyalty, and affection; to whom +belongs the first place of honor at the banqueting board; the highest +monument to mark their passing; whose memory should be longest +cherished, and beside whose grave we should tread most lightly; in all +the generations of the past and future, we owe our allegiance first +and always to the old settler! The very name marks the whole span of +life. We see its spring time—youth and strength, teeming with energy; +we see its autumn—the last leaf upon the tree, clinging, poised, +ready to float away into eternal silence. Twilight, the lengthening +shadows, the old settler; they blend into a harmonious setting for the +slowly descending curtain upon the drama of life, ere the "silver cord +is loosened or the golden bowl broken at the fountain." The old +settler—what a train of thought the words suggest! He is the corner +stone of civilization. He it is who pushes out beyond the confines of +safety; out into scenes of privation and hardships; into conditions +calling for sacrifices and disappointments; into danger and ofttimes +death. Through it all he is so brave and so loyal, so earnest and +capable, so patient and cheerful, so tender in his sympathies, so +strong in his forceful grasp, so superior in his principles, that his +name deserves to be written high up on the walls of the Temple of +Fame! Nationally and locally, as a people, we have a feeling of +veneration for those who clear the way and conquer the formidable +obstacles that stand in the path of progress. They develop the highest +type of rugged manhood and womanhood—strong, fearless, independent +and self-sustaining. For nearly three centuries history has been +repeating itself in this country of ours. As the Pilgrim Fathers +endured and conquered, so in each succeeding generation have there +been those who have given the days of their lives to labor, in the +midst of loneliness, and the nights to vigil, surrounded by danger, +that security and prosperity might come to those who followed them. +They are the battle scarred veterans who fought for a foothold in a +hostile country, and through their untiring efforts and indomitable +courage made possible the enjoyment of others in the midst of +congenial and ennobling surroundings. +</p> + +<p> +Napoleon, as all the world knows, instituted the Order of the Legion +of Honor in recognition of merit, civil or military. To be a member of +that Order was an honor so great that the decorations were cherished +long afterwards by the descendants of the recipients. History records +that a French Grenadier, returning from a leave of absence, was +astonished to find the Austrian Army secretly advancing through the +mountains by a comparatively unknown path. Hastening forward to give +warning to the handful of soldiers stationed in a strong tower to +defend the path, he found to his dismay that they had fled, leaving +their thirty muskets behind. Undeterred by such a calamity, he entered +the tower, barricaded the door and loaded his muskets, determined to +hold the post against the whole Austrian Army. This he succeeded in +doing for thirty-six hours. Every shot told. Artillerymen were killed +the moment they appeared in the narrow path, and cannon were useless. +Assaults were repulsed with great loss in killed and wounded. Finally, +when not another round of ammunition was left, the Grenadier signalled +that the Post would be evacuated if the garrison could march out with +its arms, and with its colors flying proceed to the French Army. This +was agreed to; and when the old Grenadier came staggering out under +all the muskets he could carry, and it developed that he was the whole +garrison, the admiration of the Austrians was boundless; they sent him +with an escort and a note to the appreciative Napoleon, who knighted +him on the spot. When, later, he was killed in battle, he was +continued on the roll call of his regiment, and when the name of +Latour d'Auvergne was called, the ranking sergeant stepped forward, +saluted the commanding officer, and answered in a loud voice, "dead on +the field of honor." +</p> + +<p> +To such a class belong the courageous, vigilant and enthusiastic +advance guard of civilization everywhere. They placed the plowshare +and the pruning hook where the rifle and the tomahawk long held sway. +They worked with rough hands and stout hearts to solve the problems +that beset the West, and to make gardens bloom where the desert had +cast its blight for centuries. They brought order out of chaos and +from the woof of time wove the lasting fabric of justice and good +government. Such were the old settlers of our own beautiful mountain +land. They came, many of them, in the slow, monotonous, wearisome, +creaking, covered wagon drawn by heavy-footed oxen; through midday +heat and wintry blasts, through blinding storms of sand and snow, they +wended their way for months from far-off countries, sometimes leaving +their dead in unmarked graves by the wayside, and with set faces and +leaden hearts, pushed on to unknown scenes. +</p> + +<p> +Half a century has wrought wonderful changes! Now, the traveler sees +the sun go down upon the middle west, with the Missouri winding its +way to the sea; the morning's radiance glints the summit of the Great +Divide, and unrolls a picture of rare beauty and majesty! Five hundred +miles in a night; sleep, comfort, luxury; no hunger, or thirst, or +fear, or discomfort; cushioned seats, soft carpets, fine linen; dining +cars shining with polished woodwork, beveled mirrors, solid silver; a +moving palace such as was unknown even in the days of luxurious Rome. +</p> + +<p> +I have listened to many pathetic stories of our old pioneers that +touched me deeply. The history of those distant days is full of +interest. An air of romance envelops those early western scenes. Many +a troth was plighted in the long trip across the plains, and many a +friendship was formed that ended only in death. The novelist clothes +his characters with the imaginary joys and griefs of imaginary people; +but imagery never was and never can be as interesting as real +incidents in the lives of real people. A dignity crowns the memory of +the men whose feet were set where never human feet were placed before; +honors cling around the names of those who lived in the days when the +buffalo roamed the plains unmolested, when the skulking savage lurked +in hiding, and when the weird bark of the hungry coyote penetrated the +solitude of night. Out of such experiences empires are born. The +founders of our prosperous state little knew that here they were +opening up the richest mineral and farming country in all the world! +Nor did they realize that they would here plant the future metropolis +of the Great Rocky Mountain Region. We honor them—the living and the +dead—for what they are, and what they did! Their ranks are rapidly +thinning. It will not be long until at Old Settlers Roll Call there +will be no response—save only from out the stillness will be heard, +like an appreciative echo, the voices of their successors as they +answer, "Dead on the field of honor." +</p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/decoration.jpg" alt="Decoration" width="50" height="52"></div> + + + + +<a name="VIII"> </a> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER VIII. +</p> + +<p class="head"> +CHRISTOPHER CARSON AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES. +</p> + + +<p class="person"> +<i>Christopher Carson.</i> +</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">1826</span> +Down in the blue-grass region of Kentucky; down in the land of the +cotton, the corn and the banjo; where the tiny feathered warblers +carol their sweetest roundelays; where perennial flowers unceasingly +bloom, and the trees are early at their blossomings; where silvery +streamlets are kissed by the moonlight, and linger in the embraces of +the warm southern suns; in that land, the home of lovely women, +splendid men and fine horses; that has sent out its great generals, +polished orators and renowned statesmen—two children were born, +nearby, in the very memorable year of 1809. Abraham Lincoln grew to an +uncrowned kingship. Christopher Carson won the highest place in the +hearts of the empire builders of this wonderful West; and their names +will never die. Lincoln was splitting rails by day, studying by the +light of a log fire by night, and climbing hand over hand to his bed +on the floor of the loft, by means of pegs driven in the logs of the +cabin, as later he went hand over hand straight into the confidence +and hearts of his countrymen. +</p> + +<p> +Carson, the father, had apprenticed Kit, the son, to a saddler, as was +the custom of those times. He rose before the break of dawn, made +saddles and bridles all day and far into the night and was paid with +poor food, a comfortless bed, and cheap and scanty clothing. Such was +to be the lot of this unhappy boy until he was twenty-one. But he +rebelled. Out into the blackness of the night, and to the light of +freedom, crept the friendless youth, without a penny in his pocket or +a bundle under his arm! And to such freedom! The limitless West with +its stirring scenes beckoned him and he sped away, ahead of the +advertisement that called him back, and in which the munificent reward +of one cent for his return was offered by the man who had the legal +right to call himself the master. At Franklin, where he lived, he had +absorbed the spirit of the widening West that was calling him thither, +and he quickly became an important factor in its upbuilding. Along +that memorable Santa Fe trail, he crossed and re-crossed the +southeastern part of Colorado. +</p> + +<p> +Kit Carson became noted as a fearless hunter, trapper, miner, +stockman, farmer, scout, guide, Indian fighter, Indian pacificator, +treaty maker, Indian agent—all culminating in his Brigadier-generalship +in the Civil War. In every capacity, he was faithful, persevering, +energetic and capable. He learned the languages of the different tribes +with painstaking study. He grew to understand the Indians as +individuals, their ways, and their thoughts; he became their advisor +and counselor, settled differences between tribes, and between the +tribes and the Government; was the Government's advisor in treaty +making, and was the first man to urge the attempt to domesticate the +Indians. He knew the Spanish language as well as the Mexican and Indian +patois; and he aided the Government in the solution of its troubles +with the Indians as well as with the Mexicans and Spaniards. His +influence for good stretched across a country, beginning with the +Missouri River on the East and ending where the restless waves of +civilization listened to the beating of the surges on the shores of the +Pacific. He was a Lincoln sort of man with malice toward none. He had +few enemies, and many friends. He was for peace, when peace was +possible, but how he could fight when nothing else would do! Abbott, +who does not realize that the towering peaks, the murmuring streams and +the boundless plains, develop high ideals through the silent language +that is all their own, says of Carson, "It is strange that the +wilderness could have formed so estimable a character." +</p> + +<p> +In Christopher Carson I see a serious man, modest and retiring, soft +spoken, with quiet manners, medium in height, blue eyes and broad +shouldered. I see a priestly looking man, with thoughtful mien, with +face clean shaven; high, broad forehead, with receding hair flowing +toward his shoulders, long and wavy; thin, firmly compressed lips; in +all, very like the strong, splendid face of the world-famed artist, +Liszt. I see a domestic man, adoring his amiable Spanish wife. I see +him lying on his buffalo robe, with his children playing over him, and +hunting the sugar lumps out of pockets that were never empty. I see +him standing, gazing into the eyes of the Indian whose hand he clasps, +vieing with each other in erectness, while at their feet lie the idle +guns and cartridges, the broken bows and arrows, and the pruning hooks +into which their swords have been beaten. I see him dying, two score +and three years ago, with his honest homely face illuminated, as he +smiles his "adios" to all about him and sinks gently into his last, +long, dreamless sleep. +</p> + + +<p class="person"> +<i>Richens Wooten.</i> +</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">1838</span> +Seventy-five years have come and gone since Richens Wooten joined a +wagon train at Independence, Missouri, and came out over the Santa Fe +trail. Until 1859 he felt that he was temporarily in the West; that he +would go back to his old Missouri home and end his days in the midst +of the peaceful scenes of boyhood joys, the memory of which had clung +to him through all the exciting years of his frontier life. Then when +he had achieved success; had money and property; had loaded his +belongings on his wagons; had turned the heads of the horses to the +East; looked into the faces of the friends who had surrounded him all +the years, at the plains he knew and loved, at the magnificent +mountains, silent, majestic, eternal, at the rivers murmuring to him +as they went by—his courage faltered! He awoke from the dream he had +dreamed for years, unhitched his horses, unloaded his wagons, and +lived and died in the country from which his heart-strings could not +be severed. +</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="schooner"><img src="images/007.jpg" alt="Pioneers and a Conestogal Wagon or Prairie Schooner" width="449" height="286"></a></div> +<p class="caption">Pioneers and a Conestogal Wagon or Prairie Schooner. +</p> + +<p> +Like those of his day, he was everything he should be. He hunted and +trapped; he was a Government scout; he raised stock; he farmed; +everyone knew him as "Uncle Dick," and they knew him wherever a trail +was laid. He lived at the junction of the Huerfano River with the +Arkansas River about twenty miles East of Pueblo. He farmed there by a +process of simple irrigation, as far back as 1854, which made him the +Pioneer farmer of Colorado. He had a mill that was built by his own +hands, that was run by water power in a sleepy sort of way. He would +empty a couple of sacks of grain into the hopper at night and the +flour would be ready for breakfast in the morning. He trapped mostly +along the streams of Colorado and New Mexico. By handling his furs +himself, at St. Louis, he realized as high as Fifteen Dollars for a +beaver skin. He says "robes" were the cause of the disappearance of +the vast buffalo herds; that those killed for meat by the whites and +Indians would have made no appreciable inroad on the numbers that +inhabited the Great Western Plains, but desire for hides caused their +ruthless slaughter by the tens of thousands; that while they were +gentle at first and had to be driven out of the way of the emigrant +trains, they were hunted so much that later they became savage and +would fight. He started a buffalo farm in 1840 where Pueblo is +located, and sold the young to menageries. Wooten hated the Indians +with exceeding great hate. There was a reason. He had chased them many +and many a time; shot at them, hit them, had seen them fall, and their +riderless ponies flee over the prairies, while a form lay silent +beneath the sun and beneath the stars. But sometimes the tables were +turned, and sometimes the chaser was chased! Ah! There's the rub, for +Wooten could never look defeat in the face and be happy. +</p> + +<p> +The Indians, he says, had a system of long distance communication, +carried on among themselves by means of fire and smoke signals from +the mountain tops. A puff of smoke was like a telephone message, and +as easily understood; a second puff had its own peculiar meaning, and +a blaze carried its special message to distant tribes. The whole +country could be aroused in a day and night—the signals being taken +up and repeated from mountain top to mountain top. The Indians spread +themselves out to sleep in their tents, on buffalo robes or willow +mattresses, with their feet towards a common fire in the center. They +would place their dead in trees, or on a platform built on the top of +four poles planted in the ground. The dead would be placed in a +blanket, a buffalo robe wrapped around it, and then all bound together +with strips of hide; the dead would thus lie for years. It was +gruesome to happen upon these graveyard scenes at night, with the +uncanny owls hooting in the treetops, and the wolves howling their +warning notes. The Indians rode bareback with a rope for a bridle that +would be fastened around the under jaw of the pony, which was trained +to obey the slightest pressure of the knees or swaying of the body. +</p> + +<p> +One of the feats of which Wooten was proud, and with good reason, was +taking a great drove of sheep through to California. To do this +successfully in the face of possible depredations from the Indians, to +whom the sheep is a savory morsel; to escape the bands of thousands of +aggressive grey wolves; to swim unbridged rivers when sheep so dislike +to swim; to follow narrow mountain paths where overcrowding would +precipitate the herd into the chasms below; to get by the crops of the +Mormons who were all the time hunting for trouble; to reach his +destination with every sheep fatter than when he started—that, says +Uncle Dick, was the work of an artist. +</p> + +<p> +Wooten came to Denver in 1858, where a few cabins had been built, and +where a handful of people had centered. He started a store and built a +two-story log house, the first pretentious building ever erected in +Denver. Later, he built a frame residence when the saw mill came, a +mill that had been stolen in the East and brought to this +out-of-the-way country, where it was thought it could never be +traced—in which, however, the plunderers were disappointed. +</p> + +<p> +But Uncle Dick felt crowded. He could not breathe. He was elbowed by +the people who were settling here. The wilds called to him. He wanted +to get out alone, under the quiet stars; to have the glories of the +setting sun all to himself; to see the wonderful moonlight shadows in +the rivers; to feel the great orb creeping up in the morning, as he +had seen it out on the broad plains and from the mountain tops nearly +all the years of his life. So he went away; off to New Mexico, upon +whose mountains he got a Government Charter for building a toll road +by the abysses and along the over shadowing crags to shorten the +trail. And there, with the years creeping on, he set himself down by +the side of his toll gate, which was never shut down for the Indians, +for they could not understand that in all this great free world, a +road was not as free as sunshine or air. But is not this all told by +Richens Wooten himself, in his very own book, in the picturesque and +forceful style of a picturesque and forceful pioneer? +</p> + +<p> +And finally, the toll that is taken from all mankind was collected +from him, and he passed out alone by the road that every one must +travel, and over which no one has ever traveled twice. +</p> + + +<p class="person"> +<i>Oliver P. Wiggins.</i> +</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">1838</span> +Straight as an arrow, towering six feet and three inches, stands +Oliver P. Wiggins, the oldest living pioneer of all the "winners of +the West." Eighty-nine years have brought a dimness to the eyes and a +slowness to the steps, but they have not touched the keen intellect, +trained by such experiences as no other living man will ever acquire. +He remembers distinctly every event that has occurred during all the +years of his life on the plains. He talks slowly and impressively, and +you feel as you leave his presence that you have been in touch with +another age and another race of people. He will tell you his story as +he told it to me. +</p> + +<p> +"I was born on the Niagara River; that is, on an Island just above +Niagara Falls, where my father had taken up some land. His father had +selected his own land near by the American side of the Falls, and it +became later on very valuable. Boylike, I wanted to fight Indians, and +I dreamed about scouts and tomahawks, and the war dance, for I was a +reader of the blood-curdling cheap Indian novels of that day. So I +left home when I was fifteen and went by sailboat from Buffalo to +Detroit, where I found some French emigrants just starting to +Kankakee, Illinois, where they were going to take up land. I went with +them as far as Ft. Dearborn, which afterwards became Chicago; it had +but about three hundred people then and as many soldiers; there was +one short street just South of the Chicago River, and among the houses +was one they called a hotel that had nine rooms. A squaw man, that is, +a white man with an Indian wife, was sent from the Fort with a paper +to St. Louis, that had something to do with paying the Indians their +annuities by the Government. I went along in the canoe down the +Illinois River, and the Indians, knowing what we were going for, kept +joining us in their canoes, until there must have been two thousand +following us when we reached St. Louis. There was not a single house +all the way from Chicago to St. Louis, which was not known as St. +Louis then. Later my uncle settled there, and had the Wiggins Ferry, +and four acres of land on what was known then as 'Bloody Island.' He +sold it recently for Three Million Dollars. The Indians had some +flour, bacon and blankets apportioned to them, and they traded a good +deal of it off for whiskey, and many of them got drunk and had an +awful time. +</p> + +<p> +"The following Spring, which was 1838, I went by steamer up to +Independence, Missouri, which is just above where Kansas City was +located later. It was the Eastern end of the Santa Fe Trail, while +eight hundred miles away, Santa Fe was the Western terminus. At +Independence, all the outfitting was done for the great overland +freighting business, which at that early period had assumed important +proportions. I joined a train, consisting of one hundred wagons and +one hundred and twenty men. There were five yoke of oxen to each +wagon, which made one thousand oxen; then there were a large number of +extra oxen along to rest those that got sick or sore footed. By +following close after each other, our wagon train stretched out about +three miles. I was still on behind driving the cavy-yard, which was +the name given to the sore-footed oxen. When we got to the Arkansas +River where the trail crossed, which was very swift, we made boats out +of two of the prairie schooners; calked them so they wouldn't leak, +and loaded into these two boats all the loads that were on the rest of +the wagons. A prairie schooner is a long deep wagon bed with flaring +sides, about eight feet high and twenty feet long. The oxen swam +across; then we chained all the empty wagons together, one behind the +other, and hitched the oxen to a chain that reached back across the +river to the wagons, pulled the wagons into the stream and on to the +other side, where, as fast as one reached the bank, it was unchained +from the rest, run up on the dry land, and the work of reloading +began. It took four days to get all our outfit across. Our wagons were +loaded mostly with merchandise for the stores to sell to the Mexicans, +and with mining machinery. The wagons would carry on an average about +seventy-five hundred pounds and the price of freight for the eight +hundred miles from Independence to Santa Fe was generally eight +dollars per hundred-weight, so the cost to the shippers of that +trainload of freight run into the thousands. It would take from ten to +sixteen weeks to cross the plains, owing to storms and the condition +of the roads. We would shoe our own oxen and some of them had to be +shod every morning. We would rope them and throw them for that +purpose. It was not like a horseshoe, for the hoof of the ox is split +and it requires a piece for each half of the hoof. We would make from +fifteen to twenty miles a day. The dust was so great, that we traveled +in a cloud of it all the time and the teams and drivers would change +off; those who were ahead to-day, were behind to-morrow, all but me; I +never got to go ahead with my cavy-yard, and I have never forgotten +those weeks of frightful dust. They wouldn't let me stay back far, for +fear the Indians would pick me off and run the cattle away. +</p> + +<p> +"About a day and a half after we left Big Bend, we met a friendly +Indian, who was much excited when he saw us. He said we must not try +to go on, for we would all be killed, as the Kiowas were on the war +path. Be we couldn't stop, so we kept right on, knowing that Kit +Carson was coming with an escort to meet us. We brought up the rear +half of the wagon train, however, and put two abreast, thus shortening +the train to about a mile and a half. Pretty soon Carson met us with +forty-six men, who were all well armed and mounted on good horses and +then we felt easy once more. When we reached the Kiowa country, where +we were most likely to be attacked, Carson and his men all got inside +the covered wagons and led their horses behind. After awhile we saw +the Indians coming charging down upon us, yelling and shooting with +their bows and arrows; all the drivers in the meantime having gotten +on the other side of their wagons. Carson kept his men quiet until the +Indians were close enough, when every man shot from the wagons, and +about forty-six Indians tumbled off their ponies dead or wounded at +the first shot. Then Carson's men mounted their horses and there was a +great fight. About two hundred of the three hundred Indians were +killed. Not one of Carson's men or of our party were killed. 'Did we +bury the Indians?' No, we left them where they were; they made good +coyote beef. +</p> + +<p> +"When we got opposite where Carson lived, which was at Taos above +Santa Fe, he left the train, for there was no further danger and I +went with him to his home about twenty miles off the trail, losing my +pay because I did not go through with the party, this being a rule of +freighting. I stayed with Carson two years. I became a guide and +Government Scout and got eighty dollars a month. I was with General +Fremont on his first and second trips. He wasn't liked by any of the +men. He was very dictatorial and it didn't seem to us that he knew +much. He had a German Scientist along whom all liked, and who knew his +business. When we were with Fremont on his second trip, it was so late +in the season when we reached the eastern foot of the Sierras, that +twelve of us refused to go with him for we felt it was certain death. +The snow falls in those mountains seventy feet deep at times, and it +was the season for snows. Carson was along and had to go on because he +had signed an agreement to go through, and he went, knowing he was +taking his life in his hands. We were arrested for mutiny and put in +charge of a sergeant, but soon got out of his reach, made a detour of +several miles through the mountains, got on the back track and reached +a place of safety after several days, thoroughly chilled from sleeping +in that high cold country with no blankets, but glad to escape with +any sacrifice. Fremont's party then consisted of fifteen, and they had +a terrible time. They froze, and starved, and suffered, so that three +men lost their minds and never recovered. Carson finally went on +ahead, so weak he could hardly walk or crawl, and sent help back just +in time to save the party. +</p> + +<p> +"The first gold discovered in Colorado, was in August or September, +1858, by Green Russell. He had stopped here on his way to California +where he was going to mine. He came from Georgia and knew about gold +mining there, and said there must be gold in Cherry Creek. He found it +up at the head of that Creek at a place called "Frankstown" where the +trail from Ft. Bent on the Arkansas River crossed over to Ft. Lupton. +Russell and Gregory and others came together, and Russell stayed here +a year and located Russell Gulch at Central City, which became a great +paying property. I did a great deal of hunting and trapping in those +early days and made money until 1858, when the fur business died down, +as silk had taken the place of fur. I was the first white man to visit +Trappers Lake, which is about thirty miles north of Glenwood Springs +and was considered inaccessible, because of the density of the fallen +timber. We brought out in one season about two thousand dollars worth +of furs and hides. The elk covered that country and was comparatively +tame as they had not been hunted. We took Indians along for guides, +and their squaws to tan the hides. This they did by boiling the brains +of the animals we killed and rubbing the soft brain powder into the +pores of the skin, folding the hides together, and in a week they were +cured and were soft and pliable. The brains were used because of +certain properties they possessed, and because of their pliant nature. +To catch the beaver we would set our steel traps in the water about +seven inches below the surface so the young could swim over them and +not get caught. Then just above where the trap was set, we would +fasten a branch from the limb of a tree into the bank, the bark of +which the beaver lives on. We would rub beaver oil into the bark of +the limb, so the beaver would think others of his kind had been there +ahead and found no harm; they are a very suspicious little animal. The +trap would have a spring that would close on the hind legs of the +beaver, as they would swim above it. +</p> + +<p> +"Until 1857, the trappers recognized the claim of the Indians, that +one-half of all game and hides belonged to them. It was changed in +that year by Government Treaty. In dividing with them they were very +insistent, and they usually got the biggest half of the meat and the +largest hides. We used to take hot mud baths at Glenwood Springs which +is a very pleasant sensation. I fought the Indians and fought them +hard, but had many friends among them and I did them many good turns +which they appreciated. I have had an eventful life, had many +thrilling experiences, saw life held very cheaply, and have seen such +developments as I never dreamed I should witness." +</p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/decoration.jpg" alt="Decoration" width="50" height="52"></div> + + + + +<a name="IX"> </a> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER IX. +</p> + +<p class="head"> +GENERAL FREMONT AND THE MORMONS. +</p> + + +<p class="person"> +<i>John C. Fremont.</i> +</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">1842</span> +This noted explorer so prominently identified with our early Colorado +history, was educated at Charleston College. He then became a teacher +on a United States Sloop of War on board of which was detailed a young +Lieutenant who later became famous as Admiral Farragut. Afterwards, +Fremont was employed as a surveyor for a railroad in South Carolina. +In 1838 he was made a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Topographical +Corps—the same corps that gave us Major Long. He was selected to make +a trip of geographical research and observation into Iowa, Minnesota +and Dakota with a noted French Scientist named Nicollet, who had been +sent to this country by his Government. In 1840 Fremont headed an +expedition for the establishment of Military Posts in the West, and to +definitely fix the position of South Pass on the head waters of the +North Platte River, which was on the line of travel to the western +coast. He was a long time getting ready, and did not leave Washington +for St. Louis until May 2, 1842, from which point he took a public +steamer up the Missouri River. On board he met Kit Carson, with whose +personality he was so pleased that he dismissed the French trapper he +had already engaged as guide, and selected Carson instead. Carson was +then on his way back to the West, from having given his little girl +into the care of the Sisters at a Convent in St. Louis; her mother, +who was an Indian woman, having recently died. They left the steamer +at the mouth of the Kansas River, which empties into the Missouri +where Kansas City is now located. It was then a little settlement of a +few rude houses, known as Kansas Landing, and later became Westport. A +little way above was Roubidoux Landing, named for a French Fur Trapper +and Trader who operated in Colorado. This Landing afterwards became +St. Joseph. Fremont says, as they started out across the prairie to +the westward, "It was like a ship leaving the shore for a long voyage, +and carrying with her provisions against all needs in its isolation on +the ocean." +</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="scout"><img src="images/008.jpg" alt="A Government Scout" width="290" height="450"></a></div> +<p class="caption">A Government Scout. +</p> + +<p> +They traveled northwest until they reached the Platte River where the +City of Kearney is now situated, near which a Fort was established, +called "Fort Kearney." From this point they proceeded west along the +south bank of that stream, one hundred miles to the junction of the +two Platte Rivers. Here they divided, Fremont with three others +following the South Platte, the remaining nine going by way of the +North Platte to the fur-trading station that later became Fort +Laramie, at which point the Laramie River joins the Platte. On the +way, Fremont was entertained one night by the Indians at a feast. It +was a banquet with no suggestion of fairyland, such as so often +delights us now; no subdued strains from a hidden orchestra pouring +forth its entrancing harmonies; no myriads of electric lights dazzling +with their splendid brilliancy; no wealth of roses filling the air +with their rich perfume; no polished mahogany, damask linen, glowing +glassware or priceless silver; no well groomed men or richly gowned +women, radiant in their loveliness. There were none of these +accessories, but there was princely hospitality. There was the +ushering of the guests to their places by the Chiefs, with the courtly +dignity that white men might equal but never excel. In honor of the +occasion the choicest robes were spread upon the ground for seats. +There was the rich soup of fat buffalo meat and rice, served in deep +wooden bowls, with tin spoons, by the women. There was the dog boiling +in the pot for the second course, in token of a state occasion, while +the disconsolate puppies moaned pitifully in the corner of the wigwam. +</p> + +<p> +On July 10th Fremont reached Fort St. Vrain on the Platte, established +about ten miles south of where the Cache la Poudre River and the +Platte unite. He remained here a few days and then headed north to +Fort Laramie, getting too far East, however, over on Crow Creek, where +he had to travel forty miles without water—the first and only +hardship on his trip going and coming. He found the rest of the party +waiting for him, and they proceeded west up the Platte to the South +Pass, the point of his destination when he started from Washington. He +found the Pass a well-established thoroughfare, made so by the +fur-trading companies. He ascertained its height to be seven thousand +eight hundred and seventy-three feet. There was no pass anywhere about +of so low an altitude. It is about two hundred miles due west of Fort +Laramie—which is not, however, the Laramie City located on the Union +Pacific Railroad northwest of Cheyenne. +</p> + +<p> +Fremont saw to the perpetuation of his name in the highest mountain +peak, about forty miles northwest of the Pass, and just east of Green +River, having an elevation of thirteen thousand seven hundred and +ninety feet. He then started on his return to St. Louis, where he +arrived October 10, 1842, his journey both ways being without special +value or interest. +</p> + +<p> +Fremont's second trip was made in 1843, and seems to have been +principally for the purpose of establishing a shorter route through +the mountains than the Oregon Trail by the way of South Pass. He came +in from the east, up one of the branches of the Republican River to +Fort St. Vrain on the Platte, where he arrived July Fourth. On his way +he no doubt approached the Platte between Akron and Fort Morgan, where +there is a Butte named for him. He tried to learn from the hunters, +trappers and Indians, of a trail west through the great range of +mountains, but there was no one who could give him any information. +Following the Platte from Fort St. Vrain, he reports finding a Fort +Lancaster about ten miles up the river, which was the trading post of +Mr. Lupton and had then somewhat the appearance of a farm. He passed +through a village of Arapahoe Indians, probably near the mouth of +Clear Creek, camped a little above Cherry Creek, and followed the +Platte River to its entrance into the mountains at the canon. Needing +meat, he went east on to the plains in search of buffalo; crossed +Cherry Creek and the road to Bent's Fort; reached Bijou Creek, thence +up to its head on the divide where he reported an elevation of +seventy-five hundred feet—being the same altitude as at Palmer Lake, +twenty-three miles west. Altitudinal ascertainings are taken by the +simple process of looking at a watchlike, vest-pocket instrument, +whose delicately adjusted mechanism is affected by air-pressure. From +this place, he made a sketch of Pike's Peak, and is "charmed with the +view of the valley of Fountain Creek," on which Manitou and Colorado +Springs are located, and which he reached a little north of its +junction with the Arkansas River. He speaks of finding at this point a +"Pueblo" where a settlement of mountaineers were living, married to +Spanish wives, "who had collected together and occupied themselves +with farming, and a desultory Indian trade." They had come from the +Taos Valley settlements, the Valley that was later named the Rio +Grande. "Pueblo" was the name given by the Mexicans to their civilized +villages. Taos is taken from the name of the Taos tribe of Indians. +Returning he followed up Fountain Creek to Manitou Springs, thence +north over the Divide to Fort St. Vrain. +</p> + +<p> +Fremont then decided to go up the Cache la Poudre Valley and cross the +Divide to the Laramie River. He describes the buttes he saw on this +trip "with their sharp points and green colors"; the same so clearly +defined now, on the automobile road beyond Dale Creek, between Fort +Collins and Laramie City, one of the most picturesque scenes in the +whole State of Colorado. He followed the Laramie River down to the +present line of the Union Pacific Railroad, then west to the North +Platte River and beyond, where, getting tangled up in the hills, he +finally recognized the Sweetwater Mountains to the north to which he +proceeded; thence to the familiar Oregon Trail which he followed to +Salt Lake and on to California. +</p> + +<p> +On his return he entered Colorado near the mouth of Green River, went +northeast and encountered some branch of the White River, possibly the +Snake River, which he followed over the Divide to the North Platte +River, and thence up into North Park. While in Middle Park, a number +of squaws came to his camp greatly excited and made known the fact +that nearby a great battle was in progress between two Indian tribes, +and they wanted him to go with his party to help their side. He +declined and hurriedly departed. He passed over into the Cripple Creek +country, where after a few days of aimless traveling he descended a +branch of the Arkansas River to Pueblo. +</p> + +<p> +Fremont's memoirs are very rambling, and contain such a mass of +undigested material that it requires much reading and study to follow +him in his wanderings through Colorado. The streams, mountains and +localities had no names, and he gave them none. We can only trace his +journeyings by his camping places where he gives his latitudes and +longitudes, and which is only incidentally given and not in its +regular order. He ascertained latitude and longitude by the use of a +scientific instrument in its application to the sun, moon and fixed +stars, as the Indians often found their own locations by the study of +these same heavenly bodies, from centuries of observation without an +instrument, the knowledge being passed down from father to son, +generation after generation. +</p> + +<p> +On one of his trips, as he came in sight of Bent's Fort, the three +cannon mounted on its parapets, belched forth a greeting that sounded +sweet to the ears of the trained soldier, as the reverberating music +of the booming of the guns rolled down the Valley of the Arkansas to +meet him. +</p> + +<p> +A storm in the mountains is a frightful thing in winter and more than +one was encountered by General Fremont and his party. A number of the +men sacrificed their lives through the mistaken judgment of a leader, +who ordered them forward to breast the fury of those icy blasts of +snow and sleet. Oh! The terror of such a death! The awe of those cold, +bleak, snow-capped pinnacles; how cruelly they look down upon the lost +and helpless victim, prostrate at their feet, snow-bound, hopeless and +in despair! How subtly and menacingly the sharp wind moans; how it +shrieks and roars through the gulches, and how the giant pines creak, +and writhe, and groan, as they bend before the gale! How the blinding, +biting, swirling snow falls through the freezing air, burying the +trail and filling the icy gorges with ever deepening drifts! And at +last, the shivering sufferer meets his doom as he sinks in utter +exhaustion on his bed of snow, and drifts away into the stupor of +death. The inanimate form is buried deeper and deeper under its white +shroud, and heedless of the tempest raging above, sleeps the sound, +dreamless sleep of death. +</p> + +<p> +Fremont tells little of his last three trips; some being on secret +missions for the Government; one was for his own benefit and that of +Senator Benton of Missouri, whose daughter, Jessie Benton, he had +married—a lady of many fine womanly qualities and personal charms. On +one of his trips, William Gilpin was along, on a visit to the +settlements of Oregon. Gilpin later became Colorado's first Governor. +One expedition took him up the Rio Grande to Salt Lake and on to the +Coast. +</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="force"><img src="images/009.jpg" alt="Indians Watching Fremont's Force Fording the Platte" width="450" height="281"></a></div> +<p class="caption">Indians Watching Fremont's Force Fording the Platte. +</p> + +<p> +When representing the Government, Fremont's work was along military +lines principally, his operations leading up to the conquest of +California in 1847. The name California appears in an old Spanish +romance as an Island, where innumerable precious stones were found, +and Cortez applied the name to the Bay and to the country that is now +California which he thought was an Island. Fremont's work, however, +was not all military, for at the same time he was mapping streams, +taking altitudes, and making reports that would assist in ascertaining +facts about a country then little known or understood. Colorado has a +County named for him, of which Canon City is the County Seat. There +are Counties in Wyoming, Idaho and Iowa, similarly named. Eighteen +states of the union have towns bearing his name. "Fremont Basin" +covers the western part of Utah, all of Nevada, and a part of the +southeastern portion of California—in all, a region about four +hundred and fifty miles square. "Fremont Pass" in the Rocky Mountains +has an elevation of eleven thousand three hundred and thirteen feet +and is in the Gore Range, about ten miles northwest of Leadville. +</p> + +<p> +General Fremont occupied many positions of trust under the Government. +He was Governor of California when there was much trouble that +diplomacy might have averted. He was Governor of Arizona from 1878 to +1882. His exploring trips had made him famous and he secured the +Republican nomination for the Presidency in 1856, but was defeated by +Buchanan. In 1864 his name was put in nomination for the Presidency +but Lincoln's popularity so overshadowed him that his name was +withdrawn. He was Major-General of the Army in the Civil War, with +headquarters at St. Louis, where he promulgated the unauthorized order +freeing the slaves of those in arms against the Government, which so +embarrassed the Administration that the order was repealed and he was +relieved of his authority. Later, reinstated, he refused to take part +in a battle because command of the army had been given to General Pope +whom he claimed to outrank. +</p> + +<p> +Fremont journeyed all over Colorado and failed to find anything worthy +of note. While camped on the sites of Cripple Creek and Leadville, he +saw no signs of the enormous gold deposits of the greatest gold mines +in Colorado. While at North Park he did not observe the coal +outcroppings there—probably the most extensive coal fields in the +United States. While traveling through our valleys he could not look +into the future and see them groaning under a diversity of crops, the +most valuable ever raised in any country. He drank from our cool +sparkling streams, but he did not see how that wealth of water could +be supplied to the thirsty crops. He saw millions of fat buffalo on +the plains, but he failed to realize that the same nutritious grasses +would make beef equal to the corn-fed product of the East. He viewed +the most sublime scenery ever looked upon by the eyes of man, but his +reports contained no adequate description of the majestic outlines of +the mountains whose grandeur thrills the beholders from all the +countries of the world. +</p> + + +<p class="person"> +<i>The Mormons.</i> +</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">1847</span> +The Mormons as a religious body, attempting to get beyond the reach of +the power of the United States Government which they claimed was +persecuting them, sought solace in the bosom of the Dominion of +Mexico, which then owned much of our country west of the Rocky +Mountains, wrested by them from Spain in their war for freedom. At +this very time the United States was fighting Mexico, and the Mormons +had no more than gotten out of the United States before they were in +again by Mexico ceding to our Government in 1848, the very territory +which these much persecuted people had chosen for a new settlement. +The Mormons had gathered from all quarters at Florence, Nebraska, just +above Omaha, where the water works of that City are now located. They +had wintered at this point in great discomfort, with much sickness, +and so many deaths that the country seemed to be one vast grave yard. +</p> + +<p> +In January, 1847, Brigham Young started West with one hundred and +forty-two in his party to find a location to which the rest should +follow. They had seventy-three wagons which moved two abreast for +protection, and they had a cannon and were well armed. They reported +seeing hundreds of thousands of buffalo grazing along the Platte +Valley, and were obliged to send outriders ahead to make a way through +the herds for their caravan. They traveled on the north side of the +Platte River so as to have an exclusive trail of their own, and it +became known as the "Mormon Trail"; the fur traders having made their +trail along the south side of that river. When they reached Fort +Laramie, they ferried across to the south side of the river where the +Government Post had been located; the change from the north to the +south side being necessary because of the physical difficulties on the +side of the river where they had been traveling. Here on June 1, 1847, +they were joined by a party of Mormons who had started from +Mississippi and Illinois; had wintered where Pueblo now is; had passed +north through Colorado, and doubtless over the ground occupied by +Denver following the Platte River to Greeley where they would travel +almost due north to Fort Laramie. These Mormons at Pueblo were the +very beginning of anything approaching white citizenship in Colorado, +for no other white families had ever spent so long a time within the +present limits of our State. +</p> + +<p> +General Fremont had passed by Salt Lake in 1843 on one of his +expeditions, and doubtless the Mormons knew of that Valley from his +report as well as of other points of the West. But the Mormons did not +know where they were going to settle, and had started north-westerly +from South Pass in search of a location and then turned to the south +to Salt Lake Valley. Upon their arrival there, the first day, they +planted six acres of potatoes because of the necessity of having food +for the vast numbers who were to follow them. The rest of the people +started from Florence July 4, 1847, and consisted of nearly two +thousand persons, about six hundred wagons, over two thousand oxen, +and many horses, cows, sheep, hogs and chickens. Following later, came +hundreds with push carts, who started too late to get through before +winter set in. Their suffering, starving, sickness, and the death of +nearly a quarter of their number on the way is a sad story, and is the +toll exacted in the settling of a new country. +</p> + +<p> +For many months, the Mormon Trail was lined with the traffic of +thousands of emigrants from all parts of the United States and Europe. +There were wagon trains hauling supplies of all kinds, such as +merchandise, machinery, seed and building materials. There were the +two-wheeled carts into which food and a small allowance of necessary +apparel were placed for the trip; and those carts were pushed all the +way across the plains by both old and young. It was said that every +step of the way was marked by a grave. No such sight and no such +suffering has ever been witnessed before in the settlement of any part +of the world. +</p> + +<p> +Ten years afterwards, the Church, grown arrogant, defied the power of +the United States Government and proposed war. General Albert Sidney +Johnson was sent on an expedition against them. Starting too late to +cross the mountains, the army became storm bound and was compelled to +winter at Fort Bridger in the southwest corner of Wyoming, at a +tremendous loss of lives, both of men and horses. They were short of +supplies, and an expedition was sent to New Mexico for food. It was +successful, and returned north through Colorado, skirting the eastern +base of the mountains and, no doubt, passed through the site of Denver +just before the gold excitement broke out in Colorado. They doubtless +followed the trail taken by Fremont to Fort Laramie in 1842, and by +the Mormons in 1847. +</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">1849</span> +The rush for the new gold discoveries in California began in 1849 and +in a year it became a panic, so great was the hurry to reach there +from the East. It is estimated that seventeen thousand persons passed +Fort Laramie in June, 1848, coming up the Platte from Omaha; while +from Kansas City, Leavenworth and St. Joseph, many thousands passed +through southeastern Colorado on the Santa Fe Trail, and thence to +Salt Lake where the Mormons grew rich in their trade with these +excited gold seekers. Nothing has ever been seen resembling the gold +developments of California. Fortunes were made in a day when a +treasure house was unlocked, and poverty claimed the affluent in a +night, when a pocket pinched out. The wealth that was poured into the +laps of the fortunate prospectors was fabulous. The Comstock Mine +alone, named for the man who opened it up and lost it, yielded a solid +mass of treasure, amounting to one hundred and eight million dollars +to the four fortunate owners. It sent to the United States Senate, +Fair, Stewart and Jones, three of the partners, and gave the Atlantic +Cable Line to Mackey, the fourth, whose son still controls it. +</p> + +<p> +So, having been discovered by General Coronado and his army with their +brilliant cavalcade and martial music; by the two black-robed Friars +with their noiseless followers; by Lieutenant Pike and his loyal band; +by Major Long and his associates; and last, by General Fremont with +his five exploring parties; while the tidal wave of travel and +excitement is sweeping by us to its destiny on the sunny western +slope, and we are left in solitude, awaiting the bright awakening ten +years hence; let us take an introspective view of the people whose +history is forever interwoven with ours, whose race is nearly run, +while ours is just begun. +</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="ventura"><img src="images/010.jpg" alt="Ventura, Historian of the Tribe of Taos Indians" width="279" height="400"></a></div> +<p class="caption"> + Ventura, Historian of the Tribe of Taos Indians, Garbed in His White Buffalo Robe—Made White by Tanning. +</p> + +<p class="caption"> + Indian History was Transmitted Orally to the Youth, the Brightest of Whom Became in Turn the Historian. +</p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/decoration.jpg" alt="Decoration" width="50" height="52"></div> + + + + +<a name="X"> </a> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER X. +</p> + +<p class="head"> +OPPORTUNITY. +</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Master of human destinies am I,</p> +<p>Fame, love and fortune on my footsteps wait,</p> +<p>Cities and fields I walk; I penetrate</p> +<p>Deserts and seas remote, and, passing by</p> +<p>Hovel, and mart, and palace, soon or late</p> +<p>I knock unbidden once at every gate!</p> +<p>If sleeping, wake—if feasting, rise before</p> +<p>I turn away. It is the hour of fate</p> +<p>And they who follow me reach every state</p> +<p>Mortals desire, and conquer every foe</p> +<p>Save death; but those who doubt or hesitate,</p> +<p>Condemned to failure, penury and woe,</p> +<p>Seek me in vain and uselessly implore—</p> +<p>I answer not, and I return no more."</p></div> + +<div class="stanza"> +<p>—<i>Ingalls.</i></p></div></div> + + +<p class="person"> +<i>A Fortune Won and Lost.</i> +</p> + +<p> +Hanging in a room of the White House when the magnetic, able and +masterful Roosevelt was President, was this beautiful poem of Senator +Ingalls. A gem of rarest value in word painting; a literary production +beyond criticism; but in sentiment, harmful and discouraging! It is +not true! Opportunity has knocked repeatedly at the door of countless +numbers, and future generations will hear its call again and again. +Only one chance to be given us? No! Life is too fine and means too +much for "the hour of fate" to hang on so slender a thread as a single +opportunity. It comes many times to some; it comes but once to others; +it does not come to all. To Antoine Janis, a French Trapper, it +knocked unbidden at his door but once; he failed to answer, and he +lived to appreciate his great loss, for he had fortune placed within +his grasp and did not realize it. Once, all the beautiful Cache la +Poudre Valley was his; every acre of land from La Porte to the Box +Elder; every lot in Fort Collins; wealth which would run into the +millions. It was the gift of the Indians, and was his as absolutely as +though it had come by Deed of Warranty with all its covenants, clear +and indefeasible. The Government in its Treaties with the Indians +recognized their grants, and had Janis asserted his rights to this +vast property, his claim would undoubtedly have been recognized by the +Government as in many similar cases. He continued his residence in +Larimer County for thirty-four years, going then to the Indians at the +Pine Ridge Agency and remaining there until his death. The close +friendship, early formed between him and the Indians, was never +broken, and they buried him with honors. +</p> + +<p> +I like to imagine that famous meeting at La Porte, when that Valley, +then nameless, changed hands. The Indians as a race were dignified, +serious, and on formal occasions acted with great deliberation. They +were a generous people, and were about to make a present to the White +Brother who had come to dwell among them. Bold Wolf, the Chief, called +his counsellors together. From out the seven hundred tepees they came, +in their brilliant dress of state. They gathered around the camp fire, +seated on their feet, with Antoine Janis as their honored guest. They +smoked the pipe of peace; not a pipe for each, but one for all, that +would draw them closer in lasting friendship. Resting their painted +cheeks on the palms of their hands, they listened with the utmost +respect to those who spoke. The oratory of the Indian is proverbial. +His dignified and serious bearing, his simple words and brief +sentences, his profound earnestness and apt illustrations, made him a +master of eloquence. It was an occasion for thrilling discourse. The +land where they were assembled was theirs. It was the land of their +fathers. It was theirs by right of discovery, by right of occupancy. +Here they had lived their lives; here their children had been born; +here their dead were buried, and here they had worshipped the Great +Spirit to whom their ancestors had bowed. And they were to give away +the best of their heritage; the luxuriant meadows of the richest and +most beautiful valley in their vast domain were to go to the White +Brother forever. Thereafter, every man, woman and child of the tribe +recognized that the country they looked out upon, over which their +ponies grazed, across which the buffalo roamed, even the very ground +upon which their wigwams stood, was the property of Antoine Janis. +</p> + + +<p class="person"> +<i>The Call of the Blood.</i> +</p> + +<p> +About the year 1800 some French trappers and hunters were passing out +of Colorado, into New Mexico, in quest of new streams in which to ply +their avocation. The pack ponies which they were driving on ahead +suddenly stopped and centered about an object at which they sniffed +intelligently. The trappers coming forward to investigate looked at +each other in amazement as they gathered around a deserted child lying +on the bosom of the unfeeling earth, hungry and helpless. These +bronzed and bearded men were heavy handed, but not stony hearted; and +they met the responsibility as best they could. Moses had been left in +the bullrushes of a stream for his preservation. This child had been +left in the tangled weeds on the bank of a stream for its destruction. +Moses lived to become the leader of a nation. This child was +saved—but let us see. It was taken by the trappers, named Friday for +the day upon which it was found, as in the tale of Robinson Crusoe, an +Indian youth was named Friday for the day of his discovery. Friday +grew and thrived, was adopted by one of the party, and at the age of +fourteen was taken along to St. Louis, where he was sent to school, +and shared in the joys and griefs of other boys of his age. When he +was twenty-one, the cry that had long been suppressed gave utterance. +He wanted to see his people. Leaving home, he came to Colorado, and to +the tribe of the Arapahoes, who had crossed the path of the trappers +twenty-one years before. It was a new life to which he was admitted. +During his visit a buffalo hunt was organized in his behalf. He +watched the preparations, saw the gathering of the ponies from off the +prairies, the testing of the bows and arrows, the night of feasting +and dancing before the start at earliest dawn. Wending their way over +the plains, they finally spied the herd. At once the dullness of the +hunters gave place to trained alertness; absolute quiet reigned; the +ponies crept forward slowly and softly, step by step, with their +riders clinging to their sides to give the appearance of a band of +grazing horses. At last they were near enough, and then the signal. +Away went the horses and riders in a whirlwind of excitement, the eyes +of the riders blazing, the nostrils of the horses dilating. Away went +the herd, shaking the earth with the thunders of their flight; away +flew the arrows to the twang of the bows, as they sped straight and +true into the heaving sides of the struggling animals. Down went the +buffalo, down on their trembling knees, down on their quivering sides, +as they stretched themselves out for their final death struggle. Down +went the Indians to dance in glee around the prostrate bodies of their +trophies. +</p> + +<p> +And Friday? No one ever hunted as Friday hunted! The thirst of blood +was upon him. He had plunged into the midst of danger, and knew no +pity, no compunction, no fatigue. The instinct of his race that had +been sleeping for years surged to the surface at a bound, never again +to be dormant. That night he threw off the garb that stood for the +civilizing influences of the past, donned the yellow blanket of his +race and adopted the life of his people. That day of daring, and his +education, marked him as a leader, and he became a Chief of the +Arapahoe nation. +</p> + +<p> +Chief Friday had a son. He was called Jacob after that Patriarch, who, +when asked his age by Pharaoh, replied so poetically "the days of the +years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years; few and evil +have the days of the years of my life been, but have not attained unto +the days of the years of the lives of my fathers in the days of their +pilgrimage." There is a superstition among the Indians that if they +have lost a battle, they must sacrifice some member of another tribe +as an offering to the Great Spirit. Jacob had been chosen for the +sacrifice. Hearing of it he fled. Returning two years later when he +supposed there was no further fear of his destruction, he was set upon +and left dead upon the ground. Friday loved Jacob with a very great +love, and so did he love the good of his people. He counseled peace, +and instead of plunging two nations in war, he buried his son with a +breaking heart, hidden by the stoicism of his race. +</p> + +<p> +Chief Friday had a daughter. A winsome lass. Light of foot, with a +singing voice and dancing eyes. She was called "Little Niwot" by her +father, because she used her left hand, and Niwot in the Indian tongue +means "left hand." I asked a doctor once, those wisest of wise men, +why it was that out of fifteen hundred million of the earth's +inhabitants, so few used the left hand prominently, and this was his +reply: "Upebanti manusinistra ob herededitatum." +</p> + +<p> +Niwot's education was not alone like that of the other Indian +children, whose eyes were trained to see the beauty in the sun, the +moon and the stars; whose ears were attuned to catch the voices in the +murmuring brooks, the music in the rustling trees, the melody in the +warbling birds; but she had learned of her father as well, who taught +her from the remembrances of those far-off days in the St. Louis +schools. Little Niwot loved an Indian youth, who was not the choice of +her mother. So she ran away with her dusky mate and became the wife of +the man of her choice. Friday was left alone. Jacob was dead and Niwot +was gone; he grieved for them, and could not be comforted. Niwot +became the name of a Creek near Longmont, and of a near-by station on +the Colorado and Southern Railway. So in station and stream, the +memory of a little Indian maiden is to always be kept green. +</p> + +<p> +And Friday died; died in the happy thought that in the civilizing +processes that had been going on about him, he had always tried to +stay the hand of his people when raised to check the white wave that +was sweeping them to their destruction. Chief Friday was well known to +the early settlers, and from them has come this story, here a little +and there a little, and now woven into print for the first time. The +unhappy ending of his life is like that of Chief Logan, whose +heart-breaking plea has been handed down to us in this great burst of +touching eloquence: +</p> + +<p> +"I appeal to any white man to say if ever he entered Logan's cabin +hungry and he gave him not meat; if ever he came naked and he clothed +him not. During the course of the last long and bloody war, Logan +remained idle in his camp, an advocate of peace. Such was my love for +the whites that my countrymen pointed as I passed and said, 'Logan is +a friend of the white man.' I had even thought to have lived with you +but for the injuries of one man; Col. Cresap, who, the last Spring, in +cold blood and unprovoked, murdered all the relations of Logan, not +even sparing my women and children. There runs not a drop of my blood +in any living creature. This called on me for revenge. I have sought +it. I have killed many. I have fully glutted my vengeance. For my +country, I rejoice at the beams of peace; but do not harbor a thought +that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn +on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan? Not +one." +</p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/decoration.jpg" alt="Decoration" width="50" height="52"></div> + + + + +<a name="XI"> </a> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER XI. +</p> + +<p class="head"> +A VANISHING RACE. +</p> + + +<p> +There was a white man once with an idea. So modest was this man that +he was unwilling that even his name and the idea should be linked +together. He wanted the Indians to become better known to the whites, +to themselves, to their children, and to the future generations of +children. So he passed from one tribe to another and made known his +plan to them. They were to write a book; a book that would contain a +record of their thoughts and ideals, their songs and unwritten music, +their folk-lore, their views of the past, and their beliefs in the +mysterious future. The idea pleased them, grew on them, and ended in +their becoming deeply interested. The book was prepared and printed +and it contains the following touching and stately introduction by the +High Chief of the Indian Tribes. It moves forward so like a majestic +anthem, so solemn in its unspoken sorrow, so full of gentle dignity +that it sweeps into our souls like the cadence of a great Amen: +</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + "To the Great Chief at Washington, and the Chief of Peoples Across + the Waters: +</p> + +<p> + "Long ago, the Great Mystery caused this land to be, and made the + Indians to live in this land. Well has the Indian fulfilled all + the intent of the Great Mystery for Him. Through this book may men + know that the Indian was made by the Great Mystery for a purpose. +</p> + +<p> + "Once, only Indians lived in this land. Then came strangers from + across the Great Waters. No land had they; we gave them of our + land; no food had they; we gave them of our corn; the strangers + have become many and they fill all the country. They dig + gold—from my mountains; they build houses—of the trees of my + forests; they rear cities—of my stones and rocks; they make fine + garments—from the hides and wool of animals that eat my grass. + None of the things that make their riches did they bring with them + from across the Great Waters. All comes from my lands—the land + the Great Mystery gave unto this Indian. +</p> + +<p> + "And when I think on this, I know that it is right, even thus. In + the heart of the Great Mystery, it was meant that the + stranger—visitors—my friends across the Great Waters should come + to my land; that I should bid them welcome; that all men should + sit down with me and eat together of my corn; it was meant by the + Great Mystery that the Indian should give to all peoples. +</p> + +<p> + "But the white man never has known the Indian. It is thus: there + are two roads, the white man's road, and the Indian's road. + Neither traveler knows the road of the other. Thus ever has it + been, from the long ago, even unto to-day. May this book help to + make the Indian truly known in time to come. +</p> + +<p> + "The Indian wise speakers in the book are the best men of their + tribe. Only what is true is within this book. I want all Indians + and white men to read and learn how the Indians lived and thought + in the olden time and may it bring holy—good upon the younger + Indian to know of their fathers. A little while and the old + Indians will no longer be and the young will be even as white men. + When I think, I know it is the mind of the Great Mystery that the + white man and the Indians who fought together should now be one + people. +</p> + +<p> + "There are birds of many colors, red, blue, green, yellow—yet it + is all one bird. There are horses of many colors, brown, black, + yellow, white—yet it is all one horse. So cattle, so all living + things—animals, flowers, trees. So man; in this land where once + were only Indians and now men of every color—white, black, + yellow, red—yet all one people. That this was to come to pass was + in the heart of the Great Mystery. It is right thus, and + everywhere there shall be peace." +</p> + +<p> + (Sgd.) By <span class="sc">Hiamovi</span> (High Chief), + Chief among the Cheyennes and Dakotas. +</p></div> + +<p> +Who is the Indian? This question has been asked for more than four +hundred years, and from out the buried silence of the past has come no +answering voice. Columbus asked it as approaching the border of a New +Hemisphere he gazed thoughtfully upon the features of another race of +beings. Ferdinand and Isabella asked it, as these strange men doomed +to vassalage stood proudly before them speaking in an unknown tongue. +Cortez asked it, as he riveted the chains of servitude upon two +million of them in the Conquest of Mexico. Coronado asked it, as his +army moved among the wandering tribes with their differing languages +and customs. The Pilgrim Fathers asked it with varying emotions, as +they viewed the curious natives waiting for them on the bleak New +England shores. France asked it, and trusted its most highly cultured +scientist to bring reply. "Nothing," he said as he returned, +"Nothing." He had visited many tribes, studied their languages, +customs and character, read everything ever written about them, and he +knew nothing and nothing ever will be known. +</p> + +<p> +May not human life have had its very beginning on this hemisphere? May +there not in the remote past have been a Columbus who sailed East and +discovered the Continent of Europe making it the New World and leaving +this the Old? The pendulum of the clock swings in seconds. The +pendulum of the growth and decay of continents swings in centuries, in +eons. The meteor of Rome blazing through the heavens took one thousand +years to fall. Like the Ocean's tide is the ebb and flow of nations. +That there was a prehistoric race on this continent and an extinct +civilization, we know. We read it in the Valleys of the Ohio and the +Mississippi, in the copper beds by the side of Lake Superior, along +the shores of Ecuador, and in the country to the southward. From time +immemorial, from generation to generation, from father to son, has +been handed down a tradition among the once powerful tribe of the +Iroquois Indians, that their ancestors, overflowing their boundaries, +had moved down from the northwest to the Mississippi; that on the east +side of that river they had found a civilized nation with their towns, +their crops and their herds; that permission was obtained to pass by +on their way to the East; that as they were crossing the river, they +were treacherously assailed, a great battle ensued, followed by a +continuous warfare, until the enemy was totally destroyed and their +civilization blotted out. +</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="chief"><img src="images/011.jpg" alt="An Indian Chief Addressing the Council" width="292" height="450"></a></div> +<p class="caption">An Indian Chief Addressing the Council. +</p> + +<p> +The bones of human beings are dust by the side of mammals estimated by +geologists to be fifty thousand years old. The allotted period of a +man's life is three score years and ten. He could be born seven +hundred times, live seven hundred lives, die seven hundred deaths in +those five hundred centuries. It is not within the compass of the +human mind to grasp the infinite detail in the rise and fall of +nations within such a period. Read the story of nine generations of +men, from Adam to Noah in the first five Chapters of Genesis, for the +multiplication of the human race from just two people, and the +destruction of a population so numerous that they were like the sands +of the ocean's beach. Following on but a few pages, we find that out +of the Ark had "grown many nations and many tongues," and they were so +crowded that the Lord said unto Abram, "Get thee out of thy country, +and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I +will show thee, and I will make of thee a great nation." Abram went, +and he took his nephew Lot along, and directly we read that "the land +was not able to bear them that they might dwell together," and they +separated, one going to the right hand and the other to the left hand. +With this historical data before us, do we ask whence came these +millions of Indians and their confusion of tongues? There is a touch +of similarity between the wandering tribes in early Bible history, +with their many languages, their patriarchs, their flocks and herds, +their peaceful lives and their dissensions and wars—and that of our +Indians, with the earth before them, with their tribal Chiefs, their +many dialects and their nomadic lives. If the North American Indians +had possessed a written language; if after their discovery, they had +been able to make recorded conveyances of vast tracts of lands to the +subjects of the different Powers of the Old World; if international +law could have been appealed to for the protection of these individual +rights, there might have been a world war on this continent that would +have made our rivers run red with blood. +</p> + +<p> +When we close our minds to months and years and think in centuries, it +is easy to understand the diversity of languages. Tribes going off by +themselves, drop words from their vocabulary as time goes on, and use +other words that mean the same; after the passing of generations there +is an entirely new dialect. It is so in nearly all the countries of +the Old World; people living under the same government, neighbors, +cannot talk to each other. Climate too has something to do with +language. Russians and Eskimos use a speech that requires very little +lip movement, so as not to inhale the cold air of those cold regions. +In a mild climate there is the open language with many vowels. +</p> + +<p> +When we discovered the Indian, we found a character the like of which +has no parallel in all history. It was the untutored mind of a child +in the body of an adult; there was respect for each other and +scrupulous honesty in their dealings among themselves; there was +government by a Chief and his council, comprising the oldest of the +tribe, to whom all questions of importance were submitted, the Chief +being such because of inheritance, or daring, or possessions; there +was the love of the parent for the child, and the teachings that +developed the highest efficiency in hearing, tasting, smelling, seeing +and touching, for upon these faculties thoroughly trained, depended +success in war, and sustenance in peace; there was pride of ancestry +and a reverence for the Great Spirit, the maker and ruler of the +universe. It seems almost a pity that this Arcadia could not have +remained untouched. We asked for a little land to pasture our cows and +to use for gardens. It was given by them grandly. We asked for more, +and it came cheerfully; we demanded still more, and it came +gracefully. Then we quit asking and took it; took it with shot and +shell, as we hungrily pressed on, doubling one tribe back upon +another; bayonets in front, bows and arrows in the rear, and they +fought each other, and they fought us. We called them savages; and +they were savage, and so would we all be under like treatment. Justice +and diplomacy would have saved thousands of lives and millions in +money. We made many treaties with the Indians which were broken by us +and this occasioned most of our Indian wars. Canada had the Indians +and no wars. Her dealings with them were on principle and along +steadfast and unchanging lines. Men grew old and died in the Indian +Service, and those next in line took their places. They understood the +Indian nature, and knew they possessed a high sense of honor and the +dealings were fair to each side. Our politics have been at the bottom +of nearly all our troubles. As parties have changed, men have changed. +A promise made one day has been broken by the men who came on the +morrow. The Interior Department failing to handle the perplexing +question, the Indians were turned over to the various church +organizations, who failed to get the right proportions in their +mixture of morals and business. Then the War Department tried it; and +all the time the lands of the red men diminished, and the land of the +white man increased. Up to the year of Colorado's admittance into the +Union as a Territory, 1861, there had been three hundred and +ninety-three treaties made with the one hundred and seventy-five +tribes of Indians embraced within the Territory of the United States, +by which 581,163,188 acres of land were acquired. +</p> + +<p> +As tribes differed in their languages, so they differed in their +customs; and the following traits are applicable to some tribes and +not to others. +</p> + +<p> +The stoicism of the Indian is well known; but that trait of his +character has its qualifications. He shows the taciturn side of his +nature to strangers, but the world is not so serious as his austere +countenance would indicate. Among his own people he is a fun-loving, +story-telling, game-indulging human being. There are degrees in their +social status measured by what they have done and the property they +have accumulated. They have their ideas of propriety, and are shocked +that a man and woman should dance together. The men dance in a ring by +themselves, and the women dance in an outer ring, while a drum gives +accents to their movements. Usually they sing something mournful, its +weird rhythm following one for days. +</p> + +<p> +A child is usually named by its father, who walks abroad from the tent +for that purpose, selecting the name of what he sees first that +impresses him most. So they have such peculiar names as Rain in the +Face, Yellow Mag-pie, Sleeping Bear, Thunder-cloud, Spotted Horse and +White Buffalo. However, there are no white buffalo. They are black +until the hot sun of each season fades the black to brown, which later +sheds, to come out black again. When a buffalo hide is tanned on both +sides, it becomes white, which gives rise to the name White Buffalo. +They have but one name other than their tribal name. The name "squaw" +was first found in the language of the Naragansett tribe of Indians +and is doubtless an abbreviation of the word "Esquaw." Other tribes +have their own peculiar name for women. The name squaw came into +general use and spread all over the United States and Canada, was +carried to the western tribes of Indians by the whites, and was used +by all whites and all Indians. A squaw man is one who does a woman's +work, or a white man who marries an Indian woman. +</p> + +<p> +A youth does not tell a maiden of his love for her. That is told and +answered by heart telepathy in the old, old way. He tells his father, +who calls his relatives to a council and a feast, to consider the +matter. Then the young man's mother carries the proposal to the mother +of the maid, who tells it to the girl's father, and a meeting is +called by him of his relatives and friends, where there is much +feasting and speaking. The two mothers then meet, and accept for their +children. The girl prepares a dish and carries it to the tent of the +young man daily as a token of her intention to serve him all her days. +When the tepee is ready, and the presents accumulated, and house +keeping begins, they are husband and wife, all the former +preliminaries having constituted the wedding ceremony. +</p> + +<p> +An Indian never touches a razor to his face, for they are a beardless +race. The tribes who occupied the eastern part of the United States, +wore their hair clipped short like the Chinamen, excepting that +instead of a queue, there was a scalp lock which they adorned with +feathers. It was worn in defiance of the Indians of other tribes, who +were thus dared to come and take their scalp. The picturesque and +warlike appearance of the Indians that comes from painting their faces +with deep and varying hues, originated in the preservation of the skin +from burning and chapping in the sun and alkali dust. They used +compounds made from roots or earth which they ground or baked and +mixed with grease. There were many kinds of earth that had different +tints which they liked, so this became a permanent custom which made +their appearance seem fierce and warlike. They believe that the red +men are made of earth, and the white men are made of sea foam. +</p> + +<p> +In surgery they had rude skill and in disease they had a limited +knowledge of the proper application of roots and herbs. But they knew +nothing of the science of medicine in its complicated form as +practiced by the learned of the profession at the present time, who so +thoroughly understand prophylaxis, serum therapy, and the role of +antibodies in passive immunization. Dentistry was unknown among them; +their simple food and outdoor lives kept them well, and the food they +ate was thoroughly ground between their well-preserved teeth. The game +that was formerly so abundant was their principal food, and its +destruction by the whites took from the Indian his chief mode of +existence, and occasioned his menacing attitude toward our people. +Other food consisted of wild berries, sweet potatoes, rice and nuts, +which they would gather and bury. As they had a practiced eye, they +found the buried food of the squirrel, the otter and the muskrat, +which they would dig up and appropriate to their own use. +</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="grain"></a><img src="images/012.jpg" alt="Winnowing Grain" width="449" height="279"></div> +<p class="caption">"Behold, he winnoweth barley to-night in the threshing +floor." Ruth 3:2. +</p> + +<p class="caption"> +As they did in biblical times, so do some of the Indian tribes to this +day. They beat out the grain with a stick and then pour it out gently +for its cleansing by the wind. +</p> + +<p> +They mourn noisily with each other in case of death. Likewise did the +tribes of the patriarchs, who "mourned with great and very sore +lamentation." The Indians think that it takes four days for the soul +to reach the land of the dead. So a light burns on the grave nightly +for four nights, that the disembodied may not get lost. They believe +that there are two souls, one that soars away in dreams, while the +other remains in the body. In the absence of a clock in the wigwam and +a watch in the pocket, they measure time in their own way; a sun is a +day, a moon is a month, and a snow is a season. +</p> + +<p> +It is said the "hand that rocks the cradle is the lever that moves the +world." If this be true, then the Indian mother takes no part in the +world's movement, for she never has rocked a cradle. The cradle of a +child is an oak board two and one-half feet long, and one and one-half +feet wide, to which the babe is strapped in a way that the arms and +legs are free for exercise and growth. This board lies on the ground, +leans against the wigwam or a tree, is carried on the mother's back, +or placed between tent poles like the shafts of a vehicle, to which a +pony or dog is attached, leaving two of the ends dragging on the +ground. The child is sometimes rocked by the wind when fastened high +up among the branches of the trees; and that is where the little song +comes from that the mother sings to her child to this day; "Rock-a-bye +baby in the tree-top; when the wind blows the cradle will rock." +</p> + +<p> +The speeches of the Indians are always impressive. Their words are +simple and direct, and there were developed great orators among them +in the days when war between the tribes, and against the United States +prevailed. Some of the simple pleas which they made for the land of +their fathers, were as fine as could be produced by a higher education +and a finer civilization. When the French demanded of the tribe of the +Iroquois that they move farther back into the wilderness, the eloquent +reply of their Chief has been pronounced by Voltaire to be superior to +any sayings of the great men commemorated by Plutarch: "We were born +on this spot; our fathers were buried here. Shall we say to the bones +of our fathers, arise, and go with us into a strange land?" +</p> + +<p> +The same cannot be said of the Indian literature. Here is one of their +classics: "Nike adiksk hwii draxzoq. Geipdet txanetkl wunax. Nike ia +leskl txaxkdstge. Nike lemixdet. La Leskl lemixdet, nike haeidetge." +Interpreted this means: "Then came the tribes. They ate it all the +food. Then they finished eating. Then they sang. When they finished +singing then they stopped." It is characteristic of the Indians for +their feasting to end when their food is all gone, and for their +singing to cease when it stops. +</p> + +<p> +A century ago Malthus, in his great work on the "Principle of +Population," prophesied the extinction of the North American Indians. +His theory was, that subsistence is the sole governing cause in the +ebb and flow of the population of the world. That given pure morals, +simple living, and food to support the increase, the inhabitants of +any country would double every twenty-five years. He therefore +predicted that it was an inevitable law of nature that the Indians, +failing to take advantage of the bounties of nature, must of necessity +give way before the needs of an ever increasing population. +</p> + +<p> +The Indian had the misfortune to have been improperly named. Columbus +had sailed over the trackless ocean for many days; water in front of +him, water behind him, to the right and to the left. He had gone so +far that finally when he anchored, he thought he had sailed entirely +around the world, and had come upon the eastern coast of the very +country he had left behind when he sailed west out of Spain. Believing +that he had reached the eastern coast of India, he called the Islands +where he landed the "West Indies," and the inhabitants thereof +"Indians." +</p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/decoration.jpg" alt="Decoration" width="50" height="52"></div> + + + + +<a name="XII"> </a> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER XII. +</p> + +<p class="head"> +THE LUSTRE OF GOLD. +</p> + + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">1858</span> +In the incident of nearly sixty centuries ago, when Joseph's brothers +came down two hundred miles from Canaan to Egypt with their sacks to +be filled with corn, and of the money being put back with the grain, +we have the first record in the civilized world of the ownership of +gold. "How then should we steal out of thy Lord's house silver and +gold." So its value was then known, though no doubt for decorative +purposes only, from which it in time grew into use as money. Cortez +found the Aztecs using domestic utensils made of copper, silver and +gold. +</p> + +<p> +What made Gold? What deposited it in some parts of the earth's surface +and not in others? Why is there not more of it? We do not know. We +know it was one of the primitive elements; that it is held in solution +in the waters of the ocean; that men have tried to make it and have +always failed. It derives its name from its lustre. Though gold and +yellow are in a measure synonymous, their difference is best seen in +the glory of the sunset which is always golden, never yellow. It is +the lustre that makes the lure of gold. Its value arises from the +permanency of its lustre; from its imperishable properties; from the +fact that so much can be done with it; because it is so limited in +quantity; and because it requires so much time and money to find and +refine it. If it would corrode it would be valueless for many of the +uses to which it is put. Its soft beauty never tires the eye, nor +becomes monotonous. It is the only metal that can be welded cold, as +we can all testify from our experiences in painless dentistry. It can +be spun out like a spider's web, or beaten so that a single grain of +it can be spread over a space of seventy-five square inches. If it +were as plentiful as earth or sand, it would still have great value +because it is so permanent and malleable. The sawing and chiselling of +the great blocks of marble and granite that are lifted by derricks +into our public buildings, cost much more in their preparation than +would the shaping of gold into similar blocks. If it were plentiful, +our houses would all be built of gold; they would never burn; never +rust; never decay; never need paint; they would endure forever; for +even earthquakes that would destroy every other material, would not +affect them; the mass of gold would not be destroyed and could be +re-shaped and refitted together. However, if it were so plentiful that +we could all live in it, it would be so common that its beautiful +lustre would probably be debased by ordinary paint. +</p> + +<p> +Mining comes down to us through the centuries. The Romans were +operating mines in England before the organization of that country +into the British Empire. Africa produces the most gold of any country, +and the United States next. Colorado produces the most gold of any +state in the union. There is but little gold found in the eastern part +of the United States and that mostly in Tennessee and North Carolina. +It exists in paying quantities in the Black Hills of South Dakota, in +the Rocky Mountains, and in California. Gold is found under two +conditions: in veins and in placer formations. As the veins in our +bodies are almost endless in their ramifications, so imbedded in the +rocky fastnesses deep down in the earth, are the veins of gold which +are mined and hoisted to the surface through shafts, or brought out +through tunnels; the process of smelting sends the gold to the Mint +for its refinement. Deep mining is expensive and requires costly +machinery. Shafts are sunk down thousands of feet, sometimes through +solid rock, and powerful pumping plants are often necessary. Sometimes +hundreds of men are at work in one mine. +</p> + +<div class="figcenter"><a name="cleanup"><img src="images/013.jpg" alt="Miners Making a "Clean-up" from Their "Jig-box."" width="450" height="283"></a></div> +<p class="caption">Miners Making a "Clean-up" from Their "Jig-box." +</p> + +<p> +Then there is placer mining, so-called because it is a place on the +bank of a river where the gold is found. "Placer" is Spanish and means +"pleasure." A prospector's outfit for finding gold by the latter +process is very crude. He goes into the mountains with two pack +ponies. These pack animals learn to climb over the rocks and along the +precipitous mountain sides like Rocky Mountain sheep. On their backs +are strapped his tent and simple belongings, among which is a wash +basin. The prospector seldom uses it for the purpose for which it was +made. He bathes in nature's basin—golden basin; that which a King +might envy him—the stream, the rushing, tumbling stream, clear, cold +and pure; fortunate man! he bathes in liquid gold. The pan he fills +two-thirds full of dirt, then with water, rocks it gently with his +hands, letting the water run over the sides, carrying the dirt away +and leaving the particles of gold, which are heavy, at the bottom of +the pan. When the miner finds it there, he does not call it gold, he +calls it "color." This rude device that is simply motion, water, and a +receptacle for the particles of gold, is the same process elaborated +upon by expensive machinery, that tears up and runs through the mill +thousands of tons of material found along streams, and in gulches, +where streams ran ages ago, and which, changing their channels, have +left their deposits of gold containing the wash from the lump or +quartz gold, found in the veins of ore. +</p> + +<p> +A sluice is where water is made to run through a ditch into a trough +that has cleats nailed across the bottom to check the water and form +ripples. Into this the pay-dirt is shoveled, and the water flowing +through it leaves the gold at the bottom and carries the dirt away. +Gold dust is not fine like flour. A piece weighing less than a fourth +of an ounce is called "dust." Above that it becomes a "nugget." Small +counter-scales were kept in the early days by all business men, who +weighed the money in, and weighed the flour and bacon out. An ounce of +gold was taken over the counter from the miners at sixteen dollars, +but when it left the Mint refined, which meant the elimination of all +impurities, it brought twenty dollars. It is never entirely pure until +refined. +</p> + +<p> +The nearest approach we now have to the hunter, trapper and scout, is +the prospector hunting for gold. We find him wandering alone through +the mountains, a silent figure, the pack pony, his only companion, +sometimes driven ahead, sometimes following on behind. This quiet +spoken, unobtrusive, hermit-like man is usually tall, gaunt, bearded, +hopeful, always believing in the lucky find that is sure to be +his—soon. Mining laws vary with different states and mining +communities. But ordinarily they are the same in effect, that a miner +must show good faith, do the work required to establish his claim, and +must post a notice on the ground claimed by him; the spelling in the +notice does not seem to matter. We do not hear that the following were +rejected on account of errors or threats: +</p> +<div class="blockquote"> +<p> + "Notis—to all and everybody. This is my claim, 50 feet on the + gulch. Cordin to Clear Creek District law backed up by shot gun + amendments, +</p> + +<p> + (Sgd.) "<span class="sc">Thomas Hall</span>." +</p> + +<p class="padtop"> </p> + +<p> + "To the Gunnison District: +</p> + +<p> + "The undersigned claims this lede with all its driffs, spurs, + angels, sinosities, etc., etc., from this staik. a 100 feet in + each direcshun, the same being a silver bearing load, and warning + is hereby given to awl persons to keepe away at their peril, any + person found trespassing on this claim will be persecuted to the + full extent of the law. This is no monkey tale butt I will assert + my rites at the pint of the sicks shuter if legally Necessary so + taik head and good warnin accordin to law I post This Notiss, +</p> + +<p> + (Sgd.) "<span class="sc"> John Searle</span>." +</p></div> + +<p> +Singular it is that the laws governing mining claims originated with +the miners themselves, and found their way through the Courts and +Congress for ratification, which was done with hardly any changes, +while the laws covering all other forms of ownership of Government +lands originated in Congress. The author of much of our early land +legislation, to whom our country can never be grateful enough, was +that eminent statesman Alexander Hamilton. +</p> + +<p> +Gold started Colorado's growth; gold kept it growing; but gold is only +one of many factors that will forever keep it growing. What busy +scenes were enacted here in those memorable years when the attention +of the entire country was centered on this region! Pike's Peak was the +objective point of the gold seekers—not Denver which was then +unknown. When James Purseley, Colorado's earliest white inhabitant, +first found gold in 1805, at the foot of Lincoln Mountain, it did not +assume the importance of a discovery. He had no use for the gold +nuggets he picked up; the Indians did not know or appreciate the value +of gold, and there was no one with whom he could utilize it, as he +could in the exchange of ponies and furs. It is said that he finally +threw the nuggets away because of the uncomfortable weight in his +pockets. No doubt he thought he would live his life among the Indians, +the wild, free life that was so fascinating, and would never return to +the East, and perhaps never see a white man again. He was content with +his lot, had no use for gold and why should he hoard it, when the +Indian blanket he was now wearing had no convenient place in which to +carry it. +</p> + +<p> +Green Russell is said to have found gold on Cherry Creek in August or +September, 1858, just ten years after its discovery in California. It +was also found by a party of six men on January 15, 1859, on a branch +of Boulder Creek, which occasioned the location of the present City of +Boulder. George Jackson went into the mountains on January 7, 1859, +and discovered gold at the mouth of a branch of Clear Creek, and on +April 17th organized at that point the first mining district; later, +on May 1st, he found gold at Idaho Springs. But it remained for John +H. Gregory to fan into a never dying glow the flame that had been +gathering volume by these desultory discoveries. He found gold on +Clear Creek, near the sites of Black Hawk and Central City, in +February, 1859. Lacking provisions, he went to Golden for supplies, +returned May 6th, and started a sluice on May 16th, from which he took +as much as nine hundred dollars a day. He sold his discovery for +twenty-one thousand dollars and set the country afire with excitement. +From nearly every eastern community, the people came, and from many +parts of the world. It is estimated that fifty thousand people poured +into this mountain region the first year after the discovery of gold. +Many of those who remained, and many who came later, made fortunes, +some to keep them, some to lose them. Those who hurried out of the +country did not witness the growth of Cripple Creek, of Leadville, of +Camp Bird or of the San Juan and Clear Creek Districts. +</p> + +<p> +There are two smelters in Denver and one each in Golden, Leadville, +Canon City, Pueblo and Salida. None but zinc ores are sent out of this +State. The annual output of gold in Colorado is about twenty-two +million dollars, or about six million dollars a year greater than +California. There are three operated Mints in the United States: +Denver, Philadelphia and San Francisco. At Denver there are six +hundred million dollars of gold deposited in the vaults beneath the +foundations of the Mint, and upon this reserve the paper currency of +the Government has been issued. No such amount of gold is stored in +any other building in the world. The Denver Mint will always remain +the storage depository for the gold reserve of the nation, because of +its inland location, where it is remote from attack by sea. Colorado +has already produced in gold four hundred and eighty-eight million +five hundred thousand dollars, and there is no indication of a +diminution in the supply. Of the seven billions of the world's gold, +nearly one-fourth, or approximately one billion six hundred million is +held by the United States. +</p> + +<p> +When Columbus first started on his voyage of discovery there was less +than two hundred million dollars of gold in the world; now, more than +double that amount is produced in a single year. In 1500 the annual +gold production was four million dollars, and it took two hundred +years before the yearly output was doubled. Now, nearly five hundred +million dollars in gold is taken out of the earth each year. Only in +the past few years has the production of gold assumed such gigantic +proportions as to be alarming. In 1800 it was but twelve million +dollars annually. In 1900 it was two hundred and sixty-two million +dollars yearly, and in the past ten years it reached the enormous +output of more than four hundred and fifty-seven million dollars every +year. The Transvaal country alone turns out over one hundred and fifty +million yearly. This great increase is due to improved methods of +mining. Machinery unknown ten years ago, has done away with the +primitive methods that kept the production of gold constant and within +bounds. In the Transvaal, the hills and valleys are being ground up by +powerful machines that separate the gold from the earth and rock. +Then, too, a giant stream of water is now turned against the base of a +mountain that melts away like mist before the sun, and sends a stream +of gold to the mint. +</p> + +<p> +Gold has always been the standard of values among all civilized +nations. But its quantity is increasing so fast that its purchasing +power is diminishing, and prices of all commodities are increasing +correspondingly. When we will be producing one billion dollars of gold +annually, which will be in about ten years at the present rate of +increase, there must be a new standard of values agreed upon among the +nations of the earth to fit the purchasing power of gold, or there +will be an upheaval in the financial affairs of the world that will +shake it to the very foundations, and affect the lives of every one of +its inhabitants. +</p> + +<p> +The over-production of gold is relieved in a measure by the utter +disappearance of a part of it. What becomes of all the gold? Nearly +one million five hundred thousand dollars a day is taken from the +mines of the world. Only a portion of this output is consumed by the +arts and in jewelry, and in the natural legal reserve of Governments. +From the best information obtainable, much of the surplus goes into +the hoarding places of all classes. The people in poor and medium +circumstances hide it away, and it is treasured in the vaults of the +rich princes of India, and the dynasties of China and Egypt, who for +centuries have been building vast burglar proof receptacles +underground, where it is stored, and its hiding places are never +allowed to become known. It is wrested from out of its hidden recesses +in mountain fastnesses, by pick, drill, dynamite and arduous toil, +flows through the arteries of trade, and again goes into its burial +places to remain hidden for ages. +</p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/decoration.jpg" alt="Decoration" width="50" height="52"></div> + + + + +<a name="XIII"> </a> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER XIII. +</p> + +<p class="head"> +SOME MEN OF VISIONS. +</p> + + + + +<p><span class="sidenote">1859</span> +In this story of Colorado it has been the aim of the writer to leave +the present, crowded with the interesting events that are passing +before us in kaleidoscopic changings, to the enviable writers of a +future period; and to keep well within the boundaries of the remote +past, touching but briefly, if at all, upon those subjects so ably +covered by the historians of the State. They have fully recorded the +growth of the country, the towns and cities; the beginning of the +railroads and telegraph lines that were such important factors in the +development of the state; and the part that men of prominence, living +and dead, took in the upbuilding of our commonwealth. It is all found +in detail in the following histories: +</p> + +<p> +Frank Fossett's "Colorado," published in 1876; "History of Denver," +compiled by W. B. Vickers in 1880; Frank Hall's Four Volumes which +began to appear in 1890; Hubert Howe Bancroft's "History of Colorado," +published in 1891; William N. Byers "Encyclopedia Biography of +Colorado," in 1901; Jerome C. Smiley's elaborate "History of Denver," +in 1901; Eugene Parsons "The Making of Colorado," in 1908. +</p> + +<p> +A few names have been selected for mention in these pages which appear +in the above publications. Sketches of the lives of these men are here +presented in order that the older civilization may be merged into the +new, and to bring to the present generation a realization of the charm +of the interesting personalities with which the history of our early +days are replete. So the sketches in this Chapter will be like unto +"Twice Told Tales." +</p> + + +<p class="person"> +<i>William N. Byers.</i> +</p> + +<p> +Eighty years! Then, the frontier of this country had moved only a +little beyond Ohio, the State that in 1831 was the birth place of +William N. Byers. As we stand to-day in the midst of all that makes +life comfortable and inspiring, and look back to the crude +civilization and primitive methods of those early days in our +country's history, it is difficult to believe that even in such a +progressive age there could have been such developments in the +lifetime of some now living. Then, the little hand printing press had +only eight years before emerged into its perfected form after four +centuries of struggle. Then, the first railroad in the United States +had only been built for two years—built of wooden rails to connect +Albany and Schenectady, seventeen miles apart. Then, telegraphing was +unknown; it was not until 1837 that Morse perfected the first +telegraphic instrument, and later listened to the little girl, his +child friend, as she reverently touched the key and spelled out the +message that went reverberating around the world: "What hath God +wrought?" +</p> + +<p> +A United States surveying party enroute to Oregon took with it William +N. Byers, a youth of twenty. They were five months crossing the +plains. The next year, 1853, saw him starting West from Oregon +homeward bound, instead of East. Down the Columbia River by boat, out +on the Pacific Ocean and South to Cape Horn he sailed, up through the +Atlantic waters North to New York, West by railroad, canal boat, stage +coach and horseback, and he was at home in central Iowa on the very +edge of western settlements. +</p> + +<p> +But much to the surprise of every one there was still to be a newer +West. Out beyond the Missouri River had come a knocking which became +so loud and persistent that finally they heard it at Washington, and +Nebraska was admitted as a Territory in 1854. It is a short move now +from Iowa to Nebraska, but Omaha then seemed far away to the young man +who reached there when it comprised "one lone cabin surrounded by +savage people." The savages grew less and the town grew more, and +Byers, who was a surveyor, was soon at work platting it into a town +site. When the gold excitement broke out in California in 1848, and +Omaha became the outfitting point for the immense trading business +that grew constantly, it kept him busy laying out additions to the +town. Thus he experienced the rough side of life in a frontier +village. He saw, too, how the Pacific Slope mines made great fortunes +and built cities, so when the Colorado mining excitement started, he +concluded to be a part of the new country's development and growth. In +the early Spring of 1859, he started to Denver, after the fashion of +that day, with an ox team and covered wagon. +</p> + +<p> +One of the most pleasing fables in Mythology, is that of Pandora and +the box into which every god had put some blessing for her, and which +she opened incautiously to see the blessings all escape—save hope. In +this covered wagon, drawn by the slow-moving oxen, was a Pandora box +containing two blessings, a little printing press which could not fly +away—and hope. All the long weeks of journeying across the plains, +this far-sighted man was thinking. He thought of the little six +hundred pound press that he had with him, which with close work could +print twenty-five hundred copies of a small newspaper in a day. He +thought of the type that would be used over and over until it was so +worn that it would blur the pages. He thought of his paper going to a +few scattered strangers in a strange land. He looked ahead out over +the plains and saw that strange atmospherical condition that produces +the mirage, and which is so clear in its outlines and so misleading in +its impressions, that the man on the desert dying of thirst sees a +lake of pure water so near him that he seems to hear its waves dashing +on the shores. Byers gazed with delight and awe as the mirage seemed +to take form and resolve itself into a city; we can imagine that he +saw a gilded dome on a towering building of symmetrical form and +solidity that was set on an elevation of commanding beauty; that he +saw streets and trees and parks; life, movement, bustle, prosperity; +thousands of people each with a newspaper. And in imagination he stood +beside the giant printing presses of that magic city, presses that +were so capable and powerful as to seem endowed with life; so large +and heavy that a freight car could not haul one, and which needed a +double story beneath all other stories to house it. He sees himself +standing beside this mammoth mass of mechanism at its home, while it +is resting, at the time of polishing, oiling and testing, like the +grooming of the horse at the meet, ere it starts on its +record-breaking race. He listens to the telegraphic instruments +clicking the news from every portion of the known world. He goes to +the composing rooms where the copy grows into the newspaper pages of +type, under the skillful fingers of the capable men playing over the +keys of the intricate linotype. He follows the locked forms of type to +the stereotyping department, where a matrix made of the most perfect +and delicate paper that India can produce, is laid over the page of +type and pressure sends its minutest imprint transversely into the +paper which thus becomes an exact copy of the page of newspaper that +is soon to appear. He sees this impress copy bent half way around a +cylinder mold, with its duplicate on the other half of its cylinder +into which the hot metal flows; pressure transfers from the India +paper sheet every detail of the type, and the metal hardens into the +exact shape to fit a roller of the great press to which it is to be +transferred. He sees the type that was made an hour ago and used, now +cast into the glowing furnace, and a minute later becomes a melted +mass of metal. And we can imagine his soliloquy. +</p> + +<p> +"Oh! type! I see you boiling, and seething, and dissolving as if in +expiation of your sins, for you are cruel and relentless. To-day you +tell of men's sins that wreck their lives and they end their struggles +in self-destruction. You tell of sickness and death, of poverty and +defeat, of misery and crime; but in your purification by fire may all +be forgotten, for tomorrow you tell of births and flowers, of love and +marriage, of victory and success, and you crown your efforts by the +advocacy of wise laws, of good government, of equal justice to all; +for right will prevail while the liberty of the press can be +maintained." +</p> + +<p> +We imagine that he looks again and sees the electric button pressed; +the cogs of the great press begin to turn, the wheels to move, the +different colored inks high up in the metal troughs to flow over the +rollers that bathe the type, the immense roll of paper begins to +unreel into the machine and over the cylinders which are each covered +with their mold of type. Faster, faster, as the race horse speeds to +victory. Faster, faster, as the colossal machine bends to its work. +The folding attachment inside is busy doubling the paper into its +proper shape as each printed page flies past. The knife descends like +a flash, quicker than thought, and separates the page from the one +following. Faster, faster, the completed folded papers drop from the +machine into the endless chain elevator that sends them to the +distributing room overhead at the rate of forty thousand an hour, +where the restless newsboys are crowding, where the express deliveries +are waiting, where the warning signals of the locomotives at the depot +are heard, ready to hurry away with the papers over the mountains, +across the plains, into the valleys—the news for each and all, news +of the communities, news of the states, news of the world—this, this +is the present-day experiences of the present century's civilization, +the finest the world has ever seen, and which William Byers may have +seen in the mirage, but which he did not live to see in its perfected +form. +</p> + +<p> +He came at a time known as the "days of the reformation," when a +handful of peace-loving citizens of Denver were trying to bring order +out of that chaotic condition that seems to belong to a settlement on +the frontier made up of people from all over the world attracted by +the lure of gold. He was the pioneer editor of Colorado, and became +spokesman through his paper for those associated with him in the +preservation of property rights and in the protection of life. He was +fearless as a writer and unsparing in his criticism of the lawless in +the community. His editorial in the first issue of his paper shows the +character of the man: +</p> + +<p> +"We make our debut in the far West, where the sunny mountains look +down upon us in the hottest summer's day as well as in the winter's +cold. Here, where a few months ago the wild beasts and wilder Indians +held undisputed possession, where now surges the advancing wave of +Anglo-Saxon enterprise and civilization, where soon we fondly hope +will be erected a great and powerful state, another empire in the +sisterhood of empires. Our course is marked out, we will adhere to it, +with steadfast and fixed determination, to speak, write, and publish +the truth, and nothing but the truth, let it work us weal or woe." +</p> + + +<p class="person"> +<i>Horace W. Tabor.</i> +</p> + +<p> +From Vermont, that land of stone and marble, it was fitting that Tabor +should come to our mountains where similar conditions prevail. He came +by the way of Kansas where he farmed with indifferent success from +1855 to 1859. His entrance there into the political arena had a +disastrous ending. There used to be the Free Soilers, a party whose +battle cry was "free soil, free speech, free labor and free men." No +state had more troubles in the way of political happenings than +Kansas. One consisted in having this Free Soil party, to which Tabor +belonged and which made him a member of the Legislature of that State +in 1857, just after its admission into the Union. As Cromwell +prorogued the Parliament, so did the Federal Troops under orders of +the Secretary of War send every member of that Free Soil Legislature +to their homes, robbed of their law-making prerogatives and relegated +to common citizenship. +</p> + +<p> +Tabor came to Denver in 1859 and from this point his career reads like +a story from the Arabian Nights. In the Spring of 1860 he started to +California Gulch, which name gave way later to Leadville; he drove an +ox team to a covered wagon that was six weeks in the going. With the +close of the first season he had five thousand dollars of gold dust in +his pocket. That amount of money suggested merchandising, which he +followed in the winters, alternating to the mines every summer. At the +end of the second year he had wrested fifteen thousand dollars more in +gold from the mines. He was a likeable man, generous, and known to be +such, always doing his fellowman a good turn. Two prospectors down on +their luck, proposed that he should help them by "grub-staking," as it +was called in those days. He was to give them what they would eat and +wear, furnish them with tools for digging and powder for blasting. In +return they would share with him if they won, while if they lost, it +would be his sole loss. It turned out to be a most fortunate alliance +for them all. They had no more than started to digging, having reached +a depth of only twenty-six feet, when they struck a rich vein of ore, +and every inch they went down after that, the rich deposit grew in +extent, both in quantity and quality. "Little Pittsburg," they called +it, and it began turning out eight thousand dollars a week to the +three fortunate owners. In a little while Hook sold his share to his +partners for ninety thousand dollars, that being all the money he said +he needed. Soon Rische reached the limit of his money-making ambitions +which was two hundred and sixty-two thousand dollars, and that sum was +paid him by David H. Moffat and J. B. Chaffee. The three new partners, +which included Tabor, purchased other mines in the vicinity and +consolidated them, taking out over four million dollars in the two +years from 1878 to 1880. The other two partners now bought out Tabor +for one million dollars, that being as much he thought as he could +ever spend. It seemed that these original partners only had to figure +out how much they would need to be comfortable on the remainder of +their lives, which fixed the price of their investment. +</p> + +<p> +Tabor, however, found that he could not quit this fascinating life, so +he bought the Matchless Mine at Leadville for one hundred and +seventeen thousand dollars, and in a year he had added nearly seven +hundred thousand dollars to his wealth. Field, Leiter & Company of +Chicago joined him in a number of mining ventures, all of which were +immensely profitable. +</p> + +<p> +In 1879 he began to make purchases in Denver that had much to do with +the rapid growth of this city. He paid thirty thousand dollars for the +lots at the corner of 16th and Larimer Streets, upon which he erected +what was the finest building of that time, known now as the Nassau +Block. He sent all the way to Ohio for the sandstone that went into +the building, the quarries of beautiful marble and stone in our +mountains not then having been opened, or he would have used it, for +he always wanted the best. He paid forty thousand dollars for the +residence and block of ground, on a portion of which the Broadway +Theater now stands; the ground alone so purchased is now worth one +million dollars; its value in another thirty years—but that is +another story, and it will be told when the hand that moves this pen +lies silent. He purchased the location at 16th and Curtis Streets for +a Theater Building, and sent Chicago Architects abroad to study the +plans of the theaters of the Old World and their furnishings, with the +result that a building was erected and equipped that was the talk of +the entire country. +</p> + +<p> +The opening of the theater was one of the greatest occasions held in +the West up to that time. Emma Abbott came all the way across the +Continent with her Opera Company for the event. The newspapers +everywhere devoted space to it and Eugene Field celebrated it in +verse. The picture of Horace Tabor was placed just over the inner +entrance, where it hangs to this day and where it should remain while +the building stands. At the time of its erection it was considered to +be the most perfect and convenient in arrangement of any theater in +the United States. The boxes and proscenium were all finished in solid +polished cherry wood. The drop curtain was painted by an eminent +artist who came to Denver for that purpose; it was adorned with a +picture of moldering ruins of Ancient Temples with a motto underneath +containing a sermon in the following impressive quotation from +Kingsley: +</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"So fleet the works of man;</p> +<p>Back to the earth again</p> +<p>Ancient and holy things</p> +<p>Fade like a dream."</p></div></div> + +<p> +All these improvements inaugurated and completed by him alone, +attracted almost world-wide attention and advanced Denver to an +important place in her business standing throughout the entire East. +He became Lieutenant Governor in 1878, and U.S. Senator in 1882, to +which position he was appointed to fill out the term of Henry M. +Teller, who was invited by President Arthur to enter his cabinet as +Secretary of the Interior. Tabor only lacked one vote of being elected +to succeed himself, Judge Bowen winning the prize. +</p> + +<p> +Tabor's financial rise was meteoric; his decline was equally rapid +when it started. Unfortunate investments, mostly in distant locations, +swept his entire fortune away. Though poor indeed, in material things +towards the close of his life, it is given to few men to be so rich in +experiences. His accomplishments in behalf of Denver will always be +held by her citizens in grateful remembrance, and when he died in 1899 +there was wide-spread sorrow. +</p> + + +<p class="person"> +<i>William Gilpin.</i> +</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">1861</span> +One thousand years of traceable ancestry! They spelled it "Guylphyn" +in those far-away days of the Roman Empire, and in two hundred years +it was softened to "Gilpin." One of this illustrious line was a great +General and won a noted battle for Oliver Cromwell. One was Minister +Plenipotentiary to The Hague, appointed by Queen Elizabeth. Queen Mary +ordered one beheaded because of his religious teachings, but she died +herself, after which he was pardoned and went on with his preaching. +The ancestors of our own Washington were proud to form a union with +the Gilpins by marriage. A meeting-house was erected by one of them +and given to William Penn who used to preach in it. The home of one of +them was turned over to LaFayette for his headquarters during the +Battle of Brandywine. And there was that one who owned the mill that +ground the grain for Washington and his army at Valley Forge. +</p> + +<p> +Colorado is to be congratulated that she had for her first Governor +one who came bearing such an illustrious name. But no one thought of +family, least of all Abraham Lincoln, when he signed the Commission +that made William Gilpin Governor of the Territory of Colorado. His +selection was under advisement at the first Cabinet meeting and he was +chosen in recognition of his signal ability. +</p> + +<p> +As a youth he was tutored by his father who possessed more than +ordinary culture. He pursued special studies under the author, +Hawthorne; he learned under Lawrence Washington, when the latter was a +resident of Mt. Vernon; then he was sent abroad for instructions at +Yorkshire; he had the pick of masters at Liverpool; was graduated +later at the University of Pennsylvania, and then won high honors in +his later graduation from West Point. Such a course of study had made +of him an intellectual athlete. +</p> + +<p> +Then he traveled abroad, hurrying home to fight the Spanish in the +Everglades of Florida. This chivalrous disciplinarian was Major in the +Army of twelve hundred that defeated the Mexican Army of over five +thousand at Sacramento City, California, on February 28, 1847. He was +an officer in the army, under General S. W. Kearny, that marched into +Santa Fe on the 14th of August, 1846, and ran up the Flag of the +United States for the first time. Soon after, Charles Bent, who was +first Governor of New Mexico, was killed at Santa Fe in an up-rising +of the natives. He had built Bent's Fort on the Arkansas River where +he had his residence for years. It was at Santa Fe that Gen. Lew +Wallace, while Governor of New Mexico from 1878 to 1881, wrote the +concluding chapters of his great book Ben Hur. +</p> + +<p> +Gilpin's home was at Independence, Mo., where he practiced law. That +place being near the end of the Santa Fe Trail, he often met Kit +Carson. Gilpin possessed so much bravery that he started across the +plains in 1843, a solitary horseman. Happening in with Fremont, he +accompanied him to the Pacific Coast, it being Fremont's second +expedition. The next year Gilpin returned by the way of Bent's Fort, +thence down the Santa Fe Trail to his home. He was bearing a memorial, +from the Oregon people, which he had helped to formulate, and which he +was to present to the Administration at Washington. It set forth in +detail the resources of the Great Northwest, the desire of the handful +of people located there to be taken under the shelter of the +Government and to be embraced within the limits of the Territory of +the United States. He proceeded to Washington and presented this +petition in person to President Polk, and urged in glowing terms, with +all the eloquence he possessed, the future value and prospects of that +unknown region. He had the freedom of both Houses of Congress and took +a prominent part in turning the tide in favor of the Oregon movement. +</p> + +<p> +When President Lincoln started from Springfield to Washington to +assume the reins of Government in February, 1861, Gilpin was one of +thirteen who made the entire journey in the President's private car. +He was a brilliant man and Lincoln recognized his mental gifts and +learned minutely from him of his varied experiences, especially of his +knowledge of the far West. So it was natural that his name should come +before the very first meeting of the cabinet for appointment to the +high place of Governor of the territory of Colorado. The next month he +was hurrying westward with his commission in his pocket and with his +appointment as well of Brigadier-General of the Army. +</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Long ago at the end of the route,</p> +<p>The stage pulled up and the folks stepped out;</p> +<p>They have all passed under the tavern door.</p> +<p>The youth and his bride and the gray three-score;</p> +<p>Their eyes are weary with dust and gleam</p> +<p>For the day has passed like an empty dream.</p> +<p>Soft may they slumber and trouble no more</p> +<p>For the weary journey, its jolt and its roar</p> +<p>In the old stage over the mountains."</p></div></div> + +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/horses.jpg" alt="Drawing of a stagecoach being drawn by six horses" width="300" height="86"></div> + +<p> +So entered William Gilpin into the little City of Denver. It was the +days of the stage coach, and the Denver end of the line was kept at +the highest point of efficiency. Six horses were used, as fine as +money could buy, high stepping and so well groomed that they shone +resplendent under their costly harness glittering in the sun. The +starting of the stage on its journey East and its return into Denver, +was always an interesting event. It came dashing into town with the +horses galloping, the whip cracking, the dogs barking and the people +shouting. And they cheered when their new Governor stepped out. They +cheered again when he stood before them tall and erect, with eyes +flashing and head thrown back, and spoke in that matchless flow of +language that was the gift of this eloquent and picturesque man. The +character of his thought and its style of presentation is best seen in +the following, taken from one of his many interesting speeches: +</p> + +<p> +"<span class="asterisk">* * *</span> These events arrive. We are in the midst of them. They surround +us as we march. They are the present secretions of the aggregate +activities and energies of the people. You, the pioneers of Colorado, +have arched with this glorious state the summit ridge and barrier +between two hemispheres. You bring to a close the numbered ages of +their isolation and their hostility. You have opened and possess the +highway, which alone connects, fuses, and harmonizes them together. Of +this state, you are the first owners and occupants. You have displayed +to the vision, and illustrated to mankind, the splendid concave +structure of our continent, and the infinite powers of its august +dimensions, its fertility, its salubrious atmosphere and ever +resplendent beauty. You have discovered the profound want and +necessity of human society, and your labor provides for its relief; +gold, I mean; the indefinite supply of sound money for the people by +their own individual and voluntary labor. You occupy the front of the +pioneer army of the people, absolutely the leaders of mankind, heading +the column to the Oriental shores. <span class="asterisk">* * *</span> +</p> + +<p> +"Hail to America, land of our birth; hail to her magnificent, her +continental domain; hail to her generous people; hail to her +victorious soldiers; hail to her matrons and her maidens; hail to the +sacred union of her states; all hail to her as she is! Hail to the +sublime mission which bears her on through peace and war, to make the +continent her own and to endure forever." +</p> + +<p> +What did he do for Colorado? Much. He confronted unusual conditions; +he was the Chief Executive of the Territory at the very beginning of +its history when there was not one single beaten path for him to +follow, and when there was no money and no credit. There was danger of +the territory slipping away from the union through an armed incursion +from the South. There were no weapons for either a defensive or an +aggressive warfare. He posted notices along the trails, calling for +the purchase of fire arms of any kind no matter what the age or +condition, if there was accompanying ammunition. There were no +soldiers not even a home guard. So as quickly as possible he began to +muster in the soldiers, putting into their hands the weapons he had +gotten together, bad though they were. The drilling of the men was +carried on just outside of Denver; soon he had one Company of Infantry +and ten Companies of Cavalry. +</p> + +<p> +The troops that had been in Utah during the Mormon war were returning +East, and at Gov. Gilpin's request turned over to him at Laramie +eighteen wagons containing eighteen hundred new rifles and a large +supply of ammunition. Thus equipped, he marched down on Gen. Sibley +and his army who had come up from the South and had captured Santa Fe. +The battle of Glorietta was fought, resulting in Sibley's entire wagon +train of ammunition and supplies being captured and his army destroyed +or scattered. +</p> + +<p> +The expense of the year's military activities was paid by the Governor +drawing drafts direct upon the Government at Washington, amounting to +two hundred and twenty-seven thousand dollars, all of which drafts +were returned unpaid, which occasioned a great deal of trouble, +confusion and criticism. They were, however, paid in course of time. +Governor Gilpin always claimed that he had verbal instructions from +Simon Cameron, the Secretary of War in the beginning of Lincoln's +Administration, to handle the payments in this way. No doubt the +Governor made the mistake of not having vouchers regularly drawn, +itemized, certified and forwarded in the regular course of business, +leaving the creditors to await their acceptance, approval, and the +remittance of the funds. In extenuation it might be said that we were +remote from the center of supplies and money, communication was slow, +time was pressing, and he did the best he could. It may be that any +other course at that time would have resulted disastrously, not only +to this Territory, but the Government as well. Even at this late date, +the Legislatures of some states handle in a most informal manner the +finances of the State Government, which requires years for adjustment. +Because of these financial complications, Gilpin was relieved from his +position as Governor in 1862, but he remained true to his State all +his life, had no higher ambition than to see it grow, sounded its +praises wherever he went, and said on all occasions: "It is the +backbone of the Continent, protect and encourage it." +</p> + +<p> +He was one of the first to open up beautiful Capitol Hill, and used to +say "I will give you two lots if you will build on one of them." He +never valued money, but lived far above the ordinary affairs that +surround us. There were times when he did not have the money to pay +for a meal, but his interest in his fellowmen, in his State, and in +the enjoyment of his mental gifts continued unabated to the end of his +life. +</p> + +<p> +Governor Gilpin gave us the beautiful name of Colorado. He was in +Washington in the Spring of 1861 when the Bill was before Congress for +fixing the boundaries of this new Territory. The name of Jefferson had +been proposed, also Idaho and other names. He preferred Colorado and +gave that name to Senator Wilson of Massachusetts, on whose motion it +was adopted. The name was taken, not from the river of that name in +Texas, whose length is nine hundred miles, but from the great river to +the west of us that is longer than the distance between Omaha and +Ogden and is the King of the Rivers of the West. +</p> + + +<p class="person"> +<i>John Evans.</i> +</p> + +<div class="poem"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p>"Build me straight, O worthy master!</p> +<p class="i2">Staunch and strong, a goodly vessel,</p> +<p>That shall laugh at all disaster,</p> +<p class="i2">And with wave and whirlwind wrestle."</p></div></div> + +<p><span class="sidenote">1862</span> +Like the perfect ship was the perfect Quaker stock that came to our +shores and was absorbed into the body politic, to permeate the +arteries of business and statesmanship of our whole country for +generations. It was a stock built on simple lines; straight, strong, +clear and pure; founded on morality, sobriety, integrity and +frugality; and as simple in garb as it was simple and strong in faith. +Soon after the arrival of the Plymouth Fathers, there entered at our +eastern gateway, a Quaker who invented for us the screw auger; how +could our present high civilization have reached its enviable position +without that screw auger! Evans was the name of the man to whom we owe +this great debt of gratitude and he it was who was the progenitor of +Colorado's second Governor, a man of whose memory our State is justly +proud. +</p> + +<p> +John Evans reached the zenith of his power and influence through the +slow stages of solid preparation and ever broadening experiences. He +was born in 1814 in Ohio, the State that is so prolific of good men. +He graduated from the Clermont Academy in Philadelphia in 1838, when +he was twenty-four years old, and immediately began the practice of +medicine. His success was so pronounced, and he attained such +standing, both as humanitarian and physician, that he was able at the +early age of twenty-seven to impress upon the Legislature of the State +of Illinois by his masterful arguments before them, the necessity for +the establishment by the State of an institution for the insane. Four +years later he was a conspicuous member of the faculty of the Rush +Medical College of Chicago, which he served with devotion for eleven +years. He founded the "Illinois General Hospital of the Lakes"; was +editor of the Northwestern Medical and Surgical Journal; first +projector of the Chicago and Fort Wayne Railroad and of its Chicago +Terminals; member of the Republican National Convention that nominated +Lincoln for the Presidency in 1860; was offered the Governorship of +Washington Territory by Lincoln, which he declined. +</p> + +<p> +He was one of the prominent figures in the advancement of Methodism +and was always prominent in its councils, both national and local. The +writer, once in an eastern City where the general conference of the +Methodist Church was being held, attended a session of that +interesting assembly. One of the conspicuous members on the floor was +pointed out as Governor Evans, who led the delegation from Colorado. +At the time, this incident was related of him: +</p> + +<p> +He had settled at Denver in 1862, and having faith in its future, +decided, after mature deliberation, the direction the City would take +in its growth. He then purchased one hundred and sixty acres at the +point where he thought the most benefit would accrue. A friend hearing +of his investment and its reason, sought him out, commented on his +mistaken rashness in coming to such an unwise decision, and advanced +many reasons why the City would grow in exactly the opposite +direction. The arguments were so strong that a purchase was made of +another one hundred and sixty acres on the side of Denver suggested by +his friend; the Governor, however, strong in his faith, clung to his +original purchase as well. Friends continued to advise him of his +mistakes in these two ventures and he continued to buy where they +suggested, until he owned outlying farms on every side of Denver, and +the City growing in all directions, his profits were fabulous. +</p> + +<p> +He was conspicuous in establishing the Methodist Episcopal Book +Concern and the Northwestern Christian Advocate of Chicago; was one of +the original promoters of the Northwestern University at Evanston and +the first President of its Board of Trustees in which position he +continued for forty-two years. He founded the beautiful City of +Evanston, a suburb of Chicago, which was named for him, and he +suggested the setting apart of one-fourth of every block in that city +as a fund for the University, a movement that resulted in an enormous +endowment for that great school; he brought about the purchase of +ground in the center of Chicago that grew into millions in value and +greatly enriched the University. His contributions to the Church +throughout his long, successful and busy life, amounted to hundreds of +thousands of dollars in addition to the generous donations made by him +to the Denver University located at University Park. +</p> + +<p> +A Territory is under the direct control of the Administration at +Washington and its officers may be selected from outside its +boundaries. President Lincoln in looking for a suitable successor to +Governor Gilpin in 1862, centered on John Evans of Chicago, who was +such a marked success as a business man. He received the appointment +of Governor and gave to Colorado a most excellent administration. He +was a leading factor in the building of the Denver-Pacific Railroad +from Denver to Cheyenne, our first railroad, and was its President for +years. One of his most gigantic undertakings was the building of the +railroad up the South Platte River by the way of South Park to +Leadville, in which he had the splendid help of Walter Cheesman, +General Bela Hughes, J. W. Smith, William Barth, Brown Brothers, +General D. C. Dodge and others. It was not easy to build railroads in +those days; money was scarce, there was not much business for a +railroad when constructed, and in this remote country whose future was +not established, bonds were hard to sell. Many a man would have been +discouraged by the efforts necessary for the financing of these +railroads. Governor Evans worked unceasingly and showed his faith by +putting in large sums of his own money, a fact that finally brought +these undertakings to a successful consummation. Always he talked and +worked for a line to the Gulf from Denver which would mean cheap +freight rates and growth for Colorado, and now it has come and more, +for we are to connect the Gulf with the far northwest, an ocean to +ocean link. +</p> + +<p> +All his personal investments were so wisely made that his life's work +went on smoothly to its close in 1897. In Denver, where he made his +home to the end of his eighty-three years, his thoughts were always of +the City and State of his choice. His wise counsel and untiring +devotion has left its imprint upon many of the successful industries +of the State, as well as upon the social, moral and æsthetic life of +the community. By his untiring devotion and unflagging loyalty to the +Union, he placed himself in the class of War Governors in the great +struggle of '61 to '65. He was preeminently a business man and +possessed of exceptional ability. He was in the Methodist Church the +some powerful factor for good and moral uplift, that William E. Dodge +of New York was in the Presbyterian Church. In fact, in sterling +business integrity and high quality of christian manhood, the finest +thing perhaps that could be said of these two men, is that each was +the beautiful complement of the other. +</p> + + +<p class="person"> +<i>George Francis Train.</i> +</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">1863</span> +A child stared a tragedy in the face as he looked wide-eyed from the +window of the family home in New Orleans and saw the rude box +containing the body of his little sister pitched into the "dead wagon" +with like boxes. There were no undertakers: all were dead. No +tenderness or sympathy; only haste and roughness. No flowers; just +tears. An epidemic of Yellow Fever was raging and the "dead wagons" +were rattling through the streets and stopping at the desolate homes +everywhere. Each time the child saw one stop at his home, which would +have been eight times if he could have counted, there was one less in +the household. And at last a big box was carried out, in which they +had placed his mother, and little George Francis Train, a child of +four, was left alone. He was put on board a Mississippi River Steamer, +with his name and destination pinned to his coat, and was sent on his +long journey to relatives near Boston. That was eighty-two years ago. +</p> + +<p> +That child, grown to manhood, became one of the picturesque figures in +American History. He absorbed an education while working sixteen hours +a day as a grocer's clerk. Then by sheer force of will and capability, +he took a man's place in his uncle's shipping house in Boston, when he +was but sixteen years of age, and in four years became a partner in +the firm and was making ten thousand dollars a year. He revolutionized +the shipping industry of the world by increasing the capacity of the +largest ship then known, of seven hundred tons, to what then seemed an +incredible size of two thousand tons. He had a fleet of forty vessels +under him, mostly built up by his own energy. Then he went to +Liverpool and at the age of twenty was the resident partner of the +firm at that point where he doubled the business in a year. He then +enlarged his horizon by going to Australia and establishing a similar +business from which his commissions were ninety-five thousand dollars +the first year. +</p> + +<p> +He was a man with ideas. They used to cut postage stamps apart with +scissors; "perforate the paper," he said, and it was done. In London +when the Grande Dames stopped their carriages, a footman appeared with +a short step ladder to aid them in their descent; "attach a folding +step to the carriage" he advised, and it has been in use ever since. +He saw a man write something with a lead pencil, then reach into his +pocket for a rubber to make an erasure; "fasten the rubber to the +pencil," he told them, and the perfected idea is in the hands of +everyone to-day. A dozen men were shoveling coal into sacks and +carrying it from the wagon; "use an appliance to raise the front end +of the wagon and let the coal run out," he suggested, and the idea +carried into effect made a company of millionaires. A man spilled some +ink as he poured it from a large bottle into a small one; "give the +bottle a nose like a cream pitcher," he told them and the idea gave +the man who patented it more money than he could ever use. He saw the +Indians spearing salmon out of the Columbia River; "can them," he +said, and it started a great industry that is still under way. He +accompanied the officials of the Northern Pacific Railroad when they +were locating the terminus of that system; "end the line here," he +told them and Tacoma will stand on that spot forever. He prophesied, +that as much of the soil of the East rested upon a rocky base and was +intermixed with stone, it would become inert and of decreasing value; +while from the western plains so vast in extent, with their great +depths of rich soil, would come the supply for the nation, and an ever +increasing value to the farms. The prediction has come true. Today, +with one-tenth of the population, we are furnishing one-half the +supply of the food of the nation. +</p> + +<p> +He was an observing man always and a student. Besides his own native +language, the English, he spoke fluently French, German, Italian, +Spanish and Portuguese. His newspaper articles from all over the world +were read everywhere. He was an editor, author, and lecturer, speaking +at times to houses that netted him in one instance five thousand +dollars. He knew many of the greatest men of his own country: Daniel +Webster, Henry Clay, Rufus Choate, Zachary Taylor, Abraham Lincoln, +Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Nathaniel P. Banks—they +were all his friends. He met Queen Victoria, the Duke of Wellington, +and many more of the great of the earth. Judges, Bishops and +Ambassadors were his intimates. He was offered the Presidency of the +Australian Government which he declined. He headed the French Commune +and when the government troops were ordered to fire on him, he wrapped +himself in the Stars and Stripes and dared them to kill an American +citizen protected by the American Flag—and they did not shoot. He led +a Third Party against two presidential aspirants for the Presidency, +Ulysses S. Grant and Horace Greeley, in the campaign of 1872, and was +defeated. He was a great traveler and visited nearly every country on +the globe. He went around the world in eighty days, which gave rise to +the Romance by Jules Verne, that is read in every language. He kept +going around the world just to shorten the time. He had a villa at +Newport and his annual expenditure for entertainment there was one +hundred thousand dollars. Toward the close of his career he lived on +three dollars a week, because he had no more, and he claimed that it +was the happiest period of his life. +</p> + +<p> +The first street car lines in England, Switzerland and Denmark were +built by him. He was the first to suggest similar enterprises for +Australia and India. Maria Christina was Queen of Spain, and +Salamanca, a banker, was the Rothschild of that country. They backed +him for two million dollars that started the building of the Atlantic +and Great Western Railway which was followed later by the construction +of a railroad to the Adirondacks. The banker Salamanca was descended +from the long line of that name for which the Spanish City Salamanca +was named that gave us Coronado. On the line of railroad which +Salamanca helped to finance, a City is located in New York State named +for him. +</p> + +<p> +All these experiences brought Train gradually to the accomplishment of +his life's greatest achievement, the building of the Union Pacific +Railroad which he began on December 3, 1863, at Omaha, but which was +completed by others May 10, 1869, at Ogden. It was the missing link +needed in the welding of the West to the East, and in the development +of Colorado, a country rich in every natural resource. Later, when the +Kansas Pacific was threatening Denver, and planning to build their +road elsewhere if a large amount of money was not raised, the citizens +of Denver in their dilemma sent for Train. He came, and made one of +his characteristic addresses to a crowded house. "God helps them that +help themselves," Benjamin Franklin had poor Richard say; Train said, +"Build a line of railroad yourselves to connect with the Union Pacific +Railroad at Cheyenne or Julesburg," the road that he had projected. +And they did the very thing he told them to do. In the course of time, +the Kansas Pacific Railroad was also built to Denver. +</p> + +<p> +Erratic, always. Egotistical, very, Crazy, many said he was. It may be +that all his life he saw the "dead wagon" at the door, and heard it +rattling through the street; early impressions have their effect upon +the character of the mind. He was imprisoned fifteen times and said +that he never committed a crime in his whole life. He was fearless as +a speaker and writer, and much of his trouble was political. A +peculiarity of this many-sided man was, that he would never shake +hands with any person—be he king or plain man of the people. In +retirement he frequented Madison Square in New York where the birds +all knew him and would light upon him and feed out of his hands; where +the children all loved him and flocked about him, sitting upon his +knee while they listened to his wonder tales of every people of every +clime; where memories of his brilliant career filled his thoughts as +he saw again his bright vision of a coast to coast line, now fully +realized—for the glistening sunlight was glinting the rails from the +foot of the Statue of Liberty to the sunny calm of the Golden Gate. He +was never without a flower in the lapel of his coat. The wearing of +the flower in this way by men everywhere originated with him; he +introduced the custom into London, Paris and New York, from which +cities it spread all over the world. The idea came to him while in +Java, that beautiful country of rare flowers and delicate odors. +</p> + +<p> +On a cold stormy day of January, 1903, the end came to a stormy +career; the birds hungrily called to him, but he did not come; the +children waited for him, and could not understand; a flower that was +alive, was pinned to the shroud of its friend who was dead, and they +went away together forever and aye. +</p> +<div class="figcenter"><img src="images/decoration.jpg" alt="Decoration" width="50" height="52"></div> + + + + +<a name="XIV"> </a> +<p class="chapter"> +CHAPTER XIV. +</p> + +<p class="head"> +THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED. +</p> + + +<p> +Colorado was once a waif; a child without parentage; no older brothers +and sisters wanting it about; an outcast, unclaimed, lonely, wretched +and friendless. No state in the union has had a career anywhere +approaching that of Colorado. It was the center of more undefined +boundaries, and a part of a greater number of countries, than any +other portion of the world. +</p> + +<p> +This is the genealogy of Colorado that has never before been traced, +and which has been gleaned with infinite care from many sources. It +belonged in turn to each of the following potentates or powers: +</p> + +<p> +The Indians, Pope Alexander VI, Spain, New Spain, France, Louisiana +District, Louisiana, No Man's Land, Missouri, The Indian Country, +Texas Republic, The Unorganized Territory, Mexico, New Mexico, Upper +California, Utah, The Arapahoe and Cheyenne Tribes, Nebraska, Kansas, +Jefferson Territory—Colorado. +</p> + +<p> +King Solomon took the child and when he offered to divide it between +the two mothers, he found to whom it belonged. +</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">1492</span> +Pope Alexander VI took an imaginary map, drew an imaginary line across +it, and parcelled out most of the New Hemisphere, giving one side to +Portugal and the other to Spain, but he did not know that he had given +Colorado to Spain. +</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">1521</span> +When a Government was established on these shores in 1521 and called +"New Spain," Colorado became a part of that country and slumbered for +two hundred and eighty years. +</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">1801</span> +La Salle, a French Explorer, in 1762, went on a tour of discovery and +found a rich but weed-grown section that Spain was neglecting, which +he claimed for France and called it the "Louisiana District" for Louis +XIV, a name used by nearly every other King of France in those +centuries. Spain expostulated and then became violent. Agitation went +on. War was threatened. The trouble was not ended until 1801 when +Napoleon, while strangling Spain, forced her to cede the disputed +territory to him; it being the tract lying east of the Arkansas River +up to a certain point, then crossing the Divide south to the Red River +which it followed to its source, thence along the eastern foot-hills +of the Rocky Mountains. This divided Colorado, leaving with Spain that +portion lying west of the Rocky Mountains, and giving to France what +was located east of the mountains. Thus was left "No Man's Land" out +of the reckoning, which included these majestic, wealth-producing and +health-yielding mountains. They seemed to be too inconsequential to be +claimed by either country. Mountains, that by their impassive quietude +have soothed into tranquility the restless nerves of thousands of +sick; mountains, that brew unceasingly nature's healing balm for +ailing lungs; that are the home of twenty-four rivers, whose never +ending flood of life giving waters, lure riches from the farms, like +the touch of an Aladdin's Lamp; that have produced in furs, lumber, +gold, silver, lead, copper, zinc, iron, stone, marble, oil, live stock +and agricultural products, nearly five billion dollars. +</p> + +<p> +"The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of +the corner." +</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">1803</span> +Two years passed, and for the first time Colorado began to be +appreciated. 1803 saw sixteen million dollars in gold flowing to +France, and the Louisiana District, which included the eastern half of +Colorado, coming to the United States. This brought under the flag of +our Government for the first time, that part of Colorado lying east of +the mountains. +</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">1812</span> +Louisiana in 1812 was admitted into the union as a territory according +to the State boundaries that exist at the present time. Missouri +Territory was the name given to what was left of the Louisiana +Purchase. Thus Colorado lying east of the mountains fell heir to +Missouri. The name is taken from the Missouri's tribe of Indians. +</p> + +<p> +Next to the priceless heritage that came to us as a nation and as +individuals in the vast domain that we received from the Indians, was +the rich transference of Indian words into our language. It was like +the transfusion of new corpuscles into blood emaciated and +impoverished by disease. Here was a vacant world. Rivers, mountains, +states, cities, towns, boundaries—all a blank. Ready at hand was a +new language. It possessed crispness, freshness, strength, romance. We +absorbed it and never awoke to the full appreciation of its beauties +until Longfellow charmed and thrilled us with his matchless songs. +</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">1823</span> +It was in 1521 that Cortez placed the foot of Spain on the neck of +Mexico. Three hundred years later, Mexico rebelled. She had to fight, +and succeeded in establishing her independence in 1823. This carried +into the fold of Mexico, that part of Colorado lying west of the +mountains, which had continued all these centuries to belong to Spain. +When Mexico came from under the Dominion of Spain, she wanted to be +free from slavery and objected to Texas bringing slaves into Mexican +Territory and selling them. This quarrel between Texas and Mexico +really brought about the war between Mexico and the United States. +</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">1834</span> +In 1834 that portion of the Missouri Territory lying west of the +Missouri River became the Indian Country, which was the official +title; presumably "country" because there was no territorial +government and it so remained for twenty years. So to the Indian +country went all of Colorado east of the mountains, and north of the +Arkansas River. +</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">1836</span> +Texas was once a Republic. In 1836 it had a Government of its own +separate from both Mexico and the United States, and independent of +both. She proceeded to reach into and through Colorado, and claimed +that part above the Arkansas River lying between Mexico's line on the +west of the mountains, and the Missouri line on the east of the +mountains. This made a home for "No Man's Land." +</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">1845</span> +Texas was admitted into the Union in 1845, as a territory in her +present form. This threw back into chaos all she had claimed of +Colorado, and left it as "Unorganized Territory." In 1846 Texas +plunged the United States into War with Mexico, supposedly over the +western boundary of Texas. In two years twenty-three noted battles +were fought, including Palo Alto, Buena Vista and Vera Cruz. Only +twenty-three years after Mexico threw off the yoke of Spain, we +marched into Mexico City and took from her practically all the +territory north of her present boundary. It was ceded to the United +States in 1848, and in 1850 became New or Upper California. It was +divided in 1855 into three parts, named California, New Mexico and +Utah, the latter called after the tribe of Utah Indians. This brought +under the United States Flag for the first time, that portion of +Colorado west of the mountains, which had been Mexican Territory, and +which now became a part of the Territory of Utah, whose western +boundary was California. New Mexico received that part of Colorado +lying south of the Arkansas River, and east of the Rio Grande. +</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">1851</span> +In 1851, by the Treaty of Fort Laramie, it was stipulated that the +part of Colorado east of the Rocky Mountains and north of the Arkansas +River should belong to the tribes of the Arapahoe and Cheyenne +Indians, which title was later extinguished by the Treaty of Fort +Wise. +</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">1854</span> +Another turn of this endless chain, and 1854 saw the Indian Country +legislated out of Colorado, and Nebraska and Kansas ushered in to take +its place. Colorado east of the mountains was divided on an east and +west line into Kansas and Nebraska, about one mile south of Boulder. +So at this time we stood as follows: Utah on the west of the +mountains, Nebraska in the northeast, Kansas in the central east, and +New Mexico in the southeast. Here the cloud of Civil War, not much +larger than a man's hand at first, became ominous, and the rumblings +and mutterings grew louder each year until at last the storm broke. +Missouri was for the perpetuation of slavery, and jealous of the +territory that had been taken from her and given to Nebraska and +Kansas, tried to compel those territories to continue pro-slavery, +making a strong fight to force it into their Constitutions, which, on +account of her work and influence, she succeeded in changing three or +four times. Those states strongly objected to slavery, and there were +fierce political conflicts, especially in Kansas, which at last broke +out in endless raids. Quantrell with his guerillas massacred one +hundred and fifty at one time at Lawrence, Kansas, and destroyed two +million dollars worth of property. It has been said that every foot of +eastern Kansas soil was reddened with the life blood of her +anti-slavery citizens. This gave to that State the name of "Bleeding +Kansas," and the bleeding did not cease until the close of the Civil +War. The Legislature of Kansas created Arapahoe County, a stretch of +country several hundred miles long, which included a part of Colorado, +which then went by the name of the County. +</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">1859</span> +The early settlers of Colorado, concluding to have a Government of +their own, met in 1859, organized a temporary government which they +called "Jefferson Territory," but which was never made a permanent +government or recognized at Washington. +</p> + +<p><span class="sidenote">1861</span> +In the year that the clouds hung low and heavy over the Union; the +year that saw the first gun belch forth the shot that cleaved the line +between the North and the South; when brother was going to war against +brother, father against son, and mothers with blanched faces were +wringing their hands in an agony of despair; when the whole civilized +world stood breathlessly apart to witness the fiercest human struggle +of modern times; in that the most memorable year in our National +history, here on this peaceful spot far removed from the noise of the +conflict, from the flame and smoke, from the tears and death agonies, +there was enacted a scene, picturesque, glorious, historical. Utah, +Nebraska, Kansas and New Mexico, generously and loyally stepped aside, +going to the east, to the west and to the south, bidding us adieu +forever. In their place, Cinderella-like, there burst from its +chrysalis the waif of centuries, smiling, gracious, brilliant, like a +bride bejeweled and bedecked for her wedding, the fairest and gentlest +in all the sisterhood of the Union; and may she bless the land +forever—Colorado. +</p> + +<br> +<p class="ctr"> +THE END. +</p> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Colorado--The Bright Romance of +American History, by F. C. 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C. Grable + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Colorado--The Bright Romance of American History + +Author: F. C. Grable + +Illustrator: Allen True + +Release Date: August 23, 2011 [EBook #37182] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COLORADO--THE BRIGHT ROMANCE *** + + + + +Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +[Illustration: A Portion of Estes Park, with Long's Peak in the Distance. + (See Page 91.)] + + + +COLORADO + +THE BRIGHT ROMANCE OF AMERICAN HISTORY + + +BY + +F. C. GRABLE + + +PAINTINGS BY + +ALLEN TRUE + + +COPYRIGHT 1911 +F. C. GRABLE +ALL RIGHTS RESERVED + +THE KISTLER PRESS +DENVER COLO. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + PAGE +CHAPTER I. +The Old, the New, and the Ocean Between 1 + +CHAPTER II. +Coronado 14 + +CHAPTER III. +Light in the East 40 + +CHAPTER IV. +Lieutenant Pike 54 + +CHAPTER V. +The Lost Period 75 + +CHAPTER VI. +Major Long 85 + +CHAPTER VII. +The Pioneers 99 + +CHAPTER VIII. +Christopher Carson and His Contemporaries 106 + +CHAPTER IX. +General Fremont and the Mormons 125 + +CHAPTER X. +Opportunity 143 + +CHAPTER XI. +A Vanishing Race 153 + +CHAPTER XII. +The Lustre of Gold 171 + +CHAPTER XIII. +Some Men of Visions 184 + +CHAPTER XIV. +The Stone Which the Builders Rejected 222 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS. + + +A Glimpse of Estes Park Frontispiece + +CHAPTER I. Face Page +The Ocean Explorer 1 + +CHAPTER II. +Coronado Before a Zuni Village 16 + +CHAPTER IV. +(_a_) Pike and His Frozen Companion 66 +(_b_) One of the Approaches to Cheyenne Mt. 74 + +CHAPTER V. +The Trapper 78 + +CHAPTER VI. +The Buffalo Hunter 94 + +CHAPTER VII. +Pioneers and Prairie Schooner 110 + +CHAPTER VIII. +A Government Scout 126 + +CHAPTER IX. +Indians Watching Fremont's Force 134 + +CHAPTER X. +Ventura, Historian of Taos Indians 142 + +CHAPTER XI. +(_a_) Indian Chief Addressing the Council 158 +(_b_) Winnowing Grain 166 + +CHAPTER XII. +Making a Clean-up 174 + + + + +DEDICATED + + +TO THE PIONEERS OF COLORADO: + +Whose work in laying the foundation of the magnificent superstructure +of our great State, as Abraham Lincoln said of the heroes of +Gettysburg, "is far beyond our poor power to add or detract." + + + + +PREFACE. + + +It is Emerson's beautiful thought that all true history is biography, +and that men are but the pages of history. In felicitous language the +author has pictured a period that is indeed the bright romance of +American history. It is the story of the discovery of a new Continent +in the Western Seas; the story of a graceful and cultured people of a +mighty world-power in the Fifteenth Century; the story of the dream of +a great Western Empire to be founded in the New World, where would be +revived all the pomps and chivalries of Castile's ancient court; the +story of the fading of that dream in the splendor of the great +world-idea of the self-government of man carried by the Pilgrim +Fathers to Plymouth Rock in 1620; the story that in the great drama of +life man is ever changing from the old into the new, and from the bad +into the better in unceasing, unchanging, inevitable evolution; the +story of early Colorado, whose ancient Capital, Santa Fe,--in the +sense that Colorado is a part of the old Spanish country--was the +first white settlement west of the Floridas upon all this Western +Continent within the present domain of the United States. + +But more than all, it is a story of the human touch of those still +living and of great empire builders not long since passed away, whose +"hands bent the arch of the new heavens" over our beloved State of +Colorado; whose eyes were filled with far-away visions and their +hearts with sublime faith; pioneers and history makers of whom we +would say as Cinneas said when asked by his master Pyrrhus after his +return from his Embassy at Rome, "What did the Roman Senate look +like?" + +"An assembly of Kings!" replied Cinneas. + +Wendell Phillips, in the greatest of all his lectures, pictures the +"Muse of history dipping her pen in the sunlight and writing in the +clear blue" above all other names the name of his hero "Toussaint +l'Ouverture." The author in these pages which so graphically portray +the early history of our State would not write the name of Colorado +above any sister state; but we can catch between his lines the deep +undertones of the music of the Union, which overmaster all sectional +notes in the thought, that Colorado is a glorious part of it all. + +And so it is enough that we read in the title of this book these magic +words, as if traced in the clear sunlight of our mountain skies, +"Colorado--The Bright Romance of American History." + +J. F. TUTTLE, JR. + + + + +COLORADO--THE BRIGHT ROMANCE OF AMERICAN HISTORY + + +[Illustration: The Ocean Explorer.] + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE OLD, THE NEW, AND THE OCEAN BETWEEN. + + +[Sidenote: 1504] + +The great Queen Isabella was dead. She had died amidst the splendor of +the richest and most powerful Court on earth, beloved by some for her +noble qualities, and execrated by others for her tyrannical laws, for +the heartlessness and cruelty she had practiced, for the wars she had +kindled, and for the lives she had sacrificed. Because of the +turbulence of the elements, the superstitious believed that her +unconquerable spirit refused to be tranquilized even by death. +Darkness lay upon the world, and the slowly moving funeral cortege +made its way the three hundred miles to Granada, menaced by the +lightning's flash, and accompanied by the thunder's roar, the rain and +the hurricane, and the floods which swept men and horses to their +death. At last, after thirty years of a masterful and memorable reign, +Isabella lay at rest in the marvelously beautiful Alhambra, the burial +place of her choice which she had wrested from the Moorish Kings. And +Ferdinand ruled in her stead. + +[Sidenote: 1506] + +Less than two years, and there was another notable death in Spain. The +far-seeing eyes of a kingly man looked out upon the world for the last +time. The active hands of a great navigator lay still, folded over the +courageous heart that had long been broken; the heart that had been +thrilled by the acclaim of the populace, and then chilled by the +frowns of its sovereigns; the hands that had been bedecked with jewels +by Ferdinand and Isabella, and later laden by them with chains. +Columbus, the admiral of the ocean, who had joined two worlds by his +genius and accomplished an event whose magnitude and grandeur history +can never equal, and who had filled the center of a stage, brilliant +with the famous actors of his time, had died; died in poverty and +neglect; instead of chimes chanting a requiem in his praise, there was +the rattle of the chains his hands had worn, as they went down into +his sepulchre for burial with him according to his wish. Even his +grave remained unmarked for ten years, until public opinion forced +Ferdinand to a tardy recognition of his duty in the erection of a +monument in honor of one of the greatest men of any age; a man great +in thought and great in action; a man with such a mighty faith that we +stand appalled at its mightiness! + +Isabella left a united country; a country at the pinnacle of +greatness. She left a highly organized army; an army wrought out of a +fragment of incompetency. She raised the standard of science and the +arts, and advanced the cause of morality. But the greatest and most +enduring monument she erected was the result of the slight +encouragement and scant help that she gave to the enthusiastic Italian +mendicant, who became the founder of a New World and whose fame will +continue undimmed to the end of time. + +[Sidenote: 1516] + +"The King is dead" fell upon Ferdinand's unhearing ears. "Long live +the King" greeted the advent of Charles, his successor. Charles, who +was the son of the unfortunate Joanna, daughter of Ferdinand and +Isabella; Charles I, King of Spain; Charles V, Emperor of Germany; +Ruler over the kingdom of Naples; Monarch of the New World. Power, +such as the world has seldom seen, centered in this man; an empire so +vast that it encircled the globe, and upon whose domain military +activities never ceased. The cruelties of Spain are proverbial, and +they reached their climax under the rule of Ferdinand, Isabella and +Charles; and under them the decadence of their nation began, which in +four hundred years has never ceased. Now, shorn of every dependency, +its power forever destroyed, it lies crushed, humiliated and broken by +the greatness of its fall. + +And here this sketch leaves Old Spain and we sail away across the +ocean five thousand miles, to the New Spain of that period, in a ship +whose sails flap lazily in the breeze, taking more weeks then than +days now by the modern methods of this enlightened age. + +[Sidenote: 1519] + +Hernando Cortez sprang from a noble but impoverished family. Educated +for the law, he chose an adventurous life instead, and at the age of +nineteen left Spain for San Domingo to try his fortunes in the New +World, resulting in his brilliant conquest of Mexico; a country whose +early history we can only imagine. The unknowable is there; for its +secrets lie buried beneath the weight of centuries. Tragedy is there; +for what derelict, never heard of more, dropped in from over the seas +and cast its human wreckage on those unknown shores for the beginning +of a nation? Who were those who may have been lost to home and friends +and wandered in from Asia over that narrow strip of land long ago +submerged? Whence they came, whatever their nation or color, they were +human beings, with thoughts and affections like ours, whose beginnings +we can never fathom. They grew in numbers, had flocks and herds, and +gold and jewels. They had tribal governments, with differing customs +and languages. They had the wandering habit. The streams, the +mountains, and the plains beckoned them and they came and went, happy, +care-free and prosperous. Some one among them said: "Let us all come +together and unite as a people; establish a uniform government; build +a city, and select some one of our number to rule over us." And it was +done. Mexico City was built and became the Capital. Montezuma was made +the ruler. They had laws and Courts of Justice; they had +well-constructed and highly-decorated buildings, with architectural +features the equal of some European structures prized for their beauty +and durability. Their streets were laid out symmetrically, and their +parks and landscape gardening added to the city's attractiveness. They +had a system of canals and well-developed agriculture; an organized +army and thoroughly equipped ships. Whence came this high +civilization? We can never know. We only know that it existed. Two +million people lived in and adjacent to Mexico City. They were rich, +intelligent and contented, until the coming of Cortez; and when he +reached the shores of Mexico in the Spring of 1519 it was a memorable +day for them. He came in ten ships with six hundred Spanish soldiers. +He disembarked, and when the last man was ashore and all the +ammunition and guns and supplies were landed, he performed a feat of +courage bordering on the sublime. He set his ships on fire, and he +stood with his resolute men and saw them burn to the water's edge, +knowing that the flame and smoke and destruction meant for each that +he must conquer or die. And they marched away, a handful against a +host, and they won! + +But the fall of Mexico, like the fate of most nations, came from +within and not from without. What could six hundred do against a +united two million. That was where Cortez shone. To create discord, +distrust and jealousy; to make them fight each other; to unite the +disaffected under his own banner, was the work of a diplomat and +general, and he was both. To their everlasting disgrace, the +dissatisfied of the native race accomplished for Cortez the downfall +of their own nation. And when, two years after he began his +destructive warfare, the City of Mexico had been utterly destroyed; +when a race had been subjugated; had been stripped of its vast +treasure of gold and jewels for the greater glorification of the +luxurious Court of Spain; had lost thousands by slaughter; then, and +not till then, did the insurgents know that they had encompassed their +own ruin. They were enslaved by the Spaniards. The last chapter in +their national life was written. The Aztecs, as a people, were no +more. They were given the name of Mexicans by the Spaniards, for +"Mexitl" the national War God of the native race. Mexicans they have +continued to this day, and Cortez as Captain General ruled over the +Mexican Territory which he called "New Spain." He set four hundred +thousand of the enslaved natives to rebuilding the City of Mexico, but +their hearts were in the ruins of the old city, and not in the +building of the new--for Cortez saw to it that there should be nothing +in the new Spanish city that would remind them of the ancient grandeur +of the old. Ten years after its completion there were not a thousand +people in it. The old population was melting away, dying off from +over-work in the mines to which they had been driven, and where they +sickened from disease and hunger and heart yearning for the families +from whom they had been forcibly separated, while nearly seven million +dollars a year of their earnings were being sent to Spain, taken from +the richest silver mines in all the world. + +You were great Empire builders, oh Spain! But your wanton cruelty to +mankind will forever cloud your glory as the eclipse darkens the sun! +You permitted the Inquisition! You pitted strength against +helplessness, burned thousands alive, and confiscated their property! +You permitted the slaughter of twelve hundred thousand human beings in +the West Indies, and never heard their pitiful cry, until the lack of +earnings ceased to swell the income of the Crown, and then you carried +captives from the mainland to take the place of the dead! You +permitted the institution of the American slave trade, which only +ended at Appomattox, with the destruction of hundreds of thousands of +American soldiers, and millions of money! + +The power and fame of Cortez had grown beyond the limit set by the +Crown of Spain. Every forceful and successful man in the Dominion of +Spain was a marked man; not marked for preferment and encouragement, +but marked for humiliation and disgrace. The battles that Cortez had +won for the King were forgotten; the treasure he had sent home counted +for naught; and for the territory he had subjugated, there was no +appreciation. His authority was ended. An officer and soldiers came +from Spain to take him back, not with honor, but in ignominy. He +arrested the officer, and induced the soldiers to join his army. He +was so powerful that he thought he could be King of the New World. +Finally, threats and promises secured his peaceable return to Spain, +where all promises were broken, and his life was tempest-tossed until +he died. + +[Sidenote: 1528] + +Then Nuno de Guzman was named Governor General of New Spain. He +started out to duplicate the successes of Cortez, whose ability he +lacked, as well as the opportunity. He hunted in vain for another +Mexico City to conquer and despoil. He pushed Northward hunting for +riches, slaughtering the natives, burning their villages, and laying +waste their country. He conquered a great territory on the western +coast of Upper Mexico, along the Gulf of California, which he called +"New Gallicia." His rule was so ruthless, cruel and desolating, that +even Spain, hardened as she was to suffering, was shocked with his +barbarous persecution of the natives, and after seven years, a warrant +was sent out from Spain for his arrest and trial, on charges of +inhuman cruelty. He was deprived of his office, taken to Mexico City, +held there a prisoner for several years, and was then returned to +Spain. + +[Sidenote: 1535] + +Don Antonio de Mendoza, known as the "Good Viceroy," succeeded to the +rule of Mexico, and put in practice a new policy, one not before tried +in the New World, that of kindness. It had come too late for many, for +the dead were everywhere, and the living had settled into a degree of +hopelessness that a whole decade of kind treatment could do little +toward counteracting. Three hundred and seventy-six years have passed +since that day, and the scars of those sixteen years of Spanish murder +and plunder have not yet been removed. + +With which our narrative ends as to the mis-rule of New Spain. + +[Sidenote: 1536] + +Pamfilo de Narvaez had been made Governor of Florida in 1527 by the +Spanish Government, with a grant to explore and colonize a vast +territory bordering on the Gulf of Mexico. He outfitted in Spain, +sailed to Cuba where he repaired his vessels, thence into the Gulf of +Mexico, meeting with storms that drove him out of his course, and so +confused his mariners that they lost their reckoning. Consequently, he +was left by his ships with his three hundred men and horses on the +coast of Florida, instead of on the coast of Texas, as he thought. +They rode away into the wilderness and nearly all to their death. +Their wanderings, hardships and sufferings, the mind cannot conceive +nor the pen describe. They worked to the West and North, crossing +rivers and swamps, plains and mountains, through heat and cold, hungry +and finally starving when their last horse had been used for food, +mistreated by hostile Indians, lost and in despair. Beating their +spurs into nails, they made boats, and using the hides from their +horses for sails, they were borne down one of the Gulf Rivers, and out +into the swift ocean current where they were carried to sea and +drowned--all save four. Eight years after they had disembarked on the +Florida Coast, these four were found by some slave catchers, away up +on the Coast of California, whither they had wandered, and taken to +Mexico City. Their sufferings had been so great, that when they +reached civilization, they could no longer appreciate comforts. They +continued to sleep on the ground, to eat unwholesome food, and to +cling to the primitive habits they had formed. Slavery had in the +meantime become so common, that Mendoza bought of the three Spaniards +the negro, Estevanico, to act as guide to the far North, to which +country Mendoza proposed to send an expedition. + +[Sidenote: 1539] + +Fray Marcos, a Priest from Italy, had been a participant in the +conquest of Peru, was a historian and theologian, picturesque in +appearance and language, and was next to Mendoza in power. He was +selected to go North on a visit preliminary to the proposed +expedition, with the negro as guide. Rumors were in the air, and +growing all the time, of wonderful cities and untold treasure in the +North. Even the three returned Spaniards, rested from their +wanderings, hinted at the fabulous wealth of which they persuaded +themselves they had heard. The tales grew with the telling, so that +Fray Marcos felt that he must be able to verify these reports, which +he did, with the result that when the Coronado expedition found they +did not exist, he had the great misfortune to ever after be called the +"Lying Monk." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +CORONADO. + + +[Sidenote: 1540] + +About four years after the death of Columbus at Valladolid, there was +born at Salamanca, about sixty miles away, one who was to become an +explorer in the world that Columbus had discovered. Francisco Vasquez +de Coronado grew up to have ambitions of his own. He removed to New +Spain, where he married Beatrice, the beautiful and accomplished +daughter of King Charles' cousin. Her father, Alonzo Estranda, was the +royal treasurer of the New Country. Even at that remote period those +Spanish gentlemen had a way of coming across the seas and weighing +their titles in the scales against the money, bonds and lands of the +relatives of the prospective wife, in the process of which the wife +did not apparently seem to be taken into account. Coronado received +from the mother of Beatrice, a great landed estate that had come to +her as a grant from the Crown. Then, too, they had a law in New Spain, +that confiscated the property of a man if he failed to marry by a +certain time. One who preferred poverty to matrimony, had his vast +fortune taken from him, and given to Coronado, which was very bad for +one, and very pleasant for the other. So Coronado started out on his +career very rich. He was made an officer in the Spanish army, and +almost immediately attracted attention to himself. The negroes in the +mines at Ametepeque mutinied, and set up a king for themselves, in +order that the wealth which they were producing might become the +property of their own king and themselves, instead of being sent to +the Court of Spain. The promptness with which Coronado shot many of +them to death and took their king away, shows that he was neither +lacking in decision nor initiative even at the very early age of +twenty-seven. A year later, 1538, he received the appointment of +Governor of New Gallicia, the country in the subjugation of which, +Guzeman the Viceroy of New Spain, had accomplished his own undoing. +Coronado had helped Fray Marcos and his negro guide on their way +through his territory as they passed northward. They went unattended +and unprotected. It had seemed to Mendoza that Fray Marcos, in his +priestly capacity, might accomplish more for the Crown than could the +royal troops; alone he could gain the confidence of the Indians and +learn of their strength and treasure. So he went without weapons, and +with only a few friendly Indian carriers. + +Spring turned to summer, and summer to autumn, and Estevenico, the +negro guide, had become a memory only. The man who had so successfully +faced the dangers of the wilds in his eight years of wanderings, was +not to be so fortunate this time. He had an idea that he might become +a person of importance himself, an explorer instead of guide, and reap +the glory of the success of the trip. So at the first opportunity, he +put his plans into practice. Fray Marcos had sent him on ahead for a +few days of reconnoitering and then to wait. He reconnoitered, but he +did not wait. Gathering an ever increasing number of the natives about +him, he pressed on and Fray Marcos never did overtake him. He grew +more arrogant all the time, until finally he was made prisoner by the +Chief of one of the tribes, was tortured, put to death, his body cut +into pieces and distributed as souvenirs among the tribes. Three +hundred of his followers were killed, one escaping and bringing the +news to Fray Marcos, who quickly began to retrace his steps, the +Indians all the time becoming more threatening as he passed southward. + +Coronado met the Monk as he returned, and accompanied him to Mexico +City where he went to make what proved to be a much over-drawn report. +Coronado had by this time become so enthusiastic over the +possibilities of his own aggrandizement, and the wealth to be reaped +from an expedition of conquest, that he proposed to Mendoza to pay the +entire cost of the expedition himself, if he were allowed to head the +party and share in its results. Mendoza was too guardful of his own +prestige and prospects, and of the interests of the Crown, to accept +the offer. But he appointed Coronado, General of the Army, to the +disappointment of a number of its prominent members who desired the +position for themselves. Acting upon the suggestion that had come from +Coronado, Mendoza mortgaged all of his estates and joined his money to +that of the Crown to pay the tremendous expense of the expedition. +Because of the number engaged, the extent of the preparations, the +time involved and the distance traversed, this is counted as the most +notable exploration party ever engaged in exploiting the North +American Continent. It comprised a picked company of three hundred +Spanish soldiers and horsemen, eight hundred seasoned Indian warriors, +and two ships under Alercon carrying extra supplies of food and +ammunition, which were to take the ocean route and be subject to call. +All being in readiness, the army marched, the ships sailed, the +trumpets sounded and the people shouted, all on that memorable morning +of February 23, 1540. + +[Illustration: Coronado Before One of the Zuni Villages.] + +Up from Compostela, their starting point, northwest of Mexico City; up +along the Pacific Coast; up through New Gallicia and on by the shore +of the ocean they pushed, bearing inland to the east and away from +their ships which they were never to see again. At last they passed +through Sonora, across the northernmost boundary of Mexico, and were +swallowed up in the wilderness of Arizona. Like the hunter traveling +far for his prey, the expedition on July 7th found its quarry, and +began the slaughter by the capture of the first of the "Seven cities +of Cibola." Coronado named the captured city Granada, the city in +Spain that was the birth place of Mendoza, and the burial place of +Queen Isabella. The remaining six cities were much like the first; +inhabited by the Zuni Indians, poor, ignorant and uncivilized. These +were the cities which Fray Marcos had reported to be the rivals of the +famous City of Mexico. They proved to be simple adobe houses, instead +of imposing structures with classical architecture. The people were +numbered by hundreds instead of by thousands, and were living in +abject poverty instead of wealth. The outraged and indignant army +brought Fray Marcos before them, and told him "Annanias estaba hambra +vere fies a lado di te." The Monk was greatly chagrined and +crest-fallen; his punishment consisted only in his being banished from +the army and sent back to Mexico in disgrace. But would he have +returned northward with the army if he thought he was deceiving them? +Doubtless as he viewed the country of Cibola from a distance, what he +described seemed to him true, though he may not have scrupulously +controlled his imagination. The name Cibola is from Se-bo-la, meaning +cow or buffalo. These seven cities were located in Upper New Mexico +about one hundred miles west of Albuquerque. + +General Coronado having been badly injured in battle, the army went +into camp pending his recovery, and detachments were sent out on trips +of discovery. + +Alvarada with a party went east and found the Rio Grande River, lined +with eighty native villages, and about 15,000 Indians. Crossing the +river, he came out upon the great buffalo plains of northern Texas, +and then made his way back to the army. + +Maldonado had previously gone with a party to the ocean in fruitless +search of the ships, but found marks made by Alercon on a tree, at the +foot of which was a letter; in it they told of their arrival, of their +sailing quite a distance up the Colorado River, of their finding that +they were in a Gulf instead of on the Ocean, and that, not finding the +army, they were starting on their return trip. There is no record of +their ever having reached home. If they had been on the Ocean instead +of in the Gulf of California, and could have sailed on North, and had +discovered the mild climate of California and its luxuriant foliage, +unquestionably Spain would have colonized that country, the Rocky +Mountains would have been the dividing wall between Spanish Territory +and that of the United States, and Dewey, instead of going to the +Philippines to fight the Spanish fleet, would have bombarded the +Spanish City of San Francisco and have sunk their ships at the Golden +Gate. The Pacific Ocean was then unknown. It had only been discovered +twenty years before, when Magalhaes in 1520 sailed into its South +American waters, and called it "Pacific" because of its calmness as +compared with the storms which he had just encountered. + +Field Marshal Garcia Cardenas led a party westward, and found the +Colorado River at the point now known as the Grand Canon of Arizona, +where the river is seven thousand feet deep in the ground, and where +the mighty rushing torrent is so far below, that it seems like a +thread winding its way at the bottom of that wonderful gorge, to which +the party tried in vain to descend. He was gone eighty days, and +reported, upon his return, that the river was a barrier so frightful +and insurmountable, that it would bar investigations to the westward +forever. + +It is a river that is eleven hundred miles long, and is formed by the +union in Utah, of the Green River from Wyoming, and the Grand River +from Colorado. It is navigable for five hundred miles, and its mighty +volume pours unceasingly through a channel fifty feet deep, and +thirteen hundred feet wide at the point in Mexico where it hurls its +turbulent waters into the Gulf of California. The stupendous gorge +where Cardenas touched the river, is two hundred and fifty miles long, +and is made up of a maze of giant gorges. It is the most sublime +spectacle on earth. Below the Niagara Falls is a tempestuous +whirl-pool, seething, roaring, and dashing against the towering walls +of granite that vie with the turbulence of the waters for the mastery. +A thousand whirl-pools, more majestic and more inspiring, are gripped +within the walls of the canons of the Colorado River. It is for this +King of Rivers, that our State is named; a Spanish name, meaning +"ruddy." In the naming of the river and the state, two extremes have +met. In the river Colorado--is the labyrinthian terrifying chasm, +filled with the terrific rush and deafening roar of the pounding +waters, of the turbulent tidal waters laboring under the mighty swells +from the tempestuous ocean. While in Colorado the State--there is +peace, peace everywhere; the silent mountains, the quiet plains, the +mellow skies, the sunny lakes, the balmy air, the murmuring +streams--all soothe and charm and thrill, and life is all too short +for the enjoyment of its perfections. + +[Illustration: A map.] + +The army moved to the Rio Grande River and went into winter quarters, +occupying the best of the houses of the natives whom they inhospitably +turned out of doors to pass the winter. One of the Indians who had +been taken prisoner by the Spaniards was a talkative person and told +of a rich country far to the northeast, a country "filled with gold +and lordly kings." It sounded good to the army, as just what they were +seeking, and their enthusiasm grew as the winter passed. With the +coming of Spring, April 23, 1541, Coronado began the march to the +northeast with his whole excited army, guided by the Indian with the +vivid imagination, whom they called the "Turk." After many days of +travel with no result, and meeting different Indian tribes who said +the guide's stories were untrue, and being repeatedly assured by other +Indians that there was nothing to Turk's tales, the suspicions of the +army became a certainty, and upon their insistent questions their +guide yielded up his secret. To save his people, he was leading the +army away on a far journey, in the hope that they would never get +back, and if they did return, would be so weak and their horses so +worn, that the natives could easily fall upon and destroy them. The +work of the infuriated soldiers was cruel, swift and certain, and when +it had ended, there on the ground lay the Indian, dead. + +As die the heroes of all ages, so died this Indian guide. He died for +his people. Coronado's army had invaded his country, turned his people +out of their homes in midwinter, confiscated the supplies of their +families, had killed some and imprisoned many. Leading the army away, +out of reach of water and food, hoping to encompass its destruction, +knowing that every step took him nearer to the death sure to be meted +out to him, he moved stoically and unfalteringly to his fate. "Make +way for liberty," cried Winkelreid, as he fell pierced by a dozen +bayonets pinning him to the earth, while through the gap in the solid +ranks of the enemy, poured his compatriots, sweeping Switzerland to +its freedom--and his name will live forever. Just as nobly died the +Indian on the western plains, but the wind that scattered his dust, +blew into oblivion the remembrance of the heroic act of a humble, +courageous, and self-sacrificing martyr! + +The bewildered army halted for consultation. It was decided by +Coronado that he would take thirty picked horsemen and proceed +northeasterly on a tour of investigation, while the main army would +return to the Rio Grande, to the point that had been the place of +their winter quarters. He proceeded into Northern Kansas, and is +supposed to have passed the boundary line between Nebraska and Kansas, +and to have crossed the Platte River, whence he retraced his steps to +the army, then at a place near the site of the present City of +Albuquerque. + +Upon his arrival he wrote a letter to the King of Spain, which is +hereafter quoted. It is interesting to note how highly he regards the +country of Quivira, which afterwards was called "Kansas," and which he +likens to the soil of Spain. His description of the products of that +section gives much information. The "cows," so frequently referred to +in his letter, were the buffalo which we found just as plentiful when +we came to settle the country. The Indians moved with the buffalo, and +lived upon them, moving their tents along with the herds as they +grazed northward in summer to escape the heat, mosquitoes and flies, +and journeying south together in the winter, to escape the cold. The +Indians knew no such word as buffalo, but called this greatly +appreciated animal Ni-ai, which meant shelter or protector. The +distance travelled by the expedition was measured by a footman +trudging along beside a horseman, his steps being counted by the +riders, seventeen hundred and sixty steps making a mile. They traveled +forty-two days on their way to the Northeast, shortening the distance +to thirty-five days for their return, and were twenty-five days in the +country of Quivira. The distance traveled was three hundred leagues, +which is about seven hundred miles. The same year that Coronado was in +Eastern Kansas, the eminent Spanish warrior and explorer De Soto, back +from his conquest of Peru with Pizarro, had discovered the Mississippi +River, the Father of Waters, and ascended it from the Gulf of Mexico; +there was only the State of Iowa between his exploring party and that +of Coronado, though neither of them were aware of the fact. + + "Holy Catholic Caesarian Majesty: + + "On April 20 of this year (1541) I wrote to your Majesty from this + Province of Tiguex, in reply to a letter from your Majesty, dated + in Madrid June 11 a year ago * * * I started from this Province on + the 23 of last April for the place where the Indian wanted to + guide me. After nine days march I reached some plains so vast that + I did not find their limit anywhere that I went, although I + traveled over them for more than 300 leagues, and I found such a + quantity of cows in these plains * * * which they have in this + country, that it is impossible to number them, for which I was + journeying through these plains until I returned to where I first + found them there was not a day that I lost sight of them. And + after 17 days' march, I came to a settlement of Indians who are + called 'Querechos,' who travel around with these cows, who do not + plant and who eat the raw flesh and drink the blood of the cows + they kill and they tan the skins of the cows with which all the + people of this country dress themselves here. They have little + field tents made of the hides of the cows, tanned and greased, + very well made, in which they live while they travel around near + the cows, moving with these. They have dogs which they load, which + carry their tents and poles and belongings. These people have the + best figures of any that I have seen in the Indies. They could not + give me any account of the country where the guides were taking me + * * * + + "It was the Lord's pleasure, that after having journeyed across + these deserts 77 days, I arrived at the province they call Quivira + to which the guides were conducting me and where they had + described to me houses of stone with many stories and not only are + they of stone but of straw, but the people in them are as + barbarous as all those whom I have seen and passed before this. + They do not have cloaks nor cotton of which to make these, but use + the skins of the cattle they kill which they tan, because they are + settled among these on a very large river * * * The country itself + is the best I have ever seen for producing all the products of + Spain, for besides the land itself being very fat and black, and + being very well watered by the rivulets and springs and rivers, I + found prunes like those of Spain * * * and nuts and very good + sweet grapes and mulberries. I have treated the natives of this + province and all the others whom I have wherever I went as well as + was possible, agreeably to what your Majesty had commanded and + they have received no harm in any way from me or from those who + went in my Company * * * And what I am sure of is, that there is + not any gold nor any other metal in all that country and the other + things of which they had told me are nothing but little villages + and in many of these they do not plant anything and do not have + any houses except of skins and sticks and they wander around with + the cows; so that the account they gave me was false, because they + wanted to persuade me to go there with the whole force, believing + that as the way was through such inhabited deserts, and from the + lack of water, they would get us where we and our horses would die + of hunger * * * I have done all that I possibly could to serve + your Majesty and to discover a country where God our Lord might be + served and the royal patrimony of your Majesty increased as your + loyal servant and vassal. For since I reached the province of + Cibola, to which the Viceroy of New Spain sent me in the name of + your Majesty, seeing that there were none of the things there of + which Fray Marcos had told, I have managed to explore this country + for 200 leagues and more around Cibola and the best place I have + found is this river of Tiguex, where I am now and the settlements + here. It would not be possible to establish a settlement here, for + besides being 400 leagues from the North Sea and more than 200 + from the South Sea, with which it is impossible to have any sort + of communication, the country is so cold as I have written to your + Majesty that apparently the winter could not be spent here because + there is no wood nor cloth with which to protect the men except + the skins which the natives wear and some small amount of cotton + cloaks. I send the Viceroy of New Spain an account of everything I + have seen in the countries where I have been, and as Don Garcia + Lopez de Cardenas is going to kiss your Majesty's hands who has + done much and has served your Majesty very well on this expedition + and he will give your Majesty an account of everything here as one + who has seen it himself, I give way to him. And may our Lord + protect the Holy Imperial Catholic person of your Majesty with + increase of greater kingdoms and powers as your loyal servants and + vassals desire. From this Province of Tiguex, Oct. 20 in the year + 1541. Your Majesty's humble servant and vassal who would kiss the + royal feet and hands. + + (Signed) "FRANCISCO VASQUEZ CORONADO." + +On August 5, 1540, Coronado wrote to Mendoza, the Viceroy of New +Spain, a letter, of which a portion is introduced in these pages +because of its reference to local conditions where the army wintered. +The spelling in the letter to the King was changed for easier perusal, +but the original quaint translation is preserved in the following, +that the style may be observed. Both letters have been translated from +the Spanish: + + "It remaineth now to certifie your Honour of the seuen cities, and + of the kingdomes and prouinces whereof the Father produinciall + made report vnto your Lordship. And to bee briefe, I can assure + your honour, he sayd the trueth in nothing that he reported, but + all was quite contrary, sauing onely the names of the cities, and + great houses of stone: for although they bee not wrought with + Turqueses, nor with lyme, nor brickes, yet are they very excellent + good houses of three or foure or fiue lofts high, wherein are good + lodgings and faire chambers with lathers instead of staires, and + certaine cellars vnder the ground very good and paued, which are + made for winter, they are in maner like stooues: and the lathers + which they haue for their houses are all in a maner mooueable and + portable, and they are made of two pieces of wood with their + steppes, as ours be. The seuen cities are seuen small townes, all + made with these kinde of houses that I speake of: and they stand + all within foure leagues together, and they are all called the + kingdome of Cibola, and euery one of them haue their particular + name: and none of them is called Cibola, but altogether they are + called Cibola. And this towne which I call a citie, I haue named + Granada, as well because it is somewhat like vnto it, as also in + remembrance of your lordship. In this towne where I nowe remaine, + there may be some two hundred houses, all compassed with walles, + and I thinke that with the rest of the houses which are not so + walled, they may be together fiue hundred. There is another towne + neere this, which is one of the seuen, & it is somewhat bigger + than this, and another of the same bignesse that this is of, and + the other foure are somewhat lesse: and I send them all painted + vnto your lordship with the voyage. And the parchment wherein the + picture is, was found here with other parchments. The people of + this towne seeme vnto me of a reasonable stature, and wittie yet + they seem not to bee such as they should bee, of that judgment and + wit to builde these houses in such sort as they are. For the most + part they goe all naked, except their priuie partes which are + couered: and they haue painted mantles like those which I send + vnto your lordship. They haue no cotton wooll growing, because the + countrye is colde, yet they weare mantles thereof as your honour + may see by the shewe thereof: and true it is that there was found + in their houses certaine yarne made of cotton wooll. They weare + their haire on their heads like those of Mexico, and they are well + nurtured and condicioned: And they haue Turqueses I thinke good + quantitie, which with the rest of the goods which they had, except + their corne, they had conueyed away before I came thither: for I + found no women there, nor no youth vnder fifteene yeres olde, nor + no olde folkes aboue sixtie, sauing two or three olde folkes, who + stayed behinde to gouerne all the rest of the youth and men of + warre. There were found in a certaine paper two poynts of Emralds, + and certaine small stones broken which are in colour somewhat like + Granates very bad, and other stones of Christall, which I gaue one + of my seruants to lay vp to send them to your lordship, and hee + hath lost them as hee telleth me. Wee found heere Guinie cockes, + but fewe. The Indians tell mee in all these seuen cities, that + they eate them not, but that they keepe them onely for their + feathers. I beleeue them not, for they are excellent good, and + greater then those of Mexico. The season which is in this + countrey, and the temperature of the ayre is like that of Mexico: + for sometime it is hotte, and sometime it raineth: but hitherto I + neuer sawe it raine, but once there fell a little showre with + winde, as they are woont to fall in Spaine. + + "The snow and cold are woont to be great, for so say the + inhabitants of the Countrey: and it is very likely so to bee, both + in respect to the maner of the Countrey, and by the fashion of + their houses, and their furres and other things which this people + haue to defend them from colde. There is no kind of fruit nor + trees of fruite. The Countrey is all plaine, and is on no side + mountainous: albeit there are some hillie and bad passages. There + are small store of Foules: the cause whereof is the colde, and + because the mountaines are not neere. Here is no great store of + wood, because they haue wood for their fuell sufficient foure + leagues off from a wood of small Cedars. There is most excellent + grasse within a quarter of a league hence, for our horses as well + to feede them in pasture, as to mowe and make hay, whereof wee + stoode in great neede, because our horses came hither so weake and + feeble. The victuals which the people of this countrey haue, is + Maiz, whereof they haue great store, and also small white Pease: + and Venison, which by all likelyhood they feede vpon, (though they + say no) for wee found many skinnes of Deere, of Hares and Conies. + They eate the best cakes that euer I sawe, and euery body + generally eateth of them. They haue the finest order and way to + grind that wee euer sawe in any place. And one Indian woman of + this countrey will grinde as much as foure women of Mexico. They + haue no knowledge among them of the North Sea, nor of the Western + Sea, neither can I tell your lordship to which wee bee nearest: + But in reason they should seeme to bee neerest to the Western Sea: + and at the least I thinke I am an hundred and fiftie leagues from + thence: and the Northerne Sea should bee much further off. Your + lordship may see how broad the land is here. Here are many sorts + of beasts, as Beares, Tigers, Lions, Porkespicks, and certaine + Sheep as bigge as an horse, with very great hornes and little + tailes, I haue seene their hornes so bigge, that it is a wonder to + behold their greatnesse. Here are also wilde goates whose heads + likewise I haue seene, and the pawes of Beares, and the skins of + wilde Bores. There is game of Deere, Ounces, and very great + Stagges: and all men are of opinion that there are some bigger + than that beast which your lordship bestowed vpon me, which once + belonged to Iohn Melaz. They trauell eight dayes journey vnto + certaine plaines lying toward the North Sea. In this Countrey + there are certaine skinees well dressed, and they dresse them and + paint them where they kill their Oxen, for so they say themselves. + + (Signed) "FRANCISCO VASQUEZ CORONADO." + +Emerging from the second wintering of the army on the Rio Grande, +Coronado started in the Spring of 1542 with his disappointed soldiers +on their return to Mexico City, where they arrived that Fall, and +where they found grief corresponding to the gloom of the returning +soldiers. Many had built their hopes on the result of the expedition, +had borrowed money and given to those who were of the exploring party +to make filings upon mines, and to pre-empt such treasure as could be +found, as was the custom of those times. Mendoza was impoverished by +the debts he had incurred in behalf of the expedition. Coronado +instead of being a conquering hero, was greatly criticized, though not +responsible for the disappointment attending his efforts. He reported +to Mendoza who received him coldly. He returned to his province of New +Gallicia, where he remained as Governor for a time and then resigned. +Later we learn of the King sending a Commission over, to investigate +the rumor that Coronado had vastly more than the allotted number of +slaves working on his plantations. + +Did Coronado discover Colorado? On the bench of the Supreme Court of +the United States, there are nine judges, and the decision of five is +final. If we were to apply that principle to this case, then we would +unhesitatingly answer that the feet of Coronado were the first of any +white man to tread the soil of Colorado and Kansas. Students of +history differ in their opinion, but the majority believe that +Coronado is the discoverer of Colorado. Much that has been written of +this expedition has been lost. At the time of the massacre of the +whites, and the destruction of the Missions at Santa Fe by the +Indians, a great many Spanish manuscripts are supposed to have been +burned, which might now throw light upon this question. In the +monasteries of Old Spain there are many papers bearing upon the +history of the New World, that are worn with age and buried in the +dust and mould of cellars, many stories deep underground, that have +not seen the light for centuries. These may someday be unearthed to +answer positively our question. Scientific investigation is going on +at this time under the direction and expense of Societies of Research +of both Worlds. A map was issued by the Interior Department of the +United States in 1908, that gives the supposed journeyings of Coronado +and shows that he both went and returned through Colorado on his trip +to Kansas. Other maps of writers give his journeyings both ways as +following the old Santa Fe trail, which runs northeast and southwest +along the Cimarron River, through the southeast corner of Colorado. So +in either event, it is to be supposed that he was within the +boundaries of our State, following either the Arkansas River or the +Cimarron. + +Wonderful to contemplate are the possibilities that might have arisen +had the Coronado expedition been a success! Our country might have +been settled by the Spaniards, and we might have been a Spanish +speaking race, even after becoming strong enough to throw off our +allegiance to the Crown of Spain; and Washington would not have been +the Father of our Country. Government might have centralized between +the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains, where the Capital might +have been established. The Pilgrim Fathers might not have landed on +the forbidding shores of New England, eighty years after Coronado's +expedition started out from Compostela, and there might have been no +tea thrown overboard into the harbor at Boston. Those grand forests of +the middle and eastern states, of value now beyond computation, might +have remained standing, instead of being devastated by fire and axe. +Irrigation would have been early developed, the country would have +been covered with cement-lined ditches, and every depression would +have been a storage reservoir. + +Coronado might have been the greatest man in the New World, and +Coronado might have been King! + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +LIGHT IN THE EAST. + + +[Sidenote: 1776] + +Two hundred and thirty-six years had passed since Coronado's gaily +caparisoned army moved out from Compostela. The bright yellow leggings +and rich green coats of the soldiers, their waving white plumes and +coats of mail, had long since turned to rags and rust, while the bones +of the troopers had crumbled to dust. With the defeat of their +expedition, the curtain of silence descended upon this vast Rocky +Mountain region. The Indian Chiefs whom Coronado fought had long been +wrapped in the mantle of death, and their places had been filled by +the children of their children's children. The buffalo herds and the +Indian bands still roamed the plains together, and the tender calves +grew strong and became the leaders of the herd. It was the endless +procession of life and death, of strength and weakness, of growth and +decay. The wild flowers bloomed, and shed abroad their fragrance; the +trees budded and blossomed, and their leaves withered and fell; the +earth was clothed in its carpet of green, that yellowed with the +autumn's frosts; the period of seed time and harvest came, but there +was no seed time and there was no harvest. The summer rains fell upon +valley and plain, and the rivers ran unceasingly to the sea, as they +had done for centuries, and as they will do until time shall be no +more; rivers, born on the dome of the Great Divide, and nurtured by +the clouds amongst which they nestle. Each season, the stately peaks +stretched their arms aloft towards the heavenly orbs to receive their +snow's feathery drapery that fell like a benediction over them. +Mountains, radiant in their ever-changing hues of yellow and green, of +purple and gold; mountains, whose breath was fragrant with the +delicate perfume from their carpet of a thousand species of wild +flowers; mountains, kissed by pearly rain drops, glowing with morning +sun baths, draped in slumber-robes of silvery moon-beams--glorious, +sunlit, sky-communing mountains, standing in their grandeur, silent, +proud, eternal. + +In Macaulay's eloquent and elevated treatment of the thirteenth +century of English history, we find this pleasing sentiment, +applicable to Colorado's rivers and mountains: + +"The sources of the noble rivers which spread fertility over +continents, and bear richly ladened fleets to the sea, are to be +sought in the wild and barren mountain tracts, incorrectly laid down +in maps and rarely explored by travelers." + +We find similarity in our own uncharted streams and mountains; in the +unapplied wealth of waters that our rivers bore to the seas; in the +unwritten history of the Jesuit Fathers; in the romance of Spanish +glory and Spanish defeat; in the tragedy of the red men; in the +civilization that perished; in half a century's attainments in good +government, in refining domestic influences, in Christianity, in +intellectual growth, and in riches almost beyond computation. + +Again we face the mysterious. Once more the names of Cortez and +Montezuma meet, not as on the battle fields of Mexico that left one a +conqueror and the other a prisoner; not as aliens and rivals, but in +the friendly attitude of mutual interest and mutual trust. Montezuma +led into battle a people whose beginnings can never be known. +Montezuma County, Colorado, with Cortez as its County Seat, sheltered +a pre-historic race, whose beginning and end we can never fathom. At +the southwestern corner of our State, at the only spot in the United +States where four states come squarely together, we find Utah, +Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado, equally sharing in this unfathomable +mystery. There, covering a stretch of country equal in extent to about +eighty miles square, had lived a civilized people who followed the +peaceful pursuit of agriculture, who farmed by irrigation and whose +reservoirs were high up near the mountain tops. Their dwellings were +amidst the cliffs along the canons tributary to the San Mancos and San +Juan Rivers, as well as in the rocky and almost inaccessible gorges of +those rivers themselves. The abandoned houses built of hand-dressed +stone, are falling into ruins, but they still show painstaking care in +their construction, and in their well-planned architecture. The +decaying towns, towers and fortresses give every evidence of a state +of preparedness for war. Whether these people were conquered, enslaved +and carried into exile; whether they were warred upon by the marauding +bands, and so weakened that they scattered and became lost; whether +they may have been the very Aztecs, who, becoming more civilized and +more prosperous, moved South, were finally subdued by Cortez and +became the Mexican nation, are conjectures only, for those ancient +foot prints have been forever submerged by the passing years. + +A vast area of the country of the Cliff Dwellers has been made into a +National Park and given the name of Mesa Verde. For three years the +restoration of the principal ruins has been carried on by eminent +scientists under direction of the General Government. Spruce Tree +House, one of the restored dwellings, is over two hundred feet long +and it is estimated that when inhabited, it sheltered about four +hundred people. + +In the East the light is breaking. A ray here and a ray there, at +first, just the faintest touch of the awakening before the glorious +bursting of the dawn. A voyager crossed the trackless seas, following +Columbus; then another and another, all carrying the advance lights +that were finally to illuminate the darkness and unfold the mysteries +of a New World. It took one hundred years for nine voyagers on tours +of discovery, scattered through the entire century, to sow the seeds +of colonization along the Coast, which, when planted, failed to grow, +withered and died. Much of the time of these navigators was spent in +sailing up and down the eastern coast, seeking a channel through our +Continent in search of the unknown, lying beyond. + +Came John Cabot, an Italian Mariner, bearing the English Flag, +authorized to take possession of any lands he found. Four of his ships +went to the bottom and the son continued the discoveries started by +his father. Came Cortereal from Portugal in 1501, who left signs of +his visit along our Coast at various points between the Bay of Fundy +and the coast of Labrador, and then his vessels and all on board +plunged to the bottom. The following year a brother came with a +searching party and they all found graves beneath the waves that for +four hundred years have been sweeping over them. Another brother about +to start to seek the others, was prevented by command of the King. + +Came Ponce de Leon from Spain in 1512, having been with Columbus on +his second voyage in 1493. He bore a patent from the King to what was +supposed to be the marvellous Island of Bimini, which he renamed +Florida, from "Pascua Florida," meaning in Spanish "Easter Sunday." +Instead of finding a spring that the Indians claimed to possess great +curative properties and supposed to be a fountain of perpetual youth, +he found his death in an arrow wound from the Indians. Here he passed +over the site of St. Augustine, which later became the oldest +community in the United States, having been located in 1565. + +Came Pineda from Spain in 1519, entering the Gulf of Mexico, sailing +all along the Florida Coast, by Louisiana, past Texas, searching for +the "Western Passage." Here he met Cortez, the Governor-General of New +Spain. Came Narvaez in 1520, the Spanish slave gatherer, who lost his +life on the trip, lost it in a bad cause. And then in 1524 came +Verrazano, the Spanish Pirate and outcast. One hundred years later, +when Spain sought to establish her claim to the country he had visited +which might inure to her through his discovery, she said he was a very +honorable gentleman, that her colors were flying at his prow, instead +of the black flag of the Freebooter. Oh, Spain! Spain! The more I +study you, the less I admire you! Then came Gomez in 1525 from +Portugal commissioned to sail all the way along our coast from +Newfoundland to Florida, in search of a channel through the American +Continent to the Western Sea. + +He was followed sixty years later by Greenville, a cousin of Sir +Walter Raleigh, flying the English Flag. Raleigh's eyes were filled +with visions of a golden future--a man of whom we would say in these +days, that he always had an eye to the "main chance." "Whosoever +commands the sea," he said, "commands the trade; whosoever commands +the trade of the world, commands the riches of the world, and +consequently the world itself." For a little practical expression of +that philosophy, he threw his cloak down in the mud one day for his +proud Queen to step upon. Even he little realized the wealth-product +beneath its soiled folds, for from that little incident came the +introduction of the potato into England. Raleigh became a great +favorite of the Queen, and what he asked she granted. He asked of her +a royal charter for his cousin, Sir Richard Grenville, and funds for +an expedition to the New World. It resulted in those ships taking back +to England the potato and tobacco. Forty-three years before, we sent +them their Christmas dinner in the delectable wild turkey; we now gave +them as an accompaniment, the mealy and nutritious potato. Came Davis +in this same year of 1585, who discovered the Straits named for him, +and also Falkland Islands, which he found in 1592. + +And the century closed, with the lights going out all along the +Atlantic Coast, for the attempts at colonization were failing. The +roots of home-making would not take hold, with the buccaneers stirring +up the savages to fight the colonists on one side, and the loneliness +of the impassable sea terrifying them on the other. + +The next century found Champlain in 1603, making his voyage to Canada, +starting the French settlement at Quebec, in 1608, and sailing up the +St. Lawrence and around the lakes, hunting for locations for +settlements, and for a way to China. There was Lord de la Warr, coming +over in 1607, and finding a little English settlement on the mainland +at Jamestown in Virginia. The same year came the capable Captain +Smith, a soldier of fortune, who killed his Turkish task master, and +whose life was saved by a Senorita, to be saved again by Pocahontas. + +There was the distinguished Sir Henry Hudson in 1607, trying to find +another Cape Horn above Greenland; failing, he sailed south, entered +New York harbor, thence up the Hudson River seeking China. Up past the +monument of Grant, past the beautiful Palisades, by West Point and +Poughkeepsie, beyond Albany, and all the time the water becoming more +shallow and the banks narrower, until he had gone one hundred and +fifty miles, sailing north instead of southwest to Southern +California, which would put him opposite the country he was seeking. +Turn back! Sir Henry, turn back! Your prow will soon be fast in the +mud, your vessel's sides will scrape the river's banks, your boat will +dam up the waters of the Hudson, and all the surrounding country will +be inundated! It is not yet the day of the airship, so that you can +sail over the Rocky Mountains, nor is it the time of tunnels, so that +you can find a passage beneath them! Just north of you, at that very +moment, sixty miles away, Champlain has turned back, and neither of +you know it. This country is not for you, nor for him. There are no +great waterways along which you both may sail, touching the shores, +planting the flags of your countries, and claiming this Continent for +your Kings. Go back! Sir Henry, and when Champlain has colonized +Canada, and established Quebec, sail in and take it away from him! +Which was the very thing that was done twenty-one years later. Where +might seemed right then, so sometimes it seems right now, after all +these years of Christianization. + +The settlements are coming fast now. All up and down the Coast, the +people are gathering; the Plymouth Fathers have come; the Scotch are +at Nova Scotia; the Swedes and Dutch are at Delaware and New Jersey; +the French are in Virginia and Louisiana; the English are in New +England; the Spanish have killed all the Huguenots and are in Florida. +Then there is the conscientious William Penn, Quakerlike, out among +the Indians buying their lands, and we are saying to him "why buy, +when you can take all without asking?" And there is Daniel Boone, the +native-born American explorer, hero of every boy and girl, who has +made his way through the wilderness and with an axe blazed his way, as +later he marked his path by rocks and mounds of earth, all the way to +the Mississippi River. + +The echoes of Liberty Bell, ringing out our independence and ringing +in the Continental Congress, had not ceased their reverberations, when +the curtain that Coronado's defeat had rung down more than two +centuries before, was again lifted, and we behold a new stage with a +new setting, that had been prepared by the Church of Rome. Padre +Junthero Serra who, as President of the California Missions, had for +so long urged upon the Church the importance of laying out a route +from the settlement of Santa Fe to the West, finally prevailed. Friar +Francisco Andasio Dominquez, and Friar Sylvester Velez de Escalante, +were selected for this undertaking, and on July 29, 1776, started from +Santa Fe with eight soldiers and guides. Their route took them out of +New Mexico, into Colorado, Nevada, Arizona and Utah. They were gone +one summer, passed through the present site of Salt Lake City and laid +out a route that could be followed. Otherwise their trip was wholly +unproductive of any beneficial or permanent results. There are +stations adjoining each other on the Rio Grande Railroad between Delta +and Grand Junction named "Dominquez" and "Escalante" for these two +explorers. If the laurels of Coronado's discovery are ever +successfully removed from his crown, his mantle will fall upon the +shoulders of these two Friars. + +So we come to the close of the century with the glorious dawn breaking +all along the East, glowing in the heavens, shining over the people, +over the farms and the mills, over the towns and the country, bringing +prosperity and contentment to thousands. Its beams are resting on our +own Declaration of Independence; on our own Continental Congress; on +the benign countenance of the revered Washington, as he bids the +people an affectionate adieu in the stirring words of his great +farewell address, from which we quote this noble sentiment--and may it +abide with us forever: + +"Profoundly penetrated with this idea, I shall carry it with me to the +grave, as a strong incitement to unceasing vows that heaven may +continue to use the choicest token of its beneficence--that your Union +and brotherly affection may be perpetual, that the free constitution +which is the work of your hands, may be sacredly maintained, that its +administration in every department may be stamped with wisdom and +virtue, that in fine the happiness of the people of these states under +the auspices of liberty may be made complete by so careful a +preservation and so prudent a use of this blessing as will acquire to +them the glory of recommending it to the applause, affection and +adoption of every nation which is yet a stranger to it." + +How rapidly we have passed over these three hundred years, from the +days of the great Queen Isabella, to the time of the immortal +Washington! How lightly we have moved along, flitting here and there, +as the bee gathers honey for the comb, picking out events that seemed +essential in the preparation of the frame work for our picture; +passing by the great events of history, past the smiling and the +weeping, past the feasting and the hungering, past the living and the +dying--of all those who smiled and wept, who feasted and hungered, who +lived and died, in that crowded three hundred years of human endeavor! + +And now for our picture: A simple picture of simple events, simply +painted, with touches of human nature colorings, of the everyday joys +and sorrows, of the hopes and disappointments that came to us out of +the great West beyond the Mississippi River--in that portion of the +marvellous century just closed, the most wonderful century of this +most wonderful world! + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +LIEUTENANT PIKE. + + +[Sidenote: 1803] + +Enters the great Napoleon. He is in the midst of his never-ending +wars. He is fighting England and having a hard time. Spain has ceded +the Louisiana Territory to France, Louisiana as it was then, with its +one million square miles of territory, and not Louisiana as it is now, +with less than fifty thousand square miles, only one-twentieth its +original size. Napoleon sold us Louisiana in 1803, because he needed +the Sixteen Million Dollars we paid him for it, and it is said that he +stated, that in this transfer of territory he would make us so +powerful as a nation, that we would accomplish the downfall of +England, his hereditary enemy, after he was in his grave. St. Louis +had been started by the early French Fur Traders in 1764, and it took +it forty-one years to reach a population of two hundred and fifty +families. They had called it "Pain Court," which means, "short of +bread." + +It was in 1804, that the formal transfer of the Louisiana Territory +had been made at St. Louis, first from Spain to France, and then from +France to the United States. Time was unimportant in those days, and +although France had owned her possessions in the New World for two +years, she had not taken formal possession until the day of the +transfer to the United States. This was accomplished on the morning of +March 9, 1804, with such ceremony as was possible in that primitive +community. Down came the Flag of Spain! Up went the Flag of France! +Down came the Flag of France, and up went the Stars and Stripes to +float forever! So at last, after three hundred years, was launched on +its brilliant career, the country that Pope Alexander VI had given to +Spain, and which she had lacked the ability to develop, and the +capacity to govern. One hundred years later, the incident of the +lowering and raising of the flags was celebrated on that very spot, by +one of the greatest displays of modern times. To make it a fitting +centennial celebration, St. Louis voted Five Million Dollars in bonds; +there was a stock subscription of Five Million Dollars; the Government +appropriated Five Million Dollars; and the State of Missouri donated +One Million Dollars, making a total of the exact sum that was +originally paid for a territory, out of which fourteen states and two +territories have since been carved, that now contain the homes of +18,222,500 people, nearly a fifth of the 92,972,267 population of the +United States, a population that in 1804 was but 6,081,040. + +In all these years, the Spanish did little in New Spain to extend and +colonize the country. The Spanish race seemed to have lacked the +pioneer instinct; they were a luxury loving people, and did not +possess the hardy qualities and stout hearts that could conquer +unmurmuringly nature's comparatively insurmountable barriers. They +liked the plunder that had intoxicated them under the rule of Cortez, +and the enslavement of the humble and effeminate natives of a +territory whose climatic surroundings sapped their strength and made +them weak. The subjugation of the active and warlike northern Indians +was a very different thing, much to the surprise and disappointment of +the Spanish. They would fight. Large in stature as Coronado states in +his letter to the King, they were made of stern stuff, and their +fierce attitude interposed a permanent barrier to the encroachments of +the Spaniards from the south. They were never meant to be enslaved. +Think of making a menial of a Comanche, or an Apache! Think of old +Geronimo, a body servant! Think of taming a full-grown wild cat, with +its glaring eyes, its tearing teeth, and scratching claws! + +When the Apaches found that the Spaniards were repopulating the West +Indies with slaves from the mainland of this Continent, and had +captured some of their own tribe and carried them into captivity, the +indignation and wrath of these natives knew no bounds. They could +fight like demons, and when cornered they could destroy themselves, +but they could never be taken alive and enslaved. If this country had +been inhabited by the docile and easily subdued negroes, we would have +felt the domineering blight of Spain to this day. The reason Spain +failed to rivet its paralyzing hold upon this nation was because the +negro was not a native of this country, but a transplantment from +Africa. + +So the Spaniards made no further efforts to penetrate northward into a +territory which they claimed to be uninhabitable for civilized man. +They had made but one settlement--Santa Fe in 1605, which, next to St. +Augustine, Florida, is the oldest town in the United States. Near +Santa Fe, Coronado twice wintered his army on the Rio Grande, in the +Province of Tiguex. For eighty-five years the Spaniards possessed +Santa Fe, when, in 1690, there was an uprising of the Indians, who +captured the town, burned the buildings, and massacred or drove out +its inhabitants. It was at this time that valuable manuscripts are +supposed to have been burned, that might have had to do with +Coronado's expedition. The Spaniards always made triplicate copies of +their State papers, for their better preservation, and it is copies of +these papers that the Archaeological Society hopes to unearth, in the +mouldy and cob-webbed cellars under the monasteries of Old Spain. For +two years, the Indians held Santa Fe, when, defeated in battle, they +again gave way to the Spaniards, who later on, were to abdicate in +favor of the United States. + +[Sidenote: 1805] + +Washington made history at Trenton, New Jersey, in 1776, by the +capture of a body of Hessian soldiers. About two years afterwards a +child was born in that village whose name must have been given it by a +pious mother with her Bible on her knee, and not, I ween, by the +father, Captain Pike, of the Revolutionary Army, who would have +doubtless called his son after one of the great generals of that time. +It is in the thirtieth chapter of Genesis, we learn of a Zebulun for +the first time, in the story of the sisters Leah and Rachael. + +Zebulon Montgomery Pike went to school at Easton, Pa., and before he +was twenty-one was made a Captain in the Army, which shows that it is +a good thing to have a father with influence. In 1805, Pike started, +under the authority of President Jefferson, on an expedition to +discover the source of the Mississippi River. His trip, lasting nine +months, was successful, and upon his return, he started almost +immediately with a party to explore geographically the Louisiana +Purchase. He outfitted at St. Louis, which was the last western point +where supplies could be obtained. + +In Lieutenant Pike's party there were twenty-four, including a guide +and interpreter, and he had in his care fifty-one Indians whom he was +to return to their tribe, the Government having rescued them from +other tribes who had made them prisoners. He went by sail boats up the +Missouri River from St. Louis, while the Indians traveled by land, the +two parties camping near each other at night. He kept a journal in +which he made a daily record of events, which he copied and sent in +with his report of the expedition to the Government after his return. +Some excerpts are given to help the reader to a better and closer +knowledge of the man and the times. He records, as he passed through +Missouri, his impression of that State in this language: + +"These vast plains of the Western Hemisphere may become in time as +celebrated as the sandy deserts of Africa, but from these immense +prairies may arise one great advantage to the United States, the +restriction of our population to some certain limits and thereby a +continuance of the Union. Our citizens being so prone to rambling and +extending themselves on the frontier, will, through necessity, be +constrained to limit their extent on the West to the borders of the +Mississippi and the Missouri, while they leave the prairies incapable +of cultivation to the wandering and uncivilized aborigines of the +country." + +With regard to the Indians placed in his care, we read this: + +"* * * Every morning we were awakened by the mourning of the savages, +who commenced crying about daylight and continued their lamentation +for the space of an hour. I made inquiry of my interpreter with +respect to this practice and was informed that it was a custom not +only with those who had recently lost their relatives, but also with +others, who recalled to mind the loss of some friend, dead long since, +who joined the mourners purely from sympathy. They appeared extremely +affected, tears ran down their cheeks and they sobbed bitterly, but in +a moment they dry their cheeks and cease their cries." + +Of these same Indians, upon being turned over to their tribe, he says: + +"Lieutenant Wilkinson informed me that their meeting was very tender +and affectionate. Wives throwing themselves into the arms of their +husbands; parents embracing their children and children their parents; +brothers and sisters meeting--one from captivity, the other from the +towns; at the same time returning thanks to the good God for having +brought them once more together." + +In Missouri, he records his first sight of a slaughter of animals by +the Indians: + +"After proceeding about a mile, we discovered a herd of elk which we +pursued; they took back in sight of the Pawnees who immediately +mounted fifty or sixty young men and joined in the pursuit; then for +the first time in my life, I saw animals slaughtered by the true +savages by their original weapons, bows and arrows. They buried the +arrow up to the plume in the animal." + +The Indians called the prairie dog the "wish-ton-wish" because of +their shrill bark. He says, in part, of these little animals: + +"Their holes descend in a spiral form, on which account I could never +ascertain their depth; but I once had 140 kettles of water poured +into one of them in order to drive out the occupant but without +effect. * * * We killed great numbers of these animals with our rifles +and found them excellent meat after they were exposed a night or two +to the frost by which means the rankness acquired by their +subterranean dwelling is corrected." + +While still in Missouri we read from his diary this: + +"Friday 12th of September.--Commenced our march at 7:00 o'clock and +passed some very rough flint hills; my feet blistered and were very +sore. Standing on a hill, I beheld in one view below me, buffaloes, +elks, deer, cabrie, and panther. Encamped on the main branch of Grand +River which has very steep banks and was deep. Doctor Robinson, +Bradley and Baromi arrived after dusk, having killed three buffaloes, +which with one I had killed and two by the Indians, made in all six. +The Indians alleging it was the Kansas Hunting Ground, said they would +destroy all the game they possibly could. Distance advanced eighteen +miles." + +In Missouri also, in addition to the many species of game which he +daily describes in his journal, he speaks of the wild turkeys. A +mistaken idea exists among some as to how this bird found its way to +the western plains and mountains. In the Eastern States, before the +time of easy transportation or cold storage, dealers would go through +the country gathering the turkeys from the farmers, and driving them +along the public highways to market, in great droves like sheep. From +that, an impression went abroad that later, a drove of turkeys, +crossing the plains to California, became scattered and wild. The +facts are, wild turkeys were plentiful in New Spain and had been +domesticated by the Aztecs before the conquest of Mexico by Cortez. +They were never seen in England until 1541, when they reached there +from New Spain, the very year Coronado was marching with his army +towards Colorado. The highly ornamented head dresses of the Indians, +which were first made from the feathers of the eagles and the owls, +were later made from the glossy and richly hued feathers of the wild +turkey. + +Lieutenant Pike and his party passed on westward into Kansas and +followed the Arkansas River into Colorado. Soon after he entered our +State, near the place where the Purgatoire River empties into the +Arkansas, he discovered the Rocky Mountains, then known as the Mexican +Mountains. A legend containing a note of sadness comes to us out the +buried centuries. Soldiers going from Santa Fe to St. Augustine with +gold for the army were never heard of beyond the junction of the +Arkansas and Purgatoire Rivers. As the months and years passed with no +tidings of the soldiers, a Priest named one of the rivers El Rio de +las Animas Perdidas--the River of Lost Souls. The French trappers +later changed the name to Purgatoire. Long afterwards it is said that +an Indian confessed to a Priest that the Indians had surrounded the +men and killed every one. Much gold has been spent since that day +searching for the gold the soldiers were supposed to have buried when +they knew they were to be attacked. + +It was on the afternoon of November 15, 1805, that, looking to the +northwest, Pike saw what he took to be a small blue cloud. Then with a +glass he discovered that it was a peak, towering above all the +surrounding heights, and which then and after, his party spoke of as +the Grand Peak. It was known by all the Indian tribes for hundreds of +miles around, and the early hunters and trappers told that it was so +high, the clouds could not get between it and the sky. It later became +known as "Pike's Peak." Two days after the discovery of this Peak, +whose altitude is 14,147 feet, he tells in his journal of the feast of +marrow bones, and how deceptive distance is in this rarified air: + +"Monday, 17th November.--Marched at our usual hour; pushed on with an +idea of arriving at the mountains but found at night no visible +difference in their appearance from what we had observed yesterday. +One of our horses gave out and was left in a ravine not being able to +ascend the hill, but I sent back for him and had him brought to the +camp. Distance advanced twenty-three miles and a half. + +"Tuesday, 18th of November.--As we discovered fresh signs of the +savages, we concluded it best to stop and kill some meat for fear we +should get into a country where we could not obtain game. Sent out the +hunters. I walked myself to an eminence from whence I took the courses +to the different mountains and a small sketch of their appearance. In +the evening found the hunters had killed without mercy, having slain +seventeen buffaloes and wounded at least twenty more. + +"Wednesday, 19th of November.--Having several carcasses brought in, I +gave out sufficient meat to last this month. I found it expedient to +remain and dry the meat for our horses were getting very weak, and the +one died which was brought in yesterday. Had a general feast of marrow +bones. One hundred and thirty-six of them furnishing the repast. + +"Saturday, 22d of November.--* * * We made for the woods and unloaded +our horses, and the two leaders endeavored to arrange the party; it was +with great difficulty they got them tranquil and not until there had +been a bow or two bent on the occasion. When in some order, we found +them to be sixty warriors, half with fire arms and half with bows and +arrows and lances. Our party was in all sixteen * * * Finding this, we +determined to protect ourselves as far as was in our power and the +affair began to wear a serious aspect. I ordered my men to take their +arms and separate themselves from the savages; at the same time +declaring I would kill the first man who touched our baggage. * * *" + +It was on November 27th that he arrived at the base of Pike's Peak, +and because of the lateness of the season could not ascend it. +Instead, he reached the summit of Cheyenne Mountain, and looked up to +the grand pinnacle that stood out so grandly majestic, seeming so +close, yet estimated by him to be fifteen or sixteen miles away. He +looked down on the billowy clouds below, that rose and lowered like +the tossing of mighty waves in a storm at sea. He stood speechlessly +gazing on such grandeur as his eyes had never yet beheld, and he felt +the awe, and immensity, and sublimity of it, down to the end of his +life. It was the same Cheyenne Mountain where Helen Hunt, the writer, +so loved to be. Here, she was enthralled with the beauty and majesty +that surrounded her, and here she received the inspiration for those +glowing descriptions of nature as she saw it in its restful moods, and +as she pictured it in its times of frenzy. Her love for that mountain +was so great, that on its bosom, high up near the stars, beneath the +trees that spoke to her as they rustled in the summer's breeze, her +grave was made and there she was buried according to her wish. + +All winter, Pike prospected the mountains and the rivers, in the midst +of such suffering as few people endure and survive. These few notes +from his diary tell the story: + +"Wednesday, 24th of December.--* * * About eleven o'clock met Dr. +Robinson on a prairie, who informed me that he and Baromi had been +absent from the party two days without killing anything, also without +eating * * * + +"Thursday, 25th of December.--* * * We had before been occasionally +accustomed to some degree of relaxation and extra enjoyments; but the +case was now far different; eight hundred miles from the frontiers of +our country in the most inclement season of the year; not one person +properly clothed for the winter; many without blankets, having been +obliged to cut them up for socks and other articles; lying down, too, +at night on the snow or wet ground, one side burning, whilst the other +was pierced with the cold wind; that was briefly the situation of the +party; while some were endeavoring to make a miserable substitute of +raw buffalo hide for shoes and other covering. * * * + +[Illustration: Pike Leaving the Two Comrades with Frozen Feet at the +Log Fort They Built Near Canon City.] + +"Tuesday, 20th of January.--The doctor and all the men able to march +returned to the buffalo to bring in the remainder of the meat. On +examining the feet of those who were frozen, we found it impossible +for two of them to proceed, and two others only without loads by the +help of a stick. One of the former was my waiter, a promising young +lad of twenty, whose feet were so badly frozen as to present every +possibility of his losing them. The doctor and party returned toward +evening loaded with the buffalo meat. + +"Tuesday, 17th of February.--* * * This evening the corporal and three +of the men arrived, who had been sent back to the camp of their frozen +companions. They informed me that two more would arrive the next day, +one of them was Menaugh, who had been left alone on the 27th of +January; but the other two, Dougherty and Spark, were unable to come. +They said that they had hailed them with tears of joy and were in +despair when they again left them with a chance of never seeing them +more. They sent on to me some of the bones taken out of their feet and +conjured me by all that was sacred not to leave them to perish far +from the civilized world. Oh! little did they know my heart if they +could suspect me of conduct so ungenerous! No, before they should be +left, I would for months have carried the end of a litter in order to +secure them the happiness of once more seeing their native homes and +being received in the bosom of a grateful country. Thus these poor +fellows are to be invalids for life, made infirm at the commencement +of manhood and in the prime of their course; doomed to pass the +remainder of their days in misery and want. For what is the pension? +Not sufficient to buy a man his victuals! What man would even lose the +smallest of his joints for such a trifling pittance?" + +The Louisiana Purchase had left a disputed boundary, which, with other +things, threatened war between the United States and Spain. When Pike +crossed over the Rocky Mountains to the West side, he was exploring +disputed territory, though he was lost and thought he was on the Red +River, instead of the Rio Grande, the former being within the limits +of the Louisiana Purchase. He had passed that River, however, above +its source, and had gotten over on the Rio Grande, which territory was +still claimed by Spain. Had he found the Red River, it was his +intention to build rafts and follow it towards its junction with the +Mississippi, landing on his way at Nachitoches in Louisiana, which is +about one hundred and fifteen miles west of Natchez--that being the +Military Post to which he was to report. Notice of his presence in the +Mountains had reached Santa Fe, where Spanish soldiers were stationed. +The Governor sent an officer and fifty dragoons to bring him out. He +was taken south to Santa Fe, going peaceably, but all the time +protesting in the name of his Government at the indignity. Here he was +questioned, his papers examined, and those in authority being +undecided as to how to handle the matter because of its national +character, they sent him far away to the south, to Chihuahua in New +Spain, the headquarters of the Military Chief of Upper Mexico, where +he arrived April 2d. After being detained for some days, all his +papers again gone over in a vain endeavor to find something +incriminating, it was determined to send him East to his destination, +with an escort, his party, however, not to be permitted to accompany +him, but to be sent after him. + +In July, 1806, he arrived at Nachitoches, where he was warmly welcomed +by his fellow officers. A little later he received a letter of thanks +from the Government. He was made a Major in the Army in 1808; +Lieutenant Colonel in 1809; Deputy Quartermaster-General and Colonel +both, in 1812; Brigadier General in 1813. In that year he was sent by +the Government on an expedition against York in Upper Canada, at the +time of our second war with England. Here a magazine of the Fort +exploded, a mass of stone fell on him and crushed him, and he died at +the age of thirty-five. In his pocket was found a little volume +containing a touching admonition to his son. He urged that he regard +his honor above everything else, and that he be ready to die for his +country at any time. + +Lieutenant Pike had a pleasing personality, and had he lived, he would +doubtless have been prominent in the affairs of the Government. He had +strong features, keen kindly eyes, firm chin, high forehead, a nose +that showed breeding, was clean shaven, had closely cropped hair +combed straight back, and his picture somewhat resembles the portrait +of Thomas Jefferson, once President of the United States. His modesty +would not permit the giving of his own untarnished name to the great +Peak that through the ages will proudly bear his name. The name came +from a popular demand of the people, who were here at an early date, +and who did away with the name of "James Peak" which Major Long gave +it in honor of one of his own exploring party. + +[Illustration: One of the Approaches to Cheyenne Mountain, Pike's Peak +in the Background.] + +There is a singular coincidence attached to the name of this Peak. A +pike in former times was the name given to anything with a sharp +point. A road with toll gates was called a pike, because the gate +consisted of a pole that swung up with the small end pointing towards +the sky. In olden times the name of pike, instead of peak, was given +to all summits of mountains. Gradually the word pike gave way to peak, +and the former finally became obsolete. So in the name of Pike's Peak, +we have it so securely named, that even the highest legislation in the +land could not take away from it the name of Pike. And in this +towering peak and its companions, if Prof. Agassiz is right, we have +the first dry land that was lifted out of the great world's waste of +waters. Colorado is to be congratulated that it has a monument in its +midst that will forever commemorate the memory of a good man, who was +intellectually, physically and morally clean and strong; who was +faithful to every trust; tender in his sympathies; lofty in his ideals +and character; and who loved his country so much, that he was willing +to give it all he had--his life. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE LOST PERIOD. + + +As footprints on the sands of the ocean's beach are blotted out by +winds and waves, so a Chapter of Colorado's History has been torn from +its pages and can never be reproduced--the hunter and trapper. +Exploring parties sent out by the Government were required to make +careful observations, and a minute record of all they saw. It is by +this we can follow them through their wanderings amidst primeval +scenes, and can picture them moving slowly over the plains, solitary +or in little groups, struggling forward, often hungry, lame, sick and +desolate. But there will ever remain an untold story of those early +times; as it can never be written by the hands long stilled, nor ever +spoken by the lips long silenced. In that buried period are blended +the romance, tragedy and adventures of the hunters and trappers who +frequented Colorado in the beginning of the last century. They were +few in number, mostly of French extraction, with St. Louis as their +home. They were a type whose like will never be seen again, for the +reasons for their existing can never again be duplicated. They were +Indian Traders, who went at first to the outskirts of civilization, +exchanging inexpensive articles for the rich furs of the Indians. As +their acquaintance grew with the natives, they crowded into the +Indians' country, and following the streams, took the otter and beaver +at first hand. Because of their being so few in number, they were +rarely molested; then, too, they were a medium by which the natives +could realize on their furs, pittance though it was. + +Some of these trappers would remain out on their expeditions for +several years at a time, often living with the Indians and adopting +their ways. As their clothes fell to pieces from age and use, they +would replenish from the primitive blanket costumes of the Indians, +whom in time they came to resemble. Often they would marry Indian +wives and settle down to the nomadic life of the aborigines. Sometimes +there would crowd upon them such stirring memories of the experiences +they had once enjoyed, that the wives and children would be left to +tears and loneliness, while the trapper with his face set toward the +East, with his pack on his back, would tramp to the settlements, +sometimes to remain, sometimes to return. We know some of the men who +visited the mountains and streams of Colorado; knowledge of their +presence here has floated down to us in various ways. When Major Long +came on his exploring trip in 1819, he secured as guides two French +Trappers, then living with the tribe of Pawnee Indians in southeastern +Nebraska, who had trapped in the region of the Rocky Mountains. + +James Pursley was here in 1805 and traded among the Indians; +Lieutenant Pike in his report, speaks of him as the first white man +who ever crossed the plains. He made the first discovery of gold in +Colorado, which he found at the foot of Lincoln Mountain, doubtless at +Fairplay on the Platte River, where once extensive placer diggings +existed. As late as 1875, the Company operating there had a large +number of Chinamen at work. The immense grass-grown gulch, wide and +deep and long, at the edge of Fairplay, is the excavation out of which +hundreds of thousands of dollars were taken. Colorado has done well to +commemorate the name of Abraham Lincoln in one of its loftiest +mountains. + +A Frenchman named La Lande was sent out by an Illinois merchant in +1804, to make an investigation of the country and report. He came +along the Platte Valley, crossed over to Santa Fe, where he concluded +to remain. There was a party of French Trappers known to have been +here about 1800 who went South into Arizona, in search of untouched +territory to ply their avocation. Philip Covington in 1827 passed up +the Cache La Poudre Valley with a pack train, on his way to Green +River with supplies. He returned in 1828 and established a colony of +trappers at La Porte, one of the oldest settlements in Colorado, and +which is located near Ft. Collins. He was in the employ of the +American Fur Company. + +[Illustration: The Trapper.] + +The trappers would often go alone into these vast solitudes, with pack +horses to carry their supplies in, and their furs but. Sometimes they +would die in their lonely retreats, and never be heard of again, only +as some sign of the fate that had overtaken them would be found years +later. After a time, there were wagon routes of travel along the +Arkansas River, with a trading post at Fort Bent and one at Santa Fe; +also up the South Platte River, with trading centers at Ft. St. Vrain +and at Ft. Lupton; and up the North Platte River, with the business +centering at Ft. Laramie. Sometimes trappers who were brought out in +the freighting wagons in the Spring from St. Louis by the Fur-Trading +Companies, would be left with supplies along the streams, and in the +Fall they would be picked up and taken with their peltries back to St. +Louis. + +The Astor Trail was made in 1810 through South Dakota west to the +Coast. A great impetus was given to the fur business by the Lewis and +Clark Exploring Party in 1804. They opened up the first Coast to Coast +trail, and were the first white men to cross the Continent between the +British operations on the North, and the Spanish on the South. Lewis +had been President Jefferson's Private Secretary, and Captain Clark +was his friend. They traveled eighty-five hundred miles, and they +nationalized the fur business which grew to such proportions that +years after they had opened up the line of travel, we were selling in +London, alone, two million one hundred and seventy thousand furs +annually. The rich peltries then were what gold and silver were later, +and what grain, alfalfa, fruit, sugar beets and potatoes are now, and +will be as long as water, soil, and sunshine blend. Buffalo and otter +skins brought in the western market three dollars each; beaver skins +four dollars; coon and muskrat twenty-five cents; deer skins +thirty-eight cents per pound. + +The early trappers could have been of inestimable benefit to the +Government, had they been called upon to help solve the perplexing +Indian problems that for so many years confronted us. They knew the +Indians, their languages, habits and customs; and had their knowledge +and influence with the natives been utilized, we might have peaceably +settled many of the difficulties that required the sacrifice of so +many lives and the unnecessary expenditure of so much money. + +The fur industry, however, depended upon the keen perception of an +awkward, unlettered, German boy for its growth and quick development. +He came to London from Germany, with his bundle under his arm, to help +in his brother's music store. John Jacob Ashdoer was his name, which +by evolution became "Astor." With great frugality and unceasing +industry, he saved enough in two years to pay his passage on a sailing +ship to America, and there was enough left of his little hoard to buy +seven flutes of his uncle, his sole stock in trade. When he reached +this country, he traded one of his flutes for some furs; and that +particular flute, and those particular furs, made history. It turned +his attention to the fur trade, and laid the foundation for the +greatest landed estate in America. With his pack on his back, he +traveled among the Indian tribes of the Eastern States, and got their +furs in exchange for gaudy trinkets, such as beads and ribbons. He +personally took the furs to London, so as to realize the highest +possible price for them and rapidly grew rich. In 1800 when he had +only been in this country fifteen years, he was clearing fifty +thousand dollars on a single trip of one of his sailing vessels. + +It was at this time that Astor founded Astoria as a fur trading point, +on the Columbia River, expecting to operate by ship, as well as +freighting overland by the way of Ft. Laramie, and thus control the +fur traffic along the tributary rivers. The destruction of Astoria by +the British kept him from realizing his dream of becoming "the richest +man in the world." Washington Irving and John Jacob Astor were +friends, and the latter placed in Irving's hands all the records of +his Company's operations, from which Irving gathered much interesting +data, and many thrilling experiences from the lives of the early +trappers and hunters. He wrote "Astoria" as a compliment to his +friend. In this book he pictures the Rocky Mountains as having an +elevation in places of twenty-five thousand feet, but frankly states +that it is only conjecture, since their altitude had never been +measured. The average height of the Rocky Mountains exceed that of the +famous Alps, a number of the noted peaks being above thirteen thousand +feet. + +Some of Irving's interesting and pleasing prophecies of our country +follow: + +"It is a region almost as vast and trackless as the ocean, and at the +time of which we treat, but little known, excepting through the vague +accounts of Indian hunters. A part of their route would lay across an +immense tract, stretching North and South for hundreds of miles along +the foot of the Rocky Mountains, and drained by the tributaries of the +Missouri and the Mississippi. This region, which resembles one of the +immeasurable steppes of Asia, has not inaptly been termed 'The Great +American Desert.' It spreads forth into undulating and trackless +plains and desolate sandy wastes, wearisome to the eye from their +extent and monotony, and which are supposed by geologists to have +formed the ancient floor of the ocean, countless ages since, when its +primeval waves beat against the granite bases of the Rocky Mountains. + +"It is a land where no man permanently abides; for, in certain seasons +of the year, there is no food, either for the hunter or his steed. The +herbage is parched and withered; the brooks and streams are dried up; +the buffalo, the elk and the deer have wandered to distant parts, +keeping within the verge of expiring verdure, and leaving behind them +a vast uninhabited solitude, seamed by ravines, the beds of former +torrents, but now serving only to tantalize and increase the thirst of +the traveler. Such is the nature of this immense wilderness of the far +West, which apparently defies cultivation, and the habitation of +civilized life * * * Here may spring up new and mongrel races * * * +Some may gradually become pastoral hordes, like those rude and +migratory people, half shepherd, half warrior, who, with their flocks +and herds, roam the plains of Upper Asia; but, others, it is to be +apprehended, will become predatory bands, mounted on the fleet steeds +of the prairies, with the open plains for their marauding ground, and +the mountains for their retreats and lurking places. Here they may +resemble those great hordes of the North; 'Gog and Magog with their +bands,' that haunted the gloomy imaginations of the prophets, 'A great +Company and a mighty host all riding upon horses, and warring upon +those nations which were at rest, and dwelt peaceably, and had gotten +cattle and goods.'" + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +MAJOR LONG. + + +[Sidenote: 1819] + +Fourteen years have passed since Lieutenant Pike sold his two little +sail boats to the Osage Indians as he left the Missouri River and +started on his overland journey. Within this brief period a great +invention has marked the progress of the century. After years of +experiments, failures and disappointments; after sinking one vessel +and abandoning others; Robert Fulton has returned from his trip to +France, bringing with him his steam engine with which he had perfected +water navigation, and by his genius linked together all the nations of +the earth, increased the wealth and commerce of the world, and won for +himself enduring fame. + +The next exploring party was to start in a steamship owned by the +Government of the United States, and under the leadership of Stephen +Harriman Long. Born at Hopkington, New Hampshire, December 30, 1784, +Long had graduated at Dartmouth College, and entered the corps of +Engineers of the U.S. Army, in 1814; had been a professor of +mathematics at the Military Academy at West Point, and had been +transferred to the Topographical Engineers in 1815, with the +brevet-rank of Major. + +James Monroe was President, and John C. Calhoun Secretary of War, and +they gave Major Long elaborate instructions as to his duty. We had +owned the vast Louisiana Territory for sixteen years, and knew but +little more about it than when it came into our possession. So, Long +was to explore it and make a very thorough investigation of the +"country between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains, the +Missouri and its tributaries, the Red River, the Arkansas River, and +the Mississippi above the mouth of the Missouri." + +On May 3, 1819, the party of nine started from the arsenal on the +Allegheny River just above Pittsburgh, at which point they entered the +Ohio River. Their steamer carried them down the Ohio to its junction +with the Mississippi, a distance of about nine hundred miles, where +they arrived May 30th. Here they turned north up the Mississippi +River, about one hundred and seventy-five miles to St. Louis, which +they reached June 9th. Then they steamed West up the Missouri, over +the course that Pike had sailed fourteen years before, to the same +point where the Osage River enters the Missouri, near the present +location of Jefferson City and one hundred and thirty-three miles from +the Mississippi River. The party divided; part of the number +disembarked and proceeded with horses through Missouri, Kansas and +Nebraska, meeting those of the party who remained on the boat at +Council Bluffs on September 19th. There they established their winter +quarters on the banks of the Missouri, about five miles below the +present City of Council Bluffs, and so named because of a Council held +with the Indians by the Government at that point. In the log houses, +built by Pike and his party, and with the supplies they had brought on +the ship, the party passed a comfortable and leisurely winter. On June +6, 1820, they started from Council Bluffs, the party then consisting +of twenty men and twenty-eight horses. It is interesting to know what +their pack ponies carried. Here is an invoice: + + 150 lbs. pork + 500 lbs. biscuit + 10 cannisters + 300 flints + 25 lbs. coffee + 30 lbs. sugar + 5 lbs. vermilion + 2 lbs. beads + 30 lbs. tobacco + 2 doz. moccasin awls + 1 doz. scissors + 6 doz. looking glasses + 1 doz. gun worms + 1 doz. fire-steels + 2 gross hawks bells + 2 gross knives + 1 gross combs + 2 bu. parched corn + 5 gal. whiskey + Bullet pouches + Powder horns + Skin canoes + Packing skins + Canteens + Forage bags + Several hatchets + A little salt + A few trinkets + Pack cards + Small packing boxes for insects. + +They followed along the Platte River, and stopped for a time at the +junction of the North Fork of that River with the South Fork, where +North Platte is now situated. Here they tell of watching the beavers +cut down a cottonwood tree. They observed that when it was nearly +ready to fall, one of the beavers swam out into the river and posted +itself as a sentinel. As soon as it saw the tops of the branches begin +to move, it gave the signal by giving the water a resounding slap with +its flat tail, when every beaver scampered out of reach of the falling +tree. It must have been a moonlight night when they were there, +otherwise they would not have seen the beavers at work, for they +reverse nature's order and sleep in the daytime, working at night. +They sleep in their houses, with their bodies in the water, and their +heads resting out of the water on a stick. At twilight, a wise old +mother beaver comes out and swims all around the pond or river, +looking and smelling. Their sense of smell is very keen, and those who +wish to observe them do so from treetops near the water. If after a +careful investigation, the sentinel decides there are no man people, +or wild animals around, one slap of the tail on the water is given, +and out pops the nose of every beaver of the band, and all proceed +with their work, exactly where it ended at sunrise. If the one on +picket duty sees or hears anything that seems suspicious, three sharp +resounding strokes of the tail sends every beaver in a flash to his +hiding place, and nothing will tempt them out again that night. They +have an instinct for making a tree fall in exactly the place where +they want it, and it is used as a foundation for the numerous dams +they build in the streams. + +On June 30th, Long's party got their first glimpse of the Rocky +Mountains. Later on, when they were camped near Ft. Lupton, opposite +the Peak, they gave it the name of Long, its altitude being fourteen +thousand two hundred and seventy feet. + +None of the party were ever near the Peak. Two of them, more +courageous than the others, rode out one memorable morning, under a +cloudless sky, with their faces towards the snowy range--rode away to +defeat and oblivion. As morning turned to noon and they seemed no +nearer to the pinnacle than when they started, they retraced their +steps across the silent plain. Thus they lost an opportunity of +forever linking their names to undying fame. Had they proceeded, they +could have electrified a nation by writing into their report a page +that would have remained undimmed to the end of time. It was theirs, +had they embraced it, to have discovered Estes Park, the gorgeous +setting that crowns the approach to the King of Peaks. But they turned +back; back from the snow-white mountains beckoning them onward; from +the purple tints that veiled the mystic summits in a mellow haze; from +the lights and shadows playing over hill and dale, under a canopy of +fleecy clouds. + +Beautiful Estes Park! Rarest gem of all the sparkling jewels that +adorn the bosom of this fair world! In you the Divine Hand has created +the masterpiece of all earthly beauty! You are so freighted down with +scenic blessings that the mould was broken in your formation and there +can be no duplication! Glorious is your resting place under the +cloudless sky, as you lie in the embraces of the soft and balmy air +that envelops you! Beautiful are your grassy slopes and velvet +meadows, asleep beneath the gleaming stars, awake under the mellow +skies, reaching away in a panoramic view of exquisite colorings! +Faultless are Nature's highways as they wind in and out among your fir +and spruce, your pine and aspen, through silvery glades and leafy +dells, by rocky gorges and towering cliffs! Lovely are the azure lakes +that rest against your mountain sides, reflecting in their limpid +depths your rocks and trees, your lights and shades, your fleecy +clouds and snow-clad peaks! How gentle is the flow of your sounding +streams; how they eddy and fall; how they tumble and roar, as they +hurry along to their far-away home in the sea! How grand and terrible +are the awe-inspiring storms that gather in the mountains high above +you, as cloud rolls upon cloud, black, dense, lowering; how the +terrific peals of thunder crash from peak to peak, like the duel of +artillery meeting on the field of carnage in the mighty shock of +battle! + +As light follows darkness, as sunshine comes after the rain, as peace +succeeds strife, the clouds unveil, the tempest is calmed, the glory +of the sun dispels the gloom, and the storm lashed pinnacles robed in +eternal snow, light up under the glow of the lingering twilight. The +tiny throated songsters warble their simple evening notes, ever old +and forever new, rivaling the music of the streams, as they flood this +paradise of parks with an ecstasy of melody. The eagle mounts skyward, +rising higher and higher, in ever widening circles, standing out +against the sky, then soaring away beyond the vision to his eyrie in +the gaping gorge of the lofty crest. + +The opalescent hues envelop the mountain rims. The fiery red, flames +into a glow, melts to the softest purple, blends to the rarest gray, +and in a delirium of rich colors the sun goes down in a cloud of +glory. The sublimity of the scene clings like a halo around the +sky-piercing summits. The day darkens, and the rosy tints of sunset +fade into a flood of moonlight that mirrors the shining stars in the +rivers, flowing far below under the mysterious shadows of the mighty +cliffs. + +Long and his party followed along the Platte River by the place where +Denver is located, and on to Colorado Springs, at which point some of +them attempted to climb Pike's Peak, but did not succeed. Greatly to +their discredit, they named that Peak for "James," one of their +number, instead of for "Pike," its discoverer. The people saw to it, +however, that the name thus given it, should not be permanent. The +people are nearly always right. The party proceeded on to Canon City +and Pueblo, and then this exploring party made a discovery; they +discovered that their biscuits were running short, so they immediately +started home. They had left Council Bluffs, June 6th; they knew how +long five hundred pounds of biscuits would last twenty men; so they +knew they were on a pleasure trip and would have to start back July +19th, just one month and thirteen days after they set out, and ten +days after they reached Colorado. When we think of the faithful Pike +and his loyal men, freezing, starving, persisting; think of them with +worn-out cotton clothing in winter, instead of warm flannel; of making +shoes out of raw buffalo hides; of persevering in the face of every +obstruction, and then read Long's report of starting back in +midsummer, for the want of biscuits, our admiration grows for +Lieutenant Pike and his devoted party of courageous men. + +[Illustration: The Buffalo Runner.] + +Major Long's report to the Government was of such a discouraging +nature that it retarded the settlement of the country for nearly half +a century, and it should never have been written. He was quoted in the +newspapers, and people everywhere read of a "desert inhabited by +savages," a sentiment that became so firmly fixed in the minds of many +in the Eastern States that the prejudices of the people have only in +recent years been wholly removed. He often refers in his report to the +enormous herds of fat buffalo that "darken the plains." How this +queer-shaped animal with its powerful front and slender hind parts +originated, or where it came from, will forever remain an unsolved +mystery like the beginning of the race of Indians. They were here in +immense droves. Ernest Seton Thompson thinks that there were seventy +millions within the compass of their range, which was from the +Allegheny Mountains on the East, to Nevada on the West; and that fifty +millions of them were west of the Mississippi River. He bases his +estimate on the amount of acreage they grazed over, and the number of +animals the pasturage would sustain. I think he is far too low in his +estimate. If we assign forty feet of space to each buffalo they would +occupy an area, if bunched together, of but sixty-four thousand two +hundred and eighty acres, or only one hundred square miles, which +would be equal to a herd twenty-five miles long and four miles wide. +The Government reports give an estimate of two hundred and fifty +millions killed, from 1850 to 1883. + +All the reports of explorers, scouts and emigrants dwell on the +magnitude of these immense herds, which were so numerous that "the +earth as far as the eye can reach, seems to be alive and to move." +Coronado was never out of sight of them in traveling the seven hundred +miles from New Mexico to Kansas, according to his letter to the King. +Along every pioneer trail the prairies were covered in every direction +with them, and away up in the Wind River Country, in the land of the +Wyoming, Longfellow sings of the + + "Billowy bays of grass ever rolling in shadow and sunshine, + Bright and luxuriant clusters of roses and purple amorphas, + Over them wander the buffalo herds, and the elk and the roebuck." + +These peaceful herds, as they roamed over the plains, had their +Nemesis at their heels, in the vast number of Indians trailing behind +them and living upon them; while on all sides were thousands of hungry +grey wolves devouring the calves or attacking the old, at will. In +spite of these decimating influences, and their companion, the +blizzard, the buffalo herds multiplied, and the Great Plains +themselves seemed to be "alive and to move," as the countless numbers +slowly grazed over them. Buffalo steak was good eating, and so +adaptable that J. M. Bagley of Colorado, the veteran wood engraver, in +relating early experiences tells how he started a restaurant on one +buffalo ham, from which he served veal, beef, mutton, bear, venison, +and all other wild game! + +The first telegraph line reaching out over the plains, was a very +primitive one. The posts were short and light, and they carried but +one wire. A great deal of trouble arose from the cattle rubbing +against the poles and wrecking the line. This was remedied by driving +long heavy spikes into the poles at the point where the cattle would +do the rubbing. But the workman got out of the cattle plague, only to +get into worse trouble from the buffalo. They liked the spikes, and +used the sharp points to scratch their rough hides. There seemed to be +a buffalo language, for those shaggy and amiable animals flocked to +the spikes from all sections. They reveled in the luxury of having +their backs scratched, and to show their appreciation rubbed so hard +that they completely demolished the line. Telegraph wire entangled in +the horns of a buffalo was found as far away as Canada when it was +killed. Only the rebuilding of the line with heavy poles and leaving +off the scratching comforts, enabled business to proceed. + +It seems strange that everyone lost sight of the productiveness that +must lie in land that would sustain such quantities of grass-devouring +animals; and that in the instructions given by Congress, the +Presidents of the United States, and the Secretaries of War, to the +leaders of these various exploring parties, the important question of +irrigation should have never been considered, nor mentioned by the +explorers themselves. It is true, irrigation was wholly unknown in our +country at the time, but Egypt and China had been artificially watered +for centuries, and it is strange that no Congressman or Government +official, or enterprising newspaper editor called attention to this +vital question. + +The Long party divided as it started East. Captain Bell with eleven +men went down the Arkansas River, while Major Long with nine, went +farther south in search of the Red River. They all met at Ft. Smith, +in western Arkansas, the middle of September; thence the united party +crossed through Arkansas to the Mississippi River, where their trip +ended. + +Major Long looked like a college professor. He wore glasses over very +black eyes; had thin, firm lips; high cheek bones; long wavy hair, and +was close shaven, except for a little tuft of side whiskers back close +to his ears. He later explored the source of the Mississippi River for +the Government, and then became Engineer in Chief for the Western and +Atlantic Railroad in Georgia. + +When Major Long in 1805 turned the prow of his steamer into the mouth +of the Missouri River, the first that ever ploughed its waters, he +little thought that just above the junction of those two rivers would +some day, on the Illinois side of the Mississippi, be built a City +that would be named Alton; and little did he think that, fifty-nine +years later, at the age of eighty, his grave would there be dug, and +there would he be buried. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE PIONEERS. + + +Of all those to whom we owe honor and loyalty, and affection; to whom +belongs the first place of honor at the banqueting board; the highest +monument to mark their passing; whose memory should be longest +cherished, and beside whose grave we should tread most lightly; in all +the generations of the past and future, we owe our allegiance first +and always to the old settler! The very name marks the whole span of +life. We see its spring time--youth and strength, teeming with energy; +we see its autumn--the last leaf upon the tree, clinging, poised, +ready to float away into eternal silence. Twilight, the lengthening +shadows, the old settler; they blend into a harmonious setting for the +slowly descending curtain upon the drama of life, ere the "silver cord +is loosened or the golden bowl broken at the fountain." The old +settler--what a train of thought the words suggest! He is the corner +stone of civilization. He it is who pushes out beyond the confines of +safety; out into scenes of privation and hardships; into conditions +calling for sacrifices and disappointments; into danger and ofttimes +death. Through it all he is so brave and so loyal, so earnest and +capable, so patient and cheerful, so tender in his sympathies, so +strong in his forceful grasp, so superior in his principles, that his +name deserves to be written high up on the walls of the Temple of +Fame! Nationally and locally, as a people, we have a feeling of +veneration for those who clear the way and conquer the formidable +obstacles that stand in the path of progress. They develop the highest +type of rugged manhood and womanhood--strong, fearless, independent +and self-sustaining. For nearly three centuries history has been +repeating itself in this country of ours. As the Pilgrim Fathers +endured and conquered, so in each succeeding generation have there +been those who have given the days of their lives to labor, in the +midst of loneliness, and the nights to vigil, surrounded by danger, +that security and prosperity might come to those who followed them. +They are the battle scarred veterans who fought for a foothold in a +hostile country, and through their untiring efforts and indomitable +courage made possible the enjoyment of others in the midst of +congenial and ennobling surroundings. + +Napoleon, as all the world knows, instituted the Order of the Legion +of Honor in recognition of merit, civil or military. To be a member of +that Order was an honor so great that the decorations were cherished +long afterwards by the descendants of the recipients. History records +that a French Grenadier, returning from a leave of absence, was +astonished to find the Austrian Army secretly advancing through the +mountains by a comparatively unknown path. Hastening forward to give +warning to the handful of soldiers stationed in a strong tower to +defend the path, he found to his dismay that they had fled, leaving +their thirty muskets behind. Undeterred by such a calamity, he entered +the tower, barricaded the door and loaded his muskets, determined to +hold the post against the whole Austrian Army. This he succeeded in +doing for thirty-six hours. Every shot told. Artillerymen were killed +the moment they appeared in the narrow path, and cannon were useless. +Assaults were repulsed with great loss in killed and wounded. Finally, +when not another round of ammunition was left, the Grenadier signalled +that the Post would be evacuated if the garrison could march out with +its arms, and with its colors flying proceed to the French Army. This +was agreed to; and when the old Grenadier came staggering out under +all the muskets he could carry, and it developed that he was the whole +garrison, the admiration of the Austrians was boundless; they sent him +with an escort and a note to the appreciative Napoleon, who knighted +him on the spot. When, later, he was killed in battle, he was +continued on the roll call of his regiment, and when the name of +Latour d'Auvergne was called, the ranking sergeant stepped forward, +saluted the commanding officer, and answered in a loud voice, "dead on +the field of honor." + +To such a class belong the courageous, vigilant and enthusiastic +advance guard of civilization everywhere. They placed the plowshare +and the pruning hook where the rifle and the tomahawk long held sway. +They worked with rough hands and stout hearts to solve the problems +that beset the West, and to make gardens bloom where the desert had +cast its blight for centuries. They brought order out of chaos and +from the woof of time wove the lasting fabric of justice and good +government. Such were the old settlers of our own beautiful mountain +land. They came, many of them, in the slow, monotonous, wearisome, +creaking, covered wagon drawn by heavy-footed oxen; through midday +heat and wintry blasts, through blinding storms of sand and snow, they +wended their way for months from far-off countries, sometimes leaving +their dead in unmarked graves by the wayside, and with set faces and +leaden hearts, pushed on to unknown scenes. + +Half a century has wrought wonderful changes! Now, the traveler sees +the sun go down upon the middle west, with the Missouri winding its +way to the sea; the morning's radiance glints the summit of the Great +Divide, and unrolls a picture of rare beauty and majesty! Five hundred +miles in a night; sleep, comfort, luxury; no hunger, or thirst, or +fear, or discomfort; cushioned seats, soft carpets, fine linen; dining +cars shining with polished woodwork, beveled mirrors, solid silver; a +moving palace such as was unknown even in the days of luxurious Rome. + +I have listened to many pathetic stories of our old pioneers that +touched me deeply. The history of those distant days is full of +interest. An air of romance envelops those early western scenes. Many +a troth was plighted in the long trip across the plains, and many a +friendship was formed that ended only in death. The novelist clothes +his characters with the imaginary joys and griefs of imaginary people; +but imagery never was and never can be as interesting as real +incidents in the lives of real people. A dignity crowns the memory of +the men whose feet were set where never human feet were placed before; +honors cling around the names of those who lived in the days when the +buffalo roamed the plains unmolested, when the skulking savage lurked +in hiding, and when the weird bark of the hungry coyote penetrated the +solitude of night. Out of such experiences empires are born. The +founders of our prosperous state little knew that here they were +opening up the richest mineral and farming country in all the world! +Nor did they realize that they would here plant the future metropolis +of the Great Rocky Mountain Region. We honor them--the living and the +dead--for what they are, and what they did! Their ranks are rapidly +thinning. It will not be long until at Old Settlers Roll Call there +will be no response--save only from out the stillness will be heard, +like an appreciative echo, the voices of their successors as they +answer, "Dead on the field of honor." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +CHRISTOPHER CARSON AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES. + + +_Christopher Carson._ + +[Sidenote: 1826] + +Down in the blue-grass region of Kentucky; down in the land of the +cotton, the corn and the banjo; where the tiny feathered warblers +carol their sweetest roundelays; where perennial flowers unceasingly +bloom, and the trees are early at their blossomings; where silvery +streamlets are kissed by the moonlight, and linger in the embraces of +the warm southern suns; in that land, the home of lovely women, +splendid men and fine horses; that has sent out its great generals, +polished orators and renowned statesmen--two children were born, +nearby, in the very memorable year of 1809. Abraham Lincoln grew to an +uncrowned kingship. Christopher Carson won the highest place in the +hearts of the empire builders of this wonderful West; and their names +will never die. Lincoln was splitting rails by day, studying by the +light of a log fire by night, and climbing hand over hand to his bed +on the floor of the loft, by means of pegs driven in the logs of the +cabin, as later he went hand over hand straight into the confidence +and hearts of his countrymen. + +Carson, the father, had apprenticed Kit, the son, to a saddler, as was +the custom of those times. He rose before the break of dawn, made +saddles and bridles all day and far into the night and was paid with +poor food, a comfortless bed, and cheap and scanty clothing. Such was +to be the lot of this unhappy boy until he was twenty-one. But he +rebelled. Out into the blackness of the night, and to the light of +freedom, crept the friendless youth, without a penny in his pocket or +a bundle under his arm! And to such freedom! The limitless West with +its stirring scenes beckoned him and he sped away, ahead of the +advertisement that called him back, and in which the munificent reward +of one cent for his return was offered by the man who had the legal +right to call himself the master. At Franklin, where he lived, he had +absorbed the spirit of the widening West that was calling him thither, +and he quickly became an important factor in its upbuilding. Along +that memorable Santa Fe trail, he crossed and re-crossed the +southeastern part of Colorado. + +Kit Carson became noted as a fearless hunter, trapper, miner, +stockman, farmer, scout, guide, Indian fighter, Indian pacificator, +treaty maker, Indian agent--all culminating in his Brigadier-generalship +in the Civil War. In every capacity, he was faithful, persevering, +energetic and capable. He learned the languages of the different tribes +with painstaking study. He grew to understand the Indians as +individuals, their ways, and their thoughts; he became their advisor +and counselor, settled differences between tribes, and between the +tribes and the Government; was the Government's advisor in treaty +making, and was the first man to urge the attempt to domesticate the +Indians. He knew the Spanish language as well as the Mexican and Indian +patois; and he aided the Government in the solution of its troubles +with the Indians as well as with the Mexicans and Spaniards. His +influence for good stretched across a country, beginning with the +Missouri River on the East and ending where the restless waves of +civilization listened to the beating of the surges on the shores of the +Pacific. He was a Lincoln sort of man with malice toward none. He had +few enemies, and many friends. He was for peace, when peace was +possible, but how he could fight when nothing else would do! Abbott, +who does not realize that the towering peaks, the murmuring streams and +the boundless plains, develop high ideals through the silent language +that is all their own, says of Carson, "It is strange that the +wilderness could have formed so estimable a character." + +In Christopher Carson I see a serious man, modest and retiring, soft +spoken, with quiet manners, medium in height, blue eyes and broad +shouldered. I see a priestly looking man, with thoughtful mien, with +face clean shaven; high, broad forehead, with receding hair flowing +toward his shoulders, long and wavy; thin, firmly compressed lips; in +all, very like the strong, splendid face of the world-famed artist, +Liszt. I see a domestic man, adoring his amiable Spanish wife. I see +him lying on his buffalo robe, with his children playing over him, and +hunting the sugar lumps out of pockets that were never empty. I see +him standing, gazing into the eyes of the Indian whose hand he clasps, +vieing with each other in erectness, while at their feet lie the idle +guns and cartridges, the broken bows and arrows, and the pruning hooks +into which their swords have been beaten. I see him dying, two score +and three years ago, with his honest homely face illuminated, as he +smiles his "adios" to all about him and sinks gently into his last, +long, dreamless sleep. + + +_Richens Wooten._ + +[Sidenote: 1838] + +Seventy-five years have come and gone since Richens Wooten joined a +wagon train at Independence, Missouri, and came out over the Santa Fe +trail. Until 1859 he felt that he was temporarily in the West; that he +would go back to his old Missouri home and end his days in the midst +of the peaceful scenes of boyhood joys, the memory of which had clung +to him through all the exciting years of his frontier life. Then when +he had achieved success; had money and property; had loaded his +belongings on his wagons; had turned the heads of the horses to the +East; looked into the faces of the friends who had surrounded him all +the years, at the plains he knew and loved, at the magnificent +mountains, silent, majestic, eternal, at the rivers murmuring to him +as they went by--his courage faltered! He awoke from the dream he had +dreamed for years, unhitched his horses, unloaded his wagons, and +lived and died in the country from which his heart-strings could not +be severed. + +[Illustration: Pioneers and a Conestogal Wagon or Prairie Schooner.] + +Like those of his day, he was everything he should be. He hunted and +trapped; he was a Government scout; he raised stock; he farmed; +everyone knew him as "Uncle Dick," and they knew him wherever a trail +was laid. He lived at the junction of the Huerfano River with the +Arkansas River about twenty miles East of Pueblo. He farmed there by a +process of simple irrigation, as far back as 1854, which made him the +Pioneer farmer of Colorado. He had a mill that was built by his own +hands, that was run by water power in a sleepy sort of way. He would +empty a couple of sacks of grain into the hopper at night and the +flour would be ready for breakfast in the morning. He trapped mostly +along the streams of Colorado and New Mexico. By handling his furs +himself, at St. Louis, he realized as high as Fifteen Dollars for a +beaver skin. He says "robes" were the cause of the disappearance of +the vast buffalo herds; that those killed for meat by the whites and +Indians would have made no appreciable inroad on the numbers that +inhabited the Great Western Plains, but desire for hides caused their +ruthless slaughter by the tens of thousands; that while they were +gentle at first and had to be driven out of the way of the emigrant +trains, they were hunted so much that later they became savage and +would fight. He started a buffalo farm in 1840 where Pueblo is +located, and sold the young to menageries. Wooten hated the Indians +with exceeding great hate. There was a reason. He had chased them many +and many a time; shot at them, hit them, had seen them fall, and their +riderless ponies flee over the prairies, while a form lay silent +beneath the sun and beneath the stars. But sometimes the tables were +turned, and sometimes the chaser was chased! Ah! There's the rub, for +Wooten could never look defeat in the face and be happy. + +The Indians, he says, had a system of long distance communication, +carried on among themselves by means of fire and smoke signals from +the mountain tops. A puff of smoke was like a telephone message, and +as easily understood; a second puff had its own peculiar meaning, and +a blaze carried its special message to distant tribes. The whole +country could be aroused in a day and night--the signals being taken +up and repeated from mountain top to mountain top. The Indians spread +themselves out to sleep in their tents, on buffalo robes or willow +mattresses, with their feet towards a common fire in the center. They +would place their dead in trees, or on a platform built on the top of +four poles planted in the ground. The dead would be placed in a +blanket, a buffalo robe wrapped around it, and then all bound together +with strips of hide; the dead would thus lie for years. It was +gruesome to happen upon these graveyard scenes at night, with the +uncanny owls hooting in the treetops, and the wolves howling their +warning notes. The Indians rode bareback with a rope for a bridle that +would be fastened around the under jaw of the pony, which was trained +to obey the slightest pressure of the knees or swaying of the body. + +One of the feats of which Wooten was proud, and with good reason, was +taking a great drove of sheep through to California. To do this +successfully in the face of possible depredations from the Indians, to +whom the sheep is a savory morsel; to escape the bands of thousands of +aggressive grey wolves; to swim unbridged rivers when sheep so dislike +to swim; to follow narrow mountain paths where overcrowding would +precipitate the herd into the chasms below; to get by the crops of the +Mormons who were all the time hunting for trouble; to reach his +destination with every sheep fatter than when he started--that, says +Uncle Dick, was the work of an artist. + +Wooten came to Denver in 1858, where a few cabins had been built, and +where a handful of people had centered. He started a store and built a +two-story log house, the first pretentious building ever erected in +Denver. Later, he built a frame residence when the saw mill came, a +mill that had been stolen in the East and brought to this +out-of-the-way country, where it was thought it could never be +traced--in which, however, the plunderers were disappointed. + +But Uncle Dick felt crowded. He could not breathe. He was elbowed by +the people who were settling here. The wilds called to him. He wanted +to get out alone, under the quiet stars; to have the glories of the +setting sun all to himself; to see the wonderful moonlight shadows in +the rivers; to feel the great orb creeping up in the morning, as he +had seen it out on the broad plains and from the mountain tops nearly +all the years of his life. So he went away; off to New Mexico, upon +whose mountains he got a Government Charter for building a toll road +by the abysses and along the over shadowing crags to shorten the +trail. And there, with the years creeping on, he set himself down by +the side of his toll gate, which was never shut down for the Indians, +for they could not understand that in all this great free world, a +road was not as free as sunshine or air. But is not this all told by +Richens Wooten himself, in his very own book, in the picturesque and +forceful style of a picturesque and forceful pioneer? + +And finally, the toll that is taken from all mankind was collected +from him, and he passed out alone by the road that every one must +travel, and over which no one has ever traveled twice. + + +_Oliver P. Wiggins._ + +[Sidenote: 1838] + +Straight as an arrow, towering six feet and three inches, stands +Oliver P. Wiggins, the oldest living pioneer of all the "winners of +the West." Eighty-nine years have brought a dimness to the eyes and a +slowness to the steps, but they have not touched the keen intellect, +trained by such experiences as no other living man will ever acquire. +He remembers distinctly every event that has occurred during all the +years of his life on the plains. He talks slowly and impressively, and +you feel as you leave his presence that you have been in touch with +another age and another race of people. He will tell you his story as +he told it to me. + +"I was born on the Niagara River; that is, on an Island just above +Niagara Falls, where my father had taken up some land. His father had +selected his own land near by the American side of the Falls, and it +became later on very valuable. Boylike, I wanted to fight Indians, and +I dreamed about scouts and tomahawks, and the war dance, for I was a +reader of the blood-curdling cheap Indian novels of that day. So I +left home when I was fifteen and went by sailboat from Buffalo to +Detroit, where I found some French emigrants just starting to +Kankakee, Illinois, where they were going to take up land. I went with +them as far as Ft. Dearborn, which afterwards became Chicago; it had +but about three hundred people then and as many soldiers; there was +one short street just South of the Chicago River, and among the houses +was one they called a hotel that had nine rooms. A squaw man, that is, +a white man with an Indian wife, was sent from the Fort with a paper +to St. Louis, that had something to do with paying the Indians their +annuities by the Government. I went along in the canoe down the +Illinois River, and the Indians, knowing what we were going for, kept +joining us in their canoes, until there must have been two thousand +following us when we reached St. Louis. There was not a single house +all the way from Chicago to St. Louis, which was not known as St. +Louis then. Later my uncle settled there, and had the Wiggins Ferry, +and four acres of land on what was known then as 'Bloody Island.' He +sold it recently for Three Million Dollars. The Indians had some +flour, bacon and blankets apportioned to them, and they traded a good +deal of it off for whiskey, and many of them got drunk and had an +awful time. + +"The following Spring, which was 1838, I went by steamer up to +Independence, Missouri, which is just above where Kansas City was +located later. It was the Eastern end of the Santa Fe Trail, while +eight hundred miles away, Santa Fe was the Western terminus. At +Independence, all the outfitting was done for the great overland +freighting business, which at that early period had assumed important +proportions. I joined a train, consisting of one hundred wagons and +one hundred and twenty men. There were five yoke of oxen to each +wagon, which made one thousand oxen; then there were a large number of +extra oxen along to rest those that got sick or sore footed. By +following close after each other, our wagon train stretched out about +three miles. I was still on behind driving the cavy-yard, which was +the name given to the sore-footed oxen. When we got to the Arkansas +River where the trail crossed, which was very swift, we made boats out +of two of the prairie schooners; calked them so they wouldn't leak, +and loaded into these two boats all the loads that were on the rest of +the wagons. A prairie schooner is a long deep wagon bed with flaring +sides, about eight feet high and twenty feet long. The oxen swam +across; then we chained all the empty wagons together, one behind the +other, and hitched the oxen to a chain that reached back across the +river to the wagons, pulled the wagons into the stream and on to the +other side, where, as fast as one reached the bank, it was unchained +from the rest, run up on the dry land, and the work of reloading +began. It took four days to get all our outfit across. Our wagons were +loaded mostly with merchandise for the stores to sell to the Mexicans, +and with mining machinery. The wagons would carry on an average about +seventy-five hundred pounds and the price of freight for the eight +hundred miles from Independence to Santa Fe was generally eight +dollars per hundred-weight, so the cost to the shippers of that +trainload of freight run into the thousands. It would take from ten to +sixteen weeks to cross the plains, owing to storms and the condition +of the roads. We would shoe our own oxen and some of them had to be +shod every morning. We would rope them and throw them for that +purpose. It was not like a horseshoe, for the hoof of the ox is split +and it requires a piece for each half of the hoof. We would make from +fifteen to twenty miles a day. The dust was so great, that we traveled +in a cloud of it all the time and the teams and drivers would change +off; those who were ahead to-day, were behind to-morrow, all but me; I +never got to go ahead with my cavy-yard, and I have never forgotten +those weeks of frightful dust. They wouldn't let me stay back far, for +fear the Indians would pick me off and run the cattle away. + +"About a day and a half after we left Big Bend, we met a friendly +Indian, who was much excited when he saw us. He said we must not try +to go on, for we would all be killed, as the Kiowas were on the war +path. Be we couldn't stop, so we kept right on, knowing that Kit +Carson was coming with an escort to meet us. We brought up the rear +half of the wagon train, however, and put two abreast, thus shortening +the train to about a mile and a half. Pretty soon Carson met us with +forty-six men, who were all well armed and mounted on good horses and +then we felt easy once more. When we reached the Kiowa country, where +we were most likely to be attacked, Carson and his men all got inside +the covered wagons and led their horses behind. After awhile we saw +the Indians coming charging down upon us, yelling and shooting with +their bows and arrows; all the drivers in the meantime having gotten +on the other side of their wagons. Carson kept his men quiet until the +Indians were close enough, when every man shot from the wagons, and +about forty-six Indians tumbled off their ponies dead or wounded at +the first shot. Then Carson's men mounted their horses and there was a +great fight. About two hundred of the three hundred Indians were +killed. Not one of Carson's men or of our party were killed. 'Did we +bury the Indians?' No, we left them where they were; they made good +coyote beef. + +"When we got opposite where Carson lived, which was at Taos above +Santa Fe, he left the train, for there was no further danger and I +went with him to his home about twenty miles off the trail, losing my +pay because I did not go through with the party, this being a rule of +freighting. I stayed with Carson two years. I became a guide and +Government Scout and got eighty dollars a month. I was with General +Fremont on his first and second trips. He wasn't liked by any of the +men. He was very dictatorial and it didn't seem to us that he knew +much. He had a German Scientist along whom all liked, and who knew his +business. When we were with Fremont on his second trip, it was so late +in the season when we reached the eastern foot of the Sierras, that +twelve of us refused to go with him for we felt it was certain death. +The snow falls in those mountains seventy feet deep at times, and it +was the season for snows. Carson was along and had to go on because he +had signed an agreement to go through, and he went, knowing he was +taking his life in his hands. We were arrested for mutiny and put in +charge of a sergeant, but soon got out of his reach, made a detour of +several miles through the mountains, got on the back track and reached +a place of safety after several days, thoroughly chilled from sleeping +in that high cold country with no blankets, but glad to escape with +any sacrifice. Fremont's party then consisted of fifteen, and they had +a terrible time. They froze, and starved, and suffered, so that three +men lost their minds and never recovered. Carson finally went on +ahead, so weak he could hardly walk or crawl, and sent help back just +in time to save the party. + +"The first gold discovered in Colorado, was in August or September, +1858, by Green Russell. He had stopped here on his way to California +where he was going to mine. He came from Georgia and knew about gold +mining there, and said there must be gold in Cherry Creek. He found it +up at the head of that Creek at a place called "Frankstown" where the +trail from Ft. Bent on the Arkansas River crossed over to Ft. Lupton. +Russell and Gregory and others came together, and Russell stayed here +a year and located Russell Gulch at Central City, which became a great +paying property. I did a great deal of hunting and trapping in those +early days and made money until 1858, when the fur business died down, +as silk had taken the place of fur. I was the first white man to visit +Trappers Lake, which is about thirty miles north of Glenwood Springs +and was considered inaccessible, because of the density of the fallen +timber. We brought out in one season about two thousand dollars worth +of furs and hides. The elk covered that country and was comparatively +tame as they had not been hunted. We took Indians along for guides, +and their squaws to tan the hides. This they did by boiling the brains +of the animals we killed and rubbing the soft brain powder into the +pores of the skin, folding the hides together, and in a week they were +cured and were soft and pliable. The brains were used because of +certain properties they possessed, and because of their pliant nature. +To catch the beaver we would set our steel traps in the water about +seven inches below the surface so the young could swim over them and +not get caught. Then just above where the trap was set, we would +fasten a branch from the limb of a tree into the bank, the bark of +which the beaver lives on. We would rub beaver oil into the bark of +the limb, so the beaver would think others of his kind had been there +ahead and found no harm; they are a very suspicious little animal. The +trap would have a spring that would close on the hind legs of the +beaver, as they would swim above it. + +"Until 1857, the trappers recognized the claim of the Indians, that +one-half of all game and hides belonged to them. It was changed in +that year by Government Treaty. In dividing with them they were very +insistent, and they usually got the biggest half of the meat and the +largest hides. We used to take hot mud baths at Glenwood Springs which +is a very pleasant sensation. I fought the Indians and fought them +hard, but had many friends among them and I did them many good turns +which they appreciated. I have had an eventful life, had many +thrilling experiences, saw life held very cheaply, and have seen such +developments as I never dreamed I should witness." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +GENERAL FREMONT AND THE MORMONS. + + +_John C. Fremont._ + +[Sidenote: 1842] + +This noted explorer so prominently identified with our early Colorado +history, was educated at Charleston College. He then became a teacher +on a United States Sloop of War on board of which was detailed a young +Lieutenant who later became famous as Admiral Farragut. Afterwards, +Fremont was employed as a surveyor for a railroad in South Carolina. +In 1838 he was made a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Topographical +Corps--the same corps that gave us Major Long. He was selected to make +a trip of geographical research and observation into Iowa, Minnesota +and Dakota with a noted French Scientist named Nicollet, who had been +sent to this country by his Government. In 1840 Fremont headed an +expedition for the establishment of Military Posts in the West, and to +definitely fix the position of South Pass on the head waters of the +North Platte River, which was on the line of travel to the western +coast. He was a long time getting ready, and did not leave Washington +for St. Louis until May 2, 1842, from which point he took a public +steamer up the Missouri River. On board he met Kit Carson, with whose +personality he was so pleased that he dismissed the French trapper he +had already engaged as guide, and selected Carson instead. Carson was +then on his way back to the West, from having given his little girl +into the care of the Sisters at a Convent in St. Louis; her mother, +who was an Indian woman, having recently died. They left the steamer +at the mouth of the Kansas River, which empties into the Missouri +where Kansas City is now located. It was then a little settlement of a +few rude houses, known as Kansas Landing, and later became Westport. A +little way above was Roubidoux Landing, named for a French Fur Trapper +and Trader who operated in Colorado. This Landing afterwards became +St. Joseph. Fremont says, as they started out across the prairie to +the westward, "It was like a ship leaving the shore for a long voyage, +and carrying with her provisions against all needs in its isolation on +the ocean." + +[Illustration: A Government Scout.] + +They traveled northwest until they reached the Platte River where the +City of Kearney is now situated, near which a Fort was established, +called "Fort Kearney." From this point they proceeded west along the +south bank of that stream, one hundred miles to the junction of the +two Platte Rivers. Here they divided, Fremont with three others +following the South Platte, the remaining nine going by way of the +North Platte to the fur-trading station that later became Fort +Laramie, at which point the Laramie River joins the Platte. On the +way, Fremont was entertained one night by the Indians at a feast. It +was a banquet with no suggestion of fairyland, such as so often +delights us now; no subdued strains from a hidden orchestra pouring +forth its entrancing harmonies; no myriads of electric lights dazzling +with their splendid brilliancy; no wealth of roses filling the air +with their rich perfume; no polished mahogany, damask linen, glowing +glassware or priceless silver; no well groomed men or richly gowned +women, radiant in their loveliness. There were none of these +accessories, but there was princely hospitality. There was the +ushering of the guests to their places by the Chiefs, with the courtly +dignity that white men might equal but never excel. In honor of the +occasion the choicest robes were spread upon the ground for seats. +There was the rich soup of fat buffalo meat and rice, served in deep +wooden bowls, with tin spoons, by the women. There was the dog boiling +in the pot for the second course, in token of a state occasion, while +the disconsolate puppies moaned pitifully in the corner of the wigwam. + +On July 10th Fremont reached Fort St. Vrain on the Platte, established +about ten miles south of where the Cache la Poudre River and the +Platte unite. He remained here a few days and then headed north to +Fort Laramie, getting too far East, however, over on Crow Creek, where +he had to travel forty miles without water--the first and only +hardship on his trip going and coming. He found the rest of the party +waiting for him, and they proceeded west up the Platte to the South +Pass, the point of his destination when he started from Washington. He +found the Pass a well-established thoroughfare, made so by the +fur-trading companies. He ascertained its height to be seven thousand +eight hundred and seventy-three feet. There was no pass anywhere about +of so low an altitude. It is about two hundred miles due west of Fort +Laramie--which is not, however, the Laramie City located on the Union +Pacific Railroad northwest of Cheyenne. + +Fremont saw to the perpetuation of his name in the highest mountain +peak, about forty miles northwest of the Pass, and just east of Green +River, having an elevation of thirteen thousand seven hundred and +ninety feet. He then started on his return to St. Louis, where he +arrived October 10, 1842, his journey both ways being without special +value or interest. + +Fremont's second trip was made in 1843, and seems to have been +principally for the purpose of establishing a shorter route through +the mountains than the Oregon Trail by the way of South Pass. He came +in from the east, up one of the branches of the Republican River to +Fort St. Vrain on the Platte, where he arrived July Fourth. On his way +he no doubt approached the Platte between Akron and Fort Morgan, where +there is a Butte named for him. He tried to learn from the hunters, +trappers and Indians, of a trail west through the great range of +mountains, but there was no one who could give him any information. +Following the Platte from Fort St. Vrain, he reports finding a Fort +Lancaster about ten miles up the river, which was the trading post of +Mr. Lupton and had then somewhat the appearance of a farm. He passed +through a village of Arapahoe Indians, probably near the mouth of +Clear Creek, camped a little above Cherry Creek, and followed the +Platte River to its entrance into the mountains at the canon. Needing +meat, he went east on to the plains in search of buffalo; crossed +Cherry Creek and the road to Bent's Fort; reached Bijou Creek, thence +up to its head on the divide where he reported an elevation of +seventy-five hundred feet--being the same altitude as at Palmer Lake, +twenty-three miles west. Altitudinal ascertainings are taken by the +simple process of looking at a watchlike, vest-pocket instrument, +whose delicately adjusted mechanism is affected by air-pressure. From +this place, he made a sketch of Pike's Peak, and is "charmed with the +view of the valley of Fountain Creek," on which Manitou and Colorado +Springs are located, and which he reached a little north of its +junction with the Arkansas River. He speaks of finding at this point a +"Pueblo" where a settlement of mountaineers were living, married to +Spanish wives, "who had collected together and occupied themselves +with farming, and a desultory Indian trade." They had come from the +Taos Valley settlements, the Valley that was later named the Rio +Grande. "Pueblo" was the name given by the Mexicans to their civilized +villages. Taos is taken from the name of the Taos tribe of Indians. +Returning he followed up Fountain Creek to Manitou Springs, thence +north over the Divide to Fort St. Vrain. + +Fremont then decided to go up the Cache la Poudre Valley and cross the +Divide to the Laramie River. He describes the buttes he saw on this +trip "with their sharp points and green colors"; the same so clearly +defined now, on the automobile road beyond Dale Creek, between Fort +Collins and Laramie City, one of the most picturesque scenes in the +whole State of Colorado. He followed the Laramie River down to the +present line of the Union Pacific Railroad, then west to the North +Platte River and beyond, where, getting tangled up in the hills, he +finally recognized the Sweetwater Mountains to the north to which he +proceeded; thence to the familiar Oregon Trail which he followed to +Salt Lake and on to California. + +On his return he entered Colorado near the mouth of Green River, went +northeast and encountered some branch of the White River, possibly the +Snake River, which he followed over the Divide to the North Platte +River, and thence up into North Park. While in Middle Park, a number +of squaws came to his camp greatly excited and made known the fact +that nearby a great battle was in progress between two Indian tribes, +and they wanted him to go with his party to help their side. He +declined and hurriedly departed. He passed over into the Cripple Creek +country, where after a few days of aimless traveling he descended a +branch of the Arkansas River to Pueblo. + +Fremont's memoirs are very rambling, and contain such a mass of +undigested material that it requires much reading and study to follow +him in his wanderings through Colorado. The streams, mountains and +localities had no names, and he gave them none. We can only trace his +journeyings by his camping places where he gives his latitudes and +longitudes, and which is only incidentally given and not in its +regular order. He ascertained latitude and longitude by the use of a +scientific instrument in its application to the sun, moon and fixed +stars, as the Indians often found their own locations by the study of +these same heavenly bodies, from centuries of observation without an +instrument, the knowledge being passed down from father to son, +generation after generation. + +On one of his trips, as he came in sight of Bent's Fort, the three +cannon mounted on its parapets, belched forth a greeting that sounded +sweet to the ears of the trained soldier, as the reverberating music +of the booming of the guns rolled down the Valley of the Arkansas to +meet him. + +A storm in the mountains is a frightful thing in winter and more than +one was encountered by General Fremont and his party. A number of the +men sacrificed their lives through the mistaken judgment of a leader, +who ordered them forward to breast the fury of those icy blasts of +snow and sleet. Oh! The terror of such a death! The awe of those cold, +bleak, snow-capped pinnacles; how cruelly they look down upon the lost +and helpless victim, prostrate at their feet, snow-bound, hopeless and +in despair! How subtly and menacingly the sharp wind moans; how it +shrieks and roars through the gulches, and how the giant pines creak, +and writhe, and groan, as they bend before the gale! How the blinding, +biting, swirling snow falls through the freezing air, burying the +trail and filling the icy gorges with ever deepening drifts! And at +last, the shivering sufferer meets his doom as he sinks in utter +exhaustion on his bed of snow, and drifts away into the stupor of +death. The inanimate form is buried deeper and deeper under its white +shroud, and heedless of the tempest raging above, sleeps the sound, +dreamless sleep of death. + +Fremont tells little of his last three trips; some being on secret +missions for the Government; one was for his own benefit and that of +Senator Benton of Missouri, whose daughter, Jessie Benton, he had +married--a lady of many fine womanly qualities and personal charms. On +one of his trips, William Gilpin was along, on a visit to the +settlements of Oregon. Gilpin later became Colorado's first Governor. +One expedition took him up the Rio Grande to Salt Lake and on to the +Coast. + +[Illustration: Indians Watching Fremont's Force Fording the Platte.] + +When representing the Government, Fremont's work was along military +lines principally, his operations leading up to the conquest of +California in 1847. The name California appears in an old Spanish +romance as an Island, where innumerable precious stones were found, +and Cortez applied the name to the Bay and to the country that is now +California which he thought was an Island. Fremont's work, however, +was not all military, for at the same time he was mapping streams, +taking altitudes, and making reports that would assist in ascertaining +facts about a country then little known or understood. Colorado has a +County named for him, of which Canon City is the County Seat. There +are Counties in Wyoming, Idaho and Iowa, similarly named. Eighteen +states of the union have towns bearing his name. "Fremont Basin" +covers the western part of Utah, all of Nevada, and a part of the +southeastern portion of California--in all, a region about four +hundred and fifty miles square. "Fremont Pass" in the Rocky Mountains +has an elevation of eleven thousand three hundred and thirteen feet +and is in the Gore Range, about ten miles northwest of Leadville. + +General Fremont occupied many positions of trust under the Government. +He was Governor of California when there was much trouble that +diplomacy might have averted. He was Governor of Arizona from 1878 to +1882. His exploring trips had made him famous and he secured the +Republican nomination for the Presidency in 1856, but was defeated by +Buchanan. In 1864 his name was put in nomination for the Presidency +but Lincoln's popularity so overshadowed him that his name was +withdrawn. He was Major-General of the Army in the Civil War, with +headquarters at St. Louis, where he promulgated the unauthorized order +freeing the slaves of those in arms against the Government, which so +embarrassed the Administration that the order was repealed and he was +relieved of his authority. Later, reinstated, he refused to take part +in a battle because command of the army had been given to General Pope +whom he claimed to outrank. + +Fremont journeyed all over Colorado and failed to find anything worthy +of note. While camped on the sites of Cripple Creek and Leadville, he +saw no signs of the enormous gold deposits of the greatest gold mines +in Colorado. While at North Park he did not observe the coal +outcroppings there--probably the most extensive coal fields in the +United States. While traveling through our valleys he could not look +into the future and see them groaning under a diversity of crops, the +most valuable ever raised in any country. He drank from our cool +sparkling streams, but he did not see how that wealth of water could +be supplied to the thirsty crops. He saw millions of fat buffalo on +the plains, but he failed to realize that the same nutritious grasses +would make beef equal to the corn-fed product of the East. He viewed +the most sublime scenery ever looked upon by the eyes of man, but his +reports contained no adequate description of the majestic outlines of +the mountains whose grandeur thrills the beholders from all the +countries of the world. + + +_The Mormons._ + +[Sidenote: 1847] + +The Mormons as a religious body, attempting to get beyond the reach of +the power of the United States Government which they claimed was +persecuting them, sought solace in the bosom of the Dominion of +Mexico, which then owned much of our country west of the Rocky +Mountains, wrested by them from Spain in their war for freedom. At +this very time the United States was fighting Mexico, and the Mormons +had no more than gotten out of the United States before they were in +again by Mexico ceding to our Government in 1848, the very territory +which these much persecuted people had chosen for a new settlement. +The Mormons had gathered from all quarters at Florence, Nebraska, just +above Omaha, where the water works of that City are now located. They +had wintered at this point in great discomfort, with much sickness, +and so many deaths that the country seemed to be one vast grave yard. + +In January, 1847, Brigham Young started West with one hundred and +forty-two in his party to find a location to which the rest should +follow. They had seventy-three wagons which moved two abreast for +protection, and they had a cannon and were well armed. They reported +seeing hundreds of thousands of buffalo grazing along the Platte +Valley, and were obliged to send outriders ahead to make a way through +the herds for their caravan. They traveled on the north side of the +Platte River so as to have an exclusive trail of their own, and it +became known as the "Mormon Trail"; the fur traders having made their +trail along the south side of that river. When they reached Fort +Laramie, they ferried across to the south side of the river where the +Government Post had been located; the change from the north to the +south side being necessary because of the physical difficulties on the +side of the river where they had been traveling. Here on June 1, 1847, +they were joined by a party of Mormons who had started from +Mississippi and Illinois; had wintered where Pueblo now is; had passed +north through Colorado, and doubtless over the ground occupied by +Denver following the Platte River to Greeley where they would travel +almost due north to Fort Laramie. These Mormons at Pueblo were the +very beginning of anything approaching white citizenship in Colorado, +for no other white families had ever spent so long a time within the +present limits of our State. + +General Fremont had passed by Salt Lake in 1843 on one of his +expeditions, and doubtless the Mormons knew of that Valley from his +report as well as of other points of the West. But the Mormons did not +know where they were going to settle, and had started north-westerly +from South Pass in search of a location and then turned to the south +to Salt Lake Valley. Upon their arrival there, the first day, they +planted six acres of potatoes because of the necessity of having food +for the vast numbers who were to follow them. The rest of the people +started from Florence July 4, 1847, and consisted of nearly two +thousand persons, about six hundred wagons, over two thousand oxen, +and many horses, cows, sheep, hogs and chickens. Following later, came +hundreds with push carts, who started too late to get through before +winter set in. Their suffering, starving, sickness, and the death of +nearly a quarter of their number on the way is a sad story, and is the +toll exacted in the settling of a new country. + +For many months, the Mormon Trail was lined with the traffic of +thousands of emigrants from all parts of the United States and Europe. +There were wagon trains hauling supplies of all kinds, such as +merchandise, machinery, seed and building materials. There were the +two-wheeled carts into which food and a small allowance of necessary +apparel were placed for the trip; and those carts were pushed all the +way across the plains by both old and young. It was said that every +step of the way was marked by a grave. No such sight and no such +suffering has ever been witnessed before in the settlement of any part +of the world. + +Ten years afterwards, the Church, grown arrogant, defied the power of +the United States Government and proposed war. General Albert Sidney +Johnson was sent on an expedition against them. Starting too late to +cross the mountains, the army became storm bound and was compelled to +winter at Fort Bridger in the southwest corner of Wyoming, at a +tremendous loss of lives, both of men and horses. They were short of +supplies, and an expedition was sent to New Mexico for food. It was +successful, and returned north through Colorado, skirting the eastern +base of the mountains and, no doubt, passed through the site of Denver +just before the gold excitement broke out in Colorado. They doubtless +followed the trail taken by Fremont to Fort Laramie in 1842, and by +the Mormons in 1847. + +[Sidenote: 1849] + +The rush for the new gold discoveries in California began in 1849 and +in a year it became a panic, so great was the hurry to reach there +from the East. It is estimated that seventeen thousand persons passed +Fort Laramie in June, 1848, coming up the Platte from Omaha; while +from Kansas City, Leavenworth and St. Joseph, many thousands passed +through southeastern Colorado on the Santa Fe Trail, and thence to +Salt Lake where the Mormons grew rich in their trade with these +excited gold seekers. Nothing has ever been seen resembling the gold +developments of California. Fortunes were made in a day when a +treasure house was unlocked, and poverty claimed the affluent in a +night, when a pocket pinched out. The wealth that was poured into the +laps of the fortunate prospectors was fabulous. The Comstock Mine +alone, named for the man who opened it up and lost it, yielded a solid +mass of treasure, amounting to one hundred and eight million dollars +to the four fortunate owners. It sent to the United States Senate, +Fair, Stewart and Jones, three of the partners, and gave the Atlantic +Cable Line to Mackey, the fourth, whose son still controls it. + +So, having been discovered by General Coronado and his army with their +brilliant cavalcade and martial music; by the two black-robed Friars +with their noiseless followers; by Lieutenant Pike and his loyal band; +by Major Long and his associates; and last, by General Fremont with +his five exploring parties; while the tidal wave of travel and +excitement is sweeping by us to its destiny on the sunny western +slope, and we are left in solitude, awaiting the bright awakening ten +years hence; let us take an introspective view of the people whose +history is forever interwoven with ours, whose race is nearly run, +while ours is just begun. + +[Illustration: + + Ventura, Historian of the Tribe of Taos Indians, Garbed in His + White Buffalo Robe--Made White by Tanning. + + Indian History was Transmitted Orally to the Youth, the + Brightest of Whom Became in Turn the Historian.] + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +OPPORTUNITY. + + "Master of human destinies am I, + Fame, love and fortune on my footsteps wait, + Cities and fields I walk; I penetrate + Deserts and seas remote, and, passing by + Hovel, and mart, and palace, soon or late + I knock unbidden once at every gate! + If sleeping, wake--if feasting, rise before + I turn away. It is the hour of fate + And they who follow me reach every state + Mortals desire, and conquer every foe + Save death; but those who doubt or hesitate, + Condemned to failure, penury and woe, + Seek me in vain and uselessly implore-- + I answer not, and I return no more." + + --_Ingalls._ + + +_A Fortune Won and Lost._ + +Hanging in a room of the White House when the magnetic, able and +masterful Roosevelt was President, was this beautiful poem of Senator +Ingalls. A gem of rarest value in word painting; a literary production +beyond criticism; but in sentiment, harmful and discouraging! It is +not true! Opportunity has knocked repeatedly at the door of countless +numbers, and future generations will hear its call again and again. +Only one chance to be given us? No! Life is too fine and means too +much for "the hour of fate" to hang on so slender a thread as a single +opportunity. It comes many times to some; it comes but once to others; +it does not come to all. To Antoine Janis, a French Trapper, it +knocked unbidden at his door but once; he failed to answer, and he +lived to appreciate his great loss, for he had fortune placed within +his grasp and did not realize it. Once, all the beautiful Cache la +Poudre Valley was his; every acre of land from La Porte to the Box +Elder; every lot in Fort Collins; wealth which would run into the +millions. It was the gift of the Indians, and was his as absolutely as +though it had come by Deed of Warranty with all its covenants, clear +and indefeasible. The Government in its Treaties with the Indians +recognized their grants, and had Janis asserted his rights to this +vast property, his claim would undoubtedly have been recognized by the +Government as in many similar cases. He continued his residence in +Larimer County for thirty-four years, going then to the Indians at the +Pine Ridge Agency and remaining there until his death. The close +friendship, early formed between him and the Indians, was never +broken, and they buried him with honors. + +I like to imagine that famous meeting at La Porte, when that Valley, +then nameless, changed hands. The Indians as a race were dignified, +serious, and on formal occasions acted with great deliberation. They +were a generous people, and were about to make a present to the White +Brother who had come to dwell among them. Bold Wolf, the Chief, called +his counsellors together. From out the seven hundred tepees they came, +in their brilliant dress of state. They gathered around the camp fire, +seated on their feet, with Antoine Janis as their honored guest. They +smoked the pipe of peace; not a pipe for each, but one for all, that +would draw them closer in lasting friendship. Resting their painted +cheeks on the palms of their hands, they listened with the utmost +respect to those who spoke. The oratory of the Indian is proverbial. +His dignified and serious bearing, his simple words and brief +sentences, his profound earnestness and apt illustrations, made him a +master of eloquence. It was an occasion for thrilling discourse. The +land where they were assembled was theirs. It was the land of their +fathers. It was theirs by right of discovery, by right of occupancy. +Here they had lived their lives; here their children had been born; +here their dead were buried, and here they had worshipped the Great +Spirit to whom their ancestors had bowed. And they were to give away +the best of their heritage; the luxuriant meadows of the richest and +most beautiful valley in their vast domain were to go to the White +Brother forever. Thereafter, every man, woman and child of the tribe +recognized that the country they looked out upon, over which their +ponies grazed, across which the buffalo roamed, even the very ground +upon which their wigwams stood, was the property of Antoine Janis. + + +_The Call of the Blood._ + +About the year 1800 some French trappers and hunters were passing out +of Colorado, into New Mexico, in quest of new streams in which to ply +their avocation. The pack ponies which they were driving on ahead +suddenly stopped and centered about an object at which they sniffed +intelligently. The trappers coming forward to investigate looked at +each other in amazement as they gathered around a deserted child lying +on the bosom of the unfeeling earth, hungry and helpless. These +bronzed and bearded men were heavy handed, but not stony hearted; and +they met the responsibility as best they could. Moses had been left in +the bullrushes of a stream for his preservation. This child had been +left in the tangled weeds on the bank of a stream for its destruction. +Moses lived to become the leader of a nation. This child was +saved--but let us see. It was taken by the trappers, named Friday for +the day upon which it was found, as in the tale of Robinson Crusoe, an +Indian youth was named Friday for the day of his discovery. Friday +grew and thrived, was adopted by one of the party, and at the age of +fourteen was taken along to St. Louis, where he was sent to school, +and shared in the joys and griefs of other boys of his age. When he +was twenty-one, the cry that had long been suppressed gave utterance. +He wanted to see his people. Leaving home, he came to Colorado, and to +the tribe of the Arapahoes, who had crossed the path of the trappers +twenty-one years before. It was a new life to which he was admitted. +During his visit a buffalo hunt was organized in his behalf. He +watched the preparations, saw the gathering of the ponies from off the +prairies, the testing of the bows and arrows, the night of feasting +and dancing before the start at earliest dawn. Wending their way over +the plains, they finally spied the herd. At once the dullness of the +hunters gave place to trained alertness; absolute quiet reigned; the +ponies crept forward slowly and softly, step by step, with their +riders clinging to their sides to give the appearance of a band of +grazing horses. At last they were near enough, and then the signal. +Away went the horses and riders in a whirlwind of excitement, the eyes +of the riders blazing, the nostrils of the horses dilating. Away went +the herd, shaking the earth with the thunders of their flight; away +flew the arrows to the twang of the bows, as they sped straight and +true into the heaving sides of the struggling animals. Down went the +buffalo, down on their trembling knees, down on their quivering sides, +as they stretched themselves out for their final death struggle. Down +went the Indians to dance in glee around the prostrate bodies of their +trophies. + +And Friday? No one ever hunted as Friday hunted! The thirst of blood +was upon him. He had plunged into the midst of danger, and knew no +pity, no compunction, no fatigue. The instinct of his race that had +been sleeping for years surged to the surface at a bound, never again +to be dormant. That night he threw off the garb that stood for the +civilizing influences of the past, donned the yellow blanket of his +race and adopted the life of his people. That day of daring, and his +education, marked him as a leader, and he became a Chief of the +Arapahoe nation. + +Chief Friday had a son. He was called Jacob after that Patriarch, who, +when asked his age by Pharaoh, replied so poetically "the days of the +years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years; few and evil +have the days of the years of my life been, but have not attained unto +the days of the years of the lives of my fathers in the days of their +pilgrimage." There is a superstition among the Indians that if they +have lost a battle, they must sacrifice some member of another tribe +as an offering to the Great Spirit. Jacob had been chosen for the +sacrifice. Hearing of it he fled. Returning two years later when he +supposed there was no further fear of his destruction, he was set upon +and left dead upon the ground. Friday loved Jacob with a very great +love, and so did he love the good of his people. He counseled peace, +and instead of plunging two nations in war, he buried his son with a +breaking heart, hidden by the stoicism of his race. + +Chief Friday had a daughter. A winsome lass. Light of foot, with a +singing voice and dancing eyes. She was called "Little Niwot" by her +father, because she used her left hand, and Niwot in the Indian tongue +means "left hand." I asked a doctor once, those wisest of wise men, +why it was that out of fifteen hundred million of the earth's +inhabitants, so few used the left hand prominently, and this was his +reply: "Upebanti manusinistra ob herededitatum." + +Niwot's education was not alone like that of the other Indian +children, whose eyes were trained to see the beauty in the sun, the +moon and the stars; whose ears were attuned to catch the voices in the +murmuring brooks, the music in the rustling trees, the melody in the +warbling birds; but she had learned of her father as well, who taught +her from the remembrances of those far-off days in the St. Louis +schools. Little Niwot loved an Indian youth, who was not the choice of +her mother. So she ran away with her dusky mate and became the wife of +the man of her choice. Friday was left alone. Jacob was dead and Niwot +was gone; he grieved for them, and could not be comforted. Niwot +became the name of a Creek near Longmont, and of a near-by station on +the Colorado and Southern Railway. So in station and stream, the +memory of a little Indian maiden is to always be kept green. + +And Friday died; died in the happy thought that in the civilizing +processes that had been going on about him, he had always tried to +stay the hand of his people when raised to check the white wave that +was sweeping them to their destruction. Chief Friday was well known to +the early settlers, and from them has come this story, here a little +and there a little, and now woven into print for the first time. The +unhappy ending of his life is like that of Chief Logan, whose +heart-breaking plea has been handed down to us in this great burst of +touching eloquence: + +"I appeal to any white man to say if ever he entered Logan's cabin +hungry and he gave him not meat; if ever he came naked and he clothed +him not. During the course of the last long and bloody war, Logan +remained idle in his camp, an advocate of peace. Such was my love for +the whites that my countrymen pointed as I passed and said, 'Logan is +a friend of the white man.' I had even thought to have lived with you +but for the injuries of one man; Col. Cresap, who, the last Spring, in +cold blood and unprovoked, murdered all the relations of Logan, not +even sparing my women and children. There runs not a drop of my blood +in any living creature. This called on me for revenge. I have sought +it. I have killed many. I have fully glutted my vengeance. For my +country, I rejoice at the beams of peace; but do not harbor a thought +that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn +on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan? Not +one." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +A VANISHING RACE. + + +There was a white man once with an idea. So modest was this man that +he was unwilling that even his name and the idea should be linked +together. He wanted the Indians to become better known to the whites, +to themselves, to their children, and to the future generations of +children. So he passed from one tribe to another and made known his +plan to them. They were to write a book; a book that would contain a +record of their thoughts and ideals, their songs and unwritten music, +their folk-lore, their views of the past, and their beliefs in the +mysterious future. The idea pleased them, grew on them, and ended in +their becoming deeply interested. The book was prepared and printed +and it contains the following touching and stately introduction by the +High Chief of the Indian Tribes. It moves forward so like a majestic +anthem, so solemn in its unspoken sorrow, so full of gentle dignity +that it sweeps into our souls like the cadence of a great Amen: + + "To the Great Chief at Washington, and the Chief of Peoples Across + the Waters: + + "Long ago, the Great Mystery caused this land to be, and made the + Indians to live in this land. Well has the Indian fulfilled all + the intent of the Great Mystery for Him. Through this book may men + know that the Indian was made by the Great Mystery for a purpose. + + "Once, only Indians lived in this land. Then came strangers from + across the Great Waters. No land had they; we gave them of our + land; no food had they; we gave them of our corn; the strangers + have become many and they fill all the country. They dig + gold--from my mountains; they build houses--of the trees of my + forests; they rear cities--of my stones and rocks; they make fine + garments--from the hides and wool of animals that eat my grass. + None of the things that make their riches did they bring with them + from across the Great Waters. All comes from my lands--the land + the Great Mystery gave unto this Indian. + + "And when I think on this, I know that it is right, even thus. In + the heart of the Great Mystery, it was meant that the + stranger--visitors--my friends across the Great Waters should come + to my land; that I should bid them welcome; that all men should + sit down with me and eat together of my corn; it was meant by the + Great Mystery that the Indian should give to all peoples. + + "But the white man never has known the Indian. It is thus: there + are two roads, the white man's road, and the Indian's road. + Neither traveler knows the road of the other. Thus ever has it + been, from the long ago, even unto to-day. May this book help to + make the Indian truly known in time to come. + + "The Indian wise speakers in the book are the best men of their + tribe. Only what is true is within this book. I want all Indians + and white men to read and learn how the Indians lived and thought + in the olden time and may it bring holy--good upon the younger + Indian to know of their fathers. A little while and the old + Indians will no longer be and the young will be even as white men. + When I think, I know it is the mind of the Great Mystery that the + white man and the Indians who fought together should now be one + people. + + "There are birds of many colors, red, blue, green, yellow--yet it + is all one bird. There are horses of many colors, brown, black, + yellow, white--yet it is all one horse. So cattle, so all living + things--animals, flowers, trees. So man; in this land where once + were only Indians and now men of every color--white, black, + yellow, red--yet all one people. That this was to come to pass was + in the heart of the Great Mystery. It is right thus, and + everywhere there shall be peace." + + (Sgd.) By HIAMOVI (High Chief), + Chief among the Cheyennes and Dakotas. + +Who is the Indian? This question has been asked for more than four +hundred years, and from out the buried silence of the past has come no +answering voice. Columbus asked it as approaching the border of a New +Hemisphere he gazed thoughtfully upon the features of another race of +beings. Ferdinand and Isabella asked it, as these strange men doomed +to vassalage stood proudly before them speaking in an unknown tongue. +Cortez asked it, as he riveted the chains of servitude upon two +million of them in the Conquest of Mexico. Coronado asked it, as his +army moved among the wandering tribes with their differing languages +and customs. The Pilgrim Fathers asked it with varying emotions, as +they viewed the curious natives waiting for them on the bleak New +England shores. France asked it, and trusted its most highly cultured +scientist to bring reply. "Nothing," he said as he returned, +"Nothing." He had visited many tribes, studied their languages, +customs and character, read everything ever written about them, and he +knew nothing and nothing ever will be known. + +May not human life have had its very beginning on this hemisphere? May +there not in the remote past have been a Columbus who sailed East and +discovered the Continent of Europe making it the New World and leaving +this the Old? The pendulum of the clock swings in seconds. The +pendulum of the growth and decay of continents swings in centuries, in +eons. The meteor of Rome blazing through the heavens took one thousand +years to fall. Like the Ocean's tide is the ebb and flow of nations. +That there was a prehistoric race on this continent and an extinct +civilization, we know. We read it in the Valleys of the Ohio and the +Mississippi, in the copper beds by the side of Lake Superior, along +the shores of Ecuador, and in the country to the southward. From time +immemorial, from generation to generation, from father to son, has +been handed down a tradition among the once powerful tribe of the +Iroquois Indians, that their ancestors, overflowing their boundaries, +had moved down from the northwest to the Mississippi; that on the east +side of that river they had found a civilized nation with their towns, +their crops and their herds; that permission was obtained to pass by +on their way to the East; that as they were crossing the river, they +were treacherously assailed, a great battle ensued, followed by a +continuous warfare, until the enemy was totally destroyed and their +civilization blotted out. + +[Illustration: An Indian Chief Addressing the Council.] + +The bones of human beings are dust by the side of mammals estimated by +geologists to be fifty thousand years old. The allotted period of a +man's life is three score years and ten. He could be born seven +hundred times, live seven hundred lives, die seven hundred deaths in +those five hundred centuries. It is not within the compass of the +human mind to grasp the infinite detail in the rise and fall of +nations within such a period. Read the story of nine generations of +men, from Adam to Noah in the first five Chapters of Genesis, for the +multiplication of the human race from just two people, and the +destruction of a population so numerous that they were like the sands +of the ocean's beach. Following on but a few pages, we find that out +of the Ark had "grown many nations and many tongues," and they were so +crowded that the Lord said unto Abram, "Get thee out of thy country, +and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I +will show thee, and I will make of thee a great nation." Abram went, +and he took his nephew Lot along, and directly we read that "the land +was not able to bear them that they might dwell together," and they +separated, one going to the right hand and the other to the left hand. +With this historical data before us, do we ask whence came these +millions of Indians and their confusion of tongues? There is a touch +of similarity between the wandering tribes in early Bible history, +with their many languages, their patriarchs, their flocks and herds, +their peaceful lives and their dissensions and wars--and that of our +Indians, with the earth before them, with their tribal Chiefs, their +many dialects and their nomadic lives. If the North American Indians +had possessed a written language; if after their discovery, they had +been able to make recorded conveyances of vast tracts of lands to the +subjects of the different Powers of the Old World; if international +law could have been appealed to for the protection of these individual +rights, there might have been a world war on this continent that would +have made our rivers run red with blood. + +When we close our minds to months and years and think in centuries, it +is easy to understand the diversity of languages. Tribes going off by +themselves, drop words from their vocabulary as time goes on, and use +other words that mean the same; after the passing of generations there +is an entirely new dialect. It is so in nearly all the countries of +the Old World; people living under the same government, neighbors, +cannot talk to each other. Climate too has something to do with +language. Russians and Eskimos use a speech that requires very little +lip movement, so as not to inhale the cold air of those cold regions. +In a mild climate there is the open language with many vowels. + +When we discovered the Indian, we found a character the like of which +has no parallel in all history. It was the untutored mind of a child +in the body of an adult; there was respect for each other and +scrupulous honesty in their dealings among themselves; there was +government by a Chief and his council, comprising the oldest of the +tribe, to whom all questions of importance were submitted, the Chief +being such because of inheritance, or daring, or possessions; there +was the love of the parent for the child, and the teachings that +developed the highest efficiency in hearing, tasting, smelling, seeing +and touching, for upon these faculties thoroughly trained, depended +success in war, and sustenance in peace; there was pride of ancestry +and a reverence for the Great Spirit, the maker and ruler of the +universe. It seems almost a pity that this Arcadia could not have +remained untouched. We asked for a little land to pasture our cows and +to use for gardens. It was given by them grandly. We asked for more, +and it came cheerfully; we demanded still more, and it came +gracefully. Then we quit asking and took it; took it with shot and +shell, as we hungrily pressed on, doubling one tribe back upon +another; bayonets in front, bows and arrows in the rear, and they +fought each other, and they fought us. We called them savages; and +they were savage, and so would we all be under like treatment. Justice +and diplomacy would have saved thousands of lives and millions in +money. We made many treaties with the Indians which were broken by us +and this occasioned most of our Indian wars. Canada had the Indians +and no wars. Her dealings with them were on principle and along +steadfast and unchanging lines. Men grew old and died in the Indian +Service, and those next in line took their places. They understood the +Indian nature, and knew they possessed a high sense of honor and the +dealings were fair to each side. Our politics have been at the bottom +of nearly all our troubles. As parties have changed, men have changed. +A promise made one day has been broken by the men who came on the +morrow. The Interior Department failing to handle the perplexing +question, the Indians were turned over to the various church +organizations, who failed to get the right proportions in their +mixture of morals and business. Then the War Department tried it; and +all the time the lands of the red men diminished, and the land of the +white man increased. Up to the year of Colorado's admittance into the +Union as a Territory, 1861, there had been three hundred and +ninety-three treaties made with the one hundred and seventy-five +tribes of Indians embraced within the Territory of the United States, +by which 581,163,188 acres of land were acquired. + +As tribes differed in their languages, so they differed in their +customs; and the following traits are applicable to some tribes and +not to others. + +The stoicism of the Indian is well known; but that trait of his +character has its qualifications. He shows the taciturn side of his +nature to strangers, but the world is not so serious as his austere +countenance would indicate. Among his own people he is a fun-loving, +story-telling, game-indulging human being. There are degrees in their +social status measured by what they have done and the property they +have accumulated. They have their ideas of propriety, and are shocked +that a man and woman should dance together. The men dance in a ring by +themselves, and the women dance in an outer ring, while a drum gives +accents to their movements. Usually they sing something mournful, its +weird rhythm following one for days. + +A child is usually named by its father, who walks abroad from the tent +for that purpose, selecting the name of what he sees first that +impresses him most. So they have such peculiar names as Rain in the +Face, Yellow Mag-pie, Sleeping Bear, Thunder-cloud, Spotted Horse and +White Buffalo. However, there are no white buffalo. They are black +until the hot sun of each season fades the black to brown, which later +sheds, to come out black again. When a buffalo hide is tanned on both +sides, it becomes white, which gives rise to the name White Buffalo. +They have but one name other than their tribal name. The name "squaw" +was first found in the language of the Naragansett tribe of Indians +and is doubtless an abbreviation of the word "Esquaw." Other tribes +have their own peculiar name for women. The name squaw came into +general use and spread all over the United States and Canada, was +carried to the western tribes of Indians by the whites, and was used +by all whites and all Indians. A squaw man is one who does a woman's +work, or a white man who marries an Indian woman. + +A youth does not tell a maiden of his love for her. That is told and +answered by heart telepathy in the old, old way. He tells his father, +who calls his relatives to a council and a feast, to consider the +matter. Then the young man's mother carries the proposal to the mother +of the maid, who tells it to the girl's father, and a meeting is +called by him of his relatives and friends, where there is much +feasting and speaking. The two mothers then meet, and accept for their +children. The girl prepares a dish and carries it to the tent of the +young man daily as a token of her intention to serve him all her days. +When the tepee is ready, and the presents accumulated, and house +keeping begins, they are husband and wife, all the former +preliminaries having constituted the wedding ceremony. + +An Indian never touches a razor to his face, for they are a beardless +race. The tribes who occupied the eastern part of the United States, +wore their hair clipped short like the Chinamen, excepting that +instead of a queue, there was a scalp lock which they adorned with +feathers. It was worn in defiance of the Indians of other tribes, who +were thus dared to come and take their scalp. The picturesque and +warlike appearance of the Indians that comes from painting their faces +with deep and varying hues, originated in the preservation of the skin +from burning and chapping in the sun and alkali dust. They used +compounds made from roots or earth which they ground or baked and +mixed with grease. There were many kinds of earth that had different +tints which they liked, so this became a permanent custom which made +their appearance seem fierce and warlike. They believe that the red +men are made of earth, and the white men are made of sea foam. + +In surgery they had rude skill and in disease they had a limited +knowledge of the proper application of roots and herbs. But they knew +nothing of the science of medicine in its complicated form as +practiced by the learned of the profession at the present time, who so +thoroughly understand prophylaxis, serum therapy, and the role of +antibodies in passive immunization. Dentistry was unknown among them; +their simple food and outdoor lives kept them well, and the food they +ate was thoroughly ground between their well-preserved teeth. The game +that was formerly so abundant was their principal food, and its +destruction by the whites took from the Indian his chief mode of +existence, and occasioned his menacing attitude toward our people. +Other food consisted of wild berries, sweet potatoes, rice and nuts, +which they would gather and bury. As they had a practiced eye, they +found the buried food of the squirrel, the otter and the muskrat, +which they would dig up and appropriate to their own use. + +[Illustration: "Behold, he winnoweth barley to-night in the threshing +floor." Ruth 3:2. + +As they did in biblical times, so do some of the Indian tribes to this +day. They beat out the grain with a stick and then pour it out gently +for its cleansing by the wind.] + +They mourn noisily with each other in case of death. Likewise did the +tribes of the patriarchs, who "mourned with great and very sore +lamentation." The Indians think that it takes four days for the soul +to reach the land of the dead. So a light burns on the grave nightly +for four nights, that the disembodied may not get lost. They believe +that there are two souls, one that soars away in dreams, while the +other remains in the body. In the absence of a clock in the wigwam and +a watch in the pocket, they measure time in their own way; a sun is a +day, a moon is a month, and a snow is a season. + +It is said the "hand that rocks the cradle is the lever that moves the +world." If this be true, then the Indian mother takes no part in the +world's movement, for she never has rocked a cradle. The cradle of a +child is an oak board two and one-half feet long, and one and one-half +feet wide, to which the babe is strapped in a way that the arms and +legs are free for exercise and growth. This board lies on the ground, +leans against the wigwam or a tree, is carried on the mother's back, +or placed between tent poles like the shafts of a vehicle, to which a +pony or dog is attached, leaving two of the ends dragging on the +ground. The child is sometimes rocked by the wind when fastened high +up among the branches of the trees; and that is where the little song +comes from that the mother sings to her child to this day; "Rock-a-bye +baby in the tree-top; when the wind blows the cradle will rock." + +The speeches of the Indians are always impressive. Their words are +simple and direct, and there were developed great orators among them +in the days when war between the tribes, and against the United States +prevailed. Some of the simple pleas which they made for the land of +their fathers, were as fine as could be produced by a higher education +and a finer civilization. When the French demanded of the tribe of the +Iroquois that they move farther back into the wilderness, the eloquent +reply of their Chief has been pronounced by Voltaire to be superior to +any sayings of the great men commemorated by Plutarch: "We were born +on this spot; our fathers were buried here. Shall we say to the bones +of our fathers, arise, and go with us into a strange land?" + +The same cannot be said of the Indian literature. Here is one of their +classics: "Nike adiksk hwii draxzoq. Geipdet txanetkl wunax. Nike ia +leskl txaxkdstge. Nike lemixdet. La Leskl lemixdet, nike haeidetge." +Interpreted this means: "Then came the tribes. They ate it all the +food. Then they finished eating. Then they sang. When they finished +singing then they stopped." It is characteristic of the Indians for +their feasting to end when their food is all gone, and for their +singing to cease when it stops. + +A century ago Malthus, in his great work on the "Principle of +Population," prophesied the extinction of the North American Indians. +His theory was, that subsistence is the sole governing cause in the +ebb and flow of the population of the world. That given pure morals, +simple living, and food to support the increase, the inhabitants of +any country would double every twenty-five years. He therefore +predicted that it was an inevitable law of nature that the Indians, +failing to take advantage of the bounties of nature, must of necessity +give way before the needs of an ever increasing population. + +The Indian had the misfortune to have been improperly named. Columbus +had sailed over the trackless ocean for many days; water in front of +him, water behind him, to the right and to the left. He had gone so +far that finally when he anchored, he thought he had sailed entirely +around the world, and had come upon the eastern coast of the very +country he had left behind when he sailed west out of Spain. Believing +that he had reached the eastern coast of India, he called the Islands +where he landed the "West Indies," and the inhabitants thereof +"Indians." + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE LUSTRE OF GOLD. + + +[Sidenote: 1858] + +In the incident of nearly sixty centuries ago, when Joseph's brothers +came down two hundred miles from Canaan to Egypt with their sacks to +be filled with corn, and of the money being put back with the grain, +we have the first record in the civilized world of the ownership of +gold. "How then should we steal out of thy Lord's house silver and +gold." So its value was then known, though no doubt for decorative +purposes only, from which it in time grew into use as money. Cortez +found the Aztecs using domestic utensils made of copper, silver and +gold. + +What made Gold? What deposited it in some parts of the earth's surface +and not in others? Why is there not more of it? We do not know. We +know it was one of the primitive elements; that it is held in solution +in the waters of the ocean; that men have tried to make it and have +always failed. It derives its name from its lustre. Though gold and +yellow are in a measure synonymous, their difference is best seen in +the glory of the sunset which is always golden, never yellow. It is +the lustre that makes the lure of gold. Its value arises from the +permanency of its lustre; from its imperishable properties; from the +fact that so much can be done with it; because it is so limited in +quantity; and because it requires so much time and money to find and +refine it. If it would corrode it would be valueless for many of the +uses to which it is put. Its soft beauty never tires the eye, nor +becomes monotonous. It is the only metal that can be welded cold, as +we can all testify from our experiences in painless dentistry. It can +be spun out like a spider's web, or beaten so that a single grain of +it can be spread over a space of seventy-five square inches. If it +were as plentiful as earth or sand, it would still have great value +because it is so permanent and malleable. The sawing and chiselling of +the great blocks of marble and granite that are lifted by derricks +into our public buildings, cost much more in their preparation than +would the shaping of gold into similar blocks. If it were plentiful, +our houses would all be built of gold; they would never burn; never +rust; never decay; never need paint; they would endure forever; for +even earthquakes that would destroy every other material, would not +affect them; the mass of gold would not be destroyed and could be +re-shaped and refitted together. However, if it were so plentiful that +we could all live in it, it would be so common that its beautiful +lustre would probably be debased by ordinary paint. + +Mining comes down to us through the centuries. The Romans were +operating mines in England before the organization of that country +into the British Empire. Africa produces the most gold of any country, +and the United States next. Colorado produces the most gold of any +state in the union. There is but little gold found in the eastern part +of the United States and that mostly in Tennessee and North Carolina. +It exists in paying quantities in the Black Hills of South Dakota, in +the Rocky Mountains, and in California. Gold is found under two +conditions: in veins and in placer formations. As the veins in our +bodies are almost endless in their ramifications, so imbedded in the +rocky fastnesses deep down in the earth, are the veins of gold which +are mined and hoisted to the surface through shafts, or brought out +through tunnels; the process of smelting sends the gold to the Mint +for its refinement. Deep mining is expensive and requires costly +machinery. Shafts are sunk down thousands of feet, sometimes through +solid rock, and powerful pumping plants are often necessary. Sometimes +hundreds of men are at work in one mine. + +[Illustration: Miners Making a "Clean-up" from Their "Jig-box."] + +Then there is placer mining, so-called because it is a place on the +bank of a river where the gold is found. "Placer" is Spanish and means +"pleasure." A prospector's outfit for finding gold by the latter +process is very crude. He goes into the mountains with two pack +ponies. These pack animals learn to climb over the rocks and along the +precipitous mountain sides like Rocky Mountain sheep. On their backs +are strapped his tent and simple belongings, among which is a wash +basin. The prospector seldom uses it for the purpose for which it was +made. He bathes in nature's basin--golden basin; that which a King +might envy him--the stream, the rushing, tumbling stream, clear, cold +and pure; fortunate man! he bathes in liquid gold. The pan he fills +two-thirds full of dirt, then with water, rocks it gently with his +hands, letting the water run over the sides, carrying the dirt away +and leaving the particles of gold, which are heavy, at the bottom of +the pan. When the miner finds it there, he does not call it gold, he +calls it "color." This rude device that is simply motion, water, and a +receptacle for the particles of gold, is the same process elaborated +upon by expensive machinery, that tears up and runs through the mill +thousands of tons of material found along streams, and in gulches, +where streams ran ages ago, and which, changing their channels, have +left their deposits of gold containing the wash from the lump or +quartz gold, found in the veins of ore. + +A sluice is where water is made to run through a ditch into a trough +that has cleats nailed across the bottom to check the water and form +ripples. Into this the pay-dirt is shoveled, and the water flowing +through it leaves the gold at the bottom and carries the dirt away. +Gold dust is not fine like flour. A piece weighing less than a fourth +of an ounce is called "dust." Above that it becomes a "nugget." Small +counter-scales were kept in the early days by all business men, who +weighed the money in, and weighed the flour and bacon out. An ounce of +gold was taken over the counter from the miners at sixteen dollars, +but when it left the Mint refined, which meant the elimination of all +impurities, it brought twenty dollars. It is never entirely pure until +refined. + +The nearest approach we now have to the hunter, trapper and scout, is +the prospector hunting for gold. We find him wandering alone through +the mountains, a silent figure, the pack pony, his only companion, +sometimes driven ahead, sometimes following on behind. This quiet +spoken, unobtrusive, hermit-like man is usually tall, gaunt, bearded, +hopeful, always believing in the lucky find that is sure to be +his--soon. Mining laws vary with different states and mining +communities. But ordinarily they are the same in effect, that a miner +must show good faith, do the work required to establish his claim, and +must post a notice on the ground claimed by him; the spelling in the +notice does not seem to matter. We do not hear that the following were +rejected on account of errors or threats: + + "Notis--to all and everybody. This is my claim, 50 feet on the + gulch. Cordin to Clear Creek District law backed up by shot gun + amendments, + + (Sgd.) "THOMAS HALL." + + "To the Gunnison District: + + "The undersigned claims this lede with all its driffs, spurs, + angels, sinosities, etc., etc., from this staik. a 100 feet in + each direcshun, the same being a silver bearing load, and warning + is hereby given to awl persons to keepe away at their peril, any + person found trespassing on this claim will be persecuted to the + full extent of the law. This is no monkey tale butt I will assert + my rites at the pint of the sicks shuter if legally Necessary so + taik head and good warnin accordin to law I post This Notiss, + + (Sgd.) " JOHN SEARLE." + +Singular it is that the laws governing mining claims originated with +the miners themselves, and found their way through the Courts and +Congress for ratification, which was done with hardly any changes, +while the laws covering all other forms of ownership of Government +lands originated in Congress. The author of much of our early land +legislation, to whom our country can never be grateful enough, was +that eminent statesman Alexander Hamilton. + +Gold started Colorado's growth; gold kept it growing; but gold is only +one of many factors that will forever keep it growing. What busy +scenes were enacted here in those memorable years when the attention +of the entire country was centered on this region! Pike's Peak was the +objective point of the gold seekers--not Denver which was then +unknown. When James Purseley, Colorado's earliest white inhabitant, +first found gold in 1805, at the foot of Lincoln Mountain, it did not +assume the importance of a discovery. He had no use for the gold +nuggets he picked up; the Indians did not know or appreciate the value +of gold, and there was no one with whom he could utilize it, as he +could in the exchange of ponies and furs. It is said that he finally +threw the nuggets away because of the uncomfortable weight in his +pockets. No doubt he thought he would live his life among the Indians, +the wild, free life that was so fascinating, and would never return to +the East, and perhaps never see a white man again. He was content with +his lot, had no use for gold and why should he hoard it, when the +Indian blanket he was now wearing had no convenient place in which to +carry it. + +Green Russell is said to have found gold on Cherry Creek in August or +September, 1858, just ten years after its discovery in California. It +was also found by a party of six men on January 15, 1859, on a branch +of Boulder Creek, which occasioned the location of the present City of +Boulder. George Jackson went into the mountains on January 7, 1859, +and discovered gold at the mouth of a branch of Clear Creek, and on +April 17th organized at that point the first mining district; later, +on May 1st, he found gold at Idaho Springs. But it remained for John +H. Gregory to fan into a never dying glow the flame that had been +gathering volume by these desultory discoveries. He found gold on +Clear Creek, near the sites of Black Hawk and Central City, in +February, 1859. Lacking provisions, he went to Golden for supplies, +returned May 6th, and started a sluice on May 16th, from which he took +as much as nine hundred dollars a day. He sold his discovery for +twenty-one thousand dollars and set the country afire with excitement. +From nearly every eastern community, the people came, and from many +parts of the world. It is estimated that fifty thousand people poured +into this mountain region the first year after the discovery of gold. +Many of those who remained, and many who came later, made fortunes, +some to keep them, some to lose them. Those who hurried out of the +country did not witness the growth of Cripple Creek, of Leadville, of +Camp Bird or of the San Juan and Clear Creek Districts. + +There are two smelters in Denver and one each in Golden, Leadville, +Canon City, Pueblo and Salida. None but zinc ores are sent out of this +State. The annual output of gold in Colorado is about twenty-two +million dollars, or about six million dollars a year greater than +California. There are three operated Mints in the United States: +Denver, Philadelphia and San Francisco. At Denver there are six +hundred million dollars of gold deposited in the vaults beneath the +foundations of the Mint, and upon this reserve the paper currency of +the Government has been issued. No such amount of gold is stored in +any other building in the world. The Denver Mint will always remain +the storage depository for the gold reserve of the nation, because of +its inland location, where it is remote from attack by sea. Colorado +has already produced in gold four hundred and eighty-eight million +five hundred thousand dollars, and there is no indication of a +diminution in the supply. Of the seven billions of the world's gold, +nearly one-fourth, or approximately one billion six hundred million is +held by the United States. + +When Columbus first started on his voyage of discovery there was less +than two hundred million dollars of gold in the world; now, more than +double that amount is produced in a single year. In 1500 the annual +gold production was four million dollars, and it took two hundred +years before the yearly output was doubled. Now, nearly five hundred +million dollars in gold is taken out of the earth each year. Only in +the past few years has the production of gold assumed such gigantic +proportions as to be alarming. In 1800 it was but twelve million +dollars annually. In 1900 it was two hundred and sixty-two million +dollars yearly, and in the past ten years it reached the enormous +output of more than four hundred and fifty-seven million dollars every +year. The Transvaal country alone turns out over one hundred and fifty +million yearly. This great increase is due to improved methods of +mining. Machinery unknown ten years ago, has done away with the +primitive methods that kept the production of gold constant and within +bounds. In the Transvaal, the hills and valleys are being ground up by +powerful machines that separate the gold from the earth and rock. +Then, too, a giant stream of water is now turned against the base of a +mountain that melts away like mist before the sun, and sends a stream +of gold to the mint. + +Gold has always been the standard of values among all civilized +nations. But its quantity is increasing so fast that its purchasing +power is diminishing, and prices of all commodities are increasing +correspondingly. When we will be producing one billion dollars of gold +annually, which will be in about ten years at the present rate of +increase, there must be a new standard of values agreed upon among the +nations of the earth to fit the purchasing power of gold, or there +will be an upheaval in the financial affairs of the world that will +shake it to the very foundations, and affect the lives of every one of +its inhabitants. + +The over-production of gold is relieved in a measure by the utter +disappearance of a part of it. What becomes of all the gold? Nearly +one million five hundred thousand dollars a day is taken from the +mines of the world. Only a portion of this output is consumed by the +arts and in jewelry, and in the natural legal reserve of Governments. +From the best information obtainable, much of the surplus goes into +the hoarding places of all classes. The people in poor and medium +circumstances hide it away, and it is treasured in the vaults of the +rich princes of India, and the dynasties of China and Egypt, who for +centuries have been building vast burglar proof receptacles +underground, where it is stored, and its hiding places are never +allowed to become known. It is wrested from out of its hidden recesses +in mountain fastnesses, by pick, drill, dynamite and arduous toil, +flows through the arteries of trade, and again goes into its burial +places to remain hidden for ages. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +SOME MEN OF VISIONS. + + +[Sidenote: 1859] + +In this story of Colorado it has been the aim of the writer to leave +the present, crowded with the interesting events that are passing +before us in kaleidoscopic changings, to the enviable writers of a +future period; and to keep well within the boundaries of the remote +past, touching but briefly, if at all, upon those subjects so ably +covered by the historians of the State. They have fully recorded the +growth of the country, the towns and cities; the beginning of the +railroads and telegraph lines that were such important factors in the +development of the state; and the part that men of prominence, living +and dead, took in the upbuilding of our commonwealth. It is all found +in detail in the following histories: + +Frank Fossett's "Colorado," published in 1876; "History of Denver," +compiled by W. B. Vickers in 1880; Frank Hall's Four Volumes which +began to appear in 1890; Hubert Howe Bancroft's "History of Colorado," +published in 1891; William N. Byers "Encyclopedia Biography of +Colorado," in 1901; Jerome C. Smiley's elaborate "History of Denver," +in 1901; Eugene Parsons "The Making of Colorado," in 1908. + +A few names have been selected for mention in these pages which appear +in the above publications. Sketches of the lives of these men are here +presented in order that the older civilization may be merged into the +new, and to bring to the present generation a realization of the charm +of the interesting personalities with which the history of our early +days are replete. So the sketches in this Chapter will be like unto +"Twice Told Tales." + + +_William N. Byers._ + +Eighty years! Then, the frontier of this country had moved only a +little beyond Ohio, the State that in 1831 was the birth place of +William N. Byers. As we stand to-day in the midst of all that makes +life comfortable and inspiring, and look back to the crude +civilization and primitive methods of those early days in our +country's history, it is difficult to believe that even in such a +progressive age there could have been such developments in the +lifetime of some now living. Then, the little hand printing press had +only eight years before emerged into its perfected form after four +centuries of struggle. Then, the first railroad in the United States +had only been built for two years--built of wooden rails to connect +Albany and Schenectady, seventeen miles apart. Then, telegraphing was +unknown; it was not until 1837 that Morse perfected the first +telegraphic instrument, and later listened to the little girl, his +child friend, as she reverently touched the key and spelled out the +message that went reverberating around the world: "What hath God +wrought?" + +A United States surveying party enroute to Oregon took with it William +N. Byers, a youth of twenty. They were five months crossing the +plains. The next year, 1853, saw him starting West from Oregon +homeward bound, instead of East. Down the Columbia River by boat, out +on the Pacific Ocean and South to Cape Horn he sailed, up through the +Atlantic waters North to New York, West by railroad, canal boat, stage +coach and horseback, and he was at home in central Iowa on the very +edge of western settlements. + +But much to the surprise of every one there was still to be a newer +West. Out beyond the Missouri River had come a knocking which became +so loud and persistent that finally they heard it at Washington, and +Nebraska was admitted as a Territory in 1854. It is a short move now +from Iowa to Nebraska, but Omaha then seemed far away to the young man +who reached there when it comprised "one lone cabin surrounded by +savage people." The savages grew less and the town grew more, and +Byers, who was a surveyor, was soon at work platting it into a town +site. When the gold excitement broke out in California in 1848, and +Omaha became the outfitting point for the immense trading business +that grew constantly, it kept him busy laying out additions to the +town. Thus he experienced the rough side of life in a frontier +village. He saw, too, how the Pacific Slope mines made great fortunes +and built cities, so when the Colorado mining excitement started, he +concluded to be a part of the new country's development and growth. In +the early Spring of 1859, he started to Denver, after the fashion of +that day, with an ox team and covered wagon. + +One of the most pleasing fables in Mythology, is that of Pandora and +the box into which every god had put some blessing for her, and which +she opened incautiously to see the blessings all escape--save hope. In +this covered wagon, drawn by the slow-moving oxen, was a Pandora box +containing two blessings, a little printing press which could not fly +away--and hope. All the long weeks of journeying across the plains, +this far-sighted man was thinking. He thought of the little six +hundred pound press that he had with him, which with close work could +print twenty-five hundred copies of a small newspaper in a day. He +thought of the type that would be used over and over until it was so +worn that it would blur the pages. He thought of his paper going to a +few scattered strangers in a strange land. He looked ahead out over +the plains and saw that strange atmospherical condition that produces +the mirage, and which is so clear in its outlines and so misleading in +its impressions, that the man on the desert dying of thirst sees a +lake of pure water so near him that he seems to hear its waves dashing +on the shores. Byers gazed with delight and awe as the mirage seemed +to take form and resolve itself into a city; we can imagine that he +saw a gilded dome on a towering building of symmetrical form and +solidity that was set on an elevation of commanding beauty; that he +saw streets and trees and parks; life, movement, bustle, prosperity; +thousands of people each with a newspaper. And in imagination he stood +beside the giant printing presses of that magic city, presses that +were so capable and powerful as to seem endowed with life; so large +and heavy that a freight car could not haul one, and which needed a +double story beneath all other stories to house it. He sees himself +standing beside this mammoth mass of mechanism at its home, while it +is resting, at the time of polishing, oiling and testing, like the +grooming of the horse at the meet, ere it starts on its +record-breaking race. He listens to the telegraphic instruments +clicking the news from every portion of the known world. He goes to +the composing rooms where the copy grows into the newspaper pages of +type, under the skillful fingers of the capable men playing over the +keys of the intricate linotype. He follows the locked forms of type to +the stereotyping department, where a matrix made of the most perfect +and delicate paper that India can produce, is laid over the page of +type and pressure sends its minutest imprint transversely into the +paper which thus becomes an exact copy of the page of newspaper that +is soon to appear. He sees this impress copy bent half way around a +cylinder mold, with its duplicate on the other half of its cylinder +into which the hot metal flows; pressure transfers from the India +paper sheet every detail of the type, and the metal hardens into the +exact shape to fit a roller of the great press to which it is to be +transferred. He sees the type that was made an hour ago and used, now +cast into the glowing furnace, and a minute later becomes a melted +mass of metal. And we can imagine his soliloquy. + +"Oh! type! I see you boiling, and seething, and dissolving as if in +expiation of your sins, for you are cruel and relentless. To-day you +tell of men's sins that wreck their lives and they end their struggles +in self-destruction. You tell of sickness and death, of poverty and +defeat, of misery and crime; but in your purification by fire may all +be forgotten, for tomorrow you tell of births and flowers, of love and +marriage, of victory and success, and you crown your efforts by the +advocacy of wise laws, of good government, of equal justice to all; +for right will prevail while the liberty of the press can be +maintained." + +We imagine that he looks again and sees the electric button pressed; +the cogs of the great press begin to turn, the wheels to move, the +different colored inks high up in the metal troughs to flow over the +rollers that bathe the type, the immense roll of paper begins to +unreel into the machine and over the cylinders which are each covered +with their mold of type. Faster, faster, as the race horse speeds to +victory. Faster, faster, as the colossal machine bends to its work. +The folding attachment inside is busy doubling the paper into its +proper shape as each printed page flies past. The knife descends like +a flash, quicker than thought, and separates the page from the one +following. Faster, faster, the completed folded papers drop from the +machine into the endless chain elevator that sends them to the +distributing room overhead at the rate of forty thousand an hour, +where the restless newsboys are crowding, where the express deliveries +are waiting, where the warning signals of the locomotives at the depot +are heard, ready to hurry away with the papers over the mountains, +across the plains, into the valleys--the news for each and all, news +of the communities, news of the states, news of the world--this, this +is the present-day experiences of the present century's civilization, +the finest the world has ever seen, and which William Byers may have +seen in the mirage, but which he did not live to see in its perfected +form. + +He came at a time known as the "days of the reformation," when a +handful of peace-loving citizens of Denver were trying to bring order +out of that chaotic condition that seems to belong to a settlement on +the frontier made up of people from all over the world attracted by +the lure of gold. He was the pioneer editor of Colorado, and became +spokesman through his paper for those associated with him in the +preservation of property rights and in the protection of life. He was +fearless as a writer and unsparing in his criticism of the lawless in +the community. His editorial in the first issue of his paper shows the +character of the man: + +"We make our debut in the far West, where the sunny mountains look +down upon us in the hottest summer's day as well as in the winter's +cold. Here, where a few months ago the wild beasts and wilder Indians +held undisputed possession, where now surges the advancing wave of +Anglo-Saxon enterprise and civilization, where soon we fondly hope +will be erected a great and powerful state, another empire in the +sisterhood of empires. Our course is marked out, we will adhere to it, +with steadfast and fixed determination, to speak, write, and publish +the truth, and nothing but the truth, let it work us weal or woe." + + +_Horace W. Tabor._ + +From Vermont, that land of stone and marble, it was fitting that Tabor +should come to our mountains where similar conditions prevail. He came +by the way of Kansas where he farmed with indifferent success from +1855 to 1859. His entrance there into the political arena had a +disastrous ending. There used to be the Free Soilers, a party whose +battle cry was "free soil, free speech, free labor and free men." No +state had more troubles in the way of political happenings than +Kansas. One consisted in having this Free Soil party, to which Tabor +belonged and which made him a member of the Legislature of that State +in 1857, just after its admission into the Union. As Cromwell +prorogued the Parliament, so did the Federal Troops under orders of +the Secretary of War send every member of that Free Soil Legislature +to their homes, robbed of their law-making prerogatives and relegated +to common citizenship. + +Tabor came to Denver in 1859 and from this point his career reads like +a story from the Arabian Nights. In the Spring of 1860 he started to +California Gulch, which name gave way later to Leadville; he drove an +ox team to a covered wagon that was six weeks in the going. With the +close of the first season he had five thousand dollars of gold dust in +his pocket. That amount of money suggested merchandising, which he +followed in the winters, alternating to the mines every summer. At the +end of the second year he had wrested fifteen thousand dollars more in +gold from the mines. He was a likeable man, generous, and known to be +such, always doing his fellowman a good turn. Two prospectors down on +their luck, proposed that he should help them by "grub-staking," as it +was called in those days. He was to give them what they would eat and +wear, furnish them with tools for digging and powder for blasting. In +return they would share with him if they won, while if they lost, it +would be his sole loss. It turned out to be a most fortunate alliance +for them all. They had no more than started to digging, having reached +a depth of only twenty-six feet, when they struck a rich vein of ore, +and every inch they went down after that, the rich deposit grew in +extent, both in quantity and quality. "Little Pittsburg," they called +it, and it began turning out eight thousand dollars a week to the +three fortunate owners. In a little while Hook sold his share to his +partners for ninety thousand dollars, that being all the money he said +he needed. Soon Rische reached the limit of his money-making ambitions +which was two hundred and sixty-two thousand dollars, and that sum was +paid him by David H. Moffat and J. B. Chaffee. The three new partners, +which included Tabor, purchased other mines in the vicinity and +consolidated them, taking out over four million dollars in the two +years from 1878 to 1880. The other two partners now bought out Tabor +for one million dollars, that being as much he thought as he could +ever spend. It seemed that these original partners only had to figure +out how much they would need to be comfortable on the remainder of +their lives, which fixed the price of their investment. + +Tabor, however, found that he could not quit this fascinating life, so +he bought the Matchless Mine at Leadville for one hundred and +seventeen thousand dollars, and in a year he had added nearly seven +hundred thousand dollars to his wealth. Field, Leiter & Company of +Chicago joined him in a number of mining ventures, all of which were +immensely profitable. + +In 1879 he began to make purchases in Denver that had much to do with +the rapid growth of this city. He paid thirty thousand dollars for the +lots at the corner of 16th and Larimer Streets, upon which he erected +what was the finest building of that time, known now as the Nassau +Block. He sent all the way to Ohio for the sandstone that went into +the building, the quarries of beautiful marble and stone in our +mountains not then having been opened, or he would have used it, for +he always wanted the best. He paid forty thousand dollars for the +residence and block of ground, on a portion of which the Broadway +Theater now stands; the ground alone so purchased is now worth one +million dollars; its value in another thirty years--but that is +another story, and it will be told when the hand that moves this pen +lies silent. He purchased the location at 16th and Curtis Streets for +a Theater Building, and sent Chicago Architects abroad to study the +plans of the theaters of the Old World and their furnishings, with the +result that a building was erected and equipped that was the talk of +the entire country. + +The opening of the theater was one of the greatest occasions held in +the West up to that time. Emma Abbott came all the way across the +Continent with her Opera Company for the event. The newspapers +everywhere devoted space to it and Eugene Field celebrated it in +verse. The picture of Horace Tabor was placed just over the inner +entrance, where it hangs to this day and where it should remain while +the building stands. At the time of its erection it was considered to +be the most perfect and convenient in arrangement of any theater in +the United States. The boxes and proscenium were all finished in solid +polished cherry wood. The drop curtain was painted by an eminent +artist who came to Denver for that purpose; it was adorned with a +picture of moldering ruins of Ancient Temples with a motto underneath +containing a sermon in the following impressive quotation from +Kingsley: + + "So fleet the works of man; + Back to the earth again + Ancient and holy things + Fade like a dream." + +All these improvements inaugurated and completed by him alone, +attracted almost world-wide attention and advanced Denver to an +important place in her business standing throughout the entire East. +He became Lieutenant Governor in 1878, and U.S. Senator in 1882, to +which position he was appointed to fill out the term of Henry M. +Teller, who was invited by President Arthur to enter his cabinet as +Secretary of the Interior. Tabor only lacked one vote of being elected +to succeed himself, Judge Bowen winning the prize. + +Tabor's financial rise was meteoric; his decline was equally rapid +when it started. Unfortunate investments, mostly in distant locations, +swept his entire fortune away. Though poor indeed, in material things +towards the close of his life, it is given to few men to be so rich in +experiences. His accomplishments in behalf of Denver will always be +held by her citizens in grateful remembrance, and when he died in 1899 +there was wide-spread sorrow. + + +_William Gilpin._ + +[Sidenote: 1861] + +One thousand years of traceable ancestry! They spelled it "Guylphyn" +in those far-away days of the Roman Empire, and in two hundred years +it was softened to "Gilpin." One of this illustrious line was a great +General and won a noted battle for Oliver Cromwell. One was Minister +Plenipotentiary to The Hague, appointed by Queen Elizabeth. Queen Mary +ordered one beheaded because of his religious teachings, but she died +herself, after which he was pardoned and went on with his preaching. +The ancestors of our own Washington were proud to form a union with +the Gilpins by marriage. A meeting-house was erected by one of them +and given to William Penn who used to preach in it. The home of one of +them was turned over to LaFayette for his headquarters during the +Battle of Brandywine. And there was that one who owned the mill that +ground the grain for Washington and his army at Valley Forge. + +Colorado is to be congratulated that she had for her first Governor +one who came bearing such an illustrious name. But no one thought of +family, least of all Abraham Lincoln, when he signed the Commission +that made William Gilpin Governor of the Territory of Colorado. His +selection was under advisement at the first Cabinet meeting and he was +chosen in recognition of his signal ability. + +As a youth he was tutored by his father who possessed more than +ordinary culture. He pursued special studies under the author, +Hawthorne; he learned under Lawrence Washington, when the latter was a +resident of Mt. Vernon; then he was sent abroad for instructions at +Yorkshire; he had the pick of masters at Liverpool; was graduated +later at the University of Pennsylvania, and then won high honors in +his later graduation from West Point. Such a course of study had made +of him an intellectual athlete. + +Then he traveled abroad, hurrying home to fight the Spanish in the +Everglades of Florida. This chivalrous disciplinarian was Major in the +Army of twelve hundred that defeated the Mexican Army of over five +thousand at Sacramento City, California, on February 28, 1847. He was +an officer in the army, under General S. W. Kearny, that marched into +Santa Fe on the 14th of August, 1846, and ran up the Flag of the +United States for the first time. Soon after, Charles Bent, who was +first Governor of New Mexico, was killed at Santa Fe in an up-rising +of the natives. He had built Bent's Fort on the Arkansas River where +he had his residence for years. It was at Santa Fe that Gen. Lew +Wallace, while Governor of New Mexico from 1878 to 1881, wrote the +concluding chapters of his great book Ben Hur. + +Gilpin's home was at Independence, Mo., where he practiced law. That +place being near the end of the Santa Fe Trail, he often met Kit +Carson. Gilpin possessed so much bravery that he started across the +plains in 1843, a solitary horseman. Happening in with Fremont, he +accompanied him to the Pacific Coast, it being Fremont's second +expedition. The next year Gilpin returned by the way of Bent's Fort, +thence down the Santa Fe Trail to his home. He was bearing a memorial, +from the Oregon people, which he had helped to formulate, and which he +was to present to the Administration at Washington. It set forth in +detail the resources of the Great Northwest, the desire of the handful +of people located there to be taken under the shelter of the +Government and to be embraced within the limits of the Territory of +the United States. He proceeded to Washington and presented this +petition in person to President Polk, and urged in glowing terms, with +all the eloquence he possessed, the future value and prospects of that +unknown region. He had the freedom of both Houses of Congress and took +a prominent part in turning the tide in favor of the Oregon movement. + +When President Lincoln started from Springfield to Washington to +assume the reins of Government in February, 1861, Gilpin was one of +thirteen who made the entire journey in the President's private car. +He was a brilliant man and Lincoln recognized his mental gifts and +learned minutely from him of his varied experiences, especially of his +knowledge of the far West. So it was natural that his name should come +before the very first meeting of the cabinet for appointment to the +high place of Governor of the territory of Colorado. The next month he +was hurrying westward with his commission in his pocket and with his +appointment as well of Brigadier-General of the Army. + + "Long ago at the end of the route, + The stage pulled up and the folks stepped out; + They have all passed under the tavern door. + The youth and his bride and the gray three-score; + Their eyes are weary with dust and gleam + For the day has passed like an empty dream. + Soft may they slumber and trouble no more + For the weary journey, its jolt and its roar + In the old stage over the mountains." + +[Illustration: A stagecoach being pulled by six horses] + +So entered William Gilpin into the little City of Denver. It was the +days of the stage coach, and the Denver end of the line was kept at +the highest point of efficiency. Six horses were used, as fine as +money could buy, high stepping and so well groomed that they shone +resplendent under their costly harness glittering in the sun. The +starting of the stage on its journey East and its return into Denver, +was always an interesting event. It came dashing into town with the +horses galloping, the whip cracking, the dogs barking and the people +shouting. And they cheered when their new Governor stepped out. They +cheered again when he stood before them tall and erect, with eyes +flashing and head thrown back, and spoke in that matchless flow of +language that was the gift of this eloquent and picturesque man. The +character of his thought and its style of presentation is best seen in +the following, taken from one of his many interesting speeches: + +"* * * These events arrive. We are in the midst of them. They surround +us as we march. They are the present secretions of the aggregate +activities and energies of the people. You, the pioneers of Colorado, +have arched with this glorious state the summit ridge and barrier +between two hemispheres. You bring to a close the numbered ages of +their isolation and their hostility. You have opened and possess the +highway, which alone connects, fuses, and harmonizes them together. Of +this state, you are the first owners and occupants. You have displayed +to the vision, and illustrated to mankind, the splendid concave +structure of our continent, and the infinite powers of its august +dimensions, its fertility, its salubrious atmosphere and ever +resplendent beauty. You have discovered the profound want and +necessity of human society, and your labor provides for its relief; +gold, I mean; the indefinite supply of sound money for the people by +their own individual and voluntary labor. You occupy the front of the +pioneer army of the people, absolutely the leaders of mankind, heading +the column to the Oriental shores. * * * + +"Hail to America, land of our birth; hail to her magnificent, her +continental domain; hail to her generous people; hail to her +victorious soldiers; hail to her matrons and her maidens; hail to the +sacred union of her states; all hail to her as she is! Hail to the +sublime mission which bears her on through peace and war, to make the +continent her own and to endure forever." + +What did he do for Colorado? Much. He confronted unusual conditions; +he was the Chief Executive of the Territory at the very beginning of +its history when there was not one single beaten path for him to +follow, and when there was no money and no credit. There was danger of +the territory slipping away from the union through an armed incursion +from the South. There were no weapons for either a defensive or an +aggressive warfare. He posted notices along the trails, calling for +the purchase of fire arms of any kind no matter what the age or +condition, if there was accompanying ammunition. There were no +soldiers not even a home guard. So as quickly as possible he began to +muster in the soldiers, putting into their hands the weapons he had +gotten together, bad though they were. The drilling of the men was +carried on just outside of Denver; soon he had one Company of Infantry +and ten Companies of Cavalry. + +The troops that had been in Utah during the Mormon war were returning +East, and at Gov. Gilpin's request turned over to him at Laramie +eighteen wagons containing eighteen hundred new rifles and a large +supply of ammunition. Thus equipped, he marched down on Gen. Sibley +and his army who had come up from the South and had captured Santa Fe. +The battle of Glorietta was fought, resulting in Sibley's entire wagon +train of ammunition and supplies being captured and his army destroyed +or scattered. + +The expense of the year's military activities was paid by the Governor +drawing drafts direct upon the Government at Washington, amounting to +two hundred and twenty-seven thousand dollars, all of which drafts +were returned unpaid, which occasioned a great deal of trouble, +confusion and criticism. They were, however, paid in course of time. +Governor Gilpin always claimed that he had verbal instructions from +Simon Cameron, the Secretary of War in the beginning of Lincoln's +Administration, to handle the payments in this way. No doubt the +Governor made the mistake of not having vouchers regularly drawn, +itemized, certified and forwarded in the regular course of business, +leaving the creditors to await their acceptance, approval, and the +remittance of the funds. In extenuation it might be said that we were +remote from the center of supplies and money, communication was slow, +time was pressing, and he did the best he could. It may be that any +other course at that time would have resulted disastrously, not only +to this Territory, but the Government as well. Even at this late date, +the Legislatures of some states handle in a most informal manner the +finances of the State Government, which requires years for adjustment. +Because of these financial complications, Gilpin was relieved from his +position as Governor in 1862, but he remained true to his State all +his life, had no higher ambition than to see it grow, sounded its +praises wherever he went, and said on all occasions: "It is the +backbone of the Continent, protect and encourage it." + +He was one of the first to open up beautiful Capitol Hill, and used to +say "I will give you two lots if you will build on one of them." He +never valued money, but lived far above the ordinary affairs that +surround us. There were times when he did not have the money to pay +for a meal, but his interest in his fellowmen, in his State, and in +the enjoyment of his mental gifts continued unabated to the end of his +life. + +Governor Gilpin gave us the beautiful name of Colorado. He was in +Washington in the Spring of 1861 when the Bill was before Congress for +fixing the boundaries of this new Territory. The name of Jefferson had +been proposed, also Idaho and other names. He preferred Colorado and +gave that name to Senator Wilson of Massachusetts, on whose motion it +was adopted. The name was taken, not from the river of that name in +Texas, whose length is nine hundred miles, but from the great river to +the west of us that is longer than the distance between Omaha and +Ogden and is the King of the Rivers of the West. + + +_John Evans._ + + "Build me straight, O worthy master! + Staunch and strong, a goodly vessel, + That shall laugh at all disaster, + And with wave and whirlwind wrestle." + +[Sidenote: 1862] + +Like the perfect ship was the perfect Quaker stock that came to our +shores and was absorbed into the body politic, to permeate the +arteries of business and statesmanship of our whole country for +generations. It was a stock built on simple lines; straight, strong, +clear and pure; founded on morality, sobriety, integrity and +frugality; and as simple in garb as it was simple and strong in faith. +Soon after the arrival of the Plymouth Fathers, there entered at our +eastern gateway, a Quaker who invented for us the screw auger; how +could our present high civilization have reached its enviable position +without that screw auger! Evans was the name of the man to whom we owe +this great debt of gratitude and he it was who was the progenitor of +Colorado's second Governor, a man of whose memory our State is justly +proud. + +John Evans reached the zenith of his power and influence through the +slow stages of solid preparation and ever broadening experiences. He +was born in 1814 in Ohio, the State that is so prolific of good men. +He graduated from the Clermont Academy in Philadelphia in 1838, when +he was twenty-four years old, and immediately began the practice of +medicine. His success was so pronounced, and he attained such +standing, both as humanitarian and physician, that he was able at the +early age of twenty-seven to impress upon the Legislature of the State +of Illinois by his masterful arguments before them, the necessity for +the establishment by the State of an institution for the insane. Four +years later he was a conspicuous member of the faculty of the Rush +Medical College of Chicago, which he served with devotion for eleven +years. He founded the "Illinois General Hospital of the Lakes"; was +editor of the Northwestern Medical and Surgical Journal; first +projector of the Chicago and Fort Wayne Railroad and of its Chicago +Terminals; member of the Republican National Convention that nominated +Lincoln for the Presidency in 1860; was offered the Governorship of +Washington Territory by Lincoln, which he declined. + +He was one of the prominent figures in the advancement of Methodism +and was always prominent in its councils, both national and local. The +writer, once in an eastern City where the general conference of the +Methodist Church was being held, attended a session of that +interesting assembly. One of the conspicuous members on the floor was +pointed out as Governor Evans, who led the delegation from Colorado. +At the time, this incident was related of him: + +He had settled at Denver in 1862, and having faith in its future, +decided, after mature deliberation, the direction the City would take +in its growth. He then purchased one hundred and sixty acres at the +point where he thought the most benefit would accrue. A friend hearing +of his investment and its reason, sought him out, commented on his +mistaken rashness in coming to such an unwise decision, and advanced +many reasons why the City would grow in exactly the opposite +direction. The arguments were so strong that a purchase was made of +another one hundred and sixty acres on the side of Denver suggested by +his friend; the Governor, however, strong in his faith, clung to his +original purchase as well. Friends continued to advise him of his +mistakes in these two ventures and he continued to buy where they +suggested, until he owned outlying farms on every side of Denver, and +the City growing in all directions, his profits were fabulous. + +He was conspicuous in establishing the Methodist Episcopal Book +Concern and the Northwestern Christian Advocate of Chicago; was one of +the original promoters of the Northwestern University at Evanston and +the first President of its Board of Trustees in which position he +continued for forty-two years. He founded the beautiful City of +Evanston, a suburb of Chicago, which was named for him, and he +suggested the setting apart of one-fourth of every block in that city +as a fund for the University, a movement that resulted in an enormous +endowment for that great school; he brought about the purchase of +ground in the center of Chicago that grew into millions in value and +greatly enriched the University. His contributions to the Church +throughout his long, successful and busy life, amounted to hundreds of +thousands of dollars in addition to the generous donations made by him +to the Denver University located at University Park. + +A Territory is under the direct control of the Administration at +Washington and its officers may be selected from outside its +boundaries. President Lincoln in looking for a suitable successor to +Governor Gilpin in 1862, centered on John Evans of Chicago, who was +such a marked success as a business man. He received the appointment +of Governor and gave to Colorado a most excellent administration. He +was a leading factor in the building of the Denver-Pacific Railroad +from Denver to Cheyenne, our first railroad, and was its President for +years. One of his most gigantic undertakings was the building of the +railroad up the South Platte River by the way of South Park to +Leadville, in which he had the splendid help of Walter Cheesman, +General Bela Hughes, J. W. Smith, William Barth, Brown Brothers, +General D. C. Dodge and others. It was not easy to build railroads in +those days; money was scarce, there was not much business for a +railroad when constructed, and in this remote country whose future was +not established, bonds were hard to sell. Many a man would have been +discouraged by the efforts necessary for the financing of these +railroads. Governor Evans worked unceasingly and showed his faith by +putting in large sums of his own money, a fact that finally brought +these undertakings to a successful consummation. Always he talked and +worked for a line to the Gulf from Denver which would mean cheap +freight rates and growth for Colorado, and now it has come and more, +for we are to connect the Gulf with the far northwest, an ocean to +ocean link. + +All his personal investments were so wisely made that his life's work +went on smoothly to its close in 1897. In Denver, where he made his +home to the end of his eighty-three years, his thoughts were always of +the City and State of his choice. His wise counsel and untiring +devotion has left its imprint upon many of the successful industries +of the State, as well as upon the social, moral and aesthetic life of +the community. By his untiring devotion and unflagging loyalty to the +Union, he placed himself in the class of War Governors in the great +struggle of '61 to '65. He was preeminently a business man and +possessed of exceptional ability. He was in the Methodist Church the +some powerful factor for good and moral uplift, that William E. Dodge +of New York was in the Presbyterian Church. In fact, in sterling +business integrity and high quality of christian manhood, the finest +thing perhaps that could be said of these two men, is that each was +the beautiful complement of the other. + + +_George Francis Train._ + +[Sidenote: 1863] + +A child stared a tragedy in the face as he looked wide-eyed from the +window of the family home in New Orleans and saw the rude box +containing the body of his little sister pitched into the "dead wagon" +with like boxes. There were no undertakers: all were dead. No +tenderness or sympathy; only haste and roughness. No flowers; just +tears. An epidemic of Yellow Fever was raging and the "dead wagons" +were rattling through the streets and stopping at the desolate homes +everywhere. Each time the child saw one stop at his home, which would +have been eight times if he could have counted, there was one less in +the household. And at last a big box was carried out, in which they +had placed his mother, and little George Francis Train, a child of +four, was left alone. He was put on board a Mississippi River Steamer, +with his name and destination pinned to his coat, and was sent on his +long journey to relatives near Boston. That was eighty-two years ago. + +That child, grown to manhood, became one of the picturesque figures in +American History. He absorbed an education while working sixteen hours +a day as a grocer's clerk. Then by sheer force of will and capability, +he took a man's place in his uncle's shipping house in Boston, when he +was but sixteen years of age, and in four years became a partner in +the firm and was making ten thousand dollars a year. He revolutionized +the shipping industry of the world by increasing the capacity of the +largest ship then known, of seven hundred tons, to what then seemed an +incredible size of two thousand tons. He had a fleet of forty vessels +under him, mostly built up by his own energy. Then he went to +Liverpool and at the age of twenty was the resident partner of the +firm at that point where he doubled the business in a year. He then +enlarged his horizon by going to Australia and establishing a similar +business from which his commissions were ninety-five thousand dollars +the first year. + +He was a man with ideas. They used to cut postage stamps apart with +scissors; "perforate the paper," he said, and it was done. In London +when the Grande Dames stopped their carriages, a footman appeared with +a short step ladder to aid them in their descent; "attach a folding +step to the carriage" he advised, and it has been in use ever since. +He saw a man write something with a lead pencil, then reach into his +pocket for a rubber to make an erasure; "fasten the rubber to the +pencil," he told them, and the perfected idea is in the hands of +everyone to-day. A dozen men were shoveling coal into sacks and +carrying it from the wagon; "use an appliance to raise the front end +of the wagon and let the coal run out," he suggested, and the idea +carried into effect made a company of millionaires. A man spilled some +ink as he poured it from a large bottle into a small one; "give the +bottle a nose like a cream pitcher," he told them and the idea gave +the man who patented it more money than he could ever use. He saw the +Indians spearing salmon out of the Columbia River; "can them," he +said, and it started a great industry that is still under way. He +accompanied the officials of the Northern Pacific Railroad when they +were locating the terminus of that system; "end the line here," he +told them and Tacoma will stand on that spot forever. He prophesied, +that as much of the soil of the East rested upon a rocky base and was +intermixed with stone, it would become inert and of decreasing value; +while from the western plains so vast in extent, with their great +depths of rich soil, would come the supply for the nation, and an ever +increasing value to the farms. The prediction has come true. Today, +with one-tenth of the population, we are furnishing one-half the +supply of the food of the nation. + +He was an observing man always and a student. Besides his own native +language, the English, he spoke fluently French, German, Italian, +Spanish and Portuguese. His newspaper articles from all over the world +were read everywhere. He was an editor, author, and lecturer, speaking +at times to houses that netted him in one instance five thousand +dollars. He knew many of the greatest men of his own country: Daniel +Webster, Henry Clay, Rufus Choate, Zachary Taylor, Abraham Lincoln, +Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Nathaniel P. Banks--they +were all his friends. He met Queen Victoria, the Duke of Wellington, +and many more of the great of the earth. Judges, Bishops and +Ambassadors were his intimates. He was offered the Presidency of the +Australian Government which he declined. He headed the French Commune +and when the government troops were ordered to fire on him, he wrapped +himself in the Stars and Stripes and dared them to kill an American +citizen protected by the American Flag--and they did not shoot. He led +a Third Party against two presidential aspirants for the Presidency, +Ulysses S. Grant and Horace Greeley, in the campaign of 1872, and was +defeated. He was a great traveler and visited nearly every country on +the globe. He went around the world in eighty days, which gave rise to +the Romance by Jules Verne, that is read in every language. He kept +going around the world just to shorten the time. He had a villa at +Newport and his annual expenditure for entertainment there was one +hundred thousand dollars. Toward the close of his career he lived on +three dollars a week, because he had no more, and he claimed that it +was the happiest period of his life. + +The first street car lines in England, Switzerland and Denmark were +built by him. He was the first to suggest similar enterprises for +Australia and India. Maria Christina was Queen of Spain, and +Salamanca, a banker, was the Rothschild of that country. They backed +him for two million dollars that started the building of the Atlantic +and Great Western Railway which was followed later by the construction +of a railroad to the Adirondacks. The banker Salamanca was descended +from the long line of that name for which the Spanish City Salamanca +was named that gave us Coronado. On the line of railroad which +Salamanca helped to finance, a City is located in New York State named +for him. + +All these experiences brought Train gradually to the accomplishment of +his life's greatest achievement, the building of the Union Pacific +Railroad which he began on December 3, 1863, at Omaha, but which was +completed by others May 10, 1869, at Ogden. It was the missing link +needed in the welding of the West to the East, and in the development +of Colorado, a country rich in every natural resource. Later, when the +Kansas Pacific was threatening Denver, and planning to build their +road elsewhere if a large amount of money was not raised, the citizens +of Denver in their dilemma sent for Train. He came, and made one of +his characteristic addresses to a crowded house. "God helps them that +help themselves," Benjamin Franklin had poor Richard say; Train said, +"Build a line of railroad yourselves to connect with the Union Pacific +Railroad at Cheyenne or Julesburg," the road that he had projected. +And they did the very thing he told them to do. In the course of time, +the Kansas Pacific Railroad was also built to Denver. + +Erratic, always. Egotistical, very, Crazy, many said he was. It may be +that all his life he saw the "dead wagon" at the door, and heard it +rattling through the street; early impressions have their effect upon +the character of the mind. He was imprisoned fifteen times and said +that he never committed a crime in his whole life. He was fearless as +a speaker and writer, and much of his trouble was political. A +peculiarity of this many-sided man was, that he would never shake +hands with any person--be he king or plain man of the people. In +retirement he frequented Madison Square in New York where the birds +all knew him and would light upon him and feed out of his hands; where +the children all loved him and flocked about him, sitting upon his +knee while they listened to his wonder tales of every people of every +clime; where memories of his brilliant career filled his thoughts as +he saw again his bright vision of a coast to coast line, now fully +realized--for the glistening sunlight was glinting the rails from the +foot of the Statue of Liberty to the sunny calm of the Golden Gate. He +was never without a flower in the lapel of his coat. The wearing of +the flower in this way by men everywhere originated with him; he +introduced the custom into London, Paris and New York, from which +cities it spread all over the world. The idea came to him while in +Java, that beautiful country of rare flowers and delicate odors. + +On a cold stormy day of January, 1903, the end came to a stormy +career; the birds hungrily called to him, but he did not come; the +children waited for him, and could not understand; a flower that was +alive, was pinned to the shroud of its friend who was dead, and they +went away together forever and aye. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED. + + +Colorado was once a waif; a child without parentage; no older brothers +and sisters wanting it about; an outcast, unclaimed, lonely, wretched +and friendless. No state in the union has had a career anywhere +approaching that of Colorado. It was the center of more undefined +boundaries, and a part of a greater number of countries, than any +other portion of the world. + +This is the genealogy of Colorado that has never before been traced, +and which has been gleaned with infinite care from many sources. It +belonged in turn to each of the following potentates or powers: + +The Indians, Pope Alexander VI, Spain, New Spain, France, Louisiana +District, Louisiana, No Man's Land, Missouri, The Indian Country, +Texas Republic, The Unorganized Territory, Mexico, New Mexico, Upper +California, Utah, The Arapahoe and Cheyenne Tribes, Nebraska, Kansas, +Jefferson Territory--Colorado. + +King Solomon took the child and when he offered to divide it between +the two mothers, he found to whom it belonged. + +[Sidenote: 1492] + +Pope Alexander VI took an imaginary map, drew an imaginary line across +it, and parcelled out most of the New Hemisphere, giving one side to +Portugal and the other to Spain, but he did not know that he had given +Colorado to Spain. + +[Sidenote: 1521] + +When a Government was established on these shores in 1521 and called +"New Spain," Colorado became a part of that country and slumbered for +two hundred and eighty years. + +[Sidenote: 1801] + +La Salle, a French Explorer, in 1762, went on a tour of discovery and +found a rich but weed-grown section that Spain was neglecting, which +he claimed for France and called it the "Louisiana District" for Louis +XIV, a name used by nearly every other King of France in those +centuries. Spain expostulated and then became violent. Agitation went +on. War was threatened. The trouble was not ended until 1801 when +Napoleon, while strangling Spain, forced her to cede the disputed +territory to him; it being the tract lying east of the Arkansas River +up to a certain point, then crossing the Divide south to the Red River +which it followed to its source, thence along the eastern foot-hills +of the Rocky Mountains. This divided Colorado, leaving with Spain that +portion lying west of the Rocky Mountains, and giving to France what +was located east of the mountains. Thus was left "No Man's Land" out +of the reckoning, which included these majestic, wealth-producing and +health-yielding mountains. They seemed to be too inconsequential to be +claimed by either country. Mountains, that by their impassive quietude +have soothed into tranquility the restless nerves of thousands of +sick; mountains, that brew unceasingly nature's healing balm for +ailing lungs; that are the home of twenty-four rivers, whose never +ending flood of life giving waters, lure riches from the farms, like +the touch of an Aladdin's Lamp; that have produced in furs, lumber, +gold, silver, lead, copper, zinc, iron, stone, marble, oil, live stock +and agricultural products, nearly five billion dollars. + +"The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of +the corner." + +[Sidenote: 1803] + +Two years passed, and for the first time Colorado began to be +appreciated. 1803 saw sixteen million dollars in gold flowing to +France, and the Louisiana District, which included the eastern half of +Colorado, coming to the United States. This brought under the flag of +our Government for the first time, that part of Colorado lying east of +the mountains. + +[Sidenote: 1812] + +Louisiana in 1812 was admitted into the union as a territory according +to the State boundaries that exist at the present time. Missouri +Territory was the name given to what was left of the Louisiana +Purchase. Thus Colorado lying east of the mountains fell heir to +Missouri. The name is taken from the Missouri's tribe of Indians. + +Next to the priceless heritage that came to us as a nation and as +individuals in the vast domain that we received from the Indians, was +the rich transference of Indian words into our language. It was like +the transfusion of new corpuscles into blood emaciated and +impoverished by disease. Here was a vacant world. Rivers, mountains, +states, cities, towns, boundaries--all a blank. Ready at hand was a +new language. It possessed crispness, freshness, strength, romance. We +absorbed it and never awoke to the full appreciation of its beauties +until Longfellow charmed and thrilled us with his matchless songs. + +[Sidenote: 1823] + +It was in 1521 that Cortez placed the foot of Spain on the neck of +Mexico. Three hundred years later, Mexico rebelled. She had to fight, +and succeeded in establishing her independence in 1823. This carried +into the fold of Mexico, that part of Colorado lying west of the +mountains, which had continued all these centuries to belong to Spain. +When Mexico came from under the Dominion of Spain, she wanted to be +free from slavery and objected to Texas bringing slaves into Mexican +Territory and selling them. This quarrel between Texas and Mexico +really brought about the war between Mexico and the United States. + +[Sidenote: 1834] + +In 1834 that portion of the Missouri Territory lying west of the +Missouri River became the Indian Country, which was the official +title; presumably "country" because there was no territorial +government and it so remained for twenty years. So to the Indian +country went all of Colorado east of the mountains, and north of the +Arkansas River. + +[Sidenote: 1836] + +Texas was once a Republic. In 1836 it had a Government of its own +separate from both Mexico and the United States, and independent of +both. She proceeded to reach into and through Colorado, and claimed +that part above the Arkansas River lying between Mexico's line on the +west of the mountains, and the Missouri line on the east of the +mountains. This made a home for "No Man's Land." + +[Sidenote: 1845] + +Texas was admitted into the Union in 1845, as a territory in her +present form. This threw back into chaos all she had claimed of +Colorado, and left it as "Unorganized Territory." In 1846 Texas +plunged the United States into War with Mexico, supposedly over the +western boundary of Texas. In two years twenty-three noted battles +were fought, including Palo Alto, Buena Vista and Vera Cruz. Only +twenty-three years after Mexico threw off the yoke of Spain, we +marched into Mexico City and took from her practically all the +territory north of her present boundary. It was ceded to the United +States in 1848, and in 1850 became New or Upper California. It was +divided in 1855 into three parts, named California, New Mexico and +Utah, the latter called after the tribe of Utah Indians. This brought +under the United States Flag for the first time, that portion of +Colorado west of the mountains, which had been Mexican Territory, and +which now became a part of the Territory of Utah, whose western +boundary was California. New Mexico received that part of Colorado +lying south of the Arkansas River, and east of the Rio Grande. + +[Sidenote: 1851] + +In 1851, by the Treaty of Fort Laramie, it was stipulated that the +part of Colorado east of the Rocky Mountains and north of the Arkansas +River should belong to the tribes of the Arapahoe and Cheyenne +Indians, which title was later extinguished by the Treaty of Fort +Wise. + +[Sidenote: 1854] + +Another turn of this endless chain, and 1854 saw the Indian Country +legislated out of Colorado, and Nebraska and Kansas ushered in to take +its place. Colorado east of the mountains was divided on an east and +west line into Kansas and Nebraska, about one mile south of Boulder. +So at this time we stood as follows: Utah on the west of the +mountains, Nebraska in the northeast, Kansas in the central east, and +New Mexico in the southeast. Here the cloud of Civil War, not much +larger than a man's hand at first, became ominous, and the rumblings +and mutterings grew louder each year until at last the storm broke. +Missouri was for the perpetuation of slavery, and jealous of the +territory that had been taken from her and given to Nebraska and +Kansas, tried to compel those territories to continue pro-slavery, +making a strong fight to force it into their Constitutions, which, on +account of her work and influence, she succeeded in changing three or +four times. Those states strongly objected to slavery, and there were +fierce political conflicts, especially in Kansas, which at last broke +out in endless raids. Quantrell with his guerillas massacred one +hundred and fifty at one time at Lawrence, Kansas, and destroyed two +million dollars worth of property. It has been said that every foot of +eastern Kansas soil was reddened with the life blood of her +anti-slavery citizens. This gave to that State the name of "Bleeding +Kansas," and the bleeding did not cease until the close of the Civil +War. The Legislature of Kansas created Arapahoe County, a stretch of +country several hundred miles long, which included a part of Colorado, +which then went by the name of the County. + +[Sidenote: 1859] + +The early settlers of Colorado, concluding to have a Government of +their own, met in 1859, organized a temporary government which they +called "Jefferson Territory," but which was never made a permanent +government or recognized at Washington. + +[Sidenote: 1861] + +In the year that the clouds hung low and heavy over the Union; the +year that saw the first gun belch forth the shot that cleaved the line +between the North and the South; when brother was going to war against +brother, father against son, and mothers with blanched faces were +wringing their hands in an agony of despair; when the whole civilized +world stood breathlessly apart to witness the fiercest human struggle +of modern times; in that the most memorable year in our National +history, here on this peaceful spot far removed from the noise of the +conflict, from the flame and smoke, from the tears and death agonies, +there was enacted a scene, picturesque, glorious, historical. Utah, +Nebraska, Kansas and New Mexico, generously and loyally stepped aside, +going to the east, to the west and to the south, bidding us adieu +forever. In their place, Cinderella-like, there burst from its +chrysalis the waif of centuries, smiling, gracious, brilliant, like a +bride bejeweled and bedecked for her wedding, the fairest and gentlest +in all the sisterhood of the Union; and may she bless the land +forever--Colorado. + + +THE END. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Colorado--The Bright Romance of +American History, by F. C. 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